When A Pay-Off Is Not A Ransom: When It's "Contingent" -- August 18, 2016

Updates

Later, 9:27 p.m. Central Time: it took a few days but the White House wordsmiths finally found the right word: "leverage." Everybody knows knew. This, too, will be another non-story.
 

Original Post

 

And so it goes. From The New York Post. This story will be headline news everywhere by this time tomorrow, except on NBC, MSNBC, CNN, HLN, ABC, CBS, and a few other mainstream outlets.

It will be interesting to see if / when I see this story on-line at the following site, updating at 4:50 p.m. Central Time:

• Los Angeles Times: if there, not seen (it's probably there, but it did not appear on opening page by Friday morning, August 19, 2016, after story everywhere else; updated 8:29 a.m. Central Time, August 19, 2016)
• Fox News: yes, among the top four stories -- probably the first of the group to post the story
• The New York Times: yes, 8:44 p.m. Central Time, update; sticks with "AP" word: "leverage," not "ransom"
• Washington Post: yes, 7:45 p.m. Central Time, update
• Wall Street Journal: 7:45 p.m. Central Time, update; not ransom, "leverage"
• The [London] Guardian: if there, not seen
• The [London] Telegraph: yes, a top story 

This story will be dead by Monday, August 22, 2016. Move on. 

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Everyone Knows

If the NYT does not print this story, then the NYT considers it a non-story.

If it's a non-story, it means that "everyone" knew what was going on. No reason to cover it in the NYT. Call it what you want, it is what it is, and everyone knows.

Oh, good. It gives me an opportunity to post this video:

Everyone Knows, Leonard Cohen
My hunch is that this story is something President Obama is not even thinking about. At most it's a joke told while golfing, that he got four Americans released by using Iranian cash.