Jared Kushner's security clearance downgraded as foreign countries discuss how easily he can be manipulated.

Courtesy of the New York Times:  

Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser, has been stripped of his top-secret security clearance after months of delays in completing his background check, and will now be limited in his ability to view highly classified information, a White House official and another person familiar with Mr. Kushner’s situation said on Tuesday. 

Mr. Kushner’s clearance was reduced to the level of secret and his official portfolio inside the West Wing, especially with regard to his globe-trotting foreign affairs work on behalf of President Trump, is expected to be sharply reduced, as well, the people said. 

Since the beginning of the Trump administration, both Mr. Kushner, 37, and his wife, Ivanka Trump, the president’s eldest daughter, 36, have enjoyed a special status within the White House as both family members and assistants to the president. But the complicated finances surrounding Mr. Kushner’s family’s vast real estate empire and his qualifications for the foreign policy responsibilities given to him by his father-in-law invited scrutiny from the start.

Apparently one of the things that continued to complicate Kushner's security clearance was that he kept adding contacts with foreign nationals that were not on his initial application for clearance.

In fact those contacts had recently become a focus of the Mueller investigation: 

Special counsel Robert Mueller's interest in Jared Kushner has expanded beyond his contacts with Russia and now includes his efforts to secure financing for his company from foreign investors during the presidential transition, according to people familiar with the inquiry. 

This is the first indication that Mueller is exploring Kushner's discussions with potential non-Russian foreign investors, including in China.

Speaking of foreign contacts, apparently some of these countries saw Kushner as a soft touch.

Courtesy of WaPo: 

Officials in at least four countries have privately discussed ways they can manipulate Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser, by taking advantage of his complex business arrangements, financial difficulties and lack of foreign policy experience, according to current and former U.S. officials familiar with intelligence reports on the matter. 

Among those nations discussing ways to influence Kushner to their advantage were the United Arab Emirates, China, Israel and Mexico, the current and former officials said. 

It is unclear if any of those countries acted on the discussions, but Kushner’s contacts with certain foreign government officials have raised concerns inside the White House and are a reason he has been unable to obtain a permanent security clearance, the officials said.

Man this is going to really make it hard for Jared to solve that Middle East crisis.

And he was so close.

You know to thinking about maybe starting to do something about that.

What was it that Donald Trump said about only hiring the "best people" again?

Donald Trump launched plan to discredit FBI agents who might confirm James Comey's version of events, and has also expressed an interest in firing Rod Rosenstein.

Courtesy of Foreign Policy:  

President Donald Trump pressed senior aides last June to devise and carry out a campaign to discredit senior FBI officials after learning that those specific employees were likely to be witnesses against him as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, according to two people directly familiar with the matter. 

In testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee on June 8, recently fired FBI Director James Comey disclosed that he spoke contemporaneously with other senior bureau officials about potentially improper efforts by the president to curtail the FBI’s investigation of alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Not long after Comey’s Senate testimony, Trump hired John Dowd, a veteran criminal defense attorney, to represent him in matters related to Mueller’s investigation. Dowd warned Trump that the potential corroborative testimony of the senior FBI officials in Comey’s account would likely play a central role in the special counsel’s final conclusion, according to people familiar with the matter. 

In discussions with at least two senior White House officials, Trump repeated what Dowd had told him to emphasize why he and his supporters had to “fight back harder,” in the words of one of these officials.

Apparently in Trump-speak to "fight back hard" translates into "attack and discredit these FBI agents."

Foreign Policy reached out to John Dowd for comment and received this response:   

“My advice to the president is confidential,” he told Foreign Policy. 

“You don’t know me,” Dowd added. “You don’t how I lawyer, and you don’t know what I communicated to the president and what I did not.”

Well that seems perfectly sane.

Yesterday we also learned that not only did Trump try to fire Robert Mueller, but that he has been talking about getting rid of Mueller's boss Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein for months as well.

Courtesy of CNN:  

Months after his reported effort to fire special counsel Robert Mueller, President Donald Trump is still fuming over the Russia investigation and has Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein in his crosshairs. 

The President has been venting about Rosenstein -- who oversees Mueller and the special counsel investigation -- in recent weeks, according to four sources familiar with the situation. At times, Trump even gripes about wanting Rosenstein removed, two of those sources said. One source said the President makes comments like "let's fire him, let's get rid of him" before his advisers convince him it's an ill-fated idea.

Okay exactly HOW much evidence of obstructionism do we need here? 

Dallas Morning News lists outline of Trump's "achievements."

