#most corrupt members of congress list

[ivankahasbeentreatedsounfairly]

By The Editorial Board

The editorial board is a group of opinion journalists whose views are informed by expertise, research, debate and certain longstanding values. It is separate from the newsroom.

Nov. 14, 2024

Donald Trump has demonstrated his lack of fitness for the presidency in countless ways, but one of the clearest is in the company he keeps, surrounding himself with fringe figures, conspiracy theorists and sycophants who put fealty to him above all else. This week, a series of cabinet nominations by Mr. Trump showed the potential dangers posed by his reliance on his inner circle in the starkest way possible.

For three of the nation’s highest-ranking and most vital positions, Mr. Trump said he would appoint loyalists with no discernible qualifications for their jobs, people manifestly inappropriate for crucial positions of leadership in law enforcement and national security.

The most irresponsible was his choice for attorney general. To fill the post of the nation’s chief law enforcement officer, the president-elect said he would nominate Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida.

Yes, that Matt Gaetz.

The one who called for the abolishment of the F.B.I. and the entire Justice Department if they didn’t stop investigating Mr. Trump. The one who was among the loudest congressional voices in denying the results of the 2020 election, who said he was “proud of the work” that he and other deniers did on Jan. 6, 2021, and who praised the Capitol rioters as “patriotic Americans” who had no intention of committing violence. The one whose move to oust Speaker Kevin McCarthy in 2023 paralyzed his own party’s leadership of the House for nearly a month.

Mr. Gaetz, who submitted his letter of resignation from Congress on Wednesday after his nomination was announced, was the target of a yearslong federal sex-trafficking investigation that led to an 11-year prison term for one of his associates, though he denied any involvement. The Justice Department closed that investigation, but the House Ethics Committee is still looking into allegations of sexual misconduct, illicit drug use, improper acceptance of gifts and obstruction of government investigations of his conduct. Kevin McCarthy, the former House speaker, blamed Mr. Gaetz for his ouster, on the grounds that Mr. Gaetz “wanted me to stop an ethics complaint because he slept with a 17-year-old.”

This is the man Mr. Trump has selected to lead the 115,000-person agency that he has called the most important in the federal government, a position whose enforcement role could cause the most trouble for any president with corrupt intent. Even for Mr. Trump, it was a stunning demonstration of his disregard for basic competence and government experience, and of his duty to lead the executive branch in a sober and patriotic way. It will now be up to the Senate to say he has gone too far and reject this nomination.

Mr. Trump’s list of appointments is just getting started but already includes two other unqualified nominations that he announced this week: former Representative Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence, and Pete Hegseth to be secretary of defense.

Ms. Gabbard, who previously represented Hawaii in the House and regularly appears on Fox News, is not only devoid of intelligence experience but has repeatedly taken positions in direct opposition to American foreign policy and national security interests. She has appeared on several occasions to side with strongmen like President Vladimir Putin of Russia and President Bashar al-Assad in Syria.

Mr. Hegseth, a co-host of “Fox & Friends,” is perhaps even more unqualified, given the gravity — not to mention the budget — of the post he would assume. He enjoys some support from enlisted service members and veterans, but outside of serving two tours as an Army infantryman in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as time in Guantánamo Bay, Mr. Hegseth has no experience in government or national defense.

“He’s never run a big institution, much less one of the largest and most hidebound on the planet,” the editorial board of The Wall Street Journal wrote Wednesday. “He has no experience in government outside the military, and no small risk is that the bureaucracy will eat him alive.” The board went on to call Mr. Hegseth a “culture warrior” at a time when there are much bigger security issues for the Pentagon to be focused on.

It’s far from certain Mr. Hegseth could even obtain the security clearances required for the job. He has said he was one of a dozen National Guard members removed from service at President Biden’s inauguration in 2021 because of concerns that he was an extremist — possibly because of a tattoo he wears that is popular among white supremacists.

These are some of the most consequential roles in government, protecting the country from military and terrorist threats, investigating domestic criminal conspiracies, and prosecuting thousands of federal crimes every year. Yet to fill them Mr. Trump has resorted to people whose only eligibility for office is an apparent willingness to say yes to his every demand.

Mr. Gaetz in particular has joined Mr. Trump in expressing a commitment to exacting vengeance against anyone they believe has done them wrong. Mr. Trump began his campaign by saying “I am your retribution,” and Mr. Gaetz broadcasts nothing so much as that. He has no business leading an agency with the role of combating crime, fraud, violations of civil rights and threats to national security, among many other things.

In Mr. Trump’s first term, the department was protected by career prosecutors and other civil servants who understood that their primary obligation was to the dictates of the Constitution, not to the whims of the president. But Mr. Trump has promised to purge people like that from his second administration.

The possibility of extreme appointments like these was the reason the Constitution gives the Senate the right to refuse its consent to a president’s wishes. Last week, Republicans won control of the chamber. Now they will be confronted with an immediate test: Will they stand up for the legislative branch and for the American system of checks and balances? Two Republican senators, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine, have already expressed strong skepticism of Mr. Gaetz’s nomination, and others have declined to express their support.

Mr. Trump clearly expects the Senate to simply roll over and ignore its responsibilities. He wants to turn the leaders of major important agencies into his deputies, remaking the federal government into a Trump Inc. organization chart entirely subordinate to him. He recently demanded that the Senate give him the ability to make recess appointments, a way of bypassing the Senate’s consent process when the chamber is adjourned for 10 days or more.

Even Republican senators refused to consent to that demand during his first term, to preserve their constitutional role, and on Wednesday Senate Republicans voted to reject as their leader Rick Scott of Florida, who said he would have no problem allowing recess appointments. Instead they chose John Thune of South Dakota, who is far more likely to uphold his chamber’s right to refuse consent of president nominations.

In Mr. Trump’s second term, senators will immediately be confronted with an extreme set of appointments even worse than those of the first term. That makes all the more important that they preserve the ability to say no.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/14/opinion/editorials/matt-gaetz-nomination-senate.html

[aerial-jace]

I want to know what the politics in latin america are like currently, how are the elections there different and/or similar to the USA in guatemala, are you aware of whats going on in neighboring countries atm?

I am vaguely aware of Mexico and El Salvador but not too too much. Mexico's current government is a continuity government from a party that has been governing most of the 21st century. El Salvador is particularly notable for its strongman populist president who I'm told has been good for the violence problem but has also done more questionable stuff like making Bitcoin legal tender. (That was quite the novelty for me when I visited two years ago! All the signs saying "We accept Bitcoin here")

In Guatemala our election was just last year! We vote on 5 ballots:

President

Mayor

Regional District Congressmen

National List Congressmen

Representatives for PARLACEN (the Central American Parliament)

Presidentials are done with a run-off system. To win you need a simple majority of votes (50% + 1 vote), but you pretty much never get that on the first round of voting so the two top candidates go on to a second round about 2 months later.

Congress is decided on a party list proportional system. The country is divided into 23 electoral districts, representing the 22 departments + Guatemala City, and each is assigned a certain amount of congressmen based on population. These are distributed proportional to how many votes they got and then the parties assign the congressmen based on a list of all their potential candidates. There is additionally an electoral district that is voted on separately and which counts the whole country. This national list elects 32 congressmen, which at 160 congressmen total makes the national list 20% of the elected congressmen.

Mayor is pretty self explanatory.

And the most contentious is representatives to the Central American Parliament (PARLACEN). PARLACEN is supposed to be a forum for our countries to discuss diplomacy and formulate policies for international trade and cooperation. In practice they don't really, like, do anything. PARLACEN has a reputation for being a den of corrupt politicians who are only running because they want diplomatic immunity for 4 more years. Presidents of member countries (Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Panama, and the Dominican Republic) get a seat automatically after leaving office and that has always been super controversial.

In Guatemala this became particularly egregious in 2020 when outgoing President Jimmy Morales rushed his swearing in to office in order to shield himself from a lawsuit due to his mismanagement in office. Protestors were trying to prevent him from rushing into the PARLACEN building in Guatemala City so they could file the charges at the first hour of the morning. But he did end up managing to get sworn in and get legal immunity at the last minute.

For this reason a lot of the left here in Guatemala refuses to field candidates for PARLACEN and a pretty big portion of the population just intentionally spoils that ballot specifically.

Our current president is presiding over a 12+ party fractured government with a congressional minority. His party, Movimiento Semilla, is a center-left party who is focused on dismantling the corrupt structures of power more established politicians have already built. Their party has its beginnings in a protest movement that mobilized due to a corruption case in 2015 to demand the president and vice president to immediately resign. It has been an uphill battle and from his election the government tried every dirty trick they could to prevent him from taking power.

It's not been even a year since they have been in power, but I am optimistic about Movimiento Semilla so far. My biggest hope is that since they were electoral allies of the parties I support, the leftist indigenous rights coalition of Winaq and URNG Maíz, their growing support may spill over to them. I truly do think they are some of the very few principled people still in politics here.

[strictlyfavorites]

Quit trashing Obama's accomplishments. He has done more than any other President before him. Here is a list of his impressive accomplishments:

1. First President to be photographed smoking a joint.

2. First President to apply for college aid as a foreign student, then deny he was a foreigner.

3. First President to have a social security number from a state he has never lived in.

4. First President to preside over a cut to the credit-rating of the United States.

5. First President to violate the War Powers Act.

6. First President to be held in contempt of court for illegally obstructing oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.

7. First President to require all Americans to purchase a product from a third party.

8. First President to spend a trillion dollars on "shovel-ready" jobs when there was no such thing as "shovel-ready" jobs.

9. First President to abrogate bankruptcy law to turn over control of companies to his union supporters.

10. First President to by-pass Congress and implement the Dream Act through executive fiat.

11. First President to order a secret amnesty program that stopped the deportation of illegal immigrants across the U.S., including those with criminal convictions.

