Old Jarhead's Political SitRep for May 13, 2013

Old Jarhead's Political SitRep for May 13, 2013

Robert A. Hall

Your one-stop-shop for political news and opinion. Please forward to friends who need to be informed. This SitRep (Military for “Situation Report”) is created by many readers who send me items for inclusion, which I would have likely missed or skipped. And I can only spend at most three hours a night pulling stuff, plus the healthcare or economic stuff that crosses my desk at work. As always, I—and you—owe them thanks and appreciation. I post articles because I think they are of interest and will stimulate thought and discussion. Doing so doesn’t mean that I necessarily agree (or disagree) with every—or any—opinion in the posted article, or that I was able to verify the information presented, which is the responsibility of the author. I try not to post things that are false, or too far a stretch, regardless of the view point, but I don’t always succeed. As always on the Net, or in the legacy media, you must read critically and with skepticism.

Information on my books

http://tartanmarine.blogspot.com/2010/07/new-book-published.html

Worth Reading: When Myths Collide in the Capital. By Maureen Dowd

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/12/opinion/sunday/dowd-when-myths-collide-in-the-capital.html?_r=1&

Excerpt: THE capital is in the throes of déjà vu and preview as it plunges back into Clinton Rules, defined by a presidential aide on the hit ABC show “Scandal” as damage control that goes like this: “It’s not true, it’s not true, it’s not true, it’s old news.” The conservatives appearing on Benghazi-obsessed Fox News are a damage patrol with an approach that goes like this: “Lies, paranoia, subpoena, impeach, Watergate, Iran-contra.” (Though now that the I.R.S. has confessed to targeting Tea Party groups, maybe some of the paranoia is justified.) (Even Maureen Dowd is hammering O! What's the world coming to? --Tom H.)

Worth Reading: The President is Always Under Oath. By Andy Weddington

http://acoloneloftruth.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-president-is-always-under-oath.html

Excerpt: But it is the president who matters most. The president is always under oath. The president is expected to be exemplary in all matters said and done. President Obama was neither exemplary handling the Benghazi attack nor was he exemplary, knowing he was not, telling the Benghazi story.

Benghazi whistle-blower a Democrat, voted for Hillary and Obama twice
http://dailycaller.com/2013/05/11/benghazi-whistle-blower-a-democrat-voted-for-hillary-and-obama-twice/#ixzz2T7uqtTw9

Excerpt: A key Benghazi whistle-blower who has allegedly been punished for speaking out against the administration is a registered Democrat who voted for both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. (Wonder if he regretted that when they didn't send help...or when the smear started? ~Bob.)

At 2 A.M., Gregory Hicks in Libya Briefed Secretary Clinton on Terrorist Attack. By Andrew C. McCarthy

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/347748/2am-david-hicks-libya-briefed-secretary-clinton-terrorist-attack

Excerpt: The State Department’s Gregory Hicks is a spellbinding witness. He has testified that, from on the ground in Libya where he had been among the last people to speak to Ambassador Stevens before he was killed, he spoke with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton directly by phone at 2 a.m. Benghazi time. He briefed her on the terrorist attack — it was never regarded as anything but a terrorist attack — and on the then-ongoing search for Ambassador Stevens, who was feared to be at a hospital controlled by terrorists (to whom Hicks referred, in his testimony, as “the enemy”).

Benghazi: Hillary Could Eat Kittens While Stomping on a Naked Granny and the “Media” Would Hail It as ‘Poetry.' By Doug Giles

http://townhall.com/columnists/douggiles/2013/05/12/benghazi-hillary-could-eat-kittens-while-stomping-on-a-naked-granny-and-the-media-would-hail-it-as-poetry-n1593173?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl

Excerpt: Hillary better thank her god, The Father of Lies, that she’s not a conservative like Sarah Palin, because if she were a conservative, after last week’s blistering testimony against her by the Benghazi whistle blowers, all news outlets, far and wide, would be yelling “off with conservative Hillary’s head”. But not The Original, Leftist, Hillary. Original Hillary gets a pass.

