Heads spun around when we were told casually this week that agents of the administration were in close touch with social media companies to “flag disinformation.”  If that startling admission turns out to be true, the courts have no choice but to weigh in.  Assuming they’re just.  Otherwise, the First Amendment ceases to exist.  Freedom of speech will be an historical phenomenon. But the social media censors, now admitted to be in cahoots with government propagandists, don’t exactly have a perfect record.

You just might be a “dangerous extremist” if you’ve studied up on Dr. Fauci.  According to our official lecturers, people that believe the last presidential election was not strictly on the up and up represent the greatest threat since the Civil War.  Books and articles make the most sensational claims about Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump and whoever might believe a word of what they say.  Now there are tell-all “insider” books that purport to “prove” that Rudy and Trump cooked up the “stolen election” lie.  They call it the Big Lie (the term was used by an earlier fascist dictatorship), and if you should believe such blatantly obvious falsehoods, you might be a “dangerous extremist.”  The addled impostor himself used that language this week.  He surely doesn’t know of its history.

Given the new set of righteous “values” coming down the official pike, it is reasonable to wonder if everything you believe and know from life experience isn’t somehow “extreme” in the eyes of those who count.  Much of the media propaganda is telling us what is proven scientifically and what we’d better “stand for,” lest we be accused of being extreme and therefore “dangerous.”  Who wants that label?  Nobody wants to be tagged with unsavory epithets.  Therefore there are certain things you must believe or condemn.  Otherwise…

You notice that there is this flood of emergencies.  Not issues you’d like to see resolved, but seemingly an urgent need to add to the problems thinking people are worried about.  This is life and death! we’re told.  The Mad magazine presidential candidate, who is ever so proud to be married to another man, says they can solve global warming when they requisition some three trillion nonexistent dollars.  It’s human infrastructure.  That’s a term we’re not familiar with, but that’s a big part of the profligate spending that’s about to be added to a debt that’s already so out of control nobody even wants to speculate as to how that will ever be resolved.  Our grandkids will understand, surely.

But the reviled former President Trump is suddenly on the lips of every reporter.  He’s even worse than they thought.  Suddenly there’s a swarm of insider books and newspaper articles proving that all claims you may come across from time to time were cooked up by a drunken Rudy and unhinged Trump when they realized the election was going sideways.  It’s perfect timing too.  It just happens to hit as the Arizona election audits are to be aired. If you’re the least bit interested in any of this, you might be a danger to society.

Could we at least wait for the result of the Arizona audits before the name-calling commences?  For some reason no court, including the Supreme Court, would hear a case.  It didn’t matter if there was eyewitness testimony, it didn’t matter if there was evidence on security camera recordings.  It seems none of the states that were concerned about the way the election was handled had “standing.”  Sure enough, no court has seen evidence of election fraud.  How could they, having refused to consider any case?

The attempt by the State of Texas to positively identify people who vote (according to public statements), is as despicable as Jim Crow laws and segregation.   Someone who finds themselves on the wrong side of the government-mandated opinions on any of these subjects is a suspicious and dangerous individual that needs official scrutiny.  Even our best attempts to avoid the idiocy being presented with a condescending tone aren’t enough.  The habit of being informed is nearly impossible to break given the reach of mainstream media to every conceivable device.  There’s no escape this side of the wilderness.

Everything under the sun falls under the accusation of racism.  If laws require voters to identify themselves, how racist is that?  Not intentionally turning the mainstream argument, delivered with angry vitriol on its head, isn’t it insulting to suggest that there are groups of people unable to prove their identity?

The UN is being tasked with investigating racism in the United States.  We can hardly wait!  No doubt the various committees and commissions of the UN have the best interests of American citizens in mind.  What are these global institutions doing in our business?  They haven’t proven to be corrupt to an absurd degree?  You’d have to be completely blind not to see that the wrecking crew in D. C. intends to hook us up with international and global concerns.  These things need to be universal after all.

Saving the planet, instituting communism, partnering with organizations dedicated to the downfall of the United States.  Won’t it be great?  Your guess is as good as mine as to why a majority seem to buy into the fear, the false numbers.  And here they come again.  There’s as much or more Coronavirus scaremongering as last year.  Today’s paper (in Tyler) got with the program and reported hundreds of cases in every little berg in the area.  This, mind you, is the much more contagious Delta variant, run for your lives.  Put on your masks, whether they do any good or not.  Show the world that you’ll do whatever they say, you’re that afraid.

But there is one new wrinkle in the current news.  That is that even people who have been “fully vaccinated” are getting the virus.  Is that misinformation too?  Has this been reported before the masters of information had a say?  Good luck getting the rest of the population to submit with this kind of information swirling around.  Maybe we’ll find out that it’s not true after all.  Maybe the social media companies don’t yet have their marching orders.  The spokes-lady casually admits that the government is urging social media companies to “do more,” but it seems they’re already running roughshod over freedom of speech at the government’s behest.  Maybe someone should sue!  (Someone just did).  If the courts are not just, it won’t even matter.

