News/Politics 6-12-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. Of course they did. 🙄

They pander at any and all opportunities, and if it steers money toward their donors in the process, even better.

From CNSNews  “A $350 million grant opportunity announced Friday by the Department of Health and Human Services to provide shelter for unaccompanied alien children (UAC) states that recipients providing residential shelter to these children must provide them with “family planning services” and that residential care providers deliver services in a manner that is “sensitive” to sexual orientation and gender identity.

“Residential care providers are required to provide…family planning services,” says an official description of the grant program published by HHS.

“Residential care providers are required to provide or arrange for the program required services in a manner that is sensitive to the…sexual orientation, gender identity, and other important individual needs of each UAC [unaccompanied alien child],” says the official description.”

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2. This proves once again that they Obama admin always knew it was a terrorist attack, and that a video never had anything to do with it. They’ve lied since day one.

From FoxNews  “The terrorists who attacked the U.S. consulate and CIA annex in Benghazi on September 11, 2012 used cell phones, seized from State Department personnel during the attacks, and U.S. spy agencies overheard them contacting more senior terrorist leaders to report on the success of the operation, multiple sources confirmed to Fox News.

The disclosure is important because it adds to the body of evidence establishing that senior U.S. officials in the Obama administration knew early on that Benghazi was a terrorist attack, and not a spontaneous protest over an anti-Islam video that had gone awry, as the administration claimed for several weeks after the attacks.”

“Eric Stahl, who recently retired as a major in the U.S. Air Force, served as commander and pilot of the C-17 aircraft that was used to transport the corpses of the four casualties from the Benghazi attacks – then-U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens, information officer Sean Smith, and former Navy SEALs Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods – as well as the assault’s survivors from Tripoli to the safety of an American military base in Ramstein, Germany.

In an exclusive interview on Fox News’ “Special Report,” Stahl said members of a CIA-trained Global Response Staff who raced to the scene of the attacks were “confused” by the administration’s repeated implication of the video as a trigger for the attacks, because “they knew during the attack…who was doing the attacking.” Asked how, Stahl told anchor Bret Baier: “Right after they left the consulate in Benghazi and went to the [CIA] safehouse, they were getting reports that cell phones, consulate cell phones, were being used to make calls to the attackers’ higher ups.”

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3. A bad omen for moderates? I’d be more inclined to agree had McConnell lost too.

From TheNYTimes  “The House Republican leadership, so solid in its opposition to President Obama, was torn apart Tuesday by the defeat of its most influential conservative voice, Representative Eric Cantor, the House majority leader. His demise will reverberate all the way to the speaker’s chair, pull the top echelons of the House even further to the right and most likely doom any ambitious legislation, possibly through the next presidential election.

Conservatives who have helped fuel some of the most contentious showdowns over the last three years on issues such as immigration and raising the federal debt ceiling are likely to be emboldened by Mr. Cantor’s shocking loss as they seek to replace him with someone even more closely aligned with their views.

Further, House Republicans began to immediately plot a new leadership structure that before Tuesday night had hinged merely on whether Speaker John A. Boehner would seek to keep his post next year.”

“One measure of the extraordinary defeat could be seen in the candidate’s finances. Since the beginning of last year, Mr. Cantor’s campaign had spent about $168,637 at steakhouses compared with the $200,000 his challenger, David Brat, had spent on his entire campaign. With Mr. Cantor out, members from solidly Republican states will almost certainly be vying for one of the top jobs, if not Mr. Boehner’s gavel. The current Republican leadership slate is filled with members from swing states where the pressure to moderate views on topics such as immigration looms.”

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4. Not surprising. I think a lot more people would choose this option given the choice.

From Breitbart  “An upset last night in the Democrat primary for governor of Nevada was almost as stunning as the Brat win in VA-7. 

“None of the Above” won with 29.96% of the vote. Nevada was the first state to institute a “none of the above” line to its ballot in 1975, as a way for voters to protest weak, unqualified candidates.

Senator Harry Reid, who runs the Democrat party in Nevada with an iron fist, told reporters earlier this year, that the candidate to run against the popular Republican Governor Brian Sandoval, would be “a respectable Democrat and someone that people know.”

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5. 20 years ago I’d have said this could never happen here. Now I say it will happen here within the next 20 years. Wedding cakes were just the first step.

From TheTelegraph/UK  “Gay Danish couples win right to marry in church

Homosexual couples in Denmark have won the right to get married in any church they choose, even though nearly one third of the country’s priests have said they will refuse to carry out the ceremonies.”

“The country’s parliament voted through the new law on same-sex marriage by a large majority, making it mandatory for all churches to conduct gay marriages.”

“Under the law, individual priests can refuse to carry out the ceremony, but the local bishop must arrange a replacement for their church.”

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6. You mean the anti-gun folks lie to push their agenda? Say it isn’t so…..

From NationalReview  “This map, which purports to show that there are have been 74 “shootings at schools” since the abomination at Newtown, is currently doing the rounds.”

“Tuesday’s school shooting in Oregon is at least the 74th instance of shots being fired on school grounds or in school buildings since the late-2012 elementary school shooting in Newtown, Conn., according to a list maintained by the group Everytown for Gun Safety, which advocates for policies it believes limit gun violence.

There have been at least 37 shootings on school grounds this year, which is just barely half over. All told, there has been nearly one shooting per week in the year and a half since Newtown. Everytown identifies a school shooting as any instance in which a firearm was discharged within a school building or on school grounds, sourced to multiple news reports per incident. Therefore, the data isn’t limited to mass shootings like Newtown—it includes assaults, homicides, suicides and even accidental shootings. Of the shootings, 35 took place at a college or university, while 39 took place in K-12 schools.

The Post is admirably clear that the map includes both colleges and schools, that it counts “any instance in which a firearm was discharged within a school building or on school grounds,” and that the data isn’t “limited to mass shootings like Newtown.” This point has also been made forcefully by Charles C. Johnson, who yesterday looked into each of the 74 incidents and noted that not only did some of them not take place on campuses but that “fewer than 7 of the 74 school shootings listed by #Everytown are mass shootings,” that one or more probably didn’t happen at all, that at least one was actually a case of self-defense, and that 32 could be classified as “school shootings” only if we are to twist the meaning of the term beyond all recognition.”

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News/Politics 5-6-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. You’d think this would be bigger news, what with it being a terrorist attack and all, and with 750 potential gay hate crime victims.

From TheInvestigativeProject  “A Muslim man formerly from Bellevue, Wash., who told a friend he thought “that homosexuals should be exterminated” pleaded guilty Friday to charges he firebombed a gay nightclub in the city on New Year’s Day.

Search warrant documents filed in King County Superior Court say the friend, who also is a Muslim, went straight to the FBI because he thought he might be “be planning some terrorist activity.”

Musab Mohammed Masmari, brought a one gallon tank of gas hidden inside a shopping bag into a Seattle gay nightclub around 11:30 p.m. on Dec. 31 while approximately 750 people celebrated inside.

