PDF Version: World Affairs Brief January 15, 2016

World Affairs Brief, January 15, 2016 Commentary and Insights on a Troubled World.

Copyright Joel Skousen. Partial quotations with attribution permitted. Cite source as Joel Skousen's World Affairs Brief (http://www.worldaffairsbrief.com).

This Week's Analysis:

State of the Union and GOP Response Equally Bad

Administration Hiding Refugees on Military Bases

Attempted Cover-up of Rapes in Cologne

Oregon Protest Update

Hillary's Email Scandal Heating Up

Iran Detains Two US Fast Boats

Attempted Murder of Nigel Farage

Vaccines and Retroviruses

North Korea's Hydrogen Bomb

Union Leader Newspaper Banned from Hosting Debate

STATE OF THE UNION AND GOP RESPONSE EQUALLY BAD

Obama's final State of the Union address was filled with the normal propaganda stunts (an empty chair for gun victims, etc) that have now become common but tiresome for even this kind of political grandstanding. But one thing that was conspicuously absent was the announcement of any major policy directions. Instead, the address was dominated by defensive recitals of his beleaguered tenure in office and numerous not-so-subtle swipes at the positions of the conservative opposition. Bad as the speech was in terms of lies and half-truths, the real betrayal came with the smiling but superficial GOP response by South Carolina's woman governor Nikki Haley. Not only did she fail to counter Obama's slick attacks, but she joined with him in calling for tolerance and acceptance of the very evils Republican conservatives are so incensed about. She becomes the second "conservative" national figure (after Paul Ryan) to be trotted out by the GOP establishment to try and dampen the Tea Party furor that is making this election cycle anything but "ho-hum."

It would take an entire brief to catalog all of the deceptive claims and statements of Obama, who I still can't bring myself to call, "president." And, perhaps it is good that Obama didn't try to make any new promises, given his failure to follow through with some of his damaging agenda in past addresses. Grabien.com put this list of failed promises together:

Curing cancer (promised 2009, 2010, 2015)

Freezing government spending for three years (2010) and five years (2011)

Colonizing outer space (2015)

Going "line by line" through the budget, eliminating needless programs (2009, 2010)

Inventing "material thinner than paper but stronger than steel" (2014)

Passing [affordable] health care reform that will let Americans keep their insurance (2010)

Converting sunlight into liquid fuel (2015)

Passing comprehensive immigration reform (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014)

Closing Gitmo (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015)

Ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (2014)

Passing a law that will prevent mass shootings (2014)

Keeping earlier promises he's already made (2013)

Perhaps his 3 biggest lies in the speech were these, courtesy of Kit Daniels:

1) Obama claims America has "the strongest, most durable economy in the world" [even if true, that's not saying much given the declining state of all economies in the world] In direct contrast to reality, the president said anyone who points out America's economy is in decline "is peddling fiction... We're in the middle of the longest streak of private-sector job creation in history."

But here's what Obama's not telling you: not only are 17% of U.S. jobs now held by immigrant workers, but the average U.S. stock is already down over 20% this year and the global economy is flirting with severe recession.

"We have never seen global exports collapse this much outside of a recession," economic journalist Michael Snyder wrote. [who can't use any other adjective than collapse] "Clearly we are witnessing a tremendous shift, and people cannot see it."

The reason people don't see it is logical. The real economy keeps muddling along in a fairly stable manner. The business media, however, keeps viewing the "normal" state of the economy in terms of the highly inflated boom times that we have become used to since the 60s—but those are never truly normal. Now, the only bubble is in the speculative economy, which doesn't have a lot of connection to the real economy (except for the bad ripple effect that pension funds and retirement funds feel with every stock market correction).

In fact, the Royal Bank of Scotland even warned its clients to "sell everything" and exit the stock market as soon as possible.

This is NOT because the Bank of Scotland believes a total economic collapse is coming, only that the markets have been in a bubble for 4 years now and are due for a major correction—ongoing as we speak. Outsiders should not be in these paper markets.

