(Via Washington Free Beacon) NBC’s Chuck Todd described the latest WSJ/NBC poll as a “disaster for the president” and argued that the American public is essentially saying Obama’s “presidency is over.”
This poll is a disaster for the president,” Todd said. “You look at the presidency here: lowest job rating, tied for the lowest; lowest on foreign policy. His administration is seen as less competent than the Bush administration, post-Katrina.”

“On the issue of do you believe he can still lead? A majority believe no. Essentially the public is saying your presidency is over,” Todd added. (more)
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WASHINGTON, June 16 (Reuters) – President Barack Obama told Congress on Monday the United States was deploying up to 275 military personnel to provide support and security for U.S. personnel and the country’s embassy in Baghdad after militants seized control of the north of the country.

“This force is deploying for the purpose of protecting U.S. citizens and property, if necessary, and is equipped for combat,” Obama said in a letter to lawmakers. “This force will remain in Iraq until the security situation becomes such that it is no longer needed.”   The president said he was notifying Congress under the War Powers Resolution (read more)

I guess Donilon, McDonough, Blinkin and Rhodes don’t have as much political confidence as they did with the Libyan R2P fiasco.  Then again, I’ve never been able to figure out the filter they use for application of the “Responsibility To Protect” doctrine…. 

Remember what we shared before? CLICK HERE

Sometimes you just have to shake your head:

U.S. and Iran hold “very brief discussions” about Iraq and ISIS threat, State Department spokeswoman tells CNN. http://t.co/vE9Sr9IDMn

— CNN International (@cnni) June 16, 2014

State Official emphatic that US won't engage in military coordination or strategic determinations with Iran about Iraq’s future.

— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) June 16, 2014

Interesting to see a liberally leaning outlet allow this op-ed… 

(New York Observer) As Ninth Circuit Chief Judge Alex Kozinski has written, prosecutorial misconduct has become “an epidemic.” And evidence has come to light that our president, the nation’s chief law enforcement official, seeks his counsel from the worst.

If ever a picture was worth a thousand words, it is a recently released White House photo of President Obama and his muses—if one only knew the truth behind those muses whispering in the President’s ear as they strategized in the aftermath of the Benghazi tragedy.

To understand the (politely-put) “lack of transparency” from the White House, the enormous politicization of the Department of Justice, the release of Taliban leaders from Guantanamo, refusal to cooperate with congressional investigations, the IRS’s harassment of political opponents, and the cover-up of Benghazi, read on.

President Obama’s right-hand woman Kathryn Ruemmler, conveniently seated to his right, was his longest serving White House Counsel and remains one of his closest and most trusted advisors. (more…)

It’s always the “also attending’s” that tell the story:

Click to SuperSize  😉

President Barack Obama convenes an Oval Office meeting with his national security team to discuss the situation in Iraq, June 13, 2014.

Seated with the President from left: Lisa Monaco, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism; Gen. Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Robert Cardillo, Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Intelligence Integration; Vice President Joe Biden; National Security Advisor Susan E. Rice, and Deputy Secretary of State William J. Burns.

Also attending the meeting were Chief of Staff Denis McDonough; Jake Sullivan, National Security Advisor to the Vice President; Tony Blinken, Deputy National Security Advisor; and Ben Rhodes, Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

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Back in 2011, amid the discussions of withdrawal from Iraq, and the debate over how many troops would be needed to maintain a stable environment, two influential names rose to the surface, Tom Donilon and Denis McDonough. Both Donilon and McDonough overrode the Pentagon advice, and advised President Obama to dismiss the military and heed their counsel instead.

New York Times October 2011:

In August [2011], after debates between the Pentagon, the State Department and the White House, the Americans settled on the 3,000 to 5,000 number, which was reported in August. According to two people briefed on the matter, one inside the administration and one outside, the arguments of two White House officials, Thomas E. Donilon, the national security adviser, and his deputy, Denis McDonough, prevailed over those of the military.

Intelligence assessments that Iraq was not at great risk of slipping into chaos in the absence of American forces were a factor in the decision, an American official said.  (link)

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IRAQ – The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad is preparing contingency plans to evacuate its employees if necessary now that one of the deadliest Islamic militant groups in the region has taken control of large swaths of Iraq, a U.S. official told TheBlaze.

The State Department also warned U.S. citizens against traveling to Iraq, following several days of bloody clashes between insurgents with the Al Qaeda-inspired Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and Iraqi military forces.

ISIL has taken control of Mosul, Tikrit and Fallujah and aims to create an Islamic state across the Iraq-Syria border. (read more)

“Hey I’d really like to stay and have lunch with you guys but, ..um, .. well, I’ve seen how this ends before.”  – “But, hey, thanks anyway”….. “TTFN”

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WASHINGTON DC – The White House plans no discipline in connection with the accidental release to the press last month of the identity of the CIA’s station chief in Afghanistan, but is planning more safeguards to prevent such a mistake in the future, a White House spokesman said Wednesday.

“In all of these circumstances we are balancing our commitment to transparency with the need to protect some information for national security reasons,” spokesman Josh Earnest said, briefing reporters on a review conducted by White House Counsel Neil Eggleston. (more…)

President Barack Obama has actually done what President Richard Nixon only wished he could have !

The key part of this report is that when Darryl Issa found out about the data transmission, the DOJ immediately stated they were informed by the IRS the data-file contained legally protected taxpayer information and should not have been sent to them. Funny how the DOJ defend themselves ONLY AFTER congress finds out about the issue.

WASHINGTON DC – Internal Revenue Service officials sent the Federal Bureau of Investigation a “massive” database listing of tax exempt organizations just a few weeks before the November 2012 elections, House investigators announced Monday.

Oversight and Government Reform chairmen Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, say they recently obtained an email from Lois G. Lerner, the former head of the IRS tax exempt division, to a Justice Department official asking how to format the list of tax exempt groups for delivery to the FBI.

Issa, who heads the oversight committee and Jordan, who chairs a subcommittee, said in a statement on Monday sent a new letter to the IRS, demanding more information about the data sent to the FBI. (more…)