Saturday, February 8, 2014

Lots of political news

If you missed it, are bored, need something to read, and finished reading the cereal box. ~Bob

Good Column: Marine Straight-Shooting at Sundry Targets. By Andy Weddington
Excerpt: For today, some Marine straight-shooting - ever civil but pointed at times - at sundry targets. Nothing personal but the truth - as vowed in this forum. Not in any particular order...

Important: Fewer than 2 million signed up for Medicaid under the health law, report says. By Sandhya Somashekhar and Lena H. Sun
Excerpt: Between 1 million and 2 million Americans signed up for Medicaid last year because of the health-care law, according to a new report suggesting that many of the people who have joined the program since the initiative’s rollout in October would have done so absent the law. The Obama administration has said that 6.3 million people were determined to be eligible for Medicaid between October and December. But the study, from health-care industry consulting firm Avalere Health, suggests that only a fraction of the enrollments are strictly the result of the health-care law.

Important: Administration will allow people to switch health-care plans to a limited degree. By Amy Goldstein
Excerpt: The Obama administration has quietly reworked rules and computer code for HealthCare.gov to try to stem an outpouring of discontent by some Americans who have discovered that the health plans they bought do not include their old doctors or allow them to add new babies or spouses. Under changes that have not been disclosed to the public, the government will temporarily allow consumers who have gotten coverage through the new online insurance marketplace to switch health plans to a limited degree. (Well, as the President often lectures Republicans, the AA is "settled law"--until I want to make a change to protect Democrats from this disaster! ~Bob)

Surprise: WH Weighs Extending Obamacare 'Fix' Through 2016 Election. By Guy Benson
Excerpt: Unexpected delayschanges, "fixes," postponements and exemptions have become staples of Obamacare, so additional tumult shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone at this point. Let the frantic -- and quite possibly illegal -- seat-of-their-pantsrevisions continue: The Obama administration is considering an extension of the president's decision to let people keep their individual insurance policies even if they are not compliant with the health care overhaul, industry and government officials said Thursday. 

Why Obamacare is a Plague on America in 13 Quotes. By John Hawkins
Excerpt: 2) Almost all of the people signing up for Obamacare lost their coverage because of Obamacare: Then there are the roughly three million people said to have signed up for private insurance. In mid-January, the Wall Street Journal reported that a relatively small percentage of the new sign-ups were previously uninsured Americans gaining coverage through Obamacare. The rest were people who were covered and lost that coverage in the market disruptions largely caused by Obamacare.

Free the Job-Locked Poets! By Jonah Goldberg 
Excerpt: The Congressional Budget Office issued a politically explosive report this week, finding that Obamacare will reduce the number of hours Americans work by the equivalent of 2.5 million full-time jobs. This is different than killing 2.5 million jobs, Obamacare defenders are quick to insist. This will be a shortfall on the demand, not supply, side. In other words, people with health insurance will opt not to work in certain circumstances if they know they won't lose their coverage.

Taxpayers hit for MILLIONS as six states put inmates on Obamacare plans (which also boosts enrollment numbers)
Excerpt: Cash-strapped counties in six states are enrolling inmates in Obamacare health insurance plans as a way to shift costs to the federal government – a tactic that's legal but frustrating for some Republicans who don't want to see the success levels of President Obama's signature law inflated artificially.

Problems for Obamacare continue to mount
Excerpt: Even as the White House continues to hope that the struggles of Obamacare are in the past, the almost daily headlines of problems promise to keep the massive new health care program in the spotlight. (Just a short summary of the situation as it continues to unfold. The part about "so many people will choose not to work or to work fewer hours" is particularly interesting, and I've seen the same thing about people choosing not to work because of these benefits in 2 or 3 other articles. That sure isn't going to sit well with the regular hardworking middle class people who are in the cubicles processing stuff or driving the long distance truck or running their own small business. And what's notable is that in other societies this whole thing has come up in years past of some fraction of lower class people being well enough off on the dole that they decide that working doesn't make sense for them. For those of us working and paying the serious tax burden, the idea that our tax money goes to keep other people taking it easy at home instead of finding a job just doesn't feel right. In fact, it sounds like something that will be a burr under the saddle and over time really rub people raw. Yet there really are some intellectuals who believe that it's OK to build benefits to where people can choose not to work. I figure that's fine for them, they can divert more of their money to those people, but thank you very much, I don't want my hard-earned bucks going to keep someone in comfort when they could go and generate their own income. --Del)

