News/Politics

by

News/Politics 1-23-15

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. You’d think a “constitutional scholar” would know better.

From NationalReview  “Obama Administration: We Don’t Need Congress to Approve an Iran Treaty”

Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the White House doesn’t view an agreement with Iran as a treaty that requires Senate approval, but a matter of “executive prerogative.”

Article II, Section 2, clause 2, U.S. Constitution:

[The President] shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur . . . “

“Not only do we have a president who just ignores the Constitution, we have an administration full of people who go along with it.”

The White House even went so far as to claim that Israel’s Mossad agreed with them. But in a rare public statement, Mossad says that’s not true.

From TheWeeklyStandard  “A rare statement released from the Mossad, which is meant to deny reports that say the Israeli intelligence service, Mossad, favors not imposing additional sanctions on Iran:

Reaction of the Mossad Chairman to the new crisis with Washington: On 19 January 2015, Mossad Chairman Tamir Pardo met with a delegation of American Senators. The meeting took place at the Senators’ request, and with the Prime Minister’s approval.

Contrary to the report, the Mossad Chairman did not say that he opposes additional sanctions against Iran. In the meeting, the Mossad Chairman emphasized the unusual effectiveness of the sanctions imposed on Iran a number of years ago in bringing Iran to the negotiating table.”

“The Mossad Chairman explicitly pointed out that the agreement that is being reached with Iran is bad, and may lead to a regional arms race.”

______________________________________

2. If the president is talking up your company, I’d be nervous about it. It just might be the kiss of death.

From TheFreeBeacon  “POLITICO reports that President Obama, during his State of the Union address on Tuesday, gave shout outs to a number of American companies in an effort to highlight the strength of the U.S. economy. Nearly all of those companies, it turns out, are big political spenders and have contributed heavily to Democrats.

One of those companies was eBay, which Obama cited as an example of how “millions of Americans [are working] in jobs that didn’t even exist 10 or 20 years ago.” That now seems like an unfortunate choice, because less than 24 hours after Obama’s speech, eBay announced it was cutting 2,400 jobs, or about 7 percent of its workforce. Investors welcomed the layoffs, and the company’s stock jumped more than 4 percent on the news.”

______________________________________

3. But if your CEO is an Obama pal and bundler, and he’s feeding you govt. contracts, you should be fine. He loves rewarding failure.

From TheDailyCaller  “Seven months after federal officials fired CGI Federal for its botched work on Obamacare website Healthcare.gov, the IRS awarded the same company a $4.5 million IT contract for its new Obamacare tax program.

CGI is a $10.5 billion Montreal-based company that has forever been etched into the public’s mind as the company behind the bungled Obamacare main website.

 After facing a year of embarrassing failures, federal officials finally pulled the plug on the company and terminated CGI’s contract in January 2014.

Yet on Aug. 11, seven months later, IRS officials signed a new contract with CGI to provide “critical functions” and “management support” for its Obamacare tax program, according to the Federal Procurement Data System, a federal government procurement database.

The IRS contract is worth $4.46 million, according to the FPDS data. The contract expires Aug. 15, 2015.”

______________________________________

4. Pass the popcorn, this is getting interesting….

From TheWashingtonTimes  “When Sen. Dianne Feinstein took to the Senate floor last March, she told a harrowing tale of spying, intrigue and possible law-breaking — all by the CIA.

And the targets were her own Democratic staff, whom the then-Intelligence Committee chairwoman portrayed as innocent victims of a band of intrusive agency officers who penetrated the aides’ computer hard drives.

Sounding grave, the California Democrat said the CIA searches “may have undermined the constitutional framework” and violated federal criminal law. She said she had not gotten a requested CIA apology or an admission of wrongdoing.

This month former Sen. Evan Bayh issued his report on the same unprecedented cyberspy game between two branches of government. Mr. Bayh came to nearly completely opposite conclusions, creating a remarkable public disagreement between two former Democratic colleagues on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

He was chairman of a CIA accountability board review that portrays the Feinstein staffers as the ones who first penetrated and snatched restricted CIA files. The staffers copied some and, as a committee Republican report said, they spirited material out of the CIA off-site in Northern Virginia — without authorization.”

______________________________________

5. An underage sex scandal would ruin most political careers. But not this slime ball. The voters who re-elected him are getting exactly what they deserve.

From TheToledoBlade  “A Virginia lawmaker who was just re-elected despite being jailed for a sex scandal with a teenager has been indicted on new felony charges, according to a special prosecutor. The forgery and perjury indictment of Del. Joseph D. Morrissey was returned and sealed the day before the election, and announced today by Spotsylvania County Commonwealth’s Attorney William Neely.

The lawmaker now stands accused of forging a document he vouched for in court, and persuading the girl’s mother to swear to its authenticity as well. That woman, Deidre Warren, also was indicted on perjury and forgery charges. Morrissey faces up to 10 years on each count if convicted, Neely said.

Morrissey says the charges are false and he will fight them in court. “This is a very harmful and mean-spirited blow, but I’ll do what I’ve always done. I’ll prevail,” Morrissey told reporters after arriving at the Capitol today for the legislative session.

Morrissey is spending nights in jail for contributing to the delinquency of a minor but is allowed out on work release during the day. He accepted the misdemeanor conviction to avoid trial on charges of child pornography, soliciting a minor and taking “indecent liberties” with a 17-year-old — felonies punishable by decades in prison and the automatic loss of his legislative position.

After his conviction, the four-term Democrat resigned under pressure from his colleagues and then angered them by running as an independent in the special election to hold onto the seat, defeating a Republican and a Democrat last week on the eve of the start of the General Assembly session.”

______________________________________

 

by

News/Politics 1-22-15

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. So I guess Obama and Sharpton will now hold a joint press conference to apologize to the Ferguson PD, Officer Wilson, and the rest of the country for their unnecessary race-baiting, right?

