-
President Obama Portrays a Tough-Guy Persona by Sanctioning Russia but His Failed Policies Indicate Otherwise
By Neil A. Carousso
President Barack Hussein Obama has just imposed 9 different sanctions on Russia, which could “box in Trump,” wrote The New York Times.
Russian Embassy in Washington, D.C. Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository. Reuters and the Associated Press are reporting that Obama has expelled 35 Russian intelligence operatives from the Russian embassy in Washington. D.C. and the Russian consulate in San Francisco. The President has also ordered the closing of 2 Russian compounds in the nation’s capital and New York City as a result of the alleged Russian “hacking” into the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
Russian intelligence officials have 72 hours to leave and will no longer be able to access the compounds as of noon on Friday, according to a senior U.S. official who spoke with Reuters anonymously.
The Russian foreign ministry said the U.S. sanctions are “counterproductive and will harm the restoration of bilateral ties,” reported Interfax news agency, citing Konstantin Dolgov, Foreign Ministry commissioner for human rights, democracy and the rule of law. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman says Moscow regrets the new U.S. sanctions and will consider retaliatory measures. On Thursday, the Kremlin vowed retaliation to the U.S. sanctions that will be “adequate,” but Friday morning Putin, in a statement on the Kremlin’s website, said, “While we reserve the right to respond, we will not drop to this level of irresponsible diplomacy, and we will make further steps to help resurrect Russian-American relations based on the policies that the administration of Trump will pursue.”
While it may seem like a strong and necessary move from an inherently weak leader, who is on vacation in Hawaii, it may cause major problems in the United States during this period of transition from the Obama Administration to the Trump Administration. The sanctions do not include economic holds or an impact on Russian oil reserves, and many believe the Russian compounds should have been closed a long time ago.
Simply put: Obama waited this long to punish Russia, starting what he cannot finish in office. This is another problem for President-elect Trump to resolve starting on January 20 when he is sworn in as the 45th President of the United States.
Liberal Democrat and Fox News contributor Julie Roginsky said on the air Thursday afternoon that it was a “disgraceful and weak move by the Obama Administration,” adding that Obama’s sanctions are “feckless.” The perplexity is bipartisan.
Really, President Obama? Kicking out a few Russian intelligence agents? How about exposing and freezing Putin and inner circle assets. #weak
— Julie Roginsky (@julieroginsky) December 29, 2016
Clip: @julieroginsky is 'disgusted' by the administration's 'weak and feckless' sanctions against Putin… pic.twitter.com/VAP33lm2wR
— johnny dollar (@johnnydollar01) December 29, 2016
The fact is that the election was a repudiation of President Obama’s policies and leadership by the American voters. Obama even tied his legacy to Mrs. Clinton on the campaign trail saying that he would consider it a “personal insult” if Clinton was not elected.
“My name may not be on the ballot, but our progress is on the ballot.” – President Barack Obama, Saturday, September 17, 2016, Congressional Black Caucus Dinner.“Hacking” neither affected Americans’ votes on their ballots nor the Electoral College votes. There is no proof that Russia affected the election results in any way.Russia’s “hacking” is a distraction to undermine and delegitimize President-elect Trump and avoid discussion about the failed and rejected Obama policies that have led to the decimation of the Democratic party in terms of lost seats across all levels of government, including losing the party majority of members in Congress in 2010, and 948 lost state legislature seats since Obama took office in 2009. The GOP controls the most state legislative seats since the 1920s. Republicans, now, have 31 sitting governors, compared to just 18 Dems, after losing 12 governorships.
“These actions follow repeated private and public warnings that we have issued to the Russian government, and are a necessary and appropriate response to efforts to harm U.S. interests in violation of established international norms of behavior,” President Obama said in a statement, calling out the highest levels of the Russian government for their alleged involvement in the U.S. election.
Obama has said that these sanctions are just the beginning, but not all acts will be made public. It is suspected that the U.S. will engage in a counter-cyber attack. The U.S. should also update cyber-security systems and strategy and upgrade computer software that dates back to the 1950s, according to the United States Government Accountability Office.
President-elect Donald Trump makes an economic announcement on Wednesday at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. Courtesy: Evan Vucci/AP. While Russia should be held accountable for any involvement or intent to influence the election, Obama’s consistent lashing out of spite of Trump’s upset victory over Hillary Clinton, is immature and unpresidential, and perhaps, jealousy of Trump’s early success in the name of tax and business policies of the President-elect, who has saved 1,100 American jobs that Carrier was sending to Mexico, announced that Sprint is bringing back 5,000 jobs to the U.S. that were sent overseas, and new company, OneWeb’s announcement that it is creating 3,000 jobs in the U.S., which is associated with Korean-Japanese businessman and SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son’s guarantee to invest $50 billion to create 50,000 American jobs.
