News/Politics

by

News/Politics 12-5-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. Has the Red Cross been misleading donors about where their dollars are going?

From MSN/NPR  “The American Red Cross regularly touts how responsible it is with donors’ money. “We’re very proud of the fact that 91 cents of every dollar that’s donated goes to our services,” Red Cross CEO Gail McGovern said in a speech in Baltimore last year. “That’s world class, obviously.””

“The problem with that number: It isn’t true.”

“The Red Cross declined repeated requests to say the actual percentage of donor dollars going to humanitarian services. But the charity’s own financial statements show that overhead expenses are significantly more than what McGovern and other Red Cross officials have claimed.”

“In recent years, the Red Cross’ fundraising expenses alone have been as high as 26 cents of every donated dollar, nearly three times the nine cents in overhead claimed by McGovern. In the past five years, fundraising expenses have averaged 17 cents per donated dollar.

But even that understates matters. Once donated dollars are in Red Cross hands, the charity spends additional money on “management and general” expenses, which includes things like back office accounting. That means the portion of donated dollars going to overhead is even higher.”

______________________________________

2. Utah is set to seize millions of acres of it’s land back from the federal govt.

From TheWashingtonTimes  “In three weeks, Utah intends to seize control of 31.2 million acres of its own land now under the control of the federal government. At least, that’s the plan.

In an unprecedented challenge to federal dominance of Western state lands, Utah Gov. Gary Herbert in 2012 signed the “Transfer of Public Lands Act,” which demands that Washington relinquish its hold on the land, which represents more than half of the state’s 54.3 million acres, by Dec. 31.

So far, however, the federal government hasn’t given any indication that it plans to cooperate. Still, state Rep. Ken Ivory, who sponsored the legislation, isn’t deterred.”

““That’s what you do any time you’re negotiating with a partner. You set a date,” said Mr. Ivory. “Unfortunately, our federal partner has decided they don’t want to negotiate in good faith. So we’ll move forward with the four-step plan that the governor laid out.”

“With the 2012 law, Utah placed itself on the cutting edge of the heated debate over public lands in the West. The federal government controls more than 50 percent of the land west of Kansas — in Utah’s case, it’s 64.5 percent, a situation that has increasingly resulted in tensions across the Rocky Mountain West.”

______________________________________

3. I hope Boehner and his friends at the Chamber of Commerce realize that this isn’t sufficient. It’s meaningless and does nothing to stop Obama’s plan. You were put their to do a job, now do it.

From HotAir  “This was the bill proposed by conservative Ted Yoho that would, if also passed by the Senate and signed by Obama, block Obama’s authority to remake immigration policy on his own. I … thought we had a Constitution that does that, but I guess we don’t anymore. Obviously, a bill like this isn’t going to get past a Democratic Senate and a Democratic president, which means this was an empty gesture designed to show grassroots righties that the leadership shares their concerns about O’s power grab even if they’re not prepared to play hardball to stop it.

The burning question: With House tea partiers complaining that the bill was meaningless and ineffectual, could Boehner still find a majority to pass it? Yup, as it turns out. Although he needed a little Democratic help to cross the 218 threshold.

Three Democrats voted yes while seven Republicans voted no and another three Republicans voted “present.” The roll isn’t out yet so we’re not sure who those 10 GOPers are but I’ll update as soon as it’s available. The White House, incidentally, has already all but promised to veto this bill. If Boehner had wanted to make Obama choke on it, he could have followed the Lee/Cruz plan by inserting this as a rider to a spending bill that would fund the entire government for a few months. That way, Reid and Obama would have a stark choice of either approving the money with this condition attached or else blocking it and bracing for the resulting shutdown. Instead, by splitting Yoho’s bill off from the “cromnibus” funding bill that’ll be voted on later today (I think), Boehner made it easy for Democrats to oppose Yoho’s language without risking any standoff over government funding. The name of the game here for Republican leaders is no shutdown, no shutdown, no shutdown. The solution was an empty gesture.”

______________________________________

4. Meanwhile Senate conservatives are huddling with some House members to come up with a real solution because the House leadership refuses to.

From NationalReview  “A trio of senators crossed the Capitol last night to discuss the congressional response to President Obama’s recent executive orders on immigration. The consensus: Republican leadership doesn’t want to fight Obama, so the lawmakers have to hope that grassroots activists can goad their colleagues into a more aggressive posture.

