Joy Reid on Bush in 2009: 'Investigate The Bastard'

    In 2009, Joy Reid posted the below article on her blog using a photoshopped picture of President Bush holding the flag and giving the finger. [The Internet Archive appears to have deleted old The Reid Report archives now.] The article was about a poll regarding investigating allegations of torture by the CIA under Bush.

    Earlier today I wrote about Reid referencing a malicious rumor about an affair between Bush and his secretary of Condoleezza Rice. Reid has apologized for some of her old posts, but has yet to address either of these.

Joy Reid's Old Blog Photo: 'Condi Rice with (future political baby daddy?) John McCain'

    On her now-defunct The Reid Report blog in 2008, Joy Reid went after George W. Bush's secretary of state Condoleezza Rice. As then-presidential candidate John McCain was considering his vice presidential choice, former Bush administration Dan Senor floated Rice's name as a possibility for the position ultimately filled by Sarah Palin. Reid posted a photo of McCain and Rice with the caption "Condi Rice with (future political baby daddy?) John McCain."

    Earlier in 2008, Reid referenced a vicious, left-wing conspiracy theory regarding an alleged affair between Rice and President Bush. Reid wrote:

[Rice] has been a middling secretary of state, with few real accomplishments to show for her sojourn with George W. Bush (then again, nobody who's hung around that clod has much to show for it after nearly two terms.) We don't know much more about her than that (unless you believe the stuff about her being Dubya's girlfriend ... she'd have to have pretty poor taste in men...) [screenshot below]

    Reid has apologized for some of her old posts after suggesting hackers had written the more controversial passages that were found on archived copies of her blog. The Wayback Machine (archive.org) seems to have since deleted at least some of the archives, but other copies remain elsewhere as of this date [at this point, I am not linking to those archives to avoid further scrubbing of the record.]

    Personally, I have no desire to see Reid fired from her current position at MSNBC, but rather simply take responsibility, apologize when necessary, and show a willingness (along with the rest of the media and the public) to forgive old, intemperate or immature remarks. Who knows, I may need similar consideration someday myself. 

Joy Reid's 2008 Anti-Hillary Blog: Mahatma Hillary

    In 2008, as Hillary Clinton battled Barack Obama for the Democratic Party presidential nomination, Joy Reid threw her support behind Obama. Part of Reid's efforts to support Obama was a satirical website entitled "MahatmaHillary.com."
    Reid's site declared that is was "dedicated to all of those who have been put off by Senator Clinton's negative campaign for the White House. Its purpose is to try and recapture the warmth of HRC, while giving a nod to her grandiosity and historic accomplishments over 35-plus years of service. Most of you probably don't know all the good that Hillary has done. Hell, I know I didn't..."

    The site was short-lived, consisting only of 11 entries, but placed Hillary, Forrest-Gump-like in various historical settings, such as the moon landing and Nixon's trip to China:

    When Clinton suspended her campaign in June 2008, Reid finished out the blog with a conciliatory post, noting:

"I have been a harsh critic of the Clinton campaign, having come into the primary last January as a die-hard Clinton Democrat, who became both incredibly inspired by Barack Obama and sorely disappointed with the negative trajectory of the race, which I feel was driven by the former president and the Senator from New York, as well as by some of her senior advisers. Today, I think Hillary took a step back toward the grace that people like me had long expected of her."

    Reid linked to the MahatmaHillary blog from her also defunct and much more controversial Reid Report blog that has landed Reid in so much hot water lately.

    The MahatmaHillary blog is still accessible (as of this posting) via the Internet Archive, unlike the Reid Report blog which appears to have been scrubbed by the Wayback Machine:

    However, I saved some screenshots of a few rather shocking Reid Report blog posts that I will be posting soon. Stay tuned.

