03/31/15

Our Weasel Of The Week Nominees!! – 03/31/15

The Watcher’s Council

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It’s time once again for the Watcher’s Council’s ‘Weasel Of The Week’ nominations, where we pick our choices to compete for the award of the famed Golden Weasel to a public figure who particularly deserves to be slimed and mocked for his or her dastardly deeds during the week. Every Tuesday morning, tune in for the Weasel of the Week nominations!

Here are this week’s nominees…

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America’s Favorite Closet Islamist, Grover Norquist!!

The Noisy Room: My nomination this week is Grover Norquist. Glenn Beck should be commended for taking on Grover Norquist. He should have been outed years and years ago. Beck devoted two shows to Norquist this week. The first laid out his connections to the Muslim Brotherhood. In the second show, he had Grover on to defend himself. The weasel did a very bad job of defending his record. His demeanor and posturing screamed that he was lying. He only went on Beck’s show after he petulantly emailed Beck that he was backing out and then reversed himself because he realized how bad it made him look.

The best line of the whole interview by Beck to Norquist: “If I take you at face value, you’re the most unlucky person … I’ve ever met in my life,” Beck said. “Only Barack Obama is this unlucky with a string of friends who are radicals.” I think that pretty much says it all.

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The Leadership of the Christian Church Disciples of Christ

Rhymes With Right: In 1993, this mainline denomination offered its enthusiastic support for the passage and signing of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.  In 1997, the denomination filed an amicus brief supporting the law when it was challenged before the Supreme Court.  Last week, the leaders of the Indianapolis-based denomination voiced their strong objection to the passage of a RFRA by the state of Indiana, and threatened to remove its 2017 biennial General Convention from Indianapolis declaring the following:

Purportedly a matter of religious freedom, we find RFRA contrary to the values of our faith – as well as to our national and Hoosier values. Our nation and state are strong when we welcome people of many backgrounds and points of view. The free and robust exchange of ideas is part of what makes our democracy great.

As a Christian church, we are particularly sensitive to the values of the One we follow – one who sat at table with people from all walks of life, and loved them all. Our church is diverse in point of view, but we share a value for an open Lord’s Table. Our members and assembly-goers are of different races and ethnicities, ages, genders and sexual orientations. They have in common that they love Jesus and seek to follow him.

We are particularly distressed at the thought that, should RFRA be signed into law, some of our members and friends might not be welcome in Indiana businesses – might experience legally sanctioned bias and rejection once so common on the basis of race.

This is a particularly weaselly declaration from these denominational leaders.  After all, the denomination itself permits its congregations to decide to whether or not to permit gay weddings in their sanctuaries, and allows its clergy the same freedom regarding whether or not to officiate gay weddings.  This is in stark contrast to the demand that the state of Indiana require all of its citizens, regardless of religion, to conform to a very different standard with regard to participating in gay weddings.

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Christian Bashin’ Bureaucrat Elizabeth Ashack

The Right Planet: An economist at the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Elizabeth Ashack, decided to jump aboard the hate wagon against my own state of Indiana in protest to the recent passage of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA).

Ashack sent out the following Tweet:

“[P]eople in the red states vote for nazis to govern, and then call themselves Christian, it will not end well for them. #BoycottIndiana”

Ashack then quickly deleted her Tweet, but not before a few people managed to get screenshots of her original Tweet. She then removed any mention of her connection to the Department of Labor in her Twitter profile. Now, Ashack claims her Twitter account was hacked:

“On Friday, March 24 both my work and home computer were hacked. An investigation is underway. Twitter and LinkedIn accounts were compromised.”

If that were true, why did she delete that Tweet as well? Now, that’s what I call a weasel!

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Tax Cheat, Race Pimp And Undying Opponent Of The English Language Al Sharpton

The Independent Sentinel: Al Sharpton is my choice for weasel of the week. In response to the Indiana Religious Freedom Act, he said this:

“This is a key moment for the country. Too often in our history, we’ve seen religion used to justify attacks on other people’s rights, from slavery, to Jim Crow, to women’s right to vote. That same fight is with us today, and we can’t let it stand.”

Similar laws to the Indiana law exist in 19 other states. The Indiana law is essentially the same as the federal law. The law in liberal Connecticut is much stricter than the one in Indiana.

Sharpton was not the lone hyperbolic fool these past few days. There was the NCAA shooting their mouths off, Cher saying it was the same as ‘slavery’, there was that great sage Miley Cyrus calling Gov. Pence an @$$hole, and economist Elizabeth Ashack calling people in the red states Nazis. Still, the whole Jim Crow thing had a special touch coming from the greatest race-baiter of this century.

Well, there it is. What a despicable group of  Weasels… ANY OF THEM COULD WIN! Check back Thursday to see which Weasel walks off with the statuette of shame!

Make sure to tune in every Monday for the Watcher’s Forum.

And remember, every Wednesday, the Council has its weekly contest with the members nominating two posts each, one written by themselves and one written by someone from outside the group for consideration by the whole Council. The votes are cast by the Council and the results are posted on Friday morning.

It’s a weekly magazine of some of the best stuff written in the blogosphere and you won’t want to miss it… or any of the other fantabulous Watcher’s Council content.

And don’t forget to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter… ’cause we’re cool like that, y’know?

03/31/15

Trevor Loudon’s Speaking Schedule For The First Half Of 2015 – Updated 03/31/15

New Zeal

Trevor Loudon is back in the states, gearing up for the 2016 election and spreading the word on how and why conservatives must win.

Noted author and anti-communist figure Trevor Loudon from New Zealand has an important message all Americans need to hear:

Ever wonder why the U.S. Congress has moved further and further left over your lifetime, while much of the electorate has become more conservative? Why government regulation and taxes have exponentially increased, even though most Americans still oppose Big Government?

Trevor’s new book, “The Enemies Within: Communists, Socialists and Progressives in the U.S. Congress” exposes the extreme Left’s infiltration of Capitol Hill.

“The Enemies Within” profiles fourteen Senators and more than fifty Representatives and their ties to the Communist Party USA, Democratic Socialists of America, Workers World Party, the Institute for Policy Studies, Council for a Livable World and other radical anti-American organizations.

Trevor says the Tea Party has stopped the socialist agenda in its tracks, but we must keep fighting. Freedom-loving people around the world are counting on us.

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What’s new in the 2015-2017 edition of Trevor Loudon’s “The Enemies Within: Communists, Socialists, and Progressives in the U.S. Congress“?

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The San Antonio connection -who are those Castro twins? Joaquin is a Congressman. Julian runs HUD. The Latino Obama they call him. Possibly on the Democratic ticket in 2016. Being talked about as a future Democratic Party Presidential candidate. San Antonio has been a hot bed of communism since the 1920s, and it didn’t all end with Emma Tenayuca and the Pecan Sheller’s Strike.

The movement reaches out far beyond Texas. See how even Eric Holder was connected. Obama too. See how the Castro twins are deeply rooted in Texas communism, not just through their La Raza activist mother Rosie Castro, but through their own radical ties, right up to the present day.

The 2015-2017 edition of “Enemies Within” will expose covert Congressional radicals in several new states, including Hawaii, Kentucky, Montana and Rhode Island, plus, it will include new profiles from California (seven), Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Missouri, New York (four), North Carolina, Texas (three), Wisconsin and Vermont.

The book will profile more than 75 serving members of the US House of Representatives and the Senate.

Trevor’s new book will be released this summer, but you can begin to pre-order PERSONALLY SIGNED copies immediately.


