Tea Party

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News/Politics 5-29-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. It’s system wide.

From TheDailyBeast  “Last week, President Obama pledged to address allegations of corruption and dangerous inefficiencies in the veterans’ health-care system. But before the president could deliver on his pledge, the scandal has spread even further. New whistleblower testimony and internal documents implicate an award-winning VA hospital in Texas in widespread wrongdoing—and what appears to be systemic fraud.

Emails and VA memos obtained exclusively by The Daily Beast provide what is among the most comprehensive accounts yet of how high-level VA hospital employees conspired to game the system. It shows not only how they manipulated hospital wait lists but why—to cover up the weeks and months veterans spent waiting for needed medical care. If those lag times had been revealed, it would have threatened the executives’ bonus pay.

What’s worse, the documents show the wrongdoing going unpunished for years, even after it was repeatedly reported to local and national VA authorities. That indicates a new troubling angle to the VA scandal: that the much touted investigations may be incapable of finding violations that are hiding in plain sight.  

“For lack of a better term, you’ve got an organized crime syndicate,” a whistleblower who works in the Texas VA told The Daily Beast. “People up on top are suddenly afraid they may actually be prosecuted and they’re pressuring the little guys down below to cover it all up.”

They have a lot more details and paperwork proof at the link. You should read it all if you have time.

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2. Everybody’s gettin’ in on the scam.

From TheWashingtonTimes  “Retired military officers deeply involved in the climate change movement — and some in companies positioned to profit from it — spearheaded an alarmist global warming report this month that calls on the Defense Department to ramp up spending on what it calls a man-made problem.

The report, which the Obama administration immediately hailed as a call to action, was issued not by a private advocacy group but by a Pentagon-financed think tank that trumpets “absolute objectivity.” The research was funded by a climate change group that is also one of the think tank’s main customers.”

“One of the CNA panel’s vice chairmen, retired Navy Vice Adm. Lee Gunn, is president of a private think tank, the American Security Project, whose prime issue is warning about climate change.

The other vice chairman, retired Army Brig. Gen. Gerald E. Galloway Jr., is a prominent adviser to the Center for Climate and Security, a climate change group.”

The piece is long on details as to all the connections.

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3. They know they can’t do it thru proper channels, the legislative way, so they’ll try it thru regulation and executive order.

From TheDailyCaller  “Despite being soundly rejected a few years ago, cap-and-trade will soon get its U.S. encore — but not in Congress. The Obama administration will likely use its executive power to unilaterally impose carbon dioxide emissions trading systems.

The Environmental Protection Agency will unveil regulations for existing U.S. power plants early next month. For months, onlookers have been speculating about what could be included in the EPA’s rule for existing power plants.

But over the past few days it has become clear that the Obama administration will use the EPA to push cap-and-trade systems and other anti-fossil fuel policies on U.S. states. Administration insiders have told news outlets that cap-and-trade will likely be one of the options the EPA gives states to cut their carbon dioxide emissions.”

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4. It appears that stories of their demise have been greatly exaggerated, at least in some areas.

From CBSNews/Houston  “Republican voters appeared ready to push Texas even further to the right Tuesday, backing Tea Party favorites and casting out longtime Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst for a state senator and firebrand radio talk show host who criticized the incumbent as too moderate for one of the state’s most powerful political jobs.

Dan Patrick, who emerged as the front runner from the first round of voting, easily beat Dewhurst in the primary runoff for the GOP nomination, ending the political career of a multimillionaire energy businessman who has been lieutenant governor since 2003. Dewhurst had said this would be his final campaign.”

“With Texas Democrats again the underdogs in November, many Tea Party-aligned candidates who won Tuesday are poised to pursue an aggressively conservative agenda that would likely include further spending cuts, expanded gun rights, and more restrictions on abortion and illegal immigration.

Tuesday’s Republican runoffs settled nominations for four major offices and nearly a dozen statehouse seats.”

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5. Time to shill for Hill. And of course, run interference.

From Politico  “An array of Democrats — including Hillary Clinton’s allies — are meeting this week to hammer out a united front on national security issues, including a clear response to Republicans over the Benghazi controversy.

They see an opportunity to wrest control of a narrative that some allies fear could be damaging to Clinton if she moves ahead with a 2016 presidential campaign.”

“A major milestone in the effort will take place this Friday, when a coalition of Democratic-leaning groups and influentials converges at the headquarters of the centrist think tank Third Way for a briefing that includes top Clinton adviser Philippe Reines.”

“Several people involved in the meeting say Reines was invited to speak at Third Way on Friday to discuss the chapter of Clinton’s upcoming book “Hard Choices” that covers the Sept. 11, 2012, attacks on U.S. diplomatic outposts in Benghazi, Libya, that left four Americans dead — including U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens. Reines is one of a few guests expected to speak on various topics. Other anticipated topics of discussion include President Barack Obama’s Wednesday speech about foreign policy.”

Let’s face it, the book will be nothing more than an attempt at CYB, and an attempt to list her “accomplishments,” pathetic as they are.

I say, what difference does it make at this point? The 3 am call came, and she and the White House ignored it. Attempts at revisionist history won’t change that.

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News/Politics 1-18-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

Open thread, so post whatever you’d like.

Here’s a few from me.

1. Not only didn’t they learn their lesson, and how could they when no one was held responsible for it, they’re planning the same strategy again.

From TheWallStJournal  “President Obama and Democrats have been at great pains to insist they knew nothing about IRS targeting of conservative 501(c)(4) nonprofits before the 2012 election. They’ve been at even greater pains this week to ensure that the same conservative groups are silenced in the 2014 midterms.

That’s the big, dirty secret of the omnibus negotiations. As one of the only bills destined to pass this year, the omnibus was—behind the scenes—a flurry of horse trading. One of the biggest fights was over GOP efforts to include language to stop the IRS from instituting a new round of 501(c)(4) targeting. The White House is so counting on the tax agency to muzzle its political opponents that it willingly sacrificed any manner of its own priorities to keep the muzzle in place.”

