[American Thinker] Call it "the Seinfeld meeting," because the conversation between Donald Trump Jr. and a Russian lawyer was a meeting with a nobody about nothing, from which nothing resulted. Yet in the Democratic and media (sorry for the redundancy) alternate universe, it is more worthy of attention than North Korea, ISIS, or jobs and the economy.
In a bit of irony, the lawyer with which Donald Trump Jr. was allegedly colluding, Natalia Veselnitskaya, was allowed to be in this country by the Obama administration and its attorney general, Loretta Lynch. Natalia may have overstayed her visa and at the time of the meeting may have been, dare we say it, an illegal alien. Extreme veting, anyone? As reported by Fox News Politics:
The Obama administration granted the Russian attorney who met with Donald Trump Jr. last June a special type of "parole" to be in the United States after she initially was denied a visa, Fox News has confirmed ‐ though it remains unclear whether she had permission to be in the country when she attended the Trump Tower session. ...
Well before the June 9, 2016, meeting, she was denied a visa to enter the U.S. in 2015, according to court filings first reported by the Daily Beast. She was granted a "parole" to be in the country from October 2015 through early January 2016. However, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York told Fox News on Thursday that their office did not extend that status.
"She was not granted a second parole by our office," office spokesman James Margolin told Fox News in an email. "Her case-related immigration parole ended early in 2016, and it was not renewed by us."...
"She shouldn’t have been in the country," Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, told "Fox & Friends" on Wednesday. "I think the lady Russian lawyer that was there in that meeting, I’ve written to [The State Department and Department of Homeland Security] to find out what she was doing in the country when presumably either her visa or parole expired."
Maybe the Obama administration and the Hillary Clinton campaign were colluding with the Russians to let her in and let her stay to try to st up Team Trump? Why was she allowed in the country? Why was she allowed to overstay her welcome or "parole"/ Media curiosity about the meeting apparently has its limits.
Some, such as Mark Steyn, have approached the meeting with the trivial pursuit it deserves:
#1
The Trump Jr. debacle has accomplished one miracle: it has restored credibility to the media. Six months of media claims of Trump-Russia communication were constantly met with 'Fake News' replies, but are now proven to have an element of truth.
[American Thinker] Christopher Wray, President Donald Trump's FBI director nominee, seems a perfectly nice man. But nothing he has said during confirmation hearings on July 12 distinguishes him as someone who would reform Barack Hussein Obama's Islamophilic FBI.
President Trump ran on a quixotic set of ideas about aggressively stopping Islamic terror. Like a fly in amber, the standard operating procedures (SOP) governing the Obama Federal Bureau of Investigations guarantee to preserve the same systemic, intractable failures that unleashed mass murderer Omar Mateen and Syed Farook and bride Tashfeen Malik to maim and murder dozens of Americans.
From Wray's comments to the Senate Judiciary Committee, we know how he'll bravely break with President Trump. He's partial to his predecessor, James Comey. To wit, Wray said he sided with Comey in rejecting a domestic surveillance program in 2004, "not because he knew the substance of the dispute," but because of his affection for Comey.
Given his unalloyed loyalty, Wray'll be unlikely to remove from FBI training manuals the fiction about jihad being a peaceful pillar of the Islamic faith.
To get a sense of how the outfit being glorified by the Senate panel operates, consider this: you hire a private firm to protect you, only to discover that, as part of your protection plan, your protectors undergo sensitivity training to desensitize them to potential perpetrators and evildoers, thus giving the latter easy access to you and yours. This "strategy" would endanger your life. The company executing this harebrained scheme, moreover, would be in violation of its contractual obligation to keep you safe. If you came to harm, you'd sue.
But first, fire the fools before they get you killed.
#2
That's our crazy Comey. And the new guy, Christopher Wray, loves him just the way he is.
Another swamp creature for whom Wray has "enormous respect" is former FBI director Robert Mueller.
[The Hill] President Trump is seeking to radically remodel the State Department in an unprecedented way, according to former officials from administrations of both political parties.
His administration’s efforts, which include a proposed budget cut of nearly 30 percent, a hiring freeze and a potential reshuffling of offices within State, have left scores of positions unfilled, demoralizing the staff that remain.
