My Anthem

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

FINAL POST on the MOST CANCEROUS VIRUS BEDEVILLING "Malsia" IN 2015: 1MDB

LIKe a JOUrnalist trained BLOgger, DESi today came back from Haiti -- hey, the plural of HIATUS< cun? --to write the closing BIG picture on 1MALAYSIA DEVELOPMENT BERHAD< FRom TWO PERSPECTIVES< Both borrowed. IF I WEre to be partial, I would have HIGHLIGHTED mGfMer DOnPLayPUks's feUT WE DEFER To the runaway coward and liar (I've called him that several timesAmarudin or infamously known as RPK!) Hyding out in (WOE)manchester, UK.

PLease RUMINATE AT YEAR-END ON THE TWO OPPOSING VIEWPOINTS that follow :) OR :(


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From malayaysia-today.net:~~~~ 

‘The truth’ regarding 1MDB and the RM2.6 billion

December 16, 2015
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mt2014-no-holds-barred
And that is why religion is so successful. People are prepared to accept ‘the truth’ based on myth and folklore. And if Dr Mahathir can successfully spin the myth that Najib stole 1MBD’s money and that RM42 billion has disappeared into thin air and that the RM2.6 billion came from 1MDB, many of you will ‘religiously’ accept this as ‘the truth’. It is how the human mind works.
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
(The Malaysian Insider) – Umno president Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s speech at the party’s recently concluded general assembly was ‘very disappointing’ as it was all about defending himself, said Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
In his latest blog post today, the former prime minister and Umno president said Najib had claimed that he was a ‘gentleman, had a big heart, brave and would not step down’, but added that the president did not touch on the party’s struggles or his administration.
“There was also no explanation on the others issues like the problems with 1MDB and the RM2.6 billion which was found in his bank accounts.”
“The delegates wanted an explanation on these issues so that they could explain them to the grassroots and to the public.”
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Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. — John 8:32
But that is just it. Contrary to what Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said, over the last year or so many explanations have been given regarding these two issues. It is just that Dr Mahathir and the critics of Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak are pretending as if no explanation has ever been given.
The Umno ‘Team B’ being led by Dr Mahathir wanted to use the recent Umno annual general assembly to attack Najib. And they were hoping that Najib would be brought down during the assembly. And, as Dr Mahathir himself had admitted, they were going to use the 1MDB and RM2.6 billion issues as the catalyst in that move to oust Najib.
In short, Najib was under attack. But the many attacks since the beginning of this year failed to do the trick. So the last and final attack in that plan to oust Najib was supposed to be the recent Umno assembly. If Najib did not defend himself well he was going to fall.
So, of course, Najib would have had to defend himself during the assembly. What else could he have done? They left him very little choice and no other alternative. They had earlier challenged him to prove that he is a fighter and not a cowardly quitter. They even mocked him about him being a gutless Bugis warrior.
So Najib fought back. And he fought back during the Umno annual general assembly, the same forum they were using to try to oust him before Christmas. According to their plan, Najib was not supposed to celebrate Christmas as Prime Minister. And it was up to Najib to prove them wrong, which he did.
A pre-council meeting was held on the eve of the assembly where the delegates were given a detailed explanation regarding 1MDB and the RM2.6 billion. And the delegates were happy with that explanation. They saw that the allegations about Najib stealing 1MDB’s money or that RM42 billion had ‘disappeared into thin air’ or that the RM2.6 billion came from 1MDB were not true.
So they did not need to, again, raise an issue, that had already been resolved earlier, at the Umno assembly. It was an issue that had already been explained — and explained, as far as the delegates were concerned, to their satisfaction. Only those who boycotted the pre-council briefing on the eve of the Umno assembly so that they can pretend they do not know any details are the ones who keep repeating the allegations and keep raising the same questions.
