HERE'S YOUR TICKETS FOR SEATS 8A & B, WAIT ... DO YOU WANT YOUR CHANGE?

CLINTON CASH is a great book, a real page turner as well as "Uncovering Clinton" by Michael Isikoff just maybe the first ... the hits just keep coming!

Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign ...

www.amazon.com › ... › Politics & Government

Amazon.com, Inc.

“The new book Clinton Cash: is compelling reading on how Bill and Hillary have mixed personal wealth, power, and influence peddling.” (Jeffrey D. Sachs ...

You visited this page on 4/15/16.

The Clintons' War on Women: Roger Stone, Robert Morrow ...

www.amazon.com › ... › Leaders & Notable People

Amazon.com, Inc.

“Roger Stone's and Robert Morrow's new book, The Clintons' War on Women is the ultimate Clinton exposé: A 'no holds barred' look at the numerous scandals ...

Bill Clinton's top books to read - Favobooks

favobooks.com/politicians/66-bill-clinton.html

Covey's business classic has been making CEO one of top books to read since its publication in 1989 – it has sold around 15 million copies. Getting rid of the ...

Roger Stone Eviscerates The Clintons In New Book | The ...

dailycaller.com/.../roger-stone-eviscerates-the-clintons-in...

The Daily Caller

Oct 14, 2015 - Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton takes part in a presidential debate sponsored by CNN and Facebook at Wynn Las Vegas on ...

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The Clinton System - The New York Review of Books

www.nybooks.com/daily/.../clinton-system-donor-machine-2016-election/

On January 17, in the final Democratic debate before the primary season begins, Bernie Sanders attacked Hillary Clinton for her close financial ...

Book Review: 'Clinton Cash' by Peter Schweizer - WSJ

www.wsj.com/.../book-review-clinton-cash-by-peter-schweizer-143095279...

James Freeman reviews 'Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary ...

Hillary & Women - The New York Review of Books

www.nybooks.com/articles/2016/04/07/hillary-women/

In Broad Influence, a book about women's impact on the American workplace, Jay Newton-Small recalls Clinton's public tearfulness on the eve ...

THE FOURTH OF JULY ... NOPE, JUST A JUMP STARTED EMBRYO

Discovery could help fertility doctors decide best eggs to implant for IVF

In a study published in Scientific Reports, Northwestern researchers have discovered that when the human egg is activated by a sperm enzyme, an explosion of zinc sparks erupt. The size of the eruption is directly related to the health of the egg and its ability to develop into a viable embryo.

A stunning explosion of zinc fireworks occurs when a human egg is activated by a sperm enzyme, and the size of these “sparks” is a direct measure of the quality of the egg and its ability to develop into an embryo, according to new research from Northwestern Medicine.

The discovery has potential to help doctors choose the best eggs to transfer during in vitro fertilization (IVF), the scientists said.

This is the first time the zinc sparks have been documented in a human egg.



Zinc Fireworks Reveal Quality of Human Egg from Northwestern News on Vimeo.

“This means if you can look at the zinc spark at the time of fertilization, you will know immediately which eggs are the good ones to transfer in in vitro fertilization (IVF),” said Teresa Woodruff, one of the study’s two senior authors and an expert in ovarian biology at Northwestern. “It’s a way of sorting egg quality in a way we’ve never been able to assess before.”

Woodruff is the Thomas J. Watkins Memorial Professor in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and director of Northwestern’s Center for Reproductive Science.

Scientists activated the egg by injecting a sperm enzyme into the egg that triggers calcium to increase within the egg and zinc to be released from the egg. (The eggs in the study were not fertilized with actual sperm because that is not permitted in human research under federal law.)

“It was remarkable,” Woodruff said. “We discovered the zinc spark just five years ago in the mouse, and to see the zinc radiate out in a burst from each human egg was breathtaking. 

“All of biology starts at the time of fertilization, yet we know next to nothing about the events that occur in the human. This discovery required a unique partnership between biologists and chemists and non-federal dollars to support the research,” she said.

The study was published April 26 in Scientific Reports.

As the zinc is released from the egg, it binds to small molecule probes, which emit light in fluorescence microscopy experiments. Thus the rapid zinc release can be followed as a flash of light that appears as a spark.

