Free Republic

The Koch political network is rolling out another seven-figure ad campaign to boost incumbent Republican Gov. Scott Walker's re-election bid in Wisconsin. Americans for Prosperity on Friday announced plans to spend $1.3 million on TV and digital spots as part of a three-week effort to hit Democratic challenger Tony Evers, the state's superintendent. The push follows a $1.8 million campaign spearheaded by the group's Wisconsin chapter promoting Walker's education policy record. Walker faces a close race to secure a third term

Pointing out that a Chinese company will soon start operating Haifa Port, he said that Israel needs to create a mechanism that will examine Chinese investments to ensure that they do not put Israel’s security interests at risk. “When China acquires ports,” Horev said, “it does so under the guise of maintaining a trade route from the Indian Ocean via the Suez Canal to Europe, such as the port of Piraeus in Greece. Does an economic horizon like this have a security impact? We are not weighing that possibility sufficiently. One of the senior American figures at the conference raised...

The Associated Press news agency on Wednesday acceded to a Russian request to delete the term "former ally" from an article mentioning the relationship between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany during World War II. The article, which was published at the beginning of the month in media outlets worldwide, including Haaretz, was about a Ukrainian city commemorating the 75th anniversary of the destruction of its Jewish community. It included the claim that "in June 1941 Germany attacked the Soviet Union, its former ally." On Wednesday, ten days after the article was published, AP amended the text. The news agency...

<p>WASHINGTON — More than 100 U.S. Marines were sent as reinforcements to a remote coalition outpost in southern Syria on Friday after Russia threatened to attack militants in the area, the Pentagon said.</p> <p>The troops were flown by helicopter to the base at At Tanf — a small town near the borders of Syria, Iraq and Jordan. The base is used by U.S. special forces to train Syrian fighters who are confronting Islamic State militants.</p>

Turkey’s President Recep Erdogan has lashed out at the United States, accusing Washington of supplying crude oil to a rebel group calling itself the People’s Protection Units, or YPG, which Turkey classifies as related to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party PKK, which Ankara has designated a terrorist group. Turkish news outlet Ahval quoted Erdogan as telling local media that, “They are currently suppyling terrorist organizations, such as the YPG, in [Syria’s] Deir ez-Zor with oil. Terrorist organizations receive 300 million dollars income from crude oil.” The comments were made after a meeting Erdogan had with Syrian President Bashar Assad and Vladimir...

A report on Monday claimed that U.S. intelligence has determined that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has already made a decision to use chemical weapons against enemy positions in Idlib as his forces, combined with Russian airpower, attack the last rebel stronghold following seven years of civil war. The Wall Street Journal [source], citing unnamed intelligence sources, even noted the type of gas Assad has allegedly chosen: Chlorine gas, which was first used in World War I and has the effect of an asphyxiation compound. In addition, according to sources who spoke to the WSJ, President Donald Trump has also reportedly...

President Bashar al-Assad has approved a gas attack in the Idlib province, which is the country’s last rebel stronghold, a report on Sunday said. Reports of Assad's approval comes about a week after President Trump warned the strongman and his allies not to “recklessly attack” the province. Trump called any gas attack a potential “grave humanitarian mistake.” The Wall Street Journal, citing U.S. officials, was first to report on Assad.

On one of the nights of the last week of last June, the Syrian security forces imposed strict measures inside and around Damascus International Airport. Just before midnight, a private UAE plane landed on one of the runways. About forty minutes passed before a huge procession of black Four-Wheel vehicles took off carrying the passengers to the Mezzeh area, in the center of Damascus, where the new office of Major General Ali Mamlouk, director of Syria’s National Security Bureau is located. There, a senior US officer led a delegation that included officers from several US intelligence and security agencies. Ali...

