Friday, September 30, 2016

The Gore Effect Strikes Australia

The Gore Effect is an informal and satirical term which alleges a causal relationship between unseasonable cold weather phenomena and global warming activism:

A study led by ANU Professor Neville Abram, which claims climate is driving clouds south, resulting in less rain reaching Australia’s Southern Coast, has been published in the midst of massive flooding in South Australia. Greens of course blame climate change for the deluge.

The press release;
Australia’s west, south losing vital rain as climate change shifts winds, study finds
Rising greenhouse gases and ozone depletion over the Antarctic are increasingly pushing rain-bearing storm fronts away from Australia’s west and south, according to a new international study.
The research, which involved the Australian National University and 16 other institutions from around the world, has just been published in the Nature Climate Change journal.
It found Southern Ocean westerly winds and associated storms were shifting south, down towards Antarctica, and robbing southern parts of Australia of rain.
ANU Associate Professor Nerilie Abram, the lead Australian researcher, said this had contributed to a decline of more than 20 per cent in winter rainfall in southwestern Australia since the 1970s.
“That band of rainfall that comes in those westerly winds is shifting further south, so closer towards Antarctica,” Dr Abram, from the ANU’s Research School of Earth Sciences and ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science, said.
But:
So what about that flooding? As WUWT recently reported, South Australia is currently experiencing severe flooding and rainfall, and a statewide power blackout, thanks to their dependency on unreliable renewables backed by high voltage interconnectors from other states – above ground interconnector lines which are vulnerable to extreme weather. Greens of course are blaming climate for the intense storm.
Climate change is driving storms like South Australia’s
The storm which has ravaged South Australia is a disturbing preview of what’s likely to come if Australia fails to act on climate change.
Storms like the one which knocked out the entire South Australian electricity network yesterday are occurring in a warmer and wetter atmosphere, the Climate Council’s Professor Will Steffen said.
“These conditions, driven by climate change, are likely increasing the intensity of storms like the one in South Australia,” he said. …
We model, and God laughs.

Well . . .

My desktop computer did something bad last night, and has been taken to the shop for repair and/or potential replacement. In the meantime, blogging is likely to be slow as we share Georgia's laptop, and the IPad. My apologies in advance.


Thursday, September 29, 2016

But What is on the Chief Scientist's Shirt?

COMET LANDING ON FRIDAY: 
On Friday, Sept. 30th, Europe's Rosetta spacecraft will deliberately crash land on Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, ending the probe's two year mission in orbit around the comet's nucleus. With cameras and other instruments taking data until the last moment, Rosetta will descend into a mysterious region known as Ma'at home to several "active pits," which are spewing jets of gas and dust into space. Rosetta's death plunge could be exciting, indeed. NASA TV will cover the event live starting at 3:15 a.m.PDT. Tune in!
Dr Matt Taylor apologises for controversial 'sexist' shirt worn after Rosetta mission comet landing

Offensive:

Not Offensive:

Wombat-socho has "Late Night With Rule 5 Sunday: Tax Loopholes Edition" ready at The Other McCain.

Conspiracies at Clinton.com

After all the new material from the FBI didn't satisfy anyone but Hillarybots and the FBI came under even more criticism, the House called on James Comey to defend letting Hillary weasel off of prosecution.  Weasels everywhere were upset, and Comey himself came to their defense, telling Congress that it hurt their feeling to be called weasels. I have some sympathy for weasels, who are nice cuddly critters, with sharp teeth. Alhouse thought weasel is a funny word, Trey Gowdy asked Comey just what it would take for Hillary to be indicted. Being found in dead with a dead boy or a live girl? Nothing James Comey Says About The Hillary Clinton Investigation Makes Any Sense. Wrong! Hillary is not indicted, and Comey is still in office.
Comey admitted Wednesday that one of Hillary’s lawyers — “it might have been Cheryl Mills” — told Paul Combetta to delete e-mail files from Clinton’s secret server only days after Congress ordered them to be preserved.  The FBI director assures us that none of this is obstruction of justice. (Rep. Darrell Issa, incidentally, also revealed that one of the deals — he did not mention which — included immunity, not only for a transaction, but for “destruction” of material.)

Then, at another point, Comey told the committee that the Justice Department agreed to immunity because the FBI didn’t feel like wrangling with lawyers for years. “The FBI judgment was we need to get to that laptop. We need to see what it is,” he explained. “This investigation’s been going on for a year.” So I guess Mills was less than cooperative, yes?
With regard to Hillary's obvious lies to Congress (a crime)  Comey said “Don’t know” whether FBI will investigate Hillary perjury referral. Perjury to Congress is a crime, but not a crime-crime. Is Comey conflicted on the Clinton investigation? FBI Director Received Millions From Clinton Foundation- His Brother’s Law Firm Does Clinton’s Taxes. Washington is such a small place, at least at the high levels. National Review Figured Out Why Hillary Wasn't Indicted. Because they'd have to drag in Preznit Obama, who also used her illegal email system.

The White House Asked Congress To Keep Quiet On Russian Hacking
Sources tell BuzzFeed News that top White House officials tried to stop two of Congress’s senior intelligence officials from publicly confirming Russian efforts to undermine the US election.
Then fell back on blaming Trump.

By the way debates are scored, it appears that the hyper prepared Lisa Simpson Hillary Clinton won the debate and the lazy Bart Simpson Donald Trump lost. ("Who do you want to be president? The answer may say less about Donald or Hillary and more about which Simpson character you identify with — Bart or Lisa?) Which leads to conspiracy theories about how Hillary won, much like the accusation the Dubya had a hidden mic feeding him the answers. This time we have three competing theories! First, Lester Holt is reported to have sent an intern with a copy of his questions
Earlier last week an NBC intern was seen hand delivering a package to Clinton’s campaign headquarters, according to sources. The package was not given to secretarial staff, as would normally happen, but the intern was instead ushered into the personal office of Clinton campaign manager Robert Mook. Members of the Clinton press corps from several media organizations were in attendance at the time, and a reporter from Fox News recognized the intern, but said he was initially confused because the NBC intern was dressed like a Fed Ex employee.

The reporter from Fox questioned campaign staff about the intern, but campaign staff at first claimed ignorance and then claimed that it was just a Fed Ex employee who had already left. No reporters present who had seen the intern dressed as a Fed Ex employee go into Mook’s office saw him leave by the same front entrance. The Fox reporter who recognized the intern also immediately looked outside of the campaign headquarters and noted that there were no Fed Ex vehicles parked outside.
The second theory is that she passed Lester signals on when to give her an opportunity to attack Trump.



