Were shuttered this week. Senior al qaeda operatives were intercept. Indicating the plans for a major attack were under way and calling it into question the Obama Administrations narrative the terror group is on the run. Wall street journal columnist and Deputy Editor Brett Stephens and Editorial Board member Matt Kaminski join me with more. Just to add this list on friday, the u. S. Closed the consulate in lahore, pakistan, which i have been to and which is the safest parts supposedly the safest part of pakistan. Are we watching the comeback of al qaeda as a global threat . We have been watching it for months. It is just that only now we noticed. I think with this last week has shown one, thats the al qaeda core, the central pakistan, he is in charge and is active. Exactly. Number two, we have seen that the these al qaeda affiliates took up when we went out after al qaeda and pakistan, moved to yemen and moved to north africa and syria. This affiliate in yemen has been the most dangerous one. This is the one thats the source exactly. He just named the head of the affiliate his number two and says what prompted the alert. What makes these al qaeda franchises dangerous . A lot of the people who say dont worry about this so much, these are local franchises. They are not threat yenning us, proceed occupied with the governments of their countries and thats all. We dont need to be as concerned about them as we do with al qaeda core. Well, i mean, we need to be free occupied with them as they grow in soft advertise indication reach and ambition. Thats what we have been seeing. The affiliate in yemen was trying to bomb western jetliners over detroit. Several years ago. So this has been going on for some time. Al qaeda and north africa tried to take over earlier this year and would have succeed seeded had it not been for french intervention. You could have made the same argument 15 years ago is afghanistan a threat to us . Distant highly remote Little Country in the middle of asia. But it is a threat to the extent it provides a secure base from which al qaeda can plan and plot. Thats the issue. Now the biggest threat increasingly i would say is not yemen but syria where we have thousands of fighters affiliated and other Al Qaeda Linked al qaeda groups. And that are gaining strength. They are gaining expertise and gaining fighting experience. They are create sanctuaries inside of syria which will be presumably very hard for us to penetrate. Right. Not only that but they are importing jihadis from europe that will go home at one point back to hamburg or madrid. Then they are going to create perpetrate you jihadi we were told that this syria isnt our fight. It is irrelevant to our security. And it is okay, it is over there. Thats the middle east. We need to withdraw from the middle east, pivot to asia. The president said because we have been stirring the hornets nest there. Are we finding out it is a threat to us . We were told what happens in syria stays in syria. It has been cleared. Moved into iraq. We destabilized the government there. Al qaeda there is an al qaeda cell defeated in the surge but that is gather visitors escaped last week. They destabilized jordan and lebanon and one day it will come back and hurt us. This is why we are paying the price for not doing anything about syria. Defeated but we left iraq. Defeated in wait. It is gaining strength precisely because we are not there. Not because we are will. What about the argument that this global alert about embassies is an overreaction that this is a political response to the criticism the president got about the disaster and where americans were killed in benghazi. And this is really not as threatening as they say. This is mostly just frankly political selfprotection. Overreact to terrorist lets is always the right thing to do. Imagine if we had another consulate or embassy destroyed as the embassies in tanzania and kenya were in 1998, hundreds of dead both locals as well as americans. People would be demanding to know why we didnt take the necessary precautions to make sure especially if we felt we had intelligence that could have prevented this. For the idea we are overreacting to terrorism is an idea that seems persuasive until there is a terrorist attack. You credit the Obama Administration with doing the right thing . Absolutely. One thing, we dont know fully what happens. Stories out leaking of 20 senior Al Qaeda Leaders by some sort of not by phone, chat somehow last week. We dont know what they are responding to or what they were trying on provoke. You give them the benefit of the doubt . Thats their role of the president in times of war. Heres what what we are still in. This is where i dont give the benefit of the doubt. President spent all year doing victory laps around al qaeda saying that al qaeda core al qaeda was the path to defeat and we could end the global war on terror, rescind the 2001 authorization for the use of military force, we can treat al qaeda as essentially a news answer threat. Very quickly, just the ten weeks since he gave that speech, calling for an end to the war on terror we see al qaeda continues to have the ability to act globally. This is what there is a disconnect between what seems to be going on in the world where we have alarms