Mitt Romney Might Have Signaled All Is Lost For A Republican White House, Clinton Return Inevitable

When it comes to political families at the national level in the US, they're pretty much all the same regardless of whether they've got a D or R next to their name.  They'll do what they can to win and continue their legacy.  So, when Mitt Romney bowed out of a third bid to become the next president of the United States, the Republicans should pay attention.

If anything, Romney is a very calculating individual who knows risks and he's very good at it.  I'll get more into this later if warranted but despite President Obama and the Democratic Party getting badly bruised in the 2014 midterms, they are poised for a comeback in 2016 with a rejuvenated Hillary Clinton, improving economy, and continued low polling numbers for Congress.

All these factors with carefully tested populist messages the White House used in 2012 and is testing could be issues once again in 2016.  Furthermore, the idea of the first female president of the United States coming so quickly on the heel of the first black President of the United States could be enough to galvanized the Obama base and nostalgic notions of the later years of Bill Clinton's presidency.

And if Mitt could not beat a weakened Obama in 2012, he decided he could not beat a stronger Clinton campaign.

It'll take another political dynasty to challenge Clinton.  The question should move into whether Jeb Bush has what it takes to give the Bush dynasty a third president or not.

2016 Could Be Clinton's (To Win or Lose)

According to early public opinions polled by the Washington Post, former First Lady, former NY senator, and former secretary of state, Hilliary Clinton, should have more than a decent chance at winning the presidential election in 2016 to become the first female president of the United States.

Of course, we all kinda thought that back in 2008, right before an relatively unknown junior senator threw a wrench in that and got himself elected president.  However, it's unlike the Clinton team will allow anything like that to happen a second time. 

Furthermore, her numbers against potential GOP candidates are quite decent and should pit her well against candidates from other political dynasties. 

While the post remained focused on the numbers, we are still months away from any official announcements by any candidates, including Clinton, and much political, economic, and international events or dramas can cause a shift in the climate around Washington. 

But if things goes smoothly with the economy continuing to pick up and Russia and ISIS continue to be put in check or resolutions come to fruition, it'll definitely put the pressure on her opponents more than Clinton. 

Security: Looks Like the US Government Knew What It Was Talking About In Blaming North Korea For the Sony Hack

Source:  Mashable.

It looks like the US government knew exactly who hacked Sony when it placed the blame squarely on North Korea.  Apparently, the NSA and, perhaps the South Korean intelligence apparatus, had already hacked North Korea's network and had been tracking Sony hackers.

At least, this is what we are being lead to believe.

As a layman, I have a few questions as I am sure you do regarding this matter that are not specific to the Sony hack.  For instance, how did the NSA managed to insert its codes into the hacking tools used by the North Koreans?  And does this speak to the skill levels between those hackers and the NSA?

And lastly, what other tools are available to Western governments to continue to track and hack unfriendly governments?  It's like the North Korea is doing its best to look for and scrub out programs and codes, those that had been used by the NSA as as well ones that have been detected.

The dilemma for me here about these types of news reports is that while it is important that the public be informed, to a certain degree, it could also undermine future intelligence operations as well.