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Hillary Clinton used a personal email account exclusively to conduct government business as Secretary of State, violating federal requirements that officials’ correspondence be retained as part of the agency’s record. Clinton didn’t have a government email address during her entire four-year tenure at the State Department.

Her aides took no actions to have her personal emails preserved on department servers at the time, as required by the Federal Records Act, when Clinton stepped down from the secretary’s post in early 2013. Then in response to a new State Department effort to comply with federal record-keeping practices, Clinton’s advisers reviewed tens of thousands of pages of her personal emails and decided which ones to turn over to the State Department.

Meanwhile her aides continue talking about a possible April date for the launching the Democratic front-runner’s 2016 presidential campaign.

Under federal law, letters and emails written and received by federal officials are government records and must be kept so that congressional committees, historians and the news media can find them. Only 55,000 pages of emails were released.

As the Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza asked, “Clinton turned over 55,000 pages of e-mails, but who decided what emails to turn over and which not to?”

Now former State Department officials are denying suggestions that Clinton’s use of a private email address violated federal law.

“Both the letter and spirit of the rules permitted State Department officials to use non-government email, as long as appropriate records were preserved,” stated Clinton spokesman Nick Merrill.

Clinton’s email address was hdr22@clintonemail.com; the handle seems to refer to her maiden name as she was born Hillary Diane Rodham. The number ‘22’ is drawing speculation across the entire spectrum of the media as no one seems to know the number stands for.

Its fun to note — Monica Lewinsky was 22-years-old when she began an affair with then-President William Jefferson ‘B.J.’ Clinton, Hillary’s husband.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned the U.S. that it was negotiating a bad deal with Iran that could spark a “nuclear nightmare,” drawing a rebuke from President Obama. Netanyahu made his case against Obama’s Iran diplomacy in a speech to Congress.

Obama responded from the Oval Office, declaring Netanyahu had offered “nothing new.”

“The alternative that the prime minister offers is ‘no deal’, in which case Iran will immediately begin once again pursuing its nuclear program, accelerate its nuclear program without us having any insight into what they are doing and without constraint,” he said.

However, Iran’s foreign minister rejected Obama’s claim that a 10-year nuclear deal offered the best hope of avoiding an atomic-armed Tehran. Mohammad Javad Zarif was speaking in Switzerland, where he and Secretary of State John Kerry are meeting to set up a framework for a deal to rein in Tehran’s nuclear program by a March 31 deadline.

Shortly after Netanyahu’s speech, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the Senate would begin debating on a bill next week that would force Obama to send any final nuclear deal with Iran to Congress for its’ approval.

“We think the timing is important,” McConnell said. “We think it will help prevent the administration from entering into a bad deal. But if they do, it will provide an opportunity for Congress to weigh in.”

But all this appears to be a smoke-screen for what was really happening on Capitol Hill…

The House approved funding for the Department of Homeland Security through September, after initial attempts by the GOP to make funding contingent on blocking actions on immigration last November by Obama in which he bypassed Congress. The final bill passed was a Senate measure, stripped of language attacking Obama’s executive order lifting the deportation for millions of illegal aliens.

It’s Arizona Congressman Matt Salmon, who perhaps said it best: “If we aren’t going to fight now, when are we going to fight back?”

“It ain’t no fun once the rabbit has got the gun,” writes M.G. Hardie in his book, “Everyday Life.”

A Saturday Night Live parody about a father who drops off his daughter to join ISIS stirred outrage.  The recorded segment was a parody of the recent ‘My Bold Dad’ commercial for Toyota, where a dad gets tearful when he drops his daughter off to for military duty.

While its presumed she’s going off to serve her country, a pickup truck pulls up with bearded men carrying black flags similar to those of ISIS, which reportedly read, “We only want brains,” and “I love cats.”

“Looks like your ride’s here — you be careful, okay?” states the father.

“Dad, it’s just ISIS,” the daughter says as she trots off to the armed men filled truck.

Then one of the members says: “Death to America,” as the father asks them to take care of his little girl. The faux-commercial ends with the words “ISIS, we’ll take it from here, Dad” on screen.

