COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Friday, July 01, 2016

AG Lynch said meeting with Bill Clinton was unplanned, social and did not touch on the email investigation. (Wink - Wink) She suggested Clinton walked uninvited from his plane to her government plane both of which were parked on a tarmac at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport

Lynch to Accept F.B.I. Recommendations in Clinton Email Inquiry, Official Says



Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch in Phoenix on Tuesday. A private meeting at the city’s airport between Ms. Lynch and former President Bill Clinton this week set off a political uproar. Nancy Wiechec/Reuters 


Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch plans to announce on Friday that she will accept whatever recommendation career prosecutors and the F.B.I. director make about whether to bring charges related to Hillary Clinton’s personal email server, a Justice Department official said. Her decision removes the possibility that a political appointee will overrule investigators in the case.

The Justice Department had been moving toward such an arrangement for months — officials said in April that it was being considered — but a private meeting betweenMs. Lynch and former President Bill Clinton this week set off a political furor and made the decision all but inevitable.

Republicans said the meeting, which took place at the Phoenix airport, had compromised the independence of the investigation as the F.B.I. was winding it down. Some called for Ms. Lynch to recuse herself, but she did not take herself off the case — one that could influence a presidential election.

Ms. Lynch plans to discuss the matter at a conference in Aspen, Colo., on Friday. The Justice Department declined to comment. The official who confirmed the discussion did so on the condition of anonymity because the internal decision-making process is normally kept confidential.

The F.B.I. is investigating whether Mrs. Clinton, her aides or anyone else broke the law by setting up a private email server for her to use as secretary of state. Internal investigators have concluded that the server was used to send classified information, and Republicans have seized on the matter to question Mrs. Clinton’s judgment.

For the Justice Department, the central question is whether the conduct met the legal standard for the crime of mishandling classified information.

Ms. Lynch said that the meeting with Mr. Clinton was unplanned, largely social and did not touch on the email investigation. She suggested that he walked uninvited from his plane to her government plane, both of which were parked on a tarmac at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.

“He did come over and say hello, and speak to my husband and myself, and talk about his grandchildren and his travels and things like that,” Ms. Lynch said at a news conference in Los Angeles on Wednesday, where she was promoting community policing. “That was the extent of that. And no discussions were held into any cases or things like that.”

That did not mollify Republican lawmakers, who said the meeting raised questions about the integrity of the government’s investigation.

“In light of the apparent conflicts of interest, I have called repeatedly on Attorney General Lynch to appoint a special counsel to ensure the investigation is as far from politics as possible,” Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas and a member of the Judiciary Committee, said in a statement on Thursday.
The meeting created an awkward situation for Ms. Lynch, a veteran prosecutor who was nominated from outside Washington’s normal political circles. In her confirmation, her allies repeatedly sought to contrast her with her predecessor, Eric H. Holder Jr., an outspoken liberal voice in the administration who clashed frequently with Republicans who accused him of politicizing the office.
Ms. Lynch has said she wants to handle the Clinton investigation like any other case. Since the attorney general often follows the recommendations of career prosecutors, Ms. Lynch is keeping the regular process largely intact.
Her reassurance that she will not overrule her investigators, however, is significant. When the F.B.I. sought to bring felony charges against David H. Petraeus, the former C.I.A. director, for mishandling classified information and lying about it, Mr. Holder stepped in and reduced the charge to a misdemeanor. That decision created a deep — and public — rift.
Continue reading the main story
The F.B.I. is expected to make a recommendation to the Justice Department in the coming weeks, though agents have yet to interview Mrs. Clinton. While some legal experts said they believed that criminal indictments in the case were unlikely, the investigation continues to cast a shadow over Mrs. Clinton’s presidential campaign.
Donald J. Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, seized on the private encounter, describing it in a radio interview as a “sneak” meeting and saying it exposed the rigged nature of the process.
Even some Democrats criticized the meeting. “It doesn’t send the right signal,” Senator Chris Coons, Democrat of Delaware, said in response to a question on CNN’s “New Day.” While he said he believed that Ms. Lynch was an independent prosecutor, “I think she should have steered clear, even of a brief, casual, social meeting with the former president.”
Beyond the day-to-day workings of the Justice Department, there is precedent for explicitly relying on career officials to make politically charged decisions. When the Justice Department was considering whether to recommend sanctions against former Bush administration lawyers who approved waterboarding, Mr. Holder relied on his most senior career prosecutor to make the decision. No sanctions were recommended.

75 comments:

  1. TOWER TO GROUND:

    “ FOD on runway 31 L...Check that...Bill Clinton on way to clear it.”

    ReplyDelete
  2. She just removed herself from the case. Good on her.

    ReplyDelete
  3. What is "Occupation"Fri Jul 01, 07:19:00 AM EDT
    A Palestinian female terrorist was shot dead at the Cave of the Patirarchs in Hebron Friday morning while attempting to stab Israelis. No one else was hurt. This was the third terrorist attack in 24 hours. Thursday morning, a Palestinian man fatally stabbed a 13-year old girl in her bedroom in Kiryat Arba. She was a US citizen, the State Department said. Thursday night, an Israeli man and a woman were critically injured in Netanya by a knifeman from Tulkarm.

    Delete

    What is "Occupation"Fri Jul 01, 07:20:00 AM EDT
    This was the third terrorist attack in 24 hours.

    Delete

    What is "Occupation"Fri Jul 01, 08:44:00 AM EDT
    An Israeli was killed and three more were wounded after a Palestinian gunman opened fire on their vehicle on Route 60 on Friday afternoon, causing it to overturn near Aduraim Junction, in the Mount Hebron area.


    that's the 4th terrorist attack in as many days and not one voice of sympathy from Quirk, Deuce, Jack, or Rufus.

