Profiling Project Issues Bombshell Report on Seth Rich Murder Investigation

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The Profiling Project, an independent, nonpartisan group, has released a lengthy report of its probe into the murder of former DNC staffer Seth Rich. The team, made up of forensic experts and George Washington University graduate students, followed the NYPD’s process for investigating murders.

Wealthy GOP attorney Jack Burkman funded the project. He held a press conference this morning with the team announcing the results thus far. They promised more is to come.

The findings are summarized in the report:

1. Seth’s death does not appear to be a random homicide

2. Seth’s death does not appear to be a robbery gone bad

3. Seth death was more likely committed by a hired killer or serial murderer

4. There may be additional video surveillance of the crime and crime scene

5. The resolution of prosecuting the individual(s) responsible appears to be hindered both actively and passively

6. Seth’s killer(s) most likely remains free within the community

Not a Robbery

Since Rich’s death last July, the D.C. police department has stated its belief he was the victim of a botched robbery. However, the report lists several reasons the murder likely was probably the result of a botched robbery.

First, Rich still had his wallet, watch and other valuables.

Second, it stated, “The crime scene was very organized to the point of being sanitized. This would indicate careful planning on the part of the offender, control of the entry to and exit from the crime scene as well as in-depth understanding of law-enforcement investigative processes.”

The report went on, “With such a sanitized crime scene and no emotional indications, this is not Offenders first kill. … That Offender left a sanitized crime scene is indicative of experience.”

Further, the report notes that Rich’s injuries did not seem to be life threatening when officers arrived. He’d been shot in the back. His father said he was unaware he’d been shot. This strongly suggests there was not a confrontation. The report adds that Rich would very likely would not have resisted a robbery.

Supporters of the police’s botched robbery theory often point out that there had been a series of robberies in Rich’s Bloomingdale neighborhood in the days before his murder. However, the report notes, there were seven arrests linked to those armed robberies. Three guns were recovered. None of those guns matched the ballistics in Rich’s murder. None of the suspects has been directly tied to the Rich murder.

The authors conclude, “We do not believe Offender is a robber, nor a robber who killed.”

Not a Typical D.C. Murder

The report stated that the murder was statistically unusual since Rich was white. There were 66 unsolved homicides in D.C. in 2016. Of them, 62 victims were black. Also, a majority of unsolved homicides stem from other criminal activity involving the victim. A drug deal gone bad, for example. There is no evidence to suggest that this is the case here.

This further points away from a run-of-the-mill street crime. However, those hoping the investigation would confirm suspicions about the potential involvement of Rich’s bosses at the DNC, Hillary Clinton or even the Russians were disappointed.

The report briefly dismisses a connection between the murder as retaliation for Rich possibly leaking DNC emails to Wikileaks. Strangely, the report says that evidence needed to establish this would be poison found in Rich’s system, since the killer didn’t ensure his death. There was virtually no other discussion of the topic than this statement.

Questioning the Official Investigation

The report goes into detail about the law enforcement methods used. There is a section on the type of gun that could have been used. But a frequent complaint is that without further information, the probe can’t go much further.

The report hints that D.C. police may be passively impeding their probe. The Profile Project says police were cooperating with their investigation initially, but stopped. They also note that the police have not released any new information on the case since October.

All requests for release of autopsy, ballistics reports, surveillance footage and police body-camera footage have been rejected. D.C. is one of the many jurisdictions that do not routinely release such information during an open investigation.

On May 30, the Profiling Project sued the District of Columbia, demanding police share the information. The suit further alleges the MPD has “mismanaged” the murder investigation. Click here to read the details of the lawsuit.

Response to the Report

The D.C. police issued a statement, saying “we stand by our opinion that it was a botched robbery.” (“Opinion”?)

The family’s spokesman, Brad Bauman, also responded to the report. He said the findings aren’t “new, credible or otherwise lending credence” to theories around Rich’s death. However, this is is contradicted by the report’s rejection of the botched robbery theory that is the official police position.

It is also worth noting that Bauman is a political consultant for the democratic party and progressive causes. Texas businessman Ed Butowsky, who hired an private investigator to look into the case himself, claims Seth Rich’s father Joe told him “The DNC assigned [Bauman] to us.” Bauman denies being paid by the DNC.

