Blog

08/30/2016 by The Doctor Of Common Sense

Baltimore Residents Want The Police To Protect Their Neighborhoods

As Justice Department civil rights lawyers held a meeting to talk about overhauling the Baltimore police department, another group of Baltimore residents gathered to beg the police to fix the crime in their neighborhoods.

The meetings show a disconnect between those who are concerned about crime and those worried about police reform, reports the Washington Post. Neither group was aware the other one was meeting.

About 40 people, most of them older black women, gathered in a West Baltimore church basement to ask police to return order to their community.

A gas station owner whose parking lot had been taken over by loiterers begged for help; a 17-year old was also fatally shot there. Another man asked about the foot patrol officers that were promised to the community.

Arlene Fisher, a 67-year-old social worker, said more policing is necessary because corner stores are asking to stay open 24 hours.

Top of Form

Bottom of Form

The meeting with Justice Department lawyers came after the Justice Department released its report on the Baltimore Police Department (BPD). The meeting, organized by No Boundaries co-director Ray Kelly, dealt with abusive behavior used by police when trying to clear up street corners.

The report found that the BPD frequently performed unconstitutional stops, arrests and excessive force that led to different outcomes among black citizens. According to the report, almost half of the 300,000 pedestrian stops the BPD performed between 2010 and 2015, mainly happened in two pre-dominantly black districts. RELATED: Justice Department Report Charges Baltimore Cops With Racism

Kelly told the Washington Post that the debate on whether police discriminate or not is over. He said that the main issue “is to change it so it can actually work, to find ways to address the culture and not just criminalize everyone.”

Baltimore Residents Beg Police To Protect Their Neighborhoods

08/29/2016 by The Doctor Of Common Sense

Great Freaking Idea! U.S. Will Welcome 10,000 Syrian Refugee’s on Monday

The United States looks on its way to reaching its target of taking in 10,000 Syrian war refugees in the 2016 fiscal year this week, according to the U.S. ambassador to Jordan. That means the program to resettle Syrian refugees in the United States is well ahead of schedule considering President Obama announced last fall his administration’s goal was to resettle 10,000 refugees by the end of September.

News of the 10,000^th arrival is bound to once again spark controversy about an issue that has made its way to the presidential campaign as Donald Trump and some of his allies have alleged the refugees could be a potential security threat.Administration officials strongly dispute the characterization of refugees as potentially dangerous to national security. “Refugees are the most thoroughly screened category of travelers to the United States, and Syrian refugees are subject to even greater scrutiny,” Alice Wells, the U.S. ambassador to Jordan, said.

The arrival of the 10,000^th Syrian refugee on Monday illustrates just how much the program has accelerated in recent months. As of March 31, only 1,285 Syrians had been admitted into the United States as part of the program but then things began to speed up due to a “quiet but intense push by the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security, with substantial prodding from the White House,” reported the New York Times earlier this month.

An estimated 5 million Syrians have fled the country’s devastating civil war since 2011.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2016/08/28/u_s_to_welcome_10_000th_syrian_refugee_on_monday.html

08/28/2016 by The Doctor Of Common Sense

Hillary “Rotten” Clinton Was For Sale At The State Department

Hell I'm For Sale! What Damn Difference Does It Make? — Hell I’m For Sale! What Damn Difference Does It Make?

A series of newly released State Department emails obtained by ABC News offers fresh insight on direct contact between the Clinton Foundation and Hillary Clinton‘s inner circle while she was Secretary of State.

The emails -– released as part of a public records lawsuit by conservative group Citizens United and shared exclusively with ABC — reveal what the group claims is new evidence Foundation allies received special treatment. [Read the emails here.]

In one December 2010 email chain with Clinton’s closest aide Huma Abedin, then-top Clinton Foundation official Doug Band offers names for a State Department lunch with Chinese President Hu Jintao scheduled for January 2011.

I list of who I work for you F**king Americans. It ain't About You. — I list of who I work for you F**king Americans. It ain’t About You.

Bill Clinton Defends Clinton Foundation: ‘We’re Trying to Do Good Things’

Bill Clinton Sought State Department OK For Paid Speeches Related to North Korea, Congo, New E-mails Show

On the list were three executives from organizations that have donated millions to the Clinton Foundation: Bob McCann, the then-president of wealth management at UBS; Dr. Judith Rodin, the president of the Rockefeller Foundation; and Hikmet Ersek, the CEO of Western Union.

According to the Foundation website, the UBS Wealth Management USA has contributed between $500,001 and $1 million to the Foundation; the Rockefeller Foundation has given between $10 million and $25 million, while Western Union and its foundation has contributed between $1 million and $5 million.

Nearly two weeks later, Band followed up on email, specifically requesting Rodin be seated at Vice President Joe Biden’s table. “I’ll ask,” Abedin replied.

