Driving home from work on Friday night I found it terribly amusing listening to the “business journalists” on the local news station trying to explain the 531 point plunge in the Dow and the 1,105 point plummet from the Tuesday high. The job of these faux journalist mouthpieces for the status quo is not to report the facts, analyze the true factors underlying the market, or seek the truth. Their job is to calm the masses, keep them sedated, and paint the rosiest picture possible.
Sunday, August 23, 2015
Looks Like We’re Gonna Need a Bigger Balance Sheet, Jimbo
Saturday, August 22, 2015
Key Hillary Aide Huma Abedin Could be in a World of Trouble
[One] message [that should have been classified], dated April 10, 2011, was forwarded to “H,” for Hillary Clinton, then the secretary of state. It came from one of her closest aides, Huma Abedin, who is now vice chairwoman of her presidential campaign ... The matter could form the basis for a criminal probe of whether laws for handling classified material were broken.
...There are other examples that suggest Clinton aides drew upon a variety of classified information to produce updates of events in Libya and elsewhere and sent them via email, according to the officials familiar with the investigation who asked not to be identified.
...Anybody who knowingly emailed classified material to Clinton or her top aides when she was secretary of state could face criminal prosecution, according to current and former U.S. national security officials. Those who inadvertently send or receive classified data could be prosecuted for gross negligence.
Friday, August 21, 2015
Hillary Email Scandal News Roundup, Panicked Liberal Media Edition
A federal judge on Thursday said that Hillary Rodham Clinton did not comply with government policies in her exclusive use of a personal email account while she was secretary of state, challenging her longstanding position that she abided by the rules.
At a hearing for a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the State Department, the judge, Emmet G. Sullivan of Federal District Court for the District of Columbia, said that “we wouldn’t be here today if the employee had followed government policy.”
Judge Sullivan also opened the door for the F.B.I., which is investigating whether there was classified information on Mrs. Clinton’s account, to expand its inquiry to pursue emails that she may have deleted. The judge ordered the State Department to ask the F.B.I. to give it any emails recovered from Mrs. Clinton’s private server that were not already in the State Department’s possession or that may be related to the lawsuit.
The New Yorker worries that Hillary could face criminal charges over her various misdeeds:
Tuesday, August 18, 2015
STATE OF THE ART SECURITY: Hillary’s Email Server Kept in the Bathroom Closet of an Apartment
The IT company Hillary Clinton chose to maintain her private email account was run from a loft apartment and its servers were housed in the bathroom closet... ex-employees of Platte River Networks in Denver, Colorado ... revealed the outfit's strong links to the Democratic Party but expressed shock that the 2016 presidential candidate chose the small private company for such a sensitive job.
This is the apartment complex where Platte River Networks was based until this year. It used a residential apartment as its base.
One, Tera Dadiotis, called it 'a mom and pop shop' which was an excellent place to work, but hardly seemed likely to be used to secure state secrets. And Tom Welch, who helped found the company, confirmed the servers were in a bathroom closet.
It can also be disclosed that the small number of employees who were aware of the Clinton contract were told to keep it secret.
The way in which Clinton came to contract a company described as a 'mom and pop' operation remains unclear, [though there is likely] a series of connections between the firm and the Democratic Party...
...Platte River Networks worked for Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper - once heavily tipped to be Clinton's 2016 running mate - during his election to be mayor of the city in 2003... The company's controversial vice president of sales David DeCamillis is also said to be a 'big Democrat' supporter who offered his house to Joe Biden for the party's convention held in Denver in 2008.
It will be the small scale of the firm and its own home-made arrangements which will raise the most significant questions over security and over what checks Clinton's aides made about how suitable it was for dealing with what new transpires to be classified material.
Given the level of IT professionalism, little wonder the FBI believes it may be able to recover the data on Hillary's "wiped" server.
Federal Judge Accelerates Hearing on Hillary Email Case to... This Week
Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton made the following statement regarding the recent court order granting Judicial Watch’s request for a hearing this week, on Thursday, August 20, 2015 at 12:00 p.m., which had previously been scheduled for September:
The Obama administration’s obstruction of the courts and our Freedom of Information Act litigation must end. The court and the American people are weary of their legal gamesmanship. We are fighting for the public’s right to know what Hillary Clinton, Huma Abedin and others were sending and receiving during their four years running the State Department.
Judicial Watch responded yesterday to the latest State Department filing from August 14:
Taking [the State Department’s] sworn statement on its face, it appears as though the declarant made no effort whatsoever to find out what electronic devices the former head of the agency and two of her closest advisors used to conduct official government business for four years and where these electronic devices may be located or if they are still in existence.