And finaly, the old stand by, the hidden mic ploy. People point to this picture in the Sun. Now cut out the ear, blow it up, and increase the contrast a little and we get:


Hmm. There is something a little funny going on there. Could be a hidden mic, could be a hearing aid, or it could be even be a wire into her brain to shock her when she goes into one of her Parkinson's Disease induced seizures.

Come on guys. She's Lisa Simpson, the SJW, interfering sister who hopes to run your lives. She did her homework, several times over. Having three different conspiracy theory undercuts all of them.

Next time, Donald, practice, practice, practice.

Hillary Clinton was clearly victorious, but only one candidate did enough to win new voters during the presidential debate.
I didn’t think Trump was very good. But I’m reminded of something a consultant once told me: You think those ads for porcelain collector plates are tacky and awful. But the porcelain collector plate people run those ads because they work — with the people who buy porcelain collector plates.
Hillary to working-class voters: I worked hard for my money. Ace's interpretation I Worked Hard For My Graft
The Washington Insider Power (Marriage of Economic Convenience) Couple who made $57.5 million while Hillary was Secretary of State and Bill was scooping up donations from countries and corporations with business before his (alleged) wife is claiming they worked so hard you guys for their graft.
Ann Althouse indulges in a little Rule 5 action in That Hillary shoulder thing.

The Story That Hillary Wrote, Cast, and Produced For the Media Is Falling Apart. Thank heavens, three days later, we're still talking about Miss Universe/Piggy: Stacy McCain chimes in No, Miss Universe Can’t Be 170 Pounds. Alicia Machado ballooned from 116 lbs when she was awarded Miss Universe to 170 during her year in "office". The Sun shyly reports that Miss Universe Alicia Machado who sparked Donald Trump Miss Piggy row had SEX on a reality show called The Farm - The beauty romped with another contestant on a hit Spanish show modelled on Big Brother. What happens in Venezuela stays in Venezuela. On Allegation She Was a Murder Accomplice she told Anderson Cooper ‘I’m Not a Saint Girl’Four Things The Media Won’t Tell You About Hillary’s Beauty Queen BFF
1. She Reportedly Had A Daughter With a Notorious Mexican Drug Lord
2. She Reportedly Threatened to Kill a Judge
3. She’s Really Bad at Geography,
4. She Modeled For Playboy
OK, so she's about as good a presidential candidate as Gary Johnson or Jill Stein. After Clinton raised Machado as evidence for Trumps alleged misogyny, Trump made thinly veiled threats to raise Bill Clinton's woman troubles, and Hillary's attacks on said women as an issue. This brought out Chelsea, who showed great mastery of the talking points:
 "My reaction to that is just what my reaction has been kind of every time Trump has gone after my mom or my family, which is that it's a distraction from his inability to talk about what's actually at stake in this election and to offer concrete, comprehensive proposals about the economy or our public school system, or debt-free college, or keeping our country safe and Americans safe here at home and around the world,"
Chelsea Clinton Objects to Trump's Threat to Bring Up Her "Father's" Sexual Misdeeds;
Juanita Broaddrick Responds

While the Washington Post published a soft whitewash of the various Clinton sex scandals, apparently in an effort to prepare the ground before the attack got going.

Speaking of the First Child in Re-waiting: Chelsea Clinton Takes Private Jet to ‘Clean Energy Roundtable’ I'll take global warming seriously when they show they take it seriously. Buses are good enough for rock stars. What does she think she is?

Hillary Clinton’s hypocritical attack on private prisons rattled an entire industry. She hates anything private that she doesn't control.

Hillary failed as secretary of state — why would president be any different? - Analysis, true.

That time Hillary Clinton said all Americans are racist and nobody blinked an eye

Fed challenged over governor’s Clinton ties - Would she hold interest rates down to benefit Hillary?

Uh Hillary, Your Hubby Caused the 2008 Recession - A late fact check

The media loves Hillary — and it could cost her the election - One optimist's view.

Just Because Hillary's a Birther, That Doesn't Make Her Racist! - Rubbing it in.

The Battleswarm Blog's weekly? This Week in Clinton Corruption for September 28, 2016

Silly Celebrities Get Naked For Hillary

I'm sure she's thrilled: Katy Perry Votes Naked In Latest Video To Turn Out The Vote For Hillary



OK, that was pretty disappointing. Now, nude pictures of Katy are rare enough to be a sort of big deal, but Madonna? Not to be outskanked by Katy, Madonna Gets Naked, Joins Katy Perry in Supporting Hillary Clinton.
Im voting naked with Katy Perry!! Vote for Hillary. She’s the Best we got!. Nude Voting series # 1 pic.twitter.com/fBYkTnXVLe

— Madonna (@Madonna) September 28, 2016

Nude pictures of Madonna, on the other hand are nearly a dime a dozen.

There's not much novelty value to a nude shot of Madonna; she'll apparently drop trou for almost any excuse, if it involves self promotion Warning, NSFW links! Also, pretty ugly.

Curiously, she seems to have withdrawn the picture. It can't be shame.

Wombat-socho has "Late Night With Rule 5 Sunday: Tax Loopholes Edition" ready at The Other McCain.

Wednesday, September 28, 2016

Maryland Moron Arrested Topless in Rehobth Beach

Topless Md. Woman Resisted Arrest In Rehoboth Beach
The Rehoboth Beach Police Department says 37-year-old Jennie Lee D. Martin, of Chevy Chase, Maryland was walking around with no shirt in the area of of Wilmington Avenue and First Street.

Police say they tracked the woman near the boardwalk, but she declined to put her shirt back on at the officer’s request.

Witnesses tell police that they observed the woman along with several other families as they attempted to hide their children’s views of Martin.

When one observer requested Martin to put on her shirt she allegedly responded with profanity and spit on the man, police say.
I'm sure she was just peacefully protesting for her right to show her nipples, like any man at the beach might. Free the nipple!  It's legal in New York!
When officers attempted to take Martin into custody she refused to allow officer to place her in handcuffs. Officers were forced to restrain Martin and forcefully place her into handcuffs.

Further investigation revealed the odor of alcohol on her breath. Martin’s purse was also searched and officers located marijuana consistent with personal use and a broken pipe inside.
Alcohol and weed were involved? I'm shocked, shocked.

