James Comey: The Real Story Behind His Firing

 

Well, FBI Director James Comey has finally been fired. I can't imagine why it took so long. Both Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein recommended that President Trump can him after he 'misstated' in front of the senate last week about Clinton's email practices that in their words, 'raised new questions about the director's competence and judgment.'

As we'll see, James Comey was not just incompetent. He was corrupt, owned, and what amounted to an enemy of the Trump administration. I'm surprised the president didn't fire him months ago.

Last March, when James Comey was pushing the Trump/Russia fable hard, he was hailed as “the most powerful person in Washington.” by the Lefty media's trained seals, the same folks that were referring to him as Satan in a power suit back in July when he put on his little show detailing exactly how Hillary Clinton committed multiple felonies with her antics concerning classified information on an unprotected bootleg server. Not to mention probable obstruction of justice by illegally wiping material after it had been subpoenaed by congress. And of course, that while he had reopened his investigation, she shouldn't be prosecuted for anything. Of course.

And then of course, he suddenly changed his mind two days before Election Day, after the FBI had supposedly reviewed the 49,000 potentially relevant emails the FBI had found on Anthony Weiner's laptop. 'Nothing to see here, move along.'

After which of course, James Comey was a Democrat hero again. And remained one, because he continued to drop coy little hints about the Democrat's favorite bedtime story, how Trump was Putin's puppet and Russia hacked the election. That gave the fairy tale some weight, so it could be repeated by the media over and over. More on that in a bit.

The real story's simple.First of all, James Comey let the attention go to his head and got a mistaken impression of his importance in the grand scheme of things. And second, more importantly, he forgot that he was simply another DC chiseler owned by the Clintons, and tried to cover his behind to give the public impression he was someone of integrity.

That was really the reason for his little show back in July. Most FBI agents are fairly straitlaced, patriotic fellas who really care about law and order, and they knew Mrs. Clinton had committed multiple felonies. On the other hand there was Obama's crooked Attorney General, just a few days after she met with Bill Clinton in a hot Phoenix airplane hanger telling Comey that there was no way her Department of Justice was going to prosecute Hillary Clinton and telling him it was his job to talk to the media and let them know that. Oh and by the way, I'm sure she mentioned that also applied to the ongoing investigation of the Clinton Foundation too, something I'm sure Comey understood because of his own ties to the Clinton Foundation.

So he came up with a cockamamie idea; detail the felonies, sort of, to show the agents and the public he was really on the job, and then recommend no prosecution to protect the Clintons as well as himself.That was odd in itself, since the FBI doesn't usually make those recommendations, at least not publicly. But after AG Lynch got caught at her secret meeting with Mr. Bill, she likely told Comey that it was his mess to clean up.

He used that lawyer's favorite trick , supposed lack of intent as a reason not to charge Mrs. Clinton in an attempt to divert us from the actual issue, which was criminal negligence. Intent isn't a factor in the laws she broke, and a good prosecutor could definitely make the case that simply having those illegal private servers showed intent. So did wiping all those e-mails, another felony according to the Federal Records Act.

The problem for James Comey was that no one bought his shtick. The agents were outraged, because they felt it reflected on the Bureau's credibility. Ever since, there's been a major morale problem at the Bureau according to various sources. It was at the point where, reportedly, a number of people won't even return his greetings and limit their interaction with him as much as possible.

As far as the public went, the True Believers and the media were fine with it, while the rest of us realized that the fix was in and that was that. And needless to say, the Clintons were certainly fine with the outcome.

So Comey's main job after that was to keep in good with his benefactors by pounding the Russia drum loud and often,Trump, Trump , Trump. There's no evidence Russia had anything to do with hacking the election, but the same old tune keeps playing and will continue to play, though perhaps without Comey's help in the future.

I particularly liked Dem Rep Adam Schiff's take on this... 'Well, it's been a long time, we haven't found a unicorn yet and there's no evidence they exist. But of course they might, so it's vital that we keep investigating.' And of course, keep pounding that narrative into people's heads. Herr Goebbels wound be so proud.

Just for giggles, ask yourself this,just three little words..where's the crime? Let's imagine someone from Putin's government met with someone from Trump's campaign or even the Donald himself and told him 'President Putin really hates Hillary and wants you to win, so we're going to do everything we can to help,da?' And Trump or a member of his team said 'Oh, OK.'

Is that a crime? Absolutely not, unless you can prove actual collusion that affected the election. And that's not going to remotely happen because there's no evidence whatsoever, nothing even remotely connecting any of Trump's team or the president with meetings with Russians. And that's even with clear violations of FISA laws and the Fourth Amendment being used to try and find something. Comey's FBI even goofed when they said Trump's attorney met with the Russians in Prague and it turned out to be the wrong person entirely! And this is going on while leaks of the president's private conversations with world leaders weren't being investigated at all. That was something else that didn't sit well.

The idea that this is some kind of 'constitutional crisis' is ridiculous, although the usual suspects will of course go absolutely Batsh*t Crazy totryand convince the gullible that it is. That's to be expected. What happens if Trump appoints a real go getter who decides to investigate real criminal acts? What if he or she reopens the Clinton Foundation investigation, or actually gives Jeff Sessions what he needs to prosecute Hillary? What if they lean on Loretta Lynch or Huma Abedin and get her to spill the beans in exchange for immunity? Hence the manufactured hysteria.

So James Comey is gone. But don't cry too much for him. There will undoubtedly be a corporate sinecure for him somewhere, just like there was before as a reward for services rendered.

Good riddance.

Gen. Michael Flynn Resigns As Trump's National Security Advisor

General Michael Flynn has resigned as President Trump's National Security Advisor, after it was learned that the Justice Department informed the White House that it believed he might be subject to blackmail.

