Two Republican senators claim former FBI Director James Comey drafted a statement of exoneration for Hillary Clinton before an investigation into her emails was completed.
...
Comey publicly announced the FBI would not pursue charges against Clinton in July of last year. Grassley and Graham have sent a letter to current FBI chief Christopher Wray asking for more information on the Comey-Clinton email investigation.
So Comey Decided Not To Prosecute Hillary Months Before He Told Us JAZZ SHAWPosted at 6:01 pm on August 31, 2017
Oh, what a tangled web we weave....
Remember back in the day, during the long death march of the 2016 election, when then FBI Director James Comey came out and almost tearfully told us that after long months of diligent work and exhausting investigation, he’d finally determined that there was nothing to prosecute Hillary Clinton over so everyone should feel free to just get out there and vote for her? (Okay… he didn’t exactly say that, but you get the drift.) Turns out that the decision wasn’t all that laborious for him at all. In fact, he’d made the call months earlier but just didn’t bother to tell anyone. In fact, he’d made it before they were even done interviewing the witnesses. Our Katie Pavlich has the details at Town Hall.
TRENDING: Why did Sheriff Clarke resign?
According to new transcripts released by the Senate Judiciary Thursday afternoon, former FBI Director James Comey made the decision not to refer then Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton for prosecution long before ever interviewing key witnesses. Members of the Committee allege Comey made the decision months before FBI agents were finished with the criminal investigation of her mishandling classified information during her time as Secretary of State.
The transcripts were revealed in a letter sent to current FBI Director Christopher Wray, in which lawmakers are demanding an explanation and more documents surrounding the case.
Comey had made the decision as early as April and even had a draft memo which he circulated around inside the department. The letter contains more revelations, such as the possibility that the FBI had agents working on doing interviews and gathering information who were unaware that a conclusion had already been reached and the outcome was a foregone conclusion.
“It is unclear whether the FBI agents actually investigating the case were aware that Mr. Comey had already decided on the investigation’s outcome while their work was ongoing. However, it appears that the answer to that question may be underneath some of the extensive redactions that the Department made to the transcripts,” the letter continues. Is it just me, or does this revelation throw that infamous tarmac meeting between Loretta Lynch and Bill Clinton into an even harsher light? Clearly the fix was in on this from the beginning. They couldn’t simply flush the investigation entirely in 2015 because it would have stunk to high heaven, but it seems clear that the end game was known long before Comey bothered to draft a memo.
Here’s one other question to ponder as we consider this story. Everything and everything going on inside the FBI over the course of the Russia, Russia, Russia investigation has somehow made it to a reporter from either the New York Times or the Washington Post as soon as a new rumor comes to light. It’s been a sideshow where we might as well have had a direct feed into the FBI offices running 24/7 on CSPAN. How is it that this little nugget never managed to see the light of day for more than a year?
My hunch is Manafort is probably guilty of something or other on taxes or our overseas regulations or some such, but would be surprised if The Donald has a tax problem as he has always hired all those tax lawyers and accountants to, presumably, keep him free of such trouble.
Perhaps everyone in Washington, D. C. should be in prison though.
Democrat Senator Robert Menendez is about to get his:
Prosecutors: Menendez bribery scheme went on for years - POLITICO www.politico.com/story/.../robert-menendez-bribery-trial-prosecution-case-242178 1 day ago - Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez allegedly starting taking bribes from a wealthy donor shortly after he entered the Senate in 2006, federal ...
Menendez pleads with judge to recess corruption trial for major ... www.politico.com/.../menendez-pleads-with-judge-to-recess-corruption-trial-for-majo... Aug 24, 2017 - The situation is creating a 'clash of values,' the senator's lawyers say, that could force Menendez to make an unfair choice.
Prosecutors detail evidence against NJ senator in corruption case ... thehill.com/.../senate/348633-justice-department-details-case-against-new-jersey-senat... 1 day ago - That relationship, prosecutors allege, began as early as 2006, when Menendez first entered in the Senate, and continued until 2013.
Menendez indictment: 3 girlfriends, 7 lavish trips - CNNPolitics www.cnn.com/2015/04/02/politics/menendez-indictment-takeaways/index.html Sen. Robert Menendez pleaded not guilty on Thursday to 14 criminal counts against him, including eight counts of bribery in his dealings with ...
Out this way, only a minority of folks can still recall the name of our Fallen Former Senator Larry "Toe Tapping" Craig, or have any idea what he is up to these days.
He it totally out of the news here. Last I heard he was back east working for some lobbying firm in......Washington, D.C.
It had an odd name, something like Qlobbyists D.C., LLC or some such.
Did you know that Juan Williams, talking head on Fox "The Five", had a major sex scandal some years back ?
Juan Williams: 7 facts about the Fox News analyst - POLITICO www.politico.com/story/2012/08/7-facts-about-foxs-juan-williams-080364 Aug 29, 2012 - Fox News analyst Juan Williams is facing criticism from the Romney ... at The Washington Post accused Williams of sexual harassment.
Thanks to Trump, we're now living in the wonderful world of reality TV ... www.foxnews.com/.../thanks-to-trump-were-now-living-in-wonderful-world-reality-tv-... Aug 7, 2017 - If Michigan voters were willing to overlook tape of Trump boasting about ... Juan Williams currently serves as a co-host of FOX News Channel's ...
The Story of Juan Williams | Vanity Fair www.vanityfair.com/news/business/2012/01/The-Story-of-Juan Jan 17, 2012 - A look at the career of Juan Williams, who juggled jobs at both NPR and Fox News, ... full report on the state of NPR, before and after the Williams scandal. by ... for instance, on the sexual peccadilloes of some participants.
Juan Williams - Salon.com www.salon.com/topic/juan_williams Stories about Juan Williams. ... The Fox News star is very, very sad to say that the same-sex marriage movement is now run by bullies VIDEO. Elias Isquith ... Juan Williams Bio, Fact - married, affair, divorce, wife, net worth frostsnow.com/juan-williams Mar 24, 2016 - Juan Williams biography with personal life, affair and married ... In the early 1990s, he was also accused of several sexual harassment charges.
The number of fallen sex fiendish sinners blabbing on Fox is Legion.
They are all dicks.
Male Angels surely, surely must not have dicks. If they do they must be Fallen Angels.
Former FBI Director James Comey began drafting a statement announcing his decision not to refer then Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton for prosecution in the investigation into her private email use long before interviewing key witnesses, including Clinton herself, according to new transcripts released by the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday afternoon. His mind was made up months before the FBI's "immunity agreements" with top Clinton aides Cheryl Mills and Heather Samuelson, as well.
Via Fox News:
“Conclusion first, fact-gathering second—that’s no way to run an investigation,” Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham wrote in a letter this week to the FBI. “The FBI should be held to a higher standard than that, especially in a matter of such great public interest and controversy.”
...
The letter continues: "It is unclear whether the FBI agents actually investigating the case were aware that Mr. Comey had already decided on the investigation’s outcome while their work was ongoing. However, it appears that the answer to that question may be underneath some of the extensive redactions that the Department made to the transcripts."
Southern Poverty Law Center Transfers Millions in Cash to Offshore Entities Left-wing nonprofit pays lucrative six-figure salaries to top management
The SPLC's chief trial counsel Morris Dees / Getty Images
BY: Joe Schoffstall August 31, 2017 5:00 am
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a liberal, Alabama-based 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charitable organization that has gained prominence on the left for its "hate group" designations, pushes millions of dollars to offshore entities as part of its business dealings, records show.
Additionally, the nonprofit pays lucrative six-figure salaries to its top directors and key employees while spending little on legal services despite its stated intent of "fighting hate and bigotry" using litigation, education, and other forms of advocacy.
The Southern Poverty Law Center is perhaps best known for its "hate map," a collection of organizations the nonprofit deems "domestic hate groups" that lists mainstream conservative organizations alongside racist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan and is often referenced in the media. A gunman opened fire at the Washington, D.C., offices of the conservative Family Research Council in 2012 after seeing it listed as an "anti-gay" group on SPLC's website.
The SPLC has turned into a fundraising powerhouse, recording more than $50 million in contributions and $328 million in net assets on its 2015 Form 990, the most recently available tax form from the nonprofit. SPLC's Form 990-T, its business income tax return, from the same year shows that they have "financial interests" in the Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands, and Bermuda. No information is available beyond the acknowledgment of the interests at the bottom of the form.
However, the Washington Free Beacon discovered forms from 2014 that shed light on some of the Southern Poverty Law Center's transfers to foreign entities.
The SPLC's Form 8865, a Return of U.S. Persons With Respect to Certain Foreign Partnerships, from 2014 shows that the nonprofit transferred hundreds of thousands to an account located in the Cayman Islands....
Dan Rather says he thinks President Trump is "seized with fear" over special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russia's meddling in the 2016 presidential race.
"Donald Trump is afraid," Rather said Wednesday on MSNBC. "He's trying to exude power and strength. He's afraid of something that Mueller and the prosecutors are going to find out."
"A political hurricane is out there at sea for him, we'll call it Hurricane Vladimir if you will, the whole Russian thing," he said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"It's still pretty far out at sea, but each day ... this hurricane, this political hurricane ... is building in intensity." Multiple investigations are looking into Russia's efforts to influence the election, including whether members of Trump's campaign coordinated with Moscow, and new developments continue to emerge.
A report Wednesday said Mueller and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman (D) have teamed up in the ongoing investigation of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.
Politico reported that the statewide investigation could help Mueller in the larger probe into alleged ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Mueller's team is also reportedly looking into Trump's part in the response to reports about the meeting his advisers had with a Russian lawyer during the presidential race.
NBC News reported earlier this week that investigators are trying to determine what Trump knew about the meeting and if he tried to hide its purpose.
Donald Trump Jr., son-in-law Jared Kushner and Manafort were all in attendance at the Trump Tower meeting, which was arranged under the pretense of receiving damaging information about then-Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
Trump and his advisers have repeatedly denied collusion, and Trump in the past has decried the Russia probe as a "witch hunt."
It's not an unusual state of affairs from June through September, monsoon time.
Here in the USA, back in about 1900, something like maybe 10,000 of us were killed in a storm similar to the one we have just experienced.
1900 Galveston hurricane From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search Great Galveston Hurricane of 1900 Category 4 major hurricane (SSHWS/NWS)
Surface weather analysis of the hurricane on September 8, just before landfall. Formed August 27, 1900 Dissipated September 17, 1900 (Extratropical after September 11, 1900)
Fatalities 6,000–12,000 direct Damage $21 million (1900 USD) (equivalent to $605 million in 2016, adjusted for inflation; see Aftermath for more) Areas affected Lesser Antilles, Puerto Rico, Hispaniola, Jamaica, Cuba, Turks and Caicos Islands, Bahamas, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, New York, Eastern Canada
Part of the 1900 Atlantic hurricane season
The Great Galveston Hurricane was a Category 4 storm, with winds of up to 145 mph (233 km/h), which made landfall on September 8, 1900, in Galveston, Texas, in the United States, leaving about 6,000 to 12,000 dead. It remains to the present day the deadliest natural disaster in US history.
The hurricane appears to have started as an atmospheric trough from West Africa, causing unsettled weather in the Caribbean, and emerging into the Florida Straits as a tropical storm on September 5. Owing to contradictory forecasts, the people of Galveston felt no alarm until the official hurricane warning of September 7. The next morning, a storm surge of 15 ft (4.6 m) washed over the long, flat island-city which was only 8 ft (2.4 m) above sea level, knocking buildings off their foundations and destroying over 3,600 homes.
The disaster ended the Golden Era of Galveston, as the hurricane alarmed potential investors, who turned to Houston instead. The whole island of Galveston was subsequently raised by 17 ft (5.2 m) and a 10 mi (16 km) seawall erected.[1]....
Every year Mumbai, home to about 20 million people and India’s two biggest stock exchanges, struggles to cope with the annual monsoon deluge - drawing criticism about its poor planning and weak infrastructure.
More than half of the city’s population live in shantytowns, where weak and temporary buildings put them at increased risk in adverse weather conditions.
Meanwhile in the eastern Indian state of Bihar, more than 500 people were killed. The government said thousands more have been forced to abandon their homes and are residing in nearby relief camps.
JAMES COMEY, HILLARY’S REAL CAMPAIGN MANAGER Sweet vindication -- again -- for President Trump. September 1, 2017 Matthew Vadum
The insufferable, morally preening former FBI Director James B. Comey Jr., intentionally gave Hillary Clinton’s campaign a boost last year by deciding to sabotage the email investigation by exonerating the then-candidate before key witnesses had even been interviewed, new evidence suggests.
Citing Comey’s bungling of the Clinton email investigation, President Trump unceremoniously fired him by press release on May 9, three-and-a-half years into his 10-year term. Trump was attacked in the media for not caring about Comey’s presumably hurt feelings. He based his decision on a U.S. Department of Justice memo authored by Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein that found Comey had, among other things, usurped then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch’s authority by taking it upon himself to unilaterally clear Clinton.
Rosenstein excoriated Comey, whose side of the story has long been championed by the media. “I do not understand his refusal to accept the nearly universal judgment that he was mistaken. Almost everyone agrees that the Director made serious mistakes; it is one of the few issues that unites people of diverse perspectives.”
Comey’s endless posturing and palace intrigues damaged the FBI, causing morale to plummet. As a result, “the FBI’s reputation and credibility have suffered substantial damage, and it has affected the entire Department of Justice,” Rosenstein asserted. “That is deeply troubling to many Department employees and veterans, legislators and citizens.”
Of course, critics savaged Trump’s rationale for axing Comey at the time, claiming as the supremely silly Russian collusion conspiracy theory was gaining traction in the media, that the president was obstructing justice to save his own skin.
Exploding in huge, scary fireballs of anger visible from orbit, they ridiculed him, calling him a budding dictator. They claimed he had created a dire constitutional crisis. They demanded his impeachment and imprisonment – or worse.
But once again it appears Trump was right about a media-saturated, manufactured matter of public controversy, one in a series that over the president’s brief time in office has whipped the yet-to-exhausted Left into a frenzy.
Upon Comey’s dismissal, Trump said the FBI “is one of our nation’s most cherished and respected institutions and today will mark a new beginning for our crown jewel of law enforcement.”
