The White House legal advisor who framed the administrations legal references for drone killing of American citizens is due to be confirmed without allowing his drone memos to be reviewed prior to confirmation vote.  Yeah, we have a problem with that…. 

WASHINGTON DC – Bolstered by the promised public release of a secret legal memo, Senate Democrats are ready to approve a top federal judgeship for a former Obama administration official who helped formulate the justification for the drone killings of suspected American terrorists overseas.

The Senate was expected Thursday to approve David Barron to join the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which is based in Boston.

Barron cleared a pivotal hurdle Wednesday when senators voted 52-43 to end opponents’ efforts to derail the nomination. In that roll call, Barron was opposed by every voting Republican and two Democrats, Sens. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Joe Manchin of West Virginia. (more…)

• Elijah Cummings of Maryland
• Adam Smith of Washington
• Adam Schiff of California
• Linda Sanchez of California
• Tammy Duckworth of Illinois

WASHINGTON DC – […]  The announcement comes after Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) met for an hour Tuesday to negotiate over the probe .

Appointing five members to the panel is an evolution for Pelosi, who initially didn’t want to dignify the committee by naming any Democrats to sit on it. Her perspective changed, however, after fellow Democrats said she should appoint at least a few Democrats to counter claims by Republicans. Some Democrats also felt the party should be represented if Republicans subpoena high-level Obama administration officials, including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The committee, which the House agreed to create earlier this month in a party-line vote, has seven seats for Republicans and five for Democrats.  (read more)

Full Story HERE

(more…)

Someone, (probably a Russian infantry unit that had to scram because they are technically not supposed to be there), left a fully operational -albeit apparently stalled- BMP-2 Infantry Combat Vehicle in the middle of an intersection in Mariupol, Ukraine.

Abandoned.    Fully operational – but abandoned.

Apparently, curiosity got the best of the locals (who are probably sympathetic to the Russians who had to quickly disappear).   What happens next is not funny, but I’ll admit I just couldn’t stop laughing:

Watch the video.   With two precursor tips.  #1) Pay attention to the @50 sec. mark (duh, obviously).   But more importantly #2) listen to the person shout @1:05 (in English).

(more…)

Say what you will about President G.W. Bush but he always puts the consideration of others at the forefront.  Many, including myself, strongly disagreed with T2 policies – but Dubya’s outward humility in position was/is beyond reproach. 

TELEGRAPH – […] As President Barack Obama spoke at the unveiling of the museum in New York on Thursday, the man who was president at the time of the attacks was noticeable by his absence.  According to the museum Mr Bush was invited to the ceremony, but his spokesman Freddy Ford said he was unable to attend because of a scheduling conflict.

It later emerged that the former president was in Bentonville, Arkansas attending a separate ceremony for 14 living recipients of the Medal of Honour. The event also raised money for the Congressional Medal of Honour Society and Foundation. (more…)

Many people, myself included, are thankful for the appointment of a Benghazi Select Committee with hopes that Trey Gowdy and the other 11 members will finally bring sunlight on one of the most obvious constructs of an intentional cover-up in modern history.

There are many questions unanswered -despite the two years past- because political control of the narrative was more important to the White House than actual delivery of the who’s, what’s, where’s and more importantly the “why’s”.

‘Control of the narrative’ is what led to the construction of the false story about a Mohammed U-Tube video as the impetus of the attack in Benghazi.

@SheriefSfarid We've never heard of this movie, what is it?

— U.S. Embassy Cairo (@USEmbassyCairo) September 9, 2012

‘Control of the narrative’ is what kept Hillary Clinton off the Sunday morning talk shows the weekend after the attack.   The structural lying was left to Susan Rice.

‘Control of the narrative’ is what led to White House Communications Director Ben Rhodes structuring the Susan Rice talking points.   ‘Control of the narrative’ is what led to National Security Council Spokesperson Tommy Vietor changing the wording on the talking points on behalf of his boss Tom Donilon.

