header.html



 
TODAY
Thursday April 25th, 2024

"It Is Not A Question of Who Is Right Or Wrong But What Is Right Or Wrong That Counts."
--Geoff Metcalf
 Providing an on line Triage of the news since 1998
Will
My son has narrated the last book I wrote.
Please consider listening to it and encouraging others to do so too.
(Click on Book Cover)
World & Nation

Axios/Harris Poll: Most Support Mass Deportations


Half of Americans, including 42% of Democrats, said they would support mass deportations of undocumented migrants, according to a poll released Thursday.

The Harris Poll conducted for Axios also showed 30% of Democrats and 46% of Republicans say they would end the birthright citizenship guaranteed under the 14th Amendment of the Constitution.

According to the poll, the Biden administration is "most responsible" for the crisis, outranking any other political or structural factor — with nearly two-thirds saying illegal immigration is a real crisis and not a politically driven media narrative, Axios reported.

    51% say they support mass deportations of undocumented migrants.
    21% fear increased crime rates, drugs, and violence as a result of illegal migration, while 18% fear added costs to taxpayers, and 17% fear the risk of terrorism and national security.
    58% say they support expanding legal pathways for orderly immigration, while 46% say asylum seekers should be protected if their cases are legitimate.
    68% say illegal migration causes major problems in communities, while only 27% say the same about legal migration.
    65% say the U.S. should make it easier for anyone seeking a better life to enter legally.



Columbia University’s board of trustees backs President Minouche Shafik amid resignation calls

                                                                  President of Columbia University Nemat Shafik testifies before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce hearing on "Columbia in Crisis: Columbia University's Response to Antisemitism" on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, April 17, 2024. Columbia University President Nemat (Minouche) Shafik is no stranger to navigating complex international issues, having worked at some of the world’s most prominent global financial institutions. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib, File)

The Columbia University Board of Trustees threw its support behind embattled President Minouche Shafik, praising her handling of anti-Israel unrest shortly after House Speaker Mike Johnson called for her resignation in an on-campus address.

“The Columbia University Board of Trustees strongly supports President Shafik as she steers the university through this extraordinarily challenging time,” said the board in a late Wednesday statement.

“During the search process for this role, President Shafik told us that she would always take a thoughtful approach to resolving conflict, balancing the disparate voices that make up a vibrant campus like Columbia’s, while taking a firm stance against hatred, harassment and discrimination,” the statement said. “That’s exactly what she’s doing now.”

Ms. Shafik, who took the top job in July, faces rising demands for her resignation from members of Congress, culminating in the House Republican delegation that arrived Wednesday to visit with Jewish students and hold a press conference denouncing campus antisemitism and the protests roiling the Manhattan campus.


Israel Strikes Rafah as It Prepares for Incursion Against Hamas
                                                          
Israel intensifies strikes on Rafah ahead of threatened invasion | Reuters

Hamas' terrorist-run Gaza health ministry said Israeli airstrikes on the southern city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip killed at least five people.

More than half of the territory's population of 2.3 million have sought refuge in Rafah, where Israel has conducted near-daily raids as it prepares for an offensive in the city. In central Gaza, four people were killed in Israeli tank shelling.

A ship traveling in the Gulf of Aden came under attack Thursday, officials said, the latest assault likely carried out by Yemen's Houthi rebels over the Israel-Hamas war.



Court-bound Trump gets warm, raucous reception at Manhattan construction site

                                                                   Former President Donald Trump speaks with construction workers at the construction site of the new JPMorgan Chase headquarters in midtown Manhattan, Thursday, April 25, 2024, in New York. Trump met with construction workers and union representatives hours before he's set to appear in court. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Former President Donald Trump got a loud and warm reception Thursday from construction workers in midtown Manhattan before another day in his hush money trial.

Mr. Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee for president, is using his extended stay in the borough to campaign where he can, even if it includes stops in the Democratic stronghold of New York.

He lost the Empire State by 23 points in 2020 but is cheered by polls suggesting he trails by far less this time in his November rematch with President Biden.

“We’re going to make a play for New York,” Mr. Trump said. “We’re gonna give it a shot.”

Mr. Trump got cheers and hoots of approval at the construction site for the new JPMorgan Chase headquarters, hoping to show off his appeal among blue-collar workers even as Mr. Biden tries to lock down union support.



New York appeals court overturns Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction from landmark #MeToo trial

                                                                        Former film producer Harvey Weinstein appears in court in Los Angeles, Oct. 4 2022. (Etienne Laurent/Pool Photo via AP, File)

New York’s highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction, finding the judge at the landmark #MeToo trial prejudiced the ex-movie mogul with “egregious” improper rulings, including a decision to let women testify about allegations that weren’t part of the case.

