Thursday Morning - The Front Page Cover


 The Front Page Cover 
"I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened"
 
Featuring:
The Worst U.S. President Ever!
Alan Caruba
 
"Rise up together as one voice"
"Be careful where you stand"
~~~lll~~~
 
 CRUZ FORWARD: 2016 GOP POWER INDEX 
Republican leaders are feeling bullish about their chances of getting Democrats in the Senate to back off their filibuster of a funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security. And while the next 10 days will bring plenty of drama in the fight to roll back President nObama’s temporary executive amnesty for illegal immigrants, the hardline approach is good news for at least one Republican presidential hopeful: Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. Cruz, who has also continued to add key staff members and build out what might be a formidable fundraising machine, seems to have so far avoided a shooting war with his own party on the issue. That truce has helped the conservative favorite move to his highest ranking yet in the Fox News First 2016 GOP Power Index. And making his debut on the list is Gov. John Kasich, R-Ohio, another fiscal hawk. He will make his first visit to the early primary state of South Carolina on Wednesday. [And before you tell us why Kasich can’t win, we would offer you this riddle: What’s round on both ends and “hi” in the middle… and is the most important state every presidential election?]
  -Fox News 
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 Ukraine:   Ukrainian and rebel sources agree that the new ceasefire is holding in most regions. Both also agree that fighting continues for control of the Debal'tseve pocket. Eduard Basurin, spokesman for the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) said that the situation was calm during the night and that it is calm in the southern and in the northern regions. "The ceasefire is largely observed, but the enemy artillery is shelling our positions near Debal'tseve..." The leader of the DPR, Oleksandr Zacharchenko, said, "The cease-fire regime applies to the Debal'tseve area as well. A group of several thousand Ukrainian troops remains blockaded in this area. All Ukrainian servicemen in Debal'tseve and the adjacent population centers must leave the city without weapons or equipment." He said that any attempts to break through onto Ukrainian territory or to storm the DPR's positions in that area would be cut short. "We are calling on Kyiv to strictly abide by all the clauses of the Minsk agreements dated 12 February 2015," Zakharchenko said. A Ukrainian spokesman said rebel shelling intensified during the afternoon and the evening of the 15th. He confirmed that Debal'tseve is the hot spot which was shelled 32 times. He claimed to have intelligence that the rebels still intended to capture Debal'tseve.

Update on monitoring. On 15 February, the contact group for implementing the package of measures in the Minsk agreement and representatives of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine met and decided on a mechanism to ensure the safety of movement of the OSCE mission on the territory of the DPR. DPR police officer will be their escorts, but no other details were disclosed. The announcement indicated the monitoring operation will begin on 16 February. Ukrainian rebels denied OSCE monitors access to Debal'tseve. The local rebels said the ceasefire did not apply to that region. The OCE mission chief said Debal'tseve and Luhansk were the areas where worst fighting continued.
Comment: Some DPR rebels said the ceasefire does not apply to Debal'tseve. Their leader seems to believe it applies and requires the Ukrainians to evacuate the Debal'tseve pocket and to surrender their weapons. Either interpretation signifies that fighting and shelling will continue in the Debal'tseve area. Press reports and public statements indicate that none of the four heads of government signed the Minsk agreement. Lower level officials signed the documents, including a representative from the rebel region. The agreement appears to be a compendium of unfinished business from last September's Minsk accord. One knowledgeable analyst described the agreement as a "to-do list." It seems to be a technical experts' plan to implement a general accord among the principals. In this case the leaders of the four powers only agreed verbally to respect Ukraine's integrity and that the fighting should stop. They signed no document, which means the principals did not agree on the meaning of those two terms as they apply to Ukraine. The technical experts have no authoritative documentary reference to guide their work.  -NightWatch 
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 Bahrain-Jordan:   Bahrain will support Jordan in fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Bahrain's News Agency (BNA) reported on Sunday. BNA also reported that a group of Bahraini Royal Air Force fighter jets had arrived in Jordan. The agency said the move was part Bahrain's commitment to "the efforts of the International Coalition to eradicate terrorism."
Comment: The monarchies are hanging together in fighting "terrorists."   -NightWatch 
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 Yemen: Update.   Italy, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar evacuated their embassies since Friday. Press services reported thousands of Yemenis participated in anti-Houthi protests on Saturday and Sunday. In a clash in al-Bayda Governate on the 14th, 16 Houthis and 10 Sunni tribesmen and militants died. Houthi militiamen also fired on a crowd of protestors in Ibb.

UN. On 15 February, the UN Security Council approved a resolution demanding that the Houthis immediately and unconditionally withdraw forces from government institutions and engage in good faith UN-led peace talks.
Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Egypt. On the 14th, the foreign ministers of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman and the United Arab Emirates) warned Yemen that the members would take whatever action they deemed necessary to maintain regional security and stability, if the UN failed to approve the use of force against the Shia rebels.
Comment: The UN did not approve the use of force, which leaves the burden of taking action on the GCC members. There are numerous rumors about intervention in Yemen, most of which are not credible. One that seems credible is that Egypt and Saudi Arabia are cooperating militarily to ensure the Houthis do not interfere with maritime traffic in the Red Sea.  -NightWatch 
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 Nigeria-Boko Haram:   On the 14th, Boko Haram fighters traveling in a convoy of 24 Toyota Hilux vans attacked the northeastern town of Gombe, the capital of Gombe State. Nigerian troops, with combat air support, beat back the attack. Local residents told the press that Boko Haram fighters warned them against voting in next month's elections. No official source commented on casualties. On Sunday, 15 February a female suicide bomber killed at least 10 people and injured 30 when she blew herself up at a bus station in Damaturu in Yobe State. An angry mob prevented rescue workers from evacuating the remains of the bomber and set her body parts on fire.

Comment: The two Nigerian attacks and some minor attacks last week are the first significant terrorist actions west of Maiduguri in Borno State since late January. The attack at Gombe was a serious attempt to take over the town, but the convoy attacked two villages on the way to Gombe, thereby giving the Nigerian forces warning of an imminent attack in time to react.
Questions for the Readers: Where did Boko Haram get the vans and the supplies to keep them operational? Who holds the Toyota franchise? Boko Haram groups appear to be trying to relieve pressure on fighting groups in the far northeast by staging attacks in adjoining states. If that is an accurate hypothesis, it would mean that Boko Haram's command and control capabilities are significant in an area where cell phone use is said to be sparse.  -NightWatch 
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1.
 C.I.A. Is Said to Have Bought and Destroyed Iraqi Chemical Weapons  
(C. J. CHIVERS and ERIC SCHMITT) - The Central Intelligence Agency, working with American troops during the occupation of Iraq, repeatedly purchased nerve-agent rockets from a secretive Iraqi seller...part of a previously undisclosed effort to ensure that old chemical weapons remaining in Iraq did not fall into the hands of terrorists or militant groups, according to current and former American officials. The extraordinary arms purchase plan, known as Operation Avarice, began in 2005 and continued into 2006, and the American military deemed it a nonproliferation success. It led to the United States’ acquiring and destroying at least 400 Borak rockets, one of the internationally condemned chemical weapons that Saddam Hussein’s Baathist government manufactured in the 1980s but that were not accounted for by United Nations inspections mandated after the 1991 Persian Gulf war. Yet another example of how right Bush was about MND’s in Iraq. Not sure why they kept this secret. Must have been some worry about the outstanding WMD’s still in Iraq.
 
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/16/world/cia-is-said-to-have-bought-and-destroyed-iraqi-chemical-weapons.html?_r=0
2.
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 ISIS Is Nazi Genocide, Islamic Supremacists Killing Christians  
(Rick Wells) - Charles Krauthammer speaks to the failure of Hussein nObama to properly address the threat that is presented to the world by ISIS and Islamic terrorism...He’s asked if language matters, to which he replies, “Of course it does, it defines the conflict. Churchill saved England and civilization because in 1940 he was able to enlist the English language and he put it to work on behalf of civilization. What this administration is doing is precisely the opposite. It’s sort of deconstructing any resistance with its refusal to acknowledge the obvious.”       http://www.rickwells.us/krauthammer-isis-is-nazi-genocide-islamic-supremacists-killing-to-eradicate-christians-jews-and-civilization/
3.
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 Federal judge halts nObama's amnesty orders  
(Bob Unruh) - A federal judge in Texas on Monday granted a temporary injunction halting President nObama’s executive-order driven amnesty program...The ruling from U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen ordered the government not to proceed with any portion of the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents, DAPA. In his order the federal judge said the court found “that at least one plaintiff has satisfied all the necessary elements to maintain a lawsuit and to obtain a temporary injunction.”       http://www.wnd.com/2015/02/federal-judge-halts-obamas-amnesty-orders/
4.
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 Barbarians Are At The Gates – Oliver North Finger-Points nObama  
(Rick Wells) - Oliver North has had enough with the occupant of the White House and what is at best his pacifist, terrorist enabling, cowardice...He references the title of the video of 21 Christians being decapitated by ISIS, “Taking the Fight to the Land of the Cross,” saying “The barbarians are at the gates.” He notes that Pope Francis has recognized that these people were murdered only because they were Christians but that the White House refers to them only as “Egyptian civilians.” He points out that President el-Sisi of Egypt asked for targeting help prior to their strikes and was denied, just as King Abdullah ll of Jordan and the Kurds have been refused. He says, “The Italians are now looking at this as a “literally existential threat to Western ideals, values, the Judeo-Christian system under which we’ve existed for 2,000 years.” Impeach him now or he will continue what he is doing.       http://www.rickwells.us/barbarians-are-at-the-gates-oliver-north-finger-points-obama-do-your-job-fight-this-war-to-win/
5.
