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«Updated Daily« |
Wednesday June 19, 2013
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Made in the USA since 1998
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"We anticipate there will be a lot of bumps in the road," Pres. Obama said of peace negotiations with the Taliban in remarks at the Group of Eight summit.
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US to Launch Formal Peace Talks With Taliban
The Washington Post
The Obama administration will start formal peace talks with the Taliban on Thursday in the Persian Gulf state of Qatar, the first direct political contact between them since early last year and the initial step in what the administration hopes will lead to a negotiated end to the protracted war in Afghanistan. Afghan government representatives are not expected to attend the meeting. But US officials said the United States wants to eventually hand over the process to Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his appointed peace council. In a statement read live on television in Doha, the Qatari capital, a Taliban spokesman said that the militant group "never wants to pose harm to other countries from its soil" and that it was open to talking with other Afghans. Those pledges met US conditions for opening a Taliban political office in Qatar. President Obama called the agreement "a very early step," describing it as a parallel process to "the transition that is taking place militarily in Afghanistan" as the US-led international coalition hands over security control to the Afghan military and prepares to withdraw all combat troops by the end of next year. |
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The Crimes of An Ideological Agenda
Frank Salvato
The number of scandals involving the encroachment of the Obama Administration into – and onto – the constitutional rights of American citizens is beyond stunning. And it is without question criminal in many cases. But with an Attorney General seated who – as a practice – routinely tries to manipulate the limits of the law to affect an ideological agenda, and a federal "classification system" that keeps those elected to represent us in Congress from bringing issues of government instituted malfeasance to light, what recourse is left the American citizen? These encroachments against the United States Constitution are the product of over one-hundred years of Progressive political advances in the area of government. Put succinctly, two of the founding principles of the Progressive Movement; two of the “givens” held in understanding by each and every Progressive, are that: a) Progressives are enlightened; intellectually superior to the masses; and, b) that through centralized government, Progressives can help the masses help themselves to a better life, regardless of whether they want it or not. Once these two facts are understood, you can begin to understand some of the declarations made by Mr. Obama and his spokespeople about the many scandals – or what We the People perceive to be scandals – surrounding the Obama Administration.
Editor's Notes:
Running With the Devil
Frank Salvato
June 19, 2013 -- One certainly would be justified in asking whether or not the leaders of the West -- and in particular, US President Barack Obama -- have lost their collective minds. In a move that demonstrates an affinity for embracing the battered wife syndrome, the United States is now formally set to enter into peace talks with the bloodthirsty, dogmatic warlords of the Taliban. Based on little more than words on a paper -- and completely devoid of any deeds to indicate those words are worth anything -- the Obama Administration is sitting down in good faith with those whose ideological belief system includes tenets that command them to lie to advance their goals. I would ask that everyone think back to September 11, 2001. The World Trade Center towers one and two had collapsed, thousands had been slaughtered and the US military and intelligence communities were frantically trying to assemble the pieces.
Judged & Convicted
Robert McReynolds
Since the release of sensitive information about NSA surveillance operations that collects metadata of American citizens by Edward Snowden a couple of weeks ago, many pundits and politicians have mused about whether he is a hero or a traitor. His own father went on FOX News to plead for his son not to release anymore information that might put him further and further into the "traitor" category. Everyone from Dick Cheney to President Obama himself is leaning to the traitor declaration. But what about those on the inside? Almost immediately after the identity of the NSA leaker became known to the public, people inside the business -- at least the ones who sit around me in my office -- were calling him just about every name you could think of. But this is not a matter of Mr. Snowden taking information that has been "authorized" by all three branches of government and divulging it for personal gain. The underlying message here is this: By collecting and storing this information the federal government is telling you that they believe you to be a threat, you just have not acted in a way as to give them the impetus to act against you...yet.
Statues & Statecraft
David Corbin & Matthew Parks
At the time Mr. Obama issued his criticism of President Bush, worldwide approval of US leadership was just 34%, according to Gallup polling. A year later, with Mr. Obama in the White House, it was 51%–and the President was fitting himself for a Nobel Peace Prize. But today it is down to 41%, a troubling development–at least within the confines of the President's foreign policy vision. "Soft power," a term coined by Harvard Professor Joseph Nye, is a measure of a nation's ability "to get what [it wants] through attraction rather than through coercion." Five years of good will tours, relationship "resets," apologies, and "leading from behind" make it clear that President Obama seeks to gain "soft power" influence with other nations by presenting to the world, in word and deed, a teddy-bear America: cute, cuddly, and non-threatening–if perhaps a few sizes too large to fit comfortably in a baby's crib. The American founders also understood that physical force is not the only useful tool in international relations. But, as we see in Federalist 4, they had a very different notion of what it means to cultivate foreign friendships.
