[University of Texas] Having militarized Chinese man-made islands in the South China Sea, Beijing now appears poised to establish a string of bases and dual-use ports from Hainan to Djibouti
By Andrew C. McCarthy An excerpt from a very interesting Comey friend. Read the whole thing.
[NationalReview] Yes, the Fix Was In
These columns have repeatedly pointed out that the decision whether to indict Hillary Clinton for mishandling classified information was not the FBI’s call. It was up to the Obama Justice Department, which was in the tank for Mrs. Clinton and was taking direction from President Obama. In April 2016, Obama publicly stated that he did not want his party’s inevitable nominee charged with a crime.
In making that assertion, Obama distorted the Espionage Act, falsely implying that it required proof of intent to harm the United States before someone could be convicted of mishandling classified information. To the contrary, the law holds that a person is guilty (1) if she willfully causes the unauthorized transmission of classified information ‐ meaning if she understands the wrongfulness of the action and intentionally performs it anyway ‐ or (2) if through "gross negligence" she permits the information to be removed from its proper place or to be otherwise mishandled (see Section 793(d), (e), and (f) of Title 18, U.S. Code). The Justice Department adopted Obama’s erroneous intent standard, as, ultimately, did Comey.
The former director’s statements in the Brett Baier interview firmly establish that the decision not to indict Mrs. Clinton was based on Obama Justice Department standards, not on the terms of the statute.
For example, when asked why he was confident, long before Clinton was even interviewed, that she would not be charged, Comey said the investigators working the case told him, "Look boss, on the current course and speed, it looks like it’s not gonna get to a place where the prosecutors would bring it." It was not that the evidence was insufficient under the law; it was that the Justice Department would not indict.
Baier then played a now-familiar recording of Comey, under questioning by Representative Trey Gowdy (R., S.C.), conceding that Clinton had made various false claims about her emails (no emails "marked ’classified,’" no classified emails sent or stored, all work-related emails returned to the State Department). Baier then asked why, despite this pattern, Comey had made his decision against charges even before Clinton was questioned. While denying that he had made a final decision at that point, he said he had a "general sense" that the evidence was "unlikely to get us to a place where they would prosecute at the Justice Department."
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
04/29/2018 10:31 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[8 views]
Top|| File under:
#4
Comey admits the fix was in w/re to Clinton's emails. Moreover, the fix was in at the highest level (Obama) and directed downwards through the DOJ. Lynch said she would abide by Comey's decision (if anyone believes that--after all, he reported to her). If Comey had such a crisis of consciousness, why didn't he resign from director of the FBI? McCarthy acknowledges there is a double standard for justice; one for Trump and another for HRC.
Comey Did Not Leak Classified Information. Then why is the memo marked Secret and parts of it redacted out?
POTUS has executive privilege; the privilege is not accorded to Comey. By releasing the memos of a private conversation, is Comey not denying Trump his executive privilege. Obama exercised his executive privilege when Eric Holder was charged with criminal perjury for lying to Congress about F&F. Obama exercised his executive privilege to not have the DOJ prosecute Holder who was the AG and the head of DOJ thus creating a legal ClusterF*&%.
Hopefully, the DOJ is cleaning up this legal mess. It seems like the best way to clean it up is to charge Comey (if he has not already been charged) and let the courts decide the legality of this rather than speculate.
I can't speak for others, but I for one would like to see the rule of law re-established and justice done.
[Breitbart] Saturday on MSNBC’s "AM Joy," Brandon Wolf, vice president of the Dru Project, commended host Joy Reid for her apology for the controversy over past homophobic blog posts attributed to her.
Wolf then bashed the "homophobic psychopaths" in the White House, saying it Vice President Pence ended up as president, he would put gay people in "concentration camps."
"I just want to cut through it all and keep it very real with people about what we’re up against," said Wolf. "We have homophobic psychopaths running the United States government today. That’s the reality."
"We have a secretary of state, as was mentioned, that believes that gay people are sinners based on who they are. If Mike Pence, God bless him, ended up in the White House, sitting behind that desk in the Oval Office, he would have us all in concentration camps hoping to pray away the gay."
#5
no Republicans won't put gays in concentration camps
but guess who would: ISIS, Al Q, Hezbollah, Taliban, al shabab, boko haram, etc.
