14 Real Obama Scandals That Have Nothing to do with His Wearing a Tan Suit

BY MATT MARGOLIS | PJ Media

In this Thursday, Aug. 28, 2014 photo, President Barack Obama leaves after speaking about the economy, Iraq, and Ukraine, in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Five years ago last week, Barack Obama attended a press briefing in a tan suit, and the media wouldn’t shut up about it. Since then, the tan suit incident evolved into a myth that conservatives had freaked out about the suit.  

So, of course, the media has chosen to turn the tan suit into the symbol of Obama’s “scandal-free” presidency. 

Chris Hayes of MSNBC marked the occasion with a segment called “Remembering Obama's biggest scandal: the tan suit.” 

CNN, (which once reported on Trump getting two scoops of ice cream while everyone else gets one) remembered the incident as causing “a divisive disturbance in America's normal sartorial acceptance of the President's choices” or something. 

The Washington Post also reflected on the “huge controversy” it caused and called the tan suit a symbol of “the relative dearth of scandals during the Obama administration.”

Once again, it seems necessary to remind the public that the Obama administration was not scandal-free. 

In fact, Obama was so dogged by scandals there's a whole book detailing them. 

But, to prove my point, here's are just a few of them that have nothing to do with Obama wearing a tan suit:

14. The Senate seat for sale scandal

Before Obama even took office he was implicated in a scandal involving his soon-to-be-vacant Senate seat. Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich had hoped to get a cabinet position or ambassadorship in exchange for appointing an Obama-backed individual to replace him in the Senate. Obama’s top choice had been Valerie Jarrett, and he offered to appoint Jarrett “in exchange for the position of Secretary of Health and Human Services in the President-elect’s cabinet,” but she eventually opted to follow Obama to the White House as his top advisor.

To sweep it under the rug, the Obama transition conducted an internal investigation to determine whether the president-elect had done anything illegal. Naturally, they claimed everything was above board. 

Their investigation allegedly “affirmed the public statements of the president-elect that he had no contact with the governor or his staff, and that the president-elect’s staff was not involved in inappropriate discussions with the governor or his staff over the selection of his successor as U.S. senator.” 

But, this claim contradicts both the criminal complaint against Blagojevich and numerous documents obtained by Judicial Watch through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.

13. The New Black Panther Party Voter-Intimidation Scandal

In May 2009, the government was on the verge of victory by default in 2008 voter intimidation case against the New Black Panther Party (NBPP), Attorney General Eric Holder inexplicably dropped the case in May 2009. 

When the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights investigated, the Obama-Biden administration refused to respond to requests from the commission and Congress and fought subpoenas. 

Federal attorneys were instructed not to cooperate with the investigation and then-Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Tom Perez (the current chairman of the Democratic National Committee) lied under oath about who was involved in the decision to drop the case. 

If this wasn’t a scandal, why did the Obama-Biden administration obstruct the investigation?

12. Obama’s Illegal Firing of an Inspector General 

Also in 2009, Barack Obama illegally fired Gerald Walpin, the Inspector General for the  Corporation for National and Community Service. Walpin’s only crime was that he was investigating Obama’s friend and donor, Kevin Johnson. 

Johnson had misused federal grant money for AmeriCorps by funneling it to his personal nonprofit group, paying for political activity, and using it to pay hush money to underage girls he’d sexually abused. Walpin recommended charges against Johnson and Obama, in violation of federal law, fired him. 

An investigation by Congress into the illegal firing was met with stonewalling by the Obama White House, and the withholding of documents. The Obama White House also deliberately misled Congress about the reasons for the firing.

11. The Secret Service Prostitution scandal

In 2012, members of the Secret Service were caught up in a prostitution scandal during Obama’s visit to Columbia. A member of the White House advance team was reportedly also caught up in the scandal. 

In an attempt to cover up the scandal,  the White House launched with a bogus internal investigation that predictably found that no White House staffers were involved in the scandal. 

As the saying goes, it's not the crime, it's the cover-up that gets you in trouble, well, when evidence emerged that a White House staff member may have been involved, the White House tried to cover that up, too.

10. The Green Energy loans scandal

Does Joe Biden really think that when more than fifty clean energy companies backed by the Obama-Biden administration went bankrupt or found themselves in major financial trouble that isn’t a scandal? 

Tell that to the taxpayers who footed the $80 billion for their “green economy” initiatives that went to companies that supported their campaign. 

The most well-known example of one of these companies that went belly-up was Solyndra. Solyndra received more than a half-billion-dollar loan despite the fact the Department of Energy (DOE) knew they were on the verge of bankruptcy.

