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FBI Arrests Man Planning to Bomb Wichita Airport

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wichita_airportAuthorities have arrested a man who planned to detonate a car bomb at Wichita’s Mid-Continent Airport.

The charges against the man, identified as 58-year-old Terry Lee Loewen, included an attempt to use a weapon of mass destruction.

Loewen, who worked at the airport, was arrested this morning on the airport’s tarmac with a vehicle he thought contained explosives. U.S. Attorney for Kansas Barry Grissom said the man had been under surveillance since earlier this year and had been given inert explosives by authorities during the investigation.

Officials with the U.S. Attorney’s Office and Federal Bureau of Investigation announced the arrest at a news conference Friday afternoon at the Epic Center in downtown Wichita. Gov. Sam Brownback also attended the news conference, his office said.

Earlier Friday, Wichita Police Chief Norman Williams described the case as “a major situation for our city that was averted” through a collaborative investigation.

By Tim Potter / The Wichita Eagle

Obama Abandons American Pastor Held by Iran

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saeednewThe wife of an American pastor and father of two imprisoned for his faith in Iran blasted the Obama administration Thursday on Capitol Hill for ignoring her husband’s worsening plight while striking a deal with Iran over its nuclear program.

Naghmeh Abedini, whose husband, Saeed Abedini, is serving an eight-year prison term in Iran after being arrested more than a year ago while visiting his homeland, told a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee his health is failing in prison.

“My husband is suffering because he’s a Christian and he’s an American, but his own government did not fight for him when they were sitting across the table from his captors,” Naghmeh Abedini said, referring to a newly signed deal between the U.S. and Iran over its nuclear program.

“I never anticipated that I would have to [battle] my own government” to secure her husband’s freedom,” she said.

“His condition has worsened and the kids and I fear his life,” she said, before holding up a photograph of her children on their first day of school. “Tears were streaming down my face as I got the kids ready for school with their father missing.”

Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., who chairs the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations, said “time is running out” for Abedini, who experts believe would be unlikely to survive eight years in Iran’s brutal prison system.

“Arrested and sentenced to eight years in prison for somehow ‘undermining the security of Iran’ by pastoring to Christian churches, U.S. citizen Saeed Abedini has endured imprisonment, solitary confinement, beatings, and untreated internal bleeding,” Smith said.”“The United States has appealed to Iran at the highest levels, and Iran responded early last month by moving Pastor Abedini to an even more dangerous prison, housing him with violent criminals. This hearing will examine the effort to save him before it is too late.”

Abedini “went to Iran to build an orphanage for Iranian children last year” and “remains in an absolute hell-hole prison,” Smith told the committee.

Also testifying was Jordan Sekulow, of the American Center for Law and Justice, which has served as the Abedini family’s legal advisors.

Abedini, an American citizen who lives in Boise, Idaho, with his wife and two children, converted from Islam to Christianity more than a decade ago, and was previously sanctioned for evangelizing in Iran. But the 34-year-old father of two claims he had only returned to his native land to help establish an orphanage when authorities pulled him off a bus in August of 2012 and threw him into the notorious Evin prison in Tehran.

He was later sentenced to eight years and has since been moved to Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj, a prison known to house Iran’s most violent criminals. His supporters say he has been beaten and tortured in the prison. According to reports, Rajai Shahr Prison was built to accommodate 5,000 inmates, but at present houses about 22,000, which has led to severe overcrowding and inhumane conditions.

Naghmeh Abedini told Fox News last month that her family was “devastated” after learning the Obama administration did not try to secure the release of her husband as part of the newly signed deal on Iran’s nuclear program. The talks over Iran’s nuclear program were seen by his family and those representing them as one of the most promising avenues yet for securing his release.

She said her children were praying to have him home for the holidays. “It’s unbearable,” she said, “to think of another Christmas without him and see my kids not have him home for Christmas.”

FoxNews.com

Obama Parties with Communists and Socialists at Mandela Funeral

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selfie_shot_ObamaAn unexpected handshake. A selfie. A seat change.

President Barack Obama’s gestures at Nelson Mandela’s memorial service in Johannesburg were widely scrutinized on the world’s stage Tuesday.

First, Obama shook hands with Cuban President Raul Castro as the U.S. president approached the podium at the soccer stadium to address Mandela’s mourners. The brief exchange, captured on video and photographs, sparked an immediate reaction online and on TV, with cable news pundits and Twitter users debating the significance of warmth shown between leaders of countries that have not had formal diplomatic relations since 1959.

The handshake also drew some sharp GOP criticism. Sen. John McCain likened it to shaking hands with Adolf Hitler.

“Why should you shake hands with somebody who’s keeping Americans in prison?” McCain told Public Radio International, adding: “Neville Chamberlain shook hands with Hitler.”

“This wasn’t a preplanned encounter,” an Obama aide told Yahoo News on Tuesday. “Above all else, today is about honoring Nelson Mandela, and that was the president’s singular focus.”

At another point, President Obama posed for a “selfie” from his seat at the memorial with British Prime Minister David Cameron and Denmark’s Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt. First lady Michelle Obama, seated to the group’s left, did not participate.

Tuesday’s event was not a funeral. But that didn’t stop the “Selfies at Funerals,” which documented the aforementioned trend, from categorizing the world leaders’ selfie as one.

“Obama has taken a funeral selfie,” Jason Feifer, the site’s creator, wrote. “So our work here is done.”

“Dear Obama,” Mashable’s Christine Erickson wrote. “Funerals are no place for selfies.”

Earlier, the first lady appeared to be less-than-thrilled with the president’s conversation with Thorning-Schmidt, and at some point, she switched seats with him.

It’s unclear whether the seat change occurred before or after the selfie, or if it came during Obama’s speech.

Before his handshake with Castro, Obama also shared a handshake and a kiss with Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, who has angrily condemned U.S. spying in her country.

Obama Shocks Observers by Shaking Castro’s Hand

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obama-castroCuban-American lawmakers voiced disappointment Tuesday over President Obama shaking the hand of Raul Castro during the memorial service for Nelson Mandela, calling it a “propaganda coup” for the Cuban government.

“It is nauseating,” Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., who fled Cuba with her family when she was a child, told Fox News.

Speaking later at a hearing with Secretary of State John Kerry, the congresswoman held up photos of the handshake and said political dissidents would be “disheartened” by them.

“Sometimes a handshake is just a handshake, but when the leader of the free world shakes the bloody hand of a ruthless dictator like Raul Castro, it becomes a propaganda coup for the tyrant,” she said.

