Hillary doesn't take money from fossil fuel companies

That's what the Clinton Foundation is for:

Hillary Clinton is calling for a federal investigation of ExxonMobil’s climate change activities just months after the company neglected to renew its sponsorship of the Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting.

Sheer coincidence!  Also, Hillary is tired of all the lies (particularly the truthful ones).

Above the law

Commentary: "What are 147 FBI agents doing?"  "Taken out of a political context, I don’t think there’s much doubt that anyone who did something as reckless and blatantly illegal as Clinton would have been charged in the case."

As foreseen

Hot Air: "Who’s up for another round of big ObamaCare rate hikes?"  "Those people are seeing the reward of compliance as far less than the cost of non-compliance and are staying out of the system altogether."

Golly, I seem to remember somebody predicting exactly this.  Oh, well, oopsie!

This feels staged

Ace: "Video of Black Female College Student Harassing (And Grabbing) White Male Student Over His Wearing of Dreadlocks Goes Viral; College Allegedly Investigating the Incident."

My radar starting pinging like crazy upon seeing this video.  The staging is perfect with the filmer slightly above the "incident" and the audio is super-clear.  Then the conversation between the filmer and the assaulting girl is too quick (i.e. rehearsed) to be spontaneous before she blocks the lens - drama!  This feels like a fake-but-accurate lesson in "consciousness raising."

This omelette requires a LOT of eggs

Fox News: "ObamaCare may force employers to pull the plug on millions of health plans, CBO report finds."

That'll teach 'em

Steyn Online: "Happy Easter from the Religion of Peace."  A Muslim store clerk in Glasgow wished his Christian customers a happy Easter; four hours later he was dead.

On today's "All Things Considered"

I heard two back-to-back stories on NPR driving home this evening: one I liked and one I really didn't like.

The first was "Amid ride-booking rivalries, many Cairo women turn to Uber for safe passage."  "In Cairo, taxi drivers are fighting the encroachment of ride-booking services like Uber. But many Egyptians, especially women, say they prefer Uber since they feel safer with the company's drivers."

The women describe the Cairo taxi drivers as lecherous, disrespectful, and downright cheats.  The Uber drivers, on the other hand, are trained on sexual harassment, honest, and deferential because they want a good rating.  Naturally, the taxi drivers want Uber outlawed in Egypt.

The second story was titled: "To Reduce Gun Violence, Potential Offenders Offered Support And Cash."  However, Zero Hedge has the more accurate title: "America Hits Rock Bottom: Cities Are Paying Criminals $1000 Per Month "Not To Kill"."  Basically, it's the story of Richmond, California (where else?) where a group of thugs are kept in weed money as long as they don't kill anyone.

Nice work if you can get it.

A Viking Pundit correction

Sometimes in the course of heated political discourse, we make mistakes that are often exaggeration or, dare I say, hyperbole.  But I am here to correct this misstatement.  The other day I said that there were 150 FBI agents working on Hillary's illegal email server investigation.

The truth can be told: "147 FBI agents involved in Clinton email probe."  I regret the error.

Winding down the Windy City

Hit and Run: "Residents Abandoning Chicago: Is It Following in Detroit’s Footsteps? - Illinois’ sources of revenues are leaving as government employees keep demanding more, more, more."

I like the guy who realizes they're never going to fix the pension problems in Chicago and Illinois; he's off to Florida.  Hat tip: Maggie's Farm.

Extra - American Interest "Illinois Supremes scuttle pension reform."  "The Supremes have spoken: The Illinois state constitution is a suicide pact."

Hillary belongs in jail

Sometimes I think I'm the only person in America who still thinks Hillary is going to be indicted.  There is so much cynicism towards this Justice Department but can they ignore the evidence?  Writing in the WashPost, Ed Rogers reminds us the current state of Hillary's illegality: "Deceit and power work in Hillary's favor".

In politics, it is said that you can fool some of the people all of the time and you can fool all of the people some of the time. In other words, liars have pretty good odds. The smoking guns keep piling up at Hillary Clinton’s feet, but nothing seems to trip her. Yesterday, Judicial Watch released a batch of documents, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, that it says reveals blatant coordination between then-Secretary of State Clinton and the Clinton Foundation. Stunningly, the internal State Department emails expose Clinton’s eagerness to “thank [Clinton Foundation] supporters for their commitments.” Of course, these “commitments” must mean money. It’s incredible.

