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--Geoff Metcalf
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World & Nation

Fraud, errors cost food stamp program nearly $1B a month

                                                  In this Jan. 12, 2015, photo, a supermarket displays stickers indicating they accept food stamps in West New York, N.J. Officials in Maryland several years ago managed to disable one of the systems that was supposed to check whether food stamp applications had a low enough income to qualify for the benefit. The result, according to a state audit, was tens of thousands of people collecting benefits they didn’t deserve. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) **FILE**

Officials in Maryland several years ago managed to disable one of the systems intended to check whether food stamp applicants had low enough income to qualify for the benefit.

The result, according to a state audit, was tens of thousands of people collecting benefits they didn’t deserve.

Even after the state flagged the problem, it continued to pay the benefits. Some 75% in test cases were still getting benefits months later, the audit found.



Joe Biden leaves the room cringing again as he has disaster live on stage

                                                       joe biden gaffe

Joe Biden has suffered another humiliating disaster live on stage after botching a speech in the latest in a series of verbal blunders.

Biden, 80, has been at the center of a host of gaffes in recent weeks as many critics increasingly question his ability to run in the upcoming presidential election.

He got completely stumped as he was trying to dictate the abbreviation of his administration's Pacific Islands Infrastructure Initiative.

Biden told the round table of leaders: "Today I'm pleased to announce we're working with Congress to invest $40 billion in our Pacific Islands Infrastructure Initiative.

"We call it the P, PI - anyways, it doesn't matter what we call it but that's what it is." Laughter can be heard from some of those gathered at the 18-member forum.




Dem congressman won't rule out 2024 challenge to Biden: 'I'm concerned'

Phillips says he is encouraging colleagues to enter race

A Democrat congressman in Minnesota says he is open to challenging President Biden for his party’s presidential nomination.

"I think there are people who are more  proximate, better prepared to campaign with national organizations, national name recognition, which I do not possess," Phillips added. "I'm concerned that there is no alternative."
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Phillips said it is "important for democracy to have choices, to have competition, particularly in light of what I'm reading — the polling, the data — and what I'm sensing in my own intuition, and I'm concerned."



UAW President Fain to join President Biden on the picket line Tuesday in Michigan


United Auto Workers union President Shawn Fain will join President Joe Biden on the picket line Tuesday in Wayne County, Michigan, according to a source familiar with the situation. The source provided no specifics about the exact location.

The UAW, however, is not involved with former President Donald Trump’s planned visit on Wednesday, nor have they been in contact with his team, the source said, and there has been no official invitation to Trump.

Trump will skip the second Republican presidential primary debate in California Wednesday and is expected to also head to Michigan to address union workers.



Putin just made a major diplomatic move and we aren't sure if he's being ironic

                                           Russia wants to rejoin the UN’s human rights council (Picture: Getty)

Russia is seeking to rejoin the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) after it was expelled from the organisation last April following its invasion of Ukraine.

The council ejected Russia after calling an emergency session last year, with officials claiming the move signalled the international community’s ‘strong censure of Moscow’s aggressive actions towards a neighbouring State’.

But now Russian diplomats are seeking to get their country re-elected to the council for a fresh three-year term.

The vote, set to take place next month, will be seen as a key test of Russia’s international standing after more than 18 months of isolation on the world stage.



Hunter Biden sues Rudy Giuliani and his former attorney, alleging they tried to hack his devices

                                         
Hunter Biden filed a civil lawsuit Tuesday against Rudy Giuliani and his former attorney, claiming they caused “total annihilation” of his digital privacy and violated federal and state computer privacy laws through their alleged efforts to hack his devices.

In the lawsuit filed in federal court in California, Hunter Biden accuses Giuliani and Robert Costello of spending years “hacking into, tampering with, manipulating, copying, disseminating, and generally obsessing over data that they were given that was taken or stolen from” his devices.

“Plaintiff has demanded Defendants Giuliani and Costello cease their unlawful activities with respect to Plaintiff’s data and return any data in their possession belonging to Plaintiff, but they have refused to do so,” attorneys for Hunter Biden wrote in the lawsuit. “Defendants’ statements suggest that their unlawful hacking activities are ongoing today and that, unless stopped, will continue into the future, thereby necessitating this action.”

Tuesday’s lawsuit is the latest that Hunter Biden has brought as he pursues an aggressive legal strategy against his detractors. It comes as Republicans launch an impeachment inquiry into his father, President Joe Biden, that’s also examining Hunter Biden’s business dealings.




