Obama

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News/Politics 9-9-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

I’m a little under the weather, so just a few from me today.

1. Sadly, it’s Mission Accomplished for the Obama admin. The new wussified version of the US Army Drill Instructor is officially complete. They’re no longer fearsome, just fabulous. 🙄 

From StarsAndStripes  “In the old Army, this probably would be accompanied by a torrent of curses and oaths. Butts would be kicked. But this is the new Army and Brooks just shakes her head, sternly calls the group together and starts instructing the recruits on the right way to do the exercise.

“I don’t like to yell and scream a lot,” said Brooks, who has trained recruits for nine 10-week cycles over the past three years. “If you’re yelling and screaming all the time, when are you going to teach them? Patience is a virtue when you are trying to instill discipline.””

“Brooks doesn’t fit the image Hollywood usually assigns to Army drill sergeants or Marine drill instructors. They most often are portrayed as hulking, red-faced, profanity-spewing brutes, a terror to any recruit unfortunate enough to enter their universe.

Conversely, Brooks is 5-foot-41/2-inches tall, and proud of the half inch. She lives in Northeast Richland with her wife, Shakerian. And she spent five years as a vocalist with the U.S. Army Europe Band and Chorus.”

“”We don’t smoke people anymore,” said Brooks, meaning using excessive physical training — running or push-ups — to break or wash out a recruit. “But sometimes you have to give them a little extra TLC.”

🙄

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2. Just like the Boston bombers, they operate in plain sight with no fear of the authorities. You’d think after the bombers, the feds would keep an eye on them, but I guess that’s asking too much from this administration.

From TheNYPost  “When it was revealed that the Boston Marathon bombers attended a Cambridge, Mass., mosque, its leaders were quick to disavow their actions.

Elder brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s ideology was not their own, the leaders of the Islamic Society mosque claimed. In fact, he was admonished for an extremist outburst he made during one sermon.

So, one crackpot in a congregation. Who can blame the mosque?

But what about eight — including a prominent member of ISIS?

“Now it can be revealed that another regular worshipper at the Islamic Society mosque was Ahmad Abousamra, who is now the top propagandist for ISIS.”

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3. Sacrificing the 1st Amendment to rally the base. That’s low, even for Democrats.

From HotAir  “Democrats have a real problem with their base voters. Heading into a contentious midterm election season in which the party faces headwinds and the increasingly likely prospect of losing control of the Senate, this condition is forcing the “in-party” to act in a peculiar and erratic fashion.

President Barack Obama rendered the judgment of Solomon over the weekend when he decided to save vulnerable red state Democrats a headache and postponed the issuing of an executive order which would have extended legal status to millions of illegal immigrants. While a handful of embattled incumbent Democrats are breathing easier today, a number of progressive activists, liberal lawmakers, and immigration groups are hyperventilating.

This decision will only exacerbate the problems Democrats have mobilizing their traditionally unenthusiastic base voters to turn out in a midterm year. To satisfy the wounded liberal ego, Democrats in Congress are turning to another progressive bête noire in order to gin up some enthusiasm among their supporters: That pesky First Amendment to the Constitution.

Yes, the cornerstone of the Bill of Rights has been driving Democrats nuts ever since the Supreme Court ruled in 2010’s Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission that the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reforms, which would have prohibited the airing of a corporately-financed documentary critical of Hillary Clinton within 30 days of the 2008 Democratic presidential primaries, were unconstitutional. The decision paved the way to allow corporations, unions, and other groups to spend unlimited sums on political speech and advocacy. To prohibit such activities would constitute a violation of the First Amendment.”

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News/Politics 9-8-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. Let’s start today with a good news story.

From FoxSports  “Still learned back in June that his daughter, Leah, has stage-four pediatric cancer. Since the diagnosis, Still’s mind understandably hasn’t been completely on football as he missed parts of organized team activities and minicamp this offseason to be with his daughter, which is why he understood the team’s decision to cut him.

“I completely understand where the Bengals were coming from when they cut me because I couldn’t give football 100 percent,” Still told ABC News.

But when Still received the call this morning that he had been signed to the practice squad and would receive health insurance as well as a weekly salary of $6,300, he was incredibly grateful. Still also will remain in the game he loves, for the team that drafted him, without all of the traveling, meaning he can be closer to his daughter as she undergoes treatments.”

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2. Providing cover for vulnerable Dems is more like it.

From ABCNews  “President Barack Obama said Saturday that the surge of immigrant children entering the U.S. illegally changed the politics surrounding the issue of immigration and led him to put off a pledge to use executive action that could shield millions of people from deportation.

Immigration reform advocates criticized Obama after White House officials said that the president would not act at summer’s end as he promised in June but would take up the matter after the midterm elections in November. In an interview taped for NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Obama rejected the charge that the delay was meant to protect Democratic candidates worried that his actions would hurt their prospects in tough Senate races.

By Obama’s own calculations, politics did play a role in his decision. In his remarks to NBC, which were to be aired on Sunday, he said a partisan fight in July over how to address an influx of unaccompanied minors at the border had created the impression that there was an immigration crisis and thus a volatile climate for taking the measures he had promised to take.

“The truth of the matter is — is that the politics did shift midsummer because of that problem,” he said. “I want to spend some time, even as we’re getting all our ducks in a row for the executive action, I also want to make sure that the public understands why we’re doing this, why it’s the right thing for the American people, why it’s the right thing for the American economy.”

Good luck with that.

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3. They can’t even handle the ones already here.

From YahooNews  “The backlog of pending deportation cases in federal immigration court has risen to nearly 400,000 amid a crush of tens of thousands of unaccompanied children and families caught crossing the Mexican border illegally this year, according an analysis of court data released Friday.

 The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University said in its latest report that as of the end of July, 396,552 cases were pending in the Justice Department’s 59 immigration courts. TRAC collects and studies a variety of federal prosecution records.

The backlog has grown by more than 75,000 cases since the start of the budget year in October, according to TRAC.”

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4. Meet the President’s excuses.

