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Saturday, August 9, 2014

The World Is On Fire And Obama Goes Out To Play Golf!

WHITE HOUSE: NO CHANGE IN OBAMA VACATION OR FUNDRAISING PLANS


White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest confirmed on Friday that President Obama is still planning to go on vacation this weekend, in spite of the violent developments in Iraq and his decision to authorize military air strikes in the region.

“At this point, I don’t have any changes in the president’s schedule to announce,” Earnest said when questioned about Obama's plans by reporters.
Obama is planning a vacation to Martha’s Vineyard which is scheduled to end on August 24.
Obama is also planning to attend a fundraiser on Monday on Martha’s Vineyard for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
“The President’s schedule from Monday hasn’t changed either,” Earnest explained.
As part of his vacation plans, Obama already scheduled a return to the White House on Sunday, August 17 for meetings before returning to Martha’s Vineyard on August 19.

Univision Poll Shows Immigration Low On Concerns For Hispanics. It's Talking Head Issue But Nothing More.

Hispanic Voters Upend Democrats’ Midterm Immigration Reform Focus In Univision Poll

August 8, 2014 by  
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Maybe the Democrats’ idea of immigration “reform” is appealing, on some level, to California’s heavy population of Hispanic voters; maybe it isn’t. But one thing appears clear after viewing the results of a poll released by the Spanish-language TV network Univision: It’s nowhere near the top of their list of hot issues going into the 2014 midterm elections.
Apparently under the impression that they, as citizens and voters, are Americans first and foremost, California’s sampling of Hispanic voters put a slew of broader National issues ahead of immigration as decisive factors that will sway their votes this year.
Where among the list of hot issues did immigration rank?
Well, education was named by 21 percent of the California Hispanic voters who were surveyed, garnering more top-priority attention than any other issue. That was followed by jobs (16 percent); government spending (15 percent); Social Security (13 percent); growing personal wealth (ten percent) and health care (nine percent).
Immigration came in as the top priority for eight percent of California’s Hispanic voters – taking seventh place in that long list.
In addition, the survey asked the State’s Hispanic voters to identify what their “major concern or complaint” about the Republican Party. Only ten percent responded by calling out Republican opposition to immigration reform, and only five percent said their biggest gripe with Republicans is that they favor white people over minorities.TT

A Few Missiles, A Few Bombs Will NOT Deter ISIS. Obama Is Not Prepared To Do What Needs To Be Done.

GOP: Airstrikes Good, but Long-Term Strategy Essential for Iraq

Friday, 08 Aug 2014 08:58 PM
By Todd Beamon
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Congressional Republicans supported U.S. airstrikes against Islamic State targets in northern Iraq on Friday, but warned that President Barack Obama needed to develop a broader plan for the Middle East that would halt the development and expansion of such militant groups.

"The president’s authorization of airstrikes is appropriate, but like many Americans, I am dismayed by the ongoing absence of a strategy for countering the grave threat ISIS poses to the region," House Speaker John Boehner said. "Vital national interests are at stake, yet the White House has remained disengaged despite warnings from Iraqi leaders, Congress, and even members of its own administration.

"Such parochial thinking only emboldens the enemy and squanders the sacrifices Americans have made," the Ohio Republican said. "The president needs a long-term strategy — one that defines success as completing our mission, not keeping political promises — and he needs to build the public and congressional support to sustain it."

New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte called Obama's actions "basic tactical decisions" that were "no substitute for a strategy to address the growing threat of ISIS to our homeland.

"The strategy should include support for the Kurds to ensure they are not overrun by ISIS, and engagement of our regional partners to address the ISIS threat not only in Iraq, but also in Syria," said Ayotte, who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee.

"I continue to believe that the current situation would have been far less likely had the president not ignored the advice of his military commanders to leave a limited follow-on force to protect and institutionalize the hard-fought security gains made by our servicemen and women."

Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, the ranking GOP member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, expressed regret that "the situation in Iraq has devolved to where it is and the many decisions and circumstances that have led us to this point.

"While I support the administration's short-term actions to respond to the current crisis, I expect them to lay out in the coming days the objectives they hope to achieve and the related time frame," he said. "I expect the administration to cite the relevant authorities they are relying upon for these actions."

U.S. officials said on Friday that it had launched a second round of strikes against ISIS targets in Irbil. A drone struck a mortar there, while four Navy F/A-18 fighter jets struck a seven-vehicle convoy outside the city.

The jets flew off the USS George HW Bush aircraft carrier. Irbil is the capital of the semi-autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan region.

In the first round of strikes, the Pentagon said that two F/A-18s dropped 500-pound laser-guided bombs on an Islamic State mobile artillery piece that was used to shell Kurdish forces defending Irbil.

The United States has a consulate and, since Iraq's latest security crisis erupted in June, a joint military operations center staffed by 40 U.S. service members in Irbil.

The strikes were the first aggressive U.S. military action in Iraq 2-1/2 years after Obama withdrew the last American troops, fulfilling a promise he campaigned on to win office in 2008 and ending a bloody U.S. war that began in 2003.

Speaking on Newsmax TV on Friday, Rep. Peter King supported the air strikes, but said the U.S. should arm the Kurds and launch a more aggressive air campaign against ISIS.

"We should be attacking convoys of ISIS, we should be going after their command control centers and we should be doing much more air attacks against ISIS,'' King, a New York Republican, told "The Steve Malzberg Show."

The Islamic State group took control of large chunks of northern and western Iraq in a blitz offensive in June, including Iraq's second-largest city of Mosul. The violence has pushed Iraq into its worst crisis since the withdrawal.

As many as 40,000 Christian minorities are said to be living on Mount Sinjar. ISIS fighters remain at its base.

President Obama said late Thursday that the United States' limited military action in Iraq could eventually include more military support to Iraqi security forces working to repel Islamic State fighters — but administration officials warned on Friday that American support would not be "prolonged" and would not involve ground troops.

But some administration officials privately expressed uncertainty about Obama's strategy on Friday, which he has said was not aimed at a sustained campaign against the Islamist militants who are threatening Iraqi Government and Kurdish positions.

It is this uncertainty, plus a longstanding unease about Obama's broader foreign policy, that led Republicans to call for the president to develop specific objectives for Iraq. Many emphasized the need to work closely with Congress on such efforts.

Even Obama's closest Democratic allies made clear they wanted him to work with legislators, not circumvent them.

"Putting U.S. troops back on the ground in Iraq is not an option — but there is a clear humanitarian crisis, with ISIS committing mass murder against Christians, Kurds, and other religious minorities," said House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce of California. "It is tragic that the president did not act earlier, when I suggested he use armed drones to prevent many of these atrocities.

"Now it’s a tougher challenge, with limited options such as air strikes, to prevent the slaughter of these innocent people," he said.

Florida Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who chaired the panel from 2011 to last year, called the airstrikes "long overdue."

"For months, the Iraqi government has pleaded with the administration to get engaged in Iraq and provide air support to combat the menacing threat of ISIL that is now endangering Irbil.

"The Kurds have been reliable allies of the U.S. in Iraq, and are outgunned, so they need our support to fight back against ISIL," she added. "Just like we should have acted in Syria long ago, millions of people in Iraq are suffering and are looking to the United States for help — and we must answer the call to prevent a possible genocide.

"The U.S. must take all appropriate and necessary measures to prevent the threat of ISIL from spilling over to neighboring countries like Jordan and Lebanon that can cause further destabilization in the region and to protect the national security interests of the United States of combatting terrorism," Ros-Lehtinen said.

The Associated Press and Bloomberg News contributed to this report.
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Russian Bombers Pushing The Limit With "Training" Missions

Russian bombers on training missions intercepted by U.S. fighter jets off coast off Alaska

Training excercises conducted by Russian bombers and reconnaissance aircraft over international waters near Alaska have triggered several alarms for U.S. fighter jets to check out their activity, but the aircrafts never entered U.S. airspace, NORAD officials say.

 
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
 
Friday, August 8, 2014, 11:57 AM
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U.S. fighter jets spotted a Russian Tupolev TU-142 on multiple ocassions near Alaska in the past 10 days.SASHA MORDOVETS/GETTY IMAGESU.S. fighter jets spotted a Russian Tupolev TU-142 on multiple ocassions near Alaska in the past 10 days.
Russian military aircraft have darted close to U.S. and Canadian airspace near Alaska on training missions, but they were nowhere close to violating either nation’s borders, NORAD officials say.
The flights are part of an uptick of activity in and near the Alaska air defense identification zone that have sent U.S. fighter jets in a hurry to intercept the aircraft, Preston Schlachter, a spokesman for NORAD, told the Daily News.
The zone covers parts of the Aleutian archipelago, the Bering Sea and the Gulf of Alaska.
Schlachter said the aircraft never entered U.S. sovereign airspace, but flew over international waters.
The air defense zone begins about 12 nautical miles from the coast and goes out at least 200 miles from the coast in some areas.
The planes have been visually identified by U.S. fighter jets as strategic bombers, the Tupolev Tu-95s, also known as a “Bear,” and a reconnaissance and anti-submarine aircraft, the Tupolev Tu-142, the Washington Free Beacon reported.
The bombers and spy plane were escorted by Russian MiG-31 jets during the July 30 excercise.DMITRIY PICHUGIN VIA WIKIPEDIA COMMONSThe bombers and spy plane were escorted by Russian MiG-31 jets during the July 30 excercise.Enlarge
Russian wire reports said a Tupolev Tu-95, a reconnaissance aircraft pictured, and bombers flew over the arctic on July 30 on a training mission.YURI KADOBNOV/AFP/GETTY IMAGESRussian wire reports said a Tupolev Tu-95, a reconnaissance aircraft pictured, and bombers flew over the arctic on July 30 on a training mission.Enlarge
The Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone.FAAThe Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone.
Several Russian bombers escorted by a MiG-31 interceptor flew over the Arctic on July 30 to patrol and search for foreign submarines and conduct scientific missions, reported Itar-TASS, a Russian news wire service.
The flights were reportedly scheduled in advance and did not trespass into any countries, the report said.
Four Tu-95s were spotted practicing bombing runs near Alaska in June and flying within 50 miles of the California coast.
In April, a Russian jet passive-aggressively buzzed a U.S. reconnaissance aircraft over the Sea of Okhotsk along the Siberian coast.


Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/russian-bombers-spotted-u-s-fighter-jets-alaska-article-1.1896572#ixzz39tyoA5iP