Obama goes full-Clinton on NSA spying, Congress to probe

[steven36]

President Obama’s philosophy on surveillance of U.S. allies appears to have been inspired by Bill Clinton’s grand-jury testimony during the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

 

The House Intelligence Committee is probing for answers after reports on Tuesday the Obama administration turned a blind eye to NSA spying that netted lawmakers’ private conversations.

 

A White House official speaking on condition of anonymity gave an excuse for Obama’s policy reminiscent of Clinton’s infamous statement on “sexual relations” with his former intern: “It depends upon what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is.”

 

The administration vowed in 2013 that it would curtail spying efforts after NSA leaker Edward Snowden stole 1.7 million documents.

 

“We didn’t say, ‘Do it. We didn’t say, ‘Don’t do it,’” a source told the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday.

 

The newspaper reported that Obama’s spying zeroed in on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who opposed the president’s nuclear talks with Iran over the summer.

 

“I actually think it might be worse than what some people might think, but this is an issue that we’ll keep a close eye on,” Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said during a “Fox and Friends” interview on Wednesday. “[Lawmakers] have a right to be concerned about the fact that while some leaders around the world are no longer being targeted, one of our strongest allies in the Middle East, Israel, is.”

 

Officials told the Journal that Obama wanted surveillance on Netanyahu for diplomatic leverage, but he also needed to avoid a paper trail. An “Oh- s— moment” moment came when it gleaned information on U.S. lawmakers meeting with Israeli leaders and American-Jewish groups, the sources said.

 

“The House Intelligence Committee is looking into allegations in the Wall Street Journal regarding possible Intelligence Community collection of communications between Israeli government officials and members of Congress,” Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., said in a statement released Wednesday. “The Committee has requested additional information from the IC to determine which, if any, of these allegations are true, and whether the IC followed all applicable laws, rules, and procedures.”

 

Republican presidential candidate Sen. Rand Paul said he was “appalled” by the revelations.

 

“You could see how it would stifle speech if you’re going to eavesdrop on congressmen, and that it might stifle what they say or who they communicate with,” the Kentucky senator told Fox News Wednesday.

Fellow candidate Dr. Ben Carson also blasted the White House.

 

“It is truly disgraceful that the Obama administration has spied on [Israeli] Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu, his colleagues and pro-Israel lawmakers in Congress,” the retired neurosurgeon said in a statement. “Not only did he not curtail surveillance of our close friend, he has once again proven himself to be a president that our enemies need not fear and our friends cannot trust. … No doubt President Obama’s former secretary of State Hillary Clinton knew of the administration’s spying efforts on Israel.”

 

“This administration views Congress, Republicans and sometimes even Democratic members of Congress as their enemy,” added Sen. Ted Cruz at a campaign event in Cisco, Texas, CBS News reported Wednesday. “At times, it seems like they view the American people as their enemy.”

 

NSA spokesman Ned Price told reporters on Wednesday that he would not comment on “any specific intelligence activities” other than to say the agency only conducts surveillance when there is “a specific and validated national security purpose,” Politico reported.

 

World leaders who were placed on a “protected” list outside Obama’s surveillance dragnet included German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande.

Top Democrats in Congress laughed off the story as a non-issue.

 

“I’m not surprised. I kind of think the report is much to do about nothing,” New York Rep. Eliot Engel, the ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told the Hill on Wednesday.

 

Netanyahu’s office and the Israeli Embassy in Washington declined to comment when contacted Wednesday by the Washington Post.

 

Source

 

 

[dMog]

well you could also compare to ron reagan and the iran contra scandal...he basically did the alfred e newman what me worry response... no one party or no one president is or ever will e without similar issues...it is the public perception and the "what certain public" wants to see is the bigger picture here.... 

[steven36]

1 hour ago, dMog said:

well you could also compare to ron reagan and the iran contra scandal...he basically did the alfred e newman what me worry response... no one party or no one president is or ever will e without similar issues...it is the public perception and the "what certain public" wants to see is the bigger picture here.... 

Regan  had Alzheimer's disease so im not sure anything he done was of his own thought  process . I think more or less the white house was ran by his staff  . He was a actor from hollywood  playing a part everything he ever said he had to write down to even remember .

