News/Politics

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News/Politics 3-17-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

Open thread.

1. Remember folks, as always, vote fraud is a myth.

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2. This will embolden Russia for sure.

From MSNNews  “Final results of the referendum in Crimea show that 97 percent of voters have supported leaving Ukraine to join Russia, the head of the referendum election commission said Monday.

Mikhail Malyshev told a televised news conference that the final tally from Sunday’s vote was 96.8 percent in favor of splitting from Ukraine. He also said that the commission has not registered a single complaint about the vote.

The referendum was widely condemned by Western leaders who were planning to discuss economic sanctions to punish Russia on Monday. Ukraine’s new government in Kiev called the referendum a “circus” directed at gunpoint by Moscow.

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3. Some interesting immigration stats.

From CNSNews  “was  less than the approximately 12.5 million people whom the Bureau of Labor  Statistics estimated were unemployed in the United States in the  average month of 2012.

However, it exceeds the approximately 11.46 million people  whom BLS says were unemployed in the average month of 2013. “

“If Pew’s estimate that there were 11.7 million illegal aliens in the  United States as of March 2012 is accurate–and if that population has  not begun to decline again as Pew estimated it did during 2007-2009  recession—then there would have been more illegal aliens in the United  States in 2013 than people who were unemployed.”

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4. President Obama is doing his best to increase the number of illegal aliens in the US.

From TheDailyCaller  “President Barack Obama may further reduce the small percentage of illegal immigrants who are sent home each year, say advocates for immigrants and would-be immigrants.

Obama “has charged his Secretary of Homeland Security… to reduce where they can the levels of deportation,” Janet Murguia, president of the major Latino ethnic lobby group, the National Council of la Raza.

“Our hope and expectation is with that [policy change] would come some reduction in the level of deportations,” she told reporters gathered outside the White House Friday evening.

The reduction could be as high as 50 percent, depending on how much Obama is willing to change agency rules, Marielena Hincapie, executive director of the National Immigration Law Center, told The Daily Caller.”

Once again, the president ignore or re-writes laws he doesn’t like.

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5. And once again the president cuts benefits for our fighting men and women, while protecting unionized civilian workers.

From InvestorBusinessDaily  “The administration plans to cut the military pensions of those who served  their country while giving public employees a break by exempting their ObamaCare  subsidies from sequestration.

On the heels of announcing that Army troop levels will be cut below pre-World  War II levels, the Military Times has reported that the Obama administration is  planning to reduce military pension costs by 10% by converting part of their  retirement to 401(k)-like defined-contribution plans from defined-benefit  plans.

What makes this interesting is that it affects military retirees and members  of the military who are non-union and therefore can’t strike or engage in  collective bargaining. Public-sector union employees will retain their  defined-benefit plans.

So, those who defend this country will be cut while those who feed at the  public trough and whose union dues provide a ready supply of campaign cash will  not.”

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6. Democrats lead by Harry Reid have been attacking the Koch Bros. non-stop lately. As you’d expect, they’re not above lying to try and score points with the low info voters.

From TheWashingtonPost  “The pro-GOP group Americans for Prosperity has relentlessly attacked Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), so the pro-Democratic group Senate Majority PAC has made AFP’s main backers, the Koch brothers, the subject of a new attack ad. This is all part of a larger Democratic strategy of tying GOP candidates to the conservative billionaires, as witnessed by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s near-daily attacks on them.

A number of the claims in the ad we have covered before, such as the hyperbolic charge that Republicans want to “end Medicare.” The so-called Social Security cuts stem in part from changing the formula for indexing benefits to inflation — something also supported by President Obama. And AFP did not oppose hurricane relief; it opposed a version that it believed was fiscally irresponsible. (Moreover, this mostly had to do with money for Hurricane Sandy, which didn’t even come close to Louisiana.)

For the purpose of this fact check, we will examine the claim that the Koch brothers have an agenda of protecting “tax cuts for companies that ship our jobs overseas.” That’s a new one.”

“Upon examination, this claim crumbles into dust. The ad not only mischaracterizes an ordinary tax deduction as a special “tax cut” but then it falsely asserts that “protecting” this tax break is part of the Koch agenda. It turns out this claim is based on a tenuous link to an organization that never even took a position on the legislation in question.”

The fact checkers give them 4 Pinocchios.

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News/Politics 3-15-14

What’s interesting in the news this weekend?

Open thread, as always.

Here’s a few from me.

1. Sure, what could possibly go wrong?

From TheWaPo  “U.S. officials announced plans Friday to relinquish federal government control over the administration of the Internet, a move that pleased international critics but alarmed some business leaders and others who rely on the smooth functioning of the Web.

Pressure to let go of the final vestiges of U.S. authority over the system of Web addresses and domain names that organize the Internet has been building for more than a decade and was supercharged by the backlash last year to revelations about National Security Agency surveillance.

The change would end the long-running contract between the Commerce Department and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a California-based nonprofit group. That contract is set to expire next year but could be extended if the transition plan is not complete.

