Conservative Blogger
Monday, September 26, 2016
As Clinton Focuses On Debate, Trump Says He'd Champion Women
Roanoke, Va. – Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is arguing that he'll do more to help women from the White House than Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. At the same time, he's taunting her over the infidelities of her husband.
Clinton and Trump were expected to meet separately on Sunday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has sought to project neutrality in this year's election. There were perceptions that he favored Mitt Romney over President Barack Obama in 2012.
Trump told supporters at a rally Saturday in Roanoke, Virginia, that Clinton has not delivered for women and children.
"My opponent likes to say that for decades she's been fighting for women, that she's been fighting for children. Why, then, are 70 million American women and children living in poverty or on the brink of poverty in our country?" Trump asked. "For years she's been doing this and she's done nothing."
The appeal came hours after Trump threatened on Twitter to invite a woman who'd had an affair with Clinton's husband, former President Bill Clinton, to sit in the first row at their first debate. The Clinton campaign had invited Mark Cuban, a fellow billionaire and Trump rival, to the event.
"If dopey Mark Cuban of failed Benefactor fame wants to sit in the front row, perhaps I will put Gennifer Flowers right alongside of him!" Trump said.
Trump's campaign officials did not respond to requests for comment on Saturday, and it remained unclear whether Flowers would actually attend.
Earlier Saturday, one of Clinton's supporters, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, accused Trump and his fellow Republicans of "making hate OK." She told Clinton campaign volunteers in Nashua, New Hampshire, that she never predicted a major presidential candidate would base a campaign on scapegoating Mexicans, women and Muslims.
Warren was particularly critical of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who denounced Trump in the primary campaign but announced Friday that he strongly opposed Clinton and would vote for his former rival.
"Is that really what your word is worth, Ted Cruz?" she asked.
In Texas, Cruz described as "agonizing" his decision to announce that he would vote for Trump but denied that he had given in to pressure to support his rival for the Republican nomination. His announcement Friday, from which the word "endorsement" was conspicuously absent, drew criticism because of his longstanding antipathy for the man he had called a "pathological liar."
"Any path we took, if I supported Donald, if I didn't support Donald, the criticism was going to be there," Cruz told a packed Austin auditorium during a policy forum organized by The Texas Tribune. He had refused to endorse Trump at the Republican National Convention and instead urged Republicans to vote according to their conscience.
Trump's running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, assured home-schooling advocates in North Carolina that Trump would be their champion if elected. Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, Clinton's running mate, praised American Indian culture and highlighted his efforts to win federal recognition of the state's tribes while visiting the Chickahominy Indian Tribe Fall Festival near his home in Richmond.
Clinton campaign defends immunity deal for aide Mills, others in FBI email probe
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| Mills, other Clinton aides granted immunity in FBI probe |
Clinton campaign strategist Joel Benenson told “Fox News Sunday” that such deals are “fairly routine” and pressed the point that Mills received only “limited immunity.”
Revelations about Mills, a chief of staff for Clinton at the State Department, and two other staffers being granted immunity as part of the FBI probe emerged last week in an Associated Press interview with House oversight committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah.
Benenson said such immunity is granted to encourage witnesses to cooperate by ensuring them that anything uncovered in their files outside the scope of the investigation cannot be used against them.
In Mills’ case, she turned over a laptop computer, and her testimony in the FBI investigation and potential testimony before Congress was not covered in the immunity deal.
“So a limited immunity is when anything else is irrelevant to them,” Benenson said Sunday. “They wanted to make sure they had access to Cheryl Mills' information about e-mails -- not anything else.”
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The immunity issue -- as an example of why voters doubt Clinton’s trustworthiness -- could come up Monday night during the first presidential debate between Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee, and Republican rival Donald Trump, Kellyanne Conway, Trump’s campaign manager, told ABC's "This Week."
The agency’s two-year investigation found that several Clinton emails via the server system included at least parts of classified information and that Clinton was “extremely careless” with that information. However, the FBI concluded the investigation without recommending criminal prosecution.
“Immunity deals should not be a requirement for cooperating with the FBI,” Chaffetz said Friday in a statement.
Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon said Republicans were just “trying to make something out of nothing by rummaging through the files of a Justice Department investigation that was closed months ago without any charges whatsoever.”
