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

Saturday, July 25, 2015

HISTORIC: Obama administration cripples ability of Inspectors General to investigate corruption and fraud in government

By Kathryn Watson

Department of Justice officials gave official approval Thursday to the FBI’s practice of blocking access to data and documents in a decision that DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz said “undermines” his ability to do his job and violates the will of Congress.

“Today’s opinion by the Office of Legal Counsel undermines the IG’s independence, which is a hallmark of the Inspector General system and is essential to carrying out the IG’s oversight responsibilities under the Inspector General Act,” Horowitz said.

“The OLC’s opinion restricts the IG’s ability to independently access all records in the Justice Department’s possession that are necessary for our audits, reviews, and investigations, and is contrary to the principles and express language set forth in the Inspector General Act,” Horowitz said.

The much-anticipated OLC memorandum said the FBI can use the Patriot Act to withhold wiretapping, surveillance and credit records from the DOJ IG.

After a years-long battle with the FBI over these types of records, Horowitz and other inspectors general had hoped for a very different outcome in a decision that could have negative ripple effects for other inspectors general appointed to expose waste, fraud and abuse.

The OLC opinion also claims Section 218 of the DOJ’s current budget, which prohibits any agency within the department from using its budget to block IG access, was insufficiently clear.

But Horowitz strongly disagreed, saying “Congress meant what it said when it authorized Inspectors General to independently access ‘all’ documents necessary to conduct effective oversight. Without such access, our office’s ability to conduct its work will be significantly impaired, and it will be more difficult for us to detect and deter waste, fraud, and abuse, and to protect taxpayer dollars. We look forward to working with the Congress and the Justice Department to promptly remedy this serious situation.”

WELL, THAT ESCALATED QUICKLY: Iranian Leader Posts Picture of Obama Shooting Himself in the Head

Ah, nothing says peaceful coexistence like a prospective suicide note to a negotiating partner.


As The Right Scoop observes, "But we were told that everyone’s totally happy about the Iran deal and they love us now."

Hat tip: BadBlue News.
 

Obama Trusts a Terror State, But Not the American People

By Richard Larsen

It’s disturbing to witness the collapse of logic, especially when perpetrated by our own president. After all, if we were to believe what so many of his devotees claim prima facie, he’s among the smartest on the planet. But his nuclear deal with Iran proves to the contrary; not just by its terms, but his illogic in support of it.

President Obama said this week, with regard to the agreement inked with Iran, “There really are only two alternatives here. Either the issue of Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon is resolved diplomatically through a negotiation or it’s resolved through force, through war. Those are—those are the options.” There are so many more options available, that even he should be aware of, yet he’s reduced to employing the common false dichotomy, or fallacy of bifurcation, in support of it. But it explains his inanity in signing a deal that all but assures a nuclear Iran in the foreseeable future, and further underscores why Obamacare was foisted upon the nation; to him, there are but two options – his way or no way at all.

Obama added that no better deal was or is possible than the one he has negotiated. Since the bargaining table was approached from a position of weakness, acquiescence, and appeasement, he’s likely correct. But if the process had been approached from a position of strength, like Reagan did with the Soviet Union at the height of the Cold War, then the final agreement would have been much more inhibiting to Iranian nuclear ambitions, and we, and our allies, could have come away from the negotiations feeling much safer and assured.

OBAMA ADMINISTRATION OFFICIALS: Hillary Clinton Lied; Used Personal Email Server to Transmit Classified Documents


“I did not email any classified material to anyone on my email. There is no classified material. I’m certainly aware of the classified requirements and did not send classified material.”


Try and contain your shock, but it turns out that Hillary Clinton blatantly lied to the American people about the use and nature of her illegal, personal email server. Simply operating her own server to conduct official business was in all likelihood a direct violation of federal statutes; but sending and receiving classified information using personal servers is another set of crimes entirely.

Several Inspectors General in the Obama administration have reviewed a tiny fraction of the Clinton emails and determined that 10 percent were classified SECRET or higher at the time they were transmitted.

Friday, July 24, 2015

TED CRUZ EXPOSES THE LIES, DISSEMBLING AND DECEIT OF MITCH McCONNELL: Now This is Speaking Truth to Power

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is the architect of the Republican Establishment's serial campaign of "Failure Theater", which is designed to deceive the party's base. McConnell and company pretend that real action is being taken to defend the Constitution while actually accomplishing nothing or, worse yet, conspiring with the most radical and corrupt administration in modern American history.