Obama Doctrine:
Backing Middle East Radicals
Barry Rubin
There is a long history of Western powers believing that they could manipulate or work with radical Arabic-speaking states or movements to redo the regional order. All have ended badly. During the 1880s and 1890s, Germany became convinced that it could turn the forces of jihad against British, French, and Russian rivals. The Kaiser presented himself as the Muslim world's friend and German propaganda even hinted that their ruler had converted to Islam. In World War One, the Germans launched a jihad, complete with the Ottoman caliph's proclamation. Wiser heads warned that the Ottoman ruler didn't have real authority to do so or that the raising of the jihad spirit could cause massacres of Christians in the empire. They were ignored. As a result, few responded to this jihad; Armenians were massacred at times with the at least passive complicity of the German government. Nevertheless, Adolf Hitler, whose close comrades included many veterans of the earlier jihad strategy, tried the same approach in World War Two. This time, the Jews in the Middle East were to be the massacred scapegoats. Yet despite close collaboration by the leader of the Palestine Arabs, Hajj Amin al-Husseini, and the Muslim Brotherhood, among others, the defeat of the German armies along with other factors (incompetence, unkept Arab promises, and German priorities) prevented this alliance from succeeding.
A Pragmatic Mullah
Bret Stephens
"There's a sucker born every minute" is one of those great American phrases, fondly and frequently repeated by Americans, who tend to forget that it was said mainly about Americans. In the election of Hassan Rohani as Iran's president, we are watching the point being demonstrated again by someone who has demonstrated it before. Who is Mr. Rohani? If all you did over the weekend was read headlines, you would have gleaned that he is a "moderate" (Financial Times), a "pragmatic victor" (New York Times) and a "reformist" (Bloomberg). Reading a little further, you would also learn that his election is being welcomed by the White House as a "potentially hopeful sign" that Iran is ready to strike a nuclear bargain. All this for a man who, as my colleague Sohrab Ahmari noted in these pages Monday, called on the regime's basij militia to suppress the student protests of July 1999 "mercilessly and monumentally." More than a dozen students were killed in those protests, more than 1,000 were arrested, hundreds were tortured, and 70 simply "disappeared." In 2004 Mr. Rohani defended Iran's human-rights record, insisting there was "not one person in prison in Iran except when there is a judgment by a judge following a trial."
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▪ US to Launch Formal Peace Talks With Taliban
▪ Senate Rejects, Reneges on Border Fence
▪ IRS to Pay $70M in Employee Bonuses Despite Spending Cuts
▪ House Votes to Limit Implementation of Nuclear Pact with Russia
▪ Boehner Won’t Back Immigration Bill Without Majority GOP Support
▪ Cruz to File Amendment Allowing States to Validate Citizenship
▪ Obama Runs ‘Gang of 8’ Immigration Bill from White House
▪ Analysis: The IRS as Microcosm
▪ Video: Black Louisiana Senator Flees Democrat Party
▪ Tech Companies Come Forward With Government Data Request Stats
▪ Large Blast Hits Afghan Capital Amid Security Transition
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China’s Xi to Launch ‘Thorough Clean-Up’ of Communist Party
The London Telegraph
Pres. Xi Jinping is to launch a "thorough clean-up" of the ruling Communist Party, state media has reported, the latest strongly-worded anti-corruption drive to be enacted by China's new leader. The "upcoming year-long campaign" will target what the Xinhua news agency described as "undesirable work styles such as formalism, bureaucracy, laxity and extravagance." A broader, high-profile campaign against government waste and corruption was launched after Xi and others took over the party in November. Tuesday, the Politburo of the party's Central Committee – a top executive body – decided in April to launch the forthcoming campaign "to boost ties between party members and the public from the latter half of this year." Xi, speaking at a conference held on Tuesday to launch the campaign, said: "The main task of the campaign focuses on building work styles," according to Xinhua.
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Israel Builds Sinai Border Fence; Illegal Crossings Drop 99.9%
Breitbart.com
Earlier this month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu touted the success of a new border fence that Israel built along its boundary with Egypt to stop illegal infiltrators. In a statement posted at his government website, Netanyahu reported that illegal crossings had declined 99.9%, from 2,000 per month to only two. "The fence that we built in the south is achieving the result for which it was erected," Netanyahu said. "As opposed to the over 2,000 infiltrators who entered Israel exactly one year ago and dispersed to various cities, in May 2013 exactly two infiltrators crossed the border and were detained. Now we need to focus on repatriating the illegal infiltrators who are here, and we will meet this task as well." The main, 144-mile section of the fence was completed in early 2013, according to a January report by the Wall Street Journal.
