Baltimore and Ferguson: Compare and Contrast

Compare and Contrast Remember those high school compare and contrast papers intended to test your analytical abilities? How about compare and contrast on current events? That’s tough because we don’t know all the facts, but that doesn’t stop us from looking at the current riots and looting in Baltimore. How does it compare to Ferguson? Some similarities exist, but the differences are great. Both cities, as all many others, were tinder box ready to explode. Both arose out of the death of a black man apparently at the hands of the police. We still don’t know for sure the reason for Freddie Gray’s severed spine. Michael Brown was shot by Darren Wilson, a white officer, but the story fed the public was a false narrative uttered by Brown’s partner in crime. The popular narrative became “Hands up’ Don’t shoot!” The killing, however tragic, was justified self-defense by the officer. Both cities lagged in getting the facts out. Both were followed by peaceful demonstrations and horrific riots and looting. Ferguson may have initially over responded, but Baltimore under responded. Both Ferguson and Baltimore called in allied police forces and the National Guard. Ferguson used both police force and conciliatory acts to quell the violence. The response in Baltimore Monday night was very different. The public watched on national TV the looting and arson while the police stood back. 19 buildings and 144 vehicles were burnt. 20 police officers were injured, mostly by rocks thrown at them. Commentators asked two questions: Why weren’t the police acting? Why didn’t the Governor call up the National Guard? Now we know. Mayor Rawlings-Blake told the police to stand down Monday and hesitated in asking for the National Guard. Governor Hogan had prepared the activation of the Guard, but was waiting for a request from the Mayor. The delay in response and the Mayor’s statements served as an open invitation to the looters. They knew they would get away with it. Innocent, often minority, merchants were wiped out in both cities. Both Baltimore and Ferguson suffered, in part, by flash mobs initiated through social media. In both cities a still unknown amount of the messages came from an outside source. Both cities witnessed outside agitators and looters entering the chaos. The authorities in Missouri used video recordings to subsequently arrest looters. We will see if arrests follow in Baltimore. Protestors in both cities cried out for social justice. Both are majority black communities. The political structures are different. Ferguson has a white power structure and Baltimore a black power structure. Ferguson had a majority white city council, a white mayor, a white police chief, and only 4 blacks on the Ferguson Police Force. Baltimore has a black mayor, a 100% Democratic, majority black city council, a black police chief, a black state’s attorney, and 41% blacks on the police force. Compare and contrast? They’re both American tragedies.

Subpoena The Chinese and Russians for the Clinton Emails

The House Republicans are going about it the wrong way. They’re engaged in political theatre in seeking the former Secretary of State’s emails and perhaps server to be met with frustration. The Clintons are experienced experts in the Three S Crisis Response: stonewall, spin, and slime the messenger. They’ve succeeded for over two decades. They will outdo the IRS in withholding emails. Watch the server disappear. No one will know anything. Everything is just a bunch of coincidences. The Clintons acolytes argue: “No evidence has been found that shows a conspiracy or link between the contributions and government actions” That’s because the emails are missing. The 18 missing minutes by Rosemary Woods on the Nixon tapes is minor league compared to the years of the Clintons. There is though a way to independently retrieve the missing emails irrespective of the Clintons Three S’s. Subpoena the Chinese and Russians. They undoubtedly possess the missing emails. They access so much of our nation’s governmental emails. Malware is a PLA (People’s Liberation Army) specialty. The Chinese employ about 100,000 hackers. The Russians have penetrated the Pentagon, White House, and Pentagon. We now learn that the Russians hacked into the White House Computer Center last October. President Obama’s non-confidential emails were at risk. We are told though that his confidential email on his Blackberry was protected, but conversations between the President and Ambassadors as well as policy discussions are vulnerable. We also are told that the hacking could access the email archives of people who communicated with President Obama. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter disclosed the Russians got into unclassified Pentagon computers. Chinese hackers nine times entered into the civilian computer systems of Pentagon transportation companies. They even entered malicious malware into an airline’s computer. Mike McConnell, former Director of National Security and the National Security Agency has said the “Chinese have penetrated every major corporation of any consequence in the United States.” Hacked victims include the New York Times, Bloomberg News, the United States Chamber of Commerce, NOAA, the Office of Personnel Management, the United States Postal Service, USIS (which performs security clearances for the United States), and Canada’s National Research Council. The odds that the Chinese and Russians did not attempt to hack the Secretary of State’s emails are slim to none. The odds her personal server is more secure than government’s are also slim to none, which means the Chinese and Russians have them. We can’t actually subpoena the Chinese and Russian governments. A friendly re-reset with Russia should obtain the info. Just push the button, and make sure it works this time. There’s undoubtedly a veritable treasure trove of Clinton shenanigans just about Benghazi and the Clinton Foundation in the hacked emails. Let’s tell the Russians they can retain the emails on the sweetheart uranium deal. Just let us see the rest.