There are many similar comments in the Internet, even in the comments section of Malaysia Today, by people who say they want the truth. They do not care about the quarrel between the Prime Minister and the ‘Team B’ being led by Dr Mahathir, they say. They just want the truth regarding 1MDB and the RM2.6 billion, they say. That is all they want, they say.
Well, it all depends on what you mean by ‘the truth’. Many of those who are asking that ‘the truth’ be told are those such as Dr Mahathir who are convinced that Najib stole 1MDB’s money or that RM42 billion had ‘disappeared into thin air’ or that the RM2.6 billion came from 1MDB. That, to them, is ‘the truth’. So would any other explanation other than that ‘truth’ be acceptable to these people?
All they want to hear is that Najib stole 1MDB’s money and that RM42 billion had ‘disappeared into thin air’ and that the RM2.6 billion came from 1MDB. Any other explanation that contradicts this ‘truth’ is not acceptable. The only ‘truth’ they want to hear is that Najib stole 1MDB’s money and that RM42 billion had ‘disappeared into thin air’ and that the RM2.6 billion came from 1MDB.
So they do not really want to hear ‘the truth’, as they say they do. They want to hear that Najib stole 1MDB’s money and that RM42 billion had ‘disappeared into thin air’ and that the RM2.6 billion came from 1MDB. And if whatever explanation you give contradicts this ‘truth’ then it is going to be rejected.
What is happening here is that we are playing with beliefs and those who are asking for the so-called ‘truth’ are standing on a position of belief and all they want is for you to confirm this belief of theirs. In other words, they already believe a certain thing to be true. No explanation of yours is going to change their belief. So if your explanation contradicts this belief then it is going to be rejected. It will only be accepted if your explanation confirms and strengthens this belief.
Let me put it another way. I believe that Jesus is the Son of God. I believe that Jesus died on the cross. I believe that Jesus came back to life three days later. I even believe that next Friday is the 2,015th birthday of Jesus Christ. That is ‘the truth’, and the truth will set you free, as the Christians believe.
So that is ‘the truth’ to many of you. But then ‘the truth’ is subjective. If you believe it then it becomes ‘the truth’. If you do not then it becomes a lie. And when you ask for ‘the truth’ what you mean is you want me to confirm that Jesus is the Son of God, He died on the cross, He came back to life three days later, and next Friday is the 2,015th birthday of Jesus Christ.
If you already believe that this is ‘the truth’ then why keep asking for ‘the truth’? ‘The truth’ is whatever you believe to be ‘the truth’. Anything that contradicts your belief is a lie. And since your version or interpretation of ‘the truth’ contradicts mine then it is futile to keep asking for ‘the truth’. ‘The truth’ is whatever it is you believe to be ‘the truth’.
The issue of 1MDB and the RM2.6 billion is the same. You already believe what is ‘true’ and what is not — the same goes for Dr Mahathir. Unless Najib can come out and say that he did steal 1MBD’s money and that RM42 billion has disappeared into thin air and that the RM2.6 billion did come from 1MDB, you are not going to believe or accept what he says.
Najib can say anything he wants but unless what he says is he did steal 1MBD’s money and that RM42 billion has disappeared into thin air and that the RM2.6 billion did come from 1MDB you are going to reject what he says. So why keep asking him to explain? You already know ‘the truth’, as how you see ‘the truth’. You already believe what you believe.
And nothing that Najib says is going to change your mind — just like even if I were to say Jesus is not the Son of God, He did not die on the cross, He did not come back to life three days later, and next Friday is not the 2,015th birthday of Jesus Christ you are not going to convert to Islam.
So believe what you want to believe and stop asking for ‘the truth’ because, to you, ‘the truth’ is what you believe to be ‘the truth’ and any explanation contrary to what you believe to be ‘the truth’ would be a lie as far as you are concerned.
And that is why religion is so successful. People are prepared to accept ‘the truth’ based on myth and folklore. And if Dr Mahathir can successfully spin the myth that Najib stole 1MBD’s money and that RM42 billion has disappeared into thin air and that the RM2.6 billion came from 1MDB, many of you will ‘religiously’ accept this as ‘the truth’. It is how the human mind works.