Trump, Clinton meet with Netanyahu as presidential debate looms
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| Possible 'wildcard topics' during first presidential debate |
Clinton’s meeting with Netanyahu was brief. The two met for less than an hour in Manhattan, according to Clinton campaign officials. Her meeting came after Trump sat down with the prime minister at his residence in Trump Tower at length, Trump campaign officials said.
Reporters were barred from covering either meeting.
Clintons' campaign said in a statement that the two had an "in-depth conversation." She stressed that "a strong and secure Israel is vital to the United States" and "reaffirmed unwavering commitment" to the relationship.
According to her campaign, Clinton stressed her support for the 10-year, $38 billion military aid package signed between the two countries earlier the month and opposition to efforts to boycott Israel. They also discussed Iran, the conflict in Syria and other regional challenges, including her support for a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict negotiated by the two parties — not an outside organization like the U.N. Security Council.
Trump and Netanyahu discussed such key issues as the Iran nuclear deal, Middle East stability and the problems that the Islamic State terror group has created in the region, according to Trump campaign officials.
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The Trump campaign said Sunday that the nominee and the prime minister “have known each other for many years and had the opportunity to discuss many topics important to both countries,” citing ISIS, the Iran deal and Trump suggesting, if elected, continuing U.S. military aid to Israel.
Trump and other leading Republicans have suggested that Obama and his administration have failed to maintain strong ties with Israel, which has provided Western nations with support and stability amid decades of Middle East turmoil. The United States also provides billons annually to Israel in military aid.
Most recently, Trump and fellow Republicans have agreed with Netanyahu that the administration-brokered Iran nuclear deal hurts Israel, Tehran’s enemy, because it lifts economic sanctions without enough safeguards to ensure Iran has indeed curbed efforts to build a nuclear weapon.
“Mr. Trump recognized that Israel and its citizens have suffered far too long on the front lines of Islamic terrorism,” the campaign also said after the meeting. “He agreed with Prime Minister Netanyahu that the Israeli people want a just and lasting peace with their neighbors, but that peace will only come when the Palestinians renounce hatred and violence and accept Israel as a Jewish State.”
They also said Trump acknowledged that Jerusalem has been “the eternal capital of the Jewish People for more than 3,000 years” and that the U.S., with Trump as president, “will finally accept the long-standing congressional mandate to recognize Jerusalem as the undivided capital of the State of Israel.”
Netanyahu’s meeting with each of the candidates was designed to put Israel on good footing with the next U.S. president. Both candidates likely will seek Netanyahu’s support for their respective White House bids, considering Israel is often called the United States’ most important ally.
The Israeli leader has sought to project neutrality this time after perceptions arose that he favored Mitt Romney over President Barack Obama in 2012.
But it also served to showcase the candidates' expertise in foreign policy in the shadow of their first debate Monday, six weeks before Election Day. Clinton, a former senator and secretary of state, often says that Trump does not know enough about the world and lacks the temperament to be president. Trump has argued that he has extensive experience with foreign policy through his career as a business executive and blames Clinton for many of the nation's stumbles in foreign policy.
Clinton, Trump take distinct paths to debate, now a prime-time, mega event
The final hours before the first 2016 presidential debate on Sunday seemed more like the eve of Super Bowl -- with experts offering predictions and strategies, the Clinton and Trump campaigns posturing and Americans wondering who indeed has first-row tickets.
Arguments about whether Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump or Democratic rival Hillary Clinton would do better on substance or style were indeed largely overshadowed this weekend by Trump suggesting Saturday that he’d invite Gennifer Flower, with whom Clinton’s husband, former President Bill Clinton, has acknowledged having a sexual encounter.
GOP vice-presidential nominee Mike Pence told “Fox News Sunday” that Trump was merely mocking the Clinton campaign for confirming that Trump nemesis-entrepreneur Mark Cuban was indeed invited to a front-row seat at the Hofstra University debate.
He argued the campaign was really trying to “distract attention from where the American people are going to be focused,” which is picking a president to chart the future of America.
However, the Indiana governor’s comments did little to end the debate sideshow.