The axe fell when Flynn admitted that he had misled Vice President Mike Pence and other senior officials about his communications with Sergei Kislyak, who is Russia's ambassador to the United States. In his resignation letter,Flynn said:

"Unfortunately, because of the fast pace of events, I inadvertently briefed the Vice President Elect and others with incomplete information regarding my phone calls with the Russian Ambassador. I have sincerely apologized to the President and the Vice President, and they have accepted my apology."

Along with his resignation of course.

What happened is that the FBI had intel that Flynn had discussed sanctions on Russia with Kislyak, but Flynn told administration officials that he hadn't. Pence repeated the misinformation on national television.

While Flynn didn't do anything illegal, this was a bad mistake on his part. But like the soldier he was, he owned up, took the blame and paid the price, a sad end to an honorable career.

To their shame, the Democrats are absolutely ecstatic over this.

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) is the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee and a Leftist progressive. He said Flynn's resignation was "all but ordained the day he misled the country about his secret talks with the Russian Ambassador."

"In fact, Flynn was always a poor choice for National Security Advisor, a role in which you need to be a consensus builder, and possess sobriety and steady judgment," Schiff said in a statement. "It is certainly no role for someone who plays fast and loose with the truth."

Schiff, of course,has no military, hands on intel or national security experience whatsoever. So of course, he knows all about what's needed in an NSA advisor.

And that's interesting, considering that Rep. Schiff and his fellow Dems were all in for Hillary Clinton, whom we know deliberately endangered national security by putting classified material on an unprotected server to hide her crooked deals and operated her office as Secretary of State  for her own profit like a mega high priced escort service, pay for play.

Flynn made a bad error in judgement and he had to go. And there are stories floating around that he may have been responsible,inadvertently perhaps, for several media leaks. But by comparison with Mrs. Clinton's disgraceful, self serving misdeeds and outright felonies...no contest.

Retired Army Gen. Keith Kellogg is a longtime trusted policy adviser for Trump. He  has been appointed acting national security adviser, according to a White House statement. Kellogg was the former commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, and he has years of combat, national security and command experience.

He may end up getting the gig permanently.

Another possibility being talked about is retired Navy Vice Adm. Robert Harward, the former deputy commander of U.S. Joint Forces Command. Former CIA head General David Petraeus was apparently also mentioned, but I doubt he gets it because of his own national security problems.

Either Kellogg or Harward would be a good choice, and Kellog will do a great job holding things together until a decision is made.

The House Loses Its Boehner

John Boehner has announced that he is resigning from his position as Speaker of the House and will be giving up his seat at the end of October.

Good riddance to once of the worst leaders of the GOP caucus ever,someone who allowed an imperial presidency to run rampant under his watch. He, along with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell are directly responsible for the disaffection of Republicans today.

Boehner was weak when strength was needed, vengeful when unity was needed in his caucus and ineffectual when strategy was called for. He was one of the most unpopular Speakers in living memory.

At the Family Research Council’s Values Voter Summit, which was taking place just a few blocks from the Capitol, many jumped to their feet and cheered when Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida, announced that Mr. Boehner was resigning.

And that's really the heart of the matter. The GOP's leaders are finally beginning to understand how angry their base is about their blatant betrayal of the peple whom voted them in.

Don't be surprised if McConnell is the next to go.


House Republicans are now meeting to find a new Speaker. Reportedly, Kevin McCarthy, House Majority Leader is the top candidate for the job and more acceptable to the GOP's conservative caucus.

We'll see.

Marie Harf Forced Out As State Department Spokeswoman

 

Yes, Marie Harf is leaving us, at least as a public figure in front of the cameras. She's been moved out of the public eye..ummm, promoted to a “new role” as senior adviser for strategic communications to Secretary of State John Kerry, where she will likely have to listen to him talk at length, poor thing, but at least won't have to face all those awkward questions in public any more.

This, after being denied the usual promotion to Jan Psaki's old job after Psaki moved on to become White House Communications Director...heartrending.

Marie Harf was at least entertaining, which is more than I can say for most of the current Regime. It was particularly comical when she was thrown a question on some of the ridiculous things she said trying to defend the regime's foreign policy faux paux. Her forehead would wrinkle, her eyes would grimace, those glasses of hers would slide halfway down her nose and you could literally see the tension as she tried to come up with something that wouldn't get her in even more trouble.It was like watching a hamster desperately running on the little wheel in her cage.

Some of the FOX news folks had some fun at her expense, compiling a video of some of her more famous moments:

June 3, 2014: In response to questioning by Fox News at the briefing, Harf downplayed criticism of the recently announced trade of five Taliban fighters for Bergdahl.
She downplayed "conflicting reports" and "rumor" when asked about accounts from Bergdahl's platoon-mates that he walked off base.

"There's a lot of rumor and telephone game that's being played here," she said.
After continued questioning, she said: "It happened five years ago."

Bergdahl would later be charged with desertion. Former commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan Gen. Stanley McChrystal also told Fox News this week it was his initial understanding as well that Bergdahl walked off his base before he disappeared.

Sept. 25, 2014: Harf was asked, in an interview with Fox News' Megyn Kelly, to respond to a warning that the U.S. would lose if President Obama did not approve ground troops to fight the Islamic State in Iraq.

"I'm not exactly sure what 'lose' means," Harf said, arguing the solution is "targeted military action." She said the prior U.S. engagement in Iraq, with tens of thousands of U.S. troops on the ground, couldn't prevent terrorism.

Feb. 16, 2015: Speaking on MSNBC's "Hardball," Harf suggested that jobs programs are needed to help take on the Islamic State.

"We're killing a lot of them, and we're going to keep killing more of them. ... But we cannot win this war by killing them," she said. "We need ... to go after the root causes that leads people to join these groups, whether it's lack of opportunity for jobs, whether --"

Harf was interrupted by host Chris Matthews, who pointed out, "There's always going to be poor people. There's always going to be poor Muslims." She acknowledged there's "no easy solution" and said the U.S. would still take out ISIS leaders. But Harf said: "If we can help countries work at the root causes of this -- what makes these 17-year-old kids pick up an AK-47 instead of trying to start a business?"

