Obama’s hidden Iran deal giveaway

Politico

“ 'Iran had a significantly higher number of individuals, of course, at the beginning of this negotiation that they would have liked to have seen released,” one senior Obama administration official told reporters in a background briefing arranged by the White House, adding that “we were able to winnow that down to these seven individuals, six of whom are Iranian-Americans.”

"When President Barack Obama  announced the “one-time gesture” of releasing Iranian-born prisoners who “were not charged with terrorism or any violent offenses” last year, his administration presented the move as a modest trade-off for the greater good of the Iran nuclear agreement and Tehran’s pledge to free five 

Americans.

"But Obama, the senior official and other administration representatives weren’t telling the whole story on Jan. 17, 2016, in their highly choreographed rollout of the prisoner swap and simultaneous implementation of the six-party nuclear deal, according to a POLITICO investigation." . . .

Nets Censor BLOCKBUSTER Expose on Obama’s Hidden Iran Deal Secrets

Washington Post Reveals the Left's Goal: The 'Mission Was to Bring Down Bill O'Reilly'

Newsbusters  . . . "The Post betrayed the liberal media’s contempt for the channel and its role in American politics. Reporters Manuel Roig-Franzia and Ben Terris called Fox “a lucrative channel that has played an outsize role in shaping the U.S. political landscape over the past two decades.”

"Who decides its influence is “outsize”? Can we detect some media jealousy as the Republicans control the White House and Congress? It’s “outsize” because liberals are on the outside?" . . .

. . . "Now that liberal lawyers have tasted victory, the war continues, from Bloom and from lawyer Nancy Erika Smith:

Smith says it is hard for her to imagine a major culture shift at Fox; many key executives she described as “enablers” of Ailes and others remain in top executive positions. A former staffer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, agreed: “Ailes and O’Reilly might be gone, but the rest of the power structure is unchanged.”

…The scandal took a toll inside the news organization.

“There were a lot of mid-level staffers, especially women and minorities, who were — are — seriously considering leaving Fox,” a Fox News staffer said on Thursday as the newsroom was still absorbing O’Reilly’s departure.

Protesters Storm Heritage Foundation (Videos)

Mike Harris

Washington Free Beacon   "Protesters demanding a "budget for the people" stormed the offices of the conservative Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday.

"The Twitter account "People's Action" tweeted out videos of protesters entering the building and chanting "shut it down!"

"The protesters stated their opposition to priorities in President Trump's budget, which they said "will hurt our communities," and they railed against Heritage as being Trump's think tank.". . . 

Former Obama Official: Bureaucrats Manipulate Climate Stats To Influence Policy

Daily Caller   . . . "Former Energy Department Undersecretary Steven Koonin told The Wall Street Journal Monday that bureaucrats within former President Barack Obama’s administration spun scientific data to manipulate public opinion.

“What you saw coming out of the press releases about climate data, climate analysis, was, I’d say, misleading, sometimes just wrong,” Koonin said, referring to elements within the Obama administration he said were responsible for manipulating climate data.

"He pointed to a National Climate Assessment in 2014 showing hurricane activity has increased from 1980 as an illustration of how federal agencies fudged climate data. Koonin said the NCA’s assessment was technically incorrect.

“ 'What they forgot to tell you, and you don’t know until you read all the way into the fine print is that it actually decreased in the decades before that,” he said. The U.N. published reports in 2014 essentially mirroring Koonin’s argument.

"The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reported there “is limited evidence of changes in extremes associated with other climate variables since the mid-20th century” and current data shows “no significant observed trends in global tropical cyclone frequency over the past century.”" . . .Via Weasel Zippers

Speaking of Earth Day and its left-over residue:

Trash: Climate change protesters who marched through the streets of Manhattan on Sunday have been branded hypocrites for leaving over-flowing trash cans in their wake. This image was shared on Twitter

Hat tip to Sharon Hayden Bower

"Please, God, Stop Chelsea Clinton from Whatever She Is Doing"

Vanity Fair

The last thing the left needs is the third iteration of a failed political dynasty.

