Why It’ll Be Hard for Trump to Surpass Obama’s Record of Chilling Press Freedom
Posted: January 27, 2017 Filed under: Censorship, History, Mediasphere, Politics, U.S. News, White House | Tags: American Civil Liberties Union, Android (operating system), Barack Obama, Donald Trump, Obama administration, Presidency of Barack Obama, President of the United States, Twitter, White House 3 Comments
Many in the mainstream media are reacting with righteous indignation over comments from a senior Trump adviser suggesting the administration views the traditional media as an opponent. But if we’re to take these apostles of press freedom seriously, they should first explain why the Trump Administration is worse than the Obama Administration.
After all, the Obama Administration literally tried imprisoning an uncooperative journalist, monitored journalists’ every digital move, and “hammered” at least one challenging reporter with IRS audits.
Let’s rewind the tape.
The Obama Administration began with lofty promises of being “the most transparent administration in history.” Instead it ended up setting a record, by the Associated Press’s count, for denying the most Freedom of Information Act requests.
[Read the full story here, at Grabien News]
As the administration’s popularity began tumbling early into its first year, the Obama White House declared war on Fox News. The White director of communications, Anita Dunn, warned they would henceforth treat Fox News “like an opponent,” insisting, “we don’t need to pretend that this is the way that legitimate news organizations behave.”
The Obama administration made good on that threat. Soon thereafter, the administration sought to deny Fox News’ participation in executive branch news-making events — which only failed after other networks admirably refused to participate if Fox News were excluded.
As you’ll see in the montage above, President Obama blamed Fox News and talk radio for virtually every problem his administration encountered, warning in his waning days that these “domestic propagandists” were far more damaging to America than any interference from hostile powers like Russia.
When Fox News’s State Department correspondent, James Rosen, reported accurate information about North Korea leaked by a member of the Obama State Department, Eric Holder ordered his movements to be tracked, his phone records seized, and went “judge shopping” until he found one willing to grant such a warrant without telling Rosen himself. Holder even told Google to not notify Rosen that the government was monitoring his email.
“To treat a reporter as a criminal for doing his job — seeking out information the government doesn’t want made public — deprives Americans of the First Amendment freedom on which all other constitutional rights are based,” the Washington Post wrote at the time. Read the rest of this entry »
Sen Cruz and Rep Poe Move to Protect State Governors’ Right to Refuse Refugees
Posted: January 24, 2017 Filed under: Health and Social Issues, Law & Justice, Mediasphere, Politics | Tags: Barack Obama, Donald Trump, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Hillary Clinton, Jeff Sessions, Presidency of Barack Obama, Republican Party (United States), Supreme Court of the United States, United States Senate, United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary Leave a comment
Sen. Cruz and Rep. Poe, chairman of the House Terrorism Subcommittee, reintroduced the State Refugee Security Act of 2017.
Reintroduce State Refugee Security Act
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Rep. Ted Poe (R-Texas), chairman of the House Terrorism Subcommittee, today reintroduced the State Refugee Security Act of 2017. This joint Senate-House effort mandates that the federal government notifies a state at least 21 days prior to resettling a refugee there. During that period, if a state governor certifies that the federal government has not provided adequate assurances that the refugee does not present a security risk, the federal government is prohibited from resettling that refugee in the state. Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) is an original cosponsor of the bill.
>@SenTedCruz & @JudgeTedPoe reintroduce bill giving governors veto over refugee resettlement in their states. https://t.co/eOM57X8OBP
— (((Mark Krikorian))) (@MarkSKrikorian) January 24, 2017
“The first obligation of the president is to keep this country safe as commander in chief,” said Sen. Cruz. “I am encouraged that, unlike the previous administration, one of President Trump’s top priorities is to defeat radical Islamic terrorism. To augment the efforts of the new administration, this legislation I have introduced will reinforce the authority of the states and governors to keep
their citizens safe. I am honored to work with Rep. Poe on this legislation and I hope that Congress will pass it and send it to the president’s desk.”