Just in the past two weeks, Obama has signed an executive order banning offshore drilling in the Arctic, policy that continues oil dependency on terror-sponsored nations, and officially dumped an entry-exit registry for immigrant men. Last week, Obama decided to abstain from a United Nations resolution to sanction Israel over settlements in the West Bank. This has been seen as a betrayal of the United States’ strongest ally in the Middle East and “anti-Israel” by many, including most Republicans. David Keyes, spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told Fox News that Israel has “ironclad information” that the Obama Administration worked with Egypt to draft the resolutions, which has been denied by the White House. Important to note that President Obama worked to unseat Netanyahu during last year’s parliamentary elections by spending $350,000 in American taxpayer grants to oust the Israeli prime minister, a congressional report concluded last summer.
“Russian Reset:” U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov after she gave him a device with red knob during a meeting on March 6, 2009 in Geneva. Courtesy: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images. Now, Obama is punishing Russia after a failed 8-years of Russian foreign policy, started with the “Russian Reset” in March 2009 while Clinton was Secretary of State, and punctuated by three transactions of a total of 20 percent of American uranium to Russia, between 2009-2013, that made “Rosatom one of the world’s largest uranium producers and brought Mr. Putin closer to his goal of controlling much of the global uranium supply chain.”
With President-elect Trump taking office, U.S. foreign policy will be approached differently from the abominable past 8 years under Obama. “It’s time for our country to move on to bigger and better things,” said Trump in a statement issued Thursday evening. “Nevertheless, in the interest of our country and its great people, I will meet with leaders of the intelligence community next week in order to be updated on the facts of this situation.”
Featured image: President Obama (right) met with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin in Los Cabos, Mexico on June 18, 2012. Courtesy: REUTERS/Jason Reed.
Last updated: Friday, December 30, 2016 at 11:10 AM ET.
-
Getting Real on Immigration with a Retired Federal INS Agent
By Neil A. Carousso
Michael Cutler is a retired federal agent with the Immigration and Naturalization Service and a senior fellow at Californians for Population Stabilization (CAPS). Basia and this host discuss legal and illegal immigration from a common sense perspective with Mr. Cutler, a Democrat from Brooklyn who is a descendant of Russian immigrants.
Featured image courtesy of Scholastic.
-
Walking in an Army Veteran’s Shoes
By Neil A. Carousso
Rance Mangum enlisted in the U.S. Army on March 15, 1988, proudly serving the United States of America for over 5 years.
Rance Mangum at 34-years-old. “People’s lives depended on you,” said Mangum.
When he returned home to Long Island in 1992 from his tour in Germany, Mangum was homeless, moving in with his grandmother, who raised him since he was 3-years-old. His grandmother, who died in 2012, was his inspiration for dedicating himself to life of service. He spent 14 years as a firefighter, upwards of 30 years in various medical roles, including an EMT, EKG technician and a Certified Nursing Assistant in private Army duty in Florida.
Mangum holds a picture of him and his grandmother that was taken months before she died in 2012. “She made sure that I had my principles and know right from wrong,” said Mangum. “My grandmother says that you have to help others to help yourself.”
About 11 percent of the adult homeless population are veterans, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. 39,471 vets are homeless on a given night, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Furthermore, homeless vets are younger on average than the total veteran population with 41 percent of homeless vets between the ages of 31 and 50, according to the VA.
“The transition [from military service to civilian life] depends on the person, their educations, their situations, their past,” said Mangum, adding, “Sometimes all a person needs is a chance, just a chance to start their life over. Just don’t look at them as a homeless person or a street person walking around, you have to look at the person themselves.”
Mangum, 62, recently signed a rental lease at a home in West Babylon, NY and is seeking employment in the MTA, driving New York City buses after he completes his Class B driver’s license test in December.
“We had a lot of training, because we didn’t know if we were going to Iraq,” said Mangum, who finds civilian work more difficult due to the lack of respect for military members by some employers.
“In the military, you’re in charge of millions and millions of dollars worth of equipment, you are, and you come back here to the United States and civilians look at you for a couple of thousands of dollars, because they don’t think you can handle it,” adding that some employers have a condescending attitude towards veterans who say they can handle tasks.
“Take a couple steps in my shoes.” – Rance Mangum, U.S. Army Veteran
There are 495,000 unemployed veterans in the United States as of the end of last year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Vets over the age of 45, like Rance, account for a 57 percent unemployment rate in their age group. Furthermore, female veterans are more likely to be unemployed than males.
Mangum also suffers from some medical conditions, including a benign tumor on the side of his head. With much national discussion centered around the treatment of veterans at the VA, Mangum, who lived at the United Veterans Beacon House at the Northport VA on Long Island for a few months until he moved to West Babylon, said he was treated well and views situations in an optimistic manner, a lesson he has learned in his lifetime.
“Some of these [vets, living and being treated at the VA], you don’t know how intense it was in Iraq [and] Afghanistan,” said Mangum, who added that those veterans who “come back to the United States and don’t have a job, don’t have a place to live, have alcoholic problems, have drug problems and also have symptoms from post-war syndrome” oftentimes just need someone to talk to in order to feel better.
Carol Klein, co-founder with her husband of “Our Heroes Night Out,” supports homeless veterans by hosting gatherings at the Beacon House in Nortphort.
