Conservative Blogger
Wednesday, August 31, 2016
Kaepernick social media posts laud Black Lives Matter, Black Panthers since dating activist DJ
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| Piece of Crap. |
Kaepernick, 28, who has come under fire for his decision to remain seated during the playing of The Star-Spangled Banner before San Francisco 49ers games, reportedly began dating Hot 97 DJ and MTV host Nessa Diab in July 2015. A few months later, his social media posts began to reflect the Black Lives Matter and Muslim activism of Diab.
"History!" Kaepernick wrote on Instagram Oct. 15, when he marked 50 years since the Black Panther Party was founded.
Kaepernick has posted 170 photos or videos on his Instagram account in the four years since he created it. Most of his first 128 posts were pics of him in football gear, publicity photos or shots taken with friends. But 31 of his last 42 posts have strong social justice connotations, often featuring quotes from radical Nation of Islam leader Malcolm X, Black Panthers founder Huey Newton and cop killer Assata Shakur. During a Sunday news conference about the flag flap, Kaepernick dressed in a black hat with a large, white “X” and a T-shirt that featured photos of Cuban despot Fidel Castro and Malcolm X.
Kaepernick, who was notably photographed with Bible quotes tattooed on his biceps when he first came into the league, also posted a greeting in July acknowledging “a lot of people” who he knew fasting during the Muslim holiday of Ramadan and wishing them “a Happy Eid!” He also was heavily critical on social media of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s proposed ban on Muslims.
Diab’s Twitter and Instagram account is a mish-mash of black activism, celebrity pics and the occasional defense of Islam. She frequently retweets Black Lives Matter supporter and newspaper columnist Shaun King on race-related issues. On Aug. 18, Diab retweeted another user’s musings that black athletes face a backlash for expressing political opinions with the added comment “YESSSSSS.” She defended Kaepernick in an Aug. 28 tweet, writing, “I’m always proud of him and always will be @Kaepernick7 . Please take the time to UNDERSTAND what he is saying,” followed by a link to a transcript of his news conference.
Diab said in a March 2014 interview that she spent many of her formative years in Saudi Arabia, after her dad was transferred there from a job in California. She described being in the Kingdom during the Gulf War and how the threat of bombings later colored her impression of American tragedies.
“When 9/11 happened, it didn’t surprise me at all,” Diab said on the Guy Code Podcast. “’Wow. Mmkay. This is what we went through, probably, every couple months.’”
On the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Diab posted a quote on Instagram from President Obama saying in part “ISIL does not speak for Islam.” Diab added: “Had to repost @ebroski on this and also check those comments out #knowledgeispower #enlightenment.”
Posting about Alton Sterling’s controversial shooting by police officers, Diab remarked “they will also try to discredit the store owner’s account of what occurred because he’s Muslim and we know Islamaphobia is at an all-time high in this country.”
Diab said her parents, who were originally from Egypt, were highly educated, but denied some jobs in the U.S. “because they have an accent.”
Kaepernick said on Sunday that his sitdown is for “people that are being oppressed” and he'll end the protest when “I feel like that flag represents what it’s supposed to represent.”
Kaepernick said he planned further activism beyond the seated demonstration.
Emails shed light on Abedin involvement in foundation work – and aides' frustration with Clinton
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| Huma's warnings damaging to Clinton in new emails |
Emails obtained by Fox News show how Abedin used her State Department email address to deal with issues relating to a Clinton Global Initiative event. In an email dated Sept. 16, 2009, Abedin was forwarded an email chain about how campaign donor Geri Shapiro first accepted an invitation to an event, but then declined when she discovered that her husband was not allowed to attend.
Abedin responded from her State Department email: “Why was she invited in the first place?”
The emails, first obtained by Citizens United, come as new questions are being raised about the relationship between the Clinton Foundation and State Department when Clinton was secretary of state. Critics say recent email dumps show donors who gave significant amounts to the Clinton Foundation calling in favors and being given preferential treatment by the State Department, with Abedin frequently acting as point person. Abedin had a special arrangement allowing her to work for the foundation while at State.
Although Clinton has claimed there was “no connection” between the foundation and her work at the department, Republican critics have jumped on the recent revelations, with Donald Trump accusing Clinton of having engaged in “pay for play” activities.
