Bipartisan Congress Put Jeff Sessions in His Place, Shut Down His Expansion of Civil Asset Forfeiture

While it is a rare occasion when the group claiming to represent the will of the American people actually votes accordingly, the House of Representatives voted in opposition of Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ plan to expand civil asset forfeiture on Tuesday.

The Make America Secure and Prosperous Appropriations Act will now include Amendment 126, which “restricts the use of the federal government’s use of adoptive forfeiture.” It is co-sponsored by a group of nine bipartisan representatives, including Justin Amash, a Republican from Michigan, and Tulsi Gabbard, a Democrat from Hawaii.

“About to speak on the House floor in support of my amendment to rein in unconstitutional civil asset forfeiture,” Amash wrote on Twitter. “We must defend our rights.”

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About to speak on the House floor in support of my amendment to rein in unconstitutional civil asset forfeiture. We must defend our rights.

— Justin Amash (@justinamash) September 12, 2017

Gabbard noted that she co-sponsored the bill because it was “yet another area where AG Sessions must be stopped in his unconstitutional attempts to expand civil asset forfeiture.”

“I’ll be on House floor soon with Justin Amash urging support for our bipartisan amendment to stop AG Sessions expansion of adoptive forfeiture,” Gabbard wrote on Twitter. “Adoptive forfeiture allows state law enforcement to sidestep state laws and use federal law to seize people’s property without conviction or charges. Burden of proving innocence is on the individual, not on law enforcement. Even if innocence proved, the property/cash is often not returned.”

I"ll be on House floor soon w/ @justinamash urging support for our bipartisan amdmt to stop AG Sessions expansion of adoptive forfeiture

— Tulsi Gabbard (@TulsiGabbard) September 12, 2017

Burden of proving innocence is on the individual, not on law enforcement. Even if innocence proved, the property/cash is often not returned

— Tulsi Gabbard (@TulsiGabbard) September 12, 2017

Defining civil asset forfeiture as “a pernicious practice that throws due process out of the window and allows permanent seizure of assets based on an extraordinarily low evidentiary standard,” FreedomWorks.org noted that Amendment 126 seeks to “prohibit the use of funds authorized by Division C from being used for adoptive seizures, through which state and local agencies can circumvent protective state laws to seek forfeiture of seized assets under federal forfeiture laws.”

Sessions announced a new policy to increase civil asset forfeiture in July, labeling it as a means to “better protect victims of crime and innocent property owners, while streamlining the process to more easily dismantle criminal and terrorist organizations.”

“As any of these law enforcement partners will tell you and as President Trump knows well, civil asset forfeiture is a key tool that helps law enforcement defund organized crime, take back ill-gotten gains, and prevent new crimes from being committed, and it weakens the criminals and the cartels. Even more importantly, it helps return property to the victims of crime. Civil asset forfeiture takes the material support of the criminals and instead makes it the material support of law enforcement, funding priorities like new vehicles, bulletproof vests, opioid overdose reversal kits, and better training. In departments across this country, funds that were once used to take lives are now being used to save lives.”

However, as The Free Thought Project has reported extensively, and as the majority of the representatives in the House seem to understand, civil asset forfeiture has only led to more corruption.

READ MORE:  Before & After Photos Prove the US is Funding a War on Human Rights in Syria

In fact, even one of the co-creators of the civil asset forfeiture program in the United States has said he thinks it should be abolished. “Three decades ago I helped create our civil asset forfeiture system; now it is time to end it,” Brad Cates, former director of the U.S. Justice Department’s Asset Forfeiture Office, said in February 2016.

“During the Reagan administration I helped establish these programs because I believed they would quickly channel seized criminals’ profits into the fight against organized crime and drug cartels. Yet over time we have created a new bad incentive: policing for profit, out of the reach of the proper legislative budget process.”

The purpose of “due process” is to ensure that suspects are given a chance to prove their innocence. However, when police are given the power to confiscate cash, weapons, cars and other possessions, the suspects they are targeting are assumed guilty until proven innocent, and even if their innocence is proven in court, their possessions that were stolen by the state are not always returned.

Only 2% of US Politicians Actually Want to Stop Arming Terrorists — Here’s Why

(ANTIMEDIA) — One of the few elected Democratic lawmakers with an extensive anti-war record, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii), has combined forces with Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) to push legislation through both the House and the Senate that would bar federal agencies from using taxpayer-backed funds to provide weapons, training, intelligence, or any other type of support to terrorist cells such as al-Qaeda, ISIS, or any other group that is associated with them in any way. The Stop Arming Terrorists Act is so unique that it’s also the only bill of its kind that would also bar the government from funneling money and weapons through other countries that support (directly or indirectly) terrorists such as Saudi Arabia.

