Showing posts with label Obama. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Obama. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

HILLARY: I am not a crook!

By Investor's Business Daily

Scandal: RNC Chairman Reince Priebus reminds us of the similarity between the 18-1/2-minute gap that doomed a presidency and an email server wiped clean by a lawyer who served on a Watergate committee staff.

Hillary Clinton should know better, know that the cover-up is often worse than any crime, for she once worked as a member of the impeachment inquiry staff for the House Judiciary Committee investigating the "third-rate burglary" at the Watergate Hotel that doomed Richard Nixon's presidency.

The end came when tapes of presidential conversations were found and became public knowledge with one tape containing that famous 18-1/2-minute gap of erased silence that spoke volumes about the cover-up of the break-in at DNC headquarters.

As RNC Chair Reince Preibus notes, as Richard Nixon's claim that "I am not a crook" unraveled, it was due to the fact that he did not destroy those tapes when he could have. Maybe it was vanity, stubbornness or just garden variety stupidity and arrogance, but he didn't burn them or wipe them clean, even if it might have saved his presidency.

Hillary Clinton has, in different words, said that she is not a crook and that she did nothing wrong in having a private email account on a personal server through which she conducted all her government business in violation of both the letter and spirit of federal statutes.

SURPRISE: Israel catches Obama in major Iran nuke flip-flop

Like your doctor, keep your doctor. He 'evolved' on gay marriage. He's against wiretapping American citizens. He's drawing a "red line" with Syria on its use of chemical weapons. Yada yada yada.

So, I ask you drones, leftists and other miscreants: why would you believe anything this man says, ever?

“The biggest threat to our security and our future was and remains Iran's attempts to arm with nuclear weapons,” Netanyahu said at the ceremonial opening of the 20th Knesset just hours before the self-imposed deadline for reaching a framework deal between the world powers and Iran.

“The agreement being put together in Lausanne paves the way for that result. Apparently it will leave in Iran's hands underground facilities, the [hard-water] reactor at Arak, advanced centrifuges...

...All those things that only a few months ago we were told, rightfully so, that they were not vital to a peaceful nuclear program.”

Underground facilities? A reactor at Arak? Technically advanced centrifuges? But... but... but... I thought...

It was US President Barack Obama who said that each of those elements was not needed for a peaceful program.

Obama, during a question-and answer session at the Saban Forum at the Brookings Institution in Washington in December 2012, said the following:

“In terms of specifics, we know that they don’t need to have an underground, fortified facility like Fordow in order to have a peaceful nuclear program.

“They certainly don’t need a heavy-water reactor at Arak in order to have a peaceful nuclear program. They don’t need some of the advanced centrifuges that they currently possess in order to have a limited, peaceful nuclear program,” Obama said at the time.

Thought experiment: if Obama really was doing his damnedest to surreptitiously deliver nuclear weapons into the hands of the Iranians, what exactly would he be doing differently?

And I also put it to you: isn't there some way to blame this on Bush?


Hat tip: BadBlue News.

The Invasion Continues Apace

By Jessica Vaughan

More than 2,000 illegal alien juveniles have been apprehended and taken into federal custody in each of the last several months, according to DHS statistics. While Obama administration officials emphasize that these numbers are lower than last year, they are still the second highest level ever for arrests of illegal alien minors, about midway between 2013 and 2014 levels. Most of those apprehended are male teenagers, with the largest number from Guatemala. The statistics confirm that Central Americans still see a strong incentive to head to the United States now, and that the drop in apprehensions reported last August and September was temporary.

While taking custody of roughly 2,000 illegal alien juveniles per month since the start of the 2015 fiscal year last October, ICE reports removing well under 200 juveniles per month. The largest number of these (41 percent) were sent home to Mexico.

The majority of illegal alien juveniles taken into ICE custody are ultimately released to family members in the United States, and only a small number are ever repatriated. About 90 percent of the recent Central American arrivals who had hearings scheduled last summer and fall failed to appear at their immigration hearings and have melted into the larger illegal alien population.

