Obama waives ban on arming terrorists to allow aid to Syrian jihadists

From Jihad Watch / Posted by Robert Spencer

And thereby admits that he knows they're jihad terrorists, contrary to all of Kerry's blather about "moderates," and wants to arm them anyway.

The U.S. is now officially on the side of al-Qaeda.

"Obama waives ban on arming terrorists to allow aid to Syrian opposition," by Joel Gehrke for the Washington Examiner, September 16 (thanks to Pamela Geller):

President Obama waived a provision of federal law designed to prevent the supply of arms to terrorist groups to clear the way for the U.S. to provide military assistance to "vetted" opposition groups fighting Syrian dictator Bashar Assad. 

Some elements of the Syrian opposition are associated with radical Islamic terrorist groups, including al Qaeda, which was responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks in New York, Washington, D.C., and Shanksville, Pa., in 2001. Assad's regime is backed by Iran and Hezbollah.

The president, citing his authority under the Arms Export Control Act, announced today that he would "waive the prohibitions in sections 40 and 40A of the AECA related to such a transaction."

Those two sections prohibit sending weaponry to countries described in section 40(d):

"The prohibitions contained in this section apply with respect to a country if the Secretary of State determines that the government of that country has repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism," Congress stated in the Arms Control Export Act.

"For purposes of this subsection, such acts shall include all activities that the Secretary determines willfully aid or abet the international proliferation of nuclear explosive devices to individuals or groups or willfully aid or abet an individual or groups in acquiring unsafeguarded special nuclear material," the law continues.

The law allows the president to waive those prohibitions if he "determines that the transaction is essential to the national security interests of the United States."...

In no conceivable way is arming al-Qaeda in Syria "essential to the national security interests of the United States."

What a Disaster: Obamacare Shows the Dangers of High Capacity Legislation

John Ransom/ Townhall Finance Editor

Floods! Shootings! Fire! Hurricanes! Obamacare!

As my home state of Colorado rocks under the worst floods in 100 years, Obama has declared the state’s flooded areas a disaster area.

“Obama’s declaration makes federal aid available to supplement state and local recovery efforts in Boulder County,” reports The Hill. “That aid can include grants for temporary housing and home repairs or low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses.”

Estimates vary regarding the number of people missing. I’ve seen headlines put the number at between 500 and 1,000, but The Hill says it’s 200.

But what is a flood, in terms of life and limb, when Obamacare looms over the country as a whole? That’s not a rhetorical question either.

Obamacare has been likened to a “disaster,” a “trainwreck” and other implacable forces of nature or accident that gouge out the health, wealth and well-being of a community. The numbers of people affected just last week by the looming implementation of Obamacare easily numbers in the tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands. 
Thousands of part-time employees at the boutique grocery chain Trader Joe’s, for example, were told last week that they’d be losing benefits in favor of a $500 stipend for exchange-based healthcare. Some of those employees will pay more now for health insurance, some will pay a bit less. But however those employees make out, the rest of us will pay more as Obamacare costs start to mount.

“Trader Joe's is essentially shifting the costs it used to pay for health insurance onto the federal government,” admits the Washington Post, one of Obamacare’s top proponents.

Trader Joe’s joins IBM, UPS, and the City of Chicago as the most high profile institutions that have shifted the cost of employee benefits to Uncle Same Ole, Same Ole.

But it’s not just costs that make it a disaster area.

Michael Cannon from Cato writes about a new book from David Goldhill, a Democrat, who has reexamined his belief in universal care after his experience with his father’s death convinced him that government healthcare killed his father.

“In 2007, David Goldhill’s father died from infections acquired in a hospital, one of more than two hundred thousand avoidable deaths per year caused by medical error,” says the publisher’s pitch for Catastrophic Care: How American Health Care Killed My Father--and How We Can Fix It. “The bill was enormous—and Medicare paid it. These circumstances left Goldhill angry and determined to understand how world-class technology and personnel could coexist with such carelessness—and how a business that failed so miserably could be paid in full.”

Suffice to say the book isn’t kind to Obamacare or government run healthcare.

“[T]he frustrating reality is that despite more than sixty years of government efforts – representing the work of both political parties,” writes Goldhill, “we are moving further and further away from what we want. Prices are higher, more people are excluded from needed care, more excess treatments are performed, and more people die from preventable errors.”
 
It’s that “more people die from preventable errors” part that should have all of us concerned.