To our surprise — or should we say shame? — only 13 other lawmakers out of hundreds have co-sponsored Gabbard’s House bill. Paul’s Senate version of the bill, on the other hand, has zero cosponsors.

While both pieces of legislation were introduced in early 2017, no real action has been taken as of yet. This proves that Washington refuses to support bills that would actually provoke positive chain reactions not only abroad but also at home. Why? Well, let’s look at the groups that would lose a great deal in case this bill is signed into law.

Military & Homeland Security Companies, Lobbyists, And Lawmakers All Profit From War

With trillions of tax dollars flowing to companies such as Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and even IBM, among others, companies that invest heavily in weapons, cyber security systems, and other technologies that are widely used in times of war would stand to lose a lot — if not everything — if all of a sudden, the United States chose to become a nation that stands for peace and free market principles.

For one, these companies have a heavy lobbying presence, ensuring that lawmakers sympathetic to their plight are elected every two years. When the possibility of a new conflict appears on the horizon, these companies are the first to lobby heavily for action.

But this dynamic isn’t a secret. We all know that the crony capitalist system that thrives in Washington, D.C., is the very bread and butter of politics in America. After all, President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned the nation in his farewell address in 1961 that “an immense military establishment and a large arms industry” were becoming the great powers behind U.S. politics, and that if we weren’t weary of this influence, we would risk living in a perpetual state of war.

Still, we allowed it to take over. And there isn’t one industry powerful enough to counter this destructive authority.

With the support of an army of well-established and connected millionaire lobbyists, the war machine operating in Washington is so powerful that anything can be turned into an existential threat.

Any conflict abroad that has absolutely no importance or that poses literally no threat to the common American is inflated to become a threat to the American way of life. They hate us “for our freedom.” Therefore, we must show them what democracy looks like.

Without the same kind of powerful and wealthy team behind the cause for sanity and peace, this army of big money and big lobbyists has single-handedly put us and many generations to come in debt over Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya, Yemen, and now Syria. And as the marketing machine behind this kind of lobbying effort taps into the social justice trend that has infiltrated every aspect of our culture in recent years, these organizations have learned that they will get even broader support from the public if they add feminist, anti-poverty, and pro-equality messages to their pro-war efforts.

Take the #BringBackOurGirls campaign, for instance, which, as NBC has reported, originated with “Obiageli Ezekwesili, a former vice president of the World Bank for the Africa region and a senior advisor on Africa Economic Development Policy for the Open Society Foundations”  —  a George Soros-backed foundation. In no time, the social media “effort” had become the most effective lobbying force behind the expansion of the never-ending war on terror. And whether it was meant to promote this outcome or not, it helped the United States easily invest more tax dollars into an unwinnable war.

As you can see, even if Gabbard and Paul managed to use all of their time to force the Stop Arming Terrorists Act through Congress so it could get to President Donald Trump’s desk, the powers at play in Washington would do their best to sweep this effort under the rug. Not because individuals involved in pro-war lobbying are, perhaps, thirsty for war per se, but because the system under which they operate allows for bad incentives to produce a great deal of wealth and influence, tilting the balance toward evil.

Without a state that can be bribed, companies would be left to fend for themselves and stay afloat by making customers… happy. And you can’t make customers happy if all you have to offer is war.

Creative Commons / Anti-Media / Report a typo

Liberals Call For Ouster Of Democrat Representative After She Questions Syria Attacks

Sporting a sweet new "Resist" picture on Twitter, Neera Tanden, President of the Center for American Progress and author of numerous embarrassing email exchanges with John Podesta, called on Hawaiians to oust their Representative, Tulsi Gabbard, for having the audacity to question whether Assad was responsible for the recent chemical weapons attacks in Syria.

People of Hawaii"s 2nd district - was it not enough for you that your rep met with a murderous dictator? Will this move you?1 https://t.co/jbwGuZIJ6R

— Neera Tanden (@neeratanden) April 7, 2017

Of course, we"re almost certain that Neera"s comments had nothing to do with the fact that Gabbard was one of the few House democrats to throw her support behind Bernie Sanders in the 2016 presidential election rather than Tanden"s chosen candidate, Hillary. 