Posted by: lord garth ||
04/29/2018 5:29 Comments ||
Top||
#6
A president putting citizens into 'concentration camps'? I remember a Democrat doing something like this during WWII to Japanese citizens. Funny how this is never mentioned when the gaystapo is covering for Joy Reid bashing conservatives.
#7
We all know what their real dream is...putting us, those who don't think the way they want into camps so they can 're-educate' us the way Pol Pot did. Beyond tired of this shit. I would pity the next wanna be tyrant I run into cause I think I'm going to give them an earful of what they deserve. Cept I know longer have any pity thanks to them.
#9
Oikophobia. An ex-friend became a 'Born Again' Socialist and was enlightened that the Religious Right theocons (whatever those are...) were going to come and take him away.
"I can't see any reason to not vote for Obama other than racism!" and "All members of the Tea Party are racists." This is the same person that was righteously pissed off when a 'Little Old Lady' saw his Obama bumper sticker and accused him of being "Pro Abortion and Pro Baby Killing!" ... Go figure...
[NewsMax] On April 18, 2018, 51 Members of Congress signed a letter to President Trump requesting that he order the declassification of a document which was classified "despite no apparent national security threat or known historical precedent for classifying such a report."
...The document in question is a 2015 State Department report drawn up pursuant to a 2012 directive from Congress to account for how the billions of U.S. tax payer dollars, allocated to UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency) ‐ the entity charged with dealing with the "Palestinian refugees" ‐ were being used ... or perhaps, abused.
...To fully grasp the scope and significance of the UNRWA/Palestinian anomaly, one must realize that all refugees on the face of the globe ‐ whether because of famine, earthquakes, tsunamis, political repression or warfare ‐ are under the auspices of the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) ‐ except for the Palestinians. They have a specially designated UN body ‐ UNRWA ‐ to deal exclusively with their affairs.
The two bodies have very different definitions of who is a refugee, and very different mandates of how to deal with them. In broad brush strokes, according to the generally applicable UNHCR definition, refugee status is not hereditary and cannot be transferred to descendants of the originally displaced/expelled individuals; while according to the Palestinian-specific UNRWA definition, it is hereditary, and can be transferred to descendants.
...Much has been written about UNRWA’s pernicious behavior ‐ employing known members of terror organizations such as Hamas, allowing its installations and vehicles to be used by such organizations and disseminating vicious Judeophobic incitement in its school curricula. But beyond its malicious misconduct and abuse of its UN credentials, the most sinister aspect of UNRWA is in its inherent nature and its underlying raison d’etre.
For in essence, UNRWA exists to perpetuate the myth of "Return" ‐ whereby millions of Palestinians-Arabs will return to inundate Israel and effectively eliminate it as the nation-state of the Jewish people. And that's why everybody loves it!
Posted by: g(r)omgoru ||
04/29/2018 06:53 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: Tin Hat Dictators
#1
The UN is like stepping through the looking glass or going down the rabbit hole--everything is reversed, good is bad, up is down,... Does the UN have any useful purpose?
#2
UN has the "useful purpose" of providing employment to all of the second rate thieves from kleptocracies all around the world. Payed by Other Peoples' Money™, of course.
#3
Thank goodness it is now President Trump’s state department, not President Obama’s — it’s a lot harder to weaponize with $265 million less in the budget, or however much more it has been reduced by now.
[IsraelTimes] The deadline for President Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... to re-certify the Iran nuclear deal is looming on May 12th. On Sunday’s Last Week Tonight, John Oliver detailed the "long-term and potentially irreversible" damage of allowing that agreement to fall apart.
Video of the segment can be seen at the link.
I have identified Oliver’s main arguments in favor of the JCPOA and explained the shortcomings in his analysis.
[IsraelTimes] Left-wing and Arab enemies of Israel make a number of accusations that they repeat as if they were facts. Here I take apart those myths from a left-wing Arab perspective.
I summarize the facts, but I include many links to other articles that provide further background. Some of the articles referenced are mine, where I reference serious sources not considered pro-Israel, including Haaretz, BBC, The Guardian, The Washington Post, The New York Times
...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... , CNN, and The Huffington Post. I also reference pro-Israel sources that are known for their journalistic integrity, including The Times of Israel, The Jerusalem Post, and The Gatestone Institute.
