What Spies Do…

(She got away with it.  She is above the law.  She… was… expected to run the country.)

(Update: The Question is finally being asked…)

(Update 082015:  This post was from March…  Why does it take six months (Now 20 months) to address the Large Points?)

There is a large point being missed with regard to the latest revelation of a U.S. Secretary of State creating, and using exclusively, an outside conduit of communication to their reports, and associates, within the Department of State.

Transparency.

When committing Espionage a Spy must find a way to communicate information without appearing to do so. This is not difficult to understand.

Hollywood might have you believe Spies find interesting little pieces of information and covertly send that information to the interested party of choice. But that’s the movies.  And, small amounts of information have lesser value than Huge Amounts of Information.  Seems self-evident.

If you want to be “The Most Transparent Administration, and State Department, in History!”, one way to achieve that is to give full access to…

(Well, when We The People hear that phrase repeated ad nauseam, we think the Administration is speaking to Us. It’s entirely possible the Administration was speaking to someone completely different. If that is the case, it would clear up the confusion We The People have when it comes to the supposed ‘Transparency’ of this current Administration.  It also begs the question ‘Who Else may have created their own “home-made” ISP upon which to communicate?’)

… other countries.

What better way to do the above than to create an entirely separate network that can easily be tapped into?

In other words, Creating a Method of Communication outside of Federally Protected Channels may extend well beyond the desire to avoid the Damned Prying Eyes of the ‘Stupid’ American Public’s FIOA requests.

It would certainly make it convenient for a Foreign Power to access and monitor all communications within that channel… without the Damned Prying Eyes of those tasked with protecting the Secrets and Security of the United States.

While those who created such a network would obviously deny such intent…

That question must be explored.

When it Looks like Espionage, Walks like Espionage and Talks like Espionage… it might just be Espionage.

Maybe the NSA can take a break from Spying on Us and re-task some folks to find out Who else was attached to Eric Hoteham’s ISP.   Any thoughts Mr. Pagliano or are you sticking with taking the fifth?

(Originally Posted 030415)

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House of Clintons

Bill and Hillary have a Kevin Spacey Problem.

It’s not just the Gruber “Smarter than You” Class watching House of Cards.

There are regular folks out there… or at least those who consider themselves ‘regular’ folks, watching.  Many of those ‘regular’ folks have jobs in the media.  And this presents the serious problem we are witnessing before our eyes in terms of how Hillary Clinton’s Presidential run is being covered.

For those that don’t know, or don’t watch, House of Cards is a Netflix drama set in D.C. in which a Sociopathic Politician, Kevin Spacey, manuevers his way through the political jungle to rise to the Presidency.  The show practically writes itself as it is based on actual, and rumored, events of the past.  Of course the names have been changed to protect…  the innocent?  Well, to protect someone…  Combine all of this with a little artistic license in order to maintain continuity between episodes, and sadly you have what most of America considers ‘History’.

Alas, there is the problem for Hill and Bill.

It has been posited that Frank Underwood (Spacey’s character) has been modeled on Bill Clinton, and Claire Underwood (Robin Wright’s character) modeled on Hillary.  It’s closer to the truth that Frank and Claire are Both Hillary and Bill as a mash-up of personality traits and behaviors.  Frank is both Bill and Hillary just as Claire is both Bill and Hillary… however the composites of the characters were crafted, you can quickly see how very, very, unhelpful the last two years of Cards has been for the Clintons.

Cards in now in Season 3… that’s two full years and counting of Americans viewing what they most assuredly believe to be ‘the way things are done’ in Washington.  The ‘regular’ folks see the show as real, the very same way they viewed the West Wing as real.  (This always amused me.  I’ve met a number of these ‘brilliant’ people.  I can attest to the fact they never think as fast as Sorkin’s characters, and in the rare instant they did the thoughts that escaped their mouths were on the far horizon from what most of us would consider intelligent.)

Viewing this, it becomes easy for the American public to see Hillary’s creation of a Private Server to hide communications from her employer… the U.S Government, Her Family Foundation accepting Huge amounts of money for speeches given by a sallow former President whose claim to fame is not inhaling and diddling the help, the corresponding use of her influence in favor of countries traditionally considered hostile to the United States as well as the promise of a future Presidency and the influence associated with that position which could benefit said countries, in an appropriately cynical light.