"Amid investigations into Russian election interference, perhaps we ought to consider whether the Kremlin, to hurt Democrats, helped put Chelsea Clinton on the cover of Variety. Or maybe superstition explains it. Like tribesmen laying out a sacrifice to placate King Kong, news outlets continue to make offerings to the Clinton gods. In The New York Times alone, Chelsea has starred in multiple features over the past few months: for her tweeting (it’s become “feisty”), for her upcoming book (to be titled She Persisted), and her reading habits (she says she has an “embarrassingly large” collection of books on her Kindle). With Chelsea’s 2015 book, It’s Your World, now out in paperback, the puff pieces in other outlets—Elle, People, etc.—are too numerous to count.

"One wishes to calm these publications: You can stop this now. Haven’t you heard that the great Kong is no more? Nevertheless, they’ve persisted. At great cost: increased Chelsea exposure is tied closely to political despair and, in especially intense cases, the bulk purchasing of MAGA hats. So let’s review: How did Chelsea become such a threat?

"Perhaps the best way to start is by revisiting some of Chelsea’s major post-2008 forays into the public eye. Starting in 2012 . . ."

Vanity Fair, hardly a conservative publication:

Six Public Enemies of Free Speech

Mike Adams

"Six anti­-free speech Democrats have done the unthinkable in the State of North Carolina. They have voted to prevent HB 527 from passing through the higher education committee and onto the house floor for a full vote. Dubbed as a bill to “Restore and Preserve Campus Free Speech,” it is difficult to understand how anyone could be opposed, regardless of his political persuasion. (For more details on HB 527,click here ). 

"The need for HB 527 is clear given that only one UNC campus, UNC­ Chapel Hill, has been rated by the non-­partisan Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) as a green-­light school. Green light schools are those universities with no policies that violate the First Amendment. Every university in America should be a green light university. Regrettably, there are less than two­-dozen in the entire nation.

"An astounding 11 campuses in the UNC system have been designated by FIRE as yellow light schools. Schools ranked as yellow light have at least one policy that is sufficiently vague that it could be used to quash First Amendment protected speech. The remaining four UNC campuses were designated as red light, which means they have at least one policy that clearly and substantially impairs free speech. Individual cases of free speech violations are not difficult to find in the UNC system. " . . .

Obama To Receive $400,000 Speaking Fee At Cantor Fitzgerald Conference

Zero Hedge  "Shortly after Barack Obama delivered his first (free) speech today since leaving the White House in Chicago before an invitation-only crowd of college students, community organizers and other fans, Fox News' Charlie Gasparino reports that in what may be his first paid speaking arrangement, Obama will be paid $400,000 to speak at Cantor Fitzgerald's healthcare conference this September, setting the benchmark for how much an hour of the former president's time will cost going forward.

 Follow

Charles Gasparino 

✔@CGasparino

#BREAKING @BarackObama has agreed to speak at Cantor Fitzgerald’s health care conference for $400,000! I discuss NOW on @FoxNews!

3:48 PM - 24 Apr 2017

 
Obama, who spent years bashing big banks (even if, like Trump, ultimately achieved nothing to halt Wall Street's dominance) will deliver the keynote address at the organization's lunch in what will be one of his first paid speeches.

" 'What sources are telling FOX Business Network is that former President Obama, now less than 100 days out of office, has agreed to a speaking engagement during Cantor Fitzgerald’s healthcare conference in September," FBN's Gasparino said. "We understand that he is going to be the keynote speaker for the lunch, and he’s going to receive a fee of $400,000. We should point out that that’s in line with what Hilary Clinton got... we should point out that Cantor will neither confirm or deny.' " . . .

Why Republicans don't believe in global warming

"Given the history of the past half century, environmentalists come off to normal thinking people as the boys who cried wolf, rather than the men who saved the wolves."

Robert Maranto  April, 2015

Environmental activists attend a protest in Zucotti Park on Earth Day on April 22, 2014 in New York City. About three dozen activists marched around New York's financial district calling for greater respect for the environment.

