The Right Stuff In The Morning
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
Good morning! In the news today: The former head of FOIA has a good laugh over Hillary's defense; is Obama trying to protect her by closing off an avenue for FOIA requests?; Michelle to begin wondrous Asia trip; Treasury ready with Lerner emails; three Republican hopefuls set to go; and Mitt Romney gets ready to rumble in the ring.
Have a great day.
Keith
Hillary's email defense is laughable . . . I should know—I ran FOIA for the U.S. government. I thought when I retired from the Justice Department in 2007, I was done with records-related
scandals. By that point, I had spent more than a quarter-century as founding director of the Justice Department’s Office of Information and Privacy, effectively serving as the federal government’s chief information-disclosure “guru.” In that position, I had weathered many a Clinton records scandal during the 1990s—about two dozen, all told, including two that amazingly have still never become public—and I thought I had seen the last of them. At the very least, I thought I had
become immune to being shocked by anything in that vein . . .
It turns out I was wrong on both counts. First, while it is accurate for Secretary Clinton to say that when she was in office there was not a flat, categorical prohibition on federal government officials ever using their personal email accounts for the conduct of official business, that’s a far different thing from saying (as she apparently would like to) that a government official could use his or her personal
email account exclusively, for all official email communications, as she actually did. In fact, the Federal Records Act dictates otherwise. Politico
Obama moving to protect Hillary? . . . The administration today will issue new rules exempting a key administrative office that handles issues such as request for access to government email records from the Freedom of Information Act. That law is specifically designed to allow private parties to look at government
documents that aren't privileged or involve national security. And during "Sunshine Week," no less. John Fund Get your dog to do what you want . . . Doggy Dan, the veteran celebrity dog trainer, acclaimed author and media personality, helps you create a beautiful new relationship with your best friend. The techniques are so simple. Thousands of happy dog and puppy owners have learned to discipline and train their dog - and you can too. Hear about the amazing online dog trainer
Hillary dodges question on whether she signed statement . . . Hillary Clinton ignored a question from Fox News Channel's Ed Henry on Monday asking whether she signed a separation statement when she left her job as secretary of state. If she signed the document, but kept her email on her own private server for two years, she could be guilty of a crime, some observers have argued. Newsmax Support REDLINE and White House Dossier when you shop on Amazon. Just click on this link and bookmark it for use each time you make a purchase. REDLINE and White House Dossier will receive a percentage of the price of your purchase, but it doesn't cost you a thing! Thanks for your
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Next stop for Michelle: Japan and Cambodia! . . . Having just flown on the same day as her husband, but separately, to Los Angeles, First Lady Michelle Obama will leave this week on a five day tour of the Far East to promote her “Let Girls Learn” initiative in
Japan and Cambodia. White House Dossier I wasn’t aware that there was a crisis in girls education in Japan. And I wasn’t aware that if there is, that it’s any business of
ours. Video || Here's what you paid for . . . Just want to make sure you have seen exactly what you paid for when you flew First Lady Michelle Obama found trip to Los Angeles Thursday – on a separate flight from the one her husband took to Los Angeles. Michelle couldn’t just appear on Ellen’s show from from a studio in Washington. Because, you see, she had rehearsed the
moves. White House Dossier How can we trust Obama on Iran after Syria? . . . Just a few years ago, President Obama said the time for talking was done, and Syrian President Bashar
al-Assad must go. Several months later, Obama’s then-Press Secretary, the Prince of Prescience Jay Carney, said Assad was finished – through, done, I tell ya. Now, Secretary of State John Kerry wants to negotiate. White House
Dossier Amnesty: Thousands of bureaucrats, billions of dollars . . . If President Barack Obama’s immigration plan gets past a federal court injunction, and if 60 percent of illegals apply for deferred action protection under the plan, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services agency projects that it may have to hire an additional 3,100 employees, with a total program cost of up to $484 million a year. CNS News Treasury ready to hand over Lerner emails . . . The department's deputy
inspector general, Timothy Camus, on Feb. 26 testified that his office had found more than 30,000 of Lerner's emails, including emails from 2011 on a backup tape at a storage facility in West Virginia that the IRS had never searched. Newsmax Obama's best jokes at the Gridiron . . . Saturday night was the annual dinner of the Gridiron Club, an exclusive group of journalists who join only by invitation, and only when an existing member dies or becomes a public relations executive. Anyway, Obama doesn’t always attend, but this year he did, and he had a few good lines. Here are the best them, IMO. White House Dossier It’s the journalism equivalent of the super-in crowd. Which is not really what journalism is supposed to be like, but no matter. Maybe
I’m just sore because I’ll never be invited to join! Missouri Lt. Gov: More racism in DOJ than Ferguson . . . "There is more racism in the Justice Department than there is in anywhere I see in the St. Louis area," Missouri Lieutenant Governor of Peter Kinder said Monday. "We've come an enormous way in 50 years. That's not to say we don't have still more to do. But it is the left — the
[Attorney General] Eric Holder and [President Barack] Obama left — and their minions who are obsessed with race while the rest of us are moving on beyond it." Newsmax The
