This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Barack Obama/Joe Biden

  • Compare and contrast

    The British Prime Minister, David Cameron, is demanding answers as to why his intelligence services failed to prevent the horrific murder of Drummer Lee Rigby, 25, a machine-gunner in the 2nd Battalion, the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, the other day at the hands of two jihadists in the streets during broad daylight, according to the Washington Times.

    Intelligence had previously halted one of the suspects — Michael Adebolajo, 28, the one videotaped with bloody hands, waving a machete and knife — en route to Somalia, where it was suspected he was heading to fight with the terrorist group Al-Shabaab, The Telegraph said.

    Six years ago, he was also arrested during a violent protest in Britain that was led by an extremist group. He also held membership in a group of militants who joined with known radical clerics to preach anti-Western messages in the streets of London, The Telegraph reported.

    The other suspect, Michael Adebowale, 22, was a known extremist whose apartment was recently raided by police, The Telegraph said.

    Cameron was also quick to call the attack what it was – a terrorist attack. Police also speculated whether or not it was part of a wider terrorist plot. Now compare that to similar attacks in the US over the past few years.

    Carlos Bledsoe was a suspected terrorist before he shot two soldiers on recruiting duty in Little Rock, Arkansas. Even though he admitted that he was influenced by Anwar al-Awlaki, the radical imam, also known as the “bin Laden of the internet”, Bledsoe was never indicted on terrorist charges and the government won’t admit that there was a larger plot. A few months later, Nidal Hassan killed more than 13 unarmed soldiers at Fort Hood, Texas and that’s still classified as “workplace violence”.

    Even though Bledsoe and Hassan were both targets of federal investigations at the time of their respective crimes, no one called for answers in any meaningful way. Then we get, as a reward for our complacency, the Boston Marathon bombing, also perpetrated by subjects of federal law enforcement investigations. Still no one is calling for the feds to answer tough questions about why they failed the American people. After all, doesn’t the Constitution call for the federal government to “provide for the common defense” – and not for all of that other bullshit that the government is wrapped up in these days, which ultimately detract from it’s ability to do what it’s supposed to be doing.

  • Playing to the band

    So, the President made another windbag speech today this one about national defense in the forms of drone strikes and Guantanamo and it was really nothing more than playing to his base trying to look like the anti-Bush again. Of course, the reasons that he’s cleaved to the drone program and Guantanamo is because this administration has no real solutions beyond what President Bush started. But, in the wake of the recent spate of scandals, Obama knows he can’t get his base on board to continue on with his programs while even Jon Stewart is taking shots at him. From Fox News;

    He also spoke in detail about his long-stalled effort to close Guantanamo Bay. He said that the administration is looking for a site inside the U.S. to hold military commissions, while looking to transfer detainees outside of the prison camp once again.

    In re-affirming his pledge to close the detention center at Guantanamo, Obama is pushing for a renewed effort to transfer its 166 detainees to other countries. Congress and the White House have sparred since Obama took office in 2009 over the fate of the suspects and whether they can be brought to trial on U.S. soil. In the meantime, the detainees have been held for years with diminishing hope that they will charged with a crime or be given a trial.

    Yeah, well, the detainees in Guantanamo are conducting a hunger strike because they know they can move Obama and his policy using that strategy whereas they couldn’t use it against Bush. I’m sure they all thought they’d be released on January 21st, 2009, like Jimmy Carter’s amnesty for draft dodgers his first day in office.

    On drones, Obama defended the decision to order a strike on U.S. citizen Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen. “He was continuously trying to kill people,” Obama said of the Al Qaeda operative.

    Trying? al-Awlaki actually had people killed. Carlos Bledsoe actually killed one soldier and wounded another under the influence of al-Awliki in Arkansas. Nidal Hassan killed at least 13 people at Fort Hood, TX at al-Awliki’s behest. Neither Bledsoe nor Hassan have been charged as terrorists, so I guess we can’t really call al-Awliki a terrorist, either.