(more…)

(Via IJR Review) – Senior Airman Brian Kolfage defines hero: the triple-amputee veteran of the Iraqi War overcame insurmountable odds to survive his horrific injuries. Kolfage recently sent a powerful – and damning – letter to his commander-in-chief:

I nearly died in a war that you and most of your colleagues supported overwhelmingly, including the two presidents who came before you. Many citizens may not agree with waging war in Iraq to free the oppressed Iraqi citizens, but it’s something that warriors like myself have zero control over. I joined to serve my country and to better my life. I’ve seen things that you could never imagine, and they have made me the person I am today.

Mr. Obama, even though we share extreme opposite views, we have one thing in common, we both attended school in Hawaii. However, that’s where the similarities end. You see, as you attended your exclusive, private school, I would ride my bike to Kaimuki High school in one of the roughest areas in Hawaii every morning and would ride past Punahou, the exclusive private school you attended. (more…)

 […]  Now Rep. Jeff Miller, the chairman, House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, is questioning why if the VA learned there were problems in December, the agency is only taking action now. He said Shinseki’s actions are “faux outrage at its finest.”

The June [2012] email signed by an employee named David Newman, a Telehealth coordinator at the Cheyenne center, describes to the workers methods they can use to manipulate records in the patient appointment system to comply with a VA policy that requires patients be seen within 14 days of their desired date of appointment.

“Yes, it is gaming the system a bit,” the email reads. “But you have to know the rules of the game you are playing, and when we exceed the 14-day measure, the front office gets very upset.”

Shinseki said in a statement that after he learned of the email on Friday, he ordered the employee who wrote it placed on administrative leave. He said he also ordered the VA’s independent inspector general to conduct a thorough investigation into the matter.

(more…)

Yes, finally – and let’s hope this report is accurate.   

Why finally?    Consider…..  As we previously shared three weeks ago (April 14th), when the abduction took place, we ALREADY had TWO Rapid Response forces in the immediate area.    Each comprising 250 rotating Marine contingents:

One group stationed in Sudan trying desperately to maintain security for the semi-evacuated U.S. Embassy and interests.   AND THE OTHER right next door *still* engaged in the #SurrenderKony Campaign against the Lords Resistance Army.

That’s why we were gnashing our teeth back on 4/14 – weeks before the start of the #BringBackOurGirls campaign.    We’ll bet a donut, when the full story comes out, the guys in this article (if accurate) just moved to Nigeria from the Uganda/Congo border.

NIGERIA – US Marines currently in Nigeria to help the government combat Boko Haram terrorists have made their first arrests taking two male suspects into custody after they were found in possession of arms and ammunition during a targeted search.

Over the last week, US Marines have arrived in Nigeria to help with the fight against terrorism after Boko Haram took their war of terror to another level by abducting 234 pupils from Government Girls Secondary School Chibok in Borno State. Acknowledging that the matter was getting beyond its control, the Nigerian government swallowed its pride and accepted outside help. (more…)

Obama can find a way to make just about anything about him.

I’ve been thinking about this global social media campaign surrounding the Nigerian school girl abduction, and I fear the attention delivered to al-Qaeda’s Boko Haram is going to end up backfiring negatively upon the kidnapped. The value of the abduction to Boko Haram has increased exponentially as the entire world is now looking at, and listening to, them.

Quiet and decisive military action within 72 to 96 hours of April 14th could have produced a good outcome.   But a touchy feely media attention campaign, 3 weeks after the event, I fear has done nothing but provide time for AQIM to coordinate a hostile strategy.  I hope I’m wrong….

WASHINGTON DC – President Obama said he wakes up thinking of the Nigerian schoolgirls abducted by Islamist extremists and facing a life as sex slaves, and wishes he “could reach out and save those kids.”

“We only need to look at today’s headlines — the devastation of Syria, the murders and kidnappings in Nigeria, sectarian conflict, the tribal conflicts — to see that we have not yet extinguished man’s darkest impulses,” Obama said at a Los Angeles fund-raiser late Wednesday. (more…)