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**Written by Doug Powers

There’s a lot going on in the news that I won’t be able to get to individually this week, so here’s a weekday open thread for discussion about anything you like.

Here are a couple things to start it off:

As if the shooting in Virginia on live TV that left a reporter and a photographer dead wasn’t terrible enough, liberal politicians sensed an opportunity to push a political agenda. Among them, Hillary Clinton:

Heartbroken and angry. We must act to stop gun violence, and we cannot wait any longer. Praying for the victims' families in Virginia. -H

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) August 26, 2015

Just chillin’ in Opportunist-ville.

Hillary followed that up with a slew of specifics about what proposals would have prevented the crime. Wait, no, that didn’t happen.

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President Obama has downplayed ISIS as the “JV team” and touted “success stories” where his administration’s policies have eliminated or greatly reduced terror threats overseas. The Pentagon has been made fully aware that any attempt to insert reality into that narrative is not welcome at 1600 Penn:

Senior military and intelligence officials have inappropriately pressured U.S. terrorism analysts to alter their assessments about the strength of the self-proclaimed Islamic State, three sources familiar with the matter told The Daily Beast. Analysts have been pushed to portray the group as weaker than the analysts believe it actually is, according to these sources, and to paint an overly rosy picture about how well the U.S.-led effort to defeat the group is going.

Reports that have been deemed too pessimistic about the efficacy of the American-led campaign, or that have questioned whether a U.S.-trained Iraqi military can ultimately defeat ISIS, have been sent back down through the chain of command or haven’t been shared with senior policymakers, several analysts alleged.

In other instances, authors of such reports said they understood that their conclusions should fall within a certain spectrum. As a result, they self-censored their own views, they said, because they felt pressure to not reach conclusions far outside what those above them apparently believed.

By the way, these are the same conditions under which the government’s climate change “science” reports and Iran deal analyses are developed. Confident in their veracity?

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Bumped to Sundays we much.

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“Orwell, party of 320 million, your table is ready”:

Here’s a map of how the federal government is working with local communities to create change: http://t.co/ZiyIzAZfuT pic.twitter.com/BzIHWv7P2l

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) August 26, 2015

I think the green areas are everyplace the EPA has polluted beyond recognition.

Have a good Thursday all!

**Written by Doug Powers

Twitter @ThePowersThatBe