This and That...

[Warph]

Stand down:  Two Theories About the Incident at Benghazi

One of the secrets many have wondered about that pertains to both theories is an alleged stand down order

The Story:  http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/57011#.Uf7PaV53cYk.twitter

[Warph]

Chambliss: Surveillance Program Helped Reveal Terrorist Plot

http://www.newsmax.com/Newswidget/chambliss-terror-plot-nsa/2013/08/04/id/518593?promo_code=10E2C-1&utm_source=10E2Canadafreepress&utm_medium=nmwidget&utm_campaign=widgetphase1


Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss of Georgia on Sunday said the controversial National Security Agency's surveillance program helped to detect a potential terrorist plot that lead to the shuttering of over 20 U.S. embassies around the world. Had it not been for the government-surveillance program, the intercepts could have been missed, Chambliss, the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said on NBC's "Meet the Press,"


"There's been an awful lot of chatter out there," Chambliss said, referring to the term used for intelligence intercepts. "Very reminiscent of what we saw pre-9/11. We didn't take heed on 9/11 in the way that we should, but here, I think, it's very important that we do take the right kind of planning as we come to the close of Ramadan."

When asked if the NSA surveillance program is giving specific information on the current plot, Chambliss said, "In fact they are."

"These programs are controversial, we understand that, they're very sensitive, but they're also very important because they're what allow us to have the ability to gather this chatter that I referred to. If we did not have these programs, then we simply wouldn't be able to listen in on the bad guys," Chambliss said.

Chambliss said the NSA program "has allowed us to pick up on this chatter. That's the program that allows us to listen overseas. Not on a domestic soul, but overseas. And that's where all the planning is taking place, we think that's where the activities is planned for."

"We do gather an awful lot of information, and if you could tell us who the bad guys are, I assure you, we'd limit it to gathering on just the bad guys," he continued. "But we don't know."

Maryland Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, the top Democrat on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, said ABC's "This Week" that the threat from "high-level people in Al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula" was about a "major attack."

Rep. Pete King, a New York Republican who chairs a panel on counterterrorism and intelligence, said on ABC that the threat included dates but not locations of possible attacks.

"The threat was specific as to how enormous it was going to be and also that certain dates were given," King said. He added that while authorities assume any attack is likely to come in the Middle East, warnings to state and local authorities in the U.S. were warranted because of the uncertainty.

"This is a wake-up call," King said. "Al Qaida is in many ways stronger than it was before 9/11 because it has mutated and it's spread in dramatically different locations. And Al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula is the most deadly of all the Al Qaida affiliates."



Read Latest Breaking News from Newsmax.com http://www.newsmax.com/Newswidget/chambliss-terror-plot-nsa/2013/08/04/id/518593?promo_code=10E2C-1&utm_source=10E2Canadafreepress&utm_medium=nmwidget&utm_campaign=widgetphase1#ixzz2b49Z4gGl
Urgent: Should Obamacare Be Repealed? Vote Here Now!

[Warph]

DIRTY POLITICS

Sunday, August 4, 2013
Federal Employees (Like Congress) Will Be EXEMPT From Obamacare's Skyrocketing Health Costs

Most polls show American want Obamacare repealed--one of the reasons is the steep increase in prices for health insurance especially for middle and upper class Americans.  There is one group of high wage earners who wont have to pay those steep premium increases, congressional and other federal employees.

The Office of Personnel Management, under heavy pressure from Capitol Hill Democrats, will issue a ruling saying the government can continue to make a 75% contribution to the health care premiums of members of Congress and their aides no matter what their income.  Two days ago a White House official confirmed the deal to Politico and the NY Times, saying he proposed regulations will be issued this week.

The executive action is meant as a work-around the Obamacare contains a provision known as the Grassley Amendment which said the government can only offer members of Congress and their staff plans that are "created" in the bill or "offered through an exchange" After all since they are forcing the people into the system, they should be forced into the same system.

Government-subsidized premiums will disappear at the end of the year under a provision in the health care law that nudges aides and lawmakers onto the government health care exchanges, which could make their benefits exorbitantly expensive.
 
Why is this being done as an executive action not as a legislation? Democrats fear the wrath of their constituents. 