Failure Theater is the process by which the Establishment deliberately fails to do achieve anything, but wants credit from the Dumb Conservatives they’re playing to for allegedly “trying.”

Each of Boehner’s and McConnell’s “defeats” are in fact planned in advance. They are not trying to advance the conservative agenda; they are attempting to con conservatives into believing they have attempted to implement conservative policy, when in fact they were delivering their political deliverables to their Donor Class paymasters all along.

Uneducated, gullible, and easily led: if we stand for this, we are exactly what the Washington Post slurred us as 30 years ago.

Failure Theater has most recently embodied itself in McConnell's bogus attempts to repeal Obamacare; stop the insane deal to fund Iran will hundreds of billions of dollars and let it develop nuclear weapons; and pursue Planned Parenthood's child organ harvesting.

The one man who dares to speak truth to power -- willing to attack both parties for their lies -- is Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. Today he rose to speak in the Senate of Mitch McConnell's devious machinations.

TIME IS RUNNING OUT: Will Schumer and the Democrats Finally Step Up and Defend America?

By James Soviero

Shortly after the November, 2014 Republican landslide we posted an article titled, “Wanted: Gutsy Dems to Rescue Our Constitution”. The piece went on to explain some of the rationale behind what appears an irreconcilable statement. Some excerpts:

“So given the undeniable Republican ascendancy, why would they need gutsy democrats to rescue our Constitution? One, because President Obama’s clinical narcissism will not allow him to admit to either errors in policy or judgement. Two, because this delusional thinking will have him press ahead with his extra-constitutional, “pen and phone”, assault on the “supreme law” of our land. Three, because most GOP leaders, paralyzed by the president’s pigment, will likely duck a serious, principled fight….even if the very health of the Republic is at stake.”

“Sadly, to this point, aside from some lone, outraged conservative voices, the overall reaction to Obama behaving in ways Richard Nixon never dreamt, has been marked by soft commentary from Republicans and complete silence from Democrats. But now, with the dramatic shift in D.C. power, the dynamics have changed and the stakes are much, much higher. The only way for “The One” to get what he wants is to brazenly bypass an overwhelming majority in Congress….that has been duly elected to stop him from advancing his increasingly unpopular and reckless agenda.”

Nine months later, Obama’s attack on our preeminent governing document has only accelerated. While fellow party members may have enjoyed Barack’s rewriting ObamaCare, and changing immigration laws to fit their partisan needs, his handing the Iranian Nuclear Arms Deal to the United Nations before Congress has even read it, is very, very different. It puts Democrats in an extremely tough spot on a two levels.

Thursday, July 23, 2015

FreedomWorks: We Refuse to be Silenced by the IRS

By Iris Somberg

In light of recent revelations that the IRS used donor lists to target right-leaning groups for audits and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) stating that targeting of conservatives is still possible, FreedomWorks CEO Adam Brandon commented:

"It is completely unacceptable, and 100 percent illegal, for the IRS to target donors of right-leaning groups for audits. Even after the Lois Lerner scandal, this problem has not been fixed. This has to change now."

Brandon added, "Punishing people for their political views, no matter what they are, is a violation of our most basic freedoms. We will not be intimidated by the IRS or any government agency that wants to silence our beliefs. We stand with our 6.9 million activists in asking for basic protection of our First Amendment rights."

Click here to support FreedomWorks
 

Kill the Obama Deal. Before it Kills Us.

By Frank Gaffney

Team Obama’s sales campaign for the Obamabomb deal is running into growing concerns about myriad concessions it has made to an Iranian regime that explicitly promises to destroy our country and its people.

These include: promises to enhance and protect Iran’s nuclear program; agreeing to allow Iran to get renewed access to conventional weapons and ballistic missile technology; and removing some 300 designated Iranian terrorists and their organizations from sanctions lists.

Worst of all, Team Obama is giving our avowed enemies hundreds of billions of dollars to pursue their oft-stated promise to bring Death to America, its citizens and allies.

I was one of tens of thousands who packed New York’s Times Square yesterday to urge Congress to kill this deal before it kills us. Please do the same with your representatives.


Read more at CenterForSecurityPolicy.org
 

Yes, Beatrice, Obama Hates Our Military

By Karl Denninger

Why do we have anything to do with this clown-car crap?  When is it enough?

The White House has now reversed itself and ordered flags flown at half-mast -- but not until after they refused to do so while the Capitol (and the States) did.