She should come visit us in Long Beach. We need the excitement.

Wombat-socho has "Late Night With Rule 5 Sunday: Tax Loopholes Edition" ready at The Other McCain.

How Clean is Too Clean?

in the Anacostia River? Seriously? We're not close enough we need to worry about it yet: How clean is clean enough on the Anacostia?
That's the question raised recently over the effort to rid the Anacostia River of the mountains of trash littering its banks and waters.

The Natural Resources Defense Council argues in a lawsuit filed last week that the trash "pollution diet" on which the Anacostia has been for the last six years is destined to fail.

That’s because the plan that directs trash removal efforts for the three Washington, D.C. area jurisdictions in the river's watershed does not set a specific limit on the amount of trash it can handle while maintaining water quality, the environmental nonprofit said in a suit filed Sept. 19.

Rather, the total maximum daily load (TMDL) approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2010 only states how much trash must be removed or prevented from entering the heavily urbanized Potomac River tributary each year.

“It doesn’t set a maximum load, so it’s missing the ‘M’ and the ‘L’ in TMDL,” said Becky Hammer, staff attorney with the NRDC’s water program. “The reason a maximum limit is established is so plans like this can have a fixed target for measuring progress. If you don’t have that, you’re left with a paper exercise that lacks real world accountability.”

When it was established, the plan used a baseline estimate of the amount of trash that was entering the river around 2010 — about 1.2 million pounds, or 600 tons. It required the three jurisdictions that drain into the Anacostia -- the District of Columbia and Maryland’s Prince George’s and Montgomery counties -- to remove their share of that trash tally each year. That would, at least in theory, result in a nearly trash-free river.

But the NRDC’s suit argues that the overall estimate of trash entering the river was based on limited surveys, making the figure both inaccurate and quickly outdated as the region’s population grows. A one-time baseline does not account for above-average trash years, Hammer said, when removing a few hundred tons of trash would still leave plenty floating downriver.

Food wrappers, plastic bottles and foam containers floating down the river or collecting on its shores can be hazardous to fish and wildlife and​ impair public recreation in the waters
A classic photo I took of the Anacostia, up at the railroad bridge, where they station a floating barrier to catch the trash that floats up and down the river with the tide. There are parts of the river that would be downright scenic, if it weren't for all the floating trash and trash washed up on the banks. And almost all of it comes from the streets of Washington D.C. Most of it could be solved by getting effective screening on the many outlets from the storm water system of D.C. It would also help ir D.C residents didn't consider the streets to the the trash can of convenience.



Whew! That Was a Gully-Washer

A little after we got up this morning, it started to rain slightly. Then the thunder started, and it got serious. So far, we have 2.24 inches, 2 of which fell in about 1 hour.:


So much for the grass seed we recently spread on the bare spots in the lawn. If it wasn't sprouted by now, I'm afraid it's down in the woods behind the house.

Graph from the AcuRite weather station I recently put on the back deck:

Post-Post Debate Debates Over Hillary.com

The day after the day after the debate Instapundit finds: TRUMP WINS MOST IMMEDIATE POLLS:
“The newspaper collected screen shots of 19 ‘snap’ polls conducted immediately after the debate, and in 17 of them, most respondents said Trump won the debate, often by a wide margin. It isn’t just Drudge and Breitbart; Trump also got more votes than Clinton in instant polls at Time, Slate, Variety and other liberal outlets. I can’t explain it, other than to say that perhaps it tells us more about how people view Hillary Clinton than about how Donald Trump actually performed.”
Althouse cite Scott Adams:  "Clinton won on points.... Clinton won the debate last night. And while she was doing it, Trump won the election.". On points, in the Breitbart post-debate poll, Clinton won 48/43. From celebrity row, A broken clock? Michael Moore Says Trump ‘Won’ The Debate and Mika Despondent Over Debate: Hillary ‘Amazing’ But Trump Will Win More Voters. The Washington Examiner posits Three ways Hillary Clinton won the debate — and why it might not matter. The men (and women) in the bar view: How Trump won over a bar full of undecideds and Democrats. The Fix is in at the Washington Post: Why Trump is close: He’s winning voters who see little difference between him and Clinton, and the Examiner: Did Donald Trump deconstruct Hillary Clinton with marginal voters?

On the other hand fromTuesday morning links at Maggie's Farm: Mirengoff: Thoughts on an unpleasant evening, 'Bizarre' Donald Trump seemed 'dreadfully unprepared', He winged it, had no plan. Thinks he is better than he is. Trump’s debate incompetence a slap in the face to his supporters, Dick Morris on Trump at Debate: 'He's Coasting', and Commenter here: "I expected more from him. I believe average citizens did too."

The "moderation" was still at issue: AND THE ROLE OF CANDY CROWLEY WAS PLAYED BY… Lester Holt
“not only made himself part of the game on Monday night, he ran up to the scrimmage line, then sacked the quarterback three times,” Kyle Smith writes.

Related: Debate Wrap-Up: Media Bashing of Lauer Has Desired Effect as Lester Holt Lets His Bias Fly.

Or as Heat Street asks, Lester Holt: The Third Debater?
Alicia Machado
Across the pond the Brits at the Mirror are asking: 'Was Lester Holt auditioning for Hillary's press secretary?' NBC moderator is criticized for Clinton bias by failing to ask about her emails or Benghazi. Ashe Schow at the Washington Examiner, always alert to false claims of sexual inequality asks Where are the fact checkers for Clinton's pay gap claims? Ashe also notes that Clinton appears to only care about the rights of some young men, black urban criminals, rather than white college students. Tom McGuire at Just one Minute is Checking The Fact Checkers on the issues of urban violence. Trump claimed violence in cities is up, Clinton claims they are down. The facts support Donald. At the debate Hillary mentioned Alicia Machado, the 1996 Venezuelan Miss Universe/Piggy, who Clinton cited as an example of Trump's misogyny. You can see "truth" behind the charges at my Rule 5 post on Ms. Machado. She did pork up a bit after winning. But the Mirror catches the fact that she was involved in a murder, and threatening a judge in Venezuela in 1998. Why do democrats always support the criminals?

