Caught in a lie — again ? Were Hillary’s well-crafted statements during her E-Mail press conference at the U.N. just mistakes — or were they outright lies ?
She said she turned over all her State Department E-mails, but wouldn’t give up the private E-mails on her private server... Then her lawyer says that all her E-mails on the server were scrubbed ! She said she followed all the State Department rules.... Er, she didn’t ! She said she did it all to only use one kind of E-mail device.... But she didn’t do that either !
CNN specifically noted the following: “Clinton's exclusive use of a personal email account and server while at State has grown into a controversy that has defined the run up to Clinton's expected April presidential announcement. In a press conference at the United Nations earlier this month, Clinton explained that she used a personal email because she only wanted to have one phone, not two. *** ‘When I got to work as secretary of state, I opted for convenience to use my personal email account, which was allowed by the State Department,’ Clinton said, ‘because I thought it would be easier to carry just one device for my work and for my personal emails instead of two.’ *** She added: ‘Looking back, it would've been better if I'd simply used a second email account and carried a second phone, but at the time, this didn't seem like an issue.’..."
The Washington Post report about this most recent contradiction of remarks that Hillary made at her U.N. press conference about her E-mails is somewhat more critical and incredulous than what appeared on CNN.
The WaPo report starts off like this: “Hillary Clinton, who defended her use of a private e-mail server by saying she only wanted to use one device for all her correspondence, actually used at least two devices: her regular mobile phone and an iPad. *** That's according to a report from the Associated Press, which reviewed Clinton's e-mails released by the State Department. There were only four messages to see. But it was enough for the AP to conclude that Clinton not only used an iPad to send e-mails — she mixed work and personal e-mails on the tablet, too....” (See “Hillary Clinton also used an iPad for e-mails, undercutting her single-device defense” by Brian Fung, 3/31/15, Washington Post/ The Switch [http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2015/03/31/hillary-clinton-also-used-an-ipad-for-e-mails-undercutting-her-single-device-defense/]).
Brian Fung’s concluding observation was “how odd it is that Clinton felt compelled to have a separate e-mail server...” ostensibly so Secretary Clinton would only need to operate one E-mail device, when so many Americans needed to do exactly that because of their work demands — and now it appears, so did Hillary herself.
Within days of the earlier reports on the subject, including the Sunday post on this blog ( See “THE ULTRA VIRES SECRETARY OF STATE HILLARY CLINTON: Was Secretary of State Hillary Clinton [and/or her private operatives] running an Un-official, “Off-Book” or “Back Channel” Operation In Libya ? by Galewyn Massey, 3/29/15, Brooklyn Independent GOP Fountainhead [above on this blog] [http://galewynmassey.blogspot.com/2015/03/the-ultra-vires-secretary-of-state.html ]) the story has been picked up and carried by major outlets like the Wall Street Journal, Breitbart News and “The Weekly Standard” just on Monday.
According to a report in Monday’s Wall Street Journal, “... the journalistic odd couple of ProPublica and Gawker report that as secretary of state, Mrs. Clinton appears to have relied on not only a private communication network but a private intelligence network. We know this thanks to a Romanian criminal, Marcel-Lehel “Guccifer” Lazar, who in 2013 hacked the email of Sidney Blumenthal, a longtime Clinton family consigliere. *** The Blumenthal hack had been reported [and noted in the Wall Street Journal on] March 3. The new story goes into considerable detail and raises questions about Benghazi. According to ProPub/Gawker’s reviews of the purloined messages, “starting weeks before” the September 2012 attack [on Benghazi], ‘Blumenthal supplied intelligence’ to Secretary Clinton that was ‘gathered by a secret network that included a former CIA clandestine service officer.’ *** The reporters asked the most obvious question and got a partial answer: ‘A Clinton spokesman told Gawker and ProPublica... that she has turned over’— meaning to the State Department — ‘all the emails Blumenthal sent to [Mrs.] Clinton.’ Again, in reality she turned over no emails, only printouts. *** Left unanswered is the question whether she turned over printouts of emails she sent to Blumenthal. ‘There’s no indication in Blumenthal’s emails whether [Mrs.] Clinton read or replied to them before she left State on February 1, 2013 ’ ...” (See “Mrs. Clinton’s ‘Vicious’ Circle - The secretary had a private spy network” by James Taranto, 3/30/15, Wall Street Journal/ Best of the Web [http://www.wsj.com/articles/mrs-clintons-vicious-circle-1427744871]).
The Wall Street Journal also asks some questions that it is not able to answer, such as this: “Did Blumenthal’s intelligence play a role in the government’s botched response to the Benghazi attack? There’s no way to know without further investigation, but the ProPub/Gawker report does suggest that the State Department itself was not exactly on the ball [giving details of the poor State Department operation(s) in place in Libya and the region around the time of the Benghazi attack in 2012].
“In what Breitbart Executive Chairman, Stephen K. Bannon, referred to as a ‘stunning’ and ‘breath-taking’ course of events, Jeff Gerth of Propublica came on Breitbart News Sunday to discuss his recent article detailing how an ex-Hillary Clinton aide crafted a secret spying network in the lead up to the Benghazi terror attack and corresponded with Clinton via her private email account. *** Longtime Clinton advisor Sidney Blumenthal’s hacked emails exposed the massive spy network, Breitbart News reported on Sunday....” (See “Journalist Who Unveiled Hillary Spy Network Draws Irna Contra Parallel” by Robert Wilde, 3/30/15, Breitbart News [http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/03/30/exclusive-journalist-who-unveiled-hillary-spy-network-draws-parallels-to-iran-contra/]).
