The Front Page Cover
"I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened"
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Featuring:
nObama’s Syria Debacle
CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER
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"Rise up together as one voice"
"Be careful where you stand"
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Iran and Russia Planned Syrian Involvement Months Ago 
In July, the "international community" grew mildly suspicious when Iranian general Qassem Soleimani flew to Moscow for a weekend, as Hot Air's Allahpundit noted. Whatever did it mean? The United States was wrapping up marathon talks to secure a nuclear future for Iran. Vladimir Putin was, well, being Putin. The purpose for the July meeting became clear last week, as Russia sent bombs raining down from the sky in Syria. Reuters reports, "At a meeting in Moscow in July, a top Iranian general unfurled a map of Syria to explain to his Russian hosts how a series of defeats for President Bashar al-Assad could be turned into victory — with Russia's help." Soleimani is no rank-and-file commander in the Iranian army. He commands the Quds Force, answers only to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and is sanctioned from international travel because he branded as a terrorist. In other words, the ramp up of the Syrian Civil War is not because of Putin's violent statesmanship alone. It is also Iran's strategy to cut out the United States from the Middle East. Why didn't the nObama administration see this? Doctored intelligence only goes so far. Barack nObama suffers from a distorted view of how the world works. But you can trust him to know if Iran is cheating on the nuclear deal. -The Patriot Post
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Assisted Cultural Suicide "First do no harm" is widely thought to be a part of the Hippocratic Oath taken by medical professionals. It is not, but it derives from this part of the oath: "I will, according to my ability and judgment, prescribe a regimen for the health of the sick; but I will utterly reject harm and mischief." California became the fifth state to turn that oath on its head with a new law permitting physician-assisted suicide. Montana, Oregon, Vermont and Washington are the others. It's considered compassionate these days to allow a terminally ill patient to end his or her own life, but it's also a predictable descent down the slippery slope of a culture that devalues life. Americans kill over a million children a year for the convenience of the mother, so is it any surprise that end-of-life care becomes something of an economics matter? We don't argue that there's an easy answer for those facing terminal illness. Many people suffer for years with no real hope, while others prolong death rather than life with modern medicine. But the sanctity of life means something for all people, and we believe the deliberate taking of life is wrong, excepting war or the service of justice for a crime. Unfortunately, we won't be surprised to see a terrible union brought about by government health care and assisted suicide. Once it becomes cheaper to kill someone than to care for them, insurers and providers may begin pressuring individuals to consider the easy way out — if they're given the option at all.
Meanwhile, more than 21,000 suicides are committed each year using firearms. But leftists never separate those deaths from other murders for the obvious reason of pushing gun control, of which California's is some of the strictest. Perhaps, though, they'd like to explain why those suicides are less valid than the ones California just legalized. Or, given that the California legislature passed the measure during Suicide Prevention Week, we expect they'll pass on any logical explanation.
-The Patriot Post
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With Trans-Pacific Partnership,nObama's a Victim of His Own Lies Though the Leftmedia talkingheads are focused on the GOP's intra-party leadership fight following the unexpected and sudden resignation
announcement of House Speaker backstabber-John Boehner, Democrats are mired in an internal battle of their own.
On Monday, the United States and Japan, along with 10 other North American and Pacific Rim nations (Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, Peru, Chile and Vietnam — which together comprise 36% of global domestic product), concluded negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a major agreement that seeks to facilitate greater trade among these nations by reducing tariffs and other barriers to trade.
The negotiations, ongoing for the last decade (i.e., it wasn't just Barack nObama's idea), produced an agreement with mixed results for American interests. For example, U.S. negotiators claim the pact will strengthen intellectual property rights (which will benefit American pharmaceutical and technology companies) and open up foreign markets to American agricultural and dairy products. However, it would also reduce the duration that companies have market exclusivity for their products before they compete with generics.
The greatest argument in favor of the trade pact, however, might be as a tool to counter the rise of China as a regional and global player. China has long manipulated its currency to gain trade advantages, and it's no secret that China has often been guilty of the theft of intellectual property, but in the last few years China has overseen a significant increase in the size and capability of its military, and especially its navy, which could be used to threaten sea lanes as leverage in other negotiations.