Related Image
Sept. 25, 2016: A look inside the debate hall at Hofstra University in Hempstead, NY.
(Fox News)
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“The difference is that Hillary Clinton is doing it with a legitimate businessman, also a celebrity,” she said. “Trump is just jumping right down in the sewer and swimming by inviting Gennifer Flowers.”
Clinton, a former New York senator and secretary of state, and Trump, a first-time candidate and reality TV star, are essentially tied with Election Day about six weeks away, according to essentially every major poll.
And their debate preparations are reflective of their paths to success -- with Clinton off the campaign trail to study briefing books at her Westchester, N.Y., home and participate in mock debates
Longtime Clinton aide Philippe Reines, a combative political operative, is purportedly playing Trump in the rehearsals. And President Clinton has sat in on some sessions, offering advice from his own White House debates.
Trump has eschewed traditional debate preparations but has held midflight policy discussions with a rotating cast of advisers. He's also spent numerous Sundays batting around ideas with aides.
He remained on the campaign trail this weekend, with a stop Saturday in southwestern Virginia.
Trump’s loose approach is potentially risky, considering he is new to the many policy issues expected to come up during the debate. But advisers contend he will compensate by being quick on his feet and point to his experience at performing under pressure.
"Imagine the practice and the training of 13 years of reality television on 'The Apprentice' and then imagine Hillary's experience reading hundreds of papers," said Newt Gingrich, the former GOP House speaker and a Trump adviser who has been talking through policy with the candidate in recent days.
The 90-minute debate in Long Island, N.Y., is expected to attract 75 million viewers -- many of them disenchanted with both candidates, the least-popular presidential hopefuls in history.
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Sept. 25, 2016: A look at the stage inside the debate hall at Hofstra University in Hempstead, NY.
(Fox News)
Robby Mook, Clinton's campaign manager, on ABC’s “This Week” called on NBC debate moderator Lester Holt to correct inaccuracies made by the candidates. But Trump's campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, said it's not the job of debate moderators to fact check.
The Clinton aides also fear Trump will be judged more for his performance than his grasp of the numerous challenges that pass across a president's desk.
Trump will likely need to prove to voters that he has the policy depth and gravitas to serve as commander in chief. Clinton will likely need to connect with Americans who question whether she can be trusted.
Clinton will be the first woman to take the stage in a presidential general election debate.
Trump emerged as the Republican nominee in an improbable primary run in which he gave an overall, solid debate performance amid a huge field of established politicians and debaters.
However, he will not likely be able to resort on Monday to the personal attacks that doomed such primary rivals as GOP Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.
Supporters cringed during a candidate forum earlier this month when Clinton was pressed about her use of a private server system while running the State Department and became defensive, rather than apologizing and trying to move on quickly.
Clinton has debated more than 30 times at the presidential level, including several one-on-one debates with Barack Obama in 2008 and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in 2016.
But this will be her first presidential debate against a candidate from an opposing party.
"It's a lot more comfortable running against people in the other party than it is debating in the primary," said Anita Dunn, who worked on debate preparations with Obama. "The differences don't have to be manufactured. The differences exist."
Sunday, September 25, 2016
Seattle Mariners suspend catcher Steve Clevenger
Video
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| Steve Clevenger |
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| Mariners general manager Jerry Dipoto |
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| Do you think Dipoto would have suspended these Idiots ? ? :-) |
High school football team stages "die-in" to protest National Anthem
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| The Castlemont High School Knights Idiots |
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By Todd Starnes
A California high school football team staged a bizarre "die-in" to protest the singing of the national anthem.
Join Todd's American Dispatch: a must-read for Conservatives! And it's free!
The Castlemont High School Knights, based in Oakland, engaged in shameful display of anti-American behavior. It happened during a Friday night football game.
Disgraced NFL Colin Kaepernick was on hand to encourage the children to disrespect America and the U.S. Armed Forces.
"I had to come out here and stand with y'all," he said in remarks covered by the Mercury News. "So I appreciate what y'all did. I love y'all. Y'all my brothers -- I'm here with you."
But instead of collapsing on the ground with the children, Kaepernick simply took a knee. I guess he didn't want to get grass stains on his hoodie.