“We look forward to ICANN convening stakeholders across the global Internet community to craft an appropriate transition plan,” Lawrence E. Strickling, assistant secretary of commerce for communications and information, said in a statement.”

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2. More bi-partisan shenanigans from our elected officials. And of course, the DoJ refuses to pursue the matter.

From TheWashingtonTimes  “FBI agents working alongside Utah state prosecutors in a wide-ranging corruption investigation have uncovered accusations of wrongdoing by two of the U.S. Senate’s most prominent figures — Majority Leader Harry Reid and rising Republican Sen. Mike Lee — but the Justice Department has thwarted their bid to launch a full federal investigation.

The probe, conducted by one Republican and one Democratic state prosecutor in Utah, has received accusations from an indicted businessman and political donor, interviewed other witnesses and gathered preliminary evidence such as financial records, Congressional Record statements and photographs that corroborate some aspects of the accusations, officials have told The Washington Times and ABC News.

But the Justice Department’s public integrity section — which normally handles corruption cases involving elected figures — rejected FBI agents’ bid to use a federal grand jury and subpoenas to determine whether the accusations are true and whether any federal crimes were committed by state and federal officials.”

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3. Benghazi, and the investigation that was never investigated.

From FoxNews  “American personnel on the ground in Benghazi the night of the 2012 terror attack are outraged after learning that the CIA’s inspector general never conducted an investigation into what happened — despite two CIA workers being killed in the attack and despite at least two complaints being filed by CIA employees.”

“Asked why such a probe has not been launched, a CIA spokesman said: “CIA’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) always reviews carefully every matter that is brought to its attention, and takes appropriate action based on a variety of factors.”

“But a CIA spokesman said the OIG has already “explained fully” to the agency’s congressional oversight committees “why it did not open an investigation into Benghazi-related issues.”

“That decision was based on a determination that the concerns raised fell under the purview of the State Department’s Accountability Review Board, and that a separate OIG action could unnecessarily disrupt the FBI’s criminal investigation into the Benghazi attacks,” the spokesman said.”

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4. The best way to fight racism is with….. more racism? 🙄

From King5.com  “An attempt to fight racism at a community college may have backfired.

A group of employees at South Puget Sound Community College sent out an invitation to all 300 staffers.

The “Staff, Faculty and Administrators of Color” encouraged employees to reply to the invitation to find out the confidential date and time of what was being called a “happy hour” to “build support and community” for people of color.

The invite made it clear white people were not invited.”

With a Hat Tip to Janice for pointing this one out.

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News/Politics 3-14-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. Trey Gowdy hammered the Obama admin from the House floor yesterday, in protest of the President refusing to enforce legally passed laws.

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2. John Kerry has issued a warning and deadline to the Russians.

From TheWashingtonExaminer  “Secretary of State John Kerry warned of serious repercussions for Russia on Monday if last-ditch talks over the weekend to resolve the crisis in Ukraine failed to persuade Moscow to soften its stance.

Kerry will travel to London for a Friday meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov ahead of a Sunday referendum vote in the Crimea region to secede from Ukraine and join the Russian Federation.

U.S. and European officials argue that Moscow is orchestrating the referendum and waging an intimidation campaign with thousands of Russian troops controlling the region. If Russian-backed lawmakers in Crimea go through with the Sunday referendum, Kerry said the U.S. and its European allies will not recognize it as legitimate under international law.”

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3. I don’t think the Russians are intimidated.

From TheNYTimes  “With a referendum on secession looming in Crimea, Russia massed troops and armored vehicles in at least three regions along Ukraine’s eastern border on Thursday, alarming the interim Ukraine government about a possible invasion and significantly escalating tensions in the crisis between the Kremlin and the West.

The announcement of the troop buildup by Russia’s Defense Ministry was met with an unusually sharp rebuke from Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, who warned that the Russian government must abandon what she called the politics of the 19th and 20th centuries or face diplomatic and economic retaliation from a united Europe.”

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4. Why am I not surprised?

From TheWashingtonExaminer  “Make no mistake, there is always a deeper agenda whenever a seemingly innocent campaign pops up overnight.

On Sunday, Facebook’s Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg launched a new campaign, known as ‘Ban Bossy,’ which would – as you can imagine – encourage people to ban the word “bossy.”

Is there some kind of epidemic of that word being used to keep girls from achieving? Many of the surveys cited by the Ban Bossy campaign are decades old, and a more recent survey by the Girl Scouts of America found that girls are more likely than boys to see themselves as a leader or have the desire to be a leader.

So, why start a national campaign? For starters, Sandberg is an ally of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016.”

Astroturf sold as grassroots.

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5. Looks like it’s gonna be your typical Democrat/Clinton campaign.

From TheAmericanSpectator  “Hillary Clinton has her own private NSA.

American Bridge PAC spent last week spying on the private conversations of attendees at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).”

“American Bridge was founded by Clinton ally David Brock and is funded by longtime Clinton supporter and billionaire George Soros. American Bridge PAC president Brad Woodhouse boasted that the group’s “trackers” at CPAC had been “in the hallways capturing conversations and that kind of thing.” Meaning? Meaning Hillary’s American Bridge is about invading privacy. CPAC’s today, someone else’s tomorrow. Yours.