Obama can't claim ignorance on this one because he and Joe Biden were both personally involved in the decision-making process to determine who got loans. 

Also, only companies that donated to their campaign (or other Democrats) got these green energy loans. Worse yet, proprietary technology from companies that didn’t get the loans were given to the Obama-Biden donors that did.

If this wasn’t a scandal, why did the Obama administration stonewall Congress investigation of the matter? 

When House Republicans subpoenaed documents for their investigation, the Obama White House fired back claiming their request would put an "unreasonable burden on the president's ability to meet his constitutional duties."  Sure.

9. The Fast & Furious scandal

The Obama administration sent two thousand firearms across the border in order to trace them to drug cartels, and lost hundreds of them. That's pretty darn bad. But it got a whole lot worse when a  border agent was killed with one of those guns. 

In response to this revelation, the Obama administration stonewalled and obstructed the investigation into what happened. Attorney General Eric Holder falsely claimed to have no knowledge of the operation, and Obama personally obstructed the investigation by claiming executive privilege over documents requested by Congress. Not a scandal? Really? 

Attorney General Eric Holder was held in contempt of Congress in a bipartisan vote, for obstructing the investigation. 

What more do you need to admit this was a scandal?

8. Obstruction of justice, lots of it

Obstruction of justice was standard operating procedure in the Obama administration from day one. 

In August 2014, 47 of 73 inspectors general wrote an open letter to Congress informing them that the Obama administration of obstructing investigations by not giving them full access to the information they need to investigate properly.

Such a letter was unprecedented, and the systemic corruption and obstruction of the inspectors general would have been considered an impeachable defense for almost any other president. That letter should have resulted in the appointment of a special counsel… but Attorney General Eric Holder, who famously called himself Obama’s wingman, wasn’t going to let that happen. 

In fact, neither Holder or Loretta Lynch, Obama’s second attorney general, ever appointed a special counsel, despite ample times where one should have been appointed. Obama didn’t just appoint attorneys general to lead the Justice Department, he appointed protectors to keep himself from being held accountable for corruption. 

The lack of outrage (thanks to lack of media attention to the scandal) emboldened the Obama administration to impose new restrictions on the investigative powers of inspectors general. 

Can you imagine President Trump trying to get away with that today?

7. The VA Backlog scandal

The Veterans Health Administration is notorious for large backlogs of benefits claims. While running for president, Obama promised to do better than his predecessor and reduce the backlog. When he took office, the backlog had been in decline, falling by nearly 100,00 during George W. Bush’s second term. Sadly, under Obama, the backlog started going back up. 

It didn’t just go up marginally… it more than doubled during his first term, from approximately 390,000 outstanding claims to roughly 884,000 outstanding claims. The backlog increase resulted in the number of veterans dying while waiting to receive care skyrocketing.

Attorney General Eric Holder refused to investigate the problem. Want to know why? 

Because the Obama-Biden transition team had been warned about the VA using secret lists to hide the true state of the backlog, and warned twice more in 2010 and again in 2012, but they did nothing about it, letting the problem spiral out of control. 

Does the media believe that 307,000 veterans dying while waiting for medical treatment from the Obama-Biden administration isn’t a scandal?

6. The Sestak job offer scandal

Barack Obama violated at least four federal laws back in 2010, for offering then-congressman Joe Sestak (D-PA) a job in his administration in exchange for not challenging Arlen Specter for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate. 

Specter had recently switched from the GOP to the Democratic Party, and that switch was contingent on support from Obama. Obama’s then-spokesman Robert Gibbs wouldn’t confirm or deny that any offer was made, but was never asked if Obama would resign after Sestak made his bombshell allegation, even after months of the Obama White House stonewalling a congressional investigation. 

Nor did they ask after the Obama White House finally admitted that Sestak was indeed offered a federal job to stay out of the election, but only after Sestak defeated Specter in the primary. 

The media was quick to accept the White House version of events, including the “everybody does it” excuse, and they accepted the White House claim that nothing improper happened. 

Even Republicans lost interest in pursuing the story after Sestak was defeated in the general election by Republican Pat Toomey.

5. The Benghazi attack cover-up

The terror attack at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, not only threatened the Obama-Biden administration narrative that they’d been crippling al Qaeda and making progress in the War on Terror, but it also threatened their reelection. So, they lied about it. 

They called it a spontaneous demonstration in order to hide the fact it was a pre-planned terror attack and that they were grossly incapable of defending themselves from such an attack. 

So, when Congress investigated, the Obama-Biden administration obstructed their investigation with vigor. They attempt to excuse their obstruction by saying they were launching their own internal investigation, which was a complete joke because we know how their internal investigations go. 

