Happy New Year! So far, we haven’t seen any of the white stuff. Good. Our heating bills are lower and kids are in school. There are fewer pot holes, unless of course you are out at Silver Lake.
Still–a winter without snow? We haven’t even had much weather below freezing. Is this El Nino or something more sinister?
New Years Resolutions? I have given up. I am going to keep going to the gym a couple times a week. I will keep communicating with my friends and I will play with my new toys. I got an Echo and I bought myself a new Mac. Life is good. Downton Abby is about ready to start. February brings Game of Cards.
Just doing my part to ignore the election.
@Wolve
He’s being punished for testifying before Congress.
Why are you more forgiving of Petraeus’ zipper problems than Bill Clinton’s?
@Wolve
Such a fine sight to see…its a girl my Lord, in a flatbed ford…slowing down to take a look at me…sigh.
I think I will be in mourning forever.
@Moon-howler
Because he is not known to abuse women. Clinton has a history of it.
But its not forgiveness. Its unconcern. I was unconcerned with it when Clinton did it. What I had a problem with was his perjury.
Actually I wouldn’t say Clinton “abused” women. You are speaking as though most of his attention was unappreciated. That really isn’t the case. I know, a couple people said otherwise. Funny how they waited to jump on the band wagon.
Nope. Even more upset by Petraeus because I had great respect for him and his military accomplishments.
Did you go through Winslow when you were in Arizona? Mrs. Wolve has kinfolk living there. The town fixed up that “corner” with a life sized statue of a young man with a guitar and put a large photo in the store window behind the statue of a young gal in a red flatbed truck (plus a real Ford flatbed just down the street). People have been coming there for a long time just to have their photo taken on that “corner.” The town has an annual celebration of the song. Now people are coming to Winslow to put balloons, candles, and flowers by the statue in memory of Glenn Frey, and the town will have a memorial service for him. I would guess the “corner” will become a sort of pilgrimage site for awhile, at least for the older generations. Amazing what a simple song can do.
Yes. I finally located my pictures. I will post them. When I was there about 10 years ago, the store the wall was on had burned. I trust it has been repaired by now.
I went specifically to Winslow to see that corner. Color me adolescent. Sigh. I found myself longing to go back this week. That was such a good trip. I also saw the most beautiful wild flowers in the Superstition Mountains. There has been a very wet winter. Its difficult to find out much about them because the “wildflowers” are also a nudist group. Grrrrr.
Here is a novel idea – whey doesn’t Congress write a law that says that all Government Officials that do business for the Government use Government email for that purpose – INCLUDING Congress. Because Congress uses their own private email servers and services – and regularly sends classified information to/from said Un-FOIAable servers. Seems so simple – but this is a bipartisan issue that Congress does not want to solve.
Pat, your novel idea just seems like common sense to me.
UVA Student being detained in North Korea – can we get people to sign waivers when they visit countries like North Korea and Iran that they are on their own when they visit – why do stupid decisions need to become international issues?
I feel the same way about people who climb Mt. Hood, et al. Those rescue missions cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. I agree about the UVA student. Sign a waiver.
Pat, I am with you. What the heck are these people thinking? “Hey, I hear North Korea is a neat place…maybe I’ll visit.” “You know, the Pakistani/Afghan border area sounds like a great place to go back-packing…why don’t we bring the kids?” Don’t these people understand that there are places in this world where Americans are targets? If you want some good KimChi…go to Seoul. If you want to go backpacking, try Alaska. Unless you are a missionary or a spy, you really have little reason to visit these places, and should have limited expectations regarding the US ability to save you from yourself.
https://youtu.be/X6mXZTIdwn8
A word of advice to all – please try and stay off the roads. Going to the store right now to buy Ice Cream and Chips – is not worth the risk of you life.
Be safe all.
I went 4 wheeling this afternoon in my rental car. I had a lot of fun. Then I fishtailed and went home. Sigh…but I had fun.
Long and short of my story. Car hit by a deer. Windows on one side gone. I had to rent a car. There is not an suv with 4 wheel or all wheel to be had. Enterprise found a Tahoe for me the next day and swapped out my front wheel drive. Ah the fun. Sean at Enterprise rules! totally professional and helpful.
We needed a 4 wheel drive for a variety of reasons.
@Moon-howler
Let me guess reason one, ran out of scotch, reason two, ran out of bourbon, reason three, ran out of beer.