Moving Forward

The Profile Project says it had one goal: to provide the Metropolitan Police Department one piece of new evidence that can be used to help solve the crime. That goal has already been met with the discovery of another surveillance camera found near the murder scene that the police apparently did not know about.

As stated, this was an interim report. Founder Jack Burman promises more reports are to come. One area of interest is Seth Rich’s social media activities, which the Profile Project suggests were far more extensive than previously known. Today’s report alone notes that Rich’s Twitter account was deleted and his Facebook and Reddit were edited.

It was hacker Kim DotCom’s claim last month that he had been involved with Rich in getting DNC emails to WikiLeaks that exploded the case back into the public spotlight.

The Profiling Project is not the only entity outside of law enforcement looking into Rich’s murder. Scott Taylor, an investigative news reporter for ABC 7 in Washington, D.C., is conducting his own probe. An army of internet sleuths hope to crowd-source their way to solving the mystery. Also, Bernie Sanders supporters have filed a lawsuit against the DNC over its attempts to manipulate the primary in favor of Hillary Clinton. The suit references Rich.

A report on that lawsuit will be posted in the near future. (For more from the author of “Profiling Project Issues Bombshell Report on Seth Rich Murder Investigation” please click HERE)

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Was It Wrong to Disrupt the Trump Murder Fantasy Play?

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The Stream’s Al Perrotta wrote cogently about it last week: The repulsive production that New York City’s Shakespeare in the Park had mounted. It was Julius Caesar, with the burgeoning tyrant played by a Donald Trump impersonator. Crowds of frustrated liberals savored it. They turned out for the thrill of watching the president get stabbed to death on stage. This in the context of 15 different instances of celebrities inciting violence against the president or his administration. Kathy Griffin’s ISIS photo shoot was only the worst.

All this incitement finally had the predictable effect: An enraged liberal Democrat attempted to wipe out the House GOP leadership. Rep. Steve Scalise still fights for his life. So a few lonely Trump supporters in New York City decided they’d had enough. They got tickets to the Shakespeare play, and one of them leaped up during it to register their protest. As Daniel Greenfield recounts it:

A New York production of Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” with a Trump-like character who is assassinated had a boisterous new scene this weekend: an activist who stormed the stage, yelling, “Do you want Trump to be assassinated?”

Police said Laura Loomer was arrested Friday evening during the play presented in Central Park by the city’s Public Theater. She was arrested, charged with criminal trespass and disorderly conduct and released. She must appear in court at a later date to respond to the charges.

“I’m out of jail, but I’m not apologetic,” the 24-year-old conservative activist wrote on Twitter. “Thanks to everyone who is supporting me & condemning political violence.”

As she rushed to the stage, Loomer reportedly shouted, “Stop leftist violence!”

Here’s a longish video that includes footage of her protest:

Some conservatives, such as Ben Shapiro and David French, treated this protest as the same sort of poison served up almost daily on the left. They used words like “tribalism” and “hooliganism.” I had a different reaction: I thought it was great. I wished I had been in NYC to join it.

Not Poison But Pepper

Tribalism isn’t poison. It’s more like pepper. Too much of it, and a dish is inedible, even dangerous. Too little and it’s insipid, as bland and unattractive as … well, a long list of GOP 2016 presidential hopefuls.

Ben Shapiro suggested that a lone protestor briefly taking the stage was “no different” than massed crowds of hooded, threatening Antifa rioters. You know, the folks who assaulted a faculty member at Middlebury. Who intimidated police with fires and cudgels at Berkeley. Does he really believe that? I hate to be pedantic. But here are a few key differences I could spot:

Laura Loomer had no weapons. Antifa protestors used metal rods and other weapons to menace their opponents.

Loomer peacefully left the stage when security guards escorted her off, and the performance continued. Campus leftists come in vast numbers, and typically administrators refuse to have them removed — so conservative speeches end, abruptly.

Loomer will face charges, just as civil rights demonstrators faced charges for desegregating “Whites-Only” lunch counters. Almost no leftist campus protestors have faced legal or even school punishment, anywhere.

But the two types of protest are for Shapiro “no different.” In fact, it’s hard to see what they have in common. They share exactly one element: In each case, hecklers violate the social contract that says that public events should be allowed to proceed without interruption.

