The House of Representatives and the Biden Administration appear in a staring contest waiting for any sign of Blinken.
Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX) warned Secretary of State Antony Blinken that the House Foreign Affairs Committee is moving to hold him in contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with subpoena requests related to the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
There is no question that the Committee has a legitimate oversight interest in the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan at a huge loss of life, abandonment of thousands of allies, and seven billion dollars in military equipment. The committee specifically wants to review a full copy of a dissent cable that had been signed by nearly two dozen State Department officials warning Blinken of a Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan a month before the terrorist group’s takeover occurred.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the cable undermines the claims of the Biden Administration that it had no forewarning of the chaos that would unfold in the country.
The State Department has stonewalled the Committee, offering oral testimony and a summary while refusing to turn over the document. In his letter, McCaul warned that “the Department is now in violation of its legal obligation to produce these documents and must do so immediately.”
McCaul added that “It strains credulity to believe that the official responsible for preparing the cable summary and briefing Congress on it would be unable to provide this information.”
This has not been a great month for Blinken. He was earlier identified as the Biden campaign associate who “triggered” the infamous letter of 51 former intelligence officials claiming that the Hunter Biden laptop was likely “Russian disinformation.”
He was then named as a contact of Hunter Biden in the Obama Administration as part of an alleged influence peddling operation. (Blinken previously denied such contacts and was accused of lying under oath).
Even among those who wanted to end the war, the withdrawal from Afghanistan was condemned by Democrats and Republicans alike. Given the loss of lives and equipment (as well as the impact on U.S. standing), there could not be more obvious subject matter for congressional inquiry.
The question is whether Blinken and the Administration really want to test this in court. Attorney General Merrick Garland would likely decline to prosecute Blinken for contempt (despite his green lighting such prosecutions against former Trump officials), but the Congress could go to court to compel production.
The Biden Administration has racked up an impressive line of losses in court. It has already succeeded in looking like it wants to hide the document. If it is classified, it can be handled in a classified setting, but it should be produced rather than trigger a new fight over the separation of powers.
The leftist posters on this blog really get my goat. Trump was negotiating to try and protect the citizens of Afghanistan as a condition of withdrawal. Biden comes in and withdraws without conditions just to remove Afghanistan from his resume. It wasn’t long after our withdrawal when the genocide began. Remember the images of People falling to their deaths from being unable to hold on in the wheel wells of the American aircraft that were leaving Afghanistan. To our leftist posters it’s more important to score political points then to care about the people falling from the sky. We should also remember that they get it right from the top.
What? Copious amounts of military hardware didn’t get used as intended due to a multi-decade nation building project? You don’t say?
Not to worry. I’m sure if we keep at it long enough in Ukraine, where who knows how much of our arms shipments are resold by the Ukranian oligarchs to various arms dealers and terrorist organizations, we can outdo our accomplishments in Afghanistan in terms of military hardware ending up where it wasn’t intended.
SteveJ,
I made a comment half joking that a US made rocket launcher sent to the Ukraine would wind up in Chicago.
In California, the Reparations Task force has recommended $1.2 million dollars in reparations payments to black Californians who can trace their ancestry prior to 1900. The task force will send its final recommendations to the Democrat supermajority in the state legislature, and on to Governor Newsom’s office, in July, with a price tag of up to $800 billion.
A state that never allowed slavery is going to crush taxpayers who never owned slaves, in order to pay black people who were never slaves. Since reparations is part of the Democrat rhetoric, it is possible this will pass.
The Latinos who work in our company are volcanic. They thought this was a joke in poor taste. We don’t yet know if this is going to affect their working relationship with our black employee. In the school district one town over from us, racism between blacks and Latinos has long been a serious issue, with massive fights regularly breaking out, and schools essentially self segregating. I am telling you right now, if California Democrats jack up taxes on Latinos to give $800 billion to black people, there is going to be violent civil unrest.
Imagine what the fury will be of Native Americans, Latinos, Asian descendants of those sent to camps during WW2, those sterilized by Progressives in California’s Eugenics program, and all the other survivors of cruel history. How can Western Civilization be responsible for ending slavery in the West, while it still exists in Africa and Asia, yet it is held eternally responsible for slavery?
One of the foundational, unspoken principals driving the Democrat Party appears to be that black people cannot be expected to take care of themselves or follow the same laws as everyone else. Inexplicably, the lowest performing segment of black Americans has become representative of the entire race. It’s not the black neurosurgeons or other STEM professionals, it’s the black gangsta, single mother, absentee father, pot smoking, in and out of jail no accounts who are held up as black culture. Democrats claim studying, punctuality, personal responsibility, and waiting to have kids u til marriage is white supremacy, and the lowest just eat it up, and then look around for the white supremacist patriarchy to blame for their own life choices. Black immigrants come here with nothing, and far outperform native born black Americans within a decade, and their kids become successful. People come here from Thailand without a baht, and they put perform black Americans within a decade, and their kids are successful. Nuclear families with conservative values do very well here, while people who do drugs, commit crimes, have kids out of wedlock, and don’t study in school, do not. Guess which demographic is infamous for the latter being the norm? Guess which demographic commits an astronomically high percentage of crime compared to its percentage of the total population? Holding them up as representative of black culture is like claiming white meth addicts and repeat offenders in and out of jail represent white culture.
Why in the world are we normalizing self destructive behavior?
How is it justice for the descendants of Jews who survived the Holocaust, and arrived here via 3 different countries with holes in their shoes, to have to pay black people for slavery? Descendants of Holodomor survivors, those who ran the Underground Railroad, and those who fought and died in the Civil War, will have to pay black people.
California is hemorrhaging tax payers. Our schools produce students far below grade average in literacy, math, and science. Politicians in the Democrat supermajority failed to build reservoirs or grade hardscape to maximize rainwater retention, so that people are rationed insufficient water to have any landscaping. The state is full of homeless camps, complete with bio hazardous waste like feces, urine, vomit, used needles, and dirty condoms. Crime is out of control. Democrats essentially legalized shoplifting by raising the felony threshold to $900 and refusing to prosecute anything less, so stores are closing from all the losses. In my town, small businesses are getting robbed multiple times a month, until they close. A neighborhood woman was held up at gunpoint. Taxes are through the roof. Small businesses now have to pay CA taxes on anything bought out of state online. Hundreds of new labor laws seemingly designed to drive more businesses under passed in January. Minimum wage is increasing yet again, raising the cost of labor. Businesses had to buy new vehicles that cost in excess of $100,000 when CARB banned heavy and medium duty trucks older than 2010 from being registered. We’re getting hit from all sides, and it’s unsafe to go out in some parts of town due to all the crime, so what do California Democrats do? They scheme to put the state in $800 billion more debt.