Thoughts on the Armenian Genocide

We visited Istanbul two years ago for a week. As have millions before us, we fell in love with the city. I would love to return to Turkey for 1-2 months to see the rest of this great country, which has so much to offer: history, the early Church, culture - Cappadocia, Izmir, Ephesus, Pergamon, Gallipoli, Troy, Ankara (Ataturk’s Memorial and Inoye), Mount Ararat, Bursa, Van, Bodrum, Konya, Pamukkale. Even one month is too short for Istanbul. However, if anyone in the current Turkish Government reads this blog, I’ll probably be denied a visa. The Armenian Genocide is a proven historical fact. It was even contemporaneously reported, almost daily by the New York Times, as it unfolded. The United States Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire sent periodic reports to Washington. German soldiers took photos. About only two facts are unknown. First is the actual death toll. Was it 500,000, 1 million, 1.2 million, or 1.5 million? The answer is unknowable, but one critical fact is the roughly 82% drop in the Armenian population in the Ottoman Empire from 2,133,190 in 1914 to 387,800 in 1922 according to a study by the University of Minnesota Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. Many Armenians successfully fled. The Armenian diaspora includes Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Russia and the United States. For example, over 200,000 Armenian Americans claim residence in Los Angeles County. The second fact is that no written document from the Three Pashas ruling Turkey through the Committee on Union and Progress has been found ordering the deaths of the Armenians. The Deportation Order from Talat Pasha, and he kept abreast of the deportations by telegraph. The units executing the genocide did not act spontaneously; they received their orders, presumably oral, from someone, starting with Talat. Similarly, no written order has been found by Adolph Hitler authorizing the Holocaust. We know though the Armenian Genocide began on April 24, 1915 when 250 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders were arrested in Istanbul and subsequently executed. We also know that the Turkish Legislature enacted the Tehcir Law on May 29, 1915. It authorized the military to deport any one who posed a “threat to national security,” followed on September 13, 1915 by a statute authorizing the confiscation of abandoned Armenian property. General Enver Pasha led the Turkish Third Army into a disastrous defeat at Sarikemish against the Russian Army in 1914. He blamed his Armenian soldiers for the loss. Armenian soldiers in the Ottoman Army were disarmed and transferred out of active duty units into Labor Battalions, and subsequently killed. The Army and local authorities then rounded up the Armenians in Anatolia. Many were marched into the Syrian Desert to die from the elements or starvation. Armenians were shot, drowned, raped, tossed off cliffs, burned alive, and thrown overboard. Entire villages were burnt to the ground with the Armenians trapped inside. This was cruelty writ large. Anatolia is the heartland of Turkey. It was also home to over a million Armenian Christians when World War I began. The Armenians had been in Anatolia for millennia. The Ottomans wrote a chapter in “Man’s Inhumanity to Man” with the Armenian Genocide. It was a forerunner to the Nazi extermination of the Jews. German allies who witnessed the Armenian Genocide learned from it. Hitler is quoted as saying: “Who remembers the Armenians?” The Eurasian land mass traditionally lacked fixed political boundaries. Borders constantly changed with the vicissitudes of conquerors. Ethnic cleansing sometimes accompanied the changes. The end of World War I witnessed the creation of new countries out of the breakup of the Ottoman Empire, Tsarist Russia, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the fall of the Kaiser. Boundaries were shifted during and after World War II. The Soviet Union seized eastern Poland, while the Allies gave Prussia to Poland. The bloody partition of India ensued. Borders are still flexible. Germany (and Vietnam) have united, but Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia have split into