Pompeo Trip to North Korea: the Make-or-Break Moment

Will weaning Kim Jong-un off of his addiction to building nuclear weapons require a second summit?

Gordon G. Chang  "Secretary of State Mike Pompeo leaves for Pyongyang Thursday, his third trip to the North Korean capital.

"Pompeo’s upcoming visit will be the make-or-break moment in President Trump’s campaign to disarm the militant regime of Kim Jong-un.

"When Pompeo returns, the world should know whether the Trump administration’s fundamental assumption—that Kim has made a strategic decision to give up his nuclear arsenal—is correct.

"If that assumption is not correct—and at this moment it does not appear to be so—then Trump will have to do something he jokingly said in Singapore that he would not do: admit he was wrong about the North Korean leader.

"Unfortunately, it appears the president will make no such admission. Instead, it looks like he has chosen to retreat, backing away from demands that the North give up its most destructive weapons.

"At the moment, color Pompeo optimistic. “For decades, the North Korean leadership—Chairman Kim, his father, and grandfather alike—believed the nuclear program was their security out; it provided them with regime stability and security,” he said to Hugh Hewitt during his MSNBC interview conducted June 22. “And we’ve now flipped that narrative. I believe we have convinced him that that nuclear program, in fact, presents a threat to him and that giving up that program is the path towards a brighter future for the North Korean people.' ” . . .

Also: How Trump is Reshaping American Foreign Policy

Trump’s policies are shaping America’s relationship with the world in major ways even if those policies don’t exhibit a consistent strategy.

Federal Lawsuit Filed Against Obama, Holder, Sharpton, Farrakhan, and BLM Leaders for Inciting Hatred, Violence Against Cops

Hollywood Conservatives For Trump

"Former President Barack Obama and members of his radical administration should regret their actions at that time and their hostility during the Trump administration. That includes supporting Black Lives Matter, from which today’s ANTIFA (Anti-Fascist) emanates.

"Obama and his minions –especially Attorney General Eric Holder — were extremely adamant about pushing the cop-hating and white-hating mentality that was the catalyst in further dividing Americans, but now it seems to all have backfired. It failed to work for Hillary Clinton who compared U.S. cops to Islamic terrorists and complained that white cops are racists.

"A conservative activist is in the process of holding Obama and his black extremist peers responsible for the hate that they have built through their idiotic persistence.

"Former prosecutor Larry Klayman is sick and tired of the cop-killing and extreme animosity towards police. He recently filed a lawsuit against a group of defendants that he believes are responsible for instigating the hateful crime spree. Some of the people named in the lawsuit are extremely well-known, and conservatives have been trying to hold these guys responsible for years.

"Former President Barack Obama, his former Attorney General Eric Holder, Al Sharpton, and Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam are all under attack in the lawsuit. His claim is that all of the men have “incited violence and in fact have a direct link to what happened in Dallas.”

"The lawsuit specifically claims that every single one of these men have violated law enforcement officers’ civil rights. They are also being charged with aiding and abetting murder, in addition to promoting terrorism. “If these scumbags are found guilty they will be forced to pay a grand total of $2 billion in damages, which doesn’t even begin to fix all of the damage they have done. Too many lives have been taken at the hands of Black Lives Matter members, and $2 billion doesn’t replace even one of the lives taken from us,” said one former police officer who says he’s glad he retired when he did.

"The issues going on today can be tracked back to the very beginning of Obama’s presidency. He consistently forced the matter of racism in the United States, causing blacks to become extremely angry and wreak havoc all over the country.

"Klayman maintained that Obama and his allies worked extremely hard to challenge law enforcement, claiming police brutality whenever they could in order to inspire Black Lives Matter members to attack our men and women in blue. Obama actually went so far as to call police who responded to an incident that Henry Louis Gates Jr. was involved in “stupid.” He even met with the most violent anti-police leaders of the Black Lives Matter."

Protestors against anyone Trump chooses for the Supreme Court

Granite Grok

"That’s right. They handed out pre-printed signs to whoever answered the Craigslist ad and had them fill in the name of the person they had to #Stop once they found out who that was. It didn’t matter who.

