COLLECTIVE MADNESS


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

Sunday, October 22, 2017

More on George W. Bush, the Finger Painting Fool from Crawford




Russia tables turn, roping Clinton, Obama, Holder, not Trump

ANALYSIS/OPINION:

The tables have turned and what was once the media’s favorite message — President Donald Trump colluded with Russia to steal the election — has now grown silent.

Apparently, it’s Bill and Hillary Clinton who’ve been doing the behind-scenes and suspicious dealings with Russia all along. Oh, and perhaps others in the Barack Obama administration, too.

You think special counsel Robert Mueller might switch the target of his investigation any time soon? Seems a bit time-wasting — not to mention taxpayer dollar-wasting — to keep on the Trump trail, desperately searching for signs of a collusion that just didn’t happen.

Futile is a word that comes to mind.

Better to dig deeper into this, as reported by The Hill: “Before the Obama administration approved a controversial deal in 2010 giving Moscow control of a large swath of American uranium, the FBI had gathered substantial evidence that Russian nuclear industry officials were engaged in bribery, kickbacks, extortion and money laundering designed to grow Vladimir Putin’s atomic energy business inside the United States.”

Intercepted emails shows that Russia had actually gained an inroad in America and compromised a U.S. uranium trucking firm with bribes.

But this is the bigger news: The feds also found an eyewitness who provided documented evidence to show that these Russia nuke officials had sent millions of dollars to the Clinton Foundation — at a time when Hillary was serving as secretary of state and on a government body that extended favor to Russia.
Of course, this isn’t exactly new.

Way back in April of 2015, The New York Times ran this headline: “Cash Flowed to Clinton Foundation Amid Russian Uranium Deal.” And among its many, many lines was this one: “As the Russians gradually assumed control of Uranium One in three separate transactions from 2009 to 2013, Canadian records show, a flow of cash made its way to the Clinton Foundation.”

In fact, that “flow of cash” was actually four separate flows of cash, for a total amount of $2.35 million. And, we also learned from this New York Times piece, “those contributions were not publicly disclosed by the Clintons.”

A lot of this was also uncovered a outlined by other writers, as well — John Rappoport, investigative journalist, comes to mind, as well as Peter Schweitzer, of “Clinton Cash” author fame.

But what is coming to light is what others knew, and when.

The feds suspected as early as 2009 that Russia was engaged in this dirty dealing. And the United States, under Barack Obama’s administration, did nothing.
“Rather than bring immediate charges in 2010, however, the Department of Justice continued investigating the matter for nearly four more years, essentially leaving the American public and Congress in the dark about Russian nuclear corruption on U.S. soil during a period when the Obama administration made two major decisions benefiting [Vladimir] Putin’s commercial nuclear ambitions,” The Hill wrote.

The American people want to know — was U.S. security compromised by the Obama-Clinton deals with Russia?

Mueller’s tasked with the wrong job. If he really wants to find out if America’s interests were compromised in any way by Russia, he needs to quit looking Trump’s way and start digging deep into the Clintons and yes, the Obama administration.


The Hill asked both Clinton and then-attorney general Eric Holder for comment. Curiously, neither had anything to say at this time. Their silence is both telling, and unacceptable. Now if only the same leftists who’ve been clamoring for impeachment of Trump over supposed collusion with Russia would similarly demand answers about Clinton, Holder and Obama — maybe we’d get to the finally get to the bottom of this.

81 comments:

  1. Try mapping out what sixteen years of damage has done to the United States under George W. Bush and Barca Obama. It is depressing business.

    Laura Ingraham hardly overstates the loathsome fool's legacy.

    ReplyDelete
  2. FYI: "barca" is Spanish for a small dingy.

    ReplyDelete
  3. FACT ON THE PRIOR INVESTIGATION OF OBAMA/CLINTON CORRUPTION

    Mueller was heading the investigation, Rod Rosenstein was the supervising attorney.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Swamp Much?

    Is it time for Special Counsel Robert Mueller to recuse himself from his investigation into Russian activities in the 2016 presidential election?

    Lost in much of the discussion over this week’s developments in the growing Russia/Uranium/Clinton scandal is the fact that none other than Mueller was the FBI Director during this investigation. And that investigation is under serious scrutiny.

    Hannity on Uranium One Deal: 'Hillary Clinton and Her Husband Sold Out America to The Russians'

    Under Attorney General Eric Holder, the FBI informant at the center of the probe was prohibited from revealing any of the details of the investigation to members of Congress because of a non-disclosure agreement that has been characterized as unusual by the informant’s attorney, Victoria Toensing.

