One Citizen Speaking

IT'S NOT A TRUMP SCANDAL -- IT'S A BIDEN SCANDAL

The basic facts …

Vice President Joe Biden threatened the Ukrainian government with the loss of a $1 BILLION loan guarantee if they did not remove the Ukrainian Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin who was criminally investigating a company, Burisma Holdings, a natural gas company who engaged Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, as a Director and who pocketed at least $3,000,000.

The progressive socialist democrats would have you believe that this did not happen and Trump somehow was wrong when he asked the Ukrainian President to investigate the matter. But here it is in Joe Biden’s own words as he brags about using his influence to affect a foreign criminal investigation.

If the video is missing from the blog or email version, it can be found here. 

“I remember going over (to Ukraine), convincing our team … that we should be providing for loan guarantees. … And I was supposed to announce that there was another billion-dollar loan guarantee. And I had gotten a commitment from (then Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko) and from (then-Prime Minister Arseniy) Yatsenyuk that they would take action against the state prosecutor (Shokin). And they didn’t…” he said. “They were walking out to a press conference. I said, nah, … we’re not going to give you the billion dollars. They said, ‘You have no authority. You’re not the president.’ … I said, call him. I said, I’m telling you, you’re not getting the billion dollars. I said, you’re not getting the billion. … I looked at them and said, ‘I’m leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you’re not getting the money.’ Well, son of a bitch. He got fired. And they put in place someone who was solid at the time.”

I see no issue with the President of the United States following the precedents set by the Obama Administration and investigating the potential wrongdoing of a presidential candidate and member of a presidential candidate's family.

Where were the whistleblowers when high-ranking Obama officials were committing crimes involving perjury, the destruction of documents, destroying government property, spying on American citizens domestically, and selling access and favors to foreign companies? Leaking classified information?

According to the Wall Street Journal …

Interactions under focus amid whistleblower complaint on U.S. president’s dealings with a world leader  President Trump in a July phone call repeatedly pressured the president of Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden ’s son, according to people familiar with the matter, urging Volodymyr Zelensky about eight times to work with Rudy Giuliani on a probe that could hamper Mr. Trump’s potential 2020 opponent. “He told him that he should work with [Mr. Giuliani] on Biden, and that people in Washington wanted to know” if his lawyer’s assertions that Mr. Biden acted improperly as vice president were true, one of the people said. Mr. Giuliani has suggested Mr. Biden’s pressure on Ukraine to fight corruption had to do with an investigation of a gas company for which his son was a director. A Ukrainian official this year said he had no evidence of wrongdoing by Mr. Biden or his son Hunter Biden. Mr. Trump in the call didn’t mention a provision of U.S. aid to Ukraine, said this person, who didn’t believe Mr. Trump offered the Ukrainian president any quid-pro-quo for his cooperation on any investigation. The interactions between the president, Mr. Giuliani and Ukraine have come under scrutiny in recent days in the wake of a whistleblower complaint that a person familiar with the matter said involves the president’s communications with a foreign leader. The complaint, which the Washington Post reported centers on Ukraine, has prompted a new standoff between Congress and the executive branch. Mr. Biden as vice president made several trips to Ukraine to press the government to root out widespread corruption. That included seeking the ouster of former prosecutor general Viktor Shokin, who had investigated a private Ukrainian gas company, Burisma Group, of which Hunter Biden was a board member. Mr. Giuliani has suggested Mr. Biden’s motivation was to protect his son, a lawyer who has been involved in several investment and consulting firms, although Mr. Shokin had already completed his investigation of Burisma Group before he left office. <Source>

I find it amazing that so many people "familiar with the matter" are willing to leak -- if not classified, but privileged -- information to members of the news media…

I  say turn the matter over to the DOJ and conduct a full FBI inquiry, including those who continue to leak information to the media. And to treat this matter like the Democrats would have done to Republicans: that Joe Biden BRIBED OR BLACKMAILED a foreign official for personal gain.

Bottom line …

This is “fake news” promoted by the mainstream media, the propaganda arm of the progressive socialist democrats.

