Border crisis: Central American leaders convening at White House

                             

Bailey: "Idiot pictured in middle to represent America?"

WASHINGTON –  President Barack Obama is summoning Central American leaders to the White House to discuss the influx of young immigrants from their countries to the U.S., hoping to show presidential action even as Congress remains deeply split over proposals to stem the crisis on the border.
The meeting comes as the administration is considering creating a pilot program giving refugee status to young people from Honduras, White House officials said Thursday. The plan would involve screening youths in their home country to determine whether they qualify for refugee status. The program would be limited and would start in Honduras but could be expanded to include other Central American countries.
Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina, speaking Thursday in Washington, said he hadn't heard about the plan but expected it to come up Friday. He said Central American nations have sought to pursue a unified approach. "We expect that the solution to this problem also is equal for the three countries," he said.
Besides Molina, Obama was to host Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez and El Salvador's President Salvador Sanchez Ceren on Friday, the day after they met with lawmakers on Capitol Hill who are considering Obama's requests for emergency funds and additional authority to send unaccompanied children back to their home countries more quickly. Those lawmakers appear unlikely to resolve their differences on either front before leaving Washington late next week for their annual August recess.
With critics claiming Obama's own policies triggered the crisis, the president has been eager to demonstrate an aggressive approach to reducing the flow of immigrants and returning those found not to have a legitimate claim to stay here.
The U.S. has mounted a communications campaign to inform Central American residents that they won't be allowed to stay in the U.S., and Obama sent a team to Texas this week to weigh the possibility of dispatching the National Guard to the border.
Under the in-country screening program the White House is considering, the legal standard for youths to qualify for refugee status would remain the same as it is for those who seek the status after arriving in the U.S., officials said, adding that the goal is to deter children who would not ultimately qualify for refugee status from attempting the dangerous trek. The officials briefed reporters ahead of Obama's meeting on the condition they not be identified by name.
More than 57,000 minors have arrived since October, mostly from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. The trio of nations has become one of the most violent regions in the world in recent years, with swaths of all three countries under the control of drug traffickers and street gangs that rob, rape and extort ordinary citizens with impunity.
In recent weeks the number of children being apprehended daily has fallen by roughly half, but White House officials said seasonal patterns or other factors unrelated to the administration's efforts may be to thank for some of the decline.
Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, met with the Guatemalan and Honduran presidents Thursday. He said he was impressed by what the leaders were doing to crack down on human trafficking. Yet he said he also made clear the responsibility those governments had to follow through as the U.S. considers sending more money to Central America to help address the problem.
Obama has asked Congress for $3.7 billion in emergency spending, but lawmakers were looking at cutting that number down significantly. At the same time, Republicans said they wouldn't agree to any money without policy changes to give the government more authority to turn kids around fast at the border and send them home.

IRS Cartoon

http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/

Border crisis: Latino media not presenting a fair and balanced debate on immigration

Duh!

I’m going to take a strong stance on what I perceive to be biased reporting by a majority of the Latino media – most notably Univision, Telemundo and similar stations. In my opinion, these networks are presenting a prejudiced take on the crisis at the Texas border, in which thousands of children from Central America are crossing over into the United States.
I call it bias, because the only news stories I see from these networks paint the issue as a humanitarian catastrophe and depict some Americans as heartless or indifferent towards the issue. From Univision and Telemundo, I constantly hear about all of the human casualties near the border and how Central American refugees must be allowed to stay, no matter what.

It seems that the Latino networks just care about keeping their viewers happy and simpatico, so that they return each day to watch the latest programming.

But what I don’t hear is a balanced debate about immigration control or any criticism of these refugees' countries, such as Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras or even Mexico – nations which have been overrun by gangs and police and government corruption. 
I don’t hear enough Latino journalists discussing how these nations bear a responsibility to ensure the safety of their citizens. 
Nor do I hear Latino journalists discussing how citizens of these countries should demand better elected officials so that there would be no need for them to run from their homelands.
The crisis reminds me of that old saying: “Give a man a fish, and he’ll eat for a day; teach a man to fish, and he’ll eat for a lifetime.” We need to discuss ways to fix the root of this problem, rather than address its symptoms.
But the reason most Americans don’t comment on this media bias is because all these news broadcasts are in Spanish, tailor-made for these specific ethnic groups. To me, it seems that the Latino networks just care about keeping their viewers happy and simpatico, so that they return each day to watch the latest programming. Meanwhile, the networks are not presenting them with alternative view points, discussions about problem solving or scenarios that could arise from an out-of-control border.
Tuesday night on "The Factor," Bill O’Reilly made a brilliant observation about an anchor from Univision named Jorge Ramos. To me, the only talking point from Mr. Ramos on this immigration debate revolves around the humanitarian issue, but he has no words on how to control it, or who should be held responsible. Now I tell you, what do you think he and his peers are saying in the Latino media?
Mr. Ramos even tried to compare the immigration crisis to the Cuban exile – something I found offensive. The Cuban exile is a political exodus, in which an oppressive regime, similar to that of North Korea has been destroying individual freedoms and repressing the rights of its citizens to self-express. In Cuba, nearly everything is controlled by the government, and you can go to jail on the drop of a dime – and hundreds of Cubans have died under this oppressive regime.
Countries like Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador have freedom of expression, open markets, and other civil liberties. Instead, their problems consist of corruption and a lack of a moral compass. So don’t compare the Cuban exile with the problems seen in Central America. 
At the end of the day, Latino media is just going to keep on growing. But as journalistic entities in America, they also bear the responsibility of being fair and balanced rather than picking stories that fit a biased narrative. There’s only one United States of America, and we must all protect its integrity and future.

Fox News Poll: Voters say Obama exceeded authority, but oppose impeachment

Idiot Voters!

Despite believing Barack Obama has overstepped his authority as president, most voters reject calls to impeach him for that -- or for any other reason.
By a 58-37 percent margin, the latest Fox News poll finds that voters think President Obama exceeded his authority under the Constitution when he unilaterally changed the health care law by executive order. 
Click here for the poll results.
And, more generally, a similar majority disapproves of Obama bypassing Congress, acting unilaterally and refusing to enforce laws he disagrees with: 37 percent approve, while 58 percent disapprove. 
Obama’s use of executive power plays well with the party faithful, as a 64-percent majority of Democrats approves of his actions, while a majority of every other demographic group disapproves (including fully 91 percent of Republicans). 
Some prominent Republicans, including 2008 vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, have called for the president’s impeachment. Yet more than six voters in 10 oppose impeaching Obama for changing some laws and failing to enforce others or “for any other reason” (61 percent). Some 36 percent favor impeachment.
Nearly four in 10 Democrats think Obama is guilty of executive overreach on changing the Obamacare law (39 percent), and one in five Democrats favors impeaching their party’s leader (20 percent).
Among Republicans, 83 percent consider Obama’s actions on the health care law a violation of the Constitution. Yet far fewer Republicans -- although still a 56-percent majority -- favor impeachment. 
Fifty-five percent of independents believe Obama violated the Constitution, and 37 percent favor impeachment (61 percent are opposed).
The highest level of support for impeaching Obama -- 68 percent -- is among those who are part of the Tea Party movement.
Overall, 81 percent of those favoring impeachment believe President Obama went beyond his authority when he changed the health care law unilaterally. 
Charges that Obama has violated the Constitution have helped raise the political temperature in Washington this summer. In early July, House Speaker John Boehner took steps to file a lawsuit against Obama for his “failure to follow the Constitution” on the health care law by altering the individual mandate via executive order. On Tuesday two federal appeals courts took opposing views on whether Obama illegally ignored the language of the Obamacare law to give federal subsidies to people who are not entitled to them. Despite one court ruling that says he did, the White House announced subsidies will continue. 
Forty-one percent of voters approve of how Obama is handling health care, while 54 percent disapprove. That’s a bit of an improvement from last month’s 41-56 percent rating. It also makes health care his best issue, topping the job performance ratings he receives on the economy (40-57 percent), foreign policy (36-56 percent) and immigration (34-58 percent). 
Pollpourri
Obama has the most powerful job in the world -- and all the perks that go with that. Yet he’s been criticized by some for seeming disengaged and frustrated with his job. What does the public think? The poll finds a large 41-percent minority thinks Obama doesn’t even want to be president anymore. Still, just over half of voters think he does (52 percent). 
Forty-seven percent of independents, 44 percent of Republicans and 37 percent of Democrats think Obama is tired of being president.
The Fox News poll is based on landline and cell phone interviews with 1,057 randomly chosen registered voters nationwide and was conducted under the joint direction of Anderson Robbins Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R) from July 20-22, 2014. The full poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.