    In fact, as the Obama Administration was weighing the sale of uranium to a Russian-backed firm, none of the details of the active FBI criminal investigation were disclosed by the Executive Branch to Congress. Then-House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers told The Hill:

    He had never been told anything about the Russian nuclear corruption case even though many fellow lawmakers had serious concerns about the Obama administration’s approval of the Uranium One deal.

    Yesterday, President Donald Trump called out the media for their obsessive coverage of the as-of-now-evidence-free Russia/Collusion story while not probing deeper into the Russian/Uranium/Clinton scandal which blew-up this week thanks to investigative reporting by John Solomon at The Hill and Sara Carter at Circa. He might want to have a conversation with Mueller and his own Deputy Attorney General as well.

    Not only is Special Counsel Mueller tied-up in the uranium imbroglio, but the person supervising the investigation was then-US Attorney Rod Rosenstein. Rosenstein is now the Deputy Attorney General and after Jeff Sessions recused himself from the Russian meddling case it was Obama appointee Rosenstein who decided to name none other than Mueller as Special Counsel for the probe.


    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Obama may have appointrd Rosenstein, but so too did Mr Trump.

      ObamaCare is dead, now it is TrumpCare

      Mr Rosenstein is now a Trump appointee, if he is not a Trumpeter, that is Mr Trump's responsibiliy and ... FAILURE.

      If Mr Trump surrounded himself with Obamam loyalists and Democrats ... There is no one to blame ... But Mr Trump.

      Delete
  5. Replies
    1. Yeppers ...
      When you find yourself in a hole ... Keep digging.


      Stay the Course

      Delete
    2. Look at the photo on the previous post.

      Delete
  6. George W. warned about the housing market in all of his State of the Union speeches.

    No one listened to him.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Steve Bannon: “There Has Not Been A More Destructive Presidency Than George Bush’s”
    ALLAHPUNDITPosted at 4:01 pm on October 21, 2017

    https://hotair.com/archives/2017/10/21/steve-bannon-not-destructive-presidency-george-bushs/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. No, Draft Dodger, it was not.

      If you truly think it was, your brain is broken.

      Delete
    2. Well, Dead Beat Dad and War Criminal, I disagree.

      Delete
  8. Jimmy Carter thinks he can solve the North Korea problem and wants the chance to do so.

    I have my doots.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. October 22, 2017
      Former President Carter thinks he can resolve US-North Korea crisis
      By Rick Moran

      Former President Jimmy Carter says he has talked with Donald Trump's national security advisor H.R. McMaster about going to North Korea to negotiate a solution to the crisis with Kim Jong-un's regime.

      Carter is lobbying for the job because he thinks that Kim has "now got advanced nuclear weaponry that can destroy the Korean Peninsula and Japan, and some of our outlying territories in the Pacific, maybe even our mainland.”....


      http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2017/10/former_president_carter_thinks_he_can_resolve_usnorth_korea_crisis.html#ixzz4wFVWTlzB

      Delete
    2. Send Jimmy Carter To North Korea?
      JAZZ SHAWPosted at 9:31 am on October 22, 2017

      It’s a story that’s getting a lot of buzz on social media this weekend and for good reason. The misinterpreted version of it holds that former President Jimmy Carter is sticking his nose into current foreign policy and offering to go patch things up with North Korea. Actually, he wasn’t pushing the idea at all… or at least not entirely. The New York Times did an interview with him at home and asked the question unsolicited.

      Carter’s response? Sure… why not? (Reuters)

      Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter said he would be willing to travel to North Korea on behalf of the Trump administration to help diffuse rising tensions, The New York Times reported on its website on Sunday.

      “I would go, yes,” Carter, 93, told the Times when he was asked in an interview at his ranch house in Plains, Georgia whether it was time for another diplomatic mission and whether he would do so for President Trump.

      Carter, a Democrat who was president from 1977 to 1981, said he had spoken to Trump’s National Security Adviser Lt.-Gen. H. R. McMaster, who is a friend, but so far has gotten a negative response.
      The reason I included the caveat of not entirely is that Carter has apparently raised the prospect, but he didn’t run to the media about it. He admits that he made the offer to National Security Adviser H. R. McMaster but hasn’t gotten a positive response yet......

      https://hotair.com/archives/2017/10/22/send-jimmy-carter-north-korea/

      Delete

  9. Niger, a Debacle 'Worse than Benghazi'?


    Here’s what we know so far:

    These soldiers went to a meeting in an area near the border with Mali. This is a well known hot spot for ISIS activity.