    By the way, Susie Benjamin, the chief hag at Code Pink was at obama’s speech today and she heckled him. I guess Code Pink’s income has been flagging what with two terms of Obama and everything. But, here’s the video;
    (more…)

  • DoD Ignoring history

    The Military Times reports that the Defense Department is preparing to send a report to Congress that was two years in the writing. According to Military Times the report touts Reserve Forces as more cost effective than a large active duty fighting force;

    According to a draft copy of the report obtained by Military Times, the Pentagon analysis concludes that Guard and Reserve troops not only are cheaper when in drilling status but also when fully mobilized, in part because their overall compensation is lower when taking into account noncash benefits such as retirement accrual and health care.

    Moreover, the overall costs for outfitting units with reservists are lower because part-time troops do not tap many military perks such as family housing, DoD schools, installation-based family support and the moving stipends that active-duty troops get every few years when they are reassigned, according to the draft report.

    Yeah, it’s as if Task Force Smith, Kaserine Pass and the First Battle of Bull Run never happened. I have nothing against the Reserves, but even they’ll admit their training is lacking compared to the active duty force.

    During Desert Storm, reservist combat units were called up in case war went on longer than it did and in the months during the train up, none of the reserve units, as far as I know met the standard required before they were certified for combat. There was a buttload of reservists who went AWOL at Fort Hood during their training. I’m sure with the current crop that wouldn’t happen. I have more confidence in reservists today than I did the reservists of my days – but so much has changed since then. And this is a return to those old days.

    It appears that the only thing the Defense Department is defending these days are their jobs in the Pentagon. They’re certainly not defending this nation in any recognizable form;

    The Pentagon disavowed the draft copy obtained by Military Times, dated April 26, 2013.

    “The draft report was released prematurely and there are some inaccuracies; the department does not stand by it,” said DoD spokeswoman Lt. Col. Elizabeth Robbins. “We cannot comment on the report prior to the final version being completed and sent to Congress.”

    But a Pentagon official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the data appear finalized even if the language that fleshes out the 34-page report may undergo further revisions. Congress passed a law in 2011 requiring DoD to draw up the analysis, but it remains unclear when an official version will be finalized and released publicly.

    Remember when they were talking about drawing down the active force before Desert Storm, and some units had to be reconstituted in the midst of their deactivation to respond to Saddam Hussein, but at least they had a large, trained active force to deploy and the only reservists were support units. How are we going to respond to threats in 2016?

  • Welcome American Thinkers

    Obama Marine Poragua

    You may have noticed that it’s a little crowded in here today. That’s because our own Poetrooper linked to our discussion yesterday of the Semper Parasol thing over at American Thinker. So I thought I’d spread the love and return the favor. So click over and read “They’re Marines, Mr. President, Not Butlers“.

  • Imperial Presidency

    Gunzrunner and Flagwaver sent us this video;

    It’s been cloudy and sprinkling all day since sun-up here in the Metro DC area, you’d think someone would have thought to put a tarp up if the President and the Turkish Prime Minister were going to have a press conference outside today. But then, they had umbrellas ready for the Marines to hold, so I guess that was their plan all along. I don’t know about the Marine Corps, but when I left the Army, umbrellas weren’t authorized while a man was in uniform (I think women could carry an umbrella, though).

    Regardless, it just doesn’t look good to me, but maybe that’s me and I’m sure someone is going to tell me I’m nitpicking, but this is an opinion blog and that’s my opinion.

    ADDED: This is probably why he needs someone else to hold the umbrellas, it’s a pretty complicated operation, ya know;

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    Added again (From IowaHawk);

  • White House wants you to have faith in the government despite scandals

    The Washington Times reports that, in his daily press briefing today, Jay Carney tried to beseech the media to take it easy on the government lest Americans lose their faith in the government;

    In the wake of an inspector general’s report that verified “inappropriate” actions, White House press secretary Jay Carney said the president badly wants taxpayers to believe the Internal Revenue Service operates fairly and honestly.

    “The president is concerned when you see the kind of activity documented in the inspector general’s report by IRS personnel … that can undermine people’s faith in the IRS in particular,” Mr. Carney said. “It is imperative that action be taken so that Americans understand and believe that the IRS enforces our tax laws in a neutral and fair way to all Americans.”

