News/Politics

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News/Politics 12-21-13

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. We’re up to 14 unilateral changes to ObamaCare by the President.

From NationalReview  “Yesterday the Obama administration suddenly moved to allow hundreds of thousands of people who’ve lost their insurance due to Obamacare to sign up for bare-bone “catastrophic” plans. It’s at least the 14th unilateral change to Obamacare that’s been made without consulting Congress. 

“It shows that the Obamacare insurance products aren’t selling so, at the last minute, the administration is holding a fire sale on a failed launch,” says Grace-Marie Turner of the Galen Institute, a health-care advocacy group. “Just think how you must feel if you were one of the people who spent the last two months fighting their way through HealthCare.gov to buy a policy that will be thousands of dollars more expensive than this catastrophic insurance!” 

Of course, like every other exemption from Obamacare the latest fix is supposed to last only a year, raising the prospect that people will be kicked off their catastrophic coverage as soon as the 2014 election is safely in the political rear-view mirror. “

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2. Charles Krauthammer says it’s the story of the year.

From TheWaPo  “The lie of the year, according to Politifact, is “If you like your health care plan, you can keep it.” But the story of the year is a nation waking up to just how radical Obamacare is — which is why it required such outright deception to get it passed in the first place.

Obamacare was sold as simply a refinement of the current system, retaining competition among independent insurers but making things more efficient, fair and generous. Free contraceptives for Sandra Fluke. Free mammograms and checkups for you and me. Free (or subsidized) insurance for some 30 million uninsured. And, mirabile dictu, not costing the government a dime.”

“In fact, Obamacare is a full-scale federal takeover. The keep-your-plan-if-you-like-your-plan ruse was a way of saying to the millions of Americans who had insurance and liked what they had: Don’t worry. You’ll be left unmolested. For you, everything goes on as before.

That was a fraud from the very beginning. The law was designed to throw people off their private plans and into government-run exchanges where they would be made to overpay — forced to purchase government-mandated services they don’t need — as a way to subsidize others. (That’s how you get to the ostensible free lunch.)”

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3. A court has ruled that 9-11 victims families can sue Saudi Arabia.

From NBCNews  “A federal appeals court on Thursday reinstated Saudi Arabia as a defendant in lawsuits claiming it provided support to al-Qaeda before the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. 

A three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said restoring Saudi Arabia was necessary to be consistent with a ruling by a different 2nd Circuit panel that allowed another lawsuit to go forward in which a man sued Afghanistan and other defendants for the death of his wife in the Sept. 11 attacks. 

The 2nd Circuit and a lower court had previously ruled that Saudi Arabia was protected by sovereign immunity, which generally means that foreign countries can’t be sued in American courts. But in its latest ruling, the 2nd Circuit said a legal exception existed that would allow Saudi Arabia to remain as a defendant, just as Afghanistan remained in the similar case. “

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4. A sad story about American service members sickened after helping with tsunami relief efforts.

From FoxNews  “When the USS Ronald Reagan responded to the tsunami that struck Japan in March 2011, Navy sailors including Quartermaster Maurice Enis gladly pitched in with rescue efforts.

But months later, while still serving aboard the aircraft carrier, he began to notice strange lumps all over his body. Testing revealed he’d been poisoned with radiation, and his illness would get worse. And his fiance and fellow Reagan quartermaster, Jamie Plym, who also spent several months helping near the Fukushima nuclear power plant, also began to develop frightening symptoms, including chronic bronchitis and hemorrhaging.

They and 49 other U.S. Navy members who served aboard the Reagan and sister ship the USS Essex now trace illnesses including thyroid and testicular cancers, leukemia and brain tumors to the time spent aboard the massive ship, whose desalination system pulled in seawater that was used for drinking, cooking and bathing. In a lawsuit filed against Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), the plaintiffs claim the power company delayed telling the U.S. Navy the tsunami had caused a nuclear meltdown, sending huge amounts of contaminated water into the sea and, ultimately, into the ship’s water system.”

“At our level, we weren’t told anything,” Plym told FoxNews.com. “We were told everything was OK.”

Why would they not have been monitoring radiation levels themselves on board?  That would be SOP given the circumstances.

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5. A coincidence….  Sure. 😉

Just like Obama saying he doesn’t know the uncle he lived with for a month that got favorable results from an immigration judge. Also totally a coincidence. 🙄

From TheBostonHerald  “Gov. Deval Patrick’s convicted drug dealer cousin was among eight people whose hefty sentences were commuted yesterday by President Obama, who cited a disparity in penalties for crack cocaine.

Reynolds Allen Wintersmith Jr., 39, is serving a life sentence for drug trafficking and has been imprisoned since 1994.

Patrick’s office said in a statement: “Mr. Wintersmith is the Governor’s first cousin. The Governor has no recollection of meeting Mr. Wintersmith (they are quite far apart in age), and believes that if they did meet it would have been when Mr. Wintersmith was a small boy. The Governor was not involved in any application for a commutation of Mr. Wintersmith’s sentence, and only learned of the commutation through today’s media reports.

Wintersmith’s case had been adopted by advocates and crusading attorneys. All eight inmates were sentenced under old federal guidelines that treated convictions for crack cocaine offenses more harshly than those involving the powder form of the drug. Obama also pardoned 13 others for various crimes.”

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6. This one doesn’t surprise me…. They’ll use a few bad apples to paint all homeschoolers with a broad brush. And yet another tool to harass those who buck the public system.

With a Hat Tip to Chas

From TruthRevolt  “A  new bill proposed by Senator Capri Cafaro (D-Ohio) would require parents who have decided to homeschool their child to undergo an investigation by social services, who would then decide whether or not it would be permitted. 

The Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) website is reporting that on December 3, 2014, Senate Bill 248 was introduced in Ohio. This bill is the latest attack against families from state legislatures who want to severely restrict choice to homeschool children. The HSLDA summarizes this bill: 

It requires all parents who homeschool to undergo a social services investigation which would ultimately determine if homeschooling would be permitted. Social workers would have to interview parents and children separately, conduct background checks and determine whether homeschooling is recommended or not. If it is not recommended, parents would have to submit to an “intervention” before further consideration of their request to homeschool.

