The trees are becoming bare. Trees just handled leaf-change and leaf-drop differently in different places this year. Trees around here didn’t do it all at once. some of the leaves turned brown instantly while still retaining fully green. Those leaves fell off the trees the first week of October. Some of the trees turned colors while retaining lots of green. I have a dogwood out front that is still doing the schizo-leaf thing. It has lots of green still. Perhaps an easy third is still green.
Winchester and west of Winchester is another world in terms of leaves. The trees there are brilliant and beautiful, full of color. I have rarely seen such a display. I was truly amazed last week to see such beautiful colors–none of this half green display. I am not sure how the leaf display can be so different. Winchester put on quite a color show, even compared to Front Royal.
Autumn will always fascinate me. It’s truly Mother Nature’s time to strut her stuff.
Annoy a republican. Vote!
I have voted and I expect I did annoy a few.
Vote early!
I voted without showing a photo id. HA!
Ok, I’ll bite. What is so problematic about having to show a photo ID when you vote? As long as there is some mechanism for people to get a voter ID for free, so it’s not a poll tax, what’s the problem?
I had to show my driver’s license to vote this morning. Then oddly enough had to give my full name and address that was already on the driver’s license I just gave the guy.
I dislike having to give my name and address aloud. It’s almost a safety issue. I think if I show my ID, that’s all the telling I need to do. They should be able to take the information and go with it.
How does voting autonomously via absentee annoy anyone?
I must say, now that I’ve moved out of the hell hole that is rt. 1 (near Feather stone Plaza) and into the Lakeridge area my voting experience was much more enjoyable.
On multiple occasions while walking up to my polling place with my son (have taken him every time since he was born) I use to get the people trying to hand me the D voting sheet and the R voting sheet. I know who I’m voting for so I always politely tell them no thanks. However, the last few cycles I would get a nasty reaction from the D sheet person. Either a look of disgust or frustration. At my new polling place both were very nice, smiling and appeared to be friendly with not only me but with each other which was refreshing.
The D sheet lady did get my son to take a sheet which was amusing to me. He did want me to vote for Obama last election. 🙂
Very light turnout though…
I am sure HOW I voted might have annoyed Republicans.
I am glad you moved. I get some looks from R’s where I vote. I don’t want literature from anyone unless there is an amendment issue on the ballot. I just decided I don’t want everyone knowing my business so I vote absentee. Let’s just say there has been some subtle voter intimidation where I vote. It’s easier to vote absentee than it is to challenge the behavior.
Yes, it does have to do with this blog.
Virginia is very weak about explaining ballot initiatives. I wish we had a local newspaper. That helped. some
I agree Moon. Mine was also scanned. I do not remember that happening before – same place.
If the scanning is to assure that it is a legitimate license, then ok.
@Moon-howler
Thanks Moon, I’m glad I was able to move as well. It was mostly because of my son (just started kindergarten) as well as getting out of that POS rt. 1 area. I ended up taking a hit on selling my house as well as paying more for the house I bought than I wanted but in the long term it’s going to pay off with better education for my kid and overall quality of life for all of us.
I’m not sure if voting early annoys Republicans much today. Looks like they are starting to match Democrat early voting numbers. My father-in-law (hard core conservative) voted early ever since I can remember. I would think that these days R’s voting early would annoy D’s more so than the other way around.
I don’t always vote a straight ticket. If I lived in the City I would have voted bi-partisan.
St least you got out.
Warner wins.
By about 12000 votes.
@Furby. I get grumpy when government treats me with disrespect. I don’t like to vote but I do it out of a sense of obligation. I’m not a political party type person so I get no personal sense of power if one party wins. I push back against attempt to make voting seem only available to the politically privileged.
When voting is full of hoops that I need to jump through I’m inclined to not play circus bear. I really hate the state your name and address routine especially after having given them an ID. My vote didn’t count in a previous election because I refused to state my name and address directly: “my name and address are as they appear on the ID I gave you.” My provisional ballot was thrown out for not adhering to the law.
This time I tried the absentee ballot because I didn’t want to show ID–it seemed as though the government was saying they couldn’t trust me to be honest when stating my name and address. I didn’t want to encourage that kind of abuse. Absentee voting was more complicated and time-consuming than it needed to be and I didn’t think it should be necessary to come up with an excuse. I also didn’t think that the state should require someone to explain why they claim a religious reason for voting absentee since other excuses didn’t require justification. Another set of hurtles. Another effort to disenfranchise.