“These fluorescence microscopy studies establish that the zinc spark occurs in human egg biology, and that can be observed outside of the cell,” said Tom O’Halloran, a co-senior author. O’Halloran is the Charles E. and Emma H. Morrison Professor in Chemistry in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences and director of Northwestern’s Chemistry of Life Processes Institute.

Eggs compartmentalize and distribute zinc to control the development of a healthy embryo. Over the last six years this team has shown that zinc controls the decision to grow and change into a completely new genetic organism.

“This is an important discovery because it may give us a non-invasive and easily visible way to assess the health of an egg and eventually an embryo before implantation,” said co-author Dr. Eve Feinberg, who took care of the patients who provided eggs for the basic science study and collaborated with the research team.

Feinberg will become an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Feinberg and will be ambulatory medical director of Northwestern Medicine’s Fertility and Reproductive Medicine division beginning July 1. Feinberg currently is a physician at Fertility Centers of Illinois (FCI).

“There are no tools currently available that tell us if it’s a good quality egg,” Feinberg said. “Often we don’t know whether the egg or embryo is truly viable until we see if a pregnancy ensues. That’s the reason this is so transformative. If we have the ability up front to see what is a good egg and what’s not, it will help us know which embryo to transfer, avoid a lot of heartache and achieve pregnancy much more quickly.”

First author Francesca Duncan made the human zinc spark discovery. “We now know that the release of zinc at the time of fertilization is a conserved phenomenon, which will help us address one of the largest unanswered questions in reproductive medicine -- what makes a good egg?” Duncan said.

Duncan was an assistant research professor in obstetrics and gynecology at Feinberg when she made the discovery and will become the executive director of Northwestern’s Center for Reproductive Science on August 1. She is currently an assistant professor at the University of Kansas Medical Center. Emily Que and Nan Zhang are co-first authors.

In a companion paper published in Scientific Reports on March 18, a zinc spark is shown at the precise time a sperm enters a mouse egg. This discovery was made by Zhang, a postdoctoral fellow at Northwestern. Zhang said little is known about the events that occur at the time of fertilization, because it is difficult to capture the precise time of sperm entry.

The paper is titled “The Zinc Spark is an Inorganic Signature of Human Egg Activation.”

The research was supported by the Thomas J. Watkins Endowment and a research grant from Ferring Pharmaceuticals and the W.M. Keck Foundation. All human egg activation studies were done exclusively with samples from FCI and funds from Ferring Pharmaceuticals.

SAUDIA ARABIA GLADLY ACCEPTS 9 YEMENIS TERRORISTS ... PAWNS

9 Guantanamo Bay Yemenis detainees sent to Saudi Arabia perhaps as pawns for trade should trades be necessary!!!

A detainee who had been on a hunger strike at Guantanamo Bay for nine years has been transferred out of the facility, the Obama administration announced Saturday.

According to a statement from the Defense Department, Tariq Ba Odah of Yemen has been transferred to Saudi Arabian custody along with eight other detainees, bringing the total number detained at the U.S. military base in Cuba down to 80.

Military officials had been force-feeding Ba Odah daily, strapping him down and pumping a liquefied supplement through his nose to his stomach. He began his hunger strike in 2007 and had lost roughly half his body weight. At one point last year, the 37-year-old weighed as little as 74 pounds.
 
While the military has said that Ba Odah was clinically stable, his attorneys had submitted testimony from doctors warning that his hunger strike could have ended in his death.

“Ba Odah faces persistent, serious medical risk even without losing any more weight,” Sondra S. Crosby of Boston University said in a court filing.

The Washington Post reported on March 30 that Ba Odah would leave the facility. He was moved to Guantanamo in 2002 and had been cleared to be transferred out of the facility in 2009. Military documents published by the transparency organization WikiLeaks suggest that the Yemeni was a suspected member of al-Qaida.

Ba Odah and the other detainees whose transfers were announced were all Yemenis, according to the Associated Press. The administration has been unable to send them home because Congress has barred transfers to Yemen.