Masmari poured the gasoline on a carpeted staircase in the club just after midnight while hiding the container holding the rest of the gasoline behind a planter. He then lit the gas and ran away from the club, prosecutors said. No one was injured in the firebombing. Two U.S. military personnel who were at the club put out the fire and the club’s sprinkler system activated.”

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2. In other news that the press doesn’t seem to be reporting on……

More community organizer style shakedowns from the DoJ. Granted some of these types of businesses deserve a little scrutiny. But if it’s legal, why the shakedown? And many are legitimate ventures.

From NewsBusters  “So the details of how the government was monitoring the operation of the world’s financial system to obtain clues to help catch terrorists apparently deserved full exposure. If that’s fine, why has the press been barely interested in a far more troubling development, namely Eric Holder’s U.S. Department of Justice using pressure on the financial system to conduct “a massive government overreach into private businesses that are operating within the law,” which has been going on for at least a year? Welcome to “Operation Choke Point.”

“DOJ is essentially employing a variant of the tactics former New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer used against mutual fund companies last decade: threatening to smear them in the business community and otherwise make their lives miserable unless they settle.

Even despite the tactics, some readers may be reacting to all of this as a good idea. After all, payday lenders don’t have the cleanest of hands, and some — but far from all — may be operating illegally. There are two problems with this position.

The first is that DOJ doesn’t have the constitutional authority to go after businesses whose illegality has not been established by threatening their bank and financial services providers with legal sanctions and regulatory harassment if they don’t participate in the persecution. There are these things called laws which must be passed to declare certain financial practices and contracts illegal. That hasn’t happened. Short of that, there at least need to be court rulings having the same effect. There is apparently no evidence that DOJ has involved the courts at all.”

And what does the DoJ do with these “settlements”? They dole it out to ACORN type community organizers/agitators who will use it to “educate” the public on the matter.

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3. Nope, nothin’ to hide here….

Yet they’re hiding things.

From FoxNews  “Documents reviewed by Fox News show there are differences between Benghazi emails released through the federal courts to the conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch and emails released to the House oversight committee as part of its investigation into the attacks.

The discrepancies are fueling allegations the administration is holding back documents to Congress.

“The key question is whether Congress now has all the documents,” Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, a member of the oversight committee, said. As for differences between the two sets of documents, Chaffetz alleged: “They are playing games. The classification and redactions are different. Why should Judicial Watch get more than Congress after issuing a subpoena?”

Good question. Now let’s get the select committee rolling and get some answers.

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4. And though Democrats claim they’ve nothing to hide….

They’re debating going into hiding.

From TheWashPost  “The House GOP leadership just announced that Rep. Trey Gowdy will head the newly announced special committee to probe what happened in Benghazi. Gowdy, as it happens, has already informed America that he knows that the administration is guilty of a serious cover-up, claiming he has “evidence” of a “systematic, intentional decision” to withhold untold numbers of Benghazi documents from Congress.

The question now is whether House Dems will boycott the proceedings. Over the weekend, Dem Rep. Adam Schiff suggested they should, on the grounds that this will be a “colossal waste of time” that doesn’t deserve to be treated with any “credibility,” given how much has already gone into investigating Benghazi. This provoked outrage from Republicans.”

“House Democratic leaders announced today that they are urging rank and file Dems to vote against the creation of the new committee. But that’s separate from the question of whether they will participate, if and when the committee is set up. On that front Dem leaders are currently taking the temperature inside the Dem caucus as they determine how to proceed.”

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5. Meanwhile, across the world……

From YahooNews  “Pro-Russian rebels shot down a Ukrainian helicopter in fierce fighting near the eastern town of Slaviansk on Monday, and Kiev drafted police special forces to the southwestern port city of Odessa to halt a feared westward spread of rebellion.

Ukraine said the Odessa force, based on “civil activists”, would replace local police who had failed to tackle rebel actions at the weekend. Its dispatch was a clear signal from Kiev that, while tackling rebellion in the east, it would vigorously resist any sign of a slide to a broader civil war.

Odessa, with its ethnic mix from Russians to Ukrainians, Georgians to Tatars a cultural contrast to the pro-Russian east, was quiet on Monday. Ukrainian flags flew at half-staff for funerals of some of the dozens killed in clashes on Friday.

But in the east, fighting intensified around the pro-Russian stronghold of Slaviansk, a city of 118,000, where rebel fighters ambushed Ukrainian forces early in the day.”

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News/Politics 5-5-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. First up today, the problems at the VA are spreading. And in typical Obama fashion, they’re trying to cover it up.

From TheFreeBeacon “The Department of Veterans Affairs purged more than 1.5 million medical orders without ensuring patients received medical care, the Washington Examiner reports:

Since May 2013, veterans’ medical centers nationwide have been under pressure to clear out 2 million backlogged orders for patient care or services.”

“What happened to other 1.5 million appointments is something that no one, including top officials at the veterans’ agency, can answer.”

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The cover-up.

Also from TheFreeBeacon  “Whistleblowers say officials have been destroying evidence at the Phoenix Veterans Affairs hospital where at least 40 patients died from delays, despite requests from Congress to preserve records.

Dr. Katherine Mitchell came forward to the Arizona Republic with records that show the hospital was using a secret list to hide the long wait times veterans faced. According to the Republic, Mitchell sent the documents to the paper after receiving a call from a coworker that evidence was being destroyed.

“I had no doubts they were capable of destroying evidence, or altering evidence,” she told the Republic. “So there I am, a 47-year-old doctor with two degrees, trying to figure out where to hide stuff.”

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And now we know the problems are more widespread than just one rogue office, so that excuse is out.

From USAToday  “A VA investigation of one of its outpatient clinics in Colorado reveals how ingrained delays in medical care may be for an agency struggling to rapidly treat nearly 9 million veterans a year amid allegations that dozens have died because of delays.

Clerks at the Department of Veterans Affairs clinic in Fort Collins were instructed last year how to falsify appointment records so it appeared the small staff of doctors was seeing patients within the agency’s goal of 14 days, according to the investigation.

A copy of the findings by the VA’s Office of Medical Inspector was provided to USA TODAY.

Many of the 6,300 veterans treated at the outpatient clinic waited months to be seen. If the clerical staff allowed records to reflect that veterans waited longer than 14 days, they were punished by being placed on a “bad boy list,” the report shows.”

This is system wide.

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2. And since I mentioned cover-ups……

They picked a good one to lead the select committee. That happened after this interview.

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More here, from TheWashingtonTimes  “House Republicans accused the Obama administration Thursday of “perhaps criminal” behavior for having withheld for months key email that sheds light on how the administration framed its post-Benghazi talking points, potentially violating a congressional subpoena.

House Speaker John A. Boehner, Ohio Republican, said Secretary of State John F. Kerry will have to come before Congress to explain why his department refused to release the email until forced to do so by a judge.”

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And now that Kerry has been subpoenaed,  Hillary is probably getting a little nervous, as she should.