“The fight was sparked by a new rule that the Treasury Department and the IRS introduced during the hush of Thanksgiving recess, ostensibly to “improve” the law governing nonprofits. What the rule in fact does is recategorize as “political” all manner of educational activities that 501(c)(4) social-welfare organizations currently engage in.

It’s IRS targeting all over again, only this time by administration design and with the raw political goal—as House Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp (R., Mich.) notes—of putting “tea party groups out of business.”

A goal the RINO faction of the GOP went along with.

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2. It’s been said by some that America’s number one export to the world is abortion and debauchery. That would be correct. And Planned Parenthood is staying true to their racist roots.

From CNSNews  “In its strategic plan for Africa for the years 2010-2015, the International Planned Parenthood Federation has set an organizational goal of increasing its “abortion services” in that part of the world by 82 percent.  

The number is in Figure 2, the “performance framework” of the plan (page 7), under “performance milestones/benchmarks” and notes its expectation of an “82 percent increase in abortion services: 212,021 services by 2013, and 273,656 by 2015.”

Democrats will of course be happy to assist and fund it whenever they can.

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3. CONTENT WARNING!!!!

For adult, sexual material. It’s not for the kids. But it’s being taught to kids.

But don’t worry, they justify it by saying it’s only part of the curriculum. Just one more reason to home school.

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4. And yet another reason……

From TheWaPo  “Viewed from Washington, which often is the last to learn about important developments, opposition to the Common Core State Standards Initiative still seems as small as the biblical cloud that ariseth out of the sea, no larger than a man’s hand. Soon, however, this education policy will fill a significant portion of the political sky.

The Common Core represents the ideas of several national organizations (of governors and school officials) about what and how children should learn. It is the thin end of an enormous wedge. It is designed to advance in primary and secondary education the general progressive agenda of centralization and uniformity.

Understandably, proponents of the Common Core want its nature and purpose to remain as cloudy as possible for as long as possible. Hence they say it is a “state-led,” “voluntary” initiative to merely guide education with “standards” that are neither written nor approved nor mandated by Washington, which would never, ever “prescribe” a national curriculum. Proponents talk warily when describing it because a candid characterization would reveal yet another Obama administration indifference to legality.”

“Nevertheless, what begins with mere national standards must breed ineluctable pressure to standardize educational content. Targets, metrics, guidelines and curriculum models all induce conformity in instructional materials. Washington already is encouraging the alignment of the GED, SAT and ACT tests with the Common Core. By a feedback loop, these tests will beget more curriculum conformity. All of this will take a toll on parental empowerment, and none of this will escape the politicization of learning like that already rampant in higher education.”

That is the real purpose. Indoctrination, not education.

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by

News/Politics 1-9-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. Why does this not surprise me? 🙄

From TheWashingtonTimes  “The Justice Department selected an avowed political supporter of President Obama to lead the criminal probe into the IRS targeting of tea party groups, according to top Republicans who said Wednesday that the move has ruined the entire investigation.

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell E. Issa, California Republican, and regulatory affairs subcommittee Chairman Jim Jordan, Ohio Republican, said they have discovered that the head of the investigation is Barbara Kay Bosserman, a trial lawyer in the Justice Department who donated more than $6,000 to Mr. Obama’s 2008 and 2012 campaigns, as well as several hundred dollars to the national Democratic Party.

“The department has created a startling conflict of interest,” Mr. Issa and Mr. Jordan said in a letter sent Wednesday and reviewed by The Washington Times. “It is unbelievable that the department would choose such an individual to examine the federal government’s systematic targeting and harassment of organizations opposed to the president’s policies.”

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2. For this one, we’ll start with a reminder of what Pres. Obama had to say a while back.

“A day after 9/11, we are reminded that a new tower rises above the New York skyline, but al Qaeda is on the path to defeat and bin Laden is dead.”

From CNN  “From around Aleppo in western Syria to small areas of Falluja in central Iraq, al Qaeda now controls territory that stretches more than 400 miles across the heart of the Middle East, according to English and Arab language news accounts as well as accounts on jihadist websites.

Indeed, al Qaeda appears to control more territory in the Arab world than it has done at any time in its history.”

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3. Once again the Obama admin is sees racism everywhere. They seem to think it’s the schools fault that these kids end up in prison. Apparently the consequences for their criminal behavior is the schools fault because they reported it.

From HuffPost  ” The Obama administration is urging schools to abandon overly zealous discipline policies that civil rights advocates have long said lead to a school-to-prison pipeline that discriminates against minority students.

The wide-ranging series of guidelines issued Wednesday in essence tells schools that they must adhere to the principle of fairness and equity in student discipline or face strong action if they don’t. The American Civil Liberties Union called the recommendations “ground-breaking.”

“A routine school disciplinary infraction should land a student in the principal’s office, not in a police precinct,” Attorney General Eric Holder said.

Holder said the problem often stems from well intentioned “zero-tolerance” policies that too often inject the criminal justice system into the resolution of problems. Zero-tolerance policies, a tool that became popular in the 1990s, often spell out uniform and swift punishment for offenses such as truancy, smoking or carrying a weapon. Violators can lose classroom time or become saddled with a criminal record.”

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4. Spiritual, but not religious. Sure… 🙄

Also from HuffPost  “From its historic black churches to large Jewish enclaves to landmark Catholic and Protestant churches, New York City is the ultimate religious melting pot. And now, overseeing it all is a new mayor whose only religious identity seems to be “spiritual but not religious.”

Mayor Bill de Blasio is now perhaps the nation’s most visible “none,” an icon of one of the nation’s fastest-growing religious groups — those without any formal religious identification.

His election could reflect a new kind of American politician — one who is shaped by religion and religious values but is not expected to talk about or bow to religion as in years past, said Jennifer Jones Austin, co-chairwoman of de Blasio’s transition team and the daughter of a pastor.

“What drives him are his fundamental beliefs about liberation theology when it comes to social justice, our responsibility to care for all who are on this earth,” Jones Austin said. “I heard him on several occasions say ‘Amen’ when he felt very strongly about something.”

Oh goody, liberation theology. Yay.

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by

News/Politics 12-12-13

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. The Tea Party members of the party are not a big fan of the budget deal.