2) Obama claims "we need to focus on destroying" ISIS, omits fact NATO arming, funding ISIS. A leaked 2012 Pentagon document revealed the U.S. and other NATO nations deliberately backed al-Qaeda in Iraq, which morphed into ISIS, and other Islamic extremist groups to overthrow Syrian president Bashir al-Assad.

This support continues to this day. For one thing, the White House gave ISIS a 45 minute warning before bombing their oil tankers by dropping leaflets advising jihadists to flee before air strikes in Syria. "Get out of your trucks now, and run away from them. Warning: air strikes are coming. Oil trucks will be destroyed. Get away from your oil trucks immediately. Do not risk your life," the leaflet read.

Even more shocking, while it took the U.S. 15 months to even begin targeting ISIS' oil refineries and tankers, Russian air strikes on the other hand destroyed more than 1,000 tankers in a period of just five days. In addition, U.S. military pilots have confirmed they were ordered not to drop 75% of their ordnance on ISIS targets because they could not get clearance from the administration.

And President Obama authorized a shipment of guns to Syrian rebels back in October, even though the majority of these rebels are affiliated with ISIS. "We are collaborating with the Islamic State and the Nusra Front by attacking the Syrian Army's gatherings in … Qalamoun," one of these rebels, a Free Syrian Army commander, said last year. "Let's face it: The [ISIS-linked] Nusra Front is the biggest power present right now in Qalamoun and we as FSA would collaborate on any mission they launch as long as it coincides with our values."

3) Obama claims Obamacare helps "create jobs" "Nearly eighteen million have gained coverage so far," the president claimed. "Health care inflation has slowed, and our businesses have created jobs every single month since it became law." [That's a real whopper, given how premiums have doubled.]

In reality, however, Obamacare is forcing businesses to cut back on hiring full-time employees because the law requires firms with 50 or more full-time workers to offer them "affordable" health insurance or pay a fine of $2,000-3,000 per worker. But the "affordable" insurance is too expensive for many companies to afford for their employees anyway, and as a result, many firms are now relying on part-time employees to avoid the Obamacare penalty.

Remember, all of this was predicted and the architects of Obamacare knew it. Becoming the Unaffordable Care Act is essential to driving the public into accepting a subsidized government health insurance system in the future, which is their ultimate goal.

The Weak GOP Response: Gov. Haley's plea for welcoming all newcomers to America drew negative reviews from the American Right. Her speech also took time to mildly chastise the "angry voices" (obviously referring to Trump supporters) that divide the Republican Party. But her efforts only convinced the hard-core right-wing of the party, even more, that we can't trust any conservative who is selected to be a spokesperson for the establishment side of the GOP. The Washington Post couldn't conceal their delight:

South Carolina governor Nikki Haley responded to President Obama's State of the Union address on Jan. 12 and said that Republicans share blame with Democrats "for the problems facing America today." The celebration by Republican elites was instant, [even though this was planned] and so was the backlash on the far right.

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, the youthful daughter of Indian immigrants, had delivered a sunny and inclusive Republican response to President Obama's State of the Union address that stood as an unmistakable counter to her party's two presidential front-runners.

Her demeanor reminded me of media talking heads who always speak with a forced smile on their face. What America needed was not a smiling face but a serious one to drive home the message that this nation is in deep trouble. Instead, her message was one of shared blame.

Haley also said Democrats were not solely responsible for the failures in Washington. "There is more than enough blame to go around," she said. "We, as Republicans, need to own that truth."

That's only true in the sense that sellout Republicans like Mitch McConnell, John Boehner, and Paul Ryan are responsible for poisoning the government shutdown threat, and the other compromises in spending that have given the Democrats what they want.

