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#rep. nancy pelosi
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As the national security workforce ages, dementia impacting U.S. officials poses a threat to national security, according to a first-of-its-kind study by a Pentagon-funded think tank. The report, released this spring, came as several prominent U.S. officials trusted with some of the nation’s most highly classified intelligence experienced public lapses, stoking calls for resignations and debate about Washington’s aging leadership.
Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who had a second freezing episode last month, enjoys the most privileged access to classified information of anyone in Congress as a member of the so-called Gang of Eight congressional leadership. Ninety-year-old Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., whose decline has seen her confused about how to vote and experiencing memory lapses — forgetting conversations and not recalling a monthslong absence — was for years a member of the Gang of Eight and remains a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, on which she has served since 2001.
The study, published by the RAND Corporation’s National Security Research Division in April, identifies individuals with both current and former access to classified material who develop dementia as threats to national security, citing the possibility that they may unwittingly disclose government secrets.
“Individuals who hold or held a security clearance and handled classified material could become a security threat if they develop dementia and unwittingly share government secrets,” the study says.
As the study notes, there does not appear to be any other publicly available research into dementia, an umbrella term for the loss of cognitive functioning, despite the fact that Americans are living longer than ever before and that the researchers were able to identify several cases in which senior intelligence officials died of Alzheimer’s disease, a progressive brain disorder and the most common cause of dementia.
“As people live longer and retire later, challenges associated with cognitive impairment in the workplace will need to be addressed,” the report says. “Our limited research suggests this concern is an emerging security blind spot.”
Most holders of security clearances, a ballooning class of officials and other bureaucrats with access to secret government information, are subject to rigorous and invasive vetting procedures. Applying for a clearance can mean hourslong polygraph tests; character interviews with old teachers, friends, and neighbors; and ongoing automated monitoring of their bank accounts and other personal information. As one senior Pentagon official who oversees such a program told me of people who enter the intelligence bureaucracy, “You basically give up your Fourth Amendment rights.”
Yet, as the authors of the RAND report note, there does not appear to be any vetting for age-related cognitive decline. In fact, the director of national intelligence’s directive on continuous evaluation contains no mention of age or cognitive decline.
While the study doesn’t mention any U.S. officials by name, its timing comes amid a simmering debate about gerontocracy: rule by the elderly. Following McConnell’s first freezing episode, in July, Google searches for the term “gerontocracy” spiked.
“The President called to check on me,” McConnell said when asked about the first episode. “I told him I got sandbagged,” he quipped, referring to President Joe Biden’s trip-and-fall incident during a June graduation ceremony at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado, which sparked conservative criticisms about the 80-year-old’s own functioning.
While likely an attempt by McConnell at deflecting from his lapse, Biden’s age has emerged as a clear concern to voters, including Democrats. 69% of Democrats say Biden is “too old to effectively serve” another term, an Associated Press-NORC poll found last month. The findings were echoed by a CNN poll released last week that found that 67% of Democrats said the party should nominate someone else, with 49% directly mentioning Biden’s age as their biggest concern.
As Commander In Chief, the President is the nation’s ultimate classification authority, with the extraordinary power to classify and declassify information broadly. No other American has as privileged access to classified information as the president.
The U.S.’s current leadership is not only the oldest in history, but also the number of older people in Congress has grown dramatically in recent years. In 1981, only 4% of Congress was over the age of 70. By 2022, that number had spiked to 23%.
In 2017, Vox reported that a pharmacist had filled Alzheimer’s prescriptions for multiple members of Congress. With little incentive for an elected official to disclose such an illness, it is difficult to know just how pervasive the problem is. Feinstein’s retinue of staffers have for years sought to conceal her decline, having established a system to prevent her from walking the halls of Congress alone and risk having an unsupervised interaction with a reporter.
Despite the public controversy, there’s little indication that any officials will resign — or choose not to seek reelection.
After years of speculation about her retirement, 83-year-old Speaker Emerita Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., stunned observers when she announced on Friday that she would run for reelection, seeking her 19th term.
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midnightfunk · 1 year
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MAGAts have long crossed the line.
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wex3crypto · 2 years
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Steven Bartlett And Other Business Heavyweights Advise How Startups Can Grow And Scale-Up
Steven Bartlett, the youngest ever dragon from the BBC series ‘Dragon’s Den’ and founder of the social media marketing agency Social Chain, told Euronews’ team in Dubai that social media is key for startups when scaling up.