    Our soldiers were not backed up by US Military air support. No, they were backed up by the French, who were not authorized to intervene or even fire a shot.

    Our soldiers did not have armored vehicles. They traveled in pickup trucks.

    Our soldiers were given faulty intel that said “it was unlikely that they would meet any hostile forces.” Of course, they walked into an ISIS ambush. It was chaotic and they took three casualties.

    It took the French 30 minutes to arrive. When they did, they were not authorized to help. So, a dozen of our Green Berets fought a battle with more than 50 ISIS fighters, without help, for 30 minutes.

    Finally, a rescue helicopter arrived, but it was not a US military helicopter. No, we apparently outsourced that job to “private contractors.” So, these contractors landed and loaded the remaining troops, the injured and the dead.

    Here’s where this gets really bad ….

    Because they were not military, they never did a head count. That is how Sgt. La David Johnson was left behind.

    That’s right …. they left him behind.

    According to the Pentagon, his locator beacon was activated on the battlefield, which indicates that he was alive when they left him there.

    They recovered his body 48 hours later, ...

    ... one mile from the ambush site.


    https://www.snopes.com/was-niger-attack-worse-than-benghazi/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies


    1. That’s right …. they left him behind.
      ...
      ... he was alive when they left him there.


      Mr Trump maintains his silence on the matter.

      Perhaps there is a subject Mr Trump should Tweet, at least on the subject of Niger.


      Delete
  10. Just get out. No one can fix Africa. Let the Africans use their own collective genius to figure it out.

    ReplyDelete
  11. .

    Is it time for Special Counsel Robert Mueller to recuse himself from his investigation into Russian activities in the 2016 presidential election?

    No. Unless, it can be proved that Mueller is fabricating evidence against Trump. Mueller has been accused of bias since the beginning of his investigation. The fact is that is that at this point that is all they are, accusations. No objective facts.

    Seems a bit time-wasting — not to mention taxpayer dollar-wasting — to keep on the Trump trail, desperately searching for signs of a collusion that just didn’t happen.

    Futile is a word that comes to mind.


    I'm sure anyone under investigation (or their minions) would make the same argument. The Mueller investigation has been going on for months. Typically, these special prosecutor/investigator investigations go on for years. If I remember correctly, the average has been around 2 1/2 years.

    Mueller’s tasked with the wrong job. If he really wants to find out if America’s interests were compromised in any way by Russia, he needs to quit looking Trump’s way and start digging deep into the Clintons and yes, the Obama administration.

    Pure partisan carping.

    If it looks like Mueller is not folding in the latest charges on Russian bribery into his investigation, appoint a second special prosecutor to investigate that issue. Give him the latitude to take the investigation wherever it goes. If it requires him to investigate the FBI, DOJ, the Clintons, or Mueller and/or Rosenstein, or anyone else, so be it.

    Trump is the president. The DOJ and the FBI work for him. The GOP controls both houses of Congress and their investigative committees. If Trump or his minions really want to get answers on the Russian bribery issue (rather than just use it as an excuse to shut down any investigation that might affect Trump) they can and should do it, they have all the resources they need.

    I've said the same thing since day one.

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      If we don't get answers on the Russian bribery case, it won't be Mueller's fault it will be Trump's.

      .

      Delete
    2. Doesn't Congress appoint Special Prosecutors ?

      Can the President appoint a Special Prosecutor ?

      Delete
    3. .

      Rosenstein is now the Deputy Attorney General and after Jeff Sessions recused himself from the Russian meddling case it was Obama appointee Rosenstein who decided to name none other than Mueller as Special Counsel for the probe.


      Jeff Sessions recused himself from the Russian investigation into meddling in the 2016 election and he did so only because he met with Russian officials during the campaign. The bribery charges from 2009/2010 are a separate matter entirely and Sessions had nothing to do with it (apparently). There is nothing to stop him from appointing a special prosecutor.

      .

