Headlines

Boston Herald [newspaper] sold for $4,5 million ...

[Corey] Booker, [Deval] Patrick rally black Alabamians for Jones

Paper: Amazon drivers forced to deliver 200 parcels a day -- with no toilet breaks!

US forces could potentially lose an armed conflict with Russia or China, a think-tank report warns

Tom Cotton backs up Roy Moore: 'We shouldn't have trial by newspaper'

Boycotted by black leaders, Trump speaks at civil rights museum opening

[Gov. Jerry] Brown: Get used to burning!

Trump demands, gets apology from Washington Post reporter

Handwriting expert touted by Washington Post turns on Gloria Allred ... release yearbook

Kirsten Gillibrand's moment has arrived

Bureaucrats leaving State Department ...

The FBI's credibility is taking another blow, as the probe of Bernie Sander's wife continues

Jerry Sandusky's son sentenced to prison on sex abuse charges

Headlines

These headlines are real ... they have all been discovered on Internet news sites. Guess which ones came from Politico?

Schiff dismisses call for his recusal from Russian investigation

Russia again plants its flag in Nicaragua ...

Cable news loves war

In France, bracing for Le Pen 'nightmare' ...

ISIS [Coptic] church bombings in Egypt kills 47

Trump: [Egypt's] Sisi will handle terror attack properly

Google pays female workers less than male counterparts

Nervous State Department employees prepare for a major reorganization

Obama once looked to downsize Tomahawk missile system, used in Syrian strike

Tillerson: Even China recognizes what a threat North Korea is to its interests

Biographer said Obama called America 'racist society' in unpublished manuscript

Upgrading humans will become next billion dollar industry ...

DickiLeaks

During the FBI investigation into Huma Abedin's husband, Anthony Weiner's, possible criminal sexting with a minor, four unsecured computers and/or smart phones were seized from their home which apparently have revealed items that caused concern (Dickileaks?). The fact that FBI Director James Comey has interjected himself into this presidential race eleven days before Election Day is a dramatic and risky move. Speculation abounds as to why he would have done such a precipitous thing that might jeopardize Hellary's chances at election. 

I would like to offer some possible reasons for his actions ... some of which I have heard on the media and some of which are original. I have arranged them in order of what I think are the most likely possibilities, from top to bottom ... and also suffixed them with a number indicating the possible damage (10 = worst) to Hellary's campaign ... or her presidency (if the are not revealed until after the election in which she might prevail):

- There were non-duplicate e-mails found that contain classified or highly classified government information on an unsecured computer (7)

- From my son -- there were e-mails from Hellary which show her clear "intent" to conceal her other e-mails ... which was the rationale for not pursuing things further in July (10)

- There were e-mails or documents discovered revealing pay for play interaction between the State Department and the Clinton Foundation or associated entities (8)

.

- There were original or forwarded e-mails discovered from Huma to her mother or brother (both connected to the Arab Brotherhood) or other foreign entities that compromise U.S. Foreign policy matters (10)

- There were e-mails discovered that reveal personal relationships within the Clinton crime family and the Abedin/Weiner family that pose serious embarrassment or conflicts of interest ... in particular between Huma and Hellary (4)

- There were e-mails or documents that Anthony Weiner had access to that, although not classified, nevertheless compromise State  Department operations or intentions (3)

Whatever is eventually revealed, I suspect part of Comey's motivation for this dramatic statement is to try to resurrect the FBI's and his reputation after his blatantly political decision in July to let Hellary skate on the original discoveries ... and also the recent revelations that his second in command, Andrew McCabe,was tainted by significant contributions (bribes?) to his wife's campaign from Terry McAuliffe, a Clinton Foundation Board member ... see: Who Cares?

The next few days should be very interesting ... and consequential ...

Russian Reset Button

Russia's Lavarov and Hellary with the Reset Button

This morning in his press conference, Donald Trump said that, if it were Russia who had hacked into the DNC e-mail server ... but it "could have been China" ... but, "if it were Russia" ... he thinks that it probably also had previously hacked the 33,000 e-mails that were scrubbed from Hellary's server well over a year ago. Trump then went on to say that, if this were so, he hopes that Russia could find them and release them.