Monday, August 17, 2015
THE COMING COLLAPSE: Fed Lunacy is to Blame
This week John Hussman’s pondering about the state of our markets is as clear and concise as it’s ever been. He starts off by describing the difference between an economy operating at a low level versus a high level. He’s essentially describing a 2% GDP economy versus a 4% GDP economy. We have been stuck in a low level economy since 2008. And there is one primary culprit for the suffering of millions – The Federal Reserve and their Wall Street Bank owners. They are the reason incomes are stagnant, the labor participation rate is at 40 year lows, savers can only earn .25% on their savings, and consumers have been forced further into debt to make ends meet. Meanwhile, corporate America and the Wall Street banks are siphoning off record profits, paying obscene pay packages to their executives, buying off the politicians in Washington to pass legislation (TPP) designed to enrich them further, and arrogantly telling the peasants to work harder.
In economics, we often describe “equilibrium” as a condition where demand is equal to supply. Textbooks usually depict this as a single point where a demand curve and a supply curve intersect, and all is right with the world.
In reality, we know that economies often face a whole range of possible equilibria. One can imagine “low level” equilibria where producers are idle, jobs are scarce, incomes stagnate, consumers struggle or go into debt to make ends meet, and the economy sits in a state of depression – which is often the case in developing countries. One can also imagine “high level” equilibria where producers generate desirable goods and services, jobs are plentiful, and household income is sufficient to demand all of that output.
The problem is that troubled economies don’t just naturally slide up to “high level” equilibria. Low level equilibria are typically supported and reinforced by a whole set of distortions, constraints, and even incentives for the low level equilibrium to persist. In developing countries, these often take the form of legal restrictions, price controls, weak property rights, political and civil instability, savings disincentives, lending restrictions, and a full catastrophe of other barriers to economic improvement. Good economic policy involves the art of relaxing constraints where they are binding, and imposing constraints where their absence allows the activities of some to injure or violate the rights of others.
In the United States, observers seem to scratch their heads as to why the economy has shifted down to such a low level of labor force participation. Even after years of recovery and trillions of dollars directed toward persistent monetary intervention, the economy seems locked in a low level equilibrium. Yet at the same time, corporate profits and margins have pushed to record highs, contributing to gaping income disparities.
Dr. Hussman presents his case against the Federal Reserve as clearly as anything I’ve ever read. Bailing out criminally negligent Wall Street banks with taxpayer money, allowing fraudulent accounting to cover up insolvency, printing $3 trillion out of thin air and handing it to the Wall Street banks, penalizing savings while encouraging consumers and corporations to go further into debt, and gearing all of your efforts towards creating stock, bond, and real estate bubbles, is the height of lunacy – unless you are a captured entity working on behalf of a corrupt status quo.
Sunday, August 16, 2015
THE REAL EMAIL QUESTION: Did Hillary Clinton Sell U.S. Secrets?
While the media is focusing your attention on the shiny object that is her email server, the real story is not being told. The circumstantial evidence indicates that Hillary Clinton, or members of her inner circle with her connivance, purloined highly classified US intelligence and either sold it, traded it, or used it for personal gain. This is not a conspiracy theory and it is not hyperbole. Stick with me for a moment.
Let's summarize what Clinton and her associates may be in for:
• Removing TOP SECRET documents from a SCIF (Secure Compartmented Information Facility, an installation specifically designed to handle highly sensitive information) and placing them on a non-secure system: A Felony
• Removing classification markings from government documents: A Felony
• Trading classified information for money or favors: Not Just a Felony, Possibly Treason
Back to streiff's agenda, the first bullet point of which is the media smokescreen, happily relayed by -- among other -- the Associated Press.
CLINTON CRIME FAMILY COMICS: Hillary’s 5 Funniest Email Lies
On Fox News the other day, blogger and counterterror analyst John Schindler explained the ramifications of Clinton's actions.
And if Vegas had a line on it, my guess is that longtime aides Huma Abedin and/or Cheryl Mills illegally removed the classification markings from the emails destined for Hillary, so she could always claim she didn't know they contained TOP SECRET information. And each such action is a felony, too.
Hat tip: BadBlue News.
Saturday, August 15, 2015
VEGAS: Even Odds That Aides Huma Abedin or Chery Mills Removed TOP SECRET Classification Markings (a Felony) from Hillary’s Emails
And we all know where the Clinton "charities" spend their donations (hint: it starts with C, ends with N and has "LINTO" in the middle).
The negative PR has gotten to the point that even Granny Catlady was forced to address the scandal. In a public forum today, Hillary says that she never sent or received material that was marked classified.
Yet, my friends, Top Secret information was discovered among her various illegal email accounts, which makes clear that someone intentionally removed the TS/SI/TK/NOFORN classification markers. These denote "Top Secret, Signals Intelligence, Talent Keyhole, No Foreign Nationals" classified information -- in this case, spy satellite photos.