Nevertheless, here is Gabbard speaking with Wolf Blitzer of CNN who, like many of his colleagues in the MSM, seems to suddenly be very trusting of the Trump administration.

Rep. Gabbard: “Yes, I’m skeptical” of claim Assad regime is behind chemical weapons attack https://t.co/fETssThsLF https://t.co/fpYdUNR2t4

— CNN (@CNN) April 7, 2017

Gabbard, who sits on the Armed Services and Foreign Affairs committees, drew criticism earlier this year when she took a somewhat mysterious trip alone to meet with Assad in Syria without alerting House Speaker Paul Ryan.  The liberal Democrat subsequently explained she simply wanted to engage in dialogue with Assad though it clearly burned some bridges within her own party.  Per CNN:

Gabbard told CNN on Friday that she wants to achieve peace in Syria, "Why should we just blindly follow this escalation of a counterproductive regime-change war?"

"There"s responsibility that goes around," Gabbard said."Standing here pointing fingers does not accomplish peace for the Syrian people. It will not bring about an end to this war."

Meanwhile, former DNC chair Howard Dean also decided to join in on ganging up on Gabbard, but he immediately got shut down by a follower who asked the obvious question of why engaging in dialogue was disqualifying for Gabbard but violating federal record retention laws and a Congressional subpoena was perfectly fine for Hillary.

This is a disgrace. Gabbard should not be in Congress. https://t.co/yDTh43GZam

— Howard Dean (@GovHowardDean) April 9, 2017

@CarlNyberg312 @TulsiGabbard Engaging in dialogue isn"t the problem. It"s claiming there is doubt Assad uses chemical warfare. She sounds like Trump making excuses

— Howard Dean (@GovHowardDean) April 9, 2017

It"s becoming increasingly clear that Gabbard is just another Putin puppet who likely assisted Russian hackers in their efforts to take down Hillary...we sincerely hope the Congress launches an immediate investigation. 

Stop ‘Tearing Apart Families’: Congresswoman Introduces Act to Decriminalize Pot — Nationally

Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard has urged Congress to federally decriminalize marijuana Tuesday, introducing a bipartisan act to to remove the drug from the federal controlled substances list.

“FBI reports have shown that in 2011 alone, an individual in the United States was arrested for marijuana use, sale or possession every 42 seconds,” Gabbard said in a statement.

The congresswoman introduced the Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act (HR. 1227) with Republican Virginia Rep. Tom Garrett, calling on Congress to update its “outdated drug policies”.

The pair called on Congress to take into account the growing body of evidence that suggests the medicinal benefits of marijuana, from the treatment of epileptic seizures to reducing anxiety and “even halting the growth of cancer cells.”

The FDA currently classifies marijuana as a Schedule 1 classification, along with MDMA and heroin.

“Mostly in poor and minority communities our current laws are turning everyday Americans into criminals, sending them to jail, ruining their lives, tearing apart families and wasting huge amounts of taxpayer dollars to arrest, prosecute and incarcerate people for marijuana use,” Gabbard’s statement said.

“The drug has been proven time and time again to be far less dangerous than alcohol, both for individual consumers as well as for the people around them,” she adds.

The Hawaii congresswoman said the current laws surrounding marijuana put a strain on the justice system, and detailed her recent visits to prisons in Hawaii where she saw “crumbling infrastructure, the extreme overcrowding and facilities in dire need of upgrades.”

Gabbard also highlighted the contradiction between federal law and those of individual states regarding marijuana, and how it has affected bankers and credit unions in Hawaii where marijuana is legalized but federal law prohibits them from dealing in financial transactions from marijuana.

“Our state-recognized and licensed medical marijuana dispensary owners, as well as their employees, can’t open a bank account, can’t get a loan from our local

banks,” she said. “The businesses have to literally hold thousands or even millions of dollars and conduct their transactions in cash.

“So whether you personally think that marijuana use is good or bad, whether you would choose to use marijuana or not, the question is, should we really be sending people to jail and turning them into criminals for it?”

Rand Paul and Tulsi Gabbard Introduce Bill That Would Prevent the Government From Funding Terrorists

The American people might just be in possession of the most hypocritical government on Earth. The United States talks a big game about freedom and democracy, but that’s never stopped our government from maintaining close ties to countries like Saudi Arabia and countless other vile regimes from the past.