12. First President to demand a company hand-over $20 billion to one of his political appointees.

13. First President to tell a CEO of a major corporation (Chrysler) to resign.

14. First President to terminate America’s ability to put a man in space.

15. First President to cancel the National Day of Prayer and to say that America is no longer a Christian nation.

16. First President to have a law signed by an auto-pen without being present.

17. First President to arbitrarily declare an existing law unconstitutional and refuse to enforce it.

18. First President to threaten insurance companies if they publicly spoke out on the reasons for their rate increases.

19. First President to tell a major manufacturing company in which state it is allowed to locate a factory.

20. First President to file lawsuits against the states he swore an oath to protect (AZ, WI, OH, IN).

21. First President to withdraw an existing coal permit that had been properly issued years ago.

22. First President to actively try to bankrupt an American industry (coal).

23. First President to fire an inspector general of AmeriCorps for catching one of his friends in a corruption case.

24. First President to appoint 45 czars to replace elected officials in his office.

25. First President to surround himself with radical left wing anarchists.

26. First President to golf more than 150 separate times in his five years in office.

27. First President to hide his birth, medical, educational and travel records.

28. First President to win a Nobel Peace Prize for doing NOTHING to earn it.

29. First President to go on multiple "global apology tours" and concurrent "insult our friends" tours.

30. First President to go on over 17 lavish vacations, in addition to date nights and Wednesday evening White House parties for his friends paid for by the taxpayers.

31. First President to have personal servants (taxpayer funded) for his wife.

32. First President to keep a dog trainer on retainer for $102,000 a year at taxpayer expense.

33. First President to fly in a personal trainer from Chicago at least once a week at taxpayer expense.

34. First President to repeat the Quran and tell us the early morning call of the Azan (Islamic call to worship) is the most beautiful sound on earth.

35. First President to side with a foreign nation over one of the American 50 states (Mexico vs Arizona).

36. First President to tell the military men and women that they should pay for their own private insurance because they "volunteered to go to war and knew the consequences."

37. Then he was the First President to tell the members of the military that THEY were UNPATRIOTIC for balking at the last suggestion.

[posttexasstressdisorder]

Inside the 'irregular warfare' campaign fascists are conducting against America

Thom Hartmann

June 5, 2024 9:48AM ET

Trump lies that the guilty verdict against him — by a jury of his peers that his own attorneys picked — is an illegitimate, politically motivated show trial.

Trying to help Trump destroy Americans’ faith in our democracy and its justice system, Russian president Vladimir Putin’s spokesman today said of Trump’s trial:

“If we speak about Trump, the fact that there is simply the elimination, in effect, of political rivals by all possible means, legal and illegal, is obvious.”

Hungary’s dictator Viktor Orbán and Italy’s neofascist Deputy Prime Minister, Matteo Salvini, both also argued that Trump is the victim of political persecution.

Right wing media commentators and Republicans in Congress have leaped at the opportunity to echo Putin and Orbán.

This sort of propaganda is called “irregular warfare” (IW) — warfare by means outside of troops, bombs, navies, etc. — and the US used to be an expert at it. Typically, irregular warfare involves the use of propaganda, proxies, or people willing to betray their own country.

READ: Liberals are being way too cynical about Trump's conviction

Irregular warfare is part of how the US and western Europe brought down the Soviet Union (although that system also disintegrated from within under the weight of its own corruption and rot), with propaganda systems like the Voice of America, Radio Liberty, and Radio Free Europe.

A keen observer of this process was an irregular warfare leader based in East Germany at the time. Lieutenant Colonel Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin supervised spying and propaganda operations within East Germany until the fall of the Berlin Wall, when he moved to Moscow where, in 1999, he became the head of the Russian government and is now the longest-serving Russian leader since Stalin.

Having been on the receiving end of US and western European propaganda efforts, Putin dedicated himself to turning the tables on us, since the democratic example of America (and other western nations) is a thorn in his autocratic side. And he’s had considerable success, including helping get his man Trump into the White House where Donald then handed a western spy over to Putin’s Foreign Minister Lavrov in a secret Oval Office meeting during his first month in office.

Two months later, US intelligence had to pull another spy out of Russia because they had evidence Trump had given his name to Putin as well. Trump may well represent the single most successful irregular warfare program Putin has ever run against America.

On July 31, 2019, as Trump was ramping up his 2020 campaign, he had another of what by that time were more than 16 private, unrecorded conversations with Putin. The White House told Congress and the press that they discussed “wildfires” and “trade between the nations.” No droids in this car.

The following week, on August 2nd, The Daily Beast’s Betsy Swan reported that Trump had just asked the Office of the Director of National Intelligence for a list of all its employees (including all our “spies” across the world) who had worked there more than 90 days, and the request had intelligence officials experiencing “disquiet.”

Fourteen months later, The New York Timesran a story with the headline: “Captured, Killed or Compromised: C.I.A. Admits to Losing Dozens of Informants.” The CIA then alerted American spies around the world that their identities had probably been compromised, apparently by President Donald Trump himself.

Also in 2019, when the international press verified that Putin was paying the Taliban bounties to kill American service members in Afghanistan (and 4 had already died as a result), Trump refused to demand the practice stop, another possible sign that Putin ran him, not the other way around.

As The New York Times noted at the time:

“Mr. Trump defended himself by denying the Times report that he had been briefed on the intelligence... But leading congressional Democrats and some Republicans demanded a response to Russia that, according to officials, the administration has yet to authorize.”

Instead of stopping Putin from offering the bounties, Trump shut down every US airbase in Afghanistan except one (there were about a dozen), intentionally crippling incoming President Biden’s ability to extract US assets from that country in an orderly fashion.

Today, Republicans — particularly House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) and committee members Cory Mills (R-FL) and Michael Lawler (R-NY) — have used the resulting chaos and associated American and Afghan deaths as a political club to beat up President Biden.

Trump also took an axe to the Voice of America — an institution viscerally hated by Putin for half a century — appointing a rightwing hack and friend of Steve Bannon’s to run the organization, who promptly fired the heads of Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty and Radio Free Asia and shifted their coverage away from defense of democracies. According to The Washington Post:

“He ousted the diplomats and media professionals on oversight boards and replaced them with low-level Trumpists from other government agencies. … “Having driven off the American media professionals at VOA, Pack went after the more than 70 foreign journalists who work for the organization, refusing to support the renewal of their U.S. visas as they came up. He claimed to be acting for security reasons and insinuated, on no evidence, that some of the staff were spies. … Now, they are being forced to repatriate, in some cases at personal risk. A VOA report in late August said 15 were returning home and another 20 had visas that will expire by the end of the year. “They weren’t Pack’s only targets. He attempted to fire the board and cut off the funding of the Open Technology Fund, an organization that supports Internet freedom initiatives, such as tools to circumvent firewalls. A court blocked the firings, but the fund was forced to suspend 49 of its 60 projects. Among those affected were journalists and activists resisting government crackdowns in Hong Kong and in Belarus.”

The damage to the Voice of America continues to this day as most of Trump’s people are still there; just three months ago, The Hill ran an article titled “Putin’s influencers? Why is taxpayer-funded VOA spreading his propaganda?”

But Putin’s efforts at irregular warfare against the United States have extended far beyond his apparent manipulation of Donald Trump to betray spies and kneecap American anti-fascist propaganda programs.

The Irregular Warfare Center was created within the US Department of Defense in 2021 by Congress; in their January 23, 2024 report “Russian Information Warfare Strategy: New IWC Translation Gives Insights into Vulnerabilities” they show how Putin’s efforts have had considerable success recruiting average Americans within the US. For example, as one of hundreds of Putin’s early efforts to help Donald Trump become president, they note that the year of Trump’s election:

“On 21 May 2016, two protest groups faced off in Houston near an Islamic cultural center to demonstrate competing opinions on Texas’ future. Both groups, one which was protesting the perceived Islamization of Texas, and the other in support of the Islamic community, had been organized on Facebook pages. At first glance, this seemed like a normal and innocuous part of the U.S. political process. “Unbeknownst to most participants, however, both Facebook pages had been created by Russian actors seeking to exacerbate political discord in the United States. This event was not an isolated case; it was a part of a coordinated effort by Russia to meddle in the U.S. elections, both in the social media space and in the physical domain.”

Another example was the promotion of Putin’s assertion the month before he invaded Ukraine in February, 2022 that the US and Ukraine were running bioweapon labs in that besieged nation. As NBC Newsreported in March, 2022 as the invasion was moving ahead full steam:

“Boosted by far-right influencers on the day of the invasion, an anonymous QAnon Twitter account titled @WarClandestine pushed the “biolabs” theory to new heights… “Much of the false information [about the alleged biolabs] is flourishing in Russian social media, far-right online spaces and U.S. conservative media, including Tucker Carlson’s show on Fox News.”

When viewed in context, Putin’s successes at irregular warfare against the United States, designed to tear our society apart, have been quite breathtaking.

During the summer of 2020, as Trump and Biden were squaring off for the election that year, in the small Oregon town of Klamath Falls about 200 locals showed up downtown with guns, baseball bats, and whatever other weapons they could find around the house. They were in the streets to fight off the busloads of Black Antifa marauders they believed Jewish billionaire George Soros had paid to put on a bus in Portland and was sending their way.

Of course, George Soros had done no such thing and there were no busloads of Black people. But the warnings were all over the Klamath Falls Facebook group, and, it turns out, similar Facebook groups for small towns all over America, apparently as part of another Russian disinformation effort.

From coast to coast that weekend white residents of small towns showed up in their downtown areas with guns, rifles, hammers, and axes prepared to do battle with busloads of Black people being sent into their small white towns by George Soros.

