Obama #39;s War on America
WND TV interviews Alan Keyes, three time presidential candidate and former ambassador to the United Nations, about Obama #39;s defunding the military, allowing Ebola into the U.S., attack on traditiona...
By: WNDTV
Obama Meltdown: Will Popularity Slump Impact Election, Policy, Sanity?
If Republicans recapture the Senate, will any policies actually change? And can the president even function mentally with Republicans countering his power?
By: PJ Media
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Obama Meltdown: Will Popularity Slump Impact Election, Policy, Sanity? - Video
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Washington (CNN) -- President Barack Obama is loading new missions on the U.S. military with fast-expanding mandates and no certain end dates as he grapples with the threats posed by ISIS and Ebola.
Evolving operations in the Middle East and west Africa are causing some supporters to ask whether the president, a notoriously reluctant warrior dedicated to ending foreign entanglements and getting troops home, has changed his mind.
By committing the U.S. military to two new crises, with no clear exit strategy, Obama risks the same perilous slide into "mission creep" that hounded some predecessors, who got sucked ever deeper into wars in Vietnam, Somalia and Iraq.
Already, there are mounting questions about whether the strategy is working. A former top U.S. counterterror official told CNN Tuesday that the "imminent threat" from one of the groups targeted in an initial wave of airstrikes in Syria hasn't abated.
When Obama announced America's new war in August, he said U.S. air strikes would only take place "if necessary" and only in Iraq to save civilians from massacres by the marauding Sunni radicals and to protect U.S. personnel.
Yet less than three months later, in the newly branded Operation "Inherent Resolve," U.S. warplanes have blasted ISIS fighters, vehicles and supply lines in Syria, as well as Iraq. There are more than 1,400 troops in Iraq and hundreds more aboard ships and in nearby countries carrying out airstrikes. U.S. attack helicopters have gone into battle against ISIS in Anbar province.
READ: Ex-counterterror chief: U.S. lost track of terrorists
It is indisputable that the campaign has widened. US planes this weekend intensified air strikes on the besieged Syrian town of Kobani, and dropped arms and ammunition to Kurdish forces locked in a struggle for the strategic choke point near the Turkish border.
There is every sign the anti-ISIS operation will go on for years. And there is no clear idea of what success will look like, despite Obama's vow to destroy ISIS's "network of death."
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Obama's ISIS, Ebola "mission creep"
President Barack Obama is stepping up the governments cybersecurity battle. Under hisBuySecure Initiativeto help consumers fight credit card fraud and identity theftAmericas fastest growing crimehes issued an executive order designed to accelerate the adoption of more hacker-resistant technology while beefing up resources for victims.
Data breaches, like the recent ones atHome Depot, Target, Bank of America andJPMorgan Chase, harmed more than 100 million Americans last year, according to President Obama. Heres how the presidents latest moves can improve your financial safety:
People who collect cash from federal sources, including pensions, Social Security and veterans benefits, but who dont have bank accounts will receive this money in a more protected way. The government is updating its credit and debit cards to employ microchips and personal identification number verification. So-called EMV chips and passcodes make the cards harder to hack than those with magnetic strips that store the users account information. Chipped cards will become standard issue for federal employees and recipients of government payments who use Direct Express prepaid debit cards. New cards will be distributed starting in January.
The more-secure technology of chip cards is useless if merchants dont have the equipment to accept them. The government is updating its card readers to work with the new plastic at all of its retail locations, including national parks, passport offices and Veterans Affairs offices. As President Obama noted inannouncing BuySecure, when Britain switched to a chip-and-PIN system, the country cut fraud in stores by 70%.
Federal agencies have set a goal to cut in half the time it takes consumers to recover from identity theft. To start, the government is revamping the Federal Trade CommissionsIdentityTheft.govwebsite to make it a one-stop shop for victim resources, including a portal for consumers to report fraud to credit bureaus.
The president praised big retailers like Target, Home Depot, Wal-Mart and Walgreens for installing chip-card readers or pledging to by January. President Obama said one aim of his initiative was to lead by example. Nearly half of U.S. retailers are forecast to make the transition by the end of next year, according to the Payments Security Task Force.
President Obama said he hopes to set a national standard for card security. All businesses are encouraged toaccept EMV chip cardsby October 2015 or be held responsible for fraudulent charges, but BuySecure may inspire them to do it sooner. The U.S. Postal Service has already updated thousands of its locations to accept chip cards.
He may be the leader of the free world, but the president cant do it all. President Obama renewed his call to Congress to pass legislation that would improve cybersecurity and reduce data breaches nationwide. For now, consumers can cross their fingers that they arent the next targets of hackers and financial fraudsters.
The post3 Ways President Obamas BuySecure Move Will Help Youappeared first onNerdWallet News.
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Obama takes on cybersecurity. Three ways BuySecure will help you.
President Obama has been repeatedly accused of delay. Critics say he dragged his feet on sending more troops to Afghanistan, on addressing the dangers in Libya, on providing support to Syria's rebels and, most recently, on initiating military action against Islamic State.
But is that necessarily such a bad thing? Calculated delay has a long history as an effective military strategy, dating back at least to the Second Punic War in the 3rd century BC.
At the time, Hannibal's Carthaginian army, including his war elephants, had successfully made its way from North Africa through Spain and across the Alps to invade Italy from the north. There, Hannibal's troops inflicted two stunning defeats on Rome's mighty legions, throwing the country into panic.
During ordinary times, the Roman Republic was governed by a senate and two elected consuls who served together for one-year terms. But in times of national crisis, the senate had the option of appointing a dictator to streamline command. In the face of Hannibal's advance, the senate appointed Quintus Fabius Maximus, who at that point had served two terms as consul.
Everyone expected Fabius Maximus, an admired leader and experienced general, to quickly march on Hannibal's forces, but he did not. Instead, he avoided major battles while harassing Hannibal's army around the edges, preventing the invaders from getting supplies, gradually wearing them down and degrading their capabilities. It was a strategy of containment.
But Romans were not pleased. Avoiding battle was un-Roman, an affront to the greatness of Rome. People called Fabius Maximus the Cuncator the delayer. It was intended to be an insult.
Fabius Maximus was replaced by a Roman consul who was determined to engage Hannibal directly. Under the command of the new consul, eight Roman legions marched off to destroy Hannibal's forces. They met at Cannae, in what turned out to be Rome's greatest military disaster. Between 50,000 and 70,000 Roman soldiers were slain and 10,000 more were taken prisoner.
The disaster at Cannae suddenly made Fabius Maximus look brilliant, and Romans again looked to the delayer to save the republic. Cuncator became a title signifying prudence, wisdom and respect.
Other military commanders have since followed what became known as a Fabian strategy, among them George Washington, who, in the early years of the American war for independence, avoided head-on battles with the British.
The containment strategy of the Cold War was a Fabian approach in the sense that it made the avoidance of nuclear confrontation its primary objective. But it was also based on the message that, if attacked, the United States would retaliate with massive force. And it was understood by all that all-out nuclear war meant the end of the world.
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Is Obama a modern-day Quintus Fabius Maximus?