The New York Times editorial board on Tuesday called for the Clintons to cut ties to the foundation if Hillary wins. While Bill Clinton has said he will resign from the board if his wife wins, and the foundation will no longer accept foreign and corporate donations, the board called for the end to such donations immediately, and said the Clintons may need to do more.
“If Mrs. Clinton wins, Bill and Chelsea Clinton should both end their operational involvement in the foundation and its affiliates for the duration of her presidency, relinquishing any control over spending, hiring and board appointments,” the editorial board said.
Meanwhile, more information is coming to light about how Clinton's own staff viewed her personal email habits.
Emails seen by The Daily Caller show Abedin and Chief of Staff Cheryl Mills discussing how somebody had emailed the secretary about a job. “Personally, I think it’s outrageous that staff go straight to her on this stuff,” Abedin wrote in the April 2009 exchange, according to The Daily Caller.
Mills responded: "This is unbelievable, and she also should not be giving her email to everyone – b/c she will get stuff like this."
Abedin explained that emails were being automatically forwarded from Clinton's old Senate account and IT would have to "fix" it. However, she complained that Clinton would take her unsecure BlackBerry everywhere, even the "shower."
Clinton has been frequently criticized for what critics say was a dismissiveness of serious security concerns surrounding the use of her private email server while the nation’s top diplomat. In July, FBI Director James Comey described Clinton as “extremely careless” in her handling of sensitive material, but did not recommend charges against her.
The emails obtained by Fox News also show concerns about email security, on a trip to Moscow in December 2009. Abedin wrote that they would be leaving their BlackBerry phones on the plane.
“Want to make sure DC is aware that those of us in the Russia traveling party will be leaving blackberries on the airplane once we tough down in moscow tonite [sic],” Abedin wrote.
When an aide noted that her clintonemail.com address should work if Russian officials are taking their BlackBerrys away, Abedin responded: “Its for security reasons. I don’t want to use that one either.”
FBI to release Clinton probe files, as candidate pressed to answer new questions ‘under oath’
Hillary Clinton is facing the possibility of new revelations on her personal email scandal on multiple fronts, as the FBI prepares to release some of the documents from its investigation in a matter of days – and a watchdog group sends the Democratic presidential nominee a detailed set of questions she’s expected to answer “under oath” by next month.
The FBI files are being released in response to a number of Freedom of Information Act requests.
Law enforcement sources told Fox News that FBI and Justice Department officials are still in the process of determining what exactly will be released to the public as part of this response.
Fox News is told the release could come as early as this week.
The FBI’s report on the probe, which ultimately recommended no charges be filed, was first sent to the Justice Department in July. The DOJ dropped the case in response, though FBI Director James Comey concluded Clinton nevertheless had been “extremely careless” in her handling of sensitive information. The FBI interviewed Clinton for several hours at FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C., before announcing the decision to close the investigation.
So far, the FBI has only provided portions of these investigative documents to Congress.
The latest headlines on the 2016 elections from the biggest name in politics. See Latest Coverage →
Meanwhile, Judicial Watch announced Tuesday that it has submitted 25 questions to Clinton about her email set-up and practices, on the heels of U.S. District Court Judge Emmet G. Sullivan allowing the conservative group to do so.
Clinton is under court order to answer the questions, under oath, within 30 days – putting the deadline at Sept. 29, well before the election.
The Judicial Watch questions span everything from why Clinton created a private email system to whom she consulted to whether she had any discussions about the possibility the practice violated recordkeeping laws.
The line of questioning focuses in large part on the recordkeeping law aspect, asking how Clinton preserved her emails and whether FOIA and other requests for her messages were granted or denied.
Judicial Watch, a conservative watchdog group, also asks about any hacking attempts and why Clinton continued to use her clintonemail.com in the face of such risks.
One of the questions also asks: “After your lawyers completed their review of the emails in your clintonemail.com email account in late 2014, were the electronic versions of your emails preserved, deleted, or destroyed? If they were deleted or destroyed, what tool or software was used to delete or destroy them, who deleted or destroyed them, and was the deletion or destruction done at your direction?”
This comes after Gowdy told Fox News last week that Clinton’s team used a program known as BleachBit to delete her private emails and try to prevent their recovery.
“They didn't just push the delete button. They had them deleted where even God can't read them,” Gowdy said.
Yet some additional emails have been recovered. The State Department has said the FBI provided it with about 14,900 emails purported not to have been among those previously released.
Notably, the department says about 30 emails that may be related to the 2012 attack on U.S. compounds in Benghazi, Libya, are among the thousands of emails recovered.
