Friday, March 13, 2015

Some important political news for your weekend reading

Update

My ribs are still painful, so skipped rehab today in hopes that they will be better by Monday if I baby them a bit. It was 67 degrees and sunny, so we took a drive. Stopped at Mountain Man Guns in Rockdale--nice place and the owner is a great guy. Then ate at a restaurant we've been wanting to try in Fort Atkinson, and picked up a few bargains in Goodwill. I was "green" back when it was called "cheap." ~Bob

General News and Comment


No one read Hillary emails before destruction. By Chris Stirewalt
Excerpt: How did Hillary Clinton know that the tens of thousands of emails from her time in office she ordered destroyed were personal? Did she or even her staff scroll through her sent items scanning emails about “yoga routines” or “family vacations” before deleting them? Nope. No one looked at them. The Clinton campaign said those emails that did not crop up in a keyword search performed by her team were automatically deleted. No eyes. No one to be subpoenaed. Just highlight all and press delete. That method seems better for missing emails than to finding them. And it would sound reckless and haphazard coming from another politician. In this case, though it sounds like a woman covering her tracks in preparation for a long and bloody legal fight over subpoenas to come.

Unabridged - Hillary Clinton's Honorable and Faithful Public Service. By Andy Weddington
Excerpt: How to certify Mrs. Clinton's public service - complying with rule and law? 

Video: CBS: Clinton's Press Conference 'Raises Uncomfortable Questions' Even For Democrats

Clinton was required to sign document claiming she turned over emails in 2013
Excerpt: Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, like all departing federal employees, was required to fill out and sign a separation statement affirming that she had turned over all classified and other government documents, including all emails dealing with official business.
Fox News Megyn Kelly reported Wednesday evening on the requirement and that a spokesman for Clinton had not responded to a request for comment, including an explanation of when the former chief U.S. diplomat signed the mandatory separation agreement or, if she didn't, why didn't she?

Hackers, probing Clinton server, cite security lapses
Excerpt: Stirred by the controversy surrounding Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server when she was secretary of state, a determined band of hackers, IT bloggers, and systems analysts have trained their specialized talents and state-of-the-art software onclintonemail.com, the domain under which Clinton established multiple private email accounts, and uncovered serious lapses in security, according to data shared with Fox News. The findings call into question Clinton’s confident declaration, at a hastily arranged news conference in New York on Tuesday, that "there were no security breaches" in her use of a private server. One prominent figure in the hacker community, bolstered by long experience in the U.S. intelligence community, has undertaken to build a virtual "replica" of Clinton’s server configuration in a cyberlab, and has begun testing it with tools designed to probe security defenses. (And, of course no one from the FBI or NSA has taken custody of this server yet. Why isn't law enforcement treating this like the crime that it is? --Ron P.)

Worth Subscribing to: Hillary's Deleted emails. By Jonah Goldberg, The Goldberg File
 “I didn’t see any reason to keep them.” And so on. This makes it sound like in the natural course of events her e-mails would just go away. “I chose not to keep all those wire hangers when I moved.” “Let’s not save the rest of this pizza because we’re going on vacation tomorrow. Just throw it out.” But, as Jack Shafer notes, what Hillary really means when she says she didn’t “keep” the e-mails is, “I ordered my staff to delete the e-mails.” If you say “didn’t keep,” it sounds innocent. If you say, “I destroyed them,” it sounds Nixonian. Also left out is the manner in which she erased them. She makes it sound like it was all junk about yoga routines and wedding planning. But even she doesn’t know that. Clinton’s team did keyword searches for official e-mails, culled those out of the pile, and then simply destroyed the rest. Such searches, I am told, do not search file attachments. This is the electronic-records equivalent of grabbing your “official” payroll records and then pouring gasoline on all of your off-book records and throwing a match on the floor as you walk out. In fact, I’m kind of amazed that Hillary Clinton didn’t ask Al Sharpton for some “IT help.” After all, it’s a short trip from Harlem to Chappaqua, even with the back of your Escalade loaded with cans of gasoline.

