Woodward On Tension Between Him And White House: I Got An E-Mail Saying ‘You’re Going To Regret This’

by Josh Feldman | 8:26 pm, February 27th, 2013 video » 231 comments

Bob Woodward has been heralded by conservatives over his insistence that in spite of the White House trying to blame the impending sequester on the Republican-led House, the whole thing was their idea to begin with. On CNN today, Woodward said that the White House is obviously not happy with his reporting, revealing that he received one e-mail from a senior White House official warning him, “you’re going to regret this.”
RELATED: Bob Woodward Tears Into Obama With Veiled Nixonian Criticism: ‘Madness That I Haven’t Seen In A Long Time’
Kate Bolduan asked Woodward about the response from the White House to his reporting. Woodward said the White House mainly appears to be confused, claiming that one of their rebuttals was to cite a proposal from Republican House leadership that wasn’t actually the sequester. Blitzer said CNN attempted to get someone from the Obama administration on to debate Woodward, but no one wanted to come on.
Woodward made it clear he’s not accusing the White House of any criminal activity, just reporting the facts as he collected them. Blitzer asked Woodward to weigh in on the allegations being thrown in his direction by the White House. Woodward said the administration isn’t happy, revealing that he actually received one e-mail that amounted to a threat.

“It was said very clearly ‘You will regret doing this’… It makes me very uncomfortable to have the White House telling reporters, you’re going to regret doing something you believe in, even though we don’t look at it that way, you do look at it that way.”

He marveled at how “Mickey Mouse” the whole thing was, while expressing some hope that the White House drops its “irrationality” and actually gets to work preventing the sequester.
Watch the video below, courtesy of CNN:

[Special Rapporteur Richard Falk. UN Photo/Jess Hoffman]

UN human rights expert urges international probe into death of Palestinian prisoner

Special Rapporteur Richard Falk. UN Photo/Jess Hoffman

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27 February 2013 – A United Nations human rights expert today called for an international investigation into the death of Palestinian prisoner Arafat Jaradat, who died in Israeli custody just a few days after his arrest.
“The death of a prisoner during interrogation is always a cause for concern, but in this case, when Israel has shown a pattern and practice of prisoner abuse, the need for outside, credible investigation is more urgent than ever,” stressed the UN Special Rapporteur for human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, Richard Falk.
“The best approach might be the creation of an international forensic team under the auspices of the UN Human Rights Council,” he added in a news release.
Both the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Robert Serry, and the Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Jeffrey Feltman, have also called for an independent investigation into Mr. Jaradat’s death, which occurred on Saturday.
Mr. Falk pointed to the assessment made by the Palestinian Authority’s chief pathologist, Dr. Saber Aloul, who observed the autopsy carried out inside Israel, and found there were clear signs of torture on the body of the previously healthy, 30-year-old detainee.
Israeli officials initially claimed Mr. Jaradat died of a heart attack, but the preliminary autopsy findings did not include a cause of death, noted the news release.
“In light of Dr. Aloul’s findings that there was no evidence of heart disease or damage, and that there were signs of torture on Jaradat’s body, an independent international investigation should be launched,” stated Mr. Falk.
According to the Israeli human rights organization B’tselem, more than 700 Palestinian detainees have filed complaints against agents of the Israeli security agency Shin Bet for mistreatment during interrogation throughout the last decade. However, noted the news release, not one has led to a criminal investigation.
Mr. Jaradat hailed from the small village of Sa’ir near Hebron and was a gas station attendant. He leaves behind a four-year-old daughter and two-year-old son; his wife Dalal is pregnant with their third child.
“As an occupying power, Israel has special responsibilities under international humanitarian law to deal humanely with Palestinians held in detention, and the international community has similar responsibilities to ensure that these are carried out,” Mr. Falk underscored.
Independent experts, or special rapporteurs, are appointed by the Human Rights Council to examine and report back on a country situation or a specific human rights theme. The positions are honorary and the experts are not UN staff, nor are they paid for their work.