But back to the internal Democrat disputes.
nObama has spent the last eight years vilifying Republicans and treating them as America's greatest enemy (consider how he describes Republicans' positions and motives compared to the far more accommodating language he uses regarding Iran, the world's largest state sponsor of terrorism). However, now he finds himself in a position of needing Republicans in order to pass a trade agreement that he sees as crucial to his legacy. -The Patriot Post
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Study: nObamacare Cadillac Tax Forcing Employers to Cut Benefits
{Bill McMorris} ~ Nine out of 10 large companies are working to avoid nObamacare’s so-called Cadillac Tax on health insurance plans if lawmakers fail to reform the law, according to a new study... The American Health Policy Institute, a non-partisan think tank, found that nearly every major employer in the country is taking steps to avoid the tax, which targets comprehensive health plans deemed to be luxurious by regulators. The law will hike taxes by $68 billion for American workers. “The excise tax is already driving many employers to fundamentally reassess their health care plans. While the tax was intended to reduce health care spending, its impact in the real world is being felt by workers who are seeing the value of their health care plans reduced,” it says..
Russia Adds 111 Warheads Under Arms Treaty
{Bill Gertz} ~ Russia has now deployed more than 100 nuclear warheads in its strategic arsenal above the limits set by the New START arms treaty limits—two years before it must meet treaty arms reduction goals... New START nuclear warhead and delivery system numbers made public Oct. 1 reveal that since the 2010 arms accord went into force, Moscow increased the number of deployed nuclear warheads by a total of 111 weapons for a total of 1,648 deployed warheads. That number is 98 warheads above the treaty limit of 1,150 warheads that must be reached by the 2018 deadline of the treaty. At the same time, U.S. nuclear warheads, missiles, and bombers have fallen sharply and remain below the required levels under the New START pact. The United States during the same period of the Russian increases cut its deployed nuclear arsenal by 250 warheads. http://freebeacon.com/national-security/russia-adds-111-warheads-under-arms-treaty/.
nObama And Clinton Address Pro-Illegals Agitators On Telling...
{rickwells.us} ~ Hussein nObama is practicing the fine art of deliberate distortion again, joined in the effort by a woman who is literally his partner in crime, Hilly Clinton... Distortion is a founding principle upon which the Democrats are forced to operate, as their arguments cease to exist or are at a minimum greatly diminished when viewed in a truthful context. The disgusting duo made their remarks before a pro-Latino gathering Thursday at the Caucus Institute Inc. It’s an event rooted in self-serving agenda promotion steeped in anti-white, anti-American law, anti-conservative, Constitution-diminishing. nObama proclaims in his phony, “folksy Reverend Barry” locution that “Unless you were one of the first Americans, unless you’re Navajo or Cherokee, somebody, somewhere came from someplace else,” a totally irrelevant comment that has nothing to do with, as is falsely implied, whether someone qualifies for American citizenship..
Gen Jack Keane – Putin Capitalizing On nObama’s Fear...
{rickwells.us} ~ The laughable response of calling Russian expansionism in Syria “increasingly unprofessional behavior” by the homosexual engineering operative... who sometimes doubles as an inept Secretary of Defense, Aston Carter, leads off the interview with General Jack Keane. The regime’s priorities indicate that professional military behavior is not even a passing consideration for their own conduct as it relates to our own forces, providing him no moral standing to criticize others on that basis. He might want to get serious about what’s really going on. He and Hussein nObama are being tossed out on their upward-turned, holier-than-thou noses from the Middle East by that “regional power” operating from “a position of weakness.” Those evaluations and proclamations are equally accurate with his “JV” depiction of ISIS and the impact upon our nation won’t be any better. http://rickwells.us/gen-jack-keane-putin-capitalizing-on-obamas-fear-and-ineptitude-in-failing-to-respond-to-russia/.
