===
It is time to let those who voted against America and Israel's security they cannot keep biting hands that support them.
It is time to quit re-enacting "The Ship of Fools." Obama says he has Israel's back. I believe it is time to give him and his cronies the back of our hand. It is time to quit turning the other cheek so they can slap Americans and its ally twice. (See 1 below.)
===
A mutual friend asked me to receive a call from Julian Miller who is running in a district that is not my own for City Council, District 4.
I told him I do not get involved in campaigns where I cannot vote nor live but would be happy to post what he would send me because my memo does go to many who live in Miller's district and I believe we need to clean out the current crop in City Hall if Savannah is to solve its many problems, of which crime, corruption and waste are at the top.
I e mailed Miller that I had just written my own thoughts about why Chatham County should not merge its police department with that of the city, at this time, though I understand the merit of mergers when circumstances are propitious. This LTE was published in the local paper today
My friend gave me his reasons why he thought Miller was a solid candidate and it turns out I actually met him and know something about him (see his e mail which I have posted in 2 below.)
Therefore, for those who live in Miller's District I urge you give consideration to his candidacy.
===
All in a day's work! Adds up after 6 or so years! (See 3 below.)===
When a train is moving too fast and is about to go off track only in politics will those who can stop it choose to watch because of party allegiance (See 4 and 4a below.)
===.
This was when his hair was better but his message has been consistent!
Donald Trump: Twenty-five Years Ago
===
Now for some offensive humor:
A recent survey has shown that 1 out of 3 Democrats are as dumb as the other two.
===
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1)
Booker holds meeting for Jersey Jewish leaders
Many spurn olive branch after senator’s support for Iran deal
Senator Cory Booker
Last Thursday, Cory Booker, New Jersey’s junior Democratic senator who had maintained a Hamlet-like state of indecision, at least in public, on his eventual vote on the Iran deal, declared himself.
He would vote for it, he said.
The next day, he invited New Jersey Jewish leaders to a meeting in Newark set for Tuesday, the day after Labor Day. He asked Adam Szubin, who (coincidentally) grew up in Teaneck and is now the undersecretary for terrorism and financial crimes at the Department of the Treasury, to help him explain why he decided as he did.
Mr. Booker also posted a long essay on his website explaining his decision.
That did not placate his would-be guests, who included Rabbi Menachem Genack of Englewood, who heads the Orthodox Union’s kashrut division; Dr. Ben Chouake of Englewood, the founder and head of the lobbying organization Norpac; and Laura Fein, the New Jersey region director of the Zionist Organization of America.
Strikingly, the guest list did not include his longtime, mutually acknowledged best friend, Rabbi Shmuley Boteach of Englewood, who has been vocal first about his fervent hope that his friend reject the deal, and then in his disappointment, despite his enduring friendship, at Mr. Booker’s decision.
Two of the local invitees, Dr. Chouake and Ms. Fein, decided not to go to the meeting.
Given the level of detail in Mr. Booker’s posted explanation, and because “I think it’s gathering Jewish leaders together to give an explanation for the vote, I don’t think that it is a proper message for the Jewish community to do this at this point,” Dr. Chouake said. “The senator has decided to cast his vote in favor of an agreement that is bad for America’s security and contrary to the wishes of his constituents.
“The right message from us would be to take a step back, let him rethink this, and maybe make the right decision.
“I disagree with the senator’s decision, and I don’t feel comfortable being part of a leadership meeting explaining it or lobbying for it.
“The agreement is what the agreement is. You can twist the definition of things only so much. It will bring us closer to war — the only option to stop a breakout is the military option. This will enable the worst country on earth to become more wealthy, more powerful, more aggressive, and it won’t stop it from getting nuclear weapons.
“Senator Booker knows our position. He made a decision, people are very upset, and I don’t see this is the time or place for this kind of forum. It is important for the community to show that they are upset with the senator’s decision. As good a relationship as we have had with him, this affects the relationship and our confidence in his decision.
“Frankly, I think it is a morally challenged decision,” Dr. Chouake continued. “Look at some of the people who are opposing it. Ben Cardin” — Senator Benjamin Cardin, a Democrat, represents Maryland — “there’s a guy who says that we have to intervene in Syria because it’s simple, they are using chemical weapons on their own people, it’s a moral imperative. Everyone else was running away from it, and he said that it was a moral imperative.
“Then you’ve got a guy like Menendez,” — New Jersey’s Robert Menendez, another Democrat — “who is going to face prosecution” on corruption charges, “and Chuck Schumer” — New York’s senior senator — “who is willing to risk his position as the leader of the Senate” — he’s in line to become the next Democratic minority leader. You know what? That’s courage. It’s conviction. I had hoped that more people would stand up and say, regardless of anything else, that the agreement is bad and we shouldn’t support it.
“When you think about Cory Booker, you think about someone who is very charismatic, brilliant, athletic, gifted, good looking, a natural leader — one of his greatest strengths has always been his moral clarity.
“I think he dropped the ball on this one.”
