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.

To vote or not to vote

Tomorrow is primary day in Massachusetts and I don't know what to do.  The Washington Post has an article on Bay State Republicans (there are a few of us) and how Donald Trump has won their hearts and minds.  I'm mortified by the thought.  This is our nominee?

I fear that Trump has entered the same Zone reserved for Barack Obama back in 2008 where almost nothing he says or does will be counted as a strike against him.  Supporters don't care: he's their guy.  Trump is aided by a weak field of undistinguished senators and a general backlash against all establishment candidates, the same phenomenon that is elevating Bernie Sanders.

Geez, do I have to vote for Rubio?  Is he our only hope?  Can I write in "NOT TRUMP" and erase a pro-combover vote; does it work that way?  It should.

Since my vote usually doesn't count for squat in Massachusetts, I'll probably get a six of IPA and watch Netflix.

Extra - Nate Silver: "And if you are a movement conservative, Trump is arguably a pretty terrible choice, taking your conservative party and remaking it in his unpredictable medley of nationalism, populism and big-government Trumpism."  Yep.

No Obama nominee

Via Instapundit, the news is that Senate leaders will sit down with Obama and tell him to pound sand on a Supreme Court replacement for Scalia.  I would hope that they use Obama's, Biden's, and Schumer's own words in their case.

Beyond that, can we dispense with the "Do Your Job" nonsense?  The Senate failed to do their job - and violated the law - for six years when Harry Reid refused to pass a budget.  It's a little late for that tagline.

"We came, we saw, he died!"

Hit and Run: "The New York Times Accurately Portrays Hillary Clinton as an Unrepentant Warmonger - Who will call her on it?"

Buffett: Climate change hysteria is a loser

Marginal Revolution: "How Berkshire Hathaway thinks about climate change."  From the report: "As a citizen, you may understandably find climate change keeping you up nights. As a homeowner in a low-lying area, you may wish to consider moving. But when you are thinking only as a shareholder of a major insurer, climate change should not be on your list of worries."

And in case you missed it: "New paper shows global warming hiatus real after all."  Even with all that extra greenhouse gas.

Silicon Valley, yo

This past week, I took my first-ever trip to San Jose, Milpitas, and Santa Clara.  Companies like Cisco, Samsung, SanDisk, and Intel were side-by-side.

Stuff I saw:

• A power couple had converted their restaurant table to a mini-office with Macbooks and Iphones plugged into multiple power strips.
• The Valley has its own light rail to move workers from their $4000/month apartments to their workstations.
• Also saw a large luxury bus leaving the Cisco campus; clearly not a class trip.
• There was a highway leading west to San Francisco: every morning it was a complete parking lot.  At 7am, it was moving at 10mph tops.
• Lots of luxury cars and electrics.
• Had my first In-and-Out cheeseburger - twas good.
• At breakfast in the hotel lobby, there were times when I was the only Caucasian in sight.
• My two-year-old HTC One was almost certainly the oldest cellphone within a ten-mile radius.

Behind closed doors

Hot Air: "NYT to Hillary: Release the transcripts."

Can't the GOP find a mole like the one that destroyed Mitt Romney's chances?

Extra - Reuters: "Clinton deflects calls to release Wall Street speech transcripts."

Wow, this really is a thorough "security review"

Fox News: "Lynch confirms career Justice Department attorneys involved in Clinton email probe."  Everybody is helping.

Drip drip drip - Reuters: "Spy agencies say Clinton emails closely matched top secret documents."

Poor Barry

Candidate Obama made a promise and all the kids clapped.  But now President Obama has a problem: "Reminder: Bringing GITMO Detainees to The U.S. is Banned Under Federal Law."

There's just one major problem: bringing GITMO detainees to the United States is banned under federal law. In fact, just two months ago Democrats and Republicans in Congress bolstered the law.

By a wide margin, Americans don't want Gitmo detainees on U.S. soil.  But here's the problem: Barry is addicted to the kneejerk adulation of his left-wing base.  As he moves into lame-duckery, he needs some applause lines for the college crybullies, especially if he can rant about the do-nothing Congress.

Oh, it's against the law?  Barry don't care.  Greater good.  And campaigning.

Down and out in San Francisco

PJ Media: "Epic Whine by Clueless Millennial Gets Her Fired."