In the tiny town of Forks, Washington, frightened white people brought out chainsaws and cut down trees to block the road leading to their town. In South Bend, Indiana police were overwhelmed by 911 calls from frightened white people wanting to know when the “Antifa buses” were arriving. And in rural Luzern County, Pennsylvania, the local neighborhood social media group warned people that busloads of Black people were “organizing to riot and loot.”

Similar stories played out that weekend from Danville, California to Jacksonville, Florida, as documented by NBC News. It was both a successful test of using social media to create mass panic among credulous Trump followers and, perhaps, a planning session for the violence ABC News documents Trump is trying to gin up if he loses this fall.

One of Putin’s greatest recent IW successes came last July when Federal District Judge Terry Doughty, a hard-right Trump appointee, blocked federal agencies from informing social media companies about Russian and other efforts to spread disinformation on their platforms. In March of this year four Republicans on the Supreme Court granted cert and the case was heard; we’re awaiting the ruling which could come any day.

The issue may be moot: Russia is now moving their efforts to promote Trump and encourage civil strife in the US away from their own trolls posing as Americans, now using instead Trump-aligned US-citizens and congressional Republican influencers.

These include using rightwing media commentators, average citizens active on social media, and even members of Congress who’ve bought into Russian propaganda from issues around Ukraine to vaccines to the alleged theft of the 2020 election (and “planned theft” of 2024). As the Irregular Warfare Centernotes:

“[F]uture Russian foreign-targeted OIEs [Operations in the Information Environment] appear to be shifting toward proxy operations, including semi-independent and strategically-chosen influencers on social media, rather than using a directly-controlled team of professionals, as was the case in 2016 with Yevgeny Prigozhin’s “troll factory” that worked to interfere in the U.S. elections.”

This possibility of Trump (and thus Putin) seizing control of US intelligence agencies should he be elected is freaking out former senior U.S. intelligence officials. The headline at Raw Story says it all: “Intel officials 'very concerned' about Trump's intentions for spy agencies.”

The simple reality is that Russia has been using IW techniques in Putin’s war against America — particularly in his efforts to reinstall Trump in the White House — for over a decade and those efforts are now being amplified on a daily basis by Republicans in Congress, rightwing media outlets, and some of our largest social media companies.

With the ability of our government to work with social media and news outlets to combat Putin’s irregular warfare handicapped, and the possibility that Republicans in Congress and on the Supreme Court will further handcuff the Biden Administration’s efforts, the possibility increases that Russia’s useful idiots could succeed in helping Trump prevail this November.

And the election season is now just beginning. Buckle up: to paraphrase Trump’s invitation to January 6th, this is going to get wild.

READ: Liberals are being way too cynical about Trump's conviction

[gusty-wind]

Comer: Mountain of Evidence Reveals Joe Biden Abused his Public Office for his Family’s Financial Gain - United States House Committee on Oversight and Accountability

Below are Chairman Comer’s remarks as prepared for delivery.

Since assuming our Republican majority in January, the House Oversight and Accountability Committee has uncovered a mountain of evidence revealing how Joe Biden abused his public office for his family’s financial gain.

For years, President Biden has lied to the American people about his knowledge of and participation in his family’s corrupt business schemes.

At least ten times, Joe Biden lied to the American people that he never spoke to his family about their business dealings.

He lied by telling the American people that there was an “absolute wall” between his official government duties and his personal life.

Let’s be clear: there was no wall. The door was wide open to those who purchased what a business associate described as “The Biden Brand.”

Evidence reveals that then-Vice President Joe Biden spoke, dined, and developed relationships with his family’s foreign business targets. These business targets include foreign oligarchs who sent millions of dollars to his family. It also includes a Chinese national who wired a quarter of a million dollars to his son.

Joe Biden also lied to the American people about his family making money in China. He has continued to lie about it even when the House Oversight Committee uncovered bank wires revealing how the Bidens received millions from Chinese companies with significant ties to the Chinese intelligence and the Chinese Communist Party.

Just this week, we uncovered two additional wires sent to Hunter Biden that originated in Beijing from Chinese nationals. This happened when Joe Biden was running for President of the United States. And Joe Biden’s home is listed as the beneficiary address.

To date, the House Oversight Committee has uncovered how the Bidens and their associates created over 20 shell companies -- most of which were created when Joe Biden was Vice President – and raked in over $24 million dollars between 2014-2019.

We’ve also identified nine members of the Biden family who have participated in or benefited from these business schemes.

What were the Bidens selling to make all this money?

Joe Biden himself.

Joe Biden is “The Brand.” And Joe Biden showed up at least two dozen times with business targets and associates sending signals of access, influence, and power to those prepared to pay for it.

The American people demand accountability for this culture of corruption.

They demand to know how these schemes have compromised President Biden and threaten our national security.

They demand safeguards to be put in place to prevent public officials from selling access to their public office for private gain.

Under the leadership of Speaker Kevin McCarthy, House Republicans have now opened an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden.

By opening an impeachment inquiry, our investigation is now focused on whether President Biden engaged in impeachable offenses under the U.S. Constitution.

It empowers Congress, elected by The People, to continue providing the answers, transparency, and accountability that the American people demand and deserve.

In recent history, Democrats inflicted much damage on the credibility of congressional investigations by peddling the Russia Collusion Hoax.

But this Committee, under this majority, will not pursue such witch hunts based on manufactured allegations, innuendo, and no real evidence.

Today, the House Oversight Committee will examine over two dozen pieces of evidence revealing Joe Biden’s corruption and abuse of public office. This includes e-mails, text messages, bank records, and testimony of Biden business associates.

We will hear from legal and financial experts about this evidence and crimes that may have been committed as Joe Biden was sold around the world.

The House Oversight Committee, along with the Committees on the Judiciary and Ways and Means, will continue to follow the money and the evidence to provide accountability so that Americans know their public offices are not for sale.

I now yield to Jim Jordan, the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee for his opening statement.

[mariacallous]

It looks like Congress may have the two-thirds vote necessary to expel Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) from the House of Representatives — making him only the sixth member of the House of Representatives in over 200 years to be expelled from office. We’ll know soon. On November 28, Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) introduced a privileged motion on the House floor to expel Santos. Because the motion is privileged, the Republicans have to bring it to the floor within two legislative days.

The reasons for Santos’ fall are well known — it started out with exaggerations about his background so outrageous that Santos was catapulted into regular fodder for late night comedians and then became the object of media and legislative investigators. And what they found was outrageous behavior in many different areas.

But it was the recent release of a 56-page Ethics Committee Report that provided the serious blow. Committee members charged that Santos “deceived his donors, knowingly filed false campaign finance statements, and used his campaign funds to pay for personal expenses, including rent, trips, luxury items, cosmetic treatments like Botox and a subscription to the adult content site OnlyFans.” The long list of infractions seems to have been the last straw for some members of his party and expulsion now looks within reach.

If he is sent packing, it will be remarkable not only for the fact that he was one of just half a dozen representatives to be expelled from the House but that Republicans, with their extraordinarily thin five-vote majority, will take the drastic step of actually losing one-fifth of their margin.

Who else has been expelled?

The most recent was James Traficant, a member from Ohio removed in 2002 following his conviction on ten felony charges of bribery, tax evasion, and racketeering, among others. Despite being removed 420 to 1 by his colleagues, Traficant mounted two campaigns for reelection — from prison no less — as an Independent but was ultimately defeated. Traficant’s departure didn’t do much to change the power dynamics in the House. Democrats were in the minority, and he had not been a very loyal Democratic vote — voting with the Republicans to make Illinois Rep. Dennis Hastert speaker of the House.

Twenty-two years prior, Democratic Representative Michael Myers of Pennsylvania was removed by a vote of 376-30 following a conviction over his involvement in a corruption scheme that ensnared several members of the House and a senator. In an FBI sting operation, Myers was caught taking money in a deal meant to guarantee asylum for a made-up sheik. Myers was ultimately the only implicated member who opted not to resign, and thus his colleagues relieved him of his duties. Once again, the expulsion did not change the power dynamic in the House, where Democrats held a large majority.

Finally, the other three members were removed due to disloyalty to the Union during the Civil War. Missouri Representatives John Clark and John Reid and Kentucky Representative Henry Burnett were Democrats who supported the Confederacy and were cast out by their colleagues in 1861 for this treasonous act. Reid, strangely enough, had resigned months before, but was expelled anyway. However, their departure made little difference to the House power dynamics. Republicans held a substantial majority over the Democrats, having taken control of both chambers of Congress and the presidency in the 1860 elections. Compared to the Civil War that broke out the next year, their expulsion was but a footnote in history.

Santos is unusual compared to several of the others who were expelled because he has not been convicted of any crimes. He has been the object of numerous media stories and the butt end of jokes. Right now, he is indicted but has not gotten the chance in a legal setting to defend himself.

It is for that reason that Santos survived one attempt at expulsion. Nearly all of his fellow Republicans were hesitant to shrink their slim majority. But in light of the devastating and quite detailed House Ethics Committee report, that hesitancy seems to have changed. Despite the negative political consequences, enough Republicans may join Democrats in booting Santos from the House. It is an act of political principle that we should applaud. Even in a body that has, throughout history, had its share of embarrassing members, Santos stands out for his blatant dishonesty and lack of personal integrity, which is why enough Republicans may expel him despite the harm it inflicts on their own party.

[thedearlydepart]

America started with the best of intentions. “Jefferson sought to establish a federal government of limited powers” (Library of Congress, n.d.), and even though a form of capitalism has always existed in America, I don’t think Jefferson or anyone at the time could have predicted the growth it would have and how dependent upon it we would become. I don’t think it was by design, but due to the inherent exploitative nature of capitalism and more to the point, the influence of wealth and corporations, America now functions more like an oligarchy..

