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Published January 14, 2015
The news that is not White House approved...
Gitmo: Still Open
President Obama's first major act after being sworn into office was to sign an executive order demanding the closure of Gitmo by January 2010. As it turns out, he's run into a couple of roadblocks and he's not going to be able to meet that deadline — among other things.
The president seems to have discovered a minor inconvenience: There are a lot of terrorists down there. Here's what he told our own Major Garrett.
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PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: There are a set of detainees, though, that are dangerous to the United States, but unfortunately the evidence against them may be tainted.
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I think that's why the Bush administration set up the military tribunals at Gitmo to begin with. So will the president actually follow through on his big promise?
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OBAMA: In Washington, things move slower than I anticipated. We are on a path and a process where I would anticipate that Guantanamo will be closed next year. I'm not going to set an exact date.
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Things in Washington move slowly? Who knew?
Given his experience with health care and now Gitmo, this president might want to shy away from setting those firm deadlines. They don't seem to be working out too well for him.
One More Tax Cheat
It seems like a week never goes by that a tax-troubled nominee isn't discovered in the Obama administration. Meet Lael Brainard, whom President Obama nominated in March to serve as undersecretary of treasury for international affairs. Unfortunately for the president, his vetters failed him once again.
According to the AP, a Senate investigation has revealed that Brainard was late paying her taxes on property in 2005, 2006, 2007, oh and by the way, in 2008.
All of this is not sitting well with Chuck Grassley. He told the AP that the Senate Finance Committee had to submit 10 sets of questions to the nominee before she disclosed information about the late payments.
She'll fit right in at the Treasury Department with Turbo Tax cheat Tim Geithner at the helm.
Great Moments in Liberal Foreign Policy
Just two months ago, President Obama caved into pressure from the Chinese and refused to meet with Tibet's spiritual and political leader, the Dalai Lama. According to The Weekly Standard, the president's decision was not just a slap in the face to human rights activists around the world, it was also hypocritical.
Just last year, then-Senator Obama called on President Bush to "do more" for the Tibetan people. In a letter to President Bush, he wrote: "It is important that we give high priority to the plight of Tibetans and make clear to President Hu that the way in which China treats all Chinese citizens including Tibetans profoundly affects how China is viewed in the U.S."
President Bush did meet with the Dalai Lama, embraced his cause and presented him with the Congressional Gold Medal — which, by the way, is the highest civilian award bestowed by American lawmakers.
You can add this to the list of many presidential flip-flops.
Junk Scientist
Tonight's Meltdown is brought to you by a guy who never has let the facts get in his way. Former Vice President Al Gore recently appeared on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien and he was asked to talk about geothermal energy. As you will hear, he was not afraid to rattle off some statistics during his response:
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CONAN O'BRIEN, "THE TONIGHT SHOW" HOST: Can you tell me — is this a viable solution, geothermal?
FORMER VICE PRESIDENT AL GORE: It definitely is. And it's a relevantly new one. People think about geothermal energy, when they think about it at all, in terms of the hot water bubbling up in some places. But two kilometers or so down, in most places, there are these incredibly hot rocks. Because the interior of the Earth is extremely hot — several million degrees. And the crust of the Earth is hot.
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Now, Al Gore is right. The interior of the Earth is pretty darn hot. But several million degrees? Sorry, Al. I don't think so. In fact, as the National Review points out, even the Earth's core, thousands of miles underground, is only 5,000 degrees Celsius — not millions.
Great job, Al. By the way, that's the kind of performance that can help you win probably another peace prize.
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https://www.foxnews.com/story/obama-breaks-his-own-promise-on-gitmo