Daily Topic Forum April 21, 2015

1. More very troubling national security news (is there any other kind with Obama?):

   “The Barack Obama administration has estimated for years that Iran was at most three months away from enriching enough nuclear fuel for an atomic bomb. But the administration only declassified this estimate at the beginning of the month, just in time for the White House to make the case for its Iran deal to Congress and the public.

   Speaking to reporters and editors at our Washington bureau on Monday, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz acknowledged that the U.S. has assessed for several years that Iran has been two to three months away from producing enough fissile material for a nuclear weapon. When asked how long the administration has held this assessment, Moniz said: “Oh quite some time.” He added: “They are now, they are right now spinning, I mean enriching with 9,400 centrifuges out of their roughly 19,000. Plus all the . . . . R&D work. If you put that together it’s very, very little time to go forward. That’s the 2-3 months.”

   Brian Hale, a spokesman for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, confirmed to me Monday that the two-to-three-month estimate for fissile material was declassified on April 1.

   Here is the puzzling thing: When Obama began his second term in 2013, he sang a different tune. He emphasized that Iran was more than a year away from a nuclear bomb, without mentioning that his intelligence community believed it was only two to three months away from making enough fuel for one, long considered the most challenging task in building a weapon. Today Obama emphasizes that Iran is only two to three months away from acquiring enough fuel for a bomb, creating a sense of urgency for his Iran agreement. ”

   http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-04-21/obama-kept-iran-s-short-breakout-time-a-secret

   • Joe
     I appreciate your focus on World Issues and in this forum will gladly join in.

     First: we should drop the pretense that Obama is acting purely in the best interest of the United States. (I have)
     If one were striving to bring us down – how would his actions differ from those of our President?
     He pushes the envelope every week – by piling on – one after another – policy decisions that favor anyone BUT the USA.
     Let us further drop the assumption that we can prevent IRAN from acquiring nuclear weapons. Iran is aligned with many Countries who have nuclear and are more than willing to provide them with any and every available asset. Also: the nuclear capabilities of those allied with IRAN can be directed from anywhere in the world – against the West and her allies.
     Perhaps – in our lifetimes – war will become more than a news story – about something happening in another part of the world. Perhaps our way of life is destined to be tested in a way that it never has. Perhaps we – you and me – are about to taste the bitter fruit – that is war. …

     • Bubba, I believe we can stop the n-weapons in Iran if we show resolve. The job is harder now because we have given away so much in the talks. There may be countries that are friendly with Iran that have them but the idea is to stop the build up in the Mid-East. After seeing what the U.S. was doing in the talks you now have other countries that were our allies working to get them. An elephant in the room that no one wants to talk about is Iran’s in roads in South America. They built facilities in three countries that no one seems to know what they are for. I’m sure they are not resorts to vacation at.

       • Cowboy
         (snip)
         “I believe we can stop the n-weapons in Iran if we show resolve.”
         It could be that our chances to show resolve – lifted off – with Netanyahu. There will never again come a better opportunity to show resolve and strength. Obama has resolve. It seems to manifest a a resolve to keep his mouth shut and his hands in his pockets.
         As to Iran’s inroads to South America: I am unaware of them at this time. Leave a link.
         I will catch up. …

         • I believe one of the articles was from the WSJ. There hasn’t been much coverage but that isn’t unusual. We seem to ignore the South unless the Pres. makes a trip. Iran has cooperation between the left leaning countries. Argentina, Venezuela and i believe the other was Bolivia. There has been nuke info swapped with Arg. Iran built facilities in all three that no one seems to know what they do or are for. Perhaps the CIA knows. The article also dealt with the bombing of the Israel embassy in Argentina and how the leader of Arg is being investigated about a role in covering up for the Iranians. One of the key players was found dead recently. Being investigated. It said he was going to turn on the President on that matter. I’m not a good researcher or i would try to dig more out. Perhaps you can.

         • The knowledge of what you know is mind-boggling Cowboy.

           I’m jealous and humble in your presence so this Bud’s for You:

           http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIq1LvzSLsk

         • By the way, the cowpoke the Cowboy shot in this video is hopefully PoCo Diablo….

