Daily Archives: July 4, 2014

07/4/14

The Council Has Spoken!! This Weeks’ Watcher’s Council Results – 07/04/14

The Watcher’s Council

The Council has spoken, the votes have been cast and the results are in for this week’s Watcher’s Council match-up. The Watcher’s Council wishes you all a wonderful Fourth of July. Celebrate!!

“Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory there is no survival.” – Sir Winston Churchill

“They dress the wound of my people lightly. ‘Peace, peace,’ they say, when there is no peace.” – Jeremiah 6:14

“Throughout history, Allah has imposed upon the Jews people who would punish them for their corruption. The last punishment was carried out by Hitler. By means of all the things he did to them, even though they exaggerated this issue he managed to put them in their place. This was divine punishment for them. Allah Willing, the next time will be at the hand of the believers.” – Sheik Yusef Al-Qaradawi, Spiritual leader on the Muslim Brotherhood in a sermon on al-Jazeera, January 28 2009

“If They want a holy war, we will give them a holy war.” – Former Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin.

This week’s winning entry was Three Funerals… And The End of The Beginning by Joshuapundit. Three Israeli teens who were kidnapped and murdered in cold blood by Hamas were buried this week and I had a few things to say about it. Here’s a slice:

Today, three young Jewish boys were laid to rest.The bodies of Eyal Yifrach, 19, Gilad Shaar, 16, and Naftali Frenkel, also 16 (HY”D)were buried in Modi’in in a ceremony that was attended by thousands of Israelis in what became a day of national mourning.

The bodies of the three boys, kidnapped by Hamas operatives on June 12 were found in a shallow grave near the Arab village of Halhul, just north of Hebron. According to Israeli forensic experts, they were murdered in cold blood shortly after they were kidnapped and buried hastily as their kidnappers fled. But not too hastily. As one of my sources on the scene let me know yesterday, the killers took the time first before they shoved the corpses into the hole to mutilate the boys’ bodies in classic Arab fashion. Israel’s Channel Two described the condition of the bodies as ‘harrowing’.

This was meant to send a message to the Israelis. So was the attack on the clearly marked ambulance carrying the murdered boys’ bodies to Israel to be buried, and the widespread instances of celebration of the ‘victory’ by Arabs living under the Palestinian Authority. and even in Israel itself.

Nor are children left untouched by this poison.They’re being indoctrinated as the next generation of murderers in the name of Allah.

The message, of course, is the same one the Arabs whom call themselves Palestinians have been sending ever since Yasser Arafat invented them. To them, or at least to the majority, this is a tribal war to the knife, no holds barred and none of the niceties of civilized behavior apply. They want the Jews ethnically cleansed by whatever means necessary. There is no desire for peace or real negotiation, no farcical ‘two state solution’ so beloved of the West and what remains of the Israeli Left. And that message is being sent out every day by Hamas, who are at least more honest about the matter and Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah, on whose official Facebook page the image immediately above this paragraph appeared.

After these murders, the message finally may be beginning to sink in with most Israelis, especially given the response from the West. After all, the Palestinians are whom they are, and their brutality is to be expected.But the civilized nations of the West?

The Israelis can’t have failed to notice that for all the pro-forma condemnations from the US, the UN and the EU, the underlying message is ‘so sad your children got murdered, but you ought to be used to that by now. We’re still going to continue funding the new Fatah-Hamas government because they’re one big happy family now, so the important thing for Israel is to exercise is restraint. Suck it up.’

To be totally honest about the matter, it is difficult for me to express adequately the way that message makes me feel…that the American government now funds and supports a genocidal group that would celebrate my murder or the murder of my loved ones just as enthusiastically as they’re celebrating the murder of those three boys. Three unarmed boys murdered in cold blood, whom Wafa, the PA owned news service referred to as ‘three soldiers’. I admit that I still haven’t sorted out my feelings on that one, but my thoughts are far from pleasant.