Democrats, in particular, would take a public hammering as the traditional boosters of Obamacare. Republicans would undoubtedly attempt to shred them over any attempt to escape coverage by it, unless Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) give Democrats cover by backing it [and they both announced they wouldn't back a legislative attempt to protect federal employees]

There is concern in some quarters that the provision requiring lawmakers and staffers to join the exchanges, if it isn't revised, could lead to a "brain drain" on Capitol Hill, as several sources close to the talks put it.

The administration is making the ruling so Congress doesn't have to pass a bill which will  that fix the problem and enrage voters.  Heritage Foundation's Rob Bluey wrote :

The Administration's strategy appears to be one of deliberately flouting the law, in the belief that it can get away with it because Congress will be the beneficiary and the American public won't catch on to what they are doing.
Is this what America is becoming? Instead of a constitutional republic where all people are treated equally are we becoming an oligarchy where the ruling class does not have to pay for the legislation abhorred by,  and shoved down the throats of the citizens of the country?


The administration is making the ruling so Congress doesn't have to pass a bill which will  that fix the problem and enrage voters.  Heritage Foundation's Rob Bluey wrote :

The Administration's strategy appears to be one of deliberately flouting the law, in the belief that it can get away with it because Congress will be the beneficiary and the American public won't catch on to what they are doing.

Is this what America is becoming? Instead of a constitutional republic where all people are treated equally are we becoming an oligarchy where the ruling class does not have to pay for the legislation abhorred by,  and shoved down the throats of the citizens of the country?

ALL Americans should be disgusted by this action, even those who support this oppressive legislation.

[Warph]

Breaking: San Francisco On High-Alert After Terrorist Threat

Via ABCNews:

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) – The Department of Homeland Security is beefing up its presence at airports, train stations and other travel hubs in the United States in the wake of global travel warning imposed on all U.S. citizens.

Local authorities are not going into specifics but the San Francisco Police Department does acknowledge receiving a bulletin by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and DHS. The SFPD says their officers are monitoring various areas of the city and will determine if additional resources are necessary.

They say they have the ability to rapidly deploy and redeploy resources as the department deems necessary.

No specific location has been mentioned, but authorities are keeping a close eye on airports, train stations and other transportation hubs. There is also increased scrutiny of visitors coming into the United States.

These latest measures have been implemented out of an abundance of caution.

"al Qaida and the Arabian Peninsula is probably the biggest threat to the homeland. They're the al Qaida faction that still talks about hitting the west and hitting the homeland. And their expertise is chemical explosives. Hitting the aviation sector as we saw with the underwear bomber, so we are on a high state of alert," said Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas.

The bulletin sent by the FBI and DHS urging local law enforcement to be vigilant was classified, which reflects the sensitivity and seriousness of the situation

[Warph]

CRAZY HORSESH!T OBUMA to Buy Back 10 Million Acres
to Redistribute to Native Americans

The Obuma Inc. Government hopes to purchase 10 million acres – an amount equal to roughly twice the size of Massachusetts – and redistribute it to Native Americans. (NYSED)

(If we hadn't lived through four years plus of Obuma already this would be shocking news.
Team Obuma is purchasing 10 million acres for nearly $2 billion in taxpayer dollars to redistribute back to Native Americans.  Can't we just give them Detroit and call it a day?)

The UPI reported:
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2013/08/04/Government-to-buy-back-land-for-Native-Americans/UPI-50581375647522/


The U.S. government is gearing up to spend nearly $2 billion on 10 million acres of land that will in turn be given back to Native American tribes.

The plan entails buying back reservation land from willing sellers and distributing that land among 150 tribes across the nation, the McClatchy Newspapers reported Sunday.

Congress agreed to the buyback in 2010 to settle a lawsuit.

"We can improve Indian Country if people will go along with this program and sell their interests back to their tribes," Kevin Washburn, the head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, said in an interview.

Meanwhile, tribe leaders say 45 percent of the land will go to just seven tribes, while other tribes will have to fight over the rest.

"We're all going to be fighting for scraps," said Chief James Allan of Idaho's Coeur d'Alene Tribe

And, many believe that property owners are expected to be reluctant sellers.

[Warph]

Demo-ratic Party Chief Angers Demo-rats

DNC Chair and attack dog Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a proven liar, admitted this week that she will use her extensive contact list to help propel her career forward.

