Tag: corruption

Hillary’s Foreign Donations More Massive Than Previously Reported

On By kingsjesterIn PoliticsLeave a comment

BBerry-Grandma-NRD-6002Well, it appears that Hillary Clinton’s Campaign Coffers have been filled to the brim, not by American Citizens, but by Foreign Powers.

The New York Times reports that

The book does not hit shelves until May 5, but already the Republican Rand Paul has called its findings “big news” that will “shock people” and make voters “question” the candidacy of Hillary Rodham Clinton.

“Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich,” by Peter Schweizer — a 186-page investigation of donations made to the Clinton Foundation by foreign entities — is proving the most anticipated and feared book of a presidential cycle still in its infancy.

The book, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times, asserts that foreign entities who made payments to the Clinton Foundation and to Mr. Clinton through high speaking fees received favors from Mrs. Clinton’s State Department in return.

“We will see a pattern of financial transactions involving the Clintons that occurred contemporaneous with favorable U.S. policy decisions benefiting those providing the funds,” Mr. Schweizer writes.

His examples include a free-trade agreement in Colombia that benefited a major foundation donor’s natural resource investments in the South American nation, development projects in the aftermath of the Haitian earthquake in 2010, and more than $1 million in payments to Mr. Clinton by a Canadian bank and major shareholder in the Keystone XL oil pipeline around the time the project was being debated in the State Department.

In the long lead up to Mrs. Clinton’s campaign announcement, aides proved adept in swatting down critical books as conservative propaganda, including Edward Klein’s “Blood Feud,” about tensions between the Clintons and the Obamas, and Daniel Halper’s “Clinton Inc.: The Audacious Rebuilding of a Political Machine.”

But “Clinton Cash” is potentially more unsettling, both because of its focused reporting and because major news organizations are expected to pursue the story lines found in the book.

Members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee have been briefed about the book’s findings, which have already made their way into several of the Republican presidential candidates’ campaigns.

Conservative “super PACs” plan to seize on “Clinton Cash,” and a pro-Democrat super PAC has already assembled a dossier on Mr. Schweizer, a speechwriting consultant to former President George W. Bush and a fellow at the conservative Hoover Institute, to make the case that he has a bias against Mrs. Clinton.

And the newly assembled Clinton campaign team is planning a full-court press to diminish the book as yet another conservative hit job.

Mr. Schweizer and a spokeswoman for HarperCollins, which is owned by News Corporation and is publishing the book, declined to comment.

The timing is problematic for Mrs. Clinton as she begins a campaign to position herself as a “champion for everyday Americans.”

From 2001 to 2012, the Clintons’ income was at least $136.5 million, Mr. Schweizer writes, using a figure previously reported in The Washington Post. “During Hillary’s years of public service, the Clintons have conducted or facilitated hundreds of large transactions” with foreign governments, he writes. “Some of these transactions have put millions in their own pockets.”

The Clinton Foundation has come under scrutiny for accepting foreign donations while Mrs. Clinton served as secretary of state. Last week, the foundation revised its policy to allow donations from countries like Germany, Canada, the Netherlands and Britain but prohibit giving by other nations in the Middle East.

Hil and Bubba have not exactly been selective as to whom they have accepted donations to their Foundation from, according to discoverthenetworks.org:

In 2002 the government of Brunei gave between $1 million and $5 million to the Clinton Foundation, to help finance the construction of the Clinton Presidential Library in Arkansas.

* As of December 2008, the Clinton Foundation had received between $1 million and $5 million from Issam Fares, an entrepreneur and philanthropist who once served as deputy prime minister of Lebanon. In the United States, Fares is best known as the CEO of the Wedge Foundation, a Houston-based investment firm. But in his native Lebanon, he is better known as an outspoken supporter of Hezbollah and an apologist for the Syrian dictatorship’s previous military occupation of his country:In the wake of the 9/11 attacks, Fares insisted that “it is a mistake to make a comparison between the al-Qaeda network” and Hezbollah. The latter was actually a “resistance party fighting the Israeli occupation,” Fares said, explaining that “Hezbollah did not carry out any resistance operation against American interests in Lebanon or abroad and did not target civilians in its resistance activities as happened on Sept. 11 at the World Trade Center.”

…As of December 2008, the Clinton Foundation had received between $1 million and $5 million from the Dubai Foundation (DF), which was headed by Dubai’s Prime Minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum. Previously, DF had donated at least 1 million United Arab Emirate (UAE) dirhams (approximately $270,000 U.S.) to “the families of the Palestinian martyrs”—that is, Palestinian terrorists killed in action. And in November of 2006, the sheikh sponsored a concert by Lebanese songstress Julia Bourtos in honor of “Lebanese Martyrs” in Hezbollah.

Also as of December 2008, the Clinton Foundation had received between $1 million and $5 million from the royal family of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, who served as president of the United Arab Emirates from 1971-2004. In 1999, this same family established the (now-defunct) Zayed Center for Coordination and Follow-Up, which became a notorious platform for anti-Semites, Holocaust deniers, and supporters of terrorism.

* Another of the Clinton Foundation’s leading donors is the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which, as of 2008, had contributed between $10 million and $25 million to the Foundation.

In addition to direct contributions from the Saudi government, the Clinton Foundation had also received between $1 million and $5 million from the pro-Saudi advocacy group, Friends of Saudi Arabia (FSA). Launched in 2005 and supported by the Saudi royal family, this group acts as a kind of public-relations agency, protesting what it views as the U.S. media’s unfair portrayal of the Saudi nation. Prior the release of the 2007 film The Kingdom, for example, FSA executive director Michael Saba wrote a letter to the chairman of Universal Studios expressing his concern “that the movie might present negative stereotypes about the people of Saudi Arabia.” Notably, Saba himself is an anti-Israel zealot and conspiracy theorist. His 1984 book, The Armageddon Network, alleges widespread Israeli espionage at the highest levels of the U.S. government, complete with a Justice Department cover-up. In 2004 he claimed—on the basis of no evidence whatsoever—that Israeli interrogators had played a role in the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq in 2003.