For a year it was verboten to suspect the virus escaped the Wuhan Lab, and the social media companies invented algorithms to make sure nobody got away with making that claim.  Now the censors have learned the virus may well have escaped the Wuhan lab.  So maybe those who dared suspect the truth and were “banned” were right after all.  But what does it matter where it came from, or even if Fauci was responsible for the whole thing.  We’ve got this predicament regardless.  Here it comes again.  It’s looking like a permanent excuse to run everybody’s lives.  Barely had the report been released about the rasper in chief mumbling “door to door” but squads are making their way through neighborhoods with arguments and needles at the ready.  Resist them, and get reported as a danger to society.  You don’t suppose they’re overplaying their hand?

Mark

Source:  http://www.intercontinentalcog.org/fridayupdates.php

The post Weekly Update by Mark Armstrong – 16 July 2021 first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

The nation is convulsing over the collapse of the condo building near Miami Beach, and we don’t know the half of it.  All we know is that there are still a hundred or more people missing, presumably trapped in the wreckage.  If they’ve survived, what physical and mental trauma must they be experiencing? This kind of thing only happens in the third world, and there’s usually an earthquake involved.  But the half of the building still standing looks to be of modern design, and a place you wouldn’t mind staying.

It’s a disaster that will go on indefinitely.  No doubt the lawyers are already in a frenzy, and the damages to families will result in untold sums, but won’t replace the souls that were lost.  This is a fluid situation and we’ve got a lot more questions than answers.  The concern now is for those who are undoubtedly caught in the wreckage.  If they’re alive, they need our prayers.  If they’re not, what about close kin? For family members who suspect their loved ones are buried in the rubble, we can’t even imagine.

It’s getting to the point that it is criminal to “spread false information.” Unfortunately that means ANY information that fails to parrot the mainstream dogma.  You don’t disagree once they’ve determined what everyone should know and believe.  If you do, there will be consequences.  It seems that the “fact-checkers” are on board, as are the social media giants, and it goes without saying, the mainstream media.  Look what they’ve done to Rudy Giuliani.  New York has revoked his license to practice law because he purportedly passed along “false information.”  If lawyers were routinely disbarred for saying something that’s not true, there wouldn’t be many still practicing.

The main thing is that you don’t contradict the mainstream narrative and think you’re just going to walk off.  Not only that, he apparently said whatever it was about the 2020 election.  Now that’s really dangerous business.  You don’t think it was a fair and honest election?  Stand by for consequences!  In Rudy’s case, disbarment.  It didn’t help that he did whatever they’re so excited about in defense of Donald Trump.  That’s what this is all about.

It no longer matters that he was instrumental in the dismantling of the Mafia.  He turned Manhattan from a crime-infested cesspool into a family-friendly mecca.  But don’t worry, it’s on its way back to the bad old days and Rudy is being castigated as a crazy man on the mainstream networks.  They’ve been doing it forever.  Luckily there’s barely anyone watching.  Nevertheless, they think they’ve ruined Rudy for good.  We’ll see.

They’ve decided what we’ll believe or claim to believe or else you’re not welcome to participate in the games everybody’s playing.  If the stories are true, the mainstream media is playing to itself.  Audiences have declined dramatically.  Too bad this didn’t happen when they were pumping out a daily diet of what a monster our duly elected President was.  The anchors and the editorial writers sneered at how simple and uneducated some folks were to love the guy.  He was so bad, and by the way so were his supporters.

They’re still at it.  The events at the Capitol on Jan. 6 have been portrayed as an attempted overthrow of government.  It’s been ridiculously compared to the Oklahoma City Bombing.  That’s how bad it was!  We’ve never seen a government coup, and hopefully never will.  But do “insurrectionists” ordinarily walk between the velvet ropes?  We know there were rabble-rousers and some regular folks were probably mistakenly caught up in the moment.  Not to diminish the crime of breaking windows or stealing something from inside the Capitol.  But, who were those guys?  There are some concerns that there may actually have been some planning on the part of agencies we’d rather not suspect.  But after what we’ve witnessed in recent years, who knows?

So they’ve succeeded in passing their “infrastructure” bill.  It’s only a third of what they started out insisting was necessary.  Wouldn’t you know it, there are tens and hundreds of billions for battery stuff.  It’s not their money or this never would have happened.  We’re going to be astounded when we find out what they’re calling infrastructure.  I bet our grandkids will doubt our sanity when they’re adults.  But the lofty in government know what the grandkids need to pay for, and luckily won’t be around to answer to them.  It’s almost like there’s an intentional rush to wreak as much destruction as possible and no time to waste.  That might be right.  We may find out that every bit of the damage and embarrassment is the result of foul play.  Then what?

We’ll be keeping the Sabbath and the Holy Days, corona bologna or come what may.   Please say a prayer for the people affected by the building collapse.

Mark

Source: http://www.intercontinentalcog.org/fridayupdates.php

The post Weekly Update by Mark Armstrong – 25 June 2021 first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York ruled Thursday that they are temporarily suspending former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani from the practice of law based on a finding that he gave false statements to courts and others while representing former President Donald Trump.