From TheWashingtonTimes  “Tea party and conservative groups pounced on the budget proposal that congressional leaders carved out behind closed doors, saying that the plan is based on the faulty premise of increasing spending now in exchange for future spending cuts that will never materialize.

They said that House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, the GOP budget negotiator, can kiss goodbye any chance of winning over grassroots activists if he chooses to run for president in 2016 after he surrendered ground on across-the-board “sequester” cuts to spending rolled back in the new deal.”

“Mr. Ryan and Senate Budget Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray, Washington Democrat, announced late Tuesday that they had reached a two-year budget deal that would reduce the deficit by $23 billion over ten years without raising taxes.

The proposal restored $63 billion on the across-the-board “sequester” cuts to defense and non-defense programs. It also included higher fees on airline travel and requires federal employees to contribute more for their retirement benefits.”

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2. Democrats are making use of the change in filibuster rules. This was their motivation, to stack the court that most directly oversees the White House with like-minded liberals.

From HotAir  “Senate Democrats revealed their primary motivation for changing the filibuster rules today when they confirmed Obama nominee Patricia Millett to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on a 56-38 vote:

Senators voted 56-38 to approve Washington lawyer Patricia Millett to join the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, the nation’s second most powerful court.

Both sides saw Millett’s appointment as pivotal. It will give Democratic-appointed judges a 5-4 majority over those chosen by Republican presidents for that court, which rules on the legality of White House actions and federal agency regulations.

That last part is the important part: the DC Court of Appeals has jurisdiction over regulatory and executive matters. The last few years have shown us that blurring the lines on exactly what constitutes regulatory and executive authority has been a key tool of the Obama Administration.”

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3. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn) has fired his chief of staff Ryan Loskarn after his home was searched in a child porn investigation.

From NBCNews  “Alexander, a veteran senator who’s up for re-election in 2014, said that law enforcement agents had conducted a search this morning of the residence of Ryan Loskarn. Alexander announced earlier in the day that Loskarn had been placed on administrative leave, and later released a statement to announce had been let go.

“The courts will judge Mr. Loskarn’s guilt or innocence, but under these circumstances, he cannot continue to fulfill his duties as chief of staff of this office. Therefore, as of today, I have removed him from the payroll,” Alexander said in a statement.”

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4. Told ya’ so. Why do liberals always have to learn the hard way?

Any aid you give ends up in the hands of the radicals Islamists. It’s who the rebels are. This is a good start, now make sure you turn off ALL of the weapons supply too.

From BuzzFeed  “The United States has suspended delivery of non-lethal aid into northern Syria due to concerns over gains by Islamist rebels there, a U.S. official said on Tuesday.

The suspension halts direct U.S. assistance to Syria’s rebel-held north, long an opposition stronghold and the focal point of U.S. efforts to support the country’s moderate opposition. The affected aid includes supplies such as food and medicine, as well as vehicles and communications equipment.

The official said that humanitarian aid — which the U.S. channels through international and non-governmental organizations — will continue “and is not impacted by this suspension.”

The suspension comes in response to a worrisome development for the Free Syrian Army, or FSA, the moderate rebel coalition backed by the U.S. and its western allies. The FSA has been losing ground steadily to hardline rebel factions, including local affiliates of Al-Qaeda and a powerful rival coalition called the Islamic Front. On Friday, Islamic Front fighters overtook several key FSA headquarters and warehouses in Atimeh, a town near the Turkish border, dealing the FSA a bracing blow — and drawing alarm from the U.S.”

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5. Yet another ObamaCare navigator nailed by Project Veritas.

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6. Grinch Alert!!!

This lady thinks Santa needs a PC makeover, so the kids don’t get scarred for life. 🙄

From Slate  “When I was a kid, I knew two different Santa Clauses. The first had a fat belly, rosy cheeks, a long white beard, and skin as pink as bubble gum. He was omnipresent, visiting my pre-school and the local mall, visible in all of my favorite Christmas specials.

Then there was the Santa in my family’s household, in the form of ornaments, cards, and holiday figurines. A near-carbon copy of the first one—big belly, rosy cheeks, long white beard: check, check, check. But his skin was as dark as mine.”

“And so I propose that America abandon Santa-as-fat-old-white-man and create a new symbol of Christmas cheer. From here on out, Santa Claus should be a penguin. That’s right: a penguin.

by

News/Politics 12-11-13

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. Looks like a budget deal been reached.

From TheWashingtonPost  “House and Senate negotiators unveiled an $85-billion agreement late Tuesday to fund federal agencies through the fall of 2015, avoiding another government shutdown and ending the cycle of crisis that has paralyzed Washington for much of the past three years.

In a rare display of bipartisan cooperation, House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) stood side-by-side in the Capitol with Senate Budget Committee chairman Patty Murray (D-Wash.) to announce the deal, which would cancel half the sharp spending cuts known as the sequester for the current fiscal year.”

“I am very proud to stand here today with Chairman Ryan to say that we have broken through the gridlock,” said Murray, calling the agreement “an important step in helping to heal some of the wounds here in Congress and show we can do something without another crisis around the corner.”

Ryan called the agreement “a clear improvement on the status quo” that protects the Pentagon from fresh cuts set to hit January while trimming deficits by more than $20 billion over the next decade.”

Call me unimpressed.

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2. I told you the other day about Holder’s DoJ was steering settlement money to community organizers. Seems the USDA has a similar program to steer large piles of cash to questionable individuals and groups.

From TheBlaze  “Between 2008 and 2011, the U.S. government awarded roughly $6.12 million in federal farm subsidies to several groups in the Chicago area, including a charity owned by Louis Farrakhan’s The Nation of Islam, according to a report released by government watchdog group Open the Books.

The report, titled “Farm Subsidies and the Big Dogs,” is based on data released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture & information obtained through the Freedom of Information Act. The report examines total farm subsidies that have been paid into selected cities and urban areas.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, federal farm subsidies are being poured into several non-farming metropolitan areas, including New York City and Chicago, according to the report.

