Hints, Lies and Allegations

Unlikeable – The Problem With Hillary – Edward Klein (Regnery Publishing)

Bestselling investigative journalist Edward Klein has pulled together another collection of stories about Hillary and Bill Clinton, Unlikeable – The Problem With Hillary, that while focused on Mrs. Clinton, really raise the same question about this interchangeable duo. That question is best summed up in a quote from NBC News correspondent Leslie McFadden’s interview with Bill Clinton where he insisted, “All I’m saying is the idea that there’s one set of rules for us and another set for everybody else is true”

While even Klein contends that Bill was off his game and mis-spoke, I contend that he actually spoke the truth and I have to ask why that is? Klein while offering up numerous examples of hints at what goes on behind the scenes with the Clinton’s; the outright lies the Clinton’s continue to get a pass on and the clear allegations at wrong doings by the Clinton’s that need to be investigated and would preclude practically anybody else from public life if not take away their freedom; as it stands today Hillary Clinton is the frontrunner for the Democrat nomination for the Presidency of the United States.

I’m not sure even someone as deft as Klein at tracking down answers can explain why the American people continue to give the Clinton’s a free pass. Klein details that while Hillary continues to campaign as a women of the people, fighting for the little guy, she and her family live the exact opposite. The Clinton’s are a shining example of the so-called 1%, with all the mansions, penthouses, private jets and cash that goes along with it. Accept, as Klein spells out, the questionable way they got to that lofty status.

While Klein certainly serves the information up in easily digestible chunks, that even a liberal should be able to understand, Unlikeable is really just a digest of what of what so many other books, including many of his own, has already served up. Here’s hoping that Klein’s contention of deep hated for the Clinton’s by the current resident of the White House leads to an indictment or ten for the Clinton’s.

Clueless Liberals Weigh In On Guns Control

Even before we knew the identity of the loser who shot up Umpqua Community College in Oregon, learned the identity of his victims, or the type of weapon he utilize to perpetrate his crime we had a volley of cluelessness hurled by President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, candidate Hilary Clinton and a raft of drooling morons in the liberal media.

The talking points are familiar enough; the National Rifle Association has blood on its hands, we need “common sense” gun control laws, the second amendment had nothing to do with individual freedoms it was about militias, blah blah blah, yackity yackity.

Never one to let a good crisis go to waste, Obama practically sprinted to the microphone to once again politicize a mass shooting and proclaim the need for “common sense” gun legislation that would close the so called “gun show loophole”, with universal background checks and a band on so-called ‘assault weapons.” And this is where the rush to the camera tripped up the President; Oregon had already passed legislation to require background checks on all gun purchases, so it did not and would not have prevented the shooting at UCC.

Then the liberal pinwheels in the media started weighing in and pontificating about the need for more gun control. Amanda Marcotte, who regularly weigh in with the liberal take on things for Rolling Stone Magazine quickly served up 4Pro-Gun Arguments We’re Tired of Hearing. While all four are about what you’d expect from an uninformed moron, my favorite is number two which reads- “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun” in which she laughingly goes on to proclaim “No mass shootings in the past 30 years have been stopped by an armed civilian.” Which is laughable on its face; first she mixes her metaphors, I would argue that the UCC shooter was “stopped by a good guy with a gun.” In fact two of them! Armed officers put this loser down and prevented greater loss of life.

As to the armed civilian part of her stupidity, it’s pretty clear that in many cases, disaffected losers who are hell bent on trying to inflict mass damage have been stopped in their tracks by armed civilians before they can escalate to multiple killings. Perhaps that might take a bit more brain capability than Ms. Marcotte can muster.

The better argument would be to look at these mass killings as a whole. It seems more often than not that these killings take place in locations like UCC that freely post what amounts to an equivalent of a sign reading
Whack Jobs Welcome” when they choose to post “Gun Free Zone” signs; which is notable in the case of Oregon which is a state that allows for concealed carry. Imagine how different the outcome might have been.

Think about what prevents bad guys from busting in your front door and taking your stuff…the greatest weapon is doubt; not knowing exactly what might await them on the other side of the door. Ask folks like Ms. Marcotte to post a sign outside their homes that simple states “No guns on premise” and I bet you will get a whole different opinion on these gun free zone.