“Congress must take action to support states that refuse to participate in the refugee resettlement program because of serious security concerns,” said Rep. Poe. “The Obama Administration’s open door policy has totally disregarded the wishes of state governors who have legitimate security concerns about letting unvetted refugees in their states. Although we expect vetting to increase in the new Administration, states should still have an opt-out if the security of the program is not guaranteed. The reality is that ISIS has vowed to attack America, and we already know that several recent terror attacks in Europe were carried out by individuals who came in disguised as a Syrian refugee. It is dangerous and irresponsible to let thousands of refugees in when even FBI Director Comey admitted we cannot properly vet them. Read the rest of this entry »
Poll: 74 Percent of Californians Want to End Sanctuary Cities
Posted: January 23, 2017 Filed under: Health and Social Issues, Mediasphere, Politics, U.S. News | Tags: Barack Obama, Berkeley, Boulder, College Republicans, Colorado, Donald Trump, Illegal immigration, Presidency of Barack Obama, San Francisco, Sanctuary city, Shooting of Kathryn Steinle, Texas, U.S.Immigration and Customs Enforcement, United States, University of California 1 Comment
Roughly 74 percent of California residents want to see an end to sanctuary city policies, according to a poll by UC Berkeley. Read the rest of this entry »
[VIDEO] Charles Krauthammer: Obama is Deluding Himself ‘Into Believing He was a Great Historic Success’
Posted: January 16, 2017 Filed under: Mediasphere, Politics, White House | Tags: Barack Obama, Charles Krauthammer, Democratic Party (United States), Executive (government), Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Presidency of Barack Obama, Republican Party (United States), United States Senate, Vladimir Putin Leave a comment
It’s pretty satisfying to see that Obama was completely done in by his own hubris – when he wasn’t able to get any bipartisan support for his far left schemes, he just pushed them through by abusing the power of the executive branch.
But without a successor to secure those gains, he has built his legacy “on sand,” as perfectly stated by Krauthammer…(more)
[VIDEO] SUPERCUTS: Thanks Obama… The Democratic Party Is Decimated!
Posted: January 4, 2017 Filed under: Entertainment, Mediasphere, Politics, White House | Tags: 2016 Presidential Election, Barack Obama, CBS, Decimated, Democratic Party, DNC, Donald Trump, failure, Free Beacon, Hope and Change, media, MSNBC, NBC, news, Presidency of Barack Obama, video, Washington Free Beacon Leave a comment
Records Show Obama Hired Behavioral Experts to Expand Use of Govt. Programs
Posted: September 9, 2016 Filed under: Censorship, Crime & Corruption, Politics, Science & Technology, White House | Tags: Artificial Intelligence, Berkeley, Boston, John Holdren, Midas, Milind Tambe, NASA, Office of Science and Technology Policy, Presidency of Barack Obama, Social work, University of California 1 Comment
Information about this absurd behavioral team remains sketchy because the administration, which claims to be the most transparent in history, withheld nearly 100 pages of records that could have shed light on the taxpayer-funded group’s secret operations.
The Obama administration quietly hired 20 social and behavioral research experts to help expand the use of government programs at dozens of agencies by, among other things, simplifying federal forms, according to records obtained by Judicial Watch. The controversial group of experts is collectively known as the Social and Behavioral Sciences Team (SBST) and it functions under the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP).
In 2015 Obama signed an executive order directing federal agencies to use behavioral science to sell their programs to the public, the records obtained by Judicial Watch reveal. By then the government had contracted “20 leading social and behavioral research experts” that at that point had already been involved in “more than 75 agency collaborations,” the records state. A memo sent from SBST chair Maya Shankar, a neuroscientist, to OSTP Director John Holdren offers agencies guidance and information about available government support for using behavioral insights to improve federal forms. Sent electronically, the memo is titled “Behavioral Science Insights and Federal Forms.”
The records, obtained from the OSTP under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), also include a delivery by Holdren in which he insists that the social and behavioral sciences “are real science, with immensely valuable practical applications—the views of a few members of Congress to the contrary notwithstanding—and that these sciences abundantly warrant continuing support in the Federal science and technology budget.” Holdren, a Stanford and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate is a peculiar character who worked as an environmental professor at Harvard and the University of California Berkeley before becoming Obama’s science advisor. In the late 70s he co-authored a book with doomsayer Paul Ehrlich advocating for mandatory sterilization of the American people and forced abortions in order to depopulate the country. A head of the OSTP Holdren technically oversees the SBST.
