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Top Republicans on the Senate and House armed services committees went so far as to accuse President Obama of having broken the law, which requires the administration to notify Congress before any transfers from Guantanamo are carried out. “Trading five senior Taliban leaders from detention in Guantanamo Bay for Bergdahl’s release may have consequences for the rest of our forces and all Americans. Our terrorist adversaries now have a strong incentive to capture Americans. That incentive will put our forces in Afghanistan and around the world at even greater risk,” House Armed Services Committee Chairman Howard P. McKeon (R-Calif.) and...

U.S. National Security Adviser Susan Rice pushed back on Sunday against GOP claims that the administration negotiated with terrorists by transferring five Taliban prisoners in Guantanamo Bay to Qatar in exchange for the release of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl on Saturday. "I wouldn't put it that way," Rice said on CNN's "State of the Union" when asked if the exchange means that U.S. officials can no longer say they don't negotiate with terrorists. "Why didn't you notify Congress?" Crowley asked, referencing the law that requires the president to alert Congress in 30 days before transferring any prisoners from Guantanamo Bay....

The Taliban’s release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl dominated the Sunday talk shows, pushing Friday’s resignation of Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki from the headlines. The Sunday shows were packed with Republicans launching into political attacks against President Obama and the administration for transferring five Taliban members from Guantanamo Bay to Qatar in exchange for the release of Bergdahl, the 28-year-old whom the Taliban released on Saturday, and administration officials defending the decision. "Disturbing," was how Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) put it on ABC's "This Week." "Dangerous," echoed House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) on CNN's "State of The Union."...

Federal auditors are questioning more than $500,000 in Hurricane Sandy debris removal costs in Belmar, saying the town awarded two contracts that did not comply with federal rules and lacked paperwork to support other expenses. The Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General today released its findings about the hard-hit Monmouth County borough, marking the third time a federal audit of a Jersey Shore town’s debris removal work following the storm has been made public. The way two contractors charged for cleanup work accounted for more than half of the expenses flagged in Belmar’s audit. Federal auditors said Belmar...

With diplomacy having failed miserably to resolve the Russian annexation of Crimea, and soon East Ukraine (and with John Kerry in charge of it, was there ever any doubt), the US is moving to the heavy artillery. First, moments ago, the US DOE announced in a shocking announcement that it would proceed with the first draw down and sale of crude from the US strategic petroleum reserve, the first since June 2011, in what it said was a "test sale to check the operational capabilities of system infrastructure", but is really just a shot across the bow at Putin for...

Bill Clinton uses a car-racing metaphor to explain the difference between rash and calm decision-making in politics. “The great drivers, when the cars get close, the turns get hairy, they calm down, and they see everything, and they act,” he says. “The ones who are fearful and can't concentrate and can't calm down, run into the wall.” Republican leaders should pay attention, because on the issue of whether Clinton’s sex life is relevant 14 years after he left office, they’re once again careening toward a wall. Sen. Rand Paul dredged up Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky and his subsequent impeachment,...

The White House said Sunday it would 'make sure' the Syrian regime complies with an accord to give up its chemical arsenal, insisting the deal can still be salvaged despite implementation delays and missed deadlines. Article Link: White House to ‘Make Sure’ Syria Gives Up Chemical Arms - Washington Wire - WSJ (http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2014/02/02/white-house-to-make-sure-syria-gives-up-chemical-arms/?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTTopStories)Posted with Article Posting Assistant: (http://code-happy.bahits.com/?p=62)

The U.S. military carried out a missile strike in Somalia on Sunday, targeting a suspected militant leader with links to the al-Qaeda and al-Shabaab terror groups, U.S. military officials told NBC News. U.S. military and intelligence officials are reviewing bomb damage assessment to determine if the terror leader was killed or wounded in the strike. The officials would not yet identify the target of the strike. The al-Shabaab group — which the State Department designates as a terrorist organization — is a loosely affiliated band of militia insurgents in southern Somalia that has close ties to the al-Qaeda terror network.

For President Obama, whose popularity and second-term agenda have been ravaged by the chaotic rollout of the health care law, the preliminary nuclear deal reached with Iran on Sunday is more than a welcome change of subject. It is also a seminal moment — one that thrusts foreign policy to the forefront in a White House preoccupied by domestic woes, and one that presents Mr. Obama with the chance to chart a new American course in the Middle East for the first time in more than three decades. Much will depend, of course, on whether the United States and the...

