Saturday Afternoon - The Front Page Cover

The Front Page Cover
"I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened"
 
Featuring:
How to Fight Alleged Corruption in Turkey:
Eliminate the Allegers
Burak Bekdil
"Know who you are standing with"
"Show me your friends and I'll show you your future"
~~~lll~~~
 
 Quickies -   What on earth is the president going to say about national security? He can stretch out Cuba, but unless the ghost of Che Guevara is a special unannounced guest, that’s pretty small beer. As surveys show, Americans are increasingly worried about the threat from Islamist militants and terrorism. The president doesn’t have much good to say on that front. And the magnum opus of his foreign policy – a deal setting parameters for Iran’s nuclear program – is looking very shaky today with word of a new Russo-Iranian military pact. The president may look to make good for his no-show in Paris with a little français from the podium, but foreign policy references will be hard to come by.
          [Watch Fox: 2016 GOP hopefuls Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., will react to President nObama’s State of the Union address tonight in a special 11 p.m. ET edition of “The Kelly File.”
-Fox News 
canstock22483672.jpg
 What liberals dream may come -   While even the president’s staunchest defenders acknowledge that the president’s proposals are irrelevant from the perspective of governance, the hope on the left is that the economic policy will become a new litmus test for candidates of both parties and leave a lasting legacy for the president. John Cassidy captures the vibe, writing “Simply advocating tax cuts for the masses will reshape the politics of the next couple of years, and, particularly, the 2016 Presidential election.” How it would come to pass that this medium-bore version of the president’s ever-present economic policy would become the gold standard for both parties next year is a mystery not even Nero Wolfe could solve. But in order for the speech to be more than self-congratulation for the president, there’s got to be more than just hot air. The legacy bit will be ringing in the ears of every viewer of every establishment outlet.
          [Every year - WashEx examines the proposed tax hikes President nObama has made to Congress every year since 2009.]  -Fox News 
canstock22483672.jpg
 Upton calls for nObama to back medical technology -   House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton can boast one of the few areas to have seen bipartisan breakthroughs in a gridlocked Washington. The 21st Century Cures initiative for spurring medical advances has been a hit on both sides of the aisle. Ahead of the speech, Upton and his Democratic counterpart Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., are calling on the president to make it part of his 2015 agenda.   -Fox News 
canstock22483672.jpg
 Whatever Happened to the Scientific Consensus? 
The alarm dial cranked to full throttle Friday after NOAA released its much-anticipated "bombshell" report analyzing last year's climate numbers. According to NOAA, at 1.24 degrees Fahrenheit (0.69 degrees Celsius) above average, global temperatures sizzled to a value unmatched by previous years. We preemptively debunked the report in December and cautioned against falling for the dubious data crunching methods employed by federal agencies. But did the government actually come to the conclusion it's claiming? Not exactly. The report "failed to mention ... that the alleged 'record' amounted to an increase over 2010, the previous 'warmest year', of just two-hundredths of a degree -- or 0.02C," the Daily Mail revealed. That's important because "[t]he margin of error is said by scientists to be approximately 0.1C -- several times as much." The Mail continued, "As a result, GISS's [Goddard Institute for Space Studies] director Gavin Schmidt has now admitted [government officials believe] the likelihood that 2014 was the warmest year since 1880 is just 38 per cent." And you can bet they'll take that "consensus" to the bank. More...  -The Patriot Post   
canstock22483672.jpg
 Sandy Hook Panel to Recommend More Gun Control  
After the horrific murders in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012, Democrat Gov. Dannel Malloy and the state legislature exploited the emotional panic to enact strict gun control measures. Malloy also set up a commission to investigate what further gun measures the state could employ to make people safer infringe the Second Amendment. The full report isn't due until Feb. 14, but at last Friday's meeting the 16-member panel decided to recommend -- surprise! -- even stricter gun control. Reuters reports the details: "Its recommendations included banning the possession of guns or ammunition clips [sic -- they're magazines] holding 10 or more bullets [sic -- bullets are only part of a round], and expanding a 2013 law that prohibited the sale of such weapons but allowed continued possession. The panel dropped a recommendation that would have allowed Connecticut gunmakers to continue manufacturing such weapons for sale out of state." Many, if not most, handguns hold more than 10 rounds and that's not, as Reuters calls it, "high capacity" -- it's standard capacity. Naturally, law enforcement will be exempt, which seems to indicate that more than 10 rounds might come in handy when battling a criminal who's not abiding by the law in the first place. Leftists like to yammer about "common sense," but we don't hold out much hope for that in the Constitution State. More...  -The Patriot Post   
canstock22483672.jpg
 
 
 
1.
