Russiagate docs manufactured by Hillary Clinton show the feds are STILL lying about Trump and their putsch attempt

 

The feds are still lying and obfuscating about the Russiagate conspiracy against Donald Trump: Witness the recent release, years late and heavily redacted, of a document about the origin of the FBI probe. 

This comes to light thanks only to the dogged efforts of the folks at RealClearInvestigations.

The biggest thing the Bureau is still hiding: The “articulable factual basis” on which its 2017 probe of Trump’s alleged role as a Russian intelligence asset was legitimated. 

Yes, it’s been obvious for years that there was no factual basis for the probe. 

But to see why that’s precisely the issue, and why the Bureau needs to fully come clean, take a look at the whole sordid history . . . .

In 2016, the Hillary Clinton campaign (then desperate to distract from her illegal use of a private email server to illegally share classified documents) pays ex-spy Christopher Steele to gin up false allegations that her rival for the presidency, Donald Trump, was working with Russia.  

He in turn pays an “assistant” to imagine some dirt; those lies — collated into the now infamous Steele Dossier — are used to justify a probe into Trump’s campaign. 

Clinton escapes any legal pain for her email violations after FBI Director James Comey recommends against prosecution; Trump wins the 2016 race under a cloud of baseless suspicion, which a left-leaning media establishment adds to and amplifies. 

In November 2016, the FBI gives Steele the boot as a source; in January 2017, Steele’s lead fabricator Igor Danchenko tells the FBI that there was “zero” corroboration for the dossier’s claims and that the Russia-Trump rumors he’d passed along to Steele came from “word of mouth and hearsay.” 

In May 2017, Trump fires Comey; mere days later, the FBI reopens contact with Steele — whom it now knows to be 100% discredited — and launches a new probe, the one the RCI team targeted with its FOIA demand. 

That probe was launched by then-Acting Director Andrew McCabe and signed off on by FBI General Counsel Jim Baker and McCabe’s No. 2, Bill Priestap. 

Enter special counsel Robert Mueller — and cue two years of endless sound and fury from national Democrats and their lapdogs in the media, wall-to-wall TV coverage and frothy-lipped insanity from Resistance schizoids across the country. 

Mueller, of course, would go on to turn up . . . absolutely no evidence of any kind Trump was a Russian asset, ever, in any way. 

Period. 

So you don’t have to be Picasso (or Vassily Kandinsky) to connect the dots about what the FBI is still hiding and why. 

No one can know for sure until the Bureau tells the truth, but it’s beyond likely that the redacted “articulable factual basis” of the 2017 probe is both non-factual and non-actionable. 

I.e., nothing more than a toxic combo of Steele Dossier hogwash and an FBI vendetta over Comey. 

Recall that probe initiator McCabe hinted publicly that the latter was the case in a 2019 interview with CBS news.

And that probe co-signer Baker played a major role in laundering the Dossier’s claims (he was also serving as deputy GC at Twitter when the app killed our 100% accurate Hunter Biden reporting in a blatant case of election interference). 

The FBI’s failed coup — let’s call it what it was — against a sitting American president remains one of the most shameful chapters in the Bureau’s already-shameful history. 

It owes the American people a full accounting. 

That its leadership still, even now, feels it has the right to lie and conceal and delay and deny proves beyond any doubt that President-elect Donald Trump is more than justified in his plan to shake the Bureau to its foundations. 

Michael Goodwin: The world has now seen the ‘Trump Effect’ on full display

 

A glance across America and Europe leads to an unmistakable conclusion: Revolution is in the air. 

The failures of democracies are sparking internal upheavals.

Thankfully, spasms of violence and bloodshed are few, but a toxic brew of overbearing governments, shrinking freedoms and undeniable decline is producing demands for big changes. 

A common thread from California to Great Britain, France and Germany is that liberal underpinnings have morphed into sloppy socialism, unchecked immigration, cultural clashes and restraints on critical speech. 

Collectively, the conservative blowback reveals that the time allotted for an indulgent detour has expired and a new consensus is taking shape, whether entrenched leftists like it or not. 

