politics
News/Politics 7-18-14
What’s interesting in the news today?
1. Interesting. It’s a small sample, but it appears to blow the President and Democrats line about fleeing violence out of the water. They blame his policies and lack of border enforcement.
From FoxNews “A new intelligence assessment concludes that misperceptions about U.S. immigration policy – and not Central American violence – are fueling the surge of thousands of children illegally crossing the Mexican border.
The 10-page July 7 report was issued by the El Paso Intelligence Center (EPIC), which according to the Justice Department website is led by the DEA and incorporates Homeland Security. Its focus is on the collection and distribution of tactical intelligence, information which can immediately be acted on by law enforcement.
“Of the 230 migrants interviewed, 219 cited the primary reason for migrating to the United States was the perception of U.S. immigration laws granting free passes or permisos to UAC (unaccompanied children) and adult females OTMs (other than Mexicans) traveling with minors,” the report said.”
“The intelligence assessment, which is unclassified but not meant to go beyond law enforcement, also cited data from the United Nations office on Drugs and Crime Statistics saying despite an explosion in the number of illegal minors, crime data for Central America actually showed a dip in violence.”
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2. Anti-gun folks won’t like this. More guns = less crime.
From HotAir “Via Bob Owens at Bearing Arms, a leftover from yesterday that shouldn’t be missed. Detroit PD chief James Craig has spent the past six months encouraging locals to arm themselves, an unusual — and politically perilous — position for a big city police officer to take. No regrets.
Detroit has experienced 37 percent fewer robberies in 2014 than during the same period last year, 22 percent fewer break-ins of businesses and homes, and 30 percent fewer carjackings. Craig attributed the drop to better police work and criminals being reluctant to prey on citizens who may be carrying guns.
“Criminals are getting the message that good Detroiters are armed and will use that weapon,” said Craig, who has repeatedly said he believes armed citizens deter crime. “I don’t want to take away from the good work our investigators are doing, but I think part of the drop in crime, and robberies in particular, is because criminals are thinking twice that citizens could be armed.
“I can’t say what specific percentage is caused by this, but there’s no question in my mind it has had an effect,” Craig said.”
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3. The White House is bribing insurance companies to try and delay the damage before mid-terms.
From Forbes “Want to know what’s happening with Obamacare? Good luck finding out. The White House recently adopted a new approach for updating Americans on the country’s most consequential law. I call it the “needle in a haystack” method: Bury the announcement in hundreds of pages of regulations and hope no one finds it.
The White House tried a test run several weeks ago. Hidden in the midst of a 436 page regulatory update, and written in pure bureaucratese, the Department of Health and Human Services asked that insurance companies limit the looming premium increases for 2015 health plans. But don’t worry, HHS hinted: we’ll bail you out on the taxpayer’s dime if you lose money.
No wonder there wasn’t a press release. The White House is playing politics with Americans’ health care—and they’re bribing health insurance companies to play along.
The administration’s intention is clear: Salvage the 2014 midterm elections. Typically, insurance companies release their premium rates between summer and early fall—i.e., right before voters cast their ballots in November. If premiums skyrocket—which looks increasingly likely—then voters won’t look too kindly on Senators and Representatives who voted for Obamacare and created this problem.”
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4. Looks like those ObamaCare navigators were a waste of money.
From TheWeeklyStandard “During the open enrollment period for the state and federal health care exchanges, each staff member and volunteer worked with an average of 1.8 people per day, according to a survey of assister programs released by the Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser calculated the number of people receiving aid between October 1, 2013 and the end of April, 2014:
More than 4,400 Assister Programs, employing more than 28,000 full-time-equivalent staff and volunteers, helped an estimated 10.6 million people during the first Open Enrollment period.
If you do the math, 28,000 individuals assisting 10.6 million people over 210 days breaks down to 1.8 people per day per service representative. While the individualized guidance was time consuming, the study revealed that the assister programs should have been able to help more people in the span of a full workday. The questionnaire answers indicated that 64 percent of the programs spent an average of 1-2 hours with each person, 18 percent took 2-3 hours, and just five percent exceeded three hours.”
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5. The VA is saying they need 17 billion to stop mistreating veterans.
From HotAir “In which the agency that’s been giving millions in bonuses to people for causing and lying about the untimely deaths of veterans asks for the GDPs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Anguilla, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Equatorial Guinea combined from taxpayers to stop doing that. Super:
The Department of Veterans Affairs needs $17.6 billion in additional funds over the next three years to meet patients’ needs and fix the troubled agency’s problems, its acting director said Wednesday.
Testifying for the first time on Capitol Hill, interim VA Secretary Sloan Gibson told the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee that the money would help VA medical centers decrease appointment waiting times and hire more doctors.
You perhaps won’t be surprised to find this request is a-ok with Democrats while Republicans wonder how more money is going to solve this problem when the increasing backlog and problems at the Veterans Administration correlated with a rapidly increasing budget. And, in the case of the aforementioned bonuses, more money actually caused the problems.”
And that’s on top of the money already in current reform packages.
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6. How to renounce America, and still be called a patriot, at least by other hypocrites.
From NationalJournal “This story is about a gilded class of people and corporations enriched by the new American economy while the rest of its citizens pay the tab. The protagonists could be any number of institutional elites, but this column happens to be about a Democratic senator from West Virginia, Joe Manchin, and his daughter, Heather Bresch, the chief executive of Mylan, a giant maker of generic drugs based outside Pittsburgh.
Her company’s profits come largely from Medicaid and Medicare, which means her nest is feathered by U.S. taxpayers. On Monday, Bresch announced that Mylan will renounce its United States citizenship and instead become incorporated in the Netherlands – leaving this country, in part, to pay less in taxes.
This is the sort of story that makes blood boil in populists – voters from the Elizabeth Warren wing of the Democratic Party to libertarians who follow Rand Paul and including tea party conservatives. These disillusioned souls, growing in numbers, hate hypocrites who condemn the U.S. political system while gaming it.
Populists can’t be happy with how this story was told by Andrew Ross Sorkin of the New York Times. Under the headline “Reluctantly, Patriot Flees Homeland for Greener Tax Pastures,” Sorkin cast Bresch as a helpless victim of a system that has made her wealthy and her father powerful.”
Oh the poor things… 🙄
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News/Politics 7-17-14
What’s interesting in the news today?
1. Nixon would be proud, and someone needs to go to jail.
From HotAir “carpet treatment. However, they probably didn’t expect the Red Scare treatment, either. In testimony before Congress last night, investigators revealed that the VA office initially gave them offices that were wired to record audio and video. They also found a notebook detailing how one manager instructed employees to obstruct the investigation:
Congressional staffers investigating data falsification and whistleblower retaliation at the Department of Veterans Affairs regional office in Philadelphia were given a workspace there that was wired with activated audio microphones and video cameras, the chairman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs said Monday.