Hunter Biden vulnerable to federal charges for unpaid taxes from his $1M-a-year job in Ukraine

                                               President Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden leaves after a court appearance, July 26, 2023, in Wilmington, Del. Hunter Biden has filed a lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service, arguing that two agents violated his right to privacy when they publicly aired his tax information as they pressed claims that a federal investigation into him had been improperly handled. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)

President Biden’s son Hunter Biden has not dodged potential criminal charges for the taxes he failed to pay while serving on the board of Ukrainian energy company Burisma Holdings nearly a decade ago.

Special counsel David Weiss, the lead prosecutor in Hunter Biden’s ongoing tax fraud case, let the statute of limitations expire for not paying $124,000 in taxes on his roughly $1 million Burisma salary in 2014. Critics say the move was intended to shield the Bidens from a case that may have exposed evidence of influence peddling involving then-Vice President Joseph R. Biden.

Legal experts say Mr. Weiss can revive the case because Hunter Biden has not paid the taxes. He could be charged with conspiracy to commit tax fraud, which could lead investigators to evidence of Mr. Biden’s alleged involvement in helping Burisma thwart a state corruption probe on behalf of his son.



Supreme Court refuses to halt special master redrawing of Alabama’s congressional map


The Supreme Court on Tuesday denied Alabama’s request to halt a lower court’s order for a special master to redraw the Legislature’s election map after GOP lawmakers failed to add a second majority-Black district.

Without comment, the high court noted the state’s petition to block the lower court’s decision was denied.

Earlier this month, Alabama asked the Supreme Court to step in and block a lower court ruling that enjoined its 2023 congressional election map and ordered a special master appointment to redraw the map with two majority-Black districts.



All eyes on NJ Gov Murphy if Menendez changes course and resigns unexpectedly

'I intend to continue to fight for the people of New Jersey with the same success I've had for the past 5 decades,' says Sen Bob Menendez

New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez and his wife are facing corruption and bribery charges that have led to amplified calls for the senior Democrat to resign from the Senate.

Menendez, however, has remained defiant. During a Monday morning press conference, he said he believes he will be exonerated and remain in Congress's upper chamber. However, if he were to unexpectedly resign, all eyes would be on New Jersey Democrat Gov. Phil Murphy.

Federal prosecutors unsealed charges against Menendez, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and his wife, Nadine Menendez, on Friday, charges that include accusations that he benefited the government of Egypt and engaged in a corrupt scheme alongside Fred Daibes, a New Jersey real estate developer, Wael Hana, who runs a halal meat certification business in the state, and businessman Jose Uribe.
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DeSantis standing center stage between Haley and Ramaswamy at 2nd GOP presidential debate

                                              Republican presidential candidates, from left, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former Vice President Mike Pence, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum stand on stage and listen to a prayer before a Republican presidential primary debate hosted by FOX News Channel, Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash, File)

"America's Newsroom" announces the podium lineup for the second GOP presidential debate.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will stand center stage at Wednesday night's second GOP presidential nomination debate, according to a lineup released Tuesday by the Republican National Committee and unveiled on the Fox News Channel.
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Standing alongside DeSantis at the debate will be former ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. The debate is being held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California and will be televised on the FOX Business Network (FBN) and UNIVISION from 9-11 p.m. ET.

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who's making a second bid for the GOP presidential nomination, and Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina will be standing aside Haley and Ramaswamy.

Standing on the wings of the debate stage will be North Dakota Gov Doug Burgum and former Vice President Mike Pence.



The Kamala Harris ‘House of Cards’ Has Totally Collapsed


After years in the post, reports suggest that Vice President Kamala Harris is still very much the focus of the White House’s attention, with Democratic strategists still wondering how they can make the American people tolerate her.

Writing in USA Today in May, Francesca Chambers described how two days after President Joe Biden officially announced his 2024 reelection campaign, Democratic strategists warned that they were running out of time to “reframe the narrative.”

In other words, strategists fear that if the people don’t start warming to Kamala, it could seriously hurt the president in the next presidential election.

According to the report, four participants in a White House meeting discussed how to improve Harris’ image, arguing that she should make more public appearances and give her an opportunity to be herself.

That, however, maybe the problem.



Probe Launched Into Granholm's Electric Car Jaunt


House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., and Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas, on Tuesday announced a probe of Department of Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm's electric vehicle road trip this summer.