State Department employees weren't allowed to testify, and Hillary Clinton deleted thousands of subpoenaed emails. 

That’s called obstruction of justice.

4. Media spying scandals

The media loved Obama, but Obama didn’t love them back. In fact, Obama abused the Espionage Act to target reporters and their sources. 

Less than six months into Obama’s second term we learned that his Justice Department secretly obtained two months of phone records of AP reporters and editors. One consequence of this Obama administration spying was that longtime sources stopped talking to the Associated Press and other news organizations.

Obama’s Justice Department also secretly obtained then-Fox News reporter James Rosen’s phone records, tracked his movements, and read his emails while investigating possible leaks of classified information to Rosen for an article on North Korea’s nuclear program.  

Rosen was also threatened with jail time when the Obama Justice Department labeled him a “co-conspirator” with one of his sources who was charged with violating the Espionage Act of 1917 for leaking the information to Rosen. 

Another journalist, James Risen of the New York Times, was similarly treated as a co-conspirator with a government source indicted by the Obama administration under the Espionage Act. Risen was subpoenaed, and originally compelled to testify against one of his sources.

3. The Iran Ransom scandal

A few short months after Obama had completed negotiations for the Iran Nuclear Deal, resulting in the lifting of sanctions and the unfreezing of billions in Iranian assets, the Obama administration made a shady payment to Iran in the amount of $400 million. 

The payment was made with foreign currency and done under the cover of night. The payment also coincided with the release of four hostages and was done completely in secret.  Not even Congress knew about the payments or the hostage exchange. 

An investigation began, and, of course, it was met with obstruction by the Obama-Biden administration. Attorney General Loretta Lynch refused to answer questions from Congress about the payments. 

Details of the deal weren’t classified, but the Obama-Biden administration hid key documents at a secure site to make access difficult. 

If this wasn’t a scandal, why did they feel they had to hide information from Congress?

2. The IRS scandal

It's amazing that anyone can still pretend the IRS improperly targeting conservative and Tea Party groups wasn't a scandal. Lois Lerner, the former director of the IRS Exempt Organizations division at the time, admitted it happened!  

Not only were tea party groups improperly targeted, according to documents obtained by Judicial Watch, but the whole scheme was orchestrated out of Washington, D.C. 

There was also evidence of White House involvement. IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman was at the White House at least 157 times while the IRS was targeting tea party groups. Obama’s cabinet members didn’t even visit the White House that often. 

Some IRS employees even claimed that Obama himself requested the crackdown of tea party groups. There was certainly ample reason to suspect coordination with the White House. 

The IRS was also exchanging confidential taxpayer information with the White House the year Obama and Biden were reelected.

1. The Trump spying /FISA abuse scandal

If spying on Donald Trump’s campaign wasn’t a scandal, what is? We know it happened. We know that this spying was justified using a bogus dossier funded by the Hillary campaign. 

What began as a means to undermine Trump before the 2016 election ultimately became a means to undermine his presidency. The Mueller investigation, a 22-month effort to uncover alleged Russian collusion, predictably turned up nothing. 

There’s also an ongoing Inspector General’s investigation of the alleged abuse of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act by the DOJ and FBI. The final report should be released later this year. 

Congressman Andy Biggs (R-AZ) predicted on Sunday that this report will be devastating and lead to indictments.

Matt Margolis is the author of Trumping Obama: How President Trump Saved Us From Barack Obama's Legacy and the bestselling book The Worst President in History: The Legacy of Barack Obama.

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Alabama church sign says black people who vote for Trump have a 'mental illness'

By Tim Pearce | The Washington Examiner

A black pastor is defending a sign outside his Alabama church that asserts voting for President Trump is a mental illness or "pure racism."

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE VIDEO.

Michael Jordan, pastor of New Era Baptist Church outside of Birmingham, placed a sign outside his sanctuary that on one side says "A black vote for Trump is mental illness" and "A white vote for Trump is pure racism" on the other side.

"God motivates me to take a stand for what's right," Jordan said. "Read the Bible. And look in the White House. If they're calling me a racist, look in the White House."

Some locals are pushing back against Jordan's sign, saying that a church is not a place to engage in political attacks.

"You should not come into a building and feel like you are hated … just because you came here to worship the Lord," Daxton Kirk said.

Jordan's church has posted controversial messages before. Last year, Jordan put up a sign that Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin said contained "a spirit of racism."

"Black folks need to stay out of white churches," the sign said on one side.

"White folks refused to be our neighbors," the other side said.