You heard it here first.
The 2016 race will be between Rand Paul and Jim Webb.
Paul and Peter are on Morning Joe. (without Mary of course),,She seriously needs to be there. They have a book out about 50 years of music.
@Ed Myers
You do realize that people with fake ID or someone else’s are likely to make a mistake on what is on that ID when requested to repeat the info, right? Especially if they are going from polling place to polling place with various ID?
And that happens. I’ve seen it. Growing up in New Orleans exposes you to all sorts of things.
Why are you so against procedures that PROTECT your right to vote?
@Cargo. What you allege would be illegal and there are police at the voting station that can arrest the person. The value to an individual to engage in fraudulent voting is so low compared to the cost if one was caught. With a low turnout election it is simply more cost effective to drag people to the voting booth that are eligible to vote. Fraudulent absentee ballots seem much more easier way to stuff the ballot box but those rules weren’t tightened at all.
The real voter fraud is creating barriers so people who are eligible to vote aren’t able to.
The Supreme Court announced they will hear King v. Burwell. One of the cases challenging the legality of tax subsidies for Federal exchanges under Obamacare. Hearing the case doesn’t mean they will overturn it, but it does mean that at least 4 justices found problems with the appellate court decision (which upheld the subsidies). The Supreme Court normally doesn’t do that if there isn’t a conflict among multiple appellate court decisions. When they do, it usually suggests the Supreme Court thinks the case is wrongly decided.
It’s been a tough week for Democrats. Have a strong one tonight!
@Ed Myers
Police? There were no police at my voting station. And in New Orleans, people were hired at $5 per vote.
I agree we need to tighten absentee voting.
Nothing you described kept people from voting. So….I guess there was no fraud.
I don’t think Virginia has a history of corruption.
Let’s talk about absentee voting. How would you tighten it? It is a huge pain in the ass already. You get a ballot, you vote. How can you corrupt the process? I believe absentee voting should be a choice without having to do the malarkey thing.
@Moon-howler
I don’t think that third party people should be able to collect ballots, if they are allowed to do so in this state. I know that they are allowed to do that elsewhere.
Nor should third parties (as in groups like ACORN) be allowed to register people and facilitate it. Too much opportunity for that third party to be working with a political party and sabotage their opponents.
Absentee voting should have restrictions on time and reasons.
So how about government employees? Should they be able to collect ballots? Local employees at voter registration or DMV both register and collect ballots.
How about members of the League of Women Voters? That is a bi-partisan group I see registering voters all the time?
Why should Absentee voting have time restrictions and why should people have to have reasons? What if they don’t want to go to the polls? I have no problem with time restrictions that coincide with election time but that should be it.
You either like government tracking you or you don’t. I guess it doesn’t bother you.
Voting should be open to more than just one day – many people leave for DC before the polls open and arrive home after they are closed. What is the harm in trying to get more availability for people wanting to vote.
Voter ID – time to get over it – get a photo id because one should need it for other purposes and if you do not have a drivers license it should be free. What is funny here though is those that fight identifying things such as a Social Security number are also the ones fighting for a gov issued photo id – isn’t it the same thing – a way for the Gov to track you?
Ebola – is must all be solved – after all the fear mongering there has been very little to no blathering about it on Cable. Oh, wait, the election is over – no more need to be worried about it. Ebola was the October surprise.
@Moon-howler
There is no tracking, unless you count that you are registered to vote.
Of course that counts. Then the political parties can buy your name.
Saw an article a couple of days ago out of New York City which said that the number of people being tracked in NY as an Ebola precaution has increased greatly because of the international air travel to JFK. Probably the same at Dulles, but I have yet to see any reporting.
Kasich.
@Cargo,
Jim Webb isn’t liberal enough to carry the Democratic nomination. He is like a moderate Republican lite. He also isn’t that well liked.
@Moon-howler
Not liberal enough.
That is what they need. I think that he’s an unknown to most liberals. Hillary has too much baggage. Warren has lied too much. Webb appears to be a honorable man that doesn’t play the liberal games that we’ve all seen lately.
You think Warren has lied. I would trust her with MY money.
Webb isn’t liked by most Democrats. How the hell would he get the nomination If Democrats don’t like him.
He embarrassed me by refusing to shake President Bush’s hand when at a White House function…as a Virginia Senator.
Hillary has baggage? According to whom? Not people who would vote for her.
