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."

Wednesday, February 15, 2017

Crisis in US and EU Unwanted Immigration







Travel from Countries Harboring Terrorists Should be Restricted



So why didn’t the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals do its job and recommend modifications rather than simply upholding Seattle Judge James Robart’s restraint of President Trump’s executive order—the spirit and intent of which was to protect American citizens?  The answer is politics, and specifically the politics of the Left, which has long had sympathy for many who would do harm to the U.S.  A significant number of the American Left take the position that “an enemy of the United States is our friend” for they share the common goal of breaking down the traditional values and institutions in America as a precursor to their establishing a new socialist order.

The Left is now ascendant in the Democrat Party and it has the most megaphones in the so-called mainstream media.  The Left not only dominates popular culture, but it’s also making new inroads into business and sports. Just ask Macy’s, Target and the NFL.  In the end, the main bulwark against the Left’s efforts to transform America is the U.S. Constitution, the judiciary committed to upholding the rule of law, and law enforcement itself.  Is it any wonder why the Black Lives Matter movement was more animated by discrediting and undermining the police and law enforcement than it was concerned about racial injustice? 

The decision of the 9th Circuit serves as reminder that there are a significant number of men and women in black serving in the judiciary whose progressive judicial philosophy guides their decisions.  Just as many of the professors, reporters and commentators in the universities and the media now feel their mission is to indoctrinate rather than to inform and teach, many of the judges appointed to the Federal Bench in the last 25 years also feel inclined to work around the law and the Constitution to advance the progressive political agenda—even giving favor to enemies of the United States over the security interests of American citizens.

For most Americans paying attention, the obvious was stated in Trump’s executive order:
Numerous foreign-born individuals have been convicted or implicated in terrorism-related crimes since September 11, 2001, including foreign nationals who entered the United States after receiving visitor, student or employment visas, or who entered through the United States refugee resettlement program. Deteriorating conditions in certain countries due to war, strife, disaster and civil unrest increase the likelihood that terrorists will use any means possible to enter the United States.  The United States must be vigilant during the visa-issuance process to ensure that those approved for admission do not intend to harm Americans and that they have no ties to terrorism.
Yet Judge Robart refuted this assertion in making his ruling against President Trump’s executive order, explicitly stating that “there had been no arrest of foreign nationals in the United States” from any of the seven countries—Syria, Iraq, Iran, Yeman, Somalia, Sudan and Libya—since 9/11. The 9th Circuit Court upheld Judge Robart’s order, also stating that there was “no evidence” that of any of those nations had produced a terror threat to the U.S.

As a solo judge, Robart may not have had the resources or felt it appropriate to perform research for either side before making his ruling.  But one might expect that during the five or six days that the 9th Circuit was deliberating, court clerks and staff would corroborate the assertion in Trump’s executive order that “numerous foreign-born individuals [from these seven countries] have been convicted or implicated in terrorism-related crimes since 9/11.”

What we now know is that a June 2016 government report from the Senate Subcommittee on Immigration and National Interest found that 380 out of 580 people convicted in terror cases since 9/11 were foreign-born. Further and more explicitly, that Senate report contained information on the terror-related crimes, arrests and sentences of 72 individuals, whose country of origin was explicitly one of the seven terrorist-haven countries named in the Trump executive order—with the greatest number coming from Somalia, Yemen, Iraq and Syria. 

President Trump will undoubtedly prevail in overturning the stay of this executive order. While a minor setback, it’s also an early constructive wake-up call for his administration to anticipate opposition reaction at every turn and to be nuanced and fully prepared to overcome obstructionism and prevail against the Left’s theatres of political warfare—whether made-for-TV rent-a-mob demonstrations or stepped up legal battles behind courtroom doors.

183 comments:

  1. The Ongoing Left Wing soft coup against Trump will ramp up another fake crisis over illegal immigration as soon as the Flynn crisis winds down and the US Media inadvertently inures the US public with its phony crisis mongering. .

    Trump needs the support of the Senate to end the farce of the Democrats impeding cabinet selections. There needs to be a purge of Obama friendly US intelligence agencies.

    The swamp is worse than he thought.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      Is that what is known as a putsch?

      .

      Delete
    2. Golly, Deuce, you're telling us that Mitch McConnell is inept and incompetent ...

      No surprise on either conts, really.

      But that you credit the Democrats for the GOP dysfunction ...
      That's funny.

      Delete
  2. The Washington Post:

    President Trump’s ouster of national security adviser Michael T. Flynn, and the circumstances leading up to it, have quickly become a major crisis for the fledgling administration, forcing the White House on the defensive and precipitating the first significant breach in relations between Trump and an increasingly restive Republican Congress.

    Even as the White House described Trump’s “immediate, decisive” action in demanding ­Flynn’s resignation late Monday as the end of an unfortunate episode, senior GOP lawmakers were buckling under growing pressure to investigate it.

    Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Tuesday that it was “highly likely” that the events leading to Flynn’s departure would be added to a broader probe into Russian meddling in the U.S. presidential election. Intercepts showed that Flynn discussed U.S. sanctions in a phone call with the Russian ambassador — a conversation topic that Flynn first denied and then later said he could not recall.

    McConnell’s comments followed White House revelations that Trump was aware “for weeks” that Flynn had misled Vice President Pence and others about the content of his late-December talks with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.

    White House counsel Donald F. McGahn told Trump in a briefing late last month that Flynn, despite his claims to the contrary, had discussed U.S. sanctions imposed on Russia by the Obama administration in late December, press secretary Sean Spicer said Tuesday. That briefing, he said, came “immediately” after Sally Q. Yates, then the acting attorney general, informed McGahn on Jan. 26 about discrepancies between intercepts of Kislyak’s phone calls and public statements by Pence and others that there had been no discussion of sanctions.

    ReplyDelete
  3. WAKE UP

    There is no major crisis about Flynn other than in the headlines.

    Flynn resigned. Trump accepted his resignation. Now finish the cabinet process.

    The new crisis will be over immigration and after that, anything the Left will throw up against Trump.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Who gives a crap about Flynn now that he is one after four weeks?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      Federal law enforcement and the intelligence agencies, the Democratic Party, many within the Republican Party, half the country...


      .

      Delete
    2. That's not even close to being accurate.

      Delete
    3. If Mr Flynn violated Federal Law, he should be prosecuted ...

      As so many here demanded that Mrs Clinton be prosecuted for her supposed violations of the law.

      But now, those voices of "Persecution by Prosecution" stand silent.

      No big deal, they say ....

      Delete
  5. Flynn was a private citizen when he spoke with the Russians. So what?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. Retired Army Lt-Generals ARE NOT "private citizens".

      Delete
  6. He lied on his resume. There must be over a million hits on Google about politicians lying on their resume.

    Obama's entire life history prior to being president is more a work of creative writing than historic fact.

    Do I have to mention Hillary Clinton's heroic life history of lies, deception and grifting?

    ReplyDelete
  7. HAD Clinton won, would we hear about any of this?

    • Hillary flunked the D.C. Bar Exam.
    • Was removed from her House Judiciary Committee staffer job because of incompetence and lying
    • The Whitewater scandal - a tsunami of lies
    • Married a serial liar, rapist and cheater
    • Lied about “sniper fire” in her husband's war in Bosnia
    • Lies that led to the impeachment and disbarment of her husband
    • Taking crockery, furniture, artwork and other items from the White House
    • Said “what difference, at this point, does it make” about four brave people killed in Libya as a direct result of her failure to protect them on the anniversary of 9/11.
    • Totally ignored the structure and rules for the handling of sensitive national security information.
    • Amassed a personal fortune with “speaking fees” and payments from private sector political donors and foreign governments into transparent “foundations” in obvious exchange for future political favor.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. But ... The Electoral College chose Mr Trump to fill the office, not Mrs Clinton.

      So, what could've, should've and would've been ... just more alt-news.

      The reality, Mr Comey is still running the FBI and Mrs Clinton is still not indicted ...
      Not indicted for anything.

      Her reputation, though, is thoroughly destroyed.

      Politics of personal destruction ... the "Great Game" almost demands it.

      Delete

  8. One of Kim's ninjas that poisoned the half brother has been arrested in Malaysia.

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

    Idaho highways littered with dead owls....DRUDGE

    http://kboi2.com/news/local/why-are-dozens-of-dead-owls-showing-up-along-interstate-84

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .


      Wolf poison (a Monsanto product).

      .

      Delete
    2. They are hunting mice along the highway.

      I am going to cook some owl wings up the way you like chicken wings, and fed them to you when you are working on the Human Spinning Wheel aka

      The Fiery Wheel of Ixion

      as it is called at the Casino.

      Pics of Ixion's Wheel:

      https://www.google.com/search?q=Wheel+of+Ixion&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS698US698&espv=2&biw=911&bih=425&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjn2q3j3ZLSAhVS6mMKHVmwCWUQsAQIZw

      You will have a hard rubber flapper on your head that points to the winning $$ amount.

      Around you go.

      You had no choice.

      You were dead broke, and it was the only job on the Casino floor....

      Delete
    3. But it's warm at the Casino, and well lighted, and you can sleep in my truck in the parking lot....

      It's a start, a new beginning for you....

      Spin, spin, spin....

      Delete
  9. The House Select Committee on Intelligence will probably end up looking into all this stuff/leaks etc. Then not much will change.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Robart is a very clever judge in a technical sense. '“There had been no arrest of foreign nationals in the United States” from any of the seven countries—Syria, Iraq, Iran, Yeman, Somalia, Sudan and Libya—since 9/11.'

    It is true that this man was not arrested. He was shot dead by the police at the scene.

    http://college.usatoday.com/2016/11/28/somali-immigrant-identified-as-attacker-at-ohio-state/

    No arrest here either. The perpetrator was shot dead.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Minnesota_mall_stabbing

    Why none of Trump's lawyers pointed this out, I have no idea.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Let's see. Since no one has broken in to my house in the last several years, does that mean I should leave my door unlocked?

      Delete
    2. since no one has stolen my truck, should I leave the keys in it?

      Delete
    3. .

      Right, if one reads the bios on these guys it is evident that they were long-time, dedicated jihadists influenced by the more warlike passages in the Koran.

      Reminds me of this passage from the King Ebelhard Version of the Bible (modified for EU PC provisions)...