There was no crime – no indication of a quid pro quo or punishment if action were not taken. Like most things associated with the Obama Administration, actual crimes were committed by the Democrats, yet House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff, the Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee are unwilling to investigate.

This is nothing but another distraction designed to impugn President Trump and to protect guilty Democrats.

You may also ask where is the GOP -- especially the Senate -- when it comes to protecting the President of the United States.

We are so screwed.

-- steve

ARE WE BEING PLAYED BY THE CHINESE COMMUNISTS?

There is little or no doubt in my mind that allowing Huawei, the Chinese telecommunications giant with direct links to the Chinese Army, to provide consulting, equipment, and operations assistance to Americans is tantamount to handing their intelligence services the “keys to the kingdom.” Much in the same way we saw CISCO routers with backdoors inserted into our internet infrastructure, I would assume no less would happen to our telecommunications system.

The FBI’s "Operation Cisco Router," found that fake CISCO equipment manufactured in the Shenzhen province of China was then supplied directly to the US government through several routes: either directly through US distributors or through those who had bought the counterfeit kit off eBay; through distributors in other countries, including the UK; and through US government employees buying through non-General Services Administration (GSA) approved sources. 

Now I am seeing stories in the New York Times that Huawei’s proposes to transfer their technology to an American company…

Huawei Has a Plan to Help End Its War With Trump And if the United States — which has no indigenous 5G networking manufacturer — still does not trust Huawei to install its equipment across America at scale, added Ren [Huawei’s founder and chief executive, Ren Zhengfei], then he is also ready, for the first time, to license the entire Huawei 5G platform to any American company that wants to manufacture it and install it and operate it, completely independent of Huawei. (The only other 5G major suppliers are Nokia and Ericsson, European companies whose products are far more expensive than Huawei’s.) Huawei, Ren said, is “open to sharing our 5G technologies and techniques with U.S. companies, so that they can build up their own 5G industry. That would create a balanced situation between China, the U.S. and Europe.” But, he added, “the U.S. side has to accept us at some level for that to happen.” American companies “can also modify our 5G technologies to meet their security requirements.” They can even “change the software code. In that case, the U.S. will be assured of information security.” <Source>

Yeah Right!

Even with full access to the codebase, engineers cannot eliminate all of the endemic bugs and zero-day exploits. And, with a sophisticated codebase, it may be next to impossible without a complete re-write.

As if the Chinese would not still benefit from having an inside seat to America’s infrastructure and access to American improvements as they are developed and integrated into the system. One does not need to be a genius to see that China has not respected our intellectual property and continues to steal our trade secrets for military and commercial advantage. I can easily imagine a Chinese investment in a small telephone company just to purchase and reengineer American-made products.

Personally, I say take their technology and claim it is a downpayment on all of the military secrets they have stolen.

Bottom line…

We are being played.

-- steve

VOTER FRAUD IS LEGAL IN CALIFORNIA

There should be absolutely no surprise that those progressive socialist democrats in a one-party state will do everything in their power to perpetuate their hold on California’s government.

Have you ever wondered about those last-minute finds of just the right number of ballots to turn an opposition loss into a victory? Where did those ballots come from and how were they hidden. In many cases, this type of voter fraud/suppression comes from a legal technique known colloquially as “ballot harvesting.”

Basically, any person who is not being paid, can go door-to-door, visit nursing homes or other facilities, and collect ballots. In some instances, people wearing bright-colored vests and holding what is labeled a “portable or mobile ballot box,” can stand anywhere and harvest ballots. In fact, there would be little restriction on collecting last-minute ballots from drivers waiting to deposit their ballots at the local post office.

Thus, you may have a large number of ballots in the hands of unregistered individuals who are not being supervised or accountable for the ballots they collect. In areas where the known majority of voters tends to favor one party, those ballots may be withheld thus weakening the victory margin of a candidate and making them susceptible to newly “found: ballots. There is also the possibility that the “collector” knows – simply by asking the voter – which candidate is favored and withhold or deliver those particular ballots.