It has also been rumored that Bill Clinton has been repeatedly asked to make a cameo on the show…  even though Bill and Kevin are personal friends, one must seriously doubt Bill could survive what would be thrown at him should such a direct, unabashed, connection be made.  If it did, I’m sure Hillary would find something with a bit more heft than an a lamp to hit Bill with.

Who Knew?

Not a day goes by that I don’t learn something.

Today Hillary Clinton taught me, in her words, “It is left to Government Employees to determine what is government related and what is personal”.

I did not know that.

I expect this will also be news to Edward Snowden and Miss Manning… among others… but I digress.

So this afternoon, we were educated in how the Federal Government handles classified and government related e-mail correspondence.

They leave it to the Employee to decide.

While I must admit it is rare, if ever, I find a Government Policy to make things more efficient… I have to concede, this would be one.

Brilliant in its simplicity, this policy may be the first to genuinely streamline what would otherwise be considered crushing levels of redundant bureaucracy.

We also learned this afternoon that this policy extends to Cyber Security as well.

Again, I have to admit that much of the Cyber stuff is way over my head, like Firmware hacking such as Greyfish or various other Cyber Espionage and Cyber Warfare spyware.

But clearly… the State Department has made sure that all of their employees are capable of safeguarding their own, personally installed in their home, Servers. I can’t even imagine the hours of instruction and levels of knowledge one would have to individually possess in order to create such system. Good thing it’s Mrs. Clinton and not one of us Stupid people doing this type of complicated IT work.

So there you have it. There is nothing to see here… and besides, other people have done it so it’s okay anyway.

What?

Other Government Employees have not installed their own personal servers at their homes to handle all of their official, and some unoffical, e-mail correspondence?

Well… then… it’s a vast right-wing conspiracy just like when all those Republicans accused Bill Clinton of having sex with that one girl when he didn’t.

What?

He did? Well… everyone else was doing it too. And besides, it was just very, very, very heavy petting… which it not sex.  Nope.  Not sex.

Huh?

The whole thing was actually about sexual harassment, law Clinton himself championed, and there were over 20 women who had come forward regarding his errant sexual behavior, some even accusing him of rape? And then he lied about it under oath and lost his law license?!

Whatever!  Shut up!  Haliburton!  Bush Lied!  Dick Cheney!

I apologize, for that. My wife talks to me over my shoulder when I tap.

Finally, what we learned today is it’s nobodies business what’s on your personal, totally secure, server at your home.

The NSA learned something from Mrs. Clinton today as well…

She’s very Smart.  And Honest.  We’d be Lucky to have her as President.

If Not Now, When?

(From the very week it happened… 091612)

As I sat and watched a Fox News interview with Ambassador to the Untied Nations Dr. Susan Rice, I had a serious Obama 2008 campaign flashback.  A serious flashback.  I have to blame it on the brown acid.

Dr. Susan Rice stated, unequivocally, that the relationship between Israel and the United States “had never been stronger”…  Never.

This is when everything got too colorful and the fern in the corner began to chant… “if not now, when?”  It was the same collective chant of Obama voters from his inauguration.

Pulling myself together, I thought about what the fern was saying.

So… when?

The follow-up question that was not asked by Chris Wallace was “When has it been weaker Dr. Rice?”

When has the relationship been in a situation that the Muslim Brotherhood is orchestrating a multinational consolidation of Islamo-Fascist Radicals with the ultimate goal of creating their own version of a Sharia based European Union known as a Caliphate? When has the collected enemies of Israel been so numerous, and cooperative, that the ability of her to defend herself was seriously in question?  And when has the U.S. leadership been so overt about making a point to anybody listening that she will stand by and watch when the whole region goes south?

I also thought I heard Dr. Rice say when asked about the consulate security not being increased given the number of threats and actual attacks in Benghazi that “the four men protecting the Ambassador was significant security”. Significant… Four men…  The Benghazi consulate had reportedly suffered five attacks in the recent months. A four-man security team, in Dr. Susan Rice’s assessment  is significant.

The interview should have had a laugh track.

Just to add ignorance to idiocy, she reiterated that the Administration was sure that the extremely well executed attack on the Consulate in Benghazi was not premeditated.  Yes… Clearly.

(In fact, if it was not premeditated… we have a lot more to worry about than we thought.  Chew on this, if an unruly and disparate mob of protesters can throw together a coordinated, seemingly perfect, assault capable of forcing out our Ambassador and subsequently killing him and his “significant” four-man security team then think about what the trained militants can do.  It could be a very long fall.)