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FRom donplaypuks.blogspot.com:~~~~~~~


BARISAN RAKYAT SHALL FORM THE NEXT GOVERNMENT!

SOS

SOS
nation in distress

The World Anthem


WE ARE ALL OF 1 RACE, THE HUMAN RACE.


27/12/2015

MALAYSIAN CORRUPT AGENCY TO REVEAL TRUTH BEHIND $2.6 BILLION & $42 MILLION? DO SHARKS FLY?

by the fake buginese shark, Donplaypuks® intrepid correspondent for "revealing" serially lying affairs




Like the serially lying Prime Minister Grossmajib who wears the pants and her husband who wears the skirts, the Judiciary, Attorney General Pandi, Police Inspector General (PIG) Ashburn, Speaker Pandi, "top" civil serpents like Hamza and Abdullah and the Malaysian Corrupt Agency all, individually and collectively, totally lack any sense of credibility in the eyes of the Rakyat. No one trusts them any further than they can throw them.

To-date, the Rakyat has not forgiven the Malaysian Corrupt Agency for its failure to charge anyone with, or sincerely, properly and satisfactorily account for, the deaths of Teoh Beng Hock or Ahmad Sarbaini, both of whom died while in its custody. CLICK HERE AND HERE.

The police too do not lag any further behind with so many unexplained deaths in their custody and failures to hold mandatory inquests in such cases. The story of Kugan is perhaps the most infamous of such cases. CLICK HERE. But, the deaths of 14-year old Aminulrasyid and Gunasegaran Rajasundram also suggest that the rogue elements within the higher ranks of the police are wilfully assisting PM Grossmajib in turning our country into a totalitarian state.

And recently when PM Grossmajib Unconstitutionally sacked the AG and illegally ordered the PIG to sabotage ongoing investigations by the Malaysian Corrupt Agency, both their No.1 and No.2 were conveniently not around. PM Grossmajib broke the law in ordering the PIG to arrest the officers of the Malaysian Corrupt Agency investigating the $2.6 billion and the $42 million that were deposited PM Grossmajib's personal bank account.

Let us be very clear.

The $2.6 billion and the $42 million clearly indicate that serially lying PM Grossmajib commited fraud, misappropriation of money and CBT with the Rakyat's money, and that he also broke both local and international money-laundering laws. There have been so many contradictions in his explanations about these huge sums of the Rakyat's money, that anyone else in any other country would by now be in prison serving a life-sentence. In the case of China, he would have been beheaded or hung. That this has not yet happened in our country is the most damning of indictments of the pariah 4th world status to which PM Grossmajib has forced the nation to. He and Malaysia have become the laughing stock of the world for more reasons than one.

Will the Malaysian Corrupt Agency really reveal the truth?

Short answer, NO!

They will reveal a version of the truth, as dictated to them by serially lying PM Grossmajib.

Having given PM Grossmajib so much time to cook up the most implausible of answers and to bribe an Arab (or two) to lie that he "donated" $2.6 billion to BUMNO via himself, the Malaysian Corrupt Agency will give the following "explanations":

1.  An Arab (or two) "donated" the $2.6 billion to BUMNO.
2. An Arab (or two) insisted the $2.6 billion be TT'd to PM Grossmajib's personal bank account. The reason for this cannot be revealed.
3. The names of the Arab (or two) cannot be revealed in view of BAFIA and some other vague laws. It is up to AG Pandi to name them.
4. The $42 million was utilised for social welfare projects details of which cannot be disclosed (even though it was really for political gains). So, PM Grossmajib did not commit CBT!

What the Malaysian Corrupt Agency WILL NOT disclose are:

1. Whether they traced the source of the $2.6 billion to the USA and merchant banks such as Goldmansucks.
2. Whether they investigated 1GDB (Grossmajib Development Bunkum) and its over-pricing of bonds and yield in raising debt of $46 billion, who subscribed to these bonds and what they did with perhaps as much as $5 billion in illegal gains.
3. Why, if BUMNO, was the beneficiary of the $2.6 billion "donation" from an Arab (or two), PM Grossmajib transferred out $2 billion to a non-BUMNO bank account in Singapore, and what has happened to the money.
4. Why the two main officers involved in the $42 million "CSR" scam were allowed to flee to Indonesia and remain there if they are not guilty of any crime.
5. Why $2 million found its way into PM Grossmajib's wife's bank account, or millions of dollars were paid out to Cabinet members and BUMNO party hacks.
6. Whether they found any other big sums of unexplained and unaccounted for money (hundreds of millions of dollars) had also flowed through PM Grossmajib's  and his wife's personal bank accounts. 
7. Whether they investigated 1GDB and PM Grossmajib for fraud, misappropriation and CBT over transfer of billions of dollars to fake off-shore companies bearing names very similar names to real Middle East companies.

Whatever the Malaysian Corrupt Agency "reveals", there will only be more questions than answers.

In short, it will be a total waste of everyone's time, more so with PM Grossmajib having given himself unfettered powers under the National Security Council Act!

It's time the King and the Rulers and Governors of all the states act to have PM Grossmajib, his Cabinet members and their cronies arrested. Either that, or this will mark the end of Parliament, democracy and the rule of law and the beginning of Stalinism/Hitlerism/Maoism in Malaysia.

Donplaypuks® with "reveal", Malaysian Corrupt Agency!

21/12/2015

1GDB'S DEBTS EXCEED $50 BILLION PLUS $4 BILLION DEBT TAKEN OVER BY MOF WITH PM GROSSMAJIB'S THIEVERY!

by bernie madhoff , donplaypuks® intrepid correspondent for $46 billion fraud affairs


Let us be very clear about it.

Right from the beginning, PM Grossmajib set up 1GDB with a premeditated intention to cheat the Rakyat of billions of ringgit, to stay in power.

From the beginning, when the 1GDB (Grossmajib Development Bumkum) financial fraud, CBT and money-laundering schemes were exposed, its total debts stood at $46 billion.
NOT $42 billion as spindoctored (read as deliberately lied) to the Rakyat by 1GDB's Chairman, CEO Financial Controller and "Chief Advisor" PM Grossmajib. In addition to the $42 billion debts, the 2014 balance sheet clearly shows an additional $4 billion in derivative debts.

