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Sunday, July 14, 2024

DC Back Stories: Seth Rich and George Clooney

 By Clarice Feldman

I’ve long been fascinated by the mystery of the murder of Seth Rich on July 10, 2016, and on the anniversary of his death, it’s time to update what we’ve learned about it. As to George Clooney and his decision to withdraw his support for the reelection of President Biden, there’s much more to the story, in my view.

Seth Rich 

Two years ago, I summarized what we knew of Rich’s mysterious murder

Seth Rich was a DNC staffer who was mysteriously murdered on July 10, 2016, in Washington, D.C. after having been shot twice in the back. None of the valuable items in his possession seem to have been stolen. That would seem to rule out robbery. He had no known enemies and the murder occurred early in the morning (4:20 a.m.) in a safe neighborhood of the city. No one was ever arrested or prosecuted for the crime. There were no known witnesses to the murder. Nor to my knowledge were any suspects ever named. Local law enforcement nevertheless suggested his murder was part of a botched robbery. Six days after the murder, Wikileaks published over 19,000 emails and 8,000 attachments from the DNC files. In November of that year, they published over 8,000 more emails from the files. The emails showed that party officials favored Clinton over rival Bernie Sanders.

Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, long embroiled in a lengthy effort to avoid extradition to the U.S. from the U.K., has refused steadfastly to name the source of this material but has hinted on Dutch television that it was Seth Rich. He has repeatedly said the Russian government was not the source.

Persons familiar with such things have examined the rate of data transmission, inter alia, and concluded the DNC system was not hacked by outsiders. Instead, they contend that the files were copied to a storage device like a thumb drive and transmitted to Assange’s Wikileaks.

Rich was a Bernie Sanders supporter, and the DNC files showed how it was fixing the primaries for Hillary Clinton.

I noted then that the FBI originally indicated it did not have the information from Rich’s computer. Robert Mueller indicted some Russians, claiming they were the hackers; one of the defendants showed up to defend, and DoJ dropped that suit (having obviously thought no one would contest that ruse). Later, the FBI belatedly admitted it did have the information on the computer. A suit was filed for the information on the computer in the FBI’s possession, and it stalled on producing it.

The FBI is still stalling on producing what it has despite repeated court orders. Most recently, it admits that it has both of Rich’s personal and work computers, a forensic report of one of the computers and a tape drive of it, which should evince whether or not Rich himself downloaded the DNC files. Plaintiff’s counsel, Ty Clevenger, reports to me, “They withheld the forensic report and tape drive and never told of their existence for years.” Ordered to produce information from one of the computers in November of last year, the DoJ has again delayed production by filing a motion for reconsideration. (A motion was filed to substitute Yehuda Miller for Brian Huddleston, who no longer wanted the spotlight, so future filings and court orders will be in his name, not Huddleston’s.)

Assange has now finally been released from threat of prosecution for espionage on unrelated matters involving government files on the Iraq and Afghanistan war, which had been stolen by Chelsea Manning, whom President Obama pardoned years ago.

In the absence of evidence of a hack, and in light of both the speed of the download and the FBI’s stalling of production of information in its possession, it’s certainly fair to infer the “hack” was not a hack but an inside job and the murder of Rich may well have been related to that. More mysterious is the government’s refusal to end speculation by releasing the evidence in its own hands.

George Clooney’s Bait and Switch 

On the internet, George Clooney has become a subject of fun for an op-ed in the NYT, withdrawing his support for Biden just days after hosting a multimillion-dollar Hollywood fundraiser for the president. The satire site Babylon Bee reports, “In new Oceans 14 George Clooney pulls off 30 million heist by tricking people into giving money to politician before revealing he’s demented.” Other Hollywood personages who played a role in the fundraiser, like Rob Reiner and Jane Fonda, have also withdrawn their endorsement of Biden following the op-ed.

It’s true, of course, that Biden is seriously medically compromised, and it’s also true that at the fundraiser, he demonstrated that. Barack Obama overtly highlighted that fact when he led Biden off the stage as if the president were a befuddled toddler. So the president’s infirmities were obvious weeks before his disastrous debate performance that Clooney said prompted his op-ed. 