As Americans are now painfully aware, the congenitally devious Clintons had created a hacker-friendly, slap-dash private email system while she headed the U.S. Department of State to frustrate Freedom of Information Act requesters, shield Hillary's correspondence from congressional oversight, and steer money to the international cash-for-future-presidential-favors clearinghouse known as the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation. The “homebrew” email servers Mrs. Clinton used are at the heart of the scandal over her mishandling of an Islamic terrorist attack in militant-infested Benghazi, Libya on the 11th anniversary of 9/11 that left four Americans, including U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens, dead.
Hillary thought she was above the law. Apparently, the new evidence shows Comey thought she was, too.
The case that the handwringing, sanctimonious Comey was thoroughly corrupt, exquisitely marinated in the swamp waters and flesh pools of decadent official Washington, was already fairly solid but with these new revelations it seems even more obvious that he was less top cop than grand inquisitor. He thought of himself as judge and jury, justice be damned. As long as he ended up looking good, all was well, in his eyes.
Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Judiciary subcommittee chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) reportedly sent a letter to current FBI Director Chris Wray yesterday about Comey’s conduct as head of the FBI.
"Conclusion first, fact-gathering second—that's no way to run an investigation," read the correspondence. "The FBI should be held to a higher standard than that, especially in a matter of such great public interest and controversy."
From reading redacted transcripts of interviews conducted last fall with senior aides to Comey – his chief of staff James Rybicki and Trisha Anderson, the FBI’s principal deputy general counsel of national security and cyberlaw – Grassley’s committee discovered that as FBI chief Comey prematurely drafted a letter clearing Clinton of email-related wrongdoing.
The testimony appears to establish that Comey started working on a public statement giving Clinton a clean legal bill of health before the FBI had gotten around to speaking with 17 witnesses in the probe, including Clinton and two of her senior aides, Cheryl Mills and Heather Samuelson. The two senators noted that Comey began working on his exculpatory communique even before Mills and Samuelson brokered what the lawmakers called a “highly unusual” limited immunity deal with the Justice Department that prevented officials from looking into communications between the two aides and Colorado-based Platte River Networks, which oversaw Clinton’s unusual email system after she left Foggy Bottom to run for president.
"According to the unredacted portions of the transcripts, it appears that in April or early May of 2016, Mr. Comey had already decided he would issue a statement exonerating Secretary Clinton," the letter by Grassley and Graham stated.
That was long before FBI agents finished their work. Mr. Comey even circulated an early draft statement to select members of senior FBI leadership. The outcome of an investigation should not be prejudged while FBI agents are still hard at work trying to gather the facts.
As Daniel Greenfield freshly opined:
There was never any serious possibility that Hillary Clinton would have been indicted. And we know that. But throughout the process, Comey pretended that he was dotting all the i's and crossing all the t's. But it was all a show. Comey and his top people knew what the outcome would be ahead of time. They were just going through the motions.
Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, told Fox News Channel’s Tucker Carlson last night that the new evidence "shows the investigation truly was a sham."
Fitton added that the FBI also appears to have helped to pay for opposition research against Trump. He was referring to the Russian "piss-gate" dossier published by cat-video website BuzzFeed. "They started paying, it looks like, the expert behind the dodgy dossier ... during the campaign."
"We asked the FBI for documents about any payments they made to the author of the Trump-Russia dossier and they came back to us and they said we can't even confirm or deny whether any such documents exist.”
The FBI is not being run, Fitton said, by "someone with the interest of the American people [in mind] in terms of getting some transparency about the misconduct of the FBI during the Obama administration as they were working to, really, nail Trump through this really awkward – and let's put it this way – conspiratorial relationship with the authors of the Trump dossier.”
By now politics junkies don’t need to be reminded it was at an unusual, much-watched presser on July 5, 2016, that Comey acknowledged the massive body of evidence that was accumulating against Clinton and described it at some length. He stipulated that the former secretary of state probably broke the law when she used hacker-friendly private email servers to conduct official business.
But after airing this very dirty laundry, Comey inexplicably gave Clinton a pass. “Although there is evidence of potential violations of the statutes regarding the handling of classified information, our judgment is that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case.”
Guided by politics, not the law, Comey pontificated that Clinton and her aides were “extremely careless” in their handling of classified documents but that there was no evidence of criminal intent. He made this statement even though the relevant national security statute does not actually require intent: mishandling intelligence, even inadvertently, is enough to land people with less pull than Hillary has, in hot water.
As former federal prosecutor Andrew C. McCarthy wrote at the time, “the FBI rewrote the statute, inserting an intent element that Congress did not require.”
So, as it turns out, Comey was ripped from his powerful perch in the nick of time.
Some critics say the media-savvy, morally preening Comey presided over a J. Edgar Hoover-like reign of terror while he ran the FBI.
Comey was far more powerful than an FBI director ought to be. When the president fired Comey, Brit Hume observed, “For better or worse, no FBI director since J. Edgar Hoover had taken so large a role in the political life of this country as James Comey.”
Around the same time Tucker Carlson was positively scathing in his assessment of Comey’s tenure. He said lawmakers on both sides of the aisle were intimidated by Comey – and for good reason.
Just how powerful was James Comey? Let’s put it this way: He was feared in a way that no appointed bureaucrat should ever be feared in a free society. Time and again elected lawmakers on both sides came on this show and expressed worry and concern about his behavior, but they did so only during commercial breaks with the cameras off. Why? Because they were terrified at the prospect of criticizing him in public. They certainly don’t have that fear of the sitting president of the United States and that tells you everything you need to know about Jim Comey.
Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump's legal team has met with special counsel Robert Mueller to discuss the investigation and has prepared memos arguing Trump did not obstruct justice when he fired then-FBI Director James Comey, a source familiar with the memos tells CNN.
The source said the memos prepared for Mueller argue the President's powers under the Constitution inherently give him the right to fire the FBI director for any reason, meaning the move could not have been obstruction of justice. The President's lawyers have said publicly they would file a complaint against Comey with the Department of Justice. Instead, the source said one of the memos written to Mueller was written as that complaint. The President's lawyers also called Comey's credibility into question by arguing he was an admitted leaker -- arguments Trump's team has made publicly. The meeting and details of the memos were first reported by the Wall Street Journal Thursday.
Smoke seen billowing from Russia consulate Trump ordered closed
irefighters arriving at the scene were turned away by consulate officials who came from inside the building.
Smoke was seen Friday pouring from a chimney on the roof of the Russian consulate in San Fransisco that President Trump ordered closed by Saturday.
The Trump administration on Thursday ordered Russia to close the consulate — and annexes in Washington, D.C., and New York — in retaliation to Moscow ousting hundreds of U.S. diplomatic personnel, which was itself in response to new sanctions against Russia passed after the Kremlin's 2016 interference in the presidential election.
Russia's Foreign Ministry says U.S. security forces plan to search the building after it is vacated.
Report: Mueller has unreleased Trump letter on Comey firing
The Justice Department has provided special counsel Robert Mueller with an early draft of a letter detailing President Trump's rationale for firing former FBI Director James Comey, The New York Times reported Friday.
The May letter, written by Trump and adviser Stephen Miller, was ultimately blocked by White House counsel Don McGahn, who believed some of its contents were problematic.
Instead, a different letter written by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein was sent, pinning the dismissal on Comey's handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton's private email server.
Mueller is currently conducting a wide-ranging investigation into Russian interference in the presidential campaign, including whether the president obstructed justice by firing Comey, who was previously in charge of the probe.
It is unknown how much of the rationale in the original letter focused on the Russia investigation. Shortly after Comey's May 9 dismissal, the president told NBC's Lester Holt that the probe had been on his mind when he made the decision to fire the FBI director.
“Regardless of recommendation, I was going to fire Comey,” Trump said during an interview on "NBC Nightly News," adding "there was no good time to do it."
“And in fact, when I decided to just do it, I said to myself, ‘You know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made up story,’ ” he said.
Miller, a former aide to Attorney General Jeff Sessions when he was in the Senate, reportedly drafted the letter at Trump's request during a weekend in May at the president's Bedminster, N.J., golf club.
During that same weekend, Sessions and Rosenstein were working a parallel effort to dismiss Comey, according to the Times.
Comey had recently given testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee that it made him "mildly nauseous" to think his actions during the campaign might have impacted the outcome.
Comey had declared that there would be no charges against Clinton over her "homebrew" server before later alerting Congress that the FBI was examining new evidence 11 days before the election. Clinton has said his letter to lawmakers is one of the reasons she lost.
Comey's congressional testimony reportedly added to Rosenstein's and Sessions's concerns that the famously independent-minded director was overstepping the authority of his role.
Well, you are the prognosticator extraordinaire around here. Your Homey, Comey, seems to have been less than honest and set up the whole Mueller charade because your homey and the Obama administration hadn't put into their planning that Trump would win. Share your learned political analysis with your lessors.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team of investigators is in possession of a letter that President Donald Trump wrote, but did not send, that laid out a rationale for firing FBI Director James Comey.
That’s according to a person familiar with the investigation who spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to discuss the ongoing probe publicly. The New York Times first reported the letter.
The letter was drafted before the May 9 firing of Comey. On that day, the White House released a different letter from Deputy Attorney General Attorney Rod Rosenstein that cited the handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation as a basis for Comey’s firing.
A Justice Department statement says the department has been fully cooperative with Mueller’s investigation.
noun an absurd pretense intended to create a pleasant or respectable appearance. "talk of unity was nothing more than a charade" synonyms: farce, pantomime, travesty, mockery, parody, pretense, act, masquerade "our entire relationship is a charade"
Trump has pledged $1 million to Harvey relief, White House says White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders says the president pledged $1 million of his own money to Harvey relief efforts. She says Trump is seeking advice from reporters about where he should donate money.
Obama and the Clintons have not checked in yet. I am sure they will.
Enrollment At Evergreen State College Drops 5%, Hiring Freeze To Follow JOHN SEXTONPosted at 7:41 pm on September 1, 2017
What did they expect? After last year’s fiasco in which students shouted at police, demanded professors resign, and briefly carried baseball bats around campus, enrollment is down at Evergreen State College. An “Enrollment and Budget Update” dated August 28, said the school has a $2.1 million budget deficit caused partly by a decline in enrollment.
SEE ALSO: Looks like Andrew Jackson will stay on the $20 bill
“Our 2017 fall registration as of mid-August is 212 students fewer than at this time in 2016,” the document states. It continues, “While resident undergraduate numbers remain relatively steady, we have seen a decrease in nonresident student numbers, which has a disproportionate impact on tuition revenue and the budget. Out of the 212 fewer students, 210 are nonresident.
TRENDING: Police demand a nurse draw blood without a warrant, arrest her when she refuses In 2016-17 the average annual full-time enrollment (AAFTE) was 3,922. In 2017-18 the AAFTE is anticipated to be 3,713. We anticipate the decline to continue into 2018-19 to perhaps as low as 3,600.”
If they lost just over 200 students this year, a loss of just over 100 next year sounds pretty optimistic at this point. But a spokesman for the school denies the decline is the result of what took place last year. From KUOW:
Evergreen spokesman Zach Powers sees it differently, saying a big factor is heightened competition among small liberal arts colleges.
“This is a situation that is ongoing and is something that we are exploring different options and solutions to,” Powers said.
Powers noted nearly all of this fall’s enrollment drop came from the category of out-of-state students, who pay higher tuition. I don’t think heightened competition is the problem. It is true that Evergreen has been on a downward slide for several years, but this school has become a national laughing-stock. It’s name is now synonymous with progressive dysfunction. It makes perfect sense that the people most sensitive to that change would be the people paying the most to attend, i.e. out-of-state students.
As we’ve seen at the University of Missouri, it could be some time before enrollment levels off at a much lower level. The claim that next year they will only lose another 100 or so students could turn out to be very optimistic. And that’s bad news for the school since, as the budget update points out, nearly 90% of that money goes directly to salaries. “In a college where 89 percent of the operating budget is in salaries and benefits, it is impossible to reduce the budget by substantial amounts without giving up positions,” the document states. “In anticipation of this, we will soon be announcing a hiring freeze,” it continues.
But it’s doubtful that the school’s current administration has learned anything from last year’s fiasco. After mentioning the hiring freeze, the budget document states, “We must continue our efforts to make Evergreen a student-ready college. Our work in equity and inclusion is an important step in this process.” That’s a wordy way of saying the school plans to keep digging into the morass of intersectionality that created the mess we saw last year. There is a real possibility we could see another eruption of student protests at the school this year.
If you can spare the time you ought to read this - (the Great Hugh is back)
Hugh Fitzgerald: Western Civ and Its Diss Contents
AUGUST 31, 2017 7:32 PM BY HUGH FITZGERALD
Looking for a teaching job in history? If you turned today to the main website listing such positions — — here is what you would have found at about 12 noon:.....
.....To sum up: of the nineteen positions listed first today, 17 were for teaching jobs. Of those 17 teaching jobs, six, or more than a third, had to do with Arabs and/or Islam.
Another six had to do with African-American Literature, African-American History, African-American Studies, Black Studies/Critical Race Studies, Black Studies, African-American Politics.
There was one opening for all of India, ancient and modern: an assistant professor focusing on “South Asian Religions,” that is, Hindu and Buddhist Studies.
There were two opening for China-related jobs: teaching Chinese language, and Modern Chinese Literature and Media Studies.
There was one opening for an Anthropology position, for the study of Native American or other indigenous peoples. Here is a fuller description, which like all of the jobs listed,is careful to mention the importance of, commitment to, celebration of, diversity and inclusiveness, or words to that effect:
Bowdoin College’s Department of Sociology and Anthropology invites applications for a tenure-track faculty appointment in Anthropology at the Assistant Professor level beginning fall 2018. We seek a cultural anthropologist whose research focuses on issues of indigeneity, sovereignty, the environment, and/or media in Native American or other indigenous communities. We are especially interested in candidates whose areas of geographic and topical specialization complement and broaden those now covered in the Department.
We welcome applications from candidates committed to the instruction and support of a diverse student population and those who will enrich and contribute to the College’s ethnic and cultural diversity. We value a community in which students of all backgrounds are warmly welcomed and encouraged to succeed. In your application materials, we encourage you to address how your teaching, scholarship, and/or mentorship may support our commitment to diversity and inclusion.