From TheNYPost  “Because the Obama administration ignored legal requirements and a pursued a possibly criminal cover-up, they’ve just ensured Congress is going to talk about nothing but. House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) said Friday he’ll be forming a select committee to investigate Benghazi.”

“The Rhodes memo is just the beginning. It and other e-mails were obviously selected from a much larger set of internal administration communications on the Benghazi cover-up that remains hidden from the public and from Congress. The person who should worry most is former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

For example, until now we have seen zero documentation to explain how Clinton out of the blue concocted the statement she issued on the evening of the attacks, which first raised the notion that the attacks came “as a response to inflammatory material posted on the Internet.”

In all the material released by the administration to date, there are no notes, e-mails or drafts of Clinton’s Sept. 11, 2012 statement similar to the back-and forth e-mail chain released last year showing how the CIA talking points evolved during three days of inter-agency discussion.”

Now why do you suppose that is? 🙄

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I won’t get my hopes up, but maybe it’s time to mention the I word.

All of this to cover up an Iran Contra style gun running operation to Syria by the CIA, at the order of the White House.

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3. Funny, this seems to have been left out of most coverage.

From Fox5Vegas  “An emotional crowd gathered for a town hall meeting on Thursday evening in Bunkerville.”

“Residents and council members praised militia members gathered there in support of embattled rancher Cliven Bundy, but had nothing but vitriol for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie and the local and national media.

“The day the militia [came] was the day I felt safe again in Nevada,” one meeting attendee said.

The meeting was standing-room only. City council members had harsh criticism for the media’s take on the standoff between Bundy and the BLM.

“I heard things said down there. And then when it came out on the air it was a completely different animal,” Bunkerville Councilman Duane Magoon said. “Tell the whole truth. Don’t spin things to get your ratings,” another council member added.”

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News/Politics 4-30-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

I know. I went a little crazy today. We have political correctness running amok in our govt., and elsewhere. I just wanted to point it out.

1. First up, more PC nonsense from the Pentagon.

From PJMedia  “The nation’s top military brass gathered in the Pentagon auditorium Monday to pull out their pens and sign a ceremonial document vowing to “create an inclusive environment that values diversity and fosters mutual respect and cooperation among all persons.”

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey led the signing of the 2014 Human Goals Charter: “the cornerstone document governing the Defense Department’s fair treatment of people, as well as its diversity and equity programs.”

“Honestly, ladies and gentlemen, having these goals is really very good, but being able to say that this department is the frontrunner in these goals is exactly what we can be proud of today. This has been an unprecedented era of change, truly, since the desegregation of the armed forces in 1948 to the accomplishments of the present,” Wright added. That includes, she said, “fundamental changes in our views of sexual orientation.”

“We have extended the benefits to same-sex spouses of uniformed servicemembers and the department’s civilian employees. We have and we will continue to open military positions to servicemembers who were able to perform those duties, regardless of their gender, and those are just a few of the accomplishments,” Wright continued. “…Diversity is more than race or gender or religion. It’s a variety or mixture of thought. It’s the variety and mixture of ability, background, language, culture and skill. Fairness and dignity and respect and cooperation are among all members of our department, and that is an integral part of our mission accomplishment.”

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2. The EPA as well.

From EAGNews As reported at the Brenner Brief, Rev. Lennox Yearwood, president and CEO of the Hip Hop Caucus, “argues often that climate change is the ‘lunch counter moment’ for the younger generation.”

The EPA chief  encouraged black students, who are “most vulnerable to climate change,” to become “champion climate justice advocates” by supporting some of the FDA rules currently being pushed by environmental activists. McCarthy mentioned “greenhouse gas emission standards for new power plants that the agency released last fall, and the rules for existing plants” that are set to be released on June 1.

It is a matter of “equity,” the EPA chief said, as minorities have been “overburdened by pollution and environmental health hazards for far too long…”

“You can’t ensure environmental justice, and we can’t deliver on this president’s promise of opportunity for all,” she continued, “without giving people clean air and clean water and clean land to live on…”

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3. Let’s not forget the NBA. As bad as what he said was, this is way over the top. PC run amok.

From CBSNews  “NBA Commissioner Adam Silver announced Tuesday Clippers owner Donald Sterling will be suspended for life and fined $2.5 million following racist remarks he made in a recorded audio clip.

Silver spoke to the press at an 11 a.m. news conference from New York, stating he will “do everything in my power” to force the sale of the Clippers.

“The hateful opinions voiced by that man are those of Mr. Sterling. The views expressed by Mr. Sterling are deeply offensive and harmful. That they came from an NBA owner only heightens the damage and my personal outrage,” Silver said. “I am banning Mr. Sterling for life from any association with the Clippers association or the NBA. Mr. Sterling may not attend any NBA games or practices, he may not be present at any Clippers facility, and he may not participate in any business or decisions involving the team.”

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4. Not to be out PCed, the CBC wants the NBA to have the power to strip ownership from anyone making insensitive racial remarks.

From TheHill  “Congressional Democrats said Tuesday that the NBA’s swift response to racially charged comments by Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling was a strong first step, but league limitations might not discourage similar behavior in the future.

The lawmakers, including several members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), suggested the league should wield more authority over individual owners — including more power to strip ownership — while maintaining the capacity to levy larger fines for racially insensitive behavior.”

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5. The feminists are getting in on the act. They want a monument on the National Mall. Does anyone doubt they’ll get it?

Just picture it, maybe a statue of the racist, abortion loving Sanger, or something equally tacky….

From Heritage Background: The National Women’s History Museum (NWHM) currently exists online “to raise awareness and honor women’s diverse experience and achievements.” For a number of years the museum and its vocal activists have been advocating for a physical location on the National Mall. H.R. 863 would establish a committee to study the creation of that location. The committee would make recommendations on the structure and governance of the site and explore fund-raising options. NWHM alleges that no taxpayer funds would be used to commission or construct the museum. While the idea of honoring the great female leaders of American History is noble and shared by all, many conservatives are concerned about the leftist ideological implications of this legislation.

Lack of Safeguards. While NWHM claims a nonpartisan agenda, there is no mechanism in place to ensure that the museum is not used as a platform to promote liberal propaganda (even if that museum is still in its infancy). The women typically celebrated by federally monitored or federally commissioned institutions are of the “progressive era” or the “sexual liberation movement” (consider particularly the characters and events promulgated by Smithsonian institutions or nationalized educational programs). These figures glorify the elements of women’s history that have furthered disrespect for human life, destruction of the family unit and general harm to the wellbeing of women.  As the CEO of the Concerned Women for America said in an open letter to Congress:

To indoctrinate American children, who visit the Nation’s capital, with leftist views is so distasteful that within this climate we respectfully decline our own museum.  We would prefer that students visit the other 19 Smithsonian museums and galleries to hear about women’s history than to have one that propagates a false narrative.”

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6. The UN and Obama admin are always quick to jump on climate change deniers as un-PC and anti-science. Lying, fudging the numbers, and rewriting the science is apparently the PC thing to do nowadays.