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 U.S.Afghan Embassy Another Tipping Domino In The nObama Strategy  
(Rick Wells) - Those in the know continue to come out in opposition to the posture and the methods being utilized or failing to be used in the so-called strategy being employed by Hussein nObama in fighting ISIS...General Paul Vallely and former Congressman Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) have received information that things are continuing to get worse for the good guys. General Vallely informs us that the American presence in Afghanistan has gone into a largely defensive, “behind the wire” mode, characterizing Afghanistan as a deep threat - high risk area. He says our forces are now being prohibited from taking any offensive actions, particularly in Kabul.       http://www.rickwells.us/islamist-spring-gen-vallely-hoekstra-u-s-afghan-embassy-another-tipping-domino-in-the-obama-strategy/
6.
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 nObama’s Failed Nuclear Policy and Khamenei’s Duplicity  
(Majid Rafizadeh) - President nObama and Secretary of State Hanoi John Kerry have significantly moved away from their original objectives on the nuclear talks aimed at resolving the Islamic Republic’s nuclear defiance and its threat to the region and world...The policy of the administration has changed frequently. The current agenda and policy of the nObama administration is to contain Iran’s nuclear program so that Iran’s ruling clerics will be one year away from obtaining nuclear bombs. Therefore, Iran can sign the final nuclear deal and the sanctions can be removed as long as Iran promises that it is one year away from becoming a nuclear state. This also means that Iran can decide to break out of the final nuclear agreement at anytime it desires.       http://www.frontpagemag.com/2015/majid-rafizadeh/obamas-failed-nuclear-policy-and-khameneis-duplicity/?utm_source=FrontPage+Magazine&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=7160698e1b-Mailchimp_FrontPageMag&utm_term=0_57e32c1dad-7160698e1b-156509103
7.
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 Make the ISIS Caliphate a Jihadist Kill Zone  
(Bruce Thornton) - President nObama’s proposed Authorization for the Use of Military Force against ISIS comes at a time when Iran and ISIS are fomenting disorder and destruction throughout the Middle East...Despite the enmity between these two species of jihadism, both pose serious threats to our interests and security and those of our allies in the region. The president’s stubborn refusal to strengthen his dubious negotiations with Iran by approving Congress’s more punishing sanctions, along with his pledge not to use force against the mullahs, is guaranteed to make Iran a nuclear power that will dominate the region. And nothing in the AUMF will achieve his alleged “core objective” to destroy ISIS. Quite the contrary–– it will squander an opportunity to concentrate and eliminate tens of thousands of jihadists.       http://www.frontpagemag.com/2015/bruce-thornton/make-the-isis-caliphate-a-jihadist-kill-zone/?utm_source=FrontPage+Magazine&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=7160698e1b-Mailchimp_FrontPageMag&utm_term=0_57e32c1dad-7160698e1b-156509103
8.
 Lawmaker Produce a Conservative Alternative to nObama’s Budget  
(Melissa Quinn) - Conservatives are gearing up to draft their alternative to President nObama’s budget, and Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Ind., is the lawmaker behind the push...Republican Study Committee Chairman Bill Flores, R-Texas, tapped Stutzman to lead the group’s Budget and Spending Task Force, which will release a conservative alternative to the president’s budget toward the end of March. “The RSC budget that we’re going to work on will set a strong conservative tone not only for the House, but [for] Washington,” Stutzman told The Daily Signal. “We’re going to show we have major problems that need to be fixed, and we’re going to do it.”       http://dailysignal.com/2015/02/17/meet-lawmaker-picked-produce-conservative-alternative-obamas-budget/?utm_source=heritagefoundation&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=morningbell&mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRoiu6rJZKXonjHpfsX56%2BQpWqS%2BlMI%2F0ER3fOvrPUfGjI4ES8BkI%2BSLDwEYGJlv6SgFQrLBMa1ozrgOWxU%3D
9.
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 Blind Hate Drives   Islamists to   Absurdity  
oject.org) - One is a jihadist movement that seeks global dominance, beheading journalists, throwing gay people off of rooftops and massacring any perceived foe which crosses its path on the way to restoring a grand Islamic state...The other is a sovereign state, a refuge for a people repeatedly targeted for annihilation throughout history. It also provides medical treatment for Syrians who have been victims of attacks from Islamic State terrorists and the Assad regime. Fighting for each apparently poses an equal threat. So says Hussam Ayloush, the Council on American-Islamic Relations' (CAIR) Los Angeles director. Speaking about efforts to "counter violent extremism" at the Islamic Center of Orange County last month, Ayloush said he resented the focus placed on the Muslim community:      http://www.investigativeproject.org/4779/blind-hate-drives-islamists-to-absurdity
10.
