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New Years Day, Jan. 1, 2018
All Gave Some~Some Gave All
STATE DEPT HINTS IRAN OVERTHROW: EARLY STAGES OF REGIME CHANGE?
The US State Department has issued a formal condemnation of the Iranian government following two days of economic protests centering in a handful of cities, calling the regime “a rogue state whose chief exports are violence, bloodshed, and chaos” while announcing support for protesters.Z
It fits a familiar script which seems to roll out when anyone protests for any reason in a country considered an enemy of the United States (whether over economic grievances or full on calling for government overthrow).
It fits a familiar script which seems to roll out when anyone protests for any reason in a country considered an enemy of the United States (whether over economic grievances or full on calling for government overthrow).
The statement by spokesperson Heather Nauert, released late on Friday, further comes very close to calling for regime change in Iran when it asserts the following:“On June 14, 2017, Secretary Tillerson testified to Congress that he supports “those elements inside of Iran that would lead to a peaceful transition of government. Those elements are there, certainly as we know.” The Secretary today repeats his deep support for the Iranian people.”
Heather Nauert ✔@statedeptspoxU.S. strongly condemns arrest of peaceful protestors in #Iran, urges all nations to publicly support Iranian people. As @POTUS said, longest-suffering victims of Iran's leaders are Iran's own people. #Iranprotests
6:33 PM - Dec 29, 2017
Though most current reports strongly suggest protests are being driven fundamentally by economic grievances, the US has already framed this week’s events inside Iran as revolutionary in nature and as aiming for “transition of government”. On Friday evening White House Press
Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders tweeted the following statement:
“Reports of peaceful protests by Iranian citizens fed up with the regime’s corruption and its squandering of the nation’s wealth to fund terrorism abroad. The Iranian government should respect their people’s rights including their right to express themselves. The world is watching.”
The media is already promoting a regime change narrative|
As we noted during our initial coverage of Thursday’s protests, Israeli as well as Iranian opposition media commentators (and of course pundits in the US mainstream) have generally appeared giddy with excitement at the prospect that protests could spread inside Iran, potentially culminating in society-wide resistance and possible change in government. It goes without saying that Iran has been enemy #1 for the United States and Israel since the Islamic Revolution and embassy hostage crisis beginning in 1979.
Consider for example this major Israeli international broadcast network, which in an English language interview segment covering the very beginnings of (relatively small and limited) protests Thursday quickly linked the Tehran government with use of chemical weapons in Syria, supporting the “biggest butcher in this region Bashar al-Assad”, and facilitating the killing of civilians:
i24NEWS English ✔@i24NEWS_EN#Iran protests: this might be #Rouhani's chance to force the economic reform he's been long clamoring for, @MeirJa tells @talexander_i24
5:32 PM - Dec 28, 2017
Simultaneously the resident “expert” presents the protesters as condemning these things while yearning for freedom and democracy. He can barely contain himself while repeating “It’s spontaneous! It’s spontaneous!… and could be more spontaneous! …it inspires people to go out more! …Because it’s spontaneous these two are combustible mixtures”:
i24NEWS English ✔@i24NEWS_ENThe protests in #Iran are 'completely spontaneous' - which is why @khamenei_ir should be worried, @MeirJa tells @talexander_i24
5:11 PM - Dec 28, 2017
Other tweets and statements from the generally pro regime-change media and the experts which frequent their panels seem very eager to prematurely cast this as a ‘revolution’:
Imagine a free, democratic, independent, wealthy Iran. Giving full expression to beauty of Persian culture. Tapping into brains & spirit of its remarkable people. No nukes. At peace with its neighbors. Pray for peaceful end to this brutal & corrupt regime. #IranProtests
7:13 PM - Dec 29, 2017
7:13 PM - Dec 29, 2017
Sohrab Ahmari ✔@SohrabAhmariAdvice for #Iranprotests, if you really want to change things -- I mean the regime: Focus on Tehran. Treat the front-line police and army conscripts with respect and humanity -- try to bring them onside. Take over broadcast stations.
3:02 PM - Dec 29, 2017
Alireza Nader@AlirezaNader#iranprotests are very different than 1999 and 2009 protests. This is the most vehemently anti regime event I've ever seen. Not just about the economic situation, but a deep and desperate cry against an unjust and repressive system.