      Jackson 3:23

      And the Lord God of Hosts called forth his Avenging Angel (the one with the huge sword not the one that killed the dragon) and said to him/her/it, “Go forth and smite all my creation, man, woman, and child, Moabite, Anthracite, and Stalagmite, and all the other Ites across the land. Pummel them, smack them about the head and shoulders, make them let wind and pound sand. Destroy them completely for they are anathema to me as they have done all kinds of nasty things and they have come up short on the sacrifices lately. And, oh yea, do the same to their pets too. I forgot about their pets. And then, destroy the earth. And their plants and…no wait, forget that last one about destroying the earth. Ignore that one. Just do the rest of it. Go forth and do my will.”

      And the Angel said, “Yes, Father, I hear and will obey.” He roared a roar that shook the heavens and spread panic across the earth then plunged down from his perch in the firmament, dropping in a widening barrel roll as he hurdled down towards the earth. And as he plummeted, from behind him high in the empyrean he heard, “And don’t forget the damn Canaanites. If we missed any the last time, make sure and take them out too.” And the Angel shouted back over his shoulder, “Noted.”


      .

      Delete
    4. THE NETANYAHU-TRUMP MEETING: A PIVOTAL MOMENT
      A refreshing departure from the Obama days.
      February 15, 2017 Ari Lieberman


      President Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel are slated to meet on Wednesday in their first official state meeting. The two leaders are personal friends and have known each other for some time. Certainly the dynamic of the rapport is far different than the toxic environment that characterized the Obama -Netanyahu relationship. Indeed, the fact that Trump sought this meeting so soon after the inauguration demonstrates with utmost clarity that he places a high premium on the U.S.-Israel alliance and seeks to reset ties so frayed after eight deleterious years of Obama.

      Aside from their personal friendship, the two leaders see eye-to-eye on many matters of national and international import. One of Trump’s key campaign promises was the construction of a wall that would safeguard America’s southern border. On a number of occasions, Trump cited Israel as an example of a nation that successfully protected its citizens from terrorists and illegal infiltrators through the construction of sophisticated barriers along its vulnerable frontiers. No doubt he will be seeking Israeli know-how and drawing on the Israeli experience when embarking on his ambitious wall project along the Mexican border.

      Unlike Obama, who attempted to undercut Israel at every turn, Trump sees Israel as a key strategic ally with shared moral and ethical values in a dangerous region devoid of democratic principles. The two leaders are set to coordinate their strategies to meet a plethora of daunting challenges.

      The primary challenge facing both Israel and the West is the Islamic Republic of Iran and the mullahs will almost certainly be at the top of the agenda when the two leaders meet....

      https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/265802/netanyahu-trump-meeting-pivotal-moment-ari-lieberman

      Delete
  11. Go Geert !

    WORLD NEWS | Wed Feb 15, 2017 | 7:56am EST
    Anti-Islam Wilders frontrunner as Dutch election campaign begins

    http://www.reuters.com/article/us-netherlands-election-idUSKBN15T2HO?il=0

    ReplyDelete
  12. Seems so long ago -

    New FOIA release: Obama admin knew immediately Benghazi was “direct breaching” terror attack, not “under cover of protest”

    POSTED AT 2:31 PM ON FEBRUARY 15, 2017 BY ED MORRISSEY


    Perhaps the subject of the terror attack on the US consulate in Benghazi will become more academic than political after the 2016 election denied Hillary Clinton the presidency. For now, though, documents continue to emerge that contradict the narrative created by Hillary and the Barack Obama White House about the nature of the attack. Yesterday, Judicial Watch received 54 more pages from its FOIA lawsuits and came across a bombshell buried in them. Notes of a State Department briefing for Congressional aides on the day after the attack show Undersecretary Patrick Kennedy acknowledging that the attack was not a protest gone bad, or even an attack under the cover of protest. It was, Kennedy told the Congressional aides, “a direct breaching attack”:

    Judicial Watch today released 54 pages of new State Department documents, including a transcript of a September 12 2012, telephone conference call with congressional staffers in which then-Under Secretary of State for Management Patrick Kennedy admitted that the deadly terrorist assault on the Benghazi Consulate was not “under cover of protest,” but was, in fact, “a direct breaching attack.”

    The exchange comes late in the conversation with Robert Carter, an aide to Rep. Michael C. Burgess (R-TX). Carter asks Kennedy directly whether this involved a protest, and Kennedy says no:

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Earlier in the briefing, Kennedy also tells a staffer from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the attack was “semi-complex,” and later adds that it included “medium” weapons such as RPGs and/or mortars, indicating some significant planning. Four days later, Susan Rice — also a State Department official at that time — went on four Sunday talk shows to say exactly the opposite. Rice claimed, as did Clinton and Obama for two weeks, that the attack grew spontaneously out of a protest against an amateurish and obscure YouTube video. Not once in these notes does the subject of a YouTube video come up at all.

      That’s highly significant. Kennedy’s description of events in these notes matches pretty well with the final recap, although it appears to elide over the fact that it was two separate attacks over 13 hours rather than just one attack. It’s accurate on the “direct breaching attack” and the use of medium weaponry, all indications of a planned attack, and Kennedy even points out that a terror group had taken credit for the attack without naming it (Ansar al-Shariah, which later turned out to be accurate).

      By September 12th, the State Department knew full well that there was no factual basis to claim that it was anything other than a planned terrorist attack and had already told Congress the same thing. And yet, State and the White House had Rice make that case anyway, less than two months before the 2012 presidential election.

      Interestingly, one staffer wonders about the readiness of the consulate at the time of the attack, given that it took place on the anniversary of 9/11. “Equivalent of defcon 5,” the notes indicate Kennedy’s response — the lowest readiness setting. That’s astounding, given the location of the consulate and the level of protection that we could have expected from the weak Libyan government at that time. Remember, by this time all other Western nations had pulled out of Benghazi because of the threat of terror networks that had already begun operating openly in the failed state. Just a few months earlier, terrorists had attempted a “direct breaching attack” against this same consulate. That certainly might explain why the Obama administration and Secretary of State Clinton were in such a hurry to blame the whole thing on a YouTube video rather than their own lack of preparation and foresight, especially with an election on the near horizon.

      http://hotair.com/archives/2017/02/15/new-foia-release-obama-admin-knew-immediately-benghazi-was-direct-breaching-terror-attack-not-under-cover-of-protest/

      Delete
  13. Bibi has taken to giving The Trump Thumbs Up.

    All is well.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Meanwhile, at the Coeur d'Alene Casino, some liquored up biker has just thrown a tomato from the salad bar at Quirk, spinning round and round on The Fiery Ixion Wheel.

    If this catches on Quirk may look like he is at La Tomatina Festival in Spain.

    See pics here:

    https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/worldtrendtravel/la-tomatina-festival-2016-in-pictures/ss-AAikqBw#image=4

    I have rented the VIP Suite for myself and Chin Chin, Maria, and Candy Cain. The four of us are 'settling in' at this time....some gal named Sal is to join us soon.

    ReplyDelete


  15. California Highway Patrol officers were checking on abandoned properties in the affected areas on Tuesday morning, when they came across the exotic animals at Tamara Archer Houston’s family farm in Sutter County, said Officer Chad Hertzell, a spokesman for the California Highway Patrol in North Sacramento.

    “It was like ‘Wow, a zebra,’ ” he said.

    Archer Houston and her family had been collecting animals left during the rush to evacuate, according to the CHP.

    “We had fun,” she said in a video on Facebook. “It was good.”

    Among the rescued animals were two kangaroos named Kenzie and Dottie, Archer Houston said in the video, filmed by CHP officers.

    “Kenzie actually sleeps inside with her owner every night in her bed in her diaper, so this has to be a whole new deal for her,” she said.

    The sight was a rare treat for officers.

    http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-live-updates-oroville-dam-kangaroos-zebra-and-deer-oh-my-woman-1487182859-htmlstory.html

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. http://www.sacbee.com/entertainment/living/helping-others/article132878569.html

      Delete
  16. "Whoever knowingly and willfully communicates … or otherwise makes available to an unauthorized person, or publishes … any classified information … obtained by the processes of communication intelligence from the communications of any foreign government … shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both."

    That Flynn lied about what he said to Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak was first revealed by Washington Post columnist David Ignatius, who has built his career on repeating what his CIA sources tell him. In his January 12 column, Ignatius wrote: “According to a senior U.S. government official, Flynn phoned Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak several times on Dec. 29, the day the Obama administration announced the expulsion of 35 Russian officials as well as other measures in retaliation for the hacking.”

    That “senior U.S. government official” committed a serious felony by leaking to Ignatius the communication activities of Flynn. Similar and even more extreme crimes were committed by what the Washington Post called “nine current and former officials, who were in senior positions at multiple agencies at the time of the calls,” who told the paper for its February 9 article that “Flynn privately discussed U.S. sanctions against Russia with that country’s ambassador to the United States during the month before President Trump took office, contrary to public assertions by Trump officials.” The New York Times, also citing anonymous U.S. officials, provided even more details about the contents of Flynn’s telephone calls.

    That all of these officials committed major crimes can hardly be disputed.

    https://theintercept.com/2017/02/14/the-leakers-who-exposed-gen-flynns-lie-committed-serious-and-wholly-justified-felonies/

    ReplyDelete
  17. Gen. Flynn has many enemies throughout the intelligence and defense community. The same is true, of course, of Donald Trump; recall that just a few weeks ago, Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer warned Trump that he was being “really dumb” to criticize the intelligence community because “they have six ways from Sunday at getting back at you.”

    ====

    IT IS, OF COURSE, bizarre to watch this principle now so widely celebrated. Over the last eight years, President Obama implemented the most vindictive and aggressive war on whistleblowers in all of U.S. history. As Leonard Downie, one of the editors at the Washington Post during the Watergate investigation, put it in a special report: “The [Obama] administration’s war on leaks and other efforts to control information are the most aggressive I’ve seen since the Nixon administration.”

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yep, the US gov is a leaky ship. Obama tried to stop it and Trump is now in that position. He sure is bitching about it. In any case nobody seems to be denying the truth of what is leaked.

      Delete
    2. Most here used to say that the leakers should be treated as heroes (i.e Duece). Now that the shoe is on the other foot they moan about a coup.

      Delete
    3. FOR THE RECORD:

      This story, from the Jan. 12, 2017, edition of the New York Times, was little-remarked upon at the time, but suddenly has taken on far greater significance in light of current events:

      In its final days, the Obama administration has expanded the power of the National Security Agency to share globally intercepted personal communications with the government’s 16 other intelligence agencies before applying privacy protections.

