What’s interesting in the news today?

Open Thread.

Here’s a few to start.

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The next crisis saga has begun. Fiscal Armageddon or something. Across the board(govt) cuts.

Let’s face it, there’s plenty they could have reasonably cut from our bloated federal budget. They don’t mind the Defense cuts. Liberals like them. But since they weren’t willing to cut social programs, this is the result, everybody gets it. And one more thing to keep in mind. In many cases these so-called cuts are only cuts in proposed spending increases, NOT the actual existing budget. They just get less of an increase than they hoped for. Only in govt. is that considered a budget cut.

From Politico

“President Obama sought to sound the alarm on sequester cuts once again and blame Congress for failing to avert them as the clock ticks down on their implementation.

Starting next Friday, he said, the cuts will cost hundreds of thousands of jobs and excoriate the economy. They were never designed to happen, he said.

“This was all designed to say ‘We can’t do these bad cuts, we need to do something smarter,'” Obama said at a White House event.”

Hmmmm…… and yet you didn’t Mr. President. You were too busy with your anti-gun thing and amnesty. But now it’s a crisis, or something. 🙄

And you forgot to mention these cuts loom because you negotiated this deal, and signed it into law.

From HotAir

“Via Charlie Spiering and Guy Benson, whose headline is better than mine. WaPo’s right that this is all about preparing the ground spin-wise for the coming budget standoff with the GOP. The more alarmist O is now, the more pressure in theory there’ll be on Republicans to agree to anything — like new tax revenues — to avert the sequester, which, as you’re hopefully by now aware, was actually the White House’s idea initially and which O himself stood by as recently as late last year. In a more honest world, he would have used the troops and defense contractors as his backdrop here. But he doesn’t want to make defense his anti-cuts showpiece. His base loves the idea of shrinking the Pentagon’s budget; O himself likes it enough to have nominated Chuck Hagel to serve as his Republican rubber-stamp for the practice. So the “potted plants” du jour are first responders, whose budgets will supposedly end up being slashed to put a small dent in annual deficits because Democrats still aren’t ready to address the real driver of unsustainability, mandatory spending. To get a better sense of what that means big-picture, follow the link to Benson’s post and note the graph at the bottom. John Sexton remembers that the whole point of the sequester when it passed was to impose cuts so unpalatable to both sides that they’d surely agree to a grand bargain to avert them before those cuts took effect. The GOP agreed to tax hikes at New Year’s as part of the revenue side of that bargain. Where’s the Dems’ agreement on the (mandatory) spending side?”

That noise you hear is the crickets. It’s the same noise you hear when budgets are mentioned.

And so you don’t forget, these are the same cuts Obama promised to veto any attempts to change. 

From WeaselZippers

“Via CBS News (11/21/2011):

President Obama is promising to veto any effort to undo the automatic spending cuts that are set to take effect now that the congressional supercommittee has announced its failure to strike a deal to cut $1.2 trillion from the deficit over the next 10 years.

“Already some in Congress are trying to undo these automatic spending cuts. My message to them is simple: No,” Mr. Obama said from the White House briefing room Monday evening. “I will veto any effort to get rid of those automatic spending cuts to domestic and defense spending.”

“There will be no easy off ramps on this one.,” he added.””

A crisis of his and Senate Dems own making. And now they want to save us from it. How convenient. 🙄

Meanwhile, back in the real world, real companies are preparing for the worst, as are their workers.

From TheWashingtonTimes

“Hundreds of Pentagon-related companies large and  small are preparing to lay off thousands of employees as Congress takes a recess this week, so far unable to agree on how to undo automatic military spending cuts set to begin March 1.”

““The biggest killer for us last year was the uncertainty,” Mr.  Kapoor said. “Even if there’s an eleventh-hour deal made [on sequestration],  it’s probably going to kick the can down the road.””

Of course they will. They’re not real leaders, they just play one on TV.

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John McCain had his hands full trying to sell the Senate Immigration/Amnesty Plan to his constituents.

From Yahoo

“Also Tuesday, McCain hosted two town hall meetings in Arizona, during which he defended his immigration plan to upset residents concerned about border security. A bipartisan group of senators — including Arizona Republicans McCain and Jeff Flake — want assurances on border security as Congress weighs what could be the biggest changes to immigration law in nearly 30 years. Arizona is the only state with both of its senators working on immigration reform in Congress, a sign of the state’s widely debated border security issues.”

“During a heated town hall gathering in the Phoenix suburb of Sun Lakes, McCain said the border near Yuma is largely secure, but he said smugglers are using the border near Tucson to pump drugs into Phoenix. He said immigration reform should be contingent on better border security that must rely largely on technology able to detect border crossings.”

Good luck convincing them they should believe you, and not their lyin’ eyes John.

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And lastly, never underestimate good ol’ fashioned American ingenuity. Liberals will absolutely hate it. Bonus! 🙂

From TheWashingtonPost

“Twenty minutes into his State of the Union address last week, President Obama entered the realm of uber-geekery — three-dimensional printing. The magical devices capable of printing prosthetics, violins and even aircraft parts have the potential, the president said, “to revolutionize the way we make almost everything.”

Forty miles away from the Capitol, in Glen Burnie, Md., Travis Lerol is proving Obama’s point — with guns.

In a spare bedroom, where an AR-15 rifle leans against the wall, Lerol is using a 3-D printer no larger than an espresso machine to make plastic rifle parts and ammunition magazines in between tea sets and chess pieces. The parts print, layer over layer, creating objects like an ink-jet printer etches words.”

“Three-dimensional printers offer a potentially easy way around restrictions and registrations — a source of growing consternation among gun-control advocates and some allies in Congress.”

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What’s interesting in the news today?

As always, Open Thread, so feel free to share with the group. 🙂

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This first one, I’m troubled by. I’m uncomfortable with the idea of arresting people for not taking their prescribed medications.

From TheNYPost

“The city is making a major push to sweep the streets of dangerous, mentally ill New Yorkers — and has even compiled a most-wanted list, The Post has learned.”

