“The Lebanese Shia group Hezbollah has confirmed that its members are in Syria fighting on behalf of the government, United Nations human rights investigators said on Thursday.
There are also reports that Iraqi Shias are coming to fight in Syria, and Iran confirmed in September that its Revolutionary Guards are in Syria providing assistance, the independent investigators led by Brazilian expert Paulo Pinheiro said in their latest 10-page report.
The confirmation of Hezbollah involvement in the Syrian civil war heightens concerns that the regime may pass chemical weapons to the terrorist group. Earlier in December, Israel’s ambassador to Washington Michael Oren warned that Israel will act if Syria passes chemical weapons into Hezbollah’s hands.”
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And this one, it’s long, but interesting, fromPJMedia.
“It’s one of my biggest disappointments that I’ve only begun to accept in the past few years: the average level of maturity that we experience in high school is as good as it gets. That’s where most people stop their emotional and intellectual development. Once one realizes and accepts that overgrown teenagers dominate the planet, then literally everything starts to make much more sense.
First in my post-college years in the workplace and second as I began a career of full-time new media editing the same questions continually emerged. What happened to America’s grown-ups? How come so many “adults” still act like adolescents spreading gossip, stabbing each other in the back, lying, nursing petty rivalries, and obsessing over how much fun sex is? Isn’t college supposed to be the last hurrah where you get all the stupid things you need to do out of your system before your idiocy can hurt others too much?”
“In his new ebook The KinderGarden Of Eden: How The Modern Liberal Thinks, comedian Evan Sayet – the creative mind behind The Arsenio Hall Show and Win Ben Stein’s Money — has begun to piece together an innovative answer. And his diagnosis beats mine for bleakness (so thank goodness he lightens it up with some jokes too). According to Evan, the movement he describes as Modern Liberalism — a new, distinct ideology in opposition to Classical Liberalism — has arrested the development of America not at the high school but at the kindergarten level.”
“The Obama administration said Wednesday it will sell 200 million shares— or 40 percent of its remaining stake in General Motors Co. — back to the automaker and announced plans to completely exit the Detroit automaker by March 2014.
The Detroit automaker said it will purchase 200 million shares of GM stock held by Treasury for $5.5 billion — or $27.50 per share — nearly $2 above the stock’s closing price on Tuesday. GM shares jumped sharply on the news and were up 7.5 percent to $27.36, or $1.90, early afternoon in very heavy trading.”
Well that doesn’t sound bad. But wait, what do those numbers really mean to taxpayers?
“A few days after divesting its stake in the firm that started it all, AIG, and at a profit at that (ignoring that the risk has merely been onboarded by the Fed whose DV01 is now $2+ billion as a result), the US Treasury continues to divest of all its bailout stake, this time proceeding to GM, where the channel stuffing firm just announced it would buyback 200MM shares from the US government at a price of $27.50. More importantly, the “Treasury said it intends to sell its other remaining 300.1 million shares through various means in an orderly fashion
within the next 12-15 months, subject to market conditions. Treasury intends to begin its disposition of those 300.1 million common shares as soon as January 2013 pursuant to a pre-arranged written trading plan. The manner, amount, and timing of the sales under the plan are dependent upon a number of factors.” Assuming a price in the $27.50 range, this implies a nearly 50% loss on the government’s breakeven price of $54. So much for the “profit” spin. One hopes all those Union votes were well worth the now booked $40+
billion cost to all taxpayers.”
“Prominent conservative leaders, including former attorney general Edwin Meese III, Ken Blackwell of the Conservative Action Project, Brent Bozell of ForAmerica, Colin Hanna of Let Freedom Ring, Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, David Bossie of Citizens United, Gary Bauer of American Values, Jim Backlin of the Christian Coalition of America, Richard Viguerie of ConservativeHQ.com, Al Regnery of the Paul Revere Project, and Andy Roth of the Club for Growth, among a myriad of others, scheduled a press conference this afternoon to denounce Speaker John Boehner’s “Plan B” tax increase for addressing the fiscal cliff. Some are accusing Grover Norquist of giving cover to the establishment to facilitate this cave-in and hand President Barack Obama a liberal victory.
The group released a statement this afternoon:
As leaders of broad based American citizen groups we call upon Republican House Members to vote no on Speaker Boehner’s Tax Hike known as “Plan B.” This tax increase bill is just like the tax increase proposal Nancy Pelosi offered last year on May 23rd. Speaker Boehner, President Obama, Nancy Pelosi and too many Members of the Republican conference have forgotten that the problem in Washington is too much spending and not too little taxation. When the American people voted to return the Republican majority in the House last month we sent you to cut spending. Instead, you are now voting on the Pelosi plan to increase taxes next year. We urge Members of the House to vote no on the procedural rule to stop the Pelosi/Boehner tax plan from coming to the House floor for a vote.
