Our mission, as God-fearing and God-loving patriots, is to defend this Constitutional Republic and to increase its greatness, in all good things and ways, by using our voices in free but courteous speech, by discussing the happenings of the world and coming to a profound understanding of those things, and by sharing and promulgating these Truths on both this platform and others.
Let’s just say, the atmosphere changed when the Trump’s landed at the Shannon Airport in Ireland.
U.S. President Donald Trump waves as he arrives at Shannon Airport in Shannon, Ireland, June 5, 2019. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne
The President sat down with Leo Varadkar, the Prime Minister of Ireland at the Shannon Airport. Link
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7110251/Don-Jr-Eric-pub-hopping-tiny-Irish-village-pull-pints-Guinness.html#v-1910505188583557639
FLOTUS Melania, was greeted by lovely children.
The Trump team then traveled to the President’s Golf Club in Doonbeg…….. which is spectacular.
The lobby area at Doonbeg Golf & Spa Resort in Co Clare.
The locals were THRILLED the President and his team was in town.
As soon as everyone was settled at Doonbeg, the boys, Don Jr., and Eric, headed out to the local village to go PUB HOPPING!!!!!!!!! Link
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7110251/Don-Jr-Eric-pub-hopping-tiny-Irish-village-pull-pints-Guinness.html#v-8655099663700836255
The whole village turned into a carnival-like festival and Don Jr., and Eric manned the beer taps and actually bought the house a few drinks. What a great time. People came from everywhere. They leaned out of windows to catch a glimpse of the boys.
But the bar owner, THIS GUY, won the blue ribbon for the night. Check out his sweatshirt.
The Trump sons were so grateful for the warm welcome by the villagers in Doonbeg. Take a look at Eric, being gracious. Link
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7110251/Don-Jr-Eric-pub-hopping-tiny-Irish-village-pull-pints-Guinness.html#v-4432464205650935882
In the morning, the Trump’s will fly to Normandy to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of D-Day. Tonight, however, was a brief respite…..
Thank you, County Clare!
British Paratroopers sit across from their former selves. Photo taken on D-Day.
The President, FLOTUS, the Queen and other leaders are already there.
Today we commemorate the effort of the Allies. D-Day is considered one of the largest military operations in history. It included over 5,000 vessels and ships, nearly 11,000 planes and over 130,000 ground troops. #DDay75 The landing beaches and tide clock used in preparation for D-Day at Southwick House, Portsmouth.
Live Link from ABC:
As we approach the 75th Anniversary of D-Day, we proudly commemorate those heroic and honorable patriots who gave their all for the cause of freedom during some of history’s darkest hours. #DDay75https://t.co/hjTkdM7VcN
By now, most of you have heard about Piers Morgan’s interview with the President. Here is the interview in its entirety: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZ5K6opeIyw&feature=youtu.be Schedule for Day 3
9:35am BST / 4:35am EST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY depart London, United Kingdom, en route to Southsea Castle Landing Zone, Portsmouth, United Kingdom, London, United Kingdom
10:25am BST / 5:25am EST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY arrive at Southsea Castle Landing Zone, Portsmouth, United Kingdom
10:35am BST / 5:35am EST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY depart Southsea Castle Landing Zone en route to Southsea Common, Portsmouth, United Kingdom
10:40am BST / 5:40am EST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY arrive at Southsea Common, Portsmouth, United Kingdom
10:45am BST / 5:45am EST THE PRESIDENT participates in a photo opportunity with leaders attending an event to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of D-Day, Portsmouth, United Kingdom
11:15am BST / 6:15am EST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY participate in an event to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of D-Day, Portsmouth, United Kingdom
12:45pm BST / 7:45am EST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY participate in a meet and greet with Her Majesty the Queen and D-Day Veterans, Portsmouth, United Kingdom
1:00pm BST / 8:00am EST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY bid farewell to Her Majesty the Queen, Portsmouth, United Kingdom
1:10pm BST / 8:10am EST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY participate in a reception with His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales and other leaders attending the D-Day Commemoration, Portsmouth, United Kingdom
1:35pm BST / 8:35am EST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY participate in a meet and greet with United States Service Members, Portsmouth, United Kingdom
2:05pm BST / 9:05am EST THE PRESIDENT participates in a Luncheon at the D-Day Commemoration, Portsmouth, United Kingdom
2:50pm BST / 9:50am EST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY depart Southsea Commons en route to Southsea Castle Landing Zone, Portsmouth, United Kingdom
2:55pm BST / 9:55am EST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY arrive at Southsea Castle Landing Zone, Portsmouth, United Kingdom
3:05pm BST / 10:05am EST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY depart Portsmouth, United Kingdom, en route to Southampton Airport, Southampton, United Kingdom, Portsmouth, United Kingdom
3:25pm BST / 10:25am EST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY arrive at Southampton Airport, Southampton, United Kingdom
3:35pm BST / 10:35am EST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY depart Southampton Airport en route Shannon Airport, Shannon, Ireland, Southampton, United Kingdom
~ U.K State Visit Concludes ~
4:50pm IST / 11:50am EST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY arrive at Shannon Airport, Shannon, Ireland
5:00pm IST / 12:00pm EST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY depart Shannon Airport en route to Shannon Airport Terminal, Shannon, Ireland
5:05pm IST / 12:05pm EST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY arrive at Shannon Airport Terminal, Shannon, Ireland
5:15pm IST / 12:15pm EST THE PRESIDENT participates in a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Taoiseach Leo Varadkar of Ireland, Shannon, Ireland
5:20pm IST / 12:20pm EST THE PRESIDENT participates in an expanded bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Taoiseach Leo Varadkar of Ireland, Shannon, Ireland
6:00PM IST / 1:00pm EST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY depart Shannon Airport Terminal en route to Shannon Airport, Shannon, Ireland
6:05pm IST / 1:05PM EST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY arrive at Shannon Airport, Shannon, Ireland
6:15pm IST / 1:15pm EST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY depart Shannon, Airport, en route to Trump International Doonbeg Landing Zone, Doonbeg, Ireland, Shannon, Ireland
6:35pm IST / 1:35pm EST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY arrive at Trump International Doonbeg Landing Zone, Doonbeg, Ireland
The Queen is also at the D-Day Aniversary, along with other world leaders.
https://twitter.com/RoyalFamily/status/1136218825085607936
Here is the White House video compilation of Day 2, released from the President’s Twitter Feed.
While we were waiting for the President to speak. I decided to check out the Trump Golf Facility at Doonbeg. It looks like what we might imagine heaven to look like.
Take a look at your bathroom sink. Besides the drain at the bottom, there should be a higher overflow hole. This is designed so you don’t leave the bathroom faucet on and flood your bathroom. America built Spillways for the same reason…. so we don’t flood what we want to protect.
The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 was the most destructive river flood in the history of the United States, with 27,000 square miles (70,000 km 2) inundated up to a depth of 30 feet (9 m). Link Songs were written about the Great Flood, including a song from a couple in Kansas who recorded “When the Levee Breaks”, which was re-recorded by Led Zeppelin. The howling harmonica, despair of Robert Plant’s voice, and monotony of the drums, all speak to the devastation of a massive flood. Almost 50yrs after the song’s release, it’s still a perennial favorite in New Orleans and south Louisiana……… because we all …….. know.
Here is the original recording of the song from Kansas Joe McCoy and Memphis Minnie. The pics of the flood in the video are surreal.
After the flood, the Dept of Interior decided to build Spillways to try to control flood waters from excessive spring melts upstream. The Spillways worked much like the overflow hole on your bathroom sink. Massive gates would open, and relieve high water. The Bonnet Carre Spillway opens between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain, so the water can escape to the Gulf of Mexico.
If you look at the picture above, look behind the weatherman’s back, close to the lake. That white area is a subdivision of New Orleans. It’s Chateau Estates, built my school chum Leslie Occhipinti’s daddy. Where the weatherman’s knees are, and a little bit to the right off screen, is the New Orleans Int’l Airport. My own subdivision was further to the right along the lake. The Bonnet Carre Spillway protects both New Orleans and alleviates floodwaters for a third of the country. It’s MASSIVE.
It takes cranes to open ONE GATE of the spillway and the opening of a Spillway is such an event, people bring their kids to see it happen.
From the air, the cranes look like ants. We all pay homage to the Corps of Engineers guys who are brave enough to stand in the middle of all that water.
The Bonnet Carre Spillway is rarely used. The Morganza Spillway has not been used since 1973 and it is upriver. Morganza Spillway was opened on May 9, 2019 – second time in my lifetime. Link When one of the Spillways is opened, it can divert 1.5 million cubic feet of water per second. For comparison, it would fill up the Superdome in 50 seconds.
Opening the Morganza Spillway will flood the Bayous of the Atchafalaya Basin. It’s serious. I remember when it was opened in 1973. It was the year we moved to New Orleans. I was 10yrs old. Our Louisiana history class toured the spillways, both Morganza and the Bonnet Carre. At 10 yrs old, as a little girl from the suburbs of Chicago, I read stories about the waterworks required for Hanging Gardens of Babylon, or the Roman Aqueducts…. and Dad was part of the team for massive projects like the St. Louis Arch, John Hancock Bldg, Sear’s Tower (I was there when Dad helped lay the cornerstone). I grew up around big building projects. Heck, our family was transferred to New Orleans for his work on One Shell Square and the Superdome…. but the Spillways are massive….. like something out of a movie….. an alien world…… like looking at Hoover Dam and standing on the ground in front of it.
The size of it is mind-boggling.
I had never seen anything like it.
As I grew up, local high schools and fraternities would hold large gatherings, field days, outdoor concerts, in the expansive acreage on the dry side of the Spillways. We used to take horses there and picnic all the time. You could touch the massive gates and the backdrop was foreboding. The Corp claims 400K visitors a year. Link The space is perfect for a large gathering and stretches for a few miles miles between the Mississippi River levees and the shores of Lake Pontchartrain.
Yeah, the Great Flood of 1927 is probably the reason there are still 2500 engineers located at the Corps of Engineers facility in Vicksburg. Today, we refer to it as Construction “Wonderland”. Gunner’s girlfriend is a geo-engineer working on her masters, and interning there this summer.
Growing up in the area, we always knew, when it came time to open a Spillway, it was an emergency, and the country was in trouble. There was a sense of urgency across all classes and races – we’re all subject to the wrath of Mother Nature and HER river. Besides local press announcing the opening of the Bonnet Carre Spillway, I could hear the horns, from miles away at our house. It’s the kind of sound which creeps down your spine — like the first time you hear a tornado siren… and it goes on for what seems like hours.
My extended family lived around the Quad Cities, both sides of the Mississippi in Illinois and Iowa. Therefore, I could empathize easily. Today, in this forum, we hear from Dep and Nebraska Filly and we feel their pain. Guys like our own Rayzorbak are on the front line, with the Corps of Engineers. God Bless’em. Our country is in trouble and it’s time to help. Open the gates.
It’s worthwhile to note, before the Spillways were built, seasons of large floods would deposit millions of tons of silt into the Atchafalaya basin, creating new land. After the Spillways were built, controlling the river, we had “enormous problems” with the Gulf Of Mexico and sea water encroaching and eroding the land of the Atchafalaya. Saltwater tides are relentless. Think of the area as millions of acres which act like a filter, a permeable barrier between freshwater and saltwater, which teams with wildlife. Losing land was a big problem….. about 10 square miles a year.
As a schoolkid, we would join scientists in the summer who were analyzing the erosion (read as playing with the alligators/pelicans/turtles) which was ALLEGEDLY “caused” by the Corps of Engineers controlling the river instead of allowing a river delta to develop naturally. Today, those same scientists, now funded by “green groups” are complaining about opening the Spillways because the sudden infusion of freshwater destroys oyster beds, kills dolphins and loggerhead turtles. Yes, great local publicity for the three dolphins who have washed ashore during this emergency. Now, they want the Spillways closed. These are the people who are focused on the problem in their own backyard, instead of a MUCH larger problem for the entire country.
Can’t please a climate activist or a politician.
The politicians and the climate scientists were VERY upset about it…… but they never talked about the alternative……… like the Great Flood of 1927. No context. No historical perspective.
They forget the history of the land, the people, and disrespect local lore. Stories from SEVEN states of death and destruction. THEY think we’re stupid….. but we remember the stories of our grandparents.
See this picture above? The building with the Coca-Cola sign painted on the side? I’ve been in that building. The Bidenharn Family of Vicksburg were the first to bottle Coca-Cola. The building sits high, in the midst of a thriving downtown. No one could ever imagine it flooding…… but it did.