GITMO MEMBERSHIP

The other eight names given by the Pentagon were Ahmed Umar Abdullah Al-Hikimi, Abdul Rahman Mohammed Saleh Nasir, Ali Yahya Mahdi Al-Raimi, Muhammed Abdullah Muhammed Al-Hamiri, Ahmed Yaslam Said Kuman, Abd al Rahman Al-Qyati, Mansour Muhammed Ali Al-Qatta and Mashur Abdullah Muqbil Ahmed Al-Sabri.

WATCHING FROM THE SIDE LINES ... A VOYEUR COMES OUT OF THE SHADOWS!

Independents Exceed Party Registration In Key States

THE TROGEN HORSE OF THE GENERAL ELECTION

ARE INDEPENDENT VOTERS REALLY THE PARTY OF THE SELF-DISENFRANCHISE?

Nearly 40 percent of all voters in the US are unaffiliated.
 

Out of the 28 states that record party affiliation upon registering to vote, Massachusetts, Alaska, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Connecticut have the highest percentage of independent or no party preference voters in the country. Unaffiliated voters in Massachusetts and Alaska are the majority with about 53 percent of voters in both states declining to register with a party.

Oh the questions that come to mind that need answers ...
Massachusetts
 

At the top of the list is Massachusetts with 53 percent of registered voters declining to state a party preference. Out of 4.3 million registered voters in the Bay State, about 2.3 million remain independent voters. Vastly outnumbering both registered Democrats and Republicans, the two major parties account for 1.5 million and 0.5 million, respectively.

Adding nearly 140,000 new non-affiliated voters since 2008, the number of independents has dramatically grown since 2008. On the other hand, party registration is down for both Democrats and Republicans, losing 7,771 and 6,160 voters, respectively. As more voters leave their parties, it’s fair to say Massachusetts is the most independent-minded state in the United States.

Alaska

Although Alaska has the smallest population of the bunch, comprised by a total of 486,108 registered voters statewide, a majority of Alaskans refuse to register with a party. Non-affiliated and undeclared voters consist of 53 percent of the electorate, followed by Republicans at 27 percent or 133,063 voters. Democrats are lagging behind when it comes to voter registration in the Last Frontier, making up only 14 percent of the electorate.

Oh the questions that come to mind ... the "Last Frontier" ... 

Rhode Island

Following the trend, Rhode Island’s 358,045 independents exceed the 290,397 registeredDemocrats and nearly quintuple the 74,070 registered Republicans.

Democrats have made some strides here over the last several years, picking up 4.8 percent of registered voters since 2006, coming to 40.1 percent of the electorate. Nevertheless, independent voters remain in the lead.

Almost half of Rhode Island voters, 49.5 percent, choose not to affiliate with a party. Meanwhile, Republicans have been unable to keep up, adding only 5,206 voters since 2006, resulting in a 0.1 percent decline in registration.

Why not affiliate?
New Jersey

The state with the fourth largest percentage of independent voters — out of states with available data — is New Jersey. Accounting for about 48 percent of registered voters, the 2.6 million independents have grown from 46 percent in 2008, beating out Democrats at 32.5 percent (1.8 million) and Republicans with 19.6 percent (1.07 million).

When compared to 2008, Republicans and Democrats have remained relatively stagnant adding only about 15,000 and 27,000 voters, respectively. Meanwhile, nearly 166,000 voters became independents over the course of Obama’s first term.

Connecticut

Connecticut is yet another state where independents outnumber party-affiliated voters. A considerable plurality, 42 percent (872,839), of the state’s voters remain unaffiliated with any party, edging out Democrats at about 37 percent (768,176) and doubling Republicans with about 20 percent (430,564).
 
The long-term trend with independent voters in Connecticut is holding steady given about 42 percent of voters were not affiliated with a major party in 2008.
 

Nationwide trends have been moving towards fewer and fewer voters registering with a party. Nearly 40 percent of all voters in the United States are decline to state or independent.

JUST TOOK IT OFF MY BUCKET LIST

Kuwait to DNA test and tag all tourists

ANOTHER GROUP OF MEN WEARING DRESSES AND TABLE CLOTH HEAD DRESS

Cape Town – All visitors and tourists to Kuwait will now have to submit to a DNA test and be DNA tagged before they’re allowed to enter the Persian Gulf state.
In a world first, Kuwait wants to DNA “tag” everybody in, as well as entering the country with the new DNA legislation that will become law this year.