Hamas resists Kerry's attempts at cease-fire deal as fighting rages

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/07/24/kerry-attempts-to-coax-cease-fire-agreement-out-hamas-as-gaza-violence-rages/

Fox News Poll: 58 percent say Obama administration incompetent at managing gov't

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/07/23/fox-news-poll-58-percent-say-obama-administration-incompetent-at-managing-govt/

Purged by ISIS, Iraq's Christians appeal to world for help

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/07/23/purged-by-isis-iraq-christians-appeal-to-world-for-help/

Iraqi Christians are begging for help from the civilized world after Mosul, the northern city where they have lived and worshiped for 2,000 years, was purged of non-Muslims by ISIS, the jihadist terror group that claims to have established its own nation in the region.
Assyrian Christians, including Chaldean and Syriac Catholics, Syriac Orthodox and followers of the Assyrian Church of the East have roots in present day Iraq, Turkey, Syria and Iran that stretch back to the time of Jesus Christ. While they have long been a minority and have faced persecution in the past, they had never been driven completely from their homes as has happened in Mosul under ISIS. When the terror group ordered all to convert to Islam, pay a religious tax or face execution, many chose another option: flight.
"By 12 noon on Saturday, the Christians -- all of them -- left the city," Yousif Habash, an Iraqi-born bishop of the Syriac Catholic Church, told FoxNews.com.
Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, included 60,000 Christians in 2003. By last month, the number had dwindled to just 35,000. It now stands at zero, according to Ignatius Yousef Younan III, patriarch of the Syrian Catholic Church.
"We have to pray to wake our master, the Lord Jesus," a somber Younan, who was in Mosul earlier this month and has discussed the situation with the Pope, said Wednesday on Fox & Friends. 
Habash, who roundly criticized the Obama administration and the United Nations, specifically, for what he called their "careless absence" in taking action against the militants, said such violent intolerance demanded action from the international community.

"Where is the conscience of the world? Where is the United Nations? Where is the American administration to protect peace and justice?"- Yousif Habash, Iraqi-born bishop of the Syriac Catholic Church

"Where is the conscience of the world? Where is the United Nations? Where is the American administration to protect peace and justice?" he asked. "Nobody has said a word."
Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, is the "first cradle of Christianity in Iraq," Habash said. But after Islamic militants seized the city on June 10, Arabic letters with a chilling ultimatum were left at the homes of Iraqi Christians.
"The letter said that if you don't convert or if you don't pay, there is a sword between you and us, meaning execution," Habash said. 
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki condemned ISIS's actions on Sunday, a day after Mosul's Christian population fled to other areas, such as the nearby self-rule Kurdish region. 
"What is being done by the Daesh terrorist gang against our Christian citizens in Ninevah province, and their aggression against the churches and houses of worship in the areas under their control reveals beyond any doubt the extremist criminal and terrorist nature of this group," al-Maliki said in a statement released by his office. "Those people, through their crimes, are revealing their true identity and the false allegations made here and there about the existence of revolutionaries among their ranks."
Pope Francis also called for an end to Christian persecution in Mosul, holding a moment of silence Sunday in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican.
"Violence isn't overcome with violence. Violence is conquered with peace," the pope told the crowd. "Our brothers and sisters are persecuted, they are chased away."
The U.N. said on Sunday that at least 400 families from Mosul -- including other religious and ethnic minority groups -- had sought refuge in the northern provinces of Irbil and Dohuk.
Dr. Sallama Al Khafaji, a member of the Iraq High Commission for Human Rights, reportedly told a local news agency that ISIS militants forced their way into the home of an Assyrian family in Mosul, demanding a "jizya" or poll tax. When the family said they could not produce the money, three jihadist militants raped the mother and daughter in front of the husband and father, who later committed suicide, according to the report. 
Mosul is home to some of the most ancient Christian communities, but the number of Christians has dwindled since 2003. On Sunday, militants seized the 1,800-year old Mar Behnam Monastery, about 15 miles south of Mosul. The resident clergymen left to the nearby city of Qaraqoush, according to local residents.
Irbil's governor, Nawzad Hadi, has pledged to protect fleeing Christians and other minority groups. The territory is currently home to more than 2 million refugees and internally displaced people from Iraq and Syria, according to the United Nations.

Businessman David Perdue defeats Rep. Jack Kingston in runoff to win Georgia GOP Senate nomination

