The Debate Debacle Changes Nothing

posted by Kurt Schlichter at Townhall 

I had resolved not to watch last Thursday night’s debate because I didn’t think it would change anything, and I was right to the extent that it didn’t change anything for me. I already knew President Crusty was a sundowning desiccated old weirdo. But it changed things for people who were on the fence or not paying attention. That’s not going to matter, though. Joe Biden is not going anywhere. 

The fact is that Joe Biden is the nominee, and he will remain the nominee. By the next morning, the rallying and rationalization were in full effect. Obama tweeted about how it’s all going to be OK. So did many others after the deathwatch that was the immediate post-debate analysis on the communist channels. And they believe their revised spin. It’s remarkable how easily you can convince yourself of what you want to be convinced of. Denial is not just a river in Egypt; it’s now the official Democrat campaign strategy.

What choice do they have? The Geezer Golem is not going anywhere. Here’s the thing – Joe Biden doesn’t think he did badly. Joe Biden thinks he did great. The people around him are all telling him he did great, starting with his harridan wife. This echo chamber of idiocy reinforces his determination that he is a visionary megamind whose presence blesses the benighted American people. He thinks he’s a genius. In fact, Joe Biden is an idiot and has always been an idiot. And it’s all downhill on the IQ Bell Curve from here.

Don’t bother appealing to his better nature. He never had one and won’t get one now. No one will convince him to look at his deteriorating electoral prospects objectively and sacrifice his ambitions for the “greater good.” To Joe Biden, he is the greater good.

Crusty has the delegates to win the nomination. They won’t go away simply because his terrible debate performance showed him to be a decrepit, sundowning weirdo. Nope, they are still in his pocket, and he will use them. Until Obama threw in behind him, there was a chance that delegations of respected Democrats (sic) would come to the Oval Office to plead with him that he needed to drop out for the good of the party. Without the Big O pushing it, that will never happen. But even if it did, Biden would reject their entreaties – especially from Obama. This is a guy who still looks at Obama, a one-term senator with a fraction of his experience before picking Joe as a vice president to reassure the normals back in 2008, as an uppity interloper who cut in line ahead of him and had the temerity to treat His Bidenness as an inferior. 

Of course, that is based on Joe’s manifest inferiority, but no matter. You have a narcissist’s wounded ego at play, and he will never back down. For years, Barack Obama has run down Joe Biden privately and humiliated him in public, including by guiding him off-stage at that Hollywood fundraiser like the President was a short bus-riding toddler. Joe Biden hates the idea that people think he is being controlled by Barack Obama from behind the curtain.

It’s ego, combined with stupidity and senility, and that is quite a combination. Add to that the fact that Very Real Doctor Jill Biden and a whole bunch of straphangers depend on Joe Biden being President for their position, power, and prestige. They don’t want to go anywhere either. They have no choice but to play this out. It’s not like they can go get real jobs.

So, Biden has rejected the calls that he drop out and the regime media obediently came around. What can they do? Rationalization. They have started to rationalize that his debate wasn’t really that bad. Joe had a cold. How about that stutter? You know, Trump is a big liar. Emotions and passions settled, and they told themselves that this really wasn’t the total disaster that everyone admitted it was the night of the debacle.

They are telling themselves – and us – that it really wasn’t that bad. But it was that bad because this was the one time that normal people paid attention. Folks like us watch this stuff 24/7. We knew long ago that Joe Biden was a mere husk of a man. We’ve watched videos of him stumbling and stagger around for the last few years. None of this was a surprise to us. It simply reconfirmed what we already knew. But normal people are different. Normal people were not paying attention before the debate. They sensed that Joe Biden was old, but lots of people are old. Trump is kind of old, but he seems fine, right? 

And then we have this debate, and now normal people are paying attention and holy cow! They see that the regime media and the administration have been lying because this guy is not well. This guy puts the crepit in decrepit. He’s a mess and there’s no covering it up. Even the regime media had to admit it, at least for the first few painful hours. Now they are back to cheerleading the star of America’s real-life “Weekend At Bernie’s” reboot. The image of this guy senile cretin is stamped onto the electorate’s collective consciousness. Watch for his polls to plunge – if they poll it. 

