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JULY 8,  2016

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:55 P.M. ET: 

TRUMP LEADS IN NEW POLL – FROM RASMUSSEN:   The presidential race has grown a bit tighter in this week’s White House Watch survey.  The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey of Likely U.S. Voters finds Donald Trump with 42% of the vote, while Hillary Clinton earns 40%. Thirteen percent (13%) still like another candidate, and five percent (5%) are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.)  This survey was taken Tuesday evening following FBI Director James Comey's announcement that his agency would not seek any indictments of Clinton despite her "extremely careless" handling of classified information while serving as secretary of State. Most voters disagree with Comey’s decision.  Trump pulled ahead of Clinton last week 43% to 39%, his highest level of support in Rasmussen Reports’ matchups with Clinton since last October. Support for Clinton remains below the level of support she received for most of June.  Rasmussen Reports will release new presidential race numbers with Libertarian Gary Johnson in the mix tomorrow morning at 8:30 Eastern.  We'll monitor those new figures tomorrow morning.  The Rasmussen poll is believed to lean somewhat Republican, so we'll wait for other polls to assess Clinton's standing after the FBI report. 

DALLAS – It now appears that there was only one shooter in last night's Dallas anti-police massacre.  He's an Army veteran with an arsenal at home and a hatred for whites.  He may (or may not) have had accomplices.  There have been a number of non-lethal attacks on police officers around the country in the last day, and an assault on a police headquarters in Oakland, California.  There are alerts out for officers to be particularly careful, and there's a special alert out for Louisiana.  FROM JUDICIAL WATCH:   The FBI issued an alert to Louisiana law enforcement agencies warning of violence against officers and planned riots in the aftermath of this week’s high-profile fatal shooting of a black man by Baton Rouge Police. Judicial Watch obtained a copy of the situational information report, which was distributed to police and sheriff departments in Bossier, Caddo Parish and east Baton Rouge as well as Louisiana State Police.  Why aren't there legal charges against some people and groups for advancing anti-police hate crimes?

VOTERS ENGAGED – FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER:   They don't care much for either Donald Trump of Hillary Clinton, but there is the most interest in the 2016 presidential election in 24 years and three out of four voters believe that "it really matters" who wins, according to a new survey.  Pew Research Service said in a report issued Thursday that voter engagement in the campaign is the highest it has seen since it began testing interest.  Some 80 percent said that they have thought about the election, even higher than in 2008, when 72 percent said the same thing about Barack Obama's election as the first-ever black president.   That doesn't surprise me.  Voters are engaged, and they are looking at the worst choices for president that they've ever been given.

July 8, 2016       Permalink

STATE TO PROBE CLINTON AGAIN – AT 11:32 A.M. ET:  We briefly reported yesterday that the State Department is resuming its probe of Hillary Clinton's e-mail practices.  The story seemed a little odd.  Here are the details.  From UPI:

WASHINGTON, July 7 (UPI) -- The U.S. Department of State will restart its internal investigation into former chief Hillary Clinton's email use, now that Justice officials have declined to pursue charges against the Democratic presidential candidate.

"Given the Department of Justice has now made its announcement, the State Department intends to conduct its internal review," spokesman John Kirby said in a statement Thursday.

The department had been conducting its own investigation into the matter but suspended it to avoid interfering with the Justice Department's review.

U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said earlier this week that her department has opted not to file charges against Clinton for using a private email server while she was President Barack Obama's secretary of state.

FBI Director James Comey, who answered questions related to the investigation in Congress Thursday, made the recommendation to Lynch that Clinton face no charges.

A State Department review could potentially lead to certain sanctions against Clinton, including disciplinary action.

"I cannot provide specific information about the Department's review, including what information we are evaluating," Kirby said. "Our goal will be to be as transparent as possible about our results, while complying with our various legal obligations."

COMMENT:  My question is whether this is a truly independent review, or a review intended to help Clinton become the next president.  I make no judgment on that.

On the other hand, if bad stuff turns up, what disciplinary action can State take against Clinton?  She doesn't work there anymore.  There are suggestions floating around from Republicans that Clinton and those who worked for her be stripped of their security clearances.  If that happens, I'll bet only the underlings are targeted.  How could they take away the clearance of a presidential candidate, who needs to receive classified briefings while running for office?

The soap opera goes on.

July 8, 2016       Permalink

SEND IN THE CLOWNS – AT 9:46 A.M. ET:  It didn't take long for the Fraternal Order of Stupid Comments to make its presence known after the horror of Dallas.  Consider, from the Daily Mail: 

Human rights activist Jessie Jackson has pointed the finger at Donald Trump and his followers for helping to create a rising climate of fear in America which has contributed to the shocking deaths of five police officers in downtown Dallas.

Rev Jackson said there was an 'anti-black mood' in America which also saw discrimination against immigrants, Muslims and women.

Speaking in the aftermath of the coordinated attack on 11 police officers in Dallas, Rev Jackson called on President Barack Obama to hold a conference on violence and racial disparities.'

