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Government Corruption
Of Drones, Druze, and Pardons
2024-12-16
[AT] Clarice
Some representative excerpts as the essay wanders across a variety of topical topics:
There’s been a lot of buzz this week about the appearance of SUV-sized drones over the Atlantic Coast states, particularly New Jersey. They exhibit some characteristics not previously observed, and speculation is rampant. The most commonly voiced of these is that they were launched by Iran from a ship parked off our coast, but that doesn’t seem true. I’m inclined to accept the speculation of Scott Adams, Dilbert’s creator and a man who has spent a great deal of time exploring psychological tools of persuasion:

This is a good week to practice your lie detection skills because we know the government is lying about drones. For example, Mayorkas says, ". . . no evidence of anomalous activity." Right. It's not "anomalous" to Mayorkas because he knows what the truth. (I assume is our military.) John Kirby says the sightings they could confirm were all regular airplanes. That's pure weasel. The government also says they are investigating, with the FBI, etc. That's also probably true, but only because whatever is happening is not being shared to every part of the government. Watch for overly specific answers. That's how normies (non-psychopaths) lie.

On the other hand, it could be outgoing SEC chair Gary Gensler pretending to launch a fleet of spaceships at us to foil Musk’s plan of transporting people to Mars -- just in case his lawfare against Musk fails.

In the Middle East, autocracy and butchery seem to be meeting a match in the IDF and IAF. In 11 days, the Israelis erased a barbaric Assad regime that had lingered after a civil war for 13 years. Unlike the Biden administration, which left in the hands of the Taliban billions of dollars worth of weapons and military supplies, or the Obama administration, which left Libya’s war stocks untouched, the Israelis systematically destroyed most of the Assad arsenal. They’ve now opened a clear corridor to Iran and its nuclear facilities:

While there’s some press coverage portraying the Syrian “rebels” and suggesting there will be substantial improvement in the areas under their control, I believe that is far-fetched. The HTS -- aka “rebel” forces led by Al-Joulani -- are only minimally an improvement over Assad.

“The terrorists responsible for forcing Assad out are called HTS, or Hayʼat Tahrir al-Sham. Roughly translated to “Levant Liberation Committee.” Meaning that they want to control the entire “Levant.” This includes Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Greece, Cyprus, and Turkey.”

The country seems, in fact, to be divided along ethnic lines, with the Kurds in the North, the Alawites along the coast, the Al-Joulani forces in the middle, and the Druzes (and many Christians) in the south. To my mind, it is altogether possible that Syria may divide up on ethnic lines. At least one analyst seems to agree with this:

Will incoming President Trump pardon all those convicted in connection with the January 6 riot at the Capitol? There’s lots of speculation about whether he will or should pardon them all or just those whose actions included claims of property damage or violence. I think Bill Shipley makes the best argument for pardoning them all.

...it is based on the refusal of the Biden DOJ to consider moving the trials outside DC, and for no one being willing to acknowledge that all DC residents, including those working in the Courthouse, were quasi-victims of the events of Jan. 6. In 30+ years doing federal criminal trial practice -- including 21 as a federal prosecutor -- I never handled a bench trial. But because of the overt bias of the DC juror pool, and the inability of normal voir dire to screen out biased jurors, defense attorneys -- including me -- have abandoned jury trials for our clients. They are pointless. There has been only one jury that acquitted a Jan. 6 defendant on all the felonies the Govt charged him with -- my client Michael Greene, a 34 year old black combat veteran who came to DC on Jan 6 for work -- and was paid -- performing a task for the Oath Keeper organization. He testified he didn't vote, has never voted, does not care about politics at all, doesn't like Trump, doesn't like Biden, he was only in DC because it was a job -- something the Oath Keepers had paid him to do in the past at other events. If that is the only guy where a jury in DC can find reasonable doubt, then there is no jury trial right in DC because there is no way to find 12 unbiased jurors in a city of only 400,000+ registered voters. You begin with the problem that 93% didn't want Trump for a second term. Then you add the layer that 60% either work for or have jobs linked directly to activities of the federal government. I have had 3 jury trials -- I've had attorneys with DOJ and family of attorneys with DOJ on my juries. They were better than other jurors I had to strike before them. It is not a question of getting "good jurors" -- it is a question of keeping only the "least bad" jurors. You are hearing this from a guy who reviewed probably close to 600 lengthy juror questionnaires in the three Oath Keeper trials. To be a defendan[t] reading through those and thinking "These are the people who are going to judge me knowing I came here to support Trump" is a nightmare. Almost everyone consumes news from the WaPo, NYT, NPR and MSNBC. So, if J6 defendants -- all J6 defendants -- did not have a basic right to a fair jury trial in DC, how can anyone be said to have had a trial process that comported with due process? Your "no blanket pardon" position assumes the opposite to be true. It is not -- 100+ bench trials proves my point.
Posted by:Frank G

#5  the drones are hunting out either a gas leak or 'radioactive material.'"

The Sniffing For Something theory makes sense. Drones are used to inspect infrastructure like power lines and pipelines. But that is easier to do during the day, plus no need for secrecy. Sure is a lot of sniffing going on for an inspection.

In addition to gas and radiation, a drone could also sniff for electromagnetic signals. We have planes that can do that but you cannot fly low in civilian areas, whereas a drone can take advantage of the inverse square law by getting up close.
Posted by: SteveS   2024-12-16 20:11  

#4  The admin is on it
Posted by: Mercutio   2024-12-16 14:46  

#3  Joe Rogan admits he's now 'genuinely concerned' about drone invasion after aviation CEO revealed terrifying new theory

"a wild and unverified theory - that the drones are hunting out either a gas leak or 'radioactive material.'"
Posted by: Skidmark   2024-12-16 12:08  

#2  Open borders, the downside. Yet another deafening silence.
Posted by: Besoeker   2024-12-16 03:17  

#1  A dirty bomb is being searched out on the East Coast and West Coast. People are not to shoot them down.
Posted by: Dale   2024-12-16 03:00  

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