From TheWashingtonPost  “In his Sunday interview President Obama was not asked some fundamental questions: Where does he get the authority to change laws unilaterally? He bragged about pulling troops out of Iraq and then denied it was his call–so which is it? Didn’t his failure to act in Syria allow the Islamic State to grow? When the next GOP president wants to unilaterally change the tax code, what is he going to say? Hasn’t he lost Ukraine? 

It is not that new “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd did not try to be aggressive, but opening with a sharp question, letting the president ramble and moving on to the next question is not going to pin the president down. The reason Tim Russert was so good was that he dove into particulars and then went back and back, challenging and debunking. He would not have let the president falsely say he was not referring to the Islamic State when he called them the “jayvee.” team. That excuse has already gotten four Pinocchios from my colleague Glenn Kessler. Todd was clearly an improvement over his predecessor, but he was, to be blunt, not all that effective.

Such is the state of left-leaning politicians and the MSM. The former feel they need not be constrained by facts or laws, and the latter are not sharp enough to pin them down. But on immigration, the president certainly has gone too far, and perhaps he has underestimated both the anger among Hispanic activists and those genuinely upset by a breakdown in constitutional order.”

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5. A PA. mom who gave her daughter abortion pills is going to prison.

From MSNNews  “A Pennsylvania woman has been sentenced to up to 18 months in prison for obtaining so-called abortion pills online and providing them to her teenage daughter to end her pregnancy.

Jennifer Ann Whalen, 39, of Washingtonville, a single mother who works as a nursing home aide, pleaded guilty in August to obtaining the miscarriage-inducing pills from an online site in Europe for her daughter, 16, who did not want to have the child.

Whalen was sentenced on Friday by Montour County Court of Common Pleas Judge Gary Norton to serve 12 months to 18 months in prison for violating a state law that requires abortions to be performed by physicians.

She was also fined $1,000 and ordered to perform 40 hours of community service after her release. The felony offense called for up to seven years in prison and a $15,000 fine.”

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News/Politics 9-5-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. Well, there’s confusion in the White House, so of course there’s confusion among the troops.

From FoxNews  “America’s GI “boots on the ground” in Iraq are so frustrated with the White House message about their mission against the Islamic State — which Vice President Biden vowed Wednesday to chase “to the gates of Hell” — that they’re wondering how they’ll accomplish the goal “when we can’t even leave the front gate of our base.” 

Biden on Wednesday delivered what was probably the toughest statement to date from the administration, declaring, after another U.S. journalist was beheaded by the Islamic State, “we will follow them to the gates of Hell until they are brought to justice.” 

But his tough talk was at odds with a message delivered earlier in the day by President Obama, who said that while his administration’s goal is to “destroy” ISIS — it also is to “shrink” it to a “manageable problem.” 

Amid the mixed messages, a source in contact with special operators in Iraq told Fox News that “frustration and confusion reign” among Americans on the ground there.”

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2. Has the President checked out?

From RedState  “Many people suggest President Obama has checked out. He treats the ever growing threat of ISIS as an abstraction. Sources from within the administration are now more openly admitting that for almost a year intelligence and Pentagon officials have advised the President of the threat. He has chosen to do very little. Last Wednesday, he said we would “shrink” ISIS and make it “a manageable problem” as opposed to eliminate it.

A few weeks ago, I had dinner with a sitting governor and a dear friend of mine. The friend leaned over to the governor and me and said Barack Obama is to America as Clarence the Angel was to George Bailey in “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Barack Obama is showing the world what it would look like had America never been born. As this friend later wrote, “Unsurprisingly, Bedford Falls is now Pottersville, and it’s a terrible place. Unfortunately we do not get to revert to the tolerable if modest status quo at the end of the lesson: George Bailey will eventually have to shell the town and retake it street by street from Old Man Potter’s Spetsnaz.”

 Consider how far the world has collapsed in the past year. Again, my friend noted, since Labor Day weekend last year the Chinese expanded their air defense identification zone to incorporate the territory of other nations, the Russians annexed Crimea, ISIS rose, the Russians invaded Ukraine, Mosul fell, the Hungarian liberal democracy collapsed into Russian aligned authoritarianism, a Central American refugee crisis spawned a border and humanitarian crisis in the United States, the Egyptians and Emiratis attacked Libya without telling the United States, Iraqi Christians and the Yazidi are suffering genocide at the hands of ISIS, NATO is scrambling to shore up its eastern-frontier defenses, mainstream anti-Semitism is re-emerging, the Americans are on the verge of yet another war in Iraq, middle America is seeing race riots, etc., etc.

Seventy-five years ago this past Monday, German tanks rolled across the Polish border setting off World War II. Sixty-nine years ago this past Tuesday, World War II ended as the Japanese formally surrendered. In the nearly seven decades since, the West has established a world wide peace. Though not flawless, we have lived a relatively stable and secure existence. In just the past year, Barack Obama has largely undone seven decades of gains toward peace.”

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3. Someone should have told these two that you only get away with this type of influence peddling if you’re in the White House or Congress.

From MSNNews  “Former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and his wife were convicted Thursday of using his office to promote a dietary supplement in exchange for gifts in a public corruption case that derailed the career of a onetime rising Republican star.

A federal jury in Richmond convicted Bob McDonnell of 11 of the 13 counts he faced; Maureen McDonnell was convicted of nine of the 13 counts she had faced. Sentencing was scheduled for Jan. 6. Both bowed their heads and wept as a chorus of “guilty” kept coming from the court clerk.

The couple left the courtroom separately and remained apart. Bob McDonnell left first and walked into a witness waiting room; Maureen McDonnell came out later, hugging one of her daughters while weeping loudly. She went into a separate waiting room.

The couple was charged with doing favors for a wealthy vitamin executive in exchange for more than $165,000 in gifts and loans. They also were charged with submitting fraudulent bank loan applications, and Maureen McDonnell was charged with one count of obstruction.”

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4. Democrats are pushing an amendment to limit the free speech rights of pro-life groups. Time to earn that blood money the abortion industry dumps in their coffers.

From LifeNews  “A leading pro-life group is sounding the alarm about a measure Senate Democrats are pushing that would place stringent limits on pro-life free speech when it comes to campaigns and elections.