 "There is a spirit of racism and division that is over this city. It must be brought down. We have to change the conversation to what we need it to evolve into," Woodfin said in a social media post calling for the sign's removal.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/alabama-church-sign-says-black-people-who-vote-for-trump-have-a-mental-illness

______________

IN OTHER NEWS

Debra Messing steps up Will & Grace call for Hollywood blacklist of Trump supporters

By Hunter Lovell | The Washington Examiner

Will & Grace star Debra Messing on Friday demanded a list of attendees at an upcoming fundraiser for President Trump in Beverly Hills be revealed "because the public has a right to know."

The Hollywood Reporter disclosed Trump will attend the fundraiser on Sept. 17 during a trip to California, where he will also visit the San Francisco Bay Area and San Diego. The Primetime Emmy Awards will be held in Los Angeles the same week.

Messing shared the same sentiment as her Will & Grace co-star Eric McCormack, who requested the Hollywood Reporter should reveal all names of the fundraisers' guests so they can be ostracized.

"Hey, @THR, kindly report on everyone attending this event, so the rest of us can be clear about who we don’t wanna work with. Thx," McCormack wrote.

Later that night, Messing chimed in on the high-profile event.

"Please print a list of all attendees please. The public has a right to know," Messing said.

Trump bashed Messing for her comments in a tweet on Sunday.

"I have not forgotten that when it was announced that I was going to do The Apprentice, and when it then became a big hit, helping NBC’s failed lineup greatly, @DebraMessing came up to me at an Upfront & profusely thanked me, even calling me “Sir.” How times have changed!" Trump tweeted.

Messing and McCormack drew comparisons to McCarthyism on Twitter, a reference to former Republican Sen. Joseph McCarthy's calls for a blacklist of Communist supporters from spheres of influence, such as the U.S. government and the film industry.

Conservative actor Dean Cain responded to Messing's tweet, saying he would have gone to the fundraiser if not for a prior commitment.

"I’m not attending, because I’ll be out of town. Otherwise, I’d have been happy to attend," Cain told Messing.

Tickets for the fundraiser can be bought for as cheap as $1,000 and includes combinations of tickets that can cost up to $100,000.

Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, RNC co-chairman Tommy Hicks Jr., Trump 2020 campaign manager Brad Parscale, and Trump Victory finance chairman Todd Ricketts are reported to be hosts for the event.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/debra-messing-steps-up-will-grace-call-for-hollywood-blacklist-of-trump-supporters

How Richard Nixon Changed NASA

By Jason Callahan  | The Planetary Society

PRESIDENT NIXON EXAMINES THE SPACE SHUTTLE CONCEPT

President Richard M. Nixon and Dr. James C. Fletcher, NASA Administrator, discuss the proposed Space Shuttle vehicle in San Clemente, California, on January 5, 1972. (Photo Courtesy NASA)

John Logsdon's new book shows how the post-Apollo era was defined by Richard Nixon

In 1969, the Apollo 11 mission successfully met President John F. Kennedy’s challenge to land a man on the Moon and return him safely to Earth within the decade. The end of the Moon race raised the question: what, if anything, was next for NASA? It would be answered by Richard Nixon's Administration, and the decisions they made altered the nation's relationship with its space program forever. 

On September 22, I attended a talk by George Washington University Professor Emeritus and Planetary Society Board Member John Logsdon at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. Professor Logsdon spoke about Richard Nixon's space legacy and previewed his upcoming book titled After Apollo: Richard Nixon and the American Space Program, which was due for release by Palgrave-MacMillan in March 2015.

Professor Logsdon spent the last several years poring through archival materials and conducting interviews to unveil a detailed account of the activities in President Richard Nixon’s White House, which certainly makes for a fascinating story. But Logsdon takes the tale a step further, using his extensive knowledge of space policy and many years of experience in the space policy community to examine the implications of the Nixon Administration’s decisions.

The Nixon Space Doctrine

Professor Logsdon offers the provocative argument that President Nixon had a more lasting impact on NASA than John F. Kennedy, when considered over the longer history of the agency. Logsdon cites a statement issued by President Nixon on March 7, 1970, as the best illustration of Nixon’s “Space Doctrine,” suggesting that the tenets of this doctrine have remained the core of U.S. space policy to date.

Pondering the future of NASA and its sustainability, Nixon said, “We must think of [space activities] as part of a continuing process… and not as a series of separate leaps, each requiring a massive concentration of energy. Space expenditures must take their proper place within a rigorous system of national priorities. … What we do in space from here on in must become a normal and regular part of our national life and must therefore be planned in conjunction with all of the other undertakings which are important to us.”

