CNN Confirms Clinton Aide Destroyed Mobile Devices With Hammers

CNN Confirms Clinton Aide Destroyed Mobile Devices With Hammers:
"...A former Clinton pollster, Bernard Whitman, called the hammering a good method of disposal on CNN.
“They destroyed Blackberrys with hammers in the State Department,” Donald Trump adviser Boris Epshteyn charged.
Whitman tried to interrupt and defend Clinton until Brooke Baldwin had to pause the conversation and go to CNN correspondent Evan Perez to confirm what Epshteyn said.
“Evan, Evan, Evan, hold on, can you fact check? Hang on, hang on, hang on, Evan Perez, hammers?” Baldwin said. “Fact check that for me please, on the fly,”
“Yes, they did, Brooke,” Perez said. “As you mentioned there were 13 devices, mobile device and five iPads that the FBI said that in some way were used with her private email server and they did, in some cases, just destroy them with hammers when they were done using them.”
“That’s a pretty good way of destroying a device,” Whitman said.
“No, it’s not,” Epshteyn said. “That is absolutely not following the rules and regulations of the State Department, you know it.”
The FBI documents reveal that Clinton aide Justin Cooper destroyed the then-secretary of state’s Blackberry cell phones on multiple occasions."

Why Hillary Will Kill Us All

Why Hillary Will Kill Us All - Kevin McCullough:
"This week two significant revelations took place that should permanently swing the election away from the nominee for the Democrats.
Both revelations demonstrated that Hillary Clinton is either the world’s biggest buffoon when handling national security, or she is the world’s most dishonest person living.
America is beginning to see why it is so much the latter.
On Thursday of this week, revelations came to the fore that the administration—specifically the secretary of state’s office and the president—in the run up to the implementation of the Iran deal—specifically knew that Iran was not in compliance with the terms of the deal as announced.
Regardless, the administration gave permission for Iran to cheat on the terms, and pushed forward with the implementation.
They did so while telling the American people that Iran had met all of the required conditions—knowing they had not.
The source of this revelation was not a conservative organization, a Republican politician, or a hostile opponent to the administration.
The source of these observations stem from actual negotiators from the Iran agreement and will be detailed in an upcoming report by a group that studies science and global security.
It is also not just merely the fact that the administration allowed Iran to cheat, as they were assuring the American people that Iran wasn’t, that’s the issue.
The substance of what they were cheating on is also pertinent.
According to the sources—those familiar with the terms—Iran was allowed to retain control of nearly 50 tons of partially enriched uranium.
The administration got around it because it presented to the American people the idea that the material had been relocated to Jordan. 
In reality, the material was transported under and remains in the grasp of Iranians who guard and watch it..."
Read on!!

Obama dissed at G20: Denied red carpet arrival; delegation shouted at, harassed - Liberty Unyielding

Obama dissed at G20: Denied red carpet arrival; delegation shouted at, harassed - Liberty Unyielding:

"You might have seen something already about a Chinese official mixing it up with National Security Adviser Susan Rice.  Another Chinese official reportedly yelled at a White House aide when the two got into a confrontation over the placement of media waiting for Obama’s arrival.

But those encounters have overshadowed what is so far the most marked sign of disfavor from China: not providing the ceremonial jet stairway for Obama to descend to a red carpet for his arrival.

That literally happened.  Obama ended up having to come down a utility stairway from the back of Air Force One."

Political Correctness Prevents Syracuse University from Screening Israeli Film

Political Correctness Prevents Syracuse University from Screening Israeli Film - Hit & Run : Reason.com:
A professor issued an informal invitation to an Israeli film director to screen his new documentary, The Settlers, at Syracuse University—the site of an upcoming conference on "The Place of Religion in Film."
Syracuse's religious studies department cancelled the invitation due to concerns that "the BDS faction on campus will make matters very unpleasant for you and for me if you come." 
(That's the pro-Palestinian movement, the "Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions" group, for those unfamiliar with the acronym.)
Is there a clearer case of a campus beholden to political correctness than this? 
Read Syracuse Religion Professor M. Gail Hammer's letter to the filmmaker, Shimon Dotan:

I now am embarrassed to share that my SU colleagues, on hearing about my attempt to secure your presentation, have warned me that the BDS faction on campus will make matters very unpleasant for you and for me if you come. In particular my film colleague in English who granted me affiliated faculty in the film and screen studies program and who supported my proposal to the Humanities Council for this conference told me point blank that if I have not myself seen your film and cannot myself vouch for it to the Council, I will lose credibility with a number of film and Women/Gender studies colleagues. Sadly, I have not had the chance to see your film and can only vouch for it through my friend and through published reviews.

