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September 2016

HOMELAND SECURITY Comments turned off

Gowdy Rips FBI Director Comey: This is ‘Not the FBI That I Used to Work With’ By Debra Heine

By on September 28th, 2016

FBI Director James Comey returned to the Hill for a third time Wednesday to defend the integrity of the bureau’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email setup, and for a third time he encountered dubious Republicans who peppered him with questions to which he didn’t always have a satisfying answer.

Via Politico:

“You can call us wrong, but don’t call us weasels. We are not weasels,” Comey declared Wednesday at a House Judiciary Committee hearing. “We are honest people and … whether or not you agree with the result, this was done the way you want it to be done.”

The normally stoic FBI chief grew emotional and emphatic as he rejected claims from Republican lawmakers that the FBI was essentially in the tank for Clinton when it recommended that neither she nor any of her aides be prosecuted in connection with the presence of classified information on Clinton’s private email server. He acknowledged he has “no patience” for such allegations.

“I knew there were going to be all kinds of rocks thrown, but this organization and the people who did this are honest, independent people. We do not carry water for one side or the other. That’s hard for people to see because so much of our country, we see things through sides,” Comey said. “We are not on anybody’s side.”

Congressman Trey Gowdy was one of the Republicans trying to get some answers regarding the integrity of the FBI investigation.

He started off by dryly “acknowledging progress” in the Clinton email matter.

Referring to the House Judiciary Committee hearing, he quipped, “This morning we’ve had nine straight Democrats talk to the FBI about emails without asking for immunity.”

“You and I had a discussion last time about intent,” the South Carolina firebrand told Director Comey. “You and I see the statute differently. My opinion doesn’t matter — yours does, you’re the head of the bureau…but in my judgement, you read an element into the statute that does not appear on the face of the statute.”

The former prosecutor agreed that “intent” is often very hard to prove.

“Very rarely do defendants announce ahead of time, ‘I intend to commit this crime on this date. Go ahead and check the code section, I’m gonna do it,'” Gowdy pointed out.

He added, “That rarely happens so you have to prove it by circumstantial evidence.”

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HOMELAND SECURITY Comments turned off

Republicans Criticize FBI Director Over Recent Terrorist Incidents The Homeland Security Secretary says the landscape has become more unpredictable. By David Fishman

By on September 28th, 2016

Republican senators sharply criticized FBI director James Comey Tuesday for his agency’s handling of recent terrorism incidents, including a bombing in New York and a shooting in an Orlando nightclub.

“Let’s just admit we’re not perfect and we made mistakes here,” Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said at a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing on global terrorism. “Because if we don’t admit to mistakes we’re not going to get better.”

Paul said the FBI should make better use of existing tools instead of requesting more power. In addition, he suggested officials keep investigations open longer to prevent potential terrorists from slipping through the cracks after inquiries are closed — citing recent incidents as examples.
Comey defended the agency’s handling of both attacks and pledged transparency. But he did not concede to missing important details in either ca

“Sitting before you is a deeply flawed and fallible human being who believes deeply in admitting mistakes when they’re made,” Comey said.

In 2014, FBI officials investigated Ahmad Rahami — the 28-year-old accused of setting off bombs earlier this month in New York and New Jersey — but found no links to terrorism and subsequently dropped their case. The FBI also investigated and questioned Orlando gunman Omar Mateen several years prior to his June rampage.

Appearing with Comey, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said the landscape of terrorism has become less predictable and more dangerous since the 9/11 attacks in 2001. We have moved from a world of “terrorist-directed attacks” to one in which internet propaganda and self-radicalization take center stage, Johnson said.

Johnson pointed to recent bombings as examples of the “evolving” threat of homegrown extremism and the imperative of working more closely with community leaders.

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NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION, POLITICS Comments turned off

Devlin Barrett: FBI Director Defends Agency’s Actions in Clinton Email Probe James Comey says FBI weren’t ‘weasels’ in Clinton investigation

By on September 28th, 2016

The head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation sparred repeatedly with Republican lawmakers Wednesday as they questioned the handling of the FBI’s probe into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server when she was Secretary of State.