JASON CALLAHAN AND JOHN LOGSDON

It's a little dark, but this is the author (left) with George Washington University Professor Emeritus and Planetary Society Board Member John Logsdon, standing in front of the original Robert McCall painting of the space station for the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, located in the National Air and Space Museum conference room.

Logsdon points to three key decisions Nixon made regarding the U.S. space program, which had long-term consequences for NASA. The three decisions were:

• To treat the space program as one area of domestic policy competing with other concerns, not as a privileged activity
• To lower U.S. ambitions in space by ending human spaceflight beyond low Earth orbit for the foreseeable future and not embark on another space goal requiring a massive investment similar to Apollo
• To build NASA’s post-Apollo program around the space shuttle without establishing a specific goal or long-term strategy the shuttle would support

Professor Logsdon says that Nixon’s lasting imprint on the space program was an end to human exploration of space beyond low Earth orbit in the twentieth century, and he sees the Nixon Space Doctrine and more ambitious human space exploration as incompatible. Under Nixon, NASA became just another domestic program, and the agency’s budget decreased even as it retained ambitious goals. During this time, however, NASA’s efforts did include increased international participation in U.S. human spaceflight programs.

Interesting Points

Professor Logsdon briefly described the events of Nixon’s presidency as they related to space, revealing many fascinating anecdotes. I have included a few interesting tidbits, though there are plenty more in the book:

• Nixon saw the Apollo 11 mission as an opportunity to tie achievements in space to his foreign policy goals, which he gave much higher priority. He made a great effort to ensure he was fully identified with the mission and its success, and he never once mentioned John F. Kennedy in connection with Apollo.
• Nixon wanted former astronaut Frank Borman, commander of Apollo 8, to be the next NASA Administrator, but he had to settle for NASA Deputy Administrator Tom Paine.
• Nixon’s 1971 budget included a 10 percent reduction for NASA, so the agency was not rewarded for the success of Apollo 11.
• Nixon supported increased international cooperation in space, but he thought that should primarily mean flying foreign astronauts on U.S. space craft, particularly German, Japanese, British, and French astronauts. NASA leadership anticipated that international cooperation would include hardware contributions from other nations.
• Nixon wanted to change NASA into an applied technology development agency, but the effort failed.
• Nixon is often blamed for the cancellation of the final two planned Apollo missions, but Logsdon emphasizes that NASA Administrator Tom Paine agreed to give up the Saturn V in order to free up resources in the budget for the shuttle and station programs. It was NASA that also chose to cancel the last two Apollo flights to channel resources to the space shuttle program.
• Nixon was the first U.S. President to see a human space launch (Apollo 12).
• Nixon was apparently deeply affected by the near tragic events of Apollo 13, and felt very connected to the crew during their ordeal. As a result, Nixon proposed to cancel Apollo 16 and 17 ahead of the 1972 election, for fear that something could go wrong with one of the missions and impact his re-election bid.
• In December 1972, as Apollo 17 was returning to Earth, Nixon issued a statement saying, “This may be the last time in this century that men will walk on the Moon.”

Professor Logsdon outlined a number of conclusions regarding the Nixon Administration’s choices for the U.S. space program, which are fully discussed in his book. In one of his more poignant observations, he noted:

“One can argue that Nixon made a major policy mistake in mandating that the space program should be treated as just one of many domestic government programs competing for limited resources.  Advocates for the last 40+ years have called for NASA budget increases and for treating the space program as ‘special.’ But it is also possible to argue that Nixon’s decision that U.S. space ambitions should be adjusted to the funds made available through the normal policy process was a valid reading of public preferences, and there were and still are no countervailing public policy reasons to reject those preferences.  As his young assistant Tom Whitehead commented, ‘no compelling reason to push space was ever presented to the White House by NASA or anyone else.’ What has happened is the least desirable outcome - for more than 40 years there has been a mismatch between space ambitions and the resources provided to achieve them.”

In the question and answer portion of the talk, an audience member asked Logsdon what he saw as the biggest problem with the human space flight program today. 

He referenced the recent report “Pathways to Exploration” by the National Research Council on the human spaceflight program, saying that people tend to focus on Chapter Four which assesses the various technical pathways to get (eventually) to Mars, while ignoring Chapters Two and Three which show that there is no compelling public support for a human mission to Mars. 

Marcia Smith, former director of the Space Studies Board and publisher of SpacePolicyOnline.com, pointed out that there is also no compelling resistance to a human Mars mission. Logsdon agreed, and said that a lack of a public opinion on the matter meant that the only way out of the current situation is through Presidential leadership.

