Hunter Biden, the dirty joke that never goes away. So this is from Jonathan Turley:

My recent column explored whether time is running out for Hunter Biden. The answer may be “no” if Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) is right about what whistleblowers are telling him about the investigation. CBS is reporting that “highly credible” whistleblowers informed him that officials within the FBI and the Justice Department are downplaying or dismissing negative evidence on Hunter Biden. Given the documented bias of the FBI and DOJ during the Russian collusion investigation, such allegations must be considered seriously given the baffling refusal of Attorney General Merrick Garland to appoint a Special Counsel.

Grassley, the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, wrote FBI Director Christopher Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland that

“The information provided to my office involves concerns about the FBI’s receipt and use of derogatory information relating to Hunter Biden, and the FBI’s false portrayal of acquired evidence as disinformation. The volume and consistency of these allegations substantiate their credibility and necessitate this letter.”

What was particularly interesting were the dates referenced in the letter. It indicated that the Justice Department had evidence on the alleged criminal conduct in 2020 before the election, but that a named supervisor allegedly spiked the investigation:

“First, it’s been alleged that the FBI developed information in 2020 about Hunter Biden’s criminal financial and related activity. It is further alleged that in August 2020, FBI Supervisory Intelligence Analyst Brian Auten opened an assessment which was used by an FBI Headquarters (“FBI HQ”) team to improperly discredit negative Hunter Biden information as disinformation and caused investigative activity to cease.”

During this period, 51 intelligence experts wrote a letter dismissing the laptop as likely “Russian disinformation.” The media echoed that claim to dismiss the allegations. According to Grassley, not only did the Justice Department have compelling evidence to justify an investigation but showed the same biased analysis flagged by the prior Russian collusion investigations.

Indeed, if the alleged whistleblower accounts are true, the Hunter Biden matter showed the same “all-hands-on-deck” profile as government, political, and media allies presented a unified front on the investigation.

Here is the press release from Senator Charles Grassley's office:

07.25.2022

Whistleblowers’ Reports Reveal Double Standard in Pursuit of Politically Charged Investigations by Senior FBI, DOJ Officials

Tampering spanned multiple election cycles, infected investigative activity involving Hunter Biden

WASHINGTON – Multiple FBI whistleblowers, including those in senior positions, are raising the alarm about tampering by senior FBI and Justice Department officials in politically sensitive investigations ranging from election and campaign finance probes across multiple election cycles to investigative activity involving derogatory information on Hunter Biden’s financial and foreign business activities. The legally protected disclosures to Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) suggest a political double standard has influenced and infected decisions in matters of paramount public interest.

Election & Campaign Finance Investigations

Whistleblowers allege that Washington Field Office Assistant Special Agent in Charge Timothy Thibault disregarded agency guidelines requiring substantial factual predication to trigger investigations, while declining to move forward with other investigations despite proper predication. Thibault and Richard Pilger, director of the election crimes branch within the FBI’s public integrity section, reportedly were instrumental in the opening of an investigation into the Trump campaign and its associates based in substantial part on information from left-aligned organization. Thibault allegedly scrubbed and diluted details of the sources’ political bias from a memo seeking the full investigation, which was ultimately approved by FBI Director Chris Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland.

Whistleblowers claim that Thibault, Pilger and others didn’t always adhere to agency policies in their supervision of various election-related matters, including campaign finance investigations across multiple presidential election cycles. These claims comport with testimony from former acting Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue, who previously told the committee that leadership within the public integrity section and election crimes branch frequently asserted authority they did not have, which frustrated and discouraged investigations.

“Simply put, if a politically charged investigation is to be opened, the Justice Department and FBI have an obligation to ensure that it’s done the right way. Based on the allegations, that does not appear to have happened. Such improper conduct demands further explanation from the Justice Department and FBI,” Grassley wrote in a letter last week to Wray and Garland, which is being made public today.

Grassley previously raised concerns about left-wing social media posts by Thibault, which likely violated federal laws department policies. Following Grassley’s letter, the Inspector General referred Thibault to the Office of Special Counsel for potential Hatch Act violations.