Distrust of the Castro government runs deep in the Cuban-American community, particularly in Florida where many refugees still live.

Obama’s brief encounter with Castro, though — unlike the historic phone call earlier this year between Obama and Iran’s new president, Hassan Rouhani — was described as spontaneous.

An administration official said “this wasn’t a pre-planned encounter,” adding: “Above all else, today is about honoring Nelson Mandela, and that was the president’s singular focus at the memorial service.”

At the hearing on Tuesday, Kerry said Obama “didn’t choose who’s” at the Mandela ceremony. Asked by Ros-Lehtinen if Castro is upholding basic human rights, Kerry answered: “No. Absolutely not.”

Obama shook Castro’s hand as he made his way down a line of dignitaries, including South African President Jacob Zuma and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, on his way to deliver an address honoring the late South African leader.

In the speech in Johannesburg, Obama praised Mandela as the “last great liberator of the 20th century.”

“He changed laws, but he also changed hearts,” Obama said.

Ros-Lehtinen said afterward that Castro should have listened to Obama’s message about how some leaders praise Mandela without respecting human rights. “I think that was a message to Raul Castro,” she said, calling him a “thug.”

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., also released a statement saying: “If the president was going to shake his hand, he should have asked him about those basic freedoms Mandela was associated with that are denied in Cuba.”

The handshake came amid a memorial service that lauded Mandela’s spirit of reconciliation. It’s unclear whether more will come of the gesture, as efforts by the Obama administration to thaw relations between Cuba and the U.S. have been slow-going.

The U.S. government in 2011 eased the embargo on the island by allowing some Americans to travel there. But the U.S. freeze on Cuba, dating back to when Fidel Castro took power, largely has remained in place – and Cuba’s human rights record, particularly its intolerance of political dissent, continues to draw the scorn of rights groups and western governments.

FoxNews.com

Top Hospitals Excluded from ObamaCare

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ObamaCare_WebsiteWith the Dec. 23 deadline looming for signing up for health insurance under ObamaCare, consumers rushing to purchase new coverage may be in for a rude shock if they focus principally on finding the least expensive premiums, according to experts.

That’s because many people buying coverage on the federal exchanges either to replace old policies or to obtain coverage for the first time could get hit with deductibles and other out-of-pocket costs much higher than is typical in employer-sponsored health plans.

Perhaps more importantly, they may find themselves excluded from some of the best hospitals in the country and their affiliated doctors.

Deductible Sticker Shock

Gail Wilensky, a senior fellow for Project HOPE and the Medicare director for the first Bush Administration, said on Monday that consumers should be as mindful of deductibles and the hospitals and doctors in network as the monthly premium costs in shopping around.

“What you’re buying is not just the benefits specified in the law but whom you will have access to in getting the service delivered,” she said in an interview. Many of the policies being offered on the federal and state exchanges carry annual deductibles that often top $5,000 for an individual and $10,000 for a couple, according to The New York Times.

“Right now, most of the focus has been on the cost of the monthly premium and occasionally people have remembered to . . .look at what the deductible and the co-insurance is, because that is as important as the premium,” she added. “Whether a hospital is in or out of network is really the third piece: don’t forget to look at what you’re buying.”

Like most insurance policies, the lower the premium the higher the deductible. For example, in El Paso, Tex., for a couple both age 35, one of the cheapest plans on the federal exchange, offered by Blue Cross and Blue Shield, has a premium of less than $300 a month but an annual deductible of more than $12,000, according to the Times. In the case of a 45-year-old couple purchasing insurance on the federal exchange in Saginaw, Mich., a policy with a premium of $515 a month carries a deductible of $10,000 a year.

Some of the Best Hospitals Are Off Limits
Americans purchasing health insurance on the federal and state exchanges may be in for an even bigger shock when they discover some of the best hospitals in the country out of reach, even when those hospitals were previously available to them under their personal policies. That’s because most of the top hospitals in the country will accept insurance from only one or two companies operating under Obamacare.

Obamacare regulations and government subsidies are likely to make insurance more affordable for millions of Americans, as President Obama and senior aides have repeatedly boasted. But many insurers have responded to Obamacare caps on premiums by offering top-tier hospitals and physicians far less money for services rendered. And they’re responding by strictly limiting the number of policies they will accept.

Watchdog.org  recently looked at the top 18 hospitals nationwide as ranked by U.S. News and World Report for 2013-2014 – contacting each hospital to determine their contracts and policies. The government watchdog group found that many of the best hospitals in the country were simply opting out of Obamacare – much to the detriment of people in search of the best or most specialized health care.

Both Ohio and California have a dozen insurance companies on their exchanges, yet two of the states’ premier hospitals — Cleveland Clinic and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center — have only one company in their respective networks.

A few, such as top rated Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, are mandated under state law to accept all insurance companies. Other than that, the hospital with the largest number of insurance companies is University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland with just four. Fully 11 of the 18 hospitals had just one or two carriers, according to Watchdog.org.

Amid a drive by insurers to limit costs, the majority of insurance plans being sold on the new health care exchanges in New York, Texas and California will not offer patients access to Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York City or MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, two top cancer centers, according to the Financial Times.

“We shouldn’t be surprised by this,” Wilensky said. “There was a lot of pressure that exchanges placed on insurance plans to keep premiums low, and the benefits are specified in law for each of the four levels of health care plans. If the benefits are specified and the premiums are pressed low – sometimes lower than the insurance companies thought was appropriate, a major way to try to accommodate that financial pressure is to limit the number of physicians and hospitals.”

“And by limiting the number of physicians and hospitals, you may get those that you include to accept a lower reimbursement,” she added.

Consumers have until Dec. 23 to enroll in new health insurance under Obamacare to qualify for coverage beginning Jan. 1. However, open enrollment will continue through the end of March.

By Eric Pianin

Pulitzer Winning Journalist: Obama Lied About Syria

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File photo of U.S. President Obama speaking about continuing government shutdown during White House news conference in WashingtonPulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh has dropped yet another bombshell allegation: President Obama wasn’t honest with the American people when he blamed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for a sarin-gas attack in that killed hundreds of civilians.

In early September, Secretary of State John Kerry said the United States had proof that the nerve-gas attack was made on Assad’s orders. “We know the Assad regime was responsible,” President Obama told the nation in an address days after this revelation, which he said pushed him over the “red line” in considering military intervention.

But in a long story published Sunday for the London Review of Books, Hersh — best known for his exposés on the cover-ups of the My Lai Massacre and of Abu Ghraib – said the administration “cherry-picked intelligence,” citing conversations with intelligence and military officials.

