Biden Cancels Student Loan Debt for Federal Borrowers, Extends Pause for Loan Payments Through End of Year

Sundance reporting for Conservative Treehouse 

Buy votes, create disparity and divide people, that’s what democrat policies are designed to do.  Joe Biden follows the playbook by cancelling $10k to $20k in student loan debt for those who have federal government loans.  Students with private loans backed by the federal government are not eligible.

Additionally, Biden has extended the “COVID emergency payment moratorium” through the end of the year.  No one with a federal student loan needs to restart paying until after the midterm election, in 2023.  [White House Fact Sheet Here]

If the economy is doing so great, then why the need for bailouts?

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Wednesday announced his long-awaited plan to deliver on a campaign promise to provide $10,000 in student debt cancellation for millions of Americans — and up to $10,000 more for those with the greatest financial need — along with new measures to lower the burden of repayment for their remaining federal student debt.

Borrowers who earn less than $125,000 a year, or families earning less than $250,000, would be eligible for the $10,000 loan forgiveness, Biden announced in a tweet. For recipients of Pell Grants, which are reserved for undergraduates with the most significant financial need, the federal government would cancel up to an additional $10,000 in federal loan debt.

Biden is also extending a pause on federal student loan payments for what he called the “final time” through the end of 2022. He was set to deliver remarks Wednesday afternoon at the White House to unveil his proposal to the public.

If his plan survives legal challenges that are almost certain to come, it could offer a windfall to a swath of the nation in the run-up to this fall’s midterm elections. More than 43 million people have federal student debt, with an average balance of $37,667, according to federal data. Nearly a third of borrowers owe less than $10,000, and about half owe less than $20,000. The White House estimates that Biden’s announcement would erase the federal student debt of about 20 million people. (read more)

The American Tower of Babel

Reasonable voices tend to be suppressed 

because mobs will always be louder.

by Emina Melonic for American Greatness

The all too human condition of alienation today is often mistakenly associated with existentialism and modernism. We’d like to think that we have moved beyond it, that it’s merely academic phenomena from our intellectual past, and that malaise and ennui are conditions exemplified by the likes of Albert Camus and Jean-Paul Sartre. Because we keep advancing along some linear timeline, we tend to disregard that past and consider ourselves “evolved.” But this is not so. We may not call it alienation or even acedia, which dates all the way back to our Christian desert fathers and mothers, but the condition—particularly as it has been ignored—has grown like the weeds in the once well-tended garden.

Today, we call it atomization. We believe it is especially driven by technology. But it’s not simply the machines that are creating human automatons. We have allowed the machines to create and shape our metaphysics. Part of the problem is that we have lost the threads between different spheres of life. There is no longer a difference between the public and the private self. Such notions are absent from the intellectual discussion. 

People do engage with one another, but just like the endless stream of tweets, the discourse is shallow, uninformed, and narcissistic. Do we really expect to create a culture that thrives on creativity in an environment that is this toxic? Are we really that blind to the reality of a constant feedback loop that is clearly shaping an insane society that cannot sustain itself any longer?

Politics is one of the essential spheres of life. Even if we don’t consider ourselves overly political, as citizens, we engage in politics in one form or another. What happens when this particular sphere is overtaken by irrationality and corruption? A citizen will either acquiesce or fight. But what kind of life is one of submission or perpetual reaction? Either way, creation loses, and destruction wins. 

Talk about the state of discourse in the United States may seem stale and unimportant. We have bigger proverbial fish to fry, you might say. But if we consider ourselves human beings (that is, neither gods, nor beasts, nor machines), then we have to accept the responsibility for our thoughts. Change can happen in many ways. Revolutions may not necessarily mean literal, physical war. But if we expect that this chaotic society will balance itself out through what passes today as discourse, then we are partaking in a complete delusion. 