Several entities in Chicago, for example, “receive the federal subsidies at their downtown loop office buildings or residential mansions,” the report reads. “Nearly every neighborhood in the city receives federal farm subsidy payments — including the Gold Coast, Downtown — Loop, Lincoln Park, and even the President’s neighbors in Hyde Park.” A total of 930 entities in the Chicago area received farm subsidies between 2008 and 2011.”

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3. A Dem pollster has been shocked to find no racism in Tea Partiers. So they had to make some up. 🙄

From Mediaite  “The Democratic pollster Democracy Corps, commissioning research from Greenberg Quinlan Rosner, recently dug into that foreign species commonly referred to as “the conservative voter.” In a dispatch that reads like the curious field notes Charles Darwin scribbled while observing the natural wonders of the Galapagos, the Democratic pollsters have found that the family Republican is made up of a variety of genera, including moderates, tea partiers and socially conservative evangelicals.”

“We know that Evangelicals are the largest bloc in the base, with the Tea Party very strong as Well,” the memo reads. They feign shock at the notion that Republicans view President Barack Obama as a “liar” and a “manipulator,” two designations that the majority of American voters would agree with but to which the Democratic base’s Pavlovian response is to point and shriek “racism.”

Indeed, the pollsters even confess that they “expected” to find more racism among Republican voters. “We expected that in this comfortable setting or in their private written notes, some would make a racial reference or racist slur when talking about the African American President,” they confess. “None did.”

“But this response by the voters they surveyed is viewed by Democracy Corps pollsters more as a clever evolutionary response to a history of predation. The Republican voter, the pollsters declare, harbors racial consciousness that is only masked by an effective camouflage:”

They couldn’t find any, but just know it’s there. Why else would they be against Obama, right? 🙄

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4. More Common Core indoctrination masquerading as education.

From EAGNews  “Next month, the organization, Creating Balance in an Unjust World, will hold its annual conference on “math education and social justice”.

The conference is sponsored by Radical Math, an organization founded by Jonathan Osler, a math and community organizing teacher at a Coalition of Essential Schools high school in Brooklyn, NY.

The Coalition of Essential Schools (CES) is the progressive education reform movement expanded by President Obama and domestic terrorist William Ayers through their work with the Chicago Annenberg Challenge in the 90′s.”

“Radical Math’s website provides over 700 lesson plans and other resources covering a wide range of political and social issues (with extreme bias), including globalization, the redistribution of wealth, and various ways the poor are discriminated against and oppressed by whites, banks, corporations, the rich, and the government. One such resource, Rethinking Mathematics: Teaching Social Justice by the Numbers, contains chapters titled, “Sweatshop Accounting”, “Racism and Stop and Frisk”, “When Equal Isn’t Fair”, “The Square Root of a Fair Share”, and “Home Buying While Brown or Black”.”

Yeah…..

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5. Hey Canada…. what gives, eh? 🙂

From MyFoxNY  “Canada plans to make a claim to the North Pole in an effort to assert its sovereignty in the resource-rich Arctic, the country’s foreign affairs minister said Monday.

John Baird said the government has asked scientists to work on a future submission to the United Nations claiming that the outer limits of the country’s continental shelf include the pole, which so far has been claimed by no one.

Canada last week applied to extend its seabed claims in the Atlantic Ocean, including some preliminary Arctic claims, but it wants more time to prepare a claim that would include the pole.”

“Countries including the U.S. and Russia are increasingly looking to the Arctic as a source of natural resources and shipping lanes. The U.S. Geological Survey says the region contains 30 percent of the world’s undiscovered natural gas and 15 percent of oil. If Canada’s claim is accepted by the U.N. commission, it would dramatically grow its share.”

Will Santa’s workshop be in the claim too? 😯

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by

News/Politics 12-2-13

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. The IRS is continuing to harass, and still attempting to silence conservative groups. And yes, it’s still being orchestrated by the White House and Democrats.

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2. More here on their war on the Tea Party.

From USNews  “One of the reasons why this may have happened became widely known  only after the election: the IRS had singled out tea party and other  conservative groups for special treatment when they applied for  tax-exempt status, leading to costly delays and the elimination of part  of the Republican Party’s ground game. After initial claims that  low-level employees in the IRS’ Cincinnati office had been solely  responsible for this targeting were shown to be false, two acting commissioners of the IRS, Steven Miller and Danny Werfel, and the head  of its section on tax-exempt organizations, Lois Lerner, were forced to  resign. In the aftermath of the revelations, President Obama referred to  the IRS’ activities as “outrageous,” claimed that had been unaware, and  called for accountability, “so that such conduct never happens again.”

That was then. This Tuesday, the administration decided that instead  of making sure the 2014 midterm elections will not be tainted by similar  restrictions on the activities of 501(c)4 organizations, it was going  to legalize and institutionalize the IRS’ practices.  I guess that’s one  way to do it. British comedian Harry Enfield first suggested this  strategy in a skit about police officers in Amsterdam, a city well known  for its lax attitude toward the consumption, possession and sale of  soft drugs. In the skit, one of the Dutch policy officers explains that  burglary used to be a major problem in Amsterdam, but then it was  legalized, and the problem was solved.”

“That was arguably funny. The IRS’ actions, of course, were deeply  frustrating to the conservative activists involved, and went to the  heart of people’s trust in government and electoral competition. The tea party movement had, after all, had a major impact on an election just a  few months before it became subject to the tax service’s targeting.”

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3. The ObamaCare Medicaid expansion will worsen the doctor shortage.

From TheNYTimes  “But now, as California’s Medicaid program is preparing for a major expansion under President Obama’s health care law, Dr. Mazer says he cannot accept additional patients under the government insurance program for a simple reason: It does not pay enough.       

“It’s a bad situation that is likely to be made worse,” he said.       

His view is shared by many doctors around the country. Medicaid for years has struggled with a shortage of doctors willing to accept its low reimbursement rates and red tape, forcing many patients to wait for care, particularly from specialists like Dr. Mazer.       

Yet in just five weeks, millions of additional Americans will be covered by the program, many of them older people with an array of health problems. The Congressional Budget Office predicts that nine million people will gain coverage through Medicaid next year alone. In many of the 26 states expanding the program, the newly eligible have been flocking to sign up.”

And who pays for all this without the paying customers they currently lack? Why taxpayers of course.

