With his March 28th press release, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) came closer than anyone in Congress, to rebuking Obama's exploitation of Sandy Hook by pointing to Operation Fast and Furious. Though he didn't name it specifically or highlight the most relevant contrast, he gets very close (hits on the year it was at its height - 2010 - as well as criminals buying guns). In fact, if Senators Cruz, Paul, Lee, et. al. follow through on their filibuster threat and begin hammering on that contrast, it could be devastating for the Democrats in general and Obama in particular.
In any conversation about how to prevent future tragedies such as Sandy Hook, our focus should be on stopping criminals from obtaining guns. Unfortunately, the Obama Administration has failed to make this a priority — in 2010, out of more than 15,700 fugitives and felons who tried to illegally purchase a firearm, the Obama Justice Department prosecuted only 44. That is unacceptable.
It is saddening to see the President today, once again, try to take advantage of this tragic murder to promote an agenda that will do nothing to stop violent crime, but will undermine the constitutional rights of all law-abiding Americans. I am committed to working with Sens. Rand Paul, Mike Lee, Marco Rubio, and Jim Inhofe--and I hope many other colleagues--to use any procedural means necessary to protect those fundamental rights.
In response to that press release in my inbox, I sent the following email to Cruz's press office:
Nice release.
Obama never did presser with the families of Fast and Furious victims (hundreds of Mexicans / Brian Terry) standing behind him.
Why? Because Fast and Furious was his administration's fault.
Would love to see this point hammered home during the upcoming filibuster.
Here is one of Obama's most shameless and despicable acts - exploiting Sandy Hook by pushing for gun control with the parents of shooting victims standing behind him. I couldn't even watch the whole thing. More power to you if you can make it to the end.
The Mexican government is now officially in on it, folks. Yes, suspicions were raised over that government's relative silence about Operation Fast and Furious as the scandal unfolded for nearly two years but now that Mexican politicians are lobbying the U.S. Senate to create a gun registry in states that border Mexico, it's confirmed.
In this local news report from a CBS affiliate in Arizona, citizens who were interviewed about this attempt by Mexican lawmakers to create a gun registry in the U.S. brought up Fast and Furious when asked for their take.
The mask is off Mexico's leaders, whether we're talking about those who didn't stand up when Fast and Furious was exposed or those who are now getting behind Obama's gun control / registration / confiscation push.
In Fast and Furious, the ATF instructed gun store owners in 'border states' - despite the objections of those gun store owners - to sell high powered rifles (AK-47's and .50 Cal.) to straw purchasers who they knew would walk those thousands of weapons to Mexican drug cartels. Those guns were used - and continue to be used - in the commission of countless murders. The Mexican government was all but silent as a dastardly plan by high ranking members of the Obama administration was implemented in an attempt to create the climate for gun control.
It didn't work and Sandy Hook is Plan B but it's not just the Obama administration who is implementing it. The Mexican government is playing along.
Let's go back to March 24, 2009. A lot happened on that day. First, here is Obama at a news conference telling the press that the situation with regard to guns from the U.S. going to Mexican drug cartels is 'out of control'. What would transpire over the next several months involved an agency under the purview of Obama's Justice Department intentionally making that situation much worse:
Also on March 24, 2009... Deputy Attorney General David Ogden expounds on the same subject and even made reference to 'Project Gunrunner', the larger umbrella term for Fast and Furious:
Oh, and let's not forget DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano on March 24, 2009 talking about the same subject. Notice how she talks about 'prosecuting' gun dealers who sell to bad guys. If Fast and Furious hadn't blown up in the administration's face, would the DOJ have prosecuted gun dealers who objected but who were told by the ATF to sell anyway? Napolitano starts around the 2:00 mark:
Here is Obama in April of 2009, shortly after Fast and Furious was put into motion. Notice the message. Innocent Mexicans were being murdered at the hands of guns purchased in the U.S. and something had to be done. Little did we know that the something involved the ATF accelerating the practice of sending guns to Mexico. Why? Well, to create the climate for gun control that would involve things like gun registries in border states:
Two years later, on March 3, 2011 - during a joint press conference at the White House with Obama and Mexico's president Felipe Calderon - the subject of gun violence in Mexico was discussed. Remember, the Obama administration was on defense at the time because of Fast and Furious so there was no aggressive push for gun control. All the two men could do was nibble around the edges. Here is a quote from Calderon, which takes place around the 32:00 mark:
"...with respect to the actions foreign agents in the Mexican land. The law does not allow agents of the United States or any other country to take part in tasks involving justice enforcement in our territory. As a result, they cannot carry weapons or undertake operational tasks. Their functions in line with our treaties are limited to the exchange of information and technical assistance to support Mexican authorities in these tasks... it's very clear for me as well that we must find a way of enhancing the level of protection of any and all agents who are acting within the framework of the law against crime and of course we are deeply analyzing alternatives for this and in dialogue with the Mexican Congress, who is the party who has the final say on this matter."
