Presumptuous Politics

Saturday, July 18, 2015

Iran's supreme leader says nuke deal won't change policy on US

Senators upset UN will act on Iran nuke deal.

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Saturday that a historic nuclear deal reached with world powers earlier this week won’t have any effect on Iran’s policy toward the U.S.
Khamenei said in a televised speech that U.S. policy in the Middle East runs counter to Tehran’s strategy and that Iran will continue to support its allies in the Middle East including the Lebanese, Hezbollah, Palestinian resistance groups and the Syrian government.
"Our policy towards the arrogant U.S. government won't change at all," he said. He was addressing a large crowd in Tehran, broadcast live on state TV, to mark the end of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan.
Iran calls its Lebanese ally Hezbollah a "resistance movement" while the U.S. describes it a terrorist group. And Iran continues to call for the destruction of Israel; Khamenei in his Saturday speech described Israel as a "terrorist, baby-killer government."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has strongly opposed the deal, saying it will enable Iran to emerge from crippling economic sanctions while doing nothing to moderate Iran's aggressive behavior around the Middle East.
"U.S. policies in the region are 180 degrees in contrast to Iran's policies," Khamenei said. "Whether this text (nuclear deal) is approved or disapproved, we won't give up supporting our friends in the region. The oppressed Palestinian nation, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Bahrain, the honest mujahedeen of resistance in Lebanon and Palestine will enjoy our constant support."
Iran’s direct talks with Washington was only limited to the nuclear issue and that there can’t be any dialogue or deal with the U.S. over any other issues, he said. However, Khamenei has said in the past that he door to other issues could open should the U.S. carry out its obligations under the deal in good faith.
Khamenei’s comments are the most detailed since a deal was agreed upon earlier this week. His remarks are widely held because in most of Iran’s matters, he has the final say and could still back outy of the agreement. The deal between Iran and six world powers curbs Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for the removal of sanctions that have crippled Iran’s economy.
The hard-line stance on future negotiations with the U.S. quenches the idea Iran’s Foreign Minister brought up about cooperation between both parties on fighting the Islamic State.
Javid Zarif said in an Eid message Friday that he hopes the nuclear deal could bring about a better relationship abroad. President Hassan Rouhani has preached a foreign policy of engagement based on mutual respect since his election in 2013, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Even with a deal reached, the U.S. and Iran still have obstacles to clear before anything official comes about.
Iran’s parliament and the Supreme National Security Council must sign off on the deal, while Khamenei still has to agree to the deal.
Congress has 60 days to weigh-in on the deal. President Barack Obama could veto a disapproving resolution should Congress disapprove of it.

Tennessee gunman first radicalized, now idolized by Internet jihadists

It's a sad day when people try to turn mad dogs like this guy into a hero.

U.S. investigators aren't ready to conclude that Thursday’s murder of four Marines was an act of terrorism, but terrorists are.
Dozens of Twitter accounts spewing jihadist bile have placed Mohammad Abdulazeez’s bearded face as their main images, and tweets believed to have been sent out by Islamic State radicals and sympathizers have proclaimed him a martyr. And according to one top federal official, the posthumous praise for the sick slaughter comes over the very forum that may have turned the suburban-bred college graduate into a killer.
“The threat is real, and it comes from the Internet,” said Rep. Mike McCaul, R-Texas. “This is a new generation of terrorist. This is not Bin Laden in caves with couriers anymore. This is what the new threat of terrorism looks like.”

“The threat is real, and it comes from the Internet.”
- Rep. Mike McCaul, R-Texas