“If you’re walking down the street and there are 20 people looking up at a building, you’re going to look up at the building,” said Bartlett. “The way you decide whether to go and watch a movie on Netflix, or whatever, is based on reputation. We use the opinion of the tribe to help us survive because we don’t always have the time to make those decisions for ourselves.”
What is scaling up and what other levers do startups need to pull in order to get there?
Full Article:
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blunderpuff · 1 year
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La*ren Bo*b*rt won her congressional seat with fewer than 600 votes
:(
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Give me a minute and let me get started on this Bitch 🇺🇸
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Nancy Pelosi Military Tribunal 👇 Part II
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After Mr. Ramirez left the witness box, Vice Adm. Crandall produced a second witness via a Zoom call, a Hispanic female who said her name was Elsa Fuentes and told the court she had been Pelosi’s unpaid intern between January-March 2018. Her appearance on video seemed to unnerve Pelosi, whose eyes narrowed contemptuously while gazing at the woman’s face on the screen. The admiral asked Ms. Fuentes a few routine questions: How did you become interested in politics? what were your routine duties? Did you enjoy the work? Was the environment pleasant? Did you enjoy Nancy’s company?
“I hated the bitch by day 2. My duties? Arranging her calendar, setting up appointments, cancelling appointments, fetching coffee and cappuccino, cleaning her office, taking her clothes to the dry cleaners, picking up her clothes from the dry cleaners, making her hair appointments, running to the liquor store for her twice a week…” Ms. Fuentes said.
“You sound a bit bitter,” Vice Adm. Crandall said. “Is it safe to say bitterness won’t affect your testimony?”
“Just cause she’s a bitch don’t mean I’d lie,” Ms. Fuentes said. “If I’m angry, was angry, it’s cause I knew interns for other Reps weren’t doing the sh—stuff I had to do. And most Reps paid interns, but Nancy didn’t. Hi, there, Nancy, good to see you’re finally where you belong,” she went on, suddenly smiling as she vigorously waved at the defendant.
Vice Adm. Crandall asked her to not address or incite the defendant. Meanwhile, Nancy sat still as a puddle of stagnant water.
“Let me pull your attention back to what you told me when you gave a sworn deposition, Ms. Fuentes. The day–March 10, 2018. You were in Nancy Pelosi’s offices then, is that correct?” asked the admiral.
“I was,” Ms. Fuentes answered without hesitation. “I remember cause Nancy kept me late doing spreadsheets and transcriptions, and other reasons.”
“And Nancy was present?”
“She was in her office and I was in what we called the side office. More like a large closet than an office, where secretaries or interns sit. A door connects the two, and it wasn’t really ever locked or closed all the way. I think Nancy probably wanted to eavesdrop, you understand, in case we were talking about her,” Ms. Fuentes said.
“Let’s refrain from speculation please, Ms. Fuentes.”
“Sorry, sir. Anyway, I overheard her on the phone talking to someone—no idea who it was—about killing President Trump. She was saying she didn’t care how much money it took. She wanted him dead. Nancy was spitting out large figures—like millions,” Ms. Fuentes said.
“Was there anyone in the offices besides you and the defendant?” Vice Adm. Crandall asked.
“Just us two. She was talking on a burner phone. Nancy didn’t conduct unofficial business on her office phone. She had a drawer full of burners,” Ms. Fuentes said.
“Let the record reflect that by burners the witness means, generally speaking, inexpensive, expendable, untraceable cellular phones paid for with cash. Do you recognize this?” asked the admiral, as he pulled from a cardboard box a plastic evidence bag holding the upper and lower halves of a prepaid phone someone had snapped in two.
“Of course, I do. I gave it to you,” Ms. Fuentes replied.
“How did you come to obtain this phone?” the admiral queried.
“Took it from her trash bin before I left that night. She’d left first,” Ms. Fuentes said flatly.
“Pretty bold of you and foolish of her, to just drop it in a wastebasket. Weren’t you worried she’d find out?”
Ms. Fuentes said Nancy that day had consumed a half-bottle of Smirnoff Vodka and was inebriated beyond comprehension when she stumbled out of the office at 8:30 p.m. Moreover, she said she’d covered her tracks: She proudly boasted how she had taken an identical, unopened burner phone from Pelosi’s drawer, broke it in a way the closely mimicked how Nancy had snapped the original, and laid it in the trash.
“When I got to the office next day, the trash had been emptied. Not a word was ever said,” she said.
“And you held onto it for what, almost five years now?” Vice Adm. Crandall said.
Ms. Fuentes nodded. “I wasn’t gonna hand it off to just anyone. Then I might have, you know, disappeared.
“Ms. Fuentes, I don’t think that’s anything to worry about anymore. You’re excused.”
