Clinton wants to tax the middle class... Democrats pay 400 million dollar Ransom to Iran

I have seen a few headlines about this stuff. Have yet to read up on it.

That's funny.

Yes I have. Regardless what Obama or Clinton says the 400 million was paid and then the hostages were released...on the same day. Anyone who believes it was not Ransom is in denial. The justice department who thought it was not the right thing to do was overruled by the state department.
People are saying that what Hillary said was a Freudian slip... I agree... to raise taxes on everyone to pay for all the freebies.
And she's trying to change what the FBI director said under oath by pretending that he said she didn't lie.
But the only thing that the liberally biased press can report on is what someone who is prostituting the memory of his hero son and who makes his living by teaching people how to Get around U.S. immigration law, has to say.

Not funny, sad.

People worry about Russia trying to interfere with our election... Even though there's absolutely no proof that the Russians did it. But nobody has a problem with the liberal media being so biased as to purposely affect the outcome of the election. Gone are the days when journalists had integrity. Now it's all about an axe to grind.

I read the Snopes take on "raise taxes on the middle class." They even have the video of her speech on there. She messed up the word "aren't" and some interpret it that she said "are." Put into context with the rest of the speech, and her already stated position against raising middle class taxes, I have to say, she did not say it. She has not said ahe will raise middle class taxes.

Paying ransom:
By JULIE PACE, AP White House Correspondent

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama conceded Wednesday that the U.S. government had let down the families of Americans held hostage by terrorists and promised they would not face criminal prosecution for paying ransoms to their loved ones' captors.

"These families have already suffered enough and they should never feel ignored or victimized by their own government," Obama said as he detailed the results of a six-month review of U.S. hostage policy.

The president said for the first time that U.S. government officials can communicate directly with terrorists and help families negotiate for the release of hostages. More than 30 Americans are being held hostage abroad, White House officials said.

The review was sparked by sharp criticism of the Obama administration from families of Americans kidnapped by the Islamic State, al-Qaida and other groups. Families have complained about receiving confusing and contradictory information from the government and bristled at threats of prosecution for considering paying terrorists to secure the release of hostages.

By clearing the way for payment of ransom without fear of criminal charges, Obama is essentially allowing families to take actions the U.S. government has long said put Americans at risk. While the government will continue to abide by prohibitions on paying ransoms or making other concessions to terrorists, the Justice Department indicated it would ignore the law in situations involving families.

European governments routinely pay ransom to win the release of hostages. However, Obama and his predecessors have argued that policy provides terrorists with funds to fuel dangerous activities and puts Americans at greater risk of kidnapping.

Critics of the White House review argue that allowing families to do what the government will not could lead to those same troubling consequences.

"We have had a policy in the United States for over 200 years of not paying ransom and not negotiating with terrorists," said House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. "The concern that I have is that by lifting that long-held principle you could be endangering more Americans here and overseas."

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said he, too, worries that paying ransom could encourage terrorism. But McCain, who met Wednesday with the family of Kayla Mueller, an Arizona woman killed after being kidnapped by the Islamic State, added that "to tell a family member — as this administration did — that they could go to jail is unconscionable."

White House officials drew a distinction between the concessions private individuals could make to terrorists, which are largely financial, and the more wide-ranging deals the U.S. government could strike, including military activity and other foreign policy priorities.

Still, officials acknowledged that allowing some concessions and banning others could be perceived as a contradictory policy.

"There's no doubt that the payment of ransoms fuels the very activity that we are trying to stop," said Lisa Monaco, the president's top counterterrorism adviser. "At the same time we've got a responsibility to stand with families as they make the most difficult decisions we could ever imagine."

Ahead of his public comments, Obama held an emotional private meeting with former hostages, as well as families of Americans currently being held and those who have been freed or killed in captivity.

"I acknowledged to them in private what I want to say publicly, that it is true that there have been times where our government, regardless of good intentions, has let them down," he said. "I promised them that we can do better."

Despite the ban on the U.S. government making concessions to terrorists, the Obama administration did negotiate with the Taliban last year to win the release of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who was captured after walking away from this post in Afghanistan. Five Guantanamo Bay detainees were exchanged as a condition of his release.

White House officials say those negotiations were permissible because Obama sees a special responsibility to leave no American service member behind on the battlefield.

Four other Americans have been killed by the Islamic State since last summer: journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and aid workers Peter Kassig and Mueller. After the release of gruesome videos showing the beheadings of some hostages, Obama approved an airstrike campaign against IS in Iraq and Syria.

Luke Somers, an American journalist kidnapped in Yemen, was also killed during a failed U.S. rescue attempt. Warren Weinstein, an American held by al-Qaida, was accidentally killed by a U.S. drone strike against a terrorist compound in Pakistan.

The families of some of these hostages have been among the most vocal in pushing for changes in U.S. government policy. In a statement Tuesday, Weinstein's wife, Elaine, said she hoped her family would be the last "that fails to receive the level of coordinated government support that those who serve abroad deserve when trouble finds them."

The Mueller, Kassig and Sotloff families issued a joint statement saying they "have faith that the changes announced today will lead to increased success in bringing our citizens home."

"The changes are a step in the right direction; we're hopeful they will make a difference for families and their friends and loved ones facing this horror currently and in the future," they said.

Foley's parents released a statement Wednesday night saying: "We want to commend the hostage review team for their in-depth evaluation of the American hostage issue. We applaud their willingness to examine the previously inadequate response to the kidnapping of American citizens abroad."