The truth is…

The Obama Administration had no idea this was coming.  They were pleased with themselves for introducing legalized mob rule… sorry… Democracy to the Middle East.  They had moved on and were gearing up to “solve” the Chicago teachers strike and look “tough on Unions”.  (Unfortunately, for the Obama Campaign, there is no oxygen left in the room for that charade.)

To sum it up, I’ll remind you that this is the same Administration that was going to “solve” all of our problems in the Middle East because they weren’t “cowboys” and were smarter than everybody else… no more burning of American flags, no more stamping on pictures of the President, no more chanting “Death to America”.  Well… surprise.  They hate us regardless of who’s in office.  We told them that decades ago.  (The same crap was spouted prior to Clinton’s election.)

So it seems they had their eye on the re-election ball combined with an extra dose of Fatal Conceit.

I’ll enjoy watching the tracers of these people leaving office.  The fern says “It’s been a long strange trip…”

Why is my beer blue?

The Perfect Secretary of State!

Senator John Kerry will make a Perfect Secretary of State.  (This was posted upon his selection announcement…)

Not only will the Leftists in this country find him more than qualified, so will the Leftists around the world… for the same reasons.

He has an innate disdain of the United States, which he has made clear…
He’s married to an avowed Socialist, who is very, very rich through inheritance…
He considers himself Elite and Enlightened, just ask him…

And finally, he believes the Masses are too ignorant to know what’s right for them.

All of this he shares with Progressives World Wide.  They speak His language.  He speaks their language…  He just does it in an extremely slow, relentless, never-ending, painfully monotonous drone…  even in French.

And, that’s the best part.

John Kerry will put much-needed Teeth back into our Foreign Policy.

While every Socialist door in the world will be Wide Open to a Fellow Traveler…  once in that door he will destroy their will to challenge U.S. policy because they will be overwhelmed by the very rational fear of being Bored to Death.

I predict that in less than a year just the Threat of a visit from our Secretary of State will bring the most obstinate countries into line.

This might be the best pick President Obama has made yet…

 

(Originally posted 011413.  Yet again seems relevant… in a sad, funny, sad kind of way.)

Mom! Vlad’s not Playing Fair!

So the Vote is happening right now designed to justify the Invasion of Crimea by the New Soviet.

And our Diplomats just can’t figure out what’s going on…

I believe the John Kerry types are genuinely perplexed.

Let’s look at it from The Secretary of State’s point of view:

Vladimir subscribes to the Right Ideology… we’re all on the same team here…  we want the same things…

Vladimir even made a group of children sing the Internationale during the Olympics!  It’s the Anthem for Someone’s Sake.

He has to know that Our Goal is One World where we all hold hands, Compromise on Everything and Share Stuff with Everyone while The Smart People like Us are in Charge…  just like His!

So What’s Going on?  We’re like Brothers!  Why is he being So Mean?  Invading places just looks so Bad!  All You Have to Do is Aid Them in Voting Their way into Socialism!  Why isn’t He Playing by the rules it took Us so long to set up?

Now Let’s take a look at it from Vlad’s point of View:

The Soviet Union has been made to feel bad about itself for long enough… and the People want to be Proud.  The time is over for feigning regret over Communism when the rest of The World has fully embraced it, if not in name, in action.  If I can make them Proud for reasons outside of Productivity and Creative Ambition, say something the Americans have done for years… something like… Ethnicity!  Perfect.  The People can be Proud to be Russians!  I will make them feel that way and they will Follow Me.  The World will Respect Russia, and the New Soviet, again with me at The Helm!

I will not make the Mistake my predecessors made.  Since there is no Great War allowing expansion, I will take small bites and remain calm while the World does everything they can to avoid confrontation because they don’t really believe in the Freedom and Liberty they espouse during their speeches.  Using the Ethnic Excuse will give me a pass because the rest of the World has abandoned the Individual and embraced the Balkanization of Humanity.  Now that Socialism is the rule and not the exception I can legitimize “protecting” my Brothers and Sisters. 

Once The World is accustomed to an Expanding Russia… and China… they will embrace the New Normal.  The time for World Socialism is Now!

What can the Americans, British and the rest of Europe do about it?  Seize our assets?  Wasn’t it the American’s with their Occupy Movement that Demonized the 1%!?  Who do they think they will be punishing by freezing foreign assets?  The Proletariat?  Of course not… and the Russian people will Cheer!  Punish the Rich!  They deserve it!

