The Right Stuff In The Morning
Wednesday, October 29, 2014
Good morning! In the news today: Obama's own former aides allege he did nothing to stop ISIS; Biden reimburses taxpayers after being caught taking a subsidized vacation; beheading in Long Island - terrorism?; Obama aides call Netanyahu "chickenshit;" a new report says Obamcare is causing premiums to skyrocket; and Palin hopes to run again.
Have a great Wednesday.
Keith
Former officials: Obama did nothing to stop ISIS . . . President Obama’s former ambassador to Iraq says in a new interview that his administration “did almost nothing” in response to intelligence warnings earlier this year that Islamic State radicals were gaining ground in Iraq and threatening the country’s stability.
“The administration not only was warned by everybody back in January, it actually announced that it was going to intensify support against ISIS with the Iraqi armed forces. And it did almost nothing,” says James Jeffrey, who served as U.S. ambassador to Iraq between 2010 and 2012, in "Frontline's" "The Rise of ISIS," which airs on PBS Tuesday night (check local listings) and is previewed here exclusively on Yahoo News.
Jeffrey is one of a number of ex-administration officials who appear in the film and sharply criticize the decisions of the president they once served.Yahoo News
|
|
Biden's shady, taxpayer-subsidized vacation . . . Vice President Joe Biden, his wife and 11 other family members spent four nights on vacation this August at a lakeside log cabin overlooking the snowcapped peaks of Mount Moran in Grand Teton National Park. The four-bedroom Brinkerhoff Lodge, where they stayed, is owned and operated by the National Park Service. Under a policy adopted in 1992, after controversy over VIPs using the cabin for vacations, the National Park Service banned purely recreational activities by federal employees at the property, restricting its use to “official purposes.”
But in recent years, the park service has interpreted that same rule so broadly as to again allow senior officials to take cheap vacations in Grand Teton with friends and family. While visiting the park, Biden held no events, kept no public schedule, and his staff initially declined to answer a reporter’s question about where he spent the night. Last week, after TIME uncovered documents confirming his stay at the lodge, Biden’s office said the Vice President planned to personally reimburse the park $1,200 for “renting the Brinkerhoff” for his family’s vacation. Time
Biden is a renowned cheapskate, donating almost none of his substantial earnings to charity - the Obamas donate plenty - and claiming that his joint income of nearly $400K with his wife somehow puts him in the middle class. Now, his penny pinching is getting him in trouble - I mean, to the extent the press will make any kind of deal out of it.
Obama launches drive to counter quarantines . . . The White House is launching an aggressive, public campaign to counter the movement of some states – most notably New York and New Jersey – to quarantine American health care professionals who return from treating Ebola victims in West Africa. Obama made an unscheduled statement on the South Lawn this afternoon to highlight what he said was the need to support health care workers when they return home, support which presumably would not include isolating them. And in a staged event designed to draw attention to the issue, Obama will meet at the White House Wednesday with a group of health care professionals who have been treating Ebola patients. White House Dosser
Obama to bring foreign Ebola patients here? . . . House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) says he has evidence that the Obama administration is preparing to bring Ebola patients from West Africa to the United States for treatment, a policy change he opposes because of the increased risk it poses to U.S. health care workers. The Blaze
Immigration recommendations in final stages . . . Justice Department and Homeland Security officials are sending to the White House their final recommendations on what immigration executive actions should look like. officials are considering what length of time an undocumented immigrant needs to have been a resident to receive protections. If the administration requires proof of 10 years of residency, a far smaller group of people would be affected by the actions than if five years is the standard. Similarly, it is still unclear whether the parents of young undocumented immigrants — or DREAMers — protected by the 2012 executive action will fall under the new actions. Buzzfeed
More Obama walkouts . . . Just over a week after attendees of a Maryland rally began to walk out of a speech by President Barack Obama, the same thing has happened again, this time in Wisconsin.Daily Caller
Biden: Middle class left behind . . . Did Biden forget that he is the vice president, and Obama is the president? White House Dossier
Ron Klain, secret agent man . . . Where is Ron Klain? He’s an international man of mystery. We know he exists. We know he’s defeating Ebola. Probably has one arm tied behind his back, just to be fair. But we are not allowed to see him. White House Dossier
|
|
Joint Chiefs back 21-day quarantine . . . Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel is expected to accept a recommendation by Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to quarantine for 21 days all U.S. troops returning from Ebola-stricken countries, The New York Times reported. Newsmax
Nurse refuses quarantine . . . Maine health officials said Tuesday that they are prepared to go to court to force nurse Kaci Hickox to comply with the state's "voluntary" 21-day quarantine period for health care workers who have treated Ebola patients. Fox News
Security upped at federal buildings . . . The Department of Homeland Security announced Tuesday it has increased security at federal buildings across the country, citing terror threats and recent attacks in Canada and elsewhere. Fox News
Beheading in Long Island . . . A man beheaded a woman at her Long Island apartment Tuesday night and dragged her out into the street where he kicked her severed head about 20 feet before jumping in front of a train, cops and witnesses said. The woman, who appeared to be in her 60s, was discovered dead outside an apartment building in Farmingdale at around 8 p.m. Tuesday, Nassau County police said. “I looked through my window and saw the body down there,” said neighbor Nick Gordon. “I saw the lady laying right in front and her head was across the street, close to the corner. I thought ‘holy sh–!'” New York Post
Not clear yet if this could be terrorism.
