CULTURE OF CORRUPTION: Did The FBI Nearly Investigate The Clinton Foundation Because Of This Mysterious Chinese Billionaire?

While the donor has not been identified, details from a CNN report about the meeting raise the strong possibility that the individual is a Chinese billionaire who gave the Clinton Foundation $2 million in 2013 and also contributed $120,000 to Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s gubernatorial campaign that same year.

That donor is Wang Wenliang, a former delegate to the Chinese parliament. He controls several Chinese firms, including Rilin Enterprises and Dandong Port Co.

What sticks in my mind is “nearly.”

Read the whole thing.

UNDER THE RUG:

None of the broadcast newscasts last night covered FBI's urging of DOJ to investigate the Clinton Foundation or Cheryl Mills' moonlighting.

— Gabriel Malor (@gabrielmalor) August 12, 2016

BREITBART/GRAVIS POLL: Virtual Tie in Georgia, Trump 45% to Clinton 44%.

This was a poll of registered voters, but the three most recent polls of likely voters show a lead for Trump, a tie, and a substantial lead for Clinton.

Mitt Romney won Georgia by eight points in 2012, John McCain by five in 2008.

CRYPTOGRAPHIC CATASTROPHE: ‘Millions’ of Volkswagen cars can be unlocked via hack.

CULTURE OF CORRUPTION: Top Clinton State Department aide helped Clinton Foundation.

A top aide to Hillary Clinton at the State Department traveled to New York to interview job candidates for a top job at the Clinton Foundation, a CNN investigation has found.

The fact that the aide, Cheryl Mills, was taking part in such a high level task for the Clinton foundation while also working as chief of staff for the secretary of state raises new questions about the blurred lines that have dogged the Clintons in recent years.

The lines weren’t blurred; they were non-existent.

THAT MEANS IT’S WORKING: Next president faces possible ObamaCare meltdown.

The incoming administration will take office just as the latest ObamaCare enrollment tally comes in, delivering a potentially crucial verdict about the still-shaky healthcare marketplaces.

The fourth ObamaCare signup period begins about one week before Election Day, and it will end about one week before inauguration on Jan. 20. After mounting complaints from big insurers about losing money this year, the results could serve as a kind of judgment day for ObamaCare, experts say.
“The next open enrollment period is key,” said Larry Levitt, senior vice president of the Kaiser Family Foundation.

The Obama administration has struggled for several years to bring young, healthy people into the marketplaces, which is needed to offset the medical costs of older and sicker customers.

These problems are coming to light this year, as insurers get their first full look at ObamaCare customer data. Some, like UnitedHealth Group, say they’ve seen enough and are already vowing to leave the exchanges.

Levitt and other experts warn that if the numbers don’t improve this year, more insurers could bolt. That would deal a major blow to marketplace competition while also driving up rates and keeping even more people out of the exchanges.

Well, you never want a serious crisis to go to waste.

BEGUN, THE CODE WARS HAVE: Facebook rolls out code to nullify Adblock Plus’ workaround.

Adblock’s new code was in response to Facebook changing its code to make ads look like non-ads to Adblock’s old code.

TRUMP ON ELECTION STRATEGY: ‘I Don’t Know That We Need To Get Out The Vote’

Asked by Fox News’ Eric Bolling about the open letter by 70 Republicans asking the Republican National Committee to redirect funding from the presidential race to down-ballot campaigns, Trump said he didn’t need their assistance.

“One of the big things about he RNC is they have this whole infrastructure of data and information and contacts and email lists and mailing lists and phone numbers. That is something that is important to your campaign,” Bolling said. “That’s not at risk. Is that in jeopardy at all?”

“I don’t know. I will let you know on the ninth, on November 9th,” Trump replied.

“We are gonna have tremendous turnout from the evangelicals, from the miners, from the people that make our steel, from people that are getting killed by trade deals, from people that have been just decimated, from the military who are with Trump 100 percent,” he went on. “From our vets because I’m going to take care of the vets.”

“I don’t know that we need to get out the vote,” the Republican nominee concluded. “I think people that really want to vote, they’re gonna just get up and vote for Trump. And we’re going to make America great again.”

