Hillary's Crimes: More on Pagliano

A new link, just for added details:  in-clinton-email-investigation-justice-department-grants-immunity-to-former-state-department-staffer

And its from the Washington Post!

My Hero: Milton Friedman

I spent some time today watching my hero, Milton Friedman.  I needed the reinforcement of principle.

This one video is a good review for today’s situations, taped in 1999.   Milton about Clinton, Social Security, etc.

I suggest you Google "Milton Friedman" and then just start watching as many of the short videos you find.  There are many topics, all still relevant today.

Best Quote:  “What do you mean Give Back?”  when talking about reducing taxes.

Too bad Milton misses it on the prediction for government size in 2009.

Economics 101:  A series of videos:  Economics 101 Videos

On The Fed:  The Federal Reserve causes the Great Depression:  The Great Depression and the Fed

On Social Security:  Social Security Myth

Have fun.

I also like the Hoover Institution at Stanford University a lot.  They prepared this video.

Hillary' Crimes: Post Pagliano, FBI getting hotter

Catherine Herridge has some good reporting at Fox about the email scandal and the FBI investigations.  This article discusses the background to the latest developments about Pagliano and the servers he set up in Hillary's home(s).

See here:   source-clinton-it-specialist-revealing-server-details-to-fbi-devastating-witness

I especially like how Herridge describes the confusion around the word "classified."  The MSM has allowed this confusion to proliferate.  They have egregiously allowed Hillary to get away with using the prevarication that, "Nothing I sent or received was marked classified."  Of course, nothing is marked classified because it is not an official description of materials that have national security value.  Those things are marked Confidential, Secret, Top Secret or Top Secret SAP.  And as always, a marking on the document is not necessary for it to be any of those classifications.

Hillary's Crimes: FBI Closing In - Pagliano Gets Immunity

Brian Pagliano, who set up Hillary's email servers in her home, seems willing to talk now.  Normally immunity isn't granted unless charges are imminent on someone, probably Pagliano.  He had to know that he was doing something not kosher by going around State Department rules on security and secure systems.

From the Washington Post:  "The Justice Department has granted immunity to a former State Department staffer, who worked on Hillary Clinton’s private email server, as part of a criminal investigation into the possible mishandling of classified information, according to a senior law enforcement official."

See full article here:  in-clinton-email-investigation-justice-department-grants-immunity-to-former-state-department-staffer

This is actually a pretty good article with some background on the timeline of the crimes. 

Hillary's Crimes: DIA Chief Says Hillary Should Step Down

In a Daily Caller interview yesterday, Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn (Ret.) said he thought the former Secretary of State should leave the Democratic presidential race: ”I think Hillary Clinton, for the good of the country, should step down and let this FBI investigation play out.”

Flynn is an Obama appointee and was Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) for two years.   He and other officials are concerned that the documents on Hillary's servers contained materials with SAP classification, which can jeopardize agents and US officers in the field.  He also said it is likely Russia, North Korea, Iran and other nations have that information now.

He maintaned that moving the documents off the official servers (which are so heavily protected that users must use separate secure rooms, called Special Compartmentalized Information Facilities or SCIFs, required a considerable amount of work and probably a conspiracy.  The 22+ documents with SAP classification can only be viewed by about 15 people in the country.  None of Hillary's staff had clearance and possibly Clinton herself did not.  At least one of the emails contain human intelligence.

The full Daily Caller report uses much more strident descriptions of the seriousness of this crime than the language that I have.  

Go here to see the report:  exclusive-former-obama-defense-intel-chief-says-hillary-should-step-down/

As I have said before, Hillary's crimes are multiple:  

1. Illegal, insecure server in her house
2. Willfully moving or causing to move classified materials to non-secure systems
3. Conspiracy to have her aides assist in transmitting secret documents, 
4. Felonies by her aides to handles secret documents
5. Failure to recognize classified information
6. Lying to federal agents about what was on her servers
7. Lying to Congressional investigations about what was on her servers
8.  Etc.

In addition to all of this, some are now conjecturing that Hillary felt able to do all of this because the President gave his blessing.   

Hillary's Crimes - FBI Confirms Investigation

Pursuant to recent FOIA lawsuits filed by Judicial Watch for releases of Clinton's emails, The Hill reports:

The FBI formally confirmed that its investigation connected to Hillary Clinton’s private email server remains ongoing in a letter released on Monday.

The letter from FBI general counsel James Baker comes one day before the New Hampshire primary.

The message does not offer new details about the probe, which the bureau has been reluctant to discuss. However, it represents the FBI’s formal notification to the State Department that it is investigating the issue.

Since last September, “in public statements and testimony, the Bureau has acknowledged generally that it is working on matters related to former Secretary Clinton’s use of a private e-mail server,” Baker wrote to the State Department. 

“The FBI has not, however, publicly acknowledged the specific focus, scope, or potential targets of any such proceedings.

“Thus … we remain unable [to] provide [details about the case] without adversely affecting on-going law enforcement efforts,” he concluded.

The letter was sent on Feb. 2 but released on Monday as part of an ongoing lawsuit related to the disclosure of Clinton’s emails from conservative watchdog Judicial Watch.