The Spillways were built for emergencies. We’re the choke point for a third of the country. We understand our responsibility. Let the water flow.
End…
It was a beautiful evening last night….. a state dinner at Buckingham Palace. The whole day was a spectacle of pomp and ceremony. Besides FLOTUS stealing the day and all the media watching the President’s every move……. let’s give a hat tip to Kellyanne Conway who was stupendous in silver, and Sarah Huckabee Sanders in red…… even Steve Mnuchin was particularly dashing.
Yet, today is the meeting with Theresa “One foot out the door” May. There is a reception which focuses on BUSINESS LEADERS in the UK. Surprised….. not.
Here’s the schedule. As we did yesterday, we will plug in photos as we receive them, creating a large archive. Thank you to ALL who responded with tips and pics yesterday. When we do these “group” posts – the results are amazing. Note: Interesting that the late afternoon/evening of Day 2 is spent almost exclusively with Prince Charles and Camilla. Unusual? Note: We’ve been warned by the entire MSM, the media and protests will be fierce today. Get ready and be prepared. We also have an exclusive picture from the leftist state dinner. Check it out. The State Visit ~ Day Two
9:10am BST / 4:10am EST THE PRESIDENT departs Winfield House (U.S. Ambassador Woody Johnson Residence) Landing Zone en route Buckingham Palace Landing Zone, London, United Kingdom
9:20am BST / 4:20am EST THE PRESIDENT arrives Buckingham Palace Landing Zone, London, United Kingdom
9:30am BST / 4:30am EST THE PRESIDENT departs Buckingham Palace Landing Zone en route St. James’s Palace, London, United Kingdom
9:40am BST / 4:40am EST THE PRESIDENT arrives at St. James’s Palace, London, United Kingdom
9:45am BST / 4:45am EST THE PRESIDENT participates in a business round table, London, United Kingdom
11:10am BST / 6:10am EST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY depart St. James’s Palace en route No. 10 Downing Street, London, United Kingdom
11:20am BST / 6:20am EST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY arrive No. 10 Downing Street, London, United Kingdom
11:25am BST / 6:25am EST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY participate in a greeting with the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland, London, United Kingdom
11:40am BST / 6:40am EST THE PRESIDENT participates in a expanded bilateral meeting with the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland, London, United Kingdom
12:25pm BST / 7:25am EST THE PRESIDENT participates in a working lunch with the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland, London, United Kingdom
1:45pm BST / 8:45am EST THE PRESIDENT participates in a press conference with the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland, London, United Kingdom
2:25pm BST / 9:25am EST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY participate in a tour of the Churchill War Rooms, London, United Kingdom
3:20pm BST / 10:20am EST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY depart Churchill War Rooms en route Buckingham Palace Landing Zone
London, United Kingdom
3:30pm BST / 10:30am EST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY arrive Buckingham Palace Landing Zone, London, United Kingdom
3:40pm BST / 10:40am EST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY depart Buckingham Palace Landing Zone en route Winfield House Landing Zone, London, United Kingdom
3:50pm BST / 10:50am EST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY arrive Winfield House Landing Zone, London, United Kingdom
7:45pm BST / 2:45pm EST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY participate in a greeting with H.R.H. The Prince of Wales and H.R.H. The Duchess of Cornwall, London, United Kingdom
8:10pm BST / 3:10pm EST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY participate in a Pre-Reciprocal Dinner Reception with H.R.H. The Prince of Wales and H.R.H. The Duchess of Cornwall, London, United Kingdom
8:20pm BST / 3:20pm EST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY participate in a presentation of guest with H.R.H. The Prince of Wales and H.R.H. The Duchess of Cornwall, London, United Kingdom
8:35pm BST / 3:35pm EST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY participate in a Reciprocal Dinner with H.R.H. The Prince of Wales and H.R.H. The Duchess of Cornwall, London, United Kingdom
9:50pm BST / 4:50pm EST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY participate in the guest book signing with H.R.H. The Prince of Wales and H.R.H. The Duchess of Cornwall, London, United Kingdom Here’s a map which might help to orient us a little better.
And when all else fails……. just remember…… there was a reason we left. We were the Americans. We were the ones who defied authority and created a more perfect union.
Yet, when it comes to saving freedom, democracy, and western civilization, from evil empires. we work the Brits. My father-in-law went to Omaha Beach and survived. Freed towns in Belgium and proposed to my Mother-in-Law in a letter, written on Christmas Eve, Battle of the Bulge, 1944. He didn’t know if he would live through the next day. Let’s not forget what this 75th Anniversary of D-Day, Operation Overlord, represents.
The Media is winding up. Get ready!
The President, FLOTUS Melania, all the adult children, and a large contingent of the Trump Admin are in London this week. The adult children have taken the entire floor of prestigious lodgings, the Corinthian.
Protesters are drooling over the aspect of protesting the President of the USA and approx. 20K UK Police will be on hand for the “Trump” visit. The Brexiteers are thrilled by the presence of the Trump family and the headlines will be wild this week. Please post photos and topic related items in this thread.
In about an hour, the President will meet with the Queen, kicking off a long day of high profile events. Here is the schedule. Schedule for Day 1:
4:00am EDT / 9:00am BST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY arrive at London Stansted Airport, Stansted, United Kingdom
4:10am EDT / 9:10am BST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY depart London Stansted Airport en route to Winfield House Landing Zone, London, United Kingdom, Stansted, United Kingdom
4:40am EDT / 9:40am BST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY arrive at Winfield House [U.S. Ambassador Woody Johnson] Landing Zone, London, United Kingdom
7:00am EDT / 12:00pm BST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY depart Winfield House Landing Zone en route to Buckingham Palace Landing Zone, London, United Kingdom
7:10am EDT / 12:10pm BST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY arrive at Buckingham Palace Landing Zone, London, United Kingdom
7:20am EDT / 12:20pm BST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY are introduced to the Members of the Royal Household and British Suite with Her Majesty the Queen, London, United Kingdom
7:35am EDT / 12:35pm BST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY participate in official welcome ceremony with Her Majesty the Queen, London, United Kingdom
8:00am EDT / 1:00pm BST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY introduce the American Suite to Her Majesty the Queen, London, United Kingdom
8:15am EDT / 1:15pm BST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY participate in a private luncheon with Her Majesty the Queen, London, United Kingdom
9:00am EDT / 2:00pm BST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY participate in royal collection gift review with Her Majesty the Queen, London, United Kingdom
10:00am EDT / 3:00pm BST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY depart Buckingham Palace en route to Westminster Abbey, London, United Kingdom
10:10am EDT / 3:10pm BST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY arrive at Westminster Abbey, London, United Kingdom
10:15am EDT / 3:15pm BST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior, London, United Kingdom
10:20am EDT / 3:20pm BST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY tour Westminster Abbey and sign the guestbook, London, United Kingdom
10:50am EDT / 3:50pm BST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY depart Westminster Abbey en route to Clarence House, London, United Kingdom
11:00am EDT / 4:00pm BST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY arrive at Clarence House, London, United Kingdom
11:05am EDT / 4:05pm BST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY participate in a photo opportunity with His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales and Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Cornwall, London, United Kingdom
11:15am EDT / 4:15pm BST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY have tea (“high tea”) with His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales and Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Cornwall, London, United Kingdom
11:30am EDT / 4:30pm BST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY depart Clarence House en route to Buckingham Palace Landing Zone,
London, United Kingdom
11:35am EDT / 4:35pm BST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY arrive at Buckingham Palace Landing Zone, London, United Kingdom
11: 45am EDT / 4:45pm BST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY depart Buckingham Palace Landing Zone en route to Winfield House Landing Zone, London, United Kingdom
11:55am EDT / 4:55pm BST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY arrive at Winfield House Landing Zone, London, United Kingdom
2:30pm EDT / 7:30pm BST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY depart Winfield House Landing Zone en route to Buckingham Palace Landing Zone, London, United Kingdom
2:40pm EDT / 7:40pm BST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY arrive at Buckingham Palace Landing Zone, London, United Kingdom
3:10pm EDT / 8:10pm BST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY participate in a presentation of guests with Her Majesty the Queen,
London, United Kingdom
3:30pm EDT / 8:30pm BST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY participate in a royal procession with Her Majesty the Queen, London, United Kingdom
3:45pm EDT / 8:45pm BST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY participate in a State Banquet with Her Majesty the Queen, London, United Kingdom
The Royal Procession into the Dining Room with The Queen and President Trump leading. Link
5:35pm EDT / 10:35pm BST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY participate in a reception after the State Banquet with Her Majesty the Queen, London, United Kingdom
6:00pm EDT / 11:00pm BST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY depart Buckingham Palace en route to Winfield House, London, United Kingdom
6:20pm EDT / 11:20pm BST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY arrive at Winfield House, London, United Kingdom
All due credit and attribution to our former Tree and Sundance. I have reposted his work, including his bolding for emphasis found with the transcript. Yes, I understand it is odd to repost work from our former tree, yet this interview, with Attorney General Bill Barr, is extremely important for all Americans to see. Today, across social media we see snippets of quotations from the interview. It’s important to have the audio of the interview AND the full transcript for context. Here we go, and again, thank you to Sundance.
“U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr gave a 48 minute interview to CBS on a variety of issues related to recent events. The interview is packed with insight about the ongoing DOJ investigations of prior DOJ and FBI conduct in the 2016 election.
Rather than post the edited excerpts of the interview as broadcast, the full audio and transcript is below. Very interesting. [Hit orange play arrow to begin]:
https://soundcloud.com/cbsthismorning/exclusive-ag-william-barr-on-special-counsel-mueller-and-the-russia-probe
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/629487828″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&visual=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&color=ff5500″ width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]
.
[Transcript] JAN CRAWFORD: Mr. Attorney General, thank you very much for sitting down with us. So, obviously we saw the special counsel yesterday make that statement, he analyzed 11 instances where there were possible obstruction and then said that he really couldn’t make a decision- conclusion on whether or not the president had in fact committed obstruction because of the existing OLC opinion in the legal counsel’s office. Do you agree with that interpretation that that legal opinion prevented him from making a conclusion?
WILLIAM BARR: I am not sure he said it prevented him. I think what he said was he took that into account plus a number of other prudential judgments about fairness and other things and decided that the best course was not for him to reach a decision. I personally felt he could’ve reached a decision but–
JAN CRAWFORD: Was there anything that would’ve stopped him in the regulations or in those…that opinion itself, he could’ve — in your view he could’ve reached a conclusion?
WILLIAM BARR: Right, he could’ve reached a conclusion. The opinion says you cannot indict a president while he is in office but he could’ve reached a decision as to whether it was criminal activity but he had his reasons for not doing it, which he explained and I am not going to, you know, argue about those reasons but when he didn’t make a decision, the Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and I felt it was necessary for us as the heads of the Department to reach that decision. That is what the Department of Justice does, that is why we have the compulsory powers like a grand jury to force people to give us evidence so that we can determine whether a crime has committed and in order to legitimate the process we felt we had to reach a decision.
JAN CRAWFORD: Well, I mean, he seemed to suggest yesterday that there was another venue for this and that was Congress.
WILLIAM BARR: Well, I am not sure what he was suggesting but, you know, the Department of Justice doesn’t use our powers of investigating crimes as an adjunct to Congress. Congress is a separate branch of government and they can, you know, they have processes, we have our processes. Ours are related to the criminal justice process we are not an extension of Congress’s investigative powers.
JAN CRAWFORD: Now you have testified that when you met with Mueller at the Justice Department, you had that meeting, that you were surprised that he told you then that he was not going to reach a conclusion on obstruction.
WILLIAM BARR: Yes, Rod and I were both surprised by that.
JAN CRAWFORD: Did you ask him, look, we need you to make a conclusion on this? You should make a conclusion.
WILLIAM BARR: I wouldn’t say I really pressed him on it. I was interested in his thinking on it and he explained his position, said he was still thinking it through and- and- but I didn’t really press him nor did Rod.
JAN CRAWFORD: So, but you left that meeting thinking that he wasn’t going to have a conclusion?
WILLIAM BARR: That’s right.
JAN CRAWFORD: Do you feel because he didn’t do that, did he fulfill his responsibility as special counsel? If you look at regulations, it seems to anticipate that you would get a confidential report explaining why he made a decision to either prosecute or decline to prosecute. He didn’t do that, seems to me.
WILLIAM BARR: Right, but on the other hand he did provide us a report and what he viewed to be the relevant facts. And that allowed us as the, as the leaders of the department to make that decision.