With a measly paid-up share capital of $1 million, 1GDB would not have been able to raise the $46 billion debt in the form of bonds, loans and bank overdrafts, without letters of support and guarantees issued by OUR government. $6 billion of the $46 billion comprised IPP loans.

PM Grossmajib then illegally authorized the Ministry of Finance to take over 1GDB's $4 billion derivative debts at original cost, thus reducing 1GDB's debt to $42 billion. 

Why?

1GDB had "invested" the $4 billion in a disastrous Mongolian coal mine venture, as well as other dodgy "projects" (Indonesia?), precise details of which it has dared not reveal to the Rakyat. It is probable that a big chunk of this money disappeared into that Black Hole of fraud, misappropriation and CBT off-shore companies headed by PM Grossmajib's co-fraudster, Jho Paris Hilton.

PM Grossmajib then, to avoid further embarrassment and the inability of 1GDB to service interest on the $4 billion debt, passed the buck to the Rakyat by transferring it to the MoF. By this thievery and left hand-right hand trickery, PM Grossmajib managed to reduce 1GDB's debt by $4 billion, i.e. from $46 billion to $42 billion.

But since 1GDB is 100% owned by the MoF, it means we the Rakyat are stuck with $46 billion in debt!

The ringgit has depreciated against the US$ by some 30% since 31 March 2014.

This means that much of this debt, repayable in US$, has now ballooned from $42 to over $50 billion. This more than $8 billion in exchange rate losses will plunge 1GDB into even greater financial losses.

Now do you all understand why 1GDB's accounts for the Y/E 31 March 2015 have not been finalised or audited? Because in reality, not just technicality, 1GDB is no longer a "going concern". In layman's term, it means 1GDB is bankrupt!

What is clear is that they are busy cooking the books at 1GDB to somehow show less losses, or not to file any more accounts at all, by initiating a "re-structuring" or winding up, and transferring the assets (land) to a new MoF company, and classifying it all under the OSA. Then no-one will be wiser to 1GDB and its real losses which might be $30 billion or more.

1GDB's CEO Kenneth Kaunda Kundi continues to lie that the debt is under control. This year alone, 1GDB has added at least another $4.5 billion to this debt, financed by $3.5 billion from Arab friends and another $1 billion stand-by credit (fully utilised) from the MoF. 1GDB's total debts may then be as high as $55 billion when interest is factored in.

1GDB "hopes" to settle the debts paid for by its Arab friends with contra deals involving the Rakyat's crown jewels, i.e. land bank.

Or, the debt will be converted to share capital, in which case  a major portion of 1GDB's assets will be substantially owned by foreigners, taking into account also that it recently agreed to sell off its IPP business to a China company for $17 billion ($10b in assets and $7b in debt). This sale will result in 1GDB booking in at least $3 billion in book losses on its IPP business!!

1GDB and PM Grossmajib's original business plan of owning "strategic assets" and operating "long-term" businesses for the benefit of the Rakyat, has now been openly abandoned. 1GDB's house is on fire, and PM Grossmajib does not care two hoots who gets burnt in the process as long as it's not him.

Note also, that 1GDB CEO Kenneth Kaunda Kundi is continuing to lie and spindoctor about money transfers by 1GDB. The Wall St. Journal (WSJ) and Sarawak Report have exposed the fraudulent transfer of US$700 million to Petro Saudi, and US$850 million to Aabar. 

It's obvious from the WSJ expose - CLICK HERE -  that PM Grossmajib and Jho Paris Hilton are behind the heist of the century by creating off-shore companies whose names closely resemble that of actual Saudi companies, and fraudulently transferring these huge sums of our Taxpayer-guaranteed money for their own ends. 

It's obvious that PM Grossmajib illegally used these funds to secure his political future and that of his party - BUMNO/SCUMNO - at the 2013 general elections. It's obvious too that totally corrupt PM Grossmajib personally pocketed a huge sum of money, as did his party members and cronies. This also relates to the fraudulent $2.6 billion transferred to PM Grossmajib's personal bank account as well as another $42 million from a MOF company.

1GDB CEO Kenneth Kaunda Kundi thinks he is dealing with children by answering questions he is not asked. No one wants to know about the state of 1GDB's relationship with the real IPIC or Aabar. CLICK HERE. Everyone wants to know about the fraudulent transfer of  billions of ringgit of the Taxpayer's money to the fake Aabar, Petro Saudi and Jho Paris Hilton's Goodstar Ltd.

The litany of lies about the crime of the century at 1GDB continues to flow from PM Grossmajib and the Chairman, Board of Directors and CEO of 1GDB.