* In 2013, Rilin Enterprises—a privately-held Chinese construction and trade conglomerate headed by the Chinese parliament delegate Wang Wenliang—pledged $2 million to the Clinton Foundation’s endowment. According to CBS News: “Public records show the firm has spent $1.4 million since 2012, lobbying Congress and the State Department. The firm owns a strategic port along the border with North Korea and was also one of the contractors that built the Chinese embassy in Washington. That contract is a direct tie to the Chinese government, according to Jim Mann, who has written several books on China’s relationship with the U.S.”

* In 2014 the government of Germany—as a first-time donor—gave the Clinton Foundation between $100,000 and $250,000.

* In 2014 the government of the United Arab Emirates—also a first-time donor—gave the Foundation between $1 million and $5 million.

* In 2013-14 the government of Australia gave the Foundation several million dollars.

* In 2014 a Qatari government committee gave the Foundation between $250,000 and $500,000. Previously, Qatar’s government had donated between $1 million and $5 million to the Foundation.

While all of these donations from foreign sources raise a host of ethical red flags, contributions that were made during Hillary Clinton’s tenure (2009-13) as Secretary of State (SOS) may be even more significant, given the possibility that such funds could be used to buy immediate political influence. During that period, the Clinton Foundation received millions of dollars in donations from seven foreign governments: Australia, Norway, the Dominican Republic, Algeria, Kuwait, Oman, and Qatar (the latter of which spent more than $5.3 million on registered lobbyists while Clinton was SOS).

The government of Saudi Arabia suspended its contributions to the Foundation during Mrs. Clinton’s years as SOS, and then resumed its giving after she stepped down in 2013.

…In January 2009, the Washington Times reported that a secret party had paid an excessive sum for stock donated to the Clinton Foundation:

“Former President Bill Clinton’s foundation, despite identifying more than 200,000 of its donors in recent weeks, will not say who paid it windfall prices for stock in a struggling Internet firm with links to the Chinese government…. Mrs. Clinton’s office and the foundation have declined to answer questions about a lucrative 2006 stock transaction, details of which were reported by The Washington Times in March 2008.

“The Accoona Corp. donated between $250,001 and $500,000 to [the Clinton Foundation] after [Mr. Clinton] spoke at the company’s launch in New York in 2004, according to donor information released by the foundation in December. The foundation sold its Accoona stock for $700,000 two years later, according to the charity’s tax return for 2006.

“Despite what the tax return suggests, Accoona struggled mightily to turn a profit. In 2007, Accoona filed a prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Commission reporting more than $60 million in losses during three years. In the same prospectus, it listed the China Daily Information Corp., a subsidiary of China Daily, the official English-language newspaper of the Chinese government, as an official partner and 6.9 percent owner of the company…. While the Clinton Foundation voluntarily disclosed the original donation of the stock, it still is unwilling to say who was willing to pay so much for its holdings in the struggling company.”

When Hil accepted the Cabinet Position as Obama’s first Secretary of State, the Clinton Foundation “decided to limit contributions from foreign countries”.

Uh huh. Suuure, they did.

Back on April 26, 2010, in a blog I posted, titled, “Obama’s Money Motivations”, I reported that

…Obama has numerous donors who have contributed well over the $4,600 federal election limit.

Many of these donors have never been contacted by the Obama campaign to refund the excess amounts to them.

And more than 37,000 Obama donations appear to be conversions of foreign currency.

According to a Newsmax analysis of the Obama campaign data before the latest figures were released, potential foreign currency donations could range anywhere from $12.8 million to a stunning $63 million in all. With the addition of $150 million raised in September, this amount could be much more.

Talk about your “tangled web”…

From my computer desk down here in Dixie, it appears that the entire premise of “Smart Power” Foreign Policy, in which the Obama Administration has alientated our friends and embraced our enemies, grew out of the generosity of Hillary and Obama’s mutual campaign donators, those “not-so-anonymous” benefactors in the Middle East who donated to both their campaigns.

Additionally. in a possibly related story, there are now big gaps in the timeline of the e-mails which Hillary’s staff has turned over for review.

Hmmm…

I wonder if any of those missing e-mails originated in Saudi Arabia, Oman…or…maybe…Iran?

Keep your popcorn handy, boys and girls.

This is only the beginning. 

Until He Comes,

KJ

The 2014 Midterms: Is There a Political Tsunami Approaching?

On By kingsjesterIn PoliticsLeave a comment

AFBrancoWreckingBall1132014Tomorrow is the most important Midterm Election in our lifetimes.

I’m are not being hyperbolic. I am simply stating a fact.

The New York Times reports that

Republicans entered the final weekend before the midterm elections clearly holding the better hand to control the Senate and poised to add to their House majority. But a decidedly sour electorate and a sizable number of undecided voters added a measure of suspense.

The final drama surrounded the Senate, which has been a Democratic bulwark for President Obama since his party lost its House majority in 2010. Republicans need to gain six seats to seize the Senate, and officials in both parties believe there is a path for them to win at least that many.

Yet the races for a number of seats that will decide the majority remained close, polls showed, prompting Republicans to pour additional money into get-out-the-vote efforts in Alaska, Georgia and Iowa. Democrats were doing the same in Colorado, where they were concerned because groups that tend to favor Republicans voted early in large numbers, and in Iowa.

While an air of mystery hung over no fewer than nine Senate races, the only question surrounding the House was how many seats Republicans would add. If they gain a dozen seats, it will give them an advantage not seen since 1948 and potentially consign the Democrats to minority status until congressional redistricting in the 2020s.

In a sign of a worsening climate, Democratic officials shifted money to incumbents in once-safe districts around Las Vegas and Santa Barbara, Calif. And over the weekend, they put more money toward television ads in districts held by Democrats in Iowa and Minnesota, including that of longtime Representative Collin C. Peterson of Minnesota. Though there are fewer competitive House seats than in past elections because of gerrymandering, party strategists were still airing ads in 40 districts.

