You're the one that I want

That "Grease: Live" was remarkably good, despite some audio problems.

It was a welcome counterbalance to Lord Grantham vomiting blood on "Downton Abbey."

Update - Big ratings for Fox.  Hey, it was a good show.

Living in the media bubble

Points and Figures: "The New York Times Is Dumber Than I Thought."  It's all about feel-good-intentions.

Hillary is swallowed by her lies

Sometime before today's news broke, Kathleen Parker of the Washington Post channeled her inner William Safire with "Hillary Clinton's historical problem with honesty":

But more recent issues of inaccuracies are both concerning and consequential. We now know with certainty (thanks to an email from Clinton to daughter Chelsea the night of the Benghazi attacks) that the then-secretary of state knew it was a terrorist attack, contrary to official reports, in the days following, about street riots that escalated. We also know from the intelligence community inspector general that her private server contained information ranked beyond top secret, contradicting her assertions to the contrary.

That was written when Parker was merely referring to "special access programs" which are, as I understand it, a different classification of "top secret."  And now today it's been reported by Fox News and the Associated Press that some emails in the the latest batch are so sensitive that they can release nothing:

The State Department formally announced Friday afternoon that seven email chains, found in 22 documents, will be withheld “in full” because they, in fact, contain “Top Secret” information.

What is Hillary's endgame here?  See if you can follow along:

"There is no classified material".
There is classified material but it wasn't marked at the time.
This classified material was classified after the fact.
There's an interagency dispute about what's really classified.
That inspector general is a leaker and probably a liar.

While visiting with family over Christmas, I had a mini-debate with my wife's uncle about whether Hillary would be indicted.  He said they would have done it already but I said the FBI had to make sure their case was super-tight before accusing a former First Lady and upsetting the political process.  I believe it more than ever and the thing that only bolsters my confidence is that Obama has been making public statements about how much he admires Hillary and there probably won't be an indictment.

This is classic "keep your friends closer and your enemies closer."  If Obama thinks Hillary is going down, he looks like the good pal who - more out of sorrow than anger - must bend to the recommendation of his FBI chief and appoint a grand jury.

Predictions: Bernie will win Iowa by a wide and surprising margin, sparking a panic in the DNC.  Then, Debbie "No debates!" Wasserman-Schultz makes a secret, midnight trip to the United States Naval Observatory.

Extra - Ace and Patterico.

More:

Iowa not looking good for Hillary.

Her crowd barely looks bigger than the press pool. (Bernie events get thousands) pic.twitter.com/XGELM7VZeK

— Frank Luntz (@FrankLuntz) January 29, 2016

Suspicions confirmed

NY Times: "Wounded Warrior Project Spends Lavishly on Itself, Insiders Say."  This is why most of my charity goes to my church; I'm fairly sure it won't go to five-star retreats.

Western Massachusetts update

Political correctness claims another victim: Lord Jeff.  MassLive: "Amherst College trustees vote to drop controversial Lord Jeff mascot."

I've said it before that it's only a matter of time before they dump the University of Massachusetts Minuteman because he's a white dude with a gun.

Now we know why the markings were gone

For a while now, Hillary's go-to excuse to explain away classified information on her homebrew server was that the documents weren't "marked."  Idiots like Chuck Todd let her get away with it by asking the same questions she's already rehearsed very well.  These journalists never ask why there were no markings on these highly classified documents.

Over at the Federalist, former Army Colonel Kurt Schlichter explains the mechanics of moving this sensitive information onto Clinton's server: it was a deliberate violation of the law.  From "How Hillary got classified information on her private email."

If these new revelations are true, then it appears Hillary Clinton systematically conspired with her minions to transmit classified information from secure systems to her unsecure server. It’s not merely hard to see how she is not guilty of multiple violations of Section 1924. It’s impossible.

In short, the only way these top secret documents got there was if Clinton or her minions purposely stripped the markings and then transmitted them via email to the bathroom server.  Why would they do this?  Because Hillary explicitly asked them to!  This scandal is now incandescently criminal.

Extra - Andrew McCarthy: "Hillary Clinton’s Email Scandal Appears Gravely Criminal."

More - Neo-Neocon: "I used to think there was zero chance of Hillary being indicted. Now I think there’s a 10% chance."  Uh-oh.

Waiting on the DOJ

Hot Air: "Former AG: It’s time to charge Hillary."

The thing that drives me nuts is the Clinton defense (such as it is) that classified documents weren't "marked" classified so - hey! - how can Grandma know what's really classified?  She's often confused.  Spy satellite pictures of North Korea?  I'm just an old woman who can't handle two cellphones at once.

Shut up, they explained - a continuing series

Here's Jonah Goldberg responding to a New Yorker hit piece on the Koch Brothers:

Liberals are constantly talking about how we need an “honest conversation” about race or guns or this or that. But what they invariably mean is, they want everyone who disagrees to shut up. (That’s why they hate Fox News, too.)

The best working definition of “right wing” today has almost nothing to do with the ideological content of what right-wingers say or do. A right-winger is someone who disagrees with the liberal narrative, has the temerity to say so, and dares to actually try to change the conversation.

There's been a mini-controversy here in the Happy Valley of Western Massachusetts because the mayor of Northampton allowed a "Black Lives Matter" banner to hang on city hall for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.  Some people who believe "All Lives Matter" view the banner as divisive and anti-police.  But the most risible comment to come out of the controversy is that somebody said that they wanted to draw white people into a conversation on race.