Leftists would prefer a senile leftist to a competent, capable conservative, but what are they going to do? Ol’ Daddyshowers won’t go voluntarily, and they can’t force him out. But even if he agreed to cancel his cantankerous candidacy, what would they do? Who are they going to put in? Kamala Harris? They have to – she’s a woman-identifying being of color. How do you step over her for pallor penis-person Governor Gavin Hairstyle? Maybe they could pick Gretchen Whitmer, that frigid Karen from Michigan, and let the shrill white lady come along to save us from the failed black woman. That’s an image they just can’t have. 

And no, Michelle Obama will not drop in like the 82nd Airborne to save the day. She doesn’t want to be President, and frankly, she’s not that good. There’s this image of her as somehow beloved, a figure like Oprah, but who digs her who isn’t already in the bag for Biden? She’s tiresome, entitled, and she can barely conceal her contempt for her fellow Americans, among other things. Can you imagine her on that debate stage? She’s unimpressive and annoying. And as for all of these post-Biden options, how would any of them distinguish what he/she/xe would do from what Joe Biden would do? Which one closes the border? Helps Israel? Tells the trans perverts to shut their traps? “All the failure of the Biden years, just without Joe Biden!” is hardly an inspirational slogan.

It won’t happen. There are no more smoke-filled rooms where party potentates dictate who gets to be President this time. The Democrats decided to democratize their primary nominating system and, well, it worked. They’re stuck with Dementia Boy. Heck, they must officially nominate him by August 7th or no Democrat gets on the Ohio ballot. It’s just too late to do anything else, even if Joe Biden was inclined to quit for the good of the party and the country. But he is not inclined as Joe Biden has never done anything for anyone who wasn’t named “Biden.” He will never sacrifice his ego for an abstract notion of party loyalty or patriotism. Nope, the Democrats are stuck. And it is hilarious.

X22, And we Know, and more- July 1st

 

Biden’s Failing Brain Exposes Deep State Treachery

posted by J.B. Shurk at American Thinker 

I know the country’s going to hell in a handbasket.  Inflation is killing working-class families.  Illegal immigrants are raping and murdering little girls.  “Woke” corporations are pushing “transgender” madness on young children.  Public schools are telling students that they will not survive the “climate apocalypse.”  Biden and the build back better buffoons in control of Western governments are doing everything they can to drag us into WWIII.  Still, if you are a Trump supporter who believes the status quo must go, Thursday’s presidential debate was awfully fun.

Perhaps you couldn’t bring yourself to watch the event “live” because you knew CNN was going to do everything it could to prop Biden up and tear Trump down.  If that is the case, then surely you were happy to awaken the next morning and find your usual newsfeed filled with two types of headlines: one recognizing Trump’s winning performance and the other recounting Biden’s total humiliation.  For all of you suffering daily out there, I hope the words provided momentary relief. 

You knew that Biden lost his marbles long ago, but the propaganda press has been telling the world that he’s just fine for years.  For those people who rely upon Deep State programmers to tell them what to believe, seeing Biden disintegrate on the debate stage must have been stunning.  Mainstream news corporations have been covering up Biden’s mental infirmities for so long that too many Americans watched Biden struggle to form sentences for the first time.  Just as reporters in the first half of the twentieth century lied to the American people about FDR’s reliance upon a wheelchair, reporters in the first quarter of the twenty-first century have lied to the American people about Biden’s debilitating dementia.  On June 27, the lid on journalists’ barrel of Biden-protecting lies shot right off.

Not even halfway through Biden’s debate disaster, his communications people were spreading a new lie — that he was suffering from a cold — to explain away his enfeebled and bewildered presence on stage.  Maybe that desperate excuse would have worked on some of his most partisan supporters had Crooked Joe just gotten back from a whirlwind global tour during which he had spoken before several foreign parliaments and helped negotiate world peace, but the guy had been hiding away at Camp David for over a week!  When you first tell the public that you are unable to perform your presidential duties and prepare for a debate at the same time and then tell them that your weeklong debate camp destroyed your immune system, you aren’t in a position to inspire sympathy.  How nice it would be for every blue-collar worker suffering from a cold to be able to take a full week off for some rest and relaxation in a taxpayer-funded vacation home without losing any pay in this lousy economy!

