I Knew a Marine Was Awarded a Navy Cross for BENGHAZI

What? YOU didn’t?

Just kidding. Neither did I.

Navy SEALs secret medals reveal heroism during past 15 years

WASHINGTON — Citations for two Navy Crosses and more than 100 Silver Star medals awarded secretly to Navy SEALs and a Marine for “extraordinary heroism” in the last 15 years reflect the fierce battles that have been fought in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to records obtained by USA TODAY.

The Navy decorated the Marine for saving the lives of civilians in Benghazi in September 2012. Several SEALs earned theirs for intense combat in Ramadi, others for rescuing hostages in Afghanistan. The Navy also honored the deadly efficiency of the “American Sniper,” the late SEAL Chris Kyle.

…Benghazi

The most tersely worded citation accompanied the only other Navy Cross, awarded to a Marine gunnery sergeant. His heroism on the night of Sept. 11, 2012, came amid the chaos and controversy that surrounds the attack in Benghazi, Libya, that killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans. A House committee continues to investigate the attack, the U.S. response and the role of Hillary Clinton, then the Secretary of State and now the likely Democratic nominee for president.

It’s possible, through the citation and congressional reports on Benghazi, to sketch out his actions that night. The citation refers to his actions “in support of Overseas Contingency Operations in Sept. 2012” but does not say where. The Navy has acknowledged that it did award a Navy Cross to the Marine for his actions that night.

A House intelligence committee report on Benghazi refers to a two-person detachment of military personnel and other security personnel who flew from Tripoli that night to rescue Americans. They arrived at the besieged compound, and within 11 minutes were under attack by mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire. The attack killed two and severely wounded two others. The Marine helped treat the wounded, repel attackers and organize the evacuation.

His “valorous actions, dedication to duty and willingness to place himself in harm’s way for the protection of others was critical to the success of saving numerous United States civilian lives,” the citation says.

Interesting things are starting to filter out about that video inspired rumble in the Sahara. (You know, the one where the SecState at the time has said no Americans died?) First we learn from disgruntled AirForce types cooling their heels in Aviano that they WERE turning and burning on the tarmac, just waiting for the high sign to take off and rock some Jihadis’ world.

When we were told there wasn’t anyone who could. Administration/Hillary Clinton claim status?
LIE.

Now, with this terse little report of a Marine Gunny’s extraordinary (read: MARINE) courage and exceptional organization in the middle of the shit, we learn that folks FLEW INTO TRIPOLI SPECIFICALLY with the intent to RELIVE BENGHAZI.

When we were told they couldn’t. Administration/Hillary Clinton claim status?
LIE.

I don’t care WHO is running against Hillary Clinton, but I’m voting for them.

Filed Under: I Do Not Think You Know What That Word Means

“She’s horrible at running, but she’s fantastic at governing,” a longtime friend and supporter said.

SAY WHAT? Give me ONE example to prove your thesis there, champ. ONE SINGLE THING Hillary Clinton has ever touched that either wasn’t a flat-out LIE to begin with, a shit sandwich during or an epic disaster in the aftermath.

Hillary “Didn’t Lose a Single Person”/”Went to Bed When the Call Came” Clinton

…wants you to know she really would make a fine president.

‘We could have been there’: Squadron member speaks out on stalled Benghazi response

His squadron got the alert: a “real world mission was going down.”

The team – at Aviano Air Base in northeastern Italy – raced to the field and was briefed, as planes were armed and prepared to launch. Hundreds of miles away, fellow Americans were under attack in Benghazi.

“There were people everywhere,” said the witness, who was on the ground that night but wished to remain anonymous. “That flight line was full of people, and we were all ready to go” to Benghazi.

Only they were waiting for the order. It never came.

“The whole night we were told that we are waiting on a call,”…

A old squadron Marine Corps friend of ours pointed out on FaceBook that the Google Map seems to have been adjusted to reflect to administrations contention that no one could get there in time. Google is saying it’s a NINETEEN HOUR FLIGHT from Aviano to Benghazi.