“Those warrants mean that the patients are not wanted for a crime but instead are being sought because they are not getting their court-ordered treatment.”

“In the past, the city Department of Health would ask cops for help finding mentally ill people who aren’t taking their court-mandated meds so they could be taken to clinics. But that only applied to those who had known addresses — and patients who went off the grid were rarely pursued, the sources said.”

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File this under “Not shocking”.

From TheWashingtonExaminer

“Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., indicated that Senate Democrats would renege on their promise to pass the first budget in four years if Republicans did not agree to raise taxes in order to avert the automatic spending cuts mandated by sequestration.

“Senator Murray is working on a budget right now and we hope we can get that done,” Reed said on CNN, referring to Senate Budget Committee chairman Patty Murray, D-Wash. “But we need time. So the sequestration will prevent — preempt us from getting a budget done and other factors.””

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In a sometimes contentious hearing, economists told the House that despite Dem claims, unemployment benefits hurt employment rates. Extensions of UC would only worsen this. Nancy Pelosi hardest hit by the news.

From TheWashingtonFreeBeacon

“Unemployment insurance and other forms of government benefits act as a disincentive to work, economists across the political spectrum agree.

Three different economic experts testified before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Job Creation, and Regulatory Affairs on Thursday afternoon during a heated and contentious hearing. All said that government benefits that kick in during unemployment decrease the economic incentive to pursue work, although they disagreed about the extent of the benefits’ effect.”

“Casey Mulligan, an economics professor at the University of Chicago and author of a recent book on the effect that safety net programs have had on employment, argued that the government’s expansion of assistance programs in the wake of the recession actually has made it financially harmful to return to work in some cases.”

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According to the Chicago teachers union, the problem isn’t their fault. It’s those silly standards. And students agree, so it must be true. 🙄

From TheDailyCaller

“The Chicago Teachers Union urged school administrators nationwide to discontinue the use of  standardized tests, deriding them as corporate tools.

The CTU recently released a report arguing that standardized tests are a  faulty measure of student achievement. They also advance a pro-corporate agenda,  the report said.

“Corporate interests continue to push towards a test‐centered public  education system that is clearly harmful to students,” according to the  report.”

“The union’s anti-testing push is part of a broader campaign by teachers unions  nationwide. Teachers at one Seattle high school recently went on strike, refusing to administer a test that they feared would be  used to hold them accountable.”

Oh something’s harming students alright. Try looking in a mirror to find the guilty parties.

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And if you missed John McCain on Meet the Press, you should check it out. He put David Gregory in his place.

You can watch it here from HotAir

“If I had tried to guess on Saturday which Sunday talk show would get the most contentious, the pairing of John McCain with NBC’s David Gregory on Meet the Press would have come in last on my most-likely list.  After all, this clip starts off by discussing the confirmation of Chuck Hagel, which McCain has already said should take place.  McCain threw a wrench in the plans last week by supporting a hold/filibuster on his former friend and Senate colleague, though, and Gregory wants to know why.  That’s when the fireworks began, as McCain alleged a “massive cover-up” about the White House handling of the Benghazi attack, and Gregory acted as though it was the first time he’s heard of such a claim:”

““I’m asking you, do you care whether four Americans died?” McCain said. “And shouldn’t people be held accountable for the fact that four Americans died?”

“Well, what you said was the cover-up–a cover-up of what?” Gregory asked.

“Of the information concerning the deaths of four brave Americans,” McCain replied. “The information has not been forthcoming. You obviously believe that it has. I know that it hasn’t. And I’ll be glad to send you a list of the questions that have not been answered, including ‘What did the president do and who did he talk to the night of the attack on Benghazi?’”

A least Gregory didn’t use the “What difference does it make” defense.

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What’s interesting in the news today?

Lot’s out there today.

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Since it’s President’s Day, let’s start there.

From RealClearPolitics

“Obama’s Gangster Government Operates Above the Law”

“Presidents’ State of the Union addresses are delivered in the chamber of the House of Representatives in the Capitol. The classical majesty of this building where laws are made symbolizes the idea that we live under the rule of law.

Unfortunately, the 44th president is running an administration that too often seems to ignore the rule of law.”

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Typical liberal response. Throw more money at obvious failures. Just like with public education.

From NationalReview

“It is a little-appreciated irony of history that the big-bang theory was at first welcomed by Christian thinkers such as Pope Pius XII, and rejected by such scientific icons as Albert Einstein, for the same reason: It suggests a creation event, or at least leaves room for one, which, to the mind of Einstein, a devotee of the steady-state theory of the universe, was intellectually unacceptable, even though the evidence supported it. Such is the well-earned prestige of the scientific calling that Barack Obama, not known to be a man of science, famously promised to “restore science to its rightful place” in political life, unlike those flat-earthers in the Bush administration. We all adore science — right up until the moment it tells us something we do not wish to hear.

During his State of the Union address, President Obama demanded a massive expansion of federal spending on pre-kindergarten education, just a few weeks after having attempted to bury a report from the Department of Health and Human Services finding that the largest program in the field, Head Start, produces negligible results, and sometimes produces negative results. The study, released on the Friday before Christmas so as to minimize public attention to it, was hardly the first of its kind. The best scientific research we have — going back decades now — finds that Head Start does not provide the promised benefits, and indeed provides few if any benefits at all despite its extravagant annual cost of $23,000 per student, well more than double the cost of many highly regarded private schools and full-day kindergartens. Studies of early-childhood-education programs many orders of magnitude more intensive than Head Start come to similar conclusions.”

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It seems the story from the other day on a gun maker snubbing NY has an update. Others have joined the cause and more are still deciding whether to join. 🙂

From Breitbart

“Six gun companies have announced plans to stop selling any of their products to any government agency in states that severely limit the rights of private gun ownership.

Disappointed with New York State lawmakers and other jurisdictions around the country who have passed strict gun control legislation, the companies—composed of firearm manufacturers, gunsmiths, and sporting goods retailers—have announced these policies in the past week.

