Welcome to Thunderdome

Because there are no allegations, and I am very confident -- knowing the NSA and how they operate - that purposefully somebody is out there trying to abuse this program or listen in on people’s e-mail,” Obama said.

But the prospect of 39 more months of the anti-president at the helm is daunting. No plans for anything except bus tours and college campus speeches, no idea how to invigorate a sputtering economy or trim a bloated budget.

I didn't think it was possible for an American president to be ranked below Jimmy Carter on the competence list.

Malcolm wrote:no idea how to invigorate a sputtering economy

the phrase stems from a meeting in about 1680 between the powerful French finance minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert and a group of French businessmen led by a certain M. Le Gendre. When the eager mercantilist minister asked how the French state could be of service to the merchants and help promote their commerce, Le Gendre replied simply "Laissez-nous faire" ("Leave us be", lit. "Let us do").

Certainly, a red line for us has been the use of chemicals against people. That has occurred. We need to obviously respond to that, but I don’t want us to change our overall policy.

They were able to launch the strikes after being given maps, satellite pictures and other intelligence by the U.S.

The Americans have always said that Iraq did not reveal that they would launch chemical strikes.

But documents released in the National Archives and interviews with former serviceman show that the U.S. acquiesced in the use of chemical weapons as they tried to help Saddam with the war.

“For every attack we experience, every threat we face, and every piece of intelligence we come across, we learn. We assess our preparations and capabilities. We make changes,” the former Arizona governor said.

GORDON wrote:Haven't we gone without a budget for years, now? I thought we weren't passing them.

Many of the proposals required congressional approval, but within months, the legislative machinery had stalled, leaving executive action as the administration's only recourse.

Jones, who has been the acting director of the ATF since 2011 as he awaited Senate confirmation, thanked Biden and the rest of the administration for the "privilege" of leading the bureau, promising to take the ATF's enforcement activities to "the next level" in his stead as director.

On Thursday, Biden said he and Mr. Obama remain "committed" to legislative action to reduce gun violence, promising, "If Congress won't act, we'll fight for a new Congress. It's that simple. But we're going to get this done."