The skit came as three major international stories were breaking; three British schoolgirls travelling to the Middle East to join ISIS, three men from the U.S. arrested on charges of plotting to travel to Syria to join ISIS and the unmasking of ‘Jihadi John.’

It may have offended viewers — but unlike the staff of the French magazine, “Charlie Hebdo,” no one died as a result of a poorly timed skit. Besides, it’s S-N-L, pushing the envelope of Progressive ideals for over 40-years.

April is ‘Sexual Assault Awareness Month’ in the U.S. military.

Last year, the Department of Defense prepared a 136-page, write-up titled, “Report to the President of the United States on Sexual Assault Prevention and Response,” at a cost of over $9.2 million. For the amount of money spent on it, one might think sexual assault in the military is an epidemic.

However, it’s not.

You’d never know this though, had you only read the December 3, 2014 article, “Reports of Sexual Assaults in Military on Rise,” in the New York Times: “A new military study says that reports of rapes and sexual assaults in the military increased eight-percent in the fiscal year ending September 2014, Obama administration officials said.”

“More than 5,400 sexual assaults were reported in 2014,” it added, “compared with around 5,000 the year before, officials said.”

However, the 2014 presidential report shows sexual assaults down 4.3 percent, from 6.1 percent two-years before.

Unfortunately, what has gone up are the reports of sexual assaults. In 2012, there were 3,604 reports of assaults and in 2014 that figure increased 50 percent to 5,518 reports.

Furthermore, all three military service academies showed declines in the number of sexual assaults during the 2013-2014 school year. About eight-percent of females and one-percent of males reported experiencing unwanted sexual contact, compared to more than 12-percent for women and two-percent for men in 2012.

Meanwhile, U.S. Army Chief of Staff General Ray Odierno, while speaking at this year’s ‘Sexual Harassment/ Assault Response and Prevention Summit’ in February continues to toe the Obama Administration line, claiming, “Anybody who thinks we don’t have a problem should reassess.”

NBC’s online series “Missing in America” is looking into the case of two Humboldt County, California women who vanished over a year ago: Danielle Bertolini and Sheila Franks. The two went missing within days of each other in February 2014.

Now, Fortuna Police Chief William Dobberstein confirms that there’s a connection between the two disappearances.

“Both cases are ongoing investigations,” Dobberstein said. “We’re working with the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Department closely and following all our leads, but yes, we have identified a person-of-interest in both cases and it’s the same man.”

“We aren’t releasing his name at this time,” Dobberstein added.

Danielle was last seen in Fortuna in the Campton Heights area, while Sheila was last seen in Eureka. Despite a 14-year age difference, both women have blond hair, blue eyes, are similar in appearance and build, and travel in the same social circles.

Still recovering from an alleged smack down given to him by his exercise equipment at the start of the new year, Nevada Senator Harry Reid is now accused of illegally using official Senate resources for political purposes. The accusation was filed in a complaint by the ethics watchdog group, Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT.)

“Senator Reid’s actions appear to make a mockery of both the Senate Ethics Rules and federal law,” the complaint states. “He reportedly announced his reelection campaign from the confines of an official Senate meeting room located mere steps from the Senate floor.”

A recent Politico story describing the meeting between Reid and Senate Democrats says Reid kicked off the meeting by assuring his colleagues that he will run for reelection in 2016.   Reid spokesman Adam Jentleson, when asked to respond to the complaint, retorted: “do you mean a story taking it seriously?”

The complaint against Reid is the second filing produced by the group. The first one alleges campaign finance violations by the Democratic Party, eight of its state-level affiliates, the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign, the Barack Obama presidential campaign, two top Democratic data vendors, and 382 Democratic congressional campaigns.

It is so easy to lead people down paths they never thought they’d walk.

For instance, take these Indian Hindu devotees smeared with colors as they visit the Nandagram temple, famous for Lord Krishna and his brother Balram, during Lathmarholi festival, in Nandgaon, India.

It’s innocent enough, as there is nothing wrong with a person celebrating their religious beliefs. However, consider these Color Run participants throwing colored chalk up in the air after completing the 5K race in Fair Park in Dallas, Texas.

