D Day Remembrance.

Seventy years ago today, the largest flotilla of ships ever put together unloaded thousands of men, tanks and materiel  to storm the cliffs of Normandy. It was the beginning to the end of the war in Europe. 

Today we remember those brave men. They were not super men, rather they were ordinary guys put in an extra-ordinary situation.  They saw the threat and knew that they had to do whatever was necessary to put an end to the powers that controlled Europe and would soon find its way to the United States. 

Theirs was not a search for personal fame but rather to accomplish a goal, of going home to England, France, Australia and the United States and to live out their lives.  Some were able to do that. However, thousands still rest in graves above the bluffs they took that day.  They gave their "last full measure of devotion" for all of us to live in a world free from hate and war.

Unfortunately, that goal has not been achieved  as we will have war, we still have senseless hate, and we still have those who want to conquer others.  One day we pray that peace will come to the world and no longer will young men (and now women) will be called upon to defend freedom. Some day there will be peace. Soon we pray, the lamb will be able to lie down with the lion.

Today, we remember those who fought, lived and died in France. Please fly your flag and take a second to say a prayer for them.

Conservative Tom

Bergdahl Deal Postponed For Years Until Obama's "Yes" Men Were In Charge. Those Opposed To The Deal No Longer Are Advisers.

Obama Advisers Repeatedly Told President Not to Deal

 Leon Panetta, left, and James Clapper

Thursday, 05 Jun 2014 08:16 PM

By Melanie Batley

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President Barack Obama was repeatedly advised by several of the nation's top military and intelligence officials not to engage in the prisoner swap to secure the release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, which freed five senior Taliban leaders from Guantanamo prison, according to reports.

When the White House first began considering an exchange in 2011 and 2012, James Clapper, then director of National Intelligence, flat out rejected the release of the five detainees, according to The Daily Beast.



Leon Panetta, former defense secretary and CIA director, also confirmed Wednesday that he was opposed to a possible Bergdahl prisoner swap during his tenure and questioned the deal Obama reached last week.

Panetta recalled that at the time discussions of a Bergdahl prisoner swap took place, "I said, 'Wait, I have an obligation under the law. If I send prisoners from Guantanamo, they have to guarantee they don't go back to the battlefield.' I had serious concerns."

He added he "just assumed it was never going to happen."

Clapper had a similar rationale, according to the Beast, and said the risk was too high that the Taliban leaders would return to the battlefield.

Intelligence and defense officials told the Beast that the deal that was arranged was hastily done, and in a manner that suggested it was designed to squelch dissent and impose the will of the White House.

"This was an example of forcing consensus," one military official told the Beast. "The White House knew the answer they wanted, and they ended up getting it."

Dianne Feinstein, the Democratic chairwoman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, has been vocal in her criticism of the deal and the White House's failure to inform Congress. She told the Beast that lawmakers also signaled opposition to a deal when it was discussed a few years ago.

"Should we have gotten advance warning? I actually think so," she said, adding, "We had participated in a number of briefings some time ago [on a possible future deal] and there was considerable concern."

In an opinion piece Wednesday in The Washington Post, political commentator George Will said Obama's behavior is reminiscent of former President Richard Nixon's attitude toward governing: "When the president does it, that means that it is not illegal."

Will wrote, "This episode will be examined by congressional committees, if they can pierce the administration's coming cover-up, which has been foreshadowed by the response to congressional attempts to scrutinize the politicization of the Internal Revenue Service. If the military stalls on turning over files to Congress pertaining to the five years of Bergdahl's absence, we will at least know that there is no national institution remaining to be corrupted."

White House press secretary Jay Carney came close to admitting that the decision ultimately came down to the president and his inner circle.

"It was the judgment of the team and the president that there was enough urgency here to ensure that Sgt. Bergdahl was safely recovered that a 30-day window of hoping that that opportunity remained open was not an option," Carney said Monday, according toPolitico. "Ultimately, as commander in chief, the president had the responsibility to take the action he did."

Politico noted that the decision by the White House to pursue the deal "sends a clear message: As liberals and some conservatives have long argued, Obama is now willing to wield his executive powers to get the job done."

For a second time this week, Obama on Thursday defended the deal and insisted he "absolutely makes no apologies" for seeking the release of Bergdahl.

When it comes to getting soldiers back from war, Obama said, "We don't condition whether we make the effort to get them back."

He reinforced the administration's justification that Bergdahl's declining health was the driving justification for the decision.