“I hope that the American people will speak up and share their views with Congress and good strong language will come out of the House,” Senator Jeff Sessions (R., Ala.) told National Review Online Thursday afternoon. 

Sessions demurred when asked about coordination with House colleagues — “all of us are curious about what they’re doing,” he said — but multiple sources tell NRO that Sessions, Senator David Vitter (R., La.), and Senator Mike Lee (R., Utah) met with a group of House members last night in the office of Arizona representative Matt Salmon. Vitter also organized a conference call with some House Republicans Wednesday afternoon. The purpose of the two encounters, which happened on the same day that Texas senator Ted Cruz met with Iowa representative Steve King, was to emphasize that “the first bill that you guys do was really our best and only chance,” according to one Senate aide; the Senate hawks won’t be able to instigate a fight if the House passes a bill that provides long-term funding for the entire government.

“There is a general belief that, despite the rhetoric from leadership after the executive order was announced, they really have no desire to do anything substantive to fight this,” one lawmaker who attended the meeting explained to NRO in a series of text messages. “Part of it is that leadership (as proxies for the Chamber [of Commerce]) wants the amnesty; Obama’s order provides a way to deliver cheap labor to the Chamber without having to vote for it. Part of it is an absolute fear of any conflict, including even a partial ‘shutdown.’”

They believe it because it’s true. If Boehner isn’t up for the job, and he doesn’t appear to be, then find someone who is.

______________________________________

by

News/Politics 12-4-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. The president king has spoken. Who needs a legislature when you can just rule by executive order.

From TheNYPost  “On Thanksgiving eve, the Obama administration dumped reams of mind-numbing ObamaCare regulations into the Federal Register — including yet more unilateral rewrites of the Affordable Care Act.

Dropping the rules as most Americans were busy preparing for the holiday made a mockery (again) of President Obama’s promise to have “the most transparent administration in history.” The stunt has even worked to keep most of the media from reporting on the rules.

Yet the changes these regulations make in the health care law are substantial.

For one, the president is redefining what health plans are “adequate” for larger employers (100-plus workers) to offer under the Affordable Care Act. He’s also “asking” insurers to pay for new benefits — while warning that, if they don’t, they may be forced to.

Under the Constitution, Obama lacks any authority to make such changes to the health law, or any law. Only Congress has that power. But he’s doing it, and not for the first time.”

_____________________________________

2. He’s ignoring the courts as well, because those laws and rules are for the little people.

From TheDailyCaller  “The Obama administration said that it is withholding all of the thousands of pages of documents related to the White House’s coordination with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) during the IRS conservative targeting scandal.

Secretary of the Treasury Jacob Lew, Obama’s former White House Chief of Staff, took the documents that were set to be released and now refuses to ever turn them over. His rationale? Lew cannot release information about improper disclosures of confidential taxpayer information because that would be an improper disclosure of confidential taxpayer information.

The Daily Caller reported that the Treasury Department’s inspector general found nearly 2,500 pages of documents that chronicle investigations into the confidential taxpayer information that the White House exchanged with the IRS.”

So he won’t disclose the information he has and was given illegally because it contains private data. Which is exactly why he had no business seeing it in the first place. Talk about a jedi mind trick. These are not the documents you’re looking for……

_____________________________________

3. Someone is finally standing up to the king. But it’s sadly not Republicans in Congress.

From MyWayNews  “Texas is leading a 17-state coalition in suing over the Obama administration’s recently announced executive actions on immigration.

Many top Republicans have denounced President Barack Obama’s unilateral move designed to spare as many as 5 million people living illegally in the United States from deportation.

But Texas Gov.-elect Greg Abbott took it a step further Wednesday, filing a lawsuit in federal court in the Southern District of Texas. Texas is joined by 16 other, mostly southern and Midwestern states, including Alabama, Georgia, Idaho and Indiana.

Under Obama’s order, announced Nov. 20, protection from deportation and the right to work will be extended to an estimated 4.1 million parents of U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents who have lived in the U.S. for at least five years and to hundreds of thousands more young people.”

“The lawsuit raises three objections: that Obama violated the “Take Care Clause” of the U.S. Constitution that limits the scope of presidential power; that the federal government violated rulemaking procedures; and that the order will “exacerbate the humanitarian crisis along the southern border, which will affect increased state investment in law enforcement, health care and education.”