Ms. Fein’s reaction to Mr. Booker’s decision was blistering. “Senator Booker’s shameful decision to support a deal that furthers Iran’s nuclear and terror ambitions while he acknowledges the risks it poses to Americans and our ally Israel is a catastrophic mistake and a complete betrayal of all he purported to stand for,” she said. “His chutzpah in attempting to sanitize his craven choice by reaching out to Jewish leaders just hours after he sold out has further angered all who once thought him a leader of principle. Only a reversal of his decision could restore any shred of credibility.”
Given the strength of her reaction — which was seconded by the ZOA’s national leadership — she saw no point in going to the meeting.
Rabbi Genack did go to the meeting.
“I had what to say and I wanted to say it,” he said. “I wanted to express for myself and the community our position, our disappointment” in the senator’s decision to support the Iran deal, and “why we think that’s a disastrous approach.”
The senator “said he knows he has lost a lot of credibility within our community and that he’ll have to work hard to get it back,” Rabbi Genack said.
About 15 people were there.
Rabbi Genack described Mr. Szubin from the Treasury, who described how continued oversight on sanctions would work, as “very bright. He’s frum.” Nonetheless, Rabbi Genack was not swayed by Mr. Szubin’s presentation.
Rabbi Genack said he’s known Mr. Booker for 20 years — and that he was among those who advised the senator to come out against the deal before he reached his decision.
“Cory Booker himself, in his statement, eviscerates the deal and said it’s a terrible deal. Given that he thought it’s a terrible deal, I would have thought he would have voted against it,” Rabbi Genack said.
“We know from history that when people say they mean to do us ill,” Rabbi Genack said, referring to the Iranians, “they mean to do us ill.”
The Iran deal, he said, “came about because there was never a military option that was serious. It was never credible. America, with its economic power and military power, should have led the world to put the sanction regime back.”
On Wednesday, the Orthodox Union was scheduled to rally in Washington with the Rabbinic Council of America — which represents Orthodox rabbis — against the deal.
Rabbi Genack explained that the rally was important even though the Iran vote appeared a foregone conclusion. “This decision and this deal is an inflection point in history,” he said. “History doesn’t end with this. The challenge we have now will be more difficult in terms of containing Iran.
“The rally is both to lobby against the deal, for people to understand the historic negative consequences of the deal, and to look toward the future.” The group will work with AIPAC to meet with members of Congress.
Rabbi Genack is a long-time Democrat. “I’m also disappointed that Secretary Clinton supported the deal,” he said.
But he said the deal reflects the policy beliefs of President Obama — beliefs that were debated during the 2008 Democratic primaries.
“We came to the wrong conclusion because the president has a flawed perspective,” he said. “When Clinton ran against Obama, one of the big issues was about how we deal with Iran. Senator Obama said we should be talking with Iranian leaders. She said the president of the United States should not be talking with them. I was told that David Axelrod” — one of the president’s former top advisers — “told Obama he should walk the statement back, but Obama said no, that’s my policy.
“You saw there the genesis for this policy” of the nuclear deal, “and this appeasement. You saw it in his speech in Cairo when he talked about having a new relationship with Iran,” Rabbi Genack said.
Perhaps the most explosive reaction to the meeting came from Rabbi Boteach, whose long friendship with Mr. Booker — a friendship that he insists is not at risk, despite Mr. Booker’s decision — makes his stakes in the issue inextricably personal as well as political.
Still, he said, his options were starkly limited; in fact, only one was possible. “One cannot play politics with the survival of the state of Israel and the Jewish people,” he said. “This vote on the Iran deal is the pivotal issue of our time. We in the Jewish community can give no sanctuary to elected officials who chose Iran and terror funding over Israel’s security.
“People are well aware of my quarter-century friendship with Cory — it transcends friendship, he is part of my family — but in the face of a promised second Holocaust I was never going to be silent, and it was unrealistic for Cory to expect my silence.”
He did not expect to be invited to this meeting, he continued, but he thinks those invitees who chose to go are making a big mistake, trading access for integrity.
“Those Jewish leaders in New Jersey who grant Cory their silence in return for access are not Cory’s true friends,” he said. “They have abrogated their responsibility as Jewish leaders. Powerful leaders always attract sycophants, but they never benefit from the counsel of sycophants.
“It was shocking that Cory planned this meeting, so soon after he announced his vote. It allows him to demonstrate that there has been no damage to his standing in the Jewish community. Those Jewish leaders who chose to attend this meeting, to listen to Adam Szubin’s sales pitch — he is the administration’s Jewish salesman for the deal — are undermining the strong message of opposition to the catastrophic deal that must be presented to our elected officials.
“In particular, I have made it clear to the Orthodox Union in general, and to Rabbi Genack in particular, that they are inadvertently greasing the wheels for Cory’s choice to embrace the deal.”
Rabbi Boteach detoured from his main message to talk about Rabbi Genack. “He’s one of my dearest friends,” Rabbi Boteach said. “I go to him for halachic opinions. And I introduced him to Cory about a decade ago, in my house, on Shabbat, and I brought them together multiple times thereafter, in the hope that they would become friends.”