Has there ever in the history of the world been a more corrupt, dishonest, disgraceful and shameless prime minister such as this and his government of murderers, thieves, looters and plunderers and cronies than that led by PM Grossmajib and his wife?

Donplaypuks® with >$50 billion debts, O' Great Serial Liar PM Grossmajib!

14/12/2015

PM NAJIB LIES BLATANTLY ABOUT $2.6 BILLION A/C DISCLOSURES TO BANK NEGARA MALAYSIA (BNM)!

by bnm disclosures department, donplaypuks® intrepid correspondent for no one would be that stupid affairs





Ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies never applied here and now to anyone more than Malaysian Prime Minister Najib. 

From day one, when caught with his pants down over the illegal $2.6 billion that was transferred in 2013 from abroad to his personal bank a/c, Najib decided to take the low road. He could not overcome the  pull of that congenitally serial lying gene embedded in his DNA, and stunned the world by claiming that the money was a "donation from Arab sources". Not for him the high road of honesty, integrity and honour.

Najb's new-found scrotum carriers like Maslan, Sharir, Hanahdlah and others doubled the vigour with which they normally spoke up supporting Najib's lying and thieving activities. Everyone of them had been paid millions of ringgit to buy their sycophancy, with the $2.6 billion. 

They claimed that no one could be that foolish, especially Najib, as to channel such large sums as $2.6 billion through their personal bank accounts. They rushed to back Najib to the hilt by claiming that the Wall St Journal and Sarawak Report which exposed the incident, had "regime change" motives and/or were secretly backed by Zionist and Jewish plotters.

Now, they have been caught out by their own lies and short memories. DPM Zahid had at first claimed in August that he had met "representatives" of the Arab donor, and then back-tracked last week with having "met representatives of donors who were leaders of a Middle East government". DPM Zahid, a  PhD holder who does not have a copy of his thesis and who has great trouble reciting the English alphabets, bragged that it was not "donor", but the plural of it. This was contradicted by the MACC which confirmed it had met the "representatives of the donor".  Najib then weighed in by saying it was "donors"!! Zahid then adamantly maintained that his diametrically opposite statements were not contradictory.

Well, it's a simple matter which can be easily resolved if PM Najib would care to answer the following key questions:

1. If BNM knew about Najib's bank account and the $2.6 billion in 2013, why did it just impose a $57.3 million fine on AMMB over its failure to disclose exactly that matter officially to BNM? 

Najib is of course, as is normal for a crook, playing around with semantics and words by saying that "BNM had been notified about this account". CLICK HERE. What Najib really meant was that when the account was originally opened, God knows when, BNM had been notified about it. But it does not mean that when the $2.6 billion of illegal money was received in 2013, he or AMMB  informed BNM about that transaction. This is precisely why BNM imposed that fine on AMMB!

Otherwise, Yeti and BNM are lying and the fine is their CYA (cover-your-ass) tactic.

So, who is lying, BNM or you, O' Geat Serial Liar Najib?

2. If WSJ and Sarawak Report are wrong, why hasn't PM Najib filed a slander and defamation lawsuit against them yet? Their reports came out in July this year and five months have passed. What exactly are you waiting for " Great Serial Liar Najib?

3. If the $2.6 billion was a donation for UMNO's benefit, why isn't it reflected at all in its 2013 or 2014 financial statements? And how come no one else in the Cabinet or UMNO knows anything about the $2.6 billion, O' Great Serial Liar Najib?

4. If it was a donation to UMNO, then why was $2 billion of the $2.6 billion transferred by you out to Tanore Finance in Singapore without UMNO's knowledge, O' Great Serial Liar Najib?

5. If it was not "sub-judice" to talk about the $2.6 billion at UMNO's Annual General Meeting last week and to BN and UMNO members last year, how was it sub-judice to make a detailed statement about it in Parliament, especially since there is no court case at all, O' Great Serial Liar Najib?

6. If the $2.6 billion was accepted by you who are clearly a public official, whether or not the" donation" was made unconditionally, how is that not an offence for you under the Criminal Prodecure Code? Expecially when ex-Selangor MB Toyo was convicted this year for a similar offence, O' Great Serial Liar Najib?

7. Why are BNM, MACC, the police and the PAC now not talking at all about the $42 million that also flowed through your bank account, and which is a clear case of money-laundering and CBT also by you, O' Great Serial Liar Najib?

8. And in the final analysis, if there was no fraud, CBT, money-laundering etc., why did you sack DPM Muhy and AG Patel, and sabotage the inquiries being made by BNM, MACC and PAC, O' Great Serial Liar Najib?



Donplaypuks® with unanswered questions, O' Great Liar Najib!
 