Donald Trump weighed in at Donald Trump Truth Social 10:09 PM EST 07/10/24:

George Clooney, who never came close to making a great movie, is getting into the act. He’s turned on Crooked Joe like the rats they both are. What does Clooney know about anything? He uses the Democrat “talking point” that Biden, the WORST President in the history of the United States, has “saved our Democracy.” No, Crooked Joe was the one who WEAPONIZED Law Enforcement against his political Opponent, who created the most devastating INFLATION in the history of our Country, who Embarrassed our Nation in Afghanistan, and whose crazy Open Border Policy has allowed millions of people to illegally pour into our Country, many from prisons and mental institutions. Crooked Joe Biden didn’t save our Democracy, he brought our Democracy to its knees. Clooney should get out of politics and go back to television. Movies never really worked for him!!! 

I have to register some disagreement with Trump on this. In Hail, Caesar! he played a dumb actor kidnapped by Marxist screenwriters and brainwashed by them and was terrific. Maybe it was typecasting.

In my view, the Obamas and Clooney and his wife, Amal, are close friends and, together, they may well have orchestrated a bait and switch. On May 24 Michelle Obama and Amal were photographed dining together at Ilili, a popular D.C. Lebanese restaurant, and departed arm in arm. It’s no secret that Obama wants to replace Biden at the top of the ticket. Nor is it any secret that Amal wanted the president to endorse the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrants against Israeli leaders. In my opinion, Clooney used the fundraiser as bait to get Biden to change his position on the ICC and used the debate performance as an excuse to sign on to Obama’s backstabbing of Biden. At about the same time that Amal and Michelle were having a warm tete-a-tete in DC, Clooney called White House aide Steve Ricchetti, expressing concern about Biden’s denunciation of the ICC arrest warrants against Israeli leaders.

Amal Clooney, an international human rights lawyer, served as one of six experts on an ICC panel reviewing evidence that led chief prosecutor Karim Khan to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, among others on May 20.

The warrants alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity during the ongoing conflict in Gaza. Biden immediately issued a statement, calling the arrest warrants against Israeli leaders "outrageous."[snip]

In a statement on Clooney Center for Justice, the couple's charity, Amal wrote last month, "I served on this Panel because I believe in the rule of law and the need to protect civilian lives," adding that "I will never accept that one child's life has less value than another's. I do not accept that any conflict should be beyond the reach of the law, nor that any perpetrator should be above the law."

It’s been widely and credibly reported that Obama saw the op-ed before it was sent in to the New York Times.

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2024/07/dc_back_stories_seth_rich_and_george_clooney.html

Shooting makes Trump ‘indestructible’ in eyes of supporters

 The assassination attempt against former President Trump is uniting Republicans as never before, just as the party convenes this week in Milwaukee for the Republican National Convention.

In the hours following the shooting, Trump struck a grateful yet commanding tone, calling for unity. Meanwhile, his political allies have rallied around their party’s standard-bearer, widely sharing what many have described as an “iconic” image of him holding his fist in the air with blood on his face. 

The moment hit as Democrats have experienced two weeks of turmoil, with calls for President Biden’s replacement on the ticket at a fever pitch as Trump’s rally began.

“Trump is indestructible,” said New Hampshire GOP Chair Chris Ager. “It doesn’t matter who the Democrats put up. They can wring their hands about President Biden all they want. Kamala Harris, Gavin Newsom, it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter who they put up.” 

“The Democrats are essentially a sideshow,” he added. 

While Republicans were considerably more unified than Democrats going into their nominating convention, there were still some questions about where the party’s more moderate flank would turn. Despite suspending her GOP primary bid earlier this year, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley was able to garner substantial support in Republican primaries in critical swing states, sometimes reaching into the 20 percent range. 

“It has and will continue to be unifying to his base, including that crucial not-consider-Trump Haley voting and donor segment,” said one Republican strategist. “It is premature to fully calculate the political impact of an assassination attempt beyond that, but make no mistake, Donald Trump was already handily beating Joe Biden, and the tragic events in Pennsylvania will likely only accelerate that momentum.”