Committee investigators also glimpsed a notebook used by the agency’s regional director that bore written instructions to ignore their requests for information, Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., said during a late-night hearing.”
“The notepad belonged to Acting Director Lucy Filipov, who insisted on putting investigators into a room where computer microphones and cameras had been activated. One handwritten instruction was “ignore Rory,” one of the Congressional staffers conducting the investigation for Miller. Another note listed two of the whistleblowers that were cooperating with the committee.”
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2. The next scandal is getting the usual response from the White House. Obstruction.
From TheHill “The director of the White House’s political office defied a subpoena from the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday, setting up a new high-profile fight between the White House and House Republicans.
Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said administration claims that White House political director David Simas was immune from testimony were “absurd” and “deeply disturbing.”
“Issa said Wednesday that Congress does “not and should not need a smoking gun” to investigate the administration. He said the committee was justified in demanding testimony from a senior presidential adviser, pointing to when Democrats compelled Harriet Miers, the White House counsel to former President George W. Bush, to testify about allegations of the politically motivated firings of U.S. attorneys.
He also played a voicemail in which former Labor Secretary Hilda Solis solicits a campaign contribution while on the job to demonstrate that the Obama administration had previously run afoul of the Hatch Act. Solis was not in any way connected to the political office under investigation.”
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3. It’s way past time.
More from TheWashintonExaminer “Football Hall of Famer Deion Sanders, “Independence Day” star Vivica Fox and several other prominent African-American celebrities are urging governments to adopt school choice, charter schools and other alternatives to education to give kids stuck in poor inner city schools a chance at the fame and fortune they have had.
“It’s time for educational choice,” says Sanders in a new video for the American Federation for Children and Alliance for School Choice, which promote alternatives to public education.
The campaign, called “Champions for Choice,” held an event last night in Los Angeles featuring athletes and celebrities in town for the ESPYS, during which star athletes are recognized.
“Many of the athletes,” said Kevin P. Chavous, executive counsel of the American Federation for Children, “come from humble backgrounds. They know what happened to many of their classmates who couldn’t make it out of failing schools. And they know that athletic skills good enough to play in the NBA and NFL shouldn’t be the only way out of poverty for these kids, as is too often the case.”
The former District councilman added, “That’s why they’re supporting school choice.”
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4. The infighting continues in the Mississippi. And further proof the RINO’s can’t be trusted.
From RedState “I can confirm that the attack ads in Mississippi run by “All Citizens for Mississippi” were funded by Senate Republicans, including Senators Mitch McConnell, John Cornyn, Rob Portman, Bob Corker, and Roy Blunt. It appears our Senate Republican leaders are willing to risk losing a Senate majority so long as they can get their own re-elected. Yes folks, it is true. I can confirm what we all suspected.
The advertisements attacked Mississippi State Senator Chris McDaniel and painted conservative Republicans and tea party activists as racists. According to documents filed with the Federal Elections Commission, All Citizens for Mississippi received funding from a Haley Barbour backed group called Mississippi Conservatives.
Mississippi Conservatives, in turn, was funded in part by Sally Bradshaw of the RNC’s Growth and Opportunity Project, former RNC Chairman and Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, the United States Chamber of Commerce, and the political action committees created for Senators Mitch McConnell ($50,000), John Cornyn ($50,000), Rob Portman ($25,000), Bob Corker ($25,000), and Roy Blunt ($5,000).“
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5. And McDaniel continues his fight to see the voting records. Counties with Cochran supporters in charge are not being co-operative.
From TownHall “The challenger who narrowly lost a Republican primary runoff to incumbent U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran is taking his quest to view original voting records to the Mississippi Supreme Court.
State Sen. Chris McDaniel is trying to prove that some people who voted in the June 24 runoff also voted in the June 3 Democratic primary, which would be illegal. His goal is to force another runoff.
On Monday, he asked the court for an emergency order forcing Harrison County Circuit Clerk Gayle Parker to let him see original copies of poll books.”
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News/Politics 7-16-14
What’s interesting in the news today?
1. Well I’m sure the world will be happy to hear this…..
🙄
From CNSNews “White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Monday the Obama administration’s foreign policies in a number of areas have enhanced the world’s “tranquility” – a word that raised eyebrows as reporters pointed to situations in Gaza, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Ukraine and the South China Sea.
More than one reporter during Monday’s press briefing referred to a front-page Wall Street Journal article highlighting some of those crises, and citing security strategists as saying “the breadth of global instability now unfolding hasn’t been seen since the late 1970s.”
“How does the White House react to the notion that the president is a bystander to all these crises?” asked Fox News’ Ed Henry, citing the widening gaps between the sides in the Iranian nuclear talks, the conflict in and around Gaza, and the Syrian civil war.
“I think that there have been a number of situations in which you’ve seen this administration intervene in a meaningful way, that has substantially furthered American interests and substantially improved the, uh, you know, the – the tranquility of the global community,” Earnest replied.”
Uh, you know, places like Syria, Egypt, Libya, Ukraine, Iraq, Afghanistan, Africa, the Mexican border, etc., etc.,…. The places where Obama’s intervened in a meaningful way. 🙄
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2. Good. And while it’s bad that they may not be able to catch all the cheats, it’s still better than giving them the resources if they’re going to misuse them on political witch hunts anyway.
From TheAP “The GOP-controlled House has voted to slash the budget for the Internal Revenue Service’s tax enforcement division by $1.2 billion, a 25 percent cut that would mean fewer audits of taxpayers and make it more likely that people who cheat on their taxes will get away with it.
The House approved the cuts by voice vote after little debate Monday night as it took up a $21 billion spending bill that sets the IRS budget.
The cuts reflect GOP outrage over the agency’s scrutiny of tea party groups seeking tax-exempt status and frustration over the agency’s failure to produce thousands of emails by Lois Lerner, the official formerly in charge of the IRS division that processes applications for tax-exempt status.
“The use of a government agency to harass, target, intimidate and threaten lawful, honest citizens was the worst form of authoritarianism,” said Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., author of an amendment to cut the IRS tax enforcement budget by $353 million. Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-Mich., followed up with an amendment to cut $788 million more. The underlying bill already contained a $72 million cut from last year’s $5 billion enforcement budget, bringing the total cut to $1.2 billion.”
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3. Gee, maybe this is why they stopped touting their bogus enrollees number.
From TheWeeklyStandard “In March 2010, Obamacare was about to be voted upon by the House of Representatives, and the Democrats were in the process of deciding whether to ignore public opinion at their peril. At that time, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projected that Obamacare would cost $938 billion over a decade and would reduce the number of uninsured people by 19 million as of 2014 (with a reduction of 1 million prior to 2014 and 18 million in 2014 alone). Unimpressed, the American people overwhelmingly opposed the intrusive overhaul — with 20 of 21 polls taken that month showing it to be unpopular, most of them by double digits. The Democrats willfully passed Obamacare anyway and lost 63 House seats that November.
