John Kerry Wishes the Media Would Cover Terrorism Less Often

August 30, 2016

Even by John Kerry standards, this is pretty bad, as noted by the good folks at CNS News:

Remember this: No country is immune from terrorism. It's easy to terrorize. Government and law enforcement have to be correct 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. But if you decide one day you're going to be a terrorist and you're willing to kill yourself, you can go out and kill some people. You can make some noise. Perhaps the media would do us all a service if they didn't cover it quite as much. People wouldn't know what's going on. (Applause.)

Think about that: The audience is applauding the vision of a world where "people wouldn't know what's going on." This applause came during Kerry's remarks at the Edward M. Kennedy Center in Dhaka, Bangladesh, a joint project between the Bangladeshi Liberation War Museum and the U.S. Embassy. The Center is "committed to open dialogue, informed action, individual and artistic expression, and personal and professional development." So people applauded the "people wouldn't know what's going on" line at a center devoted to open dialogue and informed action.

You can't write satire about this administration anymore; it's become too inherently contradictory and absurd.

The Associated Press is ignoring John Kerry's sudden imitation of Basil Fawlty — "Don't mention the war!" — and look at what they're finding:

Between them, the two scenes of horror on Sinjar mountain contain six burial sites and the bodies of more than 100 people, just a small fraction of the mass graves Islamic State extremists have scattered across Iraq and Syria.

In exclusive interviews, photos and research, The Associated Press has documented and mapped 72 of the mass graves, the most comprehensive survey so far, with many more expected to be uncovered as the Islamic State group's territory shrinks. In Syria, AP has obtained locations for 17 mass graves, including one with the bodies of hundreds of members of a single tribe all but exterminated when IS extremists took over their region. For at least 16 of the Iraqi graves, most in territory too dangerous to excavate, officials do not even guess the number of dead. In others, the estimates are based on memories of traumatized survivors, Islamic State propaganda and what can be gleaned from a cursory look at the earth. Still, even the known victims buried are staggering — from 5,200 to more than 15,000.

But hey, "perhaps the media would do us all a service if they didn't cover" mass murder "quite as much." Actually, for John Kerry, who has to defend a foreign policy of complacent inertia for the past four years, the media's not covering the abominable colossal killing of ISIS would be doing him a service.

'We Have a Presidential Candidate Who Has Deleted E-Mails and Done Things Illegally . . .'

Gee, national media, you didn't mention this part of Colin Kaepernick's worldview:

Does the election year have anything to do with timing?

CK: It wasn't a timing thing, it wasn't something that was planned. But I think the two presidential candidates that we currently have also represent the issues that we have in this country right now.

Do you want to expand on that?

CK: You have Hillary who has called black teens or black kids super predators, you have Donald Trump who's openly racist. We have a presidential candidate who has deleted emails and done things illegally and is a presidential candidate. That doesn't make sense to me because if that was any other person you'd be in prison. So, what is this country really standing for?

As noted yesterday, if Kaepernick had said everything he's said but chosen to stand for the national anthem, he would get one-tenth of the criticism and probably a lot more sympathetic ears.

David French wants Kaepernick to know the story of Sargeant Henry Johnson:

Johnson, a black American, was born in 1897 in North Carolina, a state that as a matter of law, culture, and policy comprehensively oppressed its black citizens. He was born during what may have been the peak decade of a wave of lynchings that terrorized black communities across the South. Like so many other African Americans facing these bleak realities, Johnson moved north to New York, where he worked multiple jobs as a chauffeur, porter, and soda mixer. On June 5, 1917, just under two months after the United States joined World War I, Johnson volunteered to fight, joining the 15th New York (Colored) Infantry Regiment.

He deployed to France, where he was immediately "brigaded" with French colonial troops. American general John Pershing lent Johnson's unit to the outmanned French Army, but not without a warning — black soldiers, he told his French counterparts, "lacked a civic and professional conscience."

The French ignored him and deployed the American unit — wearing French uniforms — directly to the front line. On the night of May 15, 1918, Johnson was on sentry duty in the Argonne Forest when a German raiding party of roughly a dozen soldiers mounted a surprise attack. Johnson was wounded but fought back ferociously, inflicting enemy casualties. In the engagement, he suffered 21 combat injuries but managed to save a fellow wounded soldier from capture by mounting a charge with his last remaining weapon, a bolo knife.

The French Army awarded him the Croix de Guerre avec Palme en Bronze — its second highest combat honor — and Theodore Roosevelt wrote that he was "one of the five bravest American soldiers in the war."

And Jack Fowler, NR publisher and pinch-hit Morning Jolt writer, points out that 21 active or former pro football players, an ex-head-coach and an NFL executive died fighting in World War II. I had never heard of Young Bussey, but he sounds like quite a character. Imagine winning a world championship with the Chicago Bears in the autumn of 1941 . . . and by 1945, you're steering a landing craft in the Lingayen Gulf in the Philippines, coming under mortar fire.

Or imagine being Buffalo Bills guard Bob Kalsu, winning the team's rookie of the year award in 1968 . . . and by 1969, you're in the 101st Airborne Division, and fighting in Thua Thien, South Vietnam.

Foreign Governments, Get Your Clinton Foundation Donations in While You Can!

Another hit piece about Hillary Clinton and the Clinton Foundation, full of innuendos about corruption, sleazy ethics and trading favors . . .

Mrs. Clinton became involved in State Department deals and negotiations that also involved foundation donors or board members. She prompted multiple investigations with an arrangement that allowed Huma Abedin, her deputy chief of staff at the State Department and now vice chairwoman of her campaign, to be paid simultaneously by the State Department, the foundation and Teneo, a consulting firm run by Doug Band, the former adviser to Mr. Clinton who helped create the foundation — and who sent emails to Ms. Abedin seeking favors for foundation donors.

The newly disclosed emails show that some foundation donors and friends, like Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad bin al-Khalifa of Bahrain, used foundation channels to seek access to Mrs. Clinton.

. . . The foundation could do much more to distance itself from the foreign and corporate money that risks tainting Mrs. Clinton's campaign. Its plans to restrict its funding sources only after the election will likely dog Mrs. Clinton.

A wiser course would be to ban contributions from foreign and corporate entities now. If Mrs. Clinton wins, Bill and Chelsea Clinton should both end their operational involvement in the foundation and its affiliates for the duration of her presidency, relinquishing any control over spending, hiring and board appointments.

That's from the unhinged right-wing maniacs at the . . . er . . . New York Times editorial board.

ADDENDA: Tim Alberta takes a long, deep look at the Electoral College, and points out that Donald Trump's margin for error is rapidly approaching zero.

Kyle Sammin makes the important point that the enormous financial influence of the Clinton Foundation represents a two-way street for corruption; giving the Clintons an easy way to buy goodwill.

Tony Katz and I debated whether the Clinton campaign putting the Klan in an attack ad will drive voters away from Trump.