Friday, July 25, 2014

“We have your back,” President Obama told Israelis when he visited that embattled country recently. Way back, apparently. Mr. Obama’s administration famously claimed to “lead from behind” in overthrowing Libya’s strongman, Khaddafi. Young Sergeant Benjamin Anthony spoke to the Christians United for Israel (CUFI) Washington Summit this week. Sgt. Anthony described a different vision of leadership. Ahalai he gave as the Hebrew word for “after me.” Officers in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) they should lead from the front. That used to be America’s idea of leadership, too.
 
You cannot say Secretary John Kerry isn’t alert to his opportunities. He sees another chance to be a peacemaker. He is rushing to the Mideast to broker a cease-fire. Sgt. Anthony says Israel needs a victory over HAMAS terrorists who have been hiding rockets in schools and hospitals.

Kerry wants Israelis to stop trying to root out those who have sent more than 9,000 rockets into Israel. Canada’s National Post recently reported that the UNWRA—the world body’s refugee agency—closed down a school it was operating in Gaza after a cache of HAMAS rockets was discovered next door. The UN bureaucrats did what they usually do: they turned the rockets over to “local authorities.” In Gaza, that means they gave the rockets back to HAMAS. The cartoonist wasn’t kidding when he said HAMAS means “hiding among mosques and schools.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also addressed the CUFI gathering via satellite.

He has said the moral difference between Israel and its enemies is simple: “We use missiles to defend our civilians; they use civilians to defend their missiles.” An earlier Israeli Prime Minister, Golda Meir, was a young Jewish girl raised in Milwaukee. She spoke to her Arab enemies in these poignant words: “We can forgive you for killing our children; we cannot forgive you for making us kill your children.”

HAMAS is banking on CNN and the rest of the gullible Western media to carry pictures of Mideast violence into American homes and European homes. The late PLO chief, Yasser Arafat, saw the possibilities of CNN for his terrorist plans. He learned that airline hijacking could be a successful way to murder your way onto the front pages and into viewers’ living rooms.
 
Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) addressed an appreciative crowd at CUFI. He described his 2011 visit to Israel as part of a CODEL (Congressional Delegation). Sen. Scott’s bus was northbound when he saw a southbound Israeli bus hit by one of HAMAS’s rockets. Blood and body parts were scattered all over the street. Still, Sen. Scott was amazed to see Israeli police actually training Palestinian Arabs as police officers. The Jews’ view was that if law and justice prevailed anywhere, people might just get a thirst for law and justice. “I saw Jewish policemen acting out the Gospel of Matthew (5:38-43).”

Sen. Scott will be an increasingly important voice in the U.S. Senate, but also in the black community, serving as a counter to anti-Semites like Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and Jeremiah Wright.

Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) made a point of saying she did not speak for CUFI. She repeated that message three times. But she was speaking to CUFI. And her powerful message was that as bad as HAMAS rockets are, an Iranian nuclear weapon is vastly worse. “Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing,” she quoted from Psalm 2. Never have those words been more prophetic. Jerusalem is described in Hebrew as “the navel of the world.” She related how in Berlin, police allowed a Muslim demonstrator to use their police car loudspeaker. He was supposed to quiet the angry mob of protestors against Israel. Instead, he used his microphone to harangue the mob. “Allahu Akbar! (God is Great).” “Death to the Jews” cried this representative of the religion of peace. And the German police? They thought he was going to calm, not incite the crowd. They quickly learned the meaning of Takiya. That Persian word means it is permissible for Muslims to deceive unbelievers.

Congresswoman Bachmann, a key member of the House Intelligence Committee, pointed to the state of the world with President Obama leading from behind and noted White House spokesman Josh Earnest’s jaw-dropping claim: “The Obama administration has substantially improved the tranquility of the global community” Did he really say that earnestly? There may be a Sea of Tranquility on the Moon, but nowhere on Earth.

