What’s interesting in the news today?
1. What’s really going on with Holder’s “civil rights” crusade against police depts. It’s a long piece, but worth the time.
From NationalReview “Holder and his constitutional-scholar boss are not banging the civil-rights drum because they believe these are prosecutable cases. It is just a pretext for unleashing Justice Department community organizers on state and municipal police departments.
The government cannot win a standalone loser of a civil-rights prosecution by crying, “Disparate impact!” Individual cases that have been demagogued by the racial-grievance industry become high profile. Once public attention is riveted, the legal and logical flaws become obvious. When people start looking long and hard, the “institutionalized racism” canard is exposed. For guys like Sharpton, that’s bad for business.
But the Justice Department civil-rights investigations Holder is fond of announcing are not like public trials. They occur out of the public eye, where feverish Justice Department claims are not aired and scrutinized. More significant, they happen with the air of extortion created by the nearly $28 billion in funding Congress keeps giving Justice every year, no matter how many congressional investigations it obstructs, how many false statements its officials make, and how much it politicizes law enforcement. The investigations are taxpayer-funded jihads that states, cities, and towns know they lack the resources to fight off.
Here is how the game works. Holder streams in behind a tragedy that Sharpton and Obama have demagogued. He announces a civil-rights investigation. Eventually, he backs down from the threat of an indictment in the individual case, never conceding that the supporting evidence was not there, usually citing some strawman injustice that has nothing to do with the matter at hand — in Florida, for example, it was “stand your ground” gun laws that purportedly needed reforming. But, the attorney general is pleased to add, the original civil-rights probe of the non-crime has metastasized into a thoroughgoing civil-rights probe of the state or local police department’s training, practices, and . . . drumroll . . . institutional racism.
You never get to see what that investigation turns up. States and their subdivisions know they cannot afford to go toe-to-toe with the Beltway behemoth. Big cities, moreover, are governed by Democrats sympathetic to the Obama/Holder race obsessions — they’re happy to have the feds come in and hamstring police with “social justice” guidelines that would be a hard sell politically. So the Justice Department makes the locals an offer they can’t refuse: A consent decree that makes the Treaty of Versailles look like a slap on the wrist. This device is the license by which the Obama administration is remaking state law enforcement in its own image.”
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2. ObamaCare is impacting the primary care doctor shortage.
From YahooNews “The Papas were among the 6.7 million people who gained insurance through the Affordable Care Act last year, flooding a primary care system that is struggling to keep up with demand.
A survey this year by The Physicians Foundation found that 81 percent of doctors describe themselves as either over-extended or at full capacity, and 44 percent said they planned to cut back on the number of patients they see, retire, work part-time or close their practice to new patients.
At the same time, insurance companies have routinely limited the number of doctors and providers on their plans as a way to cut costs. The result has further restricted some patients’ ability to get appointments quickly.
One purpose of the new health law was connecting patients, many of whom never had insurance before, with primary care doctors to prevent them from landing in the emergency room when they are sicker and their care is more expensive. Yet nearly 1 in 5 Americans lives in a region designated as having a shortage of primary care physicians, and the number of doctors entering the field isn’t expected to keep pace with demand.
The Association of American Medical Colleges projects the shortage will grow to about 66,000 in little more than a decade as fewer residency slots are available and as more medical students choose higher-paying specialty areas.”
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3. How the nation is failing today’s troops and veterans, and how morale is worsening because of it.
From MilitaryTimes “A Military Times survey of 2,300 active-duty troops found morale indicators on the decline in nearly every aspect of military life. Troops report significantly lower overall job satisfaction, diminished respect for their superiors, and a declining interest in re-enlistment now compared to just five years ago.
Today’s service members say they feel underpaid, under-equipped and under-appreciated, the survey data show. After 13 years of war, the all-volunteer military is entering an era fraught with uncertainty and a growing sense that the force has been left adrift.
One trend to emerge from the annual Military Times survey is “that the mission mattered more to the military than to the civilian,” said Peter Feaver, a political science professor at Duke University who studies the military. “For the civilian world, it might have been easier to psychologically move on and say, ‘Well, we are cutting our losses.’ But the military feels very differently. Those losses have names and faces attached to [them].”
“According to the Military Times survey, active-duty troops reported a stunning drop in how they rated their overall quality of life: Just 56 percent call it good or excellent, down from 91 percent in 2009. The survey, conducted in July and August, found that 73 percent of troops would recommend a military career to others, down from 85 percent in 2009. And troops reported a significant decline in their desire to re-enlist, with 63 percent citing an intention to do so, compared with 72 percent a few years ago.”
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4. Something to keep in mind as Obama continues his amnesty push.
From CNSNews “Aliens illegally holding jobs in the United States outnumber all unemployed people who are not in management, professional or related occupations as well as all unemployed who are 25 and older and who do not have a college degree, according to an estimate of “unauthorized workers” published by the Chief Actuary of the Social Security Administration and employment data published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The BLS only counts as “unemployed” people who have actively looked for a job in the past four weeks.
“We estimate that the number of unauthorized workers grew from 4.8 million in 2000 to 8.0 million in 2007, the peak of the last business cycle,” the Office of the Chief Actuary of Social Security said in an analysis published in April 2013.
“The economy then fell into a recession and the estimated number of unauthorized workers declined to 7.0 million in 2010,” said the Chief Actuary. “We project that the economy will recover and that the number of unauthorized workers will rise to 9.6 million in 2020.” “Unauthorized workers” are aliens living in the United States who do not have a legal right to work here.”
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Wandering Views 
None of this, especially # 2 & #3 mean anything to Obama.
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I had a long talk with my gardener last weekend. He has been having trouble keeping his men on. They work for a year and then leave him. I think he pays them $100 a day, $12.50 an hour. They run a lawn mower, edger and a blower. They will Hula Hoe a garden and pick up the weeds. Trim some bushes…
This is in Southern California, Downey and Fullerton. This is a steady job, M-F, 8-4:30. I wonder just how much more it would cost him to hire Legals? Health Care, taxes, unemployment. Would they double his costs? 50% higher? I don’t know but he is dubious about his ability to keep his business going if he has too pay for all that government required stuff.
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Bob,
Health care doesn’t really apply to seasonal, or if you keep your total number of employees under 50.
What the killer is for most is unemployment taxes. Most will earn enough during the year for UC in the winter. That costs employers a ton, and they don’t want to/can’t pay it during the lean months. Many have such a small business that it would put them out of business if they did.
Most employees need it to get thru the winter. Those heading back south anyway don’t care.
Honestly it’s way past time to crack down on employers who exploit this, but we both know neither party cares to do so. Yet another bunch of immigration laws they refuse to enforce. Dems because they want amnesty and several million new and appreciative voters. Reps because their handlers at the CoC won’t allow it. The most well regarded business association in America backs illegal workers because it helps their bottom line. But at the same time they exploit those workers by underpaying them and depressing wages for everyone else. It’s why I consider the Chamber of Commerce to be a joke that encourages and aids it members in breaking US law to make a buck. They should be indicted under RICO standards and dismantled, IMHO. 🙂
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2016 — the names so far:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/whos-most-likely-to-end-up-as-republicans-nominee-in-2016-presidential-race/2014/12/07/b37cafca-7e3c-11e4-81fd-8c4814dfa9d7_story.html
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