Sunday, July 31, 2016

FLASH UPDATE: THE "COMPLETE MELT-DOWN ON THE DOUBLE-DOWN" EDITION


JOHN ALLEN APPEARED ON "THIS WEEK WITH GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS" TO DOUBLE-DOWN ON HIS STRING OF HITS ON REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE DONALD TRUMP ---  INSTEAD ALLEN MIGHT HAVE HAD AN ON-AIR MELT-DOWN BY RAISING THE POSSIBILITY OF A U.S. MILITARY COUP


EARLIER TODAY JOHN ALLEN BACKED UP HIS PRIOR ANTI-TRUMP REMARKS WITH THE VEILED THREAT OF A MILITARY COUP RIGHT HERE IN THE USA IF TRUMP WERE ELECTED PRESIDENT


ODDLY, ABC DOESN'T SEEM TO HAVE HAD ANY PROBLEM WITH THAT



WHAT POLITICO SAYS ABOUT IT

In what might have been the most outrageous thing advocated by a top-level former U.S. Marine since the extremism of Smedley Butler before WWII, John Allen said the election of Republican Donald Trump as president could mean a breakdown in the relationship between civilian and military leaders (See "The election of Republican Donald Trump as president could mean a breakdown in the relationship between civilian and military leaders" by Connor O'Brien, 7/31/16, Politico [http://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/john-allen-donald-trump-226479]).

The Politico article started out with these observations about what Allen had to say:  "The election of Republican Donald Trump as president could mean a breakdown in the relationship between civilian and military leaders, a former top commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan warned Sunday.... In an interview on ABC's "This Week," retired Marine Gen. John Allen criticized Trump for his rhetoric on the wider use of military force and torture. And if Trump followed through with those pledges, Allen said, it would create "a civil military crisis, the like of which we've not seen in this country before.'...  'It's an inherent responsibility in who we are,' Allen said. "So what we need to do is ensure that we don't create an environment that puts us on a track conceivably where the United States military finds itself in a civil military crisis with a commander in chief who would have us do illegal things.'...  'That's a major issue that we're facing here, the potential for a civil military crisis where the military could be ordered to conduct illegal activities,' he added."

WHAT ABC HAD TO SAY ABOUT IT

Interestingly, neither interviewer George Stephanopoulos nor ABC's own text report on General Allen's Sunday morning remarks seemed to have any problem with the part of General Allen's interview mentioning a possible "civil military crisis".   In fact, as of 12:00 Noon, ABC's initial text report  on the Stephanopoulos-Allen interview didn't mention that part of the exchange in any way whatsoever (See "Ret. Gen. John Allen on Donald Trump: 'He Has No Credibility' " by Nicki Rossoll, 7/31/16, ABC News [http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/ret-gen-john-allen-donald-trump-credibility/story?id=41021091].

>>>MORE ON THIS LATER<<<

Thursday, July 28, 2016

HILLARY CLINTON'S ACCEPTANCE SPEECH STARTED OUT WITH --- "SOME PEOPLE DON'T KNOW WHAT TO MAKE OF ME" --- THEN SHE SHOWED HER COLLECTIVIST VIEW OF AMERICAN SOCIETY & GOVERNMENT


YES ---  COLLECTIVIST AS IN "IT TAKES A VILLAGE"



YES ---  COLLECTIVIST AS IN COMMUNIST  [LATER-ON ALLOWING FOR A LITTLE CRONY CAPITALISM  ---  AND SOAK-THE-RICH CLASS WARFARE ]




BUT ---  IN SPITE OF HER NEWLY FOUND PRO-MILITARISM & PUBLICALLY EXPRESSED BELLIGERANCE,  HRC COULD NOT BRING HERSELF TO UTTER THE WORDS: "ISLAMIC TERRORIST" --  "ISLAMIC EXTREMIST"  --  "RADICAL JIHADI"  OR  "RADICAL ISLAMIST" 



Along the way,  Hillary slyly slipped in her support of "BLACK LIVES MATTER"  & gave her credentials as a community organizer  [just like her predecessor Barack Hussein Obama]

Clearly, Hillary Clinton made it plain that she sees her job as making sure all the government handouts to those with their hands out continue  ---  and that they are added too

She also clearly said if you are rich and support her, you will move forward  ---  no doubt in a new version of Clinton Crony Capitalism  ---  this time on steroids

And Hillary harangued us how working people obviously don't give the Obama Administration enough credit for all it has done to make America prosperous again --- and where some workers have been left behind, Hillary's message is exactly the opposite the one of Ronald Reagan, which led to "Morning in America" (which Hillary actually quoted)  ---  instead she wants to return to the glory days of ---  "I'm from the government and I'm here to help"

Her litany of "JOIN US !!!" lines were a laundry list of old-time Democrat "Pie in the Sky" mixed in with a bunch of new more-expensive "Pie in the Sky" ---  which she said she'd deliver in the first hundred days ---  and of course good old fashioned class-warfare ala the classic CPUSA

And the Woman's Card --- EH !!!  You bet ---  with her classic "... Deal me in..."

