When Hillary Clinton ran for president in 2008, she released an ad claiming she would answer the phone in the White House if it rang at 3 AM, but on Easter Sunday she was the very last presidential candidate to tweet about a deadly suicide bombing in Lahore, Pakistan.
Over 300 were injured and at least 72 killed by the blast in the section of Gulshan-i-Iqbal park "which houses swings, train and some other attractions for children," the AFP reports. The attack occurred Sunday night in Pakistan, but their time is 9 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time, so it was the early afternoon in the United States.
Ohio Governor John Kasich was the first presidential candidate to tweet about the bombing, at 2:10 PM EST. "Let us remember the victims ... as we gather strength and resolve to defeat all who threaten our values," tweeted Kasich, who is trailing far back in third place in the GOP primary race. He also linked to a statement on the attack, condemning the "cowardly mass execution of innocent women and children, reportedly including Christian families" as "an outrage."
Nearly an hour later, Clinton's lone-standing rival in the Democratic primaries, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders tweeted, "We are grieving today for the families affected by the deplorable attack in Lahore. No one should ever fear taking their children to a park."
Donald Trump didn't address the attack on Twitter until 4:37 PM, even though he did tweet an Easter greeting at 3:41 PM. "Another radical Islamic attack, this time in Pakistan, targeting Christian women & children," Trump tweeted. "At least 67 dead, 400 injured."
"I alone can solve," Trump added, but he didn't make another tweet about it, explaining how he "alone" could "solve" suicide bombing attacks across the world.
Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz didn't tweet about the attack until 7:25 PM. "The evil that is radical Islamism struck in Pakistan today in a shocking display of savagery," Cruz wrote, with a link to a statement posted at his campaign website. But that was not until after his twitter account sought volunteers for the #CruzCrew, in a tweet that included a screenshot from a Fox News Poll that claimed Republicans had a higher opinion of him than Trump and Kasich.
Hillary Clinton's official Twitter account tweeted three times after Kasich and Sanders first responded to the attack, but it didn't mention the bombing until after midnight, at 12:27 AM. "My prayers are with the victims of the horrific Easter Day attack in Lahore," the former Secretary of State tweeted. "Pakistan and all nations must confront & defeat terrorists." It included an H, indicating that it was a quote from the current Democratic presidential front-runner herself.
Non-partisan investigative reporting on political scandals, propaganda, security firms and hackers; media criticism. In 2015, Judicial Watch, Huffington Post, MSNBC, WSJ, DC Examiner, Breitbart News and other media outlets ran stories based on my coverage of Hillary Clinton. 2016 articles published by Daily Caller at this link.
Tuesday, March 29, 2016
Thursday, March 17, 2016
Clinton aide wanted embattled Secret Service Director to read her words of support during prostitute scandal
An email released by the State Department in the last batch of Clinton emails shows that Hillary's aides wanted the Secret Service director to use her "supportive words" when he was in the hot spot facing Congressional hearings during a prostitution and security scandal. Two Clinton Foundation officials originated the chain of emails which were sent to Huma Abdein - at her private Clinton server address - after she applied for her Special Government Employee status so that she could work part-time at the State Department, the foundation, Hillary Clinton herself, and a consulting firm co-founded by the same person who emailed her.
Longtime Clinton aide, Huma Abedin - who serves as the vice chairwoman for Hillary's 2016 presidential campaign while reportedly under multiple government investigations surrounding the Clinton email scandal and alleged overpayments she received for vacation pay - applied for S.G.E. status in March of 2012. But it took a few months to process because she and her husband, former NY Rep. Anthony Weiner - who resigned after lying about being hacked and sexting multiple women - resisted turning in the required financial paperwork. She wasn't able to go part-time at the State Department and simultaneously work elsewhere until June of 2012.
The chain of emails began when Ilya Aspis, special assistant to former President Bill Clinton at the Clinton Foundation, copy-and-pasted a Newsmax article, on April 18, 2012, which reported, "Republican leaders – including Mitt Romney – have voiced support and confidence in Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan in the wake of the Colombia prostitution scandal that has rocked the agency he leads." Aspis, who also once served as the Deputy Director for the Executive Office of President Clinton, doesn't get a lot of attention from the media, and he was paid $38.32 by the Hillary for President campaign, according to a 2009 FEC filing.
