Sen. John McCain's claim he has nothing to do with the McCain Institute doesn't pass smell test

The Saudi's gave $1 million to the McCain Institute and you know how mush John McCain loves the Saudis.

McCain is facing questions about his ties to an eponymous nonprofit, after Bloomberg reported the Saudi government had donated $1 million to the nonprofit’s fundraising arm...

The McCain Institute for International Leadership was created in December 2012, with an $8.7 million donation in unused funds from McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign...

McCain regularly attends events and fundraisers hosted by the McCain Institute. His wife, Cindy McCain, is on the institute’s Human Trafficking Advisory Council, working with the nonprofit to raise awareness for her main policy issue. Many of McCain’s longtime political allies sit on the nonprofit’s board of directors. Tax records show a longtime McCain fundraiser, Carly Eudy, maintains the McCain Institute Foundation’s financial records.

In the video embedded below, McCain again claims he has nothing to do with the McCain Institute and they only use his name.




McCain's claim is about as credible as Hillary's Clinton Foundation claims.

Saudi Arabia plans to behead and crucify son of regime critic; State Department welcomes them to head Human Rights Council...

Seriously?

QUESTION: Change topic? Saudi Arabia.
MR TONER: Saudi Arabia.
QUESTION: Yesterday, Saudi Arabia was named to head the Human Rights Council, and today I think they announced they are about to behead a 21-year-old Shia activist named Muhammed al-Nimr. Are you aware of that?
MR TONER: I’m not aware of the trial that you – or the verdict – death sentence.
QUESTION: Well, apparently, he was arrested when was 17-years-old and kept in juvenile detention, then moved on. And now, he’s been scheduled to be executed.
MR TONER: Right. I mean, we’ve talked about our concerns about some of the capital punishment cases in Saudi Arabia in our Human Rights Report, but I don’t have any more to add to it.
QUESTION: So you --
QUESTION: Well, how about a reaction to them heading the council?
MR TONER: Again, I don’t have any comment, don’t have any reaction to it. I mean, frankly, it’s – we would welcome it. We’re close allies. If we --
QUESTION: Do you think that they’re an appropriate choice given – I mean, how many pages is – does Saudi Arabia get in the Human Rights Report annually?

Lightening strikes bin Laden crane at Grand Mosque in Saudi Arabia on 9-11, crane falls killing over 100

You can't make stuff like this up. At least 107 people died and 238 more were injured when a crane collapsed at the Grand Mosque of Mecca ahead of the annual Hajj pilgrimage

lightning strike on a crane at mecca, killed 65 worshippers pic.twitter.com/zUxJrdPKD1

— facets (@facets) September 11, 2015

Saudi Arabia doesn't want any refugees, but they did offer to build 200 mosques in Germany.

If Germany takes in hundreds of thousands of Muslim refugees, they are idiots. 

Via The Independent:

Saudi Arabia has reportedly responded to the growing number of people fleeing the Middle East for western Europe – by offering to build 200 mosques in Germany.
Syria’s richer Gulf neighbours have been accused of not doing their fair share in the humanitarian crisis, with Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and the UAE also keeping their doors firmly shut to asylum-seekers.
According to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, which quoted a report in the Lebanese newspaper Al Diyar, Saudi Arabia would build one mosque for every 100 refugees who entered Germany in extraordinary numbers last weekend.
Keep on reading…

Report: Saudi Arabia to by off-the-shelf nukes from Pakistan...

The consequences of having an idiot in charge of foreign policy...

Via NY Post:

Saudi Arabia will join the nuclear club by buying “off the shelf” atomic weapons from Pakistan, US officials told a London newspaper.
The Saudis — who financed much of Pakistan’s nuke program — are fearful of international efforts to keep its enemy Iran from acquiring a bomb, the Sunday Times of London reports. The Saudis think the deal, backed by President Obama, will actually accelerate Iran’s nuke push.
Saudi Arabia has talked for years about acquiring a bomb from the Pakistanis. “The House of Saud has now made the strategic decision to move forward,” a former US defense official said.