Preventable error is what the government is really good at. It’s also what designates Obamacare as truly a man-caused disaster area, just like other natural disaster areas.

There are a lot of good arguments against the implementation of Obamacare:  it’s expensive, it erodes liberty, it is unduly intrusive, it’s subject to political influence, it’s inefficient, it kills jobs, it gives incentives to companies to offload benefits on to the government. These are all good and true arguments.

Liberals try to trump these arguments by saying their commitment to universal healthcare proves that they CARE more about people.

In fact, as Goldhill makes clear, the liberal- or shall we say statists’- commitment to universal coverage will kill more people in due time than all the flooding in Colorado from statehood to present day. It will kill more people than all the mass shootings will- ever. It will, just next year, kill more people than Hurricane Katrina; more people than the fire at the Seaside boardwalk in New Jersey, which casualty count now stands at zero, depsite the breathless press coverage.

But unlike the other disasters, the Obamacare disaster was a man-caused “Disaster of Choice” or a “Catastrophic Choice” to quote our current Secretary of State who seems to know a lot about catastrophic choosing.  After all he helped pass the Obamacare law when he was in the Senate.

And it proves that high capacity legislation is much more dangerous than high capacity magazines are.

Democrats carefully chose this disaster.

Then they crafted it and created it just for you, and you, and you and you, with the belief that once imposed on all of us we may now rest in peace.

Defund Obamacare Before It's Too Late

Marco Rubio/ Townhall Columnist

 

Over the next two weeks, the sad spectacle that is Washington will be on full display as Congress and President Obama debate yet another short-term spending plan, also known as a continuing resolution (CR).

Early in my Senate term, I realized these short-term CR's were a miserable way to run the federal government and decided I would not go along with this budgetary charade again. I came to the Senate to solve real problems and eliminate the biggest threats standing in the way of the 21st century being another exceptional American century. The people of Florida who I work for didn't send me here to keep postponing hard choices and leave our problems unsolved for future generations to deal with.

And that's exactly what these short-term budgets do. Rather than prioritize government's proper role in American society or fundamentally end the way Washington borrows and misspends money, CR's mostly continue the broken Washington status quo.

With all that said, the CR that Congress will soon consider to keep our dysfunctional government open past September 30 is actually a major opportunity to save our people from the job-killing disaster that is ObamaCare. Because a major piece of its implementation begins on October 1, this short-term budget represents our last chance to stop it by defunding it.

Short-term budgets are a terrible way to run a government, but if we can pass one that defunds ObamaCare, we will be doing America's workers and job creators a huge service that will be worth it.

From the imperfect CR process, defunding ObamaCare would produce a clear-cut victory for American workers and families. Settling for anything less would be devastating to them.

The evidence of ObamaCare's failures is everywhere, and it is staggering. For example, in just the past week, several employers like SeaWorld announced they will be cutting their part-time workers' hours to deal with ObamaCare's tax penalties. The unions that have been the President's staunchest allies, and who were instrumental to passing ObamaCare in the first place, are now condemning it and pleading with the White House to be exempted from it. During the August recess, I repeatedly heard from working class Floridians about how this law would result in reduced hours, reduced pay and the loss of health insurance plans and doctors they currently have.

Despite all the warning signs of failure, what is the President doing? His administration is doubling down by spending Americans’ tax dollars on advertisements promoting this failed policy, and it's sending out celebrities and other allies to convince Americans that ObamaCare is a good thing.

We need to stop this. All of it. And over the next two weeks, we have our last chance to stop ObamaCare by defunding it in the CR.

There is a better way forward to help more Americans obtain affordable and quality health insurance, without sacrificing their jobs, income, current health plans and doctors they're happy with. But stopping ObamaCare by defunding it is the first and most immediate step we need to take.
  
Time is running out to do it, but not the necessity of doing so.

Is the Fed Ready to Cut America’s Fiat Life Support?

by Brandon Smith / Personal Liberty Digest

It is undeniable that America is thoroughly addicted to fiat stimulus.

Every aspect of our economy, from stocks, to bonds, to banks, and by indirect extension main street, is now utterly dependent on the continued 24/7 currency creation bonanza. The stock market no longer rallies to the tune of increased retail sales, growing export markets or improved employment expectations.

In fact, “good” economic news today is met with panic and market sell-offs! Why? Because investors and banks still playing equities understand full well that any sign of fiscal improvement might mean the end of the private Federal Reserve’s QE pajama party. They know that without the Fed’s opiate-laced lifeline, the economy dies a fast and painful death.