3:57 PM - Dec 29, 2017
Borzou Daragahi 
✔@borzou Replying to @borzouCalls for protests at noon tomorrow in Tehran’s Inqelab Square, Vali Asr Square, Tajrish Square, Imam Hossein Square, and Azadi Square. http://pic.twitter.com/HJrIdGGcKL
Borzou Daragahi 
✔@borzouListen to the sounds of the kid asking for his mom at the protest in Iran’s Rasht. Look at the kids around. Parents coulda left them at home with grandparents. But they wanted them to see, to plant seeds for next generation. http://pic.twitter.com/Cu7GUmNIJz
5:09 PM - Dec 29, 2017
Al Arabiya English ✔@AlArabiya_Eng#IranProtests: How and where the regime opposes women’s rights http://ara.tv/8u9dr
6:00 PM - Dec 29, 2017
…And notably (just above) the Saudi royal family owned Al-Arabiya is presenting the Iran protests in terms of women’s rights.
Are we witnessing regime change agents hijacking economic protests?
* * *
Further to this point, the always excellent Moon of Alabama blog explores the possibility that what we are witnessing is the beginning a covert regime change operation in Iran, similar the story of the war in Syria.
Gaffney: Court Ruling on Transgender Military Recruits Presents Constitutional Crisis; Trump Must Act Now
by DAN RIEHL
Center for Security Policy President Frank Gaffney joined SiriusXM host Rebecca Mansour on a special Friday night edition of Breitbart News Tonight to discuss a recent court ruling that the military must accept transgender recruits and what President Trump’s administration should do about it.
“The issue that really is at the heart of this matter as far as I’m concerned is, does the president have the unquestioned authority under the Constitution of the United States Article II, which vests exclusively in him, the role of Commander-in-Chief of the United States’ armed forces, or does that authority now get subjected to the whim of any federal judge in the United States judiciary?”
Gaffney said the issue is of immediate significance for the administration as it does not appear that the Department of Justice is going to ask the Supreme Court to stay the judge’s order to compel the Department of Defense to begin enlisting more transgender individuals at the beginning of the new year.
Gaffney said he believes that makes this “nothing short of a constitutional crisis” and opens the door for a federal judge to intercede in military decisions going forward, perhaps even to the extent of countermanding a presidential order to go to war.
“That could be fatal to our republic,” said Gaffney, adding, “I think the predicate, the precedent for it is being set as we speak.”
Gaffney urged the administration “to fight this effort by the judiciary to essentially intrude upon and eviscerate his authority as commander-in-chief.”
He said the first order of business for the White House should be to order the Justice Department to seek an emergency stay by the Supreme Court, allowing for the decision to be properly adjudicated.
Added Gaffney, “I would hope that the president would try to establish through another order to the Defense Department – and by the way the Homeland Security Department because it’s responsible for the Coast Guard – that anybody who is brought in under these existing court rulings if they are not stayed – is done on a conditional basis. It seems to me that’s the bare minimum that can be done here.”
Gaffney indicated that then, if the Supreme Court does overturn current rulings, transgender individuals admitted into the military under the rulings would not be allowed to remain in the armed services.
“I believe that’s a safety valve on this and it seems to me to be a sensible one,” Gaffney said.
Photos: Christians Celebrate Christmas in Iraq Without Islamic State: ‘People Have More Hope’
by EDWIN MORA
Courtesy Martha Hudson
An estimated 50,000 Christians returned home in Iraq in time to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ on Christmas after facing genocide at the hands of Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) jihadists who forced them out of their homeland in 2014, reveals the president of the Assyrian Aid Society branch in Iraq (AAS-I).
“We hope the United States keeps its policy of saving Christians and other religious minorities in Iraq,” AAS-I President Ashur Sargon Eskrya told Breitbart News, noting that conditions have improved under U.S. President Donald Trump.
Courtesy Assyrian Aid Society
The recent successes of the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS in Iraq and Syria made it possible for the Iraqi Christians to form part of the nearly two billion Christians who celebrated Christmas around the world this year.
However, about 100,000 Christians remain displaced by ISIS, including an estimated 50,000 inside Iraq and 50,000 others in nearby Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, and other countries, AAS-I President Ashur Sargon Eskrya told Breitbart News.
