Obama: Makes Time for 5 Rounds of Golf and 10 Fundraisers Since The Bungled Obamacare Launch

[H/T Daily Caller] — The bungled rollout of President Obama’s signature health care law might have kept the president away from Gettysburg, but it has not kept him off the links or away from the fundraising circuit.

Since the launch of the HealthCare.gov on October 1, Obama has gone golfing five times and attended ten fundraisers — with five more scheduled for the beginning of this week — while Obamacare’s favorability has hit all time lows.

And while President Obama’s schedule has been open for golf and fundraisers, he was unable to attend the anniversary of the Gettysburg Address Tuesday due to — as White House advisor Dan Pfeiffer put it – “this whole website thing that someone suggested might destroy the Dem Party.”

The problems affecting HealthCare.gov, however, did not stop Obama from golfing on Oct. 20, Oct. 27, Nov. 2, Nov. 9 or Nov. 17.

Further by the end of November, Obama will have attended some 15 fundraisers since the botched launch of HealthCare.gov on Oct. 1 — including the DNC’s Women’s Leadership Forum in D.C. on Oct. 24, two fundraisers in New York to benefit the DCCC and DNC on Oct. 25, a DCCC fundraiser in Boston on Oct. 30, two fundraisers for the DSCC in Dallas on Nov. 6, A DNC fundraiser and two DSCC fundraisers in Miami on Nov. 8 and a DCSS fundraiser in Philadelphia on Nov. 14.

Obama will also travel to Washington state and California early this week, where he will attend another five fundraisers.

Last week the Guardian highlighted — as The Daily Caller did in May — that Obama’s second term fundraising activities has vastly out paced those of his two-term predecessors, more than twice the rate of both former Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton.

“Travelling to the 30 fundraisers [since April], mostly held in private mansions and luxury hotels across 10 cities, has also required him to clock up more than 20,000 miles on Air Force One at an estimated cost to the US taxpayer of more than $6m,” the Guardian reported on Nov. 12 — noting that Bush attended 11, Clinton 16, and Reagan 10 in that same time period during their respective second terms.

Other news outlets have reported President Obama did pledge to raise money for the Democratic campaign committees, and is following through — despite the website and insurance cancellation notice threatening Obama’s trustworthiness and signature legislation.

REPORT: U.S. Guilty of Aiding and Abetting, Unfreezes $8 Billion in Iranian Assets

[H/T Washington Beacon] — The United States released $8 billion in frozen assets to Iran on Sunday in a move meant to ensure Tehran’s compliance with a nuclear pact signed over the weekend, according to top Iranian officials.

Iranian government spokesman Mohammad Baqer Nobakht confirmedon Monday morning that the U.S. government had unfrozen $8 billion in assets that had been previously blocked by the Obama administration.

The confirmation followed multiple reports of the release on Sunday in the Arab and Iranian news outlets.

Iran will be provided with about $7 billion in sanctions relief, gold, and oil sales under a nuclear deal inked late Saturday in Geneva with Western nations.

Iranian officials lauded the deal as a path to opening up greater trade relations between Iran and the world.

“The agreement will open a new path towards Iran,” Alinaqi Khamoushi, the former head of Iran’s Chamber of Commerce said on Sunday as he announced the release by the United States of some $8 billion in assets, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).

Nobakht confirmed the figure early Monday during a briefing with reporters in Tehran.

“The agreement will ease the anti-Iran sanctions, which will have significant impacts on the Iranian economy,” the state-run Fars News Agency quoted him as saying.

One senior GOP aide on Capitol Hill was not pleased with the reports.

“It’s pretty clear the White House and State Department have been lying to the American people since the beginning of this process so it wouldn’t shock me to learn they are lying about how much sanctions relief they’re giving Iran now,” said the aide.

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) criticized the deal on Sunday, when he said to a Jewish audience that both Democrats and Republicans in the Senate were united in opposition.

“Democrats and Republicans are going to work to see that we don’t let up on these sanctions … until Iran gives up not only all of their weapons but all nuclear weapon capabilities,” Schumer said. “I want to leave you with that assurance.”