"We saw an opportunity, and we seized it. And I make no apologies for that," he said.



Related Stories:

• Rep. Ros-Lehtinen: Boehner Objected to Bergdahl Swap 2 Years Ago
• Sen Graham: Some in GOP Will Push for Impeachment Over Gitmo

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Urgent: Should Obamacare Be Repealed? Vote Here Now!

Death Counts At VA Hospitals Will Get Higher As Investigations Continue

Interim VA Secretary: 18 Confirmed Deaths From Secret Wait Lists

Thursday, 05 Jun 2014 08:15 PM

By Jason Devaney

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Sloan Gibson, the temporary head of the Department of Veterans Affairs, confirmed Thursday that 18 current and/or former members of the military died after being put on a secret waiting list.

The troubled agency is embroiled in a scandal involving fake waiting lists and reports that 40 veterans died while waiting months to be seen by doctors at the Phoenix VA hospital.

Gibson, a former Army infantry officer who earned both Airborne and Ranger qualifications during his military service, was hired to be the VA's deputy secretary in February. He was temporarily promoted to secretary after Eric Shinseki resigned on May 30 while a permanent replacement is found.

Dr. Sam Foote, who worked at the Phoenix hospital until his retirement in December, spent months trying to alert VA authorities about the false record keeping that was taking place in the facility. There were allegedly two waiting lists — the real one, which was kept in secret, and a false one, which was used for reporting purposes. Veterans seeking treatment for a variety of injuries and ailments reportedly had to wait months just to see a doctor, a fact that remained hidden because of the fake list.

Whistleblower Foote claimed that 40 veterans died while waiting for care in Phoenix.

Gibson, according to the Arizona Republic, said 1,700 patients were held on the secret waiting list at the Phoenix hospital. The 18 who died were among that group. Gibson did not know if the 18 deaths were part of the 40 Foote referenced.

"We have to work to earn back the trust of each veteran and we'll do that one veteran at a time," Gibson said.

Gibson said he had details on 14 of the deaths, and most of the patients had come to the VA for "end of life care," according to the Arizona Republic report.

"None of that excuses us," Gibson said. "These lists were not being worked — inexcusable."

Since the news of the Phoenix hospital scandal, other VA hospitals across the nationhave been found to use similar wait list tactics. A whistleblower at the St. Louis VA Medical Center said he's been bullied and punished after saying doctors at that facility were not working as much as they should.

And in Florida, VA hospitals have been said to have "deplorable" conditions.

Related Stories:

• VA Hospital Chapels Told to Hide Religious Symbols
• Chicago VA Hospital Also Using Secret Wait List to Hide Delays
  

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Mixed Messages On Bergdahl. Was He A Captive Or A Traitor? Did He Convert Or Was He Suffering From Stockholm Syndrome? We Believe His Comrades.

Report: Bergdahl Declared Himself Warrior for Islam During Captivity

Thursday, 05 Jun 2014 07:45 PM

By Greg Richter

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Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl converted to Islam during his captivity by the Haqqani network in Afghanistan and even declared himself a "mujahid," or warrior for Islam, Fox News reports. 

Fox News obtained secret documents based on an eyewitness account of at least part of Bergdahl's five-year captivity that began when he reportedly walked off his base in June 2009.



The documents show that Bergdahl's relationship with his captors changed over time. He at one time was held in a cage after being recaptured when he had escaped. But at other times he had a seemingly friendly relationship with his captors, playing soccer and frequently laughing and using the word "salaam" – Arabic for "peace."

He also participated in target practice with his captors and was allowed to carry a gun, according to the reports.

The documents were generated by the Eclipse Group, Fox reports. Eclipse is a private intelligence agency founded by former CIA officer Duane "Dewey" Clarridge, who was indicted in the Iran-Contra scandal, but pardoned during his trial by President George H.W. Bush.

Clarridge told Fox News that Eclipse was a subcontractor for U.S. Central Command from November 2009 through May 31, 2010. After that, he said he invested $50,000 of his own money into maintaining his informant network in Afghanistan.

The work resulted in a series of dispatches on Bergdahl's activities and condition over the years. They began in October 2009 and ended in August 2012, Fox reports.

Thirteen early reports, including the one in which Bergdahl reportedly referred to himself as a "mujahid," were sent to Brigadier General Robert P. Ashley Jr., director of intelligence at CENTCOM.

U.S. Marine Corps General James N. Mattis, who served as CENTCOM commander from August 2010 to August 2012, told Fox News that Ashley may have forwarded bits and pieces of the reports to him, but he had not seen the specific reports Fox News cited.

