Sharyl Attkisson

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Sharyl Attkisson

Politico: Ukraine interfered in 2016 election against Trump on behalf of Hillary Clinton

With all of the talk about Ukraine, there is some helpful context and background to be found in a 2017 article in Politico.

The following includes excerpts from the article followed by a link to the entire article.

Politico, Jan. 11, 2017

Ukrainian efforts to sabotage Trump backfire

Donald Trump wasn’t the only presidential candidate whose campaign was boosted by officials of a former Soviet bloc country.

Ukrainian government officials tried to help Hillary Clinton and undermine Trump by publicly questioning his fitness for office. They also disseminated documents implicating a top Trump aide in corruption and suggested they were investigating the matter, only to back away after the election. And they helped Clinton’s allies research damaging information on Trump and his advisers, a Politico investigation found.

A Ukrainian-American operative who was consulting for the Democratic National Committee met with top officials in the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington in an effort to expose ties between Trump, top campaign aide Paul Manafort and Russia, according to people with direct knowledge of the situation. 

The Ukrainian efforts had an impact in the race, helping to force Manafort’s resignation and advancing the narrative that Trump’s campaign was deeply connected to Ukraine’s foe to the east, Russia. But they were far less concerted or centrally directed than Russia’s alleged hacking and dissemination of Democratic emails.

Read the article by clicking the link below:

https://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/ukraine-sabotage-trump-backfire-233446
https://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/ukraine-sabotage-trump-backfire-233446
https://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/ukraine-sabotage-trump-backfire-233446

Fact Check: Rep. Wasserman Shultz's racial claims about Trump immigration official, Cuccinelli

The following is a news analysis.

At a Congressional hearing this week, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Shultz used her time to launch racially-tinged attacks against Ken Cuccinelli, the Trump administration's head of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

Shultz told Cuccinelli that he and President Trump follow a "white supremacist ideology" and wish to block all non-white immigrants from entering the U.S.

You and Mr. Trump don't want anyone who looks or talks differently than Caucasian Americans to be allowed into this country.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Shultz, D-Florida, to USCIS Director Ken Cuccinelli

Cuccinelli protested saying "that's false" and "that's defamatory," but Wasserman Shultz repeatedly told him he was wrong and that he was not entitled to respond.

Watch the video of the Congressional hearing here.

During the exchange, Wasserman Shultz also claimed that legal immigrants and illegal immigrants are the same thing.

“My constituents, Americans across this country aren’t fooled by this administration’s specious attempts to distinguish between documented and undocumented immigration,” Wasserman Schultz told Cuccinelli at the House Oversight subcommittee hearing.

Lastly, Wasserman Shultz accused Cuccinelli of wanting to "block all immigration and make life harder for immigrants" and stated that he demonstrated that he will "pursue this heinous white supremacist ideology at all costs, even if it means making critically ill children your collateral damage in the process."

Ken Cuccinelli, Acting USCIS Director

Over Wasserman Shultz's objections, Cuccinelli did fit in his opinion that, “I am not a white supremacist, as you alluded, nor is the president."

Discussion

On Wasserman Shultz's claim that legal and illegal immigrants are the same thing: that statement is obviously false on its face. Typically, legal immigrants have "waited their turn," and gone through approved processes. They are entitled to be in the U.S. and generally enjoy certain benefits and rights without fear of being deported.

Illegal immigrants, on the other hand, have not followed proper processes; and thus have a different status under laws enacted by Congress and under the U.S. Constitution.

Regarding Wasserman Shultz's claim that Cuccinelli and Trump "don't want anyone who looks or talks differently than Caucasian Americans to be allowed into this country," there is no evidence supporting this assertion.

In fact, the record shows the opposite: as acting head of USCIS, Cuccinelli has administered over the routine admission and processing of legal immigrants, regardless of their race or how the immigrant "looks or talks." There is no indication that he has inserted himself into the process to interfere with legal immigration to admit only those who look or talk like Caucasian Americans.

Lastly, there is also evidence contrary to Wasserman-Shultz's claim that Cuccinelli wants to "block all immigration and make life harder for immigrants" and "pursue this heinous white supremacist ideology at all costs."

