Obama's 2nd Term

[YOhio]

Great article in the Boston Globe on Obama's weak outreach to Congress over the past five years.



http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/poli...F0I/story.html

[Uncle Ted]

Great article in the Boston Globe on Obama's weak outreach to Congress over the past five years.



http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/poli...F0I/story.html

I think it is actually more like this...

republicans+democrats+you.jpg

[Uncle Ted]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...10-10-10-02-45

Oh how I miss when "transparency and the rule of law [were] the touchstones of this presidency"... I am trying to remember when that was.


Edit: The Wired version of the above... http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/201...xon-media-war/

Apparently the Obama administration is serious about stopping open government these leaks:

Sacrebleu! ATF threatens French-style firing squad for agents who leak secrets

After months of anguished debate over mass shootings, gun control and Second Amendment rights, the Justice Department finds itself on the defensive after a training manual surfaced that suggests federal agents could face a firing squad for leaking government secrets.


The online manual for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives — complete with a photo of a turn-of-the-century firing squad — was obtained by The Washington Times from a concerned federal law enforcement official, and it immediately drew protests from watchdogs who said it showed a lack of sensitivity to gun violence and the continuing hostile environment toward whistleblowers.
[...]

Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...#ixzz2huKiUWwA

[Uncle Ted]

Maybe the Obama Administration counted the civilians that were killed as potential terrorists...

US has killed far more civilians with drones than it admits, says UN

A new report from a special U.N. investigator says drone strikes have killed far more civilians than U.S. officials have publicly acknowledged – at least 400 in Pakistan and as many as 58 in Yemen – and chides the U.S. for failing to aid the investigation by disclosing its own figures.

U.N. Special Rapporteur Ben Emmerson, who issued the "interim" report, said the U.S. had created "an almost insurmountable obstacle to transparency."

"The Special Rapporteur does not accept that considerations of national security justify withholding statistical and basic methodological data of this kind," wrote Emmerson in the report, which is due to be presented to the U.N. General Assembly next Friday.

U.S. intelligence officials have consistently downplayed the number of civilian deaths from drone strikes. In a June 2011 speech, White House counter-terrorism advisor John Brennan, who is now CIA director, said that "for nearly the past year, there hasn't been a single collateral death because of the exceptional proficiency [and] precision" of U.S. counter-terror strikes.


Later, the CIA acknowledged some civilian casualties, but told Congress that they were in the "single digits," according to a February 2013 statement by Senate Intelligence Committee chair Sen. Diane Feinstein, D.-Calif.
[...]

http://investigations.nbcnews.com/_n...admits-says-un

[Uncle Ted]

I wonder if the Obamas are still on Oprah's Christmas card list...

Even Oprah isn’t on board with ObamaCare

As the White House was gearing up to sell ObamaCare to the American people last summer, Valerie Jarrett, the president’s pointwoman on a host of issues, phoned Oprah Winfrey.

She invited the Queen of All Media to join celebrities, including Amy Poehler, Jennifer Hudson and Alicia Keys, to meet with President Obama and discuss how they could generate publicity for his health-care law.

Oprah refused.


“All of Oprah’s top people thought she would go, because when the president invites you to the White House, most people automatically say yes,” said one of Oprah’s closest advisers. “But Oprah said she didn’t have the time or inclination to go. It wasn’t like she had to think it over. It was an immediate, flat-out, unequivocal no.”
[...]
Everyone remembers that Oprah went all out for Obama during the 2008 presidential election. What was not reported was that, in return, Oprah was promised unique access to the White House if Obama won. She’d get regular briefings on initiatives and a heads-up on programs to give her material for her fledgling cable network, OWN.


“Oprah intended to make her unique White House access a part of her new network,” a source close to Oprah told me. “There were big plans, and a team was put together to come up with proposals that would have been mutually beneficial.


“But none of that ever happened. Oprah sent notes and a rep to talk to Valerie Jarrett, but nothing came of it. It slowly dawned on Oprah that the Obamas had absolutely no intention of keeping their word and bringing her into their confidence.”