Farrakhan in 2015: "We Must Rise Up and Kill Those Who Kill Us Outside of the Law of Justice"

    In 2015, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan organized a "Justice or Else" rally on the grounds of the Capitol in Washington, DC to mark the 20th anniversary of the Million Man March. A month before the rally, Mr. Farrakhan was interviewed by Roland Martin,NewsOne Now’s Roland Martin. In the wake of the police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri the year before, Mr. Farrakhan called for "10,000 Fearless Men" to help end violence in the black community, by going "into Black neighborhoods [to] stand between Black people aiming guns at other Black people." However, Mr. Martin told Mr. Farrakhan that "a number of conservative sites are suggesting that you are calling for the killing of police[.]" In his lengthy and rather rambling answer, Mr. Farrakhan clearly went beyond the pacifist-like mission he seemed to be describing earlier:

"Yes, white folks jumped all over that and said Farrakhan is calling for 10,000 fearless black men to go out and kill white people. Now I'm passionate, but I'm not stupid. To call for 10,000 black men to go out and kill white people, what would that bring on us? Can we stand that kind of heat? Where are the weapons? Who has the weapons? This is a well-armed country. 350 million guns among the American people. How many black people are allowed to have guns legally? And most of the guns in the inner-city are illegal. No I'm not calling for that. So they rushed to say I'm going to kill white people, but here's what I really meant. You know and I know and black people know that white policemen kill us, the prosecutors are liars, the judges are liars, the forensics specialists... all are conspiratorial in getting a white people off. They have killed us, but they've never had to pay the price. The law of retaliation that's in the Bible and in the Koran says, it is a prescription. You don't go to the hospital or the doctor with a malady and he doesn't give you a prescription? A prescription for us is, those who kill us and seem to get away with it, we cannot allow it to continue. We must rise up and kill those who kill us outside of the law of justice and when they feel death like we feel death, when they feel pain at the burying of their dead like we feel it, then maybe we can sit down to a table and act like civilized people. That's why I said if the federal government; that's the monster, the federal government has never interceded to see that black men and women tried and killed get justice so when we come to Washington, we're not coming to play with the government, we're not coming to play with the forces that take take life out of us, but neither are we going to play with the life in the black community that's killing us, so I said I wanted 10,000 fearless, we're going to be inside our community, standing between the guns of the gangs. We're asking for 10,000, but you got to accept to be trained by the Nation of Islam and the fruit of Islam so that we can teach you how to be with your people. We are not killers of our people. No Nation of Islam member carries a weapon. We don't believe in the carnal weapons of this world. However, we have to be trained to go into our community with the love that we have for our own people and stand in the gap. But I tell you brother Roland, when we go in our community to stand in the gap you will find there are rogue policeman that suck the life out of our community. Now the police department, you know this, and if you don't know it, you will know it, because all the rogue cops want to be in the black community. Darren Wilson didn't want to be in the white community, policing white people. He wanted to be in the black community where the action is. Police know where the drugs are, they go in and raid; there may be $200,000 on the table, and they take $160[,000] or $170[,000] and put $30,000 back in the police thing and then they divide the money up. They kill are people too, they put our young people out there to sell drugs as well."

    This is the man many politicians and progressive activists are struggling to avoid having to denounce and cut long-standing ties with. See my two commentaries in the Wall Street Journal for further details.

Iran President Rouhani's Private 2013 Dinner Photos: Louis Farrakhan, Rep. Gregory Meeks

UPDATE: The headline has been updated to remove Rep. Andre Carson who said he was invited to the meeting but did not attend. I have also updated the text below.
-----
    In 2013 when then-newly elected President Hassan Rouhani came to New York to speak to the United Nations General Assembly, he held a private dinner and time of discussion at the One UN Hotel in Manhattan where the Iranian delegation was staying. On Friday, February 9, 2018, the Wall Street Journal published my commentary entitled "Keith Ellison, Louis Farrakhan and Iran," a follow-up to the prior week's "The Dems’ Farrakhan Problem." My new piece revealed that the 2013 event, previously reported as a gathering of US Muslim leaders, including Nation of Islam head Louis Farrakhan, also included Rep. Keith Ellison (M-MN), Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY), and Rep. Andre Carson (D-IN).
    In attempting to debunk the story Saturday, the Iranian government Saturday inadvertently confirmed it. The Fars News agency reported that Iranian Vice-President for Communications and Information Parviz Esmayeeli denied that Rouhani meet with the congressman. But the evidence provided by Esmayeeli not only shows that Ellison and Meeks were present, but added the detail that Ellison and Farrakhan sat nearly directly across from one another, facing one another during the event.