How much more do you need to see when five of our servicemembers are gunned down in an act of terrorism on our soil, potentiated by a government that refuses to recognize everyone's 2nd Amendment rights, including members of our militaryand then goes even further by posting "gun free zone" signs on the door!

Oh, it doesn't stop there either.  If your grandmother has a gun for personal protection (and is not a frail older person the exact sort of person for whom that equalizer is most important) but has someone else (like you) run her bank account for her Obama wants to confiscate her gun.

Where is your limit of tolerance for this crap America?

You don't need any damn permit to write a blog or start and operate a newspaper.

You don't need any damn permit to worship as you see fit.

If anyone tried to tell you that needed a permit to write either in print or online, or before you could pray, you'd stick up the middle finger.

A right is not conditioned on any damn permit and the Second Amendment is clear in its language just as is the First Amendment -- so why is your middle finger not in the air right here and now?


Read more at Market-Ticker.org.
 

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

FAILURE THEATER REDUX: Corker, McConnell completely outraged that Obama hid Iran nuclear documents from Congress

The apogee of Republican Failure Theater -- the act of pretending to oppose radical Left policies while secretly supporting them -- was the surrender of the Senate's treaty review rights with respect to Barack Obama's secret Iran nuclear agreement. This complete abdication of Congressional power was orchestrated by the usual suspects -- John Boehner and Mitch McConnell -- along with their henchman, Senator Bob Corker (R-TN).

Iran is already in violation of the agreement. While their negotiators were busy in Munich Vienna, they were busting arms control sanctions in search of nuclear material and technology.

Corker is the man that let this happen. Corker is the man that set up the deal so Obama could do whatever he wants. Corker is the gutless puke who decided that courage was something he did not possess and allowed US alliances in the Middle East to be held hostage to Iranian threats and ensured that any future war with Iran will be nuclear.

You can see that Corker and McConnell are already using their Obamacare playbook in service of the Iran nuclear deal. They are talking about how tough they are going to be and what they are going to do but, in fact, they will do nothing. They have colluded with Obama to create a deal that CANNOT be unraveled by a future president and it will happen without a majority vote of the Congress.

Well, it turns out that Obama screwed the GOP by hiding key elements of the "Give Iran Nuclear Weapons and Set the Middle East Afire" bill (my memory could be off, but I think that's the name of the legislation). In other words, Corker and McConnell were willing to get shafted consensually, but Obama took it to next level altogether. He went medieval on their asses.

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

SELF-DELUSION: The Chamberlain-Obama Comparison is Apt

By Thane Rosenbaum

There’s been a lot of talk lately proclaiming Barack Obama the second coming of Neville Chamberlain. The analogy may be facile, but it is not far-fetched. The accord just reached in Vienna, at best, only temporarily cools off Iran’s nuclear ambitions. The Iran deal will be remembered either as a masterful display of diplomacy or as a hopelessly naïve delusion.

Wishful thinking is not a sound basis for foreign policy. When it comes to Iran, the stakes are too high to gamble on good faith. Israel and Saudi Arabia have good reasons to worry. And when before have these two nations had anything in common?

Congress now readies itself for 60 days of peeking underneath the Persian carpet of this Iranian deal, while the President threatens to test his veto powers over congressional action.

Americans should be skeptical. Iran is not just a regional menace. Long-range missiles can erase complacency in an instant. The seeming vast distance on a map between Iran and the United States, in the modern world, can resemble a commuter stop. The days of trench warfare are over because there isn’t enough time to dig any of those trenches. Iran may end up convincing the United States that it needs its very own Iron Dome.

You won’t believe the letter this fifth-grader just wrote to the government

It's stuff like this that makes me hopeful for the next generation. Brian writes, "A friend from work's daughter penned this, and she just had to show me. Thought you might enjoy."


We have a budding little capitalist and liberty-loving young lady, I think.


Related: Plunder and Deceit, by Mark Levin.
 

Monday, July 20, 2015

“You were given a choice between war and dishonor, Mr. Obama. You chose dishonor, and you will have war.”

By Sara Noble

The U.N. Security Council endorsed the nuclear deal Monday morning. The statists in the U.N. have been given the power to decide the fate of the nuclear deal with no intervention by the American people thanks to the unilateral president and the Corker bill. The Corker bill allows international law to supersede our Congress and our Constitution.

The negotiations began when the President engaged in secret correspondence with the Ayatollah and his minions. Valerie Jarrett made secret trip(s) to Iran. The Logan Act suggests that this is not within his rights to engage in secret correspondence with the enemy.

