REDLINE || Friday, March 27, 2015

Published: Fri, 03/27/15

REDLINE
The Right Stuff In The Morning


Friday, March 27, 2015  

Good morning! In the news today: U.S. declassifies report on Israel's nuclear program; U.S. caves to key Iranian demands; Obama's forfeiture of U.S. leadership sets off a firestorm; Congress plays politics while human trafficking grinds on; German pilot hid illness from airline; and Harry Reid is going home! Or at least leaving the Senate.

Have a great weekend.

Keith

U.S. declassifies report detailing Israel's nuclear program . . . The Pentagon early last month quietly declassified a Department of Defense top-secret document detailing Israel's nuclear program, a highly covert topic that Israel has never formally announced to avoid a regional nuclear arms race, and which the US until now has respected by remaining silent. But by publishing the declassified document from 1987, the US reportedly breached the silent agreement to keep quiet on Israel's nuclear powers for the first time ever, detailing the nuclear program in great depth. The timing of the revelation is highly suspect, given that it came as tensions spiraled out of control between Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and US President Barack Obama ahead of Netanyahu's March 3 address in Congress. Israel National News

*******

Support REDLINE and White House Dossier when you shop on Amazon. Just click on this link and bookmark it for use each time you make a purchase. REDLINE and White House Dossier will receive a percentage of the price of your purchase, but it doesn't cost you a thing! Thanks for your support.

U.S. caves to key Iranian demands . . . The Obama administration is giving in to Iranian demands about the scope of its nuclear program as negotiators work to finalize a framework agreement in the coming days, according to sources familiar with the administration’s position in the negotiations. U.S. negotiators are said to have given up ground on demands that Iran be forced to disclose the full range of its nuclear activities at the outset of a nuclear deal, a concession experts say would gut the verification the Obama administration has vowed would stand as the crux of a deal with Iran. Washington Free Beacon

Centrifuges to spin at underground facility . . . The United States is considering letting Tehran run hundreds of centrifuges at a once-secret, fortified underground bunker in exchange for limits on centrifuge work and research and development at other sites, officials have told The Associated Press.

White House bullying allies to agree to deal . . . Efforts by the Obama administration to stem criticism of its diplomacy with Iran have included threats to nations involved in the talks, including U.S. allies, according to Western sources familiar with White House efforts to quell fears it will permit Iran to retain aspects of its nuclear weapons program. Washington Free Beacon

Dressing up spending as something else . . . I have some great news for you. The government has stopped spending your money! Instead, it’s investing your money for you. And it’s all just middle class economics. Not welfare. Please. White House Dossier

The White House briefing room seating chart . . . Here it is, the newly approved official 2015 White House briefing room seating chart!! Of course, this being Washington, the seating arrangement in the briefing room is a vicious turf war, connoting status. White House Dossier

House panel wants docs on Bergdahl swap . . . The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee asked the Obama administration Thursday to turn over all reports and documents, including intelligence information, related to last year's exchange of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl for five members of the Taliban. Fox News

"Can you pick me up? I'm flying into Obama . . . Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel floated the idea Wednesday of naming one of Chicago’s airports after President Obama. White House Dossier

Video || Mitt Sends Himself Up on the Tonight Show

Quote of the Day || March 27, 2015

Obama Schedule || Friday, March 27, 2015

Obama's Mideast vacuum . . . An abiding goal of President Obama’s foreign policy has been to reduce America’s role in the Middle East, in the belief that it would lead to greater stability and serve U.S. interests. Has a policy ever been so thoroughly repudiated in so short a time? Mr. Obama has succeeded in his retreat, but the vacuum he’s left has produced a region on fire that is becoming a broad Sunni-Shiite war. Wall Street Journal

Iran ramps up sea power . . . While the U.S. haggles with Iran over nuclear weapons, the Islamic Republic is aggressively building up a navy -- a move that has regional neighbors concerned. Fox News

Harry Reid won't see reelection . . . After a brutal eye injury, the 75-year-old Senate Democratic leader decides to forego another grueling campaign for reelection. Politico

Well, there's always a silver lining to a terrible accident. 

How Congress is sabotaging human trafficking victims . . . Dear survivors of human trafficking: We thought, by now, you would be receiving invitations to a bill-signing ceremony at the White House.

Everything seemed to have fallen into place for the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act. The bill is a bipartisan effort to strengthen our government’s ability to prevent trafficking, prosecute traffickers and expand services for survivors. It would create a fund for victims using fines paid by convicted offenders. The legislation is particularly focused on combatting the trafficking of children. More than 200 nonprofits agreed that it is Congress’s best option to get victims like you immediate support.