    Below are photos from The Final Call (a Nation of Islam publication) and the Islamic House of Wisdom (an Islamic center in Dearborn Heights, Michigan,) as well as photos that appear on the government website of the President of Iran.
    The juxtaposition of these photos from various sources lay to rest the idea that, as Parviz Esmayeeli put it, the 2013 meeting of Rouhani and the congressmen is a "sheer lie." 

    The first three photos below are drawn from the Islamic House of Wisdom site. 

    In this photo, Rouhani can be seen in the top-center and the very back of Louis Farrakhan's head can be seen on the left.

    Here, Farrakhan is seen across the table near the center of the photo, and Rep. Gregory Meeks on the right of the photo with Rouhani visible just above Meeks's head.

    This photo is a little wider shot of the previous photo with Farrakhan still visible across the table and again Rep. Meeks on the right. Rep. Carson does not appear in the photos, only being mentioned as a participant in the text of the Final Call and Islamic House of Wisdom reports on the meeting.

    The remaining photos come from The Final Call.

    This close up of Farrakhan shows his face more clearly along with the two men on either side of him, matching the wider shots in the earlier photos.

    The final two photos, which The Final Call posted as a set, shows Meeks more clearly, and also includes the gentleman to Meeks's right who is captured in the wider-angle photos above. The photo of Ellison does not line up with the previous wider-angle views, but the flowers in the foreground and the blue curtain behind him match the decor from the other photos of the meeting.
    Finally, below are photos from the official website of Iranian President Rouhani. The Fars article reporting the denial the the congressmen attended the dinner included the link to the photos.

    The above photos shows a wide shot of the entire group of attendees at the dinner. The positions of the participants match the photos on The Final Call and Islamic House of Wisdom sites. (This shot also includes a videographer visible on the left suggesting a video record of the meeting may exist.)

    These two photos focus on the front right corner of the room, to the left of President Rouhani. The gentleman with the white hair and beard can also be seen sitting to Ellison's right in the close-up of Ellison that appears at The Final Call. The final photo below is a zoomed clip of the center-right portion of the photo above, and it focuses on the place card on the table to the left of the white haired gentleman.

    The first two letters are unclear, but the rest of the portion of the card that is visible reads "Rep Keit", the remainder having been cut out of the photo. The place card is obviously that of Rep. Keith Ellison, matching his position in the other photos.

    It is unclear at this point who took these photos and whether more than one person was involved. I contacted Askia Muhammad, the photographer who took the picture of then-Senator Barack Obama and Louis Farrakhan that was suppressed for 13 years before being released last month. Muhammad told me, " I did attend two New York dinners on successive years when President Rouhani spoke at the U.N. Minister Farrakhan attended one meeting. I never saw Keith Ellison at either of those events." Muhammad did not say which years he attended. Rouhani has addressed the UN in New York each of the five years he has served as Iran's president (2013-2017.)
    As of Saturday evening, Rep. Meeks is the only congressman to have responded. As I mentioned in the Journal, Meeks's press secretary, when asked if Rep. Meeks wished to respond to my request for details of the meeting replied via email, "We do not. Thanks."
    Now that the Iranian government has weighed in with a risible denial, additional questions must be asked. Why is the Iranian government so anxious to deny meeting with the congressmen in question? Why are the congressmen avoiding questions about the meeting? Was Andre Carson indeed present as The Final Call and the Islamic House of Wisdom reported? What was discussed at the meeting? Is video of the meeting available? Did the congressmen and Louis Farrakhan interact with each other at the meeting?
    Finally, will the Democratic Party finally demand that its members make a clear and public break with a man that even the Southern Poverty Law Center calls a Black Separatist and leader of a group that, in Ellison's own words, spreads "hatred and division, including, anti-Semitism[.]"? Will this be the final straw?