Information about this absurd behavioral team remains sketchy because the administration, which claims to be the most transparent in history, withheld nearly 100 pages of records that could have shed light on the taxpayer-funded group’s secret operations. The Obama administration cited an exemption—officially known as B5—that applies to deliberative process, which allows government officials to discuss policy without the discussions being made public, or attorney client privilege. In this case it appears that the administration used the deliberative process exemption to withhold the records since it’s unlikely that attorney client privilege applies. B5 is the most abused of the FOIA exemptions and is regularly used to hide material that may embarrass the government. Read the rest of this entry »
[VIDEO] Krauthammer: It’s Obvious Obama ‘Did Not Want Anybody to Know’ About Iran Ransom
Posted: September 7, 2016 Filed under: Crime & Corruption, Global, Mediasphere, Politics, Terrorism, War Room, White House | Tags: Barack Obama, Charles Krauthammer, Fox News Channel, Iran, Money laundering, Obama administration, Presidency of Barack Obama, Syria, United States, United States Department of State 2 Comments
Arguing that the Obama administration is affected by the Iran payment, Charles Krauthammer said that the information as well as how it came to light are humiliating.
Déjà Vu All Over Again: Obama Falsely Takes Credit for Low Gas Prices
Posted: July 7, 2016 Filed under: Economics, Mediasphere, Science & Technology, White House | Tags: American Civil Liberties Union, American Legislative Exchange Council, Barack Obama, Bill (law), Bureau of Land Management, Congressional Research Service, Fiscal year, Presidency of Barack Obama, Scott W. Skavdahl, United States, United States district court 1 Comment
WASHINGTON — In a recent stump speech for Hillary Clinton, President Obama once again took credit for increased domestic energy production and low gasoline prices:
“Remember when we were all concerned about our dependence on foreign oil? Well, let me tell you — we’ve cut the amount of oil we buy from other countries in half. Remember when the other team was promising they were going to get gas prices down in like 10 years? We did it…”
Today, the Institute for Energy Research released an updated analysis explaining how the increase in energy production has happened despite the president’s policies, not because of them. Using a recent Congressional Research Service (CRS) report, IER’s analysis highlights the stark contrast between booming oil and natural gas production on private and state lands and the anemic production on federal lands. IER’s findings include:
- In fiscal year 2015, oil production on federal lands was 0.8 percent more than its high reached in fiscal year 2010, while production on private and state lands was 113 percent higher.
- Natural gas production on federal lands has not regained the high reached in fiscal year 2007. For example, it was 27 percent less in fiscal year 2015 than in fiscal year 2010, while production on private and state lands in 2015 was up by 55 percent since 2010.
- Under the Obama administration, it takes an average of 237 days for the BLM to process a federal drilling permit.
[Click here to read IER’s full analysis.]
- In contrast, some states approve permits within 10 business days.
- The average number of leases issued by Obama’s BLM is almost 60 percent less than the average issued by the Clinton Administration and over 45 percent less than those issued by the Bush 43 Administration.
In recent years, oil and natural gas production on private and state lands has skyrocketed, while production on federal lands is largely in decline and has been throughout most of President Obama’s time in office. Read the rest of this entry »
As Lawmakers Clash Over Refugees, Syrian Immigration Quietly Tops 100,000 Since 2012
Posted: December 17, 2015 Filed under: Global, Health and Social Issues, Law & Justice, Politics, Terrorism, War Room | Tags: American Free Press, Assault Amphibious Vehicle, Barack Obama, British Columbia, China, Federal government of the United States, Islamic state, Presidency of Barack Obama, Terrorism, United States Leave a comment
Joseph J. Kolb reports: A proposal to admit 10,000 Syrian refugees to the United States has ignited a bitter debate in Washington, but more than 10 times that number of people from the embattled country have quietly come to America since 2012, according to figures obtained by FoxNews.com.
“All civil order has collapsed, and meaningful background checks are impossible. Instead, we rely on cross-checking databases. However, many people with ties to terrorist groups are not in any databases, which means there is no way we can identify them before they arrive here.”
— Ira Mehlman, of the Federation for American Immigration Reform
Some 102,313 Syrians were granted admission to the U.S. as legal permanent residents or through programs including work, study and tourist visas from 2012 through August of this year, a period which roughly coincides with the devastating civil war that still engulfs the Middle Eastern country. Experts say any fears that terrorists might infiltrate the proposed wave of refugees from United Nations-run camps should be dwarfed by the potential danger already here.