A former senior intelligence official told me that the Obama administration had altered the available information – in terms of its timing and sequence – to enable the president and his advisers to make intelligence retrieved days after the attack look as if it had been picked up and analysed in real time, as the attack was happening. The distortion, he said, reminded him of the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin incident, when the Johnson administration reversed the sequence of National Security Agency intercepts to justify one of the early bombings of North Vietnam. The same official said there was immense frustration inside the military and intelligence bureaucracy: ‘The guys are throwing their hands in the air and saying, “How can we help this guy” – Obama – “when he and his cronies in the White House make up the intelligence as they go along?”’

Here’s what Hersh alleges:

The administration buried intelligence on the fundamentalist group/rebel group al-Nusra. It was seen, Hersh says, as an alarming threat by May, with the U.S. being aware of al-Nusra member able to make and use sarin, and yet the group – associated with the rebel opposition in Syria – was never considered a suspect in the sarin attacks. Hersh refers to a top-secret June cable sent to the deputy director of the Defense Intelligence Agency that said al-Nusra could acquire and use sarin. But the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Office of the Defense Intelligence Agency could not find the document in question, even when given its specific codes.

Syrian refugees

Samantha Power, the U.S. ambassador to the UN, told a press conference: ‘It’s very important to note that only the [Assad] regime possesses sarin, and we have no evidence that the opposition possesses sarin.’

It is not known whether the highly classified reporting on al-Nusra was made available to Power’s office, but her comment was a reflection of the attitude that swept through the administration.

The administration was learning about the attack at roughly the same speed civilians were. Hersh says the thorough daily intelligence briefings in the days surrounding the gas attack did not make a single mention of Syria, even as videos and photos of the attack went viral across the Internet. He added that there was revealed a sensor system in Syria that had, in December 2012, shown sarin production at a chemical weapons depot arranged by the Syrian army. Though it was unclear whether this was a simulation or not – all militaries, Hersh says, practice simulations of such things – Obama promptly warned Syria that use of sarin gas would be “unacceptable.”

‘If what the sensors saw last December was so important that the president had to call and say, “Knock it off,” why didn’t the president issue the same warning three days before the gas attack in August?’

Syria's civil war

The media succumbed to confirmation bias in response to a UN report on the attack. That report, which is less than certain in its terms, said that the spent weapon “indicatively matches” the specifics of a 330mm calibre artillery rocket. MIT professor Theodore Postol and other munitions experts later reviewed the photos and said that it was improvised, likely made locally, didn’t match anything in the Syrian arsenal and would not have been able to travel the nine kilometres from the Syrian army base that the media presumed it was fired from.

Postol and a colleague, Richard M. Lloyd, published an analysis two weeks after 21 August in which they correctly assessed that the rockets involved carried a far greater payload of sarin than previously estimated. The Times reported on that analysis at length, describing Postol and Lloyd as ‘leading weapons experts’. The pair’s later study about the rockets’ flight paths and range, which contradicted previous Times reporting, was emailed to the newspaper last week; it has so far gone unreported.

Though a UN resolution nullified the chances of American military intervention, the impact would be significant if the allegations hold up; recall that President George W. Bush’s legacy was deeply tainted by charges that the U.S. had no proof of nuclear weapons in Iraq when they said they did. Hersh hints at the seriousness of the charges himself: “The cherry-picking was similar to the process used to justify the Iraq war.”

By Adrian Lee

Obama Losing Latinos

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TEXASPOLLINGHispanics are the most disappointed by President Barack Obama, according to a new Gallup Poll.

While the president’s job approval rating dropped 12 percent among the general population over the last year, declining from 53 percent last December to 41 percent in November, it plunged twice as much among Latinos.

Obama’s approval rating dropped 23 points among Latinos, from 75 percent in December, 2012 to 52 percent in November.

Latinos played a critical role in the president’s re-election, with 71 percent of the community’s voters casting their ballots for him.

The report on the poll results noted that the waning support for Obama among Latinos may spell trouble for Democrats running for office in 2014.

“It is…a troubling sign for the Democratic Party, given that Hispanics represent an increasingly important segment of the electorate,” the Gallup report said.

SUMMARY

While Republican resistance to his policies have played a part in President Barack Obama’s failure to move forward on various issues, Latinos have placed blame on the president for not doing a better job of fighting for immigration reform or making sure Spanish-speaking residents can sign up for the health care plan.

Latinos, the report said, have varied the most of any group on their feelings about Obama during the course of his presidency.

“That means their views of him are less firmly anchored than those of other groups, which may help explain why their opinions of the president soured more than any other group’s in recent months,” it said. “Despite the significant decline in their approval ratings over the past 12 months, a majority of Hispanics, 52 percent, still approve of the job Obama is doing.”

Still, Latinos have showed that they are willing to support Republicans.

Former President George W. Bush won about 44 percent of the Latino vote in 2004. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie won 51 percent of the Latino vote in his recent re-election bid.

Obama’s approval rating showed above-average declines among low-income Americans, nonwhites, moderates, and moderates who identify with or lean toward the Democratic Party.

Obama was re-elected with a 50 percent job approval rating, rising to 53 percent a month later.
Battles with Republicans in Congress soon followed, hampering his ability to push forward policies and measures – such as immigration reform and the Affordable Care Act – that he had described as priorities.

“As a result, his job approval declined to 41 percent in November, matching the lowest monthly average of his presidency to date,” the Gallup report said.

While Republican resistance to his policies, to be sure, have played a part in Obama’s failure to move forward on various issues, Latinos have placed blame on the president for not doing a better job of fighting for immigration reform or making sure Spanish-speaking residents can sign up for the health care plan.

Many have been particularly critical of the record number of deportations that have occurred during Obama’s presidency. Latinos account for the vast majority of people who have been deported.

On Thursday, Rep. Luis Gutierrez, a Democrat from Illinois, and Rep. Raul Grijalva, a Democrat from Arizona, held a press conference in Washington D.C. in which they said Obama can take steps, on his own, to stem the deportations.

 

Nelson Mandela dies at 95

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nelson-mandelaNelson Mandela, who spent 27 years as a prisoner in South Africa for opposing apartheid, then emerged to become his country’s first black president, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize and an enduring symbol of integrity, principle and resilience, died Thursday at 95.

The announcement was made by South African president Jacob Zuma, who said in a nationally televised address,” Our nation has lost its greatest son. Our people have lost a father. Although we knew that this day would come, nothing can diminish our sense of a profound and enduring loss.”

