The "B" Words -- Bombs and Birther -- and Mainstream Lies for Hillary, but Trump Comes Out on the Right Side Again

The mainsteam media -- including the press -- is almost as honest as Long John Silver. The latest example of their double-dealing is the lies and cover-up they used to avoid saying that Hillary Clinton -- and CNN, as well -- used the word "bomb" or "bombing" to describe what happened in lower Manhattan Saturday evening while at the same time excoriating Donald Trump for using the same word. Hillary Clinton referred to the explosions in New York City as "bombings," then attacked Trump, for using the word “bomb” before authorities had publicly confirmed the facts of the attack. ~~~~~~ Here is the AP report : "The Latest on NYC blast : Donald Trump declared "bomb went off" in Chelsea before officials released any details.18 Sep 2016." CNN commented : “Typically, national political figures use caution when describing unfolding situations and law enforcement actions.” ~~~~~~ Here is ABC's Twitter coverage of Hillary's statement on her campaign airplane Saturday night : "Liz Kreutz@ABCLiz. "Hillary Clinton, on her campaign plane, responds to explosion in NYC. 5:22 AM - 18 Sep 2016. Clinton : "I’ve breen briefed about the bombings in New York and New Jersey, and the attack in Minnesota. Obviously, we need to do everything we can to support our first responders, also to pray for the victims. We have to let this investigation unfold. We’ve been in touch with various officials, including the mayor’s office in New York, to learn what they are discovering as they conduct this investigation. And I’ll have more to say about it when we actually know the facts. Reporter : Secretary Clinton, Do you have any reaction to the fact that Donald Trump, immediately upon taking the stage tonight, called the explosion in New York a "bomb"...? Clinton: Well, I think it’s important to know the facts about any incident like this. That’s why it’s critical to support the first responders, the investigators who are looking into it, trying to determine what did happen. She then added: “I think it’s always wiser to wait until you have information before making conclusions because we are just in the beginning stages of trying to determine what happened." ~~~~~~ As if that first stage coverage lie wasn't sufficiently biased against Trump, CNN’s Jake Tapper asked New Jersey Governor Chris Christie on State of the Union on Sunday morning about the supposed contrast between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in their responses to the explosions Saturday in New York, editing out Clinton’s reference to "bombings" to create a false impression. Tapper cited Trump referring to a "bomb" in New York, then played a clip of Clinton criticizing him for saying that -- leaving out Clinton’s prior reference, seconds before, to what she called “bombings.” ~~ Here is the Tapper’s question for Christie, with the edited Clinton clip: "Tapper: There is a contrast, I would say, between how you’re speaking about it and how Mr. Trump spoke about it yesterday. He’s being criticized for talking about the New York bomb before local officials or local law enforcement had a chance to do so. He told the Colorado Springs crowd that “a bomb went off in New York, and nobody knows exactly what’s going on” -- that’s really just a few minutes after the incident. And his opponent tried to draw a contrast. She waited hours later, until local officials spoke, and then she said this : Clinton (clip) : 'I think it’s important to know the facts about any incident like this. I think it’s always wiser to wait until you have information before making conclusions.' Tapper: As a general note, do you think politicians should wait until more information comes in, and should they defer to local official and investigators? Isn’t that what you do as the governor of New Jersey?" NOTE to HILLARY : This might have been good advice for you to take instead of immediately announcing that a video caused the Benghazi attack. ~~~~~~ And, anyone who watched Meet the Press on Sunday morning saw NBC host Chuck Todd do exactly the same thing -- he omitted Hillary's use of the word "bomb" while pejoratively describing Trump's use of the word as typically Trump. ~~~~~~ At issue was the explosion inside a dumpster in the Chelsea neighborhood in Manhattan Saturday evening that injured nearly 30 people. Another explosive device was found four blocks to the north in Manhattan, in the form of a pressure cooker device with a portable phone attached to it -- like the pressure cooker bombs used in the Boston Marathon bombing. And, no mainstream outlet has as yet questioned the wisdom of NYC Mayor Bill De Blasio's statement not more than an hour after the Manhattan explosion that there was no evidence that the act was related to "international" terrorism. May we assume that this makes all the difference to De Blasio and Progressives? "Homegrown" terrorism is somehow less dangerous than "international" terrorism. Perhaps Mayor De Blasio should talk to German and French mayors, who have a different view of terrorist attcks -- homegrown or otherwise. ~~~~~~ A pipe bomb had exploded earlier in the day in New Jersey, and a mass stabbing attack had occured in Minnesota. Trump's reaction was to tell a campaign rally in Colorado Springs, Colorado : “Just before I got off the plane, a bomb went off in New York and nobody knows exactly what’s going on.” Mainstream journalists then pounced on his statement, as if telling Americans what is "going on" is to be avoided. Prior to the Manhattan explosion, federal investigators found three bombs with shrapnel after a Saturday morning bombing in a New Jersey beach