      Delete
  12. Venezuelans use bitcoin 'mining' to escape inflation
    AFP
    Alex VASQUEZ
    ,AFP•October 21, 2017

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/venezuelans-bitcoin-mining-escape-inflation-020507653.html

    ReplyDelete

  13. Kurds defeated, displaced and divided after Iraq reclaims oil-rich Kirkuk

    An independence referendum supposed to strengthen the Kurds’ position ended in a retreat in which Iranian influence was key

    Those that supported the Independence Referendum ...

    They empowered the Iranians when their irresponsible rhetoric was acted on.

    Words have power . . .


    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/22/kurds-bitter-defeat-iraq-reclaims-kirkuk

      Delete
  14. After all the heavy lifting the Kurds did helping get rid of ISIS they deserve backing by the USA.

    I am disappointed in The Donald.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hugh Fitzgerald: Iraqi Kurdistan — What Might Independence Mean?

      OCTOBER 21, 2017 3:55 PM BY HUGH FITZGERALD

      On September 25, the Kurds in northern Iraq held what may be seen as the most welcome event in the Middle East since the Six-Day War: a referendum on independence, for which 93% of the voters (including non-Kurds living in Kurdish areas of Iraq) declared themselves in favor. The Kurds are the largest ethnic group in the world without a state of their own, with between 35-40 million of them spread among four countries, Iraq, Iran, Turkey, and Syria. The exact figures are not known, and for a reason: in none of those countries does the government compile, much less publish, accurate figures about the numbers of Kurds, because they all have a stake in minimizing the real numbers. So their “estimated” figures must always be assumed to be lower than the true ones.

      But before getting into the disturbing details of what the Kurds have had to endure, let’s go back nearly a century, to see what the Kurds were originally promised by the Great Powers, and how the betrayal of those promises has led to the present difficult condition of this stateless people.......


      https://www.jihadwatch.org/2017/10/hugh-fitzgerald-iraqi-kurdistan-what-might-independence-mean

      Delete
    2. Mr Trump ...

      The debacle in Niger and his stonewall silence on the matter.

      His lack of leadership on Iraq/Kurdistan ...

      Worse than Obama.

      Delete

    3. Great US leadershop would have kept the Kurds from including Kirkuk in the Referrendum, if a Referendum really had to be held.

      But the US is lacking in Leadership

      Delete
    4. The Asst Sec of State should have been on top of Erbil.

      Oh, we do not have that position filled.
      Mr Trump does not need Asst Sec of States,

      He wins on his own
      Loses, too

      Delete
    5. .

      But before getting into the disturbing details of what the Kurds have had to endure, let’s go back nearly a century, to see what the Kurds were originally promised by the Great Powers, and how the betrayal of those promises has led to the present difficult condition of this stateless people.......

      Join the club. Their were many people who took it in the ass at the hands of the 'Great Powers' at the end of WWI.

      .

      Delete
  15. .

    Donald Trump says the average tax cut for Americans under his plan will be $4,000

    In this case, it's especially important that people don't spend their $4,000 windfall before they have it in hand. When you start talking about 'averages' is best to remember the old saw about lying with statistics especially given the current income and wealth disparity in this country. It's also wise to remember Obama's promise of an 'average' $2,500 savings from Obamacare and how that turned out.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  16. Swedish politicians call for Army to be deployed to No-Go Zones

    OCTOBER 21, 2017 10:32 AM BY CHRISTINE DOUGLASS-WILLIAMS

    https://www.jihadwatch.org/2017/10/swedish-politicians-call-for-army-to-be-deployed-to-no-go-zones

    ReplyDelete
  17. University of Missouri 68

    Idaho Mighty Vandals 21

    ReplyDelete
  18. Special Counsel Robert Mueller and his team running the Russia collusion probe are being accused by fellow attorneys of employing aggressive and questionable tactics in past cases, potentially putting a dent in his straight-shooter image.

    As the investigation heats up and key players like former White House chief of staff Reince Priebus and press secretary Sean Spicer are interviewed by investigators, several attorneys with experience in federal cases spoke out with their concerns this week.

    Harvey Silverglate, a criminal defense attorney in Massachusetts, wrote an opinion piece accusing Mueller of once trying to entrap him when Mueller was acting U.S. attorney in Boston.

    “I have known Mueller during key moments of his career as a federal prosecutor,” Silverglate wrote for WGBH News. “My experience has taught me to approach whatever he does in the Trump investigation with a requisite degree of skepticism or, at the very least, extreme caution.”

    According to Silverglate, Mueller once sent someone into Silverglate's office offering to give false testimony for a client. Silverglate said he turned the offer down and noticed the man was wearing a wire.

