Posted tagged ‘Obama’

Obama to Visit Hiroshima to Push for Nuclear Weapons Free World

May 10, 2016

Obama Will Visit Hiroshima to Push for World Without Nuclear Weapons

BY:
May 10, 2016 9:33 am

Source: Obama to Visit Hiroshima to Push for Nuclear Weapons Free World

President Obama will visit Hiroshima later this month to affirm his commitment to pursuing a world without nuclear weapons.

The White House announced the planned trip early on Tuesday, which will make Obama the first sitting U.S. president to visit Hiroshima. The United States dropped two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II.

Obama’s trip to Vietnam and Japan between May 21 and 28 is his 10th trip to Asia since becoming president, Politico reported. While in Japan, Obama will attend the G-7 Summit. He will visit Hiroshima on May 27.

“The President and Prime Minister [Shinzo] Abe will meet bilaterally to further advance the U.S.-Japan alliance, including our cooperation on economic and security issues as well as a host of global challenges,” the White House said in a statement. “Finally, the President will make an historic visit to Hiroshima with Prime Minister Abe to highlight his continued commitment to pursuing the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons.”

Ben Rhodes, Obama’s deputy national security adviser for strategic communication, wrote in a Medium post that it will be “the appropriate moment for the President to visit this city and shrine.”

“The President will visit the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, a site at the center of the city dedicated to the victims of the atomic bombing, where he will share his reflections on the significance of the site and the events that occurred there,” Rhodes wrote. “He will not revisit the decision to use the atomic bomb at the end of World War II. Instead, he will offer a forward-looking vision focused on our shared future.”

Rhodes further wrote that the visit “will offer an opportunity to honor the memory of all innocents who were lost during the war.”

Caroline Kennedy, the U.S. ambassador to Japan, and Secretary of State John Kerry traveled to Hiroshima in April.

Obama Admin Under Pressure for Lax Approach to Terror Financers

May 10, 2016

Obama Admin Under Pressure for Lax Approach to Terror Financers Treasury Dept. pressed to cut off foreign funders of terror

BY:
May 10, 2016 5:00 am

Source: Obama Admin Under Pressure for Lax Approach to Terror Financers

The Obama administration is facing criticism over what some lawmakers say is an overly permissive attitude toward terrorism financing by foreign nations, according to new congressional communication obtained by the Washington Free Beacon that presses U.S. officials to hold these nations accountable for enabling terror.

Congressional sources and experts accused the administration of going soft on Middle Eastern allies such as Qatar that are known to be chief financiers of global terrorism movements like al Qaeda and Hamas, according to conversations with sources.

The permissive environment has allowed these countries to continue receiving vast amounts of U.S. taxpayer aid while facilitating the transfer of money to rogue terror entities, some of which are currently designated by the United States as global terrorists, according to these sources.

Some Obama administration officials welcome Qatar’s role as an emissary to these terrorist groups, according to conversations described by sources to the Free Beacon.

In the latest bid to force the administration to crack down on this behavior, Sen. Mark Kirk (R., Ill.) petitioned the Treasury Department on Tuesday to adopt a more aggressive stance against Qatar’s terror financing, according to a letter sent to the administration and obtained by the Free Beacon.

Qatar, which is home to a major U.S. military base, has benefited from billions of dollars in arms deals with America. Yet it also enjoys close relations with Hamas, which has received billions of dollars in support from Qatar.

Kirk is pressing the administration to use its leverage to force Qatar to break ties with its global terror allies. The senator also is requesting that the administration outline the steps it has taken to stop this behavior.

“For over a decade, the Qatari government has displayed leniency and negligence toward individuals who support and finance ISIS, its predecessor Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), and other terrorist groups,” Kirk wrote in a letter to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew. “If Qatar’s permissiveness continues, it will further fuel terrorism both regionally and worldwide.”

“I therefore urge the Administration to press the Qatari government to stop the operations of terrorism supporters and financiers within its territory, and to comply fully with” international agreements mandating that Qatar cut all ties with terror financiers, Kirk wrote.

