Senators Skip NSA Briefing To Get A Long Weekend Home

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Is it any wonder Congress is less popular than traffic jams and head lice?

A recent briefing by senior intelligence officials on surveillance programs failed to attract even half of the Senate, showing the lack of enthusiasm in Congress for learning about classified security programs.

Many senators elected to leave Washington early Thursday afternoon instead of attending a briefing with James Clapper, the Director of National Intelligence, Keith Alexander, the head of the National Security Agency (NSA), and other officials.

The Senate held its last vote of the week a little after noon on Thursday, and many lawmakers were eager to take advantage of the short day and head back to their home states for Father’s Day weekend.

Only 47 of 100 senators attended the 2:30 briefing, leaving dozens of chairs in the secure meeting room empty as Clapper, Alexander and other senior officials told lawmakers about classified programs to monitor millions of telephone calls and broad swaths of Internet activity. The room on the lower level of the Capitol Visitor Center is large enough to fit the entire Senate membership, according to a Senate aide.

Listen, I can understand that they have lives and want to spend time with their families but you DO NOT skip a briefing like this.

It’s just plain ole’ common sense.

Something seriously lacking in our elected leaders.

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All Dems who skipped? Sounds like the right proportion….

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Did they take attendance? I’d like to see who attended.

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Meanwhile:

Obama to Give Speech in Belfast, Family to Head to Dublin

Obama will be in Northern Ireland for the G8 summit, but his wife Michelle and daughters Sasha and Malia will skip the dry diplomacy to take up an invitation to head south of the border, the White House said.

The president will deliver a speech at the Waterfront convention center in Belfast, and is keen to take his first chance to discuss US help to development and society in Northern Ireland since the Good Friday Agreement.

Obama will address young people on the need to advance reconciliation so that a “hard-earned peace” is translated into lasting security and greater economic opportunity,” said deputy national security advisor Ben Rhodes.

When Obama heads to the summit at Loch Erne, his family will head south, and will tour an exhibition at Dublin’s Trinity College, devoted to the president’s Irish ancestry, Rhodes said.

The US First Lady will also join Fionnuala Kenny, wife of Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny, at a performance of Riverdance, Rhodes said.

The US First Family will be reunited with the president during a visit to Berlin on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Well, isn’t that special. And then what?

White House defends high bills for Africa trip

The White House Friday defended the first family’s upcoming weeklong trip to Africa, which could cost taxpayers up to $100 million, as “great bang for our buck.”

“There will be a great bang for our buck for being in Africa because when you travel to regions like Africa that don’t get a lot of presidential attention, you tend to have very longstanding and long-running impact from the visit,” said Ben Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser to President Obama.

The Obamas’ trip, at a time of “sequestration” budget cuts, will take them to Senegal, Tanzania and South Africa from June 26 to July 3. Citing a confidential planning document, the Washington Post reported that the trip will cost between $60 million to $100 million.

The excursion will involve military cargo planes airlifting 56 support vehicles, including 14 limousines, and three trucks to carry bulletproof glass panels to cover the windows where the first family is set to stay. A Navy aircraft carrier or amphibious ship with a fully staffed medical trauma center will be stationed offshore in case of an emergency.

Fighter jets will fly in shifts to provide around-the-clock protection over the president’s airspace. The trip will reportedly involve hundreds of Secret Service agents.

It’s an outrage when on 9/11 in Benghazi there wasn’t enough money for security then to have reinforcements and air support denied.

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“Listen, I can understand that they have lives and want to spend time with their families but you DO NOT skip a briefing like this.
It’s just plain ole’ common sense.
Something seriously lacking in our elected leaders.”

It’s not common sense. It’s DUTY.
Any sense of which is what is seriously lacking in our elected leaders.

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@Petercat: Well, you’d think so, but considering this was a briefing by Clapper, one of the more notorious liars in Washington, you probably would not have learned the truth about anything. I know it’s a sad thing, but that’s just the way it is.

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