    “Years later I ran into Mueller, and I told him of my disappointment in being the target of a sting where there was no reason to think that I would knowingly present perjured evidence to a court,” Silverglate wrote. “Mueller, half-apologetically, told me that he never really thought that I would suborn perjury, but that he had a duty to pursue the lead given to him.”

    A spokesman for the special counsel’s office declined to comment.

    ReplyDelete
  19. “I think the media have been harder on Trump than any other president certainly that I’ve known about,” Carter replied. “I think they feel free to claim that Trump is mentally deranged and everything else without hesitation.”

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. When the current President led the charge claiming the past President was not born in the USA ...

      The claim that ..the media have been harder on Trump than any other president. .. is not difficult to understand.

      Mr Trump operates in a realjty fueled by Alternative Truths.

      The media, for the most part, does not.

      Delete
  20. The FBI is just another self-serving political arm of the US government. It has no more higher standards than any other protection racket.

    ReplyDelete
  21. .

    Trumpcare

    During the primaries, Trump indicated he had a healthcare plan that was probably the best ever. He vowed to repeal and replace Obamacare day 1. Since then, we've seen that Trump not only didn't have a plan he didn't have a clue. All he's done is follow the polls, the media, and feedback from advisers on what his base wants. You can add that he has also pissed and moaned about every plan brought to the floor in Congress.

    A couple weeks ago, Trump, decided to destroy Obamacare on his own since he wasn't getting much help doing it from Congress. As is his wont, Trump then dumped the problem back on Congress to fix. This morning, McConnell passed that hot potato back to him.

    There is a compromise bill being drawn up on healthcare. McConnell told Trump he won't be bringing any bill to the floor for a vote until Trump gets specific on what he wants and what he is willing to sign. No doubt, we will now hear from Trump on all those great ideas he has on healthcare further cementing this deal as Trumpcare.

    .

    .

    ReplyDelete
  22. Reality in QuirkWorld:

    Mueller: All Good

    Trump: All Bad

    (Mueller is NOT A DICK)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      Well, you are half right, Doug.

      Congrats, you are batting way above your average today.


      .

      Delete
    2. He can't be half right. There's 3 realities there.

      Delete
    3. .

      Well, if you are spitting hairs.

      But it's certainly close enough for government work.

      .

      Delete
    4. I only spit hairs if it's hairy down there. Which, thankfully, is pretty much a bygone era these days.

      Delete
    5. .


      Well Sam, you can still be proud in your position as the guy who single-handedly introduced the metrosexual lifestyle to the EB. It's unfortunate that it didn't gain more purchase here. I believe Doug was the only other one here who fully unabashedly embraced it.

      Bob?

      .


      .

      Delete
  23. FBI Director Christopher A. Wray was an assistant attorney general in 2004 when he heaped praise on an ambitious Mafia-tested prosecutor while promoting him to the top of the Justice Department’s high-profile Enron task force.

    Mr. Wray specifically lauded Andrew Weissmann for obtaining convictions against two Enron clients: accounting giant Arthur Andersen and executives at banking dynamo Merrill Lynch.

    ...

    With over 20,000 employees, Andersen stood as one of the country’s most prominent corporate auditors. The Securities and Exchange Commission began investigating Enron, an Andersen client.

    Auditors started destroying documents.

    ...

    It became known as the Nigerian barge case. Mr. Weissmann induced indictments in 2003 against four Merrill Lynch executives, an Enron vice president and an Enron accountant.

    He contended that Merrill and Enron entered into a sham transaction in 1999. The banker would buy three Enron barge-mounted power generators for $7 million purely to boost the Houston company’s balance sheet — and then Enron would buy them back at a profit.


    Overturned Rulings

    ReplyDelete
  24. The Senate Judiciary Committee is looking into the 2010 sale of U.S. uranium to Russia under then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and whether then-FBI Director Robert Mueller alerted the Obama administration about its investigation into Russians involved in the deal, according to Newsweek.

    ...

    The FBI told Newsweek it had no comment as to whether Mueller had alerted senior Obama administration officials, including Clinton, about the ongoing FBI investigation before they brokered the deal.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Bowe Bergdahl, the Army deserter who walked off his base in Afghanistan, is complaining that the U.S. treated him worse than the Taliban.