Their various statements emphasize that such laws create a class of government employees with rights and a class of citizens without rights. Thus, they refuse to aid the enforcement of such inequality.”

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I’m not a big fan of Nascar, but this is noteworthy. History has been made.

From YahooSports

“A year after making her Sprint Cup Series debut in the same race, Danica Patrick will lead the field to the green flag for the Daytona 500 after qualifying on the pole during Sunday’s front row qualifying session at Daytona International Speedway.

It wasn’t necessarily a surprise. Patrick posted the fastest speed of Saturday’s two qualifying practices and ran slightly faster during her second qualifying lap on Sunday, knocking owner and teammate Tony Stewart from the provisional pole. She’s the first woman to win a pole position in Sprint Cup Series history.”

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In other news, now you know what Occupy is up to these days.

From TheLATimes

“Dozens of protesters gathered outside the Los Angeles Police Department headquarters downtown Saturday afternoon, holding signs of support for Christopher Dorner, the fired police officer suspected of killing four people.

Those gathered said they were protesting police corruption and the way the massive manhunt for Dorner was conducted. Authorities said Dorner appears to have died from a self-inflected gunshot wound after a shootout with police in Big Bear on Tuesday, ending a deadly rampage that stretched across Southern California.”

More on his “supporters” here at Breitbart

“Occupy Los Angeles has chosen to honor Chris Dorner in the wake of his death, despite the body count he apparently amassed.”

“The statement of support and solidarity was posted on the Occupy Los Angeles’ official Facebook page Wednesday. The statement came in the form of a posted picture captioned with the phrases “Rest In Power Chris Dorner” and “Assassinated By The Police for Trying To Expose LAPD Corruption.”

The Occupy Los Angeles page has nearly 56,000 likes and supporters. At the time of this article’s posting, nearly 900 Occupy Supporters “Liked” the expression of support for the cop-killer, and nearly 400 users reposted the image to their own Facebook accounts.

Many of the nearly 400 comments left by Occupy Los Angeles followers expressed support, with some going as far as saying “Kill Kill Kill the White man,” and “LAPD got their Karma.””

Just a reminder on what the guy they support did, from WeaselZippers.

“For those on the left that talk of some greater mission of Dorner’s, let’s look at how he went about supposedly executing that mission. Yes, executing, because he allegedly killed four people who had nothing to with any conceivable LAPD corruption.

He allegedly killed Monica Quan because she was the daughter of his former counsel, and he wanted revenge for what he perceived as Randall Quan’s failing him.

Keith Lawrence was killed because he happened to be the fiancée of Monica. They had just become engaged. They were about to start their life together. Dorner took that away, for revenge.

Michael Crain, was shot and killed in an ambush before dawn Feb. 7 as he and an officer he was training stopped their marked patrol car at a traffic light at Magnolia and Arlington avenues in Riverside, police said. The other officer, who has not been identified, was injured. Their crime? Being police officers who unfortunately crossed the path of Dorner’s mad revenge.  Michael  had two children that will grow up without a father and a wife that adored him.

Finally, Jeremiah McKay, who was shot at the cabin in the woods. He had a wife and 3 children, one of whom was just four months old.”

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And last, a piece by Walter E. Williams.

From InvestorsBusinessDaily

“Our Real Problem Is Cultural Decay, Not Guns”

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What’s interesting in the news today?

Open Thread, you decide.

Here’s a few to get things rollin’.

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File this first one under “Unintended Consequences”.

From AmmoLand.com,  

York Arms Cancels All Its New York Police Orders

“Based on the recent legislation in New York, we are prohibited from selling  rifles and receivers to residents of New York.

We have chosen to extend that prohibition to all governmental agencies  associated with or located within New York.

As a result we have halted sales of rifles, short barreled rifles, short  barreled shotguns, machine guns, and silencers to New York governmental  agencies.”

There’s also an effort under way to get SIG, Smith and Wesson, and Glock on board to do the same.

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Jesse Jackson Jr. to plead guilty, with jail time.

From Politico

“Former Rep. Jesse L. Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) will plead guilty to conspiring  with his wife to illegally spend $750,000 in campaign funds on personal  expenses, including a $43,000 Rolex watch, fur coats and memorabilia associated  with Michael Jackson, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and Bruce Lee, according  to information obtained by POLITICO.

The charges against him include conspiracy, making false statements, and mail and wire fraud.”

“Prosecutors will recommend a prison sentence of between 46 months and 57 months  for Jackson Jr., as well as a fine of $10,000 to $100,000, and forfeiture of a  yet-to-be-determined portion of the misspent $750,000 in campaign funds.”

His wife and an Alderwoman, as well as Jr.’s campaign manager/treasurer has also pled to a tax charge.

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But hey, at least the Obama admin is trying to make easier for them to find employment when they get out.

Should it be a federal crime to refuse to hire ex-convicts and felons? The EEOC thinks so. I can see so many places where this could be a huge problem. And let’s be honest, this is just another attempt to push for the restoration of voting rights as well.

From TheWallStJournal

“The EEOC ignored that judicial thrashing and pressed on. Last April, the agency unveiled its “Enforcement Guidance on the Consideration of arrest and Conviction Records in Employment Decisions,” declaring that “criminal record exclusions have a disparate impact based on race and national origin.”

Though blacks make up only 13% of the U.S. population, more blacks were arrested nationwide for robbery, murder and manslaughter in 2009 than whites, according to the FBI. The imprisonment rate for black men “was nearly 7 times higher than White men and almost 3 times higher than Hispanic men,” notes the EEOC. These statistical disparities inspired the EEOC to rewrite the corporate hiring handbook to level the playing field between “protected groups” and the rest of the workforce.”

“Most businesses perform criminal background checks on job applicants, but the EEOC guidance frowns on such checks and creates new legal tripwires that could spark federal lawsuits. One EEOC commissioner who opposed the new policy, Constance Barker, warned in April that “the only real impact the new Guidance will have will be to scare business owners from ever conducting criminal background checks. . . . The Guidance tells them that they are taking a tremendous risk if they do.””