Russia Is Preparing To Attack America

Wednesday, February 27, 2013 1:02

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(Before It's News)

by Dave Hodges -  thecommonsenseshow.com

February 26, 2013 
United States has not been attacked on the home front for 200 years dating back to the War of 1812. There exists a plethora of confirming information to support the fact that America’s days may be numbered and that we are totally unprepared for what is coming.

Russia, through the traitorous cooperation and complicity of President Obama, is positioning its assets in order to attack Alaska.  Before I piece together the many elements of the planned Russian “surprise attack”, it is important for America to understand that it takes a communist to bring communism to America. Obama was bred by communists, raised by communists, educated at the finest schools with communist money, his political career was launched by communists and his controllers in the White House are communists. Part one of this series will clearly establish the fact that Obama is the lynchpin of a multigenerational plan to hand America over to the Russians and to the Chinese communists.

Obama did not just wake up one day and decide to weaken American defenses and hand over the country to the Russian communists. Obama was groomed for this position for the past several years. He is indeed the right communist, at the right time,  whose mission is to bring America the most crippling form of communism the world has ever seen.

 

Russian Defectors Have Warned the US About This Moment

High-profile Soviet defectors have been telling American intelligence agencies for decades that the Russians have engaged in a multigenerational plot to destabilize America prior to the takeover in which both the Russians and the Chinese will unleash a ferocious military assault upon our country.

The high-ranking defector, Sergei Tretyakov,who repeatedly warned Americans that Russia’s core government had never abandoned the Cold War and still aimed to destroy the United States. In his later years, he said his main goal was to “wake up” the American people to the deadly threat posed to them by the former Soviet Union. His death was reported as a cardiac event, however, his family remains suspicious. Tretyakov joined a plethora of others who defected from the former Soviet Union in order to warn the American people about a planned attack sponsored by the Russian government with assistance from within the American government.

Read More Here

 Dave Hodges DCH MC NCC The Common Sense Show airing on The Republic Broadcasting Network Sunday's 9PM-Midnight Central Live streamed at http://www.republicbroadcasting.org/index.php?cmd=listenlive

2013-02-27 00:48:54
Source: http://www.thecommonsenseshow.com/2013/02/26/russia-is-preparing-to-attack-america2558/

From Sam Sewell -”Steady Grip” A mass citizens arrest on every member of congress

Posted on | February 27, 2013 | 4 Comments

A mass citizens arrest on every member of congress – The Steady Drip

 

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http://thesteadydrip.blogspot.com/ The Steady Drip