No, the only thing the “Joe has a cold” lie accomplished was to make people wonder whether a simple virus could also explain Kamala Harris’s cognitive handicaps.  It is no secret that some very stupid people have risen to the heights of power in the American government.  A cynic might speculate that the bureaucratic Deep State and national security surveillance State prefer Potemkin “leaders” who can be easily manipulated and controlled.  Still, with Biden and Harris occupying the top two leadership spots at the same time, the American people feel as if they have been forced to watch another unwatchable Dumb and Dumber movie that refuses to come to an end.  While The New York Times and D.C.’s polite society have pretended that Old Joe and Cackling Kamala have “restored dignity” to the White House, ordinary Americans have been shaking their heads all along at two of the most dull-witted morons ever to putatively obtain the reins of power.  The presidential debate simply confirmed that Dumb and Dumber are not running the government; those two can’t even answer basic questions without discombobulating.

If the two figureheads catapulted into high office by mail-in-ballot fraud aren’t running things, then who the hell is?  Is it the cabal of Marxist military chiefs promoted not for their intellect and skill but rather for their compliance with DIE foolishness?  Is it the collection of spooks and assassins enjoying unchecked power and limitless black budgets over at the CIA?  Is it the elite club of investment bankers who print money and manipulate markets while riding roughshod over central banks?  Is it the small number of financial powerhouses such as BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street that manage trillions of dollars in assets all over the world?  Is it the gaggle of billionaires such as Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and Elon Musk who buy and sell entire industries as if they were trinkets from a garage sale?  

Whoever might be running the United States, it is certainly not anyone elected by the American people.  If that were not obvious before 2016, it quickly became so once the Deep State engaged in an ongoing coup d’état against President Trump and replaced any vestigial respect for the will of voters with a criminal enterprise allowing political operatives to print, fill out, collect, and count as many ballots as necessary for “victory.”

What I find amazing is this: even with all the power and privileges that the arrayed oligarchs above possess, they remain palpably terrified of Donald J. Trump.  America’s vast and unconstitutional administrative State and vast and unconstitutional surveillance State have been in charge of the permanent government for so long that all the unelected officials who rule over us lose their minds at the thought of an outsider reclaiming the president’s Article II authority.  The central bank money-printers, multinational conglomerates, and globalist powerbrokers who have controlled U.S. politicians and officials like puppets on strings since at least WWII are so worried that the American people might re-elect a leader willing to represent Americans’ interests, rather than those of the global plutocracy, that they use all their corporate assets to thwart Trump’s return.  As much as their nefarious efforts to rig the 2024 election in favor of Dumb and Dumber reflect an undeniable apprehension that President Trump cannot be bought or intimidated into submission, they also serve as flashing lights signaling to the American people that the “invincible” and “all-powerful” Establishment Blob is, in fact, vulnerable and afraid.

I want that fact to sink into the minds of the American people.  Too much of the time, American patriots dedicated to reclaiming lost liberties and preserving the Bill of Rights throw their hands in the air and give up the fight.  Because we have flown through relatively calm skies for so long, many mistake turbulence for certain defeat.  However, just as pilots take flak when nearest to their intended targets, citizens endure the greatest hardships when the ruling Establishment most fears a loss of control.  President Trump is a man with singular fortitude and an uncanny ability to get under the Deep State’s serpentine skin.  However much anxiety he causes those who really run the U.S. government, though, it is his hundred million supporters who scare them to death.  Remember that.  Legitimate, stable governments do not need to quash dissent, censor speech, or imprison political enemies.  Failing systems do.  And the more they do so, the more vulnerable they reveal themselves to be.

After Biden’s disastrous debate, The New York Times is calling for him to be booted from the Dumb and Dumber ticket.  White House staffers are so traumatized that they refuse to show up for work.  Globalist allies are urging the U.S. Deep State to do something…anything!…to preserve their incipient new world order.  These are acts of desperation from a shadow government that knows it has been wholly exposed.

Never Let Anyone Forget How The Media Lied To The World About Joe Biden

posted by Derek Hunter at Townhall 

Honestly, I didn’t think Joe Biden would do well during the first presidential debate, but I would not have bet money that he would have pulled the equivalent of repeatedly smacking himself in the face with a frying pan. I can’t stand the man and I almost felt bad for him. Almost. 

Rather than Atlanta, that debate should have taken place in a toilet. That’s where the material making up the kind of show Biden puts on ends up, except in Democrat-controlled cities, but you can’t hold a debate in the middle of the street. 