While the FBI is investigating the Chattanooga shooting as a terrorist act, the agency has not yet declared it one. But McCaul said Abdulazeez appears to have been motivated by ISIS to first open fire at a military recruiting center in a Chattanooga strip mall and then at a nearby military training center, where four Marines were killed.
“My judgment and experience is that this was an ISIS inspired attack. And it has been opened as a terrorism investigation by the FBI, which is a very significant event in this case,” McCaul said.
After the attack, Twitter accounts linked to terrorist groups exploded with praise for Abdulazeez. One twitter user with hashtags ‪#IslamicState and ‪#ChattanoogaShooting pledged “The War Has Just Begun. More to come fellas,” another taunts “We are in your homeland, payback time?” and a third attempts to justify the murders of the Marines by proclaiming they “participated in slaughtering Muslim babies.” Other twitter posts with hashtags “Chattanooga”, “ISIS,” and “Islamic State” vow “O American dogs, you will see wonders. Soon” and another mocks in broken English “Taste the blood of Americans …. Are very good.”
“The fact they are celebrating is not surprising at all. Whenever something bad happens in America, whether a terrorist attack or even a natural disaster, they see it as Allah punishing America,” said Ryan Mauro, National Security Analyst for the Clarion Project, a nonprofit organization that educates the public about the threat of Islamic extremism.
The bigger concern, Mauro said, is not only that there may be a “copycat” attempt, but also that the successful attack may lead to even more people being radicalized.
“ISIS feels their success is Allah’s endorsement,” Mauro said. “The success of ISIS attracts more people.”
Twitter is just one of several media outlets where terrorists and their sympathizers congregate to share their latest horrific acts and propaganda. But stopping the use of the web to celebrate and inspire terror is a daunting task, experts said.
Veryan Khan, editorial director for the Florida-based Terrorism Research & Analysis Consortium, said her organization has tracked accounts on FaceBook, MySpace, Instagram, Pinterest, You Tube, Ask.FM, Tumblr, SendVid, Dump.to, Just Paste.it, Nasher.me, Manbar.me WordPress and Scribid. The use of foreign web sites, particularly in Russia, also is on the rise.
Terror groups like Islamic State have become so organized, they have their own media production houses, Khan said. In addition to filming, editing and posting videos of prisoner and traitor executions, they also film outreach and recruitment efforts and speeches by their leaders that glorify their acts.
While spokespeople for U.S. media outlets and others in the UK claim they cannot rid their sites of terrorist related materials in a timely manner because they are so bombarded with content from around the world, the U.S. based software company GIPEC has developed tools its founder said can assist in combating the global threat of on-line terrorism recruitment and the jihadist messaging.
The software, which its developer said also can be used to track piracy, counterfeiting and pornography, said there is no excuse for software companies not to remove terrorist-related content immediately.
“Terrorist organizations are spending time and money and using American social media platforms to recruit and incite sympathizers and ‘lone wolves’ here in the United States and around the world,” said a GIPEC analyst. “The social media companies have a moral responsibility to make their platforms safe from these horrific and directional posts that call for terrorist behavior that we have been witnessing over the past months.”

Friday, July 17, 2015

Huffington Post (Glorified Blog) won't cover Trump as politics, Donald fires back at 'blog'

Your a Blog!