She did a another laundry list of her accomplishments as Secretary of State and promised to belligerently stand up to all of those threatening NATO, including Russia ---  from that she pivoted to how great she would be for the U.S. military

And for good measure she bashed Trump for stiffing small businessmen and workers with his Atlantic City Bankruptcies and his offshore manufacture of several lines of goods.  Oh, and her litany about Trump being temperamentally unfit to be the Commander in Chief -- implying Trump is an unstable "little man motivated by fear and pride...", who can't be trusted with the control of the nation's  nuclear weapons

AND THIS:   ".... We will work tirelessly for common sense gun reform....";  "We have to work on guns, racism and immigration....";  and  "We will stand up for all rights....  and stand-up against all rhetoric that is hateful and divisive....  and bigotry in all its forms"

She ended where she began  --- with another pitch for collectivism and "... the children" and "...the future" 

>>>  BUT  <<<  true to Barack Obama's lexicon of forbidden phrases in his fight against "ISIL" and others, Hillary didn't use "Islamic Terrorists," "Islamic extremists," "Islamists" or "Jihadis"; but instead, we perhaps have a new Hillaryism, "... our determined enemies that must be defeated..."

Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Maybe, “Trump & Putin” is a real thing – AS IN -- It’s as real as this kind of stuff gets -- AND -- Don’t say it like it’s a bad thing


The first in a series of GM Fountainhead posts from Trump’s “Russian Front”

 

Trump is signaling that he is ready to change over seventy years of   >>>  a U.S. policy of hostility to Russia <<<

 

Hillary played her gender card and played her race card  ---  Now, it looks like Trump might have played his Russia card, like Nixon played his China card  ---  except Trump played it a while ago & it's already paying-off

 

Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin look like they might be having some kind “THING” going on.  Some say it like it’s a bad thing, others not so much.

TRUMP SUGGESTS HE’S OPEN TO A  U.S.-RUSSIA  ALLIANCE, BUT POOH-POOHS ANY CONSPIRACY THEORY LINKING HIM WITH PUTIN

Here’s the latest from Donald Trump's Russian Front, according to Newsweek,  “Republican nominee Donald Trump said on Monday that if elected U.S. president he would weigh an alliance with Russia against Islamic State militants but rejected any suggestion Russian President Vladimir Putin might be trying to help him win….   Speaking at a rally in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Trump dismissed any suggestion that Putin's intelligence services might have had a hand in hacking the Democratic National Committee's email system….”  (See “Donald Trump Would Consider Alliance With Russia's Vladimir Putin Against ISIS"  [from Reuters feed],  7/25/16,  Newsweek/ Reuters [http://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-vladimir-putin-isis-syria-iraq-moscow-islamic-state-democratic-483826]).

That article went on to say,  “….  Trump dismissed a charge from Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook that Russian hackers might have stolen the emails and leaked them to embarrass Democrats and help Trump defeat Clinton in the Nov. 8 election….   ‘I don't think it's coincidental that these emails were released on the eve of our convention here, and I think that's disturbing,’ Mook told CNN's ‘State of the Union’….   Trump dismissed what he called ‘one of the weirdest conspiracy theories’ he said he had heard….  He said he had never met Putin. But over the course of his year-long campaign, Trump has praised the Russian leader and one of his top foreign policy advisers, retired Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, had dinner with Putin last December….  ‘When you think about it, wouldn't it be nice if we got along with Russia?’ Trump said. ‘Wouldn't it be nice if we got together with Russia and knocked the hell out of ISIS?’ he added, using another name for Islamic State….” 

BUT  >>>  JOSH MARSHALL AT “TPM”  SEES IT THIS WAY

Here’s another take from the blog “TPM”  ---  “Over the last year there has been a recurrent refrain about the seeming bromance between Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. More seriously, but relatedly, many believe Trump is an admirer and would-be emulator of Putin's increasingly autocratic and illiberal rule. But there's quite a bit more to the story. At a minimum, Trump appears to have a deep financial dependence on Russian money from persons close to Putin. And this is matched to a conspicuous solicitousness to Russian foreign policy interests where they come into conflict with US policies which go back decades through administrations of both parties. There is also something between a non-trivial and a substantial amount of evidence suggesting Putin-backed financial support for Trump or a non-tacit alliance between the two men….” (See “Trump & Putin. Yes, It's Really a Thing” Josh Marshall,  7/23/16, TPM/ Editor’s Blog  [http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/trump-putin-yes-it-s-really-a-thing]).  

Marshall’s article certainly rates a look by all real Republicans, and more important by all real patriotic Americans---   especially those people who are very critical  and/or very wary  of things like the Clinton Foundation and the Clinton Global initiative.

Josh Marshall’s insightful and in-depth article concludes with this:  “….   To put this all into perspective, if Vladimir Putin were simply the CEO of a major American corporation and there was this much money [w/o emphasis] flowing in Trump's direction, combined with this much solicitousness [w/o emphasis] of Putin's policy agenda, it would set off alarm bells galore. That is not hyperbole or exaggeration. And yet Putin is not the CEO of an American corporation. He's the autocrat who rules a foreign state, with an increasingly hostile posture towards the United States and a substantial stockpile of nuclear weapons. The stakes involved in finding out 'what's going on' as Trump might put it are quite a bit higher….   There is something between a non-trivial and a substantial amount of circumstantial evidence for a financial relationship between Trump and Putin or a non-tacit alliance between the two men. Even if you draw no adverse conclusions, Trump's financial empire is heavily leveraged and has a deep reliance on capital infusions from oligarchs and other sources of wealth aligned with Putin. That's simply not something that can be waved off or ignored.”   That certainly sounds ominous, if not downright bad….. 

