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Thanks to all the veterans on Veterans Day!
Today's Headlines
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Page 6: Politix
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2 11:31 Angens Turkeyneck2026 [336079] 
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Page 4: Opinion
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-Lurid Crime Tales-
The Ukraine Scandal Spreads
[Powerline] I take it as a given that Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma paid the Biden family a $3 million bribe. That follows from the facts that 1) Hunter Biden doesn’t speak Ukrainian or have any experience in Ukrainian business, 2) Hunter Biden has no experience in the natural gas industry, 3) Burisma nevertheless paid Biden more than $83,000 a month (!) for three years to serve on its board of directors, a role that usually is only nominally compensated, and 4) Joe Biden at the time was responsible for Ukraine policy in the Obama administration. But there may be even more to the scandal than that.

John Solomon has been an indispensable source here, in part because of his own Freedom of Information Act requests. His most recent revelations concern Burisma’s relationship with the U.S. Agency for International Development, an arm of the State Department:
A State Department official who served in the U.S. embassy in Kiev told Congress that the Obama administration tried in 2016 to partner with the Ukrainian gas firm that employed Hunter Biden but the project was blocked over corruption concerns.

George Kent, the former charge d’affair at the Kiev embassy, said in testimony released Thursday that the State Department’s main foreign aid agency, known as USAID, planned to co-sponsor a clean energy project with Burisma Holdings, the Ukrainian gas firm that employed Hunter Biden as a board member.

At the time of the proposed project, Burisma was under investigation in Ukraine for alleged corruption. ...

Kent testified he personally intervened in mid-2016 to stop USAID’s joint project with Burisma because American officials believed the corruption allegations against the gas firm raised concern.

The time line is important here. Hunter Biden started getting money from Burisma in 2014. In February 2016, Burisma’s top-shelf international lobbying firm used Hunter’s name to fast-track an appointment with a senior State Department official to deny reports of corruption involving Burisma:
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/11/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336079 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The Obama administration is still working busily covering up their scat with no apparent punishment for their law-breaking.
Posted by: JohnQC || 11/11/2019 9:35 Comments || Top||

#2  How come every country that the war mongers I mean the peaceful Democrat liberals invaded for Russia I mean invaded are all now falling under Russian control buying their weapon systems.etc and the U.S. Military is still guarding Russian energy projects in iraq? Seems like it is just another in last being added back to russia! Hey we are down approximately.7 states in country and were not invited to Ukraine peace talks so what is the real story? Serbia New Knesset coming at ya!
Posted by: Angens Turkeyneck2026 || 11/11/2019 11:31 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Iowa Hawk IDs Liz Warren's car in her tweet.
Posted by: 3dc || 11/11/2019 10:38 || Comments || Link || [336089 views] Top|| File under:

#1  So they lost the family station wagon, but kept the full-sized luxury car? Hum... actually, I might do that to since, as the Capri got an astounding-for-the-time 21 MPG and could do zero to sixty in 22 seconds. (Dad's got to entertain himself some how while recovering!)
Posted by: Secret Master || 11/11/2019 13:45 Comments || Top||

#2  Today, a minimum wage job can’t support a family of three.

I count 4.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 11/11/2019 13:49 Comments || Top||

#3  Her daddy couldn’t continue to do the job he had before the heart attack, but he found other ways to earn a paycheck. The honourable senator’s mother was not entirely on her own supporting the family of six on a minimum wage job — hers was the supplementary income. From Wikipedia:

Warren was born Elizabeth Ann Herring in Oklahoma City on June 22, 1949,[3][4][5][6] the fourth child of middle-class parents Pauline (née Reed, 1912–1995) and Donald Jones Herring (1911–1997). Warren has described her family as teetering "on the ragged edge of the middle class" and "kind of hanging on at the edges by our fingernails".[7][8] She had three older brothers and was raised Methodist.[9][10]

Warren lived in Norman, Oklahoma, until she was 11 years old, when her family moved back to Oklahoma City.[8] When she was 12, her father, a salesman at Montgomery Ward,[8] had a heart attack, which led to many medical bills as well as a pay cut because he could not do his previous work.[5] After leaving his sales job, he worked as a maintenance man for an apartment building.[11] Eventually, the family's car was repossessed because they failed to make loan payments. To help the family finances, her mother found work in the catalog order department at Sears.[5] When she was 13, Warren started waiting tables at her aunt's restaurant.[12][13]
Posted by: trailing wife || 11/11/2019 14:03 Comments || Top||

#4  Minimum wage jobs are not intended to support a family. They are entry level jobs.
Posted by: ruprecht || 11/11/2019 14:16 Comments || Top||

#5  The Warren family had three cars when she was growing up (this one, Liz's white MG and some third car). Cry me a river...
Posted by: Raj || 11/11/2019 15:21 Comments || Top||

#6  Didn't they apply for the tax cut for Native Americans?
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 11/11/2019 21:40 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Amazon loses a bet
[Seattle Times] More than a year ago, Seattle City Councilmember Lisa Herbold teared up as she voted to repeal a per-employee tax on high-grossing businesses that would have raised money for homeless housing and services.