Mandela  had spent almost three months in a Pretoria hospital after being admitted in June with a recurring lung infection.

Mandela, who once said, “the struggle is my life,” was a beloved hero of both South Africa and the world itself. His face was instantly recognizable in virtually any country, his story famous enough that he was portrayed in movies at least four times – by Morgan Freeman (“Invictus”), Sidney Poitier (“Mandela and de Klerk”), Danny Glover (“Mandela”) and Dennis Haysbert (“Goodbye Bafana”).

Stamps were issued with his likeness, songs written about him, statues erected in his honor everywhere from Johannesburg to London and more than 50 universities around the world awarded him degrees. Even a species of spiders was named in his honor.

Mandela, who had been in increasingly frail health in recent years, retired from public life in 2004. He is survived by his third wife, Graca Machel, three daughters (three other children died) and multiple grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

U.S. President Barack Obama, during a stop in Senegal, called Mandela a personal hero, saying his legacy will “live on throughout the ages.”

In one of his last public appearances, televised in May 2012, Mandela sat in an armchair with a blanket pulled over his lap at his rural home in Qunu and received a symbolic flame to mark the centenary of the African National Congress.

Ironically, the leader hailed as a symbol of peace at one point was on a U.S. terror watch list because of his affiliation with the ANC, which was designated a terrorist organization by South Africa’s apartheid government. He was finally taken off the list in 2008.

Mandela, although initially committed to non-violence, had, in fact, once been involved with the militant wing of the ANC, which was founded in association with the South African Communist Party and carried out a campaign of violence against government targets.

The man who died an anti-apartheid hero, world statesman and symbol of the strength of the human spirit was born Rolihlahla Mandela in a village near Umtata in the Transkei on July 18, 1918. Rolihlahla literally means “pulling the branch of a tree” but more colloquially, “troublemaker.”

His father was primary councilor to the Acting Paramount Chief of Thembuland and after his father’s death, the 9-year-old Mandela became the chief’s ward. He received the English name Nelson from a primary school teacher at his mission school.

He attended the University College of Fort Hare, a prestigious residential college for blacks in South Africa, where he was expelled over a student boycott, and then ran away from home to Johannesburg to avoid an arranged marriage.

He eventually completed his bachelor’s degree via correspondence courses, studied law and joined the African National Congress in 1942.

After 20 years of leading a non-violent campaign against the South African government, his philosophy switched to armed struggle. In 1964 he was sentenced to life imprisonment for plotting to overthrow the government by violence.

For 18 of his 27 years in prison, he was inmate #46664 on Robben Island, a notorious maximum security facility off Cape Town, where he became a worldwide symbol of resistance to racial oppression.

In 1982, he was moved to Pollsmoor Prison, on the nearby mainland, where he spent much of his time in solitary confinement. In 1985, President P. W. Botha offered to release him if he would renounce armed struggle but he refused, saying “only free men can negotiate. Prisoners cannot enter into contracts.”

Finally released from this third prison, Victor Verster – an event broadcast internationally – on February 11, 1990 , he was elected president of the ANC in 1991.

In 1993 he and President Frederik Willem De Klerk were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and in 1994, at the age of 75, he was inaugurated as the first black president of South Africa.

Mandela served as president until 1999, when he retired and became an advocate for a number of human rights organizations and also a spokesman for the fight against AIDS. In 2001 he was treated for prostate cancer.

His philosophy of learning to love instead of hate made him one of the moral leaders of his era.

“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion” he wrote in his autobiography.

“People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for loves comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”

Mandela was married three times. His first wife was Evelyn Ntoko Mase, from 1944-1957, and they had four children – one son died in a car crash, one son of AIDS and one daughter as an infant.

His second wife was Winnie Madikizela-Mandela (1958-1996) and they had two daughters before divorcing. On his 80th birthday in 1998 he wed Graca Machel, widow of Samora Machel, the former Mozambican president.

But his nation was his beloved offspring as well. “My daughter Zinzi says,” he once observed, “that she grew up without a father, who, when he returned, became a father of the nation…for me, there is no place like home.”

FoxNews.com

Harry Reid Exempts Staff From ObamaCare

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Harry-Reid1Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is allowing some staffers to keep their health insurance instead of making them buy it through an ObamaCare exchange, although he was one of the strongest Capitol Hill supporters of the 2010 law.

The Nevada Democrat is exercising his discretion under the president’s signature law to designate which staffers can keep their federal insurance plan and which must now purchase a policy through the District of Columbia’s health-care exchange.

However, he purportedly is the only top congressional leader to exercise that option, which resulted in sharp criticism Wednesday from Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, perhaps the staunchest ObamaCare opponent on the Hill.

“Sen. Reid’s decision to exempt his staff … is the clearest example yet of ObamaCare’s failures and Washington hypocrisy,” he said. “His staff worked to pass it and continue to promote it, now they don’t want to be part of it because it’s a disaster.”

The distinction is between personnel staff, forced onto the exchange, and leadership and committee staff, who are allowed to keep their federal plan.

However, drawing a distinction is difficult because some duties overlap, a Reid staffer told Fox News.

The staffer could not give a breakdown. But Reid is going on the exchange and says he is happy with its options.

An amendment to ObamaCare by Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley forced staffers onto the exchanges, but additional changes allow for some flexibility. Still, the final rules, put forth by the Office of Personnel Management, leave some discretion with the lawmaker.

“The only fair path forward is to repeal ObamaCare, in its entirety, for everyone,” Cruz added.

FoxNews.com

MSNBC Fires Martin Bashir for Potty Mouth

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martin_bashir_msnbcFollowing a firestorm over his recent comments about Sarah Palin, the MSNBC host Martin Bashir resigned on Wednesday, citing what he called his “ill-judged comments.”

Martin Bashir on Wednesday resigned as a host on MSNBC.

Bashir had been listed as being on vacation while the network faced heated criticism for not taking disciplinary action against him.

The decision was prompted by a comment Mr. Bashir directed last month against Ms. Palin, the former Republican vice-presidential nominee, in which he criticized her for statements comparing American debt to slavery, saying she deserved the same kind of humiliating and degrading treatment that some slaves faced–that someone should defecate in her mouth.

Mr. Bashir later issued an apology on the air for the commentary. He then left for what was called a vacation.

In a statement the network released on Wednesday, Mr. Bashir said he had asked permission to take additional time around Thanksgiving. That led, he said, to “further reflection” and a meeting with Phil Griffin, the president of MSNBC. Following that meeting, Mr. Bashir said, “I have tendered my resignation.”