But perhaps what’s most hypocritical, is how our government has supposedly been engaging in the so called “War or Terror” for years, when in fact we’ve been funding and arming the terrorists. It’s our government that’s been funding radical Islam in Syria, and it’s our government that created the conditions in Iraq that led to the rise of ISIS. It could be argued that we further helped ISIS along by providing support for supposedly moderate rebels in Syria who fought alongside ISIS.

That’s why Senator Rand Paul and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard recently introduced a much needed piece of legislation titled the Stop Arming Terrorists Act. In a recent press release Gabbard explained the necessity of this legislation:

“For years, the U.S. government has been supporting armed militant groups working directly with and often under the command of terrorist groups like ISIS and al-Qaeda in their fight to overthrow the Syrian government. Rather than spending trillions of dollars on regime change wars in the Middle East, we should be focused on defeating terrorist groups like ISIS and al-Qaeda, and using our resources to invest in rebuilding our communities here at home.”

And she should know. Earlier this year she went on a fact finding mission to Syria. For making that trip she caught a lot of flak by the establishment-backed media, who criticized her for daring to reach out to Syria, and called her an Assad apologist. When she returned from that trip she claimed that “There is no difference between “moderate” rebels and al-Qaeda (al-Nusra) or ISIS — they are all the same.”

And she’s been wise to that horrible truth for a long time. In fact, Gabbard introduced similar legislation with the same name last December, but it apparently didn’t gain any traction. This time it’s being reintroduced with the help of Senator Rand Paul, and it has been cosponsored by nine other Republicans and Democrats. If it passes the bill will inhibit our government’s terrorist support antics in several critical ways.

S. 532, the Stop Arming Terrorists Act:

• Makes it illegal for any U.S. federal government funds to be used to provide assistance covered in the bill, including weapons, munitions, weapons platforms, intelligence, logistics, training, and cash, to terrorists.


• Prohibits the U.S. government from providing such assistance covered in the bill to any nation that has given or continues to give such support to terrorists.


• Instructs the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) to determine the individuals and groups that should be considered terrorists, for the purposes of this bill, by determining: (a) the individuals and groups that are associated with, affiliated with, adherents to, or cooperating with al-Qaeda, Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, or ISIS; (b) the countries that are providing assistance covered in this bill to those individuals or groups.


• Anticipates changing conditions by requiring the DNI to work with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Armed Services Committee, and Select Committee on Intelligence to review and update the list of prohibited countries and groups every six months


• Provides for accountability and transparency by requiring the DNI to brief Congress on its determinations.

Unfortunately, I think we all know what’s going to happen to this bill. Our government is firmly in the hands of the military-industrial complex and the deep state, and those forces are perfectly content with the status quo, which is never ending war in the Middle East. It’s safe to say that the chances of this bill passing are very slim.

However, what’s really sad is that bill exists in the first place. The fact that someone has to try to convince our government to stop arming vile terrorists is depressing. You’d think that this is common sense and should go without saying, for both practical and moral reasons, but apparently it still needs to be said.

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Author: Daniel Lang
Views: Read by 57 people
Date: March 15th, 2017
Website: http://www.SHTFplan.com

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Rand Paul Teams up with Tulsi Gabbard to Stop the U.S. From Arming Terrorists

(ANTIMEDIA) According to a press release released Friday by the office of Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, Sen. Rand Paul has introduced their bill, the Stop Arming Terrorists Act, in the U.S. Senate. The bipartisan legislation (H.R.608 and S.532) aims to prohibit any federal agency from using taxpayer dollars to provide weapons, cash, intelligence, or any support to al-Qaeda, ISIS, and other terrorist groups. It would also prohibit the government from funneling money and weapons through other countries that are directly or indirectly supporting terrorists.

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Gabbard said:

“For years, the U.S. government has been supporting armed militant groups working directly with and often under the command of terrorist groups like ISIS and al-Qaeda in their fight to overthrow the Syrian government. Rather than spending trillions of dollars on regime change wars in the Middle East, we should be focused on defeating terrorist groups like ISIS and al-Qaeda, and using our resources to invest in rebuilding our communities here at home.”

She continued:

“The fact that American taxpayer dollars are being used to strengthen the very terrorist groups we should be focused on defeating should alarm every Member of Congress and every American.  We call on our colleagues and the Administration to join us in passing this legislation.