That attitude could prove …problematical… on Election Day.

HEADLINES: With rare humility, Trump concedes he could come up short.

Well, of course it’s on this issue that the Washington Post shows Trump some kindness.

THEY’LL TURN US ALL INTO BEGGARS BECAUSE THEY’RE EASIER TO PLEASE: How Venezuela’s Repressive Government Controls the Nation Through Hunger.

The Venezuelan government has become one of the world’s cruelest teasers. It has created unspeakable hardships for the populace and, at the same time, is taking advantage of those hardships to introduce new forms of political control.

The proliferation of food lines is a perfect example of this teasing. Lines to buy groceries have become longer and more widespread. In a country with plenty of irritants, these food lines, hardly seen before 2010, have become Venezuela’s most aggravating political problem today.

You would think that food lines would prompt riots. And some rioting is occurring. But we are not seeing anything like a Venezuelan Spring in which protests envelop the country and lead to governmental change. Why? Because food lines have paradoxically given the government new mechanisms for keeping protests at bay.

Socialism is about caring.

POLITICO: Clinton’s press problem.

First the Clinton press conferences and gaggles became rare. Now, the Trump campaign’s foot-dragging in allowing a basic press pool – a group of reporters that share travel duty to cover public events and minimize the logistics burden on the campaign – has given Clinton cover to not institute a protective pool, which would cover the candidate’s every move and ride on the campaign plane in the same way the White House press pool does and which typically begins when the candidates becomes the party’s official nominee.

One reporter covering the campaign said Clinton campaign officials directly cited Trump’s lack of a formal pool operation as part of the reason they have yet to set up a protective pool. Other reporters covering the Democratic nominee describe the situation as frustrating and “unlike anything in the past.”

“It’s a false equivalency,” said the Washington Post’s Anne Gearan, who is part of a team chairing the Clinton press pool for the remainder of the election but noted she did not know why the Clinton campaign hadn’t allowed a protective pool yet. “We’re advocating for access for the Clinton press pool. Whatever Trump does is immaterial as far as we’re concerned.”

Gearan could try asking Clinton about the protective pool, if only she were taking any questions.

OVER AT VODKAPUNDIT: Charlie Cook and Hillary’s Down-Ballot Problem.

BUT OF COURSE: Central Command reports skewed intel on ISIS fight.

BACK IN THE USSR: Crimean Tatar Activist To Be Forced To Psychiatric Clinic For Test.

A court in Russia-annexed Crimea has ruled that a noted Crimean Tatar activist, Ilmi Umerov, must be placed in a psychiatric clinic for examination.

The Kyiv District Court in Simferopol on August 11 approved the motion by investigators. Umerov’s lawyer, Nikolai Polozov, said that the court’s ruling will be appealed.

Umerov, 59, former deputy chairman of Crimean Tatars’ self-governing body — the Mejlis — was charged with separatism in May after he made public statements against the annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea by Russia.

The Soviet Union was notorious, among many reasons, for committing dissidents to “psychiatric” prisons after diagnosing them with the mental illness of opposing Moscow.

INFIGHTING: Reince Warned Trump Last Week: Turn Your Campaign Around or Else.

THAT MEANS IT’S WORKING: ObamaCare problems deepen as insurers scramble to stem losses.

One by one, the nation’s top insurers – Humana, UnitedHealth Group, Blue Cross and Anthem – have shifted their tone on the law.

Once optimistic, each has reported struggles with plans sold on the exchanges. Many say they weren’t ready for the influx of customers that have generated more claims than predicted.

As a result, companies are scrambling to find ways to cut their losses and stop the fiscal bleeding. A few say they’ll be forced to pass on costs to customers.

Already, rates on the exchanges are skyrocketing. From 2013 to 2016, almost every state has seen an increase in monthly premiums. In Michigan they are expected to jump 17.3 percent this year. In Virginia, the average premium increase could hit 37.1 percent, Bryan Rotella, attorney and founder of the Rotella Legal Group, warns.