Past GOP presidents have also sought to cut State down to size, and even current employees have acknowledged bureaucratic problems at Foggy Bottom.
But some former officials describe Trump's efforts as something unseen before -- a war of sorts on the State Department that if carried out would leave it hobbling.
"My suspicion is that within the White House, particularly amongst the nationalist faction ... that this seems to actually be a concerted effort to diminish the role of the State Department in U.S. foreign policy and hamper its abilities to pursue policies that would be considered overly globalist," said Stewart Patrick, who served on the policy planning staff at the State Department under the George W. Bush administration.
Hopeful prognosis at the closing para follows:
"I think it’s going to get worse before it gets better," said Berschinski, the former Obama official, said. "I think we are going to continue to see an exodus of top talent at the department."
#3
Not to be confused with the State Department war on Bush, 2001-2008.
My suspicion is that within the White House, particularly amongst the nationalist faction
Hell, our sons, nephews, or cousins are not going to die for your globalist agenda. They're not Mercs. They serve their country, not you.
Foggy Bottom lunchroom. Pairs of smartly dressed gentlemen sitting together, wearing matching bow ties. At least one with his ankles crossed under his chair.
#7
If 90% of the State Department went away - would anyone miss it? 20% of the State Department folks downrange are OK, the rest are marking time while punching a ticket. 95% of the CONUS State Department is worthless. Prune it back judiciously please.
#10
Can someone from the State Department tell the American Russian and Canadian public how someone can carryout economic warfare on all 3 countries at the same time like with housing and get away with it and nobody knows a God Damn fucking thing including all leadership getting played like a bunch of novice fucking idiots?
Long story - RTWT
[SanDiegoReader] It is a big ocean. Until you've been far into it, it's really hard to appreciate how big it is. Bringing a ship back from Japan to Hawaii, I once went ten days without seeing another ship, either by eye or radar. That's a long time to be utterly alone in the world, especially if you're moving in a straight line and at good speed. On the other hand, I think you'd be surprised at how crowded the ocean can get in certain places.
Suddenly, the officer of the deck realized that he was screwed. Maybe he sped up, thinking that speed could save his life.
The easiest example that I can think of to illustrate this point is the Strait of Malacca, which divides the island of Sumatra from Malaysia. Not only is Singapore at the southern end ‐ one of the great maritime ports of the world ‐ but it is not unfair to say that all the shipping moving between Asia and Africa and the Middle East and Europe travels through this increasingly narrow, 600-mile passage, either to or from Pacific countries.
Every year, 100,000 ships go through it. It is infested with pirates and criss-crossed by thousands of fishing boats every day. If you look at it on a chart, it may seem wide, but the passable channel for big ships is only a couple of miles wide, and again, clogged with fishing boats. It's not fun to navigate, but it is thrilling.
Tokyo Bay or "Tokyo Wan" is like that. Yes, the area off the coast of Japan where the USS Fitzgerald collision took place on June 17 is more wide open than the Wan itself, but just like the approaches to Norfolk, Boston, or Los Angeles, dozens of ships are approaching at any time, all heading for a very narrow entrance channel, all on tight schedules. Think of it as a funnel necking down to the shipping channel that goes into the port. Outside the shipping channel, which has strict rules, the mouth of the funnel is the Wild West for ships coming and going. It can be challenging during the day, but at night it can be frightening.
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/14/2017 00:00 ||
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Link ||
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#1
When they don't change their pace or pay attention to warning lights, pedestrians in the crosswalk get hit by ambulances.
#2
It is infested with pirates and criss-crossed by thousands of fishing boats every day.
I used to have an office overlooking the Singapore Strait. The big ships keep to their channel and spacing, and it's up to the small boats to avoid them. Plenty of smaller boats. Not too many pirates though.
One or both ships weren't where they were supposed to be.
#4
If the problem truly is bad they should set up sea traffic controllers (like air traffic controllers) to monitor and give commands to ships to avoid collisions in these congested areas.