Despite crises erupting around the world, Mr. Obama seems blissfully distracted. He has just announced another four-month extension for Iran. The red line he drew in Syria has been turned into a real red line as oceans of blood are spilled there by ISIS—the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. And the deadline for talks about Iran’s lunge for nuclear weapons has been extended and extended. Mr. Obama is again kicking the can down the road—until three weeks after the mid-term elections. Be careful, Mr. President, that’s a nuclear can you are kicking!

Rep. Bachmann sobered the crowd at CUFI by noting that meanwhile, Iran’s 19,000 centrifuges are spinning, Iran is developing Inter-continental Ballistic Missiles that can reach the East Coast of the U.S. and Vladimir Putin used the distraction of Israel’s response to HAMAS rocket attacks to quietly announce a new trade deal with Iran.

This wouldn’t be the same Russia Hillary Clinton and John Kerry see as our partner for peace, would it, the Russia that President Obama is relying on to help stop Iran’s nuclear weapons program?
Congresswoman Bachmann underlined her point: This is the first time in U.S. history we have an anti-Israel president. She again disclaimed she was speaking for the Christians United for Israel organization. But the audience of Christians leaped to their feet to applaud her bold statement nonetheless.

CUFI”s Executive Director David Brog brought the house to order with his moving closing. Young Sean Carneli, originally from South Padre Island, Texas, died in Gaza fighting for Israel. The government in Jerusalem was concerned that the young soldier might not have family members able to come to his funeral in time, for Jews must bury their dead quickly. Not to worry: 40,000 Israelis crowded the highways, Brog reported, treating this son of America, this soldier of Zion, as one of their own.

In Israel’s desperate hour, Sean Carneli didn’t lead from behind.


Words mean what they say. That's the basis for the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in Halbig v. Burwell invalidating the Internal Revenue Service regulation approving subsidies for Obamacare consumers in states with federal health insurance exchanges.

The law passed by Congress, Judge Thomas Griffith explained, provided for subsidies in states with state-created exchanges, but not in states with federal exchanges. That's factually correct, and under the Constitution, the government can't spend money not authorized by Congress.

This has not prevented Democrats from calling the decision "judicial activism," which makes as much sense as the claims that the Supreme Court decision overturning the Obamacare contraception mandate cuts off all access to contraception.

"We reach this conclusion," wrote Judge Griffith, "with reluctance." Judge Roger Ferguson, writing for the Fourth Circuit whose King v. Burwell decision upholding the IRS was announced the same day, wrote that those challenging the government "have the better of the statutory construction arguments."

One has a certain sympathy with both judges. They're being asked to overturn a regulation that has paid most of the cost for health insurance for some 4.7 million Americans. But the problem arose not from sloppy legislative draftsmanship.

Under previous court decisions, Congress can't force state governments to administer federal laws. So congressional Democrats, seeking to muscle states into creating their own health insurance exchanges, chose to provide subsidies only for those states. Those opting for the federal exchange would have to explain to voters why they weren't getting subsidies.

This attempt to muscle the states failed. In August 2011, when the IRS issued its regulation, only 10 states had created their own exchanges, and 17 states explicitly refused to do so. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius kept extending deadlines to force states to create their own exchanges.

Congressional Democrats and the Obama administration bet that they could force the states to do their will. When they lost their bet, the administration ignored the Constitution and ordered the spending of monies that Congress never authorized.

This was lawless behavior, and reckless as well. It promised to individuals acting in reliance on government regulations money that was subject to being clawed back if a court applied the statute as written.

The alternative was, to be sure, politically unpalatable. The administration could have gone back to Congress and asked it to authorize subsidies in states with federal exchanges. House Republicans, now in the majority, would have demanded other changes in the law.

So today the strongest argument for upholding the administration's reckless regulation is that people might be hurt if the law is enforced as written. White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest says Congress meant to give money to lots of people -- so who cares what the law actually says?

The irony here is that the Obama Democrats, in passing Obamacare in its present form, and in betting that it could pressure the states into doing their will, have discredited big government generally and have weakened the federal government's power to commandeer and control the states.

They expected Obamacare to be popular. Give people what Mitt Romney called "free stuff," and they'll be grateful.