    Typical

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's the first I've heard of this attack.

      It certainly would get tiring, and test one's patience, putting up with that crap on a daily basis.

      Delete
    2. .

      The worst part is that none of the Palestinian leadership has condemned the killing even that of the 13 year old girl. At least, Bibi has condemned the worst of the incidents involving Israelis killing Palestinians.

      .

      Delete
    3. The worst part is that the Palestinian Leadership is HONORING the killer, paying the family a stipend and setting up memorials for the Shahid. Just last week a high ranking member of the Fatah (abbas party) called to the slitting of the throats of all israelis.

      Delete
  4. .

    Deuce ☂Fri Jul 01, 02:55:00 AM EDT
    Good find, except I posted that above three hours ago:

    Deuce ☂Thu Jun 30, 10:20:00 PM EDT


    ---

    Good find, except I found it 9 hours before that

    QuirkThu Jun 30, 01:17:00 PM EDT
    .

    Bill Clinton Meets With Loretta Lynch



    :o)

    .

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  5. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
  6. Bill Clinton did the same thing when it was Ted Cruz's plane sitting on the tarmac.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Billygoat did the same thing when Q was sitting on the tarmac in his Ultralight, The Swing Low, asking if he could 'take a ride' with Maria some day.

      Delete
    2. Correction: The Low Down, not the Swing Low

      Delete
    3. Relations with China were discussed with Won Hung Lo.

      Delete
  7. Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch plans to announce on Friday that she will accept whatever recommendation career prosecutors and the F.B.I. director make about whether to bring charges related to Hillary Clinton’s personal email server, a Justice Department official said. Her decision removes the possibility that a political appointee will overrule investigators in the case.

    Well I'll be.

    Ms. Lynch plans to discuss the matter at a conference in Aspen, Colo., on Friday.

    I'll believe it when I hear it from her sweet lips.

    Hope it's true.

    Should know in 30 minutes....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lynch’s plan to “remove herself” and “accept the FBI decision” over Clinton’s emails is probably a smokescreen


      posted at 9:21 am on July 1, 2016 by Jazz Shaw

      The timing of this particular announcement which was leaked out of the Justice Department today seems to be a bit much to write off to coincidence. The entire debacle of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private bathroom email server has become a flaming bag of doggy doo-doo on the doorstep of the administration and I’m guessing that the endless drumbeat of public outrage is finally sinking in. The tarmac meeting between Bill Clinton and our Attorney General this week was likely the last straw and now Loretta Lynch has signaled that she will accept the recommendations of the FBI on the matter when James Comey finishes his work. (New York Times)


      Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch plans to announce on Friday that she will accept whatever recommendation career prosecutors and the F.B.I. director make about whether to bring charges related to Hillary Clinton’s personal email server, a Justice Department official said. Her decision removes the possibility that a political appointee will overrule investigators in the case.

      The Justice Department had been moving toward such an arrangement for months — officials said in April that it was being considered — but a private meeting between Ms. Lynch and former President Bill Clinton this week set off a political furor and made the decision all but inevitable.

      Republicans said the meeting, which took place at the Phoenix airport, had compromised the independence of the investigation as the F.B.I. was winding it down. Some called for Ms. Lynch to recuse herself, but she did not take herself off the case — one that could influence a presidential election.

      This is being confirmed in multiple sources, so it looks like a done deal and we should have a formal announcement later today. Clearly there’s something going on behind the scenes, so allow me to speculate on two possible scenarios.

      Delete
    2. The first option is to conclude that this is actually good news and public pressure has prevailed over politics as usual. If the FBI turns over a report saying that Clinton should be indicted, we might assume that the Justice Department will move forward. This would be a welcome decision, particularly considering the fact that the last time the DoJ received a recommendation (that time from the Inspector General) to prosecute someone on Clinton’s team – Huma Abedin’s embezzlement charges in that case – they tossed the case in the trash. Perhaps they don’t want even more appearances of impropriety haunting their steps going into an election.

      The reason I said “might” in the previous paragraph is that Lynch still seems to be parsing her words very carefully. You’ll note that the preview of her comments very specifically says that she will be accepting the decision of, “career prosecutors and the F.B.I. director.” Not only is she not taking her department out of the loop and appointing a special prosecutor, but she’s not 100% accepting the call of the FBI either. There are no “career prosecutors” on James Comey’s team. Those prosecutors all work for Lynch in the Justice Department. From the beginning she’s been saying that it would be those “professionals” who would decide the merits of the case, so this may be nothing other than window dressing to appease the voters outraged by the meeting with Bill Clinton while sticking with business as usual.

      But there’s a second possibility as well and I’m just going to toss it out there. It’s been leaked from multiple sources that the FBI investigation is winding down and Comey is close to wrapping this thing up. Very likely the final decision has already been made and he’s just making sure all the I’s are dotted and the T’s crossed before handing over his work. What are the chances that Lynch doesn’t know what the decision is at this point? In fact, I wouldn’t be terribly shocked if that was part of the conversation she had with Bill Clinton. (Yes… I’m basically saying that they’re lying about the meeting. If you can ever prove me wrong I’ll be happy to apologize.) What if Comey has already decided to pull the rip cord and recommend no formal charges against Hillary Clinton because the firestorm resulting from a call to prosecute would just be too hot for him? Then Lynch and the President are in the clear. She can simply claim that she was leaving it up to Comey all along and the entire unpleasant affair drops down the memory hole.

