SUPREME COURT – Justice Antonin Scalia on Monday tore into President Barack Obama’s use of recess appointments to staff government agencies when the Senate is unofficially on recess.

During oral arguments, Scalia shot back at an argument by U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli that the Constitution’s recess appointments clause is ambiguous enough to validate Obama’s temporary appointments.

“It’s been assumed to be ambiguous by self-interested presidents,” Scalia said, to “oohs” and laughs in the court room.

Scalia argued emphatically that the text of the Constitution does not permit presidents to appoint individuals to government agencies during pro forma sessions — when the Senate technically gavels in and out to fulfill a constitutional requirement, but does not conduct any business. He suggested the power ought to be restricted to official recesses. (more…)

Bill Clinton desperately pleaded with Sen. Kennedy over the phone in 2008 to not endorse Obama, even reminding the senior senator that Clinton as president in  1999 kept the Coast Guard looking for John F. Kennedy Jr.’s missing plane days longer than usual, according to the 2008 campaign tell-all book “Game Change.” (LINK)

Congressman Chris Van Hollen just can’t belive the report (link)

WASHINGTON DC – Those Democrats who crossed Bill and Hillary Clinton in 2008 must answer for their sins. And the Clinton camp has been keeping a tally.

That’s at least according to a new book by The Hill’s Amie Parnes and Politico’s Jonathan Martin. They’ve co-authored a book together on Hillary Clinton called “HRC: State Secrets and the Rebirth of Hillary Clinton.” And a story cross-published on the websites of both The Hill and Politico has an interesting angle and title: “Hillary’s Hit List.”

After Hillary had officially dropped out of the race in 2008, her campaign still had some work to do — work that involved keeping a detailed record of who had supported, and turned on, the Clintons. (more…)

We received this account via email – from a reliable source.  However, we have no way to actually authenticate the first hand account and out of an abundance of caution we will not publish the author.   Presented as received:

My wife and I are on Oahu for our annual Hawaii trip with good friends and two granddaughters enjoying the hospitality of the Hawaiian people on this lovely Island. Being retired military allows us the privilege of using the military facilities and especially the highly desirable golf  courses.

Yesterday , Jan 4, we had a tee time of 12:04 to play golf at Kaneohe Marine Corps on Oahu. We arrived early because we were advised the President was possibly going to play but also that he was leaving to fly back to D.C. that same day.

We checked in and were second off and waiting for carts when we were advised that he really may be coming but there was no count of when or how many in the party. We then got body scanned, our golf bags searched and briefed on the proper behavior expected. He and his party finally arrived at 1:00 and he then hit balls on the range and then drove right in front of us on his way to the first tee hollering Happy New Year to the small group( 50 or so) golfers waiting to play. (more…)

Wait, huh… wha…?   Just a few days ago liberals were outraged that former Defense Sec Robert Gates published a book about his tenure while a POTUS was still in office.   Now former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has a book coming out next Sunday.

Besides, this lame overused “war on women” shtick is going to run smack into the reality that ObamaCare has done more to attack women (and men) than any previous legislative construct.

(Via Politico)  Hillary Clinton warns in a new book that the “clock is turning back” on women across America and offers a passionate argument for prioritizing the advancement of women and girls.

Clinton, the former secretary of state and possible presidential contender, is one of a slew of high-profile contributors to a new report set to be released Sunday compiled by author and activist Maria Shriver and the liberal Center for American Progress.

Hillary Clinton warns in a new book that the “clock is turning back” on women across America and offers a passionate argument for prioritizing the advancement of women and girls. (more…)

Really Mr. Gates?    Really?    You were surprised and disturbed by this?

…. another significant percentage would love to see the Islamists jailed, like Egypt.

Tunisia fell victim to dictatorial consequences stemming from economic strain as a result of mass migration.   Like Egypt, the Tunisian Islamists (Muslim Brotherhood) promised great prosperity under Sharia.  However, unlike Egypt, the Brotherhood still holds power. 

TUNISIA – “Ben Ali, they fooled us! Come back soon!” is a slogan one could hear on Tuesday, January 7, in the streets of Tunis, Ariana, Mahdia, Sfax and other cities in Tunisia, as the country prepared to mark the three-year anniversary of the uprising that sent former dictator Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali packing.

The protesters were in the street to voice their anger at tax hikes affecting public and agricultural transportation vehicles, but many expressed a nostalgia for the Ben Ali days that seems to be increasingly common.

In the capital, “Vive Ben Ali” can be seen scrawled on walls of buildings, and a Facebook page entitled “Forgive us, Mr. President” has been flooded with messages of affection and tribute. (more…)

Trying to square the circle and winding up deep into pretzel logic.  This follows up to our previous presentation(s). 

WASHINGTON DC – The State Department on Friday for the first time blamed specific groups and militants for the 2012 Benghazi attack, designating them as terrorists — a move that further undermines initial claims the attack was spontaneous.

The department announced that it was labeling Ansar al-Sharia in Benghazi and Ansar al-Sharia in Darnah as terror organizations, in part over their role in the Benghazi attack. It applied the same label to Ansar al-Sharia in Tunisia, over a separate attack on Americans in Tunis.

The State Department also labeled as terrorists Sufian bin Qumu, head of the Darnah branch and a former Guantanamo Bay detainee, and Ahmed Abu Khattalah, head of the Benghazi branch.  (more…)

[…]  “The temptation to stand up, slam the briefing book shut and quit on the spot  recurred often,” Gates writes. “All too frequently, the exit lines were on the  tip of my tongue: ‘I may be the secretary of defense, but I am also an American  citizen, and there is no son of a bitch in the world who can talk to me like  that. I quit. Find somebody else.’

It was, I am confident, a fantasy widely  shared throughout the executive branch. And it was always enjoyable to listen to  three former senators — Obama, Biden and Clinton — trash-talking Congress.” (more…)

Washington Post […]  The State Department is expected to tie Qumu’s group to the Benghazi attack when it designates three branches of Ansar al-Sharia, in Darnah, Benghazi and Tunisia, as foreign terrorist organizations in the coming days.  (link)

When (Muslim-Brotherhood-Aligned) Mohammed al-Zawahiri, brother to CORE al-Qaeda Leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, was released from Egyptian prison in March 2011, he began to construct a network between Egypt and Eastern-Libya radical Islamist affiliates.   Part of that structure was contact with a Libyan islamist called Abu Bin Qumu.  As a consequence CORE al-Qaeda’s Ayman al-Zawahiri sent experienced jihadists to help in Libya.

Today the U.S. State Department claims CORE al-Qaeda has no connection to the Benghazi 9/11/12 attack carried out by Ansar al-Sharia.  While simultaneously saying:

“Militiamen under the command of Abu Sufian bin Qumu, the leader of Ansar al-Sharia in the Libyan city of Darnah, participated in the attack that killed U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans”.(link)

Can you see the propaganda ?

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