JAN CRAWFORD: What is the fundamental difference? Why…I mean, he said he couldn’t exonerate the president. That he had looked at the evil there – these 11 instances of possible obstruction. He couldn’t exonerate the president, if he could he would’ve stated so. You looked at that evidence and you did. I mean, what is the fundamental difference between your view and his?
WILLIAM BARR: Well, I think Bob said that he was not going to engage in the analysis. He was, he was not going to make a determination one way or the other. And he also said that he could not say that the president was clearly did not violate the law, which of course is not the standard we use at the department. We have to determine whether there is clear violation of the law and so we applied the standards we would normally apply. We analyzed the law and the facts and a group of us spent a lot of time doing that and determined that both as a matter of law, many of the instances would not amount to obstruction.
JAN CRAWFORD: As a matter of law?
WILLIAM BARR: As a matter of law. In other words, we didn’t agree with the legal analysis- a lot of the legal analysis in the report. It did not reflect the views of the department. It was the views of a particular lawyer or lawyers and so we applied what we thought was the right law but then we didn’t rely on that. We also looked at all the facts, tried to determine whether the government could establish all the elements and as to each of those episodes we felt that the evidence was deficient.
JAN CRAWFORD: Before you became attorney general you wrote a memo to the justice department looking at the — the question and the legal standards for obstruction and suggesting that the president has the authority to say back off of the Flynn investigation and could have fired James Comey under his executive authority, how much – I mean when you’re talking about, can you explain that a little more. When you’re talking about your judgment that no obstruction occurred based on the evidence that Mueller produced and your understanding of the law, can you explain a little more why wasn’t that obstruction?
WILLIAM BARR: Well let’s take the firing of Comey for example I think we would have said as a matter of law, and I’m not relying on my – my legal memo that I wrote as a private citizen but really on the views within the department of the people who think about these things and are responsible for framing the views of the department, and I think we would have said that as a matter of law the obstruction statutes do not reach facially valid exercise of core presidential authority or official authority even, decisions by the attorney general in administering the executive branch or litigation.
But we didn’t rely on that, we then looked at that issue let’s take the again the firing of Comey. One of the elements is that you have to show that the act objectively speaking will have the probable effect of obstructing a proceeding and we don’t believe that the firing of an agency head could be established as having the probable effect, objectively speaking, of sabotaging a proceeding. There was also we would have to prove corrupt intent, the report itself points out that one of the likely motivations here was the president’s frustration with Comey saying something publicly and saying a different thing privately and refusing to correct the record. So that would not have been a corrupt intent. So for each of these episodes we thought long and hard about it, we looked at the facts and we didn’t feel the government could establish obstruction in these cases
JAN CRAWFORD: When you see some of the criticism and you’ve gotten quite a bit of it that you’re protecting the president that you’re enabling the president, what’s your response to that?
WILLIAM BARR: Well, we live in a hyper-partisan age where people no longer really pay attention to the substance of what’s said but as to who says it and what side they’re on and what it’s political ramifications are. The Department of Justice is all about the law, and the facts and the substance and I’m going to make the decisions based on the law and the facts and I realize that’s intention with the political climate we live in because people are more interested in getting their way politically. so I think it just goes with the territory of being the attorney general in a hyper-partisan period of time.
JAN CRAWFORD: The four page summary that you wrote, did you ask in that March 5th meeting for the special counsel to kind of redact all the grand jury material?
WILLIAM BARR: Yes, not redact it but highlight it so we could redact it, we would, so, you know, the report was over 400 pages, I knew that it was voluminous and coming our way in a few weeks. My intent was to get out as much as I could as quickly as I could. To do that I would have to, as a matter of law, make sure that grand jury material was redacted because regardless of the political posturing that’s going on it’s not lawful for me to just make that public.
JAN CRAWFORD: Not even to Congress?
WILLIAM BARR: Not even–
JAN CRAWFORD: So you could even give Congress, which of course is demanding that and threatening to hold you in contempt because you’re not giving them the full report
WILLIAM BARR: That’s right, and so–
JAN CRAWFORD: But by law you can’t?
WILLIAM BARR: Right, and so because we were not involved in the investigation we would have no way looking at the report of determining what was grand jury material and what wasn’t, so we had for a period of weeks been asking the special counsel’s office to highlight the stuff so we could quickly process it for release and I guess–
JAN CRAWFORD: For a period of weeks you had asked for this material?
WILLIAM BARR: Yeah even before the March 5 meeting we had asked or raised the subject–
JAN CRAWFORD: And what was the response?
WILLIAM BARR: And then at the March 5 meeting I made it explicit and then after the March 5th meeting we asked..
JAN CRAWFORD: And what was the response?
WILLIAM BARR: We thought it was being– we thought it was being done and I do believe they were putting in more footnotes in that would be necessary ultimately in identifying the material but whether the wires were crossed or whatever it didn’t come in a form that identified the 6E material.
JAN CRAWFORD: And that was a surprise to you when you got the report?
WILLIAM BARR: Yes.
JAN CRAWFORD: It was.
WILLIAM BARR: And it immediately meant that you know it was going to be a period of weeks before we could get the report out if I had my druthers I would have liked to get the report out as quickly as possible.
JAN CRAWFORD: So instead, you turned this four page summary?
WILLIAM BARR: Right, because I didn’t think the body politic would allow us to go on radio silence for four weeks. I mean, people were camped outside my house and the department and every- there was all kinds of wild speculation going on. Former senior intelligence officials who were purporting to have it- or intimating that they had inside information were suggesting that the president and his family were going to be indicted and so forth–
JAN CRAWFORD: And saying that publicly?
WILLIAM BARR: Saying that publicly. There was all kind of wild and–
JAN CRAWFORD: And you knew that to be false?
WILLIAM BARR: Yes, and it was wild and irresponsible speculation going on which the very–
JAN CRAWFORD: Wild and irresponsible. The former intelligence officials’ speculation–
WILLIAM BARR: Right, and talking heads and things like that, and these things affect the United States’ ability to function in the world. We have an economy. It could affect the economy. It can affect – it can affect our foreign relations during very delicate period of time with, you know, serious adversaries in the world. So I felt- that in order to buy time, in order to get the report out, I had to state the bottom line just like you’re announcing a verdict in a case. My purpose there was not to summarize every jot and tittle of the report and every, you know, angle that – that Mueller looked into. But, just state the bottom line which I did in the four page memo.
JAN CRAWFORD: You didn’t say in that four-page memo that the report would not exonerate the president on obstruction. That line–
WILLIAM BARR: I said that, yes. In the- in the- in my four-page memo, I said that Mueller did not reach a decision. He gave both sides and that- and then I quoted that sentence which is, while we didn’t find a crime, we didn’t exonerate the president. That was in the four-page letter.
JAN CRAWFORD: The- did not- we would so clearly state the preface to that.
WILLIAM BARR: Yeah.
JAN CRAWFORD: That, that was not in there, and there was some criticism that in the summary, and the attorney- I mean, the special counsel himself wrote the letter saying, People are misunderstanding. There’s been some confusion, that the summary had caused some confusion–
WILLIAM BARR: Right, right.
JAN CRAWFORD: That perhaps, and he didn’t say this, but the- the response was that you were too soft on the president, that actually the special counsel was a little sharper on obstruction.
WILLIAM BARR: Well again, I wasn’t trying to provide all the flavor and nooks and crannies of the report. I was just trying to state the bottom line, and the bottom line was that Bob Mueller identified some episodes. He did not reach a conclusion. He provided both sides of the issue, and he- his conclusion was he wasn’t exonerating the president, but he wasn’t finding a crime either. And, for the purposes of the point, I think that that was what was required for the body politic because actually most of the letter then goes on to explain how Rod Rosenstein and I reached a decision and the criteria we applied in finding no obstruction.
JAN CRAWFORD: He wrote the letter taking issue, saying there caused- you had caused confusion. Did that catch you off guard?
WILLIAM BARR: Yeah, sure. I was surprised he just didn’t pick up the phone and call me given our 30 year relationship, but–
JAN CRAWFORD: Why didn’t he?
WILLIAM BARR: I don’t, I don’t know, but, as I said it in the hearing, I thought it was- the letter was a little snitty and staff-driven–
JAN CRAWFORD: Staff-driven?
WILLIAM BARR: Yeah. I personally felt, but we had a good conversation–
JAN CRAWFORD: Because otherwise you would have picked up the phone?
WILLIAM BARR: Right, well, which I did, and we had a good conversation. And I think, I think the matter is now been fully vetted, and I think he was concerned that there should be more context and texture to his work given, and that in the absence of that, the vacuum had been filled with media reports that were then causing confusion, and he wanted it clarified by putting more of an explanation of his reasoning out. And I said that I didn’t want to put out dribs and drabs, I wanted the whole report out. And then I wrote a letter again to Congress saying, look, I didn’t- this is not intended to be a full summary. Bob’s thinking is reflected in the report. Everyone’s going to have access to it. They should look at that to determine, you know, what Bob’s reasoning was. So that’s where we let it sit till the report was released.
JAN CRAWFORD: You said that you had wanted to release the report in full, and you largely have with the grand jury material being, of course, the exception.
WILLIAM BARR: Right. And in the second volume that’s one tenth of one percent of the report has been taken.
JAN CRAWFORD: You, I just want to be clear on this. How long and how many, you expected the special counsel’s office to redact that material, so to point out what should be redacted —
WILLIAM BARR: Right. Right.
JAN CRAWFORD: So the four-page summary would have been unnecessary?
WILLIAM BARR: Correct.
JAN CRAWFORD: You expected, could you just tell us again, you expected to get the report with the grand jury material identified and then what was your plan?
WILLIAM BARR: My plan was to figure out how long it would take us to redact what had to be redacted.
JAN CRAWFORD: And what did you anticipate that would be?
WILLIAM BARR: And if we could readily, if we could readily identify the 6E material, I thought we could do it in a you know less than a week. And if I had been looking at a matter of days like that, then I probably would have just told people what the timeline is do people knew when it would be coming out when they would see it, but once I realized it was going to take 3 or 4 weeks, I felt I had to say something in the interim.
JAN CRAWFORD: But if you had had that material pointed out this would have all been different, you wouldn’t have written the four-page summary?
WILLIAM BARR: Probably not, no.
JAN CRAWFORD: I guess just to finish up on this topic then, when we saw the special counsel yesterday, you put out the statement that there wasn’t really any kind of discrepancy in some of things that you had been saying.
WILLIAM BARR: Yeah, we both put out the statement.
JAN CRAWFORD: Was that the first time there had been a joint statement?
WILLIAM BARR: Yes.
JAN CRAWFORD: And why —
WILLIAM BARR: I believe so.
JAN CRAWFORD: — And why was that necessary?
WILLIAM BARR: Well, because I think there was some people who let the facts interfere with their narrative and were trying to suggest that there was a difference of opinion about the role played by the OLC opinion, which simply wasn’t true.
JAN CRAWFORD: The difference is your views on obstruction and–
WILLIAM BARR: — Well the difference was this so —
JAN CRAWFORD: I understand what you’re saying and I guess, I guess you focused on the role the OLC memo, opinion played–
WILLIAM BARR: –Right–
JAN CRAWFORD: –In the statement?
WILLIAM BARR: The so-called discrepancy was that I had, I had testified earlier that Bob had assured me that he had not reached a decision that there was a crime committed but was not willing to pursue it simply because of the OLC opinion and that remains the fact. That’s what his position is. That’s consistent with what he said yesterday. And it certainly is consistent with the joint release we put out. The confusion arose because what Bob Mueller’s position was was that the OLC opinion coupled with other things as a prudential matter made him feel that he shouldn’t even get into the analysis of whether something was a crime or not and that’s a different question than —
JAN CRAWFORD: Right, because you…just because there’s evidence of obstruction or crime was committed doesn’t mean the person is going to be charged or indicted or found to have committed that crime.
WILLIAM BARR: Right and he didn’t’ even get into that analysis. In other words, what I was discussing earlier was, was Bob, did Bob make a decision there was a crime and the only reason he wasn’t saying that was because of the OLC opinion. The fact is Bob did not make a decision that there was a crime. He didn’t get into the analysis at all. Part of the reason for that was his judgment about the OLC opinion coupled with other things he just didn’t think it was proper exercise of his authority. So it’s a totally different issue and that’s why, that’s why both us feel that this idea that there’s been a discrepancy over the OLC opinion is simply wrong.
JAN CRAWFORD: Did you watch him give the statement yesterday?
WILLIAM BARR: I watched a re-run of it, yeah.
JAN CRAWFORD: Anything new or different?
