Obama, "I'm Fired Up!"

Vacation over, Obama looking at ways to reduce gun violence

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AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Hawaiian vacation over, President Barack Obama says he is energized for his final year in office and ready to tackle unfinished business, turning immediate attention to the issue of gun violence.

Obama scheduled a meeting Monday with Attorney General Loretta Lynch to discuss a three-month review of what steps he could take to help reduce gun violence. The president is expected to use executive action to strengthen background checks required for gun purchases.

Republicans strongly oppose any moves Obama may make, and legal fights seem likely over what critics would view as infringing on their Second Amendment rights. But Obama is committed to an aggressive agenda in 2016 even as public attention shifts to the presidential election.

Obama spent much of his winter vacation out of the public eye, playing golf with friends and dining out with his family. He returned to the White House about noon Sunday.

"I am fired up for the year that stretches out before us. That's because of what we've accomplished together over the past seven," Obama said his weekly radio and Internet address.

While in Hawaii, he also worked on his final State of the Union address, scheduled for Jan. 12. The prime-time speech will give the president another chance to try to reassure the public about his national security stewardship after the attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, California.

Congressional Republicans have outlined a competing agenda for January, saying they will spend the first days of 2016 taking another crack at eliminating keys parts of the president's health insurance law and ending federal funding for Planned Parenthood. The legislation is unlikely to become law, but it is popular with the GOP base in an election year.

The debate about what Obama may do on gun violence already has spilled over into the presidential campaign.

Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton has called for more aggressive executive actions on guns, and rival Bernie Sanders said he would support Obama's expected move.

The Vermont senator told ABC's "This Week" that he believes "there is a wide consensus" that "we should expand and strengthen the instant background check." He added: "I think that's what the president is trying to do and I think that will be the right thing to do."

Republican candidates largely oppose efforts to expand background checks or take other steps that curb access to guns.

"This president wants to act as if he is a king, as if he is a dictator," unable to persuade Congress and forcing an "illegal executive action" on the country, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie told "Fox News Sunday."

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, also on Fox, said Obama's "first impulse is always to take rights away from law-abiding citizens, and it's wrong."

In the radio address, Obama said tens of thousands of people have died from gun violence since background check legislation stalled three years ago.

"Each time, we're told that commonsense reforms like background checks might not have stopped the last massacre, or the one before that, so we shouldn't do anything," Obama said. "We know that we can't stop every act of violence. But what if we tried to stop even one?"

Federally licensed gun sellers are required by law to seek criminal background checks before completing a sale. But gun control advocacy groups say some of the people who sell firearms at gun shows are not federally licensed, increasing the chance of sales to customers prohibited by law from purchasing guns.

Obama plans to participate in a town hall Thursday night at George Mason University in Virginia on reducing gun violence. The president will take questions from the audience at the event moderated by CNN's Anderson Cooper.

Despite his deep differences with Republicans, Obama has cited two agenda items for 2016 that have bipartisan support: a free trade agreement with 11 other nations called the Trans-Pacific Partnership and changes in the criminal justice system that would reduce incarceration rates for nonviolent offenders. He often points out that the U.S. accounts for 5 percent of the world's population and 25 percent of its inmates.

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COMMENTS

Shootout: NRA says battle with Obama, Clinton over guns is 'winner-take-all'

www.washingtonexaminer.com

The National Rifle Association has opened a new membership drive to build its ranks for a "winner-take-all" shootout with liberals like President Obama and Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton over the future of gun ownership and the Second Amendment.

"Unless you and I stand shoulder-to-shoulder in this winner-take-all fight, it's only a matter of time before we lose our guns, our heritage, and our freedom," wrote Wayne LaPierre, the NRA executive vice president in a new membership letter.

By joining, he urged potential members, "you're drawing a line in the sand, making it clear to politicians across America that you're not going to stand by while extremists trample our individual liberties."

The membership drive comes at the beginning of a crucial election year in which many Democrats believe that the public is more open to gun control.

It also comes as Obama is set this week to push some minor efforts to expand the group of gun sellers required to register as a licenced dealer, a potential step toward national gun registration, according to critics.

While NRA foes often claim that pro-Second Amendment politicians are bought off by the gun lobby's political contributions, it is actually the power of a big and active membership that votes which gives the Virginia-based organization its power, not money.