How America Should Respond to Russia’s Syria Venture: A Guide
{Retired Adm. James A. Lyons} ~ To respond to Russia’s military campaign in Syria, first, we have to be realistic about the facts on the ground. Iraq and Syria, for all practical purposes, are failed states... There is no chance that either Iraq or Syria will ever be reconstituted as mandated by the Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1916, which basically divided up control or influence over the Arab provinces of the Ottoman Empire between France and England. Since the combined remaining military forces of Hezbollah, the Iranian Quds Force and Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad have not been sufficient to assure Assad’s survival, Russia’s deployment of its air and marine ground forces to an airbase at Latakia, Syria should have come as no surprise. The preparations for this deployment clearly have gone on for some time. Our intelligence community certainly must have detected these preparations as well as the pre-deployment of surface-to-air missile batteries to the Latakia airbase about two months ago. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s objectives are very clear..
Col Ralph Peters – Putin Waging And Winning A Proxy War On USA...
{rickwells.us} ~ The interview starts off by recognizing, through the playing of a few of his many statements supporting it, the fact that Hussein nObama is a messenger for Islam and that message is one that he and under the burden of his yoke, the people of the United States, will never be at war with Islam... It’s a statement which he has willingly employed to bind his own hands in fighting terrorism and in the attempt to “justify” unwillingness to recognize its source. Sean Hannity notes the differences in the actions of British Prime Minister David Cameron in recognizing the threat of Islamic terrorism by properly identifying it, similar honesty with Israel’s Netanyahu and then our pathetic apologist who pretends what is happening isn’t, “‘president’ pushover,” as he called him. He asks his guest, Col Ralph Peters for his take on things..
Trey Gowdy Firing Back At Elijah Cummings...
{rickwells.us} ~ Trey Gowdy has, by all appearances, made every effort to remain above the partisan bickering that Democrats have employed in an effort to sabotage his committee’s investigation into the events in Benghazi... The allies of the criminal former Secretary of State have attempted to mischaracterize the proceedings in an effort to save their candidate from answering for her crimes and have been ever-amping up the rhetoric as her candidacy self-destructs. With the latest, increasingly desperate attacks by Democrat committee members assailing the process that they are themselves a begrudging party to, particularly in regards to its integrity and its validity, Gowdy seems to have now recognized that it’s time to fight fire with a little fire of his own. The Hill reports that Rep Gowdy began by sending a thirteen page letter to Rep Elijah Cummings (D-MD) and Democrat committee members rebuking their obstructionism and counterproductive efforts to protect their party leadership at all costs. Gowdy and his fellow Republicans will also mount a defense by releasing 1,500 pages of emails, including information relating to Libya, some of which are damaging to the Clinton claims of innocence, ignorance, best intentions or however she is characterizing her crimes on any particular given day. http://rickwells.us/trey-gowdy-firing-back-at-elijah-cummings-dems-for-partisan-obstructionist-games-will-release-emails/.
nObama Admin Linked to House-Speakership Blowup?
{wnd.com} ~ The reason Rep. Kevin McCarthy abruptly pulled his name from the running for the job as House speaker Thursday may be exactly as he explained – his untoward comments attributing a political purpose to a House committee investigating Benghazi... Or it may have been something else – as speculation swirled on Thursday about an alleged affair with another member of Congress. And if that was the case, one report is suggesting people look to the nObama administration for a level of involvement. Because the trail could link back to the administration’s Department of Homeland Security. It was the Daily Caller’s Chuck Ross that tracked the murky path..
As Terror Sweeps Israel, the White House Is Silent
{Jonathan Tobin} ~ As the toll of casualties rises, the reaction from the U.S. government . . . is cool, detached indifference. . . . President nObama has demonstrated over the past seven years that no matter what the Palestinians do to sink hopes for peace or provoke a response from the Israelis, he will blame Netanyahu. If Abbas thinks he will gain some advantage from refusing to negotiate with Israel and promoting violence, it is because nObama has signaled that he approves of more pressure being put on the Netanyahu government. When, as it did this past spring, the State Department announces that it is “reassessing” its stance in defense of Israel at the UN, can it really surprise anyone when the Palestinians seek to test how far they can go in pushing the envelope on violence?