Once again liberals attempt to remove the punishments associated with committing criminal acts. When you are a convicted criminal, certain job opportunities become unavailable to you. And that makes sense. This doesn’t.

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And lastly, like above, more waste of taxpayer dollars.

From JudicialWatch

“Judicial Watch today released previously unseen USDA videos revealing a compulsory “Cultural Sensitivity Training” program requiring USDA employees to bang on tables, chanting in unison “The pilgrims were illegal aliens” while being instructed to no longer use the word “minorities,” but to replace it with “emerging majorities.” Judicial Watch received the videos pursuant to a May 18, 2012, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.

The sensitivity training sessions, described as “a huge expense” by diversity awareness trainer and self-described “citizen of the world” Samuel Betances, were held on USDA premises. The diversity event is apparently part of what USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack described in a memo sent to all agency employees as a “new era of Civil Rights” and “a broader effort towards cultural transformation at USDA.”  In 2011 and 2012, the USDA paid Betances and his firm nearly $200,000 for their part in the “cultural transformation” program.

USDA Training Administrator, Vincent Loran, in an October 10, 2011, email previously revealed by Judicial Watch, asked Betances for a copy of a training video vowing to keep it secret. “It will not be used for or show [sic] in any way shape or form,” Loran promised.  Nevertheless, Judicial Watch was able to obtain the video.”

🙄

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What’s interesting in the news today?

Open Thread, what’ve ya’ got?

Here’s a few to start.

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Remember folks, this is the same people charged with enforcing the border. If the new amnesty/immigration plan goes thru, DHS will decide when the border is secure. This is their idea of secure. But of course, it’s not.

From CNSNews

“The men and women charged with enforcing federal  immigration law are being prohibited from doing so by the Obama  administration, according to Chris Crane, president of the union that  represents officers and agents employed by the Department of Homeland  Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

“I think most Americans assume that ICE agents and officers are  empowered by the government to enforce the law,” Crane said on Wednesday  at Senate Judiciary Committee meeting on immigration reform. “Nothing  could be further from the truth.”

““If an alien is arrested by local police and placed in jail, again,  ICE agents may not arrest them for illegal entry or VISA overstay,”  Crane said. “New policies require that illegal aliens have a felony  arrest or conviction or be convicted of three or more misdemeanors.”

““ICE is crumbling from within,” Crane said. “Morale is at an all time  low as criminal aliens are released to the streets and ICE instead  takes disciplinary actions against its own officers for making lawful  arrests.”

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I find this one odd . Notice he’s not worried about porn and all the other garbage out there. He’s only concerned because he was personally mocked. Free speech and press is OK, as long as you leave them alone. Don’t get me wrong, I agree with him that it’s vulgar. But why limit it to just stuff that photoshops porn? Why not go after all of it?

CONTENT WARNING!!!! Adult subject matter!!!!

From FoxNews

“A Georgia state lawmaker with an unconventional grasp of the First Amendment  is backing a bill that would make lewd photoshopping a crime punishable by a  $1,000 fine.

Rep. Earnest Smith pointed, as  proof of the problem, to a picture of his head that was recently edited  onto a pornstar’s body. That image was created by a blogger who used the image  to mock Smith.

The Augusta-based legislator said he was not worried the bill would step on  First Amendment rights.”

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Sorry kids. I know it’s Spring Break and all, but the President needs you at school. It’s for the good of the country photo-op. 

From TheWashingtonExaminer

“President Obama, following his call for preschool for “every child in America,” will visit a pre-kindergarten class at College Heights Early Childhood Learning Center in Decatur, Georgia, this afternoon.

Ironically, the students are on spring break this week, according to the school’s website. But parents have been invited to bring their kids to school today for the president’s visit, according to a letter to parents obtained by CNN.“

Ego and props, nothing more. 🙄

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The media couldn’t find much to say about the content of Rubio’s State of the Union Rebuttal I guess. (Even Fox played along with the stupidity) Why else would they focus on something so silly?

From HotAir

“Say thanks to Jeff Poor and the Daily Caller for enduring the Ludovico-ish process needed to tally these numbers. The “200 times” figure comes with an asterisk: Turns out Rachel Maddow alone accounted for more than half the replays by putting the clip of Rubio reaching for the water on a loop, tucked into a corner of the screen, for 13 minutes while she and Steve Kornacki were hashing out the particulars of his speech. (Seeing is believing.) Jon Stewart once chided her and MSNBC for beating the “teabagger” joke into the ground, but in hindsight he should be glad she never resorted to a push-button morning-zoo-style soundboard for the T-word. She’s always been touted as a more civil, substantive alternative to Olbermann, and in fairness this episode bears that out. If Olby were still on the air, he would have run the clip for the full hour.”

“What’s interesting about the Maddow segment is that she actually does engage with the specifics of Rubio’s speech yet still felt obliged to have the water clip running over and over onscreen, which ends up distracting from the commentary. But then, why limit yourself to convincing the viewer with your argument when you can condition them to view Rubio as a ridiculous figure with visual cues too? She might as well have skipped the clip and simply delivered her commentary over a flashing banner, “DO NOT TAKE MARCO RUBIO SERIOUSLY.””

Pathetic.

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And again, about that nomination………

From HotAir

“He was one vote short. Republicans Cochran, Collins, and Johanns had all already committed to voting yes so the only mystery was whether Reid could find two more GOPers to cross the aisle. He found one: As expected, Murkowski ended up erring on the side of bipartisanship. Orrin Hatch voted present, which may or may not be his way of signaling that he’ll vote for Hagel when they try this again in a few weeks but not right now. But wait — what about Rand Paul? If ever there was a SecDef nominee whom the Ron Paul paleocon fan base could sort of dig, it’s a guy known for lamenting the “Israel lobby” and opposing Iran sanctions.”

“Philip Klein, tongue in cheek, calls him today’s neocon hero. Paul’s going to catch endless crap for this from his dad’s supporters so I assume he’s a soft “no” on Hagel, not a hard “no” like Ted Cruz, and will vote yes next time once Hagel/the White House fulfills whatever condition he’s set for switching. That would be in keeping with his M.O. lately in trying to triangulate between mainstream righties and Paulworld. He’ll vote for Hagel, but only after he’s voted against him. We’ll see.”