“The sheer number of people arriving on all kinds of visas and with green cards, and possibly U.S. citizenship, makes it impossible for our counterterrorism authorities to keep track of them all, much less prevent them from carrying out attacks or belatedly try to deport them,” said Jessica Vaughan of the Center for Immigration Studies.
“I think it’s reasonable to assume that the U.S. Government ran the minimum intelligence traces required at the time of entry.”
– Fred Burton, Stratfor
Numbers obtained from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection show 60,010 Syrian visa holders have entered the U.S. since 2012, including 16,245 this year through August. Additional numbers provided by a Congressional source showed another 42,303 Syrians were granted citizenship or green cards during the same period.
“It is highly unlikely that the 102,313 Syrians who were admitted over the past three years were effectively vetted,” said spokesman Ira Mehlman, of the Federation for American Immigration Reform. “Even in countries where we have a strong diplomatic presence, the sheer volume of background checks being carried out precludes the kind of thorough vetting that is necessary.”
The Syrians being admitted are coming directly from their homeland, usually through the U.S. visa program, as opposed to the refugees President Obama is seeking to take in through U.N.-run refugee camps. Most have secured legal entry before they arrive.
[Read the full story here, at Fox News]
“Refugees are part of the admitted category,” said Jaime Ruiz, spokesman for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection. “Their cases are approved prior to arriving into the U.S.”
Those who escaped Syria’s grinding civil war, which has killed an estimated 300,000, and made it to the U.S. are more likely to be those with the money and means to access the U.S. immigration bureaucracy, say experts. But even that system is susceptible to fraud. Read the rest of this entry »
Body Count: Nearly 90 People Have Been Shot in Military ‘Gun Free Zones’ in the Last 6 Years
Posted: July 20, 2015 Filed under: Crime & Corruption, Health and Social Issues, Self Defense, War Room | Tags: 2009 Little Rock recruiting office shooting, Arkansas, Chattanooga, Killeen, Little Rock, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Nidal Malik Hasan, Presidency of Barack Obama, Right-wing politics, Tennessee, Texas, United States Constitution, United States Marine Corps 1 Comment
From The LA Times:
…The attack is the third act of domestic terrorism carried out on U.S. military facilities since 2009. A fourth attack not considered an act of terrorism, in which 12 people were killed and three wounded at the Washington Navy Yard, occurred just two years ago.
In June 2009, Muslim convert Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad killed one soldier and wounded another at a recruiting center in Little Rock, Ark. In November of that year, Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan carried out an attack at Ft. Hood, Texas, that left 13 dead and 32 wounded.
Last year, another shooter at Ft. Hood killed three people and wounded 16.
These combined attacks at military facilities bring the casualty count to 33 dead and 55 wounded by gunfire since 2009.
…One of the easiest safeguards would be for the Obama administration to revise the gun rule that has made military targets such easy prey to armed attackers.
Every military recruit has had basic weapons training, and many officers and non-commissioned officers are trained and regularly qualify to use the military’s standard-issue handguns….(read more)
This dream of military members being able to protect themselves might become a reality very soon. Read the rest of this entry »
Obama’s Passive ISIS Plan: Run Out the Clock
Posted: May 30, 2015 Filed under: War Room, White House | Tags: al Qaeda, Barack Obama, Obama administration, Presidency of Barack Obama, Syria, Taliban, The Daily Beast, The Pentagon, United States Armed Forces, War in Afghanistan (2001–present) Leave a comment
“Although the Obama administration’s public messaging is that it still wants to ‘degrade and ultimately defeat’ ISIS, in reality, many in the Pentagon view the real objective as just running out the clock.”
[VIDEO] Dr. Charles Krauthammer: Obama Administration ‘Will Not Let the Facts Stand in the Way’ of a Deal with Iran
Posted: April 21, 2015 Filed under: Mediasphere, Politics, War Room, White House | Tags: Americans, Barack Obama, Benjamin Netanyahu, Breaking news, Charles Krauthammer, Iran, John Kerry, Nuclear program of Iran, Nuclear weapon, Obama administration, Presidency of Barack Obama, United States Congress Leave a comment
From The Corner,
On Tuesday’s Special Report, Charles Krauthammer said the Obama administration misled the American people about the estimated time the administration thought Iran would need to obtain nuclear weapons.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, foreground left, met with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, background right, in Vienna in July. JIM BOURG
“This is an administration that is determined to get a deal and will not let the facts stand in the way.”
