Boko Haram

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News/Politics 5-22-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. Let the bailouts begin! More illegal changes to ObamaCare. And more money out of the taxpayers pockets.

From TheChicagoTribune  “The Obama administration has quietly adjusted key provisions of its signature healthcare law to potentially make billions of additional taxpayer dollars available to the insurance industry if companies providing coverage through the Affordable Care Act lose money.

The move was buried in hundreds of pages of new regulations issued late last week. It comes as part of an intensive administration effort to hold down premium increases for next year, a top priority for the White House as the rates will be announced ahead of this fall’s congressional elections.”

“On Capitol Hill, Republicans on the Senate Budget Committee began circulating a memo on the issue and urging colleagues to fight what they are calling “another end-run around Congress.”

Obama administration officials said the new regulations would not put taxpayers at risk. “We are confident this three-year program will not create a shortfall,” Health and Human Services spokeswoman Erin Shields Britt said in a statement. “However, we want to be clear that in the highly unlikely event of a shortfall, HHS will use appropriations as available to fill it.”

Sure. I mean all their numbers have been dead on so far, right? 🙄

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2. Meanwhile, the investigations into state exchange failures begins.

From OregonLive  “The federal criminal investigation of Oregon’s health insurance exchange took a step into public view Tuesday when the U.S. Attorney’s office issued broad subpoenas seeking information from Cover Oregon and the Oregon Health Authority.

While the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s interest in the exchange debacle had been previously reported, the legal demands dated May 13 indicate things may have moved beyond a preliminary inquiry to a full-blown investigation.

The investigation, led by federal prosecutors and the FBI, is seeking documents, memos, and emails between the two state entities that oversaw the botched health exchange with U.S. authorities in charge of dispensing federal money for the project.

Oregon has spent $250 million and three years on an ambitious IT project that failed to produce a fully functional exchange. Instead, what was produced was bug-ridden and largely unfinished, documents show.”

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3. I’m shocked. It appears that proponents of expanding immigration laws haven’t been honest about the need.

From NationalReview  “The idea that we need to allow in more workers with science, technology, engineering, and math (“STEM”) background is an article of faith among American business and political elite.

But in a new report, my Center for Immigration Studies colleague Karen Zeigler and I analyze the latest government data and find what other researchers have found: The country has well more than twice as many workers with STEM degrees as there are STEM jobs. Also consistent with other research, we find only modest levels of wage growth for such workers for more than a decade. Both employment and wage data indicate that such workers are not in short supply.

Reports by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), the RAND Corporation, the Urban Institute, and the National Research Council have all found no evidence that STEM workers are in short supply. PBS even published an opinion piece based on the EPI study entitled, “The Bogus High-Tech Worker Shortage: How Guest Workers Lower U.S. Wages.” This is PBS, mind you, which is as likely to publish something skeptical of immigration as it is to publish something skeptical of taxpayer subsidies for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

 RAND’s analysis looked backward in time and found, “Despite recurring concerns about potential shortages of STEM personnel . . . we did not find evidence that such shortages have existed at least since 1990, nor that they are on the horizon.”

It’s unnecessary and it will make things harder for unemployed Americans.

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4. The National Association for the Abortion of Colored People?

FromLifeNews  “A pro-life legal group is having to go to court to help the state of Arizona protect its law it passed to ban race-based abortions. Here’s the ironic rub: the NAACP filed a lawsuit against the bill, which stops abortions done specifically if the baby is African-American (or any other specific race or gender).

It makes one wonder if the NAACP, which, for years has held a pro-abortion position and which recently won a court order to silence a black pro-life who was writing at LifeNews to expose it’s abortion advocacy, should be called the National Association for the Abortion of Colored People.

Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys filed a friend-of-the-court brief Monday with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit urging it to reject the NAACP’s lawsuit against an Arizona bill that prohibits sex- and race-based abortions.”

“A district court dismissed the lawsuit in October of last year, but American Civil Liberties Union attorneys representing the Maricopa County branch of the NAACP and the National Asian-Pacific American Women’s Forum appealed that decision.”

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5. I’m sure it was just a slip of the tongue, right?

From TheWashingtonExaminer  “A State Department official struggled to discuss the religious import of Boko Haram’s ideology, despite the group’s repeated attacks on Christians, a rhetorical hesitancy that created tension during a rather bipartisan House hearing on the threat from the terrorist group.

Rep. Jeff Duncan, R-S.C., asked whether Boko Haram specifically targets Christians.

“I wish there was such discrimination in Boko Haram attacks,” State Department undersecretary Sarah Sewall replied during a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing. “Boko Haram attacks everyone who is Nigerian. Boko Haram is an equal-opportunity threat for all Nigerian citizens.”

That answer irritated Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., who chairs the subcommittee panel on global human rights. “You said you wish they would differentiate or discriminate — they were so discriminating. Yes, they’ll hit other Nigerians, they’ll hit other westerners, but Christians are their main target,” he countered.”

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News/Politics 5-19-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. How many victims will it take before some heads roll over this? Good question.

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2. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before…..

Another already retiring scape goat “resigns” over the matter. It didn’t work then, and it won’t work now.

From TheWashingtonExaminer  “And then, news broke that one of Shinseki’s top aides had resigned. “Today, I accepted the resignation of Dr. Robert Petzel, Under Secretary for Health in the Department of Veterans Affairs,” Shinseki said in a statement. “As we know from the veteran community, most veterans are satisfied with the quality of their VA health care, but we must do more to improve timely access to that care. I am committed to strengthening veterans’ trust and confidence in their VA healthcare system.”

