06/19/15

Greece: Millions withdrawn from ATMs – BBC News

“Bank Holiday” Preparations Begin In Greece, Lines Form At Athens ATMs

06/19/15

Obamaism vs The Good Guys

06/19/15

The Black Robe Regiment and Consequences of Gay Marriage

06/19/15

Sessions: Fast-Track Will Transfer Power To Unelected Foreign Bureaucrats, Destroy American Jobs

“A vote for fast-track is a vote to erase valuable procedural and substantive powers of Congress concerning a matter of utmost importance involving the very sovereignty of this nation. Without any doubt, the creation of this living commission with all its powers will erode the power of the American people to directly elect—or dismiss from office—the people who impact their lives.”

[NOTE: New information has been discovered about the President’s fast-tracked pacts not known at the time the Senate voted. Included among them is this declaration from the President’s trade representative: “We will insist on a robust, fully enforceable environment chapter in the TPP or we will not come to agreement… Our proposals would enhance international cooperation and create new opportunities for public participation in environmental governance and enforcement… The United States reiterated our bedrock position on enforceability of the entire environment chapter…”]

06/19/15

Obama-linked Extremist Group Publishes “HIT LIST” of Anti-Sharia Females in the U.S.

Doug Ross @ Journal

By Judicial Watch

The Obama-tied leftist group that helped a gunman commit an act of terrorism against a conservative organization has assembled a starter kit for Islamists to attack American women who refuse to comply with Sharia law, the authoritarian doctrine that inspires Islamists and their jihadism.

It’s the summer special from the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), an extremist nonprofit that lists conservative organizations that disagree with it on social issues on a catalogue of “hate groups.” A few years ago a gunman received a 25-year prison sentence for carrying out the politically-motivated shooting of the Family Research Council (FRC) headquarters after admitting that he learned about the FRC from the SPLC “hate map.” Prosecutors called it an act of terrorism and recommended a 45-year sentence.

Now the SPLC, which has conducted diversity training for the Obama Department of Justice (DOJ), is targeting female bloggers, activists and television personalities who refuse to comply with Sharia law which is rooted in the Quran. The European Court on Human rights has repeatedly ruled that Sharia is “incompatible with the fundamental principles of democracy” yet politically-connected radical Muslim groups—such as the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR)—keep pushing to implement it in the United States and the movement has gained steam.

Among those resisting this effort publicly are the high-profile women being targeted by the SPLC. Some of them are colleagues or friends of Judicial Watch and now they must fear for their safety simply for practicing their rights under the U.S. Constitution. The new hate list is titled Women Against Islam/The Dirty Dozen and includes illustrations and detailed information on all the women, who are branded “the core of the anti-Muslim radical right.” The new SPLC hate brochure further targets them by claiming that they’re “a dozen of the most hardline anti-Muslim women activists in America.”

Political activist and commentator Pamela Geller is branded the “country’s most flamboyant and visible Muslim-basher” for, among other things “smearing and demonizing Muslims.” Blogger Ann Barnhardt is identified as one of the “most extreme Muslim-bashers in the United States” and radio talk-show host Laura Ingram made the list for saying that hundreds of millions of Muslims were delighted that 12 people were massacred by Islamic terrorists in the Paris headquarters of a satirical magazine. Former CIA agent Clare Lopez, who runs a Washington D.C. think-tank focusing on national security issues, made the list for saying that the Muslim Brotherhood has “infiltrated and suborned the U.S. government to actively assist…the mission of its grand jihad.”

Others appearing on the anti-Sharia docket include television personality and former judge and prosecutor Jeanine Pirro, former chairwoman of the Texas Republican Party Cathie Adams, talk-show host Sandy Rios of the American Family Association, syndicated columnist Diana West, attorney and columnist Debbie Schlussel, blogger Cathy Hinners, ACT! for America founder Brigitte Gabriel and conservative writer and TV personality Ann Coulter. Among her biggest offenses, according to the SPLC, is proclaiming that “not all Muslims may be terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslims—at least all terrorists capable of assembling a murderous plot against America.”