And with Democrats pushing for more gun control, building membership in the NRA is likely to be easy.

In his letter, LaPierre is very specific about what he sees as the looming threats to America's gun freedoms. The bottom line, he wrote: "Right now we're fighting gun-hating politicians whose agenda includes gun bans, ammo bans, federal gun-owner licensing, gun registration, and even prison time for you if you pass down or sell any banned firearm to a family member or friend."

Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner's "Washington Secrets" columnist, can be contacted atpbedard@washingtonexaminer.com.

COMMENTS

Armed group takes over Oregon wildlife refuge building - CNN.com

edition.cnn.com

www.oregonlive.com

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One of them is Ammon Bundy, the 40-year-old son of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, who is well-known for anti-government action.

He spoke by phone to CNN Sunday morning. Asked several times what he and those with him want, he answered in vague terms, saying that they want the federal government to restore the "people's constitutional rights."

"This refuge -- it has been destructive to the people of the county and to the people of the area," he said.

"People need to be aware that we've become a system where government is actually claiming and using and defending people's rights, and they are doing that against the people."

The group is occupying part of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near Burns after gathering outside for a demonstration supporting Dwight and Steven Hammond, father-and-son ranchers who were convicted of arson.

Prosecutors said the Hammonds set a fire that burned about 130 acres in 2001, to cover up poaching. They were sentenced to five years in prison.

The Hammonds, who are set to turn themselves in Monday afternoon, have said they set the fire to reduce the growth of invasive plants and to protect their property from wildfires, CNN affiliate KTVZ reported.

The Hammonds have been clear in that they don't want help from the Bundy group.

"Neither Ammon Bundy nor anyone within his group/organization speak for the Hammond family," the Hammonds' attorney W. Alan Schroeder wrote to Harney County Sheriff David Ward.

CNN law enforcement analyst Art Roderick, a retired U.S. marshal who investigated anti-government militias for years, warned that Bundy's call for supporters to join him might "turn into a bad situation."

"What's going to happen hopefully (is) ... we don't go out there with a big force, because that's what they're looking for," he said. "The last thing we need is some type of confrontation."

He said that over the years, law enforcement has learned how to handle a situation like this; one that hasn't erupted in violence and in which a law may be broken, but there's no immediate threat to anyone's life.

The best approach now, Roderick said, is to wait the group out and to figure out how to bring a peaceful end to the standoff.

'We are not terrorists'

After the march Saturday, the armed protesters broke into the refuge's unoccupied building and refused to leave. Officials have said there are no government employees in the building.

"We will be here as long as it takes," Bundy said. "We have no intentions of using force upon anyone, (but) if force is used against us, we would defend ourselves."

Ammon Bundy said that the group in Oregon was armed, but that he would not describe it as a militia. He declined to say how many people were with him, telling CNN on Sunday that giving that information might jeopardize "operational security."

The elder Bundy drew national attention last year after staging a standoff with federal authorities over a Bureau of Land Management dispute.

"We are not terrorists," Ammon Bundy said. "We are concerned citizens and realize we have to act if we want to pass along anything to our children."

He wouldn't call his group a militia, but others are.

"I don't like the militia's methods," local resident Monica McCannon told KTVZ. "They had their rally. Now it's time for them to go home. People are afraid of them."

A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service representative said the agency and the Bureau of Land Management are aware of the armed protesters.

"While the situation is ongoing, the main concern is employee safety, and we can confirm that no federal staff were in the building at the time of the initial incident," the representative said. "We will continue to monitor the situation."

What the protesters want

When asked what it would take for the protesters to leave, Bundy did not offer specifics. He said he and those with him are prepared to stay put for days or weeks.

"We feel that we will occupy this as long as necessary," he said.

"We are using the wildlife refuge as a place for individuals across the United States to come and assist in helping the people of Harney County claim back their lands and resources," he said.

"The people will need to be able to use the land and resources without fear as free men and women. We know it will take some time."

He did not explicitly call on authorities to commute the prison sentences for the Hammonds, but he said their case illustrates officials' "abuse" of power.

"Now that people such as the Hammonds are taking a stand and not selling their ranches, they are being prosecuted in their own courts as terrorists and putting them in prison for five years," Bundy said.

He said the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge has taken over the space of 100 ranches since the early 1900s.

"They are continuing to expand the refuge at the expense of the ranchers and miners," Bundy said.