The Kuwait government says the forced DNA testing won’t affect people’s personal freedom and privacy but will be done to keep track of people and to help if they commit crimes.

Tourists and visitors to Kuwait will get their DNA taken through specimens of saliva or a few drops of blood done at a special DNA testing facility at the airport.

The DNA collection will be done at a special testing centre at Kuwait International Airport and there will be “consequences of rejecting its procedures” for visitors who refuse the mandatory test.

Citizens will be DNA tested by using mobile testing centres that will move through the state and residents will have their DNA captured when they apply for the issuing or renewing of residency visas during medical examinations.

According to The Kuwait Times, the DNA testing law is “aimed at creating an integrated security database”. The law – the first of its kind in the world – and the DNA tagging will only be used for “criminal security purposes” according to Kuwait officials.

“Kuwait will have a database including DBA fingerprints of allcitizens, residents and visitors. This law is the first of its kind in the world and Kuwait is the first country worldwide to apply the system,” notes the publication.

ISLAM IS ISLAM ANY QUESTIONS ... UNDER THE BUS

WHITE HOUSE POISED TO RELEASE SECRET PAGES FROM 9/11 INQUIRY

28Pages.org Exclusive: “A Buried Envelope, Buried Questions: Your First Look Inside Document 17”

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Obama administration will likely soon release at least part of a 28-page secret chapter from a congressional inquiry into 9/11 that may shed light on possible Saudi connections to the attackers.

The documents, kept in a secure room in the basement of the Capitol, contain information from the joint congressional inquiry into "specific sources of foreign support for some of the Sept. 11 hijackers while they were in the United States."

Bob Graham, who was co-chairman of that bipartisan panel, and others say the documents point suspicion at the Saudis. The former Democratic senator from Florida says an administration official told him that intelligence officials will decide in the next several weeks whether to release at least parts of the documents. The disclosure would come at a time of strained U.S. relations with Saudi Arabia, a long-time American ally.

"I hope that decision is to honor the American people and make it available," Graham told NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday. "The most important unanswered question of 9/11 is, did these 19 people conduct this very sophisticated plot alone, or were they supported?"

Tim Roemer, who was a member of both the joint congressional inquiry as well as the 9/11 Commission and has read the secret chapter three times, described the 28 pages as a "preliminary police report."

"There were clues. There were allegations. There were witness reports. There was evidence about the hijackers, about people they met with - all kinds of different things that the 9/11 Commission was then tasked with reviewing and investigating," the former Democratic congressman from Indiana said Friday.

Fifteen of the 19 hijackers were citizens of Saudi Arabia. The Saudi government says it has been "wrongfully and morbidly accused of complicity" in the attacks, is fighting extremists and working to clamp down on their funding channels. Still, the Saudis have long said that they would welcome declassification of the 28 pages because it would "allow us to respond to any allegations in a clear and credible manner."

The pages were withheld from the 838-page report on the orders of President George W. Bush, who said the release could divulge intelligence sources and methods. Still, protecting U.S.-Saudi diplomatic relations also was believed to have been a factor.

Ben Rhodes, President Barack Obama's deputy national security adviser, said Obama asked National Intelligence Director James Clapper to review the papers for possible declassification.

"When that's done we'd expect that there will be some degree of declassification that provides more information," Rhodes told reporters in Riyadh last week, where Obama met with King Salman and other Saudi leaders. The White House says the 28 pages did not come up during discussions.

Neither the congressional inquiry nor the subsequent 9/11 Commission found any evidence that the Saudi government or senior Saudi officials knowingly supported those who orchestrated the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people. But Graham, the relatives of victims and some lawmakers think there is reason to further probe possible Saudi links.

Roemer said many questions remain about the roles of Fahad al Thumairy, an official at the Saudi consulate in Los Angeles who allegedly helped two of the hijackers find housing and transportation after they arrived in Southern California. Al Thumairy was later denied entry into the United States in May 2003 after the State Department alleged that he might be involved in terrorist activity. Roemer also wants to know more about Omar al Bayoumi, who was strongly suspected of being a Saudi spy and was alleged to have been helpful to the hijackers.