“It’s a grim environment,” said Representative Steve Israel of New York, the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Mr. Israel was spending the weekend pleading with his caucus to contribute to imperiled colleagues to minimize losses. Trying to soften the blow, he noted that losses were expected: The party in control of the White House has lost an average of 29 seats in midterm elections in the last century.

Just two years after he won a second term by a commanding margin, Mr. Obama haskept his distance from the most pivotal congressional races. On Saturday, he was to address a heavily African-American crowd in Detroit to bolster Michigan’s Democratic nominee for governor.

Senate Republicans are confident. A senior party official called Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the minority leader, on Saturday at his Louisville home and, after running through voting projections, told Mr. McConnell that he would be the next majority leader. Mr. McConnell’s initial reaction was only a long pause.

According to Nate Silver’s blog, fivethirtyeight.com,

The GOP’s chances of winning the Senate are 68.5 percent, according to the FiveThirtyEight forecast, its highest figure of the year.

Among the 20 new polls released Thursday — it looks like there will be no Great Poll Shortage after all — two were principally responsible for Republican gains. The first was in Kentucky, where a SurveyUSA poll for the Louisville Courier-Journal had Republican incumbent Mitch McConnell ahead 48-43 over Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes. The poll represented a shift from SurveyUSA’s previous two polls, which had a 1 percentage-point lead for McConnell and a 2-point lead for Grimes. With SurveyUSA (a highly rated pollster) now more in line with other polls of the state, we have a clearer story in Kentucky. It’s one that probably ends in a victory for McConnell, whose chances of winning are up to 87 percent.

The other poll was in Arkansas, which hasn’t been surveyed as often as other key Senate races. That poll, from the University of Arkansas, found Republican Tom Cotton up by 13 percentage points over Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor. No other poll of the state has shown Cotton with a double-digit lead, but he hasn’t trailed in a nonpartisan poll since Sept. 22. When the choice is between polls that show a candidate with a small lead and polls that show him with a large lead, he’s usually in good shape just a few days before Election Day.

Speaking of which, it’s not too early to look ahead to election night (along with our partners at ABC News, we’ll be covering everything; we hope you’ll join us). The number you’ll be hearing about all night is six — as in, Republicans need to net six seats from Democrats to win control of the Senate.

As we’ve pointed out before, the “net” part of that phrase is key. Republicans will have to win more than six Democratic-held seats if they lose a couple of their own. Their incumbent in Kansas, Sen. Pat Roberts, is only even-money to win re-election (although there’s a chance independent Greg Orman, even if he wins, could caucus with Republicans). The GOP candidate in Georgia, David Perdue, is ahead by only about 1 percentage point against Democrat Michelle Nunn, and that race could go to a runoff. McConnell is likely, but not certain, to survive.

Can the Republicans win control of the Senate and pick up more seats in the House of Representatives tomorrow?

It all depends on the following factors:

1. How mad are American Voters at President Barack Hussein Obama and his Congressional Enablers in the Democrat Party?

Since Obama assumed the presidency for the second time, he has doubled-down on his mission to “radically change” America into something that it was never meant to be. We all hear our fellow Americans venting their anger to us about the purposeful ineptness of President Pantywaist. But, will this motivate the average American to go to the polls tomorrow and vent their frustration?

2. How big will tomorrow’s turnout be?

Will American Conservatives stay home, as they did when the Republicans ran the severely Moderate Mitt Romney as their Presidential Nominee, or are they sufficiently motivated by Obama’s actions to vote straight Republican…even for snakes like Mississippi’s Thad Cochran, who won his State Party’s Nomination as Senatorial Candidate by enlisting Black Democrats to vote for him in the state’s Republican Primary?

3. Will Voter Fraud be better controlled than it was in the 2012 President Election?

Will Democrats vote early, vote often, and “vote post-mortem”?

If all the stars align and Americans exercise some common sense, tomorrow’s Midterm Elections could turn out to be a Political Tsunami of epic proportions

As you contemplate casting your vote tomorrow, think about this:

Our Founding Fathers designed our government for a very specific purpose: to give Americans a voice in the direction in which direction their country should go.

Tomorrow’s election will be a referendum on the epic failure that is the Presidency of Barack Hussein Obama.

The greatest United States President in my lifetime, Ronald Wilson Reagan, said,

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.

In order to preserve our nation for future generations, it is time to restore the System of Checks and Balances which our Founders, through deliberation and with foresight, so ingeniously put in place over 200 years ago.

Our freedom requires it.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Cochran’s Pyrrhic Victory: Bribery, Racism, and Fear…Oh, My!

On By kingsjesterIn Politics3 Comments

Thad Cochran CartoonWe had a dream and the dream is still with us. Today the conservative movement took a backseat to liberal Democrats in Mississippi. – Chris McDaniel, 6/24/2014

The fallout continues, as more and more information pours in, as to how incumbent Mississippi Republican Senator Thad Cochran achieved his victory in Monday night’s Primary Election against TEA Party Candidate Chris McDaniel.

The truth ain’t pretty.

The New York Times reported that

With an unusual assist from African-American voters and other Democrats who feared his opponent, Senator Thad Cochran on Tuesday beat back a spirited challenge from State Senator Chris McDaniel, triumphing in a Republican runoff and defeating the Tea Party in the state where the movement’s hopes were bright.

“We all have a right to be proud of our state tonight,” Mr. Cochran said at his victory party in Jackson, Miss. “This is your victory.”

Mr. McDaniel, speaking in Hattiesburg, was angry, and he did not hesitate to say so. “There is something a bit strange, there is something a bit unusual about a Republican primary that’s decided by liberal Democrats,” he said.

He accused Mr. Cochran of abandoning the conservative movement. “So much for principles,” he said.

Mr. McDaniel, an uncompromising conservative, relied on the muscle of outside groups and the enthusiasm of conservative voters who are weary of Mr. Cochran’s old-school Washington ways.