Damn. That has to be by State Department email retrieval time, because it’s only FOURHUNDRED AND FIFTY MILES as a crow flies. As an F-18 flies?

About a half an hour.

As an AC-130 Spectre flies?

Two hours, three MAX.

Horrifying it HAS to be said: pray every night for those brave Americans in uniform on the ground against ISIS and the Taliban. The ONE thing an American could ALWAYS count on was the cavalry coming to the rescue.

No.
More.

Once Upon a Time, There Was a Secretary of State

…who made sure she set her husband up as fast as possible at the scene of the crime natural disaster, to maximize efficiency in the recovery of their share of the pie.

No one is talking about Clinton and Haiti. They should be.
This poor fellow held a sign up in the background of a Trump Towers CNN interview, and I’m sure the few who noticed it scratched their heads.

Let’s start with a year old primer on how it all went down…the drain.

How the Clintons Worked the Angles in Haiti
Bill handled earthquake aid while Hillary was secretary of state. The nation deserved better.

The U.S. Founding Fathers went out of their way to establish a republic guided by the rule of law and not the rule of men. If there is a singular principle that has set the U.S. apart from countries south of the Rio Grande it’s the checks and balances that protect against caudillo power.

Yet in the aftermath of the January 2010 earthquake, while Hillary Clinton was secretary of state, the Obama administration and Congress gave Bill Clinton carte blanche in handling hundreds of millions of U.S. taxpayer dollars flowing to Haiti for recovery and reconstruction. This translated into enormous political power for the former president in the poorest country in the hemisphere, making him a de facto cacique.

Mr. Clinton loves to paint himself as a third-world redeemer, as he did in an interview in Africa with an NBC reporter that aired last week. The reporter asked about charges that the Clinton Foundation’s practice of pulling in big money from governments and wealthy donors during Hillary’s tenure as secretary of state was a conflict of interest.

Mr. Clinton countered that he’s helping the poor…

…Within two weeks of Haiti’s January 2010 earthquake, the word had already gone out from the State Department that Bill Clinton would be in charge of U.S. reconstruction efforts.

“That means,” one individual told me and I reported in a Jan. 25, 2010 column, “if you don’t have Clinton connections, you won’t be in the game.”

The “game,” as my source called it, meant securing hundreds of millions of dollars in no-bid contracts from the State Department’s U.S. Agency for International Development and grants from multilateral institutions like the InterAmerican Development Bank, which gets the bulk of its funding from the U.S.

The Clintons deny that Bill’s power over State’s purse was used to secure donations to the Clinton Foundation. But at least two contributors who gave more than $1 million as I described in a March 9 column, including the InterAmerican Development Bank, benefited from U.S. earthquake aid.

There’s a lot that didn’t get done. In the north of the country, the Clinton-proposed Caracol Industrial Park was supposed to feature some 40 buildings for apparel assembly supporting up to 65,000 jobs. It remains a mystery why there are still only three buildings in full operation and only 5,000 jobs, despite plenty of tenant interest.

Bill’s first concern is always helping the poor. Remember he and Hillary went from “dead broke” to $53M now?
And they both STILL have to work, you know.
It’s tough.

“As Your Mayor I Will: Manage the City’s Finances to the Penny”

Much EASIER when you have them under your direct control, right? Survey says…YES!

Don’t look now, but because of that mean old Republican governor (I’m making the inevitable excuse now), I guess the Democratic mayor of Flint, MI (Yes, THAT Flint) was forced to divert donors and their $s to her campaign fund instead of a Flint victims’ charity fund. I know how this goes, so this HAS to be a Republican’s fault, right?

Flint mayor diverted water-crisis money to political PAC, suit says

The former city administrator of Flint, Michigan, filed a federal lawsuit against the current mayor’s office, claiming she was fired after raising concerns about donors being directed away from a charity for victims of the city’s water crisis and toward a fund sharing a name with the mayor’s campaign fund.