“To this day, terrorist financiers—including those designated by the United States and the United Nations—continue to enjoy such impunity in Qatar,” Kirk notes in the letter.

While the Obama administration has admitted Qatar continues to fund terrorism, critics such as Kirk maintain that officials have done little to rectify the situation.

David Cohen, former treasury undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, acknowledged in a 2014 speech that at least two Qatari terror funders have yet to be prosecuted by the government.

Several other supporters of al Qaeda also have been designated as terrorists by the United States but appear to still be operating with immunity in Qatar, according to information disclosed by Kirk.

At least one of the individuals, Khalifa Muhammad Turki al-Subaiy, was caught raising money online as recently as April of this year.

“I am disturbed to see the Qatari Government has apparently taken no significant action against” these funders, Kirk wrote. “Indeed, both terrorist financiers reportedly remain at large.”

“Unless the United States convinces all of our coalition partners, including Qatar, to do all they can to eliminate sources of terrorist financing, our collective efforts will continue to address the symptoms of international terrorism without effectively dealing with one of its root causes,” Kirk wrote.

Jonathan Schanzer, a former terrorism finance analyst at the Treasury Department, told the Free Beacon that there are some U.S. officials who approve of Qatar’s actions.

“Remarkably, some officials have told me that they like having Qatar serve as an intermediary between the U.S. and jihadi groups,” Schanzer said.

“Qatar has long used its hosting of crucial U.S. military facilities as a means to offset the fact that it is also host to terrorist figures from Hamas, the Taliban, and a range of jihadist groups in Syria,” Schanzer explained. “Successive administrations have accepted this situation and refuse to demand that Doha change its policies. Similarly, successive administrations have refused to demand that Qatar bring known financiers to justice who have found shelter on Qatari soi

Full Measure Episode 32: May 08, 2016 (P1) – Child trafficking

May 9, 2016

Full Measure Episode 32: May 08, 2016 (P1) – Child trafficking via YouTube, May 9, 2016

(But it’s an “act of love.” For whom? The children or those who use and abuse them?– DM)

 

Cartoons of the Day

April 17, 2016

H/t The Jewish Press

bernie-disproportionate

 

H/t The Washington Times

Obama is gret

Cartoon of the Day

March 31, 2016

Via Town Hall

Climate change threat

John Kerry’s New Terror Treason

March 30, 2016

John Kerry’s New Terror Treason, Front Page Magazine, Daniel Greenfield, March 30, 2016

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Stop by your local post office and you might just see a poster of Rodrigo “Timochenko” Londono hanging next to the Most Wanted posters of bank robbers and fugitives. The State Department is offering a $5 million reward for information about the Communist terrorist leader.

But all the State Department had to do was ask Secretary of State Kerry. Obama did the wave with the Cuban dictator and Kerry met with Timochenko , the leader of FARC, a Marxist terrorist organization that appears on his own department’s list of foreign terrorist organizations a little above Al Qaeda.

Timochenko is a Communist who was trained at the USSR’s infamous Patrice Lumumba University. The State Department accuses him of ordering the kidnapping of Americans and responsibility for much of the cocaine that is smuggled into the United States. But none of that bothered Kerry who accepted a signed copy of a memoir by the terror group’s former leader which was addressed to “Senor” Kerry.

The signatures in Kerry’s new keepsake include Pablo Catatumbo, a FARC leader with a $2.5 million reward on his head from the State Department, who is wanted for “the production, manufacture, and distribution of hundreds of tons of cocaine to the United States and the world” and “the murder of hundreds of people who violated or interfered with the FARC’s cocaine policies.”Also signing Kerry’s book was Iván Márquez, who has a $5 million reward on his head for most of the same reasons.

Two of the men sitting opposite John Kerry had been convicted of forcing children to join the terror group as soldiers and sex slaves. FARC runs on thousands of child soldiers and sex slaves. Little girls as young as 7 and 9 were brought into the terror group whose fronts have a “quota” of women to fill. Families that refuse to turn over their daughters to FARC have been massacred as a warning to others.

