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

Category: Barack Obama/Joe Biden

  • “Somebody’s Got Some ‘Splainin’ to Do”

    Remember that recent shooting in California? You know, the one where a US citizen went abroad; married a foreign national from a nation known for having a high level of terrorist activity; brought their spouse back to the US – and less than 18 months later the two murdered 14 and wounded 20+ in a terrorist attack? The terrorist attack that recently occurred in San Bernardino?

    Well, guess what? It turns out that the foreign national involved apparently had a history of making social media posts supporting violent jihad – and saying they wanted to be a part of same. But it also turns out that the foreign national passed three separate background checks during the process of being granted entry into the US.

    Yep, you read that right. Apparently no one involved in the visa approval investigation process checked social media to see what the individual in question may have said there in the past. Those social media posts were only recently found by US LE agencies.

    Plus, the screening also missed the fact that the foreign national had used a false address on their visa application. Yeah, all of that all really gives me the proverbial “warm and fuzzy” regarding our ability to screen thousands of “Syrian refugees” (and others from countries with known terrorist issues) who might attempt to enter the US in the future. I mean, we did such a “bang-up job” of screening out someone with terrorist inclinations in this case.

    But rest assured, we’re “thoroughly vetting” all those thousands of Syrian refugees. None of them will pose a threat – even if they’re using a Syrian passport forged by Da’esh using captured official Syrian passport making equipment and blanks. Or a bogus Syrian passport from another source.

    Yeah, right. And I’m the Crown Prince of Siam.

    Predictably, the US DHS Secretary, Jeh Johnson, says that the K-1 visa problem is being reviewed. However, regarding the screening process having missed something in this case that should have raised a concern, Johnson said, “. . . I am not prepared to say that and I’m not prepared to make that declaration”.

    You see, it turns out DHS doesn’t review social media when making visa decisions in cases similar to this. In fact, there appears to be an ongoing debate within DHS regarding whether it is “appropriate” to do that.

    Well, Mr. Secretary – you might not be prepared to say that the process screwed up here, and needs to be changed dramatically – but I certainly am. Your agency screwed up royally here. This all should have been found prior to the individual being granted or denied entry into the US. It should have been considered while making that decision.

    In my book, to paraphrase the late Desi Arnaz (in his Rickey Ricardo persona): “Somebody’s got some ‘splainin’ to do”. And that “somebody” would be you, Mr. Secretary. Along with your boss.

    You can both explain it to the surviving family of those 14 killed in San Bernardino. And to those recovering after being wounded.

  • Great. Just Freaking Great.

    Remember when the current       DC clown krewe        Administration told us that it planned to admit thousands of “Syrian refugees”? Remember when it told us “don’t worry, be happy” – because any such referees would be “thoroughly” investigated and vetted and would therefore pose no threat to US security?

    Remember when people raised objections? You know, when numerous people – noting that a large number of fake Syrian passports had been observed among alleged Syrian refugees, and also noting that the Syrian government wasn’t exactly cooperative with the US these days – worried that terrorists might infiltrate the US by claiming to be refugees?

    Well, “riddle me this, Batman”.  Just how are we going to vet those “Syrian refugees” when the Syrian government is uncooperative – and if Da’esh not only has an authentic Syrian passport machine but also has “boxes of blank (Syrian) passports”?

    The question isn’t hypothetical.  Apparently Da’esh acquired both an actual Syrian passport printing machine and a supply of blank Syrian passports  when they captured the city of Deir ez-Zour this past summer.

    Yeah, it looks like this is gonna turn out great.  Just freaking great.

  • White House: 15,475 combat troops deployed

    White House: 15,475 combat troops deployed

    last convoy out of Iraq

    The Obama Administration reported to Congress, in it’s semi-annual report, that 15,475 US combat troops are deployed in the war against terror, whatever it’s called these days, according to USAToday, as quoted in the Stars & Stripes. The largest contingent is in Afghanistan where 10,500 are deployed – that’s about 1400 more than six months ago;

    Also, 3,550 troops remain in Iraq, and small teams are already in northern Syria to train and advise local opposition troops. The report says up to 50 new personnel “may be deployed in Syria as circumstances warrant.”

    The U.S. deployed 350 personnel to Turkey in July in order to support air strikes from Incerlik Air Force Base, and added 375 more in November.

    U.S. troops are also conducting counter-terrorism operations in the African nations of Niger (350 troops) and Cameroon (300 troops). Since June, the U.S. has also conducted counterterrorism operations in Somalia, Yemen, Djibouti and Libya

    There are also operations being conducted in the Philippines, but I don’t see numbers for that deployment.

  • Obama to issue Executive Orders on gun control

    Obama to issue Executive Orders on gun control

    He’s been warning you for weeks that he’s going to “do something” in regards to gun control, so it looks like Obama is ready, according to “The Hill“;

    Obama has been holding meetings with gun control advocates to gauge their support and solicit ideas. He met last Friday with former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), who survived a gunshot to the head during a 2011 mass shooting in Tucson.

    A proposal Obama is reportedly considering would classify more sellers as high-volume dealers, which would close a legal loophole that allows many sales conducted online or at gun shows to skirt existing background check provisions.

    He just issued a battery of new regs last year, didn’t he? What could he have missed? Why didn’t he do this “high volume dealers” thing then? What he should do is exactly what he can do – make the FBI straighten out the NICS system. Ol’ what-his-name down in South Carolina got a gun because the FBI couldn’t make the time constraints on his background check. But you know, that would be within his purview, so he can’t admit that government isn’t functioning the way it was designed to function and actually preventing criminals from getting guns. That’s one mass shooting that falls on the FBI, that’s why someone had to make the Confederate flag the cause instead of gun laws for a change.