The admiral told the panel that despite Pelosi’s pedestrian attempt to render the phone useless—she hadn’t even removed the sim card—from it JAG had extracted call logs and dozens of incriminating text messages that described not only assassinating President Trump but also her plan to “kidnap or get rid of” Trump’s then-12-year-old son Barron. Part of a message read, “ASAP. Take Barron and Trump won’t function. He’ll have to leave, and then I’ll have Pence. Wiring now to what’s been discussed.”
Another message: “Or Ivanka. Make her less pretty.”
“Of course her messages were sent to another burner phone—disconnected, but—” Vice Admiral Crandall began.
Nancy stood. She spoke. She said she was innocent. Innocent with an explanation. “It’s no secret I dislike Donald Trump. This is all fantasy—my fantasy, and fantasy is no crime. It was role play. Nothing more,” she hissed.
“We have your bank records. You wired $375K to an account in Zurich minutes after you sent that text. Ben Folds—a fake name, I’m sure. That’s a hefty sum to spend on role play, for someone who wouldn’t even pay her interns a dime,” Vice Adm. Crandall said.
“Your so-called witnesses are compromised, corrupt. I won’t stand for this.”
“Then please take your seat, or we’ll put you in it,” the admiral snapped as two Marines flanked Pelosi. “By the way, I think you got ripped off.”
“I’m sure you won’t like our next witness either,” the admiral continued.
He called to the stand a cooperating witness–Nancy’s estranged husband, Paul Pelosi.
As Soon as I get more I will post it.🤔
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bighermie · 1 year
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I’m sure that Fang Fang enjoyed herself with him!
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1americanconservative · 4 months
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Kyle Becker
So, it turns out there were "at least 200" Feds and undercover operatives working the Trump entrapment plot on January 6. That's according to U.S. Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA), who sat down for a recent interview on the matter. “The FBI was not just participating in the January 6th acts from within. I suspect they had over 200 agents embedded in the crowd, including agents or, as they would call it, human assets inside the Capitol dressed as Trump supporters before the doors were opened.” This figure is in the realm of possibility, given the newly released J6 videos, court documents, and witness statements. “And when you track the text threads and the communications within those groups and find the origins of suggestions of potential violence or an active occupation of the Capitol on January 6th, you’ll find that those messages were led by members of the groups that ended up to be the FBI agents that had infiltrated the group,” Higgins said. “So the FBI’s involvement was deep, not just on J6, but on the days and weeks and months prior.” There is now zero doubt that J6 was a set-up. The Trump "incitement" narrative had been hatched months prior, as the infamous Time "shadow cabal" article made clear. The J6 riot was war-gamed multiple times before the Electoral College. The FBI unconstitutionally used NSA surveillance to track the extremist groups seeking to disrupt the event. It had Federal informants embedded in multiple extremist groups, including the Proud Boys. Yet, somehow, the FBI and Capitol Police were woefully "unprepared" despite multiple advance warnings, including from then Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund. D.C. Mayor Bowser, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and others, refused to press for more National Guard, despite it being documented and on the record that former President Donald Trump wanted 10,000 National Guard troops outside Congress to protect the Electoral College. Also, there was no 'centrally coordinated' plot to overturn the results of the 2020 election, as FBI sources told Reuters in an August 2021 report. Indeed, that was the entire point of the election challenges during the convening of the Electoral College. If Donald Trump wanted to overturn the 2020 election results, he would not have disrupted the Electoral College. He would have continued to pursue his legal challenges and his Constitutional right to challenge electoral slates in Congress. Trump would not have sent in unarmed extremists to disrupt the Electoral College in order to 'retain power.' This is not only illogical, it is absurd on its face. Nonetheless, this ridiculous partisan narrative has constituted the basis for prosecuting a former president in what has devolved into a partisan show trial and tantamount to election interference. It is not only ironic, but a disgrace to our entire justice system. January 6 was a Fed-manufactured riot to frame a sitting president and carry out election interference in 2024. Case closed.
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Elon Musk, the new owner of Twitter, tweeted out an unfounded conspiracy theory Sunday morning about the attack on the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi from a website that has a history of publishing false information.
Musk responded to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton when she tweeted out an L.A. Times story about how the suspect in the attack on Paul Pelosi, David DePape, spread far-right conspiracy theories.
"There is a tiny possibility there might be more to this story than meets the eye," Musk wrote to Clinton, linking to a story published on a right-wing website called the Santa Monica Observer that questioned the circumstances of the attack on Pelosi, according to an archived version of the story. (The website was no longer accessible late Sunday morning.)
