Something to file away.

The New York Times has reported that billionaire investor Prince Alwaleed bin Talal was arrested on Saturday night along with at least 10 other princes, four ministers and ten former ministers. What the New York Times is not reporting is that this is the same Alwaleed bin Talal who helped Barack Obama get into Harvard Law School. Their relationship came to light in late March 2008 on a local New York City show called Inside City Hall.^[1]

Prince Bin Talal has investments in Citigroup, Twitter, Lyft and Time Warner and has "close ties with other Wall Street leaders including Goldman Sachs . . . CEO Lloyd Blankfein."^[2]

In other words, he's a very rich Saudi to whom our former president Obama is personally obligated. It's crystal clear from Mr. Cashill's article that bin Talal had decided to invest in Obama very early on. What did he know and what made Obama such a good investment for him (and the Kingdom?)? There's a similar story of a postman encountering Obama just after leaving the house of Bill Ayers's father. Allegedly, Obama told the postman he was going to be president someday. What to make of this I don't know. Was Obama really that remarkable at an early age to warrant such attention? Was it that he wasn't that remarkable, other than being articulate, but that marketing can make it happen?

Bin Talal's also well-connected on Wall Street and an investor in major American media. Now under arrest in Saudi Arabia as part of a political spasm of unclear significance.

Notes
^[1] "Saudi Billionaire Busted for Corruption Helped Obama Get Into Harvard." By Jack Cashill, The Sentinel, 11/6/17.
^[2] "Saudi Prince Alwaleed has invested billions in companies around globe." By Saeed Azhar and Tom Arnold, Reuters, 11/5/17.