And, Clinton’s State Department was apparently coordinating meetings for Bill Clinton with foreign heads of state. If any other employee at the State Department had arranged such meetings for their spouse and actively thanked contributors to their spouse’s foundation, they would likely go to jail. No lawyer would even let it go to trial, because the sentencing guidelines would guarantee years behind bars.

It’s only because Hillary’s last name is Clinton and because she is the Democratic front-runner for president that she isn’t already being prosecuted for something or another. For anyone else at the State Department, their conviction and sentencing would produce only a matter-of-fact, back-page reference in The Washington Post.

The double standard doesn’t end there. If any other State Department employee had decided to conduct all of his or her official business on a personal server located in his or her private home, that person would have already been prosecuted. Period. Full stop.

The FBI allegedly has 150 agents working on the email and corruption cases.  This sounds to me like an investigation going in full force, not something about to be swept under the rug.

She's a dim bulb

Boston Magazine: "Watch Elizabeth Warren Dodge Every Question in Awkward Interview."

Federal Appeals Court: Turn over a smidgen of evidence

Fox News: "Federal appeals court slams IRS in Tea Party case, demands documents."

In a blistering rebuke of the IRS, a Cincinnati-based federal appeals court has ordered the tax-collecting agency to quit stalling and produce the names of organizations it targeted based on their political leanings.

The unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit gave the IRS two weeks to turn over the documents sought as part of a class-action lawsuit brought by the NorCal Tea Party Patriots. 

Like every other scandal playbook, the plan is to delay to the point where it's "old news."

Peak snowflake

Daily Mail: "Emory University president says students are scared and 'in pain' after someone wrote 'Trump 2016' in chalk on campus."

Terror in Brussels

Fox News: "More explosive devices reportedly found as Belgian police stage nationwide raids."

This NPR interview with Georgetown professor Christine Fair (transcript not available yet) was eye-opening.  Apparently, Belgium is pretty lax with gun laws (by European standards) and immigration laws.  Native Belgians are getting pretty agitated by the changes in their country as a result.

The Trump death march

The Federalist: "The Next RNC ‘Autopsy’ Will Be A Real One - By backing Trump, the RNC embraces the worst kind of disaster."

An RNC insider, who requested anonymity, told NBC that altering convention rules to stop Trump would be a disaster. “Change the rules drastically you will have a problem. You want to have World War III and destroy the party?” It’s going to be a disaster, yes. The RNC can still choose which kind.

Trump cannot win.  He cannot win.  Once more with feeling: he will not be President.  The primary voters have lined up behind the only person with a higher disapproval rating than Hillary.  He talks to everybody like they're in fourth grade and insults anybody who disagrees with him.  He has no policy depth and no temperament for the office.  He must be stopped.

So, yes, gather the men in the smoky back-room and pull a Torricelli.   Between the chaos of a splintered Republican party and certain defeat, I chose the former.

In other news, the British Natural Environmental Research Council asked Brits to name their research boat and the runaway favorite is "Boaty McBoatface."  The Council will almost certainly override this poor choice because sometimes democracy is for suckers.

Extra - New Geography: "Farewell, Grand Old Party."

Corporate inversions

Washington Post: "Giving up its U.S. citizenship could save Pfizer $35 billion in taxes."

When Pfizer announced its plan last year to merge with Botox-maker Allergan and move its headquarters to Ireland the company said the deal would lower its tax rate to about 17 percent to 18 percent, saving it about $2 billion over three years.

But in a report published Thursday, Americans for Tax Fairness say the New York-based pharma giant will actually save much more by giving up its U.S. citizenship: $35 billion.

Is it any wonder that U.S.-based companies are seeing to flee the highest corporate tax rate in the world?  Now pay your "fair share" and give those kids a $15 minimum wage, too.

Broken windows everywhere

PJ Media: "The Ferguson Effect Continues to Fester."  "Emanuel’s lesson was not lost on ambitious politicians like de Blasio and elsewhere: Better for a city to endure higher crime than see a racially charged incident turned into a political liability."

