Saturday, May 11, 2013

Weekend Newsbites: Sat. & Sun., May 11 & 12, 2013


OK...

So now... at this point... I'll be including Benghazi newsbites within each day's (or weekend's) "normal" newsbites post comment's section from today onward.

Still, folks... for those of you who haven't been keeping up with all the posts and comments... scroll back and make sure you read all the (25) Benghazi newsbites found in this past Wednesday's "Benghazi Hearings" post's comments section!

And then of course there have been the stand-alone Benghazi posts which can be found here and here and here and here...

(*SHRUG*)

Folks... what kind of people have the American People degenerated to...???

We MUST demand integrity from our leaders...!!!

7 comments:

William R. Barker said...

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_IRS_POLITICAL_GROUPS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-05-11-19-11-24

Republicans said Sunday that the Internal Revenue Service's heightened scrutiny of conservative political groups was "chilling" and further eroded public trust in government.

* ONE WOULD HOPE THAT PARTISAN IDENTITY ISN'T THE DECIDING FACTOR CONCERING WHETHER ONE FINDS THE IRS ACTIONS CHILLING.

(*BITING MY LOWER LIP*)

"I just don't buy that this was a couple of rogue IRS employees," said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine. "After all, groups with `progressive' in their names were not targeted similarly."

If it were just a small number of employees, she said, "then you would think that the high-level IRS supervisors would have rushed to make this public, fired the employees involved, apologized to the American people and informed Congress. None of that happened in a timely way."

* SHE'S GOT A POINT...

Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., said "the conclusion that the IRS came to is that they did have agents who were engaged in intimidation of political groups is as dangerous a problem the government can have." He added, "This should send a chill up your spine. ... I don't know where it stops or who is involved."

[A]ccording to a draft of a watchdog's report obtained Saturday by The Associated Press...senior IRS officials knew agents were targeting tea party groups as early as 2011.

(*PURSED LIPS*)

William R. Barker said...

* TWO-PARTER... (Part 1 of 2)

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2013/05/benghazi-cia-talking-point-edits-white-house.html?mobify=0

* NOTICE... "THE NEW YORKER"

It’s a cliché, of course, but it really is true: in Washington, every scandal has a crime and a coverup. The ongoing debate about the attack on the United States facility in Benghazi where four Americans were killed, and the Obama Administration’s response to it, is no exception. For a long time, it seemed like the idea of a cover-up was just a Republican obsession. But now there is something to it.

* GOTTA LUV THE TOTAL DISCONNECT FROM REALITY! THERE WAS ALWAYS "SOMETHING TO IT!" THAT'S THE WHOLE FUCKING POINT...!!! THERE WAS "SOMETHING TO IT" FROM DAY ONE AND PEOPLE LIKE ME WERE ON TOP OF IT FROM DAY ONE! FORGET "REPUBLICAN OBSESSION," THE ONLY "OBSESSION" ON DISPLAY WAS THE MSM OBSESSION TO PROVIDE COVER FOR OBAMA AND CLINTON FOR AS LONG AS POSSIBLE TILL THE WHO THING FELL APART!

* NO... LET ME REVISE THAT. THERE WERE - OFF AND ON - STORIES FROM THE MSM MEDIA SHEDDING LIGHT ON BENGHAZI. AFTER ALL, I PARTIALLY RELY UPON THE MSM AND IT WASN'T ALL COVER-UP SUPPORT. BUT IN CONTEXT... COM'ON... LET'S NOT KID OURSELVES INTO BELIEVING THAT THE MSM DIDN'T LARGELY DRAG ITS FEET... DIDN'T PROVIDE COVER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION WHEREVER AND WHENEVER POSSIBLE WITH FEW EXCEPTIONS.

* HERE... LET'S KEEP GOING... EVEN THIS NEW YORKER PIECE ITSELF CONTINUES TO TRY AND GIVE THE ADMINISTRATION A LIFELINE! (READ ON!)

On Friday, ABC News’s Jonathan Karl revealed the details of the editing process for the C.I.A.’s talking points about the attack...

It’s striking to see the twelve different iterations that the talking points went through before they were released to Congress and to United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice...

Over the course of about twenty-four hours, the remarks evolved from something specific and fairly detailed into a bland, vague mush.

