Security: In addition to stockpiling over a billion bullets
and thousands of semiautomatic weapons the feds would deny U.S.
citizens, the vehicle of choice for fighting the counterinsurgency war
in Iraq is appearing on U.S. streets.
The sequestration question du jour is why the Department of Homeland
Security, busy releasing hundreds, if not thousands, of deportable and
detained illegal aliens due to budget constraints, is buying several
thousand Mine Resistant Armored Protection (MRAP) vehicles?
And just who are they intended to be used against?
This acquisition comes on top of the recent news of the stockpiling
by DHS of more than 1.6 billion (with a 'b') bullets of various
calibers, enough by one calculation to fight the equivalent of a 24-year
Iraq War, and the ordering of some 7,000 5.56x45mm NATO "personal
defense weapons" (PDW) — also known as "assault weapons" when owned by
civilians.
Additionally, DHS is asking for 30 round magazines that "have a capacity to hold thirty (30) 5.56x45mm NATO rounds."
The Department of Homeland Security (through the U.S. Army Forces
Command) recently retrofitted 2,717 of these MRAP vehicles for service
on the streets of the U.S. They were formerly used for counterinsurgency
in Iraq.
These vehicles are specifically designed to resist mines and ambush
attacks. They use bulletproof windows and are designed to withstand
small-arms fire, including smaller-caliber rifles such as a .223
Remington. Does DHS expect a counterinsurgency here?
After IEDs began to take a toll on U.S. military forces in Iraq, the Pentagon ordered a large supply of MRAPs.
"They've taken hits, many, many hits that would have killed soldiers
and marines in uparmored Humvees," Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in a recent interview.
A DHS officer, Robert Whitaker, stationed in El Paso, Texas, recently
proudly described the agency's new armored toy as "Mine-resistant ...
we use to deliver our team to high-risk warrant services ... (with) gun
ports so we can actually shoot from within the vehicle; you may think
it's pretty loud but actually it's not too bad ... we have gun ports
there in the back and two on the sides as well. They are designed for
.50-caliber weapons."
This is needed to serve warrants? Perhaps it might have been useful at Waco.
So the question is what does DHS need 1.6 billion bullets, 7,000 Ar-15s and 2,700 armored vehicles for?
What are they anticipating or planning for, and why are few in the
media and Congress asking about it, particularly in the light of daily
apocalyptic bleats from the administration about sequestration cuts?
We have asked if this has anything to do with then-candidate Obama's
proposal for a national security force as powerful as the U.S. Army.
In a July 2, 2008, speech in Colorado Springs, Colo., candidate Obama
said: "We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve
the national security objectives that we've set. We've got to have a
civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as
strong, just as well-funded."
As Judge Andrew Napolitano, a Fox News contributor, recently opined
in the Washington Times, "The historical reality of the Second
Amendment's protection of the right to keep and bear arms is not that it
protects the right to shoot deer. It protects the right to shoot
tyrants, and it protects the right to shoot at them effectively, with
the same instruments they would use upon us."
No, we are not scanning the sky for black helicopters.
But we are concerned about an administration pushing for ever
stricter gun control and de facto gun registration in the form of
allegedly universal background checks to which criminals and gangbangers
won't comply is arming itself to the teeth.
If weapons of war don't belong on the street, Mr. President, explain these purchases.
Thursday, May 23, 2013
Obama fired 3 generals, admiral to cover up Benghazi...
AP
Maj.
Gen. Ralph Baker, commander of the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of
Africa, was fired March 28, according to a Washington Defense official.
The command is headquartered in Djibouti and runs U.S. military operations in East Africa, including some counter-terrorism operations.
Baker, a two-star general, is appealing the firing, which was ordered by his boss, Gen. Carter Ham, the commanding general of all U.S. military operations across Africa.
He was relieved of his duty for loss of confidence, three Defense officials told CNN.
It was second embarrassing dismissal of a high ranking officer involved in the U.S. military hierarchy in Africa in five months.
Gen. William “Kip” Ward, the first four-star general to command U.S. military operations in Africa, was demoted for excessive spending from duty at U.S. Africa Command (Africom).
He lost one star and retired a lieutenant general.
Ward used his rank to shuttle his wife on shopping sprees, enjoyed a lavish beachfront trip and once accepted a Defense contractor’s gift of going backstage to meet actor Denzel Washington.
There are reports that two high-ranking military officers, Rear Admiral Charles Gaouette and General Carter Ham, were fired by Obama for wanting to come to the assistance of the beleaguered U.S. missions in Benghazi.
via Michael Savage
The command is headquartered in Djibouti and runs U.S. military operations in East Africa, including some counter-terrorism operations.
Baker, a two-star general, is appealing the firing, which was ordered by his boss, Gen. Carter Ham, the commanding general of all U.S. military operations across Africa.
He was relieved of his duty for loss of confidence, three Defense officials told CNN.
It was second embarrassing dismissal of a high ranking officer involved in the U.S. military hierarchy in Africa in five months.
Gen. William “Kip” Ward, the first four-star general to command U.S. military operations in Africa, was demoted for excessive spending from duty at U.S. Africa Command (Africom).
He lost one star and retired a lieutenant general.
Ward used his rank to shuttle his wife on shopping sprees, enjoyed a lavish beachfront trip and once accepted a Defense contractor’s gift of going backstage to meet actor Denzel Washington.
There are reports that two high-ranking military officers, Rear Admiral Charles Gaouette and General Carter Ham, were fired by Obama for wanting to come to the assistance of the beleaguered U.S. missions in Benghazi.
via Michael Savage
The Russians Are Coming? Yea, But That's Not All
For the past few months I have been getting reports that I have to say are a bit disturbing. In fact most people tend to blow this off and call in for the "Tin Foil Hat Brigade"
When so many are "poo-pooing" the information saying "surely this isn't true" then tossing it on the conspiracy pile, that is when I start to do some digging and see what is going on.
So what seems to be happening that no one wants to acknowledge?
It appears that Russian military forces are being staged for what appears to be a possible US Invasion or UN Police action.
Yea, it sounds pretty far fetched and I do not want to believe it myself.
But several things took place yesterday that kind of raised my red flag level from "blow it off" to "it is possible."
First I got the following from Steve Quail...
Spetsnaz Verification
All
of us have heard over the years rumors of foreign troops in the USA.
I've always been reluctant to mention on-air because I have no way of
verifying the reports. I received a call today from a long-time trusted
Christian friend whom I have known for many years. The couple is wealthy
and well-connected to movers and shakers in the USA and Europe. Trust
me, if they want to "name drop" it's not an exaggeration for them. I was
was informed by the wife that they have a friend in DHS who promised to
pass on anything significant that would be a sign for immediate
preparation.
That agent called yesterday. He is hearing talk inside DHS that thousands of Sp....N...Z boys from that place connected to Alaska have been infiltrating from Canada into USA throughout this summer. He estimated the number so far exceeds 20,000 commandos. He advised my friends to take action immediately for food, water, ammo. I told her forget it! You need a plane ticket. The greatest shock to the American people will not be the invasion, but the merger of DHS with the invaders. Then they will understand the purpose of the 750 million rounds of hollow point ammo. Marxist Communist Valery Jarrett is the real power in DHS - not Napolitano. The nation has been compromised and sold out. Colonel Lunev told me in 1999 that the Sp...N...Z...boys will start arriving in large numbers months before the war.
Rick
All
of us have heard over the years rumors of foreign troops in the USA.
I've always been reluctant to mention on-air because I have no way of
verifying the reports. I received a call today from a long-time trusted
Christian friend whom I have known for many years. The couple is wealthy
and well-connected to movers and shakers in the USA and Europe. Trust
me, if they want to "name drop" it's not an exaggeration for them. I was
was informed by the wife that they have a friend in DHS who promised to
pass on anything significant that would be a sign for immediate
preparation. That agent called yesterday. He is hearing talk inside DHS that thousands of Sp....N...Z boys from that place connected to Alaska have been infiltrating from Canada into USA throughout this summer. He estimated the number so far exceeds 20,000 commandos. He advised my friends to take action immediately for food, water, ammo. I told her forget it! You need a plane ticket. The greatest shock to the American people will not be the invasion, but the merger of DHS with the invaders. Then they will understand the purpose of the 750 million rounds of hollow point ammo. Marxist Communist Valery Jarrett is the real power in DHS - not Napolitano. The nation has been compromised and sold out. Colonel Lunev told me in 1999 that the Sp...N...Z...boys will start arriving in large numbers months before the war.
Rick
Source - http://www.stevequayle.com/index.php?s=33&d=48
The "Rick" that sent this is Rick Wiles of TrueNews. I have been on
Rick's show several times and consider him a kindred spirit. This in and of itself, well hearing from someone who heard from someone who heard from a DHS official, yea can be hear say. And by itself, I would put that in that camp.
But when we start looking at a lot of what is going on around us, report after report, things like this get a little bit more credibility than if they were a stand alone report.