Donald Trump fired back Friday after The Huffington Post announced they would no longer cover his 2016 presidential run as a political story, calling the liberal news site a "glorified blog."
The website announced its editorial decision earlier in the day, with a blaring homepage headline that read: "YOU'RE FIRED! From Our Political Reporting."
HuffPost editors said in a brief coverage note that Trump's candidacy would not be part of their politics coverage going forward, and, "Instead, we will cover his campaign as part of our Entertainment section."
They explained: "Our reason is simple: Trump's campaign is a sideshow. We won't take the bait. If you are interested in what The Donald has to say, you'll find it next to our stories on the Kardashians and The Bachelorette."
Trump's campaign hit back in a written statement, touting his poll numbers and mocking the HuffPost website.
"If you read previously written Tweets, Mr. Trump has never been a fan of Arianna Huffington or the money-losing Huffington Post," the campaign said. "The only clown show in this scenario is the Huffington Post pretending to be a legitimate news source. Mr. Trump is not focused on being covered by a glorified blog."
The site's provocative editorial call quickly came under fire from both sides of the political spectrum, not just the Trump campaign.
Rich Noyes, research director at the conservative Media Research Center, said the decision on a candidate's legitimacy should be up to voters, not the media.
"It seems high and mighty of the Huffington Post to decide who is and who isn't a real candidate when Donald Trump is leading in the Republican polls right now," Noyes said. "They wouldn't have taken kindly if the rest of the media had treated Arianna Huffington's run for governor of California as a sideshow. I would say it's up to the voters to decide who is a real candidate and who is not."
From the left, Mother Jones' David Corn also took issue with HuffPost, for different reasons.
Trump has given the Republican Party a collective migraine the past couple weeks over his comments on Mexican illegal immigrants. And Corn wrote that "to exile Trump to the realm of the Kardashians is to let the Republican party off the hook too easily."
Corn said while Trump has turned the primary "into a stretch Hummer-sized clown car," The Huffington Post is "wrong." Trump is a "political phenomenon" whose rise says a lot about Republican voters, he said.
Like him or not, Trump is a registered candidate. He recently filed a campaign finance report with the Federal Election Commission, like all the other candidates. And the latest Fox News poll shows him atop the GOP primary field, though his lead is within the margin of error.
To be sure, Trump is part-reality TV showman, part-businessman, and now part-politician. But he's hardly the first entertainer to enter politics, following in the footsteps of comedian and now-Democratic Minnesota Sen. Al Franken; movie star and ex-California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger; and actor-turned-President Ronald Reagan.
The Poynter Institute's James Warren pointed to those examples in challenging the website's decision.
"You might think Trump is a buffoon. But he may have, for the moment at least, touched some nerve of dissatisfaction, perhaps partial explanation of his decent showing in some early Republican polls. Something of the sort happened long ago with some guys who were actually professional actors and were similarly disparaged," he wrote. "They, too, could have been journalistically segregated long ago as not meeting some arbitrary test of seriousness and legitimacy. You do remember Ronald Reagan and Arnold Schwarzenegger, don't you?"
The difference with Trump may be that he didn't polish his persona before entering the race. His complaint that Mexico is sending "rapists" and other criminals to America has outraged Latino groups, and led to rebukes from fellow candidates on both sides of the aisle. He has since sparred over Twitter with several of them.
But the Republican Party has not made any move to exclude him. The most that has happened was Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus reportedly urged Trump in a phone call to tone it down, though The Donald disputes the claim.
While The Huffington Post is getting much attention for its decision, not all conservatives are outraged.
Michael Reagan, son of the late president, told FoxNews.com, "You can't really disagree with The Huffington Post -- he is entertaining."
"He has sucked all the air out of the room and if the other Republicans don't want him to win, they ought to figure out how to put the air back into the room," he said.
David Avella, chairman of the Republican recruiting arm GOPAC, said The Huffington Post, as a private company, does have the right to provide coverage as it deems fit.
"If Donald Trump doesn't like how he is being covered by the Huffington Post, then he could buy it," he said. "There are plenty of media outlets that will cover him in their political sections. In fact, in the last two weeks media coverage has not been a problem for Donald Trump."

'He was our hero': 4 Marines killed in Tennessee terror attack ID'd

One was a 19-year-old from Georgia, who served as a lance corporal artillery cannoneer. Another was a 40-year-old from Massachusetts, who survived two tours in Iraq and earned a Purple Heart.
A day after a gunman opened fire on military personnel in Chattanooga, Tenn. -- killing four Marines -- profiles of the men who served their country only to die on its soil began to emerge.
Gunnery Sgt. Thomas Sullivan, from Springfield, Mass. and a Marine since 1997, was one of those killed Thursday by Mohammad Youssef Abdulazeez, 24, a Kuwaiti-born Chattanooga resident who opened fire on two military facilities in Chattanooga before being shot dead by police near the scene.
The three other Marines killed were identified Friday as Lance Cpl. Skip "Squire" Wells, of Marietta, Ga., Sgt. Carson Holmquist, of Grantsburg Wisc., and Staff Sgt. David Wyatt, of Chattanooga.
Sullivan served in India Battery, 3rd Battalion, 12th Marines and fought in the 2005 Battle of Abu Ghraib, where he earned a Combat Action medal and Purple Heart.
The Facebook page of a Springfield bar and restaurant owned by one of Sullivan's two siblings posted a message paying tribute to Sullivan.
"He was our hero and he will never be forgotten," it read. "Please keep his family & friends in your thoughts and prayers. Thank you Tommy for protecting us."
Sullivan's friend, Josh Parnell, of Chicago, told Oak Lawn Patch, "There's no Marine you would want that was better in combat than him."
On Friday, friends posted tributes to Holmquist on his Facebook page, which was plastered with photos of the American flag.
"You will be missed bud," wrote one friend.
Just last week, Wells and his mother traveled to Disney World where he was honored as a service member of the day. Cathy Wells told Fox News her son died for the love of his country.
Abdulazeez attacked a military recruitment center in Chattanooga, spraying the strip mall facility with gunfire from his silver Mustang before driving, with police in pursuit, to a Naval training facility seven miles away, where he killed the unarmed Marines.
Three other people — a Navy sailor, a Marine Corps recruiter and a police officer — were wounded in Thursday's attack. Sources told Fox News early Friday that the sailor, who is in serious condition, underwent surgery and made it through the night much to the relief of doctors. The police officer was shot in the ankle. The recruiter was wounded in the leg and has been released from the hospital.
The remains of the Marines are en route to Dover, Delaware, a Marine Corps spokesman said Friday afternoon.
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker ordered U.S. and Massachusetts flags to be flown at half-staff at all state buildings and military installations across the state in honor of Sullivan and the other victims of the attack.