When the Breitbart interviewer asked Gerth, “Have you ever in your investigations, and you’re stretch as a two time Pulitzer Prize winner investigative journalist for the paper of record in this country, have you ever seen anything in your professional career like this?” Gerth answered by reminding Stephen K. Bannon that he has been doing this for forty years and that there were two instances of which this reminded him.
Gerth then said that the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton email/spy network episode drew some parallels “with the stuff that came out in Iran-Contra with Richard Secord and other people who were out operating… in Nicaragua with the Contras.” Gerth also added that it reminded him of a story that he investigated on the CIA operative and business tycoon, Edwin Wilson, who went to prison for selling arms to Libya back in the late 70’s.
[https://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/whos-behind-hillary-clintons-secret-spy-ring_901675.html]). As the title implies, the article was a who’s who of Clinton operatives. Specifically, this report suggests that three men -- Sidney Blumenthal, Tyler Drumhiller, and Cody Shearer -- were involved in Hillary Clinton’s private intelligence gathering efforts. In addition, according to “The Weekly Standard,” each of these men has a reputation for being associated with their own and other Clinton scandals. The Standard goes into some detail about such scandalous material for each of them.
[http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2015/03/30/americans-see-putin-as-only-slightly-more-imminent-threat-than-obama/]). However, at the end of the Reuters article it was noted that “[t]he data was weighted to reflect the U.S. population and has a credibility interval, a measure of accuracy, of plus or minus 2.1 percentage points for all adults....” — That would put Obama and Putin into a statistical tie.
It’s not so surprising that Republican partisans see Barack Hussein Obama as a bigger threat than Russia’s Vladimir Putin. According to the Newsmax report on the Reuters Poll, “...[a] third of Republicans believe President Barack Obama poses an imminent threat to the United States, outranking concerns about Russian President Vladimir Putin .... A Reuters/Ipsos online poll this month asked 2,809 Americans to rate how much of a threat a list of countries, organizations and individuals posed to the United States on a scale of 1 to 5, with one being no threat and 5 being an imminent threat.... The poll showed 34 percent of Republicans ranked Obama as an imminent threat, ahead of Putin[at 25%]....” ( See “Reuters Poll: Republicans See Obama as More Imminent Threat than Putin,” from Reuters feed, 3/30/15, Newsmax [http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/republicans-obama-bigger-threat/2015/03/30/id/635187/]).
What is perhaps more interesting is that many Republicans also see Obama as being a bigger threat than almost anything else — for example as a threat ahead of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad by that same 34% to 23%.... but Obama is not seen as threatening as some other generic threats like terrorism or a nuclear armed Iran.
Twenty-seven percent (27%) of Republicans saw the Democratic Party as an imminent threat to the United States. However, 22 percent (22%) of Democrats deemed Republicans to be an imminent threat.
In a recent lengthy meeting Craig Eaton spoke largely off the record and for background. For that reason, many of the details of the talk have been omitted; there are no direct quotes by Mr. Eaton; and as a heads-up to my readers: many of the snarkier propositions might not be exactly as put forward by Mr. Eaton [ but they are what I think he would have said if he were as intemperate and verbally incontinent as I].
Basically, Eaton said that he is ready to push forward with his plans to reorganize the Brooklyn GOP going into the 2015 organizing process that includes early-summer petitioning, mid-summer court challenges, a late-summer organizational primary and a mid-to-late September GOP County Convention. Part of Eaton’s reorganizing plan is looking toward doubling the size of an active Brooklyn Republican County Committee to be present or represented-at the 2015 GOP County Convention.
Acknowledging that several of the county’s district leaders are heading in various other directions, Craig Eaton has done the math and says that his plans to take the GOP forward will not only succeed in 2015, they will flourish like never before.
All discussions must start from the fact that the majority of the GOP County Committee in 2013 was in a caucus that supported Eaton’s chairmanship; and Mr. Eaton predicted that in 2015, the majority of the GOP County Committee will be a caucus supporting Eaton’s chairmanship going forward. Any other rump groups, be they former allies or former opponents of Mr. Eaton are welcome to join in backing Eaton in 2015 or to attempt to cobble together something else on their own [at least one attempt by some of the "others" appears to have failed already, before any of the real work had started].
The Brooklyn Republican County Chairman readily acknowledged that there are a hand-full of State Committee Members/ District Leaders that are off on various tangents, but none of those is capable of gravitating to or coalescing around a majority movement or coalition in 2015 — all these people individually want what they want, but they either won’t or can’t give the others similarly situated what they want.
There was a very detailed discussion of the impact of the insurgency generated by State Senator Martin Golden and his operators inside the Brooklyn GOP in 2013. Eaton noted that even with what Marty Golden thought he had going for him in 2013, Golden completely failed to qualify and/or hijack anything near a majority of County Committee Members/ Delegates or Delegate proxies for the 2013 GOP County Convention.
Eaton then compared the activities of the Golden faction in the 2013 with those so far in 2015. By this time in the 2013 cycle, Marty Golden and his people were everywhere; they were telling everybody about their version of Eaton’s problems as a GOP County Chairman; and they were pushing the narrative of their inevitable takeover of the Brooklyn GOP in 2013. All of that became very embarrassing to many Brooklyn GOP activists that supported both Marty as a State Senator, and Eaton as Chairman. In 2015, according to Eaton, we don’t see or hear much from Marty at all vis a vis the Brooklyn GOP. What it looks like is that many long-time Golden folks are working on an exit strategy — but who Marty is putting into the lifeboats and who he is leaving out are not making many of Marty’s supporters a happy crowd. In 2015, people have gotten to see what happens when Marty gets only some of what he wants; and also who Golden helps out or up when things are getting tough for them and for him.