pieces. The collapse of the Soviet Union resulted in 15 new countries, but Mother Russia seems intent upon regaining control of many of them, starting with parts of Georgia and Ukraine. China is engaged in many border disputes with its neighbors, and the Mideast seems as fluid and volatile as ever. One of the greater lessons from the Armenian Genocide is how quickly people living together for generations will turn on their neighbors. It happened in Anatolia with Kurds being some of the most vicious Ottoman executioners of the Armenians. The Kurds have since been very apologetic to the Armenians. They had subsequently felt the wrath of the Turks. Neighbors turned on Jews during the Holocaust. The same pattern happened with the Rwanda Genocide, and more recently at the end of the Second Gulf War when Iraqi Sunnis turned on Iraqi Shia’a, and Shia’a turned on Sunnis. Serbian troops massacred Bosnian Muslims, especially at Srebrenica. Even the United States has the horrible experience on incarcerating the mainland Japanese Americans in concentration camps after Pearl Harbor. We did not though execute them. Let us also remember that individual Turks and Kurds saved Armenians from the genocide, just as Germans, Poles, French, Hungarian, Dutch, and the other people initially conquered by the Germans in World War II risked their lives to save Jews. Israel recognizes the “Righteous Among the Nations.” Several Ottoman officers refused to carry out genocide orders. No “Righteous Among the nations” for them, but they retained their honor and integrity. Thanks be to Allah. Turkey still does not admit the Armenian Genocide although it recognizes tragedies occurred. Several reasons explain the Turkish adamant, vehement denials. First is a matter of pride. It is hard to admit that one’s country has engaged in such atrocities. Japan has still not fully confronted its past, including the Korean “comfort women.” Turkey, with a degree of justification, believes it does not receive the respect it deserves from the West. The country has been kept out of the European Union, for what is probably bias against the Turks. The continuing denial of the Armenian Genocide will not help its case for admission to the EU. Second is the realization that many of the founding fathers of the Turkish Republic, albeit not Ataturk, had blood on their hands in the genocide. Many Turks profited from the Armenian demise in Anatolia. The Young Turks wanted an Armenia without Armenians, which became the heartland (Anatolia) of the Turkish Republic under Ataturk. The Ottomans lost an empire, but the Turks became a nation. Third is ignorance on the part of many Turks. They are not taught in school of the Armenian Genocide. Instead, they learn that Armenians killed half a million Turks during the War. The Ottomans were fighting Turkish rebels in Anatolia, who did not represent a large percent of the population. The Ottomans had been fighting rebellions for centuries as the size of the Empire continued to shrink. Fear also existed of the Armenians forming a “fifth column” with the Russians, just as many Americans feared he Japanese Americans would support Japan in World War II. The pictures and motion pictures exist of the Armenians being massacred. No such pictorial evidence exists of Armenians herding Turks into the Syrian Desert. No pictorial evidence exists of the Christian Armenians torching Turkish mosques. Fourth is the issue of reparations and compensation. The current tab is estimated to be in the trillions. Some Armenians will settle for an apology and acknowledgment of the genocide. Others want compensation. A compromise could presumably be reached, but no one seems to be working on one. Turkey will never be at peace with itself until it admits to the Armenian Genocide. Pope Francis stated in calling the Armenia Genocide the first genocide of the twentieth Century: "Concealing or denying evil is like allowing a wound to keep bleeding without bandaging it." The tide of history is against the denial. The world says “Never Again.” Yes Never Again As we say never again, ethnic cleansing and genocide are occurring in North Africa and the Mideast. Christians, Jews, and Moslem lives are all at risk.