Oprah did not campaign for Obama in the 2012 race, and she has been absent from his battles on gun control, immigration reform and the environment. She claims she is too busy to get involved in politics, even though she hosted a fund-raiser for Newark Mayor Cory Booker, who won a US Senate seat last week.

[...]

http://nypost.com/2013/10/20/even-op...ith-obamacare/

It is too bad that Obama white house reality show didn't happen. That would have been on my DVR for sure.

[YOhio]

[Color Me Badd Fan]

http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/b...chael-j-totten

“They [the Americans] are going to be upset—and we can live with that,” said Mustafa Alani, a Saudi foreign policy analyst. "We are learning from our enemies now how to treat the United States.”

Yet another reason why you don't elect an inept professional bullshitter/turd-stirrer as president. Remember the Democrats' line about how much the world hated us when Bush was president? How are things now working out with this dunce in the White House? How are our relationships right now with the UK, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Pakistan compared to 8 years ago?

[Uncle Ted]

Maybe the Obama Administration counted the civilians that were killed as potential terrorists...


http://investigations.nbcnews.com/_n...admits-says-un

US defends drone strikes as 'necessary and just' in face of UN criticism

The US government has defended its use of drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen and other countries in front of the UN, telling a chamber full of largely critical nations that in President Obama's view the deployment of unmanned aerial attacks against al-Qaida targets was "necessary, legal and just".

[...]

http://www.theguardian.com/world/201...ate?CMP=twt_fd

See, it was "necessary, legal and just" to kill those civilians. I feel so much better now.

[byu71]

I was just told the CEO of GE either lost a bundle of his or GE's money dealing with a Brazilian billionaire. Apparently the Billionaire is no longer a billionaire.

You would think Jeffry (Zimmelt) would have been warned by his buddy Obama about investing in green energy. I assume that is what the investment was.

[Goatnapper'96]

I was just told the CEO of GE either lost a bundle of his or GE's money dealing with a Brazilian billionaire. Apparently the Billionaire is no longer a billionaire.

You would think Jeffry (Zimmelt) would have been warned by his buddy Obama about investing in green energy. I assume that is what the investment was.

When you die I only want your rolodex!

[byu71]

When you die I only want your rolodex!

It has been a bit weird having all the younger investment advisors treat me nicer and nicer as each year goes by.

[Uncle Ted]

I was just told the CEO of GE either lost a bundle of his or GE's money dealing with a Brazilian billionaire. Apparently the Billionaire is no longer a billionaire.

You would think Jeffry (Zimmelt) would have been warned by his buddy Obama about investing in green energy. I assume that is what the investment was.

I didn't know that Jeffrey Immelt was a billionaire so it must be GE's money.

I am sure there were some jobs created somewhere as a result of all of this, most likely in Brazil. Given that Jeffrey is a republican then why wouldn't Obama screw him over?

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7384062n

[byu71]

I didn't know that Jeffrey Immelt was a billionaire so it must be GE's money.

I am sure there were some jobs created somewhere as a result of all of this, most likely in Brazil. Given that Jeffrey is a republican then why wouldn't Obama screw him over?

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7384062n

He must be what is referred to as a RINO then. Google Immelt/Obama. You will find they have a very close relationship. Back in the old days we would call them bum buddies, but that would probably be politically incorrect now for some reason.

[Uncle Ted]

He must be what is referred to as a RINO then. Google Immelt/Obama. You will find they have a very close relationship. Back in the old days we would call them bum buddies, but that would probably be politically incorrect now for some reason.

Given they shared a plane together down to Brazil maybe "bum buddies" is still appropriate.

[il Padrino Ute]

I was just told the CEO of GE either lost a bundle of his or GE's money dealing with a Brazilian billionaire. Apparently the Billionaire is no longer a billionaire.

You would think Jeffry (Zimmelt) would have been warned by his buddy Obama about investing in green energy. I assume that is what the investment was.

Why would Dear Leader warn anyone about investing in green energy? He loves to waste taxpayer money on policies that fail.