The Doctor of Common Sense
A distance of 6,455 miles doesn’t begin to measure the journey one dog made to join a team and find a family.
Watch amazing video: http://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=18814225&t=00m00s
http://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=18814225
Hillary Clinton’s case isn’t interesting enough to the public to justify releasing the FBI’s files on her, the bureau said this week in rejecting an open-records request by a lawyer seeking to have the former secretary of state punished for perjury.
Ty Clevenger, the lawyer, has been trying to get Mrs. Clinton and her personal lawyers disbarred for their handling of her official emails during her time as secretary of state. He’s met with resistance among lawyers, and now his request for information from the FBI’s files has been shot down.
“You have not sufficiently demonstrated that the public’s interest in disclosure outweighs personal privacy interests of the subject,” FBI records management section chief David M. Hardy told Mr. Clevenger in a letter Monday.
“It is incumbent upon the requester to provide documentation regarding the public’s interest in the operations and activities of the government before records can be processed pursuant to the FOIA,” Mr. Hardy wrote.
Mrs. Clinton, is the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, former chief diplomat, former U.S. senator, and former first lady of both the U.S. and Arkansas. Her use of a secret email account to conduct government business while leading the State Department was front-page news for much of 2015 and 2016, and was so striking that the then-FBI director broke with procedure and made both a public statement and appearances before Congress to talk about the bureau’s probe.
In the end, the FBI didn’t recommend charges against Mrs. Clinton, concluding that while she risked national security, she was too technologically inept to know the dangers she was running, so no case could be made against her.
Mr. Clevenger said he thought it would have been clear why Mrs. Clinton’s case was of public interest, but he sent documentation anyway, pointing to a request by members of Congress for an investigation into whether Mrs. Clinton perjured herself in testimony to Capitol Hill.
“I’m just stunned. This is exactly what I would have expected had Mrs. Clinton won the election, but she didn’t. It looks like the Obama Administration is still running the FBI,” Mr. Clevenger told The Washington Times.
“How can a story receive national news coverage and not be a matter of public interest? If this is the new standard, then there’s no such thing as a public interest exception,” he said.
The FBI didn’t return a message seeking comment Tuesday on how it balances public interest versus privacy in open-records requests.
Seeking to clear up any confusion over the level of public interest, one person forwarded to The Washington Times a petition started on the White House website to demand release of the documents.
“The assumption made by Mr. Hardy that such a release is not in the public interest is invalid and the FBI should immediately release these documents,” said the petition, started by user “C.S.”
“It is incumbent upon the requester to provide documentation regarding the public’s interest in the operations and activities of the government before records can be processed pursuant to the FOIA,” Mr. Hardy wrote.
Mrs. Clinton, is the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, former chief diplomat, former U.S. senator, and former first lady of both the U.S. and Arkansas. Her use of a secret email account to conduct government business while leading the State Department was front-page news for much of 2015 and 2016, and was so striking that the then-FBI director broke with procedure and made both a public statement and appearances before Congress to talk about the bureau’s probe.
In the end, the FBI didn’t recommend charges against Mrs. Clinton, concluding that while she risked national security, she was too technologically inept to know the dangers she was running, so no case could be made against her.
The Obama administration likely hid information about Iran illicitly ferrying militants into Syria on commercial aircraft in order to promote the landmark nuclear deal and foster multi-billion dollar business deals with Tehran’s state-controlled airline sector, according to lawmakers and other sources familiar with the matter.
The Washington Free Beacon first disclosed last week that congressional leaders are calling for an investigation into Iran for using its state-controlled air carrier, Iran Air, to ferry militant fighters into Syria, where they are taking up arms in defense of embattled President Bashar al-Assad.
Photographs provided to Congress show Iran using Iran Air to ferry these soldiers between 2016 and 2017, in part when the Obama administration removed sanctions on Iran Air and promoted multi-billion dollars sales between the carrier and aircraft manufacturer Boeing, which is seeking to provide Iran Air with a fleet of new planes that many suspect will be used to carry terrorist fighters and weapons into regional hotspots.
This behavior violates international laws governing the nuclear deal and has now led lawmakers and others to accuse the Obama administration of downplaying Iran’s illicit activity in order to promote the nuclear deal and ensure Tehran receives a new commercial fleet.
Multiple senior Obama administration officials, including former secretary of state John Kerry, traveled the globe to promote trade with Iranian companies, including Iran Air, at the same time Iran was found to be ferrying militants into Syria. Lawmakers and others suspect the Obama administration either hid or downplayed this information in order to preserve the nuclear deal.
“The Obama administration lifted sanctions against Iran Air as a political concession during nuclear negotiations with Iran, not because of any change in its activity,” Rep. Peter Roskam (R., Ill.), one of the lawmakers calling for an investigation into Iran’s use of commercial aircraft for military purposes, told the Free Beacon.
“Using social media and public flight tracking websites, any person with a computer can document Iranian military transports to Syria on commercial jets,” Roskam said. “The Obama administration undoubtedly knew Iranian airliners were being used to fuel Assad’s atrocities in Syria, but the administration officials who were globetrotting as Tehran’s chamber of commerce trying to shore up the nuclear deal didn’t care.”
“Iran Air continues to support the Iran-Assad war machine to this day, and the Trump administration must hold the airline accountable and work to stop them,” the lawmaker said.
Roskam and a delegation of other Republican congressmen petitioned the Trump Treasury Department last week to investigate photographic evidence showing Iran using Iran Air to ferry militants into Syria.
“Iran’s use of commercial aircraft for military purposes violates international agreements as well as Iranian commitments under the JCPOA,” or Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the lawmakers wrote, according to a letter first obtained by the Free Beacon. “We believe these photos mandate a thorough investigation of these practices and a comprehensive review of Iran’s illicit use of commercial aircraft.”
The lawmakers demand the Trump administration freeze all licenses that would permit the deal between Boeing and Iran Air to move forward.
Rep. Ron DeSantis (R., Fla.), a vocal opponent of the Iran deal who sits on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told the Free Beacon that the Obama administration ignored evidence of Iran’s illicit military activity in a bid to appease Tehran and forward the nuclear agreement.
“As the Obama administration was shipping palettes of cash to Iran, the mullahs were sending militants to wage jihad in Syria,” DeSantis said. “The Obama administration turned a blind eye to this and other transgressions because it was so intent on delivering major sanctions relief to the world’s leading state-sponsor of terrorism, the Iranian government.”
The Treasury Department did not respond to multiple Free Beacon requests for comment on the matter.
The Treasury Department has vowed in the past to consider and investigate any new evidence revealing Iran’s illicit use of commercial aircraft, but it remains unclear if U.S. officials are actually following through on this promise.
Administration insiders have expressed confusion over the matter, saying they are unsure where Trump officials stand on scrapping the nuclear agreement.
Multiple proponents of ending the deal were recently removed from the White House’s National Security Council and it appears that those officials supporting the deal currently are now the majority voice. This includes Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster.
Administration insiders say the Obama administration’s aggressive efforts to promote trade with Iran and lay the groundwork for massive deals such as that formed with Boeing placed the current administration in a complicated position.
Boeing says the deal would create scores of U.S. jobs, but those opposing the deal say American workers should not be aiding Iran’s illicit activity.
“The Obama administration actively politicized and downplayed intelligence about Iran to preserve the deal,” said one veteran congressional adviser working on the issue. “They had State remove references to Iranian terrorism, had Justice ignore Iranian sanctions-busters and proliferated, and even had Energy buy off Iranian deal violations. So of course they had Treasury look the other way while the Iranians were facilitating Assad’s mass slaughter.”
Michael Rubin, a former Pentagon adviser and expert on rogue regimes, said champions of the Iran deal had knowledge of Iran’s illicit behavior, but downplayed this information to push the nuclear agreement forward.
“The Boeing deal is where corruption meets national security. One of the biggest proponents of the Iran deal was Thomas Pickering, a former ambassador whom the Obama administration brought in to assuage Congress and re-up its talking points in the media,” Rubin said. “Pickering never acknowledged, however—even to Congress—that at the time he had a lucrative consulting gig with Boeing in order to enable that company to profit off any Iran deal.”
Iran is seeking to purchase from Boeing a fleet much larger than its domestic needs require, another sign that points to the regime’s desire to use these commercial aircraft for military purposes, Rubin said.