Buy 1 or more




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April

Thurs., Apr. 2nd, 2015
Event: National Security Briefing — Speaking Engagement/Confirmed
Time: 8:30 am CST
Place: Milestone Church
801 Keller Parkway
Keller, TX 76248

Mon., Apr. 6th, 2015
Event: Arizona Project — Speaking Engagement/Confirmed
Time: 11:30 am MST
Place: 3375 E. Shea Blvd. Suite 2
Phoenix, AZ 85028

Mon., Apr. 6th, 2015
Event: Tucson – Clair Van Steenwyck — Radio/Confirmed
Web Site: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/van-the-radio-man
Time: 2 pm MST
Place: AZ

Mon., Apr. 6th, 2015
Event: James T. Harris Show 1041 KQTH — Radio/Confirmed
Web Site: http://www.1041kqth.com/shows/143553456.html
Time: 4 pm MST
Place: AZ

Mon., Apr. 6th, 2015
Event: Heirs of the Republic — Speaking Engagement/Confirmed
Web Site: http://heirsoftherepublic.com/
Time: 6:30 pm MST
Place: U-Like Oriental Buffet
5101 North Oracle Road
Oro Valley, AZ 85704

Tues., Apr. 7th, 2015
Event: Daisy Mountain Tea Party Patriots — Speaking Engagement/Confirmed
Web Site: http://www.daisymountainteapartypatriots.com/
Time: 6:30 pm MST
Place: Anthem Civic Building
3701 West Anthem Way
Anthem, AZ 85086

Wed., Apr. 8th, 2015
Event: Erskine on Radio — Radio/Confirmed
Web Site: http://www.Erskineonradio.com
Time: Pretape for Airing on the 11th
Place: AZ

Wed., Apr. 8th, 2015
Event: Red Mountain Patriots & Freedom Fires — Speaking Engagement/Confirmed
Web Site: http://www.eastvalleyteaparty.com/
Time: 6:30 pm MST
Place: Faith Christian School
7464 East Main Street
Mesa, AZ 85207

Thurs., Apr. 9th, 2015
Event: Flagstaff Tea Party & Concerned Citizens For America — Speaking Engagement/Confirmed
Web Site: http://cc4america.org/
Time: 6:30 pm MST
Place: Church of the Nazarene
55 Rojo Drive
Sedona, AZ 86351

Fri., Apr. 10th, 2015
Event: Grassroots Activists — Speaking Engagement/Confirmed
Web Site: http://grassrootsglendaleteaparty.com/
Time: 6:30 pm MST
Place: The Brand New Church
1827 West Grovers Avenue
Phoenix, AZ 85023

Sat., Apr. 11th, 2015
Event: Moral Action Ministry — Speaking Engagement/Confirmed
Time: 9:45 am MST
Place: North Scottsdale Christian Church
28700 North Pima Road
Scottsdale, AZ 85262

Sat., Apr. 11th, 2015
Event: Payson Tea Party — Speaking Engagement/Confirmed
Web Site: http://paysonteaparty.org/
Time: 6:30 pm MST
Place: Tiny’s Family Restaurant
600 East Highway 260
Payson, AZ 85541

Mon., Apr. 13th, 2015
Event: Pickens County GA Tea Party — Speaking Engagement/Confirmed
Web Site: https://www.facebook.com/PickensCo.TeaParty?fref=ts
Time: 6:30 pm EST
Place: Chattahoochee Technical College
100 Campus Drive
Jasper, GA 30143

Tues., Apr. 14th, 2015
Event: Forsyth Constitutional Patriots and the Republican Party of Forsyth County — Speaking Engagement/Confirmed
Time: 5:30 pm EST
Place: Golden Corral
180 Hanes Mall Circle
Winston-Salem, NC

Wed., Apr. 15th, 2015
Event: CPOWER — Speaking Engagement/Confirmed
Web Site: http://www.cpower.us
Time: 5:30 pm EST
Place: Olive Garden
306 Crestview Lane1852 US Hwy 421
Wilkesboro, NC 28697

Thurs., Apr. 16th, 2015
Event: Lake Norman Conservatives — Speaking Engagement/Confirmed
Time: 6 pm EST
Place: Galway Hooker Restaurant & Pub
17044 Kenton Drive
Cornelius, NC 28031

Fri., Apr. 17th, 2015
Event: NE Georgia Tea Parties — Speaking Engagement/Confirmed
Time: 7 pm EST
Place: 6140 Events
6140 Hwy. 400
Cumming, GA 30028

Sun., Apr. 19th, 2015
Event: Jay Bolton — Radio/Confirmed
Time: 1 pm EST
Place: CT

Mon., Apr. 20th, 2015
Event: Palmetto House Republican Women — Speaking Engagement/Confirmed
Time: 6:30 pm EST
Place: Marriott
299 North Church Street
Spartanburg, SC

Tues., Apr. 21st, 2015
Event: Lanier & Georgia 400 Tea Parties — Speaking Engagement/Confirmed
Time: 7 pm EST
Place: 6140 Events
6140 Hwy. 400
Cumming, GA 30028

Wed., Apr. 22nd, 2015
Event: South Atlanta Tea Party — Speaking Engagement/Confirmed
Time: TBD
Place: Peachtree City, GA

Thurs., Apr. 23rd, 2015
Event: Coos County GOP — Speaking Engagement/Confirmed
Time: 6 pm PST
Place: Red Lion
1313 N. Bayshore Drive
Coos Bay, OR 97420

Fri., Apr. 24th, 2015
Event: Sutherlin Tea Party — Speaking Engagement/Confirmed
Time: TBD
Place: Roseburg, OR

Sat., Apr. 25th, 2015
Event: Libertarian Party of Oregon — Speaking Engagement/Confirmed
Web Site: http://www.lp.org www.lporegon.net
Time: 8 an PST
Place: Old Spaghetti Warehouse
120 Commercial St NE
Salem, OR 97301

Thurs., Apr. 30th, 2015
Event: Redlands Tea Party Patriots — Speaking Engagement/Confirmed
Web Site: http://redlandsteaparty.net/rtp/
Time: 7 pm PST
Place: Mill Creek Cattle Company, Diamond Jim’s Banquet Hall & Saloon
1874 Mentone Blvd.
Mentone, CA

May

Sat., May 30th, 2015
Event: Clark County Republican Lincoln Day Dinner — Speaking Engagement/Confirmed
Web Site: http://www.clarkrepublicans.org/
Time: 4:30 pm PST
Place: Heathman Lodge
7801 NE Greenwood Dr
Vancouver, WA 98662

03/31/15

The Progressive Transformation of Our Federal Government

By: Frank Salvato

Unionize Illegal Immigrants

Protesters participate in a display of civil disobedience as labor organizers escalate their campaign to unionize the industry’s workers. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)

With the addition of Ecuador and the Philippines as signatories to “memorandums of understanding,” the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) – effectively acting on behalf of the US federal government – has agreed to engage three foreign countries in international outreach programs designed to teach immigrants how to participate in labor organizing in the United States. Ecuador and the Philippines join Mexico as signatories to the memorandums. The agreements – which do not distinguish between those who have entered the US legally and those who have not, present several questions, including those of jurisdiction, treaty making and purpose.

The NLRB, by charter, is an independent agency of the United States government. Its members are all appointed by the President of the United States with the consent of the US Senate. It is divided into two authoritative entities: the General Counsel and the Board. The General Counsel is tasked with investigating and prosecuting unfair labor practice claims; the Board is the adjudicative body that rules on the cases brought to it.

The NLRB’s authority is legislatively limited to private sector employees (excluding governmental, railroad and airline employees covered by the Adamson Railway Labor Act, and agricultural employees) and the US Postal Service. Yet over the years, many court decisions have allowed for the board’s jurisdictional standards to become so low that almost all employers whose businesses have any appreciable impact on interstate commerce have been absorbed into the its purview, rightly or not.

What is missing from the board’s legislated organizational purview is the authority to extend its power outside the United States. Further, when it comes to agreements between the United States and foreign governments, the exclusive right to create and execute treaties in the name of the United States and/or the American people rests with the Executive Branch, pursuant to the consent of the US Senate, codified by Article II, Section 2, of the United States Constitution. By entering into agreements with foreign nations – agreements that possess the full legal weight of the United States government, the NLRB has essentially circumvented the constitutional process for entering into treaties and usurped the authorities of both the Executive Branch and the Legislative Branch of the federal government.