Where Politeness Becomes Pusillanimous

Is that social contract absolute? Is it part of the natural law, so that if we violate it we are lowering ourselves to the same level as the worst, most intolerant leftists in America? Let’s pose a few hypotheticals and see how that thesis fares. Imagine each of the following public performances:

A live-action performance in spring 2008 of The Birth of a Nation, the infamous pro-Klan epic. In that production, a look-alike of newly elected President Barack Obama is killed by “heroic” Klansmen.

A version of Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, with a ringer for Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) playing the venal usurer Shylock — who at the play’s end is utterly humiliated and forced to convert to Christianity, at the point of a sword.

A theatrical adaptation of A Clockwork Orange, in which characters played by actresses who look like Cecile Richards, Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, and Michelle Obama are beaten and raped.

Would we expect liberal intellectuals to savagely condemn as “tribalists” or “juvenile hooligans” black, Jewish, or female audience members who heckled such productions? Especially if their communities had recently been victims of real-world violence comparable to the attempt to murder the GOP House leadership?

Would we even condemn such hecklers ourselves?

Them’s Fighting Words

Of course not. We would realize that such productions were the equivalent of “fighting words.” That they were blatant provocations, which deserved some vocal, non-violent pushback. The protest against the Trump murder fantasy play made that clear. It’s a point we should be ready to make again and again.

Again, we must do it while eschewing violence, obeying police, and paying the relevant fines. Because, unlike the radical left, we aren’t barbarians. But neither are we passive, hapless piñatas. Spirited conservatives should be able to tell the difference. Or, as I wrote on Twitter in response to French and Shapiro: “This is how you get Jeb!” (For more from the author of “Was It Wrong to Disrupt the Trump Murder Fantasy Play?” please click HERE)

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FBI Making Big Announcement in GOP Baseball Shooting Investigation

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The FBI is holding a press conference Wednesday morning to announce the results of its investigation into last week’s attempted mass assassination of Republican lawmakers and staffers, the agency announced on Tuesday.

FBI Assistant Director in Charge Andrew Vale and Special Agent in Charge Timothy Slater will be joined by Alexandria Police Chief Michael Brown, U.S. Capitol Police Chief Matthew Verderosa and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Special Agent in Charge Michael Boxler.

The Daily Caller was the first to report last week that FBI officials discovered a list of Republican lawmakers in James T. Hodgkinson’s possession when he opened fire at a congressional baseball practice, wounding four people including Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise. All six lawmakers on the list were members of the House Freedom Caucus — the most conservative members in the lower chamber.

The FBI also recovered a cell phone and computer from Hodgkinson’s van at the scene, the agency announced last Thursday. (Read more from “FBI Making Big Announcement in GOP Baseball Shooting Investigation” HERE)

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Under Trump and Mattis, Gender Engineering in MILITARY Rages On

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One of the most harmful legacies of the Obama administration was its trashing of our military. From the politicized generals and the depleted resources to the war on religious liberty in the service, shoving women into infantry, and promotion of transgenderism, Obama’s Pentagon used our military as a social engineering petri dish that resulted in the plummeting of morale. The good news is that all of this can easily be overturned administratively by Secretary Mattis, in the same way that it was perpetrated. The bad news is that there are no signs of significant change. Now conservatives must demand that the current defense authorization bill (NDAA) winding its way through the authorizing committees directly address each one of these issues.

Turning our military into a freak show

Last week, our soldiers were forced to attend training for integrating transgenders into our military. You heard that correctly. Five months into the Trump administration, while our troops are precariously flung out across the Islamic world, they are spending time dealing with the logistics of those who castrate themselves or pretend to castrate themselves. This was part of Obama’s end run around Congress to promote transgenderism in the military, once he got tired of promoting the other aspects of the sexual identity alphabet soups. Thus, this policy can easily be overturned administratively, yet, much like with Obama’s executive amnesty, his legacy lives on under the Trump administration.

Why is it that every conservative policy is immediately terminated by a new Democrat administration, but even the most disruptively radical policies imaginable, implemented by the Left, remain during Republican administrations?

Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work, an Obama holdover, made it clear that the Pentagon is going full steam with its transgender recruiting mandates. Some might blame this on the “deep state,” but it is clearly supported by Mattis and the shallow state. Moreover, why has it taken over five months to fill the top positions in the Pentagon with conservatives?

