Category Archives: Drone
A Small President on the World Stage
At the U.N., leaders hope for a return of American greatness.
By PEGGY NOONANThe world misses the old America, the one before the crash—the crashes—of the past dozen years.
That is the takeaway from conversations the past week in New York, where world leaders gathered for the annual U.N. General Assembly session. Our friends, and we have many, speak almost poignantly of the dynamism, excellence, exuberance and leadership of the nation they had, for so many years, judged themselves against, been inspired by, attempted to emulate, resented.
As for those who are not America’s friends, some seem still confused, even concussed, by the new power shift. What is their exact place in it? Will it last? Will America come roaring back? Can she? Does she have the political will, the human capital, the old capability?
It is a world in a new kind of flux, one that doesn’t know what to make of America anymore. In part because of our president.
“We want American leadership,” said a member of a diplomatic delegation of a major U.S. ally. He said it softly, as if confiding he missed an old friend.
“In the past we have seen some America overreach,” said the prime minister of a Western democracy, in a conversation. “Now I think we are seeing America underreach.” He was referring not only to foreign policy but to economic policies, to the limits America has imposed on itself. He missed its old economic dynamism, its crazy, pioneering spirit toward wealth creation—the old belief that every American could invent something, get it to market, make a bundle, rise.
The prime minister spoke of a great anxiety and his particular hope. The anxiety: “The biggest risk is not political but social. Wealthy societies with people who think wealth is a given, a birthright—they do not understand that we are in the fight of our lives with countries and nations set on displacing us. Wealth is earned. It is far from being a given. It cannot be taken for granted. The recession reminded us how quickly circumstances can change.” His hope? That the things that made America a giant—”so much entrepreneurialism and vision”—will, in time, fully re-emerge and jolt the country from the doldrums.
The second takeaway of the week has to do with a continued decline in admiration for the American president. Barack Obama‘s reputation among his fellow international players has deflated, his stature almost collapsed. In diplomatic circles, attitudes toward his leadership have been declining for some time, but this week you could hear the disappointment, and something more dangerous: the sense that he is no longer, perhaps, all that relevant. Part of this is due, obviously, to his handling of the Syria crisis. If you draw a line and it is crossed and then you dodge, deflect, disappear and call it diplomacy, the world will notice, and not think better of you. Some of it is connected to the historical moment America is in.
But some of it, surely, is just five years of Mr. Obama. World leaders do not understand what his higher strategic aims are, have doubts about his seriousness and judgment, and read him as unsure and covering up his unsureness with ringing words.
A scorching assessment of the president as foreign-policy actor came from a former senior U.S. diplomat, a low-key and sophisticated man who spent the week at many U.N.-related functions. “World leaders are very negative about Obama,” he said. They are “disappointed, feeling he’s not really in charge. . . . The Western Europeans don’t pay that much attention to him anymore.”
The diplomat was one of more than a dozen U.S. foreign-policy hands who met this week with the new president of Iran, Hasan Rouhani. What did he think of the American president? “He didn’t mention Obama, not once,” said the former envoy, who added: “We have to accept the fact that the president is rather insignificant at the moment, and rely on our diplomats.” John Kerry, he said, is doing a good job.
Had he ever seen an American president treated as if he were so insignificant? “I really never have. It’s unusual.” What does he make of the president’s strategy: “He doesn’t know what to do so he stays out of it [and] hopes for the best.” The diplomat added: “Slim hope.”
This reminded me of a talk a few weeks ago, with another veteran diplomat who often confers with leaders with whom Mr. Obama meets. I had asked: When Obama enters a room with other leaders, is there a sense that America has entered the room? I mentioned de Gaulle—when he was there, France was there. When Reagan came into a room, people stood: America just walked in. Does Mr. Obama bring that kind of mystique?
“No,” he said. “It’s not like that.”
When the president spoke to the General Assembly, his speech was dignified and had, at certain points, a certain sternness of tone. But after a while, as he spoke, it took on the flavor of re-enactment. He had impressed these men and women once. In the cutaways on C-Span, some delegates in attendance seemed distracted, not alert, not sitting as if they were witnessing something important. One delegate seemed to be scrolling down on a BlackBerry, one rifled through notes. Two officials seated behind the president as he spoke seemed engaged in humorous banter. At the end, the applause was polite, appropriate and brief.