In a step aimed at streamlining communications with families, Obama also announced the creation of a "Hostage Recovery Fusion Cell" that will coordinate recovery efforts among various government agencies. Some families had pushed for the new office to be based at the White House, but it will be at the FBI.

The president said it was "totally unacceptable" that hostages' families had felt lost in the bureaucracy and he said the fusion cell would be an important step in rectifying that problem.

___

Associated Press writers Erica Werner and Deb Riechmann in Washington and David Dishneau in Hagerstown, Maryland, contributed to this report.

One of the hostages says that they were on the airplane sitting on the tarmac with a pilot ready to take off but had to wait for hours in fact overnight and when he asked the Iranian officials why they couldn't take off they said that this plane will not take off until another one lands and only when that plane lands will we let you go... The plane that the Iranians were waiting for was filled with four hundred million dollars in cash that the American government first turned into Swiss Francs and euros after the money was printed in the United States in US dollars... In violation of us money laundering laws and after Ash Carter the defense secretary said that any payments to Iran would not be in the form of a duffel bag filled with cash... he's a liar Obama is a liar and Clinton's a liar... And we're worried about what Trump said about some father who is prostituting the member of his son... This country will be in big trouble with another Clinton at the helm... another politician who believes they can do whatever they want violate any law lie about it and the media will cover for them... People get the government they deserve.

The Obama administration was accused Tuesday night of making the cash-for-hostages deal by timing the payout to the release — but US officials said the money was simply part of settling the nearly 40-year-old debt under the terms of the historic nuclear agreement hammered out in 2015.

Guijohn,

What you don't seem to understand is that Trump is a ridiculous candidate. He is far more ridiculous that Hillary. He is far more ridiculous than Obama, Romney, McCain, Bush and Kerry. He is even more ridiculous than Palin.

Trump is saying things that any sane person sees as outrageous. No one else says these things. That is why he is getting negative press.

Hillary is not a very good candidate (in my opinion). In a normal year I might vote against her. There are all sorts of legitimate issues, like the email scandal for example, that a real Republican candidate could use to defeat Hillary Clinton.

But what you don't seem to grasp is that Trump is a horrible, ridiculous, dangerously unsuitable candidate. He is far, far worse than Hillary... he doesn't even come close to being in Hillary's league (and remember that Hillary isn't a very good candidate).

That is why no one in the press is taking Trump seriously. He is a horrible candidate that shouldn't ever have gotten this far... and anyone with a speck of sense understands this.

I've listened to the video several times she definitely says are not aren't... far as I'm concerned it is a Freudian slip... Because as a Democrat she's always got raising somebody's taxes on her mind.

Also the US has a policy of not paying ransom for hostages and there's a reason for it because when you do it just encourages more hostage-taking... oh and by the way if everything was on the up-and-up why are we just now hearing about this?

What did you expect them to say? This is not a coincidence this is not just bad timing this is quid pro quo with the hostage claiming that his plane was not allowed to take off until another unmarked cargo plane landed is prima facie evidence that this was Ransom paid for the release... The Iranians claim that it was Ransom.

Dont pay any attention to Giujohn. He is the conservative version of a paid propagandist. The 400 million is money that the US confiscated and is owed to Iran. Some of it is money from many countries that was owed to Iran and paid to them as part of the Nuclear agreement. Just more republican lies disguised as facts.

Your opinion of trump very well may be but I don't see him as dangerous as Hillary because he hasn't endangered our top-secret information and lied about it he hasn't lied to the American public and the families of our dead heroes about Benghazi he hasn't printed a half a billion dollars in US currency changed it into Swiss Francs in Euros and paid the Iranians ransom for hostages and never told us. Trump is guilty of being inarticulate a little bit self-centered and Politically Incorrect I don't view him as being unstable... You don't rise to the level in business that he has being unstable. I'm more worried about politicians who believe that they can violate the law say or do whatever they want and expect to get away from it because the Press will cover for them. Clinton and Obama so far are unaccountable for their actions... That's why Obama believes that he can legislate by executive Fiat and ignore the Constitution and Hillary will do the same because the media has let Obama get away with it and what she will do to the Constitution by way of the Supreme Court should frighten every single person in this country right down to their very soul. I believe in a balance of power and in checks and balances.

Most of us Americans, including many conservatives, view Trump as unstable. And that is why all of the reasons that Hillary shouldn't be president don't matter in this election.

The sooner you accept this, the less painful this election cycle will be.

You couldn't be more wrong and are just repeating the media lie... this money is what has been on hold for the last 38 years after the Shah fell and the Obama Administration is admitting that this four hundred million dollars is not part of the Iran nuclear deal... And if we've been holding this money for some 38 years why did it have to be returned in the middle of the night on the day that the hostages were released? You are in serious denial.

While this assessment of unstable is an opinion... The fact is that Obama has lied Hillary has violated the law and lied and 70% of the public do not trust her... Those are the facts... if she's elected the people get the government they deserve. I guess we all forgot about Nixon who felt he could do whatever he wanted to do including ignoring the law.

According to Obama on TV just now, it was announced publicly months ago that money was going to be paid.

Ya well, it was a legitimate debt that we would only pay to get hostages released. Some people just assumed it was ransom. Because that's exactly how it sounded.

When President Obama talked about the release on Jan. 17, he said, “With the nuclear deal done, prisoners released, the time was right to resolve this dispute as well.”

But he never mentioned the $400 million ­simultaneous payment and that the hostages could not leave the tarmac before the plane with pallets of cash arrived.