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Wednesday Top News Executive SummaryMedia Editors: Independence Day & Patriotism
‘MERICA: “President Trump wanted tanks and he’ll get 'em for his July 4 shindig — but they won’t be moving,” conveys the New York Daily News. “Top brass put the brakes on the president’s plan for a military parade to complement his Independence Day speech on the National Mall. Fearing tanks could tear up city streets, the armored vehicles will be there in a 'static’ display.” And just in case you were wondering, Trump’s tanks aren’t a scandal.
THE UNPATRIOTIC LEFT: “A new Gallup poll has disturbing news: the percentage of respondents claiming they were ‘extremely proud’ to be American was the lowest since Gallup started asking that question in 2001. … Unsurprisingly, only 22% of respondents claiming they were Democrats agreed with that sentiment as opposed to a whopping 76% of Republicans. 41% of independents said they were ‘extremely proud.’” (The Daily Wire)
GOOD CALL: “Gov. Doug Ducey revealed on Tuesday that the state of Arizona will be withdrawing all of the financial incentives provided to Nike following the company’s decision to pull an American flag-themed sneaker it deemed offensive.” (The Daily Caller)
Government & Politics
WELL PREPARED: “President Donald Trump and the Republican Party raised a whopping $105 million in the second quarter as they prepare for a tough bid to keep the White House in 2020. The president’s campaign and his joint fundraising committees with the GOP took in $54 million during the period, the Trump campaign said Tuesday. Meanwhile, the Republican National Committee raised $51 million.” (CNBC)
ILL PREPARED: “The House Ways and Means Committee on Tuesday sued the Treasury Department and the IRS to get President Donald Trump’s tax returns.” (CNBC)
On the Left
COURT JESTERS: “U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman ruled Tuesday that people who are detained after entering the country illegally to seek protection are entitled to bond hearings,” the Associated Press informs us. “Attorney General William Barr announced in April that the government would no longer offer such hearings, but instead keep them in custody.” Many illegal immigrants use bond release to evade court hearings.
SOCIAL IN JUSTICE: “Thomas Jefferson’s birthday, April 13, will no longer be a holiday in the Founding Father’s hometown of Charlottesville, Va., the city council decided Monday. City officials voted to scrap the holiday in honor of the slave-owning third president of the United States and instead adopted Liberation and Freedom Day, to be celebrated each March 3.” (Fox News)
On Cross-Examination
CITIZENSHIP QUESTION ABANDONED: “The Trump administration said Tuesday it was dropping a citizenship question from the 2020 census, days after the Supreme Court ruled against the question’s inclusion,” The Hill reports. For the record, “Two-thirds of voters support allowing the U.S. census to include a question about an individual’s citizenship status,” according to National Review
GALLAGHER NOT GUILTY: Fox News reports, “A jury found decorated Navy SEAL Edward "Eddie” Gallagher not guilty Tuesday on almost all charges he was facing, including murder and attempted murder, in the killing of a teenage Islamic State member in Iraq.“ Our Harold Hutchison has background on this case’s strange turn.
Closing Arguments
POLICY: Poorer families lose under commie-Sanders’s plan (The Washington Free Beacon)
POLICY: Yet another study shows school-choice programs reduce crime (Washington Examiner)
SATIRE: High-profile corporations oddly reluctant to turn Independence Day into month-long celebration of American pride (IMAO)
~The Patriot Post https://patriotpost.us/articles/64057?mailing_id=4395&utm_medium=email&utm_source=pp.email.4395&utm_campaign=snapshot&utm_content=body .
How Iran-Backed Drone Attacks On Saudis From
Iraq Will Transform Whole Mideast Battle Space
By J.E. Dyer
{ lidblog.com } ~ The Wall Street Journal reported last week that, according to U.S. officials, a drone-bomb attack on a Saudi oil pumping station on 14 May 2019 was launched not by Houthi fighters in Yemen... but by Iran-backed Shia paramilitary forces “militias” in Iraq. The attack, in other words, came from a direction different from the one posited initially. The U.S. officials cited in the report also said that the attack used assets different from the ones used previously by the Houthis. The officials apparently didn’t go into detail on this, but they likely fingered the Iran-backed militias in Iraq because the signature of the strike was similar to the assets Iran has been using to probe Israel’s defenses in the north. The drone-bomb, in particular, may well have looked like the drone-bomb Israel downed back in February 2018, which approached Israeli air space from Syria and had originated from a compound south of Damascus controlled by Iran. I call it a drone-bomb, incidentally, because it’s not an “armed drone” in the sense that it releases a missile or bomb of some kind and then departs. The drone itself is the delivery mechanism for the warhead. The reporting on the 14 May attack in Saudi Arabia has indicated that that’s what we’re talking about. The attempt against Israel involved the same apparatus: a drone-bomb. There are multiple dimensions in which to analyze this development, and I will address only two here. One is the air defense problem for Saudi Arabia. It has been transformed overnight by this assessment. That’s not just because threats have been demonstrated to emerge from a different geographic vector – although that figures into it. It’s because the low/slow-flier threat is one against which integrated Saudi defenses are not optimized, especially looking to the north. It’s also because, if Iran can use Iraq as a launchpad for attacks, what comes across the border may not remain limited to drones...
https://lidblog.com/iran-drone-attack-saudi/ .