Her first huge mistake was moving to San Francisco. It might be nice to live in your dream city where the weather is nice and you're close to your dad, but seriously, how could anyone expect to work a minimum wage job in one of the most expensive cities in the world? It's incomprehensible and shows a critical lack of understanding of the outside world.

Magical thinking is a requirement for Left Coast cities like Seattle where the "radical experiment" into a $15 minimum wage has - surprise! - led to a spike in the unemployment rate.

Why you have to put a horse down

Sometimes the subreddit "Explain it like I'm 5" has a really interesting question like: "Why do horses need to be put down when they break a leg while most other animals don't?"  There's a lot here but, in a nutshell, it comes down the fact that horses bones are very dense and do not heal well.  Also, horses do not respond well to palliative measures and if they're not standing up, there's all sorts of bad ancillary effects.

What is wrong with you people?

Precious snowflakes or crybullies: you make the call.  Breitbart: "Rutgers students hold group therapy session after Milo Yiannopoulos visit."

All the world a victim.

Extra - The Corner: "Study: Student Support for Censorship Reaches All-Time High."

She'll *never* release those transcripts

Bernie strikes back!  WashPost: "On the eve of Nevada caucuses, Sanders takes a jab at Clinton on paid speeches."

Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders on Friday pledged to release all the transcripts of speeches he has given to Wall Street firms — there are none — in a not-so-subtle poke at his rival Hillary Clinton.

Clinton, the former secretary of state, said during a forum broadcast Thursday night by MSNBC and Telemundo that she would release transcripts of her paid, closed-door speeches to Wall Street firms “when everyone else does.”

What does "everyone" mean?  Does Hillary mean her primary opponent Bernie Sanders or is she also asking to see transcripts from Republican opponents?



OK, OK!  Geez....

Extra - Reuters: "Pressure grows on Hillary Clinton to release Goldman Sachs speeches."  Forget it.

Turning to vinegar

George Will, last month: "As you said, this is going to be a long slog. And what we know already is that Hillary Clinton is not a wine that travels well. She does not benefit from lots of exposure. The more people see her, the more they seemed to recoil from this."

Today: "Poll: Bernie Sanders burns Hillary Clinton with first-ever national lead."

Drama at UMass

Something going on here in Western Massachusetts.  Fox News: "UMASS Amherst ends shelter in place order issued over report of armed people."  The commentators at MassLive seem to believe this was a case of a drug debt.

Regrets, he has a few...

...especially when they expose him as a complete hypocrite.  Here's White House press flunky Josh Earnest explaining that Obama totes regrets voting to filibuster Samuel Alito's nomination:

Do as I say, not as I do

Patterico: "President Obama on filibustering Alito: That was different!"  Back in 2006, Senator Obama wanted to prevent a judicial nominee from getting an up-or-down confirmation vote in the Senate.  But things are different now because...shut up.

Related - Legal Insurrection: "Schumer tries to explain away his 2007 SCOTUS vote speech … fails."

No. No, it isn't.

Hot Air: "Is Washington on the verge of finally having a real discussion about entitlement programs?"

I've seen this show before.  Republicans and those who can do math will note that mandatory spending is going to crowd out all discretionary spending.  Democrats will counter with commercials showing Grandma being pushed over a cliff.  There is no entitlement reform.

Venezuela runs out of other people's money

Breitbart: "Venezuela declares another emergency: It has run out of food."  "Venezuela’s opposition legislature has declared a “nutritional emergency,” proclaiming that the country simply does not have enough food to feed its population. The move comes after years of socialist rationing and shortages that forced millions to wait on lines lasting as long as six hours for a pint of milk, a bag of flour, or carton of cooking oil."

Going nowhere fast

Victor Davis Hanson: "Hillary Clinton's dead-end campaign":

Hillary Clinton’s campaign is headed down a dead-end street. There are no way-outs through decrying the treatment of women and the baleful influence of Wall Street, calling for fair enforcement of laws, referring to either the sad or great state of Obama’s economy and foreign policy, or voicing the populist concern for indebted students and losers in today’s calcified economy.

Bernie Sanders has so far mostly avoided direct attacks on Hillary (except for mentioning her Wall Street speaking fees) and the press has been compliant.  But The Republican nominee won't be so polite.

Because it's different

Breitbart: "Chuck Schumer in 2007: Senate should block Supreme Court nominees for 18 months."  All the consistency of the New York Times editorial page.