It hasn't turned out that way. Most Americans have bridled at Obamacare's centralized command-and-control approach and have instinctively preferred more market-based or locally regulated alternatives.

The fiasco of the healthcare.gov rollout and the administration's multiple suspensions of various provisions of the law have sapped confidence in big government's competence.

On the legal front, it has generally escaped notice that in its NFIB v. Sebelius decision upholding Obamacare, the Supreme Court also invalidated its Medicaid provisions -- and by a 7-2 vote that is unlikely to be overturned by one or two new Democratic-appointed justices.

Obamacare provided that states must accept new Medicaid provisions requiring higher spending or lose all their federal Medicaid money altogether. Not valid, said the justices. Congress can't take command of state governments by threatening to cut them off if they don't spend more.

Few legal experts thought this challenge to the statute would prevail. But it did, and it provides a basis for discouraging or challenging any future massive expansion of federal programs that require, as most do, matching spending by the states.

The Obama Democrats have succeeded in expanding government, temporarily. But they've also discredited it and provided a basis for limiting it in the future.

The House Designates the Muslim Brotherhood A Terrorist Organization, Criminalizes Ties

Pamela Geller / Atlas Shrugs

A bill has been introduced  to the House to impose sanctions against persons who knowingly provide material support or resources to the Muslim Brotherhood or its affiliates, associated groups, or agents, and for other purposes.

Atlas Shrugs has obtained a copy of the legislation. 2014_July_22_MB_FTO_Version_4

Look out, CAIR, ISNA, ICNS and all the other MB enemies of freedom.

The Muslim Brotherhood Terrorist Designation Act of 2014 was sponsored by Rep. Michele Bachmann (R., Minn.) and has seven co-sponsors: Peter Roskam (R., Ill.), Trent Franks (R., Ariz.), Cynthia Lummis (R., Wyo.), Kevin Brady (R., Texas), Steve Southerland (R., Fla.), Louie Gohmert (R., Texas), and Doug LaMalfa (R., Calif.).
In the past individuals have designated organizations (ie Hamas) and terror-tied individuals (i.e. members of CAIR leadership), but this sanctions the Muslim Brotherhood as a whole. SANCTIONS AGAINST PERSONS WHO KNOWINGLY PROVIDE MATERIAL SUPPORT OR RESOURCES TO THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD OR ITS AFFILIATES, ASSOCIATED GROUPS, OR AGENTS.
(a) SANCTIONS.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—The President shall subject
to all available sanctions any person in the United States or subject to the jurisdiction of the United States who knowingly provides material support or resources to the Muslim Brotherhood or its affili- ates, associated groups, or agents.
(2) DEFINITION.—In this paragraph, the term ‘‘material support or resources’’ has the meaning given such term in section...

Obama Sells US sells $11 Billion Worth of Arms to Hamas’s Sponsor, Qatar

Pamela Geller / Atlas Shrugs

These countries supporting Hamas, Qatar and Turkey, should be punished with sanctions, not rewarded with arms.
DoD Statement on Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel’s Meeting with Qatar Minister of State for Defense Affairs Hamad bin Ali al-Attiyah,” Defense.gov, July 24, 2014 (thanks to Kenny)
Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel hosted Qatar’s Minister of State for Defense Affairs His Excellency Hamad bin Ali al-Attiyah at the Pentagon today to sign letters of offer and acceptance for Apache helicopters and Patriot and Javelin defense systems valued at $11 billion dollars.
“Today’s signing ceremony underscores the strong partnership between the United States and Qatar in the area of security and defense and will help improve our bilateral cooperation across a range of military operations,” said Pentagon Press Secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby
Secretary Hagel also used the meeting to express his appreciation for the support that Qatar provides U.S. forces in the country. Today’s visit followed Secretary Hagel’s visit to Doha last fall, where he met with Minister Attiyah to sign and renew the U.S. – Qatar Defense Cooperation Agreement.
“This is a critically important relationship in the region,” said Kirby. “And the secretary is pleased to be able to continue to make it stronger.”
…as Israel pins Qatar as Hamas sponsor:
...

