"Fresh Air" (opens in separate window)

russia collusion hoax, pt-2

friday, march 8th, 2024

Last December 15th, as Americans decorated Christmas Trees, lit Menorahs, and prepared to tune out for winter holidays, CNN ran an extraordinary article titled, “The mystery of the missing binder: How a collection of raw Russian intelligence disappeared under Trump”.

[FULL TITLE: "U.S. Government Is Hiding Documents That Incriminate Intelligence Community For Illegal Spying And Election Interference, Say Sources".]

Former CIA Director Gina Haspel blocked the release of “binder” with evidence that may identify her role in the Trump-Russia collusion hoax.

Co-authored by Natasha Bertrand, the gargantuan exposé claimed a mysterious “binder” of “highly classified information related to Russian election interference” went “missing” in the chaotic waning days of Donald Trump’s presidency in January 2021, raising concerns that some of America’s most “closely guarded national security secrets… could be exposed.”

CNN and its intelligence sources meant “exposure” in a bad way. Sources have told Public and Racket, however, that the secrets officials worry might be “exposed” are ones that would implicate them in widespread abuses of intelligence authority dating back to the 2015-2016 election season.

“I would call [the binder] Trump’s insurance policy,” said someone knowledgeable about the case. “He was very concerned about having it and taking it with him because it was the road map” of Russiagate.

Transgressions range from Justice Department surveillance of domestic political targets without probable cause to the improper unmasking of a pre-election conversation between a Trump official and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to WMD-style manipulation of intelligence for public reports on alleged Russian “influence activities.”

The CNN report claimed intelligence officials were concerned about the disclosure of “sources and methods that informed the US government’s assessment that Russian President Vladimir Putin sought to help Trump win the 2016 election.”

They should be concerned. The story of how a team “hand-picked” by CIA Director John Brennan relied on “cooked intelligence” to craft that January 6th, 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment is the subject of tomorrow’s story, the last in this three-part series.

Corruption, not tradecraft, is what officials are desperate to keep secret.

The ”missing binder” story has several variants. Sources offer differing answers on the question of whether anything of consequence is missing. They give mixed accounts of Trump’s frantic last efforts to declassify Russia-related material.

But nearly everyone Public and Racket spoke to agreed that the tale obscured a broader and more important story.

Dating back to the release of the so-called “Nunes memo” in 2018 exposing the corruption of the FISA application process, senior intelligence officials, including Trump’s CIA Director, Gina Haspel, have repeatedly blocked attempts to declassify information about the Trump-Russia investigation.

They had good reason to obstruct the release of these documents.

A Day In The Life.

Up at 7:30a on Friday, I went thru my finger stick to check my BSL (Blood Sugar Level) and recorded it on my Diabetes 2 chart, made coffee and had Apple Bread Toast for breakfast, took two 50mg Tramadol for various Sciatica pain, fired-up the Win-7 Pentium HP desktop to let 32 million lines of code load, had a couple smokes in the semi-cool garage and checked the leftover errands list.

It was a cold 25°, clear and sunny morning. Hard to believe it's March already. I fired-up the furnace to take the chill off, and scanned the news headlines and weather sites. Same old news crap as yesterday. I tuned into the "Chris Stigall Show LIVE" (CS Show) from 6-9a, and then the "Chris Plante Show LIVE" (CP Show) 9-12noon, and finally to the Rob Carson Show LIVE (RC Show) 12-3p. I scanned the weather sites and multiple news sources, on my desktop.

The F1 Grand Prix Racing season is finally here! This Saturday (usually on Sunday mornings) at 10a, is the 2hr Bahrain GP, in the ME, and I'll be in front of my 82" Samsung TV watching it. I'm a happy camper, again!

I had two errands to do in the afternoon, and all too soon, it was dusk outside. I closed down the condo, opened a bottle of BUTTER Chardonnay to have with BBQ & Potato Salad for dinner, watched the news and switched to Discovery's "Gold Rush" for the rest of the evening. I fell asleep in my office-sunroom's über-comfy desk chair, and woke-up at 4a. Damn. I quickly closed down the condo and headed upstairs.