The second thing that happened yesterday, I discovered a movie trailer.About 10 days ago the trailer for the remake of one of my favorite movies of all time was released.
Red Dawn -
ABOUT - Red Dawn was released in 1984 where the United States is invaded by the Soviet Union along with its Cuban and Nicaraguan allies. The story follows a group of American high school students who resist the occupation with guerrilla warfare, calling themselves Wolverines, named after their high school mascot.
Many of you may remember this movie and the famous shout of defiance "WOLVERINES"!
This coming Thanksgiving the movie is going to be re-released.
You can watch the trailor here >> http://youtu.be/UoqlBHSePw0
So why is this such a big deal? I am one who believes that the powers that be like to "telegraph" of drop hints as to what they plan to take place or allow to take place. One can look at many major films out there and see correlations. Now is this exact science? No and in fact many would call it "tin foil hat" conspiracy stuff.
But when we start adding up reports, something in my gut does not feel right.
Just in the last few months the following has taken place. 1 - Russian Submarine in Gulf of Mexico Raises Concerns
The Russian Akula-class nuclear attack submarine ventured undetected in the Gulf of Mexico and was able to operate for weeks before being discovered only after it had left the area, raising concerns over gaps in U.S. patrols off American coasts, according to reports in The Washington Free Beacon
Source - http://global.christianpost.com/news/russian-submarine-in-gulf-of-mexico-raises-concerns-80126/
2 - Russia Moves Nuclear Missiles to Cuba
A report out of Pravda quotes President Vladimir Putin as saying that Russia has moved strategic nuclear missiles to Cuba in response to the United States’ continuing efforts to encircle Russia in Eastern Europe.
Source - http://www.prisonplanet.com/report-russia-moves-nuclear-missiles-to-cuba.html
3 - Russian Troops to ‘Seize’ CIA Facility in Elaborate War Game… on U.S. Soil
According to reports, the U.S. and Russian military will be engaging in an anti-terrorism exercise that will involve Russian paratroopers using U.S. weapons to “take and hold” the main facilities of the CIA and Denver International Airport in Colorado and the National Security Agency in Utah.
Source - http://www.theblaze.com/stories/report-russian-troops-to-seize-cia-facility-in-elaborate-war-game-on-u-s-soil/
4 - Russian Troops Coming to U.S. for Terror Drills, DoD Confirms
Russian "Airborne Assault Forces" will be arriving in Colorado this May for joint terror-war exercises with U.S. soldiers, according to U.S. officials and Russian military personnel cited in media reports. The Kremlin’s Defense Ministry and the U.S. Department of Defense both said it would be the first time in history that American and Russian airborne special operations troops would be training together on U.S. soil.
Source - http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/foreign-policy/item/11002-russian-troops-coming-to-us-for-terror-drills-dod-confirms
5 - The Bear at the Door - Russian nuclear bombers test U.S. air defenses in arctic war games during chilly Obama-Putin summit
Russian
strategic nuclear bombers threatened U.S. airspace near Alaska earlier
this month and F-15 jets responded by intercepting the aircraft taking
part in large-scale arctic war games, according to defense officials.The Russian war games began the same day President Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a frosty summit meeting in Mexico June 18.
Source - http://freebeacon.com/the-bear-at-the-door/
What really caught my attention in that report from Rick Wiles to Steve Quail was the following...
"The greatest shock to the American people will not be the invasion, but the merger of DHS with the invaders."
I don't know about you but when I read this there was a "thud" that
took place in uh. That thud is what I feel when things ring true. Something that I learned in reading Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes was this, “Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.”
I believe that with the passage of the NDAA and it allowing the indefinite detainment of American citizens, under the laws of war has ended the debate over government intent in terms of domestic action.
When FBI Director Robert Mueller’s admitted that he “did not know” if assassination programs would be used against American citizens also heaped evidence on the matter. (6)
You and I already know that if you are a bible believing christian, believe in bible prophecy, own guns, believe in the constitution, served in the military, etc, etc, ect, DHS has labeled you as a potential treat and possible domestic terrorist. Local police departments no longer see the citizens as citizens, they have been trained to view us as enemy combatants. In fact I have questioned several police officers personally on this and they have not disagreed.
In yesterday's PZ Breaking News I also noted the FEMA Contract needing to feed 3,500,000 - 17,500,000 packaged meals and Social Security Administration To Purchase 174 Thousand Rounds Of Hollow Point Bullets.
If you missed that, you can read that report here >>> http://tinyurl.com/PZ-news-08-16-12
Something is Going Down - Gov is Gearing Up
When
a country is quietly preparing for war, the first signs are usually
revealed by a purchasing of armaments. If stockpiling is taking place
without a warranted threat present then one has to be concerned that the
likelihood that aggression might be internal. Since George W Bush and
his getting rid of posse comitatus (using the military on US Soil) we
have seen an ever growing military presence / training taking place in
our own cities. The primary office that is pushing and funding much of this across the nation is DHS.
We have all heard that DHS placed an order for over 450 million rounds of hollow point .40 cal ammunition in April of this year. (1)
DHS also placed an order for over 7000 new semi-automatic combat rifles chambered in .223 (5.56 by 45mm NATO) immediately after (2)
Local police through programs like the 1033 Program which allows the Sect of Defense to distribute "surplus" to local police departments. Millions of dollars in free military equipment, including body armor, night vision equipment, APC's, aircraft, first aid supplies, weapons, surveillance equipment, Kevlar helmets, gas masks and filters, vehicles, etc are being supplied. (3)
All of this equipment, though issued to state agencies, is still heavily tracked and regulated by the federal government, making it clear that these “gifts” come with strings attached (4)
And finally, new FAA regulations will soon allow the dispersion of tens of thousands of predator drones with armament capability in the skies of the U.S. over the course of the next few years(5)
Now,
anyone with an IQ over a soap dish would ask "who" is the government
arming itself and also the local police to fight against? The goal of the powers that be have been for several generations to bring down this nation.
Why? because we are the last bastion of God fearing freedom this world has. Eliminate the US, and the communist luciferian powers that be can rule the world.
This all falls right in line with what I believe to be the judging of our nation that I have been writing about for the past 2-3 months.
God has been warning us and warning us. He has sent judgement after judgement. He has lifted His hedge of protection and we are standing at the threshold of being put in bondage.
Like ancient Israel when she turned her back against God, we have done the same thing. Israel and America are the only two nations in man's history to be dedicated to Him. We are not in covenant, but we have been dedicated to Him.
The only thing that will turn this nation around, bring us to our knees and finally return to God is the bloodshed of our own. If we do not repent because of that, we will surely see bondage.
The powers that be want us in bondage, they do not want us to return to God. They will do everything in their power to corrupt us, pollute our minds, tear apart our families, destroy our beliefs, degrade our God, grind us down till there is nothing left to grind.
Every
100 years we see Chaos enter the world. Every generation I believe that
the enemy has his man waiting in the eves. The last one I believe was
Adolf Hitler. The world loved him. In fact he was Time Magazine's Man of
the Year two times they loved him so much.I believe that the enemies man for this generation is also waiting in the eves to be revealed.
What prevented Hitler was America standing for what is right.
Today we no longer no what is right anymore.
In Isaiah 5 we read...
Isaiah 5:20 (KJV) Woe unto them that
call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light
for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
We no longer know good. Today evil is good and good is evil. We are standing at that crossroad once again. The powers that be want to see us fall.
Why?
Because if we do fall into bondage, they will usher in their ruler.
Who is that?
Please allow me to introduce myself
I'm a man of wealth and taste
And I laid traps for troubadours
Who get killed before they reached bombay
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah
But what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, oh yeah, get down, baby
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah
But what's confusing you
Is just the nature of my game
Just as every cop is a criminal
And all the sinners saints
As heads is tails
Just call me lucifer
Cause I'm in need of some restraint
So if you meet me
Have some courtesy
Have some sympathy, and some taste
Use all your well-learned politesse
Or I'll lay your soul to waste, um yeah
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, um yeah
Lyrics - Sympathy For The Devil - Rolling Stones
I'm a man of wealth and taste
And I laid traps for troubadours
Who get killed before they reached bombay
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah
But what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, oh yeah, get down, baby
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah
But what's confusing you
Is just the nature of my game
Just as every cop is a criminal
And all the sinners saints
As heads is tails
Just call me lucifer
Cause I'm in need of some restraint
So if you meet me
Have some courtesy
Have some sympathy, and some taste
Use all your well-learned politesse
Or I'll lay your soul to waste, um yeah
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, um yeah
Lyrics - Sympathy For The Devil - Rolling Stones
By Ray Gano
Endnotes
1 - http://rt.com/usa/news/dhs-million-point-government-179/
2 - https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=d791b6aa0fd9d3d8833b2efa08300033&tab=core&tabmode=list&=
3 - http://www.ogs.state.sc.us/surplus/SP-1033-index.phtm
3 - http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/06/cops-military-gear/all/
4 - http://www.newsherald.com/articles/program-103291-state-law.html
5 - http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/feb/7/coming-to-a-sky-near-you/
5 - http://articles.latimes.com/2011/dec/10/nation/la-na-drone-arrest-20111211
6 - http://jonathanturley.org/2012/03/08/mueller-i-am-not-sure-whether-i-now-can-kill-citizens-in-the-united-states-under-obamas-kill-doctrine/
6 - http://jonathanturley.org/2012/03/07/obamas-kill-policy/
State Patrol: I-5 bridge over Skagit River collapses in NW Wash; vehicles, people in water
The four-lane bridge collapsed about 7 p.m., Trooper Mark Francis said.