    Yeah, no they don’t. Americans have too much faith in their government, which is why Obama has been elected twice. The government can’t fix the economy, it can only get out of the way. The government can’t get you a job, it can only get out of the way. It can’t pay your rent, it can’t pay your car off, it can’t buy your groceries, protect your family, shovel your driveway. Despite the fact that Obama claimed to care about veterans, he still didn’t bother to come and shovel the snow out of my TV dish this past winter.

    On several occasions I’ve been asked why veterans are generally so conservative, I’ve always answered that veterans have seen the government at it’s best and at it’s worst and there’s not much difference between the two. When we needed our government most, we usually end up depending on the guy on our left and our right instead because those things the government was supposed to do for us didn’t arrive in a timely manner, if it arrived at all.

    Look at the backlog of VA claims that the government keeps promising to clear “soon”, but “soon” never comes. Remember when the new GI Bill kicked in and folks were getting kicked out of school for not paying their tuition because the government couldn’t do what they were supposed to do. So, yeah, take the proper lesson away from these scandals, and considering how much we’ve been lied to in the last several years, stop believing what comes out of Jay carney’s mouth.

  • Post; Four Pinocchios

    Yeah, when the Washington Post gives President Obama four Pinocchios, for his statement that that he has always called the attack on the Benghazi consulate, you know things are getting rough over in the White House. It doesn’t excuse the Post from not giving him any Pinocchios during the election for the same incident, because, you know, the facts haven’t really changed, the only thing different is that Obama isn’t facing an election. In fact the quotes they use in the September article are the same quotes they use in this article, but, now suddenly those same quotes are important;

    During the campaign, the president could just get away with claiming he said “act of terror,” since he did use those words — though not in the way he often claimed. It seemed like a bit of after-the-fact spin, but those were his actual words — to the surprise of Mitt Romney in the debate.

    But the president’s claim that he said “act of terrorism” is taking revisionist history too far, given that he repeatedly refused to commit to that phrase when asked directly by reporters in the weeks after the attack. He appears to have gone out of his way to avoid saying it was a terrorist attack, so he has little standing to make that claim now.

    So they, along with that traitorous wench, Candy Crowley, gave the president all of the cover he needed to make a potentially embarrassing discussion seem irrelevant long enough to get him through the election.

  • Not a good week to be the President

    Well it isn’t even Wednesday yet and already President Obama is having some serious migraines.  First there were the Benghazi whistle blowers (and apparently there are even more waiting in the wings) whose testimony is both scathing and damning.  Then there was the IRS scandal, in which the IRS targeted both conservative (specifically but not limited to the TEA party), and Jewish groups.  NOW there is news out of the Associated Press that they had tons of their phone records seized in an apparent dragnet to find leaks.  If he wasn’t already in hot water he sure is now, and the shuckin an jivin isn’t cutting the mustard that it used to.  Many of the journalists and news services that the Obama administration could count on as go to guys are starting to ask very tough questions.  Watching Jay Carney or the President’s most recent press briefings look down right uncomfortable.

    Let’s deconstruct some of this real quick to see just how much trouble the President is in.  Let’s start with the big one last week; Benghazi.  At first glance it’s pretty straight forward, someone screwed up and people died.  Ask any Joe that ever had a 2LT call for fire and they’ll tell you it happens a lot more than we’d like to admit.  But there’s more to it than that.  We know for instance that Tyrone Wood’s team from Global Response Staff (GRS) were clearly aware of the attack at the consulate in Benghazi at 2140, and were ordered ordered by higher not to go.  They left anyway at 2205 local.  We know that Glen Doherty’s team was actually in Tripoli, and had to bribe or even hijack a plane to go to Benghazi.  We know that an SF LTC was ordered to stand down by higher (presumably AFRICOM) and said to the acting Chief of Mission “this is the first time the diplomats had more balls than the military.”  We know that Ambassador Stevens and Sean Smith were overcome by a petroleum fire in their safe room after the compound was breached, and we know both were dead by the end of the night.  The ride back to the CIA annex by Woods’ team was under fire and one of the vehicles had flat tires but nonetheless made it to the compound where they received sporadic fire all night.  At some point during this Doherty’s team managed to make it into the compound before the final assault which included mortar rounds began.  When it was over Woods and Doherty were dead.