The State Dept. email scandal keeps on keepin' on. Of course, the State Dept misses court's deadline on Clinton docs. The judge needs to to what he'd do if lawyers for a private firm missed deadlines repeatedly; put someone in jail for contempt. I'm reminded of the story of the Caribbean dictator who ordered three men to carry his grand piano up a flight of stairs. When they said it was too heavy, he shot one, and then the remaining two found the means to move the piano. Too good to check. This Ain't Hell found A Few More “Private” Email Facts that Came to Light. The one that seemed most novel to me was:
One of Clintoon’s longtime aides reputedly possessed a thumbdrive containing an archive of Clintoon’s emails, which she said was “something she happened to have laying around the house.” When the FBI requested she produce it, she was “unable to find it” – purportedly after searching “several times”. 
That sounds like something Cheryl Mills would come up with; she once had "burglers" steal some inconvenient documents from her house. Speaking of Cheryl, noted conservative legal expert Jonathon Turley (I jest, I jest) sees Clinton confidant's immunity deal looms over debate. The Wall Street Journal questions The Secrets of Cheryl Mills - If there was no evidence of criminal activity, why all the immunity?
Andrew McCarthy, a former U.S. attorney, puts it this way: “It’s like telling a bank robbery suspect, ‘If you turn over that bag, I’ll give you immunity as to the contents’—which means if the money you robbed is in there, I can’t use it against you.”
The Wall Street Journal also has More questions about the FBI’s special handling of the email case, especially James Comey’s Clinton Immunity.
Why the courtesy? “If the FBI wanted any other Americans’ laptops, they would just go get them—they wouldn’t get an immunity deal,” Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan told Politico. He’s right. The FBI merely had to seek a subpoena or search warrant. By offering immunity, the FBI exempted the laptops and their emails as potential evidence in a criminal case.
Afraid to upset the next boss? Speaking of which a  Former NSA analyst says the FBI may reopen investigation if Clinton loses. Of course, suck up to the new boss. However, the FBI claims time crunch necessitated immunity deal for Clinton aide Cheryl Mills. I though Comey said he was going to do it right, and not fast, regardless of the pending election. How long does it take to get a warrant and grab a computer? Sarah Westwood at the Washington examiner has Five unanswered questions for Comey on Clinton email case "1) Why did Cheryl Mills need an immunity agreement to cooperate with the FBI? 2) Did the FBI know about the suspicious Reddit posts? 3) Why did two of Clinton's lawyers receive immunity deals?, 4) Was anyone at the White House questioned about their knowledge of the server? and 5) Why was John Bentel protected?" A good start.

Would you be shocked to learn Hillary never took mandatory security training on classified material? She's much too important for such mundane affairs as protecting the country rather than herself.

Also news, Clinton Aide Huma Abedin Forwarded Classified & Top Secret Emails to Yahoo & Webmail linked to Anthony Weiner, so she could get it to a printer!
Abedin said, according to FBI documents, she would then access those email accounts via webmail from an unclassified computer system at the State Dept. and print the documents, many of which were classified and top secret, from the largely unprotected webmail portals.

Clinton did not have a computer in her office on Mahogany Row at the State Dept. so she was not able to read timely intelligence unless it was printed out for her, Abedin said. Abedin also said Clinton could not operate the secure State Dept. fax machine installed in her Chappaqua, NY home without assistance.
While I'm ragging on Huma, it's worth noting her background again. Abedin's Dad might be shocked at his daughter's conduct: Daddy’s Issues, Archive video exposes Weiner in-law
Abedin said that Arab states must police the upholding of Sharia, or Islamic law, and explained why the majority of Muslims view Israel and the Western world in primarily “hostile” terms.

The video provides a window into the Abedin family’s ideology, which has been marred by accusations it is connected to the Muslim Brotherhood.
Enjoy some blue on blue action? Lesbian Trump supporter slams gay Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook
“And it’s really flooring the hell out of me that he’s supporting a woman that took money from these countries, from these countries that would take him and his friends or his lover or his partner and throw them off a building and kill them,” she said.
Clintons go where the money leads them.

FBI probes hacks targeting phones of Democratic Party officials - sources, but there's just no way that Hillary's openly "secret" basement/bathroom server was ever hacked, right?

NRA Hits Hillary in New Ad to Run in Five Swing States



Links from Wombat-socho's "In The Mailbox: 09.27.16"Post-Debate MusingHoward Dean Hangs Tough (And Mostly Alone) On Charge That Trump Was On Coke During DebateDebate Mashup – I Told Ya!The “Refugee” AgendaAnimal’s Daily Debate Recap NewsAnother Debate “Win” Or Two Like That For Hillary And She’s FinishedWhat Trump Won Last NightMedia Research Center Slams Last Night’s Debate “Moderator”Checking The Fact-CheckersClinton Reportedly Received Questions A Week Before The DebateTrump Wins Most Immediate PollsNear As I Can Tell…A Few More “Private” E-Mail Facts Come To Light, and the mostly sensible Megan McArdle: Maybe Crime’s Not Rising, But If Voters Think It Is…

Wombat-socho has "Late Night With Rule 5 Sunday: Tax Loopholes Edition" and "FMJRA 2.0: Bach’s Toccata & Fugue In D Minor" ready at The Other McCain.

Are You Tough Enough?



Love those 80s dancers.

Wombat-socho has "Late Night With Rule 5 Sunday: Tax Loopholes Edition" ready at The Other McCain.

Tuesday, September 27, 2016

Post Debate at Clinton.com

I broke my long standing rule of never, well hardly ever, watching politicians give speeches and debates. It was amusing and irritating at times. I guess Ace covers my feelings pretty well in his Post-Debate Thread: Final Thoughts
Trump made lots of errors -- I can't believe he brought up taking the oil again, for example -- but Hillary's goal here was to disqualify him.

What did she do? She painted him like every other Republican gets painted in a debate. She did not succeed in extraordinizing him -- making him an extraordinary threat the Republican can not bear.

By repeating the same sorts of attacks lodged at every Republican -- wants to cut taxes, "racist," etc. -- she actually ordinized him.

Trump's demeanor was generally strong and calm. He got rattled a few times. He looked pissy when she was dropping her programmed attack modules on him.

But by and large, he kept it together.

Was he good? No. He wasn't sharp. I know people's jaws were falling open when Trump failed to pounce on her for daring to bring up emails, disclosures, and cybersecurity. He was meh.

Hillary delivered the exact same message that all of her ads are playing around the clock. The viewer really got no new information on that front.

On the other hand, Trump stood up at the podium and kept to his basic message without melting down. (Well, except that "take their oil" like.)