Sleeping-in until 9:30 on Saturday, I had my days mixed-up; understandably so. Anyway, thru the chardonnay 'haze', and a rainy, mild 41° morning, I made coffee, had a couple of smokes in the garage, scanned the news and weather headlines, and forgot about the F-1 Qatar Grand Prix Race on F1-TV at 10a. I missed the first 15-20mins, but caught it later on the F1-TV Channel's replay. I forgot to check email until late-afternoon, started a load of laundry (normally a Sunday chore), Discovery had an "Expedition Unknown" Marathon on and I watched it until 11p. Lights out.

Up at 7a on Sunday, to a bright, very foggy, 41° morning. I fired-up the furnace and garage heater, made coffee, and scanned the news headlines and weather sites. heh, here's DJT's new campaign ad. He'll catch a lot of flak for it, since Nothing gets you in trouble like the truth.

After some lunch, I worked on some condo chores and a pile (of 6) of tax receipts -- no laundry since I'd mistakenly done it yesterday -- and temps hit 65°, giving everyone here an early taste of Spring. It was a wonderfaul to be out in the warmish, fresh air. I moved the recycle bin out to the curb, closed down around 6p, had some dinner and watched the evening news. All last week, I'd been watching parts of the "Alien" movie series (8 movies), starting back in 1979 w/ director Ridley Scott. Then I switched over to a new one I'd never heard of, titled "Moonfall, with just amazing special effects, from 2022. Finallty, at 2a, I quite and headed up to bed.

Up at 8a on Monday, to a bright, clear, sunny 48° morning. Heat up, coffee great, I took 2 Tramadol 50mg for R/S Sciatica pain, tuned into the "CS Show" until 9, and then switched over to the "CP Show", scanned the news, and relaxed in the 65° air. After some breakfast and the onset of the "RC Show", I left at 12:30p for my usual points south trip, and 2 errands. Traffic was EXTRA HEAVCY, with so many 'Road Work Ahead' c hokepoints, that I lost count. Un-friucking-believeable! And it gets worse by the week, as Spring-like weather appears.

Back by 1:40p, I unloaded, had some more delicious morning coffee, had BBQ and Olive Pasta Salad for luncxh, and laid down on the LR couch for a short while. Back up at 4:30p, after an hour nap, I closed up the condo as temps were dropping, had the last of the morning coffee and did a load of dishes. I had the "RC Show Podcast" on, and just didn't feel like doing any tax paperwork. After dinner, I caught the evening news wrap-up, and watched "History's Greatest Mysteries" until 11:30, and bagged it for the day. My cleaning lady's in at 8:30a.

Up at 6a on Tuesday, to a rainy, mid-40s, 0-DARK-THIRTY morning. I scanned the news headlines, with coffee, and had a couple smokes in the garage. The fresh, damp air smelled and felt good. I had breakfast, took my 19 Rx & OTC morning pills (16 in the evening), and JoAnne arrived at 8:30. I kept working on adding-up some tax paper receipts piles. JoAnne finished-up around 11:30a, I had some lunch, and waited for Sherry to arrive at 1p.

Oh my! FaceButt, InstaCrap, Messenger & Threads are down, worldwide! PANIC. TEAR YOUR HAIR OUT! SCREAM! GRIND YOUR TEETH! BFD. The crapass commie shithole called META has been hacked! Ohhhhhhhhh my gosh! I TRULY HOPE THE HACKERS DESTROY ALL 5+ COMPLETELY, AND THAT EVERYTHING IS FULLY-WIPED CLEAN. No, I haven't ever/don't/never will, use of that mindless, idiotic 'social media' trash/crap/junk/shit/garbage. Even the Fox idiots carried the 'story', as actual 'news'.

Sherry and I spent the afternoon at my place, having a very nice time, as always. It was a cold, very damp day, but the sun peeked thru for 20mins, and she had to leave around 4:30, to get an errand done on the way home. I closed the condo, had dinner and watched Discovery's "Expedition Unknown" History's "Curse of Oak Island" until I faded at 11p. Lights out.