However, don’t get the idea that Eaton talks about such things as a part of some gripe session. He points these things out to show how Marty Golden’s position as a perceived Republican power broker, both in Golden’s senate district and inside the Brooklyn GOP as a whole, has weakened between 2013 and 2015.
Eaton believes that if the 2013 game plans were followed in 2015, he would again be elected Brooklyn Republican Party Chairman. However, Eaton will be taking nothing like that for granted; on the contrary, Eaton assumes that many things will be different and plans to bring in between a thousand or two thousand new or newly active Republicans to qualify as members of the 2015-16 GOP County Committee. These new Brooklyn GOP folks will come from all over the county, and their names and other data will be on a special data base that is being prepared specifically for that outreach. Once that data base is ready, there will be an in depth and personalized social networking campaign, which in the final stages will be augmented by direct mail and, in many areas, also by personal Brooklyn GOP coordinators.
Eaton is frank that all of that requires money, money, money.... And Craig Eaton’s next order of business is to arrange a major Brooklyn GOP fund raiser. It will be built around the appearance of a GOP presidential contender, one who is in the “leading pack” in 2015. Whether that will be at the annual Kings County GOP “Lincoln Dinner” or as a stand alone is still to be worked out.
Eaton closed by saying 2015 and 2016 will be all about building bridges inside the GOP to recapture the initiative and momentum of 2010; and EVERYBODY is welcome to join WITH HIM in that process.
Where do these cover-ups begin and end ?
by Jeff Gerth & Sam Biddle, 3/27/15, ProPublica & Gawker [http://www.propublica.org/article/private-emails-reveal-ex-clinton-aides-secret-spy-network]).
Blumenthal’s E-mails to Clinton were directed to her private email account and included at least a dozen detailed reports on events on the deteriorating political and security climate in Libya, as well as events in other nations.
The Blumenthal E-mails came to light after a hacker broke into Blumenthal’s account. They have taken on a new significance in light of the disclosures that Hillary Clinton conducted a mix of State Department and personal business on a single E-mail server that she controlled, kept at her home and kept secret from other State Department officials. All of those details only recently were discovered by congressional investigators and members of the national media.
The complete contents of that Hillary Clinton’s private account are presently being sought by a congressional inquiry into the Benghazi attacks. Clinton has handed over more than 30,000 pages of her E-Mails to the State Department, after unilaterally deciding which ones were government business; and the post-Clinton State Department has so far handed over almost 900 pages of those E-mails to the committee. A Clinton spokesman told Gawker and ProPublica (which are collaborating on the story) that she has turned over all the E-Mails Blumenthal sent to Clinton to the State Department.
A HILLARY CLINTON SECRET INTELLIGENCE OPERATION — A “BACK CHANNEL” FOR “PRIVATE” INTERNATIONAL INFORMATION ?
The contents of the Blumenthal memos [E-mails] raise new questions about how Hillary Clinton had been using her private E-mail account and whether she had tapped into an undisclosed back channel for information on Libya’s crisis and other foreign policy matters.
It is not clear who hired Blumenthal, known for his fierce loyalty to the Clintons, husband and wife, with preparing detailed intelligence briefs. It’s also not known who was paying him, or where the operation got its money. The Blumenthal memos were marked “confidential” and relied in many cases on “sensitive” sources in the Libyan opposition and various “Western” intelligence and security services. Other of his reports focused on Egypt, Germany, and Turkey.
There’s no indication in Blumenthal’s E-Mails whether Secretary of State Clinton read or replied to them before she left her post in the State Department on February 1, 2013. However, Blumenthal was clearly part of a select group with knowledge of the private clintonemail.com address, which was unknown to the rest of the State Department at the time; and/or to the public until Gawker published it long after Hillary left State. The Blumenthal memos/ E-mails do suggest that she continued to interacted with Blumenthal using the account after she stepped down.
When reached for comment about the ProPublica/Gawker dislosures, a State Department public affairs official said that he would only speak on background; and he declined to address questions about Blumenthal’s relationship to Clinton, whether she was aware of the intelligence network, and who if anyone had been paying Blumenthal.
Is the U.S. Military preparing for martial law in “exercises” within certain “hostile” American states this summer ?
What is the U.S. Army, subject to Obama as Commander-in-Chief, up to now ?
According to Fox News, “[c]onspiracy theories are running wild over the Army’s planned multi-state training exercise this summer. *** Green Berets, Navy SEALs and Special Operations forces will conduct realistic training exercises from July to September across the southwest – including in 17 Texas cities. *** The exercise, called Jade Helm 15, has critics worried that the Army is preparing for modern-day martial law. Some are even calling it “the Texas takeover....” (See “Some Americans Think the Army is Prepping for Modern-Day Martial Law ? ! ” by Megyn Kelly and staff, 3/26/15, Fox News/ The Kelly File [http://insider.foxnews.com/2015/03/26/some-americans-think-army-prepping-modern-day-martial-law]).
Members of U.S. Army Special Operations Command [USASOC] will be training with other U.S Armed Forces units between July 15th and September 15th in a large interstate exercise called “Jade Helm 15.” According to reports from official sources, from time to time, the USASOC conducts training exercises such as these to practice core special warfare tasks, which help protect the nation against foreign enemies. It is imperative that Special Operations Soldiers receive the best training, equipment and resources possible.
