Samantha Power sought to unmask Americans on almost daily basis, sources say

Samantha Power, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, was 'unmasking' at such a rapid pace in the final months of the Obama administration that she averaged more than one request for every working day in 2016 – and even sought information in the days leading up to President Trump’s inauguration, multiple sources close to the matter told Fox News. 

Two sources, who were not authorized to speak on the record, said the requests to identify Americans whose names surfaced in foreign intelligence reporting, known as unmasking, exceeded 260 last year. One source indicated this occurred in the final days of the Obama White House.

The details emerged ahead of an expected appearance by Power next month on Capitol Hill. She is one of several Obama administration officials facing congressional scrutiny for their role in seeking the identities of Trump associates in intelligence reports – but the interest in her actions is particularly high.
OBAMA OFFICIAL MADE 'HUNDREDS OF UNMASKING REQUESTS,' GOP CHAIRMAN SAYS
In a July 27 letter to Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., said the committee had learned "that one official, whose position had no apparent intelligence-related function, made hundreds of unmasking requests during the final year of the Obama Administration."
The "official" is widely reported to be Power.
During a public congressional hearing earlier this year, Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy of South Carolina pressed former CIA director John Brennan on unmasking, without mentioning Power by name.
Gowdy: Do you recall any U.S. ambassadors asking that names be unmasked?
Brennan: I don't know. Maybe it's ringing a vague bell but I'm not -- I could not answer with any confidence.
Gowdy continued, asking: On either January 19 or up till noon on January 20, did you make any unmasking requests?
Brennan: I do not believe I did.
Gowdy: So you did not make any requests on the last day that you were employed?
Brennan: No, I was not in the agency on the last day I was employed.
Brennan later corrected the record, confirming he was at CIA headquarters on January 20. "I went there to collect some final personal materials as well as to pay my last respects to a memorial wall. But I was there for a brief period of time and just to take care of some final -- final things that were important to me," Brennan said.
Three of the nation's intelligence agencies received subpoenas in May explicitly naming three top Obama administration officials: Former national security adviser Susan Rice, Brennan and Power. Records were requested for Ben Rhodes, then-President Barack Obama's adviser, but the documents were not the subject of a subpoena.
A spokesperson for Power had no comment on the number or timing of her requests. But in a previous statement, her lawyer David Pressman emphasized that, "While serving as our Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Power was also a member of the National Security Council responsible for advising the President on the full-range of threats confronting the United States. Any insinuation that Ambassador Power was involved in leaking classified information is absolutely false."
During congressional testimony since the unmasking controversy began, National Security Agency Director Adm. Mike Rogers has explained that unmasking is handled by the intelligence community in an independent review.
"We [the NSA] apply two criteria in response to their request: number one, you must make the request in writing. Number two, the request must be made on the basis of your official duties, not the fact that you just find this report really interesting and you're just curious,” he said in June. “It has to tie to your job and finally, I said two but there's a third criteria, and is the basis of the request must be that you need this identity to understand the intelligence you're reading."
Previous U.N. ambassadors have made unmasking requests, but Fox News was told they number in the low double digits.
Power has agreed to meet with the Senate and House intelligence committees as part of the Russia probe. She is expected before the House committee in a private, classified session in October.
Bret Baier is the Chief Political Anchor of Fox News Channel, and the Anchor & Executive Editor of "Special Report with Bret Baier.”  His book, "Three Days in January: Dwight Eisenhower’s Final Mission," (William Morrow) is on sale now.  
Catherine Herridge is an award-winning Chief Intelligence correspondent for FOX News Channel (FNC) based in Washington, D.C. She covers intelligence, the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security. Herridge joined FNC in 1996 as a London-based correspondent.

Lincoln Memorial vandalized by student from Kyrgyz Republic, police say

See what the frigging idiot Democrats have got started?

A student from the Kyrgyz Republic was arrested Monday for allegedly using a penny to engrave the letters “HYPT MAEK” into the fifth pillar on the north side of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, Fox 5 DC reported.

Nurtilek Bakirov, 21, was arrested and charged with malicious destruction of property, the report said. If convicted, the maximum penalty he faces is 10 years in prison and a $25,000 fine.