The California Rasins Case, Horne v. United States Department of Agriculture, Is About Fundamental Freedom

The United States Supreme Court held oral arguments Wednesday in the case of Horne v United States Department of Agriculture. Marvin and Laura Horne are raisin growers in Fresno. They withdrew a decade ago from the Department of Agriculture enforced cartel for raisin producers. We forget that part of President Roosevelt’s early New Deal Program was to stabilize prices through government sponsored cartels in the National Industrial Recovery Act administered through the National Recovery Administration (NRA). Participants could proudly display the Blue Eagle. The Supreme Court ruled the act unconstitutional in the 1935 case of Schechter Poultry Co. v. United States (My history professor called it "The Sick Chicken" case). The industrial cartels supposedly terminated at that point. However, the New Deal continued programs to “stabilize” agricultural markets. A 1937 statute, The Agriculture Marketing Agreement Act, attempted to keep commodity prices steady by restricting supply. Some programs restrict output, which was upheld by the Supreme Court in the famous 1942 case of Wickard v. Filburn. A 1949 marketing order promulgated the Raisin Administrative Committee (RAC) to stabilize the raisin market. RAC is led by raisin farmers. The raisin program operates differently from the production levels and marketing regulations of other programs. RAC does not restrict the production of raisins, but determines how much of each crop, supposedly the excess production, raisin farmers are to turn over to the RAC, without compensation, to be put “in reserve.” It is not a production or marketing program. It is a take title and possession without compensation dictate. If the reserve raisins are subsequently sold by RAC, the net proceeds are to be distributed among the farmers. Eventhough RAC often reaps tens of millions of dollars from selling the raisins, its “expenses” almost always eat up the receipts, and thus little, if any, is allocated to the growers. The plaintiffs were told to forfeit 47%, almost half, of their 2002-03 production and 30% of the 2003-04 crop. They refused, and turned back the government truck when it arrived. The Department of Agriculture fined them $695,000 for their failure to cooperate. The government distributes and distributes the raisins outside the open market to school lunch programs, government agencies and overseas. In other words, regardless of how much lipstick you paint on a pig, the government confiscates the privately grown raisins and then reaps a profit and savings by redistributing them. The scheme is analogous to the government telling Apple that Apple must turn over 30-50% of its IPad production to the government to distribute to the nation’s public schools (essentially Justice Alito’s comment during oral arguments). No matter how it is glossed, it is an unconstitutional taking of private property without compensation, forbidden by the 5th Amendment. Any judge or justice who votes to uphold the program is showing contempt for the Constitution and the rights of the people. The Ninth Circuit had the temerity to uphold the program on the inane principle that the 5th Amendment only applies to real property and not personal property. Even Edwin Kneedler, the Deputy Solicitor General, did not use that argument before the Supreme Court. However, his argument is almost equally twisted. He justified the cartel, the seizure and confiscation of private property, as a “comprehensive program regulating the commercial marketing of a fungible agricultural product.” The government’s brief said the farmers are free to plant other crops if they don’t like the program. Another superficially shallow argument is that the Hornes have not suffered a loss because they benefit in the marketplace by selling their raisins at a higher price than would exist without the programs. The purpose of cartels is to restrict production and raise prices, but that is normally a per se violation of the nation’s antitrust laws. The big losers in this program are not so much the Hornes, although they have suffered economically. The major losers are consumers who are the victims of a blatant industry price fixing cartel, enforced by the federal government. 99% of the nation’s raisins, and 40% of the world’s raisins are grown in California. The assumption is that the Supreme Court will strike down the program. The only questions seem to be the vote count and the basis of the ruling. For example, Justice Breyer posited that if the program is a “takings,” then perhaps the remedy would be for the Hornes to seek compensation in the lower courts. Chirf Justice Roberts and Justices Alito and Scalia were clearly hostile to the program, but Justices Kennedy and Thomas (as usual) were quiet. The Chief Justice called it a “classical, physical taking.” The Court has unfortunately not always been consistent on physical appropriations. It held 5-4 in 2003 that a state could take the interest on lawyer’s client accounts and use these funds to subsidize legal assistance programs. I naively posited in 1972 that a balancing test should be used in determining if a government restriction or seizure would constitute a reasonable regulation or unconstitutional takings. The fallacy with this approach is that the government, as with legal assistance, can almost always come up with a compelling argument for its actions, thereby nullifying the Bill of Rights.

