Hillary's Spin Machine Can't Shrug Off Uranium Scandal

From Ben Shapiro, at Big Government, "CLINTON CASH: HILLARY’S SPIN MACHINE CAN’T SHRUG OFF URANIUM SCANDAL":

On Friday, Hillary Clinton campaign spokesperson Brian Fallon responded to the chaos swirling around the former secretary of state’s dealings with foreign countries and associated entities that donated to the Clinton Foundation.

Fallon wrote that neither Peter Schweizer’s Clinton Cash nor Thursday’s New York Times report detailing ties between Hillary, Bill, the Clinton Foundation, and a Russian-owned uranium company called Uranium One present any “direct evidence.” Fallon claims:

[T]he Times story — like the book on which it is based — wrongly suggests that Hillary Clinton’s State Department pushed for the sale’s approval to reward donors who had a financial interest in the deal. Ironically, buried within the story is original reporting that debunks the allegation that then-Secretary Clinton played any role in the review of the sale.

The problem: all of Fallon’s defenses of Clinton ring hollow.

On Friday, Politico spelled out the Clinton team’s overall three-pronged strategy for quashing the alleged bribery scandal:

We have three rules: (1) You can’t stop the onslaught so just act quickly to defuse it; (2) If there is no ‘there’ there the story will burn hot, fast and out; and (3) No handwringing – [Chairman John] Podesta won’t have it.

That response is insufficient, to say the least. Attempting to simply shrug off serious allegations regarding the chairman of the Russian Nuclear Agency-controlled Uranium One funneling $2.35 million to the Clinton Foundation won’t cut it. Despite claims that there is no “bombshell” from the Clinton camp, this is a bombshell: it’s a problem when a Russian-controlled company’s head pays cash to the foundation of the secretary of state at the same time it required Hillary Clinton’s State Department to approve activities. That bombshell becomes even bigger when we recognize that the Clintons did not publicly identify the donors, in violation of a memorandum of understanding with the Obama administration.

Hillary Clinton does not get to decide what constitutes a bombshell. The American people do. And if there truly is no “there” there, then why did Hillary Clinton destroy her emails? Why did she violate that memo of understanding with the Obama administration? Why would the Clinton Foundation have to refile its tax returns? Simply put, Hillary Clinton hid a foreign donation from the head of a company controlled by the Kremlin and seeking access to American and Kazakh uranium – a donation that occurred at the same time as a State Department decision benefiting that company.

Hillary Clinton and her team seem to expect that the media world will resonate to them the same way they did in the 1990s. Matt Drudge changed the coverage of the Clintons by destroying the cozy relationship between the mainstream media, who wanted to kill the Lewinsky story, and the reader; now media are punished for failures to report. Should the media downplay this scandal, the American people will chalk it up to media bias, rather than the notion that there is no scandal to investigate.

And the media have plenty of questions to ask...

More.

Playboy Playmate Gia Genevieve in Terry Richardson Photoshoot

At Egotastic!, "Gia Genevieve Strips Down for Terry Richardson."

BONUS: "Gia Genevieve for Playboy March 2015 (VIDEO)."

Hillary's Culture of Corruption

At IBD, "Hillary Clinton's Culture of Corruption May Doom Candidacy":

.@HillaryClinton's culture of corruption may doom her candidacy http://t.co/EMqPUsTJ1l - #NotHillary2016 - pic.twitter.com/3QpSaeYP8C

— Daniel John Sobieski (@gerfingerpoken) April 21, 2015

Hillary's emails may be only the tip of an iceberg that could include Clinton Foundation donations to shield Boko Haram from being designated a terrorist group and her brother's involvement in a Haitian gold mine.

We doubt Team Hillary was thrilled or her critics surprised Tuesday when the Inspector General for the Department of Homeland Security named Mrs. Clinton's brother, Tony Rodham, in a report about a firm that allegedly received preferential treatment from the Obama administration.

The firm, Gulf Coast Funds Management, with Tony Rodham listed as its chief executive, allegedly benefited from what the report says was "politically motivated" intervention of then-United States Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Alejandro Majorkas, whom president Obama promoted to be the No. 2 official at DHS even as he was under investigation.

Majorkas, according to the IG report, appeared to give "favoritism and special access" to politically connected Democrats who intervened in the application process for the EB-5 (Employee-Based Fifth Preference) visa program, which grants visas to wealthy foreigners who can invest up to $500,000 in U.S. business ventures.

