It's not likely Obama would ever have the cojones to use it.
Via The Hill:
Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Friday the Pentagon had
ready a bunker-busting bomb that could destroy Iran’s underground
nuclear facility, in case the U.S. ever had to resort to a military
option to stop Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.
“We
continue to improve it and upgrade over time so that there is this
alternative,” Carter said in an exclusive interview with CNN’s “Erin
Burnett OutFront,” referring to a weapon called the Massive Ordnance
Penetrator.
U.S. and international negotiators have
until June 30 to reach a final deal with Iran, which would exchange
sanctions relief for limits on Iran’s nuclear program, which they
believe is for a nuclear bomb.
Carter said though the Pentagon hopes the talks will successfully
conclude, “We don’t know. My job as secretary of Defense is to, among
other things, make sure that the so-called military option [is] on the
table.”
Carter added that the U.S. has the capability to “shut down, set back and destroy” the Iranian nuclear program.
Fidel Castro should be thankful he never really had to run for
re-election. A new poll conducted by a Miami polling firm of Cubans (as
in actually living in Cuba) finds that his favorably ratings are pretty
mediocre on the island. Only 44 percent of Cubans have a positive
opinion of El Caballo. Meanwhile, 80 percent of Cubans have a
favorable opinion of United State President Barack Obama, which is much
higher than his 47 percent approval rating back here in America.
The poll was conducted by Bendixen & Amandi International for Univision, Fusion, and the Washington Post.
They surveyed 1,200 Cubans in mid-March. It is the first privately
conducted poll done in Cuba since the country became communist over 50
years ago. So there's no reliable data to compare Fidel's past
popularity on the island.
When Amazon launched its Amazon Home Services this week, the stars of the new initiative were …
Goats.
Seattle goats, specifically, ready to trim back your pesky shrubbery.
“We bring the goats and unload him,” said Tammy Dunakin, head goat wrangler and owner of Rent-A-Ruminant LLC. “The
second they hit the ground, they’re eating. It’s incredible to watch.
It’s kind of like watching marbles scatter when you drop them on the
pavement. And the goats start eating everything in sight."
Government documents obtained by a top "Inside the Beltway" watchdog group and released on Thursday reveal thatInternal Revenue Service's Lois Lerner
was strongly urged by Sen. Carl Levin, D-Michigan, and Sen. John
McCain, R-Arizona, her assistance in attacking certain non-profit
political groups. The organizations they selected for targeting by
Lerner were part of the Tea Party and conservative movements.
Courtesy of US Senate Photo Gallery
The group that investigates and exposes government corruption, Judicial Watch,
released newly acquired IRS documents, including an email from Ms.
Lerner in February 2012 requesting she “put together some training
points to help them [IRS staffers] understand the potential pitfalls of
revealing too much information to Congress."
One of the released documents is a Lerner email from 2013 that she
was willing to 'take a bullet" for Obama and his White House for the IRS
scandal and that she understood why the targeting of Tea Party
organizations and other conservative groups may raise questions
regarding what did President Obama know and when did he know it. Obama
had told the press that he first read about the IRS targeting of
conservatives in the newspaper.
According to a Judicial Watch officials,
"A May 1, 2013, email exchange between Lois Lerner and other top IRS
staffers revealed that 11 days prior to Lerner’s admission that the IRS
had “inappropriately” targeted conservative groups, she met with select
top staffers from the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee in a
“marathon” meeting to discuss concerns raised by both Sen. Carl Levin
(D-MI) and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) that the IRS was not reining in political advocacy groups in response to the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision. Senator McCain had been the chief sponsor of the McCain-Feingold Act and called the Citizens United decision, which overturned portions of the Act, one of the 'worst decisions I have ever seen.'" Read it all here...
The percentage of Americans below the poverty line inched up, the
latest available Census Bureau data found, from 14.3 to 14.5 percent
overall — between 2009 and 2013. For black Americans, that climb was
steeper: The 25.8 percent in poverty rose to 27.2 percent.
Real median household incomes across America retreated across those
years, from $54,059 to $51,939. Though less pronounced, such finances
also reversed for black Americans, from $35,387 to $34,598.
Food Stamp recipients between 2009 and 2013, the most recent Department
of Agriculture figures show, rose from 32.9 million to 47.1 million
Americans. Meanwhile, the equivalent number of blacks soared from 7.4
million to 12.2 million.
Home ownership slipped from 67.3 percent of Americans in the first
quarter of 2009 to 64.0 in the fourth quarter of 2014. For blacks, that
figure slid from 46.1 to 42.1 percent.
A hopey-changey feeling is so much better than jobs, homes and real income.
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