President Barack Hussein Obama, the leader of the country that is supposed to be Israel’s strongest ally had nothing to say at all about the matter for three weeks, and finally released a statement pretty much along these same lines once the bodies were found, perhaps because someone in the State Department reminded him it might be a good idea to say something. In contrast, that supposed cold fish, Russia’s Vladimir Putin, made several calls to Israeli PM Netanyahu and Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman over the newly installed Jerusalem-Moscow secure hotline during the crisis, and took the time and trouble after the bodies were found to compose a hand written letter to Netanyahu, asking him to express Putin’s personal condolences to the boys’ families.

Much more at the link.

In our non-Council category, the winner was Sultan Knish – Our Consensus Rulers, submitted by The Independent Sentinel.

In this piece, the Sultan examines the reality of what ‘consensus’ actually is as practiced by our elites. Do read it.

Here are this week’s full results:

Council Winners

Non-Council Winners

See you next week! Don’t forget to tune in on Monday AM for this week’s Watcher’s Forum, as the Council and their invited guests take apart one of the provocative issues of the day and weigh in… don’t you dare miss it. And don’t forget to like us on Facebook and follow us Twitter… ’cause we’re cool like that!

07/4/14

Showdown over immigration: ‘This is an invasion’

Hat Tip: BB

Here’s What Members of Congress CANNOT Do While Touring Immigrant Detention Facilities

Update: Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins names three potential sites for 2,000 immigrant children

Feds Hand Out Border Pass To Mexican Snitch

San Diego Border Patrol: One Airplane of Illegals to Arrive Every 72 Hours

Congressman: Obama created crisis at the border to create millions of new voters and overwhelm the system

Obama Pushes Amnesty at D.C. Tech Startup 1776

‘Costs Are Staggering’: Democrat Dallas Judge Forces City To Be Infected With 2,000 Diseased, Criminal Obama Illegal Alien Youth

Border Patrol Agent Tells CNN: Obama Admin is “aiding and Abetting and Facilitating Smuggling of Illegals into the U.S.” – Video 7/3/14

What a Woman Found Outside a Texas Walmart Should Alarm You

Obama admin bans the use of “alien”

RICK PERRY: Send US Troops To The Border

07/4/14

Ronald Reagan On The 4th Of July

The Civil War of 1776

Hillary Clinton disses USA, taking plans for the 4th of July elsewhere

‘We Have Not Forgotten’: Presidents on the Fourth of July

The Fourth of July

Did you know this about the men who signed our Declaration of Independence. Good history lesson.

Our 4th Of July:

Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence?

Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died.

Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned.

Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army; another had two sons captured.

Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War.

They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. What kind of men were they?

Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists.

Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners; men of means, well-educated, but they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured.

Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags.

Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward.

Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton.

At the battle of Yorktown , Thomas Nelson,Jr., noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt.

Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months.

John Hart was driven from his wife’s bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children vanished.

So, take a few minutes while enjoying your 4th of July holiday and silently thank these patriots. It’s not much to ask for the price they paid.

Remember: freedom is never free! We thank these early patriots, as well as those patriots now fighting to KEEP our freedom!

07/4/14

The Tears of a Nation

Arlene from Israel

Prime Minister Netanyahu called it “A Day of National Mourning,” and that is precisely what it was, as Naftali Frenkel, Gilad Shaar, and Eyal Yifrach were laid to rest.

The families first had individual services in their respective communities. I was going to say “private,” but in fact they were televised, and we were able to see what was going on, sometimes via split screens.

Then all gathered for interment at a cemetery in Modi’in, at which both religious and political figures spoke.

At least fifty thousand people attended these services – some say many more. They came by bus and by car from all over Israel, and they didn’t stop coming. Many thousands more watched the proceedings on television.


Credit: Times of Israel

While it is my great desire to convey to my readers what went on, I know that at some level it is not possible to impart the sense of it all: The feeling of oneness, the mourning for these boys as our boys, the shared pain and horror. My daughter-in-law said it perfectly: “I came to stand with Am Yisrael (the people of Israel).” And my daughter thought what was incredibly moving was the soft heart-felt singing – of psalms, words of prayer – done by thousands and thousands of people, their voices joined, while waiting for the proceedings to begin.