Two years later, the Supreme Court declared Obamacare’s coercive Medicaid expansion to be unconstitutional as written, and the CBO adjusted its projection for the number of uninsured accordingly. It projected that Obamacare would reduce the number of uninsured by 14 million as of 2014 (2 million before 2014 and 12 million in 2014 alone), at a 10-year cost of $1.677 trillion — or $739 billion more than the 2010 projection. (This February, the CBO projected that Obamacare’s 10-year cost would eclipse $2 trillion.)
n February of this year, the CBO projected that Obamacare would reduce the number of uninsured by 13 million as of 2014. In April, the CBO had seen enough of the Obama administration’s skillful rollout of Obamacare to reduce that estimate to 12 million.
Now the Urban Institute finds that Obamacare has actually reduced the number of uninsured adults by 8 million since the rollout began last fall. (Gallup shows a similar number.) That’s far short of the number of newly insured that the CBO projected in April of this year, in February of this year, or in 2012 — and it’s less than half the tally the American people were told Obamacare would hit when they opposed it in 2010. “
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4. The problems at the VA continue.
From TheWashingtonTimes “The VA’s rush to cut a huge backlog of claims from disabled veterans has forced it to cut corners elsewhere, and yet the department is still botching about one out of every 10 claims decisions, top officials and whistleblowers testified to Congress on Monday, signaling that the problems go far beyond the hospital wait times that have plagued it.
The very program the Obama administration started to years ago to cut the backlog has resulted in bad decisions that have forced many veterans into a lengthy appeals process, and created backlogs in other claims such as dependents’ benefits, members of the House Veterans Affairs Committee concluded.”
“These are veterans. I mean, somebody would be asleep at the wheel not to realize these things were going up,” said Ronald Robinson, a senior veterans service representative, former Army first sergeant, and one of three whistleblowers to testify.
In one dramatic moment, committee Chairman Jeff Miller, Florida Republican, posted a handwritten note one of his staffers had seen on a site visit to Philadelphia in which a top regional VA executive had written that committee investigators were to be ignored, and that singled out known whistleblowers.”
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5. I have no problem with charges of vandalism and destruction of public property charges for the perps. But a hate crime? Really? Now they’re just being stupid. 🙄
From CarrollCountyTimes “Maryland State Police have classified anti-immigration graffiti spray painted on the former Army Reserve Center in Westminster as a hate crime. The graffiti was sprayed sometime Saturday night or early Sunday morning, according to Lt. Patrick McCrory, commander of the state police Westminster barracks.
The graffiti said “NO ILLEAGLES [sic] HERE NO UNDOCUMENTED DEMOCRATS.”
It was spray-painted on the front of the Army Reserve Center, which recently became embroiled in controversy when the Obama administration considered using the facility to house immigrant children caught crossing the US-Mexico border illegally.
The Carroll County Board of Commissioners spoke out against the federal government’s plan on Friday during an emergency cabinet meeting. Commissioners attending the meeting pledged not to provide any assistance to federal agencies if or when they moved the children to the facility. “
Who’s the genius leading the investigation, Joe Biden? 🙄
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News/Politics 7-15-14
What’s interesting in the news today?
1. Eric Holder took to the talk show circuit this weekend to tell everyone what a great job he and the President were doing. I find that amusing, but he’s actually serious.
But what kind of top law enforcement official calls an investigation of crimes thorough and complete, without ever talking to the victim of the crimes?
From IJReview “No one from True The Vote, the highest profile organization targeted by the IRS in the scandal involving improper scrutiny of conservative-leaning non-profits, has been interviewed by the FBI or investigators from the Department of Justice, according to the group’s President, Catherine Engelbrecht.
This stunning revelation comes just days after Attorney General Eric Holder rebuffed the suggestion that an independent investigation is needed into the growing scandal. Holder told ABC News this weekend that a special investigation was unnecessary because “career people” and FBI agents were “doing a good, professional job” investigating the matter.
When I raised Holder’s assertion to Engelbrecht Monday morning during an interview on WMAL radio in Washington, DC, I asked her what her involvement and experience has been with the FBI and the DOJ, considering Holder’s claim that they were doing a “good and professional job” investigating the IRS scandal.
“That would be exactly ‘no.’ Zero. at no time have they approached us. Only when they are investigating us. Only when they are being adversarial towards us do we ever hear anything from the Department of Justice. There has been no outreach to try and get to the bottom of the scandal at any time. “
Maybe he meant it was a thorough and complete cover-up.
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2. Anyone else noticing a pattern?
From TheBlaze “House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) on Monday made yet another request to the federal government for details about a crashed hard drive that may have contained information allowing criminal charges to be brought against a federal official.
Issa’s newest letter concerns the hard drive of April Sands, a former employee at the Federal Election Commission who resigned in the spring after admitting to violations of the Hatch Act. That law puts restrictions on the ability of government officials to conduct political activities while on the job, or from government offices.
Issa noted that while Sands admitted to violating the law, the FEC just recently told Congress that it could not recover her hard drive, which made it impossible to seek criminal charges against her.
“Recent information obtained by the committee suggests that the FEC OIG could not pursue criminal prosecution for the misconduct because the attorney’s hard drive had been recycled by the FEC,” Issa’s letter said.”
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3. Meanwhile, the White House wants Issa to drop the subpoena that seeks answers on the White House’s Hatch Act violations. If past scandals are any indication, I’d expect more hard drive crashes soon.
From Politico “The White House is asking Rep. Darrell Issa to withdraw a subpoena of a senior adviser to President Barack Obama and is offering instead to hold a private briefing on activities in the administration’s political affairs office.
In a letter sent Monday, White House Counsel W. Neil Eggleston offered to brief Issa, a California Republican who chairs the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, on the role of the the Office of Political Strategy and Outreach on Tuesday. That’s one day before the office’s director, David Simas, is under subpoena to testify on potential violations of the Hatch Act.
The Hatch Act prevents executive branch employees from engaging in political races and campaigns. The White House insists the office is in line with the law, while Issa is accusing Simas of leading an organization designed to boost Democrats.”
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4. There’s a hearing today on the bill Democrats are pushing to undo pro-life legislation passed by states. Must protect their Precious, and their blood money.
From LifeNews “Senate Democrats will hold a hearing on a bill tomorrow that would wipe out almost every single pro-life law on abortion.
S.1696 is deceptively titled the “Women’s Health Protection Act” even though it revokes protections for women and their unborn children. Instead, the bill would be far reaching in how it would topple pro-life laws passed in virtually every state in the country.