Boehner’s plan would concede that marginal tax rates need to go up on those earning more than $1 million per year. The biggest job-creators in our economy would get hit with a crushing tax burden in a weak economy.”
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Well you’ve all seen the Benghaziwhitewash report by now. Apparently, the buck now stops at middle management, and not anyone important.
“Four State Department officials resigned under pressure Wednesday, less than a day after a damning report blamed management failures for a lack of security at the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, where militants killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans on Sept. 11.”
“Obama administration officials said those who had stepped down included Eric Boswell, the assistant secretary of state for diplomatic security; Charlene Lamb, the deputy assistant secretary responsible for embassy security; and Raymond Maxwell, the deputy assistant secretary of state who oversees the Maghreb nations of Libya, Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss personnel matters publicly.”
Above their pay grade I guess.
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This next one is not surprising. What is surprising is just how far off most Democrats, and the media, are with what the people think, and want to see come from this tragedy. Here’s a hint, it’s not gun control.
“The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 48% of Americans believe more action to treat mental health issues will do the most to prevent incidents like last Friday’s school shootings in Newtown, Connecticut. Twenty-seven percent (27%) think stricter gun control laws will do the most to prevent such shootings, while 15% put the emphasis on limits on violent movies and video games. Ten percent (10%) are undecided.”
“Americans are most likely to say that an increased police presence at schools, increased government spending on mental health screening and treatment, and decreased depiction of gun violence in entertainment venues would be effective in preventing mass shootings at schools. Americans rate the potential effectiveness of a ban on assault and semi-automatic guns as fourth on a list of six actions Gallup asked about.”
“Democrats substantially more likely to see assault gun ban as effective.”
There’s plenty to talk about today. Some of it is just disturbing.
CONTENT WARNING!!!
It’s disturbing to say the least. I guess I’m old-fashioned, but I wasn’t aware that this was so prevalent amongst teens, well Swedish teens at least. I’d heard of it sure, but the number of kids involved, and their ages is just heart-breaking. These are children!
“Swedish high school students outraged over sexual rumours circulating on Instagram about girls and boys in the Gothenburg area barricaded a school in protest and turned violent when police intervened.“
“The turmoil was set off after an Instagram user asked for tips on “censored” in Gothenburg, and promised anonymity to anyone sending in pictures. More than 200 pictures were submitted, giving names and alleged sexual activities of girls and boys aged 13 to 14.”
“Once the Instagram account was shut down, the allegations then appeared on a Facebook page. Users began naming each other and the comments field was quickly filled with threats of violence.”
“As an independent review into the BBC’s handling of the Jimmy Savile child sex scandal prepares to release its findings, a British lawmaker says he has yet to get satisfactory answers from New York Times Company CEO Mark Thompson about what he knew of the abuse allegations before he left his BBC director-general post in September.
Not only has Thompson not replied to three letters sent since late October, Conservative MP Rob Wilson told CNSNews.com Monday, but the New York Times editorial page editor also declined to publish a letter submitted this month – on grounds Wilson found puzzling.
Wilson voiced concerns “about whether the CEO of the New York Times Company has lived up to the ethical code expected of the company’s journalists.””
“The federal government’s system of tracking immigration status is so broken that it gives a green light to one in eight aliens who have been ordered deported, according to an audit Tuesday that found the government has gone on to approve some of those who slip through for work in sensitive areas of airports and granted them benefits such as Medicaid or food stamps.
Some of those aliens who should have been kicked out had serious criminal records, including assault and extortion convictions, according to the audit by the Homeland Security Department’s inspector general.
All told, some 800,000 immigrants are living in the U.S. who already have been ordered deported but have not yet left the country or been removed by the government.”
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And for the last one….. let’s just stick with things they can’t do right.
“Another weapon from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agency’s controversial Operation Fast and Furious was recently recovered at a Mexican crime scene, CBS News has learned. Congressional investigators say the crime scene was likely where a recent shootout took place between reported Sinaloa drug cartel members and the Mexican military, in which Sinaloa beauty queen Maria Susana Flores Gamez and four others were killed.
