Spartacus is no more

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Cory Booker Drops Out of 2020 Presidential Race

Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) announced Monday that he is ending his 2020 presidential campaign amid dismal polling numbers and fundraising struggles.

“It’s with a full heart that I share this news — I’ve made the decision to suspend my campaign for president,” Booker wrote to supporters in an email. “It was a difficult decision to make, but I got in this race to win, and I’ve always said I wouldn’t continue if there was no longer a path to victory.”

“Our campaign has reached the point where we need more money to scale up and continue building a campaign that can win — money we don’t have, and money that is harder to raise because I won’t be on the next debate stage and because the urgent business of impeachment will rightly be keeping me in Washington,” the senator added. “So I’ve chosen to suspend my campaign now, take care of my wonderful staff, and give you time to consider the other strong choices in the field.”

His departure now leaves a field that was once the most diverse in history with just one remaining African American candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick.

Since launching his campaign last February, Booker struggled to raise the type of money required to support a White House bid. He was at the back of the pack in most surveys and failed to meet the polling requirements needed to participate in Tuesday’s debate. Booker also missed last month’s debate and exits the race polling in low single digits in the early primary states and nationwide.

Booker had warned that the looming impeachment trial of President Donald Trump would deal a “big, big blow” to his campaign by pulling him away from Iowa in the final weeks before the Feb. 3 Iowa caucuses. He hinted at the challenges facing his campaign last week in an interview on The Associated Press’ “Ground Game” podcast.

“If we can’t raise more money in this final stretch, we won’t be able to do the things that other campaigns with more money can do to show presence,” he said.

President Donald Trump mocked the development, joking that he was concerned that he would face Booker in a general election contest. “Really Big Breaking News (Kidding): Booker, who was in zero polling territory, just dropped out of the Democrat Presidential Primary Race. Now I can rest easy tonight. I was sooo concerned that I would someday have to go head to head with him!” the president wrote on Twitter.

Booker said he plans to run for re-election for his Senate seat this year. Before his election to Congress’s upper chamber, the lawmaker served two terms as mayor of Newark — New Jersey’s most-populated city — between 2006 and 2013. He served as a member of the Newark Municipal Council from 1998 to 2002.

The senator’s exit brings the number of 2020 Democrat candidates down to 12.

Spartacus is no more

They lied so much even they couldn't swallow it

As you know when Iran attacked our military base in Iraq thankfully no one was hurt or killed. However, they told their people (another lie) they killed 30 Americans. MSNBC was only too happy to go along with it.


https://townhall.com/tipsheet/juliorosas/2020/01/08/msnbc-pushed-propaganda-report-30-american-troops-were-killed-in-missile-attack-n2559143

And knowing full well Iran is ruled by pathological liars who wouldn't know the truth if it hit them between the eyes these two treasonous fools entered into a nuke deal giving them $150 billion which in essence financed their nuclear bomb program. 

Just like Clinton did with North Korea!

Guess it's no longer an 'illogical rumor'. 

Now its... "Trump made us do it."

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Iran admits to ‘unintentionally’ shooting down Ukrainian airliner, blames ‘human error’

Natasha Turak

Published Fri, Jan 10 202011:01 PM ESTUpdated 2 hours ago

Aircraft parts from the wreckage of a Boeing Co. 737-800 aircraft, operated by Ukraine International Airlines, which crashed shortly after takeoff lie on the ground near Shahedshahr, Iran, on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020.

Ali Mohammadi/Bloomberg via Getty Images

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Iran’s military early Saturday morning announced its role in the downing of a Ukrainian passenger jet that killed all 176 people on board, saying the shootdown was “unintentional” and blaming “human error.”

The Boeing 737-800 airliner, Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752, crashed five minutes after takeoff from Tehran’s Imam Khomeini airport on Wednesday Jan. 8, just hours after Iran fired a barrage of missiles at two military bases in Iraq. The attacks on the bases, which housed American forces, were in retaliation for the U.S. killing of Iranian commander Gen. Qasem Soleimani the previous week. Those attacks caused no casualties.

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani took to Twitter to call the crash a “great tragedy” and “unforgivable mistake.”

“Armed Forces’ internal investigation has concluded that regrettably missiles fired due to human error caused the horrific crash of the Ukrainian plane & death of 176 innocent people,” Rouhani’s tweet said. “Investigations continue to identify & prosecute this great tragedy & unforgivable mistake.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif blamed America’s actions for the “human error,” writing on Twitter that Iran’s armed forces concluded that “human error at time of crisis caused by U.S. adventurism led to disaster.”

Iran’s statement stressed that the error occurred during very high tensions with the U.S.