They want no such thing.  The BLM activists want capitulation to their narrative.  As I wrote on the MassLive comment board, there is a 0.00001% chance a white person who did not offer up a confession would not be branded a racist.

Why bother?

Wow, that's some penalty

Yet part of me thinks it's not enough: "For defying no-call lists, Dish faces potential fines totaling $24 billion."  "Dish’s telemarketers allegedly failed to heed no-call lists, and the satellite-TV provider may be fined up to $24 billion, a sum larger than the company’s current market value."

Gaming Obamacare

Hit and Run: "How Long Will Health Insurers Continue to Put Up With Obamacare? - People are gaming the system, and losses in the health law's exchanges are piling up."

It's winter

Fox News: "Why can’t DC handle snow? Once again, officials hit for storm response."  Just grab a shovel, you wimps.

"America Alone" is a great book

Mark Steyn's book about demographic changes wiping out Western civilization is one of the few books I've read in a single day.  Ten years later, he looks like Nostradamus: "It's still the demography, stupid."

Agent X is exposed!

McClatchy: "Clinton campaign accuses Obama appointee of trying to smear Clinton."  All of our work tricking Obama into nominating this inspector general is threatened.

Top secret and fancy free

NBC News: "Hillary Clinton Emails Held Info Beyond Top Secret: IG."

Clinton, who tops national primary polling as a Democratic presidential candidate, has repeatedly said that none of the information she sent or received while secretary of state was marked classified, and nothing has emerged to contradict that. But it's become clear that classified information bled into the emails, which were sent over unencrypted channels open to interception by foreign intelligence agencies.

Ace has consistently maintained that the politicized Justice Department will never bring charges against the not-inevitable Clinton.  Now he's changing his tune:

I'm starting to think that the FBI will recommend a grand jury investigation. This is just too big to cover up.

Loretta Lynch may refuse, but the FBI can't roll over for Hillary and then ever have any credibility in any criminal investigation ever again.

Keep in mind that these classified documents were so sensitive that "McCullough and some of his aides had to receive clearance to be read in on it before viewing the sworn declaration about the Clinton emails."  Oh, tell us about the "markings" again, Hill.

Extra - Charles Krauthammer agrees: "This is an investigative story. And now it’s in the hands of the FBI. It’s hard to imagine that the Department of Justice will ignore this or wave it away."

More - Twitchy: "Time for a perp walk? Latest IG report on Hillary Clinton’s emails is DEVASTATING."

Sock puppet

Good question, Legal Insurrection: "Why is George Stephanopoulos even allowed to cover Clinton campaign? - Clear conflict exacerbated by inconsistent disclosure of donations."

Federal Records Act? Never heard of it.

Hot Air: "State to Huma in 2011: Your boss better get an official e-mail account."

AYFKM Boston Globe?

Today's Boston Globe dedicates almost the entire "Ideas" section to bashing Donald Trump.  This editorial wins the gold medal in sheer left-wing hypocrisy: "In the Oval Office, experience matters."

Ben Carson, Donald Trump, and Carly Fiorina would be remarkable historic outliers to win the White House, not only because they’ve never held elected office; they have never even held senior positions in either the government or the military. No president has ever been sworn in without such experience.

Yes, they wrote that.  Here's a typical online comment:

This from the paper that shamelessly promoted a community organizer/state senator who racked up a total of 743 days in the US Senate before being elected? For a minute, I thought I was reading The Onion.

The Boston Globe and its similar MSM ilk propped up this junior senator, claiming he had the world-class temperament for the job and really that's all that mattered.  Now we're told - golly! - the prerequisite is that we should have a President who believes in government.  Unbelievable.

Emptying out Connecticut

National Review: "Taxes chased GE out of Connecticut"

GE's decision to leave Fairfield for Boston is another sad marker in the downhill slide brought about by Connecticut’s high-tax, high-regulation, anti-business policies of the last 25 years.

So I live in Massachusetts but work in Connecticut...and I'm also losing my job.  The company I work for (not GE) basically said they're sick of getting dunned by Hartford.  How bad is the climate in Connecticut that General Electric is looking for relief in Boston?  This bad:

Connecticut has the second-highest property tax in the nation, ranking 49th out of 50. The Tax Foundation ranks Connecticut 42nd out of 50 in terms of tax climate (Massachusetts ranks 24th), and second highest in terms of state and local income-tax collections per person.

Massachusetts? It dropped its corporate tax to 8 percent from 9.5 percent and has a flat income tax of 5.15 percent. Connecticut, on the other hand, jacked its corporate tax to 9 percent from 7.5 percent and its top income-tax rate to 6.99 percent from 5 percent.

The mayor of Boston likened the GE move to winning Powerball.  Too bad, Connecticut.

Western Massachusetts update

Make of this what you will.  It's Northampton: "Black Lives Matter banner to be hung outside Northampton City Hall in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day."

The day after tomorrow...

...we'll still have climate change hysteria.  Watts Up with That: "The abject failure of official global-warming predictions."

To the continuing embarrassment of the profiteers of doom, the least-squares linear-regression trends on Dr Roy Spencer’s UAH satellite dataset shows no global warming at all for 18 years 6 months, despite a continuing (and gently accelerating) increase in atmospheric CO2 concentration.

The science is settled!  Now if only the observations would cooperate.