Three people live in my house. No one drinks bourbon here. But yes. #1, #3 (raging bitch)
ho ho ho
Pat —- A+
Baby, it’s cold outside.
They are having fits in D.C. (and elsewhere) because people don’t listen when told to stay home for their own safety.
@Moon-howler
Jumped on the bandwagon?
One woman accused him of assault.
And he is famous for “better put ice on that.”
And getting state troopers to drop women off for a quickie or using interns while the President is abuse of power.
People lose jobs. People in the military are court martialed for less.
One woman accused the Duke Lacrosse team of assault. hmmmmm
I only know of one intern and that was mutual.
Child dies after shooting himself – http://abc7.com/news/4-year-old-boy-dies-after-shooting-himself-earlier-in-week/1169024/
Feel sorry for Grand Dad – if only he knew to keep the gun – Locked up, unloaded, with a gun lock, etc – child would still be alive. When are people going to learn gun safety?
Interesting….the IG checking out the information on Hillary’s server…..contacted the CIA to verify the information.
He was told that his clearance was not high enough to discuss the information found on the unsecured server.
When shall we expect the indictments?
@Cargosquid
cargo – do you have any idea how an investigation works? The IG can ask for anything he wants and will get nothing as he has no role to play in the FBI investigation.
I will wait for the investigation to finish before I hang her.
The 14 January letter from the IG of the Intelligence Community to the House and Senate intelligence committees and the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee (as well as the ODNI and the State IG) pertained to a comprehensive review of the Hillary Clinton emails by all elements of the intelligence community to ascertain if any of those emails contained their classified data. (The SecState is one of the primary customers for intelligence reporting. The intel community now has Clinton email reviewers embedded with those at State specifically for this kind of review.)
The IG’s letter referred specifically to a “sworn declaration” by one of the intelligence community elements as a result of that comprehensive review that their own classified intel data was found in several dozen of the emails, including highly classified and sensitive SAP reporting in some of them. (SecState has absolutely no power to declassify or lower the classification unilaterally of intel produced by other government agencies.) The SAP material in the “sworn declaration” (not the unclassified IG letter of 14 January) was apparently so sensitive that the IG and some of his top assistants had to be “read in” (given a special clearance) just to read the declaration.
Ergo, the IG asked for and received some of the results of the comprehensive intel community review in the form of that sworn declaration. The results of that declaration will surely become a part of the FBI case.
I posit that, given the investigative results available right now, every one of us would likely be indicted for violation of federal law. Why not Hillary? Yeah, I know……………..some people are more equal than others……
@Pat.Herve
I didn’t state that he didn’t get anything.
He was verifying information on her server.
It was from the CIA.
They verified that it DID come from them and that his clearance was not high enough to discuss it.
Thus, the information was highly classified on an unsecured server.
A fundamental misunderstanding of Classifications – There is plenty that I cannot talk to my boss about – because his clearance is not high enough. And info that my direct reports cannot talk to me about. Not really a big deal to hear this. She still did nothing wrong to receive emails.
And I think ALL levels of government should be using government email servers – for all email. I do not defend her. But the spin and taken out of context remarks are out of line. Lets wait for the investigation to finish to see where it goes. Folks like Darryl Issa have proven themselves to release damaging information that is taken out of context.
@Pat.Herve
You are missing the point.
The point is that the unsecured server had very classified information on it. Information that she had modified to strip the classified heading from.
This isn’t taken out of context.
This is a fact. It happened.
The only context is that she broke the law and purposely put classified material on an unsecured server.
So…the standard idea is that you are male or female.
Straight, gay, bi, or asexual.
Don’t be so conservative.
http://ageofshitlords.com/list-of-all-tumblr-genders-so-far/
OMG
@Cargosquid
I had not realized that you finished the investigation. I will await the published, public version.
“She still did nothing wrong to receive emails.”
Can’t agree with that, Pat. Any Secretary of State would know that he/she will be receiving sensitive mail at every level of classification and that he/she would be among the primary customers for many highly classified intelligence reports. Ergo, that Hillary would choose an unsecured transmission/reception system for her mail means she was either totally ignorant of security or criminally responsible for placing intelligence sources and methods in grave danger of electronic exposure. It shouldn’t matter if her staff actually lifted data out of classified documents and sent it to her via unclassifed email or tore the classification indicators off documents and sent the original document via unsecured email. She was the “captain” of that ship and should have known better than to use an unsecured commo system. Her responsibility.