"The trip consisted of the Secretary and DOE staff traveling across multiple states and was 'intended to draw attention to the billions of dollars the White House is pouring into green energy and clean cars,'" the Oversight Committee posted on X. "Instead, it led to a Georgia family traveling on a hot day with an infant and a low charge on their EV battery to call 911 out of urgency as DOE employees used a non-EV car to 'hold' a charger for the incoming Energy Secretary because of limited, slow, and nonworking EV chargers along the route. This comes as the Biden Administration continues its attempt to force a radical increase in EVs on America's roads."

Comer and Fallon on Tuesday sent a letter to Granholm requesting documents and communications to "understand the purposes, costs, and consequences" of the secretary's trip.



Not so fast: Distinguished scientist shunned for saying climate crisis overblown

What is the probability of dying from an external event, rather than from an ailment such as cancer or heart disease? As an exercise, list the following external potential life-ending events in order of the probability that you think might kill you: automobile crash, airplane crash, pandemic more deadly than COVID, weather-related event from a storm (drowning or collapse of structure) unrelated to “climate change.”

Weather-related events caused by global warming: earthquake, volcanic event (either directly from the eruption or from crop failure due to diminished sunlight), asteroid impact, nuclear war, conventional war, famine caused by the collapse of the monetary system, famine caused by farm animal and plant diseases and others.

Some of the external events that could kill you can be mitigated by more investment to prevent or better cope with them. Human beings, however, can do little about volcanic eruptions or variations in the output of the sun.



Reporters pile on frustrated Karine Jean-Pierre over Biden plan to join UAW picket


Reporters at Monday's White House press briefing piled on press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre over President Biden's decision to join the United Auto Workers (UAW) on the picket line Tuesday amid their strike against the Big Three car manufacturers.

During the briefing, an increasingly frustrated Jean-Pierre pushed back as multiple members of the media questioned why Biden would be picketing alongside the union members if the administration's position was to avoid getting involved in the negotiations between the companies and the UAW.

One reporter asked if Biden's decision to picket meant he supported the demands of the union, such as a 40% pay increase and a shorter work week.

"I'm not going to get into the details of what's being negotiated right now on the table with — certainly with the parties," Jean-Pierre said, a position she continued to take amid the subsequent questions about Biden's plan to picket.



Medal of Honor
See the source image
THOMAS JEROME HUDNER JR.

RANK: LIEUTENANT, J.G.
CONFLICT/ERA: KOREAN WAR

MILITARY SERVICE BRANCH: U.S. NAVY
MEDAL OF HONOR ACTION DATE: DECEMBER 4, 1950

MEDAL OF HONOR ACTION PLACE: CHOSIN RESERVOIR, KOREA
CITATION

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as a pilot in Fighter Squadron 32, while attempting to rescue a squadron mate whose plane, struck by antiaircraft fire and trailing smoke, was forced down behind enemy lines. Quickly maneuvering to circle the downed pilot and protect him from enemy troops infesting the area, Lt. (j.g.) Hudner risked his life to save the injured flier who was trapped alive in the burning wreckage. Fully aware of the extreme danger in landing on the rough mountainous terrain, and the scant hope of escape or survival in subzero temperature, he put his plane down skillfully in a deliberate wheels-up landing in the presence of enemy troops. With his bare hands, he packed the fuselage with snow to keep the flames away from the pilot and struggled to pull him free. Unsuccessful in this he returned to his crashed aircraft and radioed other airborne planes, requesting that a helicopter be dispatched with an ax and fire extinguisher. He then remained on the spot despite the continuing danger from enemy action and, with the assistance of the rescue pilot, renewed a desperate but unavailing battle against time, cold, and flames. Lt. (j.g.) Hudner's exceptionally valiant action and selfless devotion to a shipmate sustain and enhance the highest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service.


From the Archive....

            TO KILL OR FEED A MOCKINGBIRD
                 By Geoff Metcalf
                 July 29, 2002

            Two mutually exclusive and under reported stories have been troubling me.

               *   The apparent penchant for political operatives to leak classified information that jeopardizes national security.
               *   The generational control of information dissemination by powerful controllers.

            So we have another ‘Catch-22’.

            The complicity of the mainstream media to spin, cover, and obfuscate government abuse of power under the color of authority was not unique to the Clinton administration.  It may have been more ubiquitous, and at times even clumsy, but it was not unique.