While China merits one teacher of the language, and one non-language teaching appointment, and India merits one position on Hindu and Buddhist studies, the only aspect of American history that appears in these announcements is that involving African-Americans. Six positions are listed: African-American Literature, African-American and African Studies, African American Politics, Black Studies/Critical Race Studies, African-American History, African American Literature. Nothing about Colonial America, the Road to Independence, the Revolutionary War, the Constitution, the Westward Expansion, the Era of Good Feelings, the Civil War, Manifest Destiny, the Great Trusts and the Sherman Act, the Immigration From Europe (1880-1925), nothing about the Depression, the New Deal, World War II, America as a World Power, the Cold War, the Vietnam War, and so on.
Completely absent, too, from this sampling, is the history of Europe, from Classical Antiquity to the 21st century. No Greek city-states, no Periclean Athens, no Peloponnesian War, no Roman Empire to both rise and fall, no Dark Ages, no Middle Ages, no Crusades, no Renaissance, no Reformation, no Discovery and Conquest of the New World, no Louis XIV and the French Empire, no British Empire, no French Revolution, no Napoleonic Wars, no Revolutions of 1848, no Industrial Revolution, no Rise of Democracy, no……..well, you get the picture. Europe has fallen, it appears, pretty much off the academic map; its place has been taken by Diversity and Inclusion neither of which appears to include, or is made diverse by, courses about boring old white Europeans, and Europe itself is in steady retreat as a subject of study in our universities.
Meanwhile, Islamic and Arabic studies appear to be very much in academic fashion. Six of the first seventeen listings for teaching jobs today — listed as of noon– are devoted to Arabic Culture, Critical Muslim Studies, the Modern Middle East, Art and Material Culture of the Islamic World, Islam in the Modern Middle East and North America, and Arabic Studies.
Almost every one of these announcements proclaims the vital importance of “diversity and inclusion” or, just to make things interesting, of “inclusion and diversity.”.....
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mark Eves believes “Main’s whiteness is bad news” according to remarks he delivered during a Maine People’s Alliance event this week. According to Maine First Media and Big League Politics, the former Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives delivered the remarks while addressing a group of nearly one hundred activists and grassroots supporters Wednesday evening at the “Resistance Rising” forum event put on by the Maine People’s Alliance in Lewiston.
Eves reportedly said Maine is going to be in trouble if it does not attract a more diverse population.
NOW IMAGINE
A political candidate who complains that Detroit is too black and in trouble if they don't get more European/Americans to come in.
My meager military knowledge doesn't allow me to comment on this so I just post it -
It’s Time to Consider a Military Option on the Korean Peninsula
The conventional approach to Pyongyang guarantees future rogue regimes will seek to join the nuclear club
by Conrad Black | Updated 31 Aug 2017 at 7:00 AM
It has become a truism in the continuing North Korean crisis to say that there is no good military option, but in fact there is.
It is perfectly understandable that the U.S. administration would publicly acquiesce in this conventional wisdom. It warns Kim that there will be repercussions to his provocations, in order to build the record of having put him on notice without rattling his demented overconfidence of his invulnerability.
The reaction to Tuesday’s North Korean missile-firing directly over Japan has elicited the response of official indications that further weapons will be shot down by anti-missile defense systems the United States has deployed in Japan and South Korea. Both veteran Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe and new South Korean president Moon Jae-in, who was elected on a platform of reconciliation with North Korea, are now in grateful lockstep with the United States in purposeful response.
President Donald Trump told Chinese president Xi Jinping in Palm Beach in April that if China did not join the U.S. in deterring and containing the North Korean regime, the U.S. would do so itself. Following Tuesday's new provocation, the Pentagon intimated that it was pre-positioning increased military-strike capabilities to the Far East, and the South Koreans engaged in live bombing exercises very close to the 38th Parallel, which divides the Korean Peninsula.
The fact is that if a carefully planned swarm attack of low-flying cruise missiles was launched against the North Korean artillery massed across the frontier, just 35 miles from the immense South Korean capital city, Seoul, as well as at all North Korean missile launchers, and research and missile storage facilities, it would denuclearize the North and eliminate its power of intimidation against the South.
It is not inconceivable that a few artillery rounds would hit the metropolis of Seoul, but if a general air alert were ordered at the same time as the attacks, casualties would be minimal and physical damage would not be 5 percent of what London and other British cities endured during World War II — not to mention enemy cities such as Berlin and Tokyo, whose centers were razed to rubble and ashes by the Allied air forces.
As the attacks occurred, the U.S. could warn North Korea, directly and via China, that if any attack were launched against any American or allied sites, the North Korean regime would be obliterated, but that if there were no military response, the United States and its allies would not seek regime change in the North or the reunification of Korea.
It is inconceivable that, in these circumstances, the Chinese would not sternly counsel Pyongyang to stand down. China does not want a nuclear North Korea, or a reunited Korea, which would shortly become a second Japan in industrial and strategic terms, immediately adjacent to it.
While it is entirely appropriate that the American administration never refers to such a possibility of this option, for the reason stated above, it is indicative of the ineptitude of the national media and the defeatism and anti-Americanism (or at least anti-Trumpism) of the European and Canadian media, that such a possibility is never mentioned.
It is in this respect reminiscent of the Iran hostage crisis of 1979-1981, when 'America Held Hostage' became a popular nightly newscast, and the Western media generally expressed universal pessimism about the possibility of resolving the crisis. Someday we will know exactly what the incoming Reagan administration privately said to Iran that caused its government to release the hostages as Reagan was being inaugurated in Washington.
All the tired palaver about negotiating patiently with China about constraining North Korea is practically beside the point. It won't unmake North Korea as a nuclear military power. And it won't deter Iran from becoming one, now at the end of the 10-year life of the shabby agreement President Obama sponsored with that terrorism-supporting country.
Iran and North Korea have exposed the fraudulence of the non-proliferation regime, in which the existing nuclear powers made the spurious promise to pursue joint self-disarmament. The best that can be salvaged is a nuclear club from which psychopathically governed countries such as North Korea and Iran are excluded.
President Trump said on Tuesday that "All options are on the table." There is only one that will work, and it should be very seriously considered.
Conrad Black was the chairman of the London Daily Telegraph and many other newspapers for 15 years, is a financier, historian and biographer of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Richard Nixon, and comments widely. He is a member of the British House of Lords.
What happened in 2011 when Nobel Laureate Barack Hussein Obama was POTUS, The lovely Hillary Rodham Clinton was SOS and the evil Donald was erecting buildings?
In 2011, Syria was at peace until, in that year, the US, Britain, and France, FUKUS, sponsored a violent sectarian insurgency in Syria that eventually morphed into ISIS and spilled over into Iraq and Libya and sent the hordes into Europe.
400,000 deaths in the Syrian civil war, at the hands of the US, France, Britain and their allies.
What were some of the other brilliant moves by Obama and Clinton in 2011? How soon we forget:
When mass protests against Russian President Vladimir Putin erupted in Moscow in December 2011, Putin made clear who he thought was really behind them: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
With the protesters accusing Putin of having rigged recent elections, the Russian leader pointed an angry finger at Clinton, who had issued a statement sharply critical of the voting results. “She said they were dishonest and unfair,”( unlike Hillary) Putin fumed in public remarks, saying that Clinton gave “a signal” to demonstrators working “with the support of the U.S. State Department” to undermine his power. “We need to safeguard ourselves from this interference in our internal affairs,” Putin declared.
Clinton's State-Department flunkie, Victoria Newland, went to Kiev with John "Bomb-Bomb" McCain, and Vicki and helped launch a neo-Nazi coup on Russia's own backdoor. Putin responded, unlike anything we would do if say, China, pulled a similar stunt in Tijuana.
This year, the Brady-Johnson Program in Grand Strategy will welcome three new practitioners — Evan Wolfson, Victoria Nuland, and Jake Sullivan — to teach side by side with faculty members on issues ranging from social change to geopolitics.
Chunky Vickie will continue the long-standing tradition of preparing elite students for careers in public service and help “bring a different set of intellectual perspectives. (Lovely Nuland, will provide the students with practical advice about scale and scope in the real world,”
...She will be joined in teaching her module on “U.S. Politics and Social Change” by Evan Wolfson ’78, founder and president of Freedom to Marry and one of the chief strategists of the gay marriage movement. In this module, students will study strategies for achieving large-scale social and political change based on historical examples including the labor, civil rights, and modern conservative movements.
For Jake Sullivan ’98, ’03 LAW, who most recently served as deputy chief of staff to Hillary Clinton while she was Secretary of State and was also her senior policy adviser on Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, returning to Yale as a practitioner is “an honor” and a chance that he simply didn’t want to pass up.
“Yale encourages students to blend a life of the mind with a life of public service — to put ideas to work to make our country and our world better — and the students respond with incredible energy and enthusiasm. How could I miss out on that?”
“I’ve long admired the Grand Strategy program because it gives students a great mix of historical approaches to tough problems and a chance to put themselves in the shoes of today’s strategic decision makers,” says Nuland. “That’s the best way to study international relations, and I’m excited to help challenge the next generation of global activists,” she adds.
September 2, 2017 Corrupt Comey Had the Fix In By Daniel John Sobieski
....The evidence against Hillary is damning, and the line of prosecutors willing to take the case would encircle the FBI building in Washington, D.C. Judge Michael Mukasey, former attorney general under President George W. Bush, listed the charges that Hillary Clinton could face on Fox Radio’s “Kilmeade and Friends:”
We are looking at a range of things, everything from the misdemeanor that was charged against General Petraeus, which is putting classified information in an unprotected, classified setting, that’s a misdemeanor. Then there is destroying government records. Then there is taking information related to the national defense and treating it with gross negligence such as it becomes disclosed. And finally, there is obstruction of justice.”
There is the destruction of evidence under Congressional subpoena. As even Comey admitted, Hillary lied about sending and receiving classified material, about having only one device, and about turning over all her emails. If intent is needed, what is accidental about smashing devices with hammers or using Bleach Bit to render emails unrecoverable? If you need a motive for having a private server, which speaks to intent, the obvious purpose is to cover up the “pay to play” trail that leads from the State Department to the Clinton Foundation.
Hillary Clinton should be prosecuted, convicted and imprisoned for her crimes. And if anyone is guilty of obstruction of justice, it is not President Trump, but the finger-pointing leaker and liar, James Comey.
Arpaio Pardon Shows the Futility of Mueller’s Obstruction Investigation
Sheriff Arpaio at a Trump campaign rally in Prescott Valley, Ariz., October 2016. (Photo: Gage Skidmore) by ANDREW C. MCCARTHY September 2, 2017 4:00 AM
....Unsavory as they may find it, the Arpaio pardon is not in the same league as President Clinton’s pardon of fugitive fraudster Marc Rich in exchange for political donations. It does not compare to Clinton’s commutations for the FALN and Weathermen terrorists. Nor is it as egregious as Obama’s clemency for two hard-Left darlings, FALN terrorist Oscar Lopez Rivera and the traitorous Chelsea Manning. Moreover, in granting an astonishing 1,715 commutations (compare George W. Bush’s 189, Clinton’s 396, Reagan’s 393), Obama abused the pardon power in order to undermine Congress’s sentencing laws for serious felony offenders — much as he abused his power of prosecutorial discretion in order to undermine Congress’s immigration laws. Trump’s undermining the authority of the judiciary in a single misdemeanor case — one in which a judge heavy-handedly denied Arpaio a jury trial and then unilaterally convicted him — may be of greater moment to the media, but it’s not to much of the country.
President Trump is not going to be impeached and removed from office over the Arpaio pardon — or, for that matter, for discouraging the Flynn investigation, for weighing in on the Arpaio indictment, or for firing Jim Comey. Unless damning evidence of Trump-camp complicity in Russian espionage is uncovered, Trump’s impeachment and removal from office is just a Democratic pipe dream. But at least it is a pipe dream that makes constitutional sense. That is more than can be said for Special Counsel Mueller’s obstruction investigation.
Without much fanfare, NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson will return to Earth on Saturday night—it will be Sunday morning on the steppes of Kazakhstan—aboard a Soyuz spacecraft. Quietly, she will have spent 288 days in space, or nearly 10 months. The duration of her spaceflight will fall short of only one other US astronaut, Scott Kelly, who returned to Earth in 2016 with a lot more attention after 340 days.
Whitson is known around NASA's Johnson Space Center as perhaps the agency's most efficient astronaut in space, regularly getting ahead of her timelines, research, and maintenance tasks for each day. Mission controllers typically have to come up with extra work. Partly because of this, she is one of only a handful of NASA astronauts to have been selected to serve three rotations on the International Space Station.
As a result of these three long duration spaceflights, the biochemist has now logged 665 days in space. This cumulative time in space easily ranks her as the American flier with the most experience in orbit, far above the 534 days tallied by NASA's Jeff Williams and 520 days of Scott Kelly. Whitson only lags behind seven Russian men, several of whom spent time both on the International Space Station as well as Russia's Mir station.
Those aren't all of her accolades, either. In 2008, Whitson became the first female commander of the International Space Station. She is also the oldest woman, aged 57, to fly. And with 10 spacewalks totaling more than 60 hours, she ranks as the third most accomplished spacewalker. Only Russian Anatoly Solovyev and NASA's Michael Lopez-Alegria have spent more time outside their spacecraft.
Some of these records were only made possible because, to save money, the Russians decided to begin launching fewer crew members to the station in 2017. (Fewer Russian crew meant the need for fewer Russian supply ships). Whitson had been originally scheduled to fly back to Earth this spring, but to maintain a three-person presence on board after June 2, NASA and the Russians agreed to extend Whitson’s mission. That kept three crew on board for almost two months to handle research and maintenance before a July launch restored the station's full six-crew complement. For Whitson, no problem.
It is not clear what Whitson will do upon returning to Earth. All NASA astronauts have a lifetime radiation allotment, after which they're not allowed to fly again. Whitson has almost certainly met or exceeded this, so she is unlikely to fly again. Regardless, it seems likely that her duration records will hold up for a very long time.