Rape is a typical tactic for the military arm of the Colombian Communist Party. Children were seized from families. Others were “bought” from kidnappers operating in cities. Girls who became pregnant had their children forcibly aborted so the babies wouldn’t interfere with their job of servicing male fighters who protected the narcotics trade while keeping the dream of a Communist dictatorship alive.

But Kerry’s new Communist narcoterrorist chums also had American blood on their hands.

“Take them across the river and burn them.” That was how the lives of three left-wing American environmental activists had ended in the spring of 1999. Their killers were members of the FARC Marxist terror group. The victims were shot in the face after being tortured.

The Clinton administration had engaged in covert contacts with FARC terrorists even while the Marxist terrorists were helping move huge amounts of heroin and cocaine into the United States. Meanwhile it applied pressure on the Columbian government to negotiate with the terrorists by holding up weapons.

Congressman Dan Burton blasted the Clinton White House for “sitting down at the table with a group that actively seeks to wantonly kidnap and murder Americans.”

After the killings, Clinton’s press secretary warned that, “The United States will not rest until those who have committed these crimes have been brought to justice.” The US ambassador to Colombia stated that the United States, “cannot have direct contact with the FARC until it hands over those responsible for the crime.”

That comes as news to Secretary of State John Kerry. Last year, Obama Inc. said that it would not seek the extradition of FARC terrorists. It’s also possible that Obama may hand over Simon Trinidad, a FARC commander serving a sixty-year sentence for his role in taking three American hostages.  Freeing Trinidad has become a popular cause for American leftists.

The three hostages, Marc Gonsalves, Thomas Howes, and Keith Stansell, were held for 5 years until they were rescued. Their pilot, 56-year-old Tom Janis, a Vietnam veteran and Bronze Star recipient, was shot. He left behind a wife and four children. Tom is yet another Vietnam vet betrayed by John Kerry.

Mark Rich, David Mankins, and Rick Tenenoff, three missionaries, were kidnapped and murdered by FARC. As were two other missionaries, Tim Van Dyke and Steve Welsh. Frank Pescatore, a geologist, was kidnapped and murdered by FARC in 1996. The Marxist terrorists packed his body with lime and formaldehyde and tried to pretend that he was still alive in the hopes of collecting a ransom for him.

FARC attempted to murder US Ambassador Myles Frechette and the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense. It plotted to bomb President Clinton during his visit to Colombia. Agricultural scientist Thomas Hargrove was kidnapped and held by FARC for almost a year. His story inspired the movie Proof of Life. Eldon Lee Horton and Clyde Nolan Killgore, two American oil workers, were also held hostage by FARC. As was missionary Ray Rising. And bird watchers Peter Shen, Todd Mark and Louise Augustine, a former nun and retired schoolteacher. Tom Fiore, another bird watcher, escaped through the jungle.

In 2003, a FARC terrorist threw grenades at bars that Americans often visited. Five Americans were injured in the blast. Vance Vogeli described his reaction. “I looked down and there was blood.” That same year, FARC had tried to set off a car bomb near the US embassy and American hotels.

FARC’s war on America dates back to 1983 when the Marxist terror group took its first American hostage. Its last American hostage, Kevin Scott Sutay, an ex-Marine, was freed only a few years ago.

Now wanted FARC terrorists have met with Kerry and attended a baseball game with Obama. These are some of the most direct contacts possible. The indictments issued by Attorney General Ashcroft and Gonzalez are null and void. The rewards will eventually be erased by the State Department.

The Bush Administration had parted ways with Clinton’s pandering to terrorists. Instead it indicted FARC leaders and helped Colombia target them with smart bombs. Martin Caballero, a FARC commander who had plotted to bomb Clinton was blown away. As was Raul Reyes, who had been indicted in the abduction of the three American hostages.