Buzzfeed reported:

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz angered many top leaders in the party she leads as Democratic National Committee chair when she went public with her plans to use the connections she's made in her national job to position herself for a statewide run in Florida or even a bid to replace Nancy Pelosi as Democratic leader in the House.

"This is unbelievable. So much for supporting the president or electing Democrats," said a top Democratic political adviser. "She was honest that this is about her."

Wasserman Schultz told Politico Friday that she plans to use the DNC's donor network to create a political infrastructure for herself, with the goal of building a ladder of powerful connections.

"She and It is a f***ng car wreck," said a third prominent Democrat.

[Warph]

"Hey Obuma, You Are Stupid, Bad Man"

"What... Who Me?.. They Stole My Shoes!"

(Whoa!... Wildly Popular Anti-Obama Belly Dance Video Takes Egypt By Storm - Egyptian freedom protesters released this anti-Obama video five days ago and it already has over 183,000 views  )

Belly dancer Sama al Masry slams Obama for supporting Muslim Brotherhood and terrorism.

[Warph]

Unbelievable

Top White House officials held a meeting Saturday to discuss the unprecedented Al-Qaeda threat that forced over 20 embassies to close on Sunday.

And Obuma... He went golfing... Fore!!!

Key figures in the Obama administration met on the current al-Qaeda threat on Saturday while the president conducted an intensive golf fiesta at Andrews Air Force Base.

President Obama set off for the golf course at about 8 a.m., hoping to squeeze in as much play as possible before a scheduled departure to Camp David at 2:30 p.m.

Three all-male teams hit the golf course to mark the day before Obama's 52nd birthday, including regulars Reggie Love and Marvin Nicholson, White House chef Sam Kass and college friend Wahid Hamid.

"Before departing this morning, the president was updated on a potential threat occurring in or emanating from the Arabian Peninsula by Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Lisa Monaco. He will continue to be updated through the weekend," a White House official told the press pool as they waited at the golf course food court.

After more than seven hours at play, Obama and some of his golf mates took Marine One from Andrews to Camp David for an overnight birthday party. Those who didn't take the helicopter met up with the president via a van convoy up to the mountain retreat.

Hamid, Love, Kass and Laurent Delanney, another college friend, won the Obama Open, and thus got to ride in Marine One.

That evening the White House released a readout of administration officials who met Saturday on the elevated terror threat that resulted in a global travel alert and the temporary closure of some embassies in the Middle East.

"Early this week, the President instructed his National Security team to take all appropriate steps to protect the American people in light of a potential threat occurring in or emanating from the Arabian Peninsula. Given the nature of the potential threat, throughout the week, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Lisa Monaco has held regular meetings with relevant members of the interagency to ensure the U.S. Government is taking those appropriate steps," the White House said.

Obama left it to National Security Adviser Susan Rice to chair the meeting "to further review the situation and follow-up actions."

The White House reported on Saturday's meeting:

Early this week, the President instructed his National Security team to take all appropriate steps to protect the American people in light of a potential threat occurring in or emanating from the Arabian Peninsula. Given the nature of the potential threat, throughout the week, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Lisa Monaco has held regular meetings with relevant members of the interagency to ensure the U.S. Government is taking those appropriate steps. This afternoon, National Security Advisor Rice chaired a meeting with the Principals Committee to further review the situation and follow-up actions. The President has received frequent briefings over the last week on all aspects of the potential threat and our preparedness measures. After today's Principals meeting, the President was again briefed by Amb. Rice and Ms. Monaco.

Attendees at today's meeting included:

White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough
National Security Advisor Susan Rice
Deputy National Security Advisor Tony Blinken
Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Lisa Monaco
Deputy National Security Advisor to the Vice President Jeff Prescott
Secretary of State John Kerry
Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power
Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano
Director of National Intelligence James Clapper
Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation Robert Mueller
Director of the Central Intelligence Agency John Brennan
Director of the National Security Agency Keith Alexander
Director of the National Counterterrorism Center Matthew Olsen
Acting Assistant Attorney General John Carlin
NO OBUMA, WHO WAS OUT GOLFING

[Warph]

(I'm not going to second guess the government in their response to this terrorist threat. They obviously have far more information than is available to the public, and given the specificity described by sources, they really had little choice but to act as they have.