Scalia passes

SCOTUSblog: "First reactions on the passing of Justice Scalia."

The rise of Trumpism

Charles Murray has an excellent article about how the rise of Donald Trump is a reaction to the country's drift away from the American Creed:

Still, even that character is ultimately rooted in the American creed. When faith in that secular religion is held only by fragments of the American people, we will soon be just another nation—a very powerful one, a very rich one, still called the United States of America. But we will have detached ourselves from the bedrock that has made us unique in the history of the world.

He suggests there's been an anti-establishment backlash that has helped both Trump and Sanders:

There is nothing conservative about how they want to fix things. They want a now indifferent government to act on their behalf, big time. If Bernie Sanders were passionate about immigration, the rest of his ideology would have a lot more in common with Trumpism than conservatism does.

And this reminds me of an eye-opening statement from a Sanders supporter, heard on NPR's Morning Edition:

FOLKENFLIK: Drejza supports Sanders. But he has a backup.
DREJZA: If he doesn't get it, I might just want to blow up D.C. and vote for Trump – totally just vote for that fool Trump and just see if he could blow up D.C.

There are many facets to the anger in the electorate, but despair over the future is bubbling over.

Protect the Queen!

Here's the WashPost commentator Chris Cillizza before last night's Democratic debate:

Clinton will almost certainly be asked about the latest State investigation in the debate tonight. How she responds — and whether Sanders or the debate moderators push her on that response — could be a pivot point not just tonight but in the race more generally.

"Almost certainly?"  Oh, Chris.  Ye of great faith in the unbiased media.  Fox News: "FBI, foundation controversies missing from Clinton questioning at debate."

Gee, I wonder why this didn't come up last night?

The PBS moderators at Thursday night’s Democratic debate failed to ask former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton any questions about the Clinton Foundation, despite news earlier in the day that the State Department had sent it a subpoena for documents about its activities during her tenure in office.

Co-moderator Judy Woodruff happens to be a donor to the Clinton Foundation, and faced criticism from the PBS ombudsman in 2015 for giving to the Clintons.

When the Presidential debates start in earnest, I would hope the Republican candidate would start his opening remark by pointing out the inevitable conflict of interest(s) among the moderators.

No more Candy Crowleys.

Another "security review"

It's not an investigation that may lead to criminal charges - bite your tongue!

Hot Air: "Oh my: State Department IG subpoenaed the Clinton Foundation last fall."

There are now 3 investigations with ties to Hillary.

1.Clinton emails by State
2. Clinton emails by FBI
3. Clinton Foundation by State

— Chris Cillizza (@TheFix) February 11, 2016

Debt forever

Hit and Run: "Obama's Budget Promises an Olympian Mountain of Debt For Our Kids to Pay Off."

The worst part of Obama's budget—and the ways in which Republicans have conspired to increase spending just late last year—is that it attempts to normalize substantially increased spending levels as a percentage of GDP. Why exactly the government needs to be spending a higher percentage of GDP is not clear and I'm doubtful any member of either the GOP or the Democratic Party will ever bother clarifying the matter.

What I think is ironic about the effort to double the national debt again is that an ever-expanding portion of the federal budget will go towards interest payments on the national debt, feeding the coffers of those bad-old "big banks."  I've said this before but it bears repeating: between inviolate interest payments and untouchable entitlement spending, there's not going to be anything left for what we call the "government."

Elizabeth Warren is right: the game is rigged

The Hill: "Clinton likely to leave NH with same number of delegates as Sanders."

Extra - From Legal Insurrection.

How I hate the mainstream media

Ace: "In 2009, Hillary Clinton's Press Handler Philip Reines Demanded that Marc Ambinder Describe One of Her Speeches as "Muscular" In Exchange For an Early Transcript Of It."

This goes on with such predictable regularity but heaven forfend if we allow "Citizens United"-type of free speech.  Golly, I wonder who the New York Times will endorse this year.

I was told it was a "security review"

You know, like the Geek Squad running McAfee.  Guess not: "FBI Makes It Official: Hillary Rodham Clinton Is Under Investigation."

Feedback loop Rubio

WashPost: "Debate slip-up seems to halt Rubio’s momentum."

I didn't see the debate but I caught the cringeworthy "dispel the notion" performance and it just brought back all the concerns I have that Rubio is a lightweight.  Gee, maybe I need to give Christie a second look.