Businessman David Perdue narrowly defeated 11-term Rep. Jack Kingston Tuesday in a Republican runoff election for Georgia's U.S. Senate nomination, setting up a general election race against Democrat Michelle Nunn with national implications. 
With all precincts reporting, Perdue led Kingston by approximately 8,500 votes out of over 480,000 cast. 
Perdue's victory validates the former corporate CEO's campaign as an outsider. The former CEO of Reebok, Dollar General and the failed textile firm Pillowtex, Perdue offered his private sector record and tremendous wealth as proof that he can help solve the nation's ills in a Congress largely devoid of experienced business titans. He spent more than $3 million of his own money blasting Kingston -- and other primary rivals before that -- as a career politician, including one ad depicting his rivals as crying babies.
"If we want to change Washington, then we've got to change the people we send to Washington," he would say as he met voters.
Perdue also received more votes than Kingston in the initial May primary, but both men fell well shy of the majority necessary to win without a runoff.
As he did in May, Kingston ran up huge margins across southeast Georgia, where he's represented Georgia's 1st Congressional District since 1993. In his home Chatham County, he won 86 percent, with about 12,500 more votes than Perdue. But Perdue erased Kingston's home base advantage by running more consistently around the rest of the state, particularly in the heavily populated Atlanta and its suburbs. Perdue won Fulton County and all the surrounding counties that make up the metropolitan area.
With the win, Perdue overcame a Kingston coalition that spanned the internal GOP struggle between tea party conservatives and traditional GOP powers. Kingston ran with the endorsement and more than $2.3 million in advertising support from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a titan of the Washington establishment. But he also garnered backing from tea party leaders and Karen Handel, the tea party favorite who finished third in the May primary.
Kingston, 59, ran as an 11-term congressman in a year when voters have expressed widespread dissatisfaction with the nation's direction, arguing that his record proves his conservative credentials. He pitched his range of endorsements as proof of his appeal across ideological barriers.
Yet the returns suggest that wasn't enough to trump a political reality: Americans typically love their congressman but loathe Congress as a whole.
Kingston said leading up to the runoff vote that he would back Perdue in November if he won the nomination, saying that the higher priority is displacing Nevada Sen. Harry Reid as majority leader. Republicans need six more seats to win Senate control and cannot afford to lose retiring Sen. Saxby Chambliss' seat.
"David Perdue is a strong leader with a proven business record, who will come to Washington with fresh ideas and a passion for solutions," Chambliss said in a statement late Tuesday. "Georgia deserves a representative who will work to solve our fiscal crisis and put our country back on track."
National Democrats view Nunn, the 47-year-old daughter of former Sen. Sam Nunn, as one of their best opportunities to pick up a GOP-held seat. She's raised more than $9 million and reported $2.3 million left to spend earlier this month. Perdue reported less than $800,000, but his personal wealth ensures that his campaign doesn't have to worry about money.
Perdue's win could require a strategic shift for the new Republican nominee and his Democratic opponent, since they now can't simply run against the sitting Congress and its discord.
Nunn, an Atlanta nonprofit executive, uses her father, an old-guard Southern Democrat who served four terms, as an example of what kind of senator she'd be. She also eagerly highlights her tenure as executive of Republican former President George H.W. Bush's foundation.

Federal courts issue conflicting rulings on legality of ObamaCare subsidies

WASHINGTON –  Two federal appeals court rulings put the issue of ObamaCare subsidies in limbo Tuesday, with one court invalidating some of them and the other upholding all of them. 
The first decision came Tuesday morning from a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. The panel, in a major blow to the law, ruled 2-1 that the IRS went too far in extending subsidies to those who buy insurance through the federally run exchange, known as HealthCare.gov. 
A separate federal appeals court -- the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals -- hours later issued its own ruling on a similar case that upheld the subsidies in their entirety. 
The conflicting rulings would typically fast-track the matter to the Supreme Court. However, it is likely that the administration will ask the D.C. appeals court to first convene all 11 judges to re-hear that case. 
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest stressed Tuesday that different courts have reached different conclusions on the subsidy issue, and said the latest ruling against the subsidies “does not have any practical impact” at this point on the ability of people to get tax credits. The White House later said the D.C. decision was "undermined" by the Fourth Circuit decision. 
Still, the D.C. court ruling nevertheless strikes at the foundation of the law by challenging subsidies that millions of people obtained through the federally run exchange known as HealthCare.gov. 
The suit maintained that the language in ObamaCare actually restricts subsidies to state-run exchanges -- of which there are only 14 -- and does not authorize them to be given in the 36 states that use the federally run system.  
The court agreed.
“We reach this conclusion, frankly, with reluctance. At least until states that wish to can set up Exchanges, our ruling will likely have significant consequences both for the millions  of individuals receiving tax credits through federal Exchanges and for health insurance markets more broadly,” the ruling stated.  
The case, Halbig v. Burwell, is one of the first major legal challenges that cuts to the heart of the Affordable Care Act by going after the legality of massive federal subsidies and those who benefit from them.
The decision said the law "unambiguously restricts" the subsidies to insurance bought on state-run exchanges. 
The dissenting opinion, though, claimed political motivations were at play. “This case is about Appellants’ not-so-veiled attempt to gut the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act ('ACA'),” the dissent stated. 
The ruling, though likely to be appealed, could threaten the entire foundation of the newly devised health care system. Nearly 90 percent of the federal exchange’s insurance enrollees were eligible for subsidies because of low or moderate incomes, and the outcome of the case could potentially leave millions without affordable health insurance.
“Today’s decision rightly holds the Obama administration accountable to the law,” Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said in a written statement adding, “… As it has on so many occasions, the Obama administration simply ignored the law and implemented its own policy instead.”
The next step for the Obama administration would be that they request a so-called en banc ruling, which means there would be a vote taken by all of the judges on the court. An appeals court can only overrule a decision made by a panel if the court is sitting en banc.
Earnest said the Department of Justice will likely appeal to the full D.C. Circuit Court and defended the administration’s position that Congress intended “all eligible Americans” to have access to the subsidies regardless of which entity set up the exchange.
“We are confident in the legal position that we have,” Earnest said.
Ron Pollack, founding executive director of Families USA, said in a written statement that the ruling “represents the high-water mark for Affordable Care Act opponents, but the water will recede very quickly.”
He added, “It will inevitably be placed on hold pending further proceedings; will probably be reheard by all of the 11-member active D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals members, who predictably will reverse it; and runs contrary to" the ruling from the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. 
The appeals process could eventually lead to the U.S. Supreme Court deciding on the legality of the subsidies, but Pollack, whose group supports the law, believes that won’t happen.
Of the 11 judges that could rehear the case, seven are Democrats and four are Republicans.
Halbig v. Burwell, which previously had been called Halbig v. Sebelius, is one of four federal lawsuits that have been filed aimed at targeting the idea of tax credits and other subsidies afforded under ObamaCare.
A total of $1 trillion in subsidies is projected to be doled out over the next decade. 
A U.S. District Court previously sided with the Obama administration on Jan. 15.

Delta, US Airways halt flights to Israel due to instability

U.S. air carriers Delta Air Lines and US Airways, a unit of American Airlines Group , on Tuesday said they have halted flights to Israel to ensure passenger safety.

Delta said in a statement that it has suspended operations "until further notice" to and from Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv and its hub at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport. The Atlanta-based carrier said it was doing so in coordination with the Federal Aviation Administration "to ensure the safety of our customers and employees."
Esther Castiel, who heads US Airways' operations in Tel Aviv, said the FAA had "issued a request not to travel to Israel. All U.S. carriers are stopping."
She added that it was not clear whether the travel halt was for one day or more.
The decision came after Hamas, the militant group that dominates in the Gaza Strip, and its allies fired more rockets into Israel, triggering sirens in Tel Aviv. One hit a town on the fringes of Ben-Gurion International Airport, lightly injuring two people, officials said.
United Airlines did not immediately return a request for comment.

Ain't it a Joke?

