Egypt

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News/Politics 3-27-15

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. As I’ve said before, there are no good guys here.

From TheLongWarJournal  “The US-led military Coalition in Iraq is openly supporting Iranian-backed Shiite militias and Iraqi forces who are battling Islamic State fighters entrenched in Tikrit. Many of the Shiite militia commanders are listed by the US as Specially Designated Global Terrorists, and one militia is listed as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. Many of the commanders and militias are responsible for killing US, Coailition, and Iraqi troops and civilians during the occupation of Iraq.

Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF-OIR) announced today that “operations to support Iraqi Security Forces in Tikrit have commenced after a request from the Iraqi Prime Minister, Haider al Abadi,” in a press released issued by the US-led command.

“The Coalition is now providing direct support to Iraqi Security Forces conducting operations to expel ISIL [Islamic State] from the city. CJTF-OIR is providing air strikes, airborne intelligence capabilities, and Advise and Assist support to Iraqi Security Force headquarters elements in order to enhance their ability to defeat ISIL,” the statement continued.

The US and CJTF-OIR have claimed that the airstrikes and other support is benefiting “Iraqi Security Forces,” when in reality more than two-thirds of the personnel opposing the Islamic State are comprised of Shiite militias, all of which are backed by Iran.”

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2. Egypt and Saudi Arabia are sending ground forces into Yemen.

From Time  “Egyptian security and military officials say Saudi Arabia and Egypt will lead a ground operation in Yemen against Shiite rebels and their allies after a campaign of airstrikes to weaken them.

Three senior officials tell The Associated Press that forces would enter by land from Saudi Arabia and by sea from the Red Sea and Arabian Sea. They said Thursday that other nations will also be involved.

They would not specify troop numbers or say when the operation would start, only that it would be after airstrikes weaken the rebels and allied forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh.”

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3. The oil market is reacting to the turmoil.

From Fortune/MSN  “There’s nothing like a scare about the safety of middle-eastern sea-lanes to send oil prices higher, particularly when the scare involves fears of a conflict between the region’s two biggest powers.

Crude oil prices were back at their highest in two weeks at $51.32 a barrel by midmorning in Europe, after Saudi Arabia and its allies launched airstrikes against the Houthi rebels who have overrun much of Yemen, including a military airbase that was used until recently by U.S. forces.

Prices have now surged 8% in the last 48 hours. The impact of the flare-up has been magnified by the fact that many participants in the market have bet on prices staying low all through the year. Those caught in ‘short’ positions have had to cover those positions in a hurry as the price rebounds. Fundamentally, though, the market remains oversupplied, and U.S. stocks of crude and fuel are at record highs.”

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4. What a spiteful little man-child.

From TheWeeklyStandard  “On February 12, the Pentagon quietly declassified a top-secret 386-page Department of Defense document from 1987 detailing Israel’s nuclear program – the first time Israel’s alleged nuclear program has ever been officially and publically referenced by the U.S. authorities. 

In the declassified document, the Pentagon reveals supposed details about Israel’s deterrence capabilities, but it kept sections on France, Germany, and Italy classified. Those sections are blacked out in the document.

The two main exceptions in the international media that wrote about the declassification at the time were the state-funded Iranian regime station Press TV and the state-funded Russian station RT. 

Both these media were rumored to have been tipped off about this obscure report at the time by persons in Washington. (Both the RT and PressTV stories falsely claim that the U.S. gave Israel help in building a hydrogen bomb. This is incorrect.)

Israel has never admitted to having nuclear weapons. To do so might spark a regional nuclear arms race, and eventual nuclear confrontation.

The declassification is a serious breach of decades’ old understandings concerning this issue between Israel and its north American and certain European allies.”

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5. Two US men were arrested, including a soldier, for planning an attack on a US base.

From Yahoo/Reuters  “A U.S. Army National Guard soldier and his cousin have been arrested on charges of conspiring to support Islamic State in a plot that included an attack on a military installation in Illinois, the Department of Justice said on Thursday.

The two Chicago-area men, both U.S. citizens, spoke of using army uniforms and military knowledge to get into an Illinois National Guard facility, the department said in a statement.

“Disturbingly, one of the defendants currently wears the same uniform of those they allegedly planned to attack,” Assistant Attorney General John Carlin said in the statement.

Army National Guard Specialist Hasan Edmonds, 22, was arrested at Chicago Midway International Airport Wednesday night while attempting to fly to Cairo, the Justice Department said. His cousin, Jonas Edmonds, 29, was arrested at his Aurora, Illinois, home. Both arrests were made without incident.

Both defendants met with an undercover Federal Bureau of Investigation employee and presented a plan to carry out an armed attack against a northern Illinois military facility where Hasan Edmonds had been training, the Justice Department said.”

What I don’t understand is why the charges are so minor. This is treason, so why isn’t the Obama DoJ making that the charge?

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6. This one comes with a CONTENT WARNING!!!!!

I wasn’t going to post this one due to the nature of this so-called reporters other work. I find it disgusting. What I also find disgusting is that this is the only kind of interviewer and interviews that Obama does. The green haired lady in the fruit loop bath was nothing compared to this freak show.