and drones in yemen and so on. Then at home, we are debating whether we even want to have surveillance. Antiterrorist surveillance. Republicans arent blame they have gone i agree. They created the programs, too. Not fully defended his own policies. How do you explain this disconnect between overseas and here . People are tired of this war. It has been 12 years in the making. People think that would be great to wind it down pnch wants to end a war. Cold war went on for 40 years. We didnt say oh, well, lets give up. You look at the history of the cold war. People became exhausted with it. Again and again. It is a bit of the same story. Until the until you have a vivid perception of the threat you are going to want to wind the war down. Thank you very much. When we come back, it is the story nobody in washington wants you to know about. How the white house is helping engineer an obama care bailout, believe it or not, for members of congress. Details are next. Red hot deal days are back. alarm beeping stop foro one. What . Its red hot deal days. Get 100 off the Samsung Galaxy note ii with features like popup play. Lets you use any app while watching video. Or use the s pen for handwritten notes. Just 199. 99. Hurry in, sale ends august 11th. Getting the best back to school deals. Thats powerful. Verizon. Do you mind grabbing my phone and opening the capital one purchase eraser . I need to redeem some venture miles before my demise. Okay. Its easy to erase any recent travel expense i want. Just pick that flight right there. Mmm hmmm. Give it a few taps, and. Its taken care of. This is pretty easy, and i see it works on hotels too. You bet. Now if you like that, press the red button on top. How did he not see that coming . Whats in your wallet . Well, last week we learned that plan was in works to exempt members of congress and their staffs from the health care law. They passed for everyone else. This week we learned how they are going to do it with the white House Wednesday releasing the legal Details Behind its obama care bailout. Wall street journal Editorial Board member joe raggo and kim strauss strau straussel are here with more. In 2009, congress adopted a rule that said that they would lose their federal Health Care Coverage and move into the obama care exchanges. The idea was that they would get firsthand experience with what their constituents are going through. And play by the same rules as everybody else. Amendment sponsored by Chuck Grassley adopted by democrats who were in control congress at the time and passed. They made a mistake, didnt they . They didnt decide how to fund that. The problem is that the members who make 174,000 a year and some of their better aides wouldnt qualify for subsidies. Because they make too much money. Subsidies based on income. So they would be exposed to phonily thousands of dollars in new Health Care Costs every year. Because the coverage they currently have is richer. You get if you are an individual 5,000 or so in subsidies. 10,000 for family, lot of choices, very wellfunctioning programs. It is a very good plan. As you would expect. The exchanges are more like medicaid plus. D. C. , will is only three options versus 21. Three options versus federal program. Members and their staff in particular were saying wait a minute here. We are going to basically take a pay cut because we are going to have to pay for our own health care. And they are squawking and thats led to this deal. How do you how is this working now . Whats the administration going to do . Right. What they are saying is congress didnt actually kick themselves out of the federal program. They are going to remain in the federal program for the subsidy. They will get the Health Care Coverage itself, Insurance Plan in the exchange. They created whats really an illegal funding stream for congress. Had isnt in the law . No. Just making this up or reinterpreting the law to make it happen. Right. What they should do is pass if this is such a big problem for the chiefs of staff and the Legislative Council and so forth, they should give them a pay raise. They should make up for the lost compensation of federal coverage. Kim, how do you explain this politically . I mean, joe rago has been about the only person in washington paying attention to this. Joe has been in new york. Maybe thats the reason. He doesnt live in that hot house. But the republicans and democrats both here, ducking and covering and dont want to cover. Dont put me on a letter protest thing. What is going on here. I mean, thats the thing. Look, media only is interested in controversies. Right now, everyone in Congress Agrees that this was the right thing to do. It is a real problem. Especially for republicans. Look, they have been out there complaining about obama care and complaining in particular about the waivers and the white house has been giving to every sort of entity that comes along. Saying look, everyone should have to live under the ravages that this law is going to bring. So here they are now. Selffeeling. Giving themselves an out and doing it illegally as you said. Nobody wants to talk about it. In particular not republicans. Because their own staffs were unhappy about this. They are just preferring without it all go away. Have you had a few