Obama: Obamacare is the greatest thing since sliced bread!

Speaking at a White House Press Conference on Tuesday, President Obama praised the merits of the new health care reform law.

The President said that, for those who currently have health insurance, Obamacare is already working wonders!

Ahem......

Obama vs. Adm. William McRaven on Guantanamo Bay prison - White House Press Conference

Speaking at a White House news conference on Tuesday, President Obama told reporters that there was no need for a special long-term detention & interrogation facility like Guantanamo Bay prison.

"I continue to believe that we've got to close Guantanamo," the President said. "I think it is critical for us to understand that Guantanamo is not necessary to keep America safe... And I understand that in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, with the traumas that had taken place, why, for a lot of Americans, the notion was somehow that we had to create a special facility like Guantanamo, and we couldn't handle this in a normal, conventional fashion. I understand that reaction. But we're now over a decade out. We should be wiser."

But the President's views runs counter to the views of U.S Navy admiral and commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, William McRaven, who, when asked by Sen. Kelly Ayotte - during a Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearing in June of 2011 - whether there was a need for a long-term detention & interrogation facility, like Guantanamo Bay, to gather vital intelligence information - replied in the affirmative, saying that a detention center of this nature is indeed "very helpful".

Sen. Kelly Ayotte proceeded to ask Adm. McRaven: "And as far as you understand it, is Guantanamo Bay still off the table in terms of being used for that type of facility?" McRaven replied: "As far as I understand it, it is."

Apparently, President Obama issued a directive forbidding the use of Guantanamo Bay as an interrogation and intelligence-gathering facility.

Sigh.......

Abortion Doctor Says He'd Let Born-Alive Infants die

Live Action, the pro-life advocacy group, released a video on Sunday showing a New York abortionist, Cesare Santangelo, telling an undercover reporter, that if her six-month old fetus were born alive he would not take any action to keep it alive and help it survive. [He makes that confession at about 3:54 into the video.]



As an Illinois Senator, Barack Obama voted against the Illinois Born Alive Infants Protection Act. He offered various excuses which were proven to be outright lies. But of course, lying and telling the truth are synonymous to Obama; he sees absolutely no distinction between the two - which is why he has the uncanny ability to lie so smoothly, without even batting an eyelash. Indeed, no U.S. President before him has been so adept in the art of lying.

Incidentally, President Obama has also been a outspoken supporter of Planned Parenthood. The video below shows a Planned Parenthood official testifying before the Florida legislature in opposition to a bill that would require an abortion doctor to provide medical care to any infant who survives an attempted abortion. Some of the legislatures pepper her with questions, but I like the last question the best.

Obama administration officials have threatened whistle-blowers on Benghazi, lawyer says

From Fox News:

At least four career officials at the State Department and the Central Intelligence Agency have retained lawyers or are in the process of doing so, as they prepare to provide sensitive information about the Benghazi attacks to Congress, Fox News has learned.

Victoria Toensing, a former Justice Department official and Republican counsel to the Senate Intelligence Committee, is now representing one of the State Department employees. She told Fox News her client and some of the others, who consider themselves whistle-blowers, have been threatened by unnamed Obama administration officials.

“I'm not talking generally, I'm talking specifically about Benghazi – that people have been threatened,” Toensing said in an interview Monday. “And not just the State Department. People have been threatened at the CIA.”...

Toensing disclosed that her client has pertinent information on all three time periods investigators consider relevant to the attacks: the months that led up to the attack, when pleas by the ambassador and his staff for enhanced security in Benghazi were mostly rejected by senior officers at the State Department; the eight-hour time frame in which the attacks unfolded, and the eight-day period that followed the attacks, when Obama administration officials incorrectly described them as the result of a spontaneous protest over a video.

“It's frightening, and they're doing some very despicable threats to people,” she said. “Not ‘we're going to kill you,’ or not ‘we're going to prosecute you tomorrow,’ but they're taking career people and making them well aware that their careers will be over [if they cooperate with congressional investigators].”

In a related development, Rep. Trey Gowdy told Fox News over the weekend that “explosive” congressional hearings on the Benghazi terrorist attacks are “coming quickly.” [Source Washingtom Times]

“There are more Benghazi hearings coming; I think they’re going to be explosive,” said Gowdy.

“[The hearings] are coming sooner rather than later," he added.

Gowdy also intimated that eye-witnesses to the attacks might testify in the upcoming hearings.

“Direct evidence, direct testimony by eyewitnesses is always the most compelling,” he said.

“Trust me when I tell you you will want to follow the hearings that are coming up," Gowdy said.

Boston bomb suspect 'had links to slain Islamists'

From the AFP:

One of the brothers suspected of carrying out the Boston bombings had made links with two figures in the Islamist anti-Kremlin insurgency in the Northern Caucasus, both of whom were killed by Russian security forces, a security source said Monday.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, who was himself killed during his capture by US authorities, was known to have been in contact with a Dagestan militant named Makhmud Nidal and also a militant of Canadian origin named William Plotnikov, a Russian security source in the Northern Caucasus told AFP.

Plotnikov took part, like Tamerlan Tsarnaev, in boxing competitions in both Canada and the United States and the two men also had contacts on social networks, said the source.

Plotnikov was among seven militants killed in a shootout with Russian security forces in July 2012. It was not clear if they ever met on the territory of Dagestan itself...

Makhmud Nidal meanwhile was a known militant with whom Tamerlan Tsarnaev was seen when he made a trip back to Dagestan from the United States in 2012, the security source told AFP.

They were seen together four times, on each occasion at a mosque known for its Salafist tendencies in the Dagestani capital Makhachkala...

Nidal was killed in May 2012 in a "counterterrorist" operation in Makhachkala. After his death, Tsarnaev disappeared from the view of the Russian security services...