He also said Harney County, in southeastern Oregon, went from one of the state's wealthiest counties to one of the poorest.

CNN has not independently corroborated Bundy's claims.

"I want to emphasis that the American people are wondering why they can't seem to get ahead or why everything is costing more and you are getting less, and that is because the federal government is taking and using the land and resources," Bundy said.

"And if it is continued, it will put the people in poverty."

What the feds say

Acting U.S. Attorney Billy J. Williams of Oregon gave a starkly different perspective on the arson case.

His office declined to comment on the situation at the wildlife refuge Saturday, but it cited an opinion piece written by Williams in the Burns Times Herald last month defending the federal prosecutors' actions in the Hammonds case.

"Five years ago, a federal grand jury charged Dwight and Steven Hammond with committing arson on public lands and endangering firefighters," Williams wrote for the newspaper. "Steven Hammond was also found guilty of committing a second arson in 2006."

The prosecutor said witnesses saw the Hammonds illegally slaughter a herd of deer on public land.

"At least seven deer were shot with others limping or running from the scene," Williams wrote.

He said a teenage relative of the Hammonds testified that Steven Hammond gave him a box of matches and told him to start the blaze. "The fires destroyed evidence of the deer slaughter and took about 130 acres of public land out of public use for two years," the prosecutor wrote.

Williams also disputed the notion that the Hammonds were prosecuted as terrorists, as Bundy suggested.

"The jury was neither asked if the Hammonds were terrorists, nor were defendants ever charged with or accused of terrorism," Williams wrote. "Suggesting otherwise is simply flat-out wrong."

CNN's Holly Yan, Evan Perez, Kevin Liptak, Kevin Bohn and Jackie Castillo contributed to this report.

Militia takes over Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters

www.oregonlive.com

Update at 9:15 p.m.: Statement from Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward: "After the peaceful rally was completed today, a group of outside militants drove to the Malheur Wildlife Refuge, where they seized and occupied the refuge headquarters. A collective effort from multiple agencies is currently working on a solution. For the time being please stay away from that area. More information will be provided as it becomes available. Please maintain a peaceful and united front and allow us to work through this situation."

The Bundy family of Nevada joined with hard-core militiamen Saturday to take over the headquarters of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, vowing to occupy the remote federal outpost 30 miles southeast of Burns for years.

The occupation came shortly after an estimated 300 marchers — militia and local citizens both — paraded through Burns to protest the prosecution of two Harney County ranchers, Dwight Hammond Jr. and Steven Hammond, who are to report to prison on Monday.

Among the occupiers is Ammon Bundy, son of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, and two of his brothers. Militia members at the refuge claimed they had as many as 100 supporters with them. The refuge, federal property managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, was closed and unoccupied for the holiday weekend.

In phone interviews from inside the occupied building Saturday night, Ammon Bundy and his brother, Ryan Bundy, said they are not looking to hurt anyone. But they would not rule out violence if police tried to remove them, they said.

"The facility has been the tool to do all the tyranny that has been placed upon the Hammonds," Ammon Bundy said.

"We're planning on staying here for years, absolutely," he added. "This is not a decision we've made at the last minute."

Neither man would say how many people are in the building or whether they are armed. Ryan Bundy said there were no hostages, but the group is demanding that the Hammonds be released and the federal government relinquish control of the Malheur National Forest.

He said many would be willing to fight — and die, if necessary — to defend what they see as constitutionally protected rights for states, counties and individuals to manage local lands. 

"The best possible outcome is that the ranchers that have been kicked out of the area, then they will come back and reclaim their land, and the wildlife refuge will be shut down forever and the federal government will relinquish such control," he said. "What we're doing is not rebellious. What we're doing is in accordance with the Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land." 

Government sources told The Oregonian/OregonLive that the militia also was planning to occupy a closed wildland fire station near the town of Frenchglen. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management posts crews there during the fire season.

Law enforcement officials so far have not commented on the situation. Oregon State Police, the Harney County Sheriff's Office and the FBI were involved.

Ammon Bundy posted a video on his Facebook page calling on patriots from across the country to report to the refuge – with their weapons.

Pennies In Protest Marchers pause outside the entrance to the Harney County Sheriff's Office to toss pennies. The coins were meant to symbolize citizens buying back their government

The dramatic turn came after other militia groups had tried to dampen community concerns they meant trouble.