But few are talking about the possibility that we are being played for fools by the terrorists)

Terrorists 'Broke Operational Security' in Talking about Plot

ABC News:

On the day that almost two dozen U.S. embassies and consulates across North Africa and the Middle East are closed following the identification of a significant threat from an al-Qaeda affiliate, a senior U.S. official is providing new details about the communications intercepted from the terrorists, telling ABC News that al-Qaeda operatives could be heard talking about an upcoming attack. The official described the terrorists as saying the planned attack is "going to be big" and "strategically significant."

"The part that is alarming is the confidence they showed while communicating and the air of certainty," the official said, adding that the group — Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula — appeared to have a media plan for after the attack.

[...]

(The senior U.S. official said there is concern about devices that could be implanted inside the body of a terrorist.
"We are concerned about surgically implanted devices," they said.  "These are guys who have developed the techniques to defeat our detection methods."

The official also said authorities were stunned that the group broke "operational security"... meaning they talked likely knowing it would be picked up by intercepts.

A media plan?  Either the terrorist leaders were communicating over a medium where they felt absolutely secure in discussing the plot or they temporarily took leave of their senses.

So, OK.... I'll buy the Dark Knight surgically implanted phone bomb scenario.  But the very specificity of the threat speaks against it being real, doesn't it?  We've never received this kind of intelligence prior to an attack before, to my knowledge.  Are we that lucky?  Are the terrorists that stupid?  Or are they simply overconfident?  All indications are that the intercept originated in Yemen.  Given how we're blowing them up with great regularity with our drones, weren't they taking an awful chance in chit chatting about the plot?)

CNN:

Several U.S. officials also emphasized they have been watching growing threats emerging from Yemen for weeks.

Those threats, combined with the coming end of the month of Ramadan, plus the concern over several major prison breaks in the region, all contributed to the U.S. decision to shut down diplomatic installations.

The shuttering of 22 U.S. embassies and consulates for the day Sunday amid fears of an al Qaeda attack is an unprecedented move.

"We're doing what is necessary to protect our people," Rep. Adam Schiff, a Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, told CNN's State of the Union on Sunday.

The closures stretch across a swath of North Africa and the Middle East, from Mauritania to Oman. Bangladesh and Afghanistan, both majority Muslim nations, also are affected.

The shutdowns could extend beyond Sunday, a senior State Department official said. A U.S. global travel alert is also in place.

As White House and national security officials met to discuss the threat and U.S. military forces in the Middle East were put on a higher state of alert, Interpol warned that al Qaeda has been tied to prison breaks in the region that led to the escape of hundreds of terrorists and other criminals.

It's unclear what locations are targeted by the apparent terror plot, U.S. lawmakers said Sunday.

We've had the "dry run" scenarios before — especially on aircraft. Might this be something similar? AQAP setting up an elaborate plot in order to carefully watch our reaction? As I said at the top, the government has to react to the threat as if it is real or they would be irresponsible. But I am not going to be surprised if nothing happens over the next few days.

[Warph]

Desperation in the Benghazi Coverup

A congressional select committee could offer
immunity to the CIA's dispersed, intimidated survivors.

_____________________________________________________________________________________


You can always tell the depth of an event's illegality by the measures people take to cover it up. By that measure, the conduct of President Obama, Hillary Clinton, and David Petraeus leading up to the terrorist attack that killed four Americans on 9/11 2012 must be must be so sufficiently wrongful that, if revealed, they could lead to the president's impeachment.

How else can we gauge what is apparently the most energetic coverup in modern history?  We know, from several sources, that the survivors of the attack — not on the consulate, but on the CIA annex — number a few dozen or more. We also know from those sources that almost all of their names have been concealed from Congress in the course of the coverup.

Those sources also reveal that the CIA has required those survivors to sign confidentiality agreements binding them to never disclose what they were doing in the days or months leading up to the 9/11-12 attack.  Keep in mind that good old Joe Wilson — the former ambassador sent to Niger by the CIA to "learn" what Iraq had done to acquire uranium — wasn't required to sign any confidentiality agreement, hence his ability to become a Democratic political attack dog instantly after Deputy Secretary Richard Armitage leaked his wife's CIA employment to reporter Robert Novak.