In addition to the transgender agenda (or closely related to it), the Obama administration was so obsessed with gender-bending and eradicating all differences between men and women that it shoved women into infantry even after the Marines conducted a painstaking study showing how co-ed integration harms women, men, and combat readiness. The military brass are now doing everything possible to get women everywhere in infantry training and even in special forces. This is sheer lunacy.

During a presidential town hall last year, Lauren Serrano, a Marine captain whose husband is also in the service, confronted Obama about the study, showing how it took mixed units 159 percent longer to evacuate casualties than all-male units. She asked him, “Why were these tangible negative consequences disregarded and how does the integration of women positively enhance the infantry mission and make me and my husband safer?”

Is there nobody in Congress or within this administration who is willing to ask the same question of Trump and Mattis?

Then there is the problem of pregnancies in the military. According to one study, women were sent home from Iraq at three times the rate of men, and three quarters of them were evacuated for getting pregnant. As former Marine Jude Eden warned, “The military seems more ready for motherhood than for warfare.”

According to a survey done by the DOD in 2008, 11 percent of women surveyed reported an unplanned pregnancy. For those of you keeping score at home, that’s 50 percent higher than the average in the United States. According to Time, “[U]nwanted pregnancies are a significant contributor to healthcare expenditures… more than 13% of total bed days, and about 5% of total lost work days in 2011, among all U.S. service members were pregnancy and delivery-related.” The end goal of co-ed social engineering in the military has wasted an ocean of taxpayer money and has hurt mission readiness.

Unfortunately, there is no evidence that any of this has changed under Mattis, even though none of the Obama-era changes were dictated by statute. They were all implemented administratively by Obama’s defense secretary, Ashton Carter.

The opportunity with the NDAA

As Congress debates the FY 2018 NDAA, almost all the focus will be on the spending figures and the procurements for the military. While the size and cost of the military are important, any increase in funds and assets is meaningless if we are going to turn the military into a freak show straight out of Sodom and Gomorrah. To that end, conservatives should demand the following issues be addressed either in the NDAA or by the administration:

Bar recruitment of transgenders: Putting moral and social issues aside, even the transgender lobby admits transgenderism is a disability (when suing under the ADA). Why in the world would we then place them into the military during a time of danger?

Freeze all integration of women into infantry until the other branches of the military conduct a study similar to that by the Marines in 2015. The results would have to be submitted to Congress, and the legislative branch would have to sign off on any decision to continue placing women in infantry units. They should also insert a general prohibition on lowering any standards for women in training and testing in order to serve in various military positions related to combat.

Attach a provision banning the dismissal of any service member for expressing his or her religious beliefs or any chaplain who declines to perform a service against his or her religious beliefs.

Attach the “Russell Amendment,” barring the federal government from discriminating against any defense contractors who don’t accommodate the transgender agenda or who believe in traditional marriage. Obama implemented this policy under his watch, and when conservatives planned to overturn it in last year’s NDAA, Mike Pence called off the dogs and promised that Trump would take care of it executively. He has not done so. As such, there is a need to deal with this through legislation.

Fire Obama generals: It’s a known secret in the military that much of the leadership structure has rotted away from years of political correctness and social engineering. One of the boldest statements from Trump during the campaign was when he declared at the “Commander-In-Chief Forum” that “generals have been reduced to rubble” and that “they have been reduced to a point where it’s embarrassing to our country.” He was right. Now he should direct Mattis to correct the situation.

Today, The Hill.com referred to Mattis as one of the most powerful defense secretaries in recent memory, with full access to and the confidence of the president. This all lies at his feet. In a recent interview, when Mattis was asked what challenges in the world keep him awake at night, Mad Dog quipped, “Nothing. I keep other people awake at night.” Mattis must now ask himself, are the Iranians, North Koreans, and Sunni Islamists really scared of a transgendered social experimentation?

Fortunately, only five months into this administration, it’s not too late to change course, if Mattis cares to do so and if conservatives care to demand it. (For more from the author of “Under Trump and Mattis, Gender Engineering in MILITARY Rages On” please click HERE)

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Antifa Leftists Are Completely Honest: They Want to Destroy You

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If there remained any question about the character of the radical Left, recent reporting by Ian Miles Cheong at Heat Street paints a disturbing picture of the extent to which Antifa leftists condone violence against capitalists and so-called “fascists.”

