This is a pretty sobering statistic.   Last week in response to continued terrorist attacks in the Sinai region, Egypt began to widen the border between Gaza and Egypt.  A “buffer zone” is being built and homes on the border are being removed.  A “border wall” is currently being considered.
So far around 200 homes have been bulldozed or destroyed as Egypt’s President Abdul Fattah el-Sisi and his government begin the process.  Of the 200 homes removed, 78 have been found to house tunnels from Egypt into Gaza, that’s 39%.  These tunnels are used by Hamas to smuggle arms and rockets into the Gaza strip – the target of the rockets is Israel.

EGYPT – North Sinai Governor General Abdel-Fattah Harhour said owners of houses on the border line with the Gaza Strip will not receive any compensation for their demolished houses if smuggling tunnels were discovered inside their homes.
“The number of these homes whose owners will not receive compensation is 78, no compensation because these houses have smuggling tunnels,” he told local CBC television.
On Wednesday, the army began demolishing homes along the border line with the Gaza Strip to create a buffer zone which aims at preventing weapons smuggling. (more…)

WASHINGTON – Deputy National Security Adviser and MFA in creative writing Ben Rhodes likened an Iranian nuclear deal to Obamacare in a talk to progressive activists last January, according to audio obtained by the Washington Free Beacon (below).
The remarks, made at a since-discontinued regular meeting of White House personnel and representatives of liberal interest groups, reveal the importance of a rapprochement with Iran to President Obama, who is looking to establish his legacy as his presidency enters its lame-duck phase.

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/174586449″ params=”color=ff5500″ width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]
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Allow me to present the counter point after John Kerry’s initial point:

(CNSNews.com) – Secretary of State John Kerry argued Thursday that the United States cannot push its weight around in a changing and “complicated” world, and implied that the previous administration having done so had led to today’s security crisis in Iraq.
In an appearance at the Washington Ideas Forum, Kerry said that although the Obama administration wanted to see a less sectarian government in Iraq – a prerequisite for tackling the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS/ISIL) threat – it could not have simply demanded that former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki be replaced.
“The United States couldn’t just crash in and say, ‘Hey, you’re out. Here are the guys that are in.’ That’s not our – it would be playing into all of the worst stereotypes that have brought us to the difficulties we’re living with today.”  (link)

Here’s the counter point:

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For all intents and purposes Libya is the forgotten mess created by President Obama’s team and their insufferable incompetence.   Perhaps a time will surface when someone in the Western media will actually call Obama or Hillary Clinton to account for the mess they have created, but it doesn’t seem likely.

Imagine if Islamists were raging a power struggle throughout Canada while a Russian armed civil war was taking place in Mexico ~ imagine the position of our country in the face of such a problem.  That’s the analogy to a situation faced by Egypt as a consequence of our 2011 action, ISIS in Syria (with their eyes on Jordan), and neighboring Libya simultaneously in a civil war.
It’s easy to cast aspersions to the heavy-handed decision making of Fatah el-Sisi as he deals with the Sinai highway between Hamas (East) and the Muslim Brotherhood factions, which include ISIS, (West) along his borders with Gaza and Libya respectively.

President Obama, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Susan Rice and Samantha Power deconstructed the governing authority of Libya under the auspices of a “Responsibility to Protect“.   All of those “good intentions” went to a land of perpetual FUBAR once Ambassador Chris Stevens was killed and it all, well, needed to be brushed under the proverbial rug. (more…)

GOOD GRIEF – Only from the same department headed by Secretary John Kerry, and advocated by Marie Harf, could you even begin to fathom something so ridiculous being considered.  Seriously, what boneheaded bureaucrat would come up with this idea?   Hashtag #NO ! 

(Washington Times) The State Department has quietly made plans to bring Ebola-infected doctors and medical aides to the U.S. for treatment, according to an internal department document that argued the only way to get other countries to send medical teams to West Africa is to promise the U.S. will be the world’s medical backstop.
Some countries “are implicitly or explicitly waiting for medevac assurances” before they will agree to send their own medical teams to join U.S. and U.N. aid workers on the ground, the State Department argues in the undated four-page memo, which was reviewed by The Washington Times.