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The messages of those who spoke were ones of comfort and praise.

Prime Minister Netanyahu, his face etched with sorrow (emphasis added):

“The whole nation prayed for the return of the boys, and the whole nation saw the nobility of spirit, and inner strength of you, the parents.

“The nation understood immediately the depth of the roots and the strength of spirit you possess.

“We learned a lesson that will not be forgotten, of faith and firmness, of unity and sensitivity, of Judaism and humanity.”

“A whole nation was banded together and was reminded of who are we and why are we here.

“You [ the mothers Racheli, Bat-Galim and Iris] gave the whole world a lesson about the cry of a mother.

“…A deep moral abyss separates us and our enemies. They sanctify death, we sanctify life. They sanctify cruelty, and we sanctify mercy. That’s the secret to our strength, and also the basis for our unity.

“Life has it’s own strength, like a river that drags us forward, and gives us hope. The nation that has cried with you and embraced you will continue to accompany you and will be a source of comfort.”


Credit: JPost

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President Shimon Peres (emphasis added):

“You, the mothers and fathers, raised children that Israel can be proud of. You inspired in them a love of their people. A love of Torah and a love of the land. You instilled in them devotion and a love of mankind.

“Naftali, Gilad, Eyal: Many of us saw only small snapshots of your personalities, of who you were. From those snapshots a beautiful picture developed of confident young boys, sure of their way, in service of their people.

“Youngsters with radiant faces, who stood tall. With a thirst for knowledge and a knowledge of prayers. Sure of their purpose and fulfilling the commandments. You showed the face of our people with a bright and painful light, our unity and morality.

“Gilad, Naftali, Eyal. Wonderful boys, sons of the whole nation. Rest in peace. We will bow our heads but our spirit will not break.”


Credit: AP

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The words of Rabbi Dov Zinger, head of the Mekor Haim yeshiva, were especially poignant, because he knew two of the boys personally, as students: “Gilad and Naftali sat together in school in the third column, second row.” Their seats will not be filled by others, he said.

We have the privilege, he said, to be the generation in the land. But we are being tested now. He called for increased prayer, in which the “brokenness will transform into repentance,” and he appealed to all those assembled to “love thy neighbor as thyself.”


Credit: Times of Israel

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This, then, is the glory of Israel: that in the midst of pain and suffering, wrought in the face of hatred, the talk is of love – there was a great deal of talk about love – and traditional values. Of devotion to Torah and prayer and Am Yisrael united, of concern for mankind and hunger for learning. Of our support for one another and the need to strive to be even better.

This is what we call Kiddush Hashem: Honoring the name of the Almighty through proper action as a Jewish people that can be seen by the world.

We here in Israel can hold our heads high, my friends. Without being complacent. As Rabbi Zinger said, we are being tested. We must work to hold on to the unity, to hold fast to the values that are transcendent, and to remember always why we are here.

~~~~~~~~~~

I would like to think that the world would notice who were are, and approach us with a kinder spirit. But I know to expect this would be only great foolishness.

What I would hope is that young Jewish people outside of Israel actually might be touched by our behavior as a nation. I’d heard so much about how young American Jews are alienated from Israel because of the negative hype they pick up. I’ve heard some painful, painful stories.

And I want to say: Look, my young friends. See who we are and be proud.

~~~~~~~~~~

In some great measure, what inspired the words of those who spoke was the exemplary conduct of the parents of the three students. Their faith, their devotion to traditional values, their ability to cling to life, their courage. All models for the rest of us.


Credit: AP

Rachel Frenkel, pictured here, told her deceased son, Naftali, “We will have to learn to sing again without you. But you will always be in our hearts.”

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The interment was a private affair for close family and friends. Not televised – and the 50,000 plus people were sent on. The boys were buried next to each other, bound together for eternity.