WILLIAM BARR: No I mean to me it was a reiteration of some of the key elements of his report. I think he wanted to stress a number of things that were in the report. There had been a lot of commentary about his work. I had made some critical remarks about it. So I think it’s quite understandable he wanted to hammer home a few of the key points that were in the report and I thought that that was fine.
JAN CRAWFORD: He said he’s not going to be testifying.
WILLIAM BARR: That’s right.
JAN CRAWFORD: Do you think he should?
WILLIAM BARR: You know, I think as I said, you know, it’s up to Bob, but I think the line he’s drawing which is that he’s going to stick what he said in the report is the proper line for any Department official.
JAN CRAWFORD: But you’ve testified under oath, answered questions under oath. He took no questions yesterday. Is that sufficient?
WILLIAM BARR: Yes, I think it’s sufficient because, you know, he was handling a specific investigation and normally we don’t, we allowed our prosecutors and have them interrogated about how they handled a particular case. I think —
JAN CRAWFORD: But you wouldn’t have objected if he wanted to testify?
WILLIAM BARR: I wouldn’t have objected if he wanted to testify. I do think that his view that he should stick to what is in the report is consistent with the department’s views of these things.
JAN CRAWFORD: So the last thing that he said yesterday was to remind us that Russia tried to sway our election. He said there were multiple systematic efforts to interfere and that deserves the attention of every American. How’s the Justice Department working now to ensure this doesn’t happen again in 2020?
WILLIAM BARR: Yes, we do have. I think an increasingly robust program that is focusing on foreign influence in our election process. The FBI obviously has the lead in that and I’ve been briefed on it on a regular basis and I think it’s a very impressive effort but, we are ramping up. I talked recently to the director of the FBI about putting together a special high-level group to make sure we’re totally prepared for the upcoming elections.
JAN CRAWFORD: And the high level group would be? Who would that include?
WILLIAM BARR: Well, it would include the FBI, the Department of Justice, DHS and intelligence agencies.
JAN CRAWFORD: Do you think enough was done in 2016?
WILLIAM BARR: Enough was done in 2016? Probably not. You know, I think Bob Mueller did some impressive work in his investigation, you know, identifying some of the Russian hackers and their influence campaign and you sort of wonder if that kind of work had been done starting in 2016, things could have been a lot different.
JAN CRAWFORD: Right because it’s just hard to understand why it wasn’t taken more seriously.
WILLIAM BARR: Right.
JAN CRAWFORD: Why do you think it was not?
WILLIAM BARR: I have no idea. That’s one of the things I’m interested in looking at you know–
JAN CRAWFORD: –As part of the review?
WILLIAM BARR: Yes. In other words, you know, there are statements being made that people were warned back in April–
JAN CRAWFORD: –of 2016–
WILLIAM BARR: Right and I don’t have any reason to doubt that, but I’m wondering what exactly was the response to it if they were alarmed. Surely the response should have been more than just, you know, dangling a confidential informant in front of a peripheral player in the Trump Campaign.
JAN CRAWFORD: I want to talk to you about the investigation. Um, because your, that’s suggesting that was obviously inadequate, but when you talk to Director Wray about appointing this high level group and efforts to ensure that this doesn’t happen again in 2020, has he expressed any concern to you that the kind of review that you are now going to undertake, or this investigation of the investigation, that that could hamper these efforts in 2020?
WILLIAM BARR: We’ve discussed how important it is that that not be allowed to happen and we are both very cognizant of that and–
JAN CRAWFORD: —You have discussed that with him?
WILLIAM BARR: Oh yes, and I think he is being very supportive and we’re working together on, you know, trying to reconstruct what happened. People have to understand, you know, one of the things here is that these efforts in 2016, these counter-intelligence activities that were directed at the Trump Campaign, were not done in the normal course and not through the normal procedures as a far as I can tell. And a lot of the people who were involved are no longer there.
JAN CRAWFORD: So when we are talking about the kind of the– well you have used the word spy. You have testified that you believe spying occurred.
WILLIAM BARR: Yes.
JAN CRAWFORD: Into the Trump campaign.
WILLIAM BARR: Yes.
JAN CRAWFORD: You’ve gotten some criticism for using that word.
WILLIAM BARR: Yeah, I mean, I guess it’s become a dirty word somehow. It hasn’t ever been for me. I think there is nothing wrong with spying, the question is always whether it is authorized by law and properly predicated and if it is, then it’s an important tool the United States has to protect the country.
JAN CRAWFORD: On using the word, I mean, do you understand, and I know that some of the, some former intelligence chiefs have said that the president has made that word somewhat pejorative, that there is spying, this is a witch hunt, this is a hoax, and so your use of that word makes it seem that you are being a loyalist.
WILLIAM BARR: You know, it’s part of the craziness of the modern day that if a president uses a word, then all of a sudden it becomes off bounds. It’s a perfectly good English word, I will continue to use it.
JAN CRAWFORD: You’re saying that spying occurred. There’s not anything necessarily wrong with that.
WILLIAM BARR: Right.
JAN CRAWFORD: As long as there’s a reason for it.
WILLIAM BARR: Whether it’s adequately predicated. And look, I think if we — we are worried about foreign influence in the campaign? We should be because the heart of our system is the peaceful transfer of power through elections and what gives the government legitimacy is that process. And if foreign elements can come in and affect it, that’s bad for the republic. But by the same token, it’s just as, it’s just as dangerous to the continuation of self-government and our republican system, republic that we not allow government power, law enforcement or intelligence power, to play a role in politics, to intrude into politics, and affect elections.
JAN CRAWFORD: So it’s just as dangerous- So when we talk about foreign interference versus say a government abuse of power, which is more troubling?
WILLIAM BARR: Well they’re both, they’re both troubling.
JAN CRAWFORD: Equally?
WILLIAM BARR: In my mind, they are, sure. I mean, republics have fallen because of Praetorian Guard mentality where government officials get very arrogant, they identify the national interest with their own political preferences and they feel that anyone who has a different opinion, you know, is somehow an enemy of the state. And you know, there is that tendency that they know better and that, you know, they’re there to protect as guardians of the people. That can easily translate into essentially supervening the will of the majority and getting your own way as a government official.
JAN CRAWFORD: And you are concerned that that may have happened in 2016?
WILLIAM BARR: Well, I just think it has to be carefully look at because the use of foreign intelligence capabilities and counterintelligence capabilities against an American political campaign to me is unprecedented and it’s a serious red line that’s been crossed.
JAN CRAWFORD: Did that happen?
WILLIAM BARR: There were counterintelligence activities undertaken against the Trump Campaign. And I’m not saying there was not a basis for it, that it was legitimate, but I want to see what that basis was and make sure it was legitimate.
JAN CRAWFORD: So–
WILLIAM BARR: That’s one of the, you know, one of the key responsibilities of the Attorney General, core responsibilities of the Attorney General is to make sure that government power is not abused and that the right of Americans are not transgressed by abusive government power. That’s the responsibility of the Attorney General.
JAN CRAWFORD: You know the- I guess- we’ve spent the last two years or more talking about and hearing about Russian interference into the elections and what occurred there. And so now we’re shifting to talking about actually investigating, reviewing that investigation and the people who did that. So I guess in making this turn can you help us understand, I mean what’s- what is the concern?What have you seen, what’s the basis for that?
WILLIAM BARR: Well I don’t want to get you know, too much into the facts because it’s still under review. But I think it’s important to understand what basis there was for launching counterintelligence activities against a political campaign, which is the core of our second amendment- I’m sorry, the core of our first amendment liberties in this country. And what was the predicate for it? What was the hurdle that had to be crossed? What was the process- who had to approve it? And including the electronic surveillance, whatever electronic surveillance was done. And was everyone operating in their proper lane? And I’ve selected a terrific career prosecutor from the department who’s been there over thirty years, he’s now the U.S. attorney.
WILLIAM BARR: But he has, over the years, been used by both Republican and Democratic attorney generals to investigate these kinds of activities. And he’s always gotten the most laudatory feedback from his work. So there’s no doubt in my mind that he’s going- he’s going to conduct a thorough and fair review of this. And we’re working closely with the intelligence agencies, the bureau and the agency and others to help us reconstruct what happened. And I want to see, what were the standards that were applied. What was the evidence? What were the techniques used? Who approved them? Was there a legitimate basis for it?
JAN CRAWFORD: The Inspector General is looking at only, it is my understanding, a small part of this? Is that correct? the FISA warrant?
WILLIAM BARR: Yeah, I wouldn’t say small but he’s looking at a discrete area that is- that is you know, important, which is the use of electronic surveillance that was targeted at Carter Page.
JAN CRAWFORD: And could he have… could you have just said I want to expand this investigation? Why did you feel it was necessary to turn to John Durham?
WILLIAM BARR: Well the inspector general at the department, Mike Horowitz, who you know is a superb government official he has limited powers. He doesn’t have the power to compel testimony, he doesn’t have the power really to investigate beyond the current cast of characters at the Department of Justice. His ability to get information from former officials or from other agencies outside the department is very limited
JAN CRAWFORD: So he wouldn’t have been able to go and try to speak with some of the former officials who are making these decisions, necessarily?
WILLIAM BARR: Right
JAN CRAWFORD: If they are not in the department anymore.
WILLIAM BARR: Right
JAN CRAWFORD: Um, what’s the status of Huber’s investigation in Utah? I think the former Attorney General Sessions had asked him to look at this.
WILLIAM BARR: Right, so Huber had originally been asked to take a look at the FISA applications and the electronic surveillance but then he stood back and put that on hold while the Office of Inspector General was conducting its review, which would’ve been normal for the department. And he was essentially on standby in case Mr. Horowitz referred a matter to him to be handled criminally. So he has not been active on this front in recent months and so Durham is taking over that role. The other issues he’s been working on relate to Hillary Clinton. Those are winding down and hopefully we’ll be in a position to bring those to fruition.
JAN CRAWFORD: So he won’t be involved in this really at all then?
WILLIAM BARR: No.
JAN CRAWFORD: This is his role, it’s done?
WILLIAM BARR: Right.
JAN CRAWFORD: And now Durham is going to pick up–
WILL BARR: Yes, right.
JAN CRAWFORD: –this. So again, just to go, just so that I think so people can more fully understand this, I mean have you, and I know it’s early in the investigation, but when we are talking about the basis for this and why you think it is important and obviously any kind of government abuse of power, I mean, you were in the CIA in the ’70s. You can see how that can have….
WILLIAM BARR: Right, when I, when I joined the CIA almost 50 years ago as an intern and this was during the Vietnam, civil rights era and there had been a lot…there were a lot of pending investigations of the CIA and there the issues were what was- when was it appropriate for intelligence agencies, the FBI too was under investigation.
You know, the penetration of civil rights groups because at the time there was concerns about contacts with, you know, communist funded front groups and things like that and you know how deeply could you get into civil rights groups or anti-Vietnam war groups. A lot of these groups were in contact with foreign adversaries, they had some contact with front organizations and so forth and there were a lot of rules put in place and those rules are under the attorney general.
The attorney general’s responsibility is to make sure that these powers are not used to tread upon first amendment activity and that certainly was a big part of my formative years of dealing with those issues. The fact that today people just seem to brush aside the idea that it is okay to you know, to engage in these activities against a political campaign is stunning to me especially when the media doesn’t seem to think that it’s worth looking into. They’re supposed to be the watchdogs of, you know, our civil liberties.
JAN CRAWFORD: What have you seen? What evidence? What makes you think, I need to take a look at this? I mean, what have you seen in the summer of 2016?
WILLIAM BARR: Well, I’ll say at this point is that it, you know, I- like many other people who are familiar with intelligence activities, I had a lot of questions about what was going on. I assumed I’d get answers when I went in and I have not gotten answers that are well satisfactory, and in fact probably have more questions, and that some of the facts that- that I’ve learned don’t hang together with the official explanations of what happened.
JAN CRAWFORD: What do you mean by that?
WILLIAM BARR: That’s all I really will say. Things are just not jiving, and I’m not saying at this stage that–
JAN CRAWFORD: Was it a timeline?
WILLIAM BARR: There was a timeline, there’s some timeline–
JAN CRAWFORD: I mean, there’s a concern that this may have happened before we realized that the investigation was initiated in July. I mean, what…
WILLIAM BARR: I don’t want to get into those details at this point. I would just say that, you know…
JAN CRAWFORD: But you said there’s a timeline concern.
WILLIAM BARR: Well I won’t, I won’t confirm that, but I’ll just say that, you know, there’s some questions that I think have to be answered, and I have a basis for feeling there has to be a review of this.