The reasoning for this bill stems from one incident in January 2013 where a 14-year-old boy died after being beaten by his mother’s boyfriend while being taught at home. The mother had pulled him from public school after school officials reported signs of abuse to authorities. Seemingly, she attempted to cover up the abuse by homeschooling him, keeping him from the watchful eyes of public teachers. “

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7. I don’t know what they’re thinking here, or if they even are. 🙄

From NBCNews  “The Supreme Court of Canada struck down all current restrictions on prostitution on Friday, including bans on brothels and on street solicitation, declaring the laws were unconstitutional because they violated prostitutes’ safety. 

The sweeping 9-0 decision will take effect in one year, inviting Parliament to try to come up with some other way to regulate the sex trade if it chooses to do so. 

Prostitution is technically legal in Canada but most related activities have been illegal, including living off the avails of someone else’s prostitution, but the court found that the provisions were overly broad or grossly disproportionate. 

Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin said many prostitutes “have no meaningful choice” but to “engage in the risky economic activity of prostitution,” and that the law should not make such lawful activity more dangerous. “

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8. If this is true, doesn’t the govt owe the tobacco companies billions in refunds for that part of the tobacco settlement?

From HotAir  “Now it can be told. Now that smoking has been banned everywhere but the dryer vent at your apartment based on the notion that secondhand smoke kills everyone around you, The Journal of the National Cancer Institute can tell us this via Jacob Sullum:

The article describes a large prospective study that “confirmed a strong association between cigarette smoking and lung cancer but found no link between the disease and secondhand smoke.” The study tracked more than 76,000 women, 901 of whom eventually developed lung cancer. Although “the incidence of lung cancer was 13 times higher in current smokers and four times higher in former smokers than in never-smokers,” says the JNCI article, there was no statistically significant association between reported exposure to secondhand smoke and subsequent development of lung cancer. “We don’t want people to conclude that passive smoking has no effect on lung cancer,” says one of the researchers, Stanford oncologist Heather Wakelee. “We think the message is, this analysis doesn’t tell us what the risk is, or even if there is a risk.”

While hardly the last word on the subject, the study has advantages over most of the research commonly cited as evidence that secondhand smoke causes lung cancer. “To our knowledge,” the authors say, “this is the first study to examine both active and passive smoking in relation to lung cancer incidence in a complete prospective cohort of US women.” The prospective design avoids a weaknes of studies that start with lung cancer cases and “match” them to controls. “Many studies that showed the strongest links between secondhand smoke and lung cancer were case-control studies, which can suffer from recall bias,” notes the JNCI article, since “people who develop a disease that might be related to passive smoking are more likely to recall being exposed to passive smoking.”

Yet another instance where the Left is more than happy to make up science as long as they can use the made-up science to take away people’s freedoms.”

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by

News/Politics 12-20-13

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. Another court loss for the Obama admin.

From TheFreeBeacon  “A federal judge Tuesday rejected the Obama administration’s sweeping claims of executive privilege and ordered the disclosure of a foreign aid directive signed by President Barack Obama in 2010 but never publicly released.

U.S. District Court Judge Ellen Huvelle ruled the presidential order is not within the bounds of executive privilege and called the government’s arguments in favor of secrecy “troubling.”

“The government appears to adopt the cavalier attitude that the President should be permitted to convey orders throughout the Executive Branch without public oversight … to engage in what is in effect governance by ‘secret law,’” Huvelle said.”

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2. A+E has some decisions to make. Will they put Phil back to work, or continue to bow to the vocal minority and their PC nonsense? The balls in their court now. The family has decided it’s future with the network depends on what happens with Phil. And chose wisely, because lots of networks will offer them plenty to go elsewhere.

From FoxNews  “We have had a successful working relationship with A&E but, as a family, we cannot imagine the show going forward without our patriarch at the helm,” the Robertson family said in a prepared statement. “We are in discussions with A&E to see what that means for the future of Duck Dynasty.”

The family said it has “spent much time in prayer” since learning A&E had suspended Phil Robertson, the patriarch of the Louisiana family, over comments he made about homosexuality.”

“While some of Phil’s unfiltered comments to the reporter were coarse, his beliefs are grounded in the teachings of the Bible,” the family said. “Phil is a Godly man who follows what the Bible says are the greatest commandments: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart’ and ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Phil would never incite or encourage hate.”

The family also criticized A&E for its actions, saying he was placed on hiatus “for expressing his faith, which is his constitutionally protected right.”

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3. Poor Pajama Boy. Even MSNBC is making fun of him. Talk about Epic Fails….

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4. And things are getting even worse for PJ Boy.  He’s done 3 different ObamaCare ads thru his gig with OFA, but now it looks like he may have to find a real job. Heartbreaking as it may be, the ObamaCare ad blitz is coming to an end. 🙄

From TheHill  “The White House will conclude its 16-day media blitz designed to promote ObamaCare on Thursday with the release of a series of reports touting state-specific benefits of the president’s signature law, according to an official familiar with the plan.

“These state reports mark the culmination of a multi-week effort by the White House and supporters of reform to bring a renewed refocus on each of these benefits and what the cost of repealing them would mean,” the White House official said.”

“According to the official, the reports will show what the cost of repealing the controversial law would mean to average families across the country.”

“The White House insisted Wednesday that, although the daily ObamaCare messaging push would wrap up for the holidays, the administration would continue to push consumers to purchase coverage over the next three months.”

But don’t worry, OFA is sending out liberal bots, some of whom you may be related to, in order to harass you about ObamaCare at GrandMa’s house on Christmas day. 🙂 They got ya’ covered. 😉

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5. GRINCH ALERT!