He did not know what caused the collapse.
A Skagit Valley Herald reporter at the scene said a sheriff’s office rescue boat has arrived and rescue crews were looking for people in the water.
The reporter saw one person sitting atop one vehicle in the water and could see a second vehicle as well.
Crowds of people lined the river to watch the scene unfold, the newspaper reported.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Boy Scouts Of America Vote To Go Gay
Scouting for boysMemo to BSA: All forms of homosexuality is a sin against God…looks like it’s time to re-write the century-old oath.
Boy Scout Oath
On my honor, I will do my best
To do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law;
To help other people at all times;
To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight.
“And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.” Romans 1:27
From AP: GRAPEVINE, Texas (AP) — The Boy Scouts of America threw open its ranks Thursday to gay Scouts but not gay Scout leaders – a fiercely contested compromise that some warned could fracture the organization and lead to mass defections of members and donors.
Of the roughly 1,400 voting members of the BSA’s National Council who cast ballots, 61 percent supported the proposal drafted by the governing Executive Committee. The policy change takes effect Jan. 1.
“This has been a challenging chapter in our history,” the BSA chief executive, Wayne Brock, said after the vote. “While people have differing opinions on this policy, kids are better off when they’re in Scouting.”
However, the outcome will not end the bitter debate over the Scouts’ membership policy.
Liberal Scout leaders – while supporting the proposal to accept gay youth – have made clear they want the ban on gay adults lifted as well.
In contrast, conservatives with the Scouts – including some churches that sponsor Scout units – wanted to continue excluding gay youths, in some cases threatening to defect if the ban were lifted.
“We are deeply saddened,” said Frank Page, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s executive committee after learning of the result. “Homosexual behavior is incompatible with the principles enshrined in the Scout oath and Scout law.”
The Assemblies of God, another conservative denomination, said the policy change “will lead to a mass exodus from the Boy Scout program.” It also warned that the change would make the BSA vulnerable to lawsuits seeking to end the ban on gay adults.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry also expressed dismay.
“While I will always cherish my time as a Scout and the life lessons I learned, I am greatly disappointed with this decision,” he said.
The result was welcomed by many liberal members of the Scouting community and by gay-rights activists, though most of the praise was coupled with calls for ending the ban on gay adults.
“I’m so proud of how far we’ve come, but until there’s a place for everyone in Scouting, my work will continue,” said Jennifer Tyrrell, whose ouster as a Cub Scout den leader in Ohio because she is lesbian launched a national protest movement.
Pascal Tessier, a 16-year-old Boy Scout from Maryland, was elated by the outcome.
Tessier, who is openly gay, is on track to earn his Eagle Scout award and was concerned that his goal would be thwarted if the proposed change had been rejected.
“I was thinking that today could be my last day as a Boy Scout,” Tessier said. “Obviously, for gay Scouts like me, this vote is life-changing.”
The vote followed what the BSA described as “the most comprehensive listening exercise in Scouting’s history” to gauge opinions.
Back in January, the BSA executive committee had suggested a plan to give sponsors of local Scout units the option of admitting gays as both youth members and adult leaders or continuing to exclude them. However, the plan won little praise, and the BSA changed course after assessing responses to surveys sent out starting in February to members of the Scouting community.
Of the more than 200,000 leaders, parents and youth members who responded, 61 percent supported the current policy of excluding gays, while 34 percent opposed it. Most parents of young Scouts, as well as youth members themselves, opposed the ban.
The proposal approved Thursday was seen as a compromise, and the Scouts stressed that they would not condone sexual conduct by any Scout – gay or straight.
“The Boy Scouts of America will not sacrifice its mission, or the youth served by the movement, by allowing the organization to be consumed by a single, divisive and unresolved societal issue,” the BSA said in a statement.
Since the executive committee just completed a lengthy review process, there were “no plans for further review on this matter,” the group added, indicating it would not be revisiting the ban on gay adults anytime soon.
Among those voting for the proposal to accept openly gay youth was Thomas Roberts, of Dawsonville, Ga., who serves on the board of a Scout council in northeast Georgia.
“It was a very hard decision for this organization,” he said. “I think ultimately it will be viewed as the right thing.”
The BSA’s overall “traditional youth membership” – Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts and Venturers – is now about 2.6 million, compared with more than 4 million in peak years of the past. It also has about 1 million adult leaders and volunteers.
Of the more than 100,000 Scouting units in the U.S., 70 percent are chartered by religious institutions.
Those include liberal churches opposed to any ban on gays, but some of the largest sponsors are relatively conservative denominations that have previously supported the broad ban – notably the Roman Catholic Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Southern Baptist churches.
While the Southern Baptists were clearly upset by the vote to accept openly gay youth, the Mormon church reacted positively.
“We trust that BSA will implement and administer the approved policy in an appropriate and effective manner,” an official LDS statement said.
The National Catholic Committee on Scouting responded cautiously, saying it would assess the possible impact of the change on Catholic-sponsored Scout units. The BSA, which celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2010, has long excluded both gays and atheists.
Protests over the no-gays policy gained momentum in 2000, when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the BSA’s right to exclude gays. Scout units lost sponsorships by public schools and other entities that adhered to nondiscrimination policies, and several local Scout councils made public their displeasure with the policy. source – AP
Profile: Khaled Meshaal of Hamas
Khaled Meshaal has vowed Hamas will not renounce violence
|
The name of Khaled Meshaal, political chief of Palestinian militant
group Hamas, was heard around the world when he survived an
assassination attempt by Israeli agents in 1997.
The incident was Mr Meshaal's main claim to fame until he was named as a
Hamas leader following Israeli's killing of the group's founder, Sheikh
Ahmed Yassin, in March 2004.
The organisation's covert structure means it is not known whether he has authority over the remaining Gaza hierarchy, but from his position in exile in the Syrian capital, Damascus, he has played an important role since the group won a majority in January's Palestinain parliamentary elections.
Unhindered by the travel restrictions imposed by Israel on Hamas leaders in Gaza and the West Bank, Mr Meshaal has represented the group at meetings with foreign governments and other parties throughout the world.
After talks with the Egyptian government and the Arab League in Cairo in February, Mr Meshaal told the BBC that Hamas would be willing to take a serious step towards peace if Israel did the same.
He said Hamas would not renounce violence, saying resisting an occupation was legal.
But he said a long-term truce would be possible if Israel accepted conditions, including a return to its 1967 borders.
Kuwait contingent
Mr Meshaal was born in 1956 in the village of Silwad, near the West Bank city of Ramallah.
Meshaal has been increasingly important since Sheikh Yassin died
|
At school, Mr Meshaal became involved in Palestinian and Islamic activism. He joined the Muslim Brotherhood in 1971.
Mr Meshaal continued to take interest political Islam while studying physics at Kuwait University and he founded a student organisation called the List of the Islamic Right.
After graduating in 1978, he spent a number of years teaching physics in Kuwait.
In 1987, Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood leaders in Gaza founded the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, in response to a mass uprising against the Israeli occupation.
Mr Meshaal became increasingly involved with Hamas over the next few years, leading what was known as the Kuwait contingent of Palestinians who lived and worked there.
But he came to the fore after Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990.
Fund-raising
After Iraq's invasion he, like many Palestinians, moved to Jordan, where Palestinians make up some 60% of the population.
Hamas has been responsible for many suicide bombings in Israel
|
He was also particularly energetic in expanding the group's foreign relations with countries such as Iran and Syria.
Money was channelled from donors around the world to the West Bank and Gaza Strip for social welfare programmes run by Hamas.
The Israelis say some of it was used for suicide bombings and other attacks on Israelis.
A year later, Israeli agents tried to kill him.
Israeli assassination attempt
The operation was authorised by the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which described Mr Meshaal was the "pre-eminent figure in Hamas and responsible for the murder of innocent Israeli civilians".
Hamas leaders were deported from Jordan after a clampdown
|
His life was literally saved by Jordan's King Hussein, who was outraged by the attack and demanded the Israeli Government hand over the antidote.
The agents - who had been arrested - were exchanged for an Israeli apology and the release of Sheikh Yassin and 19 other prisoners.
In the late 1990s, King Hussein's son and successor King Abdullah closed down the Hamas office.