Now, he believes, the Orthodox Union is falling into a trap. “They organized a conference call two weeks before the vote, so Cory could explain his position.
“That call should have had one purpose — the Jewish community should have voiced their outrage that he was even considering voting for the deal. And now Rabbi Genack is helping to orchestrate this meeting to minimize the damage to Cory’s standing in the community. Really, Rabbi Genack and the OU should be putting Israel’s security first.”
Was Rabbi Boteach really saying that a principled decision to vote for the arms deal, or to think that it would be correct to vote for it, is not possible? “No, of course I understand that people genuinely disagree with me, and of course this is a democracy. It would be one thing if it I were a political figure who said there is a deal, and I agree with it.
“But Cory’s statement destroys the deal. It demolishes it. When he said he would vote for it, the speech he gave was the best speech against it that any politician in the country ever has given. Republicans have been quoting it as the best statement against the deal.
“Cory said that the deal shouldn’t have been negotiated. He said that it was awful. He said that it is certain that Iran will cheat. He said that Iran will have another $150 billion to use to kill people. He said that Iran seeks to annihilate both Israel and the United States — and only Cory has said that.
“And then, after giving the best argument against the deal that I have ever heard, he shockingly said yes, I will vote for it. Until that moment I thought that there was a real possibility that he would vote against it.
“Reasonable people can disagree, but Cory now has staked his career on this deal, and he is the one who made the best argument against it.”
Rabbi Boteach said that his friendship with Mr. Booker is so strong that it will persist, even though it has taken some hits and will need some time to recover. “It will endure,” he said. “Our love always will endure. I will always be close to Cory.
“He understands that too. If he is upset with me, he will get over it. Our public campaign put our relationship on the line, but I think I am doing him an enormous favor, because this will be a stain on his senatorial record forever. The community’s relationship with Cory will heal, but we can’t minimize the gravity of his decision.
“The Jewish leaders who still say we love you no matter what, you’re still taking our phone calls, are doing him an enormous disservice by saying that conviction doesn’t matter.
“I think that the Orthodox Union is out of its depth. It has a constituency probably 95 percent against the deal. It is against their interest to help organize this meeting and not take a strong public stance against Cory’s choice. Even if he wouldn’t return their calls for a while, it is their job to show courage, to let the community come before their own personal interest,” Rabbi Boteach said.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2) You and I met about 10 years ago when I became publisher of the Savannah Morning News after serving 17 years as president of its sister newspaper, The Augusta Chronicle. I retired from newspapers in 2008 and started two real estate provision and management companies and also manage a third.
I also became a Realtor with Cora Bett Thomas before becoming the Public Affairs Administrator and public information officer for the Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police Department. Part of my duties there was to attend every major crime scene, standing shoulder to shoulder with police officers, other first responders, victims, victims’ families, and chaplains. It wasn’t pretty.
I saw first-hand the frustrations of crime in every part of the community, and realized the most frustration was on the part of the police officers who were not allowed to adequately do their job for lack of personnel (we are now down a fourth of the department), cars, equipment and technology.
They also were held back by politics.
Another part of my job was interacting with city council members to try to alleviate these problems. Many times we sat down and went over the frustrations that were sending our best police officers searching for other jobs. Each time they asked solutions. Each time the solutions were ignored. Officers continued to struggle with salaries lower than comparable departments, and the other issues that made their jobs much more difficult. When Jack Lumpkin because chief on Nov. 10, he told Council he could rebuild the department but couldn’t do it paying $10,000 to $12,000 less than comparable departments and needed cars and equipment. Council agreed, but waited 10 months to respond to his requests.
Now the police department has only 75 percent of its allotted officers available. Worse, the awkward way in which city council did approve raises at first left recruits being paid higher than officers who were training them. Guess who then left. When council did finally get around to raising salaries for the rest of the force, many already had job applications out and others found themselves already atop the “mid-point” salary range City Council had approved with no course available to better themselves. So more officers are leaving.
While we have many issues, I my campaign is on crime, because it threatens every other issue, the lives of our citizens, our tourist industry, economic development, and just about everything else we do. As a former CEO of two large businesses and current CEO of three smaller ones, I understand what makes an organization run and how to fine tune it. Our city government is a multi-million dollar business with no business plan. My experience has prepared me to help lead us out of that quagmire.
That is why I have retired from the department to run for city council.
I have a website: Miller2015.com and a Facebook Page: JulianMillerSAV, each with more information.
Please feel free to contact me at:
516 E. 44th Street
Savannah, GA 31405
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3)
Yes, he's historic, alright (new items denoted by ••• prefix). You can bookmark this link usinghttp://tinyurl.com/HistoricFirsts.
• First President to Terminate America's Ability to Put a Man into Space (Sources: USA Today, ABC News)
••• First President to force Israel and Saudi Arabia to admit secret diplomacy for the first time in Order to Protect Themselves from the Policies of the United States (Source: Jerusalem Post)
• First President to send $200 million to a terrorist organization (Hamas) after Congress had explicitly frozen the money for fear it would fund attacks against civilians (Sources: American Thinker, The Independent [UK])
But remember: he will not rest until all Americans have jobs, affordable homes, green-energy vehicles, and the environment is repaired, etc., etc., etc.
