This and That...

[Warph]

Q&A: The 60 Minutes Benghazi investigation

Correspondent Lara Logan and 60 Minutes producer Max McClellan spent a year reporting on the September 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. Mission Compound in Benghazi. Lara and Max discuss their investigation in a Q&A with 60 Minutes Overtime below:

Question: When did you first pick up the phone and start reporting?

Lara: I got a tip the night Benghazi happened from a source. I knew that Ambassador Stevens was missing and nobody knew where he was, and this went on all night until I eventually I fell asleep just before 5 a.m., and I missed a call confirming that he was dead. So, it started like that, and we pretty much immediately started making calls.


Question: Three interviews were featured in your piece, but how many people did you talk to on background to understand what really happened in Benghazi?

Max: Countless. It's hard to put a number on it...dozens and dozens and dozens. Over a hundred may sound goofy, but it is definitely in that category. We went to London, Chicago, Dallas, Istanbul, Fort Bragg-- all just for informational meetings in pursuit of people who could give one more layer of information. That, in a story like this, is critical because there is no one place you can go to get everything you need. We literally had to go far and wide for months and months.

Lara: We were exhaustive.


Question: What were your concerns in reporting a story that's as politically charged as Benghazi is?


Lara: We had to make sure we weren't used by anyone on the Left or the Right who had a political agenda. That was our biggest concern. Journalism is not about making a case, it's about finding the facts. In this story, you had to work really hard to find the facts and not be seduced by anybody. So, we left about 98 percent of what we learned on the floor-- didn't even report it-- because unless we could substantiate it with primary sources that we truly trusted and whose motivations we trusted, then we didn't even go there.

Max: The challenge was sifting out the political bias that might exist with the information that you're trying to get, finding the little nuggets of truth in the midst of the political spin. For me, that was the big challenge: making this as apolitical as possible, so that our only mission was to try to ascertain the facts, leaving all the other stuff aside.

Question: What kind of obstacles did you encounter along the way?

Lara: An extraordinary amount of pressure on the people involved not to talk. And an extraordinary amount of pressure on anyone in the government--the military side, the political side--not to say anything outside of official channels. I mean, to the point where people that we've known for years would call people who were no longer in their positions, and they would call someone else that we knew, and messages would be delivered like that because there couldn't be any trail linking you directly to our story.

The administration is cracking down so hard on leakers: no one wants to put anything in writing, everybody is scared to talk over the phone, people want to meet in person--all of that makes it that much harder to investigate anything.


Question: Many Americans are confused about the Benghazi story. Does your story help clear up the confusion?

Lara: What we hope we've accomplished, and I think we really have, is bring to life what the events in Benghazi meant to the people on the ground. In all of the official accounts, the personalities have been wiped out of it. There's very little detail.

To us, it was staggering that the U.S. diplomat who was coordinating the response in Libya knew an hour into the attack--which still lasted another six hours-- that there was no help coming. And that had a huge impact for the guys on the ground.
We also wanted Amb. Stevens to be a person who matters in this story and not just the name of a diplomat to be honored and recognized for his service.

Morgan Jones, in a similar way, is tortured by guilt that he was not able to save his friends in the U.S. Compound, that he wasn't able to save Sean Smith's life or Amb. Stevens' life. That may sound ridiculous to people who couldn't think of anything more insane than rushing towards a burning building that is overrun with al Qaeda terrorists, but Morgan Jones is the kind of man who would do that and who did do that. And when he failed the first time, he went back again.

Greg Hicks, his motivation is a sense of duty to Amb. Stevens to correct the record. He said he had to break 22 years of tradition in order to talk [to us] because it's ingrained in officials from the State Department not to speak to the public. And he's paid for that, of course, because he certainly doesn't have a sparkling diplomatic future, but that was a price he was willing to pay to set the record straight on Amb. Chris Stevens.


Question: You sent a member of your team to Benghazi to sift through the ruins. What did you learn from that footage?[/b]

Max: In every story that you do, you need to have a confidence about the ground truth-- you need to have a sense of perspective from the ground. If you're doing a story about the U.S. Special Mission Compound in Benghazi, you want to at least put eyes on it.

The person who shot this footage has a lot of experience in Libya and through his network of contacts on the ground in Benghazi, he was able to access the compound. It was closed, guarded, but through relatives of people he had gotten to know over the years, he was able to get in and take these pictures for us.

We did not expect that we would find the U.S. compound in the state that we found it. There was still debris and ammunition boxes and a whiteboard that had the day's assignment for the security personnel at the compound as of September 11, 2012.

In the midst of those ruins, our colleague found the official schedule of Amb. Stevens for September 12th--which is the day after he died-- just sitting there. I asked him where that document is now, and he said, "I just took a picture of it and left it there."

So it's still there, still in the ruins, with the empty ammunition boxes and all of the rest of the remnants of the American presence in Benghazi.

[...]

Editor's Note: For viewers who wish to help, a memorial fund has been established in the name of Navy SEAL Glen Doherty, who was killed in the attack on the U.S. in Benghazi. Learn more by going to the website for the Glen Doherty Memorial Foundation.