All mainstream economic news currently revolves around the Fed, as pundits clamor to divine whether the latest signals mean the free money will flow, trickle or dry up.

Most expect the central bank to make an announcement today on the details of its reduction in stimulus initiatives. Generally, the Fed does not have a tendency to slip information to the media on the possibility of a policy change unless they plan to follow through. Every bailout and QE announcement over the course of the past five years has been preceded by weeks and even months of “rumors” acclimating the mainstream and the markets to the idea of each action long before it was ever implemented. If the Fed avoids clarity on the taper in the coming week, I expect that they will still assert stimulus cuts before the end of fall.

Certain developments, though, are giving false hope to the markets that the stimulus fantasy will go on forever. The resignation of Larry Summers from the “running” for Fed Chairman (as if Obama isn’t being told exactly who he is to pick for the position) has so far put a dash of cheer into the Dow Jones. Strangely, investors seem to believe that without Summers, continued quantitative easing is assured. The reality is that the decision to cut stimulus has likely already been long established and the face of the new chairman will have little relevance.

The idea of the Fed being divided by “hawks” and “doves” is absurd propaganda designed to give the public a false impression that central bank decisions follow some kind of democratic course. Central banks are highly centralized and highly coordinated corporate entities, not governmental councils prone to “debate.” And like any corporation, it is certain that decisions are handed down from the top of the pyramid in totalitarian fashion.

Who is at the top of the pyramid when it comes to the Fed? Only a FULL audit would reveal the truth, and a full audit has never been enforced in the 100-year history of the bank (the only meaningful partial audit ever conducted examined the TARP bailouts, uncovering over $16 trillion in crazed currency printing in that program alone). The point is, the Fed is not a public institution (nor “quasi-public”), it is private, and this private bank is now dominating every miniscule fluctuation in the health of our financial system, openly.

Two questions loom like a black cloud over the stock exchange picnic:

1) Will the Fed cut stimulus soon, and if so, by how much?

2) If the Fed continues stimulus, how long can it last before the dollar’s value is decimated?
As I have been saying since the bailouts began in 2008, the Fed has conjured a perfect Catch-22 scenario for the U.S. economy. If the Fed cuts QE while conditions remain tenuous, the stark reality that we have been living on borrowed time will be revealed. If the Fed continues stimulus the catastrophe will take longer to unfold. But eventually, foreign creditors will finish their strategy of dumping the dollar in bilateral trade and our economy takes a dive anyway. Cancel stimulus and we croak. Continue stimulus and we croak.

Obviously, given the total dependency the investment world has shown towards QE, the markets will plummet without stimulus. Some predict a “manageable” break in stocks, while others predict freefall. In any case, those who think QE reductions are already priced into the markets are fooling themselves. Keep in mind that before QE3 was announced in September of last year, the Dow was struggling due to a lack of any credible recovery signals within the system. Nothing has changed since. There are no new developments that give clear indication that our economy is any better off than it was a year ago, let alone five years ago.

One thing I have learned over the years is to never underestimate the power of blind human optimism. With a QE taper announcement this week, it could take months before the general public and the investment sector finally grasp the fact that the carpet has been pulled out from under them.

There are many people out there who actually believe the recovery hype being promoted in the mainstream, and I have to say, things are getting a little schizophrenic. Some pundits are focusing on negative data because they think it will influence the Fed to keep QE alive.

Others organizations appear to have a different agenda. Ratings and analytic firm Moody’s, for instance, has recently released a report claiming that all risk of returning recession has been essentially eliminated in the U.S.

This is, of course, news to most of us in the field of alternative economic analysis, being that according to the fundamentals, we NEVER LEFT the original recession which officially began at the end of 2007. I would also point out that Moody’s was one of the same agencies that played a considerable role in the derivatives collapse. Would you trust a company that stamped every toxic derivative it examined with a AAA rating to tell you what shape our financial structure is in?

Now, maybe it’s the “conspiracy theorist” in me, but I find the release of this Moody’s report rather suspicious, just as I have found the majority of the Labor Department’s overly optimistic unemployment reports suspicious. It is highly likely that these fabricated numbers hailing green-shoots recovery are being released in order to give the Fed false precedent to begin cutting stimulus while distancing themselves from blame over the eventual catastrophic results. In fact, I guarantee that the Fed will cite reports like those produced by Moody’s in order to vindicate taper actions.