Carol Tobias, president of the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), the federation of state right-to-life organizations, is one of the only pro-life speakers testifying against the legislation. She tells LifeNews that four months before the mid-term congressional election, Senate Democrats are pushing into the national spotlight “the most radical pro-abortion bill ever considered by Congress.”
Tobias commented, “We believe that many voters will be appalled to learn that nearly two-thirds of Senate Democrats have already cosponsored a bill to impose nationwide the extreme ideological doctrine that elective abortion must not be limited in any meaningful way, at any stage of pregnancy.”
Why is anyone shocked? Everyone knows Democrats are the pro-abortion party. It’s also not shocking that the pro-abortion press keeps it hush-hush.
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5. Maybe it’s just me, but I’m thinking maybe they shouldn’t have kids.
From Slate “I’ve been wavering on the subject of motherhood for what seems like decades. Like Ruth Graham, who wrote of her fear of parenthood on Slate not long ago, when I contemplate jumping the gap between not-mom and mom, I see only catastrophe. The physical changes, the financial challenge, the increased difficulty of travel—having a baby seems like saying goodbye to my freedom. On the other hand, I’m 36, and if I ever were fancy-free, I’m not now. I don’t have a super-active nightlife, and I already pack little survival Ziplocs of nuts and carrots wherever I go. I’m willing to allow that being a mom might strip me of some independence, and the bright little faces of my nieces are a good argument that there would be ample compensation. What I most worry about is that motherhood might make me hate my darling husband.
When I talk to my female friends who are moms about motherhood, the conversation often drifts to the changes that children have brought to their relationships with their spouses. It’s not just my friends: In a survey of the psychological literature in her recent book All Joy and No Fun, Jennifer Senior points to multiple studies cataloging the many arguments couples have after they have children. For a person like me, a feminist with a keen awareness of the generally unfair division of domestic labor, my friends’ irritated gripes, or the findings in books like Arlie Hochschild’s 1989 classic The Second Shift, are little horror stories. “Many women carry into their marriage the distasteful and unwieldy burden of resenting their husbands,” Hochschild wrote. I can see how this would happen to me, and I Do Not Want.
So what’s the solution? People get prenups. What about drawing up a pre-pregnancy contract? (Not, under any circumstances, to be called a “prepup,” as my husband joked.) Wouldn’t a not-at-all legally binding document, outlining expectations and setting a course for periodic re-examination of the division of labor, alleviate my fears, and prevent aggravation, or fights, or divorce, in the future?
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News/Politics 7-14-14
What’s interesting in the news today?
1. We finally have some judges requiring under-oath testimony from the IRS. They’re not as easy to ignore, impede, and lie to as Congress is.
From FoxNews “A federal judge has ordered the IRS to explain “under oath” how the agency lost a trove of emails from the official at the heart of the Tea Party targeting scandal.
U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan gave the tax agency 30 days to file a declaration by an “appropriate official” to address the computer issues with ex-official Lois Lerner.
The decision came Thursday as part of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch, which along with GOP lawmakers on Capitol Hill has questioned how the IRS lost the emails and, in some cases, had no apparent way to retrieve them.”
And a second.
Also from FoxNews “A second federal judge has now ordered the IRS to explain under oath how the agency lost emails from former division director Lois Lerner, the woman at the heart of the Tea Party targeting scandal.
U.S. District Court Judge Reggie Walton told Obama administration lawyers on Friday he wants to see an affidavit explaining what happened with Lerner’s hard drive. The IRS claims her computer suffered a crash in 2011 that wiped her email records at the time clean.
But at a hearing examining a lawsuit against the IRS by conservative group True the Vote, Walton said he wants to know what happened to Lerner’s hard drive, which allegedly was recycled. He asked for an affidavit from those involved in handling the crashed drive.
Among other things, he said he wanted to know the serial number, if any, assigned to the hard drive and if that number is known, “why the computer hard drive cannot be identified and preserved.””
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2. This is getting interesting too.
From TheHill “A conservative election-watching organization has filed a motion for a restraining order against the Mississippi Republican Party, declaring it has evidence of tampering in runoff records.
True the Vote, which filed the motion with the Jackson Division of the U.S. District Court on Wednesday, claims it has “dozens of full detailed affidavit reports” detailing incidences of vote tampering. The alleged misconduct includes “destruction of voters’ absentee ballot applications and mandatory envelopes, illegal alteration of poll books, cross-over and double voting, absentee ballots marked ‘Accepted’ but unopened.”
“Defendant county commissioners have continued to violate federal law by preventing access to election records. Now, we think we know why,” True the Vote founder Catherine Engelbrecht said in a statement.
“If the affidavits we now have regarding the destruction of election documents and other similarly stunning findings are true, then no Mississippian, no American, can trust the results of this election.”
The McDaniel camp is getting in on it too, with allegations of their own.
From NortheastMiss.DailyJournal “State Sen. Chris McDaniel, still refusing to give up his challenge to incumbent U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran, said Friday via e-mail his campaign had found 8,300 questionable ballots across the state from the June 24 Republican primary runoff.
He said many of those “were unquestionably cast by voters ineligible to participate in the June 24th runoff election” that McDaniel lost to Cochran
McDaniel promised a Wednesday news conference “to discuss the evidence we have documented and our next steps.”
McDaniel has said before he intends to file a legal challenge to the June 24 election where Cochran defeated him by 194,932 votes to 187,265 votes.
This past week the McDaniel campaign sent supporters into each county to look for possible voter irregularities. The Cochran campaign, which has had representatives in each courthouse to observe the actions of the McDaniel campaign, has said only a few hundred irregularities were found.”
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3. The next scandal?
From TheDailyMail “House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chair Rep. Darrell Issa sent his latest subpoena to the Obama administration on Friday, demanding testimony from the director of a controversial White House office reportedly tasked with political work on taxpayers’ dime.
David Simas, the director of the White House Office of Political Strategy and Outreach, has refused to testify voluntarily but will be required to answer questions in a July 16 hearing on Capitol Hill.
President Barack Obama closed the White House Office of Political Affairs in 2011, just days before an Office of Special Counsel report warned that it risked ‘transforming from an official government office into a partisan political operation.’
But the president reopened the office six months ago under a new name as Democrats began to gear up for a contentious midterm election fight.”
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4. Looks like the plan may be backfiring.
From The WashingtonPost “Until now, the politics of immigration have been seen as a no-lose proposition for President Obama and the Democrats. If they could get a comprehensive overhaul passed, they would win. And if Republicans blocked it, the GOP would further alienate crucial Hispanic and moderate voters.
But with the current crisis on the Southwest border, where authorities have apprehended tens of thousands of unaccompanied Central American children since October, that calculus may be shifting.
Republicans and even some Democrats have accused Obama of being insufficiently engaged in a calamity that many say he should have seen coming.”
“The emergency has also renewed questions about the administration’s competence, reminiscent of those raised during the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, last year’s botched rollout of the health-care law and more recent revelations of mismanagement that jeopardized care of patients at veterans hospitals. “
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News/Politics 7-12-14
What’s interesting in the news today?
Open Thread Weekend. Have fun.
News/Politics 7-11-14
What’s interesting in the news today?
1. Wow. Force reduction is certainly necessary, and welcome by many troops too. But how about you show a little class? Is that too much to ask?
From TheNYPost “In a stunning display of callousness, the Defense Department has announced that thousands of soldiers — many serving as commanding officers in Afghanistan — will be notified in the coming weeks that their service to the country is no longer needed.
Last week, more than 1,100 Army captains — the men and women who know best how to fight this enemy because they have experienced multiple deployments — were told they’ll be retired from the Army.
The overall news is not unexpected. The Army has ended its major operations in Iraq and is winding down in Afghanistan. Budget cuts are projected to shrink the Army from its current 520,000 troops to 440,000, the smallest size since before World War II.
What is astonishing is that the Defense Department thought it would be appropriate to notify deployed soldiers — men and women risking their lives daily in combat zones — that they’ll be laid off after their current deployment.”
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2. Really? And this is the first they noticed?
From TheWashingtonExaminer “In unprecedented criticism of the White House, 38 journalism groups have assailed the president’s team for censoring media coverage, limiting access to top officials and overall “politically-driven suppression of the news.”
In a letter to President Obama, the 38, led by the Society of Professional Journalists, said efforts by government officials to stifle or block coverage has grown for years and reached a high-point under his administration despite Obama’s 2008 campaign promise to provide transparency.
Worse, they said: As access for reporters has been cut off, the administration has opened the door to lobbyists, special interests and “people with money.”
And as a result, they wrote, Obama only has himself to blame for the current cynicism of his administration. “You need look no further than your own administration for a major source of that frustration – politically driven suppression of news and information about federal agencies. We call on you to take a stand to stop the spin and let the sunshine in,” wrote David Cuillier, president of SPJ.”
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3. Too simple a solution?
From TheWashingtonTimes “We taxpayers are expected to house, feed, clothe and care for almost 30,000 illegal aliens for a full year, according to the White House’s official request. That’s a small city.
Instead, we could fly all of them home for one-half of 1 percent of the $3.8 billion that President Obama proposes we spend. That’s a savings of 99.5 percent!
Most of his proposal is to pay living expenses. At the unofficial reported cost of $250 per person per day, President Barack Obama is proposing we spend $1.8 billion “to provide appropriate care for unaccompanied children.” That works out to 19,726 minors for a year. (The official term for them, written into federal statute, is “undocumented alien children.” Not undocumented immigrants, migrants or refugees. Those other terms are efforts at propaganda.)
In addition, Obama wants another $879 million “for detention and removal of apprehended undocumented adults traveling with children,” and “alternatives to detention programs” for these adults. He blends “removal” with “detention” to make it impossible to determine how many removals are planned.”
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These next few discuss things mentioned yesterday in more detail. This didn’t happen overnight. These are some of the players, along with our govt and White House, who have brought on this “crisis.” And this is a coordinated effort.
The Coyotes.
From NBCNews “Ramshackle hotels that rent rooms for $5 a night line the main street in El Naranjo, Guatemala, signs of the outpost’s status as a waystation for Central American migrants trying to make their way to the United States.
The lawless, dangerous town is home to drug-traffickers and human smugglers — the coyotes who negotiate and make deals with the desperate travelers right out in the open.
During a visit to El Naranjo, a team from NBC Nightly News watched one such transaction — four Hondurans, two of them teenagers, making a deal — while a Guatemalan soldier a few feet away turned a blind eye.”
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Governments we aid, working against us and enabling the situation.
From The Examiner “On Monday, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto and Guatemalan president Otto Perez Molina held a joint press conference in Playas de Catazaja, Mexico, to officially announce an agreement to make it easier for those making the illegal journey to the United States from Central America, to cross into Mexico.
The Southern Border Program to Improve Passage, will provide for more border checkpoints along Mexico’s border with Guatemala, and offer more protection and even emergency medical care to those making their way north. The illegal aliens will receive a so-called Regional Visitor’s Card, according to El Universal.
Officially, the program will grant the cards to only illegal aliens from Guatemala and Belize, allowing them to remain in Mexico’s southern states for 72 hours (more than enough time to reach the U.S./Mexican border by train). While, those two countries share a border with Mexico, the program will undoubtedly benefit anyone who makes it to the border, which would explain why our Border Patrol stations are currently overflowing with illegal aliens from El Salvador and Honduras as well.”
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The Gangs.
From JudicialWatch “The nation’s most violent street gangs—including Mara Salvatrucha—are actively recruiting new members at U.S. shelters housing illegal immigrant minors and they’re using Red Cross phones to communicate, a Homeland Security source tells Judicial Watch.
JW has reported extensively on the crisis created by the sudden influx of mostly Central American minors that have crossed into the U.S. through the Mexican border in recent weeks. It has created havoc and will end up costing American taxpayers billions of dollars to house, process, medically treat, feed and inevitably educate the Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) which are being dispersed throughout the country. They are bringing in dangerous diseases—including swine flu, dengue fever, Ebola virus and tuberculosis— and occupying our military bases as shelters.
As if all this weren’t bad enough, the invasion is also supplying the nation’s most dangerous street gangs with new soldiers. The Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and the 18th Street gangs are on a recruiting frenzy at the various facilities housing the newly arrived illegal aliens, according to JW’s source. The MS-13 is a feared street gang of mostly Central American illegal immigrants that’s spread throughout the U.S. and is renowned for drug distribution, murder, rape, robbery, home invasions, kidnappings, vandalism and other violent crimes. The Justice Department’s National Gang Intelligence Center (NGIC) says criminal street gangs like the MS-13 are responsible for the majority of violent crimes in the U.S. and are the primary distributors of most illicit drugs.”
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Obama enabling La Raza, the racist immigration “right” group.
From TheCapitalCityProject “Federal funding surged to a radical immigration group under the Obama administration after a former top member of the organization joined the Obama team in 2009.
In 2009, Cecilia Muñoz was appointed as the Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of Intergovernmental Affairs in the Obama administration. She served in this position until January of 2012 when she became the President’s Domestic Policy Advisor and the Director of the Domestic Policy Council, a position which coordinates the domestic policy making process in the White House.
Muñoz is the former Vice President for the Office of Research, Advocacy, and Legislation for the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), one of the most radical groups today behind the push for a compete overhaul of the United States immigration system. She is married to Amit Muñoz-Pandya, a human rights lawyer and former counselor to the Open Society Institute, which was established and funded by liberal billionaire George Soros.”
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4. Will Israel allow them an out yet again?
From TheJerusalemPost “Hamas feels that it has been forced into a confrontation with Israel – one that it did not want at this stage because of its increased isolation and financial crisis.
The massive Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours have surprised Hamas and other Palestinian groups. Hamas apparently expected a limited response to the recent rocket attacks on Israeli cities and towns. But as the IDF intensified its strikes against Hamas targets – including the homes of some of its top commanders – it became clear to the movement’s leaders that Israel means business.
On Tuesday night, Hamas spokesmen were sending distress signals to various parties. The organization is concerned that if the IDF operation continues for another few days, the movement will pay a very heavy price – one that could even bring about an end to Hamas’s rule over the Gaza Strip.
Hamas accused Israel of “crossing all the redlines” by bombing the homes of its military commanders. This shows that Hamas did not expect Israel to take such a drastic move. Less than 24 hours after the beginning of the IDF offensive, Hamas talked about the need to return to the truce that was reached with Israel in 2012.”
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5. Not could be higher, it is higher.
From MSNNews “Tax credits for families that don’t qualify. Medicare payments for treatments that might not be necessary. Unemployment benefits for people who are secretly working. Federal agencies reported making $100 billion in payments last year to people who may not have been entitled to receive them.
Congressional investigators say the figure could be even higher.
“The amounts here are absolutely staggering,” said Rep. , R-Fla. “It’s over $100 billion each of the last five years. That’s a staggering half a trillion dollars in improper payments.”
“In 2013, federal agencies made $97 billion in overpayments, according to agency estimates. Underpayments totaled $9 billion. That adds up to $106 billion in improper payments, or 3.5 percent of all the payments made by the federal government.”
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6. Cut. Nose. Spite. Face.
From BuzzFeed ” One of the nation’s largest public-sector unions is severing its ties with the United Negro College Fund because the group accepted donations from the Koch brothers and its president spoke at a Koch-funded summit.
In a letter sent Tuesday, AFSCME President Lee Saunders wrote that the UNCF has taken actions “deeply hostile” to public employees, which he considers a “profound betrayal of the ideals of the civil rights movement,” and that the union will end its relationship with UNCF.
Saunders cited the UNCF’s decision to accept a $25 million grant from Koch Industries, Inc. and the Charles Koch Foundation as a reason for the split, as well as the decision by UNCF President Michael Lomax to speak at a summit hosted by the Kochs in California.”
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News/Politics 7-10-14
What’s interesting in the news today?
Lots to talk about today.
1. There’s no reason for this. It serves no other purpose but to insult.
From TheDailyMail “The rebels, who are members of the Islamic State terror group, were filmed attacking centuries-old graves in the north-west city of Mosul in Ninevah province.
Donning balaclavas and black coats, they swung sledgehammers into the tombs, causing pieces of dust and stone to fly through the air.”
“One of the devastated tombstones belonged to the Prophet Jonah (Younis in Arabic) and was revered by Muslims and Christians alike, according to Iraqi authorities.”
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2. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. I have no interest whatsoever in anything aiding pedophiles, but this sets a very dangerous precedent, even for non-Catholics. Imagine the effect this could have on people seeking spiritual guidance that they think is, and should be, protected conversations.
From HotAir “Many observers misunderstood the Hobby Lobby dispute and others like it as a First Amendment case, but it wasn’t. It primarily related to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), with an indirect reference to the constitutional freedom of religious expression. A case in Louisiana may be the real McCoy, though. The Louisiana Supreme Court has ruled that a priest must testify in a case about what he heard in a confessional — an order that would result in automatic excommunication and damnation, according to the doctrine and canon law of the Catholic Church:
The state high court’s decision, rendered in May of this year, demands that a hearing be held in 19th Judicial District Court in Baton Rouge, where the suit originated, to determine whether or not a confession was made. It reverses an earlier decision by the Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeals dismissing the original lawsuit filed against Bayhi and the diocese. The case stems from a claim by parents of a minor that their daughter confessed to Bayhi during the sacrament of reconciliation that she engaged in inappropriate sexual behavior with grown man who also attended their church. Court documents indicate the child was 12 years old at the time of the alleged sexual abuse.”
“This case gets complicated for a couple of reasons. While the common perception has been that priests cannot be forced to testify about confessions in the US because of ministerial privilege and the First Amendment, that privilege gets defined by each state separately. In Louisiana, the privilege attaches to the person offering the confession and not the priest. Once the penitent has revealed what was said — or perhaps more to the specific point in this case, alleges to have revealed what was said — the state can subpoena the priest to confirm or deny the testimony. In that sense, it’s akin to the lawyer-client privilege, which can be broken by the client.
On the other hand, lawyers don’t face eternal disbarment for testifying once a client has waived the privilege. Priests do, and face automatic expulsion from the Catholic Church for complying. There is nothing in church doctrine that requires a penitent to keep quiet about what transpires in the confessional, but the canon law is clear on this point. Can. 983 states that “The sacramental seal is inviolable; therefore it is absolutely forbidden for a confessor to betray in any way a penitent in words or in any manner and for any reason.” The punishment for breaking the seal is explicitly noted in Can. 1388: “A confessor who directly violates the sacramental seal incurs a latae sententiae [by the commission of the act] excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See; one who does so only indirectly is to be punished according to the gravity of the delict.”
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3. Thoughts?
Also from HotAir “Turns out the American public thinks Jesus is a pro-life liberal. Who knew?
The latest research from YouGov shows that on social issues in particular Americans tend to have more liberal attitudes than imagine say Jesus would have. 48% of the public supports legal abortion, compared to only 20% who say Jesus would support it, the biggest divide between public opinion and expectations of what Jesus would think. Only on one issue, the death penalty, do the public stake out a more conservative position, with 58% in favor of the death penalty for murderers compared to 34% who say that Jesus would support it. The smallest difference in attitude is on universal healthcare. 56% of Americans support universal healthcare and 55% of Americans say that Jesus would support it too…
Comparing Protestants and Catholics we see that Jesus’ imagined position amongst Protestants is more conservative than amongst Catholics. A third of Catholics say that Jesus would support gay marriage, compared to only 20% of Protestants. Most Catholics also say that Jesus would support universal healthcare and stricter gun laws, while in each case less than half of Protestants agree.
Abortion and gay marriage were the only issues tested in which more people thought Jesus would take the traditional conservative position than the liberal one. When asked if he’d support or oppose legal abortion, a clear majority of 20/52 overall said the latter:”
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4. Now we’re starting to see what they’ve been hiding. Well….. the stuff they haven’t already destroyed anyway.
Nope. No scandal here. 🙄
From TheWashingtonTimes “Just as the IRS tea party targeting scandal was erupting, Lois G. Lerner warned colleagues to “be cautious” about what information they put in emails because it could end up being turned over to Congress, according to an email message released Wednesday.
The 2013 email exchange between Ms. Lerner and fellow employees at the Internal Revenue Service also says that instant message conversations were probably never stored and weren’t checked during open-records requests — even though they also fell under the law requiring electronic records to be stored.”
“I was cautioning folks about email and how we have had several occasions where Congress has asked for emails and there has been an electronic search for responsive emails — so we need to be cautious about what we say in emails,” Ms. Lerner wrote in an April 9, 2013, message.
She went on to ask whether the instant message communications were stored automatically. When a tech staffer said no but the records could be stored if employees copied them, she replied, “Perfect.”
Yes, perfect…. for criminals trying to hide their actions.
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5. Ray Nagin has gotten ten years in prison for taking bribes and corruption.
From NBCNews “Former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin was sentenced Wednesday to 120 months in prison. U.S. District Judge Helen Berrigan also ordered Nagin to pay $84,000 in restitution. “What Ray Nagin did was sell his office over and over again,” lead prosecutor Matt Coman said after the sentencing. “The damage that C. Ray Nagin inflicted on this community … is incalculable.” He will report to a minimum security prison in September.
Nagin, 58, was convicted on Feb. 12 of accepting more than $500,000 worth of bribes and free trips from contractors in exchange for helping them clinch millions of dollars in city work when he was mayor of New Orleans, both pre- and post-Hurricane Katrina. He was found guilty of 20 out of 21 counts in the indictment. Nagin, a Democrat who was mayor for two terms from 2002 to 2010, denied he took any bribes.”
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6. Why worry about doing your job, when there’s more important things to do. Like pander to outraged libs.
From TheHill “Senate Democrats will offer legislation Wednesday morning to reverse last week’s Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Supreme Court ruling on contraception coverage, though the measure has no chance of passing the House.
The measure from Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) seeks to stop corporations from refusing federal healthcare coverage mandates on religious grounds.
Murray is spearheading the effort by Senate Democrats to turn the tables on Republican supporters of the ruling ahead of the midterm elections.
The Democrats, aware that the House would never defy the court’s ruling but confident the public sides with them, want to draw the GOP into a political fight over birth control in order to energize women voters.”
They can’t run on their pathetic record, so they’ll drag out the old “war on women” horse for another beating. How original… 🙄
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7. Not surprising. They don’t want people to see what’s going on in these facilities.
From TheBlaze “Department of Homeland Security officials are stonewalling lawmakers who try to make unannounced visits to immigrant detention facilities throughout the country and are closing off public roads along the U.S.-Mexico border in an effort to keep journalists from reporting on the growing illegal immigration crisis, federal law enforcement officials told TheBlaze.
The officials said senior supervisors have made scheduling visits ahead of time mandatory at detention facilities, turned back officials from unannounced visits, and that Border Patrol agents have been forced to clean up facilities and transfer illegal aliens from unauthorized holding cells before they are inspected by lawmakers. Reporters have also been stopped by DHS officials from traveling along public access roads near the Rio Grande, where most of illegal immigrant children and groups are crossing into the U.S.
The media crackdown along the Rio Grande happened shortly after TheBlaze visited the region last month and traveled along some of the more secluded roads along the river’s edge. TheBlaze witnessed dozens of illegal immigrants turning themselves in to Border Patrol agents after making the crossing into the United States and interviewed many of them before they were taken away.”
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8. Meanwhile, the pushback from the communities they’re dumping the illegals in continues.
From WatchDogWire “The current crisis on the southern border, involving tens of thousands of unaccompanied minors from El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala, has now become a concern for Michiganders who live in a rural community with less than 3000 people.
Wolverine Human Services, a social services agency which typically helps needy Michigan children, is in the process of securing a contract and negotiating with the Office of Refugee Resettlement to bring between 60- 120 male illegal immigrants, between the ages of 12-17, to the small city of Vassar without any input from residents of the community.
About 100 concerned citizens, some bearing signs, gathered outside the Vassar City Hall last night to let public officials know what they think.”
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9. Liberal academia hate competing views that go against their dogma. So it’s not surprising that they would push abortion while calling a good alternative a bad thing in order to scare people away from it.
From CampusReform “The University of Chicago (UC) has published an “abortion guide” on its website providing information on abortion— including how to obtain one on campus.
The website—titled “abguide”—is a comprehensive guide detailing how to pay for abortion, where to find an abortion provider in the area, and what to expect from an abortion. While the site touts “options counseling,” it warns against crisis pregnancy centers, saying they could “lead to suicide” or “post-abortion stress disorder.”
UC’s abortion guide is based on principles outlined by the Asian Communities for Reproductive Justice, an organization that claims the fight for women’s reproductive justice through youth organizing, environmental justice, and workers rights. The group affirms their cause stems from the civil rights movement of the 1960’s.”
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News/Politics 7-9-14
What’s interesting in the news today?
1. Tone deaf.
From TheDailySurge “The rather overused term “tone-deaf” doesn’t even begin to describe the performance from White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest today in defense of Team Obama’s actions to combat the current crisis on the border. In a rather shocking display of sheer lunacy, Earnest insisted that “we’re seeing the benefit” of the Obama administration’s investment in border security right before our very eyes (see the video above). If that’s the case, can we please get our taxpayer money back? Sheesh. We are indeed seeing the result of the administration’s efforts — or lack thereof — to address our porous border. But “benefit” is the last adjective in the world I’d ever use to describe it.”
“Earnest spent much of the remainder of today’s briefing defending the administration’s $3.7 billion dollar request in “emergency” funds to address the crisis, but offered few explanations for why it appears that the bulk of that money will go towards helping illegals, rather than actually beefing up the border to help stop all of this from happening in the first place. He repeatedly insisted that the money is needed so that the Department of Homeland Security can exercise “greater discretion,” whatever that means. The term is so vague that I can almost guarantee some questionable plans are afoot.
The Press Secretary also asserted that Obama will make no effort to try and offset that huge funding request with commensurate budget cuts. But that should come as a surprise to absolutely no one.”
Illegal immigrants may be seeing the “benefits” of Obama’s policies, but cities being overrun by them, not so much.
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2. So what do they plan on using the 3.7 billion they requested on, because you know it won’t be used to seal the border?
From TheWaPost “The White House on Tuesday formally requested $3.7 billion in emergency funding from Congress to deal with an influx of Central American minors along the southern border. But the proposal was quickly met with broad skepticism among Republican lawmakers, who were doubtful that the package would be approved quickly — if at all.
Administration officials said the request is part of a comprehensive strategy aimed at building more detention centers, adding immigration judges, and beefing up border patrols and air surveillance. President Obama has said he hopes such steps will speed deportations and discourage adults from sending children on a dangerous, sometimes deadly, trip north.
But GOP leaders, who have called on Obama to take stronger action, said they were reluctant to give the administration a “blank check” without more-detailed plans to ensure that the money would help stem the crisis at the border.
The president “is asking to use billions of taxpayer dollars without accountability or a plan in place to actually stop the border crisis,” Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said in a statement.”
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3. The number of Americans receiving some type of welfare is at an all-time high.
From CNSNews “According to the 2014 version of a report that the Department of Health and Human Services is required by law to issue annually, the percentage of Americans on welfare in 2011 was the highest yet calculated. The data for 2011 is the most recent in the report.
HHS has calculated the percentage of all persons in the United States who live in families that receive “welfare” going back to fiscal 1993. It has not calculated a percentage for years prior to that.
As defined in the report (“Welfare Indicators and Risk Factors”), a welfare recipient is any person living in a family where someone received benefits from any of just three programs—Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (formerly Aid to Families With Dependent Children), Supplemental Security Income, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (or food stamps).”
“By this measure, according to the report, 23.1 percent of Americans were recipients of welfare in 2011. Since 1993, the earliest year covered by the report, that is the highest percentage of Americans reported to be receiving welfare. A startling 38 percent of all children 5 and under in the United States were welfare recipients in 2011, according to the report.”
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4. Another Obama foreign policy success story. 🙄
From YahooNews “The Islamic State extremist group has taken control of a vast former chemical weapons facility northwest of Baghdad, where remnants of 2,500 degraded chemical rockets filled decades ago with the deadly nerve agent sarin are stored along with other chemical warfare agents, Iraq said in a letter circulated Tuesday at the United Nations.
The U.S. government played down the threat from the takeover, saying there are no intact chemical weapons and it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to use the material for military purposes.
Iraq’s U.N. Ambassador Mohamed Ali Alhakim told U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in a letter that “armed terrorist groups” entered the Muthanna site on June 11, detained officers and soldiers from the protection force guarding the facilities and seized their weapons. The following morning, the project manager spotted the looting of some equipment via the camera surveillance system before the “terrorists” disabled it, he said.”
“The last major report by U.N. inspectors on the status of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction program was released about a year after the experts left in March 2003. It states that Bunker 13 contained 2,500 sarin-filled 122-mm chemical rockets produced and filled before 1991, and about 180 tons of sodium cyanide, “a very toxic chemical and a precursor for the warfare agent tabun.”
If there’s no threat from it, why were they still guarding it?
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5. The Navy is warning that it can’t meet it’s 30 year funding needs.
From Bloomberg “The U.S. Navy can’t meet its funding needs for surface warships and a new class of nuclear attack submarines from 2025 to 2034, according to the service’s latest 30-year shipbuilding plan.
The congressionally required blueprint, submitted late last week and obtained by Bloomberg News, says the Navy’s plan “requires funding at an unsustainable level” unless spending on shipbuilding is increased.
The document outlines challenges facing the plan to increase the Navy fleet to 306 vessels from the current 289 while building 12 new Ohio-class submarines, part of the nation’s nuclear triad of air, land and sea weapons.“
Here’s an idea… stop wasting money on this nonsense, and you’ll have all you need. Even with the cuts left in place.
From USNews “Just about everyone agrees the purpose of the United States Navy is to protect the “freedom of the seas,” a time-honored tradition that effects not just America but just about every nation on earth. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, however, seems to have a different idea—which may be why he has been leading the charge on behalf of the Obama administration to show off the fleet’s green potential.“
“The military says it’s necessary to find alternatives to traditional energy sources. Others, including Oklahoma Republican Sen. James Inhofe, have branded it a public relations stunt, and an expensive one at that. The fuels used in the exercise were anywhere from two to four times as expensive as standard fuel, a not inconsiderable expense at the time the Defense Department faces defense cuts and a previously unthinkable sequester of funds that will seriously impact military preparedness and effectiveness.”
The “Green Energy” scam is sucking resources.
From TheBlaze “The Defense Department has 680 renewable energy projects in the works encompassing all five branches of the U.S. armed forces as part of President Barack Obama’s continuing effort to create a “green” military sustainable by alternative energy sources, TheBlaze has learned.”
“U.S. lawmakers, however, were up in arms last year over the Navy’s so-called “green fleet” where the cost of the alternative biofuel was a whopping $26 per gallon. The Navy spent $12 million for 450,000 gallons of biofuel to power a carrier strike group off the coast of Hawaii in 2012.
“That $26.6-per-gallon purchase is nowhere near the $2.50 the service pays for each gallon of petroleum. (It has been stated that it would be about $16 per gallon if it were mixed with standard jet fuel.),” National Defense Magazine wrote at the time.”
Problem solved? (This is a govt. press release, so I can post as much as I want without violating copyright restrictions)
From McClintock/House.gov ” An amendment by Congressman Tom McClintock (CA-04) to the Defense Appropriation Bill to forbid defense dollars from being spent to meet the Administration’s “Green Energy” mandates was passed by the House in a voice vote. The Congressman’s remarks in support of the measure are attached:
Mr. Chairman:
The amendment before the House forbids Defense dollars from being spent to fund two executive orders and several other provisions of law that require the military to squander billions of dollars on so-called “Green Energy.”
For example, according to the GAO, the Navy has spent as much as $150 per gallon for jet fuel. In 2012, the Navy purchased 450,000 of biofuel for its so-called “Green Fleet,” at the cost of $26.60 per gallon, at a time when conventional petroleum fuel cost just $2.50.
What taxpayer in his right mind would pay $26 per gallon to fill up his car when next door they’re selling it for $2.50?
Yet that is precisely what our armed forces are ordered to do – except they’re not just filling their cars – they’re filling entire ships and aircraft. And this all comes out of our precious defense dollars.
The Air Force paid $59 per gallon for 11,000 gallons of biofuel in 2012 – ten times more than regular jet fuel.
It’s not just biofuels.
The Pentagon expects to purchase 1,500 Chevy Volts, at a subsidized price of $40,000 each – and a production price of $90,000 paid for by other subsidies.
As Sen. Coburn’s office points out, “EACH ONE of these $40,000 Chevy Volts represents the choice NOT to provide an entire infantry platoon with all new rifles, or 50,000 rounds of ammunition that cannot be used for realistic training.”
Under these “green energy” mandates, the Army and Navy have been required to install solar arrays at various facilities. At Naval Station Norfolk, the Navy spent $21 million dollars to install a 10 acre solar array – which will supply a grand total of two percent of the base’s electricity.
According to the Inspector General’s office, this project will save enough money to pay for itself in just 447 years. (Of course, solar panels only last about 25 years).”
Here’s the video with the above and more.
Stop wasting money on agenda driven fantasies and use it for defense. You know, like you’re supposed to.
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Wandering Views 