Incredibly, the SPLC is one of a number of leftist special interest groups that has colluded with the DOJ since Obama moved into the White House. A few years ago JW uncovered government records that show the DOJ Civil Rights and Tax divisions engaged in questionable behavior while negotiating for SPLC co-founder Morris Dees to appear as the featured speaker at a 2012 “Diversity Training Event.” JW pursued the records under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to determine what influence the SPLC’s branding of hate groups has had on government agencies.

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06/19/15

The Council Has Spoken!! Our Watcher’s Council Results – 06/19/15

The Watcher’s Council

The Council has spoken, the votes have been cast and the results are in for this week’s Watcher’s Council match-up.

I have an institutional fear of big government. I have an institutional opposition to bureaucracy. – Rush Limbaugh

I’m not against business. I’m against big business in bed with big government. – Rep. Dave Brat

Talk is cheap… except when Congress does it. – Will Rogers

This week’s winning essay, The Right Planet’s The Slave Trade Deal, does an in-depth job of tackling the top secret ObamaTrade legislation and explains what it means for our economy and our national sovereignty.

Here’s a slice:

Once again, Bill Still has really knocked it out of the park in the video above, if you ask me. Bill cogently deconstructs the diabolical nature of the entire Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal. And I’m right on-board with just about everything Bill Still says in this video. Mr. Still succinctly expresses many of the major issues I have concerning TPP, and why I oppose the so-called “free trade” deal that has come to be called “ObamaTrade.”

If you’re wondering, who is Bill Still? He won the Best Documentary of 2010 at the Beloit International Film Festival for his work “The Secret of Oz,” a compelling and fascinating exposé on the debt-based monetary system and fractional reserve banking. After I watched his documentary several years ago, I’ve been following his work ever since.

The TPP has been a cornerstone of Obama’s “pivot toward Asia.” The proposed trade agreement hopes to establish a free trade zone that includes 12 nations: Japan, Malaysia, Australia, Chile, Canada, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Brunei, Singapore, Vietnam and the United States—representing forty percent of the world’s GDP. Taiwan and South Korea have also expressed interest in joining.

Last week, the House narrowly passed Trade-Promotion Authority (TPA), also known as “fast-track,” by a vote of 219 to 210. Fast-track gives the executive branch many of the powers usually reserved for Congress, allowing the president to negotiate international trade deals. Under TPA, Congress can approve or disapprove, but not amend or filibuster any proposed trade deals. Fast-track authority was first granted to President Gerald Ford in 1974. It expired in 2007 … leading Bill Still to ask, “If it was such a great thing, why was it allowed to expire?”

The only reason TPA was prevented from becoming law is due to the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) measure being voted down. The purpose of TAA is to provide enhanced unemployment payments to Americans who will lose their jobs as a direct result of passing TPP!

Let that sink in for a moment. The whole TPP scheme is being sold to the American people as something that will benefit the U.S. economy and spur job growth. And yet the TPP bill includes a measure (i.e. TAA) providing assistance for Americans who will lose their jobs as a result of passing the trade deal. You can’t make this stuff up, folks; nor would I have any desire to do so. Furthermore, the reason Democrats like Nancy Pelosi voted down TAA because it didn’t spend enough money and the unions weren’t happy about it. The Democrats still want TAA.

The TAA measure was slated for a second vote today. But, now, the TAA do-over vote has been postponed until July 30, giving the president and the pro-TPP crowd in Congress seven weeks to rally their minions. The delay also pushes the do-over vote right up to the very last possible moment before the month-long August recess.

(UPDATE: The Republicans have resurrected ObamaTrade … vote set for Thursday (6/18).)

Similar to what Bill Still expressed on the whole ObamaTrade scheme, I, too, feel like I’m being transported back to 1993 when NAFTA was passed. It was the same rhetoric being used then that we are being served now concerning TPP. Americans were promised it would be a big boon to the economy that result in more good-paying jobs. But, instead, we experienced significant job loss. Some 700,000 jobs were lost to Mexico due to NAFTA, according to the AFL-CIO.

As Bill Still points out, NAFTA didn’t just hurt Americans. It also adversely affected corn farmers in Mexico on small communal farms run by indigenous Indians, jeopardizing Mexico’s self-sufficiency—victims of giant, subsidized, corporate farming in the U.S. The same subsidized corporate farming giants also hurt American farmers as well. The bottomline is that it’s not only Americans who are concerned and opposed to so-called “free trade” deals like NAFTA and TPP.