Clearly I am politically naive. I also feel tremendous shame in reneging on a half-offered invitation.

Read the full letter at The Atlantic.

So what’s new? Sea levels have been rising for 10,000 years

So what’s new? Sea levels have been rising for 10,000 years - Ice Age Now:
"Today’s sea-level rise is BELOW normal!"
By Robert Felix
During the last ice age almost all of Canada, along with parts of Europe and Asia, were buried beneath one to two miles of ice.
At the same time, sea levels stood 350 to 400 feet lower than today.
Sea levels were so low that the entire continental shelf, at least in eastern North America, was above water.
Many states on the eastern seaboard were twice as big as today.
New Jersey’s shoreline, for example, stood 60 to 100 miles east of its present location.Same in the west.
The land between Alaska and Asia rose out of the sea like a bridge (or rather, the sea dropped away from the land), and the Bering Strait, which today is only 18 stories deep at its deepest point, was above water.
Our ancestors could have walked to Siberia.
(The word bridge is misleading, because the land connection between Alaska and Siberia was almost as wide as Alaska itself.)
Why were sea levels so low? 
Because that’s where the water came from to create those huge ice sheets. 
Literally millions of cubic miles of water had turned to ice.
Then, about 10,000 years ago, the ice began to melt and sea levels began to rise..."

Lunch video-----Trump Speaks at Black Church in Detroit

Noon-toon

Time to take the car keys away from Granny Clinton | Washington Examiner

Time to take the car keys away from Granny Clinton | Washington Examiner:

"This is the woman who served as America's top diplomat for three years, and before that served on the Senate Armed Services Committee. It is inconceivable that she could be so ignorant about classifications. As the Washington Examiner's Byron York lightheartedly put it on Twitter, "If you told me Hillary Clinton told FBI she does not recall being Secretary of State, I would not be surprised.""

Infographic: Why Long-Term Debt Matters

Infographic: Why Long-Term Debt Matters | pgpf.org:
"A strong fiscal outlook is an essential foundation for a growing, thriving economy.
Putting our nation on a sustainable fiscal path creates a positive environment for growth, opportunity, and prosperity.
Unfortunately, America is on a dangerous long-term fiscal path.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that national debt could rise to 141 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2046. 
If our long-term fiscal imbalance is not addressed, our future economy will be diminished, with fewer economic opportunities for individuals and families, and less fiscal flexibility to respond to future crises.
The good news is that there is still time to act.
While partisan gridlock may have prevented meaningful progress to date, there is no shortage of worthy proposals to strengthen our fiscal and economic future."

Long TSA Delays Force Airports To Hire Private Security Contractors

Long TSA Delays Force Airports To Hire Private Security Contractors - Slashdot:
"An anonymous Slashdot reader writes:
TSA checkpoints caused 6,800 American Airlines passengers to miss their flights in just one week this spring, and the problem isn't improving.
"Two years ago the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) offered $15,000 to anybody -- literally anybody -- who could come up with an idea to speed up airport security..." writes Popular Science.
"They wouldn't say who won or for which idea, but since we're here two years later with longer wait times than ever, it's fair to say it hasn't lived up to the groundbreaking ideals of that call to action...
Now in summer 2016, the TSA recommends arriving three hours early instead of a mere two."
So this spring the Seattle-Tacoma airport replaced many of the TSA staff with private screeners, although "Private security operates under strict direction from the TSA, and even those airports that heavily utilize private contractors still have a lot of TSA personnel in the back rooms..." according to the article.
"The ability to do exactly what the TSA does, only faster and cheaper, seems to be the major draw." Now 22 U.S. airports are using private screeners, although the Seattle and San Francisco airports are the only ones with significant traffic.
The article also cites a Homeland Security report which discovered that investigators were able to smuggle a test bomb past security checkpoints in 67 out of 70 tests."