The disciplinary proceedings were the result of multiple complaints filed against Giuliani, and are based on allegations of false statements made in court, in the media, and elsewhere about the 2020 election.

GIULIANI CASE: JUDGE APPROVES APPOINTMENT OF ‘SPECIAL MASTER’ TO REVIEW EVIDENCE

“[W]e conclude that there is uncontroverted evidence that respondent communicated demonstrably false and misleading statements to courts, lawmakers and the public at large in his capacity as lawyer for former President Donald J. Trump and the Trump campaign in connection with Trump’s failed effort at reelection in 2020,” the ruling said.

Those statements, the court said, “were made to improperly bolster respondent’s narrative that due to widespread voter fraud, victory in the 2020 United States presidential election was stolen from his client.”

GIULIANI TELLS FOX NEWS THE FEDS ARE TRYING TO ‘FRAME’ HIM

Examples of the statements included claims that more absentee ballots were submitted in Pennsylvania than were distributed, despite state records showing this to be false, and claims that thousands of dead people voted in Philadelphia (sometimes said to be 8,021, but also claimed to be 30,000), including former boxing great Joe Frazier. The court noted that the state canceled Frazier’s voting eligibility three months after he died in 2012. The ruling also said that Giuliani misrepresented the nature of a court case involving the election in Pennsylvania, where he made fraud-related arguments despite the fact that fraud claims were not being made.

FILE – In this June 21, 2021, file photo former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani speaks during a campaign event for Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa in New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File) (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)

Additional claims against Giuliani involve unsubstantiated statements he made about large numbers of underage voters, dead voters, and votes cast by ineligible convicted felons, only for state investigations to show otherwise, statements that ballots counted by voting machines were manipulated in Georgia, and statements alleging that varying numbers of illegal immigrants voted in Arizona.

Giuliani has claimed that any false statements he made were not made with the knowledge that they were false at the time.

The suspension is an “interim” one and will be in effect as full disciplinary proceedings against him play out. The court recognized that this is a severe measure that they believe is appropriate given “an immediate threat to the public interest.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Giuliani’s statements are alleged to be in violation of the New York Rules of Professional Conduct, which govern the conduct of attorneys in the state. The court’s ruling said it is likely that when the full case has concluded, it will “result in substantial permanent sanctions” against the former mayor.

“We are disappointed with the Appellate Division, First Department’s decision suspending Mayor Giuliani prior to being afforded a hearing on the issues that are alleged,” Giuliani’s attorneys John Leventhal and Barry Kamins said following the ruling. “This is unprecedented as we believe that our client does not pose a present danger to the public interest. We believe that once the issues are fully explored at a hearing Mr. Giuliani will be reinstated as a valued member of the legal profession that he has served so well in his many capacities for so many years.”

Fox News’ Marta Dhanis contributed to this report.

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/rudy-giuliani-temporarily-suspended-practicing-law-ny

The post Rudy Giuliani suspended from practicing law in New York after statements challenging 2020 election results first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

The post Lawyers for President Donald Trump’s campaign hold press conference first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Trump has invited some of Michigan’s top Republicans to the White House in a sign he may be seeking a way around the results. President-elect Joe Biden is projected to win 306 electoral votes to Trump’s 232 and has leads of tens of thousands of votes in several key states.

The president also reached out to officials in Wayne County who had sought to block the certification of votes there. The effort by those officials brought calls of racism from Detroit’s mayor given the number of votes by Black Americans that might have been overturned. Biden is ahead in Michigan by more than 140,000 votes.

Separately, Giuliani and a team of attorneys overseeing Trump’s legal challenges to the vote count in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia, and elsewhere levied various claims of fraud at a press conference Thursday that levied various claims of fraud.

Giuliani alleged that the president was a victim of a scheme by dozens of Democratic election officials from Detroit, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and other major cities that contributed to Biden getting more votes, even though Trump also improved over his 2016 performance in those traditionally Democratic areas.

“This was not an individual idea of 10 or 12 Democrat bosses. This was a plan. You would have to be a fool not to realize that,” Giuliani said at the presser from the Republican National Committee headquarters.

Giuliani and attorney Sidney Powell, a fixture on Fox News prime-time programming who represents former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn, made clear that their goal was to overturn the results in several states Biden is leading or has been projected as the winner.

Giuliani and Powell failed to produce evidence of their claims beyond holding up sworn affidavits from citizens who alleged they witnessed suspicious behavior. Giuliani did not commit to sharing his evidence with the press so they could fully vet his claims, and one reporter noted the Trump campaign is not asking for a recount in Wisconsin counties where the Dominion Voting Systems machines were used.

Dominion Voting Systems has been a popular target among Trump and his supporters who have spread claims of election fraud.

Powell alleged that the Denver-based company that supplies voting machines across the United States used technology developed by Hugo Chavez, who died in 2013. She claimed votes were manipulated while being tabulated overseas to favor Joe Biden.