FOR THE LITTLE PEOPLE: SEIU stands to make a mere $34 million a month unionizing fast food workers

By Labor Union Report

To the SEIU, the millions spent on unionizing fast-food workers may make the SEIU billions in union dues.

In the Spring of 2010, the Service Employees International Union’s ambitious plan to unionize fast-food workers was exposed.

Although the SEIU’s plan changed slightly from the orginal draft, the basic premise of tying the union’s campaign to unionize fast-food workers to a “living wage campaign” has not changed all that much.

However, it wasn’t until November 2012, that the SEIU launched the first of several fast-food “strikes” (most of the so-called strikers are not actual employees but paid-SEIU protesters) and its “Fight for $15 (and a union)” campaign commenced.

Since then, the SEIU has spent tens of millions—an astounding $38 million was spent in 2013 alone, according to Worker Center Watch—on its campaign to unionize fast-food workers.

Monday, March 30, 2015

WASHINGTON POST RIPS OBAMA-IRAN NUKE DEAL: Would Reward Terror State's Past Violations

By The Tower

The question of whether to trust Iran’s claims that its nuclear program is purely for peaceful purposes can be answered by a single issue: “Iran’s failure to deliver on multiple pledges to answer questions about its suspected research on nuclear warheads,” a staff editorial in The Washington Post asserted on Saturday.

The editorial recounts how both in 2007 and 2013, Iran agreed to clear up any questions about possible military dimensions of its past nuclear research, but “it then stonewalled inspectors, refusing to answer questions or permit access to sites.” After Iran refused to allow inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to access its Parchin military base, where nuclear weapons research is suspected to have taken place, “the IAEA published an extensive report detailing what it already knew about the illicit bomb work and listed 12 outstanding issues.” The government of President Hassan Rouhani agreed to address these outstanding issues.

However, the Post documents that the promised cooperation was again not forthcoming.

HOTEL SHOWERS, GRILLS AND WOOD-BURNING STOVES: EPA meddling in our lives reaches a zenith

By Paul Chesser

Those in business who have to oblige the Environmental Protection Agency (or the state government agencies that carry out federal laws) on a daily basis know there’s an endless list of issues upon which the cabinet agency can (and does) interfere and obstruct. But a few recent examples reveal the extent to which the government regulators are willing to extinguish our individual freedoms.

Attention this week is trained on the Supreme Court, where a costly Obama regulation on mercury emissions from utilities’ coal-fired power plants is under a challenge. That’s a big issue that addresses whether EPA conducted a proper cost-benefit analysis for limiting those emissions, which has major implications related to the cost of electricity, but is otherwise complex for the layman.

But other areas of increased meddling are more plain – and obnoxious.

SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS: Apparently, DC Insiders Can Legally Avoid Paying Taxes

You learn something new every day: did you know that government insiders can receive "certificates of divestiture" that allow them to "indefinitely defer" paying taxes on proceeds from stock sales?

The Daily Caller's Richard Pollock reports:

When Andy Slavitt reported for work as deputy administrator of the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services last June 10, he pocketed at least $4.8 million in tax-free income from major health-care companies.

...CMS officials ... initially issued a categorical denial to TheDC that Slavitt had sought and received a special “certificate of divestiture,” a loophole which allowed him to indefinitely defer capital gains taxes on the sale of millions of dollars in equities.

But when TheDC produced two certificates of divestiture issued to Andrew and Lana Slavitt — both dated July 9 and signed by the Office of Government Ethics’ general counsel David J. Apol – the agency backtracked.

The special certificates permitted Slavitt to sell 23,711 shares of United Health Group stock and avoid capital gains taxes on the transaction [...on July 9th,] Slavitt pocketed $1.9 million in tax-free income.

That same day, OGE permitted him to sell 11,670 additional shares in the Swiss private equity firm of Partners Group Private Equity, which, according to an Office of Government Ethics official, included underlying health-care investments.

The Swiss per share market price for the stock on July 9 was $249. Slavitt was able to cash in the stock for $2.9 million in tax-free income.

And what exactly is a "certificate of divestiture" (PDF)?