Judge tosses senator's ObamaCare lawsuit

MILWAUKEE –  A federal judge on Monday dismissed a U.S. senator's lawsuit challenging a requirement that congressional members and their staffs obtain government-subsidized health insurance through small business exchanges, saying the senator had no grounds to sue.
Sen. Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican, filed the lawsuit in January after the Office of Personnel Management decided months earlier that lawmakers and their staffs should continue to receive health care benefits covering about 75 percent of their premium costs after leaving the health insurance program for federal workers.
Johnson said the decision would make him decide which staff members qualified for subsidized insurance, potentially creating conflict in his office. He also said it forced him to participate in a program that he believed was illegal and that it could make voters view him negatively because his staff received benefits the general public did not.
But U.S. District Judge William Griesbach said Johnson and a staff member who filed the lawsuit with him didn't have grounds to bring the suit.
Johnson's belief that subsidies provided to lawmakers and their staffs are illegal isn't a strong enough reason to disqualify him from the rule put in place under the Affordable Care Act, Griesbach said. The judge also said Johnson failed to show voters would view him negatively if his staff received subsidized insurance.
And, the judge said, Johnson could simply avoid the problem by failing to designate any employees as official congressional office staff, a classification that qualifies them for the benefit.
Johnson faulted Griesbach for dismissing the lawsuit on "the legal technicality of standing" and not fully considering his arguments.
"Americans increasingly — and correctly — believe that their government in Washington is out of control, out of touch and lawless," he said in a statement. "By its decision today, the court has chosen not to address the important constitutional issues at hand."
Johnson's spokeswoman, Melinda Whitemarsh Schnell, said he was discussing the decision with lawyers and deciding whether to appeal.
The White House responded to a request for comment Monday by referring to remarks White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest made the day Griesbach heard oral arguments in the case. Earnest noted then that even some Republicans didn't agree with Johnson's decision to sue.
"What the President believes is that the whole goal of the Affordable Care Act in the first place was to lower health care costs, to expand access to quality, affordable health insurance for every American, including those who were employed by small businesses," he said.
The Affordable Care Act approved by Congress includes provisions that say the federal government can offer congressional members and staffers only health care plans that come through an exchange. It was meant to end generous subsidies to lawmakers and force them and their staffs into the same situation as uninsured Americans.
Johnson argued that the OPM's decision essentially allowed the Obama administration to rewrite the law. He also said using small-business exchanges to serve congressional staffers constituted an illegal scheme because the federal government is a huge employer.
But he told reporters after oral arguments on July 7 that he had designated "a majority" of his 40 or so staffers to go through the small-business exchanges. He said he bought private insurance for himself outside the exchanges.

Israeli fighter planes hit homes and a high-rise tower in Gaza Monday and seven Israeli soldiers, including an officer, were killed in a firefight there as more violence overshadowed hope for peace negotiations.
Sirens wailed and loud explosions rocked the streets of Gaza as Israeli planes continued to strike homes and Hamas fired more rockets. 
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Cairo Monday for a new round of negotiations to end two weeks of deadly fighting. 
Across Gaza, Israeli fighter planes hit homes and a high-rise tower, burying families in the rubble. The strike on the Gaza City tower brought down most of the building, killing 11 people -- including six members of the same family -- and wounding 40, said Palestinian health official Ashraf al-Kidra.
Israeli tanks, meanwhile, shelled a hospital in central Gaza, killing four people and wounding dozens as the daily death toll surpassed 100 for a second day. Israel said the shelling targeted rockets hidden near the compound, and accused militants of using civilians as shields.
At least 565 Palestinians have been killed and more than 3,600 wounded in the past two weeks, al-Kidra said.
On the Israeli side, seven more soldiers were killed in clashes with Gaza fighters Monday, bringing the military death toll to 25 -- more than twice as many as in Israel's last Gaza ground war in 2009. One of those killed was reported to be a lieutenant colonel.
A press statement issued by the U.N. Security Council expressed "serious concern at the escalation of violence," called for the protection of civilians under international humanitarian law, and said it was troubled by the growing number of casualties. 
Kerry said Sunday that the U.S. supports the Egyptian proposal for a halt to the hostilities that Israel accepted and Hamas rejected last week. Hamas remains deeply suspicious of the motives of the Egyptian government, which has banned the Muslim Brotherhood, a region-wide group to which Hamas also belongs.
Two Islamic insurgents snuck into southern Israel from Gaza Monday, using one of a network of Hamas tunnels aimed at infiltrating the country. Roads were closed and residents were warned to stay indoors in the morning until the Israeli military gave the all-clear, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported.  Monday marked the 14^th day of what Israel is calling “Operation Protective Edge.”
Israel's Ambassador to the U.N., Ron Prosnor, defended the Israeli military's actions, saying that Israel had been forced to defend itself against rocket attacks launched by the Islamic militant group Hamas and adding that Israel's military was exercising restraint. 
Hamas and its allies fired multiple missiles across southern and central Israel, and heavy fighting in the north and east of Gaza persisted, Reuters reported Monday.
Despite the rising death toll, there was no sign of a decrease in the violence. Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon said Monday he is prepared to continue the offensive "as long as necessary" to halt rocket fire and other attacks from Gaza on Israelis.
Hamas says that before halting fire, it wants guarantees that Israel and Egypt will significantly ease a seven-year border blockade of Gaza.
"The resistance (Hamas) will not respond to any pressure," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said in a text message, in a reference to the renewed cease-fire efforts.
Israel launched a ground offensive late last week, preceded by a 10-day air campaign. Air and artillery strikes have targeted Gaza's border areas in an attempt to destroy tunnels and rocket launchers. The Jewish state accepted an Egyptian call for an unconditional cease-fire last week, but resumed its offensive after Hamas rejected the proposal.
Israeli tank shells struck a hospital in central Gaza on Monday, a health official and a doctor at the facility said. The health official said the shells killed at least four people and wounded 60, including 30 medical staff. The Israeli military said it was looking into the report.
Al-Kidra said 12 shells hit the Al Aqsa hospital in the town of Deir el-Balah. He said the shells landed in the administration building, the intensive care unit and the surgery department.
Live footage on Hamas' Al Aqsa TV station showed wounded being moved on gurneys into the emergency department.
"There is still shelling against the hospital," Fayez Zidane, a doctor at the hospital said. He said he found bits of a rocket, presumably from one of the projectiles.
Sunday marked the single deadliest day in Gaza since the conflict erupted on July 8, with more than 100 Palestinians killed, according to Palestinian health officials. At least 65 Palestinians and 13 Israeli soldiers were killed in Shijaiyah, while thousands of terrified Palestinian civilians fled the devastated area, which Israel says is a major source for rocket fire against its civilians.
Among the Israeli dead were two American-born IDF soldiers: California-born Max Steinberg, 24, and Texas native Sean Carmeli, 21.
Hamas militants tried to sneak into Israel through two tunnels early Monday. The Israeli military said 10 infiltrators were killed after being detected and targeted by Israeli aircraft.  Hamas fighters have persistently tried to infiltrate Israel in the past week through a vast network of hidden tunnels, aiming to attack villages and army encampments that dot the border area.
Hamas also fired 50 more rockets at Israel, including two at Tel Aviv, causing no injuries or damage. Since the start of the Israeli operation, Hamas has fired almost 2,000 rockets at Israel.
Hamas spokesman Mushir al-Masri in Gaza claimed his group had captured an Israeli soldier Sunday. It named the man as Shaul Aron and showed his ID papers, but did not release any picture of him alive, Reuters reported. An announcement on Gaza TV of the soldier's capture set off celebration in the streets of West Bank.   
Israel's U.N. ambassador denied the claim, and Israel's military said it was still investigating. ``We still cannot rule it out,'' military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Lerner said Monday. The capture of an Israeli soldier would increase pressure on Netanyahu to intensify the military campaign.
Also Monday, an Israeli airstrike hit the home of the Siyam family in southern Gaza, near the town of Rafah, said the Palestinian Center for Human Rights. The strike killed 10 people, including four young children and a 9-month-old baby girl, said Palestinian health official Ashraf al-Kidra.
``This is not the time to talk of a ceasefire,'' Gilad Erdan, communications minister and a member of Netanyahu's inner security cabinet told reporters Monday. ``We must complete the mission, and the mission cannot end until the threat of the tunnels is removed,'' he Erdan said, according to a Reuters report.

Time expiring for Congress to vote on Obama's $3.7B emergency request for border crisis

Congress has only a few days left before August recess to approve President Obama’s request for an additional $3.7 billion for the border crisis, with no scheduled voting dates and little apparent optimism for passage.
The House and Senate Appropriations committees, where the first key votes will take place, each said Monday that no date has been set.
The Republican-led House is expected to pose the biggest hurdle for the president’s emergency-spending request, amid tens of thousands of children and others from Central America attempting to cross the southwestern U.S. border in recent months.
Kentucky GOP Rep. Hal Rogers, chairman of the lower chamber’s appropriations committee, has already said Obama is asking for “too much” and that non-emergency needs are either covered in fiscal 2015 spending bills or could be handled through Congress’ routine appropriations process.
Rogers also has indicated his committee is trying to “pull together” an emergency package, but details have yet to emerge.
House Speaker John Boehner last week said he didn’t have “as much optimism as I’d like to have” about passing an emergency plan before the recess to deal with the border crisis.
The House has eight working days remaining before the break begins August 1.
In the Democrat-controlled Senate, Maryland Sen. Barbara Mikulski, chairman of that chamber’s appropriations committee, indicated last week that she wants Congress to pass the emergency, supplemental request.
Mikulski has -- like Obama and most other Capitol Hill lawmakers --framed the request in terms of a “humanitarian” need or crisis, with Democrats and Republicans essentially arguing that efforts to amend the White House request is tantamount to holding the children hostage.
“The crisis actually begins in Central America where brutal, violent gangs … are trying to recruit boys into organized crime, drug smuggling and human trafficking and girls into human trafficking and other just dangerous and repugnant circumstances,” Mikulski said Wednesday. “I hope that in passing the appropriations. … We need to meet these urgent humanitarian needs.”
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid suggested last week that GOP-led concerns about border security are exaggerated and said “radical Republicans would rather hold these kids ransom,” than consider reasonable solutions.
On Sunday, Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz said that the way to help the children is to "eliminate the magnet,” which is Obama's 2012 executive memo that makes some young illegal immigrants eligible for deferred deportation.
Should Congress fail to pass the request before recess, members could avoid the issue until after the November mid-terms, with both parties making failed passage an election issue on which to blame the other.
Beyond the spending amount, the bill also could get held up by a 2008 law that allows children from non-bordering countries to enter the United States legally.
The law was intended to help victims of human trafficking but appears to be contributing to the current crisis by ensuring court hearings for the children now arriving from Central America.
In practice, the process often allows the children to stay in the United States for years as their cases wend their way through the badly backlogged immigration court system. And oftentimes they never show up for their court dates.
Obama administration officials along with Republican lawmakers want to change the law so that Central American children can be treated the same way as Mexican minors, who can be turned around quickly by Border Patrol agents.
But Democrats and advocacy groups say such a change would put the kids in jeopardy.
“We will oppose this link even if it means the funding bill goes down,” said Kevin Appleby, director of migration and refugee policy for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. If the changes go through, “They’ll be sent back to their persecutors with no help whatsoever, and possibly to their deaths.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

High-ranking officer among 7 Israeli forces killed in Gaza fighting

A lieutenant general was among seven Israeli soldiers killed in a firefight in Gaza Monday, as more violence overshadowed hope for peace negotiations in the Jewish state.  
Sirens wailed and loud explosions rocked the streets of Gaza as Israeli planes continued to strike homes and Hamas fired more rockets. 
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Cairo Monday for a new round of negotiations to end two weeks of deadly fighting.  A barrage of rocket attacks and days of ground assaults have left at least 27 Israelis and 550 Palestinians dead, and tens of thousands driven from their homes in Gaza.  
A press statement issued by the U.N. Security Council expressed "serious concern at the escalation of violence," called for the protection of civilians under international humanitarian law, and said it was troubled by the growing number of casualties. 
Kerry said Sunday that the U.S. supports the Egyptian proposal for a halt to the hostilities that Israel accepted and Hamas rejected last week. Hamas remains deeply suspicious of the motives of the Egyptian government, which has banned the Muslim Brotherhood, a region-wide group to which Hamas also belongs.
Two Islamic insurgents snuck into southern Israel from Gaza Monday, using one of a network of Hamas tunnels aimed at infiltrating the country. Roads were closed and residents were warned to stay indoors in the morning until the Israeli military gave the all-clear, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported.  Monday marked the 14^th day of what Israel is calling “Operation Protective Edge.”
Israel's Ambassador to the U.N., Ron Prosnor, defended the Israeli military's actions, saying that Israel had been forced to defend itself against rocket attacks launched by the Islamic militant group Hamas and adding that Israel's military was exercising restraint. 
Hamas and its allies fired multiple missiles across southern and central Israel, and heavy fighting in the north and east of Gaza persisted, Reuters reported Monday.
Despite the rising death toll, there was no sign of a decrease in the violence. Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon said Monday he is prepared to continue the offensive "as long as necessary" to halt rocket fire and other attacks from Gaza on Israelis.
Hamas says that before halting fire, it wants guarantees that Israel and Egypt will significantly ease a seven-year border blockade of Gaza.
"The resistance (Hamas) will not respond to any pressure," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said in a text message, in a reference to the renewed cease-fire efforts.
Israel launched a ground offensive late last week, preceded by a 10-day air campaign. Air and artillery strikes have targeted Gaza's border areas in an attempt to destroy tunnels and rocket launchers. The Jewish state accepted an Egyptian call for an unconditional cease-fire last week, but resumed its offensive after Hamas rejected the proposal.
Israeli tank shells struck a hospital in central Gaza on Monday, a health official and a doctor at the facility said. The health official said the shells killed at least four people and wounded 60, including 30 medical staff. The Israeli military said it was looking into the report.
Health official Ashraf al-Kidra said 12 shells hit the Al Aqsa hospital in the town of Deir el-Balah. He said the shells landed in the administration building, the intensive care unit and the surgery department.
Live footage on Hamas' Al Aqsa TV station showed wounded being moved on gurneys into the emergency department.
"There is still shelling against the hospital," Fayez Zidane, a doctor at the hospital said. He said he found bits of a rocket, presumably from one of the projectiles.
Sunday marked the single deadliest day in Gaza since the conflict erupted on July 8, with more than 100 Palestinians killed, according to Palestinian health officials. At least 65 Palestinians and 13 Israeli soldiers were killed in Shijaiyah, while thousands of terrified Palestinian civilians fled the devastated area, which Israel says is a major source for rocket fire against its civilians.
Among the Israeli dead were two American-born IDF soldiers: California-born Max Steinberg, 24, and Texas native Sean Carmeli, 21.
Hamas militants tried to sneak into Israel through two tunnels early Monday. The Israeli military said 10 infiltrators were killed after being detected and targeted by Israeli aircraft.  Hamas fighters have persistently tried to infiltrate Israel in the past week through a vast network of hidden tunnels, aiming to attack villages and army encampments that dot the border area.
Hamas also fired 50 more rockets at Israel, including two at Tel Aviv, causing no injuries or damage. Since the start of the Israeli operation, Hamas has fired almost 2,000 rockets at Israel.
Hamas spokesman Mushir al-Masri in Gaza claimed his group had captured an Israeli soldier Sunday. It named the man as Shaul Aron and showed his ID papers, but did not release any picture of him alive, Reuters reported. An announcement on Gaza TV of the soldier's capture set off celebration in the streets of West Bank.   
Israel's U.N. ambassador denied the claim, and Israel's military said it was still investigating. ``We still cannot rule it out,'' military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Lerner said Monday. The capture of an Israeli soldier would increase pressure on Netanyahu to intensify the military campaign.
Also Monday, an Israeli airstrike hit the home of the Siyam family in southern Gaza, near the town of Rafah, said the Palestinian Center for Human Rights. The strike killed 10 people, including four young children and a 9-month-old baby girl, said Palestinian health official Ashraf al-Kidra.
``This is not the time to talk of a ceasefire,'' Gilad Erdan, communications minister and a member of Netanyahu's inner security cabinet told reporters Monday. ``We must complete the mission, and the mission cannot end until the threat of the tunnels is removed,'' he Erdan said, according to a Reuters report.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry to deploy up to 1,000 National Guard troops to border

AUSTIN, Texas –  Gov. Rick Perry said Monday he is deploying up to 1,000 National Guard troops over the next month to the Texas-Mexico border to combat criminals that Republican state leaders say are exploiting a surge of children and families entering the U.S. illegally.
Perry, a vocal critic of the White House's response to the border crisis -- and who is mulling a second presidential run in 2016 -- said the state has a responsibility to act after "lip service" from the federal government.
He rejected suggestions that Texas was militarizing local communities by putting National Guard troops on the ground or that crime data along the border doesn't justify additional resources.
The deployment will cost Texas an estimated $12 million a month. Texas Adjutant General John Nichols said his troops would simply be "referring and deterring" immigrants and not detaining people -- though Nichols said the National Guard could if asked.
"We think they'll come to us and say, `Please take us to a Border Patrol station," Nichols said.
More than 3,000 Border Patrol agents currently work in the region, and Perry has repeatedly asked Obama to send the National Guard to the border. Much of the area has been overwhelmed in recent months by tens of thousands of unaccompanied children illegally entering the U.S.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection didn't respond to a request for comment Monday.
As governor, Perry is commander in chief of Texas military forces unless those forces have already been mobilized by the White House. But if Perry deploys National Guard troops it is up to Texas to pay for them, while an order from Obama would mean Washington picks up the tab.
"Gov. Perry has referred repeatedly to his desire to make a symbolic statement to the people of Central America that the border is closed," said White House spokesman Josh Earnest. "And he thinks that the best way to do that is to send 1,000 National Guard troops to the border. It seems to me that a much more powerful symbol would be the bipartisan passage of legislation that would actually make a historic investment in border security and send an additional 20,000 personnel to the border."
Earnest also said the White House hasn't received the kind of "formal communication" with Perry's office that usually accompanies such deployments.
President George W. Bush sent 6,000 National Guard troops to the border in 2006, and Obama eventually extended that deployment while ordering a second wave of National Guard forces to Texas, California, Arizona and New Mexico in 2010. But the second round saw reduced numbers of troops, and most of their work was limited to air patrols in counterdrug operations.
Perry announced last month that Texas would steer another $1.3 million each week to the Department of Public Safety to assist in border security through at least the end of the year. In a letter to Obama on June 20, Perry made several requests for help along the border, including 1,000 National Guard troops, additional helicopters and giving troops "arrest powers to support Border Patrol operations until sufficient Border Patrol resources can be hired, trained and deployed to the border."
It's not clear why Perry would need the Obama administration to authorize arrest powers and the governor's office has not offered details ahead of the announcement. Texas law simply states that the governor can "adopt rules and regulations governing enlistment, organization, administration" of the Texas State Guard.
In a White House letter to Perry on July 7, Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett laid out steps the administration was taking to deal with what the president had called an "urgent humanitarian situation," but did not mention the National Guard. Obama met with Perry two days later in Dallas, and the administration has worked with Mexico and other countries the immigrants are leaving to make it clear they will not be allowed to stay in the U.S.
On previous border deployments, National Guard soldiers have served in support roles -- administrative, intelligence gathering -- while the Border Patrol expanded its ranks. Some National Guard troops already participate in counter-drug operations on the border, though they don't have arrest powers.
Since October, more than 57,000 unaccompanied children and teenagers have entered the U.S. illegally -- more than double compared to the same period a year earlier. Most have been from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, where rampant gang violence and intense poverty have driven tens of thousands of people outside their borders.
Their numbers overwhelmed Border Patrol facilities in the Rio Grande Valley, leading Perry and the Texas Department of Public Safety to argue that Border Patrol agents distracted by groups of children and families were leaving gaps.
Most of those children have been turning themselves in to the first person in a uniform they see.

Mixed Messages Cartoon

Israel expands Gaza offensive after two soldiers killed by Hamas

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/07/20/gaza-crisis-un-chief-set-to-visit-region-as-casualties-mount-on-both-sides/

