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Click on serenity and : Relieve Your Stress....Serenity
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Russia snaps back! (See 2 below.)
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Hillarious and Obama want more money to resolve the inability of rioters to control themselves.
Once again, the solution to America's problems is jobs which government cannot provide and which big government and its rules and regulations and heavy handed bureaucracy actually prevents. However, liberals and progressives will never learn because they have too much of your money invested in their failed ideas.
For the first four years Obama controlled government and did nothing about which he complains. He ignored the inner city problems, his own race and now he makes disingenuous comments which ring hollow.
Put more clean shirts on the dirty body is his and Hilarious' answer. What nonsense.
Norman Rockwell country before government got involved and crushed everything:< http://www.kingsacademy.com/
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Lois Lerner unfrocked? (See 3 below.)
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While Obama is busy writing up his Iran treaty, Iran is busy hijacking commercial traffic in open seas, asserting they are going to destroy America and engaged in other assorted anti-social behaviour. (See 4 and 4a below.)
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Dick
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From the Washington Free Beacon: David Perdue: Obama Runs ‘Country Without Congress’
By Adam Kredo
From the Washington Free Beacon
From the Washington Free Beacon
President Barack Obama’s abuse of executive power privileges has essentially frozen Congress out of the government for the past six years, leading to foreign policy disasters across the globe and systemic domestic problems, according to Sen. David Perdue (R., Ga.), who blasted the White House’s abuse of power during a speech on the Senate floor Monday evening.
Perdue, in his first wide-ranging speech from the Senate floor, blasted what he said is the Obama administration’s unprecedented abuse of the presidency and failure to set America on stable path.
“Unbridled use of executive orders and regulatory mandates has basically allowed this president to run the country without Congress for the past six years,” Perdue said, according to text of his speech.
“The abuse of executive power, the significant deterioration of American foreign policy, and our out-of-control debt” has fundamentally endangered the United States’ standing the world, he said.
Quoting Jonathan Turley, a George Washington University constitutional law professor, Perdue noted that what “we are witnessing today is one of the greatest challenges to our constitutional system in the history of this country.”
“According to Professor Turley, this sets dangerous precedents for future courts and future presidents,” he said.
The Obama administration’s actions on the international front have “created a situation where our allies don’t trust us and our enemies don’t fear us,” according to Perdue. “Leading from behind has failed as a foreign policy.”
As the administration seeks to ink a nuclear agreement with Iran that would permit it to build nuclear weapons after a temporary, decade-long freeze, Perdue blasted the president for endangering global security.
“A nuclear Iran whose leaders are committed to the death of Israel and America would spark an unprecedented wave of nuclear proliferation in the Middle East and potentially worldwide,” he said. “Under no circumstances, can we allow Iran to become a nuclear weapons state not now, not in 10 years, not ever.”
Perdue also warned that the administration’s reluctance to thwart terrorist activities abroad could lead to an future attack on U.S. soil.
“After battling terrorism for the past 14 years, and fighting two major wars with thousands of American lives lost and billions spent, we still face terrorist threats from jihadist Islamic groups who openly vow to do us harm,” he said. “We face a tough choice: deal with them over there or wait and deal with the consequences here at home.”
These issues, combined with severe funding cuts to the U.S. military, have jeopardized America’s ability to protect itself and its allies, Perdue said.
“New asymmetric threats combined with traditional symmetric challenges create unprecedented demand on our military at the very time that this administration has reduced military spending to the point that we are about to have the smallest Army since before WWII, the smallest Navy since WWI and the smallest Air Force ever,” he said. “This is simply unacceptable.”
“To have a strong defense, though, we must have a strong economy,” Perdue added. “Our own fiscal irresponsibility jeopardizes our ability to fund a strong military. Admiral Michael Mullen, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the greatest threat to our national security is our own federal debt.”
Perdue also warned that the growing and unchecked federal deficit threatens to erode America’s domestic and international agenda.
The Senate must step up to the plate and deal with the country’s most pressing issues.
“To create a new beginning, it’s time for this eminent body, the United States Senate, to rise above partisan politics and do the right thing,” he said. “It starts with leadership. It starts with making hard decisions. It starts with telling the American people the unvarnished truth. It starts with no longer kicking the can down the road. It starts with having the courage to actually solve these problems, independent of how it might affect our own re-election.”
“My motivation is very simple,” Perdue added. “I do not want to be a member of the first generation in American history that has to tell its kids that we are leaving them a country that is worse off than the one our parents left us.”
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2) Russia says ‘nyet’ to snapback Iran sanctions
Image Credit: shutterstock
President Barack Obama has promised that, should Iran not comply with its nuclear commitments, sanctions will simply snap back in place. Time to think again. Here’s Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov quoted in the Kremlin-backed RIA Novosti (and provided by the Open Source Center):
“We have a whole series of our own priorities and objectives that are important to us, and we will be working on those. We are proceeding on the basis that if one of the partners in the talks raises the possibility of sanctions being reintroduced against Iran, in the hypothetical situation that Iran should fail to honour its commitments, then this process should not in any way be automatic,” he [Ryabkov] said.”Decisions on this matter should be taken in accordance with the procedures of the UN Security Council, through voting in the council, and through the adoption of the appropriate resolutions,” Ryabkov noted.