 

To me  Regan  was sort of like Sarah Palin who almost  became Vice president  on the fact she was a Governor  and a woman  and didn't know the 1st thing about politics . I think Regan was a good actor who didn't really know that much about politics . But  everyone was scared  him because he was  this crazy  actor dude from Hollywood  they didn't know what he may would  do . Donald Trump is about as crazy as Regain was and he dont know nothing about politics ether .  .

 

How Ronald Reagan based his foreign policy on Tom Clancy books: President told Margaret Thatcher to read Red Storm Rising thriller to understand Russia

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3378683/Ronald-Reagan-advised-Margaret-Thatcher-read-Tom-Clancy-s-thriller-Cold-War-strategy.html

 

His foreign policy was based on books of fiction  tell me he was not just acting  a part?

[straycat19]

Quote

Regan  had Alzheimer's disease so im not sure anything he done was of his own thought  process . I think more or less the white house was ran by his staff  . He was a actor from hollywood  playing a part everything he ever said he had to write down to even remember .

 

What is your source?  Or just more bullshit on the internet from someone who knows nothing.  His Alzheimers was years after he left the Presidency.  We are all actors playing a part.  And actually Red Storm Rising is exactly what the Russians were like back then. I was even offered a job by 3 Russian Generals who saw a demonstration of what we were capable of doing that the Russian Army had no ability to do.  If you think Reagan was crazy you ought to see me and you would think he was God's gift to sanity.  The major difference is I don't talk, I pull the trigger.

[jtmulc]

Weird Nut Daily, that house of Birthers and faux patriots, that is who you're going to quote as "news"?  What, was Infowars too lamestream, mainstream, MSM, drive-by, whatever-the-fudge-conservatives-call-it-these-days media?

 

In case I was unclear, I am not impugning the journalistic integrity of WND, but only because it does not exist in the first place.

[steven36]

1 hour ago, jtmulc said:

Weird Nut Daily, that house of Birthers and faux patriots, that is who you're going to quote as "news"?  What, was Infowars too lamestream, mainstream, MSM, drive-by, whatever-the-fudge-conservatives-call-it-these-days media?

 

In case I was unclear, I am not impugning the journalistic integrity of WND, but only because it does not exist in the first place.

Congress Launches Probe into Obama, NSA Spying Allegations on Israel

http://www.breakingisraelnews.com/57571/congress-launches-probe-obama-nsa-spying-allegations-israel-jerusalem/

 

Congress To Probe Allegations That NSA Spied On Lawmakers, Israeli PM Netanyahu, During Iran Nuke Talks

http://www.ibtimes.com/congress-probe-allegations-nsa-spied-lawmakers-israeli-pm-netanyahu-during-iran-nuke-2244614

 

Congress intel committee to probe US spying on Israel

http://www.breakingisraelnews.com/57571/congress-launches-probe-obama-nsa-spying-allegations-israel-jerusalem/

 

6 hours ago, straycat19 said:

 

What is your source?  Or just more bullshit on the internet from someone who knows nothing.  His Alzheimers was years after he left the Presidency.  We are all actors playing a part.  And actually Red Storm Rising is exactly what the Russians were like back then. I was even offered a job by 3 Russian Generals who saw a demonstration of what we were capable of doing that the Russian Army had no ability to do.  If you think Reagan was crazy you ought to see me and you would think he was God's gift to sanity.  The major difference is I don't talk, I pull the trigger.

 

Quote

 

Did Ronald Reagan have Alzheimer's while in office? Early signs of dementia are revealed in former president's speech

• Researchers analysed transcripts of 46 conferences that Reagan held
• They compared these to sessions George H. W. Bush held in his term
• Reagan used words such as 'thing' to help him recall words more often
• He also used more repetition, which can be an early sign of Alzheimer's

Now researchers at the University of Arizona believe Reagan was suffering from the early onset of Alzheimer's while acting as president.

They came to the conclusion after comparing transcripts of 46 news conferences that Reagan held to the 101 sessions George H. W. Bush held in his term.

'Key word counts previously associated with cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease were extracted and regression analyses were conducted,' the authors wrote.

Reagan used words such as 'thing' as a trigger to recall the correct words more often Bush. He also used more repetition.

The team used a new algorithm based on a technique used by others to analyse changes in writing by novelists, according to a report in the New York Times.