From TheDailyMail  “A top US academic has dramatically revealed how government officials forced him to change a hugely influential scientific report on climate change to suit their own interests. 

Harvard professor Robert Stavins electrified the worldwide debate on climate change on Friday by sensationally publishing a letter online in which he spelled out the astonishing interference.

He said the officials, representing ‘all the main countries and regions of the world’ insisted on the changes in a late-night meeting at a Berlin conference centre two weeks ago. Three quarters of the original version of the document ended up being deleted.

Prof Stavins claimed the intervention amounted to a serious ‘conflict of interest’ between scientists and governments. His revelation is significant because it is rare for climate change experts to publicly question the process behind the compilation of reports on the subject.”

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7. Meanwhile the EPA is withholding more job crushing regulations until after the mid-terms to aid Democrats. Can’t have them voting against America’s economy right before the election, now can we? Bad optics and all…

From TheFreeBeacon  “The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) delayed issuing a final regulation limiting greenhouse gas emissions for new power plants until after the midterm elections.

The agency pushed back publishing the rule for two months, allowing vulnerable Senate Democrats to avoid a vote on the measure six weeks before voters go to the polls.

President Obama directed the EPA to issue a proposal requiring new power plants to reduce their carbon pollution by “no later than” Sep. 20, 2013. The EPA posted the proposal on its website that day, but did not submit the rule to the Federal Register until Nov. 25, 2013. The rule was then published in the Federal Register on Jan. 8.

Once a rule is published in the Federal Register, agencies are required to finalize it within one year. As a result, the EPA does not have to finish the regulation until Jan. 8, 2015, instead of this September, just weeks before the midterms.

Just like with Benghazi, the IRS, the ObamaCare Individual Mandate, the ObamaCare Employer Mandate, etc., etc….. It’s a pattern with these frauds. 🙄

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8. Why does it matter? Because they’re already regulating the economy to death. This will just make it worse. It’s Cap and Trade, without that messy legislative process.

From Investors.com After years of rapid growth during the Obama administration, the cost of federal regulations is now bigger than the entire economies of all but nine countries in the world.

That’s according to the latest annual report on the regulatory state issued by the free-market Competitive Enterprise Institute, titled “Ten Thousand Commandments.”

Compiling reports of compliance costs from various government agencies and outside sources, author Clyde Wayne Crews found that the “regulation tax” imposed on the economy now tops $1.86 trillion. By comparison, Canada’s entire GDP is $1.82 trillion. India’s is $1.84 trillion.

The problem, Crews notes, is that the combined cost of this “tax” never shows up anywhere in the federal budget — or any other official report — even though it is now bigger than individual and corporate income taxes combined.”

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9. And speaking of Benghazi…… another update.

From Mediaite  “On Tuesday, an email obtained by the government watchdog Judicial Watch revealed that a senior American advisor informed then National Security Advisor Susan Rice to emphasize that the deadly 2012 attack on a U.S. consulate in Libya was the result of a spontaneous protest arising from an inflammatory YouTube video. Transcripts later revealed that senior defense officials had informed the administration on the night of the assault that the event was a “terrorist attack.”

Fox’s intel correspondent Catherine Herridge reported that a September 14 emails links White House Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes advised Rice to focus on the YouTube video during her appearances on a variety of Sunday morning news programs:

Among the goals Rhodes outlined for Rice was for her “to underscore that these protests are rooted in an internet video, and not a broader failure of policy.”

Which is exactly what it was. A complete failure of policy. Can’t have folks believing the truth right before an election now can we? 🙄

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News/Politics 4-29-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. Another “Phony Scandal” update. I recommend you read the whole thing, it’s pretty detailed. This is Obama/Clinton foreign policy legacy.

From TheMailOnline  “The Citizens Commission on Benghazi, a self-selected group of former top military officers, CIA insiders and think-tankers, declared Tuesday in Washington that a seven-month review of the deadly 2012 terrorist attack has determined that it could have been prevented – if the U.S. hadn’t been helping to arm al-Qaeda militias throughout Libya a year earlier.

‘The United States switched sides in the war on terror with what we did in Libya, knowingly facilitating the provision of weapons to known al-Qaeda militias and figures,’ Clare Lopez, a member of the commission and a former CIA officer, told MailOnline.

She blamed the Obama administration for tacitly approving the diversion of half of a $1 billion Qatari arms shipment to al-Qaeda-linked militants.

‘Remember, these weapons that came into Benghazi were permitted to enter by our armed forces who were blockading the approaches from air and sea,’ Lopez claimed. ‘They were permitted to come in. … [They] knew these weapons were coming in, and that was allowed..

‘The intelligence community was part of that, the Department of State was part of that, and certainly that means that the top leadership of the United States, our national security leadership, and potentially Congress – if they were briefed on this – also knew about this.’

Nope, nothin’ to see there…. 🙄

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2. The political fraud about voter fraud.

From TheWSJ  “The Obama administration has been ramping up its rhetoric about the evil of voter identification as part of the run-up to the midterm elections. In January, Attorney General Eric Holder told MSNBC that voter fraud “simply does not exist to the extent that would warrant” voter ID laws, adding that many who favor such measures do so in order to “depress the vote.” Vice President Joe Biden claimed in February that new voter ID laws in North Carolina, Alabama and Texas were motivated by “hatred” and “zealotry.”

In an April 11 speech to Al Sharpton‘s National Action Network, President Obama recited statistics purporting to show that voter fraud was extremely rare. The “real voter fraud,” he said, “is people who try to deny our rights by making bogus arguments about voter fraud.”

These arguments themselves are bogus.”

“The president’s speech may have been red meat for his base and good for fundraising. But it failed to engage the serious issues relating to election integrity. The coming months don’t promise an improvement.”

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3. In 20% of American families, no one works.

From CNSNews  “In 20 percent of American families in 2013, according to new data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), not one member of the family worked.

A family, as defined by the BLS, is a group of two or more people who live together and who are related by birth, adoption or marriage. In 2013, there were 80,445,000 families in the United States and in 16,127,000—or 20 percent–no one had a job.

The BLS designates a person as “employed” if “during the survey reference week” they “(a) did any work at all as paid employees; (b) worked in their own business, profession, or on their own farm; (c) or worked 15 hours or more as unpaid workers in an enterprise operated by a member of the family.”

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4. An Egyptian court’s crackdown on Muslim Brotherhood leaders continues.

From YahooNews  “An Egyptian court sentenced 682 alleged Islamists and Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie to death on Monday, a lawyer and prosecutor said, after two brief sessions the defence partly boycotted.

The same court in the southern province of Minya also reversed 492 of 529 death sentences it passed in March, commuting most of those to life in prison.

The court, presided over by judge Said Youssef Sabry, had sparked an international outcry with its initial sentencing last month amid an extensive crackdown on supporters of ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.”

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5. China has restarted it’s campaign against Christian churches within it’s borders.

From TheTelegraph  “Demolition teams began destroying parts of a Chinese church that has become a symbol of resistance to the Communist Party’s draconian clutch on religion, activists and witnesses said on Monday.

