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ML's avatar

Biden is “he whose voice must not be heard” even though the transcripts of his interview with Special Counsel Hur (on Biden’s classified documents caper) are out there and not “privileged.” See article linked below by Turley. Hmmm. A head scratcher: claim executive privilege so as suppress the audio of the elderly Biden stumbling through the interview with Hur, while at the same time putting Biden out on a national stage to debate Trump, live in real time???

https://thehill.com/opinion/criminal-justice/4671765-bidens-voldemortian-privilege-the-president-who-must-not-be-heard/

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Amanda R's avatar

Three alleged CIA agents, arrested in Congo after failed coup attempt https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13436591/congo-cia-americans-coup-kinshasa.html?ito=native_share_article-nativemenubutton

Of note the ambassador seems to be throwing them under the bus.

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Mark Wauck's avatar

I read somewhere that they were "cannabis entrepeneurs".

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Mark Wauck's avatar

You'll need to sort this out a bit:

Megatron @Megatron_ron

NEW:  Christian Malanga, the Congolese wanna be junta leader visited Israeli military in 2015, and was trained by the Mossad

But that’s not all, with his American friend,Benjamin Polun they also visited the Golan Spy Shop in Israel, a company that sells hidden cameras, GPS trackers, etc that’s under contract of Israeli law enforcement .

It’s now known that Benjamin Polun was let out of incarceration in US 10 years ago because he pled guilty to conspiracy to distribute 50 kilos or less of marijuana in DC, and forfeited $101k, & his court records were sealed.

Malanga was a wealthy man , in what is known now it was not his first time to act as assassin per pay . In 2018 he was involved in conspiracy to take out former DRC president Kabila , for $750k paid by one of governors at the time . But the plan did not go through because DRC intelligence discovered it — this time it seems like he was hired to perform a mascarade .

Now Congo has probably received information from Russia that they are preparing for another coup d'état.

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SMH's avatar

Ok, let’s assume for the sake of argument that the polls spooked the Biden team, but seriously, their response is, “Ok, we gotta do something big, so let’s turn Dark Brandon loose on the debate stage, that oughta wow’em!” Seriously, you put this doddering old fool on the stage to be forced to think on his feet in real time as your Hail Mary, sorry but I’m just not buying it one little bit. Even with the ridiculous handicap of CNN, biased moderators and no audience this whole maneuver screams a monumental “step on a rake” event for Biden. Given the ruthlessness of the real people in charge of the White House, it could be a perfect throw Joe under the bus event and Deep Six blow hard Biden once and for all. But who takes his place and what do you do with Kamala and can they sell this whole ploy, even to the true believers?

Doesn’t pass the sniff test for my money and I’m definitely inclined to make sure that my tray table is in the fully upright and locked position and my seatbelt is securely fastened. As I’ve said many times before, I don’t trust these people as far as I can throw them.

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dissonant1's avatar

"...it could be a perfect throw Joe under the bus event." Think 2028. Grandad President Biden was sadly suffering from personal decline which was perfectly understandable at his age. Even so, we gave him the opportunity to run for President and the respect he was due. Ultimately, we as a party relieved him of that duty for the sake of his health and his family. Kamala Harris was a great candidate but there wasn't enough time for the media to understand and convey to the public all of her personal strengths. Now it's a new Democratic Party, with new candidates who care about young voters and Hispanic voters and Black voters and abortion rights and trans rights and climate change and the economy and peace and plenty of money for all!

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Cosmo T Kat's avatar

“Plenty of money for all” translate in mafia speak, “as long as I get my taste.”

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Ray-SoCa's avatar

The U.S. led from behind overthrow of Gaddafi was a huge watershed. Libya agreed to denuclearize in exchange for being left alone. The U.S. violated that agreement.

Which showed everyone if you had nukes, you got left alone like Pakistan and North Korea.

Iraq had no nukes, and suffered the consequences.

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Yancey Ward's avatar

I think the Biden team was bluffing about the debates, expecting to Trump to argue against CNN hosting it and argue against excluding Kennedy. Trump called the bluff instantly, putting no conditions on his acceptance.

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JJ's avatar

He has lately attached what sounds like a condition—drug testing.

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Ray-SoCa's avatar

Could be. Especially if they had group think of Trump being highly emotional, unstable and hates and loathes cnn as fake news.

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dissonant1's avatar

I think that would be a very stupid bluff but then again I suppose we have to look at the source. I tend to agree with Mark's take that this was both an act of desperation and a possible escape hatch.

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dissonant1's avatar

"Commenting on unconfirmed reports that the Iranian president was harmed in the crash, Republican Congressman Mike Waltz appeared to welcome the purported news.

'Good riddance. Raisi was a murderous human rights abuser before and during his Presidency,' Waltz wrote in a social media post.

'But look for the Iranian regime to blame Israel and the US for an assassination as another excuse to support terrorism.'

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/5/19/iran-helicopter-accident-live-president-fm-on-missing-aircraft

Hmm... Fico, Raisi,??? Funny about how lying, scheming people cannot keep their mouths shut.

The Iranians certainly are "not nice people" in Trumpian terms. Nevertheless, the same people in the West who make their malevolent intentions clear toward Iran will undoubtedly blame Iran for wanting nukes and for aligning with Russia and China. And will blame Russia and China for strengthening ties, even if they make it an existential necessity for them. I think Putin and Xi are being very, very smart while UK and EU and US politicians are being very, very dumb. I really hope the clock runs out on the dumb ones before they are able to start WWIII.

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Cosmo T Kat's avatar

You got it. Tribal thinking always shifts blame then plays the victim. This guys post is so ridiculous. They are crafting their next meme for the ignorant masses. I think some portion of those masses are proactively educating themselves of what is becoming increasingly obvious and ignorant no more. As bugs bunny would say, what a maroon.

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huskercr's avatar

If Lavrov believes it will be a generation before Russia and Europe can have normal relationships, what does that imply for a timeline for the normalization of US-Russia relations?

I’m not sure the US can really normal relations with most countries in the world until we essentially abandon trying to be the global hegemon and policeman. And somehow we have to solve our immense deficit and debt problems too.

I don’t see any way out if the situation that our elites have put us in.

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dissonant1's avatar

Yep. You need a new set of people in the IC, the MIC, Congress, and the Executive Branch. How does that happen anytime soon, short of the catastrophic failure of their plans or indeed the collapse of the U.S. government? I think the best we can hope for is that enough of them realize that they simply are not able to recognize their hegemonic dreams and can admit it to themselves and their colleagues. Are there enough of those people in positions of decision-making authority? After listening to McGovern and Johnson, I am not hopeful.

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johnycomelately's avatar

Trawling Russian mil blogs it seems that a huge problem Russia is facing in this conflict is the disconnect between the situation at the front and glossy bureaucratic reports by the military desks.

Belousov‘s quote, “Making mistakes is acceptable, lying is not,” shows Russia is exponentially learning from its mistakes and making adjustments.

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