Credit: YNet


Credit: AP

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I will deal only briefly here with what comes next. Focusing on this will require many emails over time.

A reader (thanks Jim C.) pointed out to me that while I used the term revenge in my last posting, “justice” would be better. And he is absolutely right. I had picked up on the term revenge because of the Bailik quote. But what we must do now is truly a matter of justice.

What is more, when one confronts consummate evil, there is actually a moral responsibility to eradicate it. To fail do so is wrong.

The problem, of course, is that the world is composed large of either bleeding-heart liberals who refuse to see consummate evil when it is staring them in the face (it’s all about “their suffering” and “understanding them”). And, amoral people who don’t wish to deal with issues of evil because all that matters is what impinges upon the situation politically for their purposes.

The failure/refusal of the world to see that consummate evil – and I’ll return to this – makes our position very difficult. It requires strength to stand strong. And that strength is required of us now. The people of Israel, and our friends elsewhere understand this.

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I will provide here just one very painful piece of evidence of the consummate evil that we are facing:

Gilad Shaar used his cell phone very briefly to call police and let them know that he and the others had been kidnapped. Then the phone was silenced. But a leaked version of the call has been made available by the press. It includes a statement by one of the abductors to a third person, which can be heard in Arabic in the background, announcing “We’ve brought three.” And then the sound of gunshots, meaning that these evil abductors did not act alone, and that one or more (likely all) of the boys were summarily shot.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/182428#.U7PhXJtZrIV

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What particularly enrages me is a statement that came from the US.

“While emphasizing Israel’s right to defend its citizens, the White House’s Deputy National Security Adviser for Strategic Communication Ben Rhodes warns that Israel should ‘be precise’ and avoid an overly ‘heavy-handed’ response that could further destabilize the situation between Israel and the Palestinians.”

http://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-hunts-for-two-suspects-in-teens-murder/

I’ve used terms in the past such as unmitigated gall, but none of them seem sufficient here. This is nauseating and morally reprehensible.

At no point that I have observed has Obama ever referred to Hamas as being in any way responsible for the murders, although he conceded they might be ‘involved.” After all, they are part of the unity government right now, which the US has said it would support.

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What Netanyahu has said is that we will first find the perpetrators of this horror. Dead or alive, they are saying. And then we will deal with Hamas inside of Judea and Samaria. Lastly, we will deal with Hamas in Gaza as necessary. Cannot see that it won’t be necessary, consider that they’re still launching rockets, but one thing at a time.

We will be watching.

07/4/14

Trevor Loudon: Speaking At Two Events In SoCal, July 12

By: Trevor Loudon
New Zeal

trevor-loudonFirstly:

American Citizen’s
2014 NATIONAL SECURITY BRIEFING, Corona

How Safe Are We Really?

Speakers: Former FBI agent John Guandalo, former INS official Mike Cutler, Hon. Deborah Pauly, Trevor Loudon

When: Saturday, July 12th
Time: 8:30 am
Go here for details.

Secondly:

“Trevor Loudon does the job that few in the media ever attempt” – Glenn Beck

On tour from New Zealand, Trevor has addressed more than 200 events.

When: Saturday, July 12th
Time: 7:00pm
Where: Paul & Dominica Kristedja Residence
Address: 12142 Afton Lane, Santa Ana, CA 92705

RSVP at our Eventbrite link.

I hope many of my SoCal friends can attend.

07/4/14

The Final 4th?

By: Dick Manasseri

“Free people are not equal, and equal people are not free.”

Given the rampage toward the final transformation of America, could we be celebrating our final Independence Day?

Once considered shameful, Dependence is now more than okay, it’s “in.” Millions of Americans depend on their monthly check from the government, knowing that they did nothing to earn it and honestly, do not deserve it. It’s okay to game the system, if the system wants to be gamed.

Once considered a menacing monster that united us in fear and armed preparedness, Communism is now admired by the young (e.g. Rolling Stones), the very young (e.g. government school children), and the old (e.g. our Congressmen). Even the Pope professes the Gospel of Dependence according to Marx.