republicans, house ways and means chairman dave camp came out and said this is wrong. There should be no waivers for anyone. There should be no waivers for us. For the most part the republicans have remained silent. I think it is a dramatic big missed opportunity here. Thats right. Is this an opportunity to define obama care and its problems . They messed up. The democrats messed up. Rushed it through so fast they didnt know what was in it. They didnt even know had a something that hurt hem and their staff was in it. So isnt that a metaphor for what this law is going to do . So much of the rest of america. Thats right. Also, for republicans, simply stand up and say, look, you know, this this is going to be terrible for everyone else. We should have to live under this, too. Put pressure on democrats and their staffs to live under it because that may, in fact, cause a couple of rethinking about just how much this whether or not we should keep this law in place. So is there any way to challenge this other than politically in congress . I mean, if this is a unilateral interpretation, executive interpretation, the administration is doing, can anybody do anything . Any standing to sue . I dont think so. This is this is relay political issue and it is a good one for republicans, i think, because look, they have had a lot of trouble changing the Affordable Care act. Here is an issue where democrats looking out for number one might be willing to go along. Sign on to it. This would create an opening for them to make other changes in the law. Perhaps ask for a years delay. And implementation, for example. Sure. Thats one option. How about helping all the lowwage workers that cant find fulltime job because the Affordable Care act defines the workweek as 30 hours. So you know, they are not getting any kind of unilateral fix out of the white house. Lets make this universal. Any beeping out of the republicans at all do you expect when they come back . Again, there are a few that are out there talking about this. Most of them have sat back quiet and they are happy that this is what has been given to their staff. Again, big missed opportunity. Kim, thank. When we come back, could it be president obama calls for a smaller role for the federal government . And you, the taxpayer, in the Mortgage Market. Is it a step in the right direction . New purina one true instinct has 30. Active dogs crave nutrientdense food. So we made purina one true instinct. Learmore at purinaone. Com over 20 million drivers are insured with geico. So get a free rate quote today. I love it how much do you love it . Animation is hot. And i think it makes geicos 20 million drivers message very compelling, very compelling. This is some really strong stuff so you turned me into a cartoon. Lovely. Geico. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. Diarrhea, gas, bloating . Yes one Phillips Colon Health probiotic cap each day helps defend against these digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. Live the regular life. Phillips. The healthcare law gives us powerful tools to fight it. To investigate it. Prosecute it. And stop criminals. Our senior medicare patrol volunteers. Are teaching seniors across the country. To stop, spot, and report fraud. You can help. Guard your medicare card. Dont give out your card number over the phone. Call to report any suspected fraud. Were cracking down on medicare fraud. Lets make medicare stronger for all of us. Private capital should take a bigger role in the Mortgage Market. I know that sounds confusing to folks that call me a socialist. I think i saw some posters there. I actually believe in the free market. I believe that our housing system should operate where there is a limited Government Role and private lending should be the backbone of the Housing Market. That was president obama tuesday. Rolling out his plan to reform the Nations Housing system. Speaking in phoenix. One of the citys hardest hit by the 2008 crash. The president vowed to wind down government backed mortgage giants fannie mae and freddie plaque. In a should come as welcomed news to taxpayers who now guarantee about 85 of all new mortgages. For more im joined by mary kissel and page editor james freeman. Do you appreciate the irony there . The president even recognized it himself. Is his plan a step in the right direction . Any time this president says he wants private investors investing in mortgages rather than taxpayers, yes, thats a big step in the right direction. I think that, look, market starting to started crashing in 2007. We are in 2013. Fannie and freddie are making money again. This is the time to reform because the longer they make money, the harder it is going to be to convince congress or any white house to do anything. Congress will want to take the money and spend it on Something Else because they have them in conservativeship. Isnt that a step in the right direction . Lets get rid of fannie mae and freddie mac and the problem there is have public risk and taxpayer risk and private profit. If he gets rid of that thats a step in the right direction. Absolutely a step in the right direction. Politics at work here, too. You have a bill in the house and a bill in the in the pushing in the same direction. I think what you saw