When are black Americans going to be expected to make good choices?
Karen S.
You just put on display for all to see why people are leaving a failed state like CA: Democrats and their failed policies.
Failed policies that they seem to double or triple down on.
Upstate Farmer:
What’s really scary is that Leftism is infecting red and purple states, as well. Schools in deep red states are still controlled by Democrats, and push transgenderism and other far Left propaganda. Open borders means crime, fentanyl, cartels, and gangs spread to all 50 states.
I sure wish I could find a real life Mayberry, a safe place for my kid. It’s hard to move when you’re self employed.
Karen and Upstate, the problem is that CA got up to about 40 million people before they went entirely insane and now those fleeing are infecting many other states. TX, AZ, ID, NV and even states farther away are being damaged by the fleeing people that take their politics with them. I used to live in MA and I saw what happened when the people of MA fled the high taxes of their state and ended up turning NH from red to blue. IL has also infected other states with their citizens fleeing.
The dumb leftists flee a state due to liberal conditions and some of them, NOT ALL, continue to stay on the plantation. One bright spot has been FL which has become more and more red over the past few years. I guess with the media being so heavy handed against FL the liberals hate it and the conservatives are flocking to it. Even the hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers seem to be voting “right” once in the Free State of Florida.
Karen, I also want to second your comments regarding reparations vis a vis Hispanics, Asians and yes the dreaded white voters. How dumb does a party have to be in order to take money from 87% of the people in order to give it to 13% of the people? Frankly people see the horrible crime happening in black communities )another cause of flight as discussed above) and here we have Democrats promising that one group hundreds of thousands of dollars…for not being a slave. What will be the reaction when Joe the plumber sees his black neighbor get a government check for a serious amount of money as he does not get a check? What will be the reaction when the government handing out billions of dollars in the midst of an inflationary period which will end up exacerbating the inflation?
hullbobby:
There are two groups of people fleeing California:
-Conservatives who lost hope in ever correcting CA’s course, and who want nothing to do with far Left, woke policies
-Democrats who are leaving due to high taxes, high crime, the loss of their business, all the homeless on their doorstep, or the proposed asset tax that will follow people for a decade if Newsom ever gets it passed. They continue to vote for the very same policies that made CA a hellhole. Every Democrat I know who moved out of CA, moved to a red state, and continued to vote Democrat.
CA far Left policies are a contagious plague. CA is what happens when Democrats hold a supermajority for a few generations. This is the best that Democrat voters can hope for. They have no answer for why taxpayers keep leaving the state. They used to laugh and say, “Don’t let the door hit you when you leave.” Only, now, Silicon Valley and Hollywood is leaving, too, taking enormous tax revenue with them. There’s an Aesop’s Fable in there.
The problem is that the mantra of free stuff is more appealing to voters than that of personal responsibility and living within one’s means.
“What’s really scary is that Leftism is infecting red and purple states, as well. Schools in deep red states are still controlled by Democrats, and push transgenderism and other far Left propaganda.”
That is why I advocate not voting for any Democrat no matter how unimportant the position and no matter how good they might seem. The party must be destroyed so crazy progressivism disappears and a new party can be born.
I think it’s way past the point of no return. Last time I checked California was like 30 something percent foreigner down from 90%+ White just recently, like most of the rest of the USA now and soon.
As soon as we had press 1 or 2 for english or spanish the nation was gone.
That was quite a while ago.
We are riding on the coattails of our bedrock that is constantly chipped away in larger and larger chunks.
Our current demoncrat government is a crime mafia of immense proportion and they commit crimes openly and lie to our faces with their woke media backup and protection shields going full blast.
We had some good ‘ol USA pushback from 20 Representatives (Hi to Matt Gaetz) leveraging the speakership vote for
concessions but that’s the best I’ve seen in a long time and a lot of public R’s were having a fit over it.
That gave me a tiny bit of hope. It clearly isn’t enough.
We need some gigantic happening, and that type of thing is not likely to occur IMO.
The lock down on communication and info and plans is so complete opposition that could work is a fools game.
It was probably more than a decade ago where I watched the not famous a very poorly known NSA whistleblower give a public news standing interview on how he watched congresspersons, judges, the SCOTUS, Obama as a senator, and many others in power get totally tapped and everything they said or did surveilled secretly.
So now it’s even worse.
Anyone opposing the demoncrats is legally, financially, and socially attacked by government power.
They tried to extort Gaetz Dad for 25 million and accused Matt of some 17 year old sex, and I saw at least the FBI was behind the plots – not certain how many other 3 letter agencies.
If you’re going to survive it’s going to take a lot of money just to defend. That is the only type I see coming out the other side not sacked.
As we saw in 2020 with the quintuple swing state 3-4am 150,000 plus 100% middle of the night vote spikes for Biden and the continuing algorithmic mathematically randomly impossible further vote additions all in exactly identical percentages to Biden’s favor, only 90 to 95% of the admittedly dumb public can’t see that is an absolute lock on a stolen election. They can’t tell because they can’t do the math. No sense, no experience, no IQ. Most have probably never seen the evidence, and never will.
So hoping for grassroots votes is fine but I had better see above a supermajority in congressional houses if I’m going to believe the ship will be righted to a large degree. Instead it will stay at 51% like it has now since Gingrich, or until they import enough 3rd world criminal demoncrats to take it all forever, which is the actual direction it is headed.
Shak, you have a lot of positive points but all are lost because of your anti-Semitic statements. Intelligent people don’t hold onto that type of baggage, letting the baggage run their lives.
Maybe you believe things that aren’t true. That can confuse people into thinking erroneous thoughts.