Common Sense Gun Control   

I love when politicians and the media start thumping their collective chests and proclaim the need for “common sense gun control”. What exactly is that? Please name the law that we can pass that would have prevented this loser from perpetrating this tragic loss of life? (Insert cricket sounds here.) Still Waiting…okay, let me help you out; the answer is that with over 20,000 state and federal guns laws on the books we have not prevented these mass killings so what would make you think that we could possibly concoct a law to prevent this kind of thing from happening again?

The National Review’s Charles Cook raise this very point when he twisted the entire Morning Joe panel on MSNBC in knots by asking that same question. Check out the video-

Chicago

You got to wonder why is that Obama and his liberal pals in the media are SO outraged about the UCC shooting that left 9 victims dead and yet they haven’t really said a thing about the 15 murders over just last weekend in the President’s adopted home town of Chicago and the record 60! In the month of September. Could it have something to do with the fact that while Chicago and the state of Illinois have some of the toughest gun laws in the nation, those laws have done NOTHING to prevent a staggering amount of gun crime?!

Simply put, so even politicians and the liberal media can understand, gun laws will not stop a determined killer from perpetrating his crime. Bad people don’t get background checks and gun law only impact good people. The only thing that will put a dent in these kinds of crimes is to stop talking about the losers who perpetrate them; one look at the social media profiles of these assholes and you will more often than not see mentions of the losers who proceeded them down this path of destruction. We have to stand up and say you were a loser before this and you’ll go to your grave a loser and not achieve the fame you seek. This will go a long way to eliminating the copycat mentality.

The second step would be to take down these ridiculous “gun free zone” signs! Put that level of doubt back into the minds of these losers and raise the specter of a potential armed response. Let’s talk publicly and loudly about training people to respond in the event of someone trying to start a mass casualty event. Talk about a message that will have a REAL impact.

Silence!

End of Discussion - How the Left's Outrage Industry Shuts Down Debate, Manipulates Voters, and Makes America Less Free (and Fun) - Mary Katharine Ham and Guy Benson (Crown Books)

As a recovering radio talk show host, I have opinions…lots of them. But I don’t have an opinion on absolutely everything and I don’t feel the unquenchable need to express my opinion on everything, meaning you aren’t likely to find me chitter-ing away on social media. My thoughts generally take more than 140 characters and my tolerance for dealing with nitwits, who would rather attack me personally than engage in a spirited debate of ideas, has me more often than not refusing to as Glenn Beck puts it, “argue with idiots.”

After reading Fox News contributor Mary Katherine Ham and Town Hall.com editor Guy Benson’s new book, End of Discussion - How the Left's Outrage Industry Shuts Down Debate, Manipulates Voters, and Makes America Less Free (and Fun) I may be reconsidering and getting ready to armor up and dive back into the fray. It is that sitting on the sidelines that allows those in the perpetually aggrieved class to win without a fight.

Ham and Benson point out just how organized and professional these attack dogs have become. Along the way they have created an attack playbook chalk full of labels and before non-existent “phobias” that they readily slap on those who might have the temerity to disagree or voice a different opinion. Think marriage is between a man and a women then you must be a homophobe…right?

Ham and Benson have the nerve to point out example after example of how, more often than not, the left don’t just disagree differing points of view, they try tooth and nail to stamp out those who disagree and deprive them of their livelihood. With regularity they also point out the hypocrisy of the left when it comes to so many things. The relatively moderate Koch Brothers are evil billionaires hell bet to fund conservatives, but billionaire Tom Steyer spend wads of cash is okay, because he believes what they do when it comes to global warming.

Congressman and former Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan talks about changing the mindset and inspiring men in the inner city through mentoring and he’s labeled a racist using “dog-whistle” politics. Michelle Obama talks about changing the attitudes of “young men sitting on the couch playing video games and dreaming of being ballers and rappers,” and she’s clearly and inspiration to the African America community. Pardon me but…what a crock.

So, yes it is time for this conservative to armor up and get back into the game and engage in a battle of wits with the unarmed! Keep your labels my Liberal friends, you can have your own opinion, but you can have your own facts.  