The president spoke of Iran and nuclear weapons—”we should be able to achieve a resolution” of the question. “We are encouraged” by signs of a more moderate course. “I am directing John Kerry to pursue this effort.”
But his spokesmen had suggested the possibility of a brief meeting or handshake between Messrs. Obama and Rouhani. When that didn’t happen there was a sense the American president had been snubbed. For all the world to see.
Which, if you are an American, is embarrassing.
While Mr. Rouhani could not meet with the American president, he did make time for journalists, diplomats and businessmen brought together by the Asia Society and the Council on Foreign Relations. Early Thursday evening in a hotel ballroom, Mr. Rouhani spoke about U.S.-Iranian relations.
He appears to be intelligent, smooth, and he said all the right things—”moderation and wisdom” will guide his government, “global challenges require collective responses.” He will likely prove a tough negotiator, perhaps a particularly wily one. He is eloquent when speaking of the “haunted” nature of some of his countrymen’s memories when they consider the past 60 years of U.S.-Iranian relations.
Well, we have that in common.
He seemed to use his eloquence to bring a certain freshness, and therefore force, to perceived grievances. That’s one negotiating tactic. He added that we must “rise above petty politics,” and focus on our nations’ common interests and concerns. He called it “counterproductive” to view Iran as a threat; this charge is whipped up by “alarmists.” He vowed again that Iran will not develop a nuclear bomb, saying this would be “contrary to Islamic norms.”
I wondered, as he spoke, how he sized up our president. In roughly 90 minutes of a speech followed by questions, he didn’t say, and nobody thought to ask him.
Obama’s doomed attempt to save his legacy
The White House adopts a strategy of deception by distraction
By Emily Miller
President Obama’s approval ratings are falling faster than skydiver Felix Baumgartner during his record-setting jump from outer space.
In a desperate move to salvage his second term, Mr. Obama threw out his top liberal agenda items — immigration, gun control and race relations — and pivoted to the economy. The problem is that the only one to blame for the five-year malaise is the current resident of the Oval Office.
The president fueled up Air Force One on Wednesday to fly to the heartland for two stops in an attempt to physically distance himself from Washington.
“It may seem hard right now, but if we’re willing to take a few bold steps — if Washington will just shake off its complacency, set aside the kind of slash-and-burn partisanship that we’ve seen over the past few years — I promise you, our economy will be stronger a year from now,” Mr. Obama said at the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg.
The president acts like he just arrived at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue last week. He’s had four years, yet his policies have failed to create jobs and restore economic growth.
“There are days I think he forgets that he is actually president,” Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, told me Thursday. “He wants to blame everyone but himself and his failure to join bipartisan efforts to create jobs, like the Keystone pipeline, is the reason we are not in a better place.”
The economy has never grown much more than by minuscule amounts during the Obama administration. Gross domestic product has grown at an anemic pace since he’s been in the White House, barely sputtering at 1.8 percent in the first quarter of 2013. Unemployment under Mr. Obama has averaged a discouraging 8.8 percent and still tops out at 7.6 percent.
Gas prices are rising again, but Mr. Obama spent a long stretch of these speeches touting the doubling of “clean energy” production on his watch. He claimed to have “saved the auto industry,” but didn’t mention that Detroit has gone bankrupt.
Most absurdly, he cited as a point of pride that “our deficits are falling at the fastest rate in 60 years.” He left out two key points: The congressional Republicans demanded spending cuts for increasing the debt ceiling, and the rate of decrease is high because the deficits themselves have been the largest red ink in U.S. history. Spending was $1.4 trillion more than revenue in 2009 and $1 trillion more in 2012.
The Congressional Budget Office projects a $642 billion deficit for this fiscal year, but that’s mostly because Mr. Obama hiked taxes on Jan. 1 to pay for his spending habits.