Hush-hush, voices carry

Today's feel-good story.  MassLive: "Northampton troopers find 230 bags of heroin after suspect whispers 'I don't think they found all the stuff in the car'."

Unclear on the concept

Hot Air: "WaPo: Three Pinocchios for declaring Senate’s “constitutional duty” to vote on Garland."

You would think that Democrats would be at least embarrassed about their prior positions such as the "Biden Rule" but, like the NYT editorial page, principles depend on the political party.

Mega-Tuesday: Jump to the beat of the Party line

The clownishly biased NYT editorial page

John Steele Gordon on Commentary: "NYT to the unskilled: Drop dead"

If the New York Times editorial board ever wonders why their editorials have so little influence these days, they might consider this. An editorial designed to affect public policy should consist of four parts: 1) Here’s the problem, 2) Here’s the solution, 3) Here’s what the other side says, 4) Here’s why they’re wrong.  A New York Times editorial, however, consists of only three parts: 1) Here’s the problem, 2) Here’s the liberal doctrine on the problem, 3) Only greedy, stupid, evil (choose one or more) people and interests oppose it.

In this case, Gordon notes that coherent policy takes a backseat to bashing Republicans for the unpardonable sin of keeping the minimum wage where it is.  You see, it's all about feel-good intentions for the NYT and their liberal ilk; the actual results of a higher minimum wage are of ancillary importance.

Tiresome drivel.

Extra - From Hot Air: "Fight for $15 update: Seattle employment craters."

Attack in Ivory Coast

Gee, I wonder who might be responsible?  Fox News: "Gunmen storm Ivory coast resort."

Marcel Guy said he saw at least four gunmen with Kalashnikov rifles on the beach. He said one approached two children, and spoke in Arabic. One child knelt and prayed, the other child was shot dead.

At least 14 dead at this soon-to-be closed beach resort.

Hillary lies. That's what she does.

Reddit post: "Bernie opposing Auto Bailout, delaying Clean Power Plan, supporting Minutemen militia, Koch brothers endorsement, Reagan HIV/AIDS "activism" and today's Sanders healthcare support in the 90s are 6 things Hillary Clinton blatantly lied about in a single freaking week."

The "healthcare support" lie was hilariously refuted by the entire Internet.

The social compact, impacted

MassLive: "Catholic school in Mass. apologizes after 'You killed Jesus!' chant at game."

Let's repeat, this time with feeling: "Classification is based on content, not markings."

Fox News: "Source: Clinton IT specialist revealing server details to FBI, 'devastating witness'."

She then added her now standard explanation that nothing she sent or received was marked classified at the time. While technically correct, the distinction appears misleading. The January 2009 classified information non-disclosure agreement signed by Clinton says she understood that classified information could be marked and unmarked, as well as verbal communications.

Classification is based on content, not markings.

Without the markings defense - that only George Stephanopoulos has stressed - Hillary's rationale is that 1) she has no idea what might be considered classified without markings or 2) every single sensitive email found on her server, including 22 classified as "top secret", have been "over-classified" after the fact.

Corollary question: if Hillary received no classified information on her email server, just what was she doing all day as Secretary of State?  It's beyond belief.

The Obamacare sinkhole

Hot Air: "All of that tax money you loaned to the Obamacare co-ops? That’s probably gone."

When you don't have the money to allocate to a huge new entitlement, how do you get around that?  Easy-peasy: give out big loans that - oops! - will never be repaid.

What is the American character? This.

I know you kids are going to laugh at me: oh this has been around forever.  But I laughed because accuracy:

Oh yeah!  What that guy said.

This is the End

Awww...I like this show.  "Rob Lowe comedy series You, Me And The Apocalypse axed after just one series."  Rob Lowe as a foul-mouthed, chain-smoking priest was great.

Consider the source

Powerline: "NPR and Harvard say: Obamacare is a complete failure."

Condign punishment at Mizzou

Via Instapundit, here's Fox Sports: "Mizzou Protests Lead to Plunge In Freshmen, Massive Budget Deficits."

The fallout from the fake Mizzou protests continues to destablize the University of Missouri. Today the interim chancellor of the university emailed students that the university will enroll 1500 less students than projected and faces a budget shortfall of $32 million this year.

It looks like a lot of would-be students took a look at the spineless reaction of the Mizzou administration and said "no thanks."