Rand Paul provided much-needed support for the bill, stating:

“One of the unintended consequences of nation-building and open-ended intervention is American funds and weapons benefiting those who hate us. This legislation will strengthen our foreign policy, enhance our national security, and safeguard our resources.”

The legislation is currently co-sponsored by Reps. John Conyers (D-MI); Scott Perry (R-PA); Peter Welch (D-VT; Tom Garrett (R-VA); Thomas Massie (R-KY); Barbara Lee (D-CA); Walter Jones (R-NC); Ted Yoho (R-FL); and Paul Gosar (R-AZ). It is endorsed by Progressive Democrats of America (PDA), Veterans for Peace, and the U.S. Peace Council.

One of Trump’s campaign narratives that resonated deeply with his voter base was an anti-radical Islam agenda, which separated him from Clinton’s campaign as he vowed to “bomb the shit” out of ISIS-controlled oil fields. However, his voter base may or may not be somewhat disillusioned now given that he just approved an arms sale to Saudi Arabia that was so controversial it was even blocked by Obama, a president who made a literal killing from arms sales to the oil-rich kingdom (ISIS adheres to Saudi Arabia’s twisted form of Wahhabist philosophy).

In the context of recent events, whether or not the Trump administration will get fully behind Gabbard’s bill remains to be seen. But considering the Trump administration is directly sending American troops to fight in Syrian territory, perhaps the various rebel groups on the ground have outlived their usefulness and the bill will be allowed to proceed unimpeded.

Creative Commons / Anti-Media / Report a typo / Image: Gage Skidmore

Tulsi Gabbard: To Solve Refugee Crisis, Stop Funding Terrorism

(ANTIMEDIA) Democratic Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, the politician who previously accused the U.S. of arming ISIS, is still calling on the U.S. government to stop its disastrous regime change policies in the Middle East.

According to a press release made public on Tuesday, Gabbard has again called for the U.S. to stop aiding terrorists like al-Qaeda and ISIS. Gabbard’s guest at the presidential address to Congress, a Kurdish refugee activist, also called for an end to the U.S. policy of “regime change in Syria.”

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Gabbard said:

“In the face of unimaginable heartbreak, Tima has been a voice for the voiceless, a champion for refugees worldwide, and a strong advocate for ending the regime change war in Syria. I am honored to welcome her to Washington tonight as we raise our voices to call on our nation’s leaders to end the counterproductive regime change war in Syria that has caused great human suffering, refugees, loss of life, and devastation. We urge leaders in Congress to pass the Stop Arming Terrorists Act and end our destructive policy of using American taxpayer dollars to provide direct and indirect support to armed militants allied with terrorist groups like al-Qaeda and ISIS in Syria, who are fighting to overthrow the Syrian government.”

Gabbard also reportedly told Russian state-owned news station RT:

“For years, our government has been providing both direct and indirect support to these armed militant groups, who are working directly with or under the command of terrorist groups like Al-Qaeda and ISIS, all in their effort and fight to overthrow the Syrian government.”

The activist, Tima Kurdi, is more widely known as the aunt of a three-year-old boy who drowned on the shores of Turkey in September 2015. The image went viral on social media and was easily manipulated by the mainstream media to further the United States’ agenda in the region, never once laying blame to the U.S. military establishment for spending over $1 billion a year arming Syrian rebels.

According to the press release, Kurdi said the following:

“I am proud to stand with Tulsi and support her work to end regime change war in Syria. My people have suffered for more than six years—enough is enough. Tulsi understands that arming the so-called “rebels” in Syria has only led to more bloodshed, more suffering, and created more refugees. A military solution in Syria is not the answer. I hope that President Trump will stop arming terrorists and commit to a political solution in Syria—it is the only way to restore peace.”

Gabbard came under fire earlier this year when she took a secretive trip to Syria and met with President Assad, as well as a number of other people on the ground. The fact that her proposed policies have the backing of the relative of the drowned Syrian refugee — whose images the media exploited in 2015 to advance the western narrative against Assad — should speak volumes about the efficacy of Gabbard’s approach. Despite this, the media hardly pays heed to Gabbard’s ideas.

In 2014, PBS ran a report in which they interviewed Syrian rebels who had been trained by the CIA at a camp in Qatar. According to one of the fighters:

“They trained us to ambush regime or enemy vehicles and cut off the road…They also trained us on how to attack a vehicle, raid it, retrieve information or weapons and munitions, and how to finish off soldiers still alive after an ambush.” [emphasis added]

The latter emboldened section is a blatant war crime and is also the standard operating procedure for ISIS. Regardless of the banner these rebels operate under, this is a terrorist tactic, and it is ultimately what American taxpayer dollars have been doing in Syria.