White House Defense of Obamacare Is 'Such La-La-Land Stuff,' Economist Says
Excerpt: The Obama White House on Tuesday said it's a good thing that Obamacare subsidies will encourage more Americans to work less -- or work not at all. But economist Art Laffer disagrees. "It's such la-la land stuff. I've never heard such nonsense in my life," Laffer, a former Reagan adviser, told Fox News on Wednesday. "It's amazing how these people don't understand budgets or economics." (A nice commentary on very recent inputs form the CBO, that I bet the White House is white hot about. Too bad, they are independent and get to say what they see. --Del)

Why All Americans Should Support Hobby Lobby's Case Against Obamacare
http://blog.heritage.org/2013/12/23/hobby-lobbys-secular-case/
Excerpt: The Hobby Lobby chain of more than 500 stores is owned by the Green family of Oklahoma City, who run their business in accord with their Evangelical Christian beliefs. Founder David Green says the family cannot in conscience subsidize certain mandated drugs and devices that can cause an abortion early in pregnancy. (Seems to me that Obama should pay attention to his own words in his National Prayer Breakfast speech http://www.c-span.org/video/?317641-1/BreakfastC 1:16:03 Obama - Hypocrite Extraordinaire‎. --MM )

Four bombs hit central Baghdad, killing 23. By Kareem Raheem
Excerpt: The blasts came a day after two rockets were fired into the Green Zone, home to the prime minister's office and Western embassies, and are likely to heighten concerns about Iraq's ability to protect strategic sites as security deteriorates.

Surprise: Syria misses chemical weapons handover deadline
Excerpt: Syria on Wednesday missed a deadline to hand over all the toxic materials it declared to the world's chemical weapons watchdog, putting the program several weeks behind schedule and jeopardizing a final June 30 deadline. At the same time, opposition activists say the Syrian air force is attacking the country's biggest city, Aleppo, with barrel bombs, forcing many to flee

MSM silent after Dem lawmaker’s gun accidentally discharges
Excerpt: If a Ruger LCP semi-automatic is accidentally fired inside the office of a Kentucky state representative, will it make a sound? Not in the mainstream media — and especially not if the gun’s owner is a Democrat.

Exposed: The Muslim Brotherhood/Al-Qaeda Connection
Excerpt: "That Libya is mentioned is interesting. According to a Libyan Arabic report I translated back in June 2013, those who attacked the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, killing Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, were from jihadi cells that had been formed in Libya through Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood support. Those interrogated named Morsi and other top Brotherhood leadership as accomplices. More evidence—including some that implicates the U.S. administration—has mounted since then.”

Obama admin unilaterally changes law to allow immigrants with ‘limited’ terror contact into US
Excerpt: The Obama administration has issued new exemptions to a law that bars certain asylum-seekers and refugees who provided “limited material support” to terrorists who are believed to pose no threat from the U.S. The Department of Homeland Security and the State Department published the new exemptions Wednesday in the Federal Register to narrow a ban in the Immigration and Nationality Act excluding refugees and asylum seekers who had provided limited material support, no matter how minor, to terrorists. (Doesn't this qualify as "Aid and Comfort to the enemy" and isn't that a treasonous act? --JB).