The Self-Inflicted Death of Liberalism

The Silencing – How The Left is Killing Free Speech – Kirsten Powers (Regnery)

It used to be that liberals were open to new ideas and would engage in rigorous debate to support their point of view. Not so much anymore. Kirsten Powers, a self described liberal who lays claim to being raised in a liberal household full of that rigorous debate, is columnist for USA Today and The Daily Beast as well as a Fox News contributor, who in her new book makes a solid case that it is the left who are on a mission to kill free speech.

In The Silencing – How The Left is Killing Free Speech, Powers sets the nail in the heart of what she renames the illiberal left and proceeds to drive it home again and again; making her case almost to the point of redundancy. The reaction that she has received from her fellow liberals reiterates her points; rather than trying to engage Powers in a debate the left resorts to name calling.

While the left loves to wrap themselves in the banner of being the smartest people in the room, clearly smarter than the backwards, science hating conservatives; Powers clearly outlines that the left has become as she puts it, “isolated from the marketplace of ideas.” Rather than trying to engage those with differing points of view, the left has been reduced to tactics that involve an almost non-stop creation of “phobias” which created the illusion that those who disagree with the liberal viewpoint are somehow mentally challenged. Thus we get things like homophobe or Islamophobe; which really are nothing but name calling and intimidation.

Rather than challenging conservatives, the left resorts to trying to remove those who dissent from the playing field. How many times have you heard the left call for the firing or removal of those they disagree with? Powers cites nearly countless examples. The problem for the left is this has amounted to a weakening of their ability to make their case and as a result their point of view is dying a slow, painful death of a thousand self-inflicted wounds.

I have engaged numerous, supposedly highly educated college professors, and been able to swat aside their arguments like child’s play; only to be attacked and called names for pointing out their flawed thinking. Because I have a different perspective on things does not make me a denier, a phobic, or a fill in the blank - ____ist of some variety and it’s not my goal to have you removed from the debate, but to make the case why my viewpoint is the correct one; something Powers clearly makes the case that liberals are no longer interested in.  

Criminal Minds – Clinton Cash

Clinton Cash – The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich – Peter Schweizer (Harper)

The Watergate conspiracy and investigation spawned many things; it brought into vogue so-called investigative journalism and added the famous catch phrase “follow the money” to the lexicon. There is a striking coincidence that Hillary Clinton came of age in Washington during the Watergate era as a member of the House Judiciary Committee staff charged with investigating that scandal. She was later removed from the investigation because she “… engaged in a variety of self-serving unethical practices in violation of House rules.”

Bestselling author Peter Schweizer has served up Clinton Cash – The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich, in which he details what I can only describe as a series of complex and multi-layered enterprises; that are chock full of cut outs and bag men who seemingly shield the Clinton’s from leaving direct fingerprints. At times this thing reads like a criminal indictment, building a dense series of circumstantial evidence that point directly at the Clinton’s involvement in a lucrative criminal conspiracy.

Bill and Hillary come off like a modern day Bonnie and Clyde without the Tommy guns and certainly without the Mont Blanc pens of white collar criminals, because nothing is ever written down on paper and as far as electronic communications, we know who owns the server. The problem may be that to “follow the money” through the intricate webs of Friends of Bill and Hill, scumbag business types, tin pot dictators and other lowlifes that the Clintons have chosen to do business with, may be just a little too complex for the average, low information, Clinton/Obama voter.

The astounding thing is it is those same people who get jacked up about the Koch brothers, two successful, U.S. citizens who make above board (legal), public donations to support candidates and causes they believe in. Yet they will go out of their way to say there is nothing fishy about the Clintons getting paid massive amounts for speeches or the Clinton Foundation accepting donations from foreign dictators and tyrants, many of whom stand accused of heinous crimes and human rights violations. Laughably those donations often offer these dirt bags a form of International cleansing or legitimacy due to their association with the Clintons.

Schweizer and his team of investigators offer up a densely notated collection of information that ties the Clintons and their associates to what I can only describe as shady dealings. It gives new meaning to Bill Clinton’s recent protestations to NBC News that “I have to pay our bills” when you see the number of sycophants, hangers on, defenders and contributors that have reaped a windfall from their association with the Clintons.