    The 31-year-old sergeant told British TV journalist Sean Langan in an interview reported in The Sunday Times of London: “At least the Taliban were honest enough to say, ‘I’m the guy who’s gonna cut your throat.’ ”

    That got him less upset than the “administrative duties” the Army assigned him while awaiting trial, he said.

    “Here, it could be the guy I pass in the corridor who’s going to sign the paper that sends me away for life,’’ he said.

    “We may as well go back to kangaroo courts and lynch mobs.”

    During his nearly five years as an unwilling guest of the Taliban, he said, he was kept in a steel cage and tortured.

    Bergdahl complained to Langan — who himself was held by the Taliban for three months in 2008 — about the “endless weeks, months, years on my own.’’

    There are conflicting reports that six soldiers died searching for him.

    He was traded for five Taliban officials freed from Guantanamo Bay.

    He faces a possible life sentence.


    He hasn't seen anything yet.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Classified documents on the investigation of President John F. Kennedy's assassination are about to be made public, and armchair detectives are frothing with excitement.

    Conspiracy theories have run rampant since the president was shot dead 54 years go, and the JFK files have become a part of US folklore.

    ...

    The Umbrella Man

    This is the name given to a figure who appears in the Zapruder film – the infamous footage that captures the moment of JFK's death – and several other films and photographs taken at the time JFK was killed.

    ...

    CIA involvement

    A 2003 ABC news poll found 70 percent of Americans believe JFK's death was the result of broader plot involving CIA agents.

    The theory suggests the 35th president was killed by CIA agents acting out of anger over the Bay of Pigs, possibly at the urging of Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson.

    ...

    Lyndon B Johnson – the 'mastermind' behind the shooting

    Two books have been written on this theory which points the finger at Kennedy's vice president Lyndon B Johnson.

    While the theory acknowledged that the politician did not pull the trigger himself, it argues he was in the thick of it.


    Government Documents

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .


      After the Gulf of Tonkin, it's hard to think of anything you would put past LBJ.


      .

      Delete
  27. The “Czech Donald Trump,” Andrej Babis, Wins In A “Voting Hurricane”
    JAZZ SHAWPosted at 2:01 pm on October 22, 2017

    https://hotair.com/archives/2017/10/22/czech-donald-trump-andrej-babis-wins-voting-hurricane/

    ReplyDelete
  28. .

    Trump-level civility continues to spread in D.C

    In an interview with C-SPAN, John McCain had these words regarding the Vietnam War...

    “One aspect of the conflict, by the way, that I will never ever countenance is that we drafted the lowest-income level of America, and the highest-income level found a doctor that would say that they had a bone spur,” McCain said. “That is wrong. That is wrong. If we are going to ask every American to serve, every American should serve.”

    Trump received five deferments during Vietnam: four for his studies in college, and one for — you guessed it — bone spurs in his heel. As The Washington Post reported in July 2015...



    .

    ReplyDelete
  29. I doubt therefore that the recent elections in Austria and the Czech Republic, or indeed those in Germany (where the AfD made a significant advance, but is nowhere close to a breakthrough) threaten a crisis in the EU system. Perhaps a victory in Italy in the coming parliamentary elections of Beppe Grillo’s Five Star Movement may do so. However in last June’s regional elections it actually lost support.

    In some ways this is the worst outcome of all. A genuine crisis in the EU system might force upon the EU the changes it needs, not just to ensure its own survival, but much more importantly the future well-being of the people of Europe.

    Instead what we are likely to get is paralysis, with the EU continuing much as it is now, going neither forward nor backward, as the situation in Europe goes gradually from bad to worse.


    Dominoes Keep Falling

    ReplyDelete
  30. I think instead of sending Jimmy Carter to negotiate with Kim The Donald ought to send Quirk along too. Carter would bring the 'star power' and Quirk the true behind the scenes negotiating skills. If they fail, well, they fail, and The Donald can get some credit for tying. Carter/Quirk. that's the negotiating ticket we need at this historic juncture.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Send the basketball player along for comic relief and to keep Kim in a good mood.

      Delete
  31. Replies
    1. .

      It takes a few seconds for #14 to pop up.

      .

      Delete
  32. George W. Bush joined the 147th Fighter Interceptor Group of the Texas Air National Guard on May 27, 1968, during the Vietnam War. He committed to serve until May 26, 1974, with two years on active duty while training to fly and four years on part-time duty.

    ...