One of the things we learned in the wake of Fast and Furious is that the ATF was essentially sending high powered weapons to drug cartels without the Mexican government's knowledge. Yet, the Obama administration seemed to get a pass with the Mexican government while the American people are NOT getting a pass from the Mexican government, relative to something they had nothing to do with - Sandy Hook.
At that same March 3, 2011 press conference - shortly after Calderon's aforementioned statement - a liberal, sycophantic, hispanic reporter stuck his nose firmly in Obama's... never mind and asked him why he didn't have the power to 'veto' the second amendment. Obama then proceeded to lie his face off in light of what we now know happened with Fast and Furious. He then laughably says his administration has 'seen progress' with respect to catching straw purchasers.
As the operation blew up in the face of the administration, Mexican leaders were all but silent and the Obama administration stonewalled. Now that Sandy Hook is replacing Fast and Furious as the trigger for gun control, Mexican officials are teaming up with the Obama administration in an attempt to do what Fast and Furious failed to do.
Twenty-six people - including twenty children - lost their lives at Sandy Hook on December 14, 2012. Hundreds of Mexicans (and counting) have lost their lives as the result of Operation Fast and Furious, an operation led by the Obama administration's ATF. Vice President Joe Biden continues to exploit the former for gun control while ignoring the latter, which was exposed more than two years ago and continues to be stonewalled by the administration to this day.
Why? Because Sandy Hook can be exploited to push for gun confiscation while Fast and Furious not only makes the opposite case but it also makes the case for dissolving the ATF, the prosecution of the Attorney General for contempt of Congress, and the possible impeachment of Barack Obama.
Biden's latest faux-display of emotion took place at Leesburg, VA.
Biden invoked the slaughter at Sandy Hook Elementary School, at one point choking up as he told of the 20 children, ages 6 and 7, who perished after being "literally riddled with bullet holes." He argued that the U.S. government has an obligation to the families and victims of the massacre to act.
"I can't imagine how [the parents] deal with it," Biden said. "But I can imagine how we will be judged as individuals, judged as a Congress, judged as a nation, if we do not. ... It's simply unacceptable."
At the heart of Biden's speech was a plea to Democrats who may be weighing political consequences of backing contentious pieces of gun-control legislation, such as bans on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. Biden's message -- delivered with his signature passion, growing louder as he argued for urgency -- was that public opinion had shifted.
"The ability, because of all this happening, to misrepresent our positions no longer exists as it did in 1994," Biden said. "The world has changed. The American public has changed.
Then this from Biden:
"Don't tell me, 'Because we can't solve it all, we can't act at all,'" Biden said.
Yeah, well don't tell me that you don't have ulterior motives, especially in light of your continued silence over Fast and Furious. You support Obama's use of Executive Orders to push gun control and apparently also support his use of Executive Privilege to prevent the truth about Fast and Furious from coming out.