A search of Cuccinelli's record to date shows nothing that indicates he has voiced a desire to, or attempted to block, all immigration and make life harder for immigrants. As stated above, he has overseen the continued, routine processing and admission of all legal immigrants into the U.S.

As for the implication that Cuccinelli is a white supremacist or holds such ideologies, there is no evidence of this in the public record.

For example, As Virginia Attorney General, Cuccinelli chose a Chief Deputy who is black, and the man who was the leader of the office is black.

Additionally, one of the most high profile cases Cuccinelli personally argued was to exonerate a black man named Thomas Haynesworth who had been convicted of two sexual assaults.

Conclusion

For multiple unsupported and false claims and implications, Wasserman Shultz earns an unequivocal Triple Devil rating.

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Who is the "Whistleblower" that's trying to take down Trump?

RealClearInvestigations has researched and named the man believed to be the probable whistleblower based on sources and description.

If the reporting is correct, it implies the "whistleblower" could have been worried Trump was getting close to uncovering Democrat links to Ukraine's interference in US elections in 2016.

RealClearInvestigations is disclosing the name because of the public’s interest in learning details of an effort to remove a sitting president from office. Further, the official's status as a “whistleblower” is complicated by his being a hearsay reporter of accusations against the president, one who has “some indicia of an arguable political bias … in favor of a rival political candidate" -- as the Intelligence Community Inspector General phrased it circumspectly in originally fielding his complaint.

RealClearInvestigations, Oct. 30, 2019

The following is an excerpt from RealClearInvestigations. The link to the full article follows.

More than two months after the official filed his complaint, pretty much all that’s known publicly about him is that he is a CIA analyst who at one point was detailed to the White House and is now back working at the CIA.

But the name of a government official fitting that description — Eric Ciaramella — has been raised privately in impeachment depositions, according to officials with direct knowledge of the proceedings, as well as in at least one open hearing held by a House committee not involved in the impeachment inquiry. Fearing their anonymous  witness could be exposed, Democrats this week blocked Republicans from asking more questions about him and intend to redact his name from all deposition transcripts...

Federal documents reveal that the 33-year-old Ciaramella, a registered Democrat held over from the Obama White House, previously worked with former Vice President Joe Biden and former CIA Director John Brennan, a vocal critic of Trump who helped initiate the Russia “collusion” investigation of the Trump campaign during the 2016 election.

Further, Ciaramella (pronounced char-a-MEL-ah) left his National Security Council posting in the White House’s West Wing in mid-2017 amid concerns about negative leaks to the media. He has since returned to CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia.

“He was accused of working against Trump and leaking against Trump,” said a former NSC official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters.

Also, Ciaramella huddled for “guidance” with the staff of House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, including former colleagues also held over from the Obama era whom Schiff’s office had recently recruited from the NSC. (Schiff is the lead prosecutor in the impeachment inquiry.)

And Ciaramella worked with a Democratic National Committee operative who dug up dirt on the Trump campaign during the 2016 election, inviting her into the White House for meetings, former White House colleagues said. The operative, Alexandra Chalupa, a Ukrainian-American who supported Hillary Clinton, led an effort to link the Republican campaign to the Russian government. “He knows her. He had her in the White House,” said one former co-worker, who requested anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter.

Read the full article by clicking the link below:

https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2019/10/30/whistleblower_exposed_close_to_biden_brennan_dnc_oppo_researcher_120996.html

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Dangerous explosions at gender reveal parties

Iowa authorities are looking into two explosions at two unrelated "gender reveal" parties that happened a day apart.

An explosion at a party on Friday near Knoxville, Iowa came from a homemade device. It killed a 56-year old woman, who was about 45 feet away and was hit in the head.

There was a second explosion at an unrelated party about 45 miles away in Waukee, Iowa on Saturday. This blast originated with "a commercially available gender reveal kit," according to the local fire chief. Officials are looking into reports that the explosion broke a neighbor's windows.

Gender reveal parties involve couples using creative ways to reveal the gender of their unborn babies. Sometimes, the techniques involve explosives.

Read more by clicking the link below.

https://siouxlandnews.com/news/local/explosion-reported-at-2nd-iowa-gender-reveal-party-10-29-2019

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Poll: Most credit military, President Trump for al-Baghdadi operation

Most people give shared credit to the U.S. military and President Trump for the operation that took down al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic extremist terrorist group ISIS.