This article is not for everyone. It is intended only for a narrow audience: People who are willing to base their opinions on facts and not lies. Others are kindly advised to stay away, lest they be contaminated by facts that they would rather continue ignoring.
Long but briskly interesting, averaging two paragraphs per myth.
Fred Maroun is a Canadian of Arab origin who lived in Lebanon until 1984, including during 10 years of civil war. Fred supports Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state, and he supports a liberal and democratic Middle East where all religions and nationalities, including Palestinians, can co-exist in peace with each other and with Israel, and where human rights are respected. Fred is an atheist, a social liberal, and an advocate of equal rights for LGBT people everywhere. Fred Maroun writes for Gatestone Institute.
#2
Excellent article, TW! 1. “Israel can end the conflict by withdrawing from the “West Bank””2. “Israel keeps stealing Palestinian land”
3. “Gaza is an open-air prison / under siege”
4. “Israel is an apartheid/racist state”
5. “The “West Bank” is an even worse apartheid”
6. “Jewish settlements in the “West Bank” are illegal”
7. “It is the Israel-Palestinian conflict”
8. “Trump caused Arabs to riot in Jerusalem”
9. “Israel threatens Lebanon”
10. “Israel is run by a right-wing government that is no better than Hamas”
11. “Israel commits genocide against Palestinians”
12. “If some Palestinians behave badly, it is out of desperation”
13. “Israel created the Palestinian refugee crisis”
14. “The conflict is a dispute over land”
15. “Zionists are the new Nazis”
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/29/2018 13:45 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Thank you, Frank G. I saved it for Sunday so we’d have time to ponder it at leisure.
Benito lives! The Blackshirts are here. Fascism is on the march—at least according to Madeleine Albright, secretary of state under Bill Clinton and—in my book, having allowed Albanian gangsters to win power in Kosovo—the worst American foreign minister ever. She attacks Hungary and Poland, the left’s newest whipping boys, for preferring their own kind to African migrants, but she’s not alone. The usual suspects are all piling on. Fascism is back, but this time, alas, without the beautiful uniforms. Damn!
La Albright was taken to task a long time ago by Barbara Amiel for pretending she did not know she was Jewish—until Washington beckoned. “Hasn’t she ever looked in the mirror?” wrote Barbara, Lady Black, herself very proud to be Jewish. I hope I’m not picking on Albright, a typical Washington phony, obsequious to the trendy left. I just don’t like her choice of words. Fascism comes with large crowds, larger buildings, flared breeches, shiny boots, and lotsa horses on parade. And plumes, lots of plumes. I don’t see any of that, and I can’t even hear the marching bands, let alone see them. Like all lefties, this woman is full of bullshit. If fascism is on the march, I’m Bill Cosby. (That poor man has already paid 3.38 million greenbacks to the purported victim, and now faces life in jail and having to pay her millions more.) More at the link
Posted by: badanov ||
04/29/2018 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Tin Hat Dictators
Horn of the Hunter
Robert C. Ruark
Safari Press, reprint, 1996
In 1952 Mr. Ruark, along with his wife Virginia, decided to go on safari in what was then called British East Africa. I understand this book and Mr. Ruark are big in certain circles; but I had no idea what I was getting into. This passage describing his journey to Africa assured me I would like the ride.
Page 21-22:
"Seize bagages, monsieur?" he said. "Pour deux personnes seulement? Mon Dieu, seize bagages pour duex personnes, c'est affreux."
"But," I said in my cat's-in-the-garden-of-my-aunt French, "we go to hunt the lion in the Afrique. These bagages of which you speak are not so much baggage as guns and cameras and little teensy-weensy-type pacquetages, including contraband cigarettes to fool the British customs into believing they are household effects."
"Ah, bon, bon" he said. "A bas les Anglais. You say you go to shoot in the Afrique, hein? I myself once was in Afrique during a war and found fine sport there. Life was very sportif. We shot and we shot, and it was very sportif."
"What were you shooting to make for yourself such a great sportiveness?" I asked.