_____________________________________

4. Here’s how he plans to handle the influx of illegals already here, and the many more on the way.

From Breitbart  “Incoming Senate Budget Committee chairman Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) has discovered plans by President Barack Obama to open a new immigration facility to process his executive amnesty action in Northern Virginia, where the federal government has plans to hire a whopping 1,000 new immigration employees.

“It has just been discovered today that the Obama Administration is now opening a new USCIS facility in Crystal City, Virginia for the purpose of immediately implementing the President’s imperial immigration decree,” Sessions said in a statement. “They are in the process of hiring 1,000 full-time staff to quickly approve applications for the President’s illegal amnesty, which will provide work permits, photo IDs, Social Security, and Medicare to illegal immigrants—all benefits rejected by Congress. This action will mean that American workers, their sons, their daughters, their parents, will now have to compete directly for jobs, wages, and benefits with millions of illegal immigrants.”

Sessions said the creation of this facility is proof Obama doesn’t care about Americans or U.S. laws.

“This facility is a clear symbol of the President’s defiance of the American people, their laws, and their Constitution,” Sessions said. “He is hiring federal employees to carry out a directive that violates the laws Congress has passed in order to foist on the nation laws Congress has repeatedly refused to pass.”

_____________________________________

5. What it is it with this guy and protecting black panthers who commit criminal acts?

From TheFreeBeacon  “The communist and racist New Black Panther Party plotted to bomb St. Louis’ Gateway Arch and assassinate local law enforcement officials, but the Justice Department so far has limited its prosecution of the group to an indictment of two members on minor gun charges.

The soft treatment for activities that normally would have brought federal terrorism charges appears to be part of efforts by Attorney General Eric Holder and the Justice Department to “go soft” on the racist group, according to former Justice official J. Christian Adams.

“I have always been perplexed why these guys get special treatment,” said Adams, who worked in the Justice Department Civil Rights Division and noted a similar conciliatory legal treatment of New Black Panther Party members in a 2008 case of voter intimidation by the group in Philadelphia.

Justice Department spokesman Marc Raimondi declined to comment on the Black Panther bomb plot and would not say whether additional charges in the case are pending.

In the earlier case against the Panthers, voter intimidation charges were dropped by the Justice Department against the Panthers, and charges were downgraded against one group member, King Shabazz, in what critics say was an effort to show official favoritism toward the group.”

There has to be charges coming, right?

_____________________________________

by

News/Politics 12-3-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. Told ya it was a bad idea. Now all those US supplied weapons are in the hands of the people they’re supposed to be fighting them with.

From McClatchyDC   “Seventy-two Syrian rebel groups on Saturday announced a new coalition to battle the government of President Bashar Assad. But hopes that moderate rebels would dominate the meeting were dashed when extremists gained more of the 17 executive positions than had been expected.”

“On Friday, as the groups were meeting here, the Nusra Front stormed the bases of two moderate rebel groups in Syria’s north: the Ansar Brigades in Idlib and the Haqq Front in Hama. The two groups, both of which were receiving U.S. support through a covert CIA program, surrendered to Nusra, delivered their weapons to Ahrar al Sham and returned to their homes. Some of the leaders escaped to Turkey, fearing arrest or revenge from Nusra.

With these attacks, Nusra completed the elimination of FSA groups from Idlib and leaves just one group in Hama province receiving U.S. support. Nusra now controls all the resupply routes to Turkey.”

_____________________________________

2. Dark days ahead for ObamaCare. Good.

From TownHall  “The Hill’s Elise Viebeck chronicles Obamacare’s continued losing streak, major elements of which were predicted months ago.  Viebeck’s story begins with a mention of the destruction Jonathan Gruber hath wrought, then outlines four categories of forthcoming Obamacare headaches.  They include pending legal challenges, the still-simmering threat of Ebola, as well as open Enrollment 2.0 challenges (“the back-end of HealthCare.gov remains partly unfinished”), dramatically scaled-back sign-up projections, and the fallout from the administration’s bogus enrollment figures:

A Republican investigation revealed Nov. 20 that ObamaCare enrollment figures at HHS were inflated by roughly 400,000 people after the department miscounted dental plans as medical coverage. The finding was a public relations setback for Burwell and the Obama administration, bringing back partisan strife over enrollment figures that had quieted since the spring. Seeking to contain the fallout, Burwell asked managers at HHS to report suggestions for strengthening the department’s “culture of increased transparency, ownership and accountability.” Still, Tavenner is expected to receive tough questions about the mistakes when she testifies before House Oversight on Dec. 9. The blunders are also likely to cloud any future enrollment figures the administration seeks to tout for 2015.

