Boots & Sabers

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Tag: Barack Obama

Obama’s Knowledge of Flynn Case

The rot started at the top.

President Obama knew details of Michael Flynn’s 2016 wiretapped phone calls with then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, and raised the issue following an Oval Office meeting about Russian interferance is U.S. elections, it has been revealed in declassified documents released on Thursday.

The documents, that have been used as exhibits in the government’s motion to dismiss the case against Flynn, who at the time was due to become the U.S. National Security Advisor under the incoming Trump administration, show that Obama’s knowledge of the call surprised then-Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates.

According to Fox News, on January 5 2017, fifteen days before Donald Trump assumed office, Sally Yates attended a meeting in the Oval Office with President Obama along other notable national security figures, according to the newly declassified documents, which include a ‘FD-302 FBI’ report, a document used to detail interviews the bureau conducts.

The other attendees were then-Vice President Joe Biden, then-directors of the FBI and CIA, James Comey and John Brennan respectively, and then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.

The meeting was held to discuss Russian election interference, and also involved Susan Rice, the National Security Advisor who Flynn soon replaced, and other national security officials.

Obama Continues to Lead From Behind

Way to get out in front, Obama!

Obama said: “The kind of leadership that’s guided by knowledge and experience; honesty and humility; empathy and grace – that kind of leadership doesn’t just belong in our state capitols and mayors offices. It belongs in the White House.

“That’s why I’m so proud to endorse Joe Biden for President of the United States.

“Choosing Joe to by my Vice President was one of the best decisions I ever made and he became a close friend

“And I believe Joe has all the qualities we need in a President right now.”

Obama Warns Dems to Not Veer Too Far Left

Once again, I find myself agreeing with Obama.

Former President Barack Obama on Friday warned the Democratic field of White House hopefuls not to veer too far to the left, a move he said would alienate many who would otherwise be open to voting for the party’s nominee next year.

Though Obama did not mention anyone by name, the message delivered before a room of Democratic donors in Washington was a clear word of caution about the candidacies of Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. The two have called for massive structural changes — and in Sanders’ case “revolution” — that would dramatically alter the role of government in people’s lives.

The centrist wing of the party has warned for months that a far-left nominee could alienate moderate Republicans and independent voters needed to oust President Donald Trump.

“The average American doesn’t think we have to completely tear down the system and remake it. And I think it’s important for us not to lose sight of that,” Obama said. “There are a lot of persuadable voters and there are a lot of Democrats out there who just want to see things make sense. They just don’t want to see crazy stuff. They want to see things a little more fair, they want to see things a little more just. And how we approach that I think will be important.”

You’ll notice, however, that Obama is not saying that he disagrees with those socialist policies or that they shouldn’t govern that way if elected. He’s merely pointing out that most Americans don’t want to be socialists and it will be difficult for Democrats to get elected if they campaign on those policies.

Obama Calls Out Woke Culture

I agree

Mr Obama said that calling people out on social media did not bring about change, and that change was complex.

“Woke” is described as being alert to racial or social discrimination and injustice, along with being aware of what’s going on in the community.

Mr Obama told the audience: “I get a sense among certain young people on social media that the way of making change is to be as judgemental as possible about other people.

“If I tweet or hashtag about how you didn’t do something right or used the wrong verb, then I can sit back and feel pretty good about myself because ‘Man did you see how woke I was? I called you out!'”

“That’s enough,” he said. “If all you’re doing is casting stones, you are probably not going to get that far.”

Mr Obama added that “people who do really good stuff have flaws”.

Obama Still Doesn’t Know How Gun Laws Work (or Don’t Work)

Wha!?!? You can buy a machine gun online without any regulations? Where? Perhaps if Obama knew our nation’s actual gun laws he wouldn’t be so hellbent on passing more.

Former president Barack Obama has claimed US gun laws ‘don’t make sense’.

[…]

He added: ‘We know that in some states we have gun laws that do not make sense. It’s even possible to buy even machine guns online without any regulation.’

Obama’s comments come just months after Brazil passed laws making it easier for people to buy and carry guns.

Obama Administration Lied About Dealings with Iran

Wow. It’s more and more clear that Obama was running a Chicago-style criminal organization.

The Obama administration went out of its way in early 2016 to help Iran recoup previously sanctioned oil revenue stranded in an overseas account after the nuclear deal went into effect and actively misled Congress regarding those efforts, according to the results of a nearly two-year Republican investigation released early Wednesday.

[…]

But the unfreezing of Iran’s U.S. accounts would be the end of it, the Obama administration said at the time. Both before and after the deal was implemented, officials repeatedly told Congress that Iran, under remaining non-nuclear sanctions, would have no access whatsoever to the U.S. financial system or institutions.