Top Obama official’s brother is president of CBS News, may drop reporter over Benghazi coverage
http://dailycaller.com/2013/05/11/top-obama-officials-brother-is-president-of-cbs-news-may-drop-reporter-over-benghazi-coverage/#ixzz2T7zxXEm6

Excerpt: The brother of a top Obama administration official is also the president of CBS News, and the network may be days away from dropping one of its top investigative reporters for covering the administration’s scandals too aggressively. CBS News executives have reportedly expressed frustration with their own reporter, Sharyl Attkisson, who has steadily covered the Obama administration’s handling of the Benghazi terrorist attack in Libya since late last year…. ABC’s reporting revealed that Ben Rhodes, who has a masters in fiction from NYU, called a meeting to discuss the talking points at the White House on September 15, 2012. (Per article, Ben Rhodes is “brother of CBS News president David Rhodes” --Barb)

CNN: Decision was made to drop reference to terror group from talking points at meeting in White House

http://www.therightscoop.com/cnn-decision-was-made-to-drop-reference-to-terror-group-from-talking-points-at-meeting-in-white-house/

Excerpt: Jim Acosta from CNN did a great report on how the Benghazi talking points came to be and in the report he suggested that it was a meeting at the White House that the decision was made to remove references to Ansar al Sharia:

Issa intends to depose officials behind State Dept. Benghazi review
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/299203-issa-looks-to-depose-officials-behind-benghazi-review#ixzz2T83WNPru

Excerpt: Issa said on NBC's "Meet the Press" that he planned to request a deposition from former Ambassador Thomas Pickering and retired Admiral Mike Mullen, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The two helmed an investigation into the September terrorist attack that killed four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens. Issa said the White House "effectively lied" to the public about the nature of the attack, by initially downplaying an terrorist aspects and saying the attack was more spontaneous and mob-oriented. (Hard to hear Pickering repeat the “What does it matter?” line in a paraphrase today and then learn he advised whistleblowers not to testify would be in their own best interests; illegal to persecute but reportedly being done and has been done by regime in the past without repercussion from Holder. Pickering also said no point going into who changed talking points because “That’s up to the FBI.” If so, kiss that one goodbye. Couldn’t listen to (D) Durbin praising Pickering’s years of service and saying how smart he was…..The wagons are circling. --Barb)

The Inconvenient Truth About Benghazi: Did the Obama administration's politically expedient story cost American lives? By Peggy Noonan

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324244304578473533965297330.html

Excerpt: The Benghazi story until now has been a jumble of factoids that didn't quite cohere, didn't produce a story that people could absorb and hold in their minds. This week that changed. Three State Department officials testifying under oath to a House committee changed it, by adding information that gave form to a growing picture. Gregory Hicks, Mark Thompson and Eric Nordstrom were authoritative and credible. 

DEMS: GOP Leading Benghazi ‘Witch Hunt’ Against Hillary

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/05/12/Democrats-split-on-Benghazi

Excerpt: On Sunday, two days after White House press secretary Jay Carney took to the podium to dissemble on the September 11, 2012 Benghazi terrorist attacks that resulted in the deaths of four Americans including Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens, even Congressional Democrats seemed unsure about how well they could defend the administration. …. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) went out of her way to try to protect Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, calling Rand Paul’s attacks on Clinton’s malfeasance “nonsense” and blaming Republicans for a loss of American credibility for attacking the Obama administration. But even she admitted that criticism of the administration was warranted. 

Hmm. Sen. Coburn Hints that Another Benghazi Shoe May Drop

http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2013/05/09/hmm-sen-coburn-hints-that-another-benghazi-shoe-may-drop/

What is Sen. Tom Coburn getting at here? Oklahoma senator Tom Coburn revealed that he believes “the State Department has real trouble” after yesterday’s House Oversight Committee hearing on Benghazi, but said this morning that, at the moment, he can’t reveal why. “Having sat on the Intelligence Committee and seen the review of e-mails that went back and forth as they developed the list, there’s a glaring problem there that will eventually come out — and I can’t talk about it now — but there was an omission that was given to the intelligence committee,” Coburn said on Morning Joe today.