The Joe Wilson episode and the CIA requirement imposed on the Benghazi survivors is entirely consistent with the political conduct we've seen from the CIA in the past dozen years.

And it gets worse. Last week, Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) disclosed that the CIA's involvement in covering up the Benghazi scandal goes much further. He said that the CIA was not only requiring the Benghazi survivors to change their names, it is also spreading them around the country in a CIA version of a witness protection program. In this case, the witnesses are being protected from ever telling the truth to the media or testifying before Congress.

We now also know that the CIA's Benghazi veterans are being required to submit to monthly polygraph tests to check on their behavior: they are being required to answer if they've leaked to Congress or the press every time they are polygraphed.   

Why is there such blatant intimidation of these people? We've all seen and heard the reports that the Benghazi CIA annex was the locus of a gun-running operation. If it was, the only likely recipients of the arms would be either the Syrian opposition — which is largely made up of al-Qaeda members and other Sunni jihadis — or the Turks who might have been serving as a pipeline for the arms to those same Syrian opposition guys.

In either case, the president — whose approval had to have been obtained for any such operations — would be directly implicated. He was either acting without congressional authority or in violation of laws on the books that are supposed to block those actions.

Either way Obama, Clinton, and Petraeus would be in the dock personally for having broken the law.

It would be enough to make Haldeman, Erlichman, Mitchell, and Dean green with envy. Except for the fact that nobody died in Watergate. And the fact that the other facts of the day don't just call into question Obama's Middle East policy: these facts demonstrate that this policy is quite bizarre.

In the past two weeks, there have been massive jailbreaks of al Qaeda members — some of them high-ranking leaders — in Iraq and Libya. In Pakistan, hundreds of Taliban jihadis, again including some Taliban leadership, escaped. There are probably about a thousand al Qaeda and Taliban thugs at large today who weren't at large last month.

So it should come as no surprise that the State Department issued a travel advisory on Friday and  ordered our embassies in most Muslim countries closed yesterday. Al Qaeda isn't, as Obama has told us again and again, decimated or out of action. The specific information that led to the warning and closure of 22 embassies is of a widespread al Qaeda threat that could target Americans in any of those countries on President Obama's birthday. This is his birthday gift from the people who brought us the "Arab Spring."

The president continues to insist that there is some bloom of democracy in the Middle East. Both he and Eric Holder have admonished the Egyptian military to include the Muslim Brotherhood in any interim government they might form. This would be, Obama and Holder insist, a more "inclusive" government for Egypt.

They obviously believe that the Muslim Brotherhood — for all its ties to terrorism, for all its doctrine of strict Sharia law — is a force for democracy rather than against it. Either they believe that, or Obama and Holder have made America into a force against freedom and democracy. At this point, there is ample reason to believe either interpretation of American policy.

As this is being written, there are no reports of any terrorist attacks on American embassies in the Middle East. But that's just today. What does not come today may come tomorrow or the next day.

What will not come tomorrow or the next day is a change in Obama's mind and American policy. Actually, that policy is changing and for the worse.

According to Obama's Pentagon toadie, Chuckie Hagel, we are soon to end our drone program in Pakistan. That has always been a thorn in the side of the Pakistani government, which itself is most famous for collaborating to hide Osama bin Laden for about six years in Abbottabad. Why we should care that Pakistan disapproves is, to say the least, counter-intuitive.

But we should care that Pakistan will soon be drone-free. And, if things go as well in Afghanistan as they have in Iraq, Afghanistan will be as drone-free as Pakistan.

In the 2004 campaign, we scoffed at John Kerry's proposal for a "terrorist overwatch" program in Afghanistan. Kerry said that we could stand off and strike when we needed to, killing terrorists at our leisure. That, of course, is too much for Obama.

He is much more concerned that the Benghazi coverup succeed than with the tiny issue of defeating al Qaeda and the rest of the Muslim terrorist groups. If the Republicans were courageous and wise, they'd establish the Benghazi select committee proposed by Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) soon after the attack.

Give it subpoena power, let it demand the testimony of the CIA's Benghazi survivors, no matter what names they may now be living under. Grant them the power to immunize witnesses against criminal liability for prior acts. And then let the chips fall where they may.

But that would take courage, a part of which is the willingness to take political risk. Which, in the case of this House, is damned unlikely to do anything of the sort.