"If that does not epitomize the brain-dead, left-wing zombie protester and quantify the value of their mindless and now constant opposition to (insert name of person or thing here) I don’t know what does."

 Conrad Black: Nominating Amy Barrett Would Be Political Genius 
"The desperation of the Democrats to stop the apparently inexorable rise of a president they so completely discounted and despised, and assumed they could remove or emasculate just by turning up the volume and activity of their media organ monkeys, may drive them to accidental suicide over the latest Supreme Court vacancy. I have no standing at all to intuit whom the president may nominate. But if, as I suspect, it is Judge Amy Barrett, it would be a tactical masterpiece on the level of Napoleon’s conduct of the Battle of Austerlitz, or Hannibal at Cannae."

Some Seattle Police Leaving Over City’s Far Left Politics

Legal Insurrection

“It’s just depressing to serve in a place where many City Council members who are coming out at times with negative comments about the police”

"The city of Seattle is known for its progressive politics, and has drifted even further left in recent years. Some members of the city police force are saying that this has come into conflict with law enforcement and are even leaving the force as a result.

"The FOX News Insider reports:

Seattle Police Union VP: Officers ‘Fed Up’ With City’s Politics Are Leaving the Force

A Seattle Police Officers Guild official says many officers are leaving the city’s police department because they’re “fed up” with Seattle’s politics.

Rich O’Neill, the group’s vice president, said Sunday on “Fox & Friends” that “a number of issues” are weighing down on the city’s officers, causing them to find work elsewhere.

According to Q13 FOX, 41 officers have left the city’s police department this year, many of whom frustrated by the city’s politics.

O’Neill said Sunday that Seattle Police Department officers have not received a pay raise in more than four years, even while the city is “booming.”

“The number of officers on the street [is] pretty much the same as the 1970s, which is just alarming,” he said.

O’Neill told Q13 FOX that local officials “are allowing certain crimes to go on without accountability.”…

O’Neill said that as many officers leave the department, it’s difficult to find people who want to join the force because of “all the anti-police rhetoric that’s out there.”

"Anti-police sentiment has been a staple of the far left for years but reached new heights in recent years with the Black Lives Matter movement.

"One member of the Seattle City Council, Kshama Sawant, is a socialist who rose to prominence during the Occupy Wall Street protests. She is mentioned in a recent report by Q13 FOX:

The union says Councilmembers Mike O’Brien and Kshama Sawant have been very critical of the police department. They say Sawant calling two officers murderers quickly after an officer-involved shooting was inappropriate.

. . .

“Worker bees on the street, they don’t feel appreciated. I’ve never seen anything like this in my life,” the source said.

"Are the people of Seattle OK with this? And more importantly, what is the end game here? Is the city’s far left council prepared to operate with a limited police force?"

  Seattle Times

Iran has completely stopped harassing US ships now that strong Trump replaced weakling Obama

Published on Sep 20, 2016

Thomas Lifson  "For all the concessions President Obama was offering Iran for his “nuclear deal” -- $150 billion, for instance – Iran treated the US with contempt, harassing and even taking into custody US ships in the Persian Gulf. The adage that weakness is provocative was proven true as (via the Daily Caller):

During the final years of the Obama administration, Iranian gunboats regularly harassed U.S. ships, with three dozen such interactions occurring in 2016. (snip)

The worst incident occurred in January 2016, when the Iranians captured two U.S. Navy riverine patrol boats and 10 sailors.

Riverine patrol boat of the type that was captured by the Iranians

"But that’s nothing but a humiliating memory now that America has a president who won’t stand for it:

During President Donald Trump’s first year in office, the number of annual incidents dropped to 14, a decrease of about 60 percent. So far in 2018, there has not been a single case of harassment, the U.S. Navy told Fox News.

"The change by the former bullies is completely understandable:

Trump commented on this issue on the campaign trail, saying, “With Iran, when they circle our beautiful destroyers with their little boats, and they make gestures at our people, that they shouldn’t be allowed to make, they will be shot out of the water.”