Brandon Curtiss, a militia leader from Idaho,

Muslims set over 800 cars ablaze in France on New Year’s Eve

It’s how they “celebrate” New Year’s Eve. Hey, it’s what they do. Obama say, “respect it!”

“Over 800 cars set ablaze in France on New Year’s Eve,” The Daily Sabah, STRASBOURG, January 2, 2016:

A total of 804 vehicles were set aflame in all of France on New Year’s Eve, a 14.5 per cent decrease from the previous year, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said on Twitter Friday.

The 2014-2015 celebrations saw 940 cars burned.

Burning automobiles as a way to ring in the new year has grown into a trend in recent years, with mostly young men using it as a form of protest.

The ministry said 622 people were taken into custody by French authorities over New Year’s, twice as many as a year before.

The New Year’s Eve celebrations took place amid a heavy police presence seven weeks after the November 13 terror attacks in Paris

ByPAMELA GELLER on January 2, 2016

FRANCE GLOBAL JIHAD 2016 

Trump Destroys Media - Obama '16 Gun Grab - Islam v Communist - Show Notes

Listen on iHeart Radio at iHeart.SmythRadio.com
Posted by Smyth Radio on Sunday, January 3, 2016

1.       Trump

-          Blasts the Media (1A) Trump at SC Hilton Head Rally

-          Blasts Hilary Clinton (1B) Trump on the Today Show

-          Donald Trump addressed an overflowing crowd at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum – at a rally billed as the largest presidential campaign event in Mississippi history. 2 Jan 16 no teleprompter (1H)

a.       Iran burning down the Tehran embassy ISIS Hillary and Obama (1G) Trump Blasts

b.      Trump “you are the smartest people and jeb has 2%” (1I)

c.       Trump on the 2^nd amendment (1J)

-          Hillary on stage saying Trump is ISIS best ally then Trump on NBC responding Then Trump at Mississippi Rally.

-          Glenn Beck Calls Trumps wife Porno star (1C)

-          Info Wars Alex Jones - Obamas mom porn star Frank Marshal Davis Teaching Communism and Russian undercover KGB. Obama speaks about his mentor. (1D)

-          Reds and the Deception by Joel Gilbert interview (1E)

-          Frank Marshall Davis best friend Vernon Jarette the father in law of Valery

a.       Frank (Original Black Bolshevik with Harry Haywood)  was a journalist and joined the communist party in 1932 and tricked blacks and media that communism will eliminate racism. Bolshevik was 1 of 2 parties of Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party then split and became Communist Party of Soviet Union. The Bolsheviks came to power in Russia during the October Revolution phase of the Russian Revolution of 1917, and founded the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic which would become the chief constituent of the Soviet Union in 1922

b.      Soviet agent and sent to Hawaii for a revolution

c.       Obama went to Oxidental to study with Marxist professors

d.      Went to NY to go to Socialist Scholars conventions

e.      Obama hooked up with Bill Ayers and went to Chicago back where his father started the communist

movement

f.        Obama became a trainer for 10 years for Acorn

g.       George Soros 33million dollars to fund BLM “Kill the Cops” just like in the 1960s

h.      Goal is to remove the middle class and destroy the Capitalist Foundation.

i.         They Know Christians will never buy into this. Take away healthcare, flood the country with poor and illegals, take away guns. Dumb the kids down public edu. 3 meals a day at school.  Largest Home School movement since the est. Dept. Edu.

j.        The Cloward–Piven strategy is a political strategy outlined in 1966 by American sociologists and political activists Richard Cloward and Frances Fox Piven that called for overloading the U.S. public welfare system in order to precipitate a crisis that would lead to a replacement of the welfare system with a national system of "a guaranteed annual income and thus an end to poverty".

k.       They further wrote:

l.         “ The ultimate objective of this strategy—to wipe out poverty by establishing a guaranteed annual income—will be questioned by some. Because the ideal of individual social and economic mobility has deep roots, even activists seem reluctant to call for national programs to eliminate poverty by the outright redistribution of income.[3]               ”

m.    Michael Reisch and Janice Andrews wrote that Cloward and Piven "proposed to create a crisis in the current welfare system – by exploiting the gap between welfare law and practice – that would ultimately bring about its collapse and replace it with a system of guaranteed annual income. They hoped to accomplish this end by informing the poor of their rights to welfare assistance, encouraging them to apply for benefits and, in effect, overloading an already overburdened bureaucracy."[4]

n.      Focus on Democrats - The authors pinned their hopes on creating disruption within the Democratic Party

o.      In papers published in 1971 and 1977, Cloward and Piven argued that mass unrest in the United States, especially between 1964 and 1969, did lead to a massive expansion of welfare rolls, though not to the guaranteed-income program that they had hoped for. Some credit them for the almost bankrupt New York.

