News/Politics

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News/Politics 12-30-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. Anyone notice a pattern from the “most transparent administration ever?”

From NationalReview  “Darrell Issa’s leading role in the IRS investigation may have come to a close — he lost his chairmanship of the House Oversight Committee to term limits — but there is plenty of work left for his successor, Jason Chaffetz of Utah. None of these criminals has been punished; the maddening fact is that Lois Lerner is enjoying a six-figure pension at the expense of the very taxpayers against whom she conducted a corrupt political jihad. And even if that happy day should come when Lerner et al. are given one-way bus tickets to Florence, Colo., or some other suitable destination, Chaffetz and his colleagues still would have a tremendous amount of work to do; if Issa’s time has taught us anything, it is that the federal agencies are in thrall to a culture of criminality, and that the most significant crime in the agencies’ repertoire is the obstruction of federal investigations.

Earlier this year, 47 inspectors general — the officials charged with fighting corruption, waste, and wrongdoing in federal agencies — sent a letter to Issa’s committee complaining that organizations ranging from the EPA to the Justice Department were impeding their investigations by withholding information — despite the fact that federal law specifically forbids withholding that information. These are not a bunch of Republican operatives trying to score a few political points: Those 47 inspectors general comprise more than half of all such officials, and many who signed the letter were appointed by President Barack Obama. Their complaint is that the federal agencies treat them more or less like they do . . . members of Congress: thwarting them, withholding documents, obstruction investigations.

Michael Horowitz, the inspector general for the Justice Department, came to the Oversight Committee practically begging them for a means by which the DOJ – the federal law-enforcement department — might be forced to follow the laws that it is supposed to be enforcing. “It is very clear to me,” he testified, “just as it is to the Inspectors General community, that the Inspector General Act of 1978 entitles inspectors general to access all documents and records within the agency’s possession. Each of us firmly believes that Congress meant what it said in Section 6(a) of the IG Act: that Inspectors General must be given complete, timely, and unfiltered access to agency records.” But under the leadership of Attorney General Eric Holder, the DOJ did no such thing. Horowitz notes that the DOJ specifically tried to withhold information related to the investigation of Operation Fast and Furious.”

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2. Oh goody, because the one we have just isn’t enough. 🙄

From TheDailyCaller  “President Obama’s nonprofit advocacy group Organizing for Action plans to train 10,000 new community organizers in 2015 in a search for the next “organizer-in-chief.”

The OFA Fellows Program set a goal of training 10,000 new organizers to follow in the footsteps of Obama, according to a fundraising email the group sent out Sunday with the subject line “The next Barack Obama.””

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3. Talk about bad optics…..

From TheWashingtonExaminer  “One couple wanted to get married, but President Obama wanted to play golf.

Army captains Natalie Heimel and Edward Mallue Jr. knew Obama was headed to Hawaii for the holidays, so on a whim, they extended him an invite to attend their Dec. 28 wedding — one he politely declined. That same day, they were informed they would have to move their wedding location.

The wedding was set to be at the 16th tee box at Kaneohe Kipper Golf Course on the Marine Corps Base in Hawaii — a favorite of both Mallue and Obama.

“It was kind of ironic they got the letter from them and then, within hours, they were told they had to be moved due to him,” Jamie McCarthy, Mallue’s sister, told Bloomberg Politics. “It was emotional, especially for her — she’s the bride and in less than 24 hours they had to change everything they had planned.”

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4. And some good news…..

From Breitbart  “Though the Chinese Communist Party is the largest explicitly atheist organization in the world, with 85 million official members, it is now overshadowed by an estimated 100 million Christians in China. It is no wonder Beijing is nervous and authorities are cracking down on Christian groups.

Christianity is growing so fast in China that some predict that it will be the most Christian nation in the world in only another 15 years. By far, the greatest growth is coming outside the official state-sanctioned churches, which are rightly considered subservient to the Communist Party. Numbers are increasing, rather, in unofficial Protestant “house churches” and in the underground Catholic church.