California Assembly Bill AB-1921 Elections: vote by mail ballots. (2015-2016) Assembly Bill No. 1921: CHAPTER 820 -- An act to amend Section 3017 of the Elections Code, relating to elections. [Approved by Governor on September 29, 2016. Filed with Secretary of State on September 29, 2016. ] LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 1921, Gonzalez. Elections: vote by mail ballots. Existing law requires that the vote by mail ballot be available to any registered voter. Under existing law, a voter who is unable to return his or her vote by mail ballot may designate his or her spouse, child, parent, grandparent, grandchild, brother, sister, or person residing in the same household as the vote by mail voter to return the vote by mail ballot. Except in the case of a candidate or the spouse of a candidate, existing law prohibits the return of a voter’s vote by mail ballot by one of those designees who is also a paid or volunteer worker of a general purpose committee, controlled committee, or any other group or organization at whose behest the individual designated to return the ballot is performing a service. This bill would remove those restrictions and instead authorize the designation of any person to return a vote by mail ballot. The bill would prohibit a person designated to return a vote by mail ballot from receiving any form of compensation, as defined, based on the number of ballots that the person has returned and would prohibit an individual, group, or organization from providing compensation on this basis. The bill would state that any person in charge of a vote by mail ballot who knowingly and willingly engages in criminal acts related to that ballot is subject to the appropriate punishment pursuant to existing law. <Source: California Legislature>

Does ballot harvesting really happen and can it make a significant difference?

How many people remember the headlines noting the previously conservative GOP Orange County, California stronghold apparently had flipped to elect a number of progressive Democrat challengers?   

California’s late votes broke big for Democrats. Here’s why GOP was surprised They felt the hit on Nov. 6 — and in the days after, as late-arriving Democratic votes were tabulated and one Republican candidate after another saw leads shrink and then evaporate. This week, a seventh GOP-held congressional seat flipped to the Democrats, leaving Republicans controlling a mere seven of California’s 53 House districts. In Orange County alone, where every House seat went Democratic, “the number of Election Day vote-by-mail dropoffs was unprecedented — over 250,000,” Fred Whitaker, chairman of the county Republican Party, said in a note to supporters. “This is a direct result of ballot harvesting allowed under California law for the first time. That directly caused the switch from being ahead on election night to losing two weeks later.” Across the state there were reports of groups collecting ballots and dropping them off at polling places and election offices. “We certainly had that going on here, with people dropping off maybe 100 or 200 ballots,” said Neal Kelley, Orange County’s registrar of voters. “We also had voters calling and asking if it was legitimate for someone to come to their door and ask if they could take their ballot” and deliver it to the polls. For Democrats, the ballot harvesting was all part of a greater effort to get out the vote from their supporters, particularly from occasional voters. “We beat Republicans on the ground, fair and square,” said Katie Merrill, a Democratic consultant deeply involved in November campaigns. “Many of the field plans included (ballot harvesting) as an option to deliver voters or their ballots” to the polls. <Source>

Is it likely that the progressive socialist democrats will do the same thing again in 2020?

Unlike the GOP that manages to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory time-and-time-again, the Democrats campaign year-round and expand upon those campaign practices that yield results. Yes, it will happen again. And, yes, the GOP is likely to complain but do little or nothing to counter the threat.

There is no interest in California at the federal level as it is a solid one-party Democrat state; therefore it will be up to the local and state candidates to adopt winning techniques and to detect and deter voter fraud. All of which takes money and dedicated individuals. And, given the past performance of the GOP in the State, even constitutional conservatives such as myself are reluctant to throw money down a rat-hole.

Bottom line…

One wonders where the money solicited by the GOP actually goes. And why most of the termed-out Republicans get appointed to boards, commissions, and panels with six-figure essentially no-show salaries as a reward for selling out their constituency, their party, their state, and their nation. My money is going to Devin Nunes, probably the most courageous conservative Republican in the State of California, and considering recent events, the entire nation.

We are screwed.

-- steve