Let’s hear your complaints and see if we can’t work them out Sometimes people are blindsided by conclusions that aren’t true.
My life isn’t ruined, and you’re just part of the idiot matrix when you whine like that. Get your WW2 mental aberration taken care of. Next, like a lib idiot, you’ll actually tell me there are some good demoncrats, or blacks, or jews, or any other fraud crap your dim mind dreams up.
Grow up and face the truth, silently, inside you probably do.
We all know if some jerk off screams antisemite – all you brain dead morons come a reeling like wildfire.
You’re all screwed in the head.
Is there any rebuttal to my purported sinful contribution ? OF COURSE THERE ISN’T.
Time to grow up fella. Of course I’ll excuse you when you don’t, you have fear and retribution in your life.
I’ve seen it for a very long time. Now bow down to your thought police patrol guides. LOL
Not like a single one of you can refute anything you have vaguely objected to. You just CANNOT do it.
Here’s the usual dumb as rock idiocy we get from you pathetic whiners. “There’s some good people in every category, you can’t blah blah blah blah blah…..”
Really you ought to stick your head in the toilet in shame, honestly.
Either you people are going to get serious or you will continue to lose.
Your whine against me is not serious, it’s pathetic.
“This is how stupid you people currently are, the immense idiocy cannot be exaggerated: ”
Shak, this is what you have to offer? Only rage? Your reaction is not conservative, libertarian, or anything similar. It is pure unadulterated hate where the reason to hate disappears into hateful rhetoric.
An intelligent person would provide more than invective. At this time, you seem incapable of escaping from your own hate.
Where does your anti-Semitism come from? Try and discuss that instead of the pure vitriol you provide. Maybe you missed something, but we would never know based on mindless hatred and anger.
You should see from my posts that I distance myself from leftist thought while fighting leftism.
Based on what you wrote, the only answer I can garner is ignorance on your part. You don’t know why you hate other than some phrases that place you in the anti-left camp. That is not good enough for such intense hate, and without reason leads to failure.
You failed here and will continue to do so until reason rises to your head and hate begins to disappear.
“Not like a single one of you can refute anything you have vaguely objected to. You just CANNOT do it.”
We don’t even have to try. You proved it by your words. Hate absent reason proves what you are, a non-thinking person filled with hatred. Logic and reason do not exist in your body.
If you think that is wrong, you can tell me why. Maybe your truths are hidden, and there would be agreement, but how would we ever know if you can’t bring them into the light?
This is how stupid you people currently are, the immense idiocy cannot be exaggerated: ” … a lot of positive points but all are lost because of your anti-Semitic statements.” ROFL
This is how twisted and shameful your mind is. It’s a flat out lie. You said it, and it is a lie. This is what your demoncrat betters have trained you to do, squeal like a dumb clapping seal. The very fact that you do it is amazing.
When all lives are ruined and it all goes down in flames I will remember you types the most, the type that hadn’t a shred of a backbone, and gave in to the mind virus proffered upon you, even though you opposed all those delivering the bad fruit. A type that is a would be friend, but the glaring, gaping divide in the obedient sheep like idiocy can never be breached. Now, since you’re wrong in what you said, should I also declare everything else you’ve ever offered to be nothing ? I doubt there is a larger insult. So stuff it bub. LOL
Look in the mirror, in shame.
Really, you told me to stuff it, so you stuff it in return. I hope you’re happy with yourself, you totalitarian fool.
“oh gawd.. you’re a racist an antisemite everything you’ve ever said is worthless your life is ruined!!!”
This is what you did, so STUFF IT. Choke on it. LOL
Preferably you can stop your lying, but that probably won’t happen, right ?
@S.Meyer
Same here. Lifelong Independent, and I will never vote for a dem again.
Congrats. Many more should be saying the same but don’t. People want to wait and see. That is how we got Hitler, lenin/Stlain, Mao, and the left in the US that is gradually taking over. Frogs feel so comfortable as the water in the pot gets warmer, but then, when it starts to boil, it is too late.
@Karen
I don’t know what you do for a living, but that has been my wife’s and my saving grace – I can do my work from anywhere. We are leaving our blue state forever in three weeks. Granted, it has been non-stop discomfort since February due to red tape, underemployment, supply delays, reorganization, and plain old incompetence, but we are getting out and never coming back. Thank Biden, as this very distinctly began in 2021. Sometimes that’s what one has to do to get to the other side. It hasn’t been fun. But it’ll be worth it. I wish you well, whatever you decide to do.
@Karen
Many thumbs up. Brava. 👍🏼👍🏼
Democrats should be all over this. Just think of all the “good” they might be doing with seven billion dollars.
Blinken may have lied to Congress and now has declined to deliver a subpoenaed document. DOJ will not take action. The House should commence impeachment proceedings.
I wouldn’t say may, we can already say did. Well, I can.
You keep parsing those funny little probabilities that never turn out to be anything but absolute in our face facts.
Hey, hey, who got shot today?
https://www.gunviolencearchive.org/last-72-hours
David P. Benson, here’s a doozy.
“A Louisiana man has been charged with aggravated assault and battery after shooting at children who had been playing hide and seek outside his home, striking a 14-year-old girl, officials said.”
https://apnews.com/article/hide-seek-shooting-louisiana-girl-neighbor-b59a1232f3fd309e1afd02174026fad7
David, it might be time to ban cars and metro bus service. Buses appear to have very high rates of morbidity and mortality. What is the condition of your broom?
Do try to avoid cities run by Democrat mayors who likely should have their Federal and State fundings stripped given their high death rates, particularly for minorities. Clearly those mayors are racists.
SUV driver hits crowd at Texas bus stop near border; 8 dead
https://apnews.com/article/bus-stop-crash-migrants-dead-shelter-border-2a84f53e5981fc0d315d290b0961f793
BROWNSVILLE, Texas (AP) — Police are preparing to arrest the hospitalized driver of an SUV that slammed into a crowd, killing eight people waiting for a bus Sunday outside a migrant shelter in the border city of Brownsville, Texas. At least 10 others were injured, authorities said.