Ideology is at the heart of this problem. It used to be that the only ideology we needed to fight against was Marxism, but now our discourse is governed by a variety of equally worthless ideologies. Open-mindedness does not exist. False conservatives are still trying to conserve conservatism, ignoring the practical side of politics. Leftists are not governed by ideology anymore but by sheer madness. In addition, people who supported Trump appear to be unsteady because the leadership either is not there or is scattered everywhere.

Society is shaped both individually and collectively. This means that the mind and worldview (Weltanschauung) can be created either for the benefit of an ideological totalitarianism (destruction of the human spirit) or for the benefit of creativity and flourishing during which the individual and the community work in concert. We must take seriously the reality that an engagement with intellectual corruption and fakery will result in what British political philosopher, Michael Oakeshott, calls “corrupt consciousness.” 

Reason and humility need to be brought back into the discourse. We shouldn’t only react but instead deliberate and even attack, if we need to. In Rationalism in Politics, Oakeshott writes that “Deliberation is necessary before an identifiable political situation can even appear. But it is required, also, in the choice of the response to be made to the situation . . .” 

It may be highly idealistic on my part to expect a radical change in our intellectual discourse. But a continued pessimism, which too easily turns into despair, will continue to prevent us from creation and real participation in the political and public square. We cannot lose our own sense of reason because that is the moment when we become part of the mob. The result of that is quite clear: political life as it’s intended no longer exists. If there is no true political engagement, then the meaning of citizenship itself is on the shaky ground, if not actually erased.

No matter where along the political spectrum one falls, it seems there is no unifying sentiment for the spectrum. We face an endless echo of dispersed voices, speaking entirely different languages lacking any internal logic. Reasonable voices tend to be suppressed because mobs will always be louder. Unless we bring reason into politics and discourse, and solid intellectual leadership emerges, then we will continue to stumble through the staircase of the Tower of Babel, wandering the spaces of incomprehension, chaos, and alienation. 

X22, On the Fringe, and more- August 24

 

The next 2 to 3 weeks are what I consider to be the 'most exciting and anxious' time of the year. Networks and news sites start releasing info on the Season Premieres, the trailers start being released, the info on the early episodes themselves, the promo pics. It can be a very exciting time to be a TV fan.

And in these 2 to 3 weeks, I may just find out once and for all if I have a real reason to watch NCIS LA on October 9th. And that makes me anxious given that 'teaser' from the showrunner last week. Yeah, I still hope for Hetty to show up because the only thing about this show that she hasn't missed yet is the premiere. Course, I never thought she'd be left out of the absolute worst finale ever yet either. So, 🙏

Here's tonight's news:

Pence Is All Wrong About the FBI

The former vice president equates critics of the FBI

 with those who seek defunding of the police.

by Lloyd Billingsley for American Greatness

The FBI raid on the residence of former President Donald Trump drew fire from liberals such as Alan Dershowitz, who called out the “weaponizing of the justice system.” By contrast, former Vice President Mike Pence reserved his wrath for those who criticize the FBI. 

“These attacks on the FBI must stop,” Pence said on August 17. “Calls to defund the FBI are just as wrong as calls to defund the police.” That equation invites a review of FBI performance at its duly appointed tasks. 

“We protect the American people and uphold the U.S. Constitution,” proclaims the FBI website. On the protection side, the American people might look back at September 11, 2001. 

In May 2001, according to “The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States,” FBI counterterrorism boss Dale Watson had only two people looking at threats from Osama bin Laden and his organization. FBI assessments of the potential use of flight training by terrorists and warnings of “radical Middle Easterners attending flight school,” were never passed along to the Federal Aviation Administration. 

The FBI did not produce the kind of intelligence reports other agencies disseminated, and its usual practice was to withhold the information and say little about investigations. FBI field offices “never used the information to gain a systematic or strategic understanding of the nature and extent of al-Qaeda fundraising.”

Terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui was prevented from further training on Pan Am’s Boeing 747 simulators but FBI headquarters believed there was “insufficient cause” to search his laptop computer. An FBI agent in Minneapolis said he was “trying to keep someone from taking a plane and crashing it into the World Trade Center.” Officials at FBI headquarters said that was not going to happen, and they did not know if Moussaoui was a terrorist.