"We did not discover ... Saudi government involvement at the highest level of the 9/11 attacks," Roemer said. But he added: "We certainly did not exonerate the Saudis. ... Saudi was a fertile ground for fundraising for al-Qaida. Some of these issues continue to be problems today. That's why we need to continue to get to the bottom of this."

An Internet site pushing to get the documents released, 28pages.org, points to another document declassified in July 2015 that outlined ways in which the commission could examine possible Saudi links.

That 47-page document lists several pages of individuals of interest and suggests questions that could be pursued. One name is suspected al-Qaida operative Ghassan al Sharbi.

Al Sharbi, who was taking flight lessons in the Phoenix area before 9/11, was captured in 2002 in the same place in Pakistan as Abu Zubaydah, a top al-Qaida trainer who was apprehended and waterboarded dozens of times by U.S. interrogators.

The document said that after al Sharbi was captured, the FBI discovered some documents buried nearby. One was al Sharbi's pilot certificate inside an envelope from the Saudi Embassy in Washington, although it's unclear whether the license had been mailed by the embassy or if the envelope was simply being reused.

A CIA inspector-general report in June 2015 said there had been no reliable information confirming Saudi government "involvement with and financial support for terrorist prior to 9/11." But it said also that people in the CIA's Near East Division and Counterterrorism Center "speculated that dissident sympathizers within the government may have aided al-Qaida." The rest of the chapter, titled "Issues Related to Saudi Arabia," is blacked out.

A bill directing the president to release the 28-page chapter was introduced in the Senate, and nearly three dozen Republicans and Democrats in the House are backing a similar resolution.

Reps. Walter Jones, R-N.C., Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., and Thomas Massie, R-Ky., wrote Obama last week saying they don't think releasing the chapter will harm national security and could provide closure for the victims' families.

California Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, has read the pages and said this past week that while he wants to see them declassified to end speculation about what they say, releasing them will not quell the debate over the issue.

"As is often the case, the reality is less damaging than the uncertainty," he said.

WHEN IN THE COURSE OF HUMAN EVENTS ... DON'T BE AN ASSHOLE!

THE ESSENCE OF HUBRIS ... "WE'VE ONLY BEEN ON THIS PLANET IN LESS THAN A BLINK OF THE EYE, YET WE ARE CONCERNED ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING AND CLIMATE CHANGE!"

     
     
Source:LiveScience
 

THE SHIT IS SO DEEP I NEEDED HIP-BOOTS TO READ IT!

Pelosi’s Husband Invested in Solar Firm Weeks Before Lucrative Expansion


SunEdison is now eyeing bankruptcy, but Paul Pelosi invested right before a 2014 stock rally

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi’s husband bought up to a quarter million dollars of stock in a now financially troubled green energy company just weeks before it announced a major 2014 acquisition that sent stock prices soaring, public records show.

SunEdison told regulators last week that it is eyeing bankruptcy under the weight of $11.7 million in debt. But in late 2014, investors were bullish on the company, which manufactures and operates solar and wind power facilities.
 
Its 2014 purchase of wind energy company First Wind “further bolstered the reputation of the company,” wrote one market-watcher at the time. “Perhaps unsurprisingly, SunEdison’s stock soared an astounding 29% on news of this acquisition alone.”

Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi, had invested just in time. He bought between $100,000 and $250,000 in SunEdison stock on Oct. 24, 2014, according to congressional financial disclosures. The company announced its First Wind (yup I smell some first wind) acquisition on Nov. 17.

Pelosi’s office did not respond to questions about the timing of the purchase and whether she or her husband had any advance knowledge of the deal.

Pelosi has previously been accused of trading stock based on information gleaned through her official duties. She participated in Visa’s initial public offering as the company fought a House bill to subject credit card companies to increased regulation. The measure failed to pass.

A law passed in the wake of that controversy prohibits members of Congress from using nonpublic information for personal gain. Language in that measure was informally dubbed the “Pelosi Provision.”

In addition to her stock trades, Pelosi steered more than $1 billion in federal subsidies to a light rail project that likely improved the value of the San Francisco headquarters of cloud computing company Salesforce, in which her husband had invested up to $1 million.