To charge someone with obstructing justice, prosecutors have to prove that "the defendant corruptly endeavored to influence, obstruct, or impede" an investigation, according to legal and national-security experts writing for Lawfare.
That element "is the hardest to prove, because it depends on showing an improper motive," the experts said.
But if McGahn told Trump that firing Comey for the reasons outlined in his original letter — the president reportedly cited Comey's refusal to announce publicly that he was not under FBI investigation — were illegal, and Trump fired Comey anyway, "that would be slam dunk evidence of a corrupt intent," Mariotti said.
In that sense, McGahn essentially backed himself into a corner: he tried to protect the president from firing Comey for a potentially illegal reason, but the fact that he thought the letter could put Trump in legal jeopardy means he will have to testify before Mueller's grand jury.
"In that hypothetical, McGahn's testimony is devastating for Trump," Mariotti said.
Of course Mr McGahn may have nixed the President's letter to Mr Comey ... ... because he thought its tone was too inflammatory.
President Trump has instructed advisers to prepare a withdrawal from the United States’ free-trade agreement with South Korea, several people close to the process said, a move that would stoke economic tensions with the U.S. ally at a time both countries confront a crisis over North Korea's nuclear weapons program.
While it is still possible Trump could decide to stay in the agreement in order to renegotiate its terms, the internal preparations for terminating the deal are far along and the formal withdrawal process could begin as soon as this coming week, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
A number of senior White House officials are trying to prevent Trump from withdrawing from the agreement, including national security adviser H.R. McMaster, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, and National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn, these people said.
Jessica Chastain shared an impassioned video to reflect on the current state of the country and note her commitment to “transformative social change.”
"I’m making a video because my heart is very heavy," she said in the clip, which she posted to Twitter on Thursday. "I’ve learned so much the past few days about the trauma many people are experiencing in our country. I’ve had the opportunity to listen, more than to speak, and it’s really hard for me to express my feelings, my thoughts, in 140 characters."
“I wanted you guys to know that I hear you," she continued, occasionally pausing and seemingly holding back tears. "I want you to know that I’m committed to creating transformative social change, that I’m committed to dismantling systems of oppression. I share in the sense of what is happening in the country. I hear you. You may never have met me, but I love you.”
So this Ms Chastain is with Mr Trump, Bannon and Gorka, wanting to dismantle the System.
There is a growing global anti-establishment revolt against the permanent political class at home and the global elites that influence them, which impacts everyone from Lubbock, Texas, to London, England. Stephen Bannon
What you realize hanging out with investigative reporters is that, while they may be personally liberal, they don't let that get in the way of a good story. Stephen Bannon
So, Who’s The Next Chief Of Staff Going To Be When John Kelly Quits? ALLAHPUNDITPosted at 4:01 pm on September 2, 2017
We should start kicking around ideas now because it sounds like it won’t be long. It’s going to be Christie, isn’t it? Please tell me it’s not going to be Christie.
You would think it’d be easy to address a retired Marine general who served his country with distinction in a respectful way. And yet.
President Trump was in an especially ornery mood after staff members gently suggested he refrain from injecting politics into day-to-day issues of governing after last month’s raucous rally in Arizona, and he responded by lashing out at the most senior aide in his presence.
It happened to be his new chief of staff, John F. Kelly.
Mr. Kelly, the former Marine general brought in five weeks ago as the successor to Reince Priebus, reacted calmly, but he later told other White House staff members that he had never been spoken to like that during 35 years of serving his country. In the future, he said, he would not abide such treatment, according to three people familiar with the exchange.
Estimates among the dozen people the NYT spoke to in terms of how much longer Kelly will stay range from a year to a month. He’s reportedly done a bang-up job of streamlining Trump’s day, reducing staff access to the Oval Office (“I now have time to think,” POTUS has been heard to say) and filtering out information from Trump’s daily reading that’s apt to send him off on a tangent, including material from Breitbart and the Daily Caller. He’s also “moved swiftly to dispatch aides he deems unqualified by temperament, experience or credential,” per the Times. The latest target: Omarosa Manigault, who’s allegedly one of the worst offenders in the White House in terms of slipping reading material to Trump that’s apt to throw him off course and derail the day’s agenda. From the Daily Beast:
The stories Manigault would present to Trump, often on a phone or printed out, would often enrage the president, and resulted in him spending at least the rest of the day fuming about it. For example, one White House source noted that Manigault was one of the people who would bring to President Trump’s attention online articles concerning MSNBC hosts, and former Trump pals, Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski “slagging him, and his administration.”…
Of particular concern for Kelly were stories from conspiratorial right-wing websites that occasionally whipped Trump into a frenzy over issues such as the West Wing’s press leak problem. In Manigault’s case, sources said, the stories generally originated at more obscure, gossipy websites, and concerned White House palace intrigue, media personalities, or prominent Republicans in Congress.
Kelly can slow the flow of unvetted information to Trump but he can’t stop it. The president still has a TV in his bedroom to watch Fox News; he still has a cell phone with which to call outside advisors who lack Kelly’s approval, like Steve Bannon; and he has the Trump kids, who naturally have special access to their father. Remember, it was reportedly Don Jr who put the “cultural Marxism” memo written by NSC staffer Rich Higgins into Trump’s hands. It’s harder now for populists to whisper in the president’s ear, but not impossible. There are cracks in Kelly’s dam.
In fact, this story may produce the biggest crack yet. Keith Schiller is unknown to everyone but hardcore political news junkies, but if you’re the sort of person who follows Trump closely, you know how important he is to POTUS. He spent nearly 20 years as Trump’s bodyguard in the private sector before joining him in the White House. There may be no one outside the Trump family itself whom the president trusts more. And now he’s on his way out, ostensibly because of the pay cut he took when joining the government but possibly also because of Kelly. “Schiller has complained that he must call into the White House switchboard to reach Trump over the phone,” said one source to CNN about the post-Kelly environment. With Schiller gone, the number of original Trumpers left will be awfully small, just Hope Hicks, Dan Scavino, and the children. It may not be long before POTUS decides he’d rather have familiar faces around him again and a chaotic West Wing than be “managed” by Kelly, cloistered away in the Oval Office by himself.
The conventional wisdom, though, is that Kelly’s more likely to quit than be fired. Trump doesn’t want to have to go looking for a new chief of staff for the second time in as many months (especially when he has yet to fill Kelly’s vacant position at DHS). The question is whether he’ll chase Kelly away by treating him as a whipping boy. He was complimentary yesterday on Twitter:
Follow Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump General John Kelly is doing a great job as Chief of Staff. I could not be happier or more impressed - and this Administration continues to.. 5:35 AM - Sep 1, 2017
It grieves me to say it but Christie would be an obvious choice at this point if Kelly walks. He has executive experience, relationships with people on the Hill, and Trump’s known him for years and sees him as a loyalist thanks to his early endorsement in the primaries. If Trump goes full loyalist and brings in someone like Corey Lewandowski, congressional Republicans will scoff that Corey’s a yes-man and a clown. If Trump brings in an establishment Republican in the Josh Bolten mold, Beltway GOPers will be happy but populists will not, and inevitably Trump will have the same sort of clashes with the new guy as he has with Kelly. He needs a combination of someone who’ll let him be himself and not micromanage him and someone whom establishment Republicans kinda sorta respect. Christie, right?
Was just going to post an article on this important subject but had to listen to this game end first:
ReplyDeleteU of Idaho Mighty Vandals Football Fans !
U of Idaho 28
Sacramento State 6
Vandal Fans !
Here is this years U of Idaho Football Schedule:
https://www.google.com/search?q=University+of+Idaho+Football+Schedule+2017&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS698US698&oq=University+of+Idaho+Football+Schedule+2017&aqs=chrome..69i57.25184j0j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&enablesearch=true
Now I will go look for that article.
I promise not to intrude by running the Vandals games, as I was chastised for doing.
DeleteI do wish to post the Vandals scores as my many thousands of overseas readers/Vandals Fans depend on me to keep them up to date.
Two Republican senators claim former FBI Director James Comey drafted a statement of exoneration for Hillary Clinton before an investigation into her emails was completed.
ReplyDelete...
Comey publicly announced the FBI would not pursue charges against Clinton in July of last year. Grassley and Graham have sent a letter to current FBI chief Christopher Wray asking for more information on the Comey-Clinton email investigation.
So Comey Decided Not To Prosecute Hillary Months Before He Told Us
ReplyDeleteJAZZ SHAWPosted at 6:01 pm on August 31, 2017
Oh, what a tangled web we weave....
Remember back in the day, during the long death march of the 2016 election, when then FBI Director James Comey came out and almost tearfully told us that after long months of diligent work and exhausting investigation, he’d finally determined that there was nothing to prosecute Hillary Clinton over so everyone should feel free to just get out there and vote for her? (Okay… he didn’t exactly say that, but you get the drift.) Turns out that the decision wasn’t all that laborious for him at all. In fact, he’d made the call months earlier but just didn’t bother to tell anyone. In fact, he’d made it before they were even done interviewing the witnesses. Our Katie Pavlich has the details at Town Hall.
TRENDING:
Why did Sheriff Clarke resign?
According to new transcripts released by the Senate Judiciary Thursday afternoon, former FBI Director James Comey made the decision not to refer then Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton for prosecution long before ever interviewing key witnesses. Members of the Committee allege Comey made the decision months before FBI agents were finished with the criminal investigation of her mishandling classified information during her time as Secretary of State.
The transcripts were revealed in a letter sent to current FBI Director Christopher Wray, in which lawmakers are demanding an explanation and more documents surrounding the case.
Comey had made the decision as early as April and even had a draft memo which he circulated around inside the department. The letter contains more revelations, such as the possibility that the FBI had agents working on doing interviews and gathering information who were unaware that a conclusion had already been reached and the outcome was a foregone conclusion.
“It is unclear whether the FBI agents actually investigating the case were aware that Mr. Comey had already decided on the investigation’s outcome while their work was ongoing. However, it appears that the answer to that question may be underneath some of the extensive redactions that the Department made to the transcripts,” the letter continues.
Is it just me, or does this revelation throw that infamous tarmac meeting between Loretta Lynch and Bill Clinton into an even harsher light? Clearly the fix was in on this from the beginning. They couldn’t simply flush the investigation entirely in 2015 because it would have stunk to high heaven, but it seems clear that the end game was known long before Comey bothered to draft a memo.
Here’s one other question to ponder as we consider this story. Everything and everything going on inside the FBI over the course of the Russia, Russia, Russia investigation has somehow made it to a reporter from either the New York Times or the Washington Post as soon as a new rumor comes to light. It’s been a sideshow where we might as well have had a direct feed into the FBI offices running 24/7 on CSPAN. How is it that this little nugget never managed to see the light of day for more than a year?
Things that make you go “hmmm.”
https://hotair.com/archives/2017/08/31/comey-decided-not-prosecute-hillary-months-told-us/
My hunch is Manafort is probably guilty of something or other on taxes or our overseas regulations or some such, but would be surprised if The Donald has a tax problem as he has always hired all those tax lawyers and accountants to, presumably, keep him free of such trouble.
ReplyDeletePerhaps everyone in Washington, D. C. should be in prison though.
Democrat Senator Robert Menendez is about to get his:
Prosecutors: Menendez bribery scheme went on for years - POLITICO
www.politico.com/story/.../robert-menendez-bribery-trial-prosecution-case-242178
1 day ago - Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez allegedly starting taking bribes from a wealthy donor shortly after he entered the Senate in 2006, federal ...
Menendez pleads with judge to recess corruption trial for major ...
www.politico.com/.../menendez-pleads-with-judge-to-recess-corruption-trial-for-majo...
Aug 24, 2017 - The situation is creating a 'clash of values,' the senator's lawyers say, that could force Menendez to make an unfair choice.
Prosecutors detail evidence against NJ senator in corruption case ...
thehill.com/.../senate/348633-justice-department-details-case-against-new-jersey-senat...
1 day ago - That relationship, prosecutors allege, began as early as 2006, when Menendez first entered in the Senate, and continued until 2013.
Menendez indictment: 3 girlfriends, 7 lavish trips - CNNPolitics
www.cnn.com/2015/04/02/politics/menendez-indictment-takeaways/index.html
Sen. Robert Menendez pleaded not guilty on Thursday to 14 criminal counts against him, including eight counts of bribery in his dealings with ...
Out this way, only a minority of folks can still recall the name of our Fallen Former Senator Larry "Toe Tapping" Craig, or have any idea what he is up to these days.
DeleteHe it totally out of the news here. Last I heard he was back east working for some lobbying firm in......Washington, D.C.
It had an odd name, something like Qlobbyists D.C., LLC or some such.
Did you know that Juan Williams, talking head on Fox "The Five", had a major sex scandal some years back ?
ReplyDeleteJuan Williams: 7 facts about the Fox News analyst - POLITICO
www.politico.com/story/2012/08/7-facts-about-foxs-juan-williams-080364
Aug 29, 2012 - Fox News analyst Juan Williams is facing criticism from the Romney ... at The Washington Post accused Williams of sexual harassment.
Thanks to Trump, we're now living in the wonderful world of reality TV ...
www.foxnews.com/.../thanks-to-trump-were-now-living-in-wonderful-world-reality-tv-...
Aug 7, 2017 - If Michigan voters were willing to overlook tape of Trump boasting about ... Juan Williams currently serves as a co-host of FOX News Channel's ...
The Story of Juan Williams | Vanity Fair
www.vanityfair.com/news/business/2012/01/The-Story-of-Juan
Jan 17, 2012 - A look at the career of Juan Williams, who juggled jobs at both NPR and Fox News, ... full report on the state of NPR, before and after the Williams scandal. by ... for instance, on the sexual peccadilloes of some participants.
Juan Williams - Salon.com
www.salon.com/topic/juan_williams
Stories about Juan Williams. ... The Fox News star is very, very sad to say that the same-sex marriage movement is now run by bullies VIDEO. Elias Isquith ...
Juan Williams Bio, Fact - married, affair, divorce, wife, net worth
frostsnow.com/juan-williams
Mar 24, 2016 - Juan Williams biography with personal life, affair and married ... In the early 1990s, he was also accused of several sexual harassment charges.