Iran rejects US accusation it violated nuclear deal
By jpost.com ~ Iran rejected on Tuesday a White House accusation that Tehran was long violating the terms of its nuclear deal with world powers... after the Islamic Republic said it had amassed more low-enriched uranium than permitted under the accord. "Seriously?" Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in a message on social network Twitter, after a statement by White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham that said, "There is little doubt that even before the deal’s existence, Iran was violating its terms." Tehran's announcement drew a warning from President Donald Trump that Tehran was "playing with fire." The move marked Iran's first major step beyond the terms of the pact since the United States pulled out of it more than a year ago. However, Zarif said the move was not a violation of the accord, arguing that Tehran was exercising its right to respond to the US walkout. The step, however, could have far-reaching consequences for diplomacy at a time when European countries are trying to pull the United States and Iran back from confrontation. It comes less than two weeks after Trump said he ordered air strikes on Iran, only to cancel them minutes before impact. Iran's semi-official Fars news agency reported that the country's enriched uranium stockpile has now passed the 300-kg (661 lb) limit allowed under the deal. The U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which monitors Iran's nuclear program under the deal, confirmed in Vienna that Tehran had breached the limit. Trump, asked if he had a message for Iran, said, "No message to Iran. They know what they're doing. They know what they're playing with, and I think they're playing with fire. So, no message to Iran whatsoever." European powers, which remain party to the accord and have tried to keep it in place, urged Iran not to take further steps that would violate it. But they held off on declaring the agreement void or announcing sanctions of their own. The White House charge that Iran probably was in violation of the nuclear deal before and after it was reached in 2015 sharply contrasts with CIA Director Gina Haspel’s testimony in January to the Senate Intelligence Committee saying, "At the moment, technically, they are in compliance." Daryl Kimball, the executive director of the Arms Control Association, said the White House charge was "illogical." He pointed out that at the time the nuclear deal was concluded, Tehran and the IAEA agreed on a "roadmap" through which Iran is addressing the nuclear watchdog’s unanswered questions about the nuclear weapons research program that the IAEA and the US intelligence community assessed ended in 2003...
https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Iran-rejects-US-accusation-it-long-violated-nuclear-deal-594348 .
California Gas Tax Makes State’s Gas $1 More
Per Gallon Than The National Average
By John Sexton
{ hotair.com } ~ A new gas tax went into effect in California today which helped make California’s gas cost $1 more per gallon than the national average... From CNBC: California’s already-high gas prices jumped up again on July 1, with a new 5.6 cents per gallon gasoline tax hike. The increase brings the average price per gallon in California for regular gasoline to a national high of $3.755 per gallon, according to the American Automobile Association, more than a dollar a gallon more than the national average of $2.717 per gallon. The hike takes California’s total statewide gas tax up to 47.3 cents per gallon, according to the state’s Department of Tax and Fee administration. That doesn’t include local sales tax which is around 2% plus a federal gas tax of 18 cents. Also, those are the prices for regular gas. Premium costs an average of 25 cents more per gallon, making it just over $4 in California on average. The new gas tax was put in place two years ago to raise $5.2 billion for road repairs in the state. Last year there was an attempt to repeal the tax but it didn’t pass. I happen to have a friend who is leaving California for good this week. I spent part of the day Sunday visiting with him and saying goodbye. He sold his townhouse near the beach and will be moving to Florida where his new home is bigger, newer, and costs about 1/3 what his current home in CA just sold for...
https://hotair.com/archives/2019/07/01/california-gas-tax-makes-states-gas-1-per-gallon-national-average/?utm_source=hadaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&bcid=7220442bc3498cb5e2d68f3cb4d11680 .
Iran Preparing a Worldwide Terror Network
By Yaakov Lappin
{ investigativeproject.org } ~ An Iranian network of terrorist cells is spread out around the world, ready for activation at any time as tensions in the Persian Gulf remain high... Threats by the Islamic Republic to escalate its standoff with the United States mean that the chances of an Iranian proxy terrorist activation are rising. Biting American sanctions are causing unprecedented damage to the Iranian economy. In response, the radical Shi'ite regime has already provided the world with a sample of its ability to order attacks that destabilize the Middle East. Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen recently launched explosive drones and cruise missiles, targeting Saudi Arabian oil installations and airports. An Iranian-backed Shi'ite militia in Iraq, Katai'b Hizballah, is suspected of firing rockets at U.S. interests, and the Islamic Republican Guards Corps (IRGC) launched mine attacks on civilian oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman. These incidents represent a small sampling of Iran's capabilities. The Iranians have built up a wide-reaching network of radical surrogates which extends beyond the Middle East. Members of this network range from hierarchical terror armies like Hizballah, armed with massive arsenals of projectiles, to sleeper terrorist cells active in Europe, North America, and Latin America. Israel, a frontline state that defends itself against Iran and its proxy network, has taken a lead role in identifying, monitoring, and preventing attacks, as well as alerting Western intelligence agencies to threats. Mossad Director Yossi Cohen provided a glimpse into this shadow war in remarks delivered Monday at the Herzliya Conference. The IRGC and the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence are responsible for overseas terror operations, he said. While the Ministry of Intelligence is responsible for setting up murder squads targeting Iranian opposition figures abroad, the IRGC, together with Hizballah, seeks to hit Israeli targets, as well as soft Jewish targets. This would explain the discovery and recent announcement of a Hizballah bomb factory in London. It appears highly likely that the bombs were intended for Hizballah cells intent on attacking Israeli targets in Britain...