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3020517/Did-Ronald-Reagan-Alzheimer-s-office-Early-signs-dementia-revealed-former-president-s-speech.html

 

And if  you think its OK to use acts of fiction to make foreign policy  I'm very glad  you're not president , its about like Reagan's star wars plain to blow nukes  out of the sky only problem with it when some misses and sooner are latter it would the whole world  would had been on fire   .. And if you  ever pulled a trigger you most likely  would be in jail  not posting on nsane get with reality .  so you're just all talk most likely that Jack Daniels  doing the talking again? 

 

There are studying  Regan even to see if they can figure  out how to  spot Alzheimer's disease early in people that are living  with it.

http://uk.businessinsider.com/changes-in-president-reagans-speech-early-sign-of-alzheimers-2015-4?r=US&IR=T

 

Don't  forget  Nancy Regan say no to drugs and the war on drugs when the whole time the CIA was shipping cocaine in to USA  to support  the Contra Drug Lords war.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_involvement_in_Contra_cocaine_trafficking

 

i remember  those days  well they was catching  petty street dealers  but  they never did catch any main suppler when ever they caught the street dealers  10 more was ready to to take there place  and the Government  was shipping the stuff in even . All a big show  .

 

Here it is 2 decades latter and still is a major problem.

 

Fatal drug overdoses hit record high in US, government figures show

Quote

In 2014 more people died in America from drug overdoses than from car accidents, with heroin and opioids responsible for the majority of deaths

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/dec/19/fatal-drug-overdoses-hit-record-high-in-us-government-figures-show

 

But how  do you stop something when  the people who supposed to be stopping  it law enforcement  sells it themselves ?

 

 

[humble3d]

The trouble is NOT in our stars; The trouble IS in US... 

[steven36]

1 hour ago, humble3d said:

The trouble is NOT in our stars; The trouble IS in US... 

I see a problem with it  when they put them in the white house  but   really there  not very much different than any other republican there all greedy rich  and take advantage  of the poor  and middle class .

Reagan's Policies Hurt Poor & Middle Class

Quote

Early in Eugene Jarecki’s documentary, “Reagan,” you hear the voice of Ronald Reagan saying, “Someday it might be worthwhile to find out how images are created — and even more worthwhile to learn how false images come into being.”

Indeed. The image that many, perhaps most, Americans have of the nation’s 40th president is largely manufactured. Reagan has become this larger-than-life figure who all but single-handedly won the cold war, planted the Republican Party’s tax-cut philosophy in the resistant soil of the liberal Democrats and is the touchstone for all things allegedly conservative, no matter how wacky or extreme.

 

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2011/02/15/reagan039s_policies_hurt_poor_amp_middle_class_250584.html

 

Bernie Sanders Shows How Reagan Helped Destroy The Middle Class

Quote

 

The chart starts by showing that in the decades after World War II, the bottom 90 percent of the country captured most of the growth in income during rebounds from tough times. But then came the Reagan era, and what George H. W. Bush once dubbed "voodoo economics." After Reagan implemented his policies, the top 10 percent grabbed nearly 80 percent of the growth in incomes coming out of the oil crises of the late '70s.

 

"Whoa! What happens in 1982?" Sanders said, noting the dramatic reversal in his diagram. "Well, Ronald Reagan is president, and the good news is we are into trickle-down economics."

The socialist Democrat is certainly aware that other factors such as technology, the waning of the union movement and globalization all played their roles, but his data makes for an awfully stark portrait.

"Frankly, this is a metaphor," Sanders said. "This is an example of exactly what trickle-down economics is all about."

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/30/ronald-reagan-middle-class_n_6578130.html

 

Reaganomics killed America’s middle class

Quote

This country's fate was sealed when our government slashed taxes on the rich back in 1980

http://www.salon.com/2014/04/19/reaganomics_killed_americas_middle_class_partner/

 

Keep blaming  it on the American people if you want  that only want jobs  and to live good , when its these idiot actors  and lawyers who make laws  that keeps  messing things up. The republicans have  been turning  the USA  into a 3rd world country since 1980  .  Most Americans  are delusional and think  this guy was a hero   because  of his laws  even people who make pretty good money  are in debt  up to there  eyeballs  in reality  there as broke as any poor person . The rich  should  be the ones having to pay the most taxes  but there all shipping  there profits to banks outside  the USA  were  they dont have taxes  on there profts in the USA  at all.

[pc71520]

Since politicians are not the ones who really govern...

Why should I bother with them?