. . . "Back in the 1960s, environmentalists declared with great authority that pesticides would wipe out birdlife. Remember Silent Spring? I do. After reading it I was one terrified sixth-grader, convinced that the next robin I saw would be my last. My backyard birds, not to mention the far away whales and forests, were on their way out, thanks to man's greed and corporate transgressions against divine Gaia.

"While I feared for the birds, self-righteous professors preached that unless we changed our sinful ways there would be hell to pay. As Alex Berezow and Hank Campbell detail in Science Left Behind, in 1977 then Harvard Professor and current Obama "science czar" John Holdren co-authored a book predicting mass starvation by the 1980s due to overpopulation. Governments would need to consider extreme methods, including forced sterilization, for humanity to survive.

"Meanwhile, in the real world, this all proved to be false. The percentage of the population in developing nations living in extreme poverty shrank from 50 percent to 21 percent from 1981 to 2010." . . .

Robert Maranto (B.S. Maryland, 1980; Ph.D. Minnesota, 1989) is the 21st Century Chair in Leadership at the Department of Education Reform at the University of Arkansas, and previously taught political science at Villanova University and worked at the Brookings Institution and for the Clinton administration in the 1990s.

Soros-Funded Group Warns Advertisers Could Pull Ads From All of Fox News

Independent Sentinel  "Media Matters, the George Soros-funded website, is run by David Brock (pictured, right) who spearheaded the firing of Bill O’Reilly, as we reported here. They are currently reporting that advertisers demand much more from Fox News or they will withdraw from all of Fox News.

"It’s part of the well-planned War on Fox.

"The leftists have been successful in destroying the head honchos and now they are going to bully advertisers into pulling ads from the station completely.

"Media Matters President Angelo Carusone says that advertisers are concerned that this (sexual harassment complaints against O’Reilly and Ailes) is reflective of a bigger epidemic at Fox News and they want action beyond just firing O’Reilly. From Carusone:

And what they’re hearing, it’s not just about Bill O’Reilly. The advertisers are deeply concerned that this is reflective of a bigger epidemic at Fox News and rightfully so given one of the co-presidents was very much involved in the cover-ups against the people that came forward against Roger Ailes, as well as the women that have come forward against Bill O’Reilly and they re-signed a contract with Bill O’Reilly knowing full well. So the advertising community is not just saying this is about O’Reilly." . . .

Protesters Heckle Preacher During Town Hall Prayer

Todd Starnes   "Liberal activists shouted down a Baptist preacher Thursday as he tried to deliver the invocation at Rep. Jack Bergman’s town hall meeting in Gaylord, Michigan

"The activists, many wearing so-called pink “pussyhats”, boo’d the Almighty and shouted, “separation of church and state” during Pastor Derek Hagland’s prayer.

“ 'As my mother would’ve said, shame on you,” Rep. Bergman (R-MI) told me in a telephone interview. “We were all raised better than that.

"In addition to honorably serving Michigan’s first congressional district, Congressman Bergman is also an American hero.  He is the highest-ranking military officer ever to serve in Congress – a 3-star lieutenant general in the U.S. Marine Corps.

"He is also a devout Christian man – and he was especially troubled to see the liberals bully the guest preacher.

“ 'It was a sad state of affairs,” he said. “For a small but very vocal group to make every effort to disrupt even God’s involvement – was just – well – we are better than that as a country.”

“ 'It’s all about them and their agenda and not about the betterment of the country as a whole,” the congressman told me. “People really figure that they can push their agenda just by being vocal and disruptive. That’s not civil discourse.”

"But liberals have no interest in civil discourse. They want to shut down any speech or any issue they disagree with. And they will use any means necessary to silence the opposition – even violence.

"Rep. Bergman tells me they did not force anyone to leave.

“ 'We had a game plan and we marginalized their disruption,” he said. “Being a father and a grandfather – I’m used to dealing with tantrums.”

"And as we all know – nobody throws a tantrum quite like a bunch of crybaby liberals wearing hilariously obscene hats."