Courtesy of the Dallas Morning News: 

President Donald Trump's first six months have been defined by his often angry and tasteless tweets, his ham-handed efforts to denigrate and undercut the multiple investigations into Russian influence in the 2016 election and the stalemated legislative battle to repeal and replace Obamacare.

The News then goes on to list a number of things that Trump has achieved.

Here is a sampling:

FOREIGN POLICY 

-Embraced autocrats in Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Philippines, Egypt and abandoned longtime U.S leadership in seeking to enhance democracy and human rights. 

-Insulted U.S. allies in Europe, especially Germany, and undercut longstanding U.S. treaty commitments. 

-Compromised Israel's intelligence sources. -Spurred more divisiveness in an already divided Middle East by setting off a squabble between Saudi Arabia, a major U.S. ally, and Qatar, home of the region's biggest U.S. military base.

(Trust me there's more.)

DOMESTIC POLICY 

-Proposed a budget with massive cuts that would shred the social safety net and cripple longstanding governmental functions. 

-Created uncertainty in the nation's health care system by sending inconsistent administrative signals and supporting legislation that could deprive millions of people health insurance coverage, undermine Medicaid health support for lower income Americans and give wealthy taxpayers a massive tax cut. 

-Mismanaged the federal government by failing to fill many top spots and installing an inexperienced, dysfunctional White House staff.

(Yep, there's more.)  

INSTITUTIONAL DAMAGE: 

-Committed potentially impeachable offenses of obstructing justice that prompted appointment of a Special Counsel by firing FBI Director James Comey, because of his probe into possible Trump campaign collusion with Russia, and urging other intelligence officials to pressure Comey to halt the probe. 

-Undermined the courts with denunciations of judges and their decisions affecting his administration's policies, especially those curbing his hastily issued ban on Muslim travel from certain countries.

 -Without evidence, accused former President Barack Obama of illegally wiretapping his phones. -Repeatedly misrepresented his administration's policies and trashed officials with whom he has disagreements, calling the ousted Comey "a nut job," Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer the "head clown" and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi an "incompetent."

(And yes there is more. So much more.)

But that gives a fairly accurate overview of Trump's accomplishments thus far.

Hell if he accomplishes any more America will soon be a smoldering crater in the ground.

I guess this is what the Trumpsters meant by the term MAGA.

Another news outlet has essentially reached the same conclusion that I have about the Wikileaks dump of hacked CIA materials.

As most of you know I posted about this Wikileaks dump on Tuesday.

During that post I stated that it was unlikely that this leak was a coincidence, that the Russians likely did the hacking, and that Trump's supporters would use it to suggest that the CIA had hacked the DNC computers and then blamed it on the Russians.

I know, crazy right?

However this news outlet, which specializes in foreign policy, does not think it so crazy.

Courtesy of the FP Group: 

In the first place, WikiLeaks has often timed its leaks for maximum political impact. It released 20,000 stolen DNC emails just three days before the Democratic National Convention on July 25, 2016. As expected, WikiLeaks generated headlines about DNC staffers disparaging Sen. Bernie Sanders, buttressing a Trump campaign effort to prevent Clinton from consolidating Sanders supporters. DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz resigned as a result, and the Clinton campaign suffered significant public relations damage. 

In the second place, WikiLeaks, which has often leaked American but never Russian secrets, has been identified by the U.S. intelligence community as a front for Russian intelligence. In January, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released a declassified estimate that found “with high confidence that Russian military intelligence … relayed material to WikiLeaks.” This was done with a definite purpose: “Putin and the Russian Government aspired to help President-elect Trump’s election chances when possible by discrediting Secretary Clinton and publicly contrasting her unfavorably to him.”

 .........

It is significant, therefore, that one of the major storylines to emerge from the latest WikiLeaks release is that the CIA supposedly has a program to reuse computer codes from foreign hackers, thus disguising CIA fingerprints on a hacking operation. Never mind that there is no evidence that the codes used to break into the DNC were part of this CIA database. Right-wing outlets are nevertheless trumpeting these revelations with headlines such as this one on Breitbart: “WikiLeaks: CIA Uses ‘Stolen’ Malware to ‘Attribute’ Cyberattacks to Nations Like Russia.” Russian-controlled Internet “bots” are also said to be playing up these claims online. 