Last week the football team and several coaches protested the "Star-Spangled Banner" by thrusting their fists in the air. The Castlemont Knights lost the football game -- not to mention their self-respect.
A California high school football team staged a bizarre "die-in" to protest the singing of the national anthem.
Join Todd's American Dispatch: a must-read for Conservatives! And it's free!
The Castlemont High School Knights, based in Oakland, engaged in shameful display of anti-American behavior. It happened during a Friday night football game.
Disgraced NFL Colin Kaepernick was on hand to encourage the children to disrespect America and the U.S. Armed Forces.
"I had to come out here and stand with y'all," he said in remarks covered by the Mercury News. "So I appreciate what y'all did. I love y'all. Y'all my brothers -- I'm here with you."
But instead of collapsing on the ground with the children, Kaepernick simply took a knee. I guess he didn't want to get grass stains on his hoodie.
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| Idiots |
Last week the football team and several coaches protested the "Star-Spangled Banner" by thrusting their fists in the air. The Castlemont Knights lost the football game -- not to mention their self-respect.
Team Obama launches a shocking broadside against religious faith
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| Why would he not be against Christians? |
Not Fidel.
Rather, one Martin Castro, the chairman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, who launched a broadside recently against religious faith, degrading the vision of the Founding Fathers that made this country the envy of the world.
Castro, an Obama appointee, released a report on September 7 on protections against discrimination. His finding, in part, is that Americans need to be protected from Bible-thumpers, and anyone else whose beliefs run afoul of the administration’s PC police. Religious folk need not apply.
in the report Castro cited John Adams. “The government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion.” But Adams did not write those words. They were part of a treaty to end the Barbary War. “Christian” ships and crew were fair game for Barbary pirates, Ambassador Abdrahaman of Tripoli told Thomas Jefferson; that all Christians are sinners in the context of the Koran and that it was a Muslim's "right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to enslave as many as they could take as prisoners.”
U.S. negotiators tried to downplay the clash of religions. The treaty therefore stressed that the U.S. was not an officially Christian nation, but a secular one, and therefore should never have been targeted. Adams signed the treaty, but it had nothing to do with his belief about the importance of Judeo-Christian religions to the stability of society.
Here are the words that flowed from President Adams’ pen. “We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion . . . Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."
George Washington expressed similar thoughts in his Farewell Address. “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness.”
Our Founding Fathers would have cautioned against attempts to “subvert these great pillars” of religion and morality.
Alexis de Tocqueville, the great French historian and admirer of American democracy, introduced the Continent to the workings of the American upstarts. “The Americans combine the notions of religion and liberty so intimately in their minds that it is impossible to make them conceive of one without the other.”
Waves of immigrants after de Tocqueville were often far less lettered, but they did share his understanding, and dreamt of being part of it. Religious freedom, toleration and fairness were all intertwined in the unique American package that so many desperately seek to be a part of.
Commissioner Castro has another vision. In the letter addressed to the president, the vice president, and the Speaker of the House, he wrote, “Religious exemptions to the protections of civil rights based upon classifications such as race, color, national origin, sex, disability status, sexual orientation, and gender identity, when they are permissible, significantly infringe upon these civil rights.” What he is saying is that in 2016 it’s Big Brother’s responsibility to curtail those exemptions. If that isn’t to your liking, you can always move. Maybe to Tripoli.
Castro’s America would not be recognized by James Madison, who argued that religious conviction ought to be placed ahead of – not behind – the agenda of the State. In his "Memorial and Remonstrance against Religious Assessments of 1785," the architect of our Constitution wrote: “It is the duty of every man to render to the Creator such homage and such only as he believes to be acceptable to Him. This duty is precedent, both in order of time and degree of obligation, to the claims of Civil Society.”
Not so long ago, America projected its global power to protect religious freedoms. Throughout the Cold War we strove to help brave believers behind the Iron Curtain to keep the embers of religion from being totally extinguished by atheistic Communist dictatorships.
We demanded of our chief international nemesis, the USSR, that any negotiations on nuclear arms reduction must be linked to human rights—including freedom of religion.
Eventually, Gorbachev relented, the Berlin Wall came down, and the war against religion came to an end.