Excerpt: Drugstore chain CVS got a shout out from President Obama after announcing this morning that it would stop selling tobacco products at its more than 7,600 stores across the country. “Ending the sale of cigarettes and tobacco products at CVS/pharmacy is the right thing for us to do for our customers and our company to help people on their path to better health,” said Larry J. Merlo, president and CEO, CVS Caremark. “Put simply, the sale of tobacco products is inconsistent with our purpose.” (Beg to differ with these progressive do-gooders. Tobacco is, in fact, a drug. And a darn good thing to have in a first aid kit for insect stings. A poultice made of tobacco and Listerine—though water or saliva works in a pinch—draws venom from the wound and might even save life in someone with anaphylactic shock to bee stings—did with my brother. I keep at least one pack on hand; not to smoke, but as a drug. There is a good purpose for this plant. --Barb. Well, it's a free country--so far--and they have a right to sell what the want. Given that tobacco kills about 480,00 Americans every year--far more than guns and far, far more than are saved from bee stings, I would chose not to sell it. Lost my dad & uncle to it. Must be a smokeless way to make available what is needed for first aid. ~Bob)

NORM PATTIS: A town at risk: An invasion of the very worst sort
Excerpt: Bethany’s rural character is at risk just now. A group calling itself Green Haven has set its sights on undeveloped farmland. The group wants to develop what it calls the first “cohousing development” in Connecticut, packing dozens of homes onto the 31-acre Halter farm property on Meyers Road. (This from a criminal defense lawyer always railing about the tragic lives of his poor clients, who has now developed a terminal case of NIMBY. The only value here is that the irony is so dense but libs still can’t see it. As always from the Register, the comments are invaluable. --GS)

Bogus Jefferson Quotes
I often see many of these. But we do our cause no good by spreading untruths. ~Bob

Top Adviser To The Chinese Government Calls For A Global Currency To Replace The U.S. Dollar
Excerpt: The former chief economist at the World Bank, Justin Yifu Lin, is advising the Chinese government that the time has come for a single global currency. Lin, who is also a professor at Peking University, says that the U.S. dollar “is the root cause of global financial and economic crises” and that moving to a “global super-currency” will bring much needed stability to the global financial system.

Pentagon to appoint officer to promote ethical behavior, Hagel says
Excerpt: Stung by a string of embarrassing revelations about misconduct in the ranks, the Pentagon will soon appoint a senior officer to promote and enforce a culture of ethical behavior and good moral character, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Friday. (A recent AP article covered Secretary of Defense Hagel's worry about a string of ethics lapses and his direction to leadership for urgency injecting "moral character and moral courage" into the force. Are you kidding, Mr. Secretary? It's too late! Perhaps the wrong people have been and are being promoted. Furthermore, you are addressing the problem from the wrong direction. The example starts in The White House! 'About face, sir!' --Andy Weddington, Col. USMC (Ret). From " Marine Straight-Shooting at Sundry Targets" linked above.)

Navy rebukes three admirals for taking questionable trip to Britain
Excerpt: Unlike other cases of personal misconduct that have been dogging U.S. military leaders in recent years, this episode hardly amounted to a high crime. The admirals went on an official, seven-day trip to Britain in April 2012 that, to some eyes, seemed more about pleasure and less about business.

Excerpt: "I will not lie, or cheat, or steal, or tolerate those around me who do." Sadly, we learned this week that a group of Navy Missile Launch Officers are being accused of cheating on their tests. They join the seventy or so Air Force Missile Launch Officers busted a few weeks ago for the same thing.

U.S. Adds Just 113,000 Jobs in January
Excerpt: The U.S. economy added just 113,000 jobs in January, a small improvement over December’s disappointing report but not nearly enough to signal a much-needed rebound in the increasingly unpredictable U.S. labor market. The number of jobs created fell well below forecasters’ predictions of 185,000 new jobs.

Everything You Need to Know About Friday's Payroll Numbers. By Mike Shedlock 
Excerpt: Big Miss: Nonfarm Payrolls rose by 113,000. The Median Bloomberg estimate was +180,000. December was revised up a tiny bit from 74,000 to 75,000. Beneath the surface, things actually look better for a change. The household survey shows a gain of employment of 638,000. That said, revisions were in play. 