The president takes almost as little responsibility for his own actions as Anthony D. Weiner, the disgraced sexting addict and former congressman running for New York City mayor.
“With this endless parade of distractions and political posturing and phony scandals, Washington has taken its eye off the ball. And I am here to say this needs to stop,” the president said in a 64-minute speech at Knox College in Galesburg, Ill. “Our focus has to be on the basic economic issues that matter most to you, the people we represent.”
By “phony scandals,” Mr. Obama is referring to the Internal Revenue Service targeting conservatives and then concealing the evidence and refusing to provide testimony to a congressional committee. He is also referring to his Justice Department sneaking into the emails and phone calls of reporters who don’t support the Obama administration’s agenda.
The president’s “endless parade of distractions” would also include exposing the National Security Agency’s secret Prism program that has been spying on innocent Americans’ Internet searches, phone calls and emails.
It has also been distracting to have Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. launch an investigation into whether George Zimmerman broke federal racial discrimination laws when he killed Trayvon Martin in self-defense.
Budget: The Power of One Man’s Conviction
By: Daniel Horowitz (Diary) | March 7th, 2013 at 01:02 PM
What was it about Rand Paul’s filibuster that has captivated conservatives all over the country and reinvigorated their desire to fight for our Constitutional Republic? The irony is that the drone issue was not even one of the most popular issues among many conservatives until last night. I suspect that many conservatives don’t necessarily agree with some of Paul’s assertions about targeting terrorists like Al-Awlaki overseas, although we are all (everyone except for McCain and Graham) concerned about targeting Americans on American soil. Yet he has become an overnight sensation, not just among his core libertarian base, but among the broad conservative movement.
Conservatives have been starving for a fighter; longing for someone who will do something drastic, engage in a media savvy fight against an imperialistic president who has no respect for checks and balances and an invidious disregard for the separation of powers.
We have witnessed this president shred the Constitution and implement his radical agenda by administrative fiat. We the People stand by flummoxed and frustrated at the lack of courage among Republicans to counter the president with anything more magnanimous than a press release. We have seen him abrogate our immigration laws, grant administrative amnesty, and let criminal aliens out of jail. Yet nobody has used their position and identified a point of leverage at which to take a stand and draw extended scrutiny to the issue or any other breach of authority.
Finally, when administration officials began asserting that the president might even have the power to launch drone strikes on American soil, Senator Paul decided he would hold up a major nomination to command the attention of the entire country. Many of us sat back and watched the impassioned speeches from Paul and the stirring words of Ted Cruz. We wondered why we had not witnessed this sort of spirited opposition during Obamacare.
Yet that is exactly the point. Most of these senators are new to Washington. They have charted a new path forward, one that is not paved with backroom deals but with forthright demonstrations of courage and commitment to the principles that buoyed them into office. Instead of cutting a deal to invoke cloture and having Brennan’s nomination sail to confirmation, Paul has united a fractious Republican Party against this – that is everyone except for Obama’s dinner companion Lindsey Graham.
Republicans have repeatedly entreated us to the tired bromide that they only control one-third of one-half….. What these banal bulls of Washington dealmaking don’t understand is that with complete control of the House and a filibuster strength minority in the Senate there is a lot they can do. With the ubiquitous nature of C-Span and social media, Republicans can use critical leverage points to seize on winning issues and put Obama in the defensive position.
That’s why yesterday’s act of cowardice on the CR in the House was so incomprehensible to many conservatives. Even if they planned to ultimately cave on Obamacare to avoid a shutdown three weeks from now, why not initially bring it to the floor under an open rule and debate Obamacare for a few days? Let’s at least draw attention to the injustice of Obamacare at a time when many people are feeling the pain of higher insurance premiums.
We are also told that the juggernaut of a biased media is too powerful to overcome were we to force some sort of a dramatic battle over critical issues, such as Obamacare or illegal immigration. It’s true in fact that the media is incorrigibly in the tank for the left, and there’s nothing we can do about that. But one thing about the media is that they are impressed by a show of force and stimulated by something new and exciting. Rand Paul proved that last night, as even some mainstream media reporters gave him positive coverage.