The comments by Attorney General Eric Holder at the U.S. Conference of Mayors were intended to help push Barack Obama's gun control agenda. What they did was further expose what Fast and Furious was all about:
"...the administration has called upon Congress to... consider a series of new federal laws imposing tough penalties on gun traffickers who help funnel weapons to dangerous criminals." - Eric Holder on 1/18/13
Aside from the fact that such penalties should apply to high ranking Obama administration officials - to include Holder himself - for what happened in Fast and Furious, this is quite the exercise in contrasting audacity with cowardice.
Audacity: boldness or daring, especially with confident or arrogant disregard for personal safety, conventional thought, or other restrictions.
Cowardice: lack of courage to face danger, difficulty, opposition, pain, etc.
First up, the truth regarding what Operation Fast and Furious was all about. It is a truth that Speaker John Boehner has proven he'd rather ignore than confront. That operation was conceived and carried out at the highest levels of the Justice Department and ATF with the irrefutable proof that Attorney General Eric Holder's immediate subordinates knew about it.
Fast and Furious was about ATF Supervisors in Arizona requiring Gun Store owners to sell assault weapons illegally to straw purchasers who would then 'walk' those weapons into Mexico and give them to drug cartels. These thousands of assault weapons were then used to murder hundreds of innocents. Those murders will continue for years to come. As Joe Biden said about Sandy Hook's shooting victims, children murdered at the hands of the thousands of guns our government gave to Mexican drug cartels have been and are being 'riddled with bullets'.
Biden has never referred to the countless victims of Fast and Furious - which include children as well - in such fashion.
This makes the U.S. Government (DOJ / ATF at minimum) complicit in mass murder with... assault weapons.
All along, the plan was to draw attention to these murders as well as to the fact that they were sold by U.S. gun dealers in order to re-enact the 1994 assault weapons ban as well as to enact tighter gun control restrictions. The administration - as well as the usual cast of Democratic politicians like Dianne Feinstein - was even caught lying about the percentage of guns found at Mexican crime scenes.
Once you come to grips with that reality, it's easy to see what's going on with the latest gun control push. The Obama administration is clearly banking on Sandy Hook doing what Fast and Furious failed at doing. This is not conjecture. It is demonstrable.
Here is Holder at the U.S. Conference of Mayors, piggy-backing on the newly christened Sandy Hook exploitation exercise to enforce gun control.
To underscore the point, check out this video of Holder's immediate subordinate, Deputy Attorney General David Ogden in 2009, announcing what the goals of 'Project Gunrunner' (the larger umbrella term for Fast and Furious) were. Take note what he says at the very beginning as well:
"The president has directed us to take action to fight these cartels and Attorney General Holder and I are taking several new and aggressive steps as part of the administration's comprehensive plan."
It's rather eye-opening to watch this after watching Holder above:
That Eric Holder still has a job is not only brazen on the administration's part but it exposes Obama's complicity in Fast and Furious. We already know he's complicit in the coverup.
Just look at Obama's ultimate actions in Fast and Furious and Sandy Hook to this point. The former involved Executive Privilege and the latter involves Executive Orders. The primary difference between the two is that Fast and Furious blew up in the administration's face.
Sandy Hook is Plan B.
Only because it continues to be relevant... Eric Holder in 1995, when he was a U.S. Attorney. Note his comparison between gun owners and smokers. He refers to smokers as people who 'cower outside of buildings'. Nearly twenty years ago, Holder wanted a world where gun owners would 'cower' when it came to owning guns.
What's happening today?
The Obama administration is attempting to get gun owners to 'cower' by somehow blaming them for Sandy Hook. This administration is attempting to shame gun owners and the NRA. It's even brought back its 2012 election campaign team to help do it.
What the Republican establishment still refuses to either learn or admit is that the reason why the Obama campaign was so effective before the election was because the Romney campaign didn't fight. It will only be effective in the gun control push if Republicans repeat their failing formula.
The third presidential debate is where Romney lost the election. Why? Because he didn't hit Obama where the President was weakest - Fast and Furious and Benghazi.
