Among the foremost threats to individual freedom in America is the abusive and oftentimes lawless behavior…
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More Legal Shenanigans from the Biden Administration’s Department of Education

Among the foremost threats to individual freedom in America is the abusive and oftentimes lawless behavior of federal administrative agencies, whose vast armies of overpaid bureaucrats remain unaccountable for their excesses.

Among the most familiar examples of that bureaucratic abuse is the Department of Education (DOE).  Recall, for instance, the United States Supreme Court’s humiliating rebuke last year of the Biden DOE’s effort to shift hundreds of billions of dollars of student debt from the people who actually owed them onto the backs of American taxpayers.

Even now, despite that rebuke, the Biden DOE launched an alternative scheme last month in an end-around effort to achieve that same result.

Well, the Biden DOE is now attempting to shift tens of millions of dollars of…[more]

March 19, 2024 • 08:35 AM

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What Part of the World Improved Under Obama and Clinton? Print
By Timothy H. Lee
Wednesday, March 18 2015
Thus, without any notable exception, the Obama-Clinton foreign policy years have resulted in a weaker U.S. standing, deteriorating trust and sense of security among our allies and less respect or fear from our adversaries.

Is there no end to the circus parade of tawdry Clinton family scandals? 

Hillary's ill-advised and potentially illegal email activity as Secretary of State rightfully occupies the electorate's attention.  As GeekWire.com security expert Christopher Budd concluded, it might "represent one of the most serious breaches in data handling that we've ever heard of." 

And now, according to a new CNN/Opinion Research survey, Clinton's unfavorability rating has reached its highest level since at least June 2008, at a stunning 44%.  That's disturbing news for someone reportedly ready to commence her candidacy.   

Beyond those immediate security concerns and political repercussions, however, a broader question looms as Clinton contemplates asking the American people to elect her to the White House, and as the current occupant asks us to trust him in concealed negotiations with a potentially nuclear Iran. 

Namely, what part of the globe has improved since January 2009, when Obama became President and Clinton became Secretary of State? 

In the Middle East, Obama entered office willing to meet Iran's dictators face-to-face.  Soon thereafter, a populist democratic uprising began, but Obama turned his back in an attempt to curry favor with the murderous regime and it was soon crushed.  Since that date, Iran's nuclear ambitions, militaristic bombast and terrorist activities have only increased. 

Obama and Clinton also inherited an Iraq stabilized by the successful surge directed by George W. Bush.  Although Obama rationalized in a television interview this month that the hellish conditions in Iraq somehow resulted from the 2003 invasion, in December 2011 he trumpeted a "sovereign, stable and self-reliant Iraq." 

In Syria, Obama and Clinton first courted dictator Bashar al-Assad, then reversed course and said, "Assad must go."  Obama later declared a "red line" if chemical weapons were used, but took no action and attempted to deny drawing that line after such weapons were used.  Today, conditions have deteriorated so badly that a ghastly terrorist group labeled "junior varsity" by Obama just one year ago now controls a Britain-sized swath of Iraq and Syria. 

With Israel, the leader of America's strongest ally in the region and perhaps even the world has been treated with open disdain. 

In Russia, Clinton's embarrassing "Reset" ceremony and Obama's open-mic "flexibility" slip only brought greater foreign aggression and domestic repression under Vladimir Putin.  Today, according to Gallup, Russia is named by Americans as our greatest enemy, surpassing even North Korea.  Just two years ago, when Obama ridiculously attempted to mock Mitt Romney for identifying Russia as our greatest geopolitical opponent, only 2% of Americans considered Russia our biggest threat.  Now 18% do, more than any other nation surveyed. 

In Africa, murderous militants such as Boko Haram now terrorize both north and south of the Sahara. 

In the Pacific, North Korea has become more menacing as its nuclear and ballistic capabilities have progressed.  China continues to suffocate domestic democratic movements, dominate Hong Kong and engage in such territorial aggression that neighboring nations openly question their ability to rely upon American support. 

In Latin America, the Castros have exploited the Obama Administration's courtship with little reciprocation, Venezuela's dictatorship has only tightened its grip, other anti-American regimes maintain their belligerent policies and Argentina openly defies American creditors. 

The Obama-Clinton failures extend to the international war against terrorism, as manifested by an alarming new public opinion survey from Rasmussen.  Specifically, the number of Americans who say the U.S. is winning the global war against terrorism now stands at an all-time low of 19%, while the number who say that the terrorists are winning the war stands at a new high of 37%: 

"Even as a radical Islamic group announces its intention to attack American shopping malls, voters paint an increasingly dismal picture of U.S. efforts to fight terrorism.   Just 19% of likely U.S. voters now believe the United States and its allies are winning the War on Terror, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.  This finding's down from last month's previous low of 23%, and is the lowest finding in nearly 11 years of regular tracking.  Confidence in the U.S. anti-terrorism efforts hit a high of 62% in February 2009, just after President Obama's inauguration, then steadily deteriorated until the killing of Osama bin Laden in May 2011, when it rebounded into the 50s.  But it has been trending steadily down for the past two years. 

Thirty-seven percent (37%) think the terrorists are winning the war, up from 33% in January, and the highest level of pessimism since the September 11, 2001 attacks." 

Thus, without any notable exception, the Obama-Clinton foreign policy years have resulted in a weaker U.S. standing, deteriorating trust and sense of security among our allies and less respect or fear from our adversaries. 

Perhaps Benjamin Netanyahu's reelection this week constitutes one counterexample, but only in the sense that it once again demonstrates the Obama-Clinton reverse-Midas touch in benefiting a foreign figure whom they both hold in contempt. 

So as Obama asks us to trust him with Iran and Clinton potentially courts our votes, it's worth contemplating that they cannot claim a single important theater of the world that their efforts have improved. 

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