The Murky Secrecy Surrounding the Iran Nuke Deal

The Murky Secrecy Surrounding the Iran Nuke Deal - The American Interest:
More murky details keep surfacing in connection to the Obama Administration’s landmark nuclear deal with Iran. 
Reuters:

The United States and its negotiating partners agreed “in secret” to allow Iran to evade some restrictions in last year’s landmark nuclear agreement in order to meet the deadline for it to start getting relief from economic sanctions, according to a think tank report published on Thursday...

“The exemptions or loopholes are happening in secret, and it appears that they favor Iran,” Albright said.

The text of the report can be found here.

There is absolutely no policy justification for these concessions being secret. 
The Iranians know what they are; so do all the governments involved in the negotiations. 
The only people these agreements are being hidden from is the public. 
And it seems unlikely that there is a need to hide the details from the Iranian public—the news that their negotiators got a better deal would presumably be good for the Iranian government’s political popularity.

So on the face of it, the secrecy clause looks like evidence of bad conscience and political squeamishness on the part of the U.S. government—the administration didn’t want the American people to know how many concessions it made to get the deal.

Top 5 ‘Climate Change’ Myths Debunked | Glenn Beck

Top 5 ‘Climate Change’ Myths Debunked | Glenn Beck:

"This one is for you Prius-driving, canvas tote bag-carrying hippies who refuse to shop at Amazon because of the cardboard boxes, who are always talking about “emissions” and “the polar bears.” You know who you are."

Are Voter ID Laws Racist?

Are Voter ID Laws Racist? | Insider Online:
"It is easy to draw up a story about how the extra burdens of the voter ID laws fall disproportionately on minority persons, given that persistent differences by race in education, employment, and health are the norm today (in part because of the misguided progressive policies that hamper charter school education, place minimum wage and union barriers against minority employment, and block the entry of low-class corporate healthcare providers in minority neighborhoods).
And it is easier still to select individual instances where the burdens of compliance are higher than the norm.
But the central point is that nothing in the majority opinion stated, let alone demonstrated, that minorities who suffer from educational, employment, or health disadvantages find it any more difficult than white individuals to get the appropriate IDs.
The sole objection was that there were more minority individuals in this vulnerable group, so that the disparate impact claim is always made out once the standard demographic information is trotted out. By this dubious logic, it is possible to order the removal of existing safeguards against fraud because they too have a disparate impact.
Click here to read the full publication →http://www.hoover.org/research/are-voter-id-laws-racist

AM Fruitcake

History for September 5

History for September 5 - On-This-Day.com:
Jesse James 1847, Darryl F. Zanuck 1902, Jack Valenti 1921


Bob Newhart 1929 - Actor, comedian (The Bob Newhart Show), Freddie Mercury (Queen) 1946, Michael Keaton 1951 - Actor ("Batman")


1698 - Russia's Peter the Great imposed a tax on beards.


1774 - The first session of the U.S. Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia. The delegates drafted a declaration of rights and grievances, organized the Continental Association, and elected Peyton Randolph as the first president of the Continental Congress.


1836 - Sam Houston was elected as the first president of the Republic of Texas.


1881 - The American Red Cross provided relief for disaster for the first time. The disaster was the Great Fire of 1881 in Michigan.


1906 - Bradbury Robinson executed the first legal forward pass in football. Robinson threw the ball to Jack Schneider of St. Louis University in a game against Carroll College.


1914 - The Battle of the Marne began. The Germans, British and French fought for six days killing half a million people.


1939 - The U.S. proclaimed its neutrality in World War II.

1945 - Iva Toguri D'Aquino was arrested. D'Aquino was suspected of being the wartime radio propagandist "Tokyo Rose". She served six years and was later pardoned by U.S. President Ford.

