U.S.-Afghan relations depicted in a graphic concept of blended flags of the U.S. and Afghanistan. (Photo: AdobeStock)
U.S. and Taliban officials touted “significant progress” in peace talks last week in Qatar over a proposed ceasefire and troop pullout.
U.S. special peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad will engage in the next round of talks on February 25, and the sticking point remains over Taliban negotiators wanting a full withdrawal before a ceasefire.
A senior U.S. government official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the Trump Administration was committed to withdrawing foreign forces from Afghanistan to end more than 17 years of war.
However, they added that the U.S. could not accept a withdrawal without a ceasefire.
“We don’t want a permanent military presence in Afghanistan,” another official told Reuters in the capital Kabul. “Our goal is to help bring peace in Afghanistan and we would like a future partnership, newly defined with a post peace government.”
“We would like to leave a good legacy.”
In August 2017, President Trump said in his address to the nation that his new U.S. strategy in Afghanistan would not include nation-building.
“We are not nation-building again,” he said. “We are killing terrorists.”
The longest war in U.S. history began almost immediately after the attacks on September 11, 2001. President Donald Trump has long-criticized continued U.S. involvement, and as a candidate campaigned on prioritizing illicit drug trades over foreign intervention.
After more than 17 years – deploying at peak more than 100,000 troops, sacrificing the lives of nearly 2,400 U.S. soldiers, spending more than $1 trillion on military operations, more than $100 billion on “nation-building,” or funding and training an army of 350,000 Afghan soldiers – the Taliban still controls nearly half of Afghanistan.
They stage near-daily attacks against the Afghan government and security forces. Further, as exclusively reported by People’s Pundit Daily (PPD), opium production in Afghanistan has never been more robust than it is now.
The annual opium survey record high 9,000 metric tons for the year, rising 87% compared with 2016.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani opposes a U.S. withdrawal, blaming the Russian withdrawal on May 15, 1988 for the civil war. He noted last week that 45,000 members of the country’s security forces had been killed since he took office in 2014.
On Liberty Never Sleeps, Tom argues the result of the government shutdown marked the beginning of the end for America, unless something changes and soon.
*Space Shuttle Challenger *Roger Stone Raid *Trump, The Wall, and Failure *Journalistic Malpractice *Fighting for the American Way
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A symbolic picture of armed Islamic militants in the Middle East. (Photo: AdobeStock)
A former resident of Sugar Land, Texas, has been arrested and detained for attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS).
A federal grand jury returned a sealed indictment against Warren Christopher Clark, 34, on January 23, 2019. It was unsealed on Friday following his initial appearance in federal court before U.S. Magistrate Judge Peter Bray in Houston.
Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers, U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Patrick and Special Agent in Charge Perrye K. Turner of the FBI’s Houston Field Office announced the indictment.
According to federal prosecutors, Mr. Clark was captured in Syria by the Syrian Democratic Forces, and transferred to U.S. law enforcement custody last week.
He arrived Thursday in the Southern District of Texas.
“The arm of American Justice has a lengthy reach,” said Patrick. “The number one priority of the Southern District of Texas, along with the FBI and our other national security partners, is to keep America safe. The protection of life is the most sacred job law enforcement has.”
Clark is charged with attempting to provide himself as material support to ISIS, designated a foreign terrorist organization pursuant to Section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
“The FBI continues to aggressively pursue individuals who attempt to join the ranks of ISIS’s foreign fighters or try to provide support for other terrorist organizations. This fight against terrorism is not one we can combat alone,” Special Agent Turner said. “The FBI relies on our domestic counterparts and foreign law enforcement agencies, as well as the public. Anyone who has information about individuals who have traveled or are planning to travel overseas to support terrorist groups should report it immediately to their local FBI office.”
The charge of material support, which carries a possible penalty of up to 20 years in federal prison and a maximum $250,000 fine, upon conviction.
The FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force and police departments in Houston and Sugar Land conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Stephen Mark McIntyre and Craig M. Feazel and Trial Attorney Michael J. Dittoe of the Justice Department’s Counterterrorism Section are prosecuting the case.
An indictment is a formal accusation of criminal conduct, not evidence. A defendant is presumed innocent unless convicted through due process of law.
President Donald Trump announces his decision on whether to withdraw the United States (US) from the Iran nuclear deal on Tuesday, May 8, 2018. (Photo: People’s Pundit Daily/PPD)
President Donald Trump donated his 2018 third-quarter salary of $100,000 to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, The White House said late last week.