         • Regulator, Were you able to find more info on the S. America connection ?

2. bubbageek, as rational people we share the same concerns for our Country. Obama’s actions do not first protect and defend the United States, rather he is trying to “negotiate” with radical Islamic terrorists that have declared a holy war. I fear for our Country and Israel. Very, very dangerous times indeed.

   • Agreed to and seconded
     Further: to this observer – the events that are about to unfold are not avoidable. The natures of the opposing cultures and their deals have come to meet and are not compatible. I cannot imagine a circumstance – event or change of heart that could diffuse the energies that are brought to bear against one another. It’s a kind of “critical mass” situation.
     This reader is reminded of the prelude to WWII – when the US turned away and ignored (if you will) the ongoing conflict – as if it were someone else’s affair. IMHO – we are but moments away from another “Pearl Harbor-like” event.
     However: We must accept life on her own terms. A certain dynamic may be missing from your life and mine. Perhaps it is about to manifest. May each man meet his challenges in his own way.
     My advice? never operate out of a place of weakness.

     Until then
     Be safe – be strong. …

   • I have a somewhat different take on it Joe. In 2003 Iran offered the W administration to freeze their centrifuges at 164 with verifiable inspections and Netanyahu told W to tell them to stick it because his position was that they not be allowed to have any centrifuges period.

     So the mental midget did as he was ordered and Iran proceeded to the 19,000 centrifuges they have today. Netanyahu also said in 1992 that Iran was 2 to 3 years away from having the bomb and it looks like that is the kind of guy you gravitate to.

     Well I don’t. I like the guy who has gotten them to stop their program and reverse it in some ways since 2013. You may not know anything about the 2013 agreement Joe so just read through the 8th paragraph and it will catch you up:

     https://www.armscontrol.org/issue-briefs/2014-10-30/Iran-Nuclear-Deal-101-How-A-Comprehensive-Agreement-Can-Block-Weapons-Pathways

     I’ll check back later because I’m interested in that South American link like bubba is also.

     Just hope when I see it it’s not from Onion News…..

   • Joe, As to Iran i would guess the strings being pulled in all that lead back to Valerie Jarrett.

3. bubbageek and Cowboy, our worries for another major terror attack in the US are all to real with Obama’s purposefully reckless national security policies. This link from the New York Times, Sept. 2014:

   “WASHINGTON — Militants for the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria have traveled to Mexico and are just miles from the United States. They plan to cross over the porous border and will “imminently” launch car bomb attacks. And the threat is so real that federal law enforcement officers have been placed at a heightened state of alert, and an American military base near the border has increased its security.”
   …
   “Warnings about the possibility of terrorists entering the United States from Mexico have been sounded in the past. During the 2012 presidential campaign both Rick Perry and Mitt Romney, the Republican nominee, said Islamic extremists working with countries in Latin America, including Mexico, posed a significant threat to the United States.”
   …

4. Sorry, continued post follows:

   “Tom Fitton, the president of Judicial Watch, said the Obama administration had a history of looking the other way on national security threats, particularly ones involving the border.

   “President Obama or his administration should acknowledge this dire threat on the border, whatever its political ramifications are for the debate on immigration,” Mr. Fitton said.

   Mr. Fitton said that the idea of ISIS coming across the border “goes against the narrative that the border is secure” and that Americans “don’t need to worry about illegal immigration.”
   …

   http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/16/us/us-pushes-back-against-warnings-that-isis-plans-to-enter-from-mexico.html?_r=0

5. More worrying information for our Obama intentionally porous southern border:

   “If terrorists are teaming up with Mexican drug cartels, the implications could be cataclysmic.

   Not only do Mexican drug gangs maintain sophisticated smuggling routes, some of the more dangerous Mexican group have evidenced guerrilla-like tactics already used in terrorist-style attacks.

   On Oct. 27, 2013, for example, the criminal drug cartel known as the Knights Templars attacked electrical facilities and blacked out Mexico’s Michoacan state, which boasts a population of 420,000. During the blackout, the Knights Templars reportedly entered towns and villages at will, terrorized the citizens and police, and publicly executed leaders opposed to the drug trade.

   In an attack still largely unexplained, on April 16, 2013, a sophisticated assault was carried out on PG&E Corp’s Metcalf Transmission Substation outside of San Jose, California, which supplies power to San Francisco and other areas. A team of gunmen fired sniper and assault rifles on the substation, severely damaging 17 transformers.

   Peter Pry, executive director of the Task Force on National and Homeland Security and director of the U.S. Nuclear Strategy Forum, believes the assault could have been part of a terrorist group’s preparation for a future attack on the U.S. electrical grid.”
   …
   Earlier this month it was reported that federal agents arrested 976 suspected gang members across scores of American cities in a large-scale operation in February and March. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency said 199 of those arrested were foreign nationals.

   Criminal street gangs are responsible for the majority of violent crimes within the U.S. and are the primary distributors of most illicit drugs, according to a previous report by the Justice Department’s National Drug Intelligence Center, or NDIC.

   The NDIC was a task force established in 1993 to coordinate law enforcement actions to stop drug trafficking and to curb the growing threat of violent gangs in the U.S. The agency was closed by the Obama administration in June 2011.”
   …

   Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2015/04/the-deadly-truth-isis-and-mexican-drug-gangs/#uLZkKIgKUIC1uQqd.99

   • I’ve got one better than that Joe.

     In 1990 I had a Republican Senator tell me he had a kid in Air Force intelligence and his son told him the Iraqis were massing on our Southern border. (1990 was the start of the first Gulf war.)

     As bad as it hurts me I must agree with you our borders must be made secure. I sure hope they don’t think building a $30 billion dollar fence is going to solve the problem like they have planned just for political show because I watched them Hamasians pop up like gofers on the prairie on the Israeli side in their last little skirmish and they have the most secured borders in the world.

     All true Joe, all true buddy….

     • None true, Regulator. The Hamasians to which you refer were safely ensconced next to U.N. schools and atop occupied apartment buildings firing rockets into Israel in the hopes the Israelis would respond and kill many Palestinian schoolchildren and civilians.
       The objective of the Hamasians was as many dead innocent Palestinians as possible.

       • Hopefully you don’t believe I’m a supporter of the Hamasians more so than Israel because I’m not.

         BUT!, How come that red line keeps coming up under my Hamasians commonsense?….

         I thought I did good in naming them bro.

6. The mainstream is reporting ONB is cutting a new deal on the naming rights fiasco to the old centre building. yep, that sound bite goes like “kerplunk”.

   http://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/onb/real-time

7. More bad news with Obama’s immigration policies. Whose side is he on is a very fair question:

   “Ground zero for the problem is the Minneapolis-St. Paul region, home to America’s largest Somali community. This community didn’t form through normal immigration. It has been created by the U.S. government through its systematic relocation of Somali refugees from their war-torn East African homeland into communities across the U.S.

   Minnesota has been the most frequent depository for the Somali refugees but certainly not the only one. Other large Somali communities have been created in Columbus, Ohio, in Lewiston, Maine and San Diego, California, in Texas and other Southern states.

   The Cedar Riverside neighborhood of Minneapolis has received so many Somalis over the years that it is now known as “Little Mogadishu.”

   One of the men arrested, in a conversation recorded by an FBI source, described his feelings toward his adopted homeland, the United States: “The American identity is dead. Even if I get caught, whatever, I’m through with America. Burn my ID,” he said, according to a transcript filed with the case.”

   Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2015/04/feds-admit-terror-recruiting-problem-among-refugees/#y2BkIeTzZIFMR6u3.99

   • They’re everywhere, they’re everywhere!

     “Over the past 25 years, the United States has admitted about 84,000 Somali refugees. Close to 40 percent live in Minnesota.”

     http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2011/01/19/good-question-why-did-somalis-locate-here/

     They’re coming to get you chicken____ Republicans who take your guns with you to take a crap even in your own home so take some advice from Regulator, move out into the wilds of Colorado and take your chances with sexually frustrated Cowboys, for a big belt buckle ain’t all it’s cranked up to be….

     References: ga Ditto, 1countryboy, and naturally, my Uncle Joe…..

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