      The new rules significantly relax longstanding limits on what the N.S.A. may do with the information gathered by its most powerful surveillance operations, which are largely unregulated by American wiretapping laws. These include collecting satellite transmissions, phone calls and emails that cross network switches abroad, and messages between people abroad that cross domestic network switches.

      Delete
    4. I'd be willing to bet they will get to the bottom of the leaks. That person will be hailed as a hero by some and hated as a putrid coward by others. It is also possible certain members of the MSM is behind the leaks, paying nice rewards for scooping the rest. We shall see. Seems to me a leak would be easy to find.

      Delete
    5. Maybe Obama bugged the whole place before he left. At least he didn't try to steal the silverware.

      Delete
  18. Kim Jong Dead

    Woman arrested in death of Kim Jong Un's half-brother

    https://youtu.be/6LEhIyPpr64?t=19

    Big Mistake:

    Tried to visit Disneyland Japan with a forged Dominican Republic Passport.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Donald J. Trump ‏@realDonaldTrump 10h10 hours ago

    This Russian connection non-sense is merely an attempt to cover-up the many mistakes made in Hillary Clinton's losing campaign.



    Donald J. Trump ‏@realDonaldTrump 10h10 hours ago

    The fake news media is going crazy with their conspiracy theories and blind hatred. @MSNBC & @CNN are unwatchable. @foxandfriends is great!

    ReplyDelete
  20. AshWed Feb 15, 04:31:00 PM EST
    Most here used to say that the leakers should be treated as heroes (i.e Duece). Now that the shoe is on the other foot they moan about a coup.

    There has been no actual content leaked. The McCarthylike leaks set to slander Flynn were about how he had contact with Russians. Now we all KNOW that Hillary received tens of millions of dollars from the Russians and others and SOLD American interests in 25% of our Uranium to the RUSSIANS who are supplying Iran with uranium .

    Now compare and contrast. Hillary and her bogus email servers, wipe it with a cloth, hundreds of million in payola, ran for president was a god to many on the left.

    Flynn? Had a conversation a few times as a private citizen? Run out on a rail...

    Shoe on the other foot?

    hardly

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We don't need no stinking Uranium:

      Wind and Solar is the future.

      Cool the Warming.

      Delete
    2. ran out on a rail? Trump fired him.

      Delete
  21. The Democrats will be screaming for a special prosecutor for Flynn.

    In the spirit of bipartisanship and saving overhead, The Republicans should add Hillary and Bill to the investigation.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The FBI had no problem letting Hillary Clinton off the hook despite numerous attempts to hide the truth; Mike Flynn may not be so lucky.

      Earlier today, media reports hit that FBI agents interviewed Michael Flynn when he was national security adviser in the first days of the Trump administration about his conversations with the Russian ambassador.

      While it is not clear what he said in his interview, the FBI now adds that investigators "believed that Mr. Flynn was not entirely forthcoming, the officials said." That avenue raises the stakes of what so far has been a political scandal that cost Mr. Flynn his job, and which Sean Spicer explained today was merely a matter of Trump "losing trust" in his Security advisor, because if authorities conclude that Mr. Flynn knowingly lied to the F.B.I., "it could expose him to a felony charge", even though some have questioned how an illegally obtained transcript of his phone conversation could be admissable as evidence in a court of law.

      http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-02-14/mike-flynn-may-face-felony-charges-lying-fbi

      Delete
  22. Surprise: At the End, Obama Administration Gave NSA Broad New Powers

    This story, from the Jan. 12, 2017, edition of the New York Times, was little-remarked upon at the time, but suddenly has taken on far greater significance in light of current events:

    In its final days, the Obama administration has expanded the power of the National Security Agency to share globally intercepted personal communications with the government’s 16 other intelligence agencies before applying privacy protections.

    The new rules significantly relax longstanding limits on what the N.S.A. may do with the information gathered by its most powerful surveillance operations, which are largely unregulated by American wiretapping laws. These include collecting satellite transmissions, phone calls and emails that cross network switches abroad, and messages between people abroad that cross domestic network switches.

    The change means that far more officials will be searching through raw data. Essentially, the government is reducing the risk that the N.S.A. will fail to recognize that a piece of information would be valuable to another agency, but increasing the risk that officials will see private information about innocent people.

    One of the central questions behind the Mike Flynn flap that should have been asked but largely wasn't is: who was wiretapping the general? The answer, we know now, was the National Security Agency, formerly known as No Such Agency, the nation's foremost signals-intelligence (SIGINT) collection department.

    https://pjmedia.com/trending/2017/02/15/surprise-at-the-end-obama-administration-gave-nsa-broad-new-powers/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Empire Strikes Back
      Once compartmentalized to avoid injuring private citizens caught up in the net of the Black Widow (as we all are already) and her technological successors, the NSA was suddenly handed greater latitude in what it could share with other, perhaps more politicized bodies of the intelligence community. Why?

      Let's call the roster of the bad guys:

      Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch signed the new rules, permitting the N.S.A. to disseminate “raw signals intelligence information,” on Jan. 3, after the director of national intelligence, James R. Clapper Jr., signed them on Dec. 15, according to a 23-page, largely declassified copy of the procedures.

      Previously, the N.S.A. filtered information before sharing intercepted communications with another agency, like the C.I.A. or the intelligence branches of the F.B.I. and the Drug Enforcement Administration. The N.S.A.’s analysts passed on only information they deemed pertinent, screening out the identities of innocent people and irrelevant personal information.

      Now, other intelligence agencies will be able to search directly through raw repositories of communications intercepted by the N.S.A. and then apply such rules for “minimizing” privacy intrusions.

      “This is not expanding the substantive ability of law enforcement to get access to signals intelligence,” said Robert S. Litt, the general counsel to Mr. Clapper. “It is simply widening the aperture for a larger number of analysts, who will be bound by the existing rules.”

      Throwing the BS flag on this one. "Widening the aperture," my old granny. One of the things about the IC is that "existing rules" are made to be broken whenever one of its unaccountable minions feels like it; these are people who lie and cheat for a living. And the genius of the Democrats -- something for the GOP to think about next time -- is that they were able to leverage the transition in order to change as many rules and embed as many apparatchiks as possible before formally turning over the reins to the new kids.

      Delete
    2. Clinton Era:

      The Gorelick Wall

      Obama Exit:

      No Wall at All

      Delete
    3. “Rather than dramatically expanding government access to so much personal data, we need much stronger rules to protect the privacy of Americans,” Mr. Toomey said.

      “Seventeen different government agencies shouldn’t be rooting through Americans’ emails with family members, friends and colleagues, all without ever obtaining a warrant.”

      Delete
  23. Quirk has been on The Flaming Ixion Wheel at the Casino for several hours now, his aperture widening....light beginning to enter where the sun don't shine....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not only that, they are collecting Flank Wide Aperture Array Data!

      TMA algorithms will be employed on the target.

      Delete
  24. Debunking Time’s “fact check” on non-citizen voting
    POSTED AT 4:01 PM ON FEBRUARY 15, 2017 BY JAZZ SHAW

    http://hotair.com/archives/2017/02/15/debunking-times-fact-check-on-non-citizen-voting/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. I notice that no one is debunking Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan

      "I've already commented on that I've seen no evidence to that effect."

      http://www.wilx.com/content/news/Paul-Ryan-No-evidence-that-millions-of-illegal-immigrants-voted-in-November-411660305.html

      Delete
  25. Honest Dan Chimes in:

    Dan Rather: "Trump's Russia Scandal Could Be Bigger Than Watergate"

    "Watergate is the biggest political scandal of my lifetime, until maybe now... Their spigot of lies - can't we finally all agree to call them lies - long ago lost them any semblance of credibility."

    http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-02-15/dan-rather-trumps-russia-scandal-could-be-bigger-watergate


    Young Dan:

    http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user3303/imageroot/2017/02/13/20170215_rather_0.jpg

    ReplyDelete
  26. .

    Quirk:

    "Paranoia"



    I won't call you a nitwit, Doug, or even a poo-poo-doo-doo head but I will say that you are once again pulling shit out of your ass and leaving it scattered all around the bar.

    Since 2003, you have been here sporadically, in the beginning long enough to help drive away the distaff bloggers then disappearing to the BC or Doug-world or wherever the hell you went for long periods only to resurface later, this time for a short time, the next time for longer, wash, rinse, repeat.

    However, I would have expected that even you, between your rants about illegal immigrants and the destruction of California, might have noticed that I, of the various bloggers here, have been the most vocal critic of the government's encroachment on all our rights and especially first amendment and privacy rights. Where we differ however is my umbrage isn’t selective. It is non-partisan. Yours on the other hand is very selective, the only bad actors being the Dems.

    Clinton Era:

    The Gorelick Wall

    Obama Exit:

    No Wall at All


    Are you kidding me? Are you sure you haven’t missed someone there, old boy?

    Bush

    The Homeland Security Act

    The Department of Homeland Security (that actually consolidated those 17 agencies)

    The Patriot Act.



    What hypocritical bullshit you offer.

    Face it, your little rant isn’t about ‘our’ privacy rights. You’re not bringing this up because of shit happening everyday to ordinary Americans. You’re doing it because one of yours is being gored.

    Special prosecutors? I love em..

    Snowden? To my mind, a hero.

    Classified info? The classification of material is ‘for the most part’ bullshit. [Bush went back and started ‘reclassifying’ and trying to call back information that had been available in the public domain for up to 3 decades. How friggin 1984 is that?]

    Flynn? Any way light can legally be shed on the actions of ANY of these guys to my mind is a good thing.

    Legally? Don’t make me laugh. When has legality meant anything to these dicks, Dem or GOP?

    The last thing the current ruling troika is interest in is legality or truth for that matter. Their prime interest? Bullshit and bubblegum and changing the subject and making excuses.

    If you want an answer, Doug? Just mention my name and I’ll give it to you.

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, Doug, just mention his name, and he'll give it to you !

      Delete
  27. .

    MOMEWed Feb 15, 01:08:00 PM EST
    That's not even close to being accurate


    Really, Mome. Where did I go wrong?


    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Don't mention his sacred name, MOME, then he can't give it to you.

      Delete
  28. .

    Idaho BobWed Feb 15, 06:22:00 PM EST
    Debunking Time’s “fact check” on non-citizen voting

    http://hotair.com/archives/2017/02/15/debunking-times-fact-check-on-non-citizen-voting/



    A perfect example of idiot prose.

    Translation: Sure, the info Time reports on is true but what about all the illegal voters that don't get caught. Shouldn't everyone want to know about them too?