The FBI announced in July that investigators found extremely careless conduct in Mrs. Clinton’s handling of sensitive government information under the email arrangement, but also concluded that no reasonable prosecutor would have brought a case under the circumstances. Conservatives have been highly critical of the FBI for not pursuing the case more aggressively and for not recommending prosecution of Mrs. Clinton, the Democratic nominee for president.

That criticism has intensified in recent days when it was revealed that the Justice Department granted partial immunity to some witnesses, including Clinton aide and attorney Cheryl Mills, to get access to data or testimony.

Testifying before the House Judiciary Committee, James Comey bristled at times when lawmakers suggested his agency gave Mrs. Clinton or her people a pass on conduct that would have merited charges for low-level government employees.

“We are not on anybody’s side. This was done exactly the way you would want it to be done,’’ Mr. Comey said. Partial and limited grants of immunity were given, he said, to get a laptop from a lawyer or testimony from a technology worker who otherwise refused to talk to investigators.

“You can call us wrong, but don’t call us weasels. We are not weasels,’’ said Mr. Comey, who served as deputy attorney general under President George W. Bush.

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NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION, POLITICS Comments turned off

Comey’s Immunity Deals Plus, the real story on stop-and-frisk. By James Freeman

By on September 28th, 2016

FBI Director James Comey appears Wednesday before the House Judiciary Committee. The big question is why—if he believes Hillary Clinton committed no prosecutable offense—he has given immunity deals to no fewer than five Clinton associates. A Journal editorial cites Beth Wilkinson, who represents Clinton aides Cheryl Mills and Heather Samuelson, saying the immunity deals were designed to protect her clients against “classification” disputes. “This is an admission that both women knew their unsecure laptops had been holding sensitive information for more than a year,” adds the editorial board.
Donald Trump is right about the “stop and frisk” police tactic and on Monday night he was “unfairly second-guessed by a moderator who didn’t give the viewing public all the facts,” notes a separate editorial. NBC’s Lester Holt and Mrs. Clinton called the tactic unconstitutional. “They are wrong,” adds former prosecutor and New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani . “Stop and frisk is constitutional and the law of the land,” based on an 8-1 decision of the Supreme Court, Terry v. Ohio .

Speaking of Monday night’s debate, Jason Riley saw it as a clear Clinton victory and so did William Galston. But Holman Jenkins says the event helped clarify that this election “will resolve into very flawed outsider vs. very flawed insider—and will be decided by the American people in that vein.”

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Trump and Iraq What’s wrong with “fact checking”? Here’s a case study. James Taranto

By on September 28th, 2016

This column has long argued that the journalistic genre known as “fact checking” is a corruption of journalism. “The ‘fact check’ is opinion journalism or criticism, masquerading as straight news,” we wrote in 2008. “The object is not merely to report facts but to pass a judgment.”

Eight years later, we’d amend that slightly. “Fact checking” doesn’t pretend to be straight news exactly, but something more authoritative. The conceit of the “fact checker” is that he has some sort of heightened level of objectivity qualifying him to render verdicts in matters of public controversy.

Lately the “fact checkers” have been waging a campaign to portray Donald Trump as a contemporaneous supporter of the Iraq war, contrary to his assertions that he was an opponent. In Monday’s debate, Hillary Clinton pleaded for their help: “I hope the fact checkers are turning up the volume and really working hard. Donald supported the invasion of Iraq.” Moderator Lester Holt obliged, basing a question to Trump on the premise that the matter was settled: “You supported the war in Iraq before the invasion.”

Trump somewhat inarticulately rebutted the claim: “The record shows that I’m right. When I did an interview with Howard Stern, very lightly, the first time anybody’s asked me that, I said, very lightly, I don’t know, maybe, who knows.”

What Trump actually said on Sept. 11, 2002, when Stern asked him if he favored an invasion, was: “Yeah, I guess so.” That was an affirmative statement, but a highly equivocal one. Is it fair or accurate to characterize it as sufficient to establish that Trump was a “supporter”? In our opinion, no. He might well have had second thoughts immediately after getting off the air with Stern.