25 years ago today….an evil was destroyed.
The Berlin Wall came down.
http://youtu.be/7NjNL4Nsa4Q
http://youtu.be/MM2qq5J5A1s
In other words, he’s not crazy and doesn’t spout abject Marxism.
He was rude. I don’t think that is acceptable. He is scots-Irish. Far from Marxist. ho ho ho
Interesting reports out of Germany. It appears that some of the people who were part of the East German Communist Party political apparatus before the fall of the Wall have gotten back into German politics. They, in fact, are now part of the local governing alliance in the state of Thuringia. Not a happy thing for many Germans, I’ll wager.
Ho, ho. Annoy a Democrat. Ask how it went for them on Tuesday last.
I find that a lot of Democrats are renouncing the behavior of running away from Obama. People like Howard Deane are blasting them. I think he is right.
My last Downton Abbey update: Season 5 finished on Sunday (except for the Christmas episode) It had a very nice ending. I won’t give much away, but one of the minor plots through the season was the creation of a World War I memorial that was unveiled at the end of the last episode. Since it aired the Sunday before Remembrance Day (as the Brits call today) it was very fitting. There was also a wedding, but I won’t say who got married.
Some people are leaving the show and there was some intrigue afoot. It reminded me a lot of last year’s Christmas episode (which was good) But it left a lot of loose ends.
All and all Season 5 was good but not great. Some of the plot likes are getting a little long. In show time its been 12 years since the start of the show, but Mary still acts like Mary, Edith still acts like Edith, etc. You’ll really like the first couple episodes of the season. It bogs down a little later in the season.
I love her character, but I don’t know how long Maggie Smith will be able to continue doing the show. Which is unfortunate since they started a new story line for her.
Season 5 starts airing in the US in early January so you only have two more months to wait.
Manassas City Vice Mayor Andy Harrover stepped down last night in that role, and by unanimous vote, Steve Randolph is now the Vice Mayor!
Andy will finish his term as a Councilman. Steve is our “Senior Statesman” since 1986, and has never served as Vice Mayor.
An honorable thing to do by Andy, and congrats to Steve to finish his service to the City as our new Vice Mayor! Steve’s only comment: “You had to do it on a night I did not wear a tie.” 🙂
Oh, the embarrassment! Oh, the shame of it! To be outed as prevaricators and as utterly disdainful of the People by a guy who goes by the name of Professor Gruber!
Now this is good news.w
Ex-Executive Donald Blankenship Is Indicted in Disaster at Coal Mine
By TRIP GABRIELNOV. 13, 2014
The former chief executive of the company involved in the nation’s worst coal mine disaster in 40 years, in which 29 men died in West Virginia in 2010, was charged on Thursday with widespread violations of safety rules and deceiving federal inspectors.
Donald L. Blankenship, who formerly ran the Massey Energy Company, was indicted on four criminal counts by a federal grand jury in the Upper Big Branch disaster near Montcoal, W.Va.
Mr. Blankenship was accused of looking away from hundreds of safety violations “in order to produce more coal, avoid the costs of following safety laws, and make more money.”
The 43-page indictment handed up in Charleston, W.Va., the state capital, details how laws about ventilating coal dust and methane gas at the mine were ignored, staffing and tasks needed to improve safety were slashed, and officials responded to surprise visits by safety inspectors by tipping off miners underground using code words.
A powerful explosion at the mine on April 5, 2010, which killed the men working 1,200 feet below the surface, was the result of safety violations that allowed coal dust and methane to ignite, according to a 2011 report by the Mine Safety and Health Administration.
The disaster, the deadliest in the nation since 1970, has left painful scars even in a state that has long accepted mining’s toll on life and health, and which celebrates coal as part of its identity. As recently as the elections last week, candidates in House and Senate races boasted of how quickly they had rushed to the Upper Big Branch site four years ago.
Mr. Blankenship, who retired about eight months after the disaster, is well known in the state, where he has donated to conservative political candidates, even as victims’ families have called for his prosecution. Through a lawyer, he maintained his innocence. “Don Blankenship has been a tireless advocate for mine safety,” the lawyer, William W. Taylor III, said in a statement. “His outspoken criticism of powerful bureaucrats has earned this indictment. He will not yield to their effort to silence him.”
Senator Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia had an unusually sharp reaction. “As he goes to trial, he will be treated far fairer and with more dignity than he ever treated the miners he employed,” he said. “And, frankly, it’s more than he deserves.”