While multi-state training exercises such as these are not unique to the military, the size and scope of Jade Helm 15 sets this one apart. To stay ahead of the environmental challenges faced overseas, the Jade Helm operation will take place across seven states. However, Army Special Operations Forces (ARSOF) will only train in five states: Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado. The PR team has indicated that the diverse terrain in these states replicates areas Special Operations Soldiers regularly find themselves operating in overseas.
Essentially, all exercise activities will be taking place on pre-coordinated public and private lands with the permission of the private landowners, as well as from state and local authorities.
Soldiers armed with blank rounds will operate in and around towns in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah and Colorado for 8 weeks.... The so-called Realistic Military Training has some residents fearful the drill is a preparation for martial law....” (See “Special forces set to swarm Southwest and operate undetected among civilians in massive military exercise” by DailyMail.com reporter, 3/26/15 [Updated 3/27/15], Daily Mail/ DailyMail.com [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3013900/Fears-martial-law-special-ops-set-swarm-Southwest-operate-undetected-civilians-ve-deemed-HOSTILE-massive-military-exercise.html]).
The U.S. Special Operations Command readily acknowledges and even has openly reported on its upcoming Jade Helm exercises in a standard press release (See “PRESS RELEASE: Exercise readies SOF for threats abroad” [RELEASE NUMBER: 150324-03], 3/24/15, USASOC HQ/ USASOC Links [http://www.soc.mil/UNS/Releases/2015/March/150324-03.html]); and many news outlets have been dismissive of the internet brouhaha over the possibility of a U.S. military conspiracy ( See e.g., “Army says Jade Helm’s a training op coming to Texas this summer. Internet says it’s a takeover!” by Robert Wilonsky, 3/26/15, Dallas News/ The Scoop Blog [http://thescoopblog.dallasnews.com/2015/03/army-says-jade-helms-a-training-op-comi]); see also “Covert warfare coming to Texas sparks some fears of federal takeover” by Dylan Baddour, 3/25/15, Houston Chronicle [http://www.chron.com/news/article/Covert-warfare-comming-to-Texas-6157685.php#photo-7713764]).
Nonetheless. there are still a .wide range of internet sources sounding the alarm ( See e.g., “JADE HELM: TROOPS TO ‘OPERATE UNDETECTED AMONGST CIVILIAN POPULATION’ – Role players to practice infiltrating towns during controversial exercise” by Paul Joseph Watson, 3/26/15, [Alex Jones’] Infowars/ infowars.com [http://www.infowars.com/jade-helm-troops-to-operate-undetected-amongst-civilian-population/]; Also note: the Houston Chronicle article, cited above [catalogues several of the sources of the “conspiracy” controversy surrounding the Jade Helm exercise, including the Infowars blog and Alex Jones’ radio program out of Austin, Texas] ).
In a CBS News poll out tonight, 29 percent of Americans say their opinion of her has grown worse as a result of revelations that she used her personal email account for State Department business. .
CBS News provided a lengthy and detailed account of this particular poll — it provides no good news for Hillary Clinton or her camp followers. They can spin it if they like, but by every possible metric, Hillary Clinton has taken a big hit (See “What Americans think of Hillary Clinton's email practices” by Sarah Dutton, Jennifer De Pinto, Anthony Salvanto & Fred Backus, 3/26/15, CBS News [http://www.cbsnews.com/news/views-on-hillary-clinton-and-the-email-controversy/]).
The special election race has hardly started and the Democratic Candidate Vincent Gentile camp has poisoned the atmosphere with a vile brew of purely race-based politics of the kind that has become altogether too common for Democrats in the age of Obama. NOW THAT I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION — Dan Donovan wasn’t too cool about any of it, either.
According to a recent report in the Huffington post, “... [a] dispute between the two candidates vying to replace disgraced Rep. Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.) escalated on Tuesday, with the campaign of Democratic candidate Vincent Gentile accusing Republican Daniel Donovan of ‘doubling down on race-baiting.’...” (See “Eric Garner Prosecutor Accused Of ‘Doubling Down On Race-Baiting' In Congressional Campaign” by some staff guy, 3/24/15, Huffington Post [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/24/eric-garner-vinnie-gentile-daniel-donovan-race-baiting_n_6933660.html]).
The comments by the Gentile Campaign were done as a so-called “ response” to a fund raising E-Mail that Donovan’s campaign sent to Donovan supporters last week, which contained the subject line: “Al Sharpton Coming After Dan, we need your help!." The Donovan campaign E-Mail supposedly quoted a member of Sharpton's National Action Network criticizing Donovan.
Brannan, who has pushed the “Donovan doubling-down on his race-baiting...” story for over a week to multiple media outlets and directly to many Brooklyn Democrats via a Twitter feed, is the long-time Chief of Staff of Councilman Gentile.
I don’t expect Vinny Gentile or his people to just throw in the cards in what looks like a one-sided game in favor of Dan Donovan, but several things appear to have gotten lost in the shuffle and cut before the first hand has even been looked at, much less played, by either Gentile or Donovan. First, Donovan’s fund raising E-mail only mentioned Sharpton as a small piece among several other reasons to help out the Donovan Campaign. Specifically, the fund-raising E-Mail, sent from Ron Carara, Mr. Donovan’s campaign manager, claimed that various left-wing radicals were attacking Mr. Donovan, trying to hurt him and attempting to derail the Donovan Campaign. The radicals mentioned in the E-Mail included Occupy Wall Street activists, Mr. Sharpton’s National Action Network and even Mayor deBlasio.
