Malcolm X made many observations…..this one is one of the most profound……
When you are right, you are right!
Month: May 2015
Hate For Hate’s Sake
My latest post over at Legationes…..when you stop by please have a look see my friends over at Legationes will appreciate the traffic…..chuq
“Your Check Is In The Mail”
Oh boy has there been a pack of crap flying about the Clinton’s and their income from speeches……of course there is the usual attacks that foreign money is making it into Hillary’s campaign…..somehow.
Let’s be honest….the Clinton’s….all the Clinton’s have made a butt load of cash for speaking to groups and such…….
In her last financial disclosure report, Hillary Clinton put her and her husband’s estimated wealth at between $4 million and $20 million. That was 2012, this is now: The couple have in the last 16 months earned more than $25 million in speaking fees tied to more than 100 paid speeches, plus another $5 million in book royalties. NBC News notes this puts them “in the top one-tenth of 1% of all Americans.” The numbers come from a personal financial disclosure report filed with the Federal Election Commission last night; such filings are required of presidential contenders.
How the New York Times frames the news: The disclosure “could create challenges for the former secretary of state as she tries to cast herself as a champion of everyday Americans in an era of income inequality.” (An assertion likely not helped by this: Though Hillary last year memorably said she and Bill aren’t like the “truly well off,” the Times put the Clintons’ post-White House speaking fee revenue at $125 million.) Reaction from the right, from RNC chair Reince Priebus: “The Clintons’ claim that staggering amounts of income from paid speaking fees that raise ethical questions and potential conflicts of interest is simply to ‘pay our bills’ shows how out-of-touch they’ve truly become.”
Yep you read that right….$125 million since leaving the White House……that should pay a bill or two……but wait….there has been another revelation on their income…….
We already knew the Clintons made big money making speeches, but it turns out they made more than has been previously disclosed. The Clinton Foundation has for the first time published a comprehensive list of speech fees brought into the foundation by Bill, Hillary, and Chelsea since 2002, reports the Wall Street Journal. The list shows that the trio made up to $26.4 million in previously undisclosed payments for 97 speeches in that span to “major corporations, universities, foreign sources, and other groups,” reports the Washington Post. The former president did most of them, 72, while Hillary did 16, and Chelsea nine. CNN pulls out some notable details: “Bill Clinton spoke to Thailand’s Ministry of Energy, China Real Estate Development Group, Ltd, and Qatar First Investment Bank; Hillary Clinton spoke to Goldman Sachs, Citibank, and JP Morgan Chase, among others.”
The foundation has been under scrutiny over allegations that it failed to abide by a 2008 ethics agreement to reveal donors, an agreement put in place to make sure no conflicts of interests arose for Hillary Clinton as secretary of state. Foundation officials say the newly disclosed fees had been counted as revenue, not donations, and thus hadn’t been part of previous public listings. Conservatives aren’t sympathetic: “Hey, it happens,” snarks a post at the Hot Air website. “A few coins slip out of the pocket and into the sofa, a check or two gets left on the desk … or a few million reported as revenue turn out to be undeclared foreign and corporate donations.”
I mean it was honest and clear cash, right?
Do you think that this money was paid for access? A past president, a senator and a former Secretary of State…..that could open a lot of doors for the right price.
How about a sample of their speeches?
Amount: $250,001 to $500,000
Organization
Beijing Huaduo Enterprise Consulting Company Ltd.*
Business for Change Events*
Carlyle Investment Management, LLC+
China Real Estate Development Group, Ltd.*
Citibank, N.A.+
Colgate University+
Fundacion Telmex+
Goldman, Sachs and Co.+
Hamilton College+
JP Morgan Chase Bank, N.A.+
Korea Economic Daily*
Ministry of Energy, Thailand*
Qatar First Investment Bank*
Tanmiah Commercial Group*
UB Foundation Activities, Inc.+
Unica*
University of California Los Angeles+
U.S. Islamic World Conference*
World Celebrity Golf Ltd.*
Just to mention a few (and I do mean a FEW)
Do you think that this would buy influence from a candidate if elected? Looks like money talks and it will be chatting up Hil if she gets elected……I see a couple that would influence foreign policy….
NOTHING ever changes!
syriatimes.sy – Rest in Peace, Queen Zenobia!
ISIS has taken control of the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra………to most people it means nothing but since I am a history buff and have had the opportunity to visit the site back in the 80’s it is especially interesting for me…
Ifrom time to time like to throw some history in my post to help people understand why some places are important…..Palmyra is one of those sites…….ever hear of Queen Zenobia?
In Memoriam: Our Old Republic by Justin Raimondo — Antiwar.com
The war on terror has cost Americans some rights with more to come………I was not gonna post much today because of it being a holiday to remember our fallen soldiers…
But then I read this piece and thought that it would be interesting to those that are watching our country slowly degrade,,,,,
Read it and let me know your thoughts……
In Memoriam: Our Old Republic by Justin Raimondo — Antiwar.com.