When the CR comes before the Senate, conservatives should hold it up at least for a day or two to educate the American people on the ramifications of funding Obamacare. When the nomination of the new radical nominee for EPA director comes before the Senate, they should take turns launching filibusters into the night, educating the public on how that agency has cost jobs and raised the cost of living on the working class. They should draw attention to onerous policies like ethanol mandates.
We didn’t send Republicans like Mitch McConnell to Washington to cut backroom deals and to passively and blithely ignore the injustices that are perpetrated by the statist class on a daily basis. Nor did we send Republicans to Washington to echo those injustices, like John McCain and Lindsey Graham do on a daily basis. It’s no coincidence that this effort was initiated by the disciples of Jim DeMint. And with the 2014 election cycle beginning now, it’s incumbent upon all of us to help send reinforcements to the ranks of our fighters.
AWOL: Meet The GOP Senators Who Refused to Stand With Rand
by Larry O’Connor 7 Mar 2013, 4:41 AM PDT
It’s time to name names.
Yesterday, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) embarked upon a historic filibuster in an attempt to coax the White House to answer a basic and fundamental constitutional question that affects every American’s 5th Amendment rights. He was joined by thirteen other Republican Senators as well as one Democrat.
While the stand for liberty and government accountability was taking place on Capitol Hill, a handful of Republican Senators were having an off-the-record dinner with President Barack Obama. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) and Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) notebaly attended the dinner wiht the President and then made their way to the Senate Chambers and participated in the filibuster.
Republican members of the House of Representatives walked down the hall to support Sen. Paul. Rep. Louie Gohmert even brought the weary senator some chocolate bars and cough drops.
But what about the Republican senators who had something better to do Wednesday night?
The following Republicans were at the Washington Wizards game or were attending to some other pressing issue that was more important than supporting a member of their party who had the audacity to expect the White House to answer a basic, fundamental constitutional question.
Alexander, Lamar – (R – TN) Class II
455 DIRKSEN SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4944
Contact: www.alexander.senate.gov/
Ayotte, Kelly – (R – NH) Class III
144 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3324
Contact: www.ayotte.senate.gov/
Blunt, Roy – (R – MO) Class III
260 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5721
Contact: www.blunt.senate.gov/
Boozman, John – (R – AR) Class III
320 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4843
Contact: www.boozman.senate.gov/
Burr, Richard – (R – NC) Class III
217 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3154
Contact: http://www.burr.senate.gov/
Coats, Daneil – (R – IN) Class III
493 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5623
Contact: www.coats.senate.gov/
Coburn, Tom – (R – OK) Class III
172 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5754
Contact: www.coburn.senate.gov/
Cochran, Thad – (R – MS) Class II
113 DIRKSEN SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5054
Contact: www.cochran.senate.gov/
Collins, Susan M. – (R – ME) Class II
413 DIRKSEN SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-2523
Contact: www.collins.senate.gov/
Corker, Bob – (R – TN) Class I
425 DIRKSEN SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3344
Contact: www.corker.senate.gov/
Crapo, Mike – (R – ID) Class III
239 DIRKSEN SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-6142
Contact: www.crapo.senate.gov/
Enzi, Michael B. – (R – WY) Class II
379A RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3424
Contact: www.enzi.senate.gov/
Fischer, Deb – (R – NE) Class I
825 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-6551
Contact: www.fischer.senate.gov/
Graham, Lindsey – (R – SC) Class II
290 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5972
Contact: www.lgraham.senate.gov/
Grassley, Chuck – (R – IA) Class III
135 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3744
Contact: www.grassley.senate.gov/
Hatch, Orrin G. – (R – UT) Class I
104 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5251
Contact: www.hatch.senate.gov/
Heller, Dean – (R – NV) Class I
361A RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-6244
Contact: www.heller.senate.gov/
Hoeven, John – (R – ND) Class III
120 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-2551
Contact: www.hoeven.senate.gov/
Inhofe, James M. – (R – OK) Class II
205 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4721
Contact: www.inhofe.senate.gov/
Isakson, Johnny – (R – GA) Class III
131 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3643
Contact: www.isakson.senate.gov/
Johanns, Mike – (R – NE) Class II
404 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4224
Contact: www.johanns.senate.gov/
McCain, John – (R – AZ) Class III
241 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-2235