Momentum appears to be building for a breakthrough deal on Iran's nuclear program, with top diplomats flocking to the site of ongoing talks and one Western official saying Friday a deal could be reached "as soon as tonight." U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and British Foreign Secretary William Hague will both be in Geneva on Saturday.

Most of us see a wagging dog’s tail and think it’s got to be a good sign. Wagging = welcome, right? Especially if it’s the kind of wag that’s knocking over small items. But it turns out that not all wags are equal, and some are a lot more welcoming than others. When I walked into my college biology course freshman year, we started out with a discussion of symmetry. Most animal are built with some symmetry, either radial or bilateral — radial like a starfish, bilateral like a human. Symmetry means things, like health or attractiveness. But it turns...

http://twitchy.com/2013/11/01/report-shooting-at-lax/

FBI Washington field office just confirmed gunman was NOT armed with AR15. Spokesperson says 1 shotgun and 2 pistols recovered— Pamela Brown (@PamelaBrownCNN) September 17, 2013

Obama is going on a whirlwind media blitz this week in an attempt to sell a very skeptical public on war with Syria. Yet the Washington Post notes: Obama’s top aide says the administration lacks “irrefutable, beyond-a-reasonable-doubt evidence” that skeptical Americans, including lawmakers who will start voting on military action this week, are seeking. Indeed, those who have seen the evidence say that it is incredibly weak. German intelligence also says that Assad didn’t order the attacks. Moreover, President Obama correctly noted in 2007: The President does not have the power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will give interviews on Monday to the three network news anchors, as well as to anchors from PBS, CNN, and Fox, more evidence of a "full court press" strategy ahead of pivotal congressional votes on military strikes in Syria.

Those tasked with executing the strike on Bashar al Assad's regime in Syria were reportedly shocked when U.S. President Barack Obama announced Saturday that he wanted to seek Congressional approval first, according to Chris Lawrence with CNN. "The tempo went from 'go-go-go' to nothing," an unnamed defense official told CNN. "We were standing multiple watches. Everyone was pretty sure it was going to happen." With U.S. destroyers and submarines moored off the coast of Syria, battle stations manned, and fingers on the trigger of hundreds of Tomahawk cruise missiles, Obama reportedly changed his mind Friday evening on executing the strike...

Obama already achieved his goal -- suddenly Syria dominates the news, nobody is talking about Benghazi, the IRS scandals, the Obamacare train wreck, the economy and unemployment, the budget... Can't believe that nobody wrote an article detailing this. Can you say "Wag the dog"? That's why he is happily off playing golf...

President Barack Obama had hoped for a quick, convincing strike on Syria, but growing opposition and Great Britain’s stunning rejection of the attack has thrust him into the uncomfortable position of go-it-alone hawk. Just how Obama, whose career sprung from the ashes of George W. Bush’s Iraq policy, got to this extraordinary moment in his presidency is a tale of good intentions, seat-of-the-pants planning and, above all, how a cautious commander-in-chief became imprisoned by a promise. Obama seems likely to bull ahead with air attacks despite an impact and popularity that will be, at best, limited — an unsavory outcome...

BRET BAIER: Charles, to hear the president make this case, and this is really the first time we've heard him make it, it is an interesting way he's phrasing it. CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: I was surprised by the phrase 'shot across the bow.' When you shoot across the bow of an enemy ship, you are telling it to stop or we will sink you with the next round. When Obama says we're doing a shot across the bow, but then we're going to go home, this will stop, it will be limited, three days, we don't want an Iraq war. So...

President Obama is considering a strike on Syrian military targets involving sea-launched cruise missiles or possibly long-range bombers that would last no more than two days, according to senior administration officials and reported by Karen DeYoung and Anne Gearan of The Washington Post. Reuters reports that the West has told the opposition to expect a strike "within days." The limited strike would seemingly be a response to allegations that the Syrian government used chemical weapons on its own people before dawn on August 21. Hundreds were killed and thousands suffered "neurotoxic symptoms." The design of the potential attack implies sending...