From TheNYTimes  “Justice Department lawyers will recommend that no civil rights charges be brought against the police officer who fatally shot an unarmed teenager in Ferguson, Mo., after an F.B.I. investigation found no evidence to support charges, law enforcement officials said Wednesday.

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. and his civil rights chief, Vanita Gupta, will have the final say on whether the Justice Department will close the case against the officer, Darren Wilson. But it would be unusual for them to overrule the prosecutors on the case, who are still working on a legal memo explaining their recommendation.

A decision by the Justice Department would bring an end to the politically charged investigation of Mr. Wilson in the death of 18-year-old Michael Brown. The Missouri authorities concluded their investigation into Mr. Brown’s death in November and also recommended against charges.”

“But a broader Justice Department civil rights investigation into allegations of discriminatory traffic stops and excessive force by the Ferguson Police Department remains open. That investigation could lead to significant changes at the department, which is overwhelmingly white despite serving a city that is mostly black.”

So they have no evidence, but they’ll keep doing what they do. Which is to attack police and divide the country.

______________________________________

2. So is this Boxer’s going away present to herself and family? And remember folks, she’s on the Ethics Committee.

From CapitolCityProject  “Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Cali.), who recently announced her plans to retire from the Senate after 2016, appeared to use her position as a high-ranking public official to financially benefit close family members — including her son and husband to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars since 2008 — through her campaign committee and leadership PAC.

Boxer, who is currently serving her fourth and final term as a California senator and serves as the chairwoman on the Senate Select Committee on Ethics, paid out over $300,000 combined to her son’s company and husband’s law firm over the span of the 2008, 2010, and 2012 election cycles.

On top of setting up contracts and paying her son’s and husband’s firms, Sen. Boxer also reimbursed herself through her leadership PAC for expenses totaling tens of thousands of dollars, according to reports.

Boxer’s campaign committee, Friends of Barbara Boxer, reimbursed the senator a total of $35,657 during the 2010 election cycle for travel expenses. That same year Boxer’s leadership PAC, PAC for a Change, reimbursed her $500 for a venue rental used to host a fundraiser. In 2012, her campaign committee reimbursed the senator $3,389 for travel expenses and meals.”

______________________________________

3. The House Immigration plan is a joke. Spends 10 billion, deports no illegals, and reduces the border fences.

From TheWashingtonExaminer  “Critics including Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions are slamming a House GOP border security plan set for debate Wednesday, claiming it will spend $10 billion on new equipment and border security tricks, but not send one single illegal home.

Sessions, the influential Center for Immigration Studies, and the head of the association of former Border Control agents all slammed the H.R. 399 being marked up in the House Homeland Security Committee today as unfocused on the No. 1 issue: U.S. sanctuary to illegals.

The bill, however, is geared to handling the tight security of the actual border, not how illegal immigrants are handled once they cross in. Several related pieces of immigration reform legislation are expected to be addressed by the House.

“As long as sanctuary cities, welfare, education, and jobs and principally lack of enforcement and enabling by the federal government, are made available to the undocumented alien, we will not be able to secure the physical border,” said Zack Taylor, chairman of the National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers.”

____________________________

More from TheDailyCaller  “The new border bills drafted by Republican leaders require the actual removal of at least 66 miles of weak border fencing between laborers in Mexico and employers in the United States.

The border bills also only require for the construction of 27 miles of effective double-layer fencing along the 2,000-mile border.

 “It is a remarkable that the direction of our progress is going backwards, from a goal of building 700 miles of double-layer border fencing [in 2006] to only 27 miles [in 2015],” said a Hill staffer who opposes the leaders’ bills.”

______________________________________

4. How long until this happens here?

From LifeSiteNews  “Richard Page, a 68-year-old British Justice of the Peace and evangelical Christian, has been condemned by the country’s highest legal authorities, suspended, and subjected to a day-long re-education session to rid him of the dangerous belief that a child would be better off being adopted by a family with a mother and a father than by a same-sex couple.

Page sat on a family court tribunal last summer to consider a social worker’s recommendation that a foster child be adopted by a gay couple. “I raised some questions in private with the other judges, including that I thought that because a baby comes from a man and a woman it made me think the child would be better off with a father and a mother than with single-sex parents. The other judges didn’t agree at all,” he told LifeSiteNews.

Worse, the other judges complained. A review committee concurred, suspended him from the bench and recommended he be kicked off the lowest rung of the judiciary (but which handles 90 percent of all criminal crime, plus youth and family cases).

“They said I had a closed mind because of my Christian beliefs,” he said. “They said I could not put my Christian beliefs above the rights of single-sex couples. They said I had to open my mind. But I think when you order someone to open their mind, then you are the one with a closed mind.”

In the end, the Lord Chancellor, cabinet minister Chris Grayling, and the Chief Justice John Thomas, decided to issue a reprimand and a day-long re-education order. “Mr. Page, while sitting in Family Court,” it stated in part, “was found to have been influenced by his religious beliefs and not by evidence.” The pair rated his behavior “a serious misconduct” and added, “Mr. Page should have recused himself from the matter.””

Re-education? How commie like. 🙄

______________________________________

5. When it does come, I bet I know which states will lead the way…..

From Time  “Two California lawmakers backed by the family of a woman who drew national attention by choosing to end her life after an aggressive and debilitating cancer diagnosis are set to introduce a new right-to-die bill on Wednesday.

The End of Life Option Act would allow doctors to prescribe lethal doses of medications to terminally ill patients with six months or less to live, the San Jose Mercury News reports. Two state senators are pushing the bill with the support of Brittany Maynard’s family.

Maynard was living in the San Francisco Bay Area when she and her husband moved to Portland, Ore., to take advantage of the state’s Death With Dignity law, in a widely publicized story that the bill’s authors say could be a tipping point in support for medically assisted suicide. Oregon, Washington and Vermont have such laws, but attempts to pass similar legislation in California have failed before.”

All the “progressive” ones of course.