But there is one group of people at least as responsible for Biden’s humiliation as he was: the media. 

For 4 years, advocates for international surrender, the slaughter of Jews, the mutilation of children’s genitals, open borders and the carnage that comes with it, and complete bankruptcy, both financially and morally, have sworn on the lives of their families that Joe Biden is whip-smart. When the cameras aren’t around, and no one is looking, he's just this side of a Jeopardy champion when it comes to intellect. 

As we all saw Thursday night, he couldn’t solve a Wheel of Fortune puzzle if it were his name only missing a “B” and the category was “Current Presidents.” 

Those liars with press passes and inflated egos (honestly, I know many of them and they truly are awful) insisted Joe Biden was not only up to the job, he was almost too smart for it. 

It’s hard to pick an example of the left-wing press giving Biden a tongue bath about how smart he is, but I’ll use MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough. “Morning Joe” is in mourning now, but just 3 months ago they were riding high on their own supply – proud they were the official morning narrative reinforcement for Biden, and he even called Joe and Mika sometimes for advice. (Imagine those 2 plastic surgery disasters being your go-to for anything other than cautionary tales of when to stop implants and injections or how not to make a marriage work.)

In March, Joe swore to MSNBC viewers, “Start your tape right now because I’m about to tell you the truth. And f-you if you can’t handle the truth,” he started, which sounds like he was admitting he doesn’t normally tell his audience the truth, but was going to make an exception this time. He continued, “This version of Biden, intellectually, analytically, is the best Biden ever. Not a close second. And I’ve known him for years. … If it weren’t the truth, I wouldn’t say it.”

While 3 months is a lifetime in politics, it’s not when it comes to the initial onset of dementia. Joe was lying. He was lying to his audience as a whole, and to the audience of one they so often pander to. 

Biden has always been dumb – that’s just history, look it up – but dementia has added a new level of confusion that has been obvious to everyone since 2019. Joe Scarborough saying, “If it weren’t the truth, I wouldn’t say it,” is rich because he told it expressly for the fact that it wasn’t true. 

Now he’s saying Biden has to go.

They all chose to vouch for Biden, and they thought they could get away with it. They knew the truth, they made it their business to keep that truth from their audience. Literally every employee at NBC News and MSNBC willingly lied to their viewers, every MSNBC personality chose the progressive agenda over the trust of their audience. 

Do I think it will matter in terms of ratings? Only a little. Rachel Maddow has been lying to her audience consistently for a decade and they don’t care. Like a fat person modeling clothes in a circus mirror, their audience wants to be lied to. If they stuck with them through the Russia hoax and the Mueller Report torpedoing years of lies didn’t impact their viewers, this won’t.

But everyone else, normal people, see what they did. They need to be reminded of it, too. 

People move on; and forget. Don’t let them. These media outlets are unworthy of trust, reminding people of that. They swore “In private, Joe is energetic and on the ball,” like the debate would have gone differently if no one were allowed to watch or listen to it. Enlist people to send Biden into that private world, so he can live the rest of his life with the knowledge that the American people have roundly rejected him and his policies, and that he has cemented his legacy as the most worthy President in US history. Let him choke on that.

🎭 𝐖𝟑𝐏 𝓓𝓐𝓘𝓛𝓨 𝓗𝓾𝓶𝓸𝓻, 𝓜𝓾𝓼𝓲𝓬, 𝓐𝓻𝓽, 𝓞𝓟𝓔𝓝 𝓣𝓗𝓡𝓔𝓐𝓓

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The 𝐖𝟑𝐏 𝓓𝓐𝓘𝓛𝓨 𝓗𝓾𝓶𝓸𝓻, 𝓜𝓾𝓼𝓲𝓬, 𝓐𝓻𝓽, 𝓞𝓟𝓔𝓝 𝓣𝓗𝓡𝓔𝓐𝓓 

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Key Installer James Clyburn Says Brilliant Joe Biden Was Too Prepared for Debate

posted by Sundance at Conservative Treehouse 

There are two people with the juice to immediately remove Joe Biden from office, Barack Obama and James Clyburn.  Not coincidentally, these are the two people who joined forces just before Super-Tuesday 2020 to select Joe and instructed/threatened all the other Democrat candidates to exit the Presidential primary.  If either Obama or Clyburn publicly say Biden’s done, then Biden’s gone within 24 hrs.