2.       Islam and Communism Connection (BeyondTheCusp.com)

-          If I was pressed to define Islam in terms that many in the West are far more familiar with, I would equate it with Communism with the difference being instead of the superiority of the State, the Laws of the State, and the Party Leaders being the final authority in Communism, Islam replaces the State with Allah, the State Laws with the Koran and the Hadith, and the Party Leaders with the Imams.

-          Communism

a.       People fully surrender to the dictates of state and the defined Laws of Leaders

b.      Political Leaders are granted power by the Tyrannical govt to define desires and rules of the State.

c.       Party Leaders can pick and choose who must follow which laws and at what time. High power leaders are exempt from laws while the people must adhere to all laws at all times.

d.      In Communist States the Party Leaders are considered infallible and their rule is absolute. Party Leaders have the power to arbitrarily change the rules and invent charges in order to arrest and remove any persons who are seen as obstructing the State and imprison them in a work camp for life or execute them should they pose a real threat.

e.      Communism fully expects to take over the world and the only way for the Utopia to begin is when everyone completely submits to its rule of law or die.

f.        Propaganda must be used at all times especially when negotiating with other non-communist countries. As Japan called America during the Second Great War “Paper Tiger” which in reality was projection. i.e. Retirement, minimum wage, happiness index, obedience score,

-          Deaths By Communist (The following estimates represent citizens killed or starved to death by their own Communist governments since 1918. These numbers do not include war dead. All numbers are mid-estimates. Scott Manning.com) 149,469,610 in the last 125 years.

-          Soviet Union

a.       Red Terror

b.      Great Purge

c.       Great Purge in Mongolia

d.      Soviet Killings During WWII

-          People’s Republic of China

a.       Land reform and the suppression of counterrevolutionaries

b.      The Great Leap Forward

c.       The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution

d.      Cambodia Genocide

-          Other countries i.e. Democratic Republic of Vietnam, Peoples Democratic Republic of Korea, Bulgaria East Germany, Peoples Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, Hungary, Democratic Republic of Afghanistan  

-          Islam

a.       People fully surrender to the dictates of Allah and the defined laws attributed to Allah by Muhammad.

b.      Power to issue religious edicts known a Fatwas are granted to Imams through cruel oppressive authoritarianism (dic.com complete obedience or subjection to authority as opposed to individual freedom) and terror.

c.       Imams also have the power to choose which verses of the Koran, as many are contradictory, the faithful must follow the Hadiths and the actions attributed to Muhammad which are to be imitated by only truest followers of Islam.

d.      In Islam peace is defined as the point at which the entire population of the world follows Islam and fully surrenders to Allah and Islam.

e.      In Islam, Taqiyya is used. In simple English one would define Taqiyya as lying. In a political and more general sense Taqiyya would be considered as propaganda, misrepresentation, or misleading all in an effort to further the aims of Islam. Hudna is used when setting up “Treaties or a Truce” with other non-muslim countries. In Islam it is defined as not to last more than 10 years and can be broken at any time that the Muslim country feels it can completely conquer the other country.

f.        In Islam the Imams are considered to speak for Allah as his representatives on Earth and as such are infallible. The Imams have the power to arbitrarily change the rules as they see fit and accuse and convict any person who has become troublesome of working against Allah and thus be incarcerated indefinitely or simply executed.

-          Tears of Jihad (Political Islam.com) Death of Slaves by Islam

a.       Africa

b.      Thomas Sowell [Thomas Sowell, Race and Culture, BasicBooks, 1994, p. 188] estimates that 11 million slaves were shipped across the Atlantic and 14 million were sent to the Islamic nations of North Africa and the Middle East. For every slave captured many others died. Estimates of this collateral damage vary.

c.       The renowned missionary David Livingstone estimated that for every slave who reached a plantation, five others were killed in the initial raid or died of illness and privation on the forced march. [Woman’s Presbyterian Board of Missions, David Livingstone, p. 62, 1888] Those who were left behind were the very young, the weak, the sick and the old. These soon died since the main providers had been killed or enslaved.

d.      So, for 25 million slaves delivered to the market, we have an estimated death of about 120 million people. And Islam ran the wholesale slave trade in Africa.