Social Security Administration Confirms: Illegal Aliens To Begin Collecting Benefits In 2017 - Breitbart

Social Security Administration Confirms: Illegal Aliens To Begin Collecting Benefits In 2017 - Breitbart:

"We learned about that crisis thanks to an inquiry from Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI), who also asked the SSA to run the numbers on how many of our New Americans would be collecting benefits legally after Obama illegally dismantles our citizenship laws. The chief actuary responded that he expects about 16,000 “New Americans” to begin collecting Old-Age, Survivor’s, and Disability Insurance benefits by 2017, with the total rising steadily over the next four decades until it hits 695,000.

As Ryan Lovelace at National Review observes, even this estimate is absurdly optimistic, because it assumes the flow of illegal aliens will decrease after 2016. In reality, we’ll be hit by wave after wave of new illegals looking for their piece of the amnesty pie."

The environmental crowd knows no compromise

Rex Murphy: The environmental crowd knows no compromise | National Post:
"The environmental protesters who are determined to throttle Alberta’s oil industry are so invested in the narrow, regressive world of their own doom-laden vision of the future, and the fanatic, narcissistic righteousness that is the hallmark of that vision, that they see themselves as having a licence to to do just about anything, no matter how morally reprehensible, in the pursuit of their cause.
Civilized debate, respect for one’s opponents, listening to differing opinions and good manners: these are the practices and mores of every other social and political exchange, and are necessary for reasoned debate to take place in a democratic society.
Yet the anti-pipeline zealots seems to think that these standards don’t apply to them.
...They were only three protesters.
But these three hooligans are a perfect example of the holier-than-thou mentality the pervades the modern environmental movement. 
Storm a meeting, scream slogans, insult the industry, play the victim, taunt the police, harass, intimidate and act like a thug — you may call it protesting if you wish, but bullying and boorishness are far closer to the mark..."

Dem Senator: It's 'Sexist' to Question Hillary's Health

Dem Senator: It's 'Sexist' to Question Hillary's Health | PJ Media:

CHAT 57 COMMENTS

"Eight years ago, when John McCain was only three years older than Hillary will be on election day, the MSM was using actuarial charts to prove that he was probably not going to live through his first term if elected (update: he's still alive). 

Now it's sexist to wonder if a woman who suffered a head injury and often shows signs of not being all there is healthy.

Welcome to identity politics at its most evil.

Side note: notice how hard Andrea Mitchell works to lay the groundwork for the response she wants Sen. Klobuchar to give her."

Clinton Email Scandal: A Catalog Of Lame Excuses From The FBI Report | Stock News & Stock Market Analysis - IBD

Clinton Email Scandal: A Catalog Of Lame Excuses From The FBI Report | Stock News & Stock Market Analysis - IBD:

"Clinton's attempts to avoid responsibility became particularly strained when the topic turned to classified material she said never showed up on her email server. The report is replete with so many different attempts to duck blame that we thought it would be helpful to categorize them.

The Blanche DuBois Excuse:  Like the character from "Streetcar Named Desire" who famously says that she "depends on the kindness of strangers," Clinton says that she depended on anyone emailing her to know the rules of classification. If there was a problem, it was their fault, not hers."

Comparing cosmetology to policing might say more about cosmetology than policing.

"Comparing cosmetology to policing might say more about cosmetology than policing.
Colin Kaepernick again weighed in on the important topic of police abuse of power this week, stating: “[Y]ou can become a cop in six months and don’t have to have the same amount of training
as a cosmetologist. 
That’s insane. 
Someone that’s holding a curling iron has more education and more training than people that have a gun and are going out on the street to protect us.”
We don’t know what the right amount of training for a police officer is, but the amount of training a person must receive in order to practice cosmetology is certainly insane.
As the Institute for Justice has shown over and over again in its research and litigation, cosmetology licensing is about protecting existing practitioners from new competition, not about ensuring health and safety. 
In IJ’s latest study on the issue, Angela Erickson found that requiring hair braiders to take thousands of hours of cosmetology training does nothing to enhance consumer safety:
“[A]cross seven years and 10 jurisdictions, just nine complaints with health and safety issues were received for unlicensed braiders—just over one per year and just less than one per jurisdiction.
Further, none of the complaints alleging consumer harm were verified by licensing boards.” Cosmetology licensing does seem to do one thing well, though: 
It generates plenty of complaints about the licensing status of cosmetologists—by other cosmetologists." (Heritage Foundation-insider)
**********************************************************
 [Institute for Justice]
Executive Summary
African-style hair braiding is a traditional art and a time-tested way of caring for tightly coiled Afro-textured hair naturally, without scissors, heat or chemicals.
Yet, in most states, people who wish to braid for a living must first obtain a government permission slip—an occupational license requiring up to 2,100 hours of training. 
This study investigates whether the natural craft of braiding poses risks that justify occupational licensing and whether braiding licenses create barriers that keep people out of work..."