Recent U.S. administrations were true to the legacy of our Founders by taking a leadership role in urging all governments to guarantee the religious rights of minorities who, when leaving their respective houses of worship on their holy days, could return to their homes unmolested.
Today, hundreds of millions of minority Baha’i, Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims – but chiefly Christians – have no confidence that American power or policy have their backs.
Respect for religion and religious values were at the core of our Founding Fathers’ vision and an inspiration to endangered religious people the world over. We can only hope that the next head of America’s Civil Rights Commission will protect -- not slander -- people who dare set their moral compass by the words of G-d.
Rabbi Abraham Cooper is associate Dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles. Follow the Simon Wiesenthal Center on Facebook and on Twitter.
Trump threatens to have Gennifer Flowers attend first presidential debate
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| Mark Cuban |
Trump extended the invitation to Flowers via social media after the Clinton campaign invited Mark Cuban, a fellow billionaire and prominent Trump critic, to the debate.
Trump initially misspelled Flowers' first name, with a J, then tweeted again to fix the mistake.
In response, Flowers' personal assistant wrote in an email to Buzzfeed News that the former model would be attending Monday's debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y.
A message from a Twitter account purporting to belong to Flowers said, "Hi Donald. You know I'm in your corner and will definitely be at the debate!" followed by a lipstick kiss emoji. A Facebook account linked from Flowers' personal site posted two stories about the debate invitation, but no confirmation that she would attend.
It was not immediately clear whether Trump's tweet constituted an official invitation and his campaign had no further comment on the matter Saturday.
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Hours later, Trump told supporters in Virginia that if elected, he would do more to help women than Clinton.
"My opponent likes to say that for decades she's been fighting for women, that she's been fighting for children. Why, then, are 70 million American women and children living in poverty or on the brink of poverty in our country?" Trump asked a rally crowd in Roanoke. "For years she's been doing this and she's done nothing."
Mall shooting suspect was 'zombie-like' when arrested, officials say
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| Shooter Arcan Cetin Turkish Immigrant |
At a news conference, officials said they had not ruled out any possible motives for why 20-year-old Arcan Cetin allegedly shot four women and one man at the Cascade Mall in Burlington Friday evening.
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Sept. 24, 2016: A suspect in a mass shooting at a Washington state mall is arrested in Oak Harbor, Wash.
(Twitter/Gerry Oliver)
"He said nothing," said Hawley, who added that Cetin was unarmed and carrying a computer in a satchel when he was apprehended. "He was kind of zombie-like."
Mount Vernon Police Lt. Chris Cammock said Cetin had immigrated to the U.S. from Turkey and was a "legal permanent resident." It was not immediately clear when Cetin came to the U.S.
Hawley said Cetin had been arrested for simple assault last year, but provided no further details on the case. The Seattle Times reported that Cetin faced three domestic violence assault charges in both Burlington and Island County, with the victim identified as Cetin's stepfather. The newspaper reports Cetin also was arrested for drunken driving.
Court records show Cetin was told by a judge on Dec. 29 that he was not to possess a firearm, the newspaper reported.
However, the stepfather urged the judge not to impose a no-contact order, saying his stepson was "going through a hard time."
Cetin was arrested almost exactly 24 hours after his alleged victims were shot at the mall Macy's makeup counter. The four female victims died in the store. The male victim died early Saturday as police finished sweeping the 434,000-square-foot building.
Local media outlets had identified the victims as of early Sunday. One was 16-year-old Sarai Lara, a cancer survivor and high school sophomore. Her mother, Evangelina, told the Seattle Times that through a translator that she was shopping with Sarai and her younger sister, but they split up.
She said Sarai went to Macy's looking for pants. News of the shooting spread through the mall, and Lara tried to get to her daughter but was unable to do so.
KIRO-TV identified two more victims as Belinda Galde, 64, and her mother, 95-year-old Beatrice Dotson.
The Seattle Times identified the other two victims as Macy's makeup artist Shyla Martin, 52, and Chuck Eagan, a Boeing maintenance worker who was shot while helping his wife flee the store.
"There are people waking up this morning, and their world has changed forever. The city of Burlington has probably changed forever, but I don't think our way of life needs to change," Burlington Mayor Steve Sexton said earlier Saturday. "This was a senseless act. It was the world knocking on our doorstep, and it came into our little community."