Is President Trump Spiking Maiden Names? Speak With Authority Investigates!

    Let me just say up front: this is trivial.

    OK, now that that is out of the way: Remember that story about Donald Trump asking GOP Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel to drop her maiden name because "Rommey" bugs him? Via the Washington Post:

Before Ronna Romney McDaniel took over as Republican National Committee chairwoman earlier this year, President Trump had a request: Would she be willing to stop using her middle name publicly? 

Trump followed up by saying in a lighthearted way that McDaniel, the niece of former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, could do what she wanted, according to two people familiar with the comments. But the change was soon plain for all to see. Though she had used her maiden name for years in Michigan, where her grandfather George W. Romney had been governor, McDaniel dropped “Romney” from most official party communications and has rarely used it since.

    Turns out that all the way through July 6, 2017, Ms. McDaniel had her name on the GOPChairwoman Twitter account as "Ronna RomneyMcDaniel":

    By July 12 (the next archived version available), the Romney was gone! Now it looks like this:

    I contacted the GOP about the change, but to my great surprise, I received no response. Nothing leaped out at me when perusing the news during the week of the change that would explain the timing.
    So what are we to make of this maiden name eliding (elidation?)? If Mike Huckabee goes off the Trump reservation, will @SarahHuckabee suddenly become SarahSanders? Bate your breath!

In California, Undercover Video of Abortion Clinics, Bad; But For Smog Tests, Great!

    This week, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra charged two pro-life activists from the Center for Medical Progress who recorded secret video of Planned Parenthood representatives discussing selling baby parts from abortion. The two are charged with 15 felonies for violating privacy laws (a questionable decision in and of itself, as I noted on Twitter.)
    Becerra replaced Kamala Harris as CA's attorney general when Harris was elected to the US Senate in 2016. Harris began the investigation of the CMP's secret videos, including arranging an FBI raid of one of the defendant's homes.
    Harris, however, has not always taken a dim view of undercover video. In a 2014, Harris used undercover surveillance video to nab a... smog test scofflaw (scoughlaw?).

    So undercover video to reveal abortion industry misconduct and fraud: bad! Smog test fraud? Good! Thanks, California.

Company That Put Up Fearless Girl Statue Has 5 Women on 28 Person Leadership Team

⚡️ “Fearless Girl”
Company that put up Fearless Girl statue has 5 women on 28 person leadership team https://t.co/De9YT0rmmK

— Jeryl Bier (@JerylBier) March 15, 2017

State Street Global Advisors has not responded to a request for comment.

Short Summary of Obamacare and Proposed 'Repeal and Replace'

1) Congress passes law to give lots of people free stuff.
2) Congress considers repealing law.
3) Headlines: People will lose free stuff.

Los Angeles Health Center HIV Awareness Campaign: 'F*** Without Fear'

    The Los Angeles LGBT Center kicked off its provocative "F*ck Without Fear" campaign in January, ostensibly to "raise awareness for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) as a safe and effective tool to prevent HIV infection." "PrEP" is a medication regimen that, according to the LGBT Center, can "reduce the risk of HIV infection by up to 99 percent," if used correctly.
    The campaign plans to use community events, targeted ads, a “Paint the Town Blue” partnership with West Hollywood and Hollywood bar, a "Banjee Ball" sponsorship (a "vogue dance and runway event with live music performances"), and even an Andrew Christian-designed “Fearless F*cker” t-shirt on sale at the designer's flagship store in West Hollywood with sales benefiting the PrEP center.

