What’s interesting in the news today?
I have a bunch this morning, so they’ll be Fast and Furious. Like the first one, which will be one of the longest today.
I have to give Sharyl Attkisson and CBS credit, They just keep at it.
From CBSNews “CBS News has learned of a shocking link between a deadly drug cartel shootout with Mexican police last week and a controversial case in the U.S. The link is one of the grenades used in the violent fight, which killed three policemen and four cartel members and was captured on video by residents in the area.
According to a Justice Department “Significant Incident Report” filed Tuesday and obtained by CBS News, evidence connects one of the grenades to Jean Baptiste Kingery, an alleged firearms trafficker U.S. officials allowed to operate for years without arresting despite significant evidence that he was moving massive amounts of grenade parts and ammunition to Mexico’s ruthless drug cartels.”
“The gun battle took place last week in Guadalajara. Authorities say five members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel used at least nine firearms and ten hand grenades against Mexican police. If one of the grenades was supplied with the help of Kingery, as believed, it adds to the toll of lives taken with weapons trafficked by suspects U.S. officials watched but did not stop.
The Kingery case was overseen by the same Arizona U.S. Attorney and ATF office that let suspects traffic thousands of weapons to Mexican drug cartels in the operation dubbed Fast and Furious. The strategy was to try to get to the cartel kingpins, but it was halted after CBS News reported that Fast and Furious weapons were used by cartel thugs in the murder of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry on December 15, 2010. Weapons trafficked by other ATF suspects under surveillance were used two months later in the cartel murder of Immigration and Customs Agent Jaime Zapata in Mexico on February 15, 2011.”
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This one, well let’s just say it’s too funny. 🙂
From Politico “A finding in a study on the relationship between science literacy and political ideology surprised the Yale professor behind it: Tea party members know more science than non-tea partiers.
Yale law professor Dan Kahan posted on his blog this week that he analyzed the responses of more than 2,000 American adults recruited for another study and found that, on average, people who leaned liberal were more science literate than those who leaned conservative.”
“However, those who identified as part of the tea party movement were actually better versed in science than those who didn’t, Kahan found. The findings met the conventional threshold of statistical significance, the professor said.”
Hehehe… 🙂
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We all knew this was coming. And maybe that’s why govt employees weren’t getting much sympathy during the shutdown. Back pay, and a raise to boot.
From TheWashingtonPost “The budget measure that ended the partial government shutdown allows for a 1 percent raise for federal employees in January in addition to providing back pay for those furloughed, according to two Democratic Maryland senators.”
““I’m proud we were able to fulfill our promise to make them whole again with back pay and finally break through the pay freeze with a modest adjustment for next year,” said Cardin, a member of the Senate Finance Committee.”
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And now, The Debacle continues.
Doh!
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Gee, maybe this had something to do with it. 🙄
From TheWashingtonExaminer “Federal officials did not permit testing of the Obamacare healthcare.gov website or issue final system requirements until four to six days before its Oct. 1 launch, according to an individual with direct knowledge of the project.
The individual, who spoke on condition of anonymity, described the troubled Obamacare website project as suffering from top-level management disarray, changing systems requirements and recurring delays.”
Really could use that face-palm smiley here.
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But while the problems mounted, the cash flow to contractors increased. Typical Dem response, who cares if it’s a failure, just throw more money at it. 🙄
From TheFreeBeacon “As U.S. officials warned that the technology behind Obamacare might not be ready to launch on October 1, the administration was pouring tens of millions of dollars more than it had planned into the federal website meant to enroll Americans in the biggest new social program since the 1960s.
A Reuters review of government documents shows that the contract to build the federal Healthcare.gov online insurance website – key to President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare reform – tripled in potential total value to nearly $292 million as new money was assigned to the work beginning in April this year.”
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This one I suggest everyone read. This is who is responsible for this website mess, and what could potentially be a lot more taxpayer-funded govt debacles. It’s like Haliburton, but with a lot more tentacles.