Congrats to the Mizzou protesters on their fake protest. You -- in conjunction with your idiot football players who also went on strike -- have nearly killed a great university over a poop swastika, an alleged off campus racial slur that may not have even happened, and one racial slur on campus from a non-student in the past year.

Trigger warnings everywhere!  Wait until the next tuition hike.

Extra - The Corner: "Missouri Update: Crazy Campus Radicals Are Financially Crippling the University."

Dead man walking

It's stunning how fast Marco Rubio has dropped off a cliff.  He's almost certainly going to lose his home state of Florida and he's playing to tiny crowds.  Looking back, I think his debate performance where he repeated his "no illusions on Obama" mantra revealed him to be the lightweight voters suspected.

I kinda liked the guy at first but this stretch into the season has not inspired confidence.  So now what: Ted Cruz?  OMG.

Protect the Queen

Daily Caller: "Reddit Explodes After Washington Post Runs 16 Anti-Bernie Stories … In 16 Hours"

The Politics subreddit is heavily pro-Sanders.

The Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac two-step

Found via Coyote Blog: "Revisiting the financial crisis"

Michael Moore said that?

Hit and Run: "Michael Moore Points Out Futility of Flint Voting Democrat For Almost A Century."

Don't worry, about a half-hour after his original tweet, he made sure to blame a Republican.

Hillary wrote 104 emails declared classified

Powerline asks:

Query: is it a defense to say that she didn’t mark her own emails classified at the time?
Follow up: is it a defense that she apparently can’t recognize classified information?
Maybe someday someone will ask.

The Clinton defense of this latest revelation is: hey, who knows what's classified?  It's an inter-agency dispute between the State and Intelligence community, even though both Inspector Generals agree.

Extra - Hot Air: "As the Post takes great pains to point out, these 104 documents shoot holes in Clinton’s repeated claims that she never put any classified material on the server herself, but simply received it from others."

Revolting

NY Times: "Rank and File Republicans Tell Party Elites: We’re Sticking With Donald Trump."

I was listening to a story on NPR and they interviewed five Republican primary voters in Florida.  Three of them were enthusiastically voting for Trump, one was "meh" on Rubio, and the last didn't know but was generally depressed about the whole field.

What I said, I really meant the exact opposite

Commentary: "How Joe Biden broke the Court."  "But rather than admit that his words justify the GOP’s current stand, [Biden] has chosen to be a good administration soldier and tells us to ignore our lying eyes and instead to focus instead on the “broader meaning” of the speech which he somehow construes to mean the opposite of his intent at the time."

Rut roh

WashPost: "In Clinton email investigation, Justice Department grants immunity to former State Department staffer."

Get ready to laugh, America, at this bald-faced lie:

He [some Clinton flunky] also said that the campaign is “pleased” that Pagliano, who invoked the Fifth amendment before Congress, is now cooperating with prosecutors.

"Prosecutors?"  I think you mean "security reviewers."

Extra - Red State: "This is big news. People don’t get immunity deals from the federal government unless they have something big."

When DoJ gives someone immunity in an investigation involving my client I generally ask for a large increase in the fee deposit.

— Popehat (@Popehat) March 3, 2016

Liz Lemon speaks

Hit and Run: "Tina Fey Calls Out The Oscars for Political Correctness, Liberal 'Hollywood Bullshit' - 'Everyone is telling me what to do, and people are yelling at me about rape and corporate greed and climate change.'"

The conspiracy to keep you poor and stupid

This doesn't surprise me one bit.  From David Thompson:

A couple of years ago, the then minister of education admitted that the aim of the regime’s policies was “not to take the people out of poverty so they become middle class and then turn into escuálidos” (a derogatory term to denote opposition members). In other words, the government wanted grateful, dependent voters, not prosperous Venezuelans.

Oh, but that's crazy Venezuela, you say.  But then the same policies of union patronage and terrible schools has bankrupted and stunted Philadelphia - but at least it has created reliable Democrat voters.  Doug Ross: "Cataclysm: 30 Blocks of Democrat Governance."

It’s a perfect storm of governmental incompetence, union greed, political corruption, parental disinterest, societal disintegration, and poor life choices, creating the downfall of Philadelphia and other urban enclaves around the country.

You'll soon have company, Detroit.