October 2, 2015

Former Gov. Dick Lamm concerned about Hillary Clinton’s chances

Former Colorado Gov. Dick Lamm is expressing concern about Hillary Clinton’s candidacy amid the controversy about her handling of classified emails as secretary of state — suggesting there is a good chance it gets worse and costs her the Democratic nomination.

In reading a recent New Yorker piece about how retired Army Gen. David Petraeus and former Bill Clinton aide Sandy Berger pleaded to misdemeanors for divulging classified information, Lamm said “all the sudden it dawned on me — there’s an FBI study out there.”

The three-term governor and his wife, Dottie Lamm, are close to the Clintons. Though often outspoken, the Democrat’s thoughts on the race offer an insight into the nervousness among party’s leaders regarding the 2016 election.

“What are they to do? My poor wife. We’ve know the Clintons — we’ve served with the Clintons. Dottie and Hillary are really very close and she’s just shattered,” Lamm said in a recent interview with The Denver Post, published in Sunday’s edition. He quickly added that his wife is “not discouraged” and “still very much on board.”

http://blogs.denverpost.com/thespot/2015/09/28/colorado-governor-dick-lamm-hillary-clinton-email-scandal-2016-election/123094/

October 2, 2015

Germany wants migrants with no hope of asylum to be turned away at border

Source: Reuters

German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere wants to turn away migrants at the border if they clearly have no chance of gaining asylum, a regional newspaper reported, citing a draft bill from his ministry.

Passauer Neue Presse cited the draft bill as saying that like at airports, transit zones should be set up at land border crossings so that the asylum process can be carried out before a decision is made on whether migrants can enter Germany or not.

"That should create the possibility to deny entry at land borders as well in cases of inadmissibility or where an asylum application is clearly unfounded," the newspaper cited the draft bill as saying.

In cases where an asylum application was not clearly unfounded, the migrant would be allowed in, it said, and in cases where a decision on entry could not be made within a week or accommodation could not be provided at the border, the migrant would be allowed in, according to the draft bill.

Read more: http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/10/02/uk-europe-migrants-germany-idUKKCN0RV4CX20151002

October 2, 2015

Iraqi prime minister says he would ‘welcome’ Russian airstrikes in Iraq

Source: Washington Post

As Moscow deepens its military involvement in the region, Iraq appears to be increasingly looking east for assistance in its fight against Islamic State extremists, with Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi indicating Thursday that he would welcome a Russian bombing campaign.

In an interview with France 24 television, Abadi accused the U.S.-led coalition of a lack of support and questioned the will of Western leaders to defeat the Islamic State. He said Russian strikes were a “possibility” but had not been discussed.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, however, that there are no plans for Russia to strike Islamic State militants in Iraq.

The U.S.-led coalition has been bombing Islamic State targets in Iraq for more than a year, but Iraqi officials have repeatedly complained that the efforts are insufficient to decisively turn back the militants. The United States has spent more than $25 billion to train and equip Iraq’s military, but Abadi’s comments Thursday were the latest indication that the country is increasingly seeking support from other partners — particularly traditional U.S. rivals Russia and Iran.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/iraqi-prime-minister-says-he-would-welcome-russian-airstrikes/2015/10/01/4177cf3c-684b-11e5-8325-a42b5a459b1e_story.html

October 2, 2015

A Conversation with the Guy Who Just Epically Trolled Cable News

Jon Hendren spent an entire segment talking about Edward Scissorhands instead of Edward Snowden. No one noticed.

http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a38421/edward-scissorhands-hln/

October 1, 2015

Netanyahu glares at U.N. for 45 seconds after berating its silence on Iran threat to Israel

Drama queen drops his bugs bunny bomb and goes for contempt this time.



http://townhall.com/tipsheet/cortneyobrien/2015/10/01/netanyahu-un-speech-n2059774

Attacking one of the most important diplomatic achievements of President Obama at the UN.... the self imposed isolation of the apartheid state continues.

October 1, 2015

Poll: Hillary Clinton still leads Sanders and Biden, but by less

Source: USA Today

Hillary Clinton continues to lead the Democratic field in a new USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll, but she no longer commands the support of a majority of Democrats as Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Vice President Biden gain ground.

Clinton is backed by 41% of likely Democratic primary voters, a double-digit drop since the USA TODAY poll taken two months ago, and Sanders is supported by 23%, a jump. Biden is the choice of 20% even though he hasn't announced whether he will jump in the race.