From TheWaPo “CGI Federal is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Canadian firm CGI Group, which was founded in Quebec City in 1976 by a pair or 26-year-olds named Serge Godin and Andre Imbeau. (CGI stands for “Conseillers en Gestion et Informatique” in French, which roughly translates to “Information Systems and Management Consultants”). Growing through scores of acquisitions, and providing outsourced IT services to massive companies such as Bell Canada and Quebec’s provincial pension plan, CGI’s business model depends on embedding itself deeply within an institution.
“The ultimate aim is to establish relations so intimate with the client that decoupling becomes almost impossible,” read one profile of the company.”
“That said, they’ve learned quickly, and see the U.S. federal government as their area of biggest growth. CGI Federal’s health-care practice has grown 90 percent year over year, largely due to the Healthcare.gov project. And for a contractor, ballooning projects are a good thing. “In the Federal Government business, we continue to see more extensions and ceiling increases on our existing work, while we further leverage our position on contract vehicles,” said CEO Michael Roach on their latest earnings call. Those “contract vehicles” now amount to $200 billion, which Roach later referred to as a “hunting license.””
“The healthcare.gov debacle has taken its toll on the working environment at CGI Federal’s 10-story complex in Fairfax, Va., according to a staffer working on a related project who asked not to be named. “There’s been a lot of agitation and anger, because CGI really prides itself on having family flexibility,” he said, noting the firm’s liberal telework policy. Instead, the Obamacare contract has sucked more and more staff off other projects, and people have been working around the clock to first get the site ready for Oct. 1, and then fix it when things started to go wrong. “There’s a lot of frustration,” the staffer said. “People are getting sick, fainting in conference calls.”
Oh boy.
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I expect the longer this mess goes on, the better chance there is that you see Dems pulling stunts like this one, in an attempt distance themselves from their roles.
From BuzzFeed “Visit the website of Michigan-based design firm Teal Media today and you’d never know designers there helped create HealthCare.gov, the troubled online portal for Obamacare.
Just a few days ago, the site looked very different. Teal Media’s homepage featured its work on Obamacare prominently, placing a link to the firm’s work on one of the most well-known websites in America front and center. Now that link, as well as the page devoted to Teal’s work on HealthCare.gov, have been removed.”
“Teal Media doesn’t seem interested in talking about its work on HealthCare.gov. A woman who answered the phone at the company’s headquarters immediately referred BuzzFeed to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) at the Department of Health And Human Services (HHS) before a single question was asked. CMS is listed as Teal’s client on the firm’s now-erased HealthCare.gov page.”
And again, insert face palm smiley here. They had so many calls about removing it that they actually put it back up. Might as well, the screen shots already documented what you did. The cat is out of the bag. 🙄
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Oh, and the ObamaCare website is possibly violating software licensing copyrights. Nice. Again, the face palm smiley would be perfect here.
From TheWeeklyStandard “Healthcare.gov, the federal government’s Obamacare website, has been under heavy criticism from friend and foe alike during its first two weeks of open enrollment. Repeated errors and delays have prevented many users from even establishing an account, and outside web designers have roundly panned the structure and coding of the site as amateurish and sloppy. The latest indication of the haphazard way in which Healthcare.gov was developed is the uncredited use of a copyrighted web script for a data function used by the site, a violation of the licensing agreement for the software.
The script in question is called DataTables, a very long and complex piece of website software used for formatting and presenting data. DataTables was developed by a British company called SpryMedia which licenses the open-source software freely to anyone who complies with the licensing agreement. A note at the bottom of the DataTables.net website says: “DataTables designed and created by SpryMedia © 2008-2013.”
🙄 It’s a comedy of errors, but it isn’t really all that funny.
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Here’s something to keep in mind if you have to enter your personal info into the ObamaCare website. This is the kind of fine upstanding folks who will have access to your info.
From NationalReview “A community organization established by Wade Rathke, founder of ACORN, will be participating in a “navigator” drive aiding people attempting to sign up for health-care coverage under the Affordable Care Act, according to a Fox News report. The organization, United Labor Unions Council Local 100, is based in New Orleans and was created by Rathke after ACORN went bankrupt amidst widespread scandal.”