“By my calculations China is destined to become the largest Christian country in the world very soon,” said Fenggang Yang, a professor of sociology at Purdue University and author of Religion in China: Survival and Revival under Communist Rule.”

China is on to this as well and they are persecuting many as a result.

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News/Politics 12-29-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

Open Thread. Here’s a few to start things off.

1. The firing of the head of the Phoenix VA where the scandal started has been upheld. Funny thing though it was for receiving inappropriate gifts and not for the actual scandal itself. It seems the govt. didn’t provide enough info to find fault on those charges. Convenient, no?

From StarsAndStripes  ” The government agency charged with making sure federal employees are treated fairly upheld this week the Department of Veterans Affairs decision to “formally remove” Sharon Helman, director of the Phoenix Department of Veterans Affairs’ Health Care System and the leader at the center of the biggest scandal in the agency’s history.

But the ruling by the Merit Systems Protection Board could not substantiate that Helman knew or should have known that employees at her hospital lied about health-care wait times for former troops seeking treatment for everything from cancer to post-traumatic stress disorder.”

“In the ruling, Chief Administrative Judge Stephen Mish rejected the VA’s other charges, which said that Helman failed to see that veterans were waiting months or even years to get health care. But the judge said the VA failed to demonstrate any actions or inactions on the part of Helman that caused it.

“To phrase it more colloquially, an agency must connect the dots of fault from the identified failure by the subordinates back up the line to the manager,” the judge wrote. “The agency did not attempt to do so here. Accordingly, this specification is not sustained.”

Similarly, the VA said Helman failed to process 2,500 new claims that were found, which led hundreds of veterans to be without health care for more than a year. But the judge again said the VA did not provide enough information to the board.

The ruling also points out that linking Helman’s removal to the wait-times issue is complex. The report notes that the VA’s office of the inspector general did not interview Helman about wait times during their investigation into the issue.”

So it’s like the IRS scandal, where no one talks to the witnesses, victims, or the accused before deciding the case.

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2. They did it again. But this time it was cops from all over the country.

FromTheWashingtonPost  “The streets of this working-class neighborhood in Queens overflowed on Saturday with thousands of blue-uniformed police officers, state troopers, corrections officers and firefighters from across the country.”

“The outpouring — some estimates were of more than 20,000 officers — was about more than brotherhood and the New York Police Department’s long history of showing support to honor slain officers. This time, the solemn memorial turned into a kind of counter-protest.”

“Hundreds of officers watching the services outside Christ Tabernacle Church turned their backs on the screens when Mayor Bill de Blasio spoke. The mayor has been heavily criticized by New York police union officials, accused of causing a mood of mistrust that they say contributed to the killings of Ramos and Liu. Tensions between the mayor and police had already grown in recent months after de Blasio said he was worried about how police might treat his son, who is biracial.”

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3. Despite the reporter’s attempts to provide cover for Obama, Rudy raises some good points.

More here from NationalReview

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News/Politics 12-23-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

Open Thread

I’ll start it off with these two.

UPDATE!

I’m having a real hard time with this administration’s idea of foreign policy. What is wrong with these people?

Not only are we releasing spies in exchange for pretty much nothing, but now we find out we’ve been helping one of the imprisoned spies artificially inseminate his wife in Cuba. 

How would that work you ask? By sending his sperm from prison to Panama, with the help of a US Senator, as part of the negotiations.

From StarsAndStripes  “Cuba is celebrating the return of three intelligence agents imprisoned in the United States for more than a decade, and the joyful but puzzling news that one of their wives is expecting just two weeks from now.

Adriana Perez’s pregnancy has been the talk of Cuba since she appeared with Gerardo Hernandez at the island’s parliament this weekend. Perez beamed and held hands with Hernandez as he caressed her baby bump, clearly visible beneath a flowing blue dress.

A top aide to U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy said Monday that the lawmaker helped arrange for Perez’s artificial insemination, one of the stranger chapters of 18 months of back-channel negotiations that culminated with Washington and Havana’s announcement they will resume diplomatic ties after more than 50 years of hostility.