A source in the Dagestan centre for fighting extremism, which is part of the federal security service... [said that] after the deaths of Nidal and Plotnikov, Tameralan Tsarnaev "lost his contacts, got scared and jumped."

Tsarnaev brothers lone wolves? Or part of a broad pack of wolves?

CNN reported:

Tamerlan Tsarnaev's phone number was traced to numbers that came up in two other investigations into terror suspects, according to a senator who attended classified briefings about the Boston attack investigation. The connection between Tamerlan Tsarnaev and the two other suspects was "twice removed," meaning he was in contact with people who had been in contact with the suspect, a U.S. government official said.

Likewise, the Boston Globe reported:

Investigators also linked Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s phone records to two other phone numbers for people who had been investigated for terror, the official said. But the two other terror cases were closed. It’s not clear when the FBI discovered those phone links or when those cases were closed.

Well, the FBI should start thinking about reopening those cases.

The Tsarnaev brothers may not be the lone wolves they've been portrayed to be, but rather two wolves who are part of a broad pack of wolves.

U.S. counterterrorism task force was warned of Boston Bomber's return trip to U.S.

As I noted in an earlier post, U.S. officials have given two contradictory explanations as to why the FBI failed to take heed when the Boston Marathon bomber, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, returned to the U.S., in 2012, from his overseas trip to the Russian provinces of Dagestan and Chechnya.

Explanation Version 1) - In the spring of 2011, The FBI included Tsarnaev's name in a database called TECS -- the Treasury Enforcement and Communication System. The aforementioned database is used by U.S. officials at the border to help screen people coming in and out of the U.S. However, entries into this database remain active for only a year. Hence, when Tsarnaev returned to the United States in June 2012, there was no "ping" of his TECS database entry because it had already expired. And thus, the FBI was unaware of his return trip to the U.S.

Explanation Version 2) - When Tsarnaev returned to the U.S., there indeed WAS a "ping" generated in his TECS database entry. This information was shared with the Customs and Border Protection officer on the FBI's Boston joint terrorism task force. But because the FBI had closed its investigation into Tsarnaev a year earlier, there was no reason to be suspicious of his travels to Russia.

Contradictory explanations, to say the least.

But now, the anonymous U.S. officials are offering up a third alternative - just in case the American people are not completely satisfied with the earlier prevarications. The third alternative is similar to version 2 with a few alterations and a little added makeup [cosmetic].

"Change you can believe in!"

According to the latest version, a U.S. counterterrorism task force received a warning when Tsarnaev returned to the U.S, but only one person - a Customs officer assigned to the [aforementioned] Joint Terrorism Task Force - knew about the warning, and he failed to tell his colleagues and his superiors in the FBI about it. Or, maybe he did tell them about it....

Confused?

Here's the third version:

Nine months before the Boston Marathon bombing, a U.S. counterterrorism task force received a warning that a suspected militant had returned from a lengthy trip to Russia, U.S. officials said.

Who these anonymous U.S. officials are, no one knows; only President Obama, his lackeys in the mainstream media, and various members of the adminstration, know their true identity.

The warning was delivered to a single U.S. Customs official assigned to Boston's Joint Terrorism Task Force, a cell of specialists from federal and local law enforcement agencies.

The Joint Terrorism Task Forces are led by the FBI and the Justice Department.

It is not clear whether the aforementioned warning came via a database system ping, or some other source: Russian officials etc.

The task force was part of a network of multi-agency organizations set up across the country after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to make sure that clues and tips were shared.

But officials said there is no indication that the unidentified Customs officer provided the information to any other members of the task force, including FBI agents who had previously interviewed the militant.

Difficult to believe.

There's no reason to assume that the Customs officer was aware of an earlier investigation in which the FBI deemed Tsarnaev a non-threat. So, why in the world wouldn't he notify the Feds about the warning?

The man whose return from Russia went largely unnoticed was one of the two brothers who would later be accused of carrying out the April 15 bombing that killed three people and injured more than 250 others near the finish line of the Boston Marathon...

The FBI opened an investigation of Tamerlan Tsarnaev in 2011 at the behest of Russian officials who expressed concern that he was becoming radicalized and could be planning an attack in Russia.

The bureau set the inquiry aside after concluding that Tsarnaev posed no threat. But notice that he had returned from a seven-month trip to Russia might have provided the FBI with new reasons to question him. He had traveled to the strife-torn region of Dagestan, in the North Caucasus, where rebels have adopted the tactics and language of militant Islamists...

U.S. officials also said that the customs officer in Boston may have mentioned Tsarnaev’s return to FBI agents serving on the task force without creating a computer file to record the information had been shared.

Well, that's a quick shift. "The customs officer MAY have mentioned Tsarnaev’s return to FBI agents serving on the task force..." Heh....

Nah, I don't believe it. Why would he do such a silly thing like that?

Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. said during an appearance at a conference in Washington on Thursday that he has seen no evidence that U.S. agencies failed. “The dots were connected,” he said.

"No evidence that U.S. agencies failed?!!" Three people dead, more than 250 injured, amputees - add to that the various prevarications, contradictory talking points, excuses - that's all the evidence we need!

[Clapper] also called on the public “not to hyperventilate for a while before we get all the facts.”

"Before we get all the facts"?!! You gotta be kidding..... All we're getting is an endless stream of revision, changes, alterations, prevarications, excuses - you name it!

"All the facts?" I don't think we'll ever get the facts.

Related Post: U.S. officials: Tsarnaev Did / Did Not set off a 'Ping' in the TECS database when he returned to the U.S.

Mayor Bloomberg, Police Commissioner Kelly confirm: Boston Marathon bombers wanted to detonate bombs in Times Square

From the Boston Globe:

The bombing suspects “intended to drive to New York and detonate additional explosives in Times Square,” [New York Mayor Michael] Bloomberg said. Bloomberg said city officials had been notified by the FBI Wednesday night about the statements by Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who is in the hospital.

