Mark Meadows on IG Report: ‘Rosenstein Must Be Held Accountable for His Obstructionist Conduct’

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House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows (R-NC) released a statement on Thursday, charging that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein “must be held accountable for his obstructionist conduct” after the Inspector General (IG) report was released.

Inspector General Michael Horowitz released his highly-anticipated report, which detailed the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation. The report reveals a previously undisclosed text exchange between FBI agent Peter Strzok and his mistress Lisa Page. Strzok told Page that “We’ll stop it,” when asked about Donald Trump potentially being elected president. . .

The House Freedom Caucus chairman then chastised Rosenstein for hiding the text suggesting that Strzok will stop Trump from becoming president.

Meadows continued:

Even more disturbing is the idea that Congress is just now learning of information we should have received from the DOJ months ago. Why are we just now learning of a text message where Peter Strzok discusses “stopping” Donald Trump from becoming President? Why did Rod Rosenstein and the Justice Department hide this text message from investigators? There is absolutely no excuse. The fact that we are finding out about this text in an OIG report once again confirms that Mr. Rosenstein has zero interest in anything even approaching transparency.

(Read more from “Mark Meadows on IG Report: ‘Rosenstein Must Be Held Accountable for His Obstructionist Conduct’” HERE)

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New Chilling Bodycam Footage Released From Vegas Shooting

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By ABC News. Police have released intense bodycam footage from the deadly mass shooting in Las Vegas last October that shows first-responders struggling to dodge bullets and shield victims with little understanding of where the gunfire was coming from.

The Las Vegas Metro Police Department on Wednesday released more than two dozen video files with hours of officer bodycam footage and about 500 recordings of phone calls from the night of Oct. 1, when suspected shooter Stephen Paddock unleashed a hail of bullets on a crowd of concertgoers.

“There’s a lot of casualties right in the middle of the field,” one officer yelled.

“It’s coming from the Mandalay Bay,” another office screamed. “Get behind the police car … stay down!”

The videos captured the earliest moments of what became the worst mass shooting in U.S. history — 58 people died and more than 800 suffered injuries. (Read more from “New Chilling Bodycam Footage Released From Vegas Shooting” HERE)

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Bodycam Footage From Harrowing First Moments of Police Response to Las Vegas Shooting Is Released

By Inside Edition. Footage of the harrowing first moments of the police response to October’s historically deadly shooting in Las Vegas has been released.

Police body cameras were recording as officers huddled with those taking cover, organized escape routes, carried the wounded to safety and ducked behind barriers as bullets rained down.

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department released 28 bodycam videos, totaling about 10 hours, the AP reported.

(Read more from “Bodycam Footage From Harrowing First Moments of Police Response to Las Vegas Shooting Is Released” HERE)

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FBI Vows to Train Employees to Avoid Bias After Devastating Report

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The FBI will make its employees undergo bias training, Director Christopher A. Wray promised Thursday, after a devastating report found the bureau made bad decisions, has a culture of leaking sensitive information, and may have skewed campaign-season decisions because of bias. . .

The inspector general also said the FBI was rife with people leaking to the press, or holding other cozy relationships that should worry the bureau. Some employees accepted sports tickets, went on golf outings, or had their dinners paid for by reporters. . .

The FBI has been under fire for its operations during the 2016 campaign, when it was conducting several investigations into matters surrounding Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, and also began a probe into Republican candidate Mr. Trump.

Mr. Trump fired FBI Director James B. Comey for his handling of the probe, and others have also been disciplined.

The new report said that while bias didn’t appear to affect the big decisions in the handling of the initial investigation into Mrs. Clinton’s email practices, they couldn’t rule out a role for bias in pushing the FBI to focus on the Russia probe in October 2016, rather than go back to review a new set of emails found on the laptop of Anthony Weiner, who was married to Mrs. Clinton’s top personal aide, Huma Abedin. (Read more from “FBI Vows to Train Employees to Avoid Bias After Devastating Report” HERE)

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Scientists: Frogs “Millions of Years Old” Found in Amber … but Look Like Modern Frogs

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More than a third of the 7,000-odd living species of frogs and toads are found in rain forests around the world. But the fossil record for amphibians from these kinds of wet, tropical environments has been almost nonexistent, leaving paleontologists with few clues to their early evolution.

Now, lumps of amber dating back to the Cretaceous period have revealed a set of four tiny tropical frogs that lived alongside the dinosaurs, making them the oldest frog fossils of their kind. . .

The 99-million-year-old frogs come from the same amber deposits in northern Myanmar that have produced many exquisite fossils, including a dinosaur tail, a couple of baby birds, intact bird wings, and countless insects. Bits of bamboo, velvet worms, and aquatic spiders also found in this amber suggest that the Cretaceous environment was a rain forest, since similar species are commonly found in wet tropical forests today. . .