The president’s older brother, Fred Jr., died in 1981 after struggling with alcohol-related problems. He was only 43 years old.
President Trump has publicly stated on numerous occasions that he neither drinks nor smokes due to the death of his brother.
As a candidate, Trump pledged not to accept the $400,000 annual presidential salary, saying he would donate it to various federal departments and agencies.
Thus far, he has kept that promise, donating his salary to the Department of Education, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Transportation, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and others.
Since Appointed, Robert Mueller’s Investigation Into “Russian Collusion” Racked Up A Tax Bill Exceeding $12M
On May 17, 2017, then-acting Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed Robert Mueller III to serve as Special Counsel in the so-called Russian probe.
Specifically, the order authorized Mr. Mueller’s team to look into “any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump,” and “any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation.”
For the full period covering May 17, 2017 through September 30, 2018, the Justice Department (DOJ) expenditure reports reveal the Russia probe thus far has cost taxpayers $12,287,852.
Direct and Reimbursed Expenditures
Total
Personnel Compensation and Benefits
$7,333,998
Travel and Transportation of Persons
$1,336,081
Transportation of Things
$1,501
Rent, Communications, and Utilities
$2,191,740
Printing and Reproduction*
$15,618
Contractual Services
$732,185
Supplies and Materials
$99,470
Acquisition of Equipment
$1,000,651
Total SCO Expenditures
$12,287,852
*Reflects only period May 17, 2017 through September 30, 2017
At a total $7,333,998, salaries and benefits for members of the Democrat-dominated special counsel team — listed under Personnel Compensation and Benefits — is by far the largest single group expenditure.
For the period May 17, 2017 through September 30, 2017, the special counsel spent $1,709,597 on paychecks and perks, alone. For the period October 1, 2017 through March 31, 2018, it jumped to $2,738,131.
Expenditures on salaries and benefits grew even more to $2,886,270 for the period April 1, 2018 through September 30, 2018.
To date, Mr. Mueller’s team has largely indicted persons on process crimes, or crimes that arise not from criminal activity prior to the investigation, but from the investigation, itself.
Not a single charge related is related to “collusion.”
Alan M. Dershowitz, Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law, Emeritus, at Harvard Law School, recently wrote a “review of all the indictments and guilty pleas secured by Mueller shows that nearly all of them fall into three categories.”
(1) Process crimes growing out of the investigation itself, such as false statements, perjury, obstruction of justice and witness tampering. These crimes resulted from the investigation itself. That doesn’t make them less serious, but it is relevant to evaluating the overall success or failure of Mueller’s primary mission.
(2) Crimes that occurred before Mueller was appointed but that cover unrelated business activities by individuals associated with President Trump. The object of these indictments is to pressure the defendants to provide evidence against the resident.
(3) One indictment against Russian individuals who will never be brought to justice in the United States. This indictment was largely for show.
President Donald J. Trump announces his decision to pull out of the Paris Climate Accord, the Paris Agreement. (Photo: SS)
President Donald Trump and the White House are defending the decision to reopen the government temporarily without border wall funding.
“On Friday, Jan. 25, 2019, the president signed into law: H.J. Res. 28, the ‘Further Additional Continuing Appropriations Act, 2019,’ which includes a short-term continuing resolution that provides fiscal year 2019 appropriations through Feb. 15, 2019, for continuing projects and activities of the Federal Government included in the remaining seven appropriations bills,” the White House said in a statement late Friday.
“Also included in the enrolled bill are provisions regarding retroactive pay and reimbursement, and extensions of certain authorities.”
In the Rose Garden on Friday, President Trump insisted he still has not ruled out declaring a national emergency to build the wall, calling it “a very powerful weapon.”
Sources tell PPD White House lawyers have determined a course of action to expedite legal challenges that Democrats have promised to bring.
But some conservatives — among them his most ardent supporters — are outraged.
“Good news for George Herbert Walker Bush: As of today, he is no longer the biggest wimp ever to serve as President of the United States,” Ann Coulter, conservative commentator known for her anti-illegal immigration stances, tweeted.
Good news for George Herbert Walker Bush: As of today, he is no longer the biggest wimp ever to serve as President of the United States.
The president tweeted in response to criticism from supporters and others.