“We conclude that the trial court erroneously admitted testimony of uncharged, alleged prior sexual acts against persons other than the complainants of the underlying crimes,” the court’s 4-3 decision said. “The remedy for these egregious errors is a new trial.”

The court‘s majority said, “It is an abuse of judicial discretion to permit untested allegations of nothing more than bad behavior that destroys a defendant’s character but sheds no light on their credibility as related to the criminal charges lodged against them.”




Biden administration finalizes rule forcing power plants to cut nearly all emissions by 2032


The Biden administration on Thursday finalized new rules that drastically cut emissions from new natural gas and existing coal-fired power plants, which will force some to shut down unless they make expensive upgrades.

The stringent suite of rules, part of President Biden’s climate change agenda to achieve a zero-emission electrical grid by 2035, will require coal and natural gas plans to eliminate 90% of emissions by 2032, either by capturing them through new technology or by cutting production.

Many coal plants are expected to shutter under the new rules.



Senate passes bill forcing TikTok’s parent company to sell or face ban, sends to Biden for signature

The Senate passed legislation Tuesday that would force TikTok’s China-based parent company to sell the social media platform under the threat of a ban. Here’s what to know.

The Senate passed legislation Tuesday that would force TikTok’s China-based parent company to sell the social media platform under the threat of a ban, a contentious move by U.S. lawmakers that’s expected to face legal challenges and disrupt the lives of content creators who rely on the short-form video app for income.

The TikTok legislation was included as part of a larger $95 billion package that provides foreign aid to Ukraine and Israel and was passed 79-18. It now goes to President Joe Biden, who said in a statement immediately after passage that he will sign it Wednesday.

A decision made by House Republicans last week to attach the TikTok bill to the high-priority package helped expedite its passage in Congress and came after negotiations with the Senate, where an earlier version of the bill had stalled. That version had given TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, six months to divest its stakes in the platform. But it drew skepticism from some key lawmakers concerned it was too short of a window for a complex deal that could be worth tens of billions of dollars.



Biden joins world leaders urging Hamas to accept hostage deal


President Biden and the leaders of 16 other nations whose citizens are being held hostage by Hamas called on the terrorist organization Thursday to accept a cease-fire deal and release the hostages.

In a statement, Mr. Biden joined the leaders of the United Kingdom, France, Columbia, Poland, Austria and others in urging Hamas to immediately release the hostages.

A senior administration official called the statement “an extraordinary display of unanimity by so many leaders around the world.”

“We emphasize that the deal on the table to release the hostages would bring an immediate and prolonged ceasefire in Gaza that would facilitate a surge of additional necessary humanitarian assistance to be delivered throughout Gaza and lead to the end of hostilities,” the statement said.



Trump In Court, But Was There a Crime?

      By Debra J. Saunders

I can't tell you how many people I know who do not like former President Donald Trump yet nonetheless smell prosecutorial overreach in Manhattan.

District Attorney Alvin Bragg has charged the former president with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. Trump has pleaded not guilty.

The case began with Michael Cohen, Trump's onetime fixer, making a "hush money" payment to the former adult film actress known as Stormy Daniels to keep her from revealing information about an apparent sexual relationship with Trump in 2006. Bragg used the fact that Cohen paid $130,000 to Daniels in 2016, when Trump was running for president, as a pretext to turn a moldy misdemeanor offense into a felony.

But is it even illegal? This trial showcases something rich men and big corporations have been doing for years — paying off mistresses or wronged staffers with cash settlements with little public scrutiny thanks to nondisclosure agreements.

I don't like it, but it's not a crime.



Is Biden really a ‘good Catholic’?


“He doesn’t understand the Catholic faith.”

That’s what a Catholic bishop recently said about President Biden, a rosary-carrying, self-professed “good Catholic” who has spent the bulk of his presidency advancing issues and causes that explicitly violate Vatican teachings.

Bishop Robert Gruss of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saginaw in Michigan wasn’t done there, going on to express other eyebrow-raising sentiments.

“I’m not angry at him,” the bishop added, at one point calling the president “stupid” in a recent talk on forgiveness. “I feel sorry for him. That’s different.”

It should come as no surprise that the bishop’s head-turning commentary about Mr. Biden being “stupid” made a media splash, even though he said he didn’t mean it in a “derogatory way.”


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/



right_menu.html Resolution Group International ATLANTIC CAPTAIN'S ACADEMY GOLDEN RAM SPORTSMAN'S CLUB