Government lawyers told U.S. District Court Judge Amit P. Mehta Tuesday that an undetermined number of the emails among the 30 were not included in the 55,000 pages previously provided by Clinton. The State Department's lawyer said it would need until the end of September to review the emails and redact potentially classified information before they are released.
Mehta questioned why it would take so long to release so few documents, and urged that the process be sped up. He ordered the department to report to him in a week with more details about why the review process would take a full month.
The hearing was held in one of several lawsuits filed by Judicial Watch.
Trump agrees to meet with Mexican president
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said Tuesday that he had accepted an invitation to visit Mexico from President Enrique Pena Nieto ahead of his immigration policy speech in Arizona.
President Nieto confirmed that Trump accepted the invitation and that the two would meet in private Wednesday.
The visit will come as Trump looks to clarify his stance on immigration, which is the centerpiece of his presidential campaign. Trump has called for the deportation of illegal immigrants living in the U.S. and building a wall along with country’s Mexican border and having Mexico pay for the wall.
Recently, Trump has signaled he would soften his stance a bit after meetings with Hispanic leaders and a special “Hannity” town hall last week.
Trump’s campaign manager Kellyanne Conway said on “Fox News Sunday” that Trump wants to find “the fair and humane way” to address the issue, which includes whether to separate families to enforce federal law.
Last week, Mexican President Nieto — who has been critical of Trump's insistence that Mexico would pay for the wall — invited both the Republican nominee and Democrat Hillary Clinton to visit his country. Trump confirmed on Twitter late Tuesday that he had accepted Nieto’s invitation.
The latest headlines on the 2016 elections from the biggest name in politics. See Latest Coverage →
"From the first days of his campaign, Donald Trump has painted Mexicans as 'rapists’ and criminals and has promised to deport 16 million people, including children and U.S. citizens. He has said we should force Mexico to pay for his giant border wall. He has said we should ban remittances to families in Mexico if Mexico doesn't pay up.
“What ultimately matters is what Donald Trump says to voters in Arizona, not Mexico, and whether he remains committed to the splitting up of families and deportation of millions."
A senior campaign official told Fox News that Clinton will meet with Nieto at the "appropriate time."
The Washington Post first reported the potential of a trip.
Trump is scheduled to speak on immigration Wednesday evening in Phoenix. He was already out West on Tuesday for a campaign stop near Seattle, conceivably giving him enough time to jet down to Mexico for a brief visit before the evening speech.
Foreign trips by presidential candidates, even to a neighboring country such as Mexico, are an enormous logistical and security undertaking. It's unclear whether Trump could receive clearance from Secret Service to make the trip or whether his small campaign team could organize the logistics in time for even a short visit.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a close Trump adviser, has been among those pushing Trump to make the trip, according to a person familiar with their conversations. Christie made his own successful trip to Mexico City in September 2014, and has a warm relationship with the Mexican president.
Tuesday, August 30, 2016
Huma Abedin separates from Anthony Weiner after latest sexting report
Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin announced Monday she is separating from husband and former Congressman Anthony Weiner, after a new report that he had sent explicit photos to a woman multiple times over the last 19 months.
"After long and painful consideration and work on my marriage, I have made the decision to separate from my husband," Abedin said in a statement. “Anthony and I remain devoted to doing what is best for our son, who is the light of our life. During this difficult time, I ask for respect for our privacy."
A New York Post report published late Sunday claimed Weiner sent pictures to the unidentified woman, and described his sexual fantasies and masturbation in messages to her, calling her "literally a fantasy chick."
One of the photos Weiner sent the woman showed his underwear-clad crotch as his son Jordan slept next to him in bed.
Weiner, 51, took his Twitter account down Monday after admitting to the Post that he and the woman "have been friends for some time." He added that their conversations were "private ... and were always appropriate."
Weiner's latest correspondent, who described herself to the Post as a supporter of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and the National Rifle Association, has two adult children and lives with a boyfriend who routinely travels for work.
The latest headlines on the 2016 elections from the biggest name in politics. See Latest Coverage →
With Abedin's public support, Weiner entered the New York City mayoral race in 2013. However, his campaign collapsed when a second woman, Sydney Leathers, came forward to claim Weiner had sent her more explicit photos while using the alias "Carlos Danger." Weiner finished fifth in the Democratic primary with just five percent of the vote.