Surveillance video captured the suspect entering the mall unarmed and then recorded him about 10 minutes later entering the Macy's with a "hunting type" rifle in his hand, Cammock said. The lieutenant said late Saturday that the rifle was apparently brought into the mall from a suspect vehicle. The weapon was recovered at the scene.
"Probably one of the most difficult moments for us last night was knowing that there were family members wondering about their loved ones in there," Cammock said.
Burlington, a community of 8,600 people, is about 65 miles north of Seattle, too far to be a commuter town, but its population swells to 55,000 during the day because of a popular outlet mall, retail stores and other businesses. Burlington is the only major retail center within 30 miles in a region where agriculture is king, said Linda Jones, president of the Burlington Chamber of Commerce.
Residents gathered Saturday to comfort each other at a community gathering in a city park.
"It's too scary. It's too close to home," said Maria Elena Vasquez, who attended the gathering with her husband and two young children.
Joanne Burkholder, 19, of Mount Vernon, was watching the movie "The Magnificent Seven" in the mall's theater when security guards came in and told them to evacuate immediately. Dozens of panicked moviegoers gathered in the hallway, and Burkholder heard screaming as the officers escorted them to safety in a parking lot.
As she drove home later, she had to pull over because she was shaking so hard, she told The Associated Press.
"I'm just very thankful for my life this morning. I've never been so terrified in my life," she said Saturday, trying to hold back tears as she attended the community vigil.
"You'd think it would happen in Everett or Seattle, but a small town of Burlington, I'd never dream something like this would happen."
People who believed they may have lost loved ones were being sequestered at a church three blocks from the mall, where counselors and a golden retriever therapy dog were present.
Dozens of people attended a Saturday evening prayer service for the victims. The gathering was held at Central United Methodist Church in nearby Sedro-Woolley, Wash.
The Rev. Cody Natland lit five candles on a table in front of the church, one for each victim.
Saturday, September 24, 2016
Mariners suspend catcher for tweets on Black Lives Matter, police shootings
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| Mariners catcher: Treat Charlotte protesters 'like animals' |
"As soon as we became aware of the tweets posted by Steve yesterday we began to examine all of our options in regard to his standing on the team," general manager Jerry Dipoto said.
He said Clevenger was informed of the suspension on Friday
“Black people beating whites when a thug got shot holding a gun by a black officer haha (expletive) cracks me up! Keep kneeling for the Anthem!” one of Clevenger’s tweets read.
“BLM is pathetic once again! Obama you are pathetic once again! Everyone involved should be locked behind bars like animals!” another tweet read.
Clevenger had since deleted the tweets and changed his Twitter account to protected mode, according to the Seattle Times.
Clevenger released a statement to Fox Sports late Thursday night apologizing for "the distraction my tweets on my personal twitter page caused when they went public earlier today.”
"I am sickened by the idea that anyone would think of me in racist terms," he said. "My tweets were reactionary to the events I saw on the news and were worded beyond poorly at best and I can see how and why someone could read into my tweets far more deeply than how I actually feel."
The Mariners acquired Clevenger from the Baltimore Orioles in a trade for Mark Trumbo and C.J. Riefenhauser. He appeared in 22 games for the Mariners this season. He has been out with a right-hand fracture since June.
Bailey Comment:
Is there some kind of double standard here or not? Steve Clevenger is suspended for speaking his mind on twitter, yet trashy football players like Colin Kaepernick can disrespect the National Anthem on live television and keep on playing.
Professor who correctly predicted last 30 years of presidential elections says Trump will win
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| American University Professor Allan Lichtman |
Lichtman, who has correctly predicted every presidential election since 1984, says he uses a 13 question true/false method which he calls the "Keys to the White House."
Lichtman says the answer of "true" always favors the reelection of the party currently holding the White House.
And if 6 or more of the answers are false, it points in the direction of another party taking power.
Lichtman says that based on his system, Donald Trump is the favorite to win and says, "We have never before seen a candidate like Donald Trump, and Donald Trump may well break patterns of history that have held since 1860."