Mr Meshaal, who was briefly imprisoned, was expelled with three other Hamas representatives - Izzat al-Rushuq, Ibrahim Ghosheh and Musa Abu Marzuq - in August 1999.
He went to Qatar and then Syria in 2001, where Hamas' Political Bureau is now based.
Khaled Meshaal Re-Elected As Hamas Political Head
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Khaled Meshaal
London, Asharq Al-Awsat—Hamas has re-elected Khaled Meshal as president of its governing political bureau via its Shura Council, after private talks in Cairo that lasted until late on Monday night. A Hamas official in the Egyptian capital confirmed the decision, stating only ‘Meshal was reelected.’ He declined to add anything further regarding the manner in which the decision was made. Meshal succeeded Mousa Abu Marzouk as president of the political bureau in 2006, but has since stated that he does not wish to continue the role. Meshal first declared his intention to step down during a meeting of the organization’s Shura Council in Khartoum in January 2012. Prior to Meshal’s reelection, many within Hamas expressed a desire to see him continue in the position. Before the Shura Council made the decision late on Monday night, a source told Asharq Al-Awsat that some members within the Hamas leadership do not feel that Meshal can be adequately replaced. Paola Caridi, a journalist with extensive experience of Palestinian issues and author of a book on Hamas, told Asharq Al-Awsat that ‘Meshal’s reelection was not unexpected, especially after the latest developments. I would consider it a typical decision in a period of transition. Meshal will push Hamas along the path it followed in the last years, regarding the ongoing, unending reconciliation process with Fatah.’ She added that the decision to keep Meshal’s in place was driven in part by the situation in Gaza: ‘In terms of security, it is not . . . ‘wise’ to have the chief of the political bureau confined in the Gaza Strip, as would happen if the Shura council would choose Ismail Haniyeh. Meshal (and Moussa Abu Marzouq) have wider freedom of movement, and they both have better relations with countries like Qatar and Egypt.’ Some analysts also say that there was regional pressure on Meshal to accept a fifth term in office, with Turkey, Qatar and Egypt backing his leadership of Hamas. ‘The victory of Meshal was predicted for pressures either from Qatar, Turkey and Egypt, or from the interior of Hamas, its political bureau and Shura council in particular,’ Ibrahim el-Darawy, head of the Palestinian Center for political studies in Cairo told China’s Xinhau news agency.A post from September 2012 reported that Khaled Meshaal had decided to step down from his position as head of the Hamas political leadership.
Read there rest here.
According to a BBC profile, Mr. Meshaal (aka Khaled Mishal) joined the Muslim Brotherhood in 1971:
“Mr Meshaal was born in 1956 in the village of Silwad, near the West Bank city of Ramallah. Meshaal has been increasingly important since Sheikh Yassin died. His father, like many other Palestinians, travelled to the Gulf emirate of Kuwait in the 1960s for work. His family followed after the area fell under Israeli occupation in 1967.At school, Mr Meshaal became involved in Palestinian and Islamic activism. He joined the Muslim Brotherhood in 1971. Mr Meshaal continued to take interest political Islam while studying physics at Kuwait University and he founded a student organisation called the List of the Islamic Right. After graduating in 1978, he spent a number of years teaching physics in Kuwait. In 1987, Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood leaders in Gaza founded the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, in response to a mass uprising against the Israeli occupation. Mr Meshaal became increasingly involved with Hamas over the next few years, leading what was known as the Kuwait contingent of Palestinians who lived and worked there.A post from May 2009 provides further detail on Mr. Meshaal’s early activities in the Kuwaiti Muslim Brotherhood.
Read the rest here.
Despite the characterization of Meshaal in the above report as a “relative moderate”, a post from October 2012 reported on a speech Meshaal gave in Cairo in which said that “Nothing will restore the homeland but jihad, the rifle, and self-sacrifice” and that Zionists are the enemies of Allah and of Muhammad, Jesus, Moses, and Abraham – the enemies of the Prophets, of the Messengers, of values, and of morality.’ A post from December 2012 reported on on the first visit ever to Gaza by Meshaal in honor of the 25th anniversary of the founding of Hamas where he took the opportunity to reiterate a call for the complete destruction of Israel.
WANT TO KNOW WHAT IS REALLY GOING ON LET ME KNOW I WILL SHOW YOU
Obama Administration Refuses to Label London Attack as Terrorism
Newscom
This country will be absolutely resolute in its stand against violent extremism and terror. We will never give in to terror—or terrorism—in any of its forms. Second, this view is shared by every community in our country. This was not just an attack on Britain—and on our British way of life. It was also a betrayal of Islam—and of the Muslim communities who give so much to our country. There is nothing in Islam that justifies this truly dreadful act. We will defeat violent extremism by standing together.In stark contrast, the Obama Administration’s response has been to avoid calling the attack terrorism, let alone terrorism motivated by a radical Islamic ideology. Instead the Administration, via the State Department, said it stood with the U.K. in the face of “such senseless violence.”
Senseless violence? One can hardly term a targeted attack on a U.K. soldier in broad daylight — where the assailants gleefully admit the radical motivation behind their attack — “senseless violence.”
Yet, use of this terminology is nothing new for the Obama Administration. “Senseless violence” is the Administration’s catch-all phrase loyally called upon whenever motivations for a despicable act should not be ascribed, lest someone take offense.
Particularly troubling is that “senseless violence” is the same terminology the Administration used when describing the terrorist attack in Benghazi that killed the American Ambassador and three other U.S. citizens.
The terrorist attack in London was indeed a senseless act of violence; however, in refusing to admit the nature and motivations behind the attack, the Obama Administration does disservice to the men and women killed in terrorist attacks. As Heritage’s Nile Gardiner advises in The Telegraph:
It’s time for President Obama to acknowledge reality. This is a global war between the free world and the forces of Islamist terror. These are not acts of “senseless violence.” They are acts of brutal terrorism aimed against Great Britain, the United States and all who defend the principles of liberty, freedom and Western-style democracy. It is important that political leaders on both sides of the Atlantic identify exactly who the enemy is, what their aims are, and why they must be emphatically defeated.For the Administration to do otherwise would be, well, senseless.
Posted in Protect America
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IRS Abuse, the Guide
May 22nd, 2013 - 8:53 pm
Cleta Mitchell has prepared this comprehensive guide to the IRS abuse of election-integrity and Tea Party groups. It has everything you need to know to understand the legal environment which sprouted this scandal.
An interesting narrative split is developing among the Left. As Bryan Preston notes, the reliable Praetorian Press Guard, formerly known as JournoList, has a plan: condemn the IRS and say Obama had nothing to do with it.
The latest narrative from the speech regulators is that these election-integrity groups didn’t deserve status because they were political. Of course that crowd considers folks who disagree with them to be political merely because of the disagreement. Groups like Democracy 21 always proclaim apolitical and mainstream status when the truth is anything but. To Democracy 21, anyone who seeks to help the election process with whom they disagree must be political.
Democracy 21 is run by Fred Wertheimer, someone considered by some to be a respectable Harvard-educated lawyer. Others consider him a Leftist enemy of free speech. Naturally, Democracy 21 receives money from George Soros. Democracy 21 is the ugly stepchild of Common Cause with cross pollination from the Orwellian-named People for the American Way.
These are people who wish the new American Way to include government
restricting political speech. They will contort the language of
the First Amendment to achieve their dream of a country freed from
unlimited political debate. They are opponents of freedom. So it
should come as no surprise that the heavy hand of the IRS does not
bother people like Fred Wertheimer and his gang.
Pay attention to the emerging fringe narrative of the speech regulators: the Tea Party deserved it. You’ll learn much about the people who want to further restrict your political freedoms.
Also read: Don’t Criminalize the Investigations. Immunize the Witnesses!
An interesting narrative split is developing among the Left. As Bryan Preston notes, the reliable Praetorian Press Guard, formerly known as JournoList, has a plan: condemn the IRS and say Obama had nothing to do with it.
First, get reliably friendly bloggers and columnists on board with a story that focuses attention away from the White House. Then, isolate and target someone who has already become a central figure in the scandal and, more importantly, who does not work directly for the White House. Finally, make it appear as if these reliably friendly bloggers actually take the IRS scandal seriously.But others, the speech regulators on the Left, must not have been invited to the West Wing meetings with the JournoList members, because groups like Democracy 21 are busy approving of the IRS abuse.
The latest narrative from the speech regulators is that these election-integrity groups didn’t deserve status because they were political. Of course that crowd considers folks who disagree with them to be political merely because of the disagreement. Groups like Democracy 21 always proclaim apolitical and mainstream status when the truth is anything but. To Democracy 21, anyone who seeks to help the election process with whom they disagree must be political.
Democracy 21 is run by Fred Wertheimer, someone considered by some to be a respectable Harvard-educated lawyer. Others consider him a Leftist enemy of free speech. Naturally, Democracy 21 receives money from George Soros. Democracy 21 is the ugly stepchild of Common Cause with cross pollination from the Orwellian-named People for the American Way.