According to Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, the Justice Department did not notify Congress of the Fast and Furious firearm recovery in November, even though Grassley has requested an accounting of weapons that surface from the case. During Fast and Furious, ATF allowed more than 2,000 weapons, including giant .50-caliber guns, to fall into the hands of Mexican drug cartels and other criminals. Other so-called “gunwalking” operations by ATF let hundreds more guns hit the street. Most of them have never been recovered.”
I doubt they’ll mention this while screaming for more gun control. You know, bad optics and all.
“Sources tell ABC News that the Inspector General for the Department of Defense has been preparing a report in which Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Michael Vickers is criticized for giving sensitive information to the filmmakers behind “Zero Dark Thirty.”
Specifically, Vickers is said to have disclosed to the filmmakers the identity of a member of SEAL Team Six — though not a member of the team that conducted the raid on Osama bin Laden‘s compound. Names of members of that team are not to be disclosed because of the potential for violent retaliation.
Some in the Pentagon think the Inspector General is holding the report until after the current Secretary of Defense, Leon Panetta, retires so as to not sully or embarrass him.”
What? An attempt to shield the Sec. Def.?
😯
Also not surprising.
🙄
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This one actually is surprising, because it’s a good idea. Although a little late in coming.
“The Pentagon deployed military equipment and personnel, including about 300 Marines and sailors and 17 planeloads of power equipment, in an expanding effort to help New Jersey and nearby states recover from superstorm Sandy.
Military transport planes with more than 600 tons of power- restoration equipment, vehicles and crew from Southern California were being sent to the northeast, Pentagon spokesman George Little said yesterday. Marines and sailors from Camp Lejeune in North Carolina also were being deployed to the region, the Marine Corps said in an e-mailed statement.
Almost 4.5 million customers remained without power as of 2 p.m. New York time yesterday in blackouts that extended from South Carolina to Maine and as far west as Michigan, according to the U.S. Energy Department. More than 1.7 million homes and businesses in New Jersey, or 43 percent of customers, still had no power. The storm made landfall near Atlantic City on Oct. 29.”
“But instead of leveling-up, students can earn “badges” to show they’ve mastered an academic concept, icons they can not only earn over the course of a semester, but also post in social media outlets and even tally up and group together to indicate special skill sets on their resumes.
Badges are trending in the higher education arena, and whether they catch on remains to be seen, but a few professors piloting the concept claim it’s a positive paradigm shift.
They’re more specific than grades, the educators argue, adding the badges also create a carrot-stick approach to education that keeps kids engaged and interested.
“(Many students) were motivated by that badge, so they did the optional badges as well; not all, but some went to learn further,” Purdue University professor Bill Watson, who piloted the program this semester, told The College Fix.”
When will the madness end?
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Oh wait, apparently, I have my answer. 3 Days.
Someone will look like a genius in 3 days, if he is correct.
Otherwise, and I’m bettin’ otherwise, he just looks silly and like he has too much money to waste.
“If you’re seriously concerned about the world ending on Friday, then this could be just the ticket.
Ron Hubbard has built a luxurious underground bomb-proof shelter in Montebello, California, with a leather sofa, plasma TV and wooden flooring – just in case the Mayans’ predictions come true.
The civilisation’s Long Count calendar which began 5,125 years ago in 3113 B.C. ends on December 21, 2012 – sparking fears among a small group of people that a major catastrophe could happen.”
“House Speaker John A. Boehner has offered to push any fight over the federal debt limit off for a year, a concession that would deprive Republicans of leverage in the budget battle but is breathing new life into stalled talks over the year-end “fiscal cliff.”
The offer came Friday, according to people in both parties familiar with the talks, as part of the latest effort by Boehner (R-Ohio) to strike a deal with President Obama to replace more than $500 billion in painful deficit-reduction measures set to take effect in January.”
“Boehner’s offer signals that he expects a big deal with sufficient savings to meet his demand that any debt limit increase be paired dollar-for-dollar with spending cuts. That would permit him to keep a key vow to his party — and head off a potentially nasty debt-limit fight — at least until the end of next year.”
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Why doesn’t this surprise me? Never let a crisis go to waste right?
“President Obama’s $60.4 billion request for Hurricane Sandy relief has morphed into a huge Christmas stocking of goodies for federal agencies and even the state of Alaska, The Post has learned.
The pork-barrel feast includes more than $8 million to buy cars and equipment for the Homeland Security and Justice departments. It also includes a whopping $150 million for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to dole out to fisheries in Alaska and $2 million for the Smithsonian Institution to repair museum roofs in DC.”
