This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Author: Hondo

  • Yeah, I’d Say She’s A Bit “Out of Touch”

    Provided without further comment. (smile)

    (Source story with image here.)

  • Meanwhile, Back At the State Department . . .

    . . . we have the case of Bryan Pagliano,

    You might remember him. He’s the guy who was the Clintoon campaign’s 2008 IT director. He later set up her “personal email server”.

    He also was hired by the State Department as an IT specialist. He left in Feb 2013, sometime after Clintoon resigned as Secretary of State.

    Well, Senator Chuck Grassley – Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee – asked State to provide his committee copies of the guy’s official emails from when he worked for State.  Seems that ol’ Bryan had been called to testify before Congress this past fall (probably the reason you remember the name) – and refused to answer questions, invoking the Fifth Amendment.  Sen. Grassley is trying to determine whether to grant the fella immunity.

    From the time after Clintoon resigned, apparently State can find Pagliano’s email archives.  But regarding the period while time he worked for State while she was SECSTATE, well . . . do you really need me to tell you what they’re telling Sen. Grassley?

    Yep. Department spokesmen have said that State’s “investigators have not yet located a .pst that covers the time period of Secretary’s Clinton tenure”.

    Are you surprised?  Nah.  Me neither.

    However, the FBI has seized the man’s former government computer.  So if FBI forensic technicians are allowed to do their jobs, there’s a fair chance they might find something.

    Given the track record of this “most transparent administration in history”, however . . . well, I don’t plan to hold my breath waiting.

  • Speechless. Just Speechless.

    You know how they say “lightning never strikes twice”? Well, they’re wrong.

    Apparently another cabinet-level official in the current      clown krewe running the show in DC       Administration has been using a private email account to conduct official government business.  Word is that they’ve now quit.

    Who was it, you ask? A guy named “Ashton Carter”.

    Yeah – that Ashton Carter.  The SECDEF.

    Apparently for a few months after his appointment, Carter continued using a private email address vice his government email account to conduct at least some official business.  Reportedly copies of any such emails were also forwarded to his government account for record purposes – though how one would verify that without examining ALL of his personal email from the time frame in question is a good question.

    Carter reportedly continued to use his private account for about two months after the fact that a certain former SECSTATE had done the same was publicly revealed.  Further, Carter’s use of his personal account was often enough that at least some “members of his staff feared he would be hacked and worried about his not following the rules”.  But of course, that’s a misplaced concern – no foreign intelligence service would ever take an interest in a US cabinet secretary’s personal communications, right?

    (I do hope the sarcasm in the last sentence above was obvious.)

    Fox News as well as the New York Times have articles with more info (the NYT broke the story).  IMO they’re worth a few minutes to read.

    Sheesh.  Do these people simply quit freaking thinking when they take office?

  • Did Someone Say, “YGBSM?!?!” Unfortunately . . . They’re Not.

    Remember the other day when it was revealed that the female San Bernardino jihadi terrorist bastard passed three background checks before being admitted to the US on a spousal visa? Remember when it looked like that at was at least partly due to her social media postings – where she’d expressed support for violent jihad, and indicated she wanted to be a part of same – not being screened during those investigations?

    Well, that’s indeed the case. But now we know why such social media screening was never performed.

    Doing that was against policy.

    It seems that DHS investigators were forbidden by DHS policy from  reviewing social media posts made by foreigners applying for a US visa..  Apparently DHS leadership was worried about about a possible “civil liberties backlash” and “bad public relations” – or some other similarly nebulous libidiot bullsh!t.

    Concerns about “civil liberties” regarding someone (1) who is not a US citizen or resident; (2) who isn’t even physically located in the US; and (3) who is voluntarily asking permission to come to the US to live.  Plus, worries over “bad public relations”.  Yeah, letting those concerns outweigh conducting thorough background checks on foreigners seeking to enter the US during a period of high terrorist threat really passes the freaking common sense test.

    But wait, it gets even better. Nearly two years ago, multiple senior DHS officials recommended to the DHS Secretary, Jeh Johnson, that the policy be changed.  They recommended that DHS change policy to allow screening of social media posts made by visa applicants. Wanna guess what the decision was – and who made it?

    No, the POTUS didn’t make the decision; reportedly DHS Secretary Johnson did.  He turned down the recommendation – in early 2014.

    The jihadi terrorist bastard in question entered the US in mid-2014.  You do the math.

    Yes, Mr. Secretary, I’d say you certainly “have some ‘splainin’ to do””  I only wish now you could end up doing it in a court of law, while on trial for dereliction of duty.

  • “Somebody’s Got Some ‘Splainin’ to Do”

    Remember that recent shooting in California? You know, the one where a US citizen went abroad; married a foreign national from a nation known for having a high level of terrorist activity; brought their spouse back to the US – and less than 18 months later the two murdered 14 and wounded 20+ in a terrorist attack? The terrorist attack that recently occurred in San Bernardino?

    Well, guess what? It turns out that the foreign national involved apparently had a history of making social media posts supporting violent jihad – and saying they wanted to be a part of same. But it also turns out that the foreign national passed three separate background checks during the process of being granted entry into the US.

    Yep, you read that right. Apparently no one involved in the visa approval investigation process checked social media to see what the individual in question may have said there in the past. Those social media posts were only recently found by US LE agencies.