Her goal was to disqualify him; his goal was to seem like an ordinary Republican. Or, at least, ordinary enough to not seem scary (while attempting to seem like a big change agent).

Neither did a very good job. But Trump did a slightly better job at is job than she did at hers.
Stacy McCain generally agrees: No, Donald Trump Won the Debate
What was Trump’s basic challenge going into the debate? That he was “not presidential,” without the necessary standing to challenge an experienced politician like Hillary. And yet there he was, side-by-side on stage with her, clearly unintimidated by her.

Did he score any knockout blows? No. Did he persuade any liberals? No. But no one could have reasonably expected such an outcome. Trump committed no great gaffes or blunders, he evaded moderator Lester Holt’s “gotcha” questions and, if at times Trump was “not presidential,” he was not so un-presidential as to disqualify himself in the eyes of any voter who prior to Monday night had considered voting for Trump.

Ross Douthat makes some apt criticism of Trump’s debate performance, but it’s not Harvard-educated pundits who are Trump’s core constituency. This is one of the basic problems with political punditry: Highly educated (and highly ideological) commentators have difficulty imagining how things look to the average voter in Ohio or Florida. Remember how the Bernie Sanders boom during the Democrat primaries caught much of the journalistic world by surprise, in much the same way that Trump’s success in the GOP primaries shocked professional pundits on the Right.
My take? Could have been better, could have been worse, but not bad considering he was debating against two, as Lester Holt appeared to have drunk the kool-aid, and decided to intervene repeatedly on Hillary's behalf. Lester Holt learned the ‘Matt Lauer Lesson’  and Lester Holt: The Third Debater?
The game of two-on-one saw Holt ask no questions about:
  • Hillary’s emails
  • Benghazi
  • The Clinton Foundation
While ignoring these issues, Holt grilled Trump on stop-and-frisk, the birther story, his comments about women, his many bankruptcies, why he hasn’t released his tax returns — and a host of other issues the media sees as unfriendly to the Republican candidate.
In debate, Clinton gets no follow-up questions, Trump gets 6. I think Donald did a decent job of rebutting Lester's attempt to fact check him on when he became anti-Iraq war, but he got a little hot and dwelt on it too long. As Dana Perino on Fox pointed out, he wasn't a Senator, and didn't have access to any secrets the way former first Lady and Senator Clinton did when she made the same "error" (I won't concede that point). At least he didn't sit by quietly as Lester "Candy Crowlied" him.  12 Hillary Lies Debunked that Lester Holt let slide. Neil Cavuto helps Trump prove he did NOT support the Iraq war – whips out 2003 clip!



Cuban Admits He Lied About Front Row Seat; Wanted To Get Under Trump’s Skin. Not much was said about the front row seats last night, although I believe Hillary made one reference to a woman who she claimed was a Trump "victim" at some point. Despite the name, Cuban is Russian, BTW.

Well, duh: Clinton email server broke government rules, watchdog finds
Hillary Clinton broke government rules by using a private email server without approval for her work as U.S. secretary of state, an internal government watchdog said on Wednesday.

The long-awaited report by the State Department inspector general was the first official audit of the controversial arrangement to be made public. It was highly critical of Clinton's use of a server in her home, and immediately fueled Republican attacks on Clinton, the Democratic front-runner in an already acrimonious presidential race.

The report, which also found problems in department record-keeping practices before Clinton's tenure, undermined Clinton's earlier defenses of her emails, likely adding to Democratic anxieties about public perceptions of the candidate. A majority of voters say Clinton is dishonest, according to multiple polls.

The report concluded that Clinton would not have been allowed to use the server in her home had she asked the department officials in charge of information security. The report said that staff who later raised concerns were told to keep quiet. Several suspected hacking attempts in 2011 were never reported to department information security officials, in breach of department rules, it said.
Nothing new here, but it's good (and somewhat amazing) to see the State Dept. acknowledge it.

Former Federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy is still hot about the fact that Obama was found to be emailing Hillary at her super secure basement email server under an alias, and thinks that explains why the James Comey let her off the hook: Obama’s Conflict Tanked the Clinton E-mail Investigation — As Predicted
. . .Indeed, imagine what would have happened had Clinton been indicted. The White House would have attempted to maintain the secrecy of the Obama-Clinton e-mails (under Obama’s invocation of a bogus “presidential communications” privilege), but Clinton’s defense lawyers would have demanded the disclosure of the e-mails in order to show that Obama had engaged in the same misconduct, yet only she, not he, was being prosecuted. And as most experienced criminal-law lawyers understand (especially if they’ve read a little Supreme Court case known as United States v. Nixon), it is an argument that Clinton’s lawyers would have won.

In fact, in any other case — i.e., in a case that involved any other unindicted co-conspirator — it would be the Justice Department itself introducing the Obama-Clinton e-mails into evidence.

As noted above, the FBI told Huma Abedin that the name she did not recognize in the e-mail with Clinton was an Obama alias. For the agents to do this ran afoul of investigative protocols. The point of an FBI interview is for the interviewee to provide information to the investigators, not the other way around. If agents give information to potential witnesses, the government gets accused of trumping up the case.

But of course, that’s only a problem if there is actually going to be a case.
Cheryl Mills makes another nefarious appearance: FBI: Clinton aide asked Pagliano for information on “wiping” servers, and not with a cloth
Hillary Clinton’s State Department chief of staff, Cheryl Mills, asked Clinton’s email server technician, Bryan Pagliano, about “wiping computer data,” new FBI documents reveal.

According to notes released by the FBI on Friday, Pagliano also told investigators during his Dec. 22 interview that Mills, who now serves as Clinton’s attorney, dismissed concerns he raised in 2009 or 2010 about the then-secretary of state’s use of a personal email server.

The bombshell revelations comes just hours after news broke that the Justice Department granted Mills immunity in exchange for her cooperation with the FBI’s email probe.
Watch as Hillary's Mook attempts to talk around a Platt River employee reference to the "Clinton cover up" in an email:



Hillary and the dishonesty of "Environmental Racism": New Leftist Meme: Blame Urban Riots on ‘Environmental Racism’, But Hillary would like the DOJ and the EPA to help end both, through more . . . regulation. The left has a couple of nail, "racism", and "environmentalism", and only one hammer, more federal governmental control over our lives to hit them with. If Hillary wants to stop fracking somebody should tell the voters in Ohio. There's still time.