A reprise: you are an idiot and contribute very little of value to these conversations. Guns do indeed inflict violence, that is the point. *PEOPLE* have to pull the trigger, otherwise they just sit there, inert. Take a look at who is pulling the trigger. I know you won’t, not honestly. If the trolls and comment bombers here were not a thing, the comments would be one page long every day. 🙄🙄
James,
Now if they would offer something of substance, like why is it 6 US cities, all Democrat ran, made the top 50 MOST dangerous cities in the WORLD?
What is it about places like Portland OR, San Fran CA, NYC all have some of the highest crime rates, drug use, homelessness?
Oh, wait, that is right. They have soft on crime DAs, in the past were-pro-defund the police and defund the police policies. And, of course, Democrat controlled or ran.
Awesome.
And they want to spread that hot mess to everyone else. Is it not a wonder so many of those who can flee those places do and for states like FL and TX?
Farmer UpThere — Brownsviille TX just mentioned above. But also Allen TX mass shooting. And do look through the statistics: Is TX dangereous?
And yet people are fleeing to TX.
Why is that?
If you think there is somewhere in this world or in America that is not dangerous, you might want to rethink that through.
Try this one:
‘We’re just asking to be safe’: H Street bar owner robbed three times asking for safety
https://wjla.com/news/local/burglaries-dc-crime-were-just-asking-to-be-safe-h-street-corridor-bar-owner-robbed-three-times-asking-for-safety-councilmember-charles-allen-adam-kelinsky-owner-of-the-pursuit-wine-bar-kitchen-commanders-running-back-brian-robinson-jr-senator-rand-paul
Farmer — because people like the bug life?
https://www.newsnationnow.com/us-news/southwest/americans-moving-texas-why/#:~:text=(NewsNation)%20—%20More%20Americans%20are,people%20—%20second%20only%20to%20California.
🙂
@Upstate
Indeed. Nothing to add.
Bladed instruments, too, which are the preferred weapon of homicidal Choice… uh, choice.
Here is a fun one,
Arizona Gov Hobbs criticizes Biden administration’s post-Title 42 plan, ‘unprepared’
https://justthenews.com/government/security/arizona-arizona-gov-hobbs-criticizes-biden-administrations-post-title-42-plan
Upstate Farmer, after all their self-congratulatory virtue signaling about illegal immigration being a human right, all it took was illegal immigrants coming to Democrat enclaves to change their tune. Even the NYC major is panicked. It was easy for people to condemn conservatives in border states who complained about school performance plummeting, higher crime, small businesses closing because they could not compete with illegals working under the table, and so on. Yet within minutes of a few bus loads of illegals showing up in their own towns, they called the National Guard.
Republicans REFUSE to do anything to pass immigration reform. Under US law, people are allowed to seek asylum, which is what all of these tens of thousands of people who show up every day are doing. They don’t look like they’re starving or the victims of abuse. They want to come here because here is better than Guatamala, Venezuela and other S. American countries they are from. We have better schools, hospitals, and way of life, but we can’t take in all of Venezuela, Guatamala, Honduras or any other countries. Once they get established here in massive numbers, they will have enough to take over. Democrats are not to blame–they’ve tried to curb migration, but Republicans are using this as a political weapon. But, until Republicans get on board to do something to limit these people from coming here, there’s little Biden can legally do. Under current US law, there is a right to seek asylum. That needs to change. Instead of sending 1,500 National Guards, we should send 1,500 buses to send them all back–24 hours a day, 7 days a week–back to Venezuela, Guatamala, whereever. We should ship all of them back to where they came from, which would send a message that you can’t just decide you want to live in America and show up claiming to be entitled to asylum. We could also enlist Mexico’s help to refuse them entry too but they’d want money. They have to go through Mexico to get here. But, so long as Republicans think they can score political points by leveraging this crisis, nothing will change.
It’s not “illegal immigration” to seek asylum. Under US law, there is a right to seek asylum. Republicans refuse to try to work on a solution because they think they can score political points with this crisis that they helped create and are prolonging.
Ike ran Operation Wet back.
Now we have liars and fools in charge. Blaming republicans is a really twisted mind trick.
Nobody is going to send them back. Trump ran in on it, said it, “They have to go back” – and as you know, Trump was opposed on everything no matter what.
What we have is a new brown 3rd world hole emerging. As they promote their hate whitey, white genocide, white replacement, CRT, reparations, equity for non whites, and on and on, all the crybaby liar demoncrats scream shut up about it as they promote it. The tribe pushes it immensely, due to their own fears and cowardices and corruptions. They’re never going to take their equity hit, as 2000 percent over representation is par for the course, or an understatement.
I don’t know what the breaking point is, but we clearly see every minority stronghold utterly broken, as white flight proceeds relentlessly.
Now everyone scream racist so you can get your halo points on your dumb skullcap. You may do so, but you won’t be moving into minority central, EVER. If it even encroaches your “to the moment” alive space, you are horrified.
None of this garbage works. The government keeps doubling down on it though, publicly the demoncrats have made it their party priority in every single address and statement everywhere. If their entire party got charged with sedition and treason I would applaud.
Since the government has also attacked childbirth and families and religious progeny and males for decades now, since the infamous hippy revolution, we don’t replace or grow our traditional population.
So this will continue, as biden said, relentlessly, a good thing, replacing white people who will be a minority going forward forever, as mayorkas smirked sitting next to him, and now makes certain the tribe continues it’s plan at high speed.
Operation Wet back is never coming back. Eisenhower is a ghost. Just imagine that flying today, oh no, the screaming would be unbelievable.
I believe it’s going to break to pieces. Replacement won’t work correctly. The new people hate the old doctrines and laws and rules and ways of doing things, and very often have outsized foreign interests they hold dear instead. Of course they do. That’s why two citizen USA parents are required at the time of birth to become a President according to the Constitution and accessible USA history. Obama was illegal. They did it anyway.
That’s how it’s going to go. That’s what we currently see. More and more direct crime from the top out in the open and praised.
It’s all swirling the drain, the question is when is autoflush going to initiate. Maybe never. I suppose the gated communities can continue for a very long time. Congress (Nancy the demoncrat) already erects their public barriers without the slightest guilt. They do their illegal legal attacks on the non woke with impunity, the WHITES. People talk of two Americas and creating your own community from the bottom up, but that will just be another gated enclave.