“The group has been transformed from an ordinary political action committee into the political version of the NSA, its staffers working out of a room littered with computer monitors that will flash the latest privacy invasion for dissemination.”

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6. More illegal changes from the Obama admin, this time to the sequester deal, but for the benefit of ObamaCare.

From NationalJournal  “The Obama administration has decided that the sequester’s mandatory spending cuts no longer apply to part of Obamacare.

The health care law provides subsidies to help low-income people cover some of their out-of-pocket costs. Last year, the administration said those subsidies were taking a 7 percent cut because of the sequester, which imposed across-the-board reductions in federal spending.

But now, the White House has changed its mind. It removed the cost-sharing subsidies from its list of programs that are subject to the sequester, eliminating the 7 percent cut for 2015.                                            

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, which noticed the change, said the reversal would likely restore about $560 million to the subsidies—and require $560 million in cuts to other programs to make up for it.”

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7. Sure. Why not? After all, they’ve seen the type of access, influence, and policy writing capabilities this has gained them with this administration. So why not put all the money in one big pile and see what it can buy ya’? I guess terrorist funding groups and sympathizers need lobbyists too nowadays. 🙄

From CNSNews  “Ten U.S. Islamic organizations have formed a new umbrella group to serve as a “representative voice” for  American Muslims, and one of their first tasks will be to carry out a  census of the community.

Other focus areas for the new U.S. Council of Muslim Organizations  (USCMO), according to speakers at the body’s launch in Washington on  Wednesday, include enhancing Muslim political engagement and participation in forthcoming elections, civil rights issues, combating  “Islamophobia” and having an impact on U.S. foreign and domestic policy.

Participating organizations include high-profile groups that have  been dogged by controversy, such as the Muslim American Society (MAS), founded by Muslim Brotherhood members, and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which  was named by the Justice Department in 2007 as “unindicted  co-conspirators” in its case against the Holy Land Foundation in Texas,  subsequently found guilty of raising money for Hamas.”

““The new national council’s first priority will be to build on Muslim  citizenship rights by conducting a census of American Muslims to create  a database that will be used to enhance civic and political  participation in upcoming elections,” USCMO said in a statement.”

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8. And last for today, an interesting story. A judge in NJ has said fathers do not have the right to be present during the birth of their children. I could see why in some cases it might not be appropriate, but like with abortion, it’s not fair that the father has no say in the matter.

From Philadelphia/CBSLocal  “A New Jersey court decision makes it clear, it may take two to tango but not to give birth. “It’s well established under federal and state law that there is a privacy right when a woman’s in labor.”

Rutgers professor and family law expert Sally Goldfarb says a Passaic County judge made the right call last November in his decision, which was published this week, when he sided with pregnant woman that her ex-fiancee had no legal right to be in the delivery room.

“What this man was seeking to do was really interfere with the woman’s ability to exercise her own choices about giving birth in privacy and that to me falls outside of the rights that a father is legitimately entitled to.”

In the decision, believed to be the first of its kind, the father was also told he didn’t have a right to know when the baby was born.”

So never mind his rights to visitation? Is he supposed to wait until the child support papers show up and that can be like a birth announcement? Even if he can’t be present, he should have the right to be notified, and to visit the child in the hospital. Thoughts?

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by

News/Politics 3-13-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

Lots to talk about today.

1. Yesterday it was Hillary and a bunch of Democrats in DC with the questionable campaign donations. Today, it’s Obama, Menendez, and Rubio.

From TheNYTimes  “The donations kept pouring in: hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions to President Obama and more than a dozen members of Congress, carefully routed through the families of two wealthy brothers in Florida.

They had good reason to be generous. The two men, Roberto and William Isaias, are fugitives from Ecuador, which has angrily pressed Washington to turn them over, to no avail. A year after their relatives gave $90,000 to help re-elect Mr. Obama, the administration rejected Ecuador’s extradition request for the men, fueling accusations that such donations were helping to keep the brothers and their families safely on American soil.

“The Isaias brothers fled to Miami not to live off their work, something just, but to buy themselves more mansions and Rolls-Royces and to finance American political campaigns,” President Rafael Correa of Ecuador told reporters last month. “That’s what has given them protection,” he added, an allegation the Obama administration and members of Congress reject.

The tug of war over the Isaias brothers, sentenced in an embezzlement case, is part of a broader battle between Ecuador and the White House over international fugitives, including two other men the Obama administration would like to get its hands on: Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, and Edward J. Snowden, the former intelligence contractor.”

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2. Of course he would. He knows better than anyone how many they’re ignoring. It’s dereliction of duty.

From TheDailyCaller  “President Barack Obama would veto a GOP-drafted bill that would allow legislators to take agency officials to court if they don’t enforce laws, according to a White House statement.

The GOP is pushing the bill through the House because Obama has repeatedly declined to enforce laws he doesn’t like, say GOP legislators.