Additionally, the basic functions of the NLRB are meant to be centered on non-partisan arbitration and enforcement. Nowhere in the board’s legislated authority is there a proviso to advance the causes of either employers or organized labor, let alone a provision that grants them the power to teach labor organization to any demographic or faction, nationally or internationally; legally or illegally present in the United States. By entering into an agreement to provide instruction on labor organization, the NLRB has not only abdicated its mandate to be non-partisan, it has demonstrated a decided bias supporting organized labor.

Ronald J. Pestritto, Graduate Dean and Professor of Politics at Hillsdale College, writes in Woodrow Wilson: Godfather of Liberalism,

“Policymaking today, in many areas of national concern such as the environment, health care, and financial regulation, is done primarily by agencies within the bureaucracy to which Congress has delegated broad swaths of legislative authority. Recent battles ranging from rules for greenhouse gas emissions to benefits that must be covered by private health insurance plans have been fought not primarily in Congress, but in or against administrative agencies that are exercising the power given to them by Congress.”

The NLRB is certainly part of the Progressive Movement’s installed bureaucracy; a bureaucracy that functions parallel to the authority of elected government; a bureaucracy that functions even when our elected government does not. By entering into ipso facto treaties with foreign nations, the NLRB has permanently opened the Pandora’s box of transformative bureaucracy, and it is a direct threat to our original form of government.

Frank Salvato is the Executive Director of BasicsProject.org a grassroots, non-partisan, research and education initiative focusing on Constitutional Literacy, and internal and external threats facing Western Civilization. His writing has been recognized by the US House International Relations Committee and the Japan Center for Conflict Prevention. His opinion and analysis have been published by The American Enterprise Institute, The Washington Times, The Jewish World Review, Accuracy in Media, Human Events, Townhall.com and are syndicated nationally. Mr. Salvato has appeared on The O’Reilly Factor on FOX News Channel, and is the author of six books examining Islamofascism and Progressivism, including “Understanding the Threat of Radical Islam”. Mr. Salvato’s personal writing can be found at FrankJSalvato.com.

03/31/15

Will Jeb Bush Turn the GOP Gay?

By: Cliff Kincaid
America’s Survival

The homosexual movement has control of President Obama and the Democratic party. Now it is infiltrating the Republican Party. Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth discusses the 2016 Republican presidential candidates, what the Supreme Court might do on homosexual marriage, and whether the homosexualization of America can be stopped. We also discuss the Marxist origins of the gay rights movement.

03/30/15

What Everyone Needs To Know About ISIS

By: Fortress of Faith
Right Side News

Listen to Tom Wallace and Shahram Hadian at noon central time each Saturday on American Family Radio Below are the “show notes” or transcription of the audio from the broadcast, so forgive any typos/grammar irregularities, and we encourage to click on the “audio link” and listen.

Segment One | Spotlight on ISIS: Founder, Weapons and Funding

AQMI Flag jpgToday we are going to shine the spotlight on ISIS, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. We are going to see who they are and take a look at their leader, Al-Baghdadi, and how did he get to the position where he is today. We will also look at the Saudi connection, what does the Saudi government have to do with ISIS.

Once we look at the who and why we are going to look at the capabilities of this terrorist organization. We will look at their finances, the weapons that they have. We will look at what we should fear about this group.

We will look at the uniqueness of this organization. There are some things that are unique to them that you won’t find with the other Muslim terrorist groups.

We are also going to look at ISIS in America. What do we have to look forward to here in our own country.

Who Is This ISIS?

To answer this question we must understand the civil war in Syria. To understand this civil war we must first understand the difference between a Shi’ite Muslim and a Sunni Muslim.

Syria is one of three Shi’ite nations. There are not many Shi’ites in the world. They make up about 10% of the world’s Muslim population. Sunni Muslims are, by far, the largest group of Muslims in the world. Most of the Shi’ite Muslims live in Iran, Lebanon, and Syria.

A few years ago a civil war started in Syria. The people felt oppressed by their dictator and rose up to overthrow him. This has been in the news for the last four or five years. The Sunni nations around Syria saw this as an opportunity to overthrow a Shi’ite nation and make Syria a Sunni nation.

In the beginning of this civil war it was Shi’ite against Shi’ite. It is now Shi’ite against Sunni as the Sunnis try to take over the country. One of the branches of Al-Qaeda had a split. This was the beginning of ISIS. This organization is growing at a phenomenal rate. We will see that their capabilities are amazing. What they have accomplished in such short time is also amazing. ISIS is a Sunni organization.

We need to understand the difference between the Sunnis and the Shi’ites if we are to understand what is happening in the Middle East. The difference between the two groups has to do with succession. The difference goes back to the death of Muhammad. It has to do with who will be the caliph or successor of Muhammad. The best way for us to understand “caliph” is to think of it as an emperor or a king. The caliph is the supreme leader of all of Islam. His word will be law and he will control everything.

When Muhammad died the next leader was Abu Bakr, the best friend of Muhammad. It was quite clear that Muhammad had great trust in him and it was a natural flow of leadership. Abu Bakr was not a blood relative of Muhammad. The Sunni Muslims say that the caliph does not have to be related to Muhammad while the Shi’ites believe that the caliph must be a blood relative of the Prophet. This is the major difference between these two Muslim groups.

The third caliph was Uthman and he was assassinated by the Shi’ites in order to put in a caliph who was from Muhammad’s blood line. They installed Ali, a cousin and a son-in-law of Muhammad. About two years later Ali was assassinated by the Sunni Muslims. The Sunnis and the Shi’ites have been fighting over this for 1400 years.

The Sunnis have been fighting the Shi’ites in Syria but they weren’t getting anywhere. Since the Americans had left Iraq there was a great opportunity to obtain weapons and to rob and pillage that area and amass great wealth. There new leader, Al-Baghdadi, led them to stop fighting in Syria because they were not able to defeat Assad. He realized that they needed more resources, wealth and weapons, and they were available in Iraq. As a result they now have mass amounts of weapons and wealth. Their success in Iraq has captured the attention of Muslim youths around the world.

Who Is the Founder: Al-Baghdadi?

To begin with Al-Baghdadi is not his given name. It is a name that he has chosen for himself. His real name is Ibrahim Awad al-Badri. He comes from a group of Muslim scholars. His friends would describe him as a polite man, a shy man, somewhat unimpressive, but certainly a religious scholar. They say that he eschewed violence and that he was known for his soccer playing.

He studied in the University of Baghdad in Iraq. He obtained both a Masters and a PHD at this university. For many years he lived in a small apartment attached to a mosque in a small town called Tobchi. One of his friends said that when the Americans came to remove Saddam Husein he didn’t show any hostility toward them.

The catalyst that started to change things was in 2004. In 2004 he got into an argument with his landlord who owned the mosque and the apartment in which he lived. His landlord was trying to force him to join a Salafi political organization. He refused to do so and it resulted in his being thrown out of his apartment. From that time on we see different man.

Another classmate said that at that time he formed an Islamic militia. This militia later joined Al-Qaeda. This was the beginning of his jihadist activities.

Listen to Tom Wallace and Shahram Hadian at noon central time each Saturday on American Family Radio Below are the “show notes” or transcription of the audio from the broadcast, so forgive any typos/grammar irregularities, and we encourage to click on the “audio link” and listen.

Please consider supporting this ministry on a monthly basis?You can do so by going to our donation page.

Segment Two | Obama’s Foreign Policy Opened the Gate

At this time Awad al-Badri became a leader within Al-Qaeda with his own militia. Shortly after this he is taken captive by the US Army and held as a prisoner. Some say that his hatred for America really developed while he was in prison.

The change of American leadership with the election of Obama had a great effect on what followed. His promise to end the war in Iraq led to pulling our forces out too soon. When we pulled our troupes out of Iraq everything started to fall apart. All of the gains we had made started to disappear and the lives of our young men, the money we spent, and the victory we had won, were given away.

