Redacted and Released, 15 Bullets
Tuesday, September 1, 2015
Vol. 4, No. 244
Hillary Mail: The State Department is releasing another 4,368 Hillary Clintons emails from her time as secretary of state, about 150 of which are censored because they contain classified or sensitive information. Some were “confidential,” but none contained information considered “Top Secret.”
Most of the emails are routine traffic, but a few reveal entertaining inside tidbits. In one message Clinton advisor Sidney Blumenthal describes the now House Speaker John Boehner as “louche, alcoholic, lazy, and without any commitment to any principle.”
Clinton is under scrutiny for using a private email server while she was secretary of state. Monthly releases of email batches puts a drag on her Presidential campaign.
Nation: Prosecutors say a 30-year-old suspect emptied his 15-round handgun into a Texas sheriff’s deputy last Friday night in an unexplained execution killing. Harris County deputy Darren Goforth, 47, had pulled into a gas station about 8:30 Friday night when a gunman shot him from behind and pumped bullets into him as he lay in the ground.
Sheriff Ron Hickman raised the national profile of the incident during a press conference referring to the “Black Lives Matter” movement saying, “Cops’ lives matter, too, so why don’t we drop the qualifier and say lives matter.”
The suspect, Shannon Miles, lives a mile away from the incident and was identified by video of his truck. He had a gun and ammunition that matched the weapon used in the shooting.
The motive for the killing is unexplained, but Miles had a history of arrests and spent time in the jail staffed by Harris County deputies. Miles is black and Goforth was white.
>White supremacist Frazier Glenn Cross was convicted yesterday of killing three people at a Kansas Jewish center and nearby retirement home in April last year. Cross, who represented himself saying he killed to protect white people from Jews, gave a Nazi salute when he heard the verdict.
The Banns: The Supreme Court yesterday said that a county clerk in Kentucky cannot continue refusing to issue licenses for same sex marriages on religious grounds. Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis has refused to issue any marriage licenses since the Court’s decision making gay marriage legal in every state.
The Supreme Court application filed for Davis said her case has “far-reaching implications across the country for religious liberty.” A federal appeals panel earlier had ruled that Davis can’t just ignore the Supreme Court decision. So far, she has.
Culture War: A United Nations satellite picture confirms that the Islamic State blew up the ancient Temple of Baal in Palmyra, evidently rendering it to dust.
World: Thai police have arrested a second suspect in the bombing of the Erawan shrine that killed 20 people in Bangkok. Both men have been described only as “foreigners.”
Hail Mary: After the NFL and Tom Brady failed to reach a settlement over Brady’s four-game suspension, a federal judge in New York is expected to rule today or tomorrow on Brady’s lawsuit appealing his punishment. Brady was suspended and the team was fined after the discovery that the Super Bowl winner used under-inflated balls in the AFC Championship last season.
If the NFL wins, Brady’s suspension would begin for the season opener Sept. 10, but Brady could apply for an injunction that might drag the fight into next year.
Survivor Man: While he’s in Alaska this week checking out the effects of climate change, President Obama is scheduled to tape an episode of “Running Wild with Bear Grylls.” He knows something about survival.
Also today, the president is expected to propose quickly building new Coast Guard icebreakers to create a year-round presence for the US to compete with Russia in the Arctic.
You and the Tube: Netflix says it is removing thousands of movies from its online service as it moves to focus on its own productions. All the Hunger Games and Transformer movies will disappear. Netflix says it will be promoting new work from, among others, Adam Sandler. No, really, they’re banking their future on Adam Sandler.
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