Feb. 17, 2015: Responding to critics of her remarks on helping fight terror by creating jobs, Harf said her statements were just "too nuanced" for her critics.

"Longer term, we cannot kill every terrorist around the world, nor should we try," Harf said on CNN. "How do you get at the root causes of this? Look, it might be too nuanced an argument for some, like I've seen over the past 24 hours some of the commentary out there, but it's really the smart way that Democrats, Republicans, military commanders, our partners in the Arab world think we need to combat this." Harf went on to say the approach doesn't fit "into a sound bite."

March 6, 2015: Fielding questions at the briefing about ex-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's use of private email, Harf was asked if the department would release a 2011 cable -- obtained by Fox News -- showing her office told employees not to use personal email for security reasons.

"I think everyone can read it at FoxNews.com," she quipped.

She then assured, "That was in no way an endorsement," before adding: "I don't mean to be flip about it."

When you're the Regime's foreign policy spokesmouth and even Chris Matthews isn't buying what's coming out of your mouth, it really is time to get out of Dodge. And the Regime figured that out, even if Marie Harf didn't.

And that must puzzle her. She did all the right things...total Democrat, major Lefty, a real true believer.  Why,she even wrote her college thesis on the awful way all those wack job Right Wingers and Evangelicals support Israel and how bad it is for U.S.foreign policy! How much more qualified for an Obama State Department gig could she be?

And then straight outta college and into the Obama Campaign as a loyal soldier Down For The Cause, and then it all explodes as she gets banished off stage, with maybe a quick bit on MSNBC every once in a blue moon if she's lucky.

I've seen some mean things (OK, some of them were pretty funny) on the 'Net about how stupid Marie Harf is. I don't think that's it at all.

There were other things that screwed her up, if you ask me.

When you believe in the godking from Chi-town and the accompanying dogma as much as she does, you have to really suspend belief on certain things that have come to light in the last six years or so. To an extent, you have to convince yourself that red is really is blue, that right is left and that the sun rises in the west. To do this convincingly, you have to be a really good liar, good enough to sell it to others.

Mr. Bill is a great example. There's a certain percentage of America's population he could urinate on in public, remark to them about that sudden rain shower we're  having and get away with it. Yes, I know, he's a pathological liar but at this point he's trained himself to actually believe what he's saying is truth, and that's invaluable to him.

Plus Mr. Bill has another great tool that makes this work, an astounding memory. At his second inaugural, the teleprompters died, but Bill Clinton was able to rattle off the entire speech from memory. Can you imagine Barack Obama/Barry Soetoro pulling that one off?


Just compare Bill's skills to those of  Hillary, who's also a serial prevaricator but who  frequently gets caught at it because her delivery lacks Bill's utter conviction and/or she forgets whatever lie it was she told before.

So therein lay Marie Harf's problem. Being a True Believer, she was, on the surface at least, able to stick to the Regime script, but she lacked Bill Clinton's performance ability, and so did the people she was assigned to try and cover up for.  And, being one of the Entitled, there was a part of her that always resented even having to try, and it showed...'Hey, I've got a Masters, I wear glasses and I'm smarter than all of you dammit ! That's why I'm Deputy State Department deputy spokeswoman! '

Ah, but no more, Marie Harf. At least backstage working with the fog machines, you're still part of the show and afterwards, who knows? Maybe a book deal or a gig at MSNBC or one of the alphabet networks.

Because being a True Believer and Down for The Struggle means never having to say you're sorry. Just ask George Stephanopoulos.

Best of luck at the new job.

Saudi King Abdullah Dies At A Critical Time In The Middle East

Saudi King bin Adbul Aziz has died at 90 years of age.His death was announced on Saudi state TV by a presenter who said the king died at 1 a.m. on Friday, local time.

His death came at a critical time in the region and could set off a major succession battle among the Saudi royals that could affect U.S. policy in the region.

Abdullah was a key figure in both the Sunni alliance against Shi'te Iran and western efforts against Islamic State.More importantly, in spite of major disagreements with the Obama Administration over Iran and other issues, he kept the status quo going in OPEC of keeping oil trades delineated in U.S. dollars.

King Abdullah is going to be succeeded on the throne by his brother, Crown Prince Salman. Essentially, that puts the leadership of America's most important relationship in the Arab world in the hands of a 79-year old in poor health and who reportedly suffers from dementia.

 

What that means is a likely power struggle among the Saudi royals at some point, especially since the crown prince is likely going to be regent for the ailing Salman.

King Abdullah obtained power in exactly this way. His predecessor, King Fahd, had a debilitating stroke in 1995 and Abdullah, as crown prince, assumed most of his duties and responsibilities, running the country as regent until Fahd’s death in 2005.


By Saudi tradition, the King is chosen from among the sons of the first King Adbulaziz bin Saud, who died in 1953. Salman is the sixth son of Abdulaziz and few if any of Abdulaziz's remaining sons are either healthy enough or competent enough to rule in the event of Salman's death or incapacity.

Recognizing this, Abdullah took the step last year of naming his own alternative heir, 69-year-old Prince Muqrin, his youngest brother who is also director general of Saudi Arabia's intelligence agency Al Mukhabarat Al A'amah.This defied the tradition of each new king picking his own heir, which didn't sit well with many of the members of the Saudi royals,particularly a powerful clique of princes known as the “Sudairi Seven,” all sons of Abdul Aziz and his favorite wife, Hassa bint Ahmed. Among other things, Muqrin's mother was a Yemenite concubine, not a Saudi, and Abdullah's action was seen as trying to pre-empt Salman choosing his own heir so Abdullah could advance his own faction.

 

King Salman has already named Prince Muqrin as his official heir and elevated him to the position of Crown Prince and regent. But what after that? It's not clear who in the next generation would take power after him, or when that question would need to be addressed.