Water Wars: Central Valley Farms Lose Again

What more do I need to say? Except that Sacramento fails again. And another source said 2.4 million acre-feet since December.

From:  http://www.foxandhoundsdaily.com/2016/02/millions-of-gallons-of-wasted-storm-runoff-ignored/

Millions of Gallons of Wasted Storm Runoff Ignored 

By Assemblyman Jim Patterson

Assembly Member Jim Patterson represents the 23rd District, which includes portions of Fresno and Tulare counties.

Tuesday, February 9th, 2016

Last week the Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Resources and Transportation heard testimony from several of the state’s water bureaucrats about how they are spending water bond funds. Surprising to me was that after all the back-patting, there was not one mention of all the water we are wasting.
According to the Coalition for a Sustainable Delta, more than 208,000 acre feet of water was flushed out to the ocean during the month of January.
We should be pumping that water out of the Delta to refill and replenish the reservoirs we will rely on for our next dry season.
Fresno County Farmer Wayne Western has been crunching numbers to keep the public aware of all the water waste.  “The people of California have been conserving for a major drought for over three years.  We’ve also been paying for it by lost jobs, fallowed fields,” Western said. “It’s time for the government to end the man-made drought and start pumping and saving water.”
Unfortunately, pumping restrictions have drastically limited pumping from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. I joined several of my legislative colleagues last week to call on the State Water Board to work with the necessary agencies to at least allow for some pumping after drenching winter storms.
If our voices are not heard and action is not taken we will lose millions of acre feet of water this year.
FAST FACTS ON WATER RELEASES

• During the month of January 208,000 acre feet was lost to the ocean
• That’s enough to supply 462,000 families for a year
• Resulting in 69,000 acres of fallowed farmland and 16,000 lost jobs

Follow Jim Patterson on Twitter @jimpatterson559

A Discussion: Extremism and Fascism and Narcissicm

I joined a new and interesting web site lately.  It is called Medium.com.  It is a collection of writers on diverse topics.  Some things caught my eyes and this topic is one.  Now I don't profess to be writing at the level of these folks, but follow the links and be prepared to think.


It began with a discussion about Trump, Cruz and Rubio and why my friends and I would or would not vote for them.  One of us wants a moderate who can forge compromises at an adult level so as to actually get something done in Washington...he thinks Rubio fits that bill.  Another is totally focused on immigration and amnesty, and thus Trump's hard line appeals and Rubio's former complicity with the Gang of 8 and their amnesty leanings gets his goat.  One of us is sympathetic to the first point of view, but likes the constitution  purity represented by Cruz.  Now we are not all single-issue voters, but these are the principle things driving us.  These issues and a hatred of Clinton's perfidy and a fear of Sander's socialist ideology leave us with only Republican choices.


So this is where a writer named Umair Haque caught my eye, who writes on Medium.com.  He is an economist.  The first article by Umair discusses Extremism and Fascism and how the world in general is moving once again toward Fascism because of a move toward extremist views by both political sides, left and right,

See here:  why-fascism-is-rising-again-and-what-you-can-learn-from-it

Be sure to also read the first comment link for this article at:  is-this-how-fascism-rises-again

Then go to the first comment by Michael Bartlett in the comments there:  an-awesome-article

Follow all this with more from Umair:  the-year-we-all-became-terrible-people

I think all of this puts an interesting context on the campaigns of Clinton and Sanders and explains their movement to the far left.  As for Trump and Cruz, it puts a concerning light on their campaigns.  Maybe Rubio is the winner in all of this?

Hillary's Crimes - #1006

Okay, so maybe it is not a crime.  But certainly a gross failure to perform her duty.

Hillary went 5 years are the Secretary of State...and she failed to appoint a permanent Inspector General of the State Department.

And why should we care?  Because it is likely that having an IG would have prevented her email scandal, and she would not be in the "state" she is in now. 

So maybe her failure to appoint was a premeditated choice?   Hmmmm?

And why didn't President Obama exercise his duty and make her appoint an IG?  Now do we have a conspiracy?

What is Conservatism? Let's ask Senator Ben Sasse

Also four days ago, CNN's Chuck Todd asked Senator Ben Sasse, "What is Conservatism?"  Sasse responded what a forceful defense of our Constitutional Republic, the American People, our economic system and personal responsibility.

Best of all, he mentioned Rotary Clubs.  "What makes America great is Rotary Clubs, it's small business, it's churches, it's schools, it's fire departments, it's little leagues..."

Sasse:  "We need Washington to faithfully execute the laws."

See here:  Ben Sasse defines Conservatism

What is a Socialist? Let's ask Bernie's Supporters

Four days ago, CNN polled Bernie Sanders' supporters in Iowa.  They asked people to define Socialism.  They had no real clue.  Frankly, the responses are downright scary.

See the next post for Senator Ben Sasse's definition of "What is Conservatism?"

Here is the clip from CNN:  cnns-baldwin-asks-sanders-supporters-to-define-the-word-socialist/

To be fair, here is an explanation of American democratic socialism from Peter Dreier, a professor of Politics at Occidental College.   See:  dreier-democratic-socialism/

To me, socialism is simply the step between heavily regulated capitalism (like we have now) and communism.