Up at 6a on Thursday, a rainy, very foggy, "balmy" 47° Wednesday morning. Multiple ***SEVERE FOG WARNING*** posted everywhere. I did the usual routine, enjoyed the coffee and smokes and scanned the news headlines. All over the Net's news sites, was that Icky Nikki Haley is finally dropping out after getting her butt kicked in a bunch of state races, on "~~Super~~ Stupor Tuesday". In other news, the sun came up in the eastern sky. Fox News even dragged the drunken Bill Hemmer out of bed, put a rumpled shirt on him from the clothes hamper, and is going to "wall-to-wall coverage" of Icky's announcement. There are fossilized minerals smarter than Icky Nikki. BFD. Who cares?

The rain started around 5p, and continued thru the night, as a massive stormfront moved up the coast into the Northeast. I had some Rxs to p/u at nearby Rite Aid, and had the Pharmacy Dept run-off my 2023 Rx purchases record, so I can now finish the 2023 IRS Taxes, and get the paperwork and electronic files to my CPA next week. Hoo-Rah! I still have my CPS's 6pg questionnaire/checklist to finish, check, re-check, and re-re-check over the weekend. I had a Broiled USDA Prime 10oz Filet Mignon with Roasted, Sea-Salted & Buttered Brussel Sprouts, and a couple of fresh mini Croissants. After the evening news, I watched History's "American Pickers" until midnight, and unplugged.

The leftist media at work.

Up at 7:30 on Thursday, to a partly sunny, 'balmy' 47° morning, I fired-up the furnace and garage heater, made coffee, tuned into the "CS Show", and scanned the news and weather sites. The "CP Show" came on at 9a, and I checked the weekend for the F-1 GP of Saudi Arabia race start time, and found it to be 1p on Saturday, where Sherry's here. It'll also be raining, so I guess we'll be watching the race, instead of walking in the nearby park or at the cavernous York Galleria. Heh.

My favorite fast food place, FIVE GUYS Burgers & Fries has $24 burgers, fries and a trip? Wow; I've never seen that kind of pricing, here in York, PA. They're pricey, but not that high. Best burgers and especially the *FRIES* I've ever had.

Here's DJT's new PAC ad, just released this morning... Brutal and so true.

Yeah sure, I'll be watching senile Joey Bidet&Co give the SOTU Lie about how he "brought us all together". Yes he did: in MISERY and NATIONAL SHAME that Bidet&Co was ever allowed to step into and defile, the WH. No, I won't be watching. But, here's a preview.

I took a Furosemide Rx pill with my morning's 19 Rx/OTC pills, and had to stay-in, for the afternoon, near a bathroom, as it's a diuretic. Heh. After lunch, I took a 2hr snooze, closed down the condo, watched the news and switched-over to Mecum Auctions on Motor Trend thru the evening. No, I didn't watch Joey Bidet&Co's so-called, juiced-up 'speech'. By 11:30p, I was fading, and unplugged.

Tomorrow starts a new week here in the "Journal", and except for some lab work blood tests, it's a clear week; I just get my organized tax paperwork to my CPA, and I'll be glad to get it all done and onto someone else's desk.

A Pipeline Of Criminals Into The United States.

A relentless crime wave is raging all over America, and you would think that politicians from both major parties would be determined to do whatever they can to make things safer for all of us. Unfortunately, that isn’t what is happening. Our politicians have become so soft on crime, and violent criminals are often put right back into the streets even if they manage to get arrested. So now our streets are absolutely teeming with predators, and conditions are getting worse with each passing year. But apparently that isn’t enough for some of our politicians, and so they have opened up the floodgates and are allowing vast numbers of lawbreakers to come pouring across our borders.

Life As You Have Known It Will Never Be The Same Again.

Let me take this one step at a time.

According to Gallup, Americans now consider immigration to be the most important problem that we are facing as a nation…

Significantly more Americans name immigration as the most important problem facing the U.S. (28%) than did a month ago (20%). Immigration has now passed the government as the most often cited problem, after the two issues tied for the top position the past two months. The government ranked first each month from January through November 2023.

In the latest poll, 20% of Americans name the government as the most important problem, followed by the economy (12%) and inflation (11%). Immigration is the only issue that has shown meaningful change in the past month.

Without a doubt, a lot of those that have been migrating to this country are hard working people that are just searching for a better life.

But there are also many that are coming for other reasons.

