What’s interesting in the news today?

Open Thread, as always.

Take your seats please, and let’s get started. We have a lot to cover.  🙂

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Byran York points out the obvious. Let’s face it, immigration reforms are necessary. But you can’t solve the issue while more continue to pour in. Secure the border, then we can talk. Why is that such an unreasonable request? Why set the whole process up for failure because you’re unwilling to secure the border? Do the right thing, and you get what you want. It’s a simple enough concept.

From TheWashingtonExaminer

“We’ve come to a basic agreement,” Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said Sunday, talking about the Gang of Eight’s progress crafting a comprehensive immigration reform bill. “First, people will be legalized … then we will make sure the border is secure … and after that happens, there’s a path to citizenship.”

Much of the public discussion about immigration reform has focused on the requirement that the border be proved secure before the creation of a path to citizenship for the estimated 11 million immigrants currently in the country illegally. But Schumer laid out the progression correctly. The still unfinished Gang of Eight plan would first legalize those 11 million (provided they have not committed any serious crimes), and after that would come efforts to improve and certify border security, and then, finally, the path to citizenship.

That first step, immediate legalization, could prove a stumbling block for reformers once it becomes better known. In general, a majority of the public believes that enhanced border security must precede everything else when it comes to immigration reform.”

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Here’s a “Conservative Approach to Immigration Reform” from TheLATimes

“A consensus has been building about the need to reform and modernize our immigration system. While I am optimistic that Republicans, including “tea party” members, will support reform, it must be done right. We must create a system for the 21st century and beyond, one that honors the rule of law, provides a fair path for those seeking to come to the United States and fixes our broken borders.

We must not fall prey to the mistakes made by earlier immigration reform efforts. An estimated 11 million or more undocumented people live in our country. Most Americans understand their quest for freedom, but they are here illegally. Successful reform will not reward them, and it must prevent another wave of illegal immigrants who will demand that we legalize their status 10 or 20 years from now.

I am in a unique position to understand the problem. I practiced immigration law for 15 years and experienced the difficulty of working within the current patchwork of immigration laws. As a state legislator and now a member of Congress, I have been frustrated with a bureaucracy that creates inefficiency in the labor market, lacks the proper tools to protect us from threats at the border and does nothing to discourage illegal immigration.

The starting place — the trigger for reforming and modernizing our immigration system — must be securing our borders and effectively enforcing our immigration laws before any legal status is granted to those here illegally.”

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In other news the White House has defied the Senate’s wishes and signed the UN Small Arms Treaty. The Senate already squashed this idea, so the idea that they’d get 2/3 to go along and ratify it is silly. A symbolic, empty gesture at best. So when they make a big deal of Obama signing it remember, it’s just posturing, nothing more.

From TheHill

“The Obama administration defied a majority of the Senate on Tuesday by voting  to approve a United Nations treaty on the trade of small arms and other  conventional weapons.

The treaty, overwhelmingly approved by the U.N., requires countries to create  internal mechanisms to ensure that their arms exports aren’t likely to be used  to harm civilians or violate human rights laws.

President Obama is expected to sign the treaty within the next few months, but  it faces a tough road to win the two-thirds majority support needed in the  Senate for approval.”

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And in other gun news, another lie from the President exposed. From TheWashingtonPost

““Why wouldn’t we want to close the loophole that allows as many as 40 percent of all gun purchases to take place without a background check?”

— President Obama, remarks on gun safety, March 28, 2013

“FACT: Nearly 40% of all gun sales don’t require a background check under current law. #DemandAction”

— tweet from @BarackObama, March 28

“Two months ago, we were willing to cut the White House some slack, given the paucity of recent data. But the president’s failure to acknowledge the significant questions about these old data, or his slippery phrasing, leaves us little choice but to downgrade this claim to Three Pinocchios.

Three Pinocchios”

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More pesky gun control facts from TheWallStJournal

“Much of the national discussion in the wake of the Newtown schoolhouse shootings has focused on limiting gun ownership by high-risk people. But to truly address the many homicides committed in America’s cities, lawmakers also need to ensure there are real consequences for illegally carrying a gun on the street. Regardless of whether or not the gun was lawfully obtained—carrying one illegally is a more serious offense than possession, since it is directly linked with high murder rates.

In 2012, 506 people were murdered in Chicago. According to an analysis of homicide data by the University of Chicago Crime Lab, nearly 86% of those killings were committed with a firearm, and more than three-fourths occurred outdoors, virtually all with illegally carried guns. Across the country in 2010, guns were used in 11,078 homicides—and illegally carried guns were a central element in most of the killings.

Although gun offenses are generally taken seriously when they are part of crimes such as homicide, aggravated assault or robbery, the act of illegally carrying a gun itself typically doesn’t incur significant punishment. Many judges often seem to focus on the fact that no one was hurt, and so they treat these cases leniently—often by sentencing offenders to probation. Time behind bars is saved for those who commit “real” crimes.”