[Warph]

Philadelphia City Council Calls For Teaching Left-Wing Version
of Socialism In City's Public Schools

(Where in the hell do all these sick far-left clowns come from.... naturally they don't want the truth taught,
especially that part about millions of dead bodies)

Via Daily Caller:

Philadelphia city council members have approved a resolution that calls for socialist historian Howard Zinn's book "A People's History of the United States" to be taught in public high schools.

The resolution was backed by council members Jim Kenny and Jannie Blackwell, who believe that Zinn's far-left socialist vision of American history is currently missing from high school textbooks.

"Howard Zinn's 'A People's History of the United States' emphasizes the role of working people, women, people of color, and organized social movements in shaping history; not simply the version retold by those powerful enough to ensure history remembers their actions in a positive light, regardless of the truth," the resolution states.

[...]

Zinn's book is lauded in far-left circles, but many conservative thinkers believe his self-described "history" is really social activism masquerading as fact. Former Indiana Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels believed strongly that the book had no place in K-12 classrooms–an opinion that landed him in trouble with liberal academics when he started his new job as president of Purdue University.

[Warph]

Halloween Costume Of The Day

[Warph]

"I Was All For Obamacare Until I Realized I Was Paying For It"

(Sticker shock hits the middle class in Californication)

Via LA Times:
Thousands of Californians are discovering what Obamacare will cost them — and many don't like what they see.

These middle-class consumers are staring at hefty increases on their insurance bills as the overhaul remakes the healthcare market. Their rates are rising in large part to help offset the higher costs of covering sicker, poorer people who have been shut out of the system for years.

Although recent criticism of the healthcare law has focused on website glitches and early enrollment snags, experts say sharp price increases for individual policies have the greatest potential to erode public support for President Obama's signature legislation.

"This is when the actual sticker shock comes into play for people," said Gerald Kominski, director of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. "There are winners and losers under the Affordable Care Act."

Fullerton resident Jennifer Harris thought she had a great deal, paying $98 a month for an individual plan through Health Net Inc. She got a rude surprise this month when the company said it would cancel her policy at the end of this year. Her current plan does not conform with the new federal rules, which require more generous levels of coverage.

Now Harris, a self-employed lawyer, must shop for replacement insurance. The cheapest plan she has found will cost her $238 a month. She and her husband don't qualify for federal premium subsidies because they earn too much money, about $80,000 a year combined.

"It doesn't seem right to make the middle class pay so much more in order to give health insurance to everybody else," said Harris, who is three months pregnant. "This increase is simply not affordable."

[Warph]

Baltimore Queers To Give Pelosi "Lifetime Achievement Award"
For Being Super Fabulous

Via Baltimore Sun:
http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2013-10-25/features/bs-gm-pelosi-hometown-hero-20131024_1_glccb-baltimore-black-pride-achievement

Whore Minority Leader...er..House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, a Baltimore native, will next month receive a "lifetime achievement award for her longtime dedication to LGBT rights and her work to fight HIV/AIDS in Congress," gay leaders in Baltimore said Friday.

The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center of Baltimore is giving Pelosi the award at its inaugural "Hometown Hero Awards & Champagne Brunch" on Nov. 17 in Baltimore, an event it expects some 500 people to attend.

Matt Thorn, executive director of the GLCCB, said in a statement that Pelosi's "unending support for our community and commitment for equality make her the perfect choice for our lifetime achievement award."

Pelosi, in her own statement, said it is "a great privilege for me to come home to Baltimore and celebrate the progress we've made in the fight for equality."

(Dang, she's always turning up somewhere... quick somebody step on it!

(And whoever wrote that article put it this way: "...and her work to fight HIV/AIDS in Congress."  So, in addition to being cowards, Congress has come down with AIDS?  LOL..)

[Warph]

Bob Woodward: Secret Government Under Obuma Must Be Reviewed

(Can't wait for someone on the left to insinuate Obuma's a traitor again)

Via Politico:
http://www.politico.com/blogs/politico-live/2013/10/woodward-secret-government-at-the-root-of-problems-176011.html?hp=r11

Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward said Sunday a huge "secret government" and a government on "automatic pilot" has led to many of the concerns now making headlines.

"They need to review this secret world," he said of the Obama administration on "Fox News Sunday." "You get to a point where it's what do you worry about? Secret government."

National Security Agency spying both domestic and abroad and the disastrous rollout of the Affordable Care Act are the results, he said.

"We have an incredibly powerful government that gets on automatic pilot," he said. People aren't checking all of the boxes and the administration didn't properly "practice" Obamacare.

[Warph]

MSNBC Race Baiter Melissa Harris Perry: Texas Gov. Rick Perry Doesn't Want Blacks And Women To Vote

(And MSNBC's house ni**er plays the race card for the 4,983,653rd time)

Via Daily Caller:

On her Saturday show, MSNBC's Melissa Harris-Perry read a letter she addressed to Texas Republican Gov. Rick Perry, accusing him of suppressing women and minorities' right to vote.