News Russia claims Syrian rebels planning Idlib chemical weapons attack The Kremlin has claimed that rebels are planning a chemical weapons attack with the intent of blaming it on Syria. Russia also says a British contractor is helping the militants... Russia's Defense Ministry said Saturday that Syrian rebels are planning a chemical weapons attack, with the aim of blaming it on the Syrian government to provoke a military response from the West. The ministry issued a statement quoting unnamed sources claiming that the jihadi group Levant Liberation Committee — also known as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham — is preparing an attack...

According to reports from human rights organizations Saudi Arabia is about to behead female activist in public - Mainstream media is silent to avoid damaging the image of Islam. Esraa al-Ghamgam, a female human rights activist sentenced to death over her human rights activism after serving three years in detention. Her last words as she was sentenced to death were “I am being killed innocent, I will seek justice from God.” Saudi Arabia is the head of the UN Human Rights Council despite its worst human rights record in the world.

Thank you to @RandPaul for your YES on a future great Justice of the Supreme Court, Brett Kavanaugh. Your vote means a lot to me, and to everyone who loves our Country! 6:36 PM - 30 Jul 2018

President Trump said Tuesday that he misspoke when he said he doesn’t see why Russia would have meddled in the 2016 presidential election, clarifying that he accepts the U.S. intelligence community’s findings of election interference. At the White House on Tuesday, the president told reporters that he meant he doesn't see why Russia "wouldn't" be responsible. In Helsinki, speaking at a press conference next to Vladimir Putin a day earlier, Trump had said he doesn't "see any reason why" Russia would be behind election meddling.

At first glance saying: yesterday was a very good day, might sound like spin. However, for those who have been frustrated about the lack of righteous push-back from the executive office; the attacks from the former “spygate” co-conspirators might be just what is needed to trigger President Trump to declassify the underlying material. Consider the tweets from James Comey (former FBI), John Brennan (former CIA), Sally Yates (former DOJ), and statement from Ash Carter (former DoD).

Hannity

The primary guardian and gatekeeper of the DC Swamp, Chris Wallace, sits down for an interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin. (and check out the comments..)

This is still as appalling as when it happened, nearly 6 years ago. And no one in our Government has been held accountable.

History of the USSR's/Russia's efforts to "manipulate" American opinion, Serial failures of the U.S. "intelligence community" On July 19, 2018, the New York Times ran an op-ed by Will Hurd, the sitting Republican Congressman representing the 23rd District of Texas. It was entitled “Trump Is Being Manipulated by Putin. What Should We Do?” Mr. Hurd, identified as a “former C.I.A. officer”, began his op-ed thusly:

A top Republican on Sunday criticized President Trump for missing a “good opportunity” to confront Moscow about election meddling during his controversial news conference with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. “The president missed, I think, a really good opportunity to distinguish the United States from any other country, but especially from Russia,” Rep. Trey Gowdy, the chair of the House Oversight Committee, said on “Fox News Sunday.” The South Carolina lawmaker urged Trump to listen to his advisers and the intelligence community when they tell him the Kremlin interfered in the 2016 presidential election. If he doesn’t listen, they should step...

The Russia conspiracy theory hinges on the single creaky claim that the Democratic National Committee hacks were a Russian plot to elect Trump. The theory and all its illegitimate stepchildren, including Robert Mueller and his infinitely expanding corps of prosecutors, lives or dies by the DNC hacks. Trying to elect Trump by releasing damaging insider information from the DNC never made any sense. The DNC was already a dysfunctional organization that was being run by the Clinton campaign. Undermining its leadership had little impact on the election, but a great deal on control of the DNC. There has never been...

Ecuador’s President Lenin Moreno traveled to London on Friday for the ostensible purpose of speaking at the 2018 Global Disabilities Summit (Moreno has been using a wheelchair since being shot in a 1998 robbery attempt). The concealed, actual purpose of the President’s trip is to meet with British officials to finalize an agreement under which Ecuador will withdraw its asylum protection of Julian Assange, in place since 2012, eject him from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, and then hand over the WikiLeaks founder to British authorities. (more at source link)