These claims have been disputed or debunked by numerous sources, including conservative media.

The company has disputed the assertions, the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has said there is no evidence of foreign adversaries changing vote tallies, and The Wall Street Journal editorial board published a piece on Tuesday debunking claims that Dominion was part of widespread fraud.

The contents of the press conference, during which Giuliani, who referenced the movie “My Cousin Vinny” and battled black water-streaks running down the side of his face, appeared to astonish even many conservatives who urged Giuliani and Powell to produce hard evidence of their claims or risk casting doubt on the country’s democratic systems.

Fox News broadcast much of the press conference, while other major cable news networks did not.

“You cannot make an accusation like that without following it through by going to court and trying to prove it,” Karl Rove, a former aide to George W. Bush, said on Fox News. “If it’s left out there it will be both unfair to the president if it’s true, and unfair to the American people if it’s false.”

Kristin Fisher, a Fox News White House correspondent, said on the network that the press conference was “light on facts” and noted some of the allegations had already been dismissed in the courts.

Trump appears set on throwing into question the result of his defeat, or even making a last-ditch attempt to overturn it entirely.

The president on Tuesday night contacted a GOP member of the canvassing board in Wayne County, Mich., after she and another Republican on the board initially refused to certify election results. Wayne County, which is home to Detroit, is a Democratic stronghold.

Monica Palmer confirmed to The Washington Post that Trump called her Tuesday night after she and William Hartmann balked at approving the election results. The two eventually relented and certified the results, but on Wednesday both Palmer and Hartmann sought to rescind their certification.

Trump is poised to take things a step further in Michigan by inviting State Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey to the White House. The invite was seen as yet another breach of norms by Trump as observers wondered whether the president would ask Shirkey to subvert the will of the voters by appointing pro-Trump electors for Michigan.

Shirkey’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

Trump’s efforts are unlikely to change the outcome of the election, but they have led to serious concerns about damage to the nation’s democratic system.

Democrats have seized on Trump’s actions to argue his post-election efforts are doing harm to the country, and have sought to pressure GOP lawmakers to rein in the president or counter him.

“This is the path to fascism,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) tweeted, referencing news of Trump’s plan to meet with Michigan lawmakers. “This is no time for silence from GOP. Stand with your country. Condemn Trump for trying to topple democracy. Now.”

Republicans, for the most part, have not criticized Trump — though there have been exceptions.

Several GOP lawmakers made public their displeasure of Trump’s firing this week of Christopher Krebs, the administration’s top cybersecurity official.

“That press conference was the most dangerous 1hr 45 minutes of television in American history. And possibly the craziest. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you’re lucky,” Krebs tweeted Thursday afternoon.

Source: https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/526752-trump-attorneys-step-up-efforts-to-reverse-elections-outcome

The post Trump, attorneys step up efforts to reverse election’s outcome first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

The media tells us it’s over.  The election, that is. COVID-19 is running amok, or so all the news-breaks say.  Just as we thought, the COVID-19 scare is still picking up steam 10 months later.

It is setting records every day, maybe every minute.  “Hospitals are being overrun with COVID cases,” they tell us.  Get ready for more lock-downs, assuming you don’t live in a state that’s not still in lock-down.  Maybe just another month to six weeks would do it.  Never mind that we’ve spent nearly an entire year under un-Constitutional orders passed down by power-drunk “officials.” They’ve decided that you can’t go to work, or school, or church or out to eat.  Nope.  It’s just too dangerous at a time when COVID cases are exploding.  Have they ever thought that if masks and lock-downs worked this thing might be a distant memory?  Of course not.

Governors here and there are flexing their mighty powers, demanding that you follow their guidelines for Thanksgiving.  It’s truly bizarre that they think they can exert their personal clout upon a free people, IN THEIR HOMES, no less.  If the media is right, and now it’s every single mainstream network including Fox, we’re going to be punished.  American citizens are going to be punished in every way they can devise.  The speaker of gibberish is beholden to Antifa, BLM, the Deep State, nearly all big corporations and Big Pharma, and will have to satisfy their demands.  After all, they’re all taking credit for his “win,” should it hold.

The flood gates will open and the third world will flood in again.  That’s a good thing, we’re told.  It’s the source of our strength.  What a crock!  Obama had to pretend like he was on America’s side, while making apology and proclaiming America a racist nation.  That’s no longer the case.  Those who plan to continue the “transformation” of the Obama years have exposed their anti-American leanings and will go full tilt to fulfill their socialist dreams.  If they get their way we’re on our way to Venezuela, without ever leaving home.  Should you need reminding, Venezuela was one of the most prosperous nations in South America until they embraced Marxism.  Now they’re sifting through trash for something to eat and trying to evade the government’s goon squads.

The media demands that you give up hope NOW, or else.  Primetime Fredo says, ominously, that those who fight on may lose a lot more than the election.  Oooh, scary!  Fauci says he realizes that Americans are free-spirited people, but now it’s time to “DO WHAT YOU’RE TOLD.”  Get used to it.  Mandates and bans are going to be handed down like candy, and mind you, they’re compiling lists of those who dared support Donald Trump, and any who might think they can get away with defiance of their mighty orders.  The squad will teach us a lesson!