Several investigations have found that Massey routinely ignored safety violations at the mine. The 2011 federal investigation by the mine safety agency concluded that the explosion was preventable and issued 369 citations. Alpha Natural Resources, which bought Massey in 2011, paid $209 million in criminal penalties to settle with the Department of Justice. Two subordinates of Mr. Blankenship, including a former superintendent of the Upper Big Branch mine, have pleaded guilty in criminal cases. Mr. Blankenship faces a maximum of 31 years’ imprisonment.
The charges hold him personally responsible for the hundreds of safety violations in 28 months leading up to the explosion. They included failing to ventilate coal dust and methane, which are highly explosive, and failing to water down equipment to prevent sparks that could ignite an explosion.
According to the indictment, Mr. Blankenship’s aggressive enforcement of mining quotas left workers no time to build ventilation systems “because constructing them diverted time from coal production.” He denied a request to build an air shaft in a mine where airflow was below the legal minimum, the indictment said. He also cut the number of miners focusing on safety in order to make the operation more profitable.
Mr. Blankenship was charged with authorizing a “scheme” of warnings to miners underground when federal safety inspectors made surprise visits. By using “code words and phrases,” word was passed by telephone from a guardhouse to a mine office to supervisors deep underground, who ordered miners “to quickly cover up violations” before inspectors arrived, the indictment said.
Besides charges of conspiracy to violate safety laws and defrauding the federal government, the four-count indictment included a charge of securities fraud and a charge of making false statements to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.
The president of the United Mine Workers of America, Cecil E. Roberts, hailed the indictment. “The carnage that was a recurring nightmare at Massey mines during Blankenship’s tenure at the head of that company was unmatched,” he said.
Half this country, plus the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), was “gruberized” on the ACA. And the Prof has gone around bragging about the deed — until now with naught but “crickets” from the MSM. Nancy Pelosi has denied that she even knows who Gruber is. Unfortunately for her, there is tape available from 2010 on which she is heard lauding the Prof by name as a principal architect of the ACA. Shame.
I actually like this Gruber guy. He is the only one in the administration (yes, he worked on ACA directly with and for the administration) that has told the truth about how it got passed. I admire his honesty, even if it’s something most Americans already knew.
The ‘stupid Americans’ he talks about are the ones who bought the DNC/Administration lies about it. The thing I find most disturbing about the whole situation with Gruber is that he worked directly with the administration and high ranking members of Congress on crafting the ACA based on deceit. Then Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats had him write up analysis on ACA and they held it up as some sort of independent economic analysis proving their arguments.
What a bunch of lying, deceitful snake oil salesmen…. every last one of them.
US Congress report debunks Benghazi attack claims
Washington (AFP) – A probe by a Congressional committee into the September 11, 2012 attack on a US compound in Benghazi debunked allegations that President Barack Obama’s administration fell down on the job.
Since the assault on the US mission in the Libyan city, which left the ambassador and three colleagues dead, the White House, CIA and State Department have been accused of mishandling their response.
But the report released Friday by the House intelligence committee, which is led by some of Obama’s fiercest Republican opponents, cleared the administration of all the most serious charges.
One claim investigated was that the Central Intelligence Agency had not provided adequate security for its own agents at an annex near the diplomatic mission, and Washington had failed to send support.
But the report, based on “thousands of hours of detailed investigation” and interviews with both senior officials and agents who had been on the ground found that this had not been the case.
A vehicle and the surrounding area are engulfed in flames after being set on fire inside the US cons …
“CIA ensured sufficient security for CIA activities in Benghazi and, without a requirement to do so, ably and bravely assisted the State Department on the night of the attacks,” it said.
http://news.yahoo.com/us-congress-report-debunks-benghazi-attack-claims-010500067.html
So much for beating this dead horse
That’s certainly a strange AFP item. I don’t recall that the CIA was ever said not to have good security for their annex. After all, they not only fought off two attacks involving mortar fire but also rescued the State security agents penned in the distant and burning consulate building. Doesn’t seem to address the reasons why the ambassador and his Diplomatic Security people in Tripoli kept asking Washington for more mission security. We’ll have to check that out in the original Committee report.
@Starryflights
You know…that didn’t change the narrative.
The CIA fought. The former special forces killed were there.
The AMBASSADOR was the one needing security.
Two separate places.
Hmmm…..Apparently the House Intelligence Committee report does say that the US Mission was inadequately protected. AFP seems to have chosen to leave that part out of their report.