______________________________________

by

News/Politics 1-21-15

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. Before we get to the obvious big one I’d like to remind everyone of something. Let’s look at the bright side. If past history is any indication, only 30% of what Obama promised last night stands a chance of actually happening. 🙂

From TheWashingtonTimes  “Judging by his recent history, it doesn’t really matter what President Obama says in Tuesday’s State of the Union address — Congress is going to ignore him anyway.

Mr. Obama has the second-worst record of getting his State of the Union policy requests enacted into law of any president in the last five decades, according to an analysis by two scholars that puts him only above the unelected two-year presidency of Gerald Ford.

From 2009 through 2014, Mr. Obama issued 209 different calls for action from Congress in his speeches, but only saw lawmakers follow through on 64 of them — good for just 30 percent. That’s only slightly better than Mr. Ford’s 28 percent success rate, and is well below the likes of President Clinton, the previous Democratic president, who won 44 percent of his policies even though he faced a Congress more Republican than Mr. Obama has.”

And here’s a breakdown on the 112 SOTU promises he didn’t keep going into last night.

From Grabien  “The media are already analyzing the new proposals President Obama is set to layout this evening in his sixth annual State of the Union address (seventh if you count his unofficial 2009 address). Here at Grabien, we’re also looking at results. Taking a look back at past SOTU promises, How many actually ever materialized? 

The numbers aren’t pretty. From 2009 through 2014, we count 112 promises that to date remain unfulfilled. 

We should also note that many of these promises are duplicated from one year to another. For example, every year he has pledged to pass comprehensive immigration reform, overhaul corporate taxes, reduce regulations, and close Guantanamo Bay.”

They have a list of them all, and a nice video montage at the link so you can see and hear them for yourself.

______________________________________

2. Now unto last nights affair…..

Obama calls for civility, then isn’t.

From TheWashingtonTimes  “President Obama spent much of Tuesday’s State of the Union calling for civility in politics — then taunted Republicans over his two election victories, after many of them applauded the looming end of his political career.

Mr. Obama issued a broad call for “a better politics” that began with common principles, and said his agenda isn’t political, pointing out “I have no more campaigns to run.””

“Mr. Obama’s two separate veto threats in his speech this year is tied for the most in any State of the Union going back at least a century. President George W. Bush also issued two veto threats in 2008, and President Clinton issued two in 1996.”

“But Mr. Obama’s threat may have been the broadest, with one of his threats covering everything from immigration to tweaking Obamacare to revamping the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reforms.”

He wants to work with Republicans, but only on his agenda. Not happening.

If you missed the speech, or just couldn’t take anymore, here’s the prepared transcript of his remarks.

______________________________________

3. Is it just me, or was the Republican response as bad as I thought? Not so much the content as her delivery. Personally I thought Paul Ryan’s rebuttal on the Brett Baier show was much better than hers. I’ll find the video and post it later.

From APNews  “Republicans controlling Congress will focus on people’s concerns about jobs and health care and steer the country away from President Barack Obama’s failed policies, the newly minted senator delivering her party’s official response to the State of Union address said Tuesday.

In remarks that mixed calls for bipartisan cooperation with a flexing of GOP independence, freshman Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, cited Americans’ worries about stagnant wages, lost jobs and canceled health care coverage. She called on Obama to cooperate with Republicans to simplify the tax code by lowering rates and eliminating unspecified loopholes, and to ease trade barriers with Europe and Asia.

“Americans have been hurting, but when we demanded solutions, too often Washington responded with the same stale mindset that led to failed policies like Obamacare,” Ernst, referring to Obama’s health care overhaul, said in excerpts from her speech released before its delivery. “It’s a mindset that gave us political talking points, not serious solutions.””

Here’s the Ryan “rebuttal.”

______________________________________

4. Here’s more on Obama’s speech.

From TheDailyMail  “Obama accused of class warfare: President with ‘no more campaigns to fight’ riles Republicans with State of the Union tax increases for the rich – to pay for laundry list of progressive proposals 

______________________________________

5. Uh-oh. Maybe this has something to do with the President not mentioning Al-Qaeda last night.

From Bloomberg  “The U.S. government should immediately close and evacuate the U.S. Embassy in Sana’a, Yemen, according to Senator Dianne Feinstein, the Democratic vice-chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

I asked her today whether the embassy, which remains open despite raging violence throughout the Yemeni capital, should be closed. She responded: “Based on what I know so far, yes.”

“I’m very concerned about our embassy there, who is still there, who isn’t still there, and what the plans are,” Feinstein added.

White House senior advisor Valerie Jarrett said today on MSNBC that no decisions have been made on whether to close the embassy. A car carrying U.S. diplomatic personnel was fired on in Sana’a in a neighborhood away from the embassy. Houthi rebels, who control the much of the capital, have now reportedly taken over the presidential palace.

CNN reported today that the Pentagon has moved two warships, the amphibious assault ship Iwo Jima and the dock landing craft Fort McHenry, into the area pre-emptively in case a request for an evacuation is made. So far, the State Department has not asked the military for assistance.”

______________________________________

by

News/Politics 1-20-15

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. Something to keep in mind as you listen to the SOTU speech. The middle class has already taken a beating under his plans, so why would anyone think his new plans will be any different?

From Yahoo  “Ahead of Obama’s annual address, the business community is expecting the president to press for passage of the Trans-Pacific trade treaty, though a debate rages within the Democratic Party over whether that would create more middle class jobs than would be lost to increased imports.

Others say he may seek more overtime pay for mid-level salaried workers, propose a higher federal minimum wage, or renew calls for major infrastructure spending.

Along with the tax plan, Obama has proposed expanded access to community college education and improved family leave policies, while some of his allies have called for an outright wealth transfer from the top to the middle.

For Obama’s legacy none of that may matter.

The forces at work in the American economy appear so entrenched that Obama may be remembered as the president who pulled the nation from its worst downturn since the Great Depression, but failed to arrest deepening economic inequality.”

I’d argue it happened in spite of Obama’s policies, not because of. Class warfare is not an economic strategy, but you’ll hear plenty of it tonight.