The number of fallen sex fiendish sinners blabbing on Fox is Legion.
They are all dicks.
Male Angels surely, surely must not have dicks. If they do they must be Fallen Angels.
Former FBI Director James Comey began drafting a statement announcing his decision not to refer then Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton for prosecution in the investigation into her private email use long before interviewing key witnesses, including Clinton herself, according to new transcripts released by the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday afternoon. His mind was made up months before the FBI's "immunity agreements" with top Clinton aides Cheryl Mills and Heather Samuelson, as well.
ReplyDeleteVia Fox News:
“Conclusion first, fact-gathering second—that’s no way to run an investigation,” Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham wrote in a letter this week to the FBI. “The FBI should be held to a higher standard than that, especially in a matter of such great public interest and controversy.”
...
The letter continues: "It is unclear whether the FBI agents actually investigating the case were aware that Mr. Comey had already decided on the investigation’s outcome while their work was ongoing. However, it appears that the answer to that question may be underneath some of the extensive redactions that the Department made to the transcripts."
Comey is dirty as hell.
ReplyDeleteIn some ways, dirtier than even Hillary.
After all, we all expected her to be dishonest.
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) seems to have lately stashed its cash in the Cayman Islands.
ReplyDelete:):)
ho Ho HO !
They're all a bunch of dicks.
Hate industry profits for this non profit organization.
DeleteThey have something like $328 million non profit profits.
Source: Tucker Carlson
Southern Poverty Law Center Transfers Millions in Cash to Offshore Entities
DeleteLeft-wing nonprofit pays lucrative six-figure salaries to top management
The SPLC's chief trial counsel Morris Dees / Getty Images
BY: Joe Schoffstall
August 31, 2017 5:00 am
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a liberal, Alabama-based 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charitable organization that has gained prominence on the left for its "hate group" designations, pushes millions of dollars to offshore entities as part of its business dealings, records show.
Additionally, the nonprofit pays lucrative six-figure salaries to its top directors and key employees while spending little on legal services despite its stated intent of "fighting hate and bigotry" using litigation, education, and other forms of advocacy.
The Southern Poverty Law Center is perhaps best known for its "hate map," a collection of organizations the nonprofit deems "domestic hate groups" that lists mainstream conservative organizations alongside racist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan and is often referenced in the media. A gunman opened fire at the Washington, D.C., offices of the conservative Family Research Council in 2012 after seeing it listed as an "anti-gay" group on SPLC's website.
The SPLC has turned into a fundraising powerhouse, recording more than $50 million in contributions and $328 million in net assets on its 2015 Form 990, the most recently available tax form from the nonprofit. SPLC's Form 990-T, its business income tax return, from the same year shows that they have "financial interests" in the Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands, and Bermuda. No information is available beyond the acknowledgment of the interests at the bottom of the form.
However, the Washington Free Beacon discovered forms from 2014 that shed light on some of the Southern Poverty Law Center's transfers to foreign entities.
The SPLC's Form 8865, a Return of U.S. Persons With Respect to Certain Foreign Partnerships, from 2014 shows that the nonprofit transferred hundreds of thousands to an account located in the Cayman Islands....
http://freebeacon.com/issues/southern-poverty-law-center-transfers-millions-in-cash-to-offshore-entities/
Ad for:
ReplyDeleteBLACK RIFLE COFFEE COMPANY
https://bearingarms.com/tom-k/2017/08/30/coffee-company-commercial-captures-illogical-aspects-gun-control-perfectly/
Ad Made In China by Q's Slant Eyed Overseas Ad Company, LLC.
USA corporate headquarters outside of Detroit, Michigan.
ReplyDeleteDan
Dan Rather says he thinks President Trump is "seized with fear" over special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russia's meddling in the 2016 presidential race.
"Donald Trump is afraid," Rather said Wednesday on MSNBC. "He's trying to exude power and strength. He's afraid of something that Mueller and the prosecutors are going to find out."
"A political hurricane is out there at sea for him, we'll call it Hurricane Vladimir if you will, the whole Russian thing," he said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"It's still pretty far out at sea, but each day ... this hurricane, this political hurricane ... is building in intensity."
Multiple investigations are looking into Russia's efforts to influence the election, including whether members of Trump's campaign coordinated with Moscow, and new developments continue to emerge.
A report Wednesday said Mueller and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman (D) have teamed up in the ongoing investigation of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.
Politico reported that the statewide investigation could help Mueller in the larger probe into alleged ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Mueller's team is also reportedly looking into Trump's part in the response to reports about the meeting his advisers had with a Russian lawyer during the presidential race.
NBC News reported earlier this week that investigators are trying to determine what Trump knew about the meeting and if he tried to hide its purpose.
Donald Trump Jr., son-in-law Jared Kushner and Manafort were all in attendance at the Trump Tower meeting, which was arranged under the pretense of receiving damaging information about then-Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
Trump and his advisers have repeatedly denied collusion, and Trump in the past has decried the Russia probe as a "witch hunt."
http://thehill.com/homenews/news/348675-rather-trump-afraid-of-what-mueller-will-find-out
Isn't Dan Rather the guy that got busted from his TV news job for lying his ass off ?
DeleteAnd you think we've got it bad ?
ReplyDeleteAs the world watches Storm Harvey, more than 1,000 have been killed in floods in south Asia
Evening Standard
Chloe Chaplain
http://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/as-the-world-watches-storm-harvey-more-than-1000-have-been-killed-in-floods-in-south-asia/ar-AAqYec1
It's not an unusual state of affairs from June through September, monsoon time.
Here in the USA, back in about 1900, something like maybe 10,000 of us were killed in a storm similar to the one we have just experienced.
1900 Galveston hurricane
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Great Galveston Hurricane
of 1900
Category 4 major hurricane (SSHWS/NWS)
Surface weather analysis of the hurricane on September 8, just before landfall.
Formed
August 27, 1900
Dissipated
September 17, 1900
(Extratropical after September 11, 1900)
Highest winds
1-minute sustained: 145 mph (230 km/h)
Lowest pressure
936 mbar (hPa); 27.64 inHg
Fatalities
6,000–12,000 direct
Damage
$21 million (1900 USD)
(equivalent to $605 million in 2016, adjusted for inflation; see Aftermath for more)
Areas affected
Lesser Antilles, Puerto Rico, Hispaniola, Jamaica, Cuba, Turks and Caicos Islands, Bahamas, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, New York, Eastern Canada
Part of the 1900 Atlantic hurricane season
The Great Galveston Hurricane was a Category 4 storm, with winds of up to 145 mph (233 km/h), which made landfall on September 8, 1900, in Galveston, Texas, in the United States, leaving about 6,000 to 12,000 dead. It remains to the present day the deadliest natural disaster in US history.
The hurricane appears to have started as an atmospheric trough from West Africa, causing unsettled weather in the Caribbean, and emerging into the Florida Straits as a tropical storm on September 5. Owing to contradictory forecasts, the people of Galveston felt no alarm until the official hurricane warning of September 7. The next morning, a storm surge of 15 ft (4.6 m) washed over the long, flat island-city which was only 8 ft (2.4 m) above sea level, knocking buildings off their foundations and destroying over 3,600 homes.
The disaster ended the Golden Era of Galveston, as the hurricane alarmed potential investors, who turned to Houston instead. The whole island of Galveston was subsequently raised by 17 ft (5.2 m) and a 10 mi (16 km) seawall erected.[1]....
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1900_Galveston_hurricane
Harvey has been a little pissing in the wind by comparison.
DeleteEvery year Mumbai, home to about 20 million people and India’s two biggest stock exchanges, struggles to cope with the annual monsoon deluge - drawing criticism about its poor planning and weak infrastructure.
Delete© Provided by Independent Print Limited an128610811people-are-rescu.jpg
More than half of the city’s population live in shantytowns, where weak and temporary buildings put them at increased risk in adverse weather conditions.
© Provided by Independent Print Limited an128672929indian-flood-eff.jpg
Meanwhile in the eastern Indian state of Bihar, more than 500 people were killed. The government said thousands more have been forced to abandon their homes and are residing in nearby relief camps.
Giving Comey a little more of his due -
ReplyDeleteJAMES COMEY, HILLARY’S REAL CAMPAIGN MANAGER
Sweet vindication -- again -- for President Trump.
September 1, 2017 Matthew Vadum
The insufferable, morally preening former FBI Director James B. Comey Jr., intentionally gave Hillary Clinton’s campaign a boost last year by deciding to sabotage the email investigation by exonerating the then-candidate before key witnesses had even been interviewed, new evidence suggests.
Citing Comey’s bungling of the Clinton email investigation, President Trump unceremoniously fired him by press release on May 9, three-and-a-half years into his 10-year term. Trump was attacked in the media for not caring about Comey’s presumably hurt feelings. He based his decision on a U.S. Department of Justice memo authored by Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein that found Comey had, among other things, usurped then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch’s authority by taking it upon himself to unilaterally clear Clinton.
Rosenstein excoriated Comey, whose side of the story has long been championed by the media. “I do not understand his refusal to accept the nearly universal judgment that he was mistaken. Almost everyone agrees that the Director made serious mistakes; it is one of the few issues that unites people of diverse perspectives.”
Comey’s endless posturing and palace intrigues damaged the FBI, causing morale to plummet. As a result, “the FBI’s reputation and credibility have suffered substantial damage, and it has affected the entire Department of Justice,” Rosenstein asserted. “That is deeply troubling to many Department employees and veterans, legislators and citizens.”
Of course, critics savaged Trump’s rationale for axing Comey at the time, claiming as the supremely silly Russian collusion conspiracy theory was gaining traction in the media, that the president was obstructing justice to save his own skin.
Exploding in huge, scary fireballs of anger visible from orbit, they ridiculed him, calling him a budding dictator. They claimed he had created a dire constitutional crisis. They demanded his impeachment and imprisonment – or worse.
But once again it appears Trump was right about a media-saturated, manufactured matter of public controversy, one in a series that over the president’s brief time in office has whipped the yet-to-exhausted Left into a frenzy.
Upon Comey’s dismissal, Trump said the FBI “is one of our nation’s most cherished and respected institutions and today will mark a new beginning for our crown jewel of law enforcement.”
Exactly right.
As Americans are now painfully aware, the congenitally devious Clintons had created a hacker-friendly, slap-dash private email system while she headed the U.S. Department of State to frustrate Freedom of Information Act requesters, shield Hillary's correspondence from congressional oversight, and steer money to the international cash-for-future-presidential-favors clearinghouse known as the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation. The “homebrew” email servers Mrs. Clinton used are at the heart of the scandal over her mishandling of an Islamic terrorist attack in militant-infested Benghazi, Libya on the 11th anniversary of 9/11 that left four Americans, including U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens, dead.
DeleteHillary thought she was above the law. Apparently, the new evidence shows Comey thought she was, too.
The case that the handwringing, sanctimonious Comey was thoroughly corrupt, exquisitely marinated in the swamp waters and flesh pools of decadent official Washington, was already fairly solid but with these new revelations it seems even more obvious that he was less top cop than grand inquisitor. He thought of himself as judge and jury, justice be damned. As long as he ended up looking good, all was well, in his eyes.
Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Judiciary subcommittee chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) reportedly sent a letter to current FBI Director Chris Wray yesterday about Comey’s conduct as head of the FBI.
"Conclusion first, fact-gathering second—that's no way to run an investigation," read the correspondence. "The FBI should be held to a higher standard than that, especially in a matter of such great public interest and controversy."
From reading redacted transcripts of interviews conducted last fall with senior aides to Comey – his chief of staff James Rybicki and Trisha Anderson, the FBI’s principal deputy general counsel of national security and cyberlaw – Grassley’s committee discovered that as FBI chief Comey prematurely drafted a letter clearing Clinton of email-related wrongdoing.
The testimony appears to establish that Comey started working on a public statement giving Clinton a clean legal bill of health before the FBI had gotten around to speaking with 17 witnesses in the probe, including Clinton and two of her senior aides, Cheryl Mills and Heather Samuelson. The two senators noted that Comey began working on his exculpatory communique even before Mills and Samuelson brokered what the lawmakers called a “highly unusual” limited immunity deal with the Justice Department that prevented officials from looking into communications between the two aides and Colorado-based Platte River Networks, which oversaw Clinton’s unusual email system after she left Foggy Bottom to run for president.
"According to the unredacted portions of the transcripts, it appears that in April or early May of 2016, Mr. Comey had already decided he would issue a statement exonerating Secretary Clinton," the letter by Grassley and Graham stated.
DeleteThat was long before FBI agents finished their work. Mr. Comey even circulated an early draft statement to select members of senior FBI leadership. The outcome of an investigation should not be prejudged while FBI agents are still hard at work trying to gather the facts.
As Daniel Greenfield freshly opined:
There was never any serious possibility that Hillary Clinton would have been indicted. And we know that. But throughout the process, Comey pretended that he was dotting all the i's and crossing all the t's. But it was all a show. Comey and his top people knew what the outcome would be ahead of time. They were just going through the motions.
Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, told Fox News Channel’s Tucker Carlson last night that the new evidence "shows the investigation truly was a sham."
Fitton added that the FBI also appears to have helped to pay for opposition research against Trump. He was referring to the Russian "piss-gate" dossier published by cat-video website BuzzFeed. "They started paying, it looks like, the expert behind the dodgy dossier ... during the campaign."
"We asked the FBI for documents about any payments they made to the author of the Trump-Russia dossier and they came back to us and they said we can't even confirm or deny whether any such documents exist.”
The FBI is not being run, Fitton said, by "someone with the interest of the American people [in mind] in terms of getting some transparency about the misconduct of the FBI during the Obama administration as they were working to, really, nail Trump through this really awkward – and let's put it this way – conspiratorial relationship with the authors of the Trump dossier.”
By now politics junkies don’t need to be reminded it was at an unusual, much-watched presser on July 5, 2016, that Comey acknowledged the massive body of evidence that was accumulating against Clinton and described it at some length. He stipulated that the former secretary of state probably broke the law when she used hacker-friendly private email servers to conduct official business.
But after airing this very dirty laundry, Comey inexplicably gave Clinton a pass. “Although there is evidence of potential violations of the statutes regarding the handling of classified information, our judgment is that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case.”