New York Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said Tsarnaev had initially told investigators that he and his brother had decided to go to New York to “party.” But that story changed, he said, in a subsequent interrogation.

Kelly said Tsarnaev told investigators that the the brothers had “decided spontaneously” on Times Square as a target, while they were driving around in a carjacked Mercedes last Thursday night...

Kelly said the brothers had six bombs in their possession: one pressure cooker bomb like those used to attack the Marathon and five pipe bombs. But Kelly said the plan “fell apart” when the brothers realized they were low on gas...

The brothers had six bombs in their possession and one pressure cooker, which would indicate that their decision to set off bombs was not spontaneous, and that they already had plans to set off the bombs before they hijacked the car. The question arises: Since they already had plans to detonate the bombs before they hijacked the car, is it sensible to believe they didn't have a specific target in mind before the hijacking, and that they only decided on a target while they were driving around in the car?!

Maybe..., maybe not......

Hmmm......

But, if Times Square wasn't a spontaneous target, but rather a premeditated target, why would Dzhokhar Tsarnaev lie and say it was spontaneous?

I could speculate, and offer up a theory - if the theory were sound - and I'm not sure it is, so I'll skip it.

[Hint: New York connections.....]

However, one way to dovetail Tsarnaev's 'spontaneous' claim with his premeditated bombing plot might be as follows: The brothers had plans to set off another round of explosions in Boston, but changed their minds and decided it would be easier to flee to New York and detonate the bombs there. But, I'm not sure I like that explanation....

U.S. officials: Tsarnaev Did / Did Not set off a 'Ping' in the TECS database when he returned to the U.S.

U.S. officials told the AP that Boston Marathon bomber, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, Set Off a ping in the TECS database, in 2012, when he returned to the U.S. from his overseas trip to the Russian provinces of Dagestan and Chechnya:

From the AP:

[Tamerlan] Tsarnaev's name was added to a Homeland Security Department database used by U.S. officials at the border to help screen people coming in and out of the U.S. That database is called the Treasury Enforcement Communications System, or TECS.... Three days before he left for Russia, the TECS database generated an alert [a ping] on Tsarnaev. That alert was shared with a Customs and Border Protection officer who is a member of the FBI's Boston joint terrorism task force.

In July 2012, Tsarnaev returned to the U.S., and another alert [ping] was generated in TECS. This information was again shared with the Customs and Border Protection officer on the FBI's Boston joint terrorism task force. But because the FBI had closed its investigation into Tsarnaev a year earlier, there was no reason to be suspicious of his travels to Russia.

U.S. officials told ABC News that Mr. Tsarnaev, DID NOT Set Off a ping in the TECS database, upon his return to the U.S.:

From ABC News:

When Tsarnaev returned to the U.S. in June 2012 there was NO "ping" of his TECS entry because it had already expired.

Afghanistan: 2013 set to become the second most violent year after 2011 - a huge spike in casualties among Afghan civilians & security forces

The Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, Jan Kubis, told a NATO ministerial briefing in Brussels on Tuesday that civilian casualties in Afghanistan rose by about 30% in the first quarter of 2013.

Mr. Kubis said that 475 civilians were killed and 872 wounded between January 1 and March 31 of this year.

The UN envoy called on anti-government groups "to cease targeting civilians, using children in suicide operations and attacking public places including places of worship."

The sharp spike in casualties among Afghan civilians and Afghan security forces comes as U.S and coalition troops continue to hand over more and more security responsibilities to the Afghan troops - and it raises concerns as to whether the Afghan forces will be able to secure the country after President Obama's 2014 exit [capitulation] strategy is consummated.

The AP noted on Sunday:

[Taliban] insurgents killed six police officers at a checkpoint and a suicide bomber killed three civilians at a shopping bazaar in separate attacks Sunday in eastern Afghanistan, while an independent security group warned 2013 is on track to be one of the most violent years of the war.

April already has been the deadliest month this year for security forces and Afghan and foreign civilians as the U.S. and other countries prepare to end their combat mission by the end of next year.

According to an Associated Press tally, 222 people have been killed in violence around the nation this month, including Sunday's nine fatalities....

On Friday, Taliban insurgents attacked a local police checkpoint in Andar, a district of Ghazni province..., and killed 13 officers...

In other violence, the Taliban cut a hand and foot off each of two villagers they accused of helping escort coalition convoys...

Hostilities have surged in Afghanistan as the spring fighting season begins. This year is being closely watched because Afghan forces must operate with less support from the international military coalition. With foreign forces due to hand over combat responsibilities to the local forces next year, the current fighting is a test of their ability to take on the country's insurgency.

Reflecting the rise in bloodshed, the Afghanistan NGO Safety Office said Sunday there were 2,331 insurgent-initiated attacks in the first quarter of this year, a 47 percent increase over the same January-March period last year. "We assess that the current re-escalation trend will be preserved throughout the entire season and that 2013 is set to become the second most violent year after 2011," which suffered 2,755 such attacks in the first three months of the year, the report said.

The U.S.-led NATO coalition has stopped releasing statistics on insurgent attacks in Afghanistan...

The rise of violence that his organization reported in early 2013 should raise serious concern... about whether Afghan forces can fill the gap being left by the reduction in U.S.-led international forces, said Tomas Muzik, the director of the Afghanistan NGO Safety Office.

Russia Alerted FBI `Multiple’ Times on concerns about Boston Marathon bomber

From the Boston Globe:

Russian authorities alerted the FBI not once but ``multiple’’ times over their concerns about Tamerlan Tsarnaev -- including a second time nearly a year after he was first interviewed by FBI agents in Boston -- raising new questions about whether the FBI should have focused more attention on the suspected Boston Marathon bomber, according to US senators briefed on the probe Tuesday.