______________________________________

2. Global Warming: The most dishonest year on record.

From TheFederalist  “Last week, according to our crackerjack mainstream media, NASA announced that 2014 was the hottest year, like, ever.

No, really. The New York Times began its report with: “Last year was the hottest in earth’s recorded history.”

Well, not really. As we’re about to see, this is a claim that dissolves on contact with actual science. But that didn’t stop the press from running with it.

If you follow the link I gave to the New York Times piece, you will see that this opening sentence has since been rewritten, for reasons which will soon become clear. But the Times wasn’t the only paper to start with that claim, and most of the headlines are still up. The Washington Post has: “2014 Was the Hottest Year in Recorded History.” The Boston Globe: “2014 Was Earth’s Hottest Year in Recorded History.” And so on.

______________________________________

3. Is an attorney who sticks it to victims really who we want as the nation’s AG?

From NationalReview  “It should go without saying that the U.S. attorney general, as our nation’s chief law-enforcement officer, is expected to wield the Justice Department’s full powers to fight for those victimized by crime. It should also go without saying that federal prosecutors routinely make deals with criminals to secure convictions for other, larger crimes, or to save themselves time and the taxpayers’ money — and that those criminals’ victims sometimes come out the losers in such deals. Yet new evidence suggests that Loretta Lynch, President Obama’s pick to take DOJ’s reins from Eric Holder, may have gone beyond the accepted norms of prosecutorial conduct in her time in charge of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York. Lynch’s office appears to have let self-professed criminals walk free in exchange for their cooperation with her office, watched impassively as they committed further crimes, and intentionally kept the victims of those crimes in the dark — denying them their chance to seek tens or hundreds of millions of dollars in restitution in direct contravention of federal law.

In April 2013, Paul Cassell, a former federal judge and law professor at the University of Utah, testified before the House Judiciary Committee, urging the committee to investigate potential wrongdoing by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York in its handling of a stock-fraud case, U.S. v. John Doe. Though he didn’t mention Lynch by name, Cassell alleged that her office had failed to comply with important provisions of the Crime Victims’ Rights Act and the Mandatory Victims Restitution Act. The provisions require federal prosecutors to notify victims of criminal proceedings against those who wronged them, so as to guarantee them their legal right to pursue full and timely restitution against the accused. According to Cassell’s testimony, the restitution in question amounted to over $40 million.

The Doe case began just before Lynch’s first term in charge of the Eastern District. In 1998, Felix Sater — later revealed to be the “Doe” to whom the case refers — pleaded guilty to federal money-laundering and fraud charges in a RICO case, admitting that he had artificially inflated the price of stock he bought cheaply, defrauding investors and reaping millions of dollars in profit for himself. Then Sater, who has well-documented connections to the Mafia, apparently leveraged those connections to strike a deal.

In exchange for the government’s protection in keeping his case sealed and secret, the New York Times reported in 2007, Sater may have worked with the CIA, offering to purchase a dozen missiles from Osama bin Laden on the black market. He also reportedly provided evidence against the Mafia. When Sater was eventually convicted in 2009, the government argued vociferously for leniency on his behalf at sentencing, and he served no time behind bars. Despite having previously signed a cooperation agreement with the Justice Department acknowledging that he owed $60 million in restitution, he was given a paltry $25,000 fine and told to forfeit his house in the Hamptons.”

______________________________________

4. How Boko Haram made people OK with slaughter.

From TheDailyBeast  “In the first few days after Boko Haram’s recent attack in the remote village of Baga, most of the news coverage I saw about it concerned the lack of news. Why, the media wondered, was the media not more interested? As many as 2,000 people had been slaughtered, a figure that, if true, would dwarf the number killed in Paris around the same time.

A big reason the Boko Haram killings haven’t gotten much press is that there isn’t much press there. Baga is extremely remote, with little or no cell service, and it is, by all accounts, a war zone. Nor is the Nigerian government cooperative, or forthcoming, about what’s going on: The military claims no more than 150 people were killed, including militants. President Goodluck Jonathan, who is in the midst of a reelection campaign, hasn’t even publicly commented on the attack.

But even if the western media had been more present, I’m not convinced the western audience would have been more interested. Because, at bottom, there’s a pervading sense here that what happened in Paris was decidedly not normal, while what happened in Nigeria decidedly was.

And normal, unfortunately, doesn’t make the news.”

______________________________________

 

by

News/Politics 1-19-15

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. Bad idea?

From TheDailyMail  “House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is set to appoint a Muslim lawmaker to the Intelligence Committee, congressional aides said Tuesday, giving him access to some of America’s most closely held secrets in the war on terror.

The move will come as the world is still grappling with an al-Qaeda death squad’s massacre last week of journalists at the French satire magazine Charlie Hebdo, executed because they had published a cartoon of the Muslim prophet Muhammad.”

“In a Huffington Post interview two months ago, he reflected on his time as a police officer assigned to track terrorism and conduct counter-intelligence.

‘What I learned is that in the U.S., as in the UK, it is impossible to fight the threat of global terror without help from Muslims,’ the congressman said.

‘But there is a problem with institutional bigotry.'”

_____________________________________

More here, from  BizPacReview  “U.S. Rep. Andre Carson, an Indiana Democrat, may be one of Nancy Pelosi’s handpicked selections to serve on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, but he has a lot of explaining to do on who made political contributions to his campaign — and a history of racially charged, inflammatory statements.

According to the Daily Caller, Carson, the first Muslim to get a seat on the committee, spoke to the 37th Annual Islamic Circle of North America-Muslim American Society Convention in Hartford, Conn., declaring the need to incorporate some Islam-based practices into the U.S. system.

“America will never tap into educational innovation and ingenuity without looking at the model that we have in our madrassas, in our schools, where innovation is encouraged, where the foundation is the Quran.””