The State Department denied that sanctions have been altered since an interim deal with Iran was announced.

“This report is false. Sanctions today are same as they were last week,” a senior State Department official said in response to the Fars report. “We will be forthcoming with guidance on how the technical terms of the relief package are worked out once all that is determined.”

Additionally, Iran announced on Sunday that its nuclear work will continue despite the deal, which aimed to curb Tehran’s nuclear ambitions and enrichment of uranium, the key component in a nuclear weapon.

Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif, who helped ink the deal, praised it for recognizing Iran’s right to enrich uranium, a key sticking point that had delayed the deal until Saturday evening.

“The [nuclear] program has been recognized and the Iranian people’s right to use the peaceful nuclear technology based on the NPT [Non-Proliferation Treaty] and as an inalienable right has been recognized and countries are necessitated not to create any obstacle on its way,” Zarif told reporters over the weekend.

“The program will continue, and all the sanctions and violations against the Iranian nation under the pretext of the nuclear program will be removed gradually,” he added.

Iran’s most well-known nuclear sites will remain operational under the deal, according to Zarif, who presented a very different version of the agreement than that described by the White House on Saturday.

Over the next six months, Iran will see “the full removal of all [United Nations] Security Council, unilateral and multilateral sanctions, while the country’s enrichment program will be maintained,” Zarif said.

The Fordo and Natanz nuclear sites will also continue to run, he said.

“None of the enrichment centers will be closed and Fordo and Natanz will continue their work and the Arak heavy water [nuclear reactor] program will continue in its present form and no material [enriched uranium stockpiles] will be taken out of the country and all the enriched materials will remain inside the country,” Zarif said. “The current sanctions will move towards decrease, no sanctions will be imposed and Iran’s financial resources will return.”

America recognized Iran’s right to enrich uranium up to 5 percent under the deal, according to both the Iranians and a White House brief on the deal.

The United States agreed to suspend “certain sanctions on gold and precious metals, Iran’s auto sector, and Iran’s petrochemical exports, potentially providing Iran approximately $1.5 billion in revenue,” according to a fact sheet provided by the White House.

Iran could earn another $4.2 billion in oil revenue under the deal.

Another “$400 million in governmental tuition assistance” could also be “transferred from restricted Iranian funds directly to recognized educational institutions in third countries to defray the tuition costs of Iranian students,” according to the White House.

 

Charles Krauthammer: US-Iran Nuke Agreement ‘The Worst Deal Since Munich’

[H/T Fox News] — On Monday’s “Special Report” on the Fox News Channel, Charles Krauthammer condemned reports on the deal reached by the United States and its allies with Iran to stymie Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

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According to Krauthammer, this agreement gives cover for Iran’s desire for nuclear capabilities, which will ultimately undermine the “dam” holding back the spread of nuclear proliferation.

Krauthammer: “It’s really hard to watch the president and secretary of state and not think how they cannot be embarrassed by this deal. Think about this, for half a dozen times, the Security Council has passed resolutions which said Iran has to stop all enrichment. Otherwise, there will be no change in the sanctions. No relief. Which means six times China and Russia, not exactly hardliners on Iran, have signed onto this. And what is the result of this agreement? Iran retains the right to enrich. It continues to enrich during the six months. It is promised a final deal in which we’re going to work out the details of its enrichment. And remember, enrichment is the dam against all proliferation. Once a country anywhere can start to enrich, there is no containing its nuclear capacity. So it undermines the entire idea of non-proliferation and it grants Iran a right it’s been lusting for, for a decade. That’s why there was so much jubilation in Tehran over this.”

John Bolton: Obama Pushed Iran Deal to Prevent Israeli Airstrike

[H/T Newsmax] — The Obama administration feared an Israeli airstrike on Iran more than it feared Iran building a nuclear weapon, and that’s why it pushed for a deal to reduce sanctions against Iran, former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton writes in The Weekly Standard.