Secret Service agents hired prostitutes while they were protecting President Barack in Cartagena, Columbia during the Summit of the Americas, and Sullivan was in the midst of Congressional hearings trying to determine if there were any security breaches. He ended up surviving that scandal, but after it was reported that one of the agents admitted to soliciting call-girls in El Salvador and Panama, Sullivan resigned on February 1, 2013, which was the same day Hillary Clinton and Huma Abedin left the State Department.
The article also quoted former Bill Clinton "body man" Doug Band, who helped launch the Clinton Foundation and co-founded the worldwide consulting agency Teneo. Band also sometimes consulted former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, but he wasn't paid for it, however, he did work on her transition team. Early the next morning, Band forwarded the email to Abedin at her Huma@clintonemail.com address.
Within an hour, Abedin forwarded the email to former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Philippe Reines - another longtime Hillary Clinton aide - to his personal email address, which was redacted by the State Department. Last October, Gawker reported that Reines had lied about never using a "personal email account to conduct official State Department business." And these emails also contradict Reine's initial claims, after the private Clinton server story broke a little over a year ago.
"Sending along in the off chance hrc gets asked by press," Abedin wrote Reines, but there is a redaction beneath that short sentence. Ccing Hillary Clinton, Reines swiftly responded, "She actually got it from Wolf yesterday and gave a great answer about their professionalism protecting her family. I'll send you the excerpt as soon as we have and you can pass to Sullivan so he says her supportive words."
Reines was referring to CNN's Wolf Blitzer who called the prostitution scandal "shocking" during an interview with Clinton and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on April 18th. While Panetta admitted it was "disturbing" twice, Clinton seemed more perturbed that the story broke, then what had occurred.
The 2016 presidential candidate said that she didn't think there would be "so much diplomatic fallout as the unfortunate fact that it certainly ate up a lot of the coverage the summit, which was a meaningful get-together, only happens once every three years, an opportunity to showcase Colombia."
Immediately switching gears, Clinton used the moment to hype White House accomplishments and told Blitzer, "Think about how much Colombia has changed. And the United States, with our Plan Colombia support, has really been at the forefront of helping Colombia emerge as a real dynamo in the region."
Clinton never named Sullivan by name, and "her supportive words" didn't really address the scandal, at all.
"As Leon said, there’ll be investigations both in the military and the Secret Service," Clinton said. "I’ve had Secret Service protection for more than 20 years, and I’ve only seen the very best, the professionalism, the dedication of the men and women who have been around me and my family."
Unless Sullivan used Clinton's words in a Congressional hearing, a search on Google didn't turn up any instances where the embattled Secret Service director ever used them. It's also possible that Reines committed a typo, and he meant to write "sees", instead of "says."
Longtime Clinton aide, Huma Abedin - who serves as the vice chairwoman for Hillary's 2016 presidential campaign while reportedly under multiple government investigations surrounding the Clinton email scandal and alleged overpayments she received for vacation pay - applied for S.G.E. status in March of 2012. But it took a few months to process because she and her husband, former NY Rep. Anthony Weiner - who resigned after lying about being hacked and sexting multiple women - resisted turning in the required financial paperwork. She wasn't able to go part-time at the State Department and simultaneously work elsewhere until June of 2012.
The chain of emails began when Ilya Aspis, special assistant to former President Bill Clinton at the Clinton Foundation, copy-and-pasted a Newsmax article, on April 18, 2012, which reported, "Republican leaders – including Mitt Romney – have voiced support and confidence in Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan in the wake of the Colombia prostitution scandal that has rocked the agency he leads." Aspis, who also once served as the Deputy Director for the Executive Office of President Clinton, doesn't get a lot of attention from the media, and he was paid $38.32 by the Hillary for President campaign, according to a 2009 FEC filing.
Secret Service agents hired prostitutes while they were protecting President Barack in Cartagena, Columbia during the Summit of the Americas, and Sullivan was in the midst of Congressional hearings trying to determine if there were any security breaches. He ended up surviving that scandal, but after it was reported that one of the agents admitted to soliciting call-girls in El Salvador and Panama, Sullivan resigned on February 1, 2013, which was the same day Hillary Clinton and Huma Abedin left the State Department.
The article also quoted former Bill Clinton "body man" Doug Band, who helped launch the Clinton Foundation and co-founded the worldwide consulting agency Teneo. Band also sometimes consulted former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, but he wasn't paid for it, however, he did work on her transition team. Early the next morning, Band forwarded the email to Abedin at her Huma@clintonemail.com address.