-          Death of Christians by Islam

a.       The number of Christians martyred by Islam is 9 million [David B. Barrett, Todd M. Johnson, World Christian Trends , William Carey Library, 2001, p. 230, table 4-10] .

b.      A rough estimate by Raphael Moore in History of Asia Minor is that another 50 million died in wars by jihad. So counting the million African Christians killed in the 20th century we have: 60 million Christians

c.       [This calculation does not include the Arab biological warfare of the middle ages where enslaved and infected Jews, riddled with plague, were dumped across Europe in regions that had no Jewish origin or settlers. They carried the disease from the brutal Arab slave trade and were part of the enslaved blacks, Christians and Jews who managed to survive by paying jizya (non-muslim tax). These diseased people were then spread into Europe during muslim efforts to conquer the Italian coast (Venice), Greece, Spain, etc. The plague ended up killing half of the entire population of Europe]

-          Death of Hindus by Islam

a.       Koenard Elst in Negationism in India gives an estimate of 80 million Hindus killed in the total jihad against India. [Koenard Elst, Negationism in India, Voice of India, New Delhi, 2002, pg. 34.] The country of India today is only half the size of ancient India, due to jihad. The mountains near India are called the Hindu Kush, meaning the “funeral pyre of the Hindus.”

b.      80 million Hindus + adjusted 320 million = 400 million Hindus

-          Death of Budist by Islam

a.       Buddhists do not keep up with the history of war. Keep in mind that in jihad only Christians and Jews were allowed to survive as dhimmis (servants to Islam); everyone else had to convert or die. Jihad killed the Buddhists in Turkey, Afghanistan, along the Silk Route, and in India.

b.      The total is roughly 10 million. [David B. Barrett, Todd M. Johnson, World Christian Trends AD 30-AD 2200, William Carey Library, 2001, p. 230, table 4-1.]

c.       10 million Buddhists

-          Armenian Genocide by Islam and Hitler’s Holocaust

a.       Muslim decapitation of 1.5-2 million Christians in Armenia. This genocide was marketed by the Grand Mufti al-Hussaini to Hitler and the Nazi’s and adapted for the Jews – which ended up creating the holocaust. Prior to being associated with al-Husseini Hitler had not committed arrests or persecution of the Jewish people. The genocide was initiated after Hitler’s association and collaboration with muslims and their jihad army offered as Nazi collaborators.

-          5 Leading Prominent Authors on the Parallels between Islam and communism

a.       Leading Islamic theologian Sayyid Abul A’la Maududi in The Islamic Law and Constitution “[T]he Islamic state bears a kind of resemblance to the Fascist and Communist states”

b.      Bernard Lewis in his 1954 essay Communism and Islam “content of belief is utterly different, but the aggressive fanaticism of the believer is the same”

c.       Bertrand Russell in The Practice and Theory of Bolshevism , “Mohammedanism and Bolshevism are…concerned to win the empire of this world.”

d.      Jules Monnerot in Sociology and Psychology of Communism, “Communism [is]…both…secular religion and…a universal State…comparable to Islam”

e.      G.K. Chesterton in The New Jerusalem, “to Moslems as to Bolshevists…they wished…to impose it [their creed] on everybody”

 

Obama to impose new gun control curbs next week

www.washingtonpost.com

President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama are greeted by San Bernardino County Third District Supervisor James Ramos (L) and San Bernardino Mayor Carey Davis (2L) at San Bernardino International Airport. (AFP/Getty/Brendan Smialowski)

HONOLULU — President Obama will meet with Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch on Monday to finalize a set of executive actions on guns that he will unveil next week, according to several individuals briefed on the matter.

White House officials declined to comment on Obama’s plans beyond releasing his weekly radio address on Friday, a day earlier than usual. But according to those familiar with the proposal, who asked for anonymity because it was not yet public, the president will expand new background-check requirements for buyers who purchase weapons from high-volume gun dealers.

