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randall_s
02-10-2014, 09:52 PM
So-called Democrats are acting less today like Socialists, and more like Fascists. Political opponents of the President and his party have come under imminent threats of arrest and imprisonment, and intimidation. Leaders of the conservative press, as well as popular Republican politicians, suddenly find themselves on the wrong side of the law. Though corruption is rampant in the Beltway, as evidenced by a new scandal or two nearly every week, it is beyond curious that the deluge of persecutions has only affected the notable Republicans and conservatives.


On January 24, conservative filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza, of Obama 2016 fame, was indicted (http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/conservative-author-and-pundit-dinesh-dsouza-charged-in-campaign-finance-case/2014/01/23/69c67ee4-848a-11e3-bbe5-6a2a3141e3a9_story.html) on two felony counts, by Democrat U.S. Attorney Preet Bahara (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preet_Bharara), for allegedly violating campaign finance laws. Alan Dershowitz, a liberal attorney and professor at Harvard, said (http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/DSouza-Dershowitz-targeting-selective/2014/01/29/id/549845) of the indictment, “This is clearly a case of selective prosecution for one of the most common things done during elections, which is to get people to raise money for you… If they went after everyone who did this, there would be no room in jails for murderers.” Bahara is known for many partisan exercises in lawfare (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preet_Bharara), including playing a leading role (with Chuck Schumer) investigating the firings of U.S. attorneys by the Bush administration.
On January 23, it was reported (http://capitolcityproject.com/okeefe-project-veritas-targeted-new-york/) that conservative activist and exposer of countless scandals James O’Keefe had been subpoenaed by the New York State Department of Labor. Project Veritas, O’Keefe’s organization, has been shown in the past to be 100% in compliance with the law. Wonder if this has anything to do with Andy Cuomo’s recent threatening harassment (http://www.buffalonews.com/city-region/politics/cuomo-no-place-in-new-york-for-extremist-conservative-politicians-20140117) of all New York State conservatives?
Ministry of Truth, anyone? Eric Holder, who is famous for such things as the Fast and Furious gun-running scandals and the monitoring of the Associated Press, has now issued (http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2014/01/holder-new-media-guidelines-in-weeks-182277.html) “new media guidelines.” Ostensibly to protect the media, Holder assured Politico that “I will say that in spite of the fact that they are not yet issued, we are working under them as if they were in place.” Also involved in the creation of these guidelines is, no surprise, Chuck Schumer.

According to Politico, “Holder was referring to two new bodies within the DOJ that would assist the Attorney General when it comes to investigating the media. One would be a “media review committee,” that will assess the impact of the department’s new media policies. The second is the “media dialogue group” involving outsiders who would assist the department periodically to review how the reforms are being implemented.”


Popular New Jersey Governor, Republican Chris Christie, has come under fire for a scandal involving unnecessary land closures on the George Washington Bridge. The closures caused long traffic delays for many weeks. Whether or not Christie was aware of the actions of his staff is yet to be determined, but a few things are known. A) No weapons were handed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATF_gunwalking_scandal) to Mexican drug cartels B) No diplomats were murdered (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benghazi_scandal) by al Qaeda C) No Democrat groups were targeted (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_IRS_scandal) for IRS audits D) The State of New Jersey’s Healthcare system was not crippled by a monstrosity (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obamacare) of a law. Finally, E) Christie was seen as the most likely Republican nominee to challenge Hillary (http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattlepolitics/2014/01/30/hillary-clinton-rides-high-christie-plummets-in-poll/) for the Presidency in 2016, and has now plummeted in polls.
Former Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell and his wife face 14 federal charges for accepting $165,000 in gifts from a maker of questionable dietary supplements (http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2014/01/virginia_gov_bob_mcdonnell_scandal_star_scientific _in_trouble_with_fda_over.html). A judge is set to rule (http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=newssearch&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CCYQ-AsoATAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.foxnews.com%2Fus%2F2014%2F01% 2F29%2Flawyers-argue-over-who-former-va-gov-bob-mcdonnell-and-his-wife-can-contact%2F&ei=uC7tUuqTKaXayAGv9YCwCA&usg=AFQjCNG_W0qlDRQ_Jf3JR7otapHPbhgVVA&sig2=retnu1vjqJFRrAvtX3KUXw&bvm=bv.60444564,d.aWc) on whether the McDonnell’s can speak to family and close friends, who may be eventual witnesses in the upcoming trial. Yet a report (http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/jan/27/virginia-governors-before-bob-mcdonnell-accepted-l/?utm_source=RSS_Feed&utm_medium=RSS) in the Washington Times documents that McDonnell’s Democrat predecessors also accepted extravagant gifts from interest groups.
Though a Republican, Congressman Michael Grimm (R-NY) recently exemplified the growing contempt for a free press by members of the Washington establishment when he threatened (http://www.politico.com/story/2014/01/michael-grimm-michael-scotto-reporter-102785.html) to kill(?)/paralyze(?) NY1 reporter Michael Scotto, who had the nerve to ask Grimm about a campaign finance probe. “Let me be clear to you, you ever do that to me again I’ll throw you off this f——-g balcony… you’re not man enough. I’ll break you in half. Like a boy.” After initially defending his abusive remarks, Grimm eventually offered an “apology (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/30/nyregion/rep-michael-grimm-threat-ny1-reporter.html?_r=0).” Perhaps Grimm, who is known for bodybuilding, just left the gym and testosterone rage got the best of him?