Michael Flynn: Stop KKKing Republicans

Michael Flynn: Stop KKKing Republicans | Washington Examiner:
"Retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, a top adviser to Donald Trump, is fed up with people who try to tie the Ku Klux Klan to the Republican Party.
"Don't try to tie the KKK to the Republican Party or the conservative movement in this country," the former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency told CNN's Erin Burnett Thursday evening.
To start the interview, the anchor brought up former KKK wizard David Duke's praise of Trump's immigration speech on Wednesday and asked Flynn to comment on "the fact" that the GOP nominee's message is resonating with white supremacists.
Duke, also a former state representative, is currently a candidate for the Republican nomination for a U.S. Senate seat in Louisiana with very little chance of winning.
"Not only does Donald Trump disavow them, but I think most Americans disavow that line of thinking and those kinds of groups," Flynn assured her. On a personal level, Flynn said "I find them disgusting..."

Lunch video-----CNN Blurs Out Guest's Trump T-Shirt During Interview

Noon-toon

FBI: Hillary Clinton Lost Cell Phones with Classified Emails

FBI: Hillary Clinton Lost Cell Phones with Classified Emails:

"The fact that Clinton’s staff attempted to destroy her old smartphones whenever they could indicates that they knew there was sensitive information on the devices.

FBI director James Comey revealed in July that Clinton had sent and received emails that were marked classified at the time, and contained information that she and her aides should have known was classified.

Federal law prohibits the unauthorized transfer, storage, or destruction of classified information. Federal records acts likewise prohibit the destruction of government documents, which would have included work-related emails on Clinton’s server and mobile devices."

TAMARA KEEL ON HILLARY’S LATEST: This is about as plausible as “the dog ate my homework”.

Instapundit » Blog Archive » TAMARA KEEL ON HILLARY’S LATEST: This is about as plausible as “the dog ate my homework”. She cla…:
TAMARA KEEL ON HILLARY’S LATEST:

This is about as plausible as “the dog ate my homework”. She claimed she didn’t know that the “c” meant “confidential”, that nobody told her that she should retain work emails as they are part of the public record. Further in the article, she throws her staff under the bus, in effect claiming that underlings and minions told the dog to eat her homework.

That’s some Grade A leadership there, right? Makes you wanna sign right up for that outfit, no?

Further, I have an Ivy League lawyer, wife of a former governor and president, who lived in the White House for eight damned years, then went on to be a senator and Secretary of State telling me she didn’t know about classified email and that work-related documents needed to be saved as part of the public record?

Look, I don’t mind you bullshitting me a little bit, Hillary, but don’t you ever lie to me like I’m Montel Williams.

Oops.in

Posted by Glenn Reynolds at 1:53 pm

Underfunded Pensions: The Expanding and Escalating Challenge

Underfunded Pensions: The Expanding and Escalating Challenge | Mercatus:
"Puerto Rico’s recent financial failures have raised public awareness of underfunded pensions, as well as questions about the federal government’s proper role in pension failures. 
Regrettably, the problem is not unique to state governments—with low interest rates, unrealistic benefit promises, and poor funding, pension plans are under intense financial pressure at all levels of government and throughout the private sector.

...Meanwhile, most states and localities have significantly underfunded their pension obligations, and the potential for shortfalls portends state fiscal crises that may elicit demands for federal intervention.