“Buying time for its own sake makes sense in some negotiating contexts, but the sub silentio objective here was to jerry-rig yet another argument to wield against Israel and its fateful decision whether or not to strike Iran,” Bolton writes. “Obama, fearing that strike more than an Iranian nuclear weapon, clearly needed greater international pressure on Jerusalem.”

Israel knows it was the target of the Geneva negotiations that produced the deal early Sunday morning in Europe, he said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the deal a “historic mistake.” 

The six-month temporary agreement will serve only to harden international opinion against Israeli military action, Bolton said.

Israel has repeatedly maintained that Iran’s nuclear goal is to obliterate the Jewish state and has vowed to take action to prevent that from happening. An Israeli airstrike in 1981 took out a nuclear reactor in Iraq, and another in 2007 destroyed a reactor in Syria.

Netanyahu has long said Israel has the right to act in its own defense, implying it is willing to launch strikes against Iran or any other hostile nation in its region attempting to build a nuclear weapon.

“The Iranian regime is committed to Israel’s destruction, and Israel has the right to defend itself, by itself,” Netanyahu told his cabinet. “Israel won’t let Iran develop military nuclear capability.”

Iran will continue to move forward with its nuclear program in the shadows, Bolton said. If Israel waits it will be more difficult to take effective action, he warned.

An Israeli strike during the six-month deal would doubtless spark outrage, Bolton said, but it would spark the same condemnation – if not more – later. He urged the Netanyahu government to not fall prey to “the psychological warfare successfully waged so far by the ayatollahs.”

“An Israeli military strike is the only way to avoid Tehran’s otherwise inevitable march to nuclear weapons, and the proliferation that will surely follow,” he writes.

Bolton has repeatedly called on Israel to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities at least as far back as 2010.

Charles Krauhammer called the US-Iran nuke agreement ‘the worst deal since Munich’

Largest Massacre of Christians in Syria at the Hands of Obama Supported Jihadi ‘Rebels’ Ignored by Media

[H/T The Clarion Project] — The worst Christian massacre—complete with mass graves, tortured-to-death women and children, and destroyed churches—recently took place in Syria, at the hands of the U.S.-supported jihadi “rebels”; and the U.S. government and its “mainstream media” mouthpiece are, as usual, silent (that is, when not actively trying to minimize matters).

Images of three of the six family members tortured and thrown in a well by U.S.-supported Islamic terrorists.

The massacre took place in Sadad, an ancient Syriac Orthodox Christian habitation, so old as to be mentioned in the Old Testament.  Most of the region’s inhabitants are poor, as Sadad is situated in the remote desert between Homs and Damascus (desert regions, till now, apparently the only places Syria’s Christians could feel secure; 600 Christian families had earlier fled there for sanctuary from the jihad, only to be followed by it).

In late October, the U.S-supported “opposition” invaded and occupied Sadad for over a week, till ousted by the nation’s military.  Among other atrocities, 45 Christians—including women and children—were killed, several tortured to death; Sadat’s 14 churches, some ancient, were ransacked and destroyed; the bodies of six people from one family, ranging from ages 16 to 90, were found at the bottom of a well (an increasingly common fate for “subhuman” Christians).

The jihadis even made a GRAPHIC VIDEO (with English subtitles) of those whom they massacred, while shouting Islam’s victory-cry, “Allahu Akbar” (which John McCain equates to a Christian saying “thank God”).  Another video, made after Sadad was liberated shows more graphic atrocities.

Here are the words of Archbishop Selwanos Boutros Alnemeh, Syriac Orthodox Metropolitan of Homs and Hama (another detailed account, with pictures, appears here):

What happened in Sadad is the most serious and biggest massacre of Christians in Syria in the past two years and a half… 45 innocent civilians were martyred for no reason, and among them several women and children, many thrown into mass graves. Other civilians were threatened and terrorized. 30 were wounded and 10 are still missing. For one week, 1,500 families were held as hostages and human shields. Among them children, the elderly, the young, men and women….  All the houses of Sadad were robbed and property looted. The churches are damaged and desecrated, deprived of old books and precious furniture…  What happened in Sadad is the largest massacre of Christians in Syria and the second in the Middle East, after the one in the Church of Our Lady of Salvation in Iraq, in 2010.