[dMog]

way too many tinfoil hat posts here.... way too many conspiracy news sites taken as the only place to find the truth... yes man(america) landed men on the friggin moon  too despite what you  know to be the contrary truth according the conspiracy sites you feed on

 

way to much of people more than willing to look only in one corner of the cat litter box  and then say see the rest of the box is clean...especially the area i live in...where as just under the surface and right on top of where they are standing  in plain site for all to see ...except themselves, is just as much cat dung

[steven36]

WND

7 hours ago, dMog said:

way too many tinfoil hat posts here.... way too many conspiracy news sites taken as the only place to find the truth... yes man(america) landed men on the friggin moon  too despite what you  know to be the contrary truth according the conspiracy sites you feed on

 

way to much of people more than willing to look only in one corner of the cat litter box  and then say see the rest of the box is clean...especially the area i live in...where as just under the surface and right on top of where they are standing  in plain site for all to see ...except themselves, is just as much cat dung

If you say there's too many conspiracy news sites  because the news don't suit you and you're  point of view ? You may as well quit reading the news . Only link to a  site that may be in question in this post  is WND but  most stuff they post  also can found in the main stream media sites  too . International Business Times  is  no conspiracy news site they say Obama  is going too be probed by congress too .  I think the idiot should be impeached  he was spying  on congress now its 2016 hes going  to start passing laws  without congress approval its all over the news  .  Here is More news about it from main stream news sites

 

House looking at whether NSA collected lawmakers' communications

Quote

The report also said that the Obama administration decided to keep monitoring Netanyahu and Israel even as German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other NATO heads of state were considered off limits.

 

http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/264448-house-panel-looking-into-nsa-collecting-communications-between-israel-and

 

Quote

 

The Wall Street Journal reported:

President Barack Obama announced two years ago he would curtail eavesdropping on friendly heads of state after the world learned the reach of long-secret U.S. surveillance programs.

But behind the scenes, the White House decided to keep certain allies under close watch, current and former U.S. officials said. Topping the list was Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The U.S., pursuing a nuclear arms agreement with Iran at the time, captured communications between Mr. Netanyahu and his aides that inflamed mistrust between the two countries and planted a political minefield at home when Mr. Netanyahu later took his campaign against the deal to Capitol Hill.

The National Security Agency’s targeting of Israeli leaders and officials also swept up the contents of some of their private conversations with U.S. lawmakers and American-Jewish groups. That raised fears—an “Oh-s— moment,” one senior U.S. official said—that the executive branch would be accused of spying on Congress.

White House officials believed the intercepted information could be valuable to counter Mr. Netanyahu’s campaign. They also recognized that asking for it was politically risky. So, wary of a paper trail stemming from a request, the White House let the NSA decide what to share and what to withhold, officials said. “We didn’t say, ‘Do it,’ ” a senior U.S. official said. “We didn’t say, ‘Don’t do it.’ ”

Stepped-up NSA eavesdropping revealed to the White House how Mr. Netanyahu and his advisers had leaked details of the U.S.-Iran negotiations—learned through Israeli spying operations—to undermine the talks; coordinated talking points with Jewish-American groups against the deal; and asked undecided lawmakers what it would take to win their votes, according to current and former officials familiar with the intercepts.

Before former NSA contractor Edward Snowden exposed much of the agency’s spying operations in 2013, there was little worry in the administration about the monitoring of friendly heads of state because it was such a closely held secret. After the revelations and a White House review, Mr. Obama announced in a January 2014 speech he would curb such eavesdropping.

In closed-door debate, the Obama administration weighed which allied leaders belonged on a so-called protected list, shielding them from NSA snooping. French President François Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other North Atlantic Treaty Organization leaders made the list, but the administration permitted the NSA to target the leaders’ top advisers, current and former U.S. officials said.

Democrats: If you allow your guy to do this, no complaints when the next GOP POTUS runs amuck with Obama precedent. https://t.co/KzhVIthK9d

 

http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-spy-net-on-israel-snares-congress-1451425210?cb=logged0.5839526468549123

In fact  this not the 1st time Barack Obama got busted  for this in 2015  he got caught  doing it to France  as well.    All  Obama is doing  is dooming  any chance  of the Democrats wining  many sets  or the  Presidency in the NOV  2016 election  no one are going  to vote for them  and now   he going to pass laws  without congress  passing it... Its  election  years  things going get very  nasty