The implication is clear. Trump was a victim of a “false flag” operation wherein CIA hackers broke into the DNC and blamed the Russians. This may be nutty, but it’s eminently believable to an audience conditioned to believe that 9/11 was an inside job and that the Sandy Hook massacre was staged — favorite tropes of the radio talk-show host Alex Jones, whose work Trump has praised. Other WikiLeaks revelations — for instance, that the CIA can use Samsung smart TVs as listening devices — lend further credence to Trump’s charge that he was secretly wiretapped. 

Quite apart from its specifics, the WikiLeaks release changes the subject after a bad few days for Trump highlighted by Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s decision to recuse himself from any Kremlingate probe after he was revealed to have lied under oath when he denied meeting any Russian representatives. Last week it was Trump on the defensive. Now it’s his nemeses in the U.S. intelligence community who are answering embarrassing questions about how this leak could have occurred and the contents of the leaked information.

Yep, those are the same conclusions that I reached as well.

Trump's supporters and his fellow Republicans are looking for some reason to reject the fact that the Russians hacked various computers to undermine Hillary Clinton's campaign and help Trump win the election, and this is all they need to make that to happen.  

Now Julian Assange is going to deny that the Russians provided him with the CIA data, just like he denied that they were behind the DNC hack and the John Podesta phishing expedition. But of course we now know that he was lying then, and so it is safe to assume that he will be lying this time.

And what is undeniably true is that he is now handing out the CIA's hacking tools to various technology companies, knowing full well they will find their way into the hands of America's enemies.

The idea presented by Assange is that this will help these technology companies patch their software therefore making it harder to hack, but it of course will also mean that the foreign agencies will now know how to block intelligence agencies from spying on them and that will likely make any further investigation into Trump's ties with Russia just that much harder to prove.

All of this will also undermine the credibility of the American intelligence agencies which will make what they DO reveal that much easier to dismiss by the public at large. 

What is that called? "Collateral damage?"

Or perhaps that was really the target all along.

P.S. It appears that Josh Marshall over at TPM has some more interesting crumbs that involve possible Trump representative Nigel Farage meeting with Assange before his big press conference today: 

During Sean Spicer's daily press briefing, an AP reporter asks Spicer about the Farage/Assange meeting and whether he carrying a message from President Trump. Spicer basically ducked the question. But when asked specifically whether Farage was "delivering a message" from Trump, Spicer replied: "I have no idea."

Hmm, curiouser and curiouser.

So is the Ben Carson sideshow finally coming to an end?

Courtesy of Politico:  

Last week’s terror attacks in Paris — combined with a number of missteps on international issues — imperil Carson’s status as a leading candidate, according to the insiders, who said the retired pediatric neurosurgeon has failed to articulate coherent foreign policy or shown command of the issues. A resounding 71 percent of Republicans said Carson was the most vulnerable among the 14 GOP hopefuls on foreign policy — far more than any other candidate. 

“He clearly has no idea what he’s talking about,” said one South Carolina Republican. 

“Ben Carson's complete ineptitude makes you long for the days of ‘Uz-beki-beki-stan-stan,’” added an Iowa Republican, referring to a disastrous Herman Cain interview four years ago. 

Foreign affairs were never Carson’s strength but the issue took on new resonance after the terror attacks in Paris last week. Since then, Carson has faltered in interviews, and a New York Times story earlier this week quoted an 83-year-old Carson adviser who described the candidate as needing intense coaching “to make him smart.” 

“Carson is so clueless,” said an Iowa GOP insider. “He thinks the Kurds are a special kind of Wisconsin cheese.” 

Well it looks like finally the Republicans are coming to their senses. Well somewhat, after all they're still supporting Trump, Cruz, and Rubio.

But this guy......hell I don't even know where to begin to explain the popularity of this guy.

I just NEVER got it. And I mean NEVER.

So it looks as if the lasting impression left from Carson's ill conceived, and ill fated candidacy is that never again can somebody say "Well he's no brain surgeon" to indicate the level of a person's intellect.

Even Ben Carson's own advisers don't think he has what it takes to be President.

"If it was important to know, don't you think I would have learned it already?"

Courtesy of the New York Times:  

Ben Carson’s remarks on foreign policy have repeatedly raised questions about his grasp of the subject, but never more seriously than in the past week, when he wrongly asserted that China had intervened militarily in Syria and then failed, on national television, to name the countries he would call on to form a coalition to fight the Islamic State. 

Faced with increasing scrutiny about whether Mr. Carson, who leads in some Republican presidential polls, was capable of leading American foreign policy, two of his top advisers said in interviews that he had struggled to master the intricacies of the Middle East and national security and that intense tutoring was having little effect. 

