Chad’s Morning Brief: U.S. Leaders a No Show at French Unity March, Terror Sleeper Cells in the United States, and Other Top Stories
Here is your Morning Brief for January 12, 2015.
U.S. A No Show
Leaders from all over the world were in France on Sunday. Missing from the march though according to the Daily Mail were top U.S. leaders.
President Obama was missing in action today when world leaders linked arms to lead an anti-terrorism march of more than a million people in Paris.
While the president's a busy man, his absence at the show of international solidarity was strange considering his schedule was wide open today.
Vice President Joe Biden often fills in for the president at events like this, but he was no where to be seen either, despite his similarly empty schedule.
In fact, the only recognizable Obama official in the city was Attorney General Eric Holder, who attended a terrorism summit with world leaders on Sunday.
While Holder was pictured shaking hands with French officials after the event, he slipped away before the march kicked off around 3pm.
Holder's absence was particularly noticeable when the leaders including French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime Minister David Cameron, Israli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas linked arms to head the masses marching to the Place de la Concorde.
Meanwhile, Secretary of State John Kerry was half a world away in India, preparing for the president's upcoming trip to the south Asian country in the coming weeks.
The American Ambassador to France Jane Hartley attended the march on behalf of the U.S., but unrecognizable to most Americans, let alone the rest of the world.
CNN's Jake Tapper reported that security for the march was difficult, with 2,300 police officers and paramilitary forces deployed to Paris.
The foreign dignitaries were protected with police snipers, plainclothes cops and anti-terror officers. Streets were shut down and parking was restricted.
However, the attendance of controversial heads of state like Netanyahu appeared to show that security forces were confident.
CNN's Fareed Zakaria was one of the many who noticed President Obama's absence, and remarked that it was a mistake not to show up and support our 'deepest ideological ally'.
Zakaria said that it would have sent an important message to have an American face among the wold leaders.
Forbes columnist Stuart Anderson echoed Zakaria's statements, saying: 'By not attending the unity rally in Paris on Sunday, President Obama has missed an opportunity to show leadership, to demonstrate that Americans are as committed to fight against terrorism as anyone in the world.
'And that America stands with its allies in a worldwide battle that, unfortunately, is likely to last many years.'
It probably wouldn't have been politically correct to show up anyway.
Terrorist Sleeper Cells Inside the United States?
According to the Washington Times, Senator Dianne Feinstein confirmed what many of us already believed. There are terrorists in this country.
“I think there are sleeper cells not only in France but certainly in other countries and, yes, in our own,” she said on CNN’s “State of the Union” program. “This calls for vigilance. … Hopefully, we can be even more active in terms of doing those things which enable us to find terrorists, see who they’re communicating with and to track that.”
Ms. Feinstein’s words come the same day a new Rasmussen poll shows that 65 percent of Americans believe terrorist attacks similar to those seen in France last week are likely to happen over the next 12 months.
But administration officials say there is no information on specific plots or sleeper cells.
“I don’t think that we have any information that would indicate, certainly with regard to the homeland, that there is any ongoing threat or any threat that was activated by what we see so tragically here in France,” Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said on ABC’s “This Week” program on Sunday. “With regard to sleeper cells here in France, that is an investigation that’s ongoing and being conducted by our French allies.”
Of course there are and until we as a country admit that the threat is Islamic Terrorists, we will see another attack here.
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These and many more topics coming up on today’s edition of The Chad Hasty Show. Tune in mornings 8:30-11am on News/Talk 790 KFYO, streaming online at kfyo.com, and now on your iPhone and Android device with the radioPup App. All guest interviews can be heard on our KFYO YouTube page after the show and online at kfyo.com.
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