Lately, there has been a push by pro-TPP individuals and organizations to try and woo the American public in supporting ObamaTrade by playing the us versus them meme.

Don Lee wrote at the Los Angeles Times:

In recent weeks, one Obama official after another has hammered away at the same line of argument: It’s crucial that Congress supports the TPP — including passing a related trade-promotion bill that would strengthen the president’s negotiating hand — because the alternative is that China, not the U.S., will write the rules of global trade.

Interestingly, this is the same pro-TPP propaganda the Chamber of Commerce is selling. Postcards have been sent out, and radio ads have been playing, stating if the U.S. doesn’t get on-board with ObamaTrade, China will “write the rules for global trade.” This is simply fear-mongering.

The Ups and Downs

Arlene from Israel

Lots of “downs,” for sure, but we have to also seek out the “ups” wherever we can find them.

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American-born Michael Oren – historian, immediate past Israeli ambassador to the US, newly elected MK in the Kulanu party, – has surprised me, and a whole lot of other people as well. He was always a very middle of the road, “two-state” advocate, and someone who has seemed to be an “establishment” type. I would not – could not! – have predicted the critique of Obama he has now produced.

Credit: Bloomberg

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Oren has written a book – Ally: My Journey Across the American-Israeli Divide, which will be released June 23 – and a major article in the WSJ, in which he discusses Obama’s attitude towards Israel with startling candidness.

John Podhoretz wrote about the book thus (emphasis added):

“It’s an ultimate insider’s story told while all the players save Oren are still in place…

“It’s not that there’s lots of breaking news in ‘Ally’ that will startle people. Rather, it makes news on almost every page with its incredibly detailed account of the root hostility of the Obama administration toward the Jewish state…

“On major matters, the administration seemed to hold Israel accountable for problems it had nothing to do with…

“Oren also writes about bizarrely petty offenses. In 2010, Obama left Israel off a list of countries he mentioned as having helped in the wake of the Haiti earthquake when it was the first nation in the world to dispatch relief teams and get them to the disaster sites — because the president was angry about something having to do with the peace process…”

http://nypost.com/2015/06/09/a-new-inside-account-of-obamas-israel-ire/

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In his Wall Street Journal piece, written this week, Oren writes (emphasis added):

“’Nobody has a monopoly on making mistakes.’ When I was Israel’s ambassador to the United States from 2009 to the end of 2013, that was my standard response to reporters asking who bore the greatest responsibility—President Barack Obama or Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—for the crisis in U.S.-Israel relations.

“I never felt like I was lying when I said it. But, in truth, while neither leader monopolized mistakes, only one leader made them deliberately…

“From the moment he entered office, Mr. Obama promoted an agenda of championing the Palestinian cause and achieving a nuclear accord with Iran. Such policies would have put him at odds with any Israeli leader. But Mr. Obama posed an even more fundamental challenge by abandoning the two core principles of Israel’s alliance with America.

“The first principle was ‘no daylight’…immediately after his first inauguration, Mr. Obama put daylight between Israel and America.

“’When there is no daylight,’ the president told American Jewish leaders in 2009, ‘Israel just sits on the sidelines and that erodes our credibility with the Arabs’…

“The other core principle was ‘no surprises’…

“Israeli leaders typically received advance copies of major American policy statements on the Middle East and could submit their comments. But Mr. Obama delivered his Cairo speech, with its unprecedented support for the Palestinians and its recognition of Iran’s right to nuclear power, without consulting Israel.

“Similarly, in May 2011, the president altered 40 years of U.S. policy by endorsing the 1967 lines with land swaps—formerly the Palestinian position—as the basis for peace-making. If Mr. Netanyahu appeared to lecture the president the following day, it was because he had been assured by the White House, through me, that no such change would happen.”

http://www.wsj.com/articles/how-obama-abandoned-israel-1434409772

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Obama’s inherent hostility towards Israel will come as news to very few of us. It is a very “down” side of what we must contend with today.

