“Reporters Without Borders”,  a watchdog organization headquartered in Paris, France and known by its French acronym, “RSF”, has published its annual “World Press Freedom Index”.

Liberty Blitzkrieg brings to our attention that in the great march FORWARD!, the US was a front runner in the stakes for greatest loss of press freedom in year over year results – slipping an impressive 13 slots  from #33 last year to #46 on the 2014 world ranking, after Romania but before Haiti.

There were some “non-surprises”, such as North Korea and Eritrea remaining at the back of the pack, but also some pleasant surprises with tiny Belize clocking in at an impressive #29, hanging out in the “free press” band with Australia at #28.

Clearly, much work remains to be done before the US can be satisfied that the people’s work is completed and it can comfortably hang in the 100’s with its pals in the middle east and Africa.  Maybe that will provide the necessary incentive to Dirty Harry in the Senate to get working on that innertubes kill switch.  In the meantime, those pesky bloggers keep bringing up stuff like Benghazi, or Warrantless Wiretaps, or the ever expanding use of technology to spy on and monitor its own citizens.

The 2014 World Press Freedom Index spotlights the negative impact of conflicts on freedom of information and its protagonists. The ranking of some countries has also been affected by a tendency to interpret national security needs in an overly broad and abusive manner to the detriment of the right to inform and be informed. This trend constitutes a growing threat worldwide and is even endangering freedom of information in countries regarded as democracies. Finland tops the index for the fourth year running, closely followed by Netherlands and Norway, like last year. At the other end of the index, the last three positions are again held by Turkmenistan, North Korea and Eritrea, three countries where freedom of information is non-existent.

I Miss Grown-Ups !…

The United States State Dept. apparatus, meaning the entire construct of the foreign policy unit of the U.S. administration, has been spiraling downward for several years.   However, the slope of the declining maturity and actual effectiveness is now exponential.

From 2009 when Hillary Clinton managed to drive the unprofessional standards, culminating in a global apology tour from WikiLeaks publication of high-school type communication about international leaders; to the insufferable immaturity of the hipster Occupy-Type ideologues who staff the podium at the press briefings, this entire State Dept is fraught with inept immaturity top to bottom.   Now this….    

EGYPT – An Egyptian employee of the U.S. Embassy in Cairo has been detained by local authorities for nearly three weeks without charges, an embassy official said Wednesday.

Ahmed Aleiba, an Egyptian citizen who works at the embassy, was arrested on January 25, the third anniversary of the uprising that deposed former President Hosni Mubarak in 2011, Moufid Deak, spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, said. (more…)

There is a considerable amount of chatter amid the blog-o-sphere for an interview Hugh Hewitt had with former Clinton White House Counsel Lanny Davis. [ Transcript here ]

Most of the attention has focused on the final segment question where Hewitt challenges Davis to summarize Hillary’s accomplishments as Secretary of State, and Davis cannot name one:

LANNY DAVIS: … more time, which is at some point, at some point, if she runs for president, Benghazi and every other issue she’s being criticized for, and I happen to believe that there are only a handful of people that hold Benghazi against her. I don’t think that that’s a serious political issue for her.

HUGH HEWITT: Okay, then give me one more thing.

DAVIS: But she’s got to do it. She’s got to do it if she runs for president. And she knows that.

HEWITT: All right, one question, you’ve got a minute. Summarize for me what she accomplished as Secretary of State.

(more…)

Pathetic, spineless, High School politics….

WASHINGTON DC – Democrats atop a political “hit list” of politicians who betrayed Hillary Clinton in 2008 are trying to get back in her good graces as she weighs a 2016 comeback.

Clinton campaign aides kept a detailed list of lawmakers who supported Barack Obama in the Democratic primary, according to excerpts from the forthcoming book HRC: States Secrets and the Rebirth of Hillary Clinton, by The Hill’s Amie Parnes and Politico’s Jonathan Allen. The book says aides ranked them according to the gravity of their perceived betrayal, with several prominent Democrats — including Secretary of State John Kerry, then a Massachusetts senator — earning the blackest of black marks.

The new revelation set off a flurry of praise for Clinton, also a secretary of State, from the damned on Monday. (more…)

Bill Clinton desperately pleaded with Sen. Kennedy over the phone in 2008 to not endorse Obama, even reminding the senior senator that Clinton as president in  1999 kept the Coast Guard looking for John F. Kennedy Jr.’s missing plane days longer than usual, according to the 2008 campaign tell-all book “Game Change.” (LINK)

Congressman Chris Van Hollen just can’t belive the report (link)

WASHINGTON DC – Those Democrats who crossed Bill and Hillary Clinton in 2008 must answer for their sins. And the Clinton camp has been keeping a tally.

That’s at least according to a new book by The Hill’s Amie Parnes and Politico’s Jonathan Martin. They’ve co-authored a book together on Hillary Clinton called “HRC: State Secrets and the Rebirth of Hillary Clinton.” And a story cross-published on the websites of both The Hill and Politico has an interesting angle and title: “Hillary’s Hit List.”

After Hillary had officially dropped out of the race in 2008, her campaign still had some work to do — work that involved keeping a detailed record of who had supported, and turned on, the Clintons. (more…)

Wait, huh… wha…?   Just a few days ago liberals were outraged that former Defense Sec Robert Gates published a book about his tenure while a POTUS was still in office.   Now former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has a book coming out next Sunday.

Besides, this lame overused “war on women” shtick is going to run smack into the reality that ObamaCare has done more to attack women (and men) than any previous legislative construct.

(Via Politico)  Hillary Clinton warns in a new book that the “clock is turning back” on women across America and offers a passionate argument for prioritizing the advancement of women and girls.

Clinton, the former secretary of state and possible presidential contender, is one of a slew of high-profile contributors to a new report set to be released Sunday compiled by author and activist Maria Shriver and the liberal Center for American Progress.

Hillary Clinton warns in a new book that the “clock is turning back” on women across America and offers a passionate argument for prioritizing the advancement of women and girls. (more…)

The origin of the Arab Spring did not begin on December 17th, 2010 in Tunisia with the self-immolation Mohamed Bouazizi.

Bouazizi’s decision to douse himself with gasoline and light himself on fire was an outcome of an economic and social reality in Tunisia at a very specific moment in time – the origin for that event happened many years earlier in Europe.

Understanding the earlier origin helps to set the stage to understand Libya in 2011,  the rise of al-Qaeda, and Obama’s short-sighted folly leading NATO intervention.

A basic tenet of humanity is freedom, a natural yearning to be free.  To be able to move, decide, act and strive, is as natural as the flow of water through the path of least resistance.

When Europe formed a collective Union there were multiple political, social, and socio-economic factors which aligned to create an environment where the formation was constructed.

A tireless movement of Fabian Socialists with a history of long-term strategy were behind the rise of the EU as a collective union.  (more…)