“Update: As expected, Rand’s got some triangulatin’ to do:

That explanation wasn’t good enough for Justin Raimondo, editorial director of Antiwar.com and a strong supporter of Ron Paul. “It’s time for libertarians to treat Rand Paul like the turncoat he is: boycott,” Raimondo tweeted. “No $$, no support, & start calling him Paul the Lesser.”…

🙄

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What’s interesting in the news today?

See that. I knew if we waited long enough we’d find some redeeming quality in ObamaCare.

From NBCNews, who along with their comment posters, doesn’t seem real fond of it.

“Abortion opponents have found a new way to restrict access to abortion – by using the authority states have over the new health insurance exchanges, which will be up and running in a year.

At least 21 states have legislation in place or in the works that will stop health insurance companies from paying for abortions for women. Arkansas governor Mike Beebe signed the latest piece on Monday.”

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Baghdad Bob Gibbs has finally finished making the obvious transition from Minister of Propaganda to consultant for America’s Pravda.

From NewsBusters

“Moments before Tuesday’s State of the Union address, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow  made a huge announcement.

As she introduced former Barack Obama senior campaign adviser/press  secretary Robert Gibbs, she said, “I am for the first time tonight able to  introduce you as an MSNBC contributor. Congratulations on that””

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Shocking news from DHS. OK, not really. From TheDailyCaller

“In a response letter to four top Republican lawmakers, the Department of Homeland  Security revealed it initiated only one case against an immigrant for becoming a “public  charge,” or being primarily dependent upon the government, in fiscal year 2012.  The case was later withdrawn.

While the department’s response to Republican Sens. Jeff Sessions, Chuck  Grassley, Orrin Hatch and Pat Roberts’ August oversight request offered an overview of the  centuries-old federal public-charge restrictions,  it noticeably avoided several of the senators’ direct questions and  demonstrated potentially significant inadequacies in record-keeping by  immigration officials, who legally should be enforcing public-charge rules for  immigrants both inside and outside of the country.”

But we don’t need to worry, the new immigration amnesty will fix this I’m sure. Not.

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Now that the fact-checkers have had a chance to check the SofUAddress, here’s a few on some of the Presidents assertions. And yes, they found much of it lacking.

HotAir does a fine job, with lots of links.

“After Barack Obama’s inaugural speech only mentioned the economy once and jobs just three times in a 2100-word address, the White House pronounced themselves shocked, shocked that anyone would have assumed that neither was a priority for Obama in his second term.  The White House promised that the State of the Union would focus more on jobs and growth, and at least rhetorically, they delivered.  The speech contains 32 mentions of the word “jobs,” and six mentions of “growth,” although one of those references was a claim that ObamaCare was already “helping to slow the growth of health care costs.”

Factually, though, Obama still hasn’t improved.  Instead, he continued his same cherry-picking ways of calculating job growth during his four years in office, and the Washington Post’s Glenn Kessler was among the first to notice it.  Obama used — as he has done for more than two years now — a baseline of February 2010 to calculate jobs growth during his administration, which ignores the first 13 months of his presidency and the first 12 months of his supposed “stimulus” bill.  That led to some dishonest claims in the SOTU:”

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Even the AP agrees. From Yahoo

“President Barack Obama did some cherry-picking Tuesday night in defense of his record on jobs and laid out a conditional path to citizenship for illegal immigrants that may be less onerous than he made it sound.”

“OBAMA: “We have doubled the distance our cars will go on a gallon of gas.”

THE FACTS: Not so fast.

That’s expected to happen in 12 more years.”

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Townhall has 10 key quotes, and why they should be questioned.

“(1) The sequester:

We are more than halfway towards the goal of $4 trillion in deficit reduction that economists say we need to stabilize our finances. Now we need to finish the job. And the question is: How? In 2011, Congress passed a law saying that if both parties couldn’t agree on a plan to reach our deficit goal, about a trillion dollars’ worth of budget cuts would automatically go into effect this year. These sudden, harsh, arbitrary cuts would jeopardize our military readiness, they’d devastate priorities like education and energy and medical research. They would certainly slow our recovery and cost us hundreds of thousands of jobs. And that’s why Democrats, Republicans, business leaders, and economists have already said that these cuts — known here in Washington as “the sequester” — are a really bad idea.

Though he tries to drop the sequester into Congress’ lap, it is simply a fact that this package of automatic spending cuts was conceptualized and proposed by the White House.  President Obama signed it into law as part of 2011’s debt deal — and yet the spending reductions are still lingering, unrealized.  The president has been all over the map on this issue, threatening to veto any attempt to replace the cuts, then averring that the cuts “will not happen.”  Obama now insists that some of the already agreed-to cuts be replaced with additional tax increases, which is unacceptable.  He has not offered his own specific plan about how to undo the sequester.”

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And HumanEvents asks a good question. I’m guessing no, he doesn’t.

“Does Obama Have Any Idea Why New Deal Failed?”

“The Great Depression dominated the 1930s, in large part because President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal programs failed to create jobs.  In May 1939, shortly after learning that unemployment stood at 20.7%, Henry Morgenthau, the secretary of the Treasury, exploded:  “We have tried spending money.  We are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work.”  Morgenthau concluded, “I say after eight years of this administration we have just as much unemployment as when we started.  . . .  And an enormous debt to boot!””

“President Obama publicly admires and tries to emulate FDR.  And Obama is experiencing two of FDR’s problems: expensive new programs that don’t work, and discouraged entrepreneurs who are saddled with much of the bill for taxes and new regulations.”

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What’s interesting in the news today?

I guess I’ll lead with the obvious…..

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And the Winner is……….

Best In Show, Banana Joe, the affenpinscher!  🙂

I want one! 🙂

OK, not really. But he is sooooo cute!