The Rewards Of Blogging
Memorial Day and Summer begins…….as usual we have yet another disaster movie and about the only thing missing is another Nicholas Cage movie. Please take a moment and remember those that gave their lives in service to their country.
As per my tradition I will not be posting much today….instead I will spend the day with family and friends doing what people do (you fill in the blank)……….
This will be number three (3) in my series of why I am blogging and what the experience means to me personally…….
Most of my regulars know that I enjoy research and then writing about what I have discovered. Have you ever felt like there is something that you were destined to do? I feel that blogging is mine.
Some of my fellow bloggers judge their success by the number of daily hits which is their thing…and yes I would very much like to get 1000+ hits a day but I try to be realistic. The only way to get those high stats is from some sort of promotion service and most of them are looking to get paid for their “secrets”. I just refuse to pay for popularity just to feed my ego.
I find that there many rewards to blogging, at least to me……..regular visitors and commenters, fellow bloggers that think my stuff is worthy of a re-blog, but my biggest reward is those readers that come to my blog looking for what I have to say on a given subject or situation…..recently there was an international situation that one of my regulars said that he came to me first because “I would probably be all over it”……that made me feel that all my hard work has NOT been in vain.
I do not always blog about the story du jour, unless of course it is of major importance and I need to address the situation……instead I try to give my reader information that they may not be aware of or those situations that they, my readers, may find thought provoking…..there is enough confusion out there….I just want to try and clarify it, at least from my point of view which I realize that not everybody will agree with the analysis.
I write a lot on the Middle East….it is the area of my interest….I have both lived and worked in the region….but to write fresh perspective I am on the PC at 0100 hrs (1 a.m.) for at that time it is about 0900 hrs in say Baghdad and I can get fresh news as it is happening not the selective regurgitation of NBC………. I could puke up the popular topic these days…..hate……..but that is not my style…….if I speak ill of something I try to explain why I feel that way………. hopefully my readers appreciate that I want to give them news as it happens not later……ignorance must be fought whether the people want to hear it or not……for ignorance breeds hate and fear…….
After college I was recruited by a think tank to analyze and then report on situations in the Middle East…..the problem was I was given a conclusion and I had to make the report fit that conclusion…..something I would not do….needless to say I was not hired and got a bad name in the world of think tanks……so I took to writing and analyzing stuff on my own…..did not pay well but it was so satisfying to punch holes in the garbage being sold as analysis……then a blog became the next step into my world of international relations……..
The rewards in blogging are many….but it all takes work and it becomes a labor of love……well, at least for me. I also feel that it is my duty and my responsibility to point out misinformation wherever I find it and by whom regurgitates such lies…..and I must do it everyday without fail….dependability is an asset when blogging……if my readers cannot depend on me then I have failed in my duty.
Enjoy your day and I shall be in form for tomorrow……see you then.
What Happened To Formula One?
I seldom write anything on sports….it is not that I do not like sports….it is just there are so many more things happening in the world that sports does not play into my plan…..but today is the running of the Gran Prix du Monaco through the streets of Monte Carlo……..
Formula One racing has been a fave since my childhood when I followed von Tripps racing for Ferrari….he was killed in 1961 but I continued to be a fan of Ferrari.
I watched it over the years and I watched it become more and more…..what is the word I am looking for?…..BORING!
Because of major deaths and injuries they tried to make it a little safer and in doing so took all the competitiveness out of the races…..it has gotten to the point now if a driver is leading on the first or second lap he usually wins the race…..yep that boring. Almost as damn boring as NASCAR (you know….drive fast and turn left)……
But I hear there may be some changes coming……..not soon enough!
Why Do Men Exist?
I will confess that back during the ERA days I was pretty much a macho dick…….but I have seen the error of my ways……..I cannot imagine a country that would do everything possible to make women second class citizens……but unfortunately this country is going in that direction…….sorry I digress.
During those feminist days there were many questions asked……but one that persisted was…..why do men exist?
Well that question has been answered for those women still wondering…….
Scientists have long wondered why men exist. Sex between males and females is simply not nearly as efficient as asexual reproduction. But now a group out of the UK is reporting in the journal Nature that, after looking at several years of lab-controlled procreation of the Tribolium flour beetle, they’ve found that sexual selection—the process by which males compete for females—helps species become fitter and more resilient to disease. “Competition among males for reproduction provides a really important benefit, because it improves the genetic health of populations,” the lead researcher at the University of East Anglia says in a press release. “Sexual selection achieves this by acting as a filter to remove harmful genetic mutations, helping populations to flourish.”
Such a question can be tested on this particular beetle (a pest in many a flour bag) because aside from their genes, the males don’t help raise offspring, reports NBC News. In the lab, the scientists controlled the beetle’s environments such that the only difference between populations was the strength of sexual selection, which ranged from intense—with 90 males competing for 10 females—to no sexual selection at all, where females were limited to one monogamous partner and thus males didn’t have to compete. Seven years (and 50 generations) later, the beetles that resulted from the strongest sexual selection were in the best health and were the least likely to go extinct when inbred, Reuters reports. (Speaking of evolution, a third of Americans don’t believe it exists.)
And there you have it!
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!