Mattis Takes on Putin while the Caravan Stalls, and the FBI Once More Raises Questions about Its Integrity

[Sorry to be late; we had a severe lightning storm and lost power.] TODAY, IT'S MATTIS, PUTIN, THE FALTERING CARAVAN, AND THE FBI. When Jim Mattis goes after anyone, they ought to run for cover. • • • MATTIS TAKES ON PUTIN. Newsmax reported on a Sunday Associated Press release covering remarks at the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California, by Defense Secretary Mattis, who said the US-Russian relationship has deteriorated over the last two years : "Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Saturday took aim at Russian President Vladimir Putin, accusing him of trying to 'muck around' in the US midterm elections, of duplicity in arms control and of acting irresponsibly in last weekend's naval confrontation with Ukraine. We are dealing with someone that we simply cannot trust. There is no doubt the relationship has worsened." • Mattis noted Russia's seizure of Ukrainian vessels and sailors. President Trump canceled his plans to meet with Putin at this weekend's Group of 20 summit in Argentina, but he said he looked forward to meeting Putin soon. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called the canceled Trump-Putin meeting a missed opportunity, saying it didn't "help settling a number of important international problems." Newsmax said : "The naval incident further escalated a tug-of-war that began in 2014 when Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and supported separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine. It also has prompted global concern and renewed Western criticism of Russia. Mattis portrayed the latest incident as evidence that the administration's defense strategy, announced nearly a year ago, was correct in refocusing from the post-9/11 wars to what Mattis has called an emergence of 'great power' competition with Russia and China." • Mattis, a former Marine 4-star general, placed the blame for worsening relations at the Russian president's doorstep : "This is a very complex situation because Mr. Putin is clearly a slow learner. He is not recognizing that what he is doing is actually creating the animosity against his people. He's not acting in the best interests of the Russian people, and he is actually causing NATO to re-arm." Mattis was referring to increased defense spending by many European NATO members, and the bigger allied military exercises and billions of dollars in additional US spending on military training and operations in Europe. Secretary MAttis also noted : "We are dealing with Putin's duplicitous violation of the INF Treaty." The White House has indicated it intends to withdraw soon from The 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces accord between Washington and Moscow that the Trump administration asserts Russia has been violating by producing and deploying land-based missiles banned by the treaty. Moscow denies any violation. Secretary Mattis didn't say that the administration intends to withdraw from the treaty, saying : "We will re-energize our arms control efforts, but the onus is on Russia." • Here's a bit of advice for President Putin -- when Jim Mattis says something, he means it, and he follows through. So, it would be smart for Putin to rethink his aggressive strategy in Europe, as well as in the Middle East. Being in Jim Mattis's bad graces is not a good place to be. • • • THE CARAVAN IS LOSING STEAM. TeaParty.org reported on Sunday that, according to the Gateway Pundit : "Honduran caravan migrants camping out the Benito Juarez sports complex in Tijuana backed down from marching and storming the US border on Saturday after reports surfaced they were planning an encore to last weekend’s violent attacks and efforts to cross the border. Pueblo Sin Fronteras, one of the main caravan organizers, promised the migrants they would easily be able to claim asylum and live off the largess of the American taxpayer. According to Wendy Fry, a reporter in Tijuana, the migrants are angry and say they were lied to by caravan organizers about getting into the US. Obama is no longer President -- there’s a new sheriff in town -- President Trump is fighting like hell to keep these caravans from entering the US. The Hondurans are not happy." • Wendy Fry described one woman, Sonia Diaz Vargas, who "is telling people not to march. She says its dangerous for the children and some dishonest people are lying to these people that they will get into the United States.” Wendy Fry tweeted : “It appears as if the majority of the caravan remaining at Benito Juarez are not willing to march today. Many are saying they’re frustrated they’ve been lied to about getting into the United States. One woman was saying it’s unconscionable 'the leaders” would lie to hungry people,' " Fry said heavy rains moved through the region on Thursday and turned the camp site into a mud pit. Thousands of Honduran migrants are suffering from health-related issues such as the flu, chickenpox, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS. Unsanitary conditions with the 35 portable restrooms have caused a Hepatitis outbreak scare as well. • And, On Friday, Tijuana Mayor Juan Manuel Gastelum called for the arrest of the organizers of the Central American illegal migrant caravans -- illegal migrant organizers have put the vulnerable in danger with their lies and deception -- they forced women and children to the front of the protest last weekend and then started hurling rocks at US border agents. • • • DISEASE STALKS THE CARAVAN MARCHERS. The New American reported last Thursday that : "If wrecking American sovereignty, lowering wages, and increasing the public welfare load aren’t reasons enough to oppose the influx of migrant invaders sitting in Tijuana, here is another : At least 30 percent of them are sick with communicable diseases they might spread to Americans in schools, hospitals, welfare and employment offices, and other public places. And by 