Obama: I’ll Make Case to American People After Iran Deal Is Made

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By Daniel Halper. President Obama will wait until after a nuclear deal with Iran is made to make the case to the American people that it’s the right thing to do. He made the comment today after being asked about this letter from nearly 50 U.S. senators to Iran, which stated, “The next president could revoke such an executive agreement with the stroke of a pen and future Congresses could modify the terms of the agreement at any time” . . .

“I think what we’re going to focus on right now is actually seeing whether we can get a deal or not. And once we do — if we do — then we’ll be able to make the case to the American people, and I’m confident we’ll be able to implement it.”

(Read more from “What Happens After Iran Deal” HERE)


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Obama Mocks Republican Letter to Iran over Nuclear Talks

By BBC News. US President Barack Obama has criticised a letter from Republican senators to Iran, accusing them of “interfering” in ongoing nuclear talks.


He said the 47 senators made an “unusual coalition” with Iran’s hard-line religious leaders.

The letter reminds Iran that any deal is just an executive agreement unless it gets congressional approval.

Talks on Iran’s nuclear programme are at a critical stage, with an outline agreement due on 31 March.

Last week Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Congress the deal currently being negotiated could “pave Iran’s path to the bomb”. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Rep. Issa: Clinton Could Face Criminal Charges

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By Jesse Byrnes. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) on Sunday suggested that Hillary Clinton could face criminal charges if she knowingly withholds emails from congressional investigators.

Appearing on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Issa noted that “voluntary cooperation does not guarantee that it’s a crime not to deliver all” requested emails.

“A subpoena, which Trey Gowdy issued, is so that in fact it will be a crime if she knowingly withholds documents pursuant to subpoena,” Issa said.

The former House Oversight Committee chairman issued three subpoenas related to the 2012 Benghazi attacks, he said, acknowledging the House Select Committee on Benghazi last week subpoenaed all of Clinton’s emails during her tenure as secretary of State.

Clinton last week called on the State Department to release the 55,000 pages of her emails that she self-selected and turned over. State has turned over about 900 pages to the committee. (Read more about the possible criminal charges against Hillary Clinton HERE)

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‘Huge Gaps’ in Clinton Email Record, Benghazi Probe Chief Says

By Lisa Lambert and Timothy Gardner. Huge gaps exist in the emails former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has provided to a congressional committee investigating the 2012 attack on a U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, the panel’s chairman said on Sunday.


Republican Representative Trey Gowdy said his committee lacked documentation from Clinton’s trip to Libya after the attack despite a popular photo image of her using a handheld device during a flight to that country.

“We have no emails from that day. In fact we have no emails from that trip,” said Gowdy, who heads the committee in the U.S. House of Representatives. “There are huge gaps.”

Widely considered the frontrunner for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, Clinton used a private email account for all official business as President Barack Obama’s secretary of state from 2009 to 2013. (Read more from this story HERE)

Roy Moore: Two U.S. Supreme Court Justices Should Abstain from Gay Marriage Vote

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Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore says two U.S. Supreme Court Justices should recuse themselves from an upcoming vote on gay marriage because they have performed the marriages of same-sex couples.

Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan have both performed same-sex marriages, which indicates how they may vote on the issues of gay marriage, Moore said in an interview with AL.com on Thursday. “Their actions speak louder than their words,” he said.

The U.S. Supreme Court in April is set to hear an appeal from U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals decisions upholding bans on same-sex marriage in Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky and Tennessee. The ruling is set to be issued in June and and settle the issue in other states, including Alabama.

Moore has been an outspoken supporter of Alabama’s laws banning same-sex marriage and the definition of marriage as being between a man and a woman. (Read more from “Roy Moore: Two U.S. Supreme Court Justices Should Abstain from Gay Marriage Vote” HERE)

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Obama: “We’re the Slaves Who Built the White House”

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By Daniel Halper. President Obama spoke yesterday in Selma on the 50th anniversary of the historical Bloody Sunday march . . .

“Look at our history. We are Lewis and Clark and Sacajawea, pioneers who braved the unfamiliar, followed by a stampede of farmers and miners, and entrepreneurs and hucksters. That’s our spirit. That’s who we are.

“We are Sojourner Truth and Fannie Lou Hamer, women who could do as much as any man and then some. And we’re Susan B. Anthony, who shook the system until the law reflected that truth. That is our character.

“We’re the immigrants who stowed away on ships to reach these shores, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free –- Holocaust survivors, Soviet defectors, the Lost Boys of Sudan. We’re the hopeful strivers who cross the Rio Grande because we want our kids to know a better life. That’s how we came to be. (Applause.)

