Thursday Noon ~ thefrontpagecover

[Rudy Tirre]

TheFrontPageCover

~ Featuring ~ 

  Japan's Naval Counterweight to China

Harold Hutchison 

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DOJ Inspector General Report Confirms 

scumbag-James Comey ‘Violated FBI Policy'

By Gregg Re  

{foxnews.com} ~ A scathing inspector general report released Thursday said that fired FBI Director scumbag-James Comey violated bureau policies by drafting, leaking and retaining memos documenting discussions with President Trump... The Justice Department's official watchdog concluded that the memos scumbag-Comey kept were in fact "official FBI records. "The office said he "violated applicable policies and his FBI Employment Agreement by providing one of the unclassified memos that contained official FBI information, including sensitive investigative information, to his friend with instructions for the friend to share the contents of the memo with a reporter." Further, the IG determined that scumbag-Comey kept copies of four memos out of the total seven he drafted in a personal safe at home after his removal as director -- and in doing so also "violated FBI policies and his FBI Employment Agreement by failing to notify the FBI that he had retained them, or to seek authorization to retain them." And the IG said scumbag-Comey again violated the rules "by providing copies ... of the four memos he had kept in his home to his three private attorneys without FBI authorization." While the findings of the probe were forwarded to the DOJ, the department has declined prosecution. But for scumbag-Comey, who has cultivated the image of a by-the-book and irreproachable leader since his termination in 2017, the review shined a harsh light on his decision making in the final, beleaguered weeks of his tenure at the head of the nation's top law enforcement agency. In a pointed passage, the report faulted scumbag-Comey for disclosing sensitive information. Read the full report here...  https://hannity.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/OIG-Report-No.-OR-19-02-Comey-Memos-08-29-19.pdf

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/doj-inspector-general-says-comey-violated-policies-with-memos-documenting-private-conversations-with-trump  

VIDEO:  https://video.foxnews.com/v/6067583864001/#sp=show-clips

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Israel Faces a Serious Escalation 

in its Proxy War with Iran

by Con Coughlin

{ gatestoneinstitute.org } ~ The recent confirmation by US military officials that Israeli warplanes were responsible for the recent attack on an Iranian military base in Iraq demonstrates the alarming extent... to which the so-called proxy war between Tehran and Jerusalem has escalated in recent weeks. According to senior Israeli security sources, spoken to on an off-the-record basis, the base in the northern Iraqi province of Salaheddin was targeted because they believed it was being used to assemble Iranian-made medium-range missiles with the capability to hit targets in Israel. The threat was deemed so important that senior Israeli officers decided to launch a daring bombing raid that required F-35 stealth warplanes to penetrate Saudi airspace to achieve their objective. It is unclear whether the Saudis, who oppose Iranian meddling in Iraq but do not have diplomatic relations with Israel, gave permission for the Israeli warplanes to enter their airspace. The attack, which took place on July 19, on the base run a group of local Shia militias known collectively as the Popular Mobilisation Forces, which are sponsored by Iran, is said to have resulted in the deaths of two Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commanders, as well as several fighters from the Iranian-backed Hizbollah militia. To date, there has been no official confirmation from Jerusalem that Israel was responsible for the attack, although Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is in the midst of campaigning for re-election in next month's poll, has dropped heavy hints that the Israeli military was responsible for the raid. As speculation mounted about Israel's involvement in the raid, the Israeli premier was reported telling a planning meeting in Jerusalem earlier this week, "We will deepen our roots and strike at our enemies. " Now, the extent of Israeli involvement has been confirmed by the US, which has 5,000 troops based in Iraq, after military officials said Israel was responsible for carrying out the raid. This is the first time that Israeli warplanes have attacked targets in Iraq since the famous Operation Babylon bombing raid in 1981 against the Osirak nuclear reactor being built by Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein as part of his drive to acquire nuclear weapons. The fact that Israel has found it necessary to attack targets so far from its traditional area of military operations close to its immediate borders is indicative of the alarming escalation that has taken place in recent months in the threat Iran poses to Israeli security. Furthermore, it comes at a time when Israel is undertaking military operations on numerous fronts to tackle the Iranian threat. Earlier this week, in Lebanon, an Israeli drone was reported to have bombed a Palestinian base that is said to be funded by Iran...  https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14784/israel-proxy-war-iran   