“The FBI has proven for the past decade it cannot identify and prevent acts of terrorism against the United States and its citizens at home and abroad,” wrote FBI whistleblower Robert Wright in the summer of 2001. “Even worse, there is virtually no effort on the part of the FBI’s International Terrorism Unit to neutralize known and suspected terrorists residing within the United States.” 

Wright headed an operation that shut down terrorist funding but claimed that FBI management “intentionally and repeatedly thwarted and obstructed” his attempts to expand the investigation and to arrest other terrorists and seize their assets. 

In 2009, American-born Muslim Major Nidal Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, was communicating with al-Qaeda terrorist Anwar al-Awlaki about killing Americans. As Lessons from Fort Hood explains, the FBI was monitoring Hasan’s communications, but the bureau’s Washington office did not “assess Hasan to be involved in terrorist activities.” On November 5, 2009, Hasan murdered 13 unarmed American soldiers, including Private Francheska Velez, who was pregnant, and wounded more than 30 others. 

In 2011, Russian intelligence warned the FBI about Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. But in 2013, the FBI failed to stop the brothers from bombing the Boston Marathon. The attack killed three people and wounded more than 250. Local police, not the FBI, took out Tamerlan and captured Dzhokhar. 

The FBI failed to stop Islamic terrorists Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik from murdering 14 people and wounding more than 20 others in San Bernardino, California, on December 2, 2015. As in Boston, the FBI played no role in the takedown of the terrorists. San Bernardino police shot dead the heavily armed Farook and Malik, with no further loss of innocent life. 

In 2016, the FBI failed to protect the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida from Omar Mateen. The Islamic State supporter killed 49 people and wounded more than 50 others. The FBI had questioned Mateen in 2013 but closed the inquiry, leaving the terrorist free to plan his attack. 

In 2020, Antifa and Black Lives Matter launched riots that claimed 35 lives, injured hundreds of police officers, and caused $2 billion in property damage in the course of 100 days. The FBI did nothing to prevent the “peaceful protesters” from taking over part of central Seattle. 

As these cases confirm, the FBI does a poor job of protecting the American people. It’s unclear if any FBI bosses were disciplined, suspended or dismissed for the failures that left thousands of Americans dead and wounded. The failure of the FBI and CIA against Islamic jihadists led to the creation of the Department of Homeland Security which is now, like the FBI, deployed against the American people. 

It’s hard to find statements from Mike Pence contending that FBI failure “must stop,” or that it should have any effect on the bureau’s budget. According to Christopher Wray, that budget now tops $10.8 billion, including “a total of $10.7 billion for salaries and expenses, which will support 36,945 positions.”

More recent episodes call into question FBI dedication to the Constitution and the rule of law. According to former FBI director Louis Freeh, the rule of law is the “only beacon” for the FBI. That is hard to square with FBI election interference under James Comey. 

With her unsecured homebrew server and destruction of subpoenaed emails, Hillary Clinton violated federal law. But Comey said no reasonable prosecutor would pursue the case, and the FBI launched the Midyear Exam operation to keep Clinton in the presidential race. FBI-favored candidates Clinton and Tim Kaine lost to Donald Trump and Mike Pence, but there was more to the FBI’s meddling. 

The FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane operation targeted candidate and President Trump. As Julie Kelly recalls, the FBI framed General Michael Flynn, misled the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance court, doctored correspondence, and used a fake dossier against Trump and his allies. In the style of the Soviet KGB, politicians pointed out the man and the FBI created the crime.

FBI boss Christopher Wray is all-in with the idea that anyone less than worshipful of Joe Biden is a violent extremist and domestic terrorist. The bureau raids the home of Donald Trump, ripping off his passports and rummaging through Melania’s clothes, yet Mike Pence has a beef with those who “attack” the FBI by lawful budgetary means? Embattled Americans may be forgiven for thinking that Pence is just as wrong as those who remain uncritical of the FBI.