Sanjiang church in Wenzhou, a wealthy coastal city known as the “Jerusalem of the East”, made headlines earlier this month when thousands of Christians formed a human shield around its entrance after plans for its demolition were announced.

Church members accused Communist leaders in Zhejiang province of ordering an anti-church crackdown and claimed there were plans to completely or partially demolish at least 10 places of worship.”

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6. Israeli Christians have seen what happened to their brethren in Muslim countries during the Arab Spring. Now they want to help protect theirs from the same fate.

From TheGlobalPost  “For the first time in its history, Israel’s army is getting ready to send voluntary military enlistment notices to Christian Arab citizens when they turn eighteen.

The unlikely impetus behind the move is none other than the Arab Spring, the popular rebellion revolutionizing the Arab world and in the process recalibrating the relationship between Christian citizens and the State of Israel. Shocked by a new climate featuring violence against Christians in Egypt and Libya, among other countries, and displacement in Syria, some of Israel’s Christian Arabs are pushing for greater participation in their home state.”

“The name alone — “Israeli Christians Recruitment Forum,” rather than “Arab Christians Recruitment Forum” — is a strong statement in this region. Naddaf has lost patience, he says, “with the Arab world telling us what we can do and what we should feel.”

“In light of the persecution of Christians in Arab countries just because they are Christians,” Naddaf said in a meeting with journalists this week following the army’s announcement, “our youth feels they must make a sacrifice for the country that is protecting them.” He believes that these notices, which still aren’t equivalent to the obligatory draft others face, will “open the door … to full participation in society for Christians.” But apart from an explicit welcome, the notices will include details on a possible preliminary meeting at the individual’s nearest IDF enlistment office, and reduce the amount of energy Christian youths need to expend volunteering for a service other citizens are brought into automatically.”

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News/Politics 4-2-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. This seems absurd, but who knows what some judge might be inclined to do.

From TheTimesofIsrael  “Ahmad al-Gamal, an Egyptian columnist for Egyptian daily Al-Yawm Al-Sabi, advocated in the newspaper on March 11 that Egypt sue the State of Israel for damages caused by the 10 Biblical plagues, “We want compensation for the plagues that were inflicted upon [us] as a result of the curses that the Jews’ ancient forefathers [cast] upon our ancient forefathers, who did not deserve to pay for the mistake that Egypt’s ruler at the time, Pharaoh, committed,” the cranky journalist wrote, according to a translation provided by the Middle East Media Research Institute.”

“For what is written in the Torah proves that it was Pharaoh who oppressed the children of Israel, rather than the Egyptian people,” Gamal continued, “[But] they inflicted upon us the plague of locusts that didn’t leave anything behind them; the plague that transformed the Nile’s waters into blood, so nobody could drink of them for a long time; the plague of darkness that kept the world dark day and night; the plague of frogs; and the plague of the killing of the firstborn, namely every first offspring born to woman or beast, and so on.”

Gamal also pressed suing Israel for the “precious materials” used by the ancient Israelites in order to construct their desert tabernacle.”

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2. Anyone shocked?

From TheWashingtonTimes  “Before the Obama administration gave an inaccurate narrative on national television that the Benghazi attacks grew from an anti-American protest, the CIA’s station chief in Libya pointedly told his superiors in Washington that no such demonstration occurred, documents and interviews with current and former intelligence officials show.

The attack was “not an escalation of protests,” the station chief wrote to then-Deputy CIA Director Michael J. Morell in an email dated Sept. 15, 2012 — a full day before the White House sent Susan E. Rice to several Sunday talk shows to disseminate talking points claiming that the Benghazi attack began as a protest over an anti-Islam video.”

“That the talking points used by Mrs. Rice, who was then U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, were written by a CIA that ignored the assessment by its own station chief inside Libya, has emerged as one of the major bones of contention in the nearly two years of political fireworks and congressional investigations into the Benghazi attack.”

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3. Most transparent administration never.

From TheFreeBeacon  “The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) blocked the release of the names of hospitals where 19 veterans died because of delays in medical screenings, leading to calls for transparency from news outlets and a bipartisan group of Capitol Hill lawmakers.

Earlier this month, the VA denied a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request from Tampa Tribune reporter Howard Altman, who had been investigating the deaths.

CNN reported in January that 19 veterans died as a result of delayed gastrointestinal cancer screenings, while another 63 were seriously injured. CNN obtained internal documents from the VA listing the number of “institutional disclosures of adverse events”—the bureaucratic phrase for a mistake that gravely harms or kills a patient.

However, the documents did not list the names of the hospitals and clinics where the deaths took place. When Altman asked VA for the names of the hospitals, he was told he would have to file a FOIA request. His subsequent FOIA request was denied.”

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4. Can somebody point out who is acting like the child here?

From EAGNews 13WHAM.com reports at least 16 school districts in the Empire State have implemented a “sit and stare” policy for students who’ve been opted-out of the state assessments by their parents.

These students “will have to sit at their desks without any other reading or testing materials, while all the students around them take the 60- to 90-minute exams,” the news site reports.

It’s not difficult to read between the lines here. The “sit and stare” policy is a way petty and vindictive school principals and superintendents can get back at parents who are pushing back against the Common Core experiment.”

“That’s not just our interpretation of what’s happening; the leader of the state’s largest teachers union sees it the same way. “This (‘sit and stare’) policy aimed at students whose parents elect to ‘opt out’ their children from state standardized testing is unconscionable,” said Richard Iannuzzi, president of the New York State United Teachers, in a February press release.”

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5. Oh goody. Time to start testing Congress and the White House. 🙄

From Reuters  “District of Columbia Mayor Vincent Gray on Monday signed a bill that decriminalizes possession of up to an ounce (28 grams) of marijuana in the U.S. capital.

The law makes possession a civil violation with a penalty of $25, lower than most city parking tickets. Possession had been a misdemeanor carrying up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

“He did sign it this morning,” said spokeswoman Doxie McCoy. Gray is facing a tight race in the Democratic primary on Tuesday after being tarnished by links to a campaign finance scandal.

Proponents had backed the marijuana measure as an issue of fairness. A study by the American Civil Liberties Union had shown that blacks in Washington were eight times more likely to be arrested for pot than people of other races.”

 The fact that he’ll gain votes from this is purely coincidental. 🙂

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6. The White House is touting having reached their 7 million sign ups goal. But as usual, the details are not as rosy as they claim.

From TheDailyMail  “A triumphant President Barack Obama declared Tuesday his signature medical insurance overhaul a success, saying it has made America’s health care system ‘a lot better’ in a Rose Garden press conference.

But buried in the 7.1 million enrollments he announced in a heavily staged appearance is a more unsettling reality.

Numbers from a RAND Corporation study that has been kept under wraps suggest that barely 858,000 previously uninsured Americans – nowhere near 7.1 million – have paid for new policies and joined the ranks of the insured by Monday night.”