Benghazi Talking Points Revisions Pushed By State Department

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/10/benghazi-talking-points_n_3253638.html?icid=maing-grid7%7Chp-desktop%7Cdl1%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D311344

Excerpt: The White House has insisted that it made only stylistic changes to the intelligence agency talking points in which Rice suggested that protests over an anti-Islamic video set off the attack that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. Before the presidential election, the administration said Rice's talking points were based on the best intelligence assessments available in the immediate aftermath of the attack. But the report and the new details Friday suggest a greater degree of White House and State Department involvement. (Notice this article is written by AP and published by HuffPo. Maybe the wheels really ARE coming off. Now, if only enough of us care.... Ron P.)

As many as 19 injured in shooting at New Orleans Mother's Day parade
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/05/12/as-many-as-12-shot-in-new-orleans-mother-day-parade/#ixzz2T7vpj0TW
Excerpt: New Orleans police are searching for three suspects Sunday after at least 19 people were shot during a Mother’s Day parade.

My name is America

http://www.youtube.com/v/6TPgJSZf5Vw?version=3&autohide=1&autoplay=1

Good Song

16 killed in Pakistan election-day bombings

http://news.msn.com/world/16-killed-in-pakistan-election-day-bombings

Didn't get the 'Islam is a Religion of Peace" memo. ~Bob. Excerpt: The blasts targeted polling stations and the political offices of the Awami National Party, one of three secular liberal parties that have been targeted by Taliban militants.

One arrested as plot to assassinate Patriarch Bartholomew uncovered

http://www.todayszaman.com/news-315022-plot-to-assasinate-patriarch-bartholomew-uncovered-one-detained.html

Didn't get the memo. ~Bob. Excerpt: The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office has launched an investigation into an alleged plot to assassinate Ecumenical Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I on the 560th anniversary of the conquest of İstanbul by the Ottomans, with police arresting one suspect and still seeking two others.

Turkish-Canadian Groups Celebrate Armenian Genocide

http://www.ayfcanada.org/press-releases/turkish-canadian-groups-celebrate-armenian-genocide/

Didn't get the memo. ~Bob. Excerpt: The annual Armenian Genocide Memorial Day protest in front of the Turkish embassy was met with 50 Turkish-Canadian counter-protesters denying the well-established actuality of the Armenian Genocide. The group quickly turned to singing and jubilant chanting at the face of the Armenians.

Hamas and Salafi jihadists at odds over rocket fire from Gaza into Israel

http://www.longwarjournal.org/threat-matrix/archives/2013/05/hamas_and_salafi_jihadists_at.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+LongWarJournalSiteWide+%28The+Long+War+Journal+%28Site-Wide%29%29

Didn't get the memo. ~Bob. Excerpt: Salafi jihadists in the Gaza Strip are complaining about the Hamas-run Field Control Force, which has increased deployment in the Gaza Strip to prevent the firing of rockets into Israel from Gaza. Sources recently told Al Ayyam that "a few hundred" members of the Field Control Force have been deployed along the northern and eastern borders of the Gaza Strip. The forces are particularly concentrated in areas from which Palestinian terror groups' rockets and mortars are generally fired.

Man sentenced in plot against terror witnesses

http://seattletimes.com/html/nationworld/2020959852_apusncterrorarrests.html

Didn't get the memo. ~Bob. Excerpt: A North Carolina man was sentenced Friday to four life terms for plotting to behead federal witnesses whose testimony helped convict him for his role in an earlier plot to slaughter U.S. servicemen and their families.

Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood rallies against Israel

http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/05/10/Egyptian-Muslim-Brotherhood-rallies-against-Israel.html

Didn't get the memo. ~Bob. Excerpt: Chants of “the people want destruction of Israel” rang out Friday inside Al-Azhar mosque, the centuries-old seat of Sunni Muslim learning.

Egyptian interior minister: Al Qaeda cell plotted suicide attack against Western embassy

http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2013/05/egyptian_interior_mi.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+LongWarJournalSiteWide+%28The+Long+War+Journal+%28Site-Wide%29%29

Didn't get the memo. ~Bob. Excerpt: Egypt's interior minister announced today the arrest of three members of an al Qaeda cell who were plotting to attack a Western embassy. "The interior ministry was able to direct a qualitative blow to a terrorist cell which was planning to carry out suicide attacks against vital, important and foreign establishments," Mohammed Ibrahim said at a press conference.