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lowlife-Kamala Harris campaign lawyer hired
Fusion GPS for scumbag/liar-Hillary Clinton
by Jerry Dunleavy
{ washingtonexaminer.com } ~ The former top lawyer for scumbag/liar-Hillary Clinton’s failed presidential campaign who hired Fusion GPS to carry out controversial opposition research against then-candidate Donald Trump in 2016... is now working for a top 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful. Marc Elias, who heads Perkins Coie’s political law group, became general counsel for California Sen. lowlife-Kamala Harris’ presidential bid this year. Elias, who held the same position in scumbag/liar-Clinton's campaign, is named in two pending Federal Election Commission complaints and in a recent federal lawsuit alleging that the scumbag/liar-Clinton campaign broke campaign finance laws when it used Perkins Coie to hire Fusion GPS. Fusion GPS went on to hire British ex-spy Christopher Steele, who compiled an unverified dossier allegedly based on sources close to the Kremlin which was disseminated to the media and used by the FBI to obtain Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrants targeting former Trump campaign associate Carter Page. Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz is reviewing alleged FISA abuse related to the dossier and Attorney General William Barr launched his “investigation of the investigators” earlier this year.Clinton’s former presidential campaign manager Robby Mook said in 2017 that he authorized Elias to hire an outside firm to dig up dirt on Trump’s connections with Russia. “I asked our lawyer and I gave him a budget allocation to investigate this, particularly the international aspect,” he said. Mook said Elias was receiving information from Fusion GPS or directly from Steele himself about the research into Trump and Russia in 2016, and that Elias then periodically briefed the scumbag/liar-Clinton campaign about the findings. “We were getting briefings that were put together by the law firm with information,” Mook said. “I’m proud that we were able to assemble some of the research that has brought this to light.”...
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/kamala-harris-campaign-lawyer-hired-fusion-gps-for-hillary-clinton?utm_source=breaking_push&utm_medium=app&utm_campaign=push_notifications&utm_source=WEX_News%20Brief_07/02/2019&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=WEX_News%20Brief&rid=5261 .
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Antifa Thugs Attack Journalist; Other Journalists Pile OnNate Jackson: The so-called “antifa” movement — which supposedly stands for “anti-fascism” — is, in fact, a fascist movement of radical leftists who are perfectly happy to use violence when it suits their purposes. Journalist Andy Ngo was on the receiving end of antifa brutality over the weekend in Portland, Oregon.
Ngo, whose Twitter profile notes that he’s “hated by antifa,” was covering the movement’s march in Portland on Saturday when he was attacked by 20 or so antifa thugs. They stole or destroyed thousands of dollars of his camera equipment and beat him physically, sending him to the ER with a brain bleed.
Of course, some “real” journalists in the Leftmedia don’t count Ngo as one of them; he writes for Quillette, National Review, and Spectator USA. Thus, after the beating, the same Leftmedia outfits still writing stories about Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s murder at the hands of the Saudis nearly a year ago went on the attack … against Ngo.
Various reports blamed him for the assault — or at least implied that he had it coming — because he’s engaged in an “information war,” writes to provide “ammunition for a culture war,” he “antagonizes those he knows will react in a disproportionate way,” and he’s “one of the leading amplifiers of Islamophobia” who “participates in white supremacist violence.” Ngo is … not a white guy. In fact, he’s Asian and a homosexual.
It’s true this condemnation of Ngo wasn’t universal, but it was widespread. Yet as Erick Erickson pointedly notes, “Just a few months ago, Time magazine named journalists as their ‘person of the year’ given both the sustained abuse journalists are subjected to and the President’s ongoing verbal attacks on the press.”
As for antifa, once again the movement has been revealed for what it is. Moreover, “One gets the impression that Antifa rules Portland with the same impunity that the Ku Klux Klan ruled Birmingham in the 1960s,” writes Rod Dreher. “Do they actually have police in Portland? Do they have functioning government there?” The questions practically answer themselves.
We wish Mr. Ngo a speedy and full recovery. ~The Patriot Post
https://patriotpost.us/articles/63993?mailing_id=4378&utm_medium=email&utm_source=pp.email.4378&utm_campaign=snapshot&utm_content=body
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