JAN CRAWFORD: You’ve said, you’ve said the time frame between the election and the inauguration, you’ve said this publicly, was kind of strange. Some strange things may have happened. What concerns you there? Specifically, the meeting at Trump Tower.
WILLIAM BARR: I don’t want to- I don’t want to get into that.
JAN CRAWFORD: Okay. Yes. So kind of going back to what we were talking about with Director Wray, I mean obviously you’ve seen this like the people are raising concerns that this is going to undermine FBI morale. The rank and file- what are we saying here- but you said in recent Senate testimony, “this is not launching an investigation of the FBI frankly to the extent there were any issues at the FBI, I do not view it as a problem that’s endemic to the FBI. I think there was probably a failure among a group of leaders there at the upper echelon.”
WILLIAM BARR: That’s right.
JAN CRAWFORD: So there was probably a failure among a group of leaders there at the upper echelon?
WILLIAM BARR: Correct. In other words, I don’t believe this is a problem you know, rife through the bureau.
JAN CRAWFORD: What suggests to you there was a failure in the upper echelon at the FBI?
WILLIAM BARR: Because I think the activities were undertaken by a small group at the top which is one of the- probably one of the mistakes that has been made instead of running this as a normal bureau investigation or counterintelligence investigation. It was done by the executives at the senior level. Out of head quarters–
JAN CRAWFORD: And you’re talking about James Comey, McCabe?
WILLIAM BARR: I’m just not going to get into the individual names at this point. But I just view that- I don’t view it as a bureau wide issue. And I will say the same thing for other intelligence agencies. And they’re being very cooperative in helping us.
JAN CRAWFORD: They’re being cooperative?
WILLIAM BARR: Yes.
JAN CRAWFORD: You’re working with the DNI, the head of CIA. I want to ask you about something- just declassification. But the president has tweeted and said publicly that some in the upper echelon, Comey, McCabe, etc., committed treason. I mean do you agree with that?
WILLIAM BARR: Well, I- as a lawyer I always interpret the word treason not colloquially but legally. And you know the very specific criteria for treason- so I don’t think it’s actually implicated in the situation that we have now. But I think what he–
JAN CRAWFORD: Legally.
WILLIAM BARR: Right.
JAN CRAWFORD: You don’t think that they’ve committed treason?
WILLIAM BARR: Not as a legal matter, no.
JAN CRAWFORD: But you have concerns about how they conducted the investigation?
WILLIAM BARR: Yes but you know, when you’re dealing with official government contact, intent is frequently a murky issue. I’m not suggesting that people did what they did necessarily because of conscious, nefarious motives. Sometimes people can convince themselves that what they’re doing is in the higher interest, the better good. They don’t realize that what they’re doing is really antithetical to the democratic system that we have. They start viewing themselves as the guardians of the people that are more informed and insensitive than everybody else. They can- in their own mind, they can have those kinds of motives. And sometimes they can look at evidence and facts through a biased prism that they themselves don’t realize.
WILLIAM BARR: That something objectively as applied as a neutral principle across the board really you know, shouldn’t be the standard used in the case but because they have a particular bias they don’t see that. So that’s why procedures and standards are important and review afterward is an important way of making sure that government power is being conscientiously and properly applied. It doesn’t necessarily mean that there are people- you know, that people have crossed lines have done so with corrupt intent or anything like that.
JAN CRAWFORD: But it seems like you have a concern that there may have been a bias by top officials in the FBI as they looked at whether to launch and conduct this investigation?
WILLIAM BARR: Well it’s hard to read some of the texts with and not feel that there was gross bias at work and they’re appalling. And if the shoe were on the other–
JAN CRAWFORD: Appalling.
WILLIAM BARR: Those were appalling. And on their face they were very damningand I think if the shoe was on the other foot we could be hearing a lot about it. If those kinds of discussions were held you know when Obama first ran for office, people talking about Obama in those tones and suggesting that “Oh that he might be a Manchurian candidate for Islam or something like that.” You know some wild accusations like that and you had that kind of discussion back and forth, you don’t think we would be hearing a lot more about it?
JAN CRAWFORD: You- I guess when you said that there were things done that were not the typical run of business, ad hoc, small group, it’s not how these counterintelligence operations normally work. I think that maybe Comey and others might say well this was such an extraordinary thing we had to keep it so closely held. So we had to do it differently what’s your response to that? Is that legit?
WILLIAM BARR: Well it might be legit under certain circumstances but a lot of that has to do with how good the evidence was at that point. And you know Mueller has spent two and half years and the fact is there is no evidence of a conspiracy. So it was bogus, this whole idea that the Trump was in cahoots with the Russians is bogus
JAN CRAWFORD: So did you ask the president for authority to declassify?
WILLIAM BARR: Yes.
JAN CRAWFORD: You asked the president?
WILLIAM BARR: Yes and also you know, the direction of the intelligence agencies to support our efforts.
JAN CRAWFORD: So did you discuss this with the DNI and head of the CIA?
WILLIAM BARR: Yes.
JAN CRAWFORD: And what’s their response?
WILLIAM BARR: That they’re going to be supportive.
JAN CRAWFORD: And so you won’t will you declassify things without reviewing it with them it seems like you have the authority to do that?
WILLIAM BARR: Well in an exceptional circumstance I have that authority but obviously I intend to consult with them. I’m amused by these people who make a living by disclosing classified information, including the names of intelligence operatives, wringing their hands about whether I’m going to be responsible in protecting intelligence sources and methods.
I’ve been in the business as I’ve said for over 50 years long before they were born and I know how to handle classified information and I believe strongly in protecting intelligence sources and methods. But at the same time if there is information that can be shared with the American people without jeopardizing intelligence sources and methods that decision should be made and because I will be involved in finding out what the story was I think I’m in the best decision to make that decision
JAN CRAWFORD: I know you’ve seen some of the criticism and the push back on- on this. Do you have any concerns that doing this investigation, talking about de-classifying certain materials- that that’s undermining your credibility or the credibility of the department?
WILLIAM BARR: No I- I don’t. I think it’s- actually the reaction is somewhat strange. I mean normally–
JAN CRAWFORD: Strange?
WILLIAM BARR: Sure.
JAN CRAWFORD: Their reaction?
WILLIAM BARR: Well the media reaction is strange. Normally the media would be interested in letting the sunshine in and finding out what the truth is. And usually the media doesn’t care that much about protecting intelligence sources and methods. But I do and I will.
JAN CRAWFORD: You are only the second Attorney General in history who’s served twice. I think the first one was back in 1850.
WILLIAM BARR: Right.
JAN CRAWFORD: But you are working for a man who is- I mean you are an establishment figure in a way. You’ve had a long career in Washington but you are working for a man who is not establishment. And some of his tweets about officials and the rule of law, how do you react when you see those? Are you on Twitter? Do you read his tweets?
WILLIAM BARR: No, I am not on Twitter and every once in a while a tweet is brought to my attention but my experience with the president is, we have- we have a good working, professional working relationship. We, you know, we talk to each other and if he has something to say to me I figure he’ll tell me directly. I don’t look to tweets for, you know, I don’t look at them as directives or as official communications with the department.
JAN CRAWFORD: But when you came into this job, you were kind of, it’s like the US Attorney in Connecticut, I mean, you had a good reputation on the right and on the left. You were a man with a good reputation. You are not someone who is, you know, accused of protecting the president, enabling the president, lying to Congress. Did you expect that coming in? And what is your response to it? How do you? What’s your response to that?
WILLIAM BARR: Well in a way I did expect it.
JAN CRAWFORD: You did?
WILLIAM BARR: Yeah, because I realize we live in a crazy hyper-partisan period of time and I knew that it would only be a matter of time if I was behaving responsibly and calling them as I see them, that I would be attacked because nowadays people don’t care about the merits and the substance. They only care about who it helps, who benefits, whether my side benefits or the other side benefits, everything is gauged by politics. And as I say, that’s antithetical to the way the department runs and any attorney general in this period is going to end up losing a lot of political capital and I realize that and that is one of the reasons that I ultimately was persuaded that I should take it on because I think at my stage in life it really doesn’t make any difference.
JAN CRAWFORD: You are at the end of your career, or?
WILLIAM BARR: I am at the end of my career. I’ve you know–
JAN CRAWFORD: Does it, I mean, it’s the reputation that you have worked your whole life on though?
WILLIAM BARR: Yeah, but everyone dies and I am not, you know, I don’t believe in the Homeric idea that you know, immortality comes by, you know, having odes sung about you over the centuries, you know?
JAN CRAWFORD: So you don’t regret taking the job?
WILLIAM BARR: No.
JAN CRAWFORD: Not even today?
WILLIAM BARR: I’d rather, in many ways, I’d rather be back to my old life but I think that I love the Department of Justice, I love the FBI, I think it’s important that we not, in this period of intense partisan feeling, destroy our institutions. I think one of the ironies today is that people are saying that it’s President Trump that’s shredding our institutions. I really see no evidence of that, it is hard, and I really haven’t seen bill of particulars as to how that’s being done. From my perspective the idea of resisting a democratically elected president and basically throwing everything at him and you know, really changing the norms on the grounds that we have to stop this president, that is where the shredding of our norms and our institutions is occurring.
JAN CRAWFORD: And you think that happened even with the investigation into the campaign, potentially?
WILLIAM BARR: I am concerned about that.”
[Transcript End]
What is a Rare Earth Element?: Rare earth elements are a group of seventeen chemical elements that occur together in the periodic table (see image). The group consists of yttrium and the 15 lanthanide elements (lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, promethium, samarium, europium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium, and lutetium). Scandium is found in most rare earth element deposits and is sometimes classified as a rare earth element. Link How are rare earth elements used and why are they important?: The USA originally used “rare earth elements” when we started to make color television sets in the 1960’s. Europium was the essential material for producing the color images. The Mountain Pass Mine began producing europium from bastnasite, which contained about 0.1% europium. This effort made the Mountain Pass Mine the largest rare earth producer in the world and placed the United States as the leading producer. Link
“Rare earth metals and alloys that contain them are used in many devices that people use every day such as computer memory, DVDs, rechargeable batteries, cell phones, catalytic converters, magnets, fluorescent lighting and much more.” Link During the past twenty years, there has been an explosion in demand for many items that require rare earth metals. Twenty years ago there were very few cell phones in use, but the number has risen to over 7 billion in use today. Link
Control over the commodity, “rare earth elements” became important for the economic health of the USA. The Italians built their empire, in part, based on the trade of salt. To the ancient Chinese, silk production gave them an advantage. The British Empire sailed the world for spices. Control over a highly desired commodity gives a country leverage, power, economic advantage, and creates the hegemons throughout history. The Chinese began to encroach on American advantage and our leaders did not protect this industry. We had it……and we didn’t fight to keep it. Control the Commodity, Gain Advantage, Control the World: Beginning in the 1980’s, the Chinese returned to an age old strategy of cornering the market on a particular commodity, rare earth elements. Once the Chinese obtained significant control of these mines, they dropped the prices, and ran the American mines out of business. This is the “rinse and repeat” model for the Chinese as they adopted this philosophy across all industries, from common housewares to fabric production, and from stone to satellites. The Chinese Model: The Chinese gain a significant foothold in a particular industry. Then, via subsidies, they drop the prices to run all other competition out of business. Because the USA does not support industries or sectors in such a way, our manufacturing is ripe for the picking. Going forward, with no competition in sight, ….. the Chinese set the market price (prices have risen over 500%). Using this chart, we can begin to see the divergence between the USA and China, starting in the mid-80’s. By the late 90’s, China was setting the price. The USA…….. blinked. Other Commodities Worth Mentioning:China also looked beyond their borders to control world mines as demand increased for various resources. Cobalt and Lithium are NOT rare earth elements but the Chinese model is similar and worth mentioning in this context. Several POUNDS of rare earth elements are needed to manufacture electric car batteries. When lithium (used for cell phone batteries) and Cobalt (used for car batteries) were discovered in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the race for control over the mines began…. along with human rights abuses.
Somewhere between 35,000-40,000 children are excruciatingly exploited in these mines. Link The video from this WaPost article of the mines will make your blood curdle. Link While UK Daily Mail’s article focused on a 4yr old who worked in the mine, this Guardian article highlights a 7yr old. Link American Child Labor laws and OSHA mining safety requirements don’t exist when the Chinese come to play….. Because “trillions are at stake”and because Control = Power. The Election of President Trump Presents a Problem for the Chinese:With the election of Donald Trump to the US Presidency and the confrontation of illicit Chinese trade practices dominating our headlines, the Chinese have resorted to their old playbook. Those rascally Chinese still think we’re stupid and/or Donald Trump is the same as other US Presidents….. Surprise!
