Iran

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News/Politics 11-27-13

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. Like a laser people! Again…

From TheHill  “The White House, for at least the fifth time this year, is seeking to pivot to the economy, this time in a bid to change the subject from the disastrous rollout of ObamaCare.

It’s a common play for the White House, which frequently seeks to refocus attention on its jobs and infrastructure agenda when facing political crises.

The move is so familiar that NBC White House correspondent Chuck Todd has dubbed it the “déjà pivot.”

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2. Senator Sessions has taken the Obama admin to task for their lack of border enforcement and disregard for US laws. He also blasted “big business” for attempting to put their monetary interests ahead of what’s best for the country.

From TheDailyCaller  “Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions wants wealthy CEOs to butt out  of immigration policy.

“America is not an oligarchy… A Republic must answer to the people,” Sessions  said today, in a direct response to President Barack Obama’s latest effort to  get wealthy California CEOs to increase their support for his unpopular push for  increased immigration.

“Congressional leaders must forcefully reject the notion, evidently accepted  by the president, that a small cadre of CEOs can tailor the nation’s entire  immigration policy to suit their narrow interests,” Sessions declared in a  populist statement that contradicts the media’s image of Republican coziness  with CEOs.”

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3. Meanwhile our border agents who aren’t allowed to do their jobs are attacked by those who seem to think they are entitled to break our laws and just walk right in. I wonder where they got that idea? 🙄 

From NBCSanDiego  “A crowd of more than 100 people pelted Border Patrol agents  with rocks and bottles as they tried to cross into the U.S. illegally,  according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

The incident happened Sunday in the Tijuana River channel,  near the San Ysidro Port of Entry.

According to CBP, a Border Patrol agent ordered the Mexican  nationals to stop, but they continued walking into the U.S.”

““They had their phones out so this group was out to spark an incident. That’s  what they wanted to do, “ Border Patrol Union representative Gabriel Pacheco  said.”

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4. The wife of the American pastor held hostage in Iran is asking why the Obama admin didn’t push for her husband’s release while “negotiating” with them.

From FoxNews  “The wife of imprisoned American pastor Saeed Abedini says she and her family are devastated after learning that the Obama administration did not try to secure the release of her husband as part of the newly signed deal on Iran’s nuclear program. 

 Saeed Abedini, an American citizen, has been imprisoned in Iran for more than a year for practicing Christianity. The talks over Iran’s nuclear program were seen by his family and those representing them as one of the most promising avenues yet for securing his release. 

But the White House confirmed over the weekend that Abedini’s status was not on the table during those talks. “

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5. Oh yeah, about that so-called “deal”……

From FarsNews  “The Iranian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday called invalid a press release by the White House alleged to be the text of the nuclear agreement struck by Iran and the Group 5+1 (the US, Russia, China, Britain and France plus Germany) in Geneva on Sunday.

“What has been released by the website of the White House as a fact sheet is a one-sided interpretation of the agreed text in Geneva and some of the explanations and words in the sheet contradict the text of the Joint Plan of Action (the title of the Iran-powers deal), and this fact sheet has unfortunately been translated and released in the name of the Geneva agreement by certain media, which is not true,” Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marziyeh Afkham said on Tuesday.

She said that the four-page text under the name of the Joint Plan of Action (which has been released by the Iranian foreign ministry) was the result of the agreement reached during the Geneva talks and all of its sentences and words were chosen based on the considerations of all parties to the talks. In fact one of the reasons why negotiations between Iran and the G5+1 took so long pertained to the accuracy which was needed for choosing the words for the text of the agreement, Afkham said, explaining that the Iranian delegation was much rigid and laid much emphasis on the need for this accuracy.”

Amateur hour continues. 🙄

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6. It looks like someone is finally going to suffer some consequences for the Benghazi scandal that cost 4 American lives. 

Oh wait… Never mind, it’s a CBS reporter and not anyone at the White House or State Dept..

From NBCNews  “CBS correspondent Lara Logan has been ordered to take a leave of absence after an internal review found her discredited “60 Minutes” segment on the Benghazi consulate attack was poorly vetted, the network said in a memo to staff.

The network also asked Logan’s producer, Max McClellan, to take a leave of absence. CBS did not specify a length for the leaves.

“As Executive Producer, I am responsible for what gets on the air,” CBS’ Jeff Fager said in the memo. “I pride myself in catching almost everything, but this deception got through and it shouldn’t have.”

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7. More no-bid ObamaCare contracts for friends of the Obama’s.  

From CapitolCityProject  “With the roll out of Obamacare being as disastrous as possible for the Obama administration, one group was given a $1 million grant to help lead a rebranding effort with hopes of salvaging the law in the eyes of the American people.

Families USA (FUSA) — an organization that describes itself as a “national nonprofit, non-partisan organization dedicated to the achievement of high-quality, affordable health care for all Americans” — was given a $1.1 million grant by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation on October 4, 2013, to gather “success stories” of Americans dealing with Obamacare and distribute them to the media who often refer to them as an “independent” group. This is part of a greater upcoming effort to bolster the perception of the lowly health care law.

“The purpose is to bridge the information gap for people who can significantly benefit from the Affordable Care Act,” Ron Pollack, the Co-founder and Executive Director of Families USA, told TIME on October 25, 2013.

However, the organization is a far cry from “non-partisan” and is extremely close to the Obama Administration and Enroll America – the group leading the efforts to sign people up for Obamacare.”

Propaganda sure is expensive.

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8. These photo-ops to help the President sure are the “Kiss of Death” for participants healthcare plans.

Welcome to reality ladies.

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News/Politics 11-25-13

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. The President has made a deal with Iran. Israel is not pleased, and have pointed out that they are not bound by it and will do what they feel necessary.

From TheHill  “President Obama phoned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday, promising to consult with him on ongoing efforts to curb Iran’s nuclear program.

Obama told Netanyahu that he wanted to begin consultations “immediately” on Iran, after diplomats struck a temporary deal in Geneva to begin placing limits on Iran’s nuclear ambitions in exchange for sanctions relief.”

“Netanyahu blasted that accord after it was struck, calling it a “horrible mistake.” He added that Israel would not be bound by it.”

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2. Will the Senate’s use of the “nuclear option” allow Obama to stack the IPAB (death panel)?

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3. More ObamaCare lawsuits are working their way through the courts.

From TheNYDailyNews  “The Obamacare rollout has been a debacle, with delays in the implementation  of mandates, technical glitches in the exchanges, cancelled individual policies  and more.

It’s about to get worse. The federal judiciary is currently hearing four  cases challenging decisions made by the Internal Revenue Service that could soon  deliver more major blows to the Affordable Care Act.

One such decision extended subsidies provided by Obamacare for lower-income  individuals and families (those making up to four times the poverty level) to  people in the 36 states served by the federally-operated exchange,  HealthCare.gov.

But the law spells out clearly that such federal subsidies will be granted  “through an exchange established by the state” – not that they can be granted by  the federal government.”

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4. Sticker shock.

From USAToday  “Sweeping differences in health care exchange pricing among states and counties is leading to sticker shock for some middle-class consumers and others who aren’t eligible for subsidies under the Affordable Care Act.

The average prices for the most popular plans are twice as high in the most expensive states as those with the lowest average prices, according to a USA TODAY analysis of data for 34 states using the federal health insurance exchange.

PPOs, the most popular type of health care plan, carry monthly premiums that range from an average of $819 a month in the most expensive state to $437 in the least expensive. Plans on the federal and state exchanges are grouped into four categories that cover 60% to 90% of out-of-pocket costs. USA TODAY looked at the pricing of PPOs and HMOs across these bronze, silver, gold and platinum categories.

The premiums for bronze-level plans are generally the least expensive, but  “the deductibles are simply not affordable,” says Laura Stack, a former financial analyst looking for full-time work and using her 401k to pay for health insurance. “Many will not be able to afford the per person deductibles before insurance begins to pay. What are you really paying for?”

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5. Next, who knew, and when did they know it?

From TheNYPost  “Let me be the first to ask: Did the White House know that employment reports were being falsified?

Last week I reported exclusively that someone at the Census Bureau’s Philadelphia region had been screwing around with employment data. And that person, after he was caught in 2010, claimed he was told to do so by a supervisor two levels up the chain of command.

On top of that, a reliable source whom I haven’t identified said the falsification of employment data by Census was widespread and ongoing, especially around the time of the 2012 election.”

“The chief of the Commerce Department usually oversees the Census, which determines how many congressional representatives and how much money each state gets for the next decade. But the Obama administration had decided — the story went — that Emanuel was a better guy for the job.”

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6. Told ya’. Now aren’t you glad the US didn’t do any more for them like the Obama admin wanted too? We shouldn’t have provided arms either, but Obama has a thing for doing that, arming people he shouldn’t. Like Fast and Furious, Egypt, and now Syria.

From TheJerusalemPost  “The six largest Islamist rebel factions in Syria declared a new Islamic Front on Thursday, forming the largest alliance of opposition fighters yet in the 2-1/2-year conflict.

Syria’s fractious rebel forces have tried many times to unify their ranks and failed. Islamist rebel commanders, in a video aired on al Jazeera, said their new union would not only seek to oust President Bashar Assad but establish an Islamic state.”

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by

News/Politics 11-9-13

What’s interesting in the news today?

Looks like we’re about to make a deal with the devil.

From TheTelegraph/UK  “America has proposed a short-term nuclear agreement with Iran  at a meeting in Geneva which would allow Tehran to continue enriching   uranium at low levels, according to an aide briefed on the talks. 

The goal is to freeze Iran’s nuclear programme for perhaps six months in order   to create a breathing space for a comprehensive agreement to be negotiated.”

“Mr Kerry will go to Geneva “in an effort to help narrow differences in   negotiations”, said a senior State Department official. 

But Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, warned on Thursday that   any deal which failed to stop Iran from enriching uranium would be a   “mistake of historic proportions”.”

And don’t think for a minute that this will stop Israel from doing what they think is necessary to protect themselves.

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Here’s something to keep in mind as the ObamaCare fiasco rolls on. Don’t forget, this is the home state of a certain community organizer turned politician. I imagine ObamaCare will operate in the same way when it comes to reigning in fraud.

From HotAir  “Remember Medicaid?  You know, the massive, costly federal healthcare program for America’s indigent?  Within the last few months, it’s been (a) exposed as an empirical failure by the most comprehensive study ever done, and (b) expanded hugely by Obamacare, natch.  Here’s how Medicaid is working in the Land of Lincoln.

The early findings of an ongoing review of the Illinois Medicaid program revealed that half the people enrolled weren’t even eligible. The state insisted it’s not that bad but Medicaid is on the federal government’s own list of programs at high risk of waste and abuse. Now, a review of the Illinois Medicaid program confirms massive waste and fraud. A review was ordered more than a year ago– because of concerns about waste and abuse. So far, the state says reviewers have examined roughly 712-thousand people enrolled in Medicaid, and found that 357-thousand, or about half of them shouldn’t have received benefits. After further review, the state decided that the percentage of people who didn’t qualify was actually about one out of four.

Not to fear, taxpayer-fleecing fraudsters, Big Labor has heroically filed a lawsuit to block the state from using private workers to purge ineligible recipients from the Medicaid rolls.  This thing may be tied up in court for awhile:”

I imagine they won’t be real concerned with making sure those getting subsidies deserve them either, and that the Medicaid fraud will grow nationwide as a result.

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Democrats are about to introduce more job-killing legislation. And everyone will pay higher prices across the board if they’re successful. Hopefully it’s DOA in the House.

From TheWashingtonExaminer  “Senate Democrats, hoping to move beyond the disastrous rollout of the new health care law, plan to pivot to legislation that would increase the federal minimum wage by nearly $3, to over $10 an hour.

Democratic lawmakers met privately Thursday to discuss proposals, including one by Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, which would raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10 per hour, a nearly 40 percent increase. It would also would tie wage levels to inflation.”

“Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., called the proposed minimum wage increase “long overdue, an important economic issue and a message to working families struggling paycheck to paycheck that we can help.”

They’ll be struggling even more when they lose their job because of this.

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Louisiana is about to crack down on folks who took advantage of the EBT system shutdown last month.

From HotAir  “Last month, a malfunction in the EBT system used by Louisiana and 16 other states led to a “no-limit” food run on several a whole lot of stores in Louisiana, with over 12,000 transactions made during the malfunction being declined for lack of funds . Those who abused the system in places like the Walmart in Many, Louisiana, which chose to not enforce the emergency $50 per account limit that was supposed to be enforced during the malfunction, thought they were in the clear after Walmart and local police decided not to pursue charges:

The Many Police Department posted this week on its Facebook page: “Apparently after reviewing surveillance tapes and interviewing witnesses, Wal-Mart has no evidence of any theft, nor any other criminal activity during the October 12th disturbance at the store. With this information, the Many Police Department has closed the investigation at this time.”

They were wrong:

The Louisiana governor’s office said Wednesday night that it would strip food stamp benefits from anyone who took advantage of an EBT card malfunction that in some cases caused an all-out shopping frenzy in some stores across the state, The Advocate reported.”

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The unemployment rate has ticked back up to 7.3%. Mostly it’s fuzzy math. Once again, another nearly million Americans dropped out of the labor force last month.

From ZeroHedge  “First, the labor force participation rate, which plunged from 63.2% to 62.8% – the lowest since 1978!

But more importantly, the number of people not in the labor force exploded by nearly 1 million, or 932,000 to be exact, in just the month of October, to a record 91.5 million Americans! This was the third highest monthly increase in people falling out of the labor force in US history. “

Carteresque no?

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And this one demonstrates the fuzzy math at play here. Last month much was made about an unexpected increase of 691,000 full-time jobs. But this month we learn that 621,000 full-time jobs were lost. BLS numbers have become a useless joke.

Also from ZeroHedge  “So much for the surge in 691,000 full-time jobs in September. One short month later, indicating just what a farce the BLS’s sampling process is, while the algo frenzy-inducing establishment survey showed a gain of 204,000 workers, the household survey had some other ideas. True, the headline household survey number rose by an almost identical 213,000 workers, however it is when trying to foot that number into the actual components, when one gets a headache. Because according to the same survey, a whopping 623,000 full-time workers (supposedly government) lost their jobs in October, nearly offsetting the entire 691,000 gain the month before which it turns out was purely for Obamacare (now hopelessly damaged) optics.”

And part-time jobs showed a loss as well.

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by

News/Politics 9-6-13

What’s interesting in the news today?

First up, an interesting read that further disapproves the assertions of Kerry and Obama.

From DallasMorningNews  “When the main Syrian opposition group speaks, it is often through a longtime U.S. resident whose ties to Islamist extremists were detailed in a 2010 Dallas Morning News report.

The Syrian-born man, Louay Safi, has made big news twice recently. Last month, at a coalition news conference in Turkey, he accused Syria’s government of using chemical weapons. A few days ago, he called President Barack Obama’s consultation with Congress about attacking Syria a “failure of leadership.”

Safi used to work occasionally on U.S. Army bases, teaching soldiers about his Islamic faith. But as we reported in 2010, he was suspended shortly after the Fort Hood massacre and subjected to a military criminal investigation.

Authorities said these actions stemmed from a complaint about the alleged terrorist connections of Safi’s main employer at the time, the Islamic Society of North America, or ISNA. Thirteen members of Congress asked the Defense Department to “stop any lecturing by Louay Safi or ISNA affiliated speakers.”

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What Kerry says also doesn’t jive with intelligence reports.

From Reuters  “Secretary of State John Kerry’s public assertions that moderate Syrian opposition groups are growing in influence appear to be at odds with estimates by U.S. and European intelligence sources and nongovernmental experts, who say Islamic extremists remain by far the fiercest and best-organized rebel elements.

At congressional hearings this week, while making the case for President Barack Obama’s plan for limited military action in Syria, Kerry asserted that the armed opposition to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad “has increasingly become more defined by its moderation, more defined by the breadth of its membership, and more defined by its adherence to some, you know, democratic process and to an all-inclusive, minority-protecting constitution.

“And the opposition is getting stronger by the day,” Kerry told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday.

U.S. and allied intelligence sources and private experts on the Syrian conflict suggest that assessment is optimistic.”

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Russia has warships heading to the area.

From YahooNews  “Three Russian warships crossed Turkey’s Bosphorus Strait Thursday en route to the eastern Mediterranean, near the Syrian coast, amid concern in the region over potential US-led strikes in response to the Damascus regime’s alleged use of chemical weapons.

The SSV-201 intelligence ship Priazovye, accompanied by the two landing ships Minsk and Novocherkassk passed through the Bosphorus known as the Istanbul strait that separates Asia from Europe, an AFP photographer reported.”

“Russian President Vladimir Putin warned on Wednesday that any US Congress approval for a military strike against Syria without UN consensus would represent an “aggression”.”

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And now Iran is making threats. They’re threatening abductions, rape, and violence against Americans, the families of US officials, as well as the Presidents daughters. Pretty disgusting.

From TheDailyCaller  “As Congress debates whether to support President Obama’s call for a limited  strike against Syria for the alleged use of chemical weapons, Iran is vowing to  back Bashar al-Assad’s regime to the hilt and threatening to unleash terrorism  should the U.S. strike.

Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s Quds Forces, Wednesday told the Assembly of Experts — the body that chooses the  supreme leader — that “[w]e will support Syria to the end.””

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This is getting out of hand. And in an ironic twist, there are reports the Senate will vote on this on 9-11.

So on the day that marks the anniversary of Al-Qaida and Bin Laden’s attack against the US, they’re gonna vote to help Al-Qaida? Wow. Talk about tone-deaf. Good thing this won’t make it past the House.

From RollCall  “Rep. John Culberson, R-Texas, told reporters Thursday that House leaders expect the Senate to vote on the Syria resolution on Sept. 11.

Reading an email off his phone from his chief of staff, Culberson indicated that Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., thinks the Senate will vote on the Syria resolution next Wednesday.

While the House may not always have the best idea of what is going on in the Senate, “Cantor expects the Senate to vote on 9/11,” Culberson said, parroting the guidance email.

While the Sept. 11 anniversary might seem like a curious day to hold the vote, Culberson thought it was fitting.

“How could it be any clearer? That’s the perfect day to do it,” Culberson said. “They need to defeat it to honor the victims of 9/11 and we will not give aid and comfort to al-Qaida and the psychopaths that carried out the 9/11 attacks.””

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And this one is just another sad result of the Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman fiasco.

From NBCNews  “Shellie Zimmerman filed divorce papers Thursday against George Zimmerman, who was acquitted of second-degree murder in the shooting death of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin, her attorney told NBC News.

“The documents have been received by the Seminole County clerks” in Florida, the lawyer, Kelly Sims, said by email, updating and confirming a tweet by George Zimmerman’s older brother, Robert:”

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