The Grinch is a shifty one, he’s using one of his favorite aliases this time. (Mikey Whinestein) 

From TheMiamiHerald  “GUANTANAMO BAY NAVY BASE, Cuba —         The commander of this remote outpost said Wednesday night he would move two Nativity scenes from U.S. troops’ cafeterias to the base chapel, ending a daylong controversy kicked up by a few troops who protested to the Pentagon in secret.

“No one’s ever complained to me about it. We’ve been doing it for 10 years,” said Capt. J.R. Nettleton, commander of this Navy base, which has a school, a golf course and about 6,000 residents, a third of them civilian contract workers from Jamaica and the Philippines.”

“A total of 18 U.S. service members stationed here, five of them officers, appealed to the Military Religious Freedom Foundation after an agonizing, secret meeting earlier this week about what to do about the two créches and other Christmas decorations that festoon the main prison and base dining rooms, the rights group’s president, Mikey Weinstein, said Wednesday.

Weinstein said eight of the protesting American troops work inside the detention center zone that this week held more than 150 Muslim prisoners. Weinstein said the protesters included 11 Christians, both Protestants and Catholics, and said the other seven included Jews, Muslims, agnostics and atheists from a variety of services, including the Army and Navy.”

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6. Some of Mikey’s friends are trying to push the Army to label the Family Research Council as a hate group. Given this administrations track record, they probably get their way.

From LifeSiteNews  “In response to calls by the Southern Poverty Law Center to have the army declare the American Family Association as an “extremist” group, the spokesman for the AFA has shot back, accusing the SPLC of being the true “hate” group.

“The AFA doesn’t hate anyone,” AFA Director of Issue Analaysi and Spokesman Brian Fischer told LifeSiteNews.com in an e-mail. “The real hate in all this debate is coming from the SPLC and is directed toward people of faith. The real hate group here is the SPLC.”

Last week, the SPLC urged Army Secretary John McHugh to list the American Family Association (AFA) as an extremist group. 

According to SPLC’s Josh Glasstetter, McHugh should classify the AFA as an extremist group because, he claims, Director of Issue Analysis and spokersperson Bryan Fischer has said homosexuals are responsible for the Holocaust. He also says Fisher has said Muslims should be deported from America, and wants women, Muslims, and homosexuals disallowed from military service.

Please, the SPLC is Hate Inc..

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7. Remember folks…

Vote Fraud is a myth.

From FoxNews  “Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted announced Wednesday that his office found 17 non-citizens illegally cast ballots in the 2012 presidential election — and has referred the case for possible prosecution. 

 The alleged crime would be a notable case of voter fraud in a key swing state. By law, only American citizens are allowed the privilege of casting ballots for the nation’s leaders.”    

 “Voting advocates have long complained that some of the country’s voter fraud investigations amount to voter suppression, aimed at preventing minorities and others from voting. But supporters say the efforts only are aimed at preventing voter fraud and maintaining the integrity of the electoral process. 

The new investigation comes after election officials secured several voter fraud convictions stemming from last year’s election in Ohio, including that of one poll worker who was accused of voting six times in the November presidential election.”

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by

News/Politics 12-19-13

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. Some good news to start. A very nice story. 🙂

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2. And then it goes downhill……

Meet the new tone, which oddly enough, sounds just like the old tone.

From RollCall  “Newly minted White House counselor John Podesta has apologized for a remark that likened House Republicans to a “cult worthy of Jonestown” after getting called out by Speaker John A. Boehner’s spokesman.

“They need to focus on executive action given that they are facing a second term against a cult worthy of Jonestown in charge of one of the houses of Congress,” Podesta told Politico’s Glenn Thrush earlier this fall, before the former chief of staff for President Bill Clinton was named to the White House post.”

“Brendan Buck, spokesman for Boehner, had suggested the quote was a bad omen for 2014.

“For those who’ve forgotten, a Democratic member of Congress was murdered in Jonestown and a current one, Rep. Jackie Speier, was shot five times during the same incident,” Buck noted.”

Yeah, classy as ever eh John? 🙄

Although I guess being called a cult is better than being called terrorists. Maybe…

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3. More waste that could be cut instead of troop pensions. And you just gotta love the “shocking” findings. 🙄

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4. Plenty more here to cut. And a CONTENT WARNING!!! for some adult (and duck?) material.

From TheNYPost  “While the White House and Congress griped this year about the pain of automatic budget cuts, the federal government still managed to spend billions of dollars on seemingly frivolous projects – from a $384,989 grant for Yale University to study the duck penis to $1.9 million for “lifestyle” lessons for Senate staffers.

Nearly $30 billion in questionable federal spending is detailed in the “Wastebook” that was released Tuesday by the Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), who annually compiles the report.”

“$10 million for National Guard advertising tie-ins with the “Soldier of Steel” movie, despite budget cuts reducing the Guard’s strength by 8,000 soldiers.

$7 billion for the Pentagon to destroy vehicles and other military equipment used in wars in the Middle East rather than sell or ship the items home.

$17.5 million for special tax exemptions for Nevada brothels, including tax deductions for groceries, wages for prostitutes, rent and utilities.”

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5. Is this in every Democrat up for re-election’s future?

Yes please! 🙂

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6. I have to say, Phil shoulda seen this coming. Publicly speaking out against homosexuality is not tolerated.

With a CONTENT WARNING!!! for adult subject matter.

From MSNTV  “Duck Dynasty” star Phil Robertson has been  suspended from the A&E reality series, following anti-gay remarks he made in  an interview with GQ magazine.  

In a statement, A+E Networks said he had been placed on indefinite hiatus.”

“We are extremely disappointed to have read Phil Robertson’s comments in GQ,  which are based on his own personal beliefs and are not reflected in the series  ‘Duck Dynasty,'” the company said. “His personal views in no way reflect those  of A+E Networks, who have always been strong supporters and champions of the  LGBT community. The network has placed Phil under hiatus from filming  indefinitely.”

Robertson caused controversy with his comments, in which he grouped gays with  “drunks” and “terrorists,” and said that they won’t “inherit the kingdom of  God.”