Paul Pelosi’s stake in SunEdison will likely force the wealthy investor to take a haircut if the company declares bankruptcy. SunEdison’s First Wind acquisition turned out to be a significant part of a larger expansion over the last two years that left the company with unsustainable levels of debt.

On the heels of its First Wind deal, in July 2015, SunEdison announced that it would buy residential power company Vivint Solar for $2.2 billion. Its stock improved on the news, and then began its precipitous decline.

The Vivint deal fell apart in March. The company accused SunEdison of breach of contract, and SunEdison announced that it had been subpoenaed by the Department of Justice over the failed acquisition.

SunEdison has maintained strong a strong presence in Washington throughout its financial woes. The company has spent more than $1 million on its lobbying operation since 2011.

It has employed lobbyists with the powerhouse Podesta Group since 2012, disclosure forms show. In 2015, it brought on 38 North Solutions, a green energy focused lobbying firm. Both firms lobbied to preserve federal tax credits for renewable energy generation.
 

Pelosi fought for the extension of those tax subsidies in a major congressional deal late last year.

The Podesta Group is run by a top Hillary Clinton fundraiser. Its cofounder chairs her presidential campaign, to which SunEdison donated last year. The company has also donated to the Bill, Hillary, and Chelsea Clinton Foundation.

The son of Ira Magaziner, the chief executive of the foundation’s health policy arm, served as a “clean energy associate” at the foundation before taking a project finance position at SunEdison last year.

RYAN HAS GONE OVER TO THE DARK SIDE ...

Ryan expresses skepticism about 9/11 bill

The House should take a careful look at controversial legislation that would allow 9/11 victims to sue the Saudi Arabian government for any role it might have played in the terrorist attacks, Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said Tuesday.

Why Ryan has gone over to the Dark Side.

That way, lawmakers can ensure the U.S. government is not jeopardizing its relationship with an important ally, he said. What is Israel ... chopped liver?

DON'T WORRY, I JUST WASHED MY HANDS!

President Obama has already vowed to veto the bill should it reach his desk, and Ryan acknowledged that there were significant concerns about it among some House members.

The Speaker recently led a congressional delegation to the Middle East but said the legislation never came up during his meetings with King Salman and other top Saudi officials in Riyadh.

“I think we need to look at it,” Ryan told reporters at a news conference. “I think we need to review it to make sure we are not making mistakes with our allies and that we’re not catching people in this that shouldn’t be caught up in this.” (READ AS: WE WON'T PASS THE BILL!)

The Saudi government is vehemently opposed to the bipartisan legislation, which has been introduced in both the House and Senate. Top officials from the country have threatened to sell off $750 billion dollars in U.S. assets if Congress takes up and passes the bill, The New York Times reported. WOW ... Just think of all the bargains!

The international spat comes just as Obama is set to visit Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.

Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) introduced a House version of the bill, which is backed by several of his New York colleagues. A companion bill in the Senate was authored by New York Democrat Charles Schumer and Republican Whip John Cornyn of Texas. GOP presidential hopeful Ted Cruz, the junior senator from Texas, has signed on as well.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who are competing for the Democratic presidential nomination, both support the legislation.

9/11 TERRORIST HIDING IN THE BUSH

How BUSH administration covered up Saudi role in 9/11

In its report on the still-censored “28 pages” implicating the Saudi government in 9/11, “60 Minutes” last weekend said the Saudi role in the attacks has been “soft-pedaled” to protect America’s delicate alliance with the oil-rich kingdom.

That’s quite an understatement.

Actually, the kingdom’s involvement was deliberately covered up at the highest levels of our government. And the coverup goes beyond locking up 28 pages of the Saudi report in a vault in the US Capitol basement. Investigations were throttled. Co-conspirators were let off the hook.

Case agents I’ve interviewed at the Joint Terrorism Task Forces in Washington and San Diego, the forward operating base for some of the Saudi hijackers, as well as detectives at the Fairfax County (Va.) Police Department who also investigated several 9/11 leads, say virtually every road led back to the Saudi Embassy in Washington, as well as the Saudi Consulate in Los Angeles.

Yet time and time again, they were called off from pursuing leads. A common excuse was “diplomatic immunity.”