To facilitate the transaction, Obama officials engaged in lengthy discussions with Iranian and Omani officials; appealed to the two American banks to undertake the transfer; privately issued a special Treasury license that would guarantee it was allowed under still-existing U.S. sanctions; and even approached the New York Federal Reserve Bank for help.

At the end of the day, nothing worked. Eventually, according to the report, Oman took a slower and more complicated route, gradually buying small amounts of euros in Europe that could be transferred to Iran. No one involved seems certain whether Iran has yet received all of its $5.7 billion.

But in undertaking the effort and not disclosing it to Congress, Subcommittee Chairman Rob Portman (R-Ohio) said in an interview, “the Obama administration misled the American people by saying that Iran was not going to be granted access to the U.S. financial system. I think they did it because they were so eager to get an agreement with Iran.”

Such access, said Portman, a longtime opponent of the Iran deal, “is the crown jewel, what all these countries would love. Yet our government offered it, while at the same time telling the American people they weren’t offering it.”

Remembering Obama’s “Red Line”

Interesting reminder.

It was a sunny morning on Saturday 31 August 2013 – Labor Day weekend in the US – when Barack Obama strolled into the Rose Garden of the White House. The last thing most Americans were thinking about was war in a far-off Middle Eastern country.

But Obama faced a dilemma. The decision he was about to announce would come to be seen as a defining moment for his presidency. It also marked a tipping point for the international strategic balance of power. It was a moment that would transform the civil war in Syria into the epic failure of our age.

[…]

It was a moment full of dire portents. Obama’s disregard for his own “red line” was interpreted in Moscow, Tehran, Damascus and other Arab capitals as confirming a fundamental shift – evidence that a chastened, post-Iraq America was retreating from its global policeman role. Obama’s hesitation gave Vladimir Putin, Russia’s leader, an opening. It fitted his core agenda: to rebuild Moscow’s influence in the Middle East and make Russia great again by restoring Soviet-era global reach.

It is far from clear what the impact of a US-led military intervention in 2013 would have been. It could have exacerbated the plight of Syria’s civilians without toppling the regime or curtailing the war. It could have escalated uncontrollably – although it is difficult to see how things could be worse than they are now.

But by deciding to hand off responsibility, Obama sent another damaging message: that the US, the world’s only superpower, and key allies such as Britain, were not prepared to fight for a free, democratic Syria, no more than they would fight for democracy in support of other Arab Spring revolts. They tried it in Libya in 2011 and quickly recoiled.

Report: Obama Administration Sabotaged Effort to Stop Hezbollah Drug Smuggling

It is clear that in the Obama Administration, everything took a back seat to Obama’s domestic political concerns.

Barack Obama‘s administration has been accused of sabotaging an operation to stop Hezbollah smuggling drugs into the US so that a nuclear deal with Iran could proceed.

In a stunning exposé by Politico, the former US President’s officials are said to have opened the door for trafficking and money laundering operations.

The Drug Enforcement Administration led a complex venture called Project Cassandra to tackle the criminality of the Lebanese militant group.

But it is claimed Obama’s people threw down a number of roadblocks, effectively paving the way for Hezbollah’s illegal activities.

DEA agents claim the Obama administration stopped them arresting key figures linked to Hezbollah as an agreement on the Iran nuclear deal approached – and scrapped Project Cassandra entirely once the terms were agreed.

Obama Praises Himself for Courage

Heh

“I actually think that the issue that required the most political courage was the decision not to bomb Syria after the chemical weapons use had been publicized and rather to negotiate them removing chemical weapons from Syria,” Obama said in an interview with Jack Schlossberg, the grandson of President John F. Kennedy, which was published Monday.

That decision has come under renewed scrutiny following last month’s deadly sarin gas attack on Syrian civilians carried out by Syrian President Bashar Assad. President Trump subsequently ordered the bombing of a Syrian airfield and criticized Obama for not following through on a threatened military strike after Assad crossed what Obama had said was his “red line.”

“Now, we know subsequently that some [chemical weapons] remained, so it was an imperfect solution,” Obama said. “But what we also know is that 99 percent of huge chemical weapons stockpiled were removed without us having to fire a shot.”

Actually, we do not know that 99% of the chemical weapons were removed. We know nothing of the sort. What we do know is that Obama told us that 100% of the chemical weapons were removed and that hundreds of dead Syrians dispute Obama’s assertion.

Trump Accuses Obama of Tapping Trump Tower

That’s a serious allegation. Given that he has access to everything the federal government has done, is there evidence? Given the activities of the Obama administration, I certainly wouldn’t put it past them. After all, this is the same administration that used the IRS and Justice Department to go after political foes.

President Trump exploded on Twitter early Saturday morning, blasting former President Barack Obama for allegedly wiretapping his phones before the election. He provided no evidence to back up the claim.

“Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my ‘wires tapped’ in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!”

“Is it legal for a sitting President to be ‘wire tapping’ a race for president prior to an election? Turned down by court earlier. A NEW LOW!”

It wasn’t clear what, exactly, Trump was referring to as he raged against his predecessor, whom he labeled a “bad (or sick) guy!” He also said a talented lawyer could make a “great case” out of the situation.

Obama’s post-presidency office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Yahoo News on Trump’s accusation, and the White House did not immediately clarify from whom Trump had “just learned” this new information.

Obama’s lackey’s defense is weak tea.

But Ben Rhodes, who served as Obama’s deputy national security adviser, rejected Trump’s claim that his predecessor had ordered a wiretap of his New York City office.

“No President can order a wiretap. Those restrictions were put in place to protect citizens from people like you,” Rhodes tweeted

I seriously doubt that Obama would have been stupid enough to “order” a wiretap. That doesn’t mean that his employees, working on his behalf, didn’t do it anyway to benefit their boss and the Democratic Party.

Trump has played this rope-a-dope game before. My gut says that he’s got the goods on this. Then again, speculating on Trump’s tweets is like trying to speculate on Supreme Court decisions based on the oral arguments… you’re almost always wrong.

Obama Forgives a Traitor

Help me understand this… Obama rattles his war saber at Russia over information they allegedly gave to Wikileaks about the Democratic Party, but he forgives a traitor who released classified military information to Wikileaks? I agree with this:

Manning isn’t a woman in need of rescue. He’s a soldier who committed serious crimes. He wasn’t a “whistleblower,” as many of his defenders claim. He just dumped hundreds of thousands of classified documents into the public domain for the purposes of “worldwide discussion, debates, and reforms” without the slightest regard for the lives of others. There is no excuse. Manning is a traitor who pled guilty to a lesser offense to avoid the full penalty for his crimes. He has received too much mercy already. Obama’s commutation of his sentence is a disgrace.

U.S. Deploys Troops to Poland

President Obama sure is making a lot of dramatic, far-reaching foreign policy moves right before he leaves office. If you think this move isn’t motivated by Obama’s selfish political calculations, just think… would he have done this (or slap Israel; or change Cuba policy; etc.) if Hillary had won?

U.S. and other Western nations have carried out exercises on NATO’s eastern flank in past years, but the new deployment – which includes some 3,500 U.S. troops – marks the first-ever continuous deployment to the region by a NATO ally.

It is part of a larger commitment by President Barack Obama to protect a region that grew deeply nervous when Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and then began backing separatist rebels in Ukraine’s east.

If we were going to do this, we should have done it in 2014 when Russia invaded Ukraine. It might have had a deterrent effect to stem Russia’s advance at that time. It’s too late now. All it does is set up political landmines for the incoming president.

Here’s how this will go down… Trump will pull back these troops because their deployment to Poland serves no purpose and aggravates Russia for no gain. Then the Democrats and media will jump on Trump and accuse him of being pro-Russia, a puppet for Putin, etc. Domestic political posturing ensues.

Obama Forces Return Of Refugees Fleeing Tyranny

I thought we were supposed to welcome refugees with open arms? No borders and whatnot… never mind.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is ending a longstanding immigration policy that allows any Cuban who makes it to U.S. soil to stay and become a legal resident, a senior administration official said Thursday.

The repeal of the “wet foot, dry foot” policy is effective immediately, according the official. The decision follows months of negotiations focused in part on getting Cuba to agree to take back people who had arrived in the U.S.

[…]

The official said the Cubans gave no assurances about treatment of those sent back to the country, but said political asylum remains an option for those concerned about persecution if they return.

Yet another handout to a tyrannical regime in return for nothing. A lot of Cubans yearning to breathe free will pay the price for Obama’s love of this Communist regime.

Obama Dismissed Political Appointees

So, there’s this

The incoming Obama administration has notified all politically-appointed ambassadors that they must vacate their posts as of Jan. 20, the day President-elect Barack Obama takes the oath of office, a State Department official said.

The clean slate will open up prime opportunities for the president-elect to reward political supporters with posts in London, Paris, Tokyo and the like. The notice to diplomatic posts was issued this week.

Obama To Release Terrorists

Americans will die for Obama’s ego.