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7. By now you’ve probably seen the commercial with the guy in the pajamas pushing ObamaCare. I think 12 year olds are making these commercials, and they seem geared toward children. They’re just awful. This one however, is a new low. This one features adult (supposedly gay) men in their underwear celebrating ObamaCare and being gay.  And remember folks, we’re paying for this garbage. Military pensions are being cut, but the President and Democrats can find the cash (400 million + so far ) to pay for the making and the advertising of this nonsense. It’s pathetic.

With a CONTENT WARNING!!! for adult subject matter and men in their underwear.

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by

News/Politics 12-18-13

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. As they say, the devil is in the details.

And as they also say, there is no free lunch.

From TheSeattleTimes  “It was the fine print.

As fine print is wont to do, it had buried itself in a long form — Balhorn’s application for free health insurance through the expanded state Medicaid program. As the paperwork lay on the dining-room table in Port Townsend, Prins began reading.

She was shocked: If you’re 55 or over, Medicaid can come back after you’re dead and bill your estate for ordinary health-care expenses.

The way Prins saw it, that meant health insurance via Medicaid is hardly “free” for Washington residents 55 or older. It’s a loan, one whose payback requirements aren’t well advertised. And it penalizes people who, despite having a low income, have managed to keep a home or some savings they hope to pass to heirs, Prins said.

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2. The GOP effort to restore military pension cuts has failed. It’s a sad day when a country doesn’t keep it’s promises to veterans. They swore an oath and honored it. This breaks the promises this country made in return for that.

From FoxNews  “A final effort by Senate Republicans to halt cuts to pensions of military retirees failed late Tuesday, after Democrats blocked an amendment to the controversial budget bill.

The two-year budget agreement, which cleared a key test vote earlier in the day, was expected to get a final vote no later than Wednesday.

Ahead of the final vote, Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., tried unsuccessfully to use a parliamentary tactic to force a vote on the amendment, which he wrote to undo the cuts for military retirees.

A provision in the already House-passed bill would cut retirement benefits for military retirees by $6 billion over 10 years.”

There are plenty of areas in the military budget worth cutting. The billions they’re wasting on “green fuels” at an outrageous cost would be a good place to start. And notice they left the unionized civilians workers alone, just like with Tri-Care. This is aimed at the troops. This is just wrong.

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3. And in case you are wondering, no, disabled vets are not exempt like union workers.

From TheFreeBeacon  “A provision cutting the pensions of military retirees in the bipartisan budget deal that the Senate will vote on this week does not exempt disabled veterans, the Washington Free Beacon has learned.

Disabled retirees were previously thought to be exempt from the changes to military retiree pay, which could cost servicemembers up to $124,000 over a 20-year period.

The Free Beacon previously reported that military retirees under the age of 62 would receive 1 percentage point less in their annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) in the plan crafted by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) and Senate Budget Committee Chairman Patty Murray (D., Wash.).

The section of the U.S. code that has been altered also applies to disabled servicemembers, many of whom have been wounded in combat.”

Those who vote for this should be ashamed of themselves.

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4. Dissent is not tolerated. And remember, $1.5 million a day in federal funds go to support PP. So we’re probably paying for their “lobbying” against this man. Witch hunt is more like it.

From LifeNews.com  “Planned Parenthood is after the career and livelihood of a distinguished, highly-qualified, good high school teacher, Bill Diss, who had the audacity to tell Planned Parenthood that they were not allowed in his classroom.After a second hearing last night, that pro-life teacher, Bill Diss, has been fired.

The school board for the Portland Public School District voted to terminate Diss’ contract after Planned Parenthood’s lobbying effort.

Diss experienced censure in his teaching career beginning in 2007 when he publicly opposed the building of a new Planned Parenthood abortion clinic in downtown Portland. The current action follows Mr. Diss’ opposition to being forced to facilitate presenters from the Teen Outreach Program (TOP), a program administered by Planned Parenthood, coming into his tutorial session to recruit students.”

“Diss also spoke in defense of himself and asked the school board to consider the ways in which he was targeted by Planned Parenthood. He reminded them that his teacher reviews had been exemplary until he took a stand against Planned Parenthood. He also mentioned the hundreds of thousands of dollars he brought in grants to the school. After listening to the public comments, the school board recessed for private consultation.”

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5. Are televangelists about to go the way of the dodo thanks to Congress?

From NationalJournal  “Congress is trying to take televangelists from your televisions.

That’s the argument from faith-based broadcasters who are pushing to preserve the nation’s “must-carry” rules. The rules, which date back to 1992, require cable and satellite companies to pick up local broadcast affiliates—even the small, less popular stations.

Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., is pushing legislation to scrap those rules as part of a broader effort to deregulate the airways. Online video and expansive satellite lineups have given consumers so many options that the government no longer needs to decide who carries what, Scalise said.

But local broadcasters say they provide a public good, and therefore providers should be barred from dropping them in favor of potentially more lucrative outside programming.”

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by

News/Politics 12-17-13

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. The ObamaCare contraceptive mandate has suffered a loss in court. Good.

From TheNYPost  “In a blow to President Obama’s signature legislative mandate, a Brooklyn federal judge on Monday sided with several Catholic organizations in New York, saying they do not have to comply with an Affordable Care Act requirement to provide employees with contraceptive coverage.

Citing religious freedom grounds, the organizations filed the lawsuit last year seeking protection from the Obamacare directive.

In the first permanent ruling on the hot-button issue, US District Court Judge Brian Cogan said the religious groups should not be forced to comply with the birth control component of Obamacare. The plaintiffs benefitting from the permanent injunction are Cardinal Spellman High School in the Bronx, Monsignor Farrell High School on Staten Island, the ArchCare healthcare group and Catholic Health Services of Long Island.”

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2. It looks like another court loss may be in their future. Again, good.

From Politico  “A federal judge ruled Monday that the National Security Agency program which collects information on nearly all telephone calls made to, from or within the United States is likely unconstitutional.