We American’s tend to absorb other cultural traditions and rarely stop to see where they may have come from or what they could really mean. I’m not saying ‘chalk runs’ are a bad thing — I’m jus’ asking that you think about the similarities between the two events.

“Some dogs cannot hold their licker,” goes the old joke.

All kidding aside, Nevada State Senator John Settelmeyer has introduced a bill allowing individual bar owners admit dogs into their establishment if they’d like too. At present, Nevada laws forbid dogs in bars or restaurants unless they’re service dogs.

“Fundamentally,” said Settelmeyer, “…it comes down to a matter of property rights to an individual business…”

Settelmeyer introduced SB 105 at the request of Karen Woodmansee, editor of the Virginia City News in Storey County. The bill may seem trivial at first, but on second look, it’s anything but.

The bill is about letting bar owners decide what’s best for their businesses and not on what the government dictates. Nevada health department officials plan to oppose the bill, saying dog hair and bodily fluids might cross-contaminate food or drink, unruly dogs could bite patrons, and employees would have to be trained on how to safely interact with the dogs.

Following up on my story, “Behind the Use of Reno, Nevada’s Police Officers in Ukraine,” the city council voted to have Reno Police Chief Steve Pitts bring home the five police officers sent to Ukraine. The officers traveled to the embattled country last month to train officers in Kiev under a U.S. Department of Justice program.

The council isn’t upset over the fact that these officers are in a war zone and could be hurt or killed. No, they’re mad that they were lied too.

Initially, Pitts said the Department of Justice was picking up the tab for the program. But he’s been left holding the bag, as the DOJ is now refusing to pay the officers salaries.

Instead, the City of Reno — meaning its local (and not federal) taxpayers — will have to foot this bill.

First, a little history…

The U.S. declared war on Spain in April 1898. It would be the first overseas war fought by our nation, involving campaigns in both Cuba and the Philippine Islands.

Following the end of the war, another conflict began, this time between the Moro and the U.S. which also took place in the Philippines between 1899 and 1913. The Moro or Bangsamoro are Muslim and were at the time, attacking and killing American servicemen.

Since Islam is the dominant influence of the Moro culture and pork and pork byproducts are forbidden, one U.S. Army Cavalry officer in 1911 devised a plan to deal with the Moro’s using their culture against them.

“It was Colonel Alexander Rodgers of the 6th Cavalry who accomplished by taking advantage of religious prejudice what the bayonets and Krags had been unable to accomplish,” writes Vic Hurley in his 1938 book, ‘Jungle Patrol’ about the conflict. “Rodgers inaugurated a system of burying all dead juramentados in a common grave with the carcasses of slaughtered pigs.”

One-hundred-years later…

After weeks of observation, Marine Sergeant Rob Richards and his fellow scout snipers took out a Taliban leader in Afghanistan responsible for killing two of their fellow Marines. The Taliban desecrated one of those Marines’ bodies by hanging his leg in a tree as a message.

Then a video showing Richards and his fellow snipers standing over the dead leader and another fighter, urinating on them, surfaced on YouTube a year later. This prompted an investigation by the U.S. Marine Corps.

One of eight Marines to face discipline as a result, Richards pleaded guilty to failing to obey a lawful order, failure to maintain good order and for actions bringing discredit to the armed forces. The deal let him avoid a bad-conduct discharge that would have eliminated his VA medical benefits.

“We were cheering at the time because, I don’t know how much I can get into it, but he was a high-value target or a person of great interest,” Richards explained in an interview with the Marine Corps Times. “I guess one thing led to another and, jokingly, four of us took a piss on him. Looking back, I know it sounds kind of taboo or distasteful doing it, but at the time it was just hilarious. It made sense. It was just another ordinary day.”

Richards was found dead in his Jacksonville, North Carolina, home in August 2014, his death the result of an adverse reaction to his pain meds. So now, the once vilified Marine lays at rest in Arlington National Cemetery, in a canister bearing his favorite Ernest Hemingway quote: “There is no hunting like the hunting of man, and those who have hunted armed men long enough and liked it, never care for anything else thereafter.”

Thus is the price of political correctness in today’s U.S. military.