The former vice president, a devout Christian, did not publicly cite Bible verses against the FBI critics. The targets of current FBI operations, on the other hand, have grounds to ponder Matthew 10:36: “A man’s foes shall be they of his own household.” 

A former president’s foes include the man who ran who ran at his side, and prominent members of his own party. The most formidable foes of the American people are the agencies of their own government. None is a more clear and present danger than the Federal Bureau of Investigation. 

Biden’s Iran Appeasement Has Always Been About Personal Legacy, Not National Security

For Biden, the rabid obsession with securing a new nuclear agreement isn’t based on global security so much as it is his personal legacy.

Shawn Fleetwood reporting for The Federalist

President Joe Biden is considering whether to grant Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, a known mass murderer and human rights abuser, a visa request in order for the Iranian leader to enter the U.S. and speak at the United Nations (UN) General Assembly meeting in New York next month.

As the Associated Press reported, Raisi is among the nearly 160 world leaders who “say they plan to attend September’s first totally in-person gathering” at the UN General Assembly “since the COVID-19 pandemic began in early 2020,” with additional leaders on the provisional list of speakers including “U.S. President Joe Biden, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, [and] King Abdullah II of Jordan,” among many others.

“[I]t’s clear from the provisional speakers list released [on July 18] that over 80% of leaders of the U.N.’s 193 member nations want to address the annual gathering in person and engage in many of the off-the-record meetings and conversations where a lot of international business is conducted,” the report reads.

In light of Raisi’s purported plans to attend the upcoming summit, a delegation of Republican senators comprised of Marco Rubio and Rick Scott of Florida, Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst of Iowa, Ted Cruz of Texas, Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, and Tom Cotton of Arkansas has since pressured Biden to deny the Iranian leader a visa to enter the U.S., with the group highlighting Raisi’s horrendous human rights record and the Iranian regime’s recent efforts to assassinate U.S. officials.

“Raisi’s involvement in mass murder and the Iranian regime’s campaign to assassinate U.S. officials on American soil make allowing Raisi and his henchmen to enter our country an inexcusable threat to national security,” the senators wrote in a letter. “If recent reports are true that Raisi plans to attend the UN General Assembly, the White House must deny Raisi and other Iranian officials visas to attend.  Allowing Raisi to travel to the United States—while his agents actively work to assassinate senior American officials on U.S. soil—would gravely endanger our national security, given the likely presence of [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] agents in the Iranian delegation.”

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who along with former National Security Adviser John Bolton were targets of Iranian assassination plots, issued similar remarks, telling the Washington Free Beacon that the Biden administration “is allowing [Iranian terrorits] to come to New York City while actively engaged in efforts to kill Americans on U.S. soil.”

“The Iranians just recently sponsored an attack that was almost successful in killing an American in [New York],” he said referencing the apparent Iranian assassination attempt on British author Salman Rushdie. “We can do better.”

Back in 2019, Raisi was among numerous Iranian government officials sanctioned by the Trump administration “for advancing Iran’s radical agenda.” During his time as the head of Iran’s judiciary, Raisi held “administrative oversight over the executions of individuals who were juveniles at the time of their crime,” as well as the “torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment of prisoners in Iran, including amputations.”

When pressed by The Federalist on whether the administration plans to grant Raisi and his delegation visas to enter the United States, a Biden State Department official declined to provide a definitive answer on the matter, claiming that “visa records are confidential under U.S. law” and that the United States must fulfill its previously made commitments to the UN.

“As host nation of the UN, the United States is generally obligated under the UN Headquarters Agreement to facilitate travel to the UN headquarters district by representatives of UN member states. We take our obligations under the UN Headquarters Agreement seriously,” the representative said. “At the same time, the Biden Administration has not and will not waver in protecting and defending all Americans against threats of violence and terrorism.”