“Other big-ticket items in the bill include $207 million for the VA Manhattan Medical Center; $41 million to fix up eight military bases along the storm’s path, including Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; $4 million for repairs at Kennedy Space Center in Florida; $3.3 million for the Plum Island Animal Disease Center and $1.1 million to repair national cemeteries.”
“U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sustained a concussion after becoming dehydrated and fainting, and will no longer testify Thursday before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on the deadly attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya.
Clinton had been suffering from a stomach virus at the time, according to a statement on Saturday from Philippe Reines, deputy assistant secretary of state.
She is being monitored by doctors and is recovering at home. She was never hospitalized, Reines said.”
“Jodi Seth, spokeswoman for Democratic Sen. John Kerry, Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman, said in a statement that Clinton would not testify before that committee Thursday.”
“Republican Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina will announce Monday that she’s appointing GOP Rep. Tim Scott as Sen. Jim DeMint’s successor, according to Republican sources in South Carolina and Washington.
The announcement will come at noon ET at South Carolina’s state house in Columbia. Scott will become the Senate’s only African-American member and the GOP’s second African-American senator since Reconstruction.”
“Since DeMint’s retirement announcement, Scott emerged as a favorite of national grassroots conservatives. DeMint has long viewed Scott, a former state legislator who was first elected to Congress in 2010 with the help of tea party activists and national conservative groups, as a rising star and protégé.”
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UPDATE II
Not to be out done by Republicans, the Democrats are ready to appoint a replacement as well.
When John “reporting for duty” Kerry moves into Hillary’s job, guess who may be getting his?
“Former Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis, the 1988 Democratic presidential nominee, may be headed back to the political spotlight as he’s considered a likely interim replacement for Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.).
President Obama is set to tap Kerry to succeed Hillary Clinton as secretary of State, according to media reports.”
I wonder if he still has the tank?
Oh well, can’t be any worse than picking a Kennedy I suppose.
“After killing his mother in her Newtown home, 20-year-old Adam Lanza drove her car to Sandy Hook Elementary, where officials said she taught, and gunned down 20 children and six adults before killing himself.
Most of the dead were found in two first-grade classrooms, police said.”
The response to this tragedy by some in Congress, as well as the media and Hollywood, I find disgusting. At least wait until these children are buried. Show a little decency and save it for a week. These clowns should be reaching out in support of this community, but instead they’d rather politicize it. Since I find it repulsive, I’m not linking to any such stories and nonsense. You folks can discuss it and link to stories on it in the comments, but I refuse to headline their idiocy.
“The administration has issued stays of deportation for 102,965 illegal immigrants under President Obama’s new non-deportation policy, officials announced Friday.
Another 157,151 applications are still under review under the policy, officially known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, which grants a tentative legal status to illegal immigrants who qualify — though it does not grant them a path to citizenship.”
“Mr. Obama’s program offers a two-year stay of deportation and a work permit so those who are granted tentative legal status can get jobs. The stay of deportation can be renewed indefinitely.”
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So it looks like the whole “Green” scam thing wasn’t just to pay back political contributors to Obama.
There’s plenty of waste, fraud, andabuseas well, some of it from those same contributors it appears.
“Three of the country’s most prolific installers of residential solar panels are under federal investigation to determine if they inflated the cost of their work to increase the payments they would receive from the government, according to government and industry officials familiar with the probe.
SolarCity, SunRun and Sungevity have received subpoenas from the Treasury Department’s office of inspector general for financial records to justify more than $500 million in federal grants and tax credits the firms tapped for performing work. The probe seeks to determine whether the companies accurately reported the market value of their costs when applying for federal reimbursement, which was calculated at one-third of the costs.”
“SolarCity and SunRun have been generous political supporters of Obama. At SolarCity, for example, officials in the company and its two key venture capital firm backers, along with their relatives, donated an estimated $579,000 to Obama in 2008 and 2012, according to campaign reports.”
“A group of parents at Chief Charlo Elementary School are so upset over the selection of songs for the school’s holiday music program they are considering legal counsel.
The parents outlined their concerns in a letter sent to the superintendent of the Missoula County Public Schools district, stating, among many issues, they feel the programming is unfair, unconstitutional and is a form of bullying.
“With many of the children in our neighborhood up here being Jewish and Buddhist, as well as a few Muslim and atheist students, we were assured that this year it would be a secular program,” said the letter, which was signed by “concerned parents” but listed no individual names.
“One of the largest complaints last year were the young children singing about ‘their lord.’ This was concerning to many families and it was clear that several of the students were uncomfortable.””