“President Obama has refused to enforce those parts of our nation’s immigration laws that are not to his political liking, has waived portions of our welfare laws, has stretched our environmental laws to accommodate his policy objectives, and has waived testing accountability provisions required under the ‘No Child Left Behind’ education law,” according to Rep. Bob Goodlatte, the chairman of the House judiciary committee.”

There are several other instances as well.

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3. The Obama admin has finally admitted their “record number of deportations” meme is a lie.

From TheWashingtonTimes  “Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson acknowledged Tuesday that his department’s deportation numbers are now mostly made up of illegal immigrants caught at the border, not just those from the interior, which means they can’t be compared one-to-one with deportations under President Bush or other prior administrations.

The administration has argued it is tougher on illegal immigration than previous presidents, and immigrant-rights groups have excoriated President Obama, calling him the “deporter-in-chief” for having kicked out nearly 2 million immigrants during his five-year tenure.

But Republican critics have argued those deportation numbers are artificially inflated because more than half of those being deported were new arrivals, caught at the border by the U.S. Border Patrol. Previous administrations primarily counted only those caught in the interior of the U.S. by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.”

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4. Here’s the most recent example of this administration ignoring laws it doesn’t like.

From TheWallStJournal  “ObamaCare’s implementers continue to roam the battlefield and shoot their own wounded, and the latest casualty is the core of the Affordable Care Act—the individual mandate. To wit, last week the Administration quietly excused millions of people from the requirement to purchase health insurance or else pay a tax penalty.

This latest political reconstruction has received zero media notice, and the Health and Human Services Department didn’t think the details were worth discussing in a conference call, press materials or fact sheet. Instead, the mandate suspension was buried in an unrelated rule that was meant to preserve some health plans that don’t comply with ObamaCare benefit and redistribution mandates. Our sources only noticed the change this week.

That seven-page technical bulletin includes a paragraph and footnote that casually mention that a rule in a separate December 2013 bulletin would be extended for two more years, until 2016. Lo and behold, it turns out this second rule, which was supposed to last for only a year, allows Americans whose coverage was cancelled to opt out of the mandate altogether.”

Zero media attention? Not shocking.

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5. Ah yes………

The Sgt. Schultz defense. 🙄

From TheDailyCaller  “Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius admitted Wednesday that Obamacare premiums will probably go up in 2015, that she does not know how many Obamacare customers have paid their premiums, and that she does not know how many Obamacare enrollees had insurance previously.

“I think premiums are likely to go up, but go up at a slower pace” than they did previously, Sebelius admitted at Wednesday’s House Ways and Means Committee hearing.

“I can’t tell you that, sir, because I don’t know that,” Sebelius said when asked by Georgia Rep. Tom Price how many Obamacare customers have paid their first premiums. Sebelius said she also does not know how many Obamacare customers previously had insurance plans that were canceled.”

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6. It’s official. Politically, we have come full circle. 🙂

From TheHill  “A longtime House Democrat in electoral jeopardy this fall says he supported former President George W. Bush more than President Obama.

Rep. Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.), first elected in 1976, is a top target of Republicans in a state where Obama has long been deeply unpopular. He is facing a state senator, Evan Jenkins, who switched to the GOP to challenge him, and the House Democratic campaign committee recently added him to its “Frontline” list of members that need the most help saving their seat in November.”

“I will support him when he’s good for West Virginia, and I will oppose him when he’s bad for West Virginia,” Rahall said. Asked if Obama had been good for West Virginia overall, he replied, “Probably not.” 

“I probably have supported George Bush more than I have Barack Obama,” Rahall said. “Am I going to switch parties because of that? No. I’m a Democrat, born a Democrat, am a Democrat and will die a Democrat.””

Bush

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7. Here’s an update to the story of the NJ girl who thought her parents owed her the life she wanted.

From MSN   “The New Jersey honor student who sued to get her parents to support her after she moved out of their home has reunited with them, and the family is now asking for privacy.

by

News/Politics 3-12-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. The fighting between the CIA and Senate Intelligence Committee is getting interesting.

From TheWaPost  “A behind-the-scenes battle between the CIA and Congress erupted in public Tuesday as the head of the Senate Intelligence Committee accused the agency of breaking laws and breaching constitutional principles in an alleged effort to undermine the panel’s multi-year investigation of a controversial interrogation program.

Chairman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) accused the CIA of ­secretly removing documents, searching computers used by the committee and attempting to intimidate congressional investigators by requesting an FBI inquiry of their conduct — charges that CIA Director John Brennan disputed within hours of her appearance on the Senate floor.”

“Feinstein described the escalating conflict as a “defining moment” for Congress’s role in overseeing the nation’s intelligence agencies and cited “grave concerns” that the CIA had “violated the separation-of-powers principles embodied in the United States Constitution.”

“Over a period of years, investigators pored over more than 6.2 million classified records furnished by the CIA, using a search tool that agency technical experts agreed to install. But U.S. officials said the committee gained access to a set of documents that the agency never intended to share, files that were generated at the direction of former director Leon E. Panetta as part of an effort to take an inventory of the records being turned over to Feinstein’s panel.”