But the victories against FARC have been thrown away once again. The peace deal gives FARC the breathing room it needs. At their meeting with Kerry, FARC leaders asked for American protection. And there is little doubt that they will receive it. Obama bailed out Cuba and intends to bail out its FARC terror group. Its American victims will never see justice. Instead their killers and torturers will thrive.

In an administration of endless lows, Secretary of State John Kerry has found a new low by meeting with wanted terrorists from a Marxist organization with American blood on its hands.

“This Cuba policy is also our Latin American policy,” Ben Rhodes boasted. Rhodes is the man who wrote Obama’s Cairo speech. The Cuba policy is solidarity with Communist enemies of the United States. Reversing JFK’s inaugural address, Obama and Kerry will pay any price, oppose any friend and support any foe in order to assure the death and defeat of liberty. That much they have pledged and done.

50 years after Kerry first turned traitor, his betrayal of the United States continues without end.

Obama on Freedom vs. Totalitarianism — Whatever Works

March 28, 2016

Obama on Freedom vs. Totalitarianism — Whatever Works, Power LinePaul Mirengoff, March 27, 2016

During his remarks, Obama stumbled through an embarrassing discourse on “capitalism vs. communism.” The would-be leader of what used to be called the Free World treated the issue as just another false choice, sort of the way he used to speak of Red States and Blue States before he figured out that the dichotomy was central to his election and reelection.

Obama seems to have been nervous during this presentation. At times, his hand gestures resembled those of the person who was translating for the deaf.

I guess the question of capitalism vs. communism is a puzzler for this president. Or maybe he was just embarrassed by what was coming out of his mouth. If not, he should have been.

Obama instructed his young listeners that the question isn’t this system vs. that system, but rather “what works.” In Cuba, he claimed (falsely), communism is working great when it comes to health care. On the other hand, he acknowledged, the country looks like it’s stuck in the 1950s.

The lesson, said Obama, is that markets tend to generate wealth. Thus, they meet his “does it work” test, though they must be heavily regulated. Such is the wisdom imparted by this (once-thought-by many-to-be) towering intellect.

Scandalously, the only argument Obama was willing to make in favor of freedom is its tendency to generate wealth. If communism produced just as much, apparently it would be just as good or better, given the more even distribution of the wealth it purports to produce.

To argue in favor of freedom as a good in itself would, in Obama’s thinking, mean succumbing to ideology. He is much too cool for that.

I infer that during the heyday of the Soviet Union, Obama might well have been a communist. Then it was thought, based on successful propaganda of the kind some now accept when it comes to health care in Cuba, that communism was working fine.

I also infer that Obama may well be a fan of the current Chinese regime. Until recently, many thought it was working quite well.

As for the U.S., Obama’s crude pragmatism militates in favor of some reliance of free markets. However, this doesn’t mean that socialist or communist solutions should be ruled out. It depends on the particular problem your addressing, Obama told his young audience.

Because freedom isn’t a big deal in an of itself, Obama’s “pragmatism” militates in favor of — for example — telling people what kinds of communities they must live in. On such matters, government diktat will “work” better than freedom in producing the kinds of neighborhoods Obama favors.

Obama doesn’t want to kill the Golden Goose of free markets. He just wants to put it in a cage with as little sunlight as is consistent with the continued laying of eggs. And he hopes we will overlook the fact that the eggs are losing their luster.

Obama’s entire speech is below. His remarks regarding capitalism vs. communism begin at around the 41:00 minute mark.

Cartoons of the Day

March 25, 2016

H/t Vermont Loon Watch

happy-daze

 

Via Dry Bones

Blindness

 

H/t Freedom is Just Another Word

bros

 

H/t Joopklepzeiker

screenshot_3311

 

screenshot_3211

Obama’s Priorities | SUPERcut! #307

March 24, 2016

Obama’s Priorities | SUPERcut! #307, Washington Free Beacon via You Tube, March 24, 2016

 

Obama Embarrasses Nation With Visit to Cuba

March 23, 2016

Obama Embarrasses Nation With Visit to Cuba, PJTV via You Tube, March 22, 2016