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Large Blast Hits Afghan Capital Amid Security Transition
AP/FOX News
Afghan forces have taken over the lead from the US-led NATO coalition for security nationwide, President Hamid Karzai announced Tuesday in a significant milestone in the 12-year war. The announcement came amid a grim reminder of Afghanistan's daily violence. A few miles from where Karzai was speaking a bomb targeted a prominent lawmaker, missed him but killed three civilians. In another key announcement, Karzai said he will soon send representatives to the Gulf state of Qatar to discuss peace with the Taliban. The talks in Doha would follow the planned opening of a Taliban political office in the Arab country. The handover of responsibility marks a turning point for American and NATO military forces, which will now move entirely into a supporting role. It also opens the way for their full withdrawal in 18 months.
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The Muslim Brotherhood Has Turned Cairo Into a Dystopia
BusinessInsider.com
When Egyptians took to the streets to overthrow an oppressive government in 2011, the world was on their side. But in the two years that followed, as Arab Spring turned to Arab Winter, and Egyptians fell under the rule of the oppressive new government of Mohammed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood, the world has looked away. This is what Egyptians told us when we visited Cairo at the end of March 2013. Many disillusioned Egyptians say things are worse than ever. Thugs often run the streets, crime rates have skyrocketed, and police feel they're outgunned, faced with the flood of weapons filling Cairo's streets. Making matters worse, everything from utilities to gasoline is both more expensive and more difficult to acquire than it was before the Muslim Brotherhood. Crime waves in Egypt have hit new highs since the uprising, recently disclosed statistics have found.
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Senate Rejects, Reneges on Border Fence
The Washington Times
Senators on Tuesday rejected building the 700 miles of double-tier border fencing Congress authorized just seven years ago, with a majority of the Senate saying they didn’t want to delay granting illegal immigrants legal status while the fence was being built. The 54-39 vote to reject the fence shows the core of the immigration deal is holding. The vote broke mostly along party lines, though five Republicans, including Sen. Marco Rubio and the rest of the bill’s authors, voted against the fence, and two Democrats voted for it. Republicans had offered the fence as a way to build the confidence of voters skeptical that the government will enforce its laws, but opponents said building more fencing is costly, would take too long, and shouldn’t be dictated by Washington. “I think we should leave that to the best judgment of the Border Patrol,” said Sen. John McCain (Ri-AZ).
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House Votes to Limit Implementation of Nuclear Pact with Russia
Washington Free Beacon
The House voted to restrict implementation of the 2010 New START arms treaty with Russia until the Obama administration outlines its plans for nuclear cuts. The restriction is contained in the fiscal 2014 defense authorization bill that passed the House Friday. Section 1052 of the bill limits the Pentagon and Energy Dept. from spending any funds on nuclear forces reduction until two conditions are met. The limits would be lifted only after the Pentagon submits a plan required in law that outlines strategic nuclear cuts under New START. Additionally, all START arms cuts would be placed on hold until Pres. Obama certifies to Congress that any future strategic arms cuts would be carried out through a formal Senate-ratified treaty or agreement. Sec. of State John Kerry said during his nomination hearing that a future arms accord with Russia could be carried without Senate ratification.
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Tech Cos. Come Forward With Government Data Request Stats
Forbes.com
The tech policy community has been begging Facebook for years to reveal the number of times that law enforcement and government agencies turn to it for information about its users. Reports varied wildly: In 2009, Newsweek said the site got 10 to 20 requests from police every day. In 2011, Reuters did a painstaking trawl through years of public court records trying to figure out how many times the po-po did Facebook searches and came up with only two dozen warrants. Facebook historically refused to hand over official numbers, but that changed on Friday. NSA leaker Edward Snowden got Facebook to do in two weeks what Facebook resisted doing for years: giving official stats on how often the government pokes around in its database. In the last 6 months of 2012, the feds wanted data over 8,000 times for over 18,000 Facebook users.
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SCOTUS Strikes Down Arizona Voter Citizenship Law
Yahoo! News
The Supreme Court has struck down an Arizona law that required voters to provide documentary proof of citizenship before registering to vote. In Arizona v. Inter Tribal Council, seven of the Supreme Court justices agreed that the Arizona law oversteps the state's authority by essentially invalidating the federal voter registration form. The form, established by a 1993 law, lets people register to vote by sending in a uniform form accepted by all states. Voters must swear they are citizens on the form, and all states are required to accept the form by law. In a 2004 ballot initiative, Arizona voters decided they wanted to go beyond that requirement, by asking for proof of citizenship -- such as a birth certificate, passport, or tribal ID card -- at the point of voter registration. The opinion was written by Justice Antonin Scalia, one of the court's conservatives.