I suspect the problem is exaggerated in the article though as we actually don't hear about collisions all that often despite the crowded conditions so I suspect something else was in play. Perhaps a discussion about missing strawberries or something.
#5
There are specific rules of the road designed to prevent collisions at sea. The have been in place in their present form since I was on active duty in 1972. They're not perfect, but cover a wide variety of situations - open water, restricted waters, sailboats vs. power vessels, ships broken down in a channel, what to do if the other ship isn't following the rules. Etc.
In almost every collision, a board of inquiry is called to determine fault.
In the US Navy, no matter what the board determines, the CO's career is effectively over. If the board finds that the CO is at fault, even indirectly, it is definitely over.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
07/14/2017 11:07 Comments ||
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#6
The Captain was immediately removed to controlled medical confinement for his injuries. Now he's been relieved, for treatment(Detox?).
#10
The Fitzgerald, an Arleigh Burke–class destroyer, even when going at flank speed can stop dead in the water inside of her own length, 505 feet
*Wow*, the sounds the propellers and engine plant must make when they go from Ahead/FULL to Reverse/Emergency must be amazing, as in passive Sonar can hear you in the next ocean amazing. Also there is Yard time in your near future...
In which Al Ahram analyzes the new situation, concluding that something definitely will happen.
[AlAhram] On previous occasions rapprochement between Cairo and Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, have typically occurred in the framework of bilateral arrangements which fall apart almost as soon as they are agreed because of Hamas’ failure to meet its obligations (generally related to security issues such as requests to hand over individuals implicated in the support of terrorist organizations accused of carrying out attacks in Egypt).
However, corruption finds a dozen alibis for its evil deeds... on this current occasion, the Paleostinian Authority is absent from the latest moves, and what is more, Mohammed Dahlan has assumed a major role in possible new arrangements, raising the question of how the PA views the latest developments.
Continued on Page 49
[Hot Air] The Board of Trustees of Evergreen State College met on campus Wednesday and held a listening session for anyone who wanted to come before them and offer their perspective. Speakers were clearly divided between those who supported President George Bridges and those who felt the campus was out of control. Speaking from the latter perspective was a current Evergreen student named MacKenzie.
"If you offer any sort of alternative viewpoint, which I do have, and you’re kind of the enemy," MacKenzie said. She continued, "I don’t agree with the behavior that has been shown on the campus and unlike what Anne Fischel [a previous speaker] has said, I think it’s important to focus on the way this was handled."
"This behavior has actually been encouraged and because of this I feel like people are becoming more violent and the campus is becoming more of an unsafe place," she said. "I have been to several meetings to speak. I’ve been told several times that I’m not allowed to speak because I’m white," she said.
"This school seems to focus so much on race that it is actually becoming more racist in a different sort of way. And because I say that--because I choose not to focus on race I have actually been labeled a racist and a white supremacist. If anyone took the time to actually know me, it’s not true at all."
#5
Commander John J. Adams: But like you, the Krell forgot one deadly danger - their own subconscious hate and lust for destruction.
Dr. Edward Morbius: The beast. The mindless primitive! Even the Krell must have evolved from that beginning.
Commander John J. Adams: And so those mindless beasts of the subconscious had access to a machine that could never be shut down. The secret devil of every soul on the planet all set free at once to loot and maim. And take revenge, Morbius, and kill!
Dr. Edward Morbius: My poor Krell. After a million years of shining sanity, they could hardly have understood what power was destroying them.
[pause]
Dr. Edward Morbius: Yes, young man, all very convincing, but for one obvious fallacy. The last Krell died 2,000 centuries ago. But today, as we all know, there is still at large on this planet a living monster.
Commander John J. Adams: Your mind refuses to face the conclusion.
Follow the links.
[Stump.MaryPat.org]. SELL THE BUDGET YOU VETOED, GOV
Let’s start off with a laugh, for once.
Treasurer Frerichs urges Gov. Rauner to champion budget, tax hikes he vetoed
Before I get to the piece itself, that headline is a work of art.
Okay, the meat of the piece:
Illinois Treasurer Michael Frerichs wants Gov. Bruce Rauner to champion a budget Rauner says doesn’t address Illinois’ decades of fiscal problems.