Tim Rieser, foreign policy adviser to Leahy, told The Associated Press that it all began with a February 2013 trip to Cuba by Leahy, who has visited the island multiple times since the early 1990s, met with both former and current presidents Fidel and Raul Castro and opposes the U.S. embargo.”

“Back home, Leahy’s office began working with U.S. government officials. Conjugal visits are not allowed in the federal penitentiary system, but officials identified a precedent where artificial insemination had been permitted for an inmate.”

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1. The absolute worst idea yet from the gun control gang. Steal your parents gun and take it to school to give to your teacher. I kid you not.

Did you spot the 3 crimes he committed? More on that here,

From National review  “Moreover, in the course of his little ploy, the kid breaks pretty much every law on the books. He takes a gun out of his house (not only is this felony burglary, but he’s not old enough to carry a firearm in public); he then takes that gun into a school (that’s against federal and state law); and, finally, he transfers it to a teacher without a background check, thereby breaking the very rule that progressives tell us is necessary to keep us all safe from gun violence. And for what, pray? Typically, anti-gun commercials focus in on a specific safety issue: a lack of trigger locks, or background checks, or safe-storage, for example. This one seems to feature a child who is saying, “I don’t want any guns in the house at all.” This absolute approach is extreme, even for today’s class of wildly incompetent control freaks.”

And just imagine the fun when he shows up at school with it. 🙄

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2. A Christmas surprise from ObamaCare. Further proof that Gruber and Obama think you’re too stupid to make these kind of important decisions yourself.

From TheWashingtonTimes  “If you like your health care plan, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has a Christmas surprise for you! When will this new present arrive? December 25th.

In an ongoing effort to keep Obamacare numbers elevated, CMS has embarked on the next step of its government takeover of healthcare.

It seems CMS is taking a page from Jonathan Gruber’s book; rather than allowing the “stupid” masses to make a decision on their own health plan, CMS has proposed a new rule that includes an overly reaching provision allowing CMS to re-enroll anyone who has not made the annual trek back to healthcare.gov in a cheaper plan of CMS’ choosing.

That’s right, the government will choose your plan, perhaps limit access to your doctor, and ultimately make the decision on what is “best” for you.”

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News/Politics 12-22-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

Open Thread

I’ll start things off with a question.

Do they have a point? Let’s face it, this bunch has been agitating the snot out of the situation. Is this just an unavoidable tragedy, or have they helped egg this on with their racist rhetoric?

From TheDailyMail  “Many are blaming the murder of two New York City cops on Saturday afternoon on Mayor Bill de Blasio following his recent support for protesters in the city marching in opposition to a grand jury’s decision to not indict the police officer who killed Eric Garner.

Hundreds have taken to social media to say that de Blasio has ‘blood on his hands’ and should ‘be charged with murder’ after the two men were killed ‘execution style’ in Brooklyn. 

What’s more, many feel that de Blasio should not attend the officers’ funerals, this after many members of the NYPD signed a petition asking that the Mayor not attend their service should they be killed in the line of duty in light of his recent actions.

This as hundreds of NYPD members turned their backs on de Blasio as he entered a news conference Saturday afternoon. These same officers later lined the streets outside the Woodhull medical Center and silently saluted as the bodies of the two slain officers were taken away. 

Pat Lynch, president of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, said in a statement; ‘That blood on the hands starts on the steps of City Hall in the office of the Mayor.’

Mayor de Blasio responded to this, saying in a statement; ‘It’s unfortunate that in a time of great tragedy, some would resort to the irresponsible, overheated rhetoric that angers and divides people.'”

Says the man who along with Sharpton and Obama did all that and then some.

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by

News/Politics 12-19-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

Open Thread!

Here’s a couple to start off.

1. This first one I offer for your consideration with no comment.

From TheFederalist  “Yes, Christians Can Support Torture”

“Majorities of Christians support the use of torture in some instances. And they’re not bad Christians for doing so.”

“In a recent post cited by Patheos, nondenominational pastor Brian Zahnd brashly proclaims “You Cannot Be Christian and Support Torture.”