Ann Althouse caught Hillary Clinton's unchallenged, illogical statement about private prisons.
Government prosecutes criminals and obtains convictions and prison sentences. If government uses privately run prisons, it must pay these private businesses to house its prisoners. The entity filling the prison therefore has an economic incentive against putting more people in prison. The private business — the one with the "profit motivation" — has no power to create more prisoners. I can see opposing private prisons for other reasons, but Hillary's justification made no sense to me other than a random expression of disgust for business.
The National Review sees Hillary As an Embodiment of the Left’s Disdain for Democracy.

From Wombat-socho's "In The Mailbox: 09.26.16"Brutal New Trump Ad Uses Hillary To Mock Hillary, Corrupt Judge Rules to Keep Hillary E-Mails Hidden From Voters Until After Election, The Mark Of Soros – Charlotte, NC., John Ruberry – Why Trump Will Win Tonight’s Debate, “Mostly True” When Bernie Said It, “Mostly False” When Trump Says ItGlenn Kessler Indicates Why Moderators Shouldn’t “Fact Check”Trump Receives First Ever ICE Endorsement,

Monday, September 26, 2016

Pre-Debate at Clinton.com

Have you hear there's a debate tonight? I had better get some of this out there, before it becomes obsolete.

One of the big concerns is the behavior of the moderator, "Liberal Lester" Holt. Trumpers are arguing for a light touch, while Clintonistas are all pretty much calling for Les to be calling fouls closely: Her supporters are urging moderator Lester Holt to channel Candy Crowley.
As Joan Walsh at the Nation reminds us, “Mitt Romney won the first debate against President Obama… partly because moderator Jim Lehrer played by traditional rules.… Then CNN host Candy Crowley made a different decision in the next debate.” For those who don’t remember, that decision resulted in one of the worst travesties ever committed by a moderator in any political forum. When Obama falsely claimed that he had condemned the attack on our Benghazi consulate as an act of terrorism the day after it occurred, Romney called him on the lie. Crowley then came to Obama’s rescue: “He did call it ‘an act of terror.’”

This “fact-checking real time,” as Walsh approvingly styles it, was nothing more than the reinforcement of what Crowley knew to be a lie when Obama uttered it. But her collusion served its political purpose and forever established her as a partisan hack cut from the same cloth as Dan Rather, who destroyed his own credibility by attempting to sabotage George W. Bush’s reelection campaign with a forged document concerning his National Guard service. Crowley admitted Romney had been right a few months after her candidate was reelected. Several months following that confession, she “resigned” from her job at CNN.
Report: Lester Holt May Pull a Candy Crowley at First Presidential Debate. He's getting a lot of pressure from the left. Hillary Campaign Attempting to Influence How Moderators Handle Debates Howie Carr at the Boston Herald avirs: Debate fix is in…for Hillary Clinton
The difference between debates and Super Bowls is that at kickoff, the score is even, 0-0. Tomorrow night at 9, Hillary Clinton starts with at least a 14-0 lead, maybe 17-0. That’s her built-in mainstream media advantage.

Vegas wouldn’t touch this one with a 10-foot pole. It’s fixed.

Whatever happens on Long Island, Hillary will immediately be declared the winner by 98 percent of the press. The headlines are already written, the phony-baloney polls and focus groups are ready to roll.
Time askes Why It’s So Hard for Men to Debate Women. The outdated notion of chivalry. If you want a white knight, knit your own mail coat. Hillary will offer no quarter. Get your digs in in a "nice" way.

Where did all those ‘Trump Lies’ articles come from this weekend? The Clinton campaign, of course.

Insty: I’VE SAID IT BEFORE, BUT DONALD TRUMP IS THE SUPREME GALACTIC OVERLORD OF TROLLING:
PAULA JONES Wants to Join GENNIFER FLOWERS in Front Row at Presidential Debate.

I guess they’re saving Juanita Broaddrick and Kathleen Willey for debate number two.
But the State Department email scandal has not died off: 27 things we learned from Clinton's FBI files. Definitely a good read. Obama's Colossal Email Lie Final Test for Tarnished MSM. Obama sent emails to Hillary's "special" nongovernmental account under an alias. Does this mean he was in on the deception? I'm agnostic on this one.

 On the widespread "immunization" Hillary's aides, David Harsanyi detects an odor:  The Justice Department’s Hillary Investigation Reeks Of Corruption. Former Federal Prosecutor Andrew McCarthy at NRO focuses in on the most troublesome case: Why Did the Obama Justice Department Grant Cheryl Mills Immunity? An excellent question. Ace reviews John Schindler's article We Now Have Incontrovertible Proof That the FBI's "Investigation" of Hillary and Her Henchmen Was a Sham From the Start
Let's talk about that immunity deal. Comey wanted documents on her laptop. He could have compelled them by the simple and routine expedient of a subpeona.

Instead, he granted her immunity for any documents he found on her system.

And what was on her system? Classified documents which are illegal for any non-authorized person to have copies of.

Instead of prosecuting her, he made the problem go away by fixing her up with immunity for the very crime she was red-handedly guilty of.
But Schindler wasn't done:
Are you ready for … Hillary 7.0? They're still trying to find the trick to make her voter friendly.
Call this Operation Who You Gonna Believe, Us or Your Lying Eyes. Hillary Clinton, one of the nation’s most well-known and public women, has had more redefinitions than the Urban Dictionary. Even the introductory paragraph belies the desperation behind the campaign. No, she really is funny and kind and passionate and the most wonderful person you’ve ever met, no matter what you think you know after seeing her in action for 24 years!
 Hillary Clinton Proposes 65% Top Rate for Estate Tax. She doesn't care; her money is carefully stashed in the Clinton Family Crime Syndicate.
“It is the height of hypocrisy for Hillary Clinton to offer an even more dramatic hike in the death tax at the same time she uses exotic tax loopholes reserved for the very wealthy to exempt her Chappaqua estate,” said Jason Miller, a spokesman for Mr. Trump, referring to Mrs. Clinton’s use of residence trusts in New York to lower the value of her taxable estate.
Not so much about Hillary, but us: Turning their backs on Hillary: 


Ah, only Ace: 538: Trump Now Is Favored to Win This Election Over Hillary
From zombie, who says "the entire left just sharted."

Nate Silver's site now says Trump is 54.5% likely to win, and Hillary is just is at just 45.5%.

Oddly, those two figures sum to 100% -- yet I was told this was not a "Binary" election!!! I don't understand.