Well, you may ask why we are having the conversation. Why does it matter how we classify or define the structure of our government? Psychology Today tells us, “Our frames of reference are extremely important for making decisions that are consistent with our values, aligned with our preferences, and relevant to our past experiences.” (Grawitch, 2021). If we think that our government is a democracy, a democratic republic, or anything of that ilk, it sets us up to make decisions that, in the best-case scenario, have no effect and, in the worst, have an opposite effect.

We have known it for a long time but haven’t had the words to explain it. Many people wouldn’t even understand what an oligarchy is. So, if you ask a regular person what kind of government we have, They have only been told that we are a democracy, that we are the only country with freedom and other patriotic epithets. In the Oxford Union Video, Cenk Uygur cites a study that says 93% of Americans say money corrupts politics. Coming to terms with the reality that it’s not and not understanding completely what that means is a scary thought. It’s even more terrifying when you realize you are already in it, and there isn’t anything you can do about it. Uygur also states that the most significant impact on policy and politics was donor contribution, NOT VOTING. So much so, according to Uygur (and substantiated by Politico), in 2008, Citigroup, via ex-exec Michael Froman, handed Obama’s team a list of people who would eventually become his cabinet members. (Wheaton, 2016).

As the video from our required readings suggests, We have a style of government in which we still vote, and that vote indirectly decides who will be our next executive. To some degree, one could argue that that means democracy still exists. However, the same video suggests that only the person who spends the most money (special interest groups and billionaires) essentially determines who will win a given election. (Counter Arguments, 2019). So, I feel it’s safe to say that We are an Oligarch.

References

Counter Arguments. (2019, April 1). America Is A Democracy. YouTube. Retrieved September 19, 2024, from https://youtu.be/lJUQKcnWzIg?si=u-BmxYU4YHmqnqEv&t=539

Grawitch, M. (2021, June 28). Your Frame of Reference Influences Your Decision Making. Psychology Today. Retrieved September 19, 2024, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/hovercraft-full-eels/202106/your-frame-reference-influences-your-decision-making

Library of Congress. (n.d.). Establishing A Federal Republic - Thomas Jefferson | Exhibitions. Library of Congress. Retrieved September 19, 2024, from https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/jefferson/jefffed.html

Oxford Union & Uygur, C. (2017, June 27). Democracy Is For Sale | Cenk Uygur | Part 5 of 6. Youtube. Retrieved September 19, 2024, from https://youtu.be/YrKeseMRABs?si=8JCu9dCmUulaQTTL&t=280

Wheaton, S. (2016, October 20). WikiLeaks trove shows Obama in 2008 prepping to move into the White House. Politico. Retrieved September 19, 2024, from https://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/wikileaks-obama-white-house-230114

[molsons112000]

So Bill Clinton had no problem going after leaders around the world like the leader of Serbia and having him tried for war crimes. He had no problem in going after and doing a manhunt for the warlord leaders in Somalia.

History.com

https://www.history.com › milosev...

Former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic goes on trial ...

Nov 24, 2009 — Former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic goes on trial for war crimes in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo

Miller Center

millercenter.org

Presidential transition: Somalia

Dec 8, 2016 — Once Clinton was in office, the operation became a man-hunt for Somalian warlord, General Mohammed Aidid. In

Roh committed suicide on 23 May 2009 when he jumped from a mountain cliff behind his home, after saying that "there are too many people suffering because of me" on a suicide note on his computer. About 4 million people visited Roh's hometown Bongha Village in the week following his death.

https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › R...

Roh Moo-hyun - Wikipedia

The Constitutional Court upheld the impeachment by a unanimous 8–0 ruling on 10 March 2017, thereby removing Park from office, making her the first Korean president to be so removed. On 6 April 2018, South Korean courts sentenced her to 24 years in prison (later increased to 25 years) for corruption and abuse of power.

https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › P...

Park Geun-hye - Wikipedia

On 2 June 2012, an Egyptian court sentenced Mubarak to life imprisonment. After sentencing, he was reported to have suffered a series of health crises. On 13 January 2013, Egypt's Court of Cassation (the nation's high court of appeal) overturned Mubarak's sentence and ordered a retrial.

Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › K...

Killing of Muammar Gaddafi

References edit · ^ "Air strike hit 11 vehicles in Gaddafi convoy -NATO". · ^ Martin Chulov (20 October 2012). · ^ Beaumont, Peter; Stephen, Chris

Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › E...

Execution of Saddam Hussein

Saddam was sentenced to death by hanging, after being convicted of crimes against humanity by the Iraqi Special Tribunal for the Dujail massacre—the killing of ...

List of Executions

Hermann Göring.

Joachim von Robbentrop.

Wilhelm Keitel.

Ernst Kaltenbrunner.

Alfred Rosenberg.

Hans Frank.

Wilhelm Frick.

Julius Streicher.

More items...

https://www.nationalww2museum.org › ...

The Nuremberg Trials | New Orleans

It's funny leaders in this country. They do crimes.They get off of the crimes and then they're given a golden parachute.

Other leaders around the World are killed.

I believe we need the death penalty for the President of the United States for all members of Congress for all government officials.

We have no problem in killing leaders of other countries of the World or calling for them to be put to death.

So i'm fine with former bill clinton president put the death....

So I don't understand how we can hold other countries leadership to this level and kill them and we don't hold our leadership to the same sword....

The primary purpose of the invasion was to depose the de facto ruler of Panama, General Manuel Noriega, who was wanted by U.S. authorities for racketeering and drug trafficking. The operation, codenamed Operation Just Cause, concluded in late January 1990 with the surrender of Noriega.

https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › U...

United States invasion of Panama - Wikipedia

In 2011 France extradited him to Panama, where he was incarcerated for crimes committed during his rule, for which he had been tried and convicted in absentia in the 1990s. Diagnosed with a brain tumor in March 2017, Noriega suffered complications during surgery, and died two months later.

https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki

Manuel Noriega - Wikipedia

So the United States has the most powerful military in the world.It can't be invaded and It's the richest country in the world and the u s dollar is the reserve currency of the world and countries around the world hold 46 trillion dollars in treasuries. I think that's around that much.In every year we sell 27 trillion dollars in treasuries and growing.....

But some reason are leaders.They can get away with literally murder and they get a golden parachute.... Where other leaders around the world we call further execution.....

So I believe we need the implement. The same thing here for our politicians.... For too long, we've been killing leadership around the world and we have been killing them and we've been letting our politicians get away with it.. It needs to end and they need to have the death penalty on the table....

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Joan McCarter at Daily Kos:

There’s blood in the water around the Supreme Court now and investigative journalists are swarming, finding all the fodder they need for a scandal in the form of Justice Clarence Thomas alone. The latest addition to the Thomas corruption chronicles is The New York Times’ exposé on his long-standing membership in the Horatio Alger Association, one that netted him a whole new raft of generous, wealthy friends spending lavishly to provide him a luxurious lifestyle. As the circle of Thomas’ rich and powerful associates grows, so grows the likelihood of conflicts of interest for him on the court and the likelihood the media will be able to dig them up. Each new discovery will only deepen the crisis in the court and generate more momentum for reform.

Previous reporting from ProPublica shows just how susceptible Thomas is to very rich people who want to give him big-ticket items like luxury vacations, in particular his longtime friend Harlan Crow, the Texas billionaire who also likes to spend his largesse on right-wing dark money groups. Crow has funded not only lavish vacations and private plane rides, but made life easier for Thomas with real estate deals, paying tuition for Thomas’ ward to attend private school, and generally enriching Thomas’ life. Crow even pays the rent on the home where Thomas’ mother currently lives. That was all highly questionable, made more so by Thomas’ failure to report any of these gifts in financial disclosures, but not a clear-cut conflict of interest for Thomas. Crow hasn’t had much business before the court, though he has funded organizations that take an interest in various right-wing legal efforts.

The Horatio Alger Association is potentially different, chock-full of rich and powerful people—most of them conservative donors to political causes—who also enjoy the privilege of providing a Supreme Court justice with a lavish life. [...] Unsurprisingly, Thomas hasn’t disclosed the gifts, tickets, and trips from his friends in the Horatio Alger society. Not disclosing the gifts means not disclosing conflicts of interest, with members of the society and its larger circle likely to end up before the court with an interest in cases the Supreme Court is hearing.

The appearance of corruption on the court from Thomas alone is enough to spur calls for reform. Justice Samuel Alito has ethical questions of his own given that his wealthy benefactors definitely have regular business before the court. Add in the obvious partisan politics of the majority, and you have to wonder what the hell is wrong with Chief Justice John Roberts, letting all this continue on his watch. It’s gotten so blatant that groups on the left that have been afraid to take on the court before, fearing blowback when they go before it, are joining together to demand court reform. Organizations and labor unions including Planned Parenthood, SEIU, AFT, NEA, and NARAL have created a coalition called United for Democracy specifically to push court reform. They are also demanding formal congressional investigations and hearings into Supreme Court corruption. [...] Should the trifecta be restored in 2025, a Democratic Congress and president are not going to have a choice on court reform. It’s case closed. And they had better start getting ready for it now.

The top item on the list the next time Democrats have a trifecta: reform the courts, especially SCOTUS. Recent revelations that at least 2 of the right-wing justices on the court have acted unethically should be a clarion call for every liberal/progressive American that SCOTUS is a compromised mess.

[ailelie]

Fantasy Politics

In Eleanora's Return (working title), some of the plot deals heavily with politics. I am not a political scientist, so I'm trying to think through what I need to know to create some believable systems and plots.