Saudi Arabia is now in a state of flux. While Abdullah contributed  to the country's stability by diversifying its economy  to a degree,building up its armed forces and pushing certain mild reforms, the country faces foreign policy challenges from Iran and Islamic state and internal ones that could end up being even more serious.

While its leaders may be elderly, its population is quite young. Almost two thirds of its citizens are below the age of 30, and the Saudi practice of importing cheap foreign labor means many of them have no jobs. For years, this has been offset with subsidies provided by the Saudi oil wealth, but plummeting oil prices along with the need to spend more on self defense could to cut into the funds available for that severely.

There's also the growing problem of Saudi Arabia's Shi'ite underclass. This population is mainly situated in the country's northeast, where most of Saudi Arabia's oil is located, and just across the Persian Gulf from Iran. And as you can imagine, Iran has been agitating this population for some time. That's also something the KSA has been kicking down the road for some time that needs to be dealt with.

And what about oil?

King Abdullah's policy lately has been to take short term losses for long term gains. His reaction to increased  oil production in the U.S. due to fracking and increased use of privately owned oil land was not to cut production in the hopes of prices stabilizing or even rising but to increase it,causing prices to drop still further.

This wily strategy caused some short term pain in the KSA and other GEC countries, but they had the financial depth to ride things out. And it produced a two fold benefit. First, it severely weakened both the Iranians, who lack that financial depth and IS, a big chunk of whose revenues depend on smuggled oil.

And second, it is already causing manufacturers in America to cut back on production and rely again on the cheaper imported oil.

I would expect King Salman and Price Mubrik to continue that policy, since it's working...but enjoy the cheaper gas prices while you can.

Landrieu Destroyed In Louisiana; GOP Wins 54th Senate Seat + 2 House Seats

 

The Louisiana primaries are over, and as expected, Bill Cassidy will be the 54th Republican senator in the new congress.The spread was astonishing...almost 15 points. Even the Clintons couldn't help her. And they're about the only ones in the Democrat establishment that tried.

Aside from the fact that she was a serially corrupt public official who didn't even live in her home state, a big reason for such a decisive victory was that the Republicans united after the primary. When Tea Party favorite Rob Maness fell short in the primary, he was quick to mend fences with Cassidy and endorse him to make a united front, exercising Ronald Reagan's political dictum of getting behind the most conservative candidate who can get elected.

The GOP also retained two seats in the run offs, bringing their total to 246 seats, and increase of 12 from the last congress.

Republican physician Ralph Abraham won in Louisiana’s 5th District congressional seat, defeating Monroe's Democratic Mayor Jamie Mayo, probably the most prominent and well known of Louisiana's remaining Democrats. That actually counts as a pickup, since the seat had been lost by Republican Rep. Vance McAllister who lost his seat after a video showed him infected by the Bill Clinton disease when it came to his marriage vows.

In the Pelican State's 6th District congressional race, Republican Garret Graves, who was GOP Gov. Bobby Jindal's coastal restoration chief, defeated former Democratic Gov. Edwin Edwards, who decided to run for congress after spending over eight years in prison. Only in Louisiana!

While Landrieu was a travesty of a senator, it's worth noting that her demise represents the continuing extinction of a long tradition of Southern Democrats. Aside from Tim Kaine and Mark Warner in Virginia and Bill Nelson in Florida, there are none in the Senate, and representation in the house is mainly confined to black Democrats whom mostly survive in racially gerrymandered districts.

When one considers how solidly Democrat the South used to be, it's an interesting change that reflects how far the Democrats have shifted to the far Left.

"The Emperor Is Naked" - Hagel Fired As SecDef

 

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel has been fired.His tenure was less than two years.

His departure comes after a long period of disagreement with President Obama over what Hagel saw as disastrous budget and manpower cuts by the White House that affected American military capabilities, disagreements of the president's strategies in Afghanistan and in both the nature and the methods used to fight Islamic State.

Basically, he was fired for telling the Emperor that he was naked. And as a convenient scapegoat for the Administration's failures.

According to one of my sources, what clinched it was his disagreement with the president about the need for ground forces in Iraq to fight Islamic State. His statement about 'not wanting to put boots on the ground where they are needed' contradicted the president directly and made him a target for Obama's consigliere Valerie Jarrett, who reportedly went ballistic, pushed hard for Hagel's firing, saying that 'these people in the Pentagon needs to remember who they work for.'

Hagel's parting shot was an interview he did with PBS's Charlie Rose last week in an interview Rose conducted at the Pentagon:

Rose asked Hagel to elaborate on comments that he made in a speech at the Reagan Library last weekend. In that speech, Hagel said that America’s military capability, while still the best in the world, is being threatened.

Hagel re-iterated that to Rose, but also left viewers to wonder about the direction that President Obama is taking the military.

“I am worried about it, I am concerned about it, Chairman Dempsey is, the chiefs are, every leader of this institution,” Hagel said, including Pentagon leadership but leaving both President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden’s names out of his list of officials who are worried about the U.S. military’s declining capability. Hagel said that the Congress and the American people need to know what while the U.S. military remains the strongest, best trained and most motivated in the world, its lead is being threatened because of policies being implemented now.

Hagel went on to note that a good leader prepares their institution for future success, saying that “the main responsibility of any leader is to prepare your institution for the future. If you don’t do that, you’ve failed. I don’t care how good you are, how smart you are, any part of your job. If you don’t prepare your institution, you’ve failed.”

In the past couple of years, Hagel has warned that defense budget cuts implemented under President Obama were hurting readiness and capability. The “how smart you are” line may be a veiled shot at President Obama, who basks in a media image that he is a cerebral, professorial president.