This resulted in the release of Awad al-Badri. As our troupes were leaving Awad al-Badri said “I’ll see you guys in New York.” At the time we didn’t see that as a threat, but time has shed new light on the statement. It is now something we must consider.

After his release, Awad al-Badri rejoined Al-Qaeda. He had been under the leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi who was killed in 2006. The new leader was another man named Al-Baghdadi and when he was killed Awad al-Badri took his name.

When the new Al-Baghdadi (Awad al-Badri) took over it became ruthless. This is when the mass beheadings started. They would strap suicide bombs on mentally disabled men, women, and children and would detonate them remotely when they walked into a crowd. They would hide explosives in corpses to kill those at funerals. In other words he led them to new levels of brutality.

The decision to change tactics and methods was not a decision he made alone. There was a Sharia council that chose him to be the new leader and approved of this new brutality.

He led the group for Al-Qaeda for two years. He then split from Al-Qaeda because they wanted him to join up with another group. From early 2014 he started running his own show with what has become ISIS.

The Saudi Connection: Wahhabism

Now we come to the Saudi connection. There is a great report by Alaster Crook, a British diplomat who served for years as a British intelligence officer in MI6. He has overseen many of the conflicts in the Middle East. He said:

“To understand ISIS you need to understand Wahhabism, which comes out of Saudi Arabia.”

When you boil it all down to the basics it is summed up with this quote:

“One ruler, one authority, one mosque.”

In other words, Islam must be brought into unity controlled by one leader, one authority, and one mosque. The divisions in Islam must be eradicated. This is the viewpoint of Al-Baghdadi. As a result of this the Saudis embraced this ISIS organization and encouraged Al-Baghdadi to set up the caliphate. This is the goal of every Muslim, regardless of which division of Islam they fall under.

This was the goal of Muhammad. He was trying to set up a world-wide Islamic caliphate. One of the reasons for the popularity of ISIS is that for many years Islam has been without a caliphate. The last caliphate was the Ottoman Empire and it ended in the early 1900’s. It has has been the dream of Muslims to reestablish the caliphate.

The problem is that when Al-Baghdadi set up the caliphate he proclaimed himself the caliph. This didn’t set to well with the king of Saudi Arabia. After all, he is the king and that is supposed to be his position. It was when Al-Baghdadi declared himself caliph that the king of Saudi Arabia started telling Western leaders that they had better take out ISIS because if they did not ISIS would be in Europe and the US withing months.

The Saudis are famous for getting us in the West to fight their battles. They use the fact that they control so much of the world’s oil to get the West to do their bidding.

The Finances of ISIS

Look at what this group has done in such a short time. The Economist says that ISIS is one of the best financed terrorist organization in the world. The only ones that can rival ISIS are the state sponsored groups like Hezbollah which is sponsored by Iran and Hamas which was sponsored by Egypt when the Muslim Brotherhood was in power.

They actually pay their fighters. They pay the front-line soldiers, not their generals and other officers, $400 per month. In September of 2014 they had 30,000 fighters. That means they are paying out $12,000,000 a month just for payroll. This doesn’t count the other costs of running an army. The bulk of their money comes from oil revenues from the oil fields in Iraq.

Be informed. Purchase our special package on Understanding Islam for the special price of $15.00 plus shipping and handling. You can order it from our webstore.

Segment Three | Money=Weapons and Troops

It is estimated that last year ISIS brought in more then 800 million dollars just from the oil revenues, another 40 million from the hostages they have taken, and another 40 million from donations. They have the funds to run their organization like no other terrorist organization has ever had. ISIS is certainly a force to be reckoned with.

We made a mistake in thinking this was just the JV team. I even misjudged them. I thought they were premature in proclaiming the caliphate. They get the support they do because every Muslim wants to see the caliphate reestablished.

The Weapons of ISIS

ISIS went into Iraq because the US had left a lot of weapons behind and they were easy pickings. The most important issue concerning weapons is that 40KG of uranium was taken from the university in Iraq by ISIS. What does this mean for us? This means that ISIS has the ability to make a number of dirty bombs.

They don’t have to have a warhead to use this against us. They can smuggle it across the border. This is just one of the reasons our borders must be secured. There is evidence that ISIS is coming across our southern border.

What Is Unique About ISIS?

The most unique thing about ISIS is that they have occupied territory. They have taken territory and kept it under their control. ISIS now occupies 12,000 square miles of land within Iraq. This is the size of Belgium. It is larger than the state of Maryland. None of the other terrorist groups have done anything like this. There might be one exception with Hamas in the Palestinian Territory. It is not quite the same because they did not capture this territory, the took over from within.

Another unique thing about ISIS is that they have been able to bring in a number of people from around the world. No other group has been able to develop such an attraction for the Muslim youth. One reason for this is that they have declared themselves the caliphate. This changes things in the eyes of Muslims.

Many young people have joined groups like Al-Qaeda but the difference with the Islamic State is that a Muslim can do more than just perform jihad. Jihad is one of the highest acts that a Muslim can do and dying as a martyr is the only way a Muslim can have guarantee of entering Paradise. If a Muslim dies in jihad he gets to go to heaven and have a sexual orgy for the rest of eternity, he also gets to intercede for seventy of his family members. The opportunity to enter jihad it is very appealing to young men. In addition to this there is the attraction of being able to take part in rebuilding the caliphate.

One of the most interesting of the international recruits is Jihadi John. He became famous for the beheading by ISIS of the journalist, James Foley. He was born in Kuwait, but grew up in London. He graduated from the University of Westminster with a degree in computer programing. His real name is Mohammed Emwazi. He was nicknamed Jihadi John because at first we didn’t know who he was.

If you would like to schedule a meeting with Tom you can call him at 1-800-616-0082. No church is too big or too small.

Segment Four | ISIS in America

What are the abilities of ISIS in the US?

Last September I attended a security briefing in Washington DC. At the time Michelle Bachman was still in congress. She had a permanent seat on the Intelligence Committee and was an overseer of the CIA, the NSA, and other aspects of homeland security. She held an unclassified briefing. There was a lot of concern that Americans were going to Syria and joining ISIS. She told us that the government knows of at least 300 who have gone to fight with ISIS. She called on the government to revoke their passports, and possibly their American citizenships. She suggested they be tried for treason since ISIS is a declared enemy of the United States. She also said that we know about the 300, but what about those we don’t know about?

The issue is that the Obama administration has refused to revoke the passports of these people. We know of some of them who, after being trained and fighting in Syria, have returned to America. One person who should have been arrested traveled freely in America for six months after his return to America. A border patrol officer questioned him and he gave a story about his going to Syria to visit family. They called his mother and she confirmed the story so they let him go. They did not pass this on to the FBI for further scrutiny. He returned to Syria and made a video of himself renouncing his American citizenship, burning his passport, and strapping a bomb to himself. He blew himself up amongst a group of Syrian troupes.

Who knows what he was doing while he was here in the States? How do we know that he didn’t set up a cell here in the US?

This is not limited to Americans. ISIS has been able to recruit Muslims from 80 different countries to join their cause. It is estimated that about 15,000 have joined ISIS from other countries.

A State Department spokesperson said they are combating 90.000 tweets a day from ISIS. This is another unique thing about ISIS. They are successfully using social media to recruit young people.

Another unique thing about ISIS is that we are seeing international alliances. Other Islamic terrorist organizations are pledging their allegiance to ISIS. They are bringing various factions and Islamic groups together like never before. There are Islamic groups from Afghanistan, Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Libya, Indonesia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Yemen, who have pledged allegiance to ISIS.

Let’s get back to ISIS in America. The Director of the FBI told the Attorneys General of the states that ISIS is a spiderweb that avidly uses social medial to radicalize people across the United States. He said:

We have investigations of people in various stages of radicalization in all 50 states. This is not a New York phenomenon, or a Washington phenomenon, this is all 50 states in which they are very hard to see.”