“Others were already insured, including millions who lost coverage when their existing policies were suddenly cancelled because they didn’t meet Obamacare’s strict minimum requirements.”

 

News/Politics 2-5-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. The scariest part of this is that the CBO tends to under-estimate.

From TheWashingtonTimes  “Obamacare will push the equivalent of about 2 million workers out of the labor market by 2017 as employees decide either to work fewer hours or drop out altogether, according to the latest estimates Tuesday from the Congressional Budget Office.

That’s a major jump in the nonpartisan budget agency’s projections and it suggests the health care law’s incentives are driving businesses and people to choose government-sponsored benefits rather than work.

CBO estimates that the ACA will reduce the total number of hours worked, on net, by about 1.5 to 2 percent during the period from 2017 to 2024, almost entirely because workers will choose to supply less labor — given the new taxes and other incentives they will face and the financial benefits some will receive,” CBO analysts wrote in their new economic outlook.”

And just as a reminder, this isn’t what they said would happen. In fact, quite the opposite. I’ll let Nancy remind you what was promised. She said it would create 4 million jobs, 400,000 of them immediately. Yet another ObamaCare lie.

Yeah, accountability for insurance companies, but not you, right Nancy?

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2. The White House and Harry Reid are calling this news a success, because even though they’ll lose their jobs, as a consolation prize they’ll still be able to take their policy with them.

If they can afford it, which will be tough with no job. 🙄

From Mediaite “A Congressional Budget Office report indicating that more than two million Americans will voluntarily leave America’s already reduced workforce because of the options provided in the Affordable Care Act exploded like the bombshell it was on Tuesday.

The White House already has its hands full as the attempt to mollify the concerns of nervous Democrats heading into the 2014 midterm election cycle. Now, Democrats can add the White House’s reaction to this CBO report to their list of gripes as they head into political strategy sessions with President Barack Obama.”

“On Tuesday, the White House called the report misleading and inaccurate, but they also took the odd step of praising the disincentives contained within the ACA to leave the labor market.

Lisa Desjardins reported that the CBO report indicates that more workers will choose to leave the labor market because they no longer have to depend on their employer to provide them with health insurance. She noted that the White House pushed back on that report by claiming that Americans taking advantage of the opportunity to abandon the workforce was a welcome development.”

That’s some serious spin there. Wow.

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3. Oh look, ObamaCare fraud. That didn’t take long. One govt. agency defrauding another.

From KATUNews  “You already know the process that led to the failed rollout of the Cover Oregon website was bad. But was it criminally bad?

Former Republican state Rep. Patrick Sheehan told the KATU Investigators he has gone to the FBI with allegations that Cover Oregon project managers initiated the design of dummy web pages to convince the federal government the project was further along than it actually was.

If Sheehan’s allegations are true, those managers could face time in jail for fraud.

“One of the allegations that was made was so alarming that it went way beyond a legislative oversight committee and so I did reach out and contact the FBI,” Sheehan said.”

Well if they’re going to jail for overstating the readiness of the state exchange, shouldn’t Sebelius, Obama, and Dems for the same type of thing on the federal level? 🙂

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4. Is this one an insult to women? They must think very little of you if they believe puppies and kitties is what it will take to get you to sign up for ObamaCare.

From FoxNews  “Enroll America, the advocacy group leading efforts to enroll Americans in ObamaCare, is launching a multi-million dollar advertising campaign featuring cats, dogs, birds and other pets in a bid to convince young women to sign up for health coverage, USA Today reported.

With less than two months to go before the March 31 deadline to apply for coverage under ObamaCare, Enroll America officials tell the newspaper 81 percent of the public is unaware of the deadline and 69 percent don’t know that financial aid is available to those earning less than 400 percent of the poverty level.

Enroll America President Anne Filipic told USA Today the pet-themed ads are designed to “help break through the clutter.” She cited statistics showing that more than 60 percent of American homes have a pet and that most female pet owners would risk their lives for their pets. “

Here’s the video from  ACORN Enroll America.

Everybody now!!!!

Enroll Today! 🙄

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5. How do you reward the IRS for targeting your political enemies? Like this.

From TheWashingtonTimes  “Citing the need to boost employee morale, the Internal Revenue Service’s new commissioner said Monday that he will pay out millions of dollars in bonuses to agency employees, reversing a decision his predecessor made to save money amid the sequester budget cuts and other belt-tightening last year.

The agency remains under fire for targeting tea party groups, but Commissioner John Koskinen said the bonuses are needed to retain and attract good employees in a time of cutbacks.

“This is money best spent on our existing employees,” he said in an email to agency employees. “The performance award payouts are in recognition of that great work done in very trying circumstances. I firmly believe that this investment in our employees will directly benefit taxpayers and the tax system.”

Yep. Great work. Especially the Cincinnati office.

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6. Everyone already knows the Benghazi talking points were altered to benefit Obama’s re-election campaign. Now it looks like we know who altered them.

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News/Politics 1-28-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. Here we go again. 🙄

From TheHill The White House said Monday that President Obama would not pay “an ideological ransom” in exchange for raising the debt ceiling.

“The American people cannot — and the president will not on their behalf — pay an ideological ransom just so that Congress will do its job and pay the bills that Congress has racked up,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said. “It’s just irresponsible.”

The comments came after Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell suggested over the weekend that the GOP wanted to “attach something significant for the country” — like the approval of the Keystone XL pipeline — to a debt limit increase.

“Any president’s request to raise the debt ceiling, whether this one or previous presidents, is a good opportunity to try to do something about the debt. I think the president is taking an unreasonable position to suggest that we ought to treat his request to raise the debt ceiling like some kind of motherhood resolution that everybody says ‘aye,’ and we don’t do anything, when we have the stagnant economy and this massive debt created under his administration,” McConnell told Fox News.”

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2. The first lady is bringing a gay NBA player to the S. of the U. speech tonight as one of her guests. I guess to make a statement. Some have decided to use the invite to make a statement of their own as well.

From TheWashingtonTimes  “The father of one of the men who died in the terrorist attack in Benghazi will attend Tuesday’s State of the Union address, escalating the battle of the guests that takes place every year.

Rep. Jim Bridenstine’s invitation to Charles Woods, father of former Navy SEAL and Benghazi terrorist attack victim Tyrone Woods, is the latest evidence that the real politics of the major speech happens well above the president’s head, in the public viewing galleries.”

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3. One of the themes you’ll hear tonight will be the new buzz words “income inequality.” And as is usually the case, it’s someone with a lot of money doing the complaining about it. (Funny though, it’s always our money they want to use to “fix” it, not theirs.)

Tonight the president will cheerlead his new meme, and filthy rich Democrats will follow suit, and the press will run with it, just like always. And as always, they miss their own hypocrisy. They completely miss that they’re the “evil” rich they rail about.