Jenner Cartoon

Chattanooga shooting proves it's time to arm our Armed Forces

It turns out that at least one of the two military facilities attacked in Chattanooga, Tennessee -- was a gun-free zone.
If you looked closely crime scene photographs - you can see the sign -- plastered on the front of a bullet- riddled window.
Click here to follow Todd on Facebook for conservative conversation.
Four Marines were slaughtered -- a fifth wounded -- along with a Chattanooga police officer.
Authorities say the gunman, identified as 24-year-old Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez, was killed in a shoot-out.
Abdulazeez is reportedly a Kuwaiti-native who attended high school in the Chattanooga area. The Times Free-Press posted his graduation photo – that included the phrase; “My name causes national security alerts. What does yours do?”
The FBI says it’s too soon to speculate on the suspect’s motive – but I think we’ve all got a pretty clear understanding of what went down.
As many as 50 shots were fired -- and all the survivors could do was barricade themselves inside.
The brave men and women who staff these military recruiting stations are sitting ducks. Soft targets - is the terminology they use.
The same thing happened at the Fort Hood massacre.
In response to the shooting Homeland Security ordered enhanced security measures at federal buildings. Since they can’t carry weapons what are they going to do? How are they going to defend themselves against the next Muhammad Abdulazeez -- lock the doors, pull the shades?
It's time to arm the Armed Forces. Now, I’m sure the experts will say there’s some sort of logical reason why military personnel should not have access to firearms – but I’m not convinced. Brave Marines gunned down in a Southern city -- and that is something we cannot abide. Our elected leaders must give them at least a fighting chance.
It makes absolutely no sense that Marines and Airmen and Sailors and Soldiers who defend our nation are unable to defend themselves – on American soil.