U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon found that the program appears to violate the Fourth Amendment ban on unreasonable searches and seizures. He also said the Justice Department had failed to demonstrate that collecting the information had helped to head off terrorist attacks.”

“I cannot imagine a more ‘indiscriminate’ and ‘arbitrary invasion’ than this systematic and high-tech collection and retention of personal data on virtually every single citizen for purposes of querying it and analyzing it without judicial approval,” wrote Leon, an appointee of President George W. Bush.

The preliminary injunction Leon granted Monday does not require him to make a definitive ruling on the constitutional questions in the case, but does take account of which side he believes is more likely to prevail.”

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3. The GOP is looking into ObamaCare navigator fraud. And Of course they didn’t get background checks. The DoJ says those are racist. This is exactly the type of people the DoJ is trying to protect. Criminals.

From TheHill  “Republicans on the House Oversight Committee released documents on Monday saying that the ObamaCare “navigators” responsible for helping consumers enroll in the new law have made a series of errors and put sensitive consumer information at risk.

Documents released with the report said they have been giving enrollees misinformation, and have not done enough to keep secure consumers’ health information, Social Security numbers, yearly income and other tax information.”

“Some ObamaCare navigators, the report says, “encouraged consumers to commit tax fraud by underreporting income in order to qualify for ObamaCare’s health insurance subsidies.” 

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4. The White House says it’s OK, they trust these “community organizing groups” and that this is just GOP efforts to stifle the navigator program.

Yeah, fraud tends to draw that reaction. 🙄

From TheWaPo  “Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius says in a new op-ed that a House oversight committee hearing in Texas on Monday is “designed to stifle, intimidate and impugn the reputation” of Obamacare navigators.

The hearing, which is being run by committee Chairman Darrel Issa (R-Calif.), will be held in Dallas and is titled, “Who are the navigators?” Navigators are people who help others sign up for Obamacare.

“What opponents of the new law could not do legislatively, at the ballot box, or even by shutting down the federal government, they’re now trying to do through other means,” Sebelius says in the op-ed  in the Dallas Morning News. “Case in point is Monday’s congressional hearing in Dallas, designed to stifle, intimidate and impugn the reputation of people who have been working hard to help their fellow Texans get covered.

In a dueling op-ed, Issa and Dallas-area Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Tex.) cite “numerous examples of fraudulent activity related to health navigators in Texas.”

Please. This is ACORN. They impugned their own reputation long ago. The White House’s repeated backing of them has done the same for their reputation.

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5. The anti-Semitism amongst America’s college elite is no secret. But at least now they’re not trying to hide it anymore.

From TimesOfIsrael  “The membership of the American Studies Association endorsed its national council’s call for a boycott of Israeli universities.”

“The membership-wide canvas was unprecedented and was undertaken in part at the behest of boycott opponents, who said at a session during the ASA annual conference in Washington last month that the matter was too sensitive to leave up to the 20-member national council, which unanimously endorsed the boycott.”

“This shameful, morally bankrupt and intellectually dishonest attack on academic freedom by the American Studies Association should be soundly condemned by all who are committed to the ideal that open exchange of ideas is the most effective way to achieve change,” said National Director Abraham Foxman in a statement.

In the resolution passed unanimously by the ASA national council on December 4, the group asserted that Palestinian students and scholars enjoy “no effective or substantive academic freedom” under Israeli rule and that “Israeli institutions of higher learning are a party to Israeli state policies that violate human rights and negatively impact the working conditions of Palestinian scholars and students.”

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by

News/Politics 12-16-13

What’s interesting in the news today?

Open thread, here’s a few to start things off.

1. This should be viewed by everyone. And it should outrage you too. But thankfully, he now gets to tell his side. The Marines and White House should be ashamed of themselves.

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2. A veterans group is vowing to appeal a decision on a cross at a veterans memorial.

From MSNNews  “A veterans association that built a massive cross overlooking San Diego as part of a war memorial plans to fight a federal judge’s order to tear it down, a lawyer for the group said on Friday.

Attorney Jeff Mateer said he hoped the U.S. Supreme Court, which last year declined to intervene in the 25-year legal battle, will step in now that there has been an order to dismantle the cross, and rule for his clients.

“We are definitely appealing and are committed to preserving this veterans memorial the way it was intended to be, which includes a cross,” said Mateer, general counsel for the Liberty Institute, which is representing the Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial Association in the case.”

“On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Larry Burns grudgingly ruled that the 43-foot-tall (13-meter) cross, a local landmark that has stood atop Mount Soledad in San Diego since 1954, must be taken down because the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals found it violated a constitutional ban on government endorsement of religion.

Burns said in his ruling that he disagreed with the Ninth Circuit but that his hands were tied. He stayed his order to give the veterans group and the Obama administration, which has also fought removal of the cross, time to appeal.”

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3. ObamaCare, and it’s trinity of lies.

From TheNYPost  “ObamaCare was sold on a trinity of lies.”

That ornate phrase, more suitable for the Book of Revelations or perhaps the next “Game of Thrones,” installment comes from my colleague Rich Lowry. But I like it.

Most people know the first deception in the triumvirate of deceit: “If you like your health insurance you can keep it, period.” The second leg in the tripod of deception was “If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.”

But the third plank in the triad of disinformation hasn’t gotten much attention: ObamaCare will save you, me and the country a lot of money. This lie took several forms.”

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by

News/Politics 12-14-13

What’s interesting in the news today?

Open thread, here’s a few to start off.

1. They just don’t learn. There is no such thing as a moderate Islamist.

From TheLongWarJournal  “After the US’ efforts to prop up the Free Syrian Army have failed and the larger Islamist brigades of the FSA, which have fought alongside al Qaeda, have defected and created the Islamic Front, the Obama administration is now seeking to court the Islamic Front. The catch: The group must denounce al Qaeda and join the peace process.  Here is an excerpt:

The Obama administration is willing to consider supporting an expanded Syrian rebel coalition that would include Islamist groups, provided the groups are not allied with al-Qaeda and agree to support upcoming peace talks in Geneva, a senior U.S. official said Thursday.