In a recent interview with Vogue, Abedin talked about how her Muslim faith, and a network of friends and colleagues, helped her through the scandals.
Weiner, meanwhile, recently sidestepped a reporter's question when asked by The New York Times Magazine whether he was still engaging in sexting.
"I'm not going to go down the path of talking about any of that," Weiner reportedly said.
After Abedin announced her separation, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump weighed in on the drama Monday afternoon.
"Huma is making a very wise decision. I know Anthony Weiner well, and she will be far better off without him," Trump said.
"I only worry for the country in that Hillary Clinton was careless and negligent in allowing Weiner to have such close proximity to highly classified information. Who knows what he learned and who he told? It's just another example of Hillary Clinton's bad judgment. It is possible that our country and its security have been greatly compromised by this,” he said.
ObamaCare coverage options disappearing across country, report finds
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| Next president may face ObamaCare meltdown |
The Kaiser Family Foundation study found residents in Pinal County, Ariz., are even at risk of having no insurance options on the exchanges, which provide subsidized plans.
Republicans seized on the report Monday to claim that the health care overhaul is not providing the choices promised by President Obama and others.
"The president repeatedly promised that his health care law would provide more choices, ‘bend the cost curve,’ and allow Americans to keep the plans they liked and could afford. He failed to live up to those promises, and families are paying the price," Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., said in a statement, noting the majority of counties in Missouri could be left with just one insurance option on the exchanges.
The Kaiser Family Foundation study found that overall, 31 percent of counties will have just a single insurance option within the Affordable Care Act exchanges. That's up from 7 percent this year -- and underscores a problem many analysts have been warning about for years.
Further, about six in 10 counties could have two or fewer marketplace insurers in 2017, with the “bulk of the increase in single-insurer counties” the result of UnitedHealth Group’s exit, the study, released Sunday, reveals.
The latest headlines on the 2016 elections from the biggest name in politics. See Latest Coverage →
Near Phoenix, in Pinal County, Ariz., 400,000 residents are likely to have no insurer options on the marketplace next year. Both UnitedHealth and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona plan to exit the area.
“As a rural area of our state in which 18 percent of the population lives below the poverty line, the impact will be felt particularly hard,” Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., wrote in an opinion piece for FoxNews.com.
“My office has received countless other letters and phone calls from concerned Arizonans who have been left with fewer options, less access and decreased quality of care under ObamaCare,” McCain wrote. He added, “But this frustration is not unique to Arizona.”
Arizona had eight insurers operating in various parts of the state this year, but four are leaving entirely — Aetna, UnitedHealthcare, Humana and Health Choice. Two more, Blue Cross Blue Shield and Health Net, are scaling back their participation.
“Clearly this is a big concern for consumers,” Allen Gjersvig, director of navigator and enrollment services for the Arizona Alliance for Community Health Centers, told Kaiser.
He isn’t holding out much hope another insurer will step in, adding, “Things could change, but it’s not probable.”
When ObamaCare was first pitched to the public, the administration pushed the narrative that marketplaces would thrive and Americans who had been unable to afford medical coverage in the past would finally be able to do so.
While some aspects have been a success – 20.3 million Americans signed up for ObamaCare as of March 2016 – the unbalanced model of getting healthy younger people to foot the bill for older or sicker people who often require more coverage has presented a problem for ObamaCare and threatens its very existence.
The new report found that as insurers pull out, several states are now likely to have just a single insurance option across all counties.
“Given what is known at this time of entrants and exists, four additional states are likely to have a single marketplace insurer in all counties: Alabama, Alaska, Oklahoma and South Carolina, for a total of five states (including Wyoming, which already had one insurer in the states),” the Kaiser report said.
States with “significantly more single-insurer counties in 2017,” include Mississippi, Arizona, Florida, Missouri, North Carolina and Tennessee.
An analysis from the consulting firm Avalere found a similar problem, with the number of states with one marketplace insurer growing.
The health and sustainability of ObamaCare has also been a hot topic on the campaign trail. Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton has praised the ACA and said she hopes to improve on it.
Donald Trump has slammed the ACA’s instability. Stephen Miller, Trump’s national policy adviser, said ObamaCare is an example of Clinton’s “disastrously poor judgment.”
“Every policy she touches only produces more calamity,” Miller said in a written statement. “In this case, it means higher prices, fewer choices and less control over one’s most private medical decisions.”
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