      Conspiracy theory? Sure. But as far as I’m concerned it certainly passes the smell test, and I wouldn’t put it past this crew in the least.

      http://hotair.com/archives/2016/07/01/lynchs-plan-to-remove-herself-and-accept-the-fbi-decision-over-clintons-emails-is-probably-a-smokescreen/

      Delete
  8. .

    Given Bill's propensities to insert himself (in every sense)in these things and the toll his age and health seem to have taken it's easy to blame him for this meeting. However, the fact that he was the one that first appointed her to be U.S. District Attorney for Eastern New York makes the optics pretty bad.

    .

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  9. Trump is leading Hillary Clinton in one category. He leads her in the "Pants on Fire" category 30 - 1.

    Politifact

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  10. Jonathan Capehart: What do you wish Eric Holder had told you?

    Loretta Lynch: (smiling) The location of the door locks on the airplane.

    ReplyDelete
  11. If there is no indictment and there are no FBI resignations ...
    Say hello to ....
    President Clinton redux

    ReplyDelete

  12. REPORT: HILLARY SET FOR WEEKEND MEET WITH FBI....DRUDGE

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. She looks to be up Shit Crick without a paddle at this point.

      Delete
    2. (only Quirk at his best could extricate himself from this maze, and only if he'd been drinking, which he doesn't do anymore)

      Delete
    3. US

      EXCLUSIVE: Hillary Clinton Scheduled To Meet With FBI On Saturday

      Photo of Chuck Ross

      Chuck Ross

      Reporter

      1:37 PM 07/01/2016

      Former Sec. of State Hillary Clinton is scheduled to meet Saturday with the FBI, a source close to the investigation into her private email server tells The Daily Caller.

      The source went on to suggest the interview may take place at her Washington, D.C. home.

      The bureau’s interview with the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee is believed to be the final step in its investigation into the potential mishandling of classified information on Clinton’s private email server....


      Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2016/07/01/exclusive-hillary-clinton-scheduled-to-meet-with-fbi-on-saturday/#ixzz4DBio8MEp

      Delete
  13. Solar on track to break growth records, but analysts say market challenges loom

    An expected module glut could give way to even lower installed solar prices as the market corrects


    e solar market is on track to break growth records this year, but analysts say the numbers may paper over some emerging market challenges for installers.

    A joint report from GTM Research and the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) said the solar industry is projected to add 14.5 GW of capacity this year, a 94% increase over the 7.5 GW installed in 2015. In the first quarter alone, solar developers installed 1,665 MW of solar PV nationwide, adding more new capacity than coal, natural gas and nuclear combined.

    Typically, first quarter growth is the weakest of the year, but it appears the growth is building off momentum from 2015, largely due to declining system prices and an 11th-hour extension of the investment tax credit for solar installations.

    Price declines for solar systems were about as impressive as installation growth last year, according to another GTM report: The price of non-residential solar installations dropped 8.3% to $1.88/watt in the first half of 2016. Residential installations dropped 8.8%, to $3.00/watt.

    If continued, these drops in prices could help the solar sector hit the U.S. Department of Energy’s “impossible dream” price target of $1.00/watt by 2020, GTM noted.

    Even so, the recent . . . . .

    utilitydive

    ReplyDelete
  14. Of course they do....the Hindus have been saying so for centuries....where there's matter there is mind....however heavily veiled....even the rocks have consciousness....



    Do Insects Have Consciousness?

    A new theory has scientists buzzing

    By Abigail Tucker

    Smithsonian Magazine
    July 2016

    Amid the usual parade of creeping horrors—super lice, mayfly plagues and a “troll-haired insect discovered in remote Suriname”—the exterminator news site PestWeb recently shared a piece of unsettling intelligence.

    “Insects Have Consciousness, Self-Awareness and Egos,” the headline read.

    Whether or not the consciences of professional bug slayers were burdened by this revelation, other people were alarmed. We’re a far cry from “insect rights,” mused the bioethicist and animal rights advocate Peter Singer, but the prospect of bugs’ inner lives ups the ethical stakes.

    This moral hornet’s nest was first stirred at a local meeting of the worldwide science and drinking club Nerd Nite in a Sydney, Australia, pub. Honeybee scientist Andrew Barron began chatting with philosopher Colin Klein, who initially swatted away the idea of insect consciousness. After all, insect brains are tiny and have just a million or so neurons, compared with a human’s average of 86 billion. Like many of us, Klein had assumed that insects are just collections of reflexes—that they are “dark inside,” he says—and this assumption jibed nicely with his habit of flushing the enormous cockroaches at his apartment down the toilet.

    But then the two Macquarie University professors began to explore the research. One prominent theory holds that the core of human consciousness is not our impressive neocortex, but our much more primitive midbrain. This simple structure synthesizes sensory data into a unified, egocentric point of view that lets us navigate our world.

    Insects, Barron and Klein now argue, have midbrain-like structures, including a “central complex,” that seem to allow bugs to similarly model themselves as they move through space. They cite evidence ranging from a study that used microelectrodes to look at fly brain activity, to seemingly macabre research showing that when a jewel wasp injects venom into a cockroach’s central complex, the zombiefied prey will allow itself to be led by the antennae into its predator’s lair.

    While the human midbrain and the insect brain may even be evolutionarily related, an insect’s inner life is obviously more basic than our own. Accordingly, bugs feel something like hunger and pain, and “perhaps very simple analogs of anger,” but no grief or jealousy. “They plan, but don’t imagine,” Klein says. Even so, insects’ highly distilled sense of self is a potential gift to the far-out study of consciousness. Probing the insect brain could help quantify questions of what it means to think that vexed the likes of Aristotle and Descartes, and could even aid the development of sentient robots.