Obama’s State of the Union address was notable not so much for what he said, but for what he deliberately omitted. While Obama painted a picture of a recovering economy that simply had to fix problems of “inequality,” of two wars ending on his watch, of a president resolute in his duty to keep the best interests of the citizens in mind, the realities are starkly different. The speech proved that there are two Americas: one that believes in the fantasy land of Obama and his derelict party, and another that insists 2+2 still equal 4 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2_%2B_2_%3D_5).


Declaring himself above the law, Obama insisted (http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-will-promise-to-expand-opportunity-with-or-without-congress/2014/01/28/53d5573a-8869-11e3-833c-33098f9e5267_story.html) that he will not wait around for Congress to pass new laws. With his pen, executive (monarchical (http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/bachman-obam-sotu-lawsuit)) prerogative, and the massive federal bureaucracy, he told the country and world he would do as he pleased, the Constitution be damned. It will be recalled that the President swears an oath to defend the Constitution. Does this mean that Article 3, Section 3 (http://www.usconstitution.net/xconst_A3Sec3.html) no longer applies either?
Urging the raise of the minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10, Obama gave federal contractors a raise to the symbolic rate. Yet he neglected to mention that a paltry 1.7 million (http://cafehayek.com/2013/04/should-we-abolish-the-minimum-wage-2.html) Americans are paid the federal minimum wage, while a whopping 90 million Americans (http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-04-05/people-not-labor-force-soar-663000-90-million-labor-force-participation-rate-1979-le), nearly 50x that amount, are out of work. For this we can thank Obamacare, Dodd-Frank, a rabidly aggressive EPA, and a climate of political persecution for those who dare cross the administration.
Entering his sixth year in office, Obama has added $6.7 trillion to the national debt (http://useconomy.about.com/od/usdebtanddeficit/a/National-Debt-by-Year.htm) (currently at $16.9 trillion, or 99% of GDP). The Federal Reserve, under the just-retired Ben Bernanke, added (http://cnsnews.com/news/article/ali-meyer/bernanke-leaves-fed-record-balance-sheet-4102138000000) $4.1 trillion to the Fed’s balance sheet since 2006, a 391% increase. Much of this was used to fund the experimental program of “quantitative easing.” Real unemployment is estimated (http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-01-10/real-unemployment-rate-115-means-difference-reported-rises-record), conservatively, at 11.5%, though a Wall Street analyst pegged (http://washingtonexaminer.com/wall-street-adviser-actual-unemployment-is-37.2-misery-index-worst-in-40-years/article/2542604) it at 37.2%; or, more than 1 in 3 who cannot find work.
Afghanistan and Iraq having been forfeited (http://nyyrc.com/blog/2014/01/nyyrc-talking-points-january-2014/) (see Talking Point #2) to al Qaeda and the Taliban (is there a difference anymore? Or all they merely different names for the Muslim Brotherhood?), Obama neglected to inform Congress that the world is at war. Today, there are civil wars of varying degrees raging in numerous countries, virtually all of them pitting Sunni Islamists (i.e. Brotherhood and al Qaeda) against Christians and secular Muslims.