“By the way, the VA announced in September that Petzel would retire in 2014. And the White House announced May 1 that it intended to nominate Jeffrey Murawsky, director of the VA’s Illinois-based Great Lakes Health Care System, as his replacement.

That “timely access” line alludes to the topic of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee hearing Thursday, at which Shinseki and Petzel both testified, following reports that VA staff cooked the books to hide the fact that veterans were waiting for care beyond the time mandated by department regulations, with some patients even dying before receiving treatment.”

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3. Judge Jeanine destroys the Obama admin’s version of events.

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4. Could it be that our poor excuse for border security and the Obama admin’s “Dreamer” policy are what is responsible for this?

Uh……  yeah.

From StarsandStripes  “Record-breaking numbers of children and teenagers caught in the U.S. illegally and alone have overwhelmed the federal government’s detention network, prompting officials to start housing up to 1,000 on a San Antonio Air Force base.

Kenneth Wolfe, an Office of Refugee Resettlement spokesman, said Friday that the Department of Defense has agreed to start temporarily housing children at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland starting on Sunday.

Resettlement agency officials used the base temporarily as an emergency shelter once before, in the spring of 2012, when the numbers of children caught crossing the border jumped sharply, leaving the federal government scrambling to find adequate bed space.

Since then, their numbers have continued to grow exponentially, driven by what advocates are calling a “humanitarian crisis” in Central and South America. Some 60,000 unaccompanied children and teens are expected this year – up from about 6,560 in 2011, according to the agency.”

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5. It looks like some Nigerians are starting to fight back against Boko Haram.

From CNN  ” Residents of three villages in northeastern Nigeria took security into their own hands this week, repelling attacks by Boko Haram insurgents and killing more than 200 of them, residents and officials said.

Hundreds of Boko Haram fighters stormed the villages of Menari, Tsangayari and Garawa in the ethnic Shuwa-dominated Kalabalge District on Tuesday. Boko Haram — the group responsible for the kidnapping of nearly 300 schoolgirls from the same region — was met with stiff resistance as locals put up a fierce fight, witnesses said.”

“n the three villages attacked Tuesday, gunmen arrived in dozens of all-terrain vans, armored tanks and motorcycles, but villagers quickly mobilized and engaged the attackers in a prolonged battle.”

“When news of the attack filtered out, people trooped out from nearby villages carrying arms.”

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by

News/Politics 5-16-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. The Obama admin wouldn’t treat Boko Haram like what they are, a terrorist organization. But now we learn that the admin threatened those who did treat them as such.

From CanadaFreePress  “Hillary Clinton wasn’t the only Obama administration official who went to bat for Boko Haram over the past few years. Soon after John Kerry took over as Secretary of State, the U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria, Terence P. McCulley, accused the Nigerian government of butchery during a confrontation with Boko Haram terrorists in Baga, a Nigerian town on the shores of Lake Chad, and in May 2013 threatened to withdraw U.S. military aid from the West African nation.

Boko Haram militants attacked a Nigerian military outpost in April 2013 outside Baga, killing one soldier. Following the three-day battle human rights activists, including the George Soros-funded and liberal aligned Human Rights Watch, which is not exactly known for its impartiality when it comes to reporting on Islamic issues, claimed the Nigerian military wantonly slaughtered 183 civilians and burned down over 2,000 homes and businesses.

The Nigerian government denied the claims saying the death toll and destruction had been vastly overstated by its enemies, and in fact 30 Boko Haram terrorists, 6 civilians and one soldier, had died in the fighting. Reports from the Baga clinic, which treated 193 people following the battle, but only 10 with serious injuries, seemed to back up the Nigerian government claim that no large-scale massacre had occurred.”

“No wonder the Nigerian government was initially reluctant to accept U.S. assistance with finding the more than 200 Christian girls kidnapped by Boko Haram last month. Emboldening Nigeria’s Islamic terrorist enemies and having been already accused by the Obama administration of crimes against humanity for fighting militants who were responsible for hundreds of civilian deaths since 2010, they likely felt that Obama’s belated support was more a product of diplomatic CYA than actually caring about the fate of kidnapped Nigerian children.”

Typical. Defending the bad guys. Again. Also note the Soros’ connection.

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2. Note it, because here comes another.

From CNSNews  “As IRS efforts targeting politically-conservative groups gained momentum, George Soros-funded liberal groups repeatedly called on the IRS to investigate conservative nonprofit organizations.

While the first reported instances of extra IRS scrutiny for conservative groups began in Cincinnati in March of 2010, the attacks began to pick up steam on a national level soon after Soros-funded groups began firing off letters to the IRS in October of that year – following the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling.

The talking points of these groups then bounced around a carefully created progressive “echo chamber,” until they eventually made their way into established media outlets. Key IRS policy changes about how it investigated conservative groups took place soon after it received three separate letters sent by Soros-funded liberal organizations.

Several Soros-funded groups including the Campaign Legal Center, Democracy 21, the Center for Public Integrity, Mother Jones and Alternet have worked to pressure the IRS to target conservative nonprofit groups. The subsequent IRS investigation flagged more than 100 tea party-related applications for higher scrutiny, including applications that included the words “Tea Party” and “patriot.”

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3. Pro-life folks have always known this was what they were up to.