Oh no! Trump, according to the Hellary Clinton attack machine, is "almost a traitor" for encouraging Russia to hack into her server! This is so inane and illogical that these attack dogs look like puppies who have just had accidents all over the convention floor ... and this is illogical for two reasons:

1) - You can't encourage Russia to do something today that could only have occurred way in the past. This, to grammarians, is called tense confusion. If Russia did hack Hellary's e-mail server, then the damage had already been long-ago done ... it is not yet to be done ... and therefore Trump couldn't possibly be committing treason. He just wants Russia to release them, if it has them.

2) - And since Hellary has sworn under oath that these 33,000 e-mails were personal and had nothing to do with State Department operations or state secrets ... they just dealt with planning Chelsea's wedding and her yoga lessons. If there were no state secrets in this batch, then again why would Trump be treasonous for this suggestion? More appropriately, if, like most of us suspect, these e-mails have a lot to do with the Clinton Foundation's international "pay for play" scams, then the world ... and, in particular, American voters ... surely should know this fact. And Russia releasing these E-mails would be doing American voters a favor.

Besides, it's not like Trump was selling 20% of America's uranium production to Russia,  he was just hitting the proverbial "Reset" button.

Afterward: Also read: The Left Discovers Russia and Krauthammer's Comments ... also this morning's NY Times had as a headline that Trump was encouraging Russia to spy (future tense) on his opponent. Anyone who buys this spin is a real media lemming.

Calling the Kettle Black

I had forgotten all about these State Department fiscal lapses ...  mainly when Hellery was in charge. Apparently six billion dollars (with a "b") somehow is at risk as a result of "sloppy" contracting and records administration there ... see: Washington Free Beacon. The compelling question is: How can so much money be in jeopardy? Is this an indication of the inattention that Hellery paid to her department's operations when she was in charge? Or was she focused on other matters? The Clinton Foundation perhaps?  Can she be trusted therefore with our entire country's finances?

And Hellery is castigating Trump for his Atlantic City casino bankruptcies ...

Forgotten Fact

Here is a bit of embarrassing President Obummer (and Hellery Clinton) "stupid shit" detritus.that has been swept under the media rug ... and it is that the United States enthusiastically restored full diplomatic relations with Assad's Syria in 2009 ... see: World Tribune Article. It took me a while to find even this secondary reference to this event ... which begs the question -- is Google scrubbing its data-set history for political purpose? See: The Intercept Story.

And has Hellery been asked a single question about her involvement in this embarrassing State Department decision during any of the media-sponsored Democrat debates? No? Strange ...

Hellery

Hellery Clinton is up to her horns in hot e-mails ... despite her vexatious denials. The State Department is refusing to release twenty-two of the hundreds of classified e-mails from her private (bathroom) server as being too sensitive to reveal even in redacted form ... see: New York Times Article. This is on top of the revelation that it is quite likely that foreign governments such as China, South Korea and Germany (probably also Russia and Iran) had hacked into this unsecured server and now have more knowledge about the secret workings of our administration than does our Congress ... see: Politico Story.

Also some four discovered Sidney Blumenthal e-mails reveal that Hellery was running her own independent intelligence operation separate from the CIA ... see: Daily Caller Article. You have got to give this woman credit ... she lives her life like there are no rules or protocols whatsoever ... and the only people who really count are her family and Huma Abedin. Just imagine what it would be like if she were the grand poobah ...

The Heavy Hand of Government

If you can't trust the government, then whom can you trust? Well, apparently NOAA's reputation as an impartial observer of global warming has once again taking a hit as it has been revealed that, over the last two years, it has been revising down older recorded temperature data from Maine in order to make it look like things have been warming up there ... and in the rest of the country ... when in fact they haven't. John Hinderaker of Powerline has just pointed this out in his recent blog posting ... see: Powerline Blog Entry for all the sordid details.