Within an hour, Abedin forwarded the email to former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Philippe Reines - another longtime Hillary Clinton aide - to his personal email address, which was redacted by the State Department. Last October, Gawker reported that Reines had lied about never using a "personal email account to conduct official State Department business." And these emails also contradict Reine's initial claims, after the private Clinton server story broke a little over a year ago.
"Sending along in the off chance hrc gets asked by press," Abedin wrote Reines, but there is a redaction beneath that short sentence. Ccing Hillary Clinton, Reines swiftly responded, "She actually got it from Wolf yesterday and gave a great answer about their professionalism protecting her family. I'll send you the excerpt as soon as we have and you can pass to Sullivan so he says her supportive words."
Reines was referring to CNN's Wolf Blitzer who called the prostitution scandal "shocking" during an interview with Clinton and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on April 18th. While Panetta admitted it was "disturbing" twice, Clinton seemed more perturbed that the story broke, then what had occurred.
The 2016 presidential candidate said that she didn't think there would be "so much diplomatic fallout as the unfortunate fact that it certainly ate up a lot of the coverage the summit, which was a meaningful get-together, only happens once every three years, an opportunity to showcase Colombia."
Immediately switching gears, Clinton used the moment to hype White House accomplishments and told Blitzer, "Think about how much Colombia has changed. And the United States, with our Plan Colombia support, has really been at the forefront of helping Colombia emerge as a real dynamo in the region."
Clinton never named Sullivan by name, and "her supportive words" didn't really address the scandal, at all.
"As Leon said, there’ll be investigations both in the military and the Secret Service," Clinton said. "I’ve had Secret Service protection for more than 20 years, and I’ve only seen the very best, the professionalism, the dedication of the men and women who have been around me and my family."
Unless Sullivan used Clinton's words in a Congressional hearing, a search on Google didn't turn up any instances where the embattled Secret Service director ever used them. It's also possible that Reines committed a typo, and he meant to write "sees", instead of "says."
Thursday, March 10, 2016
Poorly redacted 'hypersexual' manifesto outs first names of graduate students Idaho shooting suspect accuses of not being human
Perhaps proving that many media outlets rush to publish everything these days - with little editing - a television station in Idaho published the "rambling" words of a would-be assassin, and the Washington Post ran two stories directly linking to it. Former Marine Kyle Odom, who allegedly attempted to to kill Idaho pastor Tim Remington on Sunday, was arrested after he “threw unknown material over the south fence line at the White House Complex,” according to a Secret Service statement.
The manifesto that Idaho television station KHQ published online redacted the names of two graduate students - who attended a Texas college with Odom - twice, but appears to have accidentally missed their first names in another sentence, in the same paragraph. Since their first names aren't particularly common, it probably won't take long for journalists and other students to figure out who the shooting suspect, that Coeur d’Alene, Idaho police said Monday has a history of mental illness, accuses of not being human, which led to the attempted assassination.
It's bad enough that The Washington Post chose to link to what they called a "rambling" manifesto, that really doesn't offer any news value, but its poorly edited headline for one article - "Idaho pastor shooting suspect arrested outside White House, wrote warning about ‘Martians’ in Congress," - also suggests the alleged would-be assassin served in Congress. That story was published at 3:25 AM.
Years ago, former Washington Post media critic Howard Kurtz reported, "After weighing the question for nearly three months, The Washington Post and New York Times have agreed to publish in today's Post a 35,000-word manuscript submitted by the Unabomber, the serial mail bomber who has promised to halt his deadly attacks if either newspaper ran his lengthy critique of industrial society."
"Donald E. Graham, The Post's publisher, and Arthur O. Sulzberger Jr., publisher of the New York Times, said they jointly decided to publish the document 'for public safety reasons' after meeting last Wednesday with Attorney General Janet Reno and FBI Director Louis J. Freeh," Kurtz wrote on September 19, 1995. "The papers are splitting the cost of an eight-page insert, which will appear only in The Post because it has the mechanical ability to distribute such a section in all copies of its daily paper."
Former Washington Post publisher Graham told Kurtz that both papers were "printing it for public safety reasons, not journalistic reasons," and that it "will not necessarily set a precedent."
"Media analysts have been divided on whether the newspapers should print the Unabomber's treatise," Kurtz noted. "Some have said that publishing 35,000 words is a small price to pay for the possibility that the killer would halt his attacks. Others have warned that the newspapers have no way of knowing whether the terrorist will keep his word, and that accepting his terms could encourage violent groups to make similar demands."