It may be hard to believe after wading through uranium deals, donations from dictators and so many other scummy shenanigans that perhaps the most damning chapter of the book is the one that details the billions of dollars, many of them U.S. taxpayer dollars, of Haitian earthquake relief funds that were in the direct control of Bill and Hillary. While they detailed many grandiose plans to not only rebuild, but also to modernize and bring Haiti into at least the 20^th century with new infrastructure and industrial facilities, what we bought with our billions didn’t even come close.

Massive and possibly criminal cost over-runs, shortfalls on promised basics like housing and projects were piles of money were allocated and spent and yet there was nothing delivered abound. Along the way, plenty of Clinton contributors and friends, many often NOT remotely qualified to deliver on the contracts they were rewarded, became staggeringly enriched. Again, follow the money. Five years after the earthquake that devastated the third world nation, much of Haiti remains in a state of disrepair and tens of thousands still live on the street. Why there has not been an audit or accounting of how the taxpayer’s money was spent is a mystery accept to those who understand how the Obama/Democrat, Justice Department operates.

Has Schweizer uncovered that one smoking gun piece that nails the Clintons? No, but he and his team have built a solid case for a much closer, much more detailed examination of the potential corruption of not only U.S. policy, but of the finances and operations of the Clinton Foundation and their associates. Will that happen? Based on the history of the Clintons, I wouldn’t hold my breath.   

 

$50 Million Per Patient: The High Cost of Healthcare

The New York Times, hardly a bastion of conservative thought, recently published a piece about the virtually empty U.S. built Ebola clinics in the African nation of Liberia. All part of Community Organizer in Chief Barack Obama’s day late response to the Ebola outbreak in the West African country.

Obama you may recall plodded along while, delaying the U.S. response to the epidemic that saw Liberia hit with 9,862 cases of Ebola which left a devastating 4408 dead. The Times reported that Worldwide there were 25,500 cases and 10,500 dead; so clearly Liberia was at the epicenter of the death toll, accounting for nearly half of the dead.

So Obama’s response was to hire a political hack, Democrat strategist, Ron Klain to be the Ebola Czar who departed just a short time into his projected tenure. Next the Community Organizer decided he would send nearly 3000 members of the military to help set up 11 Ebola Treatment Units (ETU). The United States outlay for this adventure was $1.4 billion.

So…how many patients did this project treat? How Many lives did it save? The grand total is 28. No that’s not a typo…28! Do the math; that works out to be $50 million per patient. These people spend so much time worry about the optics/politics of things that they delayed the response until after the epidemic had peaked.

This should be yet another glaring example of how wrong all those folks who believe that the government has all the answers or solutions to problems. The local, more nimble and largely privately funded response proved to be not only more effective, but also less expensive. Imagine these are the clowns who voted to take over a huge segment of our economy and put themselves in charge of our healthcare.

Government is a large, lumbering, slow moving mess that is not equipped to deal with anything in a timely or effective manner. Private enterprise is a clear cut more effective and cost effective manner for addressing major problems.

Liberal Bias, Locker Room Style

Bias in the Booth – An Insider Exposes How Sports Media Distort the News – Dylan Gwinnn (Regnery Press)

“We’re fast approaching a point where there’s going to be no real difference between Bob Costas and Rachel Maddow. Except one of them is a man. I think.” While that line made me chuckle, what made it not so funny is it was so true. By the way…Rachel Maddow…I hate that guy!

Dylan Gwinn is a sports talk host and in his first book, Bias in the Booth – An Insider Exposes How Sports Media Distort the News he offers up a comprehensive compendium of screaming double standard of liberal bias not just in the media, but in the sports media in particular. While the shot he takes detailed above at Tiny Bob, who is one of the absolute worst when it comes to flaming liberal sportscaster overstating there stupid opinions, Gwinn truly goes deep and detailed when it comes to pointing out the do as I say not as a do hypocrisy of the of the lefties in sports.

While they tout themselves, often straining muscles to reach around and pat themselves on the back for their open mindedness, the fact of the matter is that by most intelligent standards of reality, liberals are they absolute least tolerant people, notably in the media. The sports media is no different. God forbid you have a different opinion or view point on things, because they will bring on the pitchforks and torches and burn you to the ground.

Gwinn cites chapter and verse on topics ranging from Tim Tebow to Michael Sam and racism to Rush Limbaugh; oh wait…according to most sports broadcasters racism and Rush are one and the same. First amendment? Gwinn points out that, yes you have the right to speak your mind…as long as your opinion matches liberal sportscasters in lock step, otherwise, not so much.