This fast and loose revisionism is about as smarmy as a supposed "scientific" government agency can possibly become. I realize that such malfeasance might get them in good with the current Democrat administration ... but, longer term, this can't be good. I suggest that this agency now is vying with the IRS, the State Department, HHS, the Secret Service, the EPA, the White House, the VA, the CDC, NSA, and the TSA for this year's Heavy Hand of Government medal ... an award which I just coined.

Perhaps we could have an annual ceremony for the winner ... with all the hoopla of Oscar Night? With Al Gore or Michael Moore as its Master of Ceremonies?

Russians Hacked White House

Apparently Russian hackers broke into the White House computer systems through a breach in the State Department's cyber-security systems ... see: CNN Revelation. To me this is an exciting development. Perhaps these Ruskies can now reveal to us Americans where Obama was born and what his college records contain?

(Could this reference to the "State Department" be, in fact, Hillary Clinton's private e-mail server?)

Queen Hillary

As could be expected, the State Department has discovered that Hillary Clinton neglected to sign her exit form OF-109 when she left office … like all employees are required to do. This was an expected oversight for, had she signed it, she would be guilty of perjury … and might face criminal prosecution. So after days of frantic searches and gnashing of teeth, conveniently this form, had it once existed, has disappeared … see: Breitbart Article for the details about this flim-flam.

It is beyond my feeble deductive processes as to how the American public can be so in the dark about the regal nature of Queen Hillary’s disdain for the normal protocols of life. Can it be that the main-stream media has covered up for her all these years? Nah!

Space Shot

Rosie

“I think we restored America’s leadership at a time when it was in quite dire straights.” – a Hillary Clinton quote in her recent ghosted book “Hard Choices” …  expressing her thoughts about her time at the State Department ... and how she and President Obama re-established America’s primacy on the world stage … see: Breitbart Story.

Yes, and she once was the model for Rosie on the outer-space TV cartoon series “The Jetsons.”

News Flash

After his antisemitic reference to Israel becoming an apartheid state, Secretary of State John Kerry (see: NY Times Story)  has been sanctioned by the Trilateral Commission.  He has been fined 2.5 million bottles of ketchup and told that he must sell the State Department.

Regurgitation

I just finished reading two interesting news articles about Hillary Clinton:

1) How she is turning to religious faith to help her transcend politics … see: Associated Press Story

2) How she is extremely sorry for how the Benghazi crisis was handled on her watch at the State Department … see: Fox News Story

Please note that both of these self-serving confessions were given during speeches for which, I am certain, Hillary received six-figure fees.

I think I just threw up in my mouth.

Cotton Candy

My grandfather had a term for cotton candy at the carnival … “gap and get nothing.” In case you haven’t noticed in this blog, I am not a fan of the Clinton's, particularly Hillary Clinton ... who is, to me, nothing more than cotton candy … non-nutritional pap designed to appeal to the impulse buyer … but clearly not good for one’s health.

I have previously done a serious appraisal of Hillary’s term as Secretary of State and have come up nearly empty … see: Ship of State Disasters. But now, in preparation for a possible run for the presidency in 2016, she is beginning to slyly critique the very failed policies she helped put in place … particularly in the Middle East and toward Russia.

In retrospect, even the Democrat establishment seems hard pressed to list her actual good deeds when she was at the reins in Foggy Bottom … other than she traveled a lot … see: Hillary's Accomplishments. But they still idolize her and want her as their leader.

But now even the pink Duchess herself can’t find the words to list her winners while she was Secretary of State … other than meaningless blather … see: Capitol City Project. If she actually runs to replace our feckless leader in 2016, she best sit down with her extensive and well-paid posse and make up some fibs to put in her pre-election book … which will have a compelling title but which few will read … and to answer such an obvious question.