Muslim cleric from International Union of Muslim Scholars on Jews: "If only Hitler had finished them off, thus relieving humanity of them."

http://www.jihadwatch.org/2013/05/muslim-cleric-from-international-union-of-muslim-scholars-on-jews-if-only-hitler-had-finished-them-o.html

Didn't get the memo. ~Bob.

Mark Levin may have prompted IRS-conservative group revelations
http://dailycaller.com/2013/05/10/mark-levin-may-have-prompted-irs-conservative-group-revelations/#ixzz2T82jx0AY

Excerpt: Conservative radio talker Mark Levin appears to have touched off the investigation into Internal Revenue Service targeting of conservative political groups back in March 2012. In a letter last year on behalf of the Landmark Legal Foundation, an organization he heads, Levin requested an investigation into what he called “misconduct.” On Friday, the Internal Revenue Service revealed that it had improperly targeted conservative groups for audits during the 2012 election.

George Will on IRS Tea Party attacks: ‘How stupid do they think we are?’
http://dailycaller.com/2013/05/12/george-will-on-irs-tea-party-attacks-how-stupid-do-they-think-we-are/#ixzz2T81dC3Ca

Excerpt: Will noted that one of the items in the 1973 impeachment articles of then-President Richard Nixon, which ultimately led to his resignation, described the Nixon administration’s use of the power of income tax audits in a “discriminatory matter.” “This is the 40th anniversary of the Watergate summer here in Washington,” Will said. “’He has, through his subordinated and agents, endeavored…to cause, in violation of the constitutional rights of citizens, income tax audits or other income tax investigation to be initiated or conducted in a discriminatory manner,’ — Section 1, Article 2, the impeachment articles of Richard Nixon. (Per another article, some Jews targeted as well. IRS is the agency that is supposed to implement and oversee the compliance with Obamacare. Imagine them doing this with your medical records…Barb

Senior IRS Officials Knew in 2011 the Agency Was Targeting Conservatives

http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2013/05/11/senior-irs-officials-knew-in-2011-they-were-targeting-conservatives/The Associated Press is reporting that senior officials of the IRS knew back in June of 2011 that the agency was targeting groups with “Tea Party,” “Patriot,” and “9/12 Project” in their names…. On Jan, 25, 2012, the criteria for flagging suspect groups was changed to, “political action type organizations involved in limiting/expanding Government, educating on the Constitution and Bill of Rights, social economic reform/movement,” the report says. … At a congressional hearing March 22, 2012, Shulman was adamant in his denials. (Shulman IRS commissioner until Nov 2012; had been appointed by Bush. No replacement yet per article. --Barb)

‘The IRS: First they Came for the Tea Partiers, Then They Came for the Jews’

http://pjmedia.com/eddriscoll/2013/05/11/report-irs-targeting-jewish-groups/

Excerpt: The pro-Israel group Z STREET filed a lawsuit against the IRS in 2010, claiming an IRS agent said the organization would come under extra scrutiny because it’s “connected to Israel.” In addition, the IRS agent told a Z STREET representative that the applications of some of those Israel-related organizations have been assigned to “a special unit in the D.C. office to determine whether the organization’s activities contradict the Administration’s public policies.” ... The IRS even took the position that because Israel is a country “where terrorism happens,” the service was justified in taking additional time to determine whether Z STREET was involved with funding terrorism.

HHS: Nothing improper about Sebelius’s ObamaCare fundraising

http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/health-reform-implementation/299191-hhs-defends-sebelius-obamacare-fundraising#ixzz2T85SsJhq 

Excerpt: Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) likened the fundraising to the Iran-Contra scandal, saying it's illegal to raise money for outside groups that are essentially arms of the government…. "The fact that Congress won't appropriate more money for Obamacare isn't a defense, because the precise point of the Anti-Deficiency Act is that if Congress won't appropriate the money, the executive branch is not allowed to raise funds twisting arms in the private sector," the spokesman said.