In the suit filed Monday, fired administrator Natasha Henderson claims that in February 2016, Flint’s current mayor, Karen Weaver, directed a former city employee and a city volunteer to stop directing potential donors to a charity called Safe Water/Safe Homes. That charity was run by the Community Foundation of Greater Flint and had been approved by the city for water-crisis donations.

Instead, the lawsuit claims city employee Maxine Murray was directed by Weaver to begin directing donations to “Karenabout Flint.” According to the lawsuit, Murray came to Henderson “in tears” and in fear of “going to jail.”

“Karen About Flint” is Her Honor’s campaign website, where I got that bang-up, servant-of-the-people quote at the top of this post. Double entrendre there, n’est pas?

Happy Mother’s Day 

Sitting with my Bride at the bar at the Inlet Cafe…and Joel Osteen is on the bar tvs.
God I love Jersey.

Hang On There, You Guys

I’m trying to find my shocked face. I left it around here somewhere…

Obama’s Foreign Policy Guru Boasts of How the Administration Lied to Sell the Iran Deal

It’s hardly any wonder that Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes has a “mind meld” with his boss, the president. According to a David Samuels New York Times Magazine article to be published Sunday and already posted to the website, Rhodes, like Barack Obama, is contemptuous of “the American foreign-policy establishment.” What Obama calls the “Washington playbook” dictating the sorts of responses available to American policymakers, Rhodes calls the “Blob.”

The Blob includes “editors and reporters at The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New Yorker,” etc. It also encompasses, according to Rhodes, Obama’s former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, and the administration’s first defense secretary Robert Gates. Presumably Leon Panetta, former Pentagon chief and CIA director, who goes on the record to criticize Rhodes and the president, is also part of the Blob, alongside “other Iraq-war promoters from both parties who now whine incessantly about the collapse of the American security order in Europe and the Middle East.” In other words, the emotion driving the administration’s foreign policy is contempt—contempt for allies, colleagues, and the generations of American policymakers who built the post-WWII international order, ensuring relative global stability, and peace and prosperity at home.

…As Rhodes admits, it’s not that hard to shape the narrative. “All these newspapers used to have foreign bureaus,” Rhodes said. “Now they don’t. They call us to explain to them what’s happening in Moscow and Cairo. Most of the outlets are reporting on world events from Washington. The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old, and their only reporting experience consists of being around political campaigns.

That’s a sea change. They literally know nothing.“

Blasphemers!!!

This halibut is good enough for Jehovah

The owners of the most prominent vegan restaurant chain in Los Angeles were found to be raising and “harvesting” animals at their Northern California farm. Now Hollywood’s vegan community is angry, and death threats have been made. “People have taken up the mob mentality,” says Cafe Gratitude owner Matthew Engelhart.

L.A.’s vegan vortex has angrily turned on the most prominent vegan restaurant group in town this week as word has spread that its owners are not just eating meat but raising and slaughtering animals at the working farm where they live in Northern California.

…The trouble began last week when animal rights activists discovered and then widely circulated a 14-month-old blog post written by Terces on the Engelharts’ Be Love Farm website, which mixed an announcement of their transition back into a meat diet again after nearly 40 years of vegetarianism (they had been vegan since 2003) with posted pictures of strained beef broth and a freezer full of pastured beef from their own dairy cows. Matthew tells THR they have kept chickens on the farm for seven years “for eggs only,” along with the cows for five years for milk, cheese and butter that’s for sale. (He claims they’ve “harvested,” or slaughtered, several cows in total and never sold the meat, only shared it with “our friends, neighbors and community.”)

The news has come as a shock to many vegans, who have been regular customers of the restaurants and claim the Engelharts have built their brand on not just serving vegan food but clearly wrapping themselves in the righteousness of the vegan cause — which they argue has now been undermined. “The reason we’re so upset is that veganism is a belief system,” says Carrie Christianson, who started the Facebook boycott group. “You are patronizing a restaurant that you think has that philosophy, and it turns out it doesn’t. Vegans should know that this restaurant has a farm that slaughters animals.”

