snagglepuss

snagglepuss's Journal

June 9, 2016

An interesting read about the criminal investigation and whether Hillary will be indicted.

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Loretta Lynch, ... is fully on board with Mr. Obama’s choice of which laws to enforce, which to modify, and which to ignore. How vigorously the likely presidential nominee of her own party should be pursued would surely be part of her “guidance” to Mr. Comey. It is unlikely that he would disregard it.

Outside of the DoJ’s inner circle, no one can be sure what that guidance is, or of how Mr. Obama has directed it. I’m not the first to suggest that all government agency-heads understand that they work for Mr. Obama. Current and past Congresses have labored mightily to make some federal arms “independent” of presidential influence, but every agency-boss undoubtedly knows he must follow a president’s directives, recommendations, and subtle (or not so-subtle) hints on how certain matters should be handled. This is Government 101 – no surprises here.

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5.How will it all end up? Take your pick:

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(a)Indictment delayed, Mrs. Clinton loses the election. In this scenario, she could be indicted soon after – perhaps during the Mr. Obama’s final months, but more likely after the new (Republican) president is sworn in. Mr. Obama might prefer not to soil his hands with prosecution of a fellow-Democrat. It would be an unpleasant conclusion to his presidency, and might damage his cachet in the Democratic Party, not to mention his future earning power.

(b)Indictment delayed, Mrs. Clinton is elected. In this case it’s not hard to imagine that the FBI investigation will just fade away. A small item will eventually appear on page A-18 of the Washington Post, reporting that no charges will be brought in the matter of Mrs. Clinton’s e-mails. (You don’t need to be Clarence Darrow to predict this.)

(c)Indictment before the election. This seems unlikely but if it happens, it means that Mr. Obama either believes Mrs. Clinton will lose the election, or wants her to lose. In the first case, he leaves office with a reputation for righteous justice – perhaps knowing that the evidence can’t support a conviction. In the second case, the known animosity between the Obama and Clinton families will finally have borne its bitter fruit. An indictment just before the election would ruin Mrs. Clinton – almost certainly resulting in her defeat. Should she win anyway, the FBI – indeed, the entire DoJ – will feel the wrath of a woman scorned when she takes office. (A nightmare as ever was.)

(d)Indictment quashed by Obama’s DoJ. It’s hard to see this happening in the present political climate, but you never know. Mr. Obama might feel strong enough to do it, and damn the consequences. What does he care about the whining Republicans? Besides, it would energize his base and burnish his street-rep as a real mensch (even if he’s not Jewish). Or he might be so desperate to have a Democrat carry on his legacy – a so-called “Obama third term” – that he’ll let her skate. A wild card in the deck could be a civil suit by some former FBI agents who know she’s guilty and won’t let it go. I hear rumors of this from people who should know, but I can’t confirm them. When it comes to politics, never say “never.”

Read more at

http://www.ahherald.com/columns-list/at-large/22520-decoding-the-hillary-clinton-e-mail-investigation

June 7, 2016

Interesting historical fact: Associated Press entered a formal cooperation with the Hitler

Associated Press entered a formal cooperation with the Hitler's Nazi Germany in the 1930s, supplying American newspapers with material selected and produced by the Nazi party propaganda ministry. It was able to retain its access by entering into a mutually beneficial two-way cooperation with the Nazi regime.

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Associated Press was the only western news agency able to stay open in Nazi Germany, they continued operating until Germany declared war on the USA in 1941.

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This arrangement also enabled the Nazis to cover up some of its crimes, allowing the Nazis to portray a war of extermination as a conventional war; which events were made visible and which remained invisible in AP’s supply of pictures followed German interests and the German narrative of the war.[53][54]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Associated_Press

Like I said this is an interesting historical fact.

June 6, 2016

Clinton Foundation Donors Got Weapons Deals From Hillary Clinton's State Department

By David Sirota @davidsirota AND Andrew Perez @AndrewPerezDC On 05/26/15 AT 8:44 AM

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Under Clinton's leadership, the State Department approved $165 billion worth of commercial arms sales to 20 nations whose governments have given money to the Clinton Foundation, according to an IBTimes analysis of State Department and foundation data. That figure -- derived from the three full fiscal years of Clinton’s term as Secretary of State (from October 2010 to September 2012) -- represented nearly double the value of American arms sales made to the those countries and approved by the State Department during the same period of President George W. Bush’s second term.

The Clinton-led State Department also authorized $151 billion of separate Pentagon-brokered deals for 16 of the countries that donated to the Clinton Foundation, resulting in a 143 percent increase in completed sales to those nations over the same time frame during the Bush administration. These extra sales were part of a broad increase in American military exports that accompanied Obama’s arrival in the White House. The 143 percent increase in U.S. arms sales to Clinton Foundation donors compares to an 80 percent increase in such sales to all countries over the same time period.

American defense contractors also donated to the Clinton Foundation while Hillary Clinton was secretary of state and in some cases made personal payments to Bill Clinton for speaking engagements. Such firms and their subsidiaries were listed as contractors in $163 billion worth of Pentagon-negotiated deals that were authorized by the Clinton State Department between 2009 and 2012.

The State Department formally approved these arms sales even as many of the deals enhanced the military power of countries ruled by authoritarian regimes whose human rights abuses had been criticized by the department. Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Qatar all donated to the Clinton Foundation and also gained State Department clearance to buy caches of American-made weapons even as the department singled them out for a range of alleged ills, from corruption to restrictions on civil liberties to violent crackdowns against political opponents

http://www.ibtimes.com/clinton-foundation-donors-got-weapons-deals-hillary-clintons-state-department-1934187

June 6, 2016

Inside the Clinton Donor NetworK: 41 years $3 BILLION DOLLARS

Washington Post investigation reveals how Bill and Hillary Clinton have methodically cultivated donors over 40 years, from Little Rock to Washington and then across the globe. Their fundraising methods have created a new blueprint for politicians and their donors

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They have also been quick to seize on new sources of funds: Cuban Americans in Florida, Chinese immigrant communities in New York and wealthy figures around the world. And they have embraced bold new forms of fundraising, finding ways to inject corporate donations into political causes through nonprofit organizations in Arkansas and unregulated national party accounts.

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The Post identified donations from roughly 336,000 individuals, corporations, unions and foreign governments in support of their political or philanthropic endeavors — a list that includes top patrons such as Steven Spielberg and George Soros, as well as lesser-known backers who have given smaller amounts dozens of times. Not included in the count are an untold number of small donors whose names are not identified in campaign finance reports but together have given millions to the Clintons over the years.

The majority of the money — $2 billion — has gone to the Clinton Foundation, one of the world’s fastest-growing charities, which supports health, education and economic development initiatives around the globe. A handful of elite givers have contributed more than $25 million to the foundation, including Canadian mining magnate Frank Giustra, who is among the wealthy foreign donors who have given tens of millions.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/clinton-money/

June 5, 2016

How many copies of that tell-all book by the Clinton's Secret Service guy

will sell in the first week? I figure millions with DumboDon probably getting the first copy off the press and using it relentlessly it to make her a laughingstock. His continually referencing it will just drive up sales. A gigantic farce looms on the horizon.

June 2, 2016