The only thing I know for sure is that I do not want Trump, mostly because I think he's completely flippant about a lot of important issues.  Oh, things are going to be "great" and "don't worry about it?"  No dice.  He'll get into a debate with Clinton, take a couple sharp jabs, then decide he doesn't want to run anymore.  That's how capricious he can be.

Gee, you girls are superficial

Says Gloria Steinem.  But at least she's sorry...sorry you misinterpreted her.

Day 4: Yeah, we ain't lookin'

Twitchy: "‘So bad at this’: Hillary’s defense of not releasing speech transcripts is predictable and ‘terrible’."

Yeah, Hillary isn't going to release the transcripts of her lucrative Goldman-Sachs speeches, just as certain people predicted.  The reason she's giving (now) is that she wants other people who gave private speeches to release their transcripts also.  Of course, there is no depth to how many such speeches would qualify, so therefore there will be no release.  Classic Clintonian.

Extra - Minuteman: "Another 'own goal' for Hillary."

It's football day!

Hit and Run: "Rams Stiff St. Louis, Leave City with $144 Million Bill - Even though the NFL team has left, taxpayers are still on the hook for stadium debt payments."

Day 3: Looking and looking

Bloomberg: "Clinton Campaign Has No Answer Yet on Releasing Speeches to Goldman - A spokesman says the campaign is still looking into release as Clinton comes under attack for her Wall Street ties."

They're, like, in this filing cabinet and we think Scruffy has the key but he's out on his fishing boat right now.  We'll have to see when he gets back.

Day 2: The great looking-in continues

Hot Air: "Why won’t Hillary release the transcripts of her Wall Street speeches?"

Hillary will never release these transcripts and she fervently hopes that the question never comes up again.  Do the American people deserve a "yes" or a "no"?  Well, forget it.

Update - NYT: "Hillary Clinton’s Campaign Resists Releasing Transcripts From Goldman Speeches"

In response to a question at Thursday night’s debate, Hillary Clinton said she would “look into” the possibility of releasing transcripts of her paid remarks to banking, corporate and financial services companies like Goldman Sachs.

But by Friday morning, it did not appear that much looking was underway.

Nope.

"I will look into it"

If you're a toddler, you know that "we'll see" really means "no."  My favorite question at the Sanders-Clinton debate in New Hampshire tonight was when Hillary was asked if she'll release the transcripts of all the speeches she's given, for huge bucks, to Goldman Sachs.

Basically, she said "no."  No you can't see them, America.

An American legend

Fox News: "Earth, Wind & Fire founder Maurice White dead at 74."

The very first album (not CD, but the black, round waxy kind) I ever purchased was "All n' All" by Earth, Wind & Fire.  I was absolutely blown away by the horn-heavy sound.

Another story: my Led Zeppelin-lovin' classmate once derisively said to me: "Who do you like, Earth Wind & Fire?"  And I incredulously responded: Yes.  Yes I do.

RIP Maurice.  You were the best.

I've underestimated this trend

Denver Post: "Americans spent more on legal pot last year than on Cheetos, Doritos."  Suddenly, the trend for state governments to legalize and tax pot makes so much sense.

Can't we just let it rest for a day?

That day being Super Bowl Sunday?  American Spectator: "No Justice, No Football - Here come the shutdown demonstrators to this Sunday’s Super Bowl."

It gets worse, Iowa

This just in.  Observer: "BREAKING: Hillary Clinton Put Spies’ Lives at Risk."

I can confirm that the FoxNews report, which lacks any specifics about exactly what was compromised, is accurate. And what was actually in those Top Secret emails found on Hillary’s “unclassified” personal bathroom server was colossally damaging to our national security and has put lives at risk.

Discussions with Intelligence Community officials have revealed that Ms. Clinton’s “unclassified” emails included Holy Grail items of American espionage such as the true names of Central Intelligence Agency intelligence officers serving overseas under cover. Worse, some of those exposed are serving under non-official cover. 

But...but...markings!

Something to think about, Iowa

Hugh Hewitt: "Hillary's emails disqualify her from the Presidency"

Just ask yourself what we would give to know what the Russian or Chinese foreign secretary was reading and sending every day in real time. That's what our enemies had for four years. Thanks, Hillary. Even the president was sending her emails the enemies of the United States were reading.

So she deleted 30,000 emails without anyone reviewing them. Now we have absolute confirmation that among those her clean up squad missed are documents of such sensitivity that the government can't release a word of them.