Gwinn does a masterful job of dissecting the libs commentary chapter and verse and proving them wrong time after time throughout the book. Therein lies the rub…even when they are hammered with the facts, liberals never apologize for being wrong. I will continue to wait for the five halfwit St. Louis Rams players to apologize for their ridiculous hands up don’t shoot pre-game demonstration, that as now twice been proven to be wrong; once by the grand jury and once by racist, attorney general, Eric Holder’s Justice Department in the Michael Brown case. No…I won’t be holding my breath while I wait.  

The Great Health Care “Fix”

The Patient Will See You Now: the Future of Medicine is in Your Hands – Eric Topol, M.D. (Basic Books)

America’s Bitter Pill – Money, Politics, Backroom Deals and the Fight to Fix Our Broken Healthcare System – Steven Brill (Random House)

Reinventing American Health Care – Ezekiel J. Emanuel (Public Affairs Books)

A staggering amount of ink, paper, hot air and treasure has been expanded in a seemingly never ending debate over how to best improve the current state of the health care in the United States. Some have deluded themselves into buying into the fantasy that the Affordable Care Act, aka; Obamacare was the so-called magic bullet that would once and for all fix the deeply flawed, ridiculously overpriced U.S. Healthcare system.

Unfortunately those delusional folks couldn’t be more wrong; the Obamacare legislation is the worst example of how Congress creates new laws, a mish mash of bad sausage making that slaps together so much contradictory information into a greasy mess of differing constituencies, that does nothing to actually improve care for the patient or lower costs for that sub-par care.

So despite decades of chatter, hand wringing and debate we really haven’t moved the ball. Three new books attempt to tackle the problem and at times bring strikingly similar points of view to bear and at others approach things from diametrically opposite perspectives. In the end only ones comes close to what will actually bring an impactful change to healthcare, albeit one that still has some hole that remain to be filled.

Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, a physician and bio-ethicist by trade, was one of the architects responsible for the sloppy sausage making that went into Obamacare. His take on fixing healthcare comes in the form of his book Reinventing American Health Care, which is a mix of a clearly misplaced, misguided victory lap for his work on Obamacare and what he envisions as the next steps to continue that process.

 

Emanuel is a glaring example of a socialized medicine, universal healthcare-type who buys into the belief that government control is the only correct path to the delivery of healthcare. Its sounds like a case of, Obamacare was a good first step, but there is still more work to be done.

Emanuel makes some downright astounding predictions about what he sees as the future of healthcare, including:

·         The end of insurance as we know it – happening by 2025

·         The end of employer sponsored health insurance – happening by 2020

·         The end of health care inflation – happening by2020

·         The emergence of digital medicine and the closure of hospitals – happening by 2020

While I believe some of these predictions, which may be seen as bold by some, will likely happen, it won’t be for the reasons Emanuel lays out. Clearly Obamacare has failed miserably on one of the cornerstone claims that was made about it; reducing the cost of healthcare and health insurance. In fact, costs have continued to not only increase, but increase dramatically. Those costs will make it impossible for businesses, big and small, to continue to provide/underwrite the costs of insuring their employees.

As to ending health care inflation, this one is laughable on its face for a multitude of reasons. The most basic reason is one of the fundamentals of understanding economics, which clearly Emanuel and many in the Obama administration, including the President, don’t quite grasp; supply and demand. We are on the leading edge of aging baby boomers starting to hit the age where they we see the need to utilize health care at a greater rate, thereby increasing the demand, while the supply; doctors, nurses, etc., has remained relatively stagnant or actually decreased; which will lead inevitably to increased costs.

It is only with the emergence of digital medicine that Emanuel comes close to a correct prediction. Dr. Eric Topol delves much more deeply into the impact of the technological evolution and digitization of health care; more on that later.

Journalist and as he makes clear, a broad range participant in the health care system, Steven Brill takes a swing at improving health care by pumping steroids into his already pumped up take on the U.S. healthcare system. Brill expands on his epic 2013 Time magazine article, the 40,000 plus word piece entitled Bitter Pill – Why Medical Bills Are Killing Us, in the form of his new book, America’s Bitter Pill – Money, Politics, Backroom Deals and the Fight to Fix Our Broken Healthcare System.