DeleteGuided by politics, not the law, Comey pontificated that Clinton and her aides were “extremely careless” in their handling of classified documents but that there was no evidence of criminal intent. He made this statement even though the relevant national security statute does not actually require intent: mishandling intelligence, even inadvertently, is enough to land people with less pull than Hillary has, in hot water.
As former federal prosecutor Andrew C. McCarthy wrote at the time, “the FBI rewrote the statute, inserting an intent element that Congress did not require.”
So, as it turns out, Comey was ripped from his powerful perch in the nick of time.
Some critics say the media-savvy, morally preening Comey presided over a J. Edgar Hoover-like reign of terror while he ran the FBI.
Comey was far more powerful than an FBI director ought to be. When the president fired Comey, Brit Hume observed, “For better or worse, no FBI director since J. Edgar Hoover had taken so large a role in the political life of this country as James Comey.”
Around the same time Tucker Carlson was positively scathing in his assessment of Comey’s tenure. He said lawmakers on both sides of the aisle were intimidated by Comey – and for good reason.
Just how powerful was James Comey? Let’s put it this way: He was feared in a way that no appointed bureaucrat should ever be feared in a free society. Time and again elected lawmakers on both sides came on this show and expressed worry and concern about his behavior, but they did so only during commercial breaks with the cameras off. Why? Because they were terrified at the prospect of criticizing him in public. They certainly don’t have that fear of the sitting president of the United States and that tells you everything you need to know about Jim Comey.
That sounds about right.
https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/267763/james-comey-hillarys-real-campaign-manager-%C2%A0%C2%A0%C2%A0-matthew-vadum
TAKEAWAY
ReplyDelete* Hillary is a liar, a perjurer and a crook
* Comey is a liar, a perjurer and a crook
HOW DOES THE MUELLER CHARADE CONTINUE?
ReplyDeleteWashington (CNN)President Donald Trump's legal team has met with special counsel Robert Mueller to discuss the investigation and has prepared memos arguing Trump did not obstruct justice when he fired then-FBI Director James Comey, a source familiar with the memos tells CNN.
The source said the memos prepared for Mueller argue the President's powers under the Constitution inherently give him the right to fire the FBI director for any reason, meaning the move could not have been obstruction of justice.
The President's lawyers have said publicly they would file a complaint against Comey with the Department of Justice. Instead, the source said one of the memos written to Mueller was written as that complaint.
The President's lawyers also called Comey's credibility into question by arguing he was an admitted leaker -- arguments Trump's team has made publicly.
The meeting and details of the memos were first reported by the Wall Street Journal Thursday.
The FBI should be investigating Mr. Comey.
Delete:)
DeleteIt is no charade ...
To claim it is, willful ignorance
Don't know where you found this Mr. Goodman, but he's a likable character even if he is a Bernie supporter.
ReplyDelete(I think I remember him saying he was a Bernie supporter)
I'll have to watch the beautiful Rachel Maddow-MSNBC and see what she spins out of all this.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteSmoke seen billowing from Russia consulate Trump ordered closed
irefighters arriving at the scene were turned away by consulate officials who came from inside the building.
Smoke was seen Friday pouring from a chimney on the roof of the Russian consulate in San Fransisco that President Trump ordered closed by Saturday.
The Trump administration on Thursday ordered Russia to close the consulate — and annexes in Washington, D.C., and New York — in retaliation to Moscow ousting hundreds of U.S. diplomatic personnel, which was itself in response to new sanctions against Russia passed after the Kremlin's 2016 interference in the presidential election.
Russia's Foreign Ministry says U.S. security forces plan to search the building after it is vacated.
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/348907-smoke-seen-billowing-from-russia-consulate-after-trump-ordered
San Francisco heat shatters all-time record with 104 degrees.
Delete...but the Ruskies felt a chill an lit the fireplace.
San Francisco heat shatters all-time record with 106 degrees
Delete5:02 PM
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteReport: Mueller has unreleased Trump letter on Comey firing
ReplyDeleteThe Justice Department has provided special counsel Robert Mueller with an early draft of a letter detailing President Trump's rationale for firing former FBI Director James Comey, The New York Times reported Friday.
The May letter, written by Trump and adviser Stephen Miller, was ultimately blocked by White House counsel Don McGahn, who believed some of its contents were problematic.
Instead, a different letter written by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein was sent, pinning the dismissal on Comey's handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton's private email server.
Mueller is currently conducting a wide-ranging investigation into Russian interference in the presidential campaign, including whether the president obstructed justice by firing Comey, who was previously in charge of the probe.
It is unknown how much of the rationale in the original letter focused on the Russia investigation. Shortly after Comey's May 9 dismissal, the president told NBC's Lester Holt that the probe had been on his mind when he made the decision to fire the FBI director.
“Regardless of recommendation, I was going to fire Comey,” Trump said during an interview on "NBC Nightly News," adding "there was no good time to do it."
“And in fact, when I decided to just do it, I said to myself, ‘You know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made up story,’ ” he said.
Miller, a former aide to Attorney General Jeff Sessions when he was in the Senate, reportedly drafted the letter at Trump's request during a weekend in May at the president's Bedminster, N.J., golf club.
During that same weekend, Sessions and Rosenstein were working a parallel effort to dismiss Comey, according to the Times.
Comey had recently given testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee that it made him "mildly nauseous" to think his actions during the campaign might have impacted the outcome.
Comey had declared that there would be no charges against Clinton over her "homebrew" server before later alerting Congress that the FBI was examining new evidence 11 days before the election. Clinton has said his letter to lawmakers is one of the reasons she lost.
Comey's congressional testimony reportedly added to Rosenstein's and Sessions's concerns that the famously independent-minded director was overstepping the authority of his role.
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/348874-report-mueller-has-unreleased-trump-letter-on-comey-firing
ReplyDeleteJack HawkinsFri Sep 01, 05:06:00 PM EDT
It is no charade ...
To claim it is, willful ignorance
Well, you are the prognosticator extraordinaire around here. Your Homey, Comey, seems to have been less than honest and set up the whole Mueller charade because your homey and the Obama administration hadn't put into their planning that Trump would win. Share your learned political analysis with your lessors.
WHAT A COINCIDENCE
ReplyDeleteWASHINGTON (AP) — Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team of investigators is in possession of a letter that President Donald Trump wrote, but did not send, that laid out a rationale for firing FBI Director James Comey.
That’s according to a person familiar with the investigation who spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to discuss the ongoing probe publicly. The New York Times first reported the letter.
The letter was drafted before the May 9 firing of Comey. On that day, the White House released a different letter from Deputy Attorney General Attorney Rod Rosenstein that cited the handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation as a basis for Comey’s firing.
A Justice Department statement says the department has been fully cooperative with Mueller’s investigation.
Charade
ReplyDeletenoun
an absurd pretense intended to create a pleasant or respectable appearance.
"talk of unity was nothing more than a charade"
synonyms: farce, pantomime, travesty, mockery, parody, pretense, act, masquerade
"our entire relationship is a charade"
I see no problem with Comey's best buddy Mueller deciding whether Comey's actions were honest, fair, lawful and proper, etc.
DeleteNothing to see here.
Beyond reproach motherfuckers one and all.
DeleteTrump has pledged $1 million to Harvey relief, White House says
ReplyDeleteWhite House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders says the president pledged $1 million of his own money to Harvey relief efforts.
She says Trump is seeking advice from reporters about where he should donate money.
Obama and the Clintons have not checked in yet. I am sure they will.
3 Minutes of Hillary at her best:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xubN6ctNNv8
Judge Jeanine is really ripping Comey today. She is in for Hannity. Doing better than he does.
ReplyDeleteWhen she's pissed she knows how to show it, drooling sarcasm.
Whole cloud now over Mueller investigation she is saying....
:)
'Comey couldn't give Congress information when they asked but he CAN leak information to his best buddy when he wishes'.....hahahahaHA
DeleteActually a guest said that but she was avidly agreeing....
DeleteBy the way Judicial Watch is worthy of a contribution if you can manage....
ReplyDeleteDon't give anything to Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) though as it will just end up in their Cayman Islands account.....
DeletePicture of the Year - (so far) -
ReplyDeleteHouston SWAT officer Daryl Hudeck rescues Catherine Pham in Houston on Aug. 27, 2017.
(Photo: David J. Phillip, AP)
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2017/08/31/hurricane-harvey-photo-proves-chivalry-alive-and-well-america-ashley-mcguire-column/618567001/
Click it to enlarge it.
I hope Congress/Trump gives the Dreamers a break AND builds the wall.
ReplyDeleteWe need a wall if only to help stem the tide of killer drugs coming from the south.
Eating oneself -
ReplyDeleteEnrollment At Evergreen State College Drops 5%, Hiring Freeze To Follow
JOHN SEXTONPosted at 7:41 pm on September 1, 2017
What did they expect? After last year’s fiasco in which students shouted at police, demanded professors resign, and briefly carried baseball bats around campus, enrollment is down at Evergreen State College. An “Enrollment and Budget Update” dated August 28, said the school has a $2.1 million budget deficit caused partly by a decline in enrollment.
SEE ALSO: Looks like Andrew Jackson will stay on the $20 bill
“Our 2017 fall registration as of mid-August is 212 students fewer than at this time in 2016,” the document states. It continues, “While resident undergraduate numbers remain relatively steady, we have seen a decrease in nonresident student numbers, which has a disproportionate impact on tuition revenue and the budget. Out of the 212 fewer students, 210 are nonresident.
TRENDING:
Police demand a nurse draw blood without a warrant, arrest her when she refuses
In 2016-17 the average annual full-time enrollment (AAFTE) was 3,922. In 2017-18 the AAFTE is anticipated to be 3,713. We anticipate the decline to continue into 2018-19 to perhaps as low as 3,600.”
If they lost just over 200 students this year, a loss of just over 100 next year sounds pretty optimistic at this point. But a spokesman for the school denies the decline is the result of what took place last year. From KUOW:
Evergreen spokesman Zach Powers sees it differently, saying a big factor is heightened competition among small liberal arts colleges.
“This is a situation that is ongoing and is something that we are exploring different options and solutions to,” Powers said.
Powers noted nearly all of this fall’s enrollment drop came from the category of out-of-state students, who pay higher tuition.
I don’t think heightened competition is the problem. It is true that Evergreen has been on a downward slide for several years, but this school has become a national laughing-stock. It’s name is now synonymous with progressive dysfunction. It makes perfect sense that the people most sensitive to that change would be the people paying the most to attend, i.e. out-of-state students.
As we’ve seen at the University of Missouri, it could be some time before enrollment levels off at a much lower level. The claim that next year they will only lose another 100 or so students could turn out to be very optimistic. And that’s bad news for the school since, as the budget update points out, nearly 90% of that money goes directly to salaries. “In a college where 89 percent of the operating budget is in salaries and benefits, it is impossible to reduce the budget by substantial amounts without giving up positions,” the document states. “In anticipation of this, we will soon be announcing a hiring freeze,” it continues.
But it’s doubtful that the school’s current administration has learned anything from last year’s fiasco. After mentioning the hiring freeze, the budget document states, “We must continue our efforts to make Evergreen a student-ready college. Our work in equity and inclusion is an important step in this process.” That’s a wordy way of saying the school plans to keep digging into the morass of intersectionality that created the mess we saw last year. There is a real possibility we could see another eruption of student protests at the school this year.
https://hotair.com/archives/2017/09/01/enrollment-evergreen-state-college-drops-5-hiring-freeze-follow/
If you can spare the time you ought to read this - (the Great Hugh is back)
DeleteHugh Fitzgerald: Western Civ and Its Diss Contents
AUGUST 31, 2017 7:32 PM BY HUGH FITZGERALD
Looking for a teaching job in history? If you turned today to the main website listing such positions — — here is what you would have found at about 12 noon:.....
.....To sum up: of the nineteen positions listed first today, 17 were for teaching jobs. Of those 17 teaching jobs, six, or more than a third, had to do with Arabs and/or Islam.
Another six had to do with African-American Literature, African-American History, African-American Studies, Black Studies/Critical Race Studies, Black Studies, African-American Politics.
There was one opening for all of India, ancient and modern: an assistant professor focusing on “South Asian Religions,” that is, Hindu and Buddhist Studies.
There were two opening for China-related jobs: teaching Chinese language, and Modern Chinese Literature and Media Studies.
There was one opening for an Anthropology position, for the study of Native American or other indigenous peoples. Here is a fuller description, which like all of the jobs listed,is careful to mention the importance of, commitment to, celebration of, diversity and inclusiveness, or words to that effect:
Bowdoin College’s Department of Sociology and Anthropology invites applications for a tenure-track faculty appointment in Anthropology at the Assistant Professor level beginning fall 2018. We seek a cultural anthropologist whose research focuses on issues of indigeneity, sovereignty, the environment, and/or media in Native American or other indigenous communities. We are especially interested in candidates whose areas of geographic and topical specialization complement and broaden those now covered in the Department.
We welcome applications from candidates committed to the instruction and support of a diverse student population and those who will enrich and contribute to the College’s ethnic and cultural diversity. We value a community in which students of all backgrounds are warmly welcomed and encouraged to succeed. In your application materials, we encourage you to address how your teaching, scholarship, and/or mentorship may support our commitment to diversity and inclusion.
While China merits one teacher of the language, and one non-language teaching appointment, and India merits one position on Hindu and Buddhist studies, the only aspect of American history that appears in these announcements is that involving African-Americans. Six positions are listed: African-American Literature, African-American and African Studies, African American Politics, Black Studies/Critical Race Studies, African-American History, African American Literature. Nothing about Colonial America, the Road to Independence, the Revolutionary War, the Constitution, the Westward Expansion, the Era of Good Feelings, the Civil War, Manifest Destiny, the Great Trusts and the Sherman Act, the Immigration From Europe (1880-1925), nothing about the Depression, the New Deal, World War II, America as a World Power, the Cold War, the Vietnam War, and so on.