Photo source: newnownext.com

    In 2015, $350,000 was awarded to the LA LGBT Center by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) for a "high impact HIV prevention project." When asked if CDC funds were being used for the current campaign, a CDC spokesperson said after a delay of a few days that "it takes a little time to untangle the various federal funding streams," but finally replied that the "CDC has confirmed with the LA LGBT Center that non-CDC funding was used for the PrEP awareness campaign."
    When asked how the $350,000 grant was used, the CDC said that the funds went towards "HIV testing –  including recruitment, outreach, linkage to care, navigation services and essential support services, ARTAS – which is an Antiretroviral Linkage to Care management intervention, Every Dose Every Day – a medicine adherence intervention for HIV positive persons, and Mpowerment – a community level behavior intervention for high-risk HIV-negative persons."
    After initially responding to an email, a LA LGBT Center spokesperson did not reply to follow up inquiries about the source of the current campaign funding or how the $350,000 grant awarded from 2015 was used.
    In the past three years alone, the LA LGBT Center has received over $13 million in federal grants and contracts, much of the money through HHS, but also from Housing and Urban Development and the Justice Department, among others. The Center has already received more than half a million dollars in fiscal year 2017 from Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) related to a 2013 Obamacare-related award. According to its annual report, the LA LGBT Center is largely funded through private and corporate donations (including Wells Fargo and Toyota), but also a variety of federal and state grants.
   Other HHS funds in the past have been awarded to the LA LGBT Center for:

• Child Welfare Research Training or Demonstration
• Outpatient Early Intervention Services with Respect to HIV Disease
• Transitional Living for Homeless Youth

   The Center calls its message "sex-positive" with "raw, real language to get people’s attention and spur conversation. 

“We’ve got the tools to not only end the fear of HIV, but to end it as an epidemic. Those at risk have to know about the tools, though, and they need honest information about them,” said Center Chief of Staff Darrel Cummings. “Our campaign provides the truth about PrEP, the information and support to help people get a prescription, and a reminder that condoms are necessary to prevent other sexually transmitted diseases.”

    Numerous state and federal government websites (CDC, Department of Education, HUD, and even the National Park Service) link to the LA LGBT Center website relative to a variety of programs the center offers.
    Although the LA LGBT Center links to the CDC website for more information regarding PrEP, a CDC spokesperson replied only that the CDC "was not involved in the development or evaluation of the campaign" when asked about the soundness or appropriateness of the F*ck Without Fear message.

Heads Up

    When I used to listen to Rush Limbaugh, there were times when he would warn listeners that he was going to be talking about something they might not want to hear or they might not want their children to hear. He'd advise them to turn off their radios for a few minutes, and then count down, "five... four... three..." He'd say, I don't want anyone complaining, because I warned you...
    I am going to post something soon for which I am giving a similar caution. For years, I have had on this site a "I have a fairly low tolerance for bad/crude language" warning posted over there (--->), and this coming post certainly fits the bill, but I think it's important enough to post anyway.
    This warning post may come across as disingenuous hype designed to get more attention, but (unless I am self-deceiving,) it's really not.
    In any case, don't say I didn't warn you...

President-Elect Trump Selling 'Official' 45th President Merchandise

    Donald Trump will not be inaugurated as the 45th president of the United States until January 20, 2017, but that isn't stopping the president-elect from selling "President of the United States of America - Trump / Pence" stickers, t-shirts and buttons. The presidential products have similar descriptions, but all of them say "Show your support for the 45th President of the United States, Donald J. Trump."

    The "President of the United States" merchandise is distinct from the "president-elect" merchandise that the Trump Campaign also began selling post-election.  Notably the "President" t-shirt says "2016" even though Trump will not assume the title until next year.
    The Trump is also selling the "Official USA 45th Presidential Hat":

    Although the hat is marketed as the "Official USA 45th Presidential" hat, the funds will fund Trump's campaign, not the USA.
    The president-elect's transition team did not respond to a request for comment on Trump's apparent trading on the office of the president for financial gain.