“I wish people would read or listen to my words on the Border Wall,” Trump tweeted. “This was in no way a concession. It was taking care of millions of people who were getting badly hurt by the Shutdown with the understanding that in 21 days, if no deal is done, it’s off to the races!”
I wish people would read or listen to my words on the Border Wall. This was in no way a concession. It was taking care of millions of people who were getting badly hurt by the Shutdown with the understanding that in 21 days, if no deal is done, it’s off to the races!
On December 22, amid a border security debate between the White House and congressional Democrats, the government began what was the longest partial government shutdown in U.S. history.
The president requested $5.7 billion in funding for border security and construction of a steel barrier or concrete wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, but Democrats vowed to block any spending package that included any wall funding.
Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., the Chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, defended the move by the president, characterizing it as a trap set for Democrats.
“Democrats have been saying for weeks they’ll negotiate on wall funding when the government is open,” the conservative caucus chair tweeted. “POTUS is now giving them yet ANOTHER opportunity to come to the table.”
“Americans will be able to judge for themselves whether Democrats are truly serious about securing our border.”
Democrats have been saying for weeks they’ll negotiate on wall funding when the government is open. POTUS is now giving them yet ANOTHER opportunity to come to the table. Americans will be able to judge for themselves whether Democrats are truly serious about securing our border.
Special Counsel Arrests Stone at Ft. Lauderdale Residence at 6:00 AM EST, CNN Tipped Off
Roger Stone was arrested early Friday morning after the special counsel secured indictments for lying under oath, witness tampering and obstruction.
“The indictment, which was unsealed upon arrest, contains seven counts: one count of obstruction of an official proceeding, five counts of false statements, and one count of witness tampering,” a statement from special counsel spokesman Peter Carr read.
The federal indictment (viewable below) surrounds Roger Stone attempting to pass messages to Julian Assange, the founder and editor of WikiLeaks — identified in the indictment as “Organization 1” — through an intermediary, then obstructing investigations into those contacts conducted by the U.S. House, U.S. Senate and Office of Special Counsel.
CNN Exclusive Video: Longtime Donald Trump associate Roger Stone has been indicted by a grand jury on charges brought by special counsel Robert Mueller. He was arrested by the FBI Friday morning at his home in Florida, his lawyer tells CNN. https://t.co/vDRIgDfXdipic.twitter.com/wKHdEku22e
It specifies two associates — “Person 1,” a political commentator, and “Person 2,” a radio host — who Stone allegedly requested to pass messages to Julian Assange, who has been living inside London’s Ecuadorian embassy since 2012.
alleges Stone made “multiple false statements” to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) and “falsely denied possessing records that contained evidence of these “interactions.”
It further alleges he tried “to persuade a witness to provide false testimony to and withhold pertinent information from the investigations.”
Corporate Big Media are focused on the indictment’s assertion that Stone and a “high-ranking Trump Campaign official” emailed each other about WikiLeaks’ emails several days before the first batch of messages were made public.
“Shortly after Organization 1’s release, an associate of the high-ranking Trump Campaign official sent a text message to STONE that read ‘well done,’” the indictment states.
Based on the description of the emails in the indictment, the “high-ranking Trump Campaign official” appears to be former Breitbart News Executive Chairman Stephen K. Bannon. Emails described in the indictment document were previously published by The New York Times.
Government Shutdown banner in red, white, and blue stars and stripes American flag concept. (Photo: AdobeStock)
I don’t care about the current shutdown battle, but I still feel compelled to add my two cents when people make silly arguments about the economy suffering because government is temporarily spending less money.
This is actually a two-part debate.
From a microeconomic perspective, there is some genuine disruption for affected federal bureaucrats, even if they eventually will get full – and lavish – compensation for their involuntary vacations. And some federal contractors are being hit as well.
There’s also a debate about the macroeconomic impact, with some making the Keynesian argument that government spending is somehow a stimulant for the economy.
In this interview, I tried to make a more nuanced point, explaining that we should focus more on gross domestic income (GDI), which measures how we earn our national income, rather than gross domestic product (GDP), which measures how we allocate national income.
Harold Furchtgott-Roth, in a column for the Wall Street Journal, analyzes the potential macroeconomic consequences of the shutdown.