But Haley's moment and its aftermath revealed an uncomfortable reality for GOP leaders. Even as they praised their chosen representative for condemning the polarizing politics fueling the rise of Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, the currents of the 2016 race still churn against the establishment. [Every time the establishment pulls a stunt like this, the Tea Party resolve hardens against insider candidates, as it should].

Conservative talk radio and social media lit up with contempt for her critique. "Trump should deport Nikki Haley," commentator Ann Coulter tweeted. Rush Limbaugh accused Haley of taking part in a GOP conspiracy to "drive conservatives out of the party."

And Trump, predictably, slammed her as soft on immigration and hypocritical. "Over the years, she's asked me for a hell of a lot of money in campaign contributions," he said on Fox News Channel.

Nikki Haley calls out Trump as one of GOP's 'angriest voices'... with just 19 days until the kickoff Iowa caucuses, party leaders are tiptoeing around Trump and Cruz — nervous about agitating them and their supporters, fearful that their hard-line views on immigration and other topics could lead to general election defeat, and uncertain about how to deny either the brash billionaire mogul or the combative senator from Texas the nomination.

The mainstream media loved Haley's speech. That doesn't mean conservatives did.

"There doesn't seem to be a plan for how to deal with Trump. They're afraid," said William J. Bennett, a top official in the Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations. "Instead of taking him on directly, they're making vague, diffuse references.

Bennett is an establishment hack, so let me correct him: They do have a plan for dealing with Trump; it's just not working. But they aren't through yet. The primary season will give them real powers to manipulate the results. Yesterday's Fox debate was notable only in that the main subject of attack was Cruz, not Trump for the first time. It appears the PTB are getting worried about Cruz rising to fill Trump's spot in the lead, which is also unacceptable to them.

House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) selected Haley to deliver the party's nationally televised response. Haley embodies the kind of party Ryan in particular is trying to build: even-tempered, reform-minded, pro-business and open to minorities. [and soft on the tough issues that are needed to stop our slide into cultural and political chaos].

Speaking Tuesday night from Columbia, S.C., Haley urged Americans to resist the temptation "to follow the siren call of the angriest voices" and to make everyone in the country feel welcome. The remarks were widely viewed as a clear reference to Trump's immigration-related proposals, which include a massive wall on the U.S.-Mexico border and a temporary ban on Muslims entering the country.

World Net Daily had a much more complete expose of the GOP establishment's use of Haley to sabotage the conservative rebellion:

GOP Gov. Nikki Haley has been a "big disappointment" to South Carolinians seeking to stop the resettlement of Muslims from the Middle East in their state. If there were any more proof needed that the Republican Party is at war with itself, Nikki Haley provided it Tuesday night.

South Carolina's GOP governor was given an opportunity to rebut President Obama's final State of the Union address, but instead she used her time on national television to bash the presidential front-runner of her own party – Donald Trump.

The risks to Nimrata Randhawa "Nikki" Haley [not her real last name], the daughter of Indian immigrants, are huge. As payoff for her willingness to carry water for the GOP establishment led by Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., she could be rewarded with a cabinet post in the next Republican administration. As some analysts surmise, she could even be picked as Marco Rubio's vice presidential running mate. [A very real possibility.]

But the risks are just as high that her State-of-the-Union gamble will backfire and further bolster Trump as the golden boy of the anti-Washington populism sweeping the nation. (Bloomberg reported Wednesday that Trump is the favorite to take the GOP nomination, according to odds-maker Betfair.)

CNN called Trump the "State of the Union punching bag" because of the way he was targeted by Obama and Haley. [Both controlled by the establishment, the former by choice and the later by naive ignorance.] Even the White House complimented Haley for her SOTU rebuttal – not a good sign if you're a Republican.

But Haley's stunning and risky rebuttal... was not made by Haley herself. Rather, it was a calculated play by the upper echelon of the GOP establishment and its donor class, which is backing Rubio as its candidate to succeed Obama. Haley admitted in an interview Wednesday with CNN's Don Lemon that her speech was approved by the GOP establishment.