And why don’t they? Why because it would be racist to do so. The DoJ and Obama admin have been very clear on that. PC stupidity trumps actual deterrents. So they go with useless “feel good” stuff that doesn’t work instead.

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Speaking of posturing…….

It’s all about controlling people’s perceptions and false fronts with this guy. Even TheNYTimes has noticed.

“A photo of the Obamas hugging that was released on Election Day 2012 has become the world’s most popular tweet on Twitter. A dressed-up version of Barack Obama’s State of the Union speech, packed with charts and graphs, is huge on YouTube. A playful picture of the president cavorting with a 3-year-old in a Spiderman costume is a favorite online.

It’s all courtesy of the Obama image machine, serving up a stream of words, images and videos that invariably cast the president as commanding, compassionate and on the ball. In this world, Obama’s family is always photogenic, first dog Bo is always well-behaved and the vegetables in the South Lawn kitchen garden always seem succulent.

You’ll have to look elsewhere for bloopers, bobbles or contrary points of view.”

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I’ve posted a few stories the last couple of days on the leftist lunacy which seems to have completely taken over the establishments of “higher” learning. Here’s yet another example of a possible reason for such radicalism. They love their radicals. First Weather Underground member Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn were embraced by academia, now another of their co-conspirators is as well.

From TheNYPost

“Former Weather Underground radical Kathy Boudin — who spent 22 years in prison for an armored-car robbery that killed two cops and a Brinks guard — now holds a prestigious adjunct professorship at Columbia University’s School of Social Work, The Post has learned.

Boudin, 69, this year won another academic laurel — being named the Sheinberg Scholar-in-Residence at NYU Law School, where last month she gave a lecture on “the politics of parole and re-entry.”

This coincides nicely with Hollywood about to glorify these terrorists in a new sympathetic Robert Redford piece, titled oddly enough, “The Company You Keep” From TheBlaze

““The Company You Keep” tells the story of a 30 year long FBI manhunt for a Weather Underground terrorist, to be played by Redford, who must evade law enforcement after his identity is outed by an ambitious reporter (LaBeouf).

The producers may have already given a peek at the politics behind the film. Voltage producer Nicolas Chartier, who has teamed up with Redford’s Wildwood Enterprises production company for the project, said of the movie that:

“This is an edge-of-your-seat thriller about real Americans who stood for their beliefs, thinking they were patriots and defending their country’s ideals against their government.””

Yeah. Nice huh? 🙄

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Who’s House?

Your house. Except you can’t visit it unless you’re rich and well-connected because rich squatters have taken over. Tours are canceled for you little people.

From TheWeeklyStandard

“At a “workshop” for the film 42 in the State Dining Room of the White House, First Lady Michelle Obama told the assembled guests that “this is your house, too.”

“I want to make sure that you all know how welcome you are here in this house, because the truth is we do these things — we make sure that we do these workshops so that you all know that this is your house, too,” Obama told the guests. “So we want you to make yourselves at home.  We want you to feel good and relaxed and learn and ask questions, okay?”

The White House is currently not allowing the public to tour or access the White House. Only invited guests are allowed inside.”

Sorry. The least they could do is give us cake to eat. Even Marie Antoinette had cake……

And while you stand around wishing you had some cake, the pretty people will be partying. In the White House of course. Turns out there’s still enough money for parties. Good thing too, otherwise they’d need another vacation.

From TheWeeklyStandard

“Next week Justin Timberlake, Al Green, Queen Latifah, and many others will perform at the White House in a “Memphis Soul” concert, the White House announced today.

“As part of their ‘In Performance at the White House’ series, the President and First Lady will invite music legends and contemporary major artists to the White House for a celebration of Memphis Soul music. The program will include performances by Alabama Shakes, William Bell, Steve Cropper, Al Green, Ben Harper, Queen Latifah, Cyndi Lauper, Joshua Ledet, Sam Moore, Charlie Musselwhite, Mavis Staples and Justin Timberlake, with Booker T. Jones as music director and band leader. The President’s remarks will be pooled press and the entire event will be streamed live on  www.whitehouse.gov/live starting at 6:55 PM ET. ‘In Performance at the White House: Memphis Soul’ will be broadcast Tuesday, April 16 at 8 PM ET on PBS stations nationwide (check local listings).  The program will also be broadcast at a later date via the American Forces Network to American service men and women and civilians at U.S. Department of Defense locations around the world,” the press release reads.”

You can’t come in for a tour, but at least they’ll let you watch while they have fun. That’s nice of ’em.

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And finally this. In case you haven’t heard, the President has proclaimed April the Month to Teach Youths ‘How to Budget Responsibly’. Since it was released on the 1st everyone thought it was an April Fools joke. But no, he’s serious. So I guess we’ll now teach kids that it’s OK to overdraft your account, ignore doing a budget, and spend money like you have it even when you don’t. You know, like the President. 🙄

Megyn Kelly does the mocking, so I don’t have too. 🙂

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