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2. Obama to Dems: It’s time to worry.

From TheHill  “The election is coming, the election is coming!

That’s the message coming from President Obama as he tries desperately to rouse Democrats out of a midterm election stupor that could cost his party control of the Senate — and bury his agenda once and for all.”

“In 2014, the worry is that Democrats will lose the Senate if the base doesn’t come out, and it’s an outcome that political observers and Democratic strategists say is more and more plausible.”

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3. A sign of things to come?

From NBCNews  “Republican David Jolly was declared the winner Tuesday of a closely watched Florida Congressional race both parties viewed as testing grounds to hone strategies for the 2014 midterm elections.

 Jolly defeated Democrat Alex Sink in a tight race to fill the Tampa Bay-area seat of the late GOP Rep. Bill Young, according to the Associated Press.

 The pricey campaign was waged heavily on President Barack Obama’s healthcare overhaul. Sink, who ran for governor of the Sunshine State in 2010, fought back a litany of attacks for her support of Obamacare in the first Congressional election since the law’s troubled rollout last fall. Jolly was portrayed as a former lobbyist beholden to special interests and whose calls for repeal of the health care law would move the country backward.”

““Tonight, one of Nancy Pelosi’s most prized candidates was ultimately brought down because of her unwavering support for ObamaCare, and that should be a loud warning for other Democrats running coast to coast,” Rep. Greg Walden, chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee said in a statement.”

Let’s hope so.

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4. Not surprising. It’s one of the reasons she took the 5th.

From TheWashingtonExaminer  “A GOP-led House panel Tuesday released an extensive report that attempts to show former top Internal Revenue Service official Lois Lerner lied to Congress about her involvement in the targeting of conservative groups seeking tax exempt status.

Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., said the 141-page report “offers detailed evidence about steps she took to crack down on organizations that exercised their Constitutional rights to free political speech.”

“The report does not include any of the Lerner emails the IRS recently promised to turn over to the House Ways and Means Committee, but Oversight apparently had enough material to determine, according to Issa, that Lerner “misled Congress about targeting and her own conduct.”

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5. This story just gets weirder as time goes by.

From TheWaPost  “There were conspiracy theories and morbid calculation of survival odds, which grew ever darker as the days dragged on.

One of the most eerie rumors came after a few relatives said they were able to call the cellphones of their loved ones or find them on a Chinese instant messenger service called QQ that indicated that their phones were still somehow online.

A migrant worker in the room said that several other workers from his company were on the plane, including his brother-in-law. Among them, the QQ accounts of three still showed that they were online, he said Sunday afternoon.

Adding to the mystery, other relatives in the room said that when they dialed some passengers’ numbers, they seemed to get ringing tones on the other side even though the calls were not picked up.

The phantom calls triggered a new level of desperation and anger for some. They tried repeatedly Sunday and Monday to ask airline and police officials about the ringing calls and QQ accounts. However unlikely it was, many thought the phones might still be on, and that if authorities just tracked them down, their relatives might be found. But they were largely ignored.”

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6. Washington D.C. is trying to outdo Chicago in the public corruption department.

From DCCrimeStories  “D.C. businessman and political donor Jeffrey E. Thompson pleaded guilty Monday to a wide-ranging campaign finance conspiracy that helped elect Mayor Vincent Gray and others to office.

Now, his efforts may help derail Gray’s re-election.

Thompson, whose companies received hundreds of millions of dollars in city and federal contracts, admitted to pumping hundreds of thousands of dollars in illegal campaign contributions to various candidates since 2006.

His role in the shadow campaign has been a critical focus of the ongoing criminal probe for three years, and on Monday he admitted to funneling $3.3 million in illegal contributions to 28 candidates, including candidates running for mayor and President of the United States.”

Gee…….. I wonder which presidential candidate?…… 🙄

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by

News/Politics 3-11-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

Open thread.

1. An update on the Ukraine situation.

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2. CBS and one of it’s reporters are parting ways. That’s a shame, she was one of the few willing to pursue scandals involving the Obama administration. It’s also why she’s leaving. It seems CBS doesn’t like that type of real investigative reporting.

From Politico  “CBS News investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson has reached an agreement to resign from CBS News ahead of contract, bringing an end to months of hard-fought negotiations, sources familiar with her departure told POLITICO on Monday.

Attkisson, who has been with CBS News for two decades, had grown frustrated with what she saw as the network’s liberal bias, an outsize influence by the network’s corporate partners and a lack of dedication to investigative reporting, several sources said. She increasingly felt that her work was no longer supported and that it was a struggle to get her reporting on air.

At the same time, Attkisson’s reporting on the Obama administration, which some staffers characterized as agenda-driven, had led network executives to doubt the impartiality of her reporting. She is currently at work on a book — tentatively titled “Stonewalled: One Reporter’s Fight for Truth in Obama’s Washington” — that addresses the challenges of reporting critically on the administration.”

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3. WHAT!!?? The Southern Poverty Law Center has a liberal bias too?