So, why would the Fed use erroneous data to justify QE cuts today, knowing that our system is addicted to fiat and will shrivel like a raisin in the sun without it? Here’s the thing: The world is changing rapidly, and the course of the next decade (if not the next century) may be decided before this year is out.

The Syrian crisis is far from over. In fact, Russian diplomatic measures have only raised the stakes.

Russia’s overt involvement proves beyond a doubt that any military action on the part of the U.S. will create escalation. The conflict is no longer only about President Barack Obama vs. Bashar Assad.

Now, it is the U.S. vs. Russia, Syria, Iran, China, etc. If diplomacy fails (the White House and Israel appear intent to ensure it fails), the dire results will be clear to the majority before this winter is over.

SEC regulators have called for the establishment of exchange “kill switches”, which will be finalized over the course of this winter. A recent Nasdaq shutdown caused by what regulators label a “software glitch” is being used as the excuse for this centralized kill option which will remain in the hands of… nobody knows yet. I would note though that a streamlined kill switch option for stocks would be useful in the event that a market crisis occurs and the establishment wishes to control how much value in equities is lost from day to day:

China has recently announced that a “second economic revolution” will be set in motion this coming November. While the details of this policy shift are not yet certain, the Chinese have established that they plan to move away from export reliance and place more energy into consumer growth. This means FAR less interest in the U.S. consumer and the U.S. dollar as a world reserve currency.

Ben Bernanke’s term as Fed Chairman is set to end in January of 2014, and it is my observation that detrimental policy changes commonly take place while the responsible organizations are in transition, or just past transition. Any debilitating consequences of QE cuts can be placed at the feet of Ben Bernanke, while the Federal Reserve as a whole remains shielded from reproach. And why should he care? Old Ben will be sitting on a beach in the Caymans sipping mojitos while the rest of us are suffering through dollar devaluation and market chaos.

In the meantime, the U.S. may be in the midst of global economic war, or a shooting war, drawing all attention away from the central banks as the culprits behind America’s fiscal demise.

Ultimately, QE cuts will be detrimental because they are MEANT to be detrimental, and this is in pursuit of one of only two possible goals: Either the Fed is seeking to deliberately undermine the U.S. economy in order to set in motion a final collapse, or, the Fed wants to create just enough desperation in order to force the American people to beg for more stimulus, and thus force us to accept partial responsibility for the eventual inflationary demise of the dollar. In either case, the Fed serves one purpose – to secure the globalization of America by any means necessary. A wounded America is more liable to embrace centralization and abandon sovereignty than a strong America. I’ll let George
Soros explain one more time just to drive the point home.

Click on the link below for Soros' explanation...
http://personalliberty.com/2013/09/17/is-the-fed-ready-to-cut-americas-fiat-life-support/

The process of globalized economic and political governance has been a long and carefully planned one and the existence of a prosperous U.S. is not a part of the program. There have been many events over the past several decades that we can look back on objectively and understand the role they played in the destruction of the U.S. as a sovereign nation. At the edge of the Federal Reserve’s 100^th anniversary, it is vital that we see the current developments for what they really are – history changing, in a fashion so violent they are apt to scar America forever.

It's another Bowe Tuesday and he's still being left behind...

This is a photo of the father of an American Prisoner of War captured for more than 4 years.

United States Army Sgt #BoweBergdahl was captured by Taliban forces on June 30, 2009. 
What if Bowe was your family?

Will you contact your Senator today and ask about the status of #BoweBergdahl? It is time to #BringBoweHome.
Learn more www.BringHomeBowe.com

    www.SupportBowe.org

     www.BringBoweBack.com

Op-ed: 
An open letter to Vladimir Putin 
By: Diane Sori

Dear President Putin,
Recently, you wrote an editorial that ran in The New York Times…basically a letter addressed to ‘We the People’ explaining your stance in regards to Syria, and why you did what you did in brokering the deal requiring Syria to turn over their chemical weapons to international control…which we all know means U(seless) N(ations) control.

And so far it seems your deal is holding as your Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and our Secretary of State John ‘Swiftboat’ Kerry worked out the fine points, and Bashar al-Assad has agreed in turn to follow through on his pledge to surrender his weapons…yet he gets to keep his bio-weapons…and that in and of itself shows just how calculating you, Mr. Putin, and al-Assad both are. Calculating and clever like foxes for you both have made Barack HUSSEIN Obama appear even more impotent and incompetent as a leader than ‘We the People’ already knew he was for he missed the obvious while keeping his eyes focused on exactly where you wanted his focus to be…on chemical weapons alone.