It’s all so exciting isn’t it.
42,000 KILLED BY “ASSAULT” CARS ANNUALLY!
DB says nary a word.
DB has great empathy with the few people illegally murdered by heinous criminals bearing firearms.
DB has no sympathy for the thousands, nay, millions killed cumulatively by those pesky cars.
BAN CARS!
Gun violence? Democrats killing democrats with non-rifles of any kind is about 95% of who is getting murdered everyday.
If you want to throw suicides in there, drugs and booze are way more deadly to suiciders.
But if you are a tiny minority trying to run roughshod over the rights of the majority for no damned good reason other than greed and narcissism, guns are a threat, and rightfully so. Those so threatened are why we have the 2nd to begin with.
They are also aligned with the blinkens on the world.
Just say it like it is. It’s mostly the blacks in demoncrat controlled ghettos and the the hispanics, same M O – their gang bangers and wild male youths in the drug infested crapholes the demoncrats have run for decades. That’s the 90 percent of it all.
Somehow the crypts and the bloods are not national news stories daily anymore. We rarely hear ms13 anymore.
Now they like covering up the store lootings. Tucker showed it. LOL
So they got rid of him.
It’s the diversity that is the exact opposite of our strength. The Hart Cellar Act in 1965 with the lying drunkard murdering philanderer ted kennedy pushing it was the death knell of the USA.
Sure we haughtily used brain drain from the entire world for along time before that, but at that point in ’65 the demoncrats decided destroying the USA was a good thing. So they’ve done it, and pushed it ever more in every area imaginable.
About guns:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/09/opinion/allen-texas-shooting-guns.html
Progressive Staffer Carrying Gun Illegally Shot And Killed By Fellow Campaigner In Philadelphia
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/one-staffer-shoots-kills-another-while-campaigning-philadelphia-democratic-org
They were canvassing for the same person!
It is not the guns, it is the stupidity.
Really? They expect a subpoena to be obeyed? They are just following the fine examples Republicans set just a couple of years ago, heck it was not even that long ago.
I don’t remember Turley ever criticizing Republicans who refused congressional subpoenas. They too chose to ignore them. Why should this be any different?Remember, it was republicans who set the new precedent of ignoring subpoenas.
I wish them luck. I am doubtful of any outcome without the other branches and the spineless Dems that occupy it. They are selfish and they are cowards. Would be too chicken sheet to do the right thing if the fate of the world depended on it.
A question for the Left/Democrats…..Had it been President Trump that had done exactly what President Biden did in authorizing/ordering the Afghanistan Evacuation and exactly the same events transpired….and they had been in control o f the House and Senate….what would they have done then and afterwards? I am willing to bet it would have been Impeachment 3.0.
So why are they so reluctant to see this investigated today? Pure sordid partisan politics is my answer!
What was President Biden told by his advisors….General Milley (Chairman of the Joint Chiefs), Anthony Blinken (Secretary of State), Head of the CIA whoever that was at the time,…..what did they tell Biden?
Did Biden make an informed decision or not.
In the time. Biden was in Office as President….what did the PDB’s contain re Afghanistan, what did the many Intelligence Briefs contain, exactly how did we arrive at such an unmitigated disaster in Afghanistan?
Remember it took Twenty Years for us to LOSE that War at great cost to our Military in Lives lost, cost to the Treasury, and loss to our National Prestige…..and NO ONE saw it happening….for twenty years to include Bush, Obama, Trump,, and Biden…..really?
None of them were told by any of their advisors that the War was going bad and the Taliban was winning….really?
Holding those who failed to tell t he truth then and those refusing to tell the truth today accountable must be the highest priority we have.
People lied and good Men and Women died…..they are still lying today or trying to escape from telling the truth…..both abhorrent to a free just society.
Ralph, no. Because that would not have been an impeachable offense. However it would still have gotten the same criticism that Biden got which is why Trump chose not to follow thru on HIS plan when Biden would be forced to. Trump set the stage after making multiple claims that he would withdraw troops from Afghanistan long before Biden actually withdrew troops. Trump was all talk, but he was clearly not wanting to face the consequences of acting on his promises. He let the next administration handle the hard and messy part. At least Biden go it done because Trump was too afraid to do it himself.
“…which is why Trump chose not to follow thru on HIS plan…Trump was all talk, but he was clearly not wanting to face the consequences of acting on his promises.”
Svelaz, I seem to recall that Trump believed he would win the election, ergo, he would follow through on his plans?
Lin, he didn’t believe he would win. He believed he won the election. He still holds that view that he is the rightful winner. Despite all the evidence to the contrary.
He lied about winning. Ergo he lied about wanting to withdraw troops from Afghanistan. He waited for Biden to do it for him and lay blame if he failed or claim credit if he succeeded. Remember, Trump loved to claim credit for Obama’s successes with the economy and often claimed them as his own.
Look at this idiot contradict himself from one sentence to the next.
“He {Trump} believed he won the election.”
“He lied about winning.”
If Trump believed something is can’t be a lie.
Get a dictionary.
Get an education.
Stop lying.
hey svelaz, did you have to look up the word ergo? Now you have another to add to your new life.
Svelaz, you are a fool. Trump acted and when the Taliban started trouble he bombed them. They were quiet for 18 months. Then Biden came in and the death toll rose including American troops. You are ignorant of the facts.
I agree. I saw no push back at all when Trump claimed not a single American was killed in Afghanistan for X amount of time under his watch.
I believe the mafia biden dons sold off the military gear before the deadly retreat – kickbacks and deals – a bunch stuffing their pockets from the top down. Nothing else makes any sense. Now they continue in various fashion in Ukraine. Looting.
Shak, we agree, but how am I to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with a person professing anti-Semitism? Do you realize many of those that have an agreement with you are Jewish? Do you know that you can always find a few bad apples in any group? What do the other apples in the bag have to say about the bad apples?
Are you anti-Black? Anti-Latino? Anti-brown from India and elsewhere? Are you anti-Asian?
Do you judge a person by his character or his color? Race? Religion? To do the latter is pretty superficial, don’t you think?
Keep babbling , I’m sure the lib wokers love for it. Maybe your brain is fried.