The Perils of Identity Politics. By Jonah Goldberg, The Goldberg File
In case you hadn’t noticed, Mrs. Clinton plans on running for president with a bold and exciting platform of not having male genitalia. She’s far more open about this agenda than Barack Obama was about his -- usually unstated -- vow to be the first black president of the United States.

White House frets return of 'Clinton way.' To sum up the feelings, all the way up to the highest levels: What. The. Hell. By Edward-Isaac Dovere
Excerpt: They thought she’d changed. They thought maybe she’d picked up a little bit from them about how people respond to awkward secret arrangements and contrived ways of not telling the full story. This has been a surprising two weeks for aides in President Barack Obama’s orbit as they’ve watched Hillary Clinton’s email mess unfold.

State Department: Oh, by the way, Hillary used a private Blackberry too, not a secure government-issued one
Excerpt: But rather than do that and endure the hardship of fitting two four-ounce smartphones in her purse instead of one, she chose to defy security protocols and conduct all of her business, work and personal, from her unsecured private device. She didn’t care enough about security to have an official State e-mail account created for her in the first place so why would she care enough to read sensitive messages on an official, secured State Blackberry? That adds a whole new level of risk to her e-mail habits, actually, since she was presumably using her personal Blackberry for work during overseas trips, when she was at greater risk from foreign surveillance. Between that and the fact that State IT techs warned her about the vulnerability of her private server, there’s really no question that she knowingly, willingly created a major hole in national security simply because her selfish political desire to keep her messages away from the voting public was more important to her.

$16 Million Bill
Excerpt: The Clintons have done quite well for themselves since January 2001, when they grabbed $190,000 worth of china, flatware, furniture and rugs on their way out the White House doors – thank you very much. No, really, thank you, the American taxpayer.
Multimillion-dollar book deals, lucrative speaking engagements and whatever it is they do at the Clinton Foundation account for the bulk of the Clintons' vast wealth. These, though, are not the only reasons that Bill and Hillary are so well off. Thanks to the Former Presidents Act, taxpayers will have given Bill a collective $16 million by Election Day next year for a variety of expenses about which, predictably, no one really knows too much. A recent analysis by Politico revealed that the former president has received more money through the Act than any other ex-president. The total accumulation of his pension through 2016 amounts to $3.1 million, including $218,000 this year and $221,000 allocated for next year.

Worth Reading: Early Onset Clinton Fatigue. By Charles Krauthammer 
Excerpt: She burned the tapes. Had Richard Nixon burned his tapes, he would have survived Watergate. Sure, there would have been a major firestorm, but no smoking gun. Hillary Rodham was a young staffer on the House Judiciary Committee investigating Nixon. She saw. She learned. Today you don’t burn tapes. You delete e-mails. Hillary Clinton deleted 30,000, dismissing their destruction with the brilliantly casual: “I didn’t see any reason to keep them.” After all, they were private and personal, she assured everyone. How do we know that? She says so.

WaPo Editorial: The public deserves answers, not stonewalling, from Hillary Clinton
Excerpt: A PARAMOUNT test for those running for president is how they make decisions — how they absorb information, what principles they carry and how it is all processed to a final choice. This is highly subjective, often lost in the hurly-burly of campaigning, but crucial. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who is expected to announce her candidacy soon for the Democratic nomination, is at one of those revelatory moments and so far seems not to have recognized it.


