Several former advisers to President Barack Obama have rejected the likely terms of a nuclear deal with Iran, adding their names to an open letter that declares: “The agreement will not prevent Iran from having a nuclear weapons capability”.  (link)

In the face of these increasingly loud voices, and in an effort to quickly close a deal, President Obama has given up the demand of nuclear inspections for military facilities as part of the agreement with Iran.   Now the State Dept. wants to stop the unfavorable reports ASAP….

VIENNA—Officials with the Department of State threatened to call security Monday on a Washington Free Beacon reporter who was attempting to report on a briefing held by senior Obama administration figures in Vienna on the eve of an expected nuclear agreement with Iran.

Two State Department officials booted the Free Beacon from a room where Wendy Sherman, the undersecretary of state for political affairs, was talking to reporters, despite the Free Beacon’s being credentialed by the Austrian government for the ongoing Iranian nuclear talks.

Western observers present in Vienna for the talks linked the State Department’s behavior to jitters over media coverage revealing a still growing list of concessions being made to Iran by the Obama administration. (more…)

Unfortunately because former Pentagon lawyer Jeh Johnson is now head of the DHS, and specifically because Secretary Jeh Johnson is in that position as a result of his use of a career IOU for keeping his mouth shut in May 2011, and with full acceptance that Jeh Johnson is a political operative of the highest order, we are faced with the following consideration filter:

Is there really a heightened or anticipatory threat, or is Secretary Johnson merely trying to cover his ass in the event that something actually happens – so he can look back and say “we gave warnings”.

You decide.

(Via USA Today) Federal authorities have warned local law enforcement officials across the country about a heightened concern involving possible terror attacks targeting the July 4th holiday, a U.S. law enforcement official said.

While there was no specific or credible threat of attack, the official said the intelligence bulletin prepared by the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI alerted local colleagues to the ongoing threats posed by the Islamic State and other homegrown extremists. The official was not authorized to comment publicly. (more…)

It has been a year since we first posted the full 11,000 word Benghazi Brief, explaining the soup to nuts events of what happened from February 2011 up to September 11th 2012.   Many people have wondered why the Mainstream Media have not picked up the story.

It has been a slow process of sunlight crossing the treetops, but Fox News has just affirmed the content with their new story:  “The Arming of Benghazi” – excerpts below.

(Via Fox Business)  The United States supported the secret supply of weapons to Libyan rebels while Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State according to federal court documents obtained by Fox News.

In a sworn declaration to the District Court of Arizona May 5th 2015, a career CIA officer David Manners said, “It was then, and remains now, my opinion that the United States did participate, directly or indirectly, in the supply of weapons to the Libyan Transitional National Council.”   The timing matters because in the Spring of 2011 the Libyan opposition was not formally recognized, and the direct supply of arms was not authorized. At that time, the CIA Director was David Petraeus. (DAVID MANNERS DOCUMENT HERE)

Manners testified before a grand jury investigating American defense contractor Marc Turi who faces trial this September on two counts that he allegedly violated the arms control export act by making false statements. (more…)

Tunisia was the origin of the Arab Spring – Since neighboring Libya fell into a state of civil war the radical islamists are now spreading around the North African Mediterranean.  In addition to attacking Western-friendly targets they are attempting to create additional crisis by crippling the regional economy.  Within crisis, ISIS inspired radicals thrive.

TUNISIA – Panicked tourists fled from a popular beach in Tunisia Friday as a gunman pulled an automatic rifle from under an umbrella and began shooting, killing 37 people, officials said.

The attacker, who was dressed in shorts, came from the beach hiding his Kalashnikov gun before spraying terrified tourists with bullets. People were told to run in a chaotic scene near a beach in Sousse, and many took refuge in hotel rooms after the gunfire erupted, Sky News said.

Tunisia’s Interior Ministry originally said there were two gunmen but later said they believed just one gunman acted alone, killing 37 people and wounding at least 36. The Health Ministry said the dead include Tunisians, Brits, Germans and Belgians.

The gunman reportedly entered the Hotel Imperial through the swimming pool area, shooting people as he went. He also threw an explosive, witnesses said. (more…)

ISTANBUL — Turkish news agencies say that authorities have arrested two Georgian citizens who tried to enter the Turkey with radioactive material, including cesium.

State-run Anadolu Agency says a woman identified only as N.K., aged 43, and a man, I.A., 40, were arrested Friday at a border gate in northeastern Turkey. The agency said they entered by foot from Georgia and were acting suspiciously. A search found 1.2 kilos of the cesium.

Authorities later detained a 60-year-old Turk, and all three were brought to court.

The material was delivered to the Turkish Atomic Energy Board. (more…)

The latest example:

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) — A Confederate monument at White Point Gardens was vandalized with graffiti.

The graffiti was discovered Sunday morning as thousands gathered downtown to honor the victims killed at Emanuel AME Church.

The words ‘Black Lives Matter’ and ‘This was the problem #racist’ is spray painted on the base. The vandals also called out Mayor Joe Riley and Governor Nikki Haley scrawling “Riley and Haley -Why defend this evil -This the root of our evil.”

A couple of local men moved quickly to cover the base with a tarp but it was just as quickly uncovered by other passers-by.

A lively debate soon followed, attracting Barry Tighe from the organization Code Pink. He wrote up his own sign that read “Take down racist statues” and it was followed by a local protester’s sign that read “All lives matter #CharlestonUnited.” (more…)

(UK Independent) […] More than 30 pedestrians, including three children, were hurt at several locations during the rampage and 10 victims were in hospital with serious injuries. One patient was in a critical condition on Saturday afternoon.

The driver, identified by police as a 26-year-old Austrian man of Bosnian heritage, has been arrested. He works as a professional driver and is married with two children.

Police are not currently investigating terrorism as a motive and the suspect is believed to be suffering from mental illness.

Witnesses recounted how the man drove his vehicle into crowds apparently at random, sending pedestrians and cyclists crashing into the windscreen and rolling over the bonnet.

(more…)

History needs to be corrected.  In the post Charlie Hebdo attack aftermath, every media outlet said U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry asked James Taylor to fly to Paris.  Actually, the opposite is true; James Taylor’s wife asked Secretary Kerry to come to Paris.  Nice to know what’s actually driving our diplomatic endeavors…. 

Buried in a recent Billboard interview we find this:

In January, after the Charlie Hebdo murders in France, you sang “You’ve Got a Friend” at a rally in Paris, which Secretary of State John Kerry attended. How did that come about?

At the time of the attacks, my wife and I were in Switzerland, taking vacation time before I went to Paris to do press for a tour of Europe. John and Teresa Kerry are, I would say, our good friends.

Kim was texting him after the attacks and said, “John, I think you need to go to Paris.” They were having a solidarity march two days after the attack. But John had to be in Peshawar, for a secret meeting.

He said, “I’ll be there as soon as I can.” (more…)

Blumenthal claims he copied communication from a former CIA analyst and despite being paid $10,000/month from the Clinton Foundation he claims he was not paid to advise Secretary Clinton.

WASHINGTON DC – Sidney Blumenthal did not write or know the source of any of the Libya intelligence he passed on to then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the top Clinton ally told investigators on the House Select Committee on Benghazi Tuesday in a closed-door deposition.

Blumenthal, subpoenaed by the committee, also did not verify any of the intelligence he forwarded to the nation’s top diplomat. Instead, Blumenthal was copying and pasting memos from Tyler Drumheller, a former CIA operative who was looking into a Libya-related business venture, and sending them to Clinton, two people familiar with his testimony told POLITICO. (more…)