As of late Sunday morning, Musk's tweet had more than 24,000 retweets and more than 86,000 likes, and was quickly gaining more traction.
The fact-checking website Media Bias/Fact Check rates the Santa Monica Observer as a "questionable source" based on "the routine publication of false and misleading information and the use of poor sources."
Media Bias/Fact Check said the website's article on the Pelosi attack "appears to be fake and defamatory."
Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NBC News.
The Santa Monica Observer has also published other fake stories that falsely reported that former Secretary Clinton died in the September 11, 2001 attacks and had been using a body double since then, and that Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, was appointed to a non-existent position in the Department of the Interior under former President Donald Trump.
The publisher of the website, David Ganezer, unsuccessfully ran for Santa Monica City Council in 2010 and 1988, according to the Santa Monica Daily Press. He is currently a registered Republican, voting records show.
Musk's tweet comes just days after his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter was finalized. Musk has said he will loosen rules about what kind of speech is allowed on the platform. That vow has prompted concerns that the changes could drive users and advertisers from the site.
DePape attacked Pelosi, 82, with a hammer after breaking into their California home early Friday. The suspect was searching for the House Speaker, who was in Washington, D.C. at the time, two sources told NBC News.
Police arrived after Pelosi called 911 when the suspect wasn't looking.
Pelosi suffered a skull fracture and serious injuries to his right arm and hands, according to Drew Hammill, spokesman for Speaker Nancy Pelosi. He underwent successful surgery and is expected to make a full recovery, Hammill added Friday.
Police said DePape will be charged with attempted homicide, among other charges. Officials have said they are still working to determine a motive in the attack.
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midnightfunk · 1 year
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wumblr · 2 months
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have you noticed how they didn't do this to nancy pelosi or dianne feinstein or kyrsten sinema or matt gaetz or tommy tuberville or oh hell i can't list all 78 of them
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The latest: Republicans remove detectors installed outside House floor after Jan. 6
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/01/03/speaker-house-vote-mccarthy-new-congress/#link-K6DKUOJLZJBZPL2SHU3FC3NYJA
Republican officials have removed the metal detectors that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) had installed after the Jan 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Metal detectors were put in place outside the House floor after a violent mob entered the U.S. Capitol — with many of them carrying weapons — to overturn the 2020 presidential election. All lawmakers and staffers were required to walk through the metal detectors before entering the House chamber.
Guns and other weapons were already banned from the chamber, but many Democrats were concerned about their safety and possible links between GOP lawmakers and staffers with those who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6.
Some Democrats were already anxious about the potential for guns on the House floor after Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo..) campaigned promising to remain armed as she worked on Capitol Hill. And former congressman Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.) told a local paper after the attack that he had been armed when protesters stormed the Capitol.
Some 140 law enforcement officers were injured during the uprising, and videos and photographs from the day showed rioters unlawfully on the House floor with weapons.
With people like Lauren Boebert in the House, I’d want a metal detector too. 
It’s utterly foolish not to have one after January 6th.
But then again, most Republicans in the House appear to be fools. 
Get ready for the upcoming clown show.
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palestinegenocide · 1 month
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Nancy Pelosi claims no U.S. weapons have been used to carry out Israeli atrocities in Gaza
Rep. Nancy Pelosi claims no U.S. weapons have been used to carry our Israeli atrocities in Gaza since October 7, but the evidence proves otherwise
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saywhat-politics · 2 months
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Rep. Pete Stauber (R-Minn.) said he did not vote for the infrastructure bill because he feared it would inevitably lead to socialism.
A bit more than two years ago, Rep. Pete Stauber (R-Minn.) explained his vote against what was then referred to as the “bipartisan infrastructure bill” by saying, “I will not be complicit in paving a destructive and irreversible path towards socialism.”
On Monday, when it was announced the state would receive $1.05 billion in federal money from the bill-turned-law to build a new span to replace the 62-year-old Blatnik Bridge, Stauber took a different stance.
“The Blatnik Bridge is aging, and its restoration is essential to ensuring continued economic success, which is why I have long fought for these funds,” he said in a statement.
“Securing the money to help replace this bridge has been a top priority for both states, and I am proud to have worked with my Minnesota and Wisconsin Congressional colleagues to secure this critical investment.”
Stauber is by no means the only Republican, or even lawmaker, to take credit for the impact of a bill they voted against. But Democrats have increasingly made an effort to call out Republicans more often for that behavior, which former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has dubbed “vote no and take the dough.”
The Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), the state affiliate of the national Democratic Party, pointed out the apparent hypocrisy.
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