Emails show NBC's Andrea Mitchell telling Colin Powell Trump's nomination is 'awful'
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| Media dilemma on Powell emails |
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| NBC journalist Andrea Mitchell Alias the joker. |
It may not be a shock to her viewers, but NBC journalist Andrea Mitchell is not a fan of Donald Trump -- and leaked emails from June apparently show her describing the prospect of Trump getting the Republican nomination as “awful.”
Emails between former Secretary of State Colin Powell and Mitchell from June, and leaked this month by DC Leaks, begin with a fairly standard journalist’s request for comment after former Bush deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage announced he was backing Hillary Clinton for president.
“Armitage now supporting her? Are you going to endorse? Wondering,” Mitchell asks Powell.
Powell brushes off the question and notes that Armitage has been saying this in public for a while. But then in an email chain dated June 17, Mitchell tells Powell that she thinks Republicans need to find a way to avoid nominating Trump.
“I know trump controls the convention rules committee but I keep thinking they have to find a way not to nominate him,” she tells Powell.
Powell responds by telling her he thinks Trump will get the nomination, and notes that Ryan has declared he is sticking with Trump.
“I don't see how. Even Paul Ryan in today's papers says he has problems, but is sticking with him. Trump is his own best critic right now. Be careful not to give him critics he can attack and divert attention. I assume he will get the nomination. Then the game is on,” Powell responded.
Powell’s outlook is not an optimistic one for Mitchel, who then responds: “It is awful,” apparently referring to Trump’s nomination.
Mitchell did not respond to a request for comment from FoxNews.com
Guccifer 2.0 Releases More DNC Docs, Exposing More Corruption
On September 23, hacker Guccifer 2.0 released more documents obtained from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC).
Last week, WikiLeaks directly released files from Guccifer 2.0 through their Twitter account. Among them was a high-profile donor list revealing the pay-to-play appointments of several ambassadorships and other positions by President Barack Obama. On September 15, Guccifer 2.0 released several DCCC memos on a WordPress site, including one from Ohio dated December 9, 2015 that referred to Hillary Clinton as the Democratic presidential nominee before the primaries began, even though Sen. Bernie Sanders was just a few points behind Clinton in most polls. “With former Governor Ted Strickland and Secretary Clinton on the ballot, there will be a boost from the top of the ticket,” read the memo.
Based on many similar memos and documents released by Guccifer 2.0 from the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and DCCC, it appears the Democratic Party leadership felt strangely self-assured Clinton would be their presidential nominee before a single vote was cast. The Clinton campaign and DNC have not disputed the veracity of any files or documents leaked, rather they have portrayed themselves as the victims of Russian hackers to divert attention from the content of the leaks.
Guccifer 2.0’s latest release includes a dossier file of DCCC Chair Ben Ray Lujan, a Democratic congressman from New Mexico. The extensive file includes hundreds of pages of statements, speeches, financial data and weak and strong points in anticipation of his re-election bid this November, and likely to prepare his political career for bigger ambitions. Among the weak points listed in the dossier is nepotism, as Ben Ray Lujan’s father, Ben Lujan Sr. was the Speaker of the New Mexico House of Representatives, and helped Lujan initially get elected to congress. Lujan’s cousin, Michelle Lujan Grisham, also serves in congress for a separate district in New Mexico.
One document provides talking points for Lujan to make a call to controversial New Jersey Democratic donor George Norcross in March 2015. “We need Mr. Norcross’ help in recruiting top targets such as State Sen. Van Drew, to run in NJ-2. Ideally, he would call the recruits that we feel are the best and encourage them to run,” read the memo. “Likewise it would be ideal if he could mention his support when asked by others in his powerful circle. This will help to validate our candidates with the political and donor classes.” In a 2013 article, Philadelphia Magazine called Norcross “the man who destroyed democracy.” The DCCC memo reveals the Democratic Party has not only embraced wealthy donors influencing the political system but aggressively courts their input in pushing for their mutually preferred candidates.
Another memo dated April 2016 details a congressional race in Utah and notes, “Trump is extremely unpopular in Utah. Public polling has shown that Hillary Clinton could beat Trump in the very conservative state.” The memo provides further evidence the Democratic Party developed their short-term and long-term strategies with Clinton in mind as their nominee. Sanders wasn’t mentioned at all as a possible option or alternative; strategies incorporating him as the potential nominee were never discussed in these memos.