Congresswoman Proposes Radical Solution to Refugee Crisis, “Stop Arming Terrorists”

US Representative Tulsi Gabbard is proving to be quite the thorn in the side of the establishment warmongers. In January, Gabbard went on a secret trip to Syria to investigate first hand and to find the truth that the corporate media is covering up about the Syrian war. Since then, this brave congresswoman has remained steadfast in her mission to show Americans how their tax dollars are funding terrorism in the Middle East.

In a press conference this week, Gabbard called on President Trump to “end the regime change in Syria,” adding that this is what is causing the refugee crisis.

“The most important question is, how do we address the cause of these people fleeing their homes,” Gabbard stated before pointing to a bill that she’s submitted to Congress this year that would help in solving this problem.

The bill’s premise to stop the refugee crisis is quite simple — stop arming the terrorists.

“Stop Arming Terrorists Act,” or HR 608, would ban the use of US taxpayers’ funds to aid terrorist groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda or Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL).

“For years, our government has been providing both direct and indirect support to these armed militant groups, who are working directly with or under the command of terrorist groups like Al-Qaeda and ISIS, all in their effort and fight to overthrow the Syrian government,” Gabbard said in an interview Wednesday.

During her visit to Syria in January, Gabbard met with refugees and victims of the US-backed Syrian regime change, who all asked the same question — why is the US funding terrorism.

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“I’ll tell you what I heard from the Syrian people that I met with, Jake, walking down the street in Aleppo, in Damascus, hearing from them.

They expressed happiness and joy at seeing an American walking through their streets. But they also asked why the U.S. and its allies are providing support and arms to terrorist groups like al-Nusra, al-Qaida or al-Sham, ISIS who are on the ground there, raping, kidnapping, torturing and killing the Syrian people.

They asked me, why is the United States and its allies supporting these terrorist groups who are destroying Syria when it was al-Qaeda who attacked the United States on 9/11, not Syria. I didn’t have an answer for them,” Gabbard said, noting the clear dismay the average Syrian has for the U.S. support of al-Qaeda – a proposition which every American should equally question.

“The reality is… every place that I went, every person that I spoke to, I asked this question to them, and without hesitation, they said, there are no moderate rebels. Who are these moderate rebels that people keep speaking of?

Regardless of the name of these groups, the strongest fighting force on the ground in Syria is al Nusra, or al-Qaeda and ISIS. That is a fact,” Gabbard said.

As pro-war neocons — consistently beating the war drum in spite of never actually spending any time in the military — lash out at Gabbard for her Syrian trip and proposed legislation, other members of Congress, who’ve actually been in the military (like Gabbard), are showing their full support of the bill.

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Representative Tom Garrett (R-Virginia), a US Army veteran, is one of those supporters who said that the goal in Syria should be peace.

“Tulsi understands that arming the so-called ‘rebels’ in Syria has only led to more bloodshed, more suffering, and created more refugees,” Tima Kurdi said in a statement on Tuesday. “A military solution in Syria is not the answer. I hope that President Trump will stop arming terrorists and commit to a political solution in Syria—it is the only way to restore peace.”

Matt Agorist is an honorably discharged veteran of the USMC and former intelligence operator directly tasked by the NSA. This prior experience gives him unique insight into the world of government corruption and the American police state. Agorist has been an independent journalist for over a decade and has been featured on mainstream networks around the world. Agorist is also the Editor at Large at the Free Thought Project. Follow @MattAgorist on Twitter, Steemit, and now on Facebook.

Dennis Kucinich: Washington Post Has Declared War on Peacemakers

February 3, 2017   |   admintam

(RPI) By Dennis Kucinich

I have dedicated my life to peace. As a member of Congress I led efforts to avert conflict and end wars in countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Syria and Iran. And yet those of us who work for peace are put under false scrutiny to protect Washington’s war machine. Those who undermine our national security by promoting military attacks and destroying other nations are held up as national leaders to admire.

Recently Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and I took a Congressional Ethics-approved fact finding trip to Lebanon and Syria, where we visited Aleppo and refugee camps, and met with religious leaders, governmental leaders and people from all sides of the conflict, including political opposition to the Syrian government.

