Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Barker's Newsbites: Tuesday, March 24, 2015


Decisions... decisions... decisions...

 Spend three weeks in the UAE over Christmas... or... have the kids meet us "somewhere" for a joint vacation?

 Yes... these are the problems of Bill...


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4 comments:

William R. Barker said...

http://dailysignal.com/2015/03/08/high-ranking-federal-officials-history-using-personal-email-government-business/?utm_source=heritagefoundation&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=saturday&mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRoivK3KZKXonjHpfsX56%2BorWa6zlMI%2F0ER3fOvrPUfGjI4HScRhI%2BSLDwEYGJlv6SgFQrLBMa1ozrgOWxU%3D

The revelation about Hillary Clinton’s use of personal email is the latest, but not the first.

In fact, then-Senator Clinton herself was a vociferous critic of the George W. Bush administration’s email practices after it was learned in 2007 that millions of White House emails sent on a non-government server may have been “lost.”

Experts say it’s not only a question of whether federal officials are trying to skirt Freedom of Information law that requires release of public documents upon request; there are also security concerns. From that standpoint, Clinton’s example may be the most concerning.

Government Executive says security experts are “still scratching their heads about why Clinton would have taken the unusual step of setting up a home-managed email account, a move that potentially made her messages vulnerable to foreign hackers keen on spying on the U.S.’s top diplomat.”

(“Computer-security analysts … warned that emails sent across separate servers—instead of delivered entirely within government servers—posed greater risk of being intercepted or spied on.” — @GovExec)

A high-ranking government official familiar with the potential security risks says Clinton’s case raises many security issues. “There are times when the location of the secretary of state and other cabinet members is sensitive” or even classified, said the official, “especially, if they are traveling with the president.” A smartphone using a commercial Internet service provider would theoretically broadcast its location most of the time, over an unauthorized network, including when that location is classified, the official said.

The official also noted that it’s not known whether Clinton carried her phone into areas where classified discussions took place. “If she did, that [could be] a security violation.”

The State Department has said Clinton did not send classified information via email. A Clinton spokesman has said she has been complying with the “letter and spirit of the federal records rules.”

(*SIGH*) (*HEADACHE*)

March 24, 2015 at 12:45 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://dailysignal.com/2015/03/10/tom-cotton-right-founders-wanted-senate-president-sign-off-treaties/?utm_source=heritagefoundation&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailydigest&mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRoivanKZKXonjHpfsX56%2BorWa6zlMI%2F0ER3fOvrPUfGjI4HSMZjI%2BSLDwEYGJlv6SgFQrLBMa1ozrgOWxU%3D

The Senate is designed to be far-seeing.

* I KNOW... HARD TO BELIEVE! (BUT TRUE NEVERTHELESS!)

Senators are supposed to be more than merely politicians, but a class unto themselves, with vision into that unknown continent of the future. That is why they were not originally intended to be elected by popular vote.

* EXACTLY! THE 17TH AMENDMENT WAS A DISASTER AND SHOULD BE REVOKED!

Their six-year terms are meant to insulate them from the daily, noisy, consuming grind of politics so that they can think through the long, complicated objectives of foreign affairs — which require patient and careful navigation through many unknown obstacles.

Lastly, unlike the House, the Senate is not all at once up for re-election, but their cycles are staggered. This was designed so that one single passion, spreading through the public suddenly and all at once, could not remove the body meant to have a calm and thoughtful temperament: the kind of temperament possessing “discretion and discernment,” rather than energy and ambition.

March 24, 2015 at 12:45 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/03/15/obama-first-lady-fly-to-los-angeles-on-same-day-but-take-separate-flights/

President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama flew to Los Angeles on Thursday for TV appearances but took separate flights, collectively costing taxpayers at least $1 million.

The president went to appear live on comedian Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show on ABC, while the first lady went to Warner Bros.’ studios in nearby Burbank to tape an appearance on Ellen Degeneres’ popular daytime show that is scheduled to air on Monday.

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Obama traveled on Air Force One, which reportedly costs taxpayers at least $200,000 per flight hour. So the price of his five-hour, coast-to-coast trip will be roughly $1 million.

The cost of an Air Force flight like the one the first lady took reportedly costs more than $28,000 an hour.

After appearing on “Late Night with Jimmy Kimmel,” the president attended a Democratic National Committee fundraiser, then left Friday morning for Phoenix to visit a veterans’ hospital before returning to Washington.

The first lady returned directly to Washington.

* THESE PEOPLE JUST SUCK...

March 24, 2015 at 1:07 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://thehill.com/policy/technology/235861-paul-doubles-down-on-patriot-act-opposition

Sen. Rand Paul is committed to voting against reauthorizing the Patriot Act, even if it jeopardizes the chance to roll back government surveillance.

* THAT SENTENCE MAKES NO SENSE... (BUT THEN AGAIN... THIS IS FROM "THE HILL." THEIR GOAL IS TO MAKE PAUL LOOK BAD.)

“I’m opposed to the Patriot Act and will vote no,” the Kentucky Republican said at the South by Southwest festival, according to US News and World Report.

* AND I'M OPPOSED TO LARGE PARTS OF WHAT IS REFERRED TO AS "THE PATRIOT ACT" AS WELL!

Paul, who sued the Obama administration over the operations of the National Security Agency (NSA) last year, has been unyielding in his opposition to the spy agency.

* UNYIELDING IN HIS OPPOSITION TO THE SPY AGENCY VIOLATING THE CONSTITUTION...

(*SMIRK*)

* AS... AM... I...

Last year, he infuriated some civil libertarians by voting to filibuster an NSA reform bill called the USA Freedom Act, which would have effectively ended the agency’s bulk collection of Americans’ phone records by forcing agents to get the records from private phone companies after obtaining a court order. At the same time, however, it would also have reauthorized the portion of the Patriot Act on which the program is based, as well as two other sections of the law.

* FOLKS... HOPEFULLY IT'S CLEAR TO YOU WHAT THE HILL IS TRYING TO DO HEAR - NAMELY, ATTACK PAUL FROM TWO DIRECTIONS SIMULTAINIOUSLY. (SURELY THEY COULDN'T CARE LESS FOR THE CONSTITUTION OR AMERICANS RIGHTS!)

The fight is set to return to Congress in coming months, ahead of a June 1 deadline when those provisions are set to expire.

Critics of the NSA have eyed that deadline as their best chance to rein in the agency’s spying, but Paul appeared committed to opposing any reform that extended the controversial legal provisions.

“I will vote for the Freedom Act as long as it doesn’t include reauthorization of the Patriot Act,” he told US News on Monday.

* WHICH SEEMS TO ME TO BE THE PRINCIPLED POSITION!

Hawks such as Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) have endorsed the NSA’s operations, which they have said are crucial to fighting terrorists, while Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) co-sponsored the reform bill last year.

* RUBIO AND GRAHAM ARE BOTH NEOCONS.

“I'm the only candidate who thinks the NSA program on phone records should be shut down,” Paul said at the conference over the weekend. (Despite the expectation he will soon announce a run for the White House, Paul later clarified that he was referring to his status as a Senate candidate running for re-election.)

March 24, 2015 at 1:14 PM

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