Harris-Perry began her "letter" with an explanation of her interpretation of the 19th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

"'The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by any State on account of sex," Harris-Perry said. "That is the language of the 19th Amendment. And since its ratification in 1920, it has promised women unfettered access to the polls. But who cares about constitutional rights when you're trying to rig — I mean, run elections in Texas? That's my question for the recipient of this week's letter: Texas Gov. Rick Perry."

[Ross]

Study: Kansas premiums to spike following Obamacare rollout

By Travis Perry  /   October 25, 2013  /  Kansas Watchdog

OSAWATOMIE — Good news: Kansas landed in the top 10 in a recent study conducted by the conservative Heritage Foundation! Bad news: It's for massive insurance premium hikes because of Obamacare.

Kinda puts a damper on things, huh?

As I said, before dashing your optimism with harsh reality, Kansas is among the top 10 states to possibly see the largest premium increases following the rollout of the federal health care exchange, according to a recent report from Heritage's Center for Data Analysis. In a nutshell, the report states Obamacare health premiums available to Kansans will be higher than existing policies.

According to the Heritage report, the average premium for a 27-year-old Sunflower State resident will rise from $87.40 to $200.14, a massive 129 percent bump. This gives Kansas the unfortunate privilege of boasting the sixth-highest increase for young people nationwide.

The news gets slightly better for other groups, but not by much. Average premiums for a 50-year-old adult could increase from $198 to $341.08 (72.3 percent increase), while a family of four may see an increase from $553.92 to $676.05 (22 percent increase).

"Many families and individuals will face this reality as they apply for coverage, and the implications of experiencing sticker shock are important to consider if enough people choose not to sign up for coverage for various reasons," policy analyst Drew Gonshorowski wrote in the Oct. 16 report.

The massive increase in premiums for young people should be especially concerning, as they're the one group Obamacare can't afford to do without. The successful implementation of the Affordable Care Act depends heavily on the young and healthy signing up to help pay for the elderly and infirm.

It's important to note the Heritage study compares premium prices straight-up, not including government subsidies designed to decrease the cost to low-income individuals and families.

"This analysis represents the change in unsubsidized rate levels," Gonshorowski wrote. "The purpose of this research is to provide further details on the changing premium levels across the country."

http://watchdog.org/112596/kansas-premiums-spike/

[Warph]

A Very Delusional Dingbat Pelosi Predicts She Will
Return As Speaker of The House

(Then again, this is the same Clown who recently claimed Obamnacare was a "dream come true" for Americans.  The Hare Psychopathy Checklist is a diagnostic tool used to rate a person's psychopathic or antisocial tendencies.  People who are psychopathic prey ruthlessly on others using charm, deceit, violence or other methods that allow them to get with they want. The symptoms of psychopathy include: lack of a conscience or sense of guilt, lack of empathy, egocentricity, pathological lying, repeated violations of social norms, disregard for the law, shallow emotions, and a history of victimizing others.  This fits the bill for Dictator Obuma, Dirty Harry Reid and House Bunny Nancy Pelosi, just to name a few)


Via The Hill:
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/330825-pelosi-we-can-win-

If Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) were to become Speaker again, she would work to pass a sweeping bill that would significantly expand federal childcare benefits.

In a sit-down interview in her office in the Capitol, the House minority leader stopped short of predicting that Democrats would regain the lower chamber in the 2014 midterm elections, but she had no hesitation in saying what she would use a majority for.

Pelosi and other Democrats have emerged from the shutdown fight with new confidence, and she vowed her party would "of course" pick up seats next year. It is the first time Pelosi has guaranteed that Democrats will cut into the GOP's majority.

Atop her priority list as Speaker, she said, would be "comprehensive affordable, quality childcare" for working mothers, which she sees as a natural extension of ObamaCare.

[Warph]

McRINO: Hillary Clinton's Work As Secretary of State "Outstanding," Joe Biden A "Wonderful Guy"

(He never fails to disappoint... I'm afraid he took one too many beatings in Nam)

Via The Hill:
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/330897-mccain-clinton-would-be-formidable-candidate-in-2016?utm_campaign=briefingroom&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitterfeed

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Monday that Hillary Clinton would be a formidable candidate for president if she runs in 2016.

"I don't think there's any doubt that Secretary Clinton would be a very strong candidate," McCain said at an event in Chicago, according to Bloomberg News.

McCain said her work as secretary of State had been impeccable, with the exception of the deadly attack on a diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya, last year.

"I don't think there's any doubt she has widespread support," he said. "Her work as secretary of state, with the exception of this issue of Benghazi — which isn't going away — I think has been outstanding. I think she would be viewed by anyone, Republican or Democrat, as a very formidable candidate for 2016." [...]

McCain also called Joe Biden a "wonderful guy." Biden is also considered a possible contender for the Democratic nomination in 2016. The Arizona senator said it would be a mistake to "rule Joe Biden out of the mix."