Although “security in general” for ethnoreligious minorities in Iraq “is now better than last year,” ISIS still poses a “threat” to Christians, declared Eskrya, echoing U.S. officials.
The aid worker explained:
There is no comparison between now and when ISIS was in power — now is better in general. People have more hope. They were able to celebrate Christmas at their homes in liberated areas in Nineveh plain, but there are still other places people can’t return home because of a lack of security, infrastructure, and destroyed homes.
In July, U.S.-backed Iraqi troops and their allies announced the liberation of Iraq’s second largest city Mosul, once considered ISIS’ largest bastion in Iraq.
Yet, only “a few” families have returned to the city “because they have lost trust in the government and security forces,” noted Eskrya.
Mosul is the capital of northern Iraq’s Nineveh province — the historical homeland of the Christians in the region.
The Nineveh Plain, once home to the largest concentration of Christians and other religious minority groups in the region, is also considered the cradle of Christianity.
Eskrya stressed that he is “cautiously optimistic” about the future of Iraqi Christians, one of the oldest Christian groups in the world. He argued that the conditions for Christians in Iraq have improved under President Trump who has vowed to help them.
Courtesy Assyrian Aid Society
Eskrya told Breitbart News:
Iraqi Christians who live in Iraq or in the U.S. support President Trump for recognizing the genocide ISIS committed against Christians. They hope that Trump will change Christians’ life for the better in the future.
The Trump administration has already launched some activities to help Christians and other religious minorities who have been targeted by ISIS, and the efforts are a step in the right direction. We hope that [the] Trump administration will maintain its efforts to help Christians in Iraq resettle in their home again and provide protection to the Nineveh Plain.
Eskrya did point out that the Trump administration could do more to help Christians, noting, “The activities to help Christians on the ground are still not enough.”
Martha Hudson, a longtime advocate for minority groups in Iraq who has repeatedly traveled to the country, also commended the Trump administration’s efforts to help Christians.
“The Trump Administration is moving in the right direction by focusing on political solutions within Iraq and more broadly throughout the region,” she told Breitbart News. “Without political solutions, there will be no security.”
“Additionally, President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence have expressed a strong commitment to helping Christians, Yezidis, and other minorities to return home,” she added. “For several years, the minority communities have asked for direct support, and it seems that the Trump Administration agrees.”
In October, Pence told attendees at the In Defense of Christians summit in Washington, DC, that Trump had ordered the U.S. State Department to directly fund persecuted Christians instead of paying for United Nations humanitarian programs.
Eskrya identified the ongoing friction between northern Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and Baghdad over the Kurds’ ongoing independence efforts as a threat to Christians in the region.
“Security in general now is better than last year, especially after ISIS’ losses, but there are still other threats to the Christian region including the possible division of the Nineveh Plain between the central government in Baghdad, the KRG, or different groups of forces or militias,” explained the humanitarian aid worker.
Northern Iraq’s Nineveh plain region lies outside of the KRG-controlled areas. However, both the KRG and Baghdad claim ownership of some areas in Nineveh.
“Christian families who returned back home in Nineveh plain fear the unstable situation between Iraqi forces and Kurdish peshmerga especially,” declared Eskrya.
Overall, 9,500 Christian families (about 50,000 people) have returned to Iraq since October of last year, the majority of them under the Trump administration, revealed the aid worker.
Citing “growing Islamic radicalism” in Iraq, Eskrya said the Christian population has drastically fallen by more than 75 percent from 1.5 million to about 350,000 today.
Courtesy Assyrian Aid SocietyThe AR-15: ‘America’s Rifle’
by AWR HAWKINS
Getty Images
While Senate Democrats relentlessly push a ban on “assault weapons,” they face a rank and file resistance that rests on the fact that the AR-15 is “America’s rifle.”
Former U.S. Marine Eugene Stoner designed the AR-15 in the 1950s. A full-auto version of the rifle–dubbed the M16–was adapted for military service during the Vietnam War. Then, in the 1980s, a semi automatic AR-15 for civilians was widely produced.
The rifle grew in popularity, going from a cult following in early civilian production to the widespread, near-familial loyalty the rifle inspires today. This change occurred as the rifle went from being made by a handful of manufacturers in the 1980s to being made by nearly every major gun manufacturer in the 21st century. And the love for the AR-15 is not limited to older generations. On November 20, 2017, Breitbart News reported that millennials offer the most opposition to the Democrat push for an “assault weapons” ban.