Fox News talked to experts who said the reports, if true, do not necessarily indicate Bergdahl converted to Islam or that he joined their war cause. He could have suffered from Stockholm Syndrome, in which long-held captives sometimes begin to sympathize with their captors, or he could have feigned allegiance to survive.

Columnist Charles Krauthammer told Fox News Channel's "Special Report" that the documents lend credence to the idea that Bergdahl did not intend to defect from the Army when he walked off base. The reports indicate he tried to escape his captors five times, he noted, saying that indicates he was not with them willingly.

Further, he noted, the military's action in rescuing him also indicates it did not consider him an enemy combatant.

"You don't go after a defector in order to rescue him. If you're dealing with a defector … you kill him, the way we killed Anwar al-Awlaki," he said.

The New York Times, meanwhile, wrote about the 35-page classified report made two months after Bergdahl's disappearance, which according to people who have seen it makes no mention of Bergdahl being disillusioned with his military service, as some of his fellow platoon members have been telling the media in recent days.

The report does, however, contain reports of Bergdahl shipping his computer and a journal home before he walked away, Times sources said.



Related Stories:

• Senators: White House Bergdahl Briefing Raised More Questions
• Scarborough: Bergdahl Exchange 'Strangest Thing Ever' From White House
  

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Here WE Go Again! TSA Purchasing 4.8 Million Rounds Every Year. Why Do Airport Guards Need Such Firepower? Riots? Insurrection? Civil Disturbances? Tea Party Rallies?

TSA TO PURCHASE 24 MILLION ROUNDS OF “DUTY” AMMUNITION

Feds preparing to arm TSA workers?

by PAUL JOSEPH WATSON | MAY 22, 2014

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The TSA has issued a solicitation requesting 24 million rounds of .357 SIG “duty ammunition” over a five year period, prompting fresh questions as to whether the federal agency is planning to arm its workers.

“Estimated quantity is approximately 4,800,000 rounds of .357 Sig duty ammunition per year, totaling 24,000,000 over the life of the contract,” states the solicitation, posted on FedBizOpps, which adds that the ammo is for use at “DHS component locations nationwide.”

The ammo purchase is likely to spark new questions about whether the Department of Homeland Security is preparing to arm TSA agents, an idea that has been pushed by the TSA’s union, the American Federation of Government Employees, but has received scant support elsewhere.

Although Federal Air Marshals acting under the jurisdiction of the TSA are currently armed, other indications, such as the hiring of shooting ranges near airports, suggest the federal government could be preparing to arm some TSA workers. There are only 4,000 Federal Air Marshals currently operating in the United States, a figure that doesn’t appear to match with the 4.8 million rounds a year the TSA is set to purchase under this solicitation alone.

The solicitation is filed under the auspices of the TSA and not another DHS agency such as Customs and Border Patrol.

“Outside of certain governmental organizations like the Federal Air Marshals, and the Secret Service, .357 Sig ammo is not a vastly popular round. It is basically a .40 caliber case necked down to accept a 9mm bullet. Who knows what it means, other than that a relatively small number of federal agents are expecting to do a whole hell of a lot of shooting, or they are expecting the ammo market to dry up for an extend period time,” notes one blog.

An even more disturbing scenario would see armed DHS agents patrolling the streets of major cities like Chicago, as Jesse Jackson called for last year.

Fears that large ammunition purchases by the Department of Homeland Security may be linked to preparations for domestic unrest have raged over the past two years, although a recent Government Accountability Office investigation downplayed the issue as nothing out of the ordinary.

Another noteworthy aspect to the story is that the Department of Homeland Security has stopped referring to such ammunition as “hollow point,” and is now referring to it as “duty” ammunition.

One of the DHS’ explanations as to why it has been making ammo purchases in bulk quantities is in order to save money. However, previous solicitations for training ammunition requested “hollow point” rounds, which are not suitable for training and are more expensive than full metal jacket rounds.

More recently the DHS issued a solicitation for over 141,00 rounds of sniper ammunition, bullets known commercially as “Zombie Max,” a reference to their high power.

Bergdahl: A Lesson Of The Mideast Bazaar. Some People Are Better Negotiators Than Others. Obama In The Latter Category.

Obama Makes Worst Trade Since American Indians Sold Manhattan For $24

June 6, 2014 by Wayne Allyn Root 

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Hello, I’m Wayne Allyn Root for Personal Liberty. President Barack Obama has done it again! He’s found an unimaginable way to both damage and embarrass America at the same time.