Another mark against Hagel was that he reportedly underwent something of a change of views regarding Israel during his tenure as Secretary of Defense, especially during the Gaza War that did not jibe with the president. He came to see Israel as a more important ally than he had previously indicated, and facilitated arms shipments to Israel during the last Gaza War.

Once President Obama realized that the Pentagon was okaying arms shipments in a way that that would have been normal under any other administration but that he objected to, he stopped shipments of armaments like Hellfire missiles to Israel that the Israelis had already paid for in the middle of the Gaza War and held them up for 'State Department review.' This had never been done previously to Israel in a war situation. The Israelis did not receive the shipments until after the war was over, and Hagel reportedly caught a great deal of flak over it.

Chuck Hagel will continue to serve as Secretary of Defense until a new one is nominated and confirmed.

I did not support Chuck Hagel when he was nominated as SecDef, especially after his sub par confirmation hearing. However, sometimes people rise above their limitations when put in a position of responsibility, just as they sometimes fail to do so. Chuck Hagel had the ability to see that something was horribly wrong with the way President Obama was handling matters of defense and national security, and the courage to say so to the president.

There are some presidents who have had the ability to absorb contradictory views and use them to make their determinations, even modify their perceptions. Unfortunately, the president Chuck Hagel served is not one of them. Instead, he's one whom no one can tell anything to that contradicts his own, set in stone ideas. He perceives anyone who deviates from that in any way as disloyal, and for that sin, Chuck Hagel had to go.

Res ipsa loquiter.

Dems Throw Mary Landrieu To The wolves, Reject Keystone Pipeline

 

Embattled Louisiana Democrat Senator Mary Landrieu was on her knees, literally. She begged her fellow Democrats in the lame duck Senate to vote to pass the Keystone Pipeline, because she saw it as the only slim chance she had left to save her seat in the coming run off election in energy conscious Louisiana.

It failed to pass the Senate.

You see, it was one thing for her to whore herself out for ObamaCare and the rest of that putrid agenda.But now, she's no longer useful, and a lot of the far Left Democrat Senators, especially the ones from blue states who didn't lose their seats  saw no reason to buck the president and the climate change nazis just to save her copious behind. Come December 6th, she will be pitted against Republican Bill Cassidy, who's comfortably ahead even in Democrat polls like PPP. She's almost certain to lose.

The Republicans together with the more sensible senate Democrats will pass this in January, and given that today's vote was 59-41 and the GOP will have made 9 pickups when the new senate sits, they likely have a veto proof majority to pass something that should have been passed years ago.

I admit that I enjoy seeing Landrieu booted out, but it does recall something I read about how the SDS, the communists  and other radical groups operated. They would start by recruiting useful idiots for the more benign 'social justice' parts of their agenda and cynically use them for as long as they could, gradually demanding loyalty on the more radical parts until the mark simply wasnlt willing to go along anymore..after which they'd be dumped and ostracized.

The SDS used to talk about people like Mary Landrieu as being 'on the bus' for as long as they were down for the agenda and made it a point to massage them on how important they were to the movement, how much they were loved, yadda yadda.  And once the bus reached a place where the mark voiced misgivings or hesitated, they were off the bus and that was that.

Mary Landrieu is off the bus.In fact, she's under it.

Israel Takes Out Three Senior Hamas Commanders

In a joint operation,the Shin Bet and the IDF took out three highly placed Hamas commanders last night.

Rafah Division commander Raed al-Attar, Southern Division commander Mohammed Abu Shmallah and Rafah Division senior commander Mohammed Barhoum are all halal dead rats thanks to an overnight strike on a house in the Tel al-Sultan refugee camp west of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

 

Abu Shmallah, 41, and al-Attar, 40, were two of the most senior commanders in the al-Qassam Brigades.Al-Attar  commanded the operation that kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit in Israel and ,  Abu Shmallah was also involved in  the operation.

Al-Attar  was one of the chief masterminds of the terror tunnels project in the south of the Strip, and  was in charge of arms smuggling from the Sinai Peninsula.Al-Attar was in charge of launching many of the Hamas terrorist attacks against Egyptian targets and was also next in line to take over from Mohammed Deif (who may also be taking a dirt nap) as leader of Hamas's' military.

Barhoun was one of al-Attar's subordinate commanders in Rafah.

Abu Shmallah was no mere sidekick.He was the Hamas commander in southern Gaza, in charge of the Rafah and the Khan Younis area and was responsible for a number of terrorist attacks on Israel,including the recent attempt to infiltrate 13 terrorists into Israel via tunnel, which did not end up so well.



Whoopsie.

Hamas spokeshole Sami Abu Zuhri said Israel would pay the price for the strike, calling it "a massive Israeli crime."

Could you repeat that, Tzaddik, just a little louder? The IDF needs to get a fix on your location, you know, the better to tune in.

This is an excellent start. Target the leaders and take them out.

Robin Williams Dead, Suspected Suicide

Comedian and Oscar winning actor Robin Williams has died at his home in Tiburon, California at the age of 63. Local authorities suspect the death was a suicide based on what they found at the scene, but they're apparently waiting for a coroner's official verdict.

According to several sources, the actor was reportedly battling severe depression. 

Sometimes humor is the only thing we have to prop us up.

RIP.

More here.

Leaving The Building: Shinseki 'Resigns', Carney Runs For Cover

The Obama Administration typically saves document dumps, information that reflects badly on the regime and other controversial news for Friday afternoons DC time, in order to allow the traditional weekend lull in the news cycle to diffuse things a little.

Today, the president finally dropped the ax on VA head General Norman Shinseki, announcing that he had 'agreed to accept Shinseki's resignation' after agreeing with his VA secretary that Shinseki had become a “distraction.”



Actually, this was planned as a distraction to allow President Obama some cover ('Look, he's doing something about it') and provide even members of his own party with a convenient scapegoat for a scandal the White House was deeply,deeply involved in.