Indeed, those “blunders” are likely to cloud the White House’s credibility even further.  Speaking of which, the editors of Nevada’s largest newspaper shredded Obamacare’s architects and champions in a Monday editorial, underscoring how rising costs for millions was an entirely intentional and cynically-hidden byproduct of the law:”

_____________________________________

3. Obama’s tampering with military programs to push his amnesty plan.

From CIS.org  “The latest public relations attempt by the White House to link illegal aliens with the military has just hit a major obstacle – the Pentagon has suspended an otherwise useful recruiting program while it tries to sort out how to use DACA beneficiaries in it.

As Mark Krikorian pointed out in a blog a couple of months ago the White House had decided that beneficiaries of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program should be eligible to participate in a highly specialized recruiting program that sought rare skills among the nation’s legal nonimmigrant alien population (such as foreign students or H-1Bs). The military wanted (even before Ebola) more people with health care training, as well as people speaking a list of 43 languages rarely encountered in the U.S., such as Cebuano (the Philippines) and Igbo (Nigeria).

Most childhood arrivals speak Spanish, not Urdu or Moro, for example, and Spanish was not on the list. Further, most DACAs do not have high school diplomas, much less specialized training in the health sciences. So no more than a handful of DACAs could possibly qualify for the specialized recruiting program.

The recruiting program, carrying the initials MAVNI (Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest), had signed up some 2,900 recruits before the DACA involvement. Now, according to Politico, the program has been put into deep freeze: “Army officials confirmed … that the [MAVNI] program … has been suspended while the service tries to finalize screening procedures for the immigrants who want to enlist.”

_____________________________________

4. Obama is promising to shut down the govt if his amnesty plan isn’t funded.

From TheDailyCaller  “White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Monday that President Barack Obama will block a government budget bill if the GOP denies him the funds needed to provide amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants.

“Yes,” Earnest said when asked by ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl if Obama would veto a government-wide budget that defunded the amnesty program.

If Obama blocks the budget to help the illegals, large sections of the federal government would shut down on Dec. 12.”

_____________________________________

5. I’m getting the impression that even they know she’s not qualified. But hey, she’s a bundler, soooo….

_____________________________________

by

News/Politics 12-2-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. In a not so shocking development the Obama admin grossly underestimated the cost of their new EPA regulations. Or they did know and just lied again.

From HotAir  “When Barack Obama’s EPA announced their new carbon restrictions for power plants, they were quick to try to undercut arguments from coal state politicians who predicted staggering costs which would be passed on to consumers. While their own, initial estimates were not accepted by anyone of repute, they had outlets like NPR going out and saying that compliance with the crushing regulations would actually wind up producing a net cost benefit of as much as $67B. And if that were the case, they would have a strong argument indeed. But are those figures rooted in any sort of reality?

A recent, exhaustive study of the long terms costs associated with these carbon emissions regulations argues quite the opposite. In fact, they found that, rather than saving money, these new EPA regulations will add $284 billion in costs over the next five years. So how does that matter to the wallet of the typical consumer?

Electricity prices are set to skyrocket across the board – whether looking at residential gas, electricity or heating oil. In 2020, annual residential power and gas costs would be $102 billion higher and would continue to escalate in subsequent years. Average annual household gas and power bills would increase by $680 or 35% from 2012 to 2020. Annual average electricity bills would increase approximately $340 or 27% from 2012 to 2020. Annual average home gas heating bills would increase approximately $340 or 50% from 2012 to 2020.

Economic impacts will not be divided evenly among states. The five states that would bear the greatest increases in annual residential power bills are Texas, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Rhode Island. Families in these states would experience average electricity increases of more than $660 ($566) annually beginning in 2020 compared with 2012. The states that would incur the largest total cost increases on a percentage basis are Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana and North Dakota, averaging more than 115% increase in annual electricity and natural gas bills from 2012 to 2020.”

______________________________________

2. The endgame of all this Ferguson nonsense?

From NationalJournal  “Late Monday night, after the House took its final votes, members of the Congressional Black Caucus took the floor to speak for about one hour about race in the wake of a grand jury’s decision last week not to indict police officer Darren Wilson in the August shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo.