Hunter Biden Investigation

Whistleblowers further allege that Thibault and other FBI officials sought to falsely portray as disinformation evidence acquired from multiple sources that provided the FBI derogatory information related to Hunter Biden’s financial and foreign business activities, even though some of that information had already been or could be verified. In August of 2020, FBI supervisory intelligence analyst Brian Auten opened an assessment, which was used by a team of agents at FBI headquarters to improperly discredit and falsely claim that derogatory information about Biden’s activities was disinformation, causing investigative activity and sourcing to be shut down.

That same month, FBI agents provided an unsolicited and unnecessary briefing to Grassley and Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), who were also investigating Biden’s foreign business deals. Details about that briefing were later leaked to the news media in an apparent effort to falsely cast the senators’ investigation, which was based on U.S. government records and testimony from Obama administration officials, as tainted with foreign disinformation.

The FBI headquarters team allegedly placed their assessment findings in a restricted access subfolder, effectively flagging sources and derogatory evidence related to Hunter Biden as disinformation while shielding the justification for such findings from scrutiny. Thibault also reportedly ordered the closure of a stream of information related to Hunter Biden and sought to improperly mark the matter within FBI systems in a way that would prevent it from being re-opened in the future. The FBI headquarters team allegedly claimed that reporting from the stream was at risk of disinformation. However, whistleblowers claim that all of the information obtained through that stream was already verified or verifiable.

“The aforementioned allegations put a finer point on concerns that I have raised for many years about political considerations infecting the decision-making process at the Justice Department and FBI. If these allegations are true and accurate, the Justice Department and FBI are – and have been – institutionally corrupted to their very core to the point in which the United States Congress and the American people will have no confidence in the equal application of the law,” Grassley wrote in a letter today to Wray and Garland.

Grassley is seeking records related to Auten’s assessment, derogatory information received by the FBI related to Hunter Biden and an accounting of all leads that were either closed out or denied further review by or at the direction of Thibault. Grassley is also seeking records related to the August 2020 briefing, including 302s, predicating materials and individuals involved.

Whistleblowers

Grassley frequently hears from current and former government employees who come forward to shine a light on fraud, waste, abuse and gross mismanagement in government agencies or by government contractors. He protects the identities of these sources and frequently promotes policies that shield whistleblowers from retaliation. Individuals wishing to call attention to mismanagement or misconduct within the Justice Department and its component agencies, such as the FBI, about the aforementioned allegations or other misconduct should contact Sen. Grassley’s investigations unit at (202) 224-3738 or email wb_reports@judiciary-rep.senate.gov.

Director Wray has personally committed to Senator Grassley that whistleblowers who have come forward will not face retaliation.

Read Grassley’s letters on the election matters and Biden investigation.

And this is a video report on the latest.

This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" for today:

Tuesday, July 26, 2022. Two bigots and bullies in Congress attack a Canadian online, there is no medical plan to address COVID in the US, Iraq announces a nominee for prime minister-designate (we're not even to the point of them having a prime minister-designate yet) and Turkey continues to deny attacking Iraq.

Starting with Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Ugos Against (and jealous of) Drag Queens" which went up last night.

US House Reps Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert are an international embarrassment. The two hags decided to attack a man because he's gay. The man's Canadian, doesn't live in the US but they wanted to spew hatred. What they're doing is hate speech and in the US that's embarrassing. However, our northern neighbor that we share a border with? Well Canada has criminalized hate speech. So the two hags aren't just being bitches, they're being potential criminals in the eyes of Canada. There was no reason for the hags to pick on the man. Now they should have the curse they deserve which is they should reap what they sow, they should have the life they truly deserve -- never ending misery. May karma get them both.

I don't understand why Congress has an ethics review board if nonsense like this takes place. The two hags engaged in online bullying. Supposedly, that's something that's not supposed to happen. The man did nothing to them and they are encouraging attacks on him.

The hags are members of Congress.

How is this considered appropriate behavior?