It is spread throughout our entire country.

Our borders are open to their coming in. In the briefing I mention earlier we learned that agents have detained at least 10 members of ISIS at the US/Mexican border. Back in September four terrorists tried to sneak across the border. These are the ones we know of. How many have successfully entered our country that we don’t know about?

We know that they are trying to get in. We know that there are those here in America who are sympathetic to them. We know they have uranium that can be used to make dirty bombs. We know that this organization netted over 880 million dollars last year. We know that they are not slowing down. They have captured the imagination of Muslim youth.

One in four people in the world is a Muslim. Many of these people believe their day has come.

I don’t want to be an alarmist, but these are the facts. These are the things we do know. What about the things we don’t know?

These are the things you should know about ISIS. The government has its hands full in trying to protect us.

I want to say thank you to those who are doing their jobs to protect us. Hopefully we will have good leadership that will untie their hands so they can do a better job of protecting us.

Most of all we need God’s aid in all of this. Let’s not forget that God is still sovereign and there is a reason God is allowing Islam to grow. As I have said before, we believe that God has raised up an enemy to bring judgment upon our nation for in sins.

Unless we repent, unless we turn to God, there is not hope for our nation.

The only thing that will cause God to have mercy on us is if we repent and turn back to Him.

03/30/15

Marxist Van Jones Praises Koch Brothers

By: Cliff Kincaid
Accuracy in Media

When he left the Obama Administration in disgrace, the expectation was that “former” communist Van Jones would return to Oakland, California, and resume his duties as an anti-police street activist. Instead, Jones, a former activist with the group, Standing Together to Organize a Revolutionary Movement (STORM), was hired as a “liberal” co-host of a new version of CNN’s debate show “Crossfire.” Now, Jones has emerged as a point man for Koch Industries in a multi-million dollar campaign for “criminal justice reform.”

The spectacle of Jones appearing at a podium emblazoned with the company name “Koch Industries” became a reality last Thursday when the ACLU and the billionaire Koch brothers joined forces to sponsor an all-day “Bipartisan Summit on Criminal Justice Reform.” Jones orchestrated most of the conference, serving as a moderator and speaker.

While the conference included a few Republicans, there was clear evidence that the new “bipartisan” campaign is being directed from the Obama White House. Attorney General Eric Holder and senior White House officials had met with several prominent leaders of the effort on March 2.

In addition to Jones, who was forced to resign as White House “Green Jobs Czar” after his extremist background came to light, Holder was a featured speaker, calling for “a fundamental shift in our criminal justice system,” and “historic change.”

Known for his lawless actions, such as refusing to enforce federal anti-drug laws, Holder was held in contempt by Congress for withholding documents from them about Fast and Furious, the scandal involving a gun-running operation that put deadly weapons in the hands of narcotics traffickers from Mexico. He is also known for the “open borders” policy that has prevented a vigorous enforcement of immigration laws on the federal and state level.

Addressing an audience of about 500 people, Holder spoke of a “rare consensus emerging across the country,” adding, “Recently, we have seen conservative stakeholders like Koch Industries and Americans for Tax Reform join with progressive voices like the Center for American Progress to form a new coalition dedicated to this cause.”

The “cause,” based on what we witnessed at the all-day event, is to reduce prison populations in the name of fiscal restraint and liberal compassion.

The financial support from the Koch brothers gives this left-wing campaign a bipartisan appearance and may be intended to buy some goodwill from the “progressives” who normally target these billionaires.

But knowing of Holder’s involvement in the event and the evidence that he, in fact, helped orchestrate this conference, it was troubling to some conservative observers that members of Congress, such as Congressman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) and Republican governors such as Nathan Deal of Georgia, participated in this event.

Holder argued that the criminal justice system was racist against minorities, while Deal said the system was too costly and that many criminals can be re-educated, rehabilitated and released.

Although Americans for Tax Reform was indeed listed as a sponsor, its head, Grover Norquist, was in the news for another reason. He is embroiled in a controversy over his alleged ties to Islamists, and gave an interview to Glenn Beck defending himself against the charges.

The Center for American Progress, another major player in the new “criminal justice reform” effort, is funded by the Open Society Foundations of billionaire hedge-fund operator George Soros.

The new group Holder spoke about is called the Coalition for Public Safety, financed by $5 million from the Koch brothers and other “core supporters,” such as the liberal Ford Foundation.  The group is run by Christine Leonard, a former Ted Kennedy Senate staffer once affiliated with the left-wing Vera Institute for Justice.

The Vera Institute is so extreme that its Project Concern had a National Advisory Board on Adolescent Development, Safety and Justice that included the former communist terrorist Bernardine Dohrn as an adviser from 1998 to 2003. Dohrn was accused of bombing a police station and killing a San Francisco police sergeant. However, she has never been brought to justice for her alleged role in this crime.

Though it tilted heavily toward the left, the new coalition and the conference had a sprinkling of conservatives, most notably former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich. His firm, “Gingrich Productions,” was an official sponsor. Gingrich apparently became a friend of Van Jones when they appeared together on CNN’s “Crossfire.” Other conservatives or libertarians in attendance included Matt Kibbe, President/CEO of FreedomWorks, and Tim Head, Executive Director of the Faith & Freedom Coalition.

In a joint statement, Gingrich and Jones declared, “Our over-reliance on prisons has failed America. It is past time for both political parties to come together and fix a bad system of their own making. We believe this moment offers a once-in-a generation opportunity for reforms that will save entire communities and transform the lives of millions of Americans. We must not let it pass.”

However, the well-documented book, Why Crime Rates Fell, by John E. Conklin, argues persuasively that crime reduction is due in large measure to putting more criminals in prison.

On one panel at the event, John Malcolm of The Heritage Foundation disputed the liberal notion advanced by Nicole Austin-Hillery of the Brennan Center for Justice that increased incarceration had no role in the drop in crime. He noted that economist Steven Levitt has estimated that approximately 25 percent of the decline in violent crime can be attributed to increased incarceration, and that Professor William Spelman has estimated that increased incarceration may be responsible for as much as 35 percent of the reduction in violent crime.

Following Governor Nathan Deal as a speaker was Piper Kerman, a convicted drug-money launderer who wrote, Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison, a book made into a television series by Netflix.

Dr. Tina Trent, an advocate for victims of crime, is watching this campaign go forward with a lot of questions and suspicion. She was writing about the campaign for “criminal justice reform” when it was primarily underwritten by Soros. She discovered that the group, Critical Resistance, a Soros-funded activist group founded by long-time communist Angela Davis, had invented the “cop-watch concept” that would be popularized by Jones in Oakland through a group called Bay Area Police Watch. Davis wrote, Are Prisons Obsolete?, a book arguing that criminals are victims of capitalist society.

Trent says the campaign is well underway and aims to eliminate the death penalty, life without parole sentences, “three strikes” laws, mandatory minimum sentencing laws, and other changes that states have passed over the last 20 years to reduce violent crime. Another goal is to expand voting rights for felons, who are expected to show their gratitude by voting Democratic.

She says the movement also aims to “ban the box”—a reference to removing the criminal record question from job applications—and legalize dangerous mind-altering drugs. In this context, the Soros-funded Drug Policy Alliance was another “partner” in the “bipartisan summit.”

Trent has also highlighted the Soros-funded effort to “radicalize” prisoners while they are incarcerated.

The campaign to target the prisons for revolutionary purposes is actually an old one. The House Internal Security Committee in 1973 published a report, “Revolutionary Target: The American Penal System,” which examined how “groups committed to Marxist revolutionary theories and tactics were exploiting the popular issue of prison reform and had become a source of the unrest then afflicting many of the nation’s prisons.”

A different approach and analysis of what has to be done about the crime problem is being taken by veteran journalist Colin Flaherty, in his new book, Don’t Make the Black Kids Angry. Flaherty argues that the Obama/Holder narrative of the alleged “racial victimization” of blacks by whites ignores the black-on-white violence that has become an epidemic across the country.