But throughout the post-speech debate, Haley and her staff insisted "Speaker Ryan and Senator McConnell let me give the speech I wanted to give." "Let me give" is the telling phrase—they had the ultimate say. This is a perfect example of the PTB using "useful idiots" who are predictably soft to do their bidding with little or no arm-twisting. But I'm sure that in the initial calls inviting her to speak, direct guidance was given about the conciliatory tone they wanted.

'Welcoming' Syrian refugees: Haley has been working for the GOP establishment for some time in South Carolina, removing the Confederate flag from the statehouse and taking the side of the Obama State Department in favor of Syrian refugees, say GOP conservatives in her state.

[This is telling:] David Glaccum, former chief counsel for Sen. Lindsey Graham, now works for Gov. Nikki Haley as her policy adviser... Lauren Martel, a Hilton Head Island attorney and member of the GOP executive committee for Beaufort County, South Carolina, said Haley "stepped out of bounds" in her SOTU rebuttal, and she was likely led in that direction by Glaccum.

"Clearly Nikki Haley's speechwriters were the same people who wrote the speeches for Lindsey Graham before he dropped out of the race," Martel added. "And Lindsey Graham was way out of line in many of his statements about immigration, refugees, and what the Republican platform stands for."

Haley, as WND also reported, defended the Syrian refugee program, saying she "trusts" the federal government's vetting system [shows how naive she is]. This despite repeated warnings by top FBI and Homeland Security officials that it was impossible to screen the Syrians for ties to terror because the Syrian government does not have any databases upon which the U.S. could verify their identities.

As late as Aug. 28 of last year, WND reported that Haley was among the nation's most "welcoming" governors, opening their arms to the 10,000 Syrian refugees Obama is bringing to the U.S. in fiscal 2016, followed by "many more" in 2017.

[S]he did nothing to prevent Syrian refugees from arriving in her state. In fact, she was not even aware last month when the first Syrian family was dropped off in her state by a division of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, one of nine federal contractors who are paid with taxpayer dollars to distribute foreign refugees into more than 180 U.S. cities and towns.

Martel said the GOP establishment in South Carolina is "disgustingly corrupt," and Haley has cast her lot with that wing of the party, which strives for unlimited growth in immigration, both legal and illegal. Instead of using her national TV time to confront Obama on refugees, when he completely ignored her authority as governor of her state, "she showed she'd rather go after Trump,"

Paula Daly, a resident [of] York County, South Carolina, and a Trump supporter, said Haley was elected with the support of tea-party activists like herself, but quickly shifted gears once she assumed office. [Typical of conservative governors in other states]

"I wonder if Rush, Levin, the guy at Red State or the rest of the country for that matter really know the real Nikki. Do they know she signed a second contract and took federal money to bring in Islamic refugees who are using state funds even though it's in the budget proviso they can't?"

Haley also expanded Medicaid, expanded state funding of pre-K with federal grants, and wants to raise gas taxes, Daly said. She said Haley "hasn't done one thing positive about our corrupt ethics laws that protect the representatives over we the people, and hasn't done one thing to fix our $30 billion in unfunded state pensions, and that's just a small list.

The professional political analysts from the anti-establishment wing of the GOP were no less infuriated by Haley's attack on Trump.

"If Haley wants to endorse a GOP presidential candidate, hit the stump for that candidate, and rip into Donald Trump, no one is going to begrudge her that," writes John Nolte of Breitbart. "But to use the State of the Union response to publicly attack her own front-runner must be unprecedented, and certainly serves as more proof to Trump's supporters that the Republican establishment is much more interested in D.C. media love than winning elections and advancing their legislative agenda."

[Naturally, being establishment insiders] "She projects the "compassion and inclusiveness the party sorely needs right now," said former RGA Executive Director Phil Cox. "Our nominee would be crazy not to have her on a very short list" for vice president, added Cox, who runs New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's super PAC. [Hint, hint.]

ADMINISTRATION HIDING REFUGEES ON MILITARY BASES

In order to avoid showing the public how many refugees the administration is bringing into the states, the government is flying them in privately via UPS flights and housing them on military bases, some decommissioned. The Washington Times has the story:

The Pentagon is beginning "site assessments" of six military bases, some as far north as North Dakota and Massachusetts to house a new wave of illegal immigrants that have entered the U.S. via Mexico illegally. A Pentagon memo to Rep. Martha Roby, Alabama Republican, detailed the Office of Refugee Resettlement's plans to expand its shelter capacity.

Other bases being considered for expanded shelters include Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla.; Grand Forks Air Force Base, N.D.; Naval Support Activity Philadelphia, Penn.; Hanscom Air Force Base, Mass.; and Travis Air Force Base, Calif., according to the email sent to Ms. Roby. Another 1,600 beds are being set aside at the Homestead Job Corps, in Florida and the Denver Federal Campus in Lakewood, Colo.

Ms. Roby, who has previous led a fight to block the Obama administration from sheltering youths at Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base near Montgomery, Ala., said she is preparing for another fight on this issue in the House.

ATTEMPTED COVER-UP OF MASS RAPES IN COLOGNE

Part of the negative reaction to Gov. Haley's call for tolerance of Muslims and refugees is the increasing incidence of crime and rape that accompanies the wholesale allowance of young, restless Muslim males into the country. Strong protests have erupted in Germany even as politicians try to push the message that not all Muslims are guilty of crimes. That's true, but it is also a fact that the incidence of crime and rape by Muslim males has increased dramatically since the entrance of over a million refugees from Syria and Africa.

I've covered before in the briefs that the predominance of young males of military age among the refugees shows they are mostly escaping conscription into military or terrorist service more than just escaping war and turmoil which affects all ages and genders. These men also appear to be escaping the restrictions of Islam and are drawn to the enticements of the worldly pleasures so easily obtainable in the West.

The biggest case of mass molestation in decades happened in Cologne Germany on New Year's Eve. Most of the Cologne sex attackers were newly arrived Syrian refugees. The Western media in both the US and Europe made a concerted effort to downplay the violence. Paul Joseph Watson tells that even the identity of culprits was kept "secret" to keep the European public from knowing the degree to which refugees were responsible.

An experienced police officer has revealed that 14 of the 15 culprits arrested so far who were involved in the mass sexual molestation of women in Cologne on New Years Eve were newly arrived Syrian migrants.

In an interview with Express.de, the officer reveals that 15 men were arrested, of whom 14 were from Syria and one was from Afghanistan. The men had arrived in Germany within the last few days or weeks, according to the officer... a separate official confirmed to Express.de that this was accurate, according to the report.

Police initially claimed that the suspects were not newly arrived refugees, although quite how the men being supposedly 'assimilated' immigrants would be a better scenario makes little sense. The identity of the culprits is now "under lock and key and secret," according to the officer, suggesting that authorities are keen to keep the information under wraps.

Evidence of a police cover up is already unraveling. Authorities issued a press release on New Years Day claiming the previous night was "peaceful" and without incident. It took the German media days to report on the story, with top broadcaster ZDF later apologizing...

As we previously highlighted, German police have been accused of covering up crimes and sexual assaults committed by migrants so as not to "legitimize" critics of mass immigration.

This is not just political correctness but a determined conspiracy to undermine resistance to the mass acceptance of incompatible cultures into Europe—a part of the globalist agenda of crisis creation. A subscriber from Sweden had this to say about the growing problem there:

The Swedish media has also been "covering up" a lot of crime due to some immigrants as well as politicians but not sure they can continue this. They are now reporting that the number of robberies in small towns on the street in the late evenings is increasing dramatically. It is the parent-less children, mostly from Somalia, that are robbing people on the street at knife point. When the police capture them they have no papers, no proof of age so they tell the police they are 15-16 years old so they cannot be arrested. The law demands that minors must be given to social services, who do nothing. It's a real mess on many fronts.