    Good lord, the 'when did you stop beating your wife' defense.

    Well, various administrations, Dem and GOP, have looked at this problem, as state SOS (it's their job), as have separate commissions at the state and federal levels when specific charges have been raised, and even newspapers as with the 2000 presidential raise in Florida. They have come up empty.

    Perhaps, its time for hotair to come up with 'actual evidence' of the fraud they purport instead of making fools of themselves. Again.

    .
    POSTED AT 4:01 PM ON FEBRUARY 15, 2017 BY JAZZ SHAW

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I DID NOT MENTION YOUR NAME.

      WHY ARE YOU GIVING IT TO ME ?

      Delete
    2. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    3. Because you are an idiot who posts idiocy.

      Delete
  29. (CNN) Andrew Puzder has withdrawn as President Donald Trump's choice for labor secretary, a dramatic decision caused by a GOP revolt that claimed the first Cabinet nominee of the new administration.

    SOLIDARITY ???

    ReplyDelete
  30. And here ...

    I doubt this is a piece of "Fake News", from the WaPo ...

    Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said Wednesday that she will vote against the confirmation of Scott Pruitt to run the Environmental Protection Agency because “[he] and I have fundamentally different views of the role and mission” of the agency.

    SOLIDARITY ... not

    ReplyDelete
  31. When North Korea held a state funeral for its leader, Kim Jong Il, in 2011, one son was conspicuously absent.

    The absence of Kim Jong Nam – the eldest son of the family, who was bound by Korean tradition to preside over the funeral – was all the evidence outside analysts needed to see how isolated he had become from the centre of power in North Korea, the world's most secretive regime.

    ...

    There were no markers or police tape at Terminal 2 on Wednesday to indicate that a crime had been committed.

    Airport workers who had seen Kim said on Wednesday that they had been ordered not to discuss the case.

    ...

    Ever since Kim Jong Un succeeded his father in 2011, "there has been a standing order" to assassinate his half brother, Lee Byung-ho, the director of the South's National Intelligence Service, said during a closed-door briefing at the National Assembly, according to lawmakers who attended it.

    ReplyDelete

  32. Shades of a Madoff Manipulation ???

    The company has a market cap of $1.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.95 and a beta of 1.27. SodaStream International has a 12 month low of $13.29 and a 12 month high of $47.50

    Sodastream, which had been on the verge of leaving Israel, sees in a period of about two months, the stock value and market capitalization triple ...

    In anticipation of ...

    SodaStream International had a net margin of 6.92% and a return on equity of 9.60%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year.

    Market manipulation seems to be evident ... Will have to check with Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson's super secret Panama contacts to confirm this ...




    https://www.thecerbatgem.com/2017/02/15/sodastream-international-ltd-soda-issues-earnings-results.html

    ReplyDelete
  33. Crazy ass rat hole is back, Liar, Self Confessed War Criminal, Dead Beat Dad, lover of guns, hater of Jews, never had any cattle, not even a cowboy hat....

    His wife fled from him as soon as she got out of the USA hospital where she "dropped the kid" back to the security of her family in Central America.

    The vast majority here have urged him to get psychological help, but he never does....

    Quirk's diagnosis was best....

    Time to take a nap here.

    Cheers to all you others !

    Ciao...

    ReplyDelete

  34. .

    The Fly on the Wall

    Are Kellyanne Conway's days limited in the Trump administration?

    The Flynn 'resignation' makes it clear that the Tangerine Don and the ruling troika are perfectly willing to cut their losses when things get too hot. Likewise, mavericks within their GOP have already indicated their willingness to go against Trump if it suits them.

    Back to Kellyanne...

    Today, it's been reported she has been banned from the 'Morning Joe' show for being 'not credible anymore'. She was also previously banned at CNN for similar reasons.

    Conway of 'alternative facts' infamy and the 'Bowling Green Massacre' flub, was recently portrayed in a bizarre and very troubling SNL skit which portrayed her as a news whore needy for attention. The meme circling at this time follows the same theme.

    Kellyanne is accused of 'being out of the loop' at the White House, not 'privy to key meetings', of 'lying' because she is not briefed properly on the latest Trump policy.

    It will be interesting to see who leaves first, Kellyanne Conway or Sean Spicer.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  35. .

    Trump is learning...


    When embarrassing e-mails were leaked during the campaign, the Clinton team tried to shift attention away from the substance of the e-mails and instead direct it to the Russians for leaking the material.

    Now with the poorly handled Flynn affair, rather than explaining what Flynn was talking to the Russians about, i.e. the substance of the affair, the Trump team s trying to concentrate attention on the leaks themselves.

    Way to go.


    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      Illegal leaks?

      Gee, seems like only yesterday that the Trumpsters were laughing about Trump jokingly asking that Russia come up with those 30,000 missing e-mails.

      .

      Delete
    2. .

      In a single day, in responding to the questions surround Flynn's Russian connections, Trump responded by...

      - Blaming the Media

      - Blaming the intelligence agencies

      - Blaming an attempt to cover up the 'disastrous' defeat the Democrats suffered in the election

      .

      Delete
    3. .

      WRT the last excuse, Trump kind of reprised it today in his combined presser with Bibi Netanyahu.

      When asked about the growing incidents of anti-Semitic incidents in the US, Trump didn't respond directly but instead went into one of is patented rambles responding that "We are going to do everything within our power to stop long-simmering racism and every other thing that's going on." Then turning to Bibi, he said, “I just want to say that we are very honored by the victory that we had. Three-hundred six electoral college votes,” he said. “We were not supposed to crack 220.”

      Trump then noted that his daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner are Jewish, along with their children.

      “You’re going to see a lot of love” over the next four or eight years, he assured Bibi.

      .

      Delete
    4. .

      ... growing incidence of anti-Semitic incidents...


      .

      Delete
    5. .

      I just noticed the phrase has a certain pleasant sibilance.

      .

      Delete
  36. North Korea did, however, try to convince Malaysian authorities not to carry out an autopsy on Mr Kim's body and asked for it to be immediately handed over to North Korean officials.

    Malaysian authorities carried out the autopsy anyway late on Wednesday.

    ...

    South Korea's spy agency told lawmakers that the north had been trying to kill Mr Kim for five years and there had been previous botched attempts. They offered a single motive: Kim Jong-un's paranoia over his estranged older half-brother.

    ReplyDelete
  37. the rat speaks..

    SodaStream International (NASDAQ:SODA) opened at 47.35 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $42.35 and its 200-day moving average is $33.04.


    Do you remember when you used to bitch like a stuck pig when SodaStream was much less expensive and I recommended the company?


    HUH?

    Do you remember?

    SodaStream International (NASDAQ:SODA) opened at 47.35 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $42.35 and its 200-day moving average is $33.04.

    LOL

    Jack "the retarded" Hawkins...

    The professional stalker of the "chocolate emporium" for several years...

    The liar who claimed to have a source INSIDE the AZ FBI who claimed he saw a file on ME...

    Ah Jack the ripper, the professional gun for hire, pot smoking arms seller in AZ....

    Always full of shit...

    Always repeating his slurs, lies and distortions...

    Schooled by everyone here numerous times...

    Jack "the Rat" Hawkins is a fraud...

    LOL

    ReplyDelete
  38. The letter said: “I hope you cancel the order for the punishment of me and my family. We have nowhere to go, nowhere to hide, and we know that the only way to escape is committing suicide.”

    ...

    But his attempt to visit Tokyo Disneyland reportedly soured North Korea’s leadership on his potential as a successor. Kim Jong Nam had said he had no political ambitions, although he was publicly critical of the North Korean regime and his half brother’s legitimacy in the past.

    In 2010, he was quoted in Japanese media as saying he opposed dynastic succession in North Korea. Among Kim Jong Un’s executions and purges, the most spectacular was the 2013 execution of his uncle, Jang Song Thaek, once considered the country’s second- most powerful man, for what the North alleged was treason.

    ReplyDelete
  39. .

    Trump Knows a Guy

    https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/15/us/politics/trump-intelligence-agencies-stephen-feinberg.html?_r=0

    WASHINGTON — President Trump plans to assign a New York billionaire to lead a broad review of American intelligence agencies, according to administration officials, an effort that members of the intelligence community fear could curtail their independence and reduce the flow of information that contradicts the president’s worldview.

    The possible role for Stephen A. Feinberg, a co-founder of Cerberus Capital Management, has met fierce resistance among intelligence officials already on edge because of the criticism the intelligence community has received from Mr. Trump during the campaign and since he became president. On Wednesday, Mr. Trump blamed leaks from the intelligence community for the departure of Michael T. Flynn, his national security adviser, whose resignation he requested.

    There has been no announcement of Mr. Feinberg’s job, which would be based in the White House, but he recently told his company’s shareholders that he is in discussions to join the Trump administration. He is a member of Mr. Trump’s economic advisory council.

    Mr. Feinberg, who has close ties to Stephen K. Bannon, Mr. Trump’s chief strategist, and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, declined to comment on his possible position. The White House, which is still working out the details of the intelligence review, also would not comment...


    It's hard to gin up any sympathy for the intelligence agencies, yet, it is passing strange that Mr. Trump always seems to have a guy.


    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      No Matter the Issue, Trump Knows a Guy

      WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump knows a guy.

      No matter what issue Trump is addressing, he seems either to know somebody with a relevant personal experience or he's got a firsthand tale to recount.

      When he met airline CEOs on Thursday, Trump said his own pilot — "who's a real expert" — had told him about problems with obsolete equipment.

      When he met business and economic experts a week earlier, Trump cited the difficulties his friends in business were having borrowing money from banks as he spoke about the need to reduce financial regulations.

      When he approvingly sized up Britain's vote to leave the European Union, Trump said last month that he'd had a "very bad experience" in his own businesses when dealing with the EU bureaucracy.
      "Getting the approvals from Europe," he said, "was very, very tough."

      Call him the anecdotal president: For good or ill, Trump processes policy proposals through his own personal frame of reference.

      "It's all about him," says Jeff Shesol, who wrote speeches for President Bill Clinton. "His frame for Europe, his frame for the airlines, his frame for the banking system ... is himself."

      It's not necessarily a bad thing to draw on real-world experiences in developing or justifying policy.

      Plenty of presidents and politicians have recognized the value of anecdotal storytelling in advancing their agendas.

      President Barack Obama offered his own improbable life story as a metaphor for the wide-open possibilities available to all Americans. And he frequently drew on the concerns that came up in the 10 letters a day that he read from people who wrote to the White House.
      Clinton was famous for sketching his encounters with ordinary Americans.