In a separate exchange, Abedin forwarded to Band — outside the State Department — an attachment entitled “Updated China RSVP Guest List 1-5-11.” The attachment was not included in the documents received by ABC, but suggests sharing of information ahead of a state visit by President Hu Jintao in late January 2011.

Band declined comment to ABC News. Clinton Foundation spokesman Craig Minassian said the emails “aren’t related to the Clinton Foundation’s work improving lives around the world.”

A representative for McCann told ABC News he did not attend the lunch, while a representative for Ersek said he doesn’t have a “record” of the event. Rodin’s office did not immediately return a request for comment. The State Department said it could not provide a list of attendees.

In addition to State Department functions, Band also corresponded with Abedin about personal requests of some Clinton Foundation supporters.

In January 2011, Band at the Foundation forwarded an email to Abedin on behalf of Gerardo Werthein, a South American businessman who has donated more than $1 million to the Foundation, according to its website.

I don't know why everyone thinks I'm corrupt! — I don’t know why everyone thinks I’m corrupt!

Calling Werthein a “great friend” and “big supporter,” Band asked Abedin to deliver a message to the U.S. ambassador to Malta on behalf of Werthein. The ambassador was scheduled to meet with the Admor, a religious leader in Malta and associate of Werthein.

Abedin passed on Band’s message to another State Department official asking for delivery to the ambassador’s assistant, writing, “Just want to pass along for info. No need for action.”

A June 2009 email from Band passed on thanks from a Tim Collins to Abedin for bringing him to “some event.” Abedin says, “We invited him into speech in Cairo.” ABC News could not confirm the identity of the Collins who attended the speech. The Clinton Foundation website lists a Timothy Collins, founder of the investment firm Ripplewood Advisors, as a major donor.

“After more than two years of Freedom of Information Act requests and lengthy litigation, the truth is finally coming out,” said David Bossie, president of Citizens United, in a statement. “Hillary Clinton’s senior staff at the State Department routinely worked with the Clinton Foundation to reward big donors with special access and favors for four years.”

The State Department and Clinton campaign both told ABC News that Foundation donors held no special influence or received favors.

When asked about the apparent involvement of a top Clinton Foundation official in requesting invitations for guests for State Department functions, spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau told ABC News: “The State Department does not believe it is inappropriate for the administration to consider individuals suggested by outside organizations when deciding who to invite to an official function.”

Clinton campaign spokesman Josh Schwerin said the emails released are a political attack on the Clintons.

“Citizens United is a right-wing group that’s been attacking the Clintons since the 1990s and, once again, is trying to make something out of nothing,” Schwerin told ABC News.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/clinton-foundation-official-requests-state-lunch-invitation-special/story?id=41695275

08/23/2016 by The Doctor Of Common Sense

Trump Says Obama Is A Little Late On Louisiana Visit

Hold The Car Still While I Make My Shot Fool.

President Barack Obama’s day trip to tour flood damage in Louisiana is “too little, too late,” Donald Trump wrote on Twitter Tuesday afternoon.
“President Obama should have gone to Louisiana days ago, instead of golfing,” the Republican presidential nominee wrote. “Too little, too late!”
Story Continued Below

Obama flew to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Wednesday to visit a region devastated by heavy rain and flooding earlier this month. In a release issued late last week, the American Red Cross said the flooding in Louisiana is the worst natural disaster in the U.S. since superstorm Sandy and that the relief effort will cost at least $30 billion.
Accompanied by his running mate Mike Pence, Trump himself visited Baton Rouge and the surrounding area last Friday, helping unload supplies and meeting with law enforcement officials for a briefing. Obama was still on his annual Massachusetts vacation at the time, prompting Trump to take a shot at the president’s near-daily golf games.
“The president says he doesn’t want to come, he is trying to get out of a golf game,” Trump told volunteers last Friday at a church north of Baton Rouge, according to a report from ABC News. “He will never be under par.”
The White House said Obama received regular briefings on the flooding even while on vacation. Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, said he had no problem with Obama’s decision to delay a visit to the flood area. A presidential visit and the accompanying motorcade, Edwards said last Thursday, would pull first responders away from relief efforts, put a strain on law enforcement and force road closures.
“I think the president is used to people trying to score political points even in situations where they shouldn’t. The president certainly believes this is the kind of situation where…we’re talking about lives lost,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest said during a press gaggle aboard Air Force One en route to Baton Rouge. “We’re talking about a community being upended. And [he believes] that it’s an appropriate time to put politics aside, and actually focus on our responsibilities as Americans.”

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/trump-tweet-obama-louisiana-227317#ixzz4IBrJ1SZx

08/23/2016 by The Doctor Of Common Sense

Clinton Foundation Executive Left 148 Phone Messages To Clinton Chief Of Staff Cheryl Mills

In yet another indication there may have been a “pay-to-play” relationship between the Clinton Foundation and the Department of State, a senior foundation executive left 148 phone messages for a top aide to then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton top aide over two years.