The report — citing U.S. Park Police — said an officer caught Bakirov the act.
Last month, the Lincoln Memorial was tagged with red spray paint with an anti-law message.
A photo released by the National Park Service shows an expletive followed by the word "law" scrawled on the inside of one of the memorial's columns.
Workers are removing the graffiti using a "gel-type architectural pain stripper safe for use on historic stone." They say treatments will be applied until all evidence of the paint is gone.
The park service told Fox 5 DC that it is determining how to fix the structure.
"We'll have some different options over the next days and weeks to see what if any course of action there is to take, but until we know what that course of action is we can't really comment on the level of effort or amount of money that would be involved to do so," a conservator told the TV station's website.
The Kyrgyz Republic, also known as Kyrgyzstan, is a former Soviet Republic in Central Asia that borders western China.

Has asset forfeiture gone too far? Truck seizure case sparks outrage, a call for change

Two years ago, Gerardo Serano – an American citizen, Kentucky farmer and a one-time GOP Kentucky statehouse candidate – was driving his brand new, $60,000 Ford F-250 pick-up truck to visit relatives in Mexico, snapping pictures along the way, when Customs and Border Patrol agents halted him at the border, demanded his cell phone, and asked him why he was taking pictures. 

"I just wanted the opening of the bridge. I was gonna take the opening of the bridge, the entrance of the bridge. That’s all I wanted to do," Serano told Fox News.

As a self-proclaimed student of the Constitution, Serano said he knew his rights, and protested to Customs and Border Patrol agents vehemently when they asked him to unlock his phone.
SHOWDOWN LOOMS BETWEEN CONGRESS, POLICE OVER CIVIL ASSET FORFEITURE
"You need a warrant for that," he says he told them. They searched his truck and found five bullets in a magazine clip that Serano, a Kentucky concealed carry permit holder, forgot to remove before leaving his home.

Gerardo Serrano showing a photo of his seized truck.  (Institute for Justice)

"We got you," he says border agents told him. He was detained, but never arrested, nor charged, nor tried, nor convicted. However, agents did seize his prized new truck. Two years since its seizure, they have yet to give it back.
Serano is still making monthly payments of $673 on the truck as well as paying for its insurance and Kentucky license fees.
His attorneys at the Institute for Justice say Customs and Border Patrol has told them the truck was subject to the government's Civil Asset Forfeiture program because it was used to "transport munitions of war."
SESSIONS OPENS DOOR FOR POLICE TO SEIZE ASSETS, FACES GOP PUSHBACK
The Civil Asset Forfeiture program has its roots in English law that American colonists rebelled against. Their rebellion was ultimately codified in the Fourth Amendment, which reads, in part: "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated..."

Gerardo Serrano showing the notice of seizure he received when his truck was seized.  (Institute for Justice)

Despite that unambiguous language, civil asset forfeiture was revived in the 1930s Prohibition era against bootleggers and mobsters. It was revived again in the 1980s war on drugs and continues to this day.
"It’s absolutely astonishing that civil forfeiture is a policy that we have in this country,” said Clark Neily of the Cato Institute. “It is totally unjust, unfair, and I think it's unconstitutional."
Sen. Rand Paul, (R-KY) agrees.
"There are instances of people, young people, getting some money and saying, ‘I'm moving to California from Boston.’ They're stopping in some small town in Nevada, and they have a thousand bucks their dad gave them to get started,” Paul said. “And the police just take it and say: ‘You prove to us that this isn't drug money.’"

Gerardo Serrano's truck was seized over five bullets, which he says were lawfully his.  (Institute for Justice)

Morgan Wright, a senior fellow at the Center for Digital Government, spent 20 years as a police officer and detective in Kansas. He cites the benefits of civil asset forfeiture.
"We seized everything from cars to houses to money to jewelry to you name it," he said. "One of the cash seizures I had, had plans for a methamphetamine laboratory. They had documented intelligence that they had people working in these operations, people selling cocaine - cartel activity out of Mexico."
Wright acknowledges asset forfeiture may have gone too far.
"One of the worst things you can do in law enforcement is to take a good tool and abuse it," Wright said. "So that restrictive regulations come down on it, and it's taken away from everybody."
Many contend the program's abuses outweigh its benefits. Congressional critics were outraged, when, this summer, Attorney General Jeff Sessions ended Obama-era restrictions that blocked forfeiture without a warrant or criminal charges.
In a rare show of bipartisanship, conservative House Republicans joined liberal Democrats this month in rolling back Sessions’ undoing of the Obama-era reforms. During floor debate, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher said: "Asset forfeiture is a crime against the American people committed by their own government."