The National Right to Life Committee today warned members of the U.S. Senate that it will “scorecard” the upcoming Senate roll call on a proposed constitutional amendment. The pro-life organization informs LifeNews that the amendment would allow Congress and each state legislature to restrict or prohibit virtually any type of communications to the public that might “influence elections.”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has indicated that he will seek Senate action on the measure on September 8. Fifty Democratic senators have so far expressed support for the measure.

The letter, signed by National Right to Life President Carol Tobias, Executive Director David N. O’Steen, and Legislative Director Douglas Johnson, referred to the proposal as “a radical assault on the Bill of Rights.” It underscores how the amendment could allow states to prohibit pro-life groups from issuing scorecards letting pro-life voters know how their elected officials in Congress voted on key pro-life issues.”

If this fails they can always turn the IRS lose on ’em like they did with other conservative groups.

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News/Politics 9-3-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. Oh boy.

From TheFreeBeacon  “Islamist militias in Libya took control of nearly a dozen commercial jetliners last month, and western intelligence agencies recently issued a warning that the jets could be used in terrorist attacks across North Africa.

Intelligence reports of the stolen jetliners were distributed within the U.S. government over the past two weeks and included a warning that one or more of the aircraft could be used in an attack later this month on the date marking the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks against New York and Washington, said U.S. officials familiar with the reports.”

“Meanwhile, officials said Egyptian military forces appear to be preparing to intervene in Libya to prevent the country from becoming a failed state run by terrorists, many with ties to al Qaeda.”

Might become? Already is.

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2. So what’s being done to ensure they don’t return to the US?

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3. Rationalizing the indefensible.

From Yahoo  “The White House is crafting a blame-it-on-Congress legal justification to back up President Barack Obama’s impending executive actions on immigration.

 Facing an expected onslaught of opposition, the administration plans to argue that Congress failed to provide enough resources to fully enforce U.S. laws, thereby ceding wide latitude to White House to prioritize deportations of the 11.5 million people who are in the country illegally, administration officials and legal experts said. But Republicans, too, are exploring their legal options for stopping Obama from what they’ve deemed egregious presidential overreaching.

A self-imposed, end-of-summer deadline to act on immigration is rapidly approaching. While Obama has yet to receive the formal recommendations he’s requested from Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, administration officials said the president is intimately familiar with the universe of options and won’t spend much time deliberating once Johnson delivers his recommendations.”

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4. It should be interesting to see how he justifies this to millions of unemployed citizens.

From TheWashingtonExaminer  “The number of illegal immigrants crossing into the United States would surge more than five times the current wave of 90,000 if President Obama grants amnesty to up to 6 million undocumented people as many advocates expect, according to an immigration expert.

“It could hit nearly half a million people,” said Jessica M. Vaughan, director of policy studies with the Center for Immigration Studies. She said that the additional 500,000 would come in the first year following an amnesty plan.

Obama has hinted that he plans to wait until after the upcoming midterm elections before unveiling his executive order, an action that could move immigration out of the mix of big issues roiling House and Senate contests.

Vaughan said that illegal immigrants already believe that the United States has an open door policy since virtually all of the undocumented children from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras are entering to welcoming officials. Some 37,000 illegals have been released into the country and only 280 deported so far this year.”

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5. How do voters feel about it?

From Reuters  “It has been a question heard repeatedly by lawmakers this month in “town hall” district meetings punctuated – and sometimes dominated – by concerns and angry outbursts over immigration policy and the crisis caused by a flood of child migrants at the southwestern border in recent months.”

Those summer town halls have provided lawmakers a first-hand glimpse of growing discontent among Americans over U.S. immigration policy. Seventy percent of Americans – including 86 percent of Republicans – believe undocumented immigrants threaten traditional U.S. beliefs and customs, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted in mid-July.

Those fears have been exacerbated by the recent wave of illegal child migrants from Central America. An issue that had been simmering is now hotting up as voters prepare to go to the polls in congressional elections due in November.

The anger and frustration expressed in the town halls suggests there will be a fierce debate when U.S. lawmakers return to Washington on Sept. 8 and take up proposals to address a flood of child migrants crossing the southwestern U.S. border.”

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6. The DoJ is using the shakedown method to help fund their allies. Again. Jesse and Al must be so proud.

From JudicialWatch  “Judicial Watch first reported the scheme two years ago when Countrywide Financial Corporation doled out $335 million to settle its discrimination lawsuit with the feds. The money was supposed to be distributed to more than 200,000 minority victims who supposedly were charged higher interest rates and fees than white borrowers based on their race not their credit. Instead, a chunk of the money went to Democrat-tied groups not connected to the lawsuit, including the scandal-plagued Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) and the open-borders National Council of La Raza (NCLR).

Now many of the same groups will get more money from a record $16.65 billion settlement with Bank of America. It’s a “historic resolution,” according to Attorney General Eric Holder, and the money will help make amends to borrowers and communities that were negatively affected by the bank’s conduct. Besides settling civil penalties at the state and federal level, the billions will bring relief to struggling homeowners and communities by, among other things, offering new loans and providing financing for affordable rental housing. Delinquent borrowers in Democrat strongholds like Chicago, Oakland and Detroit will also benefit from debt forgiveness.

Leftover funds will go to politically-connected community groups—like the NCLR, Operation Hope and National Community Reinvestment Coalition—that intimidate banks into qualifying more minorities for home loans, even if they really can’t afford it. This part of the deal is conveniently buried in an annex to the 37-page DOJ agreement, but a publication dedicated to covering business, finance and economics draws attention to it in a scathing editorial that refers to the arrangement as extortion.

“In effect, the government has ordered the nation’s largest bank to create a massive slush fund for Democrat special interests,” states the editorial which reveals that radical Democrat activist groups stand to collect millions from Holder’s record deal with Bank of America. “The recession has dried up funding for such groups. But Holder’s massive bank shakedown could rebuild their war chests in a hurry.” The piece also points out that Holder has brokered other similar deals that will provide more back-door funding for the Democrat groups. They include a $13 billion agreement with JPMorgan Chase and a $7 billion deal with Citibank.”