Clyburn’s role in the installation of Obama delivered a massive amount of influence and affluence to him and his family.  Clyburn is cashing in on his role within the DNC and Democrat Party apparatus.  As a result, Clyburn and Obama should be considered the majority investors in Biden, and it is worth paying close attention to what the South Carolina representative says about his Biden investment portfolio.

This morning Clyburn appears on CNN to tell debate co-moderator Dana Bash, that with Biden’s mental acuity, there’s nothing to see here – move along, move along.  The effervescent Joe Biden was simply too overloaded with debate preparation information.  WATCH (2:43 prompted): 

The ever-intellectual Joe Biden, the true source of Corn-Pop’s black enlightenment and savior of black youth civil rights, has stitched up the hole in his marble bag and returned to Mount Brilliant.  Swear.  James Clyburn said it, so it must be true.

Former WH Photographer Spills the Beans, Details How Biden Aides Hide His Decline From the Public

Bob Hoge reporting for RedState 

The dam is crumbling. On Saturday, we brought you the story about how some officials admitted anonymously that Joe Biden is “dependably engaged” during the hours of 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.—before or after that, not so much. It’s called “sundowning,” and it’s not what you look for in a commander-in-chief.

Now a new report Sunday describes more tactics used by the Biden inner circle to shield the declining president from the scrutiny of the press or even the White House staff.

The most damning of the allegations comes this time not from secret sources but from former White House deputy director of photography Chandler West, who posted a post-debate Instagram story that was sharply critical of his former boss. Axios reporter Alex Thompson writes that the outlet has obtained the screenshots:

West argued that it was time for the president to walk away:

"It's time for Joe to go." That's what Chandler West, the White House's deputy director of photography from January 2021 to May 2022, wrote in an Instagram story after the debate.

"I know many of these people and how the White House operates. They will say he has a 'cold' or just experienced a 'bad night,' but for weeks and months, in private, they have all said what we saw last night — Joe is not as strong as he was just a couple of years ago," West wrote, according to screenshots obtained by Axios.

Reached by phone, West said he wrote the post because "the debate was not the first bad day, and it's not gonna be the last." He declined to comment further.

Meanwhile, West doesn’t look like a scary mega MAGA white supremacist fascist to me:

The report goes on to list how First Lady Jill and her closest advisers keep the president protected:

Biden's behavior stunned many in the White House in part because Biden's closest aides — often led by Jill Biden's top aide, Anthony Bernal, and deputy chief of staff Annie Tomasini — took steps early in his term to essentially rope off the president.

Even the White House's residence staff, which serves the first family in the mansion's living quarters, has been kept at arm's length.

A former residence official told Axios that Jill Biden was "so protective of the president, and then Anthony just protects her, and they often wouldn't let us do anything for them."

"The separation between the family and the residence staff was so big, so divided," the former official said. "It's not supposed to be and usually isn't, even in the Trump White House."

In one troubling incident, Biden appeared to feel overheated, although the White House denies there was anything sinister about this episode:

On July 4, 2021, Biden hosted a party on the South Lawn in which he declared "independence" from the coronavirus pandemic.

It was a hot day and after hours outside, Biden went back into the White House through the Diplomatic Room, and then into the nearby Map Room.

Biden sat down and the door was abruptly shut as Biden's aides blocked the White House butlers and residence staff from aiding the president.

They suggested to the staffers that the president was just a little overheated. But the episode left residence staff feeling like his close aides were creating a barrier around anything possibly related to the president's health, the former official said.

The thing about a dam is, once it breaks there's not a whole lot you can do about it but get out of the way and wait for everything to come out. What was once a White House wall of secrecy surrounding Joe Biden's mental health is starting to crumble, and I expect many other revelations to soon pour out.

Headlines from this Country Prove How Little Respect They Have for Joe Biden

Sarah Arnold reporting for Townhall 

President Joe Biden is far from the strong leader the United States needs. His weaknesses toward foreign countries have allowed them to attack and take advantage of the nation and have shown world leaders how frail he is, refusing to take charge. 

Biden’s Thursday night shaky debate performance was no exception. 

Media outlets worldwide mocked the 81-year-old’s declining health and stamina, with one particular headline predicting that Biden is paving the path for a Trump victory. 