Rather than empty the prisons, he argues, more criminals need to be apprehended and punished.

Black crime rates are “astronomically out of proportion” to their presence in the population, he points out. But the media “ignore, condone and deny it.” Obama, he adds, is a “willing partner” in the deception.

03/30/15

Forum: What’s Your Take on The Bowe Bergdahl Situation? What Will The Outcome Be?

The Watcher’s Council

Every week on Monday morning, the Council and our invited guests weigh in at the Watcher’s Forum with short takes on a major issue of the day, the culture or daily living. This week’s question: What’s Your Take on The Bowe Bergdahl Situation? What Will The Outcome Be?

The Glittering Eye: As Lord Sankey said in 1935, the presumption of innocence is the golden thread that runs through the criminal law. That is as true of our code of military justice as it is of our civil code. I’m concerned that too many are forgetting that in the case of Bowe Berdahl. Let the case work its way through the courts. That’s what hearings and trials are for.

I do find it interesting that the editors of the New York Times a) assume that Berdahl is guilty and b) think he should be absolved from that for political reasons. There is another ancient legal dictum that covers that: fiat justitia ruat caelum or let justice be done though the heavens fall.

Wolf Howling: On the night of June 30, 2009, Army Spc. Bowe Bergdahl, then stationed in Afghanistan at Outpost Keating, left a note in his tent stating “he was leaving to start a new life.” Bergdahl left his post and made his way into the surrounding countryside, committing a textbook act of desertion per the UCMJ. The Taliban soon made Bergdahl their prisoner.

In the immediate aftermath of his desertion, Bergdahl’s battalion engaged in repeated efforts to find him in operations that claimed the lives of six soldiers. Moreover, Army Command made a decision that Outpost Keating, then slated for closure, should remain open as a base from which to search for Bergdahl. On October 3, 2009, the base was subjected to the one of the largest and bloodiest attacks of the Afghan War, in what has become known as the Battle of Kamdesh. The battle resulted in eight more American soldiers killed and twenty-seven wounded.

The Obama administration, at some point, began secret negotiations with the Taliban for the return of Bergdahl. In violation of U.S. law, the Obama administration agreed to a prisoner exchange with the Taliban without timely notifying Congress. Despite that, the Obama administration claiming general power to act under the Constitution, unilaterally authorized the deal. On May 31, 2014, Bergdahl was exchanged for five top Taliban commanders who, until then, were being held at the Guantanamo Bay prison facility.

In the wake of criticism, the Obama administration defended their deal, laughably claiming that Bergdahl was a soldier with a distinguished record of service. At least three of the five members of the Taliban Five seem poised to resume their efforts against American and Afghanistan interests. The U.S. military recently charged Bergdahl with desertion.

My take is that Bergdahl should be tried for desertion and, if found guilty, be jailed for life. I also believe that Obama’s decision to trade for Bergdahl was part of a larger plan to close Gitmo, but that pushback in the wake of this trade will stop that. Obama, who has made an industry out of violating the Constitution and the laws of our nation, will suffer no penalty for this trade because Congress is too supine to force the issue. Most if not all of the Taliban Five will return to their positions in the Taliban to again plan the death and destruction of Americans.

At the Daily Caller, W. James Antle III opines on one other possible fallout:

The charges against Bowe Bergdahl are not merely embarrassing to the White House. They will further undermine the already shaky confidence in the Obama administration’s nuclear negotiations with Iran.

I don’t see that. The Iran negotiations are orders of magnitude more important than the Bergdahl situation, which is little more than a flash in the pan in the grander scheme of things. Obama has already given the nation countless grounds to mistrust his judgment and veracity as regards the Iran negotiations. The administration’s prevarications and poor judgment as regards Bergdahl are merely more straws on a camels back that is already broken. In the very near future, no one will remember this but as one more sad footnote in the history of the Obama administration. At least, that is, until new American deaths can be traced to the recently released members of the Taliban Five, as seems a certainty. Then the impotent howling will commence yet again.

JoshuaPundit: I pretty much said what I had to say here. The Army had to be dragged kicking and screaming into prosecuting this human detritus because the top brass have all seen what happens to generals whom don’t toe the party line…they get booted out. The Army knew as far back as 2010 when the Pentagon originally investigated this that Bergdahl willfully deserted his post, but they’ve kept stalling. The Army even postponed charging Bergdahl until after the 2014 midterms.

So our our commander-in-chief paid a nice ransom and freed 5 top Taliban commanders from Club Gitmo who have undoubtedly been responsible for more attacks on our troops in AfPak now that they’re free. It also doesn’t surprise me that the Obama regime knew Bergdahl was a deserter but lied to the American people about him ‘serving with honor and distinction.’ They simply don’t care anymore, having gotten away with this kind of thing so many times at this point.

The Army does surprise me though, just a bit. Considering that Bergdahl put his unit in danger and that Bergdahl was directly  responsible for the deaths of at least 5 other soldiers whom died trying to find him. I’m convinced the only reason they finally charged him was because this was so blatant it would have resulted in a major morale and discipline issue if they had just swept it under the rug, as they were obviously told to. At  that, what we’ve actually got here is not the prelude to a court martial
but the military equivalent of a ‘grand jury’, to stretch this out for months so the end result can be more or less buried.

The end result? They’ll obviously have to try him, whether they want to or not. There’s just too much evidence, including a little love note he wrote before he left. I’m assuming they will not consider AfPak as actual wartime, so a violation of Article 28 of the UCMJ calls for 2-5 years imprisonment, a dishonorable discharge and loss of all pay and benefits.

By time he’s actually sentenced, at worst he’ll probably get two years , and it will be close enough to January 2017 that he’ll merit a presidential pardon or commutation of sentence after serving a few months. when you compare this with how the Pendleton 8 were treated, (all of them were acquitted after going through sheer hell) it makes you wonder…

GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD: Bergdahl is charged with one count of Article 85 and one count of Article 99.

Article 85 is “desertion with intent to shirk important or hazardous duty.” It carries a maximum potential punishment of a dishonorable discharge, reduction to the rank of private, total forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and five years in prison.

Article 99 is “misbehavior before the enemy by endangering the safety of a command, unit or place.” It carries a maximum potential penalty of dishonorable discharge, reduction to the rank of private, total forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and life in prison.

The UCMJ defines desertion as intent to leave a unit “permanently.”

Army officials associated with Bergdahl’s legal case cannot discuss or disclose the findings of the 2014 investigation while legal actions are pending “out of respect to the judicial process, the rights of the accused and to ensure the proceeding’s fairness and impartiality.”

The date of the hearing has not been announced.

An Article 32 preliminary hearing is similar to a civilian grand jury inquiry. It is designed to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to merit a court-martial.

Based on the outcome of the hearing, a general court-martial convening authority will decide whether to refer charges to a general court-martial, refer the charges to a special court-martial, dismiss the charges, or take any other action deemed appropriate.

One important difference in the military process is that the defendant and defense counsel are present for the hearing and can cross-examine witnesses.

Without a confession from Bergdahl, military lawyers would need to rely on circumstantial evidence to prove his intent, including statements from members of his unit and Afghan villagers who may have come in contact with him after he left the U.S. base.

Depending on the outcome of the Article 32 hearing, Bergdahl’s attorney, could request an administrative solution to his client’s case by requesting that the military discharge Bergdahl in lieu of a court-martial.

Most likely, that is what will happen – a less than honorable discharge.

Personally, “Death To Traitors” may be apropos.

Also, tons of speculation that the Taliban 5 swap for Bergdahl may be the 1st step to shutting down enemy detentions at Guantanamo Bay.

Bookworm Room: In June 2009, when Bowe Bergdahl vanished, those who were paying attention already knew that he was a deserter at best or a collaborator at worst. His reputation amongst his fellow troops was terrible and, as his email correspondence with his father was being made public, it was obvious that Bergdahl wasn’t simply a lost sheep.

