President Obama said today the drone strike that killed one U.S. and one Italian hostage was “a mistake”. No it wasn’t. The drone strike was ordered; the drone strike was purposeful; the drone strike hit the exact intended target; there was nothing remotely a “mistake” about the operation.
Everything this White House does first and foremost passes through the political prism. Everything, every.single.pro-and-con, is weighed against the political cost vs. benefit considerations, period. So too is this story, and the aftermath of this story from January to the public release of the information today.
WASHINGTON DC – President Obama on Thursday acknowledged that the U.S. killed two innocent hostages in counterterrorism operations against al Qaeda.
Obama expressed his “deepest apologies” to the families of the two hostages, one American and one Italian.

“It is a cruel and bitter truth that in the fog of war generally, and our fight against terrorists specifically, mistakes, sometimes deadly mistakes can occur,” Obama said at a press conference at the White House Thursday morning. (read more)

Marco Rubio is the strategic plow for a Jeb Bush GOP primary win.  The Decepticon machine in general, and Tom Donohue specifically, is using the EXACT SAME strategy successfully used in Virginia against Ken Cuccinelli to give the VA Governor’s race to Democrats. 
In Kentucky it was used to push McConnell back into office.  In Mississippi it was used to push Thad Cochran back into office (despite his dementia).   In 2015/16 primary it is being used to push Jeb Bush to victory in the GOP primary.  Alas, just like 2012 through 2014, few can see it and even fewer accept it.

(Via Hot Air) As the 2016 presidential cycle looms larger in the minds of political reporters, the “invisible primary” is becoming less and less opaque.
The hawkish casino magnate, notable establishmentarian, and prolific GOP donor Sheldon Adelson is reportedly beginning to turn a favorable eye toward Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL). According to Politico, Adelson sees Rubio as “the future of the Republican Party.”
“He has also said that Rubio’s Cuban heritage and youth would give the party a strong opportunity to expand its brand and win the White House,” Politico reported. (more…)

Trey Gowdy, Chairman of The House Select Committee on Benghazi, has requested former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appear before the panel next month.
In a letter to Clinton attorney David Kendall (below) Gowdy asks that Hillary testify before the committee “the week of May 18” to discuss email issues; and again before June 18 to talk about the deadly Benghazi attack (9/11/2012)

(more…)

CLAYTON • The family of Michael Brown Jr. plans to announce the filing of a wrongful death suit against the city of Ferguson during a news conference Thursday morning at the St. Louis County Courthouse.
Family members, along with their attorneys, Benjamin Crump, Anthony Gray, and Daryl Parks, plan to make the announcement.
Brown was shot and killed on Aug. 9 by then-Ferguson officer Darren Wilson, sparking protests for months. A grand jury did not issue charges against Wilson. (read more)

This didn’t make the CNN breaking news scroll because the victim was non-black. However, the circumstances are not disputed.
Man who works in cat and dog insurance decides to be a good Samaritan and takes a stray cat to the animal shelter. The animal shelter demands ID from man as part of their policy. The man says that policy is ridiculous and refuses.  The shelter tells the man he is not permitted to leave the premises, and the shelter calls the cops. The cops tell man he must show id. Man refuses. Cop shoots and kills man in animal shelter for non-compliance, then justifies his death by saying he’s one of those “sovereign citizen” types.
Media?  Yeah, right – Crickets Chirp.
(ALABAMA) In late December of 2014, Robert Earl Lawrence, 30, in an act of compassion, took a stray cat to the Dothan Animal Shelter. What was a seemingly selfless act of kindness would subsequently end with Lawrence being fatally gunned down by a cop.
Almost four months after that fateful day, police have provided the public with no more answers than were given the day after the killing. They have maintained a blanket of virtual silence surrounding the incident. (more…)

There has been some professional parseltongue from the Rubio camp in response to their candidate being caught on camera pledging to retain Obama’s executive amnesty (DACA) if he were President.  They’ve even argued a “lost in translation” approach, and should be embarrassed.
However, this should clear it up for those who are following Rubio’s proposals, and calling him the “pragmatic” candidate.

(Via Breitbart) The chief spokesman for the presidential campaign of Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) said in an on-record interview with Breitbart News that the senator, if elected president, would not require a secured border before he gives legislative and permanent amnesty to recipients of President Barack Obama’s first executive amnesty, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

“No,” Alex Conant said when asked if the border would need to be secured before a President Rubio’s legislative amnesty for recipients of Obama’s 2012 DACA would replace that executive amnesty.

Rubio intends to, if elected to the White House—as he laid out in a Spanish-language interview with Univision’s Jorge Ramos this weekend and was subsequently confirmed by Conant—eventually undo DACA. But he would not do so until there is a legislative replacement that provides the legal status—or amnesty—to DACA recipients on a permanent basis.  (read more)

For what it’s worth no candidate is proposing a solution to the problem, they each are trying to find a way to navigate through the minefield of being called “heartless” etc. (more…)

Professional parseltongue.   This Josh Earnest response should not be considered in a vacuum per se’.  Instead it should be weighted against the former White House response to claims repeatedly made by Harry Reid about Mitt Romney not paying taxes.

Clinton Events

More and more of these terrible stories are surfacing….

(Via Forbes) […] In late March, the U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the federal government could take more than $60,000 of Brewer’s cash with civil forfeiture, even though he was never charged with a crime. The decision lets many Midwestern states continue to take property from people who have done nothing wrong.

A former military police officer and weapons specialist, Brewer earned several medals during his service in the Air Force, before he was medically discharged in 2008. Brewer said he developed Posttraumatic Stress Disorder after a deployment in Afghanistan. (more…)

Until substantive and factual information reveals something divergent I’m sticking to my initial researched opinion that Marco Rubio’s campaign bid is purely a decepticon maneuver to plow through the field, and aid his mentor Jeb Bush.
(Via Allan Wall) Republican candidate Marco Rubio, in a chat with Jorge Ramos, in Spanish, made it clear that, on this issue, any differences between a President Rubio and President Obama would be insubstantial.
Matthew Boyle of Breitbart (a valuable source on immigration issues) has written up a report on the interview:

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), a 2016 GOP presidential candidate, said he believes that President Barack Obama’s first executive amnesty for so-called DREAMers—the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)—is “important” and he won’t reverse it himself if elected president. He delivered these remarks in a Spanish-language interview he gave to Univision’s Jorge Ramos.

So here is Rubio, speaking in Spanish to Jorge Ramos, a principal proponent of the Hispanicization of the U.S., telling him this. (more…)