Saudi state television blurrs Michelle Obama's face for not wearing a headscarf...

I thought the deceased King was all about women's rights...

Via The Washington Times:

First lady Michelle Obama’s face was reportedly blurred by Saudi state television Tuesday as she and the president met with new Saudi King Salman in Riyadh.
The new Saudi king shook hands with President Obama at the Erga Palace but did not acknowledge the first lady at all during a brief aside at the funeral for King Abdullah, Bloomberg View reported.
Mrs. Obama did not wear a head scarf during the funeral, as is custom for any woman appearing in public in Saudi Arabia. Visitors to the kingdom are not required to abide by its strict dress code, but the first lady was still criticized on social media by Saudis using the hashtags #Michelle_Obama_Immodest and #Michelle_Obama_NotVeiled, Politico reported.

Joint Chiefs of Staff have an essay contest to honor Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah Bin Abdul-Aziz

Uh, why?

WASHINGTON, Jan. 26, 2015 – The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has established a research and essay competition in honor of Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah Bin Abdul-Aziz hosted by the National Defense University.
The king, who died Jan. 23 at age 90, oversaw the modernization of his country’s military during the time he spent as commander of the Saudi Arabian National Guard, a position he held from 1963 until he became king in 2005.
Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey said the essay competition is a fitting tribute to the life and leadership of the Saudi Arabian monarch.

President Barack Obama heads to Saudi Arabia to bow down to new king...

Continuing the "on his knees" American foreign policy. 

(CNN)U.S. President Barack Obama will travel to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday in order to meet the newly appointed monarch, King Salman, and pay his respects to the family of the late King Abdullah, the White House said Saturday.

Vice President Joe Biden was originally set to have led a delegation to Saudi Arabia on Obama's behalf.

However, the schedule for the President's departure from India has been adjusted to allow Obama to stop in Riyadh himself on his way home, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said.

Saudi Arabia executed an man this month for sorcery...

Ignorant bastards...

(Beirut) – Saudi Arabia has executed at least 19 people since August 4, 2014. Local news reports indicate that eight of those executed were convicted of nonviolent offenses, seven for drug smuggling and one for sorcery. Family members of another man, Hajras bin Saleh al-Qurey, told Human Rights Watch on August 17 that they fear his execution is imminent. The Public Court of Najran, in southern Saudi Arabia, sentenced al-Qurey to death by beheading on January 16, 2013 for allegedly smuggling drugs and attacking a police officer during his arrest. “Any execution is appalling, but executions for crimes such as drug smuggling or sorcery that result in no loss of life are particularly egregious,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director.

82 UN Countries praise Saudi Arabia for women's rights...

You can't make stuff this stupid up...

Via FPM:

. . . Today’s United Nations punchline has been brought to you by billions of your tax dollars. It’s your money. You deserve a good laugh:
As the UN Human Rights Council scrutinized Saudi Arabia’s domestic rights record this morning… out of 95 countries who took the floor, 82 praised Saudi Arabia.
Hillel Neuer, executive director of the Geneva-based human rights group UN Watch, said the country is poised to win a seat on the Human Rights Council.
“A country whose legal system routinely lashes women rape victims rather than punish the perpetrators should not have been praised effusively by members of the UN’s top human rights body,” said Neuer. “Instead the world should have addressed the Saudi regime’s use of cruel, inhuman and degrading punishments, such as flogging, amputations and eye-gouging.”

Interesting: Saudis worried about shale oil production in US...

Let them eat sand...

Via Reuters:

In an open letter to Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi and other ministers, published on Sunday via his Twitter account, Prince Alwaleed said demand for oil from OPEC member states was "in continuous decline".
He said Saudi Arabia's heavy dependence on oil was "a truth that has really become a source of worry for many", and that the world's biggest crude oil exporter should implement "swift measures" to diversify its economy.
Prince Alwaleed, owner of international investment firm Kingdom Holding, is unusually outspoken for a top Saudi businessman.
But his warning reflects growing concern in private among many Saudis about the long-term impact of shale technology, which is allowing the United States and Canada to tap unconventional oil deposits which they could not reach just a few years ago. Some analysts think this may push demand for Saudi oil, as well as global oil prices, down sharply over the next decade.

