Barack Obama’s $400 Million Ransom Payment to Iran to Free Hostages

WHAT, YOU THOUGHT IRAN RELEASED THE AMERICAN HOSTAGES BECAUSE THEY RESPECTED AND FEARED OBAMA?

The WSJ is reporting that the Obama administration sent $400 million to Iran as Americans were freed from the terror state. However, Barack Hussein Obama claims that there was no quid pro quo, and it was not a ransom as critics have charged. Oh, of course it was just a coincidence. REALLY? And if you believe that one I have a private email server to sell you from Hillary Clinton’s bathroom that did not contain top secret emails. Interestingly enough, the Iranian press reports have quoted senior Iranian defense officials describing the cash as a ransom payment. How sad has it become in America when one believes the Iranian media over the President of the United States?

The Obama administration secretly organized an airlift of $400 million worth of cash to Iran that coincided with the January release of four Americans detained in Tehran, according to U.S. and European officials and congressional staff briefed on the operation afterward.

Wooden pallets stacked with euros, Swiss francs and other currencies were flown into Iran on an unmarked cargo plane, according to these officials. The U.S. procured the money from the central banks of the Netherlands and Switzerland, they said.

The money represented the first installment of a $1.7 billion settlement the Obama administration reached with Iran to resolve a decades-old dispute over a failed arms deal signed just before the 1979 fall of Iran’s last monarch, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

Senior U.S. officials denied any link between the payment and the prisoner exchange. They say the way the various strands came together simultaneously was coincidental, not the result of any quid pro quo.

“As we’ve made clear, the negotiations over the settlement of an outstanding claim…were completely separate from the discussions about returning our American citizens home,” State Department spokesman John Kirby said. “Not only were the two negotiations separate, they were conducted by different teams on each side, including, in the case of The Hague claims, by technical experts involved in these negotiations for many years.”

But U.S. officials also acknowledge that Iranian negotiators on the prisoner exchange said they wanted the cash to show they had gained something tangible.

Powerline points out some of the specifics of the Obama ransom for hostages deal with Iran.

(1) It was indeed a ransom payment – negotiators originally established a formula of people for people: American nationals held by Iran for Iranian nationals held by America. But then the Iranians started demanding billions of dollars as well. Iranian officials later bragged they coerced the ransom out of U.S. diplomates —

The U.S. and Iran entered into secret negotiations to secure the release of Americans imprisoned in Iran in November 2014… The discussions… initially focused solely on a formula whereby Iran would swap the Americans detained in Tehran for Iranian nationals held in U.S. jails… But around Christmas, the discussions dovetailed with… the old arms deal. The Iranians were demanding the return of $400 million… They also wanted billions of dollars as interest accrued since then… a report by an Iranian news site close to the Revolutionary Guard, the Tasnim agency, said the cash arrived in Tehran’s Mehrabad airport on the same day the Americans departed. Revolutionary Guard commanders boasted at the time that the Americans had succumbed to Iranian pressure. “Taking this much money back was in return for the release of the American spies,” said Gen. Mohammad Reza Naghdi, commander of the Guard’s Basij militia, on state media.

(2) The administration hid the details from Congress – Lawmakers have been pressing the administration for six months to provide more details about how and where the money went, among other things because Iran has been transferring money for military purposes. They’ve made little progress —

The Obama administration has refused to disclose how it paid any of the $1.7 billion, despite congressional queries, outside of saying that it wasn’t paid in dollars. Lawmakers have expressed concern that the cash would be used by Iran to fund regional allies, including the Assad regime in Syria and the Lebanese militia Hezbollah, which the U.S. designates as a terrorist organization. The U.S. and United Nations believe Tehran is subsidizing the Assad regime’s war in Syria through cash and energy shipments. Iran has acknowledged providing both financial and military aid to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and deploying Iranian soldiers there.

Obama’s White House Gets Higher Wall, But a Wall Between Mexico and USA for Border Security is A Bad Thing

WALLS AND SECURITY FOR ME, NOT FOR THEE …

It is the ultimate show of hypocrisy, The White House, the house that Barack Obama lives in; however, thankfully not for long, will be getting a higher fence for better security and to keep people out. The new 11-foot-7-inch barrier surrounding the White House facility will replace the 7 foot one to prevent individuals from jumping or scaling the current one. OH THE IRONY. So from the president who says fences and walls are not the answer comes the following that they are the answer when it comes to White House security. Hmm, this reeks of do as I say, not as I do and that Obama and the house he lives in is more important than the country we live in.