@Pat.Herve
Finished?
Did she have these emails on the server? Yes.
Did she tell her subordinates to strip the classified headings from them? Yes.
That is all that is needed. There is no excuse that can absolve her.
@Wolve
another fundamental misunderstanding of how the email systems work. The ‘regular’ email system used at the gov is not for classified data and is not secure (in a classification sense).
The highly classified reports should not be sent to the same email address/email system as the cafeteria menu. If Sidney Blumenthal sent her an email with information that is now classified – you cannot hold her to account for receiving it on her email.
I saw that – and if she did it is a big problem – but I have not seen what it was that she was asking to have sent to her. Can you provide a link? Without Knowing what she was asking to have sent one cannot assume it was classified. And documents are redacted for far more than just classification. Again, I am not defending her – but I want to know the facts before I hang her.
Maybe she can plead guilty to a single misdemeanor like Patreus did.
@Pat.Herve
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/state-department-releases-more-clinton-emails-several-marked-classified/
Excerpt:
But in one email exchange between Clinton and staffer Jake Sullivan from June 17, 2011, the then-secretary advised her aide on sending a set of talking points by email when he had trouble sending them through secure means.
Part of the exchange is redacted, so the context of the emails is unknown, but at one point, Sullivan tells Clinton that aides “say they’ve had issues sending secure fax. They’re working on it.”
Clinton responds, “If they can’t, turn into nonpaper w no identifying heading and send nonsecure.”
Clinton and her top aides had access to a Pentagon-run classified network that goes up to the Secret level, as well as a separate system used for Top Secret communications.
The two systems — the Secret Internet Protocol Router Network (SIPRNet) and Joint Worldwide Intelligence Communications System (JWICS) — are not connected to the unclassified system, known as the Non-Classified Internet Protocol Router Network (NIPRNet). You cannot e-mail from one system to the other, though you can use NIPRNet to send e-mails outside the government.
http://nypost.com/2016/01/24/hillarys-team-copied-intel-off-top-secret-server-to-email/
Somehow, highly classified information from SIPRNet, as well as even the super-secure JWICS, jumped from those closed systems to the open system and turned up in at least 1,340 of Clinton’s home e-mails — including several the CIA earlier this month flagged as containing ultra-secret Sensitive Compartmented Information and Special Access Programs, a subset of SCI.
@Pat.Herve
I’d just like it for the DOJ to actually charge her with a crime so that she can have her day in court.
I agree with that statement (if she committed a crime). But leaking that she asked for something to be sent non-secure is not a fact that anything marked Secret was actually asked to be sent. People send me non-secret stuff all the time over secret methods. IF she asked for secret material to be sent nonsecure, that is an issue.
What was your take of Karl Rove deleting over 22 million emails on the GWB Executive branch secret email server? No crime to delete the Valery Plame related emails?
I think all Gov’t officials on every level should use a Gov’t issued email – Congress, Jeb Bush, Andrew Cuomo, Sarah Palin, Bobby Jindal, Rick Perry, Martin O’Malley, Mitt Romney or Chris Christie – http://www.ibtimes.com/political-capital/chris-christie-had-two-private-email-accounts-nj-governor-blocks-release-any
For the Fed’s, I wish Congress would require it, but alas, they will not.
Just like the Benghazi stand down order – 8 Congressional investigations have failed to discover an actual stand down order. How SecState could tell the CIA or SecDef to stand down is also undefined.
@Pat.Herve
And yet…the people involved keep saying that they were told to stand down.
I will bite – who do you think gave the stand down order? And why hasn’t 8 Congressional inquiries uncovered this person?
You are accusing ME of not understanding the fundamentals of handling classified documents and mail?!! You must be kidding, Pat. I don’t know where you got the idea that I don’t know about the difference between secure and non-secure email systems. Look. Let me explain this once again:
(1) Somebody at State appears to have been taking information out of classified mail/docs and inserting it into non-classified email format, then sending it to Hillary in the non-secure system she used. That includes info/data classified by other agencies. Is that clear? You lift data out of a secret intel report, for instance, and then insert it into an unclassified email format so the SecState can read it, since she refused to use a secure system. I think the FBI will be looking especially at Cheryl Mills, Huma Abedin, and Jake Sullivan, Hillary’s chief personal staffers. And you cannot tell me that Hillary didn’t know about it and still let it happen. Watch for her, when cornered, to use Mills, Abedin, or Sullivan as a scapegoat– probably Sullivan. Then let us hear if someone squeals.