He added that he hoped the network would be allowed to “focus on the issues that matter without the distraction of myself, or my ill-judged comments.”

Mr. Griffin issued a statement saying: “I understand his decision and I thank him for three great years with MSNBC. Martin is a good man and respected colleague — we wish him only the best.”

Mr. Bashir, who first established a career in television in Britain, joined MSNBC from ABC News in 2010. He had been suspended once while at ABC for making comments considered crude and sexist at a dinner for Asian-American journalists.

By BILL CARTER, New York Times

Obama Blames Bush for Iran Nukes

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obama-iranBefore he paused to allow reporters to ask questions about the nuclear deal with Iran that he had just announced in Geneva, Secretary of State John Kerry seemed to anticipate one line of criticism about the accord — that it effectively cedes to the Islamic regime the right to enrich uranium, despite half a dozen U.N. Security Council resolutions declaring the activity illegal. And he moved, preemptively, to address it.

“In 2003, when the Iranians made an offer to the former administration with respect to their nuclear program, there were 164 centrifuges,” Kerry said in a news conference held in the early hours of Nov. 24. “That offer was not taken. Subsequently, sanctions came in, and today there are 19,000 centrifuges and growing.”

In essence, the secretary of State was suggesting the staggering number of centrifuges that Iran now has effectively forced the hand of the P5+1 negotiators at the talks, making the placement of restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program the only realistic prospect the negotiators could pursue. Kerry also suggested that had only President George W. Bush done the right thing a decade ago, the United States and its allies in the P5+1 — Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia — wouldn’t have found themselves in such a precarious negotiating posture.

Yet a Fox News review of reports by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and analyses prepared by leading research institutions — including the Arms Control Association, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and the Federation of American Scientists — shows that the vast majority of Iran’s enrichment capability came online during the Obama administration.

It is known that by late 2007, Iran possessed about 3,000 centrifuges. Over the course of Bush’s final 12 to 15 months in the White House, it can be assumed safely that Iran added to, but probably did not fully double, the number of centrifuges it had installed. A fair estimate would accordingly place the number of the spinning machines that Iran had on hand at the beginning of 2009 at 5,000.

This would mean that roughly 25 percent of the regime’s current total of centrifuges had been installed when the Bush-Cheney era ended. Put another way: Roughly 74 percent of the centrifuges Iran now has on hand were installed since the Obama-Biden team assumed office. Analysts say 10,000 of the total are actively enriching uranium to low levels, inconsistent with nuclear weapons production but well suited to the task should a decision be made to pursue that goal.

Yet in a series of interviews he gave before leaving Geneva, Kerry expanded on his theme, telling ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos: “In 2003, Iran made an offer to the Bush administration that they would, in fact, do major things with respect to their program. They had 164 centrifuges. Nobody took that [deal] — nothing has happened. Therefore, here we are in 2013 — they have 19,000 centrifuges and they’re closer to a weapon. You cannot sit there and pretend that you’re just going to get the thing you want while they continue to move towards the program that they’ve been chasing….You can’t always start where you want to wind up.”

Kerry’s concise history of the Iranian nuclear program, which encompassed only the years 2003 and 2013, naturally omitted quite a lot. Determining exactly when the regime crossed a given technical threshold can be difficult, given the opacity of the government and the complex of commercial, military, and scientific institutions that have contributed to the program over the last two decades. The secretary plans to testify before Congress on Iran, for the first time since the deal was announced, in a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on Dec. 10 — an opportunity to provide more clarity.

A spokesman for Kerry professed ignorance of the exact numbers involved. “We have not questioned the fact that Iran has made progress on enrichment and on developing a nuclear weapon,” spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters on Dec. 2. “That’s one of the reasons why we stepped up sanctions over the past couple of years.”

But when confronted with the notion that at least 70 percent of the expansion in Iran’s centrifuge program took place on President Obama’s watch, Psaki countered: “I think what we’re focused on at this point is the fact that we’re now at a point where we are halting and rolling back the progress of their program and we’re working towards a comprehensive agreement to bring an end to it.”

by James Rosen, Foxnews.com

Arizona Artist Paints Murals for Gilbert Temple

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Gilbert_Mormon_TempleSeated in front of his canvas, artist Howard Lyon, of Gilbert, spent 10, sometimes 12 or more hours a day, six days a week, for seven months.

His finished work, two large murals, will hang in the baptistry of the Gilbert Arizona Temple.

“They were certainly the largest paintings I’ve worked on,” Howard says.

Unique in size alone, the paintings were new territory in scope as well. He admits that knowing they would be seen by thousands and, more importantly, recognizing they would adorn the House of the Lord, could have combined to make the project overwhelming.

“A person could easily be distracted by feeling inadequate or by thinking their work was not up to the standards of the temple or the quality expected,” he says.

lyon-artist-christ

Queen Creek Artist, Howard Lyon, painted the murals for the new LDS Gilbert, AZ Temple.

Instead of being derailed by that, Howard said it moved him to “get into the work. At the end, I wanted to have the feeling of knowing I’d put in the time and done everything in my ability to make sure it was successful.”

Howard says the 4’ x 15’ murals “depict scenes from Christ’s life.” He believes the selection committee liked the concept he submitted as well as his overall style.

“I think they like my use of the figure,” Howard says. “I love painting people. It’s the most challenging, but the most rewarding, to paint people and to tell a story through painting.”

Howard worked out of his home studio in Gilbert, where he and his wife, Shari, are raising their three children.

“I definitely approached it with prayer and contemplation, but, much of the time, working on the murals was work.” As with any job, he managed the mechanics, setting goals of what he wanted to accomplish each day to stay on schedule. At the same time, he did things like listening to uplifting music—particularly “The Lamb of God,” by Rob Gardner, which Howard says, “made me feel close to the spirit, while I worked.”

While having to maintain confidentiality as far as letting others see the painting, “It’s just been a great experience to have that in our home,” he says. “It has made the temple more personal, and we feel a part of the process. The kids are tied to that temple in a way they wouldn’t otherwise be.”

Howard says he knew early on that he wanted to pursue art as a career. His parents, Gary and Rita Lyon, of Mesa, were supportive then and continue to be today.

For the murals, Howard’s father, an engineer, “used his brilliant mind and came up with a mechanized easel, a cable-pulley system,” making it possible for Howard to move the large canvases into more favorable painting positions. “He also visited me probably 30 times while I was working on the murals, to lift me up and tell me how excited he was about this project.”