Oh say it ain’t so…. 🙄

From TheChristianPost  “The Southern Poverty Law Center’s “Hatewatch” fails to use objective criteria in determining which organizations should be labeled a “hate group,” George Yancey, professor of sociology at the University of North Texas, finds in a new study, “Watching the Watchers: The Neglect of Academic Analysis of Progressive Groups,” published in the January issue of the journal Academic Questions.

SPLC’s list dubiously lists Family Research Council as a hate group while ignoring anti-Christian groups that use similar rhetoric, which demonstrates that the list is more about mobilizing liberals than providing an objective source for hate groups, Yancey argues. SPLC has escaped critical analysis of its work in academia because of a liberal bias among academicians, the study additionally claims.

SPLC’s Hatewatch has become the definitive guide among some scholars, authors and media organizations to what is, or is not, a “hate group.” Conservatives have long criticized the list for labeling social conservative organizations, such as Family Research Council, as hate groups.”

“All the groups listed on Hatewatch, with the exception of black separatists, Yancey notes, are either political or religious conservatives. Yancey believes this is because SPLC is a liberal organization and it is using subjective criteria to choose which groups belong on the list.”

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News/Politics 3-10-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. CPAC finished up it’s annual conference over the weekend. The results from the conservative side of the Republican party are in, and their early favorite has emerged from a crowded pack.

From TheWashingtonTimes  “Sen. Rand Paul demolished his competition in the 2014 Washington Times/CPAC presidential preference straw poll on Saturday, winning 31 percent of the vote — nearly three times the total of second-place Sen. Ted Cruz.”

“In the presidential poll, Mr. Cruz’s 11 percent was a big improvement for the freshman senator, who won just 4 percent in last year’s straw poll. Neurosurgeon Ben Carson was third with 9 percent and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was fourth with 8 percent in results that signal growing discontent with the GOP establishment in Washington.

Indeed, CPAC voters now have an unfavorable view of Republicans in Congress, with 51 percent saying they disapprove of the job the GOP is doing on Capitol Hill. Just last year the GOP had a 54 percent approval rating, and in 2012 they held a 70 percent approval rating.”

More here from the WT, with more of Paul’s speech.

Ted Cruz lays out his sweeping vision here, also via the WT.

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2. Putin is threatening economic sanctions of his own, while tightening his grip.

From TheTelegraph  “Vladimir Putin has mocked diplomatic efforts to end the Ukraine   crisis as Russia threatened to disrupt European gas supplies by cutting off   sales to Kiev over its unpaid debts. 

The Russian president said through his official spokesman that, despite deep   disagreements with the West, he did not want a confrontation over Ukraine to   spiral into a “new cold war”. 

Nevertheless Dmitry Peskov ridiculed Western demands for direct talks between   the Kremlin and the new Kiev government, claiming that the loss of   credibility involved “puts a smile on our face”.”

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3. Will the IRS investigate?

Good question. But no, they won’t.

From TheDailyCaller  “The IRS still has not responded to allegations from a former Center for American Progress (CAP) employee that the left-wing think tank coordinates on editorial content with the White House — revelations that could threaten the organization’s nonprofit status.

Former ThinkProgress reporter Zaid Jilani wrote a piece this week detailing his experiences working for the liberal blog, which is run by CAP’s 501(c)(4) nonprofit Action Fund, the advocacy arm of White House counselor John Podesta’s think tank.”

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4. I’ll believe it when it actually happens.

From HotAir  “On Wednesday, we found out the Big Reveal on whether or not Lois Lerner would be emptying the bag for Darrell Issa. Nope. So many perfectly good conspiracy theories flushed down the tubes after I went through two pots of coffee dreaming them up. It looked like a big, fat nothingburger and another dead end. But now, seemingly out of nowhere, the IRS seems to have had a change of heart.

The powerful House Ways and Means Committee will get everything from disgraced former IRS official Lois Lerner’s email account since a few weeks before Barack Obama became president.

And Republican committee members are hoping they’ll find a smoking gun tying the Obama administration to the years-long scheme to play political favorites with nonprofit groups’ tax-exemption applications.

After eight months of back-and-forth stonewalling, the IRS has agreed to turn over the complete contents of Lerner’s email account, along with other documents that two congressional committees have been demanding.”

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5. This last one is very sad. It’s unbelievable that this is allowed to continue.

From CNSNews  “In New York City, 80% of the babies killed by  abortion in 2012 were minorities: Hispanics, Asians, Pacific Islanders,  and Blacks.

According to a “Pregnancy Outcomes” report published by the New York  City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, there were a total 73,815  “induced terminations,” or abortions, in 2012 in the five boroughs that  comprise New York City. 

Among those abortions, 58,738 were of babies of minority race or  ethnicity.  That’s 79.57% of the total, or approximately 80% of all the  abortions that year.”

The NYC Dept. of Health report is here, (See  Pregnancy Outcomes  NYC 2012.pdf)

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News/Politics 3-8-14

What’s interesting in the news this weekend?

Open thread weekend!

Here’s 2 to ponder.