Ager, who comes from a state where Haley lost by 11 points to Trump, said Never Trump voters reached out to him following the shooting asking how they could help in the effort. 

Republican donors are echoing this sentiment and are predicting a groundswell in fundraising following the attempt on Trump’s life. 

“We’re going to see absolutely wild fundraising numbers,” said Trump donor Dan Eberhart. 

Trump already has seen explosive fundraising numbers this year, most notably after he was convicted in his New York City hush money case. The former president’s campaign brought in a whopping $35 million following the verdict in May. 

“If being charged brought Republicans back to Trump, him being shot is going to bring everyone back [to] Trump,” Eberhart said. “I think this is going to be a landslide.” 

The picture of a bloody-faced Trump holding his fist in the air has become a rallying point for the Republican universe in less than 24 hours. The House and Senate Republican campaign arms quickly posted the picture on the social platform X following the shooting, along with other major Republican figures. 

“Nearly every Republican now sees Trump as the toughest S.O.B. to ever run for president,” said Republican strategist Ford O’Connell.

“It’s not a stretch to think that constantly calling Trump ‘an existential threat to Democracy’ contributed to this tragedy,” O’Connell added, jabbing at Democratic messaging over the threat they argue a second Trump term poses to democracy. 

Republicans say the image encapsulates what they say is Trump’s strength. 

“You just take it all together and say there have been so many things thrown at this man. So many things that a normal-strength person would not be able to stand up to, and he has come through all of them,” Ager said. 

Trump has often said that anyone who attacks him is by extension attacking his supporters, which Republicans say makes Saturday’s shooting that much more personal. 

“They’re acting in a sense of if it can happen to him, what’s stopping anyone from doing it to us?” said one Republican operative. 

Both Republicans and Democrats have come out to condemn the shooting and have called for a de-escalation in political rhetoric. 

“We’ve got to turn the rhetoric down. We’ve got to turn the temperature down in this country,” Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told NBC’s “Today” on Sunday. “We need leaders of all parties, on both sides, to call that out and make sure that happens so that we can go forward and maintain our free society that we all are blessed to have.”

Trump has also sought to strike a unifying tone in the hours following the shooting, calling on the nation to “stand united” in a Truth Social post on Sunday morning. 

“In this moment, it is more important than ever that we stand United, and show our True Character as Americans, remaining Strong and Determined, and not allowing Evil to Win,” Trump wrote, adding that he was looking forward to addressing the country from the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee this week. 

The Trump campaign and convention officials confirmed Saturday evening that Trump would still be traveling to the convention this week. Trump ally Corey Lewandowski, who is assisting the campaign in the convention and delegate process, called Trump’s response following the shooting “heroic.” 

“A man who was just shot stood up and he said ‘fight’ and was released from the hospital just hours later,” Lewandowski told The Hill. “[He] walked off the plane last night in Bedminster, N.J., and is prepared to accept his nomination and fight for America.” 

Lewandowski was speaking from Boston Logan International Airport en route to Milwaukee. A number of people were present at the gate in Trump shirts and MAGA apparel. Most of the chatter among them was unsurprisingly about Saturday, and the supporters appeared to be fired up. 

Ager told The Hill that he and other Republicans pushed Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley to keep with the planned schedule despite the shooting. 

“We were encouraging him not to change the schedule, not to do anything, and he confirmed very strongly from the top on down that the show will go on,” Ager said. “We’ll get business done, and this is not going to slow us down for a minute.”

“People are already getting their throats ready for Thursday night so when Trump takes the stage, they can scream as loud as they can,” he said. 

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4771509-republicans-unite-trump-shooting/

'Biden campaign to start up activities Monday night'

 President Biden’s reelection campaign will start up activities on Monday night after they halted them following the shooting at former President Trump’s rally, an official told The Hill.

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) will also start up activities. The Republican National Convention in Milwaukee takes place this week, and activities from Democrats will be part of counterprogramming.

The activities will start up after Biden’s prime-time interview with NBC’s Lester Holt airs Monday.

“Following the president’s interview Monday evening, both the DNC and the campaign will continue drawing the contrast between our positive vision for the future and Trump and Republicans’ backwards-looking agenda over the course of the week,” the official said.