That's according to the latest unscientific poll at SharylAttkisson.com.

Eighty-percent (80%) of respondents say "the military and Trump together" are responsible for the successful operation.

Eleven percent (11%) primarily credit the military alone.

Read the full results below. Meantime, be sure and vote in our latest poll at SharylAttkisson.com on the home page. Look for the black box in the right sidebar or scroll way down on the mobile site!

Who do you credit most for al-Baghdad operation?

11% The military

7% President Trump

80% The military and Trump together

1% Democrats

<1% Russia and other countries

1% None of the above

<1% Who is al-Baghdadi?

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Media Mistakes and the Media Agenda (PODCAST)

It's all the more important that we, as journalists, maintain strict ethical standards when we *don't* like or agree with the person we are covering. If we let down our guard and don't follow proper conduct, the results can be disastrous for our reputation and the truth.

Click the arrow at the link below to play.

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Whooping cough outbreak among vaccinated in California: LA Times

The following is a news analysis.

Many U.S. government and health officials have avoided addressing rising incidences of infectious disease outbreaks among vaccinated children. These officials choose instead to stay on the vaccine industry narrative of heaping blame on those who are partly vaccinated or unvaccinated.

Click here for links to CDC resources, and Attkisson vaccine stories

By failing to tackle the issue at hand-- vaccines that are not providing the expected immunity-- some health experts say the problem only stands to grow worse.

One of the most recent cases from this past March comes from Los Angeles, California. A private high school there reports nearly 50 students came down with whooping cough (pertussis), even though they were all vaccinated.

According to the Los Angeles Times, none of the students at the school with vaccine exemptions contracted the disease even though they had not received a whooping cough/pertussis shot.

Watch the investigation into allegations of vaccine-autism govt. coverup

Furthermore, Los Angeles County officials have said that 90 people recently were diagnosed with whooping cough in the county and all of them had been immunized against it.

Experts say part of the problem with whooping cough vaccine currently in use is that a newer form of the vaccine that's considered safer... doesn't last as long as the one that was used prior to 1997 (that reportedly had more serious side effects.)

One study found that even a booster doesn't help much. It provided immunity for only about a year.

This raises the question of risk-benefit ratio: how much benefit a child receives versus the risk of side effects (which all vaccines and medicines have). If the vaccine exposes children to some side serious side effects, even if relatively rare, is it worth it when immunity only lasts four years or less?

Additionally, there are questions of disclosure and informed consent. When doctors administer the pertussis vaccine (typically part of the childhood DTaP series), are they disclosing to parents that the whooping cough protection will only last a relatively short time? When boosters are given to middle school students, are parents told it's probably only effective for about a year, according to a Kaiser study?

Please note that CDC recommends that due to risk of side effects, children with certain risk factors should only get DT vaccine, without the pertussis component, instead of DTaP. Issues that could be reason to opt out of pertussis (whooping cough) vaccine include: if a child...

  • ...had severe pain or swelling after any vaccine containing tetanus or diphtheria.
  • ...has seizures or another nervous system problem.
  • ...ever had a condition called Guillian-Barré Syndrome.

Significantly, many parents have said their child's pediatrician did not ask about risk factors or discuss limited immunity before administering DTaP vaccines.

Waning or ineffective immunity or combined with the possibility of vaccine side effects provide good reason for everyone to advocate for safer, better vaccines.

Read Dr. Andrew Zimmerman's full affidavit on alleged vaccine-autism coverup

Pitting those who want improved vaccine safety against those who smear them as "anti-science" or "tinfoil hat conspirators" only allows the power brokers behind the scenes to disappear among the infighting, and continue making money without improving the product through technologically possible advances.

Read the L.A. Times article by clicking the link below.

California: Outbreak of Whooping Cough Affects 30 Students at Private School, All of Them Vaccinated

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President Trump mentions Jussie Smollett case in Chicago

Actor Jussie Smollett

During a Chicago speech to the nation's police chiefs, President Trump raised the false accusations made by actor Jussie Smollett.

Smollett, who is black, falsely claimed that white Trump supporters wearing "Make America Great Again" hats attacked him in the middle of the night and hung a noose around his neck.

Police later determined that two black acquaintances of Smollett staged the 'attack.'

Watch the video clip below.

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