China

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News/Politics 5-18-15

What’s interesting in the news today?

Open Thread 

Here’s a couple to start things off. 

1. First Iran, and now China. Is it just me, or does this guy want to arm all the bad actors with nukes?

From DirectorBlue  “Writing at the Washington Post, Steven Mufson observes that “Obama’s quiet nuclear deal with China raises proliferation concerns.”

It seemed like a typical day for President Obama. He taped a TV interview on trade, hosted the champion NASCAR team on the South Lawn and met with the defense secretary in the Oval Office.

Not so typical was something that didn’t appear that day on the president’s public schedule: notification to Congress that he intends to renew a nuclear cooperation agreement with China. The deal would allow Beijing to buy more U.S.-designed reactors and pursue a facility or the technology to reprocess plutonium from spent fuel. China would also be able to buy reactor coolant technology that experts say could be adapted to make its submarines quieter and harder to detect.

The formal notice initially didn’t draw any headlines. Its unheralded release on April 21 reflected the administration’s anxiety that it might alarm members of Congress and nonproliferation experts who fear China’s growing naval power — and the possibility of nuclear technology falling into the hands of third parties with nefarious intentions.”

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2. Another ObamaCare success story……. 🙄

From CNSNews  “President Barack Obama’s home state of Hawaii is shutting down its state-based health care exchange, the Hawaii Health Connector (HHC), due to incurring debts and the unwillingness of state legislators to put more taxpayer money into the struggling operation, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported Saturday.

Established in 2011, the non-profit organization is Hawaii’s state-based health exchange for the President’s Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. There are currently about 37,000 Hawaiians enrolled in health care plans through the exchange, far short of the roughly 70,000 needed to raise enough money to sustain it, the article reports.

Officials with the exchange released a report to its board of directors on Friday declaring that the state-based marketplace simply does not have the money to continue operations, the article stated.

“Now that it is clear that the state will not provide sufficient support for the Hawaii Health Connector’s operations through fiscal year 2016 (ending June 30, 2016), the Connector can no longer operate in a manner that would cause it to incur additional debts or other obligations for which it is unable to pay,” the report read, according to the article.”

Nice how they want the states to pick up the tab for this, huh?

More here, from American’s for Tax Reform  “While the exchange has struggled since its creation, it is not for lack of funding. Since 2011 Hawaii has received a total of $205,342,270 in federal grant money from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). In total, HHS provided nearly $4.5 billion to Hawaii and other state exchanges, with little federal oversight and virtually no strings attached.

Despite this generous funding, the exchange has underperformed from day one. In its first year, Hawaii enrolled only 8,592 individuals – meaning it spent $23,899 on its website for each individual enrolled. Currently over 37,000 individuals are enrolled in Hawaii’s exchange – well below the estimated 70,000 enrollees that is required to make the website financially viable. Unfortunately, taxpayers will have to hand out an additional $30 million so that Hawaii can migrate to the federal system.

This is not the first time that a state exchange has failed, and taken millions of dollars in federal funds down with it. Earlier this year, Oregon’s state exchange was officially abolished at an estimated cost of $41 million. Cover Oregon, as it used to be known received $305 million in funds from HHS but failed to produce a workable website months after the 2013 November deadline. The debacle has prompted numerous federal agencies and organizations to investigate allegations of inappropriate political interference from then Governor Kitzhaber’s 2014 reelection campaign.”

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News/Politics 12-30-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. Anyone notice a pattern from the “most transparent administration ever?”

From NationalReview  “Darrell Issa’s leading role in the IRS investigation may have come to a close — he lost his chairmanship of the House Oversight Committee to term limits — but there is plenty of work left for his successor, Jason Chaffetz of Utah. None of these criminals has been punished; the maddening fact is that Lois Lerner is enjoying a six-figure pension at the expense of the very taxpayers against whom she conducted a corrupt political jihad. And even if that happy day should come when Lerner et al. are given one-way bus tickets to Florence, Colo., or some other suitable destination, Chaffetz and his colleagues still would have a tremendous amount of work to do; if Issa’s time has taught us anything, it is that the federal agencies are in thrall to a culture of criminality, and that the most significant crime in the agencies’ repertoire is the obstruction of federal investigations.

Earlier this year, 47 inspectors general — the officials charged with fighting corruption, waste, and wrongdoing in federal agencies — sent a letter to Issa’s committee complaining that organizations ranging from the EPA to the Justice Department were impeding their investigations by withholding information — despite the fact that federal law specifically forbids withholding that information. These are not a bunch of Republican operatives trying to score a few political points: Those 47 inspectors general comprise more than half of all such officials, and many who signed the letter were appointed by President Barack Obama. Their complaint is that the federal agencies treat them more or less like they do . . . members of Congress: thwarting them, withholding documents, obstruction investigations.