In a commencement speech at Rutgers, see the VIDEO below, Obama makes the point that walls are bad and evil. REALLY? Of course the fool made a reference to the Iron Curtain, and any literate person knows that it was a wall to keep people in, not out. Maybe Obama should take his own advice in that ignorance is not a virtue. Obama said the following: “Building walls won’t do that. It won’t boost our economy, and it won’t enhance our security either. [...] Suggesting that we can build an endless wall along our borders, and blame our challenges on immigrants — that doesn’t just run counter to our history as the world’s melting pot; it contradicts the evidence that our growth and our innovation and our dynamism has always been spurred by our ability to attract strivers from every corner of the globe.  That’s how we became America.  Why would we want to stop it now?” 

But higher and more secure walls are perfectly okay for Obama. And with regards to ignorance not being a virtue Mr. President, the United States of America is a governed by rule of laws. We have never allowed all immigrants into this country. They have always had to pass a standard. And they certainly could not come into the country illegally. Sorry, but that was not how we became America. Also, since you brought up the “melting pot”. What melting pot are you referring to when in today’s society I see Mexican flags being flown at rallies and a Muslims in the USA want Sharia law? The melting pot meant assimilation into the American way of culture and society, not keeping your own.

The Wall Street Journal: Higher Fence Surrounding White House.

The federal Commission of Fine Arts has given its preliminary approval for a taller White House fence to better protect the presidential mansion after a rash of fence-hopping incidents.

The commission on Thursday voted to approve an 11-foot-7-inch barrier surrounding the White House facility after a presentation by the U.S. Secret Service and the National Park Service. The new fence would replace the current 7-foot barrier.

The new fence “incorporates anti-climb and intrusion detection technology, while respecting the historical significance and visitor experience at the White House and President’s Park,” the Secret Service and Park Service said in a joint statement.

The commission, an independent federal agency charged with reviewing design and aesthetics at federal facilities, among other things, will still need to sign off on the final design, which will be refined and finalized in the coming months. The Secret Service and the Park Service hope to begin construction on the new White House fence by 2018.

A set of temporary barriers have been placed around the White House since last year to keep visitors away from the current White House fence after a number of security incidents showed that it could be easily scaled. The temporary barricades prevent tourists and visitors from approaching the fence itself.

How come Obama’s “OPEN BORDERS” philosophy is not implemented at his own house? Next up, Barack and Michelle will be telling us to eat cake.

Judge Jeanine: Why Hillary Clinton is Confident She’s in the Clear on Private Email Server Crimes

ONE MORE BIG LIE AND COVERUP FROM OBAMA AND CLINTON …

Why would anyone vote for Hillary Clinton when what Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are doing in the cover up of the private Email server. Judge Jeanine connects the dots, why is Hillary so confident she is in the clear? How could some one so corrupt ever run for president, let alone win it. So why is she so confident, because Barack Obama was just as complicit in her dealings.

The Fix is in …

IRS Finally Reveals List of 426 Tea Party Groups Targeted in Scandal

 NOTE TO THE CORRUPT IRS, 426 IS MUCH LARGER THAT 298 …

As reported at the Washington Times, the IRS has finally released a list of the Conservative Tea Party groups that were illegally and purposely targeted for so-called “extra scrutiny.” The IRS, that acted like a political hit-man for the Obama administration, released names of 426 organizations. However, there was another 40 organizations that were not released as part of the list because they were not part of the class-action suit. This is a far cry from the number of 298 groups that the IRS identified back in 2013. Imagine that, the IRS lied. So in the run up to the 2012 presidential elections. the IRS willfully and purposely targeted over 400 conservative groups in an effort to affect an election. Mission accomplished. Not only should individuals have been fired, IRS officials should be in prison.

More than three years after it admitted to targeting tea party groups for intrusive scrutiny, the IRS has finally released a near-complete list of the organizations it snagged in a political dragnet.