The 76-year-old senator ran a largely sleepy campaign until the primary on June 3, when he was edged out by Mr. McDaniel but won enough votes to keep his opponent from outright victory. Mr. Cochran, who is seeking his seventh term, used the past three weeks to turn out Democratic voters — especially African-Americans — to make up that deficit.

Which begs the question: Why would a bunch of Black Democrats down here in Mississippi, vote for a 76-year-old “cracka”, who bills himself as a “Conservative Republican”?

Back on June 17th, Breitbart News reported the following:

Rickey Cole, the chairman of the Mississippi Democratic Party, says Cochran’s allies are paying Democratic operatives to help get out the vote with a questionable tactic.

“Pete Perry” – the chairman of the Hinds County Republican Party – “is paying James ‘Scooby Doo’ Warren thousands of dollars to funnel to black preachers and others to get-out-the-vote for Cochran,” Cole wrote in a Facebook message sent to a top aide of state Sen. Chris McDaniel’s campaign, Ric McCluskey, just after midnight Tuesday.

“Large sums of cash are being passed around. These guys are old school ‘walking around money’ vote buyers,” Cole wrote in the message, obtained by Breitbart News, adding, “Need some out of state media to put some heavy scrutiny on Pete asap.”

In a phone interview, Cole confirmed he made the allegations and that he thinks there should be an investigation. “I can’t prove any of it yet,” Cole said. “This is just what I had heard. It think it warrants investigating, because I don’t know all of the details on it I just got word that James [‘Scooby Doo’ Warren] was bragging that he got money.”

“The reason I sent that text is because I wanted the McDaniel people to know that there was an effort out here ongoing to mobilize Democratic voters to vote for Cochran,” Cole added. “That’s simply because I don’t like the idea of Democrats voting in the Republican primary or Republicans voting in the Democratic primary. I believe members of each party should vote in their own primaries.”

Warren confirmed to the Clarion-Ledger that he is working for Cochran, and got approval from Washington, D.C., Democrats to do so. “I called D.C. and told them what was going on with the tea party,” Warren said. “But I can’t do anything after the 24th because I’m a Democrat … Whoever wins will have to deal with me in November.”

In the story, Warren is not quoted addressing allegations of impropriety from Cole.

In an interview Monday, Perry said he hopes that money routed through him won’t end up used to pay for votes.

When asked if he thinks there’s payments for votes happening in this election, Perry said that “I certainly hope not” adding that while he’s “been against that all my life since the 60s” he has “seen it done and I’m totally against it.”

And, if paying them off did not motivate Black Democrats to vote for an old White Republican, the Cochran Campaign used another time-proven tactic.

Can you say, FEAR, boys and Girls? Sure you can. Check this Cochran Campaign Flyer out:

Cochran Flyer #2

The undisputed Godfather of Conservative Radio Talk Show Hosts, Rush Limbaugh, said the following about this disgusting flyer on his program , yesterday:

Now, it would be one thing if the Democrats did that. They do it every election cycle anyway. But for them to be joined, even if from a distance, by the Republican establishment here, simply confirms what we have long said on this program about establishment Washington. It is ruling class vs. country class. It’s elites vs. the plebes. You and me are the plebes, and they are the elites, and they are aligning together.

My friend Mark Levin, F. Lee Levin, makes the point that Washington is not going to be fixed from Washington. This proves it, if there was any proof needed. Washington is not going to be fixed in Washington. The establishment is going to align itself every which way it can against any outside challenger, like this Tea Party candidate. But it does look like African-Americans.

Democrat African-Americans really did secure the victory for Thad Cochran in a Republican primary. So here we have a result that is not representative of the Republican Party thinking in Mississippi. The technique that was used and the manner in which this was achieved is reprehensible.

Former Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin also shot from the hip, concerning Cochran’s “shenanigans” on her Facebook Page, yesterday:

With Friends Like These, Who Needs Liberals?

As we pointed out last week (see: http://t.co/y8T64iZQyR), there were several potentially illegal political games afoot in Mississippi to motivate Democrat voters to “switch” over to the GOP for a day to help save a 42 year Republican member of Congress. On top of that, millions of dollars from out of state liberal billionaires like Mike Bloomberg poured in at the last minute on that same incumbent’s behalf. You have to ask yourself why? When a primary election is lost fairly, I am all for unifying behind the victor and joining forces to fight in November. When an election is questionable, with potential legal violations, politics MUST be put aside and the irregularities MUST be fully investigated. Regardless of party, we owe it to voters and to democracy within our Republic. The integrity of the vote speaks directly to the integrity of those who serve and the trust we ask the American public to put in our institutions. I told Chris McDaniel last night that I stand with his effort to get to the bottom of this – he needs to know average, but tremendously concerned, citizens want to make sure the integrity of last night’s results in Mississippi are verified. Voting shenanigans never cease to amaze, but they had better cease altogether for the sake of ethical elections. And any GOP “architect” behind these abhorrent voting shenanigans should be ashamed of this Pyrrhic victory for the establishment. If we find out it’s true that some of the characters alleged to have masterminded this Mississippi hijacking are the same ones who’ve tried to destroy other Republicans’ careers, they need to be taken to task and only be hired by unethical campaigns. Fool us once, shame on you; fool us twice, shame on us. And if any news organization ignores a free and fair elections issue like this, than whether left-leaning or center right, their silence will speak volumes.

As a Mississippian, I have lost all faith in my state’s Republican Party. As regular readers know, I have gone after the out-of-touch National GOP Establishment incessantly, bestowing upon them the title of “Vichy Republicans”. However, in my naiveté, it never occurred to me that a politician from the Magnolia State, where we pride ourselves on our gentlemanly manners and Christian upbringing, could be just a big a cold-hearted snake as the spineless Speaker of the House and that product of Chicago Backroom Politics, the fallen messiah in the White House.

Brother,was I wrong.