      President Lyndon Johnson drew on his early experiences teaching disadvantaged Mexican-Americans in stressing the importance of education and economic opportunity for all Americans. "I think it was then that I made up my mind that this nation could never rest while the door to knowledge remained closed to any American," Johnson said after signing the Higher Education Act of 1965.

      "Great Communicator" Ronald Reagan related the story of a woman who falsely collected welfare payments — then parlayed it into a stereotype of "welfare queens" cheating the system.

      Kathleen Hall Jamieson, a University of Pennsylvania professor specializing in political communication, says that in his first three weeks in office, Trump has surpassed even Reagan in his reliance on the use of "argument by anecdote."


      {...}

      Delete
    2. {...}

      "Given the extemporaneous nature of Trump's presidency," she says, "we can reasonably assume that these individual moments are playing a more important role for him" in developing policy than they did for presidents past.

      The risk, she adds, is that an overreliance on personal experiences "can lead to the assumption that something is typical when it's atypical."

      With Trump, it's hard to tell exactly what goes into his policymaking. But the billionaire businessman-turned-politician cites experiences from his own, very rarefied world that wouldn't necessarily track those of ordinary Americans.

      When he complained about onerous EU regulations, Trump appeared to be alluding to his failure to get approval for a sea wall at the Trump Organization's golf resort in Ireland.

      When he talked during the campaign about crumbling airport infrastructure, he mentioned the potholes at New York's LaGuardia Airport — where Trump would have landed in his gilded private jet.

      When he talked about the dangers of nuclear weaponry during the campaign, he would often invoke the expertise of his "brilliant" late Uncle John, a scientist at MIT.

      In some cases, Trump may be drawing lessons from somewhat scrambled tales.

      In calling for an investigation into alleged wide-scale voter fraud, for example, Trump has privately related a story about a pro golfer who either told Trump he had trouble voting himself or who had a friend who wasn't allowed to vote even as others who somehow looked like they should be eligible to vote cast ballots, according to The New York Times.

      Golfer Bernard Langer, a German citizen who is not eligible to vote in the U.S., later issued a statement to Golf Digest saying that elements of the story had gotten lost in translation. Langer said he'd told a friend the story of someone who couldn't vote, and that tale had made its way to someone with ties to the White House and "from there, this was misconstrued."


      As for Trump's difficulties with the EU, he did run into regulatory problems with the proposed sea wall at his Irish golf course, but he also encountered local opposition to that project.

      In an interview in December, Trump said he'd also sought approval for a "massive, beautiful expansion" of the course but had dropped the idea after getting the OK from Ireland because it would have taken years to get EU clearance. However, there's no record of him seeking approval for such an expansion.


      .

      Delete
    3. .

      With Trump as president and given the convoluted business interests of the Trump Empire the question of conflicts of interests and quid quo pros are bound to arise and one can only wonder how long it will take for Trump's signature phrase to change from

      "Eh, I know a guy."

      to

      "Eh, it fell off a truck."

      .

      Delete
  40. Cerberus also owns Remington Outdoor, a major firearms manufacturer.

    In 2008, Feinberg also considered investing in Blackwater, the controversial security firm founded by Erik Prince, a former member of the Navy SEALs, before it was ultimately acquired by other investors.

    New York magazine reported last year that Feinberg went to Blackwater’s North Carolina compound in 2005 to take firearms training.

    ReplyDelete
  41. .

    Trump quote:

    Hey, I am the number one fan of the Jewish state. I love Florida.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  42. Both of them “agreed that the Iran nuclear deal is a terrible deal for the United States, Israel, and the world,” the statement said.

    “The President assured the Prime Minister that Iran must not, and will not, obtain nuclear weapons capability,” it added. They were also said to discuss the crisis in Syria, the fight against the Islamic State terrorist organization, and promoting Arab-Israeli ties.

    The White House also said a “working group” will be formed to “focus on enabling the growth of the Palestinian economy,” long a priority of US foreign policy.

    ReplyDelete
  43. Don't mention Q____K's name, everyone.

    It's his opening to give it to you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I often used the name QUART in the past to avoid having it given to me, rather than the name Q____K.

      Just a suggestion.

      Delete
  44. I have a feeling plenty of bikers are going to turn up tomorrow at The Flaming Ixion Wheel at the Casino with tomatoes in hand.

    ReplyDelete
  45. At least half of Quart's posts consist of virtue signaling.

    If he were a bird, he'd be singing -

    vrrr too

    vrrr too

    Oh, the bikers are showing up tomorrow, for sure.

    Heh heh heh

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. La Tomatina -

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Tomatina

      Delete
    2. Someone's going to give it to Quart tomorrow.

      HA HA !

      Delete
    3. Will Maria, Chin Chin, Candy Cain and that gal Sal join in ?

      Delete
    4. Doug's flying over for the event from Maui.

      I'm already in place.

      Delete
  46. It gladdened my heart to see Bibi and The Donald getting along so well today.

    The Donald calls Bibi "Bibi".

    Bibi was laughing and smiling....thumbs up....

    ReplyDelete
  47. After Likening Trump to Hitler, Journalists Upset They're Not Getting Called on for Questions....DRUDGE

    Poor babies....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      Right, who would have the chutzpah to suggest something like that? Disgusting.

      Oh, wait.

      “I mean what was he doing — what was he doing with Lee Harvey Oswald shortly before the death, before the shooting?” Trump said. “It’s horrible.”

      Donald Trump insinuating that Ted Cruz' father was somehow tied to the Kennedy assassination, repeating an unsubstantiated story initially concocted by the National Enquirer.

      [Note: Mr Trump and National Enquirer CEO David Pecker are close friends. The National Enquirer also endorsed Mr Trump for president, a first for the publication.]

      Trump knows a guy.

      .

      Delete
    2. 10 stories the National Enquirer actually got right

      http://politicschatter.com/politics-talk/slideshow/stories-national-enquirer-actually-got-right/

      Delete
  48. .

    MARCH 8 - NATIONAL MAN-CAVE DAY


    Women worldwide will go on strike March 8


    After the massive turnouts at Women's Marches across the globe last month, calls for a general women's strike quickly began floating around the internet. The Women's March organizers teased the idea earlier this month but gave no specifics. Then last week, a group of feminist scholars wrote an op-ed in the Guardian calling for a women's strike on March 8—International Women's Day—and now Women's March organizers have also co-signed the date...

    =============================================================

    ...the authors of the Guardian op-ed, which include feminist icon Angela Davis, made clear what women and allies can do on March 8: 

    "The idea is to mobilize women, including trans women, and all who support them in an international day of struggle—a day of striking, marching, blocking roads, bridges, and squares, abstaining from domestic, care and sex work, boycotting, calling out misogynistic politicians and companies, striking in educational institutions. These actions are aimed at making visible the needs and aspirations of those whom lean-in feminism ignored: women in the formal labor market, women working in the sphere of social reproduction and care, and unemployed and precarious working women..."



    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "feminist icon Angela Davis"

      Murdering Communist Black Bitch Angela Davis.

      Delete
    2. Murdering Communist Black Bitch UC PROFESSOR Angela Davis.

      Delete
  49. .

    National Security Advisor

    It's being reported that Vice Admiral John Hayward has been tapped for the national security advisor post replacing Flynn.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  50. .

    Report: Donald Trump 2020 Posters Will Go On Sale This Saturday

    Trump Kicks Off His 2020 Reelection Campaign on Saturday

    Twenty-nine days after taking office, Donald Trump will launch his 2020 reelection campaign with a rally in Melbourne, Fl. this Saturday.

    Famed investigative reporter, C.C. Kane reports that reliable sources say this idea was cooked up by Trump strategist and designated faux-news author Stephen Miller during the ruling troika’s morning cappuccino break. Mr. Miller was quoted as saying, “Look, our start has been kind of rocky. I accept a small part of the blame for that. But no one can question that our presidential campaign was hugely successful. Let’s capitalize on that success, do what’s proved successful in the past, and in the process suck the air out of the room on all these media attacks on what we are trying to do now. I truly believe that if we start now, you will be holding another record breaking inauguration by mid-2018.”

    .

    ReplyDelete
  51. .

    Kate Upton, three time Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue cover girl coming up on CNBC.

    Woo hoo

    .

    ReplyDelete
  52. Careful crossing the border - they can make you unlock your phone and/or computer and poke about if they want.

    https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/02/14/business/border-enforcement-airport-phones.html

    ReplyDelete
  53. What would you be hiding, Ash ?

    The porn movies of famed investigative reporter C.C. Kane ?

    ReplyDelete
  54. TRUMP APPROVAL POPS TO 55%....DRUDGE

    ReplyDelete
  55. February 14, 2017
    Contemplation versus the Digital Age
    By Dale Leuck

    ....In his 1936 essay entitled "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,"

    Benjamin details how mechanical reproduction of art opened doors of sense perception that would accelerate the ascendancy of culture over religion (and tradition generally) by empowering politicized mass culture. Benjamin begins by recounting how the uniqueness of art originally had its intrinsic value in ritualistic cult tradition, and how mechanical reproduction liberated art from that dependency, transforming its sense perception from ritual value to what he terms "exhibition value." As exhibition value increased through film and eventually digital devices of the present age, the "free floating contemplation" associated with cult value gave way to an emotional stirring from within, as the viewer no longer feels himself absorbed into the subjective image of contemplation, but rather absorbs the imagery such that specific aspects of his personality are "activated," as conditioned by the mass exhibition of the reproduced object.

    This happens because a reproduction is independent of an original in time and space and can bring out aspects of an original subject, unattainable to the naked eye, but that can be distorted, by a lens (for example), as well as omitting meaningful aspects. Benjamin denotes those omitted qualities of a reproduction as its "aura," the "essence of all that is transmissible from its beginning, ranging from its substantive duration to its testimony to the history which it has experienced." The absence of an "aura" is particularly significant because that is the way in which "the technique of reproduction detaches the reproduced object from the domain of tradition." Hence, reproductions, from early film to recent digital imagery and text messaging, are instrumental in breaking down traditions (spiritual and otherwise) through interference with cognitive contemplation.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Uniqueness and permanence are thus replaced with the transitory and reproducible in the human consciousness. By destroying the aura of an object, mechanical reproduction provides a mode of sense perception whereby the "sense of the universal equality of things" becomes a core value. Digital imagery hastens this process.

      We can observe how far this process has advanced in the writings of, say, Ash.

