[link removed]

In this mailing:
* Pete Hoekstra: Destroying American Democracy - An Inside Job
* Amir Taheri: The Question That Khamenei Faces


** Destroying American Democracy - An Inside Job ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------

by Pete Hoekstra • January 15, 2023 at 5:00 am
[link removed] [link removed] [link removed] [link removed] [link removed]
nstitute.org%2F19315%2Fdestroying-american-democracy&pubid=ra-52f7af5809191749&ct=1&title=Destroying+American+Democracy+-+An+Inside+Job [link removed]
* Just last week it was revealed that the FBI again withheld pertinent information from the American public, for past two months, until after the November 8, 2022 federal election.
* The combination of a politically weaponized Intelligence Community, operating hand-in-hand with organizations that are main gateways for information to millions of Americans, is a serious threat to American democracy and the integrity of our elections.
* Let us just briefly look at the steep slope of lying, deceit and corruption that has seeped into the leadership of the U.S. Intelligence Community.
* Having... false information -- some of which the FBI actually altered -- in the public domain was evidently intended to damage Trump.
* Today we know that the "Russia hoax" was a lie.... the information in the "Steele dossier" was false -- and the FBI had known it was from the start.
* For almost two years, the authenticity of the material found on Hunter Biden's laptop was questioned. Today, its authenticity has been verified; the information is real and damning. As summarized by the New York Post: "Yes that letter from the Dirty 51 had all the classic earmarks of a disinformation operation, all right – one designed to ensure Joe Biden won the presidency. And it was essentially a CIA operation, considering 43 of the 51 signatories were former CIA."
* One final example of the Intelligence Community involving itself in domestic politics comes from the recent release of the Twitter files.... Tweet #17 states, "executives were also clearly liaising with federal enforcement and intelligence agencies about moderation of election-related content." Finally, the FBI paid Twitter $3.5 million reportedly to "handle requests from the bureau."
* The FBI, DHS and the ODNI had literally had set up shop at Twitter.
* Can our government, law enforcement, and the Intelligence Community still be trusted?
* Have those federal government agencies literally weaponized law enforcement and intelligence against political opponents in the U.S.?
* Has more than one solitary person -- former FBI attorney Kevin Clinemith, for altering an email -- been held accountable for these egregious abuses of power?
* Who authorized the cozy relationship between law enforcement, the intelligence community with twitter?
* Who in these government agencies reviewed and approved of the output and decisions coming from these joint efforts?
* Who has the records, notes and decisions that emanated from these groups?
* It is clear that our law enforcement community needs to be investigated, but most importantly we need to investigate how our Intelligence Community has evolved from having literally a non-existent relationship with speech in America to being inside the room determining what speech is allowed.
* There... needs to be a significant investigation by an outside, non-government group to understand how far this massive government overreach into free speech and election manipulation went. Clearly the government has been influencing what we get to see and hear. It needs to stop -- now -- before our democracy is destroyed.

Can our government, law enforcement, and the Intelligence Community still be trusted? Have those federal agencies weaponized law enforcement and intelligence against political opponents in the U.S.? Today we know that the "Russia hoax" was a lie. The information in the "Steele dossier" was false -- and the FBI knew it was from the start. Pictured: Former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele arrives at the High Court in London on July 24, 2020, to attend a defamation trial brought against him by Russian entrepreneur Alexej Gubarev in connection with the "Steele dossier". (Photo by Tolga Akmen/AFP via Getty Images)

Over the last few years, there has been much written about the destruction of American democracy. Frequently the threat has been of alleged interference in U.S. elections by Russia, China or other state actors. Government agencies, the name of election integrity, were assigned to identify and disrupt these foreign intrusions. As more and more information is revealed about these agencies, it seems that America's Intelligence Community participated in these activities domestically, and in a way that poses a grave threat to both election integrity and American democracy.

Continue Reading Article ([link removed])


** The Question That Khamenei Faces ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------

by Amir Taheri • January 15, 2023 at 4:00 am
[link removed] [link removed] [link removed] [link removed] [link removed]
enei+Faces [link removed]
* The visit to Pyongyang was Khamenei's the Road to Damascus moment. The lesson he learned was simple: Let others idolize you and, if things turn badly, blame those who idolize you. And, if you are in a position of weakness, just appear as a nobody or play village idiot until the tide turns in your favor.
* [W]hen Khamenei was forced to enter center stage last week, it was clear that his usual tactics hadn't worked.
* Worse still, most of the key figures in the regime's support-base within the clergy, the military-security apparatus, and the Islamic academic and cultural elite seemed to be either hedging their bets or expressing some sympathy for the protesters.
* [T]he strongest probability today is that the Khomeinist system could be heading for the cabinet of curiosities.

These are tough days for the "Supreme Guide" of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (pictured). For the first time in more than three decades, he seems unable to do a Houdini number by getting out of a tight spot that events and his own mistakes have placed him in. (Image source: kremlin.ru)

These are tough days for the "Supreme Guide" of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. For the first time in more than three decades, he seems unable to do a Houdini number by getting out of a tight spot that events and his own mistakes have placed him in.

For more than three decades, whenever his rule was seriously challenged, his tactic was to go into purdah for a while letting things sort themselves out or, if action were needed, let others to do the dirty work. And when it became clear that things weren't going to sort themselves out, he adopted the tactic he called "heroic flexibility," a political version of the Parson's position in reverse.

Continue Reading Article ([link removed])

============================================================
** Facebook ([link removed])
** Twitter ([link removed])
** RSS ([link removed])
** Donate ([link removed])
Copyright © Gatestone Institute, All rights reserved.

You are subscribed to this list as [email protected]

You can change how you receive these emails:
** Update your subscription preferences ([link removed])
or ** Unsubscribe from this list ([link removed])

** Gatestone Institute ([link removed])

14 East 60 St., Suite 705, New York, NY 10022