IDF calls out UN for lying about Gaza civilian casualties

/ Jihad Watch
 
The UN has abandoned any semblance of working for peace and trying to maintain harmony among nations. Their hatred of Israel has overridden everything else the organization does and once stood for.
 
“IDF Calls Out UN for Lying About Gaza Civilian Casualties,” by Adam Kredo, Washington Free Beacon, July 24, 2014:
Israel is calling out a United Nations aid agency for falsely claiming that the Israeli Defense Forces did not permit civilians to evacuate a Gaza school where 15 people were killed today.
The U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) laid blame for the civilian deaths on the IDF, claiming it never received approval from the IDF for an evacuation from the facility.
UNRWA—which has been under fire in recent days for allowing Hamas to use its facilities to store rockets—released a statement claiming: “UNRWA had been attempting to negotiate with the [IDF] a pause in the fighting during which they would guarantee a safe corridor to relocate staff and any displaced persons who chose to evacuate to a more secure location. Approval for that never came to UNRWA.”
Earlier, UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness had similarly accused the IDF of preventing a civilian evacuation.
“Over the course of the day UNRWA tried 2 coodinate [sic] with the Israeli Army a window for civilians 2 leave & it was never granted,” UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness tweeted, following the strike.
However, in an unusual move late Thursday, multiple IDF sources rejected UNRWA’s claims and characterized them as outright falsehoods when reached by the Washington Free Beacon.
“For two days we were trying to move people out of that school in particular and the Beit Hanoun area in general,” said an IDF official who was involved in the interactions between the IDF, UNRWA, and International Red Cross (ICRC) leading up to the incident.
The official continued: “This morning we sought a cease-fire in the area and a humanitarian evacuation of civilians, but Hamas refused—because they wanted to keep civilians in the area to protect their fighters who were firing on the IDF,” the source said.
The claim by Gunness and UNRWA that the IDF did not respond to their request to evacuate civilians, the source said, is “a flat-out complete and total lie.”
When asked for further details about the incident, UNRWA claimed that its school in Beit Hanoun had been turned into “a battlefield” in recent days.
Many Palestinians, including women and children, had sought shelter from the fighting in the school, believing it to be safe territory, according to UNRWA.
“This is the fourth time in the past four days that an UNRWA school has been struck by explosive projectiles,” UNRWA said.
An official IDF statement released to the Free Beacon states that “the IDF authorized a humanitarian time window for evacuation between 10:00-14:00 IDT earlier today.
Hamas prevented the civilians from leaving it and once again used their infrastructure and international symbols as human shields. In the course of the afternoon, several rockets launched by Hamas from within the Gaza Strip landed in the Beit Hanoun area.”
“From initial inquiries done about the incident, during the intense fighting in the area, militants opened fire at IDF soldiers from the school area,” the statement says. “In order to eliminate the threat posed to their lives, they responded with fire toward the origins of the shooting.”
“The UNRWA claims that Israel prevented the safe evacuation of the school in Beit Hanoun are unfounded,” the statement concludes….

FEC Commissioner Warns Of Government Mission Against Conservative Media

by   / Personal Liberty Digest

FEC Commissioner Warns Of Government Mission Against Conservative Media
This week, Federal Elections Commission Chairman Lee Goodman called out Democratic colleagues for making attempts to regulate book publishing by conservatives. The FEC attempts are only the latest in a series of government maneuvers to tamp down on conservative media.

The criticism came after Democrats on the FEC attempted to deny Representative Paul Ryan’s leadership PAC, Prosperity Action, the ability to buy copies of the book written by the Republican lawmaker from Wisconsin — The Way Forward: Renewing the American Idea — to give away to supporters.