    What followed was undeniably a cover-up for political purposes.  A really shitty video was blamed and the denials for support were covered up.  UN ambassador Susan Rice became an unwitting pawn in this and went on all the Sunday talk shows with this truly ridiculous story, which we already knew was wrong.    From all that we’ve been able to glean they knew within 24 hours that it was Ansar al-Sharia, and they knew that this was specifically a terrorist attack.  White-wash or cover up, the American people were lied to, and they kept on lying to us.  Even now they’re making like this is all politics.  It begs the question if they’ve lied about this monumental goof, what else aren’t they telling the truth about.

    And then there’s that IRS bit.  See this is actually the most serious for the President and his team.  Why?  Well look at the first bullet point of Article 2 of the Nixon Articles of Impeachment.  As Joe Biden might say “it’s a big F**king deal.”  The fact that he even joked about it in 2009, is all the more disturbing.  Asking a Jewish group “what you feel about Israel,” or asking a conservative group who their donors are is not only highly irregular, but flat out illegal.  The key words being used for this scrutiny should have everyone’s jaw dropping.  Giving undue scrutiny, or harassment to a group concerned our president is violating the constitution is extremely disturbing.  More than that we’re now learning that this wasn’t just a few low level joe schmos, but high level people were aware of this program, and if they did not encourage it they certainly did nothing to stop it.  Potentially the head of the IRS may have lied to congress in May of 2012.  The president is trying to downplay it saying that investigation is needed, but there’s already been one, and it’s pretty clear what happened if not whose behind it.

    Then there’s that little bit about the AP.  Now as far as we know none of the phones were tapped, but as many as 300 reporters may have been effected.  In the journalist world nothing, and I mean nothing will make them go on the attack like even the insinuation that someone’s spying on them.  Keep in mind that this can not happen without the Attorney General, Eric Holder signing off on it.  This was all done in secret, without anyone at AP’s knowledge, and is potentially violating the First Amendment.  This is pretty important too, because if there has been one group covering for Obama more than anyone else, it has been the press.  Stories that might be considered embarrassing to the Obama administration have for years not received the full attention of the press with a few notable exceptions.  I truly think these days are over.  Whatever else happens from here on out the Obama administration is going to have a lot of explaining to do.

    So where does that leave us?  Well Benghazi is most definitely not a “sideshow,”  and despite what some say, help could have been given, if the administration acted immediately after the first attack, and could have helped to fend off the final attack.  If there truly was no help available then why in the world were so many commands caught with their pants down when everyone on the ground clearly stated they needed more security not less?  With The IRS scandal, well need I remind you that is an impeachable offense (not making this up).  Will the president be impeached?  Probably not, but it is possible.  At the very least it will get congress off their asses and taking a close look at how the Gub’ment is being run.  We might have a very real, and practical example of Big Government being so big it literally does not know what it’s doing, or we might have the truly dirtiest part of Chicago politics at play.  Either one is not good for “We the People.”  Lastly we have the AP scandal.  While in itself this is perhaps a minor event in the era of the PATRIOT Act, do not be surprised if there’s serious push back on this one.  Nothing chills a reporter’s bones like the federal government scaring away their souses, and potentially censoring them.

    In my personal humble opinion I think Obama is going to wish he hadn’t gotten reelected.  His second term is not starting off great, and his Dodge Dip Dive Duck and Dodge routine isn’t working anymore.  With Fast and Furious, a DOJ that suppressed a voter intimidation case, a DHS that refuses to enforce immigration, a total overhaul of health care that gives frightening powers to non-doctors, an AG that was held in contempt of congress (a first in history), A stagnant recovery, “Green Jobs” that are just a very expensive way to waste money, and a national debt that is not getting any better any time soon. . . Well to say that things are going to look pretty bad for his legacy is something of an understatement.  The word Impeachable is actually not out of the realm of possibility sadly enough.  Of course if that ever were to happen, Joe “fire a shotgun in the air” Biden will be our new president.  I don’t know about you but I wouldn’t trust that man to run a latrine detail.