 February 26, 2013

A mass citizens arrest on every member of congress

Breaking: Senate Hands Control Of Pentagon To Muslim Brotherhood In 58-41 Vote

Breaking: Senate Hands Control Of Pentagon To Muslim Brotherhood In 58-41 Vote

Feb 26, 2013 0 Comments Jake Hammer Excerpted from FOX NEWS: The Senate approved Chuck Hagel’s nomination for Defense secretary Tuesday, ending a contentious battle that exposed deep divisions over the president’s Pentagon pick.
After Republicans blocked the nomination earlier this month, they ultimately allowed for an up-or-down vote on Tuesday. The margin was historically close, with 58 senators supporting him and 41 opposing in the end.
Though Hagel is himself a former Republican senator, the resistance to his nomination showed an unusual level of distrust among many senators toward the man chosen to lead the Defense Department — at a time when the country is trying to wind down the Afghanistan war, while assessing emerging threats from Iran, Syria and elsewhere in the turbulent Middle East and North Africa.
Republicans had earlier held up the nomination largely over demands for more information from the Obama administration on the Sept. 11 Libya attacks.
But they also raised serious and recurring concerns about Hagel’s record of past statements and votes on everything from Israel to Iran to nuclear weapons.
Sen. John McCain, a leading Republican, clashed with his onetime friend over his opposition to President George W. Bush’s decision to send an extra 30,000 troops to Iraq in 2007 at a point when the war seemed in danger of being lost. Hagel, who voted to authorize military force in Iraq, later opposed the conflict, comparing it to Vietnam and arguing that it shifted the focus from Afghanistan.
McCain called Hagel unqualified for the Pentagon job even though he once described him as fit for a Cabinet post.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid asked what the delaying tactics had done for “my Republican colleagues.”
“Twelve days later, nothing. Nothing has changed,” the Democrat said on the Senate floor. “Sen. Hagel’s exemplary record of service to his country remains untarnished.”
Reid blamed partisanship over Obama’s second-term national security team for the delay. Both Reid and Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, a Democrat, warned that it was imperative to act just days before automatic, across-the-board budget cuts hit the Pentagon.
Hagel will succeed Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and join Obama’s retooled national security team. Hagel’s nomination bitterly split the Senate, with Republicans turning on their former party colleague and Democrats standing by Obama’s nominee.
Republicans also challenged Hagel about a May 2012 study that he co-authored for the advocacy group Global Zero, which called for an 80 percent reduction of U.S. nuclear weapons and the eventual elimination of all the world’s nuclear arms.
The group argued that with the Cold War over, the United States can reduce its total nuclear arsenal to 900 without sacrificing security. Currently, the U.S. and Russia have about 5,000 warheads each, either deployed or in reserve. Both countries are on track to reduce their deployed strategic warheads to 1,550 by 2018, the number set in the New START treaty that the Senate ratified in December 2010.
In an echo of the 2012 presidential campaign, Hagel faced an onslaught of criticism by well-funded, Republican-leaning outside groups that labeled the former senator “anti-Israel” and pressured senators to oppose the nomination. The groups ran television and print ads criticizing Hagel.
Opponents were particularly incensed by Hagel’s use of the term “Jewish lobby” to refer to pro-Israel groups. He apologized, saying he should have used another term and should not have said those groups have intimidated members of the Senate into favoring actions contrary to U.S. interests.
The nominee spent weeks reaching out to members of the Senate, meeting individually with lawmakers to address their concerns and seeking to reassure them about his policies.
Hagel’s halting and inconsistent performance during some eight hours of testimony at this confirmation hearing last month undercut his cause, but it wasn’t a fatal blow.
There was no erosion in Democratic support for the president’s choice and Hagel had the backing of three Republicans — Sens. Thad Cochran, Mike Johanns and Richard Shelby. Other Republicans were reluctant to block a president’s Cabinet choice from getting a yes or no vote, fearing the precedent.

Rapper Lupe Fiasco Calls President Obama a Baby Killer

Added by Denise on July 30, 2012.
Saved under News, Politics, Pop-Culture
Tags: CIA, military, Obama Administration, united-states

Lupe Fiasco is known for being a politically conscious rapper. While other rappers are spittin’ nonsense about dimes, rims, and diamonds, Lupe is rhyming about politics and presidents. Lupe doesn’t dwell in a pretend world of rented Maybachs and Bentleys, he’s too aware for that. He deals in real life and real struggles, and writes about what he sees from his perspective, and  his interpretations.
Lupe has a lot to say about a lot of issues, but he’s saved some of his most unkind words for President Obama. In a radio interview with Philly’s Power 99, Lupe outright called Obama is a baby killer.
“One hand, you have someone who is a great speaker, but kills little children – our president,” he said. “I’m talking about ordering a drone attack. Ordering drone attacks that go and kill mothers, innocent bystanders, children. Militants too, but the collateral damage. You’re responsible for that, too.”
Lupe doesn’t accept the excuse that the children killed during drone attacks were not the intended targets.
“Drug dealers can say the same thing. I didn’t mean to kill all the people in the restaurant. I was just trying to get that one dude who killed my cousin. Just so happened that that little girl was there. Same thing.”
It is no secret that drone attacks have increased under President Obama, and as Conor Friedersdorf of The Atlantic points out, drone attacks raise questions that the Obama administration has refused to answer:

Should the criteria for being put on a kill list remain secret, or should there be consistent standards that are promulgated and debated? Does the Constitutional guarantee of due process and Article III treason provisions imply a judicial role when American citizens are placed on a kill list, or is the Obama Administration correct that intra-executive branch deliberations can satisfy the requirement of due process? Should the strikes be carried out by the U.S. military or the CIA? In determining how many of the people we kill are innocent civilians, should we presume that all dead males of military age were in fact enemies of the United States? 