“After the threat of U.S. president and commanders of attacking several important places in our soil and the movement of U.S. planes in the region we were at the highest alert,” an English translation of the armed forces’ statement read.

“After the attacks the flights of U.S. planes increased in the region and reports came in from strategic centers and many targets were visible in the radar,” the statement went on. “In this sensitive moment the Ukrainian plane while approaching an IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) base was shot down after the plane’s unexpected and sharp turn, leading to the martyrdom of several of our fellow citizens and foreign nationals.” 

The statement added that the person responsible for the shootdown of PS752 would face legal consequences, and that the military will undertake “major reform in operations of all armed forces” to ensure such “human errors” would not happen again. The Revolutionary Guard Corps has also been ordered to give a full public explanation.

A senior Revolutionary Guards commander later appeared on state TV Saturday explaining that the plane had been mistaken for a cruise missile.

Iran’s armed forces expressed “deepest condolences and sympathy” to the victims’ families. The flight, which was carrying 167 passengers and nine crew, was en route to Kyiv, Ukraine. Eleven Ukrainians, 82 Iranians and at least 57 Canadians were also among those killed.

According to flight tracking data, the airliner took off just 10 minutes after Zarif announced that the ballistic missile attacks against U.S. military targets had been concluded. Several international carriers and America’s Federal Aviation Authority had already suspended their Iran and Iraq flights after the Iranian missile attacks on the bases.

The vice president of Ukraine International Airlines, responding to the Iranian admission, said the plane was strictly on its course, according to Reuters. It had also been given permission to takeoff and had received no information from either Kyiv or Tehran airport about a possible threat, the vice president added.

The Iranian admission comes after days of official denials from Tehran as the U.S. and Canadian governments, citing intelligence assessments, said the plane was most likely shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile.

They lied so much even they couldn't swallow it

Iran CLEARS debris from plane crash site with bulldozers before investigators even arrive after condemning 'big US lie' they shot the jet down and insisting Tehran will 'handle' black box data

US, British, and Canadian intelligence have determined that the Ukrainian plane that crashed in Iran on Wednesday morning was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile — a conclusion Iran has strongly denied.

Physical evidence at the crash site could prove what happened, but images from the scene show workers appearing to move chunks of debris with heavy machinery.

One expert said this could make it "next to impossible" to properly investigate the crash.

Iran has also been reluctant to hand over the flight recorders from the Boeing 737-800.

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Iran has used bulldozers to move around pieces of debris from a crashed Ukrainian passenger jet, possibly destroying evidence that could help prove what happened to the doomed flight.

Bulldozers clean up debris at the crash site on Wednesday, just hours after the Ukraine International Airlines jet came down 

Images and reports from the crash site, just outside the Iranian capital, Tehran, show at least one bulldozer working in the debris at the site, where the Boeing 737-800 crashed Wednesday morning, killing all 176 people on board.

The crash site is at the center of a tense geopolitical struggle over exactly what brought down the jet, which was operated by Ukrainian International Airlines.

Iran has said the plane crashed because of an unspecified technical issue on board.

But the US, British, and Canadian governments all say the jet was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile, citing information from their intelligence services. A video also appeared to show the impact.

Physical evidence from the crash site could provide more information about what happened, but the usefulness of the evidence could be compromised if it is disturbed.

Giancarlo Fiorella, a researcher for the investigative website Bellingcat, shared a thread of photos that he said showed heavy machinery at work.

"I find these photos distressing because this could potentially be the scene of a crime," Fiorella told Channel 4 News.

"If this was a shoot-down event, you don't want to disturb the crash site before a thorough investigation can be conducted, and I'm not sure that one has been conducted."

Eliot Higgins, another Bellingcat investigator, tweeted that disturbing the wreckage would make it "next to impossible" to properly investigate the crash.

Others, including the US ambassador to Germany, effectively accused Iran of mounting a cover-up.

The presence of heavy machinery at the crash site is among numerous problems that complicate the pursuit of the truth behind the crash.

The Ukrainian jet was manufactured by a US company, Boeing, whose participation in the investigation is in doubt amid a turbulent time for relations between Iran and the US.

It is not yet clear whether the US will be allowed access to the crash site to conduct its own investigation, but CNN, citing the country's semiofficial Fars News Agency, reported that Iran invited the US "as the manufacturer of Boeing to be present."

The Wall Street Journal cited Ali Abedzadeh, the head of Iran's Civil Aviation Organization, as telling Iran's Channel 2 news that the agency didn't plan on handing over the flight-recorder information to Boeing or the US in its investigation.