 Muslims Establishing No-Go Zones in America  
(iizthatiiz) - Watch footage taken inside Islamic Terrorist Training camps in the U.S. where young Jihadists are taught how to kill guards, kidnap Christians, and strangle the infidel...Muslim enclaves that are hostile to surrounding communities are springing up across America. Funded by Pakistani radicals, 22 villages in 9 states have already been established that are teaching terrorist tactics to members of their compounds. Find out where they are.       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqAJGXI5l88
2.
 Senator Session Takes Over Immigration Subcommittee  
(Rick Wells) - The leading advocate and voice of the American people in the fight against the forces of greed and national destruction that are conducting an illegal squatter invasion is Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL)...He has now been named as the Chairman of the Senate Immigration subcommittee, a truly fortuitous development for the American citizens and the defense of the Constitution and our nation. In announcing his chairmanship, Senator Sessions also changed the name to the “Immigration and the National Interest” subcommittee, noting that in doing so he is making a declaration that the subcommittee belongs to them. He remarked that for too long the financial and political elite have controlled the immigration debate and he will see to it that the interests of the American people are now the primary concern. He also announced that fellow anti-amnesty ally, Senator David Vitter (R-LA) will be serving as the Republican Deputy Chairman.
3.
 Lieutenant Gets 19 Years at Ft. Levenworth defending his Troops 
(Tim Brown) - First Lieutenant Clint Lorance never imagined that following the rule of engagement to save not only his life, but the lives of his fellow soldiers against Islamic enemies would result in him spending nearly two decades in prison...But it did. Lorance, 30, had been trained to make split-second decisions and his training culminated in a real-life scenario in July 2012 when he and his squad were on a foot patrol in southern Afghanistan. He had just been made Platoon Leader after his predecessor had been severely wounded. At that time, Lorance led his troops into a Taliban-infested territory, where their air support had indicated that there were enemy personnel were in the vicinity. Jennifer Bucholtz reports what happened next.       http://sonsoflibertymedia.com/2015/01/army-lieutenant-clint-lorance-gets-19-years-ft-levenworth-defended-troops-islamic-jihadists/
4.
 Megyn Kelly Refuses To Stop Speaking Her Mind  
(americanoverlook.com) - Mrs. Kelly is one of the best news anchors out there, she isn’t afraid to speak the truth, even if she gets threatened when she does. One of her biggest opponents is the Council on American-Islamic Relations or CAIR for short...She recently supported a film called “honor diaries” which is a documentary on muslim women and their culture of domestic abuse. As soon as Megyn backed this documentary for the harsh truth it shows, CAIR stepped in to show their disdain. But this isn’t stopping Megan.       http://americanoverlook.com/video-megyn-refuses-to-stop-speaking-her-mind-on-how-she-thinks-muslims-abuse-women/34013
5.
 MIT Prof Calls Global Warming Alarmists a Cult  
(Aleister) - An MIT professor of meteorology is dismissing global-warming alarmists as a discredited “cult” whose members are becoming more hysterical as emerging evidence continues to contradict their beliefs...During an appearance on this writer’s radio show Monday, MIT Professor emeritus Richard Lindzen discussed the religious nature of the movement. “As with any cult, once the mythology of the cult begins falling apart, instead of saying, oh, we were wrong, they get more and more fanatical. I think that’s what’s happening here. Think about it,” he said. “You’ve led an unpleasant life, you haven’t led a very virtuous life, but now you’re told, you get absolution if you watch your carbon footprint. It’s salvation!”
6.
 Conservatives Target McCon-nell For Quick Surrender On Amnesty  
(Rick Wells) - Guiding your troops in retreat or surrender is still technically leadership, but it’s not the kind that conservatives were expecting or seeking when the Republicans were given the majority control of the Senate in November...Unfortunately, to this point at least, that is exactly the type of sellout leadership we are experiencing. Conservative leaders have had enough, making their sentiments known Wednesday at a Heritage Foundation gathering called “Conversations with Conservatives.” The target of their criticism was the good ‘ole boy from Kentucky, Majority Leader Mitch McCon-nell. (R-KY) There was plenty of criticism to go around, with Rep Raul Labrador (R-ID) suggesting that McCon-nell is no better than his Democrat predecessor dinky Harry Reid. Labrador said, “It’s uncanny to me that our leadership is already sending the message that we’ve already lost this battle,” referring to the premature amnesty surrender announcement of McCon-nell from the Republican Retreat last week. McCon-nell stated in a closed-door bicameral session that the Senate didn’t have the votes to overturn amnesty and he didn’t have a way of producing them.       http://gopthedailydose.com/2015/01/23/conservatives-target-mcconnell-for-quick-surrender-on-amnesty-lack-of-guts-to-fight-obama/
7.