Does the U.S. government shutdown endanger economic growth? It has led to missed paychecks… Yet these employees represent approximately 0.5% of all American workers… The effect of the furloughs on gross domestic product is likely small. …U.S. GDP is more than $20 trillion annually, or approximately $55 billion daily. The daily compensation of furloughed federal workers is about $52.5 million, or less than 0.1% of GDP. This figure does not include affected government contractors, but even doubling or tripling this figure yields only a small share of GDP. …The net effect of the partial shutdown on direct salaries and wages will primarily be to delay, but not reduce, income for the affected families. …Maybe that’s one reason the stock market, a barometer of expectations of future economic growth, has been unperturbed by the budget impasse. The Dow and the S&P 500 are up nearly 9% since the shutdown began Dec. 22. Experience also gives reason for optimism. The last major government shutdown occurred in 1995-96. It affected the entire federal government, not only part of it. Yet U.S. GDP growth increased from 2.7% in 1995 to 3.8% in 1996.
Steve Malanga, writing for the City Journal, takes a microeconomic perspective on the shutdown.
I’ve seen no evidence that the shutdown will affect me and my family. I’ve heard no friend, neighbor, or relative even mention it. Virtually everyone I know outside of my professional life seems to be going about their business. Still, I’ve taken a thorough look at press coverage over the past two weeks and found nearly 500 stories on how the closure is supposed to affect our lives. …The press seems intent on convincing the rest of us that we’re at risk… Many headlines stoking fear contradict the articles they introduce. A story in the Guardian, for instance, was pitched as a tale of the shocking impact that the shutdown would have on a small rural town. Though the paper tells us the town is “in the grip of a partial government shutdown,” readers find little evidence of it. “We really haven’t noticed anything,” City Manager Mike Deal confesses. …a story in the Bangor Daily News noted that the Small Business Administration, which hands out government-subsidized loans to firms, won’t be making them during the shutdown. Still, the story notes, that’s not going to make much of a hit on the local economy, since the SBA has made just 2,687 loans in Maine since 2010, for an average of just 27 a month. …a story in the Lafayette Daily Advertiser entitled, “How the shutdown is affecting local breweries in Louisiana.” The problem, the owner of Bayou Teche Brewing explains, is that the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau is responsible for approving labels for new beers, and the agency’s not working right now. “With every government shutdown that’s happened since we opened, we’ve had a beer needing label approval,” said Karlos Knott of Bayou. “And that results in beer we’re just having to sit on.”
Which is why I wish one of the lessons we learned from the shutdown fight is that much of what government does is either pointless or counterproductive.
I’m not holding my breath waiting for that to happen.
Anyhow, no column on a government shutdown would be complete without some satire.
We’ll start with a sarcastic observation from Libertarian Reddit. Though it actually raises a serious point. I want to downsize Washington, but I don’t want any needless pain for bureaucrats. Yet shouldn’t we be similarly sensitive to the plight of folks in the private sector who suffer because of D.C.’s bad policies?
And it appears that government bureaucrats have figured out what to do with their hands now that they have extra time on their hands.
Labor Market Shrugs Off Furloughed Government Workers
U.S. jobless claims graph on a tablet screen. (Photo: AdobeStock)
The Labor Department (DOL) said initial jobless claims fell to only 199,000 for the week ending January 19, easily beating the 218,000 consensus forecast.
This is the lowest level for initial claims since November 15, 1969 when it was 197,000.
The 4-week moving average was 215,000, a decrease of 5,500 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised down by 250 from 220,750 to 220,500.
The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was unchanged at a very low 1.2% for the week ending January 12.
No state was triggered “on” the Extended Benefits program during the week ending January 5.
The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending January 5 were in Alaska (3.5), New Jersey (2.8), Connecticut (2.7), Pennsylvania (2.6), Montana (2.5), Rhode Island (2.5), Illinois (2.3), Massachusetts (2.3), California (2.2), and Minnesota (2.2).
The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending January 12 were in California (+14,983), Texas (+7,588), Kentucky (+4,967), Florida (+2,770), and Virginia (+2,084), while the largest decreases were in New York (-23,398), Georgia (-4,655), Pennsylvania (-3,955), Connecticut (-3,086), and Alabama (-2,274).
On this episode of Liberty Never Sleeps, Tom paints a dark picture of life under the thumb of big governments in New York and California.
*Covington Chaos *Just Say No to the SOTU *New York and Abortion *Get Out While You Can *A Little Bit of Venezuela
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