You can thank Donald Trump and the 77 million Americans who elected him for this development. 

Or blame them if you are on the losing side of this remarkable
moment. 

Either way, Trump is, with apologies to Reggie Jackson, the straw that stirs the drink. 

Internal Docs Show 2 of LA Fire Dept's Top 3 Goals Were DEI, While Disaster Recovery Ranked Dead Last

 

As California firefighters struggle to control multiple wildfires destroying thousands of homes and forcing more than 100,000 to flee, more information is coming to light about the priorities of Los Angeles Fire Department.

In particular, the city's department seems to have emphasized the skin color and sexual preferences of firefighters rather than whether those firefighters were skilled at, you know, putting out fires.

Manhattan Institute senior fellow Christopher Rufo revealed on Thursday that the LAFD authorities, in the department's "Strategic Plan 2023-2026," have seven stated goals for the organization.

The first is delivering “exceptional public safety and emergency services.” The second and third are promoting a “progressive work environment” and committing to "an organizational culture that embraces diversity, equity, and inclusion.”

But the first most certainly took a back seat to the second and third, as Los Angeles is now learning the hard way.

By the way, "disaster recovery" ranked dead last among those seven goals.

To achieve those goals, the described strategies and tactics, which are perhaps even more revealing.

Those tactics, just to name a few, include offering “DEI education to all members on a recurring basis,” launching a “Work Environment Committee with diverse stakeholder voices,” training “all supervisors to be change agents who model inclusive behavior,” and examining “whether alternative schedule options would accommodate a broader pool of employees.”

Perhaps the LAFD has not yet realized that making staff members sit through constant racial struggle sessions does not improve its members' ability to fight fires.

If anything, doubling down on wokeness at every turn reduces team cohesion while distracting from the mission at hand.

The actual priorities of the LAFD are evident at the highest levels of the department.

LAFD Chief Kristin Crowley is prominently described on the agency website as the “first female and LGBTQ Fire Chief in the LAFD,” as revealed by Libs of TikTok on Wednesday.

Crowley’s biography on the site said that her “priorities” include “creating, supporting, and promoting a culture that values diversity, inclusion, and equity while striving to meet and exceed the expectations of the communities.”

Once more, clearly one has superseded the other.

Ask any of those “communities” watching in horror as their homes burn to a crisp whether their expectations have been met, let alone exceeded.

Over the past decade, and especially over the past four or five years, the diversity, equity, and inclusion movement was forced into seemingly every institution in our nation.

But without fail, those priorities take a front seat in the institutions they conquer, while merit, excellence, innovation, and competence take a back seat.

The Los Angeles Fire Department is merely the latest and most tragic example.

Meet Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley. She boasts about being the first female and LGBTQ fire chief in the LA Fire Department. Promoting a culture of DEI is her priority.

Does this make you feel safer? pic.twitter.com/9PG9bUmYCY

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) January 8, 2025

Obama and Trump Shmoooze in Shul

 

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Iran unveils underground 'missile city' that houses rockets to be used in attacks on Israel in chilling footage

 

Chilling footage broadcast by Iranian media on Friday showed the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander General Hossein Salami inspecting an underground missile facility. 

In one clip, General Salami can be seen addressing troops in a speech.  

'Every day, the number of systems and missiles is added in the far corners of this land', he says.

'Maybe the enemy thought that our production power has stagnated, but the growth rate of our missile power is up to date'. 

In other videos, he can be seen examining what appear to be missiles.  

It was not immediately clear when and where the footage was filmed.

General Salami has risen through the ranks of the IRGC since its inception following the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran. 

He is known for his menacing speeches and his devotion to Iranian leader Ali Hosseini Khamenei. 

The release of the footage comes as Israeli military said scores of Israeli jets completed waves of strikes against missile factories and other sites near Tehran and in western Iran last October.

Iran played down the air attack against its military targets, saying it caused only limited damage.

Also, Israel's military said it had carried out new airstrikes in Yemen against what it said were Houthi rebel targets.  

Its statement Friday said fighter jets struck 'on the western coast and inland Yemen,' a day after the Houthis launched three drones at Israel.