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4. George Will is predicting bad news for Democrats when the other shoe drops.

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5. A new book on the Fast and Furious scandal is coming out.

From  TheNYPost “How the US gave guns to Mexican cartels”

“By John Dodson from the forthcoming book “The Unarmed Truth”

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6. The media is still not happy about the propaganda photos the White House is forcing them to use.

From TheTelegraph  “Barack Obama’s White House has been accused of producing Soviet-style   propaganda by press photographers who are furious at being denied access to   the US president.

Mr Obama’s aides routinely block independent photographers from capturing him   at work, before distributing flattering pictures shot by Pete Souza, his   official photographer.

During a tense meeting at the White House, the practice was described by Doug   Mills, a veteran photographer for The New York Times, as “just like TASS,”    the Soviet Union state news agency.”

If you’re on Twitter, check out Dear Leader’s latest propaganda shot for the 58th anniversary of Rosa Parks’ protest. Obama sitting alone on a bus (the bus?) looking thoughtfully out the window. Because no matter the subject, it’s always about Barry…

Commies got nothin’ on this guy. 🙄

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by

News/Politics 10-30-13

What’s interesting in the news today?

The White House has found someone else to throw under the bus rather than admit the obvious. And these folks aren’t happy about it. Nothing is ever the Obama administration’s fault. And as always, they’ll lie when challenged.

From TheLATimes  “The White House and State Department signed off on surveillance targeting phone conversations of friendly foreign leaders, current and former U.S. intelligence officials said Monday, pushing back against assertions that President Obama and his aides were unaware of the high-level eavesdropping.

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The Obama admin and Democrats have blamed CGI for the website issues. They don’t like being thrown under the bus either.

From CNN  “The Obama administration was given stark warnings just one month before launch that the federal healthcare site was not ready to go live, according to a confidential report obtained by CNN.

The caution, from the main contractor CGI, warned of a number of open risks and issues for the HealthCare.gov web site even as company executives were testifying publicly that the project had achieved key milestones.

On Capitol Hill on Monday, Medicaid Chief Marilyn Tavenner, whose job it was to oversee the October 1 rollout of the website, said she did not foresee its problems.

“No, we had tested the website and we were comfortable with its performance,” she said. “Now, like I said, we knew all along there would be as with any new website, some individual glitches we would have to work out. But, the volume issue and the creation of account issues was not anticipated and obviously took us by surprise. And did not show up in testing.”

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Oh look, more no-bid funny business in ObamaCare contracts.

From FoxNews  “The Dept. of Health and Human Services has quietly canceled a contract to a Chicago-based advocacy group that planned to promote ObamaCare benefits to recently paroled prisoners, after GOP Sen. Jeff Sessions wrote a letter to the agency in July questioning how the contract was funded.

 The HHS awarded the no-bid contract to Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities in July in order to “increase insurance enrollment for… individuals involved in the criminal justice system,” but then quietly updated the solicitation’s status to “canceled” on its website, saying it would be re-issued.

In his letter, Sessions, the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, questioned why the advocacy group was awarded a special contract to promote the health care law to recently released convicts when the government has already spent over $200 million on the Navigators program, which is supposed to help educate all Americans about the law and its benefits and help them sign up.”

“Sessions also questioned why the contract was awarded to the group without on a no-bid basis, without offering the chance for other groups to offer the same services for less money.”

Probably a campaign donor or “friend of the prez”.

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The numbers for ObamaCare keep rising. No not the sign-ups, the cancellations.

From HotAir  ““If you like your doctor or health care plan,” Barack Obama repeatedly promised, “you can keep it.” Politifact rated that as “half true,” but for at least 2 million Americans, it’s a pants-on-fire lie from the White House.  CBS reports this morning that their contacts in the insurance industry confirm that millions have been booted from existing plans, and millions more may follow.”

“Well, it’s not unexpected for the White House and HHS, which made decisions three years ago that guaranteed millions would be pushed out of existing plans.  Levitt estimates that after subsidies are applied, about half will pay less in premiums while half will pay more, but that doesn’t take into account the escalating deductibles on the new plans.

The “subsidies will cover the difference” response also doesn’t address a fundamental truth about ObamaCare: it’s making everything more expensive, not just premiums.  Premiums increase as costs go up; that’s a fundamental point in risk-pool economics.  The subsidies only hide that cost, and don’t even do that well.  The subsidies will come from higher taxes and/or borrowing, and those taxes will be paid by Americans on top of the premiums they are now forced to absorb.  The only difference is that the taxes are indirect — either through income-tax increases or on costs associated with higher taxes on medical devices and services.”

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The fight for control of the future of the Republican party rages on. Maybe stuff like this is why people have the opinion that the party only cares about big business. Looks like the RINO’s are teaming up with big business to seize control of the party.

From TheWashingtonTimes  “The recent fiscal crisis has opened a major rift between the tea party wing  of the Republican Party and business  groups that traditionally have backed Republicans, with many business leaders  now vowing to get involved more in GOP primaries to try to counter insurgent candidates.

Tea party leaders are defiant, saying they will not change course despite  criticism from the U.S. Chamber of  Commerce, Business Roundtable and  other top business groups.

But business leaders argue that the scorched-earth tactics used by tea party  Republicans during the 16-day shutdown and debate over raising the federal  government’s borrowing limit marked the fourth time since the GOP took control of the House in 2011 that tea party adherents precipitated a  governmental crisis that zapped consumer and business confidence, raised  uncertainty and exerted a major drag on economic  growth.

Besides encouraging more business-friendly candidates in primary contests,  business groups are rallying behind establishment Republicans such as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, the Kentucky  Republican who is being targeted by tea party activists for brokering a deal to  temporarily raise the debt ceiling and reopen the government, while launching a  negotiation with Democrats over budget cuts and proposed tax and entitlement  reforms.”

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The public however seems to disagree with RINO’s, big business, and Dems in some of their views of the Tea Party.