According to Bloomberg, violent deaths have been plummeting in Venezuela “following years of massive migration”…

Venezuela’s rate of violent deaths dropped to its lowest level in more than two decades following years of massive migration as both criminals and victims fled the nation’s economic crisis.

The Venezuelan Violence Observatory registered 26.8 violent deaths per 100,000 inhabitants this year from a rate of 35.3 for every 100,000 habitants in 2022, Roberto Briceño León, director of the Observatory, said in a webcast Thursday. That’s its lowest since 2001 and is one-third of what it was in 2016, he added.

That is certainly good news for Venezuela.

But where did all of those violent criminals go?

Kristi Noem, who is one of the top candidates to be Donald Trump’s running mate, is claiming that Venezuela has been “emptying their prisons of dangerous criminals to send them to America”…

Nations like Venezuela are emptying their prisons of dangerous criminals to send them to America. They are happy to let America’s open border be the solution to their problem.

Of course this is not exactly a new allegation.

All the way back in 2022, Breitbart warned that this was happening…

A recent Department of Homeland Security intelligence report received by the Border Patrol instructs agents to look for Venezuelan inmates released from entering the U.S., according to a source within CBP. The report, reviewed by Breitbart Texas, indicates the Venezuelan government, under the leadership of Nicolás Maduro Moros, is purposely freeing inmates -- including some convicted of murder, rape, and extortion.

The intelligence report warns agents the freed prisoners have been seen within migrant caravans traveling from Tapachula, Mexico toward the U.S.-Mexico border as recently as July. The source, not authorized to speak to the media, told Breitbart Texas the move is reminiscent of a similar action taken by Cuban dictator Fidel Castro during the Mariel boat lift in the 1980s.

The report does not state whether the released prison inmates were traveling as a cohesive group but does state it was commonly shared knowledge among migrants traveling to the United States within a caravan in July that many of the Venezuelan migrants in the group were convicts and included hardened criminals.

If such allegations are actually true, this is a very, very serious threat to our country.

Violent criminals from Venezuela have certainly been popping up in the news a lot lately. For example, a 32-year-old Venezuelan man just sexually assaulted a minor in Virginia…

Authorities in Virginia have arrested a 32-year-old Venezuelan migrant in connection with a sexual assault on a minor, the Campbell County Sheriff’s Office confirmed to Fox News.

The Campbell County Sheriff’s Office said that Renzo Mendoza Montes, 32, was arrested on Thursday, February 22, on two felony charges in connection with a sexual assault on a minor.

According to deputies, Mendoza is a Venezuelan citizen who is in the country illegally after being detained and released by US Customs and Border Patrol in El Paso, Texas, on September 2, 2023.

And by now all of you have probably heard about the tragic murder of nursing student Laken Riley in Georgia…

Neighbors of the Venezuelan migrant accused of killing nursing student Laken Riley claimed he would watch the running path all day long and that he was seen on security cameras throwing out bloody clothes on the day of the attack.

Jose Antonio Ibarra, 26, was arrested at his apartment complex near the running trail close to where Riley’s body was found last week.

Residents of the complex told NewsNation’s Alex Caprariello that their security cameras captured Ibarra disposing of evidence in the building’s dumpster, which they turned over to police.

If our borders were secure and our immigration laws were being enforced, these horrible tragedies and countless others may have been avoided.

This is why so many Americans consider immigration to be such an important issue.

We just want our families to be safe.

Our legal immigration process exists for a reason. If people are going to come here, we should make sure that they aren’t violent criminals.

Is that too much to ask?

Right now, there is so much frustration about the immigration crisis that we are facing. Earlier this week, Elon Musk expressed how he feels about all of this…

On Tuesday, Musk reacted to a report from Fox News’ Bill Melugin that Sen. Laphonza Butler, D-Calif., is requesting federal funds to provide more beds for a migrant shelter in San Diego. Butler said 800 to 1,000 migrants will be mass released daily if the bankrupt shelter does not gain access to additional funds.

“Dams are bursting all over the country,” Musk wrote in a post that quoted Melugin. “America is only 4% of Earth’s population. If only 1% of the rest of Earth moves here, that would crush all essential services.”

“I am ringing the alarm bell, because the flood of illegals is crushing the country!” the billionaire explained.

This crisis has exploded over the last several years, but it goes back a lot longer than that.