My All Time Favorite Video

…of his. Well. Crap.

And the shame is so many of today’s generation will have no idea what they missed because he embargoed his music and videos.

A Guy With Street Cred Who Turned His Life Around Speaks Out

…which now renders him an “Uncle Thomas ass nigga,” among the nicer things being said.

Leaks Are Okay Right Up to Where

…they show the peasants the MONEY.

Panama Papers: Offshore Assets of World Leaders Revealed by Leak

An extensive investigation into the offshore financial dealings of the rich and famous was published by an international coalition of media outlets Sunday, based on a vast trove of documents said to have been leaked by an anonymous source.

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalism, a nonprofit organization based in Washington, said the cache of 11.5 million records detailed the offshore holdings of a dozen current and former world leaders, as well as businessmen, criminals, celebrities and sports stars.

…The ICIJ said the documents included emails, financial spreadsheets, passports and corporate records detailing how powerful figures used banks, law firms and offshore shell companies to hide their assets. The data spanned a time frame of nearly 40 years, from 1977 through the end of 2015, it said.

Of course, some governments are interested in how/how MUCH dough got there as well…

Tax Authorities to Investigate Some People Named in ‘Panama Papers’

Tax authorities in Australia and New Zealand are probing local clients of a Panama-based law firm at the center of a massive data leak for possible tax evasion.

…Britain’s Guardian newspaper said the documents showed a network of secret offshore deals and loans worth $2 billion led to close friends of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Reuters couldn’t independently confirm those details.

…while others? Maybe not so much.

This Explains How the AP

…got so good at what they do.

Revealed: how Associated Press cooperated with the Nazis

Exclusive: German historian shows how news agency retained access in 1930s by promising not to undermine strength of Hitler regime

The Associated Press news agency entered a formal cooperation with the Hitler regime in the 1930s, supplying American newspapers with material directly produced and selected by the Nazi propaganda ministry, archive material unearthed by a German historian has revealed.

When the Nazi party seized power in Germany in 1933, one of its first objectives was to bring into line not just the national press, but international media too. The Guardian was banned within a year, and by 1935 even bigger British-American agencies such as Keystone and Wide World Photos were forced to close their bureaus after coming under attack for employing Jewish journalists.

Associated Press, which has described itself as the “marine corps of journalism” (“always the first in and the last out”) was the only western news agency able to stay open in Hitler’s Germany, continuing to operate until the US entered the war in 1941. It thus found itself in the presumably profitable situation of being the prime channel for news reports and pictures out of the totalitarian state.

The “marine corps” of journalism, HAH! Amazing how every scumbag operation on Earth tries to co-opt the best to cover itself.

I’d Be Careful How You Replace That Roll of Toilet Paper

Roll “UNDER” folks? They’re coming for YOU next.

Attorney General Lynch Looks Into Prosecuting ‘Climate Change Deniers’

In news that should shock and anger Americans, U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday that not only has she discussed internally the possibility of pursuing civil actions against so-called “climate change deniers,” but she has “referred it to the FBI to consider whether or not it meets the criteria for which we could take action.”

We ARE a police state and Obama’s not even bothering with a glove.

Roger

Tango

American wife of Air Force colonel confirmed killed in Brussels terror attack after New York siblings also identified as being among the dead

Two Americans Confirmed Dead in Brussels Attacks

Oh, how awful. One of the missing sibling pairs.

Of course, in terrible times like these, we all mourn after our own fashion…

In Case You Missed It

Alabama’s cadaverous looking governor, Robert Bentley, is in a bit of a pickle lately, thanks to some unwholesome remarks he made, released by a fired law enforcement cabinet officer in a tape yesterday, which was actually just the tip of the iceberg. Now, when he was running for re-election, there’d been some…speculation about why the dignified MRS. Bentley had suddenly moved out of the Governor’s home prior to the election and her lips were TIGHTLY sealed.