CT scans revealed much more about the three-dimensional structure and internal anatomy of the fossils, including evidence that Electrorana was similar to modern frogs in many ways. The animal appears to be an ancient member of one of the oldest lineages of living frogs, represented by modern species such as fire-bellied toads and midwife toads. (Read more from “Scientists: Frogs “Millions of Years Old” Found in Amber … but Look Like Modern Frogs” HERE)

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IG Report: FBI Agents Bribed by Journalists to Leak Information

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Well, the report from the Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz is here. Former Attorney General Loretta Lynch, former FBI Director James Comey, and ex-Deputy Director Andrew McCabe were placed under the microscope for their activities during the 2016 election, namely the Hillary Clinton email probe and the investigation into the Clinton Foundation. Katie and Guy broke down the major nuggets of the report, notably how Mr. Comey went way outside the protocol during the Clinton email probe. The IG report also noted that the arguments for why the ex-FBI chief informed Congress on October 28, 2016, that the FBI would be essentially rebooting the email probe after new emails were found on Huma Abedin’s laptop, Abedin is a top Clinton aide, were unpersuasive.

In that final chapter of the email saga, it was later determined that Abedin and Anthony Weiner, her convicted sexual predator husband, shared the device. Weiner was being investigated on a separate matter concerning inappropriate communications with a minor.

So, Democrats have yet another reason to hate James Comey. Mr. McCabe’s recusal from the Clinton probes on November 1, 2016 was seen as not an absolute requirement, but something that was the right course of action. He did not honor the recusal at times, but we already know he lied to investigators three times during a leak investigation. A leak that McCabe instigated, telling The Wall Street Journal that there were tensions between the DOJ and FBI over the Clinton Foundation probe. The infamous tarmac meeting that occurred days before James Comey’s July 5 presser between Lynch and former President Bill Clinton that tainted the email probe yielded nothing new in this report. There’s no evidence to suggest that anything else, besides golf and grandkids, was discussed.

Yet, the texts between FBI agent Peter Strzok and bureau lawyer Lisa Page did not go unnoticed. The two were having an extramarital affair, sending each other tens of thousands of texts. They were anti-Trump in nature of course. The latest nugget from these texts is that Strzok explicitly told Page that they would stop Trump from becoming president. In all, the report found that five agents of the FBI, including Strzok and Page, should be referred for disciplinary action for careless use of government property to communicate their personal opinions:

The conduct of the five FBI employees described in sections A, B, and C of this Chapter has brought discredit to themselves, sowed doubt about the FBI’s handling of the Midyear investigation, and impacted the reputation of the FBI. As described in Chapter Five, our review did not find documentary or testimonial evidence directly connecting the political views these employees expressed in their text messages and instant messages to the specific investigative decisions we reviewed in Chapter Five. Nonetheless, the conduct by these employees cast a cloud over the FBI Midyear investigation and sowed doubt the FBI’s work on, and its handling of, the Midyear investigation. Moreover, the damage caused by their actions extends far beyond the scope of the Midyear investigation and goes to the heart of the FBI’s reputation for neutral factfinding and political independence.

(Read more from “IG Report: FBI Agents Bribed by Journalists to Leak Information” HERE)

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IQ Scores Are Falling Rapidly – Seven Points per Generation – and No One Know Why

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The Flynn effect – named after the work of Kiwi intelligence researcher James Flynn – observed rapid rises in intelligence quotient at a rate of about 3 IQ points per decade in the 20th century, but new research suggests these heady boom days are long gone.

An analysis of some 730,000 IQ test results by researchers from the Ragnar Frisch Centre for Economic Research in Norway reveals the Flynn effect hit its peak for people born during the mid-1970s, and has significantly declined ever since. . .

What the results show is that a turning point for the Flynn effect occurred for the post-1975 birth cohorts, equivalent to 7 fewer IQ score points per generation. . .

In the new study, the researchers observed IQ drops occurring within actual families, between brothers and sons – meaning the effect likely isn’t due to shifting demographic factors as some have suggested, such as the dysgenic accumulation of disadvantageous genes across areas of society (editor’s note: in other words, this new decline in IQ is not caused by dumb people having lots of dumb kids).

Instead, it suggests changes in lifestyle could be what’s behind these lower IQs, perhaps due to the way children are educated, the way they’re brought up, and the things they spend time doing more and less (the types of play they engage in, whether they read books, and so on). (Read more from “IQ Scores Are Falling Rapidly – Seven Points per Generation – and No One Know Why” HERE)

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Fed-Up Sanders Goes OFF on Acosta

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In what appears to be a major deflection from the highly anticipated IG report, CNN’s Jim Acosta joined the Democrat “outrage” over immigration on Thursday.