“Carson also made a racially charged statements about the tea party members of Congress suggesting, “Some of these folks in Congress right now would love to see [blacks] as second class citizens. Some of them in Congress right now with this tea party movement would love to see you and me…hanging on a tree.””

And as you’d expect, he also has questionable donations from questionable Islamic sources. I believe the wording used was “unindicted co-conspirators.”

______________________________________

2. The first western reporter to embed with ISIS is talking about the experience.

From Breitbart  “Todenhofer lived side by side with the jihadist fighters for ten days in the Islamic State-stronghold city of Mosul, Iraq. He was accompanied only by his son, who served as his cameraman.

“I always asked them about the value of mercy in Islam,” but “I didn’t see any mercy in their behavior,” explained Todenhofer. He added, “Something that I don’t understand at all is the enthusiasm in their plan of religious cleansing, planning to kill the non-believers… They also will kill Muslim democrats because they believe that non-ISIL-Muslims put the laws of human beings above the commandments of God.”

The German reporter then elaborated on how shocked he was about how “willing to kill” the ISIS fighters are. He said that they were ready to commit genocide. “They were talking about [killing] hundreds of millions. They were enthusiastic about it, and I just cannot understand that,” said Todenhofer.”

______________________________________

3. Barry’s not gonna like this….

From TheWashingtonExaminer  “As talks over Iran’s nuclear program resumed Sunday in Geneva, lawmakers in Congress moved forward with legislation to impose new sanctions on Tehran, defying a veto threat from President Obama.

The Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee announced that it would meet Thursday to consider bipartisan sanctions legislation by Sens. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., and Bob Menendez, D-N.J.

It’s an indication that the two senators have lined up enough support to deliver Obama a humiliating defeat on the issue just days after he publicly threatened to veto any proposed sanctions. Last month, Kirk told the Washington Examiner that he and Menendez were aiming for legislation that could receive bipartisan support sufficient to overcome any presidential veto.”

“Support for sanctions is strong in both chambers of Congress, in spite of intense administration lobbying on the issue. Legislation to impose new sanctions on Iran passed the House in July 2013 by a 400-20 vote. In the Senate, an earlier version of the legislation by Menendez and Kirk had majority support last year but was blocked by then-Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.”

Further proof that it was Reid who was the real obstructionist in the legislature.

______________________________________

4. Will the Obama White House try to bury the Bergdahl report?

From FoxNews  “Last Sunday, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey, indicated that he expected a decision “fairly soon” on whether the Army will court martial Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl for allegedly deserting his post in Afghanistan, or has cleared him, paving the way for separation from the service and back pay in excess of $200,000. Moreover, a decision to clear Bergdahl may well open the door for him to be designated a former prisoner of war, ensuring him substantial monthly pay, medical and educational benefits for the rest of his life.

To those who have followed all angles of Bergdahl’s case, it appears the Army has a true dilemma on its hands, as does the Obama administration. By now the investigating team has done an in-depth look into the circumstances surrounding Bergdahl’s disappearance from his post, has probably interviewed every witness with credible information, has looked at every piece of physical evidence and has reviewed hundreds of classified intelligence reports regarding his captivity. Its conclusions are long overdue.”

“In White House terms, not charging Bergdahl means that he was indeed worth the trade for the Taliban Five. But charging him on any level means that releasing the five Taliban was an error of monstrous proportions, one the administration will never be able to explain away satisfactorily.

Watch for the announcement, in all likelihood on a Friday afternoon. If Bergdahl is charged, the administration will hope it’s old news by Monday. If he’s not charged, it will be big news for a long time to come.”

______________________________________

by

News/Politics 1-17-15

What’s interesting in the news today?

Weekend Open Thread

As promised, here’s some of the pics Janice sent me from the rally for former Atlanta Fire Chief Cochran.

Cochran Rally 2 Janice

Cochran Rally Janice

More in the comments, and here:

Is glorifying God a hate crime now? From CNN

And here,

The Atlanta Fire Chief Fired From FirstThings

by

News/Politics 1-16-15

What’s interesting in the news today?

We’ll start with the good news…..

1. The man who helped save others from the Paris gunmen is being rewarded.

From TheIndependent  “The Malian national who was hailed as a hero for helping hostages to safety during the kosher supermarket siege in Paris is to be given French citizenship, French media have reported.

Lassana Bathily was the subject of an online petition signed by around 300,000 people, calling for him to be given a French passport as well as the Legion d’honneur, the country’s highest honour.

Mr Bathily has been widely praised for his actions to save people who would otherwise have been held captive by the extremist terrorist Amedy Coulibaly, who was later shot dead by police.”

“A 24-year-old Muslim, Mr Bathily was also able to escape the supermarket siege through a fire escape after he had shepherded the customers to safety, and relayed information on what was happening inside to police officers.”

______________________________________

2. Good Kitty!

From TheNYPost  “Eat your heart out, Lassie!

Masha, a long-haired tabby cat, saved the life of a baby abandoned in the streets of Russia — after she climbed into the box he was discarded in and kept him warm, health officials said.

“The baby had only been outside for a few hours and thanks to Masha … he was not damaged by the experience,” a hospital spokesman told Central European News.

The whiskered hero even meowed to get the attention of a passerby.

“She is very placid and friendly, so when I heard her meowing, I thought that perhaps she had injured herself,” said Obninsk city resident Irina Lavrova. “Normally she would have come and said hello to me. You can imagine my shock when I saw her lying in a box next to a baby.””

______________________________________

3. Police have foiled another terrorist plot in Belgium.

From ABCNews  “Two suspects died in a gunfight as authorities searched locations they believe are tied to a terror plot in Belgium, an official said.

The deaths occurred after individuals at a location in Verviers, Belgium, opened fire on police with automatic weapons, Magistrate Eric Van der Sypt said. Besides the two suspects killed, a third was arrested, he said, adding that no police or civilians were injured.

A neighbor at the apparent site of the confrontation in Verviers, near the city of Liege, told ABC News he heard two explosions and dozens of gunshots over about five minutes, and that four or five police cars remained on the scene afterwards.”