“Hands up, don’t shoot,” Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York began.

 Charles Rangel, the longtime New York Democrat, followed Jeffries and CBC Chairwoman Marcia Fudge of Ohio to deride America’s “cancer” and those who don’t acknowledge it. “Like anything else you love, if there’s an illness, if there’s a problem, you would want to know: What can you do to cure it? How can you make it all that our country can be?” Rangel said. “How can we say that we have a cancer until we recognize that we do, then we don’t really love the country? How can we be able to say that white and black in this country are equal and that those who work hard and live by the rules have the same opportunities as each other, when we know that we have this cancer?”

Rangel went on to address the idea of reparations for slavery, suggesting that it goes beyond money. “Some people may talk about payment for restitution for past crimes committed against human beings,” he said. “But that restitution could be the ability to say that we’re going to make certain that people of color in this country would be able to have access to the same type of education, live where they want to live, compete against anybody for the job, and not feeling that they’re inferior because people have been taught that just because they have a different complexion that they are superior.””

______________________________________

3. Conservatives are working to block Obama’s amnesty plan for illegals.

From ABCNews  “Conservatives circulated draft legislation Monday aimed at blocking President Barack Obama’s executive actions on immigration from taking effect, as Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson prepared to offer GOP critics a full-throated defense of the new policies.”

“Republicans have vowed to stop Obama’s moves from taking effect, but how they will do so remained unclear as they returned to Capitol Hill on Monday after a weeklong Thanksgiving break. GOP leadership in the House planned to discuss options in a closed-door meeting with the rank-and-file on Tuesday morning.

The issue is tied in with the need to pass a government funding bill by Dec. 11, or risk a shutdown. Conservatives have been agitating to use any government funding bill to block Obama’s moves, and on Monday conservatives on and off Capitol Hill circulated bill language that would stipulate that no money or fees “may be used by any agency to implement, administer, enforce or carry out any of the policy changes” announced by Obama.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Monday Obama would veto any government spending bill that undid his executive actions on immigration.”

______________________________________

4. Haters gotta hate, but they like to pretend to be journalists too.

From NationalReview  “The real haters are in the media, some of them the openly left-leaning media and some of them claiming to be mainstream. But oh, how vilely they spew their hatred.

That’s the most obvious takeaway from a perusal of this year’s “Best Notable Quotables of 2014: The Twenty-Seventh Annual Awards for the Year’s Worst Reporting,” sponsored by the indispensable Media Research Center. This is my 17th straight year as one of the 40 or so volunteer judges for the awards, and each year the media’s anti-conservative vitriol seems worse than before.

They accuse us of being “haters.” They, by contrast, are rational, fair-minded, and kindly. Really, they are. Consider, for example, the gentlemanly Chris Matthews on Hardball on October 27, speaking of the Republican nominee for Senate from North Carolina: “What’s worse: Thom Tillis, or Ebola?”

“Then again, maybe the world would be better off if leading conservatives themselves contracted a hideous virus. Here’s Alan Pyke, deputy economic policy editor for the far-left Think Progress blog in reaction to the Fox News Channel’s coverage of the unrest in Ferguson: “I hope Roger Ailes dies slow, painful, and soon. The evil that man has done to the American tapestry is unprecedented for an individual.” How nice.

But that’s okay. After all, we’re killers. That’s the contention of the increasingly unhinged Matthews (again), with regard to conservative support for voter-ID laws: “Believing they can’t convert the African-American vote, they’ve decided to slaughter it. . . . This is murder in broad daylight.””

Where’d these clowns graduate from, the Saul Alinsky school of journalism? Sheesh.

______________________________________

by

News/Politics 12-1-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

It was a slow news weekend, but here’s a few.

1. Obama’s immigration overreach dooms tax cut bill.

From Politico  “How could a major tax deal brokered by the top Senate Democrat die so quickly at the hands of a Democratic president?

Immigration politics and Democratic infighting came together to doom the $400 billion deal even before it had made it into print. The brinkmanship threatens to disrupt the lives of millions of taxpayers who rely on the mishmash of expired provisions the plan was trying to revive.

Interviews with the key players showed that the two tax-writing panels in the Senate and House had for weeks been making solid progress toward a final tax package that looked like it would include the breaks for low- and middle-income people sought by the president.”