    Plus, the screening also missed the fact that the foreign national had used a false address on their visa application. Yeah, all of that all really gives me the proverbial “warm and fuzzy” regarding our ability to screen thousands of “Syrian refugees” (and others from countries with known terrorist issues) who might attempt to enter the US in the future. I mean, we did such a “bang-up job” of screening out someone with terrorist inclinations in this case.

    But rest assured, we’re “thoroughly vetting” all those thousands of Syrian refugees. None of them will pose a threat – even if they’re using a Syrian passport forged by Da’esh using captured official Syrian passport making equipment and blanks. Or a bogus Syrian passport from another source.

    Yeah, right. And I’m the Crown Prince of Siam.

    Predictably, the US DHS Secretary, Jeh Johnson, says that the K-1 visa problem is being reviewed. However, regarding the screening process having missed something in this case that should have raised a concern, Johnson said, “. . . I am not prepared to say that and I’m not prepared to make that declaration”.

    You see, it turns out DHS doesn’t review social media when making visa decisions in cases similar to this. In fact, there appears to be an ongoing debate within DHS regarding whether it is “appropriate” to do that.

    Well, Mr. Secretary – you might not be prepared to say that the process screwed up here, and needs to be changed dramatically – but I certainly am. Your agency screwed up royally here. This all should have been found prior to the individual being granted or denied entry into the US. It should have been considered while making that decision.

    In my book, to paraphrase the late Desi Arnaz (in his Rickey Ricardo persona): “Somebody’s got some ‘splainin’ to do”. And that “somebody” would be you, Mr. Secretary. Along with your boss.

    You can both explain it to the surviving family of those 14 killed in San Bernardino. And to those recovering after being wounded.

  • Great. Just Freaking Great.

    Remember when the current       DC clown krewe        Administration told us that it planned to admit thousands of “Syrian refugees”? Remember when it told us “don’t worry, be happy” – because any such referees would be “thoroughly” investigated and vetted and would therefore pose no threat to US security?

    Remember when people raised objections? You know, when numerous people – noting that a large number of fake Syrian passports had been observed among alleged Syrian refugees, and also noting that the Syrian government wasn’t exactly cooperative with the US these days – worried that terrorists might infiltrate the US by claiming to be refugees?

    Well, “riddle me this, Batman”.  Just how are we going to vet those “Syrian refugees” when the Syrian government is uncooperative – and if Da’esh not only has an authentic Syrian passport machine but also has “boxes of blank (Syrian) passports”?

    The question isn’t hypothetical.  Apparently Da’esh acquired both an actual Syrian passport printing machine and a supply of blank Syrian passports  when they captured the city of Deir ez-Zour this past summer.

    Yeah, it looks like this is gonna turn out great.  Just freaking great.

  • Another Returns

    Shortly after I posted yesterday’s article on the subject, DPAA announced it had identifiied and accounted for another formerly-missing US Soldier.

    From Korea

    • PVT James M. Smith, K Company, 28th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division, US Army, was lost on 12 February 1951 in North Korea. He was accounted for on 8 December 2015.

    You’re no longer missing, elder brother-in-arms. Our apologies that your return took so long.

    Welcome home. Rest in peace.

    . . .

    Over 73,000 US personnel remain unaccounted for from World War II; over 7,800 US personnel remain unaccounted for from the Korean War; and over 1,600 remain unaccounted for in Southeast Asia (SEA). Comparison of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from recovered remains against mtDNA from a matrilineal descendant can assist in making a positive ID for unidentified remains that have already been recovered, or which may be recovered in the future.

    DPAA’s web site now has what appears to be a decent “Contact Us” page. The page doesn’t have instructions concerning who can and cannot submit a mtDNA sample or how to submit one, but the POCs listed there may be able to refer you to someone who can answer that question – or may be able to answer the question themselves. If you think you might possibly qualify, please contact one of those POCs for further information.

    If your family lost someone in one of these conflicts and you qualify to submit a mtDNA sample, please arrange to submit one. By doing that you just might help identify the remains of a US service member who’s been repatriated but not yet been identified – as well as a relative of yours, however distant. Or you may help to identify remains to be recovered in the future.

    Everybody deserves a proper burial. That’s especially true for those who gave their all while serving this nation.

  • Another Is Home

    DPAA has announced the identification and accounting for the following formerly-missing US Soldier.

    From Korea

    • PFC David S. Burke, C Company, 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, US Army, was lost on 27 November 1950 in North Korea. He was accounted for on 3 December 2015.

    You’re no longer missing, elder brother-in-arms. Our apologies that your return took so long.

    Welcome home. Rest in peace.

    . . .

    Over 73,000 US personnel remain unaccounted for from World War II; over 7,800 US personnel remain unaccounted for from the Korean War; and over 1,600 remain unaccounted for in Southeast Asia (SEA). Comparison of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from recovered remains against mtDNA from a matrilineal descendant can assist in making a positive ID for unidentified remains that have already been recovered, or which may be recovered in the future.

    DPAA’s web site now has what appears to be a decent “Contact Us” page. The page doesn’t have instructions concerning who can and cannot submit a mtDNA sample or how to submit one, but the POCs listed there may be able to refer you to someone who can answer that question – or may be able to answer the question themselves. If you think you might possibly qualify, please contact one of those POCs for further information.

    If your family lost someone in one of these conflicts and you qualify to submit a mtDNA sample, please arrange to submit one. By doing that you just might help identify the remains of a US service member who’s been repatriated but not yet been identified – as well as a relative of yours, however distant. Or you may help to identify remains to be recovered in the future.

    Everybody deserves a proper burial. That’s especially true for those who gave their all while serving this nation.