China, once again, is threatening to withhold rare earth elements in the recent trade tension with the USA. The business channel pundits are in full meltdown because the prospect of their IPhone upgrade is in danger. Yet, WE ARE THE NEWS, now, and we remember the last time the Chinese played this card. To understand this recent threat from China, we need context and the history of the LAST TIME China tried to extort Japan in the same way.
No, it’s not the first time China has taken such a position. They tried it with Japan back in 2010, when China controlled 95% of the world market. Why aren’t the pundits telling us about the same Chinese playbook? Back in 2010, prices rose another 10% globally because of China’s extortion and the dust-up with Japan. The issue was taken up by the WTO and China was forced to begin exporting once more. Does China think we have forgotten their past deeds? Link Well, apparently the pundits have forgotten.
We also remember how the world reacted to the Chinese extortion over rare earth elements. Other countries began to search for additional resources. This chart shows China’s rise in rare earth elements and their subsequent decline as other countries became wise to Chinese treachery.
Look at the bottom right of the chart. See the rise of Australia right after the dust-up of 2010? Look at the top left of the chart. See the elimination of the USA after we let China into the WTO in 2001? Coincidence?
What you DO NOT SEE is Japan’s reaction…… yet, or more precisely, Japan’s search for a consistent supply of rare earth elements for their economy. Keep in mind, China is the #1 consumer of rare earths, Japan is #2, and the USA (was) #3. Link
So, where do you find rare earth elements? They’re sometimes formed from volcanic activity, but mostly they were formed from the supernova during the creation of the earth. Over millions of years, wind and weather eroded the mountains, which is why these elements are scattered across the earth. To find these elements in concentrated abundance is rare. To find an undisturbed cache of rare earth elements, it makes sense to look in a place which has remain undisturbed for millions of years….. the earth’s crust….. which is exactly where the Japanese went looking.
See this picture above? Take a look at the date of the photo from Reuters. “Yasuhiro Kato, an associate professor of earth science at the University of Tokyo, displays a mud sample extracted from the depths of about 4,000 metres (13,123 ft) below the Pacific ocean surface where rare earth elements were found, at his laboratory in Tokyo July 5, 2011. REUTERS/Yuriko Nakao”
That’s right, July 5, 2011. After the dust-up of 2010, the Japanese went looking for their own supply of rare earth elements…… and Japan found them. I’m not just guessing Japan targeted their own supply of natural rare earth elements, CNBC and Reuters were reporting on it back in 2014. Link
The study says Japan found 16 million tons. Here is the study – heavy on the technical, make a pot of coffee to get through it all. Link
“The cache lies off of Minamitori Island, about 1,150 miles southeast of Tokyo. It’s within Japan’s exclusive economic zone, so the island nation has the sole rights to the resources there.” “There’s enough yttrium to meet the global demand for 780 years, dysprosium for 730 years, europium for 620 years, and terbium for 420 years.” Link
From mid-2018. “This is a game changer for Japan,” Jack Lifton, a founding principal of a market-research firm called Technology Metals Research, Link. A game changer. Ya’ think? Since rare earth elements are needed for manufacture in the fastest growing segment of all global economies, the procurement of rare earths would be quite important. ……… And a good relationship with countries who produce/control a large supply of rare earth elements would be a good thing…… right?
Dearest China, tell me again….., tell me how stupid you think the Americans are……
And to the business pundits, who ignore their own prior reporting on these discoveries, mislead the public, create tension and discord, while President Trump is dealing with China on trade negotiations…… shame on you.
And one more thing, since I’ve mounted the soapbox. Let’s speculate, as our dearest business pundits love to do. If the President and his administration can clear enough red tape to allow the build of an 11 billion dollar LNG port in a swamp in Cameroon Parish, Louisiana, in about 18 months, how long do we think it would take for the Trump Administration to PLOW THE ROAD for mining to continue at USA facility – Mountain Pass Mine in California.
Note: the company who owned Mountain Pass, Molycorp, took a 1.7 BILLION dollar loss because of Chinese subsidies, running competition out of the market, and the company went bankrupt in 2015 – selling the mine for 20.5 Million dollars —- yes, our leaders were stupid.) Link You won’t believe this BUT, at one point, Mountain Pass produced 50K tons/yr and sent the minerals TO CHINA for processing…… yes, that’s how stupid our leaders were.
Yes, Americans remember. We never forget. We are the news now!
We remember well. For me, it was 6th grade, Social Studies, when we studied South America. I had to report on the country of Chile. Mandated by Mrs. Dodson, my teacher, necessary on our reports were the locations of copper, silver, iron ore, and bauxite (necessary for aluminum production) mines, as well as other natural resources, rich and abundant fisheries, and historical versus modern trading routes. Carrying the “bigger than me” white poster board to school to present my project was cumbersome. I lost one of the silver dimes glued on to represent a Chilean silver mine…. distressing to a 6th grader, and the goldfish crackers I glued off the coastline, to represent fisheries, were broken. I grumbled. Mrs. Dodson, surely was unreasonable, making us do these extravagant reports about a far away country, and mines wherein I had no interest………. Little did I know……..
Thank you, Mrs. Dodson.
We would be remiss, however, if we did not consider ALL locations for natural resources. Right? Think bigger. Have you ever heard the name Naveen Jain? He was an Indian national who came to the USA with $5 in his pocket. He wants to mine the moon. It’s an estimated 16 QUADRILLION worth of metals. His companies name is Moon Express. Link
…….. And just think…… we were puzzled when President Trump and Prime Minister Abe talked about going to the Moon and Mars together. Does it all make sense now?
It’s all possible with great leaders.
End.
Backstory: When I met my second husband, he wanted to move south, out of the snow and rat race of Boston. Problem was, I owned a B&B with my ex-husband’s last name (my married name) proudly displayed on the sign. The B&B had a great reputation with significant return clientele – I couldn’t change the name. Second husband felt his need to put a “man-stamp” on the house, and we decided to renovate and build a pool. Well, the pool tile was $112,000. I didn’t care how much money he had, I wasn’t about to spend $112K on pool tile. I knew what I wanted but wasn’t about to pay retail. And thus began my sojourn into the import business. It took me a year, contracts with Maersk, background checks by FBI, licensing, etc., but finally the pool tile arrived —–>>> $7,000 plus shipping.
Over the next year, I made several mistakes, trusting foreign nationals to honor their word. Frustrated but unwilling to capitulate, I got the crazy idea to hire the most highly competent foreign nationals I could find, men who were highly respected in their own communities, to work for me…. Their job was to act as my “second”, to check on blocks of stone BEFORE they were cut, to supervise our orders within a factory, and to properly manage the packing of our delicate freight. As our backyard project grew, 12 containers arrived from all over the world. I made quite a ruckus in a small town.
My former husband was a general contractor and I kept the “rolodex” in the divorce. Pretty soon, I started receiving phone calls from other architects (and girlfriends), “Hey Daughn, do you suppose you could get me some slabs of Italian marble….. A x B dimensions….” and so on. Soon, my side business was born. When the crash of 2008 happened, that business became a necessity.
I placed a Christmas phone call to a company owner in Brazil, to wish him well in the new year. He was desperate and mad at me — the American. He thought I should have an answer, be the leader. And I got an idea. Because of the dire economic conditions, I spearheaded a “consortium of sorts”. We saved about 200 factories, assets that were generations old, and their employees, along the way. Many proud men cried to me on the phone, grateful for our cooperation. I kept their secrets, their moment of weakness carefully guarded, and never – ever, held it against them. We built amazing loyalty among the best factories, small and large, all over the world. It worked. We survived and kept the lights on and our families fed. It was an incredibly emotional time.
In 15 years, I have 64 employees, all men, thousands of years of experience, working for me in 14 countries, plus all the factories and quarries we work with. My ex-husband was hired to do take-offs for large condo projects, and my son was hired by one of my clients. Current husband handled a lot of the banking transactions and worked as house counsel…. being a lawyer and all….. I hired over-educated girlfriends with incredibly sweet southern accents to provide basic customer service and track shipping. I did the heavy lifting and played Diplomat.
Here’s the deal. Without realizing it, and because of my mistakes, I set up our company to do what no other company could. Imagine, for instance, you’re building the Burj hotel in Dubai. You want white Thassos marble from Greece, a blue granite from Peru, a gorgeous gray marble from Italy, and you need a gold from Egypt or Pakistan, plus a black granite in a thin panel…… only made in China. Well, that meant a project manager in Dubai had to call and find companies to sell him all the material, from 5 different countries. Often, the project manager would have to travel, endlessly, to approve material, and argue with the vendors…… cuz once you arrive…. it’s never quite what you ordered. OR – that project manager could sit back, sleep well at night, and call Daughn. You know Daughn? She’s the one who sits upon her mountain top, in rural Mississippi, but could reach out and touch a quarry with a phone call……. and had people on the ground, in every corner of the world, all the time. The savings and ease of order for the project manager made my company successful in a very strange and complex market.
Now, what I haven’t told you is that the above example was an actual job for the Burj Marina. I was sent the specifications in one year, spent weeks pricing up the job, locating and shipping samples, only for the architect to decide he wanted to do it himself. Okay, fine. I was mad, but it happens. Three years later, I received a phone call from a buddy who was an Indian national, working in Doha, Qatar. He had this great order and was sooooooo excited, but didn’t know how to fulfill it…….. it was the same damn order. You think it’s a little odd? One of the most famous buildings built in the last 20yrs ended up on my desk, in lil’ ole Mississippi…….. twice? Funny that.
It has been one helluva ride….. all because I wanted a better price….. and made a whole lot of mistakes along the way.
That I was a woman was a shock to most quarry and factory owners. Contrary to America, most countries in the world don’t believe in “equality” for women, women in business, or politically correct……. anything. That I was an old-school woman, who understood the promotion of a husband’s career, was a blessing in disguise. To large factory owners, 12th generation quarry owners, and project managers, I became their business wife. I was the good wife, who could find their keys and read their thoughts. I was the problem solver who could take care of the budget for the project…. and deliver stellar material, correctly, and on time. I took care of their stress, and was often the ONLY person who could step between two powerful men who were arguing….. and, boy-oh-boy, did they ever argue.
That I was an American AND a woman, in the back end bowels of the stone business, made me a freak of nature. Many in our group, at Q Tree, are foreign or were American and now live overseas. They can vouch for this statement. I had no idea when I started, but there is a strange automatic deference given to the “American” in the room. We are presumed to be in charge. It is assumed we will lead well and…….. fairly. It’s a FACT, and as Americans, we have to be benevolent leaders as we represent more than “a regular customer doing an order” overseas. We also represent our country. No use in fighting it. Wear that red, white, and blue with pride.
I have hundreds of wild stories of Russian oligarchs, rich Arabs, hiring Polish mafia “to collect”, building embassies for countries who don’t like each other, shipping gold, oil contracts, and wild sons of rich men who get in trouble, BUT………. FLEP’s post about the new alliance he sees President Trump forming, Japan/India/USA, to throttle China, reminds me of of how much the Chinese and the Indians detest each other. For them, it’s personal. We have 11 people in China and 15 in India. I was the bridge between the two.
We won’t get into the thousands of years of wars between the Indians and the Chinese, many of you are better versed in this subject than I. This story however, will encapsulate the natural born contempt between the citizens of these two countries.
Prada is a luxury Italian designer which makes items I can’t afford and don’t need. Nonetheless, they were building out a store at Lenox Square in Atlanta. For their store, they needed black granite, but they wanted the best black granite possible. Their Italian designer for the store had rejected 36 different samples of black granite over 4 months. The project manager in Atlanta and the architect in New York were growing frustrated and the project was at a standstill. Somehow, I got the desperate phone call for superior black granite (we sell about 30 different shades of black – just out of India).
I had a hunch what they needed but promised nothing. “Oh please, you have to help us”, Antolini said. I paused for that glorious moment, hanging in the air, and said, “I’m right here. It will be okay. I’ll call you back in 12 hours. Go to bed now.” I love it when they beg, but quickly turned my attention to the task at hand. My head man in India had been waxing poetic about a new black granite quarry. He spoke of the perfection of the stone like he would his first love, the one that got away. The owner of the quarry was an old school chum. They played on the same cricket team 40yrs prior and they were both Christians, which was very important to them both. My head man was pushing me to invest in the quarry because it was “a sure thing”, but I was reluctant to drop $200K on a whim. In any event, whether I invested or not, we needed a customer for the “new” black. I had him send me a sample ASAP….. and it was truly, extraordinarily, fine. He was right.