“The immigration executive order soured the GOP on the tax cuts for the working poor and middle class sought by Democrats. Republicans worried undocumented immigrants targeted by the order would begin claiming the credits in droves. They found a friend in Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who reluctantly agreed to drop his party’s demands to extend expiring parts of the earned income tax credit and its companion, the child tax credit.”

“The president, with liberal Democratic backing on the Hill, issued the veto threat and the plan imploded, making the tax deal the first major collateral damage of the White House’s immigration action.”

_______________________________________

2. A bomb plot financed by govt issued EBT cards?

From StLouisPostDispatch  “Two men indicted last week on federal weapons charges allegedly had plans to bomb the Gateway Arch — and to kill St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch and Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson — the Post-Dispatch has learned.

Sources close to the investigation were uncertain whether the men had the capability to carry out the plans, although the two allegedly did buy what they thought was a pipe bomb in an undercover law enforcement sting.

The men wanted to acquire two more bombs, the sources said, but could not afford to do it until one suspect’s girlfriend’s Electronic Benefit Transfer card was replenished.”

_______________________________________

3. Witness intimidation and lying in the Ferguson case.

From Breitbart  “Obama was wrong, at least in the case of Darren Wilson. In viewing thousands of pages of FBI interviews and grand jury testimony, it becomes eminently clear that many members of the local community did make up the story about Michael Brown being executed by Wilson – and pressured others to lie to police or keep silent.

According to the St. Louis County Police Investigative Report, the mob mentality took root almost immediately after the shooting. By the time detectives arrived at the scene of the incident, there was “a large crowd of bystanders and a large uniformed police presence at the scene when detectives arrived.” That crowd included both Brown’s mother and his stepfather, according to witness testimony. The police report states, “Many individuals were clearly upset and were expressing their frustration, by at times yelling obscenities and threats, and attempting to encroach on the crime scene itself.”

It got worse:

As the scene investigation continued, there were several large groups of hostile individuals around the perimeter of the crime scene. The investigation of the scene was interrupted several times by death threats directed toward police officers and gunshots being fired by an unknown persons around the crime scene.

According to the police report, a bevy of witnesses described intimidation from the local community, as well as falsification of testimony. One witness initially told police she didn’t want to “get involved for fear of retaliation.” She said, “I don’t know these people. I have to live here.”

Another female witness told police, “I don’t know nothin’.” An adult male near the scene “commented to detectives as they walked by that he witnessed the incident and the officer was ‘in the right’ and ‘did what he had to do.’ He added the statements being made by bystanders in the complex were inaccurate. The detectives momentarily stopped to speak with the male who was clearly uncomfortable speaking with detectives. The male indicated he was not making any further comments or identifying himself.”

_______________________________________

by

News/Politics 11-26-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

I’m starting my weekend early, so Open Thread. 🙂

Here’s a couple to start things off.

1. Since the grand jury refused to indict Officer Wilson many are calling on the feds to step in and charge him with federal violations. Only one problem with that. They can’t really make a case against him, although I doubt that stops them if the DoJ and Obama decide to push on anyway.

From TheWashingtonPost a little over a month ago–  “Justice Department investigators have all but concluded they do not have a strong enough case to bring civil rights charges against Darren Wilson, the white police officer who shot and killed an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson, Mo., law enforcement officials said.

When racial tension boiled over in Ferguson after the Aug. 9 shooting, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. traveled to the St. Louis suburb to meet with city leaders and protest organizers in an effort to bring calm. He assured them that the federal government would open a civil rights investigation into the fatal shooting of Michael Brown. But that investigation now seems unlikely to result in any charges.

“The evidence at this point does not support civil rights charges against Officer Wilson,” said one person briefed on the investigation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case.

Justice Department officials are loath to acknowledge publicly that their case cannot now meet the high legal threshold for a successful civil rights prosecution. The timing is sensitive: Tensions are high in greater St. Louis as people await the results of a grand jury’s review of the case.”

_______________________________________

2. I told you about this guy last week. What was unknown at the time was just how close a relationship he had with the Obama White House.

From TheWashingtonTimes  “A prominent gay rights activist charged last week with sexually abusing a 15-year-old boy is a strong supporter of President Obama who has visited the White House more than a half-dozen times in the past two years, visitor logs show.

Terrence P. Bean, 66, who raised more than a half-million dollars for Mr. Obama’s re-election campaign in 2012, last visited the White House on May 30 when he met with the president, first lady Michelle Obama and political adviser David Simas.”