The negotiations of the P5+1 were always a sham because they were always between the U.S. and Iran. China and Russia? Russia wants the U.S. to be harassed by Iran and they want to sell arms to the Iranians. China is already preparing for war against the United States with cyber as the first front. The U.K., France, Germany depend on Russia for their oil.

Lawyers involved in the negotiations and an Iranian reporter who sought asylum in the U.K. claimed that the U.S. acted as Iran’s agents throughout the negotiations.

PASS THE POPCORN, NAHANNI: Federal judge warns State Dept. it will “have to answer for” any missing Hillary emails

Our friends at Judicial Watch have been indefatigable advocates for liberty and the pursuit of the Obama administration's many high crimes and misdemeanors (a list that exhausts one simply to read it).

In any event, using tools like Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, JW has been doggedly seeking answers with respect to Hillary Clinton's secret email server. And, as Inspectors General throughout the massive government bureaucracy have publicly stated, the least transparent administration in history is covering up everything germane to the investigation.

Namely, what exactly did Hillary Clinton promise foreign entities, international corporations, and others who were contributing to her family's foundation under the aegis of her official role as Secretary of State?

...a federal judge warned the State Department that it will “have to answer for” any destruction of Hillary Clinton email records. U. S. District Court Judge Rudolph Contreras made the statement at a July 9, 2015 status conference concerning a Judicial Watch Freedom of Information Act lawsuit for records about the State Department vetting of then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s potential conflicts of interest (Judicial Watch, Inc. v. U.S. Department of State (No. 1:15-cv-00688)). The transcript of the July 9 court hearing is available here.

At the hearing, attorney Chris Fedeli pressed Judicial Watch’s concerns about the preservation of records, especially email records that were not part of the 55,000 pages of records turned over by Mrs. Clinton to the State Department late last year.

In response, Judge Contreras said he was also “concerned” about the preservation of these records:

Why I find it hard to give a f***

By Karl Denninger

It's very hard for me to give a **** these days.

In fact, it's becoming nearly impossible.  The reasons are many, with the most-serious being your refusal to give a ****.

You don't give a **** that the entire medical industry rips everyone off to the tune of 200, 300, 400, 500% or more of what virtually everything should cost.  This is why you "need" health insurance.  It is why we "need" Medicare.  The practices of this "industry" in virtually every other line of business would result in the people involved going to prison for decades, yet you tolerate this daily despite the fact that it is the largest cause of bankruptcy in the United States.  You cannot take your car in for an oil change or have the furnace guy come and fix your heating system in your home without being quoted a price before work begins, and were two gas stations to collude on prices the owners of both would be charged with felonies.

You don't give a **** that pharmaceutical companies literally price drugs at a half-million dollars a year -- and if you need it, you'll need it effectively forever.  There are so few people who have that sort of money that this kind of pricing is by definition theft, as the only way to "afford' such a drug is to steal the money from someone else (through legal means or otherwise.)  What's worse is that you let them get away with having most of the development cost of these "wonder drugs" be born through publicly-funded research; it's not even their money at risk (for the most part) when such a new drug is tested, it's yours and mine.  We then wonder why so-called "health insurance" is as expensive as it is and why the stock of firms in that business such as Aetna (NYSE: AET) are up more than 500% since 2009, roughly doubling in the two years since the Obamacare "mandates, er, taxes" kicked in and stock in company that makes the drug in this example (ALXN) is up 1,000% since 2009.  You, on the other hand, will be flirting with bankruptcy (if not rendered penniless, insurance or no) if you get sick.

Sunday, July 19, 2015

Iran Deal Infographic

Courtesy of RJC


The RJC is an organization worth supporting, no matter your race, religion, creed or ethnicity. Click here to visit.
 

I’ve Read the Nuclear Deal, Mr. President, and It’s Atrocious

By David Gerstman

Deal rewrites history: Iran committed no violations in the past

In his combative press conference last week to defend the P5+1 nuclear deal with Iran, President Barack Obama issued the following challenge:

So to go back to Congress, I challenge those who are objecting to this agreement, number one, to read the agreement before they comment on it; number two, to explain specifically where it is that they think this agreement does not prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, and why they’re right and people like Ernie Moniz, who is an MIT nuclear physicist and an expert in these issues, is wrong, why the rest of the world is wrong, and then present an alternative.