            It has been reported that in June 1991 David Rockefeller allegedly told a Bilderberg meeting in Baden Baden German, "We are grateful to the Washington Post, the New York Times, Time Magazine and other great publications whose directors have attended our meetings and respected their promises of discretion for almost forty years." He went on to explain: "It would have been impossible for us to develop our plan for the world if we had been subjected to the lights of publicity during those years. But, the world is more sophisticated and prepared to march towards a world government. The supernational sovereignty of an intellectual elite and world bankers is surely preferable to the national autodetermination practiced in past centuries."

            Some argue that quote is apocryphal urban legend.  However, although I have never been able to find three corroborating independent sources for it, it IS consistent in content and tone with other Bilderberg quotes I HAVE been able to confirm.

            “If we had been subjected to the light of publicity….” Indicates the one world, globalist, wannabe controllers were/are successful in managing the message.

            Operation ‘Mockingbird’ was a program supposedly conceived by a brilliant Machiavellian State Department official, Frank Wisner.  Wisner selected Philip Graham, then publisher of the Washington Post to manage the program.  According to Deborah Davis, author of ‘Katharine the Great’, "By the early 1950s, Wisner 'owned' respected members of the New York Times, Newsweek, CBS and other communications vehicles, plus stringers, four to six hundred in all, according to a former CIA analyst."

            Over twenty five major newspapers and wire services became willing house organs for the CIA media manipulation.

            Investigators digging into MOCKINGBIRD have been flabbergasted to discover FOIA documents in which agents boast (in CIA office memos) of  pride in having placed "important assets" inside every major news publication in the country.

            I know, this is the stuff of Ludlum novels conspiracy wackos, but not until 1982 did the ‘Company’ finally concede that reporters on the CIA payroll have been case officers to field agents.

            I have too often observed, “Some people don’t like to be confused with facts that contradict their preconceived opinions.”  I have also noted (and struggle to maintain) “It is not WHO is right or wrong…but WHAT is right or wrong.”

            Anyone with almost ‘any’ military experience has no doubt seen the once ubiquitous posters cautioning “Loose Lips Sink Ships”.  It is a left over phrase from WWII and among “lessons learned”.

            In the complex world of intelligence loose lips can and have cost lives.

            Once upon a time, not so long ago, Senator Patrick Leahy (currently the Senate Judiciary committee’s lead obstructionist) used to be the Vice Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee in the mid 80s.  Leahy allegedly ‘inadvertently’ exposed a top-secret intercept of Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak that led to the capture of the Achille Lauro terrorists.  That supposed slip of the tongue “cost the life of at least one Egyptian operative.” http://www.newsmax.com/showinside.shtml?a=2001/1/31/85757

            Loose Lip Leahy was forced to resign in disgrace 14 years ago in the wake of having to acknowledge he leaked secret intelligence to the press.   However today he lords his power over the Senate Judiciary committee.  Congress’ institutional memory must be as short as some of Jennifer Flowers former paramours.

            In our contemporary environment in which whistleblowers have become in many cases heroes it is important to make the distinctions between the appropriateness of corporate and political whistleblowers and the idiot or miscreant who leaks information with genuine national security implications.

            Currently the FBI is investigating national security leaks from specifically the House and Senate Select Intelligence committees.  This is serious stuff.

            Defenders of the indefensible will argue it is a political witch-hunt by politicians in a heavy C.Y.A. mode.  That is not true but a convenient political spin job.

            Sure it is true the white house is p.o.-ed over media reports that the National Security Agency had received but not acted on two early warning messages to 9/11.  Dick Cheney reportedly went ballistic and ripped congressional leaders.  Both House and Senate Select Intelligence committees asked the Attorney General to conduct an investigation (and no doubt quietly prayed it would be botched).

            Justice said in a statement, “…the appropriate department officials will expeditiously review this matter and take any appropriate action.”  Not if congress has anything to say about it.  Don’t expect anything fast.  Remember Leahy resigned in disgrace 14 years ago and today has the chutzpah to pontificate ad nauseum to the Judiciary committee and stall any and all Bush judicial appointments.

            More on Operation Mockingbird http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/POLITICS/

            MOCK/mockingbird.html 

            http://www.grandconspiracy.com/library.html#operation

            © 2002 Geoff Metcalf - All Rights Reserved

            Geoff is a veteran media performer. He has had an eclectic professional background covering a wide spectrum of radio, television, magazine, and newspapers.  A former Green Beret and retired Army officer he is in great demand as a speaker. Metcalf has hosted his radio talk show on the ABC/Disney owned and operated KSFO and in worldwide syndication. www.geoffmetcalf.com


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