At a June Congressional hearing, Flynn stated that the belief that a deal would change Iran’s domestic politics and regional strategy was “wishful thinking.” ( via TheTower.org)
3)
President Barack Obama's Complete List of Historic Firsts [Updated]
Law and Justice
• First President to Violate the War Powers Act (Unilaterally Executing American Military Operations in Libya Without Informing Congress In the Required Time Period - Source: Huffington Post)
• First President to Triple the Number of Warrantless Wiretaps of U.S. Citizens (Source: ACLU)
• First President to Sign into Law a Bill That Permits the Government to "Hold Anyone Suspected of Being Associated With Terrorism Indefinitely, Without Any Form of Due Process. No Indictment. No Judge or Jury. No Evidence. No Trial. Just an Indefinite Jail Sentence" (NDAA Bill - Source: Business Insider)
• First President to Refuse to Tell the Public What He Did For Eight (8) Hours After Being Informed That a U.S. Ambassador Was Facing Imminent Death During a Terror Attack (Source: Mediate)
• First President to Lie About the Reason For an Ambassador's Death, Blaming it on an Internet Video Rather Than What He Knew to be the Case: the Al Qaeda-linked Terror Group Ansar al-Sharia (Source:House Oversight Committee, et. al.)
• First President to Have an Innocent Filmmaker Thrown in Jail After Lying About the Cause for a Deadly Attack on U.S. Diplomats, Using the Filmmaker as a Scapegoat (Source: CNN)
• First President to Use the IRS to "Unfairly Target Political Enemies" as Well as pro-Catholic and pro-Jewish Groups (Source: Sen. Ted Cruz)
• First President to Unlawfully Seize Telephone Records of More than 100 Reporters to Intimidate and/or Bully Them (Source: Associated Press)
• First President to Witness a Single Cabinet Secretary Commit Multiple Hatch Act Violations Without Acting, Speaking Out, Disciplining or Firing That Person (Source: New York Times)
• First President to Systematically Release Detained Illegal Aliens Charged With Homicide Into the U.S. Population (Source: USA Today)
• First President to Release 40,000 Illegal Aliens with Serious and/or Violent Criminal Records Inside the U.S. (Source: Judicial Watch)
• First President to Create Secret Police Units Inside Government Agencies to Block Lawful Investigations by Inspectors General (Source: Associated Press)
• First President to Release 40,000 Illegal Aliens with Serious and/or Violent Criminal Records Inside the U.S. (Source: Judicial Watch)
• First President to Create Secret Police Units Inside Government Agencies to Block Lawful Investigations by Inspectors General (Source: Associated Press)
• First President to Personally Lobby Senators to Violate Senate Rules and Destroy the Filibuster Through "The Nuclear Option" to Consolidate More Executive Power (Source: Wall Street Journal)
• First President to create his own propaganda news network and "bypass journalists ... [having] developed [his] own network of websites, social media and even created an online newscast to dispense favorable information and images" (Source: Associated Press)
• First President to Barricade Open-Air Government Monuments During a Partial Government Shutdown(Source: Rep. Steve Stockman)
• First President to create his own propaganda news network and "bypass journalists ... [having] developed [his] own network of websites, social media and even created an online newscast to dispense favorable information and images" (Source: Associated Press)
• First President to Barricade Open-Air Government Monuments During a Partial Government Shutdown(Source: Rep. Steve Stockman)
• First President to Have His Attorney General Held in Criminal Contempt of Congress For His Efforts to Cover Up Operation Fast and Furious, That Killed Over 300 Individuals (Source: Politico)
• First President to claim Executive Privilege to shield a sitting Attorney General from a Contempt of Congress finding for perjury and withholding evidence from lawful subpoenas (Source: Business Insider)
• First President to Issue Unlawful "Recess-Appointments" Over a Long Weekend -- While the U.S. Senate Remained in Session (against the advice of his own Justice Department - Source: United States Court of Appeals)
• First President to Fire an Inspector General of Americorps for Catching One of His Friends in a Corruption Case (Source: Gawker)
• First President to "Order a Secret Amnesty Program that Stopped the Deportations of Illegal Immigrants Across the U.S., Including Those With Criminal Convictions" (Source: DHS documents uncovered by Judicial Watch)
• First President to Sue States for Enforcing Voter ID Requirements, Which Were Previously Ruled Legal by the U.S. Supreme Court (Source: CNN)
• First President to Encourage Racial Discrimination and Intimidation at Polling Places (the New Black Panthers voter intimidation case, Source: Investors Business Daily)
• First President to Refuse to Comply With a House Oversight Committee Subpoena (Source: Heritage Foundation)
• First President to Arbitrarily Declare an Existing Law Unconstitutional and Refuse to Enforce It (Defense of Marriage Act - Source: ABC News)
• First President to Increase Surveillance of American Citizen Under the Patriot Act by 1,000 Percent in Four Years (Source: NBC News)
• First president to appoint a convicted cop killer's advocate to the Department of Justice (Source:Investor's Business Daily)
• First Administration to Be Ruled by a Federal Judge as Aiding and Abetting Human Trafficking (Source:Federal District Court Judge Andrew S. Hanen)
• First President to have the EPA conduct hazardous experiments on the ill, infirm and elederly to push a radical environmental agenda, in a manner not dissimilar to the Third Reich's inhuman medical experiments (Source: The EPA Office of the Inspector General).