Contact: www.mccain.senate.gov/
Murkowski, Lisa – (R – AK) Class III
709 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-6665
Contact: www.murkowski.senate.gov/
Portman, Rob – (R – OH) Class III
338 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3353
Contact: www.portman.senate.gov/
Risch, James E. – (R – ID) Class II
483 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-2752
Contact: www.risch.senate.gov/
Roberts, Pat – (R – KS) Class II
109 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4774
Contact: www.roberts.senate.gov/
Sessions, Jeff – (R – AL) Class II
326 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4124
Contact: http://www.sessions.senate.gov/
Shelby, Richard C. – (R – AL) Class III
304 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5744
Contact: www.shelby.senate.gov/
Vitter, David – (R – LA) Class III
516 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4623
Contact: www.vitter.senate.gov/
Wicker, Roger F. – (R – MS) Class I
555 DIRKSEN SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-6253
Contact: www.wicker.senate.gov/
Obama’s Assassination Drones
(FFF) – The Power to Assassinate a Compliant and Submissive People
President Obama’s nomination of John Brennan is being held up over Brennan’s refusal to state whether the president’s power to assassinate Americans (and others) extends to American soil. The controversy is summed up in a great article by Glenn Greenwald.
The fact that Brennan could not bring himself to immediately say that the president doesn’t have the power to assassinate Americans (and others) right here within the United States is revealing. He undoubtedly knows that the president does claim to wield such power and that the president just doesn’t want to alarm Americans by informing them that he now wields the power to assassinate anyone he wants, including Americans here in the United States.
I can’t see how there’s any room for doubt here. Ever since President Bush claimed extraordinary powers after the 9/11 attacks, we here at The Future of Freedom Foundation have been pointing out that the powers were not limited to foreigners or to foreign lands. When U.S. forces, both military and CIA, were kidnapping people, torturing them, and incarcerating them without trial, we kept emphasizing that such powers were not limited to foreigners. By following the logic employed by Bush and his associates, it was clear that those extraordinary powers extended to Americans as well, both abroad and here at home.
But all too many Americans comforted themselves by thinking that those extraordinary powers applied only to foreigners and that the powers were necessary to keep them “safe.” Therefore, they endorsed what was going on with much enthusiasm, simply blocking out of their minds that they were also endorsing the most revolutionary change in the relationship between the federal government and the American citizenry in U.S. history.
Then came the case of Jose Padilla. He was an American who was accused of conspiracy to commit terrorism. Rather than have him indicted and then prosecute him in federal court, the feds whisked him away to a military dungeon, where the Pentagon tortured him and threatened to keep him incarcerated for the rest of his life as an “enemy combatant” in the “war on terrorism.” We took a leading role in opposing that extraordinary exercise of military supremacy over the American citizenry. We continually pointed out that what they did to Padilla, if upheld, they could then do to all other Americans. But because Padilla was not the most sympathetic character in the world, all too many Americans were happy over what the feds were doing to him, blocking out of their minds that the feds could now do the same thing to all other Americans.
And sure enough, the federal courts, in the fear-ridden environment of post-9/11, upheld what the president and the Pentagon did to Padilla, which means that they can now do the same to every American — and some 12 years after the 9/11 attacks! And now we have the president’s assassination program, in which the president, along with his military and CIA, now wield the power to assassinate anyone they want, no questions asked. They’ve already killed countless foreigners as well as at least three Americans, including a 16-year-old boy. They do it all in secret and are not required to answer any questions as to who they have assassinated or why. Their power to kill people is omnipotent.
Do they claim the power to assassinate Americans right here at home? How can there be any doubt about it? From the very beginning, they simply converted a standard federal crime — terrorism — into an act of war. They called it “the war on terrorism,” and said that this war was just like World Wars I and II. They said that in war, they have the right to take captives, torture them, and execute illegal enemy combatants, and also to assassinate the enemy. They also said that this war would go on forever or for at least the lifetimes of everyone living today, given that there were so many terrorists in the world. As part of that war, the president, the military, and the CIA would have to assume extraordinary powers, they said, ones that were inherent to the most extreme dictatorships in history.