"This is not a winnable battle at this time," Herbold said, referring to a referendum on the so-called head tax bankrolled by Amazon and other large companies. "The opposition has unlimited resources" to spend on turning voters against the tax.

Fast forward to this year’s council elections, and that picture may have changed. An attempt by the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce to remake the council and ensure policies like the head tax would never return has been soundly rejected by a progressive-minded electorate, despite Amazon pouring nearly $1.5 million into seven district races through the chamber’s no-limit political-action committee (PAC).
Posted by: M. Murcek || 11/11/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336076 views] Top|| File under:

#1  $1.5 million? So how much to relocate to a business friendly city?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 11/11/2019 6:11 Comments || Top||

#2  Sleep with socialist/commies Bezos and it gets you shit like this in return.
Posted by: 3dc || 11/11/2019 6:21 Comments || Top||

#3  Red on red. We need popcorn for this one.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 11/11/2019 10:28 Comments || Top||

#4  Being taxed to death by socialist politicians? Make a big contribution to their campaign it's cheaper in the long run.
Posted by: jpal || 11/11/2019 10:33 Comments || Top||

#5  Sheep making friends with wolves.
Posted by: Iblis || 11/11/2019 11:02 Comments || Top||

#6  Commie Kshama Sawant got the boot
Posted by: Frank G || 11/11/2019 11:24 Comments || Top||

#7  Not wild about (any) corporations buying elections anyway.
Posted by: Mercutio || 11/11/2019 12:31 Comments || Top||

#8  Notso fast Frank; according to SecState number, looks like she won.
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 11/11/2019 13:14 Comments || Top||

#9  Funny ballot activity?
Posted by: Frank G || 11/11/2019 14:17 Comments || Top||


-Land of the Free
Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley claims in her new book that senior Trump advisers Rex Tillerson and John Kelly tried to recruit her to 'save the country' by 'undermining and ignoring' Trump as the president takes to Twitter to endorse the memoir
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news]
  • Nikki Haley made the allegations in her new book, With All Due Respect

  • She claimed that Former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly approached her with a plan to subvert Trump

  • 'Kelly and Tillerson confided in me that when they resisted the president, they weren't being insubordinate, they were trying to save the country,' Haley wrote

  • 'It was their decisions, not the president's, that were in the best interests of America, they said. The president didn't know what he was doing,' she added

  • Haley said Tillerson told her that 'people would die' if Trump went unchecked

  • Trump took to Twitter on Sunday evening to wish Haley luck with her book
Posted by: Skidmark || 11/11/2019 00:42 || Comments || Link || [336081 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Not surprising. They were both fuckheads that got tossed out right quick.
Posted by: DarthVader || 11/11/2019 8:46 Comments || Top||

#2  The left keeps going nuts over things that Trump says. The NeverTrump crowd is much worse. They oppose the things that Trump is doing.
Posted by: Iblis || 11/11/2019 11:00 Comments || Top||

#3  Save the country from illegal immigration and record low unemployment.... thanks a bunch for your service
Posted by: Airandee || 11/11/2019 16:35 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
U.S. Politicians Can't Stop Taking Len Blavatnik's Money
[Bellingcat] Last month, leading anti-kleptocracy voices in the U.S., Ukraine, Russia, and elsewhere sounded the alarm about a massive donation that Len Blavatnik, a Soviet-born businessman with close ties to sanctioned Russian figures, made to the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). Blavatnik’s donation was, as one expert said, a clear instance of the “soft enabling of kleptocracy,” and fit firmly in Blavatnik’s history of using his funds for “image launder[ing].”

As new documents show, Blavatnik’s financial offer to CFR wasn’t the only substantial donation he’s made recently.

According to new filings with the Federal Election Commission, Blavatnik — who is estimated to be worth approximately $19 billion, and who has U.S. citizenship — has been offering record-breaking donations to American politicians and political committees on both sides of the aisle. Thus far, it appears that Democrats and Republicans alike are willing to take his money, despite major concerns from those who’ve followed Blavatnik’s career and/or those who work in the sphere of anti-kleptocracy.
Posted by: Skidmark || 11/11/2019 08:20 || Comments || Link || [336104 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Kleptocracy." Now there's a good word.
Posted by: JohnQC || 11/11/2019 9:37 Comments || Top||

#2  Blavatnik's money is no more tainted than Soros's.