A graduate of Brigham Young University’s Illustration and Design program, Howard worked for 13 years as art director at a video game company.

“It was like getting paid to improve my work. I learned better use of color and composition and my drawing skills improved,” he said.

He ultimately transitioned into working fulltime as a freelance science fiction and fantasy illustrator.

Yet, he says, “I kept thinking about my work and felt I needed to do something that would be an inspiration to others in some way.”

Then, his brother and sister-in-law, Grant and Jill Lyon, approached him to do a religious piece for them.

“It gave me the opportunity to jump in and do religious art. It was really life-changing. It opened the door, and almost felt like a career switch,” he says.

Howard appreciates the opportunity he has had to share his testimony through his art.

“I love the hope of Christ’s gospel and the knowledge that we can be made perfect through Christ,” he says.

By Cecily Markland, Reprinted from The Beehive

Some popular paintings by Howard Lyon:

Howard_Lyon-LightoftheWorld  Woman-at-the-Well From-Fear-to-FaithMessiah-500

Seal Commander Says Special Operations Assault On Obama Has Begun

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Ryan-ZinkeLast week saw US Military Special Forces be raised to the forefront of the political picture. Retired Navy Seal Commander Ryan Zinke stepped up and says that the Special Operations Assault on President Obama has just begun.

Last week it seemed like your typical week in the saga of President Obama accusing Republicans of unfairly criticizing him over the Benghazi situation and leaked classified information.  Trouble is, it wasn’t the pesky Republicans he should have been blaming for the attack on his presidency. It is not an unfair assessment either, considering the sources.

Ryan Zinke is a retired Navy Seal Commander. He wasn’t the commander of just any Seal Team, he was the commander of Seal Team Six. He is now a Montana State Senator and has launched his own personal finances at starting the new Super Pac, Special Operations OPSEC Education Fund Inc. Along with the now fired Generals that say they are watching President Obama, his new organization is doing more than saying that President Obama leaked National Security information  and unfairly took credit for killing Osama Bin Laden, they intend to prove it.

In a fired up interview with Politicker, Mr. Zinke spoke rather candidly about the feelings of many former military and Special Operations members.

“There’s a number of groups out there. I think what it demonstrates is, there’s a lot of anger, there’s a lot of concern among the former military community.”~Ryan Zinke

He stated that a lot of the anger stemmed from a lot of White House leaks of classified information that got people killed and a television add by former President William J. Clinton that questioned if Mitt Romney would have made the call to get Bin Laden. He said it has snow balled from there.

Here is the add he said started a lot of military anger back in 2012.

“I think there is huge concern that the administration is using and continues to leak class documents for less than–well, for political gain,” said Mr. Zinke. “I think when the commercial came out with President Clinton and President Obama, and they talked about the political ramifications of failure, they didn’t talk about the families that would be left without a father. They talked about political consequences—that was a bridge too far.”~Last Great Stand

He also criticized the leaking of classified information to make the film Zero Dark 30.There’s a lot of reasons you can release classified information, a lot of justifiable reasons, but making a movie for political gain isn’t one of them,” Mr. Zinke said.

According to Mr. Zinke, there are currently at least four other anti-Obama groups made up of former elite military operatives: Special Operations Speaks, Veterans for a Strong America, Special Operations OPSEC Education Fund Inc. and his group, Special Operations for America. He said he expects that number to climb. Because active-duty soldiers are barred from engaging in political activity, Mr. Zinke believes it is especially important for retired military personnel to speak up.

“It’s really incumbent upon the retired guys to articulate a message. You look at the approval ratings of the president, Congress is in single-digits, the president is not far behind, and I think Americans still appreciate the credibility of our military,” he said.~ Last Great Stand

As for Obama calling for everyone making “swift boat” attacks on his administration, Mr. Zinke had something to say about that too.

There’s going to be attempts to discredit,” Mr. Zinke said. “I guess when you take a stand, you expose yourself to rocks. And so be it.”

For his part, Mr. Zinke said his organization is “not swift boat.”

“I can speak for SOFA—we are not swift boat in that what we are articulat[ing] is factual, and we’re very careful not to make personal attacks. We are making a complete argument of why the administration’s actions and policies are not in the best interests of national defense and national security,” said Mr. Zinke.

Special Operations for America’s upcoming plans include a television commercial. Mr. Zinke said the ad would be “edgy,” but wouldn’t be “a personal attack.”

“I don’t stoop to personal attacks,” he said. “You know, I’m not from Chicago. In Montana, we do things a little differently.”~ Last Great Stand

Special Operations movie about leaking classified information from this administration for personal gain has had over 53 million views. You can see it here.

 

by William Wallace

It’s Not Turkey Day

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FThe_First_Thanksgivingor many generations Americans have rightly stopped on this day to give thanks to a generous God, who is our Heavenly Father. America was founded on principles of Judeo-Christian ethics, and a shared faith in a personal God, who caringly watches over the affairs of humanity with a concerned eye.

As socialists have struggled to wrestle our personal liberties from us, one of their main tools has been to secularize our society.  Indeed, the ACLU and similar leftist organizations have led the fight to remove any mention of God or His Son, Jesus Christ, from the public’s vernacular.

As a result of this attempt to make God and Christ politically incorrect in our nation, we have recently been greeted with “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas,” and with “Happy Turkey Day” instead of “Happy Thanksgiving Day.”

We can see why the left would seek to take the Christ out of Christmas, but why the shift from Thanksgiving Day to Turkey Day? Because Thanksgiving implies there is a reason to be thankful, and someone to whom should we give thanks–and that’s God.

I for one am careful to wish everyone I meet, at the store or in other public places, a hearty Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas. As a child of our Heavenly Father, I would much rather offend an anti-American than offend my God.

Happy Thanksgiving Day.

PUBLIUS

an-obama-thanksgiving

Obama Memo Calls for National Gun Registration and Confiscation

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gunbanThe National Rifle Association has obtained a Department of Justice memo calling for national gun registration and confiscation. The nine page “cursory summary” on current gun control initiatives was not officially released by the Obama administration.

The DOJ memo (downloadable here as a PDF) states the administration “believes that a gun ban will not work without mandatory gun confiscation,” according to the NRA, and thinks universal background checks “won’t work without requiring national gun registration.” Obama has yet to publicly support national registration or firearms confiscation, although the memo reveals his administration is moving in that direction.

gun_ban_memoThe memo stands in stark contrast to the administration’s public stance on so-called gun control. White House spokesman Jay Carney said last month that laws proposed by Obama would not “take away a gun from a single law-abiding American.”