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How nObama Lost Afghanistan
{Vijeta Uniyal} ~ The U.S. President who gave up Syria and Yemen without a fight is now leading a half-hearted counteroffensive in Afghanistan... The Taliban seems to have correctly assessed the lack of resolve of the current U.S. leadership, and has evidently decided to retake all of Afghanistan. In his first presidential campaign of 2008, then-Senator nObama called U.S. engagement in Iraq the "bad war," and instead wanted his country to focus on Afghanistan -- his "good war." But after U.S. troops withdrew from Iraq in 2011, large parts of Iraq fell under the control of the Islamic State (ISIS), while the remaining part came under the influence of Iran. So how is President nObama's "good war" in Afghanistan going?.
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nObama’s Syria Debacle
CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER
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“Russia hits Assad’s foes, angering U.S.”
— Headline, Wall Street Journal, Oct. 1
{freedomsback.com} ~ If it had the wit, the nObama administration would be not angered, but appropriately humiliated. President nObama has, once again, been totally outmaneuvered by Vladimir Putin. Two days earlier at the United Nations, nObama had welcomed the return, in force, of the Russian military to the Middle East — for the first time in decades — in order to help fight the Islamic State..
The ruse was transparent from the beginning. Russia is not in Syria to fight the Islamic State. The Kremlin was sending fighter planes, air-to-air missiles and SA-22 anti-aircraft batteries. Against an Islamic State that has no air force, no planes, no helicopters?
The ruse was transparent from the beginning. Russia is not in Syria to fight the Islamic State. The Kremlin was sending fighter planes, air-to-air missiles and SA-22 anti-aircraft batteries. Against an Islamic State that has no air force, no planes, no helicopters?
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Russia then sent reconnaissance drones over Western Idlib and Hama, where there are no Islamic State fighters. Followed by bombing attacks on Homs and other opposition strongholds that had nothing to do with the Islamic State.
Russia then sent reconnaissance drones over Western Idlib and Hama, where there are no Islamic State fighters. Followed by bombing attacks on Homs and other opposition strongholds that had nothing to do with the Islamic State.
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Indeed, some of these bombed fighters were U.S. trained and equipped. Asked if we didn’t have an obligation to support our own allies on the ground, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter bumbled that Russia’s actions exposed its policy as self-contradictory.
Indeed, some of these bombed fighters were U.S. trained and equipped. Asked if we didn’t have an obligation to support our own allies on the ground, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter bumbled that Russia’s actions exposed its policy as self-contradictory.
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Carter made it sound as if the Russian offense was to have perpetrated an oxymoron, rather than a provocation — and a direct challenge to what’s left of the U.S. policy of supporting a moderate opposition.
Carter made it sound as if the Russian offense was to have perpetrated an oxymoron, rather than a provocation — and a direct challenge to what’s left of the U.S. policy of supporting a moderate opposition.
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The whole point of Russian intervention is to maintain Assad in power. Putin has no interest in fighting the Islamic State. Indeed, the second round of Russian air attacks was on rival insurgents opposed to the Islamic State. The Islamic State is nothing but a pretense for Russian intervention. And nObama fell for it.
The whole point of Russian intervention is to maintain Assad in power. Putin has no interest in fighting the Islamic State. Indeed, the second round of Russian air attacks was on rival insurgents opposed to the Islamic State. The Islamic State is nothing but a pretense for Russian intervention. And nObama fell for it.
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Just three weeks ago, nObama chided Russia for its military buildup, wagging his finger that it was “doomed to failure.” Yet by Monday he was publicly welcoming Russia to join the fight against the Islamic State. He not only acquiesced to the Russian buildup, he held an ostentatious meeting with Putin on the subject, thereby marking the ignominious collapse of nObama’s vaunted campaign to isolate Putin diplomatically over Crimea.
Just three weeks ago, nObama chided Russia for its military buildup, wagging his finger that it was “doomed to failure.” Yet by Monday he was publicly welcoming Russia to join the fight against the Islamic State. He not only acquiesced to the Russian buildup, he held an ostentatious meeting with Putin on the subject, thereby marking the ignominious collapse of nObama’s vaunted campaign to isolate Putin diplomatically over Crimea.