      Delete
    2. http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2017/02/contemplation_versus_the_digital_age.html

      Delete
    3. Thus we observe in Ash the mimicking of the meme of the moment all week long, until the next meme comes waltzing along...by contrast Q____K's aura is still somewhat coherent....

      Delete
    4. Damn my computer is not allowing me to post the last half of my quote....I will keep trying....disappearing post syndrome

      Delete
    5. .

      Otherwise known as progressive Alzheimer's.

      .

      Delete
  56. Q____K dreams of servicing Morning Joe and Mika, orally.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ash is a lost cause.

      We all need to pray for the preservation of Q____K's aura, which is hanging by a thread, like a spider hanging over the fires of impersonality.

      Delete
    2. His "mind" is an MSM Program.

      Delete
    3. Memed plumb to death....no personality left at all.....

      Sad

      Delete
  57. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I give up.

      Just read the entire article.

      Haven't had the disappearing post syndrome in a long while but it always seems to occur when posting something from American Thinker.

      I believe Q____K is behind this someway....

      Delete
    2. No one should be exposed to any information that contradicts the disinformation of the MSM.

      So says Q____K.

      Delete
  58. Trump tearing up MSM and Obama's asses:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVVTb3nZssQ

    Live

    ReplyDelete
  59. ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — You can still pass "Go" and collect $200 on the Monopoly board, but you soon won't be able to do it with the thimble game piece.
    Voters have rejected the thimble, an integral part of the game since being added to Monopoly in 1935. The move is part of a campaign to select the next generation of game pieces.
    Hashtags, emojis and even a rubber duck may replace dogs, cats and hats in an upcoming version.

    ...not in DougWorld.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    2. Gamblers, and voters too, are ecstatic with the new Flaming Ixion Human Spin Wheel at the Coeur d'Alene Casino.

      I'll try to check in later and see how Q____K is getting along in his new job.

      Got to drive in and get the mail now though.

      Yesterday he was complaining about how all the blood was going away from his center to his extremities, and how he was getting bombarded with tomatoes.

      I replied by saying:

      At least some blood is going to your noggin for once

      Delete
  60. The Donald says the administration is 'running like a fine tuned machine'.

    Sounds like The Donald took my suggestion of oiling the sucker up with Rape Seed Oil....

    Good for the Administration, good for the rape seed farmers....

    Win Win

    The Donald likes that.

    ReplyDelete


  61. Border Patrol agents find drug catapult at US-Mexico border


    DOUGLAS, ARIZ.
    Border Patrol agents in southern Arizona say they've seized two bundles of marijuana that were catapulted across the border from Mexico.

    While patrolling an area east of the Douglas Port of Entry last Friday, agents noticed several people running from the border fence as they approached.

    They reported finding a catapult system attached to the south side of the fence and two bundles of marijuana, weighing more than 47 pounds combined.

    Agents dismantled the catapult, which was seized by Mexican authorities.

    Federal authorities say in recent years, smugglers have thrown drug bundles over the border or shot them over with devices such as air-powered cannons and catapults.

    Smugglers also have placed vehicle ramps next to the border fence or wall and using ultralight aircraft to drop shipments in the desert.

    http://www.sacbee.com/latest-news/article132725789.html#storylink=cpy

    ReplyDelete
  62. Trump tearing up CNN's ass.

    Quirk will be in mourning.

    ReplyDelete
  63. "The public sees the bias."

    ...Trump has yet to meet Quirk.

    ReplyDelete
  64. Uranium, reset button, CNN debate questions...

    Hillary!

    ReplyDelete
  65. from Our World Today:

    Woolly mammoth on verge of resurrection...
    Dogs have human-like sense of morality...
    Woman caught smuggling 13 pounds of horse genitals in luggage...
    Man Pinned To Spinning Wheel At Casino - Can't Get Down - Pleads For Help....DRUDGE



    Dogs have human-like sense of morality... sounds problematical to me....

    ReplyDelete
  66. .

    Text to Chin Chin Kane, Cincinnati Enquirer

    Re: Reimbursement - Mr. Bob and the Harambe Gorilla Case Incurred Expenses

    Chin Chin,

    Hope you can help me out with a little problem I’m having with Accounting at the Enquirer regarding my request for reimbursement for my car, a classic Cord, and my Kimoto Dragon skin wallet with $79,828 in walking around money that were stolen when I was attacked by a gang of 2 thugs…no wait, make that 5 or 6 thugs while working on the Harambe Gorilla case. With regard to the car, accounting says they are unable find any proof of registration or title for such a car in my name. They have asked me to provide them with some proof I actually owned such a car. As for the money, they say $79K is a big amount to be carrying around in a suit case much less a wallet and have asked for a more detailed explanation. On the wallet, they apologize but say that even if they can locate the wallet they would be unable to return it to me and would be forced to report me to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for prosecution under the Endangered Species Act. All of this is causing me a big problem, Chin.

    I told accounting to forget about the wallet. As a gesture of good faith, I will eat the loss and write it off as a cost of doing business. As for the Cord, I have hired August Provonovic, grandson of Alexis ‘The Artiste’ Provonovic, to help me locate my lost papers. He is very good in matters like this. In the interim, I have picked up a Honda Civic for transportation. However, I am really hurting for money at the moment and could use your help in securing some kind of advance for the work I have done so far.

    You will find my progress report on the case (and the referenced expenses) in my previous texts to you.

    {...}

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. {...}

      Whereas, I had planned on heading directly to the casino in Coeur d’Alene, there was a change of plan. After initially rejecting a plan put forth by one of my key associates from ‘down under’, a man code named ‘Sam’ for security purposes, I headed back towards Missoula and after travelling only a short distance I came across my UBER driver tramping through the snow.

      With a promise of a hefty wage and a generous benefits package, all to be negotiated later, I convinced him to accept a position as my driver, body guard, and general factotum. He is a marvelous though frankly quiet unusual specimen and I believe this will be the start of a beautiful working relationship.

      The man is physically intimidating. He is huge and barely fits behind the wheel of the Honda Civic [Note to self: got to get a bigger car maybe an SUV]. He is an excellent driver though the metal prosthetic hand on his left arm causes some difficulty maneuvering in tight spaces. This inconvenience is more than offset by the flexibility it provides when using the hand as a club and/or battering ram or when using any of the optional ‘tools’ that can be fitted into the assessory slots of the hand, knives or picks, screwdrivers (flat or Phillips), cork screw, finger nail clipper, scissors, etc. He is a product of the EU’s crazy open-borders policy. He is French and his name is Claus O’Reilly. He is an expert in hand to hand combat and his specialties are Brazilian jiu-jitsu and muay Thai. He says he is proficient in all weapons from his time spend as a plain clothes operative in the Vatican Gendarme Corps.

      I don’t doubt it for a moment. He is a truly imposing figure.

      {...}


      Delete
    2. {...}

      After hiring Claus, I thought about heading back to the Pandora’s Box and trying to find those two transvestites that had rolled me, the two I have started thinking of as ‘Bert’ and ‘Ernie’; but instead, feeling a responsibility to the job I had committed to, I decided to head for Coeur d’Alene.

      When we got to the casino, Claus followed me in. I told him to wait by the door and make sure Mr. Bob didn’t sneak out that way. I proceeded to the slots and questioned the first old lady I saw. I showed her a picture of Mr. B and asked if she had seen him.

      “That prick. He’s always stealing my seat when I have to tinkle. When I come back he’s sitting there jamming nickels into the machine I spent all night getting primed. If my Charlie was still around, he’d kic…”

      “Any idea where he is now,” I asked.

      “By now, he’s usually lost whatever money he came with and has got his free t-shirt so he heads out to the alley to drink white lighting and pop GMO’s with the injuns.”

      {...}

      Delete
    3. {...}

      I thanked her and headed for the back door. Halfway to the door, from over at the bar, I heard, “Hey, that must be him, that Smith fella, the one ol’ Bob said would be good for the Fiery Wheel he showed us the picture of. Let's get him.”

      I turned only to see 5 or 6 Americans Indians (or whatever the proper term is these days) approaching from the bar. Anyone who has watched a bunch of drunken Indians, filled to the gills with fire water, trying to 'rush' across a crowded casino floor, bumping into machines and people and each other, knows it can be downright hilarious, like a Chinese fire drill, clearly reminiscent of the days of the Keystone Cops. I had to smile for a moment before the fact that there were actually 'six' of them tumbling towards me gave me reason for pause. I began backing away towards the front door. It was then that Claus rushed past me and made quick work of the rag-tag renegade band.

      I quickly checked the alley and found no one there though it was obvious that Mr. B had been there earlier. Among the detritus in the alley, the used condoms, the dirty needles, the empty bottles, the circle of 5 gallon pails and a tarp that was used for a makeshift smoke lodge, the empty packages of Monsanto GMO seeds, I spotted the large pink garbage bag described by witnesses in Moscow as the one carried by Mr. B on his trips out picking up empty bottles along the roadside. Frustrated, I returned inside.

      We were headed for the front door when we were confronted by a formidable looking band of creepy old ladies. It was a little unnerving. Just as I glanced sideways and noticed Claus was methodically fitting a stiletto attachment to the center slot on his prosthetic hand, one of the old codgers stepped forward.

      “We heard you were looking for that prick, Bob.”

      “Yes, ma’am, yes I am.”

      She looked at Claus who was now removing the stiletto attachment, then turned back to me and said, “Are you going to kill that old fool?”

      “Well, ma’am, I’ve only been hired to locate him at this time.” But seeing the disappointment on the ladies faces, I quickly added, “But accidents have been known to happen,” as I gave her a knowing wink.

      She gave a wry smile and said, “Sally, one of our friends, left here earlier to feed her cats but she said that she saw Bob leave about 45 minutes ago. He was bviously high on something, stumbling out of the casino saying something about ‘dicks on a wheel’ or ‘wheel of sticks’ or ‘fiery wheel of Ix’, crazy stuff like he usually does, and saying he was heading south to visit friends along the Snake River near Gooding.”

      I thanked her and left cursing myself that I had come so close and missed him again.

      I turned to Claus and said, “Saddle up, Amigo. We’re heading south.”

      As we stepped outside, Claus surveyed the town and said, “Mon Dieu, what’s wrong with these, how you say, friggin yokels. Can’t the hicks at least clean the streets of snow? Alouette.”