The first step is the easiest--I need to know who has power, what form that power is in, and how they wield it. I also need to know the most and least obvious avenues for them to gain more power.

For example, I have guilds. Their power is over their control of trade, supply, and demand. They also have some personal power they use to keep their members in line. These guilds have aspects of joint-stock companies, corporations, and unions. That is a very confusing mix, I know. They exert power by manipulating prices and through threats/blackmail. "If you don't give us this thing we need/want, we will make sure you can't get the thing you want at a reasonable price." (I know this is over-simplifying). They gain more power through regulations and policies that give them more autonomy and ability to enforce their threats. They also gain power by getting sympathetic people into powerful positions or by weakening the unsympathetic.

But I want to zoom out a bit and think about the systems the powerful operate within. Monarchies and democracies are very different and aren't the only possible models either. So I want a table of governmental forms with their core philosophies in the next column, followed by a description of how power typically flows within the system, and lastly two lists: (1) the benefits and ways the government is the best; and (2) the downsides and ways the government can be corrupt and harmful.

But that wouldn't necessarily be enough. Because, there are strong and weak versions of each form of government. And there are centralized and decentralized versions. And there are mythic/vulgar divisions as well.

Like, you could have a kingdom with a strong monarchy, but decentralized power and a vulgar philosophy (aka, the king's king not because of divine right or magic blood/etc, but because the king got power first and has the ability to retain and enforce that power and b/c the king does his job well, etc).

And you can have a weak democracy with centralized power and a mythic philosophy (aka, an elected congress decides all but divisions often keep them from making decisions leading to many policies and rules being created by other parts of the government and enforced without congressional support, but everyone in the nation follows those rules and there's this idea that serving on the congress is the highest honor, always works to do the best it can for the people, and that the system is the only system that gives people their voice. Etc).

So it isn't enough to discuss forms of government--monarchy, democracy, oligarchy, empire, etc--you must also discuss the strength, centrality, origin story/myth, etc. Oh and the underlying philosophy or assumption(s) that keep(s) the government running.

And I don't want to say one form of government is better than another (mostly because I don't know that I believe that; all seem both beneficial and corrupt to me) so I also need to think about what makes a specific government good.

To me, a government is good if the people are safe and able to live fulfilling lives as defined by them (so long as they don't hinder others' sense of fulfillment). Of course, I also just came up with that just now. I may think differently this evening after stewing on this more.

The trappings almost seem the least important part beyond how they affect power flows. (In a monarchy, you gain power through favor with the monarch or by assassinating the monarch. In a democracy, you gain power by bribing officials and filling seats with supporters. There's more to it than that, but you get my point).

So what are the key features of a government I should be examining/deciding?

Strength (aka, the government sets policies that are followed)

Centrality (aka, all power flows from a central government vs local areas often have localized rules/laws).

Mythology (aka, how venerated the government is, even if that veneration is negative, for example, the impossible to defeat Evil Overlord)

Underlying assumptions

What else???

[beardedmrbean]

With some Democrats deciding to re-commit funds from FTX donations towards charity or other party campaigns after the crypto exchange’s bankruptcy, Rep. Maxine Water, D-Calif., told FOX Business she doesn’t "want to get into that" topic.

Waters avoided reporter Hillary Vaughn’s question when asked if Democrats who received campaign cash from FTX should give it back, saying, "Well, I don't want to get into that. As a matter of fact, both sides, Democrats and Republicans, have received donations. So thank you."

The Chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee, however, did claim that lawmakers will be putting together a hearing to "explore exactly what has taken place" with FTX.

Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, was a major contributor to Democratic candidates during the midterm election cycle, funneling most of his donations through a little-known political action committee (PAC).

FTX FOUNDER SAM BANKMAN-FRIED HIT WITH CLASS-ACTION LAWSUIT THAT ALSO NAMES BRADY, BUNDCHEN, SHAQ, CURRY

Overall, in 2021 and 2022, Bankman-Fried donated nearly $38 million to various candidates and PACs, mainly giving his cash to Democratic candidates and left-wing groups, according to Federal Election Commission filings (FEC). The majority of his political givings, though, went to the Protect Our Future PAC, a group founded in January that is dedicated to boosting candidates committed to preventing future pandemics.

Bankman-Fried wired an initial $9 million in February to the PAC shortly after it was created, FEC records showed. He then made three additional donations worth $18 million between March and June, increasing his total contribution to Protect Our Future PAC to $27 million.

The Daily Beast reached out to more than 25 lawmakers that received money and reported that some said they'll give the money to charity. Other congressmen said they spent it to boost other Democratic candidates, and some didn’t reply at all.

Names of Democratic candidates that have received political contributions from FTX include Rep. Jesus Garcia, D-Ill., and Reps.-elect Morgan McGarvey of Kentucky, Maxwell Frost of Florida, Sydney Kamlager of California, Jonathan Jackson of Illinois, Nikki Budzinski of Illinois, Jared Moskowitz of Florida and Rob Menendez Jr. of New Jersey.

On Wednesday, Bankman-Fried was hit with a class-action lawsuit filed by investors alleging he and other high-profile celebrities – such as legendary NFL quarterback Tom Brady and NBA star Stephen Curry – violated Florida law and made consumers suffer more than $11 billion in damages.

The lawsuit, which names "Sam Bankman-Fried, Tom Brady, Gisele Bundchen, Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors, Shaquille O’Neal, Udonis Haslem, David Ortiz, William Trevor Lawrence, Shohei Ohtani, Naomi Osaka, Lawrence Gene David, and Kevin O’Leary," seeks to make them "responsible for the many billions of dollars in damages they caused Plaintiff and the Classes and to force Defendants to make them whole."

The suit describes the well-known celebrities as "all parties who either controlled, promoted, assisted in, and actively participated in FTX Trading and FTX US (collectively, the ‘FTX Entities’), offer and sale of unregistered securities in the form of yield-bearing accounts (YBAs) to residents of the United States."

The lawsuit was filed in Florida because the defendants, it says, "conduct business in Florida, and/or have otherwise intentionally availed themselves of the Florida consumer market through the promotion, marketing, and sale of FTX’s YBAs in Florida, which constitutes committing a tortious act within the state of Florida."

Last week, Bankman-Fried admitted his fault in a tweet: "I'm sorry. That's the biggest thing," the founder wrote. "I f---ed up, and should have done better."

[rwood2477]

Quit trashing Obama's accomplishments. He has done more than any other President before him. Here is a list of his impressive accomplishments:

1. First President to be photographed smoking a joint.

2. First President to apply for college aid as a foreign student, then deny he was a foreigner.

3. First President to have a social security number from a state he has never lived in.

4. First President to preside over a cut to the credit-rating of the United States.

5. First President to violate the War Powers Act.

6. First President to be held in contempt of court for illegally obstructing oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.

7. First President to require all Americans to purchase a product from a third party.

8. First President to spend a trillion dollars on "shovel-ready" jobs when there was no such thing as "shovel-ready" jobs.

9. First President to abrogate bankruptcy law to turn over control of companies to his union supporters.

10. First President to by-pass Congress and implement the Dream Act through executive fiat.

11. First President to order a secret amnesty program that stopped the deportation of illegal immigrants across the U.S., including those with criminal convictions.

12. First President to demand a company hand-over $20 billion to one of his political appointees.

13. First President to tell a CEO of a major corporation (Chrysler) to resign.

14. First President to terminate America’s ability to put a man in space.

15. First President to cancel the National Day of Prayer and to say that America is no longer a Christian nation.

16. First President to have a law signed by an auto-pen without being present.

17. First President to arbitrarily declare an existing law unconstitutional and refuse to enforce it.

18. First President to threaten insurance companies if they publicly spoke out on the reasons for their rate increases.

19. First President to tell a major manufacturing company in which state it is allowed to locate a factory.

20. First President to file lawsuits against the states he swore an oath to protect (AZ, WI, OH, IN).

21. First President to withdraw an existing coal permit that had been properly issued years ago.

22. First President to actively try to bankrupt an American industry (coal).

23. First President to fire an inspector general of AmeriCorps for catching one of his friends in a corruption case.

24. First President to appoint 45 czars to replace elected officials in his office.

25. First President to surround himself with radical left wing anarchists.

26. First President to golf more than 150 separate times in his five years in office.

27. First President to hide his birth, medical, educational and travel records.

28. First President to win a Nobel Peace Prize for doing NOTHING to earn it.

29. First President to go on multiple "global apology tours" and concurrent "insult our friends" tours.

30. First President to go on over 17 lavish vacations, in addition to date nights and Wednesday evening White House parties for his friends paid for by the taxpayers.

31. First President to have personal servants (taxpayer funded) for his wife.

32. First President to keep a dog trainer on retainer for $102,000 a year at taxpayer expense.

33. First President to fly in a personal trainer from Chicago at least once a week at taxpayer expense.

34. First President to repeat the Quran and tell us the early morning call of the Azan (Islamic call to worship) is the most beautiful sound on earth.

35. First President to side with a foreign nation over one of the American 50 states (Mexico vs Arizona).

36. First President to tell the military men and women that they should pay for their own private insurance because they "volunteered to go to war and knew the consequences."

37. Then he was the First President to tell the members of the military that THEY were UNPATRIOTIC for balking at the last suggestion.

I feel much better now. I had been under the impression he hadn't been doing ANYTHING... Such an accomplished individual... in the eyes of the ignorant maybe.!.