If the media call stands, and we’re not getting much hope from anybody save Donald Trump himself and “America’s mayor” Rudy Giuliani, we’ll be banking on Supreme Court decisions and narrow margins in the nation’s legislature to strike down their plans to destroy America.  We’re supposed to believe that the goons looting departments stores and burning up American cities WON a great victory over average American citizens, who will soon pay a heavy price for having loved the country.  How dare we!

Maybe it was too far gone to be salvaged.  After all, the mainstream has rolled over for every bizarre sin.  You know the one that brought down fire out of heaven?  Yeah, that’s an American value.  Because we’re told, “We have to choose our battles wisely, and this one is not worth fighting.”  How often have we heard it?  Many have gone along in agreement.  Maybe that WAS an argument worth having.

It’s not getting very wide coverage, but have you seen the crowds protesting the lock-downs in Germany?  You’d think crowds that size would merit some attention.  But then, we’re drowning in fake news.  We’ve got monopolistic overlords determining what’s important or not.  Forget what’s important, they’re now the arbiters of TRUTH with the power to determine what people can read.

We’ll see Who the arbiter of truth is, and I’ll guarantee you it’s not any of the misfits who dominate social media.

Mark

Source:  http://www.intercontinentalcog.org/fridayupdates.php

The post Weekly Update by Mark Armstrong – 13 November 2020 first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

It was one of the biggest bangs this side of Nagasaki.  The explosion at the Beirut port was so powerful that it killed at least 135 instantly, wounded thousands and rendered some 300,000 suddenly homeless.  We heard conflicting reports, whether fireworks factory, storage for missiles imported by Hezbollah from Iran, or a warehouse full of ammonium nitrate.  Whichever is the culprit, the result has been the complete destruction of the Beirut port facility, along with the thousands of injuries and a mounting death toll.  All three may have gone up in the mushroom cloud, but ammonium nitrate looks to be the culprit for the massively destructive explosion.  Apparently officials knew of the danger, and now there is a frantic search for someone responsible for letting this happen.

You could logically be forgiven for limiting your intake of “official information.”  Nearly every newscast begins with a triumphant recitation of the latest COVID cases and deaths.  Isn’t it glorious?  The often renewed panic is gnawing away at any chance of economic recovery, and it’s all the fault of you know who.  But who knows what’s going on with these 99.9% accurate tests?  We don’t give medical advice, but possibly the worst thing one could do, from the standpoint of retaining any modicum of personal freedom, is to go get tested.

We know from numerous anecdotal stories and reports that a lot of people test “positive” who aren’t sick, haven’t been sick and don’t plan on being sick.  Once somebody tests positive, they’re liable to lose whatever freedoms they thought they still had.  You’ll likely be told (not asked) that you must take yourself out of circulation for ten days to two weeks.  Official state agencies may try to contact you, demanding to know every place you’ve been and everyone with whom you’ve had contact.    They’re called “contact tracers,” by media.  We have other terms.  Surely the information being gathered isn’t going into some politically-oriented database?

Mainstream outlets speculate endlessly about the President’s impulse to behave as a dictator, while angrily blaming him for having not instituted “national mandates” to “flatten the curve,” or whatever.  Questioning the vain babbling of Dr. Fauci is tantamount to heresy.  The social media giants will silence anyone who offers any logic that differs from the pint-size oracle of all things COVID.

Trouble is, Fauci has been all over the map with his arrogance showing.  He gave interviews prior to his rise to international fame that largely dispute most of what he’s saying now.  The diametrically opposed public statements were all delivered with the same cocksure attitude, along with the nervous chuckle the little doctor always displays.  It’s not just about his contradictory statements about masks either.  In January, before we commoners knew his name, he plainly said there couldn’t possibly be the kind of dictated “shutdowns” in America that he now calls for routinely.  It just couldn’t happen here.  But now it must.  The “people” have nothing to say about any of it.  “Doctor’s orders” claptrap.

Experts appear on all the news outlets to say that we simply “cannot consider” opening schools, businesses or entertainment venues while still logging the infection and death toll rates that are being reported.  Every time there is some encouraging news as to job growth or upward economic movement, more spikes, hot-spots and hideous illness and death reports are soon to follow, accompanied by more stringent lock-down orders from any of several local dictators, rather governors, mayors, or “medical experts.”

Why do hospitals benefit financially when they label patients “COVID positive?”  If you look, you’ll see a raft of articles from various publications and government agencies, most of which try to complicate the equation until you don’t know what to think.  But a common thread is that there is an admission of increased Federal payments to hospitals for COVIS cases, particularly those over the age of 65 through Medicare.  Then there is usually an expression of outrage that anyone would dare suspect that “medical professionals” would tinker with the diagnoses for financial gain.  How dare such a possibility even be raised!