From LifeNews  “For six years Carol Everett operated four abortion clinics in Texas. As reported by The Catholic Register, Everett earned a commission for every abortion in addition to a share of the fees charged by each clinic. She says she sold abortion and made big bucks off of the “cash cow” of abortion. A new abortion clinic, she said at the annual Rose Dinner for the National March for Life in Ottawa, would make enough money to pay for itself in a single month.

In addition, Everett said that the counselors at the clinics are more like telemarketers. They are trained to schedule abortions and use wording to eliminate a potential clients’ fears and objections concerning abortion.

Everett, who left the abortion industry after a Christian business counselor she hired lead her to Christ, also talked about how damaging government-funded sex education programs are. In her speech at the Rose Dinner, she took aim at the programs for stealing away the innate modesty of children and creating a rift between children and their parents. She says that the programs aim to teach children that talking to their parents about sex is uncomfortable and then they offer to be the people the children turn to for support. She says that girls are then provided with low dose birth control, which is ineffective if not taken at the same time each and every day, which is close to impossible for any teenager. When the girls get pregnant, they then turn to abortion clinics, she says.”

They’re predators preying on the young.

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4. This one is sure to be a huge hit among liberal circles. 🙂

Not.

From NPR  “Conservative radio commentator Rush Limbaugh won the Author of the Year award at the Children’s Choice Book Awards for his book Rush Revere and the Brave Pilgrims: Time-Travel Adventures With Exceptional Americans, in which Rush Revere and a talking horse named Liberty travel back in time to visit the pilgrims. Although the book has never been a critical favorite — one review accused it of “disdain for even the most rudimentary standards of storytelling” — it has been an enormous commercial success. Four finalists for the award were chosen because of their places on bestseller lists, and the winner was chosen by children’s votes.

In response to concerns about the list of finalists announced in March, the prize organizers — Children’s Book Council and Every Child a Reader — had released a delicately worded statement: This program has never been about CBC or ECAR endorsing finalists. It has always been about CBC and ECAR endorsing young readers and giving them a choice and a voice on a national scale.” In accepting the honor, Limbaugh said, “I love America. I wish everybody did. I hope everybody will. It’s one of the most fascinating stories in human history … and it’s a delight and it’s an opportunity to try to share that story with young people so they can grow and learn to love and appreciate the country in which they’re growing up and will someday run and lead and inherit.”

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by

News/Politics 5-9-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. While the kidnapping of hundreds of schoolgirls has drawn the world’s attention, Boko Haram continues to commit their bloody rampages. This is now 450 victims in the last week, in addition to the girls.

And now we learn that once again, Obama and Hillary refused to call them what they are, or to pursue them, for political purposes.

From TheDailyBeast  “Under Hillary Clinton, the State Department repeatedly declined to fully go after the terror group responsible for kidnapping hundreds of girls.

The State Department under Hillary Clinton fought hard against placing the al Qaeda-linked militant group Boko Haram on its official list of foreign terrorist organizations for two years. And now, lawmakers and former U.S. officials are saying that the decision may have hampered the American government’s ability to confront the Nigerian group that shocked the world by abducting hundreds of innocent girls.

In the past week, Clinton, who made protecting women and girls a key pillar of her tenure at the State Department, has been a vocal advocate for the 200 Nigerian girls kidnapped by Boko Haram, the loosely organized group of militants terrorizing northern Nigeria. Her May 4 tweet about the girls, using the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls, was cited across the media and widely credited for raising awareness of their plight.”

Yeah, widely credit by the media who seek to provide cover for her for not doing her job in the first place.

More here on their latest brazen attack on those hunting them, and the innocent bystanders who got in the way. From CNN

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And we now know that Boko Haram is armed with weapons from Libya. They have them because of yet another failure of the Obama/Clinton foreign policy strategy, or lack there of.

From CommentaryMag  “The Bama attack showed their [Boko Haram’s] substantial firepower, including machine guns, large numbers of rocket propelled grenades (RPGs) and pick-up trucks mounted with anti-aircraft guns, a sign the weapons flood from the Libyan war that helped rebels seize parts of Mali last year has reached Nigeria, officials say.

Let this be a miserable lesson in the dangers of foreign-policy ambivalence. The Obama administration was dragged kicking and screaming into Libya and refused to take the necessary steps to secure the regime’s weapons after Gaddafi was gone. This “light footprint” approach was praised by many as a low-risk “new model” for American military action. But in reality it was just world-policing on the cheap. The results speak for themselves. We can either fight terrorism or we can watch it advance and offer our remorse after the fact.”

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Kerry has chimed in as well. Of course he continues with the Obama policy of refusing to acknowledge the elephant in the room. While poverty plays a roll, it’s not the motivation of the leaders of Boko Haram or Al-Qaeda.

From CNSNews  “Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday underlined the issue of poverty as a recruitment tool for extremist groups like Boko Haram, although analysts and Nigerian officials have for months been reporting that the organization is forcibly conscripting civilians, including children, into its ranks.”

“Kerry’s comments on poverty as a key factor follows others by State Department officials in recent years, focusing on socio-economic issues rather than the religious element when discussing Boko Haram.

“It is important to note that religion is not the primary driver behind extremist violence in Nigeria,” then-assistant secretary of state for African affairs Johnnie Carson told a Senate committee in March 2012. He said Boko Haram “attempts to exploit the legitimate grievances of northern populations to garner recruits and public sympathy.”

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2. Not shocking.

From USAToday  “The Obama administration continues to withhold documents that could shed light on how U.S. officials produced its false narrative that the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi arose from a non-existent protest over a video, according to a conservative watchdog group.