* TO BE CONTINUED...

William R. Barker said...

* CONCLUDING... (Part 2 of 2)

* SO FAR SO GOOD, YET THEY FOLLOW UP WITH THIS BIT OF DELIBERATE MISDIRECTION:

From the very beginning of the editing process, the talking points contained the erroneous assertion that the attack was “spontaneously inspired by the protests at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo and evolved.”

* NO! BULLSHIT! WHAT'S BEING REFERRED TO HERE IS THE NORMAL EVERYDAY CYA THAT YOU'D GET FROM PRETTY MUCH ANY INTELLIGENCE ANALYSIS... THE "COULD" vs. THE "IS" - THE "MAY MAY OR MAY NOT."

(*SNORT*)

* AND BEYOND THAT, THE LARGER CONTEXT IS CLEAR... EVERYONE WHO WAS ANYONE IN THE INTELLIGENCE, MILITARY, OR STATE DEPARTMENT ESTABLISHMENTS (AND THAT MEANS THE WHITE HOUSE... THE SECRETARIES OF DEPARTMENTS AND THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES WHOM THEY BRIEF) WAS AWARE OF THE PREVIOUS MONTH BY MONTH BY MONTH DETERIORATION OF THE SECURITY SITUATION IN BENGHAZI!

But the mere existence of the edits — whatever the motivation for them — seriously undermines the White House’s credibility on this issue. This past November (after Election Day), White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters that “The White House and the State Department have made clear that the single adjustment that was made to those talking points by either of those two institutions were changing the word ‘consulate’ to ‘diplomatic facility’ because ‘consulate’ was inaccurate.”

* HE LIED. IT'S AS SIMPLE AS THAT.

Remarkably, Carney is sticking with that line even now.

(*SHRUG*)

* FOLKS... WHILE THIS IS PRETTY PATHETIC "JOURNALISM," AT LEAST IT'S A MOVE IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION.

* I'D LOVE TO KNOW IF THE REPORTERS AND EDITORS OF THE NEW YORKER FOUND IT STRANGE AT THE TIME THAT SUSAN RICE WAS GIVEN POINT ON THE SUNDAY NEWS SHOWS INSTEAD OF HILLARY CLINTON... THE LOGICAL "GO-TO" FIGURE... OR THEN-SECRETARY OF DEFENSE PANETTA... OR EVEN THE PRESIDENT'S NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR... OR THE HEAD OF THE CIA...?

(*SNORT*)

* I WONDER IF THE FINE FOLKS WHO WRITE THE NEW YORKER AND READ THE NEW YORKER FIND IT CURIOUS IN THE LEAST THAT APPARENTLY SUSAN RICE DIDN'T DO HER OWN DUE DILIGENCE... DIDN'T HERSELF NOTE THAT THE PREVIOUS DAYS' REPORTING IN THE INTERNATIONAL MEDIA HAD ALREADY "OUTED" THE STORY SHE WAS BEING FED AS A LIE?

(*SMIRK*)

William R. Barker said...

* FOUR-PARTER... (Part 1 of 4)

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/12/opinion/sunday/dowd-when-myths-collide-in-the-capital.html?_r=1&

* EVEN... FRIGGIN'... MAUREEN... DOWD...!!!

The administration’s behavior before and during the attack in Benghazi, in which four Americans died, was unworthy of the greatest power on earth.

* UMM... WHAT'S THE "THE ADMINISTRATION'S" STUFF? CAN'T BRING HERSELF TO WRITE "BARRACK HUSSEIN OBAMA?" CAN'T BRING HERSELF TO WRITE "HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON?" FOLKS... IT WAS PEOPLE... INDIVIDUALS... WHO GAVE THE ORDERS... AND WHO DIDN'T GIVE THE ORDERS.

* "UNWORTHY...???" NO. HOW ABOUT "DISGRACEFUL." HOW ABOUT "THE HAVE BLOOD ON THEIR HANDS."

After his Libyan intervention, President Obama knew he was sending diplomats and their protectors into a country that was no longer a country, a land rife with fighters affiliated with Al Qaeda. Yet in this hottest of hot spots, the State Department’s minimum security requirements were not met, requests for more security were rejected, and contingency plans were not drawn up, despite the portentous date of 9/11 and cascading warnings from the C.I.A., which had more personnel in Benghazi than State did and vetted the feckless Libyan Praetorian Guard.