From Rasmussen  “Voters are evenly divided when asked whether they agree more politically with President Obama or with the average member of the Tea Party. But an enormous partisan gap colors virtually all opinions of the Tea Party.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 42% of Likely U.S. Voters think the president’s views are closest to their own when it comes to the major issues facing the country. But just as many (42%) say their views come closest to those of the average Tea Party member instead. Sixteen percent (16%) are not sure.”

“Thirty-four percent (34%) now believe their personal views are closest to those of the average member of Congress when it comes to the major issues of the day. But slightly more (36%) say their views are closest to those of the average member of the Tea Party. A sizable 30%, however, are not sure.”

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And it seems Obama and his love of abortion (and their dollars) has rubbed off on OFA, the (totally non-partisan and unconnected to the White House honest we swear) advocacy group.

From LifeNews  “Operation Rescue has learned that the pro-abortion Respect ABQ Women Coalition, which is the main opposition to the Albuquerque “Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Ordinance,” is actually an affiliate of Pres. Barack Obama’s “Organizing for Action,” which encourages activism for radical leftist causes. The two groups are working together under the banner of “Stand With Women,” which is coordinating a national effort against the municipal ordinance through BarackObama.com. [View screen shot of website]

Operation Rescue received a copy of an e-mail concerning a “Stand with Women” national conference call held on October 24, which originated from Kelli Lamb, Barack Obama.com, who is the Women’s Issues Coordinator for Obama’s Organizing for Action.”

“During this “strategy call,” Jennifer Lawson, the field director for the Planned Parenthood Action Fund in Albuquerque, solicited funds and volunteers to oppose the late-term abortion ban, according to a pro-life supporter who debriefed Operation Rescue after listening in on the call.”

“It appears that Obama is behind an organized effort to ensure the continuation of late-term abortions up until birth, and is attempting through subterfuge to subvert the will of the vast majority of the people of Albuquerque who oppose the heinous practice of aborting babies halfway through pregnancy and up until birth,” said Troy Newman, President of Operation Rescue. “These are the same leftists who are condemning support for the ordinance by national pro-life groups. The deception is appalling.”

But not at all surprising.

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by

News/Politics 10-18-13

What’s interesting in the news today?

I have a bunch this morning, so they’ll be Fast and Furious. Like the first one, which will be one of the longest today.

I have to give Sharyl Attkisson and CBS credit, They just keep at it.

From CBSNews  “CBS News has learned of a shocking link between a deadly drug cartel shootout with Mexican police last week and a controversial case in the U.S. The link is one of the grenades used in the violent fight, which killed three policemen and four cartel members and was captured on video by residents in the area.

According to a Justice Department “Significant Incident Report” filed Tuesday and obtained by CBS News, evidence connects one of the grenades to Jean Baptiste Kingery, an alleged firearms trafficker U.S. officials allowed to operate for years without arresting despite significant evidence that he was moving massive amounts of grenade parts and ammunition to Mexico’s ruthless drug cartels.”

“The gun battle took place last week in Guadalajara. Authorities say five members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel used at least nine firearms and ten hand grenades against Mexican police. If one of the grenades was supplied with the help of Kingery, as believed, it adds to the toll of lives taken with weapons trafficked by suspects U.S. officials watched but did not stop.

The Kingery case was overseen by the same Arizona U.S. Attorney and ATF office that let suspects traffic thousands of weapons to Mexican drug cartels in the operation dubbed Fast and Furious. The strategy was to try to get to the cartel kingpins, but it was halted after CBS News reported that Fast and Furious weapons were used by cartel thugs in the murder of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry on December 15, 2010. Weapons trafficked by other ATF suspects under surveillance were used two months later in the cartel murder of Immigration and Customs Agent Jaime Zapata in Mexico on February 15, 2011.”

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This one, well let’s just say it’s too funny. 🙂

From Politico  “A finding in a study on the relationship between science literacy and  political ideology surprised the Yale professor behind it: Tea party members  know more science than non-tea partiers.

Yale law professor Dan Kahan posted on his blog this week that he analyzed the responses  of more than 2,000 American adults recruited for another study and found that,  on average, people who leaned liberal were more science literate than those who  leaned conservative.”

“However, those who identified as part of the tea party movement were actually  better versed in science than those who didn’t, Kahan found. The findings met  the conventional threshold of statistical significance, the professor said.”

Hehehe…  🙂

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We all knew this was coming. And maybe that’s why govt employees weren’t getting much sympathy during the shutdown. Back pay, and a raise to boot.

From TheWashingtonPost  “The budget measure that ended the partial government shutdown allows for a 1 percent raise for federal employees in January in addition to providing back pay for those furloughed, according to two Democratic Maryland senators.”

““I’m proud we were able to fulfill our promise to make them whole again with back pay and finally break through the pay freeze with a modest adjustment for next year,” said Cardin, a member of the Senate Finance Committee.”

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And now, The Debacle continues.

Doh!

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Gee, maybe this had something to do with it. 🙄

From TheWashingtonExaminer  “Federal officials did not permit testing of the Obamacare healthcare.gov website or issue final system requirements until four to six days before its Oct. 1 launch, according to an individual with direct knowledge of the project.

The individual, who spoke on condition of anonymity, described the troubled Obamacare website project as suffering from top-level management disarray, changing systems requirements and recurring delays.”

Really could use that face-palm smiley here.

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But while the problems mounted, the cash flow to contractors increased. Typical Dem response, who cares if it’s a failure, just throw more money at it. 🙄

From TheFreeBeacon  “As U.S. officials warned that the technology behind Obamacare might not be ready to launch on October 1, the administration was pouring tens of millions of dollars more than it had planned into the federal website meant to enroll Americans in the biggest new social program since the 1960s.

A Reuters review of government documents shows that the contract to build the federal Healthcare.gov online insurance website – key to President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare reform – tripled in potential total value to nearly $292 million as new money was assigned to the work beginning in April this year.”

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This one I suggest everyone read.  This is who is responsible for this website mess, and what could potentially be a lot more taxpayer-funded govt debacles. It’s like Haliburton, but with a lot more tentacles.