Israel's army expanded its operations in the Gaza Strip Sunday, one day after bulldozers uncovered and demolished 34 shafts and about a dozen tunnels that officials say could have been used to carry out attacks, while Palestinian authorities reported intensified airstrikes as Israel's ground offensive deepened.
The Gaza City neighborhood of Shijaiyah came under heavy tank fire before dawn Sunday, with Palestinian health officials claiming that eight people, including the son of a senior Hamas militant, were killed. 
Throughout the night, loud explosions shook Gaza as Israeli flares lit up the night sky and fighter jets flew low over the densely populated territory.
The Hamas military wing said its fighters exchanged fire with Israeli forces in Shijaiyah and a nearby neighborhood. The sound of gunfire could be heard from the center of the city. In a separate confrontation, Islamic Jihad fighters ambushed Israeli troops near the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, the group said, adding that Israeli helicopter gunships had joined the battle.
An Israeli military spokeswoman told Sky News that "Two days ago, residents of Shijaiyah received recorded messages to evacuate the area in order to protect their lives." The Israeli military has singled out the neighborhood as one of the major sites from which Hamas has launched rockets targeting Israeli cities and towns. 
Meanwhile The Jerusalem Post reported that two Israeli soldiers were killed in a firefight with a 13-man Hamas squad that entered Israel via a cross-border tunnel from Gaza Saturday morning. At least one Palestinian was killed in the clash. 
The deaths of the two soldiers bring the Israeli military death toll to five in the three days since ground operations began. Two Israeli civilians have also perished from Hamas rocket and mortar attacks on Israeli territory.
The Hamas soldiers were dressed in Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) uniforms, and were armed with automatic weapons, RPGs, syringes, sedatives and handcuffs, The Jerusalem Post reported. The IDF believed they planned to kidnap an Israeli and go on a killing spree in a community.
Shimon Daniel, a retired brigadier general and former head of the Israeli military's engineer corps, told The Associated Press the military knew that Hamas had a large number of tunnels designed to assault Israel.
"I think finding 13 tunnels in such a short time is a great achievement," he told Channel 10 TV.
Daniel said demolishing the tunnels is dangerous. Troops must assume the passages are booby trapped. Soldiers first close off the area and check for additional openings. Then robots go inside to look around, he said.
After that, the tunnels are destroyed either by special explosives or by heavy equipment. He said it can take up to 12 hours to destroy each tunnel.
"These tunnels aren't for hiding. They are intended for large attacks in Israeli communities and army bases," chief military spokesman Brig. Gen. Moti Almoz said.
Footage released by the Israeli military showed tunnels being demolished by army excavators and other equipment on the ground and by airstrikes from above.
Since the start of Israel-Hamas fighting almost two weeks ago, 378 Palestinians have been killed and 2,700 wounded, according to Gaza Health Ministry official Ashraf al-Kidra. One-fourth of the deaths have been reported since the start of the ground offensive late Thursday.
Health officials claimed that at least 30 people were killed in the bombardment of Gaza's Shijaiyah neighborhood Sunday, and five more bodies were believed to be buried under the rubble of homes.
Israel says it is going to great lengths to avoid civilian casualties and blames them on Hamas, accusing it of firing from within residential neighborhoods and using civilians as "human shields."
The military said it has hit more than 2,500 targets in Gaza, including 1,100 rocket launchers, during the 13 days of fighting. It said that some 70 militants were killed and another 13 brought to Israel for questioning.
Gaza militants have fired more than 1,760 rockets at Israeli cities since July 8, the military said.
The military said also it had received intelligence reports that Palestinians had strapped explosives to animals and intended to send them toward soldiers. A donkey laden with explosives approached soldiers later on and blew up causing no injuries, it said.
An Egyptian truce proposal was rejected by Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007 and has demanded the lifting of an Israeli and Egyptian blockade as part of any cease-fire agreement.
Israel's ground attack came after it became increasingly exasperated with rocket fire from Gaza, especially after Hamas rejected an Egyptian cease-fire plan earlier in the week.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri on Saturday repeated a call for the two sides to adopt the cease-fire, saying it is the only offer on the table, despite efforts from Hamas backers Turkey and Qatar to broker a deal.
"This initiative still presents the chance for the two sides to cease fire, ending the bloodshed," he said. "It meets the needs of both sides. We will continue to propose it. We hope both sides accept it."
In a fresh effort to broker a truce, U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon was due to arrive in Qatar Sunday to help mediate the Gaza conflict. A cease-fire is "indispensable" for urgently needed humanitarian efforts to succeed, the undersecretary-general for political affairs Jeffrey Feltman told an emergency meeting of the Security Council on Friday.
Israeli officials have said the offensive could last up to two weeks or possibly longer.
Hamas has survived Israeli offensives in the past, including a major three-week ground operation in January 2009 and another weeklong air offensive in 2012. It now controls an arsenal of thousands of rockets, including long-range projectiles, and has built a system of underground bunkers.

Illegal Immigrants / Cartels suspected as high-caliber gunfire sends Border Patrol scrambling on Rio Grande

Bailey: " This is another of Obama's big mistakes, not securing the border."

EXCLUSIVE: RINCON PENINSULA, Texas -- U.S. Border Patrol agents on the American side of the Rio Grande were forced to take cover Friday night when high-caliber weaponry was fired at them from the Mexican side of the river, sources told FoxNews.com. 
The weapons were fired at the U.S. side of the riverbank in the area of the Rincon Peninsula across the Rio Grande from Reynosa, Mexico, at about 8:30 p.m., sources said. Bullets ricocheted into an area where Border Patrol agents were positioned, Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, told FoxNews.com. 
Border Patrol sources confirmed Gohmert's account, and said the shots may have been fired by .50-caliber weapons. 
"We don't have any armor that can stop a .50-caliber round, so our Border Patrol agents had to take cover when the rounds were richocheting around them," said Gohmert, who has been in the area for the last week to get a first-hand look at the border situation.
"When the shooting stopped, about 40 to 50 people came out on the U.S. side and turned themselves in. So clearly the rounds were being fired to suppress every effort to stop anybody intervening with anyone or anything coming across," Gohmert added. "We have no idea what or how many or whom came across with the other illegal immigrants."
Sources said they believe the gunfire came from members of Mexican drug cartels, which include former military members trained in shooting that type of weaponry. 
Border Patrol sources said the rounds were clearly identifiable because .50- caliber weapons make a distinctive noise when fired. Sources said they also believe this is the first time that Border Patrol agents have taken direct fire from the Mexican side of the river in this area. 
"I don't know why we're out here like sitting ducks," one Border Patrol source said. "We need help."
As of Saturday evening, a Border Patrol spokesman did not immediately return FoxNews.com's request for comment. 
The Rio Grande sector has been the busiest part of the 2,000-mile border with Texas in recent months as a surge of illegal immigrants, many from Central America, has poured in to the U.S. in the mistaken belief that U.S. policy allows for them to remain in America once they make it in. More than 60,000 unaccompanied children had crossed in the last nine months. But Border Patrol officials have warned that the deluge has left the border largely unattended, and vulnerable to cartel infiltration.

political cartoon

Krauthammer: Obama’s remarks on Malaysia airliner reflect philosophy of disinterest

Charles Krauthammer told viewers Friday on “Special Report with Bret Baier” that President Obama’s first public remarks on the downing of a Malaysia Airlines jetliner over eastern Ukraine were “passive” and a part of a philosophy of disinterest.
“ The only way to explain the unbelievable passive nature of his speech today…there was no passion there was no interest in this. And I think if you want to explain it rationally, maybe he thinks the U.S. doesn't have to do anything,” said Krauthammer.
In his remarks at the White House Friday, Obama stopped short of blaming Russia for the downing of flight MH17, which crashed Thursday on farmland in eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 aboard.
But he did not absolve Russia of any involvement saying, “evidence indicates that the plane was shot down by a surface-to-air missile that was launched from an area that is controlled by Russian-backed separatists inside of Ukraine.”
Krauthammer, a syndicated columnist and Fox News contributor, said Obama was basing his remarks on a misguided notion of Russian and European intentions. “This is really bad, it's going to embarrass the Russians, and they're going to lose on this.” he said.
“Putin has 80 percent support in his country. The propaganda in the country is not reflecting anything resembling the truth. He's not going to lose any support at home.
“This is a war which Putin singlehandedly has started, supported, armed. It's his thugs who pulled the trigger on weapons either he supplied or trained the thugs on, and he's pretending it's the fault of the Ukrainians.”
Krauthammer added, “and the president is unwilling to say the truth, which, in fact, his own U.N. ambassador had said. He's relying on the Europeans, who will never act. They never act on anything unless they're led by the U.S.”
Krauthammer also said Obama’s cautious language regarding the crash site indicated a lack of seriousness, adding, “the president says 'the site has to be secured' in the same way he said 'Assad has to go.' And it has the same weight, zero.”