In the meantime, the Chinese learned of the new black quarry, and I was dragging my feet on “investing” or giving the cricket guy an order. The Chinese scurry over the land like ants, looking for raw material. You can squish one, or burn down the ant hill, but the Chinese always return…… like ants. A team of purchasers was dispatched from China to make a deal for the quarry. My head man and his friend…… left the Chinese team…..in a hotel, cooling their heels…… for three solid weeks. The Chinese were at their wits end.
My sample, the 37th sample, was approved by Prada, but we were in a rush to manufacture the stone. Whatever we did in India, shipping would take 6 weeks. It’s a long way from Chennai to Atlanta. Prada, the Project Manager, and the Architect could not wait six weeks. I was ordered to charter a plane and fly it, $83,000 for the plane ALONE, and given 10-12 days to manufacture it. It was an impossible task…… that we managed to complete. My head man called an old buddy, a Raj, who owned several factories. We split the order among the three, he supervised everything, kissed the packages lightly, and sent them to Atlanta.
We pulled the best black blocks from the quarry with borrowed diamond saws from a friend of mine, and other trucks and equipment from more friends. The Chinese were jumping up and down, taking photos, making phone calls, gesticulating wildly…… and sneaking into our factories where we were manufacturing……. to drool ALL OVER our black granite. But – there was nothing they could do. I played the bad cop to the Chinese on this occasion. They were stymied by the vision of an illusive but clever American, when it was really the two Indians who would rather do business with the devil than the Chinese.
As luck would have it, when we got close to the end of the order, the luxurious silken black granite started to run bad. Very unusual, quarries usually run for years. My head man was terrified we would not be able to finish the order. We were pulling 5 blocks for one block of good material. Fortunately, we finished on time with perfect material. The rest of the quarry, by then, was pretty much a crap shoot. Bad silver veins….. and cracking. As my head man said in perfectly crisp British, “No large blocks, only pebbles.”
Prada was elated with their granite and my reputation was bolstered among the NY stuffy architects. The project manager in Atlanta was a joy to work with and I sent my ex-husband to deal with him. The cricket playing quarry owner made a small fortune on our order. Plus, he sold the quarry to the Chinese for $750K, more than his original asking price. He moved to Sri Lanka and opened another factory for manufacture of tiles. The Chinese ended up with a worthless plot of land……. and lots and lots of pebbles.
I moved on to the next order.
For perspective, this story happened about ten years ago. Yet, to this day, I can mention the perfect black “Prada” granite to my head man, and he howls with laughter over how he and his buddy screwed the Chinese. He loved it. The Chinese and the Indians are like the Hatfields and McCoys……. they’ve been fighting for so long, they can’t remember what started the argument. Yet, the Chinese and Indians are WORSE…….., they’ve been fighting for thousands of years. It’s weird though. With me in the middle, the American woman, they all get quiet, straighten their backs, and act like 8yr old school boys, who poke at each other when mom is not looking.
If Flep is right, and I think he is, we are in for a super-duper special treat with Donald J. Trump at the helm of this new alliance between Japan/India/USA. Plus, we will get a master class in geopolitics for how it all spins around the Chinese.
I can’t wait. Not enough popcorn in the world.
End.
This FUNTASTIC FRIDAY WRAP UP open thread is VERY OPEN – a place for everybody to post whatever they feel they would like to tell the White Hats, and the rest of the MAGA world.
You can say what you want, comment on what other people said, and so on. Free Speech is practiced here.
ENJOY IT.
Use it or lose it. Keep it SOMEWHAT civil. They tried to FORCE fake Orwellian civility on us. In response, we CHOOSE true civility to defend our precious 1ST AMENDMENT FREEDOM from THEM.
Our rules began with the civility of the Old Treehouse, later to become the Wolverinian Empire, and one might say that we have RESTORED THE OLD REPUBLIC – the early high-interaction model of the Treehouse – except of course that Q discussion is not only allowed but encouraged, and speech is considerably freer in other ways. Please feel free to argue and disagree with the board owner, as nicely as possible.
Please also consider the Important Guidelines, outlined here in the January 1st open thread. Let’s not give the odious and vile Internet Censors any REASONABLE reason to shut down this precious haven.
PLEASE….Remember to KEEP PRESIDENT TRUMP IN PRAYER.
WE ARE PRAYING FOR HIM!!
U.S. President Donald Trump prays during the National Prayer Breakfast event in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 2, 2017. Photo courtesy of Retuers/Carlos Barria
Our movement
Is about replacing
A failed
And CORRUPT
Political establishment
With a new government controlled
By you, the American People.
Candidate Donald J. Trump
Also consider Wheatie’s Rules:
No food fights.
No running with scissors.
If you bring snacks, bring enough for everyone.
Yep…what goes up must come down…unless, of course, it’s the smoke from the smoldering rubble of the Obama administration’s coup attempt against our President. Here’s another amusing fact…
Make a good landing and no one says a word. At the gate the cockpit door is wide open and people just walk past in their rush to get off the plane. BUT…set it down “with authority”…like you actually WANT to do with a 30 knot gusting to 50 knot, 90 degree crosswind…or hey, you’re just having an off day…and suddenly every person ISN’T in a rush and wants to stop at the door to pretend they’re Jerry Seinfeld.
“Nice crash there, Chuck Yeager. Did they teach you how to land before you got here or are you learning on the job?” Or my personal favorite after years of hearing this stuff…”Hey Crash, do I get a new pair of underwear to go with that landing?”
There are times when we know just how Rodney felt….no respect!
HELLO again all you amazing, patriotic, MAGA-loving, utterly deplorable Wolf den-izens! Welcome to another Friday edition of the weekly wrap-up. Can I just say….wow. Last weekend and into Monday I was thinking “gee it’s kinda slow”, but boy has it kicked into high gear as the week has gone on!
As always, we’ve got a LOT in store for your review, rememberance, and bookmarking from the week that was, so let’s dive on in!
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As we have now gained a month’s worth of experience writing this Weekly Wrapup one thing leaps out in terms of learning, and here it is: sometimes, indeed more often than not, some news item, meme, article, or cartoon captures the entire week’s worth of events. But it comes out early in the week and just ages REALLY well. And this week is no exception.
So, without further ado, we lead off with a cartoon by the genius Antonio Branco which came out last Friday or Saturday…followed by an article by the inimitable Conrad Black. Trust me, you don’t want to miss Black’s piece (link below Branco, thanks to PHC!). Consider these a 1-2 punch that goes together like ham and swiss, bread and butter, or Hillary and “Lock her up!”. (Drat! Foiled by Wolf’s OP this AM! -Ed.)
POTUS reminds us of ONE reason why we love him SO MUCH…here he is addressing the National Association of Realtors annual Expo…..LISTEN to that crowd’s reaction!
“It’s bullshit.” Yep, democraps spew more BS than a herd of cows at an Ex-lax convention….
Speaking of PDJT….here’s yet ANOTHER dagger into the heart of the coupist plot…this one just rips the mask off the whole affair…
Last week you might recall that Jerrah Fat Boy Naaaaaadler and the democrat clown posse on the House Judiciary Committee voted in committee to hold the AG in contempt….playing right into the AG’s hands….
Indeed, an exclusive interview with AG Barr aired on Fox last Friday AM RELATED to all of this and boy was it a DOOZY! If you missed it, here it is…
Jack Posobiec summarizes things quite well, as usual…
The democrats are OBVIOUSLY terrified of the AG….and not without good reason…..
Interestingly, former FIB director Comey just can’t keep his mouth shut. He knows what is coming and made a pathetic (typically leftist) attempt to sound like a victim this week…
The AG should stop sliming his own Department. If there are bad facts, show us, or search for them professionally and then tell us what you found. An AG must act like the leader of the Department of Justice, an organization based on truth. Donald Trump has enough spokespeople.
Allow us to translate this ridiculous pablum for you…
To which we respond….and we think we can confidently speak for literally tens of millions of our fellow Americans…
Meanwhile, as Fox News reported, a dispute has erupted over whether the fired James Comey or former C_A head clown John Brennan pushed for the faulty Steele dossier to be included in the intelligence community (IC) assessment regarding Russian meddling. In a recent interview with the Fox News Channel, former House Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-SC) suggested: “Whoever is looking into this, tell them to look into emails” between Comey and Brennan from December 2016 while implying it was Brennan. 😎😎😎
Speaking of the former head clown of the C_A, you might recall that after AG Barr revealed that there was no collusion found in the Mueller Reports conclusions, Brennan said…
“I don’t know if I received bad information, but I think I suspected there was more than there actually was,” the former agency’s head Bozo told MSNBC’s Morning Joe of Mueller’s findings. “I am relieved that it’s been determined there was not a criminal conspiracy with the Russian government over our election,” he added. “I think that is good news for the country.”
Well, that was BEFORE the President used this nimrod’s words against him. Here is his latest tweet in response to POTUS…with a nice rejoinder by Papa D….
Oh, John: all the weaponized assets you sent my way [Joseph Mifsud, Alexander Downer, Stefan Halper] are all being outed from London, Rome and Canberra. Those governments are now actively cooperating with the Trump administration and have flipped on you. Your role will be exposed
— George Papadopoulos (@GeorgePapa19) May 22, 2019
You know these guys be like….
Even more telling may be the silence from what once was (?) the world’s biggest loudmouth narcissist…
Sshh, hear that? It's the deafening silence of Barack Obama,who's suddenly gone to ground as #SpyGate scandal draws nearer & calls for him to be questioned under oath grow. No US speaking events, appearances.Organizing for Action(OFA) quietly removed from his website.Fewer Tweets
If you are keeping score at home (and who isn’t unless they are liberal?) allow us to provide you with this HANDY DANDY ROSTER of just a part of the cast of characters in this sordid tale and their current status inside the gov’t….
Then there is this little tidbit that dropped like Rosie O’Donnell into a gallon of ice cream (ie. to no one’s surprise)…..
BREAKING: Several witnesses and targets in Mueller investigation complain the federal grand jury which his prosecutors impaneled in the District of Columbia was composed primarily of African-American jurors who appeared "angry" and held an intense anti-Trump bias. #GrandJuryBias?
To which we can only say, “HA HA!! And they STILL came up short!!” 😂
You just CANNOT make this schiff up, people. It’s unpossumable!
Yessiree folks, today’s democrats and their ideological fellow travelers in DC remind us of that stalwart of law and order…always in HOT pursuit of the Bandit…Sheriff Buford T. Justice and his idiot son Junior…
Moving on…
We’d be remiss if we didn’t give honorable mention to this past Saturday’s National Armed Forces Day. With all sincerity and gratitude to some of our nation’s finest…so many that are members of our own families….
— Secretary Acosta (@SecretaryAcosta) May 18, 2019
Last week we said that a video like this next one (below) is always deserving of a spot in this space and this week we give 5 full hearts for this submission by Kea (below)….❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
We just LOVE that soooo much. Look how mama duck was talking to her ducklings as they came out of the helmet,“There you all are! I’ve been worried sick!” and to the ff’s “Thank you thank you thank you!!” ❤️ JOY!! 😍
At risk of wearing out this already well worn meme (but it’s so true)…..
…..plenty of news to pick from these days, but how about this LATEST news…..?!
Toolmaker Stanley Black & Decker brings new plant and hundreds of jobs to North Fort Worth
(Dallas) Tool maker Stanley Black & Decker is expanding its U.S. manufacturing operations with a **new plant** in North Fort Worth.
The iconic American company is putting a 425,000-square-foot manufacturing plant with 500 full-time jobs in the AllianceTexas development near Interstate 35W.
The plant will open late next year, producing a variety of Craftsman brand mechanics tools, including sockets, ratchets and wrenches.
A photograph was leaked of the former President, taken after he heard this latest news….
Meanwhile…..HOLY COW…..have you been following what’s happening overseas??? We are confident you, our dear readers, remember this unforgettable moment….
Well, hold onto your knickers, because….
Angela Merkel says the postwar world order is over and calls for Europe to stand up to China, Russia, and the US
Meanwhile, political anarchy has broken out in the UK as Theresa May fumbles from dumb to dumber and beyond. It’s almost too much to add to this space, but we’ll mention two things.
May has supposedly opened the door for a 2nd referendum vote, and of this writing is now on the verge of resigning due to the resultant fallout. AND…
The newly formed BREXIT PARTY…led by Nigel Farage… is now leading in the UK polls by more than the Tories AND Labor parties COMBINED ahead of the all important EU elections this weekend!
Look folks, WE…the MAGA party…have started a GLOBAL REVOLUTION that is sweeping the world. And WE can PROVE it!! But first, an explanation from an alternative voice….