“Nobody has been able to sit down with him and have him get one iota of intelligent information about the Middle East,” said Duane R. Clarridge, a top adviser to Mr. Carson on terrorism and national security. He also said Mr. Carson needed weekly conference calls briefing him on foreign policy so “we can make him smart.”

"Mr. Carson needed weekly conference calls briefing him on foreign policy to 'make him smart?'"

Well that obviously did not help much.

In response to this report the Carson campaign release this response:  

"Mr. Clarridge has incomplete knowledge of the daily, not weekly briefings, that Dr. Carson receives on important national security matters from former military and State Department officials," Doug Watts, a Carson campaign spokesman, told Business Insider in an email. 

"He is coming to the end of a long career of serving our country. Mr. Clarridge's input to Dr. Carson is appreciated but he is clearly not one of Dr. Carson's top advisors. For the New York Times to take advantage of an elderly gentleman and use him as their foil in this story is an affront to good journalistic practices."

Oh, so old man Clarridge is intelligent enough to be used by the Carson campaign for information about foreign policy but too senile to answer a reporter's questions truthfully?

Let's see, cannot learn anything of substance even after hours of briefings from expert advisers, and then blames his lack of knowledge on those advisers.

Why does that sound so damn familiar?

Wait, don't tell me I've almost got it.

John Boehner goes to Israel. And then joins Ted Cruz in announcing that "the world is on fire."

So after Beohner invited Netanyahu to speak before Congress, without notifying the White House, Netanyahu returned the favor by inviting the giant Oompa Loompa to travel to Israel.

While there Bohner made the following histrionic statement: 

“I wouldn’t have believed that I would be involved in as much foreign policy as I am today,” Boehner said in his hotel near Jerusalem’s Old City. “And it certainly isn’t by choice. It’s just that the world is on fire. And I don’t think enough Americans or enough people in the administration understand how serious the problems that we’re facing in the world are.” 

Yeah you know who else cannot believe that Boehner  has injected himself into foreign policy? The American people.

And Boehner's constant undermining of the President places our country, and in fact the entire world in danger.

Yes indeed we are facing some very serious problems today, and a truckload of those problems can be traced right back to the Republican led Congress.

How interesting that Boehner now adopts the same language used by the most melodramatic attention seeker in his party, Ted Cruz, who famously used that "world on fire" line to frighten a small child.

Apparently the line between the irrational rabid Right Wing and the so-called GOP establishment is becoming less and less defined.

President Obama tells newly elected Prime Minister Netanyahu that US will "reassess" its policy on Israel.

"I'm sorry what's the Jewish word for Fuck you?"

Courtesy of Reuters: 

President Barack Obama told Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday that Washington would "reassess" its options on U.S.-Israel relations and Middle East diplomacy after the Israeli prime minister took a position against Palestinian statehood during his re-election campaign, a White House official said. 

Obama’s telephone call to Netanyahu followed a television interview in which the Israeli leader backed away from his pre-election declaration that there would be no Palestinian state on his watch, an about-face apparently aimed at quelling U.S. criticism triggered by his comments. 

The White House, unmoved by Netanyahu’s effort to backtrack, delivered a fresh rebuke against him on Thursday and signaled that Washington may reconsider its decades-old policy of shielding close ally Israel from international pressure at the United Nations. 

An official statement put out later in the day said Obama called Netanyahu to congratulate him on his election win and used the opportunity to reaffirm his commitment to a two-state solution, a longtime cornerstone of U.S. policy on the Middle East conflict. 

But Obama also delivered a blunt message that underscored the seriousness of the U.S.-Israel rift. "The president told the prime minister that we will need to reassess our options following the prime minister's new positions and comments regarding the two-state solution," the White House official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

I know this is going to seriously piss off the Republicans, but I have to say good on the President for explaining to this warmonger that without support from America they are a siting duck.

Netanyahu's big play to get the Republicans to help him to squelch Obama's attempts to reach a deal with Iran is backfiring in a big way.

He must have thought he was dealing with the pre-2014 midterm President Obama, instead of the new "kicking ass and taking names" President Obama.

Obama in 2008

Yes we can

Obama in 2015.

President Obama strikes historic deal with Iran to curb their nuclear program.

Courtesy of USA News:  

With the historic announcement out of Geneva on Saturday that Iran has agreed to curb its nuclear program in exchange for an easing of sanctions, President Obama scored one of the most unlikely — and potentially most meaningful — foreign policy victories of his time in office. 