Turkey Celebrates the 100th anniversary of Gallipoli Today

Gallipoli was an inspirational victory for the Turks during World War I. Three nations rose out of the rubble of the Allied defeat at Gallipoli: Australia, New Zealand, and modern Turkey. Turkey found a leader, who forged a new nation out of the broken Ottoman Empire. Tsar Nicholas I of Russia is credited in 1853 with calling the Ottoman Empire “The Sick Man of Europe,” but in fact the Empire had been in decline for over two centuries as the once-feared Ottoman armies consistently lost battles and wars. The Sultans were a spent force. The Byzantine Empire, the predecessor to the Ottoman Empire in Constantinople, had declined to a few miles outside the city’s walls when it fell to the Ottomans in 1453. The Ottomans had not fallen nearly that low by 1914, but the days when the Ottoman Empire included the Black Sea, the Balkans, Mesopotamia, the Levant, North Africa and the eastern Mediterranean were becoming a distant memory. The British, led by Winston Churchill, the First Lord of the Admiralty, devised a plan to drive Turkey out of the War by seizing Istanbul and turning it and the Bosporus over to the Russians. The plan centered on capturing the Dardanelles, which connect the Mediterranean and the Aegean to the Black Sea and Russia through the Sea of Marmara and the Bosporus. Turkey was weak. The Young Turks, mostly military officers, seized power in 1908, lost it, and regained control in a 1913 coup. Sultan Abdul Hamid II, the last absolute ruler, abdicated on April 13, 1909, to be succeeded by Mehmed V, a figurehead. The Young Turks, led by Enver Pasha (Ismail Enver), proved they could seize power, start a war, and initiate the Armenian genocide, and lose the war. Enver Pasha made the unilateral decision for Turkey to enter World War I on the side of the Central Powers, and then proceeded to lose an army in an early battle with Tsarist Russia. The collective decision was then made to demagogue the Armenians to divert the public attention away from the failures of the Young Turks. Lt. Colonel Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk) was not a fan of Enver Pasha and his two co-rulers, Talaat Pasha and Djemal Pasha. The 35 year old officer was quasi-exiled to the Gallipoli Peninsula in command of the 19th Division, prior to the invasion. The initial British Plan was to send a fleet of 18, mostly aged, battleships through the Dardanelles and onto Constantinople on March 18, 1915. Turkish artillery, mines, and torpedoes defeated the fleet, sinking three battleships. The next step was to invade the Gallipoli Peninsula sandwiched between the Aegean Sea and the Dardanelles. Troy lies on the opposite side of the Dardanelles. The British assembled a Commonwealth and French army. The soldiers were from Australia, England, India, Ireland, Newfoundland, New Zealand, France, and Senegal. If they captured the Gallipoli Peninsula, then the army would have a quick march to Constantinople. Turkey would be forced out of the war. The British plan was doomed. They underestimated the Turkish soldiers and suffered from incompetent generals. The forces landed in several locations on April 25, 1915 and then essentially dug in, instead of seizing the initiative. The Turkish forces fiercely resisted, but in some areas were running short of ammunition. The 57th Infantry Regiment became a legend on the 25th. Out of ammo, with