First off it’s worth noting that Energy Secretary and MIT nuclear physicist Ernest Moniz said back in April that to be effective the deal would have to include “anytime, anywhere,” inspections, so Obama’s explanation about why 24 days notice is now good enough fails to convince me.

I want Moniz to explain why he changed his position on this AND why 24 days is now acceptable. I would like Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes to explain why he walked back his comments on requiring “anytime, anywhere” inspections.

And I want a more convincing explanation than negotiator Wendy Sherman’s excuse that the term was just a “rhetorical flourish.” (If that was a rhetorical flourish, I’m curious how many other administration comments about the nuclear deal were rhetorical flourishes.)

But in that paragraph, Obama limits the grounds of questioning the deal to whether the language of the deal is insufficient to prevent Iran from achieving a nuclear breakout over the course of the deal.

Here’s where I have problem. Even if the agreement was airtight, and I doubt that it is, there’s a matter of the administration’s behavior during the Joint Plan of Action, which was agreed to in November 2013. The problem is that the Obama administration has acted as “Iran’s attorney” covering for Iran’s violations of the previous agreement.

In a notable episode last month, administration officials attacked The New York Times for reporting that Iran would likely fail to reduce its stockpile of enriched uranium by the June 30 deadline. In the end Iran did reduce its stockpile but not by the method prescribed and not to the form that it was required to.

The nonproliferation think tank, the Institute for Science and International Security, earlier this month, explained why the administration’s behavior in this case was troubling:

What "Smart Meters" are really all about

"Smart meters" aren't about saving power; they're about government control. Witness the latest from Johannesburg, South Africa where authorities are pleading with residents "not to panic" when power is shut off to households that are consuming more than their fair share of electricity.

Load Limiting is a technology that enables City Power to accurately identify and ascertain household consumption in real time in relation to the available generating capacity.

The deployment of load limiting will enable City Power to remotely disconnect households that don’t comply with requests to reduce consumption, remotely using smart meters.

Households that have an excessive consumption would experience repetitive disconnections at five minute intervals for a period of 30 seconds until they have reduced their consumption to required levels.

Should they fail to abide by instructions to reduce consumption, non-compliant residents will be disconnected remotely via smart meters.

I would encourage every American to reject smart meters, no matter how tempting the incentive from your local power company.


Hat tip: BadBlue Tech News.
 

THE DEMOCRAT CRIME WAVE: 8,100 Criminal Illegal Aliens Released in 276 "Sanctuary Cities"

By Numbers USA

As more attention is placed on sanctuary cities and how the policy affects those communities, a new report out from the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) shows that thousands of criminal aliens sought by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have been released by state and local jurisdictions with sanctuary policies.

According to the report, the 276 jurisdictions in 43 states and the District of Columbia (See map here) released 8,145 criminal aliens with detainers from ICE. Of these, 63% had prior criminal histories or were labeled a public safety concern at the time of their release. Nearly 1,900 of the released criminal aliens were arrested fro another crime within the eight month period the study looked at, from January 1, 2014, to August 31, 2014.

The report went on to document that a majority, 63%, of the criminal aliens released from state and local custody had serious prior criminal records with a quarter of them being convicted of a felony.

SCANDAL: White House Welcomes Terror Immigration to America

By Daniel Greenfield

Tennessee is to Muslim refugees as New York is to Muslim hijacked planes. Chattanooga, the site of the latest Muslim terror attack against America, is a “preferred community” for resettlement along with Knoxville and Nashville.

Nashville was designated a “Gateway City” for Iraqis. Hundreds of Somali Muslims were dumped in Shelbyville and the Murfreesboro Mega-Mosque became national news because of its terror ties.

Over the last decade, middle Tennessee’s Muslim population tripled.  The rise of Islam in Tennessee as Muslims from terror zones like Iraq and Somalia flooded its towns and cities brought hate and violence.

In Memphis, Imam Yasir Qadhi was caught on tape calling Jews and Christians filthy and declaring that Muslims can take their lives and property.  Last year the FBI warned of an ISIS threat in Memphis.

This year it was Chattanooga’s turn.

Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez, the son of a Palestinian man and a Kuwaiti woman living in the United States, killed four marines. One of his targets, a recruiting center, was a gun-free zone. Those inside had no way to defend themselves. Their government had welcomed in the enemy and left them unarmed and helpless against his Jihad.

Obama refused to use the word “Terrorism”. Hillary Clinton claimed that the attack was “senseless violence.” But there was nothing senseless about it. It was an act of war, one of many, in a conflict that stretches back to the founding of the United States of America.