Northwest Indiana Discussion

I agree, the more time it takes the more it makes republicans look like the utter fools you are.

Nine months, 9 investigations and you have jackshit. Kudos.
Please proceed.

The AP phone records thing just sealed the deal for what the newest narrative around the Obama administration is going to be. They are the new Nixon admin when it comes to bullying, withholding info and targeting enemies. The right won’t probably call him directly Nixon because you know, Nixon was a Republican, but it will be the basic idea. You will hear claims that there has never been an administration who reached so far to suppress information and dissent.

While I don’t think this is actually the full truth, it is hard to not realize this is fully the fault of the administration that perception has gotten to this point. They have a small window- I’d say 2-5 days- to try and turn this around and hold on to a plausible veneer of not being a group of shadowy thugs. But given how tone def they’ve been in the past, my money is on this being the lens through which their next 3.5 years are viewed.

Dem Strategist: Obama The “New Nixon,” Predicts Remainder Of His Term They Will Look Like “Shadowy Thugs”
The dam has burst!

CNN Poll: Obama approval rating unharmed by controversies

By Sean Sullivan, Published: May 19, 2013
Even as his administration has faced intense scrutiny over a trio of controversies, President Obama’s approval rating hasn’t suffered, according to a new CNN/ORC International poll released Sunday.

Fifty-three percent of Americans said they approve of the job the president is doing, while 45 percent said they disapprove. That’s virtually unchanged from an early April survey in which Obama’s approval/disapproval split was 51 percent to 47 percent.
The poll is one of the earliest indicators of how Obama’s image has been affected during one of the worst weeks of his presidency. As questions about the deadly attack in Benghazi, Libya, revelations that the Internal Revenue Service targeted conservative groups, and news that the Justice Department secretly obtained journalists’ phone records have fueled Republican attacks, the president has been put very much on defense.

More than seven in 10 Americans said the IRS actions were unacceptable; 55 percent said they believe the agency acted on it own, while 37 percent said it acted under the order of White House officials. The White House has said Obama did not learn of the episode until he read about it in news reports.

The good news for Obama is that 61 percent said they believe that what the president said about the IRS matter is mostly or completely true. The good news for the GOP is that 54 percent said they think congressional Republicans are reacting appropriately to the episode.

The CNN poll was conducted on Friday and Saturday.

According to a Gallup poll released last week, interest in the IRS scandal and the controversy over Benghazi remains below average when it comes to major news stories. The findings mirrored a Pew Research Center survey which showed relatively few people are following the Benghazi controversy closely.

More whistleblowers will emerge shortly in the escalating Benghazi scandal, according to two former U.S. diplomats who spoke with PJ Media Monday afternoon.

These whistleblowers, colleagues of the former diplomats, are currently securing legal counsel because they work in areas not fully protected by the Whistleblower law.

According to the diplomats, what these whistleblowers will say will be at least as explosive as what we have already learned about the scandal, including details about what really transpired in Benghazi that are potentially devastating to both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

A majority of Americans believe that the Obama administration is trying to cover up the facts about the Sept. 11 attack on a U.S. installation in Benghazi and the administration’s immediate response, according to a new poll released Tuesday.

The survey, by ABC News and the Washington Post, found that 55 percent of Americans believe the Obama administration is actively attempting to cover up the facts of the Benghazi attack. By contrast, only a third say the White House is honestly disclosing what it knows.

At the same time, respondents were split on whether the Republican criticism of the Obama Administration’s handling of the attack was rooted in legitimate concerns. While 44 percent say that the GOP had asked legitimate questions, 45 percent say that Republicans are just engaging in political posturing.

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) issued a subpoena on Tuesday in order to obtain documents related talking points the administration used in the aftermath of the Benghazi, Libya attacks which he writes the State Department has refused to provide upon his previous requests.

In his letter to Secretary of State John Kerry, Issa states that the “State Department has not lived up to the Administration’s broad and unambiguous promises of cooperation with Congress. Therefore, I am left with no alternative but to compel the State Department to produce relevant documents through a subpoena.”

The subpoena requests that by June 7 “all documents and communications referring or relating to the Benghazi talking points, to or from the following current and former state department personnel:”

1. William Burns, Deputy Secretary of State;

2. Elizabeth Dibble, Principle Deputy Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs;

3. Beth Jones, Acting Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs;

4. Patrick Kennedy, Under Secretary for Management;

5. Cheryl Mills, Counselor and Chief of Staff to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton;

6. Thomas Nides, Deputy Secretary for Management;

7. Victoria Nuland, Spokesperson;

8. Philippe Reines, Deputy Assistant Secretary;

9. Jake Sullivan, Director of Policy Planning; and,

10. David Adams, Assistant Secretary for State for Legislative Affairs.

The “intense discussions” followed the US announcement on Thursday that it will increase military support to opposition fighters after Western intelligence agencies confirmed that the Syrian regime had crossed a “red line” by using chemical weapons.
“We will be discussing that response urgently with the United States, France and other countries, including at the G8,” said William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, calling for “a strong, determined and coordinated response from the international community”.

The sudden intensification of conflict on the ground, which saw the rebels lose the strategic city of Qusayr a week ago, sets up a renewed diplomatic confrontation between Russia and the West at next week’s G8 summit in Northern Ireland.