• First President to be Accused by His Own Party of Ordering the CIA to Spy on Congress (Source:Washington Post)
• First Administration to Be Ruled by a Federal Judge as Aiding and Abetting Human Trafficking (Source:Federal District Court Judge Andrew S. Hanen)
• First President to Demand a Company Hand Over $20 Billion to One of His Political Appointees (BP Oil Spill Relief Fund - Source: Fox News)
• First President to Have a Law Signed By an 'Auto-pen' Without Being "Present" (Source: The New York Times)
Scandals
• First President to publicly announce an enemies list (consisting of his opponents campaign contributors; and to use the instrumentalities of government to punish those on the list - Source: Heritage Foundation)
• First President to Attempt to Block Legally-Required 60-Day Layoff Notices by Government Contractors Due to His Own Cuts to Defense Spending -- Because The Notices Would Occur Before the Election. (Source: National Journal)
• First President to Intentionally Disable Credit Card Security Measures (in order to allow over-the-limit donations, foreign contributions and other illegal fundraising measures - Source: Power Line)
• First President to send 80 percent of a $16 billion program (green energy) to his campaign bundlers and contributors, leaving only 20% to those who did not contribute. (Source: Washington Examiner)
• First President to Propose an Executive Order Demanding Companies Disclose Their Political Contributions to Bid on Government Contracts(Source: Wall Street Journal)
• First President to issue an Executive Order implementing a "Racial Justice System", a system that tries to achieve "racially equivalent outcomes" for crimes (Source: Daily Caller)
• First President to Leak Confidential IRS Tax Records to Groups Aligned Politically With Him for Partisan Advantage (Source: The Hill Newspaper)
• First President to Use the EPA to Punish Political Enemies and Reward Political Allies (Source:Competitive Enterprise Institute)
• First President to Send Millions in Taxpayer Dollars to His Wife's Former Employer (Source: White House Dossier)
• First President to Openly Use the Department of Justice to Intimidate Political Opponents and Threaten Companies to Donate to His Campaign (Source: Peter Schweizer, Extortion)
• First President to Direct His Census Dept. to Make Up Favorable Employment Data In Run-Up to His Reelection Campaign (Source: New York Post)
• First President to Have His Administration Fund an Organization Tied to the Cop-Killing Terrorist Group, the Weather Underground (Source: National Review)
• First President to Direct His Census Dept. to Make Up Favorable Employment Data In Run-Up to His Reelection Campaign (Source: New York Post)
• First President to Have His Administration Fund an Organization Tied to the Cop-Killing Terrorist Group, the Weather Underground (Source: National Review)
• First President to have the EPA conduct hazardous experiments on the ill, infirm and elederly to push a radical environmental agenda, in a manner not dissimilar to the Third Reich's inhuman medical experiments (Source: The EPA Office of the Inspector General).
• First President to be Accused by His Own Party of Ordering the CIA to Spy on Congress (Source:Washington Post)
• First President to allow deadly Ebola disease-ridden patients to enter the U.S., refusing to restrict travel from infected countries like other Western allies (Source: New York Daily News)
• First president to order his EPA to unilaterally overturn a Federal Statute (changing the borders of Wyoming established by an act of Congress, Source: Casper Star-Tribune).
• First president to systematically delay enacting a wide variety of controversial rules until after a presidential election (Source: Washington Post)
• First president to have Politifact designate one of his statements "Lie of the Year" (Source: Politifact)
••• First President to Strip Inspectors General of Ability to Investigate Corruption and Fraud in the Federal Government (Source: Washington Times).
••• First President to Create a Secret Racial Database of Americans in Order to Determine "Inequities" in Housing, Employment, Banking, etc. (Source: New York Post).
••• First President to Intentionally Release Thousands of Illegal Alien Rapists and Child Molesters into the U.S. Instead of Deporting Them (Source: Boston Globe
••• First President to be Named by the Associated Press to Have Operated the Least Transparent Administration in History (since the advent of the Freedom of Information Act; Source: Associated Press)
••• First President to Have Its Own Watchdogs Report That More Than $125 Billion in Fraudulent/Improper Payments Were Made by the Federal Government (Source: Associated Press)
• First president to systematically delay enacting a wide variety of controversial rules until after a presidential election (Source: Washington Post)
• First president to have Politifact designate one of his statements "Lie of the Year" (Source: Politifact)
••• First President to Strip Inspectors General of Ability to Investigate Corruption and Fraud in the Federal Government (Source: Washington Times).
••• First President to Create a Secret Racial Database of Americans in Order to Determine "Inequities" in Housing, Employment, Banking, etc. (Source: New York Post).