Wertheimer
Pay attention to the emerging fringe narrative of the speech regulators: the Tea Party deserved it. You’ll learn much about the people who want to further restrict your political freedoms.
Also read: Don’t Criminalize the Investigations. Immunize the Witnesses!
WE ARE LOCKED IN OBAMAS NATION WELCOME TO HELL OBAMAS FREE TO KILL ALL THE CHRISTIANS
Infrared sensors used along ‘entire border of the United State,’ says CBP
Mon, 2013-05-20 04:19 PM |
| CBP drawing of PIR sensor |
That disclosure may constitute greater specificity about the widespread use of these infrared sensors, which can detect a pedestrian passing up to 100 feet away, than CBP has previously made public.
“GS-100 PIR sensors and extension cables are needed for replacement of unserviceable surveillance sensors or other areas needed for coverage,” explains CBP in a notice it released on May 20.
The PIR sensors, which are 3.5 inches long, 1.25 inches in diameter and weigh 2 ounces, will be purchased under a sole source contract, valued at nearly $150,000, that will be awarded to Vortex Systems, of Albuquerque, NM.
“The GS‐100 Passive Infrared Sensor (PIRS) is an intrusion detector that responds to infrared energy radiated by pedestrians or vehicles within its field of view,” explain Vortex Systems on its Web site. “Depending on the temperature difference between the subject and the background, useful range of detection for a short‐range sensor is 100 feet for pedestrians. It produces a signal when it senses the movement of heat sources. The unit is utilized for remote detection of vehicles and people.”
“A two (2) thermopile head assembly determines the direction of the intrusion,” Vortex continues. “The PIRS is telescopic in design for either indoor or oudoor application and is housed in a rugged, all‐weather, water‐resistant CPVC case. Easily deployed and concealed, it is ideal for monitoring isolated roads and trails. Mounting and positioning the thermopile head
requires care and proper alignment. The ideal installation of the PIRS is a firm post or pole for mounting the thermopile head assembly.”
The procurement will be made by CBP’s office of information technology, says the notice.
“The unit offers a nominal detection range up to 100 feet for illegals crossing into the United States,” said CBP.
CBP noted that other products exist, but they cannot be interchanged with the existing sensor devices. “Please note that while other similar products on the market have similar specifications; however, they are not compatible with existing surveillance equipment making Vortex Systems sole source.”
Further information about this sensor contract is available from Agnieszka Frys, a contracting officer, at 202-344-2542 or aga.frys@dhs.gov.
Obama and the IRS: The Smoking Gun?
President met with anti-Tea Party IRS union chief the day before
agency targeted Tea Party.
“For me, it’s about collaboration.” — National
Treasury Employees Union President Colleen Kelley
on the relationship between the anti-Tea Party IRS union
and the Obama White House
Is President Obama directly implicated in the IRS scandal?
Is the White House Visitors Log the trail to the smoking gun?
The stunning questions are raised by the following set of new facts.
March 31, 2010.
According to the White House Visitors Log, provided here in searchable form by U.S. News and World Report, the president of the anti-Tea Party National Treasury Employees Union, Colleen Kelley, visited the White House at 12:30pm that Wednesday noon time of March 31st.
The White House lists the IRS union leader’s visit this way:
The very next day after her White House meeting with the President, according to the Treasury Department’s Inspector General’s Report, IRS employees — the same employees who belong to the NTEU — set to work in earnest targeting the Tea Party and conservative groups around America. The IG report wrote it up this way:
The NTEU is the 150,000 member union that represents IRS employees along with 30 other separate government agencies. Kelley herself is a 14-year IRS veteran agent. The union’s PAC endorsed President Obama in both 2008 and 2012, and gave hundreds of thousands of dollars in the 2010 and 2012 election cycles to anti-Tea Party candidates.
Putting IRS employees in the position of actively financing anti-Tea Party candidates themselves, while in their official positions in the IRS blocking, auditing, or intimidating Tea Party and conservative groups around the country.
The IG report contained a timeline prepared by examining internal IRS e-mails. The IG report did not examine White House Visitor Logs, e-mails, or phone records relating to the relationship between the IRS union, the IRS, and the White House.
(Page 2 of 8)
Is President Obama directly implicated in the IRS scandal?
Is the White House Visitors Log the trail to the smoking gun?
The stunning questions are raised by the following set of new facts.
March 31, 2010.
According to the White House Visitors Log, provided here in searchable form by U.S. News and World Report, the president of the anti-Tea Party National Treasury Employees Union, Colleen Kelley, visited the White House at 12:30pm that Wednesday noon time of March 31st.
The White House lists the IRS union leader’s visit this way:
Kelley, Colleen Potus 03/31/2010 12:30In White House language, “POTUS” stands for “President of the United States.”
The very next day after her White House meeting with the President, according to the Treasury Department’s Inspector General’s Report, IRS employees — the same employees who belong to the NTEU — set to work in earnest targeting the Tea Party and conservative groups around America. The IG report wrote it up this way:
April 1-2, 2010: The new Acting Manager, Technical Unit, suggested the need for a Sensitive Case Report on the Tea Party cases. The Determinations Unit Program Manager Agreed.In short: the very day after the president of the quite publicly anti-Tea Party labor union — the union for IRS employees — met with President Obama, the manager of the IRS “Determinations Unit Program agreed” to open a “Sensitive Case report on the Tea party cases.” As stated by the IG report.
The NTEU is the 150,000 member union that represents IRS employees along with 30 other separate government agencies. Kelley herself is a 14-year IRS veteran agent. The union’s PAC endorsed President Obama in both 2008 and 2012, and gave hundreds of thousands of dollars in the 2010 and 2012 election cycles to anti-Tea Party candidates.
Putting IRS employees in the position of actively financing anti-Tea Party candidates themselves, while in their official positions in the IRS blocking, auditing, or intimidating Tea Party and conservative groups around the country.
The IG report contained a timeline prepared by examining internal IRS e-mails. The IG report did not examine White House Visitor Logs, e-mails, or phone records relating to the relationship between the IRS union, the IRS, and the White House.
(Page 2 of 8)
In fact, this record in the White House Visitors Log of a 12:30
Wednesday, March 31, 2010 meeting between President Obama and the
IRS union’s Kelley was not unusual.
On yet another occasion, Kelley’s presence at the White House was followed shortly afterwards by the President issuing Executive Order 13522. A presidential directive that gave the anti-Tea Party NTEU — the IRS union — a greater role in the day-to-day operation of the IRS than it had already — which was considerable.
Kelley is recorded as visiting the White House over a year earlier, listed in this fashion:
Six days following Kelley’s attendance at the White House Christmas party with labor activists like herself, the President issued Executive Order 13522 (text found here, with an explanation here). The Executive Order, titled: “Creating Labor-Management Forums To Improve Delivery of Government Services” applied across the federal government and included the IRS. The directive was designed to:
It is the same union whose IRS employee-members were being urged in 2012 by Senate Democrats (Chuck Schumer, Al Franken, Max Baucus, and others) to target Tea Party and other conservative groups.
Which, as the IG records, they did.
Both Mr. Obama and the NTEU’s Kelley have been by turns evasive and tight-lipped about their roles in the blossoming IRS scandal.
Kelley refused to open up to the Washington Post. In an article titled ”IRS, union mum on employees held accountable in ‘sin’ of political targeting,” the Post quoted the following:
On yet another occasion, Kelley’s presence at the White House was followed shortly afterwards by the President issuing Executive Order 13522. A presidential directive that gave the anti-Tea Party NTEU — the IRS union — a greater role in the day-to-day operation of the IRS than it had already — which was considerable.
Kelley is recorded as visiting the White House over a year earlier, listed in this fashion:
Kelley, Colleen Potus/Flotus 12/03/2009 18:30The inclusion of “FLOTUS” — First Lady Michelle Obama — and the 6:30 pm time of the December event on this entry in the Visitors Log indicates this was the White House Christmas Party held that evening and written up here in the Chicago Sun-Times. The Sun-Times focused on party guests from the President’s home state of Illinois and did not mention Kelley. Notably, the Illinois guests, who are reported to have attended the same party as Kelley, included what the paper described as four labor “activists”: Dennis Gannon of the Chicago Federation of Labor, Tom Balanoff of the Service Employees International Union, Henry Tamarin of UNITE, and Ron Powell of the United Food and Commercial Workers.
Six days following Kelley’s attendance at the White House Christmas party with labor activists like herself, the President issued Executive Order 13522 (text found here, with an explanation here). The Executive Order, titled: “Creating Labor-Management Forums To Improve Delivery of Government Services” applied across the federal government and included the IRS. The directive was designed to:
Allow employees and unions to have pre-decisional involvement in all workplace matters….However else this December 2009 Executive Order can be described, the directive was a serious grant of authority within the IRS to the powerful anti-Tea Party union. A union that by this time already had the clout to determine the rules for IRS employees, right down to who would be allowed a Blackberry or what size office the employee was entitled to. The same union that would shortly be doling out serious 2010 (and later 2012) campaign contributions to anti-Tea Party candidates with money supplied from IRS employees. The union, as noted last week here in this space, already has the authority to decide all manner of IRS matters, right down to who does and does not get a Blackberry.