Italian newspaper La Repubblica called the first presidential debate between Biden and former President Donald Trump “a disaster for the Democratic Party.” 

The country has a reputation for mocking Biden’s repeated gaffes and mishaps. 

Earlier this year, an Italian television station aired a skit mocking Biden and his cognitive decline, proving the entire world is laughing at the U.S. President. 

Meanwhile, La Repubblica claimed that Biden has “no chance of being re-elected,” after appearing next to a robust-looking Trump with a “hoarse voice from a cold, stiff, uncertain, and at times stammering.” 

“Biden gave a fragile, uncertain, tense image of himself,” the outlet continued. 

The Italian newspaper urged First Lady Jill Biden to convince her husband to drop out of the 2024 race, adding that Trump “gives a better image of himself.” 

Another Italian outlet, Corriere della Sera, stated that Biden confirmed what the headlines have been saying about his health since day one of his presidency— that the octogenarian president is too weak and old to effectively serve in office. 

More from the newspaper: 

Biden’s difficulties were so evident that they did not require underlining, which would even have been counterproductive. [Thursday night’s] performance shattered any illusions: Biden failed to be convincing even on abortion, the Democratic campaign's battle cry. Biden's determination to move forward remains a proud obstinacy that risks pushing the US into a dead end. [Biden] confirmed the worst fears about his stability by speaking in a low and hoarse voice, reacting with little energy to Trump's burning accusations, often breaking his sentences and giving in at least two cases the impression of having lost the thread of his speech.

The president’s shaky performance has ignited panic in some Democrats. With just over a month until the Democratic National Convention (DNC), the Left faces two risky options: keep Biden in the race or replace him. 

Even die-hard Democrats admitted there were “too many difficulties to be ignored” during the debate. 

Iran Warns of ‘Obliterating War’ If Israel Attacks Lebanon

Sarah Arnold reporting for Townhall 

The Iranian UN mission wrote on X that if Israel launched attacks on Hezbollah, “all options, including the full involvement of all resistance fronts, are on the table.”

In response, Foreign Minister Israel Katz said “If Hezbollah does not cease its fire and withdraw from southern Lebanon, we will act against it with full force until security is restored and residents can return to their homes.”

The escalating conflict between the two countries amid the ongoing war prompted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to warn of “very intense action.”

The warning came after the Israel Defense Force attacked several Hezbollah positions, in response to the Iran-backed terror group’s latest barrage on northern Israel hours earlier, amid escalating tensions on the Lebanese border. Iran itself also launched an unprecedented missile-and-drone strike on Israel on April 14, two weeks after an alleged Israel airstrike near Tehran’s embassy in Damascus killed several senior officers of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Israel evacuated much of its north, fearing Hezbollah, Iran’s proxy in Lebanon, would carry out a similar attack. Via Times of Israel 

Earlier this month, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said “no place” in Israel would be safe from the terrorist group’s attack, adding that Hezbollah would fight with “no rules” and “no ceilings.”

In May, Netanyahu said that Israel is “prepared for very intense action in the north.”

Multiple EU Military Bases Put on High Alert as USIC Develops Strategic Distraction Plans to Change Subject From Biden

posted by Sundance at Conservative Treehouse 

United States military bases in Italy, Germany, Bulgaria and Romania have been put on high alert with a potential terrorist related threat event eminent.  Given the nature of domestic USA politics, in combination with the catastrophic results about to come from France, the timing of some form of Intelligence Community (IC) event would make sense.

The IC has two wings, DHS (domestically) and CIA (internationally).  Distracting people away from the problems the IC faces within the Joe Biden collapse would be a paramount objective this upcoming week.

DHS goals – domestically (borders etc) – could be tripped up by Biden trouble, and CIA goals – internationally (Ukraine etc) – could be tripped up by Biden trouble.

If there was a created crisis (ie. false flag) in the EU, whatever it is would likely involve framing something to either: (a) give the appearance of Russia triggering the event; or (b) create something that draws out a response from Russia.

EUROPE – Several U.S. military bases across Europe were put on a heightened state of alert over the weekend, with the level of force protection raised to its second-highest state amid concerns that a terrorist attack could target U.S. military personnel or facilities, according to two U.S. officials.