So, don’t come begging to me and my fellow Conservative Mississippi Republicans for “unity” this November, Senator Cochran. After last night, it will probably fall on deaf ears.

Shame on you.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Gang-Related Violence: It Doesn’t Take a Village. It Takes a Dad.

On By kingsjesterIn PoliticsLeave a comment

Father and SonOn Resurrection Sunday afternoon, I was sitting beside my 30 year old step son watching Avatar, as my 6 year old grandson came over and crawled up between us, putting his head on his Daddy’s chest. He was worn out from attending church with us that morning, followed by a lunch of ham, au gratin potatoes, and deviled eggs, which Grandma cooked, finished off by a dessert of all the chocolate that the Easter Bunny brought. Of course, that darn rabbit had made a stop over here.

As I watched my grandson laying there, I thought about what a difference having a father makes in a boy’s life.

My father certainly made an everlasting difference in mine. He is the one who led me to Christ, counseling and supporting me, and loving me until he passed away after Christmas in 1997.

I think of him and thank God for him often.

I have had the privilege of being the step-father of 3 very different boys, now grown into young men. The first one works as an account executive with a major company. The second one is a seminary student who is planting a church in Midtown Memphis. And the last one, who I mentioned earlier, is an over the road truck driver, who is home every weekend.

I think often about all three of these young men often and pray that I have made a difference in their lives.

What got me thinking about the role that fathers play in the lives of young men, is all of the gang-related violence that is going on in our American Cities, like Chicago, Illinois.

In today’s modern culture, the stigma of having a baby out of wedlock is quite frankly no longer a stigma. In some corners, especially the Liberal ones, It is actually considered a sign of Feminine Independence.

Among a lot of the young black male population, it is a sign of prestige to be a player, or, as we used to call it, to be a ladies man.

This practice has become so popular, that now over 75 percent of America’s black population is being born out of wedlock and being raised without a father.

Grandfathers, uncles, clergy, and school coaches and principals try to fill in the gap and help these boys as they grow up, but a boy needs a man around every day of their life.

They need a consistent role model to teach them right from wrong, how to treat women, and how to be a man.

Regardless of what all of the Liberal experts say, a male father figure is essential in building a young man’s self- image.

The gang problem that the nation is facing… or ignoring… depending on your point of view, is a direct result of this lack of traditional role models in young men’s lives.

Governments, both municipal and federal, have been throwing money at the “Gang problem” for years..that is,when cities even acknowledge that they have one.

The problem is that the desire for cities to become a tourist attraction, usually outweighs their desire to acknowledge that they do have a Gang Problem.

Look at Chicago, for example. It just came out yesterday that “the Godfather”, Rahm Emmanuel, the mayor of Chicago, and his Police Superintendent, are cooking the books to make it look like the Windy City is not as violent as it actually is.

Warner Todd Huston reports for Breitbart.com that

A loud debate about crime statistics is taking place in Chicago as 2014 gets underway. The Police Department is claiming that it has helped lower crime, as statistics are down all across the board over last year. But others claim that the ultra cold and snowy Winter weather Chicago just experienced is what held crime down, not any particular efforts by the Chicago PD. More ominously, others say the police are actually cooking the stats.

Last week, Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy claimed that his department was “making progress” on defeating crime and pointed to the lower rates as proof.

Not everyone is accepting McCarthy’s claims as given.

Many say the weather was the main factor, not the police. Their case is bolstered by the fact that during the first weekend of the year favored by moderate weather, violence in Chicago exploded with 35 shootings in only 36 hours.

But others see something more nefarious in the falling crime rates than just an oppressive Winter. A new investigative report by Chicago Magazine claims that Mayor Emanuel and Superintendent McCarthy are cooking the stats to make it appear that crime is falling when in fact it is not.

The magazine says that murders and violent crimes are being reported in ways that hide them from accumulated statistics.

In one case, for instance, a woman was murdered but because her corpse had so many different injuries the coroner couldn’t determine exactly which one killed her. But instead of classifying the death as a murder, the Chicago police classified the death as a “noncriminal death.” How could a clear murder be called a “noncriminal death”? According to police, it was because they coroner didn’t specify what injury killed her.

“With the stroke of a computer key, she was airbrushed out of Chicago’s homicide statistics,” Chicago Magazine notes.

In another case a man was found severely beaten. He died a few days after being taken to the hospital. Instead of classifying his death as a result of a criminal act, police classified the cause of his death as “diabetes.”

These weren’t the only cases the magazine found, either.

“We identified 10 people… who were beaten, burned, suffocated, or shot to death in 2013 and whose cases were reclassified as death investigations, downgraded to more minor crimes, or even closed as noncriminal incidents—all for illogical or, at best, unclear reasons,” the article says.

The authors also found the same “troubling practice” in the reporting of other crimes, “including serious felonies such as robberies, burglaries, and assaults, that were misclassified, downgraded to wrist-slap offenses, or made to vanish altogether.”

It was all a “betrayal of public trust,” the authors wrote.

Superintendent McCarthy called the article “patently false” and he said the reliance on anonymous sources discredits the findings. “I’m troubled by it because it hurts our credibility while we’re trying to build our credibility,” Chicago’s top cop said.

So, what’s the answer?

A song that Elton John came out with during his comeback in the 1980s goes,

Mama don’t want you
Daddy don’t want you
Give it up baby, baby
Mama can’t buy you love

Municipal and Federal Governments can throw as much money at the problem of gang-related violence as they want to, but, until this Cycle of Irresponsibility, i.e., irresponsible parents creating irresponsible kids, somehow gets broken, through prayer, education, and community/church involvement, crime will continue to escalate in America’s Cities.

Because, if the parents do not want to love, care for, and raise their children in the way that they should go, the gangs sure will.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Obama’s Website Speech: Would You Buy a Used Car From This Man?