Sloan D. Gibson, the deputy secretary of veterans affairs, is taking over as acting secretary until a permanent replacement for Shinseki is found and confirmed by the Senate. In view of President Obama's constant efforts to cut back and derail VA benefits from the beginning of his presidency, the new nominee ought to be interesting.

President Obama said in his press conference that the VA’s initial review showed that “the misconduct has not been limited to a few VA facilities, but many across the country.” He said that was “totally unacceptable,” adding: “Last week I said that if we found misconduct, it would be punished, and I meant it.”

'Punished'???  This is going to be contained and stonewalled. In the Obama regime, no one is ever accountable for anything unless Our Dear Leader decides otherwise. You see, in response to a question, the president answered that he was going to leave it to the Justice Department and AG Eric Holder to determine “whether there’s been criminal wrongdoing” within the VA system. No one is going to be 'punished',except perhaps some low level apparatchnicks as needed, who like Shinseki can be sacrificed to take the fall.

Another White House figure who's leaving is the regime's own Baghdad Bob, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney. President Obama referred to Carney as one of his closest advisers and friends at the White House, and gave him a nice huggie.



"In April, Jay came to me in the Oval Office and said that he was thinking of moving on, and I was not thrilled, to say the least," he said. "But Jay has had to wrestle with this decision for quite some time."

Actually, I think, unlike Shinseki, Lyin' Jay actually did resign. At this point, I think he was having trouble looking himself in the mirror every morning, and even his allies on the press corps shunned him like the hideous jackal he had become. That image will fade with him out of the spotlight and give him a chance after a few months to rehabilitate his image and get a gig as a talking head on MSNBC or one of the alphabet networks.

Carney's deputy Josh Earnest will take over the job as the president's press secretary. Some people will literally do anything for money.

It's Scapegoat Time In ObamaLand - Sebelius 'Resigns'

It's official. The foul Kommissar in charge of dismantling America's health system and imposing ObamaCare is 'resigning' effective immediately and President Obama is going to nominate Sylvia Mathews Burwell, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, to replace her.

But wait a minute. Here we were being told ObamaCare was going so well! Of course, if you believe that, you deserve to.

Just the numerous changes the president illegally made to the law to keep it from imploding ought to tell you all is not well when it comes to ObamaCare. Politicians don't change something that's working, or kick the person in charge out on the streets. I'm being generous when I estimate that those '7 million sign ups' President Obama was thumping his chest about the other day probably equals something like 3 million actual customers, and most of those are medicaid patients 'buying' free care anyway. Meanwhile, something like five million Americans have lost their coverage entirely.And just wait until after the midterms, when the real carnage kicks in as the waivers end.

Sylvia Mathews Burwell is a loyal clintonista and Democrat functionary, and unlike Sibelius she's apparently bright enough not to lie so obviously in public. Her ability to conjure numbers out of thin air regardless of reality (based on what the Obama OMB has projected in the last year or so) should be a useful talent as well.

As for Sebelius, she deserves a special reward for her part in this. I'm certain she'll receive it, in this world or the next.

Peddle your bicycle back to Kansas, creep. But given how unpopular ObamaCare is in the Sunflower State and across the nation, you might be better off staying in DC.

 

Piers Morgan To 'Quit' CNN Show

CNN has decided to pull the plug on Piers Morgan.

While it looked like a good idea for a while to have a mendacious blowhard with an obnoxious foreign accent on the air people would tune in just to dislike, eventually it got old, the novelty wore off and his ratings plummeted. So he's now 'resigning' from CNN's prime time 9 PM slot:

“It’s been a painful period and lately we have taken a bath in the ratings,” he said.

“Look, I am a British guy debating American cultural issues, including guns, which has been very polarizing, and there is no doubt that there are many in the audience who are tired of me banging on about it,” he said. “That’s run its course and Jeff and I have been talking for some time about different ways of using me.”

'Jeff', by the way is Jeff Zucker, formerly chief of NBC, who inherited Piers Morgan from his predecessor Jonathan Klein when he took over.

Morgan's contract runs out in September, so I'm certain Jeff Zucker has some ideas about different ways to use him effectively until then:

 

After that, it's anyone's guess, since he's unemployable in the UK after being caught faking stories while working at The Daily Mirror. MSNBC perhaps? Or maybe he could go back to judging talent shows part time.

In any event, CNN has finally had enough.

Buh Bye!

AG Eric Holder Says He Will Resign This Year - And What's Behind It

In a New Yorker interview with Jeffrey Toobin, President Obama's Attorney General Eric Holder announced that he plans to step down sometime this year.

It was just last November that Holder told CBS that he planned to stay on through President Obama's second term.

Given that we're talking about Eric Holder and this president, a few things come to mind in trying to figure this out.

What's changed in 3 months? And what are the angles involved? And most importantly, who benefits and how?

The first thing twe have to do is flip the telescope a bit. Because of the low key way this was announced, casually to a friendly source, a lot of people are bound to assume that this is Eric Holder's decision. In reality, while they may have worked out the details together this is almost certainly President Obama's decision, especially since just 3 months ago Holder was certain about staying on. Holder serves at the president's pleasure, and every cabinet officer submits an unsigned letter of resignation to the White House upon taking office as standard operating procedure.

There are several reason why President Obama might have wanted Holder out of the picture.

While the media still is doing a decent job of covering up for the regime, the scandals surrounding the Obama Administration are gradually heating up,and we can expect them to heat up even more as the mid terms approach. Holder has been involved with all of them except Benghazi up to his neck, especially in the cover up phase. And he is a direct path to the White House and President Obama, particularly in Fast and Furious and IRS-Gate.

In fact, as I write this, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee led by Rep. Darrell Isa is suing him for civil contempt of congress over Fast and Furious for ignoring a subpoena to obtain internal Justice Department memos the committee requested. And a federal judge has already slapped down the Department of Justice's request to have the lawsuit dismissed.A lot of this material was shielded by President Obama in the most egregious misuse of executive privilege in our history.