EPA wants to get into the shower with you . . . The Environmental Protection Agency wants hotels to monitor how much time its guests spend in the shower. The agency is spending $15,000 to create a wireless system that will track how much water a hotel guest uses to get them to “modify their behavior.” Washington Free Beacon
"Utter baloney" . . . The White House has a rather unfavorable view of a report suggesting that Valerie Jarrett, President Obama's senior adviser, leaked news of Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server. Washington Examiner Quote of the Day || March 16, 2015 Obama Schedule || Tuesday, March 17, 2015
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Obama blames Bush for ISIS . . . President Obama pinned the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) on former President George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq while calling for more investment in diplomacy and education to stop
terrorism. Daily Caller Iran bringing up the letter . . . Iranian officials reportedly have confronted their U.S. counterparts twice
over an open letter from Republican senators to Tehran that warned any agreement on Iran's nuclear program would be unlikely to last beyond President Barack Obama's term of office. Fox News
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Chinese company pledged $2M to Clinton Foundation . . . Rilin Enterprises pledged $2 million in 2013 to the Clinton Foundation's endowment. The company is a privately-held Chinese construction and trade conglomerate and run by billionaire Wang
Wenliang, who is also a delegate to the Chinese parliament. Public records show the firm has spent $1.4 million since 2012, lobbying Congress and the State Department. CBS
News Clinton criticized for not defending human rights in China . . . In Clinton’s book Hard Choices, the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate for 2016 touted her efforts to secure asylum in the United States for Chen Guangcheng, a blind Chinese dissident lawyer. However, Chen recounts events differently in his new memoir. After helping him evade authorities to enter the embassy and treating his injuries, he
said U.S. diplomats succumbed to pressure from Chinese officials and urged him to leave the embassy. Washington Free Beacon Get the Paleo cookbook, the delicious way to good health . . . More than 370 easy recipes plus five bonuses, including an eight-week meal plan. Be healthier and feel better eating the whole foods we ate before processed foods ruined our health. Hear more about the Paleo Cookbook now
Republicans at the gate . . . Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, and Ted Cruz are looking to early April as a target for their campaign announcements. Politico Rubio headed toward flavor of the month . . . It’s too much to say that Marco Rubio is hot. He’s, well, warm. But how his temperature began rising is one of the
mysteries of the media primary. Howard Kurtz Walker ethanol flip flop? .
. . On a telephone town hall meeting sponsored by the Tea Party Patriots, the all-but-declared Republican presidential candidate insisted that, when he spoke out against ethanol mandates during his 2006 run for governor, he was specifically referring to state-level standards, not federal ones. Politico Ahh yes, the Iowa caucuses are coming, and it's time for candidates to kiss the rings of ethanol and corn.
Bobby Jindal's tax problem . . . He promised not to raise them. Now,
he's got a huge budget hole to fill - and a big political mess on his hands. Politico
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Netanyahu reverses on "two state" solution . . . In a frenzied last day of campaigning, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday ruled out the establishment of a Palestinian state and vowed to keep building
east Jerusalem settlements as he appealed to hard-line voters on the eve of Israel's closely contested general election. Associated Press Israel
votes today . . . Millions of Israelis voted on Tuesday in a tightly fought election, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu facing an uphill battle to defeat a strong campaign by the center-left opposition to deny him a fourth term in office. Reuters Fate of Israel in the balance? Fate of the world? Am I overdoing it? Not sure that I am. The world won't last too long once a country like Iran gets nukes and it's rivals then start to build them too. Iraqis not ready for prime time? . . . Iraqi forces’ operation to retake the city of Tikrit has stalled as
troops suffer heavy casualties at the hands of Islamic State militants, raising concerns about whether the pro-government fighters are ready for major offensives. Washington Post ISIS destroying sacred Christian artifacts . . . Chilling new images released Monday show ISIS thugs advancing the Islamist army's dark agenda of
eradicating Christianity from Iraq by smashing crosses, toppling statues and destroying sacred relics that have been in place for thousands of years. Fox
News
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Federal agencies squander $125B in just one year . . . Federal agencies made $125 billion in improper payments last year, including tax credits to people who didn't qualify, Medicare payments for
treatments that might not be necessary and unemployment benefits for people who were actually working, said a government report released Monday. Fox News WashPost tries to rebut Joni Ernst success story . . . The Washington Post Saturday gave a large chunk of print real estate to the details of low-skill employment at a Hardee's restaurant in Iowa. The reason for the lengthy profile on Hardee's employees? An apparent rebuttal to Republican Sen. Joni Ernst, who has noted in public statements that her path to the world's greatest deliberative body began at America's
sixth-largest fast-food chain. Washington
Examiner
The Post author "vividly depicts the anxiety of a proletariat alienated from the means of production," writes the Examiner's Ed Scarry.
Rumble in Salt Lake: Romney vs. Holyfied, in the ring . . . Mitt Romney is slated to fight former heavyweight boxing champion Evander Holyfield on May 15. "It
will either be a very short fight, or I will be knocked unconscious," Romney quipped in an interview recently. "It won't be much of a fight. We'll both suit up and get in the ring and spar around a little bit." Salt Lake
Tribune
Yeah, its for charity. Hopefully Holyfield has some. Keith Koffler
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