My correspondent wonders how the Swedish liberals will feel ten years from now when they see their culture greatly compromised.

OREGON PROTEST UPDATE

An Idaho militia group arrived at the wildlife refuge this week to help ensure that a Waco style massacre didn't occur in Oregon. Oregon Live filed this report:

Members of a group from outside Oregon arrived on Friday at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge to "secure a perimeter" around the compound and prevent "a Waco-style situation." The arrival of the "3% of Idaho" was the latest development in the situation outside Burns, where an armed occupation of the refuge by an Ammon Bundy-led militant group entered its seventh day.

"If they weren't here," Bundy said, referring to the Idaho group, "I'd worry" about a Waco-style siege by federal officials.

However, even though supportive of the militia concept, Ammon Bundy declined to accept the Idaho militia's help. I think he felt it would invite an armed federal response to the threat rather than avoid it. The group arrived just a few hours after Bundy had refused Sheriff Dave Ward's offer of safe passage out of the area if they were to stand down. I think they should have accepted the offer to leave after holding a press conference to once again air the local rancher complaints and call for the release of the Hammond father and son, now in prison. ABC News added these points:

Earlier this week there was a fistfight between rival groups seeking attention or a way to press their own case for change. "We are here to create a safety buffer," 3 percent leader Brandon Curtiss told the media, but not long after that, Curtiss and his followers came back from inside the reserve and left, after being told they were not needed.

There are no high profile federal law enforcement agencies at the ready -- no armored cars or FBI agents roaming the streets. In fact it's difficult to find any representative of the federal government.

The federal agencies may not have been visible to the press but they were doing some black operations meant to discredit the protestors. I got the first hint of something wrong when I saw a town meeting the Sheriff called at a local school where CNN related the following:

Since those occupying the Malheur Wildlife Refuge came to town, there has been an increase in the number of "vandalism, harassment and intimidation reports," Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward said.

"There are continual reports of law enforcement officers and community members being followed home; of people sitting in cars outside their homes, observing their movements and those of their families; and of people following them and their families as they move around the community," Ward said on Monday.

Ward didn't realize he and his department have been set up to blame the protestors. In fact, these were most likely FBI agents dressed up like militia, poisoning the local population against the protestors. It seems to be working. When CNN interviewed locals after the meeting, they were all calling for the protestors to go home. But here's the real story from Redoubt News:

The BIG bombshell coming out-of-Burns overnight is the resignation and announcement by the Burns Fire Marshall that he confronted what appeared to be militia types, scoping-out the armory. When he confronted the men, they presented their FBI credentials.

Nevada Assemblywoman Michele Fiore of Nevada & COWS (Coalition of Western States) has released a statement regarding the Oregon Standoff.

"I just got off the phone with the former Fire Chief of Burns, Chris Briels, the Burns Fire Chief from 1984 to 2006. When he retired in 2006 the county asked him to stay on as the county Fire Marshall. According to the conversation I had with Chief Briels today at 12:26pm Pacific time, he disclosed to me that the Sheriff's office and Judge Grasty has been telling the community that the "militia" have been following and harassing people. Chief Briels observed what he thought was "militia" poking around the Armory and following townspeople so he took it upon himself to pull them over. According to Chief Briels these men posing as "militia" were the FBI.

Chief Briels was so upset he has just resigned as the county Fire Marshall. He has gone public with this information." Here's the video coverage from a local news station, Portland News 2 They only mentioned at the very last that Briels was deeply concerned about the FBI running around dressed like militia.

This story does not specifically give evidence that the FBI was going around harassing and intimidating people, but they were posing as militia in dress. Besides, the protestors had no motivation to be antagonizing the locals—just the opposite—they have been trying to encourage locals to stand up to the feds, and many are.