One of the bylined Washington Post journalists, Carole D. Leonnig won the Pulitzer Prize nearly a year ago for here work on stories about lapses by Secret Service agents, and was honored with a White House Correspondents' Association award which "include[d] a private reception with the president beforehand."
A second article published by the Washington Post - which at press time was the most widely read article of the day - written by the other bylined journalist, Michael E. Miller, also links to the manifesto and observes that it "outlined [the suspect's] path to Sunday’s shooting in clear but increasingly paranoid prose." The only explanation for writing an extremely long story called "Idaho shooting suspect’s ‘hypersexual’ Martian manifesto is a window into an unraveling mind" is because it "suggests...the act of an unraveling mind."
"Remington, who survived the point-blank shooting in what one church member called a “miracle,” had appeared a day earlier with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) at an event put on by Cruz’s presidential campaign," Miller wrote. "That led to speculation the shooting was politically motivated."
Since Miller includes long quotes from the manifesto, the journalist must have read all of it, but makes no mention of the students, so he apparently didn't notice or care that their first names weren't redacted.
The suspect wrote that early in 2014, two graduate students at the Baylor College of Medicine "began reaching out to him", even though he "barely knew them", and "both kept pointing their finger at [him] saying 'pew pew' like they were shooting gun, and that he was later "told that _ and _ were 'not human.'" He added that they were "tasked" into turning him into the "the next school shooter."
In the manifesto, the suspect also suggests President Obama should take a lie detector test to prove he knows about Martians that "take control of 'wild' human beings and use them as sex slaves", but its highly doubtful that any federal law agencies will act upon that tip.
On Tuesday, Christian Datoc reported for The Daily Caller, "In a recent span of 16 hours, The Washington Post managed to publish 16 anti-Bernie stories, a fact that wasn’t lost on Reddi."
The manifesto that Idaho television station KHQ published online redacted the names of two graduate students - who attended a Texas college with Odom - twice, but appears to have accidentally missed their first names in another sentence, in the same paragraph. Since their first names aren't particularly common, it probably won't take long for journalists and other students to figure out who the shooting suspect, that Coeur d’Alene, Idaho police said Monday has a history of mental illness, accuses of not being human, which led to the attempted assassination.
It's bad enough that The Washington Post chose to link to what they called a "rambling" manifesto, that really doesn't offer any news value, but its poorly edited headline for one article - "Idaho pastor shooting suspect arrested outside White House, wrote warning about ‘Martians’ in Congress," - also suggests the alleged would-be assassin served in Congress. That story was published at 3:25 AM.
Years ago, former Washington Post media critic Howard Kurtz reported, "After weighing the question for nearly three months, The Washington Post and New York Times have agreed to publish in today's Post a 35,000-word manuscript submitted by the Unabomber, the serial mail bomber who has promised to halt his deadly attacks if either newspaper ran his lengthy critique of industrial society."
"Donald E. Graham, The Post's publisher, and Arthur O. Sulzberger Jr., publisher of the New York Times, said they jointly decided to publish the document 'for public safety reasons' after meeting last Wednesday with Attorney General Janet Reno and FBI Director Louis J. Freeh," Kurtz wrote on September 19, 1995. "The papers are splitting the cost of an eight-page insert, which will appear only in The Post because it has the mechanical ability to distribute such a section in all copies of its daily paper."
Former Washington Post publisher Graham told Kurtz that both papers were "printing it for public safety reasons, not journalistic reasons," and that it "will not necessarily set a precedent."
"Media analysts have been divided on whether the newspapers should print the Unabomber's treatise," Kurtz noted. "Some have said that publishing 35,000 words is a small price to pay for the possibility that the killer would halt his attacks. Others have warned that the newspapers have no way of knowing whether the terrorist will keep his word, and that accepting his terms could encourage violent groups to make similar demands."
One of the bylined Washington Post journalists, Carole D. Leonnig won the Pulitzer Prize nearly a year ago for here work on stories about lapses by Secret Service agents, and was honored with a White House Correspondents' Association award which "include[d] a private reception with the president beforehand."
A second article published by the Washington Post - which at press time was the most widely read article of the day - written by the other bylined journalist, Michael E. Miller, also links to the manifesto and observes that it "outlined [the suspect's] path to Sunday’s shooting in clear but increasingly paranoid prose." The only explanation for writing an extremely long story called "Idaho shooting suspect’s ‘hypersexual’ Martian manifesto is a window into an unraveling mind" is because it "suggests...the act of an unraveling mind."