The rifle that began with Stoner’s design spawned an automatic variant used in Vietnam, and then came to dominate the semiautomatic market in U.S. gun stores. It is now beloved for target shooting, hunting, and self-defense. It is a reliable weapon and one with which gun owners can quickly become familiar. And like the renowned and timeless 1911 handgun, a thriving aftermarket of accessories and parts are available for AR-15 rifles.
NBC News sums up these things by describing the AR-15 as “America’s Rifle.” It is so popular that “one of out of every five firearms purchased in this country is an AR-style rifle.”
Twenty-three-year-old Evan Daire works a gun range in New Jersey. He spoke about the AR-15, saying, “It’s kind of the standard, de-facto rifle now. No matter what role you’re looking at, it pretty much fills that role.”
Nevertheless, Democrats and their gun control surrogates in the establishment media seize on the fact that an AR-15–or AR variant–was used by attackers at the Aurora movie theater, Sandy Hook Elementary, San Bernardino, California, Orlando Pulse, and Sutherland Springs church attack. Those who cite these attacks overlook the fact that the attacks do far more to undermine gun control than to bolster arguments for it.
For example, the Aurora movie theater, Sandy Hook Elementary, the San Bernardino County Building, and Orlando Pulse were all gun-free zones. This means law-abiding citizens were defenseless regardless of the kind of firearm used by the attacker. And in the case of Sutherland Springs, no one in the small, neighborhood church was armed when Devin Kelley opened fire on November 5, 2017. Again, this means that Kelley had the upper hand regardless of what type of weapon he used. All these attacks bolster arguments for being sure law-abiding citizens are armed to shoot back.
American gun owners understand these things, which is why the Democrats’ ongoing push to ban AR-15s has failed to gain traction. In fact, every time a gun controller pushes an “assault weapons” ban, one of the millions upon millions of AR-15 owners can point to the way he legally uses his AR to hunt, target shoot, or defend his life and home.
The AR-15 really is “America’s rifle.”
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News, the host of the Breitbart podcast Bullets, and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at http://ift.tt/2AC36Vm.
Trump Trashes Sen. Joe Manchin’s Unwillingness to Compromise: ‘He Talks, but He Doesn’t Do Anything’
by SEAN MORAN
559
President Donald Trump touted his legislative victories, such as passing tax reform and repealing Obamacare’s individual mandate, in an interview with the New York Times, while chiding Democrats such as Sen. Joe Manchin, (D-WV) who refused to negotiate on the legislation.
President Trump scolded Democrats who often suggested that they would be open to a bipartisan tax reform bill. However, Democrats such as Joe Manchin refused to make any concerted effort to construct a bipartisan tax bill with Republicans and the president.
Trump told the New York Times, “ Like Joe Manchin. He talks. But he doesn’t do anything. He doesn’t do,” Mr. Trump said. “‘Hey, let’s get together, let’s do bipartisan.’ I say, ‘Good, let’s go.’ Then you don’t hear from him again.”
Manchin told Sen. Bob Portman (R-OH) that he might support the Republican Tax Cuts and Jobs Act if only they were to drop the corporate tax rate to 25 percent and did not repeal Obamacare’s individual mandate.
“They were determined to make this a political bill, a partisan bill, and they didn’t need anybody. They didn’t want anybody,” Manchin said the Wednesday when the Senate passed the Republican tax bill. “I even said, ‘Don’t you at least want the appearance — even if you get two or three of us — even if you get one of us?’”
Sen. Joe Manchin faces a tough 2018 midterm election race against conservative candidate West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey or the establishment candidate Rep. Evan Jenkins (R-WV).
Morrisey argued that Manchin has failed the people of West Virginia by siding with former President Barack Obama and Sen. Chuck Schumer. Morrisey said:
I’m so grateful for the outpouring of support our campaign has received over the past three months. Our conservative message of protecting coal, limiting government, and defending our traditional West Virginia values is resonating across the state and the nation. Sen. Manchin has failed the people of West Virginia by siding with Barack Obama and Chuck Schumer one too many times, and voters are clearly hungry for a conservative senator who represents their values.
