……. [Excerpt From CFP]  The present administration is going after leakers, media sources, anyone and everyone who is even suspected of ‘betrayal.’ That’s what they call it, ‘betrayal.’…This administration considers anyone telling the truth about Benghazi, the IRS, hell, you name the issue, ‘betrayal,’” he said.

“We know all this already,” I stated. He looked at me, giving me a look like I’ve never seen, and actually pushed his finger into my chest. “You don’t know jack,” he said, “this is bigger than you can imagine, bigger than anyone can imagine.  …. If you are a website owner with a brisk readership and a conservative bent, you’re on that list. It’s a political dissident list, not an enemy threat list,”…  (continue reading)

Either they provided the information, OR, the administration is accepting the NSA tapping into the massive computer servers that drive the internet.

GUARDIAN UK – Two different versions of the PRISM scandal were emerging on Thursday with Silicon Valley executives denying all knowledge of the top secret program that gives the National Security Agency direct access to the internet giants’ servers.

The eavesdropping program is detailed in the form of PowerPoint slides in a leaked NSA document, seen and authenticated by the Guardian, which states that it is based on “legally-compelled collection” but operates with the “assistance of communications providers in the US.”

Each of the 41 slides in the document displays prominently the corporate logos of the tech companies claimed to be taking part in PRISM. (more…)

fyi, an insider detail – We can secondarily confirm the information provided within this Wall Street Journal report. Those of you who have been with the Treehouse community since the beginning may remember a conversation thread about the “new age” credit cards that allow capability of RFID transmission. [symbols: ((( )))  and Ξ ]  One of our close friends actually quit his job in disgust over the use of his computer program -a central component to the RFID system- being used to embed internally into credit cards with the expressed intent on tracking user id, location, history etc.  He knew the potential risk several years ago, and sent a warning – we shared – it appears this is now coming to light.

WASHINGTON (WSJ) —The National Security Agency’s monitoring of Americans includes customer records from the three major phone networks as well as emails and Web searches, and the agency also has cataloged credit-card transactions, said people familiar with the agency’s activities.

The disclosure this week of an order by a secret U.S. court for Verizon Communications Inc.’s phone records set off the latest public discussion of the program. But people familiar with the NSA’s operations said the initiative also encompasses phone-call data from AT&T Inc. and Sprint Nextel Corp., records from Internet-service providers and purchase information from credit-card providers.

(more…)

This one we DID see coming.   Former U.N Ambassador Susan Rice will replace National Security Advisor, Tom Donilon, in the White House.   Susan Rice has been the visible face of controversy within the various Benghazi lies.   But Tom Donilon was as much connected to those lies as Rice. 

Tom Donilon and his pal Denis McDonough, were the actual ones making the decisions on the night of the Benghazi Libya terror attack(s).   Is Donilon leaving because that “stand down” order is about to come out?   [Although, honestly,  the guy does looks like he aged 20 years in the past 12 months]   

WASHINGTON DC – National security adviser Thomas E. Donilon will resign his post, White House officials said Wednesday, and will be replaced by U.N. Ambassador Susan E. Rice, a close confidant of President Obama with deep foreign policy experience who is disliked by Republicans but had been widely expected to move into the job. (more…)

Well it appears we now have TWO people in the media asking the “right” question.  Last week Chris Wallace, now Charles Krauthammer:

“I think there is a bigger story here that will in time come out. The biggest scandal of all, the biggest question is what was the president doing in those eight hours. He had a routine meeting at five o’clock. He never after during the eight hours when our guys have their lives in danger, he never called the Secretary of Defense, he never calls the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, he never called the CIA Director, Who does he call? But five hours in he calls the Secretary of State. And after the phone call she releases a statement essentially about the video and how we denounce any intolerance. It looks as if the only phone call is to construct a cover story at a time when the last two Americans who died were still alive and fighting for their lives. There’s the scandal and that has to be uncovered.” (more…)

(Via The Hill)  The Obama administration plans to restart transfers of detainees out of Guantánamo Bay as part of President Obama’s efforts to close the prison, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The president is planning to lift the restrictions on sending detainees to Yemen in the coming weeks, the Journal reports, citing unidentified U.S. officials. (more…)

Roger L Simon @PJMedia has a column out which essentially predicts a new set of whistleblowers who will soon present to congress.

[…] According to the diplomats, what these whistleblowers will say will be at least as explosive as what we have already learned about the scandal, including details about what really transpired in Benghazi that are potentially devastating to both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

The former diplomats inform PJM the new revelations concentrate in two areas — what Ambassador Chris Stevens was actually doing in Benghazi and the pressure put on General Carter Ham, then in command of U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) and therefore responsible for Libya, not to act to protect jeopardized U.S. personnel. (more…)

Spotted: @joshtpm @CapehartJ @ezraklein & other lefty columnists headed into the West Wing as a group. POTUS coffee? Carney meeting? Anyone?

— Ari Shapiro (@arishapiro) May 21, 2013

Predictions:

1. ISOLATE – Attach the word “birther” or “birtherism” or “extremist” to the people who are demanding White House transparency and investigation.

2. RIDICULE – Position all of the investigations as “attacks” against and targeting the President. This helps play the race card.

3. MARGINALIZE – Talk up the willingness of staffers to cooperate as a tool for diminishing the severity of the accusations/charges. Highlight supporters (unions) to the presidential agenda.

Seven months we’ve been waiting for someone, anyone, to ask the White House staff what was President Obama doing on the night the Benghazi attacks took place.    We have researched this on our own and have him tracked from 4pm to around 7:30pm (EST).  But after 7:30pm it is a total BLACKOUT – an unknown void of information.

Finally after seven MONTHS.  Chris Wallace asks White House Communications Director, Dan Pfeiffer, what was President Obama doing.  [Please watch this video clip in its entirety before continuing]

Of course Dan Pfeiffer pulls the familiar “what difference does it make” angle, with his claim that it is an “irrelevant fact“. (more…)

Considering the Accountability Review Board (ARB) “investigation team” never questioned Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, or U.S. Libyan #2 person on the ground, Greg Hicks, I’m sure the oversight committee has multiple questions about how an investigation could reach conclusions absent of proper information.

(Via CBS) The chairman of the House Oversight committee has issued a subpoena to compel the co-chairman of the independent review board that investigated last year’s attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, to answer questions about its findings in closed session.

California Republican Rep. Darrell Issa issued the subpoena on Friday to retired veteran diplomat Thomas Pickering to force him to appear at a deposition next Thursday. (more…)