The FBI has previously said it interviewed Tsarnaev in early 2011 after it was initially contacted by the Russians. After that review, the FBI has said, it determined he did not pose a threat.

In a closed briefing on Tuesday, members of the Senate Intelligence Committee learned that Russia alerted the United States about Tsarnaev in ``multiple contacts’’ -- including ``at least once since October 2011,’’ said Richard Burr, a Republican of North Carolina, speaking with reporters afterward

Vitter: Why do Democrats get 3 times as many Obama stimulus grants as Republicans?

From the Washington Examiner:

Sen. David Vitter, R-La., suggested today that Democratic lawmakers get preferential treatment over Republican colleagues when applying for stimulus grants that fund transportation projects, given that almost three-quarters of the grant money has been spent in Democratic districts.

President Obama’s 2009 stimulus bill contained funding for Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) program grants. Democratic districts have received $356,109,553 from the program, compared to just $132,272,695 for Republican districts.

“There is a growing need for real improvement in our infrastructure in every corner of this country,” Vitter said in a statement Thursday. “It is essential that grant projects are selected on a transparent, merit-based set of criteria, not the voting trends of the region. I’m concerned that politics have entered into the process with the TIGER grants, which is why I’ll continue advocating for reforms.”

Earlier this month, the senator asked the Government Accountability Office to investigate how grants are awarded.

Vitter noted the following in a press release:

In 2011, GAO [the Government Accountability Office] reported transparency concerns with the program saying "DOT [the Department of Transportation] cannot definitively demonstrate the basis for its award selections, particularly the reasons why recommended projects were selected for half the awards over highly recommended ones."

Obama feigns righteous indignation over [senate] gun legislation vote, news conference - WH Rose Garden

Speaking in the White House Rose Garden on Wednesday, shortly after the Senate voted down his proposed gun legislation, President Obama stated in a feigned display of righteous indignation: "I've heard folks say that having the families of victims lobby for this legislation was somehow misplaced. 'A prop,' somebody called them.... Are they serious?... Do we think their emotions, their loss is not relevant to this debate? So all in all, this was a pretty shameful day for Washington."

Obama is correct in one aspect: His phony display of righteous indignation made it "a pretty shameful day for Washington" on Wednesday. In fact, his perpetual displays of fake righteous indignation make a lot of days pretty shameful days for Washington.

A "prop"? I used that term on a couple of occasions to describe Obama's exploitation of the parents of Hadiya Pendleton, the 15-year old Chicago native who was shot and killed in January by two gang members.

"Hadiya's parents, Nate and Cleo, are in this chamber tonight," Obama proclaimed during his State of the Union [propaganda] address. "They deserve a vote."

The President [shamefully] used Hadiya Pendleton's parents as a poltical prop, while casually ignoring the facts, including his own abysmal record on gun violence and crime.

Here are the facts:

In 2012, Michael Ward, the Chicago gang member who shot and killed Hadiya Pendleton [the shooting occurred the following year, in January of 2013], pleaded guilty to Aggravated Unlawful Use Of A Weapon, a felony punishable by 1 to 3 years imprisonment in the state of Illinois. But Ward never went to prison for the aforementioned conviction because of an Illinois state law that mandates a "go soft attitude" towards offenders under the age of 18; Ward was 17-years old at the time of the offense.

Ward was also arrested three times while on probation for his gun conviction but only one violation was ever reported to the judge, and he managed to avoid prison once again.

As a member of the SUWU gang faction, Michael Ward, in all likelihood, would have obtained firearms regardless of any kind of gun legislation. However, It would have been impossible for him to gun down Hadiya Pendleton from a prison cell. But sadly, he never went to jail, because of a "go-soft" attitude towards criminals - an attitude typically embraced by the progressive community.

What's more, Judicial Watch noted that, "Last fall the Obama administration quietly shut down a crucial FBI division—National Gang Intelligence Center (NGIC)—dedicated to countering gang violence. The alarming move came at a time when gang violence in the United States was at an all-time high, according to the government's own figures.

"When the NGIC got the ax, its latest annual gang threat assessment had revealed that gangs are responsible for nearly half of all violent crimes in most parts of the country and up to 90% in many jurisdictions."

Investor's Business Daily recently noted that, "Nationally federal gun crime prosecutions hit a decade low in 2011 under President Obama, down 40% from their peak under President George W. Bush in 2004.

"The number of federal weapons prosecutions fell from about 11,000 in 2004 to about 6,000 under the Obama administration in 2011, before ticking up to 7,770 in 2012.

"Prosecutions for making a false statement when buying a gun are down 29% from five years ago, while prosecutions for illegal possession fell 14%, according to federal data...

"In 2010..., 6 million Americans... applied to buy a gun... Of those, the ATF referred 4,732 cases for prosecution. Of them, just 44 were prosecuted, and only 13 were punished for lying or buying a gun illegally."

"The prosecution rate [for gun violations] in Chicago" - Obama's hometown - "was the lowest in the country."

A Chicago Tribume editorial once accused Obama of being a "gutless sheep' for missing a vote on crime legislation in late 1999."

Considering the facts surrounding Hadiya Pendleton's death, and Obama's abysmal record on gun violence and crime, it is crystal clear that the President used Hadiya's parents as a political prop during his State of the Union address, while demonstrating a casual, and typical, disregard for the facts, and the truth.

Obama's State of Union deceit [prop and all], coupled with his egregious record on gun violence and crime, leaves us with no choice but to conclude the obvious: His display of righteous indignation is disingenuous, and phony, at best.

If the true motive behind his proposed gun legislation is crime prevention and protecting America's youth, how can he be soft on crime, gang violence and federal weapons prosecutions?



Here are a few previous posts detailing the facts surrounding Hadiya Pendleton's shooting and the Obama administration's egregious record on federal gun crime prosecutions and gang violence:

Hadiya Pendleton - Liberals' "Go easy on crime & gun violence" policies responsible for teen's death

Federal weapons prosecutions plummets under Obama, but ironically, Hadiya Pendleton's Mom is a big Obama fan - Go figure

The result of Obama's illegal immigration policies? Gang violence and Gang-Run Prostitution

And a couple of additional links on then-State Senator Obama's abysmal record on gun violence and crime:

The Jack Ryan Files: Obama 'shamefully soft on crime and drugs'

Obama voted "present" on a bill requiring adult prosecution for discharging a gun in or near a school

Key Obamacare author, Max Baucus, warns of "huge train wreck" implementing ObamaCare provisions

From the AP:

A senior Democratic senator who helped write President Obama's health care law stunned administration officials Wednesday, saying openly he thinks it's headed for a "train wreck."

"I just see a huge train wreck coming down," Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., told Obama's health care chief during a routine budget hearing that suddenly turned tense.

Baucus is the first top Democrat to publicly voice fears about the rollout of the new health care law... Polls show that Americans remain confused by the complex law, and even many uninsured people are skeptical they will be helped by benefits that start next year...

While some other Democratic lawmakers have privately voiced similar frustrations, most have "publicly" lauded Sebelius for her department's work...

Obama: 'Make no mistake', Boston Marathon, Benghazi attackers will feel full weight of justice - Ahem....

Mistake or no mistake, that is the question.......

Speaking at a press briefing on Monday, President Obama told reporters that no one should make the mistake of assuming the perpetrators of the Boston Marathon bombing attacks will escape justice.

"Make no mistake," the President said, "we will get to the bottom of this. And we will find out who did this.... Any responsible individuals, any responsible groups will feel the full weight of justice."

Similarly, on the day after the September 11, 2012 terrorist attacks in Benghazi, President Obama stated that no one should make the mistake of thinking the perpetrators of the attacks would escape justice.

"The United States condemns in the strongest terms this outrageous and shocking attack...," Obama said. He added: "Make no mistake, we will work with the Libyan government to bring to justice the killers who attacked our people."

Sadly, many Americans fell prey to the President's rhetoric, and made the foolish mistake of believing him when he said he would bring justice to the Benghazi terrorists.

Nevertheless, bringing justice to terrorists who target Americans inside the U.S requires far less fortitude, and far less guts, than bringing justice to terrorists who target Americans abroad, especially when the latter are Libyan rebels, the very same rebels who were propped up by this administration.

Hence, this time might be different......

U.S. wrestling team to confront Iran in Obama's stead? Heh.......

In the face of Iran's global terror campaign - including an Iranian backed "terrorist cell" in Bahrain that was recently nabbed while planning to target military sites and public figures inside the country - President Obama has continuously reassured the Iranian regime that he will not meddle in its internal affairs and that he will make every effort to ensure that the regime remains safely ensconced in power.

However, with Obama giving the Mullahs his word of honor that "regime change" will never happen, the regime can continue waging its global terror campaign with impunity.

Consequently, it has now fallen upon the U.S. wrestling team to confront Iran in Obama's stead.

The AP reported on Friday that the United States will host Iran and Russia in a wrestling exhibition in New York City next month.

U.S. wrestling officials said the Iranian national team, as well as the Russian national team, will face off against the Americans in Grand Central Terminal on May 15. Iran hasn't wrestled in the U.S. since the 2003 world championships. [But of course, with Obama, anything is possible, heh....]

It should be noted that these athletes do not necessarily espouse the views of their respective leaders, but I figured, 'what the heck', why not use an interesting news item to bring out a point.

In 2009, when mass protests broke out in Iran after the Iranian Presidential election - which many believed was fixed in favor of the hardliners - President Obama refused to lend his support to the protesters because, as he explained at the time, "It is not productive... to be seen as meddling - the U.S. president meddling - in Iranian elections."

Likewise, on November 4, 2009, the White House released a statement in commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the seizing of the American Embassy in Tehran, stating: “We do not interfere in Iran’s internal affairs. We have condemned terrorist attacks against Iran. We have recognized Iran’s international right to peaceful nuclear power. We have demonstrated our willingness to take confidence-building steps along with others in the international community.”

I noted at the time that Obama wasn't the only world leader who chose not to meddle in Iran's internal affairs after the 2009 Presidential election. Hezbollah Deputy Secretary General, Sheikh Naim Qassem, apparently taking his cue from Obama, expressed a similar position on Iran's Presidential election:

"Hezbollah has nothing to do with Iran's internal affairs...," said Qassem. "We don't side with anyone. This is an internal Iranian issue."

Hezbollah apparently agreed with Obama's position.......

However, as I noted back in February:

"President Obama has continuously reassured the Iranian government that he is not seeking, and will not seek, regime change in Iran; Chuck Hagel strongly advocates the same policy. And this is indeed the correct path to take, for only a non-meddling policy on Obama's part, that ensures there will be no regime change in Iran, will afford the Iranian government the opportunity to further engage in their peaceful terrorist activities......." 

Ahem......

Nevertheless, Obama might have finally decided to alter his pacifist approach with Iran by flexing a little bit of muscle at his Iranian counterparts via the U.S. wrestling team......  Heh........ 

Just kidding.........

700 retired military special ops urge Congress to establish a select committee on Benghazi

Seven hundred retired Military Special Operations officers sent a letter to members of the House of Representatives urging them to support H.Res 36, which calls for the establishment of a House Select Committee to investigate the September 11, 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya.