“The United States needs to show leadership and act as we are asking others to act by admitting certain non-citizens into the country for medical treatment for Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) during the Ebola crisis,” says the four-page memo, which lists Office of International Health and Biodefense Deputy Director Robert Sorenson as its author. (more…)

We were wondering why the White House put out last week’s meeting of the National Security Council so quickly – they never do that, ever.  Reading this lengthy Politico article the urgent optics now make sense…. there’s always a reason with this crew.

(Via Politico) When President Obama, after months of equivocation over how to respond to the takeover of parts of Iraq and Syria by radical militants, announced in September that the United States would “lead a broad coalition to roll back this terrorist threat,” the White House swung quickly into action, sending proposed legislation to train and equip Syrian rebels to Capitol Hill that same day.
Unfortunately, the White House failed to consult with the Pentagon—which would be doing most of the rolling back—on the timing or details of the announcement. (more…)

You can CLICK PIC to enlarge or visit BIGGIE HERE 

President Barack Obama, with Secretary of State John Kerry, participates in a secure video teleconference with Embassy Baghdad and Consulates General Erbil and Basrah, at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C., Oct. 24, 2014 (Via WH Flickr)

2:23pm Gotta’ Love The Crew:  Skippy = Bored; Rice = “fer realz?”; Lew = Dazed; Johnson = ‘eh, meh’; Brennan = Friday (drinks soon); Power = Drifting off thinking about the upcoming trip to Ebola world “why me”?

Lost amid the reality we must bathe ourselves in chlorine to avoid upsetting the delicate sensibilities of West Africans is the invisible policy discussion of an illegal war being carried out in Syria.

President Hopey Changey has proclaimed both The War Powers Act, and a 2002 congressional authorization (AUMF) intended against al-Qaeda in Iraq, as the baseline for his legal approach to bombing in Syria.
Apparently, we are to ignore the fact the War Powers Act expired after 30 days, and the AUMF was never granted for Syria.
Of course the actual legal route would require congressional leadership to actually do, well, you know, leadership-type things. Currently neither Senator Turtle, nor the House Crier are willing to interrupt election season -or tanning appointments- to put Syrian authorization measures in front of the peoples representatives for a vote.

Unfortunately those pesky details are not lost on Russia, who reminded Secretary Ketchup as such during a recent chat.
Only in 2014’s fundamental change world does our President put constitutional types in a position where we actually end up in agreement with our arch nemesis, Russia.
(CNSNews.com) – Russia is not a member of the U.S.-led anti-ISIS coalition because its military actions are “paradoxical” and not in line with international law, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said this week. He pointed out that the coalition and Russia were arming opposing sides in the Syrian civil war. (more…)

• Belize Prime Minister, Dean Barrow, has told U.S. State Department the cruise ship will not be allowed to port. • Dallas healthcare worker who did lab work for Patient Zero, Thomas Duncan, is on board, exhibiting Ebola symptoms and quarantined. • Armed Belize Coast Guard refuse to allow docking for emergency airlift.  • Belizean Harbor pilot also not permitted to leave ship. • Belize Government Issues Press Release.

Overnight – U.S. Media not yet reporting on the severity of the incident – Galveston, Texas-based Carnival Magic cruise ship anchored at Stake Bank off Belize’s coast.

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If you listen to the answers given by Leon Panetta in this interview regarding the CIA talking points you will note his discomfort at O’Reilly attaching General Petraeus to the Benghazi talking points.

Panetta continues to say “the CIA” talking points when pushed, because he knows Petraeus did not construct them, Deputy CIA Director Mike Morell did.
It was Mike Morell and Ben Rhodes who formulated the political strategy Susan Rice was sent forth to sell. That’s why Petraeus became a risk prior to the November 2012 election and needed to be removed. That’s why Petraeus’s relationship with Paula Broadwell was leveraged for his removal.
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