Cheong draws attention to an Antifa website, “It’s Going Down,” the “de facto resource for anarchists and ‘anti-fascist’ activists currently engaging in sporadic street battles across the United States against Trump supporters and the government.” The website features Antifa articles from staff writers and anonymous submissions that give the reader insight into the demented minds of those who urge violence against their countrymen.

The literature of the anarchist leftists is honest in its presentation of who they are and what they want. “A library of downloadable publications on the website offers long-form articles that call for ‘insurrectionary mass resistance and refusal’ and asks moderate liberals to join arms with the far left,” Cheong informs us. “One describes liberal allies as ‘accomplices’ to capitalists. A piece titled Work, Community, Politics, War suggests that anarchists ‘are imposing our needs on society without debate’ and urge[s] militant tactics against employers and law enforcement.”

“Anarchism means destroying the forces that seek to keep us on our knees,” reads a publication titled “What the fuck is anarchism?” Cheong highlights how this piece exemplifies “the victim complex most of the leftist ideology’s followers live with.” You should read how they describe themselves and the actions they condone.

In a world full of alienation and apathy, anarchists are willing to act in accordance with their ideas. Anarchists are those who would set fire to a bulldozer or a new luxury home rather than let a forest be cut down, who would rather hear the sound of shattering glass than a politician’s speech. Deserting and disobeying all the rules written against us, by squatting and stealing for our survival, and rejecting the roles we’re assigned, as good worker, good student, good citizen, good woman or man. Rewriting the usual endings; by supporting prisoners rather than letting them disappear in isolation, by beating up rapists and homophobes rather than suffering their violence, by creating forms of love that only strengthen us rather than containing and limiting us. Taking control over our surroundings by painting graffiti on the walls or occupying space and planting gardens. By arming ourselves with the ability to create a new world and destroy the one that has been imposed on us.

This is the evil of Antifa. Their end is the destruction of the civil society. Their means are violence. And the Democratic Party and the “mainstream” liberals and progressives who support it have been complicit in the escalation of this violent politics.

For the good of the American people and the safety and happiness of our communities, the Antifa Left must be condemned and its violence put to an end. (For more from the author of “Antifa Leftists Are Completely Honest: They Want to Destroy You” please click HERE)

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Google and Jigsaw Get Serious About “Extremist” Content

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Faced with fines in Europe, Google will enforce four new steps to identify “terrorist-related content” on its YouTube subsidiary.

“We are working with government, law enforcement and civil society groups to tackle the problem of violent extremism online. There should be no place for terrorist content on our services,” writes Kent Walker, general counsel for Google.

Terrorism is an attack on open societies, and addressing the threat posed by violence and hate is a critical challenge for us all. Google and YouTube are committed to being part of the solution. We are working with government, law enforcement and civil society groups to tackle the problem of violent extremism online. There should be no place for terrorist content on our services.

Walker says Google has “developed partnerships with expert groups, counter-extremism agencies, and the other technology companies to help inform and strengthen our efforts.”

Who are these expert groups and counter-extremism agencies? The Pew Research Center, the Anti Defamation League, and the Southern Poverty Law Center. In March, Google said they are “reputable sources that can be used for reputation research.”

The SPLC considers the “radical right” extremist. It also considers Donald Trump a lightning rod for xenophobia and racism. “Trump’s run for office electrified the radical right, which saw in him a champion of the idea that America is fundamentally a white man’s country,” Mark Potok wrote in February.

Potok believes the alt-right is a racist movement. It is a “rebranding of white supremacy for public relations purposes, albeit one that de-emphasizes Klan robes and Nazi symbols in favor of a more ‘intellectual’ approach.”

Potok and the SPLC are a reputable source?

While the focus now appears to be on Islamic extremism, it may soon include groups and individuals deemed extremist by the SPLC. It considers “antigovernment groups” extremist. These include the Oath Keepers, Lew Rockwell, the John Birch Society, the Eagle Forum, the Constitution Party, We Are Change, WorldNetDaily, Genesis Communication Network, What Really Happened, Infowars, Natural News, and hundreds of others.

