It was September of 2007 when George W Bush sat behind his oval office desk and signed into law the Fiscal Year 2008 Federal Budget. Exactly eight years ago.
It has now been eight consecutive years without a federal budget. Eight consecutive years of debt ceiling increases, continuing resolutions to fund government, threats of shut-downs and the insufferable back-and-forth blame.

But this year is different. You see for this budgetary year (constructed in ’15 for fiscal year 2016) the Republicans hold significant majorities in both the House and the Senate. And for those of you who don’t pay as close attention to these things, the fiscal year starts on October 1st.

Yeah, exactly a week from now !

… and yet we have NO BUDGET. Why?
Well, the honest answer to that question is what scares the hell out of the Professional Republican party. We have no federal budget this year, because, just like the Democrat party, the GOP doesn’t want a federal budget. (more…)

“Operation Hummingbird” is dependent upon the general Republican electorate/audience and media consumer being swayed by optics and manipulation as a strategy.  In essence full-throated “gaslighting“.
Cutting through that intent and getting to the substance of truth is really not too difficult, but you won’t find many outlets (new media or old) willing to go there.  However, as you are aware for us the Truth Has No Agenda, and Sunlight Is The Best Disinfectant.
We begin by watching this video of Carly Fiorina appearing on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and the discussion of a Muslim candidate eligible as U.S. President:

This report specifically states the FBI has recovered “work-related” email from the server used by Hillary Clinton.

(Via Bloomberg)  The FBI has recovered personal and work-related e-mails from the private computer server used by Hillary Clinton during her time as secretary of state, according to a person familiar with the investigation.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s success at salvaging personal e-mails that Clinton said had been deleted raises the possibility that the Democratic presidential candidate’s correspondence eventually could become public. The disclosure of such e-mails would likely fan the controversy over Clinton’s use of a private e-mail system for official business.
The FBI is investigating how and why classified information ended up on Clinton’s server. The probe probably will take at least several more months, according to the person, who described the matter on condition of anonymity because the investigation is continuing and deals with sensitive information. (more…)

Our favorite ideological cabinet member appeared on CBS this morning replete with new linguistic skills.  Listen to question at 01:58, and within the answer: “de-conflict” … it reappears a few minutes later in another retort.
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(more…)

After an entire media cycle filled with the insufferable professional punditry waxing on about how Muslims must be allowed to be President; the entire common sense electorate can sense the disconnect between reality and the professionally political.
Here’s a strong presentation about Ben Carson’s righteous position and the considerations of Islam – READ HERE – Meanwhile, Hilllary opines with this little PC twitter-sense:

Obviously, the U.S. Constitution outlines that “GOVERNMENT” “shall not apply a religious test as a qualification to any office etc.”  However, any individual or group is entirely free to attach their own litmus test if they so desire; it’s called discernment.
There is nothing forbidding an individual from applying their own belief system to their opinion of whether or not a Muslim follower should be trusted to “preserve, protect and defend the constitution of the United States“; nothing wrong with that at all.
With that in mind, here’s the ‘Splodey-Head question that no-one in the media is brave enough to ask Hillary Clinton: (more…)

Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton held events at the University of New Hampshire this past weekend.  Hillary’s crowd was around 300-350; two days later Bernie Sanders held his event in the same venue drawing 3,000+

This really doesn’t come as a surprise because prior polling indicated that Sanders had taken a substantial lead in New Hampshire.
But the story goes beyond Bernie Sanders drawing a crowd ten times the size of Hillary Clinton.   (more…)

I believe this is the Q&A that has created a stir:

The professional power brokers who make up the RNC/GOPe “establishment” would rather see Hillary Clinton win an election, allowing them to remain in their power position, than to lose their place at the trough via a “conservative” or “outsider” who would take the executive branch and possibly remove their power.

(more…)

The article conjures up images of Kerry and Obama playing the roles of Herve Villechaize and Ricardo Montalban waiting for the planes to arrive on Fantasy Island…. “Da Plane, Da plane”!

(Via NBC) The U.S. is offering new details about its plan to ease the Syrian refugee crisis by significantly increasing the number of worldwide refugees it will take in over the next two years.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says the U.S. will accept 85,000 refugees from around the world next year, up from 70,000, and the number will rise to 100,000 in 2017. (more…)

The U.S. State Department has announced plans to bring 10,000 Syrian refugees into the U.S. over the next year. One of the destinations is Baltimore Maryland.

NPR has received some preliminary examples of the type of analyst intelligence that was skewed to create a more favorable opinion of President Obama’s foreign policy approach toward ISIS.
In one example the following is noted:

[…]  A military source described the evolution of one report that came out of CENTCOM’s intelligence shop. It was a dispatch on an ISIS attack in Iraq near the Syrian border. The initial CENTCOM report read, “Iraqi forces retreated.” It was sent back for reworking, the source said. Eventually that report came to read that the Iraqi forces had not retreated, but instead had reinforced another Iraqi position. The final draft suggested a strategic decision had been made. But that was not what happened, the source said — the Iraqi forces ran. A second source confirmed the account of the change in wording to put the Iraqi forces in a more positive light. (read more)

In what appears to be a profound sense of professional obfuscation, the head of U.S. Central Command, Gen. Lloyd Austin, told congress that despite the revisions and/or manipulations currently being investigated by the inspector general, the intelligence did not go directly to President Obama. (more…)