Now that’s a man’s dog. Reminded me of my black fuzzy Pekingese. He was a good dog too.

From TheTimesDispatch

“Banana Joe is America’s top dog.

The affenpinscher with the monkeylike face and wagging tail was picked as best in show Tuesday night at the Westminster Kennel Club.

The 5-year-old earned his 86th best in show, a day before he was set to fly back to the Netherlands with his owner.”

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What? You didn’t actually think I meant the State of the Union did you? Please, we’ve all seen these campaign speeches of his before. That’s about all it was, props and all. But since the President lead off with touting our supposedly rebounding economy, so will I. While this guy might be a bit too much doom and gloom, he actually makes his case for why it’s not rebounding, unlike the President who just spouts talking points.

From ZeroHedge

“As I have said so many times, the economic collapse is not a single event.  The economic collapse has been happening, it is is happening right now, and it will continue to happen.  Yes, there will be times when our decline will be punctuated by moments of great crisis, but that will be the exception rather than the rule.  A lot of people that write about “the economic collapse” hype it up as if it will be some huge “event” that will happen very rapidly and then once it is all over we will rebuild.  Unfortunately, that is not how the real world works.

We are living in the greatest debt bubble in the history of the world, and once it completely bursts there will be no going back to how things were before.  Right now, we are living in a “credit card economy”.  As long as we can keep borrowing more money, most people think that things are just fine.  But anyone that has lived on credit cards knows that eventually there comes a point when the game is over, and we are rapidly approaching that point as a nation.”

“According to Boston University economist Laurence Kotlikoff, the U.S. government is facing a “present value difference between projected future spending and revenue” of 222 trillion dollars in the years ahead.”

And also keep in mind….

From CNSNews

“Since taking office in 2009, food stamp rolls  under President Barack Obama have risen to more than 47 million people  in America, exceeding the population of Spain.”

“Furthermore, between January 2009 and November 2012 the food stamp program added approximately an average 11,269 recipients per day.”

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The full text of the State of the Union Address is here, from TheWashingtonExaminer

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One of the things I dislike most about the speech is the human props. They were there for photo ops and optics, so he could push his gun agenda. The mother of the singer at his Inauguration, Sandy Hook families, and other victims surviving family. I get the idea of honoring them with an invitation. I have no problem with that. But too often, once the cameras are gone and it slips in importance due to the next crisis showing up, these people get forgotten. We saw it with Sandy victims. And we see it in this case as well. This doesn’t fit his agenda. This raises too many troubling questions about his policies and leadership. So these folks got forgotten.

From ABCNews

“Three years after the White House arranged a hero’s welcome at the State of the Union address for the Fort Hood police sergeant and her partner who stopped the deadly shooting there, Kimberly Munley says President Obama broke the promise he made to her that the victims would be well taken care of.

“Betrayed is a good word,” former Sgt. Munley told ABC News in a tearful interview to be broadcast tonight on “World News with Diane Sawyer” and “Nightline.”

“Not to the least little bit have the victims been taken care of,” she said. “In fact they’ve been neglected.””

“Despite extensive evidence that Hasan was in communication with al Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki prior to the attack, the military has denied the victims a Purple Heart and is treating the incident as “workplace violence” instead of “combat related” or terrorism.”

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Rubio’s response is here

And Rand Paul’s Tea Party response is here

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And the manhunt for Christopher Dorner has ended.

From MSNNews

” A charred body has been recovered from a burned out cabin in the mountains above Los Angeles following a gun fight between police and a suspect believed to be a fugitive ex-cop, a Los Angeles Police spokeswoman said.

San Bernardino County sheriff’s spokeswoman Jodi Miller confirmed that remains had been found, with several news organizations reporting that the body is like to be that of former 33-year-old Los Angeles police officer Christopher Dorner.”

“A warden for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife traveling down Highway 38 recognized a man who fit Dorner’s description traveling in the opposite direction. The officer pursued the vehicle and there was a shooting at 12:42 p.m. in which the wildlife vehicle was hit numerous times and the suspect escaped on foot after crashing his truck.

After holing up in the cabin, there was a second gunbattle with San Bernardino County deputies, two of whom were shot. One died and the other was expected to live after undergoing surgery.”

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What’s interesting in the news today?

Open Thread, so feel free to share.

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I guess there’s some big speech tonight or something. The President wants to remind us that he is still “focused like a laser” on jobs. Again. No, really, he means it this time.

Just for fun, let’s count how many times he says “I, me, police, first responders, and teachers”. You know, govt jobs, his favorite kind.

So here’s some interesting facts on his jobs record to date. From ZeroHedge

“While hardly presented by the mainstream media with the same panache dedicated to the monthly ARIMA-X-12 seasonally-adjusted, climate-affected, goal-seek devised non-farm payroll data, the three month delayed Foodstamp number is according to many a far greater attestation to the “effectiveness” of the Obama administration to turn the economy around. And far greater it is: since his inauguration, the US has generated just 841,000 jobs through November 2012, a number is more than dwarfed by the 17.3 million new foodstamps and disability recipients added to the rolls in the past 4 years. And since the start of the depression in December 2007, America has seen those on foodstamps and disability increase by 21.8 million, while losing 3.6 million jobs. End result: total number of foodstamp recipients as of November: 47.7 million, an increase of 141,000 from the prior month, and reversing the brief downturn in October, while total US households on foodstamps just hit an all time record of 23,017,768, an increase of 73,952 from the prior
month.”

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Also, my prediction? Here comes the student loan bailouts, because everyone should have a college degree, even if it’s useless, won’t get you a job, and they can’t afford it.

So to quote InButNotOf from yesterday,

“So…a dog show or a dog AND pony show?”

🙂 🙂 🙂

Something tells me the real Dog Show will be more enjoyable. Although I will miss Bobble-head Joe Biden and Spring-loaded Nancy Pelosi. Every applause line, Joe’s head will bobble, and Nancy will fly from her seat. They’re like applauding puppets.

Here’s the link to watch some of the judging live streamed from the WestminsterDogShow.