Worth Reading: Why We Lost The War On Poverty. By John C. Goodman 
Excerpt: Take a look at the graph below. From the end of World War II until 1964 the poverty rate in this country was cut in half. Further, 94% of the change in the poverty rate over this period can be explained by changes in per capita income alone. Economic growth is clearly the most effective antipoverty weapon ever devised by man. The dotted line shows what would have happened had this trend continued. Economic growth would have reduced the number in poverty to a mere 1.4% of the population today ? a number so low that private charity could probably have taken care of any unmet needs.

2 Wis. men charged in theft of $5M violin
Excerpt: Never mind that Salah Salahadyn, 41, had already tried and failed at art theft. The Milwaukee man pleaded guilty in 2000 to trying to resell a $25,000 statue to the art gallery owner from whom it had been stolen in 1995, and his ex-girlfriend told investigators that while he hadn't stolen it himself he did plot the theft. ... Salahadyn and a second man, Universal Knowledge Allah, 36, appeared in Milwaukee County court Friday on charges of being a party to robbery. Allah is also charged with possessing marijuana. (Just poor, hard-working immigrants looking for a better life. Throw open the doors. ~Bob)

Worth Reading: Obama’s World: Embrace and Appeasement, not Realism. By Michael Ledeen
Excerpt: I don’t think it’s hard to understand Obama’s foreign policy. Although there’s a lot we don’t know about him, his basic impulses are clear enough. He’s told us what they are (although, to be sure, he often misleads and obfuscates), and his actions are in keeping with his announced impulses. Furthermore, there’s nothing unique or surprising about them — you can hear them in our classrooms and our college dorms, and read them in the establishment press every day. He’s an establishment member in high standing. (Wow, what a great analysis of Obama's personal ideology. It certainly makes a great deal of sense. Of course, assuming it's a valid description, it still leaves us facing 3 more years of a President trying to remake us into less than we have been, and less than I believe we need to be. --Del)

Republicans Go On an Immigration Reform Bender. By Bruce Thornton 
Excerpt: Rather than twisting the political knife in the gaping wound that is Obamacare, House Republicans are off on a “comprehensive immigration reform” toot. The latest news has the Speaker putting off any action for now, and waiting until after the midterm elections in order not to anger the anti-amnesty base, and “to goose Latino turnout or to swing purple districts” in 2016, as political blogger Allahpundit put it. In other words, electoral timing rather than principle is determining what happens. (Wow, this guy minces no words, he lays it out straight. I wish more people would speak plainly and logically and factually about our problems, as he has done here. And he is absolutely right, there is no way to dodge the totally predictable accusations of racism, misogyny, and all the standard slanders leftists love to use against any conservative. The answer is not to shrink from the fight, but to go ahead with facts, logic, and transparency. We need politicians who can rise to such action. --Del)

Excerpt: GOPs press for sanctions vote, Menendez vows to "not yield" on his bill, and Paul presses Obama on his constitutional authority to repeal sanctions law. (This whole mess with playing nice with the ayatollahs is so stupid, considering what we know of what they really say and really do back home, that it defies the imagination that anyone is ready to take them at their word. Wanting so badly to believe that they have really decided to be nice people that you ignore the reality of their past and present actions is on a par with believing that giving Hitler the Sudetendland would end all the trouble with Germany. --Del)

Florida mom brings daughter, 15, to New York for Super Bowl prostitution and 'fetish stuff': cops
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/moms-pimp-daughter-15-super-bowl-article-1.1597569
Excerpt: The mom’s sick admission, spelled out in court papers, shows Yolanda Ostoloza, 39, of Hollywood, Fla., knew exactly what she was doing. “We came up here to work and make money with a pimp,” she told cops, according to a criminal complaint. “I knew it was for escorting and prostitution.”

Excerpt: If you want to 'end the war' against al Qaeda, one good way would be to declare that all of the global terror group's leaders are dead, and declare victory. And this seems to be exactly what the Obama administration is doing. And pretty much doing it at the behest of our 'friends' in Pakistan. The same Pakistani friends who insisted for 10 years that Osama bin Laden wasn't in Pakistan, until he was killed by US SEALs in a raid just outside Pakistan's version of West Point.