town that they are treating as suspected terrorism. The bomb partially exploded in a trash can. It was set to go off at the same time the Seaside Semper Five Marine Corps Charity 5K race was beginning. No one was injured in the explosion, but the race was canceled as a precaution, and a four-block radius around the area was closed off, according to the Asbury Park Press. Authorities found two undetonated shrapnel devices -- the combination was later described as three pipe bombs taped together -- connected to the exploded bomb, but it appears it “didn’t do the damage it was supposed to,” said Al Della Fave, a spokesman for the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office. The FBI and the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives is leading the investigation into the bomb, assisted by New Jersey State Police and local and county authorities. No suspects have as yet been found. ~~~~~~ Also on Saturday, ISIS claimed responsibility after a knife-wielding man injured eight people at a mall in central Minnesota Saturday evening, a bloody rampage during which he reportedly asked at least one victim whether they were Moslem and referenced Allah. St. Cloud Police Chief William Blair Anderson said the suspect, whom he did not identify, was shot and killed by an off-duty police officer from another jurisdiction. All but one of the eight victims were treated and released from a local hospital and all were expected to survive their injuries. On Sunday morning, ISIS issued a statement via a source to its Amaq news service : "The executor of the stabbing attacks in Minnesota yesterday was a soldier of the Islamic State and carried out the operation in response to calls to target the citizens of countries belonging to the crusader coalition. Local police had three previous encounters with the suspect, most for minor traffic violations, Anderson said, adding : "The FBI is actively engaged at the scene with the St. Cloud Police Department. Law enforcement is in the process of ascertaining the facts as to what occurred last night." ~~~~~~ And we learned Sunday night that Fox News reported that the bombs in New Jersey and New York City came from the same person. ~~~~~~ While covering up Hillary's use of the "B" word in reference to the NYC bombing, CNN's Jake Tapper -- as penance?? -- questioned Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine rather aggressively about Hillary Clinton’s close confident Sidney Blumenthal’s alleged role in pushing another "B" word -- the Birther conspiracy theory in 2008. This occurred after the weekend tempest-in-a-teapot over Trump's latest effort to force Hillary and her mainstream media lap dogs to put the Birther controversy to rest -- it was a reporter who had asked Trump on Friday what his opinion on the Birther issue is now. An Associated Press article by reporters Jill Colvin and Jonathan Lemire sounds like a Democratic National Committee press release. The headline is "Reversing course, Trump admits Obama was born in the US." Truth in the Birther issue is so far removed from the media's compass that a timeline is needed to set the matter in its proper context. ~~~~~~ New evidence suggests -- as Trump has always stated -- that Hillary Clinton’s campaign was, in fact, responsible for spreading the original Birther conspiracy theory in 2008, which alleged that Barack Obama was born in Kenya and therefore potentially ineligible for the presidency. Though Hillary Clinton and the mainstream media righteously denied the charge after it was again made by Donald Trump last Friday. Breitbart reports that editor James Asher remembered Clinton aide Sidney Blumenthal spreading the rumor. Asher, the former Washington, DC bureau chief for McClatchy, tweeted on Thursday evening in response to Hillary Clinton's tweet : "16 Sep. Hillary Clinton@HillaryClinton. President Obama’s successor cannot and will not be the man who led the racist birther movement. Period." Trying to get the facts out, Asher tweeted : "Follow James Asher@jimasher@HillaryClinton. So why did your man #sidblumenthal spread the #obama birther rumor to me in 2008, asking us to investigate? Remember? 6:06 AM - 16 Sep 2016." Asher also tweeted that Blumenthal had personally shopped the Birther story to him -- in person -- in 2008 : "Follow James Asher@jimasher#CNN says #Hillary team in 2008 never raised #birther issue. #SidBlumenthal, long-time #HRC buddy, told me in person #Obama born in #kenya. 4:43 AM - 16 Sep 2016." ~~~~~~ Blumenthal’s tactics in the 2008 campaign, on this and other issues, were so toxic that the Obama administration rejected any appointment for him in Hillary Clinton’s State Department. Nevertheless, she continued to retain Blumenthal as an adviser, exchanging classified information and intelligence with him on Libya, the terror attacks in Benghazi, and other topics. Some journalists continue to defend Clinton. Mark Murray, senior political editor for NBC News, said Friday that the fact that “someone” -- not naming Hillary confidant Blumenthal -- shopped the Birther story around was not, by itself, proof the Clinton campaign “started” it : "Follow Mark Murray@mmurraypolitics. If someone shopped the story -- and no media outlet ran with it -- is that really "starting" it? Not how I see it.Sep 2016." ~~~~~~ Trump had said Friday morning : "Hillary Clinton and her campaign of 2008 started the Birther controversy. I finished it. I finished it. You know what I mean. President Barack Obama was born in the United States, period. Now we all want to get back to making America strong and great again. Thank you very much." ~~~~~~ But, CNN’s Jake Tapper could not let it lie, declaring Trump’s claim about Hillary Clinton false immediately after Trump’s speech. Then, after the Breitbart report, Tapper said Friday afternoon that he was seeking comment from Asher : "Follow Jake Tapper@jaketapper. Former McClatchy DC bureau chief@jimasher tweeting that Sid Blumenthal pushed birther lie to him in 2008. Asking for comment. 