The hordes of unaccompanied children now invading our country are on the march with the full knowledge and complicity of a government that covets more Dependence for the masses, a government that planned the invasion and is now using strong-arm tactics to keep the new Dependency Camps off-limits from congressmen and governors alike.

Ironically, it was just last month that our Community Organizer-in-Chief quoted another famous Chief, Sitting Bull: “‘Let’s put our minds together to see what we can build for our children.’” Obama was decrying the plight of Indian children living on government reservations, even as he was knowingly using the plight of unaccompanied children from Central America to create more government dependency reservations within our borders.

Our churches are promoting Dependence having redefined the sacred word “sanctuary” to be synonymous with “social justice.”

Useful idiots in religious garb within our own parishes have been spreading this Marxist agenda, using “income inequality” and “social justice” as their war-cries – forgetting that:

Free people are not equal, and equal people are not free.

Freedom is just not as important as Equality anymore,
and only a tyrannical government can enforce Equality.

Equality of the dependent masses requires the death of the independent Middle Class upon the cross of forced income redistribution. The churches, the media, the DEMs, the RINOs and even the Chamber of Commerce are sacrificing the Middle Class into extinction via social justice sermons, media promoted political correctness, progressive legislation and unchallenged executive orders, leading us inevitably to the martial law that will be required to enforce the final transformation.

What might trigger the declaration of martial law within the next year?

• A Republican Senate following the 2014 election that could impeach the Transformer in Chief and jeopardize the final transformation.
• A humanitarian crisis of “refugees” that congressional gridlock refuses to remedy requiring the imposition of UN sanctions on America.
• An international incident provoked by Russia, China and Iran to assist its Partner-in-Chief.
• A Middle Class that finally sees and fights against its own impending extinction.

In order to celebrate July 4th, 2015 as another cherished Independence Day instead of National Social Justice Day, we, the grassroots, will need to find the courage to draw our own “red line.”

These gentlemen boldly declared the “red line” of our Independence – July 4th, 1776:

Now, God help us, it’s our turn.
We must declare the
The 2nd American Revolution
starting by drafting our own Leadership Team.

07/4/14

A Timely Reminder—What did the President Know…?

By: Roger Aronoff
Accuracy in Media

Former Senator Howard Baker (R-TN) passed away last week at the age of 88. Although Sen. Baker served as Ronald Reagan’s Chief of Staff, and Senate Majority Leader, he is perhaps best known for his famous line asked during the Watergate investigation: “My primary thesis is still, what did the president know, and when did he know it?”

Given the number of scandals facing the Obama administration today, this question has a haunting quality, not only for President Richard Nixon but also for President Barack Obama.

What did President Obama know, and when did he know it?

“What’s forgotten today is that Baker thought he was protecting Nixon with that line,” writes Peter Grier for the Christian Science Monitor. “He was attempting to wall off the president from the actions of aides who might have done something wrong.”

In contrast, The Washington Post quotes Rutgers University political scientist Ross Baker as saying “The fact he [Baker] acted as impartially as he did is one of the high points of his career.”

President Obama has frequently taken a cue from the same playbook as Nixon, blaming aides and government bureaucrats, as well as the media, instead of taking responsibility for the many scandals plaguing his administration.

Obama has claimed repeatedly that he learns about scandals from the press, including the IRS scandal, Fast & Furious, and the subpoenaing of two months of phone records from the Associated Press. More recently, he said he learned about the Veterans Affairs waiting list scandal from the press.

Jonathan Turley, a liberal law professor who has supported the presidency and policies of Barack Obama, recently wrote a column titled “A Question of Power: The Imperial Presidency,” in which he said that “Obama may be the president Nixon always wanted to be.”

“Four decades ago,” wrote Turley, “Nixon was halted in his determined effort to create an imperial presidency with unilateral powers and privileges. But in 2013, Obama wields those very same powers openly and without serious opposition.”