“Keep babbling “
Do you know what babbling is? Apparently not. Your babbling is hate without knowledge or reason. Express your hatred with fact and logic. Go ahead and insult where it is justified. Tell us! But stop babbling.
Tony Blinken will be successful in stonewalling the release of the dissent cable because AG Merrick Garland, with the loyal assistance of Chris Wray’s Cheka agents, will refuse to do anything to Blinken. No arrest on the tarmac at Dulles International. No seizure of Blinken’s cell phones. Nothing. And after that little escapade, President Biden will award Blinken the Presidential Medal of Freedom for “saving democracy”. Congressional subpoenas don’t apply to Democrats.
Blinken overtakes Kerry as the worst Secretary of State in Modern History. A pretty high (or low bar given HRC and Albright were pretty horrible as well). Blinken wins for his dirty political tricks. One is compelled to used the word “scumbag” when it comes to Blinken
Here in Doublestandardstan Blinken will not suffer by being held in contempt because he is (D)ifferent. When you control the DOJ like Joe Stalin you never have to worry.
Doublestandardstan? Mmmm….republicans set the standard and ironically they are being followed by the next administration. Republicans constantly ignored committee subpoenas. They are just following their fine examples. Can’t be a double standard if they are following the same standard Republicans set in the first place.
Republicans go to prison for contempt and/or lying to Congress, Dems get the Lois Lehrner, Clapper, Comey treatment.
So Eric Holder was republican? Go figure.
Anonymous, you just made my point, moron. Holder was held in contempt AND NOTHING HAPPENED TO HIM. Wow, great analytical skills you have there.
HullBobby,
There is that fact.
He was held in contempt. That IS something isn’t it? Not enough for you?
LOL – Is that like the whiners who claim they got a letter in their file ? Their fake reputation smeared ? LOL
This is what we get from the demoncrats. “I’ll have to live with that murder on my conscience for the rest of my life.” Thus, the demoncrats let them go and claim they have suffered enough. It’s an ironic in our faces SNL skit with Monty Python overtones, but demoncrats call it their governing philosophy – they get off scott free for horrible crimes even murder, while innocent political opponents of their gets smeared, lawfared, incarcerated with no trial and no bail often no accusations, and then railroaded with criminal misconduct of the courts and DA’s.
I am remaking Reagan’s statement. Never trust a demoncrat, you can never verify anything they claim to do, want, or say.
Well, yes, being “held in contempt” and “going to jail” are not exactly the same.
[… “W]hether Blinken and the Administration really want to test this in court”.
“Quod licet Iovi, non licet bovi”! For example:
1. Steve Bannon: Found guilty by a Federal Jury of unlawfully defying a subpoena issued by the January 6th Committee. Currently stayed pending appeals process.
2. Lois Lerner: Found in contempt for her role in the 2013 IRS matter and refusal to testify. After IRS placed Lerner on paid administrative leave, formally resigned, and retired from the IRS, effective 9/23/13. DoJ found no evidence to support criminal prosecution. Peter Kadzik [1] (Assistant AG for Legislative Affairs) wrote to Chairman Senator Bob Goodlatte (R-VA): “We found no evidence that any IRS official acted based on political, discriminatory, corrupt, or other inappropriate motives that would support a criminal prosecution” [2]
3. Eric Holder became 1st AG in US history to be held in both criminal and civil[ contempt. DOJ IG Michael Horowitz [3] cleared Holder.
[1] For more information search for: “Hillary Clinton John Podesta Peter Kadzik”
[2] https://www.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/IRS1023.pdf
[3] https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-112hhrg76369/html/CHRG-112hhrg76369.htm
Bannon isn’t a jew or a demoncrat so no free opt out there.
Holder is black so a jew cleared him.
The other jews get off the hook.
It’s not just D’s that go free, the tribers do to.
How nice that you wear your anti-Semitism on your sleeve, so everyone knows.
LOL. Stating obvious facts is your woke sin huh ?
Hullbobby, that’s no way to treat members of your side. Be nice. They too deserve a voice in your party, right?
Hey, Svelaz, the dishonest one, the “assumer”, I’m not in your party or theirs, and never have been. Neither of you have a chance, ever. I’ve had you party hacks pegged since day one. You all share a growing nose.
Now, if you have a factual rebuttal on my points, I’d love to see it.
Because I’ve seen what I said confirmed hundreds of times.
Take the last 100 articles here and check any yourself.
Go ahead, any of you. I’d love to see you try.
Who said I was on your side ? Who said you’re worthy of being on mine ? You sound like a woke liberal.
It would be nice if you had a factual rebuttal to my observations, but of course you do not, since I tell the truth.
You side with the anti-Semites, so we know you are on the side of racists. Congratulations. It means that superficially you might make sense, but deep down, you are a half-witted racist.
CK the Bannon case is unique. Demonstrating the problem.
Bannon – unlike nearly everyone else discussed was a private citizen. He did not work for the Government.
He was subpeona’s by the J6 committee, he refused to comply citing executive privilege.
Rather than letting the house litigate that claim – the normal process, with Bannon being held in contempt IF and only if a court decided that Bannon was fully obligated to comply with the subpeana, the Biden admin jumped to an unusual criminal prosecution.
There is a reason that is NEVER done. Subpeano’s are one of the most egregiously exparte process that we have.
There is nothing wrong with that. It works towards the efficient gathering of information in proceedings.
But it is also why on its face failure to comply with a subpeona can not EVER be a crime.
To elevate a refusal to deliver on a subpeona to a crime – there must be an adversarial process – the subbpeona MUST be tested in a court.
That happens all the time. And the norm is that one party brings its subpeona to a court, and the other party brings its objections – and the court sorts it out.
Remember that even a warrant – another exparte means of acquiring information. requires a judge to sign off, and it requires the party seeking the warrant to offer all exculpatory information – they rarely do, but they are still legally obligated to and could in theory be punished for failing to.
Further when a party moves to enforce a subpeona – there is no legal presumption they will get whatever they want.
The normal process in court is to define the parameters of the subpeana. The normal result is the subpeona is narrowed or more rarely thrown out.
It is rare that the court just says carte blanche the moving party can have whatever it wants.
This is ESPECIALLY True when the non-moving party is private. The 4th and 5th amendments apply to private parties.