The “up” aspect is Oren’s willingness to catalogue his experience publicly, and point an appropriate finger. More routinely, there is an inclination to diplomatically paper-over problems between nations, especially nations that are supposed to be the closest of allies. One can only guess at the level of distress and frustration Oren coped with during the years he served as ambassador.

What is more, I see it as part of the “up” side that Prime Minister Netanyahu is refusing to comment or criticize Oren or apologize on behalf of Israel. Netanyahu has had to swallow a whole lot of fury with regard to Obama’s treatment over the years. Surely, he must feel vindicated at some level now, although he cannot give overt expression to this vindication. Let us hope he continues to stand strong.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/196943#.VYQWg5sVjIV

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It goes without saying that the response of the Obama administration to Oren’s revelations has been angry and indignant. That angry indignation was expressed here in Israel by US Ambassador Dan Shapiro, who has been pressuring Netanyahu to apologize. All the more credit to Bibi that he is not responding to this pressure.

The one who did back down is Moshe Kahlon, head of the Kulanu party, to which Oren belongs. He says that Oren does not speak for his party.

According to the article I cite above, Gilad Erdan, Minister of Internal Security, has written something criticizing Oren, as well. That disappointed me.

~~~~~~~~~

An item of importance to mention here, and a real downer:

Credit: Menahem Kahana/AFP

A famous Catholic church – the Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fish – in Tagbah, near the Kinneret, suffered a serious fire on Thursday. Arson is being assumed because of the nature of the fire, and an investigation is in process.

I want first to condemn this act of arson in the strongest terms. This is not only wrong morally in and of itself; it tears the fabric of Israeli society and damages the name of Israel – which prides herself on being a place where there is freedom of worship for all. I would like my Christian readers especially to know how abhorrent Israelis find this behavior.

Netanyahu said: “There is no room for hate or intolerance in our society.”

Chief Rabbi David Lau declared that the attack “contradicts Jewish values and human morality.”

At the same time, I caution just a bit of patience, as the investigation proceeds. Perhaps, as is being charged in some quarters, ultra-religious young Jews are responsible for this. But we do not know this yet. I have memories of other times that the assumption was made, in the face of religious desecration of one sort or another, that it was Jews who did it – when it later turned out that others were responsible but had attempted to make it appear that it was an act of Jewish extremists.

A group of young Jews was questioned, but then released quickly because there was no evidence that they were involved Fervently I hope it was not Jews who did this, but I am prepared to accept the verdict that it was, if that is what is determined in the end, and to fully condemn those responsible.

What everyone needs to know is that the investigation will be serious.

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Time grows short, and so I simply say, Shabbat Shalom.

06/19/15

Chairman Chaffetz Opening – OPM Data Breach

Want To Know How China Was Able To Hack Us? Because Obama OUTSOURCED To China!

‘Words FAIL here’ – Gov’t OUTSOURCED management to IT workers with TOTAL ACCESS to database… in CHINA

Encryption “would not have helped” at OPM, says DHS official

06/19/15

Dana: John Lott Talks Gun “Control”

06/19/15

Obama’s Horrendous Father’s Day Example

By: Cliff Kincaid
Accuracy in Media

When Barack Obama campaigned for president in 2008, few Americans would have guessed that his administration would become the most anti-family force in U.S. history by celebrating gay marriage and the spectacle of men becoming women through the phenomenon of “transgenderism.” Obama had portrayed himself as a committed pro-family Christian who recognized the importance of male role models and fathers in the family structure. “Of all the rocks upon which we build our lives, we are reminded today that family is the most important. And we are called to recognize and honor how critical every father is to that foundation,” Obama said in a “Fatherhood speech” in June of that year.

But in response to Bruce Jenner, a biological father of six, declaring he was actually female, Obama said, “It takes courage to share your story.” Nothing was said about the impact such a bizarre declaration would have on one’s children, or the condition of one’s mental state to bring that about. Obama seemed to be endorsing genital mutilation as a way out of mental confusion or mental illness.