Widow of Murdered Police Officer Vows to Stop Confirmation of Cop Killer Advocate to DOJ. By Katie Pavlich 
Excerpt: Yesterday Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee approved Obama nominee Debo Adegbile to head up the Civil Rights Division inside the Department of Justice. His nomination now goes to the Senate floor for a vote. In 2011, Adegbile voluntarily took on the case and racial cause of convicted cop killed Mumia Abu-Jamal during his time as the president of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.

West Denounces Repression of Bloggers, Religions in Vietnam
Excerpt: Western countries on Wednesday denounced Vietnam’s jailing of bloggers and curbs on the Internet and called on its Communist government to respect basic freedoms of worship and expression. Britain’s diplomat Ruth Tumer told the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council that her country regretted “recent trends to control the Internet” and, with diplomats from France and Australia, called for reducing the number of crimes punishable by death and for a moratorium on executions. (Hanoi is getting their share of recognition for being the miserable bastards that they are. --Del)

The Lesson of Chris Christie and Bridgegate: Don’t Fall In Love Too Fast. By Dan McLaughlin 
Excerpt: The political fallout of “Bridgegate” may not be entirely clear just yet – but the lesson it holds for Republicans looking for a 2016 presidential candidate should be. Don’t fall in love too early. Nobody should be rushing to pick a 2016 presidential nominee two years before the first primaries. One of the iron laws of politics is that sooner or later, everybody gets a turn inside the piƱata. 

Trader Joe's pulls plug on Northeast Portland development after 'negative reactions' from community
The store would have brought in a lot of jobs for locals, and increased property values, things we normally think of as really good for the neighborhood. But some local activists could only see it as possibly bringing in new residents who might not be Black, and that was sufficient cause to nix the whole thing. Wow.... speaking of being mired in backward attitudes and what is really racism! How sad for everyone. And note, the development company was owned by Blacks. --Del. Black "leaders" often complain that black neighborhoods have higher food prices and fewer jobs due to racism. Imagine if white folks opposed a store because it would bring in too many blacks! Not to mention that this type of racist statement from blacks encourages white racism in response. ~Bob.)

Christie’s stunning budget-cut hypocrisy: Pensions gutted before Super Bowl splurge: Christie is just the latest politician to call for "necessary" budget cuts before spending big on special interests. By David Sirota 
Excerpt: In the name of fiscal responsibility, Gov. Chris Christie, R-N.J., has cut the pensions of New Jersey’s public employees and reduced education funding. Yet, he had his state cough up almost $18 million to subsidize the big game. That was in addition to the $400 million the New York Times noted New Jersey taxpayers spent to improve the Meadowlands. It was also on top of the special property tax breaks New Jersey gave the NFL. (I am opposed to the taxpayers funding any form of entertainment--sports, arts, public radio and TV, etc. But it's a popular way to buy votes from folks who then wonder why their taxes are so high. ~Bob.)

Salazar says support of Keystone comes from new information. By Allison Sherry
Excerpt: Former Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said in an interview Thursday that his endorsement of construction of the Keystone oil sands pipeline comes after learning new information, including that the pipeline would not greatly increase carbon emissions. (Get a load of who's endorsing the project now that he's no longer in a position to help it come to fruition. Look, Obama administration, if you don't want to build the Keystone Pipeline, just come out and say so. Take the political lumps and get it over with. Enough of this perpetual "well, we just need to review it a few more months" limbo. To put the length of time of this review in perspective, when they first sought approval to build the pipeline, the fossils that make up the fossil fuel of the oil were still walking around. -- Jim Geraghty, Morning Jolt

Excerpt: Alorton, an African-American village run by Democrats, may actually be the most corrupt village in Illinois and the United States. Alorton’s violent crime rate has been as high as ten times the national average. Its biggest employers are health care, fast food, welfare and education. The unemployment rate for black men is at 31%. Half the people in Alorton live below the poverty line. 70% of poor households consist of single mothers.