On By kingsjesterIn Politics10 Comments

Obama-Used-Car-salesmanYesterday Morning, the 44th President of the United States, Barack Hussein Obama, walked out into the Rose Garden, surrounded by Human Props, and made what was essentially a Campaign Speech, in a desperate attempt to save face, after the humiliation of the biggest failure to launch since the Rosie O’Donnell Variety Hour:

Over the past two and a half weeks, millions of Americans visited HealthCare.gov to look at their new health care options under the Affordable Care Act. In that time, nearly half a million applications for coverage have been submitted from across the nation. This tremendous interest – with over 19 million unique visits to date to HealthCare.gov– confirms that the American people are looking for quality, affordable health coverage, and want to find it online.

Unfortunately, the experience on HealthCare.gov has been frustrating for many Americans. Some have had trouble creating accounts and logging in to the site, while others have received confusing error messages, or had to wait for slow page loads or forms that failed to respond in a timely fashion. The initial consumer experience of HealthCare.gov has not lived up to the expectations of the American people. We are committed to doing better.

Aside from the difficulties since launching the site, there are parts of the overall system that have proved up to the task. The “Data Hub,” component, which provides HealthCare.gov with information that aids in determining eligibility for qualified health plans, is working. Individuals have been able to verify their eligibility for credits, enabling them to shop for and enroll in low or even no-cost health plans.

Since launch, when we first recognized these issues, we have been working around the clock to make improvements.We have updated the site several times with new code that includes bug fixes that have greatly improved the HealthCare.gov experience. The initial wave of interest stressed the account service, resulting in many consumers experiencing trouble signing up, while those that were able to sign up sometimes had problems logging in.

In response, we have made a number of improvements to the account service. Initially, we implemented a virtual “waiting room,” but many found this experience to be confusing. We continued to add more capacity in order to meet demand and execute software fixes to address the sign up and log in issues, stabilizing those parts of the service and allowing us to remove the virtual “waiting room.” Today, more and more individuals are successfully creating accounts, logging in, and moving on to apply for coverage and shop for plans. We’re proud of these quick improvements, but we know there’s still more work to be done. We will continue to conduct regular maintenance nearly every night to improve the experience.

To ensure that we make swift progress, and that the consumer experience continues to improve, our team has called in additional help to solve some of the more complex technical issues we are encountering.

I am surprised that the Cheesey Preezy didn’t try to work in the statement,

Can you hear me now?

According to USA Today…

An informed source in the telecommunications industry said Verizon’s Enterprise Solutions division has been asked by the Department of Health and Human Services to improve the performance of the HealthCare.gov site, which is a key component of the Affordable Care Act. The source spoke on condition of anonymity because the announcement had not been made official.

…It makes sense for HHS to seek Verizon’s help, said Aneesh Chopra, the Obama administration’s former chief technology officer and now a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress. “There is an existing ‘best and brightest’ available to call in,” Chopra said. “Verizon is one of those already under contract.”

The odds that the problem will be fixed are “50-50,” said Clark Kelso, California’s chief information officer under governors Gray Davis and Arnold Schwarzenegger. “They’ve got a short window here to try to fix things,” Kelso said. “Simply throwing a lot of new programmers at something like this does not guarantee success.”

It makes even more sense, if you do a little research, like I did.

Per opensecrets.org, Verizon’s biggest Political Contribution in the 2012 election was to…you guessed it…the Re-election Campaign of Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm). Verizon contributed $223,741.

Can you say “rewarding your friends”, boys and girls? Sure you can.

Back in 1980, a movie came out, which has since become a cult favorite. Its title was “Used Cars”. It starred Kurt Russell as a sleazy Used Car Salesman named Rudy Russo, who would do or say anything he had to, in order to make a sale.

Rudy’s favorite line, when making a sale,or devising a scheme, was

Trust me.

That movie, and the character of Rudy Russo, reminded me of Obama and his speech, yesterday,

Obama’s desperate. His Signature Legislation, the misnamed “Affordable Care Act”, passed in the dark of night by his Congressional Minions, is circling down the ol’ porcelain receptacle at an ever-accelerating rate.

In fact, it has already been declared a disaster by a lot of objective experts, including Consumer Reports…

On October 1, the day the Obamacare exchanges went online, the magazine told people to be patient: “Don’t worry if you can’t sign up today or even within the next couple of weeks.” A week into enrollment, they urged again to “wait a couple weeks and hope that the site irons out its many problems” because the HealthCare.gov is “barely operational.”

As the editors continued to review the website over the next few days, they only had one positive statement: “On the plus side,” they noted, “consumers coming to HealthCare.gov are no longer stopped cold by an error message or a screen saying they’ve been put in a waiting line.”

Now three weeks into the exchanges, having offered reviews and advice, Consumer Reports said that “if all [these suggestions] are too much to absorb, follow our previous advice: Stay away from Healthcare.gov,” at least for the time being.

Good Advice.  As I reported the other day, the designers of the website, CGI Federal, Obama Donors in their own right, were fired for poor performance by Canadian Health Officials, before being given the contract for Healthcare.gov by Obama.

Now, Obama is calling upon another major donor, Verizon, to fix the “tore up from the floor up” website.

Evidently, the corruption and cronyism which Obama surrounds himself with, just like the character Rudy Russo, from “Used Cars” are just the way ol’ Scooter rolls. Except, in the movie, Rudy actually turned out to have some redeeming qualities.

In 2007, Biden said that Obama was “story book”. He is: Pinocchio. But, instead of his nose growing when he lies, our National Debt does. And, his Political Patrons get richer.

Until He Comes, 

KJ

Obama. the Patriot Act, and “Chicago Politics”: A Story of “Evolving”

On By kingsjesterIn Politics1 Comment

obamascandalsWhen did the United States of America turn into the old Soviet Union? Americans are asking that question, in shock over the realization that the Obama Administration , through the NSA, has been spying on average American citizens, even though President Barack Obama insists that they are not spying on every American citizen.

Representative Jim Sensenbrenner, who introduced the PATRIOT Act on the House floor in 2001, has declared that lawmakers’ and the executive branch’s excuses about recent revelations of NSA activity are “a bunch of bunk.”