He certainly had second thoughts in the ensuing months, and he came to oppose the invasion long before Mrs. Clinton did. Even FactCheck.org was unable to come up with any other Trump statement supportive of the decision to go to war. By December 2003, according to the site’s timeline, Trump was observing (in an interview with Fox News Channel’s Neil Cavuto) that “a lot of people” were “questioning the whole concept of going in, in the first place.” Five years later, according to PolitiFact.com, Trump was calling for President Bush’s impeachment because, as he told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, “he got us into the war with lies.” CONTINUE AT SITE

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HOMELAND SECURITY, NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

FBI Identifies Men Sought in Bomb Bag Video The two men work for EgyptAir, flew home shortly after the Sept. 17 bombing, officials say By Devlin Barrett

By on September 28th, 2016

Two men wanted as witnesses in the New York bombing investigation after they removed a bag apparently left by the bomber have been identified by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, according to officials close to the case.

The two men work for EgyptAir and flew home shortly after the Sept. 17 bombing, officials said. Investigators are now trying to arrange an interview with the men in Egypt, the officials said.

The FBI considers the men witnesses, not suspects, in the investigation, and agents have been trying to identify and speak to the men for more than a week. Finding them had become a priority for investigators probing the detonation of a homemade bomb in the Manhattan neighborhood of Chelsea that injured 31 people.

After that explosion, passersby noticed another suspicious device four blocks away, and when police inspected it they discovered it was a pressure-cooker bomb very similar to the one that had exploded earlier.

Video from the neighborhood that night shows the bombing suspect, Ahmad Khan Rahami, wheeling a duffel bag down the street, then leaving it on the sidewalk. A short time later, two men approach, open the bag, remove the homemade bomb wrapped in a garbage bag, and walk away with the bag. Officials say the two men may have inadvertently disarmed the bomb when they picked it up and removed it from the duffel bag.

The FBI has wanted to talk to the men to find out what they saw and heard that night, and, they hope, retrieve the bag and see if there is any additional physical evidence still on it. CONTINUE AT SITE

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ENVIRONMENT AND JUNK SCIENCE Comments turned off

A Growth-Friendly Climate Change Proposal Washington state’s ballot initiative would reward conservation without hurting business, so why does the left oppose it? By Greg Ip

By on September 28th, 2016

Climate change landed in a Washington, D.C., court this week as Republican governors and business groups sued to block President Barack Obama’s sweeping regulation of greenhouse gas emissions.

The lawsuit is only the latest example of how polarized politics have made it so difficult to reconcile two divergent priorities: climate change and economic growth.

Across the country, however, voters are being offered a plan that does just that.

In November, Washington state will vote on the country’s first revenue-neutral carbon tax. By embedding the cost of carbon dioxide emissions in the price consumers and businesses pay for energy, such a tax automatically encourages conservation and makes renewable energy more appealing, without regulations and subsidies that distort investment and undercut growth. Because the revenue is used to cut other taxes, it doesn’t crimp incomes or undermine business competitiveness.
ENLARGE

In environmentally conscientious Washington state, Initiative 732, as the ballot initiative is known, ought to be a slam-dunk. It isn’t—a poll shows voters roughly split. The reasons are a window into why climate policy is so polarizing.

The ​resistance comes not just from the usual opponents on the right, but even more strikingly from the left. The reason: Many environmentalists see climate change as an opportunity to remake the economic order. They want to use carbon taxes to fund renewable energy and green technology and bolster the incomes of workers and communities they say are most hurt by climate change. Whatever the merits of these goals, the effect is to equate climate policy with bigger government, which makes it harder to achieve broad-based support.

Nearly a century ago the British economist Arthur Pigou advanced the idea of stamping out socially destructive activity by taxing it.

Washington state’s proposed levy is a textbook “Pigouvian tax” which should come as no surprise since it’s the brainchild of an economist: Yoram Bauman, who previously taught economics at the University of Washington. He now makes his living doing stand-up comedy about economics (One liner: “You might be an economist if you refuse to sell your children because they’ll be worth more later.”).

Democratic Governor Jay Inslee had proposed a cap-and-trade plan modeled on California’s, but couldn’t get it passed through either the Democratic-controlled state House or the Republican-controlled Senate.

So Mr. Bauman’s group, Carbon Washington, put forth I-732 as an alternative. It would impose a $15 tax per ton of carbon dioxide in the first year, rising to $25 in the second, and thereafter by 3.5% after inflation annually to $100 in current dollars.