What’s humorous is Deep Down, down in a place where they can’t really admit it… The Current Political Leadership within the United States and Britain agree.  They’re just upset because their standing in The World has diminished.

The only part I can’t quite figure out is Why the Shocked Face?  The Standing of America has intentionally been reduced… Obama stated it as a goal when he came into power.  If your going to concede power then you must assume other countries will step into the void.

Even my Brothers and Sisters in the United Nations understand this.

But I’ve never understood the Reasoning of Americans.  It’s as if they think they’re Smarter than Everyone Else because they have Cell Phones… idiotii.

How Should We look at it?

Remove the dismayed look on your face when watching our Secretary of State and those surrounding him from the President on Down bumble, stumble and fumble their way through the Ukraine Crisis.  They are faced with the Ultimate difficulty… they are trying to appear in opposition to an Action they happen to Agree with.  They’re being Forced by those who voted for them to confront a Nation who is Doing Exactly what they’ve doing Domestically for Decades.  The most obnoxious part of the Ukraine Invasion and Crimean take over by The New Soviet is The Current Administration cannot point to any aspect of Ideology which separates Them from Putin.

Until We Remember that American Exceptionalism is based on the Ideology of Individual Liberty and Freedom, Property Ownership and the Free-Market Capitalism that protects all three then We will be trying to condemn others for Distinctions in behavior that have no Difference.

Both Political Parties in The United States have abandoned the Individual.  They have gone as far as removing the word from discussion.

That is Why We, The U.S., will Do Nothing of Substance in the Face of Soviet Expansion.  We agree with it fundamentally.  I take that back, we will start using the Label “Eastern Europe” again.  And… stomping our feet.

So… We Will Do Nothing.

Who Might?

The wounds are deep in the rest of Europe… if genuine fear exists it exists in Germany, Moldova, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania… but they are watching us, the U.S., not honoring Treaties.  They Realize they will be On their Own.  With China promising to offer no threat to Russia’s plans, The New Soviet will be an imposing Foe for anyone within reach.

Envy, Ego…

Vices as old as Time Itself.  And they are at the foundation of Socialism in all it’s forms.

Disgusting

Democrats refuse to hear testimony from parents of those Slain in Benghazi.

Not only did they refuse… they got up and walked out.

I guess a child’s life is not worth being compassionate enough to politely listen to their parents.

May be it’s because the children of those parents were serving their country…

Why is Kerry scheduled to “address the public” and not Holder?

(Update:  It appears someone in authority has changed their mind in regard to Kerry’s pre-emptive address.  Good.)

I have to throw this out prior to the much-anticipated public service announcement from SECRETARY OF STATE John Kerry.

Why is he speaking anything about the Boston Marathon Bombing instead of ATTORNEY GENERAL Eric Holder?

Unless he is going to offer up International ties to this act of Terrorism… then he should be silent and allow the FBI along with the Attorney General to do the speaking.

As far as I’m concerned, this is yet another attempt to blur the public’s understanding of jurisdiction and how our system is designed to work.

It should be noted, I will welcome having to amend my remarks should Secretary Kerry provide ties to international terrorism. While I think this could certainly be a possibility, until we are sure… Kerry needs to avoid the podium.

Speaking of which, where is our man Napolitano? I’ve heard only 30 seconds from DHS. If there is an international tie shouldn’t they be on deck to slobber on a microphone? And, when they’re finished… send in Lurch?

Let’s watch… shall we?

Panetta on Benghazi

“I should have had a V-8!” – What Mr. Leon Panetta, Secretary of Defense, should have limited is opening remarks to during this mornings Benghazi Hearings.

Listening to Leon Panetta one might think the deployment of Diplomats throughout the world occurred for the very first time under his watch, and none of the dangers associated with such an endeavor had ever been experienced before. In other words, we just could never have foreseen the potential threats to Ambassador Stevens and the Benghazi Embassy staff.

Mr. Panetta has also stated that it cannot be the Department of Defense’s responsibility to defend our Diplomats abroad.
Mr. Panetta has stated that even if it was DoD’s responsibility… “there was no actionable intelligence available” in order for defense forces to come to the aid of our diplomats.  Along with that, he told the hearing committee that there was not the available “armed” aircraft to respond… “it would have taken too long to arm the aircraft needed… and we didn’t have the resources to fuel those craft for the trip”.