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7. Your tax dollars hard at work getting to the bottom of the issues that matter to Americans.

Or not……..

Also From TheFreeBeacon  “The federal government is still seeking answers as to why the majority of lesbians are obese and U.S. taxpayers are footing the bill, which now totals $2.87 million.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) study is now in its fourth year, receiving an additional $670,567 for fiscal year 2014. The project seeks to determine why “nearly three-quarters of adult lesbians overweight or obese,” and why gay males are not.

In just two years the project’s budget has nearly doubled, growing from $1.5 million to nearly $3 million today, despite fears that sequestration could jeopardize the project and other NIH funding.”

“The sexual orientation and obesity study is slated to last until 2016. The latest grant comes receiving $682,873 last year, $778,622 in 2011, and $741,378 in 2012. The total for the project thus far is $2,873,440.”

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by

News/Politics 8-27-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. While much of the world focuses on ISIS, Boko Haram continues their bloody rampage.

From PressTV   “Boko Haram Takfiri militants have taken control of more Nigerian towns as they press ahead with their attacks in the African country.

A Cameroonian police source said on Tuesday that Boko Haram militants moved into the Nigerian town of Ashigashyia overnight Monday, where they killed three people in front of a church, after soldiers sent there fled to take refuge across the border in nearby Cameroon.

Nearly 500 Nigerian soldiers escaped from the border towns of Ashigashyia and Kerawa over the weekend to take refuge from Boko Haram Takfiris on Cameroonian territory.”

“According to residents, the militants now control at least the town of Buni Yadi in Yobe state as well as Gwoza and Gamboru Ngala in neighboring Borno state.

In the northeastern state of Adamawa, which has been under a state of emergency along with Borno and Yobe states since May last year, local government officials said scores of gunmen attacked the town of Madagali on Saturday, forcing out soldiers and taking over government buildings.”

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2. Liberals have a new boogeyman. And of course they’ll blame greed and not the high tax policies that caused it.

From TheWashingtonExaminer  “The major fast food chain Burger King is in talks to merge with the Canadian donut and coffee chain Tim Hortons and move its headquarters to Canada.

Burger King would be one of the largest and most well-known companies to seek to leave the U.S. in a so-called corporate inversion, in which a U.S. company buys a smaller foreign company in a lower-tax jurisdiction and then places its headquarters in the foreign country to lower its tax bill. Its departure will likely heighten concerns about inversions eroding the American tax base.

In a press release announcing the discussions, Burger King and Tim Hortons said that they were pursuing the deal for business reasons and to accelerate Tim Hortons’ international growth. But the new company’s headquarters would be located in Canada, which has lower corporate taxes than the U.S.

President Obama has criticized companies attempting to move headquarters to lower-tax countries as “corporate deserters.” The Treasury Department is preparing options to prevent tax inversions through tax rules.

Congressional Democrats have introduced legislation to tighten the rules to prevent companies from fleeing the domestic tax base, but Republicans have opposed such measures, saying that they do not address the underlying problem of the U.S. tax code’s lack of competitiveness internationally.”

And some of it’s being financed by Obama’s pal Buffett, who already owes millions in back taxes. He must not have gotten the “economic patriotism” memo.

From CNBC  “Burger King on Tuesday confirmed plans to acquire Ontario-based Tim Hortons for about $11 billion—creating a new company to be based in Canada with combined sales of $23 billion.

Berkshire Hathaway Chairman and CEO Warren Buffett is helping to fund the deal by committing $3 billion of preferred equity financing. The news release on the deal did not disclose the terms for Berkshire, which is only a financing source and will not have any participation in the management and operation of the business.”

“Amid speculation that the deal was motivated to save taxes by moving a U.S. company’s headquarters to a foreign country, sources said the U.S. would receive at least as much in taxes, not less, because of the way the deal is structured. Those sources did not elaborate. Locating the new company’s base in Canada was seen as a way to garner support from Canadian regulators, which tend to take a dim view of foreign acquirers, the sources said.”

Here comes the new boogeyman…

From TheDailyBeast  “To help business grow in America, taxpayers have funded public infrastructure, workforce training, and incentives to encourage R&D and capital investment,” Brown thundered. “Runaway corporations benefited from those policies but want U.S. companies to pay their share of the tab.”

Sen. Carl Levin, who has long been a champion for closing corporate tax loopholes, warned the company that the blowback from the American consumer could swamp any tax benefits it receives from leaving the United States. He was speaking before the deal was confirmed on Tuesday.”

“So could Levin and Brown be onto something? Burger King’s Facebook wall has been inundated with threats from customers over a possible boycott should their corporate operations move to Canada. An advertisement for their Mushroom and Swiss burger became a key venting ground for Americans frustrated about the potential deal.

“If you attempt to buy Tim Horton’s for the purposes of evading US Taxes, I will NEVER step foot in another Burger King again…Don’t do it,” read the most ‘liked’ comment on the post. Others called them “tax cheats,” “freeloaders,” “tax dodgers”—and many others threatened boycotts. The same fate befell the company’s Facebook advertisement for cookies.”

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3. Obama spoke to veterans yesterday in a speech to The American Legion. The response was as you’d expect.

From TheDailyMail  “President Barack Obama faced a tough crowd on Tuesday – American military veterans – and fell flat on his applause lines as he failed to win over the American Legion’s convention-goers.

His 35-minute speech seemed to have reminded the audience of the stark divide between the White House’s policy choices and the feelings of the men and women often called on to carry them out.

A Virginia legionnaire who served in the U.S. Marine Corps told MailOnline that ‘a small group of Obama’s admirers – and there are some here – sat near the front and tried to generate applause for him about 10 times.’

‘They didn’t get much pickup,’ the retired lieutenant colonel said of the ‘instigators’ gathered at the Charlotte, North Carolina event, but ‘they were persistent. You could tell when the applause was genuine and when it wasn’t. It was obvious to everyone here.’

Most of the veterans sat on their hands, leaving awkward silences where White House speechwriters expected ovations.”

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4. I’m starting to think this global warming thing might be a scam. 🙂

From Breitbart  “The Australian Bureau of Meteorology has been caught red-handed manipulating temperature data to show “global warming” where none actually exists.

At Amberley, Queensland, for example, the data at a weather station showing 1 degree Celsius cooling per century was “homogenized” (adjusted) by the Bureau so that it instead showed a 2.5 degrees warming per century.

At Rutherglen, Victoria, a cooling trend of -0.35 degrees C per century was magically transformed at the stroke of an Australian meteorologist’s pen into a warming trend of 1.73 degrees C per century.

Last year, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology made headlines in the liberal media by claiming that 2013 was Australia’s hottest year on record. This prompted Australia’s alarmist-in-chief Tim Flannery – an English literature graduate who later went on to earn his scientific credentials with a PhD in palaeontology, digging up ancient kangaroo bones – to observe that global warming in Australia was “like climate change on steroids.”

But we now know, thanks to research by Australian scientist Jennifer Marohasy, that the hysteria this story generated was based on fabrications and lies.”

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5. Donna mentioned later yesterday that it was National Dog Day. So in honor of our furry friends, Hero dogs: Tales of bravery and sacrifice.

From MSNNews  “Aug. 26 is National Dog Day. To mark the occasion, we look at heroic dogs and the way they saved people and fellow canines.”

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News/Politics 8-26-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. It looks like another defeat for Obama’s “Smart Diplomacy,” and yet another victory for radical Islam.

From HotAir  “It was the conflict which gave birth to the infamous and orphaned Obama doctrine of “leading from behind.” The coalition air war over Libya, a response to Muammar Gaddafi’s brutal efforts to suppress the Arab Spring rebellions in that country, was once touted by the administration as one of the president’s signature foreign policy achievements.

“After four decades of brutal dictatorship and eight months of deadly conflict, the Libyan people can now celebrate their freedom and the beginning of a new era of promise,” Obama said in a prepared statement delivered on October 23, 2011.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton echoed the president and noted that Libya had been set on a path toward democracy. “The transitional authorities can build on this movement by promoting reconciliation and respect for human rights across Libyan society, while helping to prevent reprisals and ensuring the justice and due process that the Libyan people expect and deserve,” she said at the time.

“From Tripoli to Misurata to Benghazi — today, Libya is free,” Obama said in speech delivered before the United Nations. “This is how the international community is supposed to work — nations standing together for the sake of peace and security, and individuals claiming their rights.””

“These celebrations were shown to be premature when a sophisticated terrorist attack against American diplomatic and CIA outposts in Benghazi resulted in the deaths of four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador to Libya. It was not until today, though, when the country’s capital fell to Islamist militants that the administration’s post-campaign Libya policy was exposed as utter folly.”

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2. The White House says Obama’s constitutional responsibility to protect Americans trumps the law.

From TruthRevolt  “A defiant White House rejected the Government Accountability Office’s determination that the administration broke the law in its highly controversial swap of U.S. Army Sgt. Bow Bergdahl for five Taliban leaders, saying that the president’s “constitutional responsibility to protect the lives of Americans” trumped the law.  

When asked about the GAO’s conclusions released Thursday, administration spokesman Eric Schultz told reporters Friday that the they “strongly” disagree with the GAO’s legal argument:

“It’s not going to surprise you to know that we strongly disagree with GAO’s conclusion and we reject the implication that the administration acted unlawfully. The president has the constitutional responsibility to protect the lives of Americans abroad and specifically to protect U.S. service members. It’s important for everyone here to understand that the GAO report expressly does not address the lawfulness of the administration’s actions as a matter of constitutional law.”

Schultz argued that President Obama is committed to protecting U.S. military personnel and will prioritize that “bedrock principle” over legal “caveats”:”

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3. Here’s yet another case where the so-called “constitutional scholar” and his Democrat minions ignore the rule of law. I guess they feel he has an obligation to ignore the rule of law for illegal immigrants too. Hey it’s only 5 million, right?

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4. Gee, I wonder why this hasn’t gotten more press? 🙄

From IJReview  “There are few political subjects that can bring the likes of Roseanne Barr, Sarah Silverman, Kelsey Grammer, and Arnold Schwarzenegger together, but through a group called Creative Community for Peace, these artists and nearly 200 other Hollywood stars and executives joined together to condemn Hamas.

The group recognizes that the only free society in the Middle East, the one that supports intellectual and artistic freedom, is Israel. Deadline reports:

“When you talk to artists like Javier Bardem and Pedro Almodovar, you have to think, ‘Where do you think your movies are being watched in the Middle East? They can’t be watched anywhere else but in Israel. When you are on the ground, you realize that you are in a very free and progressive society, and it’s a region where people can’t pay to see the product that we’re making other than in Israel.”

The Hollywood actors who supported the statement can be read below, via the Creative Community for Peace website. The celebrities endorsing it include Arnold Schwarzenegger, Roseanne Barr, Bill Maher, and Sylvester Stallone, among many others.”

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5. A victory in California for 2nd Amendment supporters.

From NationalReview  “A big Second Amendment victory in California. Per the Calguns Foundation:

California’s 10-day waiting period for gun purchases was ruled unconstitutional by a federal judge this morning in a significant victory for Second Amendment civil rights. The laws were challenged by California gun owners Jeffrey Silvester and Brandon Combs, as well as two gun rights groups, The Calguns Foundation and Second Amendment Foundation.

In the decision released this morning, Federal Eastern District of California Senior Judge Anthony W. Ishii, appointed to the bench by President Bill Clinton, found that “the 10-day waiting periods of Penal Code [sections 26815(a) and 27540(a)] violate the Second Amendment” as applied to members of certain classifications, like Silvester and Combs, and “burdens the Second Amendment rights of the Plaintiffs.”

And the victory provides a foundation to challenge other unconstitutional restrictions that California has placed on firearms.

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News/Politics 8-25-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. Joint Chiefs Chair: ‘Open Borders and Immigration Issues’ Make ISIL ‘Immediate Threat’

From CNSNews  “Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a Pentagon press briefing yesterday that “because of open borders and immigration issues,” the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) is an “immediate threat.”

In the context of this ISIL threat, Dempsey said he had had conversations with his European colleagues “about their southern flank.” He did not specifically mention the U.S.-Mexico border, which is the southern flank of the United States.”

“Well, the immediacy is in the number of Europeans and other nationalities who have come to the region to become part of that ideology,” said Dempsey. “And those folks can go home at some point. It’s why I have conversations with my European colleagues about their southern flank of NATO, which I think is actually more threatened in the near term than we are.

“Nevertheless,” Dempsey continued, “because of open borders and immigration issues, it’s an immediate threat. That is to say, the fighters who may leave the current fight and migrate home.”

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2. What a bunch of hypocrites. If this was the Koch brothers they’d be whining endlessly about money in politics.

From NationalJournal  “Super PACs spent July beefing up for the fall campaign. Many groups filed new disclosure reports this week, leaving a paper trail littered with big checks from big names.

Democrats dominate the list of notable July donors, as there have simply been more Democratic dollars flowing to that type of outside group this year. There’s still plenty of conservative money out there; it’s just that more of it is going toward nonprofits, which don’t have to disclose their donors. Here are a handful of July super PAC donations that stood out.

 STEYER: Climate-change activist Tom Steyer gave the biggest super PAC donation in this month’s reports: $7.5 million to his own group, NextGen Climate. Steyer, who made his fortune as a successful hedge-fund manager, also spread some of that money around. NextGen gave a half-million dollars to Senate Majority PAC, the biggest Senate Democratic super PAC, and $150,000 to the League of Conservation Voters Victory Fund, another environmental group.

BLOOMBERG: Michael Bloomberg is staying plenty active in his post-mayoral days. Aside from funding his gun-control-focused super PAC, Bloomberg has written checks to Senate Majority PAC and super PACs that backed GOP Sens. Thad Cochran and Lindsey Graham during their primary battles. Most recently, the former New York City mayor donated $2 million to Women Vote!—the largest contribution the EMILY’s List super PAC has ever received. Only Steyer has given more money to super PACs this election season.

SOROS: Democratic financier George Soros’s checkbook has been active this summer: The prolific donor gave $500,000 apiece to House Majority PAC and the League of Conservation Voters Victory Fund. But that million dollars wasn’t his family’s only big outlay so far this summer. Soros’s daughter, Andrea Soros Colombel, gave $250,000 to Planned Parenthood Votes.”

And the list goes on and on.

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3. Of course he is. He knows that come November the political landscape will be changing.

From TheHill  “Groups that closely follow regulations are expecting the Obama administration to continue issuing controversial rules through the midterm elections, despite the political risk it could pose for Democrats.

With time running out on President Obama’s second term, federal agencies are hitting the gas on a number of regulatory initiatives that are central to the White House’s “go-it-alone” agenda.

The pace of rulemaking is a stark contrast from the months leading up to the 2012 presidential election, when the flow of rules came screeching to a near halt.

The expectation that the gears of the regulatory process will keep moving highlights how the president’s desire for a second-term legacy sometimes conflicts with the short-term political considerations of congressional Democrats.”

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4. Good enough?

From TheWashingtonExaminer  “Under new rules released Friday, the Obama administration said for-profit companies like Hobby Lobby can avoid paying for their employees’ birth control costs through the same Obamacare exemption given to religious groups.

The Obama administration unveiled the policy shift after the Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that closely held corporations should not be forced to pay for their workers’ contraception if they have religious objections.

As outlined by the administration, the companies and religious groups would notify the government of their objections to covering birth control for their employees. The insurance companies would then pick up the cost of contraception before being reimbursed by the federal government.”

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5. According to the GAO food stamp fraud is rampant.

From FoxNews  “Americans receiving food stamps were caught selling and bartering their benefits online for art, housing and cash, according to a new federal report that investigates fraud in the nation’s largest nutrition support program.

Complicating the situation is the fact states around the country are having trouble tracking and prosecuting the crimes because their enforcement budgets have been slashed despite the rapidly-rising number of food stamp recipients, according to the Government Accountability Office report.

Under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, 47 million people have been awarded $76 billion in benefits. State agencies are responsible for addressing SNAP recipient fraud under the guidance and monitoring of the Food and Nutrition Service.

“Such rapid program growth can increase the potential for fraud unless appropriate agency controls are in place to help minimize these risks,” the investigators said in their report.”

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News/Politics 8-22-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. That’s strange. 6 months ago Hagel called them a “JV Team” that he thought wasn’t much of a threat. Wrong again, eh Chuck?

From Reuters  “The sophistication, wealth and military might of Islamic State militants represent a major threat to the United States that may surpass that once posed by al Qaeda, U.S. military leaders said on Thursday.

“They are an imminent threat to every interest we have, whether it’s in Iraq or anywhere else,” Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told reporters at the Pentagon.

Hagel’s assessment of Islamic State, which gained strength during Syria’s civil war and swept into northern Iraq earlier this summer, sounded a note of alarm several days after the group posted a video on social media showing one of its fighters beheading an American hostage kidnapped in Syria.

Asked if the hardline Sunni Muslim organization posed a threat to the United States comparable to that of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Hagel said it was “as sophisticated and well-funded as any group we have seen.”

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2. This should be interesting.

From NationalReview  “A federal judge ordered President Obama’s team to hand over some documents pertaining to Operation Fast and Furious and to provide a list of withheld documents.

Once House Republicans see the list of withheld documents, they will have a chance to challenge the withholding of particular documents.

“This Administration has been so intent on hiding the contents of these documents that it allowed Attorney General Holder to be held in contempt instead of just turning them over to Congress,” House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chairman Darrell Issa (R., Calif.) said of the ruling. “The privilege log will bring us closer to finding out why the Justice Department hid behind false denials in the wake of reckless conduct that contributed to the violent deaths of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and countless Mexican citizens.”

Holder was held in contempt in 2012 after he refused to produce 1,300 pages of documents subpoenaed by Issa’s committee. Obama said that the documents were shielded from congressional review by executive privilege.”

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3. So it’s not the first time he’s made statements that weren’t true. Could be a problem if this is your star witness.

From IJReview  “Dorian Johnson, the primary witness to the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, has an outstanding warrant for a 2011 theft in Jefferson City and pleaded guilty for filing a false police report related to that theft.

St. Louis ABC affiliate ABC 17 cross referenced Johnson’s name against several records and discovered the warrant.

Johnson will be the star witness for any potential prosecution proceedings against Officer Darren Wilson for the shooting of Brown. Johnson was walking with Brown when the shooting occurred.

He has already done multiple media appearances where he falsely claimed Brown was shot by Wilson in the back.  He also has claimed that Brown never reached for Wilson’s gun, was “shot like an animal” and that Brown had his hands up and told Wilson he was unarmed.”

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4. Don’t want to host a gay wedding on your farm? There’s a fine for that.

From TheBlaze  “Owners of a family farm in Schaghticoke, New York, are being fined $13,000 for refusing to allow a gay wedding ceremony to take place on their property in 2012, just one year after the state legalized same-sex nuptials.

Cynthia and Robert Gifford, owners of Liberty Ridge Farm, a family-friendly farm and special events venue, told Jennifer McCarthy and Melisa Erwin, a lesbian couple from Newark, New Jersey, that they were welcome to hold their reception on the property, but not the actual wedding ceremony, according to Religion News Service.

The Giffords live on the premises and these ceremonies are typically conducted on the first floor of their home or on the nearby property. Considering that they are Christians and consider marriage to be confined to relationships involving one man and one woman, the two weren’t comfortable hosting McCathy and Erwin’s nuptials.”

“McCarthy and Erwin weren’t happy with this rejection, so they took their complaint to the New York’s Division of Human Rights, claiming that they were discriminated against as a result of their sexual orientation.

A judge subsequently ruled in their favor in the case New York State Division of Human Rights v. Liberty Ridge Farm, rejecting the Giffords’ argument that the family owns a private business that is legally permitted to issue such refusals.”

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by

News/Politics 8-21-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. Sure. Why not? What could possibly go wrong?

From TheHill   “Protesters are expected to gather Thursday evening at the White House as part of a national “Day of Rage” over the fatal police shooting of an unarmed black teen earlier this month in Missouri.

The planned rally is among dozens around the nation organized by the group Anonymous, which is demanding the “immediate arrest and prosecution” of officer Darren Wilson.  Wilson has been identified as the officer who shot 18-year-old Michael Brown on Aug. 9, touching off violent protests in the streets of Ferguson, Mo. 

“We call upon the citizens of the United States to collectively gather in support for those who are suffering in Ferguson,” a voice claiming to represent Anonymous says in a video posted to YouTube. “We must indeed all hang together as one nation or most assuredly we will all hang separately.””

The gathering is being held at night? Gee, I wonder why?….. 🙄

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2. We now know that the US launched a failed attempt to rescue American journalist James Foley and others.

From ABCNews  “U.S. special operations forces early this summer launched a secret, major rescue operation in Syria to save James Foley and a number of Americans held by the extremist group ISIS, but the mission failed because the hostages weren’t there, senior administration officials told ABC News today.

President Obama authorized the “substantial and complex” rescue operation after the officials said a “broad collection of intelligence” led the U.S. to believe the hostages were being held in a specific location in the embattled Middle Eastern nation.

When “several dozen” U.S. special operation members landed in Syria, however, they were met with gunfire and “while on site, it became apparent the hostages were not there,” one of the officials said. The special operators engaged in a firefight in which ISIS suffered “a good number” casualties, the official said, while the American forces suffered only a single minor injury.

The American forces were able to get back on helicopters and escape.”

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3. The already shady indictment of Rick Perry is lookin’ even shadier now.

From MediaTrackers  “Rho Chalmers, who disclosed to the Houston Chronicle yesterday that she was a member of the grand jury that indicted Texas Gov. Rick Perry, was an active delegate to the Texas Democratic Party convention during grand jury proceedings. Chalmers’ active participation in Democratic state politics is important because she claimed yesterday to the Houston Chronicle that her decision to indict Perry, a Republican, was not based on politics.

“For me, it’s not a political decision,” Chalmers told the newspaper. “That’s what a grand jury is about – take the emotion out of it and look at the facts and make your best decision based on your life experience.” More troubling, however, is the fact that Chalmers attended, photographed, and commented on an event with Democratic state Sen. Kirk Watson while grand jury proceedings were ongoing.”

“The grand jury was selected in April of 2014 and its proceedings did not conclude until it returned two indictments of Perry last week. While grand jurors are not generally prohibited from engaging in political activity, Chalmers’ apparent giddiness at attending an event for a grand jury witness calls into question her ability to objectively scrutinize his testimony. Watson had testified before Chalmers and the rest of her colleagues on the grand jury just one month before Chalmers attended his event. Knowingly seeking out participation in an event featuring a grand jury witness while grand jury proceedings were ongoing also seems highly questionable.

Numerous posts from both of Chalmers’ Facebook pages — her personal page, which she shares with her husband, Davis, and her “Developer’s Dungeon” page — make clear that she is a partisan Democratic activist, and that she was an active participant in the Texas Democratic Party’s state convention in June while grand jury proceedings were ongoing.”

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4. 35.4%=Unsustainable.

From CNSNews  “109,631,000 Americans lived in households that received benefits from one or more federally funded “means-tested programs” — also known as welfare — as of the fourth quarter of 2012, according to data released Tuesday by the Census Bureau.

The Census Bureau has not yet reported how many were on welfare in 2013 or the first two quarters of 2014.

But the 109,631,000 living in households taking federal welfare benefits as of the end of 2012, according to the Census Bureau, equaled 35.4 percent of all 309,467,000 people living in the United States at that time.

When those receiving benefits from non-means-tested federal programs — such as Social Security, Medicare, unemployment and veterans benefits — were added to those taking welfare benefits, it turned out that 153,323,000 people were getting federal benefits of some type at the end of 2012.”

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5. Something to keep in mind as summer winds down.

From TheAP  “The Old Farmer’s Almanac, the familiar, 223-year-old chronicler of climate, folksy advice and fun facts, is predicting a colder winter and warmer summer for much of the nation.

Published Wednesday, the New Hampshire-based almanac predicts a “super-cold” winter in the eastern two-thirds of the country. The west will remain a little bit warmer than normal.

“Colder is just almost too familiar a term,” Editor Janice Stillman said. “Think of it as a refriger-nation.”

More bad news for those who can’t stand snow: Most of the Northeast is expected to get more snowfall than normal, though it will be below normal in New England.”

Yay. 😦

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by

News/Politics 8-19-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. The more we know……

From TheBlaze  “For the very first time, an alleged “friend” of the officer who fatally shot 18-year-old Ferguson man Michael Brown is revealing new details about the controversial incident that has sparked unrest in cities across the country, CNN reported on Monday.

Calling into The Dana Loesch Radio Show on Friday, “Josie” claimed that Brown “bum-rushed” officer Darren Wilson moments after pushing him into his squad car, punching him in the face and trying to grab the cop’s gun.”

“The alleged friend of Wilson continued: “So he goes in reverse back to them, tries to get out of his car. They slam his door shut violently. I think he said Michael did. And, then he opened the car again, you know, he tried to get out. He stands up. And then Michael just bum-rushes him and shoves him back into his car, punches him in the face and then, of course, Darren grabs for his gun. Michael grabbed for the gun. At one point, he got the gun entirely turned against his hip. And he shoves it away, and the gun goes off.”

The caller went on to claim that Brown then ran from the officer, making it about 35 feet away before Wilson got up and ordered the suspect to “freeze.”

“Michael and his friend turn around. And Michael taunts him… And then all the sudden he just started bumrushing him. He just started coming at him full speed. And, so he just started shooting. And, he just kept coming. And, so he really thinks he was on something,” she concluded. “The final shot was in the forehead, and then he fell about two or three feet in front of the officer.”

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2. The autopsy report conflicts with witness testimony, but still says excessive force was used. I have a feeling Holder’s autopsy will say otherwise. Call it a hunch.

From FoxNews  “Dr. Michael Baden, who conducted the autopsy at the request of Brown’s family, talked to Bill Hemmer by phone this morning. His findings do not line up with witnesses who have claimed that Wilson shot Brown from behind.

“This autopsy shows that there wasn’t any gunshot wounds in his back. Some people thought they saw that. An autopsy helps organize which witness testimony is more reliable,” he said.

But he said the presence of six gunshot wounds points to “excessive” force by Wilson. Baden noted that Wilson may have fired even more shots that missed Brown, explaining that the police would know the total number of shots fired.

“There is legitimate concern as to whether the shooting was overreacting. That has to be answered and we don’t have all the answers,” said Baden.”

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3. I would add Holder, Sharpton, and Jackson to the list.

From Breitbart  “Former CNN anchor and Fox News Channel’s “MediaBuzz” host Howie Kurtz criticized some outlets for creating “almost a lynch mob mentality” in Ferguson, MO in the wake of the shooting death of Michael Brown. 

“Some liberal outlets [are] creating almost a lynch mob mentality around this, the Huffington Post today, screaming banner headline ‘Arrest Him.’ Now, the Huffington Post, nor you or I, knows exactly what happened” he said. And “when you cross that line into becoming an advocate and to demanding that somebody be prosecuted before the facts are in, while the investigation is going on, you’re grandstanding, you’re trying to keep the story alive and I really think it’s troubling.”

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4. Who are the protestors?

From TheWashingtonPost  “The militants are one faction of many that have filled Ferguson’s streets each evening since Brown, walking unarmed between a convenience store and his grandmother’s apartment at midday on a Saturday, was shot at least six times and died.

There is a group of “peaceful protesters” that congregates around the QuikTrip, which was looted and burned during the first night of protest. Another gathers near the Ferguson police station. A third, more scattered faction uses the social-media community Black Twitter to organize demonstrators.

 “People have been tweeting, ‘We are ready to die tonight,’ ” said Mary Pat Hector, a national youth organizer with the Rev. Al Sharpton’s national action network. “It is a trending topic.”

Hector traveled from Atlanta, hoping her presence as a non­violent protester would help counter what she described as “so much negative energy.””

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5. This is troubling, but not surprising. As the above story shows, nowadays the mob rules.

From TheGuardian  “An Israeli ship subject of a pro-Palestinian protest has docked, but demonstrations at the port of Oakland in California continue after between 2,000 and 3,000 pro-Palestinian activists streamed towards the port entrance on Saturday, chanting and waving flags. It remains unclear whether the ship’s cargo has been unloaded.

The protesters intended to form a picket line to prevent work crews from unloading the ship.

Activists had originally planned to meet at 5am for a blockade of the Zim Integrated Shipping Services vessel, but word that its arrival had been delayed prompted organisers to push the protest back until later in the afternoon.

The event began with a brief rally at a nearby transit station, followed by a march to the port. Sameh Ayesh, a 21-year-old Palestinian activist with the San Francisco-based Arab Youth Organisation, led the crowd in a chant.”

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6. Not shocking either….

From TheWashingtonTimes  “The administration that vowed to be the most transparent in history now must defend itself against a federal lawsuit accusing it of thwarting the release of public information. It’s a case that could reveal just how much politics influences the processing of Freedom of Information Act requests, especially when such releases could embarrass the president.

The civic watchdog group Cause of Action on Monday sued the Obama administration, claiming that presidential attorneys have interfered improperly in the release of public documents under the landmark FOIA law in an effort to curb the release of derogatory information about the White House.”

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7. First it was the Army clearing out the ranks of Majors, now it’s the Navy’s turn.

From USAToday  “Almost 8,000 senior enlisted personnel must go before a continuation board later this year to determine whether they can continue to serve or must retire.

The board — the first since early 2013 — will convene Oct. 27, according to a Navy document released Aug. 14.

At risk are between 7,500 and 8,000 retirement-eligible active and reserve E-7s, E-8s and E-9s with at least at least three years’ time in rate.”

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