The capture of Osama bin Laden by Navy SEALs was thrilling and brought some closure to many Americans' collective grief over the Sept. 11 attacks, but the al-Qaeda leader posed a limited threat to American security after escaping Tora Bora, Afghanistan, in 2001. 

By ending the Iraq War in his first term, Obama followed through on closing out an unpopular war and fulfilling a 2008 campaign pledge, but the endgame was inevitable and expected. 

Just six months ago, it was close to fantasy for even some of the most optimistic Iran watchers that Tehran would be willing to come to the negotiation table with world powers, let alone the country it once deemed the "Great Satan." 

This unlikely diplomatic route started with an exchange of letters between Obama and Iran's new president, Hassan Rouhani, this summer, followed with a telephone call between the two leaders earlier this year, and culminated with the agreement that was nailed down in the middle of the night in Geneva. (The White House also confirmed after the agreement was reached that senior administration officials secretly met on several occasions with Iranian officials in recent months.)

As could be expected Israel Prime Minister Netanyahu is less than optimistic about this deal:

"What was concluded in Geneva last night is not a historic agreement, it's a historic mistake," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters. "It's not made the world a safer place. Like the agreement with North Korea in 2005, this agreement has made the world a much more dangerous place."

But then again Netanyahu is the Jewish equivalent of a neo-con much like our Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, he needs there to be a great evil for his country to always be on guard against in order to justify his policies.

The fear mongers like Sarah Palin, Right Wing radio, and everybody over at Fox News will continue to claim that the President is being naive and that nobody can trust Iran. But many experts are coming forward with praise for this deal. It is far from perfect, but it is an important first step in convincing Iran to resist the urge to develop nuclear weapons and hopefully to develop better relations with the West.

Keep in mind that those who are speaking out against this deal, are those who have a vested interest in this President being an abject failure.  Much like the Affordable Care Act they do not worry that this will fail, they worry that this will succeed.

Insignificant Sarah Palin now growling and snapping at the heels of Secretary of State John Kerry.

Palin aims and fires her Facebook torpedoes at John Kerry and his boat..

Courtesy of the ghostwritten Facebook page of a has been:

Must I Repeat? Quit Making Things Up! Outrageous. (I always like how the queen of deception and obfuscation tells other people not to make things up.)

Once again the cover-up is worse than the “crime.” Secretary of State John Kerry WAS on his boat while Egypt fell into turmoil resulting in an overthrow of its new government ruled by the Muslim Brotherhood that the Obama Administration had so recently supported and may still support. (That, however, we do not know because President Obama's absolutely dithering foreign policies, his "leading from behind," and his benign statements on the Muslim Brotherhood make no sense to sensible people.) 

(Now HOW John Kerry could have prevented the overthrow of Morsi by the Egyptian people I have no idea. What does Palin suggest? That Kerry had put troops in there to stand against the will of the Egyptian people and the military? The Secretary of State has no such power, and no such right.)

The State Department categorically denied Kerry was on his boat. Yet CBS had pictures to prove it. Goodness. There is no need to lie, even on such a "little" thing as the location of a government leader during a military confrontation happening in real time. (Benghazi? Ring a bell? (Still gnawing on that Benghazi bone Sister Sarah?)There still isn't anyone in the media who'll find out where our Commander-in-Chief was that night.) Come on, Obama Administration! It's no big darn deal that Kerry was on his boat! We expect, and deserve, to assume that our highest ranking public servants to whom We the People have given the most responsibility are always working – even when they're clearing their heads and breathing in some fresh air on a yacht, or sweating away stress on a basketball court, or yukking it up with pals on the fairway... let's trust they're always preparing for the proverbial 3:00 AM phone call. 

Now sadly Palin is right that Kerry was on his boat in Nantucket celebrating the 4th of July with his family, and that when originally asked his people denied that. They have since released this statement: 

“While he was briefly on his boat on Wednesday, Secretary Kerry worked around the clock all day including participating in the president’s meeting with his national security council," spokeswoman Jen Psaki said, according to Politico.

This rather unflattering picture was also taken of Kerry which makes him appear to be an Inspector Clouseau-like figure, bumbling around while Egypt burns.

Of course this is the same attack used against the President when things happen during a vacation, even though we know that people at this level of responsibly are NEVER really on vacation, and are constantly being briefed about breaking news all around the world.

But blood in the water, regardless of how minimal, is still blood in the water, so shark-like Palin goes in for the "kill."

Being on his boat isn't the issue. Blatantly deceiving the American people is the issue. (Yes the American people have lost all faith in government because somebody did not know John Kerry was on his boat.)