There's a time in life for some people to get off the stage.   Jackson's time is long past.  This is a man who once referred to Jews as "Hymies" and New York as "Hymietown."  He's still giving us moral lectures.

Or get this one, from Minnesota's intellectually challenged Democratic governor, Mark Dayton, about a black man killed by police several days ago in his state.  From NBC News:

An "appalled" Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton said Thursday that police wouldn't have shot and killed Philando Castile if he'd been white and called for justice "with the greatest sense of time urgency."...

...Dayton said Castile would be alive if he hadn't been black, adding that the shooting demonstrated a troubling pattern of racism among some Minnesota law enforcement officers.

"Would this have happened if those passengers, the driver were white?" he asked. "I don't think it would have."

I wonder how Dayton knows that.  Does he have a secret device that can read the minds of the officers involved?   That statement, made before all facts are known, was inflammatory and grossly irresponsible. 

Then of course we have the president of the United States, who has a history of inserting himself into these controversies before any investigation is concluded.  After the police shootings earlier in the week he announced that we must confront police bias.  Again, only preliminary facts were known.  There was no direct evidence of bias, although that might certainly turn up.  And, of course, Obama has now put in another plug for gun control. 

It would be wise for some people to just shut up and gather facts.  There have simply been too many cases where the reporting of the original event turned out to be highly inaccurate. 

July 8, 2016       Permalink 

DALLAS, VERY LATEST – AT 9:12 A.M. ET:  The suspect who'd been holding off police has been killed by police action.  Claims he acted alone.  Police dubious about that claim.  From CNN:

(CNN) [Breaking news update, published at 8:59 a.m. ET]  A suspect who died after a standoff with Dallas police said he wanted to kill white people -- especially white officers -- and that he was upset about "the recent police shootings," and that he acted alone, Dallas Police Chief David Brown told reporters Friday.

The suspect eventually was killed by a bomb that authorities detonated, Brown said.
"We saw no other option but to use our bomb robot and place a device on its extension for it to detonate where the suspect was," Brown said. "Other options would have exposed our officers to grave danger. The suspect is deceased as a result of detonating the bomb."

Five police officers were killed and seven others were injured in the ambush in Dallas that began Thursday night, officials have said, in the deadliest single incident for U.S. law enforcement since September 11, 2001. Two civilians also were injured in the shootings, the office of Dallas' mayor has said.

Most of the injured Dallas police officers have been released from a hospital, Brown told reporters. The officers' conditions are improving, Brown said.

"All I know is that this must stop -- this divisiveness between our police and our citizens," Brown said. "We don't feel much support most days. Let's not make today most days. Please, we need your support to be able to protect you from men like these, who carried out this tragic, tragic event."
Brown said an investigation into the ambush continues.

"I'm not going to be satisfied until we've turned over every stone. We've got some level that this one suspect did do some of the shooting. But we're not satisfied that we've exhausted every lead," he said. "So if there's someone out there who's associated with this, we will find you, we will prosecute you, and we will bring you to justice."

COMMENT:  The issue is the comment by the now-deceased shooter that he "acted alone."  There are three other suspects in custody.  It's doubtful (but possible) that the deceased shooter did act alone, but unlikely, given witness reports. 

July 8,  2016     Permalink

JULY 7,  2016

THERE'LL BE NO "SHORT TAKES" TONIGHT BECAUSE OF THE SHEER QUANTITY OF THE DAY'S NEWS.  I'VE HAD TO DEVOTE VIRTUALLY ALL AVAILABLE TIME TO MONITORING WHAT'S BEEN HAPPENING, AND COMPARING THE WORK OF NEWS OUTLETS.  HERE ARE SOME OBSERVATIONS:

DALLAS:  The last time I heard the words "sniper in Dallas" was November 22, 1963, when President Kennedy was assassinated.  Tonight in Dallas 11 police officers were shot, and five of them died.  A civilian was also hit.  The action occurred during a mass rally to protest police killings of blacks in Louisiana and Minnesota in the last few days.

But do not automatically assume that the Dallas attacks were related to those police killings.  We don't actually know.  It could be that the shooters used the rally, with its packing of large crowds together, to carry out a plan that was already underway.  Three suspects, including one female, are in custody.  Another is still involved in a standoff with police.  One suspect has boasted that bombs have been planted  Observers note that the level of precision and coordination involved in the attacks could not have been developed overnight.  Several of the suspects were arrested in a car packed with explosives. 

Although there are suspects in custody, police have refused to name them.  I wonder why.  Is it routine, or is there something about the names that might be of, uh, particular interest?  I am just speculating.  But I would not be shocked if this plot had an international component. 

Fox and CNN will be covering the story all night.   

THE CLINTON E-MAIL PROBE:  FBI Director James Comey appeared before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, but really added little to his statement of last week explaining why the FBI will not recommend prosecution of Hillary Clinton.

The real news is that the Republicans will not let the matter rest, and neither will some other players in Washington.  We could sense visceral GOP anger during the committee hearing over the belief that Queen Hillary has gotten away with it, and a determination by Republicans not to let that happen.