As noted in the agreement cited by the administration, however, the United States retains the authority to protect its national security.

“Nothing in the [UN Headquarters] agreement shall be construed as in any way diminishing, abridging, or weakening the right of the United States to safeguard its own security and completely to control the entrance of aliens into any territory of the United States other than the headquarters district and its immediate vicinity,” the document reads.

Biden Caters to Iran

While Biden’s refusal to bar Raisi from entering the U.S. is foolish, it’s not surprising. Since taking office over a year and a half ago, Biden and his team have repeatedly worked to appease Iran’s authoritarian leadership as a means of coercing Tehran into signing a new nuclear deal.

Earlier this year, for instance, the Biden administration notified Congress that it had “restored so-called ‘civ-nuke’ waivers,” on Iran, which would allow for “non-American companies to work on civilian nuclear projects” in the Middle Eastern country “without drawing retaliation from the US government.” Moreover, the administration also reportedly took action in October 2021 to lift sanctions on two Iranian entities “involved in the military missile programs.”

As reported by The Hill, “The sanctions, targeting the Mammut Industrial Group (Mammut Industries) and its subsidiary Mammut Diesel, were originally imposed by the Trump administration in September 2020 as part of efforts to increase a maximum pressure campaign of sanctions on Tehran over its nuclear activity and actions in the region criticized as malign and destabilizing.”

Personal Legacy over Security

While it’s not shocking for Biden to make a major foreign policy blunder given his disastrous presidency thus far, the reckless push for a new Iran deal reeks of something different than simply pure incompetence. For Biden, the rabid obsession with securing a new nuclear agreement — no matter its efficacy in containing Iran’s push for nuclear weapons — isn’t based on global security so much as it is his personal legacy.

Unlike his predecessor, who brought peace in the Middle East through numerous treaties between Arab states, Biden’s foreign policy in the region has been a complete disaster. In addition to his appeasement of Iran, Biden also botched the United States’ withdrawal from Afghanistan, leaving behind hundreds of American citizens and billions of dollars worth of military equipment for the Taliban to use against the Afghan people.

For Biden, getting Iran to sign on to a new nuclear deal would mean covering up his failure in Afghanistan and stamping his name in the textbooks of history as the president who managed to tame the beast of the Middle East known as Iran. Like any other policy issued by the Biden administration, it doesn’t matter how effective any new deal would be at stopping Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, or whether Tehran would abide by such an agreement. So long as he gives the appearance of “doing something,” it seems Biden couldn’t care less what the long-term effect of any deal is.

At the end of the day, the lesson for Iran is this: You can plot to assassinate U.S. officials, fund terrorism across the globe, threaten to wipe Israel off the map, and Joe Biden still might roll out the red carpet for you at the United Nations to spew anti-Western propaganda for the world to hear.

Thune

posted by Sundance at Conservative Treehouse 

I have been requested to advise on South Dakota John Thune against the backdrop of the upper chamber priorities nearing the election.  It’s a good topic for review.

One of the more challenging facets to awakening the general public on the scale of corruption within Washington DC is the need for people to drop party designations.

This is never truer than within the U.S. Senate where the mistaken “us -vs- them” perspective remains a pesky hurdle.

The blue team and red team are mirror images of themselves.  They are not opposites, they are mirrored – a big difference.

The policy objective is the same, the business model within DC (K Street) benefits the upper chamber the most.

Within this dynamic Mitch McConnell is the mirror image of Harry Reid.  Mitch has been grooming his replacement for a long time; that replacement is John Thune. Senator Thune is in a position that demands stealth.  Ideologically, think of John Thune as the mirror image of Gavin Newsom.  They are not opposites, they are mirrored – a big difference.

The system of affluence and influence has been created to self-sustain regardless of party affiliation. The Senate is one club with one ideological perspective. Within that club rule #1 dominates: none of the members will ever expose another member. So, when there is corrupt activity within the Senate no-one from within the institution will expose another. This is the code of Omerta within the upper chamber.  This is the way of the “my good friend” Senate and how it operates.