Professor Logsdon is Professor Emeritus and founder of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University. His previous book, John F. Kennedy and the Race to the Moon , met with rave reviews, and in his talk he said he plans to complete his “trilogy” with a book on the Ronald Reagan Administration’s impact on the U.S. space program. 

I’d like to thank him for providing very timely corrections to this post, and for sending me a copy of his slides from the International Astronautical Congress the same day he presented there. As a side note, he mentioned to me that the Planetary Society is “here in force” at the IAC!

Professor Logsdon’s talk was the 13th presentation of the Space Policy and History Forum organized by Dr. Roger Launius, associate director of the National Air and Space Museum, and Dr. Nathan Bridges of the Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory. If you find yourself in the Washington, D.C. area and are interested in attending one of the forums, keep an eye on Dr. Launius’ blog for announcements of upcoming events (and tons of other interesting information).

ROGER LAUNIUS AND JOHN LOGSDON

National Air and Space Museum Associate Director Dr. Roger Launius (left) and Professor John Logsdon at the 13th Space Policy and History Forum, at which Professor Logsdon was the featured speaker.

Jason Callahan  Is a former Space Policy Advisor for The Planetary Society.

http://www.planetary.org/blogs/guest-blogs/jason-callahan/20141003-how-richard-nixon-changed-nasa.html

Who Gave Jeffrey Epstein the Frankie Five Angels Treatment?

BY STEPHEN GREEN | PJ Media

Still from "The Godfather: Part II" courtesy of Paramount Pictures

Before we get started, let me assure you I'm no conspiracy theorist. The moon landings were not faked, chemtrails are a delusion, 9/11 was not an inside job, Detroit did not hide a 100 mpg carburetor, the Holocaust happened, and JFK was shot by Oswald alone.

But with today's news that the FBI is now investigating two broken surveillance cameras from outside Jeffrey Epstein's prison cell, I have to ask: Who gave him the Frankie Five Angels Treatment?

A quick rundown of the facts, from well outside the paranoid fringe.

Epstein was back in jail on underage sex and sex-trafficking charges, years after his slap on the wrist as a convicted pedophile. His Caribbean estate was located at a tiny place sometimes known as "Pedo Island," and served as a getaway spot for D.C. and Hollywood elites. 

Many were whisked there by Epstein personally on his private jet, nicknamed "The Lolita Express." Epstein's guest list included, but was not limited to, Bill Clinton, Kevin Spacey, Prince Andrew of Great Britain, actor Chris Tucker, former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, supermodel Naomi Campbell, and lefty billionaire Ron Burkle.

Report: People Close to Epstein Think Accused Sex Trafficker Was Murdered

It isn't known if any of the above had anything to do with Epstein's stable of underage victims, or if they were even aware that any of the girls were underage. And I'm certainly not suggesting that Prince Andrew hacked into the prison's security system, snuck inside Ethan Hunt style, then assassinated Epstein in such a way as to make it look like a suicide. 

Although on reflection, that would make a pretty great sequence in the next "Mission: Impossible" movie.

But we can say for sure that an awful lot of famous and even powerful people had to be squirming like a worm on a hook when news broke that Epstein had been arrested again under fresh -- and more serious -- charges?

Here are a few other things we know for sure:

• Epstein had been removed from suicide watch, despite having attempted suicide once before just two weeks prior to his death.

• His cellmate had been reassigned, leaving Epstein alone just one day before killing himself.

• Two guards in Epstein's jail unit "slept through checks and falsified records" the night of his suicide. They were supposed to check on him every 30 minutes.

• While the guards were busy catching Z's for three hours, there was not one but two broken security cameras outside his cell. The FBI is "investigating."

Had any one of these four event not happened, Epstein might have been caught in the act, and his suicide prevented. 

Instead -- all within the same day -- Epstein had his cellmate taken away, was put under the watch of two Sgt. Schultzes, and had both surveillance cameras malfunction... and all that happened within days of his removal from suicide watch. 

Attorney General William Barr looked into it and found that there were "serious irregularities" at the federal jail in Manhattan.

Ya think?

Earlier I mentioned Frankie Five Angels, but you might know him better by his given name, Frank Pentangeli. Frank had been a capo, or captain, in the Corleone crime family in the "The Godfather: Part II." 

As a high-ranking member of Michael Corleone's outfit, Pentangeli knew pretty much all of Mike's dirty secrets. Frank even knew that it was young Mike himself who had killed NYPD Captain Mark McCluskey (in "The Godfather: Part I"). So when Pentangeli wound up in FBI custody, the Corleones would do most anything to keep him quiet.

Near the end of G2, Corleone family lawyer Tom Hagen (Robert Duvall) visits Frank in prison, and has a little chat with him. 