FOR QUITE SOME TIME, OTHERS HAVE HAD A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT POINT OF VIEW


Back in December, the International Business Times had an article that looked at the openly expressed Trump-Putin bromance  from the point of view of many in the Russian monied class ---  Russian President Vladimir Putin may be publicly praising Republican front-runner Donald Trump — and, therefore, implicitly criticizing the current administration — but investors from his country are quietly singing a different tune about the U.S. While sanctions and tumult in the Middle East have led to an icy relationship between the Obama administration and the Kremlin, Russians with money to spare have been looking to invest in American holdings….   ‘We just position quite well for those of high net worth to continue putting money into the United States,” Ed Mermelstein, a real estate attorney, consultant and developer in New York, said. “Russian nationals are just one of the [many] international communities that continue to put money into the U.S.’…   Mermelstein said that, especially with the economic unrest that has resulted from international sanctions placed on Russia recently, investors in the oligarchy see the relatively stable economic and political outlook in the U.S. as a safe place to put their money. Putin’s overtures to Trump, and Trump’s acceptance of those compliments, Mermelstein said, aren’t likely to change that calculus dramatically….”  (SeeWhat Does A Friendly Relationship Between Trump And Putin Mean For Rich Russians?”  by Clark Mindock, 12/20/15,  IBT/  [http://www.ibtimes.com/what-does-friendly-relationship-between-trump-putin-mean-rich-russians-2233860]).


The Mindock-IBT article continued with this:  ”….   Still, the notion of thawed relations between the two superpowers is interesting to investors and would bode well for Putin’s regime. A more amicable relationship would mean that investment in Russia would become more attractive, which would bring revenue into the country….   Economic uncertainty has shifted the way big money players in Russia are storing their wealth. Hoping to at least maintain their money, they are turning to investments in things like luxury real estate in the U.S., which aren’t likely to lose considerable value….” Needless to say the luxury real estate thing is something that long has been something that is completely in Donald Trump’s wheelhouse.

A more circumspect article recently appeared in the IBT (See “Why Does Putin Like Trump? Russia's Connections To The American Presidential Election Explained” by Lydia Tomkiw,  7/25/16, IBT [http://www.ibtimes.com/why-does-putin-trump-russias-connections-american-presidential-election-explained-2394700]).  It discusses the possible pro-Russian influences that Trump advisors Paul Manafort and Carter Page might be exercising on the GOP presidential candidate.

THE GENERAL MICHAEL FLYNN CONNECTION & HOW HE MIGHT FIT INTO THE EQUATION

There are also many articles that talk about what Trump might be hearing on the military-geo-political side of the equation.

One of them is this February article from the Reuters News Service.  According to Reuters,  “Donald Trump is receiving foreign policy advice from a former U.S. military intelligence chief who wants the United States to work more closely with Russia to resolve global security issues, according to three sources….  The sources, former foreign policy officials in past administrations, said retired Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, who was chief of the Defense Intelligence Agency under President Barack Obama from 2012-2014, has been informally advising Trump….   Flynn resigned from his position as the head of the Pentagon's main intelligence agency a year before his term was officially due to end….  Flynn raised eyebrows among some U.S. foreign policy veterans when he was pictured sitting at the head table with Putin at a banquet in Moscow late last year celebrating Russia Today, an international broadcasting network funded by the Russian government….   Flynn told Russia Today in an interview published on Dec. 10 that the United States and Russia should work together to resolve the Syrian civil war and defeat Islamic State….  The Obama administration has protested Russia's military intervention on behalf of Syrian President Bashir al-Assad, accusing Moscow of hitting opposition forces rather than ISIS….  ‘Right now we have essentially the U.S. strategy and we have a Russian strategy in the region that does not appear to be in line with each other. And I think we have to step back and try to figure out how do we align those,” Flynn told Russia Today….”  (See “Trump being advised by ex-U.S. Lieutenant General who favors closer Russia ties” by   Mark Hosenball & Steve Holland,  2/26/16,  RNS [http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-trump-advisor-idUSMTZSAPEC2Q6G3JRH]; see also “Trump's favorite general” by Brian Bender & Shane Goldmacher, 7/8/16, Politico [http://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/donald-trump-general-michael-flynn-vp-225253]). 


There are many more articles about the Trump-Flynn relationship  ---   suffice it to say that Flynn was on Trump’s short list for VP; he was also prominent at the GOP Convention.  But that still doesn’t fully explain what Trump might be up to or where he’s getting is all his ideas about Russia and a new pivot on Russian issues.

Coming soon on the GM Fountainhead coverage of Trump’s Russian Front ---  a look at Trump advisor, Carter Page and Trump’s campaign manager Paul Manafort.

Friday, July 22, 2016

Trump’s acceptance speech describes an America in crisis --- stuck with an incompetent government in Washington --- and pressed by a variety of enemies foreign and domestic


TRUMP PROMISES to FIX things and to do it very FAST


CNN'S VAN JONES SAYS THAT TRUMP'S SPEECH "TERRIFIED" HIM


According to an early and fairly straightforward Associated Press report on Donald J. Trump’s speech accepting the GOP nomination for president -- “Declaring America in crisis, Donald Trump pledged to cheering Republicans and still-skeptical voters Thursday night that as president he will restore the safety they fear they're losing, strictly curb immigration and save the nation from Hillary Clinton's record of ‘death, destruction, terrorism and weakness.’…"  Confidently addressing the finale of his party's less-than-smooth national convention, the billionaire businessman declared the nation's problems too staggering to be fixed within the confines of traditional politics….  ‘I have joined the political arena so that the powerful can no longer beat up on people that cannot defend themselves,’ Trump said….  ( See “Trump says America in crisis — and he'll fix it 'fast'” by Julie Pace & Robert Furlow,  7/21/16,  Associated Press [http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-says-america-in-crisis-%E2%80%94-and-hell-fix-it-fast/ar-BBuAWPV?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartandhp]).