only fixed bayonets, Colonel Kemal issued his famous order: “I do not order you to fight. I order you to die. In the time which passes until we die, other troops and commanders can come forward and take our places.” Every member of the 57th was either killed or wounded in action. The Turks held. Turkish casualties exceeded the Allies, but the Turks were fighting for their home. They would not be defeated. They generally held on to the high grounds while Gallipoli degenerated into trench warfare similar to the western Front. Much of the nine month Gallipoli battle was fought in a 1½ mile square. The Allies finally evacuated on January 9, 1915, their most effective action of the battle. Gallipoli was a strategic defeat for the Allies. The Turks held on until the end of the War. Winston Churchill entered political purgatory for two decades. Australia and New Zealand celebrate Anzac Day on April 25 as they found their identity and nationhood. 60,000 Anzac soldiers landed at Gallipoli. 8,709 Australians and 2,721 New Zealanders died in action on the Gallipoli Peninsula. So did 14,300 French soldiers, but the legacy of Gallipoli belongs to Australia, New Zealand, and Turkey. The Turks won the battle, but ultimately lost the war, The Allies dismembered not only the Ottoman Empire after the war, but also attempted to carve up Turkey. Mustafa Kemal wrangled permission to go to Anatolia, whereupon he formed an army, which won Turkey’s War of Independence. Mustafa Kemal became Ataturk. Ataturk knew, and the world learnt, that the Turks could fight with competent leadership. Modern Turkey, which is mostly in Asia, emerged as an independent, secular Republic. Ataturk westernized the educational system, language, calendar, culture, dress, and laws. Turkey adopted the metric system. Women were granted equality. The Hagia Sophia had been converted into the Aya Sofya Mosque immediately upon the Ottoman Conquest of Constantinople. Ataturk in turn converted the Aya Sofya into a museum, across the Hippodrome from the equally famous Blue Mosque. 31 Commonwealth cemeteries are on Gallipoli. Ataturk is reported to have said at a dawn service to a delegation of British, Australian and New Zealand representatives in 1934 at Anzac Cove on the 20th Anniversary of Gallipoli: Those heroes who shed their blood And lost their lives You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country Therefore rest in peace There is no difference between the Johnnies And the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side Here, in this country of ours You, the mothers Who sent their sons from far away countries Wipe away your tears Your sons are now lying in our bosom And are in peace After having lost their lives on this land they have Become our sons as well Australia and New Zealand have erected memorials to Ataturk. Rarely do countries commemorate losing battles much less celebrate the opposing victors. Australia, New Zealand and Turkey are united by Gallipoli through blood and the bonds of peace. Sadly, the collapse and dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire has led to many of the present problems in the Mideast. Gallipoli, both the naval battle and the land war, is a tremendous source of pride for the Turks today as well as an immediate morale boost a century ago. There would be no Turkey today without Gallipoli.

Hillary Clinton's Campaign: "I Am Woman; Hear Me Roar."