We have been doing things the wrong way for a very long time, and now we are paying an exceedingly high price for our foolishness.

American Paralysis and Decline.

So shrugged the ancient historian Livy (59 B.C.- A.D. 17) of the long decline of Roman national character that, in his age, finally ended the Roman Republic.

Like a patient whose medicine proves worse than the disease, Livy lamented that the Romans knew that they had become corrupt and lawless.

But the very contemplation of the hard medicine needed for restoration—and the furious reaction that would meet the remedy—made it impossible to save the patient.

America is nearing such an impasse.

“We can bear neither our diseases nor their remedies.”

We know that no state can long exist after opening its borders to over 7 million illegal aliens, requiring neither background checks nor legality.

The recent murder of a Georgia female jogger by an illegal alien and the savage beating of New York policemen by similar others hardly merit media attention.

Everyone knows that neither new appropriations nor new laws are needed to secure the border as it was in 2020.

Societies do not always collapse from a lack of wealth, invasion, or natural catastrophes. But they are so paralyzed by their fear that the road to salvation becomes too painful to even contemplate.

Instead, we could just stop suicidal catch-and-release, deport lawbreakers, privilege the legal over the illegal immigrant, demand would-be refugees apply for asylum first in their native countries, finish the border wall, and pressure Mexico to stop undermining the territorial integrity of its northern neighbor.

But then we shrug, “We can’t do that”—paralyzed in fear of being smeared as “xenophobic,” “nativist,” or “racist.”

So this generation apparently feels that it can endure the collateral damage of daily assaults on American citizens, the near bankruptcy of our cities, and 100,000 fentanyl deaths per year—but certainly not the idea that it is somehow not politically correct or compassionate.

The same is true of the $35 trillion debt, now costing more than $1 trillion a year in interest payments—and growing. We all know it is unsustainable. Americans understand it will eventually lead either to destructive hyperinflation, suicidal renunciation of federal debt, or confiscation of private savings.

Yet we ignore the reckless spending and keep borrowing well over $1 trillion a year. Apparently, our generation prefers being praised as “virtuous” and “caring.” So it leaves the next generation to be smeared as “cruel” and “unfair” when it is forced to cut federal entitlements and bloated government or face civilizational collapse.

The crime epidemic is also similar. Everyone accepts that no society can long endure quasi-legalized shoplifting or green-lighting smash-and-grabbers and carjackers to be released without bail.

But we assume that such a civilizational implosion will never reach our own sanctuary neighborhoods or safe places of work—at least not yet.

We also know that restoring deterrence by arresting, convicting, and jailing repeat felons will return safety to our streets.

But again, we fear even more that advocating “law and order” will earn slanders like “racist” or “reactionary.”

Ditto the homeless. In an age of self-congratulation and hyper-environmentalism, we know that a million homeless defecating, urinating, injecting, and assaulting on our downtown sidewalks and storefronts is medieval.

We know that it is illegal to camp out on the street and publicly harass citizens or relieve oneself in public.

And we know the cure lies in building and staffing more mental institutions and providing areas far from public spaces where the homeless can find shelter, sanitation, and medical care.

But the very idea of removing anyone from his accustomed sidewalk spot, or the notion of the use of force to transport the mentally ill to proper and humane facilities, terrifies us.

So we walk around, step over, and ignore those on the street.

Is the assumption that the odds of being assaulted or sickened acceptable? Or do we just not wish to learn where the flotsam, jetsam, and human offal of the street end up?

Most accept that had Donald Trump just not run for president in 2024 or was a man of the left, he would not now be facing four different felony court cases.

Most accept that three of the four prosecutors have either in advance promised to get Trump or have proved grossly unethical.

Most know it is wrong to try to remove a leading presidential candidate from state ballots.

Yet many shrug that this new weaponization of America’s legal system is the flamboyant Trump’s own problem, not their own. So they ignore the third worldization of our political system, which they quietly acknowledge is otherwise leading us to a Venezuela-like mess.

The paralysis of American society extends to our foreign policy as well. We deplore the terrorism of Iran and its thuggish surrogates. But we fear more the nasty, costly business of stopping its aggression.

Societies do not always collapse from a lack of wealth, invasion, or natural catastrophes.