“We’re the slaves who built the White House and the economy of the South. (Applause.) We’re the ranch hands and cowboys who opened up the West, and countless laborers who laid rail, and raised skyscrapers, and organized for workers’ rights. (Read more from “Obama: ‘We’re the Slaves Who Built the White House’” HERE)

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Historically Black Schools Say Obama’s Policies Have Fallen Short

By Danielle Douglas-Gabriel. The country’s first African American president is finding himself increasingly at odds with a cornerstone of the African American community: historically black colleges and universities.

Leaders at these schools and some black lawmakers say the Obama administration has been pushing policies for years that hurt students at a time when historically black colleges are already cash-strapped and seeing a drop in enrollment.


Tensions spilled over after a recent Congressional Black Caucus meeting with Obama and Vice President Biden in which the president said that historically black schools, also known as HBCUs, needed to do a better job graduating students and not saddling them with debt, according to several people at the meeting. Some Black Caucus members bristled at those remarks since they say the president didn’t acknowledge that his own administration was also pursuing policies that advocates say are hurting the schools.

“The president thinks that HBCUs — and there may in fact be some — are failing our students,” said Rep. Marcia L. Fudge (D-Ohio), who was in attendance. “But there needs to be an open dialogue about higher education and why HBCUs have historically gotten short shrift when it comes to resources and recognition.” (Read more from this story HERE)

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White House Takes out Two Democrat Critics of Its Insane Iran Deal in One Week: Hillary and Menendez

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It would appear that the Obama back office is far more competent than its front office.

Lee Smith asks a logical question: “We’ve Known About Hillary’s Email for Years. Why the Hoopla This Week?”

…the public first became aware that Clinton was using her personal email two years ago, in March 2013, when a Romanian Internet activist using the nickname Guccifer hacked into Clinton ally Sidney Blumenthal’s AOL account and uncovered a trove of work emails between the two from and to her personal account…

So, why did it take the Obama Administration two years to admit to what was already known and to then suggest that Clinton’s behavior was reckless and may have even been criminal? And why did it take so long for a major news organization like the New York Times to come up with the big “scoop” it published earlier this week?

Or to put the question another way, why did Hillary Clinton become the Obama Administration’s bête noire this very week, the same one during which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pulled all of the world’s focus onto the issue of the administration’s negotiations with Iran?

The answer is that the two are related: This week’s tarring of Hillary Clinton is part of the White House’s political campaign to shut off debate about its hoped-for deal. It’s not hard to see why they’re anxious. With Netanyahu’s speech forcing lawmakers and editorial writers to face up to the proposed agreement’s manifest problems, the administration fears the prospect of Democrats jumping ship and signing on to Kirk-Menendez sanctions legislation that also would give Congress oversight on the deal. So far, the White House has managed to keep Democratic lawmakers in line, no matter how much they seem to question the wisdom of the proposed deal. Hillary Clinton, gearing up for a 2016 run in which she is likely to put some distance between herself and Obama’s dubious Middle East policies, is the one major national Democratic figure who can give Democrats in Congress cover.

Did someone say “Menendez”?

Via CNN:

The Justice Department is preparing to bring criminal corruption charges against New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez, alleging he used his Senate office to push the business interests of a Democratic donor and friend in exchange for gifts.

People briefed on the case say Attorney General Eric Holder has signed off on prosecutors’ request to proceed with charges, CNN has learned exclusively.

Back in January, Sen. Menendez made headlines for blasting the Obama administration’s handling of the Middle East, saying that the White House sounds as if their talking points “come straight out of Tehran.”

The “timing” was noticed:

Amazing timing, that DOJ nails Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., right after he becomes the loudest critic of Obama’s Iran deal.

— jimgeraghty (@jimgeraghty) March 6, 2015

Let’s see. The DOJ has ignored a series of egregious felonies committed by Lois Lerner, Eric Holder, Steven Miller, Lisa Jackson, and a host of others.

Why then, would it now attack Robert Menendez, Democrat Senator from New Jersey?

Well, just four days ago, the National Journal reported that “At AIPAC, Sen. Menendez Goes Head-to-Head With the Obama Administration on Iran”.


March 2, 2015 Sen. Bob Menendez takes joy in being on the wrong side of Tehran, and he’s not afraid of being at odds with his own party’s White House.

“When it comes to defending the U.S.-Israel relationship, I am not intimidated by anyone—not Israel’s political enemies and not by my political friends when I believe they’re wrong,” Menendez declared to an energized crowd at the AIPAC policy conference Monday evening… A call to action for his fellow members of Congress, Menendez vowed never to back down from a brawl to defend the U.S. and Israel’s “sacrosanct” and “untouchable” relationship.