One of the other recommended transfers, Bostan Karim, is accused of running al Qaeda’s improvised explosive devices (IED) operations in Khowst, Afghanistan, which targeted US soldiers.

Some of the recommended transfers have also vowed to return to jihad if they are ever released, according to reports from US military officials. They have also threatened to assassinate the U.S. president, kill American citizens, and attack other world leaders who are allied with the West.

Muieen Abdal Sattar, an accused al Qaeda member who fought in Tora Bora, has been at Guantanamo for 14 years and 11 months. While there he has ‘incited mass disturbances, assaulted and threatened to kill [Gitmo] personnel and made motivational speeches to ‘fight against infidels’ and to kill all Americans to include men, women, children, and babies,’ according to US military officials.

Officials claimed he has also issued several ‘fatwas’ encouraging other detainees to engage in hunger strikes and suicide attempts, and once threatened to cut off a guard’s head.

Others have vowed to ‘martyr’ themselves if released, and even while in Guantanamo, according to official military reports. Accused al Qaeda member Mohammed Bawazir reportedly agreed to be ‘a voluntary suicide operative’ in a suicide attack inside Gitmo, planned with two other detainees.

It is unclear where the detainees will be transferred. Obama has previously transferred ‘recommended’ Gitmo detainees to countries that agree to accept them, sending nine prisoners to Saudi Arabia last spring and another to Italy in July.

Some released detainees have gone back into terrorism. Four of the senior leaders in al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) are former Guantanamo Bay detainees that were transferred to Saudi Arabia or Sudan.

Death throes of a presidency

My column for the West Bend Daily News is online. Here you go:

President Barack Obama is leaving office in the same way he governed for most of his tenure — in a classless spasm of petulant partisanship. Despite the fact that he was graciously welcomed to the White House with a smooth and inclusive transition by his predecessor, President George W. Bush, Obama is determined to frustrate President-elect Donald Trump at every turn.

Since the election of Trump, Obama has been on a spree of executive actions designed to ram through as much of his leftist ideology as possible. He has escalated his effort to undermine the law by commuting the sentences of another 232 federal inmates and outright pardoned another 78 convicts. Most of these folks were rightly convicted, but Obama disagrees with the laws under which they were convicted.

Obama has also been rapidly filling the bureaucracy with loyal leftists. Since Election Day, he has appointed more than 100 people to senior civil service jobs in everything from the Amtrak Board of Directors to key oversight panels.

Last-minute commutations and appointments by a lame-duck president are relatively common and have happened since President John Adams rammed through judicial appointments on his last day in office (including the famous William Marbury of Marbury v. Madison fame). Where Obama is showing his extremism is in unilaterally making sweeping changes to American domestic and foreign policies.

After 7 and 11/12 years of letting Russia kick him all over the globe, Obama chose now to poke the bear by expelling diplomats and imposing sanctions for allegedly meddling in our election. Irrespective of the validity or effectiveness of Obama’s actions, his decision to act now and let Trump deal with the consequences is appalling. There was no reason that America could not wait three weeks for the incoming administration to evaluate and enact a response to Russia, if necessary. There is no impending event that demanded immediate action. The only reason Obama acted now was to create political minefields for the incoming president.

Obama also reversed decades of American policy by stabbing our ally Israel in the back. The U.S. had long protected Israel from the anti-Semitic actions of the United Nations by vetoing anti-Israel resolutions. Obama abstained and allowed the U.N. to pass a sanction condemning Israel for their settlements and then sent out his Secretary of State, John Kerry, to issue a long-winded nonsensical justification for the betrayal. Obama’s action has laid a foundation for decades of attacks on Israel by people who cannot bear to see a democratic Jewish state exist in the Middle East.

Over the objections of local officials and residents, Obama unilaterally declared 1.65 million acres of Utah and Nevada to be national monuments, thus making it off limits to private development and resource exploration. In an admission that his action is unpopular and unjustified, Obama is already claiming that Trump could not legally reverse his declaration. It is un-American to think that a president would be given unilateral and arbitrary authority to perpetually wall off vast swaths of American land. Nowhere do we allow a single man that much power in our Republic.

Not to be restricted to terrestrial matters, Obama also unilaterally enacted an indefinite ban on drilling for vast swaths of the Artic and Atlantic Oceans. It is another swipe to try to shore up Obama’s radical environmentalist legacy for the sake of his ego while kneecapping our economy one more time before retiring to the lavish existence our presidents have come to expect. Once again, Obama and his lawyers are already insisting that the law does not allow future presidents to reverse his decision, and once again, nothing is more hateful to Americans than the notion of an omnipotent potentate issuing eternal decrees.