Our government, yet again, either had no idea where the boss was, or worse yet, they lied to us. (Oops-a-daisy. Correction. In Obamaspeak, we were told the "least untruthful statement.") Our government directed its swift-ly boat changing denials to what one can only surmise is their perception of who we are: a nation of sheep – heads down, grazing away, gullible, ignorant, and undeserving of truth. (Did you see what she did here? Using the term "swift-ly" she gets to not so subtly bring up a connection between this incident and the swift boat attacks against Kerry in the 2004 election.)

Confronted with photographic evidence, the State Department merely tossed the public a handful of hay today in its tepid effort to kinda-sorta explain the whole thing away. Something about, well, yeah, so the evidence contradicted all their public claims, but… eh, no harm, no foul. And like good herder dogs, with calm authority to avoid commotion, the bureaucrats barked the suggestion that we all just move along now. (So the media are sheep I take it. Again, so subtle! What is "calm authority to avoid commotion" by the way?)

No. You move along, little doggie. (That's "dogies" and refers to cattle, NOT puppies. Moron!) Enough is enough. It's unacceptable. Remember, the nation's Mama Grizzlies don't just rise up to swat away threats to protect the next generation. They also school, scold, and signal to teach a lesson. (And bitch at the President, and get fake breastessess so people will stop ignoring them, and put their children on reality shows to get them to shut up, and have people write their Facebook posts for them. There, fixed for ya!) One lesson taught all children is if you lie on the little things, you'll lie on the big things. (Only MOST parents use proper grammar when teaching their children not to lie.)

George Orwell wrote of a time when citizens could no longer trust big government, and by wearing down the citizenry through doublespeak and lies a tired country finally retreated to its dark and depressing demise. (Hi RAM!)

America, we shall not go there! Why? Because if we know from our nation's forefathers that weariness is not in our blood! It's not in our DNA to retreat. Have faith that there are enough patriots in our exceptional nation willing to fight together for what is right. Proof of this is all the families still encouraging and supporting their loved ones who choose U.S. military service. (Yep, she's suggesting military action in Egypt alright.) And proof of a unified commitment to defend our republic is what the independent tea party movement is all about. (Does she mean the same Tea Party started by the Koch brothers and tobacco companies?) Disregard the constant criticism, mocking, and flagrant lies about this diverse, proud movement that still spew from big government cheerleaders and their lapdogs in the media. (I'm a lap dog?) Despite harassment and intimidation, commonsense conservatives are rising up again to get a better view of what is ahead. They are identifying threats to our Constitution and our children's future. (That is why virtually the ONLY laws that the Tea Party backed politicians have tried to pass since coming into power are laws that restrict a woman's control over her own body. You know, for the kids.) The permanent political class angrily bemoans this because they know our diverse working class – those who make the world go 'round – can shake off the slumber, unify, and effectively encourage others to come out of a 2012 hibernation and demand accountability at the 2014 ballot box. It's there we prove the average, everyday American's ferocious strength when exercising that beautiful belief in loyalty only to a government of the people, by the people, for the people. Until then, we mustn't have the fighting instinct of sheep. Pay attention, do your own homework on candidates and political machines, turn off media that would disrespect you by continuing to deceive, and keep the faith. (This is the point where I imagine Palin jumping up and down on her skinny legs shaking her fake pom poms at the computer screen. "Sis boom bah, rah rah rah, rick'em rack'em ruck'em, get out there and really f...ight'em!")

While celebrating America's glorious Independence this week, be secure in knowing that there are more of us who support men and women ready and willing to fight on our behalf for freedom and truth than those who would continually deceive us. (In other words Track's warrior body is ready for action. Not for actual combat of course, because bullets hurt and all.) Thank God. And thank a Vet.

State Department: say you're sorry and don't ever do this again. CBS News: thank you for doing your job on this issue. (Did Palin just give a shout out to the "Lamestream media?" Oh the horrors!)


 Happy 4th of July weekend, America. 

- Sarah Palin

Well I have to hand it to RAM she was in rare form here.  There was red, white, and blue enthusiasm, an incredibly overblown attack on a politician who has probably never spent more than five minutes thinking about Sarah Palin, and a call to get more of our fellow American killed in yet another war of choice that probably sent a thrill up the atrophied legs of the scooter bound Tea party faithful and a chill down the spine of every young soldier hoping that finally the twelve years of constant war are coming to an end.