By the time of his release from Taliban hands, in May 2014, the military had, not only lost six good men searching for him, it had also had ample time to study everything about Bergdahl’s life until the point of his captivity — and to get to know his family. His father is quite manifestly a Muslim convert, with his beard and headdress and Pashtun and Arabic prayers. Or he has a really, really, bizarre variation of Stockholm Syndrome, to the point at which he’s identifying with his son’s hosts or captors, depending on which story one believes.

Obama knew all of this, and yet he took Bergdahl back in exchange for five men who undoubtedly have killed many Americans and who, know free, will undoubtedly kill many more. Not only that, but he had his mouthpieces fan out and knowingly tell Americans the lie that Bergdahl served honorably and vanished bravely.

Summed up: At all times relevant to Bergdahl’s release, it was manifestly obvious based upon the widely available evidence — almost all of it from Bergdahl’s and his father’s own keyboards — that this was an act of desertion, pure and simple.

So why the “desertion” charge now? This is going to be a show trial. Bergdahl’s lawyers are already claiming (a) that it’s the military’s fault for allowing him to enlist in the first place; and/or (b) that he was trying to be a good soldier by departing in the dark of night, without any of his equipment, to report to another base about infractions on his base. The military tribunal, assuming it’s been properly staffed with “good soldiers,” will accept one or the other of these defenses, and Bergdahl will vanish into obscurity.

Laura Rambeau Lee, Right Reason: Since the Bowe Bergdahl trade last May with the Taliban for five high value enemy combatants held at Guantanamo Bay, many of us were under the impression an Article 32 investigation was underway. The announcement on March 25th reveals that what the Army was conducting all this time was an Article 15-6 investigation, which is a non-judicial investigation utilized for lesser crimes committed while in the military.

We now know Bergdahl has been charged with “desertion with intent to shirk important or hazardous duty” as well as “misbehavior before the enemy.” These charges mean now Bergdahl might receive an Article 32 hearing, essentially like a civilian grand jury hearing, to determine if there is enough evidence to proceed to a court-martial.

Many who have been following the case heard statements from his platoon members, who all appear to agree Bergdahl deserted his post and should be court-martialed. Possibly half a dozen of his platoon mates lost their lives looking for Bergdahl.

After all the fanfare with President Obama and Bergdahl’s family in the White House Rose Garden, and with Susan Rice stating on national television that “he served the United States with honor and distinction”, the political pressure on the military must be intense to make this case go away.

I suspect the outcome of this will be Bergdahl’s attorney will ask for, and the Army will grant, an administrative discharge, avoiding an Article 32 hearing altogether. This means he will receive an “other than honorable” discharge and will not serve any jail time.

What is most disturbing is that our military, caving under the political pressure of this administration, delayed and continues to delay bringing the Bergdahl desertion case to court martial.

Well, there you have it!

Make sure to tune in every Monday for the Watcher’s Forum and every Tuesday morning when we reveal the week’s nominees for Weasel of the Week!

And remember, every Wednesday, the Council has its weekly contest with the members nominating two posts each, one written by themselves and one written by someone from outside the group for consideration by the whole Council. The votes are cast by the Council and the results are posted on Friday morning.

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03/29/15

Bone Weary

Arlene from Israel

Anyone who is tracking the news these days, and genuinely cares for the security of Israel and the future of the US – not to mention Europe and the Mideast – has got to have an extremely heavy heart.  We are facing some very dark times.

With regard to Israel, serious thinkers are pondering the best way to survive the 22 months until Obama is out of office.  But the problem is actually a great deal bigger than the issue of how Obama is behaving towards Israel – as much as this remains huge for us here.

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Obama.  In addition to his irrational and venomous attacks on Israel, there is his courting of Iran.  One is the flip side of the other: Alienate Israel, buddy up to Iran.

We are now a mere two days away from the presumed deadline on a signed framework deal between Iran and P5 + 1.  (In reality this is a negotiation between Iran and the US, as the other negotiating partners, with the exception of France, have largely pulled back.)  How likely it is that a deal really will take place depends on whom you ask.  What is clear is that Obama – and Kerry, operating in his stead – are doing all they can to achieve this “diplomatic success.”

Because of Obama’s eagerness, what we are seeing is the stuff of nightmares.  Definitely nightmares, as it’s hard to believe this could be happening in the light of day.  The Iranians – recognizing very well with whom they are dealing – have consistently stonewalled on US demands.  Last Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal broke with a story on yet another US pullback, each in turn design to conciliate the Iranians (emphasis added):

Talks over Iran’s nuclear program have hit a stumbling block a week before a key deadline because Tehran has failed to cooperate with a United Nations probe into whether it tried to build atomic weapons in the past, say people close to the negotiations.

“In response, these people say, the U.S. and its diplomatic partners are revising their demands on Iran to address these concerns before they agree to finalize a nuclear deal, which would repeal U.N. sanctions against the country.”

http://www.wsj.com/articles/iran-stalls-u-n-probe-into-its-1427327943

The issue is “possible military dimensions” (PMD).  As Omri Ceren of The Israel Project has explained (emphasis added):

“PMD disclosure is about base-lining all of Iran’s nuclear activities – not just its known civilian parts – as a prerequisite for verifying that those activities have been halted under a nuclear deal. Iran has uranium mines; some are civilian and some are military. It has centrifuges; some are operated by civilians and some by IRGC personnel. It has uranium stockpiles; some are maintained by civilians and some by the military. There’s no way for future inspectors to verify that Iran has shuttered its mines, stopped its centrifuges, and shipped off its stockpile – for instance – unless the IAEA knows where all the mines and stockpiles are.

“No PMDs mean no verification.”

~~~~~~~~~~

And there’s more.  On Thursday, AP reported (emphasis added):

The United States is considering letting Tehran run hundreds of centrifuges at a once-secret, fortified underground bunker in exchange for limits on centrifuge work and research and development at other sites…”

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/ap-exclusive-iran-run-centrifuges-fortified-site-29925489

As Ceri explains here (emphasis added):

“Allowing the Iranians to enrich at Fordow means they could kick out inspectors at any time and have a fully-functioning enrichment facility hardened against military intervention. Since sanctions will be unraveled by design at the beginning of a deal, that means the West would have literally zero options to stop a breakout…

“The White House started out promising that Fordow would be shuttered, then that it would be converted into an R&D plant where no enrichment would take place, and now they’ve collapsed.”

~~~~~~~~~~

Add to the above the fact that the US is ignoring the violent hegemonic encroachment of Iranian proxies across various areas of the Middle East – as if it were only the issue of nuclear capacity that must be dealt with.

There are, of course, Syrian president Assad, and Iranian proxy Hezbollah in Lebanon (and Syria).  But most recently what we’ve seen is the takeover of Yemen by the Shiite Houthis, also supported by Iran.  Houthi control of Yemen has enormous importance because of its strategic location, adjacent to Saudi Arabia.  From the Yemenite port city of Aden, the straits of Bab el-Mandeb, which are only about 20 miles wide, can be controlled.  The straits constitute a major chokepoint – so the party that controls the area has the capacity to block marine traffic from the Indian Ocean via the Red Sea to the Mediterranean.  Somewhere in the neighborhood of 3.8 million barrels of oil and refined petroleum products pass through the straits daily on their way to destinations in Asia, Europe and the US.

This is before we mention that increased Iranian backed presence in the Middle East is worrisome to Israel.

But the US is not paying a whole lot of attention. US special forces fled Yemen a while ago, and US negotiators are not raising this issue.  There are commentators who believe that the US should have walked out on negotiations until Iran withdrew support for the Houthis.  But that might have jeopardized the deal, which has first priority for Obama – the rest of the world be damned.

~~~~~~~~~~

You want to know how crazy it is?  While Obama is promoting diplomatic ties with Iran and “reaching out” to the Iranians, we can see in a MEMRI video that Iranian leader Khamenei cries “Death to America.”

http://www.memri.org/clip/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/4838.htm

~~~~~~~~~~

Amir Hossein Motaghi is an Iranian journalist who was supposed to be covering the negotiations, but has defected because he could not longer tolerate Iranian demands that he write his reports according to their specifications.