In the Iraqi attack of 2010, al-Qaeda linked jihadis stormed the church during service killing some 60 Christian worshippers (WARNING: The following images are EXTREMELY GRAPHIC: see the GRAPHIC images of the aftermath).

While the archbishop is correct that this is the “largest massacre of Christians in Syria,” it is but the tip of the iceberg of the persecution the nation’s Christian minority has suffered—including beheadings, church bombings, kidnappings, rapes, and dislocation of hundreds of thousands of Christians—since the war broke out (see Syria entries inmonthly persecution series).

A month before Sadad, another ancient Christian region, Ma‘loula, one of the world’s very few regions that still spoke Aramaic, the language of Jesus, was besieged by the jihadis, its churches bombarded and plundered, its inhabitants forced to convert to Islam or die.  The last  words of one man who refused were: “I am a Christian, and if you want to kill me for this, I do not object to it.”

The archbishop concluded his statement concerning Sadad by asking: “We have shouted aid to the world but no one has listened to us. Where is the Christian conscience? Where is human consciousness? Where are my brothers? I think of all those who are suffering today in mourning and discomfort: We ask everyone to pray for us.”

Serge Trifkovic—who hails from a European region especially acquainted with Islamic jihad—responds to the archbishop as follows:

That no “human consciousness” is to be found in the White House, or in the editorial offices of the leading Western media, is now a matter of well-established record. Just try searching for “Sadad” (or alternatively “Saddad”) on the websites of the Department of State or The New York Times. Ditto the leading European dailies, the CNN/BBC/RTF, the human-rights defending “NGOs” et al.

The problem, of which Archbishop Selwanos Boutros Alnemeh appears unaware, is no longer in the Western elite’s mere indifference to the impending demise of Christianity in the lands of its birth, but in its active, ongoing, and open contribution to that demise. Cyprus (1974) and the Balkans (1991-9) provided the test, Iraq (2003-today) the conclusive proof. In Syria the Obama administration remains committed to supporting the rebels—ah, yes, only the “moderate” ones, like the Christian-murdering “Free Syrian Army” (discretion advised again), not “even though” the result will be the same, but precisely because it will be.

In one of the Arabic videos documenting the aftermath of the Sadad massacre, as the mutilated bodies of one family are drawn from a well (around :30 second mark), a middle-aged male relative, in tears, says: Another of Sadad’s churches, desecrated by jihadis.

The most precious in the whole universe [his family], are now gone, leaving me alone, but thank God I am still surrounded by these loving people who remain.  I want to say, let people [the jihadis] return to their minds.  The problems of the world can only be solved by knowledge and brains.  Enough insanity, the nerves of the people are shredded.  Enough, enough—return to your minds; you people, you humans—return to your humanity, enough crimes.

As a sign of the times, here is a Syrian, an “easterner,” evoking rationalism and humanity, products of Christian civilization, even as the post-Christian West is governed by anything and everything—propaganda, emotionalism, mindless indoctrination—but the twain.

Imprisoned American Pastor Abandoned In Iran by Obama Administration, Was Not Even Mentioned In Negotiations

[H/T Fox News] — The wife of imprisoned American pastor Saeed Abedini says she and her family are devastated after learning that the Obama administration did not try to secure the release of her husband as part of the newly signed deal on Iran’s nuclear program.

Saeed Abedini, an American citizen, has been imprisoned in Iran for more than a year for practicing Christianity. The talks over Iran’s nuclear program were seen by his family and those representing them as one of the most promising avenues yet for securing his release.

But the White House confirmed over the weekend that Abedini’s status was not on the table during those talks.

“It’s devastating,” the pastor’s wife Naghmeh Abedini told Fox News Radio.

She said her children were praying to have him home for the holidays. “It’s unbearable,” she said, “to think of another Christmas without him and see my kids not have him home for Christmas.” 

After the nuclear deal announced over the weekend, Abedini said she doesn’t see “any more leverage left.”