The documents reveal “that the Obama administration is still refusing to provide the full details of how top officials arrived at the now-discredited talking points released to the public following the deadly assault on the U.S. Mission in Benghazi, Libya,” Judicial Watch said in a statement.

“Though the State Department document repeatedly describes the material as ‘Unclassified’ or ‘Sensitive But Unclassified,’ it nonetheless justifies scores of extensive redactions and exemptions,” the statement said.”

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3. But…but…. it’s a consensus.

From ClimateDepot  “’600 page litany of doom’: Weather Channel Co-Founder John Coleman slams Federal climate report: A ‘total distortion of the data and agenda driven, destructive episode of bad science gone berserk’

“ Coleman: ‘When the temperature data could no longer be bent to support global warming, they switched to climate change and now blame every weather and climate event on CO2 despite the hard, cold fact that the “radiative forcing” theory they built their claims on has totally failed to verify.’

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by

News/Politics 5-2-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

Open Thread.

1. Oh boy.

Dr. James Dobson made some remarks at yesterday’s National Day of Prayer Breakfast that are causing quite a stir.

“I believe in the rule of law, and it has been my practice since I was in college to respect and honor those in authority over us. It is my desire to do so now. However, this assault on the sanctity of human life takes me where I cannot go. I WILL NOT pay the surcharge for abortion services. The amount of the surcharge is irrelevant. To pay one cent for the killing of babies is egregious to me, and I will do all I can to correct a government that lies to me about its intentions and then tries to coerce my acquiescence with extortion. It would be a violation of my most deeply held convictions to disobey what I consider to be the principles in Scripture. The Creator will not hold us guiltless if we turn a deaf ear to the cries of His innocent babies. So come and get me if you must, Mr. President. I will not bow before your wicked regulation.”
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2014/05/dobson-obama-is-abortion-president/#QeqM8WmA7qOGqkP7.99

James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family and Family Talk Radio, a harsh critic of President Obama and an opponent in court, on Thursday described him as the “abortion president” during an address at the National Day of Prayer.

Dobson, whose organization recently won a court fight against Obama over a mandate in Obamacare that would have required his ministry to pay for abortion pills, has not been shy about challenging the president on his abortion agenda.

At one point during the fight over the imposition of the abortion mandate, he said to the president: “Come and get me. I will not yield to your wicked regulations.”
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2014/05/dobson-obama-is-abortion-president/#QeqM8WmA7qOGqkP7.99

James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family and Family Talk Radio, a harsh critic of President Obama and an opponent in court, on Thursday described him as the “abortion president” during an address at the National Day of Prayer.
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2014/05/dobson-obama-is-abortion-president/#QeqM8WmA7qOGqkP7.99
James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family and Family Talk Radio, a harsh critic of President Obama and an opponent in court, on Thursday described him as the “abortion president” during an address at the National Day of Prayer.
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2014/05/dobson-obama-is-abortion-president/#QeqM8WmA7qOGqkP7.99

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2. Despite the standing ovation, some people left over the remarks. (I’ve removed the HuffPost piece that was up. I found another, with more details, and it’s better written.)

🙂

From TheDailyBreeze  “Harbor Area Rep. Janice Hahn stormed out of Thursday’s National Day of Prayer gathering on Capitol Hill, saying she was outraged by what she later characterized as a “hateful political rant” by one of the speakers.

Evangelical Christian radio host James Dobson delivered strong words to President Barack Obama, who was not in attendance, over his administration’s position on abortion, calling Obama the “abortion president.”

“During his remarks, Dobson read a letter he sent to his supporters and political leaders stating that the “assault on the sanctity of human life takes me where I cannot go,” adding that as a matter of religious conviction and conscience that he would refuse to pay the fine.

Many in the audience gave Dobson a standing ovation.”

In case you’re wondering, Hahn is pro-choice. That’s probably why the truth offends her.

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3. This makes sense, which is why it’ll never happen.

From TheWashingtonTimes  “Rep. Chris Stewart of Utah, concerned about the armed agents that surrounded Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy’s property, is mulling a measure to cut funding for any “paramilitary units” that work for the Bureau of Land Management, the Internal Revenue Service and other federal regulatory agencies.

“There are lots of people who are really concerned when the BLM shows up with its own SWAT team,” he said, the Salt Lake Tribune reported. “They’re regulatory agencies. They’re not paramilitary units, and I think that concerns a lot of us.”

“Mr. Stewart said it’s high time the government end its practice of arming its own special units for various agencies, like the BLM and the IRS.”

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4. The US is offering help in Nigeria to track down 200 schoolgirls kidnapped by the terrorist group Boko Haram.

From NBCNews  “Following outrage over the shocking abduction of over 200 schoolgirls by terrorists in east Africa, the U.S. State Department on Thursday said they were working with Nigeria to help look for them.

“We have been engaged with the Nigerian government in discussions on what we might do to help support their efforts to find and free these young women,” State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf told reporters Thursday. “We will continue to have those discussions and help in any way we can.”

On April 14, militants with the Islamic fundamentalist group “Boko Haram” – which translates to “Western education is sinful – attacked the Government Girls Secondary School in the northern Nigerian town of Chibok and kidnapped more than 200 girls. Now weeks later, reports have surfaced that the terrorists are selling the girls off as child brides for as little as $12.

Harf did not give specifics on what kind of help Washington might provide, but said: “We know Boko Haram is active in the area and we have worked very closely with the Nigerian government to build their capacity to fight this threat.”