For, in reality, Hillary Clinton is clearly gap and get nothing …

Gaffe-a-rama

Gaffs

It seems that not only is our fearless leader not well versed in U.S. foreign policy, but his close advisers (the ones who fill his Teleprompter with lots of “let me be clear”s and “you folks”s) are also clueless.  President Obama’s bull-in-a-china shop approach to delicate diplomacy once again displays his naive misunderstanding of recent European history. On his current G7 sojourn, besides his two bone-head boners that I have already pointed out (see: Unfiltered), he has made two other major public gaffes that will force our State Department into explaining away the inexplicable.

Firstly he said that Georgia was not on a path toward NATO membership when it indeed has been petitioning for such protection since 2008. And secondly, our child-President indicated that Kosovo had held a public referendum to break away from Serbia under the aegis of the U.N. … not even close to being true.  For the details of these two additional gaffes see: Breitbart Story.

And these are just his public miscues, God knows how many more he has made in private? I wonder if yesterday he sotto voce told the Pope that he would like to meet his wife?

Riots

In Kiev, Ukraine

The streets of the world are alive with protesters … Ukraine, Venezuela, Thailand, Turkey, Brazil, and even Syria … if you consider a revolution to be a form of protesting. To see comments on the whys and wherefores of the first three insurrections see: CNN Update. And one can easily add to these current uprisings … past riots in Egypt, Iran, Libya, etc. … all within the past five years.

In Caracas, Venezuela

What do many of these mass altercations have in common?  Mostly they are protesting the autocratic and corrupt nature of their current governments; involve large numbers of young people; are spread through the widespread use of cell phones and social media; and have mostly been conveniently ignored by the Obama administration (except for the initial riots in Egypt when we came out in support of the Muslim Brotherhood.)

This U.S. foreign policy posture toward these uprisings … mostly one of respecting the existing government … is possibly the most egregious failing of our State Department over the last century. Had we, during Obama’s reign, assumed a foreign policy position that it was in our national interest to see the movement of other nations’ governments away from tyranny, radicalism and theocracy … toward moderation, modernity, and secularism … we could have easily taken sides in these conflagrations and used our moral suasion to influence outcomes. 

And, I’m reasonably sure that the world would be a lot better off today.

Afterward: For more on the mess in Venezuela see: The Diplomad's learned comments

Leash

The U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry, and Susan Rice are having a falling out over the United States’ policy toward Egypt.  Kerry, for a change, is sounding sensible in that he is supportive of what is now happening there.  He recently said in Cairo that Egypt is “[back] on the path to democracy.”  Whereas National Security Adviser Rice had previously directed him to denounce what was occurring to former President Mohamed Morsi who is now on trial for murder … see: The Daily Beast Story.  One has to conclude that Susan Rice is reflecting President Obama’s posture on this issue.

The White House, through our five-time-Sunday-talk-show-liar, Rice, is clearly not happy with the fact the Egypt has moved back to the center after its brief fling with the Muslim Brotherhood and its radical operative, Morsi. In fact we have frozen our military aid to Egypt and, as a result, Egypt is now tilting toward Russia … see: Fox News Story  Now, Kerry must realize that his predecessor, Hillary Clinton, and his boss had made a dog’s breakfast out of our policy toward Egypt … and he is trying to clean up things. Hazzah!

It will be interesting to see if Obama will give Kerry his leash on this issue.  If he does, it will most certainly reflect Obama’s weakened state at State.

Peeling the Onion

Last fall, White House spokesman and common streetwalker, Jay Carney, repeatedly avowed that neither the State Department nor the White House had anything to do with editing the Benghazi talking points that Susan Rice then used to lie to the American public … other than changing the term “consulate” to “diplomatic facility.”  It now appears that Victoria Nuland, the State Department spokesperson and Hillary Clinton rump-swab was involved in revising these talking points twelve separate times … resulting in the removal of all references to terrorists involvement in the attack and any before-the-fact CIA warnings about the growing peril to our diplomatic operations in Benghazi.  Please read the details here: ABC News Story.

Here are a few significant quotes from this story:

White House emails reviewed by ABC News suggest the edits were made with extensive input from the State Department.  The edits included requests from the State Department that references to the Al Qaeda-affiliated group Ansar al-Sharia be deleted as well references to CIA warnings about terrorist threats in Benghazi in the months preceding the attack.