You are the reason this bill got so far. You bravely told your stories to strangers in the West Wing of the White House and in huge, cold committee rooms on Capitol Hill. You spoke to Attorney General Eric Holder, who told you, “We must do something. I never want to hear anything like this again.” But you were used. Lawmakers took your stories to promote themselves and their political agendas. Now the bill is stalled while Republicans and Democrats bicker about minutiae that have nothing to do with your plight. Autumn Hanna VandeHei and Michael Wear

"Gohmert: You're playing God with the Internet" . . . Congressional Republicans are united in their anger over new net neutrality regulations—but no one could match the fury displayed by Rep. Louie Gohmert on Wednesday. "You're playing God with the Internet!" the Texas Republican shouted at Tom Wheeler, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, during a House Judiciary Committee hearing. National Journal

Hillary to push reset button . . . Clinton’s campaign-in-waiting is plotting a listening tour to re-introduce her to Real America. Politico

Jeb's stealth campaign to woo evangelicals . . . The same voters who famously provided the "ground troops" for George W. Bush's 2000 and 2004 victories are, thus far, looking askance at his brother, seeing him as a classic, feckless "moderate" Republican in the mold of John McCain and Mitt Romney. That could present a major roadblock to the nomination. National Journal

Bush: I don't read the Times . . . "I don't read The New York Times, to be honest with you," Bush said when asked about a story in the paper. Newsmax

Because he's just regular folk like you and me.

Ron Paul supporters bolt Rand . . . Many are disillusioned by Rand Paul’s concessions to mainstream politics. Politico

Rubio takes aim at DC gun laws . . . Sen. Marco Rubio, a likely Republican presidential contender in 2016, introduced legislation Thursday to roll back restrictive gun laws in the District of Columbia, arguing that congressional intervention is needed to “correct” laws that violate the Second Amendment. Washington Times

Bernie Sanders' wife may have defrauded state agency . . . Documents obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation indicate that the wife of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders may have been able to use her clout to get away with loan fraud, nearly bankrupting the small college she was president of and collecting a sizable severance package in the process. Daily Caller

Wall Street may fire back against Dems . . . Big Wall Street banks are so upset with Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren's call for them to be broken up that some have discussed withholding campaign donations to Senate Democrats in symbolic protest, sources familiar with the discussions said. Reuters

Senators back benefits for same-sex couples . . . Senators approved a budget amendment Thursday that would give married same-sex couples access to Social Security and Department of Veterans Affairs benefits. Eleven Republican senators voted with Democrats in support of the amendment, including Sens. Kelly Ayotte (N.H.), Richard Burr (N.C.), Ron Johnson (Wis.), Mark Kirk (Ill.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Rob Portman (Ohio), each of whom are up for reelection in 2016. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) also voted for the amendment. The Hill

Senate passes House budget . . . The Senate passed a Republican-authored budget plan early on Friday that seeks $5.1 trillion in domestic spending cuts over 10 years while boosting military funding. Reuters

Because he's just a regular guy like you and me.

Poll: Hillary’s Favorability Plummets to 26% after Email Scandal

Video || Mean Tweets – House Leaders

Pilot who crashed plane hid illness from airline . . . Germanwings co-pilot Andreas Lubitz appears to have hidden evidence of an illness from his employers, including having been excused by a doctor from work the day he crashed a passenger plane into a mountain, prosecutors said Friday. Associated Press

Congresswoman: Global warming to make women prostitutes . . . California Democrat Barbara Lee proposed a resolution in the House of Representatives that claims women will eventually be forced into prostitution in order to obtain life-sustaining food and water for their families. Concurrent Resolution 29 warns that women will be forced into “transactional sex” to get enough food and clean water — all because global warming will create “conflict and instability” in the world. Breitbart

DEA agents hired prostitutes . . . Several Drug Enforcement Administration agents enjoyed sex parties with hookers hired by drug cartels, a watchdog report said Thursday, the latest in a string of investigations into sexual misconduct by government agents. Washington Times

Feds finance system to "automatically detect" cyberbullying . . . The National Science Foundation (NSF) is financing the creation of a system for the “automatic detection” of cyberbullying. The project was awarded this month to Rutgers University, which has received $117,102 so far. The real-time, automatic detection of hurtful online speech is necessary, according to the NSF grant, because cyberbullying is a “critical social problem.” Washington Free Beacon 

So watch what you say.

Keith Koffler
Editor
White House Dossier

If you like REDLINE, please forward it to your friends!
Got this from a friend? Subscribe here

​Advertise on REDLINE

Got a tip for REDLINE? Let me know
 
If you you don't want REDLINE but still would like occasional White House Dossier alerts, reply to his email with the message: "Just White House Dossier."