On the same day that Holder was speaking at the U.S. Conference of Mayors, Boehner's office was asked to respond to Obama's unconstitutional gun control push via twenty-three Executive Order slaps in the face of Congress.
The response from the most powerful Republican in the United States?
Speaker Boehner will "review the recommendations". One could make the argument that this is strategic on Boehner's part but his history doesn't indicate that in the slightest.
In 2009, Eric Holder called his political opponents 'cowards'. Boehner continues to prove him right.
It was nice to see this statement from my Governor, Rick Perry in which he said, in part, the following:
...the piling on by the political left, and their cohorts in the media, to use the massacre of little children to advance a pre-existing political agenda that would not have saved those children, disgusts me, personally. The second amendment to the Constitution is a basic right of free people and cannot be nor will it be abridged by the executive power of this or any other president."
While I applaud Mr. Perry for speaking out, his response is reactionary in nature. As we well know, after four years of Obama, reactions are what he thrives on because it means he can get a rise out of his opponents while remaining on offense.
It's time for his opponents to go on offense, which is what prompted me to fax this one page letter to Governor Perry's office after reading his statement:
January 17, 2013
From: Ben Barrack
To: Governor Rick Perry
RE: SANDY HOOK VS. FAST & FURIOUS
Governor Perry, it was nice to see your public statement that the President's exploitation of the Sandy Hook shootings 'disgusts' you. Thank you for making it.
It's now time to go on offense by contrasting this administration's urgency on gun control after SANDY HOOK with its stonewalling in OPERATION FAST & FURIOUS. We now know what that was about and the exploitation of the Sandy Hook shootings only further demonstrates it.
FAST & FURIOUS was about putting ASSAULT WEAPONS into the hands of Mexican drug cartels so that those guns could be used to murder people – including children – whose deaths could then be exploited for the same reason the Sandy Hook murders are being exploited. That purpose was and is to create the political climate for more gun control.
The problem was that FAST & FURIOUS blew up in the administration's face when whistleblowers came forward after the death of Brian Terry.
The Obama administration went to work exploiting Sandy Hook within minutes. On the day of the shootings, Rep. Jerrold Nadler said the president should 'exploit' them. Two years after F&F was exposed, Obama is still asserting Executive Privilege to prevent the truth from coming out.
The reason there was no urgency in FAST & FURIOUS was because it was the Obama administration's fault.
The Obama administration (DOJ / ATF) intentionally put THOUSANDS of assault weapons into the hands of bad guys whom they knew would use them to murder far more people than were murdered at Sandy Hook.
Shining a spotlight on FAST & FURIOUS as this administration exploits SANDY HOOK would put Obama on defense.
After all, his hero – Saul Alinsky – did say that “the ends justify almost any means”. He also dedicated his book to Lucifer.
There is a true leadership vacuum on the Republican side of the aisle in this country. All someone has to do is fill it without concern for the mainstream media's reaction. The first step is going on offense with the truth.
Regards,
Ben Barrack
Talk show host / 1400 KTEM
benbarrack@yahoo.com
Here is Perry's contact page. You can fax his office at 512-463-1849. There are also other fax numbers listed for members of his administration that might need to hear from you.
Once you finally accept the truth about Operation Fast and Furious, it is easy to see what White House Press Secretary, Jay Carney is really saying here. Fast and Furious, a program run by the ATF, with the approval of senior officials in Eric Holder's Justice Department, involved ATF agents instructing gun store owners to sell assault weapons to straw purchasers.
Despite these sales being illegal, the ATF required gun owners to make them under the pretense that the guns would be tracked. They intentionally weren't tracked; they were allowed to 'walk' into Mexico and right into the hands of people the ATF / DOJ knew would use them to murder innocent people.
Thousands of them went across the border, on purpose and for one purpose. That purpose was to use the subsequent murder victims - to include children - to create the political climate for gun control generally and assault weapons in particular.