President Obama’s former Press Secretary Jay Carney got “egg on his face” when it “emerged this morning that his [Obama’s] transition team was notified five years ago about how VA medical centers’ official wait-list times bore little resemblance to reality and risked denying military heroes critical health care,” reported the UK Daily Mail. It should be reporting that President Obama has egg on his face, and has been caught in another lie.

In the case of the IRS scandal we know that both the White House Chief of Staff and White House Counsel Kathryn Ruemmler learned about the targeting of conservative groups in April of 2013, a month before the now infamous Lois Lerner planted a question regarding the IRS’ abusive actions. President Obama later claimed on national television that in terms of the IRS scandal, there wasn’t a “smidgeon of corruption” in his administration, and blamed the whole episode on “bone-headed decisions” of bureaucrats.

But rather than being the guileless incompetence of Cincinnati office bureaucrats, the investigation into the IRS targeting scandal keeps casting a wider and wider net. It’s not surprising that Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) recently said on Fox News that “It’s a scandal of epic proportions, big enough that it could bring down a presidency.” But it is surprising when Time magazine’s Mark Halperin said this week on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that “I think with a different administration, one that was a Republican administration, this story would be a national obsession, and, instead, it’s getting coverage here and a few other places. But it deserves a lot more questions.”

One might argue that Republicans are just looking for material to use against their Democratic opponents in the upcoming election, but consider the following: recently released emails show that the D.C. office was plugged into the process of targeting conservatives early on.

In addition, “The IRS recently revealed that former director Lois Lerner’s emails were lost when her computer crashed, wiping out an untold number of emails that were being sought by congressional investigators for her role in the agency’s controversy that they improperly scrutinized applications by some Tea Party groups,” reported CBS DC. The hard drive was recycled, so the data cannot be recovered. And an “untold number” of Lerner’s emails “are gone.”

What did the President know, and when did he know it? Did he know that Lerner’s emails were gone before the news broke initially in May of 2013?

As for the Veterans Affairs office, how much was Obama briefed on when his transition team took over? “In particular, the 2008 transition report referred to a VA inspector general recommendation to test the accuracy of reported waiting times,” reported The Washington Times. And, a presidential briefing accessed by the Times states that “Audits of outpatient scheduling and patient waiting times completed since 2005 have identified noncompliance with the policies and procedures for scheduling, inaccurate reporting of patient waiting times and errors in [electronic waiting lists].”

In other words, the President knew quite a lot, and he knew it since 2008.

The Washington Times’ reporting resulted from a Freedom of Information Act request, as did the IRS emails referenced above. So, too, did the creation of the Select Committee on Benghazi. Speaker John Boehner decided to allow a vote to create the Select Committee, which will likely begin work this fall, after it was revealed that a FOIA request made by Judicial Watch revealed information that had been withheld from Congress by the administration.

The facts of the Benghazi scandal prompt the question as well: What did the President know, and when did he know it?

In the case of Susan Rice, who appeared on the Sunday talk shows blaming the attack on a YouTube video, the “smoking gun” email from Ben Rhodes to other staff indicates that the administration considered blaming the attack on the video a high priority. Rice maintains that she was making an assertion based on intelligence community information available at the time; even Michael Morell, former acting head of the CIA, testified that the CIA had made no mention of the YouTube video in its talking points.

Closed door briefings which were later released to the public reveal that President Obama was briefed the night of the attack that it was a terrorist attack, and emails made public show that State Department officials knew that Ansar al Sharia had claimed credit the night of the attack. It is becoming increasingly clear who knew what, and when.

President Obama reportedly had a 10 p.m. phone call with then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, just minutes before she released a statement which condemned the YouTube video.

As the Select Committee on Benghazi ramps up its investigation, which has already been likened to Watergate, it should keep the words of Howard Baker in mind. One of the Democrats assigned to the Committee should be willing to repeat this memorable moment by asking, concretely, “My primary thesis is still, what did the President know, and when did he know it?”