One State Department official has a theory as to how the classification markers were removed:
REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT LOST: Huge Majorities of Voters Want an End to Sanctuary Cities, Aggressive Deportations
What, exactly, do voters want the government to do with illegal alien criminals?
President Obama's plan to exempt up to five million illegal immigrants from deportation remains tied up in court, but most voters still don’t think the United States is aggressive enough in deporting those who are here illegally.As for sanctuary cities:
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 60% of Likely U.S. Voters think the U.S. government is not aggressive enough in deporting those who are in this country illegally...
Following the murder of a young woman in San Francisco by an illegal immigrant from Mexico, voters want to get tough on so-called “sanctuary cities” that refuse to enforce immigration laws.Which could be why Donald Trump's immigration rants have struck such a chord. And why pro-illegal immigration candidates like Jeb Bush and John Kasich are dead candidates walking.
Sixty-two percent (62%) of Likely U.S. Voters think the U.S. Justice Department should take legal action against cities that provide sanctuary for illegal immigrants. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 26% oppose Justice Department action against sanctuary cities.
Hat tip: BadBlue Uncensored News.
Friday, August 14, 2015
SURPRISE: The Schmucks Running Hillary Clinton’s Email Server Had No Security Clearances
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton entrusted her email server to an IT firm that was not cleared to handle classified materials, according to the chief spokesman for the Defense Security Service.
The DSS is an arm of the Defense Department and is the only federal agency authorized to approve private sector company access to sensitive or confidential material.The agency reviews and approves private contractors to assure they have secure facilities and approves security clearances for employees to clear them for access to sensitive or classified materials.
Since 2013, Clinton used Platte River Networks, a small Denver-based company, to upgrade and maintain her private email server at her home in Chappaqua, New York.
About 13,000 companies have received FCL or facility-wide clearance. But Platte River is not one of them.
Thursday, August 13, 2015
Federal Judge Orders State Department to Report on Status of Hillary Email Server by... Friday
...Judge Emmet Sullivan today ordered the State Department to file by noon, Friday information about what it is doing to search Hillary Clinton’s email server now in the custody of the Justice Department and FBI. The court also reiterated its directive that the State Department disclose additional information about where government records may reside. The order is the result of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit that seeks records about the controversial employment status of Huma Abedin, Clinton’s former deputy chief of staff (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of State (No. 1:13-cv-01363)). The lawsuit was reopened because of revelations about Hillary Clinton’s email records...I hope you're sitting down to hear this bit of breaking news: Hillary Clinton hasn't been fully forthcoming in answering questions about her secret email server and the reasons for its mysterious degaussed hard drive....Late last night, the State Department filed correspondence in response to another order by Judge Sullivan requiring the State Department to report on his directive to take steps to ensure that Mrs. Clinton, Ms. Abedin, and Clinton aide Cheryl Mills did not destroy government records. The filing included a letter from Hillary Clinton’s lawyer David Kendall that read in part:
[W]e have voluntarily provided to the Department of Justice on August 6, 2015, the .pst file containing electronic copies of the 55,000 pages of emails on a thumb drive (along with two copies), which had been securely stored in my possession, after receiving from the Department of Justice an assurance that it would maintain this file in an appropriately secure manner and the Department’s opinion that such maintenance would satisfy any preservation obligations I am under. Similarly, Platte River Networks is today providing to the Department of Justice the server and related equipment on which emails to and from Secretary Clinton’s clintonemail.com were stored from 2009 to 2013 and which PRN took possession of in 2013. This is following the Department of Justice’s assurances to us and counsel for PRN that it would maintain the server equipment in an appropriately secure manner. The Department also gave counsel its opinion that such maintenance would satisfy any preservation obligations we have.
“This latest order shows the courts are expecting quick action on Mrs. Clinton’s email system and that the Justice Department won’t be able to bury her emails,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “And her lawyer’s letter in response to the court’s orders shows Mrs. Clinton continues to withhold material information from the court. It also looks as if Mrs. Clinton is still withholding emails from the FBI and Justice Department.”
Hat tip: BadBlue News.
Wednesday, August 12, 2015
ALINSKY TACTIC #5,034: Hillary Blames the Clinton Global Graft Initiative and Email Scandal on... Judicial Watch
In an interview with the Mexican government's official broadcasting system, which is aligned with the Beltway One-Percenters' policies of open borders and the breakdown of the civil society, Hillary asserted that she has done absolutely nothing wrong.
Conducting official government business on a private email server, transferring classified files over insecure networks, violating the National Records Act, allowing sensitive White House communications to be compromised by foreign entities, running the Clinton Global Graft Initiative to generate nine figures in income during her term as secretary of state, and then deleting the evidence... well, it's the fault of the
MES: Let’s talk about a subject that seems that it’s very difficult to go away. And that’s the e-mail scandal. Even though you swore under penalty of perjury that you have turned over all e-mails that are related to any kind of, you know, federal record. Judicial Watch is still claiming that it’s not enough. Do you think that at the least that this has created the perception that you’re hiding something?