"The undersigned are a representative group of some 700 retired Military Special Operations professionals who spent the majority of their careers preparing for and executing myriad operations to rescue or recover detained or threatened fellow Americans...," the letter begins. "We have been at this for many years and have a deep passion for seeking the truth about what happened during the national tragedy in Benghazi."

"It appears that many of the facts and details surrounding the terrorist attack which resulted in four American deaths and an undetermined number of American casualties have not yet been ascertained by previous hearings and inquiries," the letter states. "Many questions have not been answered thus far."

The letter lists roughly 16 questions, at a minimum, that the House Select Committee needs to address.

Obama to cap IRAs to pay off 0.05625% of the federal deficit, heh......

During the 2008 Democratic Presidential primary debate in Pennsylvania, Barack Obama revealed the true motive behind his tax hike initiatives: It has nothing to do with revenue, but rather it's all about punishing those with a higher income.

The Moderator, Charlie Gibson, asked Obama: "You... said you would favor an increase in the capital gains tax. As a matter of fact, you said on CNBC, and I quote, 'I certainly would not go above what existed under Bill Clinton, which was 28 percent.' It's now 15 percent. That's almost a doubling if you went to 28 percent. But actually Bill Clinton in 1997 signed legislation that dropped the capital gains tax to 20 percent. And George Bush has taken it down to 15 percent. And in each instance, when the rate dropped, revenues from the tax increased. The government took in more money. And in the 1980s, when the tax was increased to 28 percent, the revenues went down. So why raise it at all, especially given the fact that 100 million people in this country own stock and would be affected?"

Obama replied: "Well, Charlie, what I've said is that I would look at raising the capital gains tax for purposes of fairness... Part of what has happened is that those who are able to work the stock market and amass huge fortunes on capital gains are paying a lower tax rate than their secretaries. That's not fair. I... want to make sure... that our tax system is fair."

Statistics have shown in the past that an increase in tax rates brings in less tax revenue. Nevertheless, Obama is not the least bit fazed by these statistics as long as he punishes those who've earned a little more than he can stomach.

Hence, the following news item from The Hill should come as no surprise to anyone - especially to those who are familiar with Obama's mindset and his convoluted way of thinking:

President Obama’s budget, to be released next week, will limit how much wealthy individuals – like Mitt Romney – can keep in IRAs and other retirement accounts...

The proposal would save around $9 billion over a decade, a senior administration official said, while also bringing more fairness to the tax code.

The senior administration official said that wealthy taxpayers can currently “accumulate many millions of dollars in these accounts, substantially more than is needed to fund reasonable levels of retirement saving.”

Under the plan, a taxpayer’s tax-preferred retirement account, like an IRA, could not finance more than $205,000 per year of retirement...

Take note of the second paragraph:

The proposal would save around $9 billion over a decade [$900 million a year], a senior administration official said, while also bringing more fairness to the tax code.

As others have already pointed out: That's $900 million a year - $9 billion over a decade - which will cut a teeny, indiscernible and undetectable speck of Obama's massive $16 trillion deficit - roughly 0.05625% of the deficit, or  ¹⁄₁₇₇₇ of the deficit, over a 10-year period. Heh....

But of course, as Obama explained so elegantly in 2008: It's not about bringing in revenue. It's "for purposes of fairness."

"I want to make sure that our tax system is fair." Heh............

General Dempsey: Taliban Likely to remain Long-Term Threat in Afghanistan after Obama's capitulation strategy is consummated

Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the AP on Sunday that the Taliban will likely remain a military threat in some parts of Afghanistan long after U.S. troops complete their combat mission next year.

Dempsey also said that by May or June of 2012, as Western troops pull back from Afghanistan, the Afghan military will assume the lead combat role throughout the country.

Asked whether some parts of the country will remain contested by the Taliban, Dempsey replied, "Yes, of course there will be."

However, while Dempsey only offered up a partial, and begrudging, acknowledgment of the Taliban threat post-2014, New York Times Washington correspondent, David Sanger - author of a book, which discusses among other things, the Obama administration's handling of the Afghan War -  was a bit more candid, and forthcoming, with his assessment of the Taliban threat and Obama's Afghan strategy in a 2012 interview.

Sanger told CNN that one of the President's goals in Afghanistan is to keep the [Capital] city of Kabul from falling, but, he said, this "does not necessarily mean that other parts of the country might not fall into Taliban control."

Sanger added: "It seems fairly likely that a few years from now, we will see some parts of the country that are significantly under Taliban control."

However, while I, admittedly, am no expert in these matters, nevertheless, as an outsider, who is neither affiliated with the Obama administration nor the mainstream-Obama media, I am willing to be even more candid and forthcoming with my assessment of the Taliban and the future of Afghanistan.

Taking into account the recent attacks by the Taliban in the heart of Kabul, the Capital City of Afghanistan -  including a suicide bombing outside the Afghan Defense Ministry in central Kabul that left nine people dead - I believe it is highly likely that the current Afghan government will fall and that the Taliban will ultimately assume control of the entire country, or, at the very, very least, wreak havoc, chaos and destruction upon the entire country.

In a separate interview on Sunday, Gen. Dempsey was asked whether he is concerned that Syria could become another Afghanistan.

"I do. I have grave concerns that Syria could become an extended conflict" that drags on for many years, he said.

Video: David Sanger interview - 2012:

Obama says Kamala Harris is "the best-looking AG", but not a "SWEETIE"?

During a Democratic National Committee fundraising lunch in Atherton, California on Thursday, President Obama opined that California Attorney General Kamala Harris is "by far the best-looking attorney general", which prompted criticism from supporters on the left, who believe he had crossed the line, and from critics on the right, who contend that a Republican President, speaking in similar fashion, would never receive the same kind of pass from the mainstream media.

White House Press Secretary, Jay Carney, told reporters at a press briefing on Friday that the President called Harris on Thursday night to "apologize for the distraction created by his comments."