The tax would add 25 cents to the price of a gallon of gasoline and boost the average monthly electric bill by about $8. All the revenue—roughly $2 billion a year—would be returned to taxpayers via a one-percentage point cut in the state sales tax, elimination of a business tax, and a tax rebate of up to $1,500 a year to 460,000 low-income workers.

The Sightline Institute, a Seattle-based environmental think tank, reckons the tax is just high enough to achieve the state’s statutory emissions reduction goal: 50% below 1990 levels by 2050.

I-732 is modeled on a similar levy introduced in British Columbia in 2008 that now stands at $23 per metric ton. A study by Werner Antweiler and Sumeet Gulati at the University of British Columbia found the tax has curbed the average person’s fuel consumption by 7% and boosted the average car’s fuel efficiency by 4%.

​Given all that, why don’t more environmentalists support it? In part, internal politics: Some groups are miffed they didn’t have more say in the design of I-732. Others think I-732 won’t pass and their energy is better devoted to politically more viable initiatives. Having failed to pass cap-and-trade legislation, Mr. Inslee has, like Mr. Obama, since moved to cap some emissions via regulation.

But the main reason is that I-732 sends its revenue back to taxpayers, whereas environmentalists would like the revenue for other priorities. The Washington Environmental Council, which doesn’t support I-732, says revenue from any climate initiative should be plowed into the “clean energy economy…infrastructure for clean, abundant water and healthy forests” and assistance for “the most vulnerable workers and communities.”

Rather than compromise, other climate activists have sought to oust their political opponents—usually Republicans. CONTINUE AT SITE

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ISRAEL Comments turned off

Benjamin Netanyahu Booed at ‘Hamilton’ Performance By Tom Teodorczuk

By on September 28th, 2016

Hamilton, in addition to being an award-winning Broadway phenomenon, is notoriously bipartisan show.

“I feel like this really crosses political lines,” Lin-Manuel Miranda told me a year ago. “Dick Cheney and his wife came to the show and said wonderful things about it. I had a wonderful talk with Laura Bush and [a] Bush daughter about the show. Peggy Noonan has seen it. The reminder that our Founders were human is something that everyone can get behind regardless of our political affiliations.”

Yet that wasn’t the case last Saturday when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in New York to attend the UN General Assembly, went to see the show.

When he took his seat, accompanied by Secret Service guards and allegedly Mossad, Netanyahu was booed and heckled over Palestine as well as being loudly cheered.http://heatst.com/entertainment/benjamin-netanyahu-booed-at-hamilton-performance/?mod=hsnewsletter_dd

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WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Lynch Mob in Lichfield: Pappe & Co head to Israel-bashing conference at city’s cathedral

By on September 28th, 2016

Lichfield, England-perhaps most famous as the birthplace of Dr Samuel Johnson, is a pretty city in the English Midlands. It’s the location of a medieval cathedral, notable for its unusual feature of three spires.

And it is on the premises of that cathedral that a conference (plus related book sale) is to be held over the weekend of 7-9 October (hat tip: Ian G).

As seen at left, the title of the conference is “Holding Palestine in the Light,”which reflects the despicably one-sided nature of the enterprise, for the overwhelming majority of the speakers are notable, to a greater or lesser degree, for their antipathy towards Israel.

That sad fact reflects the prejudices of the apparent driving force behind the conference, the Dean of Lichfield.

Explains the conference’s website:

“The weekend is hosted by the Very Revd. Adrian Dorber: Dean of Lichfield and Diocesan Co-ordinator for the Friends of the Holy Land, with longstanding connections to Palestine & Israel where he led both Pilgrimages and study tours.”

Dorber has held the post of Dean since 2005. Before that, we learn here,

“he was Director of Ministries and Training in the Durham Diocese, Senior Chaplain and Lecturer at Portsmouth University and served in parishes in Reading and Bracknell. He is a Trustee of the Foundation for Church Leadership, a Governor of Staffordshire University, Chairman of Governors of Lichfield Cathedral School and a member of the Lichfield Festival Board. He serves on the West Midlands Training Partnership and chairs the Diocesan Local Ministry Governing Body. He is deeply interested in the impact cathedrals have on Church and nation and how cathedrals can use their unique opportunities for mission and regeneration. Adrian was co-opted onto the AEC Executive in March 2011 and elected in June 2011. He was appointed as Chairman in July 2015. In addition to chairing the AEC, Adrian leads on cathedrals-related research”.