 As nObama Shuts His Eyes, Iran Building A New Persian Empire  
(rickwells.us) - Lt Col Ralph Peters makes the point that to a degree the comments of Vice President Loose Lips Joe Biden are correct, that without boots on the ground in Syria nothing good is going to happen...As to Iraq, in spite of claims by the regime to the contrary, Peters reports that ISIS continues to consolidate and grow. Having said that, Col Peters points to “A bigger issue; ‘president’ nObama wants a nuclear deal however bad. He wants it with Iran so desperately that he’s ignoring the phenomenal changes in the Middle East, all to our disadvantage.” Peters addresses the situation in Iran in particular, saying that they are, under our noses, or more correctly while our eyes are closed, building a new Persian Empire.       http://www.rickwells.us/lt-col-ralph-peters-obama-shuts-eyes-iran-building-new-persian-empire/
8.
 Saudi King Abdullah is dead  
(Robert Spencer) - Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah is dead. This is not an optimum time for a transition. The Saudis’ massive expenditures to export the jihad doctrine have come back to bite them in the form of the Islamic State...a self-proclaimed caliphate that denies the legitimacy of the House of Saud (and every other government other than its own) and has vowed to conquer it (and every other country, but it is right on the Saudis’ doorstep). The Iranians, meanwhile, are always jockeying to become the leader of the Islamic world, and in that Saudi Arabia is one of their chief rivals. But Iranian-backed Shi’ite Houthi rebels have just won a major victory in Yemen, and Iran has just concluded a military pact with Russia. Could the death of Abdullah be the Iranians’ moment? Or the Islamic State’s?       http://www.jihadwatch.org/2015/01/saudi-king-abdullah-is-dead?utm_source=Jihad+Watch+Daily+Digest&utm_campaign=a0f9d1d5cf-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_ffcbf57bbb-a0f9d1d5cf-123451509
9.
 NSA Details Chinese Cyber Theft of F-35, Military Secrets  
(Bill Gertz) - China obtained more than 50 terabytes of data from U.S. defense and government networks, notably the Joint Strike Fighter’s stealth radar and engine secrets...through cyber espionage, according to newly disclosed National Security Agency documents. A NSA briefing slide labeled “Top Secret” and headlined “Chinese Exfiltrate Sensitive Military Data,” states that the Chinese have stolen a massive amount of data from U.S. government and private contractors. The unique capability of spying on the spies was described in a series of documents that were stolen in 2013 by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, currently a fugitive in Russia. For the F-35, according to NSA the Chinese were able to obtain digital design information on several different types of radar modules used by the fighter.       http://freebeacon.com/national-security/nsa-details-chinese-cyber-theft-of-f-35-military-secrets/
10.
 Congress Prepares For Dogfight With Pentagon Over Military Cuts  
(Jonah Bennett) - House Armed Services Committee Chairman Rep. Mac Thornberry told reporters on Thursday that any attempts from the nObama administration to “nickel and dime our people to death” in the defense budget won’t fly without a fight... “That’s not fair to [personnel],” Thornberry said, according to Military Times. “It’s also not a good way to have a coherent pay-and-benefits system.” Lawmakers already had to fight hard late last year for a personnel pay raise in the National Defense Authorization Act. The result was a compromise. Personnel received a 1 percent pay increase, instead of the originally slated 1.8 percent.       http://dailycaller.com/2015/01/22/congress-prepares-for-a-dogfight-with-pentagon-over-military-personnel-cuts/
How to Fight Alleged Corruption in Turkey:
Eliminate the Allegers
Burak Bekdil
 
     (meforum.org) - Imagine one chilly day the American people wakes up to news that, in early morning raids, squads of public prosecutors and police detain the sons of cabinet secretaries, a mayor, a state bank manager and prominent businessmen -- all with publicly known close ties to the nObama administration. The mounds of evidence include telephone conversations, video material, and more -- all unmasking the trafficking of huge amounts of illegal money and expensive gifts among the suspects, who include a shady Iranian businessman.

     Dozens of audio recordings reveal a network of relations among nObama's closest political and business allies, involving billions of dollars. And imagine an audio recording of nObama calling his son and ordering him to get rid of all the cash he keeps at home; and his son, after trying for several hours, tells him there are still millions left. And nObama claims this is a coup d'état against his elected administration, and purges all prosecutors and police officers investigating the charges. This is what exactly happened in Turkey in December 2013.      

     In the investigation, Reza Zarrab, an Iranian businessman, was accused of running a network that laundered at least 87 billion euros to bypass international sanctions on Iran, and bribing ministers, their sons and senior public officials in Turkey.

     The prosecutors claimed Zarrab handed out around $60 million in bribes. Zarrab allegedly gave $5 million to (then) Interior Minister Muammer Guler in return for Turkish citizenship. Zarrab also allegedly paid $5 million to (then) Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan's son, Salih Kaan, and gave a $300,000 Patek Philip Swiss watch to the minister.