When pressed further on the issue, Carney said, "Look, I think I made clear, [the President] apologized for creating this distraction..."

Later on, during the press briefing, a reporter asked Carney: "Jay, just to follow up on Harris - twice you said that the President apologized for the distraction. Does he not think that the remark was sexist?"

"Well, he apologized for the remark," said Carney. "And they’re old friends..."

"So he acknowledges it was inappropriate?" the reporter asked.

Carney parried: "[The President] has known her for a long time and he apologized for it, and he certainly regretted that it caused the distraction..."

"You seem to make a distinction," the reporter responded.

Carney replied: "No. I’m making clear, I think, that [the President] apologized for it and believes that she is a superb Attorney General for the state of California..."

The President and Vice President, in various speeches and remarks over the last several years, have evinced a bizarre preoccupation, and strange obsession, with good looks. Nevertheless, while Obama's latest remarks - about Kamala Harris - might be somewhat crude, unrefined and unpresidential, I wouldn't necessarily say he stepped over the line.

However, when he addresses both, female factory employees and female reporters as "SWEETIES", well.........

Afghans fleeing country ahead of Obama's 2014 deadline

From NBC News:

As tens of thousands of American troops prepare to withdraw from Afghanistan in time for the 2014 deadline set by the White House, another exodus is gathering pace: Afghans fleeing their country’s violence and economic uncertainty.

“The international community is leaving and we are right behind them,” Khalid Gul, a 23-year-old university student, said...

“If Americans – the soldiers and the troops – leave here we will have no proper security and we will have the Taliban here again,” Shorab Shinwari, a 21-year-old IT expert, said...

“Fear of instability in 2014 is driving emigration of the very people and money that could prevent instability,” STATT, an NGO that does research and polling, said in its January 2013 Afghan Migration in Flux report. “Most foresee a future of conflict, instability and chaos as fait accompli for the country.”...

Some Afghans scrambling to get out any way they can are paying $30,000 to $50,000 on the black market for fake passports and passage to another country, an exorbitant sum in a country where average annual income is estimated to be under the $500 a year...

Afghans already make up the biggest refugee population in the world at almost 3 million, with waves having left during the Soviet occupation in the 1980s and again during the country’s civil war a decade later...

Some 5.7 million Afghans returned in the first few years after the 2001 U.S.-led intervention that toppled the Taliban regime, hopeful that living conditions in their country were improving...

[But] the tide of migrants shifted again. In 2011, more people fled Afghanistan than in any other year since the start of the decade-long war...

And the Washington Post reported earlier this year that, in 2012, at least 50,000 Afghans fled to Europe and Australia, more than twice as many as in 2011.

From the Washington Post - January 30, 2013:

Two decades after Afghanistan witnessed one of the 20th century's most dramatic refugee crises, a quieter exodus is gaining momentum. Last year, at least 50,000 Afghans fled to Europe and Australia, more than twice as many as in 2011.

The flight reflects a growing fear that security will worsen after NATO's military withdrawal by the end of 2014, a date that has taken on near-apocalyptic symbolism in parts of the country.

Disingenuous Jay Carney blames Republicans for supposedly allowing budget sequester to occur

During a press briefing on Friday, White House Press Secretary, Jay Carney, upbraided Republican lawmakers for supposedly allowing the budget sequestration to occur. Of course, Mr. Carney knows full well that a number of Republican lawmakers actually tried to undo the sequester and that President Obama threatened to veto any effort to rescind the aforementioned automatic budget cuts - and that sequestration was actually Obama's wacky brainchild.

Par for the course.......

US economy adds fewest jobs in 9 months; Percentage of Americans working or looking for jobs lowest in nearly 34 years

US employers added just 88,000 jobs in March, the fewest in nine months and less than half of what many economists were expecting, the AP reported on Friday.

Economists were anticipating an increase of 190,000 jobs in March.

The unemployment rate fell to 7.6% from 7.7% in March, the AP reported, but that was only because more people stopped searching for jobs. People who are out of a job are no longer counted as unemployed once they stop searching for employment. The percentage of Americans working or looking for jobs fell to 63.3 percent in March, the lowest percentage in nearly 34 years - since 1979.

Some Obama loyalists are desperately trying to assign blame for the bad job numbers on the "sequester" - which was actually Obama's wacky brainchild - but, as the Wall Street Journal points out: "you won’t find much evidence of that in the latest jobs report."

"The federal government’s civilian workforce fell by just 2,000 in March apart from almost 12,000 cuts at the U.S. Postal Service, which of course has a different set of problems," the Journal noted. "State-government jobs rose by 9,000... and local-government employment dipped by just 2,000 jobs."

So, blaming sequestration is just a cop-out, a worn-out ploy used by the left-wing propagandists as part of their never-ending campaign to prop up a failed and hopelessly inept Presidency.

U.S. contractor beaten and illegally detained in Afghanistan - Afghan Deputy AG's office requests $2.4 million ransom

From WAVY News:

A local contractor working on a project in Afghanistan was been beaten and detained Wednesday in Kabul.

David Gordon, a diesel mechanic for Tamerlane Global Services, Inc. based in Reston, Va., was arrested by local police officers and imprisoned without charges by orders of the Afghan Deputy Attorney General's Office.

The office is asking for $2.4 million in exchange for Gordon's release...

"He has been beaten, he has been slashed. We know he has had to get stitches, he has had some internal bleeding issues as well," Tamerlane CEO Jim O'Brien said.

Gordon was working on a project for the U.S. Defense Logistics Agency, tracking trucks delivering fuels to military bases in Afghanistan.

"[Gordon] was arbitrarily thrown into prison without charge," O'Brien said Thursday. "We believe this involves a business dispute that was currently in the federal courts in the U.S., one that is going well for Tamerlane, and not so well for the Afghan parties.”