In an interview on Laura Ingraham’s radio show Wednesday morning, the Republican congressman from Wisconsin reiterated his concerns that the administration and the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court have gone far beyond what the PATRIOT Act intended. Specifically, he said that Section 215 of the act “was originally drafted to prevent data mining” on the scale that’s occurred.

Sensenbrenner, the current chairman on the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations, suggested that the secret nature of the FISA court has prevented appropriate congressional oversight over the NSA’s activities.

Several years ago, Obama felt differently about this subject.

On December 15, 2005, Senator Barack Hussein Obama (D-IL) gave the following Senate Floor Speech on the subject of the Patriot Act:

Four years ago, following the most devastating attack in our history, this body passed the USA PATRIOT Act in order to give our nation’s law enforcement the tools they need to track down terrorists who plot and lurk within our own borders and all over the world – terrorists who, right now, are looking to exploit weaknesses in our laws and our security to carry out even deadlier attacks than we saw on September 11th.

We all agree that we needed legislation to make it harder for suspected terrorists to go undetected in this country. And we all agree we needed to make it harder for them to organize and strategize and get flight licenses and sneak across our borders. Americans everywhere wanted that.

But soon after the PATRIOT Act passed, a few years before I ever arrived in the Senate, I began hearing concerns from people of every background and political leaning that this law – the very purpose of which was to protect us – was also threatening to violate our rights and freedoms as Americans. That it didn’t just provide law enforcement the powers it needed to keep us safe, but powers it didn’t need to invade our privacy without cause or suspicion.

In Washington, this issue has tended degenerate into an “either-or” type debate. Either we protect our people from terror or we protect our most cherished principles. But that is a false choice. It asks too little of us and assumes too little about America.

That’s why as it’s come time to reauthorize this law, we’ve been working in a bipartisan way to do both – to show the American people that we can track down terrorists without trampling on our civil liberties. To show the American people that the federal government will only issue warrants and execute searches because it needs to, not because it can. What we have been trying to achieve, under the leadership of a bipartisan group of Senators, is some accountability in this process – to get answers and see evidence where there is suspicion.

Uh huh. 

That was then. This is now.

Fast forward to 2013…

RawStory.com reports that

The FBI’s use of a controversial Patriot Act provision to demand business records has skyrocketed more than 1,000 percent under President Barack Obama versus his Republican predecessor George W. Bush, according to a report by NBC News.

The so-called business records provision of the Patriot Act, titled Section 215, is the justification used for the NSA’s massive PRISM intercept program that sucks up nearly all domestic communications and stores them for future reference. A single Section 215 order was behind last week’s revelation that Verizon is cooperating with the NSA and handing over millions of phone call records daily.

Altogether, the FBI approached the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA) court to approve business records requests 212 times in 2012, reporter Michael Isikoff learned. He notes that figure also represents a 1,000 percent increase from the number of requests filed just four years earlier by members of the Bush administration.

Companies that receive demands for business records under Section 215 of the Patriot Act are also subject to a secret gag order, forbidding them from even disclosing that records were divulged. Isikof noted that FBI Director Robert Muller told Congress in 2011 the bureau began relying more heavily on Section 215 requests in 2010, when certain telecommunications firms started refusing to honor the bureau’s National Security Letters (NSLs), another provision of the Patriot Act that carries a gag order similar to Section 215.

Wow. I was going to quote the old saying, “Total power corrupts totally.” however, Obama was a master at “Chicago Politics” before he became president. Here’s a cute little story from my bio of Obama, “The Great Disconnect: The Whole, Ugly Truth about Barack Hussein Obama”:

n 2004, Illinois State Senator Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm) decided to run for The United States Senate.

In order to have a successful Senatorial campaign, Scooter  had to secure tremendous financial backing and be the recipient of astute political mentoring.  No problem.

It is now very well-known that George Soros, evil genius, major Democratic Party donor and anti-Israel crusader, has been a generous contributor to Barack Obama. However, not too many people know that a loophole in McCain-Feingold allowed Soros and his family members to be extremely generous in their support of Obama’s 2004 Senatorial campaign.

Obama had to run against Blair Hull in the primary and then Jack Ryan in the general (both multi-millionaires). Obama received huge donations from individuals, to so-called “millionaires exception.”  Usually,  individuals are limited to giving $2300 to candidates in federal elections, but if the candidates are running against millionaires, these limits do not apply and candidates are allowed to receive up to $12,000 from a single individual. Soros and his family gave Barack Obama $60,000. This does not count the money that Soros was funneled to so-called 527 groups (Moveon.org, for example) that have also been politically active; nor does it include money that Soros raised from tapping a network of friends, business associates, and employees.

Besides garnering unlimited campaign funds, as the campaigns entered their closing rounds, the news ”happened to be” leaked to media outlets that both Hull and Ryan had “personal scandals” in their past. The timely release of this news wiped out both of their campaigns, leading to an easy victory for Obama in the primary and then in the general election.

The New York Times Magazine revealed that David Axelrod, Obama’s chief political and media adviser, may well have been behind the leak of the story that doomed the Hull candidacy as the primary reached its home stretch.  I’m shocked.

As he has shown over the years, Axelrod was right at home operating in this gray area, part idealist, part hired muscle. One can not bring up Axelrod’s name  in certain circles in Chicago without the matter of the Blair Hull divorce papers coming up. Approaching the 2004 Senate primary, it was clear that it was a two-man race: the millionaire liberal, Hull, leading in the polls, and Obama, who was the figurehead of an impressive grass-roots campaign. One month before the vote, The Chicago Tribune “just happened” to reveal, at the end of a long profile of Hull, that during a divorce proceeding, Hull’s second wife filed for an order of protection. This revelation proceeded to erupt into a full-fledged scandal.  This scandal destroyed Hull’s campaign and handed Obama an easy primary victory.