Menendez’s speech marked a crescendo in a long and—at times—tense relationship with the Obama administration. As the White House seeks to negotiate a nuclear deal with Iran, Menendez has been the leading Democrat questioning the process. While President Obama has demanded cooperation from Congress, the Foreign Relations Committee’s top Democrat sponsored legislation in December that aimed to bog Iran down with more economic sanctions. His intent was to put more pressure on the country to cooperate with the United States, but the White House claimed it undermined its months-long discussions. (See “White House Takes out Two Democrat Critics of Its Insane Iran Deal in One Week: Hillary and Menendez”, originally posted HERE)

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Over 300 Prominent Republicans Come Out of Closet in Support of Homosexual ‘Marriage’

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Over 300 prominent Republicans have signed a brief submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court calling for the legalization of same-sex “marriage” nationwide.

The amicus brief, or friend of the court brief, was led by former Republican National Committee (RNC) chairman Ken Mehlman, who also served as manager of George W. Bush’s 2004 re-election campaign . . .

The brief argues that the 14th Amendment requires equal protection, which means that homosexuals should be permitted then to marry each other.

“Although amici hold a broad spectrum of socially and politically conservative, moderate, and libertarian views, amici share the view that laws that bar same-sex couples from the institution of civil marriage, with all its attendant profoundly important rights and responsibilities, are inconsistent with the United States Constitution’s dual promises of equal protection and due process,” it reads.

Besides Mehlman, others who signed the brief include former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, retired U.S. Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, former Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, two aides to 2008 presidential candidate John McCain and his daughter Meghan, and several aides who served Mormon presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who ran for office in 2012.

List of Amici

(Read more from “Over 300 Prominent Republicans Come Out of Closet in Support of Homosexual ‘Marriage’” HERE)

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Guess What? Common AR-15 Green Tip Ammo is ALREADY Banned, Turning Tens of Thousands into Felons Overnight [UPDATE: ATF Responds]

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On Friday February 13 at 4:00 pm, the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms released a proposal to ban commonly used M855 “green tip” AR-15 ammunition under the guise of law enforcement safety. The same day the proposal was released, on a Friday of a three day holiday weekend, ATF opened up a shortened 30-day period for the public to submit comments about the new regulation.

But it turns out, ATF has been working on a ban of AR-15 “green-tip” ammunition for quite some time and has already issued the ban in its new, 2014 Regulation Guide. For reference, ATF Regulation Guides come out approximately every ten years.

When you take a look at the 2005 ATF Regulation Guide, you’ll see an exemption for AR-15 “green-tip” ammunition, which means it exempted from the definition of “armor piercing” and therefore is legal on the federal level . . .

“The 2014 edition of the Federal Firearms Regulations Reference Guide contains information that will help you comply with Federal laws and regulations governing the manufacture, importation and distribution of firearms and ammunition. This edition contains new and amended statutes enacted since publication of the 2005 edition, as well as updated regulations and rulings issued by ATF. In addition to these updated materials, in response to inquiries received from industry members, the public, and partner agencies, the 2014 edition contains additional and amended Questions and Answers to assist with compliance,” ATF Director B. Todd Jones states in the 2014 edition of the new Regulation Guide (emphasis mine). “Laws may change over time, as will information in this guide.”

The Office of Management and Budget must review and approve ATF Regulation Guides, which again, come out approximately every 10 years. This can take months and changes to Regulation Guides are not easily or often made. Because of the lengthy amount of time it takes for OMB to approve a new ATF Regulation Guide, ATF’s comment period is just for show. ATF officials and the White House have (and never did) no interest in actually listening to or considering comments that are currently being submitted. The exemption for the ammunition in question has already been stripped out of the regulation handbook moving forward and “green-tip” has been reclassified as “armor piercing.” The rules have been changed. Further, because of local rules and regulations in different states across the country having their own “armor piercing” standards based on ATF regulations, thousands of people in possession of AR-15 green tip ammunition have essentially been turned into felons overnight. (Read more about the AR-15 green tip ammo being banned HERE)

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UPDATE: ATF Claims Publishing Mistake

Yesterday I exclusively reported that common AR-15 “green tip” ammunition has already been banned in the new 2014 Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Regulation Guide, which was published in January. After the story received wide public attention [above] ATF released a response Friday night at 9:12 p.m. blaming a publishing error for stripping out the “armor piercing” and ban exemption for AR-15 “green tip” ammunition.