1. The daughter of Obama’s former pastor has been convicted of fraud.

From MSNNews  “The daughter of President Barack Obama’s former pastor was convicted on Friday of laundering thousands of dollars from a state grant for a Chicago-area job-training program, federal prosecutors said.

A federal jury took less than two hours to find Jeri Wright, 48, the daughter of Jeremiah Wright, guilty on all counts for her part in a fraud scheme led by a former suburban police chief and the chief’s husband, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Central District of Illinois in Springfield.

The $1.25 million state grant was for a not-for-profit work and education program called We Are Our Brother’s Keeper, owned by Regina Evans, former police chief of Country Club Hills, and her husband, Ronald Evans Jr.”

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2. Now I kept thinking I’d heard of this program before, and I was correct. Obama has started the same kinda program.

From CNN  “President Barack Obama spoke Thursday at the White House, where he announced “My Brother’s Keeper” – a new initiative to help young men and boys of color succeed.

He described the program as one that “goes to the very heart of why I ran for President” and dove into his own life to explain why such an initiative is needed, speaking candidly about his father, drugs and race.

A White House official said Obama improvised a good portion of his remarks and was more emotional than many planners of the event had anticipated.”

The same kinda program, also with roots in Chicago. Do you doubt for a minute the federal program won’t be a fraud filled affair as well? Birds of a feather and all. This is how they operate, it’s from the same playbook, Community Organizer 101.

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News/Politics 3-7-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

Open thread.

1. This one isn’t surprising. After all, the amount they were funding was a joke anyway. And Obama would much rather direct this money to Planned Parenthood.

From CNSNews  “President Barack Obama wants to eliminate funding for abstinence education funding in his 2015 budget, which he sent to Congress on Tuesday.

 In the “Cuts, Consolidations, and Savings” portion of the budget, it shows that the $5 million funding to Health and Human Services (HHS) through its Title V Maternal and Child Health Program that was included in the 2014 budget is not part of Obama’s latest budget.

Supporters of “sexual risk avoidance” – or SRA abstinence education programs – expressed the need for such programs and the across-the aisle-approval of them by parents.

“By eliminating SRA (sexual risk avoidance) abstinence programs in his budget, the President has, once again chosen to ignore the wishes of parents and the approach that helps youth avoid all risk associated with teen sex,” Valerie Huber, president of the National Abstinence Education Association (NAEA), said in a statement on Wednesday.

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2. He’d rather Planned Parenthood receive the money for stuff like this.

From LifeNews  “Planned Parenthood’s Elokin CaPece is on a global mission—to make “sexperts” of students across the mid-south and send them forth to indoctrinate the world. The University of Memphis campus newspaper, The Daily Helmsman, is hawking “sexpert” training at Planned Parenthood, “offering students the opportunity to become educators and advocates for sexual health and safety on college campuses throughout the MidSouth.”

CaPece, education director for Planned Parenthood Greater Memphis Region, is quoted in the article: “I hope sexperts becomes a revolution. . . . That we teach you what you need to know about sex and you go and teach the world.” For a Baptist turned Catholic like me, that sounds a lot like a bastardization of “The Great Commission” found in Matthew 28:18-20.

How do these Planned Parenthood trained “sexperts” see their mission? “I just want everyone to do what they want as long as they’re safe and to destigmatize the idea that sex is bad or wrong, outside of the context of marriage,” a senior University of Memphis sexpert graduate says. Her analysis is much more honest and on point than the explanations given by Planned Parenthood.”

“The culture in the U.S. conveys the negatives of sex to people, emphasizing the risks of unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases and infections that can be contracted through skin-to-skin contact or body fluids. Many times, sex creates a list of negative consequences and CaPece shares how Planned Parenthood is breaking that barrier. “Planned Parenthood is a sex-positive place. Sex should be positive and sexuality is a part of everyone no matter how you portray it,” CaPece said.

Why fund abstinence education when you have programs like this? This will obviously work so much better…. 🙄

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3. Warrantless searches and cell-phone tapping. Not from the feds, but from your local PD.

From WatchDog.org  “Recent court documents reveal a troubling cell phone surveillance program conducted by a Florida police department against unsuspecting cell phone users.

Attempts to keep the practice secret, even from judges, is raising questions as to just how prevalent police spying is within the Sunshine State.”

“Now on appeal, courtroom deliberations revealed last week that the Tallahassee Police Department used a Stingray 200 times since 2010 without seeking a warrant.

“This record makes it very clear that (Tallahassee Police Department) were not going to get a search warrant because they had never gotten a search warrant for this technology,” an appeals court judge said.”

Welcome to the police state. Please check your rights at the door.

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4. The number of victims of the terrorist group Boko Haram continues to grow.

From TheDailyStar  “A Catholic bishop says Islamic insurgents have destroyed 20 churches in northeastern Nigeria  in recent attacks.

Bishop Oliver Dashe Dome  says more than 500 of his parishioners have been killed since insurgency in the region began in 2009. At least 180 people have been killed in less than two weeks, including 60 children.

Boko Haram  insurgents advocate a harsh version of Islamic law and have threatened the Christian minority in northern  Nigeria in the past.  However, their victims have also been Muslim.”