“Sometimes it’s just easier for people to say ‘well, I’ll give you a check for 25 dollars’ and I’m like, ‘I don’t want your money, I want your time,’” said Klein to which Mangum nodded in agreement. “I just say, could you please just come and spend a little bit of time with these guys. It’s all they need – share your talent, share your time.”
Klein’s brother served in the U.S. Air Force in Vietnam, her son-in-law is a Marines veteran and her nephew is going into the U.S. Navy this month.
Carol Klein, right, devotes her time and energy giving back to those who keep us safe. “Carol is a big part of happiness there,” recalled Mangum. “Everybody loves this lady, they look forward to her.”
Veterans are overjoyed when they receive visits to the VA and letters from people, expressing their gratitude and talking about subjects unrelated to the military and war. Mangum enjoys talking about sports, especially his favorite NFL team, the New York Jets, and even engage in civil political discussions and debate.
Rance’s first great-grandchild. Mangum has family he is close with, including one of his sisters, his two kids and several grandchildren, one who just welcomed in Rance’s first great-grandchild into the world. Many veterans, though, find comfort in their military peers.
“Military has a family-type situation,” said Mangum, who has befriended vets who he has lived with at the Northport VA and continues to keep in contact with Army veterans who he served with via Facebook. “I don’t care if you’re a Navy, Army, Air Force guy, you have that camaraderie of military person.”
There are 21,681,000 veterans living in the United States, according to the latest VA data. New York ranks fifth on total veteran population with three-quarters of the Empire State’s vets having served in wartime.
New York’s veteran population is highly concentrated east of the City, where roughly 20 percent of vets live on Long Island, where Rance has called home for the better part of 50 years, between duty overseas and private duty service in other states.
“Let them know that you care,” said Mangum about how people can help those who served to protect our nation’s freedom, sovereignty and values. “It gives them inspiration to do better to help themselves. Sometimes people don’t want to take the time to do that.”
One can get involved in supporting our veterans through “Our Heroes Night Out” by contacting Klein via her website.
-
Independence Day 2: Donald Trump Elected President Against All Odds, Vows to Return Power to the American People
By Neil A. Carousso
In an unprecedented upset, Republican nominee, businessman Donald J. Trump won the 2016 presidential election, his first political campaign, over Hillary Clinton, being elected the 45th President of the United States of America by the American voters.
President-elect Trump shakes hands with Vice President-elect Mike Pence (R-IN) at the New York Hilton Midtown as they declared victory. (Getty Images) Most political pundits didn’t give Mr. Trump a chance to win in the primaries in which he had to overcome 16 GOP candidates in a hard-fought, contentious campaign in which Trump tapped into the anti-establishment wave with a successful nationalist, populist message of making America strong, safe, wealthy and great again. Trump was given little to no chance to defeat Mrs. Clinton in the general election, but the real estate mogul did so decidedly with a “silent majority” of enthusiastic Trump supporters, who voted to “take back our country” from a big government, political establishment which has teetered on corruption optics.
The President-elect received big wins in swing states such as Florida, North Carolina and Ohio. Trump shockingly won traditional blue states Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and was competitive in Michigan, which is still too close to call as of Wednesday afternoon. Trump also won in Maine’s 2nd congressional district, Utah, Georgia, Louisiana, South Carolina and Vice President-elect Mike Pence’s home state of Indiana. Alaska’s 3 electoral votes, announced in the 3 AM ET hour, put the Trump/Pence Republican ticket over the top to clinch the presidency with the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win.
This reporter covered election night outside Mr. Trump’s election headquarters at the New York Hilton Midtown, surrounded by enthusiastic Trump supporters of all races, ethnicities, cultures and backgrounds. As the night progressed and states like Florida, Ohio and North Carolina were called, Trump supporters cheered with hope for the non-establishment candidate, given little to no shot of defeating Democrat Hillary Clinton. The live reports are below, in a playlist, including interviews with supporters and the group “Blacks for Trump,” discussing substantive issues and their reasons for supporting the political outsider from Queens, and capturing the surreal atmosphere in the heart of New York City.
Featured image courtesy of VOA News.
-
Nassau Police Puts Emphasis on De-Escalation
By Neil A. Carousso
Nassau County has revamped their policy to emphasize de-escalation of situations with the national spotlight on police officers’ use of force in the wake of a number of incidents caught on camera, sparking protests, leading to riots in communities like Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Tulsa, Oklahoma.
So far this year, 776 people have been shot and killed by police officers, according to the Washington Post, which is tracking every death at the hands of the men and women in blue, whether justified or not. In 2015, 991 people died in police-involved shootings.
The issue of race has been brought into the national conversation about police use of force, but according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, there is not a large differential between racial groups and use of force by police, not enough to make a strong correlation. The latest data available indicates that 3.5 percent of Blacks describe their most recent encounter with police to be forceful compared to 2.1 percent of Hispanics and 1.4 percent of Whites. Moreover, 44 percent of people who experienced force by police have had 2 or more encounters with law enforcement.
The Nassau Police Department’s major tweaks to its “Use of Force Policy” comes roughly 2 years since the Department embarked on the first significant overhaul of its use-of-force policy in more than 3 decades in the aftermath of a pair of high-profile shootings involving Nassau officers.