    I guess that’s why Obama didn’t call the NRA into the Oval Office for advice.

  • “Contained”, Eh? Intel Community Says, “Um, no.”

    Remember when the       current Occupant, 1600 Penn Ave, Wash DC       POTUS proclaimed that Da’esh (AKA “ISIS”) had been “contained”?  You know, that proclamation that occurred shortly before the Paris terrorist attacks that killed 130 and wounded hundreds more?

    Remember when the CJCS flatly contradicted the POTUS’s assessment about Da’esh being “contained”?

    Well, among those in a position to know apparently it isn’t just the CJCS that disagrees with the POTUS.  Apparently, the US Intelligence Community also disagrees.  An IC report recently ordered by the White House “says that the ISIS terror group will grow in numbers and territory unless it suffers significant losses in Iraq and Syria.”

    Contained?  Yeah right.  Sounds to me like the report says they’re getting stronger.  Maybe “contained” is simply this Administration’s Doublespeak for “an enemy getting stronger”.

    For some reason, the acronym “SCoaMF” comes to mind.  And  not when I think of Da’esh.

  • Flynn: ISIS was ignored because of election year “narrative”

    Flynn: ISIS was ignored because of election year “narrative”

    Michael Flynn

    Retired Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, who commanded the Defense Intelligence Agency from July 2012 until he retired in August, 2014, told Jake Tapper that the Obama Administration ignored the rise of ISIS in the months before the election because it ruined their “narrative” of winning the war in Iraq, according to CNN;

    The story they needed to tell, he said, was that pulling troops from Iraq would not leave the region vulnerable to rise of a radical Islamic group like ISIS.

    “I think the narrative was that al Qaeda was on the run, and (Osama) bin Laden was dead … they’re dead and these guys are, we’ve beaten them,” Flynn said, but the problem was that despite how many terrorist leaders they killed they “continue to just multiply.”

    Obama has been criticized by opponents for referring to ISIS as the “JV squad” and apparently underestimating the group’s threat. The Pentagon’s inspector general is investigating complaints that that top intelligence officials manipulated reports to make the threat of ISIS look minimal.

    Of course, no one who reads this blog is surprised by Flynn’s revelation. It’s just nice to have validation. Flynn went on to say that it’s only a matter of time that US law enforcement run out of luck and an attack like the one in Paris a few weeks ago happens here. I would argue that Chattanooga is indicative of that eventuality.

    Flynn goes on to say that ISIS wouldn’t be a force if Bush hadn’t invaded Iraq in the first place, that we should have allowed Hussein to stick his finger in the eye of the western world, that we should have let Hussein continue to fund and support terrorists around the world, and threaten his neighbors and allow his own citizens to starve while he enriched himself and his family. Flynn also misses Gaddafi. I would disagree with Flynn on that point, though.

    Thanks to CB for the link.

  • 20-year retirement is gone

    20-year retirement is gone

    Hondo sends us a link to the Army Times which reports that the new budget deal that the President signed the other day included an end to the 20-year retirement plan that most of us enlisted for so long ago. It looks like that when folks enlist after 2018, they will not get the deal.

    Starting in 2018, newly enlisted troops will no longer have the traditional 20-year, all-or-nothing retirement plan. Under the changes, it will be replaced with a blended pension and investment system, featuring automatic contributions to troops’ Thrift Savings Plans and an opportunity for government matches to personal contributions.

    The new system is expected to give roughly four in five service members some sort of retirement benefit when they leave the military, as opposed to the current system which benefits only one in five.

    Yeah, four-in-five will get a retirement benefit if they contribute to the Thrift Savings Plan (401k-like pre-tax savings), the same TSP that they have access to now, without an employer match. The upside for the Obama Administration is that people will scurry to enlist before 2018 in order to get a shot at the old plan, but the next President will have to deal with lower enlistment when service is less attractive. I warned back in 2008 that Obama would eventually get around to dismantling the military and it only took him seven years to do it.

    The good news in the defense bill is that Obama doesn’t get the funds to close Guantanamo and flag officers don’t get the whopping 1.3% pay raise that the troops get – a huge savings, I suppose. Obama signed this bill as opposed to the one he vetoed earlier this year because Congress promised to bust spending caps on non-defense spending. So, yay, everyone wins, right?

  • The rebuke more powerful than bombs

    The rebuke more powerful than bombs

    Yesterday, the President, speaking to the media alongside French President François Hollande announced his most ambitious plan yet to defeat the ISIS thugs in the Levant. He’s going to a climate conference in Paris according to The Hill;

    “Next week, I will be joining President Hollande and world leaders in Paris for the global climate conference,” Obama said during his prepared remarks, which focused mostly on the efforts to fight the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

    “What a powerful rebuke to the terrorists it will be, when the world stands as one and shows that we will not be deterred from building a better future for our children,” he added.

    […]

    “I think it is absolutely vital for every country, every leader, to send a signal that the viciousness of a handful of killers does not stop the world from doing vital business, and that Paris … is not going to be cowered by the violent, demented actions of a few,” Obama said about the upcoming climate conference.

    I remember when, during the 2008 election, Obama ridiculed President Bush for telling America to go shopping to fight terrorism. I guess he doesn’t see the irony of a bunch of rich guys gathering in the City of Lights to sip wine and eat food they can’t pronounce properly, and make a show of talking about science that no one in the room understands and see that as a way to fight a bunch of goat-roping criminals living in tents, ruins and caves and murdering hundreds of even poorer people for the thrill of killing. For the children.

    I suppose the sight of the rich people talking will make ISIS throw down their weapons and surrender. They’ll probably surrender much faster that way than if we killed thousands of them in the time it takes to organize the little party of rich people. Or probably not.