This is why only the grownups are supposed to make policy decisions, and NOT the lunatic fringe.

Decisions, by the way, that they can undoubtedly make both on land, or on a boat.

The very last Presidential debate open thread. Update!

Well we already KNOW who Fox News will declare the winner, don't we?

Okay tonight's focus is on foreign policy, a topic that should afford President Obama a considerable amount of fire power for his side of the debate. After all he is the man who ended the Iraq war and brought Osama Bin Laden to justice.

Of course Romney will undoubtedly bring up the confusion about the Benghazi attack, which if you read this LA Times article is an argument that should not hold any water:

The assault on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi last month appears to have been an opportunistic attack rather than a long-planned operation, and intelligence agencies have found no evidence that it was ordered by Al Qaeda, according to U.S. officials and witnesses interviewed in Libya. 

Republicans have zeroed in on possible Al Qaeda ties to the Sept. 11 attack that killed Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans, and have criticized the Obama administration for not saying early on that it was an act of terrorism. But after five weeks of investigation, U.S. intelligence agencies say they have found no evidence of Al Qaeda participation.

Of course this will not placate the Fox News crowd and Romney will be tailoring his message to speak directly to them tonight in order to get out his base. Facts would only confuse them anyhow.

I have also heard pundits discuss the possibility that Romney will try to turn the conversation toward the economy which, for reasons that continue to  puzzle me, he is currently polling well ahead of the President.

I anticipate a rather aggressive debate tonight, as there is a LOT on the line and I think very few punches will be pulled. However if I were giving Romney advice I would tell him that he needs to work at not coming off as a complete asshole this time.

Yeah good luck with that!

Once again I will be tweeting my impressions during the exchange, which you can follow here, and updating the comments here on IM all through the evening.

So grab your favorite beverage, pop that tub of popcorn, and let's see if tonight's debate will finally be the battle that demolishes Mitt Romney's chances of ever fulfilling Joseph Smith's White Horse Prophecy.

Update: Even though debate is still going on Poltico has an evolving transcript. 

Mitt Romney's Easy Five Step Approach to Foreign Policy.

Just what we need, another diplomatically clumsy war mongering Republican.

Come on people, haven't we learned our lesson yet?

"Waiting for Amageddon" A MUST SEE film about the Evangelical community.

For those who have already seen Jesus Camp" you already have some idea s to what this film is about. And if that one kept you up at night, THIS one will give you night terrors.

 The movie is an hour and twelve minutes long, but I do encourage you to watch it, even if it takes you a few attempts to get all the way through, because I feel it will do much to educate you on a certain politically connected segment of the Christian community.

Perhaps the most troubling aspect of this kind of superstition is that even those with higher education do not seem inoculated against its influence.

It is THIS mindset, and THESE people who are driving our foreign policy in the Middle East, and who bear much of the responsibility for the strained relations between America and the Muslim community.
 
My favorite quote is from Rabbi Felix Rogan: " The Jesus written about in the New Testament is a collage. Many, many of the miracles, and the details of his life, the kinds of things you would put on his curriculum vitae resume, these are repeat stories. And whether there was in fact an historical Jesus or not, our sources indicate that he was a witch, or sorcerer, and a guy who had his eyes on the ladies, and not the greatest guy in the world. And we don't think he's coming back."

Now THAT would probably not go over too well in the Evangelical community, but is is probably the differing point of view that they should all be exposed to at an early, early age. You know before their brains are completely washed of any cognitive reasoning skills.

Really? This happened on Fox News?

Apparently Sarah Palin was not the ONLY loser from the Republican's 2008 ticket to be interviewed by Sean Hannity last night.  He also interviewed crusty old bastard john McCain.

However I don't think things went as Hannity had imagined that they would go. Take a look.

Courtesy of Mediaite:

“How is it that Sean Hannity and a few others of us out here predicted with pinpoint accuracy that the Muslim Brotherhood would be in charge in Egypt?” Hannity asked the senator. “Their first task when they took over the Parliament was to declare Israel, our closest ally, their enemy.” 

“How is it that the administration with all their intelligence and the CIA — how is it that they didn’t see this coming?” he asked McCain of both Egypt and Libya, before disputing the notion that the Libyans had a free election: “They kept telling the American people, this is democracy. I don’t view the Muslim Brotherhood as democracy. They want Sharia law implemented now.” 