Top Clinton aide dismissed IT specialist's concerns about private email server
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| Mills, other Clinton aides granted immunity in FBI probe |
The 189 pages of documents released Friday include notes of agents' interviews with Mills, Huma Abedin and others close to the Democratic presidential nominee.
According to the documents, tech expert Bryan Pagliano revealed to FBI agents that one of his State Department colleagues told him "in late 2009 or early 2010" that Clinton's use of a private email address to handle her correspondence "may be a federal records retention issue."
In a separate conversation, Pagliano's IT colleague, whose identity is redacted in the documents, said that "he wouldn’t be surprised if classified information was being transmitted."
Pagliano said his colleague asked him to convey the concern to Clinton's inner circle.
When he did so, however, Pagliano said Mills shrugged off the warning, telling Pagliano that "former Secretary [sic] of State had done the same thing, [including] Colin Powell."
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Details of the interview summaries were first reported by The Daily Caller and The Washington Post. The summaries were released the same day that a top House Republican revealed that Mills and two other staffers were granted immunity as part of the now-closed FBI probe into Clinton's email practices.
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, accused the FBI in a statement of "handing out immunity agreements like candy" and said he had "lost confidence in this investigation."
At least five immunity deals are known to have been struck in the Clinton email investigation, including one with Pagliano, who set up the so-called "homebrew" server in Clinton's New York home.
Pagliano and Paul Combetta, a computer specialist for a private firm that later maintained Clinton's email setup, have refused to testify before Congress by invoking their Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination. On Thursday, the GOP-led House oversight committee voted along party lines to hold Pagliano in contempt of Congress for failing to comply with its subpoena.
Friday, September 23, 2016
House intel chairman threatens to subpoena bin Laden files
The Republican chairman of the House intelligence committee says he's prepared to take what may be unprecedented action to get the remaining Usama bin Laden documents from the nation's top military and intelligence agencies – and subpoena the files.
"If they don't provide these documents to the committee by October 11th, then we're going to have to subpoena them -- which I don't want to have to do but it appears like we've run out of all options," Republican Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., told Fox News. "For the administration to basically mislead the American people for this many years is flat-out wrong."
Nunes is seeking documents and relevant analysis, which is thought to comprise at least 50 reports. In a Sept. 22 letter to Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, CIA Director John Brennan, and Defense Department Undersecretary for Intelligence Marcel Lettre, Nunes says the law required them to comply nearly two years ago based on Section 313 of the Intelligence Authorization ACT (IAA) for fiscal 2014. This section mandated a "complete declassification of the Abbottabad documents within 120 days."
"Making the material widely available for public analysis will serve the public interest and help to demystify bin Laden and al-Qaida without compromising national security," Nunes wrote. "The anemic pace of the declassification review and release of the Abbottabad documents is an insufficient response to congressional direction."
The congressional letter also provides new detail about the amount of intelligence recovered by Navy SEALs during the 2011 raid in Pakistan that killed bin Laden.
There are enough documents to fill a "small college library," Nunes wrote -- but only a fraction is public. The letter goes on to describe that documents "came from the information on over 100 thumb drives, hard drives, cell phones, paper files and other documents."
The letter said the 216 documents released to date “represent only a minuscule percentage of the documents deemed to have intelligence value and an exponentially smaller percentage of the total Abbottabad document collection.”
In the months after the raid that killed the Al Qaeda leader, the administration characterized bin Laden as isolated, with a terror network on the run and in disarray. Critics charge that subsequent reviews by CIA and military analysts at CENTCOM in Florida suggest the Al Qaeda leader was engaged with his affiliates outside the region, maintained a significant relationship with Iran, and had a plan to globalize the terror network.
The top White House spokesman rejected criticism the documents are being slow-rolled because of conflicting narratives.
"No, because that's not the criteria that’s being used to evaluate the release of this information," Josh Earnest said in response to a question from Fox News’ White House correspondent Kevin Corke. "Again, I guess you would just have to ask the ODNI (Office for the Director of National Intelligence) for an update on the status of that declassification effort.”
A spokesman for Clapper said they “have received the letter and will respond directly to the Committee."
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