Washington Examiner explains:
In the case of the Ryan book, publisher Grand Central Publishing sought the broad media exemption from regulation, but Democrats rejected that and pushed for a different, commercial, exemption that imposes rules over the publisher’s politics and book pricing. Republicans went along and the commission approved that 6-0.
The commission also ruled that while Ryan can have his campaign and PAC buy books to give out, the promotion on his websites has to be limited to two sentences. There were concerns raised by Weintraub that Ryan was trying to profit off sales of the book promoted on his websites. Republicans carried that to victory in a 4-2 vote.
Goodman said the mixed decision for Ryan was another missed chance by the FEC to publicly show support for press freedom.
“By failing to affirm this publisher’s constitutional right, statutory right, to disseminate a political book free from FEC conditions and regulations, we have effectively asserted regulatory jurisdiction over a book publisher,” Goodman said.

“That failure reveals a festering legal uncertainty and chill for the free press rights of books and book publishers to publish and disseminate political books free from government regulation,” he added.

The FEC constraints imposed on Ryan are only the latest evidence of what Goodman believes is an attempt by Democrats to silence conservative voices in publishing and media.

In May, Goodman warned of Democrats’ efforts to change FEC media exemption laws that allow all forms of media to pick political favorites without worrying about complying with election regulations. The FEC chairman said that the attempts have resulted directly from the growing popularity of conservative online media.

“I think that there are impulses in the government every day to second guess and look into the editorial decisions of conservative publishers,” he said at the time.

“The right has begun to break the left’s media monopoly, particularly through new media outlets like the Internet, and I sense that some on the left are starting to rethink the breadth of the media exemption and internet communications,” he added.

The FEC efforts to regulate media aren’t the only areas of concern for conservative publishers.

Despite the Federal Communications Commission’s 2011 announcement that the Fairness Doctrine would no longer be on the books, liberals continue to propose renditions of the obsolete law that would quiet conservative media.

And over in Congress, attempts to stifle political speech are bipartisan. Legislative proposals to define “journalist” in a media shield law that lawmakers began work on last year attempted to narrow the definition to leave out anyone not working for a traditional media outlet.

150 Hamas operatives surrender to Israeli Defense Forces in Gaza

Bare Naked Islam

Dozens of Palestinian terror operatives, most of whom were said to be members of Hamas, surrendered Wednesday to IDF soldiers during raids in the southern Gaza Strip cities of Rafah and Khan Yunis and were transferred to Israeli facilities for interrogation.

51178 

Times of Israel  The operatives, who came out of hiding spots with their hands raised above their heads, were taken into Israeli custody for further questioning.

 

In total, 150 Palestinians were arrested, but only 70 of them who were suspected of carrying out terror attacks were transferred under tight security to IDF Intelligence and Shin Bet facilities for interrogation, an IDF spokeswoman told The Times of Israel, adding to 28 operatives already captured. The remaining detainees were later released, Army Radio reported.

 

A picture of the Gazans posted on Facebook by Israeli Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz showed two rows of captives wearing only underwear and shoes, on their knees in the sand. They were stripped of their clothes in order to ensure they were not carrying weapons.


Op-ed: 
The saga of the missing emails drones on ad-nauseum 
By: Diane Sori

"There may have been nefarious conduct that went much higher than Lois Lerner."
House Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp

Just as a federal judge orders the IRS to explain under oath how the 'infamous' missing emails were lost now comes this...according to IRS information-technology (IT) experts it seems back-up tapes...considered an option of last resort for recovering any missing emails...have suddenly and miraculously been found even though the IRS kept claiming all these many months that the physical hard drive was either recycled or destroyed.

Still claiming "there is an issue" as to whether all the backup tapes were destroyed, IRS Commissioner John Koskinen confirmed they do indeed exist and that they were only 'scratched' NOT irreparably damaged as previously claimed...while at the same time talking out of both sides of his mouth by saying he does NOT know "how they found them" or "whether there's anything on them or not."

So it seems the proverbial buck is being passed yet again...all while wishing that the buck would just go away...and whining about who exactly 'they' are.

Also, remember the IRS said that while NOT done on purpose, Lerner’s hard drive was wiped clean and sent to an 'outside' disposal company to be “shredded”...more likely to be taken apart and melted down so that all incriminating evidence would be destroyed. The IRS also claimed that it tried everything possible to recover Lerner’s emails, including sending her computer for examination to a forensic expert within the IRS's criminal division.