Michael Horowitz, the inspector general for the Justice Department, came to the Oversight Committee practically begging them for a means by which the DOJ – the federal law-enforcement department — might be forced to follow the laws that it is supposed to be enforcing. “It is very clear to me,” he testified, “just as it is to the Inspectors General community, that the Inspector General Act of 1978 entitles inspectors general to access all documents and records within the agency’s possession. Each of us firmly believes that Congress meant what it said in Section 6(a) of the IG Act: that Inspectors General must be given complete, timely, and unfiltered access to agency records.” But under the leadership of Attorney General Eric Holder, the DOJ did no such thing. Horowitz notes that the DOJ specifically tried to withhold information related to the investigation of Operation Fast and Furious.”

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2. Oh goody, because the one we have just isn’t enough. 🙄

From TheDailyCaller  “President Obama’s nonprofit advocacy group Organizing for Action plans to train 10,000 new community organizers in 2015 in a search for the next “organizer-in-chief.”

The OFA Fellows Program set a goal of training 10,000 new organizers to follow in the footsteps of Obama, according to a fundraising email the group sent out Sunday with the subject line “The next Barack Obama.””

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3. Talk about bad optics…..

From TheWashingtonExaminer  “One couple wanted to get married, but President Obama wanted to play golf.

Army captains Natalie Heimel and Edward Mallue Jr. knew Obama was headed to Hawaii for the holidays, so on a whim, they extended him an invite to attend their Dec. 28 wedding — one he politely declined. That same day, they were informed they would have to move their wedding location.

The wedding was set to be at the 16th tee box at Kaneohe Kipper Golf Course on the Marine Corps Base in Hawaii — a favorite of both Mallue and Obama.

“It was kind of ironic they got the letter from them and then, within hours, they were told they had to be moved due to him,” Jamie McCarthy, Mallue’s sister, told Bloomberg Politics. “It was emotional, especially for her — she’s the bride and in less than 24 hours they had to change everything they had planned.”

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4. And some good news…..

From Breitbart  “Though the Chinese Communist Party is the largest explicitly atheist organization in the world, with 85 million official members, it is now overshadowed by an estimated 100 million Christians in China. It is no wonder Beijing is nervous and authorities are cracking down on Christian groups.

Christianity is growing so fast in China that some predict that it will be the most Christian nation in the world in only another 15 years. By far, the greatest growth is coming outside the official state-sanctioned churches, which are rightly considered subservient to the Communist Party. Numbers are increasing, rather, in unofficial Protestant “house churches” and in the underground Catholic church.

“By my calculations China is destined to become the largest Christian country in the world very soon,” said Fenggang Yang, a professor of sociology at Purdue University and author of Religion in China: Survival and Revival under Communist Rule.”

China is on to this as well and they are persecuting many as a result.

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News/Politics 10-14-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. Useless is what you call insurance like this.

From TheAP  ” They have health insurance, but still no peace of mind. Overall, 1 in 4 privately insured adults say they doubt they could pay for a major unexpected illness or injury.

A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research may help explain why President Barack Obama faces such strong headwinds in trying to persuade the public that his health care law is holding down costs.”

“Edward Frank of Reynoldsville, Pennsylvania, said he bought a plan with a $6,000 deductible last year through HealthCare.gov. That’s in the high range, since deductibles for popular silver plans on the insurance exchanges average about $3,100 — still a lot.

“Unless you get desperately ill and in the hospital for weeks, it’s going to cost you more to have this plan and pay the premiums than to pay the bill just outright,” said Frank, who ended up paying $4,000 of his own money for treatment of shoulder pain.

“The deductibles are so high, you don’t get much of anything out of it,” said Frank, who is in 50s and looking for a new job.”

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2. ACORN is up to its old tricks again.

From WatchDog.org  “A lawsuit filed by an organizer for Battleground Texas accuses a labor group established by ACORN founder Wade Rathke of instructing an Obamacare navigator to spend time recruiting union members.

The complaint echoes decades-old criticisms of Rathke and ACORN: They use federal money meant for services to the poor in pursuit of their own labor organizing activities.

Cedric Anthony, who went to work for the Democratic Party’s Texas recruitment operation, filed a wage-and-hour lawsuit in June against two groups he says jointly employed him as a “federal navigator assisting people with the Affordable Care Act” – Southern United Neighborhoods and Local 100 United Labor Unions.”

“Anthony says he was hired by SUN, which holds the navigator contract, and later directed to enroll union members for ULU. Although he worked for both groups, he said his instructions came from the same person. His complaint depicts blurred lines between the two groups, which “shared the same offices in Houston, Dallas, New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and Little Rock.”

The lone attorney for both defendants denies SUN and ULU acted jointly; he says the labor group was Anthony’s sole employer. He also denies the two “shared the same offices,” although he admits they each “have offices located in the same building in each of the five cities.””

Isn’t it nice that the President has no problem using taxpayer monies to fund union activities?

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3. Nice to see Democrats looking out for minorities and seniors. Oh wait…..

From HotAir  “In June, as you may recall, the EPA announced their new “Clean Power Plan” which was, for all intents and purposes, another shot across the bow in the war on coal. In their mission statement, while paying lip service to the fact that the needs and resources of each of the states are different, they also cite “the important role of states as full partners with the federal government in cutting pollution.” This is matched with the built in assumption of the need to “address the risks of climate change.” (Apparently nobody bothered to ask the states exactly how much of an “equal partnership” they were interested in.)

Now that the new rules are moving forward in the process and people have begun to take notice of what this will mean in the real world, one wonders precisely whose side the Obama administration is on. You’d think that the Democrats – long the champions of the poor and oppressed – would have their best interests at heart… particularly with an election coming up. But as Jim Martin noted at Town Hall recently, one of the most heavily affected groups will be senior citizens.

Energy, like food and housing, is an indispensable necessity of life. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, electricity prices have jumped more than 6 percent in the Mid-Atlantic States last year alone. Yet, instead of alleviating the heavy financial burden of energy prices for seniors, President Obama is exacerbating the problem. He is proposing to reduce our nation’s carbon emissions 30 percent by 2030, and the impact would be devastating for our nation’s seniors.”

“But it’s not just seniors. Some of the hardest hit by rising energy costs are America’s minorities. The Pacific Research Institute reports that annual electricity spending for an African-American household in Ohio will rise from 4.5 percent of their income to 5.8 percent of their income due to the EPA’s plan to cut carbon dioxide emissions from power plants — an increase of $408 annually in energy costs.”

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4. This would be funny if they weren’t serious. Since they are, it’s an unfunny, pathetic joke at best.

From TheLATimes  “Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel addressed the Conference of Defense Ministers of the Americas on Monday, unveiling a comprehensive plan for how the U.S. military will address the effects of climate change.

Rising global temperatures, increasing sea levels and intensifying weather events will challenge global stability, he said, and could lead to food and water shortages, pandemic disease and disputes over refugees and resources.

The Pentagon’s “2014 Climate Change Adaptation Roadmap” describes how global warming will bring new demands on the military. Among the report’s conclusions: Coastal military installations that are vulnerable to flooding will need to be altered; humanitarian assistance missions will be more frequent in the face of more intense natural disasters; weapons and other critical military equipment will need to work under more severe weather conditions.

“This road map shows how we are identifying — with tangible and specific metrics, and using the best available science — the effects of climate change on the department’s missions and responsibilities,” Hagel said. “Drawing on these assessments, we will integrate climate change considerations into our planning, operations, and training.””

So basically a total bastardization of the military’s legitimate defense role.

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5. Nice. So now taxpayers are helping fund China’s disgusting forced abortion policy. They’d do it here too, if they could.

From CNSNews  “Representative Chris Smith (R-N.J.) said at the Heritage Foundation on Thursday that despite his and other congressmens’ efforts to hold Communist China accountable for its one-child, forced abortion policy, President Barack Obama and his administration are not only ignoring the policy but are advancing the “brutal program.”

“I respectfully submit that not only is the Obama administration turning a blind eye to the atrocities being committed under the one-child policy, but it is even contributing financial support–contrary to U.S. law–to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA),” Smith said in a keynote address at the event.

“Under Presidents Reagan, Bush and Bush, Mr. Obama, unlike them, has thus far provided $227 million in tax payer funds–grant money–to the UNFPA, an organization that supports, plans, implements, defends–and maybe for international audiences this is most important–whitewashes the Chinese government’s brutal program.”

“Smith, who is on the House Foreign Affairs Committee and chairs its subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organization, was referring to his and other Republicans’ 1984 legislation that became law as a part of a foreign aid bill that prohibits funding organizations  like UNFPA that support China’s one-child and forced abortion policy.”

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Life Matters 3-19-13

The 30 count criminal trial against abortionist Kermit Gosnell is under way in Philadelphia. The prosecution has begun presenting their case to the jury.

From LifeNews

“The lead prosecutor in the Kermit Gosnell murder trial made it clear today what the trial is and is not about. He said the case has less to do with abortion than it does the fact that Kermit Gosnell is a killer who took the lives of newly-born babies.

Gosnell is charged with more than 30 criminal counts including the killing of seven newborn infants and a female patient in a botched abortion.

Assistant District Attorney Joanne Pescatore appeared before a jury of 12 people — a mix of men and women and people who are black and white — sitting in the Common Pleas Court jury. She called Gosnell a “wolf in sheep’s clothing” who “used and abused desperate women.”

The Defense has a different version. They claim the prosecution is racist, and that standards and conditions in the clinic were good enough for the area. The implication is poor people should expect poor standards and treatment.

More here from NBCNews

“A lawyer defending a Philadelphia abortion provider on murder charges accused officials of “an elitist, racist prosecution” as the death-penalty trial opened Monday.

Lawyer Jack McMahon also accused city officials of “a prosecutorial lynching” of his client, Dr. Kermit Gosnell, who is black.”

“But McMahon said city officials are applying “Mayo Clinic” standards to Gosnell’s inner-city office in West Philadelphia.”

“”This is a targeted, elitist and racist prosecution of a doctor who’s done nothing but give (back) to the poor and the people of West Philadelphia,” the fiery McMahon insisted to the predominantly black jury, as Gosnell sat serenely taking notes. “It’s a prosecutorial lynching of Dr. Kermit Gosnell.””

Safe, legal, and rare? This clinic fails on all 3.

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New data that Chinese officials have released show the forced/abortion numbers in that country. The numbers are staggering even when compared to the 50+ million since 1973 in this country.

From LifeSiteNews

“New data from China’s health ministry has revealed that approximately 330 million abortions have been performed in the country since 1971, according to AFP.

According to Chinese government researchers, currently about 13 million abortions occur annually, or about 1,500 every hour on average.

As well, over the past 40 years Chinese officials have sterilized nearly 200 million men and women, and inserted 400 million intra-uterine devices.”

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In Colorado a Planned Parenthood clinic is accused of performing a forced abortion that severely injured a woman.

From LifeNews

“Forty-year-old Ayanna Byer entered a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs with the intent of having an abortion, but changed her mind when she learned the staff couldn’t provide her with the intravenous anesthesia they had promised her for the pain. Despite her protests, the abortionist went ahead with killing the child inside her, while she lay there, wide awake, hearing everything, and in considerable pain. He then sent Byer home. Two days later, she was in an emergency room, where doctors tried to repair the damage of the botched procedure.

In the ER, Byer “was septic with a high fever and elevated white count,” reports the on-call doctor who assisted her. “She required an immediate high-risk surgery to remove the remaining tissue that had been left during the previous procedure done at Planned Parenthood. Because of the continued pain and heavy bleeding, I was concerned that the patient might have had an ectopic pregnancy. I called Planned Parenthood the following day to inquire about pathology results, only to learn that no pathology is done on abortion patients. The doctor performing the abortion ‘looks’ at the tissue and makes a diagnosis.”

“It is medically inappropriate for a physician to remove products of conception and not confirm the diagnosis with pathology,” the doctor says in his official statement. “I know of no physician or hospital that would allow the removal of a specimen of this nature and assume what the diagnosis was by just ‘looking’ at it. It is not acceptable to refer your patients to the Emergency Department and assume the on-call doctor will take care of any complications and assume all the risk associated with the complications.”

Alliance Defending Freedom Allied Attorney Doug Romero of Denver has filed suit against Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains on behalf of Byer. “A woman’s life is more important than Planned Parenthood’s bottom line,” he says. “What Planned Parenthood did to Ayanna is beyond the pale. They clearly put her through extraordinary cruelty and jeopardized her life. Their actions were intolerable.””

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And the Senate of North Dakota has passed a state law to ban abortions based on Down Syndrome, as well as banning all abortion when a fetal heartbeat has been detected, which is around 6 weeks. It awaits the Gov.’s signature. And let’s face it, numerous legal challenges.

From WashingtonCBSLocal

“The North Dakota Senate on Friday approved banning abortions as early as six weeks into a pregnancy, sending what would be the most stringent abortion restrictions in the U.S. to the state’s Republican governor for his signature.

The measure would ban most abortions if a fetal heartbeat can be detected, something that can happen as early as six weeks into a pregnancy. The House already approved the measure. Gov. Jack Dalrymple generally opposes abortion but has not said whether he will sign the bill into law.

It’s one of several anti-abortion measures the state Legislature has weighed this session. The vote came with almost no debate in the Senate and after the same chamber approved another measure that would make North Dakota the first to ban abortions based on genetic defects such as Down syndrome.”

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