The tax agency filed the list last month as part of a court case after a series of federal judges, fed up with what they said was the agency’s stonewalling, ordered it to get a move on. The case is a class-action lawsuit, so the list of names is critical to knowing the scope of those who would have a claim against the IRS.

But even as it answers some questions, the list raises others, including exactly when the targeting stopped, and how broadly the tax agency drew its net when it went after nonprofits for unusual scrutiny.

The government released names of 426 organizations. Another 40 were not released as part of the list because they had already opted out of being part of the class-action suit.

That total is much higher than the 298 groups the IRS‘ inspector general identified back in May 2013, when investigators first revealed the agency had been subjecting applications to long — potentially illegal — delays, and forcing them to answer intrusive questions about their activities. Tea party and conservative groups said they was the target of unusually heavy investigations and longer delays.

As the Gateway Pundits opines, “Can you even imagine the outcry if George Bush or any other Republican had done this to liberal groups like Move On or Code Pink?” Maybe if The Donald is elected he should do just that to see what happens.

Pathetic May 2016 Jobs Report … Obama Economy Only Added 38,000 as Obama Touted the Economy is Great

WTF … 38,000 JOBS ADDED IN MAY … WAY TO GO BARACK!!!

The amazing economy that Barack Obama touted this past week in Indiana created a pathetic 38,000 jobs in May. And as the NY Post reports, it was even worse than that, if possible. 38,000 JOBS!!! This is a beyond unreal bad number as the experts predicted a modest gain of 150,000 jobs. OOPS! But do to the BS way the government calculates the unemployment rate, the unemployment rate fell to 4.7% from 5%. So for the uninformed, they think things are just grand. Even they they are unemployed and on welfare and food stamps.  The fact of the matter is that the labor participation rate is at a record low, as a 94,708,000 Americans were not in the labor force in May,  664,000 more than in April. The labor force participation rate dropped two-tenths of a point to 62.6 percent.

The job market went ker-plop in May, which should send new college graduates to the beaches instead of gainful employment, and their tuition-paying parents to psychiatrists.

Let me get right to the bad news. And then I’ll give you even worse news, so you’d better pull up a beach chair.

The Labor Department reported on Friday that the nation’s economy added only 38,000 jobs in May.The experts expected a modest gain of 150,000 jobs, so the actual figure is like setting off a bomb at a gas station.

May’s gain was not only well below the consensus but much lower than the previous two months, whose figures were revised sharply downward. In total, there were actually 59,000 fewer new jobs in March and April than previously estimated.

But it gets even worse than that.

Of those 38,000 new jobs the government said were created in May, only 25,000 were in the private sector, which means that if it weren’t for the fact that governments somewhere found money to hire people, then growth would have been reduced by nearly a third.

Obama’s BIG LIE about the economy.

When President Obama took office in January 2009, 80,529,000 Americans were not participating in the labor force; since then, 14,179,000 Americans have left the workforce — some of them retiring and some just quitting because they can’t find work.

“By almost every economic measure, America is better off than when I came here at the beginning of my presidency,” President Obama told the people of Elkhart, Indiana three days ago. “We cut unemployment in half, years before a lot of economists thought we would.”

The unemployment rate in May dropped to 4.7 percent, BLS reported, less than half of its Obama-era high of 10 percent in October 2009.

But the labor force participation rate has deteriorated over Obama’s two terms.

When Obama took office in January 2009, shortly before the recession ended, the labor force participation rate was 65.7 percent. The following month, it reached an Obama-era high of 65.8 percent, and then it began its seven-year downward spiral, hitting 62.4 percent in September 2015, its lowest point since 1977.

The 62.6 percent participation rate in May 2015 compares with 62.8 in April and 63.0 in March. (BLS noted that the rate has declined by 0.4 percentage point over the past two months, offsetting gains in the first quarter.)

In May, according to the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, the nation’s civilian noninstitutional population, consisting of all people 16 or older who were not in the military or an institution, reached 253,174,000. Of those, 158,466,000 participated in the labor force by either holding a job or actively seeking one.

The 158,466,000 who participated in the labor force equaled 62.6 percent of the 253,174,000 civilian noninstitutional population.