On the other hand, it is obviously and absolutely ridiculous for Dan Donovan to try to get away with this: “... Race has nothing to do with this election....” —> WHY DOES HE THINK THAT HE IS SO POPULAR THROUGHOUT MOST OF STATEN ISLAND AND THE SOUTHWEST PART OF BROOKLYN ? <— IT SURE AIN’T HIS GOOD LOOKS AND SEEMINGLY POTENT “BACHELOR LIFESTYLE” – NOR HIS ROCK-RIBBED CONSERVATIVE-REPUBLICANISM ! ! ! (BTW, ALL OF THAT WAS QUITE SARCASTIC.... ).
Since I think both sides have decided to double-down on their respective this, that or the other stuff involving race and racism — Donovan has so far gotten away with a major gaffe about what he can’t do to help many of the Sandy victims in his Staten Island DA jurisdiction or “his” future Staten Island-SW Brooklyn congressional district. And nobody seemed to catch Vinny G's promise that. if elected to congress, he would give special entre, and to hold behind closed door meetings with certain Staten Island Democrat elected officials that nobody else will ever hear about. It's especially interesting that he singled out his City Council colleague, Debi Rose. I wonder why he said this — it seems kind of well, stupid — unless it has some special meaning, which I'm sure it does.
According to Politico and other outlets, “... Hillary Clinton did meet privately with President Barack Obama on Monday at the White House. Clinton was in Washington for an event about the future of urban policy hosted by the Center for American Progress in the morning and the presentation of the Toner Award at a dinner in the evening [reported on this blog in a 3/24/15 UPDATE to the prior post]. *** In between, the all-but-declared Democratic presidential candidate swung by to see her old boss in the building she’s hoping to move into. *** The White House wouldn’t comment about whether a meeting was going to happen earlier in the day, but White House press secretary Josh Earnest confirmed afterward that it had happened — though he provided few details. *** ‘President Obama and Secretary Clinton enjoy catching up in person when their schedules permit,’ Earnest said. ‘This afternoon they met privately for about an hour at the White House and discussed a range of topics.’...” (See “Hillary Clinton meets Barack Obama at the White House’ by Edward-Isaac Dovere, 3/23/15, Politico [http://www.politico.com/story/2015/03/hillary-clinton-barack-obama-white-house-116327.html]).
Earlier in the day, the White House press corps had specifically inquired as to whether Hillary Clinton, who was known to be in D.C. for events, would be visiting the President. According to Breitbart News, Associated Press reporter Josh Lederman asked, “Does the President have any plans to meet with her? And if he does, would you be able to open that up to some level of access, considering the circumstances of it?” The Press Secretary declined to answer substantively, saying “I don’t have any additional details to share about the President’s schedule today,” he said, acknowledging that they had visited in the past. “I don’t have any meetings to share with you from here.” However, after the meeting between Obama and Clinton had finished, and Hillary had been whisked off, Josh Earnest did acknowledge that the meeting had occurred but without providing any details of what had been discussed ( See “Obama Hosts Secret Meeting at the White House With Hillary Clinton” by Charlie Spiering, 3/23/15 [http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/03/23/obama-hosts-secret-meeting-at-the-white-house-with-hillary-clinton/]).
During 2008, at least three different fact-check organizations said Hillary’s claims about her being part of the North Irish Peace Process were not accurate — She also got “One Pinocchio for exaggeration” from the WaPo — the Boston Globe said that Hillary Clinton’s stories of bringing Protestant and Catholic women together became more dramatic with each retelling — And Daily Kos even said Hillary Clinton's taking credit for what others did viv a vis getting the Irish Women together was "Outrageous"
On March 16, 2015, Hillary Clinton was inducted into something called the “Irish America Hall of Fame,” whatever that is — since many, if not most, great Irish Americans are not in it, and Hillary Clinton is in no way “Irish American.” According to Irish America Magazine, the sponsor of the award, the former First Lady was "... being honored for her work on behalf of the Irish peace process...." That Hillary had any real part in the “Irish peace process” remains controversial — as if making false claims about one’s personal history is merely something that can be described as “controversial” ( See ““Hillary's Entry in Irish Hall of Fame Comes Despite False Claims of Bringing 'Peace' to N.Ireland – Embellishment pays” by Daniel Halper, 3/16/15, The Weekly Standard [http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/hillarys-entry-irish-hall-fame-comes-despite-false-claims-bringing-peace-nireland_888675.html]).
In 2008, the last time that she ran for president, when Hillary Clinton was making many hollow claims about her vast foreign policy experience, one of her biggest confabulations was that she “helped” to broker the 1998 Good Friday peace accords. Most major news outlets and at least three (3) fact-check organizations had to yank hard on Hillary’s leash to bring her to heal about that overcooked chestnut.
In a very lengthy article looking at many of Hillary’s fabulous claims about herself, Joe Miller of the fact-check addressed the question of whether Hillary Clinton’s activities ‘helped bring peace to Northern Ireland.’...” , his conclusion was even more terse and straightforward, tart and tangy than Politifact: “[Hillary] Clinton has said that she ‘helped bring peace to Northern Ireland.’ Of course, ‘helped’ is a fairly weak claim, one that could be made by nearly anyone who contributed in a way that didn’t actively hinder the process....Irish officials are divided as to how helpful [Hillary] Clinton’s actions were, and key players agree that she was not directly involved in any actual negotiations....” (See ““Hillary’s Adventures Abroad – We find some exaggerations in Clinton's claims of foreign policy experience” by Joe Miller, 3/13/08, factcheck.org [http://www.factcheck.org/2008/03/hillarys-adventures-abroad/]).