“Dan Epstein, executive director of Cause of Action, a non-partisan watchdog group, said, “At a time when our government has ceased functioning due to an appropriations gap, it is ironic that America’s tax dollars are being doled out to an entity whose poor stewardship of our funds was well-established by Congress.” Congress voted to defund ACORN in 2009 after secret videos revealed ACORN employees coaching people on how to conduct illegal activities.”
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And here’s the type of people he employs.
From FrontPageMag “The fact that Wade Rathke, a disreputable, radical left-wing community organizer, is allowed anywhere near the enrollment process ought to give all Americans pause. The only reason Rathke hasn’t been federally investigated for racketeering is because his allies control the federal law enforcement apparatus. President Obama pretends he has no connection to ACORN and Attorney General Eric Holder doesn’t care what laws have been broken because he approves of ACORN’s goals.”
“Yes, that’s President Obama’s former employer, ACORN, or the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.
ACORN is the nonprofit group that knowingly hired felons convicted of identity theft to work on voter registration drives, giving them custody of sensitive voter information.”
Yeah. 🙄
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Wandering Views 
The Sochi Olympics shapes up to be a battle between the militant homosexuals, Obama and the West vs. Russia and the Orthodox (and orthodox) church. I don’t know exactly what will happen, but it will be interesting to watch. Christians in the West need to decide which side they are on.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/10/world/europe/russia-gay-rights-controversy/index.html
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oh Ricky, the Orthodox Church in Russia is supporting Putin in repression of alot of groups, including teh gays. Putin and the Church are enabling each other – it is an unholy alliance and Christians should consider that. Just because a group seems to hold a similar view to you doesn’t mean it has the same goals and aims. I’d think Christian experiences with the Republican establishment would have begun to teach that lesson, but I guess not.
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We are expected to put our healthcare in the hands of people who can’t get a Website right.
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“Just because a group seems to hold a similar view to you doesn’t mean it has the same goals and aims”
As the left should learn about Islam.
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The Russian Orthodox Church has been tied to the government for several hundred years. The last tsar was a devout member of the church (and now sainted by them) but oh so foolish . . . the church did not help when things deteriorated during Nicholas II’s reign.
Russia, as always, is an enigma and really shouldn’t be trusted. 😦
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Agreed Michelle, they shouldn’t be trusted.
Seems like an upside down world when we seem to have more in common with the views of a communist leader than with our own leaders. But since ours have all caved, this is the result.
I could care less about Russia, but I hope their stand and fight against the degradation of their moral and public standards goes well for them. That battle was lost here, let’s hope they have better luck.
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KBells,
“Just because a group seems to hold a similar view to you doesn’t mean it has the same goals and aims” As the left should learn about Islam.
Bingo! You nailed it.
But they won’t, until it’s too late.
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KBells
That’s hilarious. You guys are so in touch with the commie/socialist/god-hating/gay loving/sodmite/baby killing atheists on the left that you know they give a big ol hug to Islam … or something.
Come on, you can do better than that. You too AJ, what a disappointing lack of immagination. If you want to insult the other side, it helps to bait using language approximating reality.
Aj
You don’t have more in common with Putin. I can’t believe you guys really believe that you do.
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CB, oh please, radical Islam plays the left like a X-Box.
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And for the record I don’t think Putin or Russia can be trusted and would not want to live there. I feel the same way about Germany.
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Perhaps I should have been more clear. I was speaking to the issue of homosexuality only. As I said, I don’t trust, and I don’t like commies, but on this issue, his views are far closer to mine than Obama’s are. That’s reality.
And yes, I believe we lost that battle, but I hope they don’t succumb to it. Just being honest.
And yeah, I would have said fiddle, but Xbox works as well. The reality is you liberals have nothing in common with them other than a distaste for conservative Christian and their views. We Christians are often accused of wanting to harm or kill gay people by liberals. It’s untrue, rarely happens if ever, but it doesn’t stop the accusations. Islam on the other hand actually does do what you accuse us of. They do the same thing to us. Both very frequently. And yet most liberals ignore that and embrace Islam in an effort to be multi-cultural and diverse. Rarely do the left ever speak out about Islam’s treatment of gay people and women. You folks seem to ignore the obvious enemy.