On Bill O'Reilly

Fox regrets firing Bill O?  Bill O’Reilly is returning to the airwaves on Monday. Here’s where you can find him 

Justice for Bill O’Reilly  . . . "However, Bill O’Reilly doesn’t need me to defend him, so I won’t.  O’Reilly himself charges that he was done in by “unfounded claims.”  Perhaps that’s true, but his saying so doesn’t mean he’s telling the truth.  I don’t know if O’Reilly is guilty of being a sexual harasser or just an arrogant Long Island jerk who became the easy target of some people who looked to cash in by blackmailing Fox News.  Neither do you. 

"Which means we cannot know is whether Bill O’Reilly saw justice served for behavior that went way beyond legal bounds, or whether Bill O’Reilly was “lynched” by a mob powerful people at Fox who – in the wake of last year’s Roger Ailes sexual harassment scandal – were afraid of one more scandal." . . .

Across America, lives are being ruined on nothing more than hearsay.  Certainly, some of those young men are guilty and deserve what they get – and more.  But just as certainly, some of those young men are innocent of all charges, except – perhaps – bad judgment for angering a vengeful young woman.
O’Reilly’s case is a microcosm of a trend in America that the “wronged” woman must always be right, and the “wronging” man must always be wrong.  What we need is a healthy dose of justice – real justice, not the Lynch Mob’s rush to judgment.

 Remember when personal conduct did not affect your job?  "Back in 1998-99, many Democrats and liberals defended President Clinton.   My favorite defense was that President Clinton's private behavior did not affect his job, i.e. “look at your 401-K!” and the unemployment rate was something I heard about on TV back then!

"I find this interesting because Bill O'Reilly’s alleged personal conduct did not affect his job either.   After all, his ratings never dropped." . . .

Bill O’Reilly is leaving Fox, and I can’t say I’ll miss him.  . . . "I was never on the show much. I don’t enjoy being a meat prop for hosts to make the points they want to make, and I guess it showed the few times I was on. O’Reilly was the master of making his long and often well-crafted statements in the form of a question. “Now, I think . . .” “This is the way I see it . . .” “This is where I come down on this . . .” often preceded a jeremiad that concluded with, “Do you agree?” The answer was merely punctuation for the next “question.”

". . . but for the most part guests were there either to serve as a Greek chorus or as ritual human sacrifice for his smartest-guy-at-the-bar routine."

Time and again prominent conservative personalities have failed to uphold basic standards of morality or even decency.  . . ."O’Reilly’s fall can be an important act of public hygiene, but only if it represents the beginning of the end of a conservative culture that makes us behave like the cultural enemies we purport to despise. Otherwise conservatives will hand the Left more scalps, forfeit more public trust, and ultimately lose because of their single-minded quest to win."

There is much more out there, but these should do for now.

Despite Reports, Fmr Fox Guest Now Claims She Was Never Sexually Harassed by Sean Hannity

Debbie Schlussel, whose posts the Tunnel Wall checks frequently. A search for Hannity in her site showed no mention of his name later than 2014 shows no mention of her charges against Hannity; only that she does not like him. TD

LawNewz

"Debbie Schlussel, a former Fox News guest, appeared on a local radio show on Friday and recounted an incident where Sean Hannity  purportedly asked her to a hotel, and when she rebuffed his advances, she claims, she was ostracized by the network star. The story has since gone viral garnering headlines like “Sean Hannity Accused of Sexually Harassing Fox News Guest” in publications like The Daily Beast and The Huffington Post. Now, in an interview with LawNewz.com on Monday morning, Schlussel is denying that she was ever sexually harassed by Sean Hannity. While Schlussel stands by her description of the incident, Schlussel told us that she doesn’t believe what happened between the two amounted to sexual harassment by any legal definition.

“I would never accuse him of that. Sexual harassment has a special meaning under the law, and I would never accuse him of that,” Schlussel, an attorney herself, said.  Schlussel said the interaction happened in the early 2000’s when Hannity was in Detroit taping a show." . . .

Hannity fervently denies her claims