Right back to the 7th Floor in Foggy Bottom. No free pass in 2016.
@Wolve
Wolve – I would say that nearly every Embasy requests more security and every US Mission and Consulate also requests more. Can you name one Embassy or Consulate that says that their security is sufficient?
What is important with this committee’s results is that they have confirmed –
No stand down order was given
No CIA personnel were pressured into ‘not’ giving testimony
That the CIA was not funneling arms to Syria
And More
What is troubling is that the House has found time to have no less than 9 GOP investigations that have turned up nothing substantial – and yet have had Zero meetings on Immigration. They have void to repeal Obamacare over 50 times and have not had one meeting on tax reform. What is the House GOP afraid of? Governing?
I wonder if Hannity and the rest of Fox will now stand down – or will they double down?
@Pat.Herve
Pat — Your first question is not really applicable, in my opinion. Of course, many missions ask for more security in an era of terrorism. But Washington has to prioritize based on the determined threat level. The threat level was very high in Libya according to actual intelligence reporting. Moreover, Libya was a country in chaotic governance and full of heavily armed militias of all persuasions and loyalties. The Ambassador asked a number of times for additional security based on the intelligence and on the situation on the ground as seen up close and personal by him and his staff. Not only was he turned down, but State actually took away some of the security elements he already had in place, including US contractor guards. The mission wound up having to depend on paying iffy local militia guards. Those are the guards who split at the first sign of trouble at the Benghazi consulate.
Having been in situations like that, I posit that State did their own diplomatic mission wrong, and that their wrong cost the Chief of Mission, inter alia, his very life. Maybe that doesn’t resonate with some Americans, but it sure does with those who have been under the actual gun, so to speak — to wit, trying to deal with mission security in a hostile environment.
Kenya 1998. The Ambassador, a Clinton appointee, was alarmed by the vulnerability of her mission to terrorist attack in downtown Nairobi. She asked repeatedly for security enhancements for the current mission and for State to consider moving the mission to a less vulnerable location. She was turned down by State staff at the bureau and security management levels. Finally she got through directly to SecState Albright, who authorized some security enhancements. Too late and not enough. The terrorists drove their bomb-laden truck to a rear mission entrance in an alley shared with non-mission buildings. The blast killed hundreds, Americans and local staffers.
That was a Clinton administration, with Susan Rice then heading the Bureau of African Affairs. The Nairobi tragedy of that time (plus another simultaneous Al-Qaeda attempt in Tanzania) had to ring alarm bells all across Washington. I still cannot believe that a State Dept. run by Hillary Clinton did not remember Nairobi and listen when the Ambassador in Tripoli asked for help. That was especially so when evolving Libya at that time was considered a U.S. foreign policy success in the so-called Arab Spring.
The report also tried to put to rest a persistent rumor that began after the attacks that the CIA had been using the Benghazi base to covertly smuggle Libyan weapons to Syrian rebels.
“The eyewitness testimony and thousands of pages of CIA cables and emails that the committee reviewed provide no support for this allegation,” it said.
In fact, the report said, the CIA agents at the facility were tracking on local groups smuggling weapons, not collecting them themselves.
The report also said that, while some government agencies were slow to respond to its queries, all eventually cooperated with the inquiry and no CIA personnel were intimidated by the administration.
_____________________________
That report at the link is fantastic in spinning…as the CIA report must be doing.
The rumor was that the CIA base was trying to RECOVER arms supplied to Libyan militants. There was no need to supply them AFTER Qadaffi was gone. The same arms that are showing up in Al Q. hands. So, of course there’s no evidence of it. Its called a straw argument. They even confirm it: “were tracking on local groups smuggling weapons, not collecting them themselves.”
Nor was the “stand down” order allegedly given to the CIA. THAT was to the military, which was merely two hours away.
ll of right wing talking points debunked.
There was no “stand down” order’ there was no intimidation of
witnesses by superiors and and Rice’s talking points were not part of
an attempt to conceal the severity of the incident; there was no
intelligence failure prior to the attack; a “mixed group” of
individuals, including some linked to al Qaeda, participated in the
attack; and the CIA was not covertly shipping arms from Libya to
Syria.
@Cargosquid
The Armed Services committee debunked the ‘DoD stand down order’ months ago. It never happened.