 Let’s hope they can bring those responsible to justice for their acts as well.

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by

News/Politics 3-7-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

Open thread.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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News/Politics 2-28-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

Open thread, with a few from me to start things off.

1. Talk about overreach.

From TheGuardian  “Britain’s surveillance agency GCHQ, with aid from the US National Security Agency, intercepted and stored the webcam images of millions of internet users not suspected of wrongdoing, secret documents reveal.

GCHQ files dating between 2008 and 2010 explicitly state that a surveillance program codenamed Optic Nerve collected still images of Yahoo webcam chats in bulk and saved them to agency databases, regardless of whether individual users were an intelligence target or not.

In one six-month period in 2008 alone, the agency collected webcam imagery – including substantial quantities of sexually explicit communications – from more than 1.8 million Yahoo user accounts globally.

Yahoo reacted furiously to the webcam interception when approached by the Guardian. The company denied any prior knowledge of the program, accusing the agencies of “a whole new level of violation of our users’ privacy“.”

2. And on a related note….

From PersonalLiberty.com  “The Internet has provided a forum for average people throughout the world to disseminate, share and debate information unattenuated by gatekeepers in the mainstream media and their politically connected friends. New media outlets like Personal Liberty Digest™ have, for years, been warning readers that the well-connected and ruling elite, displeased by this newfound proletariat freedom, have been prolific in attempts to undermine and marginalize information provided by any media outlet unwilling to obey the same unspoken rules that govern the content choices of major media outlets.

Now, thanks to the efforts of National Security Agency whistle-blower Edward Snowden and journalist Glenn Greenwald, readers no longer have to take the word of “paranoid” bloggers who relate tales of paid government trolls lurking in comment sections and other concentrated top-down efforts to muddy the information provided by alternative media.”

“The documents deal largely with the goals of GCHQ’s previously secret Joint Threat Research Intelligence Group (JTRIG), an apparatus whose mission Greenwald describes thusly: “Among the core self-identified purposes of JTRIG are two tactics: (1) to inject all sorts of false material onto the internet in order to destroy the reputation of its targets; and (2) to use social sciences and other techniques to manipulate online discourse and activism to generate outcomes it considers desirable.””

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3. Give it to her, and then let’s hear what she has to say. After all, there’s nothing to lose here, she’s already retired, with her pension, and won’t be charged. At least this way you get her under oath and maybe find out who orchestrated it. 

From USAToday  “Former Internal Revenue Service official Lois Lerner will testify about the IRS handling of Tea Party cases only in exchange for an immunity agreement, her lawyer told a congressional committee Wednesday.

Until then, Lerner will not answer questions unless  ordered to do so by a federal judge, her attorney said.

The response from attorney William Taylor came the day after the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee ordered Lerner to reappear at a hearing next week.  When Lerner appeared before the committee last May, she asserted her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.”

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4. Not shocking. It’s how things are done in this administration.

From TheFreeBeacon  “Several Environmental Protection Agency employees obstructed an investigation into the mismanagement that allowed a senior EPA official to bilk taxpayers for nearly $900,000, the EPA Inspector General said in a letter to Sen. David Vitter (R., La.) released Wednesday.

EPA employees threatened Inspector General investigators, refused to cooperate, and handed out non-disclosure agreements to other employees to keep them from being interviewed, EPA Inspector General Arthur Elkins Jr. wrote in response to a request for information by Vitter on the case.

“Over the past 12 months, there have been several EPA officials who have taken action to prevent [the Office of Investigations] OI from conducting investigations or have attempted to obstruct investigations through intimidation,” Elkins wrote.”

““We are starting to see proof of what we had already suspected: John Beale’s time and attendance fraud was the tip of the iceberg at the EPA,” Vitter said in a statement to the Free Beacon. “The whole agency seems to be in complete disarray, which is exactly why we need to have a full [Environment and Public Works] Committee hearing on the fraud surrounding this case and other prevalent problems.””

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5. Boko Haram continues it’s bloody rampage. This brings the victim count to around 240 in the last 10 days alone.

From Google/AFP  “Suspected Boko Haram gunmen killed at least 37 people in three separate attacks in northeast Nigeria, including at a theological college, a local government official and residents said on Thursday.

The coordinated attacks in Adamawa state late on Wednesday came just a day after Islamist militant fighters were blamed for killing 43 people, most of them students, as they slept at a boarding school in Yobe state.”

“He had earlier put the death toll in Shuwa, part of Madagali local government area, at 17. But he later told AFP that eight more bodies were recovered in the village, including three from a Christian college, confirming the account of a resident about the three burnt corpse found in the seminary.

“The death toll in the Shuwa attack now stands at 25 after eight more bodies were recovered, including three discovered under the burnt debris of the theological school,” Ularamu said.

In Shuwa, several buildings were burnt, including a Christian theological college and a section of a secondary school.”

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6. Planned Parenthood has achieved a new low in what passes for sex education.

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

From CNSNews  “has produced and posted online a video specifically aimed at teenagers that promotes bondage and sadomasochism (BDSM) and proposes “rules” to follow when engaging in these activities.

“People sometimes think that those who practice BDSM are emotionally  scarred or were once abused—not true, it’s a total myth,” the host of the  video, Laci Green, informs its intended audience of teens. “

“”BDSM relies upon and creates trust,” she says.”

“We are dedicated to protecting the sexual health of teens by providing  accurate information, opportunities to explore and  establish beliefs  and attitudes, and the skills to communicate their  needs,” says PPNNE’s “For Teens” page.”