[mariacallous]

Xi Jinping was born in Beijing in 1953, and spent his early years among the Communist Party élite. His father, Xi Zhongxun, was a Party hero of legendary devotion, who remained committed even after a rival Communist faction had threatened to bury him alive. The younger Xi heard so many tales of revolutionary glory that his ears got “calluses,” he later said. But he also witnessed the harrowing costs of losing power. In 1962, when he was nine, his father was humiliated in an internal Party struggle and cast out of the leadership; members of his family found him at home sitting alone in a darkened room. Barely four years later, Mao Zedong launched the Cultural Revolution, and the persecution of the Xi family deepened: a band of teen-age Red Guards besieged Xi’s school; another group threatened to kill him; his half sister was, in the official account, “persecuted to death.” At fifteen, he was glad to be sent to toil in a remote village. Had he remained in the chaos of the capital, he said, in a rare discussion of his experience for a state-media documentary in 2004, he didn’t know “if I would live or die.”

When, after a long, single-minded climb through the ranks, Xi reached the apex of the Communist Party, in 2012, propaganda accounts of his life sanitized the terrors of his youth. But, ten years later, his embrace of near-totalitarian control bears the deep imprint of his most personal beliefs about force, weakness, faith, and order. “A lot of people who came out of his experience in the Cultural Revolution concluded that China needed constitutionalism and rule of law, but Xi Jinping said no: You need the Leviathan,” Joseph Torigian, an expert on Chinese politics at American University, said.

In a major address in Beijing last week, Xi delivered a preview of China’s future, phrased as an “answer” to the age-old question of whether the Communists can achieve what the emperors could not: an escape from the “historical cycles of order and disorder, rise and fall” that have bedevilled the country for centuries. Yes, he said, by “self-revolution,” the elimination of “crooked winds” and “hidden dangers within the Party, the state, and the military”—Party-speak for more campaigns against Western influence, ideological dissent, and political corruption. “The Party,” Xi added, “will never change its nature, its conviction, or its character.”

He was speaking in the Great Hall of the People, before an audience of more than two thousand members of the political élite, at the Communist Party Congress, which convenes every five years. This Congress was the twentieth, and it should have marked the end of Xi’s decade as General Secretary, under term limits on the Presidency set in 1982, but he had engineered an end to them in 2018. Barring a sudden upset, Xi, who is sixty-nine, can rule for as long as he chooses. He has liberated himself from even the notional limits on his friend Vladimir Putin, who signed a law that could keep him in the Presidency until 2036.

Yet Xi has gone far beyond scrapping term limits in a bid to blunt threats to his power. A surveillance state erected by means of cameras, sensors, and algorithms prevents people from organizing or doing much without the Party’s being aware of it. The technology has been especially pervasive in the Xinjiang region, where Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities have faced widespread detention. Every Uyghur home has been required to carry a QR code listing its occupants, and pedestrians have been subjected to random scans of their phones; downloading the Quran can be grounds for interrogation. In the name of fighting corruption, the Party has investigated at least 4.7 million people, and replaced Xi’s political opponents in a rolling purge that Kevin Rudd, the former Prime Minister of Australia, who is a China specialist, has called a “reign of terror.” It has also sought to harden China’s “ideological defenses,” and to forbid “disrespectful” discussion among Party members. Protests have become so rare that when, days before the Congress, a banner denouncing Xi appeared on a Beijing bridge, it attracted international attention.

For all Xi’s evident confidence in China’s power (and in his own), however, there are other signs of discontent. The paralyzing lockdowns of his “zero COVID” policy prevented mass deaths but stirred broad public frustration. Observers who hoped that he might experiment beyond the policy—by allowing the use of more effective foreign vaccines, for example—were disappointed. On his watch, the economy has more than doubled in size, to $17.7 trillion last year, but in recent months growth has stalled. He has called for “common prosperity,” but the Party has offered few remedies for mounting government debt, a shrinking working-age population, and high youth unemployment. The World Bank projects that, if present trends continue, China’s economic growth rate will fall below that of the rest of Asia for the first time since 1990.

The statist revival at home has been accompanied by a more aggressive posture abroad. Xi has doubled China’s official defense budget, to the equivalent of more than two hundred billion dollars—only the United States’ is larger—and he pledged a “no limits” partnership with Putin on the eve of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In what was perhaps the most closely anticipated of Xi’s comments last week, he underscored his intention to take control of Taiwan, saying that the “wheels of history are rolling on toward China’s reunification.” China favors peace, he said, but reserves the “option to take all necessary measures.”

Beijing has effectively abandoned a soft-focus self-portrait of a nation on a “peaceful rise,” and its image has faltered in the eyes of the world. In 2012, forty per cent of Americans had an unfavorable view of China; today, more than eighty per cent do, according to the Pew Research Center. Declines have been found in other countries, too, from South Korea to the United Kingdom. If that animus distresses Xi, he shows no sign of changing course. To sustain the Party, he has vowed to avoid the ancient cycles of the emperors, whose dynasties succumbed to corruption, overreach, uprising, and, eventually, replacement. But Geremie Barmé, a Sinologist in New Zealand, notes, “The irony is that he, by his actions to make himself supreme leader, is in fact repeating the cycle of history.”

Such is the enduring peril in Chinese politics. Sun Yat-sen, who led the overthrow of the last imperial dynasty, observed shortly before his death, in 1925, that even some of his fellow-revolutionaries had “dreamed of becoming emperor.” He feared that such imperial ambitions would bring ruin. He said, “All the periods of anarchy, which the country has gone through, have had their origin in this struggle for the throne.” ♦

[newstfionline]

Thursday, January 26, 2023

For 2023, an alarmingly bloody start (AP) In a country with more guns than people—and one emerging from three years of isolation, stress and infighting amid the pandemic—Americans are beginning 2023 with a steady barrage of mass slaughter. Eleven people killed as they welcomed the Lunar New Year at a dance hall popular with older Asian Americans. A teen mother and her baby shot in the head in an attack that killed five generations. A 6-year-old shooting his first-grade teacher in the classroom. The list goes on. “We’ve been through so much in these past few years, and to continue to see case after case of mass violence in the media is just overwhelming,” said Apryl Alexander, an associate professor of public health at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. “When does this stop?”

Classified records pose conundrum stretching back to Carter (AP) At least three presidents. A vice president, a secretary of state, an attorney general. The mishandling of classified documents is not a problem unique to President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump. It’s been a problem off and on for decades, from presidents to Cabinet members and staff across multiple administrations stretching as far back as Jimmy Carter. The matter of classified records and who, exactly, has hung onto them got more complicated Tuesday as news surfaced that former Vice President Mike Pence also had such records in his possession after he left office. The revelations have thrust the issue of proper handling of documents—an otherwise low-key Washington process—into the middle of political discourse and laid bare an uncomfortable truth: Policies meant to control the handling of the nation’s secrets are haphazardly enforced among top officials and rely almost wholly on good faith.

U.S. Plans to Send Abrams Tanks to Ukraine, Officials Say (NYT) Reversing its longstanding resistance, the Biden administration plans to send 31 M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine, U.S. officials said on Tuesday, in what would be a major step in arming Kyiv in its efforts to seize back its territory from Russia. Over the past month, Pentagon officials had expressed misgivings about sending the Abrams, citing concerns about how Ukraine would maintain the advanced tanks, which require extensive training and servicing. And officials said it could take years for them to actually reach any Ukrainian battlefields. But Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III has now come around to the view that committing to sending American tanks was necessary to spur Germany to follow with its coveted Leopard 2 tanks.

Peru protesters tear-gassed after president calls for truce (AP) Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Peru’s capital and were met with volleys of tear gas and pellets amid clashes with security forces just hours after President Dina Boluarte called for a “truce” in almost two months of protests. The antigovernment protest Tuesday was the largest—and most violent—since last Thursday, when large groups of people, many from remote Andean regions, descended on the capital to demand Boluarte’s resignation, immediate elections and the dissolution of Congress. Before last week, most of the large antigovernment protests that followed the ouster of President Pedro Castillo took place in remote regions of Peru, largely in the country’s south, exposing deep division between residents of the capital and the long-neglected countryside. So far, 56 people have died amid the unrest involving Castillo’s supporters, 45 of whom died in direct clashes with security forces, according to Peru’s ombudsman.

Ukraine Fires Officials Amid Corruption Scandal, as Allies Watch Closely (NYT) Several top Ukrainian officials were fired on Tuesday amid a ballooning corruption scandal, in the biggest upheaval in President Volodymyr Zelensky’s government since Russia’s invasion began 11 months ago. Ukraine’s cabinet ministry, which announced the firings, provided no reasons for them, but they followed a number of allegations of government corruption—including reports that Ukraine’s military had agreed to pay inflated prices for food meant for its troops—and vows by Mr. Zelensky to root it out. The shake-up came as Ukraine is lobbying hard for Western countries to provide advanced weaponry like tanks. As the war nears the one-year mark, no issue is more critical for Ukraine’s continued survival than the flow of military aid from the United States and other Western allies—so far about $40 billion worth of weapons and other gear. Republicans in the U.S. Congress have called for an audit of how the aid is used, and some have said it is excessive and should be restricted. Even a whiff of corruption could be enough to slow what has been essentially an open spigot of arms, and billions more in humanitarian support and financial aid. (According to a report by Transparency International, Ukraine was the second-most corrupt country in Europe in 2021.) Few are more sensitive to this than Mr. Zelensky, who appears almost daily on video calls with foreign leaders and legislatures dressed in a drab green military shirt, always asking for the same thing: more weapons.

Innovation in China (SCMP) A study released yesterday finds that China has surpassed the US in one key measure of innovation and is making major strides in another. The report by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a non-partisan Washington-based think tank focused on US science and technology policy, found that China’s innovation in 2020 was 139 per cent of its US equivalent, up from 78 per cent in 2010. Based on another metric accounting for the comparative size of their economies and populations, China’s innovation output was three-quarters of US levels, up from 58 per cent in 2010. “China is evolving from an imitator to an innovator, following a path blazed by its Asian Tiger neighbours—but at a much larger scale, with far greater geopolitical consequences,” said Robert Atkinson, the foundation’s president, who co-authored the report along with research assistant Ian Clay.