(2) There is a credible report out there (backed by FIOAed Sullivan-Hillary emails) which shows that Jake Sullivan was unable to send Hillary a report because it was classified and would not be accepted “as is” in the non-secure system. Hillary told him to clean it up so it would go in the non-secure system. That means you either rip all the classification headings/indicators off the thing or you do a No. (1) above on it. Either way, Hillary is caught “on paper” in that case, as is Sullivan.
I do not believe we are talking about Blumenthal here unless Hillary and her staff were illegally feeding classified info TO him. Otherwise, Blumenthal, as a civilian, had no power to classify anything, even if he called it “intel.” That “sworn declaration” from an intel agency would be a reference to the misuse of information by Hillary and staff which THEY had classified. She had no power whatsoever to monkey around with or ignore those classifications.
I agree with a recent opinion issued by former SecDef and DCI Gates: Very likely that Russia, China, and Iran were hacking into her non-secure system and reading her mail.
@Pat.Herve
I have no idea.
My personal thought is that it came from the White House.
@Wolve
oh, did not realize you knew – when you stated – unsecured transmission/reception system for her mail means – I thought you did not know that the public email system used by DoState was similar to email systems used by many many other groups, and is very non-secure.
State Dept email was system hacked – http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/10/politics/state-department-hack-worst-ever/
Yes, email from Sidney has been determined to be classified. She cannot be held responsible that he sent it to her.
I do not know what Jake was asked to send – and neither do you. IF she was asking for classified info to be sent, it is a big issue. That is IF. Provide link that it was classified (I had asked cargo the same thing) as I have not seen that it was classified.
Again, I want the facts before I hang her – not leaked pieces here and there.
Disney – the latest to outsource American Jobs – http://money.cnn.com/2016/01/25/technology/disney-h1b-workers/index.html
It was funny when the carpenters, plumbers, landscapers and laborers jobs (“jobs that Americans will not do”) were being taken away from workers by those crossing the borders – now, H1-B holders are taking away high skilled jobs from Americans. H1-B holders come through the beautiful door of the big wall. When is this nonsense going to stop?
Congress – nothing coming out of Congress. Crickets.
@Pat.Herve
Of course there is stuff coming out of Congress.
Congress just approved DOUBLE the previous amount of H1-B visas.
I understand that we sometimes have to import dancers, chefs and people with specialties. You sure don’t want a local Russian ballet dancer. That sort of removes the charm. You also can’t advertise for a french chef from Kentucky.
Many of these jobs, however, are computer jobs. We have computer people here who can do that work. In fact, some of these companies import most people who work for far less than American wages. Something stinks.
@Pat.Herve
Well, Pat, it’s not like I didn’t spend most of my working life in a US government SCIF of one sort or another.
I repeat. How could something to Hillary FROM Sidney be classified? He had no power whatsoever to apply government classification to anything he wrote as a private citizen. Do you mean instead that Hillary sent classified US information to Sydney and that Sydney was repeating some of the info back to her in a discussion of the topic of the moment? Uh oh, 18 US Code 1924 for Hillary, plain and simple, if that’s what you mean. Sort of like Petraeus giving classified info to his mistress.
Actually, I personally have no idea how much Blumenthal fits into an 18 US Code 1924 case at this point. Seems to me at this point that he was mostly into playing a private civilian game of 007 with that retired CIA war horse, the late Tyler Drumheller, and feeding the alleged “intel” results to Hillary, who must have had some silly delusions about playing clandestine service officer outside the official scope of her State office. But, if Hillary did actually feed Sydney classified info, she ought to be up against it.
What Jake Sullivan and Hillary did with or proposed doing with a piece of classified material seems to be explained by themselves right there in the emails acquired by FOIA. Sullivan couldn’t get the classified doc into the non-secure email system, and Hillary suggested a way to get around the classification impediment to use the non-secure system. Simple enough. Hillary by her own choice did not have the option of a secure system. It’s all in the emails. No, I don’t know what that classified document was exactly, but I’m sure the FBI investigators know….and also whether that particular illegal action was actually undertaken by Jake or not.
I’m not a hangman here. Just an observer of Hillary appearing to have stepped into a serious security violation mess of her own making. Seems like the only thing missing thus far is someone in the Clinton camp making off with classified docs stuck in their socks and underwear.