Marine Held in Mexico: If Congress can't get Obama's attention to free Tahmooressi, We the People must

When justifying the release of five vicious Taliban terrorists detained at “Gitmo” in exchange for U.S. soldier Bowe Bergdahl, the president said, “We don’t leave our people behind.” He was subsequently accused of violating a law requiring him to notify Congress thirty days before releasing any Gitmo detainees.
Apparently breaking the law is no problem for the Obama administration. He has often bragged, “If Congress won’t act, I will. I have a pen and a phone.” In other words, he is willing to issue Executive Orders to dictate what he wants done.

How can the White House claim the president is unaware of Sgt. Tahmooressi's “unjust” and, “wrongful” deprivation of liberty in violation of ‘the rights of American citizenship?”

Earlier this year, in June, the Supreme Court decided there are some limits on the powers of our Chief Executive in deciding two cases – one on “recess appointments” when Congress is in session and a second suit on Obama-Care violations of the 1^st Amendment to our Constitution.
And now, we have yet another example of presidential law-breaking. This one doesn’t require the courts to intervene – just “We The People” need to act. Here’s the law:
U.S. Code, Title 22, Chapter 23, Section 1732. It is entitled, “Release of citizens imprisoned by foreign governments.”
Whenever it is made known to the President that any citizen of the United States has been unjustly deprived of his liberty by or under the authority of any foreign government, it shall be the duty of the President forthwith to demand of that government the reasons of such imprisonment; and if it appears to be wrongful and in violation of the rights of American citizenship, the President shall forthwith demand the release of such citizen, and if the release so demanded is unreasonably delayed or refused, the President shall use such means, not amounting to acts of war and not otherwise prohibited by law, as he may think necessary and proper to obtain or effectuate the release; and all the facts and proceedings relative thereto shall as soon as practicable be communicated by the President to Congress.
One need not be a vaunted “Constitutional lawyer” or even a “Nobel Laureate” like our current head of state to see how this law relates directly to the case of U.S. Marine Sergeant Andrew Tahmooressi – now enduring his fourth month in a Mexican prison.
The facts as we know them have been well articulated – even demonstrated – by Greta Van Susteren, host of “On The Record” on Fox News Channel:
Sergeant Tahmooressi completed two combat tours and received two meritorious promotions for battlefield service in Afghanistan. This spring, the honorably discharged 26-year-old veteran was planning to relocate from his home in Florida to California. 
Late on March 31, disoriented by poorly-lighted, graffiti-covered traffic signs, he inadvertently drove his pick-up truck, loaded with all his possessions – including three legally purchased firearms -- into Mexico at the San Ysidro, Calif., Port of Entry crossing. 
Realizing his error, the young Marine immediately dialed 911 on his cell phone and was connected to a dispatcher on the U.S. side of the border. Informed that no help could be provided to him on the Mexican side of the border he told Mexican authorities that he had three firearms in his truck. He was immediately taken into custody – where he has languished for nearly four months.
When I raised the issue of 22 USC, Sect. 1732 (above) with members of Congress and asked if the president was complying, I was told, “No. But he has an ‘out.’ The law says ‘Whenever it is made known to the President that any citizen of the United States has been unjustly deprived of his liberty by or under the authority of any foreign government, it shall be the duty…’ All Obama has to do is claim the case of American citizen Andrew Tahmooressi has never been made known to him.”
How can the White House claim the president is unaware of Sgt. Tahmooressi’s “unjust” and, “wrongful” deprivation of liberty in violation of ‘the rights of American citizenship?”
Members of Congress from Florida, California and elsewhere have written nearly a dozen letters to the president about Sgt. Tahmooressi. More than 100,000 Americans have responded to online petitions at WhiteHouse.gov; FoxNews.com, FreedomAlliance.org and AndrewFreedomFund.com, among others have written about his plight.
Our president has ignored them all. Apparently he’s been too busy with political fundraisers and vacuous speeches about the “Republican war on women,” economic injustice, and Congressional ineptness. There just hasn’t been time to pick up that famous phone and call Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto.
If Congress can’t get Obama’s attention on freeing an unjustly imprisoned Marine, We The People must. Join the effort to demand that our president obey the law. Otherwise the phrase “Leave no one behind,” is meaningless.
Col. Oliver L. North (ret.) serves as host of the Fox News Channel documentary series "War Stories with Oliver North." From 1983 to 1986, he served as the U.S. government’s counterterrorism coordinator on the National Security Council staff. North is the founder of Freedom Alliance, an organization providing college scholarships to the children of military personnel killed in the line of duty and author of the new nationwide bestseller, "Counterfeit Lies," a novel about how Iran is acquiring nuclear weapons and the means of delivering them. Click here for more information on Oliver North.

Gaza crisis: UN chief set to visit region as casualties mount on both sides

Israeli troops battled Hamas militants in Gaza on the second day of a ground operation Saturday, as the head of the United Nations was set to visit the Middle East in an effort to bring an end to a nearly two-week conflict that has reportedly claimed hundreds of lives.
A Gaza health official on Saturday said the Palestinian death toll from the 12-day offensive topped 300, The Associated Press reported, while the Israeli military announced that three soldiers were wounded in a gun battle with armed Palestinians Friday night in the northern Gaza Strip.
Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Kidra said overnight airstrikes killed 12 people, raising the death toll from the offensive to 310 Palestinians. An Israeli soldier was killed after the start of the ground operation, and an Israeli civilian was killed earlier this week.
The sound of tank fire and heavy machine guns mixed with the mosques' morning call to prayer along the Gaza-Israel border. The Israeli military said three soldiers were wounded in overnight fighting, one seriously. Israeli troops were staying close to the border and have yet to enter heavily populated areas.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will leave Saturday for the Middle East to help end the conflict, the U.N. political chief said Friday.
At an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman said a cease-fire is "indispensable." But the only way to make it stick is for the international community to "assume its responsibility to urgently help restore a serious prospect for a two-state solution that brings an end to the decades-long conflict and occupation," he said.
Israel launched the ground operation late Thursday after hundreds of airstrikes on the Hamas-ruled territory failed to halt unrelenting rocket fire that has increasingly targeted major Israeli cities.
An Egyptian truce proposal was rejected by the Islamic militant group Hamas, which has ruled the strip since 2007 and has demanded the lifting of an Israeli and Egyptian blockade as part of any cease-fire agreement.
Israeli officials say the offensive is aimed at destroying both rocket launchers and Hamas tunnels dug into Israel, and that it could last up to two weeks. The military reported making steady progress, uncovered 13 tunnels, but said dozens remain and would not give a time frame for its operation.
Israel's military chief, Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz, visited troops on the Gaza border early Saturday and said "a strategic national patience is necessary" to complete the mission.
Gaza militants have fired more than 1,500 rockets at Israel over the past 11 days, and rocket fire continued overnight. Israel has launched more than 2,000 airstrikes over the same period.
Gaza militants have remained defiant despite the rising death toll.
"The Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip will not surrender to the enemy and will not raise the white flag," Islamic Jihad leader Ziad Nakhala told a Palestinian radio station.
"We are open to all possibilities as long as the enemy does not respond to the demands of the resistance."