The article went on to say this:  “….  As the crowd, fiercely opposed to Clinton, broke out in its oft-used refrain of ‘Lock her up,’ [Trump] waved them off, and instead declared, ‘Let's defeat her in November.’ Yet he also accused her of ‘terrible, terrible crimes’ and said her greatest achievement may have been staying out of prison….  He offered himself as a powerful ally of those who feel Washington has left them behind….   ‘I'm with you, and I will fight for you, and I will win for you,’ he declared…. He accused Clinton, his far-more-experienced Democratic rival, of utterly lacking the good judgment to serve in the White House and as the military's commander in chief….  ‘This is the legacy of Hillary Clinton: death, destruction, terrorism and weakness," he said. "But Hillary Clinton's legacy does not have to be America's legacy.’…"

LAW & ORDER  ---   A WALL ---  AND  ---  SAFETY FOR ALL


This is how the AP described Trump’s remarks about law and order, and the protection of all citizens:  “….  In a direct appeal to Americans shaken by a summer of violence at home and around the world, Trump promised that if he takes office in January, ‘safety will be restored.’…  As he moves into the general election campaign, he's sticking to the controversial proposals of his primary campaign, including building a wall along the entire U.S.-Mexico border and suspending immigration from nations ‘compromised by terrorism.’…"   But in a nod to a broader swath of Americans, he said young people in predominantly black cities ‘have as much of a right to live out their dreams as any other child in America.’ He also vowed to protect gays and lesbians from violence and oppression, a pledge that was greeted with applause from the crowd….  ‘As a Republican, it is so nice to hear you cheering for what I just said,’ he responded….”


MEANWHILE OTHER REPONSES TO DONALD TRUMP’S SPEECH WERE POSITIVELY PHOBIC

The worst was on CNN; I saw Van Jones do this melt-down on CNN and the Breitbart News report on it was johnny-on-the-spot with its report about it.

According to Breitbart News’ reporter Ian Hatchett,  “During CNN’s coverage of the RNC on Thursday, Commentator Van Jones slammed Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s convention speech as a “schizophrenic psychopathic attempt to pull apart the Obama coalition’….” (See “Van Jones: Trump’s Speech ‘Psychopathic,’ Like Where ‘There’s Some Big Authoritarian Movement’” by Ian Hatchett [with video link to Van Jones CNN segment], 7/21/16, Breitbart News [http://www.breitbart.com/video/2016/07/21/van-jones-trumps-speech-psychopathic-like-where-theres-some-big-authoritarian-movement/]).
Van Jones went on to say this:  “….   what Donald Trump did tonight is a disgrace. That was a relentlessly, even for Donald Trump, who at least occasionally breaks up the fear-mongering with some jokes, some asides, some amusement, he had one funny line in an hour and 15 minutes, and the rest of it was just a relentlessly dark speech. He was describing some Mad Max America. I work in some of the toughest neighborhoods in some of the toughest communities in this country, and I don’t know what he’s talking about when he describes the country he’s talking about. And there was some schizophrenic psychopathic attempt to pull apart the Obama coalition, but from a political point of view, he even botched that. He says he reaches out to the LGBT community, and he says, foreign ideologies, that hate you, I’m against it, but the domestic ideologies, that hate you, apparently he’s for, because they’re all in his platform. He says he’s going to reach out to African-Americans and deal with their economic pain. It’s hard, Anderson, to get a job if you’re in a community that’s over-policed and you have a criminal record, and every other leader in the country, on both sides of the aisle, have talked about criminal justice. He didn’t. But this — I’m actually, I’ve never felt this in my life. I have read in history, being in moments where there’s some big authoritarian movement, and some leader that’s rising up, and I felt that way tonight and it was terrifying to me. This speech divided the country. You’re either inspired by this, or you’re terrified by it...."

Wednesday, July 13, 2016

Bob Capano gears up for a City Council Campaign…


...   While John Quaglione does his mixed message(s) on all kinds of social media…. 

 

...   And Liam McCabe keeps having formal & informal meetings at local watering holes…..

 

...  And, If Marty Golden is running for ANYTHING, he seems to be keeping it kind of "on the down low"……

_______________


CAPANO ANNOUNCES A CAMPAIGN TREASURER FOR 2017 RUN FOR CITY COUNCIL


Bob Capano recently made this announcement to his insiders and others friendly to his candidacy for the NYC Council: 

 I wanted to share some exciting news with you. I have formed a campaign committee in preparation for the 2017 City Council election in the 43rd district in Brooklyn, and have brought aboard an outstanding Treasurer to help lead this effort….  Alexander Buchholz, CPA, MBA, CGMA, is a Senior Audit Manager in the Not-for-Profit and Health Care sectors. He has 13 years of experience in public accounting and was the Treasurer of the Brooklyn Young Republican Club from 2006-2009. Alex is also an adjunct professor of accounting at several colleges [affiliated with] the City University of New York. Alex has [presented numerous journal publications [at the professional and academic level] that have covered accounting, audit, tax, and education topics….  [Alexander Buchholz] serves on many professional organizations and committees including the Foundation for Accounting Education Curriculum Committee, the NYS Society of CPAs Health Care Committee, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Healthcare Financial Management Association (Metropolitan New York Chapter), and the Berkeley College School of Business Advisory Board. Alex was also a member of the NYS Society of CPAs Anti-Money Laundering & Counter-Terrorism Financing Committee….  I also wanted to let you know that I will be working with the Electoral Media firm and in the next few weeks, we will be launching a BobCapano.com website….  We will have more official announcements of these actions in the coming weeks!” 