    On the other hand, it complicates daily life. “I still flush,” Klein says of his cockroaches. “But I hesitate.”



    Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/do-insects-have-consciousness-180959484/#o3VMXY4xuPoChAm6.99

    Give the gift of Smithsonian magazine for only $12! http://bit.ly/1cGUiGv
    Follow us: @SmithsonianMag on Twitter

    ReplyDelete
  15. Hillary Clinton and Loretta Lynch have offices in the same building.

    If Bill Clinton did want to "sneak" a meeting, I really doubt that he would have picked the tarmac at the Phoenix airport.

    jes sayin'.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Security forces kill 37 ISIS members west of Baghdad

    (IraqiNews.com) Baghdad – Baghdad Operations Command announced on Friday killing 37 ISIS elements and destroying a number of their vehicles west of Baghdad.

    In a statement, a copy of which was received by IraqiNews.com, Baghdad Operations said: “A force belonging the Second Regiment of the [army’s] 53rd Division had managed to target a convey for the enemy in the area of Nazim Taqsim and The Japanese Bridge west of Baghdad,” adding that, “The security forces managed to kill 37 ISIS terrorists and destroy 13 vehicles for them.”

    Iraqinews

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Strikes in Syria

      Attack, fighter and remotely piloted aircraft conducted seven strikes in Syria:

      -- Near Mara, a strike destroyed an ISIL bulldozer.

      -- Near Manbij, six strikes struck five separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed two ISIL fighting positions.

      Strikes in Iraq

      Bomber, fighter and remotely piloted aircraft and rocket artillery conducted nine strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of Iraq’s government:

      -- Near Baghdadi, a strike destroyed an ISIL bunker.

      -- Near Beiji, a strike destroyed an ISIL cave entrance.

      -- Near Kisik, a strike destroyed four ISIL assembly areas.

      -- Near Mosul, two strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed two ISIL assembly areas.

      -- Near Ramadi, two strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed 23 ISIL vehicles, five ISIL fighting positions, three ISIL heavy machine guns and three ISIL rocket rails.

      -- Near Sinjar, a strike suppressed an ISIL tactical unit.

      -- Near Sultan Abdallah, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL assembly area.

      Delete
  17. CBS Dismisses ‘Innocent’ Meeting Between AG Lynch and Bill Clinton

    Turning to Bloomberg Politics editor John Heilemann, co-host Charlie Rose downplayed: “...the former President and a meeting with Loretta Lynch which seems on the face of it, simply to be an innocent meeting of two politician saying hello. But – ”

    Heilemann replied: “Yes. Just not just smart, right? Not a smart thing to do. You know? The case she is still being investigated by the FBI. The Justice Department has jurisdiction over that case.”

    Fellow co-host Gayle King whined: “They are at the airport at the same time....Why can't he just go over and say hello?”

    Heilemann worried about the bad “optics” of the meeting but gave the Clintons the benefit of the doubt:
    Because none of us will never know if all he did was just go and say hello. So, I take them for their word it was all perfectly innocent.

    http://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/kyle-drennen/2016/06/30/cbs-dismisses-innocent-meeting-between-ag-lynch-and-bill-clinton

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. News Gem of the Decade:

      They are at the airport at the same time....Why can't he just go over and say hello?”

      Delete
    2. Billygoat's real confused there days.

      You can see it in his blank stare, the chewing of the lips.....

      Give the old rapist a break.

      Delete
    3. 'these days', you confused fool

      Delete
  18. While these boys are obsessing about a Bill Clinton chat Trump has been doubling down on his willingness to torture folk and go 'medieval' on ISIS. He ssems to think we should become like ISIS. What an idiot.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "a Bill Clinton chat"

      You should be a Newsreader, Ash.

      Delete
    2. Bill Clinton is a potential witness because the FBI is separately investigating corruption allegations against the Clinton Foundation.

      Herridge noted that the Lynch-Clinton meeting may never have become public if a local reporter had not gotten a tip about it.

      http://insider.foxnews.com/2016/07/01/fbi-source-fox-news-agents-are-livid-about-clinton-lynch-meeting

      Delete
    3. Clinton and Trump have the perfect parasitic relationship. Each sustains the other and if either faced a more worthy opponent, both would both go down to defeat. The match is an absurdity unique to the rigged American political system which prohibits direct voting, allows political gerrymandering, legalized obscene campaign funding, and a corruption that protects the sclerotic two party duopoly.

      What could possibly go wrong?

      Delete
  19. I think we all know who's obsessed with what.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Ash keeps saying "we." Thanks for the humor.

    ReplyDelete
  21. I believe ole Ash has a mouse in his pocket.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. (who deeply deserves a severve non-lethal non-serious injury but terrifying mugging, to "knock a little sense into the boy", as I always recommend)

      Delete
    2. (and to modify his behavior so that he no longer makes comments unrelated to anything under current discussion)

      Delete
  22. Modern world catches noble fisherman, who is landed in other world -

    Taiwan 'mistakenly' fires supersonic missile towards China, kills fisherman....DRUDGE

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Them Catholics -

      In memoirs, ex Pope says Vatican 'gay lobby' tried to wield power...

      Benedict to tell all about troubled time at Vatican....DRUDGE


      *********

      'Baby Jesus was a Jew, but Blessed Mother Mary sure was not ! She was Catholic !!'