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News/Politics 3-6-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

Open thread, with a few to start things off.

1. This should make healthcare sooo much easier…. 🙄

From TheWeeklyStandard  “Ever considered suicide by jellyfish? Have you ended up in the hospital after being injured during the forced landing of your spacecraft? Or been hurt when you were sucked into the engine of an airplane or when your horse-drawn carriage collided with a trolley?”

“But should any of these unfortunate injuries befall you after October 1, 2014, your doctor, courtesy of the federal government, will have a code to record it. On that date, the United States is scheduled to implement a new system for recording injuries, medical diagnoses, and inpatient procedures called ICD-10​—​the 10th version of the International Classification of Diseases propagated by the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland. So these exotic injuries, codeless for so many years, will henceforth be known, respectively, as T63622A (Toxic effect of contact with other jellyfish, intentional self-harm, initial encounter), V9542XA (Forced landing of spacecraft injuring occupant, initial encounter), V9733XA (Sucked into jet engine, initial encounter), and V80731A (Occupant of animal-drawn vehicle injured in collision with streetcar, initial encounter).

The coming changes are vast. The number of codes will explode​—​from 17,000 under the current system to 155,000 under the new one, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

The transition to ICD-10 was planned long before Congress passed the Affordable Care Act in 2010. But Obama administration officials say it is a critical part of the coming reforms. “ICD-10 is the foundation for health care reform,” said Jeff Hinson, a CMS regional administrator, in a conference call about ICD-10 for providers in Colorado.”

138,000 new codes is sure to streamline things. 🙄

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2. Good. A little bi-partisan common sense. Having an NAACP lawyer in charge of this division was a bad idea.

From RollCall  “Seven Senate Democrats joined Republicans to block President Barack Obama’s pick of Debo P. Adegbile to lead the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division amid a controversy over his legal defense of convicted cop killer Mumia Abu-Jamal.”

“Democrats Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, Chris Coons of Delaware, Joe Donnelly of Indiana, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, Mark Pryor of Arkansas and John Walsh of Montana all voted no. Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., also voted no in order to preserve his right to reconsider the vote. If Adegbile had mustered just two more votes plus Reid, Vice President Joseph Biden was on hand to cast a possible tie-breaking vote.”

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3. She did it again. Time for a contempt citation.

From TheDailyMail  “Former IRS official Lois Lerner refused for a second time on Wednesday to testify about her role in a scheme to target conservative organizations that applied for tax-exempt status during President Barack Obama’s first term in office. Lerner risks arrest if she is found in contempt of Congress.

The House Oversight and Government Affairs Committee ruled on June 21, 2013 that Lerner, formerly in charge of the IRS’s Exempt Organizations office, waived her right to invoke the Fifth Amendment during a May 22 hearing when she insisted in a lengthy opening statement that she had done nothing wrong.

Wednesday’s continuation of that hearing was a brief affair, with Oversight Committee Chairman Republican Rep. Darrell Issa adjourning it after Lerner cited the Fifth amendment again and refused to answer questions.”

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4. Did he know? Of course he did. And do you really think the DoJ will do anything about it? Of course they won’t.

From HotAir  “If you missed the morning post on this topic, the short version is that the CIA’s Inspector General has called for a Justice Department probe into alleged CIA snooping on a Senate Intelligence Committee (SSCI) investigation into Bush-era interrogation and detention activities by the agency. Now a letter written by a Democratic Senator to Barack Obama this week suggests that the President knew of the snooping before it went public today (via Glenn Reynolds):

“A leading US senator has said that President Obama knew of an “unprecedented action” taken by the CIA against the Senate intelligence committee, which has apparently prompted an inspector general’s inquiry at Langley.”

“As you are aware, the CIA has recently taken unprecedented action against the committee in relation to the internal CIA review and I find these actions to be incredibly troubling for the Committee’s oversight powers and for our democracy,” Udall wrote to Obama on Tuesday.”

“Independent observers were unaware of a precedent for the CIA spying on the congressional committees established in the 1970s to check abuses by the intelligence agencies.” That’s because such spying is illegal. I wonder who else, inside and outside the various branches of government, was being similarly spied upon. And what was done with the information learned. (Bumped, because this seems big.)”

Sure it’s big, but do you really think the press will pursue it? I have zero confidence in that.

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5. Another unlawful ObamaCare delay. I’m sure Hillary is pleased. This attempt to provide cover to Dems will drop the other shoe just as she seeks the presidency.

From TheWashingtonExaminer  “The Obama administration announced Wednesday that it would allow insurers to issue until October 2016 health plans that do not meet Obamacare regulations, pushing back another Affordable Care Act deadline well past November’s midterms.

Facing the prospect of another wave of cancellation notices this fall, the administration took even further action to mitigate the blowback from President Obama’s broken promise that all Americans could keep their health care plans under Obamacare.

The Department of Health and Human Services had already given insurers the option of continuing those plans facing cancellation through 2014, and on Wednesday said those policies could remain in effect an additional two years.”

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