I’ll tell you, my man, the decision by Hillary, as SecState, to go with non-secure emails instead of the secure Blackberry as offered by State was, in my opinion, really dumb. I mean, reeeaaalllly dumb.
@Wolve
Yes, email from Sid To Hillary has been deemed to be classified. She cannot be held accountable. This is an example of people not having the facts and hanging her.
If the info she was asking for to be sent from Jake was classified, yes that is a problem I cannot find that it actually was classified. If she asked for someone to bypass the protocols, that is an issue for Her. If he actually sent it, it is an issue for him. Redacted info does not mean it is classified.
I am sure she had access to a classified system, as being SecState, she would have received more classified info than a handful of emails.
Dumb decision – Yes, incredibly dumb. But not a crime (to use her own server). It should be a crime.
Maybe she can plead guilty to a single misdemeanor like Patraeus did.
“Student leaders at the University of Oregon debated removing a quote from Martin Luther King Jr. from its student center, arguing that the quote was not inclusive enough for modern understandings of diversity.”
http://www.mediaite.com/online/u-of-oregon-debates-removing-mlk-quote-for-not-being-inclusive-enough/
How can a quote be removed from what someone actually said? Talk about reinventing history. He either said it or didn
t say it. Who are those punks to rewrite history. If they don’t like what he said, take the entire passage down.
Why is The Donald ducking Megyn? Scared of a smart woman?
His pettiness is beyond belief!
Oh the Donald. He has won. No sarcasm on my side. He had more to lose by participating. He is our next President.
Watch out for the stampede of people moving out of the country.
That’s what a lot of people said before. Most of them are still here.
Not scared of a strong woman, I think. More like he is demonstrating to his supporters and potential supporters that he, unlike most contemporary politicians, has no fear about giving the middle finger to the MSM when they cross him. Megyn started the fight in the first debate. Trump makes her pay and pay and pay. Welcome to gender equality on the jousting field.
I didnt feel she started a fight. She asked a normal question about abnormal behavior. He wants a pass for behavior that most of us think is rude, crude, and socially unacceptable.
I don’t think he is afraid of her. I think he is playing out the political theater.
@Moon-howler
We’ll have to agree to disagree. I’ll still go with Megyn starting the fight. Of all the major issues facing this country, she asked what?!!!
I think Trump doesn’t have to attend.
Of course, he looks like a petty, scared politician, but he doesn’t care.
Now..he’s going to a fund raiser for the Wounded Warrior Foundation instead.
Donald, the last time I looked, you could cut a check and finance their entire budged for a year out of petty cash….. $250 million….. Or at least a YUUUUUUGE chunk of it. Why do they need a fund raiser if you are showing up?
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the New York Post is reporting that elected officials in New York City are rather upset. They have discovered to their chagrin that even their own children, educated in a tech heavy school system, cannot sign their own names. It appears that Common Core does not require the teaching of cursive. The kids are trying to sign checks and documents and even voter registration forms by printing their names. When asked to use a signature or else, they cannot do it. They have no flippin’ idea. One politico got so mad that he said he is taking his kid home to teach him cursive.
That is not the fault of common core. (I don’t want common core nor do I endorse it) It is just the fault of school systems who have too much to teach as it is.
I think it is absurd that kids aren’t taught to at least sign their names. I am not even sure when teaching cursive stopped. My granddaughter who is almost 21 can. My little grandchildren can’t. I am not saying every kid needs to practice penmanship for 4 or 5 years but being able to read and write cursive is critical. I know we are all tech savvy but being able to sign your own freaking name is also savvy.
I will teach the 10 year old to do it. The 15 year old is a lost cause.
@Wolve
Not trying to defend common core – but common core started in 2009 – so if there is a kid that cannot sign a voting card in 2016, well, he was in school well before common core started. Put the blame on the actual issue, not a sound bite.
@Pat.Herve
Pat, if you have a difference with #133, please take the “sound bite” up with Kirstan Conley, the New York Post writer who was reporting on an educational budget discussion in the New York State Assembly. I don’t know all the details about that one voter registration incident; but I think younger kids and their futures were the principal focus of the article.
I can quote the last sentence of the Conley article: “Common Core state standards don’t require students to learn cursive; and the City [NYC] Department of Education leaves that decision up to each school.”
I would hazard a guess that, since Common Core in New York State does not require cursive, many NYC schools/teachers are using that to cover themselves for deciding to drop it.
Neither do the Virginia Standards of Learning and those have been around since the 90s.