From TheWaPo  “CGI Federal is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Canadian firm CGI Group, which was founded in Quebec City in 1976 by a pair or 26-year-olds named Serge Godin and Andre Imbeau. (CGI stands for “Conseillers en Gestion et Informatique” in French, which roughly translates to “Information Systems and Management Consultants”). Growing through scores of acquisitions, and providing outsourced IT services to massive companies such as Bell Canada and Quebec’s provincial pension plan, CGI’s business model depends on embedding itself deeply within an institution.

“The ultimate aim is to establish relations so intimate with the client that decoupling becomes almost impossible,” read one profile of the company.”

“That said, they’ve learned quickly, and see the U.S. federal government as their area of biggest growth. CGI Federal’s health-care practice has grown 90 percent year over year, largely due to the Healthcare.gov project. And for a contractor, ballooning projects are a good thing. “In the Federal Government business, we continue to see more extensions and ceiling increases on our existing work, while we further leverage our position on contract vehicles,” said CEO Michael Roach on their latest earnings call. Those “contract vehicles” now amount to $200 billion, which Roach later referred to as a “hunting license.””

“The healthcare.gov debacle has taken its toll on the working environment at CGI Federal’s 10-story complex in Fairfax, Va., according to a staffer working on a related project who asked not to be named. “There’s been a lot of agitation and anger, because CGI really prides itself on having family flexibility,” he said, noting the firm’s liberal telework policy. Instead, the Obamacare contract has sucked more and more staff off other projects, and people have been working around the clock to first get the site ready for Oct. 1, and then fix it when things started to go wrong. “There’s a lot of frustration,” the staffer said. “People are getting sick, fainting in conference calls.”

Oh boy.

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I expect the longer this mess goes on, the better chance there is that you see Dems pulling stunts like this one, in an attempt distance themselves from their roles.

From BuzzFeed  “Visit the website of Michigan-based design firm Teal Media today and you’d never know designers there helped create HealthCare.gov, the troubled online portal for Obamacare.

Just a few days ago, the site looked very different. Teal Media’s homepage featured its work on Obamacare prominently, placing a link to the firm’s work on one of the most well-known websites in America front and center. Now that link, as well as the page devoted to Teal’s work on HealthCare.gov, have been removed.”

“Teal Media doesn’t seem interested in talking about its work on HealthCare.gov. A woman who answered the phone at the company’s headquarters immediately referred BuzzFeed to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) at the Department of Health And Human Services (HHS) before a single question was asked. CMS is listed as Teal’s client on the firm’s now-erased HealthCare.gov page.”

And again, insert face palm smiley here. They had so many calls about removing it that they actually put it back up. Might as well, the screen shots already documented what you did. The cat is out of the bag. 🙄

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Oh, and the ObamaCare website is possibly violating software licensing copyrights. Nice. Again, the face palm smiley would be perfect here.

From TheWeeklyStandard  “Healthcare.gov, the federal government’s Obamacare website, has been under heavy criticism from friend and foe alike during its first two weeks of open enrollment.  Repeated errors and delays have prevented many users from even establishing an account, and outside web designers have roundly panned the structure and coding of the site as amateurish and sloppy.  The latest indication of the haphazard way in which Healthcare.gov was developed is the uncredited use of a copyrighted web script for a data function used by the site, a violation of the licensing agreement for the software.

The script in question is called DataTables, a very long and complex piece of website software used for formatting and presenting data.  DataTables was developed by a British company called SpryMedia which licenses the open-source software freely to anyone who complies with the licensing agreement.  A note at the bottom of the DataTables.net website says: “DataTables designed and created by SpryMedia © 2008-2013.”  

🙄 It’s a comedy of errors, but it isn’t really all that funny.

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Here’s something to keep in mind if you have to enter your personal info into the ObamaCare website. This is the kind of fine upstanding folks who will have access to your info.

From NationalReview  “A community organization established by Wade Rathke, founder of ACORN, will be participating in a “navigator” drive aiding people attempting to sign up for health-care coverage under the Affordable Care Act, according to a Fox News report. The organization, United Labor Unions Council Local 100, is based in New Orleans and was created by Rathke after ACORN went bankrupt amidst widespread scandal.”

“Dan Epstein, executive director of Cause of Action, a non-partisan watchdog group, said, “At a time when our government has ceased functioning due to an appropriations gap, it is ironic that America’s tax dollars are being doled out to an entity whose poor stewardship of our funds was well-established by Congress.” Congress voted to defund ACORN in 2009 after secret videos revealed ACORN employees coaching people on how to conduct illegal activities.”

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And here’s the type of people he employs.

From FrontPageMag  “The fact that Wade Rathke, a disreputable, radical left-wing community organizer, is allowed anywhere near the enrollment process ought to give all Americans pause. The only reason Rathke hasn’t been federally investigated for racketeering is because his allies control the federal law enforcement apparatus. President Obama pretends he has no connection to ACORN and Attorney General Eric Holder doesn’t care what laws have been broken because he approves of ACORN’s goals.”

“Yes, that’s President Obama’s former employer, ACORN, or the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.

ACORN is the nonprofit group that knowingly hired felons convicted of identity theft to work on voter registration drives, giving them custody of sensitive voter information.”

Yeah. 🙄

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by

News/Politics 9-13-13

What’s interesting out there today?

First up…..  Retreat?

From TheWaPo  “Sometimes a president does not have a communications problem. Sometimes a president has a reality problem.

President Obama’s speech to the nation on Syria was premised on the denial of reality. He claimed that the Russian/Syrian initiative resulted from the “credible threat of U.S. military action.” In fact, it filled a vacuum of presidential credibility. Obama had been isolated within the G-20 and abandoned by our closest ally, Britain. Americans overwhelmingly disapproved of a military strike for which the president clearly had no stomach. Obama was on the verge of the most devastating congressional foreign policy repudiation since the Senate voted 49-35 against entering the League of Nations in 1920.

Vladimir Putin offered Obama an escape, which he gratefully took. But there are implicit costs. A U.S. military strike — something Putin thought inevitable just a few weeks ago — is off. Russia’s Syrian client, Bashar al-Assad, stays in power. The Syrian opposition is effectively hung out to dry. Russia gains a position of influence in the Middle East it has not held since Anwar Sadat threw the Soviets out of Egypt. This allows Moscow to supply proxies such as Syria and Iran with weapons while positioning itself as the defender of international law and peace. Iran sees that the United States is a reluctant power, with a timid and polarized legislature, that can easily be deflected from action by transparent maneuvers.