MY INTERVIEW WITH CAPANO’S WEBSITE ARCHITECT  ---  “THIS IS A SPECIAL SITE FOR A SPECIAL CAMPAIGN”


Yesterday, I had the opportunity to conduct a telephone interview with Frank Floridia of Electoral Media.  Frank is the man charged with designing and putting together the components of the projected Bob Capano Campano website.

At the outset Frank Floridia said that Bob Capano’s new website will be anything but a cookie-cutter webpage of the sort done by most local officials and candidates.  Even in this day and age, according to Mr. Floridia, most candidates go through the motions of putting-up a webpage just to be able to say they have a webpage.  He emphasized the Bob Capano Campaign website will be anything but that;  he  said,  “This is a special site for a special campaign.”

Mr. Floridia told me that this particular piece of website development is particularly newsworthy, because  ---  in addition to the traditional political webpage subheadings such as “HOME”;  “ABOUT”;  “ISSUES”; “PRESS RELEASES"“CONTACT”; and  “VOLUNTEER”  ---  the Bob Capano Campaign website will have several tools, which will  directly connect the campaign to the public.

Among the interactive tools will be one that will allow “Neighborhood Polling” --  such polling will allow the campaign to break-out various pieces of data from the broader responses by the public.  In addition to the basic polling, there will be several prompts for either or both sides to “get in touch” or for further “follow-up” on the issue; also,  it will allow for related follow-up outreach, either immediately or at a later date…..

Another tool that will be available to the Bob Capano Campaign through its interactive website will be an on-line petitioning capability.  It is expected that the first on-line petition will involve the newly enacted NYC Bag Tax --  and proposed roll-back legislation to head off that onerous piece of NY City government overreach. Again, there will be prompts for additional interaction beyond the on-line petitioning…..

Even the current & prior press release subheading will have a prompt to go over to  the interactivity features.

Without giving any details,  Frank Floridia indicated that as soon as the Bob Capano Campaign had fully complied with all of the filing requirements, the website would most likely implement  a complete interactive fund-raising component on the website.  Several sophisticated fundraising features are available, but the campaign’s fundraising folks will need to be involved in deciding what they want and think they might need in and on the website

This is what candidate Bob Capano has to say about Frank Floridia and the prospective BOB CAPANO FOR COUNCIL website:  I am happy to have such a well respected professional campaign team on board with me, many of whom like Frank Floridia, have successfully worked with so many other Republican officials….  This website will allow people to learn more about me and the importance of the next round of city-wide and council district elections.”

MEANWHILE THE OTHER POSSIBLE GOP CANDIDATES FOR THE COUNCIL ARE SORT OF JUST HANGIN'-OUT IN THE SUMMER HEAT

[Musical interlude]  “… Lazy bones, sleeping in the sun How you espect to get your day's work done? You'll never get your day's work done Sleeping in the noon day sun…. Lazy bones, sleeping in the shade How you espect to get your corn meal made? You'll never get your corn meal made Sleeping in the evening shade…. When them 'tatos need sprayin' I know you keep prayin' That the bugs fall off their vine And when you go fishing I bet you keep wishing The fish won't grab at your line….  You know, lazy bones, loafin' all the day How you espect to make a dime that way? You'll ever make a dime that way You never hear a word I say….  Lazy bones, sleeping in the sun How you espect to get your day's work done? You'll never get your day's work done Sleeping in the noon day sun….”                         
                    ---- Johnny Mercer & Walter Donaldson

John Quaglione is staying “ACTIVE” on social media, tweeting about the trees falling down in Bay Ridge: American flags flying in “BREEZY…” ;  the ups and downs of the Mets;  annual Summer Strolls; the electrical daisies over Third Avenue and other “Summer Dining Out” stuff;  and his real “heavy lift” a 15 question quiz about Bay Ridge -- with JQ bragging about getting 12 right.
But Quaglione was an absolutely fabulous dynamo compared to Liam McCabe, who seems to have decided that he’d engage in a throw-back John Larney-type pub-crawl campaign.  Will [Liam] is meeting and greeting folks in the rapidly disappearing drinking spots around Bay Ridge – some at formal gatherings like with the Brooklyn Young Republican Club – others less formal;  sometimes dropping Dan Donovan’s name --  sometimes not.
Then there’s the venerable Silver Fox of Brooklyn GOP politics – Marty Golden.  Not only does he NOT look like he’s running for City Council in 2017,  he doesn’t even look like he’s RUNNING for re-election to the NY State Senate in 2016.
_______________

IF YOU’RE NOT BORED BY ALL THIS YET,  YOU’LL HAVE TO SEARCH FOR MORE OF THIS STUFF ELSEWHERE, BECAUSE IT SURE IS BORING ME…..


[Cue the Louis Armstrong version (not that Stalinist Paul Robeson’s) ]  
“… Lazybones, sleepin' in the sun
How you spect to get your day's work done?
You can't get your day's work done
Sleepin' in the noon day sun….