The first incident of the Trump administration occurred in July 2017. A U.S. Navy warship fired a warning shot at an Iranian gunboat that came within 150 yards of the American vessel.

The Navy publicly acknowledged the changes in Iran’s behavior in March.

“It seems like they’ve absolutely made a conscious decision to give us more space,” Navy Cmdr. William Urban, spokesman for U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, told reporters. “That is definitely a change in their behavior.”

“ 'Peace through strength” is not an empty slogan, it is a strategy that works."

Feb 11, 2016: Iran Mocks US Sailors in Revolution Day Parade
. . . "Iranian state media released images yesterday that it said shows one of the U.S. sailors weeping while in detention. The State Department expressed its “disgust” at Iran’s decision to release that footage in a statement to ABC News. Last month, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said he was “very, very angry” after Iran first released footage of the U.S. sailors and said the U.S would not have done the same to the Iranians, had the roles been reversed." . . .

Iran Harassed The US Navy Under Obama. Here’s Why It Stopped Under Trump  . . . "The “openly acknowledged there was a shift that happened roughly around the time we had our political transition,” Jonathan Schanzer, vice president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Business Insider. “There was a status quo and the status quo changed.”
. . . "Instead, rushing U.S. ships and putting them on the defensive, as well as capturing sailors, works mainly for propaganda purposes for Iran, whose authoritarian regime controls the media and pushes a heavily anti-U.S. agenda." . . .

Democrats attack Jim Jordan; will this nation ever become sickened over the character of Democrats?

 I picture Obama-Soros fingerprints all over this. TD

This drops as Jordan is high in the running to succeed Paul Ryan for speaker and is being very tough pressing the FBI for answers about their surveillance and their bias against the Trump campaign. What a coincidence…  Via Weasel Zippers

Jim Jordan Accusers Have Sketchy History, Timing Of The Stories Suspect

• One accuser, Mike DiSabato, is also being accused of bullying the widow of a Marine over a memorial fund set up in her husband’s name.
• DiSabato is also facing a defamation lawsuit.
• The other accuser, Dunyasha Yetts, served prison time for a $1.8 million fraud scheme

"Two former Ohio State University wrestlers accusing Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan of ignoring sexual misconduct by a university physician more than two decades ago have a history of failed business dealings, lawsuits, harassment allegations, and in the case of one accuser, an 18 month prison sentence for fraud.

"One of the former wrestlers, Mike DiSabato, is also being accused by the widow of a Marine who was killed in combat in Iraq of intimidating and bullying her over a memorial fund set up in her husband’s name.

“ 'I question the intent, the authenticity, the verity, that Mike DiSabato shares in any of his words or actions,” Karen Mendoza, the wife of Ray Mendoza — a former teammate of DiSabato’s who was killed in 2005 — said in a statement.

NBC News published an article on Tuesday, quoting DiSabato and Dunyasha Yetts, another former OSU wrestler, claiming that when Jordan worked as assistant wrestling coach at OSU, he ignored sexual abuse carried out by a university physician named Richard Strauss." . . 

NBC did note that Yetts served time in prison for a $1.8 million fraud scheme.

. . .  "Jordan is also receiving support from Russ Hellickson, who was OSU’s head wrestling coach when Jordan served as an assistant.

"Hellickson said in a statement issued through Jordan’s congressional office that neither he nor Jordan ignored sexual abuse of OSU wrestlers.

“ 'Neither Jim nor I would sidestep or avoid challenges for our wrestlers just because the circumstances were painful or uncomfortable — in fact, those are the kind of circumstances that motivated Jim the most,” reads the statement.

“ 'At no time while Jim Jordan was a coach with me at Ohio State did either of us ignore abuse of our wrestlers. That is not the kind of man Jim is, and it is not the kind of coach that I was,” said Hellickson, who called Jordan “the most honorable man I have ever known.' ” . . .

70 VIOLENT ACTS OF MEDIA INSPIRED TRUMP HATE

Maxine Waters Slammed After Kino Jimenez Is Accused of Assaulting a Trump Fan  But being a leftist she remains bulletproof, legally speaking.