One of the most devastating pieces against Hillary’s Irish Peace claims in 2008 came from the Washington Post’s “fact-checker” Michael Dobbs. Dobbs said that even the lead U.S. negotiator, Senator George Mitchell, said the former first lady was "not involved directly" in bringing about peace in North Ireland. According to Dobbs, “I just spoke to the Clinton administration’s leading Northern Ireland peace negotiator, who said that Hillary was ‘not involved directly’ in the diplomatic negotiations that led to the landmark April 1998 Good Friday agreement on power-sharing....” (See “Clinton and Northern Ireland” by Michael Dobbs, 1/10/08, Washington Post [http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/01/clinton_and_northern_ireland.html]).
A much quoted Boston Globe article in 2008 noted that Hillary Clinton’s stories of bringing Protestant and Catholic women together became more dramatic with each retelling, however it also noted that her claim that she brought Catholics and Protestants together ‘for the first time’ seemed dubious.(See “Clinton trumpets role as Irish peace facilitator” by Marcella Bombardieri & Globe Staff, 1/7/08, Boston Globe [http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/01/07/clinton_trumpets_role_as_irish_peace_facilitator/]). Those claims were further debunked by a piece in Daily Kos, whose author “LibDem” called Hillary’s self aggrandizement in describing her role in bringing the Irish wives and mothers together as “outrageous,” especially when compared to the courageous work that was done by the Irish women themselves (See “Hillary Exagerates Role in Northern Ireland” by Lib Dem, 3/5/08, Daily Kos [http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/03/05/469842/-Hillary-Exagerates-Role-in-Northern-Ireland#]).
Right up front in its report about Hillary Clinton’s recent award from the folks at “Irish America,” the NY Times made it clear that there was a significant back story to all of it. Times writer Amy Chozick opened by saying this: “The subjects of Ireland and tea made for an unpleasant brew in Hillary Rodham Clinton’s 2008 campaign for president. Her primary opponent, Barack Obama, once belittled her as having merely “had tea with” world leaders as first lady. Her husband defended her as “a peacemaker, not a tea maker.” Then she was accused of overstating her own contribution to the Northern Ireland peace process....” (See “In Accepting Irish-American Honor, Hillary Clinton Recasts Her Role in a Peace Pact” by Amy Chozick, 3/16/15, NY Times [http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/17/us/politics/in-accepting-irish-american-honor-hillary-clinton-recasts-her-role-in-a-peace-pact.html?_r=1]). After showing that Hillary was shrugging all of that stuff off; and that she was tweeking the peace making story a bit, Chozik closed by a snarky bit, which highlighted the fact of Hillary Clinton’s closeness to Gerry Adams, still a suspect in a 1972 murder investigation.
In an interesting bit of irony, last year’s inductee into the “Irish America" Hall of Fame was none other than Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, one of Mrs. Clinton’s likely opponents for the Democratic nomination for President in 2016.
Oh, in another bit of irony, guess who tops the "Irish America" list of its " Top '50' " influential Irish-Americans ? Another "none-other-than" type — another one of Hillary Clinton's possible challengers, Vice President Joe Biden.
Cruz’ quick kick-off also might turn the focus of the debate toward some issues that Ted Cruz wants to talk about — smaller government — and a more hawkish approach on foreign policy.
Cruz describes his campaign for the White House this way: "We reassemble the Reagan coalition. We bring together fiscal conservatives and social conservatives and national security conservatives. We stand strong for economic growth. But we also stand for life and marriage. We defend constitutional rights but we also stand and lead the fight against ISIS and a nuclear Iran.... The way we get to 51 percent is we bring together conservatives and libertarians and evangelicals, and women and young people and Hispanics and Reagan Democrats."
According to the Newsmax report, Cruz's early rollout might push other campaigns to faster starts of their own. It also could turn the focus of the debate and discussion toward issues Cruz would like to discuss, from smaller government to a more hawkish approach on foreign policy.
If nothing else, real patriots should take some joy in the humiliation of the “trans-formative” President Obama by the “Counter-trans-formative” 47 Senators who sent their open letter to the Iranian leadership — clearly, it was all a dicey proposition, but where's the harm ?
I have long questioned Jerry Kassar’s and several other of the so-called Conservative Party’s leaders’ conservatism; now, it is PATRIOTISM that is the focal issue — at least as far as concerns one, Gerard Kassar. The catalyst for that inquiry is Jerry Kassar’s most recent “Common Sense” column for the Brooklyn Media Group (See “Deletegate – Common Sense” [in the on-line version: ‘Common Sense: Delegate’] by Jerry Kassar, 3/18-3/25/15, Brooklyn Media Group / my print version being in the “FREE – Brooklyn Spectator News” [http://homereporter.com/common-sense-deletegate/]).