In a TV interview, he has now said:

The U.S. negotiating team are mainly there to speak on Iran’s behalf with other members of the 5+1 countries and convince them of a deal.”

http://www.algemeiner.com/2015/03/28/iranian-defector-us-negotiating-team-mainly-there-to-speak-on-iran%e2%80%99s-behalf/

If this does not blow your mind, you are not getting it.

~~~~~~~~~~

What I really cannot grasp – even beyond the question of how a man such as Obama secured two terms in the White House – is why the other negotiating nations are being so passive, when Iran is a threat to them, or why the American people are not truly up in arms (meant figuratively here).

~~~~~~~~~~

There are just a small number of possible recourses with regard to this situation:

The first is the US Congress, many of whose members – Republicans, but a handful of Democrats as well – indeed are grievously distressed by what is going on.  What is required is a sufficient number of votes in the Senate to over-ride a veto by Obama, so that sanctions to weaken Iran can be put in place appropriately. We are seeing signs that this may be possible.

“The U.S. Senate voted unanimously on Thursday for a non-binding amendment to a budget bill intended to make it easier to re-impose sanctions if Iran violates a nuclear deal.

“The vote was 100-0 for the amendment, sponsored by Republican Senator Mark Kirk, which would establish a fund to cover the cost of imposing sanctions if Tehran violated terms of an interim nuclear agreement now in effect, or the final agreement negotiators hope to reach before July.”

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/26/iran-nuclear-congress-idUSL2N0WS30W20150326

~~~~~~~~~~

And then there is Israel.

According to Minister Gilad Erdan (Likud) there is time between the signing of a framework agreement now and the final agreement in June – at which point details would be factored in – when diplomatic maneuvering can still be done.  This would involve, it seems to me, key communication with France first – as France has the greatest unease about what is taking place.

Beyond this, there is the military option, with the moment of truth advancing rapidly.  We are now probably past the 11th hour, perhaps at about 15 minutes to midnight.

Prime Minister Netanyahu has said, again and again, that he will never permit Iran to become a nuclear power. He has also made it clear that Israel is not bound by the terms of a very bad P5 + 1 deal with Iran.

Just today, Deputy Foreign Minister Tzachi Hanegbi, a close Netanyahu associate, declared on public radio that Israel “will not be bound by an accord concluded by others and will know how to defend itself.” (Emphasis added)

https://news.yahoo.com/dangerous-accord-iran-worse-israel-feared-pm-094154014.html

What our government will do in the end, and what our military is capable of doing, remains to be seen.  Israel cannot take out Iran’s capacity for nuclear development entirely – but can, as I understand it, do considerable damage.

The scuttlebutt is that Netanyahu wants to attack, although I know people who are convinced he never will. (Please, do not write to share opinions on this.)  Some months ago, information was revealed indicating that at one point Defense Minister Ya’alon was opposed to an attack but has now changed his mind.

A key factor here is the readiness of Saudi Arabia, which is absolutely enraged with Obama’s inaction on Iran, to lend passive assistance, at a minimum, should Israel decide to attack. The Saudis would be delighted – make no mistake about this.  This assistance might make a difference in the end.  Because the other piece of the story is that Obama is trying his best to track Israeli intentions and to block us.

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Leon Panetta – former director of the CIA and Secretary of Defense under Obama, gave an interview to Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC three days ago that merits mention here. Put simply, what he said was that he learned at the CIA and Defense that “The Iranians can’t be trusted.”

This is the bottom line.  Said Panetta (emphasis added):

“…the real test is going to be, and the whole world will be looking at it — the test will be have we truly made sure that Iran can be stopped from developing a nuclear weapon. And to do that in my book demands transparency and it demands accessibility so that we have a firm inspection regime that will guarantee they cannot do this.”

http://dailycaller.com/2015/03/26/former-obama-defense-secretary-the-iranians-cant-be-trusted-video/

Precisely! And that is never, ever going to happen.

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I recently encountered an article that asked, in its lead: Which side is Obama on?  That, my friends, is a rhetorical question.  It is clear that he is on Iran’s side.

That being the case, it is inevitable that the president would come down on Netanyahu in every way possible.  He wants to discredit him, and weaken him, and delegitimize his position, for Netanyahu is the key stumbling block to what he is trying to achieve.  There is no way for Bibi to make it “right” with Obama. It’s not really about the negotiations with the Palestinian Arabs or other related issues.

And facing the truth straight on also helps explain why Obama worked so hard behind the scenes to defeat Netanyahu in the elections, and why he is so frustrated now.

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Just a moment here, then, to look at what is happening at home.  I wrote last week about the apparent halting of building scheduled for Har Homa in Jerusalem (and indeed I’ve received no information that it was anything else such as a bureaucratic mix-up).  That did not sit well.  Since I wrote about that, information has surfaced about Israel agreeing to release to the Palestinian Authority tax monies that had been collected – with some held back against money owed to Israel for electricity and other services.  On top of this, there is apparently a deal for Israel to sell gas to Gaza, with Qatar paying the bill.

This did not sound good.  Really not good. Certainly at first blush it looks like a caving to Obama under pressure, because there is so much talk about Israel’s “readiness’ for a “two state” deal.

But that’s at first blush, and I’ve been struggling with this long and hard over the last couple of days. Because there is another way to look at this.  If Netanyahu is making concessions to please Obama it is the height of foolishness, a terrible weakness, as nothing will please Obama where we are concerned.  The only way to respond to him is with strength.  Anything that smacks of weakness will simply invite more pressure.

But suppose Netanyahu is doing this to remove some of the poison spewed by Obama (Netanyahu is a racist, he does not want peace, etc.), in order to deal more placidly with others? Suppose he wants to approach Democrats in Congress conveying the image of someone who is willing to compromise for peace, so that they will hear him on Iran?  Suppose he wants to speak with French leaders – who are eager for “two states” – from a position that will make them more amenable to his message? Or with other European countries?  Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz suggests several nations are uneasy about the deal.

In light of the enormous weight of what our prime minister has to deal with, I prefer to cut him some slack here, for the moment, and see how the situation evolves. Today he told the Cabinet:

“This deal, as it appears to be emerging, bears out all of our fears, and even more than that.”

http://www.jpost.com/Breaking-News/Netanyahu-says-expected-Iranian-nuclear-deal-even-worse-than-Israel-feared-395468

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I had hoped to discuss some matters related to the formation of the coalition here, but will table this.  Before closing, I want simply to look at a couple of relative bright spots in an otherwise grim picture.

Saudi Arabia, alarmed by the Houthi take-over in Yemen, and absolutely furious at Obama for opting out of involvement, decided to act, in concert with other Sunni allies.  This was promising, as the Iranian takeover by proxy in Yemen is being pushed back as a result of Saudi airstrikes that are being hailed a success. There is further talk of ground forces in Yemen, although my information is that it will not be necessary, as there are tribal groups in Yemen that are ready to act on the ground against the Houthis.

Even further, the Arab League, at the closure of a meeting in Egypt, has announced in principle the creation of a joint Arab rapid response force. Egypt, which would be a prime mover in the establishment of such a force, declared that it would consist of some 40,000 elite troops, backed by jets, warships and light armor.  What this means is that even though the US has totally abdicated its role of confronting Iranian regional aggression, there are Sunni Arab states presumably ready to step up, lest the feared and detested Iran take over the region.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2015/03/29/yemen-rebels-air-bases/70625166/

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Then see this report that says Hezbollah – operating at the behest of Iran – has been stopped by paramilitary rebel forces from establishing a major presence on the Golan directly adjacent to the Israeli border.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/on-the-syrian-golan-unlike-in-yemen-an-iranian-offensive-fails/