Keep in mind that it is the State Department that has classified these emails as "Top Secret" and this morning it was reported that the nature of the top secret classification is operational intelligence that put lives at risk.  Yet Hillary keeps repeating the mantra that this is an "interagency" dispute.  The State Department disagrees with the State Department?

Oh but the "markings."  Grandma can't figure out anything without the markings.

Extra - From Instapundit.

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.

Thanks Google!

I got nothin'.  So I'll recount this story: about two weeks ago I used the "reminder" function on my Google Now to tell me to buy stamps the next time I'm at Stop and Shop.  Fast forward to today and, of course, I had completely forgotten about this reminder.  I walk into Stop & Shop and my phone beeps: "buy stamps!"

How cool is that?

Accelerating the death spiral

Prepare to be shocked: Americans are gaming Obamacare to run up medical bills then drop coverage.

Both those trends make the risk pools skew toward sicker, costlier customers — and under Obamacare, plans can no longer deny coverage to those with expensive medical conditions. That problem has been exacerbated by the large numbers of healthier people who are choosing to stay uninsured rather than shell out money for coverage.

Hmmm...I seem to remember somebody predicting that this very thing would happen.

I question the timing

Fox News: "US sailors, boats held by Iran in Persian Gulf."

I have a theory that the mullahs don't want to give the slightest hint that they're bowing to the Great Satan so they fund terrorism and launch missiles and then seize American sailors on the night of Obama's SOTU.  They know Mr. "Peace in our Time" will do nothing.

Clinton quid pro quo

Hot Air: "FBI expands Hillary e-mail probe to investigate corruption."  Act One of the Clinton email saga was the mishandling of classified information but Act Two was always going to be Clinton Cash.  Hillary didn't erase 60,000 emails about yoga positions.

Extra - From Powerline.

David Bowie

Is responsible for one of my all-time favorite lyrics:

"This mellow fat chick just put my spine out of place."

I have never seen a football team implode like the Bengals last night

What an ugly game.  The Bengals were up 16-15 with the ball on the Steelers 26-yard line and all they had to do was run down the clock and kick a field goal.  Instead they fumbled the ball to the Steelers.  Then, since Ben Roethlisberger had a hurt arm, the Bengals helped him downfield with a stupid hitting foul.  Even this wasn't enough to guarantee an easy field goal, so they drew a personal foul to move the ball closer.  I couldn't believe my eyes.

Really, Liam Neeson?

Independent Journal: "More than 100 Hollywood Celebs Just Backed Obama’s Gun Control Push."

I can understand, say, Sarah Jessica Parker whose most famous character is in a search for shoes.  But Liam Neeson?  Is there a movie star that owes his career to the glorification of guns more than him?  (After Ah-nold).

This, right here, is a felony

One time I saw a show about how the FBI caught mob boss John Gotti.  The "social club" where he would frequent had listening devices everywhere but occasionally they lost track of Gotti's voice.  Eventually, the FBI figured out that, when Gotti was conducting serious Mafia business, he would go out a back door to an apartment upstairs.  They, of course, then planted a bug there.

What they captured on this new bug was pure gold.  If I remember correctly, Gotti would say things like "I'm La Cosa Nostra forever" and "Oh, yeah, I had that guy whacked."

I thought about that when reading about how Hillary instructed an aide to send classified information through an unsecured system because she was impatient:

In a thread from June 2011, Hillary exchanges e-mails with Jake Sullivan, then her deputy chief of staff and now her campaign foreign-policy adviser, in which she impatiently waits for a set of talking points. When Sullivan tells her that the source is having trouble with the secure fax, Hillary then orders Sullivan to have the data stripped of its markings and sent through a non-secure channel.

That should be game, set, and match, yes?

One would think.  Here's Hillary telling this deputy to strip the security markings, scan it into a PDF (I assume), and send it via a non-secure server.  All this story needs to complete the picture is Hillary writing: "I know this is violation of security protocols and federal law but go ahead and do it for me, Hillary."

Ace of Spades gives this the rare three flaming skulls:

If the FBI does not indict Clinton, two things follow:
1. There is no longer any law against the selling or transmission of classified information.
2. There is no longer any rule of law in the United States of America, and, the United States being conceived as a place of laws not men, there is then no longer any United States of America, either.