“”These search warrants were executed in an investigation concerning several people who we think are an operational cell concerning certain people who came back from Syria,” Van der Sypt said. “During the investigation, we found that this group was about to commit terrorist attacks in Belgium.”

Operations were ongoing into the evening in multiple parts of Belgium, including in Molenbeek, Brussels and Vilvoorde, a federal police official told ABC News.”

______________________________________

4. Islamic threats and terror training centers in the US? Yep. But don’t worry, our govt. says they’re watching them. I feel safer already… 🙄

From FoxNews  “Mauro discussed five top organizations linked to Islamic extremism that are located in the United States.

One such example is the hamlet of Islamberg in the Town of Hancock, New York. Located 145 northwest of New York City, the secluded community is home to an unknown number of Muslims inspired by Sufi cleric Sheikh Syed Mubarik Ali Shah Gilani. Mauro said the compound is spread across 60-70 acres. 

He showed O’Reilly a video given to him by a law enforcement source that shows members marching with rifles in apparent guerilla warfare training. As the group, Muslims of the Americas, is not designated as a foreign terrorist organization, they are able to operate in the United States with little more than FBI ‘monitoring’, Mauro said.

Another notable location is the Dar-al Hijrah mosque in the Seven Corners section of Falls Church, Va. The mosque was once led by Anwar al-Awlaki, an American citizen killed overseas after joining al Qaeda. The mosque, near Washington, D.C., is now led by an imam who Mauro noted has said ‘Muslims shall be first in line for the arms for jihad.”

Siraj Wahhaj, a radical imam whom O’Reilly discussed earlier this week, runs the Masjid At Taqwa mosque in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn. Wahhaj will be speaking at an upcoming conference in Texas.  Mauro called him “one of the most radical imams in the country.” 

That last mosque in Brooklyn should sound familiar. It’s the one attended by the man who recently assassinated two NYC policemen before killing himself.

______________________________________

5. Duke University must’ve had a moment of clarity.

From MSN  “Duke University has canceled its plan to use the tower of its chapel for a weekly, amplified call to prayer for Muslims.

In a release Thursday, the university said Muslims will instead gather on the quadrangle before heading into a room in the chapel for their weekly prayer service.

“Duke remains committed to fostering an inclusive, tolerant and welcoming campus for all of its students,” said Michael Schoenfeld, vice president for public affairs and government relations. “However, it was clear that what was conceived as an effort to unify was not having the intended effect.”

Under the canceled plan, members of the school’s Muslim Students Association would have recited the call lasting about three minutes from the bell tower. However, the plan drew the ire of evangelist Franklin Graham, the son of the Rev. Billy Graham, who urged Duke alumni to withhold support because of violence against Christians that he attributed to Muslims. He wrote on Facebook that the decision is playing out as “Christianity is being excluded from the public square.””

______________________________________

by

News/Politics 1-15-15

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. The FBI has arrested a man they say was plotting an ISIS inspired attack on D.C.

From ABCNews  “The FBI Wednesday arrested an Ohio man for allegedly plotting an ISIS-inspired attack on the U.S. Capitol, where he hoped to set off a series of bombs aimed at lawmakers, whom he allegedly considered enemies.

Christopher Lee Cornell, 20, of Green Township, was arrested on charges of attempting to kill a U.S. government official, authorities said.

According to government documents, he allegedly planned to detonate pipe bombs at the national landmark and open fire on any employees and officials fleeing after the explosions.

The FBI first noticed Cornell several months ago after an informant notified the agency that Cornell was allegedly voicing support for violent “jihad” on Twitter accounts under the alias “Raheel Mahrus Ubaydah,” according to charging documents. In addition, Cornell allegedly posted statements, videos and other content expressing support for ISIS — the brutal terrorist group also known as ISIL — that is wreaking havoc in Iraq and Syria. “

_____________________________________

2. Despite US bombings, ISIS is expanding their territory.

From TheDailyBeast  “ISIS continues to gain substantial ground in Syria, despite nearly 800 air strikes in the American-led campaign to break ISIS’s grip there.

At least one-third of the country’s territory is now under ISIS influence, with recent gains in rural areas that can serve as a conduit to major cities ISIS hopes to eventually claim as part of its caliphate. Meanwhile, the Islamic extremist group does not appear to have suffered any major ground losses since the strikes began. The result is a net ground gain for ISIS, according to information compiled by two groups with on-the-ground sources.

In Syria, ISIS “has not any lost any key terrain,” Jennifer Cafarella, a fellow at the Washington D.C.-based Institute for the Study of War who studies the Syrian conflict, explained to the Daily Beast.”

_____________________________________

3. NBC and ABC are touting the new Charlie Hebdo cover as a “declaration of defiance” and a “triumph of free-speech.” But you’ll have to take their word for it because they won’t show it on air. 🙄

From NewsBusters  “Reporting on the release of Charlie Hebdo’s first issue since the January 7 terrorist attack, NBC’s Today and ABC’s Good Morning America on Wednesday refused to show the cover of the satirical magazine that depicted a cartoon image of Mohamed. Despite such censorship, both networks touted the publication as “a triumph for free speech” and “a kind of declaration of defiance against terror.”

On Today, co-host Matt Lauer proclaimed: “…a defiant Charlie Hebdo releases its very first issue since that terror attack on its Paris offices, with a cartoon of the Prophet Mohamed on the cover.” Correspondent Bill Neely began his report: “Today Charlie Hebdo is back on the street, seemingly stronger than ever.” However, moments later he explained: “On its cover, which NBC News is not showing, a cartoon of a tearful prophet Mohamed.”

“Good Morning America demonstrated a similar contradiction. Co-host Robin Roberts announced: “The French are certainly showing no fear in the face of terrorism this morning. That new issue of Charlie Hebdo selling out across the country this morning…” Correspondent Terry Moran led off his report by noting that getting a copy of the magazine “has become a kind of declaration of defiance against terror…” Despite such pronouncements, the morning show did not show the cover.”