Significantly, they repeatedly emphasized that in this war, the battlefield wasn’t limited to the Middle East or surrounding regions. Instead, in this war the entire world constituted the battlefield. That, of course, included the United States. Thus, it didn’t take a rocket scientist to draw the logical conclusion — whatever extraordinary powers were being exercised against foreign “enemy combatants” in the “war on terrorism” could be applied against people right here on American soil, including Americans. Of course, as we have also been pointing out since 9/11, the entire matter is just one great big sham and fraud.
They took a federal criminal offense — terrorism — and used it a ruse to claim that America was now “at war” and then claimed extreme dictatorial powers in the process. It would be no different if the president used another federal war — the “war on drugs” — as a ruse to assume extraordinary dictatorial powers, such as the power to kidnap, torture, execute, and assassinate suspected drug users and dealers. Our American ancestors tried their best to prevent this dictatorial nonsense. That’s why they used the Constitution to bring into existence a government of limited, enumerated powers. Notice that the dictatorial powers claimed by Bush and Obama are not among those enumerated powers.
To make sure that federal officials got the point, our ancestors demanded the enactment of four separate amendments to the Constitution — the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 8th Amendments. Those amendments stated that with respect to federal crimes, people would be guaranteed the protections of criminal indictments, due process of law, trial by jury, freedom from cruel and unusual punishments, and other protections. And there is another important thing to note about those four amendments. Notice that the protections and guarantees apply to people in general, not just to Americans. That’s because our ancestors understood that justice requires that the rules apply to everyone equally, not one set of rules for foreigners and another set of rules for Americans.
Thus, under our system of justice, President Obama has no right to be assassinating anyone or torturing anyone or incarcerating anyone without due process of law and trial by jury. And it must be emphasized: terrorism is, in fact, a federal crime. That’s why they ultimately made Padilla a criminal defendant. That’s why terrorism is listed in the U.S. Code as a criminal offense. That’s why they have terrorism cases in federal court all the time.
The truth is that there is no real war and there has never been one, any more than there has been a real war in the “war on drugs.” After all, how is the enemy supposed to surrender in this “war”? Where are the transport ships bringing invading troops to America? Where are the supply lines? And let’s not forget something else of equal importance — the only reason that people are killing U.S. troops over there is because they’re over there interfering with the affairs of other countries.
That’s what the killing is all about on both sides —not because people are trying to conquer America and enslave Americans but simply because they want the U.S. government, especially the U.S. military and CIA, out of their countries. And the more the Pentagon and the CIA continue to kill people in the process, the more they generate an endless supply of terrorists, which they then use to perpetuate their dictatorial powers. As I have long pointed out, the U.S. government is the greatest terrorist-producing machine in history.
It’s all been a sham, a fraud, and a ruse to enable the U.S. national-security state to adopt the same powers of dictatorship that it has long supported and trained, such as Pinochet’s dictatorship in Chile, the military dictatorships in Guatemala, the Shah’s dictatorship in Iran, Mubarak’s dictatorship in Egypt, and many more.
But Brennan shouldn’t been concerned about alarming Americans about Obama’s power to assassinate them on American soil. As we have learned since 9/11, the American people are among the most compliant, cooperative, and submissive people on the planet.
All the feds have to do is say that they are doing it to keep them safe, and except for libertarians and (a few liberals and conservatives), unfortunately all too many Americans continue to fall for anything and agree to anything the government wants to do to them.
The Future of Freedom Foundation
Related articles
- Drones, Assassinations, and the Drug War (fff.org)
- Obama Officials Refuse to Say if Assassination Power Extends to US Soil (thelibertybeacon.com)
- Brennan Refuses to Rule Out Drone Assassinations Within the US (globalresearch.ca)
- US silenced ex-White House official on terror drone program (fromthetrenchesworldreport.com)
Socialism in the USA, the tipping point has been reached
November 7, 2012
By: David Light
The far left, socialists and communists have attacked the USA from within for years and, with this election, have succeeded in changing our once great Republic, into a Socialist state. The tipping point has been reached.