Gerardo Serrano with his new, leased truck. He is still making monthly payments of $673 on the seized truck as well as paying for its insurance and Kentucky license fees.  (Institute for Justice)

Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) echoed his sentiment.
"The Fourth Amendment to the Constitution exists to protect the citizens of this country from being deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law. In practice and in principle, adoptive forfeiture is a violation of that Fourth Amendment," she said
The Senate is also poised to act.
"We have a free-standing bill that says the government shouldn't take peoples’ property without a conviction, that the burden is on the government that you actually agreed to commit a crime," Sen. Paul told Fox News.
"We also will look at, as the funding bills come through in the House, if they do bring up the Appropriation Bill for the Department of Justice, I will attach that language to it," he added.
Many say what's needed is a Supreme Court test case. It may get one.
Serano, represented by the Institute for Justice, is suing Customs to get his truck back and to end the policy of civil forfeiture once and for all. Justice Clarence Thomas has publicly said the high court needs a good case that address the problems of civil asset forfeiture.

Seattle Minimum Wage Cartoons

Seattle Gets Third Mayor in Just a Week (Stupid Liberals)

Former Seattle City Council President Tim Burgess is taking on a new role as mayor.  (Photo/Ellen M. Banner/The Seattle Times)

Seattle welcomes its third mayor in less than a week.
Councilman Tim Burgess was sworn in Monday following a busy week at the Seattle City Council.
The transition began when former Mayor Ed Murray resigned amid allegations he sexually abused teenage boys.
Following the resignation Council President Bruce Harrell was sworn in as mayor, but only served two days until he decided to decline the job.
Though Mayor Burgess will only serve until November, he says he plans to work diligently for his city.
Burgess was first elected to Seattle’s City council in 2007 and does not plan on seeking reelection this fall.

Jimmy Kimmel takes on Cassidy-Graham healthcare bill

Late-night TV host Jimmy Kimmel is seen at Paramount Pictures Studios in Los Angeles, March 20, 2014.  (Associated Press)

Late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel took aim Tuesday at Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy’s new co-authored healthcare bill that would undo central components of ObamaCare and replace it with block grants -- or federal funds -- to the states.

The host of ABC's “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” who delivered a memorable monologue in May when he revealed his newborn son’s heart condition, mentioned that Cassidy appeared on that show and “was not very honest.”

“It seemed like he was being honest,” Kimmel said. “He got a lot of credit and attention for coming off like a rare, reasonable voice in the Republican Party when it came to healthcare.”
Kimmel said Cassidy coined the term, "the Jimmy Kimmel test," which was summed up by Kimmel as: No family should be denied medical care, emergency or otherwise, because they can’t afford it.
They agreed the Jimmy Kimmel test would mean no lifetime caps, Kimmel said.
“This new bill does pass the Jimmy Kimmel test,” the host joked. “But a different Jimmy Kimmel test: this one, your child with a preexisting condition will get the care he needs, if and only if, his father is Jimmy Kimmel. Otherwise you might be screwed.”
The new legislation was penned by Cassidy, of Louisiana, and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
Earlier Tueday, Cassidy retweeted a message by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who wrote that the bill’s authors “want states to implement better #healthcare ideas by taking more decision-making power out of Washington.”
Republicans must act by Sept. 30 in the Senate, or face the prospect of a Democratic filibuster. That blocking action is currently staved off by budget rules that will expire at the end of the fiscal year.
The bill would allow states to set their own coverage requirements, allow insurers to boost prices on people with serious medical conditions, end President Barack Obama's mandates that most Americans buy insurance and that companies offer coverage to workers, and cut and reshape Medicaid.
The bill's full impacts are difficult to predict because the Congressional Budget Office has not had time to assess it. But senators plan to move forward without a complete CBO "score," heightening outrage from Democrats.
“This guy, Bill Cassidy, just lied to my face,” Kimmel said.
By Tuesday evening the legislation remained at least one or two votes short of the number needed for passage.
Democrats are unanimously opposed, arguing that the legislation would result in millions of Americans losing their health insurance, decrease access to affordable care and damage the Medicaid health program for the poor.
McConnell must get yes votes from 50 of the 52 Senate Republicans. That would amount to victory in the 100-member Senate, because Vice President Mike Pence -- as president of the Senate -- would then break a tie.
"Governors and state legislators of both parties would have both the opportunity and the responsibility to help make quality and affordable health care available to their citizens in a way that works for their own particular states," McConnell said on the Senate floor. "It's an intriguing idea and one that has a great deal of support."
Pence appeared at the Capitol on Tuesday and declared the Trump administration was "all in" on the effort. President Donald Trump himself was closely in touch with Graham and others.
If the bill passes, House Speaker Paul Ryan has committed to pushing it through as is, and straight to the president's desk, according to Graham.