The NRA declined to explain how it obtained the document. The memo was written by the acting director of the Justice Department’s National Institute of Justice, Greg Ridgeway. It is dated January 4, two weeks before Obama mounted his attack on the Second Amendment following the Sandy Hook massacre. Ridgeway came to the Justice Department from the RAND corporation.

The memo says universal background checks on firearms purchases may help the government push to control and eventually outlaw firearms, but it would lead to an increase in illegally purchased guns.

It pointed out that banning high capacity ammunition clips would be ineffective due to the fact there is a large number of them already in circulation.

A Justice Department official said the memo is an unfinished review of gun violence research and does not represent administration policy.

The DOJ memo arrived a few weeks prior to a letter sent out by the Department of Veterans Affairs. “A determination of incompetency will prohibit you from purchasing, possessing, receiving, or transporting a firearm or ammunition,” the sent to military veterans states. “If you knowingly violate any of these prohibitions, you may be fined, imprisoned, or both pursuant to the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, Pub.L.No. 103-159, as implemented at 18, United States Code 924(a)(2).”

“US veterans are receiving letters from the government informing them that they are disabled and not allowed to own, purchase or possess a firearm. If the veteran does decide to purchase a firearm he will by fined, imprisoned or both,” the Gateway Pundit remarked.

NRA’s Chris Cox talks about the DOJ memo:


California Democrat senator Dianne Feinstein reveals the government agenda — confiscation:

by Kurt Nimmo

Terrorist Bill Ayers Claims He Wrote Obama’s Book “Dreams From My Father”

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bill-ayersTerrorist Bill Ayers continues to claim that it was in fact he who wrote Barack Obama’s book “Dreams From My Father.”

You may recall that during the 2008 U.S. presidential campaign, controversy arose regarding Barack Obama’s relationship with the former leader of the Weather Underground, Bill Ayers, then a Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago. These terrorists bombed and murdered many government officials and facilities during the 1970s. Obama and his team quickly denied that he hardly even knew the unrepentant terrorist, and superficial investigations by CNN, The New York Times and other news organizations concluded that indeed, Obama did not have a close relationship with Ayers. Anyone who thereafter claimed the two were closely tied were dismissed by the mainstream media as right wing nut-jobs.

ayers_obamaRecently, Bill Ayers has begun to admit that he was the ghostwriter of Obama’s first book, and that they knew one another intimately. In fact, the two served on boards of directors together, and Obama’s political career was launched from Bill Ayers’ living room.

So who is telling the truth? It’s difficult to tell when both men are dedicated leftists, and pathological liars. Because they were in the same places at the same time, and share the same anti-American, pro-socialism political philosophies, it appears more likely that Ayers is correct in his assertions about their close associations.

PUBLIUS

“We Aren’t the Problem, You Are!” Neil Cavuto Unleashes Hell On Obama

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Neil_CavutoWatch Neil Cavuto deliver some of the most blistering statements on Fox News. It was about time someone at Fox News commented on the offensive and biased statements that Barack Obama has made towards the news station.

Obama has taken jab after jab during his presidency, and continues to stay consistent regarding his disdain with the conservative party.

We have one thing to say. We aren’t the problem, Mr. President, you are! Watch the video:

Liberal Richard Dreyfuss: ‘I Don’t Think The NRA Is a Villain’

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dreyfussIt’s a rare occasion to see CNN host Piers Morgan sit silently for nearly two minutes. It’s also a rare occasion for him to allow a guest to praise the NRA uninterrupted on his program.

However, that’s exactly what happened when Academy Award-winning actor Richard Dreyfuss spouted his theory about guns and gun ownership.

It was near the end of a lengthy interview, covering a wide range of topics like the actor’s new, non-profit Dreyfuss Initiative to teach civics and his struggles from being bi-polar, when the CNN host brought up his pet peeve: “The power of the NRA and the apparent intransigence of Washington to do anything about that.”

Dreyfuss, a perceived liberal, seemed to surprise Morgan when he suggested that the NRA — and not the U.S. government — should decide who can own guns and which guns should be in the hands of the American people.

Dreyfuss, who talked openly about impeaching President Bush in 2008, and in the past has almost exclusively given money to Democrat candidates, calls himself a “libo-conservo-middle-of-the-roado.” But, the actor doesn’t think the NRA is as awful as some make it out to be.

“First of all, I don’t think the NRA is a villain,” he said. “And I don’t think that the people against the NRA are villains. I believe that’s a problem with the press that started with an ‘us – them’ problem.”

After explaining his thoughts on the ambiguity of the Second Amendment, Dreyfuss offered a plan based on his understanding of the “original mandate of the NRA” — “to train responsible gun ownership.”

Dreyfus proposed, “They (the NRA) should train excellence in gun ownership. They should create the short list of the guns that are allowed at home. And every other gun they say is legal like – people killers and nuclear-tipped semi-automatics should be held in armories owned and controlled by the NRA, not the government.”

As Morgan remained silent, Dreyfuss offered a supporting analogy.

“Remember that this is a gun culture. It’s also a car culture,” he said. “And no one with any brains would let someone untrained get behind the wheel of a car.”

The actor wrapped up his proposition with a statement that is likely to raise eyebrows from many on the political left, declaring, “The NRA should be thought of, or think of themselves as heroes and take care of this problem.”

Morgan finally commented, “Pretty large stretch for some of us to look at people like Wayne LaPierre as heroes, but an interesting argument you put forward there.”

Dreyfus responded by letting Morgan know that it was not just some wild theory, but an idea he had already pitched to a former NRA president and after he asked her what she thought of his plan, she (probably Marion Hammer or Sandra Froman – the NRA’s two female presidents) reportedly told him, “What did I think? I did back flips, and I’m calling people.”

by Mike Opelka / The Blaze

Enroll America: “We’re All Obama People”

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0bamacare_Enroll America, the group leading efforts to enroll Americans in ObamaCare, is facing accusations again that it has violated its tax-exempt nonprofit status by engaging in partisan politics — following the release of a video in which a top official seems to brag about his political connections.

The complaint was filed Friday by the group with the IRS.

In the video, Christopher Tarango, a communications director for the group, says: “I’m doing Enroll America right now. But I’m also, I shouldn’t be saying this, but I’m also helping out with HD 50, so that’s as partisan as it gets.

“There’s a lot of talent that got sucked into Organizing for Action. I mean, there’s a lot of talent that got sucked into Enroll America, but we are all Obama people.”