Like Topol and Emanuel, Brill serves up a heaping helping of heart rendering stories about seemingly ordinary, average, American citizens who have gotten caught up in the staggering costs of the U.S. healthcare system. Anyone who has had a hospital stay or had a family member have a hospital stay to battle disease or illness, simple or complex, has been the recipient of a mind-numbingly complex, nearly impossible to read, let alone understand, medical bill. Depending on the type of illness and course of treatment rendered, maybe more than one bill.

These sob stories have the desired effect; outrage at the high costs involved and a backlash against a seemingly secretive medical industrial complex. Brill’s solution to the problem involves the creation of large, regional health care systems being formed and assuming the role of not only provider, but of insurer for the patients they treat. This model is currently being explored in Western Pennsylvania by the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) and it’s insurance division. The logic Brill provides is that the insurance arms would keep close watch on the providers and the providers would be loathe to overcharge or over treat the patients covered by the insurance side, thereby keeping costs in line.

The glaring flaw in both Brill’s plan and in that of Emanuel’s socialist approach is that both keep the person purchasing the health care service outside the loop of the decision making process, which is what got us into the position that we find ourselves now firmly locked.

The only author who comes close to actually getting to what will fix the problem with our healthcare system is Eric Topol, M.D., a practicing cardiologist and researcher. In his new book, The Patient Will See You Now: the Future of Medicine is in Your Hands, Topol correctly raises the question, “Is there any other walk of life when services are purchased, but the purchaser does not take ownership?”

 

The problem stems from the simple fact that the patient, the reason for the service in the first place has been marginalized out of the process by third party insurers and by medical providers. Until we return control of the purchasing decision back to the patient, then the U.S. health care system will continue to be a nightmarish maze of high costs, relatively lousy results and endless problems. With that control back in the hands of the patient/consumer, comes competition for health care dollars and with that competition will come a combination of lower costs and improved service/care.

Brill and Emanuel would prefer to keep control in the hands of a third party who dictates not only what care looks like, but where you can receive it, and how much of it you can receive.

Topol makes the case that it is unlikely that the current system will willingly make the choice to hand control back to the consumer, but it is more likely that the consumer will seize control through the means of digital tools that continue to evolve and become more readily available to the average consumer in the form of smart phones and applications.

While those tools will help consumers to jump back into the process, there is still a role for physicians to play in the prescribing of medications and delivering care not in the traditional hospital setting, but on an outpatient basis which renders another level of control back to the patient. It’s not so much a case of self-medication as it is a better informed consumer making better choices for their own care.

Topol also makes a strong case against what I can only call lazy medicine with doctors doling out meds by the bucketful. Topol spells out in detail the outrageous use of medications, notably the multi-billion dollar scams for things like attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) with over $9 billion in prescription drug sales annually and the anti-depressant prescription marketplace, which racks up tens of billions in sales on an annual basis, with most recipients of the meds not meeting even the most basic of medical need for the drugs. It’s doubtful that the real costs of the societal and medical impact of the reach for the prescription pad, better life through chemicals mindset, could ever be truly measured.

Gun News Update

The Washington Examiner is reporting that President Obama is once again planning to take unconstitutional action; this time looking to impose a ban the sale of 5.56 caliber ammunition which is manufactured for the top selling AR-15 Rifle. Even word of the mere speculation of the push for the ban by the bureaucrats at the ATF has driven up prices and gun retailers and has outdoor superstore Cabela’s urging its customers to contact Congress to block the President’s action. Can’t imagine the so-called Republican leadership will do anything but roll over.

Bestselling author John Lott (More Guns Less Crime) authored an excellent rebut to the specious reporting of the New York Times by laying out the facts about the law abiding nature of concealed carry permit holders.

Magical Liberal Thinking

Guantanamo Diary – Mohamedou Ould Slahi with Larry Siems, editor (Little Brown and Company)

It really comes down to two things; the perspective you bring to the table and critical thinking, or a lack there of.

If you come to this book, Guantanamo Diary by Mohamedou Ould Slahi with editing help from Larry Siems, from the perspective that Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld are war criminals or that being forced to listen to heavy metal music at staggering volumes while having the air conditioning or heat cranked up equates to torture, then this book will confirm much of the simplistic, mind numbed liberal horse crap that you have been fed about Gitmo.