 
DESIDERATA: Dear ESTEEMEDREADERS, I did not send ye the traditional CHristmas SEason's GreATings as DEsi is in SOMBRE MOOD< wearing a sombrero most of the time under the scorching sun, and lying on the beach in HAITI> >"WATching all the seabirds fly...">>>>>>> thinking those innocent flying creatures "MIGHT BE YOU!" STAY THE FIGHT&FLIGHT FOR 2016, OK!

Tuesday, December 08, 2015

An Ode to Mark the Eve of Two Landmark Events -- One Historical, one Personal

YES, tomorrow is Desiderata-YL Chong's 11th birthday
How time flies at the Midnight Voices' abode I name my cyber home
I offer ye -- my ER, 4seteemdreader -- endless rounds of tehTARI'
If you care to join my banter and tea&leg pulling

If you have not heard of the other historic landmark event
famously associated with the Ides of March in Roman history
Thou art no friend of mine, in the mind of Desiderata
For I've quoted often enough from The Bard's JULIUS CAESAR
(My party leader now jailed unjustly in Sungai Buluh too --
I mean he also quotes Shakespeare often; 
DSAI even stated that he
read the Complete Works of Shakespeare during the last imprisonment on trumped up charges...Sorry I digress, but tha's the funD part of being a BUMmer, you can BUM around and you can Digress,!) 

(To be continued after my socialist BF OK!

HIATUS extended, meanwhile, another TERROR attack in the USA reminds us of the greatest DANGER facing the world: ISIL or Daesh...


 Following the Paris attacks,(which I dedicated the Theme song "ANGEL" above to...) the US recently had suffered another attack at its doorstep, meriting Prez BARACK OBAMA to address the nation from the Oval Office -- THIRD time since his presidency started six years ago -- addressing the latest tragic incident taking 14LIVES> I sat up for the live telecast over CNN from 9am yesterday, lasting some 15(?)minutes, followed by political commentaries in a truly democratic forum.

 




Full text of President Obama's speech from the Oval Office about terrorism

President Barack Obama addresses the nation from the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, Sunday night, Dec. 6, 2015.
President Barack Obama addresses the nation from the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, Sunday night, Dec. 6, 2015. (Saul Loeb/Pool Photo via AP )

Remarks by President Barack Obama on Sunday about terrorism in an address from the Oval Office, as transcribed by Federal News Service:

Good evening. On Wednesday, 14 Americans were killed as they came together to celebrate the holidays. They were taken from family and friends who loved them deeply. They were white and black, Latino and Asian, immigrants, and American born, moms and dads, daughters and sons. Each of them served their fellow citizens. All of them were part of our American family.

Tonight I want to talk with you about this tragedy, the broader threat of terrorism and how we can keep our country safe. The FBI is still gathering the facts about what happened in San Bernardino, but here's what we know. The victims were brutally murdered and injured by one of their co-workers and his wife. So far, we have no evidence that the killers were directed by a terrorist organization overseas or that they were part of a broader conspiracy here at home. But it is clear that the two of them had gone down the dark path of radicalization, embracing a perverted interpretation of Islam that calls for war against America and the West. They had stockpiled assault weapons, ammunition, and pipe bombs.

So this was an act of terrorism designed to kill innocent people. Our nation has been at war with terrorists since Al Qaeda killed nearly 3,000 Americans on 9/11. In the process, we've hardened our defenses, from airports, to financial centers, to other critical infrastructure. Intelligence and law enforcement agencies have disrupted countless plots here and overseas and worked around the clock to keep us safe.

Our military and counterterrorism professionals have relentlessly pursued terrorist networks overseas, disrupting safe havens in several different countries, killing Osama Bin Laden, and decimating Al Qaeda's leadership.

Over the last few years, however, the terrorist threat has evolved into a new phase. As we've become better at preventing complex multifaceted attacks like 9/11, terrorists turn to less complicated acts of violence like the mass shootings that are all too common in our society. It is this type of attack that we saw at Fort Hood in 2009, in Chattanooga earlier this year, and now in San Bernardino.

And as groups like ISIL grew stronger amidst the chaos of war in Iraq and then Syria, and as the Internet erases the distance between countries, we see growing efforts by terrorists to poison the minds of people like the Boston Marathon bombers and the San Bernardino killers.

For seven years, I've confronted this evolving threat each and every morning in my intelligence briefing, and since the day I took this office, I have authorized U.S. forces to take out terrorists abroad precisely because I know how real the danger is.

As commander in chief, I have no greater responsibility than the security of the American people.

As a father to two young daughters who are the most precious part of my life, I know that we see ourselves with friends and co-workers at a holiday party like the one in San Bernardino. I know we see our kids in the faces of the young people killed in Paris.