American leftist professor who hated America and hated Israel was stabbed in Cairo…by Egyptian Arab who hated America and hated Israel

http://www.barenakedislam.com/2013/05/11/hee-hee-american-leftist-professor-who-hated-america-and-hated-israel-was-stabbed-in-cairo-by-egyptian-arab-who-hated-america-and-israel/

Excerpt: Sometimes poetic justice is very poetic. Other times it’s ironic. And sometimes it’s a teachable moment about the folly of appeasement. Not that Dr. Christopher Stone will have learned anything from his experience. Leftist academics are not very educable. 

Hispanic Janitors Claim Discrimination Because They Can’t Read English

http://lastresistance.com/2092/hispanic-janitors-claim-discrimination-because-they-cant-read-english/

Excerpt: A group of Hispanic custodians at the Auraria Campus in downtown Denver are claiming they are victims of discrimination. They’ve filed a complaint against the campus operator that could be reviewed by a federal judge…’Too many things have happened to me there that I don’t even know how to explain it,’ said Auraria custodian Bertha Ribota. Ribota said she was injured at work because she couldn’t read a warning sign that was in English…’If I could speak English I wouldn’t have the problems that exist,’ said Ribota. (If all signs have to be in Spanish too, then they have to be in every possible language that a citizen or legal resident might speak, or it's discrimination. ~Bob.)

Immigration Bill Creates Giant Database On All Americans

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/05/12/Immigration-Bill-Creates-Giant-Database-On-All-Americans

Excerpt: Chris Calabrese, a congressional lobbyist with the American Civil Liberties Union, told Wired, “It starts to change the relationship between the citizen and state, you do have to get permission to do things. More fundamentally, it could be the start of keeping a record of all things.” David Bier, an analyst at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, concurred, telling the magazine: “The most worrying aspect is that this creates a principle of permission basically to do certain activities and it can be used to restrict activities. It’s like a national ID system without the card.” (I can remember thinking how sad in USSR they could not get in a car and go wherever they wanted; had to have a government travel visa. --Barb)

New Jersey Dems Caught on Hot Mic Wanting to 'Confiscate, Confiscate, Confiscate ... Their Little Guns.' By Tom Blumer

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/tom-blumer/2013/05/11/new-jersey-dems-caught-hot-mic-wanting-confiscate-confiscate-confiscate-#ixzz2T8A2FKoK

Excerpt: How many times have we heard establishment press members, particularly broadcasters, insist that no one on the left side of the gun control discussion wants to take away anyone's guns? 

Political Nightmare On Main Street

http://justcommonsense-lostinamerica.blogspot.com/2013/05/political-nightmare-on-main-street.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FMoXTa+%28Lost+in+America%29

Excerpt; Politicians these days don't have any problem with the "47%"...they're bought and paid for; the big public union employees, the welfare queens, the green check pensioners, the food stamp and unemployed crowd, and the uber liberal devotees of "government as god". Nor do they see any woe emanating from the ignorant, lazy and sleepy eyed citizens who don't know the name of the Vice President, the name of our first President, or who fought who during World War II. They're not going to go out and vote anyway so let them sleep. No, the politicians these days are having the hardest time with Main Street America, those folks who go to work every day to feed their families, obey our country's laws, perhaps attend a church on Sunday, volunteer for community cleanups and soup kitchens, and maintain a rigid set of morals that simply cannot be bent by liberal political persuasion.

Carnegie Mellon University: Bigots and Turds

http://pjmedia.com/jchristianadams/2013/05/11/carnegie-mellon-university-bigots-and-turds/

Two men who built America into a great nation, Andrew Carnegie and Andrew Mellon, helped build a great university — Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. But like so many other American campuses, it has descended into rot. Consider the products of the School of Artat Carnegie Mellon, commonly called CMU.

UK: Yet another Muslim sex slavery gang jailed

http://www.jihadwatch.org/2013/05/uk-yet-another-muslim-sex-slavery-gang-jailed.html

Excerpt: Seven men were jailed after a series of complex court cases, the reporting of which has been banned until now while legal battles raged on. We can reveal details of those court cases following a hearing in the High Court today in which a judge upheld a decision that another man accused of child sex abuse offences was not mentally fit to be retried. The man, Noshad Hussain, 23, was cleared of trafficking a girl, 14, at a trial last year, but the jury was unable to reach a verdict on four charges of engaging in sexual activity with her.