From sick minds to sickness, US President Joe Biden has COVID 19. Benjamin Mateus (WSWS) reports:

At yesterday’s White House COVID-19 press briefing, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre declared, “As we have said, almost everyone is going to get COVID and because of the hard work we have done since day one turning around the disjointed COVID response we had inherited, we have the tools to ensure that people can go about their daily life and work.”

Biden’s spokewoman then added, “The president is fully vaccinated, twice boosted, and taking Paxlovid. His current health speaks to how Americans should avail themselves to boosters and treatments.”

This is a remarkable admission in that it explicitly states that the Biden administration has washed its hands of any attempt to stem a pandemic that has already killed a million people in America and 20 million around the world. “Everyone is going to get COVID” should be read as a statement of intent. It confirms that a policy of mass infection, mass death and mass murder is the agenda of the US president and the ruling class for which he speaks.

Hospitalizations and deaths continue to climb as BA.5’s dominance grows. Nearly 450 people are dying every day from COVID-19. This translates to 164,000 a year, five times the average killed by influenza and a toll that would have been considered inconceivable before the beginning of the pandemic. And this does not take into account the predictions by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of another massive surge of infections this fall and winter.

Beyond the immediate death toll, one in five of those who are infected and survive will experience Long COVID, and a third of these can suffer from debilitating disease. Yet, with $1.3 billion given to the NIH (National Institutes of Health) to study the Post-Acute COVID Syndrome (the formal title of Long COVID), there is not a single therapeutic trial up and running. The press secretary was not asked about this and would have had nothing to say.

Meanwhile, study after study has documented that even mild COVID-19 infections can accelerate the aging process in adults and children. Allowing everyone to get infected means a generation of children and teenagers who will be deliberately crippled even before they have ventured into the world on their own.

Hospitals across the country are facing drastic and unprecedented staffing shortages, which are further compounding worker burnout. Infections and reinfections are causing health care workers to fall sick and forcing them to choose between staying home to care for themselves or coming in to work and infecting their patients. Many hospitals are considering eliminating routine COVID-19 testing to cut wait times in overcrowded emergency rooms.

Moving on to Iraq, The attack by the Turkish government last week remains in the news. Of course, the government of Turkey denies the attack. The same way the government of Turkey denies the historic Armenian genocide. Iraq lodged a complaint with the United Nations Security Council and they want the council to hold a session addressing the attack. That session is supposed to take place today. In the meantime, ASHARQ AL-AWSAT reports:

The United Nations Security Council condemned in the strongest terms on Monday the attack on a tourist resort in Iraq’s northern Dohuk province on July 20.

The attack resulted in at least nine civilian deaths, including children.

The members of the Security Council expressed their deepest sympathy and condolences to the families of the victims and to the Iraqi government and the Iraqi Kurdistan Region, wished a speedy and full recovery to those who were injured, and expressed their support for the Iraqi authorities in their investigations, read a statement.

PRESS TV notes:

The statement comes as Baghdad has filed a complaint against Turkey at the UNSC, requesting an urgent session to discuss the deadly artillery attack that Baghdad blames on Turkey, the Iraqi foreign ministry said on Saturday.

The ministry spokesman Ahmad al-Sahaf said Iraq's chargé d'affaires had been recalled from Ankara in the wake of the attack. Iraq's parliament also held a special session Saturday, with lawmakers deciding to form a committee to investigate the matter further.

Authorities in Iraq insist that the attack was carried out by Turkish forces, holding them directly responsible for the deaths and injuries of Iraqi civilians. Ankara has attributed the attack to members of the PKK terrorist group.

THE NATIONAL spoke to some of the survivors of the attack:

The National spoke to two families who lost two members, one an 11-month-old baby and the other a 24-year-old woman.

Some of the victims were from the city of Hilla, located in central Babylon province.

Durgham lost his first and only baby daughter, Zahraa.

“You can see me alive, but I am like a dead body,” he told The National.

“My daughter was less than a year old, the family and I were waiting and preparing for her birthday party, so, what kind of life would we live after this big loss?” he asked.