Since that time we have been under constant attack on false grounds. The media and the war establishment are desperate to keep hold of their false narrative for world-wide war, interventionism and regime change, which is a profitable business for Washington insiders and which impoverishes our own country.

Today, Rep. Gabbard came under attack yet again by the Washington Post’s Josh Rogin who has been on a tear trying to ruin the reputations of the people and the organization who sponsored our humanitarian, fact-finding mission of peace to the Middle East. Rogin just claimed in a tweet that a community organization I have been associated with for twenty years does not exist.

The organization is in my neighborhood. Here’s photos I took yesterday of AACCESS-Ohio’s marquee. It clearly exists, despite the base, condescending assertions of Mr. Rogin.

Enough of this dangerous pettiness. Let’s dig in to what is really going on, inside Syria, in the State Department, the CIA and the Pentagon. In the words of President Eisenhower, let’s beware (and scrutinize) the military-industrial-complex. It is time to be vigilant for our democracy.

Reprinted with permission from the Facebook page of Dennis Kucinich.

---

This article (Dennis Kucinich: Washington Post Has Declared War on Peacemakers) originally appeared on RonPaulInstitute.org and was used with permission. Anti-Media Radio airs weeknights at 11pm Eastern/8pm Pacific. Image credit: Gage Skidmore. If you spot a typo, email edits@theantimedia.org.

Hero Congresswoman Exposes Truth on CNN After Secret Visit to Syria, ‘There Are No Moderate Rebels’

Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard made damning statements about the U.S. role in Syria in a CNN interview — noting that “there are no moderate rebels” — after a secret four-day fact-finding mission to Syria in which she met with everyday Syrians, and eventually met with President Bashar al-Assad.

“I wanted to see if there was in some small way, a way that I could express the love and the aloha and the care that the American people have for the people of Syria, and to see firsthand what was happening there, to see that situation there,” Gabbard told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Wednesday.

Her message to the American public was clear, and an extremely damning indictment of the steady stream of propaganda the Western media has fed the public regarding the existence of “moderate rebels” during the Assad regime-change operation:

“I’ll tell you what I heard from the Syrian people that I met with, Jake, walking down the street in Aleppo, in Damascus, hearing from them.

They expressed happiness and joy at seeing an American walking through their streets. But they also asked why the U.S. and its allies are providing support and arms to terrorist groups like al-Nusra, al-Qaida or al-Sham, ISIS who are on the ground there, raping, kidnapping, torturing and killing the Syrian people.

They asked me, why is the United States and its allies supporting these terrorist groups who are destroying Syria when it was al-Qaeda who attacked the United States on 9/11, not Syria. I didn’t have an answer for them,” Gabbard said, noting the clear dismay the average Syrian has for the U.S. support of al-Qaeda – a proposition which every American should equally question.

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“The reality is… every place that I went, every person that I spoke to, I asked this question to them, and without hesitation, they said, there are no moderate rebels. Who are these moderate rebels that people keep speaking of?

Regardless of the name of these groups, the strongest fighting force on the ground in Syria is al Nusra, or al-Qaeda and ISIS. That is a fact,” Gabbard said.

“There is a number of different, other groups — all of them essentially are fighting alongside, with, or under the command of the strongest group on the ground that’s trying to overthrow Assad.

The Syrian people recognize and they know that if President Assad is overthrown, then al-Qaeda — or a group like al-Qaeda, that has been killing Christians, killing people simply because of their religion, or because they won’t support their terror activities, they will take charge of all of Syria.

This is the reality that the people of Syria are facing on the ground, and why they are pleading with us here in the United States to stop supporting these terrorist groups. Let the Syrian people themselves, determine their future, not the United States, not some foreign country.”

While Gabbard said she didn’t initially plan to meet with President Assad, she decided to do so as she felt he was an important player in negotiating a peace in Syria.

“When the opportunity arose to meet with him, I did so because I felt it’s important that if we profess to truly care about the Syrian people, about their suffering, then we’ve got to be able to meet with anyone that we need to if there is a possibility that we could achieve peace, and that’s exactly what we talked about.”

Tapper attempted to push the current anti-Assad/regime change talking points by claiming that Assad is to blame for the carnage in their country during the five-year civil war, while failing to acknowledge the U.S. role in assisting the rise of an Islamist principality in the Syrian theater – both through proxies, such as Saudi Arabia, and directly.