In a Breitbart News exclusive, Citizens United Political Victory Fund President David Bossie endorsed Patrick Morrisey to challenge Sen. Joe Manchin, saying, “I look forward to working with Patrick Morrisey to enact President Trump’s conservative agenda when he gets to the Senate. I urge all Republican primary voters in West Virginia to support conservative outsider Patrick Morrisey for the United States Senate.”
House Intel Chairman: ‘DOJ and FBI Need to Be Investigating Themselves’
by KRISTINA WONG
Associated Press
In a letter on Thursday to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, House intelligence committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA) blasted the Justice Department for not fully producing documents related to the Trump dossier, subpoenaed by the committee four months ago.
“At this point it seems the DOJ and FBI need to be investigating themselves,” Nunes wrote in the letter, which was obtained by Breitbart News.
Nunes said in the letter that several weeks ago the Justice Department informed the committee that basic investigatory documents (FBI Form FD-302s) subpoenaed on August 24 “did not exist.”
“However,” Nunes wrote, “shortly before my meeting with you in early December, DOJ subsequently located and produced numerous FD-302s pertaining to the Steele dossier, thereby rendering the initial response disingenuous at best.”
“As it turns out, not only did documents exist that were directly responsive to the Committee’s subpoenas, but they involved senior DOJ and FBI officials who were swiftly reassigned when their roles in matters under the Committee’s investigation were brought to light,” he said.
Nunes did not reference who those officials were, but it has been widely reported that senior FBI official Peter Strzok was removed from the special counsel and reassigned to human resources after Robert Mueller found he sent anti-Trump texts. Strzok had also played key roles in the Clinton email investigation and the FBI’s initial Russia probe.
Senior Justice Department official Bruce Ohr was also removed from his position as associate deputy attorney general after it came to light that he had met with the author of the dossier as well as a co-founder of Fusion GPS, the firm behind it. His wife, Nellie Ohr, was also found to have worked for Fusion GPS.
Nunes said, given the content and impact of these “supposedly newly-discovered” documents, the committee was no longer able to accept the Justice Department’s refusal to provide other requested documents — FBI Form FD-1023s that document meetings between FBI officials and FBI confidential human sources.
Nunes is now demanding that the DOJ and FBI hand over all requested documents no later than January 3, 2018.
Those documents, he said, include but are not limited to:
• All responsive FD-1023s, including all reports that summarize meetings between FBI confidential human sources and FBI officials pertaining to the Steele dossier;
• All responsive FD-302s not previously provided to the Committee; and
•In addition to the FD-302s and FD-1023s, certain responsive analytical and reference documents that were specifically identified and requested by the Committee, and supposedly subject to imminent production, as of December 15.
• All responsive FD-302s not previously provided to the Committee; and
•In addition to the FD-302s and FD-1023s, certain responsive analytical and reference documents that were specifically identified and requested by the Committee, and supposedly subject to imminent production, as of December 15.
If DOJ withholds any relevant documents, it must provide a written legal justification from Rosenstein personally, Nunes wrote. He also requested dates in January 2018 for interviews with:
• Former DOJ Associate Deputy Attorney General Bruce Ohr;
• FBI Supervisory Special Agent (SSA) Peter Strzok;
• FBI Attorney James Baker;
• FBI Attorney Lisa Page;
• FBI Attorney Sally Moyer; and
• FBI Assistant Director for Congressional Affairs Greg Brower.
• Former DOJ Associate Deputy Attorney General Bruce Ohr;
• FBI Supervisory Special Agent (SSA) Peter Strzok;
• FBI Attorney James Baker;
• FBI Attorney Lisa Page;
• FBI Attorney Sally Moyer; and
• FBI Assistant Director for Congressional Affairs Greg Brower.
Nunes also noted other outstanding requests:
The Committee further reminds you of these other outstanding requests for information:
• Details concerning an apparent April 2017 meeting with the media involving DOJ/FBI personnel, including DOJ Attorney Andrew Weissman (due December 13) and
• The remaining text messages between SSA Strzok and Ms. Page (due December 15).
• The remaining text messages between SSA Strzok and Ms. Page (due December 15).
“Unfortunately, DOJ/FBI’s intransigence with respect to the August 24 subpoenas is part of a broader pattern of behavior that can no longer be tolerated,” Nunes wrote.
Nunes has threatened to begin drawing up a resolution to hold Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray in contempt of Congress.
G’ day…Ciao…
Helen and Moe Lauzier
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