Slahi, a Mauritanian by birth, has been in custody since November of 2001 and housed for much of that time at the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Slahi penned this tale during a period in 2005 and 2006 and after some time and legal wrangling was allowed to release a redacted version of the story after some editing by Mr. Siems.

Magical Liberal Thinking

It doesn’t take long for what I can only call magical thinking to begin; in the preface of the book, Siems details some of the background to Slahi’s story.

Slahi readily admits that he was a member of al Qaeda in 1991 and 1992 when he traveled to Afghanistan and being trained in weapons and tactics then joining the fight against the invaders from Soviet Union. Magically you are supposed to believe that once that fight ceased with the Soviet defeat, that Slahi severed all ties and drop his allegiance to al Qaeda.

Then we must account for an ongoing, steady series of coincidences that occurred in Slahi’s life.

·         Slahi was arrested in Mauritania in 2001 on suspicion that he was involved in the foiled Millenium Plot to bomb the Los Angeles International Airport on New Year’s Eve 1999. That plot was foiled by an alert border crossing agent at the Seattle/Tacoma, U.S./Canada crossing point who took Ahmed Ressam into custody when he attempted to smuggle explosives across the border. Magically Ressam had been a member of the same mosque that Slahi had led prayers during Ramadan. Canadian Security Intelligence Service agents had put Slahi under surveillance for several weeks, suspecting his participation in the plot, but had not been able to connect the dots to arrest him.

·         According to the 9-11 Commission Report Slahi was responsible for recruiting multiple jihadists into the al Qaeda fold. In the book Slahi again readily admits meeting with Marwan al-Shehhi and Ziad Jarrah while living in Germany, even allowing them to stay with him. Magically al-Shehhi and Jarrah were among the terrorists who flew hijacked planes into building on September 11, 2001, killing nearly 3000 people in the process.

·         Slahi also admits in the book to crossing paths with Ramzi bin al-Shibh, who intended to be a participant in the 9-11 attacks, but could not manage to get a U.S. Visa to enter the country. When bin al-Shibh was arrested and taken to Gitmo he admitted to knowing Slahi and told his interrogators that it was Slahi who directed him to an al Qaeda training camp. Bin al-Shibh later helped to supply cash and other items to the 9-11 terrorists as part of what would become known as the Hamburg (Germany) Cell that Slahi was believed to be a key contact in.

·         Peter Finn, writing in the Washington Post, hardly a outlet of conservative thought, described Slahi and fellow Gitmo detainee Tariq al-Sawah as “two of the most significant informants ever to be held at Guantanamo.” Finn went on to say that the pair had provided enough reliable information to “help officials chart connections among Islamic radicals across Europe.” So while Siems and other magical thinking liberals would have you believe that Slahi simply told interrogator “what they wanted to hear” this report clearly shows that hard intel that was garnered from Slahi.

·         Siems points to Marine Lt. Colonel Stuart Crouch a military prosecutor assigned to Slahi’s case, who declined to bring a prosecution against Slahi as evidence that there is no case to be made against him. To the contrary, Couch as stated in an Atlantic Magazine article, again far from a conservative outlet, that he chose not to prosecute Slahi on moral grounds, because he believed that Slahi had been tortured, but he still believed that Slahi was guilty of terrorist activities.

Where’s Obama

If Mohamadou Ould Slahi is innocent as seems and many other would lead you to believe it begs the question; why hasn’t President Obama, who seems hell bent to release as many terrorists as possible from Guantanamo and make good on his promise to close the facility, released Slahi back into the world? With reports of upwards of 60 to 70 percent of those who have been released from Gitmo taking up arms and returning to the Jihad, if Slahi is is so innocent, then wouldn’t he be a poster child for the program to release detainees?

Or could it be that all of these “coincidences” and the magical thinking they spawn are nothing more than a bunch of bullshit and this guy is a terrorist pure and simple. Was he on the receiving end of harsh treatment at the hands of his interrogators? Without a doubt. Did it amount to torture? All I ask is that you compare the treatment he received to that of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl or those taken prisoner by ISIS. Also know that Slahi is reported to be spending his time at Gitmo in a special compound, separated from other detainees for his own protection; tending his personal garden, writing and painting.