Kerry: 'I Fault My Country For... Not Stepping Up Sufficiently, Financially and Otherwise'

    Secretary of State John Kerry received the Medal for Leadership from the London-based Benjamin Franklin House last week for his work as a US diplomat, but took the opportunity to scold his country for "not stepping up sufficiently, financially and otherwise" to deal with world problems. The remarks seem curious coming in the context of the closing months of Kerry's fours years as secretary of state and Barack Obama's eight years as president.
    Kerry spoke of population growth, climate change and global "conflict and governance" issues, but assured his audience that "[a]ll of this is manageable if we lead, if we step up, if the Western world will do the things that we have in our capacity to do".

And the world right now is in need of leadership as never before, perhaps. I can’t – hard to say “never before” when you’re in London and Winston Churchill did what he did, but we have serious, monumental kinds of problems that we face, which is a clash of technology and modernity and culture and religion, and a group of people who are so nihilistic that there’s not even an ideology around which they organize themselves. They just want to destroy and take you back to a place where you have to live according to what they say and what they ordain, and it changes. Who knows when or how – there’s no rhyme or reason except for their brutality and their hate for people who represent something different.

So I look at a world where the population is going to go from 6 billion to 9 billion, where the planet is warming at a rate that is beyond alarming, where we see conflict and governance that are deeply troubling, notwithstanding our best efforts to build capacity and so forth. So – but all of this is changeable. All of this is manageable if we lead, if we step up, if the Western world will do the things that we have in our capacity to do. And I fault my country and others for, frankly, not stepping up sufficiently, financially and otherwise. We’re the richest country on the face of the planet. We have $18 trillion economy, yet we put only one penny of every single dollar that we spend into everything we do around the world. It doesn’t make sense when you see millions of children who need to be educated, people who need to be kept out of the clutches of these nihilists. It’s a major challenge. [emphasis added]

    The secretary of state also appeared to take a veiled shot at Britain's decision to leave the European union:

And finally, I’m glad to receive this because I believe that this is a special moment in world history where regardless of how you manage Brexit, we need to show leadership together going forward on every issue from climate change to the oceans, which you mentioned, Sir Bob, to the vexing challenge of religious exploitation and terrorism. [emphasis added]

    Kerry noted he was "really honored to receive this [award] for probably – well, several reasons, but first and foremost the special relationship between [Britain and the US]," and that while he "will soon be leaving being Secretary, [this award] will stay with me as a down payment on the things I need to do with the rest of my life."

Maryland's Obamacare Website: Female Doctor, Male Patient Examination is... Funny?

    Via Maryland's Obamacare site: Watch this clip and imagine if a male doctor and a female patient were portrayed:

        Funny? Outrage? I honestly don't know currently in our society.


UPDATE: If the video above doesn't work for you, try this link.

Obamacare Website Drops Section on 'How to Keep Your Doctor'

    "If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor" was President Obama's primary catchphrase he used to sell the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) to the American people. Now Obamacare's flagship website, Healthcare.gov, no longer even addresses the issue.
    Ironically, the section in question was the first public (if indirect) admission by the Obama administration that the president's promise was less than a "guarantee." As THE WEEKLY STANDARD first reported in July 2013, the website told consumers that they "may be able to keep your current doctor," in contrast to the president's unequivocal statement: "Here is a guarantee that I've made.If you have insurance that you like, then you will be able to keep that insurance. If you've got a doctor that you like, you will be able to keep your doctor."
    The original website contained a section entitled "Can I keep my own doctor", later revised to "How to keep your doctor." A version of the website as of last October can be seen here:

    Just before open enrollment began last year, however, this section was dropped. Now the same link takes users to a section entitled "How to pick a health insurance plan". (The internet address that contains the words "keep-your-doctor" redirects to an address ending with "plan-types".)

    The closest the website comes to mentioning the president's "keep your doctor" commitment is, "To be certain your doctor is included in your plan’s network, contact the plan or provider for the most up-to-date information."
    Earlier this year, the White House also removed the "Reality Check" from its own website where "Linda Douglass of the White House Office of Health Reform debunks the myth that reform will force you out of your current insurance plan or force you to change doctors."