In addition, the official said, the Americans would like the Islamic Front groups to return U.S. vehicles, communications gear and other non-lethal equipment they seized last weekend from warehouses at the Syria-Turkey border.”

Maybe we should make them pinky swear too, just to be sure. 🙄

And maybe a pretty please will get your stuff back too.

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2. Remember folks, taxpayer dollars don’t fund abortion. But it frees up 1.5 million a day that will.

From TheDailyCaller  “Planned Parenthood’s 2012-2013 annual report is out, and a pro-life group has already found that the pro-abortion group received nearly $1.5 million a day in government funding over the year.”

“Twenty-six percent of Planned Parenthood’s revenue came from private contributions in 2012, 25 percent came from non-government health services revenue and 4 percent came from “other.” Government grants and reimbursements accounted for 45 percent of Planned Parenthood’s revenue, or $540.6 million.

The organization further reported over $1.3 billion in net assets and $58.2 million in excess revenue.”

The Hyde Amend. is just one more law in a long list that this administration ignores or refuses to enforce or defend.

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3. Which brings us to this piece.

From TheWeeklyStandard  “Congressman Tom Rice of South Carolina, a Republican, is sponsoring a resolution in the House of Representatives that would, if adopted, direct the legislative body “to bring a civil action for declaratory or injunctive relief to challenge certain policies and actions taken by the executive branch.” In other words, Rep. Rice wants to take President Obama to court for not faithfully executing the laws.

“President Obama has adopted a practice of picking and choosing which laws he wants to enforce. In most cases, his laws of choice conveniently coincide with his Administration’s political agenda. Our Founding Fathers created the Executive Branch to implement and enforce the laws written by Congress and vested this power in the President.  However, President Obama has chosen to ignore some of the laws written by Congress and implemented by preceding Presidents,” Rice wrote in a letter to fellow House members to ask them to co-sponsor this resolution.

“This resolution allows the House of Representatives to bring legal action against the Executive Branch and challenge recent actions, inactions, and policies.” The “legal action against the President” would be, according to an aide for Rep. Rice, “for ignoring Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution.” Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution states,

He shall from time to time give to the Congress information of the state of the union, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and in case of disagreement between them, with respect to the time of adjournment, he may adjourn them to such time as he shall think proper; he shall receive ambassadors and other public ministers; he shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed, and shall commission all the officers of the United States.”

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4. DHS is urging insurers to cover people starting January 1st, even if they haven’t paid yet.

Yeah, that’ll work. 🙄

From CNSNews  “Fearing that many people will think they have health insurance coverage  when they do not,  Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is “urging” insurance companies to “give  consumers  additional time to pay their first month’s premium and still  have  coverage beginning Jan. 1, 2014.”

Insurance companies should cover people who haven’t yet paid, in other words.

With just a few weeks to go until Obamacare takes full effect, Sebelius announced additional changes on Thursday,  some that tell insurance companies how to run their business and others  that “strongly” encourage insurance companies to waive their rules — on  premium payments, for example.

Sebelius now says insurance companies MUST accept payments through December 31  (instead of Dec. 23) for health care coverage that begins the next day,  Jan. 1.”

They ignore and re-write this as they go along. Also illegal according to their own law.

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5. And as if things weren’t bad enough, a new glitch that steals money from your bank account. Nice. 🙄

From KGW/Portland  “For the second week in a row, the Washington Healthplanfinder website is down, and it’s causing problems for people who are dealing with billing issues. Some of them say the website is mistakenly debiting their accounts.

Shannon Bruner of Indianola logged on to her checking account Monday morning, and found she was almost 800 dollars in the negative.”

“The Bruners enrolled for insurance on the Washington Healthplanfinder website, last October. They say they selected the bill pay date to be December 24th. Instead the Washington Healthplanfinder drafted the 835 dollar premium Monday.”

“One viewer emailed KING 5 saying, “They drafted my account this morning for a second time.”

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News/Politics 12-13-13

What’s interesting in today’s news?

There’s a whole bunch, so I’ll try to be brief.

1. Politifact has chosen it’s “Lie of the Year.”

From Politifact  “It was a catchy political pitch and a chance to calm nerves about his dramatic and complicated plan to bring historic change to America’s health insurance system.

“If you like your health care plan, you can keep it,” President Barack Obama said — many times — of his landmark new law.”

“For all of these reasons, PolitiFact has named “If you like your health care plan, you can keep it,” the Lie of the Year for 2013. Readers in a separate online poll overwhelmingly agreed with the choice.”

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2. You’ve heard of so-called “white privilege.” Now there’s a new meme.

I give you…. “Christian privilege.”

From TheWashingtonExaminer  “It’s settled, then: Christian conservatives use religion as a justification for their discriminatory behavior, and Americans will only enjoy true religious freedom when their so-called “religious liberty” claims are defeated.

That was the consensus Thursday at a panel discussion sponsored by the Center for American Progress in Washington.

“People [are] using the term ‘liberty’ when they really mean ‘my liberty, your slavery,'” the Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy, president of the Interfaith Alliance, said during the discussion. He made the statement while arguing that liberals’ view of religious liberty springs from a true, originalist reading of the Constitution that was once universally understood. Unfortunately, he said, the American people have become “confused” about this question because of misleading claims made by the U.S. Conference of Catholic bishops.” 🙄

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3. I’ve always known that teachers unions went out of their way to fight for bad teachers. But this is disgusting, even for them.

From EAGNews  “The Michigan Education Association is going to arbitration to try to force the West Branch-Rose City school district to pay a former teacher who was convicted of molesting a student a $10,000 severance buyout.

The father of the victim is outraged, calling the union’s efforts on behalf of the sex criminal “ludicrous” and saying any school money due to the teacher should go to his son, who is “out there trying to make it in this world all messed up.”

Neal Erickson, a former math teacher at Rose City Middle School, was convicted this summer of raping a young student over three years, from 2006 to 2009, and sentenced to 15-30 years in prison.”