They Poured Their Savings Into Homes That Were Never Built (NYT) To Tang Chao, the apartment in northeast China was where he and his wife were going to start a new life together. They put down tens of thousands of dollars for it. But months past its scheduled completion, a concrete shell with wiring protruding from the walls and piles of dirt on the floor was all there was to show for the expense. Soon, even their marriage unraveled. In another city, a man bought a space for a grocery business he thought would help give his young son a better future. A woman paid for an apartment where she imagined her toddler would grow up safe, and she might have a second child. In Shanghai, a technician from a small town thought she had made her parents proud by buying a new home in the big city. What these and hundreds of thousands of other Chinese homebuyers couldn’t have known was that the country’s decades-long real estate boom would come to a sudden halt. Developers ran out of money amid a government crackdown on excessive debt and a slowing economy. They stopped building. Across the country, instead of apartment towers, uninhabitable concrete structures rise up from idle, overgrown construction sites. Infuriated homebuyers in more than 100 cities rose up in a rare act of collective rebellion last year, vowing not to repay loans on unfinished properties.

Heavy snow causes havoc in Japan as cold snap sweeps through Asia (Reuters) Heavy snow blanketed wide swathes of Japan on Wednesday, snarling traffic, forcing hundreds of flight cancellations, disrupting train travel and leaving at least one person dead. An unusually cold weather front and extreme low pressure systems set snow falling and strong winds blowing across Japan from Tuesday after causing havoc in other Asia countries earlier this week. At least 124 people died in freezing temperatures in Afghanistan earlier this week, according to media reports, while the temperature in Mohe, China’s northernmost city, dropped to a record -53 degrees Celsius (-63.4 degrees Fahrenheit) on Sunday. In South Korea, the country’s resort island Jeju cancelled nearly 500 flights in and out of its airport on Tuesday amid harsh winter weather.

Netanyahu drags Israeli democracy into the illiberal mire (Washington Post) Throughout his long political career, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has invoked a popular turn of phrase. Israel, he has often said, is an “oasis of democracy” in a region defined by its absence. Israel’s freedoms, its elections and its rule of law, the argument went, stood in contrast to the status quo in the Middle East, where absolute monarchs and flailing autocrats largely hold sway. Of course, the formulation always overlooked the millions of Palestinians who live as second-class citizens in their own homeland, shorn of the same rights and freedoms afforded to Israeli neighbors. Under Netanyahu’s watch, Jewish settlements expanded in the West Bank, further undermining the possibility of an independent, sovereign Palestinian state ever emerging. No matter—in the eyes of successive administrations in Washington and a bipartisan critical mass in Congress, Israel was a land of “shared values” and could do little wrong. Recent developments, though, are making the “oasis of democracy” look a little more like a mirage. The right-wing leader cobbled together the most far-right coalition in Israeli history. The new government is already using its slender parliamentary majority to push through a radical overhaul of the judiciary, not least at a time when the sitting prime minister remains dogged by legal troubles. Critics say the legislation “will destroy the nation’s system of checks and balances to save Netanyahu from prosecution in three separate corruption cases. To get his way, Netanyahu is “deliberately unraveling democracy, turning his illiberalism into full-blown Hungarian or Turkish authoritarianism,” Alon Pinkas, a veteran former Israeli diplomat, told me. “He is the first prime minister of a Western democracy in history who has waged a full war against his own country’s institutions, traditions, judiciary, checks and balances, and its social fabric.”

Doomsday Clock hits 90 seconds to midnight, its most dire prediction ever (Washington Post) The world is 90 seconds away from “midnight,” according to the Doomsday Clock, the closest it has ever been to the symbolic hour of apocalypse. The people who run the clock say that’s largely a reflection of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine—including of the potential use of nuclear weapons and because the conflict is encouraging continued dependence on fossil fuels in Europe. For the first time, the announcement of the clock’s movement toward catastrophe was released in Russian and Ukrainian as well as English, something Rachel Bronson, CEO of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, said the organization hopes brings the dire forecast “the attention it deserves.” “The possibility that the conflict could spin out of anyone’s control remains high,” Bronson said. The world had been 100 seconds away from midnight since 2020. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has been using the clock for more than seven decades to convey the level of risk from existential threats, from nuclear weapons to climate change.

ChatGPT passed a Wharton MBA exam, and academics are taking note (The Week) While researching the capabilities of OpenAI’s artificial intelligence-enhanced text generator, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School found that the company’s GPT-3 chatbot was able to pass a final exam for the school’s Master of Business Administration program, NBC News reports. Professor Christian Terwiesch, who authored a research paper on the matter, said that the chatbot passed the exam with a score between a B- and B. He said the score is proof of the bot’s “remarkable ability to automate some of the skills of highly compensated knowledge workers in general and specifically the knowledge workers in the jobs held by MBA graduates including analysts, managers, and consultants.” In November 2022, Kevin Bryan, an associate professor at the University of Toronto, tested ChatGPT’s ability to write graduate-level responses and concluded that “the OpenAI chat is frankly better than the average MBA at this point.”

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Most Americans remember Watergate as a scandal involving the burglary of the Democratic National Committee headquarters and President Richard M. Nixon’s coverup of that crime. But during the course of the subsequent investigation, an even broader range of presidential misconduct was revealed. Nixon maintained a secret enemies list, some of whom were the subject of extraordinary abuses, including the use of the IRS to target their tax filings and the FBI to monitor their phones.

Nixon’s abuse of the Justice Department led to strict rules to govern FBI investigations and insulate them from White House interference, so that extraordinary investigative practices could only be deployed when justified in the most serious of cases.

The rules established after Watergate to ensure the independence of the Justice Department served our nation well for half a century, until another president shattered them.

Donald Trump had his own enemies list, which included members of the media, elected officials and congressional staff. But while Nixon’s list was held in private, Trump was proud to declare his enemies on Twitter, at rallies and during interviews.

And Trump made no secret of his demand that the Justice Department investigate his opponents, openly demanding his attorneys general go after any number of people. Including — quite frequently — me.

Over his four years in office, Trump baselessly accused me of treason, of leaking classified information, of engaging in unspecified corruption and other offenses. He said I should be investigated and prosecuted, and that someone needed to “do something” about me.

Last month, I learned that Apple had been served a subpoena by the Justice Department in 2018 seeking records from more than a dozen accounts belonging to two members of Congress, committee staff and even family members — one of whom was a minor. There is a lot we don’t know, including how the department came to seek those records and whether prosecutors understood what records they were requesting. We still don’t know whether only Democrats were the subjects of these requests or whether the investigation was properly predicated. The department has yet to explain.

The investigation reportedly began under then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions and his deputy, Rod J. Rosenstein, and was continued under Attorney General William P. Barr. Leak investigations, particularly those involving subpoenas on members of the media, are extraordinarily sensitive and require approval from top DOJ officials. Subpoenaing the records of members of Congress in connection with such an investigation may be unprecedented, since our constitutional doctrine of the separation of powers militates against the executive branch taking such action. In this case, prosecutors also repeatedly sought gag orders so that the media and Congress would not find out. That all three top Justice Department officials at the time now deny any knowledge of the matter strains credulity.

We cannot accept these assertions at face value. Sessions made claims during his confirmation hearing that were not borne out by the facts. Barr has a well-documented history of dissembling, including under oath. Barr willfully misrepresented the Mueller report even as he withheld it and claimed not to know of Mueller’s objections to his “summary” of that report when he did. Barr also made false representations to the court about the process of reaching his conclusion that Trump committed no prosecutable offense — two federal judges have now rebuked him for his lack of candor.

And to the department’s lasting detriment, Barr repeatedly put the DOJ into service as Trump’s personal law firm, reducing the sentencing recommendation of a Trump crony who lied for the president and dismissing the case against another Trump associate who pleaded guilty to perjury. Barr then abused his office further by ordering the investigation of those who had investigated the president.

The Biden Justice Department has taken the right first steps. Attorney General Merrick Garland has asked the inspector general to investigate both the subpoenas affecting members of Congress and those served on the media. But it will also be essential for the attorney general to examine the full extent to which the department lost its independence over the past four years. We must establish new and stronger laws and policies to protect the agency from presidential and political interference in the future. Given Garland’s long history with the department, I have every confidence that he will do so.

But Congress has an important job to do here, too. We must conduct our own vigorous oversight, into former top officials’ knowledge or participation in these abuses of power and any other politically motivated decisions made by the department. And at a minimum, we must urgently pass reforms to prevent the abuse of powers we saw under Trump from ever happening again. The Protecting Our Democracy Act, a package of reforms designed by House Democrats that I introduced last year, contains new safeguards designed to strengthen the department’s independence from the White House and improve other vital checks on executive power.

The credibility of our justice system — and the very health of our democracy itself — is dependent on the steps we take now to ensure that the Justice Department represents the interests of the people and not the whims of any particular president.

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Gone            (Prophecy Update)

 By Daymond Duck    Published on: September 26, 2021

After Moses died, Joshua became the leader of the Jewish people. Joshua led them across the Jordan River, took them to a place called Shiloh, and gave Shiloh to the largest and most powerful tribe called Ephraim. The Jews erected a Tabernacle there, priests served there, offered sacrifices there, felt God’s presence there, and it was a special place to God for more than 300 years. But the Jews eventually abandoned God, started worshipping a false God, angered God, stirred His wrath, and He destroyed Shiloh (Psa. 78:56-67).

Those that think that God won’t destroy a nation should go and look at Shiloh (Jer. 7:12).