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2. Shouldn’t liberals be crying about “separation of church and state?” Oh that’s right, they only do that when it’s conservative types proposing the “faith-based initiatives.” Since it’s the Obama admin, he gets a pass because they know he doesn’t really believe all that stuff and this is just a means to an end.

FromCNSNews  “Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell met with “faith organizations from across the country” last week to ask them to help people enroll in federal health care insurance plans created through the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare.

“We know that the most effective voices on helping folks learn about the Affordable Care Act are voices in their community and voices that they trust,” Burwell said to reporters following the “closed press” meeting on Friday.”

“While addressing reporters, Burwell was flanked by two people who attended the meeting: Sister Simone Campbell, executive director of NETWORK, National Catholic Social Justice Lobby and Amy Cotton, senior policy manager at the National Council of Jewish Women.

Campbell supported liberal causes, including the reelection of President Barack Obama. In September, Campbell and other nun activists did their third tour to fight what they say is “dark money” from Charles and David Koch to GOP political campaigns.

According to its website, Cotton’s organization takes “a progressive stance on such issues as child welfare, women’s rights, and reproductive freedom.”

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News/Politics 12-18-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

Open Thread!

Here’s a few to start things off.

1. Republicans have chosen 3 new Senators for the Armed Services Committee.

From DefenseOne  “A lieutenant colonel in the Iowa Army National Guard and the first female combat veteran in the Senate. A former Army Ranger and captain educated in the Ivy League. A lieutenant colonel in the Marine Corps Reserves who worked on former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s national security staff. These are the three newly elected senators who will serve on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Republicans announced Monday.

Senators-elect Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, Rep. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, all post-9/11 veterans who served in either Iraq, Afghanistan or both wars, will serve on the Senate’s defense committee, according to incoming Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. The Republican conference and full Senate will ratify the picks.”

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2. Since our state SG refused to do her job because all these dirty politicians are Dems like her, some local prosecutors are stepping up.

From Philly.com  “Philadelphia prosecutors announced criminal charges Tuesday against two more elected officials swept up in the undercover sting investigation that state Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane had argued could not be successfully prosecuted.

District Attorney Seth Williams announced conspiracy, bribery and conflict of interest charges against state Reps. Vanessa Lowery Brown and Ronald G. Waters, both Philadelphia Democrats, for accepting cash from an undercover operative.

In announcing the charges, Williams had harsh words for Kane, who he said had to be forced through “judicial intervention” to turn over key documents in the case.”

“After The Inquirer first broke the news of the aborted operation, Kane vigorously defended her decision. She contended the investigation was poorly managed, relied on a questionable undercover agent, and was possibly tainted by racial targeting. All five elected officials captured on tape are African American.”

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3. Obama and Clinton sure love those foreign contributions, huh? And of course Menendez’s dirty little fingers are all over this too.

From MSN/NYTimes  “The Obama administration overturned a ban preventing a wealthy, politically connected Ecuadorean woman from entering the United States after her family gave tens of thousands of dollars to Democratic campaigns, according to finance records and government officials.

The woman, Estefanía Isaías, had been barred from coming to the United States after being caught fraudulently obtaining visas for her maids. But the ban was lifted at the request of the State Department under former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton so that Ms. Isaías could work for an Obama fund-raiser with close ties to the administration.

It was one of several favorable decisions the Obama administration made in recent years involving the Isaías family, which the government of Ecuador accuses of buying protection from Washington and living comfortably in Miami off the profits of a looted bank in Ecuador.

The family, which has been investigated by federal law enforcement agencies on suspicion of money laundering and immigration fraud, has made hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributions to American political campaigns in recent years. During that time, it has repeatedly received favorable treatment from the highest levels of the American government, including from New Jersey’s senior senator and the State Department.

The Obama administration has allowed the family’s patriarchs, Roberto and William Isaías, to remain in the United States, refusing to extradite them to Ecuador. The two brothers were sentenced in absentia in 2012 to eight years in prison, accused of running their bank into the ground and then presenting false balance sheets to profit from bailout funds. In a highly politicized case, Ecuador says the fraud cost the country $400 million.”

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