It is the same union whose IRS employee-members were being urged in 2012 by Senate Democrats (Chuck Schumer, Al Franken, Max Baucus, and others) to target Tea Party and other conservative groups.
Which, as the IG records, they did.
Both Mr. Obama and the NTEU’s Kelley have been by turns evasive and tight-lipped about their roles in the blossoming IRS scandal.
Kelley refused to open up to the Washington Post. In an article titled ”IRS, union mum on employees held accountable in ‘sin’ of political targeting,” the Post quoted the following:
“NTEU is working to get the facts but does not have any specifics at this time. Moreover, IRS employees are not permitted to discuss taxpayer cases. We cannot comment further at this time,” NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley said via e-mail.The President approached things in a more evasive manner.
A call to the NTEU office in Cincinnati resulted in a similar response: “We’ve been directed by national office. We have no comment.”
Last Thursday at the President’s press conference with the
Turkish prime minister, Julianna Goldman of Bloomberg News
asked the following question, bold print for
emphasis:
In response, the President ducked.
In other words, the IRS union chief went to the White House to meet personally with the president on March 31. The union already had Executive Order 13522 behind it, issued by the President barely three months earlier. An Executive Order directing that the IRS must “allow employees and unions to have pre-decisional involvement in all workplace matters….”.
The very next day after that March 31 meeting at the White House, the IRS, with the union involved in its decision-making, was setting up its “Sensitive Case Report on the Tea Party.”
Which raises the famous question from Watergate: What did the President know and when did he know it?
While potentially explosive now, in fact the Obama Administration hadn’t been in office a month before Kelley was boasting of the IRS union’s influence in the White House.
In a February 15, 2009 interview given to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Pittsburgh is Kelley’s home town), there was this question from the PG reporter, with the now Washington-based Kelley boasting as below, key point in bold print:
(Page 4 of 8)
The boast?
“I was just at the White House…”
Which is to say, the election of 2008, in which the union had endorsed Obama, was no sooner over than the head of the IRS union had “worked with the transition team” and “given them suggestions.” Literally ten days after the Obama January 20 inaugural in 2009 — January 30 the article notes — Kelley was boasting that “I was just at the White House while he (the President) was signing some executive orders to undo some things the prior administration did.”
And what did Kelley see as the IRS union’s relationship with the White House she had already visited ten days into the President’s first term?
Kelley responded candidly, again with the bold print added for emphasis:
Collaboration. Partnership.
In addition to Kelley’s three visits to see the President — in January of 2009, December of 2009, and March of 2010 — she is listed for three other visits, the contact names those of presidential aides:
“Kelley, Colleen Weiss, Margaret 11/04/2009 10:00”
“Kelley, Colleen Weiss, Margaret 12/01/2009 12:00”
“Kelley, Colleen Nelson, Greg 01/14/2010 13:40”
(Page 5 of 8)
“Mr. President, I want to ask you about the IRS. Can you assure the American people that nobody in the White House knew about the agency’s actions before your Counsel’s Office found out on April 22nd? And when they did find out, do you think that you should have learned about it before you learned about it from news reports as you said last Friday? And also, are you opposed to there being a special counsel appointed to lead the Justice Department investigation?”The President’s response? (Again bold print emphasis.)
“But let me make sure that I answer your specific question. I can assure you that I certainly did not know anything about the IG report before the IG report had been leaked through the press.”Take note: Goldman’s question was:
“Can you assure the American people that nobody in the White House knew about the agency’s actions before your Counsel’s Office found out on April 22nd?”The President evaded by answering:
“I can assure you that I certainly did not know anything about the IG report…..”The question was not whether he knew about the IG report ahead of time. The question was whether he could “assure the American people that nobody in the White House knew about the agency’s actions.”
In response, the President ducked.
In other words, the IRS union chief went to the White House to meet personally with the president on March 31. The union already had Executive Order 13522 behind it, issued by the President barely three months earlier. An Executive Order directing that the IRS must “allow employees and unions to have pre-decisional involvement in all workplace matters….”.
The very next day after that March 31 meeting at the White House, the IRS, with the union involved in its decision-making, was setting up its “Sensitive Case Report on the Tea Party.”
Which raises the famous question from Watergate: What did the President know and when did he know it?
While potentially explosive now, in fact the Obama Administration hadn’t been in office a month before Kelley was boasting of the IRS union’s influence in the White House.
In a February 15, 2009 interview given to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Pittsburgh is Kelley’s home town), there was this question from the PG reporter, with the now Washington-based Kelley boasting as below, key point in bold print:
(Page 4 of 8)
Q: Has the Obama staff been receptive?Catch that?
A: Yes. We have worked with the transition team, given them suggestions; and throughout the campaign, President Obama talked about working with the federal employees and unions. He’s recognized the contributions federal employees make. I was just at the White House (Jan. 30) while he was signing some executive orders to undo some things the prior administration did.
The boast?
“I was just at the White House…”
Which is to say, the election of 2008, in which the union had endorsed Obama, was no sooner over than the head of the IRS union had “worked with the transition team” and “given them suggestions.” Literally ten days after the Obama January 20 inaugural in 2009 — January 30 the article notes — Kelley was boasting that “I was just at the White House while he (the President) was signing some executive orders to undo some things the prior administration did.”
And what did Kelley see as the IRS union’s relationship with the White House she had already visited ten days into the President’s first term?
Kelley responded candidly, again with the bold print added for emphasis:
“We are looking for a return to what we used to call partnership. I don’t really care what it’s called. For me, it’s about collaboration.”Catch those words?
Collaboration. Partnership.
In addition to Kelley’s three visits to see the President — in January of 2009, December of 2009, and March of 2010 — she is listed for three other visits, the contact names those of presidential aides:
“Kelley, Colleen Weiss, Margaret 11/04/2009 10:00”
“Kelley, Colleen Weiss, Margaret 12/01/2009 12:00”
“Kelley, Colleen Nelson, Greg 01/14/2010 13:40”
(Page 5 of 8)
The obvious question instantly arises with the revelation that
Kelley was meeting with the President personally — the day before
the IRS kicked into high gear with its “Sensitive Case Report on
the Tea Party”.
Were the President of the United States and the President of the NTEU meeting in the White House at 12:30 on Wednesday, March 31, 2010 — and engaged in “collaboration” and “partnership”? A “collaboration” and “partnership” that was all about targeting the Tea Party?
And did that collaboration and partnership result in the IRS letting loose the hounds on the Tea Party and conservative groups — the very next day after the Obama-Kelley meeting?
To add to the administration’s IRS-NTEU woes is the fact that beyond the Inspector General, there is another IRS-connected agency in the Treasury Department: the IRS Oversight Board.
And on that board sits a presidential appointee named Robert M. Tobias. Tobias, oddly, was a Clinton appointee in 2005, confirmed by the Senate for a five-year term. He is still there. He is the longtime NTEU general counsel and Kelley’s predecessor as the union president. Here’s the statement, from the IRS Oversight Board, on all of this. It is headed:
Obama’s problem here is considerable.
By not forthrightly answering Goldman’s question, he seems to be evading the issue in the manner that brought so much trouble in the form of congressional investigations, special prosecutors, and impeachment threats to Presidents Nixon and Clinton, with Nixon being forced to resign the presidency and Clinton brought to a Senate trial.
The President’s too-clever-by half evasion added to Kelley’s silence leaves open the question of whether the union and the White House, not to mention the IRS Oversight Board, are collaborating — collaborating right now — on a cover-up.
Nixon looked the American people in the television eye and flatly lied about his personal involvement in the Watergate scandal, lies that came from a frantic attempt to conduct a cover-up.
Clinton looked the American people in the eye and famously wagged his finger as he lied that he “did not have sex with that woman, Ms. Lewinsky.” In Clinton’s case this extended to lying to a federal grand jury.
For a good long while, the American people in fact believed both Nixon and Clinton. The stories are now legion of Nixon cabinet and staff believing their man, and Clinton’s cabinet and staff believing their man’s protestations of innocence as well.
Finally, in both cases, the truth was out.
As Washington and the country have long since twice-learned the hard way, the parsing of presidential words in cases like this, not to mention looking into the cameras and boldly lying on the prayer of getting away with the lie, always bodes ill for presidents. It leads inevitably to that simple question famously uttered by then-Tennessee GOP Senator Howard Baker and posed of Nixon at the Senate Watergate hearings: “What did the President know and when did he know it?”
(Page 6 of 8)
Were the President of the United States and the President of the NTEU meeting in the White House at 12:30 on Wednesday, March 31, 2010 — and engaged in “collaboration” and “partnership”? A “collaboration” and “partnership” that was all about targeting the Tea Party?