“Let’s make sure we show up wherever we have to show up. If you see anybody from that cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd, and you push back on them, and you tell them they’re not welcome anymore, anywhere,” Waters said.

The list below does not include this recent jewel.

. . . "Richard, who lives in Orlando but was in San Antonio visiting friends, was thrust into the spotlight Wednesday after a video of the assault went viral on social media, racking up millions of views and thousands of comments."
More here.
And this CNN commentator thinks it's all just fine. Well, Waters defended the videotaped assaulters of Reginald Denny during the Rodney King riots.

The Freedom Fighter's Journal

1. July 5, 2018: Trump supporter wearing Make America Great Again hat allegedly assaulted in burger joint (video at link).
2. July 3, 2018: Nebraska GOP office vandalized.
3. July 2, 2018: Cher accuses ICE of “Gestapo tactics.”
4. July 2, 2018: Man accused of threatening to kill Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) and his family.
5. July 1, 2018: Washington Post reporter publicly calls on mobs to give Trump officials a “life sentence” of harassment.
6. July 1, 2018: Man wearing MAGA hat refused service in restaurant.
7. June 29, 2018: Media falsely blame Trump for murder of five journalists in Maryland.
8. June 28, 2018: Journalist lies about Maryland mass-shooter being a Trump supporter.
9. June 29, 2018: Hollywood actor calls on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to be harassed at “every meal.”
10. June 29, 2018: California man accused of threatening to kill FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s children.
11. June 28, 2018: Reuters editor says Trump has blood on his hands for murder of five journalists in Maryland. He still has a job.
12. June 28, 2018: Singer John Legend praises and agrees with Rep. Maxine Waters for calling on mobs to publicly harass Trump officials out of public spaces like restaurants.
13. June 28, 2018: Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) calls on “angry” Latinos to oust Trump.
14. June 27, 2018: Media defend and champion Virginia restaurant owner who kicked White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders and her family out, and then reportedly harassed them as they ate at a nearby restaurant.
15. June 26, 2018: Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) blames President Trump for her intern yelling “Fuck you!” at him through the halls of the U.S. Capitol. The intern was not fired.
16. June 26, 2018: Comedienne Kathy Griffin attacks the Trump administration as “pro-Nazi.” Obviously, once you describe someone as a Nazi, you are calling for violence against them.
17. June 26, 2018: Chicago bar refuses to serve Trump supporters.
18. June 26, 2018: Singer John Legend calls on Trump officials to be harassed until our immigration policies are weakened.
19. June 26, 2018: Late night comedians celebrate the harassment of Sarah Sanders and her family.
20. June 25, 2018: Burned animal carcass left on Trump staffer’s porch.
21. June 25, 2018: After refusing to serve Sarah Sanders and the family, we learn a restaurant owner then organized a mob to harass Sanders’ family at a nearby restaurant.
22. June 25, 2018: Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) calls on mobs to confront Trump officials over immigration policies.
23. June 25, 2018: CNN contributor attacks those on the right calling for civility.
24. June 25, 2018: CNN’s Jake Tapper dismisses harassment of Sarah Sanders as a political ploy on Sander’s part.
25. June 24, 2018: Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) publicly calls on mobs to “turn on” Trump officials, to “harass” them, ensure they “they won’t be able to go to a restaurant, they won’t be able to stop at a gas station, they’re not going to be able to shop at a department store.”
26. June 23, 2018: Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi harassed, menaced, and reportedly spit at by left-wing protesters at movie theater.
27. June 22, 2018: Sarah Sanders and her family booted out of restaurant by left-wing owner.
28. June 22, 2016: Kirstjen Nielsen harassed by protesters outside her private home.
