News/Politics 5-3-13

What’s interesting out there today?

Here’s a few and then you folks can have at it. 🙂

We’ll start with things that make you go Hmmmmmm…….  From FoxNews

“The State Department’s Office of Inspector General is investigating the  special internal panel that probed the Benghazi terror attack for the State  Department, Fox News has confirmed.

The IG’s office is said by well-placed sources to be seeking to determine  whether the Accountability Review Board, or ARB — led by former U.N. Ambassador  Thomas Pickering and former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike  Mullen — failed to interview key witnesses who had asked to provide their  accounts of the Benghazi attacks to the panel.”

“This disclosure marks a significant turn in the ongoing Benghazi case, as it  calls into question the reliability of the blue-ribbon panel that then-Secretary  of State Hillary Clinton convened to review the entire matter. Until the report  was concluded, she and all other senior Obama administration officials regularly  refused to answer questions about what happened in Benghazi.”

This video from Brett Baier’s Special Report with the disguised witness said much the same on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the FBI has finally gotten around to releasing photos of the Benghazi militants responsible. Maybe. From Reuters

“The FBI on Thursday released the photographs of three men it said were at the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, when it was attacked last September.

The FBI did not call the three men suspects in the attacks, saying only that they “may be able to provide information to help in the investigation.”

“The FBI is now asking Libyans and people around the world for additional information related to the attacks,” the U.S. investigative agency said in a statement with the photographs.”

Wow. And it only took like 8 months. And they won’t call them suspects. And you have video, but you’re not sure. OK then.

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Here’s a story on drone strikes. The allegation is that they’d rather kill suspected militants than send them to Gitmo. From TheGuardianUK

“The lawyer who first drew up White House policy on lethal drone strikes has accused the Obama administration of overusing them because of its reluctance to capture prisoners that would otherwise have to be sent to Guantánamo Bay.

John Bellinger, who was responsible for drafting the legal framework for targeted drone killings while working for George W Bush after 9/11, said he believed their use had increased since because President Obama was unwilling to deal with the consequences of jailing suspected al-Qaida members.

“This government has decided that instead of detaining members of al-Qaida [at Guantánamo] they are going to kill them,” he told a conference at the Bipartisan Policy Center.

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The Boston bombers were originally planning a July 4th attack, but they completed the bombs sooner than expected. From CNN

“The bombs used in the Boston Marathon attack were built in the apartment that suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev shared with his wife and child, a U.S. law enforcement official with first-hand knowledge of the investigation told CNN on Thursday. The official was not authorized to release the information.

Katherine Russell, Tsarnaev’s widow, has remained largely out of view inside her parents’ North Kingstown home since her husband’s death.

According to her attorney, Amato DeLuca, the 24-year-old widow knew nothing of plans to bomb the race, and reports of her husband’s involvement came as an “absolute shock” to Russell and her family.”

I don’t see how you and your brother produce multiple bombs in an apartment and no one else living there sees anything.

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And this last one, well I think we need to get a pool going. How many months until the “My neighbors are them hateful crazy christian people. And they have guns. You should go check them out.” calls start from “concerned” neighbors.? Tea Party Members and legal gun owners should worry too I’d imagine. From ThePalmBeachPost

“Florida House and Senate budget leaders have awarded Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw $1 million for a new violence prevention unit aimed at preventing tragedies like those in Newtown, Conn., and Aurora, Colo., from occurring on his turf.

Bradshaw plans to use the extra $1 million to launch “prevention intervention” units featuring specially trained deputies, mental health professionals and caseworkers. The teams will respond to citizen phone calls to a 24-hour hotline with a knock on the door and a referral to services, if needed.”

“Bradshaw is readying a hotline and is planning public service announcements to encourage local citizens to report their neighbors, friends or family members if they fear they could harm themselves or others.”

““We want people to call us if the guy down the street says he hates the government, hates the mayor and he’s gonna shoot him,” Bradshaw said. “What does it hurt to have somebody knock on a door and ask, ‘Hey, is everything OK?’ ””

I seem to recall similar programs in another country that I read about…… now where was that…..?

Oh well, anyway, I’m sure it’ll be fine.

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10 thoughts on “News/Politics 5-3-13

  1. I am not a crazy conspiratist but I don’t trust the government at all. It’s still the best one out there, but sheez…the idiots are running things.

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  2. Hubby is thinking about keeping a lawyer on retainer in case someone shows up at the door and wants to search the house or grab our child. There is not much else you can do at the moment even if it is an illegal search. This saved at least one family from having their child taken.

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  3. Who said we hired the fox to watch the chickenhouse?

    The Libyan militia group that the State Department hired to defend its embattled diplomatic mission in Benghazi had clear al-Qaida sympathies, and had prominently displayed the al-Qaida flag on a Facebook page for months before the deadly attack.

    That organization, the February 17th Martyrs Brigade, was paid by the U.S. government to provide security at the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya. But there is no indication the Martyrs Brigade fulfilled its commitment to defend the mission on Sept. 11

    http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/benghazi-consulate-protected-alqaida/2013/05/02/id/502565?s=al&promo_code=135B1-1#ixzz2SEgB5j2b

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  4. An Air Force spokesperson said personnel are not allowed to proselytize but are free to express their personal religious beliefs so long as it “does not make others uncomfortable,” but a critic pointed out at an Air Force officer was told to remove a Bible that was on his desk.

    “When on duty or in an official capacity, Air Force members are free to express their personal religious beliefs as long as it does not make others uncomfortable,” Lt. Col. Laurel Tingley said in a statement to Fox News. “Proselytizing (inducing someone to convert to one’s faith) goes over that line.”

    http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes/top-stories/air-force-proselytizing-crosses-the-line.html

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  5. Snitch lines have been around for decades — nothing new here and its a colossal waste of money. They rarely work and they send cops on wild goose chases frequently by disgruntled neighbors who want to harass each other.

    Interestingly the fear of gov’t has lead one House Republican introduce a bill to eliminate the ability of the US Census Bureau to collect information. Unemployment rates for one wouldn’t be published — I don’t see why a republican would support such a measure. It will probably die in the Senate.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/01/gop-census-bill_n_3188043.html

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  6. Crazy bills get introduced all the time, by D’s and R’s – nothing new here.
    Also I’m not saying we need to panic yet, but fear of government is a legitimate fear. A LOT of people have been killed by their government. We still have a good system but we need to keep an eye on it to keep it that way.

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