Monday, July 11, 2016

Hillary Clinton and Her Campaign're Still Lyin’ ‘Bout Her E-Mails and Other Related Stuff


Analysis by “The Daily Caller” shows that almost everything the Hillary Clinton Campaign was and is putting out about her E-mails scandal has been a lie


According to a report in the conservative leaning internet magazine, “The Daily Caller” ---  “A 4,000-word ‘fact sheet’ ***/  on Hillary Clinton’s campaign website contains 35 lies, half-truths, obfuscations, evasive statements and falsehoods about her private email setup ….   Clinton and her campaign have long referred to the 'fact sheet' ***/  in response to questions about her use of a personal email account and private server. Her team of elite attorneys even hid behind the document earlier this year when the State Department’s inspector general sought to interview Clinton about her email practices. IG Steve Linick said during a House hearing last week that Clinton’s team declined an interview request and referred him to her ‘fact sheet.’…   But that document is riddled with false statements. Many of them have been apparent for some time, such as her claims that the FBI was conducting a security review and not an investigation or that she never sent or received classified information on her email account….   Others were revealed last week by FBI director James Comey. He called Clinton’s use of a private server ‘extremely careless’ and said that it put sensitive U.S. secrets at risk….” (See “Here Are 35 Email Lies Hillary Is Still Telling On Her Campaign Website” by Chuck Ross, 7/11/16, The Daily Caller/ Politics [http://dailycaller.com/2016/07/11/here-are-35-email-lies-hillary-is-still-telling-on-her-campaign-website/]).
_________________________________

***/ (See “Factsheets -- Updated: The Facts About Hillary Clinton’s Emails 7/11/16, [https://www.hillaryclinton.com/briefing/factsheets/2015/07/13/email-facts/]; also on Twitter: The Briefing [https://twitter.com/TheBriefing2016]) 

_________________________________


Here are the LIES, which are still on the HRC’s briefing website & twitter  all lined up in a row for you by the folks at “The Daily Caller”: 


Lie #1“We’ve put all the information about Hillary Clinton’s State Department emails here.”

Lie #2 – “Her usage was widely known to the over 100 State Department and U.S. government colleagues she emailed, consistent with the practice of prior Secretaries of State and permitted at the time.”

Lie #3 – “Was it allowed? Yes.”

Lie #4 – “Clinton only used her account for unclassified email.”

Lie #5 – “No information in Clinton’s emails was marked classified at the time she sent or received them.”

Lie #6 – “Clinton hopes the State Department and the agencies involved in the review process will sort out as quickly as possible which of the 55,000 pages of emails are appropriate to share with the public.”

Lie #7 – “Classified information was viewed in hard copy while in the office.”

Lie #8 – “While on travel, the State Department had rigorous protocols for her and traveling staff to receive and transmit information of all types.”

Lie #9 – “A separate, closed email system was used by the State Department for the purposes of handling classified communications, which was designed to prevent such information from being transmitted anywhere other than within that system.”

Lie #10 – “Is Department of Justice conducting a criminal inquiry into Clinton’s email use? No.” 

Lie #11 – “This was not criminal in nature as misreported by some in the press.”

Lie #12 – “Clinton hopes … that the release will be as timely and as transparent as possible.”

Lie #13 – “She also directed her team to give her server that hosted her email account while she was Secretary of State to the Department of Justice…”

Lie #14 – “Clinton has pledged to cooperate with the government’s security inquiry.”

Lie #15 – “Even if Clinton’s emails had been on a government address and government device, these questions would be raised prior to public release.”

Lie #16 – “It was her practice to email government employees on their ‘.gov’ email address. That way, work emails would be immediately captured and preserved in government record-keeping systems.”

Lie #17 – “Why didn’t Clinton provide her emails to the State Department until December 2014? The State Department asked for the help of the four previous former Secretaries in meeting the State Department’s obligations under the Federal Records Act.”

Lie #18 – “In providing these emails to the Department, Clinton included all that she had that were even remotely work-related.”

Lie #19 – “…erring on the side of over-inclusion.”

Lie #20 – “After providing her work and potentially work-related emails, she chose not to keep her personal, non-work-related emails, which by definition, are not federal records and were not requested by the Department or anyone else.”

Lie #21 – “As Clinton has said before, these were private, personal messages, including emails about her daughter’s wedding plans, her mother’s funeral services and condolence notes, as well as emails on family vacations, yoga routines, and other items one would typically find in their own email account.”

Lie #22 – “As noted, the emails that Clinton chose not to keep were personal emails — they were not federal records or even work-related.”

Lie #23 – “In March 2015, when Rep. Gowdy issued a subpoena to Clinton, the State Department had received all of Clinton’s work-related emails in response to their 2014 request.”

Lie #24 – “Were any work items deleted in the course of producing the printed copies? No.”

Lie #25 – “This entailed a multi-step process to review each email and provide printed copies of Clinton’s emails to the State Department, erring on the side of including anything that might be event potentially work-related.”

Lie #26 – “Did she withhold any work emails? She provided the State Department with all work and potentially work-related emails that she had, including all of her correspondence with Sid Blumenthal.”

Lie #27 – “She has also taken the unprecedented step of asking that those emails be made public.”

Lie #28 – “After her work-related emails were identified and preserved, Clinton chose not to keep her private, personal emails that were not federal records, including emails about her daughter’s wedding plans, her mother’s funeral service, family vacations, etc.” 

Lie #29 “The server for her email was physically located on her property, which was protected by U.S. Secret Service.”

Lie #30 – “The security and integrity of her family’s electronic communications was taken seriously from the onset when it was first set up for President Clinton’s team.”

Lie #31 – “Suffice it to say, robust protections were put in place and additional upgrades and techniques employed over time.”

Lie #32 – “Was the server ever hacked? No, there is no evidence there was ever a breach.”