Most often, they know what is destroying them. But they are so paralyzed by their fear that the road to salvation becomes too painful to even contemplate.

So they implode gradually, then suddenly.

Why Is The White House Importing Gang Crime To The US?

Already facing a major crime crisis, the Biden administration’s migration policies have brought even more gang violence to American cities.

Due to the administration’s anti-border policies, foreign gangs have successfully infiltrated the U.S., and the federal government has shown little interest in stopping the flow.

The explosion of illegal alien crime received increased national attention after a group of illegal aliens were caught on camera brutally assaulting New York police officers. Federal officials later confirmed that the alleged assailants were part of “Tren de Aragua,” a violent Venezuelan gang.

Unfortunately, this was not the only beating New York police officers have taken from illegal aliens in recent weeks. Another video of illegal aliens assaulting police officers went viral earlier this month at a migrant shelter the city set up to care for the aliens. The latest alleged assault occurred after the illegal aliens refused to comply with orders given to them by the officers at the shelter.

While we don’t have all the details of this most recent alleged assault, it’s fair to say that a disturbing pattern of illegal alien violence has erupted in the Big Apple, and while what happens in New York always receives a disproportionate amount of attention from the national media, this is a crisis taking place across the country.

Earlier this year, reports emerged of recently-arrived illegal aliens participating in a litany of burglaries in a Chicago suburb. The chief of police in the area said the thefts were “part of a bigger criminal enterprise,” suggesting an organized crime element to the robberies. Shortly after, a former police chief in a Cook County, Chicago suburb alleged that Chicago-area gangs were recruiting illegal aliens to participate in their organized crime activities. According to an analysis by the Federation for American Immigration Reform last December, Chicago has seen an increase of 11,000 percent in arrests of Venezuelans since the border crisis began.

Anybody who pays attention to the happenings in cities like New York and Chicago understands that these cities have more than enough home-grown crime, and the last thing they can afford is to import criminals from foreign countries. The New York Post noted the absurdity of allowing illegal aliens to continue to drive the city’s crime rate up in a recent editorial, writing that “New Yorkers don’t need a weatherman to know which way the migrant-crime wind is blowing — or to see a gathering storm is coming.”.

This is correct. The only way to stop the scourge of illegal alien crime is to begin mass deportations of illegal aliens. Lest anyone think this epidemic of lawlessness is confined to major cities, areas across the country are being hit by illegal alien crime as well.

The town of West Whiteland Township, Pennsylvania — which holds a population of less than 20,000 — has also been victimized by illegal alien gangs, who have allegedly robbed thousands of dollars from the town’s businesses. All of this evidence contradicts the established narrative in anti-border circles that illegal aliens are law-abiding, and do not bring crime with them from their home countries.

The simple truth is that all illegal aliens are criminals because they have violated federal U.S. law by entering the country illegally. In order to work in the country as an illegal resident, they have to commit fraud. To open a bank account, they have to do the same. Certainly, most people in the country illegally are not violent criminals or gang members, but the insistence by our ruling elites that we tolerate these aforementioned crimes has led to the explosion of more serious, dangerous crimes. Lawlessness begets lawlessness, and there is no greater example of the collapse of the rule of law than the current illegal immigration crisis.

The illegal immigration crisis is rapidly turning into an organized crime crisis, and this problem will continue to escalate as long as the flow of illegal aliens crossing the border remains at record highs. The most powerful nation in the history of the world has ceded operational control of its border and has shown no interest in taking it back, even as the hemisphere’s most violent gangs continue to exploit it. It is not asking too much to demand that our leaders adopt a zero-tolerance policy towards illegal alien crime. America already has more than enough criminals. The last thing we need to do is bring in other countries’ criminals.

William J. Davis is a communications associate for the Immigration Reform Law Institute, a public interest law firm working to defend the rights and interests of the American people from the negative effects of mass migration.

Houston, We Have Audio.

When it comes to preservation of important history, the recordings of the Apollo 11 mission come to mind. Thanks to donations from NASA, the Archive has the digitized, cataloged and archived recordings by the Houston Audio Control Room, at the NASA Johnson Space Center of the historic moon landing of 1969. With hours of recordings, take a listen to this incredible feat of humankind as it unfolded in real time!