But if you’re into it, you can catch the President on any network TV channel, or here from CSPAN

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And in case you hadn’t heard 🙄 the Pope has stepped down. I can respect his decision, although I’m not Catholic. If he feels he can longer meet the requirements of the position, then stepping aside is the honorable thing to do. A good leader knows this, and acts accordingly.

From TheWallSt.Journal

“Pope Benedict XVI will become the first pontiff in six centuries to resign, marking the end of a transitional papacy that focused more on theological and internal renewal and less on the broader challenges that face the Roman Catholic church at the start of its 21st century of existence.

The pope’s surprise announcement paves the way for a successor who will confront anew the task of rebuilding the church’s foundations in an increasingly secular and skeptical West while continuing to spread its roots in the rapidly growing emerging world.

The 85-year-old pope, who before his 2005 election was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, announced the decision to step down in a speech in Latin Monday to a small group of cardinals, saying he no longer had the vitality to perform his duties. Only two top Vatican cardinals were informed beforehand about the historic announcement, which quickly ricocheted around the world.”

The Left of course took to Twitter, where all twits go to spread their vileness. Yes, it’s as bad as you think it would be.

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As usual, President Obama wanted to make sure that even this be about him, in some small and pathetic way. He wants to remind you how he worked with the Pope on important matters. You know, like the contraceptive mandate. 😯

From CNSNews

“President Barack Obama–whose administration is being sued by multiple Roman Catholic dioceses and organizations for violating their free exercise of religion–issued a statement today about retiring Pope Benedict XVI, boasting of his “work together” with the pontiff.

“On behalf of Americans everywhere, Michelle and I wish to extend our appreciation and prayers to His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI. Michelle and I warmly remember our meeting with the Holy Father in 2009, and I have appreciated our work together over these last four years,” Obama said. “The Church plays a critical role in the United States and the world, and I wish the best to those who will soon gather to choose His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI’s successor.”

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Tonight, when it’s all about him, he’ll explain why he has to act like a tyrant to get around that pesky Congress. It’s for the good of the country or something.

From Bloomberg

“When President Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union address on Tuesday night, the biggest question he’ll face will be how to get an ambitious second-term agenda through a divided Congress.

The answer: Go around it.

On climate change, gun control, gay rights, and even immigration, the White House has signaled a willingness to circumvent lawmakers through the use of presidential power. Already, plans are being laid to unleash new executive orders, regulations, signing statements and memorandums designed to push Obama’s programs forward and cement his legacy, according to administration aides and allies.”

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Here’s some more on the new decrees from The Emperor.

From TheWashingtonPost

“President Obama is considering a series of new executive actions aimed at working around a recalcitrant Congress, including policies that could allow struggling homeowners to refinance their mortgages, provide new protections for gays and lesbians, make buildings more energy-efficient and toughen regulations for coal-fired power plants, according to people outside the White House involved in discussions on the issues.

One of the first orders is expected this week, when the Obama administration will call for the creation of new standards on what critical private-sector companies should do to protect their computer systems from hackers.

The moves underscore Obama’s increasingly aggressive use of executive authority, including 23 administrative actions on gun violence last month and previous orders that delayed deportations of young illegal immigrants and will lower student loan payments.

These and other potential actions suggest that Obama is likely to rely heavily on executive powers to set domestic policy in his second term. One White House official said that while the president does not see the actions as substitutes for more substantial legislation, he also wants to move forward on top priorities.”

Once again, the so-called constitutional scholar seems completely clueless about what it says, and wants you to think he’s justified in his unconstitutional actions.

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One thing you won’t hear him mention is this. (Although he will mention guns and have victims to use as props to push his gun control agenda.) Just like his friends in the network media, he’ll skip this part. Shhhh……. It’s a secret.

From Mediaite

“Alleged Los Angeles shooter Christopher Jordan Dorner, influenced by left-leaning media coverage of gun crime in the wake of the Newtown shootings, has virtually paralyzed the City of Angels. Floyd Lee Corkins, a gunman incensed by anti-gay marriage bias after reading articles by the liberal advocacy group Southern Poverty Law Center, took a firearm into the Family Research Council’s headquarters with the intention of killing “as many as possible.” He hoped to smash Chick-fil-A sandwiches in the faces of as many corpses as he could. These shooters were clearly moved by left-wing media, and we should thank every benevolent force in the universe that they were. Had either shooter possessed even a tenuous link to a conservative group, a media-driven hysteria about the malevolent influence of right-wing broadcasters and commentators would be gripping the nation today. Fortunately, when a crazed shooter’s ideology is explicitly and demonstrably left-wing, the media displays admirable restraint about linking a gunman’s politics to their acts of violence.”

“When the facts make it impossible to indulge the instinct to link a violent extremist to the right – in Dorner and Corkins’ cases for example – the media displays appropriate caution about assigning political motives to their actions.”

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What’s interesting in the news today?

Open Thread.

Here’s a few to start.

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Yeah, about that nomination……….

From TheWeeklyStandard

“If Brennan’s apparent change of heart on EITs causes concern about his ability to put analysis ahead of politics, his comments on Ali Harzi, a suspect in the Benghazi attacks last fall, raise questions about the Obama administration’s approach to radical Islam and—more immediately troubling—Brennan’s veracity.

Did John Brennan lie under oath? The answer appears to be yes.

Here’s the backstory. Senator Marco Rubio asked Brennan about Harzi, who was detained in Tunisia and eventually released by the Tunisian government. When Rubio asked why the United States couldn’t prevent Harzi’s release by the Tunisians, Brennan responded that the United States must respect Tunisian law and traditions. “The Tunisians did not have a basis in their law to hold him.” And when Rubio pushed further, Brennan dismissed his concerns and made a claim that simply isn’t true.

“We didn’t have anything on him, either,” Brennan said. “If we did, we would have made a point to the Tunisians to turn him over to us, but we didn’t have that.””

Or is this just another of those “WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE!!!????” moments?

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Shhhhhh……

Vote fraud never happens………..