The debt discussion continues behind the scenes. I gotta tell you though, I find it obscene the amount of money charities waste to lobby Congress and the President. What a waste of resources.
“The White House and the nation’s most prominent charities are embroiled in a tense behind-the-scenes debate over President Obama’s push to scale back the nearly century-old tax deduction on donations that the charities say is crucial for their financial health.”
“But the White House is also looking to limit the charitable deduction for high-income earners, and that has prompted frustration and resistance, with leaders of major nonprofit organizations, such as the United Way, the American Red Cross and Lutheran Services in America, closing ranks in opposing any change to the deduction.”
““Students of color, students with disabilities and male students” are suspended at a disproportionate rate to their peers, in “potential violation of civil rights laws,” an official from the U.S. Department of Education said at a congressional hearing Wednesday on the so-called school-to-prison pipeline.
“We are alarmed by the disparities in disciplinary sanctions, particularly for students of color, students with disabilities, and male students,” said Deborah Delisle, assistant secretary for the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education at the Education Department.”
““When African-American students are more than 3 ½ times as likely to be suspended or expelled as their white peers, or students with disabilities are more than twice as likely to receive out-of-school suspensions as their non-disabled peers, as they are today–it raises substantial concerns,” Delisle told the Senate Judiciary Committee.”
Prager University has a new video out that you may find interesting. Boston College’s Peter Kreeft, professor of philosophy, makes the argument that if Good and Evil exists, God exists.
This thread will be an open one. Post whatever you like, you decide.
I will post a few other news items in different posts as the day goes on. This should allow the discussion to be narrowed a bit on each. We’ll give it a try and see how it goes.
“At a news conference at the George W. Romney Building steps away from the state Capitol, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) announced that he’d signed the contentious right-to-work measures that have sparked protests in the state.
Before dozens of reporters assembled inside a conference room on the building’s second floor, Snyder defended his move as one that would lead to ”more jobs coming to Michigan.”
The two bills bar unions from making contracts that require employees to pay labor dues. One bill dealt with public sector unions, exempting firefighters and police officers. The other covered the private sector.”
“Seventy-five percent of the new revenue pulled in by President Barack Obama’s “fiscal cliff” plan would go toward new spending, not toward deficit reduction, the Republican side of the Senate Budget Committee contends.”
“According to the minority side of the Senate Budget Committee, $1.2 trillion of the proposed $1.6 trillion in tax hikes would go toward new spending, while only $400 billion would go toward deficit reduction.”
“”Spending under that plan would increase $1 trillion above the levels agreed to in the Budget Control Act, as signed into law. We agreed to the Budget Control Act 16 months ago, in August 2011, and we raised the debt ceiling and agreed to reduce spending. We raised the debt ceiling $2.1 trillion and agreed to reduce spending $2.1 trillion. The President’s plan would take out over $1.1 trillion of those spending limitations that are in current law. I repeat, spending will increase more than $1 trillion above the already projected growth in spending,” Sessions added.”
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This one is another fine example of that smart diplomacy in action. Or something…
“As the United States attempts to rally international support for the Syrian rebellion, trying to herd the opposition into a shadow government that it can recognize and assist, in Syria it faces an entirely different problem: Much of the rebellion is hostile toward America.”
“Frustration mounted for months as the United States sat on the sidelines, and peaked this week when it blacklisted the Nusra Front, one of the uprising’s most effective fighting forces, calling it a terrorist organization. The move was aimed at isolating the group, which according to Iraqi and American officials has operational ties to Al Qaeda’s franchise in Iraq.
But interviews with a wide range of Syrian rebels and activists show that for now, the blacklisting has appeared to produce the opposite. It has united a broad spectrum of the opposition — from Islamist fighters to liberal and nonviolent activists who fervently oppose them — in anger and exasperation with the United States. The dissatisfaction is over more than just the blacklisting, and raises the possibility that now, just as the United States is stepping up efforts to steer the outcome in Syria, it may already be too late.”
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One more.
Sure, why not? Vote fraud is non-existent after all. Dems said so.
“The U.S. should consider automatically registering eligible voters and extending voting hours to counter the November election’s long lines and administrative hurdles, Attorney General Eric Holder said.
Holder, speaking today at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston, proposed expanding access for voters and overhauling a registration system he called “antiquated.”
“It is important for national leaders, academic experts, and members of the public to engage in a frank, thorough and inclusive discussion about how our election systems can be made stronger and more accessible,” Holder said in prepared remarks.”
And I’m sure Mr. Holder and his staff will aggressively pursue prosecutions of violators as well.
Wandering Views 