Again, CONTENT WARNING!!!!!

From MRCTV  “The latest man to score an interview with President Obama, Shane Smith, has conducted some hard-hitting interviews, including one with a Japanese sex doll. 

You’re not misreading that; in a video from 2008, founder and CEO of Vice media Shane Smith pays to have sex with a doll in a Tokyo doll brothel.”

“The company Smith founded, Vice.com, “revels daily in hard drug use, weird sex and every sort of bodily effluvium,” reports Forbes….”

“Yet this man just conducted an 18-minute sit-down interview with the Commander in Chief, the most coveted interview of a journalist’s lifetime and one once reserved for the most hard-bitten and veteran of the White House press corps.”

Obama should be embarrassed, but I doubt he is.

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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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by

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.”

 

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News/Politics 12-6-13

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. Chaos for doctors, and bad news for Medicaid patients.

From CNBC  “Right now that back end is in chaos. … We don’t even know if we should sign up for these plans, because we have a suspicion that many of [them] offer very little reimbursement or offer a loss to the physicians who are going to see these patients,” Grace told Larry Kudlow on CNBC’s “Kudlow Report”.

“No physician wants to take money out of his pocket and put it in the government’s.”

“The administration released a 50-state report Tuesday morning saying that nearly 1.5 million people had been found eligible for Medicaid during October, far outpacing enrollment eligibility in subsidized private coverage. But as Obamacare puts more people in the Medicaid system, Grace said fewer doctors are treating Medicaid patients.

“The problem is, who’s going to care for you when you have Medicaid?” he said. “For an hour-and-15-minute evaluation of a cancer patient, I get $6.50. That won’t even pay for the electricity. What kind of physician will you get … what kind of specialist will you get?”

I can answer that. This kind.

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2. Low-information leadership?

With a Hat Tip to Michelle. 🙂

From TheWallStJournal  “It’s a shock for most people that it’s a shambles. A fellow very friendly to the administration, a longtime supporter, cornered me at a holiday party recently to ask, with true perplexity: “How could any president put his entire reputation on the line with a program and not be on the phone every day pushing people and making sure it will work? Do you know of any president who wouldn’t do that?” I couldn’t think of one, and it’s the same question I’d been asking myself. The questioner had been the manager of a great institution, a high stakes 24/7 operation with a lot of moving parts. He knew Murphy’s law—if it can go wrong, it will. Managers—presidents—have to obsess, have to put the fear of God, as Mr. Obama says, into those below them in the line of authority. They don’t have to get down in the weeds every day but they have to know there are weeds, and that things get caught in them.

It’s a leader’s job to be skeptical of grand schemes. Sorry, that’s a conservative leader’s job. It is a liberal leader’s job to be skeptical that grand schemes will work as intended. You have to guide and goad and be careful.

And this president wasn’t. I think part of the reason he wasn’t careful is because he sort of lives in words. That’s been his whole professional life—books, speeches. Say something and it magically exists as something said, and if it’s been said and publicized it must be real. He never had to push a lever, see the machine not respond, puzzle it out and fix it. It’s all been pretty abstract for him, not concrete. He never had to stock a store, run a sale and see lots of people come but the expenses turn out to be larger than you’d expected and the profits smaller, and you have to figure out what went wrong and do better next time.

People say Mr. Obama never had to run anything, but it may be more important that he never worked for the guy who had to run something, and things got fouled up along the way and he had to turn it around. He never had to meet a payroll, never knew that stress. He probably never had to buy insurance! And you know, his policies were probably gold-plated—at the law firm, through his wife’s considerable hospital job, in the Illinois Legislature, in the U.S. Senate. Those guys know how to take care of themselves! Maybe he felt guilty. Maybe that’s to his credit, knowing he was lucky. Too bad he didn’t know what he didn’t know, like how every part has to work for a complicated machine to work.”

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3. As I’m sure you’re aware, Nelson Mandela has died. Mary Katharine Ham has written a good piece on him and his impact on the world.

From HotAir  ““Our nation has lost its greatest son,” [South African] President Jacob Zuma said in a televised address on Thursday night, adding that Mr. Mandela had died at 8:50 p.m. local time. “His humility, his compassion and his humanity earned him our love.”

The Internet is awash with remembrances of Mandela from people who never knew him. Some will be self-important and tiresome, but most are just the honest, gut feelings of millions—each a testament to the reach of this towering, touching figure of the 20th century. I never knew him, but I knew the power of his inspiration and his example. As a kid, attending majority-black schools in North Carolina less than a generation removed from segregation, my classmates and I knew we were there, together, because of the bravery and leadership of good people who came before us. It was a hard thing to grasp at 7 (likely easier for my black classmates), vague at first. We played hopscotch under the arc of the moral universe, rarely looking skyward to see where it was bending. But there were moments when, in our innocence, we could feel the weight of what happened before we were born— a trip to Woolworth’s in Greensboro just minutes away or the release of Nelson Mandela on the other side of the world.”