9:39 PM - 16 Sep 2016." ~~~~~~ But those of us with long memories know that even before Hiullary's 2008 attempt, it was Barack Obama himsef who began the Birther story. American Thinker's blogger Silvio Canto, Jr. wrote on Saturday : "[L]et's remember a couple of things about this birther movement that are not often mentioned in the media in the tank for Hillary Clinton. First, it was actually Mr. Obama who told us he was Kenyan. It happened when his literary agent said so. Later it was corrected, as I understand. Did Mr. Obama know that? Was it a mistake? Maybe so....Obama didn't [correct the mistake], and that's weird. Maybe he was just too busy being a community organizer in Chicago! Second, it was the Clinton '08 team that put this whole issue on the front pages. Patti Doyle of Clinton '08 admitted that it was the work of a "rogue" staffer. I guess someone in the Clinton '08 staff wanted to start a rumor that Mr. Obama is not American. Imagine that! How deplorable! Then Sid Blumenthal got into the act, as he always does when the Clintons need an assassin. But, Trump said goodbye to the Birther movement, probably because Obama will be history in 50 days. As Hillary would say : "What difference does it make?" ~~~~~~ You can google a Huffington Post article by Jason Pinter dated 05/22/2012 (updated 07/22/12) to get a full discussion of the history of the Obama 'born in Kenya' issue. Pinter's article is very biased toward Hillary -- as are all mainstream media stories about the Birther issue -- but the timeline is there. To summarize Obama's shifting position on where he was born : In 1991 when Obama was a Visiting Law and Government Fellow at the University of Chicago Law School under a fellowship, he wrote his first book, Dreams From My Father. His literary agency, Acton and Dystel, prepared a promotional booklet for 90 new writers, including a brief Obama biography. In the bio, Obama is described as “Born in Kenya and raised in Indonesia and Hawaii”. This booklet was first published in Breitbart and verified by Snopes. The excuse for the birthplace comment is that the bio was written by some editor at the literary agency, not by Obama himself, and there was little Web in the early 1990s and not much was known about the then obscure Obama. One utterly shocking thing we do know is that as president of the Harvard Law Review, he published nothing. The New York Times published a short article in 1990 announcing Obama’s election to the Harvard Law Review, but with no mention of his being born in Kenya. It stated that he was born in Hawaii. This is the Times bio : “His late father, Barack Obama, was a finance minister in Kenya and his mother, Ann Dunham, is an American anthropologist now doing fieldwork in Indonesia. Mr. Obama was born in Hawaii.” The literary bio said essentially the same thing, except the birthplace was changed to Kenya. ~~~~~~ The “Born in Kenya" tag may have been agreed to by Obama to attract readers -- his goal at this point was to sell books. What’s a little lie, after all. It's a lot like saying “If you like your insurance” or “If you like your doctor.” AND, because Obama’s school records are sealed, there is no way of knowing if he promoted himself as “foreign born” earlier in his educational career -- maybe another lie to get admission preference or financial aid -- in the absence of his actual school records, there is no way to know. But, we do know that the "Born in Kenya" blurb was not corrected until 16 years later -- conveniently -- in 2007 when Obama announced his candidacy for the presidency. During the 2008 presidential campaign, the Birther issue was not raised by Obama’s GOP opponent John McCain, who actually went so far as to chastise anyone for even mentioning Obama’s middle name of Hussein. Instead it was Obama’s Democrat primary opponent, Hillary Clinton, whose campaign used the Birther issue -- certainly not Donald Trump, who was not even in politics at that point. Clinton’s surrogate Sid Blumental pushed the Obama Birther issue so hard that McClatchy news sent a reporter to Kenya to investigate. And, it was the Hillary Clinton campaign in 2008 that published the now famous photo of Obama in Moslem dress in a last-gasp battle to keep her hopes of the White House alive. ~~~~~~ Dear readers, when Donald Trump said on Friday, "I finished it," he was right. And the issue is now too-hot-to-touch for Hillary to use it as a weapon against Trump -- she surely was planning to turn it into a "surprise" issue in the presidential debates. But, she now knows that Trump will only too gladly bring front-and-center Hillary's 2008 campaign tricks : Stu Blumenthal's efforts to get the Birther story out (shopping it) on Hillary's behalf, and the Obama photo her campaign released to smear Barack Obama as the "Born in Kenya" candidate, without having to say the words "Born in Kenya." Hillary knows that Trump would respond that Obama was either lying or sloppy -- or, Heaven forbid, actually "Born on Kenya" -- and then he would say, I don't know, and ask Hillary, which is it? Another Crooked Hillary trick that Donald Trump is too smart to buy. As the Washington Post concluded, "It was peak Trump." If Hillary & Hacks are too stupid to see the trap Trump has laid for them, they will just drive another nail into their presidential-hopes coffin, while cagey-smart Donald Trump rolls on.