It's a chillingly understated scene, and I've always thought that Michael Gazzo (as Frank) deserved the Best Supporting Actor Oscar over costar Robert De Niro (as young Vito Corleone in the flashback sequences). 

Hagen twists the conversation so that Frank suggests his own suicide, as though it had been his idea all along.

Watch as two fine actors ply their craft with sublime precision:

https://youtu.be/Q4xoF19NMis

It seems doubtful in the extreme that, say, Bill Clinton went to the Manhattan federal jail and had a similar chat with Epstein. 

But given the facts that we do know, it sure as hell looks like someone or someones made sure that Epstein would have a wide-open window of opportunity to kill himself, on the off chance he was still leaning in that direction. 

The hint, delivered in the form of missing guards and plenty of alone time, was no more subtle than Hagen mentioning what happened to those caught plotting against the emperors of Rome.

Or maybe I'm the one who has gone off the deep end, and ought to start wearing a tinfoil hat as I scan the skies for chemtrails -- but it sure doesn't feel that way.

Experts: Broken Bones in Jeffrey Epstein's Neck 'Are Common In Victims of Homicide by Strangulation'

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Bill Clinton: Whitewater, Paula Jones, and Monica Lewinsky

By Ann-Marie Imbornoni and Tasha Vincent | InfoPlease

Clinton became the 42nd U.S. president following a turbulent political campaign that included vigorous personal attacks on his character. The "character issue" stemmed from allegations of infidelity, which Clinton and his wife Hillary refuted in a television interview, asserting that their relationship was solid. Throughout his term in office, Clinton was also dogged by allegations relating to the failed Whitewater real estate deal, in which he and Hillary had been involved prior to the 1992 election. Though the Clintons were never accused of any wrongdoing, partners in the venture were convicted of fraud and conspiracy in a trial in 1996.

Following his election to a second term in 1996, Clinton came under increasing pressure from Kenneth Starr, the independent counsel who in 1994 took over the investigation of the Clintons' involvement in the Whitewater land deal. Over time, Starr's brief was expanded to include other matters, such as the death of White House lawyer Vincent Foster, the handling of firings in the White House travel office, and shocking allegations of sexual misconduct by Clinton.

In Jan. 1998, Clinton was called to testify in a long-pending sexual harassment suit brought against him by Paula Corbin Jones, a former Arkansas state employee. In his testimony, Clinton denied that he had had a sexual relationship with a young White House intern, Monica Lewinsky, and that he had attempted to cover it up. Although a federal judge in Arkansas threw out the Jones sexual harassment suit in April 1998, the same judge fined Clinton $90,000 in July 1999, after finding him guilty of giving false and misleading testimony in the Jones case over the alleged affair with Lewinsky. Meanwhile, the Lewinsky affair became the focus of Kenneth Starr's investigation as well as a national obsession.

On Aug. 17, 1998, after relentless media attention, leaks, and news of Lewinsky's upcoming testimony, Clinton made history by becoming the first U.S. president to testify in front of a grand jury in an investigation of his own possibly criminal conduct. In an address to the nation that evening, he admitted to having had an "inappropriate relationship" with Lewinsky, but reaffirmed that he did not ask anyone to lie about or cover up the affair.

Paradoxically, in spite of the scandalous outcome of events, Clinton's overall popularity among Americans remained high. For the most part, the country seemed willing to ignore his weaknesses in character, as long as the economy was good, his policies were popular, and the United States remained strong abroad.

On Sept. 9, 1998, Kenneth Starr—a conservative Republican whose investigation was seen by Clinton supporters as a politically inspired vendetta—delivered his report to the House of Representatives. While the report outlined 11 possible grounds for impeachment, none stemmed from the initial subjects of the investigation, including the Whitewater real estate deal. The real focus of the accusations seemed to be Clinton's moral conduct, and the "Starr Report" graphically detailed his sexual affair.

Despite the American population's general disapproval of a trial (which was reflected in poll after poll), Congress moved forward in its highly partisan impeachment proceedings, and on Dec. 19 Clinton became the second president in American history to be impeached. Two of the four articles of impeachment passed (Article I, grand jury perjury, and Article III, obstruction of justice), the votes drawn along party lines. After a Senate trial in Jan.-Feb. 1999, Clinton was acquitted on both counts.

On Jan. 19, 2001, the day before he left office, Clinton reached an agreement with independent counsel Robert Ray, the special prosecutor who had succeeded Kenneth Starr. In exchange for immunity from prosecution on perjury charges after he left office, Clinton admitted giving false testimony about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky, and he agreed to accept a five-year suspension of his Arkansas law license and to pay a fine of $25,000. The deal also satisfied the Arkansas Supreme Court Committee, which had sought to disbar Clinton for giving misleading testimony in the Jones case.