Mr. Panetta is asking us to suspend reason and burn our maps, in order for all of this to make sense.

To see reason here requires those who nod approvingly at such a statement to forget that we had a man on the ground actively “lazing” the enemy mortar site sending rounds into the compound in addition to a Drone watching the events transpiring below plus later interviews with those at Aviano Air Base stating that they could have been there had they been called.  Finally it requires one to believe that while we have armed Drones crawling all over the Middle East, with ranges allowing them to travel all over the region, that none were available to be temporarily diverted to the area under attack.  (According to Mr. Panetta, the only Drone available was an unarmed one… which apparently was strangely unable to supply the intelligence needed to discern whether aid for those under attack was needed.  I would offer that if a Drone’s “intelligence” is enough for those driving it to decide whether or not a U.S. Citizen can be executed without due process that the “intelligence” being gleaned from the Benghazi site should have been enough to figure those on the ground  needed help.  And… what kind of surveillance equipment did this drone have?  Camera’s to see the firefight… and the active lazing of targets?  Listening devices to pick up the frantic radio chatter?  Radio equipment capable of communicating this information to those who could make the decisions to send help?  Or was this Drone void of these capabilities?  Yes or No?
Mr. Panetta made the assertion that forces could not be deployed because of other “possible threats” to our other consulates in the region, while mere moments earlier stating that there were no imminent threats to our personnel.  But wait a minute… I thought there were no discernible threats in the region on our Embassies.

My question is; Which is it Mr. Panetta? There seem to be three stories here.

Either there were threats detected on our Embassies “across the region” as you said out loud this morning, or there were not… as you also stated out loud this morning.
Either you did have the ability to send forces to aid those under attack and chose not to, or you did not.
Either it is your responsibility to defend our diplomats, or it is not… (nor ever has it been.)

You said there were… and there were not… in the same opening remarks.

If, Sir, it is not the Dept. of Defense’s responsibility, then whose is it?  State?  CIA? New York’s Finest? Who!

You stated that perimeter security was the responsibility “of the Host country”… so you, and the Department of Defense in Cooperation with the Department of State are incapable of evaluating the ability of the Host country to provide such security?  Seriously?  Do you need to take a minute and read back what just escaped your mouth?  To say such a statement is “unbelievable” is charitable.

Even if none of this was “your problem”, why didn’t you help?  “The U.S. Armed Forces are not a 911 service standing by to come to the rescue of our citizens all over the world.”  Really?  I would think the U.S. citizenry, and many of our soldiers, would be surprised to hear such a statement.  If that is not within their “job description”, then what exactly IS their job description Mr. Secretary?

I am stunned that this country has survived to be 250 years old and rising to the position of world hyper-power while, according to Mr. Panetta, never having learned all of these “unforeseen lessons” this tragedy has suddenly taught us.  May be in another 250 years we’ll get a handle on this whole Diplomacy thing.  This entire Administration acts as if none of this Major League Governing Stuff has ever been done before and we are learning as we go.

Absolutely Amazing.

I’m not sure I have enough liquor to get through this hearing…

The Buck Stops… Somewhere!

“The Buck Stops here.” – Sec. State Hillary Clinton 10/15/12

Kind of… well, not really… there are other people who are experts that make security decisions at the Embassies. So, it’s just a figure of speech. Somebody else will be responsible once I decide who it is…
…after a special commission I set up has a chance to figure it out… after the election… sometime… may be…

So SHUT UP ABOUT LIBYA! SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!

So went this evenings interview with Secretary of State Clinton.

Is this getting old for anyone else out there?
(Can you imagine having a teenager who takes your car and runs over an old lady… then, looking you in the face, tells you that they’re fully responsible…. may be… but we’ll have to wait a couple of months until a special commission your kid put together comes to a decision on what exactly happened and who other they are actually at fault… AND YOUR KID RAN OVER THE OLD LADY 5 WEEKS AGO?)

Stunning.

The desperation to get Libya off the table has reached heights I have never seen.

Somebody screwed up big time… and it doesn’t tak e a commission to figure it out, unless it was a policy decision.  Then, it doesn’t take a commission to figure it out.

Buy time, buy time, buy time.

Anything to get Libya off the table for this election.

I wonder how the families feel?  And, I don’t just mean the wives, daughters, sons, parents, brothers, sisters etc.  I wonder how the special operator and private security families feel…

Pathetic.