In an email to officials at the White House and the intelligence agencies, State Department spokesman Victoria Nuland took issue with including that information because it “could be abused by members [of Congress] to beat up the State Department for not paying attention to warnings, so why would we want to feed that either?  Concerned …”

The significant edits – deleting references to al Qaeda and the CIA’s warnings – came after a White House meeting on the Saturday before Ambassador Susan Rice appeared on five Sunday shows.  

Like with the Nixon Watergate investigation, this Benghazi onion is being daily peeled  … each new layer confirming a State Department and White House conspiracy to cover-up what was their shameful derelictions of duty in the murder of four Americans.  And like the Nixon scandal, this all seemed to revolve around political considerations running up to a Presidential election. But this time there is one difference …the Internet and social media could well cause the denuding of this Benghazi onion to proceed at a more rapid pace.

Afterward: To see an additional, albeit parallel slant on this subject, please read Powerline Blog.

Skating

Bespeckled in her horn-rimmed glasses and looking very much like she did when she attended Wellesley College over forty years earlier, Hillary Clinton testified for five hours yesterday in front of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.  She pretty much skated through what was supposed to be a grueling cross examination and got away without having to answer many hard questions about the circumstances surrounding the killing of four Americans at the American Consulate in Benghazi last September 11^th (see: Weekly Standard Story).

I say testified for five hours, but for only half that time was she interrogated by Republicans.  The Democrats in both Houses asked her either softball questions or queries that were so off the subject as to cause one to doubt the purpose of this inquiry.  So that was really a two and one half hour “grilling” by Republicans, each limited to five minutes apiece (another strategic win for Hillary).  And she started each session with about a five minute statement (choking up in the Senate about meeting the next-of-kin of those killed) which cut out another 10 minutes of questioning.  Now most of the questioners prefaced their queries with effusive praise for Ms. Clinton’s service as Secretary of State and her round-the-world  travels.  With her demurred thanks, this tete-a-tete usually took at least one minute or 20% of each questioner’s time. 

Then, being politicians, each Republican invariably prefaced his or her questions with about a two-minute soliloquy pontificating about the tragedy of the Benghazi  massacre … another 40% of misspent time.  So now, reduce this 2 hours and twenty minutes of questioning by 60% which leaves just 56 minutes of true grilling … usually working out to one or two questions per Congress-person.  Now, Hillary being loquacious, would generally answer each question with long-winded explanations of some State-Department process irrelevant to the question … eating up most of the few precious minutes left.  And, if  the questioner did, for some strange reason, stumble onto a good question, Hillary either went on the attack (a fearsome sight) or claimed no knowledge (quite likely a lie).

So Hillary Clinton skated through what was supposed to be her Waterloo … not telling us who were the survivors of this massacre; why have they been held incognito for five months; when and where can they be interrogated; how could Hillary have not seen the requests for more security from Ambassador Stevens; what conversations has she had with the President before, during, and after this affair; did she tell the father of one of the dead Americans that “we will get that video maker;” and many other follow-up questions to her many evasive answers. 

Perhaps next time (and there surely needs to be a next time) these Congressional panels should hire a cross-examiner (Mark Levin?) like what was had in the Watergate hearings and he/she might find out “what difference [Benghazi], in fact, makes”?  And then maybe network television might also just deem to broadcast such hearings?  Or will the American people rise up in protest and protect their next President?  I think I know the answer.

K.B.I.

Hillary Clinton is expected to testify later this month in front of both houses of Congress about the Benghazi terrorist attack and weeks-long cover-up … before  she leaves her post as head of the State Department … see: The Hill Story. When I was in college many, many, many years ago, we had a short-hand expression of cynical derision … “K.B.I.” … whose translation was “Keep Believing It.” 

Re: Hillary testifying ... K.B.I.

I’m not necessarily saying that she won’t appear. But I am avering that I sincerely doubt that she will truthfully testify on all the outstanding issues surrounding this affair.  If I am wrong, then I won’t dis her any more on this blog for one full year.