Those sources say the pages missing from the 9/11 congressional inquiry report — which comprise the entire final chapter dealing with “foreign support for the September 11 hijackers” — details “incontrovertible evidence” gathered from both CIA and FBI case files of official Saudi assistance for at least two of the Saudi hijackers who settled in San Diego.

Some information has leaked from the redacted section, including a flurry of pre-9/11 phone calls between one of the hijackers’ Saudi handlers in San Diego and the Saudi Embassy, and the transfer of some $130,000 from then-Saudi Ambassador Prince Bandar’s family checking account to yet another of the hijackers’ Saudi handlers in San Diego.

An investigator who worked with the JTTF in Washington complained that instead of investigating Bandar, the US government protected him — literally. He said the State Department assigned a security detail to help guard Bandar not only at the embassy, but also at his McLean, Va., mansion.

The source added that the task force wanted to jail a number of embassy employees, “but the embassy complained to the US attorney” and their diplomatic visas were revoked as a compromise.

Former FBI agent John Guandolo, who worked 9/11 and related al Qaeda cases out of the bureau’s Washington field office, says Bandar should have been a key suspect in the 9/11 probe.

“The Saudi ambassador funded two of the 9/11 hijackers through a third party,” Guandolo said. “He should be treated as a terrorist suspect, as should other members of the Saudi elite class who the US government knows are currently funding the global jihad.”

But Bandar held sway over the FBI.

After he met on Sept. 13, 2001, with President Bush in the White House, where the two old family friends shared cigars on the Truman Balcony, the FBI evacuated dozens of Saudi officials from multiple cities, including at least one Osama bin Laden family member on the terror watch list. Instead of interrogating the Saudis, FBI agents acted as security escorts for them, even though it was known at the time that 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudi citizens.

“The FBI was thwarted from interviewing the Saudis we wanted to interview by the White House,” said former FBI agent Mark Rossini, who was involved in the investigation of al Qaeda and the hijackers. The White House “let them off the hook.”

What’s more, Rossini said the bureau was told no subpoenas could be served to produce evidence tying departing Saudi suspects to 9/11. The FBI, in turn, iced local investigations that led back to the Saudis.

“The FBI covered their ears every time we mentioned the Saudis,” said former Fairfax County Police Lt. Roger Kelly. “It was too political to touch.”

Added Kelly, who headed the National Capital Regional Intelligence Center: “You could investigate the Saudis alone, but the Saudis were ‘hands-off.’ ”

Even Anwar al-Awlaki, the hijackers’ spiritual adviser, escaped our grasp. In 2002, the Saudi-sponsored cleric was detained at JFK on passport fraud charges only to be released into the custody of a “Saudi representative.”

It wasn’t until 2011 that Awlaki was brought to justice — by way of a CIA drone strike.

Strangely, “The 9/11 Commission Report,” which followed the congressional inquiry, never cites the catch-and-release of Awlaki, and it mentions Bandar only in passing, his named buried in footnotes.

Two commission lawyers investigating the Saudi support network for the hijackers complained their boss, executive director Philip Zelikow, blocked them from issuing subpoenas and conducting interviews of Saudi suspects.

9/11 Commission member John Lehman was interested in the hijackers’ connections to Bandar, his wife and the Islamic affairs office at the embassy. But every time he tried to get information on that front, he was stonewalled by the White House.

“They were refusing to declassify anything having to do with Saudi Arabia,” Lehman was quoted as saying in the book, “The Commission.”

Did the US scuttle the investigation into foreign sponsorship of 9/11 to protect Bandar and other Saudi elite?

“Things that should have been done at the time were not done,” said Rep. Walter Jones, the North Carolina Republican who’s introduced a bill demanding Obama release the 28 pages. “I’m trying to give you an answer without being too explicit.”

A Saudi reformer with direct knowledge of embassy involvement is more forthcoming.

“We made an ally of a regime that helped sponsor the attacks,” said Ali al-Ahmed of the Washington-based Institute for Gulf Affairs. “I mean, let’s face it.”

Paul Sperry is a former Hoover Institution media fellow and author of “Infiltration: How Muslim Spies and Subversives Have Penetrated Washington.”