The Biden campaign paused its communications and was working to pull down its television ads on Saturday.

Biden and Trump spoke later on Saturday night for a conversation that the president said was good in remarks on Sunday. 

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4772002-biden-campaign-to-start-up-activities-monday-night/

GOP Was Investigating Secret Service Before Assassination Attempt

 The Secret Service had already been under investigation by House Oversight Committee Republicans for several months when a bullet came within inches of killing former President Trump, killed a bystander, and injured at least two others at a rally in Pennsylvania Saturday afternoon.

Even though Trump and his family members credited the special agents and a counter sniper assigned to his protective detail with saving his life and possibly many others, recriminations against the Secret Service started almost immediately after the assassination attempt.

Americans could see for themselves how the agents and officers traveling with Trump on Saturday acted heroically, falling on the former president after his right ear was pierced by a bullet and returning heavy caliber gunfire, killing the 20-year-old shooter, Thomas Crooks. But questions remain over how Crooks managed to perch on a nearby rooftop and come within inches of killing Trump, renewing past criticisms of the once-vaunted agency with a troubled history of security lapses, employee misconduct, and uneven discipline practices.

Rep. James Comer, who chairs the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, has called on Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to testify at a hearing on Monday, July 22.

“Americans demand answers about the assassination attempt of President Trump,” Comer tweeted Saturday night.

In a letter to Cheatle, Comer was far more laudatory of the agency’s actions.

“The tremendous bravery of the individual United States Secret Service agents who protected President Trump eliminated the gunman, and possibly averted more loss of life cannot be overstated,” he said.

In late May, as RealClearPolitics first reported, Comer’s committee had launched an investigation into a previous incident that took place in April involving a female Secret Service agent, tasked with protecting Vice President Kamala Harris, who was removed from her duties after suffering an apparent mental breakdown and attacking superior agents.

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2024/07/14/gop_was_investigating_secret_service_before_assassination_attempt__151261.html

Middle East Reacts To A 'Destabilized' America

 Via Middle East Eye

The assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump on Saturday has provoked an outpouring of condemnation, even from opponents of the Republican frontrunner. In the Middle East, national leaders largely joined in. 

"I followed up the treacherous attack on former president and presidential nominee Donald Trump with concern, and I reiterate Egypt's condemnation of the incident," wrote Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi on his Facebook page. He expressed hope for the "completion of the American election campaigns in a peaceful and healthy atmosphere, free of any manifestations of terrorism, violence, or hatred".

The attack was also condemned by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who said he hoped those behind it would be brought to justice "in order not to cast a shadow on the US elections and global stability", while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he and his wife would pray for Trump's "safety and speedy recovery".

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who has not enjoyed cordial relations with Trump in past, also condemned the attempted assassination, saying in a statement that he "reaffirm[s] the positions of the State of Palestine, which has always rejected violence, terrorism, and extremism, regardless of its source".

Not everyone, however, was so supportive or magnanimous. The Telegram and X accounts for Sabereen News, an outlet affiliated with the Iran-backed "resistance" groups in Iraq, on Sunday posted a picture of a bleeding Trump with the caption: "Today terror has entered their fortified palaces."

One of Trump's last significant acts while in office was ordering the assassination of Qassem Soleimani, former head of Iran's Al-Quds Force.

The 2020 attack in Baghdad, hailed by Trump as a "flawless precision strike", also killed Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, a senior Iraq government official and head of the irregular Popular Mobilisation Forces.

Iranian journalist and former diplomat Amir Mousawi also implied the attack was "divine" retribution for the killing of Muhandis and Soleimani, tweeting "soul for a soul and an eye for an eye" and suggesting Netanyahu would be next.

Others pointed out the irony of Israeli officials' condemnation of the Trump attack just a day after their own attempted assassination of a senior Hamas leader in Gaza:

And as night follows day, numerous social media users also attempted to link the assassination to a range of Middle Eastern factions, with some in the US and Israel claiming the shooter was a supporter of Hamas, some blaming the Israeli Mossad intelligence agency, and some Turkish users saying he was a supporter of the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK.