Many factors contributed to our demise, the indoctrination of our youth being just one of them. Radicals of the sixties became entrenched in our colleges and universities and left leaning unions corrupted our K-12 school teachers (not all, but enough). Curriculums were changed, substituting social welfare subjects for history, thus eliminating any reference our children may have had of the greatness of our Country’s past and the meaning of our Constitution, our Republic and our capitalist society.
The conscious willingness by our leaders to refuse to protect our borders has destroyed the fundamental of assimilation that was the hallmark of our formal immigration policy. We have now become a come one, come all squatter society that is creating a drain on our once great economy. By failing to restrict voting to citizens only, the far left has created just another block to pander to.
The administration has spent millions advertising their mortgage bailouts, free phones, food stamp, disability and welfare programs in order to create an ever increasing entitlement society, the basis of a Socialist state.
This election has also been a tipping point for the left leaning media. Not even pretending to perform investigative reporting on Fast and Furious, and the Benghazi attack, and actually hiding damaging information from the public, they have become just another arm of the far left establishment. A candidate fighting and beating an incumbent is extremely difficult, but at the same time, by having your campaign being sabotaged by the MSM, it becomes nearly a hopeless task.
We now have entrenched in our national political structure, far left ideologues who are students of Cloward-Piven, and Saul Alinsky, proponents of the theory of doing whatever it takes to achieve a goal. For months the President’s campaign bombarded the airways in the swing states with character assassination ads and the President lied repeatedly in the debates with no rebuke from the media. No one will ever know the effects of the Romney votes that mysteriously came up Obama on a number of touch screens across the country or other shenanigans perpetrated by the myriad of voter registration organizations formerly known as ACORN.
And, although the House of Representatives is still in the hands of the opposition party, it has been weakened by the seemingly unlawful acts of Harry Reid in the Senate who has blocked every attempt by the House to get a budget passed, a legal requirement that would negate the necessity for continuing resolutions raising the debt ceiling in order to keep the government running. This tactic is being used to demonize those heartless Republicans when they fight to keep our taxes and spending down. Additionally, the President has taken it upon himself to create legislation through Executive orders and EPA and other agency regulations, thus circumventing Congress, a tactic many believe is unconstitutional.
Can any of this be reversed? No one knows, but the tipping point has been reached.
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Obama’s need for lies, propaganda, and derision
By Jim Mullen
Barack Obama is the most anti-traditional, anti-business, and anti-capitalist President in American history. His every speech and press release begin by stridently repeating every loser’s refrain, “It’s not my fault,” quickly followed by incessant rants of class warfare. It’s evident to even the most disinterested observer that Barack Obama does not like this country and its Constitution.
He derides Republicans about what he calls their trickle-down economics. Truth is he has the only trickle-down economic plan. He seizes money from job-creators, the successful, and the producers in America, and then filters the money through a monstrous federal government. The little remaining money subsequently filters down, and Obama redistributes it to his handpicked voting blocs of Democrats and “Obama-crony Capitalists.” While he preaches against the fat cats of Wall Street, Obama set records for accepting campaign money from those on Wall Street willing to play by his Marxist rules.
This President’s economic policies led the nation into a financial quagmire that stunted national growth beyond anything seen since the Great Depression. Over 23 million people are looking for work with over a million fewer people working today than when Obama took office. Welfare and disability rolls soared to record levels in the last four years, and government is increasingly institutionalizing the once proud American populace. One thing he is accomplishing with great proficiency – gaining Marxist control over industry and the American people.
Entrepreneurs who were dreamers of the possible built this nation, not dreamers of more government control, higher taxes, and massive regulations. They knew that self-sacrifice, hard work, determination, and the free American spirit were the constitutionally guaranteed keys to unlock the door of success.