And after rereading your editorial a few times, I found it really quite well-written with its facts for the most part true and concise in its allegations, however, where I diverge from your words is where you talk about 'American exceptionalism'…where you speak of your distaste for the very idea that there is 'American exceptionalism' yet NEVER speaking a word of how you promote 'Russian nationalism' every chance you get. Yet even with this Mr. Putin, you rightfully see that a strong stand against the use of chemical weapons is part of what makes any country 'exceptional', while at the same time seeing that Barack HUSSEIN Obama is NOT the one to implement that 'exceptional' stand in regards to ‘red lines’ drawn in the sand over a year ago.

And no one can blame you for then acted accordingly.

“My working and personal relationship with President Obama is marked by growing trust. I appreciate this. I carefully studied his address to the nation on Tuesday. And I would rather disagree with a case he made on American exceptionalism, stating that the United States’ policy is “what makes America different. It’s what makes us exceptional.” It is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation.”

And so Obama addressed our nation and as usual he read from a teleprompted script written by speechwriters. And while he mouthed words in regards to ‘American exceptionalism’…he was correct when he stated that US policy is “what makes America different. It’s what makes us exceptional”…he was wrong in how he implied those words.

‘American exceptionalism’ means different things to different people but the late political sociologist Seymour Martin Lipset, summed up ‘American exceptionalism' pretty well in just five words, “liberty, egalitarianism, individualism, populism, and laissez faire”…five words led off with the most important word of all…’liberty’.

Mr. Putin, to ‘We the People’ liberty means freedom from the control of an arbitrary or despotic government…it means freedom from external or foreign rule. Liberty to us means independence from control, interference, obligation, and restrictions along with the right to do, think, and speak according to our own choice.

And YES Mr. Putin, ‘American exceptionalism’ is guided by liberty…by freedom…and by the right to do as we each see fit, yet in his address to the nation Obama turned the words ‘American exceptionalism’ into another bit of his endless campaign rhetoric…rhetoric still spoken even though the election is long over.

So Mr. Putin, Obama bloviates for himself while NOT reflecting the wishes of the American people.

But right now my bone to pick is with you Mr. Putin for you do NOT understand what 'American exceptionalism’ truly means. The words ‘American exceptonalism’ are NOT meant to imply simple superiority per se, but you must realize...you must know in your heart...that America is indeed superior...superior because of our founding…born of revolution…growing through trial and error…and arriving at the point in time where we are indeed ‘the shining beckon on the hill’ carved out and sustained by the greatest document of freedom ever written…the United States Constitution…the law of our land that sets us apart from other nations. Our Constitution makes America the greatest nation the world has ever known…the country to which many risk their lives to come to for they know America is the land were dreams become hopes and hopes turn into reality with NOTHING needed except hard work and determination.

YES, Mr. Putin, America is exceptional for this country is a melting pot…maybe NOT a pot that is always stirred smooth but a melting pot nevertheless, where different nationalities can meld their own uniqueness into the whole…into the whole that is America…and that is the very definition of 'exceptionalism'.

Can you say that about Russia…I think NOT.

And isn’t it odd that the very words…the very ideal…that so irked you were actually spoken back in 1929 by your hero Joseph Stalin, who used the words in response to a group of American communists who claimed that US style capitalism might constitute an exception to Marxist thought.

On hearing this Stalin decreeing an end to the “heresy of American Exceptionalism”…Stalin’s own words while condemning 'America exceptionalism' still fearing it.

And so Mr. Putin, while I admire your tenacity and fortitude in standing strong against our miserable excuse of a president…a president who leads from behind if he leads at all…checkmating him in the dangerous game of disarmament diplomacy…I will continue to take umbrage with your belief that America is NOT 'exceptional' for NO other country in the world today values liberty, equality, and justice above all else. What makes us ‘exceptional' is that America gives hope to people encompassed within a world overrun with oppression, destitution, and fear…gives hope to people longing for freedom that only the United States of America can offer them.

And that Mr. Putin, is what constitutes ‘American exceptionalism’…and that is something ‘We the People’ will NOT allow your words to take away from us for America is ‘One nation under God with liberty and justice for all’…and we intend for her to stay that way.

,An American Patriot