While Trump's arch-nemesis Iran has yet to comment on the shooting, a number of Trump supporters tried to link the Islamic Republic to the shooting by citing a statement by an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander last year in which he said they "hope we can kill Trump, [former Secretary of State Mike] Pompeo, [former US general Kenneth] McKenzie and the military commanders who gave the order" to kill Soleimani.

So far however, despite speculation and conspiracy theories, the motivation of the shooter has yet to be determined.

* * *

Meanwhile...

Spot The Odd One Out

 The COVID-19 pandemic erased nearly two decades of life expectancy gains in America. Meanwhile, U.S. health spending per capita is at the highest level in the world.

In the graphic below, Visual Capitalist's Marcus Lu visualizes life expectancy and per capita healthcare costs across several wealthy nations.

Figures were compiled by Peterson-KFF, and are as of 2022.

America Spends a Lot on Healthcare, For Little Gain

As Peterson–KFF bluntly notes, “the U.S. has the lowest life expectancy amongst large, wealthy countries” while their per capita healthcare cost has moved past $12,500 as of 2022

In fact the U.S. is an outlier for both healthcare costs (+$4,600 from next-highest Germany), and in life expectancy (-3.2 years from Germany).

Note: Health spend is measured in PPP-adjusted 2022 U.S. dollars.

From the 12 developed countries in the analysis, the average healthcare per capita cost is at $6,700 with a life expectancy of 82.2 years. Americans spend nearly double the amount while living 5 years less on average. Peterson-KFF also notes that in 1980, the U.S. had similar health spends and life expectancies as all its peers. Trends have since diverged.

Of course, both health care spending and life expectancies are influenced by a variety of socioeconomic factors. For example, the UK has the lowest costs ($5,500) amongst its European peers in the group, thanks in part to its National Health Service.

At the same time, Japan has one of the highest life expectancies in the world (84 years) while its per capita health costs come in at $5,300. Their low red meat intake and high fish consumption are partially credited with maintaining good health in the population.

https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/spot-odd-one-out

Biden Halts 'Trump Is Hitler' Ads After Assassination Attempt

  by Luis Carnelio via HeadlineUSA.com,

The scandal-plagued Biden campaign has pulled all its ads against former President Donald Trump after he was nearly killed by a shooter on Saturday. 

Joe Biden is “pausing all outbound communications and working to pull down our television ads as quickly as possible,” a campaign official told The Wall Street Journal on Sunday morning. 

The ads would have likely labeled Trump as an existential threat ahead of the 2024 election. 

Biden’s anti-Trump claims have rightfully led critics to question whether this heavily partisan rhetoric has incited violence against Trump.

This rhetoric often conflates Trump with dictators, including Adolf Hitler, and suggests he would end “Democracy” if elected. 

Just on Friday, Biden appeared at a campaign rally in Michigan, where he labeled Trump a “threat to this nation.” 

Several conservatives quickly called out the past anti-Trump rhetoric that could have fueled violence against the former president. 

Cartoonist Scott Adams on Twitter wrote, “The Biden campaign is pausing its ad campaign that was obviously designed to get Trump assassinated.  The Fine People Hoax probably just killed one spectator, injured another, and almost ended Trump. This is all on Biden."

Kyle Mann, the Babylon Bee’s editor-in-chief, added“When you call your political opponent Hitler for 4 years, don’t act surprised when you inspire your followers to try to kill him.” 

Outkick founder Clay Travis echoed Mann’s remarks, writing, “I am f**king furious beyond words. F**k every left wing media member who has been calling him Hitler for the past eight years. This is on them. They made this happen.” Travis’s post has reached nearly 5 million views.

Director James Wood wrote“We were two inches away from a civil war today. It is not a prospect I relish, but one that is to be feared if Democrats don’t stop with their absurd vile Hitler analogies and their assassination glee.” 

Comedian and host Dave Smith similar said, “How the f**k can you say he’s literally Hitler and Democracy is on the line but we wish him a speedy recovery and political violence is never acceptable?”

The Daily Wire posted a video compilation of several legacy media outlets comparing Trump to Hitler.

Other critics were equally vocal in their responses.