Secretary of State Clinton has in essence, if not consciously, adopted Helen Reddy’s great 1971 song, “I Am Woman,” as her mantra: “I am woman, hear me roar In numbers too big to ignore …………………………….. I am strong ……………………………. I am invincible …………………………… I am woman." Her key to victory: Capitalize on the gender gap, highlight the Republican War on Women, and keep Bill in the shadows. She Knows female voters outnumber male voters. Her Hope: to bring together once again the Obama Coalition. She knows that the young voters know little of the Clinton Presidency 16 years earlier. Thus, she can run on a quasi-populist plank, highlighting her Wellesley and Yale degrees, and service as a Senator and Secretary of State, glossing over the lack of accomplishments and success in those positions. Always on her womanhood. Yes, she will rail against inequality and demand an increase in the minimum wage, but the video of the Chipotle in Ohio shows the Clinton Party did not leave a tip. How does she treat her chauffeurs since the woman of the people has not driven in 20 years? She is targeting the 1%, but she is of the 1%. Raise the minimum pay and stand by labor: Solidarity forever, but she served on the WalMart Board of Directors from 1986-1992 and did not oppose WalMart’s staunch anti-union policies. She is running as the “New” Clinton, who has learned from the lessons of 2008. Once upon a time we had the “New” Nixon. I also remember the “New” Dukakis in Massachusetts. She is the “New” Woman running on focus group testing of themes and phrases. She asks “Don’t you think America is ready for a woman President?” or “Are you ready for a woman President?” Hillary Clinton is who she is. The earlier Hillary was avaricious, manipulative, and mendacious. Benghazi, personal email server, book contract, the Clinton Foundation, and speaking honoraria - That’s the new Hillary: avaricious, manipulative, and mendacious. She learned from Bill the art of stonewalling. Bill also had the ability to lie to your face and get away with it eventhough you knew he was lying to you and he knew you knew. She lacks that charm. She must keep Bill away from the camera. Let him spend 19 months with the grandchild else he will suck the oxygen out of her campaign. Is America ready for a woman in the White House? Of course. Also a Hispanic American, Asian America, or Arab-American. America made a giant leap in electing an African American to the White House. Unfortunately it is Barack Obama. Everything depends on the person. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is not the woman. She knows she is. The Democrats hope she is. She desperately needs the rights to “I Am Woman.”

President Hillary Clinton's 2017 3:00AM Wakeup Call

The Clinton Campaign ran a brilliant ad in the 2008 primary campaign. The ad had a 3:00AM emergency call, waking up the President. Immediate action was necessary in light of the emergency. The ad told us we needed an experienced President who would be ready to respond in just such an emergency. We were led to believe that the tried and tested, experienced Senator Clinton was that person rather than the unseasoned Junior Senator from Illinois. The ad could not save the unsalvageable Clinton Campaign, which anticipated a Clinton coronation. The 3:00AM call was more than merely prophetic. Neither President Obama nor Secretary of State Clinton answered the 2012 pre-election 3:00AM Benghazi call. Let’s assume that Secretary Clinton is elected President in 2016. Here is her 2017 Benghazi phone call. The President is peacefully asleep when the phone rings. She picks up the antique Princess phone: “Hellloooo; what da?’ The Caller: “Madame President, Our Benghazi consulate is under attack.” A bleary eye President Clinton: “What do you expect me to do about it? Blame it on a crazed mob. And don’t phone me again on this government line. Use my private cell phone and private email. Understand?” The Caller: “But Madame President, our Ambassador is under attack.” President Clinton: “All right then. Blame it on an anti-Muslim video. Good night!” The Caller 15 minutes later: “Madame President, I am sorry to wake you up, but the Ambassador and three other Americans are dead:’ President Clinton: “I told you to blame it on the video.” The Caller: “Madame President, What video?” President Clinton: “What video? I don’t know. Go find one! That’s your job. …. . And then set up a $70,000 advertising campaign in Pakistan to denounce the video. And get me a talk at the UN so that I can apologize to the world about the video and our Freedom of Speech." Wait a minute. Now that I’m awake. Also send Susan Rice out to the talk shows. Susan will parrot anything we tell her. Oh, and further more, say we are looking to prosecute the producer of the video. Do you understand, or do I need to repeat myself? (very loud, strident voice).” President Clinton slams the phone down. The caller phones back 30 minutes later: “Madame President. I found a video on YouTube, 'The Innocence of Muslims.' It’s perfect.” President Clinton: “Are you absolutely certain?” The Caller: “Yes, but only 50 people have viewed it.’ President Clinton: “All the better! Remember what I told you to do. And never use the phrase: ‘Cover Up.’”