To Bannon. The govenrment can not just demand whatever it wants from a private party.
Conversely Government has no rights at all – much less 4th and 5th amendment ones.
Blinken as a private individual has the right to say no to government demands for his private papers.
Blinken as Sec State does not. Congress has pretty much unlimited access to the information of the executive branch.
“He was subpeona’s by the J6 committee, he refused to comply citing executive privilege.
Rather than letting the house litigate that claim – the normal process, with Bannon being held in contempt IF and only if a court decided that Bannon was fully obligated to comply with the subpeana, the Biden admin jumped to an unusual criminal prosecution.”
It wasn’t the Biden administration that “jumped to an unusual criminal prosecution.” Bannon claimed executive privilege AFTER his lawyer accepted the subpoena.
“Amerling said Robert Costello, who represented Bannon at the time, accepted the subpoena from the committee and did not ask for an extension or claim not to have the documents sought by the committee.
After the document deadline passed, Costello told the committee that Bannon was claiming his documents and testimony would be protected under executive privilege since he was an adviser for Trump. Amerling said the committee viewed Bannon as a private citizen.”
…”On the executive privilege claims, Corcoran asked Amerling if Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson had explored reaching out to Trump to try to reach an agreement on Bannon’s cooperation. Amerling testified that Thompson did not because Trump had not made any formal or informal attempts to claim executive privilege over Bannon’s testimony or documents.
The prosecution claims that executive privilege is not a defense for contempt. While Bannon intimated before the start of his trial that he is now willing to testify before the Jan. 6 committee, the government says such testimony would not override his prior failure to comply.”
He was jerking the committee around and he knew it. Only when it became clear that they were serious about holding him in contempt did he agree to abide by it. But it was already too late.
“The committee’s response, signed by Representative Thompson, asserted that case law did not support the executive privilege claim. Thompson then warned Bannon, Amerling testified, that if he failed to comply, the committee would view it as “willful noncompliance with the subpoena” and that noncompliance would force the committee to consider invoking contempt of Congress procedures, including a referral to the Department of Justice for criminal charges.”
Bannon was given plenty of opportunities to comply and he WAS required to comply. He could have just shown up and if he didn’t want to answer certain questions he could have invoked the 5th.
Svelaz – you say:
“It wasn’t the Biden administration that “jumped to an unusual criminal prosecution.” Bannon claimed executive privilege AFTER his lawyer accepted the subpoena.”
Are you saying that if an attorney accepts service of a subpoena that all claims of priviege are waived? Please tell me the legal authority for that assertion.
“Bannon claimed executive privilege AFTER his lawyer accepted the subpoena.”
Again you are clueless. That is irrelevant.
There is no legally significant act of “accepting” a subpeona.
Though people do, you are not allowed to “duck” a subpeona.
I have issued many subpeona’s – some to lawyers.
They have ALL been “accepted”.
Though it does happen – I have never had one challenged.
I have had the party subpoena’d contact me to discuss what i really wanted.
And we have negotiated what I would accept. The language of a subpeona is usually broad.
But what is actually sought is usually not.
I have also had people ignore subpeona’s or respond in ways that obviously did not comply.
When that occurs the burden is on the subpeonaing party to go to court to ask for enforcement of the subpeona.
I would further note that it is often valueable to subpeona something that you do not want or need.
It is often very useful to have the subpeona’d party fail to comply and NOT seek performance from the court.
Generally if one party subpeona’s something and the other fails to provide something that was subpeona’d,
the subpeonad party can no use what they failed to provide later in court. Further, the failure to comply with a subpeona, can result in a finding of fact that what was subpeona’d but not provided was damaging.
Regardless, a person can “accept” a subpeona, fully comply, partially comply, negotiate, have negotiations break down, fail to comply, and the burden to seek performance STILL rests on the party issuing the subpeona.
Only judges can order you to comply with a subpeona, and impose sanctions if you do not.
And they can not do so exparte.
It is likely that had the J6 committee gone to court they would have gotten an order against Bannon to comply.
Though there is a the complex issue that I do not think we have EVER had a president fail to defend a prior presidents claim of exectuive privilege before.
Trump defended Obama claims of priviledge on Cases that Trump wanted Obama to lose.
But absent doing so DOJ erred in bringing a criminal case – DOJ does not have the power to seek the enforcement of a congressional subpeona, or the power to seek sanctions until the court has ordered compliance.
You are giving more power and authority to a subpeona than a Warrant.
Even a Warrant requires that a judge must sign off on it.
Subpeona’s are issued by parties, They do not even have to be by lawyers.
If subpeona’s worked as you wish – law enforcement would quit getting warrants and just subpeona evidence.
You never think about the ramifactions if the law actually worked as you claim.
With respect to the rest of your argument – it is irrelevant.
Every single congressional committee that ever was has believed that claims of executive privilege are bogus.
No congressional committee EVER has had the power to determine that on its own.
Only courts can adjudicate claims of executive priviledge. And they must do so BEFORE someone can be found in contempt.
While many administrations have made broad claims of executive priviledge the narrowest possible version of exectuive priviledge applies to advice given directly to a president.
There is no requirement that advice come from a government employee.
Presidents frequently seek the advice of private citizens, and that advice is covered by executive priviledge.
Executive priviledge is the priviledge of the president – not the advisor.
Executive priviledge is not a defense against contempt, it is a defense against a subpeona.
And there can be no actual contempt until the claim of privilege is settled by a court.
You keep getting this wrong all over the place.
Even your claim that there was no priviledge because Trump had not asserted priviledge – still must be determined by a court.
Your on the wrong side of a separation of powers issue.
“He was jerking the committee around and he knew it.”
So ? Whether you like it or not people are allowed to be jerks.
This is again a reflection of your stupid attempts to convert legal actions into illegal conduct based on your view of bad intentions.
Do you understand that YOUR idiotic view of the law would allow congressional committees to issue completely illegal and unconstitutional subpeona’s with unreasonable deadlines, hold people in contempt and then charge them with crimes ?
Congress does not have totalitarian powers. It must go through courts.