This administrations has helped install, prop-up and fund some of the most dangerous people in the world. People who would do gay people and Christians great harm, and again do so frequently, get a pass. It’s like you guys don’t even have a sense of self-preservation. And this admin gives them way too much access and stature.
Everywhere it reigns, misery rules alongside it. And that’s for their own people. It’s even worse for gays, Christians, and other infidels. Show me one place that’s not true. They seem moderate here to achieve what they want, and the left plays right into it.
The enemy of your perceived enemy isn’t always your friend. I wish you guys got that.
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Too funny.
I was just checking out some news sites and these 2 examples seemed appropriate.
Seriously, do liberals really believe this? This is what I’m talking about. Another liberal ignoring the real enemy for a made up one.
http://dailycaller.com/2013/10/18/sanders-global-warming-more-dangerous-than-al-qaida/
“Forget al-Qaida. According to the Senate’s only openly socialist member, the country’s main national security threat is global warming.”
““Big business is willing to destroy the planet for short-term profits. I regard that as just incomprehensible. Incomprehensible. And because of their power over the political process, you hear a deafening silence in the U.S. Congress and in other bodies around the world about the severity of the problem. Global warming is a far more serious problem than Al Qaeda,” Sanders added.”
One will chop your head off just for being an American infidel, one may or may not be real, but that’s the one you call more dangerous? 🙄
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The next one is here.
In the name of diversity and multiculturalism yet another liberal leader embraces known radical Islamists. And in an ironic twist, the same man has a gay daughter. Even though his daughter would be killed in an Islamic country, he can’t help himself. Just no sense of self-preservation, and the inability to call a spade a spade. It’s not logical.
http://weaselzippers.us/2013/10/17/mass-dem-gov-deval-patrick-teams-up-with-radical-mosque-boston-bombers-attended-to-issue-states-first-eid-ul-adha-greetings/
“Mass Dem Gov. Deval Patrick Teams Up With Radical Mosque Boston Bombers Attended To Issue State’s First Eid ul-Adha Greetings…
Deval Patrick issued this in conjunction with the Islamic Society of Boston, the same mosque attended by Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev. The ISB has long history with radical Islam.”
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AJ
If you speak of Sanders, he is a socialist, not a liberal nor even a democrat. For me you get minus point for your sources. Not terribly careful about their accuracy and I won’t waste my time with assertions from either of those sites.
Once again, if you want to bait, it helps to approximate reality.
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So you don’t like the source, so you won’t read what they have to say? That’s kind of a typical liberal response. Ignore anything that disagrees with your ideology.
Sanders made the statement, Playboy printed it as a quote. But you don’t like the ones pointing it out so you pretend it’s right wing lies? Got it.
As for the second one, the same goes, just because you don’t like the source, that doesn’t make it false.
But hey, again, how about we just hear it from the Gov, in the video he teamed with the radicals to make.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=3J07uyNk2n8
The money quote “We’re all in this together”.
Yes Gov., you most certainly are.
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Habakkuk 1:2 How long, Lord, must I call for help,
but you do not listen?
Or cry out to you, “Violence!”
but you do not save?
3 Why do you make me look at injustice?
Why do you tolerate wrongdoing?
Destruction and violence are before me;
there is strife, and conflict abounds.
4 Therefore the law is paralyzed,
and justice never prevails.
The wicked hem in the righteous,
so that justice is perverted
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That is America today…
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Y’all had fun while I was at work.
It is possible that the Russian anti-homosexual propaganda controversy will die down before the Olympics, but I don’t think so. I think homosexual activists, Obama, and other US liberals will try to pound on Putin and Russia. This will probably play well in the West. However, I remember the billions of people around the world with traditional values that D’Souza described in The Enemy at Home. That silent majority may be drawn to support Russia and Putin. The US has already managed to make Russia look like the wise, temperate peacemaker by its actions in the Middle East over the last decade.
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We see what Obama is doing to the Christian’s in our Military.
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