Russia’s English-language propaganda arm “Sputnik News” left out the key preamble, there, but why burden American policymakers with embarrassing facts about Russia’s position.
Regardless, the Iranian government understands just where it stands. Speaking on the Islamic Republic of Iran News Network Television (IRINN) in Persian earlier today, President Hassan Rouhani bragged about the collapsing sanctions, in a translation provided by the Open Source Center:
“Those who brokered the sanctions had better think of another job for themselves from now on. We will continue moving along the path of constructive interaction with the world with the help of God, with the guidance of the Supreme Leader and with the support of the Iranian nation. Nobody can continue with the sanctions and pressure on Iran in the coming months and years. The sanctions scheme is completely collapsing. The P5+1 group should know well that the government and nation [of Iran] are standing close to each other and are supporting each other, especially in the year of understanding and unity.”
Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry have presided over a complete and utter diplomatic collapse, not a resolution of the problem. They have forfeited all leverage upon the trust of dictators like Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and Russian President Vladimir Putin. And, indeed, Rouhani is laughing his way to the bank. “We are honored to announce to the world that after two years of recession, Iran had a positive rate of progress in ‘93 [Iranian year corresponding to 21 March 2014 – 20 March 2015].” This isn’t sophisticated, fail-safe diplomacy. Rather, it’s surrender
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3)IRS watchdog recovers thousands of Lerner emails
The Treasury’s Inspector General for Tax Administration notified the Senate Finance Committee Tuesday that they have recovered thousands of Lois Lerner emails that were not previously produced to Congress, committee members told Fox News. The inspector general recovered approximately 6,400 Lerner emails and will carefully examine them as part of the committee’s bipartisan IRS investigation. The Hill reported that around 650 emails were from 2010 and 2011, while most of them were from 2012. The inspector general has found about 35,000 emails in all as it sought to recover emails from backup tapes. The IRS, in a statement to the newspaper, said that it was pleased to hear the Treasury’s inspector general found the emails saying it was an “encouraging development that will help resolve remaining questions and dispel uncertainty surrounding the emails.” Source: FOXNews.com - See more at: http://americanactionnews.com/articles/lost-and-now-found-irs-watchdog-recovers-thousands-of-lerner-emails#sthash.NPPb0INP.dpuf
As Senator Ted Cruz said, "the single most important tax reform" we can accomplish is to abolish the IRS.
Not only does the United States have one of the most progressive tax systems in the world, but its tax collection agency, the Internal Revenue Service, has been hijacked by the current administration and used as a weapon against anyone who disagrees with Obama's radical agenda. While at the same time, they allow tax cheats like Al Sharpton, who owes millions in back taxes, to roam free and host a show on MSNBC all because he spews the White House approved propaganda.
Recently, when Lois Lerner and the IRS came under subpoena of the United States House of Representatives for targeting conservatives and limited-government supporters, they managed to "lose" tens of thousands of possibly incriminating emails.
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4) The Pirates of Tehran
The Revolutionary Guards show who’s in charge in Iran.
The Islamic Republic of Iran has been in the hostage-taking business since its earliest days, so nobody should be surprised by Tuesday’s news that Iranian warships seized a cargo ship and her crew of 34 in the Strait of Hormuz. But it’s a useful reminder of the kind of regime with which the West is now seeking to strike a nuclear bargain.
The M/V Maersk Tigris, a Marshall Islands-flagged container ship, was transiting the Strait along an internationally recognized maritime route when it was surrounded by gunships of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps. The Iranians ordered the ship to divert into Iranian waters and fired warning shots when the skipper of the Tigris refused, sending out a distress call that was picked up by the destroyer USS Farragut. The Iranians then boarded the ship and steered her toward the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas.
We’ll see how long this “diversion” lasts, and what price Iran will demand for releasing the ship and its crew. The incident comes less than a week after a convoy of Iranian cargo and warships destined for Tehran’s Houthi allies in Yemen were shadowed by U.S. Navy ships, eventually turning away. It also follows an incident on Friday when Iranian warships surrounded, but did not board, another large Maersk ship, the U.S.-flagged Kensington.
Perhaps that means the Iranians are merely trying to score political points by playing a game of payback. But the U.S. effort to turn the Iranian convoy away from Yemen was in the service of a U.N. arms embargo on the Houthis. The Iranian action is effectively identical to the ship-seizing by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean’s Gulf of Aden and Arabian Sea.
It’s also a reminder that Iran has not moderated its rogue behavior during the presidency of Hasan Rouhani, whose own alleged moderation is one of the Obama Administration’s justifications for seeking a nuclear deal.