Other than this, ’twas a famous victory.”

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Assad has gotten a little bolder now.

From YahooNews  “”When we see the United States really wants stability in our region and stops threatening, striving to attack, and also ceases arms deliveries to terrorists, then we will believe that the necessary processes can be finalized,” he was quoted as saying in an interview with Russian state television.”

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I think he means these guys.

From TheDailyCaller  “Jonathan Spyer says the moderate rebels in Syria the Obama administration has  been touting are really Muslim Brotherhood-types who adhere to an Islamist  ideology.

Spyer should know. An academic who lives  in Israel and studies the Middle East, he has traveled to and through Syrian  rebel-controlled territory, reporting on what he saw for various publications.  Asked by The Daily Caller to respond to a much-cited Wall Street Journal article  by Elizabeth O’Bagy, which claimed “[m]oderate opposition forces … continue to  lead the fight against the Syrian regime,” Spyer said, “I can only speak  regarding my own experiences and my own knowledge.”

“Undoubtedly outside of Syria, and in the Syrian opposition structures, there  are civilian political activists and leaders who are opposed to al-Qaida and opposed to Islamism,” Spyer explained to TheDC in an  email interview. “There are also civilian activists and structures within the  country which are opposed to al-Qaida and Islamism. But when one looks at the  armed rebel groups, one finds an obvious vast majority there who are adherents  of Islamism of one kind or another — stretching from Muslim Brotherhood-type  formations all the way across to groups openly aligned with al-Qaida central and  with al-Zawahiri.””

And we are arming them.

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The Jersey shore is still trying to recover from the devastation of Sandy. A section of Seaside Heights’ boardwalk was just rebuilt after Sandy, but now it has been destroyed by fire. 😦

From ABCNews  “Firefighters dug a trench under a Jersey Shore boardwalk in an effort to prevent a furious, wind-whipped blaze from spreading to a section just rebuilt after being destroyed by Superstorm Sandy.

This evening, the blaze reached 10 alarms, according to ABC News New York station WABC. It had already destroyed a long stretch of boardwalk, according to officials, containing perhaps 30 businesses in Seaside Park, N.J., near the same stretch of sand where a rollercoaster landed upright in the ocean after Sandy hit the coastline in October 2012.”

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Storms are responsible for severe flooding and a few deaths in Colorado. 😦

From YahooNews  “Flash flooding in northern Colorado has left two people dead, and the widespread high waters are keeping search and rescue teams from reaching stranded residents and motorists in Boulder and nearby mountain communities as heavy rains hammered the area Thursday.

The National Weather Service warned of an “extremely dangerous and life-threatening situation” throughout the region as the flooding forced people from their homes, canceled classes and led to mudslides and rockslides in some areas.

“Move to higher ground now. Act quickly to protect your life,” the Weather Service warned in numerous bulletins that went out throughout the morning.”

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Newly released e-mails show that Lois Lerner did in fact specifically target Tea Party and conservative groups. But we already knew that. 🙄

From TheWashingtonTimes  “Newly released emails show that Lois G.  Lerner, the woman at the   center of the IRS scandal over special scrutiny of conservative groups’   applications for  tax-exempt status, specifically targeted tea party   applications and directed  they be held up in 2011 in order to come up   with an agency policy.

The email, released by a House  committee  investigating the IRS,  seems to counter Democrats’  arguments that tea  party groups weren’t  specifically targeted.”

““Tea Party Matter  very dangerous,” Ms.  Lerner said in the 2011  email, saying that those  applications could end up  being the “vehicle  to go to court” to get more  clarity on a 2010 Supreme  Court ruling on  campaign finance rules.”

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One of the Colorado Democrats recalled this week is crying voter suppression. But reality says otherwise. But to admit that would mean to admit defeat of her/Dems anti-gun agenda. No way she does that.

From HotAir  “Via the Corner. Tuesday night, expecting a close race, I couldn’t believe that she lost by 12 points. Now, after watching her for the first time, I can’t believe she lost by only 12 points.

She’s got one argument here — “voter suppression,” ripped straight from the DNC’s talking points memo, which is completely destroyed by her own now-famous admission a few weeks ago that if Bloomberg and his anti-gun group couldn’t buy her a victory in this race, “they might as well fold it up.” They did their best for her; as Erika noted earlier, gun-grabbers outspent gun-rights supporters overwhelmingly. If that kind of money can’t get gun-control fans to drive to the polls, in a state where there was a horrendous mass shooting barely more than a year ago, maybe the votes simply aren’t there.

Sean Trende considers, then largely dismisses, the idea that the lack of mail-in ballots doomed the Democrats.”

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Chuck Todd says the recalls will make Dems “gun-shy.” 😯

What? Oh c’mon, it was too easy. I had too. 🙂

Also from HotAir  “Plenty of Democrats apparently still feel inclined to believe that this week’s successful Colorado recall election was the result of a teeny, tiny but vociferously vocal minority that only managed to pull out a victory because of 1) the egregious gobs of cash funneled their way by the NRA, the Koch Brothers, and other such seedy groups, and 2) the “tactical reasons why Democrats didn’t have a chance here,” i.e. the far-fetched and baseless claims of “voter suppression” à la Debbie Wasserman Schultz. The truth of the matter, of course, tells rather a different story: In fact, a Public Policy Poll that they, ahem, declined to release showed a large margin of support for the pro-recall side; and what’s more, liberal groups outspent the pro-Second Amendment crowd by a 7-to-1 margin. The MSNBC crowd, too, seems happy to gloss over these key pieces of information, but Chuck Todd does point out that this was not, as DWS called determinedly titled it, a “hollow victory.” In a lot of areas, gun control is simply not a winning issue for Democrats, and one of the biggest takeaways here is that Democrats are likely to actively eschew any offering of “help” from the contaminating effects of the well-monied and rabidly anti-gun Bloomberg group — and if he persists in providing it, it’s the Democrats who’ll suffer.”

And that’s a good thing. 🙂

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