This lady is a perfect example, just like the president. She rails against CEO’s and their outrageous pay, yet fails to mention her husband George Lucas is worth 7.3 billion. She’s a real spokesperson for the little people. Funny though, she didn’t mention how much of their money she’ll be giving to help offset this inequality. Weird right? 🙄

From NewsBusters  “CBS analyst Mellody Hobson, whose husband George Lucas is worth $7.3 billion, appeared on This Morning to slam excessive salaries for corporate bosses. Discussing income inequality and Barack Obama’s planned discussion at the State of the Union, Hobson lashed out, “If you look today, the typical CEO makes 354 times more than the typical worker in his or her company, mostly his because there are so few women running companies.” (How much more does the male Lucas make than the average worker?)

She continued, “If you look back to 1980, that difference was just 42 times. So it’s been that kind of income inequality that has started a lot of backlash and chatter…” Co-host Norah O’Donnell introduced the segment by highlighting a hyperbolic letter to the Wall Street Journal by CEO Tom Perkins comparing the treatment of the wealthy to Jews during the Holocaust. O’Donnell promoted, “[President Obama] calls [income inequality] one of the defining challenges of our time. How do you think that will be received by people in the business community?”

“Hobson cheered Obama’s efforts: “Well, one, I’ve heard the President directly speak on these issues. I heard him right before Thanksgiving firsthand talk about this issue of the middle class…. Additionally what I would call it is positive populism.”

I‘d call it class warfare.

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4. The NY Times public editor is calling out the Times for it’s lack of coverage of the March for Life.

From LifeNews  “Kudos to New York Times public editor Margaret Sullivan for asking why the Times couldn’t provide much coverage of Wednesday’s March for Life. Hundreds, if not thousands of New Yorkers were there, so “Was this local participation, or the event itself, worthy of a news story in the paper of record? Apparently not.”

“The Times, in print, published only a stand-alone photograph of the event on Page A17 with a two-line caption on Thursday.” Sullivan reproduced complaints from pro-life readers:”

“Another reader made the point that The Times’s political agenda was on display, not only in the lack of coverage of the event but also in what it did choose to give a major amount of space to in the same day’s paper: a front-page article about a Catholic school in suburban Seattle where students are protesting the firing of a school official who was let go after he married his male partner.

Francis H. Hoffman wrote: “A handful of young people from Seattle who support their fired vice principal merits big coverage, but a massive pro-life march in a winter storm is all but ignored. And the motto of the New York Times is, “All the News That’s Fit to Print.” I guess pro-life news is not fit to print.”

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5. This one is sad, and he deserves it. Yet at the same time I don’t understand why it’s OK for a woman to do it either without the father’s permission. Both are parents of the child after all. It seems a little contradictory. And the plea was for other charges. They didn’t address the major issues, like whether the defense’s claim that Roe v. Wade protected him as well was valid, since he was the father.

From LifeSiteNews  “The man who tricked his ex-girlfriend into taking an abortion-inducing drug has been sentenced to nearly 14 years in prison.

John Andrew Welden received the full negotiated sentence of 13 years and eight months in a hearing at 1:30 this afternoon.

“I don’t think Mr. Welden is an evil person, but he committed an evil act and for that he’s going to have to pay the consequences,” said U.S. District Judge Richard A. Lazzara as he imposed the full sentence.

Welden signed a plea bargain in September to avoid life in prison for violating the 2004 Unborn Victims of Violence Act. But Lazzara, a 1997 Clinton appointee, nearly let Welden escape with only 41 months in prison.”

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6. The more we know, the worse it gets. I’m sure the administration is in no hurry to rectify this. And they don’t dare cave and let Republicans re-write any of it.

From WatchDog.org  “Insurance companies working under the Obamacare umbrella have secretly added a surcharge to cover the cost of abortions, an apparent violation of federal law that forbids the practice, congressional leaders charge.

Consumers signing up for insurance in an Obamacare exchange won’t find a single sentence telling them that they will pay at least $1 a month to fund abortions.

“The president promised when the health care bill passed that it would not cover abortion. We knew that was an empty promise as the bill stipulated a $1 a month surcharge for plans that covered abortions,” said Rep. Joe Pitts, R-Pa., who chairs the House’s Energy and Commerce subcommittee on Health. “On top of that … it’s near impossible to decipher which plans include abortion and at what cost!”

To fix this, a House bill will be introduced this week to demand full disclosure and a separate itemized premium. It also will prohibit federal subsidies for Obamacare insurance plans that cover abortion. That bill, HR-7, or the “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act,” will be introduced by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor.”

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News/Politics 1-27-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. Pres. Obama says income inequality is holding kids back. A new Harvard study says it’s something else. 

From TheWashingtonExaminer  “A new study from Harvard University on the ability of low-income children to achieve social mobility found that the largest hindrance to moving up the income ladder is being raised by a single parent. “The strongest and most robust predictor [of social mobility] is the fraction of children with single parents,” the study said.

Further, the study found that “[children] of married parents also have higher rates of upward mobility if they live in communities with fewer single parents.”

Now, obviously there are cases of successful children who were raised by single parents, but the study suggests that it is more likely for a child to climb the income ladder if they are living with both parents in a community of married parents.

The study found the prevalence of single parents to be a much larger factor in determining social mobility than income inequality — something President Obama and Democrats speak of ad nauseum.”

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2. The Obama admin loves to reward failure.

From TheBlaze  “Charlene Lamb, cited for failures in leadership from the Department of State’s own Accountability Review Board report, has been promoted to Regional Security Officer. We’ve heard rumor that she’s slated for international duty in Canada. She started the security officer training last week, much to the dismay of many within the State Department.

For those not keeping track, Charlene Lamb was in charge of the office that denied extra security personnel to the U.S. Ambassador in Libya before the Sept. 11, 2011 attacks.”

“This is a gift, State (State Department) is going out of its way to take care of her. They initially wanted to send her to the Hauge but the rumor was out and they thought better because she would have lived in a castle. In addition RSO (Regional Security Officer) Hague is a sensitive position with NATO etc, and our allies would not have approved.”

Just like with the IRS, and Fast and Furious, she gets rewarded for keeping her mouth shut.

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3. Speaking of Fast and Furious……

They just never learn.

From OregonLive  “The 25-year-old meth addict stepped into Squid’s Smoke Shop toting a wadded sweatshirt concealing a pistol.

She was intent on trading with “Squid,” the long-haired man behind the Gresham smoke shop’s counter, or his crew. They paid her $520 in cash and two cartons of Marlboros for the Makarov semi-automatic pistol.

Roughly a month later, in March 2011, she learned Squid was no underworld buyer of guns and drugs. He was a special agent with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

He and his team ended their elaborate eight-month undercover sting in March 2011 by arresting 48 people who sold drugs and guns to Squid’sBut now the $150,000 operation — which recovered only 10 stolen guns, none traced to a crime — is itself being investigated for its methods, including targeting mentally impaired individuals.”

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4. Ouch. That’s gotta sting, especially since it’s so obviously true.

From TheNYPost Mitt Romney thinks Vladimir Putin is better at being president than Barack Obama.

Romney, who lost the presidential race to Obama, told NBC that the Russian leader “outperformed” the president “time and time again on the world stage.”