_____________________________________

4. After reading this one I have to ask….

Have the terrorists already won?

From InternationalBusinessTimes  “One of the biggest education publishers in the world has warned its authors not to mention pigs or sausages in their books to avoid causing offence.

Oxford University Press (OUP) said all books must take into consideration other cultures if they hope to sell copies in countries across the world.

As a result, the academic publisher has issued guidance advising writers to avoid mentioning pigs or “anything else which could be perceived as pork” so as not to offend Muslim or Jewish people.

The move was revealed during a discussion on free speech during BBC Radio 4’s Today programme in the wake of the attack on French satirical magazine Charlie Hedbo and its decision to use an image of the Prophet Mohammed on the cover of its latest issue.”

“An OUP spokesperson said: “Our materials are sold in nearly 200 countries, and as such, and without compromising our commitment in any way, we encourage some authors of educational materials respectfully to consider cultural differences and sensitivities.”

_____________________________________

5. Remember this the next time someone tells you our economy is recovering.

From Breitbart  “In a stunning Tuesday report, Gallup CEO and Chairman Jim Clifton revealed that “for the first time in 35 years, American business deaths now outnumber business births.”

“Let’s get one thing clear: This economy is never truly coming back unless we reverse the birth and death trends of American businesses,” writes Clifton.”

“Indeed, the numbers are striking. Contrary to the oft-cited 26 million businesses in America figure, Clifton says 20 million of these so-called “businesses” are merely companies on paper with zero workers, profits, customers, or sales. In reality, America has just 6 million businesses with one or more employers–3.8 million of which have four or fewer employees. In total, these 6 million U.S. companies provide jobs for more than 100 million people in America.

Of the 2.2 million job-creating companies with five or more workers, the numbers break down accordingly:

There are about a million companies with five to nine employees, 600,000 businesses with 10 to 19 employees, and 500,000 companies with 20 to 99 employees. There are 90,000 businesses with 100 to 499 employees. And there are just 18,000 with 500 employees or more, and that figure includes about a thousand companies with 10,000 employees or more. Altogether, that is America, Inc.”

_____________________________________

by

News/Politics 1-14-15

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. First up today, a good news story. But it raises some questions as well. If he was aware, how many others in a similar situation are as well? I can’t help but think of Terri Schiavo.

From TheDailyMail  “Martin Pistorius was a happy, healthy boy – until at the age of 12 a mystery illness left him in a virtual coma. Doctors never found the cause of his condition – even his mother gave up hope.”

“My mind began to awaken at about the age of 16. By 19 it was fully intact: I knew who I was and where I was, and understood I’d been robbed of a real life.

I was completely entombed. At first I wanted to fight my fate by leaving some tiny sign to guide people back to me, like the crumbs Hansel and Gretel left to help find their way out of the woods. But my efforts were never enough.

Have you ever seen one of those movies in which someone wakes up as a ghost but they don’t know that they’ve died? That’s how it was, as I realised people were looking through and around me.

However much I tried to beg and plead, shout and scream, I couldn’t make them notice me.

My mind was trapped inside a useless body, my arms and legs weren’t mine to control and my voice was mute. I couldn’t make a sign or a sound to let anyone know I’d become aware again. I was invisible – the ghost boy.”

_____________________________________

2. Boko Haram has tried expanding their territory, and thankfully failed.

From MSN/TheAP  “Cameroon’s government said Tuesday that its military killed 143 militants from the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram, which has been waging war in neighboring Nigeria.

In a statement carried on state television, authorities said hundreds of militants had attacked a Cameroonian military camp in Kolofata the day before after crossing the border from Nigeria.

The fight lasted five hours and left 143 of the militants dead, Cameroonian Information Minister Issa Tchiroma Bakary said in the statement.

“It is by far the heaviest toll sustained by the criminal sect Boko Haram since it began launching its barbaric attacks against our land, people and goods,” he said.”

_____________________________________

3. Some uncomfortable truths, and good questions.

From TheAtlantic  “As many as a million people, joined by 40 world leaders, filled the streets of Paris on Sunday in solidarity after two separate terrorist attacks claimed 17 innocent lives last week. The day before, more than 3,000 miles to the south, a girl believed to be around 10 approached the entrance to a crowded market in Maiduguri, a city of some 1 million in Nigeria’s Borno State. As a security guard inspected her, the girl detonated explosives strapped to her body, killing herself and at least 19 others. Dozens more were injured.

Saturday’s suicide bombing elicited little coverage compared to the events in Paris, which have dominated headlines since last Wednesday’s attack on Charlie Hebdo, a satirical newspaper. Why the slaughter of 17 innocents in France receives more attention than the death of roughly the same number of Nigerians is the kind of question that can result in accusations of indifference, racism, and media bias. But the contrast between the attacks in Paris and the suicide bombing in Maiduguri actually reveals something far more sinister: the ravages of state failure.

Boko Haram is waging a ruthless war throughout northeast Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country. On Wednesday, Boko Haram militants laid siege to Baga, a city that has resisted them, setting fire to buildings and killing residents indiscriminately. Hundreds of people fled into Lake Chad and attempted to swim to a nearby island. Many drowned along the way. Those who didn’t are now marooned without food and shelter and have no defense against the island’s swarm of malarial mosquitos. The death toll in Baga reportedly exceeds 2,000. Some 20,000 others are now displaced.

The New York Times story on this deadly siege appeared on page A6 of Saturday’s print edition, while the paper’s story of the suicide bombing landed on page A8.

How did the attacks in France so thoroughly bury the atrocities in Nigeria?”

_____________________________________

4. Something to consider if you have tech savvy little ones.

From Forbes  “Most parents would be concerned if their children had significant exposure to lead, chloroform, gasoline fumes, or the pesticide DDT.  The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IRIC), part of the United Nations’ World Health Organization (WHO), classifies these and more than 250 other agents as Class 2B Carcinogens – possibly carcinogenic to humans.  Another entry on that same list is radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF/EMF).  The main sources of RF/EMF are radios, televisions, microwave ovens, cell phones, and Wi-Fi devices.

