Day: May 22, 2015

Hillary: Have You Checked Your Mail Today?

For what seems like months we have been hit on the head by the media and Right wing bloggers over Hillary’s email account.  There has been enough speculation on the contents of those emails to fill a couple volumes.  Even the GOP has their fingers crossed that they can find something, anything about Benghazi in those emails…….I mean they have wasted more time on Benghazi than on veterans issues….veterans are just not that important in this election cycle….sorry……

But today the vultures on the Right got some red meat that they can pour over with bated breath……..some of the mail has been officially released……..

If you were hoping to spend the long weekend reading Hillary Clinton emails about Benghazi, you’re in luck: The State Department has released the first batch of about 300 from her personal email account, missives that have been turned over to a House panel investigating the 2012 attack. Reporters are still combing through them—check out the Wall Street Journal‘s “live dive” here—but don’t hold your breath for bombshells:

  • State Department: “The emails we release today do not change the essential facts or our understanding of the events before, during, or after the attacks, which have been known since the independent Accountability Review Board report on the Benghazi attacks was released almost two and a half years ago,” says a department tweet. (The Republican chair of the Benghazi panel, Trey Gowdy, says that’s not surprising given that they were vetted by Clinton’s attorneys, reports USA Today.)
  • Not classified, but … One of the emails to Clinton from deputy chief of staff Jake Sullivan discusses the arrests of suspects in Libya. About 20 words have been redacted. “Because the information was not classified at the time the email was sent, no laws were violated,” writes AP. “But Friday’s redaction shows that Clinton received information considered sensitive on her unsecured personal server.”
  • ‘Gorgeous pic’: The New York Times printed some emails in advance yesterday, noting that “the emails appear to back up Mrs. Clinton’s previous assertions that she did not receive classified information at her private email address.” It also takes note of a personal one in March 2011 to Clinton from State Department underling Ann-Marie Slaughter. “Gorgeous pic on the front page of the NYT!” it said. “One for the wall…” Then it goes into more serious subjects.
  • Mundane: “Few of the e-mails deal directly with events leading up to the attacks or their aftermath, according to those who have seen them,” writes the Washington Post. “Many contain administrative details, press accounts, speech drafts and other information exchanged between Clinton and her senior aides.” But they do “capture the concerns of Clinton and other officials about the political chaos” in Libya.

This release was a bust…..now they await the next round for there has got to be something, somewhere they can use against her during the coming campaign…..even there is NOTHING at all they can still use this situation to prove that the Clinton’s cannot be trusted…….it may be their only option to defeat her in 2016.

Meet the Christian right’s new doomsday prophet — and his insane, apocalyptic “blood moon” theory – Salon.com

I thought the GOP candidates were clowns…..but there are some of the religious types that make the GOP field look like Einstein…….

I have been reading about the “Blood Moon” thingy on blogs……I have wanted to write something but I just could not take any of it seriously…..sadly there are many that do take it seriously….

It is a silly notion….but read it for yourself……about the only thing this thing is good for is an idea for one of those grade B scifi movies….it might rival “Sharknado”………

Have a good laugh…..you are welcome!

 

Meet the Christian right’s new doomsday prophet — and his insane, apocalyptic “blood moon” theory – Salon.com.

Remember Ukraine?

View from a tortured keyboard of Chuq

Funny thing happened on the way to an election…….a subject that garnered many hours of airtime back in the day is all but forgotten.  Russia’s deal with Ukraine has all but gone from the media….well the American media…….does that mean it is no longer a problem of which to  worry?

Think again!

If you thought Ukraine was in for a better summer than last year, think again. “Vladimir Putin’s drip-drip invasion continues” and “a summer offensive is inevitable,” write Michael Weiss and James Miller at the Daily Beast. They back up the claim with news from Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko that Russia has 50,000 troops on the border and more than 40,000 separatist fighters in Ukraine for “a combined 50% increase in possible invaders over July of last year.” Plus, in less than three months, Ukraine says it has lost 28 towns to Russian-backed separatists. Ukraine has deployed three tanks in government-controlled territory in violation of a ceasefire signed in Minsk, but 30 separatist tanks have also been spotted moving toward the front lines.

Separatists claimed the movement was linked to military parades in honor of the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, but the tanks haven’t retreated since. There’s also “the presence of advanced Russian surface-to-air missile systems near the contact line in blatant violation of the Minsk agreement,” a diplomat says. A NATO commander said last month Russia was perhaps using the ceasefire to train and equip separatists and to “reset and reposition” their forces. Others note the separatists appear ready to “launch an all-out offensive against the Ukrainian military on little notice and without direct military assistance,” Weiss and Miller write. Meanwhile, Ukraine announced today it has captured two Russian soldiers in Ukraine and plans to prosecute them for “terrorist acts,” Reuters reports. Russia denies it has soldiers in the country.

This is a slow simmering pot that will eventually boil over and as usual the US will be caught with its pants down and its wanker in its hand……..

Then what?

Just wondering.

 

The Baltimore 6

I shall bend to social pressure and post on the news du jour…..the announcement of the indictments against those 6 Baltimore police officers…….

All six Baltimore police officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray have been indicted by a grand jury and will be arraigned on July 2. State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby made the announcement today. The charges returned by the grand jury weren’t substantially different than the charges Mosby announced about three weeks ago. Mosby has said Gray’s neck was broken because he was injured while being handcuffed, shackled, and placed head-first into a police van. She says his pleas for medical attention were repeatedly ignored. (The development comes after new video emerged of Gray and the officers.)

I would like to remind everyone that these are indictments and NOT convictions and that the likelihood that all 6 will be convicted is slim.

Now that I have done due diligence I will approach this from the direction that I choose…….the chatter that is to follow the announcement.

It is inevitable that there will be those that will come to the support of the police officers……saying that we should not condemn all cops for the bad actions of a few…..and I will agree with them, on that because there are some absolutely marvelous people wearing the uniform.

But have you ever noticed that those that warn against a quick judgement of cops because of their bad actions are the very same people that spend their time condemning ALL Muslims for the actions of a few?

No this does not surprise me for after many years of analyzing politics and society in the US I have learned one thing that is certain……Americans are nothing if not hypocritical.

Turn The Page!

Iran’s Goal is Middle Eastern Hegemony | World Affairs Journal

Can you hear that?  That is the sound of Right wing apes thumping their chests like sex crazed primates over Iran…..if we listen to them then maybe we will be ass deep in conflict as soon as one of their idiots is elected president.

Iran wants to be the big dog on the block…….it wants to exert total control over the people and the situation in the Middle East.  Keep in mind that while Saddam was in power Iran was pretty much held in check.  And now?

The problem is if we are not careful and we listen to the chicken hawk drums we could be looking at another conflict with yet another country…….

Read the report and tell me what you think…….

 

Iran’s Goal is Middle Eastern Hegemony | World Affairs Journal.