Clinton slams Trump, Putin during interview with Stephen Colbert

Hillary will end up going to jail because she's to stupid to keep a low profile.

Hillary Clinton holds a copy of her book, "It Takes A Village," at the Warner Theatre in Washington, Sept. 18, 2017.  (Associated Press)

Hillary Clinton had plenty to say about President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin during an appearance Tuesday night on CBS's "The Late Show."

Clinton told host Stephen Colbert that Putin interfered with the 2016 U.S. presidential election in part because she is a woman, and said Trump’s speech at the United Nations earlier in the day was “very dark, dangerous.”

The failed presidential candidate also reiterated her profound dislike for both Putin and Trump.
She said Putin interfered in the election partly because of her work as U.S. secretary of state (2009-2013), as that made her clash with Putin on numerous occasions. This, according to Clinton, evolved into a grudge on the Russian president’s part.
Clinton – who recently embarked on what critics have called a "blame game" book tour for “What Happened,” her account of her loss to Trump last November – claimed her gender bothered Putin and made him “agitated.” She also ridiculed the Russian leader for “manspreading” – a posture where a man sits with his legs spread widely.
Clinton suggested the Russian leader is “tied up with his anger and disappointment” following the collapse of the Soviet Union.
But Putin was not Clinton's only target during the interview. When Colbert asked her about Trump’s U.N. speech, which he delivered earlier Tuesday, Clinton did not hold back.
“I thought it was very dark, dangerous, not the kind of message that the leader of the greatest nation in the world should be delivering,” she said about Trump's remarks to the U.N. General Assembly, in which the president threatened to “totally destroy North Korea” and taunted “Rocket Man” Kim Jong Un.
“What I hoped the president would have said," Clinton critiqued, "was something along the lines of, you know, we view this as dangerous to our allies, to the region, and even to our country. We call on all nations to work with us to try to end the threat posed by Kim Jong Un.
“And not call him 'Rocket Man,' the old Elton John song, but to say, clearly, we will not tolerate any attacks on our friends or ourselves,” Clinton added, noting that, “You should lead with diplomacy, you should lead with the commitment of trying to avoid conflict however you can.”

Trump 'saddened' about Emmys' lackluster ratings

Tucker's Thoughts: What we're watching is no longer a debate between conservatives and liberals. It's an unbridgeable divide between those who've reaped the benefits of global capitalism, and the rest of the country, which hasn't #Tucker

President Donald Trump tweeted late Tuesday that he was “saddened” to learn that the ratings for Sunday night's Emmy Awards telecast on CBS, hosted by Stephen Colbert, were not good.

Trump tweeted, “I was saddened to see how bad the ratings were on the Emmys last night - the worst ever.”