Bundy has said he and his group will leave when the residents are organized and able to get a "redress of their grievances," but even the community activist group he helped start, the Harney County Committee on Safety, has sent a letter to Bundy thanking him but telling him and all those at the refuge that it's time to go.

Federal Documents at the Refuge: The Bundy group of protestors has found a considerable trove of documents and paper files at the refuge, and they are currently reviewing them to see if they can find evidence of conspiracy to provoke ranchers or deny them water and grazing rights. This could change the entire nature of the conflict if evidence can be found. The group is not, however, trying to break into government computers, which might hold the best evidence.

After the news conference, where Bundy announced the find, his group drove to a ranch near the refuge and tore down a stretch of government-erected fence that was blocking the rancher's access to traditional grazing rights. The news video showed them using government equipment from the wildlife refuge—which may add to their difficulties later on if prosecuted.

The FBI has taken charge of this situation and has exacerbated the locals' fear by closing down schools and barricading government offices, which is totally unnecessary being 40 miles away.

But the alternative media is also a little too quick to bring out sensational charges. The most prominent was the claim that Sheriff David Ward used to work for the BLM and actually testified against the Hammonds, inferring that he is therefore biased against the Hammonds. Here's the claim by normally reliable Conservative Treehouse.

A David Ward formerly worked for the Federal Bureau of Land Management and appears to have actually been a witness against the Hammond family in the ridiculous federal terrorism trial back in 2012... Was current Sheriff David Ward the Federal Land Management employee who was witness #11 in the trial against the Hammond family? From the transcript:

"Before September 30, 1999, Ward worked with Steven and Dwight Hammond in Sections 15 and 16 with the intent to do a cooperative prescribed burn after preparing a plan and doing an environmental study. Ward thought a burn would improve the range conditions. Ward had not been provided notice that Steven and Dwight Hammond intended to do a "controlled" burn on Sunday, September 30, 2001. Ward learned of the burn on September 30, 2001.

Obviously, if that "Rangeland Specialist" Dave Ward is now Sheriff Dave Ward, he would not want the larger public to understand his complicity in the prosecution of the Hammond family. Nor would he have any motive or intent to protect Dwight or Steven Hammond from the appealed second set of sentences which were demanded by activist U.S. Attorney Amanda Marshall. Why would he protect them, when he testified against them?

However, a simple internet search of Sheriff Ward's bio shows that he was in full-time employment in law enforcement as early as 2002.

Missing the structure offered the military, he went back into the Army in 1998, serving a four-year hitch at a Texas base on a crew tending Patriot missiles. He started in law enforcement as a corrections deputy in Lake County in 2002. By the time he applied to become Harney County sheriff in late 2014, Ward had worked as a jailer, a patrol deputy and a probation officer.

While Ward has taken a semi-hostile position against the protest, I think there is evidence that he has little choice, given the FBI claiming superior jurisdiction. Ward considers himself a defender of the constitution saying, "I've spent many years of my life serving our country, stateside and abroad, to protect the constitution and believe it is the sheriff's responsibility to protect each person's rights under the constitution of the United States."

He may not fully understand this duty to stand up to federal acts which are unconstitutional, but I have to give him credit for negotiating directly with Bundy, offering safe passage out, even though the FBI disapproved strongly. They didn't want the protestors to have a way out. Despite the offer of safe passage out of the county, Bundy declined, reiterating his demands that the refuge be returned to ranchers and that the Hammonds be released. He may regret that decision.

Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton told the Las Vegas Sun last week that Ammon Bundy and the occupiers in Oregon should be arrested and prosecuted, according to infowars.com:

"They should leave—leave peacefully—but they should be charged for the illegal action they have undertaken, trespassing, breaking and entering and the like," Clinton said. She also said the occupiers are "potentially posing a threat to law enforcement and civilians" despite the fact they have not used violence and have stated repeatedly they do not plan on using violence unless attacked by the government.