    The Reality Check link now directs visitors to a more generic "Health Reform" page that includes no mention of the promise regarding keeping your doctor. An August 2009 blog post called "Facts are stubborn things" can still be found on the website, but is not linked from the new Health Reform page. In that post, the White House asserted, "For the record, the President has consistently said that if you like your insurance plan, your doctor, or both, you will be able to keep them."
    Open enrollment for the 2017 coverage year under the Affordable Care Act begins on November 1, 2016. New enrollees with questions keeping their doctors will face their own reality check with little in the way of answers.

Note: A version of this post first appeared at The Weekly Standard.

Iran Received $1.3B Balance Within Two Months of Initial $400M Cash Payment

    Less than two months after Iran received $400 million in foreign currency in January, the top state sponsor of terror in the world acquired another $1.3 billion in cash from the United States, based on statements of US government officials. A state department official confirmed to THE WEEKLY STANDARD via email that the payment occurred before March 17, and President Obama, while addressing the initial $400 million payment, acknowledged on August 4 that payments to Iran must be made in cash because "we don't have a banking relationships with Iran... We could not wire the money."
    Until last week, the Obama administration would not even confirm that the $1.3 billion balance had been paid. However, once the Wall Street Journal broke the story that the initial $400 million cash payment had coincided with the release of five American detainees by Iran, more details were revealed. But the State Department continued to decline to provide the "tick-tock" on the payment schedule.
    As it turns out, the State Department had already revealed back on March 17 that the $1.3 billion payment had been made at that time. On February 4, Rep. Ed Royce, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, wrote a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry demanding a detailed explanation of the entire $1.7 billion agreement including the timing of payments.
     On March 17, Julia Frifield, Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs, replied to Royce's letter (a month after Royce's requested deadline.) Frifield wrote, "Iran received the balance of $400 million in the Trust Fund as well as roughly $1.3 billion representing a compromise on the interest.”
    Monday, a state department official responded to THE WEEKLY STANDARD via email, saying "I can confirm that the payment was made before Assistant Secretary Frifield’s letter on March 17, 2016, in which she said the payment had been made."
    Though the official would not confirm the "mechanics" of the payment, the August 4 statement of President Obama leaves no other alternative than that the $1.3 billion was also paid in cash.
    Assistant Julia Frifield also wrote in her March 17 latter that “[t]he payment for the compromise that was reached on interest, of approximately $1.3 billion, has been provided out of the Judgment Fund.” A search of the Treasury Department's Judgment Fund website, however, lists no such payment. The Treasury Department had not yet responded to a request for an explanation of the missing information.

Note: A version of this post first appeared at The Weekly Standard.

Hillary Supporter Calls Her 'The Devil We Know'

    Under the category "with friends like these", Jack Moss, founder of the Black Hat and DefCon hacking conferences, called Hillary Clinton "the devil we know" while headlining a Las Vegas fundraiser for the Democratic candidate for president Wednesday night. Moss's comments echoed remarks Donald Trump made earlier this week when he used the expression "deal with the devil" in connection with Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.
    Jack Moss's comments came in an interview with NPR where he gave his take on the Hillary Clinton versus Donald Trump matchup:

If Hillary is sort of almost status quo and the devil we know versus complete crazy unknown, I'm not will to risk the country on complete crazy unknown.

    THE WEEKLY STANDARD reported the "cybersecurity fundraiser" on Monday. Though the Clinton campaign said this was not an "official" campaign event, tickets could be purchased through the campaign website.

    Donald Trump drew widespread attention earlier this week when he suggested Bernie Sanders "made a deal with the devil" when Sanders threw his support to Hillary Clinton. "He made a deal with the devil. She's the devil," Trump said.


Note: A version of this post first appeared at The Weekly Standard on August 4, 2016.