"Les Italiens," he said simply, and flapped my seize bagaes checks on the counter.
I have had a build up of interest for both the personal narrative and for the language of days past. This book satisfied both of those cravings.
At the time, Mr. Ruark was a professional writer. Earlier in his life, he put his time in the Merchant Marines during World War II. As he describes one event during his tenure:
Page 24-25
I streaked out of the shower room, naked, soaking wet, scooped up a pistol and a helmet, and clambered topside to my gun station on the flying bridge. A ship in the convoy's center had copped it and was drifting back, sinking, smoking, dying. I looked around me. The AA guns were manned and ready. So were the bigger guns on the forecastle head and on the poop. So was I, too, I suppose. I had on a helmet and a pistol and a three-weeks' beard. I screwed the battle phones to my helmet and checked in with fat old Donaldson aft on the five-inch fifty, and with Doughman forward on the three-inch fifty, and around me were Red and Plinsky and the Staley twins from San Francisco, all making technical noises like experienced warriors.
And then I looked at me, naked as a jaybird, goose-pimpled out, wearing only a helmet and a pistol and a battle phone to cover my shame. And I thought that in the last few days I had lost a couple of friends and every day we burnt off the machine guns with a blowtorch to kill the ice and that stuff in my whiskers was solid frost and under my fanny were seven thousand tons of high explosives and that only yesterday I was the meek morning editor of the Washington Daily News. A German submarine surfaced in the middle of the convoy and a half-dozen ships blew him out of the water, making a god-awful noise about it. Depth charges plunked and thrummed and jostled against the bottom of my ancient bucket. It was cold up there with no clothes on.
I hesitate to share much of the hunt itself as that is the point of the book. I hope I have shown a bit of the wit and style, and the honesty, Mr. Ruark shares. This book is good adventure, Mr. Ruark's accounts of his hunting mates made them very familiar, and I dreaded the hunt's conclusion. A taste:
Page 293
The damned buffaloes had run the length of the marsh and had turned in formation and charged again, this time straight into our scent. They were standing like a Roman battalion, feet firmly rooted, heads proudly high, and noses sniffing, no more than twenty yards in front of Selby. I came up behind him on the run.
The bwana, the memsaab, Harry, Annie Lorry, and all the rest felt very familiar, the language rang true and refreshing, and the experience felt real, which, as Mr. Ruark remarks, is the whole point.
Link is to Amazon, hard cover.
This Week in Emergency Preparedness
Tornado season. Although there have been relatively few severe storms so far, 'certain models', and I scare quote that as they tend to be on the side of hysteria, are predicting a concerning system developing. There is usually some truth hidden in the hype. Simple, non-headline grabbing severe storms can make a mess out of traveling, knock out power, and break windows. A cache of food which doesn't need to be cooked, water, and sturdy clothes to last you and yours 48 hours at least can go a long way. We did a walkie-talkie test a couple weeks ago and found some no longer hold a charge; time to replace. Figure cell phones and land lines will be out; being able to take a walkabout and still be in contact with the family is not only comforting, it could be essential and save a lot of jogging about. Have the frequencies already figured, and if you have good neighbors or whatnots get on the same page. Solar powered chargers and battery sticks are a good idea. Wound dressings are important, as you may be low on the trauma rating but needing attention. Most important, be aware.
Looks at Movies Dunkirk
I had a chance to watch this a few weeks back. There was a lot of hype leading up to the movie, which led to a lot of disappointment after the release. Leading the complaints I heard, and later read about, was the lack of scale and a choppy timeline.
Addressing the latter first, the timeline is no more choppy than a Tarantino or Richie movie. I thought some threads tied together rather well.
As for the scale, yeah, that isn't shown. Or necessary. The movie is about personal struggles and situations, not a recreation of Saving Private Ryan's beach landing and is not a Big Budget Blockbuster of the same name. It is a suspense movie and does not need that much tinsel. If I had a complaint, I thought the score was a bit much at times, but not into the realm of distraction. I thought it was worth the watch, though I can understand how someone who just blew a car payment at the theatre waiting for the next The Longest Day might be upset.
#4
Thank you for your work TW, and I opened with a spell-check nightmare. I'd say that if a person likes the works of Lawdog, they will like this book.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