Those that think that God won’t destroy a city should go and look at Sodom and Gomorrah.

On Sept. 16, 2021, several members of the media reported on an interview that former White House Press Sec. Sean Spicer had with former Pres. Trump.

Trump said, “Our country has gone really downhill in the last eight months like nobody’s ever seen before. And we’re not going to have a country left in three years; I’ll tell you that.”

Is Biden really the end of America?

Will America’s Deep State and the global Deep State succeed in bringing about the demise of America before 2024 and the establishment of a godless world government and religion by 2030 or sooner?

Perhaps, it is time for the Lukewarm Laodicean churches and those that think that God won’t destroy a godless world government and religion to go and look at the tower of Babel.

Without God, America is gone.

Consider the following:

Vice Pres. Harris was part of a group that raised funds to bail rioters, looters, and arsonists out of jail, and one has now committed murder.

The Biden administration knows that human traffickers, drug dealers, terrorists, and people infected with Covid are crossing the U.S. border with Mexico, but they are ignoring it or, in some cases, assisting it.

Biden said he would not leave American citizens in Afghanistan, but he has left hundreds there.

Biden let Taliban terrorists have up to 80 billion dollars of U.S. weapons.

The FBI destroyed Hillary’s cell phones for her.

Biden lied about his knowledge of Hunter Biden’s alleged crimes (he boasted about threatening the Pres. of Ukraine if he didn’t fire the man investigating Hunter; e-mails on Hunter’s laptop have been confirmed to be legitimate), but that is okay with the Democrat Party, and the FBI and DOJ have done nothing.

Pelosi, Schumer, and the Democrats impeached Trump over something he didn’t say in a phone call to Russia, but they are ignoring Gen. Milley’s treasonous calls to China, even though he could have endangered the security of the U.S.

Biden has been warned that too much spending can collapse the U.S. economy, but he continues to propose multi-trillion-dollar stimulus packages.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that mandated vaccinations are unconstitutional, but Biden is trying to force people to get one.

The Biden administration is trying to force average citizens to get vaccinated, but he has exempted Congress, their aides, the DOJ, the U.S. Supreme Court, and postal workers.

Fauci lied to Congress about funding Covid research in Wuhan, China, but the Biden administration supports him.

The above list shows that the America most of us grew up in is already gone, but there is no need to worry because the Church will soon be gone (Raptured) too.

FYI: Trump’s slogan was “Make America Great Again” (Strengthen America don’t weaken it). Biden’s slogan was “Build Back Better” (Get rid of the old America and build it back with a different America. That is what he is doing). Obama called it “The Fundamental Transformation of America”).

This writer believes the length of the above list could easily be doubled, but readers will get the point, and there are other things that need to be mentioned.

One, concerning the decline of the U.S. and the establishment of the Ten Kings: on Sept. 20, 2021, it was reported that the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) met to discuss weakened ties to the U.S. and the restructuring of CELAC into a block of nations patterned after the E.U.

Ten groups of nations patterned after the E.U. with a leader over each group (Ten leaders or Ten Kings) that would eventually cede their power to one leader has been a globalist goal for many years.

Also concerning the decline of the U.S.: Biden’s surrender to the Taliban in Afghanistan has triggered calls for the E.U. to establish a military that does not have ties to NATO.

Also concerning the decline of the U.S.: France has recalled its ambassador to the U.S. for the first time in history over a deal the U.S. and U.K. made to provide Australia with the technology to build submarines.

Two, concerning world government: the globalists have weakened America, and now China wants to replace America, take over the New World Order (NWO) and dominate it, not submit to it.

The globalists are just as much against China dominating their New World Order as they were against America dominating it.

George Soros and some of his globalist buddies are now getting worried about the growing power of China. They are even trying to cut off investments in China to weaken China like they weakened the U.S.

According to the Bible, the E.U. will be the main power in the coming world government, not China.

Expect China to resist and invade the Middle East as one of the Kings of the East, but don’t expect China to defeat the Antichrist and head up the coming world government.

Three, concerning the Mark of the Beast: it will be a global mandate to identify and track everyone on earth, and it will go into effect at the middle of the Tribulation Period.

There is good reason to believe that Covid-19 vaccine certificates are on the way to becoming a global mandate to identify and track people.

On Sept. 15, 2021, it was reported that 35-40 nations (Israel, the E.U., and other nations that want to join) will have a digital system in place by early October to identify and track those that have been vaccinated and those that have had Covid-19 and recovered. Those that get an approved certificate will be allowed to travel, enter restaurants and other venues, but those that don’t get one will not be allowed to do these things.

Four, concerning Israel and Jerusalem: America’s Deep State has manipulated Pres. Biden into many mistakes since putting him into office.

It seems that God is willing to let America’s Deep State and Biden weaken America because He said He will allow them to establish a godless world government and religion for seven years.

But now, these godless people appear to be preparing to weaken Israel by reopening America’s special consulate for the P.A. in Jerusalem and canceling America’s recognition of Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel.

God will allow them to do this for three reasons:

He is letting Israel learn to trust Him and not the nations.

He is letting the nations choose their own judgment (what they try to do to Israel will come back on them; Zech. 12:3).

He is letting the world know that He is God, He restored Israel, and Israel cannot be destroyed (Amos 9:11-15).

FYI: America’s Deep State apparently does not know, believe, or understand the story about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace (a type of Israel in the Tribulation Period). One like the Son of God delivered them out of it (Dan. 3:25), and all Israel, all that believe in Yeshua, will be saved in the wilderness (Matt. 25:16-22) by a Deliverer out of Zion (Rom. 11:26).

Five, in May of this year, terrorists in Gaza fired more than 4,000 rockets into Israel, but many were shot down by Israel’s anti-missile Iron Dome System.

Israel needs to replace and boost her stock of Iron Dome missiles.

In June of this year, U.S. Sec. of State Lloyd Austin told Israel’s Defense Min. Benny Gantz that the U.S. plans to replace Israel’s Iron Dome missiles. On Aug. 27, Pres. Biden met with Israeli Prime Min. Bennett and said the U.S. will replace Israel’s Iron Dome missiles. Nancy Pelosi recently put $1 billion to replace Israel’s Iron Dome missiles in a bill to raise the U.S. debt ceiling, but the Squad and other leftist Democrats strongly objected to spending money on the defense of Israel. Pelosi removed the money but promised to put it in a later bill.

The Biden administration has made many mistakes (Afghanistan, border with Mexico, etc.), but nothing could be as bad as abandoning its promises to defend Israel.

Six, concerning the division of Israel and the Battle of Armageddon: on Sept. 21, 2021, Pres. Biden repeated his support for the Two-State solution in a speech at the U.N. (but he did say it will be a long time before it happens).

Seven, concerning wickedness and corruption at the end of the age: on Sept. 16, 2021, Special Counsel John Durham got an indictment against a Democrat lawyer for creating and giving false information (lying) to the FBI to smear Pres. Trump during the 2016 Pres. Campaign. According to the indictment, the lawyer’s lies were used to suggest that Trump was colluding with the Russians.

In 2016, the FBI questioned him about it, and he gave the FBI false information while claiming to be an ordinary citizen and denied that he was being paid by anyone to give the FBI a false story.

It is now 5 years later, and the FBI says it has proof that the Democrat lawyer was billing the Clinton campaign, and Clinton’s group was paying him for his work. There are now rumors that Durham plans to go after Mrs. Clinton, but this writer is skeptical. It would not be surprising if Durham goes after some of Clinton’s aides, but Clinton is a prominent member of America’s Deep State.

Some say George Soros is destroying America, and Obama is in his third presidency, but nothing is ever done about what they are doing. Why?

The DOJ and FBI appear to be treating America’s Deep State as a protected class of people. If this is not true, why haven’t they been prosecuted for some of the things they have done? If it is true, it means the DOJ and FBI are protecting the wickedness, corruption, and treason of America’s Deep State (like in the days of Noah when the wickedness of man was great).

FYI: Here is some good news.

If (a big “IF”) God allows the Antichrist to confirm a 7-year covenant with many for peace in the Middle East by 2030, Jesus will be sitting on the throne of David in Jerusalem, and the Kingdom of God will exist on earth by 2037. Christians will be here in new bodies with their loved ones; Christians won’t get sick or die; there will be peace, justice, and righteousness on earth; no Covid, etc.

The bad things mentioned above are signs that a new world is coming soon.

Eight, concerning a falling away in the Church: on Sept. 21, 2021, LifeSiteNews reported that Pope Francis has a history of praising pro-abortion politicians, he supports serving communion to pro-abortion politicians, and he has endorsed gay civil unions.

Pope Francis has the spiritual qualifications of the False Prophet (supports world government, world religion, etc.), but he is getting old. If he is the False Prophet, the Rapture could be very soon.

Before closing, here is a personal message.

I get a little uncomfortable when other ministries ask me to publicize what they are doing because if they or some of their people go astray, I don’t want it to have a negative impact on Rapture Ready or my ministry. Having said this, a Christian group called Tactical Civics is seeking God-fearing patriots that want to restore America. I am thankful for (and support) anyone that wants to restore America. A member of the group has asked me to encourage people that Love Jesus and America to watch the 11-minute video at this link: www.tacticalcivics.com/video

The group wants more people to know what they are doing and perhaps get involved.

Finally, are you Rapture Ready?

If you want to be rapture ready and go to heaven, you must be born again (John 3:3). God loves you, and if you have not done so, sincerely admit that you are a sinner; believe that Jesus is the virgin-born, sinless Son of God who died for the sins of the world, was buried, and raised from the dead; ask Him to forgive your sins, cleanse you, come into your heart and be your Saviour; then tell someone that you have done this.