The president will also use his executive authority in several other areas, these individuals said, but the overall package has not yet been finalized.

In the radio address, Obama said he was moving unilaterally because Congress had failed to address the growing problem of gun violence.

In a New Year's Day message, President Obama said his resolution for 2016 was to complete "unfinished business," adding that tackling gun violence was at the top of the list. (Reuters)

“A few months ago, I directed my team at the White House to look into any new actions I can take to help reduce gun violence,” he said in the recorded address. “And on Monday, I’ll meet with our Attorney General, Loretta Lynch, to discuss our options.”

“Because I get too many letters from parents, and teachers, and kids, to sit around and do nothing,” Obama continued. “I get letters from responsible gun owners who grieve with us every time these tragedies happen; who share my belief that the Second Amendment guarantees a right to bear arms; and who share my belief we can protect that right while keeping an irresponsible, dangerous few from inflicting harm on a massive scale.”

[President Obama on current level of U.S. gun violence: 'This is not normal.']

Obama began examining how he could tighten the nation’s gun rules after October’s mass shooting at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Ore., but administration lawyers have spent months reviewing any proposals to ensure they can withstand legal scrutiny. The idea of requiring informal gun dealers to obtain a license from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and perform background checks on potential buyers first came up two years ago, but was shelved over legal concerns.

The current federal statute dictates that those who are “engaged in the business” of dealing firearms need to obtain a federal license — and, therefore, conduct background checks — but exempts anyone “who makes occasional sales, exchanges, or purchases of firearms for the enhancement of a personal collection or for a hobby, or who sells all or part of his personal collection of firearms.”

Gun control advocates — including former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), who was gravely injured in a 2011 mass shooting, and former New York City mayor Michael R. Bloomberg — have met personally with Obama over the past month to push for the background checks expansion and other measures.

Everytown spokeswoman Erika Soto Lamb, whose group was founded with Bloomberg’s support, said the current interpretation of what it means to be “engaged in the business” of selling firearms is “a hazy definition that allows high-volume sellers to transfer thousands of guns without background checks, no questions asked.”

[This is what the White House wants to do on guns]

Other proposals the administration has been weighing include requiring federally-licensed gun dealers to report any lost and stolen guns to the National Crime Information Center; publishing aggregate background check denial data for guns sold by unlicensed sellers; clarifying that convicted abusers are prohibited from having guns regardless of their marital status; and instructing federal law enforcement to identify and arrest criminals who attempt to buy illegal guns.

Any action by the president is sure to trigger a major backlash from gun rights activists, and Republican lawmakers who have blocked legislative action in the past. On Thursday, the National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action launched the first in a video seriesattacking gun control advocates.

The first ad targets Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton, who revived the plan to expand background checks in the wake of the Roseburg shooting by proposing it on the campaign trail. The ad is labeled “New Year’s Resolutions of the Rich and Anti-Gun (Actually, Just Hillary Clinton),” and it shows a woman outlining her plans on Clinton’s campaign stationary beside a photo of the president and his former Secretary of State as “Auld Lang Syne” blares in the background.

“Stop trying to ban guns,” she writes as her first point, in black marker, followed by, “Read the Constitution.”

“Meet an actual gun owner,” the Clinton impersonator scribbles, before adding, “In Person!”

At that point the woman crosses out all three points, crumples up the paper and throws it aside, as Clinton’s laugh is heard in the background.

Groups such as MoveOn.org, however, have begun to mobilize firearm owners to support expanded background checks and other measures aimed at curbing gun violence. David Mark Williams, a farmer in Halfway, Ore., described guns as “a tool. If you’re hunting or living a rural lifestyle, you’re going to have a firearm.”

But Williams, who came to Washington this fall with MoveOn.org to meet with members of both parties, said he resigned his NRA membership after its president opposed stricter gun laws in the aftermath of the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

“I’m also a supporter of rational reasonable gun control measures,” he said.

Advocates from groups such as the Metro Industrial Association said the president could do much more to curb the nearly 90 gun-related deaths that take place each day in the U.S., by not coming to the aid of gun manufacturers who are being sued for negligence; providing additional funding for the development of “smart gun” technology; and failing to use the federal government’s purchasing power to pressure gun manufacturers to take more responsibility for reducing gun violence.