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News/Politics 2-26-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

Open thread, as always.

1. This one comes with a Hat/Tip to Karen O. Yesterday she posted a link about the story of the Pelletier family. It’s the story of a young lady taken from her family by a doctor with obvious conflicts, aided by a hospital, child welfare officials, and now the courts. To say it’s an example of govt. overstepping it’s authority is an understatement. The initial story was bad. The newer details are even worse. These details are only known because her father violated the judge’s gag rule in order to get the story heard. I don’t blame him,  a desperate father can, and will do what he feels necessary to reunite his family.

Here’s the link from WFSB  “A judge in Massachusetts ordered a daughter from West Hartford to be placed in foster care, denying a reunion with her family.

However, hospital officials insisted the 15-year-old’s problems were mental.

They said she was suffering from a condition called Somatoform Disorder. Doctors said that’s a mental illness where someone can actually experience physical pain.

Justina Pelletier’s family said she was experiencing physical pain, but the hospital brought in the Department of Children and Families. The state of Massachusetts took custody and said the teen’s parents were committing child abuse by not getting her mental health treatment.”

2. Now here is where her father shares more details,

From TheBlaze  “Jessica, 25, is the second-oldest of the Pelletiers’ daughters and has mitochondrial disease herself. The disease can manifest itself in various ways, but at its root, results from a defect in the mitochondria, an organelle inside cells that produces energy. Jessica’s diagnosis was established medically through analysis of the cells of her muscle tissue.

In Justina’s case, a doctor evaluated her symptoms, considered her family history — mitochondrial disease can be inherited — and gave her a clinical diagnosis of the disorder. Under the care of physicians at Tufts Medical Center, Justina was treated for mitochondrial disease. But when she got the flu and her parents were told she should be transferred to Boston Children’s Hospital, things changed.”

“The physicians at Boston Children’s Hospital disagreed with her diagnosis of mitochondrial disorder and wanted to take a different approach to her treatment. At first, Lou Pelletier said, “we were game to try a new approach.” But when the hospital laid out their plan to take Justina off all of her mitochondrial and pain medication, her parents balked.

That was Feb. 13, 2013. The next day — Valentine’s Day 2013 — Justina’s parents went to Boston Children’s Hospital with a couple of advocates intending to have her discharged and brought to Tufts. Instead, they were met with security guards and served a 51A, a report of alleged physical or emotional abuse.”

It gets worse from there. It’s unbelievable what they’ve put this family through. Please take the time to read the whole thing.

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3. The lawlessness from the top law enforcement official in America continues. Never mind the law, just refuse to defend it and it’s like it doesn’t really exist.

From TheNYTimes  “Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. on Monday injected the Obama administration into the emotional and politicized debate over the future of state same-sex marriage bans, declaring in an interview that state attorneys general are not obligated to defend laws that they believe are discriminatory.

Mr. Holder was careful not to encourage his state counterparts to disavow their own laws, but said that officials who have carefully studied bans on gay marriage could refuse to defend them.

Six state attorneys general — all Democrats — have refused to defend bans on same-sex marriage, prompting criticism from Republicans who say they have a duty to stand behind their state laws, even if they do not agree with them. 

It is highly unusual for the United States attorney general to advise his state counterparts on how and when to refuse to defend state laws. But Mr. Holder said when laws touch on core constitutional issues like equal protection, an attorney general should apply the highest level of scrutiny before reaching a decision on whether to defend it. He said the decision should never be political or based on policy objections.

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4. Yep, media bias is definitely a myth. 🙄

Christie gets a 24/7 onslaught for a couple of lane closures, but a real scandal goes down with barely a mention from the same media sources. Why? Because these folks are Democrats, the official party of the MSM.

From PubliusForum  “While the media gorges itself on the story of Chris Christie shutting down a bridge one day last year, a real political scandal is brewing in New Jersey filled with corruption, millions in fraud and waste, and a Democrat appointed official pleading the Fifth and the media? Well, the media is ignoring it all.

Even as Newark, New Jersey was laying off policemen and was pleading for more tax money and state bailouts, it has now been discovered that a heavily employed city contractor was stealing millions from the city with crony deals and bribery and it’s all tied to people appointed by Cory Booker–the man many Democrats think might be the “next” Barack Obama. There is even no-work jobs to buddies and other such criminal waste.”

“Linda Watkins-Brashear, the agency’s director and a political ally of former Newark mayor, now Sen. Cory Booker, wrote unreported checks to herself to the tune of $200,000, was awarded $700,000 in two severance packages, gave more than $1 million in contracts to her friends and ex-husband, and lost $500,000 in dubious stock ventures, the report states.

The director of the agency, Linda Watkins-Brashear, is now pleading her protections under the Fifth Amendment and reusing to say anything to investigators. But she did say through her attorney that she didn’t do anything that Senator Booker–who was Newark’s mayor at the time–didn’t know about.”

You tell me, which is the real scandal here?

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5. From CBSNews  “Gunmen from Islamist group Boko Haram stormed a boarding school in northeast Nigeria overnight and killed 29 pupils, many of whom died in flames as the school was burned to the ground, police and the military said on Tuesday.

“Some of the students bodies were burned to ashes,” Police Commissioner Sanusi Rufai said of the attack on the Federal Government college of Buni Yadi, a secondary school in Yobe state, near the state’s capital city of Damaturu.