Republicans on the committee will send a formal referral to the FBI, asking that Bureau to investigate statements Clinton made to Congress for perjury.  Comey has already said that Clinton was not truthful in many of her statements.  Will the House ask the Justice Department to punish Clinton?

Also, the State Department announced that its own internal probe of Clinton's handling of classified e-mails will resume, now that the FBI investigation has been concluded.   I thought the e-mail matter had been set to rest, but it hasn't.

Finally, Comey was asked whether the FBI was investigating the Clinton Foundation, which took in barrels of money from foreign countries while Hillary was secretary of state.  Was Clinton influenced to do favors for these countries because of their "gifts" to the foundation?  Comey refused to say whether an investigation of the foundation was in progress, but he didn't slam the door. 

Several weeks ago a major Washington reporter told me that his sources reported that Clinton's e-mail problem would disappear, but that the foundation probe was key to what the FBI was doing, and that a criminal referral was likely.  So far my contact has been correct.

This ain't over. 

July 7, 2016       Permalink       

A WARNING – AT 10:56 A.M. ET:   Iran is not finished with us.  From circanews: 

It sounds like something out of a Hollywood movie, a bomb with an electromagnetic pulse that can take out all the lights in Los Angeles without collateral damage. It might sound like Hollywood, but this could be our reality if Iran attacks our electrical grid like they have laid out in “Passive Defense,” a secret Iranian military document.

Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) shared information about Iran’s potential electromagnetic pulse, or EMP, attack as it is described in “Passive Defense,” with Circa. And right now Franks thinks an EMP attack is “the most dangerous short-term national security threat that we face.”

According to Franks, an electromagnetic pulse attack happens when a small nuclear warhead detonates hundreds of miles over the U.S. sending out an electromagnetic wave that can instantly take out the country’s power grid without mass casualties.

Franks told Circa that “Passive Defense,” “outlined that the best way to deal with countries like America, a country that was much stronger than them, was an asymmetric strategy of attacking our electric grid.”

Franks said that one strategic strike could create blackouts nationwide. And the consequences of this could be a field day for hackers, cripple our military defense system, and that’s not even mentioning what life would be like for normal Americans if they had no power.

The risk of an EMP attack has been around since the Cold War but according to Franks, “we’re a thousand times more vulnerable than we were even 50 years ago.”

COMMENT:  Democracies need shocks to wake them up.  And then the shocks wear off pretty quickly.  As the story noted, EMP attack scenarios have been around a long time.  You may be sure that enemies are working on making them real.

July 7, 2016       Permalink

GRIM NUMBER FOR THE RELIGION OF PEACE – AT 10:31 A.M. ET:  Ramadan is now over.  Islamic extremist groups called for terror attacks during the month-long commemoration.  Their call was answered.  From the Daily Mail: 

The call came in late May, just weeks before Ramadan began: ISIS told supporters to make the Holy period 'with God’s permission, a month of pain for infidels everywhere'.

That call has turned what should have been four weeks of peace and charitable giving into a bloodbath which has spread from Florida to the Philippines, leaving more than 800 dead at the hands of Islamic State's supporters across the globe.

Extremists have killed people as they sat with friends in a cafe in Bangladesh, executed Syrian families for trying to flee their clutches and stabbed a policeman to death in France.

In the first four weeks, almost 30 people a day died at the hands of an ISIS extremist - including many children, and the vast majority fellow, peaceful Muslims who do not agree with the group's twisted mentality.

COMMENT:  That is a staggering toll for one month.  And it will be repeated, no doubt, next year.  There will be attacks in between.

Who said we're winning the war on terror?

July 7, 2016       Permalink

THE PUBLIC AND HILLARY – AT 9:29 A.M. ET:  The ultimate jury, the American people, apparently do not like the FBI's decision in the Hillary Clinton soap opera.  From Powerline: 

A Rasmussen poll finds that most voters disagree with FBI Director James Comey’s decision not to seek a criminal indictment of Hillary Clinton. The poll, taken the night Comey announced the decision, finds that 37 percent of likely voters agree with the FBI’s decision, but 54 percent disagree and believe the FBI should have sought a criminal indictment.

I confess to being surprised by this result. I expected the split to be closer to 50-50.

Naturally most Democrats agree with the decision. However, fully one-quarter of Dems disagree.

Among Republicans the sentiment is clear enough. 79 percent believe Hillary should have been indicted. They are joined by 63 percent of voters not affiliated with either major political party.

The pro-indictment sentiment may be fueled to some extent by the sense that powerful people get preferential treatment when they break the law. 81 percent of those surveyed believe this to be the case. Only 10 percent disagree.

COMMENT:  We have a serious crisis in our legal system – a widespread perception that it isn't fair or just.  I see no effort by Bonnie and Clyde Clinton to correct that perception.

If Hillary becomes president, she will be inaugurated under a cloud, standing beside her husband, an impeached president and disbarred lawyer.  We have to ask ourselves whether our country can do better than this, and whether our political system is so broken that it produces candidates like this.

July 7,  2016     Permalink