Along with Hillary's brother, Gulf Coast is also linked to now-Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, who served as chair of the Democratic National Committee when Hillary's husband, Bill Clinton, was president. McAuliffe's company was working with Gulf Coast, a firm that specialized in obtaining EB-5 visas for investors.

So we have a high Obama administration official conspiring to grant visas to wealthy investors in a firm run by Hillary's brother, Tony Rodham, that was assisting a firm run by Hillary's political ally Terry McAuliffe.

Now-DHS Deputy Secretary Alejandro Majorkas' intervention on behalf of McAuliffe's GreenTech Automotive company was "unprecedented," according to the IG report.

Last month, the Washington Post reported on another deal involving Rodham that could prove politically embarrassing and damaging for his sister. It seems that he sits on the board of a company that got a coveted gold-mining contract from the government of Haiti after the Clinton Foundation sponsored relief work in Haiti.

In interviews with the Post, both Rodham and the chief executive of Delaware-based VCS Mining said they were introduced at a meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative, which seems more and more to be an unseemly mix of charitable work with the political and business interests of Clinton Foundation donors.

And then there's Hillary's strange dealings regarding the Nigerian terrorist group Boko Haram, which just recently pledged its allegiance to the ever-expanding Islamic State — dubbed the "JV team" by President Obama, who has yet to make good on his pledge to degrade and destroy them.

My god, you'd think the Clinton's care more about the interests of America's enemies more than America's interests!

Keep reading.

Irvine Police Arrest Three BLACK MALE Suspects for Residential Burglary

I never see black thugs like this in Irvine. I seriously cannot recall ever seeing people like this around here. These mofos were from out of town, shakin' down the Irvine locals.

I wish the media would call these people out by race. The press has no problem identifying "white" policeman shooting "unarmed black" suspects. But identifying black criminals on the streets in Irvine. That's racist!

At CBS-KCAL 9 Los Angeles:

IPD @IrvinePolice Three Suspects Arrested for Residential Burglary http://t.co/0Ip8lCNE9b pic.twitter.com/njxLmuvDcr

— KCBS KCAL (@KCBSKCALDesk) April 24, 2015

And from the press release:

IRVINE, CA – Three suspects have been arrested for burglarizing an Irvine home. Derron Anthony Jefferson, 26, Quincy Carnell Keaton, 25, and Shatavia Sharon Phillips, 18, were arrested by Irvine Police Department (IPD) officers after a City of Irvine employee observed a burglary in progress.

At approximately 9:15 a.m. on April 23, 2015, a City of Irvine Code Enforcement Officer was driving in the area of Lorraine Way and Irvine Center Drive, where she observed Jefferson and Keaton attempting to load a large safe into the front seat of a black Nissan Altima parked in front of a residence. Upon seeing the City vehicle, the suspects quickly got into the vehicle and fled the scene, leaving the large safe on the parkway in front of the home.

The Code Enforcement Officer immediately contacted IPD, reported her observations and provided a description of the suspects and their vehicle. An alert IPD officer observed the suspects’ vehicle driving on West Yale Loop, approximately two miles from the location of the original call.

A vehicle stop was conducted and the three suspects in the car, Jefferson, Keaton, and Phillips, were detained and ultimately arrested for residential burglary. Inside the vehicle, officers located burglary tools, gloves, and stolen property from the victim’s residence. The investigation showed that the suspects had forced entry into the burglarized home by prying open a side window. Once inside, the suspects ransacked the home seeking valuables. All of the property stolen from the residence was recovered from the suspects’ vehicle.

Jefferson and Keaton are on parole for burglary. The investigation is ongoing and anyone with additional information is asked to contact IPD Detective Ramon Lerma at 949-724-7233.

Dognapping Scam — Criminals Posing as Animal Control Officers Steal Beloved Dogs in L.A. (VIDEO)

This is heartbreaking.

Watch, at KCAL 9 Los Angeles, "Police Have Warning to Pet Owners About New Dognapping Scam."

Lesbian Go-Go Dancing

Hmm, maybe they should bring this to the Whiskey in L.A., the original home of go-go dancing.

At the Guardian UK, "Lesbian go-go dancing: subverting the gaze one sexy step at a time":

“I’m going to get naked as we chat,” Caitlyn informs me as she starts pulling off her shirt, rummaging around in a duffel bag for her go-go gear. “Sorry this room is so small. I have to share it with another dancer and a drag queen, and the drag queen leaves her stuff everywhere,” she says. She pulls a pair of fishnet tights out of her bag. “So what do you want to know?”