And did that collaboration and partnership result in the IRS letting loose the hounds on the Tea Party and conservative groups — the very next day after the Obama-Kelley meeting?
To add to the administration’s IRS-NTEU woes is the fact that beyond the Inspector General, there is another IRS-connected agency in the Treasury Department: the IRS Oversight Board.
And on that board sits a presidential appointee named Robert M. Tobias. Tobias, oddly, was a Clinton appointee in 2005, confirmed by the Senate for a five-year term. He is still there. He is the longtime NTEU general counsel and Kelley’s predecessor as the union president. Here’s the statement, from the IRS Oversight Board, on all of this. It is headed:
IRS Oversight Board Deeply Troubled by Breakdown in IRS Process in Reviewing Tax-Exempt Applications.There was no reference to the influence of the anti-Tea Party NTEU in the statement. Why would there be when the union’s ex-president sits on the Oversight Board itself?
Obama’s problem here is considerable.
By not forthrightly answering Goldman’s question, he seems to be evading the issue in the manner that brought so much trouble in the form of congressional investigations, special prosecutors, and impeachment threats to Presidents Nixon and Clinton, with Nixon being forced to resign the presidency and Clinton brought to a Senate trial.
The President’s too-clever-by half evasion added to Kelley’s silence leaves open the question of whether the union and the White House, not to mention the IRS Oversight Board, are collaborating — collaborating right now — on a cover-up.
Nixon looked the American people in the television eye and flatly lied about his personal involvement in the Watergate scandal, lies that came from a frantic attempt to conduct a cover-up.
Clinton looked the American people in the eye and famously wagged his finger as he lied that he “did not have sex with that woman, Ms. Lewinsky.” In Clinton’s case this extended to lying to a federal grand jury.
For a good long while, the American people in fact believed both Nixon and Clinton. The stories are now legion of Nixon cabinet and staff believing their man, and Clinton’s cabinet and staff believing their man’s protestations of innocence as well.
Finally, in both cases, the truth was out.
As Washington and the country have long since twice-learned the hard way, the parsing of presidential words in cases like this, not to mention looking into the cameras and boldly lying on the prayer of getting away with the lie, always bodes ill for presidents. It leads inevitably to that simple question famously uttered by then-Tennessee GOP Senator Howard Baker and posed of Nixon at the Senate Watergate hearings: “What did the President know and when did he know it?”
(Page 6 of 8)
Twice in recent American history the answer to this question,
once for Nixon and once for Clinton, has landed popular, powerful
presidents in impeachment hot water. Ending Republican Nixon’s
presidency altogether and coming close to doing the same with
Democrat Clinton. Leaving the legacy of each permanently
scarred.
The notion that the players in the IRS scandal did what they did to get past the 2012 election will only add to an Obama presidential reputation as borrowing the Nixon playbook on skirting scandal in a presidential election year.
Ironically re-casting the image of America’s first black president as the black Nixon.
With the examples of how Nixon and Clinton dodged, evaded, and lied, Obama’s non-answer to Juliana Goldman’s question at last week’s press conference comes in for much more scrutiny. Matched to the silence of Kelley it begins raising obvious questions. Such as:
• Did the President himself ever discuss the Tea Party with Kelley?
• Did the President ever communicate his thoughts on the Tea Party to Kelley — in any fashion other than a face-to-face conversation such as e-mail, text, or by phone?
• What was the subject of the Obama-Kelley March 31, 2010 meeting?
• Who was present at the Obama-Kelley March 31 meeting?
• Was the Tea Party or any other group opposing the President’s agenda discussed at the March 31 meeting, or before or after that meeting?
• Is the White House going to release any e-mails, text, or phone records that detail Kelley’s contacts with not only Mr. Obama but his staff?
• Will the IRS release all e-mail, text, or phone records between Kelley or any other leader of the NTEU with IRS employees?
• What role did Executive Order 13522 play in the IRS investigations of the Tea Party and all these other conservative groups?
Doubtless there are others, considerable others and the list of questions will grow.
Not to be lost sight of here is the role of the NTEU in raising money for Democrats in the 2010 and 2012 election cycles — the exact period when the IRS was busy going after the Tea Party and the others to curb any possible influence the groups could have in the elections of 2010 and 2012.
The NTEU, through its political action committee, raised $613,633 in the 2010 cycle, giving 98% of its contributions to anti-Tea Party Democrats. In 2012 the figure was $729,708, with 94% going to anti-Tea Party candidates. One NTEU candidate after another, as discussed last week in this space, campaigned vigorously against the Tea Party.
(Page 7 of 8)
President Obama is coming perilously closer to becoming the new Nixon. The next Bill Clinton.
And once again, as news of exactly what a president was doing in the Oval Office on a particular day and time goes public, yet again the old question becomes new.
What did the President know? And when did he know i
The notion that the players in the IRS scandal did what they did to get past the 2012 election will only add to an Obama presidential reputation as borrowing the Nixon playbook on skirting scandal in a presidential election year.
Ironically re-casting the image of America’s first black president as the black Nixon.
With the examples of how Nixon and Clinton dodged, evaded, and lied, Obama’s non-answer to Juliana Goldman’s question at last week’s press conference comes in for much more scrutiny. Matched to the silence of Kelley it begins raising obvious questions. Such as:
• Did the President himself ever discuss the Tea Party with Kelley?
• Did the President ever communicate his thoughts on the Tea Party to Kelley — in any fashion other than a face-to-face conversation such as e-mail, text, or by phone?
• What was the subject of the Obama-Kelley March 31, 2010 meeting?
• Who was present at the Obama-Kelley March 31 meeting?
• Was the Tea Party or any other group opposing the President’s agenda discussed at the March 31 meeting, or before or after that meeting?
• Is the White House going to release any e-mails, text, or phone records that detail Kelley’s contacts with not only Mr. Obama but his staff?
• Will the IRS release all e-mail, text, or phone records between Kelley or any other leader of the NTEU with IRS employees?
• What role did Executive Order 13522 play in the IRS investigations of the Tea Party and all these other conservative groups?
Doubtless there are others, considerable others and the list of questions will grow.
Not to be lost sight of here is the role of the NTEU in raising money for Democrats in the 2010 and 2012 election cycles — the exact period when the IRS was busy going after the Tea Party and the others to curb any possible influence the groups could have in the elections of 2010 and 2012.
The NTEU, through its political action committee, raised $613,633 in the 2010 cycle, giving 98% of its contributions to anti-Tea Party Democrats. In 2012 the figure was $729,708, with 94% going to anti-Tea Party candidates. One NTEU candidate after another, as discussed last week in this space, campaigned vigorously against the Tea Party.
(Page 7 of 8)
So the motivations here — defeating the Tea Party in 2010, and
failing at that, making sure that the news of the metastasizing
cancer in the IRS was kept quiet until after the 2012 presidential
election was over — are clear.
What is particularly interesting here are the automatic assumptions of the mainstream media in all of this.
Like this “given” from the Washington Post’s Dan Balz, bold print added for emphasis.
Here’s the Washington Post’s “Journolist” Ezra Klein:
Which is why it will be a curious sight indeed to see the efforts the media will go to ignore/dismiss the tight, on-the-record connection between the President personally and a vociferously anti-Tea Party union. A union that has the literal run of the IRS — and whose union chief is recorded as having met with the President in the White House the day before the IRS launched “a Sensitive Case Report on the Tea Party cases.” A decision with which, according to the IG report: “The Determinations Unit Program Manager Agreed.” Check those words from Mr. Klein again:
In 1974, “the smoking gun” was a tape recording that ended the Nixon presidency.
In 1998, the smoking gun was a blue dress — and it almost undid Bill Clinton’s White House.
Now the all-too-familiar pattern of scandal and its day-by-day drip-drip-drip nature has begun to set in. Newsmax is now quoting Washington attorney and conservative activist Cleta Mitchell as saying:
(Page 8 of 8)What is particularly interesting here are the automatic assumptions of the mainstream media in all of this.
Like this “given” from the Washington Post’s Dan Balz, bold print added for emphasis.
The most corrosive of the controversies is what happened at the IRS, which singled out tea party and other conservative groups for special scrutiny in their applications for tax-exempt status. That Obama knew nothing about it does little to quell concerns that one of the most-feared units in government was operating out of control.But if in fact the President did know about it?
Here’s the Washington Post’s “Journolist” Ezra Klein:
The crucial ingredient for a scandal is the prospect of high-level White House involvement and wide political repercussions.…Exactly.
If new information emerges showing a connection between the Determination Unit’s decisions and the Obama campaign, or the Obama administration, it would crack this White House wide open. That would be a genuine scandal. But the IG report says that there’s no evidence of that. And so it’s hard to see where this one goes from here.