Below, in bold type, is the list of speakers as given on the conference website:

Professor Ilan Pappé: Israeli born leading historian at Exeter University. He has written many books on the conflict.

If there is one participant in the conference who surely doesn’t require an introduction it is the reprehensible Pappe. His topic is “‘Palestine is Still an Issue’ – why Palestine is a central issue affecting global events”.

The outrageous One State Declaration that he co-authored in 2007 is indicative of his vile attitude.

Comments below each bold typed profile, and not in bold type,are my observations.

Ahmed Masoud: is a Palestinian writer, director and academic based in the UK; he has written plays and a debut novel set in Palestine and Gaza.

At the “literary dinner” on Friday, 7 October entitled ‘Gaza in Literary Fiction” that opens the conference, Ahmed Masoud and Hannah Khalil will mention their published works. The session will include a film, “Britain in Palestine 1917-1948”.

Hannah Khalil: born of Palestinian/Irish parents, she has written a number of plays promoting the cause of Palestinians and other Arabs.

That Friday dinner will be followed on Saturday, 8 October with one of only two free sessions on the conference programme. Here’s how it’s billed:

Sumud Exhibition, with sale of goods from the Holy Land including hourly screenings of: ‘Britain in Palestine 1917-1948’ and ‘The Suffering Church’

Read about ‘Sumud’ here: it is clear that this session will consist entirely of anti-Israel pro-Arab propaganda.

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NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION, POLITICS Comments turned off

Steve Kates: Close But No Cigar

By on September 28th, 2016

The pundit class seems to agree that Hillary Clinton, if she did not actually ‘win’ the first presidential debate, did better than Trump, while online polls suggest the wider public gave the nod to her rival. What’s certain is that the Republican has plenty of ammunition at hand for their next two encounters.
I cannot deny that I was disappointed at the end of the first presidential debate. Trump ought to have put her away with so many issues opened up for which there are answers aplenty. He went after her in the first half and drove her to the edge of the field but then let her back.

So let me think about this a bit more. First, the totally one-sided “moderating” really irritated. The issues that will matter, looking forward for the next four years, do not include where Obama was born or what Donald Trump shows on his tax form. These are not policy matters and do not much matter. What counts are the things that were not touched upon — Benghazi, her public email server which has allowed every foreign intelligence agency to read every email she sent, the open border that is not being sealed and would not be by Clinton, and her inveterate lying about everything large and small. These were not brought into the mix by the moderator.

Second, I think Trump is conscious of the Romney experience. Mitt Romney won the first debate, then didn’t win the election. If there is anything that Trump has shown, it is that he gets his timing right. I thought he let Clinton off the hook in a number of places which he ought to have driven an armoured column through, but didn’t. I don’t know if it was deliberate but, on purpose or not, he will be back for the second and third events. What did Hillary learn from this? Nothing that I think can help her, while Trump learned a lot.

Third, the Trump I saw was not the Trump I believe he can be. The Trump others saw for the first time was, however, someone who does not scare the horses and had as presidential a look about him as one could wish. That Trump has won every one of the online polls which asked who won the debate says something about the common expectation which he more than seems to have filled.

Fourth, Hillary’s desire to raise taxes on “the rich” and increase the minimum wage are massive disasters that would ruin the working lives of many, especially those at the bottom. Trump, on the other hand, wants to lower taxes and remove regulations on business. Hillary panders to the ignorant while Trump has a more sophisticated view of how a capitalist system works. It is not a zero-sum game in the way it is discussed by Clinton. Adding to that, his aim to re-negotiate the various trade deals, and have other nations contribute to the cost of their defence by the United States. These are the kinds of changes that really can make the American economy succeed. Nothing that Hillary says (or has ever done), makes you think she has much of an idea how things work, other than via various forms of patronage and corruption.

In all, I wish it had been more of a win for Trump. But on that very day the polls suggested the Electoral College for the first time rolled in his favour. He has until the start of November to build on what he has achieved, and there is no reason to think he cannot do what needs to be done. And there is always the possibility that the people who are voting understand that they are not selecting a debating team but the person who will lead their nation through one of the most perilous times in its history.

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