Resuming Obamacare Schadenfreude

After my unplanned hiatus. I'm sure some good stuff slipped by, but unlike government, I am not, and never pretend to be infallible.

Blue Cross Blue Shield out of Nebraska's Obamacare marketplace; may return if changes to law are made
The decision by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Nebraska to leave the Affordable Care Act’s individual insurance marketplace may awaken officials to the need for change, the head of the state’s largest health insurer said Friday.

If not, said Blue Cross CEO Steve Martin, there’s no end in sight for the losses that he said forced the Omaha-based insurance company to remove itself from the exchange for 2017, only hours before the deadline to stay or leave.

Although Blue Cross’ individual exchange policies cover only about 20,000 of its 750,000 customers, those policies have lost $140 million since 2014. If Blue Cross remained in the market, it estimated that the loss could reach $250 million by the end of 2017.

“We cannot take another hit,” Martin said. “We are very hopeful and will work with federal regulators with positive intent and try to be back in the marketplace next year. But if the markets are worse or don’t change, we can’t guarantee we’ll be back.”
How bad is it?
 CEO Martin said Blue Cross tries to make a 1 percent profit each year, about $25 million, out of its $2.5 billion annual insurance business, to add to its reserves. That means it sets its prices so it will spend 99 cents for medical care and administrative expenses out of each premium dollar it receives.

But for each dollar collected on the ACA marketplace, Blue Cross has paid out $1.56 in claims, which drove its overall expense to $1.01 per $1, missing its profit goal.
It's not as bad as you thought, though, it's worse: New Kaiser Survey Suggests ObamaCare Is Killing JobsA new report finds the people signing up might be getting sicker. It's not really true, it's just that the younger, healthier ones who actually voted for Obama are avoiding the law and causing the risk pool to be sicker in aggregate. Listen to this Millennial’s ObamaCare Lament:
The administration has targeted my generation to sign up for ObamaCare for one reason: We’re healthy. The health-insurance companies selling plans on the law’s exchanges need us to pay a pretty penny in premiums without using much medical care. We’re supposed to subsidize the system so that it stays afloat. That was the plan, anyway. It fell apart when we didn’t sign up in droves like the White House expected.
If only you had been this smart before the 2008 election. Well, that's youth. It also explains why next year the effort will be on enforcing and tightening the mandate: ObamaCare Individual Mandate Fine Hit 8 Million People This Year, millennials, women and children hardest hit. Government to crack down on Obamacare cheaters, that's you again, kids! IRS To “Reach Out” To Those In Non-Compliance With Obamacare Mandate:
(Forbes) As many as 20 million Americans soon will be getting a letter from the Internal Revenue Service “suggesting” they sign up for ObamaCare insurance.

Getting a letter from the IRS can be a threatening and nerve-racking experience; it seldom is seen as a suggestion and more of a threat. But at President Obama’s direction, the IRS is “reaching out” to people who paid the tax penalty for not buying mandatory health insurance or who claimed an exemption in hopes of “attracting” more people to sign up for ObamaCare insurance. The government is particularly interested in compliance from healthy young people.
It’s time to kill the ObamaCare penalty . The law won't work without it, but then, it's not working with it, either. No, Obamacare is not cheaper than employer-based insurance plans, not if you don't count the subsidies.
“When we incorporate the full premium for Exchange plans, the smoke clears and we see Exchange coverage is indeed more expensive than employer-sponsored coverage. There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch.”
But then, as I (and many others) keep reminding you, the program was never intended by its authors to be a success; it was designed to fail, and leave demand for socialized medicine: Government's Obamacare Failures Spur Calls for More Government Meddling and The Slow Slide Into Single-Payer Health Care
The latest data from the Census Bureau show that just since President Obama took office, the number of Americans getting health care through a government program -- Medicare, Medicaid, the VA, etc. -- shot up by 32 million (an increase of more than 32%).

In contrast, the number of people getting coverage from private insurers has gone up 11.6 million (a gain of less than 6%).
From the more or less usually, but not reliably sensible Megan McArdle: Competition Works Best to Control Drug Prices, and how government and insurance industry act to support high prices for Epi-pens.

Via the Volokh Conspiracy, brave operating out of WaPo: The origin of House of Representatives v. Burwell. See how gangster government operates. "Nice law firm you have there; it would be a shame if something happened to it." Read the whole thing.

Also from WaPo: If Trump wins, credit Obamacare. I may have changed that headline slightly.
More than six years after becoming law, the proudest accomplishment of the Obama years is a political burden for Democrats. A recent Gallup poll found that a majority of Americans disapprove of Obamacare. The larger concern for Clinton and her party comes deeper in the numbers. Only 18 percent of Americans believe the Affordable Care Act has helped their families; 80 percent say it has hurt or had no effect. A higher proportion of Americans believe the federal government was behind the 9/11 attacks than believe it has helped them through Obamacare.
I suspect a Venn diagram would show substantial overlap.

Sunday, September 25, 2016

Jose Fernandez killed in boating accident

Miami Marlins star pitcher killed in boating accident
Miami Marlins pitcher José Fernández, one of baseball's brightest stars, was killed early Sunday in a boating accident, Florida authorities said.

Fernández, who was 24, and two other men were found dead after their 32-foot boat was discovered crashed at the entrance of Miami Harbor, said Fish and Wildlife Commission public information officer Lorenzo Veloz.

Coast Guard personnel out on patrol noticed the vessel upside down on the north end of a rocky jetty shortly after 3:15 a.m., Veloz said at a news conference Sunday morning in Miami. Divers recovered two of the bodies under the boat and the third victim was found on the rocks. The names of the two other victims -- also in their 20s -- are being withheld until relatives could be notified. The men were personal friends of Fernandez, Veloz said.
Based on impact evidence and the severity of damage, officials concluded that the boat -- a 32-foot-SeaVee center console model -- hit the rocks at full speed, Veloz said. Fernández was a passenger on the boat, and he was not the owner, Veloz said.

"The boat is a total loss right now from what we can see," Veloz said. "It's bad. There's no other word for it, it's horrible, it's bad, it's bad."

Drugs and alcohol did not appear to be factors in the accident, he said, but he added that investigators had been been unable to get under the overturned wreckage by early Sunday, and autopsies had not yet been done. None of the three victims were wearing life vests, he said.
I'm pretty sure the charts, and most GPSs show the rocks. It's your duty when operating a vessel to know where you are and where the hazards are, and keep them apart.