Can the Department of Justice really decline to indict?  This is a crime:

Besides, as I pointed out in the earlier post (and several other times over the past year), 18 USC 793 does not require information to be classified to take action on violations, although that does allow prosecutors to build a case easier. It just requires information that transmitted or stored in the open could damage national security. Clearly Sullivan thought this needed to go through secure channels, and yet Hillary not only tried to override it, she wanted the headers deleted to allow for it — which shows a pretty clear intent to violate the regulations on handling of secure information.

Hillary belongs in prison.

Extra - Let's see what my legal buddies have to say.  Legal Insurrection: "At this point, if Hillary is not indicted for conspiracy it’s because someone at DOJ doesn’t want her indicted."

The Chicago way

Daily Beast: "Lawyers Went to Rahm Emanuel, Then Quashed the Laquan McDonald Video" - "The mayor’s men demanded that dash-cam video be kept confidential for at least several years as part of a $5 million settlement with the teenager’s family."

Don't worry, Rahm.  Being a Democrat means never having to say you're sorry.

Those Ted Cruz supporters are decent...some of them...I suppose

Patterico: "MSM Partisan Hack: Ted Cruz is a Nazi."  This from a senior writer Newsweek who is a professional that can turn on his objectivity powers just like that.

Extra - From Instapundit.

Netanyahu at War

This PBS Frontline special on the acid relationship between Israel's Netanyahu and the Obama Administration is absolutely riveting.

This lawless Presidency

Do words mean anything at all to this President?  In case you missed it, the Obamacare employer mandate finally went into effect on January 1st after several delays for purely political reasons:

This is why the Obama administration ignored the law, which required the mandate to go into effect for all employers on January 1, 2014. Hoping to avoid the wrath of the voters in that year’s midterms a group of congressional Democrats went to the White House and persuaded the President to delay its implementation. Thus, the enforcement date was pushed back to January of 2015. Six months later, he arbitrarily moved back the implementation date for employers with 50 to 99 workers until this year.

This "selective enforcement" of the written law - with specific implementation dates - was illegal.  The Executive branch does not exist to write or interpret legislation: it exists to enforce laws.  In this case, Obama delayed implementation of his own namesake law for purely political reasons (which didn't help anyway.)

Now I'm no gun nut but as Ace points out, the current law is very specific about who is and is not required to perform a background check for a gun purchase:

(21) The term “engaged in the business” means--
...
(C) as applied to a dealer in firearms, as defined in section 921(a)(11)(A), a person who devotes time, attention, and labor to dealing in firearms as a regular course of trade or business with the principal objective of livelihood and profit through the repetitive purchase and resale of firearms, but such term shall not include a person who makes occasional sales, exchanges, or purchases of firearms for the enhancement of a personal collection or for a hobby, or who sells all or part of his personal collection of firearms;

I understand that Obama is going to do a town hall meeting on gun control where he can stroke his ego as being the only person in the room who cares about the kids.  He'll have a plant in the audience to throw him some softballs but nobody will ask the former Constitutional Law professor if there's any limit to bending the English language to fit his agenda.

And I didn't even mention illegal immigration.

In a list of Oscar winners, this guy has got to be last

Hollywood Reporter: "Vilmos Zsigmond, 'Close Encounters' Cinematographer, Dies at 85."

Western Massachusetts update: Feel the Bern

Bernie Sanders made a stop at the University of Massachusetts today.  He filled the Fine Arts Center to capacity and a large-screen TV was set up outside for the overflow crowd.

"Youse gonna be working together"

Hot Air: "As predicted, New York managed to lose huge amounts of sin tax money."  This reminds me of when, when confronted with the fact that capital gains revenues drop when rates rise, Obama defended tax hikes in the name of "fairness."  Because there is always virtue in taxes.

High and getting worse

Homicides in Baltimore spiked after the Freddie Gray case: "Something went wrong in Baltimore."

The new authoritarians

Scratch a liberal and you'll find a fascist.  Coyote Blog points out that the martinets at Mother Jones think it's swell that younger Americans are being "threatened" and "browbeaten" into buying Obamacare.

"I'm not lying," Hillary lied.

Daily Caller: "Hillary Goes On The Offensive Against Benghazi Victims’ Families."  According to Hillary, they're all simultaneously mis-remembering her blaming Benghazi on an internet video.  I'll bet she was really surprised when she saw Susan Rice on the Sunday morning shows.