“White House visitor logs show that Mr. Bean, co-founder of the Human Rights Campaign, a leading gay rights group, also has visited the White House on at least six other occasions since June 2012. On one visit in 2013, Mr. Bean brought along Kiah Lawson, described in news reports as his ex-boyfriend, who is also charged with sexually assaulting the juvenile.

The White House had no comment on whether the president still considers Mr. Bean an ally. Some observers have credited Mr. Bean for helping to sway Mr. Obama into supporting same-sex marriage two years ago.

“He has the president’s ear,” former Oregon Gov. Barbara Roberts once said of Mr. Bean.”

_______________________________________

by

News/Politics 11-25-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. Well the grand jury in Ferguson has delivered a decision to not charge Officer Wilson. The reaction to it is as many feared.

From TheWashingtonPost  “A grand jury on Monday declined to indict police officer Darren Wilson in the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager, resolving a secretive, months-long legal saga and reigniting powerful frustrations about America’s policing of African Americans.

The decision means that Wilson, 28, will face no state charges for the Aug. 9 shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown. It also set off a show of fury on streets near where Brown was shot, a reflection of emotions that register in this riven city as either out of control or justifiable.

At least two police cars and a half-dozen buildings were set aflame. Not far from Christmas lights in downtown Ferguson that read “Seasons Greetings,” police fired tear-gas canisters to contain the crowds. People looted liquor and convenience stores, a response that ran counter to the peace that Missouri authorities, President Obama and Brown’s family had requested.”

Fox had on the President’s speech following the decision. As he called for calm, the split screen showed protesters trying to overturn a police car while fires burned in the background and tear gas clouds floated over the protesters. They obviously chose to ignore the President.

______________________________________

2. Just in time for the holiday. They hope we’re not paying attention.

From TheDailyCaller  “While Americans are focused on what delicious foods they’re going to eat for Thanksgiving, the White House is focused on releasing its massive regulatory agenda — marking the fifth time the Obama administration has released its regulatory road map on the eve of a major holiday.

The federal Unified Agenda is the Obama administration’s regulatory road map, and it lays out thousands of regulations being finalized in the coming months. Under President Barack Obama, there has been a tradition of releasing the agenda late on Friday — and right before a major holiday.

“It’s become an unfortunate tradition of this administration and others to drop these regulatory agendas late on a Friday and right before a holiday,” Matt Shudtz, executive director of the Center for Progressive Reform, told The Hill newspaper.

The White House’s regulatory agenda for spring 2014 was released on the eve of the Memorial Day weekend, when millions of people set out on weekend getaways or family vacations.”

3,415 new regulations to be exact.

______________________________________

3. About that new Benghazi report….

Security team members on the ground that night disagree forcefully. Basically the report says no one is at fault and nobody did anything wrong and there was no cover-up.

More here from PJMedia  

______________________________________

4. How Obama is still making things worse.

From TheNYPost  “The short bios in The Post and other places featuring immigrants who are in the United State illegally were fascinating. I was struck by their courage to leave their homelands, their pluck at navigating a new culture and their patience in waiting for America’s official welcome mat.

Something else struck me, too. Not a single one expressed remorse for jumping the fence or overstaying visas. The law was simply a nuisance, an unfair barrier to their right to live in America, and they felt no qualms about violating it.

Some of these immigrants, including one woman who sneaked in from Mexico 18 years ago, even complained that presidential ­amnesty doesn’t include free health care. “It isn’t fair,” Graciela Flores whined.

What luck — she and the other 5 million who benefit have found their soul mate in Barack Obama. He’s not into obeying laws, either. And he is endlessly entitled to whatever he wants, whenever he wants it.

Oh, sure, he has twice taken an oath to “faithfully execute” the ­nation’s laws, and to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” But he’s not serious about oaths, either. As America has learned, his word is not his bond.”

______________________________________

by

News/Politics 11-24-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

UPDATE!

Looks like we’ll have the answer this afternoon.

From MSN/WaPo  “A grand jury has reached a decision on whether to indict Darren Wilson, the white Ferguson, Mo. police officer whose fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager sparked days of turbulent protests, sources close to the process said.

Sources said that press conferences are being prepared by the county prosecutors’ office and the Missouri governor. Those press conferences will likely come later today.