      (heard among the women in the pews)

      Delete
  23. Somme Centennial

    July 1, 1916 - July 1, 2016

    But that was the future. On July 1, 1916, men and boys from across a British world that spanned the planet would step off into the greatest slaughter ever suffered by people who speak English. They fought for a cause they believed in, and continued to believe in. The victory they ultimately won would fail to yield an enduring peace. It would be followed by economic convulsion, revolutions, and then another and even more terrible war. That was not their fault. They did what they had to do, and they did it for the most part with an uncomplaining heroism that baffles us today even more entirely than it baffled F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1934. The mentality of these men can seem remote from our present world. Is there anything we believe in as strongly as the cause to which they gave their “last full measure of devotion”?....

    ....It was of the Somme battle that F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote in Tender is the Night:

    See that little stream—we could walk to it in two minutes. It took the British a month to walk to it—a whole empire walking very slowly, dying in front and pushing forward behind. And another empire walked very slowly backward a few inches a day, leaving the dead like a million bloody rugs. No Europeans will ever do that again in this generation. … This western-front business couldn’t be done again, not for a long time. The young men think they could do it but they couldn’t. They could fight the first Marne again but not this. This took religion and years of plenty and tremendous sureties and the exact relation that existed between the classes. … All my beautiful lovely safe world blew itself up here with a great gust of high explosive love.

    The Somme as it was experienced, however, was not the same as the Somme as it is remembered. The psychic, cultural, political, and literary effects would not accumulate until later....

    http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2016/07/somme-centennial/489656/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. One day. One town. One hundred years on


      Photo: Paul Cooper

      The Lancashire town of Accrington suffered some of the highest losses on the first, fatal day of the Somme, when its men were sent over the trenches. One century on, the legacy is still being felt today


      Tom Rowley and Méabh Ritchie, Friday 1 July, 2016


      Not long after dawn on Friday, July 1, Harry Bond’s nephew, Les, will set off.

      Les Bond, with a photo of his uncle Harry (Paul Cooper)


      Leaving his antique Lee Enfield rifle at home, he will walk the streets of the Lancashire town of Accrington, where his forebear once learnt to parade. By 7.20 sharp, the 70-year-old will be in position. He will listen as a soldier blows a whistle then stand in silence as the name of each Accrington man to fall in the Battle of the Somme is read in turn.

      “It will take quite some time,” says Mr Bond....

      http://s.telegraph.co.uk/graphics/projects/somme-battle-anniversary-accrington/index.html

      Delete
  24. Filipinos hope new President Duterte remains the 'enforcer' (+video)

    NEW SOLUTIONS The newly inaugurated president of the Philippines faces accusations that as mayor of Davao he used death squads to clean up crime. He is pledging to be just as tough in his new job, but he will need to show his softer side, too.

    By Ralph Jennings, Correspondent June 29, 2016

    Philippines Swears in Maverick As Leader

    AP

    Davao, Philippines — Rodrigo Duterte, the man who became the Philippines’ president on June 30, has a fearsome reputation. And Filipinos love him for it.

    Mr. Duterte, a dark horse candidate in May’s elections, campaigned on a pledge to wipe out crime – by wiping out criminals. He pointed to his 22-year record as mayor of the provincial capital of Davao, and people believed him. As crime soars across the Philippines, voters have turned to him for action.

    “We can walk late at night in confidence we’re safe from harassment,” says Jocelyn Gumpad-Joson, who teaches at Ateneo de Davao University here. “People would hesitate to do crime because as we all know there are rumors they will be eliminated.”

    They are more than rumors. Under Duterte’s rule, vigilante police officers known as the Davao death squads have killed 1,424 suspected criminals, according to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines.

    In a murder spree that peaked around the turn of the century, early in Duterte’s rule, “the streets were becoming a killing field,” says one local nongovernmental organization head who spoke anonymously for fear of retaliation.


    “If they were suspected of drugs and crimes, they were just executed in the streets or in their houses. Motorcycle-riding men would come in as children were watching TV,” he recalls.

    Davao city spokesmen deny their boss had anything to do with the death squads. But he still peppered his presidential campaign rhetoric with threats to kill anyone who breaks the law, and it went down well with voters.

    “People, if they don’t know how it feels to lose a mobile phone that you spent three or four months working to get, won't understand how a candidate with a platform focusing on minimizing crime can be popular,” says Valenice Balace, a 27-year-old software technology entrepreneur in Manila. She says she herself has witnessed 15 crimes.

    From "murder capital" to "world's 5th safest city"

    When he took over as mayor of Davao, Duterte inherited a city that was caught in violent strife between leftist rebels and a government counterinsurgency campaign. Teen gangs fought in the streets over drug sales. You couldn’t make a mobile phone call outside at night without fear of someone snatching the phone. Davao was dubbed the murder capital of the Philippines.

    It is a very different town now. Drug crimes have plummeted 75 percent since Duterte became mayor, says city spokesman Leo Villareal. Muggings and pickpocketing are rare, he adds, and leftists are no longer violent.

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    Replies
    1. The most common drug, the methamphetamine strain called shabu, is no longer sold in the streets, locals say, and it’s safe to walk anywhere at night. Smoking in public is banned, as is the use of firecrackers and driving at more than 19 m.p.h. on downtown streets. Traffic accidents have fallen more than 40 percent since the speed limit took effect in 2013.

      Last year Davao, a city of about 1.5 million people, was named the world’s fifth-safest city by crowd-sourcing survey website Numbeo.com.

      Davao’s citizens credit their mayor. “He personally made it safe for Davao,” says Michael John Polia, a 31-year-old factory worker and Davao native. “There may be bad words about him, but he was good for us.”

      Duterte took 85 percent of the Davao vote in May’s presidential elections, and voters elsewhere in the archipelago seem ready to give “the enforcer,” as he is known, a chance to tackle a nationwide crime wave in his own distinctive fashion.