|
|
Palin: I hope to run again for office . . . Sarah Palin opened the door for another run for public office, railing against liberals who, she says, would like to keep her on the political sidelines. Palin was asked whether harsh criticism of her had driven her away from politics. “Bless their hearts, those haters out there, they don’t understand that it invigorates me,” she responded. “It wants me to get out there and defend the innocent. [T]he more they’re pouring on, the more I’m going to bug the crap out of them by being out there with a voice, with a message, hopefully running for office in the future, too,” Palin added. Politico
Hispanics trending right . . . A new Washington Post/ABC News poll showed that fully half of Hispanics do not believe that it makes adifference who wins the Senate in the 2014 midterm elections. And those who care, the poll showed, heavily favored Republicans. Breitbart
Dems pin hopes on black vote . . . Democrats say their efforts to bring black voters to the polls are succeeding and could save their Senate majority on Election Day. Early voting by African-Americans is outpacing the 2010 midterms in many of the key races the party must win to hold the Senate, Democratic operatives say, with new registrations up among that segment of the electorate. The Hill
Candidates distance from Reid too . . . Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has become a major focus of the 2014 campaign, with many of his embattled fellow Democrats declining to say whether they’d back him for their party caucus leader. Washington Times
Jeb: Obama incompetent on Ebola . . . “It looked very incompetent to begin with, and that fueled fears that may not be justified,” Bush said during a discussion at Vanderbilt University, according to The Tennessean. “And now you have states that are legitimately acting on their concerns, creating a lot more confusion than is necessary.” Politico
Another sign he's running, of course.
|
|
Israeli Prime Minister Chickenshit? . . . The Obama administration's anger is "red-hot" over Israel's settlement policies, and the Netanyahu government openly expresses contempt for Obama's understanding of the Middle East. Profound changes in the relationship may be coming. “The thing about Bibi is, he’s a chickenshit,” a senior Obama administration official said. The Atlantic
I wonder if any of these people, like Netanyahu, served as commandoes for their military?
Germany: Security situation critical . . . Radical Islam poses a critical security threat to Germany, Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere warned on Tuesday, saying the number of people capable of staging attacks in the country stood at an all-time high. Reuters
|
|
Obamacare premiums skyrocketing . . . The Affordable Care Act was supposed to make health care more affordable, but a newly released study of insurance policies before and after Obamacare shows that average premiums have skyrocketed, for some groups by as much as 78 percent. Average insurance premiums in the sought-after 23-year-old demographic rose most dramatically, with men in that age group seeing an average 78.2 percent price increase before factoring in government subsidies, and women having their premiums rise 44.9 percent, according to a report by HealthPocket scheduled for release Wednesday.Washington Times
Ebola doctor initially lied . . . New York City’s first Ebola patient initially lied to authorities about his travels around the city following his return from treating disease victims in Africa, law-enforcement sources said. Dr. Craig Spencer at first told officials that he isolated himself in his Harlem apartment — and didn’t admit he rode the subways, dined out and went bowling until cops looked at his MetroCard the sources said. New York Post
Marijuana on the ballot in three more states . . . Voters in Oregon, Alaska and Washington, D.C., will decide on Nov. 4 whether to legalize sales of recreational marijuana to adults. Colorado and Washington State voted two years ago to legalize such sales. Newsmax
|
|
If you you don't want REDLINE but still would like occasional White House Dossier alerts, reply to his email with the message: "Just White House Dossier."
|
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment