The Front Page Cover
"I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened"
Featuring:
FOREIGN POLICY NEWSLETTER
KT McFarland
"Rise up together as one voice"
"Be careful where you stand"
~~~lll~~~
Ease With Marxism Behind Diplomatic Thaw With Cuba
On one hand, Barack nObama's face-to-face meeting with Cuban leader Raul Castro, which culminated in a handshake, was a failure. Before the meeting, nObama didn't re-establish a U.S. embassy in Cuba, nor did he scrub the Pearl of the Antilles from the list of state sponsors of terrorism. But in his handshake with Castro, nObama extended goodwill towards Marxism. Furthermore, the two talked by phone ahead of their meeting and the State Department officially released its recommendation to no longer recognize Cuba as a sponsor of terrorism. Cuba was the only country on the short list that supported Marxist terror groups (the rest were countries like Iran that feed Islamic terrorism), which shows that some regard Marxism as no longer a threat. As we wrote back in December when the nObama administration first announced these deals with Cuba, "[T]he U.S. was in prime position to negotiate for human rights improvements in Cuba. Instead, nObama just offered Cuba a huge influx of dollars for nothing in return." More... -The Patriot Post 
SCOOBY DOO OR SCOOBY DON’T? HILLY TRIES FOR AUTHENTICITY
You know, Bill had always seemed to be the Clinton who would be more likely to have a van. But it’s Hilly who’s rolling out the official phase of her 2016 run from a passenger seat in a minivan bound for Iowa. The question is whether voters will see humility or pandering. What if you knew she plotted her campaign strategy at the beachfront estate of Oscar de la Renta in the Dominican Republic? Yeah… Media outlets are trying to find “Scooby,” Clinton’s purported nickname for the vehicle that started out on I-80 bound for a Tuesday afternoon event in Iowa. (Hint: It’s the one traveling in a Secret Service convoy.) One supposes that if reporters haven’t found the vehicle by then, the campaign will have to send up flares or tow a blimp just to make sure. Whatever it takes to get the helicopter shot of her and the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pantsuit as it rolls across the Mississippi.
In 2008, Clinton tried to create terror in her rivals by choppering in for big rallies, which reinforced what people already knew about her: She’s rich, she’s powerful and she plays to win. Always. This time, she’s going for an aura of humility and “putting you first.” She’s very much following the Madison Avenue playbook of the moment. If it hadn’t been Clinton who had popped up after 90 seconds in her video, it might have been the CEO of Bank of America of Google selling a new product. It’s not by accident that big businesses have mastered such demographically targeted, slickly earthy spots and spend millions to make them. Those kinds of warm and fuzzy videos are designed to soften the image of corporate leviathans. But sometimes artificial folksiness backfires.
The logistics of getting one of the world’s most famous and powerful people across a 1,000-mile road trip and looking camera-ready for a campaign event must be no mean feat. One would suppose that wherever Clinton overnights this evening, she will be met by her staff for full preparations. A 19-month drive to the presidency can’t start with bed head and gaffes. And having acknowledged that she cannot be herself and win, how will Clinton respond when herself splurps through the cracks in the folksy veneer? Unlike big corporations that can almost completely control their public interactions, Clinton will have to face dozens of interviews, some press conferences and near-daily commentaries on current events. Rather than yet another reinvention, Clinton may end up wishing she opted to be herself or at least a version not so painful to maintain. -Fox News
You know, Bill had always seemed to be the Clinton who would be more likely to have a van. But it’s Hilly who’s rolling out the official phase of her 2016 run from a passenger seat in a minivan bound for Iowa. The question is whether voters will see humility or pandering. What if you knew she plotted her campaign strategy at the beachfront estate of Oscar de la Renta in the Dominican Republic? Yeah… Media outlets are trying to find “Scooby,” Clinton’s purported nickname for the vehicle that started out on I-80 bound for a Tuesday afternoon event in Iowa. (Hint: It’s the one traveling in a Secret Service convoy.) One supposes that if reporters haven’t found the vehicle by then, the campaign will have to send up flares or tow a blimp just to make sure. Whatever it takes to get the helicopter shot of her and the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pantsuit as it rolls across the Mississippi.
In 2008, Clinton tried to create terror in her rivals by choppering in for big rallies, which reinforced what people already knew about her: She’s rich, she’s powerful and she plays to win. Always. This time, she’s going for an aura of humility and “putting you first.” She’s very much following the Madison Avenue playbook of the moment. If it hadn’t been Clinton who had popped up after 90 seconds in her video, it might have been the CEO of Bank of America of Google selling a new product. It’s not by accident that big businesses have mastered such demographically targeted, slickly earthy spots and spend millions to make them. Those kinds of warm and fuzzy videos are designed to soften the image of corporate leviathans. But sometimes artificial folksiness backfires.
The logistics of getting one of the world’s most famous and powerful people across a 1,000-mile road trip and looking camera-ready for a campaign event must be no mean feat. One would suppose that wherever Clinton overnights this evening, she will be met by her staff for full preparations. A 19-month drive to the presidency can’t start with bed head and gaffes. And having acknowledged that she cannot be herself and win, how will Clinton respond when herself splurps through the cracks in the folksy veneer? Unlike big corporations that can almost completely control their public interactions, Clinton will have to face dozens of interviews, some press conferences and near-daily commentaries on current events. Rather than yet another reinvention, Clinton may end up wishing she opted to be herself or at least a version not so painful to maintain. -Fox News
Team nObama - Taking up a central theme of the newly announced Hilly Clinton campaign, President nObama will hit the road Tuesday to mark Equal Pay Day. Laying out what the White House calls “stark” differences with Republicans, the president will push Congress to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act, which the administration says would significantly strengthen the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and give women additional tools to fight pay discrimination. -Fox News
Poll: Dems and indies don’t want a Hilly coronation - About three quarters of Democrats and independents don’t like the idea of a Clinton coronation, according to a Bloomberg poll. Asked if Hilly Clinton should face serious competition for the nomination, 72 percent said it would be a good thing for the Democratic Party. Overall, the national poll gave Clinton a 48 percent favorable rating versus 44 percent unfavorable. Asked if they would vote for Clinton if she were the nominee 39 percent of respondents, a plurality, said they would definitely not vote for here, as opposed to 18 percent who said they would definitely vote for her. -Fox News
BONING UP: WALKER ON WEEKLONG EURO TRIP
Sheboygan Press: “Gov. Scott Walker is becoming something of a globe-trotter as world affairs loom large in the 2016 Republican presidential race and attention has been drawn to his early foreign policy stumbles. He began a weeklong visit to Germany, France and Spain on Friday, and in May plans to go to Israel, a touchstone for many U.S. politicians with presidential aspirations. Meantime his political group, Our American Revival, has bulked up on staffers to coach Walker on foreign policy, a gap in his resume as he considers entering the GOP presidential contest.”
Sheboygan Press: “Gov. Scott Walker is becoming something of a globe-trotter as world affairs loom large in the 2016 Republican presidential race and attention has been drawn to his early foreign policy stumbles. He began a weeklong visit to Germany, France and Spain on Friday, and in May plans to go to Israel, a touchstone for many U.S. politicians with presidential aspirations. Meantime his political group, Our American Revival, has bulked up on staffers to coach Walker on foreign policy, a gap in his resume as he considers entering the GOP presidential contest.”
-Fox News
1.
Photos from the fighting in the refinery:
Islamic State assaults Baiji oil refinery
(Bill Roggio & Caleb Weiss) - The Islamic State has launched a new assault on the Baiji oil refinery in Iraq’s Salahaddin province. The Iraqi military claimed it has repelled the attack...In photos released on April 11, the Islamic State showed its forces attacking the refinery and penetrating the perimeter of the complex. Several images detail the use of US-made Humvees and home-made rocket launchers cobbled together from civilian vehicles. Other pictures show the use of camouflaged howitzers and tanks. Two photos highlight the deployment of a suicide bomber by the name of Abu Ma’awiya al Khorasani; the moniker “Khorasani” implies the bomber was from the Afghanistan-Pakistan region. http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2015/04/islamic-state-assaults-baiji-oil-refinery.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+LongWarJournalSiteWide+%28The+Long+War+Journal+%28Site-Wide%29%29
2.
UN Pushes Common Core-style Global Education Regime
(Alex Newman) - About one third of the world’s governments and dictatorships are on track to meet United Nations education targets aiming to change the values of humanity as part of its “Education for All” initiative...according to a report released last week by the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). With Common Core and related schemes, the nObama administration has been at the forefront of that effort. To deal with those that have not yet met UN schooling goals, UNESCO bureaucrats are seeking more than $22 billion per year in taxpayer funding to provide what the self-styled global education agency refers to as “quality education” for all children. Going forward, as a component of the broader UN “post-2015 agenda,” the UN outfit outlined even more extreme plans to impose its “quality education” scheming on all of humanity. What a scam, the state can do just as well if lift alone and they won't need billions from taxpayers. http://www.thenewamerican.com/culture/education/item/20657-un-pushes-common-core-style-global-education-regime?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_campaign=91a67ebddf-The_Editors_Top_Picks_3_12_143_12_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_8ca494f2d2-91a67ebddf-289778381
3.
nObama’s Gun-Grabbing, ‘Absolutely Unconstitutional’
(AmyElizabeth) - There are growing claims that guns are being seized and destroyed illegally by police nationwide...Michael Roberts surrendered 21 firearms that were cherished family heirlooms to the Torrance Police Department in 2010, after his doctor filed a restraining order against him. The court order was the result of a dispute Roberts had with a member of the doctor’s staff and, after Roberts pleaded no contest, the matter was resolved. Yet, even though he filed the proper Law Enforcement Gun Release paperwork on four separate occasions, obtained clearance from the California Department of Justice and had two court orders commanding the return of his guns, police refused to hand them over. With the backing of the National Rifle Association and California Rifle and Pistol Association, Roberts filed a federal lawsuit in May 2014, over the $15,500 worth of firearms. In the end he got the money, but not the guns. The police had had them destroyed. http://gopthedailydose.com/2015/04/13/watch-judge-napolitano-obamas-gun-grabbing-is-absolutely-profoundly-unconstitutional/
4.
EPA, Endangered Species Act Used To Target American Citizens
(rickwells.us) - California Republican Assemblywoman Shannon Grove represents a portion of Kern County, the second largest agricultural sector in the country. She’s been sounding the alarm over the suicidal water policies and restrictions imposed by the federal government...which are destroying much of California’s agricultural capacity, taking with it a large portion of the American food supply. It’s not that California doesn’t or didn’t have enough water. They did. The valuable water is simply being wasted, flushed out to sea the name of preserving a three-inch long fish, the Delta Smelt. She created a video highlighting the problem, to get the message out to America that this is more than just a drought. It’s a totally unnecessary and preventable threat to our national food supply which continues to this very moment, in spite of the critical nature of the situation. http://www.rickwells.us/epa-endangered-species-act-used-to-target-american-citizens-create-drought-crisis-to-control-food-supply/
5.
The Middle East Turmoil and Israel's Security
(Efraim Inbar) - The Middle East is in great turmoil. The statist order that underpinned the region for a century has collapsed. Several states have lost their monopoly over the use of force and are no longer able to provide law and order....This is especially true of Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, and Syria. Even Egypt, the only historic Arab state, has had difficulties effectively enforcing its sovereignty over its territory. Many of the militias challenging these state entities have a radical Islamist ideology, reflecting the rise in appeal of political Islam in the Arab world. In contrast to the leaders of these states, who are inefficient and corrupt, the Islamists actually deliver services to the people and have a reputation for being brutal but honest. However, the likes of Al Qaida in Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) or the so called Islamic State (IS) are hardly the proper agents for modernizing their environments and their popularity dooms the Arab world to continuous ignorance and poverty. For this and other reasons, Israel will need to remain vigilant in the years ahead. http://www.meforum.org/5174/israel-middle-east-security
6.
nObama Claims Americans Would Panic If We Were Told The Truth
(rickwells.us) - Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson validated what most Americans already know about the Democrat level of commitment to the concept of political transparency and informing the American people...They are completely opposed to acknowledging their actions or our situation, and defend their obscurity by professing that we simply “can’t handle the truth.” Johnson references two campaign pledges he says he has kept, that he would always tell the truth to the best of his ability and also to never vote or conduct himself during a reelection period any differently than he did when his seat wasn’t in contention. http://www.rickwells.us/sen-ron-johnson-obama-claims-americans-would-panic-if-we-were-told-the-truth-wants-us-ignorant/
7.
Checking in on the Jayvee Team
(nicedeb.wordpress.com) - With so much of the world’s attention in recent weeks being on Iran, ISIS must be feeling a little neglected — because they appear to be acting out even more than usual... “Hey, we’re an existential threat too,” they seem to be saying as they post pictures of themselves playing soccer with human heads.” “Hey, we may not have nukes – yet – but we sure can make pretty decent cartoons of your president being decapitated.” “Make no mistake – we really are the meanest kids on the block.” No joke – they really are the meanest and most demented kids on the block. They remind me of the evil inbred freaks in the Texas Chainsaw massacre. Only those freaks actually retained an ounce of humanity. They need to be stopped cold by a military willing to unleash overwhelming force on them. https://nicedeb.wordpress.com/2015/04/14/checking-in-on-the-jay-vee-team/
8.
ISIS Camp a Few Miles from Texas, Mexican Authorities Confirm
(judicialwatch.org) - ISIS is operating a camp just a few miles from El Paso, Texas, according to Judicial Watch sources that include a Mexican Army field grade officer and a Mexican Federal Police Inspector...The exact location where the terrorist group has established its base is around eight miles from the U.S. border in an area known as “Anapra” situated just west of Ciudad Juárez in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. Another ISIS cell to the west of Ciudad Juárez, in Puerto Palomas, targets the New Mexico towns of Columbus and Deming for easy access to the United States, the same knowledgeable sources confirm. During the course of a joint operation last week, Mexican Army and federal law enforcement officials discovered documents in Arabic and Urdu, as well as “plans” of Fort Bliss – the sprawling military installation that houses the US Army’s 1st Armored Division. Muslim prayer rugs were recovered with the documents during the operation. http://linkis.com/judicialwatch.org/kZnMO
9.
Rouhani Dismisses White House Compromise With Congress on Deal
(THOMAS ERDBRINK and RICK GLADSTONE) - Iran’s president on Wednesday dismissed the compromise worked out between the nObama administration and Congress over an impending nuclear agreement as internal American politics...saying the Iranians were negotiating with six countries, not just the United States. The president, Hassan Rouhani, also reiterated Iran’s position that onerous economic sanctions that have been imposed on the country for years by the United Nations, United States and European Union must be lifted with the signing of any final agreement. The remarks by Mr. Rouhani, a prime architect of a framework nuclear agreement reached April 2 with the so-called P5-plus-1 group of powers, amounted to the first official Iranian reaction to a compromise reached on Tuesday between the White House and the Senate over the nuclear negotiations. https://themuslimissue.wordpress.com/2015/04/15/rouhani-dismisses-white-house-compromise-with-congress-on-iran-nuclear-deal/
10.
Hamas Rebuilding War Machine as Gaza Deteriorates
(investigativeproject.org) - The Hamas leadership in Gaza has been unable to rebuild any of the homes destroyed in last summer's war with Israel, but the terrorist group has had little trouble using heavy machinery to restore its vast tunnel networks that can be used in future attacks...Reconstruction of Gaza has "barely begun," the Associated Press reports. At least the above-ground kind. Underground, small bulldozers are busy restoring damaged tunnels, using "whatever cement [Hamas] can get its hands on," the Times of Israel reports. Hamas has been diverting cement and construction material intended for civilian rebuilding efforts. http://www.investigativeproject.org/4823/hamas-rebuilding-war-machine-as-gaza-deteriorates
FOREIGN POLICY NEWSLETTER
KT McFarland
(kt@ktmcfarland.com) - The nuclear deal being negotiated between Iran and the nObama administration dominated headlines this month. The President wants a deal, even a temporary deal, even a bad deal, as his crowning, foreign policy legacy.
The whole point of an agreement with Iran was to “roll back” Iran’s nuclear program and prevent a nuclear arms race in the Middle East. This deal does neither and still rewards Iran by lifting economic sanctions. Iran is now poised to become the dominant economic, military, political, and possibly nuclear power in the region while its leaders continue to chant death to America, promise to annihilate Israel, and support terrorism worldwide.
In Yemen, a proxy war between Sunnis and Shiites for hegemony in the Middle East rages on. The U.S.’s intelligence capability is handicapped in Yemen by the escalating chaos, which is bad news as Yemen is home to one of the largest Al Qaeda affiliates in the world. Moreover, if the fighting spills over the border into neighboring Saudi Arabia, it will threaten the stability of one of the world’s largest oil suppliers.
We could be seeing the beginning of a thirty years’ fight to the finish religious war in the region. If Iran introduces nuclear weapons into the region, it increases the likelihood weapons of mass destruction will be used.
Farther east, Chinese expansion into the South China Sea is worrying neighboring Vietnam, Malaysia, and the Philippines. In a recent conversation I had with Dr. Michael Pillsbury, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, we discussed Pillsbury’s contention that China is bent on a long range, secret plan to replace the U.S. as the world’s global power.
At home, the Hilly Clinton email scandal is raising larger questions about transparency and accountability during her tenure as Secretary of State. By using her personal email account to do government business, and then unilaterally deciding which emails to delete, Clinton robbed the American people of a historical record and violated legal precedents. More importantly, Clinton’s account invites the possibility that sensitive information could have been hacked. This is disconcerting news as cyber security is an increasing national security problem for the United States.
IRAN
Despite the escalating proxy wars between Sunnis and Shiites, the nObama administration is determined to reach a deal that will only accelerate a nuclear arms race in the Middle East. Any agreement that does not permanently dismantle Iran’s nuclear program will make the region even more volatile and dangerous than it already is. In trying to justify the deal, the administration is advertising a false choice, claiming it’s this or war. NeoConservatives seem to agree, and see bombing Iran’s nuclear facilities as the only way to stop it from acquiring the bomb.
Both are wrong.
There is a third way, and it is a proven tactic from Reagan’s Cold War playbook—encourage the Iranian people to demand regime change. The US could push the Iranian economy to the brink of collapse, foster pro-democracy movements, and tear down the Iranian regime’s cyber-wall. We’ve seen the Arab Spring topple dictatorships throughout the region, why not in Iran?
YEMEN
Most people can’t find Yemen on a map, but it is important because it is a multi-party civil war that could spill over into Saudi Arabia, and destabilize one of the world’s largest oil suppliers.
Ultimately, the Yemen civil war is a proxy war within the larger, existential struggle between Sunni Arabs and Shiite Persians for hegemony over the Middle East. Add an Iranian nuclear ability to that equation and the situation will get much worse.
The whole point of an agreement with Iran was to “roll back” Iran’s nuclear program and prevent a nuclear arms race in the Middle East. This deal does neither and still rewards Iran by lifting economic sanctions. Iran is now poised to become the dominant economic, military, political, and possibly nuclear power in the region while its leaders continue to chant death to America, promise to annihilate Israel, and support terrorism worldwide.
In Yemen, a proxy war between Sunnis and Shiites for hegemony in the Middle East rages on. The U.S.’s intelligence capability is handicapped in Yemen by the escalating chaos, which is bad news as Yemen is home to one of the largest Al Qaeda affiliates in the world. Moreover, if the fighting spills over the border into neighboring Saudi Arabia, it will threaten the stability of one of the world’s largest oil suppliers.
We could be seeing the beginning of a thirty years’ fight to the finish religious war in the region. If Iran introduces nuclear weapons into the region, it increases the likelihood weapons of mass destruction will be used.
Farther east, Chinese expansion into the South China Sea is worrying neighboring Vietnam, Malaysia, and the Philippines. In a recent conversation I had with Dr. Michael Pillsbury, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, we discussed Pillsbury’s contention that China is bent on a long range, secret plan to replace the U.S. as the world’s global power.
At home, the Hilly Clinton email scandal is raising larger questions about transparency and accountability during her tenure as Secretary of State. By using her personal email account to do government business, and then unilaterally deciding which emails to delete, Clinton robbed the American people of a historical record and violated legal precedents. More importantly, Clinton’s account invites the possibility that sensitive information could have been hacked. This is disconcerting news as cyber security is an increasing national security problem for the United States.
IRAN
Despite the escalating proxy wars between Sunnis and Shiites, the nObama administration is determined to reach a deal that will only accelerate a nuclear arms race in the Middle East. Any agreement that does not permanently dismantle Iran’s nuclear program will make the region even more volatile and dangerous than it already is. In trying to justify the deal, the administration is advertising a false choice, claiming it’s this or war. NeoConservatives seem to agree, and see bombing Iran’s nuclear facilities as the only way to stop it from acquiring the bomb.
Both are wrong.
There is a third way, and it is a proven tactic from Reagan’s Cold War playbook—encourage the Iranian people to demand regime change. The US could push the Iranian economy to the brink of collapse, foster pro-democracy movements, and tear down the Iranian regime’s cyber-wall. We’ve seen the Arab Spring topple dictatorships throughout the region, why not in Iran?
YEMEN
Most people can’t find Yemen on a map, but it is important because it is a multi-party civil war that could spill over into Saudi Arabia, and destabilize one of the world’s largest oil suppliers.
Ultimately, the Yemen civil war is a proxy war within the larger, existential struggle between Sunni Arabs and Shiite Persians for hegemony over the Middle East. Add an Iranian nuclear ability to that equation and the situation will get much worse.
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