If you are an executive branch employee of the Federal Government or plan to become one, at
some point you may have to sell certain assets to avoid a conflict of interest or the appearance of a
conflict. Under tax rules, the sale of an asset may cause you to have a taxable capital gain which must be reported to the Internal Revenue Service. However, to make it easier for you and your family to comply with ethics rules, the tax laws provide that before you sell your asset, the Director of the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) may issue a Certificate of Divestiture (called a CD) which will allow you to defer the capital gains tax. The CD does not eliminate the capital gains tax; it simply defers payment of the tax to some future date.

In reading the applicable statute and regulatory guidance, I could find no timeline for repayment of capital gains taxes.

I guess some animals really are more equal than others.


Hat tip: BadBlue News.

Sunday, March 29, 2015

"Under Obama, we have switched sides"

Michael Goodwin:

If you’re confused about the Saudi Arabia-led air attacks against Islamist rebels in Yemen and can’t tell one group of head-choppers in Iraq and Syria from another, don’t despair. All you need is imagination.

Close your eyes and imagine that those countries and terrorists have nuclear weapons. Imagine their barbarism going nuclear as they blow up cities, wipe out ethnic and religious groups and turn the region into cinders.

Now open your eyes and realize you’ve seen the future, thanks to President Obama’s policies. It is a future that will be defined by Obama’s Wars. Yes, plural.

I’ve written frequently about the likelihood of a dystopian “Mad Max” scenario if Iran gets nukes. My thinking is guided by a belief among American military and intelligence officials that a nuclear exchange would take place in the Mideast within five years of Iran getting the bomb. To judge from events, the future is arriving ahead of schedule.

I once called this scenario "The Atomic Mahdi", though I had no idea then that we would have a president actively conspiring with the Mullahs.

These are grim thoughts, expressed because it is impossible to imagine any other outcome of Iran’s rise. It remains the world’s largest sponsor of terrorism and supports Hezbollah and Hamas and now the Houthis in Yemen. As for Iranian influence in Iraq, one analyst is calling Suleimani, the Revolutionary Guard commander, Iraq’s new “viceroy.”

Remember, too, Iran muscle and munitions are keeping Bashar Assad still standing in Syria. The wholesale death and destruction there — an estimated 200,000 people killed and millions displaced within the country and out of it — could be a prototype of its new empire.

While there are many dark and complex forces in play and blame to spread around, the most important catalyst of the violent disorder has been the reversal of America’s policies. Under Obama, we have switched sides, an abomination that ensures a legacy of infamy.

Read the whole thing.

And pray for our country. And our world.


Hat tip: Ace. Backgrounder: The Atomic Mahdi.

ISIS IN ILLINOIS: "JV" terrorists plotted to kill up to 150 intentionally disarmed soldiers in Ft. Hood copycat attack

By Investor's Business Daily

Terrorism: An Illinois National Guardsman sought to fight with Islamic State as his cousin plotted to kill scores at an Illinois National Guard facility. If they had succeeded, would President Obama call it workplace violence?

President Obama's "JV" terrorist team has metastasized to the point where its franchisees have spread across continents and oceans, with the FBI investigating ISIS-related activities and plots in all 50 states, including a very dangerous one in the commander in chief's home state of Illinois.

One of those FBI investigations involved the arrest Wednesday of Hasan Edmonds — a supply specialist with the Illinois National Guard, who had trained at the Joliet Armory since 2011 — at Chicago's Midway International Airport as he prepared to board a plane to Detroit and then to Cairo via Amsterdam, with the goal of joining the Islamic State.

Two hours later, authorities picked up his cousin, Jonas Edmonds, who had planned to wear Hasan's uniform and attack the facility in the same manner that Maj. Nidal Hasan did at Fort Hood, Texas.

The cousins had scouted out the armory on Tuesday, with Hasan Edmonds picking up a copy of the facility training schedule. The plan was for Jonas Edmonds to carry out the assault using AK-47s and grenades.

IRANIAN DEFECTOR: Barack Obama wants Iran to get nukes

Two more data points that offer additional evidence that Barack Obama is doing his level best to see Iran acquire nuclear weapons. Because, eh, crusades, I guess.