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
CARTOON O’ THE DAY: The Obama Clean Energy Plan
You can follow Mr. Ramirez on Twitter at @RamirezToons.
You'd be foolish not to.
Just sayin'.
Read more: BadBlue Real-Time News.
WHITE HOUSE: China's been hacking our emails since, oh, around the time Hillary began using her own insecure email server
Chinese cyberspies have been reading the private emails of Obama-administration officials and "top national security and trade officials" since 2010, according to a senior administration official and a top-secret NSA document obtained by NBC.
The email espionage — codenamed "Dancing Panda" by the US before being dubbed "Legion Amethyst" — was detected in April 2010... "The intrusion into personal emails was still active at the time of the briefing and, according to the senior official, is still going on," NBC reported... "Dancing Panda" has successfully attacked at least 600 targets over the last five years, according to NBC.
The period overlaps with Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server for work-related correspondences while she served as secretary of state from 2009 to 2013...
In fact, a wide variety of cybersecurity experts had claimed that it was a virtual certainty that Clinton's private email server had been hacked by China, Russia, and Iran.
As even the ludicrous DNC (and GOP establishment) newsletter known as Politico opined in March:
Monday, August 10, 2015
IRANIAN GOVERNMENT NEWS SOURCE: Obama will side with us in case of attack by Israel
Editorial in official agency IRNA: Obama will side side with Iran in case of Israeli attack. He is fighting his legislature on our behalf.
— Amir Taheri (@AmirTaheri4) August 7, 2015Analyst Omri Ceren observes, "Problem is not whether analysis is true. Problem is emboldened #Iran thinks it's true, and will act accordingly."
As I reported in July, credible sources have reported that "The [Obama-Kerry] Deal Is To Protect Iran... From Israel."
And it would seem that the Mullahs agree.
Hat tip: BadBlue News.
Sunday, August 09, 2015
Saturday, August 08, 2015
Yes, the FBI’s Investigation of Hillary's Emails is Definitely a 'Criminal Probe'
"It's definitely a criminal probe," an unnamed source says in regards to the FBI investigation into whether Hillary Clinton knowingly sent classified information through personal email. "I'm not sure why they're not calling it a criminal probe," the source adds. The Clinton camp, in the meantime, downplays this.
Federal agents are investigating to what extent Clinton used her home server and other private devices to send and store classified documents.
"The DOJ [Department of Justice] and FBI can conduct civil investigations in very limited circumstances," but that is not what this is, the source says. "In this case, a security violation would lead to criminal charges. Maybe DOJ is trying to protect her campaign."
In the meantime, Hillary Clinton is "confident" that she never willfully received or sent any classified information.
But of 40 Clinton emails, randomly reviewed while she served as secretary of state, four contained classified information, the inspector general in charge of the case informed Congress.
Former federal prosecutor Bradley Simon says that if Hillary Clinton knowingly sent, received, or stored classified information in an unauthorized location, she may face "prosecution under the same misdemeanor federal security statute used to prosecute former CIA Director Gen. David Petraeus," according to the NY Post.
AMERICA: Founded in Liberty, Descended into Tyranny
“The foundation of our Empire was not laid in the gloomy age of Ignorance and Superstition, but at an Epoch when the rights of mankind were better understood and more clearly defined, than at any former period…The United States came into existence as a Nation, and if their Citizens should not be completely free and happy, the fault will be entirely their own.” So declared George Washington at the time of our founding as a nation.
It is unique and exceptional that this nation was established according natural law, and declared inalienable individual rights of life, liberty, and property, or the pursuit of happiness. In an era when monarchs, rulers, oligarchs, autocrats and aristocrats governed according to their whims and disposition, having derived their right to rule based on caste or bloodline, a motley collection of men steeped in classical-liberal principles led a revolution and established a nation dedicated to individual freedom.Those precepts were the foundation to the Declaration of Independence, which states, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” There is nothing more exceptional in human history than those two sentences and the nation that resulted from their utterance: a nation that derived its “just” powers from the “consent of the governed.”
A decade later, the structural document creating the governmental framework based on the tenets articulated in the Declaration of Independence was ratified by the colonies. That document, our Constitution, stated specifically as enumerated powers, what our national government could do, and whatever powers were not specified or enumerated, were “reserved to the states respectively or to the people.”
But even at the nascent stages of the American experiment, the author of liberty, Thomas Jefferson, saw how our system would metamorphose into something entirely different. “Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.”
