Here is a direct quote from Carney's January 15th press conference, via RCP [my translated comments of what Carney likely meant are in bold brackets]:
"If these things were easy, they would have been achieved already [If Fast and Furious whistleblower John Dodson hadn't come forward, we could have blamed gun store owners for the deaths of Border Agent Brian Terry and hundreds of Mexican nationals]. If renewal of the assault weapons ban were easily accomplished, it would not need renewing because it would have happened already [Fast and Furious was very carefully planned and, as you can see, circumstances beyond our control caused it to blow up in our face. You'll also notice we had to stonewall for two years and rely on the President to assert Executive Privilege. You think an assault weapons ban is easy? Think again.]. The fact of the matter is the president is committed to pushing these proposals [The president has been committed to this issue since he was elected. Fast and Furious began in 2009. How much proof do you need?]. He is not naive about the challenges that exist [The president only pretended to be naive about Fast and Furious for the last two years but he's really not], but he believes that, as he said yesterday, if even one child's life can be saved by the actions we take here in Washington, we must take those actions. [Uh, Fast and Furious is responsible for the deaths of far more children than was the Sandy Hook but we can't exploit Fast and Furious because it was our fault]."
To watch the video of Carney making the aforementioned comments, click HERE.
Here is Carney reading part of a related statement.
On January 9th, Vice President Joe Biden told reporters that 'it's critically important that we act (on gun control)' and that 'the president is going to act with Executive Orders'. Seated immediately to Biden's right was Attorney General Eric 'gunwalker' Holder. That would be the same Eric Holder who was found in both criminal and civil contempt of Congress for not honoring a lawfully issued subpoena for documents that would help get to the bottom of an operation led by the Department of Justice and the ATF.
The gall of Holder to willingly become one of the faces of gun control today is incredible. This may be the Obama administration at its most audacious - and it thrives on audacity.
For two years, the DOJ stonewalled Congress, culminating in the President asserting Executive Privilege to prevent the subpoenaed documents from being released.
With that as a backdrop, ask yourself if it would have been more appropriate for the likes of Biden to turn to his right in this video and address Mr. Holder instead of reporters:
Whenever gun rights advocates rightfully claim that Operation Fast and Furious was about the DOJ and the ATF intentionally putting thousands of assault weapons into the hands of bad guys so they could murder innocent people, the left claims it's a conspiracy theory. Yet, the facts are in. The ATF ran an operation that did put assault weapons into the hands of Mexican drug cartels, who then used them to kill hundreds of innocent people.
All that's left to ascertain is motive but for two years, the administration stonewalled. Why is the urgency with which Biden is advocating gun control now, nowhere to be found for two years relative to the DOJ and the ATF? Why wasn't Obama demanding action be taken when the ATF was caught engaging in egregiously criminal behavior? Instead, he deferred to an Inspector General, who took well over a year to issue its final report.
Again, why didn't Obama demand action on gun control when it was learned that the ATF had placed thousands of assault weapons into the hands of Mexican drug cartels?
Remember this interview with Univision's Jorge Ramos more than three months after the shooting death of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry? Compare Obama's stance then to Biden's stance less than one month after the Sandy Hook shootings:
A silver lining to the administration's stance today - enunciated by Biden on January 9th - is that the truth about the motivation behind Fast and Furious becomes even more clear. The actions of this administration today are 180 degrees from its actions in the wake of Fast and Furious being exposed that it is even easier to see why the ATF armed the cartels.
It was an effort to create the climate that would facilitate gun control, just like the Sandy Hook shootings are being exploited for the EXACT. SAME. PURPOSE.
Operation Fast and Furious blew up in the administration's face. Had it gone according to plan, I have no doubt that Biden or someone else from the administration (perhaps Holder) would have been sitting in front of reporters just like Biden did on January 9th and demanded action on assault rifles because of all the deaths in Mexico.
In this excerpt from Biden's comments to reporters, notice how he accentuates the fact that the children of Sandy Hook were 'riddled' with bullets. Yeah, Joe, hundreds of innocent Mexicans have been - and continue to be - riddled with bullets from assault weapons your administration intentionally gave to hardened criminals.