••• First President to Intentionally Release Thousands of Illegal Alien Rapists and Child Molesters into the U.S. Instead of Deporting Them (Source: Boston Globe
••• First President to be Named by the Associated Press to Have Operated the Least Transparent Administration in History (since the advent of the Freedom of Information Act; Source: Associated Press)
••• First President to Have Its Own Watchdogs Report That More Than $125 Billion in Fraudulent/Improper Payments Were Made by the Federal Government (Source: Associated Press)
Economy
• First President to Preside Over a Cut to the Credit Rating of the United States Government (Source:Reuters)
• First President to Bypass Congress and Implement the DREAM Act Through Executive Fiat (Source:Christian Science Monitor)
• First President to Move America Past the Dependency Tipping Point, In Which 51% of Households Now Pay No Income Taxes (Source: Center for Individual Freedom)
• First President to Increase Food Stamp Spending By More Than 100% in Less Than Four Years(Source: Sen. Jeff Sessions)
• First President to Spend a Trillion Dollars on 'Shovel-Ready' Jobs -- and Later Admit There Was No Such Thing as Shovel-Ready Jobs (Source: President Obama during an early meeting of his 'Jobs Council')
• First President to Threaten Insurance Companies After They Publicly Spoke out on How Obamacare Helped Cause their Rate Increases (Source: The Hill)
• First President to Abrogate Bankruptcy Law to Turn Over Control of Companies to His Union Supporters(Source: Wall Street Journal)
• First President to Propose Budgets So Unreasonable That Not a Single Representative From Either Party Would Cast a Vote in Favor (Sources: The Hill, Open Market)
• First President Whose Economic Policies Have the Number of Americans on Disability Exceed the Population of New York (Source: CNS News)
• First President to Sign a Law Requiring All Americans to Purchase a Product From a Third Party (Source: Wall Street Journal)
• First President to Sue States For Enforcing Immigration Laws Passed by Congress (Source: The Arizona Republic newspaper)
• First President to See America Lose Its Status as the World's Largest Economy (Source: Peterson Institute)
• First President to redistribute $26.5 billion of the taxpayers' funds to his union supporters in the UAW(Source: Heritage Foundation)
• First President to Threaten an Auto Company (Ford) After It Publicly Mocked Bailouts of GM and Chrysler (Source: Detroit News)
• First President to Run a Record 5 Straight Years of Deficits for the Disability Trust Fund (Source: CNS News)
• First President to Run a Record 5 Straight Years of Deficits for the Disability Trust Fund (Source: CNS News)
• First President to Attempt to Bully a Major Manufacturing Company Into Not Opening a Factory in a Right-to-Work State (Boeing's facility in South Carolina - Source: Wall Street Journal)
• First President Since 1872 to See the U.S. Economy Sink From 1st to 2nd Largest in the World (Source:Financial Times).
• First President to Conceal Food Stamp Data From Public Scrutiny (Source: Judicial Watch: "8th Circuit Says USDA Can’t Keep Hiding Food Stamp Data")
• First President to Leave the American Middle Class No Longer the World’s Richest (Source: The New York Times)
• First President to Retaliate Against a Rating Agency for Downgrading the United States Debt (Source:Investor's Business Daily)
• First President to Expand the Regulatory State to an Unprecedented Degree ("New record: Feds issued 56 regs for every new law, 3,659 in 2013", Source: Washington Examiner)
• First President Since 1872 to See the U.S. Economy Sink From 1st to 2nd Largest in the World (Source:Financial Times).
• First President to Conceal Food Stamp Data From Public Scrutiny (Source: Judicial Watch: "8th Circuit Says USDA Can’t Keep Hiding Food Stamp Data")
• First President to Leave the American Middle Class No Longer the World’s Richest (Source: The New York Times)
• First President to Retaliate Against a Rating Agency for Downgrading the United States Debt (Source:Investor's Business Daily)
• First President to Expand the Regulatory State to an Unprecedented Degree ("New record: Feds issued 56 regs for every new law, 3,659 in 2013", Source: Washington Examiner)
Energy Policy
• First President to Endanger the Stability of the Electric Grid by Shutting Down Hundreds of Coal-Fired Plants Without Adequate Replacement Technologies (Source: National Electric Reliability Corporation - PDF)
• First President to Have His EPA Repudiated by a Federal Judge for "Overstepping Its Powers" When They Attempted to Shut Down Coal Operations in Appalachia (Source: Huffington Post)
• First President to be Held in Contempt of Court for Illegally Obstructing Oil Drilling in the Gulf of Mexico(Source: Politico)
National Security and World Affairs
• First President to Lie Repeatedly to the American People About the Murder of a U.S. Ambassador and Three Other Diplomatic Personnel for Purely Political Reasons, Rewriting a "Talking Points" Memo No Fewer Than a Dozen Times to Avoid Referencing a Pre-Planned Terror Attack (Source: ABC News)
• First President to Openly Defy a Congressional Order Not To Share Sensitive Nuclear Defense Secrets With the Russian Government (Sources: ABC News, Rep. Michael Turner)
• First President to Leak Highly Classified Military and Intelligence Secrets to Hollywood In Order to Promote a Movie That Could Help His Reelection Campaign (Source: Judicial Watch)
• First President to Renounce the Monroe Doctrine of National Security in the Western Hemisphere(Source: Wall Street Journal)
• First Nobel Peace Prize Winner to State "I'm Really Good At Killing People" (Regarding His Drone Strikes) (Source: Business Insider)
• First President to Snub the Vatican by Closing U.S. Embassy (Source: Washington Times, "Obama’s call to close Vatican embassy is ‘slap in the face’ to Roman Catholics")
• First President to Directly Violate the Law Regarding Prisoner Swaps with the Taliban, Bypassing Congressional Review (Source: The New York Times)
• First President to Invite a Leader of the Terrorist Group the Muslim Brotherhood to a Meeting in the White House (Source: Washington Free Beacon)
• First President to Out a CIA Station Chief in an Active Military Zone (Source: CBS News)
••• First President to Negotiate a Deal to Transfer $150 Billion to the World's Leading State Sponsor of Terrorism (Source: Gatestone Institute)
••• First President to Operate His National Security Infrastructure So Incompetently That an Enemy of the United States was Able to Steal the Personnel Records of all Four Million Government Employees (Source: CNN).