@Starryflights
The problem is the claim of the stand down order is that it was allegedly directed at the military, not the CIA
Rice’s talking points were not claimed as an attempt to conceal…it was pointed out as a symptom of the incompetence…since the President had already blamed a movie for the problem…and then vaguely called it terrorism.
Do you really expect them to admit to an intel failure?
The State dept. DENIED, at first, that it was terrorists AT ALL, but locals upset by a movie on youtube.
THEN, when it become obvious…. they admitted to some form of terrorists attacking the compound.
And the CIA is not going to admit to shipping arms. The WH did admit to shipping arms.
@Wolve
I believe it is applicable. Security resources are limited. We rely on local resources to secure our Embassies. Christopher Stevens was not even supposed to be at the Consulate that day/night. Yes prioritize – how many other Embassies in Hot zones were looking for additional security at that time?
35 Ambassadorships with nominees and no vote in the Senate. How many of those Embassies need additional security but have no Ambassador to lobby John Kerry for it. I know you have it in for HRC, but there is a whole department at State to handle every day security issues.
@Pat.Herve
There was a stand down at the Signonella AB. They had assets ready to go. The President did not authorize it. The “stand down” order complaint concerned THOSE assets…not Tripoli.
Funny how Gen’l Ham was relieved of duty soon after this debacle. Stories came from officers in his command that it was because he argued with Command Authority about sending assets from Sigonella to Libya. F-16’s were available. Spectre gun ships were too.
In fact, the CIA operator that died was heard radioing that he was lasing for gun ship support.
That never came. He was EXPECTING it.
The only person that can authorize cross border action is the President. So…when the CIA says that they didn’t give a stand down order…… it true. It didn’t come from the CIA.
THAT “stand down” was temporary.
A report from those involved:
The political class in Washington has written off that there was any “stand down” order, even though there were at least three distinct times the security operators detail in this book that they were told to stand down. The State Department, congressional Democrats and the House Intelligence Committee as a whole have determined there was no “stand down” order, but Tiegen says none of those people were on the ground—and “Bob” clearly told them to “stand down.”
“I’m not even sure if ‘Bob’ even testified yet, or anything,” Tiegen told Breitbart News. “Maybe they’re lying to them. I have no idea. Because it happened.”
When asked if he thinks Bob came up with the stand down order on his own, or if someone else—perhaps someone in Tripoli, or someone in Washington—told him to say that, Tiegen said he’s not sure. “Honestly, I don’t know,” Tiegen told Breitbart News. “He was on the phone the whole time, so I don’t know who he was talking to. He could have been talking to the militia, he could have been talking to the chief of station in Tripoli—I have no idea.”
http://www.amazon.com/13-Hours-Account-Happened-Benghazi/dp/1455530093
Did you really expect the White House and CIA to admit to smuggling arms?
Here’s more:
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v36/n08/seymour-m-hersh/the-red-line-and-the-rat-line
Excerpt:
A highly classified annex to the report, not made public, described a secret agreement reached in early 2012 between the Obama and Erdoğan administrations. It pertained to the rat line. By the terms of the agreement, funding came from Turkey, as well as Saudi Arabia and Qatar; the CIA, with the support of MI6, was responsible for getting arms from Gaddafi’s arsenals into Syria. A number of front companies were set up in Libya, some under the cover of Australian entities. Retired American soldiers, who didn’t always know who was really employing them, were hired to manage procurement and shipping. The operation was run by David Petraeus, the CIA director who would soon resign when it became known he was having an affair with his biographer. (A spokesperson for Petraeus denied the operation ever took place.)
The operation had not been disclosed at the time it was set up to the congressional intelligence committees and the congressional leadership, as required by law since the 1970s. The involvement of MI6 enabled the CIA to evade the law by classifying the mission as a liaison operation. The former intelligence official explained that for years there has been a recognised exception in the law that permits the CIA not to report liaison activity to Congress, which would otherwise be owed a finding. (All proposed CIA covert operations must be described in a written document, known as a ‘finding’, submitted to the senior leadership of Congress for approval.) Distribution of the annex was limited to the staff aides who wrote the report and to the eight ranking members of Congress – the Democratic and Republican leaders of the House and Senate, and the Democratic and Republicans leaders on the House and Senate intelligence committees. This hardly constituted a genuine attempt at oversight: the eight leaders are not known to gather together to raise questions or discuss the secret information they receive.
The annex didn’t tell the whole story of what happened in Benghazi before the attack, nor did it explain why the American consulate was attacked. ‘The consulate’s only mission was to provide cover for the moving of arms,’ the former intelligence official, who has read the annex, said. ‘It had no real political role.’