'sick,' officials in Mexico don’t mean the common cold. They mean serious disease. Some of the migrants are turning around and heading home after months of traveling through Mexico....But with a third of the 6,000 or so in Tijuana coughing and breaking out in blisters, now is not the time for the Trump administration to weaken. That’s because the diseases many of the migrants carry are deadly -- or can be." • Fox News reported that : “Out of 6,000 migrants currently residing in the city, over a third of them (2,267) are being treated for health-related issues.” Last week, officials confirmed three cases of tuberculosis, four cases of AIDS, and four separate cases of chickenpox, according to Fox News, which added : "Even worse, they’ve also brought in bugs. Real bugs. At least 101 carry lice and 'skin infections.' That means the migrants might well start a typhus epidemic or bring in Chagas disease. According to the Centers for Disease Control, the body louse is the vector for the typhus bacterium." The CDC states : "Epidemic typhus is spread to people through contact with infected body lice....the disease is uncommon these days, although 'epidemic typhus was responsible for millions of deaths in previous centuries.' But cases continue to occur, in areas where extreme overcrowding is common and body lice can travel from one person to another.” The Benito Juarez Sports Complex, where the migrants are housed, is such an overcrowded area : 6,000 people are packed into an area meant for 1,000. • Unlike louse-borne typhus, Chagas is not rare. It’s epidemic in Latin America. Blood-sucking triatomine bugs cause the disease, reported Fox News : "These blood-sucking bugs get infected by biting an infected animal or person. Once infected, the bugs pass T. cruzi parasites in their feces. The bugs are found in houses made from materials such as mud, adobe, straw, and palm thatch. During the day, the bugs hide in crevices in the walls and roofs. During the night, when the inhabitants are sleeping, the bugs emerge. Because they tend to feed on people’s faces, triatomine bugs are also known as 'kissing bugs.' Some eight million people in Mexico, Central America, and South America have it, and most don’t know it." • Officials also worry about a Hepatitis outbreak because of the filth in the Benito Juarez Sports Complex. “The location also has only 35 portable bathrooms,” Fox reported. “A sign reading ‘No Spitting’ was put up, as coughing and spitting by migrants are rampant in the shelter.” • And, TB is present. Disturbing data appeared in a paper published last year by the National Center for Biotechnology Information, which reported that 37,684 immigrants with TB entered the United States between 2005 and 2009. The most, 24.1%, or 9,098, came from Mexico. Another 1,154, or 3.1%, came from Guatemala, while 853, or 2.3%, came from Honduras, where the migrant invasion began. But that’s TB generally. Of more concern are the multi-drug resistant cases that came in : 482. Again, Mexico accounted for most of those cases : 66 or 13.7%, but 14 Guatemalans had the disease, accounting for about 3%. None, apparently, came from Honduras. The CDC reports that MDR TB is a pressing concern, because “it is resistant to...the two most potent TB drugs...used to treat all persons with TB.” • The New American says another 2,000 migrants are headed for Tijuana. They will pack the sports complex even tighter, and If the 33% figure for sick migrants in Tijuana now holds true for those on the way, the town will be faced with another 660 very sick people. The New American asks -- Is the United States expected to permit the entry of nearly 3,000 sick people, and if so, who will pay to treat their myriad diseases? • Those who say the humanitarian thing to do would be to treat them, but the truth is that we do not know who they are, and once in the United States, they would probably do what illegals before them have done -- disappear into the interior of the country and take their undiagnosed diseases with them to spread among an unsuspecting American populace. • • • THE DEEP STATE FBI STRIKES AGAIN. BizPac Review and the Daily Caller reported last Friday that the FBI raided the home of "a whistleblower who was in possession of documents regarding the Clinton Foundation and Uranium One," according to the whistleblower’s lawyer, Michael Socarras. The whistleblower, Dennis Nathan Cain, had turned the documents over to the Department of Justice’s inspector general and both the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, according to Socarras, who said : "The FBI rummaged through Cain’s home for six hours, even after the whistleblower handed over the documents." • A document reviewed by the Daily Caller allegedly shows that the Justice Department’s inspector general was informed that the documents show that federal officials failed to investigate potential criminal activity regarding former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the Clinton Foundation and Rosatom, the Russian company that purchased Uranium One, and that the delivered documents also show that then-FBI Director Robert Mueller failed to investigate allegations of criminal misconduct pertaining to Rosatom and to other Russian government entities attached to Uranium One. Mueller is now the special counsel investigating whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia during the 2016 election. • Lawyer Socarras told the Daily Caller : "The bureau raided my client to seize what he legally gave Congress about the Clinton Foundation and Uranium One," noting that he considered the FBI’s raid to be an “outrageous disregard” of whistleblower protections. “After asking and getting my approval to do so, DOJ IG Michael Horowitz had a member of his staff physically take Mr. Cain’s classified document disclosure to the House and Senate Intelligence committees,” Socarras told the Daily Caller. • BUT, 16 FBI agents arrived at the home of Dennis Nathan Cain, a former FBI contractor, on the morning of November 19 and