“Iran has no incentive for them to release him. I don’t think we have any more leverage,” she said. “We now have to consider other avenues and having other countries speak out because our country when we could have used our leverage chose to stay silent.”

Abedini and others were hopeful after President Obama personally raised Abedini’s plight in a phone conversation with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in September.

As the matter appeared to languish, the American Center for Law and Justice, which represents the Abedini family, sent a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry urging him to demand Abedini’s release as a condition of any agreement on Iran’s nuclear program.

The deal announced over the weekend, though, included no mention of Abedini. Obama also did not mention the pastor’s case when he made brief remarks from the White House late Saturday night, announcing a six-month plan to suspend parts of Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for a rollback of some sanctions.

Jay Sekulow, chief counsel for the ACLJ, accused Obama and Kerry of having “turned their backs on a U.S. citizen.”

Caitlin Hayden, spokeswoman for the National Security Council, confirmed that the Iran talks “focused exclusively on nuclear issues,” though said the U.S. “has certainly raised” Abedini’s case and that of other imprisoned Americans as part of bilateral discussions.

Another case that has recently drawn public attention is that of Amir Hekmati, a U.S. Marine who was arrested in Iran in 2011 while visiting his grandmother.

He was detained on charges of spying for the CIA and sentenced to death. His family says the confession was coerced.

The FBI also reported that, as of this Tuesday, former FBI official Robert Levinson will become one of the longest-held Americans in history — he went missing after traveling to an island off Iran in March 2007; the U.S. government has since received indications he’s being held.

 

WARNING: Obama Greatly Expanding The Militarization Of American Police Force (VIDEO)

[H/T Beofre Its News] — “We cannot continue to rely only on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we’ve set. We’ve got to have a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded.” ~ Barack Hussein Obama

The US military is handing over leftover equipment from the Iraq conflict to police under a military surplus program. Civil liberties groups have criticized the initiative as unnecessary and a move toward the militarization of American law enforcement.

American law enforcement agencies have received 165 MRAPs – 18 ton, armored vehicles with gun turrets – this year, according to an AP investigation. Military officials say police have filed requests for 731 more, but none are available. 

“It’s armored. It’s heavy. It’s intimidating. And it’s free,” Craig Apple, the sheriff of Albany County said.

Each of the hulking military vehicles costs around $500,000, and before the MRAPs can be used by law enforcement agencies they have to be refitted for civilian use.

 

Even after retro-fitting, the vehicles are still limited. Because of their size, the vehicles are unable to cross some bridges and travel on narrow roads.

The investigation revealed that some of the MRAPs have already been put to use. In the city of Boise, Idaho, police deployed the vehicle because they suspected a suspect was in possession of heavy firearms and explosives. In Nampa, police used their MRAP to protect officers from a potential explosion.

The distribution of the armored military vehicles to police forces has prompted strong opposition from US rights groups. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has attacked the military surplus program, branding it a move to militarize law enforcement.

“One of our concerns with this is it has a tendency to escalate violence,” ACLU Center for Justice senior counsel Kara Dansky told AP. The ACLU has been investigating the use of military equipment in US police forces since 2012 as part of their campaign against the militarization of law enforcement under the slogan: “Towns don’t need tanks.”

On its website, the NGO records examples of occasions when police have used military equipment in situations when it was unnecessary, disproportionate or counterproductive.

In one such incident earlier this year, police in North Dakota used a $154 million MQ-9 Predator B drone to arrest a family of anti-government separatists who had refused to return six cows who had wandered onto their property to their owners. Local police borrowed the drone from the Department of Homeland Security, the ACLU reported.

Apple, the Albany County sheriff, argued that the police force was not becoming more militarized and was instead preparing itself for every eventuality.

“Our problem is we have to make sure we are prepared to respond to every type of crisis,” he said. For example, he said, if SWAT teams need to get close to a shooter or protect passers-by, a MRAP would be the vehicle for the job. 

The ACLU argues that MRAPs might just be the tip of the iceberg, as it is not known “how militarized the police have become, and how extensively federal money is incentivizing this trend.”  source – RT