The US military bombed Yemen earlier this week. 

Houthi-controlled media reported one worker dead and six people wounded at the Ras Isa port. 

The Houthis said the strikes occurred while Yemenis were rallying in the capital Sanaa in support of the Palestinians in Gaza. 

Tensions in the region have grown rapidly since the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Iran-backed Hamas, raising fears of a wider conflict that could drag in global powers and imperil world energy supplies.

In recent weeks, Israel and Hamas have appeared to inch closer  to an agreement for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of Israeli hostages.

Gaza's Health Ministry said Thursday that 46,006 Palestinians have been killed and 109,378 wounded in the Israel-Hamas war with no end in sight. 

The ministry says women and children were more than half the fatalities but does not say how many of the dead were fighters or civilians.

The Israeli military says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.

It blames Hamas for civilian deaths because it says militants operate in residential areas. 

Israel's air and ground operations have driven hundreds of thousands of Palestinians into sprawling tent camps along the coast with limited access to food and other essentials.

The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and abducting around 250. 

A third of the 100 hostages still held in Gaza are believed to be dead

Guess who's back in about two weeks?

 

Judge Merchan tries to defend himself after Trump sentencing — but he and Bragg are responsible for this monster

 On Friday, the sentencing of President-elect Donald Trump saw one of the most impassioned defense arguments given at such a hearing in years … from the judge himself.

Acting Justice Juan Merchan admitted that the case was “unique and remarkable” but insisted that “once the courtroom doors were closed, the trial itself was no more special, unique, and extraordinary than the other 32 cases in this courthouse.”

If so, that is a damning indictment of the entire New York court system. Merchan allowed a dead misdemeanor to be resuscitated by allowing Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg to effectively prosecute declined federal offenses.

He allowed a jury to convict Trump without any agreement, let alone unanimity, on what actually occurred in the case.

Merchan ruled that the jury did not have to agree on why Trump committed an alleged offense in describing settlement costs as legal costs.

Neither the defendant nor the public will ever know what the jury ultimately found in its verdict.

I once described this case as a legal Frankenstein: “It is the ultimate gravedigger charge, where Bragg unearthed a case from 2016 and, through a series of novel steps, is seeking to bring it back to life … Bragg is combining parts from both state and federal codes.”

Even liberal legal experts have denounced the case and Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) recently called it total “bulls–t.”

Now, Merchan seemed quick to assure this Frankenstein case was just like any other creature of the court. It did not matter that it was stitched together from dead cases and zapped into life through lawfare.

Merchan knows that there is a fair chance this monstrosity will finally die on appeal, and he was making the case for his own conduct.

The verdict, however, is likely to last far longer than the Trump verdict. It is a judgment against not just Merchan but the New York legal system, which allowed itself to be weaponized against political opponents.

Trump can now appeal the case as a whole. Prior appeals in the New York court system were unsuccessful, and hopes are low that the system will redeem itself.

However, Trump can eventually escape the vortex of the New York court system in search of jurists willing to see beyond the rage and bring reason to this case.

Merchan’s monster will now go on the road and work its way back to the Supreme Court. Outside of New York, this freak attraction will likely be viewed as less thrilling than chilling.

Lawfare is that monster. It threatens us all, even those who hate Trump and his supporters. Once released, it spreads panic among the public, which can no longer rely on the guarantees of blind and fair justice.

That includes businesses that view this case and the equally absurd civil case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James as creating a dangerous and even lawless environment. Many are saying “There but for the grace of God go I” in a system that allows for selective prosecution.

Many will be blamed as the creators of this monster but few will escape that blame, including Merchan himself.

 Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro professor of public interest law at George Washington University and the author of “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.”

Zera Shimshon Parshas Va'Yechi

 

Shocking Footage: "I've never seen such destruction.... it looks like a war zone."

 

*Shocking Footage: "I've never seen such destruction.... it looks like a war zone."*

News chopper gives a shocking report on the view from above Pacific Palisades.

Thousands of homes are destroyed.

Kamala doesn’t look thrilled that Obama is talking with Trump.