raided his Union Bridge, Maryland, home, Socarras told the Daily Caller. The raid was permitted by a court order signed on November 15 by federal magistrate Stephanie A. Gallagher in the US District Court for Baltimore and obtained by the Daily Caller. A special agent from the FBI’s Baltimore division, who led the raid, charged that Cain possessed stolen federal property and demanded entry to his private residence, Socarras said. • FBI spokesman Dave Fitz told the Daily Caller : "On November 19, the FBI conducted court authorized law enforcement activity in the Union Bridge, Maryland area. At this time, we have no further comment.” BUT, Cain's lawyer Socarras says that Cain informed the FBI agent while he was still at the door that he was a recognized protected whistleblower under the Intelligence Community Whistleblower Protection Act and that Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz recognized his whistleblower status. Cain further told the FBI agent the potentially damaging classified information had been properly transmitted to the Senate and House Intelligence Committees as permitted under the Act, Socarras said. The agent immediately directed his agents to begin a sweep of the suburban home, anyway. Sacarras said that a frightened and intimidated Cain promptly handed over the documents. But, even after surrendering the information to the FBI, the agents continued to rummage through the home for six hours. Socarras said : “For the bureau to show up at Mr. Cain’s home suggesting that those same documents are stolen federal property, and then proceed to seize copies of the same documents after being told at the house door that he is a legally protected whistleblower who gave them to Congress, is an outrageous disregard of the law. • Lawyer Socarras gave the details of the affair to the Daily Caller : "Cain came across the potentially explosive information while working for an FBI contractor.....Cain met with a senior member of Horowitz’s office at a church close to the White House to deliver the documents to the IG.....Cain sat in a pew with a hoodie and sun glasses....Cain held a double-sealed envelope containing a flash drive with the documents....The IG official met him and, without saying a word, took the pouch over Cain’s shoulder and left....If the complaint is found credible, the law protecting whistleblowers, which covers employees of government contractors, requires the IG to share such information with the attorney general -- who at the time was Jeff Sessions. The two law enforcement officials directed the documents be sent to the Senate and House Intelligence committees for their examination....a high-level IG official hand-delivered the documents to the the two intelligence committees. • Socarras said : "I cannot believe the Bureau informed the federal magistrate who approved the search warrant that they wanted to search the home of an FBI whistleblower to seize the information that he confidentially disclosed to the IG and Congress." The whistleblower act is intended to protect whistleblowers within the intelligence community, which includes the FBI..." • The FBI has yet to talk to Cain’s attorney despite the raid, according to Socarras : “After the raid, and having received my name and phone number from Mr. Cain as his lawyer, an FBI agent actually called my client directly to discuss his seized electronics,” Socarras told the Daily Caller. “Knowingly bypassing the lawyer of a represented client is serious misconduct.” • • • DEAR READERS, "Clinton Cash” author Peter Schweizer was the first to report the alleged “pay for play” scandal surrounding the Russians’ purchase of a company that controlled one-fifth of US uranium reserves while Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State. Schweizer found that 9 foreign investors in the Uranium One deal gave $145 million to the Clinton Foundation, and the New York Times confirmed in an April 2015 story that Uranium One’s chairman used his family foundation to make four donations totaling $2.35 million to the Clinton Foundation. • You can read more at < https://www.wnd.com/2018/11/fbi-raids-home-of-whistleblower-on-clinton-foundation/#GICUPkCPDhxCp562.99 >. • President Trump has decided to protect the US-Mexican border, with or without the help of the Democrat side of the aisle that is preventing Congress from building a wall, dealing with immigration reform, deciding what to do about the Dreamers under Obama's DACA executive order, and refusing to support the President as he fights against the illegal use of sanctuary cities and states that keep the ICE teams from protecting Americans from illegals who are criminals. The US military under Secretary Jim Mattis are doing all they can to carry out President Trump's reasonable agenda. But, Americans need to make it clear to every ProgDem that illegal entry into the United States will not be tolerated. • As for the FBI, it is hard to believe that it has been cleaned up under Christopher Wray when an FBI team can break the law by illegally seizing documents already under the protection of the Justice Department Inspector General and the Intelligence Committees of the House and Senate. It is also hard to believe that the FBI acted out of ignorance or misguided zeal. The document raid on the whistleblower was carried out under a warrant issued by a federal judge -- what did the FBI tell or not tell the judge to get the warrant? Did they act as they did in the Carter Page FISA affair -- lying to a federal judge in order to protect their own Deep Staters from being revealed as corrupt? Americans deserve answers to these questions. Americans deserve an explanation from FBI Director Wray under oath before a congressional committtee -- his assurances in a press conference are no longer sufficient. AND, Americans deserve an FBI they can trust and be proud of, not an FBI that is as corrupt as its corrupt targets -- who are, perhaps in this case, if the Daily Caller's facts are confirmed, the Clintons and Robert Mueller.