Lie #33 – “Was there ever an unauthorized intrusion into her email or did anyone else have access to it? No.”

Lie #34 – “Was the State Department able to respond to requests related to FOIA or Congressional requests before they received copies of her work-related emails? Yes.”

Lie #35 – “The State Department was able to search and produce Clinton’s emails when needed long before, and unrelated to, receiving the printed copies as they were already captured on state.gov accounts.”  


THERE ARE REBUTTALS & REBUTTALS TO ALL THOSE LIES  ---   

For detailed rebuttals to all of the 35 “LIES” listed above, see “The Daily Caller” article by Chuck Ross, cited above….   However, don’t be surprised if you think that you even know stronger or better rebuttals to Hillary’s lies than those presented by Mr. Ross.











Saturday, July 9, 2016

FLASH UPDATE: BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA IS AGAIN DRAGGING AMERICA DOWN WHILE PRETENDING TO BE OUR SPOKESMAN AS THE PRESIDENT OVERSEAS

Using this week's racially combustible DOMESTIC events -- tragic as they might be --  as the main thematic element in a "NATO SPEECH" in Warsaw Poland -- our "Trojan Horse President" yet again humiliated the nation he has been privileged to lead  ---- 


----  IN SO DOING PRESIDENT OBAMA FURTHER DEMEANED AND DIMINISHED THE STATURE OF THE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENCY, AND ONCE AGAIN HE HAS DONE IT ON THE WORLD STAGE ABROAD


Real Americans need to  >>> Speak-Out <<<  


Real Americans  need to  >>> PUSH BACK HARD <<<  against this latest iteration of OBAMA-ISM . . . . .

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Please note: This post had been heavily edited  on Sunday morning from its original form of midday Saturday.....

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According to the CNN report of the President's most recent speech in Warsaw, Poland --- 
"... [A]cknowledging a "tough week" in the United States after anxious days of shootings and racial tensions, President Barack Obama said Saturday that he did not believe the United States was 'as divided as some have suggested.'...   'There is sorrow, there is anger, there is confusion about next steps,' Obama said during a news conference in Poland....  'But there's unity in recognizing that this is not how we want our communities to operate. This is not who we want to be as Americans.'...   Speaking for the third time in Poland about the gun violence that's seized communities in the United States, Obama said the situation didn't resemble the periods of mass social unrest in the 1960s.
'You're not seeing riots, you're not seeing police going after people who are protesting peacefully,' he said...." (See "Obama says U.S. 'not as divided as some have suggested' "  by Kevin Liptak, 7/9/16, CNN [ http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/09/politics/obama-says-u-s-not-as-divided-as-some-have-suggested/index.html]).

The CNN report went on to not that ---   "....  [Obama] said the motives of the killer in Dallas were 'very hard to untangle' but called the shooter 'demented' and downplayed the potential political motivations he may have carried. The shooter allegedly voiced a desire to 'kill white people' ahead of the attack, authorities have said....   'I think the danger is that we somehow suggest that the act of a troubled individual speaks to some larger political statement across the country. It doesn't,' Obama said....   Referencing last year's attack on churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina, Obama noted, 'When some white kid walks into a church and shoots a bunch of worshipers who invite him to worship with them, we don't assume that somehow he's making a political statement.'...  And he made another call for tighter restrictions on guns, saying if Americans are concerned about violence against police officers, 'you can't set aside the gun issue and pretend that that's irrelevant.'... "

OBAMA AGAIN SHIFTED THE FOCUS TO GUNS & GUN-CONTROL LEGISLATION ---  THE PRESIDENT ACTUALLY VERBALLY DIVIDED POLITICALLY OPPOSING GROUPS OF AMERICANS WHILE HE WAS SPEAKING IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY

CNN continued,  "....  He voiced frustration at the bitter political debate over guns, lamenting that 'even mention of it somehow evokes this kind of polarization.'...   'When it comes to the issue of gun safety, there is polarization between a very intense minority, and a majority of Americans who actually think that we could be doing better when it comes to gun safety.'..."

However, according to the CNN report, the president also acknowledged "...  a ramped-up anxiety that's descended on Americans as they watch seemingly unfettered violence on urban streets....   'Americans of all races and all backgrounds are rightly outraged by the inexcusable attacks on police, whether it's in Dallas or anywhere else,' Obama said. 'That includes protesters, that includes family members who have grave concerns about police misconduct, and they've said this is unacceptable. There's no division there.'...  Obama didn't mention any critics by name, but on Friday, presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said racial divisions in the country have 'gotten worse, not better....  The President pushed back on that notion, insisting that Americans of all races were disgusted by gun violence...."

OBAMA'S VIEWS OF AMERICA'S DOMESTIC SITUATION ARE SLANTED AND DIVISIVE POLITICALLY  ---  THEY HAD NO PLACE IN A SPEECH DELIVERED IN A FOREIGN LAND

I for one completely disagree with much of what the president said in his speech in Warsaw.  In spite of Obama's use of some conciliatory words and ameliorative tone, his speech remained a partisan and radical screed.