“The only explanation, the best explanation surely, is they were deliberately deceiving the American people—and the Congress, of course—because they [the Obama administration] knew they [Iran] were only few months a way and pretended otherwise,” Krauthammer said…(read more)
Emission Cuts Ordered By Obama Probably Won’t Survive Beyond End Of His Presidency
Posted: April 1, 2015 Filed under: Global, Politics, U.S. News, White House | Tags: Barack Obama, Climate, Federal government of the United States, Greenhouse gas, Mitch McConnell, Party leaders of the United States Senate, Presidency of Barack Obama, Republican Party (United States), United States, White House 1 Comment
…In its written pledge, known to climate negotiators as an Intended Nationally Determined Contribution, the U.S. did not offer an exact formula for how it would achieve the remaining reductions. Yet it pointed to an array of steps Obama has taken or is taking to curb emissions. Obama has ordered higher fuel efficiency standards for cars and trucks, methane limits for energy production, cuts in federal government emissions and unprecedented pollution rules for new and existing power plants.
Many of those steps have drawn the ire of some Democrats and almost all Republicans — not to mention the energy industry. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has been urging U.S. states not to comply with Obama’s power plant rules, and argued that the U.S. could never meet Obama’s target even if those rules do survive.
“Considering that two-thirds of the U.S. federal government hasn’t even signed off on the Clean Power Plan and 13 states have already pledged to fight it, our international partners should proceed with caution before entering into a binding, unattainable deal,” McConnell said… Read the rest of this entry »
‘Clouds of Intellectual Self-Regard’
Posted: January 15, 2015 Filed under: Politics, Think Tank, White House | Tags: Air Force One, al Qaeda, Barack Obama, Democratic Party (United States), Family of Barack Obama, Hawaii, Michelle Obama, Oahu, Presidency of Barack Obama, Restaurant, United States 1 Comment“Obama entered the presidency trailing clouds of intellectual self-regard. His carefully cultivated persona was of a uniquely thoughtful, judicious, deliberative, evidence-driven man comfortable with complexity. The protracted consideration of Keystone supposedly displayed these virtues.”
“Now, however, it is clear that his mind has always been as closed as an unshucked oyster.”
— George Will
“I concur.”
‘Gruber may believe that American voters are stupid, but he was the one who was dumb enough to say all this on camera’
Posted: November 11, 2014 Filed under: Health and Social Issues, Mediasphere, Politics, U.S. News | Tags: Barack Obama, Congressional Budget Office, Individual mandate, Jonathan Gruber (economist), Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Obama administration, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Presidency of Barack Obama, WebMD, White House 1 Comment
Peter Suderman writes: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Professor Jonathan Gruber was, by most accounts, one of the key figures in constructing the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare….(read more)
Here’s the full quote:
“This bill was written in a tortured way to make sure CBO did not score the mandate as taxes. If CBO [Congressional Budget Office] scored the mandate as taxes, the bill dies. Okay, so it’s written to do that. In terms of risk rated subsidies, if you had a law which said that healthy people are going to pay in – you made explicit healthy people pay in and sick people get money, it would not have passed… Lack of transparency is a huge political advantage. And basically, call it the stupidity of the American voter or whatever, but basically that was really really critical for the thing to pass….Look, I wish Mark was right that we could make it all transparent, but I’d rather have this law than not.”
This validates much of what critics have said about the health care law, and the tactics used to pass it, for years.
For one thing, it is an explicit admission that the law was designed in such a way to avoid a CBO score that would have tanked the bill. Basically, the Democrats who wrote the bill knowingly gamed the CBO process.
[Also see Of Course Jonathan Gruber Said That by Charles C. W. Cooke]
It’s also an admission that the law’s authors understood that one of the effects of the bill would be to make healthy people pay for the sick, but declined to say this for fear that it would kill the bill’s chances. In other words, the law’s supporters believed the public would not like some of the bill’s consequences, and knowingly attempted to hide those consequences from the public. Read the rest of this entry »
[VIDEO] Susan Rice: ‘Dang If I Know’
Posted: May 15, 2014 Filed under: Politics, U.S. News, White House | Tags: Benghazi, Judy Woodruff, PBS, Presidency of Barack Obama, Republican Party (United States), Susan Rice, Washington DC, White House 2 CommentsSusan Rice got a few laughs as she shrugged off whether the House select committee on Benghazi would uncover any new information…