Despite having settled the long-standing legal battle, Clinton continued to stir up controversy. In his final days, he issued some 140 pardons, including one to billionaire fugitive financier Marc Rich. The pardon outraged many Democrats and Republicans alike, and the Justice Department began a criminal investigation to determine if the pardon was related to the $1.5 million donated to the Democratic Party and Clinton's library by Rich's ex-wife, Denise Rich.

https://www.infoplease.com/us/government/executive-branch/bill-clinton-whitewater-paula-jones-and-monica-lewinsky

‘Watergate’ Doesn’t Mean What the Press Thinks It Means

By ANDREW KLAVAN | The Dailywire

The press turned a blind eye to the corruption of JFK and LBJ, then raced to overturn the election of a man they despised.

I was reflecting this week on my brief stint, many years ago, as a newspaperman. It was a job I loved. I signed on not too many years after the Watergate scandal, and journalists were still flush with heroic ideas about themselves. Woodward and Bernstein — and all reporters by extension — had toppled a corrupt presidency and saved the republic and the Constitution from the kind of behind-the-scenes government tyranny dramatized in such thriller films as "The Parallax View" and "Three Days of the Condor".

So we took ourselves very seriously. We felt we mattered. If you didn't believe us, you just had to go see the film "All the President's Men." Robert Redford played one of us. How much more could matter than that?

I look back now and the whole thing seems a sham, a self-congratulatory illusion created by leftists in both the news media and in Hollywood.

Recently, reading Mark Levin's "Unfreedom of the Press", I was reminded that, before reporters went on their great crusade against Richard Nixon, they had overlooked a whole lot of corruption in the Democrat presidents who preceded him.

Levin tells how John F. Kennedy, with the knowledge of his brother and Attorney General Robert, nudged the IRS into auditing conservative groups. With Kennedy's approval, the FBI was also employed to investigate those the administration disliked, including Martin Luther King Jr. Lyndon Baines Johnson would later increase the politically motivated auditing and spying. None of this was uncovered until later on.

Ben Bradlee — the editor of the Washington Post, where Woodward and Bernstein broke the Watergate story — was well aware of his pal Kennedy's misuse of the tax and investigative agencies. Not only did he not report it, he allowed himself and his paper to be manipulated by information JFK had wrongly obtained.

This totally changes the Watergate narrative. Nixon's dirty tricks and enemy lists may have been creepy and wrong, but the press exposure of these misdemeanors came after years of ignoring similar and worse malfeasance by Democrat administrations.

That changes what Watergate means. That transforms it from a heroic crusade into a political hit job, Democrat hackery masquerading as nobility. The press turned a blind eye to the corruption of JFK and LBJ, then raced to overturn the election of a man they despised — despised in part because he battled the Communism many of them had espoused.

What is it Karl Marx said: History repeats itself, the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce?

Journalism today is a corrupt shadow of even its biased former self. Competition, cutbacks and desperate attempts to appease a dwindling audience have turned former newspapers like the New York Times into little better than college rags run by starry-eyed leftist children and answerable to an audience that demands to have their prejudices confirmed.

As a result, the reportage on the Donald Trump administration has been a two and a half year hit job. The constant, breathless reporting of the incipient end of the administration — this is a tipping point, the walls are closing in, the president will be impeached! — has been nothing but the out-loud infantile fantasies of under-read underage make-believe radicals who are not equipped to do the job they are paid to do.

As Obama aide Ben Rhodes told a weirdly sympathetic Times reporter: "The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old, and their only reporting experience consists of being around political campaigns. That's a sea change. They literally know nothing."

Like the Nixon takedown, the attacks on Trump come after years of turning a blind eye to the corruption of a Democrat. Obama's IRS campaign against the Tea Party? His lies about Benghazi? His Fast and Furious fiasco? His shutdown of a massive drug investigation to appease Iran? No big deal. Obama was, as almost every mainstream outlet has declared, "scandal free."

And yet unlike during the Watergate years, a virtual army of conservative bloggers, podcasters and talk show hosts have given voice to the opposition. As a result, the only actual scandal that is close to being exposed is the possible misuse of federal agents and spies by Barack Obama in an underhanded attempt to keep his opponents out of office.

This time, "Watergate" may have backfired. This time, perhaps, we will be able to say: History repeats itself, once as leftist deception, and once as the truth.

https://www.dailywire.com/news/51244/watergate-doesnt-mean-what-press-thinks-it-means-andrew-klavan