DeleteCompletely absent, too, from this sampling, is the history of Europe, from Classical Antiquity to the 21st century. No Greek city-states, no Periclean Athens, no Peloponnesian War, no Roman Empire to both rise and fall, no Dark Ages, no Middle Ages, no Crusades, no Renaissance, no Reformation, no Discovery and Conquest of the New World, no Louis XIV and the French Empire, no British Empire, no French Revolution, no Napoleonic Wars, no Revolutions of 1848, no Industrial Revolution, no Rise of Democracy, no……..well, you get the picture. Europe has fallen, it appears, pretty much off the academic map; its place has been taken by Diversity and Inclusion neither of which appears to include, or is made diverse by, courses about boring old white Europeans, and Europe itself is in steady retreat as a subject of study in our universities.
Meanwhile, Islamic and Arabic studies appear to be very much in academic fashion. Six of the first seventeen listings for teaching jobs today — listed as of noon– are devoted to Arabic Culture, Critical Muslim Studies, the Modern Middle East, Art and Material Culture of the Islamic World, Islam in the Modern Middle East and North America, and Arabic Studies.
Almost every one of these announcements proclaims the vital importance of “diversity and inclusion” or, just to make things interesting, of “inclusion and diversity.”.....
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2017/08/hugh-fitzgerald-western-civ-and-its-diss-contents
Waging Cultural Jihad on the idiots....
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mark Eves believes “Main’s whiteness is bad news” according to remarks he delivered during a Maine People’s Alliance event this week.
ReplyDeleteAccording to Maine First Media and Big League Politics, the former Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives delivered the remarks while addressing a group of nearly one hundred activists and grassroots supporters Wednesday evening at the “Resistance Rising” forum event put on by the Maine People’s Alliance in Lewiston.
Eves reportedly said Maine is going to be in trouble if it does not attract a more diverse population.
NOW IMAGINE
A political candidate who complains that Detroit is too black and in trouble if they don't get more European/Americans to come in.
Maine obviously needs more Muzzie Professors of Islamic Studies at the University of Maine..
DeleteTo hell with the USA, Europe, American Literature, and a tough subject like Hinduism.
And who the hell cares about China, too ?
Delete"Is Comey in deep yogurt ?"
ReplyDeleteLady Kennedy on The Five on Fox News Channel.
All except Juan Williams seem to think so.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteEven some at The Washington Compost seem to be giving up on the Trump/Russia story....
ReplyDeleteTrump-Russia Story Survives, Even as Evidence Fades Ed Rogers, Washington Post....DRUDGE
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2017/08/30/the-trump-russia-story-survives-even-as-evidence-of-collusion-fades/?utm_term=.4297c00a27b5
Monster Trucks being used in high water in Texas :)
ReplyDeleteUSA ! USA !!
My meager military knowledge doesn't allow me to comment on this so I just post it -
ReplyDeleteIt’s Time to Consider a Military Option on the Korean Peninsula
The conventional approach to Pyongyang guarantees future rogue regimes will seek to join the nuclear club
by Conrad Black | Updated 31 Aug 2017 at 7:00 AM
It has become a truism in the continuing North Korean crisis to say that there is no good military option, but in fact there is.
It is perfectly understandable that the U.S. administration would publicly acquiesce in this conventional wisdom. It warns Kim that there will be repercussions to his provocations, in order to build the record of having put him on notice without rattling his demented overconfidence of his invulnerability.
The reaction to Tuesday’s North Korean missile-firing directly over Japan has elicited the response of official indications that further weapons will be shot down by anti-missile defense systems the United States has deployed in Japan and South Korea. Both veteran Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe and new South Korean president Moon Jae-in, who was elected on a platform of reconciliation with North Korea, are now in grateful lockstep with the United States in purposeful response.
President Donald Trump told Chinese president Xi Jinping in Palm Beach in April that if China did not join the U.S. in deterring and containing the North Korean regime, the U.S. would do so itself. Following Tuesday's new provocation, the Pentagon intimated that it was pre-positioning increased military-strike capabilities to the Far East, and the South Koreans engaged in live bombing exercises very close to the 38th Parallel, which divides the Korean Peninsula.
The fact is that if a carefully planned swarm attack of low-flying cruise missiles was launched against the North Korean artillery massed across the frontier, just 35 miles from the immense South Korean capital city, Seoul, as well as at all North Korean missile launchers, and research and missile storage facilities, it would denuclearize the North and eliminate its power of intimidation against the South.
It is not inconceivable that a few artillery rounds would hit the metropolis of Seoul, but if a general air alert were ordered at the same time as the attacks, casualties would be minimal and physical damage would not be 5 percent of what London and other British cities endured during World War II — not to mention enemy cities such as Berlin and Tokyo, whose centers were razed to rubble and ashes by the Allied air forces.
DeleteAs the attacks occurred, the U.S. could warn North Korea, directly and via China, that if any attack were launched against any American or allied sites, the North Korean regime would be obliterated, but that if there were no military response, the United States and its allies would not seek regime change in the North or the reunification of Korea.
It is inconceivable that, in these circumstances, the Chinese would not sternly counsel Pyongyang to stand down. China does not want a nuclear North Korea, or a reunited Korea, which would shortly become a second Japan in industrial and strategic terms, immediately adjacent to it.
While it is entirely appropriate that the American administration never refers to such a possibility of this option, for the reason stated above, it is indicative of the ineptitude of the national media and the defeatism and anti-Americanism (or at least anti-Trumpism) of the European and Canadian media, that such a possibility is never mentioned.
It is in this respect reminiscent of the Iran hostage crisis of 1979-1981, when 'America Held Hostage' became a popular nightly newscast, and the Western media generally expressed universal pessimism about the possibility of resolving the crisis. Someday we will know exactly what the incoming Reagan administration privately said to Iran that caused its government to release the hostages as Reagan was being inaugurated in Washington.
All the tired palaver about negotiating patiently with China about constraining North Korea is practically beside the point. It won't unmake North Korea as a nuclear military power. And it won't deter Iran from becoming one, now at the end of the 10-year life of the shabby agreement President Obama sponsored with that terrorism-supporting country.
Iran and North Korea have exposed the fraudulence of the non-proliferation regime, in which the existing nuclear powers made the spurious promise to pursue joint self-disarmament. The best that can be salvaged is a nuclear club from which psychopathically governed countries such as North Korea and Iran are excluded.
President Trump said on Tuesday that "All options are on the table." There is only one that will work, and it should be very seriously considered.
Conrad Black was the chairman of the London Daily Telegraph and many other newspapers for 15 years, is a financier, historian and biographer of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Richard Nixon, and comments widely. He is a member of the British House of Lords.
http://www.lifezette.com/polizette/its-time-to-consider-a-military-option-on-the-korean-peninsula/
Idiot ...
DeleteThere are over 5,000 artillery pieces aimed at Seoul.
Using nerve agents, the NorKs would kill well over 500,000 South Koreans.
This was true in the 1980's, it is still true today.
That Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson would be spreading "Fake News" from the globalist MSM ...
Par for the Course.
ReplyDelete‘The Deuce’ Review: HBO’s Latest 1970s New York City Drama Has A Lot Of Smarts & Skin
by Dominic Patten
September 1, 2017 2:21pm
http://deadline.com/2017/09/the-deuce-review-maggie-gyllenhaal-james-franco-david-simon-hbo-video-1202159291/
Rave review.
Like our Deuce, 'it keeps it's game up'.
Unlike our Deuce, it does it in a seedy way.
What happened in 2011 when Nobel Laureate Barack Hussein Obama was POTUS, The lovely Hillary Rodham Clinton was SOS and the evil Donald was erecting buildings?
ReplyDeleteIn 2011, Syria was at peace until, in that year, the US, Britain, and France, FUKUS, sponsored a violent sectarian insurgency in Syria that eventually morphed into ISIS and spilled over into Iraq and Libya and sent the hordes into Europe.
400,000 deaths in the Syrian civil war, at the hands of the US, France, Britain and their allies.
What were some of the other brilliant moves by Obama and Clinton in 2011? How soon we forget:
When mass protests against Russian President Vladimir Putin erupted in Moscow in December 2011, Putin made clear who he thought was really behind them: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
With the protesters accusing Putin of having rigged recent elections, the Russian leader pointed an angry finger at Clinton, who had issued a statement sharply critical of the voting results. “She said they were dishonest and unfair,”( unlike Hillary) Putin fumed in public remarks, saying that Clinton gave “a signal” to demonstrators working “with the support of the U.S. State Department” to undermine his power. “We need to safeguard ourselves from this interference in our internal affairs,” Putin declared.
The magic of Obama and Clinton continues today.
Clinton's State-Department flunkie, Victoria Newland, went to Kiev with John "Bomb-Bomb" McCain, and Vicki and helped launch a neo-Nazi coup on Russia's own backdoor. Putin responded, unlike anything we would do if say, China, pulled a similar stunt in Tijuana.
ReplyDeleteOld News.
DeleteMr Obama advanced US influence right to the Russian border, taking out it's premier client state.
Obama, Clinton and Brennan, advancing US "interests" in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
I wonder what Chunky Vicky has done lately? Let's take a look:
ReplyDeleteWow, Yale University.
ReplyDeleteThis year, the Brady-Johnson Program in Grand Strategy will welcome three new practitioners — Evan Wolfson, Victoria Nuland, and Jake Sullivan — to teach side by side with faculty members on issues ranging from social change to geopolitics.
Chunky Vickie will continue the long-standing tradition of preparing elite students for careers in public service and help “bring a different set of intellectual perspectives. (Lovely Nuland, will provide the students with practical advice about scale and scope in the real world,”
...She will be joined in teaching her module on “U.S. Politics and Social Change” by Evan Wolfson ’78, founder and president of Freedom to Marry and one of the chief strategists of the gay marriage movement. In this module, students will study strategies for achieving large-scale social and political change based on historical examples including the labor, civil rights, and modern conservative movements.
DeleteIT GETS BETTER
DeleteFor Jake Sullivan ’98, ’03 LAW, who most recently served as deputy chief of staff to Hillary Clinton while she was Secretary of State and was also her senior policy adviser on Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, returning to Yale as a practitioner is “an honor” and a chance that he simply didn’t want to pass up.
“Yale encourages students to blend a life of the mind with a life of public service — to put ideas to work to make our country and our world better — and the students respond with incredible energy and enthusiasm. How could I miss out on that?”
FINAL THOUGHT FROM CHUNKY
ReplyDelete“I’ve long admired the Grand Strategy program because it gives students a great mix of historical approaches to tough problems and a chance to put themselves in the shoes of today’s strategic decision makers,” says Nuland. “That’s the best way to study international relations, and I’m excited to help challenge the next generation of global activists,” she adds.
We don't need any more activists.
DeleteWhat we need is people sitting quietly in their apts. and condos reading the great books of the past.
Do this for three decades or so, and then, perhaps, suggest something to do.
This I call De-activization for Civilization.
DeleteMr Obama advanced US influence right to the Russian border, taking out it's premier client state.
DeleteObama, Clinton and Brennan, advancing US "interests" in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Our "Draft Dodger" does not like it when the US makes real advances against the Russians, Chinese or Islamists.
He is a very confused individual, one who claims to put "America First" ...
But cannot tell us what that means, in the real world.
The swamp won.
ReplyDelete
DeleteJust figuring that out ?
The Left has so thoroughly embedded itself in the US Establishment, I doubt it will change without violence.
ReplyDeleteIt will never change until the GOP rids itself of the Ryans, McCains and McConnells.
DeleteThose fellows ARE the GOP.
Mr Trump is the RINO.
He staged a hostile takeover of the GOP, but still does not represent it, and he never will.
Wait and watch what happens when there is no Tax Reform enacted in 2017.
September 2, 2017
ReplyDeleteCorrupt Comey Had the Fix In
By Daniel John Sobieski
....The evidence against Hillary is damning, and the line of prosecutors willing to take the case would encircle the FBI building in Washington, D.C. Judge Michael Mukasey, former attorney general under President George W. Bush, listed the charges that Hillary Clinton could face on Fox Radio’s “Kilmeade and Friends:”
We are looking at a range of things, everything from the misdemeanor that was charged against General Petraeus, which is putting classified information in an unprotected, classified setting, that’s a misdemeanor. Then there is destroying government records. Then there is taking information related to the national defense and treating it with gross negligence such as it becomes disclosed. And finally, there is obstruction of justice.”
There is the destruction of evidence under Congressional subpoena. As even Comey admitted, Hillary lied about sending and receiving classified material, about having only one device, and about turning over all her emails. If intent is needed, what is accidental about smashing devices with hammers or using Bleach Bit to render emails unrecoverable? If you need a motive for having a private server, which speaks to intent, the obvious purpose is to cover up the “pay to play” trail that leads from the State Department to the Clinton Foundation.
Hillary Clinton should be prosecuted, convicted and imprisoned for her crimes. And if anyone is guilty of obstruction of justice, it is not President Trump, but the finger-pointing leaker and liar, James Comey.
http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2017/09/corrupt_comey_had_the_fix_in.html
for Quirk
ReplyDeleteRanch hands needed -
September 2, 2017
Ranch Land: America's True Elite
By Chet Richards
http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2017/09/ranch_land_americas_true_elite.html
If you haven't been to Sheridan, Wyoming, you haven't lived.
DeleteArpaio Pardon Shows the Futility of Mueller’s Obstruction Investigation
ReplyDeleteSheriff Arpaio at a Trump campaign rally in Prescott Valley, Ariz., October 2016. (Photo: Gage Skidmore) by ANDREW C. MCCARTHY September 2, 2017 4:00 AM
....Unsavory as they may find it, the Arpaio pardon is not in the same league as President Clinton’s pardon of fugitive fraudster Marc Rich in exchange for political donations. It does not compare to Clinton’s commutations for the FALN and Weathermen terrorists. Nor is it as egregious as Obama’s clemency for two hard-Left darlings, FALN terrorist Oscar Lopez Rivera and the traitorous Chelsea Manning. Moreover, in granting an astonishing 1,715 commutations (compare George W. Bush’s 189, Clinton’s 396, Reagan’s 393), Obama abused the pardon power in order to undermine Congress’s sentencing laws for serious felony offenders — much as he abused his power of prosecutorial discretion in order to undermine Congress’s immigration laws. Trump’s undermining the authority of the judiciary in a single misdemeanor case — one in which a judge heavy-handedly denied Arpaio a jury trial and then unilaterally convicted him — may be of greater moment to the media, but it’s not to much of the country.