And men on average die seven years earlier than women. If it was the other way around, there would be protest marches and the government would be spending a billion dollars a year to eliminate the inequality. ~Bob

How Bi-Polar Are You?
Said 0% chance for me. ~BOB

Worth Watching: Police Brutality Statistics

FCC Cites Soros-Funded, Neo-Marxist-Founded Group 46 TIMES In New Regs. By Chuck Ross
Excerpt: New internet regulations finally released by the Federal Communications Commission make 46 references to a group funded by billionaire George Soros and co-founded by a neo-Marxist. The FCC released the 400-page document on Thursday, two weeks after it passed new regulations, which many fear will turn the internet into a public commodity and thereby stifle innovation. (This is actually all about..... CONTROL... again. That is always the agenda for the leftists, and the quotes below from the major activist tell you exactly what he is., politically. That impresses the heck out of me. I don't think this whole thing about taking over what has been a well operating old system to put it into a control system that will just naturally end up in another bureaucracy is a good idea at all. --Del)

Now the Democrats start reading the bills: A Week of Senate Bipartisanship That Wasn't. From the National Center for Policy Analysis
While the House of Representatives has been in recess this week, the Senate has been busy working on bipartisan anti-trafficking legislation. The bipartisan legislation already passed the House and would help curtail human trafficking around the world. Well, at least it was supposed to be bipartisan. Senate Democrats brought the bipartisanship to a screeching halt when they discovered a provision in the bill that that would ban taxpayer money from being used to pay for abortions. The sudden filibuster caught Republicans by surprise, since they assumed the Democrats had read the bill. After all, the legislation had been approved unanimously by the Senate Judiciary Committee two weeks ago. And last Monday, Democrats voted unanimously to proceed with consideration of the bill. Then, apparently sometime on Wednesday, the Democrats noticed the provision on page 4 and cried foul. Now it appears the anti-trafficking bill won’t pass after all. (The NCPA is worth supporting and their free e-newsletters are worth subscribing to. ~Bob)

Gun News

WaPo Fact Checker: Obama’s odd series of exaggerated gun claims. By Glenn Kessler 
Excerpt: The president was playing fast and loose with his language here—to a group of college students no less. There’s little excuse for the claim that in some neighborhoods, it is easier to buy a gun than vegetable (see update above) — or to say he’s “not exaggerating” when he claims that some people have proposed laws that would allow machine guns in bars. As for the U.S. ranking on homicides among industrialized nations, the president certainly would have had a stronger case if he said the United States was above average, or that it was in the top ranks. But instead he claimed the United States had rates that were higher “by like a mile.” The gun debate is serious enough that it should not be poisoned by exaggerated claims and faux statistics. The president earns Three Pinocchios. (Thanks for not covering for him. We know that Obama will lie to get what he wants: Keep your plan/doctor, opposition to gay marriage, Keystone, IRS, Benghazi caused by a video, etc. ~Bob)

Police arrest would-be thief after pistol-packing victim draws gun
Excerpt: The victim said the man demanded money and threatened to inject her with a needle he was carrying. Police often hear reports of ATM robberies, but not the latter. ... The victim, who happens to have a concealed weapons permit, drew her weapon on the robber and watched as he ran off, police said.

Police on scene of home invasion, shooting on Detroit's east side
Excerpt: Police say a woman came home and saw three people inside her home. She was able to shoot one of the people in the shoulder. The other two suspects ran off. Police are still searching for them.

East Tulsa resident shoots, kills 2 men during apparent home invasion; 3rd suspect on the loose
Excerpt: Upon arrival they found Kejuan Shields and Demario Harris dead inside an apartment. ... When the resident and a friend retreated into the apartment, Shields, Harris and the third suspect broke through the door and began assaulting the resident's friend. The resident told police one of the suspects had a handgun. Walker says the resident, who is wheelchair bound, shot and killed Shields and Harris and the third suspect escaped through a bedroom window. That suspect is described as a black male, about 5 feet 7 and 150 pounds, wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt.

Would-be poker game robber shot to death and player injured, Saginaw Township chief says
Excerpt: One of the poker players had a handgun, and gunfire was exchanged between the suspect and one of the players, Pussehl said. The robbery suspect was fatally shot and another poker player at the apartment was injured, Pussehl said.