Female students were spared in the attack, said spokesman Abdullahi Bego. The attackers went to the female dormitories and told the young women to go home, get married and abandon the Western education they said is anathema to Islam, he said. He was relating to The Associated Press what survivors and community leaders told Gov. Ibrahim Gaidam when he visited the now-deserted and destroyed Federal Government College at Buni Yadi, a secondary school 45 miles south of the state capital, Damaturu..

 Soldiers guarding a checkpoint near the government school were mysteriously withdrawn hours before the attack, said Abdullahi Bego, the spokesman for the governor of Yobe state.

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by

News/Politics 8-6-13

What’s interesting in the news today?

First a story that shows how misguided this admins policies are, and how too often, he and the govt sides with the extremists. They get special treatment, his victims get denied benefits. It’s sickening.

From NBC/Dallas/Ft.Worth  “NBC 5 Investigates has learned the accused Fort Hood shooter Maj. Nidal Hasan receives extraordinary treatment in jail while victims of the attack argue they have been forgotten and mistreated by the U.S. Army.”

“Victims of the Fort Hood massacre told NBC 5 Investigates the Army’s efforts to provide for Hasan’s needs do not match the treatment they have received since the shooting.  They feel the Army has gone the extra mile for Hasan but not for them. “

“Howard Berry said his son was constantly bothered by what he saw as a lack of consideration such as the Army denying victims of the massacre Purple Heart medals and other combat-related benefits while insisting the shooting was not an act of terrorism – a classification Fort Hood shooting victim Logan Burnett strongly disputes.”

Watch the video at the link.

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Meanwhile the White House meets with an imprisoned Muslim Brotherhood leader in Egypt.

From YahooNews  “The second-most senior U.S. diplomat has met with the imprisoned deputy leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, according to a senior official, a sign that the United States is ramping up its attempts to mediate Egypt’s political crisis.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Bill Burns traveled late Sunday night to the notorious Tora Prison, a jail in the middle of Cairo that has housed some of Egypt’s most famous prisoners, to meet with Khairat el-Shater, the official said.”

“The United States is furiously mediating between the military and Brotherhood, trying to help Egypt stabilize after the military takeover a month ago. Egypt has long been the United States’ most important Arab ally, and U.S. officials are eager to see the military avoid any steps that could lead to civil war.”

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Again, we back the wrong horse. These arms came from us. We armed the extremists.

From FoxNews  “Jihadists in Egypt’s lawless Sinai Peninsula are using U.S. weapons to carry  out attacks against the temporary government in the wake of the military’s  ouster of President Mohammed Morsi, according to the embattled nation’s Interior  Ministry.

The government office posted an official statement on its Facebook page along with images of an exploded missile that hit the third floor of a building  in the city of el-Arish last week. The post said terrorist forces targeted the  North Sinai Security Directorate office with a ballistic missile that struck the  third floor facade of the building, leaving three soldiers injured. While  attacks in the Sinai, which borders Gaza and is a haven for terrorist activity,  have become commonplace, the prospect that militants have U.S. weapons typically  fired from helicopters at their disposal is especially alarming.”

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Meanwhile, others suffering the extremist’s wrath get a cold shoulder, and no help from this admin, even as they were/are murdered in large numbers.

From TheTelegraph  “Tens of thousands Syriac Christians – members of the oldest Christian community in the world – have fled their ancestral provinces of Deir al-Zour and Hasakah in northeastern Syria, residents have said.”

“Conflict in the area, desperate economic conditions, lawlessness, and persecution by rebel groups born from the perception that Christians support the regime, remain the main reasons for why Christian families are fleeing the area.

The growing presence of radical jihadist groups, including al-Qaeda, has also seen Christians targeted.”

As in Egypt, we arm and assist the radicals, but not their victims.

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OK, Boko Haram has been accused of heinous crimes by the International Criminal Court. Good. Now what do you plan to do about it?

From ABCNews  “The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court says that after a preliminary investigation she believes that acts attributed to the Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram are likely crimes against humanity.

“Information available provides a reasonable basis to believe that since July 2009 Boko Haram has launched a widespread and systematic attack that has resulted in the killing of more than 1,200 Christian and Muslim civilians in different locations throughout Nigeria,” Fatou Bensouda wrote in a report issued Monday.

She said the potential crimes against humanity include murder and persecution. But she said she will only move to a full-fledged investigation after further study and depending on whether Nigerian authorities themselves are willing and able to prosecute “those who appear to bear the greatest responsibility.”

So basically nothing, because the Nigerian authorities can’t stop them or bring them to justice. They can’t do it alone.

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And baseball has finally cracked down.

From FoxSports  “Defiant till the end, Alex Rodriguez is intent on evading baseball’s most sweeping punishment since the Black Sox scandal.”

“Rodriguez was suspended through 2014 and All-Stars Nelson Cruz, Jhonny Peralta and Everth Cabrera were banned 50 games apiece Monday when Major League Baseball disciplined 13 players for their relationship to Biogenesis of America, a Florida anti-aging clinic accused of distributing banned performance-enhancing drugs.”

“Others agreeing to 50-game bans included Yankees catcher Francisco Cervelli and outfielder Fernando Martinez; Philadelphia pitcher Antonio Bastardo; Seattle catcher Jesus Montero; New York Mets infielder Jordany Valdespin and outfielder Cesar Puello; Houston pitcher Sergio Escalona; and free agent pitchers Fautino De Los Santos and Jordan Norberto.”

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News/Politics 5-25-13

What’s interesting in the news today?

First, a couple of quick IRS stories. More consequences and repercussions for Lerner. 

“True The Vote” Files Lawsuit Against Lois Lerner Personally, Serves Her At Her House, from WeaselZippers

With over 500 groups effected, expect many more to come. And discovery should be interesting, as will depositions.

Next up… Scandal? What scandal?

Only CBS Notes IRS Official’s Leave, Yet ABC and NBC Have Time to Show Obama’s Prom Photo with ‘Foxy’ Friend, from the MediaResearchCenter

Maybe they’re afraid they’ll be audited and have their phones tapped too.

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Next, is the Gang of Eight Immigration Bill falling apart? Let’s hope so.

Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) said Friday that the “Gang of Eight” immigration  bill doesn’t have enough votes to pass the Senate. From TheHill

Lawmakers heading the Republican push for immigration reform blasted President Barack Obama on Thursday for failing to meet with federal law enforcement officials even as his administration meets with illegal immigrants. From TheFreeBeacon

Here’s more on that, from TownHall

Meanwhile, the federal govt. is contracting with another questionable illegal immigration advocacy/community organizer group.

The National Council of La Raza (translation: The Race) has partnered with the Office of Personnel Management to encourage Hispanic activists and members to burrow into the federal government. From PJMedia

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This one is just unbelievable. The terror, murder, and mayhem that terrorist group Boko Haram has spread across regions of Africa is well documented. They’ve been responsible for the murders of hundreds of Christians and others, many burned alive or shot while worshiping peacefully in their churches. Not to mention the dismemberments, rapes, and slavery. It’s bad enough that our govt. rarely stands up to them or calls them what they are. But it’s even worse when our govt. finally gets up their nerve, it’s to condemn the African govt. that’s cracking down on Boko Haram. From PJMedia

“Talk of “poverty,” “inequality,” “grievance,” and the rest of the canards used by Western leaders to overlook Islamic violence blatantly ignores all the facts. Boko Haram began its jihad in earnest because a Christian won what was described as Nigeria’s freest and fairest elections. And Islamic law forbids non-Muslims from ruling over Muslims — not because they’re bad for the economy, but because they’re infidels.

The full name of Boko Haram is “Sunnis for [Islamic] Propagation and Jihad” — which doesn’t reflect any economic grievances. Their repeatedly stated goal is the establishment of a pure Sharia state in Nigeria. In other words, they are motivated by the same Islamic supremacism that is prompting jihadis all around the Islamic world to attack, kill, and displace infidels, leading to, among other travesties, a mass exodus of Christians.

Once again, then, reality is easily ascertained — at root, Boko Haram’s terror campaign is entirely motivated by Islamic teachings — even as the Obama administration refuses to designate the group as a terrorist organization, wastes millions of U.S. tax dollars on superfluous initiatives (or diversions), and pressures the Nigerian president to make concessions to the jihadis — including building more mosques, the very breeding grounds for Islamic “radicalization.””

“And now, when the Nigerian government goes on the offensive to neutralize the terrorists responsible for countless inhuman atrocities, the Obama administration offers “a strongly worded statement” to defend their “human rights.” Meanwhile, when such jihadis daily persecute and murder non-Muslims around the world — Christians at the top of the list — the only sound coming out of the White House is of crickets chirping.

Postscript: Following Kerry’s call to protect the “human rights” of Nigeria’s jihadi terrorists, Obama himself has just urged Myanmar to “halt violence against Muslims” and “move ahead with economic and political reforms” — all while omitting the fact that the government’s offensive is in response to violent, separatist Muslims, whose jihad has nothing to do with “economic and political reforms,” only the subjugation of infidels.”

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So how do we prevent another Kermit Gosnell? Do we regulate, inspect, and oversee clinics to ensure standards are met? Not if you’re a Democrat. From CNSNews

“The way to prevent abortionists like convicted  murderer Kermit Gosnell from occurring again is to build more Planned  Parenthood clinics, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) said at a House  Judiciary Subcommittee hearing on Thursday about legislation that would  prevent abortion after 20 weeks nationwide.”

““We should be working to make sure that high quality health care is  provided to the uninsured to make sure the full range of health care  services, including family planning services that are available to  people with money are available to the poor and uninsured as well,”  Nadler said.

“If that means funding a Planned Parenthood clinic in every  neighborhood to put guys like Gosnell out of business, so be it,” Nadler  said.

Nadler called the hearing a “farce” and “just another battle of the Republican war on women.””

Says the guy taking thousands from the abortion mills who abort females by the millions. If there’s a War on Women, how come his side is the only one inflicting casualties?

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And one last piece….  Reason #6,486 to not send your kid to public schools. The school insists it’s all in good fun, and that the student council chose it. Yet the originally chosen name and subject makes that seem questionable to me. From EAGNews

“Deidri Hernandez’s seven-year-old son won’t be in school today, after officials at Tippecanoe School for the Arts and Humanities confirmed they’re still holding “Switch It Up Day” – a time for students to come dressed as members of the opposite sex.”

“Hernandez tells EAGnews the day was originally billed as “Gender Bender Day,” but Tippecanoe officials made the name change after she called Principal Jeffrey Krupar to complain.”

“She wonders if it is being done to promote the acceptance of homosexuality to students in school, which runs from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. Hernandez thinks it’s inappropriate to expose young children to these issues, even in a light-hearted manner.

“They might as well call it ‘Transgender Day,’” she says.”

Is she over-sensitive? It’s not like some public schools don’t already have a reputation for indoctrinating kids with stuff like this already. Either way, it doesn’t seem appropriate for Pre-K to 8th graders.

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