Jigsaw is Google’s technology incubator. According to Google boss Eric Schmidt, the the team’s mission “is to use technology to tackle the toughest geopolitical challenges, from countering violent extremism to thwarting online censorship to mitigating the threats associated with digital attacks.”

For more on this, see the Newsbud video I produced last year:

(For more from the author of “Google and Jigsaw Get Serious About “Extremist” Content” please click HERE)

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Why Russia Might Shoot Down American Planes in Syria

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On the afternoon of June 18, the world changed. The U.S. Air Force shot down a bomber of the Syrian air force controlled by Bashir Assad. The reason for this action was plain and simple. This bomber attacked American allies in Syria: the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)—an alliance of Kurds, Christians, and non-jihadist Arabs. The U.S. did what every good ally should do and tried to stop the attack. First the Americans demanded withdrawal. When no response came, this bomber was shot down in order to stop any senseless killing of SDF forces. In response Russia now threatens to shoot down U.S. jets that happen to enter the Russian sphere of influence over Syria.

This is happening while the SDF is taking the first ring of quarters of Raqqa, the ‘capital’ of ISIS. The liberation of Raqqa started June 6 and is progressing. It is quite obvious that attacking the SDF at the end of the day only helps ISIS.

The U.S. and Russia Fight for Dominance of Post-ISIS Syria

At first sight the downing of this Syrian jet is a very simple situation: The US defends its ally on the ground. If that is true, why then is Russia threatening to shoot down U.S. fighting jets? That is because something else is equally true: All players involved are now starting to look to a new map of post-ISIS Syria. And the U.S. wants to stop Iran from dominating either Syria or Iraq.

Look at the battle map that accompanies this column. (The map has not been updated yet, but there is a change in the area southwest of Raqqa.)

Iran Could Threaten Israel Through Syria

We can see that the Syrian army has (finally) made some serious progress against ISIS. Assad’s goal is probably not to defeat ISIS as such. More likely he wants to capture oilfields try to block the U.S-backed SDF. Assad wants to distract the SDF and keep its forces busy. Why? Because Assad wants his forces to beat them to the strategic site called Deir Ezzor.

The strategic importance of Deir Ezzor has totally been ignored until now. This ISIS stronghold controls the road from Teheran, Iran, across Iraq and Syria to the Mediterranean Sea and Iran’s enemy, Israel. Iran wants to control this road, so it can funnel weapons to its terrorist allies in Lebanon and the West Bank, which target Israel. The U.S. wants to prevent that, for obvious reasons.

The race to Deir Ezzor has suddenly become a high-stakes game. None of the players is at this point ready to take that area from ISIS. The Assad forces are stretched out and still a long way away. Iranian proxies are on the Iraqi side of the Iraq/Syria border, but this is a relative small force with a lot of other forces around it. The SDF meanwhile is busy in Raqqa and has no spare forces left to march to Deir Ezzor.

How Can We Block Iran?

The big question is what the US can do to block Iran. The answer is actually quite simple. The US has to deepen its commitment to the whole SDF. It must offer weapons to every element in that army. The sad truth is that the US still does not provide the Syriac Military Council (the Christian wing of SDF) any arms or ammo. These brave Christians are fighting ISIS in Raqqa as you read this. But they have to scrape their equipment together and ask others for help. Even the Arab and Kurdish parts of the SDF, which the U.S. does supply, are still under-equipped.

The U.S. still does not tap into the full potential of the SDF. although it is standing ready. For example the Syriac Military Council has more men and women trained than they can arm and this is also true for Kurdish and Arab forces in the SDF. More and better equipment can help to build an army that will act much faster in Raqqa and stand ready much sooner to win the race to Deir Ezzor. That would protect Israel and Iraq from Iran’s terrorist allies. To stabilize northern Syria, the U.S. would be wise to much more humanitarian aid and support rebuilding.

Arm Syria’s Christians

Much is at stake and President Trump can once more make a major difference. This time not only for the peoples in the Federation of Northern Syria but also for Israel.