     Meanwhile, the police found around $9 million in cash stuffed into shoe boxes at the home of Suleyman Arslan, then general manager of Halkbank, a government-owned bank that was instrumental in trade between Turkey and Iran (shoe boxes would later become a symbol of corruption at anti-government protests across Turkey). EU Minister Egemen Bagis was the other recipient of cash from Zarrab, according to the prosecutors. And Housing Minister Erdogan Bayraktar was accused of arranging multibillion dollar contracts for government-friendly companies.

     At the peak of the wave of arrests and investigation, Bayraktar would publicly say: "Whatever I have done, I have done it with Erdogan's knowledge and orders." And he would argue that "the prime minister Erdogan too should resign." On Dec. 25, 2013, a week after the investigation officially took off, three ministers resigned from cabinet.

     From the start of the investigation, Erdogan seemed to fear that the allegations now in the public domain could finish him off at the ballot box in municipal and presidential elections in March and August 2014, respectively. He claimed that an influential Muslim preacher, Fethullah Gulen, and his network of prosecutors and police officers were behind the investigations. He and his closest political associates, including Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu claim the same thing to this day. Gulen, who lives in self-exile in the United States, was Erdogan's most powerful political ally until the two were engaged in a power struggle early in 2014.

     For the past year, since December 2013, Erdogan's administration has suspended, reassigned, prosecuted and jailed thousands of (mostly) police officers on charges of attempting illegally to topple his government. "If reassigning individuals who betray this country is called a witch hunt, then, yes, we will carry out a witch hunt," Erdogan said.

     There is speculation in Ankara that the next target of Erdogan's "witch hunt" will likely be prosecutors and judges believed to be members of Gulen's movement.

     All the same, the big blow to the Gulenists did not come from Erdogan's counter-offensive, but from the ballot box. Erdogan's Justice and Development Party AKP won 43.3 percent of the vote in municipal elections last March, and Erdogan won 51.5 percent of the vote in presidential elections in August.

     For Erdogan, his election victories meant that all allegations of corruption were baseless. The nation had found the suspects not guilty. For the first time in the history of justice, voters had acted as the jury for a high-profile corruption case.

     That thinking, coupled with a move to reshuffle the top layers of the judiciary, changed the balance of power in favor of Erdogan.

     In October, a prosecutor in Istanbul dropped all charges against the suspects in the corruption investigation. The cash confiscated from them was returned, with interest! But there was another investigation not yet closed.

     Upon AKP's proposal, a parliamentary commission was set up to investigate the charges independently. The commission consisted of nine AKP members of parliament and five opposition members. Despite findings reported by the government's financial crimes investigation body, which said the personal wealth of the ministers in question had increased disproportionately to their incomes, the commission decided on Jan. 5 not to send the suspects to the Constitutional Court to stand trial. All nine government MPs had voted against trials for the suspects, and all five opposition MPs voted in favor.
 
     Turkey's top court, the Constitutional Court, has the authority to try ministers and prime ministers on criminal charges. A few days before the commission announced its decision, Health Minister Mehmet Muezzinoglu said that his party did not trust the Constitutional Court, which, he said, could be part of the coup d'état against the administration. To which the main opposition party replied: "If you don't trust the top court, how should ordinary citizens trust the ordinary courts?" Good question. But the government shrugs it off.

     Turkey is once again heading for elections. The parliamentary elections in June will be particularly critical for Erdogan, for a number of reasons. First, someone other than him (Davutoglu) will be leading the party's campaign for the first time since 2002. Second, Erdogan's ambitions are not about just winning the elections. He seems interested in securing a two-thirds majority, so that the constitution can be amended to legitimize his present effective executive presidency. Erdogan calculates that any publicity about his former ministers standing trial, and evidence against them hitting headlines, could prune his party's votes in June. He is probably right. If he wants to change the constitution in favor of a lawfully executive presidential system, he cannot     afford to lose even a handful of votes.

     The opposition is furious. So is the anti-Erdogan bloc, which makes up roughly half of Turkey. There will be a final round of voting at the parliament's general assembly at the end of January. The vote will be about whether to send the corruption suspects to the Constitutional Court or not. The AKP has enough of a majority to kill the move. But the opposition relies on "secret voting," which can produce defectors from the AKP benches. The opposition will need about 55 defectors from the government to send the former ministers to the Constitutional Court. This looks unlikely, but not altogether impossible.

     Once again, Turkey has proven to be a fascinating country, putting rules of law and ethics upside down. In Turkey, corruption suspects have a shield against prosecution, and law enforcement officers who prosecute corruption can go to jail.

http://www.meforum.org/4977/erdogan-corruption-in-turkey

E-mail me when people leave their comments –

You need to be a member of Command Center to add comments!

Join Command Center