Iranian Defector: US arguing on Iran's behalf with P5+1 countries

Times of Israel, 29 March 2015

An Iranian journalist who was sent to cover the nuclear talks in Lausanne, Switzerland, defected over the weekend... Amir Hossein Motaghi, who was instrumental in the election of President Hassan Rouhani when he served as his personal aide during the Iranian election, asked authorities in Switzerland to grant him political asylum...

...According to the British Telegraph newspaper, Motaghi ... harshly criticized the American role in the talks, saying the White House was attempting to persuade the other members of the P5+1 group of nations (US, England, France, Russia, China and Germany) to accept Iran’s point of view.

The US negotiating team is mainly there to speak on Iran’s behalf with other members of the 5+1 countries and convince them of a deal,” Montaghi said.

Expected Iranian nuclear deal worse than Israel feared

Reuters, 29 March 2015

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned on Sunday the framework Iranian nuclear agreement being sought by international negotiators, saying it was even worse than his country had feared...

"This deal, as it appears to be emerging, bears out all of our fears, and even more than that," Netanyahu told his cabinet in Jerusalem as the United States, five other world powers and Iran worked toward a March 31 deadline in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Noting advances made by Iranian-allied forces in Yemen and other Arab countries, Netanyahu accused the Islamic republic of trying to "conquer the entire Middle East" while moving toward nuclearization.

And where will Obama be when nuclear weapons detonate in the Middle East or cities in the West?

Obama May Have Bought Sprawling, $9 Million Hawaiian Beachfront Home

Daily Caller, 22 March 2015

News reports indicate that President Barack Obama may have just purchased a beachfront home in Hawaii. But isn’t he worried about sea level rise from global warming?

Hawaii’s KTV4 News reports that a man connected to Obama purchased the multi-million dollar beachfront home featured in the show “Magnum P.I.” — the property was then sold to a limited liability corporation in Colorado. But if the House was bought on the president’s behalf, isn’t he worried that rising sea levels will harm his new real estate?

Obama has long warned that sea level rises caused by man-made global warming will make storm surges and flooding worse for coastal communities. In his 2015 State of the Union speech, Obama said “we’ll continue to see rising oceans, longer, hotter heat waves, dangerous droughts and floods.”

So why would Obama give a crap whether Iran gets nukes? He will be long gone when the piper will be paid.


Hat tip: BadBlue Real-Time News

Saturday, March 28, 2015

HILLARY'S DAMAGED CANDIDACY: The Stench of Corruption Follows Her Wherever She Goes

By Investor's Business Daily

Scandal: Hillary's emails may be only the tip of an iceberg that could include Clinton Foundation donations to shield Boko Haram from being designated a terrorist group and her brother's involvement in a Haitian gold mine.

We doubt Team Hillary was thrilled or her critics surprised Tuesday when the Inspector General for the Department of Homeland Security named Mrs. Clinton's brother, Tony Rodham, in a report about a firm that allegedly received preferential treatment from the Obama administration.

The firm, Gulf Coast Funds Management, with Tony Rodham listed as its chief executive, allegedly benefited from what the report says was "politically motivated" intervention of then-United States Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Alejandro Majorkas, whom president Obama promoted to be the No. 2 official at DHS even as he was under investigation.

A MUSLIM WORLD WAR: No One to Root for in the Yemen Conflict

By Michael Snyder

Saudi Arabia and Egypt stand poised to conduct a massive ground invasion of Yemen, and the western media will be full of tales about how “Operation Decisive Storm” is liberating that country from the evil Iranian-backed Houthi rebels. And without a doubt, the Houthis are bad guys and so are their Iranian benefactors. But don’t be fooled into thinking that the war in Yemen is a battle of good vs. evil. The truth is that the conflict in Yemen is actually a proxy war between two sets of bad guys that both ultimately plan for Islam to take over the entire planet. On one side, the Iranians are very honest about the fact that they view us as an enemy, and they plan to impose their version of radical Shia Islam worldwide as soon as they can.

On the other side, the Saudis pretend to be our friends, but they don’t hide the fact that they believe that their version of Sunni Islam will eventually rule the world. And their version of Sunni Islam includes constant beheadings, the destruction of all churches and the death penalty for anyone caught smuggling a Bible into Saudi territory. At the end of the day, there is very little difference between the Saudis and ISIS. In fact, ISIS gets a lot of funding from Saudi sources, and there is more support for ISIS on Twitter from Saudi Arabia than from anywhere else. Saudi Arabia is a horribly repressive regime where women are treated like dirt, where the secret police conduct a never ending reign of terror and where even a minor deviation from sharia law can mean the loss of a limb. But because our politicians and the mainstream media constantly tell us that they are “our friends”, we cheer them on.

It is being reported that the Saudis have mobilized 150,000 troops for a ground invasion of Yemen, and Egypt says that it is ready to contribute a very large force as well. The Saudis simply were not going to just sit back and watch as pro-Iranian forces took total control of their neighbor. The following is how the Telegraph recently described what the Iranians have been up to in Yemen for the past several years…

Friday, March 27, 2015

DUDE: Private Emails Reveal Ex-Clinton Aide's Secret Spy Network

by Jeff Gerth, ProPublica, and Sam Biddle, Gawker

This story was co-published with Gawker.

Update, March 27, 6:48 p.m.: This story has been updated to include responses from the FBI and the State Department.

Starting weeks before Islamic militants attacked the U.S. diplomatic outpost in Benghazi, Libya, longtime Clinton family confidante Sidney Blumenthal supplied intelligence to then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gathered by  a secret network that included a former CIA clandestine service officer, according to hacked emails from Blumenthal's account.

The emails, which were posted on the internet in 2013, also show that Blumenthal and another close Clinton associate discussed contracting with a retired Army special operations commander to put operatives on the ground near the Libya-Tunisia border while Libya's civil war raged in 2011.

Blumenthal's emails to Clinton, which were directed to her private email account, include at least a dozen detailed reports on events on the deteriorating political and security climate in Libya as well as events in other nations. They came to light after a hacker broke into Blumenthal's account and have taken on new significance in light of the disclosure that she conducted State Department and personal business exclusively over an email server that she controlled and kept secret from State Department officials and which only recently was discovered by congressional investigators.

The contents of that account are now being sought by a congressional inquiry into the Benghazi attacks. Clinton has handed over more than 30,000 pages of her emails to the State Department, after unilaterally deciding which ones involved government business; the State Department has so far handed almost 900 pages of those over to the committee. A Clinton spokesman told Gawker and ProPublica (which are collaborating on this story) that she has turned over all the emails Blumenthal sent to Clinton.

Those Who Rule Their Own Lives vs. Those Who Require Rulers

By Nick Sorrentino

The truth is some (many) people just want someone to make decisions for them. I am unsure if it is a genetic disposition or whether it is socialization or whether it is both. All I know is some people do not want to control their own lives. They are more comfortable with someone at the helm. They are comforted by a horizon which is limited and defined by others.

Strangely these same people also want to limit the lives of those who prefer to be free.

Who are you to pursue happiness? Who are you to be left alone to live, love, and create? Why don’t you respect authority? Why can’t you fall in line? You’re not better than us. Stand down Mr. or Ms. Individual. There are more of us than there are of you.

And to a large degree this is true. There are more of them. It is why we have the system of government we have now which seeks to restrict liberty, innovation, creativity, even joy in the name of order. There are more who wish to be controlled (whether they will admit it or not) and provided for than there are people who want to rule themselves. But in America, home of the rogue, the gambler, the pioneer, the dreamer, the number of freedom lovers is still relatively high. It’s literally in our DNA. And this is a source of hope.

Even in the face of decades and decades of statist propaganda in our primary schools and universities, on TV, and directly from the government, the thing which defines what an American is is liberty. An idea. We are not Huns, or Saxons, or Han, or whatever. We are a people – or at least we are supposed to be – which is defined by belief in human potential. By the pursuit of happiness and self ownership.

AS RUSSIAN WAR DRUMS SOUND: Obama disses NATO chief on his visit to the U.S.

By Investor's Business Daily


NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg came calling, but the president couldn't find the time to meet with him
Defense Obligations: Despite Russian submarine activity that's up a reported 50% and a rising cruise-missile threat, President Obama can't find the time to meet with NATO's new secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg.

Following a pattern of talking only to our enemies and not to Congress or allies such as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Obama apparently has decided to ignore Stoltenberg during a three-day visit to the U.S. According to Bloomberg, Stoltenberg's office requested a meeting in advance of the visit, but heard nothing back from the White House.

The president presumably is too busy explaining to the Iranian people why we must sign a nuclear Munich deal with an enemy whose leaders shout, "Death to America!"

Stoltenberg, twice the prime minister of Norway, met with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Monday, to discuss the upcoming NATO summit, the rising threat of the Islamic State worldwide and Russia's aggression toward and annexation of Ukraine.

The new NATO chief is well aware of increasing Russian bomber patrols that include mock attack runs on NATO members Britain and Sweden along with threats to aim nuclear missiles at Danish warships. The patrols have also buzzed U.S. warships, overflown Guam and approached within cruise missile range of Los Angeles.

"It is hard for me to believe that the president of the United States has not found time to meet with the new secretary general of NATO given the magnitude of what this implies, and the responsibilities of his office," says Kurt Volker, who served as U.S. permanent representative to NATO under both Obama and President George W. Bush.

Russian strategic bombers entered some 16 U.S. northwestern air defense zones in one 10-day period last August and have practiced attack drills off Alaska. These practice runs come as Russia develops new cruise missiles to arm these bombers and warships.

GOWDY: Hillary Clinton Wiped Her Email Server Clean

Try and contain your surprise: Hillary Clinton is engaged in a world-class cover up:

Hillary Rodham Clinton wiped her email server “clean,” permanently deleting all emails from it, the Republican chairman of a House committee investigating the 2012 Benghazi attacks said Friday...

...Clinton, a likely Democratic presidential candidate, faced a Friday deadline to respond to a subpoena for emails and documents related to Libya, including the 2012 attacks in a U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi that killed four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador to Libya.

The Benghazi committee demanded further documents and access to the server after it was revealed that Clinton used a private email account and server during her tenure at State.

Gowdy said he will work with House leaders to consider options. Speaker John Boehner has not ruled out a vote in the full House to force Clinton to turn over the server if she declines to make it available...

...Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., said the former secretary of state has failed to produce a single new document in recent weeks and has refused to relinquish her server to a third party for an independent review, as Gowdy has requested... “Not only was the secretary the sole arbiter of what was a public record, she also summarily decided to delete all emails from her server, ensuring no one could check behind her analysis in the public interest,” he said.

It is likely, according to former federal attorney Shannen W. Coffin, it is likely that Hillary's activities constitute a series of felonies.

Obama-Iran Nuke Deal Keeps Getting Better

Please scan these six headlines.

 

Now scan them again and really allow them to sink in. I'll wait here.

My short take: virtually the entire Western world (and rational human beings around the globe) opposes  Obama's horrific Iran deal that will allow the terror state to continue to enrich uranium and eventually deliver nuclear warheads through ICBMs or via its terror proxy, Hezbollah.

As a result of their opposition to the deal, Obama has targeted Israel (by repeatedly revealing Top Secret information that harms the security posture of the Jewish state) and any allies that dare speak up against the deal (e.g., France).

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia and Iran are now engaging in a proxy war in Yemen (which Obama claimed was a success story just six months ago) as ISIS continues its expansionary efforts.

Hundreds of thousands of people have already died thanks to Obama's destabilized Middle East (e.g., the Syrian "red line", the Libya "NATO"-led coup, etc.) and many millions more will​ die in the future as a result of allowing a fanatical Iranian regime to acquire nuclear weapons.

But not to worry: President Obama says Iranian leadership calls for "Death to America" are just a reason to do the deal​.

I'd be interested in your take on President Obama's motivations for his certifiably bizarre actions.