One thing is clear. We are now definitively looking at a new map of Syria. Turkey is no longer able to block America’s policies. The U.S. has a clear, democratic, religiously tolerant ally: The SDF. America needs to build its ally up. There are now several small US military airbases in northern Syria, built to last rather years than months. The U.S. has realized that the SDF and the Federation of Northern Syria are there to stay. A return to the old, centralized and dictatorial Syria is out of the question. A new decentralized or even divided Syria is in the cards.

Don’t mourn the end of a brutal, centralized Syria. Its demise means that freedom has come to the heart of the Middle East. The task of the U.S. should be to make sure that all religious minorities, including Christians, are treated fairly. (For more from the author of “Why Russia Might Shoot Down American Planes in Syria” please click HERE)

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CNN Program Lauds Rep Who Refused Abortion

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Washington Republican Rep. Jaime Beutler explained why she refused to abort her baby in a recent CNN piece on “Bada** Women of Washington.”

Beutler discovered she was pregnant with her first child shortly after her first reelection in 2012. However, the happy news soon turned devastating when doctors diagnosed her unborn child with Potter Syndrome, a condition where the unborn baby fails to develop kidneys. Additionally, the fetus fails to properly develop lungs. Doctors told her the condition is 100 percent fatal.

“They took us into a back room and just said, ‘There’s nothing that can be done. Your baby’s gonna die,’” Beutler told CNN. The physician recommended an abortion due to the fatal nature of the condition.

“Being able to hear the heartbeat … we had this gut feeling of there has to be something — I mean, a doctor may say it, but she’s moving. That’s pretty convincing. We know she’s still alive,” said her husband, Dan Beutler . . .

“But what she went through to have — and save — her baby is truly bada**, a lesson in courage from a woman who wouldn’t take no for an answer,” wrote CNN’s Dana Loch. Finally, a doctor at Johns Hopkins University agreed to administer the treatment. (Read more from “CNN Program Lauds Rep Who Refused Abortion” HERE)

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Death of American Student Held in North Korea Baffles Experts

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North Korea’s missile and nuclear tests, its carefully scripted propaganda bluster, even its military threats: Far from the scattershot workings of a madman, most of this fits the playbook of a small, proud country well used to stoking tensions to get concessions it would otherwise not receive from surrounding big powers.

What happened to Otto Warmbier, an American college student who died just days after North Korea released him from detention in a coma, is far more difficult to make sense of.

It jars so strikingly with the fates of most past detained Americans that outside observers are left struggling not only with the mystery of what killed Warmbier but also with what his death means for attempts by Washington and its allies to stop North Korea’s pursuit of a nuclear-tipped ICBM that can target the U.S. mainland. (Read more from “Death of American Student Held in North Korea Baffles Experts” HERE)

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White House Pushes Trump Priorities Before Congressional Recess

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As some Republicans in Congress are calling on leadership to allow the legislative branch to work through the August recess, the White House touted President Donald Trump’s priorities that Congress should move on.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer deferred to congressional leadership on scheduling, in response to a question from The Daily Signal about scrapping or shortening the August recess.

“That’s going to be up to the House and the Senate to determine their recess,” Spicer told The Daily Signal during a press briefing Tuesday. “Generally, we don’t get involved in their schedule. I’ll let Speaker [Paul] Ryan and Leader [Mitch] McConnell decide what’s appropriate.”

The Daily Signal followed by asking Spicer if Trump is satisfied with the pace of Congress on issues such as repealing Obamacare and tax reform.

“If we continue to move forward with health care, the way we’ve been told we’re going to, I think we’re great,” Spicer said. “We’ve got our priorities. We want to get health care done. We want to get tax reform done. And obviously, the president has spoken very extensively about infrastructure. If we can get those done, I think we feel really good.”

Pressed further on a timeline, Spicer said, “We’ll go as quick as Congress wants.”

“That’s a little out of our hands. But it’s—as soon as Congress can do it, we’ll do what we can,” Spicer said. “When the House had its bill up, the president worked feverishly to make sure that he did everything he could to get it over the finish line. I think we’ll do the same for all those other scenarios as well.”

House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows, R-N.C., and the caucus support working through the August recess.

Also, Republican Sens. David Perdue of Georgia, Dan Sullivan of Alaska, and Steve Daines of Montana have called on McConnell to keep the Senate in session, The Hill reported. (For more from the author of “White House Pushes Trump Priorities Before Congressional Recess” please click HERE)

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