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scumbag liar-Nadler asks House committees

 probing Trump to share docs for 

its impeachment investigation

By ANDREW DESIDERIO and KYLE CHENEY

{ politico.com } ~ House Judiciary Committee Chairman scumbag liar-Jerry Nadler on Thursday asked four House panels investigating President Donald Trump to share documents and other information to aid his committee’s investigation... into whether to file articles of impeachment against the president. In a letter to the chairs of four key investigative committees, scumbag liar-Nadler (D-N.Y.) asked for “documents and testimony, depositions, and/or interview transcripts” that might be relevant to the Judiciary Committee’s ongoing impeachment probe.The letter — addressed to the leaders of the House Intelligence, Financial Services, Oversight and Reform, and Foreign Affairs panels — also references the Judiciary panel’s recent pronouncement in various court filings that it is considering whether articles of impeachment are warranted, a decision that came without a formal vote of the House or the committee itself. Together, all five committees have launched investigations, interviewed witnesses and subpoenaed documents relating to the president’s conduct, foreign business ties, presidential campaign, hush-money payments and personal finances. The Intelligence Committee also has dozens of transcripts from its 2017-18 investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election that may become relevant to the Judiciary Committee probe. scumbag liar-Nadler’s request comes one day after Trump’s attorneys argued that two of the committees — Intelligence and Financial Services — may not invoke the possibility of impeachment in order to gain access to Trump's personal financial information held by Deutsche Bank and Capital One. Trump’s lawyers called impeachment “a non-legislative power that the Committees do not and cannot invoke here because, among other reasons, they have no jurisdiction over it under the House Rules.” The Judiciary Committee’s move request appears to directly answer that claim: All documents gathered by other committees investigating Trump might become relevant to its impeachment probe. That also bolsters House General Counsel Douglas Letter’s effort to link the Intelligence and Financial Services Committees’ demands to the ongoing impeachment inquiry...  https://www.politico.com/story/2019/08/22/nadler-trump-documents-impeachment-1472475?nname=playbook&nid=0000014f-1646-d88f-a1cf-5f46b7bd0000&nrid=0000015d-ccf3-de22-abdf-eff70b570000&nlid=630318    

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FBI raids two UAW presidents' homes as part 

of nationwide sweep in corruption probe

by Tresa Baldas, Phoebe Wall Howard 

and Jamie L. LaReau

{ freep.com } ~ FBI and IRS agents raided the home of UAW President Gary Jones in metro Detroit early Wednesday as part of a nationwide sweep of sites tied to the autoworker union... Agents also raided the California home of Dennis Williams, who preceded Jones as UAW chief; the union’s northern Michigan conference center; and additional UAW locations in Wisconsin and Missouri. The raids were a major step as federal officials ramped up their corruption investigation of the autoworkers union — which is in the midst of contract negotiations with Detroit automakers. As many as a dozen agents collected evidence from Jones' home on Wildrose Drive in Canton, and would remain there "as long as it takes," Special Agent Mara Schneider said from the site late in the morning. The search lasted six hours. She declined to say whether Jones, 62, was home when agents arrived or during the raid. The agents conducted what is called a "knock and announce" protocol. One neighbor, 47-year-old J. Kevin Telepo, became so intrigued that he grabbed his Swarovski binoculars, sat in his dining room and zoomed in on Jones’ garage. That's where he saw FBI agents combing through all sorts of stuff: cash, a golf bag and what appeared to be a safe, he said. Telepo said he saw the agents counting "wads" of cash. He texted his wife and neighbors about the raid...

https://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/2019/08/28/uaw-president-gary-jones-fbi-raid/2140270001/  

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Destroyer USS Wayne E. Meyer Sails Past Fiery Cross, Mischief Reefs in Latest FONOPS