That’s a good question. It’s around 11pm on a Friday, and I’m perched on a chair in a changing room on the second floor of the Stonewall Inn in New York. I’m here to learn about the world of lesbian go-go dancing.

Caitlyn Seitz, who is maneuvering into fishnets in front of me, has been dancing here for the last three years, hyping up a largely gay-girl crowd at the popular Friday night Lesbo-a-Go-Go parties.

I’ve gone to a bunch of these parties and it has always struck me that the spectacle of a woman dancing half-naked for tips would, in a different context, be considered objectification. And yet, when a woman dances provocatively for other women – when you have lesbians exercising a female gaze – it intuitively feels far more equitable than a woman dancing for men. But is that really the case?

It's not "objectification" if women strip for other women.

The feminist hypocrisy. You gotta love it!

But keep reading.

(And hey, they do have lesbian go-go in Los Angeles, at the Abbey in WeHo, where else?)

Baboons Steal Food from Truck in Tanzania (VIDEO)

Watch: "Baboon burglary! Sneaky baboons steal supplies from truck."

Via London's Daily Mail, "Never leave your truck unattended in Tanzania."

Today's Deals at Amazon

Do some shopping: Gold Box Deals at Amazon.

Also, Shop Amazon - Mother's Day Gifts.

Material Witness in Federal 'Maternity Tourism' Case Caught Trying to Flee to Beijing

I think we should treat the Chinese maternity tourists as enemy combatants.

Lock them up in a prison camp in orange jump suits.

At the Los Angeles Times, "'Maternity tourism' witness held after trying to board flight to China."

Armenians to 'March for Justice' in Los Angeles

Now that is a righteous march!

At CBS News Los Angeles:

MT @jeffnguyen: Right Now: Sunset Blvd in #Hollywood closed for #MarchForJustice. pic.twitter.com/1m09yYcAYy Story: http://t.co/l0wEO9DCQd

— CBS Los Angeles (@CBSLA) April 24, 2015

Also, at the Washington Post, "Obama’s statement on Armenia avoids ‘genocide’."

And at Astute Bloggers, "ONCE AGAIN, OBAMA REFUSES TO USE THE TERM 'ARMENIAN GENOCIDE'."

And at Fresno's ABC News affiliate KFSN 30, "FRESNO ARMENIANS CALL PRESIDENT'S DECISION NOT TO SAY 'GENOCIDE' LAUGHABLE."

Cirque du Soleil Performers Thrown Onto Workman's Compensation After Injury

This is interesting, at WSJ, "The Perils of Workers’ Comp for Injured Cirque du Soleil Performers":

Natasha Hallett was a longtime performer at Cirque du Soleil, playing a key role in the circus giant’s La Nouba show in Orlando, Fla. Then she made a mistake.

Ms. Hallett says she forgot to put a double loop through her harness for a flying trick, and a colleague didn’t notice the oversight during a safety check. She tumbled about 40 feet to the stage during a Cirque performance, shattering 19 bones from the waist down. “Like a horse that broke its leg, once you are injured you are pretty much no good for them anymore,” Ms. Hallett said.

Artists at Cirque du Soleil put their unusually adept bodies at risk to entertain audiences, just as many professional athletes do. But unlike many pro athletes, Cirque performers don’t get special treatment, such as continuing to receive regular pay, if they suffer severe injuries.

Instead, most of them are treated like ordinary workers, thrust into a complex workers’ compensation system that provides limited recompense for lost wages and permanent disabilities.

A small number of injured workers whose contracts provide for it do receive extra compensation after an injury, executives said. But relying primarily on workers’ compensation payments “is the best solution in terms of management,” Cirque spokeswoman Renée-Claude Ménard said. The company declined to comment on specific cases of injury....

Workers’ compensation laws vary widely, but they generally prevent workers from suing their employer for negligence.

Meaghan Muller, a performer from the Atlanta area who was badly injured in a fall onto a concrete floor while training at Cirque’s Montreal headquarters, said that Quebec authorities required her to seek medical treatment in Canada for the first year after her accident. She later needed four surgeries in the U.S. to correct what Canadian surgeons had done, she said.

Heh. Merica!

Keep reading.

'Don't you someday want to see a woman president of the USA? ...'