And I know that after so much war, many Americans are asking whether we are confronted by a cancer that has no immediate cure.

Well, here's what I want you to know. The threat from terrorism is real, but we will overcome it. We will destroy ISIL and any other organization that tries to harm us. Our success won't depend on tough talk, or abandoning our values or giving in to fear. That's what groups like ISIL are hoping for. Instead, we will prevail by being strong and smart, resilient and relentless. And by drawing upon every aspect of American power.

Here's how. First, our military will continue to hunt down terrorist plotters in any country where it is necessary. In Iraq and Syria, air strikes are taking out ISIL leaders, heavy weapons, oil tankers, infrastructure.

And since attacks in Paris, our closest allies, including France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, have ramped up their contributions to our military campaign which will help us accelerate our effort to destroy ISIL.

Second, we will continue to provide training and equipment to tens of thousands of Iraqi and Syrian forces fighting ISIL on the ground so that we take away their safe havens.

In both countries, we're deploying special operations forces who can accelerate that offensive. We've stepped up this effort since the attacks in Paris, and will continue to invest more in approaches that are working on the ground.

Third, we're working with friends and allies to stop ISIL's operations, to disrupt plots, cut off their financing, and prevent them from recruiting more fighters.

Since the attacks in Paris, we've surged merged intelligence sharing with our European allies. We're working with Turkey to seal its border with Syria, and we are cooperating with Muslim majority countries, and with our Muslim communities here at home, to counter the vicious ideology that ISIL promotes online.

Fourth, with American leadership, the international community has begun to establish a process and timeline to pursue cease-fires and a political resolution to the Syrian war.

Doing so will allow the Syrian people and every country, including our allies, but also countries like Russia, to focus on the common goal of destroying ISIL, a group that threatens us all.

This is our strategy to destroy ISIL. It is designed and supported by our military commanders and counterterrorism experts, together with 65 countries that have joined an American-led coalition. And we constantly examine our strategy to determine when additional steps are needed to get the job done.

That's why I've ordered the Departments of State and Homeland Security to review the visa waiver program under which the female terrorist in San Bernardino originally came to this country. And that's why I will urge high-tech and law enforcement leaders to make it harder for terrorists to use technology to escape from justice.

Now, here at home, we have to work together to address the challenge. There are several steps that Congress should take right away. To begin with, Congress should act to make sure no one on a no-fly list is able to buy a gun. What could possibly be the argument for allowing a terrorist suspect to buy a semiautomatic weapon? This is a matter of national security.

We also need to make it harder for people to buy powerful assault weapons, like the ones that were used in San Bernardino. I know there are some who reject any gun-safety measures, but the fact is that our intelligence and law-enforcement agencies, no matter how effective they are, cannot identify every would-be mass shooter, whether that individual was motivated by ISIL or some other hateful ideology.

What we can do, and must do, is make it harder for them to kill.

Next, we should put in place stronger screening for those who come to America without a visa so that we can take a hard look at whether they've traveled to war zones. And we're working with members of both parties in Congress to do exactly that.

Finally, if Congress believes, as I do, that we are at war with ISIL, it should go ahead and vote to authorize the continued use of military force against these terrorists.

For over a year, I have ordered our military to take thousands of air strikes against ISIL targets. I think it's time for Congress to vote to demonstrate that the American people are united and committed to this fight.

My fellow Americans, these are the steps that we can take together to defeat the terrorist threat.

Let me now say a word about what we should not do. We should not be drawn once more into a long and costly ground war in Iraq or Syria. That's what groups like ISIL want. They know they can't defeat us on the battlefield. ISIL fighters were part of the insurgency that we faced in Iraq. But they also know that if we occupy foreign lands, they can maintain insurgencies for years, killing thousands of our troops and draining our resources, and using our presence to draw new recruits.

The strategy that we are using now -- air strikes, special forces, and working with local forces who are fighting to regain control of their own country -- that is how we'll achieve a more sustainable victory, and it won't require us sending a new generation of Americans overseas to fight and die for another decade on foreign soil.

Here's what else we cannot do. We cannot turn against one another by letting this fight be defined as a war between America and Islam. That, too, is what groups like ISIL want.

ISIL does not speak for Islam. They are thugs and killers, part of a cult of death. And they account for a tiny fraction of a more than a billion Muslims around the world, including millions of patriotic Muslim-Americans who reject their hateful ideology.

Moreover, the vast majority of terrorist victims around the world are Muslim.

If we're to succeed in defeating terrorism, we must enlist Muslim communities as some of our strongest allies, rather than push them away through suspicion and hate.