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Putin then showed his utter contempt for nObama by launching his air campaign against our erstwhile anti-Assad allies not 48 hours after meeting nObama. Which the U.S. found out about when a Russian general knocked on the door of the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and delivered a brusque demarche announcing that the attack would begin within an hour and warning the U.S. to get out of the way.
Putin then showed his utter contempt for nObama by launching his air campaign against our erstwhile anti-Assad allies not 48 hours after meeting nObama. Which the U.S. found out about when a Russian general knocked on the door of the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and delivered a brusque demarche announcing that the attack would begin within an hour and warning the U.S. to get out of the way.
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In his subsequent news conference, Secretary Carter averred that he found such Russian behavior “unprofessional.”
In his subsequent news conference, Secretary Carter averred that he found such Russian behavior “unprofessional.”
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Good grief. Russia, with its inferior military and hemorrhaging economy, had just eaten Carter’s lunch, seizing the initiative and exposing American powerlessness — and the secretary of defense deplores what? Russia’s lack of professional etiquette.
Good grief. Russia, with its inferior military and hemorrhaging economy, had just eaten Carter’s lunch, seizing the initiative and exposing American powerlessness — and the secretary of defense deplores what? Russia’s lack of professional etiquette.
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Makes you want to weep.
Makes you want to weep.
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Consider: When nObama became president, the surge in Iraq had succeeded and the U.S. had emerged as the dominant regional actor, able to project power throughout the region. Last Sunday, Iraq announced the establishment of a joint intelligence-gathering center with Iran, Syria and Russia, symbolizing the new “Shiite-crescent” alliance stretching from Iran across the northern Middle East to the Mediterranean, under the umbrella of Russia, the rising regional hegemon.
Consider: When nObama became president, the surge in Iraq had succeeded and the U.S. had emerged as the dominant regional actor, able to project power throughout the region. Last Sunday, Iraq announced the establishment of a joint intelligence-gathering center with Iran, Syria and Russia, symbolizing the new “Shiite-crescent” alliance stretching from Iran across the northern Middle East to the Mediterranean, under the umbrella of Russia, the rising regional hegemon.
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Russian planes roam free over Syria attacking Assad’s opposition as we stand by helpless. Meanwhile, the U.S. secretary of state beseeches the Russians to negotiate “de-conflict” arrangements — so that we and they can each bomb our own targets safely. It has come to this.
Russian planes roam free over Syria attacking Assad’s opposition as we stand by helpless. Meanwhile, the U.S. secretary of state beseeches the Russians to negotiate “de-conflict” arrangements — so that we and they can each bomb our own targets safely. It has come to this.
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Why is Putin moving so quickly and so brazenly? Because he’s got only 16 more months to push on the open door that is nObama. He knows he’ll never again see an American president such as this — one who once told the General Assembly that “no one nation can or should try to dominate another nation” and told it again last Monday of “believing in my core that we, the nations of the world, cannot return to the old ways of conflict and coercion.”
Why is Putin moving so quickly and so brazenly? Because he’s got only 16 more months to push on the open door that is nObama. He knows he’ll never again see an American president such as this — one who once told the General Assembly that “no one nation can or should try to dominate another nation” and told it again last Monday of “believing in my core that we, the nations of the world, cannot return to the old ways of conflict and coercion.”
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They cannot? Has he looked at the world around him — from Homs to Kunduz, from Sanaa to Donetsk — ablaze with conflict and coercion?
They cannot? Has he looked at the world around him — from Homs to Kunduz, from Sanaa to Donetsk — ablaze with conflict and coercion?
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Wouldn’t you take advantage of these last 16 months if you were Putin, facing a man living in a faculty-lounge fantasy world? Where was nObama when Putin began bombing Syria? Leading a U.N. meeting on countering violent extremism.
Wouldn’t you take advantage of these last 16 months if you were Putin, facing a man living in a faculty-lounge fantasy world? Where was nObama when Putin began bombing Syria? Leading a U.N. meeting on countering violent extremism.
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