It is a little interesting that nearly every other cause of death has fallen off the statistical chart.  Cancer, diabetes, heart-attack, stroke or the annual flu;  None of those seem to rate much concern in the age of COVID.  Everybody that expires dies of COVID now.  And none of those qualify for additional government money.  Go figure.  Did I mention that the country is going broke to the tune of 3 or 4 trillion in deficit spending so far this year?  There were tears of anger over Obama running a $2 trillion deficit in a single year.  We’re on track to see three times that amount before this year is over.

It took Rudy Giuliani years to clean up New York City to be a relatively clean and safe place.  It took the woke mob a matter of hours to return it to the filthy cesspool we knew in the ’70’s.  Graffiti mars every view.  Murders, as in other metropolises around the nation, are up dramatically without the manpower to solve them.  A few “peaceful” riots, and it’s back worse than before.

Things are anything but black and white.  Mainstream outlets are stoking fear and loathing around the clock.  The most successful early treatment has been all but outlawed because President Trump made the mistake of mentioning it out loud.  Therefore it must be dangerous!  It’ll cause heart palpitations, maybe brain damage! You must agree with the destructive COVID fear; you must hate President Trump with the anger of the mob or you’re probably a white-supremacist, even if you’re not white!

It came as a shock that we even survived the Obama years.  Despite a couple of years of faint hope that something might be salvaged by people who love freedom and a president who respects them, it may be too late.  We understand the propensity for optimism, and believe in it.  But this great nation may have passed the point of no return.

We used to wonder, how on earth could a whole population be so hopelessly deceived as to act upon false propaganda.  We don’t have to wonder anymore.  It looks like we may be living in the early stages of the book of Revelation.  Our cities are ruined.  Graffiti is everywhere.  Police have been vilified to an astonishing degree, and are being attacked, abolished and defunded.  They’re quitting in droves, and who wouldn’t?  Stick your head up on social media and that will be the end of your voice.  Should have known better than to buck the conventional wisdom.

Get used to it.  Your beliefs are not acceptable.  We have two choices.  Hide, or help inform as many as possible as to the brainwashing in progress. Actually, we have no choice.  But you do.  We need the Sabbath now as never before.

Mark

Source: http://www.intercontinentalcog.org/fridayupdates.php

The post Weekly Update by Mark Armstrong – 7 August 2020 first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

“Did anyone ever ask you to bribe or extort anyone at any time during your time in the White House?” House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Devin Nunes, R-Calif., asked at one point in Tuesday’s afternoon hearing.

Former National Security Council (NSC) aide Tim Morrison: “No.”

Former U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker: “No.”

Later, Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., covered similar ground in asking the witnesses about Trump’s fateful July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky: “Mr. Morrison, you were on that call, and there was no quid pro quo, correct? No bribery? No extortion?”

“Correct,” Morrison replied in response to each question.

“And, Ambassador Volker, I presume you got a readout of the call. … Was there any reference to withholding aid? Any reference to bribery? Any reference to quid pro quo? Any reference to extortion?”

“No, there was not,” Volker replied, again and again.

The answers underscored a problem facing House Democrats as their impeachment inquiry continued into its second week of public hearings: With more witnesses testifying, more soundbites have emerged that may help Republicans and the Trump campaign argue that the proceedings were politically motivated theater, long in the works and foreshadowed openly by Democrats for months, if not years.

Morrison, in another key moment, testified Tuesday afternoon that he understood the transcript of Trump’s call with Ukraine’s leader wound up on a highly secured and classified computer system due to an “administrative error” — not, as Democrats have alleged because the president wanted to hide his conversation.

And, Volker testified repeatedly that he never received any indications at all that there was an improper quid pro quo with Ukraine, in which the Trump administration allegedly sought a probe of former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter in exchange for military aid.

As the hearing concluded, President Trump tweeted, “A great day for Republicans, a great day for our Country!”

Ohio GOP Rep. Jim Jordan told Fox News, “This was a very good day for Republicans, for our president.”

“Kind of hard to prove a corrupt quid pro quo theory when the key U.S. policy people, plus the Ukrainians, were never aware of such an arrangement,” Texas GOP Rep. Dan Crenshaw added late Tuesday, noting that Ukraine’s president has said he felt no pressure from Trump to open any probes. “Can we go back to governing now, that’d be great thanks.”

Donald J. Trump@realDonaldTrump

A great day for Republicans, a great day for our Country!

Morrison and Volker’s testimony was sought by the GOP, and the two undercut Democrats’ poll-tested claims of White House “bribery” and a cover-up. But, they also raised new questions concerning the administration’s use of the little-discussed code-word-level system that ordinarily held sensitive national-security information. Back in September, a senior Trump administration official acknowledged that White House lawyers directed moving the transcript of the call to the secure system, noting that several of Trump’s previous phone calls with foreign leaders had leaked to the media.

FLASHBACK: LEAK OF VERBATIM TRUMP CALL WITH AUSTRALIA LEADER PROMPTS WHITE HOUSE TO INCREASE SECURITY MEASURES

Morrison previously testified behind closed doors that senior NSC lawyer John Eisenberg had relayed to him that his secretary accidentally put the transcript in the classified system. Morrison said Eisenberg wanted to “restrict access” to the transcript, but maintained that the secretary had apparently misinterpreted that instruction.

“It was represented to me that it was a mistake,” Morrison testified Tuesday, saying he tried to “pull up the package in our system” but was prevented from doing so. When he asked why the transcript was unavailable, he testified that he was “informed it had been moved to the higher classification system” at Eisenberg’s direction. Then, Eisenberg told Morrison that he “gave no such direction” and that it was an “administrative error,” according to Morrison.

Ambassador Kurt Volker, left, former special envoy to Ukraine, and Tim Morrison, a former official at the National Security Council are sworn in to testify before the House Intelligence Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2019, during a public impeachment hearing of President Donald Trump’s efforts to tie U.S. aid for Ukraine to investigations of his political opponents. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

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Morrison said to the best of his knowledge, there was no “malicious intent” in the decision to move the transcript to the compartmentalized system, and all essential personnel retained access to the transcript even after it was moved.

Later in the day, Volker made clear he had not seen anything to support Democrats’ contention that Trump improperly withheld foreign aid to Ukraine as a means of forcing an investigation into the Bidens’ dealings in the country.

Instead, Volker suggested — in a moment that the Trump campaign reposted on social media — that Trump’s general hesitation to provide foreign aid, especially to corrupt countries, was the prevailing justification for holding up aid to Ukraine temporarily.

Asked again whether he saw any evidence that Trump had committed “bribery” — the term Democrats have taken to using after focus groups indicated that it would help them sell impeachment to voters — Volker was unequivocal that he had not. In fact, Volker said, Trump never linked any probe of Burisma or the Bidens to any military aid. Hunter Biden sat on Burisma’s board while his father spearheaded Ukraine policy as vice president.

“I have only seen an allegation of bribery in the last week,” Volker said. “I was never involved in anything that I considered to be bribery at all or extortion.”

In one remarkable moment, Volker contradicted a media headline; asked about a Daily Mail story claiming he had “walked back” his testimony and had “now learned” there was a link between U.S. aid and Biden probe, Volker refuted the website outright.

Volker also said he didn’t initially realize the connection between a Trump-sought investigation of Burisma and the Bidens, given that Burisma was seen as a symbol of Ukraine’s endemic corruption problem.

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Hunter Biden was a board member of the Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma Holdings, which had been under investigation before then-Vice President Joe Biden pressured Ukraine to fire the prosecutor in charge. In his call with Zelensky, Trump suggested the Ukrainians look into the circumstances of the prosecutor’s termination, including Joe Biden’s boast that he had the prosecutor fired by threatening to withhold $1 billion in critical aid. “Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution, so if you can look into it…It sounds horrible to me,” Trump said.

In a lengthy opening statement, Volker said he didn’t have any problem with pushing Ukraine to open an investigation into Burisma or corruption.

“It has long been U.S. policy under multiple administrations to urge Ukraine to investigate and fight internal corruption,” Volker said.

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State George Kent similarly testified behind closed doors last month that he had qualms about Hunter Biden’s lucrative role on the board of Burisma.

However, Volker said he felt a discussion of investigations was “inappropriate” in a July meeting between Ukrainian and U.S. officials at the White House. Volker confirmed others’ testimony that Trump’s European Union ambassador, Gordon Sondland, raised the investigations “in a generic way,” and that then-national security adviser John Bolton immediately ended the meeting.

The meeting happened two weeks before Trump’s momentous summer phone call with Zelensky.

Volker, who resigned in September after becoming embroiled in the scandal, added that he didn’t “understand” at the time that an investigation of Burisma “was tantamount to investigating Vice President Biden.”

“I saw them as very different – the former being appropriate and unremarkable, the latter being unacceptable,” Volker said. “In retrospect, I should have seen that connection differently, and had I done so, I would have raised my own objections.”

Volker added: “The allegations against Vice President Biden are self-serving and non-credible.”

Volker went on to say that during a September dinner with top Ukrainian official Andriy Yermak, he’d discouraged Ukraine from trying to prosecute the country’s previous president. Volker says he warned it would sow deep societal divisions.

Volker said Yermak quipped in response, “You mean like asking us to investigate Clinton and Biden?” Volker claimed he didn’t “quite understand” the head-turning remark and was “kind of puzzled” by it.

Both Volker and Morrison previously gave closed-door interviews to the inquiry: Volker provided investigators with a package of text messages with Sondland and William Taylor, the U.S. chargé d’affaires for Ukraine, who said he grew alarmed at the possible linkage of the investigations to the aid.

For his part, Morrison, who served as the NSC’s senior director of European and Russian affairs, told lawmakers Trump didn’t want tax dollars funding Ukrainian corruption and remarked that he wasn’t concerned Trump’s calls with Ukraine’s leader were tied to his political interests.

Morrison resigned from the NSC last month. In his testimony Tuesday, he said he left on his “own volition” and made the decision “before I decided to testify.”