In Syria, Assad continues to try to route al Qaeda. Aleppo, once home (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_in_Syria) to the most Christians in Syria, today looks like Berlin (http://oliverhotham.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/aleppo-strike-852-04013259.gif) after the war.
Egypt is under an intense terrorist onslaught (http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/b5ad40d0-8a7b-11e3-9c29-00144feab7de.html#axzz2s66GD9hU) by Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, which is aligned with Syrian al Qaeda (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant). On January 24, Cairo was hit by four coordinated bombings.
Libya saw 643 violent deaths in 2013 (http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/115398), “amid a sharp rise in crime.” Political assassinations (http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2014/Feb-01/246073-retired-libya-colonel-assassinated-in-benghazi.ashx#axzz2s67tErVN) are frequent occurrences in the country, where al Qaeda controls much territory.
The Central African Republic, according to the BBC (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-25946920), is a “scene of absolute horror.” Al Qaeda is leading violence against Christians, and “risks becoming a home for al Qaeda,” according (http://www.news.va/en/news/africacentral-africa-the-central-african-republic) to a Catholic missionary. As is to be expected, the CAR is interlinked with narcotics (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/26/central-africa-drug-trafficking_n_2022877.html) trafficking, in all likelihood AQIM and Boko Haram (http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/90254) – two Islamist groups linked to the Brotherhood and al Qaeda.
Turkey, whose Muslim Brotherhood Prime Minister Recep Erdogan has been under attack by loyalists of (another Islamist) Fethullah Gulen (http://www.city-journal.org/2012/22_4_fethullah-gulen.html), is sliding into chaos amidst protests (http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/01/11/world/tens-of-thousands-rally-in-turkey-in-new-anti-erdogan-protests/), crackdowns (http://www.voanews.com/content/politics-involved-in-turkeys-crackdown-on-internet/1841941.html), and violence (http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/01/28/uk-turkey-election-idUKBREA0R0J920140128).
The Sudan (South Sudan, that is), remains exceptionally violent (http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/02/01/world/sudan-orders-red-cross-to-suspend-aid-work-in-war-torn-regions/) and dangerous, as clashes continue between Islamists and Christians. Sudan (“North” Sudan), which insists on continuing to meddle in affairs in South Sudan, it will be recalled, is run by Omar Al-Bashir, the former host (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/binladen/interviews/bashir.html) of Osama bin Laden.
Yemen, which has seen a dramatic increase in violence since the departure of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, is home to Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. At least 42 people were killed (http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/31/world/meast/yemen-violence/) on January 31, as Sunni Islamists clashed with the Shiite militants of the Houthi.
In early February, a suicide bomber with al Qaeda “links” killed (http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2014/Feb-02/246103-un-calls-for-unity-after-deadly-lebanon-bombing.ashx#axzz2ss0A9ffh) four and wounded 23 others in Hermel. Hezbollah, who forms part of the government of Lebanon, is actively intervening in the Syrian civil war on the side of Bashar Assad. This displays the tremendous gulf between the Shiite (Hezbollah) and Sunni (al Qaeda) jihadis.
The Ukraine, rocked by protests amid rampant corruption, was warned (http://www.rferl.org/content/ukraine-kravchuk-civil-war-protests-euromaidan/25246532.html) by former President Leonid Kravchuk that they risked “civil war” if the situation does not improve. The deterioration of civil security in the Ukraine comes just weeks before the Olympics in Sochi are scheduled to begin. The security of the Sochi games, which has been threatened by al Qaeda (http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/athletes-head-sochi-olympics-terror-fears-article-1.1591474) and various other Islamists (http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/2013/07/03/chechen-rebel-calls-for-attacks-on-sochi-games/2486349/) in Chechnya, is conspicuously close to the Ukraine. In an unusual maneuver that involves the United States in the domestic affairs of a sovereign nation, Obama has sent Secretary of State John Kerry to support (http://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/kerry-ukraine-should-be-free-to-align-with-europe-if-it-wants-1.1666148) the protestors.