But Arkadi Gerney, a senior fellow at the liberal think tank Center for American Progress, said in an email Thursday it was “extremely encouraging that the president appears poised” to enhance the enforcement of existing gun laws given congressional resistance to such measures.

“Along with progress in state legislatures and actions taken by governors and attorneys general, the steps the White House is considering would make it somewhat less likely that guns will end up in the wrong hands,” Gerney said. “And, with gunfire claiming the lives of 33,000 American a year, even incremental steps can have life-saving impact."

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Saudis face fuel price jump under new austerity plan - FT.com

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Petrol may still be cheaper than bottled water in Saudi Arabia but the hiking of fuel prices by two-thirds this week is nonetheless a radical departure in a country that for decades has traded economic handouts for political loyalty.

Saudis rushed to petrol stations across the kingdom hours after the government unveiled a radical austerity programme on Monday, hoping to fill their tanks before prices rose. Higher quality 95-octane petrol increased by 50 per cent to Sr0.90 ($0.24) and lower-quality 91 grade jumped by two-thirds to Sr0.75 a litre the following day.

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Government officials said a five-year plan to reform energy subsidies is part of a broader programme to create a more efficient, productive economy, as oil prices have hit 11-year lows and the country’s deficit ballooned to 15 per cent of GDP this year.

“This is not just about energy, it is a commitment to seize the moment and take the right decisions to change our economy,” Adel al-Fakih, economy and planning minister, told the Financial Times.

The kingdom, which is trying to reduce the budget deficit to 11 per cent next year, has also pledged to rein in public sector wages, which account for half of all budgetary spending, and is to launch a privatisation programme.

It is also planning to implement some new taxes. The finance minister, Ibrahim al-Assaf, told pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat that the government was expected to introduce a Gulf-wide sales tax of around 5 per cent within two years.

Saudi Arabia, which spent around $107bn, or 13.2 per cent of gross domestic product, on energy subsidies in 2014, is one of the world’s biggest consumers of energy, with rock-bottom prices fostering excessive consumption.

“Subsidies have long been a fiscal drag on the state and have been unreasonably high even by global standards,” said John Sfakianakis, a Riyadh-based economist. “Subsidy reform is essential if the economy is to be in turn more efficient and eventually more productive.”

But while most Saudis recognise the need to reduce consumption, many are already worried about the rising cost of living and know their pockets will be hit.

“No one is happy about these increases,” said one executive.

Ali al-Naimi, the veteran oil minister, last month raised doubts about the energy price increases, saying there was no “dire need” for the kingdom to withdraw direct assistance to its population.

Saudi social media users resorted to humour to discuss the price hikes — open dissent is avoided after a crackdown on freedom of expression in the wake of the 2011 Arab uprisings.

“Men are worried about the price of petrol,” tweeted one user. “By God, someone tell them the price of Mac rouge?”, referring to a popular makeup brand. Others circulated articles listing 18 methods to improve vehicle fuel efficiency.

Officials, keen to pre-empt any popular backlash, point out that Saudis are still paying much less than some of their other Gulf peers. In the neighbouring United Arab Emirates, for example, the price of petrol is 60 per cent higher, said Mr Fakih, who is overseeing the subsidy reform programme. The UAE, a wealthier state with more expatriates, increased the price of petrol significantly earlier this year with minimal public opposition.

Riyadh’s increase in electricity tariffs is also geared towards a minority of wealthy Saudis who consume large quantities of power. Some 87 per cent of bills will not change, Mr Fakih said.

He added that while the government will monitor the impact of the reforms, especially on inflation, for the time being there were no plans to introduce schemes to compensate poor Saudis for the higher prices.

“Only after we assess the situation will we consider our next steps,” he said. “This is just the first step; over the next few years expect more changes.”

The private sector, as well as consumers, will be hit by the subsidy reductions. Gas prices for local power generation increased on Tuesday from $0.75 per million British thermal units to $1.25 mbtu and ethane, the main feedstock for petrochemicals, rose more than 100 per cent to $1.75 per mbtu from $0.75 per mbtu.

Some investors are concerned that increasing domestic energy prices will undermine the main selling point for investors in energy-intensive industry, but analysts say the higher prices will promote efficiency.

“Businesses have to become more efficient,” said Mr Sfakianakis. “They will have to become more competitive by using technology rather simply relying on [cheap] ex-pat labour and capital.”

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