The Australian election was held today; voting is compulsory as everyone over the age 18 is required to vote; turnout was greater than 95%… and all the media and pollsters are stunned, shocked, jaws-agape, as the conservative coalition has received a stunning, unexpected, unanticipated victory.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has won the election. And yes, the 2019 media in Australia look identical to media in the U.S. circa November 2016.
Wow………… EU President Jean-Claude Juncker Lashes Out on Eve of Elections: "These Stupid Nationalists Are in Love with Their Own Countries" https://t.co/syKvG3DjUy via @gatewaypundit
— The Gateway Pundit (@gatewaypundit) May 23, 2019
“These populist, nationalists, stupid nationalists, they are in love with their own countries,” Juncker told CNN in his Brussels office.
As Flep wrote today…
“The Globalists are pissed because they know that their Utopian Dream is about to be burned to the ground.” – Fleporblog
More than a second…..off a 29 year track record!! 😮😎😮
And btw….“Hand ridden down the stretch” means the jockey urges a horse with the hands and arms without using the whip (something leftists couldn’t understand even if you wrote “Captialism For Dummies” and gave them an illustrated copy with pictures for children).
Folks, we have to go almost all the way back to the Reagan administration when that track record was last set.
ARE YOU PICKING UP WHAT WE’RE LAYING DOWN FOR YOU HERE?!? 😀😮😀
This is global. This is worldwide!! WE CANNOT BE STOPPED!! THE WORLD HAS NEVER WITNESSED POLITICAL MOMENTUM LIKE WHAT PRESIDENT TRUMP AND WE…HIS SUPPORTERS….HAVE UNLEASHED.
THIS HAS NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE!! EVER!!
Ahhhh….but you can hear the Eeyore’s whine, can’t you? “B…b…b…but what about Big Tech and their censorship?? They’ll stop all this.”
Think so, eh? Allow us to give them a clue….
Back here in the good ol’ US of Apple pie, some new info is coming to light that is worth watching closely.
Do y’all remember back when Mad Maxine Sewer Waters said this?
Was she referring to THIS?? We think so.
No one was exempt, Supreme Court Justices et al. Barack’s Big Brother Blackmail Bonanza! pic.twitter.com/ylE4vGTPpm
What if the “MUH Russia” *get Trump* “coup” scheme was REALLY a C_A CYA operation to HIDE what the Obama administration had been doing for 8 years….SPY ON ALL AMERICANS….INDIVIDUALLY?
Think about that level of coercion and potential blackmail, and you know why it is HIGHLY ILLEGAL by federal laws already on the books.
Remember….Q said they won’t be able to walk the streets when all is made known to the public.
Here’s another question, with a preface. Recall, if you will, the shocked surprise we all had when Chief Justice John Roberts ruled that the individual mandate in Obamacare was Constitutional in June of 2012, when he had been signaling all along that he was going to rule it against it. Everyone was surprised, including the political left! Well….
Did Obama use the HAMR program to spy on Roberts and subsequently blackmail (coerce) him with some bit of information to make that ruling?? Something about his family, perhaps? We’re asking for 63 million Trump voters.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. There will be plenty more coming out about that in the months to come, we can be certain.
Meanwhile, we were HIGHLY amused and enthused by Dagen McDowell this week and we think you will be too. After all, we ALWAYS enjoy it when this smarmy shill gets biotch slapped. Have a look…
As Harry Lime posted, “Juan is not real. He is the definition of an NPC.”
“We don’t need Mueller. Pick up a newspaper. It will tell you how this started.”
Also last week we shared the news that democrats have become so desperate in their war FOR abortion that they are now calling for a sex boycott! Really! 😂😁😂
Can’t make this up, folks. Unpossible. We keep telling ya!
Finally, what would this Weekly Wrap be without touching base with our favorite leading democrat candidate, Gropy Joe McCreeperton?
This past week, his own wife introduced him to this crowd of about a few tens of people (most are behind him for visuals to make it appear like some massive crowd)….and then she turned to give him a hug….and had to disengage herself from him!
Yes, this is his WIFE! Does anything more need be said??
Wrapping up this Weekly Wrapup are a few last minute chuckles for ya in the form of some actual news headlines this past week….
Michael Avenatti Newly Charged with Stealing Money from Former Client Stormy Daniels 😁
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…..annnnnnnnnnnnd…..
(drum roll, please)
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Russian zoo names black goat Obama https://t.co/uUqfICEQGi At least it wasn’t a monkey! Let’s rename our zoo animals. The ass is a shoein for Pelosi. 🤣
And this was just some of it. The drama in the UK…and with the EU election this weekend…could encompass this whole space. We can only hope you are keeping up with the daily news through Fleporblog’s Daily News threads, and of course this Wrap Up would not be possible without the contributions of you, dear readers, in the form of your posts throughout the week. THIS IS A WOLF-PACK EFFORT! 😉
So with that all said, and as we like to do, it’s now time to send you off into the weekend with some tunage we hope you will find entertaining and perhaps reflective of both what has happened to date (to the left in general) and what is to come (for all the folks mentioned above in this week’s Wrap Up).
PhoenixRising selected this week’s tune and it’s a dilly!
We love it for two reasons. First, because it comes from one of our beloved home state legends and, second, because nothing is finer than using a democrat’s words against other democrats!
From Wikipedia….
He was born in Abbott, Texas, on April 29, 1933, the son of Myrle Marie (née Greenhaw) and Ira Doyle (last name intentionally left blank). His birth was incorrectly recorded by Dr. F. D. Sims as April 30. He was named by his cousin Mildred, who also chose Hugh as his middle name, in honor of her recently deceased younger brother. He traces his genealogy to the American Revolutionary War, in which his ancestor John (same last name) served as a major. His parents moved to Texas from Arkansas in 1929 to look for work. His grandfather, William, worked as a blacksmith, while his father worked as a mechanic. His mother left soon after he was born, and his father remarried and also moved away, leaving him and his sister to be raised by their grandparents, who taught singing back in Arkansas and started their grandchildren at an early age. His grandfather bought him a guitar when he was six, and taught him a few chords, and he sang gospel songs in the local church alongside his sister. He wrote his first song at age seven, and when he was nine, he played guitar for local band Bohemian Polka. During the summer, the family picked cotton alongside other Abbott residents. He disliked picking cotton, so he earned money by singing in dance halls, taverns, and honky tonks from age 13, which he continued through high school. His musical influences were Hank Williams, Bob Wills, Lefty Frizzell, Ray Price, Ernest Tubb, Hank Snow, Django Reinhardt, Frank Sinatra, and Louis Armstrong.
This is most definitely NOT one of his greatest hits, but we think you will agree it’s a perfect choice for the times at hand.
That all said…and as always… we now invite you to kick back, relax, and enjoy today’s flight. Please take good care, God bless you, have a MAGAtastic weekend, and see you all again for another Weekly Wrap Up next week! 👍
Have you ever wondered what you could do, individually, to help our country or President? To make YOUR voice heard? Well, we might have found an answer. It’s pretty simple = #PostItAmerica has received attention from the Chinese and now, autofills on Twitter. It’s an easy way to push BACK against China, and defend our President, our farmers and workers in the USA.
Here’s how it all started.
About a week ago, Trish Regan of Fox News interviewed Steve Bannon. See Below:
Steve Bannon is the ENEMY: Soon after the interview, Chinese State TV labeled Bannon as an enemy, and the USA should not listen to him. Pretty cool, eh? Badge of honor for Steve Bannon. Trish Regan Weighs in on China: Well, Trish was pretty hard on the Chinese in her comments. Americans have a quite a bit of pent up anger after 30 yrs of being abused in bad trade deals, and having our intellectual property stolen. We’ve done everything we can, even with bad leadership, to bring China into the world of nations to trade in good faith. China has cheated at every turn. We’re ready to push back in this economic war. It’s time. The Chinese respond to Trish: Last night, Chinese State TV did a hit piece on Trish Regan. Can you imagine? A Chinese propaganda chic, on her version of the “curvy couch”, broadcasting in ENGLISH to the English speaking world, was trashing Trish Regan. I stopped on a dime and turned up the volume. Chinese State TV said Trish was “emotional” and was “spitting fire from her eyes” and “had no facts”. I eyes were glued to the television, laser focused… but my jaw was on the floor….. China was attacking an American TV pundit, a woman, because SHE was a threat. Have we ever seen that before?
#China is waging an information war against the U.S. … and ME! China’s state TV accuses ME of being “emotional” and stoking fear, when in reality, I was stating the facts. China IS NOT playing fair when it comes to trade. China, you picked the wrong fight! #TrishReganpic.twitter.com/6b4mwZzRBt
Kudos to Trish Regan: Trish Regan should have asked for a raise. Major street cred for Trish Regan. The Chinese tried to dismiss her, demean her as a woman in a way that was actually chauvinist – not ‘fake’ chauvinist like the Dems try to do in a PC culture. The Chinese tried to trivialize her background in finance…. What happens when a woman gets angry?: … I was a partner in a brokerage firm…. and I was furious. The hair stood up on the back of my neck. I worked on Wall Street, but I also worked in a grocery store and punched a clock for a long time. ANY woman would have been incensed by these comments. The way the Chinese talked about Trish Regan was scurrilous. I submit, any American man who saw a woman demeaned in such a way would instantly rise to his feet to defend her. Yeah, the Chinese effort to smear Trish Regan backfired……… and I got mad. Targeted and effective anger: I responded to Trish’s post of the segment on Twitter. A few months ago, I started a little campaign in my local grocery store which I named #PostItAmerica. I took sticky notes and posted a small note on to Chinese items. It was an effort to make people think before they buy. If 70% of the US economy is consumer driven, and women do most of the buying, we can send a BIG message with a little bit of effort. Normally, it’s the men who buy the big items. Their impact is bigger, but consistent small purchases overwhelms the Chinese like death from 1,000 cuts.
And what about our FARMERS?: We KNOW American farmers are purposely targeted by China to weaken support for President Trump during Trade Negotiations. Indirectly, the Dems are cheering for the Chinese and against America…… cuz they don’t want to see President Trump win….. even if it hurts America. I was even more angry and posted more pics to support AMERICAN farmers along with #PostItAmerica and #DontBuyFromChina.
What happens when more than one woman gets angry?: The pics from my local grocer and WalMart were loaded up to Trish’s Twitter feed along with the #PostItAmerica and #DontBuyFromChina hashtags. Overnight, my twitter feed blew up. Now, the #PostItAmerica hashtag autofills on Twitter, which means it is beginning to trend. Wow, lil’ ole me, with my silly lil’ sticky notes. Twitter heard me….., but the best was yet to come. When China notices the Americans are ANGRY: After morning covfefe, I checked my Twitter feed. I had an actual Chinese troll. No kidding. I thought, “Huh, Twitter isn’t allowed in China” or so we thought. Must be a Chinese national located in a place where the state doesn’t censor Twitter. Yet, I checked the trolls feed and it was all post for the Chinese Olympic Team. Interesting, eh? And now, I have THREE Chinese trolls…. one who thinks he can see my bra……. all the way from China….. or wants me to run naked without Chinese clothing…….
https://twitter.com/174TTTZ/status/1131602335606513664 So, what does this tell us?
1. China is watching social media in the USA to gauge reaction and check support for Trump in their trade negotiations. Public opinion is strong in the USA and for the past 30yrs, public opinion has influenced our Presidents and their foreign policy. The Chinese would be mistaken to rely upon liberal polling, however, with President Trump. He doesn’t care. Just like Steve Bannon said, the Chinese were woefully unprepared for a President Trump.
2. It’s time to wake the sleeping giant, the American consumer, and send China a message. We understand what works. We get it….. now.
3. I’m a speck of dust on China’s radar. If I merit my own Twitter troll, they’re worried. But I was thrilled!
Bolstered by the idea that I had my own Chinese Twitter troll, I dropped the pics in a few MORE places. THEN, I got this response. Pay close attention to the #’s used and where this Chinese troll sent my pics. He/she sent them to the 5G and Huawei # feeds. Gee whiz, do you think they’re hyper vigilant and watching our social media to gauge our temperature on China?
https://twitter.com/kingmingto/status/1131624407644876800
And here’s my big question. Who starts a hashtag called #spy? Think about that one for a minute. I have so many questions about #mengwanzhou#renzhengfei#spy#tradewar#china#ccp#pla#prc Bottom line: Are you sick and tired of Dems and pundits controlling the narrative? Ready to push back? Well then, please join me at #PostItAmerica and #DontBuyFromChina and send a message to the Chinese. We support our President and our trade team. How dare they go after our farmers! China has seriously overstepped!
Happy Memorial Day to ALL!
The landing beaches and tide clock used in preparation for D-Day at Southwick House, Portsmouth.