Remember how the American Indians gave up Manhattan? The Indians were robbed. They were conned into selling Manhattan for $24 of trinkets in 1626.

That was the worst trade in history. Until now.

Obama’s trade for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl now tops the infamous list of “Worst Trades in History.”

In the sports world there have been many legendary bad trades. Julius Irving. Kobe Bryant. Nolan Ryan. Hershel Walker to the Minnesota Vikings for an entire team of players and draft picks that led to three Super Bowl victories for the Dallas Cowboys.

But the worst sports trade ever was the Red Sox selling Babe Ruth to the Yankees. The Red Sox didn’t win another title for 86 years. The Yankees became the greatest American sports franchise in history. They won seven World Championships with Babe Ruth.

It was called “The Curse of the Bambino.”

Executives got fired for those horrible one-sided trades. Teams were embarrassed. Legends were created. Billions of dollars of franchise value was created (and lost). But none of those trades led to danger, disaster or the potential death of thousands of Americans.

Obama takes the cake. He traded one obvious deserter for five of the most cunning, vicious mass murderers and America-haters in history. Mass murderers and friends of Osama bin Laden were freed by America.

What did we get? A traitor who purposely walked away from his base, searching for the enemy to surrender to:

• Who made comments about his disillusion with America.
• Who may have converted to Islam and taught bomb-making skills to the Taliban.
• Whose search and rescue cost the lives of as many as 14 heroes (his military brothers).

And here’s the most bizarre and disconcerting thing of all. At the White House ceremony announcing the trade, Bergdahl’s father spoke in Arabic. It is reported the father converted to Islam.

That’s what we traded five mass murderers for? That’s what Obama broke the law for?

The trades of Manhattan and Babe Ruth are both looking pretty good by comparison.

Keep in mind those five sworn enemies of America — mass murderers all — haven’t even gotten back on the battlefield. Yet.

But when they do, remember they were set free by our own President, to rain hell down on our American hero soldiers. Remember they were set free by our own President to plot a new 9/11 that could kill thousands or even hundreds of thousands of Americans (think dirty bomb).

The world is shocked and horrified. America’s enemies are laughing and high-fiving. Our military is demoralized. Our economy is in free fall. Our dignity and legacy are in tatters. Our reputation across the globe is shattered. One man has destroyed the once-great America.

Why did Obama break the law to trade for one deserter? Why would he risk all hell breaking loose for one traitor who cost the lives of as many as 14 military heroes? Two reasons:

• First, Obama was desperate to get the Veterans Affairs scandal out of the headlines. He had to change the topic away from neglect and fraud causing the death and suicide of American military vets under his leadership. How better to change the subject and erase the scandal involving abuse, neglect and even murder of military vets than by appearing to be a Commander in Chief rescuing an American military prisoner of war. Obama had delusions of grandeur, overnight going from bum to hero.
• Second, my sources in military command positions tell me that the CIA reported to Obama that Bergdahl was about to go on global television to denounce America, call our military evil — and do it all in Arabic. Obama would have been humiliated. His narrative of being such a big victor over al-Qaida and the Taliban would have been destroyed in front of the whole world, live on global television.

So here was the perfect way to kill two birds with one stone. But it all backfired as word got out of the betrayal by this American soldier, the deaths of 14 of his military brothers searching for him, his father speaking in Arabic, the danger that the release of those mass murderers presents, Obama claiming we will “keep eyes on them” and then, within minutes, an official in the Mideast counteracting Obama’s words and reporting these mass murderers are free as jaybirds to roam Qatar for the next year — and then free to return to the battlefield.

Obama is either a complete fool; a reckless, naive idiot who doesn’t understand who he is negotiating with; or complicit in a crime against America. You decide. But either way, he broke the law by making the deal without informing Congress.

Forget the humiliation of selling Manhattan for $24. Forget “the Curse of the Bambino.” Forget all the humiliating trades in history. This one takes the cake. Babe Ruth is rolling over in his grave.

This curse won’t lose seven World Championships or three Super Bowls. This curse could cost America our international credibility and lead to more kidnappings of American soldiers and the deaths of hundreds or even thousands of deaths to Americans if these mass murderers are emboldened to create a new 9/11.

This is the “Curse of Barack Hussein Obama.” America may never recover.

I’m Wayne Allyn Root for Personal Liberty. See you next week. God bless.