The testimony from Volker and Morrison followed five hours of testimony earlier in the day with the NSC’s Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman and Vice President Pence aide Jennifer Williams, who were each critical of Trump’s conversation with Zelensky.

In a particularly remarkable moment, Vindman testified that he was asked to serve as Ukraine’s defense minister three times — but repeatedly denied the offers — when he traveled to Kiev for the inauguration of Ukraine’s president. Oleksander Danylyuk, the former Chairman of the National Security and Defence Council in Ukraine, reportedly said on Tuesday the offer was “clearly a joke.”

Among the biggest revelations Tuesday morning came when Vindman acknowledged communications with an unnamed intelligence official — during an at-times tense exchange with Republicans, immediately raising apparent questions over whether he could have been a source of information for the anonymous whistleblower who reported the call.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., interjected to express concern that Republicans were trying to out the whistleblower through the questioning. After consulting his attorney, Vindman said, “Per the advice of my counsel, I’ve been advised not to answer the specific questions about members of the intelligence community.”

National Security Council aide Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman is sworn in to testify before the House Intelligence Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2019, during a public impeachment hearing of President Donald Trump’s efforts to tie U.S. aid for Ukraine to investigations of his political opponents. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

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Still, Vindman told lawmakers, “I do not know who the whistleblower is.”

That claim didn’t hold water with Republicans and prompted Donald Trump Jr. to accuse Vindman of perjury. “I’d like them to be treated like I would be if I lied to Congress,” he told Fox News late Tuesday.

On the whole, Vindman was largely critical of Trump’s call with Zelensky, describing the investigation “demand” as “improper.” At one point, Vindman described his reaction to Trump’s call as one of “shock.”

“Frankly, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing,” he testified. “In certain regards, my worst fear of how our Ukraine policy could play out was playing out.”

However,  Vindman was caught in an apparent contradiction late in the day by Republican Ohio Rep. Brad Wenstrup. Vindman testified earlier in the day that he did not discuss his concerns about Trump’s July phone call with Morrison, his superior because he was unavailable.

But, under questioning from Wenstrup, Morrison confirmed that Vindman had given him edits of the transcript of the call, on the same day that Vindman testified Morrison was unreachable.

“Frankly, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.”

— NSC’s Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, concerning Trump’s July call with Ukraine’s leader

Arizona GOP Rep. Paul Gosar offered a blunt assessment of Vindman’s testimony, tweeting: “I think people need a reminder:  the democrats said they would impeach starting in December 2016–before @realDonaldTrump was even sworn in.  This is a hearing looking for a reason. It’s corrupt and immoral.  The dude in the uniform is a seditionist.”

Morrison, meanwhile, also said he had heard others express concern that Vindman was a leaker, and could not be trusted with key information. Asked about that allegation, Vindman read from a glowing performance review that described him as an exemplary officer.

The other morning witness, Williams, also expressed concern about Trump’s call with Zelensky, saying, “I found the July 25th phone call unusual because, in contrast to other presidential calls I had observed, it involved discussion of what appeared to be a domestic political matter.”

Until Tuesday, none of the witnesses who have testified at the public hearings had first-hand knowledge of the president’s thinking, which Republicans have used to cast doubt on Democrats’ allegations, but Vindman, Williams, and Morrison all listened in on Trump’s July 25 phone call with Zelensky.

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Morrison said his understanding was that Trump generally was skeptical of foreign aid, and wanted to make sure that taxpayers were “getting their money’s worth.”

“The president was concerned that the United States seemed to bear the exclusive brunt of security assistance to Ukraine,” Morrison said. “He wanted to see the Europeans step up and contribute more security assistance.”

The impeachment inquiry has focused on a possible link between military aid to Ukraine and investigations sought by Trump pertaining to the Bidens and Democrats. The questions arose after the July 25 phone call led to a whistleblower complaint alleging that Trump was trying to pressure Ukraine into helping him.

“As we have heard from other witnesses, when Joe Biden was considering whether to enter the race for the presidency in 2020, the president’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, began a campaign to weaken Vice President Biden’s candidacy by pushing Ukraine to investigate him and his son,” Schiff said in his opening statement.

Nunes opened his remarks by welcoming people to “Act Two of today’s circus,” dismissing the inquiry as a partisan exercise.

WATCH: VINDMAN CORRECTS CONGRESSMAN WHO DIDN’T USE HIS FORMAL MILITARY TITLE

“It’s an ambitious attack to deprive the American people of their right to elect a president that the Democrats don’t like,” Nunes said. “The chairman of this committee claims that democracy is under threat. If that’s true, it’s not the president who poses the danger.”

Morrison, though, suggested the impeachment brouhaha was predictable partisan politics as usual.

“I feared at the time of the call on July 25th how its disclosure would play in Washington’s political climate,” Morrison said in his opening statement. “My fears have been realized.”

Fox News’ Chad Pergram and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Source: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ex-ukraine-envoy-nsc-official-testify-in-second-round-of-impeachment-testimony

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