In the hours before and just after bombshells surfaced from the IG report, Democrats became fixated on families being separated at the border with Pelosi asking why ‘uprisings’ weren’t happening nationwide (video at end). In what was shaping up to be an already highly heated press conference, it seemed Sarah Sanders grew impatient with Acosta for carrying the Dem’s water:

“If I can just ask a second question, completely unrelated, on these children that are being separated from their families as they come across the border. The Attorney General earlier today said that somehow there’s a justification for this in the Bible. Where does it say in the Bible that it’s moral to take children away from their mothers?” he said. . .

Sanders responded by saying that she wasn’t aware of the AG’s statements, but that it’s Biblical to follow the law. . .

“It’s not what I said and I know it’s hard for you to understand even short sentences, I guess, but please don’t take my words out of context. But the separation of illegal alien families is the product of the same legal loopholes that Democrats refuse to close. These laws are the same that have been on the books for over a decade. The President is simply enforcing them.” (Read more from “Fed-Up Sanders Goes off on Acosta” HERE)

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New Study: Earth’s Biggest Ice Sheet Unharmed During Warmer Period in History

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Antarctica’s eastern ice sheet was stable for millions of years during the Pliocene warm period when atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations were about the same as today, according to a new study.

The study on the Earth’s largest ice sheet surviving a period scientists believe was warmer than modern times was published in the journal Nature, but got little media attention, especially when compared to a study published the same day in the very same journal alleging Antarctic ice melt had tripled from ten years ago. . .

Shakun’s study found that while portions of Antarctica’s ice sheets retreated, the eastern portion proved to be very resilient during the warm period between 2.6 million and 5.3 million years ago.

“Based on this evidence from the Pliocene, today’s current carbon dioxide levels are not enough to destabilize the land-based ice on the Antarctic continent,” Shakun said in a statement.

Shakun’s team analyzed ice cores, looking for isotopes that point to interaction between glacial sediment and cosmic rays. They only found trace amounts, suggesting ice cover persisted through past warm periods. (Read more from “New Study: Earth’s Biggest Ice Sheet Unharmed During Warmer Period in History” HERE)

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After Trump’s Relentless Hammering, Trudeau Just Caved and Denounced Iran

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. . .[President Donald Trump is] relentlessly hammering the Islamic Republic of Iran for its support for terrorism and its own nuclear weapons programs. And despite criticism, there are signs it’s paying off, even among some Trump critics.

After the weekend’s G-7 summit of leading industrialized nations ended with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau engaging in a very public dispute with Trump over trade, that same Trudeau abruptly reversed his government’s course toward the mullahs in Tehran to one that’s much more in line with Trump’s position. . .

Led by a vote from the prime minister himself, Canada’s ruling Liberal Party voted in the country’s parliament on Tuesday to support a Conservative Party motion calling on the government to halt moves toward normalizing relations with Iran. . .

“Trudeau campaigned on restoring diplomatic relations with Iran, and this motion calls for the government to abandon its current plan and immediately cease any and all negotiations or discussion with the Islamic Republic of Iran to restore diplomatic relations.

“So what Trudeau did by standing up in support of an opposition MP’s mere motion was to signal a complete change in the Canadian government’s Iran policy. What had previously been characterized as a policy of appeasement now appears to be one rooted in toughness and holding the regime to account for their conduct.” (Read more from “After Trump’s Relentless Hammering, Trudeau Just Caved and Denounced Iran” HERE)

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GOP Reeling After Another Establishment Candidate Beaten by Pro-Trump Candidate

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A well-known career GOP politician has just received shattering news: Even though he’s the incumbent, a surprising challenger defeated him in the primary on Tuesday, sending a signal that establishment politicians are not safe.

Congressman and former Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina was beaten by State Rep. Katie Arrington in a close race.

“The Associated Press called the race just after midnight, with Arrington leading Sanford by 51-47 percent margin and 99 percent of precincts reporting. Sanford becomes the second incumbent to lose a reelection primary bid this cycle,” reported The Hill.

“Sanford had never lost an election until Tuesday, even after he was caught having an affair in 2009 while governor. But his willingness to question Trump, who is lionized by the GOP primary electorate, proved politically fatal,” that outlet continued.

That point is especially important. The one key difference between Sanford and Arrington is that he was an anti-Trump establishment player, while she sided with the president and was seen as closer to the people, having worked her way up from a restaurant job to national politics. (Read more from “GOP Reeling After Another Establishment Candidate Beaten by Pro-Trump Candidate” HERE)

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