••• First President to Operate His National Security Infrastructure So Incompetently That His Secretary of State Created Her Own Private Email Servers to Evade Public Open Records Laws (Source: The Verge)
• First President to Renounce the Monroe Doctrine of National Security in the Western Hemisphere(Source: Wall Street Journal)
• First Nobel Peace Prize Winner to State "I'm Really Good At Killing People" (Regarding His Drone Strikes) (Source: Business Insider)
• First President to Snub the Vatican by Closing U.S. Embassy (Source: Washington Times, "Obama’s call to close Vatican embassy is ‘slap in the face’ to Roman Catholics")
• First President to Directly Violate the Law Regarding Prisoner Swaps with the Taliban, Bypassing Congressional Review (Source: The New York Times)
• First President to Invite a Leader of the Terrorist Group the Muslim Brotherhood to a Meeting in the White House (Source: Washington Free Beacon)
• First President to Out a CIA Station Chief in an Active Military Zone (Source: CBS News)
••• First President to Negotiate a Deal to Transfer $150 Billion to the World's Leading State Sponsor of Terrorism (Source: Gatestone Institute)
••• First President to Operate His National Security Infrastructure So Incompetently That an Enemy of the United States was Able to Steal the Personnel Records of all Four Million Government Employees (Source: CNN).
••• First President to Operate His National Security Infrastructure So Incompetently That His Secretary of State Created Her Own Private Email Servers to Evade Public Open Records Laws (Source: The Verge)
• First President to Terminate America's Ability to Put a Man into Space (Sources: USA Today, ABC News)
• First President to press for a "treaty giving a U.N. body veto power over the use of our territorial waters and rights to half of all offshore oil revenue" (The Law Of The Sea Treaty, Source: Investors Business Daily)
••• First President to force Israel and Saudi Arabia to admit secret diplomacy for the first time in Order to Protect Themselves from the Policies of the United States (Source: Jerusalem Post)
• First President to send $200 million to a terrorist organization (Hamas) after Congress had explicitly frozen the money for fear it would fund attacks against civilians (Sources: American Thinker, The Independent [UK])
Miscellania
• First President to Insert Himself into White House Biographies of Past Presidents (Source: The New York Times).
• First President to Secretly Party With Known Domestic Terrorists (Source: Gawker)
••• First President to so inflame racial tensions that the first major league baseball game in U.S. history had to be cancelled due to riots (Source: Baltimore Sun).
••• First President to so inflame racial tensions that the first major league baseball game in U.S. history had to be cancelled due to riots (Source: Baltimore Sun).
••• First President to Complete 250 Rounds of Golf in Less Than Seven Years in Office (Source: Mark Knoller CBS News)
But remember: he will not rest until all Americans have jobs, affordable homes, green-energy vehicles, and the environment is repaired, etc., etc., etc.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4)
Today, the last pieces fell into place for the administration’s effort to shove a dangerous Iran nuclear deal down the throats of a reluctant Congress and American people. With the announcements of t hree more Democrats that they would support the pact, President Obama can now count on 41 votes in the Senate. That means not only can a veto of a resolution of disapproval be sustained but that it is entirely likely that the Democrats will filibuster the vote altogether, ultimately denying Congress the right to vote on the measure that they gave themselves with the passage of the Corker-Cardin bill. Nevertheless, some critics of the deal are pointing out a legal technicality that ought to render the entire vote count moot. As Rep. Mike Pompeo and the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ David Rivkin pointed out in a Washington Post op-ed over the weekend, the 60-day period for review of the deal that was supposedly triggered in July should not have actually started. Since the administration refused to divulge to Congress the contents of a side deal between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency his implementation of the agreement is illegal.