The latter actually attacked the treasury and nearly destroyed the currency of Britain. The former angled himself a piece of the post-Soviet pie in the 1990s. Since then, he's engaged in exactly the same kinds of legal, high-risk corporate buccaneering-- cf Lyondell Basel's restructuring-- that every other major American private equity or hedge fund billionaire has been engaged in. This last phase of Blavatnik's career- the last 20 years or so-- puts him in the same category as Carl Icahn or Boone Pickens.

If there is a moral difference between Soros and Blavatnik, its to be found in how they spend their billions.

Blavatnik has given his money to great and noble institutions like Harvard and IIRC London's wonderful Courtauld Institute and IIRC Slade School of Art. He supports great scholars and fine artists.

Soros supports advocates of fraud, cop-killing, and sedition.
Posted by: Lex || 11/11/2019 11:47 Comments || Top||


Alexander Vindman Gets The Boot
[Red State]...NSA Robert O’Brien says Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a top witness in the House impeachment inquiry, will be removed from his post at the White House National Security Council.

...Honestly, getting removed from the NSC is the least of Vindman’s worries. When he’s done being a pawn for Adam Schiff, he’s almost certainly going to bear scrutiny under the UCMJ and/or by the DOJ for his illegal leaking. What he shared with the whistle-blower was top secret information and Vindman has no special immunity to go outside of the chain of command with his complaints.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 11/11/2019 04:40 || Comments || Link || [336131 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Military retirement and 'job after' coming very soon.
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/11/2019 6:04 Comments || Top||

#2  That duty reassignment to National Guard advisor at Boise didn't suit him?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 11/11/2019 6:08 Comments || Top||

#3  Isn't Boise full of, your pardon, Americans?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru PB || 11/11/2019 6:14 Comments || Top||

#4  He ought to be courtmartialed. I won't hold my breath.
Posted by: One Eyed Tsar || 11/11/2019 7:26 Comments || Top||

#5  Tsar,I absolutely agree. On both counts.

On the other hand, I would cheerfully be recalled from retirement to sit on his court martial if it ever happened.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 11/11/2019 8:29 Comments || Top||

#6  As an Idaho transplant from Kaliphornia to a town near Boise, I can absolutely vouch for the patriotism of the citizens. Except for the North End. Friggin hippies and their lefty ways metastasize the first chance they get.
Posted by: Warthog || 11/11/2019 9:08 Comments || Top||

#7  #1 with Ukrainian gov?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 11/11/2019 16:30 Comments || Top||

#8  Chief Security Officer, Burisma Holdings
Posted by: Lex || 11/11/2019 17:07 Comments || Top||

#9  Hilarious analysis, "illegal leaking?" is a new one.
Posted by: Thomose B. Hayes3476 || 11/11/2019 18:41 Comments || Top||


Cindy McCain Says Country Needs John McCain ‘More than Ever'
[Breitbart] Appearing Saturday on CNN’s Axe Files, Cindy McCain reacted to recent happenings in Washington, D.C., saying the United States needs her late husband, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), "more than ever."
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/11/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336097 views] Top|| File under:

#1  She looks more like Raymond Shaw's mother all the time.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 11/11/2019 0:39 Comments || Top||

#2  Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) (D-IL)

Fixed.
Posted by: charger || 11/11/2019 0:50 Comments || Top||

#3  So dig him up and put him back in the Senate. His voting record can only improve. And the smell around D.C.
Posted by: Grunter || 11/11/2019 3:22 Comments || Top||

#4  He saved Obamacare. Now we need him to save the Impeachment?
Posted by: Beau || 11/11/2019 6:13 Comments || Top||

#5  I understand she misses him. The other 99.99999% of the country doesn’t.
Posted by: Uleck Spererong9442 || 11/11/2019 7:08 Comments || Top||

#6  I used to admire Senator McCain. His refusing to be released as a POW until the men captured before him was heroic. I voted for him in 2008.
However since then, I have lost all respect for him.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 11/11/2019 8:32 Comments || Top||

#7  We need John McStain like we need full communism.
Posted by: DarthVader || 11/11/2019 8:47 Comments || Top||

#8  Cindy McCain Says Country Needs John McCain ‘More than Ever'

That isn't likely to happen. Snowball's chance in hell.
Posted by: JohnQC || 11/11/2019 9:29 Comments || Top||

#9  AHHHH! NO!!!!
Posted by: ranture || 11/11/2019 9:39 Comments || Top||

#10  We need him dead now more than ever.