Within the IRS's criminal division...gee...why didn't the IRS let outside non-partisan experts examine said computer...I think the answer to that is quite obvious.

So now we have yet another case of IRS deception honed to a fine art if you will... and a deception billed like all the others...marked 'payment due' to 'We the People.'

Fact: to date the IRS has spent almost 10 million of our taxpayer dollars to collect and turn over the documents asked for by the congressional investigators, including the gathering up and again turning over of 67,000 emails to and from Lerner that still happen to exist. But ain't it odd that 67,000 emails just happen to exist but none of those are from the time period in question.

And so the game continues on as the IRS has said time and again that the reason NO copies of Lerner’s emails were available from the time period in question is because during that time they only backed-up emails for six months on tapes then recycled those tapes for reuse, erasing the existing data to assure clean tapes. Yet out of those 67,000 emails that do exist some are from before the time the IRS claims they only backed-up emails for six months.

Hmmm...selective losing of specific incriminating emails I would say.

And par for the course of those appointed by this administration...they LIE...for when all the bloviations and rhetoric are stripped away, the fact is that these emails were 'selectively' destroyed for what they contained...or for who they would expose. And even as House Republicans and at least one and possibly more federal judges grasp at straws and want to know if Lerner’s hard drive could possibly be tracked using a serial number and then restored, IRS IT experts recently said under oath that Lerner’s hard drive had indeed been wiped clean by tech staff and recycled by an unnamed outside contractor.

But if this wiping clean and destruction of the hard drive did indeed take place, where is some sort of invoice or a 'certificate of destruction' proving this happened. And with Koskinen saying he isn’t sure anything of the sort exists...that means that if one does NOT exist how does anyone know any of this actually happened... simply we do NOT.

Yet even ignoring this fact and just working on the premise that by some chance a restoration was possible...and it's claimed that one contractor did identify the hard drive serial number but supposedly the IRS does NOT keep records of serial numbers (yeah right)...we know it would NEVER be allowed to happen for Barack HUSSEIN Obama has too much to lose if it did. 
 
Too much to lose like the fact that his brother Malik applied for and got 501 (c)(3) status for the Islamic Da’wa Organization...of which he is Executive Secretary...an organization that is part of the coalition of 'supposed' charities headed by global Muslim Brotherhood leader Yusuf al-Qaradawi, Yet this anything but benign 'charity' was fast tracked and received the all-important tax-exempt status from none other than Lois Lerner herself.

And heaven forbid one or more of those missing emails shows a conversation between Lerner and Obama himself concerning the fast-tracked status for a group tied directly to a terrorist organization...tied directly to the Muslim Brotherhood...a terrorist organization that Barack HUSSEIN Obama outwardly supports.

And too much to lose if it becomes wildly known that Obama's very own grandmother heads the 'Sarah Obama Benevolent Fund' another 'supposed' charity that hides the fact that it uses monies raised to give scholarships to male Kenyan students to attend the most radical of Wahhabist madrases in Saudi Arabia. Monies raised under false premises so these students can study the intricacies of sharia law, and then upon their completion of studies more 'charity' monies are used to send them to other countries to help aid in their setting-up of sharia compliant enclaves within those countries.

And again, none other than Lois Lerner herself gave this anything but a legitimate charity their 501(c)(3) status...on Obama's orders perhaps.

Blood brethren on both accounts you know.

And lest we forget what started this whole sorted mess...the targeting of TEA Party and Conservative groups...delaying their applications if NOT outright denying them their rightful tax-exempt status. And did those missing emails point directly to Obama there too...I think a very good case could be made for that as well.

So as the IRS lie-fest continues...as Lois Lerner and John Koskinen dig themselves into an ever-deepening hole...and as the cover-up of Obama's hand in all this continues to take shape...all I can say is this is the new reality of all that is the Obama administration's DC...sad isn't it.