Race Card News

Police seek suspects in Ferguson police 'ambush'
Excerpt: Thursday's shooting left a 41-year-old St. Louis County Police officer with a shoulder wound and a 32-year-old officer from nearby Webster Groves Police Department with a bullet lodged near his ear, St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar said. (Neither from the FPD. Holder said a punk did it. If a Republican said that, "punk" would be the new racial code word. ~Bob)

Tea Party Is ‘Bald-Faced Racists,’ White Privilege Conference Speaker Tells Sea Of White People. By Eric Owens
Excerpt: Members of the tea party movement are “screw-loosers” who range from “sort of a generic racism” to “bald-faced racists,” and they tend to become more racist the longer they associate with tea party ideas. Also, “tea partiers are not overly concerned about the economy,” love “gun rallies,” want power in the hands of white people and hate President Barack Obama because he “broke the white monopoly on the presidency.” Such was the message of a speaker on the first day of this year’s White Privilege Conference, currently happening at a posh hotel in downtown Louisville, Ky.

"You're Greener than Gore" News

More Evidence NOAA ADJUSTED Climate Data to Show Warming. By Philip Hodges
Excerpt: In their desperation to prove to everyone that the “science” is on their side, climate scientists have adjusted past temperature data down so that the more recent temperature readings form a warming trend. Of course, they have their excuses for adjusting the data. Sometimes it is necessary to change data when there are errors present. That much is understandable. But how convenient that their “errors” were all the same and required that everything be changed so as to reflect the proper warming trend that they need to blame catastrophic global warming on right-wing conservatives and the oil and gas industry.

Religion of Peace News


Worth Reading: Tom Cotton: The Most Powerful Man in Washington. By Erick Erickson 
Excerpt: In 2002, Congressmen John Bonior and Jim McDermott flew to Iraq to stand shoulder to shoulder with Saddam Hussein against George W. Bush. Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi went to Syria to stand with Bashar al-Assad against George W. Bush. But the most similar action to Tom Cotton's letter happened in 1984. That year, then-Democratic Leader Jim Wright, who would go on to be Speaker of the House, penned a letter to communist leader Daniel Ortega. The letter, signed by multiple Democrats in the Congress, pledged Democratic opposition to Ronald Reagan's policies and sought to engage in separate diplomatic relations with Ortega than what the Reagan administration was attempting.

Kissinger Slammed Kerry For Negotiating With Sandinistas In 1985 [VIDEO]. By Kerry Picket
Excerpt: Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger hammered John Kerry in 1985 for interfering in diplomatic negotiations with Nicaragua’s Marxist government as a Massachusetts senator. Thirty years later, Kerry is skewering Senate Republicans for their open letter to the Iranian leadership warning that any nuclear deal with the United States without the advice and consent of the U.S. Congress would not last beyond President Obama’s term.

Sen. Vitter: State Dept Reinterpreted Law By Allowing Iranians To Study Nuclear Engineering At Us Universities
Excerpt: Louisiana U.S. Sen. David Vitter (R) says the State Department has reversed its interpretation of a law that would ban Iranian students from studying advanced courses in the United States with content related to the development of nuclear capabilities.

Spain arrests eight suspected Islamic militants in dawn raid
Excerpt: Spanish police arrested eight suspected Islamic militants in a dawn raid on Friday who were planning attacks in Spain and were recruiting fighters to send to Syria and Iraq, the Interior Ministry said in a statement. Police are now searching properties in four provinces: Barcelona and Girona in the north east of Spain and Ciudad Real and Avila in the center, the ministry said.

Life under the US umbrella
Excerpt: South Korea lives under a US security umbrella. Both on a conventional and nuclear level, South Koreans are dependent on the US to deter North Korea from attacking them and overrunning their country. Last Friday, US Under Secretary of State Wendy Sherman scolded South Koreans for being too nationalist. In her words, "Nationalist feelings can still be exploited, and it's not hard for a political leader anywhere to earn cheap applause by vilifying a former enemy.