Nothing to analyze here folks, just a publishing mistake. No AP ammo exemptions revoked @NRA @NSSF. See https://t.co/mEIKThYBAX
— ATF HQ (@ATFHQ) March 7, 2015

. . .Most importantly, if you’re in possession of AR-15 “green tip” ammunition, legally you’re good to go in most states and not in possession of “armor piercing” ammunition. Because of the “publishing error” in the 2014 Regulation Guide, ATF has advised FFL’s and others to reference the 2005 Regulation Guidebook, where the ammunition is still exempted.

Despite ATF saying there’s “nothing to analyze here folks,” this simple “publishing mistake” deserves scrutiny. Considering the Office of Management and Budget must approve new Regulation Guides, which come out approximately every 10 years, are difficult to change and take months to review, that’s quite the “publishing mistake.” (Read more from about the AR-15 green tip ammo now NOT banned HERE)

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Eric Holder: Department of Justice ‘Prepared’ to Dismantle Ferguson Police Department If Necessary

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Attorney General Eric Holder said the Department of Justice could go as far as dismantling the Ferguson Police Department to ensure change after the DOJ report that found it discriminated against blacks in the Missouri city.

“We are prepared to use all the powers that we have, all the power that we have to ensure that the situation changes there and that means everything from working with them to you know coming up with an entirely new structure,” Holder told reporters on the tarmac of Andrews Air Force Base today.

Asked if that includes dismantling the police department, Holder said, “If that’s what’s necessary, we’re prepared to do that” . . .

“What we saw was that Ferguson police department in conjunction with municipality saw traffic stops, arrests, and tickets as revenue generators as opposed to serving,” the president said at a town hall at Benedict College in Columbia, S.C. The president added the overwhelmingly white force was “systematically” biased, placing minorities under its care into an “oppressive and abusive situation.” (Read more about the Department of Justice being prepared to dismantle the Ferguson police department HERE)

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No Surprise: White House Alerted About Missing Clinton Emails MONTHS Ago

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The White House, State Department and Hillary Clinton’s personal office knew in August that House Republicans had received information showing that the former secretary of state conducted official government business through her private email account — and Clinton’s staff made the decision to keep quiet.

Sources familiar with the discussions say key people in the Obama administration and on Clinton’s staff were aware that the revelation could be explosive for the all-but-announced candidate for president. But those involved deferred to Clinton’s aides, and they decided not to respond.

In the end, Clinton’s staff waited six months — until after the New York Times published a story on Tuesday about the email account and the possibility that it hampered public access to official records — to begin their response.

Clinton’s slow-off-the-block defense has left many political strategists and observers confused because even a presidential campaign in its early stages should have been prepared to get out ahead of bad news. Had the existence of the email address and private server been made public in August, they say, it could have become a marginal issue in the run-up to the midterm elections, which Democrats badly lost anyway and in which Clinton wasn’t a candidate. But the decision to let it linger has meant it will cast a much larger shadow over Clinton’s expected campaign announcement.

According to the sources, the problem came to light in August as the State Department prepared to respond to a request from the House Select Committee investigating the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. State Department officials noticed that some of the 15,000 pages of documents included a personal email address for Clinton, and State and White House officials conferred on how to handle the revelation, which they expected the committee to notice. But they felt that Clinton’s personal staff should take the lead, since she was no longer in government, and Clinton aides decided to wait and see. (Read more about the missing Clinton emails HERE)

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World’s Smallest Drone Shows Privacy May Be Dead Forever [+video]

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By Brad Reed. Privacy seems like such a quaint 20th Century concept, doesn’t it? Unbox Therapy has posted a video of the CX-10 Mini Drone, which is described as the world’s smallest drone and is a definite harbinger of things to come. In other words, it looks like privacy is finally toast . . .

All the same: At least with standard-sized drones there’s no way to miss them. If you’re being trailed by one or if one is hovering outside your window, there’s a decent chance you’ll see it. But as they get smaller and quieter as technology improves, they’ll be much harder to detect and will open up the door for every amateur NSA agent in your neighborhood to keep an eye on everything.

(Read more about the world’s smallest drone HERE)

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The First Drone Film Festival

By David Schneider. It shouldn’t take the whirring of a small drone to remind you that many people are awfully leery of these little aerial contraptions, fearing threats to privacy – and also to airliners.

But others see great benefits, particularly cinematographers, who are thrilled to make use of the unique perspectives drones can provide. Some of the best examples of what they can achieve will be screened March 6 and 7 at the first-ever “drone film festival” in New York City.


The inspiration for the festival came from Randy Scott Slavin, who is the founder and the festival director.

“I bought this thing called a DJI Phantom. It’s the iPhone of drones,” he says. “I had hours and hours and hours of footage around New York, and I finally decided to edit it.”

Randy put the film online and within the next couple of days, received calls from Fox News, Time magazine, Mashable and Gizmodo. (Read more from this story HERE)

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