Of course, we should not expect a newspaper published by a man who was a college roommate of Hillary's husband [Sheldon Adelson, who just bought the paper] and who was a house guest during a Clinton fundraising trip to southern Nevada to ask those sort of questions.

HILLARY'S EMAIL SCANDAL HEATING UP

Continuing from the same Infowars story above: "The FBI is looking into whether classified and top secret material found its way onto her private email server. "The [FBI] has so much information about criminal conduct by her and her staff that there is no way that they walk away from this," Joseph diGenova, formerly the District of Columbia's U.S. Attorney, told Laura Ingraham last week. Bob Woodward says the scandal is on par with Watergate." The FBI has now confirmed that classified information is in her emails, but the classification notice has been stripped out. That can't happen unless someone with knowledge of the illegality chooses to remove it. Judge Andrew Napolitano added these details:

One of the top-secret emails she received and forwarded contained a photo taken from an American satellite of the North Korean nuclear facility that detonated a device just last week. Because Clinton failed to safeguard that email, she exposed to hackers and thus to the North Koreans the time, place and manner of American surveillance of them. This type of data is in the highest category of protected secrets.

Last weekend, the State Department released two smoking guns — each an email from Clinton to a State Department subordinate. One instructed a subordinate who was having difficulty getting a document to Clinton that she had not seen by using a secure State Department fax machine to use an insecure fax machine. The other instructed another subordinate to remove the "confidential" or "secret" designation from a document Clinton had not seen before sending it to her. These two emails show a pattern of behavior utterly heedless of the profound responsibilities of the secretary of state, repugnant to her sworn agreement to safeguard state secrets, and criminal at their essence. There are now more than 100 FBI agents investigating Hillary Clinton.

Still I don't think she'll be prosecuted. She's got tens of crimes under her belt that have long been protected from prosecution:

Clinton sold seats on a trade mission to China when her husband was president. The funds were allegedly used in 1996 for the Clinton-Gore campaign. Due to arm twisting by Democrats, joint congressional hearings on the matter were canceled.

Clinton wrecked the career of Billy Dale, the head of the travel office. Clinton had the FBI investigate and the IRS audit Dale so the Clintons could replace Dale and his staff with cronies from Arkansas.

Hillary and Bill were involved in a shady real estate deal with Whitewater Development Corp in Arkansas. Accusations surfaced about improper campaign contributions, political and financial favors, and tax benefits. Partners James and Susan McDougal went to jail for fraud. Clinton's successor in Arkansas, Governor Jim Tucker, was jailed for fraud along with municipal judges David Hale and Eugene Fitzhugh who worked with James McDougal.

Questions remain unresolved in the alleged suicide of Clinton aide Vince Foster, the "man who knew too much." [I'm convinced he was knocked off by Clinton's protection team, without their knowledge.]

Clinton realized a bonanza in a commodity trade with financial services company REFCO. Robert L. "Red" Bone had to pay a large fine for allowing the trade and was suspended for three years. It was the largest fine at the time in the exchanges history. Asked about the trade Clinton said she made out on the deal because she read The Wall Street Journal.

Clinton's hypocrisy and criminal dealings are not and will not be brought up during the campaign. As a favored minion of the elite, her crimes are off-limits with one exception—Donald Trump.

IRAN DETAINS TWO US FAST BOATS

The US claims that the two navy high speed river patrol boats went into Iranian waters because of engine problems on one or both, but that story is coming under question. A former naval commander isn't buying it. Chris Harmer derided the Navy's explanation leading up to the ships' capture, according to CNN.

The capture of two navy ships in Iranian territorial waters represented "a severe failure by somebody," according to a former Navy commander once stationed in Bahrain. The retired officer, Chris Harmer, slammed the Navy's actions leading up to the ships' capture, saying, &quo