_____________
I love the idea that this report can be valid about denying intimidation. Right. The intimidated and threatened agents are going to talk.
Even CNN supports them.
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2013/08/cnn-breaks-the-benghazi-story-wide-open.html
Both parties wanted to smuggle weapons and get Assad.
http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-admin-admits-to-covertly-sending-heavy-weapons-to-syrian-rebels-2012-12
Also:
ambassador’s Benghazi visit?
Catherine Herridge
By Catherine Herridge, Pamela Browne
Published October 25, 2012
FoxNews.com
Facebook1290 Twitter1017 Email Print
Now Playing
Mysterious Libyan ship linked to deadly terror attack?
Never autoplay videos
A mysterious Libyan ship — reportedly carrying weapons and bound for Syrian rebels — may have some link to the Sept. 11 terror attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Fox News has learned.
Through shipping records, Fox News has confirmed that the Libyan-flagged vessel Al Entisar, which means “The Victory,” was received in the Turkish port of Iskenderun — 35 miles from the Syrian border — on Sept. 6, just five days before Ambassador Chris Stevens, information management officer Sean Smith and former Navy Seals Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty were killed during an extended assault by more than 100 Islamist militants.
On the night of Sept. 11, in what would become his last known public meeting, Stevens met with the Turkish Consul General Ali Sait Akin, and escorted him out of the consulate front gate one hour before the assault began at approximately 9:35 p.m. local time.
Although what was discussed at the meeting is not public, a source told Fox News that Stevens was in Benghazi to negotiate a weapons transfer, an effort to get SA-7 missiles out of the hands of Libya-based extremists. And although the negotiation said to have taken place may have had nothing to do with the attack on the consulate later that night or the Libyan mystery ship, it could explain why Stevens was travelling in such a volatile region on the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-admin-admits-to-covertly-sending-heavy-weapons-to-syrian-rebels-2012-12
Why should we believe this government, known for lying and cover ups about ANYTHING?
Pat —
Disagree. Libya at that time was one of the hottest of the hot spots apart from the Afghanistan and Iraq war zones. We had just finished using U.S. and NATO air assets to help overthrow the long-time dictator, and governance was in chaos, as was control of huge amounts of government and rebel weaponry. Finally, the success of regime change in the spirit of the Arab Spring made it a pearl (at that time anyway) of our Middle East foreign policy. The Ambassador was picked for that post because of his work in Benghazi during the actual “revolution.” For State to lose its focus and grip on the security of a vulnerable mission and vulnerable personnel in those circumstances was disgraceful. The 7th Floor at Foggy Bottom blew it.
This is the lamest attempt to discredit Hillary Clinton. I thought it was strange how Republicans had an opinion even before the dust settled that day in Benghazi. Pathetic. Just pathetic.
@Moon-howler
And your knowledge of terrorism and overseas mission security comes from what exactly?
What’s pathetic, in my view, is the tendency among some to think that Hillary Clinton is some sort of liberal goddess who can do no wrong. She blew it at Benghazi, and she damned well knew it with her glib what difference does it make now effort. Deal with it. It makes a hell of a lot of difference if one has some idea about acquiring the ultimate powers of the Oval Office.
On the day that Obama puts his executive order on immigration into action, every single immigrant that played by the rules should join together and sue the gov’t and Obama personally, to recoup the costs of complying with US immigration laws, which can entail years of effort and thousands of dollars.
Only fair.
@ Moon
“He embarrassed me by refusing to shake President Bush’s hand when at a White House function…as a Virginia Senator.”
I forgot about that.
“Hillary has baggage? According to whom? Not people who would vote for her.”
Of course not by the people that would vote for her. Only those with common sense would notice the baggage. You know…her lyin.. I mean her legal skills. Her apparent corrup…I’m sorry…skill with commodities. Her lack of leaderhship…I mean..her Senate career and her incompete…. I mean her Sec. of State career. Her attack on wome….I mean…her sympathy for women sexual assault victims by men in power…..
You know…that sort of thing.
“This is the lamest attempt to discredit Hillary Clinton.”
We don’t need to attempt to discredit her.
We just need to show Youtube videos of her careers since Arkansas.
I just find what you said insulting and derogatory. Shall I respond in kind about people who voted Romney or some other republican? Just say they are stupid? How unproductive. Or sorry…that they lack common sense…..