Thursday, March 26, 2015

SMART POWER: Saudis Launch Military Campaign in Yemen as Proxy War Against Iran Unfolds

By The Tower

A coalition of Gulf states, led by Saudi Arabia, launched airstrikes against the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen early today, The Washington Post reports:

The strikes were a startling turn of events that came as the Houthis, in control of Yemen’s capital for months, barreled south toward the coastal city of Aden, seizing an air base along the way that was evacuated by U.S. Special Operations forces­ last week.

President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who had taken refuge in Aden after fleeing Sanaa, the capital, was said to have escaped. His whereabouts were unknown.

The military operation was announced Wednesday evening in Washington by Saudi Ambassador Adel al-Jubeir, who said it would last until Yemen’s “legitimate government” was restored.

So far, no military actions beyond airstrikes have been reported. While the Saudis have an estimated 100,000 ground forces deployed at the border, the Post points out “any ground intervention would require a long and difficult trip through the heart of Houthi-held territory to reach Aden.”

According to the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya network, all members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) except for Oman have deployed jets in support of the Saudi operation, called Decisive Storm. Egypt, Jordan, Sudan and Pakistan have also have sent ships and planes to assist in the attacks on the Iranian-backed rebels.

Al-Arabiya also reports:

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

GREAT NEWS: New Ford car automatically obeys speed limits

A computer in charge of your vehicle: what could possibly go wrong?

Ford says it has the answer for speed demons who can't keep their gas pedals off the metal: A car that reads speed limit signs and automatically slows down.

Ford says that the newest edition of its S-Max car has "a new technology that scans traffic signs and adjusts the throttle to help drivers stay within legal speed limits and avoid fines."

...The technology seems to be a step in the direction of the driverless car, also known as an autonomous car. While these cars have yet to hit the market, Audi unveiled one last year that reached 140 miles per hour with no driver at the wheel.

Google and Nokia have also been experimenting with driverless cars. Google's electric-powered LUTZ Pathfinder started rolling through London last month at a not-so-brisk 12 miles per hour, and the company plans to expand tests later this week.

All the way back in 2012, I wrote that Americans should be very leery of self-driving cars. My rationale was simple and completely relevant today.

• How long until these cars (and therefore all of us) are tracked in real-time by the government?

• How long until government mandates the use of self-driving cars, under the aegis of safety, fuel efficiency, traffic control or heaven knows what?

• And how long until the government determines where you are permitted to go and when you will go there, like an ant-colony form of mass transit?

Knowing the power-hungry band of thieves and worse we currently employ in Washington, the answer to each of these questions is most assuredly: not long.

Self-driving cars are not bad ideas per se. But when government gets involved, you can be sure they will be used as tools to control citizens. For that is precisely what this enormous, bankrupt, doddering leviathan of a federal government always does.

It never scales back. It never "right-sizes". It never strips away laws or sheds outdated regulations.

Write it down. Put it in the time capsule.

Self-driving cars ride on the road to tyranny.


Hat tip: BadBlue Tech News.

WHITE HOUSE: Yemen a success story for Obama foreign policy even as country falls to rebels

Some days you can't tell whether The Onion has hacked a news site.

A White House spokesman said American efforts in Yemen are a "template that has succeeded," even as President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi was forced to flee the country by boat.

White House press secretary Josh Earnest on Wednesday said that the U.S. still had Yemeni extremists in its crosshairs.

...Earnest told reporters that U.S. officials were not aware of Hadi's destination but insisted that American officials still had a level of control over the chaotic situation.

"We have the ability to continue to apply pressure on the extremists," Earnest told reporters. "They are still in the crosshairs of U.S. security forces."

Yes, the "extremists" (misunderstanderers of Islam, no doubt) are "in the crosshairs" even though U.S. Special Forces evacuated the country just a few days ago.

You simply must listen to Earnest explain that Yemen is a success story.

Or perhaps this is just another psychological ploy by the smartest President ever, whose stated strategy is "leading with his from behind".

Update: Can you say "World War III"? "Saudis Prepare to Deploy in Yemen for Iran Showdown".


Hat tip: BadBlue News.