The Tribune reporter who wrote the story later admitted in print that the Obama camp had “worked aggressively behind the scenes” to push the story. However, a lot of folks in Chicago believe that Axelrod leaked the initial story. They will tell you that before signing on with Obama, Axelrod interviewed with Hull. They also point out that Obama’s TV ad campaign just happened to start at almost the same time. Axelrod swears up and down that “we had nothing to do with it” and that the campaign’s television ad schedule was in the works for a long time.

Axlerod’s explanation?

An aura grows up around you, and people assume everything emanates from you.

Obama has a history of Machiavellian political machinations, doing whatever it took at the time, to achieve the goal of his “laser-like focus”.

Just like Obama’s Promises, all of his Political Ideological Stances come with expiration dates.

If you do not believe that he knew about each and every one of the current scandals, which are threatening to topple his Regime, and have brought his second term to a standstill, and they all had, at least, Obama’s tacit approval, then you’ve been oblivious since January 21, 2009.

…or…you believe that MSNBC is an unbiased cable news channel.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Did Obama Sanction Allred’s “October Surprise”?

On By kingsjesterIn Politics4 Comments

You’re Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm). Your record as President stinks on ice so badly, it would be like taking cyanide to run on  it….and your internal polls resemble the voyage of the Titanic…after it struck the iceberg.

What do you do? Well, you could return to the old, reliable Chicago Politics way of doing things, like your campaign did when you were running for Senator:

In 2004, Illinois State Senator Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm) decided to run for The United States Senate.

In order to have a successful Senatorial campaign, Scooter  had to secure tremendous financial backing and be the recipient of astute political mentoring.  No problem.

It is now very well-known that George Soros, evil genius, major Democratic Party donor and anti-Israel crusader, has been a generous contributor to Barack Obama. However, not too many people know that a loophole in McCain-Feingold allowed Soros and his family members to be extremely generous in their support of Obama’s 2004 Senatorial campaign.

Obama had to run against Blair Hull in the primary and then Jack Ryan in the general (both multi-millionaires). Obama received huge donations from individuals, to so-called “millionaires exception.”  Usually,  individuals are limited to giving $2300 to candidates in federal elections, but if the candidates are running against millionaires, these limits do not apply and candidates are allowed to receive up to $12,000 from a single individual. Soros and his family gave Barack Obama $60,000. This does not count the money that Soros was funneled to so-called 527 groups (Moveon.org, for example) that have also been politically active; nor does it include money that Soros raised fromtapping a network of friends, business associates, and employees.

Besides garnering unlimited campaign funds, as the campaigns entered their closing rounds, the news ”happened to be” leaked to media outlets that both Hull and Ryan had “personal scandals” in their past. The timely release of this news wiped out both of their campaigns, leading to an easy victory for Obama in the primary and then in the general election.

The New York Times Magazine revealed that David Axelrod, Obama’s chief political and media adviser, may well have been behind the leak of the story that doomed the Hull candidacy as the primary reached its home stretch.  I’m shocked.

As he has shown over the years, Axelrod was right at home operating in this gray area, part idealist, part hired muscle. One can not bring up Axelrod’s name  in certain circles in Chicago without the matter of the Blair Hull divorce papers coming up. Approaching the 2004 Senate primary, it was clear that it was a two-man race: the millionaire liberal, Hull, leading in the polls, and Obama, who was the figurehead of an impressive grass-roots campaign. One month before the vote, The Chicago Tribune “just happened” to reveal, at the end of a long profile of Hull, that during a divorce proceeding, Hull’s second wife filed for an order of protection. This revelation proceeded to erupt into a full-fledged scandal.  This scandal destroyed Hull’s campaign and handed Obama an easy primary victory.

The Tribune reporter who wrote the story later admitted in print that the Obama camp had “worked aggressively behind the scenes” to push the story. However, a lot of folks in Chicago believe that Axelrod leaked the initial story. They will tell you that before signing on with Obama, Axelrod interviewed with Hull. They also point out that Obama’s TV ad campaign just happened to start at almost the same time. Axelrod swears up and down that “we had nothing to do with it” and that the campaign’s television ad schedule was in the works for a long time.

Axlerod’s explanation?

An aura grows up around you, and people assume everything emanates from you.

Now, back to the present election…and foxnews.com:

DNC delegate and partisan Democrat lawyer Gloria Allred attended the “30 Days to Victory” Obama fundraiser at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles on October 7th…featuring George Clooney and musical acts Katy Perry, Stevie Wonder, Jennifer Hudson, Bon Jovi and Earth, Wind & Fire. After the fundraiser, Allred admitted to O’Reilly Factor correspondent Jesse Watters that she “just had a few words with the President” backstage, “he had some very kind words for me,” and “knows of my work…” but would not elaborate more on the details of her conversation. Now, two weeks later Allred is spearheading an “October surprise” targeting Mitt Romney just days before the election.

Allred is looking to unseal testimony that the GOP presidential candidate gave in the divorce case of Staples founder Tom Stemberg. Staples was founded with seed money from Romney’s firm, Bain Capital and Stemberg is a Romney surrogate. Allred appeared in court today with ex-wife Maureen Stemberg. Many are wondering if there is any coordination between the Obama campaign and Gloria Allred, considering the relationship involved…

JESSE WATTERS, FOX NEWS: Now, be honest, were you here for the musical acts or President Obama?

GLORIA ALLRED: I’m a very proud supporter of President Obama. I was an elected Obama delegate to the democratic National Convention, I just had a few words with the President.

WATTERS: What did he tell you?

ALLRED: Well, I’ll just say he was very kind to me. He had some very kind words to me. And he knows of my work for women’s rights. And I of course am very appreciative of everything he has done and everything I know he will do in four years for women’s rights. And it’s so essential that we re-elect President Obama because the alternative is just unthinkable.

Graft, corruption, and dirty tricks…Chicago Politics at its finest.

We need four more years of this garbage like Lindsey Lohan needs another drink.

C’mon November 6th!