A tale of two schools. By David-Seth Kirshner 
Excerpt: On the campus of UCLA one of its 45,000 students, a sophomore named Rachel Beyda, sought a position on the student judicial council. Her interview was secretly recorded, including the pre and post interview discussions that were thought to be in the strictest of confidence. During the deliberations pointed questions were raised about Rachel’s candidacy since she is an active member of many Jewish organizations on campus, including Hillel and some pro-Israel activities too. Caught on tape were other students questioning her bona-fides since she supports Israel and is active in Jewish causes. They believed that her involvement in Jewish and pro-Israel causes invalidates her to be an unbiased member of the judiciary council. The committee rejected Rachel for the position. Could one imagine if the tape had edited out the words “Jewish” and changed them to “black” or “Latino” or “homosexual?”
Strong but accurate. ~Bob

How the AP Botched Its Investigation of Civilian Deaths in the Israel-Hamas War. Posed photographs. Intentional miscategorizations. Buried corrections. One-sided sourcing. Cherry-picked quotes. And a just-plain-wrong conclusion about "most" Gaza casualties being civilians. By Richard Behar and Gary Weiss
Excerpt: There was no immediate reaction to the following story from the Associated Press, except for this: shortly after this article was published, the news service changed the captions of the photo slideshow to reflect that all eight photos were posed. On February 13, 2015, the Associated Press published and distributed an article that stirred the conscience of the world. It gave its many readers—“AP news content is seen by half the world’s population,” according to the wire agency’s website—a disturbing picture of Israel as a serial violator of the norms of warfare, wantonly and indiscriminately slaughtering civilians during last summer’s war with Hamas in Gaza.

Worth Reading: Obama’s Treason Is the New Patriotism. By Daniel Greenfield 
Excerpt: When they spoke out against his Iranian nuclear sellout, he accused them of “wanting to make common cause with the hardliners in Iran”. Those hardliners would presumably toe a harder line than Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who responded to Obama’s outreach in his first term by saying, “The Islamic peoples all over the world chant ‘Death to America!’” and who stated last year that “This battle will only end when the society can get rid of the oppressors’ front with America at the head of it.” ... If the moderate Supreme Leader that Obama is dealing with wants Death to America, what could the real hardliners want for America that’s even worse than death? A third term of Obama?

Video: Why America Invaded Iraq. By Prager University 
Excerpt: And if it was the latter, why did Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and John Kerry support President Bush? Noted British historian, Andrew Roberts, has the answers.

Teacher sparks backlash after telling students they ‘deserve rape’
Excerpt: A schoolteacher in the Central Anatolian province of Tokat has enraged parents after reportedly telling her teenage students that they deserve to be raped and treated cruelly because they do not wear the Islamic headscarf.

“Collect your body parts and leave!” - Fatah to Israelis on anniversary of murder of 37 Israelis. By Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik
Excerpt: Celebrating the anniversary of the most lethal terror attack against Israel, Abbas’ Fatah party addressed Israelis on its Facebook page, telling them to collect the body parts of murdered Israelis and leave Israel: (“Of course, Israel cannot be expected to negotiate with anyone who is dedicated to its destruction. But while I know you have had differences with the Palestinian Authority, I believe that you do have a true partner in President Abbas…” — Barack Obama, March 21, 2013. --Robert Spencer, JihadWatch.org.)

*****
Robert A. Hall is a Marine Vietnam Veteran who served five terms in the Massachusetts State Senate. He is the author of The Coming Collapse of the American Republic. http://www.amazon.com/Coming-Collapse-American-Republic-prevent/dp/1461122538/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1304815980&sr=1-5 For a free PDF of Collapse, e-mail him at tartanmarine(at)gmail.com. Hall’s eleven books are listed here:

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