“What the heck did the Obama team think Iran would do with its Boeings? If they tallied up Iran’s annual air travel with the capacity offered by Boeing, they’d find that Iran was purchasing planes representing triple what Iran needed for its civilian transport,” Rubin said. “Frankly, the Boeing deal should have resulted in as many red flags as if Iran said it wanted to purchase high explosives and rocket engines. But, national security and reality were far down Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry’s lists of priorities.”
http://freebeacon.com/national-security/obama-admin-hid-intel-iranian-militants-syria-push-nuclear-deal/
Cops: Woman Called 911 Over Meth Quality
Montanan, 33, said narcotics left a “bad taste”
AUGUST 28–A Montana woman called 911 to report that she had purchased some “bad meth,” adding that the drug left a “bad taste in her mouth,” according to police.
A Great Falls Police Department officer was dispatched Friday afternoon to the home of Margery Ann Dayrider, 33, who had dialed cops to report having a bad reaction to meth she had injected.
As detailed in a probable cause affidavit, Dayrider told Officer Jon Marshall that she “believed she got some bad meth and was having a bad reaction to it, vomiting, tingling tongue, bad taste in her mouth.”
As first reported by the Great Falls Tribune, Dayrider told the cop, “I do meth three times a day everyday and have never had this reaction before.” Dayrider said that she and her boyfriend had purchased the drug the night before and that she injected herself at 9 AM, 11 AM, and 3 PM.
While speaking with the patrolman, Dayrider said that she “still had some meth inside her bra.” Dayrider then provided the remaining narcotics to Officer Marshall, who reported that a field test of the crystalline substance was positive for methamphetamine.
Dayrider was subsequently arrested on a felony narcotics possession charge(which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison). The affidavit notes that Dayrider also had separate “warrants for her arrest.”
Dayrider is locked up in lieu of $2500 bond. (1 page)
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/stupid/bad-meth-911-call-487296
Are yellow stars the latest fashion trend? Just days after Billy Joel appeared onstage in New York with a yellow Star of David emblazoned on his lapel, the fashion statement made another appearance – this time at the MTV Video Music Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday night.
Nev Schulman, an actor and producer, strolled the red carpet in a red blazer with a bright yellow Star of David on his chest. Above it was another patch – a red heart.
Schulman, who grew up in a Jewish family in New York, is best known for his film and follow-up TV show titled Catfish.
After the awards show, he posted on Twitter: “We cannot tolerate hate against any group or identity. I’m proud to be Jewish. #lovewins.”
Schulman’s costar on Catfish, Max Joseph, made a sartorial statement of his own at the awards show, by wearing a blue T-shirt simply emblazoned with the word “Jew.”
Last week, hit singer Joel came out onstage for an encore at his show in New York City wearing two yellow stars – one on his left chest and the other on his back.
Both artists made their statements in the aftermath of a neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, earlier this month, where a counterprotester was killed. The white nationalist demonstrators waved swastika flags and chanted “Jews will not replace us.”
While both Schulman and Joel received some criticism for the move, others praised the concept as brave.
Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean at the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday that “Billy Joel’s father was in Dachau. If anyone has the right to use the Yellow Star as a gesture of solidarity to victims of the Nazis and in defiance of latter-day Nazis in Charlottesville and elsewhere around the world, it would be Billy Joel. Kol hakavod [‘Good going’], Billy!”
http://www.jpost.com/Diaspora/Holocaust-chic-at-the-Video-Music-Awards-503617
“If Republican Senate doesn’t get rid of the Filibuster Rule & go to a simple majority, which the Dems would do, they are just wasting time!” Trump wrote on Twitter on Wednesday morning.
Trump’s message proves that he is ignoring McConnell’s protests about maintaining the rule, further escalating the division between the two leaders.
“There’s not a single senator in the majority who thinks we ought to change the legislative filibuster,” McConnell told reporters in April. “Not one.”
McConnell has vowed not to change the rule, despite Trump publicly demanding that he consider it.
Trump again brought up the subject during his rally with supporters on Tuesday.
“We have to get rid of what’s called the filibuster rule; we have to,” he said. “And if we don’t, the Republicans will never get anything passed. You’re wasting your time.”
Trump commented that eight Democrats would essentially control all of the legislation that could pass in the Senate.
“We have to speak to Mitch and we have to speak to everybody,” Trump said, referring to the majority leader.
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/08/23/donald-trump-urges-mitch-mcconnell-to-end-60-vote-filibuster-rule/