A review of State Department phone logs show Clinton Foundation Chief Operating Officer Laura Graham left the messages for Cheryl Mills, Clinton’s State Department chief of staff and confidante, according to Fox News.

One of those messages referred to “our boss” without any further identification. A second, from January 2012, presumably referred to former President Bill Clinton by his initials. It read, “Please call. WJC is looking for her [Graham] and she wants to talk to you before she talks to him.”

No other messages from nonprofit organizations appear so frequently in Mills’ call logs, which brings to mind two questions:

If Graham was unable to connect with Mills nearly 150 times during that time, how many times were they able to immediately connect?
What business could the foundation possibly have with the State Department?

The call logs were obtained by the conservative advocacy group Citizens United as part of its Freedom of Information Act request.

State Department spokesman Mark Toner said he couldn’t gauge how many of those messages were returned, nor provide “a read-out of every one of those messages or every one of those calls.” But he did admit that Mills and Graham never shared the same boss.

“Secretary Clinton’s ethics agreement at the time [she assumed office] did not preclude other State Department officials from engaging with, or having contact with, the Clinton Foundation,” Toner said.

Absent additional detail, there is no evidence of any misconduct in the calls or contacts between Graham and Mills. But the records surfaced amid mounting questions about the relationship between the Clinton State Department and the Clinton Foundation, and particularly about the role played by Mills.

Last week, the State Department acknowledged that in June 2012, Mills spent two days traveling to New York to interview job applicants at the foundation. The State Department said Mills “volunteered” to do so, but neither the department nor a spokesman for the Clinton presidential campaign, nor Mills’s attorney, would say whether Mills used annual leave or unpaid days to perform that work – or whether it was done on the taxpayers’ time.

“It’s an amazing thing that the State Department spokesperson would actually make an argument that Hillary Clinton would be obligated under an ethics agreement that the White House made her sign with the foundation but her top employees would not be under that same agreement,” said Citizens United President David Bossie, “I find it’s just very Clintonesque.”

http://endingthefed.com/forget-emails-look-at-state-dept-phone-logs-148-suspicious-messages-were-just-exposed.html

08/23/2016 by The Doctor Of Common Sense

Hillary’s Girlfriend Huma Abedin Involved With Radical Muslim Journal

Top Hillary Clinton confidante Huma Abedin played no formal role in a radical Muslim journal — even though she was listed as an editor on the hate-filled periodical’s masthead for a dozen years, a campaign rep claimed Sunday.

“My understanding is that her name was simply listed on the masthead in that period,” Clinton spokesman Nick Merrill said hours after The Post broke the bombshell story. “She did not play a role in editing at the publication.”

Merrill said Abedin was just a figurehead and not actually on staff at the Saudi-based and -funded Journal of Minority Muslim Affairs, which featured radically anti-feminist views and backed strict Islamic laws roundly criticized for oppressing women.

A journalism major at George Washington University, Abedin, 40, was listed as “assistant editor” of the journal from 1996 to 2008, when her name was removed from the staff box and she went to work for Clinton at the State Department.

Her brother, who was an associate editor, and a sister, also employed as an assistant editor, are listed as staff members.

Abedin’s Pakistani mother, Saleha Mahmood Abedin, remains editor-in-chief.

He also declined to say whether Clinton, who has made championing women’s rights a centerpiece of her campaign, was aware of her longtime aide’s position at the publication or its extremist views.

The pair have been close since 1996, when Abedin — often described as Clinton’s “second daughter” — was a White House intern assigned to the then-first lady.

Since then, she has worked for Clinton on her Senate campaigns and at the Clinton Foundation and is now the vice chairwoman of her presidential bid.

The journal supported a strict interpretation of Islamic Sharia laws, which call for beheadings, require women to cover their bodies and faces and advocate death for “infidels” — which in their view includes just about everyone but the most extreme religious hardliners.

The publication also blamed the US for the 9/11 terror attacks, which were carried out largely by Saudi nationals.

Typical fare in the publication includes a 1996 piece titled “Women’s Rights Are Islamic Rights,” which argues that single moms, working moms and gay couples with children should not be recognized as families.

It also maintained that revealing dress “directly translates into unwanted results of sexual promiscuity and irresponsibility and indirectly promote violence against women.”

In another 1996 article, Abedin’s mother wrote that Clinton was advancing a “very aggressive and radically feminist” agenda that was un-Islamic because it focused on empowering women.

“‘Empowerment’ of women does more harm than benefit the cause of women or their relations with men,” Saleha Mahmood Abedin wrote.

http://nypost.com/2016/08/21/huma-abedin-denies-active-role-at-radical-muslim-journal/

Blog

Footer