Doctor says George HW Bush's recovery from neck injury could take 3-4 months

PORTLAND, Maine – The fractured neck bone suffered by former President George H.W. Bush when he fell at his summer home will be allowed to heal on its own, a recovery that could take three to four months, officials said.
Bush, at 91 the oldest living former president, did not suffer any neurological impairment when he took a spill at his home in Kennebunkport on Wednesday. He remained hospitalized in fair condition on Thursday.
Bush spokesman Jim McGrath said the 41st president never lost consciousness and was being fitted with a brace to immobilize his neck. He fractured his C2 vertebra, the second one below the skull, but it didn't impinge on his spine and didn't lead to any neurological deficits, McGrath said.
Bush is being treated at Maine Medical Center, the state's largest medical facility, where a children's hospital is named for his wife. His family declined to say how he fell.
Dr. William D'Angelo, a neurosurgeon who is treating Bush, said the former president was lucky the fracture wasn't more serious.
"He's in great spirits," D'Angelo said outside the hospital. "He's with family. As his wife said, it takes a lot more than this to knock his spirits down. He was shot down over the Pacific in World War II. She said this is a small bump in the road."
A hospital spokesman said it was premature to speculate about when Bush will be released, but McGrath suggested it won't be a lengthy stay.
D'Angelo said the injury is common among seniors who fall and can be painful. He said a patient in his 90s would generally take three or four months to heal.
"It's a significant injury, but right now the president is in excellent shape, and we anticipate he'll make a full recovery," the doctor said.
He said Bush was "doing great" and "he's up and talking and out of bed."
A White House spokesman said President Barack Obama called Bush on Thursday morning to wish him a speedy recovery.
Bush, who has a form of Parkinson's disease and uses a motorized scooter or a wheelchair for mobility, has suffered other recent health setbacks. He was hospitalized in Houston in December for about a week for shortness of breath. He spent Christmas 2012 in intensive care at the same Houston hospital for a bronchitis-related cough and other issues.
The Republican served two terms as Ronald Reagan's vice president before being elected president in 1988. He served one term, highlighted by the success of the 1991 Gulf War in Kuwait, and then lost to Democrat Bill Clinton amid voters' concerns about the economy.
Bush was a naval aviator in World War II, and his torpedo plane was shot down over the Pacific. He also served as ambassador to the United Nations, envoy to China and CIA director.
He is the father of Republican former President George W. Bush. Another Bush son, Republican former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, is running for president in 2016.
During the winter, Bush and his wife, Barbara Bush, live in Houston.

Clinton's campaign claims to be small donor driven; facts show otherwise

Sneaky Looking?

In an email to supporters, John Podesta, Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman and founder of the pro-Clinton Center for American Progress, warned Republicans were out-fundraising the former secretary of state.
Podesta also declared the campaign to be under “a ferocious onslaught of dark money” from Republicans, but that Hillary is funded by grassroots Americans who’ve “chipped in $1, $5, or $10.” An examination of the facts shows something different.
The email, under the subject line: “A ferocious onslaught of dark money,” says, “Republicans are out-raising us 4 to 1. If we win the Democratic nomination for president and this pace keeps up, we are in for a ferocious onslaught of dark money, regardless of who the nominee is on the other side.” But what does that “4 to 1” margin mean?
The Clinton campaign took in $46.7 million in its first quarter of existence, no small sum. Even NBC News called it a “Huge Fundraising Haul.” The next highest total for a campaign was another Democrat, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders raised $15 million. Senator Marco Rubio came in third with $12 million. So where does the “4 to 1” come from? Turns out it’s creative math.
The Clinton campaign combined the totals each of the current top-tier Republican campaign raised, $53 million, with the money raised by Super PACs associated with them, $203 million, for a total of $256 million for the GOP. Clinton’s Super PACs raised $24.3 million. If you add that to her total, as she does with the GOP, her total is $71 million. That’s roughly 3 to 1, not 4 to 1, but it’s still a false number.
The Clinton camp combines all the money raised by GOP candidates, but ignores the money raised by Sanders.
If you add in the money Sanders raised, the Democrats’ total increases to $86 million, closer to 2.5 to one. But Clinton’s team created a false equivalence – one against all. Clinton’s campaign, by itself, has raised more than the top 4 GOP candidates combined – $46 million to $43 million.
The Clinton email also attempts to give the impression of a grassroots movement. It reads, in part:

We’re running a different kind of race. More than 250,000 people have chipped in $1, $5, or $10 because they care enough about this election to have a financial stake in it.

The wording is a deliberate attempt to mislead the reader into thinking the Clinton campaign is funded by small dollar donors, average Americans simply “chipping in” what they can. But again, math tells a different story.
If each of Clinton’s 250,000 donors “chipped in” all the low dollar amounts listed in the email — $1, $5, $10, for a total of $16 each — that would total $4 million. That leaves $42 million unaccounted for.
The Washington Post reports only 17 percent of Clinton’s haul, or $7 million, came from donations of $200 or less, which leaves $39 million from high dollar donors. Not exactly the grassroots “different kind of campaign” Podesta is telling supporters.
Add further fudging to the numbers, the New York Post reported the Clinton campaign made concerted effort to attract $1 donations from as many people as possible to dilute the high dollar donor numbers.

Saturday, July 18, 2015

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Friday, July 17, 2015

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