If you read between the lines in Dreier's description, you can see the the democracy part of his socialism is antithetical to our Constitutional Republic and its Constitution.  The United Sates was founded on the principles of individual freedom and responsibility, strong property rights and that the person knows best how to run their own lives.

Unfortunately, many democracies eventually end as some sort of a tyrannical state, because even with the best of intentions, democracies give their power to bureaucracies that begin to function for their own well-being, not that of the people. That is happening currently in the US.

Further reading between the lines, one can see that the appeal of socialism is based on envy and greed.  The futile quest for equality and equity is instigated by envy of the smarter, the better off, the harder worker.  That leads to re-distributionist laws that destroy the freedom concept of the Founders. That is a key point for Bernie Sanders...for 40 years he has had the same speech, that the rich are the problem and he wants their stuff.  Unfortunately, this road also leads to him wanting your stuff, via huge taxes, big government, and over-regulation.

Oh yeah, one last point:  The Tax Foundation last week published their evaluation of Sanders' tax proposals, applied to the next ten years.  It results in about 9.5% reduction in GDP and 6 million fewer FTE jobs.  His tax increases would be 13.5%, but only produce 9.8% after considering the reduction in GDP.  There would be a 10.5+% reduction in income for bottom 99% of earners, which turns into 12.8% after considering the reduction in GDP.

See here:  details-and-analysis-senator-bernie-sanders-s-tax-plan

So much for JFK's famous quote:  "A rising tide lifts all boats."  I don't think Bernie is a boater.

Here some more about Bernie as a Socialist:  bernie-sanders-claims-socialism-is-capitalism/

Here's many more insights into Bernie from IDB:    Many Sanders commentaries

Hillary's...er...Kerry's Crimes #1001

Well, it seems that Hillary Clinton's vast experience at State rubbed of onto John Kerry so that he also flaunted Federal law and send classified emails hither and yon. 

The State Deptartment announced on February 2 that then Senator and Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee John Kerry sent at least one email (now classified as "secret") from a "non-official account" on his ipod to Hillary's home email server.

So the question is: Does anyone in the Obama Administration have any knowledge of, or respect for, the laws on national secrets and protocols for using government email systems?

From AP:  kerry-used-private-email-send-clinton-now-classified-info

Hillary's Crimes #1005

Michael Mukasey, the US Attorney General from 2007-2009, produced an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal on Jan 22, 2016 about Hillary's email mess.  The title is "Clinton's Emails: A Criminal Charge is Justified."

Mukasey discusses the email scandal and concludes that Hillary knew enough about the material she handled to support a conviction for at least mishandling classified information.  That is the charge brought against General Petraeus.

Further, he suggests that more severe grades of bad acts may apply and attract a criminal charge: 

• Knowledge of what she was doing regarding mishandling classified information relating to national defense
• Gross negligence in the case of mishandling classified information relating to national defense
• Bad intent relating to actual or attempted destruction of email messages
• Corrupt intent relating to State Department business

He finishes by saying, " our public officials will do their job."

Crime # 1005:  Mukasey also mentions recent reporting by Catherine Herridge at Fox, where she says the FBI are now looking at "the possible intersection of Clinton Foundation donations, the dispensation of State Department contracts and whether regular processes were followed."

Hillary's Crimes #1003 and #1004

Continuing the miserable story of Hillary and her criminal email servers and mail forwarding.

#1003:  It is becoming more and more clear that Hillary transmitted top Confidential, Secret and Top Secret documents.  Many of them appear to have had the classification designations removed by her staff, who are thus also complicit.  In one discovered email. she instructs a staffer to convert from paper to "paperless" and send in the clear.

The FBI now says about 3000 emails are in this situation.  In addition, there are some 24 document that were in the four categories of Top Secret, including some in the SAP (Secure Access Programs) level of Top Secret.  These are documents that have information and often names of foreign operations and operatives and informers.

Yesterday, several generals were interviewed on TV and they were furious that she had not already been charged.  They also said it is 80% probable the SAP information is now in the hands of Iran and North Korea.  They claim Hillary's actions are much worse than what Edward Snowden did.

And what does Hillary say to all of this?  She is dismissive that it is a Republican plot and nothing bad happened.  She says that nothing marked "Classified" was transmitted.  This is a prevarication:  nothing is ever marked "Classified."

For instance, Top Secret information is that "...reasonably could be expected to cause exceptionally grave damage to the national security..."

Classifications:  Wikipedia: Classified_information_in_the_United_States
Executive Order 13526:  Executive_Order_13526   Read Sec. 4.3 about Special Access Programs.

#1004:  Hillary will ruin careers if her transgressions are not moved forward.  There are about 100 to 150 FBI employees working on the Clinton Email Scandal.  The leaks and rumors are that there is more than enough evidence to indict Hillary.  Further, if the FBI Director James Comey does not recommend indictments, these staff people are angry enough to resign.  If he recommends and  Attorney General Loretta Lynch does not levee charges, the reaction will be widespread and nasty.