I’m not sure whether Kassar was wearing his Constitutional Law expert hat; his U.S. Foreign Policy expert hat; his making decisions based on long-time expertise gained from being a well-paid side-liner for his whole adult life (sometimes referred to affectionately as being a political and/or staff hack) hat; or whether it was just his doing what his boss State Senator Marty Golden tells him to do hat (which sometimes is, and sometimes is not, the same as the prior category). However, ripping and giving advice to the bulk of Republicans elected to the U.S. Senate, and the overwhelming part of the majority caucus in the upper chamber, does seem quite notable. Equally notable, is that with his anti-GOP senators tongue-lashing, Kassar is completely on the same page, both literally and figuratively, as his liberal Democratic colleague in columns, Brian Kieran (See “Use the Facts, Not the Spin” by Brian Kieran, 3/18-3/25/15, Brooklyn Media Group / as above, my print version being in the “FREE – Brooklyn Spectator News” [link not found]). Although Mr. Kieran’s column devoted more than twice the space to this issue, both Kieran and Kassar did appear to be in substantial and basic agreement about the letter addressed to Iran by the 47 Republican senators.
Unfortunately, both men failed to perceive the real threat to this republic. It is not whether the treaty negotiations with Iran result in any treaty that allows or facilitates Iran’s achievement of some primitive nuclear weapons capacity; nor is it about the technical roles constitutionally and/or traditionally exercised by the President as opposed to the Senate. In short, foreign policy and who formally initiates foreign policy is not the central concern here. The issue is that the Obama regime’s immediate foray into these talks is but one more example of its “trans-formative presidency” — this time to achieve some agreement by means of secret treaty negotiations with Iran concerning its nuclear weapons capabilities.
In these negotiations, the existential threat to America is not from Iran, but from the actions of a rogue Obama regime bent on the goal of achieving some form of a “trans-formative presidency.” When faced with such an existential threat, true patriots must rise up and counter the threat. In this instance, any acts in the furtherance of a rogue and so-called “trans-formative presidency,” of necessity needed to be countered by a dutiful and patriotic group of senators loyal to their Republic, and acting as a “Counter-trans-formative opposition,” patently disloyal to the rogue president, but true to their oaths to this Republic.
That these wonderful, dare I say “honourable,” men announced their intentions with such bravado so near to the Ides of March; I was left feeling disappointed that so little of actual moment occurred at the Capitol on that historic and literary memorial for the year 2015. Then again, there was no executive visit to the chamber or any of its precincts, hence no opportunity for a dramatic confrontation.
Of course, the letter by 47 Senators humiliated the President of the United States — for that they need the applause of their fellow patriots; if nothing else, to drown-out the scorn and criticism of cynical partisans like Kassar. However, since the “Great Obama” appears incapable of any sort of humility, there is probably little to be gained by the mere humiliation of this oh-so-imperial president, Obama, except possibly, for the sheer joy of it.
Will Jerry Brown Be Another Democrat Running Against Hillary Clinton ?
California Governor Jerry Brown will be the featured guest on NBC News’ Meet the Press with host Chuck Todd this week. Todd has been one of the most prominent Beltway journalists to tout Brown’s potential as a “dark horse” candidate in 2016. Last July, Todd predicted on MSNBC’s Morning Joe that Brown would be challenger to Hillary Rodham Clinton ((See “Jerry Brown to ‘Meet the Press’ Presidential Ambitions?” by Joel B. Pollack, 3/20/15, Breitbart News/ (AP)Associated Press [http://www.breitbart.com/big-journalism/2015/03/20/jerry-brown-to-meet-the-press-presidential-ambitions/]).
Brown has recently spent time in Washington, D.C. Last week, he met with Obama administration officials to discuss a variety of policy issues, and bashed Republicans for their opposition to the president’s executive amnesty for illegal aliens. He was also a guest of the Washington Post at the super-elite Gridiron Dinner.
By Edward-Isaac Dovere, 3/13/15, Politico [http://www.politico.com/story/2015/03/hillary-clinton-primaries-jerry-brown-116066.html]).
Why would Hillary say that she “...fully complied with every rule that [she] was governed by..."; if in less than a day, it all turns out to be a big lie ( or, if not a big lie, then merely a very convenient, but totally inaccurate, statement of the facts of the case) ?
Here it is. At her press conference on Tuesday, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said, "...I fully complied with every rule that I was governed by..." when serving as Secretary of State. Well, if that’s so, then she had to sign an “OF-109" form required of every State Department official, including the Secretary of State, upon leaving their position or office. That form states that the signer has "...surrendered to responsible officials all unclassified documents and papers relating to the official business of the government acquired while in the employ of the federal government...." Unfortunately for "Mrs. Bill" Clinton, she did not surrender any of her e-mails until — not months but years — after she left the office of Secretary of State.
According to Newsmax, the signing of an “OF-109" form and not complying with its requirements constitutes a false statement; and it is a felony, punishable by fines and/or prison time, said Shannen Coffin, a former Assistant Deputy U.S. Attorney General and a guest expert on Fox News Channel's "The Kelly File" (See “Lawyer: Hillary Committed Felony if She Signed Disclosure Form” by Greg Richter, 3/11/15, Newsmax [http://www.newsmax.com/Headline/hillary-clinton-disclosing-records-form/2015/03/11/id/629656/]; see also “What State Dept. guidelines did Hillary Clinton violate?” [video link of Megyn Kelly interview with Shannen Coffin] 3/11/15, Fox News, The Kelly File [http://video.foxnews.com/v/4106177790001/what-state-dept-guidelines-did-hillary-clinton-violate/?playlist_id=2694949842001#sp=show-clips]).