President Trump is not going to be impeached and removed from office over the Arpaio pardon — or, for that matter, for discouraging the Flynn investigation, for weighing in on the Arpaio indictment, or for firing Jim Comey. Unless damning evidence of Trump-camp complicity in Russian espionage is uncovered, Trump’s impeachment and removal from office is just a Democratic pipe dream. But at least it is a pipe dream that makes constitutional sense. That is more than can be said for Special Counsel Mueller’s obstruction investigation.
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/451042/arpaio-pardon-why-doesnt-left-see-it-obstruction
The Donald and Melania are putting on a great show, handing out food, doing selfies with the folks....
ReplyDeleteThere's Dr. Ben Carson, on the job !!
DeleteIn devastated Houston, 'nobody hates anybody' as people come together...
TRUMP COMFORTS....DRUDGE
Looks like everything is going well with the Presidential visit to Houston.
The Donald is helping load up pickup trucks with food and water !
DeleteMelania is looking proudly on....
Melania seems a little adverse to stoop labor herself.....
DeleteShe possesses secret powers that enables her to get others to do things for her.
Delete"enable"
DeletePot makes sperm 'lazily swim in circles'....DRUDGE
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4846328/Marijuana-makes-men-s-sperm-lazily-swim-circles.html
You've been warned.
IMO, one tough lady.
ReplyDeleteWithout much fanfare, NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson will return to Earth on Saturday night—it will be Sunday morning on the steppes of Kazakhstan—aboard a Soyuz spacecraft. Quietly, she will have spent 288 days in space, or nearly 10 months. The duration of her spaceflight will fall short of only one other US astronaut, Scott Kelly, who returned to Earth in 2016 with a lot more attention after 340 days.
Whitson is known around NASA's Johnson Space Center as perhaps the agency's most efficient astronaut in space, regularly getting ahead of her timelines, research, and maintenance tasks for each day. Mission controllers typically have to come up with extra work. Partly because of this, she is one of only a handful of NASA astronauts to have been selected to serve three rotations on the International Space Station.
As a result of these three long duration spaceflights, the biochemist has now logged 665 days in space. This cumulative time in space easily ranks her as the American flier with the most experience in orbit, far above the 534 days tallied by NASA's Jeff Williams and 520 days of Scott Kelly. Whitson only lags behind seven Russian men, several of whom spent time both on the International Space Station as well as Russia's Mir station.
Those aren't all of her accolades, either. In 2008, Whitson became the first female commander of the International Space Station. She is also the oldest woman, aged 57, to fly. And with 10 spacewalks totaling more than 60 hours, she ranks as the third most accomplished spacewalker. Only Russian Anatoly Solovyev and NASA's Michael Lopez-Alegria have spent more time outside their spacecraft.
Some of these records were only made possible because, to save money, the Russians decided to begin launching fewer crew members to the station in 2017. (Fewer Russian crew meant the need for fewer Russian supply ships). Whitson had been originally scheduled to fly back to Earth this spring, but to maintain a three-person presence on board after June 2, NASA and the Russians agreed to extend Whitson’s mission. That kept three crew on board for almost two months to handle research and maintenance before a July launch restored the station's full six-crew complement. For Whitson, no problem.
It is not clear what Whitson will do upon returning to Earth. All NASA astronauts have a lifetime radiation allotment, after which they're not allowed to fly again. Whitson has almost certainly met or exceeded this, so she is unlikely to fly again. Regardless, it seems likely that her duration records will hold up for a very long time.
Nearly two years orbiting the earth....that's a bunch -
Delete
ReplyDeleteTo charge someone with obstructing justice, prosecutors have to prove that "the defendant corruptly endeavored to influence, obstruct, or impede" an investigation, according to legal and national-security experts writing for Lawfare.
That element "is the hardest to prove, because it depends on showing an improper motive," the experts said.
But if McGahn told Trump that firing Comey for the reasons outlined in his original letter — the president reportedly cited Comey's refusal to announce publicly that he was not under FBI investigation — were illegal, and Trump fired Comey anyway, "that would be slam dunk evidence of a corrupt intent," Mariotti said.
In that sense, McGahn essentially backed himself into a corner: he tried to protect the president from firing Comey for a potentially illegal reason, but the fact that he thought the letter could put Trump in legal jeopardy means he will have to testify before Mueller's grand jury.
"In that hypothetical, McGahn's testimony is devastating for Trump," Mariotti said.
Of course Mr McGahn may have nixed the President's letter to Mr Comey ...
... because he thought its tone was too inflammatory.
ReplyDeletePresident Trump has instructed advisers to prepare a withdrawal from the United States’ free-trade agreement with South Korea, several people close to the process said, a move that would stoke economic tensions with the U.S. ally at a time both countries confront a crisis over North Korea's nuclear weapons program.
While it is still possible Trump could decide to stay in the agreement in order to renegotiate its terms, the internal preparations for terminating the deal are far along and the formal withdrawal process could begin as soon as this coming week, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
A number of senior White House officials are trying to prevent Trump from withdrawing from the agreement, including national security adviser H.R. McMaster, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, and National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn, these people said.
ReplyDeleteThe Obama Administration “formally classified” Antifa’s activities as “domestic terrorist violence” as early as April 2016.
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/09/01/antifa-charlottesville-violence-fbi-242235
ReplyDeleteJessica Chastain shared an impassioned video to reflect on the current state of the country and note her commitment to “transformative social change.”
"I’m making a video because my heart is very heavy," she said in the clip, which she posted to Twitter on Thursday. "I’ve learned so much the past few days about the trauma many people are experiencing in our country. I’ve had the opportunity to listen, more than to speak, and it’s really hard for me to express my feelings, my thoughts, in 140 characters."
“I wanted you guys to know that I hear you," she continued, occasionally pausing and seemingly holding back tears. "I want you to know that I’m committed to creating transformative social change, that I’m committed to dismantling systems of oppression. I share in the sense of what is happening in the country. I hear you. You may never have met me, but I love you.”
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/jessica-chastain-shares-emotional-video-im-committed-creating-transformative-social-change-1034574
DeleteSo this Ms Chastain is with Mr Trump, Bannon and Gorka, wanting to dismantle the System.
There is a growing global anti-establishment revolt against the permanent political class at home and the global elites that influence them, which impacts everyone from Lubbock, Texas, to London, England.
Stephen Bannon
ReplyDeleteWhat you realize hanging out with investigative reporters is that, while they may be personally liberal, they don't let that get in the way of a good story.
Stephen Bannon
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe Donald really must be tough to work for -
DeleteSo, Who’s The Next Chief Of Staff Going To Be When John Kelly Quits?
ALLAHPUNDITPosted at 4:01 pm on September 2, 2017
We should start kicking around ideas now because it sounds like it won’t be long. It’s going to be Christie, isn’t it? Please tell me it’s not going to be Christie.
You would think it’d be easy to address a retired Marine general who served his country with distinction in a respectful way. And yet.
President Trump was in an especially ornery mood after staff members gently suggested he refrain from injecting politics into day-to-day issues of governing after last month’s raucous rally in Arizona, and he responded by lashing out at the most senior aide in his presence.
It happened to be his new chief of staff, John F. Kelly.
Mr. Kelly, the former Marine general brought in five weeks ago as the successor to Reince Priebus, reacted calmly, but he later told other White House staff members that he had never been spoken to like that during 35 years of serving his country. In the future, he said, he would not abide such treatment, according to three people familiar with the exchange.
Estimates among the dozen people the NYT spoke to in terms of how much longer Kelly will stay range from a year to a month. He’s reportedly done a bang-up job of streamlining Trump’s day, reducing staff access to the Oval Office (“I now have time to think,” POTUS has been heard to say) and filtering out information from Trump’s daily reading that’s apt to send him off on a tangent, including material from Breitbart and the Daily Caller. He’s also “moved swiftly to dispatch aides he deems unqualified by temperament, experience or credential,” per the Times. The latest target: Omarosa Manigault, who’s allegedly one of the worst offenders in the White House in terms of slipping reading material to Trump that’s apt to throw him off course and derail the day’s agenda. From the Daily Beast:
The stories Manigault would present to Trump, often on a phone or printed out, would often enrage the president, and resulted in him spending at least the rest of the day fuming about it. For example, one White House source noted that Manigault was one of the people who would bring to President Trump’s attention online articles concerning MSNBC hosts, and former Trump pals, Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski “slagging him, and his administration.”…
Of particular concern for Kelly were stories from conspiratorial right-wing websites that occasionally whipped Trump into a frenzy over issues such as the West Wing’s press leak problem. In Manigault’s case, sources said, the stories generally originated at more obscure, gossipy websites, and concerned White House palace intrigue, media personalities, or prominent Republicans in Congress.
DeleteKelly can slow the flow of unvetted information to Trump but he can’t stop it. The president still has a TV in his bedroom to watch Fox News; he still has a cell phone with which to call outside advisors who lack Kelly’s approval, like Steve Bannon; and he has the Trump kids, who naturally have special access to their father. Remember, it was reportedly Don Jr who put the “cultural Marxism” memo written by NSC staffer Rich Higgins into Trump’s hands. It’s harder now for populists to whisper in the president’s ear, but not impossible. There are cracks in Kelly’s dam.
In fact, this story may produce the biggest crack yet. Keith Schiller is unknown to everyone but hardcore political news junkies, but if you’re the sort of person who follows Trump closely, you know how important he is to POTUS. He spent nearly 20 years as Trump’s bodyguard in the private sector before joining him in the White House. There may be no one outside the Trump family itself whom the president trusts more. And now he’s on his way out, ostensibly because of the pay cut he took when joining the government but possibly also because of Kelly. “Schiller has complained that he must call into the White House switchboard to reach Trump over the phone,” said one source to CNN about the post-Kelly environment. With Schiller gone, the number of original Trumpers left will be awfully small, just Hope Hicks, Dan Scavino, and the children. It may not be long before POTUS decides he’d rather have familiar faces around him again and a chaotic West Wing than be “managed” by Kelly, cloistered away in the Oval Office by himself.
The conventional wisdom, though, is that Kelly’s more likely to quit than be fired. Trump doesn’t want to have to go looking for a new chief of staff for the second time in as many months (especially when he has yet to fill Kelly’s vacant position at DHS). The question is whether he’ll chase Kelly away by treating him as a whipping boy. He was complimentary yesterday on Twitter:
Follow
Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump
General John Kelly is doing a great job as Chief of Staff. I could not be happier or more impressed - and this Administration continues to..
5:35 AM - Sep 1, 2017
It grieves me to say it but Christie would be an obvious choice at this point if Kelly walks. He has executive experience, relationships with people on the Hill, and Trump’s known him for years and sees him as a loyalist thanks to his early endorsement in the primaries. If Trump goes full loyalist and brings in someone like Corey Lewandowski, congressional Republicans will scoff that Corey’s a yes-man and a clown. If Trump brings in an establishment Republican in the Josh Bolten mold, Beltway GOPers will be happy but populists will not, and inevitably Trump will have the same sort of clashes with the new guy as he has with Kelly. He needs a combination of someone who’ll let him be himself and not micromanage him and someone whom establishment Republicans kinda sorta respect. Christie, right?
https://hotair.com/archives/2017/09/02/whos-next-chief-staff-going-john-kelly-quits/
Please, not Fatso Chris Christie.
A new low at the bar:
DeleteFat Shaming
:-(
You could learn how to make positive comments from my Melania post above.
DeleteSir, I am an equal opportunity Fat Shamer.
DeleteKim Fatso Dung-un III, for instance.
DougSat Sep 02, 09:03:00 PM EDT
DeleteShe possesses secret powers that enables her to get others to do things for her.
She does, indeed.
All I said was she was a little averse to stoop labor.
Which is not a criticism.
I have said the same about QUIRK for instance, many times, and meant it as a compliment.
You are never going to find Quirk driving tractor, or herding cattle.
Walking the dog is a close as Quirk has ever come to stoop labor, and that is a labor of love.
DeleteQUIRK, say true now, did you really do ad work in China ?
DeleteDo you have any examples you can put up as evidence ?
Unless I see with my own eyes I may not believe.
You didn't even incorporate my correction:
DeleteShe possesses secret powers that enable her to get others to do things for her.
English Major, indeed!
Man not see with own eyes not believe.
DeleteTell me, Sir, should I have used adverse, or averse, and why ?
Deleteaverse, of course!
DeleteOakhurts
ReplyDeletesusana @monti77atm Aug 29
Hi, are there any update about teh fire? We are foreing tourist and we are a little be worried about it! We are in oakhurts! Thanks
===
Yosemite National PkVerified account @YosemiteNPS Aug 30
Hwy 41 is closed from Cedar Lodge Road to the Yosemite south entrance. If traveling from Oakhurst use Hwy 49 to Hwy 140 to access the park.
Is that anywhere near Truckee ?
DeleteHas Truckee been evacuated ?
We've been having earthquakes in south east Idaho.
DeleteNaw, it's near Yosemite.
Delete2,500 year old Trees.
Should have control burned the dead trash trees all around the grove.
...but that would take a functioning state government.
"Oak hurts" is what the school marms used to say before using the switch.
DeleteThe children were better behaved in those days.
Damn I'm sorry to hear some old trees are in danger.
Delete
DeleteCalifornia Wildfire Reaches Giant Sequoia Grove
http://fox40.com/2017/09/02/california-wildfire-reaches-giant-sequoia-grove/
===
Railroad Fire:
https://news.google.com/news/search/section/q/railroad%20fire/railroad%20fire?hl=en
They are awesome and unbelievable, those old trees. Make the spirit soar.....
DeleteDamn, that is a sad article to read.
DeleteCan't they air tanker drop some massive fire retardant, or would that harm the trees.
I planted 100 Coastal Redwoods back in the day.
Delete...probly be around after me.
You did well. The merit will live in you forever.
DeleteThey've got a 747 they're using for the first time.
DeleteAbout 1-2/3 bigger load than the DC-10.
Damn, sounds like the N. Koreans just set off a thermonuclear bomb.
ReplyDelete6.3 magnitude explosion.
Maybe lil Kim lit a fart.
DeleteEven MSNBC is saying we got to do something.
Delete