Watch Gavin McInnes, at the Rebel. (Via Kathy Shaidle.)

'Many human beings, apparently, never quite get over an innate totalitarian impulse...'

From Heather Wilhelm, at RCP, "Attack of the Leftist Snowflakes."

Via Instapundit. (Be sure to click through for more on the leftist snowflakes."

I'm Reminded of Mark Steyn with All the Climate Change Hysteria and Hypocrisy this Week

I haven't heard much recently on the Mann vs. Steyn lawsuit, so I checked over at the dude's blog, and behold: "The Science is Settled!"

And check out his books, Climate Change: The Facts, and The Undocumented Mark Steyn.

Obama's Earth Day Hypocrisy

At Free Beacon, "Obama Earth Day Trip to Emit 5 Times as Much CO2 as the Average American Does Annually."

Plus, at CBS DC, "More Than 9,000 Gallons of Fuel to Be Used on Air Force One for Obama's Trip to Everglades on Earth Day."

And at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "Obama under fire for Air Force One's big carbon footprint on Earth Day."

And watch, from Bret Baier's Special Report yesterday, "Earth Day Message - Obama's Mixed Messages on Climate Change."

@hale_razor Hey, 100 TONS of CO2 seems a small sacrifice for a photo op & an #EarthDay speech nobody will remember. pic.twitter.com/1mSzZpC07H

— Soquel by the Creek (@SoquelCreek) April 22, 2015

'What Are We Doing?' Robert Downey Jr. Asks After an Interview Gets Personal — And Before He Walks Out

He's conservative.

At LAT, "Robert Downey Jr. interview gets too 'Diane Sawyer-esque,' so he walks out."

And at Pat Dollard's, "Robert Downey Jr. Leaves Mid-Interview After Being Badgered About Not Being a Liberal."

Earth Day Overload

Here's a pretty good piece from Nick Gillespie, which is saying something, since I think he's kinda blustery in any case, heh.

At Reason, "Jerry's Brown Apocalyptic 'Warning to Humanity'."

Watch the video at the link as well: "The Top Five Environmental Disasters that Didn't Happen."

More at the Atlantic, "California's Poorest Could Start Paying More for Water," and the L.A. Times, "What's next on California's water rates?"

There's No Such Thing as Consensus Science

From Professor Mark Perry, at the American Enterprise Institute, "For Earth Day: Michael Crichton explains why there is “no such thing as consensus science”":

Michael Crichton, @Caltech lecture, 2003: [H/T: @Mark_J_Perry] pic.twitter.com/4QO8y7naNn

— Jeff Jacoby (@Jeff_Jacoby) April 21, 2015

Do a Google search for the term “global warming consensus” and you’ll find more than 23,000 links (and 18,000,000 results without the quotations marks). The first link is to this NASA webpage about “scientific consensus” with the following bold statement:

Ninety-seven percent of climate scientists agree that climate-warming trends over the past century are very likely due to human activities, and most of the leading scientific organizations worldwide have issued public statements endorsing this position.

As part of my series of posts this week to recognize the green holy day called Earth Day, here’s what Michael Crichton had to say about “scientific consensus” back in 2003 when he gave a lecture at the California Institute of Technology titled “Aliens Cause Global Warming” (emphasis mine):

Let’s be clear: the work of science has nothing whatever to do with consensus. Consensus is the business of politics. Science, on the contrary, requires only one investigator who happens to be right, which means that he or she has results that are verifiable by reference to the real world.

In science consensus is irrelevant. What is relevant is reproducible results. The greatest scientists in history are great precisely because they broke with the consensus. There is no such thing as consensus science. If it’s consensus, it isn’t science. If it’s science, it isn’t consensus. Period.

In addition, let me remind you that the track record of the consensus is nothing to be proud of. Let’s review a few cases...

Keep reading.

Celebrate Earth Day with Robert Zubrin's Merchants of Despair

Once again, check out Robert Zubrin's book, Merchants of Despair: Radical Environmentalists, Criminal Pseudo-Scientists, and the Fatal Cult of Antihumanism.

Climate Hypocrite Leonardo DiCaprio Flew Private Jet from Los Angeles to New York Six Times in Six Weeks

Michelle Fields is screencapped at the piece.

At London's Daily Mail, "Leonardo DiCaprio the 'eco warrior' flew on a private jet from NY to LA SIX times in SIX weeks, Sony hack documents reveal."