The bases, including the U.S. Army garrison in Stuttgart, Germany where U.S. European Command is headquartered, raised their alert level to Force Protection Condition “Charlie” on Sunday, the officials said.

That status “applies when an incident occurs or intelligence is received indicating some form of terrorist action or targeting against personnel or facilities is likely,” according to the U.S. Army.

One of the U.S. officials, who is stationed at a base in Europe, told CNN they haven’t seen this threat level “in at least 10 years,” and said it usually means the military has received an “active-reliable threat.”

Asked about the shift, a spokesperson for U.S. European Command, Cdr. Dan Day, declined to comment on specific force protection levels. But he told CNN that USEUCOM is “constantly assessing a variety of factors that play into the safety of U.S. military community abroad. As part of that effort, we often times take additional steps to ensure the safety of our service members. For operational security reasons we will not get into specific measures, but we remain vigilant.” (read more)

Supreme Court Set To Issue ‘Rule for the Ages’ on Trump’s Immunity That Could Reshape 2024 Race

 The case turns on whether a former president is entitled to legal immunity for official acts undertaken while in office.

One justice, Neil Gorsuch, has said that he is contemplating issuing a “rule for the ages.”  

https://www.nysun.com/article/supreme-court-set-to-issue-rule-for-the-ages-on-trumps-immunity-that-could-reshape-2024-race

The Supreme Court is on Monday — the final day of its term — set to hand down a ruling on the scope of presidential immunity that could reshape the 2024 presidential race along with the legal protections afforded America’s highest office. One justice, Neil Gorsuch, has said that he is contemplating issuing a “rule for the ages.”  

The case before the court, Trump v. United States, turns on whether a former president is entitled to immunity for official acts undertaken while in office. President Trump contends that such immunity is “absolute,” and that impeachment, not the criminal law, is the mechanism to restrain malfeasance.

Special Counsel Jack Smith, though, urges the justices to adopt a narrower understanding of immunity. He writes that the “Framers never endorsed criminal immunity for a former President, and all Presidents from the Founding to the modern era have known that after leaving office they faced potential criminal liability.” 

Mr. Smith is aiming for a ruling where the high court rejects what he calls Trump’s “radical suggestion” of boundless immunity for official acts. The special counel warns that such a position would “free the President from virtually all criminal law — even crimes such as bribery, murder, treason, and sedition.” Trump warns that a parsimonious understanding of immunity would yield endless political prosecutions of erstwhile presidents. 

The issue of immunity has now been litigated at every level of the federal judiciary. Judge Tanya Chutkan of the District of Columbia district court ruled against Trump, holding that he sought the “divine right of kings.” Her decision was affirmed by a unanimous panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Before the appellate riders ruled, Mr. Smith urged the Nine to hear the case in what would have been extraordinary haste. Once the D.C. Circuit delivered him a victory, though, he pivoted to argue that the high court should leave that verdict undisturbed, writing that Trump’s “alleged criminal scheme to overturn an election and thwart the peaceful transfer of power to his successor should be the last place to recognize a novel form of absolute immunity.” 

At least four justices, though, agreed to consider the issue. Mr. Smith has urged an accelerated ruling in the name of a “compelling” public interest in seeing the case litigated, though he has never mentioned the election in his briefing. The justices, though, appear to have been unpersuaded — the ruling will be issued at the last opportunity.

Chief Justice Roberts has also warded off demands from Democratic lawmakers that Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas recuse themselves from the case.   

The high court has never before ruled on the question of whether a former president is owed immunity for acts undertaken in office. It has, though, held with respect of civil liability that immunity attaches to the “outer perimeter” of a president’s official acts in order to prevent him from turning “unduly cautious in the discharge of his official duties.” Department of Justice policy warns off prosecuting a president while he is in office.

If the Supreme Court vindicates Mr. Smith’s position, the case could go back down to Judge Chutkan to set a date for trial, possibly this summer. She has announced, though, that she will give both sides the opportunity to get up to speed after this long hiatus. A ruling for Trump, in part or in full, would upend Mr. Smith’s prosecutions — and possibly other ones as well. 

A third option is that the justices remand the case back to Judge Chutkan not for a trial, but for hearings on the nature of the charges alleged in the indictment. Trump and the special counsel both agree that immunity does not attach to purely private acts. Which acts are private, though — and therefore protected from prosecution  — is likely to be the subject of extended litigation.