There is generally NOTHING that one branch of government can do that does not require atleast on other branch of government. DOJ can only prosecute the crimes defined by legislation from congress. The executive can only enforce laws enacted by congress. Congress can go to court when it can not get voluntary compliance. It can not BE the court.
The only time that congress can act as a court – is in an impeachment trial – and then only the Senate, and only after the house has impeached and only with the Chief Justice of the supreme court presiding.
A committee of the house of representative can not unilaterally decide what its own powers are, nor unilaterally decide what the constitution entitles it to.
Bannon is free to be a jerk, to raise ludicrously stupid claims, The J6 committee was still constitutionally regquired to go to court to enforce the subpeana BEFORE they could claim contempt.
I would further note that you. the left, and the J6 committee have just set a very dangerous precedent.
Executive branch Witnesses to house comittees have made a wide variety of claims to refuse to provide documents or to answer questions. I would note the only fully legitimate claim is executive priviledge. And the courts tend to read that narrowly. Refusing to answer questions regarding an ongoing investigation is NOT a privilege against congressional inquiry.
What is true – and established law, is that if Congress compells DOJ/FBI/… to answer and that prejudices the defendant in a criminal case – that defendant could get their case thrown out. The right to silence about an ongoing prosecution is a civil right of a criminal defendant NOT law enforcement. Government does not have rights it has powers.
Based on your bizzare interpretation of the law – the House can hold Garland, Wray and any Executive branch member who failed to answer any question or provide any document in contempt and demand they be prosecuted.
YOUR agrument is that a congressional committee gets to unilaterally decide what constitutes complisance with a subpeana and what constitutes criminal contempt.
Do you really want house republicans with that power ?
How are you going to stop them ?
You made a bunch of arguments regarding why Bannon’s claims were false.
But those arguments were decided by the J6 committee – not a court.
“The committee’s response, signed by Representative Thompson, asserted that case law did not support the executive privilege claim. ”
Is Thompson a currently sitting federal Judge ? then he does not have the power to decide what is and is not supported by caselaw. He is fully entitled to go to court and try to persuade a court he is correct. But the decision what is and is not the law and particularly case law rests with the courts – not the J6 committee, not even DOJ.
“Thompson then warned Bannon, Amerling testified, that if he failed to comply, the committee would view it as “willful noncompliance with the subpoena” and that noncompliance would force the committee to consider invoking contempt of Congress procedures, including a referral to the Department of Justice for criminal charges.”
Absolutely – Thompson claimed for himself and hi committee powers that are exclusive to the judiciary.
Judges desice whether warrants should be issued. Judges decide whether subpeona’s are valid as well as their valid extents.
Congress goes to court CONSTANTLY to enforce subpeona’s. They have NEVER before skipped the step ofgetting a court to rule that the subpeona is enforceable, prior to a criminal referal or a finding of contempt.
Regardless, I fully expect you to be here argument exactly as I am – should Jordan or Commer decide to act as Thompson has.
As is typical of those of you on he left – you never think of the consequences of winning an argument that you should lose.
This is not about Bannon. It is about the rule of law.
“Bannon was given plenty of opportunities to comply”
So what ? that is not the standard.
What was occuring was the typical games that get played with congress – all the time.
We are seeing the same games played right now by the Biden admin.
Congressional committees want what they demand as quickly as possible, and those they demand that information of often want to delay as long as possible, that conflict often ends up in court, where almost always the court finds for Congress,
but the attempt to delay – succeeds by forcing congress to have to go to court.
Bannon was attempting to run out the clock on the Democratic House.
He is allowed to try and do that. Whether he succeeds or not depends on how quickly the courts act.
“he WAS required to comply.”
Correct, but it is not a crime until a court rejects his claims and orders him to comply.
“He could have just shown up and if he didn’t want to answer certain questions he could have invoked the 5th.”
He had already claimed executive privilege, he could not take the 5th.
You seem to think that claiming the 5th is a genera bar to testifying. It is not. You can only claim the 5th as a protection against self incrimination. If you use it simply to refuse to answer, that would be a crime. Possibly perjury.
Blah blah blah blah trump blah blah trump trump blah blah blah blah worse blah blah blah trump blah blah blah republicans blah blah blah MAGA blah blah blah.
Where are the subpoena requests related to the U.S. entry into Yemen and Ukraine? Yerah, those are still producing ROIs for the war pigs, so we’ll have to temper our outrage until after those projects are complete.
Yeah, Blinken may be hiding something, but there aren’t many (any) in the Congressional Foreign Affairs Committees who aren’t, too.
The terrible irony typifying the backslide of America with Biden in charge: It is OK to leak the contents of a cable subject to a congressional subpoena request to the WSJ but the Biden Administration seeks to prevent Congress from seeing the contents? Those contents were generated by federal employees for federal government employees and dealt with a situation that resulted in loss of life, injury and massive costs that involved those same federal employees. Oversight and decency demand Biden officials turn the document over to Congress.
“Waiting for any sign of Blinken.” Good one! A little awkward but worth it.
Further News from 5/8/2023. NY Post banned from White House press event on Monday 5/8/2023. Can’t imagine why.
GEB,
But this is the most transparent WH admin, ever!
And the adults are back in the room!
(sarc off)
They give patients with dementia a bad rap
Only the Deaf, Dumb, and Blind could not have foreseen the disaster that was Afghanistan. Anybody above the rank of recruit could see it happening. Actually I think it was the most humiliating act performed by the United State since Saigon 1975. All the CCP has to do is run a video in front our our allies and make them think “that could be us”. Although he was a young senator in 1975, Joe Biden was very loud about the democratic congress blocking the requested funds that President Ford needed to go to the aid of South Vietnam. Seems to have learned nothing.
Blinken sort of reminds me of Winston Churchill’s comment about Clement Attlee. “An empty car drove up and Clement Attlee got out.”
Don’t forget these lies too.
2020-12-22-Blinken Interview with Exhibits
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjvje7omuj-AhWmq4QIHYJvAzsQFnoECA4QAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.hsgac.senate.gov%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fimo%2Fmedia%2Fdoc%2F2020-12-22-Blinken%2520Interview%2520with%2520Exhibits%2520-%2520updated%2520-%2520reduced.pdf&usg=AOvVaw0WdkIDT8aYNoPfIY4QXD3S