The former GOP nominee called the US and Russia “geopolitical adversaries,” blamed Putin for giving cover to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and said fugitive leaker Edward Snowden’s asylum in Russia was a “bit of a stick in the eye of America.”

“I think most observers of the international political scene suggest that Russia has elevated itself in stature and America has been diminished,” Romney said.”

I seem to recall Democrats ridiculing Romney for saying Russia should be our biggest concern. Maybe they should have listened because Putin’ been eating Obama’s lunch.

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5. This one bothers me. They seem more concerned with aiding a child molester than they are with his poor victim.

From TheDailyMail  “Law enforcement officials in Rochester New York say colleagues of convicted pedophile Matthew LoMaglio were uncooperative during the investigation. LoMaglio, 37, an elementary school gym teacher, was convicted last month of sexually molesting an eight-year-old boy between 2006 and 2007.

Many teachers and administrators who had worked with LoMaglio, who was sentenced last week to four years prison for second degree sexual conduct against a child and endangering the welfare of a child, refused to speak to investigators.”

“According to EAG News, 22 of LoMaglio’s co-workers wrote to the judge in support of the teacher during the case, some of whom said they would trust him with their own children and others who said they considered him a good role model for kids. “

“‘Some of the people [on the school staff] who were cooperative told us there was talk at school, sort of like ‘Are you for the teacher or for the student,’” Kyle Rossi, the assistant district attorney who tried the case against LoMaglio, told EAGnews. ‘It was very disappointing to make contact with teachers who wouldn’t give us the time of day until they were instructed to.”

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6. An ObamaCare alternative from the GOP? So repeal has now become replace?

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News/Politics 1-17-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. Claims by the Obama admin over who was responsible for a Syrian chemical attack are having their accuracy challenged by some experts. This was part of the admins supposed evidence to justify entering the Syrian conflict.

From TheMiamiHerald   “A series of revelations about the rocket believed to have delivered poison sarin gas to a Damascus suburb last summer are challenging American intelligence assumptions about that attack and suggest that the case U.S. officials initially made for retaliatory military action was flawed.

A team of security and arms experts, meeting this week in Washington to discuss the matter, has concluded that the range of the rocket that delivered sarin in the largest attack that night was too short for the device to have been fired from the Syrian government positions where the Obama administration insists they originated.

Separately, international weapons experts are puzzling over why the rocket in question – an improvised 330mm to 350mm rocket equipped with a large receptacle on its nose to hold chemicals – reportedly did not appear in the Syrian government’s declaration of its arsenal to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and apparently was not uncovered by OPCW inspectors who believe they’ve destroyed Syria’s ability to deliver a chemical attack.     

Neither development proves decisively that Syrian government forces did not fire the chemicals that killed hundreds of Syrians in the early morning hours of Aug. 21. U.S. officials continue to insist that the case for Syrian government responsibility for the attack in East Ghouta is stronger than any suggestion of rebel involvement, while experts say it is possible Syria left the rockets out of its chemical weapons declaration simply to make certain it could not be tied to the attack.”

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2. More Benghazi info from the just released report. This info makes the NY Times piece about Al-Qaeda not being involved even more laughable.

From CNSNews  “On August 16, 2012–a little less than a month before the terrorist  attacks on the U.S. State Department and CIA facilities in Benghazi,   Libya–Amb. Chris Stevens sent a cable to State Department  headquarters in Washington, D.C. stating that a CIA officer on the  ground in Benghazi had briefed a State Department officer in that city  the day before “on the location of approximately ten Islamist militias  and AQ training camps within Benghazi.”

“The CIA officer’s discussion of the “AQ training camps” in Benghazi occurred  at an “Emergency Action Committee” meeting convened August 15, 2012 by  the State Department’s principal officer in Benghazi. “In an August 16, 2012, cable to State headquarters, Stevens raised  additional concerns about the deteriorating security situation in  Benghazi following an Emergency Action Committee (EAC) meeting held on  August 15, 2012, in Benghazi,” says a Senate Select Committee on  Intelligence report on Benghazi that was released today.”

“The CIA officer’s statements at the August 15, 2012 EAC in Benghazi  was not the only warning the CIA issued about the threat from  terrorists–including al Qaeda-affiliated terrorists–in Benghazi before  the Sept. 11, 2012 attack. The Defense Department, like the CIA, was also sounding warnings  about the growing threat from terrorists and al Qaeda in Libya, and  particularly in eastern Libya, according to the Senate Select Committee  on Intelligence report.”

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3. This one isn’t shocking, but it could be dangerous. But in a PC world we can’t target only the groups who are blowing people up. 🙄

From TheNYTimes  “The Justice Department will significantly expand its definition of racial profiling to prohibit federal agents from considering religion, national origin, gender and sexual orientation in their investigations, a government official said Wednesday.

The move addresses a decade of criticism from civil rights groups that say federal authorities have in particular singled out Muslims in counterterrorism investigations and Latinos for immigration investigations.”

“The Bush administration banned profiling in 2003, but with two caveats: It did not apply to national security cases, and it covered only race, not religion, ancestry or other factors.

Since taking office, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. has been under pressure from Democrats in Congress to eliminate those provisions. “These exceptions are a license to profile American Muslims and Hispanic-Americans,” Senator Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, said in 2012.”

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4. For this next one, you need some background music. Hit the play button. 🙂

Now read this….

From InvestorsBusinessDaily  “Attorney General Eric Holder has opened up a new front against car lenders and has forged an alliance with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to frame them for racism, too.”

“For starters, Justice had to guess the race of Ally’s black customers from Census data for black neighborhoods. The auto-finance industry does not report the race of borrowers like the mortgage industry.”

“So “victims” were never actually identified. That’s why the complaint has to estimate that Ally discriminated against “approximately” 100,000 African-American borrowers.

More shocking, civil-rights prosecutors never actually checked the creditworthiness of those borrowers. That’s right, they never looked at credit scores, down payments, debt or other key risk-related factors banks consider to set interest rates. Not for blacks, or for supposedly “similarly situated” whites.”

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5. This one is just Joe being Joe I guess. 🙄

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6. This one isn’t shocking either, but it is a bit much, even for Democrats.

From ThePuebloChieftan  “Saying some neighborhoods have more pot shops than banks, Colorado Democrats on Wednesday rejected a proposal to ban the use of public assistance cards to obtain cash at marijuana-shop ATMs. 

The Senate State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee voted 3-2 along party lines against a GOP proposal to add marijuana shops to the list of places where recipients of public assistance can’t use their government-issued EBT cards to access cash.”

“Sen. Vicki Marble, R-Fort Collins, said Colorado’s new legal pot industry needs to make sure not to invite federal scrutiny through improper cash withdrawals at recreational or medical marijuana stores.”

“I’m not comfortable limiting that access until I’m certain we’ve done that due diligence to make sure people can access their benefits when they need to,” Sen. Irene Aguilar, D-Denver, said.”

Those silly Republicans. I’m sure nobody will use the cash for weed. 🙄

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