By nearly 3-1, all those surveyed in the national poll predict that the controversy over her exclusive use of a private email server when she was secretary of State would hurt her prospects in a general election.

The poll of 1,000 likely voters, taken by phone Sept. 24-28, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. The sample of 430 Democrats has an error margin of +/- 5 points.

Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2015/10/01/suffolk-poll-clinton-sanders-biden/73132954/

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double-digit drop since the USA TODAY poll taken two months ago

October 1, 2015

Thirsty leopard gets help for pot-head problem in India

A thirsty leopard got a little help from forest officers in India after an attempt to drink some water led to a metal pot being stuck on its head.

Footage taken of the big cat in Sadulkhera, Rajasthan, shows the leopard walking around with a metal pot on its head after trying to take a drink.

Villagers discovered the leopard walking around blindly with the pot on its head Wednesday and speculated it must have wandered into the area from the nearby Kumbhalgarh sanctuary and got its head stuck in the pot while trying to drink water.

Locals alerted police and forest department officials, who sent officers to help the distressed leopard. The leopard was tranquilized and the pot was removed.

October 1, 2015

Syrian ‘moderates’ aren’t so moderate in Iraq

Well, God bless Barack Obama – he’s found some “moderate” rebels in Syria. Enough to supply them with weapons and training worth $500m. Congress wants to arm these brave freedom fighters, you see. And Obama, having sent his 300 elite Spartan lads to Iraq to help Nouri al-Maliki fight the rebels there, needs to send help to the rebels in Syria – even though most of them are on the side of the rebels in Iraq whom Obama wants Maliki to defeat.

Confusing? You bet. So first steps first. Who are the “moderate” rebels whom Obama wants to train and arm? He doesn’t name them – and he can’t, because the original “moderates” whom America swore to arm (with the help of the CIA, the Brits, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey) were the so-called “Free Syrian Army”, mostly composed of deserters from Assad’s government forces. But the FSA – briefly beloved of John McCain until he discovered a pro-al-Qa’ida fighter sharing a photo-op with him in northern Syria – has decomposed.

Its men have gone home, switched to the bearded Islamists of the Nusrah or Isis – or Isil if we heed the latest acronym – or re-deserted to the government army and taken up arms for Assad again. Some freedom fighters! They weren’t given enough weapons, we are told. Now they’ll get more. And no doubt sell them – as they did the last lot. For it is a sad fact of war that whenever a gun crosses a border, it represents not loyalty but cash.

Give an FSA man – if you can find one – an anti-aircraft missile and it will be sold to the highest bidder. In all the civil wars I’ve covered, I’ve never seen a weapon in the hands of a militia which hasn’t bought it from someone else. In a humiliating interview on Channel 4, our own Defence Secretary admitted that weapons given to Syrian rebels had fallen into the hands of the bad guys. How do you monitor all the guys whom you give a gun to? Send them off with a personal drone to make sure they don’t sell it?

Besides, how do you actually find a “moderate” these days in Syria’s war? The Islamist rebels fight to the death. No “moderates” they. And – accursed facts now intervene – these are the very same Islamist rebels now threatening the Iraqi state. And just to make things even more confusing, Maliki has just been thanking Assad’s boys for air-raiding his own rebel enemies on the Iraqi-Syrian border on the grounds that Syria and Iraq are “friends”.

http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/syrian-moderates-aren-t-so-moderate-in-iraq-9569548.html

September 30, 2015

Secret Service official suggested a leak to embarrass Rep. Chaffetz

Source: LA Times

Scores of U.S. Secret Service employees improperly accessed the decade-old, unsuccessful job application of a congressman who was investigating scandals inside the agency, a new government report said Wednesday. An assistant director suggested leaking embarrassing information to retaliate against Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) chairman of the House oversight committee.

The actions by the employees could represent criminal violations under the U.S. Privacy Act, said the report by the Homeland Security Department's inspector general, John Roth. "It doesn't take a lawyer explaining the nuances of the Privacy Act to know that the conduct that occurred here — by dozens of agents in every part of the agency — was wrong," the report said.

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson personally apologized to Chaffetz again Wednesday, the congressman told The Associated Press in an interview on Capitol Hill. Johnson did not disclose whether any employees had been punished. "It's intimidating," Chaffetz said. "It's what it was supposed to be."

Johnson said in a statement Wednesday that "those responsible should be held accountable" but did not provide further details.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-secret-service-chaffetz-20150930-story.html

September 30, 2015

Palestinian flag raised at the UN

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