Garnering the most applause – by far – during the State of the Union was the disfigured veteran, Sgt. First Class Cory Remsburg (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ob_dqPcOj0). The House chamber erupted in applause for several minutes, in an acknowledgment for the courage and physical suffering of our nation’s veterans. Not until Obama interrupted to wrap up his insufferable political screed did the applause finally cease.

Alarming indeed was Obama’s carefree demeanor. A domestic economy in the doldrums, a stock market which daily flirts with crashing, a religious war of supremacy raging across several continents, which Obama has contributed to immensely by encouraging the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt: one would think this may be worthy of addressing in a nationally televised speech.

The Obama administration is, at this point, famously incompetent… perhaps by design. Over the past month, it has become apparent that several ambassadors or ambassador nominees (http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2014/02/5-most-cringe-worthy-blunders-from-obamas-ambassador-nominees/) of the Obama administration are literally clueless. This is contributing to a rapid decline in the reputation of America abroad. Often Obama fundraisers rather than individuals with a connection to the countries in question, this is fairly classified as crony diplomacy, and is highly experimental.


During a hearing on Afghanistan in December, Representative Dan Rohrabacher (R. Calif.) asked (http://live.wsj.com/video/afghanistan-experts-stumped-by-simple-questions/854D3A1A-DBFE-4A78-8494-4E0422568E19.html?mod=trending_now_video_2#%21854D 3A1A-DBFE-4A78-8494-4E0422568E19) three of the top Obama administration’s Afghan specialists several straightforward questions. Among them were Ambassador James Dobbins (http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/biog/209782.htm), who was appointed by Secretary of State John Kerry as the Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, and Michael Dumont, (http://www.defense.gov/bios/biographydetail.aspx?biographyid=378) Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Central Asia. The Congressman asked the panel how much money annually the United States was spending in Afghanistan, and how many casualties there were in 2013. The panel could not answer either question.
Senator Max Baucus is Obama’s nominee to be Ambassador to China, the world’s most populous country and one of our most important trading partners. When asked by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee a question about the Chinese “defense identification zone,” the Senator candidly remarked, “I’m no real expert on China.”

On February 9, the administration sharpened (http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/cdc09e14-91a7-11e3-8fb3-00144feab7de.html#axzz2ssqHN2Gv) its rhetoric over “Chinese provocations” in the South China Sea. Several Asian government have allegedly complained that the administration has been too focused on the Middle East (which has descended into anarchy and chaos on Obama’s watch), and ignored Chinese provocations aimed at territorial expansion. According to one administration official, China has “created uncertainty, insecurity and instability in the region.” Seems like a bad time for experimental diplomacy, wouldn’t you say?
Obama’s nominee for Ambassador to Norway managed to insult his would-be host government to be during a hearing. George Tsunis (http://www.newsday.com/long-island/politics/george-tsunis-under-fire-in-ambassador-confirmation-hearings-1.6866466) of Long Island, an Obama fundraiser with no diplomatic experience, accused a member party of the coalition government of Norway of “spew[ing] hatred” for opposing immigration restrictions. Tsunis added quickly that the government had denounced them, not realizing they were in fact part of the government. Senator McCain, who was asking the question, replied (http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2014/02/5-most-cringe-worthy-blunders-from-obamas-ambassador-nominees/) sarcastically “I have no more questions for this incredibly, highly qualified group of nominees.”
Noah Bryson Mamet, Obama’s pick to be Ambassador to Argentina, has not visited the country, ever (http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2014/02/07/nominee_for_ambassador_to_argentina_hasn_t_been_th ere_but_has_raised_lots.html). Argentina is on the edge of financial illiquidity (http://www.investing.com/news/economy-news/what-argentina-means-for-frontier-market-investors-264704), possibly (http://money.cnn.com/2014/01/24/investing/argentina-peso-slide/) looking at hyperinflation (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/24/world/americas/argentinas-currency-falls-sharply-against-the-dollar-stirring-inflation-fears.html) in the near future. They deserve a more qualified American ambassador.




Original story here: http://nyyrc.com/blog/2014/02/new-york-young-republican-intel-report-february-2014/