Here are a few of my disagreements and/or contrary positions: 
1. As "Americans," it is patently obvious that we are not "united" or "unified" behind any consensus on race,  race relations or the standards for policing of our communities, except in perhaps using some very general of terms and definitions;

2. The President's views on gun-control were partisan and extreme and are intended to use these recent tragedies to advance a radical domestic political and social agenda  ---  as such, they had no place in an overseas speech where Obama should have been speaking for the nation;

3. Some national spokespeople for the Republican Party and/or conservative-minded patriotic Americans generally need to push back: a) on what the President said in Poland, and b) on the separate fact that he said it in Poland, while there for diplomatic purposes; and lastly

This needs to be said loud and clear  >>> 2016 America is a racial powder keg ---  minimally with a 1960's style summer of discontent and disorder impending  ---  It's even possible that the United States might well be creeping toward some sort of a "Second Civil War,"  whose scope and ramifications can only be guessed


Tuesday, July 5, 2016

FLASH UPDATE --- TRUMP HAS IT RIGHT --- COMEY'S STATEMENT SHOWS IT'S A RIGGED SYSTEM

In essence FBI Director James Comey said  ---  almost everything Hillary Clinton said about her E-mails was false  ---  the evidence shows some laws were broken ---  that means crimes probably were committed  by  Hillary Clinton  ---  and Hillary Clinton should have some governmental administrative penalty  ---  BUT ---  UNDER THE CIRCUMSTANCES THERE ALMOST CERTAINLY SHOULD BE NO PROSECUTION  & THE FBI RECOMMENDS THAT THERE BE NO PROSECUTION

HUH !!!   WHAT HAPPENED HERE ???

Friday, July 1, 2016

JUST PLANE WRONG --- PROFESSIONALLY SPEAKING --- OH, AND IT MIGHT ALSO BE A CRIME

Loretta Lynch’s allowing Bill Clinton to come by for a private visit onboard her airplane parked on a tarmac in Phoenix is patently improper --- depending on what Clinton intended, and/or what they might have spoken about, it might also have involved criminal activity


The Clinton-Lynch “Tarmac Summit” suddenly puts the FBI investigation  of Hillary Clinton’s E-mails back into the front of the news


“….  The investigation continues to cast a shadow over Mrs. Clinton’s presidential campaign….”  ---  NY Times 


Here’s how Politico saw this latest “CLINTON” misadventure and the quick & large kerfuffle it caused ---  White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest praised Attorney Gen. Loretta Lynch for her direct answer to questions about her tarmac summit with former President Bill Clinton….  The same could not be said of Earnest’s own answers to questions about its propriety…. Repeatedly, reporters on Thursday asked Earnest whether President Barack Obama approved of Clinton’s social visit with Lynch and her husband as her plane sat at the Phoenix airport on Tuesday even as her Justice Department investigates Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server in the midst of a presidential campaign. Repeatedly, Earnest deflected, instead stressing Obama’s insistence that the investigation should be conducted without political interference – and Lynch’s record on upholding that principle….” (See “Lynch-Clinton 'tarmac summit': Another White House headache”  by Sarah Wheaton,  06/30/16,  Politico [http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/bill-clinton-loretta-lynch-white-house-josh-earnest-225008]).
The Sarah Wheaton-Politico article then gave this background to the story:  “….  Lynch told reporters Tuesday that her conversation with Clinton ‘was a great deal about his grandchildren. It was primarily social and about our travels; he mentioned golf he played in Phoenix.’…  Lynch also noted that the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s inquiry into Clinton’s private email server at the State Department is being conducted by career agents….  But her answers haven’t quieted criticism. Donald Trump pointed to it as evidence of a “rigged system,” and this Sun Belt runway equivalent of the much-maligned Georgetown cocktail party plays easily into the hands of anti-establishment critics….  Even some Democratic lawmakers have said the meeting ‘doesn’t send the right signal,’ as Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) put it in a television interview Thursday….   While Lynch might not have been perfectly attuned to appearances, the White House certainly is. The ongoing investigation into how Hillary Clinton handled her email while serving as Obama’s secretary of state has only grown more awkward for the White House since he endorsed her this month. The tarmac meeting only creates another headache: appearing too critical or too defensive of her behavior could be seen as trying to inappropriately influence Lynch….  Without regard to who supports us politically or who opposes us politically, we're all subject to the rule of law in the same way,” Earnest stressed Thursday….” 

NY TIMES ALSO WEIGHS IN

And when the NY Times put it all into the record of public events, it went down like this:    An airport encounter this week between Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch and former President Bill Clinton has welled into a political storm, with Republicans asserting that it compromised the Justice Department’s politically sensitive investigation into Hillary Clinton’s email practices while she was secretary of state….  The Obama administration declined to say on Thursday whether the meeting between Ms. Lynch and Mr. Clinton, in Phoenix on Monday night, was appropriate. The press secretary, Josh Earnest, said that the investigation of Mrs. Clinton would be free of political influence and that he would leave it to the attorney general to explain the meeting….  Ms. Lynch said the meeting with Mr. Clinton was unplanned, largely social and did not touch on the email investigation. She suggested that he walked uninvited from his plane to her government plane, which were both parked on a tarmac at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport….   ‘He did come over and say hello, and speak to my husband and myself, and talk about his grandchildren and his travels and things like that,’ Ms. Lynch said at a news conference in Los Angeles on Wednesday, where she was promoting community policing. ‘That was the extent of that. And no discussions were held into any cases or things like that.’…  The F.B.I. is expected to make a recommendation to the Justice Department in the coming weeks. While some legal experts said they believed criminal indictments in the case were unlikely, the investigation continues to cast a shadow over Mrs. Clinton’s presidential campaign….”    (See “Meeting Between Bill Clinton and Loretta Lynch Provokes Political Furor” by Mark Landler, 6/30/16, NY Times/ Politics [http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/01/us/politics/meeting-between-bill-clinton-and-loretta-lynch-provokes-political-furor.html?_r=0]).