Religion of Peace Alert: Saudis chop off man's head because he is a witch

Islam is stuck several centuries in the past...

(USA Today) — A Saudi man was beheaded today on charges of sorcery, witchcraft and owning talismans, Arab News reports, quoting the Saudi Interior Ministry.

Muree bin Ali Al-Asiri also admitted to “committing adultery with two women,” the ministry says, according to the Saudi Press Agency. He was executed in the southern Najran province.

The BBC reports that a Saudi woman was executed for committing sorcery and witchcraft in December, and a Sudanese man was executed in September, despite calls by Amnesty International for his release.

The BBC’s Arab affairs editor, Sebastian Usher, notes that Saudi Arabia’s powerful conservative religious leaders strongly back the harshest punishment for anyone suspected of acts of sorcery, including fortune-telling and faith-healing.

Sen. Charles Schumer wants to pump more oil...in Saudi Arabia

 Wikimedia Commons

Instead of increasing drilling here in America and building a pipeline to bring in oil from Canada, Sen. Charles Schumer's energy plan is for Saudi Arabia to pump more oil.

Via The Hill:

Senate Republicans are bashing Sen. Charles Schumer’s (D-N.Y.) call for increased Saudi Arabian oil production to help ease prices, alleging it shows that Democrats are weak when it comes to boosting North American energy supplies and jobs.

Schumer on Sunday urged Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to press Saudi officials to expand production, noting that the kingdom is producing well below its capacity of 12.5 million barrels per day.

Republicans are hopeful that the letter provides a political opening to undercut Democratic and White House energy policies.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) office on Monday circulated a press release headlined “Top Democrat Senator Demands Increased Energy Production, Jobs In Saudi Arabia Rather Than Increasing American Energy And American Jobs.”

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, also doesn’t want Schumer’s letter to go unnoticed.

“Rather than approve the Keystone pipeline, the Democrats’ energy plan now calls for the most powerful nation in the free world to politely ask other countries for more oil and cross our fingers,” he said in a statement. Keep on reading...

Weird: Saudi Arabia arrests vulture on charges of being a Mossad spy

Yes, you read that correctly. A tagged vulture that strayed into Saudi Arabian territory has been arrested on charges of spying. There must be something in the water in the Middle east. Recently, Egypt blamed  shark attacks on Israel.

The Daily Mail reported:


A vulture tagged by scientists at Tel Aviv University has strayed into Saudi Arabian territory, where it was promptly arrested on suspicion of being a Mossad spy, Israeli and Saudi media reported Tuesday.

The bird was found in a rural area of the country wearing a transmitter and a leg bracelet bearing the words ‘Tel Aviv University’, according to the reports, which surfaced first in the Israeli daily Ma’ariv.

Although these tags indicate that the bird was part of a long-term research project into migration patters, residents and local reporters told Saudi Arabia’s Al-Weeam newspaper that the matter seemed to be a ‘Zionist plot.’

Report: Saudis On-board For Israeli Attack On Iranian Nuclear Facilities

Times Online is reporting Saudi Arabia has given a green light for Israel to cross their airspace on the way to attack Iran's growing nuclear capability. Apparently, the Saudis fear Iran's nuclear ambitions too.

Saudi Arabia has conducted tests to stand down its air defences to enable Israeli jets to make a bombing raid on Iran’s nuclear facilities, The Times can reveal.

In the week that the UN Security Council imposed a new round of sanctions on Tehran, defence sources in the Gulf say that Riyadh has agreed to allow Israel to use a narrow corridor of its airspace in the north of the country to shorten the distance for a bombing run on Iran...

“The Saudis have given their permission for the Israelis to pass over and they will look the other way,” said a US defence source in the area. “They have already done tests to make sure their own jets aren’t scrambled and no one gets shot down. This has all been done with the agreement of the [US] State Department...