"Every once in a while, there's something that awakens the conscience of the country."
Mr. Vice President, the only reason Fast and Furious didn't do that to a greater extent was that the administration for which you work covered it up and stonewalled attempts to uncover it.
If there is a face that illustrates left-wing absurdity in the gun control debate, it belongs to Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) and he again showed the world why, during an interview in which he said:
"The state ought to have a monopoly on legitimate violence."
Gee, Mr. Nadler, for someone who sat through many House Judiciary Committee hearings into Operation Fast and Furious, that's quite an insane position. Every time Nadler opens his mouth on matters of gun control, he seems to confirm lines that have already been connected to several dots. For example, Fast and Furious was an attempt by forces in the U.S. Government (at least the ATF and DOJ) to give guns to bad guys to kill good guys so the subsequent carnage could be used to push for that Government monopoly Nadler talks about. The Big Government left denies this claim and smears those who legitimately make it.
Thank you for confirming what we suspected, Congressman.
On the day of the Sandy Hook shootings, Nadler literally stated that the president should 'exploit' the shootings for stricter gun control laws. Later that evening, Nadler said that the NRA was 'enablers of mass murder'. Incidentally, NRA Vice President Wayne LaPierre did not mention these comments by Nadler during the former's speech on December 21st.
LaPierre's unwillingness to confront the likes of Nadler during his press conference is another in a long line of examples of how Second amendment advocates just don't appear able to actually fight their bullying opposition.
First up, this exchange between CNN's Piers Morgan and Larry Pratt, Executive Director of Gun Owners of America (GOA). Take note of all the name-calling and where it's coming from. According to Morgan, Pratt is a "dangerous" and "stupid" "idiot" who offends Morgan by "laughing". Though the issue of Fast and Furious doesn't come up, a central theme in this post is Morgan's behavior, so pay particular attention to it.
It's 11 minutes but you won't want to stop watching until the very end, at which point, Pratt even manages to successfully drop a Neville Chamberlain line on Piers.
CNN's Piers Morgan has been frothing at the mouth over the issue of gun control since the horrendous Sandy Hook shootings less than one week ago. Yet, for the last two years, his righteous indignation over Operation Fast and Furious has been conspicuously absent, if he has addressed the government-sanctioned operation at all.
At Sandy Hook, a man who reportedly worshipped 'Satan', illegally accessed legally registered guns and murdered people with them. As a brief aside / reminder, Barack Obama's hero, Saul Alinsky, had reverence for 'Lucifer' as well. The resulting carnage is being exploited by people like Morgan and Obama to argue for more gun control.
Conversely, Fast and Furious was the result of the U.S. Government (ATF / DOJ) intentionally putting assault weapons (the same weapons Obama and Morgan want to ban) into the hands of Mexican drug cartels so that there would be similar carnage that could be exploited in the same way that Sandy Hook is currently being exploited. Those plans went sour when it was learned - thanks to whistleblowers - that two guns from the operation were found at the murder scene of U.S. Border patrol agent, Brian Terry. Since then, it has been learned that hundreds of Mexicans have been murdered with guns placed into the hands of those cartels by the ATF.
To put this in the proper context, what the ATF did in Fast and Furious would be akin to someone breaking into the home of the Sandy Hook shooter, getting access to his mother's guns, giving them to the shooter, and letting him do what he did.
The silence from mainstream media types like Morgan on Fast and Furious, coupled with his caterwauling over gun control because of Sandy Hook, says far more than if Morgan had remained measured in his reporting of the Newtown / Sandy Hook shootings. The attempt to gin up a climate for more gun control is exactly what Fast and Furious was supposed to do. Morgan is essentially implicating himself with his own bi-polar behavior when it comes to Fast and Furious vs. Newtown.
Here is an exchange on Morgan's network from June of this year, in which CNN's legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin completely dismissed any hint of Eric Holder being culpable in Fast and Furious. In reality, if Morgan were consistent, Holder would be responsible for the DOJ / ATF not only failing to control guns but for giving them to bad guys.