29. June 22, 2018: Rep. Jackie Sperier (D-CA), compares border enforcement to Auschwitz.
30. June 22, 2018: Left-wing activists vandalize billboard.
31. June 22, 2018: On Morning Joe, Donny Deutsch smears Trump and his supporters as “Nazis.”
32. June 21, 2018: Democrat state legislator in Pennsylvania greets Vice President Mike Pence with a “middle finger salute.”
33. June 21, 2018: White House Senior Adviser Stephen Miller heckled and harassed at restaurant.
34. June 21, 2018: Actor Adam Scott compares Tucker Carlson to a Nazi.
35. Jun 20, 2018: Florida man accused of threatening to kill Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL), a U.S. combat veteran, and his children in a series of nearly 500 calls to his office.
36. June 20, 2018: Actor Peter Fonda calls for a mob to kidnap President Trump’s 11-year-old son and throw him in a cage with pedophiles.
37. June 20, 2018: Actor Peter Fonda calls for a mob to sexually humiliate and abuse Sarah Sanders and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen.
38. June 20, 2018: Nancy Sinatra praises Peter Fonda for his tweets.
39. June 20, 2018: Documentary filmmaker Josh Fox praises Peter Fonda for his tweets.
40. June 20, 2018: Arnold Schwarzenegger calls for politicians in favor of border security to be put in cages.
41. June 19, 2018: Kirstjen Nielsen harassed out of restaurant.
42. June 19, 2018: Democrat interns screams “Fuck you!” at Trump through the halls of the U.S. Capitol. She was not fired.
43. June 19, 2018: New Yorker fact checker publicly (and falsely) accuses a disabled war veteran who works for ICE of being a Nazi.
44. June 15, 2018: CNN analyst heckles and screams at Sarah Sanders.
45. June 14, 2017: A Bernie Sanders supporter opens fire on a group of Republican congressman. Rep. Steve Scalise is shot and nearly dies.
46. June 12, 2017: Wire creator David Simon calls on mobs to pick up a “brick” if Trump fires special counsel Robert Mueller.
47. June 10, 2017: Left-wing terrorists with AntiFa hurl urine at woman protesting against Sharia.
48. June 6, 2017: “Trump” is stabbed to death in front of cheering audience in Central Park
49. May 30, 2017: Kathy Griffin beheads Trump.
50. April 15, 2017: Left-wing terrorists with AntiFa assult Trump supporter with bike lock.
51. March 12, 2017: Snoop Dogg “shoots” Trump in the head.
52. March 7, 2017: CNN points what looks like a sniper scope at the Oval Office.
53. February 14, 2017: Stephen Colbert puts White House adviser Stephen Miller’s head on a pike.
54. February 2, 2017: Comedienne Sarah Silverman calls on the military to overthrow Trump.
55. February 1, 2017: Left-wing terrorist group AntiFa assaults Trump supporters at Berkeley.
56. January 21, 2017: Madonna fantasizes about blowing up the White House.
57. January 20, 2017: Left-wing terrorist group Antifa riots over Trump’s inauguration.
58. January 19, 2017: CNN fantasizes about Obama staying in power if Trump is assassinated.
59. January 5, 2017: Left-wing thugs kidnap, beat, and torture an 18-year-old with schizophrenia while shouting “fuck Trump” and “fuck white people.”
60. November 16, 2016: Left-wing thugs assault 15-year-old Trump supporter.
61. November 14, 2016: Avengers director Joss Whedon says Trump “CANNOT” be allowed to serve out his term in office.
62. November 10, 2016: Orange Is the New Black star Lea DeLaria threatens “to pick up a baseball bat and take out every f*cking republican and independent I see.”
63. November 9, 2016: Marilyn Manson “kills” Trump in music video.
64. October 16, 2016: Left-wing terrorists firebomb GOP headquarters in North Carolina.
65. October 7, 2016: Robert De Niro says he wants to “punch” Trump in the face.
66. August 19, 2016: Left-wing thugs attack Trump’s motorcade and his supporters.
67. June 2, 2016: Left-wing thugs violently attack Trump supporters. One women was surrounded by a mob and pelted with raw eggs.
68. March 14, 2016: CNN treats man who tried to tackle Trump as folk hero.
69. March 12, 2016: Man tries to tackle Trump at campaign rally.
70. March 1, 2016: Former Daily Show contributor Larry Wilmore “jokes” about killing Trump. 

And counting...