The free-enterprise system so hated by Barack Obama, fed more of the world’s people, provided greater opportunities for all Americans, and helped them achieve their dreams of prosperity more than any other system on earth. Obama is tearing down everything that built this country because he knows that economic and personal freedoms are the antithesis to Marxism. Amazingly, we have a President of the United States who believes the entire system is evil, and that he is ordained to oversee its destruction.
Gasoline prices under Obama have more than doubled, placing an incredible extra financial burden on low and middleclass Americans; not to mention stifled job creation. The increase is, in large part, the result of his fanatical refusal to issue new drilling permits and by rejecting the Canadian pipeline.
Obama’s entire energy policy consists of killing carbon-based energy and sticking taxpayers with a multi-billion dollar solar energy swindle. This radical’s idea is to increase the cost of oil, coal, and gas to a point where his almost comical solar energy con job is competitive. Another four years of his war on coal, and his refusal to allow new oil exploration will in his words, make energy prices “skyrocket” even more.
The national debt and the deficit exploded during his abysmal days in the Oval Office. Just paying the interest on the debt will be an insurmountable burden on the nation’s youth. When interest rates rise, as they assuredly will, the burden will double or triple. Paying interest on the debt will very soon be the single largest item in the federal budget.
Obama in his first term ignored Congress and created his own laws by executive decree. He steadfastly refused to enforce the laws of the land but had no compunction about instituting lawsuits against American states and their people for simply defending themselves by enforcing the law.
Barren of any solutions to real problems facing this country, and primed for attacking his critics, Obama’s tactics always involve using Saul Alinsky’s rules for radicals. His favorite is Rule 5: “Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon.” Stinging from the first presidential debate humiliation, Obama struck back like all cowards by attacking the conqueror with his brave mouth. Now, when addressing his left-wing supporters, mocking and ridiculing Mitt Romney are his ideas of bravery, policy, and debating skill. Since he had no other defense for his record, in the next two debates he simply saved time by sneering, deriding, and ridiculing Romney in front of the world. The President’s desperate, self-indulgent displays are typical Obama arrogance, this time on display for the world to see.
In every debate, left without his Teleprompter, brazen attacks and lying are his only defense of the extreme, leftist policies that left America in this state of devastation. The more that Obama and liberal Democrats stray from reality and facts, the greater the need for lies, propaganda and derision.
One must believe the country is fed up with the childlike antics and unimaginable, spontaneously-combustible rants of Joe Biden. The longer he’s in office the more he becomes unhinged. The cartoonish vice President represents the other half of a presidency that is so predictably unstable as to threaten the personal liberty and fortunes of the American people at home and abroad. In the end, this economically anemic duo of Obama and Biden jeopardize the existence of the United States as a free and independent Republic.
Americans have heard enough excuses, blame, class warfare, and race baiting. They’ve seen enough welfare, unemployment, food stamps, social justice, and income redistribution. They’ve seen all they care to of catering to the slugs of society using taxpayers’ money to buy votes.
On the domestic front, Obama will continue his victimization of the American people and our country’s condition will deteriorate further with four more years of leftist rule. Liberal judge appointments to all federal courts and the Supreme Court will help transform this country into something unrecognizable by the Founders. Obama will consider a win in November as justification to implement more of his radical agenda and create additional presidential laws like legitimizing the remaining tens-of-millions of illegal aliens.
In international policies, Obama’s plans are to place the United States under the autonomy of NATO and the American-hating United Nations, by using the banner of national security. Both organizations exist only because of the billions of dollars forcefully extracted from American taxpayers, and the sacrifices of our young people in the military. A military compelled to serve under another flag, not the American flag under which they agreed to serve. All of this while he guts defense spending, leaving the country open to attacks by bullies around the globe.
The saintly aura fashioned by the media around Barack Obama is gone. The only glow emanating from this White House is the reek of ugly, Chicago-style, corrupt politics and failed Marxist-socialist policies. Americans discover that after his first presidential stint, they’re left with a bitter, hate-filled President who dictates with lies, cover-ups, misinformation, and disinformation after promises of the most transparent administration in history.
Jim Mullen
Follow https://twitter.com/freedomforusnow
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