2015 Flashback: State Claimed No 'Big Suitcase Full of Cash' in Iran Deal

    The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the transfer of $400 million in cash for Iran in January coincided with not only the implementation of the Iran nuclear deal, but with the release of American detainees as well. The cash came not from sanctions relief, but from the settlement of a decades-old dispute over cancelled arms shipments in the 1970s. The Journal says the money was delivered via cargo plane:

Wooden pallets stacked with euros, Swiss francs and other currencies were flown into Iran on an unmarked cargo plane, according to these officials. The U.S. procured the money from the central banks of the Netherlands and Switzerland, they said.

    Although the administration announced the settlement at the time, including the amount of $400 million, the timing and details of the delivery were not publicly revealed until now. In fact, the administration downplayed the immediate benefits that Iran would enjoy. When the state department was pushing for the Iran deal in September 2015, a state official pooh-poohed the idea that Iran would get a "big suitcase full of cash":

[T]here’s a common misperception that on implementation day a big suitcase full of cash shows up in Tehran and all of a sudden they have all this money, which I think is really – does a disservice to what actually is going to happen.

    Just days before the deal was implemented, state department spokesman John Kirby remarked that "nobody is handing [Iran] some sort of windfall of cash", though he was specifically addressing sanctions relief and not the arms dispute settlement. Administration officials on a conference call on January 17 also skirted the issue of the cash delivery when describing the timing of the Iran deal, the dispute settlement, and the Americans' release.

    Some Republican lawmakers, including Senator John McCain, are accusing the Obama administration of trading hostages for cash.

Note: A version of this post first appeared at The Weekly Standard on August 3, 2016.

Military Won't Reveal Scope of Coalition Ground War Against ISIS

    Since August 2014, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) has reported on what quickly became daily coalition airstrikes against the Islamic State (ISIL) in Iraq and later in Syria as part of Operation Inherent Resolve. The number of strikes each day has ranged from just a few to as many as several dozen. However, the daily press releases also include the following statement: "Ground-based artillery fired in counter-fire or in fire support to maneuver roles are not classified as a strike as defined by CJTF-OIR."
    While CENTCOM gives detailed reports on the number of airstrikes, intended targets (fighting positions, IEDs, warehouses, mortar positions, erc.), and the apparent success or failure of strikes, CENTCOM does not provide details on strikes involving ground-based artillery.
    When questioned about the frequency of such actions and the conditions under which they take place, a CENTCOM press official replied that CENTCOM does not provide such information because the "use of ground-based artillery for counter-fire and support to maneuver forces reflects the conditions on the battlefield" and too much "detail could potentially provide useful information to the enemy."
    To give an idea of the ground-based activity, however, the CENTCOM official did say that in the thirty days preceding June 13, "[c]oalition artillery has fired four times into the city of Fallujah in support of Iraqi Security Forces operations." During the same time, CENTCOM reported no fewer than eighty-one air strikes in and around Fallujah. The Iraqi armed forces launched an effort to retake Fallujah from ISIL on May 23 backed by coalition strikes.
    CENTCOM did not indicate where the ground-based artillery taking part in the Fallujah operation is located, but in March, the Military Times reported that "U.S. troops in Jordan launched a GPS-guided rocket artillery attack into Syria" using a "truck-mounted, guided-missile system with a range of up to 185 miles." The long range of such ground-based system gives the Obama administration room to continue to assert that the fight against ISIL does not include "boots on the ground" even though coalition forces are clearly part of the ground war targeting the Islamic State.

Email to Hillary Clinton: 'Be a good person like you almost are...'

    After Hillary Clinton ended her time as Secretary of State but before she launched her presidential campaign, Clinton set up a website (hillaryclintonoffice.com) to maintain an internet presence. The site was never fully developed and contained a few links, some contact information, and a few speeches.
    More recently, however, the site has been expanded and now includes a section reprinting emails from supporters. One such email contains what appears to be a somewhat backhanded encouragement to the Democratic frontrunner:

    Well, at least her loves her anyway.