The investigation is further muddled as a preliminary report from an Iranian investigation indicated that the so-called black boxes aboard the plane — which harbor data and cockpit communications — were damaged and lost parts of their memory, the Associated Press reported.

A black box recovered from the crashed Boeing 737 is examined today with Tehran saying it wants to handle the flight recorders itself 

The Iranian report also said that "no radio messages were received from the pilot regarding unusual situations" and that eyewitnesses recalled seeing the plane engulfed in flames before the crash, the AP reported.

Abedzadeh denied any Iranian responsibility for the crash, The Journal reported, citing Iran's Channel 2. He told the local news outlet it was "not possible" an Iranian missile had hit the jet.

"How would the antiaircraft system shoot it?" Abedzadeh said. "It wasn't a security area."

Really...I'm no NTSB expert but this debris looks more like it came from a missile than a 737.

Does anyone truly believe anything the Iranians have ever said?

Iran CLEARS debris from plane crash site with bulldozers before investigators even arrive after condemning 'big US lie' they shot the jet down and insisting Tehran will 'handle' black box data

Pelosi: Obama Doesn't Need Congressional Authorization for Libya Action

So Trump needs Congressional Authorization to kill a terrorist but Barry didn't? Proving once again she's a lying hypocrite world-class bitch!

Please watch the video below to the very end when a reporter asks Pelosi, “Madame Leader, you’re saying that the president did not need authorization initially and still does not need any authorization from Congress on Libya?”

She responded, “Yes.”

Don't know how that could be misinterpreted.

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(CNSNews.com) – House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said she is “very protective of congressional prerogative” regarding military action but believes that President Barack Obama did not need Congress’ authorization to take action against Libya and does not need it today to continue with the operation.

Video 538

“Let me respond by saying I’ve always believed that it’s very important to respect the prerogatives of the Congress in terms of being involved in any military action, A. B, that the consultation between the executive and the legislative branch is essential whenever we engage in a military action. I believe the limited nature of this limited – of this engagement -- allows the president to go forward,” Pelosi said at a Capitol Hill press conference on Thursday.

“Now, I am reviewing the report he has, that they have sent to the Congress – the unclassified is in the public domain -- I’m going over the classified aspects of it,” she said. “But I think that part of that report shows an interaction and consultation with Congress and I’m satisfied that we can continue in the limited role that we have as part of NATO. If we had boots on the ground, mano a mano, that’s a different story.”

Pelosi continued, “I’m satisfied that the president has the authority he needs to go ahead and I say that as one very protective of congressional prerogative and very supportive of consultation all along the way.”

CNSNews.com then asked Pelosi, “Madame Leader, you’re saying that the president did not need authorization initially and still does not need any authorization from Congress on Libya?”

She responded, “Yes.”

Pelosi: Obama Doesn't Need Congressional Authorization for Libya Action

Ukrainian jet crash that killed 176: Evidence suggests plane shot down by Iranian missiles

I figured they had something to do with it. Tweets like this should be coming out any minute now.

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The jet crashed shortly after taking off from the Tehran airport.

Jan. 9, 2020, 12:18 PM EST / Updated Jan. 9, 2020, 12:38 PM EST

The plane was carrying 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians, three Britons, 11 Ukrainians, 10 Swedes, four Afghans and three Germans. 

So they killed 82 of their own people plus the 50 or so killed in the stampede at Soleimani's  funeral! At this rate Trump may never have to pull the trigger again.

Questions were first raised when pictures of the plane debris appeared to show shrapnel holes in the fuselage

Debris from the plane after it exploded in a fireball near Tehran yesterday morning

(Pictured, missile wreckage reportedly found near the scene) 

U.S. intelligence officials have evidence that suggests the Ukraine International Airlines jetliner that crashed in Iran on Wednesday, killing 176 people, was downed by an Iranian missile, multiple officials told NBC News.

An initial Iranian report released Thursday suggested a sudden emergency struck the Boeing 737 before it went down just moments after taking off from Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran. The report said the crew of the jetliner never made a radio call for help and were trying to turn back for the airport when the plane went down.

Investigators from Iran's Civil Aviation Organization have offered no immediate explanation for the disaster.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy pledged to discover the "truth" behind the crash, and announced investigators from his country had arrived in Iran to assist in the probe.

The Ukrainian Embassy in Iran originally said that the crash was likely caused by an engine problem. It also ruled out terrorism or a rocket attack as possible causes. However, it later removed that information from its website and said the cause of the crash was under investigation.

What else would you expect.

Ukrainian jet crash that killed 176: Evidence suggests plane shot down by Iranian missiles