Obama’s definition of family has certainly changed. Indeed, he was once in favor of marriage being between one man and one woman, and today he celebrates fatherless and motherless families. He lied about his commitment to traditional marriage in order to get elected. It was a big con, but only one of many deceptions from the candidate of “hope and change” whose lasting legacy, as noted in Professor Paul Kengor’s new book Takedown, could very well be cultural and not economic transformation. After all, parts of Obamacare could be repealed over time, and economic reforms could arrest our debt problem, which has accelerated under Obama. But restoring the traditional family is a mammoth undertaking that even Republican presidential candidates are generally afraid to talk about.

Speaking to the Apostolic Church of God in Chicago in that 2008 speech, Obama had quoted from the Bible and said to the congregation, “if we are honest with ourselves” they would have to admit that “too many fathers…[are] missing from too many lives and too many homes. They have abandoned their responsibilities, acting like boys instead of men. And the foundations of our families are weaker because of it.”

But the fact that “Bruce” Jenner will go missing from that family is something that is now celebrated by Obama.

If Obama had told that black congregation that he would be a president who would go down in history as praising a man for dressing up like a woman, the audience would have probably laughed out loud, thinking it was a joke. Who could have anticipated that a man who once lectured the nation on the need for a strong father would later defend a father’s decision to quit being one.

Another major deception from Obama was his claim that he never really had a father who was part of his life. In a 2013 Morehouse College address, he said, “I was raised by a heroic single mom, wonderful grandparents—made incredible sacrifices for me. And I know there are moms and grandparents here today who did the same thing for all of you. But I sure wish I had had a father who was not only present, but involved. Didn’t know my dad. And so my whole life, I’ve tried to be for Michelle and my girls what my father was not for my mother and me. I want to break that cycle where a father is not at home—(applause)—where a father is not helping to raise that son or daughter. I want to be a better father, a better husband, a better man.”

Filmmaker Joel Gilbert says that Obama’s comments about not having a father present in his childhood are 100 percent bogus, and that he had several fathers or father-figures.

Gilbert, director of the film, “Dreams from My Real Father,” examines Obama’s formative years and comes to the determination that the Communist Party member and suspected Soviet espionage agent, Frank Marshall Davis, was Obama’s real biological father. He believes the Kenyan Obama was a “father in name only” who was used to cover up an affair between Davis and Obama’s mother. Gilbert added, “Obama’s problem was not a lack of fathers, rather it was that his biological father became his ideological mentor and radicalized him into an anti-American ideology.”

We broke the story in the U.S. that Davis was Obama’s childhood mentor, a fact that The Washington Post still will not admit. Obama himself admits Davis “schooled” him on white racism. “All my research has indicated that Obama visited with Davis about three times per week during his entire youth from age 10 to 18,” Gilbert says. “Davis gave him money, taught him to drink whiskey, took him to strip clubs, and indoctrinated Obama during those formative years with his Communist view of the world.”

In addition to Davis, however, Gilbert says Obama had other “fathers” or father figures. These included his grandfather, “gramps,” a constant father figure presence, and his adopted father, Lolo Soetoro, whom he stayed in touch with even after his mother divorced him. He adds, “Never one to be without a father figure, Obama enlisted a [Frank Marshall Davis] carbon copy ideologue, whom he said ‘was like an uncle.’” That was the notorious Reverend Jeremiah Wright, who functioned like a father to Obama after Frank Marshall Davis died. Like Davis, Wright was a vicious anti-American.

The idea that Davis is truly Obama’s “real father” is certainly controversial and could only be solved definitively by DNA analysis. However, Gilbert recently interviewed Obama’s half-brother, Malik Obama, who says that “Frank Marshall Davis and Barack look alike,” and that Barack does not look like his father, the Kenyan Obama. Comparison photos between Frank Marshall Davis and President Obama are indeed striking. Malik Obama says he would welcome a DNA test, and that this might explain why Barack dumped the Kenyan Obamas after he was elected President.

Once a strong proponent of the traditional meaning of Father’s Day, in order to get elected to the presidency, Obama will now go down in history for demeaning this national celebration honoring fathers and fatherhood.

Consider Barack Obama as the President who celebrated a man for acting and trying to look like a woman. At this rate, Father’s Day cards will one day be sold in the “he” and “she” categories.

The impact on our young people from this presidential “example” will be seen and felt in the years ahead: more sexual confusion, alienation from family, mental illness and suicides.

This is what progressive “change” looks like.