* LISTEN. FOLKS. THE NAME MS. DOWD IS SO CAREFUL TO AVOID MENTIONING IS HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON. SHE WAS SECRETARY OF STATE.

* FOLKS... SECRETARY OF STATE IS NOT A "CEREMONIAL OFFICE." THE SECRETARY'S JOB ISN'T JUST TO JET AROUND THE WORLD ATTENDING PARTIES AND ENGAGING IN PHOTO OPS; NO... THE SECRETARY OF STATE IS SUPPOSED TO RUN THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE... ACT AS CHIEF ADMINISTRATOR... CHIEF EXECUTIVE!

* TO BE CONTINUED...

William R. Barker said...

* CONTINUING... (Part 2 of 4)

When the Pentagon called an elite Special Forces team three hours into the attack, it was training in Croatia — decidedly not a hot spot.

* IT SHOULDN'T HAVE TAKEN THREE HOURS... AND, AGAIN... THAT PARTICULAR SPECIAL FORCES TEAM CERTAINLY WAS BUT ONE OF MANY OPTIONS NEVER UTILIZED!

The hierarchies at State and Defense had a plodding response, failing to make any superhuman effort as the siege waxed and waned over eight hours.

* THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES IS AT THE TOP OF BOTH HIERARCHIES... INDEED ALL HIERARCHIES WITHIN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. AND SUPPOSEDLY HE WAS BROUGHT INTO THE LOOP WITHIN THE FIRST HOUR (IF MEMORY SERVES) OF THE CRISIS. ULTIMATELY IT WAS BARRACK HUSSEIN OBAMA WHO HAD A "PLODDING RESPONSE"... WHO FAILED. BUT PUTTING THAT ASIDE... WE'RE THEN LEFT WITH CLINTON AND PANETTA.

In an emotional Senate hearing on Wednesday, Stevens’s second-in-command, Gregory Hicks, who was frantically trying to help from 600 miles away in Tripoli, described how his pleas were denied by military brass...

* WHOSE NAMES WE STILL DON'T KNOW... STILL DON'T KNOW AFTER EIGHT MONTHS...

* MILITARY BRASS WHO WERE UNDER THE COMMAND OF... (*DRUM ROLL*)... PRESIDENT BARRACK HUSSEIN OBAMA.

* MILITARY BRASS WHO WERE SUPPOSEDLY UNDER THE REAL-TIME SUPERVISION OF... (*DRUM ROLL*)... LEON PANETTA.

* OH... AND BTW... LET'S NOT LEAVE HILLARY OUT OF THE MIX! NO... THE SECRETARY OF STATE ISN'T IN THE DIRECT CHAIN OF MILITARY COMMAND... BUT CAN YOU IMAGINE ANY MILITARY OFFICER HAVING GONE AGAINST HER WITHOUT HER IMMEDIATELY BUCKING IT UP TO THE PRESIDENT? COM'ON...

...who said they could not scramble planes and who gave a “stand-down” order to four Special Forces officers in Tripoli who were eager to race to Benghazi.

(*PURSED LIPS*)

* AGAIN, FOLKS... THIS ATTEMPT TO BLAME "MID-LEVEL AND UPPER-MID-LEVEL MANAGEMENT" FOR THE FAILURE TO EVEN TRY TO RESCUE OUR PEOPLE... IT'S TRULY REPREHENSIBLE - TO ME AT LEAST.

* TO BE CONTINUED...

William R. Barker said...

* CONTINUING... (Part 3 of 4)

The defense secretary at the time, Leon Panetta, insisted, “We quickly responded.”

* OBVIOUSLY NOT...!!!

But they responded that they would not respond.

* YEP! (NICE TURN OF PHRASE, MS. DOWD!)

As Emma Roller and David Weigel wrote in Slate: “The die was cast long before the attack, by the weak security at the consulate, and commanders may have decided to cut their losses rather than risking more casualties. And that isn’t a story anyone prefers to tell.”