And since law enforcement agencies are now buying drones as well, this should send a chill down the spine of every American, but especially black Americans, who are already being stopped and frisked in NYC without cause.
Before you say that Lupe is out of line, think about the intended role of a rapper, or any artist for that matter. Compare Lupe’s speaking truth to power to Jay-Z’s bragging about having “Obama on the text.”  Which is real hip-hop? Is hip-hop supposed to speak truth to power or cozy up to it? Or does anyone even care anymore?

In separating gun-control bills, Democrats reveal strategy

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  View PhotoReuters/Reuters - A man looks at a shotgun during the East Coast Fine Arms Show in Stamford, Connecticut, January 5, 2013. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's fellow Democrats in the Senate have spread his gun-control proposals across four bills in an effort to get at least some of the less controversial measures - such as expanded background checks for gun buyers - passed into law.

The Senate Judiciary Committee will vote as early as Thursday on the bills, which together amount to an acknowledgement by Democrats that a ban on military-style "assault" weapons is unlikely to clear Congress.

The proposed ban on assault weapons makes up one of the four gun-control bills, all of which are likely to be approved by the Democrat-led Judiciary Committee and be considered by the full Senate, congressional aides said Tuesday.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat from Nevada, will decide how to package the measures for a vote on the Senate floor.
By breaking Obama's gun-control agenda into pieces, supporters hope to avoid having a less popular proposal such as the assault weapons ban contribute to the rejection of other proposals, aides said.

The proposed ban, introduced by Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, has drawn opposition from Republicans and some Democrats. It will be the focus of a Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday.

"We are taking a pragmatic approach that is designed to maximize our options," a senior Democratic aide said.
The four bills now before the Judiciary Committee include one introduced by Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the panel's chairman, that would crack down on illegal gun trafficking.
Another bill, by California Senator Barbara Boxer, is designed to increase school safety.
A bill, still being finalized, would call for "universal" background checks for all prospective gun buyers. Currently, only about 40 percent of buyers are screened for previous crimes or mental illness.

Feinstein's proposal, targets assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition clips like those used in the December 14 massacre at a school in Newtown, Connecticut, that left 20 children and six adults dead - and inspired the current action on gun control.

'NO WAY' ON ASSAULT WEAPONS BAN
Wednesday's hearing is likely be the latest in a series of dramatic Capitol Hill hearings to reflect the passion surrounding the debate over gun control.
Those scheduled to testify include the father of one of the students killed in Newtown, and a doctor who was in a local emergency room when victims of the shootings were brought in.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said Democrats "are trying to create political theater" with the hearing, and that there is no way an assault weapons ban will become law.
"It faces bipartisan opposition," he said.
Even so, all four of the gun-control bills are widely expected to sent to the full Senate on party-line votes of 10-8, Senate aides said.
But to clear procedural roadblocks from Republicans on the Senate floor, the measures will need 60 votes in the 100-member Senate, where Democrats and independents who support them account for 55 seats and Republicans hold 45.
There have been calls from those in both parties for expanded background checks in an effort to keep firearms out of the hands of convicted criminals and the mentally ill.
But a bipartisan deal has not yet been struck despite weeks of talks among four senators - Democrats Charles Schumer of New York and Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Republicans Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and Mark Kirk of Illinois.
"It is the one thing we think can really pass, and we don't yet have an agreement on it," a Senate aide said.
On Tuesday, Coburn said, "We're still talking."