By Megan Eckstein

{ news.usni.org } ~ Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Wayne E. Meyer (DDG-108) sailed within 12 nautical miles of both Fiery Cross Reef and Mischief Reef today... to challenge excessive maritime claims in the South China Sea, U.S. 7th Fleet spokeswoman Cmdr. Reann Mommsen told USNI News. “U.S. Forces operate in the Indo-Pacific region on a daily basis, including in the South China Sea. All operations are designed in accordance with international law and demonstrate that the United States will fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows,” she said. Ships operating the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command have conducted several FONOPS this year, with officials saying they wanted FONOPS to be viewed as more routine operations. In late May, USS Preble (DDG-88) sailed near the Scarborough Shoal, and earlier that month Preble and USS Chung-Hoon (DDG-93) steamed within 12 nautical miles of the Gaven and Johnson Reefs. In February, Preble and USS Spruance (DDG-111) steamed within 12 nautical miles of Mischief Reef, an artificial island China built up in the Spratly Islands chain. In January, USS McCampbell (DDG-85) steamed past the Paracel Islands.The South China Sea continues to be a key location where U.S. warships promote freedom of navigation and open international waterways, and also where China has taken a stand this summer. A group of Chinese warships, including aircraft carrier Liaoning, sailed through the South China Sea earlier this summer, operating in territorial waters of the Philippines  and near Japan. When Wayne E. Meyer conducted its FONOP today, other ships were in the vicinity, but all interactions were considered routine, a source told USNI News. Today’s operation comes just after China denied a U.S. Navy request to send a warship to the eastern port city of Qingdao, Reuters first reported. The U.S. and China are locked in a growing trade war, and while U.S. Navy ships have made port visits in Chinese cities previously, the rejection of the request may reflect those growing tensions between the two economic powers. China also denied two warships access to Hong Kong, the semi-autonomous islands where protests against the government in Beijing are ongoing...

https://news.usni.org/2019/08/28/destroyer-uss-wayne-e-meyer-sails-past-fiery-cross-mischief-reefs-in-latest-fonops?utm_source=USNI+News&utm_campaign=edab8fcaa2-USNI_NEWS_DAILY&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_0dd4a1450b-edab8fcaa2-231491269&mc_cid=edab8fcaa2&mc_eid=3999f18767  

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Japan's Naval Counterweight to China

Harold Hutchison:  trade deal, but a United States Naval Institute report that Japan is willing to let the United States Marines operate F-35B Lightnings off Japan’s four “helicopter destroyers.”

Japan has four such vessels, two of which are the 13,500-ton Hyuga-class helicopter destroyers Hyuga and Ise, and two 19,500-ton Izumo-class vessels, Izumo and Kaga. While the reports center on the latter two vessels, the former two can’t be discounted for F-35B operations. It should be noted that vertical/short takeoff and landing (V/STOL) aircraft have operated off ships like the Italian Navy’s 10,100-ton Giuseppe Garibadi that saw combat service in 2002 during the Global War on Terrorism and in the 2011 Libyan intervention.

The Marines operating F-35Bs off these ships could be a preparation for Japan to bring back a fixed-wing carrier arm. Japan’s order of 100 F-35s reportedly includes some of the F-35Bs in the mix. While not as capable as a United States Navy nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, this can still put some real hurt on the People’s Liberation Army Navy.

Now, let’s be honest, Japan’s “helicopter destroyers” are really light aircraft carriers and were intended to be from the start. History has seen Japan play fast and loose with arms-control treaties in the past (its heavy cruisers flaunted the restrictions of the London Naval Treaty), so is it no surprise that euphemisms would be employed to allow the use of aircraft carriers.

What does this mean for America? It gives the United States an ally that can legitimately project power in the region. Given that the United States Navy is desperately short on hulls in the water, this is a good thing — two light carriers can, for instance, keep China off balance in the South China Sea. That’s just the beginning.

Japan is also acquiring the V-22 Osprey — the game-changing tiltrotor that has given the Marine Corps new advantages in combat and non-combat operations. Those will also be able to operate off these ships, as Marine Corps Ospreys already have. Japan has a trio of Osumi-class amphibious ships, which look like carriers but have no hangars; instead, flat decks provide landing platforms for helicopters — and helicopters used on naval ships can handle sea water for a bit.

Japan’s military growth is mostly very good news for the United States. The only hiccup is that neighbors of Japan, particularly South Korea, have been nervous about that, given what happened in World War II. South Korea has made a similar growth as a military power, and the chance that these American allies could have drama akin to that of Greece and Turkey from past decade is a little greater than America would like.

The Beijing regime already had to worry about the way Hong Kong has trapped Chinese President Xi Jinping in a tough spot, and President Donald Trump taking on China’s unfair trade practices with the aid of a militarily stronger Japan doesn’t make things easier for the red commies. So, despite the historic concerns with South Korea, the rise of Japan’s capabilities as a better-armed Asian partner of the United States is all-in-all a good thing.  ~The Patriot Post

https://patriotpost.us/articles/65071?mailing_id=4494&utm_medium=email&utm_source=pp.email.4494&utm_campaign=snapshot&utm_content=body