From NationalReview

“Critics of voter ID and other laws cracking down on voter fraud claim they’re unnecessary because fraud is nonexistent. For instance, Brennan Center attorneys Michael Waldman and Justin Levitt claimed last year: “A person casting two votes risks jail time and a fine for minimal gain. Proven voter fraud, statistically, happens about as often as death by lightning strike.”

Well, lightning is suddenly all over Cincinnati, Ohio. The Hamilton County Board of Elections is investigating 19 possible cases of alleged voter fraud that occurred when Ohio was a focal point of the 2012 presidential election. A total of 19 voters and nine witnesses are part of the probe.

Democrat Melowese Richardson has been an official poll worker for the last quarter century and registered thousands of people to vote last year. She candidly admitted to Cincinnati’s Channel 9 this week that she voted twice in the last election.”

Good thing she wasn’t disenfranchised or something. 🙄

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Looks like some states and other institutions are following the lead of fast food franchises when it comes to ObamaCare.

From Breitbart

“The costs of Obamacare are not just hitting businesses this year–they are also hitting the government, and public employees as well. Virginia, for example, is about to limit part-time employees to 29 hours per week in order to avoid triggering Obamacare’s requirement that employers provide health insurance to those working 30 hours per week or more. The state cannot afford the $110 million annual cost of insurance.

Elsewhere, public institutions are taking similar steps to limit part-time work. In Ohio, Youngstown State University recently announced a 29-hour-per-week part-time limit, and placed employees on notice that they would be fired if they worked more than the maximum. Other public universities are doing the same across the nation, just as their private-sector counterparts are limiting part-time hours to avoid the Obamacare rule.

In addition to limiting part-time hours, many institutions–public and private–are moving employees from full-time to part-time status to avoid Obamacare requirements. Doing so means facing the ire of left-wing institutions such as John Podesta’s Think Progress, which recently castigated a Wendy’s franchise for cutting employees’ hours. Yet there is little most businesses can do–they are merely responding to incentives written into law.”

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What’s interesting in the news today?

I guess we start with the snow. Yes, it’s that bad.

From TheEagleTribune

“Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick has declared a state of emergency for blizzard that could bring near 3 feet of snow.

Patrick signed an executive order banning all vehicles from roadways starting at 4 p.m. today. Ban applies to all roadways, including highways and secondary roads. Any one caught driving after 4 p.m. faces up to one year in jail and $500 fine.”

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Another terrorist attempt, via Cali.. This one seeking to blame the right and set off a civil war. Must’ve been reading them DHS warnings about right wingers.

From TheHuffingtonPost

” A 28-year-old man tried to set off what he thought was a car bomb outside of a bank in Oakland, Calif., Friday morning, federal authorities said. Matthew Aaron Llaneza was arrested as part of an undercover FBI terror sting and charged with attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction.

Federal authorities allege that Llaneza, of San Jose, Calif., is a Taliban sympathizer who wanted to conduct a terrorist attack in the United States. Previously incarcerated for possessing an AK-47 assault rifle, he was released from state prison in November 2011. Authorities alleged he first met an undercover FBI agent he believed was connected with the Taliban and mujahideen in Afghanistan on Nov. 30, 2012.

FBI agent Christopher Monika said in an affidavit that Llaneza initially proposed structuring his attack to make it appear that an “umbrella organization for a loose collection of anti-government militias and their sympathizers” was behind the attack.

“Llaneza’s stated goal was to trigger a governmental crackdown, which he expected would trigger a right-wing counter-response against the government followed by, he hoped, civil war,” Monika wrote.”

No word yet on whether he was radicalized with Islam before, during, or after prison.

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And here’s some ObamaCare news.

From Politico

“The Obama administration’s decision not to subsidize family health insurance  for workers who have individual coverage on the job effectively drops that same  tough call into the laps of employers.

They can pay for the coverage and threaten the bottom line. Or they can in turn pass the problem on to the families.”

“So to the dismay of many advocates of health coverage expansion, spouses and  kids could fall through the cracks.

The Government Accountability Office, using 2009 data, estimated that about 7  percent of uninsured children — 460,000 — would remain uninsured because parents  wouldn’t be able to afford coverage for the whole family.”

The Medical Device Tax’s days are numbered. I hope.

From HotAir

“Instead, the repeal process uncovered the many fiscal fictions that bolstered Obamacare’s passage, and led to repeal of at least two onerous and unworkable funding mechanisms—the CLASS Act and the 1099 reporting requirement.

Now, the medical device tax is up for reconsideration again by — wait for it— Republicans and Democrats, making for yet another repeal attempt that’s far more bipartisan than the original passing of Obamacare.

A bipartisan group of 180 House members — consisting of about 40 percent of the House — has reintroduced a bill to end the 2.3 percent tax on medical devices that was imposed under President Obama’s healthcare law.”

And Pennsylvania and Indiana say “no thanks”.

From HotAir

“The Obama administration has made it abundantly clear that it would really just be oh so very helpful if all of the states would voluntarily comply with their proffered Medicaid expansion deal; ObamaCare really needs everybody to cooperate in order to work properly, so it’s really most unfortunate for them that the Supreme Court ruled last June that states were within their rights to decline the expansions without the threat of the total loss of federal Medicaid funding being held over their heads.

It was something of a boon to the Obama administration when Republican governors John Kasich in Ohio and Rick Snyder in Michigan announced that they were giving in and signing up for the Obama administration’s earlier this week, bringing the total number of GOP-led states participating to six, but other governors are still resisting the power of the all-engulfing big-government dark side. Gov. Corbett in Pennsylvania served the administration with his disinclination on Tuesday:

Pennsylvania is taking a pass on a major expansion to its Medicaid program, at least for now.”

“And in Indiana, Gov. Mike Pence protested that he won’t be participating without more state-administered flexibility on how to run the program:”

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And last, this. 🙂

From RealClearPolitics

“Famed Baltimore neurosurgeon Dr. Benjamin Carson addressed the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday morning on healthcare. Dr. Carson often criticized Obamacare and government intrusion in healthcare while President Obama sat in the audience.”

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