* AGAIN... FORGET THIS "AND COMMANDERS" NONSENSE. SUPPOSEDLY OBAMA HAD GIVEN THE ORDER TO "DO WHAT YOU HAVE TO" (PRIOR TO GOING TO BED... OR A PARTY... OR SOMETHING...) AND LEFT PANETTA TO SUPERVISE. (AND WHERE WAS HILLARY AGAIN...???)

In the midst of a re-election campaign, Obama aides wanted to promote the mythology that the president who killed Osama was vanquishing terror. So they deemed it problematic to mention any possible Qaeda involvement in the Benghazi attack.

* AND... OBAMA... ALLOWED... THIS...!

* AND HILLARY ALLOWED THIS... AND PANETTA ALLOWED THIS... AND RICE ACTIVELY SPREAD THE LIES... AND AS FOR THE OTHER MEMBERS OF THIS ADMINISTRATION AND AT THE HIGHEST LEVELS OF THE MILITARY AND OUR INTELLIGENCE SERVICES...

(*BANGING MY FIST IN RAGE*)

...AND ALL WITH MSM SUPPORT. (NO... NOT 100% SUPPORT... BUT THROWING OUT A NUMBER I'D SAY 85%.) GEEZUS, FOLKS... AFTER YOU READ THIS NEWSBITE READ THE FULL DOWD PIECE DIRECTLY AND CHECK OUT THE SLAMS SHE CAN'T HELP BUT TAKE AT REPUBLICANS WHICH HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH ANYTHING!

* TO BE CONTINUED...

William R. Barker said...

* CONCLUDING... (Part 4 of 4)

Looking ahead to 2016, Hillaryland needed to shore up the mythology that Clinton was a stellar secretary of state.

* EVEN ASIDE FROM BENGHAZI, HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON WAS A DISASTER AS SECRETARY OF STATE. WE "LOST" EGYPT. NEITHER RUSSIA NOR CHINA NOR NORTH KOREA HAVE ANY RESPECT FOR US. (MUST I GO ON?)

Prepared talking points about the attack included mentions of Al Qaeda and Ansar al-Sharia, a Libyan militant group, but the State Department got those references struck.

* DELIBERATELY "GOT THEM STRUCK." BUT NOT "THE STATE DEPARTMENT." NO. HILLARY'S PERSONAL EMISSARY!

Foggy Bottom’s spokeswoman, Victoria Nuland, a former Cheney aide, quashed a we-told-you-so paragraph written by the C.I.A. that said the spy agency had “produced numerous pieces on the threat of extremists linked to Al Qaeda in Benghazi and eastern Libya,” and had warned about five other attacks “against foreign interests in Benghazi by unidentified assailants, including the June attack against the British ambassador’s convoy.”

* NULAND WAS WORKING FOR HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON - NOT DICK CHENEY.

(*SMIRK*)

Nuland fretted about “my building leadership,” and with backing from Ben Rhodes, a top White House aide...

* FOLKS... LET'S JUST SAY OBAMA AIDE...

* CLINTON AIDE... OBAMA AIDE...

Hicks said that Beth Jones, an Under-Secretary of State, bristled when he asked ask her why Susan Rice had stressed the protest over an anti-Muslim video rather than a premeditated attack — a Sunday show marathon that he said made his jaw drop. He believes he was demoted because he spoke up.

* RICE LIED. HICKS COMPLAINED. HICKS WAS DEMOTED.

Hillary’s chief of staff, Cheryl Mills, also called Hicks to angrily ask why a State Department lawyer had not been allowed to monitor every meeting in Libya with Congressman Jason Chaffetz, who visited in October. (The lawyer did not have the proper security clearance for one meeting.) Hicks said he had never before been scolded for talking to a lawmaker.

All the factions wove their own mythologies at the expense of our deepest national mythology: that if there is anything, no matter how unlikely or difficult, that we can do to try to save the lives of Americans who have volunteered for dangerous assignments, we must do it.

* "ALL THE FACTIONS." UH-HUH. NO, MAUREEN... NOT "ALL THE FACTIONS OF GOVERNMENT." JUST OBAMA, CLINTON, PANETTA, AND THOSE DIRECTLY UNDER THEIR AUTHORITY. BENGHAZI HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH "THE RIGHT," OR "THE REPUBLICANS," OR ANY OF THE REST OF YOUR PARTISAN BOGEYMEN.