Ho, boy.

Thankfully, AL.com has just posted a pretty hilarious “apology” attempt…

Filed Under: Not My Job

Sure glad it can’t happen here. Our locally elected officials are nothing like this:

Just four weeks before the carnage in Paris, a list of nearly 100 suspected Islamic militants – many with links to Syria – was passed to the mayor of the Molenbeek, the Brussels district that now stands at the heart of the web of terror linking the atrocities in France and Belgium.

Provided by Belgium’s security services, it included not only the names but also the addresses of men who were to become pivotal in the bloodshed and horror in Brussels and Paris.

For among those on the list of militants in Molenbeek and Schaerbeek, another district of Brussels that has emerged as a haven for terrorists, was failed Paris suicide bomber Salah Abdeslam, his brother Brahim, who blew himself up during the November 13 attacks that killed 130 in the French capital, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the ringleader in Paris and Najim Laachraoui, one of the Brussels airport bombers….

…Disturbingly at the time the list was passed to her, Molenbeek’s mayor Françoise Schepmans clearly did not realise its significance, telling an interviewer:

‘What was I supposed to do about them? It is not my job to track possible terrorists. It is the responsibility of the federal police.’

I’ll be watching curiously to see what her chances of re-election look like whenever that comes up. In that neck of the woods, she might do pretty well. Or, like, Flint or something.

Rob Ford Has Died

So, SO young. Man, he was a mess, but he sure knew how to shake things up.

Rest in peace, big guy.

Former Toronto mayor Rob Ford dies after fighting cancer

Rob Ford, the pugnacious, populist former mayor of Toronto whose career crashed in a drug-driven, obscenity-laced debacle, died Tuesday after fighting cancer, his family said. He was 46.

Presbyterians Busy This Morning In Brussels

Bastards.

Update: Here’s a bold tweet from the mayor of Paris:

In solidarity with the people of Brussels, #Paris will illuminate this evening @LaTourEiffel in the colours of the Belgian flag. #NousSommesUnis

Now if we can only get a fancy #hashtag from Lurch and the State Dept then by GUM we will have those terrorists on the run.

Who Am I To Argue With Bill Clinton?

Even he says the current President is “awful”

Former President Bill Clinton asked Democratic voters to shrug off the “awful legacy” of President Obama’s years in office in a speech Monday to support Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

“Now if you don’t believe we can all grow together again, if you don’t believe we’re ever going to grow again, if you believe it’s more important to re-litigate the past, there may be many reasons that you don’t want to support her,” Clinton told a Spokane, Wash., audience.

“But if you believe we can all rise together, if you believe we’ve finally come to the point where we can put the awful legacy of the last eight years behind us and the seven years before that where we were practicing trickle-down economics with no regulation in Washington, which is what caused the crash, then you should vote for her,” he added.

Rest In Peace, Sir George Martin

He made them sound like no one else.

Happy Birthday THS!!!!

180 years ago the Alamo fell and shortly thereafter the Bestest Sister EVUH was born!!
We lurves you!

American With Disabilities Acts

The Law gave him equal-opportunity as intended

CHICAGO (CBS) — A man turned himself in to police overnight after a 45-year-old man was shot and killed while working out in a gym in a luxury high-rise in the Fulton River District neighborhood.

Witnesses said a man in a wheelchair went into the gym on the eighth floor of at an apartment building in the 500 block of West Kinzie Street around 7 p.m., and shot Darrin Joss in the head as he was working out on a treadmill.

Around 3:30 a.m. Thursday, a man in a wheelchair turned himself in at Chicago Police Headquarters. A Dodge Magnum matching the description of the vehicle witnesses said the gunman was driving also was seen parked outside.

Witnesses said the suspect rolled into the gym shortly after 7 p.m., and fired two shots at Joss as he was on a treadmill.

Mitt Ripped Him A New One

God Bless You, my son.

This Is Exactly Right

Read it here.