Pompeo and Rivkin are right. The terms of the Iran Nuclear Review Act of 2015 sponsored by Senators Bob Corker and Ben Cardin clearly stated that the entire deal, including any “side agreements, implementing materials, documents, and guidance, technical or other understandings, and any related agreements, whether entered into or implemented prior to the agreement or to be entered into or implemented in the future” must be submitted to Congress. But the president has not done so. The Iran-IAEA agreement dealing with how the UN watchdog agency will get information about Iran’s past work on possible military dimensions (PMD) of their nuclear program has been kept secret.
This is significant for three reasons.
The first is that without the knowledge of PMD work there is no way of knowing how close the Iranians are to having a bomb mechanism ready. That makes the administration’s estimates of Iran’s “breakout” time to a weapon are pure speculation rather than the precise estimates that they claim them to be. If that is so, then confidence in the West’s ability to react to Iranian cheating or to an Iran break out after the deal expires is completely unfounded.
The second is that we know that published reports of the text of this side deal show it to be a dangerous act of appeasement that does not allow for UN inspectors to be on the site. In private briefings given to some members of Congress, the administration has claimed that this does not amount to allowing Iran to inspect itself. But in the absence of actual proof, that assertion cannot be taken at face value.
Third, without full disclosure of the side deal, any implementation of the deal by the administration is simply illegal, rendering the entire drama of the debate in the House and Senate and the possible filibuster by the Democrats pointless.
It should be noted that the entire approval process set up for the deal is not in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution that require any foreign treaty to get a two-thirds positive vote in the Senate in order to be legal. The Corker-Cardin bill is the product of a weak Republican leadership that let themselves be bluffed into passing a bill that turned the approval process upside down. The president, who preferred not to let Congress have any say, was pleased with a bill that let him sneak the deal through with only 34 Senate votes rather than 67.
Nevertheless, critics of the deal shouldn’t get their hopes up. There is no indication that the Republican leadership of the House and the Senate will seek to hold up discussion of the agreement on these grounds. That would force administration opponents to go to court to try and stop implementation of the deal. Though they would have the law on their side, the odds that the federal courts would seek to stop President Obama from proceeding to waive enforcement of sanctions on Iran are slim. The debate and votes on the deal would allow the courts to say that Congress accepted the administration’s presentation of the pact. And even if Congress were seen as backing up this claim, the courts are always loath to side with the legislative branch against the executive on foreign policy. So no one should expect the deal to be stopped on these grounds.
But this failure to comply with the need for full disclosure may eventually haunt those who are making this travesty of a nuclear deal possible. The deal gives Iran two paths to a bomb. One by cheating on what may prove to be an easily evaded inspections process. The other is merely by patiently waiting for it to expire and then use the nuclear infrastructure and research that the agreement has allowed to quickly produce a weapon. Either way, those who vote for the deal that they admit is weak and flawed or those who foolishly let this extralegal process unfold will need to be held accountable for what they’ve let Obama and Iran get away with. Those Democrats who filibuster or vote for this deal will own all Iranian misbehavior from now on including terrorism and nuclear violations.
Jonathan S. Tobin is senior online editor of COMMENTARY magazine and chief political blogger at www.commentarymagazine.com
4a)Former military intel chief: Iran nuclear deal gives U.S. “nothing but grief” The United States gets “nothing but grief” from the nuclear deal with Iran, the former head of U.S. military intelligence said today.
Lt. Gen. (ret.) Michael Flynn, who served as the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency from 2012 to 2014, said in an interview published on the website Medium that the deal could lead to the attempted elimination of Israel, a “large regional war” between Iran and Saudi Arabia, and a future in which Iran “can become even more hardline and crush all efforts at democracy and freedom. There is no longer a penalty for their harsh behavior towards their citizens.”
Flynn stated that Arab allies told him that they “feel abandoned by the U.S.” and have lost their trust in the government. Flynn expressed concern that these states would seek to develop their own nuclear programs, and, if Iran develops a nuclear weapon, take similar steps towards weaponization.
When asked what Iran’s negotiating partners achieved by striking the deal, Flynn explained that the U.S. achieved very few positives:
Let’s start with Europe. Europe, Russia, and China get three big things: 1. A new market of 80 million people to buy their goods; 2. Cheap oil; and 3. An educated work force to open companies within Iran.
The U.S. gets nothing but grief. We did not get an apology for the 500 KIA and thousands of wounded military members in the Iraq war struck with Iranian explosively-formed penetrator IEDs. No apology for the hundreds of Marines killed in Beirut in the 1980s. None of the four current American hostages were released. No apology for the Americans killed in the Khobar tower terrorist attack. We did get a requirement to expand our security umbrella in the region for life. China will take the economic benefits and we will be stuck securing the region for the Chinese and Russians while the UN (IAEA) tries to monitor the Iranian nuclear advances that have historically failed.
Russia was the chief non-Iranian beneficiary of the deal, “knowing that they can also sell to the Iranian antagonists in the region and make double the money on arms and nuclear technology.” Flynn also predicted that Iran Iran would its economic windfall, achieved through sanctions relief and increased commerce, to finance its military, its terrorist proxies, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, including the IRGC’s “narcotics cartel that stretches from Colombia and Venezuela to Afghanistan.”
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No comments:
Post a Comment