"Remington, who survived the point-blank shooting in what one church member called a “miracle,” had appeared a day earlier with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) at an event put on by Cruz’s presidential campaign," Miller wrote. "That led to speculation the shooting was politically motivated."
Since Miller includes long quotes from the manifesto, the journalist must have read all of it, but makes no mention of the students, so he apparently didn't notice or care that their first names weren't redacted.
The suspect wrote that early in 2014, two graduate students at the Baylor College of Medicine "began reaching out to him", even though he "barely knew them", and "both kept pointing their finger at [him] saying 'pew pew' like they were shooting gun, and that he was later "told that _ and _ were 'not human.'" He added that they were "tasked" into turning him into the "the next school shooter."
In the manifesto, the suspect also suggests President Obama should take a lie detector test to prove he knows about Martians that "take control of 'wild' human beings and use them as sex slaves", but its highly doubtful that any federal law agencies will act upon that tip.
On Tuesday, Christian Datoc reported for The Daily Caller, "In a recent span of 16 hours, The Washington Post managed to publish 16 anti-Bernie stories, a fact that wasn’t lost on Reddi."
Wednesday, March 9, 2016
Thanks to readers, and updates to my Daily Caller articles on the way
As I noted on my twitter account @ronbryn, I'll have some interesting updates to my stories published at the Daily Caller. I'm a little behind, because I've been working on many other stories.
But here are links to all my Daily Caller articles, so far, and to a story I helped - a little bit - written by Chuck Ross, who does great reporting on the Clinton email scandal.
I've reported on Clinton, Sanders, Trump, and Carson, plus I have future articles, on the way, about Cruz and Rubio. I do my best to show all sides, get to the truth, listen to critics, and allow readers to make up their own minds on whom to support in this quite crazy presidential race.
Since I'm a media critic, too, I also often defend candidates when false stories are reported about them.
Thanks to the thousands of readers who retweet or like my articles on Twitter or share them on Facebook! I've been trying to follow back on Twitter nearly everyone who has linked to me, critically or supportive. So just follow me on Twitter or mention me, if I overlooked you (but don't mock my avatar, because Krazy Kat will get upset).
Sanders Took Heat From The Anti-War Left Over Gulf War, Yugoslavia Intervention.
Ambassador Joked About State Dept. ‘Incompetent Nincompoops’ After Mystery Hostage Release
Ex-Army Chief Quietly Hired By Firm With Close Clinton Ties
Longtime Clinton Aide Also Used Personal Email Address At State Department
Hillary’s IT Guru Jokes About Security Risks Posed By Federal Employees Using Personal Mobile Devices [VIDEO] by Chuck Ross, who noted, "Former RAWSTORY Executive Editor Ron Brynaert — who recently reported for the Daily Caller that another longtime Hillary Clinton aide used a private email address while working at the State Department — provided some research for this article."
But here are links to all my Daily Caller articles, so far, and to a story I helped - a little bit - written by Chuck Ross, who does great reporting on the Clinton email scandal.
I've reported on Clinton, Sanders, Trump, and Carson, plus I have future articles, on the way, about Cruz and Rubio. I do my best to show all sides, get to the truth, listen to critics, and allow readers to make up their own minds on whom to support in this quite crazy presidential race.
Since I'm a media critic, too, I also often defend candidates when false stories are reported about them.
Thanks to the thousands of readers who retweet or like my articles on Twitter or share them on Facebook! I've been trying to follow back on Twitter nearly everyone who has linked to me, critically or supportive. So just follow me on Twitter or mention me, if I overlooked you (but don't mock my avatar, because Krazy Kat will get upset).
Sanders Took Heat From The Anti-War Left Over Gulf War, Yugoslavia Intervention.
Ambassador Joked About State Dept. ‘Incompetent Nincompoops’ After Mystery Hostage Release
Ex-Army Chief Quietly Hired By Firm With Close Clinton Ties
Longtime Clinton Aide Also Used Personal Email Address At State Department
Hillary’s IT Guru Jokes About Security Risks Posed By Federal Employees Using Personal Mobile Devices [VIDEO] by Chuck Ross, who noted, "Former RAWSTORY Executive Editor Ron Brynaert — who recently reported for the Daily Caller that another longtime Hillary Clinton aide used a private email address while working at the State Department — provided some research for this article."
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