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“Did you have any compunctions about meeting with somebody like that, giving him any sort of enhanced credibility because a member of the United States Congress would meet with someone like that?” Tapper asked.

“Whatever you think about President Assad, the fact is that he is the president of Syria,” Rep. Gabbard replied. “In order for any peace agreement, in order for any possibility of a viable peace agreement to occur, there has to be a conversation with him,” Gabbard said.

One of the most important aspects of the interview is that it highlights that without being invited into Syria, by the legitimate and internationally recognized government, the U.S. is violating international law. Under the guise of fighting terror, the U.S. is illegally leveraging to topple a legitimate government without regard for what the Syrian people themselves want.

“The Syrian people will determine his outcome and what happens with their government and their future, but our focus, my focus, my commitment is on ending this war that has caused so much suffering to the Syrian people,” said Gabbard.

Earlier this month, in a speech on the floor of the House of Representatives, Gabbard criticized the U.S.’s “interventionist wars,” noting that our efforts are often counterproductive.

“Our limited resources should go toward rebuilding our communities here at home, not fueling more counterproductive regime change wars abroad.”

Gabbard railed against the U.S. government’s directly or indirectly supporting groups allied with terrorist groups such as ISIS and al Qaeda in the name of overthrowing the Assad government, and went so far as to introduce the “Stop Arming Terrorists Act,” which would prevent U.S. funding of these so-called “moderate rebels,” who are largely a propaganda fiction meant to coalesce public support behind another ill advised American regime change operation – as selling the arming of “freedom fighters/moderate rebels” sounds so much more appealing than arming Islamist rebels when selling it to the U.S. public.

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“The fact that our resources are being used to strengthen the very terrorist groups we should be focused on defeating should alarm every American,” Gabbard said. “I urge my colleagues to support this bipartisan legislation and stop this madness.”

The fact that a sitting congresswoman has gone on record after visiting Syria to note that “there are no moderate rebels” should be a red herring to the American people that they are being sold a fabrication by the mainstream media in regards to the events that have transpired in Syria.

Please share this important story to help Rep. Tulsi Gabbard expose the Syrian regime change operation for exactly what it is! With a member of Congress now telling the truth to the American public, the lie can no longer be maintained by the war-mongers and their media cronies.

Democratic Congresswoman Destroys CNN Narrative on Syria

Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard is a combat veteran, and member of the House Armed Services Committee.

She recently introduced a bill to stop funding terrorists (what a novel idea!).

She just came back from a fact-finding mission to Syria ... and destroyed CNN"s tired propaganda on "moderate rebels":

Congresswoman Who Accused US of Funding ISIS Takes “Secret” Trip to Syria

January 20, 2017   |   Darius Shahtahmasebi

(ANTIMEDIA) — Democratic Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, the representative who recently accused the U.S. of directly arming ISIS and introduced a bill to put a stop to it, has taken a “secret” trip to Syria and Lebanon. It is not clear when she will be returning.

According to Politico, Gabbard’s office won’t say who is funding the Hawaii Democrat’s controversial trip. Gabbard spokeswoman Emily Latimer did say, however, that the trip was not funded using taxpayer dollars and confirmed the visit was approved by the House Ethics Committee.

“For security reasons, we will not be releasing additional details or comments until she returns,” Latimer said in an email to Politico.

Latimer would not confirm if Gabbard was planning to meet directly with Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, a man accused of numerous crimes against humanity. A statement from Gabbard’s office noted Gabbard would meet with “a number of individuals and groups including religious leaders, humanitarian workers, refugees and government and community leaders.”

Unsurprisingly, Gabbard voted against a House resolution in 2016 condemning the Assad government for the crimes allegedly committed by the regime. Gabbard has staunchly opposed American intervention in Syria, even condemning previous efforts to do so as she believes this will lead to more instability in an already volatile region.

According to the Atlantic, her trip to Syria may violate the Logan Act, which prohibits unauthorized individuals from contacting a foreign government that’s engaged in a dispute with the U.S. (how many countries would that add to the list of prohibited countries, given the number of disputes the U.S. has across the globe)?

The Washington Post previously dubbed Gabbard the “Democrat that Republicans love and the DNC can’t control.” Her trip to Syria will likely frustrate many of her fellow Democrats.

However, absent from any criticism of her trip is the fact that she is actually taking the initiative to visit Syria for herself and not relying solely on the biased corporate media narrative for her decision-making, something that can’t be said of many of our beloved, peace-loving politicians.

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