Tarango was referring to a Texas House race when he says “HD 50,” in the video, secretly record by Project Veritas in an Austin coffee shop on Nov. 8, according to Cause of Action.

Tarango also seems to be telling an actor posing as a Democratic political operative that he might be able to help in a deal to sell ObamaCare applicant information, after first rejecting the notion.

He suggests he knows a high-ranking company official “well enough that, to feel like if we had a few beers, this would not be the craziest conversation that he’s ever heard.”

Cause of Action — a self-described nonprofit, nonpartisan government accountability group — also wrote a letter Nov. 13 to Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott asking him in part to evaluate whether entities such as Enroll America and Battleground Texas have violated the IRS code and his state’s laws.

enroll_americaThe letter followed at least one other video by the conservative group Project Veritas and called into question the validity of so-called “navigators” that help Americans sign up for ObamaCare.

“Despite its claims of serving the public good, it appears that Enroll America has abused its tax-exempt status by using donor contributions for political and other impermissible purposes,” the group said Friday.

Cause of Action also argues Tarango’s comments indicate Enroll is “engaging in political activity by coordinating with the pro-President Obama group Organizing for Action, a 501(c)(4) organization.

Battleground Texas is a 527 political action committee. The letter this week to the IRS suggests some people who helped get Obama elected in 2012 are now with that group.

This is the second IRS complaint filed by the Cause of  Action against Enroll American.

The group filed the first complaint in July, asking the IRS to investigate Enroll America’s tax status due to failing to operate for a charitable purpose.

The group purportedly collected $3.8 million in donations just in 2011.

This spring, House Republicans started a probe into Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius soliciting donations from companies her agency might regulate, to help sign up uninsured Americans for ObamaCare.

Sebelius asked charitable foundations, businesses executives, churches and doctors to donate money to Enroll America and other nonprofits that are helping to implement Obama’s health care overhaul.

The agency has said there is a special section within the Public Health Services Act that allows the secretary to solicit financial support for nonprofit organizations conducting public health work.

FoxNews.com

Obama Hails Iran Nuclear Deal as Netanyahu Slams ‘Historic Mistake’

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obama-iranIran and six world powers reached a deal early Sunday that would halt parts of Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for what was described by the Obama administration as “modest relief” from international sanctions.

Obama, speaking from the White House while Secretary of State John Kerry helped ink the agreement in Geneva, called it a “first step toward a comprehensive solution.”

The deal, while historic, is a six-month agreement. Republican senators in Washington warned shortly after the terms were announced that western powers were giving up too much in exchange for too little, in hopes of a longer-term deal. Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., said it would give a leading sponsor of terror “billions of dollars in exchange for cosmetic concessions.”

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said that the agreement “makes a nuclear Iran more, not less, likely,” and called the deal “a blow to our allies in the region who are already concerned about America’s commitment to their security and it sends the wrong message to the Iranian people, who continue to suffer under the repressive rule of their leaders who have only their own self-preservation in mind.”

But Obama insisted the sanctions relief is reversible if Iran doesn’t live up to its end of the bargain.

“The broader architecture of sanctions will remain in place and we will continue to enforce them vigorously,” said Obama, who urged Congress not to pass new sanctions against Iran in light of the agreement, saying “doing so would derail this promising first step, alienate us from our allies, and risk unraveling the coalition that enabled our sanctions to be enforced in the first place.”

Under the terms of the agreement, which concluded days of negotiations in Geneva, Iran committed to halt enrichment above a 5 percent threshold and dismantle the technical connections required to enrich uranium above that threshold.

Iran is also required to neutralize its stockpile of near 20 percent enriched uranium, and halt progress on its enrichment capacity. In return, the six world powers (the U.S., Great Britain, France, Germany, China, and Russia), have agreed to not impose any new sanctions, suspend sanctions on certain sectors of Iran’s economy, and potentially unfreeze $4.2 billion in revenue from oil sales if Iran meets other conditions.

A White House statement also said Iran’s nuclear program will be subject to “increased transparency and intrusive monitoring.”

Speaking from the White House late Saturday night, Obama said that the terms of the deal were “substantial limitations which will help prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon. Simply put, they cut off Iran’s most likely paths to a bomb.”

However, Obama warned that sanctions relief was dependent on Iran living up to its end of the agreement, saying, “In these negotiations, nothing will be agreed to until everything is agreed to. The burden is on Iran to prove to the world that its nuclear program will be for exclusively peaceful purposes.”

Iran President Hassan Rouhani endorsed the agreement in a nationally broadcast speech Sunday, saying the accord recognizes Iran’s “nuclear rights” even if that precise language was kept from the final document because of Western resistance.

“No matter what interpretations are given, Iran’s right to enrichment has been recognized,” said Rouhani, who later posed with family members of nuclear scientists killed in slayings in recent years that Iran has blamed on Israel and allies.

Saying “trust is a two-way street,” Rouhani insisted that talks on a comprehensive agreement should start immediately.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who led his country’s delegation, called on both sides to see the agreement as an “opportunity to end an unnecessary crisis and open new horizons.”

But reaction in Israel was strongly negative. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Nentanyahu called the deal “a historic mistake” in remarks to his cabinet Sunday. Earlier in the day, Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz, who is responsible for monitoring Iran’s nuclear program, said the deal was based on “Iranian deception and self-delusion.”

The deal came after the personal intervention by Kerry and other foreign ministers whose presence had raised hopes for a breakthrough.

“The purpose of this is simple,” said Kerry, who spoke early Sunday morning, Geneva time.  “Requiring Iran to prove the peaceful nature of its nuclear program and prove it does not have a nuclear weapon.

“It will make our partners in the region safe. It will make Israel safer.”

“Agreement in Geneva,” Kerry had tweeted. “First step makes world safer. More work now.”

The deal marks a milestone between the two countries, which broke diplomatic ties 34 years ago when Iran’s Islamic revolution climaxed in the storming of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. Since then, relations between the two countries had been frigid to hostile.

Although the deal lowered tensions between the two countries, friction points remain — notably Iran’s support of the Syrian regime of Bashar Assad. The United States also has said Iran supports terrorism throughout the region and commits widespread human rights violations.

Since it was revealed in 2003, Iran’s enrichment program has grown from a few dozen enriching centrifuges to more than 18,000 installed and more than 10,000 operating. The machines have produced tons of low-enriched uranium, which can be turned into weapons grade material.

Iran also has stockpiled almost 440 pounds of higher-enriched uranium in a form that can be converted more quickly to fissile warhead material than the low-enriched uranium. Its supply is nearly enough for one bomb.

FoxNews.com / The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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