Was the FBI Investigation of Clinton.com a Sham?

Top Clinton aide dismissed IT specialist's concerns about private email server. You already know without reading that the aide in question is Cheryl Mills, who doubled as Hillary's private attorney and her State Dept. Chief of Staff. We do find out that they floated the "Powell excuse" early on:
Pagliano said his colleague asked him to convey the concern to Clinton's inner circle.

When he did so, however, Pagliano said Mills shrugged off the warning, telling Pagliano that "former Secretary [sic] of State had done the same thing, [including] Colin Powell."

For her part, Mills told the FBI that she "may have" discussed federal records retention rules with Pagliano, "but was not sure." She also said she did not recall any conversations with the unknown State Department IT expert about the issue.
Thanks to Rico
Cheryl Mills checkered past. From  The FBI Investigation of EmailGate Was a Sham, as the Observer observes (nope, not yet).
Not to mention that Mills has a longstanding and well-deserved reputation in Washington for helping the Clintons dodge investigation after investigation. When Bill and Hillary need a fixer to help them bury the bodies – as they say inside the Beltway – trusty Cheryl Mills has been on call for the last quarter-century.

She played a key role in the Whitewater scandal of the 1990s – and so did James Comey. Fully two decades ago, when Comey was a Senate investigator, he tried to get Mills, then deputy counsel to Bill Clinton’s White House, to hand over relevant documents. Mills went full dog-ate-my-homework, claiming that a burglar had taken the files, leading Comey to unavoidably conclude that she was obstructing his investigation. Mills’ cover-up, the Senate investigators assessed, encompassed “destruction of documents” and “highly improper” behavior.

Such misconduct is a career-ender for normal people in Washington, but not for Cheryl Mills, who over the last several decades has followed the Clintons everywhere they go. Mills has proven her loyalty to Clinton, Inc. time and again, and that loyalty has been rewarded with a pass on prosecution in EmailGate.
Oh, a burglar. How convenient! Powerline asks How's the Cover Up Going Hillary? and offers this old cartoon from Watergate. Actually, the cover up is going pretty well, thanks to Comey.

Dr. Lisa Bardack’s Faustian Bargain
When Dr. Lisa Bardack was asked to become Hillary Clinton’s personal physician in 2001, it had to have been a crowning moment in the career of the Mt. Kisco internist. Dr. Bardack could have anticipated little downside. She already had the responsibility -- and legal obligation under HIPAA -- to protect the privacy of her patient. She and her staff would have to be especially scrupulous in the case of a senator with presidential ambitions, but this should not have posed a serious problem.Unfortunately, Hillary Clinton corrupts everyone who serves her. And this year Bardack encountered difficulties she could not have foreseen in 2001:

1. Clinton developed serious medical issues.

2. The candidate was being videoed, not only during campaign stops, speeches, townhalls, and the rare press conference, but before and after events -- by individuals with cell phones who were under no obligation to obey orders given to servile journalists to turn off their cameras. . .



After Clinton campaign picks Mark Cuban to sit in the front row at tonight's debate, Gennifer Flowers Agrees To Join Trump At Presidential Debate. I would have thought the Benghazi mother would have been a better choice:
AN APT RIPOSTE TO TEAM HILLARY’S MARK CUBAN (NOT FIDEL) GAMBIT: Demonstrating his genius for political theater, Trump is threatening to give Gennifer Flowers a front row seat at his upcoming debate with Hillary Clinton. Democrats love to seed debate audiences with aggressive supporters who’ll violate rules of decorum and mock Republican candidates. Team Hillary has given Trump-antagonist Mark Cuban a seat. Cuban has been cultvating an anti-Trump rep. ABC News called Cuban a dedicated Trump-troller and he’s been touting his front row ticket. Cuban hasn’t said he intends to disrupt Trump but the touts are meant to suggest he might.. . .

Cuban is a sharp fellow, but Flowers is a better than an apt counter-punch. She’s still attractive and camera-ready. (Here’s a photo from 2013.) As Bill Clinton’s former mistress she’s a far more sensational story line. Illicit sex, anyone? Suddenly every Clinton scandal and subsequent coverup are chitchat fodder. Flowers’ personal history calls into question major Clinton campaign themes, to include Hillary’s “I’m for women and Trump’s a sexist” pitch. Compared to Flowers, Cuban is just a guy in a seat.
 Trump’s debate strategy: Let Clinton talk I like it. The more she talks, the more people are turned off by the idea of having her nag them for the next 4-8 years.

Clinton allies see double standard and sexism in debate. Of course they did, they saw sexism 100 out of the last 5 times it happened.

Hillary Clinton Would Rather Blame Free Speech than Islam for Terrorism That's because they hate the freedom to tell the truth about them more than they hate terrorism.

CNN fact-check: No, Hillary Clinton did not cut Russia’s nuclear arms. What? She lied? Whodda thunk?
Yesterday, Jake Tapper fact-checked a claim about Russian nuclear arms made in two different Hillary Clinton campaign ads this year. One of the ads, which was aired thousands of times in Colorado and Virginia back in April, claims Hillary secured “a massive reduction in nuclear weapons.” FactCheck.org looked at that claim at the time and concluded, “the record doesn’t show that Clinton was responsible for ‘securing a massive reduction in nuclear weapons.'”
Michael Barone thinks that If Hillary loses, Democrats face a long time in exile. Meh; if I had a dollar for every time someone predicted the future dominance of one party over the other based on the results the next election, I'd be rich.

This one is a little bit of a stretch, but Victor David Hanson pens a nice paragraph about Hillary in Who Are Those Darned “Elites”?
The Clintons are the epitome of the rules not applying to ruling class. Hillary once rigged a cattle futures investment of $1,000 into a $100,000 profit at 34-trillion-to-1 odds and without consequences—and then added insult to injury by initially not paying taxes on her profits. As Secretary of State, she violated dozens of national security protocols, something that would earn other government employees either jail time or a pink slip. Bill, for his part, has become the highest paid “chancellor” in higher education history, earning nearly $17 million over five years by trading on the influence of his Secretary of State spouse—quite aside from plane rides he took aboard the “Lolita express” that would have earned others the charge of misogyny at the very least.
Wombat-socho has "Late Night With Rule 5 Sunday: Tax Loopholes Edition" and "FMJRA 2.0: Bach’s Toccata & Fugue In D Minor" ready at The Other McCain.