Why is it that two of the worst Republicans in my lifetime were both candidates for the presidency? I am speaking of course, about Romney and McCain.
Posted by: Iblis || 11/11/2019 11:01 Comments || Top||

#11  Resorting to pulling out the widows? Really??? He was probably honorable at one time in his life, but he dies a bitter hating old man who cared more about his hate than he did our nation. To be giving on this day I'll blame it on senility..
Posted by: 49 Pan || 11/11/2019 11:04 Comments || Top||

#12  Your spell check interference thing is retarded like you!
Posted by: Angens Turkeyneck2026 || 11/11/2019 11:35 Comments || Top||

#13  Shitshow, Part 180: The macabre, sick exploitation of the dead.
Posted by: Lex || 11/11/2019 11:51 Comments || Top||

#14  John McCain was an America-hating, warmongering piece of shit globalist. He wrapped himself in the flag while plotting our demise as a nation.

His funeral was a who's who of globalist scumbags.
Posted by: Herb McCoy || 11/11/2019 11:52 Comments || Top||

#15  "God's Children", spake the Pharisee of the Global Grifters
Posted by: Lex || 11/11/2019 11:56 Comments || Top||

#16  John McCain didn't retire in time, thats all.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru PB || 11/11/2019 12:26 Comments || Top||

#17  Luckily we have Romney playing the same role.
Posted by: ruprecht || 11/11/2019 14:17 Comments || Top||

#18  We need another John McCain like we need another carrier flight deck fire.....
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 11/11/2019 14:31 Comments || Top||

#19  John McCain didn't retire in time, thats all.

That's really the crux of it. He did some heroic sh1t back in the day. Hell, just being a naval aviator qualifies you for that. But there is something to be said for going out on top...

We need another John McCain like we need another carrier flight deck fire.....

Ouch! That left a (scorch) mark.
Posted by: SteveS || 11/11/2019 15:12 Comments || Top||

#20  Mcstains life ended after decades of the most good form of treason against this nation. His gravestone should be a urinal.
Posted by: Silentbrick || 11/11/2019 15:23 Comments || Top||

#21  Re the remarks about the flight deck fire: Despite some rumors to the contrary, the USS Forrestal fire was NOT his fault.He was there, and barely escaped with his life - he was struck by fragments from an exploding bomb. 134 men did die in the fire.

As I said, I used to support him. But there is enough to complain about without additional snarky remarks.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 11/11/2019 15:45 Comments || Top||

#22  Rambler, I did not mean to imply that; Agree that he did not cause it, but if you watch the Forrestal fire video, you can see him escaping his A-4.

Haing experienced the 1988 fire on the Nimitz, I stand by my comment regarding the 'need for another f/d fire' ( we don't)
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 11/11/2019 16:46 Comments || Top||

#23  More dead Senators???? Hmmmm.
Posted by: Glenmore || 11/11/2019 16:53 Comments || Top||

#24  McCain surrendered twice. Once in war, once in politics.
Posted by: Varmint Splat1454 || 11/11/2019 18:55 Comments || Top||

#25  We already have enough egotistical backstabbers, thank you very much.
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 11/11/2019 21:33 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
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1Arab Spring
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1al-Qaeda
1Moslem Colonists
1al-Nusra
1Houthis
1Govt of Iran Proxies

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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.

Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has dominated Mexico for six years.
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Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
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Two weeks of WOT
Mon 2019-11-11
  Thanks to all the veterans on Veterans Day!
Sun 2019-11-10
  Bolivia's president announces his resignation
Sat 2019-11-09
  Will Julian Assange Die in Prison? Is that why a "dead man" data dump just took place?
Fri 2019-11-08
  WikiLeaks just dropped their databomb
Thu 2019-11-07
  Extremist outfit Allahr Dal banned in Bangladesh
Wed 2019-11-06
  Mexico Deploys Forces to Northern State After Nine US Mormons Killed
Tue 2019-11-05
  Three American Mormon mothers and six of their children are EXECUTED
Mon 2019-11-04
  Report: Turkey-backed militia attacks American troops in Syria
Sun 2019-11-03
  Three people detained in connection with Swedish explosion
Sat 2019-11-02
  Iraqis pour into streets for biggest protest day since Saddam
Fri 2019-11-01
  Iraqi President Salih says PM Abdul-Mahdi willing to resign, vows early polls
Thu 2019-10-31
  Confirmed: The Emir is dead! Long live the new Emir!
Wed 2019-10-30
  Islamic State Promises Big Announcement
Tue 2019-10-29
  Trump: Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s number one replacement has been terminated by American troops.
Mon 2019-10-28
  Baghdadi's aide was key to his capture - Iraqi intelligence sources

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