“Greater awareness and hormones intervened, turning middle school into a place of racial tension where old friendships were taboo and anger reigned. Mandela’s example of a man supremely wronged who did not let bitterness overtake him seemed amazing, otherworldly. I’ll always be thankful he was the leader who rose while a bunch of confused teenagers in North Carolina were hurting from wounds old and new. Mandela’s life and death, of course, are not about me or my experiences. But the enormity of what Mandela did gave so many the opportunity to discover the beautiful joys and challenges we experienced alongside all God’s children. And, he gave my friends and me an idea of the giant people and giant sacrifices required to allow us to live in a neighborhood where “little black boys and girls” literally, routinely held hands with “little white boys and girls.” It was a gift and it wasn’t always a given. But it’s easy to take for granted what seems impossible after it’s already been done.”

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4. Huh. It seems the new Egyptian govt is smarter than ours when it comes to the Brotherhood. They’re not afraid to admit the obvious, unlike the Obama admin who funded them.

From TheJerusalemPost  “Egyptian media reported Thursday that the government is preparing to deem the  Muslim Brotherhood “a terrorist organization,” as pro-Morsi organizations sent  out a call for protests to be held over the weekend.

The Egyptian El-Watan newspaper, which tends to support the military and oppose the Muslim  Brotherhood, reported that interim Prime Minister Hazem el- Beblawi discussed in  a closed meeting with a number of ministers a detailed directive that declares  the Brotherhood a terrorist organization.

The government blames the  organization for violence and terrorism that has taken place since Mohamed Morsi was removed from power on July 3.”

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5. And last, a really bizarre story on numerous Russian diplomats arrested for Medicaid fraud. An attempt to blacken their eye in retaliation for Syria?

From NBCNews  “Dozens of Russian diplomats and their spouses living and working in New York have been charged with defrauding the Medicaid system of about $1.5 million in benefits over a nine-year period, federal prosecutors say. 

A federal criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan says the alleged scheme by 49 diplomats and their spouses included submitting false applications for Medicaid benefits associated with medical costs for pregnancy, birth and young children, benefits they were not entitled to receive. The 18-month investigation by the FBI revealed a pattern of fraudulent Medicaid application submissions by the defendants, including under-reporting household income and false statements about the citizenship status of children in order to continue dependents’ health care coverage, prosecutors say. Court papers say 92 percent of the births to Russian diplomats and their spouses between 2004 and 2013 in New York City were paid for by Medicaid benefits. 

While collecting Medicaid benefits, prosecutors say the Russian diplomats and their spouses spent tens of thousands of dollars on luxury vacations as well as jewelry and clothing at Bloomingdale’s, Tiffany’s and other retailers. They also spent thousands of dollars online to buy merchandise including Apple products and concert tickets.”

11 of the 49 have diplomatic immunity.

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by

News/Politics 9-16-13

What’s interesting in the news today?

First up, well what did they think would happen? Of course it would benefit Assad and Russia. Funny though, the Obama admin considers this a victory. ‘Course they have to say that, otherwise they might have to admit they totally failed here.

From TheNYPost  “Syrian President Bashar al-Assad gets to stay in power — and keep his chemical weapons for a year — under a Russian-sponsored deal that critics slammed as undermining American leverage in the Mideast.

Under the pact reached Saturday by Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Assad must submit an inventory of his chemical arsenal this week but has until mid-2014 to dispose of it.

Kerry said the first inspection of Syrian weapons will be in November and destruction will begin sometime next year.”

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More on Syria.

From TheTelegraph/UK  “Syria: nearly half rebel fighters are jihadists or hardline Islamists, says IHS Jane’s report

Nearly half the rebel fighters in Syria are now aligned to jihadist or hardline Islamist groups according to a new analysis of factions in the country’s civil war.

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The Obama admin sure does love the MB huh?

From BizPacReview  “A controversial Homeland Security advisor who was recently promoted to senior fellow is a self-declared Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood and Mohamed Morsi supporter.

Mohamed Elibiary, who was appointed to the Department of Homeland Security Advisory Council by then-Secretary Janet Napolitano in 2010, tweeted Thursday that his appointment was renewed and his position elevated:”

“Elibiary’s tenure on the advisory council created controversy almost from the start. About a year after his appointment, PJ Media reported that he used his new federal security clearance to download information on the Texas Department of Public Safety and sell it to left-leaning media outlets as proof of Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s “Islamophobia.””

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Common Core sounds great, unless the left gets to be the ones deciding on that “Core” curriculum. Think 50 Shades of Common Core. Yeah, like that. 😦

CONTENT WARNING!!!

From TheDailyCaller  “The Common Core State Standards Initiative is a project that attempts to  standardize various K-12 curricula around the country. By design, American  students subject to the Common Core will experience a reading  regime that focuses heavily on nonfiction.”

“There will be a slice of fiction here and there, though. One such slice for  sophomores at Buena High School in Sierra  Vista, Ariz. is an utterly minor 1992 novel called “Dreaming in Cuban” by  Cristina Garcia, reports Eagnews.org.

An unidentified parent claimed in  an email to Eagnews that “Dreaming in Cuban” was assigned to everyone in one of  her son’s 10th-grade classes. In addition, students read the book out loud  during class.”

It then gives a few excerpts from the book. It’s Porn in class.

More here from EAGNews.

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I doubt this will do much good, but it’s worth a shot I suppose.

From Breitbart  “On Sept. 12, religious-liberty leaders met with Pentagon officials to discuss the rapidly-escalating incidents of religious-liberty violations in the military under the Obama administration.  

On Apr. 28, Breitbart News broke the story of Pentagon brass meeting with anti-Christian activist Mikey Weinstein to discuss religious-liberty policies. Quoting Weinstein in his own printed words, this activist has a record of calling observant Christians “fundamentalist monsters” who seek impose “theocratic terror” on America, and that evangelizing (sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ) in the military is an act of “sedition and treason” against this country, making those who do it “enemies of the Constitution.” He says those who do so should be court-martialed (criminally prosecuted).”

“Now leaders from Restore Military Religious Freedom—a coalition to protect service members of faith—met with Pentagon officials. Lt. Gen. Jerry Boykin (ret.) of the Family Research Council, Col. Ron Crews (ret.) of the Chaplains Alliance for Religious Liberty, Kellie Fiedorek of the Alliance Defending Freedom, and nationally-known Christian talk radio host Sandy Rios took with them two petitions calling on Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel to protect religious liberty. One was a general petition with 170,000 signatures, and the other—with 50,000 signatures—was sparked by the last incident mentioned above, where Air Force Senior Master Sergeant Phillip Monk was relieved of duty by Maj. Elisa Valenzuela, allegedly because of Monk’s Christian beliefs on marriage. Monk now faces possible court martial.”

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I know seceding from the Union is frowned upon, but what about counties from individual states? I guess it would depend on the state constitution. It seems to be an idea that’s spreading. As someone who lives in an area where Philly presents the same problem, I like the idea.

Five words. Arlen Specter, Bob Casey Jr.

See. Of course I’m all for it.

From FoxNews  “A group of Maryland residents frustrated with its state’s liberal government  is joining a recent movement across the country of regions trying to secede.

 Western Maryland is made up of five counties whose residents largely vote  Republican and feel under-represented at the state capitol, run by Democratic  Gov. Martin O’Malley and a Democrat-controlled legislature.”

“Strzelczyk said the biggest concerns are increasing taxes, and the  Democrat-controlled legislature gerrymander voting district so that the state’s  big metropolitan areas have the most representation and tighter gun laws enacted  this year, which he calls “the last straw.”  

The movement is just one of several across the country that includes the  Upper Peninsula in Michigan, Northern California and several conservative  northern Colorado counties.”

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And this last one I submit with no comment. Take it for what you will.

Also from Breitbart  “Almost everything you think you know about the Matthew Shepard narrative is false.”

“Almost immediately Shepard became a secular saint, and his killing became a kind of gay Passion Play where he suffered and died for the cause of homosexuality against the growing homophobia and hatred of gay America.

Indeed, a Mathew Shepard industry grew rapidly with plays and foundations along with state and even national hate crimes legislation named for him. Rock stars wrote songs about him, including Elton John and Melissa Etheridge. Lady Gaga performed John Lennon’s “Imagine” and changed the lyrics to include Shepard.

Thanks to a new book by an award winning gay journalist we now know that much of this narrative turns out to be false, little more than gay hagiography.”

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by

News/Politics 8-21-13

What’s interesting in the news today?

Open thread, as always. 🙂

First up, more on the targeting of Christians in Egypt, and how the Obama admin should deal with it.

From NationalReview  “Even the military rule is better than Muslim Brotherhood rule because the Muslim Brotherhood is against humanity itself,” says Thabet. That the most secular, liberal-minded Egyptians prefer a military dictatorship to the Muslim Brotherhood is telling, though it must be added that they hope it is temporary.

The military has been slow to respond to civilians’ desperate pleas for help. Even before this week’s violence, the Egyptian government was unable — or, perhaps more accurate, unwilling — to take basic steps to protect Egypt’s Christians or their churches, which are a particular target of the Muslim Brotherhood’s attacks. Still, Copts have no question which is the lesser of two evils.

They also have a strong sense of betrayal by the West and America. Having struck a blow for freedom at considerable personal cost and in the face of significant odds, the millions of Egyptians who took part in the June 30 Revolution are confounded by the Western reaction. “I don’t know why the American media did this. It is terrible,” said Thabet. One liberal American missionary who has lived in Egypt for several decades was irate in an e-mail message. “Christians here are getting hit hard. . . . I am thoroughly [upset] at the hypocrisy of the EU and the U.S. What whores we have running the world. I can only say worse things about western news coverage in general.”

And more from NR here as well.

From NationalReview  “Not One More Plane, Not One More Tank, Not One More Dollar, Until Egypt’s Christians are Protected”

“As churches burn, as nuns are paraded through the streets by the Muslim Brotherhood, and as Christians across Egypt fear for their lives in the face of the jihadist onslaught, American policy can and should get very simple, very fast: Not one scintilla of aid until the Egyptian military demonstrates — by deeds, not just words — that it is committed to stopping this wave of persecution in its tracks, protecting the most basic human rights of its Christian citizens, and utterly defeating the Muslim Brotherhood. The crisis could escalate quickly to Balkan- or Syrian-level brutality and religious cleansing, but the Egyptian military — well-stocked with equipment we purchased, made, and keep in good repair — is capable of ending the onslaught against Christians.”

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Further proof that the Obama admin is using former ACORN employees to help with ObamaCare.

From TheDailyMail  “A liberal organization tapped Monday to manage a  new federal government-sponsored video contest aimed at encouraging young  Americans to embrace Obamacare is run by ACORN’s former top lobbyist, MailOnline  can reveal.”

“Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar, who was among the  most vocal Republicans during the 2010 battle over ACORN’s federal funding, told  MailOnline that the White House is risking a public backlash with its choice of  partnerships.

‘The fact that the Obama administration is  putting a senior staffer of the now defunct and notoriously corrupt ACORN in  charge of giving away cash to bribe young Americans into accepting Obamacare is  cause for grave concern,’ Gosar said.”

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Let me guess… “Unexpectedly” 🙄

From HotAir  “How did Barack Obama’s Magical Economy Tour do in convincing Americans to stay the course on Obamanomics?  Not only did it fail to impress voters, it didn’t do much for employers, either.  According to new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, joblessness rose in 28 states while only falling in eight — the worst showing since January:

Unemployment rates rose in more than half of U.S. states in July and fewer states added jobs, echoing national data that show the job market may have lost some momentum.

The Labor Department says unemployment rates increased in 28 states. They were unchanged in 14 and fell in eight states — the fewest to show a decline since January.

Hiring increased in 32 states in July compared with June, the fewest in three months. Seventeen states reported job losses. California, Georgia and Florida reported the largest job gains, while New Jersey and Nevada lost the most.”

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News/Politics 8-20-13

What’s interesting in the news today?

Further evidence against the Muslim Brotherhood supporters in Egypt.

From CNSNews  “In the four days since security forces cleared two sit-in camps by supporters of Egypt’s ousted president, Islamists have attacked dozens of Coptic churches along with homes and businesses owned by the Christian minority. The campaign of intimidation appears to be a warning to Christians outside Cairo to stand down from political activism.

Christians have long suffered from discrimination and violence in Muslim majority Egypt, where they make up 10 percent of the population of 90 million. Attacks increased after the Islamists rose to power in the wake of the 2011 Arab Spring uprising that drove Hosni Mubarak from power, emboldening extremists. But Christians have come further under fire since President Mohammed Morsi was ousted on July 3, sparking a wave of Islamist anger led by Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood.

Nearly 40 churches have been looted and torched, while 23 others have been attacked and heavily damaged since Wednesday, when chaos erupted after Egypt’s military-backed interim administration moved in to clear two camps packed with protesters calling for Morsi’s reinstatement, killing scores of protesters and sparking deadly clashes nationwide.”

Meanwhile the Obama State Dept. is speaking out about the poor treatment and deaths….. of Muslim Brotherhood prisoners.

The treatment of the Christian minorities? Yep, those are crickets you hear.

From TheStar/Reuters  “The U.S. State Department voiced deep concern on Monday about the deaths of Muslim Brotherhood prisoners while in custody in Egypt, terming them “suspicious,” and made clear that it does not believe the Islamist group should be banned.

“We are … deeply troubled by the suspicious deaths of Muslim Brotherhood prisoners in a purported prison escape attempt near Cairo,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters, referring to 37 supporters of ousted President Mohamed Mursi who died in disputed circumstances on Sunday.”

Leave it to the Obama admin to speak up for the terrorists, but not their victims.

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And John Kerry has cleared the only ones ever punished for the Benghazi debacle. I know, “What difference does it make?” right?

From TheDailyBeast  “Secretary of State John Kerry has determined that the four State Department officials placed on administrative leave by Hillary Clinton after the terrorist attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi do not deserve any formal disciplinary action and has asked them to come back to work at the State Department starting Tuesday.”

“Last December, Clinton’s staff told four mid-level officials to clean out their desks and hand in their badges after the release of the report of its own internal investigation into the Benghazi attack, compiled by the Administrative Review Board led by former State Department official Tom Pickering and former Joint Chiefs Chairman Ret. Adm. Mike Mullen. Those four officials have been in legal and professional limbo, not fired but unable to return to their jobs, for eight months… until today.

Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Raymond Maxwell, the only official from the State Department’s Near Eastern Affairs bureau to lose his job over the Benghazi attack, told The Daily Beast Monday he received a memo from the State Department’s human resources department informing him his administrative leave status has been lifted and he should report for duty Tuesday morning.

“No explanation, no briefing, just come back to work. So I will go in tomorrow,” Maxwell said.”

Since the employees filed grievances, the Obama admin took this route rather than have those employees speaking out on the matter. That might make things uncomfortable when it comes time for Hillary to run for President. So this ensures they won’t have unflattering details leaking out later.

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Laws? Pffftt… That’s for you little people.

From TheChicagoTribune  “The mandate that employers provide insurance next year or pay a penalty, as the law requires? Delayed for at least a year.

The law’s dictate that people applying for federal subsidies to buy insurance provide proof that they’re eligible for the government aid? Scaled back.

Sharp limits on Americans’ out-of-pocket costs for health care? Suspended for a year.

Providing members of Congress and more than 10,000 staff members with federal health care subsidies that the law does not allow? Done, via a deal brokered by President Barack Obama.”

He must do all this by Presidential decree, because he can’t risk admitting it’s faults and letting the legislature fix it. They might change other things too.

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This one? No comment. After all, it really does speak for itself.

From TheWashingtonExaminer  “Federal welfare benefits pay more than minimum wage jobs in 35 states, according to a new report from the Cato Institute.

Hawaii provides the most benefits, or $49,175 a year. The District of Columbia provides the second highest welfare benefits in the country, providing $43,099 a year.

Cato’s calculations were based upon how much a mother with two children would receive from the seven most widely used welfare programs, including Temporary Assistance for Needy Families; Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program; Medicaid; Women, Infants and Children Program; Emergency Food Assistance Program; housing assistance and utilities assistance.

In 12 states and D.C., the amount she would receive from those programs exceeds what she could earn working full-time at a $15-an-hour job, according to Cato.”

For those interested, or for a look at how your state did,  the Cato Institute study is here.

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And here’s the last one from me today.

This would be funny, if they weren’t totally serious about this. Since they are serious, it’s sad. And clueless.

Sure it’ll stop legally carrying gun owners from coming in and spending their money, but who here thinks it’ll work for criminals? Yeah, me neither. 🙄

From CNSNews  “Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn, a Democrat, is inviting  local merchants to voluntarily post “Gun Free Zone” signs in their  businesses, letting customers who have guns know they should shop  elsewhere.

“We are here to support businesses that do not wish to have guns on  their premises” McGinn said in a press release issued by Washington  CeaseFire, which is partnering with the mayor for the campaign. “The  police department regularly enforces trespass laws when a visitor to a  business violates that business’s rules.”

“We will continue to do so, and I thank these businesses for standing up for the safety of their customers,” McGinn said.”

Why not just paint a “Please Rob Me, I’m Unarmed” sign out front?

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News/Politics 8-19-13

What’s interesting in the news today?

First up, Egypt’s Coptic Church has thrown their support to the military. Not surprising considering the Muslim Brotherhood is burning their churches and homes, and killing them.

From AlArabiya  “Egypt’s Orthodox Coptic Church announced on Friday its support for the military and security forces in their fight against what it called “groups of armed violence.”

“The Egyptian Coptic Church is following the unfortunate developments on the ground of our country Egypt and emphasizes its strong stance with the Egyptian police, armed forces and other organizations of the Egyptian people in the face of groups of armed violence and black terrorism,” the church said in a statement.

“While we appreciate the sincere and friendly position that understands the nature of the developments, we strongly deplore the media fallacies that are prevalent in Western countries,” the statement added.

The Coptic Church called on the West to “read objectively the facts of events, and not give international and political cover to these terrorist and bloody groups.”

Don’t hold your breath. They can’t do that. They have an amateur President and his “Smart Diplomacy” to defend.

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This one here, file under “Message Fail.” For Obama, Dems, and the media.

From WeaselZippers  “This study was completed in June, yet was virtually ignored by the media. Perhaps because it didn’t fit the talking points?

In short: 1. most gun deaths are suicides, not criminal violence. 2. there were anywhere between 500,000 to 3 million defensive uses of guns, per year. 3. both accidental deaths and mass shootings have declined, both accounting for very small fraction of gun related deaths. 4. Most criminals gain their guns from family, friends or illegal means, and so outside the “controls” envisioned by the gun control gang. 5. High gun related homicides in Illinois, California, New Jersey, Washington D.C. skew the figures; these are areas where there are some of most restrictive gun laws.

Thus, the study tends to show that most of the gun control talk, is just that, talk, without much reality in actually addressing gun crime, and tends to support most of the things that gun rights advocates have repeatedly said.”

Doh! 😯

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Next up, the Obama admin is withholding documents on ObamaCare. Shocking, I know. 🙄

From FoxNews  “The House Oversight Committee slammed the Treasury Department on Thursday for  withholding documents related to the committee’s investigation of the  administration’s expansion of subsidies in the ObamaCare exchanges. 

Committee chairman Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and Health Care Subcommittee  chairman James Lankford, R-Penn., threatened in their letter to use legal force  against the department if it does not turn over the documents by Aug.  29. 

The committee has been investigating for over a year the administration’s  decision to expand subsidies to the federally run health insurance exchanges  mandated by ObamaCare. The 2010 law creates subsidies for insurance purchased on  state-created exchanges, but it is unclear if the law permits the federal  government to extend these subsidies to the federally run exchanges.”

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This one? Bush’s fault I’m sure. 🙂

From CNSNews  ” The Congressional Budget Office last week released updated historical budget data for the federal government, reporting a deficit of $1.087 trillion in fiscal 2012.

2012 marked the fourth straight year—and the only four years in the history of the nation–when the federal government’s deficit topped $1 trillion.

Last year’s $1.087 trillion deficit was even greater in inflation-adjusted dollars than the peak World War II deficit of fiscal 1943—which was $54.554 billion in 1943 dollars and $723.8714 billion in 2012 dollars, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics online inflation calculator. The deficit has also remained at a higher percentage of GDP over the last four years than at any time since the conclusion of World War II (which ended during fiscal 1946, which began in June 1945).”

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And we’ll finish with this one today. Don’t support ObamaCare? You’re probably a “Phony Christian.” But don’t worry, if it’s anything like a “Phony Scandal”, it means a real one, so you’re fine. I think.

From TheBlaze  “MSNBC host Ed Schultz unleashed Saturday on Christians who oppose President Obama’s landmark healthcare law, branding them as “phony Christians” and saying the repeal of the law would certainly result in the death of innocent children.

Schultz, who hosts ‘The Ed Show” on weekends, said the new healthcare law “is the most moral thing this country has ever done” and hammered those who disagree.

“This is good for America and I won’t let them lie,” Schultz said. “They’re phony Christians. Phony Christians when they say that they are Christian but then they want to take away from their next door neighbor. They don’t want to be their brother’s keeper.”

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News/Politics 8-17-13

What’s interesting in the news today?

Open thread, you decide.

Here’s a few from me to start things off.

First up, Egypt.

From FoxNews  “The Egyptian defense minister has ordered the repair and reconstruction of  all churches that suffered damage in the country’s violent demonstrations since  the Egyptian military removed President Mohamed Morsi from power last month.

Defense minister Col. Gen. Abdel Fattah El-Sisi intends to fix the damage to  Coptic churches at Rabaa Adaweya and Nahda squares, according to a report by the  Mid-East Christian News.

Dozens of churches were attacked and burned in riots after thousands of  demonstrators took to the streets of Cairo and other Egyptian cities to demand  the end of what they call military rule, following the removal of Morsi on July  3. Many of Morsi’s supporters have voiced criticism at Egypt’s Christian  minority for largely supporting the military’s decision to oust him from  office.

“The Egyptian defense minister ordered the engineering department of the  armed forces to swiftly repair all the affected churches, in recognition of the  historical and national role played by our Coptic brothers,” read a statement  that aired on Egyptian television.”

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Next up, It’s Alive! and yes, that means they’re violating the federal ban.

From JudicialWatch  “A spinoff of the scandal-ridden community organizer group ACORN received more than $200,000 in federal housing grants despite a ban on money going to ACORN affiliates, watchdog organization Judicial Watch announced Thursday.

ACORN, which officially folded in 2009 after a string of scandals, rebranded into more than 100 spinoff groups, including Affordable Housing Centers of America — also now defunct — and Mission of Peace, an affordable housing nonprofit.

In February, the Department of Housing and Urban Development transferred $201,222.07 from AHCOA to Mission of Peace “specifically to pay for the activities of former AHCOA affiliates,” according to a memo obtained by Judicial Watch through a Freedom of Information Act request.”

“Because of the ban, the award to Mission of Peace appears to be a violation of federal law, according to Judicial Watch. MOP is one of numerous ACORN affiliates operating under new names, Judicial Watch spokeswoman Jill Farrell told the Washington Examiner.”

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And then another story of the Obama admin disobeying and disregarding federal law.

From NationalJournal  “About 400,000 “Dreamers” have been allowed to stay in the United States in the year since the Obama administration began accepting applications for young illegal immigrants to defer deportation proceedings and receive work permits, according to data compiled by the Brookings Institution and released on the anniversary of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

The numbers show that out of more than a half-million applicants for deferred action, more than three-quarters were accepted and just 1 percent denied. The applications were concentrated in states that already have large immigrant communities, such as California, Texas, New York, Illinois, and Florida. On the East Coast, the applications were from a more diverse set of countries while in the West, Midwest, and South the vast majority of applicants were from Mexico.”

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News/Politics 8-16-13

What’s interesting in the news today?

First up, the turmoil in Egypt continues.

From TheNYTimes  “Gathering Thursday morning around a mosque used as a morgue for hundreds killed the day before, many Islamists waited confidently for a surge of sympathetic support from the broader public. But it failed to materialize.”

“With their leaders jailed or silent, Islamists reeled in shock at the worst mass killing in Egypt’s modern history. By Thursday night, health officials had counted 638 dead and nearly 4,000 injured, but the final toll was expected to rise further.       

A tense quiet settled over Cairo as the city braced for new protests by the supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi, after Friday Prayer. The new government authorized the police to respond with lethal force if they felt endangered.”

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Next up, told ya. And this is on top of the $375,000 already handed to PP in DC. It’s now already over a million dollars, and it’ll be nationwide, and even more money before their done rewarding their favorite donors in the abortion industry. Not to mention all the money they’ll make when health coverage is forced to pay for abortions thru ObamaCare.

From TheDailyCaller  “Three Planned Parenthood affiliates will be receiving a total of more than  $655, 000 grants from the federal government to serve as Obamacare “navigators”  to help people enroll in the health-care exchanges.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced $67 million  in grants to 105 “Navigator grant applicants”  Thursday.

Iowa’s Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, Montana’s Intermountain Planned  Parenthood, Inc. DBA Planned Parenthood and New Hampshire’s Planned Parenthood  of Northern New England are included in that list.”

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And remember when Obama assured us the NSA wasn’t spying on American citizens? Yeah, the good old days, like a month ago.

From TheWaPo  “The National Security Agency has broken privacy rules or overstepped its legal authority thousands of times each year since Congress granted the agency broad new powers in 2008, according to an internal audit and other top-secret documents.

Most of the infractions involve unauthorized surveillance of Americans or foreign intelligence targets in the United States, both of which are restricted by statute and executive order. They range from significant violations of law to typographical errors that resulted in unintended interception of U.S. e-mails and telephone calls.

The documents, provided earlier this summer to The Washington Post by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, include a level of detail and analysis that is not routinely shared with Congress or the special court that oversees surveillance. In one of the documents, agency personnel are instructed to remove details and substitute more generic language in reports to the Justice Department and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.”

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Now that the Obama admin has forced the DoD to embrace homosexuals in the military, the consequences for believers daring to oppose it are beginning. This will continue. They want to purge all resistance to their agenda.

From FoxNews  “A 19-year veteran of the Air Force said he was relieved of his duties after he disagreed with his openly gay commander when she wanted to severely punish an instructor who had expressed religious objections to homosexuality.”

““I was relieved of my position because I don’t agree with my commander’s position on gay marriage,” Senior Master Sgt. Phillip Monk told Fox News. “We’ve been told that if you publicly say that homosexuality is wrong, you are in violation of Air Force policy.”

““Are we going to have a ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy for Christians so we don’t get harassed for our beliefs?” attorney Hiram Sasser asked Fox News. “Here’s a guy who wants to have his religious liberty and serve in the military. He shouldn’t have to believe in gay marriage in order to serve.”

“In one of our first meetings, she was talking about her promotion and she mentioned something about a benediction,” Monk told Fox News. “She said she wanted a chaplain but objected to one particular chaplain that she called a bigot because he preached that homosexuality is a sin.”

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Meanwhile his hypocrisy on the whole gay marriage issue is being pointed out. And it’s about time someone pointed out the 800lb. Islamic gorilla in the room, and how it handles the issue. When will he get around to mentioning and condemning their horrible treatment of homosexuals?

From NationalReview  “Forbidden,” he curtly pronounced. “Those involved in the act should be punished. In fact, sodomites should be killed in the worst manner possible.”

“Cynically mounting his high horse last week in the cozy confines of Jay Leno’s late-night TV comedy program — a venue popular with his ill-informed admirers, one where hypocrisy won’t be noticed, much less challenged — the president declaimed, “I have no patience for countries that try to treat gays or lesbians or transgender persons in ways that intimidate or are harmful to them.”

This was his purported human-rights rationale for canceling a summit meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin, who in June signed an anti-gay law banning “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations.” Obama told Leno that “making sure people are treated fairly and justly” is a “precept that’s not unique to America” and “should apply everywhere.”

Does the president truly mean what he said? Or was he just pandering to dreamy millennials and the Hollywood glitterati, who are too uninformed or in the tank to mark the chasm between his righteous finger-wagging at Putin and his kowtowing to Islamic leaders? The answers depend on whether he finally condemns sharia’s oppressive and often brutal strictures against homosexuality, which are zealously enforced in most Muslim countries.”

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Here’s an update on the story from a month or so ago about Obama not knowing when to keep his mouth shut. His opining has affected the cases of 2 service members charged with sexual assault. His “undue command influence” has restricted the level of punishment they now face. Nice job Barry. 🙄

And shouldn’t a constitutional law professor have known this?

From USAToday  “A military judge says two service members cannot be punitively discharged — even if found guilty — because of “unlawful command influence”  reflected in comments by President Obama.

Citing court documents, Stars and Stripes reports that “Navy Judge Cmdr. Marcus Fulton ruled during pretrial hearings in two sexual assault cases — U.S. v. Johnson and U.S. v. Fuentes — that comments made by Obama as commander in chief would unduly influence any potential sentencing.”

Attorneys for the defendants cited these May 7 comments by Obama on sexual assault in the military:”

“”The judge’s pretrial ruling means that if either defendant is found guilty, whether by a jury or a military judge, they cannot receive a bad conduct discharge or a dishonorable discharge. Sailors found guilty under the Uniform Code of Military Justice’s Article 120, which covers several sexual crimes including assault and rape, generally receive punitive discharges.”

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This one? I knew it. And they said I was crazy. 🙂

From TheAtlanticWire  “Newly declassified documents, obtained by George Washington University’s National Security Archive, appear to for the first time acknowledge the existence of Area 51. Hundreds of pages describe the genesis of the Nevada site that was home to the government’s spy plane program for decades. The documents do not, however, mention aliens.”

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And lastly, cat fight! 🙄

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