Political sympathy for retirees runs deep on both sides of the aisle, but federal financial intervention in a major pension failure would have a disastrous impact on the federal government’s credit and debt. 
It would also create a dangerous disincentive for the responsible and prudent administration of pensions at all levels.
Below is a brief overview of recent developments related to failing pensions, the mounting shortfalls faced by the federal government’s PBGC program, and the challenges faced by state pension plans 

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

While early pension challenges have been relatively small, the way in which they are handled sets an important precedent for the exponentially larger pension challenges that lie ahead. Specifically, it is likely that a combination of benefit cuts, premium increases, and better future funding will be necessary to shore up failing pensions. While painful for current beneficiaries of failing pensions, this precedent could help remove expectations for federal bailouts, reinforce the understanding that individual pension plan sponsors are responsible for their own financial solvency, and prompt pension administrators to make the difficult—but critical—decisions necessary to address shortfalls. Further, such a precedent could help PBGC and state and local governments to avoid a large and painful insolvency.

• The Detroit bankruptcy deal. The City of Detroit filed for bankruptcy in 2013 after a series of state-ordered financial reports found that the city was insolvent. The resulting bankruptcy deal set a precedent by allowing a pension sponsor, the City of Detroit, to cut benefits in order to maintain the solvency of the pension plans. Retirees’ pension payments were reduced by 4.5–20 percent.

• The Kline-Miller Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014. The Kline-Miller Act, named for its bipartisan cosponsors, Representatives John Kline (R-MN) and George Miller (D-CA), empowered private multiemployer pension plans to cut benefits to a minimum of 110 percent of what PBGC insures if doing so would avert insolvency (e.g., for 30 years of service, PBGC’s maximum guarantee is $12,870 per year and may be less). The law, prompted by the increasing number of large multiemployer plans facing insolvency, envisioned that multiemployer pension funds would remain self-sufficient rather than relying on government assistance.

• Puerto Rico. The Puerto Rican debt crisis is the result of decades of government profligacy and inadequate pension funding and was ignited by a downgrade of the US territory’s debt to junk status in early 2014. Puerto Rico’s pension system was 96 percent unfunded with a $44 billion shortfall in 2014, according to the US Treasury. In dealing with the tension between government retirees and bond holders, US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew has stated, “We’ve never said that pensions should be made senior to all debt.” Lew prescribed, and Congress legislated, a fiscal oversight board for Puerto Rico with “the discretion to make the trade-off decisions,” including cuts to pension benefits.
Read on.
Lots here!

TOO DUMB TO BE PRESIDENT? Clinton told FBI she didn’t understand classified intel. Related...

Instapundit » Blog Archive » 
TOO DUMB TO BE PRESIDENT? 
Clinton told FBI she didn’t understand classified intel. 
Related: FBI…:
"TOO DUMB TO BE PRESIDENT? 
Clinton told FBI she didn’t understand classified intel.

Hillary is either dishonest or dumb—there is no third choice.
By giving her the Comey get-out-of-jail-free card in spite of this — and by scheduling this release for the Friday before Labor Day Weekend — the FBI has demonstrated that it doesn’t deserve its position either.

Plus: Clinton, aides told FBI conflicting stories about email use."

Hillary Clinton ‘Could Not Recall’ 39 Email Details for FBI - Breitbart

Hillary Clinton ‘Could Not Recall’ 39 Email Details for FBI - Breitbart:

"Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton repeatedly could not “recall” the answers to 27 different questions from the FBI about her private email server and communications habits. Clinton also specified that she did not “remember” details of her emailing and classification habits at least 12 times.
Below are some of the highlights from the redacted FBI interview transcripts released to the public today."

The Coming Storm for Global Financial Markets

The Coming Storm for Global Financial Markets - Bloomberg View
"Global growth is weak, and will be eroded further by Brexit.
Oil prices are low, and likely to plunge further.
The world has excess capacity and a wage-depressing labor surplus.
Corporate profits are shaky.
And deflation is laying bare the impotence of central banks.
So where would you logically expect financial markets to be going, given that economic, financial and political environment?
You’d expect to see increased demand for safe-haven U.S. Treasuries, a soaring dollar, falling commodity prices, and increasing investor aversion to junk bonds, emerging market debt and equities and other low-quality securities.
But that’s not the case..."
...But Europe offers an example of what might happen if things reverse.
The region's benchmark Stoxx 600 index is down more than 5 percent this year, erasing almost all of 2015's gains.
In this environment, investors should hold universally-large cash positions until there's a clearer picture of what comes next."

AM Fruitcake