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 A History of Violence: Accusations But No Justice in Liberia  
(T. Christian Miller) - Christopher Vambo had been accused by Catholic church officials and others of being responsible for the 1992 murder of five American nuns...Prince Johnson had overseen the torture and death of Samuel Doe, the former president of Liberia. Neither man was ever charged or otherwise held responsible. Today, Johnson is a legislator in Liberia and Vambo is a security guard for one of the country’s largest communications firms. Frontline and ProPublica found both men and talked with them about their pasts and the elusive question of justice in Liberia.       http://www.propublica.org/article/a-history-of-violence-accusations-but-no-justice-in-liberia?utm_source=et&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailynewsletter&utm_content=&utm_name=

The Worst U.S. President Ever!
Alan Caruba
 

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President's Day - February 16, 2015

     (factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com) - I won’t be around to see it, but I have little doubt that future historians and others will conclude that President Barack Hussein nObama was the worst President ever to serve in that office.

     The reason is simple enough. His decisions on domestic and foreign affairs have already demonstrated his astonishing incompetence. His major contribution may in fact be to ensure that the voters elect conservatives in the next two or more elections to come. If he is remembered for anything it well may be the emergence of the Tea Party movement whose influence has been seen over the course of two midterm elections.

 
     One cannot help but think of such things as President’s Day, February 16, reminds us of Washington and Lincoln, both of whom were born during this month. For most it is just a day on which there are a variety of sales pegged to it. For all of us, however, it acknowledges the two Presidents without whom there would not be a United States of America.
 
     Presidents Washington, Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt are routinely ranked at the top of the lists of those judged to have been of greatest service to the nation and, not incidentally, all three presided over wars that led to and maintained America’s sovereignty.
 
     When I have read about Washington’s life, I am always impressed by the man and, not surprisingly, so were his contemporaries, the men he commanded over the long course of the Revolutionary War. The Americans of his time had the highest regard for him. It was Washington who set the pattern of only serving two terms. When the American artist, Benjamin West, told England’s King George III of Washington’s decision, the king said, “If he does that, he will be the greatest man in the world.”
 
     In his 1796 farewell address, Washington said, “Of all the dispositions and habits, which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity.”
 
     Imagine a modern politician talking of religion and morality as the basis of political prosperity—least of all nObama who has disparaged Christianity and protects Islam.
 
     America was particularly blessed and fortunate in its earliest years to have a succession of men who demonstrated extraordinary intelligence, courage, and moral integrity. Following Washington there was John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, and John Quincy Adams. Few nations have been so blessed as ours.
 
     One can only examine Lincoln’s life with a sense of wonder as he rose from humble beginnings to the role of keeping the Union intact in the face of the secession of southern states and the horrendous war that followed. Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered on April 9, 1865 and on April 14 Lincoln was assassinated by an actor, John Wilkes Booth. His death was the occasion of the first American national funeral as cities and towns did their best to out-do one another to honor him. It took his death for people to realize the magnitude of what he had achieved.
 
     The advice Lincoln offered in his time is just as important, if not more so, in ours:
“You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. 
You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down. 
You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred. 
You cannot build character and courage by taking away men's initiative and independence. 
 You cannot help men permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves.”
     Franklin D. Roosevelt and, earlier, Theodore Roosevelt, are also highly ranked among the Presidents. Both men shared a zest for the job, enjoying it. Teddy regretted announcing that he would not run for a third term (which he did with the Bull Moose Party) and FDR ran and won four times! He did so during the Great Depression and World War II.
 
     Two other families played a role in the presidency, the Adams and, in the modern era, George H.W. Bush was the 41st President and George W. Bush was the 43rd. It is popular to disparage both men, but history may come to another judgment.  
 
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    President nObama has brought nothing to the presidency except his Marxist theology. He was the least prepared in terms of experience in the workplace and his elections have been more about the manipulation of public opinion and his two terms have been an endless succession of lies.
 
    His signature legislation, nObamaCare, has undermined the nation’s healthcare system. His solution to the Great Recession added more debt in his six years in office than the combined debt of every previous President up to Clinton and did not stimulate the economy as promised.

     His ignorance of history and of current events is vast. Google "what does nObama know?" and you will find many articles that document this.
 
     He has been protected by a liberal mainstream media, but the voters have seen through that and have turned political power in Congress over to the Republican Party.

     One thing is for sure. On future President’s Days, nObama will barely be noticed when Americans look back on those who did much to address the great issues and challenges of their times.

http://factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com/2015/02/the-worst-us-president-ever

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