      The number of reported crimes rose more than fivefold between 2012 and 2014, according to Philippine National Police figures. The Philippines topped all of East Asia in 2012 for shabu use, the United Nations found.

      A softer side

      Duterte may have built his reputation, and his popularity, on tough talk and tough action, but he has used more constructive means as well to calm his city, not least a readiness to listen to ordinary citizens who were always welcome in his office.

      To start with, he beefed up the police force to 3,000 officers – nearly one per block – and installed closed circuit cameras almost everywhere.

      Duterte has also tamed the leftist New People’s Army insurgency through personal contacts with their leaders. Though the rebel group maintains bases in the mountains, “here in Davao city we have observed less fighting,” says city publicist Boogie Abasolo. “He has high regard for the rebels because they are fighting for a cause, they have their principle.

      “Because he’s a friend of their commander, he can talk them and he even goes to the mountains to talk to them to offer peace,” he says.

      Delete
    2. Duterte is now scaling that approach up to the national level. His transitional government is talking to the National Democratic Front, a broad leftist group that includes the New People's Army, about an agenda for resumed peace talks after the inauguration.

      He has also begun exploring a peace plan with rebel Muslim groups that have been fighting a deadly 40-year war for resource control on the southern island of Mindanao, where Davao is located. Meeting the leaders of two major Muslim rebel groups on June 17, he proposed federalism as a way to give Muslims more regional autonomy, which one of the groups appeared to find acceptable.

      At the same time, Davao city passed a law guaranteeing fair treatment for Muslims, a small minority once so reviled that Catholics would avoid living near them. City officials call Muslims “brothers” and have paid to send some on a pilgrimage to Mecca.

      And for a rough hewn loudmouth, Duterte has also shown unexpected sympathy for vulnerable teenage prostitutes, says Jeannette Ampong, executive director of the Talikala Foundation, an anti-sexual exploitation group.

      Despite the occasional sexist remark, Ms. Ampong says, the mayor listens, cares, and acts. “He is very honest with us,” she says. “He knows the problem of being in prostitution is rooted in economic ones but he can’t provide jobs, so he promised to provide medical service to street girls.”

      “We are safer when he’s mayor, particularly women who are abused in trafficking and prostitution,” Ms. Ampong adds.

      As he turns his attention to national affairs, he is only now beginning to formulate policies on challenges such as the Philippines territorial dispute with China in the South China Sea. But he has set himself at least one target – the corruption that is rife in public life here.

      “Corruption must stop, now,” Duterte told a business development conference in Davao recently. “My standard will be zero tolerance.”

      He did not say how he would enforce that standard. But it seems unlikely he would resort to the sort of methods Davao has become used to.

      “As a president, he should act like one,” Mr. Abasolo, the publicist and local radio commentator says. “He is the face of the Filipinos now.”

      http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-Pacific/2016/0629/Filipinos-hope-new-President-Duterte-remains-the-enforcer-video?cmpid=FB

      Delete
    3. I saw the cutest little woman in the World today at the supermercado:

      Appeared to be Filipino, but very dark.
      How did I know she was so cute when I only saw her from behind?

      Then she turned around, and I saw the first Filipino I've ever seen with freckles around her eyes.
      I had to avert my gaze to avoid making (more of) a fool of myself.

      ...with some 50 or 60 year old white guy about 4 times her size.

      Delete
  25. Prediction:

    Hillary's gonna lawyer up and take the 5th tomorrow.

    Then over the rest of the Holiday weekend drink a 5th or two.

    ReplyDelete
  26. A rocket launched from Gaza late Friday night struck a preschool in Sderot, an IDF spokesperson reported.

    In most nations the launching of a rocket that hits a school is an act of war.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Around these parts, pardner, it's an act to ignore.

      Delete
    2. How can that be, when, according to Quirk, Gaza is 'effectively' annexed and occupied by IDF troops ?

      Don't sound so 'effective' to me.

      Delete
    3. (but then Quirk was never a Mensa candidate like us)

      Delete
    4. If someone from Mexico launched a rocket at a kindergarten in America, even if it was out of session, the war cries would be deafening.

      Delete
  27. American Teen Stabbed to Death in Bed by West Bank Terrorist

    https://pjmedia.com/homeland-security/2016/06/30/american-teen-stabbed-to-death-in-bed-by-west-bank-terrorist/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. According to some here?

      A. The Israelis did it to themselves.

      B. The American teenager deserved it.

      C, The Jew was squatting on Palestinian lands, even though that specific site has been in Jewish history for 3400 years.

      Kiryat Arba is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible (Genesis 23) as the place where Abraham buried Sarah. The Book of Joshua chapter 14 verse 15 says (Darby Bible): "Now the name of Hebron before was Kirjath-Arba; the great man among the Anakim..."[2] There are various explanations for the name, not mutually exclusive. According to the great Biblical commentator Rashi, Kiryat Arba ("Town of Arba") means either the town (kirya) of Arba, the giant who had three sons, or the town of the four giants: Anak (the son of Arba) and his three sons – Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai – who are described as being the sons of a "giant" in Numbers 13:22: "On the way through the Negev, they (Joshua and Caleb) came to Hebron where [they saw] Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmi, descendants of the Giant (ha-anak)..."[3] Some say that Anak ("Giant", see Anak) is a proper name (Targum Jonathan and the Septuagint),[4] and that he, Anak, may have been the father of the three others mentioned in the Book of Numbers as living in Hebron, previously known as "Kiryat Arba."

      Alternatively, the name may refer to the four couples buried in the Machpela Cave: Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob and Leah, .

      Delete
  28. You say that many people would not believe that Lynch and Clinton only discussed grandkids and golf in her jet.

    But that you would because that's all they would need to discuss because your theory is that the summit here was to send a signal both to the FBI with Lynch and Clinton getting together, no matter what they said, just the fact that they got together was, as you write, a signal to all of the hardworking FBI agents who have the goods on Hillary that the attorney general meeting Clinton makes it clear what team she's on, and that's not the side of justice.

    She's on the Democrat Party team, and it's an unspoken message from her to all the FBI agents on the case, all the front line lawyers at DOJ, that when you send your recommendations to refer Hillary's case to the grand jury, you better realize your burden to convince me, Lynch, is higher than you thought. These people are my friends and I'm willing to risk any appearance of impropriety to send that message to you. So you wrote that, and I think it's an insightful comment, but what would you say now since you posted that before the attorney general said that she's going to basically accept whatever recommendations Comey and career prosecutors, which I think is a key point I want to ask you about, decide to do?

    ADAMS:Yeah, 'cause those career prosecutors are still going to be at the Justice Department seeking promotions in the future, living under the Regime. And so that's exactly right. They don't need to have a discussion about whether or not his wife is going to be indicted. They aren't that stupid. They know how the bureaucracy works. I was in the bureaucracy. I know how it works. And career DOJ lawyers don't want to fight their superiors. They don't want to put up a battle to indict Hillary when it looks like the fix is in. And so the ministerial state can read the tea leaves, the bureaucrats can read the tea leaves and know that they'll have a fight on their hands if they try to indict. It's even bigger than the fight they thought they had in the first place.

    RUSH: So you attach no substance to the attorney general suggesting that she is going to accept whatever recomm0endations the FBI submits, and this falls way short of a recusal. A lot of people are mistaking this for a quasi-recusal, but it's not, is it?

    ADAMS: No. And it's even more brilliant than that. These people are so devious and smart. The worst thing you want is Lynch to recuse herself. Republicans who are calling for that are making a big mistake because then autopilot kicks in. All of the left-wing tendencies of the bureaucracy become unattached from the political winds. And so you want Lynch now, who's under the gun, to be the one to be making this decision because the bureaucrats under her aren't gonna indict Hillary. They might be working for Hillary shortly. Lynch will be gone, but they'll still be working for a potential Hillary administration.

    http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2016/07/01/j_christian_adams_tells_us_why_lynch_met_with_clinton_and_what_it_means

    ReplyDelete
  29. Adams is the guy that quit when Obama "Justice" refused to prosecute the Black Panthers that stood in front of the polling place with clubs, intimidating white voters from voting.

    ...Something that Rufus and Ash supported, 100%

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rufus and Smirk, racists from the git-go, especially Rufus.

      Now you mention it, I think I remember Adams.

      He was the only one that quit among the whole bunch.

      Delete
  30. Bid day for Hillary tomorrow.

    She either answers some questions or sits there and takes the 5th for a couple hours.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. HILL'S HELL WEEKEND....DRUDGE

      FBI to Interview Hillary Clinton in Coming Days About Email Scandal, Source Says

      By JULIA JACOBO and Pierre Thomas

      Jul 1, 2016, 6:19 PM ET

      http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/fbi-interview-hillary-clinton-coming-days-email-scandal/story?id=40291561

      Delete
    2. How hot is Hell when you have a get out of Hell at room temp free pass?

      Delete
    3. Not so hot.

      But....someone may have a lien on your the get out of Hell at room temp pass.



      Russia to release Clinton emails?

      Russian President Vladimir Putin (Associated Press/File)

      By Bill Gertz - - Wednesday, June 29, 2016


      U.S. intelligence agencies are said to be closely watching Russian online blogs and other postings for any signs that Moscow hackers have covertly obtained the bulk of Hillary Clinton’s email messages stolen from her private email server and are preparing to make them public.

      A U.S. intelligence official told Inside the Ring that the indications of the email release are being closely watched, although the veracity of at least two postings on the matter could not be confirmed as authoritative.

      A State Department official has said Russia is one of at least three foreign governments likely to have obtained the full content of the former secretary of state’s server through covert hacking operations. The other two are China and Israel.

      Russian intelligence agencies are suspected of cyberintrusions that obtained sensitive political information contained in Democratic National Committee networks. Last week, reports surfaced that computer networks of the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation were also compromised, also by Russian hackers.

      Russian intelligence is considered to be the most capable nation-state cyberespionage and cyberwarfare power, and its intelligence-gathering operations in the U.S. are said to be going at Cold War levels.

      Russian President Vladimir Putin, a former KGB intelligence officer schooled in the black arts of covert operations, would be the top authority to order the release of the Clinton emails, if in fact Moscow has obtained the tens of thousands of private emails.

      A possible Russian motive for making public all the emails would be to undermine any Justice Department influence in the ongoing FBI investigation of the private email server, an investigation said by FBI sources to have expanded into whether the server was used improperly to boost the fortunes of the Clinton Foundation.

      Federal sources have complained that portions of the Justice Department have been politicized to support the liberal agenda of the Obama administration, citing a 2010 investigation into how terrorist detainees at the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, obtained photos of CIA interrogators. During a counterintelligence probe, Donald Vieira, chief of staff at the Justice Department’s National Security Division, was forced to recuse himself from the investigation. The reason was not made public, but officials said some in the Justice Department in the past worked as advocates for the detainees at nongovernmental organizations and were linked to the CIA officer photos found inside the detainees’ cells.

      Mr. Putin may being calculating that the release of some of the highly classified information within the emails could be used against Mrs. Clinton to influence the U.S. presidential election.

      Alternatively, Mr. Putin could use his access to the emails for blackmail should Mrs. Clinton win the election in November.

      Some intelligence officials suspect Mr. Putin, who was posted in East Germany during the Cold War, may be using similar tactics against German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

      The Russian leader also could attempt to influence the election in favor of Donald Trump, the likely Republican nominee, whom he has called “bright.” Mr. Trump has said Mr. Putin is a leader he could “get along very well with.”

      http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/jun/29/hillary-clintons-emails-in-vladimir-putins-hands/

      Delete
    4. Putin would probably prefer Trump to Crooked Hillary.

      She loved shooting a Thompson Typewriter (Submachine Gun) into the crotch of the target.

      https://www.google.com/search?q=Thompson+Typewriter&rlz=1C1AVSU_enUS357&oq=Thompson+Typewriter&aqs=chrome..69i57&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

      Putin don't need that.

      Delete
  31. Violent protests after devout Muslim terrorist killed in Kashmir

    ByPamela Geller on July 1, 2016

    Current Affairs India: Fighting the Jihad

    Kashmiri protesters throw stones on Indian policemen in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, as they react to reports of Monday’s killing of a Kashmiri man by Indian security forces, Tuesday, June 14, 2016. The protestors clashed with police after government forces claimed that they killed a suspected rebel in a shootout on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway on Monday. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

    “As soon as reports of Wani’s killing reached his Dooru village in Sopore, hundreds of residents came out to protest…” But why? We’re constantly admonished and clubbed over the head with the claim that Muslim terrorists are a tiny minority of extremists and that the vast majority of Muslims are peaceful. So why didn’t hundreds of Muslims in Sopore come out to thank the police for ridding the area of this terrorist?

    “Violent protests after Hizb militant killed in Kashmir,” IANS, June 28, 2016:

    Security forces on Tuesday shot dead a top Hizbul Mujahideen militant in Jammu and Kashmir, triggering violent protests in Sopore to which he belonged. Police said Sameer Wani was killed after security forces surrounded a house in Nagri village in Kupwara district, some 100 km from here, following information that some militants were hiding there. A police officer said that security forces came under heavy fire from the hideout, leading to fighting that left Wani, the Hizb divisional commander for north Kashmir, dead.

    As soon as reports of Wani’s killing reached his Dooru village in Sopore, hundreds of residents came out to protest shouting anti-government and pro-freedom slogans, witnesses and officials said.

    The protesters set ablaze a police vehicle in Shiva area after his body reached the village but its occupants were not harmed. Dozens of motorcycle borne young men rallied as the militant commander’s body was taken in a procession for funeral prayers.

    Markets were closed and public transport went off the roads spontaneously following Wani’s death. The protesters also clashed with police and threw stones at them. Police fired tear gas to disperse them as tension ran high in and around the area.

    See more at: http://pamelageller.com/2016/07/violent-protests-after-devout-muslim-terrorist-killed-in-kashmir.html/#sthash.Hk0VYZWv.dpuf

    ReplyDelete


  32. Jihad Watch

    Exposing the role that Islamic jihad theology and ideology play in the modern global conflicts

    Ramadan in Israel: Muslim ambushes Israeli family, kills father, wounds mother and children

    July 1, 2016 6:18 pm By Robert Spencer 13 Comments


    This is the direct result of the hatred and incitement to genocide that is routinely featured on “Palestinian” TV. But the UN is too busy issuing condemnations of Israel to take any notice.

    Israeli soldiers Hebron

    “Palestinian kills Israeli, wounds family in West Bank attack,” Associated Press, July 1, 2016:


    RAMALLAH, West Bank – A Palestinian gunman ambushed a family traveling in a car in the West Bank on Friday, killing an Israeli man and wounding his wife and two teenage children in an assault that prompted the military to send hundreds of troops to the area — the largest operation in the territory in two years.

    The army also imposed a closure on the Hebron district, a flashpoint area where many of the recent attacks have stemmed from.

    Additionally, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel will reduce the amount of tax revenues it collects on behalf of the Palestinians each month, saying that some of the money was being given to families of attackers….

    How many BDS Leftists even know that Israel collects money for the “Palestinians”?

    https://www.jihadwatch.org/2016/07/ramadan-in-israel-muslim-ambushes-israeli-family-kills-father-wounds-mother-and-children

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Minor "Q"Nits: around the USA this day

      Arkansas: Heavily-armed Muslima charged over online jihad threat
      By Robert Spencer on Jul 01, 2016 02:55 pm

      Arkansas: Heavily-armed Muslima charged over online jihad threat
      Daphne and Alan Lewis Crawford Jr., converts to Islam, were arrested early June 18 by Fayetteville police and the FBI. They had “three AR-15 assault rifles, a 12-gauge shotgun, six handguns and roughly 2,000 rounds of ammunition, including 721 rounds for the assault rifles, in the Crawford’s room at Value Place motel.” It looks as […]
      Read in browser »

      ************

      Massachusetts: Muslim indicted for Islamic State jihad mass murder plot
      By Robert Spencer on Jul 01, 2016 09:09 am

      Massachusetts: Muslim indicted for Islamic State jihad mass murder plot
      “Alexander Ciccolo of Adams was arrested last year after police say he ordered guns and planned to donate pressure-cooker bombs at an unidentified university.” How did this convert to Islam get the idea that his new religion commanded him to commit mass murder of Infidels? Authorities remain completely uninterested in that question. “Adams man indicted […]
      Read in browser »

      Delete
    2. You know as well as Quirk and I that Millions of Americans across this great country are locked and loaded.

      Delete
    3. Quirk used to often be loaded, per his own testimony, but he's on the wagon now.

      Whether he is locked, I don't know.

      In the past, he was often locked up, from being loaded.

      Delete