After Democrats and some Republicans voted to override Rauner’s veto of the state’s largest annual budget to date and a 32 percent income tax increase, Treasurer Michael Frerichs said Rauner needs to embrace the change.
Among other things, Frerichs urged Rauner to talk to bond ratings agencies in New York and borrow $6 billion for some of the backlog of unpaid bills.
Frerichs said these steps will help the state avoid junk bond status.
“I believe that the governor is a very successful investor and as such he understands the danger of junk bond status,” Frerichs said.
Yes, he sure does.
And I bet the governor knows just fine that the budget doesn’t fix a damn thing. Read it all
#1
Oklahoma is in far better shape, but the "leadership" there was equally spineless. Both sides "compromised" in a bullshit way that locked in tax increases on cigarettes and car sales and other such slight-of-hand RATHER than CUTTING SPENDING ("entitlements").
I don't even smoke, so that one won't him me in the pocket-book, but the ludicracy of IGNORING spending when the budget is a very real issue is just mind-boggling.
Illinois and California are in the passing lane. OK is in the right lane, but heading down the same road. And they both are suffering from out-migration, a characteristic of OK demographics from time immemorial.
#1
George Washington, at the Siege of Boston, in a January 1776 letter to John Hancock: "I have often thought how much happier I should have been, if, instead of accepting of a command under such circumstances, I had taken my musket on my shoulder and entered the ranks, or, if I could have justified the measure to posterity and my own conscience, had retired to the back country, and lived in a wigwam."
#2
Very great iwartime leader. Completely different circumstances for each war. But if you can identify the situation, you can adapt and win.
Churchill/Britain was on the front line with the call of Europe. But there was the US, Canada, Australia, Russia coming to the rescue. Once assembled, the Axis of evil was matched.
Washington was vastly outnumbered with no hope for rescue for the first few years and also was attacked by American loyalists throughout the colony. If cornered, Washington's small army would have been annihilated. So they had to learn how to escape each battle that they lost, until the British were worn down. And when they escaped they had the wilderness to run to.
Sam Houston against the far superior Santa Anna went through the same thing until. These were truly unique military leaders who knew how to take a small army and defeat a major opposing army.
Posted by: Thor Oppressor of the Faith1381 ||
07/14/2017 1:43 Comments ||
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#3
So they had to learn how to escape each battle that they lost, until the British were worn down.
#6
Washington had to do guerrilla tactics until the knockout blow could be landed (and yes, French ships, artillery and men were needed for that). He realized he didn't have to win. He just couldn't lose.
Green in the south, however, perfected this strategy. He said his army resembled a crab. It could scurry quickly in any direction as long as it was away.
He was the man responsible for wearing out Cornwallis' army and forcing them to retire to Yorktown where the fatal blow could be landed.
#7
I'm sure Winston had his second thoughts, too, whether or not they were recorded for posterity. Both leaders were thinking of posterity and their own conscience throughout.
#8
I just finished volume 4 of Churchill's The Second World War. Quite the strategist. And logistician. He was planning for the invasion of Europe in 1941. I am looking forward to what he has to say about Monty slogging his way up the east side of Sicily. Probably in the next day or two.
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/14/2017 19:18 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[American Thinker] Call it "the Seinfeld meeting," because the conversation between Donald Trump Jr. and a Russian lawyer was a meeting with a nobody about nothing, from which nothing resulted. Yet in the Democratic and media (sorry for the redundancy) alternate universe, it is more worthy of attention than North Korea, ISIS, or jobs and the economy.
[American Thinker] Christopher Wray, President Donald Trump's FBI director nominee, seems a perfectly nice man. But nothing he has said during confirmation hearings on July 12 distinguishes him as someone who would reform Barack Hussein Obama's Islamophilic FBI.
[Hot Air] The Board of Trustees of Evergreen State College met on campus Wednesday and held a listening session for anyone who wanted to come before them and offer their perspective. Speakers were clearly divided between those who supported President George Bridges and those who felt the campus was out of control. Speaking from the latter perspective was a current Evergreen student named MacKenzie.