Added urgency was provided by the disclosure from David Cameron that rebel groups affiliated to al-Qaeda “have attempted to acquire” chemical weapons for use in Syria, citing briefings from British intelligence.

The US announcement that it would be sending military aid to the rebels, including communications equipment, logistical support and – according to some officials – light weapons and ammunition, has sharply upped the ante on Syria.

Reports from The Times on Friday night claimed that 300 US Marines have already been deployed to northern Jordan, along with a Patriot anti-aircraft missile, ahead of plans to arm the rebels.

The Kremlin, which has backed the regime diplomatically and militarily and ignored months of Western entreaties to use their influence to rein in Mr Assad, reacted with derision to Washington’s finding that Syria had used chemical weapons.

The decision to keep U.S. personnel in Benghazi with substandard security was made at the highest levels of the State Department by officials who have so far escaped blame over the Sept. 11 attack, according to a review of recent congressional testimony and internal State Department memos by Fox News.

Nine months before the assault that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three others, State Department Under Secretary Patrick Kennedy signed off on an internal memo that green-lighted the Benghazi operation.

The December 2011 memo from Jeffrey Feltman — then-Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs (NEA) — pledged “to rapidly implement a series of corrective security measures.” However, no substantial improvements were made, according to congressional testimony to the House oversight committee from Regional Security Officer Eric Nordstrom.

According to a Libyan intelligence document, the Muslim Brotherhood, including Egyptian President Morsi, were involved in the September 11, 2012 terrorist attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, where several Americans, including U.S. ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens, were killed.

On Wednesday, June 26, several Arabic websites, including Veto Gate, quoted the intelligence report, which apparently was first leaked to the Kuwaiti paper, Al Ra’i. Prepared by Mahmoud Ibrahim Sharif, Director of National Security for Libya, the report is addressed to the nation’s Minister of Interior.

It discusses the preliminary findings of the investigation, specifically concerning an “Egyptian cell” which was involved in the consulate attack. “Based on confessions derived from some of those arrested at the scene” six people, “all of them Egyptians” from the jihad group Ansar al-Sharia (“Supporters of Islamic Law), were arrested.

According to the report, during interrogations, these Egyptian jihadi cell members “confessed to very serious and important information concerning the financial sources of the group and the planners of the event and the storming and burning of the U.S. consulate in Benghazi…. And among the more prominent figures whose names were mentioned by cell members during confessions were: Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi; preacher Safwat Hegazi; Saudi businessman Mansour Kadasa, owner of the satellite station, Al-Nas; Egyptian Sheikh Muhammad Hassan; former presidential candidate, Hazim Salih Abu Isma’il…”

It should be noted that these findings are unsurprising: the supremacism of prominent Brotherhood figure Safwat Hegazi is such that he publicly declares the Brotherhood “will rule the world“; Saudi Mansour’s hate-mongering, pro-Brotherhood TV station repeatedly aired footage of the YouTube Muhammad movie inciting violence around the Muslim world; popular Sheikh Muhammad Hassan holds that smiling to non-Muslims is forbidden, except when trying to win them over to Islam; and Sheikh Hazim Abu Ismail is simply an openly anti-freedom, anti-infidel religious leader.

As for President Morsi, a video made during the consulate attack records people speaking in the Egyptian dialect: as they approach the beleaguered U.S. compound, one of them yells to the besiegers, “Don’t shoot—Dr. Morsi sent us!”

During the second portion of a House Oversight and Government Reform hearing about Benghazi Thursday on Capitol Hill, the majority of Democrats on the Committee left the room and refused to listen to the testimony of Patricia Smith and Charles Woods. Ms. Smith is the mother of Sean Smith, an information management officer killed in the 9/11 Benghazi attack. Charles Woods is the father of Navy SEAL Tyrone Woods, who was also killed.

PHOTO: @OversightDems excuse themselves from testimony of #Benghazi heroes' family members #PJNet pic.twitter.com/NP9u2I2noC
— Darrell Issa (@DarrellIssa) September 19, 2013

On Thursday, while denying that a “stand-down order” was given to Special Forces members ready to help Americans who were under siege at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi last September, one of the heads of the Benghazi Accountability Review Board (ARB) admitted that a “hold in place” order was in fact given.

Testifying before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Admiral Mike Mullen said that the direction given to Special Operations Command Africa commander Lt. Col Gibson was to “hold in place” on the night of the attacks.

Gibson is the boss of Gregory Hicks, the former deputy chief of mission in Libya who had testified that a “stand down” order was given to Special Forces who wanted to help Americans who were under assault in Libya.

LOS ANGELES (AP) – A California man behind an anti-Muslim film that led to violence in parts of the Middle East is due to be freed from federal custody in a separate case, an official said Monday.

Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, 56, is scheduled for release on Thursday from a halfway house in Southern California where he’s been held since May, said Ed Ross, a spokesman for the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Nakoula, whose name in court files is Mark Basseley Youssef, was sentenced in November to a year in federal prison for using false names in violation of a probation order in a bank fraud case. That case was not related to the film.

He told Fox News earlier this year that he was proud of the film and was fighting against the “terrorism culture,” not religion.