That does not mean denying the fact that an extremist ideology has spread within some Muslim communities. It's a real problem that Muslims must confront without excuse.

Muslim leaders here and around the globe have to continue working with us to decisively and unequivocally reject the hateful ideology that groups like ISIL and Al Qaeda promote, to speak out against not just acts of violence, but also those interpretations of Islam that are incompatible with the values of religious tolerance, mutual respect, and human dignity.

But just as it is the responsibility of Muslims around the world to root out misguided ideas that lead to radicalization, it is the responsibility of all Americans, of every faith, to reject discrimination. It is our responsibility to reject religious tests on who we admit into this country. It's our responsibility to reject proposals that Muslim-Americans should somehow be treated differently. Because when we travel down that road, we lose. That kind of divisiveness, that betrayal of our values plays into the hands of groups like ISIL.

Muslim-Americans are our friends and our neighbors, our co- workers, our sports heroes. And, yes, they are our men and women in uniform who are willing to die in defense of our country. We have to remember that.

My fellow Americans, I am confident we will succeed in this mission because we are on the right side of history. We were founded upon a belief in human dignity that no matter who you are, or where you come from, or what you look like or what religion you practice, you are equal in the eyes of God and equal in the eyes of the law. Even in this political season, even as we properly debate what steps I and future presidents must take to keep our country safe. Let's make sure we never forget what makes us exceptional. Let's not forget that freedom is more powerful than fear. That we have always met challenges, whether war or depression, natural disasters or terrorist attacks, by coming together around our common ideals as one nation and one people.

So long as we stay true to that tradition, I have no doubt that America will prevail.

Thank you. God bless you. And may God bless the United States of America.
Related Topics:
politics president barack obama terrorism san bernardino mass shooting

DESIDERATA: I make an exceptional break from my HIATUS to post this IMPORTANT (IMHO OK, uou can beg to differ/defer...) POST as a sort of putting in ON RECORD.

Now please dear ER, go scout from the Star Online, Obama's speech coverage; so that my ER can learn by comparision the "diluted" form how diminished the impact; nothing like hearing it from the horse's mouth for CONTEXT and NUANCES, Badder steal, go to YOUTUBE and catch the video, worth a LISTEN:~~

********************************

 

About three weAks ago, Desi had writ:~~~~

 

 

Sunday, November 15, 2015


In the Arms of the Angel: A DED(S)Ication to ALL WHO BELIEVE.........







Amid the carnage and tragedy that befell PARIS THE past 48hours felt throughout the word, DESi would not pretend he could fathom the depths of anguish and despair of those who had LOST FAMILY MEMBERS or/and CLOSE  BUDDIES in the IS ATTACKS LAST FRIDAY NIGHT, with 129 reported dead and 99 critically injured and a few hundred more suffering less critical wounds. 

For those who survive to tell the tale, here's DEsi's belief expressed through a song to show that THEY HAD HAD BEEN ACCOMPANIED BY A GUARDIAN ANGEL. I pray all my friends and familities are also watched over by their angel, 25/7. Amen: YL, DEsi

 

In The Arms Of The Angel Lyrics


"In The Arms Of The Angel" was written by Sarah Mc Lachlan.
Send "In The Arms Of The …" Ringtone to your Mobile
Spend all your time waiting
For that second chance
For a break that would make it okay
There's always some reason
To feel not good enough
And it's hard at the end of the day
I need some distraction
Or a beautiful release
Memories seep from my veins
Let me be empty
Oh and weightless and maybe
I'll find some peace tonight
In the arms of the angel
Fly away from here
From this dark cold hotel room
And the endlessness that you fear
You are pulled from the wreckage
Of your silent reverie
You're in the arms of the angel
May you find some comfort here
So tired of the straight line
And everywhere you turn
There's vultures and thieves at your back
The storm keeps on twisting
Keep on building the lies
That you make up for all that you lack
It don't make no difference
Escaping one last time
It's easier to believe
In this sweet madness
Oh this glorious sadness
That brings me to my knees
In the arms of the angel
Fly away from here
From this dark cold hotel room
And the endlessness that you fear
You are pulled from the wreckage
Of your silent reverie
You're in the arms of the angel
May you find some comfort here
You're in the arms of the angel
May you find some comfort here

Read more: Sarah McLachlan - In The Arms Of The Angel Lyrics | MetroLyrics


DESIDERATA's  special note to dear ESteemedReaders: I am taking an indefinite HIATUS -- the third time in my 10years-plus of blogging - maybe I need to follow my POET-MENtor MAx Ehrmann's advice: "GO placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peAce there may be in SILENCE." JUst add that IT's just ADieu, and NOT GoodBYE. ~~ YL Desi
@11.37PM Sunday 15 November 2015