from the president was an attempt to get in front of that. He has been in the caboose. Caboose and wants to get in the front of the train to take credit for it. James freeman, do you see any problem with this, with this proposal or are we finally moving in the right direction on what has been, frankly, since the crisis on nationalized Housing Market. Well the right direction, but, yes, there is a problem. The difference between the house which gets rid of fannie mae and excuse me, and freddie mac and does not replace them with anything except free market, the plan mr. Obama is backing, senate bill, still has taxpayers on the hook. Big step forward you mentioned is that the private investor takes the first loss but in the senate bill. The president endorsed this week. There is some still role for taxpayers, unfortunately, and under the president s plan. But clearly, yes. Step in the right direction. Taxpayers are going to be at risk, paul in either plan. You look at the house bill and it gets rid of fannie mae and freddie mac but leaves something called the federal Housing Administration in place. And thats thats the fha. It is broke as of today. The house bill goes a long way to reform that institution. But as we learned from fannie and freddie when you put the government behind the Mortgage Market, even if you are paring it back it has a habit of coming back and biting you. The taxpayer backing tends to grover the years. James, the Housing Market started to come back across the country as the price is up about 12 according to caseschiller in the last year, 20 of the major metropolitan areas, investment and Residential Real Estate growing in double digits in each of the last two quarters. Does that create an opening politically to get this done in congress where you can actually maybe get rid of fannie and freddie . I think this may be the only window where you have a Housing Market that is coming back to the extent that politicians are not afraid to make a change but you also have memories fresh enough from the financial cries thats people still remember why we need to get rid of these mortgage monsters that require huge taxpayer bailouts. You obviously if last years election had gone differently, the final bill might look a little different. But given where we are, and that had is the opportunity, i think that you had to be encouraged to see the president s remarks this week. Did you agree with that . Housing lobby that realtors, the homebuilders, the mortgage broke brokers, all of that, it is very influential still and wants to retain these federal guarantees. They have influence over both parties and this president in the speech you heard conflicting goals. You played the clip where he said i want private investors in the Mortgage Market and not taxpayers. In the very same speech, he said but we still have to make sure that first time home buyers have the opportunity to buy homes and we still we need the 30year mortgage, things like that. You know what . We will see what comes out of this. We hope we can still make some progress. If not perfect. We have to take one more break. When we come back, hits and misses of the week. Time now for the ever popular hits and misses of the week. This is a miss to Actor Matt Damon who said some kind of set a record in thip october chrisy hypocrisy. Lauding the benefits of the public educational system in this country. And, of course, now we learn he is sending his children to private schools. He says that it is because niece schools Public Schools in his area are not progressive enough. Just amazing hypocrisy. Maybe not so much given how often we see this out of hollywood. Matt damon is invite order the show any time he wants. He sure is. Im giving the easy really big miss total exrodriguez. The only baseball player to appeal his suspension for using performance enhancing drugs. Ego is clearly not a problem here if ethics are. It is all about arod. All the time. Never mind the reputation of the game that he professes to love. Spoken like a nonyankees fan not a fan of the yankees. Okay. Listen, i think a hit goes to the amazons super billionaire, entrepreneur for purchasing the Washington Post. As he did this week for a song and at least when it comes to his kind of wealth. 250 million. Shows he has faith in content, faith in great brand and great title. Maybe he can provide the innovation and imaginativeness to renew this story. We hope so. Thanks. Remember, if you have your own hit or miss, please send it to us. Be sure to follow us on twitter. I know you are all on it. Jeronfnc. Thanks to my panel and all of you for watching. Im paul gigot. Hope to see you here next week. On fox news watch what do you say to the cynics that go this is an overreaction to benghazi . One thing i tried to do as president is not overreact. President obama makes a postprime time appearance. Commenting on key issues and terror threats facing our nation. Was this the right venue to make news . The Washington Post gets bought by amazon billionaire jeff bazzos. How did the media react to the news . What will this mean for the future of the newspaper business . You have the republican chairman i would say understandably miffed about these hillary clinton
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