On the contrary, Mr. Rouhani has presided over renewed domestic repression and redoubled regional aggression. A nuclear deal is supposed to ease Iran’s return to the community of civilized nations, but so far Western concessions seem to have emboldened it into thinking it can do as it pleases. The habit of seizing unarmed ships on the high seas—or innocent foreign reporters working in Iran—is barbarism.
Apologists for Iran will no doubt ascribe the seizure of the Tigris to “hardline factions” within the regime. That might be true, but it only underscores the futility of striking a nuclear deal with a regime in which the hardliners can operate with impunity. What happens when Tehran decides to imprison pesky U.N. inspectors trying to verify Iran’s nuclear promises?
Iran’s disdain for basic maritime conventions is a good indicator of how it will treat any agreement it signs, which is why the Obama Administration is deluding itself that it can draw a line between Iran’s everyday behavior and its nuclear commitments. Pirates don’t keep their word, and it’s dangerous to bargain as if they will.
U.S. Sends Ship, Planes as Iranians Seize Commercial Ship
Marshall Islands-flagged cargo vessel was traversing the Strait of Hormuz
The U.S. sent a Navy destroyer to the Strait of Hormuz after Iranian patrol boats seized a Marshall Islands-flagged cargo ship amid signs Tehran is stepping up harassment of commercial traffic in the gateway to the Persian Gulf, American officials said.
The USS Farragut scrambled to aid the M/V Maersk Tigris after the crew sent out a call for help. Iranian patrol boats fired warning shots across the ship’s bow in the strait—an oil shipping route between Oman and Iran—U.S. defense officials and the ship’s owner said.
The confrontation marked the second time in recent days that Iranian patrol boats have targeted a commercial ship in the region. That raised concerns for some American officials who suspect Iran was aiming on Tuesday to seize a U.S. ship and may have initially mistook the Tigris for an American vessel.
“They were going after a U.S. vessel,” said one U.S. official. “That is what they wanted.”
The confrontation came amid increased tensions in the Gulf region because of Saudi Arabia’s military operations against Iranian-backed Houthi militants in Yemen. The U.S. military sent an aircraft carrier this month to keep watch on an Iranian flotilla that American officials suspected of carrying weapons bound for Tehran’s allies in Yemen. The Iranian ships turned around as the USS Theodore Roosevelt headed into the area, averting a potential showdown.
While the U.S. and Iran support opposing sides in Yemen, President Barack Obama is trying to seal a controversial deal with Tehran to constrain its nuclear program.
Last week, four Iranian patrol boats tried to contact a U.S.-flagged cargo ship in the Persian Gulf, officials said. When the Maersk Kensington ignored that radio call on April 24, the boats tried to encircle the 980-foot commercial vessel, they said.
The Iranian boats eventually sped away. But the encounter generated a warning on Sunday to commercial ships about increased threats from Iran in the region.
Pentagon officials criticized the Iranian seizure as the U.S. Navy sent surveillance aircraft over the Strait of Hormuz, where the confrontation took place.
”At first appearance, this does seem to be provocative behavior, but we don’t have all the facts yet,” said Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman.
Iran’s official IRNA news agency characterized the incident as a commercial dispute. Mohammed Saeidnejad, the managing director of Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organization, said the Maersk ship was seized “based on a court ruling which ordered confiscating the foreign firm’s assets,” IRNA reported.
The ruling followed a lawsuit filed by a private Iranian company, the report said.
A U.S. defense official dismissed the Iranian claim, adding there is little modern precedent for a navy to seize a commercial ship by force over unpaid debts. Officials with the shipping company wouldn’t speculate on the motive for the seizure, but said the vessel was in international waters when the encounter began.
Over the years, Iran has used the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic chokepoint for the oil rich region, to harass U.S. Navy ships and commercial vessels.
The latest incident began early Tuesday when patrol boats with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps naval force ordered the Tigris to head toward Iran, U.S. officials said. The Iranians fired warning shots across the bow of the ship when the crew refused to follow their orders, according to the U.S. military and the ship’s owner. The crew issued a distress call on an open radio channel and diverted course to head toward Iran’s Larak Island, about 20 miles from the port of Bandar Abbas in southern Iran. There, the Iranians boarded the ship and took control.
The U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet then sent the Farragut to the scene.
Cor Radings, a spokesman for Rickmers Shipmanagement, said the ship was chartered by Maersk to transport cargo.
They lost contact with the 24 crew members on board the Tigris after the confrontation. But Maersk said in a statement on Tuesday that it was in contact with Rickmers and “was pleased to learn that the crew is safe and under the circumstances in good spirits.”
This was the first time any Rickmers ship had encountered such difficulties in the Persian Gulf, Mr. Radings said.
About 30% of the world’s crude oil trade goes through the narrow Strait of Hormuz, making it the world’s most critical energy-shipping chokepoint, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Iran has threatened in the past to blockade the 21-mile-wide strait. But any such action would likely be met with a swift military response from the U.S. and other world powers.
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