Current Senate Leader Mitch McConnell has a leadership group who carry out the institutional objectives of the upper chamber as a body, they include: Senator John Thune (whip); Senator John Barrasso (conference chair); Roy Blunt (committee chair); Todd Young (NRSC chair); Jodi Ernst (conference vice-chair); and Chuck Grassley (president pro tempore). None of these senators make a move publicly without approval from Leader McConnell.

In August of 2020, before the presidential election, Senate Whip John Thune rebuked the mail-in ballot concerns expressed by President Trump. Thune did this because ultimately the objectives of the upper chamber were more favorably aligned if President Trump was removed.

WASHINGTON DC – […] Asked if he agreed with the president’s repeated charges that mailed-in balloting will lead to a “rigged election” and “massive voter fraud,” the Senate majority whip told reporters, “I don’t.”

“Mailed-in voting has been used in a lot of places for a long time and, honestly, we’ve got a lot of folks that, as you know, they’re investing heavily in trying … to win that war. It’s always a war too for mail-in ballots. Both sides compete, and it’s always an area where I think our side, at least in my experience, has done pretty well,” Thune answered, adding: “I think we want to assure people it’s going to work, it’s secure and if they vote that way it’s going to count.” (read more)

(L-R) Barrasso, Blunt, McConnell, Thune and Ernst.

Senator Thune is one of the primary beneficiaries of Big Ag spending and Wall Street money.  Thune is the ‘whip’ of McConnell.  Thune is second in Big Ag contributions, with Senator Chuck Grassley being first.

Late December, 2021, the New York Times reported {LINK} that South Dakota Senator John Thune, the heir apparent to Senate Leader Mitch McConnell, was considering retiring because the Trump influence, the MAGA base, was not in alignment with his corporate and Wall Street donor class worldview.

Those who have watched closely know Senator Mitch McConnell has positioned Senator Thune to take over in the Senate (zipper problems not withstanding).  The Machiavellian purpose of the positioning is to put Thune in place as a line of defense to protect the interest of the political establishment and the aligned Fourth Branch of Government.

Now, follow this sequence closely….

January 8, 2022, the New York Times announced that Thune was indeed going to run for reelection {LINK}. “Senator John Thune of South Dakota, the second-ranking Senate Republican, announced on Saturday that he would seek re-election, after an aggressive lobbying campaign by colleagues prompted him to put aside concerns about the future of his party and pursue a fourth term.”

January 9, 2022, the usually invisible other Senator from South Dakota, Senator Mike Rounds, appears on ABC This Week with George Stephanopoulos, to undermine Donald Trump and say the former president “could be prosecuted” for his involvement in the J6 terrorist attack “if the DOJ has evidence.” [PROMPTED]

You never usually see this guy Mike Rounds…. who happens to sit on the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee…  yet suddenly, the day after Thune makes his reelection bid public, Senator Rounds sticks his head out of his hole to undermine Donald Trump?

Thune, South Dakota.  Rounds, South Dakota.  Who else,…. Kristi Noem, South Dakota.

Governor Kristi Noem is the Koch Brothers version of Nikki Haley.  A Wall Street donor favorite and open border immigration advocate who has been positioned to be a potential Republican candidate for 2024.  An approved republican candidate.

DeceptiCons: Anti-Trump. Arrest Trump. Prosecute Trump.  Thune replaces McConnell.  DeSantis/Noem for 2024.

You often hear people wonder why the GOP doesn’t push-back against the Democrats.  The reason is simple, the GOP are the right wing of the UniParty bird, the Democrats are the left wing.  They are mirror images of each other.

Both clubs are attached to the body of big corrupt corporatist government.

Watch the trade front.  Watch international trade, economics, banking and multinational corporation influence.   That’s the ‘trillions are at stake,’ and that’s where the opposition to everything MAGA comes from.

[ Reminder – June, 2015  ]