      “Doesn’t look like it, friend. Better warm up the car”

      Anyway Chin Chin, I could really use that advance. We’ve got a full tank of gas but I am down to my emergency cash, that $100 bill I keep stashed in my boot for situations like this. The problem is Claus says that he’s hungry and I don’t know if I mentioned it but Claus is a pretty big boy. This might be a problem. I will stop at the Western Union office in Boise and pick up the wire transfer on our way to the Gooding area.

      Thanks,

      Quirk Smith.

      (Private Dick)

      .

      Delete
  67. All of this is causing me a big problem, Chin.

    Shouldn't that read Chinny Chin Chin,Honey Bunch ?.

    In your position on the Flaming Ixion Human Spinning Wheel you really need to suck up.

    It's a tough way to make a living.

    Chin Chin did get the message though, up here in our VIP Suite at the Casino.

    I may walk down to the gaming hall in a while, see what's up.

    The big illegal immigrant named Juan who has joined the group can handle all these gals for awhile....they are all enjoying fine wines and crab legs, and one another....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Chin Chin, by the way, doesn't buy a line of the story you are floating.

      She knows exactly where you are....

      Delete
    2. The real miracle is that you can still text and post in your contorted position.

      Truly, you do have some skills lacking in many others.

      Delete
  68. Big Nothing Flynn Burger -

    NPR intel source: No evidence of wrongdoing in Flynn-Kislyak transcripts
    POSTED AT 2:01 PM ON FEBRUARY 16, 2017 BY ED MORRISSEY


    Politically, the ouster of Michael Flynn as national security adviser has been a bombshell in Washington DC and the Trump administration. Legally, it’s turning out to be a dud — at least so far. NPR’s source within the intelligence community says nothing in the transcript of the December call between Flynn and Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak that violated any laws, nor did it show that Flynn had any particular direction to conduct the conversation (via PJ Media’s Patrick Poole):

    A current U.S. intelligence official tells NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly that there is no evidence of criminal wrongdoing in the transcripts of former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn’s conversations with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, although the official noted that doesn’t rule out the possibility of illegal actions.

    The official also says that there are recordings as well as transcripts of the calls, and that the transcripts don’t suggest Flynn was acting under orders in his conversations. …

    The intelligence official who has personally seen the transcripts told Mary Louise they contained “no evidence” of criminal wrongdoing, although the official said it can’t be definitively ruled out.

    The official also said there was “absolutely nothing” in the transcripts that suggests Flynn was acting under instructions “or that the trail leads higher.” …

    “I don’t think [Flynn] knew he was doing anything wrong,” the official said. “Flynn talked about sanctions, but no specific promises were made. Flynn was speaking more in general ‘maybe we’ll take a look at this going forward’ terms.”

    There is some small irony in this information coming from yet another leak within the intelligence community. Trump has excoriated leaks from within the IC, claiming that they have waged a war from inside the government against his administration. This leak from yesterday afternoon might suggest that the IC isn’t as monolithically opposed to the Trump administration as first thought.

    Earlier yesterday, NBC’s Pete Williams heard that the FBI hasn’t seen any evidence of deception from Flynn, either:....

    http://hotair.com/archives/2017/02/16/npr-intel-source-no-evidence-of-wrongdoing-in-flynn-kislyak-transcripts/

    ReplyDelete

  69. Text to Felicity Drake...

    (Main Office - Quirk Smith Investigative Services and Skip-Trace Company)

    Look sweetheart, need you to handle a couple things for me. Please...

    - First, send note to Sam in Australia. Tell him thanks for the suggestion on the UBER driver (he'll know what you are talking about). Tell him it looks like it will work out great. Also, mention he should look for a little sign of my appreciation come Christmas time.

    - Please call Emil's classic Build to Order Suits in Boise Idaho. Tell him I will be passing through in about an hour and I need him to put together a new outfit for my new driver, you know, pants, shirt, tie, underclothes, the whole shebang. Oh yea, throw in one of those snazzy limousine driver caps. Claus, our new driver, is about 6'6" tall and I'd estimate has a 54" chest and 34" waist. Tell Emil to make the suit in the slim fit style. Three button I think. Also tell him to leave a little extra room on the left side to accommodate a Galco jackass rig for a Sig Sauer P228.

    Thanks, Sweets, hope to see you soon.

    Right now, we are just leaving a Denny's about an hour outside of Boise. Got intel showing we are heading in the right direction.

    While Claus was finishing his third big breakfast special, I went around the restaurant showing the Mr. B picture and asking if anyone had seen him. One of the waitresses said she had seen him earlier. She had come in early and was just in time to see him being thrown out on his butt.

    She said he was evidently high on something for he was wandering around the restaurant asking where were the complimentary drinks and shrimp bowls they always 'kept in the VIP Suite in the Casino'. He became agitated when told he was not at a casino and certainly not in a VIP Suite. Frustrated, he eventually said he was going downstairs to the gaming tables. Since the grille doesn't have a basement he became even more agitated, dangerously so, when he couldn't find the stars.

    When the day manager and a couple of the short order cooks approached him, he smiled and threw his arms around the manager calling him Juan and giving him a playful noogie. The manager, who's name is Chuck, was a state wrestling champion in high school. With a deft move he was quickly out of Mr. B's grasp and had him in an effective sleeper hold. The cooks then dragged the unconscious Mr. B outside and kicked him to the curb.

    Mr. B eventually recovered consciousness and was last seen picking up empty bottles along the roadside and stuffing them into a discarded Walmart bag as he tried to hitch a ride.

    As soon as Claus finishes the apple pie he ordered as dessert, we will be in pursuit.

    Quirk


    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am following this saga with a great deal of interest.

      But, what is a playful noogie ?

      Is it a cousin of a playful nookie ?

      Thankeee,

      Confused

      Delete
    2. And, I really don't believe a word this internet QuirkCharacter is saying..

      Delete
    3. .

      NOOGIE

      noog·ie

      [ˈno͝oɡē]

      NOUN

      a hard poke or grind with the knuckles, especially on a person's head.


      .

      Delete
  70. SMART MOVE

    DOJ drops appeal of travel ban ruling as Trump promises new executive order
    POSTED AT 6:41 PM ON FEBRUARY 16, 2017 BY ALLAHPUNDIT


    The smart play but surprising even so, as Trump famously doesn’t like to admit mistakes.

    Although I guess he’d say it’s the Ninth Circuit’s mistake that compelled him to do this, not his own. In fact, he did say it:

    “The new order is going to be very much tailored to what I consider to be a very bad decision,” said Trump during a news conference, referring to a decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that blocked his travel ban earlier this month.

    Meanwhile, the Justice Department filed a 47-page brief Thursday telling the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that it does not need a larger panel of judges to rehear its failed emergency challenge to a lower court’s temporary suspension of Trump’s executive order on immigration at this time because a new order is on the way.

    The Justice Department wrote at length about the “seriously flawed” Ninth Circuit ruling from last week, but neverthless said: “(r)ather than continuing this litigation, the President intends in the near future to rescind the order and replace it with a new, substantially revised executive order to eliminate what the panel erroneously thought were constitutional concerns.”

    Consider the DOJ’s dilemma. If they fight on in the Ninth Circuit for a hearing by the entire court of the TRO currently in place on the ban, they’re likely to lose again. It’s a left-wing circuit; adding more liberal judges to the panel isn’t going to get you closer to a right-wing outcome. Then they’d have the option of appealing to the Supreme Court, but Neil Gorsuch isn’t likely to join the bench there until April sometime. Unless you think one of the Court’s four lockstep Democratic hacks is going to switch sides and vote for Trump in an extremely politically charged case, the best-case scenario for SCOTUS is a 4-4 split — and when the Court is tied, it means that the lower court’s ruling stands. The Ninth Circuit’s judgment would remain in place after all. Meanwhile, weeks would pass while the litigation played out with the White House momentarily powerless to stop visitors from the seven countries targeted in the ban from entering the U.S. National security is a perfectly good reason for Trump to bite the bullet, withdraw the current order, and put something new in place — this time thoroughly vetted by the DHS and DOJ and written by the White House’s army of lawyers instead of, say, Stephen Miller.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It’s a safe bet that green-card holders will be exempt from the ban in the new order, whereas in the old one they were initially to be admitted on a case by case basis. Rich Lowry considers another way to tighten things up:

      It could re-fashion the executive order by, say, removing the issue with lawful permanent residents and giving up on the temporary ban, while focusing on stricter vetting through visa issuance procedures at the embassies and via secondary screenings at the airports. This wouldn’t make the legal attacks go away. But it would shift the terrain in the administration’s favor at the same time it wouldn’t give up the core of the policy, as Krauthammer persuasively argues. Remember: the temporary ban is not supposed to be about the temporary ban, but about providing a bridge to stricter vetting.

      Right, the more the White House can do now to emphasize “extreme vetting” over “banning” the more it’ll help Trump by demonstrating that the new policy is narrowly tailored towards national security screening, not out-and-out persona non grata status for entire countries. It may also be that the new EO will make a point of stressing that the ban doesn’t apply to visitors from most Muslim countries, maybe even going so far as to name them individually (Turkey, Jordan, Indonesia, etc). Remember, one of the most controversial holdings in the Ninth Circuit ruling was that Trump’s criticism of Muslims as a private citizen and a presidential candidate could be used as evidence to consider whether the travel ban was actually designed to discriminate against people of a particular religion in the guise of targeting a small number of nations dominated by that religion. Anything Trump can do in the order to counter that impression of his motives is a good idea; you never know what the Supreme Court will do with the Ninth Circuit’s precedent of scrutinizing the president’s statements for evidence of intent. Another thing he could do, of course, would be to add non-Muslim countries with a major terrorist presence to the ban to prove that it’s not aimed at any religion, although that would create problems of its own. Is it worth alienating Colombia, even just for 90 days, by adding them to the order because of FARC?

      If you think Trump’s criticism of judges has been tough so far, wait and see what happens if the next order also ends up being blocked by a court....

      http://hotair.com/archives/2017/02/16/trump-to-withdraw-travel-ban-replace-it-with-new-executive-order/

      Delete
  71. :)

    Absolutely awesome, Quirk! :)

    Quirk and Claus. Just as I envisioned. Claus is going to end up saving Quirk's ass somewhere along the line. Well, I guess he already did back at the casino.

    Christmas is a long way away but it gives me something to look forward to. Big thank you to Quirk!

    Laughed all the way through that at my desk here. Great stuff.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Q____K's ass is already dripping in tomato juice.

      I am thinking of releasing him from his predicament tomorrow, but not very seriously.

      We shall see.