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IRS to Pay $70M in Employee Bonuses Despite Spending Cuts
AP/FOX News
The IRS is set to pay roughly $70 million in employee-union bonuses, contrary to an Obama administration directive to halt such rewards amid the deep, government-wide budget sequestration cuts. The apparent deal with the National Treasury Employees Union is scheduled for Wednesday and was made public by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA). Grassley's office said the information came from a "person with knowledge of IRS budgetary procedures." The IRS is already facing widespread criticism, which started last month when IRS officials acknowledged that agents had improperly targeted TEA Party groups and conservative organizations for additional scrutiny when they applied for tax-exempt status during the 2010 and 2012 elections. Then the agency's inspector general issued a report a few weeks later that documented lavish employee conferences during the same time period.
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Analysis: The IRS as Microcosm
Witnessseth.com
The controversy swirling around the alleged IRS targeting of conservative groups has placed severe scrutiny on that agency. Much of the coverage of the controversy has centered on the IRS specifically, with the disagreement centering primarily on the scope and depth of the wrongdoing. Was the targeting the result of "a few bad apples" or did the activities result from directives issued from senior levels in the hierarchy? A common theme in the coverage is the perception of an ideological or political bias with the IRS as an agency. One direction stories have taken is to look at the political contributions of IRS employees in an attempt to establish the partisanship of the IRS as an agency. One story reported a four-to-one ratio of Obama contributors to Romney contributors among IRS employees, with the implication that this lopsided partisanship led to the targeting.
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Video: Black Louisiana Senator Flees Democrat Party
The Washington Times
Louisiana State Sen. Elbert Guillory said in a video message delivered to constituents -- and particularly, his fellow black voters -- that he's finally come to his senses and realized the Democrat Party disguises an all-consuming quest for control as concern and aid for minorities. The senator announced his defection from the Democrat Party for the Republican Party a few weeks ago. But just recently, he released a video explaining his reasons, titled "Why I Am a Republican." In short, he says Democrats routinely push a social justice and welfare aid agenda to control blacks -- rather than help them move from poverty, The Blaze reported. Mr. Guillory reminded, that Frederick Douglass referred to the GOP as "the party of freedom and progress" and that former Republican President Abraham Lincoln was the one to sign the Emancipation Proclamation, among other points.
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Palestinian Islamists Cleansing the Holy Land of Christians
MosaicMagazine.com
The Catholic Herald reported that five Christian schools are under threat in Gaza because of the ruling party Hamas's intention to extend their Muslim Brotherhood-inspired version of Islam throughout their fiefdom. Their edict, which forbids the education of boys and girls together, will mean that the schools must close for lack of space and staff. That most of the students are Muslim matters not. What's important is the segregation of male and female as far as possible. For some, this will be the first chill wind signaling what a Palestinian state dominated by Islamists will mean for Palestinian Christians. But such folk have missed warning signs going back many years. In 2005, the annual report on human rights abuses around the world produced by the US State Dept. recorded abuse of Palestinian Christians by individuals and by Palestinian institutions, such as government and the police.
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The Briefing for June 13, 2013
Cross border attacks from Syria into Lebanon continue. Syrian military fighter aircraft attack Rebel strongholds and staging area inside Lebanon. The Free Syria Army attacks Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon. Within Syria the fighting has intensified with Rebel attacks on several locations controlled by the forces fighting for President Assad. The Rebel attacks are designed to draw away from areas controlled by the Rebels, attacking the Syrian army and Hezbollah forces...Earlier this week the United States Council General in Jerusalem warned all American citizens to stay away from the Golan Heights because of the on-going fighting between the Syrian army and the Rebels in and around Qunaitra...Austria's contingent in the UN's Golan Heights peacekeeping force is already in the advanced stage of pulling-out of the Golan.
InFocus Muslim Brotherhood Inside American Colleges
In 1988, an FBI informant inside the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood network warned that it had a front called the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT). The IIIT leadership, the source reported, said they were in the first of six phases to “institute the Islamic Revolution in the United States.” Their current objective was to “peacefully get inside the United States government and also American universities." And they have. The source warned that the Muslim Brotherhood in America has “unlimited funds” and has “set up political action front groups with no traceable ties to the IIIT or its various Muslim groups.” The source’s identification of IIIT as a front is verified in a 1991 U.S. Muslim Brotherhood memo. The Brotherhood itself lists IIIT as number 28 of “our organizations and the organizations of our friends,” working toward the Brotherhood’s self-defined goal, which it says is a “grand jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within.” IIT’s Director of Academic Outreach from 1984 to 1994 was Sayyid Syeed, a founder and former secretary-general of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA). Footage from 2006 shows him saying, “Our job is to change the Constitution of America” (you can view it in The Grand Deception).
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