“In fact, two of three federal programs to manage this exact risk are due to expire in 2017,” Rotella wrote in an opinion piece for The Hill. “Without these programs to fall back on, many insurance companies likely will need to jack up their premiums even higher or bail out of the exchanges all together.”

Blue Cross reported losing hundreds of millions of dollars on its exchange plans across the country. In Tennessee, it took a $300 million hit; in North Carolina, $280 million and in Arizona, $135 million.

In California, the company is expected to raise rates 19.9 percent – more than triple the average annual increase.

Others like Humana are threatening to quit altogether.

Something that can’t go on forever, won’t.

ALL LIVES MATTER: An Elderly Trump Supporter was Beaten with a Crowbar–The Liberal Media’s ‘Response’ Says It All.

RELIGION OF PEACE UPDATE: A split second from death: Gay man plummets to the ground after ISIS murderers throw him from a roof in Iraq.

IEA: Crude Production to Fall Behind Demand.

From July through September, global production of crude oil will fall behind demand by almost one million barrels a day, said the IEA, a Paris-based agency that monitors energy trends for oil-consuming nations. And the oversupply of crude is clearing out even as OPEC producers pump at record or near record levels.

“Our balances show essentially no oversupply during the second half of the year,” the IEA’s monthly report said Thursday.

That’s exactly what every idled fracker wants to hear.

The Saudis put an effective floor under the price of crude, by being able to produce plentiful supplies at a price few can match. But North American frackers have put an effective ceiling on the price of crude, by being able to tap even more plentiful supplies whenever the price rises too far above that floor.

It’s going to be a long time before our friends in the Middle East can count on $100 oil again.

QUESTION ASKED: Is Trump Wrecking Both Parties?

At the very least he’s exposing the rot underneath.

KNOWN WOLF: Canadian Banned From Contacting ISIS Dead After Police Operation.

A LITTLE PIECE OF POLAND, A LITTLE PIECE OF FRANCE: Russia Accuses Ukraine Of ‘Terrorist’ Attack In Crimea.

The Federal Security Service, the FSB, said that teams of commandos from Ukraine’s defense forces made two attempts to enter the Black Sea peninsula, with the intention of sabotaging vital infrastructure. The FSB said Ukrainian forces attempted to cover the infiltration by directing heavy fire at the Russian side, killing two Russian servicemen.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko dismissed the Russian claims, calling them “fantasy” and a “provocation.” Poroshenko issued a statement saying that Ukraine would never use terrorism to regain its occupied territory.

The U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt, said the U.S. “has seen nothing so far that corroborates Russian allegations of a Crimea incursion.”

And:

For the better part of a year, the war in Ukraine, has been “frozen but oven-ready,” as former NATO press officer Ben Nimmo once put it, with regular upticks in violence and provocations not quite leading to full-scale melt-downs.

That changed over the last week, however, with whispers inside Ukraine and among the foreign press corps that another big clash may be in the final stages of preparation with the locus of unusual activity in, yes, Crimea. Tatar activists on the peninsula noted that Russian military hardware had been moving towards the northern towns of Dzhankoy and Armyansk, near the frontier with Ukrainian-controlled territory.

At the same time, verifiable video evidence emerged of large quantities of Russian military hardware on the move in the south of Crimea.

Either war is about to resume or Putin wants Ukraine to think war is about to resume.

ANALYSIS: TRUE. You don’t have to be a beer expert to enjoy something new.

UNEXPECTEDLY: BLS Just “Revised” Away Obama’s “Fastest” Wage Growth Since The Crisis.

CLOSE CALL: How a 1967 Solar Storm Nearly Led to Nuclear War.

The U.S. Air Force began preparing for war on May 23, 1967, thinking that the Soviet Union had jammed a set of American surveillance radars. But military space-weather forecasters intervened in time, telling top officials that a powerful sun eruption was to blame, according to the study.

“Had it not been for the fact that we had invested very early on in solar and geomagnetic storm observations and forecasting, the impact [of the storm] likely would have been much greater,” Delores Knipp, a space physicist at the University of Colorado Boulder and the study’s lead author, said in a statement. “This was a lesson learned in how important it is to be prepared.”

Read the whole, fascinating thing.