From the Virginia Pilot:

Gordon, 38, is a contractor for Northern Virginia-based Tamerlane, working to stop the theft of fuel in Afghanistan. O'Brien said he learned of the incident from other workers and sent attorneys to check on Gordon in jail.

"They saw him crumpled in his cell with 12 other Afghans," O'Brien said...

Federal weapons prosecutions plummets under Obama, but ironically, Hadiya Pendleton's Mom is a big Obama fan - Go figure

In a February 19 blog post, entitled, Hadiya Pendleton - Liberals' "Go easy on crime & gun violence" policies responsible for teen's death, I noted that President Obama - in his typical politically calculated, phony fashion - used the parents of 15-year-old Chicago native, Hadiya Pendleton - who was shot and killed [in January] by two gang members - as a prop to 1) promote his gun control initiatives; 2) portray himself and his Democratic colleagues as the protectors of today's youth; 3) to depict the Republicans as the source of all evil who are responsible for the huge number of murders perpetrated against America's youth.

"Hadiya’s parents, Nate and Cleo, are in this chamber tonight," Obama proclaimed during his State of the Union [propaganda] address. "They deserve a vote."

I noted that although Michael Ward and Kenneth Williams, the murderers who killed Hadiya, were gang members [part of the SUWU gang faction], and as such, would have likely obtained firearms regardless of any kind of gun legislation - nevertheless, 'were it not for the "go soft" on crime and gun violence attitude that Liberals hold so dearly to their hearts, Hadiya Pendleton would likely still be alive today.'

Michael Ward, the one who actually pulled the trigger and shot and killed Hadiya Pendleton, was convicted of a weapons charge in 2012, and he pleaded guilty to Aggravated Unlawful Use Of A Weapon, a felony punishable by 1 to 3 years imprisonment in the state of Illinois. But Ward never went to prison for the aforementioned conviction because of a state law that mandates a "go soft attitude" towards offenders under the age of 18; Ward was 17-years old at the time of the offense.

It would have been impossible for Michael Ward to gun down Hadiya Pendleton from his prison cell. But sadly, he never went to jail. Ward was also arrested three times while on probation for his gun conviction but never went to prison. That's right, he violated his probation three times before he gunned down Hadiya, but only one violation was ever reported to the judge.

I also noted via Judicial Watch, as follows:

Last fall the Obama administration quietly shut down a crucial FBI division—National Gang Intelligence Center (NGIC)—dedicated to countering gang violence. The alarming move came at a time when gang violence in the United States was at an all-time high, according to the government’s own figures.

When the NGIC got the ax, its latest annual gang threat assessment had revealed that gangs are responsible for nearly half of all violent crimes in most parts of the country and up to 90% in many jurisdictions.

The following report from Investor's Business Daily confirms and strengthens the argument I made in my February blog post:

A murdered Chicago teen's mother attends the president's speech on gun control, not knowing federal gun-crime prosecutions have in fact dropped on his watch — with the Windy City [Chicago] bringing up the rear...

Obama met with [Hadiya Pendleton's mother] and some of the others in a small group before his formal remarks [State of the Union propaganda speech] and told them "how serious this issue really is and something needs to be done about it," said Cleopatra Cowley-Pendleton, Hadiya's mother.

But President Obama did not tell this group that Syracuse University's Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) shows that the Northern Illinois district ranked 90th out of 90 in prosecutions of federal weapons crimes per capita...

Considering that there were 522 people murdered in Chicago in 2012, one would think that the documented lack of enforcement of existing gun laws by a president seeking more of them would be a national scandal...

The Syracuse study also showed that nationally federal gun crime prosecutions hit a decade low in 2011 under President Obama, down 40% from their peak under President George W. Bush in 2004.

The number of federal weapons prosecutions fell from about 11,000 in 2004 to about 6,000 under the Obama administration in 2011, before ticking up to 7,770 in 2012.

Prosecutions for making a false statement when buying a gun are down 29% from five years ago, while prosecutions for illegal possession fell 14%, according to federal data...

In 2010, of 6 million Americans who applied to buy a gun, less than 2% — or 76,000 — were denied. Of those, the ATF referred 4,732 cases for prosecution. Of them, just 44 were prosecuted, and only 13 were punished for lying or buying a gun illegally.

President Obama didn't explain to Hadiya Pendleton's mom — or to the other mothers assembled — that while he pushes for universal background checks, which career criminals will ignore, there is only a slightly higher chance that you will be prosecuted for an actual federal gun crime (1.7 in 10,000 according to the Syracuse study) than you will be struck by lightning (1 in 10,000 according to the National Weather Service).

In light of the administration's record on prosecuting gun crimes, its complaints about gun show loopholes, assault weapons bans, and universal background checks ring hollow.

As I noted back in February:

Using Hadiya Pendleton's parents as a prop, during his State of the Union address, was a nice ploy by the President to promote himself and to try to fault Republican lawmakers for Hadiya's death, but a more appropriate propt would have been a huge banner proclaiming: "Democrats, stop being so soft on gun violence, and stop treating the criminals with kid gloves!"

Of course, I would never expect the President to do that, not when his image is on the line, not when he has the opportunity to twist the facts and publicly shame the Republican Party. But the American people deserve the truth. And most of all, Hadiya Pendleton deserves the truth, Obama's carefully crafted and phony image notwithstanding.

Related:  In 1999, Obama wouldn’t support tougher prosecution for school shooters. 'A Chicago Tribune editorial even accused Obama of being a “gutless sheep” for missing a vote on crime legislation in late 1999.'

The Jack Ryan Files: Obama ‘shamefully soft on crime and drugs’: Obama failed to 'support laws meant to protect battered women, ensure the privacy of rape victims and prevent the murder of witnesses....'