Disgusting.

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4. OK fine, now do something about it.

From TownHall  “In a letter sent late Wednesday, Chairman of the House Oversight Committee Darrell Issa reminded Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius that obstructing a congressional investigation is a crime.

  Issa’s Committee has been looking into the details of how Obamacare was implemented, along with the major problems with Healthcare.gov and has requested a number of documents from HHS, none of which he’s received. The documents requested pertain to companies hired by HHS to build and operate Healthcare.gov.

  “The Department [HHS] subsequently instructed those companies not to comply with the Committee’s request. The Department’s hostility toward questions from Congress and the media about the implementation of Obamcare is well known. The Department’s most recent effort to stonewall, however, has morphed from mere obstinacy into criminal obstruction of a congressional investigation,” Issa wrote.”

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5. The natives are getting restless. 🙂

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6. Casual handshake, or something else?

From TheDailyMail  “Obama shook Raúl Castro’s hand after SIX MONTHS of secret U.S.-Cuba talks, report claims

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7. In govt circles, I’m sure this is called a bargain. What the rest of us call it is a debacle.

From AmericansForTaxReform  “Taxpayers Shell Out $14,000 per Obamacare “Enrollee”

$5.2 billion for just 364,682 “enrollees”

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8. Harry Reid is up to some pretty slimy dealings. Again.

From TheDailyCaller  “Senate Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid took an intense interest in pushing through visas for dozens of shady Asian investors for a Las Vegas casino represented by his son, Rory Reid, documents and reports show.”

“In a Dec. 5, 2012 email to officials at the Department of Homeland Security obtained by The Washington Times, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Legislative Affairs official Miguel Rodriguez wrote, “This one is going to be a major headache for us all because Sen. Reid’s office/staff is pushing hard and I just had a long yelling match on the phone.””

“Initial attempts by Sen. Reid’s office to expedite the visa requests were denied on Dec. 17, 2012, prompting the majority leader to personally call USCIS Director Alejandro Mayorkas.”

““Within a few short weeks of Mr. Reid’s personal intervention, the decision not to expedite the visas was reversed, allowing the hotel to secure major funding from JP Morgan Chase,” the Times reports.”

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News/Politics 12-12-13

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. The Tea Party members of the party are not a big fan of the budget deal.

From TheWashingtonTimes  “Tea party and conservative groups pounced on the budget proposal that congressional leaders carved out behind closed doors, saying that the plan is based on the faulty premise of increasing spending now in exchange for future spending cuts that will never materialize.

They said that House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, the GOP budget negotiator, can kiss goodbye any chance of winning over grassroots activists if he chooses to run for president in 2016 after he surrendered ground on across-the-board “sequester” cuts to spending rolled back in the new deal.”

“Mr. Ryan and Senate Budget Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray, Washington Democrat, announced late Tuesday that they had reached a two-year budget deal that would reduce the deficit by $23 billion over ten years without raising taxes.

The proposal restored $63 billion on the across-the-board “sequester” cuts to defense and non-defense programs. It also included higher fees on airline travel and requires federal employees to contribute more for their retirement benefits.”

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2. Democrats are making use of the change in filibuster rules. This was their motivation, to stack the court that most directly oversees the White House with like-minded liberals.

From HotAir  “Senate Democrats revealed their primary motivation for changing the filibuster rules today when they confirmed Obama nominee Patricia Millett to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on a 56-38 vote:

Senators voted 56-38 to approve Washington lawyer Patricia Millett to join the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, the nation’s second most powerful court.

Both sides saw Millett’s appointment as pivotal. It will give Democratic-appointed judges a 5-4 majority over those chosen by Republican presidents for that court, which rules on the legality of White House actions and federal agency regulations.

That last part is the important part: the DC Court of Appeals has jurisdiction over regulatory and executive matters. The last few years have shown us that blurring the lines on exactly what constitutes regulatory and executive authority has been a key tool of the Obama Administration.”

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3. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn) has fired his chief of staff Ryan Loskarn after his home was searched in a child porn investigation.

From NBCNews  “Alexander, a veteran senator who’s up for re-election in 2014, said that law enforcement agents had conducted a search this morning of the residence of Ryan Loskarn. Alexander announced earlier in the day that Loskarn had been placed on administrative leave, and later released a statement to announce had been let go.

“The courts will judge Mr. Loskarn’s guilt or innocence, but under these circumstances, he cannot continue to fulfill his duties as chief of staff of this office. Therefore, as of today, I have removed him from the payroll,” Alexander said in a statement.”

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4. Told ya’ so. Why do liberals always have to learn the hard way?

Any aid you give ends up in the hands of the radicals Islamists. It’s who the rebels are. This is a good start, now make sure you turn off ALL of the weapons supply too.

From BuzzFeed  “The United States has suspended delivery of non-lethal aid into northern Syria due to concerns over gains by Islamist rebels there, a U.S. official said on Tuesday.

The suspension halts direct U.S. assistance to Syria’s rebel-held north, long an opposition stronghold and the focal point of U.S. efforts to support the country’s moderate opposition. The affected aid includes supplies such as food and medicine, as well as vehicles and communications equipment.

The official said that humanitarian aid — which the U.S. channels through international and non-governmental organizations — will continue “and is not impacted by this suspension.”

The suspension comes in response to a worrisome development for the Free Syrian Army, or FSA, the moderate rebel coalition backed by the U.S. and its western allies. The FSA has been losing ground steadily to hardline rebel factions, including local affiliates of Al-Qaeda and a powerful rival coalition called the Islamic Front. On Friday, Islamic Front fighters overtook several key FSA headquarters and warehouses in Atimeh, a town near the Turkish border, dealing the FSA a bracing blow — and drawing alarm from the U.S.”

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5. Yet another ObamaCare navigator nailed by Project Veritas.

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6. Grinch Alert!!!

