Harry Reid

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News/Politics 3-7-15

What’s interesting in the news this weekend?

Open Thread, you tell me…. 🙂

Here’s what I’d like to talk about……

Dirty Democrats, and there seem to be a bunch. Especially troubling is that all 3 of these are in leadership positions and sit on influential committees.

1. I told you about these accusations against Senator Bob Menendez and his doctor friend before. Looks like he may finally have to answer to them.

From NationalJournal  “The Department of Justice is preparing to charge Democratic New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez, the ranking member of the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee, with corruption, CNN reported Friday.

According to the news outlet, Menendez is facing allegations that he traded his political influence for perks and favors from a top donor, Dr. Salmon Melgen—an eye doctor and political backer.

 While a formal announcement could still be weeks from now, CNN reported that Attorney General Eric Holder has given the green light to move forward with the case before time runs out to pursue some of the charges.”

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2. Next up, Elijah Cummings. We knew he was involved in the IRS targeting of conservative groups, and now we have some proof of his colluding.

From GatewayPundit  “Last April House Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) released a report implicating Democrat Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) in colluding with the IRS and Lois Lerner against the nonpartisan voters rights group “True the Vote.”

Catherine Engelbrecht, the founder of “True the Vote,” testified before Congress in February. She was targeted by FBI, IRS, ATF, and OSHA after she filed for tax exempt status for her voters rights group.

Engelbrecht said this during her testimony before Congress and Cummings, “Frankly, to sit before my accuser and be silent in the face of what he did was unconscionable.”

“This week the House Oversight Committee released more emails that prove the IRS was feeding Rep. Cummings with confidential tax information on the voter fraud prevention group True the Vote.
Townhall reported:

New IRS emails released by the House Oversight Committee show staff working for Democratic Ranking Member Elijah Cummings communicated with the IRS multiple times between 2012 and 2013 about voter fraud prevention group True the Vote. True the Vote was targeted by the IRS after applying for tax exempt status more than two years ago. Further, information shows the IRS and Cummings’ staff asked for nearly identical information from True the Vote President Catherine Engelbrecht about her organization, indicating coordination and improper sharing of confidential taxpayer information.”

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3. Next up, Harry Reid, the influence peddler. Harry’s been steering taxpayer money to his friends, lackeys, and donors.

From TheFreeBeacon  “Corporate donors to a green energy nonprofit operated by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid’s (D., Nev.) former staffers and a current campaign operative have received billions of dollars in federal loan guarantees and grant money as a result of Reid’s advocacy.

Fulcrum Bioenergy began contributing to the Clean Energy Project (CEP) in 2013. One year later, the Nevada Democrat steered tens of millions of dollars in federal grant money to the California biofuel company.

Fulcrum is one of at least nine corporate donors to the Clean Energy Project (CEP) that have secured federal financing for themselves or a client due in part to Reid’s behind-the-scenes advocacy—activity that watchdogs warn could be construed as unethical.

Rebecca Lambe, Reid’s top political strategist who has been directed by Reid to take the lead in hiring for his 2016 reelection campaign, founded CEP in 2008 and served as its executive director. Reid’s former chief of staff Susan McCue served as CEP’s president at that time. Lambe is now an adviser to CEP, according to her official bio. McCue is a member of its board.

McCue and Lambe also run Senate Majority PAC, a powerhouse Super Pac with close ties to Reid that spent $67 million to elect Senate Democrats last year.

Far from denying a role in steering subsidies to donors to aides’ group, Reid’s office brags about it.”

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News/Politics 2-27-15

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. It ain’t broke, but they “fixed” it anyway.

From MSN/Reuters  “U.S. regulators on Thursday imposed the toughest rules yet on Internet service providers, aiming to ensure fair treatment of all web traffic through their networks.

The Federal Communications Commission voted along party lines, with Democrats in favor, to approve new “net neutrality” rules that seek to restrict broadband providers’ power to control download speeds on the web, for instance by potentially giving preference to companies that can afford to pay more.

The vote starts a countdown to expected lawsuits from cable and telecoms providers which argue that the tougher regulatory regime will stifle investments, hurting consumers. Republicans see Thursday’s move as a government power grab.

The new regulations come after a year of jostling between cable and telecom companies and net neutrality advocates, which included web startups. It culminated in the FCC receiving a record 4 million comments and a call from President Barack Obama to adopt the strongest rules possible.

The agency sought new net neutrality rules after a federal court rejected their previous version in January 2014.”

Let’s hope the courts overturn this power grab as well.

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2. And speaking of power grabs….

From TheNYPost  “President Obama was grilled Wednesday by anxious immigrants concerned about the fate of their undocumented relatives after a court ruling and a clash with Congress have left them in the lurch.”

“Immigration activist Erica Andiola, whose mom could be deported, asked, “What’s going to happen to my family? Given the fact that immigration reform, it’s not going to happen anytime soon and we know that because of the politics in Congress. What’s gonna happen in the meantime when my mom — and my family if immigration enforcement comes to my house once again?”

Obama said, “We’re still going to make sure your mom is not prioritized for enforcement. She should feel confident about that. I want her to feel confident about that short-term. Long-term, we need to get a path to citizenship.””

So he’ll continue to ignore the laws of this country.

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3. Harry Reid just feeds his ego.

From CNSNews  ““The President has the right to determine who is to be deported” when it comes to illegal aliens currently living in the United States, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) stated during debate on the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) funding bill on Monday.

“The President has the right to determine who is to be deported, and the families of these DREAMERS are way down the list,” Reid declared.

“DREAMers” refer to illegal aliens who were brought to the United States as children and are currently being granted temporary amnesty under President Obama’s 2012 executive action.

Reid also accused Republicans of “attacking families” that “pose no security risk” to the United States by not funding Obama’s amnesty programs, a plan Reid said is “destined to fail.””

Not a security risk? I’m willing to bet that the numerous victims of illegal alien identity theft would say otherwise.

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4. So of course a president that thinks he’s above the law would want yet another AG who thinks the same.

From NBCNews  “Yhe office headed by the woman poised to become the next attorney general has used an unusual method to keep many of its prosecutions hidden from the public, an NBC News investigation has found.

Federal prosecutors in New York’s Brooklyn-based Eastern District pursued cases against secret, unnamed “John Doe” defendants 58 times since Loretta Lynch became head prosecutor in May 2010. Two of the 58 are terrorism cases.”