The silver lining is that the cause for Obama’s reckless and destructive behavior is that his tenure is coming to an end. Before the month comes to a close, Obama’s presidency will be over and we can begin to repair the damage.

Obama Sanctions Russia

You know, for all of the bluster and bustle, I’ve yet to see what the specific accusations are or any evidence to support them.

(CNN)President Barack Obama took unprecedented steps Thursday in issuing an executive order against six Russian individuals and five Russian entities in relation to what the Treasury Department said was to address “Significant Malicious Cyber-Enabled Activities.”

This is the first time the names of Russian officials involved in the hacking have become public on the sanctions list.
Obama also said in a separate statement that 35 Russian diplomats have been ordered to leave the country, and 2 Russian compounds are being closed under Thursday’s actions.
A White House statement described the consensus from the Intelligence Community that Russia’s meddling in US elections via cyberhacking as “unacceptable and will not be tolerated.”
“Russia’s cyberactivities were intended to influence the election, erode faith in US democratic institutions, sow doubt about the integrity of our electoral process, and undermine confidence in the institutions of the US government,” the statement said. “These actions are unacceptable and will not be tolerated.”
The only accusation that I’ve seen was that Russia may have been involved in hacking the DNC, but the government has not presented any evidence of that for public scrutiny. But let us assume that that is true and Russia was involved… the DNC is a private organization. It is not a public entity, nor does it administer our elections. So at the very most, you could say that Russia hacked a private entity and dumped that information in an effort to influence the election.
OK, so that wouldn’t be cool, if it were true, but does that warrant the knee-jerk diplomatic break that Obama launched? And if it were true, would it be any less effective for Obama to leave it to the incoming administration to handle since they are the ones who will be tasked with managing it?
No, this was a crass political move by Obama designed to undermine the legitimacy of Trump’s electoral victory. Obama is doing more to, “erode faith in US democratic institutions, sow doubt about the integrity of our electoral process, and undermine confidence in the institutions of the US government” than Russia did.

Obama’s Massive Land Grab

Another FU from our president on his way out the door.

President Obama protected two massive areas in the American West on Wednesday, including a swath of southern Utah that has been at the center of a contentious battle over land protections for years.

The areas newly protected from development and various activities are the Bears Ears National Monument in Utah and the Gold Butte National Monument in Nevada. Both areas are owned by the federal Bureau of Land Management.

The actions further cement the aggressive conservation legacy of Obama, who has protected more land and water than any other president under the Antiquities Act.

But the designations are among the most controversial undo Obama, with strong opposition among local and state leaders.

Obama said in a statement that the designations “protect some of our country’s most important cultural treasures, including abundant rock art, archeological sites, and lands considered sacred by Native American tribes.”

“Today’s actions will help protect this cultural legacy and will ensure that future generations are able to enjoy and appreciate these scenic and historic landscapes,” he continued.

Obama created the designations using his unilateral authority under the Antiquities Act, acting with just about three weeks left before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.

Obama Reverses American Policy to Slap Israel on Way Out of Office

He is trying to leave as much wreckage as possible before he exits the White House.

The resolution reflects an international consensus that the growth of Israeli settlement-building has come to threaten the viability of a Palestinian state in any future peace deal.

It is a view strongly shared by the Obama administration, and for that reason the US reversed its policy of vetoing any UN Security Council criticism of Israel.

It is a decision that was taken after months of debate within the administration about whether and how President Obama might be able to define his position on a two-state solution before leaving office.

But his successor Donald Trump has made clear he intends to strongly support Israeli government positions, even making a highly unorthodox intervention before the vote by publicly urging Mr Obama to veto the resolution.

Egypt Delays U.N Vote After Trump Comments

The real story here is that Obama was reportedly going to stick his thumb in Israel’s eye on his way out by allowing the vote to happen. Trump’s action actually upheld America’s long-standing policy of sticking up for Israel in the antisemitic U.N.

Egypt’s resolution called for Israel to stop building new settlements, which it said breached international law.

It was to have been voted on in the UN Security Council on Thursday, but Egypt withdrew it hours before the meeting was due to start.

The United States, which holds a veto at Security Council, has traditionally sheltered Israel from condemnatory resolutions by voting them down.

“Israelis deeply appreciate one of the great pillars of the US-Israel alliance: the willingness over many years of the United States to stand up in the UN and veto anti-Israel resolutions,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier.

“I hope the US won’t abandon this policy.”

But there had been speculation that the Obama administration might change that strategy in the president’s final month in office and allow Egypt’s resolution condemning Israel to pass by abstaining from voting in the Security Council.

Earlier on Thursday, Mr Trump had urged the Security Council to defeat the resolution.

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