This lady thinks Santa needs a PC makeover, so the kids don’t get scarred for life. 🙄

From Slate  “When I was a kid, I knew two different Santa Clauses. The first had a fat belly, rosy cheeks, a long white beard, and skin as pink as bubble gum. He was omnipresent, visiting my pre-school and the local mall, visible in all of my favorite Christmas specials.

Then there was the Santa in my family’s household, in the form of ornaments, cards, and holiday figurines. A near-carbon copy of the first one—big belly, rosy cheeks, long white beard: check, check, check. But his skin was as dark as mine.”

“And so I propose that America abandon Santa-as-fat-old-white-man and create a new symbol of Christmas cheer. From here on out, Santa Claus should be a penguin. That’s right: a penguin.

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News/Politics 12-11-13

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. Looks like a budget deal been reached.

From TheWashingtonPost  “House and Senate negotiators unveiled an $85-billion agreement late Tuesday to fund federal agencies through the fall of 2015, avoiding another government shutdown and ending the cycle of crisis that has paralyzed Washington for much of the past three years.

In a rare display of bipartisan cooperation, House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) stood side-by-side in the Capitol with Senate Budget Committee chairman Patty Murray (D-Wash.) to announce the deal, which would cancel half the sharp spending cuts known as the sequester for the current fiscal year.”

“I am very proud to stand here today with Chairman Ryan to say that we have broken through the gridlock,” said Murray, calling the agreement “an important step in helping to heal some of the wounds here in Congress and show we can do something without another crisis around the corner.”

Ryan called the agreement “a clear improvement on the status quo” that protects the Pentagon from fresh cuts set to hit January while trimming deficits by more than $20 billion over the next decade.”

Call me unimpressed.

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2. I told you the other day about Holder’s DoJ was steering settlement money to community organizers. Seems the USDA has a similar program to steer large piles of cash to questionable individuals and groups.

From TheBlaze  “Between 2008 and 2011, the U.S. government awarded roughly $6.12 million in federal farm subsidies to several groups in the Chicago area, including a charity owned by Louis Farrakhan’s The Nation of Islam, according to a report released by government watchdog group Open the Books.

The report, titled “Farm Subsidies and the Big Dogs,” is based on data released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture & information obtained through the Freedom of Information Act. The report examines total farm subsidies that have been paid into selected cities and urban areas.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, federal farm subsidies are being poured into several non-farming metropolitan areas, including New York City and Chicago, according to the report.

Several entities in Chicago, for example, “receive the federal subsidies at their downtown loop office buildings or residential mansions,” the report reads. “Nearly every neighborhood in the city receives federal farm subsidy payments — including the Gold Coast, Downtown — Loop, Lincoln Park, and even the President’s neighbors in Hyde Park.” A total of 930 entities in the Chicago area received farm subsidies between 2008 and 2011.”

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3. A Dem pollster has been shocked to find no racism in Tea Partiers. So they had to make some up. 🙄

From Mediaite  “The Democratic pollster Democracy Corps, commissioning research from Greenberg Quinlan Rosner, recently dug into that foreign species commonly referred to as “the conservative voter.” In a dispatch that reads like the curious field notes Charles Darwin scribbled while observing the natural wonders of the Galapagos, the Democratic pollsters have found that the family Republican is made up of a variety of genera, including moderates, tea partiers and socially conservative evangelicals.”

“We know that Evangelicals are the largest bloc in the base, with the Tea Party very strong as Well,” the memo reads. They feign shock at the notion that Republicans view President Barack Obama as a “liar” and a “manipulator,” two designations that the majority of American voters would agree with but to which the Democratic base’s Pavlovian response is to point and shriek “racism.”

Indeed, the pollsters even confess that they “expected” to find more racism among Republican voters. “We expected that in this comfortable setting or in their private written notes, some would make a racial reference or racist slur when talking about the African American President,” they confess. “None did.”

“But this response by the voters they surveyed is viewed by Democracy Corps pollsters more as a clever evolutionary response to a history of predation. The Republican voter, the pollsters declare, harbors racial consciousness that is only masked by an effective camouflage:”

They couldn’t find any, but just know it’s there. Why else would they be against Obama, right? 🙄

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4. More Common Core indoctrination masquerading as education.

From EAGNews  “Next month, the organization, Creating Balance in an Unjust World, will hold its annual conference on “math education and social justice”.

The conference is sponsored by Radical Math, an organization founded by Jonathan Osler, a math and community organizing teacher at a Coalition of Essential Schools high school in Brooklyn, NY.

The Coalition of Essential Schools (CES) is the progressive education reform movement expanded by President Obama and domestic terrorist William Ayers through their work with the Chicago Annenberg Challenge in the 90′s.”

“Radical Math’s website provides over 700 lesson plans and other resources covering a wide range of political and social issues (with extreme bias), including globalization, the redistribution of wealth, and various ways the poor are discriminated against and oppressed by whites, banks, corporations, the rich, and the government. One such resource, Rethinking Mathematics: Teaching Social Justice by the Numbers, contains chapters titled, “Sweatshop Accounting”, “Racism and Stop and Frisk”, “When Equal Isn’t Fair”, “The Square Root of a Fair Share”, and “Home Buying While Brown or Black”.”

Yeah…..

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5. Hey Canada…. what gives, eh? 🙂

From MyFoxNY  “Canada plans to make a claim to the North Pole in an effort to assert its sovereignty in the resource-rich Arctic, the country’s foreign affairs minister said Monday.

John Baird said the government has asked scientists to work on a future submission to the United Nations claiming that the outer limits of the country’s continental shelf include the pole, which so far has been claimed by no one.

Canada last week applied to extend its seabed claims in the Atlantic Ocean, including some preliminary Arctic claims, but it wants more time to prepare a claim that would include the pole.”

“Countries including the U.S. and Russia are increasingly looking to the Arctic as a source of natural resources and shipping lanes. The U.S. Geological Survey says the region contains 30 percent of the world’s undiscovered natural gas and 15 percent of oil. If Canada’s claim is accepted by the U.N. commission, it would dramatically grow its share.”

Will Santa’s workshop be in the claim too? 😯

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