“I cannot forget her image, her voice while playing at home, or even the last phone call with her when she can only say: ‘Baba’”, he said.

“I had not seen my daughter since she went with my family to Kurdistan, she was killed with the same clothes she wore at home”.

Alex MacDonald Tweets:

"Turkey’s operations in Iraq have continued for years and claimed civilian lives before. The casualties were largely met with silence since they were mostly local villagers, while the latest victims were tourists from other parts of Iraq."

al-monitor.com

Tourist massacre marks turning point in Turkish-Iraqi ties

Iraq’s major political actors have all condemned Turkey over a deadly attack on a tourist site in what many believe signal a major downturn in bilateral ties.

5:32 AM · Jul 26, 2022

Mina Aldroubi (THE NATIONAL) notes, "In 2016, Turkey established a permanent military presence in Bashiqa, about 75 kilometres from Dohuk." Turkey now has at least five military bases in Iraq, they have ground troops in the country and they attack with War Planes and drones. All of this takes place in violation of Iraq's national sovereignty and all of these actions amount to acts of war carried out by the government of Turkey against Iraq.

Fehim Tastekin (AL-MONITOR) offers:

A 1984 protocol that allowed Turkish troops to pursue militants to a depth of five kilometers (three miles) inside Iraq and required them to pull out within 72 hours ended in 1988, when the two sides failed to renew it. Such an arrangement would have become irrelevant anyway, given the extensive web of Turkish military bases, outposts and checkpoints inside Iraq today as well as repeated air raids as far as in Sinjar and Mahkmour, lying respectively 160 kilometers (99 miles) and 218 kilometers (135 miles) from the border. Ankara has cited the UN Charter’s Article 51 on self-defense to justify its cross-border operations since 2017.

There is growing apprehension that Turkey’s actions amount to an expanding occupation. Statements coming from Ankara have not helped allay such fears. Presidential adviser Ayhan Ogan, for instance, warned July 21 that “if Turkey’s security concerns are ignored and, moreover, provoked, Turkey would create a new security belt all the way from Aleppo to Mosul.” Such a perspective points to an integrated approach on Ankara’s plan for a 30-kilometer-deep safe zone in northern Syria and its actions in northern Iraq.

Najah Mohammed Ali (INTERNATIONAL POLICY DIGEST) observes:

Erdogan has taken advantage of the escalating tensions between Moscow and Western capitals over the conflict in Ukraine, to ensure the West remains silent over its escalating military operations in northern Iraq as it prepares to send its forces into neighboring Syria to target the People’s Protection Units (YPG), a group that Ankara considers an offshoot of the PKK, while the United States considers it a strong ally.

It is speculated that Turkey, which is a member of NATO, agreed to the accession of Finland and Sweden on the condition that NATO looks the other way as Turkey launches renewed attacks against PKK militants.

Since the parliamentary elections in October last year, Iraqi political parties have entered into a fierce competition to form a new government. With continued political dysfunction, sectarian conflict and institutional corruption, the attempt to push back against renewed Turkish operations against PKK militants could be in vain before the formation of a strong central government. Until a permanent government is formed, Iraqi sovereignty will be viewed as malleable.

A permanent government? Back in October, Iraq held elections. The country still doesn't have a new prime minister or president. However, there is some movement on the political front. THE NEW ARAB reports:

The Coordination Framework, an umbrella parliamentary bloc including all Iran-backed Shia factions, formally nominated Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani to be the new Iraqi prime minister, Iraqi state media reported Monday.

"Today, the leaders of the Shia framework met in positive conditions and they unanimously agreed to nominate Mr Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani for the [Iraqi] premiership," read a statement released by the Coordination Framework.

Al-Sudani, 52, is a Shia Iraqi lawmaker from the south-eastern Maysan Governorate. He has a Bachelor's degree in agricultural sciences. He has held several posts and ministerial portfolios in the Iraqi government, including the governor of Maysan, the minister of human rights in 2010, and the minister of labour and social affairs in 2014.

The following sites updated: