politics

by

News/Politics 3-7-13

What’s interesting in the news today?

As always, Open Thread.

Here’s a few to start.

____________________________________________________

Senator Rand Paul ended his filibuster of the Brennan nomination after almost 13 hours. That’s the first old-fashioned one I’ve seen since I started paying attention to politics. I watched an hour or so off and on and the Senator made some excellent points. The Senator stood up for his beliefs, and I give him credit for that. So a tip of the hat to the good Senator from Kentucky. And just a quick question. Where did all the Jose Padilla supportin’ lefties go? Isn’t this just the sort of thing (only worse) that they railed against during the Bush presidency? I guess like the rest of the anti-war crowd, they’ve changed their tune. You would think that this extreme was something we could all agree on, regardless of leanings. But no.

From TheWashingtonTimes

“After years in the shadows, the administration’s secret drone program burst  into very public view Wednesday with lawmakers grilling the attorney general  over legal justification for targeted killings and Sen. Rand Paul launching an old-style one-man  filibuster to demand answers from President Obama.

The Kentucky Republican held the floor for almost 13 hours, effectively blocking a vote on the nomination of John O.  Brennan, whom Mr. Obama has tapped to be CIA director. He said he would relent only if the administration publicly vowed not  to target Americans on U.S. soil.”

““This is a long, drawn-out day, but it’s to try to get some answers,” Mr. Paul said after he crossed the eight-hour mark late Wednesday evening. “It’s to try to shame the president into doing the right thing.””

Sorry Senator, but you can’t shame the shameless.

____________________________________________________

The drone issue is not going away. And it shouldn’t.

Senator Cruz pressed AG Holder on whether Pres. Obama’s plan is constitutional. The AG had little choice but to admit that it’s not.

From HotAir

“A must-see via Mediaite, not just because this is the right question to ask after Holder’s letter on drone policy yesterday but because it fell to Cruz, the new bete noire of the left, rather than a Democrat to press the civil-libertarian case. Simple question: Is it a violation of due process to fire a missile at a guy on American soil if he’s not engaged at the moment in carrying out a terrorist attack? He might be a member of Al Qaeda; he might be planning an attack; but if he’s strolling down Main Street in some American town, is there any constitutional justification to toss a Hellfire at him rather than send the cops in to pick him up? Watch Holder’s reaction. Cruz has to browbeat him for three minutes to get him to shift from saying it wouldn’t be “appropriate” — which implies that the government might have the power to do it but would refuse to exercise that power for prudential reasons — to finally saying that, constitutionally, it doesn’t have that power. That’s an important admission; unless I missed something, it’s the first time anyone at the top has acknowledged a legal limit to drone strikes under certain circumstances. Here’s hoping we don’t have to point back to it someday.”

Now the President could have ended the filibuster by acknowledging what the AG did, and agreeing to support legislation banning such uses. He chose not to accept the Senator’s offer. In fact, he’s not even acknowledged it. He was busy having dinner with Republican “leaders” and RINO’s.

____________________________________________________

Well call this one “Message Fail”.

From ABCNews

“For all the dire warnings, most Americans welcome a five percent cut in overall federal spending this year. But the defense budget is another matter.

The public by nearly 2-1, 61-33 percent, supports cutting the overall budget along the lines of the sequester that took effect last Friday. But by nearly an identical margin, Americans in this ABC News/Washington Post poll oppose an eight percent across-the-board cut in military spending.

See PDF with full results, charts and tables here.

Why it’s almost like they support the Republican ideas, and not President, or something.

____________________________________________________

This one is just pathetic, but not surprising.

From TheWeeklyStandard

“On Friday March 8, Michelle Obama will join John Kerry at a special ceremony at the State Department to present ten women the Secretary of State’s International Women of Courage Award. The award, says the press release, is given to “women around the globe who have shown exceptional courage and leadership in advocating for women’s rights and empowerment, often at great personal risk.”

“Five of these awards are being given to women from Muslim-majority countries, underscoring the unique plight of women in those countries. The only problem is that one of the women to be recognized is an anti-Semite and supports the 9/11 attacks on the United States.”

“Ibrahim holds other repellent views as well. As a mob was attacking the United States embassy in Cairo on the eleventh anniversary of 9/11, pulling down the American flag and raising the flag of Al Qaeda, Ibrahim wrote on twitter: “Today is the anniversary of 9/11. May every year come with America burning.” Possibly fearing the consequences of her tweet, she deleted it a couple of hours later, but not before a screen shot was saved by an Egyptian activist.”

She claims her Twitter account was stolen. 

Sure. Let me guess, it musta been the Jews. 🙄

But don’t worry, it’s not like radical muslims have undo influence in this admin or anything. Now move along, nothing to see here.

____________________________________________________

A disturbing new trend for cash strapped people struggling to make it in this economy.

From PhiladelphiaCBSLocal

“A new national study shows that too many of us are cashing out 401(k) accounts to pay bills. If that retirement account is calling your name, a financial expert advises you to stop listening.”

“When the bills pile up and money is tight, many people turn to their 401(k) accounts to help ease the bind.

Downingtown, Pa. CPA Jacquelyn Basso says it’s not a good idea to raid your retirement; you’re getting money now that you’ll need to live on when you’re older.”

Unfortunately they need it to live now.

____________________________________________________

by

News/Politics 3-6-13

What’s interesting in the news today?

We’ve got lot’s to choose from today.

____________________________________________________

UPDATE

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul is pulling a good ol’ fashioned fillibuster. He’s holding up the cloture vote for CIA nominee Brennan until he gets answers on the Obama drone program. He plans to keep it up until he can’t speak any more. Other Republicans are joining in. You can watch live at CSPAN 2 at the link below.

http://www.c-span.org/Live-Video/C-SPAN2/

____________________________________________________

Since I pointed out the allegations against Senator Menendez, it’s only fair to point out this one too. This one alleges the prostitute has recanted her story.

From TheWashingtonPost

“An escort who appeared on a video claiming that Sen. Robert Menendez  (D-N.J.) paid her for sex has told Dominican authorities that she was instead paid to make up the claims and has never met or seen the senator, according to court documents and two people briefed on her claim.

The woman said a local lawyer had approached her and a fellow escort and asked them to help frame Menendez and a top donor, Salomon Melgen, according to affidavits obtained by The Washington Post.”

“Daily Caller Editor Tucker Carlson did not reply to phone calls and e-mails requesting comment.”

Now I included that last line for a reason. The Daily Caller says the Post story is inaccurate. The Post has the wrong prostitute. They also point out a discrepancy with the last line there from the Post.

From TheDailyCaller

“The Washington Post mistook one prostitute for another Monday in a report that  initially seemed to debunk a November 2012 Daily Caller exposé of New  Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez.”

“While the Post said it had an affidavit from a woman in the Dominican Republic  admitting she fabricated claims Menendez paid her for sex, that woman was not  one of the two prostitutes TheDC interviewed for a Nov. 1 report.”

Politico  get’s in on the act, as referee.

“ORIGINAL STORY: The Washington Post and the Daily Caller remain at odds over whether or not WaPo reporter Carol Leonnig reached out to TheDC for comment prior to reporting about the outlet’s involvement in a story pertaining to Dominican prostitutes and Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez.

The Daily Caller has now provided POLITICO with what it says is the first email Leonnig sent to Daily Caller editor Tucker Carlson on Monday night. According to the email as it was provided by TheDC, Leonnig sent her first email to Carlson at 5:35 p.m., more than half an hour after the Post posted its original story online. Her email — again, as provided by TheDC — includes an introduction and a link to the already-live story.”

“UPDATE (1:07 p.m.): The Washington Post’s Carol Leonnig did not report that she had reached out to The Daily Caller for comment in her initial report. She later updated her story after reaching out to Carlson, noting that Carlson did not return requests for comment. But updated versions of the story did not — and, so far, do not — mention that the story was updated.

UPDATE (2:38 p.m.): The Daily Caller now points out that the Post has changed its story — again, without noting that the post has been updated — so that it no longer claims definitively that the Dominican prostitute who recanted her allegation against Sen. Menendez was the same one who appeared in a video posted by The Daily Caller. The Washington Post has yet to comment on why it does not note updates to its story.”

Hmmmm…….

____________________________________________________

We also have some new developments in the Trayvon Martin case. You probably won’t hear much about this though. Doesn’t fit the meme.

From TheOrlandoSentinel

“Trayvon Martin’s girlfriend, the state’s most important witness in the George Zimmerman murder case, was caught in a lie Tuesday.

It was not the first piece of misinformation tied to her, but it was the most damaging to date and left prosecutors in a very awkward position.

They had to publicly acknowledge that their star witness had lied under oath and had to answer questions about what they intend to do about it.”

OK, now I’ll ask the obvious. Was she coached to lie by Al Sharpton, like he did with Tawana Brawley? It seems to be similar in that one case fell apart when it went to court, and this one seems to be faring just as poorly. The truth comes out.

____________________________________________________

Looks like Democrats have some explaining to do. They won’t of course, and the media is still on his side and will continue to carry his water so he doesn’t have to. But he should. Here’s further proof of what a fraud this whole Sequester thing has been. All of it orchestrated by the man who signed it into law.

From TheWashingtonTimes

“The Obama administration denied an appeal  for flexibility in lessening the sequester’s effects, with an email this week appearing to show officials in Washington that because they already had promised  the cuts would be devastating, they now have to follow through on that.”

“In the email sent Monday by Charles Brown,  an official with the Animal  and Plant Health Inspection Service office in Raleigh, N.C., Mr. Brown asked “if there was any latitude” in how to spread the sequester cuts  across the region to lessen the impacts on fish inspections.”

“He said he was discouraged by officials in Washington, who gave him this reply: “We have gone on record with a notification to Congress and whoever else that ‘APHIS would eliminate assistance to producers in 24 states in managing wildlife damage to the aquaculture industry, unless they provide funding to cover the costs.’ So it is our opinion that however you manage that reduction, you need to make sure you are not contradicting what we said the  impact would be.””

““This email confirms what many Americans have suspected: The Obama administration is doing everything they can to make sure their worst  predictions come true and to maximize the pain of the Sequester cuts for  political gain,” said Rep. Tim Griffin, Arkansas Republican.”

And they paraded out a bunch of flunkies to lie as well.

From TheTelegraphUK

“Ms Napolitano said today that major airports were seeing lines “150 to 200 percent as long as we would normally expect” as result of the federal spending cuts that went into force on Friday.”

“However, when contacted by The Daily Telegraph, spokespeople for both O’Hare and LAX, as well as representatives from the travel industry, denied that airports had been hit by delays.”

“Arne Duncan, the secretary of education, was widely criticised last month for saying that teachers were already being laid off because of the cuts, a claim without evidence. The Washington Post‘s Fact Checker blog awarded the claim four Pinocchios – its highest rating for falsehood.”

It’s a disaster of their own making. Just like they intended.

And even with all of this out and exposed, they just double down on the lies and intentionally inflicted pain.

From TheHill

“Members of the Congressional Black Caucus said Monday night that the $85 billion in cuts to federal spending, known as the sequester, will disproportionately affect blacks and other minorities, in part because they are more likely to work  for the government.

“Sequestration will impact everyone, but it will have  a particularly harmful effect on communities of color who were hit first and  worst by the great recession, and have yet to significantly feel the effects of  the recovery,” Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) said Monday.”

“”Federal budget cuts under sequestration would quickly mean cuts to federal, state and local public-sector jobs, which disproportionately employ women and African-Americans.””

And it’s only disproportionate because of reverse discrimination and sexism, which the govt is fine with and enables thru affirmative action.

____________________________________________________

by

News/Politics 3-4-13

What’s interesting in the news today?

Open thread, what have ya’ got?

____________________________________________________

Here’s a good story.

From TheNYTimes

“Doctors announced on Sunday that a baby had been cured of an H.I.V. infection for the first time, a startling development that could change how infected newborns are treated and sharply reduce the number of children living with the virus that causes AIDS.

The baby, born in rural Mississippi, was treated aggressively with antiretroviral drugs starting around 30 hours after birth, something that is not usually done. If further study shows this works in other babies, it will almost certainly be recommended globally. The United Nations estimates that 330,000 babies were newly infected in 2011, the most recent year for which there is data, and that more than three million children globally are living with H.I.V.

If the report is confirmed, the child born in Mississippi would be only the second well-documented case of a cure in the world. That could give a lift to research aimed at a cure, something that only a few years ago was thought to be virtually impossible, though some experts said the findings in the baby would probably not be relevant to adults.”

____________________________________________________

Here’s an amusing piece on the gift that just keeps giving. Joe Biden. 🙂

And the video at the end, like all things Joe, is quite amusing.

From InvestorsBusinessDaily

“Lots of people like Joe Biden. He’s the zany uncle, the benign bumbler who  shows up at Thanksgiving dinner and takes over the mealtime conversation with  confusing stories, most of them very familiar and not all of them off-color.

Joe is from Delaware, a place that’s famous for absolutely nothing and  arouses no feelings whatsoever. Joe likes to ride the choo-choo trains. He talks  a lot, which can be good in politics. He often talks before thinking about the  words coming out of his mouth, which can not be good in politics. (Scroll down  for humorous video that illustrates this.)

Obama keeps the harmless guy around because, in comparison, Biden makes the  president look smooth and smart. As long as no one gets to thinking, “God  Almighty, that garrulous goof is one heartbeat away from becoming  commander-in-chief.”

Hey, guys, what does this red button do?”

🙄

____________________________________________________

What?! I’m :shock:ed

From FoxNews

“The White House retreated from its doomsday predictions Sunday about the  impact of the $85 billion in federal spending cuts that have  kicked   in — as Republican leaders appeared at least satisfied about delivering  on their promise to limit government spending and hold down taxes.

Gene Sperling, the White House’s top economic adviser, repeatedly said the  cuts will not hurt as much on “Day One” as they will over the long haul.

“Nobody ever suggested that this … was going to have all its impact in the  first few days,” he told “NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “It is a slow grind.”

His remarks are in contrast to weeks of President Obama and his Cabinet  warning that the cuts will result in furloughs or pay cuts for middle-class  wage-earners such as teachers, Capitol Hill janitors and air traffic  controllers, which they said could cause 90-minutes delays at major U.S.  airports.”

OK, not really.

____________________________________________________

So it’s not a big deal? Or is it?

Brandon Smith takes a look at govt. programs that should be cut but won’t be, over at Alt-Market.com

“Washington is laying on the malaise pretty thick lately over automatic budget cuts set to take effect in March, with admonitions and partisan attacks galore.  Of course, those of us who are educated in the finer points of our corrupt puppet government are well aware that the public debate between Democrats and Republicans amounts to nothing more than a farcical battle of Rock’Em Sock’Em Robots with only one set of hands behind the controls.  The reality is, their decisions are scripted, their votes are purchased, and they knew months ago exactly how America’s fiscal cliff situation would progress.  The drama that now ensues on the hill is meant for OUR benefit and distraction, and no one else. ”

“Let’s put all of this into perspective; America’s current annual deficits have exceeded $1 trillion for the past four years.  Our official national debt has expanded nearly $7 trillion in the span of five years.  Through QE3 (QE infinity), the Federal Reserve is now pumping over $85 billion (that we know about) per month into our financial system.  And in March, the federal government is being asked to cut $85 billion over a span of six months?

It sure seems like a drop in the bucket compared to the massive expenditures already taking place.  Yet, these moderate cuts are being heralded as a sign of fiscal apocalypse by the White House and others.  Why?  Because America has reached the point at which any disruption in government liquidity will damage our recovery fantasy, and the establishment is acclimating us to the coming crisis so that we don’t immediately take up our torches and pitchforks.  The lie is so tenuous, that the fiat must forever flow, or the illusion crumbles.  Not only must spending continue unabated, it must also EXPAND with each passing year in order to handle the growing liabilities of entitlements and interest payments on capital already borrowed.  Even the smallest of cuts could indeed send our economy into a tailspin (with a little help from the Federal Reserve and reduced currency creation), because that’s exactly how desperate our circumstances are. ”

____________________________________________________

by

News/Politics 3-2-13

What’s interesting in the news today?

Open Thread, you decide.

Just a few, then I’m taking the day off. 🙂

____________________________________________________

A little honesty from Democrat Pat Caddell, about the Obama admin.

From FoxNews

“In my lifetime, in over 40 years in national politics, Mr. Obama is the only  president who comes close to rivaling Richard Nixon for fundamental  disingenuousness.

However, some things never change, just as Woodward and Bernstein were  attacked then by the establishment mainstream media for daring to question a  president — or do a story that they wouldn’t touch — they are once again  attacking Woodward the way they did when he and  Carl Bernstein pursued  Watergate.

As the youngest person on Nixon’s enemies list in 1972, I am particularly  sensitive to a White House where they have utter disregard for trampling on  dissent and on the rights of individuals.”

____________________________________________________

Someone followed Joe Biden’s shotgun advice. And was promptly arrested.

Way to go Joe. 🙄

From USNews

“Vice President Joe Biden told Field & Stream magazine in an interview published Monday, “[if] you want to keep someone away from your house, just fire the shotgun through the door.”

Coincidentally, a 22-year-old man in Virginia Beach, Va., was charged Monday with reckless handling of a firearm after doing just that a couple days earlier.

Local TV station WAVY 10 reports that the man observed two masked men leaning into his bedroom window. The men allegedly had weapons and told him to close his bedroom door. He stepped outside of his bedroom and did as instructed, then fired his shotgun through the closed door and then several more times at the window.”

And don’t forget, he’s handling the gun control push for the Obama admin. 🙄

____________________________________________________

The Canadians are officially smarter than us. At least they see the obvious problem, and acknowledge it, unlike our govt..

From TheGlobeAndMail

“The United States has shifted course to provide aid directly to Syria’s rebels, but Canada doesn’t have enough confidence in them to follow suit.

It is a rare international question where the two allies are taking different views: Canada, which was gung-ho about helping rebels in Libya, thinks it’s too risky to fund those in Syria.”

____________________________________________________