“Federal prosecutors around the country use a variety of techniques to keep the identities of defendants secret, often to protect cooperating witnesses or to help secure a plea deal. Methods include filing cases under seal to keep them off court dockets, or sealing the identities of some secondary defendants who have become cooperating witnesses.

The Eastern District’s use of John Doe, however, is conspicuous. None of the nation’s 93 other federal district courts has charged more than eight “Does” during the same time period, and the national average is under four. * In the two federal districts with similar pending criminal caseloads (approximately 3000 cases) — Arizona and the Southern District of California — there is only one case involving a “John Doe” defendant.”

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5. Walker wows ’em.

From NationalReview  “The governor, considered a top contender in the 2016 Republican presidential primary, got a quick standing ovation for his response — one of a number he got during his address.

After spending some time touting his strong domestic record as governor of Wisconsin, Walker sharply criticized the Obama administration for its ineffective strategy in the fight against the Islamic State, and its disapproval of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s upcoming address before Congress.

Looking to shore up his own bona fides on foreign policy, Walker went out of his way to tell the audience that, as governor, he receives FBI briefings about potential threats to his state. And he pointed to his 2011 face-off with public-employee unions as preparing him for these sorts of situations.

“If I can take on 100,000 protesters, I can do the same across the world,” he said.

Walker’s speech, one of the most anticipated of the conference, capped off the first day, and had the auditorium filled to capacity, including crowds standing alongside the walls.”

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6. Ben Carson was pretty good as well.

From TheDailyMail  “Dr. Ben Carson grabbed the Democratic Party’s third rail with both hands Thursday morning, launching a political attack based on his complaint that liberals are ‘making people dependent’ in majority-black American inner-cities.

Race politics have been the near-exclusive domain of the Democrats since the civil-rights era of the 1960s, and Barack Obama’s successful White House bid in 2008 solidified their position.

But Carson – the most prominent black Republican in the 2016 presidential picture – told the Conservative Political Action Conference near Washington, D.C. on Thursday that the Democrats now see African-Americans’ support as an entitlement – choosing to ‘keep them suppressed and cultivate their votes.'”

“Matthew Brown, a New York college student attending the conference, told Daily Mail Online that Carson is just hitting his stride.

‘He’s shaking people up and freaking people out,’ Brown said. ‘The days of a lily-white GOP are starting to fade, and the only people who seem to oppose this energetic and thoughtful black guy are the Democrats. That should tell you something.'”

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News/Politics 11-12-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. As the grand jury decision approaches, businesses and authorities are preparing for the worst.

From YahooNews  “Missouri Governor Jay Nixon said on Tuesday the National Guard would be on standby to respond to any violence after a grand jury decides whether or not to indict a white police officer for shooting dead an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson.

In addition to the National Guard, police officers from across the state could be called on to restore order if protests get out of hand, Nixon told a news conference.”

“”These measures are not being taken because we are convinced that violence will occur, but because we have a responsibility to prepare for any contingency,” he said.”

“Some businesses in Ferguson have boarded up windows and made plans for protecting themselves and their property if protests ignite into violence.”

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2. Political donations prove liberal bias dominates American culture.

From CapitalCityProject  “Conservatives have long believed American culture is entrenched with a liberal bias, only to be scoffed at and called paranoid. However, three new charts dealing with political donations from academia, media, and Hollywood prove this to be the case.

Business Insider was provided a data set of federal campaign contributions dating all the way back to 1980, making the sample size considerable. The data set confirms that media, academia, and the entertainment industry are some of the most liberal professions in America. The findings were provided by CROWDPAC, a non-partisan analytics firm based out of California.

“In compiling all this data, and building these tools, we have the opportunity to shine some light on the political system and reveal some interesting insights and trends,” Crowdpac CEO Steve Hilton said of the findings. “For example, our real data conforms with the claims that have been circulated about the extremely liberal profile of the entertainment and media sectors.””

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3. And Harry has the nerve to whine about the Koch brothers…..

From TheFreeBeacon  “The network of political and policy groups backed by the shadowy liberal donor club the Democracy Alliance was responsible for more than one of every three dollars spent by super PACs during the 2014 election cycle, public records show.

Members of the Democracy Alliance network that disclose political spending dropped more than $250 million on the midterms, according to data reported to the Federal Election Commission.

That included more than $180 million in expenditures by super PACs, more than a third of the $515 million spent by all such groups during the 2014 election cycle.

The groups’ extensive involvement in Democrats’ political efforts undercuts common media characterizations of the Democracy Alliance, which generally present the array of groups it supports as less involved in electioneering than those of similar collaborative donor networks on the right.

Such reports frequently downplay the scale of the Democracy Alliance network, commonly reported as consisting of fewer than two dozen organizations.”

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 4. This is getting out of hand. They’re abusing these laws for profit. Since when is law enforcement a for profit business?

From MSN.com  “The seminars offered police officers some useful tips on seizing property from suspected criminals. Don’t bother with jewelry (too hard to dispose of) and computers (“everybody’s got one already”), the experts counseled. Do go after flat screen TVs, cash and cars. Especially nice cars.

In one seminar, captured on video in September, Harry S. Connelly Jr., the city attorney of Las Cruces, N.M., called them “little goodies.” And then Mr. Connelly described how officers in his jurisdiction could not wait to seize one man’s “exotic vehicle” outside a local bar.

“A guy drives up in a 2008 Mercedes, brand new,” he explained. “Just so beautiful, I mean, the cops were undercover and they were just like ‘Ahhhh.’ And he gets out and he’s just reeking of alcohol. And it’s like, ‘Oh, my goodness, we can hardly wait.’ ”

Mr. Connelly was talking about a practice known as civil asset forfeiture, which allows the government, without ever securing a conviction or even filing a criminal charge, to seize property suspected of having ties to crime. The practice, expanded during the war on drugs in the 1980s, has become a staple of law enforcement agencies because it helps finance their work. It is difficult to tell how much has been seized by state and local law enforcement, but under a Justice Department program, the value of assets seized has ballooned to $4.3 billion in the 2012 fiscal year from $407 million in 2001. Much of that money is shared with local police forces.

The practice of civil forfeiture has come under fire in recent months, amid a spate of negative press reports and growing outrage among civil rights advocates, libertarians and members of Congress who have raised serious questions about the fairness of the practice, which critics say runs roughshod over due process rights. In one oft-cited case, a Philadelphia couple’s home was seized after their son made $40 worth of drug sales on the porch. Despite that opposition, many cities and states are moving to expand civil seizures of cars and other assets. The seminars, some of which were captured on video, raise a curtain on how law enforcement officials view the practice.”

They view it as a cash cow.

Is it just me, or does this DoJ seem to be run like an organized crime outfit?

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5. Why is it OK to be racist if you’re supposedly doing it to fight racism? Isn’t it bad all the time?

From TheDailyCaller  “Minneapolis Public Schools are implementing a new policy aimed at eliminating the gap between the races when it comes to suspensions. Nothing will change for white students, they will still be suspended at the discretion of each school’s principal. But for minority students, specifically black, Hispanic and Native American students, the Minneapolis Schools Superintendent’s office will personally review each case.

This new policy is part of an agreement with U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights announced last week after an investigation into why minority students made up such a high percentage suspended students in the past.

Superintendent Bernadeia Johnson told NPR, “I and all of my staff will start to review all non-violent suspensions of students of color, especially black boys, to understand why they’re being suspended so we can help intervene with teachers, student leaders and help give them the targeted support they need for these students.”

In a press release announcing the new policy, which begins Monday, Johnson’s office said, “Moving forward, every suspension of a black or brown student will be reviewed by the superintendent’s leadership team. The school district aims to more deeply understand the circumstances of suspensions with the goal of providing greater supports to the school, student or family in need. This team could choose to bring in additional resources for the student, family and school.””

The DoJ is doing this nationwide. Look for more to come.

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6. This isn’t surprising, and neither is the reaction to it within this “community.”

CONTENT WARNING!!! for adult subject matter.

From TheFederalist  “Our culture seems pretty much “to each his own” when it comes to elective bodily mutilation and the regret thereof. And there’s a lot of regret out there. According to a British poll, a whopping 65 percent of those who’ve had various cosmetic surgeries regret it. People who regret their tattoos, plastic surgery, or more extreme body modifications (here’s a sad Buzzfeed pictorial on the effects of ear gauges) can read up on the Internet and find an open array of remedies. Plastic surgeons make money both puttin’ it in and takin’ it out.

Hollywood stars can speak openly about misgivings over their boob jobs and whatnot. Regarding her lip enhancement surgery, Courtney Love said: “I just want the mouth God gave me back.”

But the difference between Love and the guy with phantom &%#@$ syndrome is that the guy isn’t allowed to talk about his regret. Not openly. The transgender lobby actively polices and suppresses discussion of sex-change regret, and claims it’s rare (no more than “5 percent.”) However, if you do decide to “de-transition” to once again identify with the sex in your DNA, talking about it will get you targeted by trans activists. So it’s a challenge to understand the scope of regret for sex change surgery. It’s out there, but…”

“Finch went on to sue the Australian gender identity clinic at Melbourne’s Monash Medical Center for misdiagnosis. He also was involved in starting an outreach to others called “Gender Menders.” The reaction from the transgender community was fast, furious, and abusive, particularly in the Susans.org discussion forum as described in Sheila Jeffrey’s book, “Gender Hurts.”

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News/Politics 11-5-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. Ride the Wave.

From TheAP  ” Riding a powerful wave of voter discontent, resurgent Republicans captured control of the Senate and tightened their grip on the House Tuesday night in elections certain to complicate President Barack Obama’s final two years in office.

Republican Mitch McConnell led the way to a new Senate majority, dispatching Democratic challenger Alison Lundergan Grimes in Kentucky after a $78 million campaign of unrelieved negativity. Voters are “hungry for new leadership. They want a reason to be hopeful,” said the man now in line to become majority leader and set the Senate agenda.

Two-term incumbent Mark Pryor of Arkansas was the first Democrat to fall, defeated by freshman Rep. Tom Cotton. Sen. Mark Udall of Colorado was next, defeated by Rep. Cory Gardner. Sen. Kay Hagan also lost, in North Carolina, to Thom Tillis, the speaker of the state House.

Republicans also picked up seats in Iowa, West Virginia, South Dakota and Montana, all states where Democrats retired. They had needed a net gain of six seats to end a Democratic majority in place since 2006.

In the House, with dozens of races uncalled, Republicans had picked up 11 seats that had been in Democratic hands, and given up only one.”

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2. I’m kind of glad she won because she has some explaining to do.

From FoxNews  “Democratic New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen was looped in on a plan with Lois Lerner and President Barack Obama’s political appointee at the IRS to lead a program of harassment against conservative nonprofit groups during the 2012 election, according to letters exclusively obtained by The Daily Caller.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) did not want to publicly release 2012 correspondences exchanged between the IRS and Jeanne Shaheen at her personal Washington office: the agency delayed releasing the information to a major conservative super PAC multiple times, even threatening to see the super PAC in court, according to emails.

But the letter in question comes out now, on the eve of Jeanne Shaheen’s bid for re-election to the United States Senate.

“The IRS is aware of the current public interest in this issue,” IRS chief counsel William J. Wilkins, a White House visitor described by insiders as “The President’s Man at the IRS,” personally wrote in a hand-stamped memo to “Senator Shaheen” on official Department of the Treasury letterhead on April 25, 2012.”

This proves that it was a lie that this was just rogue agents in Cincinnati. Democrats and the White House orchestrated it.

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3. And in other election eve/night news dumps….

From NationalReview  “Justice Department officials provided House investigators with thousands of documents related to Operation Fast and Furious that President Obama had previously claimed were exempt from congressional review.

In an “election eve dump,” as House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chairman Darrell Issa (R., Calif.) put it, DOJ handed over 64,280 pages of documents, a release that is still only a partial fulfillment of the committee’s request.

“This production is nonetheless a victory for the legislative branch, a victory for transparency, and a victory for efforts to check Executive Branch power,” Issa said of the release.”

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4. Now maybe some of those House passed bills will see the light of day in the Senate. Harry being bounced is an extra bonus.

From Politico  “Chuck Todd seems to believe that Harry Reid’s days as the top Senate Democrat are through.

“I don’t think — I will be surprised if Democrats keep Harry Reid,” Todd, the moderator of NBC’s “Meet The Press,” said late Tuesday night. “I think this is going to be an open question inside the Senate Democratic Caucus.”

Todd’s remark, made during a late night NBC News livestream, was among the boldest calls made by a member of the media on Tuesday, and certainly the most dire for the current Majority Leader. It’s not an unfair projection, either. As Nevada’s Jon Ralson recently reported, Reid’s “vaunted political machine” failed to drive Democrats to the polls this year, and Reid’s poor Senate stewardship has “induced senators and candidates he has helped to muse openly about not voting for him as leader.”

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News/Politics 8-20-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. A Grotesque Pantomime of Repression and Redemption

From CityJournal  “The American understanding of riots and racial violence was shaped a half-century ago, during the insurrections of the 1960s. To judge by the responses to the current rioting in Ferguson, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis, little has changed since then. After riots have wrought their physical and psychic damage, some invariably declare that the unrest was constructive. Patricia Bynes, a Democratic committeewoman for Ferguson, rationalized that the events in Ferguson would benefit the entire metropolitan area because, she said, “St. Louis never has had its true race moment, where they had to confront this.” She was topped by Missouri Highway Patrol captain Ron Johnson, who has been leading the police response in Ferguson. Speaking to a unity rally at a local church, Johnson suggested that, somehow, Brown’s death was “going to make it better for our sons to be better black men.” One rioter, who wouldn’t give his name, admitted that “If it wasn’t for the looting, we wouldn’t get the attention.” The virtue of disruption, academics and observers argue, is that it gives African-Americans a crisis with which to bargain. But after 50 years, what has this bargain achieved, except to cultivate a community that excels in resentment?

It’s not just African-Americans who are stuck in the sixties. Reporters are still seeking out the Kerner Commission’s white racists, who are ultimately to blame for all racial problems. Historians and sociologists are offering structural explanations for the violence; whites in general, and small businesses in particular, have little to say but simply flee to safer climes. In Ferguson, after a week of unrest that included looting and rioting, we know very little about the incident that resulted in Michael Brown’s death, despite the release of the first pathology report. The officer involved is in seclusion and has given no public statements. The Grand Jury, should one be convened, will likely have only a vague picture of what happened.”

“In Ferguson, the media’s preferred narrative—a “gentle giant” of a young black man gunned down for no reason by a racist cop—was short-circuited by a videotape, taken minutes before his death, depicting Michael Brown strong-arming a diminutive store clerk who’d caught him stealing a box of cigarillos. Deflated, CNN’s Wolf Blitzer described the video as a “smear.” Does he think the tape should have been suppressed? His CNN colleague Jake Tapper, just back from apologizing for Hamas in Gaza and justifiably angered by the misuse of military equipment to intimidate suburban civilians, subjected the state’s Democratic governor, Jay Nixon, to a vigorous grilling. Tapper suggested that Nixon had some atoning to do for his supposedly racist past before he could be relied on to take action in Ferguson. If only Tapper had been so hard-edged with Hamas.”

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2. Who are the agitators? And why isn’t this guy under arrest?

From WeaselZippers  “We’ve seen all manner of outside agitators at work seeking to use Ferguson for their own ends. Perhaps the worst of the lot are the Revolutionary Communist Party, who are actively ginning up the violence.

The white man in the middle inciting the crowd with the bull horn is Gregory Lee Johnson, a long term member of the Revolutionary Communist Party. The RCP has “Clubs” in various cities.”

“Antonio French, who tweeted the picture, is an alderman who has been tweeting coverage of the events in Ferguson. French claims Johnson was the instigator of the action. Other tweets id him as encouraging molotov cocktails, one even says Johnson had a grenade. Notice in the first video how he was within a few steps of police, including Captain Ron Johnson.

Gregory Johnson was infamously involved in the flag desecration case that ruled burning the American flag was protected speech. He was described by another activist as an “obnoxious young transplanted New Yorker” who would show up at “every local demonstration with a bloody, severed pig’s head (tendrils still trailing along) that he’d drag along on a leash and collar while shouting anti-imperialist slogans; the pig, of course, was the United States.” Truly a lovely human being.”

CONTEN WARNING!! for language in the video.

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3. Well, you know what they say about payback….

From HotAir  “Well, who could blame them? After Harry Reid used the Senate floor for weeks to demagogue the owners of Koch Industries for their legal and instructive engagement in the political process, he had to be expecting a little pushback. The Kochs don’t do anything small, however, and Politico’s Ken Vogel and Burgess Everett report that they are laying the foundation for a two-year effort to send the Senate Majority Leader into a much-deserved political oblivion:

Harry Reid’s reelection is more than two years off, but the Koch brothers’ political machine is already methodically laying the groundwork that will be used to try to take him out.

The efforts in recent months have been largely subterranean, but they are unmistakable. A handful of nonprofit groups in the vast political network helmed by allies of the conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch have established or expanded permanent ground operations in Reid’s backyard. Focused on wooing key demographics like Latinos and veterans, they’ve also paid for ads assailing the Senate Democratic leader. …

As Reid last week ambled from an SUV to a side entrance of an MGM Grand here for a speech to the supportive United Steelworkers International Convention, he told POLITICO he wasn’t worried about the Koch forces’ buildup in his backyard. “I’ve always been targeted. … That’s not news,” he said, playfully dismissing a question about whether there was a personal element to the Koch effort. “I don’t see that they have any reason to come after me. Why would they?”

Ummmmm….. maybe because you abused your position of authority to bash them on the floor of the Senate on a daily basis. Ring a bell Harry?

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4. Making the best of it.

From MSNNews  “Republican Texas Gov. Rick Perry is pressing forward after a criminal indictment with a smiling mug shot and an ice cream run.

The potential 2016 presidential candidate will now lean on his high-powered legal team to try to quickly extinguish two felony charges. Perry was booked and fingerprinted Tuesday at the same Travis County courthouse where a grand jury indicted him last week.

The longest-serving governor in Texas history has dismissed the case as a political ploy. He’s planning to maintain a busy travel schedule of courting GOP voters, and even splurged for a vanilla ice cream cone after being booked.”

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5. Oh boy…. They must be scraping the bottom of the new exhibit idea barrel. 🙄

From CNSNews   “Hundreds of photographs, papers and historical objects documenting the history of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people are being added to the Smithsonian Institution’s collection Tuesday, including items from the popular TV show “Will and Grace.”

Show creators David Kohan and Max Mutchnick along with NBC are donating objects to the National Museum of American History. The collection includes original scripts, casting ideas, political memorabilia surrounding the show and the series finale. The network agreed to donate props, including a pill bottle and flask, a sign from “Grace Adler Interior Design” and Will Truman’s framed college diploma.

Kohan told The Associated Press that the Smithsonian’s interest in the show featuring gay principal characters was a validation they never dreamed about when the sitcom began airing in 1998. “Will and Grace” ran through May 2006 depicting four friends both gay and straight, eventually ending with the main characters coupled off with children.”

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News/Politics 6-24-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. What Congress can do about Obama’s constant re-writing of laws.

From TheNYPost  “Regarding immigration, health care, welfare, education, drug policy and more, Obama has suspended, waived and rewritten laws, including the Affordable Care Act.

That law required the employer mandate to begin this year. But Obama wrote a new law, giving to certain-sized companies a delay until 2016, and stipulating that other employers must certify they will not drop employees to avoid the mandate. Doing so would trigger criminal perjury charges; so, he created a new crime, that of adopting a business practice he opposes.

Presidents must exercise some discretion in interpreting laws, must have some latitude in allocating finite resources to the enforcement of laws and must have some freedom to act in the absence of law.

Obama, however, has perpetrated more than 40 suspensions of laws. Were presidents the sole judges of the limits of their latitude, they would effectively have plenary power to vitiate the separation of powers, the Founders’ bulwark against despotism.”

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2. The man who broke the Middle East.

From PoliticoMag  “There’s always Tunisia. Amid the smoking ruins of the Middle East, there is that one encouraging success story. But unfortunately for the Obama narratives, the president had about as much as to do with Tunisia’s turn toward democracy as he did with the World Cup rankings. Where administration policy has had an impact, the story is one of failure and danger.

The Middle East that Obama inherited in 2009 was largely at peace, for the surge in Iraq had beaten down the al Qaeda-linked groups. U.S. relations with traditional allies in the Gulf, Jordan, Israel and Egypt were very good. Iran was contained, its Revolutionary Guard forces at home. Today, terrorism has metastasized in Syria and Iraq, Jordan is at risk, the humanitarian toll is staggering, terrorist groups are growing fast and relations with U.S. allies are strained.

How did it happen? Begin with hubris: The new president told the world, in his Cairo speech in June 2009, that he had special expertise in understanding the entire world of Islam—knowledge “rooted in my own experience” because “I have known Islam on three continents before coming to the region where it was first revealed.” But President Obama wasn’t speaking that day in an imaginary location called “the world of Islam;” he was in Cairo, in the Arab Middle East, in a place where nothing counted more than power. “As a boy,” Obama told his listeners, “I spent several years in Indonesia and heard the call of the azaan at the break of dawn and the fall of dusk.” Nice touch, but Arab rulers were more interested in knowing whether as a man he heard the approaching sound of gunfire, saw the growing threat of al Qaeda from the Maghreb to the Arabian Peninsula, and understood the ambitions of the ayatollahs as Iran moved closer and closer to a bomb.

Obama began with the view that there was no issue in the Middle East more central than the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Five years later he has lost the confidence of both Israeli and Palestinian leaders, and watched his second secretary of state squander endless efforts in a doomed quest for a comprehensive peace. Obama embittered relations with America’s closest ally in the region and achieved nothing whatsoever in the “peace process.” The end result in the summer of 2014 is to see the Palestinian Authority turn to a deal with Hamas for new elections that—if they are held, which admittedly is unlikely—would usher the terrorist group into a power-sharing deal. This is not progress.”

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3. Once again liberals resort to fuzzy math and falsified data to push their agenda.

From TheTelegraph  “When future generations try to understand how the world got carried away around the end of the 20th century by the panic over global warming, few things will amaze them more than the part played in stoking up the scare by the fiddling of official temperature data. There was already much evidence of this seven years ago, when I was writing my history of the scare, The Real Global Warming Disaster. But now another damning example has been uncovered by Steven Goddard’s US blog Real Science, showing how shamelessly manipulated has been one of the world’s most influential climate records, the graph of US surface temperature records published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Goddard shows how, in recent years, NOAA’s US Historical Climatology Network (USHCN) has been “adjusting” its record by replacing real temperatures with data “fabricated” by computer models. The effect of this has been to downgrade earlier temperatures and to exaggerate those from recent decades, to give the impression that the Earth has been warming up much more than is justified by the actual data. In several posts headed “Data tampering at USHCN/GISS”, Goddard compares the currently published temperature graphs with those based only on temperatures measured at the time. These show that the US has actually been cooling since the Thirties, the hottest decade on record; whereas the latest graph, nearly half of it based on “fabricated” data, shows it to have been warming at a rate equivalent to more than 3 degrees centigrade per century.”

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4. Keep in mind what a hypocrite Harry is next time you hear him bashing the Koch brothers. If he’s so worried about billionaires buying elections, perhaps he should look in his own party as well.

From HotAir  “If you think that only Republicans have deep-pocket donors for PACS, your name is increasingly likely to be Harry Reid. Everyone else seems to have figured out that Tom Steyer, George Soros, and plenty of other One Percenters cough up big bucks for progressive candidates and causes, just as the Koch Brothers do for libertarian and free-market causes. Last week, Yahoo’s Matt Bai made it explicit, looking at the inner workings and financing of the Democracy Alliance and its “superrich Democrats.” Today, Politico’s Ken Vogel catches up:

Picture this: millionaires and billionaires gathering under tight security in fancy hotels with powerful politicians and operatives to plot how their network of secret-money groups can engineer a permanent realignment of American politics.

Only, it’s not the Koch brothers. It’s the liberal Democracy Alliance.

The 21 groups at the core of the Democracy Alliance’s portfolio intend to spend $374 million during the midterm election cycle — including nearly $200 million this year — to boost liberal candidates and causes in 2014 and beyond, according to internal documents obtained by POLITICO.

Vogel emphasizes throughout the piece that the Koch Brothers are in a class by themselves when it comes to fundraising, but that’s only because they’re more adept at it. Progressives pillory the Kochs for their use of money in politics and its supposedly corrupting influence, but Vogel’s report shows that progressives are perhaps more adept at corruption and influence-peddling:”

This story is older, but it fits in nicely for exposing the hypocrisy from Reid and Democrats. They only have a problem with it when the money goes to their political enemies. When it fills Democrat coffers, they’re fine with it.

From TheFreeBeacon  “The Democracy Alliance takes pains to ensure that its work disbursing millions of dollars to top left-wing organizations remains secretive and free from public scrutiny. But a document left on the floor of the group’s recent gathering reveals for the first time the names of a number of individuals involved in the effort.

It lists new Democracy Alliance “partners,” individuals who every year must pay $30,000 in dues and contribute at least $200,000 to the groups that DA supports. It also reveals names of DA “advisers,” foundation participants, and individuals getting a “sneak peek” at the group’s activities. Among its new partners are top labor union bosses, financial and business leaders, and heirs to billion-dollar fortunes who have made names for themselves as high-dollar Democratic donors.”

“The Democracy Alliance does not actually accept donations. Instead, it solicits contributions from left-wing millionaires and billionaires, and serves as a “pass through” between those donors and top liberal advocacy groups, including the Center for American Progress, Media Matters for America, and Democratic Super PAC Priorities USA.

The group emphasizes secrecy in all of its operations, even as its members and the DA “favored organizations” to which they donate decry the role of “dark money” in American politics. DA does not disclose details of any of the transactions it facilitates, and its members and donation recipients are prohibited from speaking publicly about the organization and its operations.”

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5. I love this guy.

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News/Politics 6-4-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. The more we know, the worse it gets….

From CNN  “Former Army Sgt. Evan Buetow was the team leader with Bowe Bergdahl the night Bergdahl disappeared.

“Bergdahl is a deserter, and he’s not a hero,” says Buetow. “He needs to answer for what he did.”

Within days of his disappearance, says Buetow, teams monitoring radio chatter and cell phone communications intercepted an alarming message: The American is in Yahya Khel (a village two miles away). He’s looking for someone who speaks English so he can talk to the Taliban.

“I heard it straight from the interpreter’s lips as he heard it over the radio,” said Buetow. “There’s a lot more to this story than a soldier walking away.”

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2. The President says Congress was briefed. The facts say otherwise.

From Politico  “House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers on Tuesday said that Congress hadn’t heard from the Obama administration since 2011 on the possibility of a prisoner swap with the Taliban.

The Michigan Republican also cast doubt on the administration’s claims that it had to act due to Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl’s health, saying, “Their public rhetoric does not match the facts on the ground.”

President Barack Obama, speaking in Poland earlier Tuesday morning, said administration officials “have consulted with Congress for quite some time” about the possibility of a prisoner exchange.

But Rogers, appearing on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” said Congress hadn’t heard anything from the White House in years and that the administration only informed them of the deal after it had already taken place.”

Harry Reid says he was told, but he can’t remember when exactly. Sure Harry. 🙄

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3. And since I mentioned Reid….

From TheWashingtonTimes   “A leader of the Tea Party Patriots filed an ethics complaint Monday against Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for “abuse of political power” in his crusade against Republican mega-donors Charles and David Koch.

“It’s been generations since a member of the Senate has abused the power of his office to attack private citizens the way Harry Reid has sought to vilify Charles and David Koch,” said Tea Party Patriots co-founder Jenny Beth Martin.

Mr. Reid, Nevada Democrat, has regularly spoke on the Senate floor about the need to rein in spending by the Koch brothers, which he says has undermined the democratic process in America. Ms. Martin accused Mr. Reid of “abusing his office in pursuit of naked political purposes.”

“Reid’s repeated and mean-spirited attacks violate federal laws and Senate rules against using taxpayer-funded resources for partisan politics and he knows it, yet he repeatedly takes to the floor of the Senate and the media to attack those with whom he disagrees — and then turns around and devotes the Senate floor to a ‘talk-a-thon’ on a major donor’s key issue of climate change,” she said.”

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4. This is fighting terrorism Obama style. First you release 5 of the worst international terrorists out there, then you pursue made up terrorists at home.

From Yahoo  “The United States is reviving a law enforcement group to investigate those it designates as domestic terrorists, the Department of Justice announced Tuesday.

Following hate-motivated shootings such as the one at a Jewish Community Center in Kansas City, Missouri in April, federal prosecutors have pressed the need to coordinate intelligence about such criminals on a national level, Justice Department officials said.

The Department of Justice will reconstitute a task force that was originally formed after the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing but dissolved after the Sept. 11, 2001 hijacked plane attacks as law enforcement agencies focused on threats from militants abroad.

On Tuesday, Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement that the United States remains concerned about threats from Islamic extremists, but the group will focus on other motives for attacks within U.S. borders.”

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5. This one will be interesting to watch for anyone who works in a state they don’t live in.

From HotAir  “A rather wonky interstate commerce case has been granted a writ of certiorari and will be heard by the Supreme Court during the fall session. The reason this particular petition should interest you is that it has the potential to affect so many people, specifically those who derive income from any sources outside the state where they live. As explained in this Forbes article, the fundamental question being put to the court is as follows:

Does the United States Constitution prohibit a state from taxing all the income of its residents — wherever earned — by mandating a credit for taxes paid on income earned in other states?

In this case, a married couple, the Wynnes, reported taxable net income of approximately $2.7 million. More than half of that amount represented a share of earnings in an S corporation with operations in several states. The Wynnes claimed a credit on their Maryland tax returns for taxes paid to 39 other states but not for any county or local government taxes. The State of Maryland denied the credits and issued a notice of deficiency and the Wynnes appealed. At a hearing, the assessment was affirmed.”

“So the Wynnes lost the first two rounds in court, even though they were apparently taxed by the states where the income was generated and then taxed again in Maryland But they then amended their original request, asking the courts to answer the question, “whether a state had the unconditional right to tax all income based on residency.”

After the question was changed, the courts have now sided with the Wynnes’.

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News/Politics 5-28-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. Not surprising. This has always been part of the liberal playbook/plan. This way it’s easy to override the will of the people without suffering for it at the polls.

From FoxNews  “State-approved bans on same-sex marriage have been falling at a rapid clip since the Supreme Court struck down part of the Defense of Marriage Act last year. 

The changes — gay couples can now wed in 19 states and the District of Columbia — reflect shifting social and political attitudes toward same-sex marriage. But they also reflect, in several cases, the opinions of Democrat-appointed judges who single-handedly struck down state-approved bans.   

In a testament to the influence of judicial appointments, most of the judges responsible for the decisions over the past year were appointed by either President Obama or, two decades ago, Bill Clinton.”

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2. It’s also the reason for this.

From TheHill  “The federal judiciary has swung to the left as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has confirmed President Obama’s judicial nominees at a torrid pace in recent weeks.

Reid has put his foot on the gas to ensure that Obama will leave his imprint on the courts even if Democrats lose control of the Senate in November, which some political handicappers say is probable.”

“At the start of Obama’s first term, 10 of the nation’s 13 circuit courts had a majority of judges appointed by Republican presidents and only one, the 9th Circuit, which has jurisdiction over California, had a majority of Democratic appointees. The 2nd and 3rd circuits were evenly split.

Currently, nine circuit courts have a majority of Democratic-appointed judges while only four have a majority of Republican picks. The data was compiled by the Alliance for Justice, a group that tracks the third branch.”

It will be years before they’re finished with their activism, and Obama’s true legacy is known. It won’t be pretty.

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3. Interesting question, and yes, they clearly are. Just ask the guys from Duck Dynasty, the Clippers owner, Mozilla’s former CEO, Paula Dean, those 2 Christian brothers with the TV show, etc., etc., etc……

From TheDailyCaller/ViaYahoo  “Last week, Michelle Obama made headlines when she exhorted graduating high schoolers in a commencement address to monitor their families for politically incorrect thoughts and behaviors.

To one journalist, this was more than an off-hand comment made by the first lady. In the opinion of Cheryl Chumley, a reporter for The Washington Times and the author of “Police State USA,” Michelle Obama’s remark reflects a growing trend in America to target and attack individuals for committing “thought crime.”

“Michelle Obama’s push for kids around the nation to monitor their family members for perceived racist comments is just another way the government seeks to inject itself into an area it doesn’t really belong — the American home,” Chumley told The Daily Caller Monday.

“Having the first lady wag her finger at us and send America’s youth on some sort of quest to scour the homes and backyards of our nation’s families for any mention of a racist joke, slur or slight is nanny-governance run amok — something that belongs in a George Orwell novel, not the White House, Chumley said.”

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4. This could get really interesting. This was the problem many had with the Patriot Act. They predicted that sooner or later it would be used against the population, instead of to protect them. The critics had that part right.

My question though, and I hope it’s answered, is this. Did they use this to target conservatives and their political enemies as I suspect they did? After all, it seems every other agency has, so why not this one too?

From RealClearPolitics  “The man who helped bring about the most significant leak in American intelligence history is to reveal names of US citizens targeted by their own government in what he promises will be the “biggest” revelation from nearly 2m classified files.

Glenn Greenwald, the journalist who received the trove of documents from Edward Snowden, a former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor, told The Sunday Times that Snowden’s legacy would be “shaped in large part” by this “finishing piece” still to come.

“One of the big questions when it comes to domestic spying is, ‘Who have been the NSA’s specific targets?’,” he said. “Are they political critics and dissidents and activists? Are they genuinely people we’d regard as terrorists?

What are the metrics and calculations that go into choosing those targets and what is done with the surveillance that is conducted? Those are the kinds of questions that I want to still answer.”

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5. Hospitals are hiking costs on the poor thanks to ObamaCare.

From HotAir  “There are multiple levels of irony in this New York Times report on the impact of ObamaCare on poor patients in the nation’s hospitals. Congress demanded the power to revamp the health-insurance industry and expand Medicaid in order to help the poor get better medical care for less money. In reality, the opposite appears to be happening, as hospitals attempt to force the poor into ObamaCare:

Hospital systems around the country have started scaling back financial assistance for lower- and middle-income people without health insurance, hoping to push them into signing up for coverage through the new online marketplaces created under the Affordable Care Act.

The trend is troubling to advocates for the uninsured, who say raising fees will inevitably cause some to skip care rather than buy insurance that they consider unaffordable. Though the number of hospitals tightening access to free or discounted care appears limited so far, many say they are considering doing so, and experts predict that stricter policies will become increasingly common.

Why did this unintended consequence occur? In part, because ObamaCare penalizes hospitals for extending charitable assistance:”

 Add this to the long list of lies and expired promises from Obama and Democrats.

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News/Politics 5-20-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. System wide.

From HotAir  “Add yet another VA facility to the deadly wait-list fraud scandal. The Daily Beast heard from a whistleblower in the Albuquerque VA organization that the same kind of wait-list fraud alleged at seven other facilities occurs in New Mexico as well. Veterans have to wait months to get medical attention, and any investigation may already be too late for some of them:

Add Albuquerque, New Mexico’s to the growing list of VA hospitals accused of keeping secret waiting lists to hide delays for veterans seeking medical care. And it may already be too late to get to the truth and find out what harm, if any, was done to veterans there—VA officials are already destroying records to cover their tracks, a whistleblower inside the hospital tells The Daily Beast. …

“The ‘secret wait list’ for patient appointments is being either moved or was destroyed after what happened in Phoenix,” according to a doctor who works at the Albuquerque VA hospital and spoke exclusively with The Daily Beast. “Right now,” the doctor said, “there is an eight-month waiting list for patients to get ultrasounds of their hearts. Some patients have died before they got their studies. It is unknown why they died, some for cardiac reasons, some for other reasons.”

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2. And the number of victims continues to climb as well.

From StarsAndStripes  “As controversy swirls around the Veterans Administration over deaths caused by delayed care, an investigation by the Dayton Daily News found that the VA settled many cases that appear to be related to delays in treatment.

A database of paid claims by the VA since 2001 includes 167 in which the words “delay in treatment” is used in the description. The VA paid out a total of $36.4 million to settle those claims, either voluntarily or as part of a court action.

The VA has admitted that 23 people have died because of delayed care, and is facing accusations that hospital administrators are gaming the system to conceal wait times, including using a “secret list” at the VA in Phoenix.”

“The number of dead veterans could total more than 1,100 from 2001 through the first half of 2013 — including 16 at the Dayton VA Medical Center and 11 at the Cincinnati VA — according to records obtained via Freedom of Information Act. These are instances in which the family of a veteran claimed that a death occurred after something went awry and the VA paid money to resolve the issue.”

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3. What does this teach us?

From NationalReview  “If our government has any obligation to fulfill its many promises on health care, it should be first and foremost to the men and women who served in our armed forces. But the scandal over hidden waiting lists at a growing number of veterans’ hospitals (seven so far) — wherein dozens of veterans died while waiting months for vital treatment, and the VA covered up the lengthy wait times — should make everyone wonder whether we can place our trust in a government-managed health-care system. The Dayton Daily News reported on Sunday that its investigation of a database of claims paid by the Department of Veterans Affairs shows that the words “delay in treatment” were used 167 times. The VA paid out a total of $36.4 million to settle the claims. There could well be many more cases of “death by delay” at the VA that never came to light.

Are there lessons in the VA scandal for the rest of us if Obamacare survives and even expands? You betcha. The first lesson is that as government expands taxpayer subsidies for health care, the demand will always outstrip supply.”

“There’s a lot to be mad about at the Department of Veterans Affairs. Michael Tanner of the Cato Institute notes that more than 344,000 claims for veterans’ care are backed up and waiting to be processed. It takes an average of 160 days for a veteran to be approved for health benefits, and the VA itself estimates that is has an error rate of at least 9 percent in processing claims. According to VA figures for 2012, as reported by the Washington Post, “a veteran who takes an appeal through all available administrative steps faces an average wait of 1,598 days.” That’s more than four years of waiting.

Obamacare will dramatically expand access to the health-care system at the same time that many surveys show doctors are likely to retire or cut back their hours. It is almost inevitable that we’ll see more waiting-list scandals as the need to ration care grows.”

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4. Gee Harry, don’t you think this makes you a hypocrite after all your ranting on the Koch Bros.?

From TheNYTimes  “Tom Steyer, the billionaire climate activist, recently contributed $5 million to a “super PAC” dedicated to keeping Democrats in control of the United States Senate, cementing his alliance with the party as the 2014 campaign swings into high gear.

Mr. Steyer, a retired hedge fund manager, has used some of his fortune in an effort to make climate change a more potent political issue in pivotal states like Florida, Iowa and Virginia. He is planning to raise $100 million to run campaigns on climate issues, including efforts to persuade lawmakers and the Obama administration to block the proposed Keystone XL pipeline.

The contribution, confirmed by a Steyer spokesman and the super PAC, the Senate Majority PAC, makes Mr. Steyer the single largest contributor to the group this year as Democratic donors rush to provide funds to left-leaning groups. Republicans have relied far more heavily on political nonprofit groups that do not disclose their donors.

“Our candidates have faced a torrent of outside money of unprecedented scale,” Karyn Brockman, the Senate Majority PAC’s finance director, said in a statement. “As the leading Democratic super PAC, and the only one dedicated to keeping the Senate, we have had record-setting support, but we realize that we must continue to fight back.”

And another 40 million from Soros’ group as well. Yep, the Kochs’ are the problem. 🙄

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5. Back door gun control.

From TheWashingtonTimes  “Gun retailers say the Obama administration is trying to put them out of business with regulations and investigations that bypass Congress and choke off their lines of credit, freeze their assets and prohibit online sales.

Since 2011, regulators have increased scrutiny on banks’ customers. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. in 2011 urged banks to better manage the risks of their merchant customers who employ payment processors, such as PayPal, for credit card transactions. The FDIC listed gun retailers as “high risk” along with porn stores and drug paraphernalia shops.

Meanwhile, the Justice Department has launched Operation Choke Point, a credit card fraud probe focusing on banks and payment processors. The threat of enforcement has prompted some banks to cut ties with online gun retailers, even if those companies have valid licenses and good credit histories.

“This administration has very clearly told the banking industry which customers they feel represent ‘reputational risk’ to do business with,” said Peter Weinstock, a lawyer at Hunton & Williams LLP. “So financial institutions are reacting to this extraordinary enforcement arsenal by being ultra-conservative in who they do business with: Any companies that engage in any margin of risk as defined by this administration are being dropped.””

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News/Politics 4-28-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. Pass the popcorn.

From HuffPost  “The Louisiana Republican Party filed a complaint with the Senate Ethics Committee on Wednesday, accusing Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) of improperly using his official Senate website and Twitter account for partisan attacks on billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch.

“Americans are fed up with the type of hyper-partisan campaigning, and it is appalling that Harry Reid would use taxpayer resources to breach Senate ethics rules and pursue this kind of activity in his official capacity as Senate Majority Leader,” Jason Dore, Louisiana GOP executive director, said in press release Wednesday.

Reid has criticized the Koch brothers on the Senate floor several times over the last few months, calling them “un-American” for spending millions of dollars on ads attacking vulnerable Senate Democrats for their support of the Affordable Care Act.

Chairman of the Louisiana Republican Party Roger Villere, the author of the ethics complaint, cited an April 9 post on Reid’s Senate website titled “The Facts About the Koch Brothers” — which outlined the brothers’ opposition to Social Security, the minimum wage and equal pay — as evidence of the majority leader’s misconduct.”

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2. This seems unethical too. Chasing out an American rancher to make way for Chinese solar panels, and the financial benefit of his family members. Dirty Harry is a name that’s fitting.

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3. The Cold War is heating up again.

From TheDailyBeast  “Since the invasion of Crimea, President Vladimir Putin and President Barack Obama have had regular phone calls in an often half-hearted attempt to deescalate the ongoing crisis inside Ukraine. But as the U.S. and EU prepare to unveil new sanctions against Russia, Putin has decided the interactions should stop. The Kremlin has ended high-level contact with the Obama administration, according to diplomatic officials and sources close to the Russian leadership. The move signals an end to the diplomacy, for now.”

“Diplomatic sources close to the process confirmed that Putin is not interested in speaking with Obama again in the current environment. The two leaders might talk again in the future but neither side is reaching out for direct interaction, as they had been doing since the Ukraine crisis began. The failure of the agreement struck last week in Geneva between the contact group of the U.S., EU, Russia, and Ukraine has made further direct Washington-Moscow interactions moot.”

“Other top U.S. officials are also now out of direct contact with their Russian interlocutors. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is also getting the cold shoulder from his Russian counterpart Sergey Shoygu. Pentagon officials have reached out to Russia on Mr. Hagel’s behalf within the past 24 hours but have not gotten any response, according to Pentagon Spokesman Army Col. Steve Warren.”

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4. Nothing is free. It might seem to be for some, but others are paying their bills for them.

From TheDailyCaller  “Taxpayers will pay over $53,000 per each person newly insured under Obamacare, according to a Daily Caller News Foundation analysis of the Congressional Budget Office data.

Last week’s highly debated CBO report found that Obamacare will cost slightly less than expected over the next decade. The budget office shifted its assessment of the health care law due to unexpectedly low premiums, which it attributed not to lowered costs but on “less attractive” health insurance offerings than it assumed would be available. 

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal fiscal policy group, released its own analysis of the CBO findings Tuesday, concluding that the CBO had also cut the estimated cost of the Medicaid expansion on state budgets.

The CBO predicts that on average, federal taxpayers will now pay over 95 percent of the total cost of the Medicaid expansion. Fewer than expected Americans who were already eligible for traditional state Medicaid programs signed up for coverage while programs received free publicity due to the furor over the Medicaid expansion, leading to a lowered estimates of the Medicaid costs states will incur.”

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