Now that the lawsuit is ongoing, there no real reason that Holder can give in court for not complying with the congressional subpoena except taking the Fifth ala' IRS commissioner Lois Lerner. And since this is a civil action, the court can still demand that the material be turned over, with failure to do so being subject to criminal penalties. That material may end up not looking too sanitary once it surfaces, and there's a good chance it might implicate the president, since some of it involves direct interaction between the president and his attorney general, the very basis the president used to claim executive privilege.

Holder and the president may very well have cut a deal wherein Holder chooses the time of his 'retirement' takes the flak, pleads the Fifth and keeps his mouth shut in exchange for a presidential pardon and perhaps some other considerations under the table afterwards.It's a good deal on both sides, since AG Holder has the leverage to be certain the president sticks to his end of it. After all, if Eric Holder were to open up and tell what he undoubtedly knows about this most lawless of administrations, the odds on President Obama finishing his term without being impeached plummet significantly. We're talking Watergate on steroids.

This is exactly how the Clintons dealt with Wade Hubbel and Susan McDougal...'well, you're gonna do a littel time, but if you keep your mouths shut it'll be real easy time in some white collar country club facility, as opposed to the alternative. And when it's appropriate, we'll make sure you get a presidential pardon and there will be a nice somethin' somethin' waiting for you when you get out.'

Another possibility, a remote one but still a possibility is that President Obama ordered Eric Holder to do something like destroying evidence that would have exposed him to direct criminal liability and Holder refused. At which point, the president and Holder had a sit down, Holder was informed that he was 'resigning', and they worked out the details of the actual resignation and the rewards involved for Holder keeping his mouth shut.

That scenario pretty much answers all three questions.

MSNBC'S Martin Bashir 'Resigns'

MSNBC's Pakistani/Brit import Martin Bashir announced his 'resignation' today:

Upon further reflection, and after meeting with the President of MSNBC, I have tendered my resignation. It is my sincere hope that all of my colleagues, at this special network, will be allowed to focus on the issues that matter without the distraction of myself or my ill-judged comments.

I deeply regret what was said, will endeavor to work hard at making constructive contributions in the future and will always have a deep appreciation for our viewers – who are the smartest, most compassionate and discerning of all television audiences. I would also wish to express deepest gratitude to my immediate colleagues, and our contributors, all of whom have given so much of themselves to our broadcast.’

What was said, of course, was a vicious on air rant about Governor Sarah Palin, who in a speech to a crowd at Iowa’s Faith and Freedom Coalition event compared the mushrooming national debt to slavery, saying, "..it’s going to be like slavery when that note is due.”

Bashir's foaming at the mouth response? He referred to her as America’s “resident dunce” and characterizing her remarks as “scraping the barrel of her long-deceased mind, and using her all-time favorite analogy in an attempt to sound intelligent about the national debt.”

And finished up by suggesting that someone should defecate in her mouth and urinate in her face.

Now, after this went viral, Bashir did do a fairly self-serving on-air apology, but he was never suspended, fairly egregious in view of how Alec Baldwin at MSNBC was tossed off the network immediately for a few anti-gay slurs.

The difference of course is simple,really. Baldwin was off the reservation and his remarks were merely an unscripted reflection of his out of control temper.Martin Bashir's stunt was entirely different.

In the entertainment biz, (and let's face it, that's the business MSNBC is in) market share and ratings are all that count. The suits at MSNBC took a look at Piers Morgan over at CNN, who used to be unknown and is unemployable in the UK since he was caught fabricating news stories, but who has carved out a career in a small way by being an obnoxious and nasty Lefty with a British accent.

I guarantee you that Bashir doesn't even sneeze on the air unless it's written into his TelePrompTer. So the Palin rant was cleared and vetted by MSNBC's management beforehand. Because, you see, the idea was for Bashir to become MSNBC's Piers Morgan, by being even nastier than Piers Morgan. And thereby garnering some ratings for their putrid little network.

And of course, Martin Bashir, whose last claim to fame was putting together an awful documentary about Michael Jackson a decade ago that most of Jackson's closest associates claim drove Jackson to depression was eager to play along.

That's precisely why they didn't suspend him or fire him.

Unfortunately for them, Sarah Palin has been around and understands this game a lot better than the boys at MSNBC.She didn't waste her time with unloading on Bashir, realizing he was just one of the willing lackeys. Instead, she got in touch with NBC, and canceled a series of interviews she had scheduled, explaining she no longer felt comfortable appearing on their network.

Now, Sarah Palin means ratings and that means money, something Steve Burke and the suits at NBC understand. So then they called Phil Griffin, the keeper in charge of the MSNBC asylum and lo and behold, all of a sudden Bashir comes out with that sniveling little apology. And when the stink still didn't dissipate, Bashir was called into Griffin's office for a little chat.

Naturally, MSNBC covered for their own part in this sordid drama:

“Martin Bashir resigned today, effective immediately. I understand his decision and I thank him for three great years with msnbc. Martin is a good man and respected colleague – we wish him only the best.”


A good 'man'? They must have a very different definition than I do.

Being a Leftist tool means never having to say you're sorry, no matter what, so Bashir might just surface somewhere. If all else fails, he's reportedly fluent in Urdu, so I'm sure he can get a gig in Pakistan, where their notion of how to treat uppity women might be a a bit more in line with what he expressed on the air.

Good riddance.

Iran's Cyberwarfare Head Shot Dead Under Mysterious Circumstances

 

Mojtaba Ahmadi, the head of Iran's cyberwarfare division was shot to death under mysterious circumstances in a wooded area near the town of Karaj, just north-west of Tehran.

According to Alborz,the Revolutionary Guard's website, local police said that he was shot dead Saturday by two men on a motorbike.

A motorbike...that rings a bell. Ah, yes that's reminiscent of how Iranian nuke scientist Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan was taken out, with a magnetic bomb attached to his car by two men on a motorbike.