Which is why it will be a curious sight indeed to see the efforts the media will go to ignore/dismiss the tight, on-the-record connection between the President personally and a vociferously anti-Tea Party union. A union that has the literal run of the IRS — and whose union chief is recorded as having met with the President in the White House the day before the IRS launched “a Sensitive Case Report on the Tea Party cases.” A decision with which, according to the IG report: “The Determinations Unit Program Manager Agreed.” Check those words from Mr. Klein again:
If new information emerges showing a connection between the Determination Unit’s decisions and the Obama campaign, or the Obama administration, it would crack this White House wide open. That would be a genuine scandal.The question now is a simple one.
In 1974, “the smoking gun” was a tape recording that ended the Nixon presidency.
In 1998, the smoking gun was a blue dress — and it almost undid Bill Clinton’s White House.
Now the all-too-familiar pattern of scandal and its day-by-day drip-drip-drip nature has begun to set in. Newsmax is now quoting Washington attorney and conservative activist Cleta Mitchell as saying:
“There were nearly 100 groups across the country that got the very egregious set of letters from the IRS that were almost identical and they came from offices all over the country, so I know of at least 85 to 90, maybe more, organizations.”Regular American all over the country are coming forward with their stories. Understanding the relationship between the Obama White House and the IRS union will be a must for congressional investigators.
President Obama is coming perilously closer to becoming the new Nixon. The next Bill Clinton.
And once again, as news of exactly what a president was doing in the Oval Office on a particular day and time goes public, yet again the old question becomes new.
What did the President know? And when did he know i
SAD BUT TRUE
May 21, 2013 - 11:14 am
“This administration is living up to its three codes: admit nothing, blame everybody, and deny everything. I mean they have been true to that every step of the way,” Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) said on Fox Business. “The press secretary says, I appreciate your question; the other guy says, this is irrelevant to know where the president was when Benghazi, the attack on our consulate was taking place; it is an irrelevant fact to know whether the president was doing a fundraiser, whether he was sleeping soundly in bed.”
Ros-Lehtinen called the administration’s continued obfuscating “an insult to the American people, never mind that they’re running roughshod over Congress.”
Americans “should be insulted that this administration is admitting nothing, they are denying everything and that they’re blaming everybody,” she added.
“Remember that this is the administration that came in on a — on a high horse saying they were going to be that most transparent administration in history. What we’ve seen are lies, deception, a web of intrigue. Everybody knew everything except the president,” the congresswoman said. “…So everybody is on board was saying we’ve got to protect the president at all costs and heads may roll, a little head here and a little head there but it’s protecting the king. This is what is happening. They’re — they’re conducting this administration as if it were an imperial presidency.”
“When it came to Osama bin Laden we had this view of the Situation Room as this wonderful military operation was going down. Every tragedy we’ve had photos. Where was the president in Benghazi? What was going on that night? Where has the president been in all of these maneuvers?”
Op-ed: An American Manifesto | by Michael Connelly, retired constitutional lawyer
The
English version of the Russian newspaper Pravda, that once was the
voice of the Soviet Communist Party, has run an editorial saying
essentially that the in reelecting Obama, America has put someone back
in office who is pushing the Communist Manifesto on us without calling
it what it is.
I offer an alternative. Thirty seven years ago I was a young attorney and National Secretary of a Conservative organization called Young Americans for Freedom. In 1975 I was asked to write something relating to the upcoming Bicentennial to present to the YAF convention in Chicago. When I read what I wrote to the convention it was greeted with a prolonged standing ovation and adopted by YAF as the official Bicentennial statement of the organization.
I present it here exactly as I wrote it and as it was printed by YAF in pamphlet form. I still believe everything in it and I believe there are many Americans who will agree with it. I offer it as an American Manifesto:
“On this, the eve of the 200th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the birth of the United States of America, we, the members of the Young Americans for Freedom, as citizens of this great nation, do hereby reaffirm and pledge ourselves to the following:
We reaffirm our belief in the inalienable and divine rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
We reaffirm our belief in the free enterprise system of economics as the only system compatible with human freedom.
We reaffirm our belief in the right of all men to own individual property and use it as they see fit.
We reaffirm our belief that a government is only legitimate as long as it serves its citizens and becomes illegitimate when it compels its citizens to serve the government.
We reaffirm our belief that the Constitution of the United States and its original Bill of Rights establish the best form of government for the preservation of freedom.
We reaffirm our belief in the rights of men to control their own individual destinies without interference by other men or by government.
We reaffirm our own moral obligation to fulfill those responsibilities incumbent upon the exercise of our rights by never intentionally violating the sacred rights of others.
We reaffirm our belief that the power to tax is the power to control and that such power should be restricted to the one purpose of national security.
We reaffirm our belief that the United States of America is not just territory, that it is a way of life and a state of mind. It will live as long as there is one man who still believes in human freedom, and as long as that one man lives, the spirit of the United States will never be conquered.
Along with our reaffirmation of these basic beliefs of free Americans, we pledge the following:
We pledge that we will never submit to tyranny in any form and we issue the following warnings:
To those in other lands who would destroy our freedom, be forewarned that there are still millions of us who believe that liberty is worth fighting and dying for. Do not naively believe that you can win just by forcing our government to surrender. If you plan to occupy this nation come prepared to fight for every acre of ground, for every building and for every hill and valley.
To our own government we say this: Do not forget that you are only a government which exists at the pleasure of the American people. We will not allow tyranny to be established from within any more than we will allow it to invade from without. Only the republican institutions created by our Constitution are sacred to us; the people who occupy them are not.
We pledge never to surrender the sacred rights guaranteed by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
We pledge, on behalf of generations yet, unborn, to continue the struggle begun by our forefathers over two hundred years ago to secure and maintain liberty and to defend that liberty against all enemies domestic and foreign.
And, following their example, to that end, the preservation of liberty, we pledge our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.”
-- Michael Connelly, retired constitutional lawyer
I offer an alternative. Thirty seven years ago I was a young attorney and National Secretary of a Conservative organization called Young Americans for Freedom. In 1975 I was asked to write something relating to the upcoming Bicentennial to present to the YAF convention in Chicago. When I read what I wrote to the convention it was greeted with a prolonged standing ovation and adopted by YAF as the official Bicentennial statement of the organization.
I present it here exactly as I wrote it and as it was printed by YAF in pamphlet form. I still believe everything in it and I believe there are many Americans who will agree with it. I offer it as an American Manifesto:
“On this, the eve of the 200th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the birth of the United States of America, we, the members of the Young Americans for Freedom, as citizens of this great nation, do hereby reaffirm and pledge ourselves to the following:
We reaffirm our belief in the inalienable and divine rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
We reaffirm our belief in the free enterprise system of economics as the only system compatible with human freedom.
We reaffirm our belief in the right of all men to own individual property and use it as they see fit.
We reaffirm our belief that a government is only legitimate as long as it serves its citizens and becomes illegitimate when it compels its citizens to serve the government.
We reaffirm our belief that the Constitution of the United States and its original Bill of Rights establish the best form of government for the preservation of freedom.
We reaffirm our belief in the rights of men to control their own individual destinies without interference by other men or by government.
We reaffirm our own moral obligation to fulfill those responsibilities incumbent upon the exercise of our rights by never intentionally violating the sacred rights of others.
We reaffirm our belief that the power to tax is the power to control and that such power should be restricted to the one purpose of national security.
We reaffirm our belief that the United States of America is not just territory, that it is a way of life and a state of mind. It will live as long as there is one man who still believes in human freedom, and as long as that one man lives, the spirit of the United States will never be conquered.
Along with our reaffirmation of these basic beliefs of free Americans, we pledge the following:
We pledge that we will never submit to tyranny in any form and we issue the following warnings:
To those in other lands who would destroy our freedom, be forewarned that there are still millions of us who believe that liberty is worth fighting and dying for. Do not naively believe that you can win just by forcing our government to surrender. If you plan to occupy this nation come prepared to fight for every acre of ground, for every building and for every hill and valley.
To our own government we say this: Do not forget that you are only a government which exists at the pleasure of the American people. We will not allow tyranny to be established from within any more than we will allow it to invade from without. Only the republican institutions created by our Constitution are sacred to us; the people who occupy them are not.
We pledge never to surrender the sacred rights guaranteed by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
We pledge, on behalf of generations yet, unborn, to continue the struggle begun by our forefathers over two hundred years ago to secure and maintain liberty and to defend that liberty against all enemies domestic and foreign.
And, following their example, to that end, the preservation of liberty, we pledge our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.”
-- Michael Connelly, retired constitutional lawyer
Check out Michael Connelly's new radio talk show that airs every Wednesday at 4:00 PM Eastern on America's Web Radio. Be sure to visit his non-profit organization Constitutional Law Alliance (CLA) where
he has written a booklet on the U.S. Constitution that every patriotic
American should own and distribute to friends and relatives.Michael Connelly teaches constitutional law through Education to Go, an online company that provides courses to numerous universities. He is a retired attorney, the author of four books, publisher of a website, and U.S. Army veteran.
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