Author: Jason Ditz

In comments which appeared to be designed to end concerns about foreign donors buying influence in a future Clinton government through the Clinton Foundation, former President Bill Clinton has announced that, if Hillary is elected president, there will be changes made to the foundation’s donations guidelines, including an end to all foreign donations.

Instead of resolving the questions, however, this appears to only add to them, with the advanced notice about a potential end to foreign donations in three months giving the appearance that they’re soliciting those donors before the rule change.

Hillary stepped down from the board of the Clinton Foundation after launching her presidential campaign, and Bill has indicated he would step down as well if she is elected. Still, it is hard to say they would not retain substantial influence over the foundation’s activities.

When she was Secretary of State, Clinton faced similar questions, and indeed the foundation similarly stopped accepting foreign donations while she was in that role, though they resumed accepting such donations as soon as she left the office. This too gives the appearance that foreign donations might just be “temporarily” suspended during her administration, leaving the question of whether donors are buying influence totally unanswered, and just indicating that the cash can’t flow after a certain date.

After hacker Guccifer 2.0 twice hacked significant Democratic Party targets, first releasing considerable information during the DNC and then hacking the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, party leadership appears to be getting a bit gunshy about future leaks embarrassing their presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. They’re also trying to get in front of such leaks by speculating that whatever they say might be “Russian lies” designed to make Hillary look bad.

Democrats have repeatedly speculated that Guccifer 2.0 amounts to the Russian government, and have suggested the hacks were a Russian plot to get the Republican nominee elected.

There is no evidence to support this claim, and so far the indications are that everything that’s been leaked is spot-on fact. With more than a few embarrassing tidbits already released, the fear that there could be a “October surprise” with more embarrassing tidbits is palpable.

Still, it’s a huge stretch to support that this is all a Russian plot, and stretched further still in speculating that there will be future leaks, let alone that they may be lies. What it is, however, is a tacit admission that there is more leak-able information which party officials believe could be hugely deleterious to the campaign.

 

The Muslim community of the city of Sterling Heights, Michigan has filed a lawsuit accusing the city of violating the Religious Land Use Act by forbidding them from building a mosque on land the community already owned within the city limits.

Officially, the Planning Commission claimed their block on construction was based on concern over “traffic,” but locals say that email exchanges among the commissioners, along with public protests across the street and at hearings, suggest that the move was primarily related to a general dislike for Muslims.

At one public hearing, a resident showed a photo of a woman wearing of niqab, declaring “I don’t want to be near people like this. This is not humanity. This is scary, and disgusting.” Another resident accused the Muslims of wanting to build the mosque to “store weapons” and conduct militant training.

The commissioners weren’t much better, with emails reportedly centering around trying to get the leaders of the construction effort investigated as terrorists, and a police officially openly talking about contacting the FBI to see if they are “on the radar.”

Despite the official “traffic in a residential area” explanation, the proposed site is on a five-line road between two commercial districts. Such explanations are not unusual, however.

Across the United States, Muslims attempting to build houses of worship on their own land have faced severe regulatory restrictions, with officials citing traffic concerns, or the noise from the loudspeakers used for adhan. Though it is in theory extremely illegal for an American city to refuse a religious minority the right to build such a site, excuses like traffic and noise provide a flimsy veneer of legitimacy which is often enough to avoid serious scrutiny, even if such excuses would be unthinkable in blocking a church or any other religious site that was not Muslim in nature.

 

 

AP reporter George Jahn, who has been scaremongering about Iran’s civilian nuclear program for untold years, once again has an article breaking, claiming “Secret Document Lifts Iran Nuke Constraints“. Jahn writes similar stories every time he’s done wiping the egg off his face from the last nonsense article. So get the eggs ready.

In today’s “AP Exclusive,” Jahn claims to have obtained a “secret document” which reveals that Iran will be allowed to replace its current centrifuges in 11 to 13 years, phasing out its current 5,000 centrifuges with a smaller number of more advanced centrifuges, which are more efficient.

Jahn claims that because the new centrifuges are a lot better, they could “be used for nuclear warheads.” He’s wrong… of course, but he’s also wrong that this is an exclusive, or the result of a secret document, or even news.

Continue reading “‘AP Exclusive’ on ‘Secret’ Iran Deal Neither Exclusive Nor Secret”

The mayor of the Ohio city of Avon, not far from Cleveland, has issued a formal apology after Emirati businessman Ahmed al-Menhali was falsely arrested by the city’s police as a “terrorist.”

Profiling of a man from the United Arab Emirates isn’t so unusual in 2016 America, but what happened was, with police bursting into the hotel he was staying at, guns drawn, one of them wielding an assault rifle, and screaming at him. Menhali, who was in the US for medical treatment, had a stroke during the ordeal, and ended up hospitalized for three days.

Menhali had been staying in an apartment since April, there for treatment while on a tourist visa, but was told he’d have to leave the week of the upcoming Republican National Convention, so he went to the Avon hotel in search of someplace to stay in the meantime.

The hotel clerk got the manager, who was supposedly going to give him a list of possible hotels to stay at, but instead they called 911, claiming he was in their lobby “pledging allegiance to ISIS.”

Menhali says what happened to him reflect the “mobilization of American society against Muslims,” adding that he was a victim of “state terrorism.”

You know when you go to a baseball game and invariably during some inning break the team points out a group of soldiers or national guard members in the stands and tries to get a big round of applause going? That doesn’t just happen.

A new report from Sens. John McCain (R – AZ) and Jeff Flake (R – AZ) revealed that the Pentagon has spent over $10 million in recent years to keep those “shows of patriotism” active across sporting events.

Whether it’s paying for special VIP parking for generals or for some team to show the military’s logo on their jumbotron, these programs are overwhelmingly pay-to-play sponsorship schemes. If 20 members of the military are getting the “Richard Petty ride-along experience,” it comes as part of a $1.5 million annual expenditure.

Interestingly, Congressional leaders seem to be of two minds about this heavily subsidized pretense of a pro-military environment, insisting it is a waste of money but largely expecting the teams to continue the programs irrespective of whether they pay for them.

That’s probably not going to be realistic, particularly in the long run, and while it’s certainly a waste of taxpayer money to have the National Guard buying a block of Red Sox tickets, Congress may be about to learn that in the absence of “paid patriotism” there’s going to be a lot less VIP treatment coming the military’s way.