No one in Iran has come up with the usual accusation against the all powerful, insidious Zionists. As a matter of fact, when the officers of the Cyber War Headquarters confirmed that Ahmadi had been their commander and posted condolence messages on their Facebook page, Alborz took them to task for revealing too much information.

“Stop giving more information about him. The counter-revolutionaries will take advantage of his murder,It sounds like a hit job for a security officer of this importance”.

My money is on the Iranian dissident group Mujahadeen-e-Khalq (MEK)as the actual hit men..perhaps with a little Mossad encouragement, perhaps not.

In any event, nice work.

1928- 2013..Jewish Show Biz Legend Eydie Gorme Makes The Passage

Eydie Gorme(pronounced Gor-MAY), one of the world's great pop singers passed away in Las Vegas Saturday of an illness. She was 84, and died just a few day shy of her August 16th birthday.

Along with her husband, Steve Lawrence, she was one of the great pop singers of the 1950's and 1960's, starting out with Tex Beneke's Big Band, where Steve Allen, the originator of the 'Tonight Show ' format saw her and hired her back in 1953.

She met her husband Steve Lawrence on the show, where Lawrence was also working.

“Eydie has been my partner onstage and in life for more than 55 years,” Lawrence said in a statement. “I fell in love with her the moment I saw her and even more the first time I heard her sing. While my personal loss is unimaginable, the world has lost one of the greatest pop vocalists of all time.”

The two became a vocal duo noted for their onstage back-and-forth banter long before Sonny and Cher, and had a successful TV show that ended in 1958 when Lawrence was drafted and spent two years in the army.

Her first album with Lawrence, We Got Us, won a Grammy in 1960. The two also recorded separately, Steve hitting Billboard’s top 10 with “Go Away Little Girl” in 1962 and Eydie having a hit with “Blame It on the Bossa Nova” in 1963 and winning a Grammy for “If He Walked into My Life” in 1966:



Yeah, she could sing.

Eydie Gorme was a Bronx girl, a Sephardi Jew whose father was a Sicilian tailor and whose mother was originally from Turkey. She grew up speaking Ladino, the equivalent of Yiddish for Sephardic Jews as well as English, and her Spanish was good enough for her to find work as a translator before her singing career took off.

Interestingly enough, she was a pioneer in Latino/Spanish language recording back in the mid 60's, fronting a group called Trio Los Panchos that had hits both in the U.S. and Latin America.

When rock n' roll hit, Steve and Eydie lost some of their audience because they stuck to traditional pop stylings, but they always were in demand in Vegas and had enough of a devoted following to do the odd television special, and to open for none other than Frank Sinatra as Ol' Blue Eyes' opening act on several tours.

A great singer and entertainer. RIP.

Another Jew Hater Takes The Dirt Nap- Helen Thomas, 1921-2013

Another radical Left winger and serial Jew hater has gone to her just reward. She was an early proponent of bastardizing journalism by not reporting the news but editorializing it.

It's truly despicable that in all the media obit style stories out there, only FOX even mentioned her over the top anti-semitism, her constant frothing at the mouth over the 'Jewish conspiracy' her telling Jews they needed to 'go home to Poland and Germany'. Or the fact she was forced to 'retire' once the smell got so bad and so public it couldn't be ignored anymore.

Within limits of her ability and influence, she did the best she could to be a force for slander, bigotry and evil.

Like her idol Yasser Arafat, the world's a better place for her absence.

Janet Napolitano To Resign As Head Of DHS

 

Yes, Big Sis is getting out of DC while the getting is good. With things like Fast and Furious, the NSA scandal, the AP scandal and numerous others brewing around the Obama Administration, she's decided it might be smarter to get out of Dodge for awhile.

And where's she headed? Where do all failed political figures from Democrat administrations go? If not to the media, than to academia.

Big Sis has been named to be the next president of the 10 campus University of California system, at three times the salary she now makes.

Why her? Oh, the L.A. Times article provides a few perhaps unintended hints:

UC officials believe that her Cabinet experiences –- which include helping to lead responses to hurricanes and tornadoes and overseeing some anti-terrorism measures -- will help UC administer its federal energy and nuclear weapons labs and aid its federally funded research in medicine and other areas. [...}

Robert Powell, the chairman of UC’s system-wide faculty Senate and who consulted on the UC search, said Napolitano stood out among the more than 300 potential candidates. She “has demonstrated an outstanding ability to deal with complex organizations under demanding circumstances,” he said.

Acknowledging that she will be a departure from UC’s traditions of having a president with strong records in campus administration or academic research, he stressed that her political skills will be important. “When she goes to Sacramento, clearly the conversations will be on a different plane,” he said.

Yes, it's about the Federal and State benjamins.

Interestingly enough, a Times poll at the link showed that 77% of the locals think she's a bad choice to head the UC system, as of 9 AM PST this morning.

While it will certainly be refreshing to be rid of her, rest assured that President Obama will pick someone even worse to fill her slot.

Michele Bachmann Announces She Will Not Run Again In 2014

Michele Bachmann has announced that she will not be running for re-election in 2014.

The usual jackasses will bray and cavort, since they've hated her for years. AFter all, it's what they do, and it certainly doesn't concern me and I doubt it concerns Rep. Bachmann.

But if you listen carefully to what she's saying and how she phrases things, I don't think we've heard the last of her at all. And that is a very good thing, seeing how we need honest and courageous public servants.

She could be planning a run for the Senate, and not necessarily as a Republican. Given the ongoing war by the RINO establishment against conservative Republicans and the mancrush between Chris Christie and President Obama, I wouldn't be at all surprised if the 2016 match up featured Chris Christie as 'a new type of Democrat' after a party switch versus Jeb Bush for the Republicans.

If that happens, rest assured you'll see a credible third party emerge as the GOP fades away like the Whigs.
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