      Delete
    2. We shall see....if there's anything in it for me.

      Delete
    3. AnonymousThu Feb 16, 07:18:00 PM EST
      And, I really don't believe a word this internet QuirkCharacter is saying..

      Delete
    4. Excellent judgement by Anon.

      Delete
  72. The "Dreamer" arrested by ICE has admitted he's a gang banger.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      As are 1.4 million others in the US according to the FBI.

      .

      Delete
    2. That's, what, about 5% or a little more, of the illegals, as a rough estimate ?

      Might be fairly accurate for all I know.

      They are the ones most people would be happy to see leave the country.


      Delete
    3. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    4. .

      :o)

      I won't call you nutz, but...

      The 1.4 million number was for all gang members in the US, in 33,000 gangs. Somehow, I don't think you will find many illegal immigrants in the Highwaymen or the Order.

      .

      Delete
  73. Kamal Essaheb, director of policy and advocacy at the National Immigration Law Center, called on the Trump administration and the Homeland Security Department to be clearer about their plans on immigration issues, saying recent actions appeared "scattershot."

    "We need to have a little bit of empathy for the families that are impacted, who have to sit at the dinner table and make a plan in case a member of the family is deported," he said. "It's all good to say he's got heart for 'dreamer' kids, but they're not the only ones that are afraid."

    Around 730,000 immigrants have been granted DACA status since the program began in 2012. The Homeland Security Department said around 1,500 had the status removed because of criminal convictions or gang affiliations.

    ReplyDelete
  74. I, Claus, to protect my dignity, and my reputation, do swear:

    1) I do not and never have known anyone called Quirk

    2) I do not and never have known anyone called Q____K

    3) I do not and never have known anyone called "Q"

    4) I do not and never have known anyone called Quart

    5) Nor do I wish to ever know such 'people'

    So help me God

    Signed,

    CLAUS

    ReplyDelete
  75. Report: Harward turns down Trump’s offer to replace Flynn due to staffing conflicts, “dysfunctionality” in administration
    POSTED AT 8:01 PM ON FEBRUARY 16, 2017 BY ALLAHPUNDIT


    Yes, well.

    Donald Trump is trying to persuade his preferred candidate to succeed Michael Flynn as national security adviser to change his mind after the retired admiral tapped for the role told the US president that he could not accept the White House position, according to two people familiar with the situation…

    But Mr Harward is said to have turned Mr Trump down. “Harward is conflicted between the call of duty and the obvious dysfunctionality,” said one person with first hand knowledge of the discussions between Mr Trump and Mr Harward. The second person said Mr Trump had asked Mr Harward to return to the White House for another meeting to try to change his mind…

    One of the people familiar with Mr Harward’s decision said he was concerned about whether the top advisers around Mr Trump would allow him to install his own staff on the NSC — particularly after suggestions that KT McFarland, Mr Flynn’s deputy, had been asked to remain. When he was offered the position, Mr Harward had told Mr Trump that he wanted some time to think over the idea.
    Or, to put it another way:

    Follow
    Jake Tapper ✔ @jaketapper
    A friend of Harward's says he was reluctant to take NSA job bc the WH seems so chaotic; says Harward called the offer a "shit sandwich."
    4:22 PM - 16 Feb 2017 · Washington, DC
    9,805 9,805 Retweets 17,719 17,719 likes
    CBS is also reporting that McFarland staying on is a sticking point for Harward:

    Follow
    Major Garrett ✔ @MajorCBS
    Harward turns down National Security Adviser post - dispute is over Flynn staffers, chief among them Deputy NSA McFarland.
    3:14 PM - 16 Feb 2017
    379 379 Retweets 457 457 likes
    Reports were floating around after Flynn quit that McFarland would soon follow him out the door, but Trump told McFarland that she could stay on. What’s odd is that McFarland is better known these days as a Fox News commentator than as some rock-star natsec specialist whose continued tenure is worth losing an able national security advisor over. The last time she worked in government before joining Team Trump was during Reagan’s first term. If you can have a well-respected NSA who’s a Mattis protege, who would doubtless work well with John Kelly, and who may very well bring some stability to a roiling intelligence bureaucracy, why not let him staff up the way he wants?

    But then, staffing conflicts have been a recurring problem in the early days of the administration. Ironically, the worst offender might have been Flynn himself, who wanted more influence in picking personnel at Defense, State, and the CIA than Mattis, Rex Tillerson, and Mike Pompeo were comfortable with. Flynn himself experienced what it was like to have someone go over his head on staffing when Tom Bossert was added as a counterterrorism advisor reporting directly to Trump, not to Flynn, and Steve Bannon was added to the National Security Council’s Principals Committee. The most recent report of a standoff on staffing came a few days ago when Reince Priebus and Rex Tillerson were reported to be at odds over choosing certain key ambassadorships. Tillerson had apparently been promised that he’d have input, then found that in practice he had less input than he thought. Just this morning we had yet another report of a staffing conflict involving Dan Coats, Trump’s nominee for Director of National Intelligence. Why was Trump preparing to appoint an outsider, Stephen Feinberg, to review how America’s intelligence bureaucracy is structured when that would normally be Coats’s job? See why Harward is concerned about “dysfunctionality”?....

    http://hotair.com/archives/2017/02/16/report-harward-turns-down-trumps-offer-to-replace-flynn-due-to-staffing-conflicts-dysfunctionality-in-administration/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. FT: Report: Robert Harward turns down Trump’s national security offer

      Delete
  76. Harward left a military career for a job as chief executive for defense giant Lockheed Martin in the United Arab Emirates, where he is responsible for strategy, operations and growth, according to the company.

    ...

    Trump said Thursday that he didn’t believe Flynn did anything wrong, but he said he did not direct Flynn to call the ambassador and discuss sanctions.

    ReplyDelete
  77. Trump: I didn’t order Flynn to talk sanctions with the Russians — but I would have if he hadn’t
    Feb 16, 2017 4:41 PM by Allahpundit

    http://hotair.com/archives/2017/02/16/trump-i-didnt-order-flynn-to-talk-sanctions-with-the-russians-but-i-would-have-if-he-hadnt/

    :) Heh

    ReplyDelete
  78. "Since retiring I have the opportunity to address financial and family issues that would have been challenging in this position," Harward said in a widely circulated statement. "Like all service members understand, and live, this job requires 24 hours a day, 7 days a week focus and commitment to do it right.

    ...

    After Flynn's tumultuous resignation on Monday, the Trump administration floated a short list of potential replacements that included Harward, Lt. Gen. Joseph Kellogg and retired Army Gen. David Petraeus. Harward was considered the favorite, according to senior officials with knowledge of the matter, and Trump officially offered him the post on Tuesday, according to sources.

    ReplyDelete
  79. House Oversight Chairman Chaffetz refers Bryan Pagliano to DOJ for charges
    POSTED AT 9:21 PM ON FEBRUARY 16, 2017 BY JOHN SEXTON


    Rep. Jason Chaffetz, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, sent a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions today asking Sessions to consider convening a grand jury or bringing charges against Hillary Clinton’s former IT guy, Bryan Pagliano. Pagliano was subpoenaed to testify before the committee last year but refused to appear on two occasions. After the second refusal, the Oversight Committee voted to hold Pagliano in contempt.

    Chaffetz’ letter to AG Sessions reads in part, “Because Pagliano’s job functions included supporting mobile computing issues across the Department, he was uniquely positioned to answer questions regarding State Department policies and practices for preserving records, as well as the technological procedures utilized to do so.” The letter concludes, “In light of Pagliano’s contumacious conduct in refusing to testify, the Department should bring the matter before a grand jury for its action or file an information charging Pagliano with violating 2 U.S.C. § 192.”

    In a statement released by the committee, Chaffetz says, “The authority to compel witnesses is integral to Congress’s and the Committee’s investigative powers. Allowing Mr. Pagliano’s conduct to go unaddressed would gravely harm Congress’s ability to conduct oversight.”

    Pagliano was the person responsible for managing Hillary Clinton’s private email server. He worked for Clinton at the State Department while she was Secretary of State but also maintained her homebrew server in his off hours.

    Pagliano was subpoenaed to appear before the House Oversight Committee twice last September. Mark MacDougall, Pagliano’s attorney, argued his client should not have to appear since he would only be invoking his 5th Amendment right not to testify. Chaffetz insisted he would need to do so in person.

    On September 22, 2016, after his second refusal to appear, the Oversight Committee voted to hold Pagliano in contempt. In a report by Politico published the day of the contempt vote, MacDougall said, “Bryan already asserted his Fifth Amendment right on the record before this Congress. He was ready to do it again today in Executive Session. But the Republicans voted for contempt because he wouldn’t play the role they had scripted – in the campaign ad that they wanted to tape six weeks before the election.”

    Pagliano did appear and give testimony in a lawsuit brought by Judicial Watch last year. During the deposition he invoking the 5th Amendment around 125 times. No video of the deposition was released but journalist Phelim McAleer made a short film based on the verbatim transcript. Watching this you can see why Pagliano did not want to appear before Congress in public....

    http://hotair.com/archives/2017/02/16/house-oversight-chairman-chaffetz-refers-bryan-pagliano-to-doj-for-charges/

    ReplyDelete
  80. Why not give him immunity?

    ...and why not bring back the guys that were given immunity but still did not testify?

    Just a smidgen of law and order in DC couldn't hurt.

    ReplyDelete
  81. Ash beat you to the next thread.

    ReplyDelete
  82. .

    The Fly On The Wall

    Whispers from the West Wing...

    A number of blogs are repeating the story put out by CNN that one of their sources who is a friend of Vice Admiral Bob Harward says the admiral rejected the offer to become Trump's National Security Advisor because the White House is currently so chaotic. Harward is said to have called the offer a "s**t Sandwich".

    Whoa. On another matter, as reported earlier by the Enquirer, it appears the Trump White House is planning on trying to go back to the future.

    President Trump held what can only be described as a bizarre news conference today and has another one planned for Saturday. It's likely we see more of the same. Trump seems to feel confined by being restricted to the White House and seems to miss the rough and tumble jousting of the pressers he used to hold after all of his campaign events.

    That said, the content of the presser can only be described as vintage Trump and vintage nutz. I would think that audience reaction would fall into one of three types...

    - Wild enthusiasm by the die hard portion of his base...
    - A 'there you go again' from another part of the audience, and...
    - A 'Hell no, what is wrong with you, son?' from the remainder of the audience.

    Buzz...buzz...

    CK

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