The former Assistant Deputy U.S. Attorney General said "Mrs. Bill" Clinton didn't comply with the Federal Records Act, and she also did not comply with her own records management handbook for the Department of State, which set out a very specific process as to how one would remove records from the State Department's control. Those rules require an exiting employee to "prepare an inventory of personal papers and nonrecord materials that [they] are proposing for removal" and then "request a review of those materials that they've proposed for removal...." Thereafter, a State Department records official would sort through all records, including emails, at the time of the departure of the State Department employee to determine what is public and what is private.
— What am I bid, what am I bid....? Here’s your unions’ twenty thou... Do I here hear thirty from the merchants....? Okay, twenty-five from the restaurants.... Back to the unions, thirty — do I hear thirty.... Thirty it is to the little guy with the healthy cigar from health workers.... Cmon, do I see somebody for forty — Manufacturers ? Developers ? Nobody — nobody.... There it is — forty from the box stores; is that BJ’s or Costco’s — Okay, we’ll work that out some other time.... We’re at forty anybody for fifty ? C’mon you restaurant and service unions, do something for your people.... Is that it... ? Once... Twice... SOLD !
According to Nick Reisman’s report in NY State of Politics, “Brooklyn Republican Sen. Marty Golden warned of dire consequences for small businesses if a minimum wage increase is approved this year, but he wouldn’t rule out blocking the measure from being included in the final budget deal [ yeah, it was tough for me to follow, as well]....” ( See “Golden Doesn’t Slam Door On Minimum Wage” by Nick Reisman, 3/11/15, NY State of Politics [http://www.nystateofpolitics.com/2015/03/golden-doesnt-slam-door-on-minimum-wage/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter]).
by Greg Richter, 3/9/15, Newsmax [http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/trey-gowdy-hillary-clinton-private-email/2015/03/09/id/629182/]).
Congressman Gowdy also said this: "It's not just my committee. It's House Armed Services, it's Foreign Affairs, it's FOIA [Freedom of Information Act] requests.... These are public records, and if they're not personal, if they're public, then she's not entitled to be the sole arbiter of who gets what when."
In the same interview with Megyn Kelly, Representative Gowdy said that when he wrote to Hillary Clinton’s lawyer asking for her e-mails, her lawyer referred him back to the State Department. Gowdy then said that when he went to the State Department, they “... missed every single opportunity over the past six months to tell us that, not only did [Secretary of State Hillary Clinton] not have an official e-mail account, [the State Department] didn’t even have her records. You would think that [it] would come up in all the conversations that we had with the State Department which is precisely why they are not the neutral third party arbiter I would recommend the Secretary turn her server over to so you can analyze it for forensics to see whether or not there’s been any hacking or tampering....” (See “Gowdy: Hillary’s Lawyer Referred Us to State Department for Emails” by Ian Hanchett, 3/9/15, Breitbart News [http://www.breitbart.com/video/2015/03/09/gowdy-hillarys-lawyer-referred-us-to-state-dept-for-e-mails/]).
Here’s what the New York Times had to say about Hillary’s planned address about the use of her private E-mails while she was Secretary of State: “Hillary Rodham Clinton is preparing in coming days to address her use of a private email account while serving as secretary of state, according to people close to Mrs. Clinton, even as she continued to avoid questions about the matter on Monday after speaking at a Clinton Foundation event in New York. *** Though Mrs. Clinton has spoken at a handful of events since The New York Times reported that she exclusively used a private email account at the State Department, her lone public utterance has been a Twitter post in which she said she wanted Americans to see her emails. *** One of the options Mrs. Clinton is considering is a news conference, something she has not held in more than two years. A spokesman for Mrs. Clinton did not respond to requests for comment....” (See “Hillary Clinton Prepares to Address Her Use of Private Email as Secretary of State” by Nick Corasaniti, 3/9/15, The New York Times [http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/10/us/politics/hillary-clinton-prepares-to-address-her-use-of-private-email-as-secretary-of-state.html?_r=0]).
“So in a sense, [Hillary] Clinton made all the Sunday shows, albeit in a way no candidate wants to...” — Wa Po Commentator.
"First, Clinton continues to do Republicans’ work for them, painting a portrait of deception and dishonesty. Second, it makes the “inevitability” theme sound more like a complaint [that] Democrats are stuck with her"
On “Meet the Press,” Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.): “...[T]he silence is going to hurt her”; and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.): "Did she communicate on behalf of The Clinton Foundation as Secretary of State? Did she call the terrorist attack in Benghazi a terrorist attack in real time? I want to know. And the one thing I’ll never agree to is let the State Department tell us what e-mails we should receive, or let her and her team tell us. Some independent group should do that."
Now, with Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy's well-stated allegations of missing Benghazi E-mails, Hillary Clinton is wide open to comparisons with Richard Nixon and Watergate. How will Hillay's "...months long gap..." stack up against Nixon's "...eighteen minute gap..." ? All of that will be more than merely "fair comment "; it will ultimately be a cosmic moral symmetry and "fair treatment" for her and her supporters.
“When ‘Saturday Night Live’ skewered Al Gore’s performance in the 2000 debates and Tina Fey seemed to become more like Sarah Palin than Palin herself, you knew there was an understanding about these figures so familiar that people would, well, get the joke. The comedy does not work unless the assumption is widely held, even if it is strenuously denied by the victim’s supporters. So, too, it is becoming with Hillary Clinton. *** The fake laugh, the overly deliberated and failed attempt to “relate,” and the voracious quest for power....” (See “Hillary Clinton’s scandals define her” by Jennifer Rubin, 3/9/15, The Washington Post/ On the Right [http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2015/03/09/hillary-clintons-scandals-define-her/]).