Uh-oh. Not another diatribe about the dangers of our modern communication systems?  Obviously, these devices and the resulting fields are extremely (and increasingly) common in modern society.  Even if we want to, we can’t eliminate our exposure, or our children’s, to RF/EMF.  But, we may need to limit that exposure, when possible.

That was among the conclusions of a report published in the Journal of Microscopy and Ultrastructure entitled “Why children absorb more microwave radiation than adults: The consequences.”  From an analysis of others studies, the authors argue that children and adolescents are at considerable risk from devices that radiate microwaves (and that adults are at a lower, but still significant, risk).”

For more on the specifics, just click the link.

_____________________________________

5. Never let a crisis go to waste, eh Barry?

From TheGuardian  “Barack Obama unveiled new cybersecurity measures on Tuesday amid warnings from privacy campaigners about unnecessarily “broad legal immunity” that could put personal information at risk in the wake of attacks like the Sony Pictures hack.

Just one day after the Pentagon’s own Twitter account was compromised and Obama pushed a 30-day window for consumer security breaches, his administration was hoping the proposed legislation would toughen the response of the private sector by allowing companies to share information with government agencies including the NSA, with which the White House admitted there were “overlapping issues”.

“I’ve got a State of the Union next week,” Obama said after a Tuesday meeting with Republican leaders at the White House. “One of the things we’re going to be talking about is cybersecurity. With the Sony attack that took place, with the Twitter account that was hacked by Islamist jihadist sympathizers yesterday, it just goes to show much more work we need to do both public and private sector to strengthen our cybersecurity.”

The administration believes the legislation is necessary partly to give companies legal immunity for sharing information on attacks so that counter-measures can be coordinated, but the White House has stepped back from suggestions that companies should be allowed to individually retaliate against hackers, fearing such encouragement could lead to an escalation of cyber warfare.”

_____________________________________

6. How can you address the problem when you can’t even admit what the problem is?

_____________________________________

by

News/Politics 1-13-15

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. The Ohio State Buckeyes are the national champions. And now that the first ever college playoffs are over, what did you think of it?

From MSNSports  “They took advantage of an opportunity they never would have had in the BCS, shrugging off questions about if they belonged among the college football’s final four. Cardale Jones, Ezekiel Elliott and the Buckeyes won the first College Football Playoff national championship, upsetting Marcus Mariota and Oregon 42-20 on Monday night.

Behind their bullish backup quarterback Jones and the relentless running of Elliott, the Buckeyes (14-1) completed a remarkable in-season turnaround with a dominating performance against the Ducks (13-2).”

_____________________________________

2. The House is trying to rollback Obama’s executive overreach. I know, which one, right?

From TheHill  “The GOP-led House Rules Committee late Monday advanced a bill to the floor that would fund the Department of Homeland Security through September and several amendments that would roll back President Obama’s immigration policies.

The House will likely vote on each of the amendments and the spending bill on Wednesday. The GOP-sponsored amendments are expected to be adopted and wrapped into the spending bill.

Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas), chairman of the Rules panel, said Republicans want to withhold funding for the executive orders because Obama’s actions are “unlawful, illegal and unconstitutional.” 

The amendments would defund Obama’s executive orders on immigration from November, the Morton Memos of 2011 and 2012 that relaxed some immigration laws and the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that defers deportations of children who came to the United States illegally.

Other amendments focus on immigration enforcement for sex offenders and prioritizing people who came to the U.S. legally ahead of those who arrived illegally.”

_____________________________________

3. The Keystone pipeline passes its initial Senate hurdle. Still no idea if they have the Democrat votes needed to override Obama’s threatened veto.

From LegalInsurrection/TheAP  “Legislation approving construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline cleared an initial Senate hurdle Monday, a victory for newly empowered Republicans angling for a quick veto showdown with President Barack Obama.

The bipartisan 63-32 vote was 3 more than the 60 required, and well above the level the highly controversial measure ever gained in recent years when Democrats controlled the Senate….

But with more than enough votes at their command, Republican and Democratic supporters said they hoped the legislation could win final approval and be sent to the White House by the end of next week.

“President Obama has every reason to sign the jobs and infrastructure bill that we will pass,” said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. He noted that the Nebraska Supreme Court had recently rejected a legal challenge brought by opponents, an obstacle the White House had cited.”

_____________________________________

4. More “green science” myths bite the dust.

From HotAir  “Not that anyone in the anti-energy community will pay attention to this, but the debate over hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and energy extraction in general has delivered another blow to the Green Energy crew. In fact, several of the most commonly repeated stories about the health hazards associated with the oil and gas energy have turned out to be “claims masquerading as science.”

[Dr. Dan Hill, head and professor and Noble Chair of the Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering at Texas A & M University] cited a study in Colorado, which alleged that people who live within a half mile of a natural gas well are at higher risk of cancer. That study was later criticized by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment for it flawed methodology and was eventually decommissioned by the Garfield County Commissioners in Colorado.

Similarly, some residents of Flower Mound, Texas (north of Fort Worth) suspected that breast cancers were linked to increased drilling. After extensive investigation by the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, the Texas Cancer Registry, and Susan G. Komen for the cure in Dallas all said there is no evidence of an increase in cancers. The Texas Department of State Health Services also found no connection between natural gas production and cancer in 2014.

In order to appreciate the impact of these results, do a Google search on Flower Mound, Texas and Fracking. This case has taken on legendary status among fracking opponents. It brought the phrase cancer cluster to national prominence and fueled the opposition to hydraulic fracturing in the liberal media for years. It was accepted as gospel that the incidence rate of cancers must be higher and, even in the absence of any evidence of a causal relationship, that it must have been caused by fracking. However we now see groups including Komen for the Cure saying that there was no increase and no relationship.”

_____________________________________