The announcement gave no indication of whether Wilson, 28, will face state charges in the August shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown, which triggered a frank conversation about race and police interaction with African-Americans.”

UPDATE 2 – NO CHARGES

______________________________________

1. Fact checked and found lacking. What they say, and what they are really doing, rarely match up.

From TheAP  “President Barack Obama made some notable omissions Thursday night in his remarks about the unilateral actions he’s taking on immigration. A look at his statements and how they compare with the facts:

OBAMA: “It does not grant citizenship, or the right to stay here permanently, or offer the same benefits that citizens receive – only Congress can do that. All we’re saying is we’re not going to deport you.”

THE FACTS: He’s saying, and doing, more than that. The changes also will make those covered eligible for work permits, allowing them to be employed in the country legally and compete with citizens and legal residents for better-paying jobs.”

“OBAMA: “Although this summer, there was a brief spike in unaccompanied children being apprehended at our border, the number of such children is now actually lower than it’s been in nearly two years.”

THE FACTS: The numbers certainly surged this year, but it was more than a “brief spike.” The number of unaccompanied children apprehended at the border has been on the rise since the 2011 budget year. That year about 16,000 children were found crossing the border alone. In 2012, the Border Patrol reported more than 24,000 children, followed by more than 38,800 in 2013. In the last budget year, more than 68,361 children were apprehended.”

______________________________________

2. Judge Janine (an actual legal scholar, doesn’t just play one on TV like Obama) skewers Obama’s plan.

______________________________________

3. If you missed it, SNL had an updated version of schoolhouse rock. Funny, but true.

______________________________________

4. Surprisingly (not really) the IRS has no comment on the newly found Lois Lerner emails.

From Forbes  “If you are an American taxpayer, the idea that your political (or other?) views could impact your taxes is pretty frightening. When you consider the power to tax—which includes the power to destroy—the mere suggestion of targeting is abhorrent. It’s one reason all the denials–including President Obama’s ‘no smidgen of corruption’ remark to Fox News in February–inflame rather than quell debate.

First, there was no targeting by the IRS. Then there was, but only by those rogue IRS employees down in Cincinnati. Then, there was a spontaneous uprising from a youtube video (oops sorry, wrong lie scandal). There was confusion about how to apply the tax law, but not political, and not from above. Then, top IRS Official Lois Lerner refused to testify.

IRS Commissioner Miller seemed defiant too and was sacked. Then, there was a year-long Congressional investigation before the IRS finally admitted the 2009-2011 Lois Lerner’s emails ‘disappeared.’ Then, the backups  didn’t work were recycled. Then, the new IRS Commissioner said the IRS needs a bigger tech budget.

Now, not the IRS but the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration has found the 30,000 missing lost destroyed emails. They aren’t sorted yet, and who knows what they will reveal. Numerous IRS officials testified that the backup tapes were recycled and the emails were gone. Turns out they were misinformed mislead  mistaken. It isn’t only Congress that was asked over and over to buy the IRS “we have nothing” mantra. The IRS has said it in court too.”

______________________________________

5. The prison to Islam pipeline?

From TheDailyCaller  “Back in 2006, then FBI director Robert Mueller prophetically described the radical Islamist conversion machine operating throughout U.S. prisons, to a Senate committee. He said that prisons were a “fertile ground” for Islamic extremists, and that they targeted inmates for introduction to the militant Wahhabi and Salafist strains of Islam.” “The statistics are staggering, and woefully out of date. One out of three African-American inmates in U.S. prisons convert to Islam while incarcerated.”

“This statistic is no longer limited to African-Americans in prison. The Huffington Post reported an estimated 35,000 – 40,000 inmates convert to Islam each year, and that 15 percent of the total U.S. prison population or 350,000 inmates are Muslim.

This is more than 18 times the national representation of Muslims in America, reported to be 0.8 percent. Prisons are churning out converts to Islam who are taught they are righteously entitled to control the religion, speech, and dress of family, co-workers and strangers.

The key to conversion success is clear. Our government has been contracting and paying Muslim Brotherhood front groups, such as GSISS (The Graduate School of Islamic and Social Sciences) and ISNA (Islamic Society of North America) to screen and assign Muslim prison chaplains for at least 8 years.

While Egypt and Saudi Arabia have banned the Muslim Brotherhood, classifying it as a terror group, the White House, U.S. prisons, and the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security continue to work with Muslim Brotherhood groups.”

______________________________________