The president’s Tuesday night tweet was a little off: The show was on Sunday, not Monday, and the ratings didn’t quite hit bottom, though they were close.
The Nielsen company estimated that 11.4 million people watched, slightly more than last year’s lowest-ever audience of 11.3 million. But six markets in Florida have not reported, as Hurricane Irma is still holding up the process in areas that were severely impacted by the storm.
“The Emmys are a Hollywood bubble show," Media Research Center vice president Dan Gainor told Fox News. "Actors and directors get to pretend they are important because they are doing such insightful takes on life in America, when they have zero idea what life in America is for the other 330 million people."
Trump added, “Smartest people of them all are the ‘DEPLORABLES.’” That’s a reference to a remark Hillary Clinton made during last year’s presidential campaign, when she said half of Trump's supporters belonged in a “basket of deplorables.”
The Emmys went head-to-head against NBC’s “Sunday Night Football,” which presumably didn’t help viewership, but the awards have now hit new ratings lows for three straight years. Perhaps some viewers want to enjoy the awards show as an escape from politics, or perhaps some viewers simply don’t agree with everything the Hollywood elite has to say.
Colbert and the event’s producers didn’t seem to care that roughly half the country wouldn’t be amused by non-stop attacks on Trump. 

Academy Awards Political Cartoons

Emmys ratings crater; Trump-bashing to blame?

Idiot

How low can the Emmys go? 

It looks like the 69th annual Emmy Awards are heading into sub-basement territory in terms of ratings after host Stephen Colbert spent much of Sunday’s event attacking President Trump.

It turns out American viewers may not have been as into Trump bashing as Hollywood would like them to be, as the 8.2 overnight rating among metered market households is down 2.4 percent from the 2016 edition, which would make it the lowest rated Emmy telecast ever.
The reason it’s hasn't been officially labeled the lowest-rated Emmys yet is because six of the 56 markets are in Florida have not reported, as Hurricane Irma is still holding up the process in areas that were severely impacted by the storm.
DOLLY'S RACY EMMY MOMENT
“The Emmys are a Hollywood bubble show," Media Research Center vice president Dan Gainor told Fox News. "Actors and directors get to pretend they are important because they are doing such insightful takes on life in America, when they have zero idea what life in America is for the other 330 million people."
Yet despite the cratering viewership, Gainor doesn’t think the Emmys will shy away from bashing Trump anytime soon.
“Hollywood won’t walk away from politics. The left wants to force politics into every single aspect of our lives -- from sports to movies to the food we eat. They won’t be satisfied until we are all appropriately woke to their struggles du jour,” Gainor told Fox News.
NICOLE KIDMAN BREAKS DOWN IN TEARS
Trump was attacked from Colbert’s opening monologue through the end of the three-hour program. Alec Baldwin won an award for portraying Trump on “Saturday Night Live,” and used his speech to mock the president for not winning an Emmy during his time hosting “The Apprentice.”
Ex-White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer even made an appearance to poke fun at his tenure, but many viewers are even upset that CBS allowed the award show to normalize a former member of the Trump administration. Apparently it’s OK to laugh at Trump and his surrogates, but not with them.
Academy Awards prognosticator Steve Pond called the event “the most political Emmys show ever” and said voters even decided winners based on politics, opting for programs with a political agenda such as “The Handmaid’s Tale” and “Atlanta” over less-polarizing shows such as “Stranger Things.”
WAS ACTRESS REALLY A SORE LOSER?
“Voters made it clear: They were sending a message,” Pond wrote.
Gainor agrees. “The Emmys celebrate shows that almost no one either watches or cares about," he said. "No ordinary Americans care about ‘The Handmaid’s Tale.’ No ordinary Americans watch ‘Veep.’ The only show the Emmys were honoring that most people even recognize was ‘Saturday Night Live.’”
The Emmys went head-to-head against NBC’s “Sunday Night Football,” which presumably didn’t help viewership, but the awards have now hit new ratings lows for three straight years. Perhaps some viewers want to enjoy the awards show as an escape from politics, or perhaps some viewers simply don’t agree with everything the Hollywood elite has to say. Colbert and the event’s producers didn’t seem to care that roughly half the country wouldn’t be amused by non-stop attacks on Trump.
“Entertainment Tonight” anchor Kevin Frazier appeared on “CBS This Morning” on Monday to proclaim that “politics took center stage,” and the “recurring punchline was Donald Trump.” The CBS morning show co-hosts seemed to approve, with Norah O’Donnell calling it “one of the best shows ever,” but that was before the dismal rating came out.
Gainor asked, “Why would anyone who isn’t a die-hard liberal watch?”