    Air National Guard members could volunteer for active duty service with the Air Force in a program called Palace Alert, which deployed F-102 pilots to Europe and Southeast Asia, including Vietnam and Thailand. According to three pilots from Bush's squadron, Bush inquired about this program but was advised by the base commander that he did not have the necessary flying experience (500 hours) at the time and that the F-102 would soon be retired.

    ReplyDelete
  33. NFL Stadiums Nearly Empty As Backlash Continues....DRUDGE

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I can triple source it if you wish.

      Delete
    2. The league's average TV audience through Week 5 of the 2017 season dropped 7 percent vs. the same period of the 2016 season, according to Nielsen data obtained by Sporting News.

      Worse for the league, the average game audiences are down 18 percent compared to the first five weeks of the 2015 season.

      http://www.sportingnews.com/nfl/news/nfl-tv-television-ratings-down-numbers-national-anthem-protests/l2x7dhlkuubk1tbeftag9ttis

      Delete
    3. Here is a third source -

      The NFL is getting hammered after another game was played in a half-empty stadium

      Tyler Lauletta
      Sep. 22, 2017, 4:11 PM

      http://www.businessinsider.com/nfl-attendance-down-2017-9

      Delete
    4. Frosting on the cake -

      Why Has NFL Attendance Declined by Over 2 Million Fans in the Last 36 Months?

      https://businesssideofsports.com/2015/08/03/why-has-nfl-attendance-declined-by-over-2-million-fans-in-the-last-36-months/

      Delete
    5. People are staying away from the NFL. Viewership is down and empty seats are up compared to the record ratings of a few years ago. It's hard to argue that fact.

      Any camera angle that panned across the upper deck in any number of stadiums Sundays confirmed that fact.

      The issues with ratings are well-documented. It's become convenient to blame that phenomenon, at least in part, on the ongoing issues of player demonstrations but now, nearly a season-and-a-half since Colin Kaepernick first took a knee, I'm not buying it.

      There's some protesting going on, without a doubt, but it's fans protesting the product being put on the football field, I believe, moreso than any pronounced reaction to a handful of players displaying their Constitutional rights before kick-off.

      This downturn in the number of eyeballs watching closely every Sunday and Monday and Thursday is much more directly related, in my opinion, to the fact that the number of quarterbacks you would pay big bucks to see in a game with no rooting interest seems to be shrinking by the week.

      It's a by-product of the number of teams who fail to play anything close to attractive football, and who haven't found or developed a skill player who would garner a second look.

      It's a factor of yet another weekend when injuries ravaged the already-depleted QB position, and America was treated to the likes of guys like Matt Moore, Drew Stanton, and Cody Kessler playing in games that count in the standings, to go with the likes of Brett Hundley and Case Keenum and Mitchell Trubisky and C.J. Beathard who have already been thrust into action due to injury or the ineffectiveness of others


      https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/too-many-bad-teams-awful-quarterback-play-making-nfl-games-hard-to-watch/

      Or to out it bluntly, who are those guys that are playing, and what's the point of watching them play poor football?


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    6. .

      I didn't say football attendance wasn't down. I said it was nonsense to blame it on the national anthem protest as Drudge reported.

      .

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    7. What is it, Global Warming?

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    8. Shitty football is the reason fewer people are watching. Not because a dozen players took a knee before the game started.

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  34. A photo of pop music star Lady Gaga and all five living former presidents went viral on social media this weekend as the group united to raise money for disaster relief.

    ...

    Lady Gaga performed her song “Million Reasons” at the concert, and a photo of the pop star with the presidents quickly went viral on social media, with a few Twitter users joking that Lady Gaga fit right in with the group.

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  35. Already, various improvements have been made to prepare Barksdale — home to the 2d Bomb Wing and Air Force Global Strike Command, which oversees the service’s nuclear forces — to return B-52s to an alert posture. Near the alert pads, an old concrete building — where B-52 crews during the Cold War would sleep, ready to run to their aircraft and take off at a moment’s notice — is being renovated.

    ...

    Those long-empty B-52 parking spaces will soon get visits by two nuclear command planes, the E-4B Nightwatch and E-6B Mercury, both which will occasionally sit alert there. During a nuclear war, the planes would become the flying command posts of the defense secretary and STRATCOM commander, respectively.

    If a strike order is given by the president, the planes would be used to transmit launch codes to bombers, ICBMs and submarines. At least one of the four nuclear-hardened E-4Bs — formally called the National Airborne Operations Center, but commonly known as the Doomsday Plane — is always on 24-hour alert.

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