“That’s not clear that that’s true,” McCain responded before accusing Fox of repeating a false claim about the Libyan elections: 

"It was you and people on Fox that said in Libya, “We didn’t know who they were and let’s not help these people.” They had an election and they elected moderates. They rejected Islamists. And yes, there are al-Qaeda factors and there are extremists in Libya today, but the Libyan people are friends of ours, and they support us, and they support democracy. So you were wrong about Libya."

“I don’t think I was wrong about Libya at all,” Hannity shot back. 

“I know you were,” McCain responded. “They had a free and fair election, and a democratic non-Islamic government was elected. So you were wrong.” 

“I was not,” Hannity said. “They didn’t think the Muslim Brotherhood would take over? This is a known terror organization. We say we are fighting a war on terror but we are apologizing, our government, to Egypt after they raid our embassy and rip our flag down?” 

“Frankly, Senator, I would think you are with me on this,” the conservative host added. 

“I am not taking the side of the administration,” McCain pushed back. “I am saying that the largest nation in the Arab world is something we have to carefully calibrate our actions with.”

You know what I am so stunned that I literally do not have anything smart ass to say about this.

I don't EVER get the chance to say this anymore, but good for your Senator McCain!

Now while we have you in a combative mood, could you tell us what you REALLY think of that crazy lady you plucked out of the wilds of Wasilla? Come on! We know you want to! 

P.S. By he way, whether he wanted to or not, McCain WAS essentially "taking the side of the administration." Simply because he was telling the truth.

Putin says that missile defense agreement more likely if Obama reelected. Get ready for the Romney campaign to call the President a Commie sympathizer in 3..2..1

Courtesy of the New York Times:  

President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia sauntered into American presidential politics on Thursday, praising President Obama as “a very honest man” and chastising the Republican nominee, Mitt Romney, for describing Russia as “without question our No. 1 geopolitical foe.” 

Mr. Putin was asked about the presidential race during an interview with the state-controlled television network RT. The interview was recorded earlier this week but broadcast on Thursday to coincide with Mr. Putin’s arrival in Vladivostok for the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit conference, which is being held in Russia for the first time. 

Mr. Putin said he believed that if Mr. Obama is re-elected in November, a compromise could be reached on the contentious issue of American plans for a missile defense system in Europe, which Russia has strongly opposed. 

On the other hand, Mr. Putin said, if Mr. Romney becomes president, Moscow’s fears about the missile system — that it is, despite American assurances, actually directed against Russia — would almost certainly prove true. 

“Is it possible to find a solution to the problem, if current President Obama is re-elected for a second term? Theoretically, yes,” Mr. Putin said, according to the official transcript posted on the Kremlin’s Web site. “But this isn’t just about President Obama. 

“For all I know, his desire to work out a solution is quite sincere,” Mr. Putin continued. “I met him recently on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Los Cabos, Mexico, where we had a chance to talk. And though we talked mostly about Syria, I could still take stock of my counterpart. My feeling is that he is a very honest man, and that he sincerely wants to make many good changes. But can he do it? Will they let him do it?”

Mr. Putin mentioned the American military establishment and the State Department as obstacles to a compromise, and he said he faced similar challenges working with Russia’s own generals and career diplomats. 

With a reminder of Mr. Romney’s remark about Russia, Mr. Putin was asked if he could work with a Romney administration. 

“Yes, we can,” he said. “We’ll work with whichever president gets elected by the American people. But our effort will only be as efficient as our partners will want it to be.” 

He added a sharp rebuke, accusing Mr. Romney of using inflamed language for political gain. 

You know perhaps if Mitt Romney didn't get all of his foreign affairs experiences from watching Rocky IV, Red Dawn, and  Ice Station Zebra he wouldn't freak the rest of the world out at the very thought of his winning this election.

As it is I think Putin (Not somebody who I usually place a great deal of trust in) is right about the fact that diplomacy will be MUCH easier under an Obama administration as opposed to one that will be primarily funded by defense contractors and others that benefit from a country constantly in conflict with other nations.

I'm just saying.

The next time you hear Sarah Palin, or Michele Bachmann, or any of the current GOP Presidential candidates vilifying Iran, keep this in mind.

Now ask yourselves this, how much hate would YOU have for a country that did to us what we did to Iran?

I'm sorry, what we are STILL doing to Iran.

Point. Set. Match. President Obama makes the GOP eat their words.

Just pause this video at the 1:20 mark and take a look at the President's "Don't fuck with me" face.

This is not a President, whether you agree with his foreign policy decisions or not, that can be accused of appeasing ANYBODY.

You Republican might as well go back to calling him a socialist, since this avenue of attack ain't gonna cut it!