Fracking Keeps Heating Bills Down
The cold winter has created a near-record demand for natural gas in the United States, says the Wall Street Journal. While the increased demand has raised natural gas prices, the jump in price has not been as extreme as in past cold snaps. ... The more stable prices are a function of the energy boom in the United States, which, through fracking, has created massive natural gas supplies. With the vast supply, the market has not panicked with concern that stores will be depleted. (this helps the poor and working classes, but since when do Progressives--who oppose fracking--care about them. Never see them at parties. ~Bob)

Ayatollah Tortured, Near Death, in Iran for Criticizing Political Islam. By Shadi Paveh
Excerpt: Ayatollah Hossein-Kazamani Boroujerdi, a senior member of the Shiite Muslim clergy, is presently serving the eighth year of an 11-year sentence handed down to him by the Islamic Republic's courts for advocating the separation of state and religion inside Iran.

California's - And America's - Ominous Pension Debacle Is About To Hit. By Mark Bucher
http://license.icopyright.net/user/viewFreeUse.act?fuid=MTc4NDg3Njk
Excerpt: Hold on to your wallets, folks. Without a powerful intervention, California may soon become the first big domino to fall in America's public pension debacle. To help prevent catastrophe, the California Public Policy Center (CPPC) has just made public a new database detailing the size and scope of the state's outsized expenditures on public employees — the largest ever compiled in California. Legislators and voters should take note, because California can't afford another round of fact-free partisan warfare. (Another demonstration of how irresponsible government from politicians eager to keep public employees happy has become a bomb whose fuse is growing shorter by the year. It's more than time for correction of these super generous policies, but getting it done is a major challenge. --Del. My money's still on the Illinois pension disaster hitting first. Both were created by Democrats buying votes from public for the next election, and, unlike pay raises, postponing the bill to the future--which is almost here. I was glad to leave that state. ~Bob)

Maryland disrespects us and gun owners, so we expand in Tennessee. By Ugo Gussalli Beretta, President of Beretta U.S.A.
Excerpt: My family has operated our business from the same small town in northern Italy for 500 years. This means that when we make a commitment to a local community, our hope is to do so for decades, if not centuries, to come. We apply this same philosophy to all of our factories and locations throughout the world. Such a commitment is not a one-way street, though. In return for our investment in jobs, facilities and assistance to the local economy, we ask for respect and a supportive business climate.

Excerpt: President Obama used his address at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington this morning to highlight that it’s “clear that around the world freedom of religion is under threat,” claiming that his administration is helping save the day. “We see governments engaging in discrimination and violence against the faithful. We sometimes see religion twisted in an attempt to justify hatred and persecution against other people just because of who they are, or how they pray or who they love. (Gee, Dr. Carson did not get an invite this year….Barb.)
Excerpt: President Obama enacted part of his promised Climate Action Plan today with the creation of regional “Climate Hubs” to coordinate a global warming response with farmers, ranchers and owners of forest land….The USDA, which is overseeing the hubs, said the program is part of Obama’s State of the Union promise “to responsibly cut carbon pollution, slow the effects of climate change and put America on track to a cleaner environment.”

Cop arrests firefighter giving aid to crash victims
Excerpt: A California firefighter was attempting to give aid to the victims of a car crash when he was handcuffed and detained by a highway patrol officer, according to local news.Now the agencies involved say it was a misunderstanding that prompted the officer to interrupt firefighter Jacob Gregoire’s efforts to help an injured man….Gregoire was assisting an injured man when an officer with the California Highway Patrol instructed him to move his firetruck out of the dividing lane.

Police charge man on crutches with misdemeanor for shooting an intruder to protect his daughter
http://dailycaller.com/2014/02/06/police-charge-man-on-crutches-with-misdemeanor-for-shooting-an-intruder-to-protect-his-daughter/#ixzz2sZ4aYuaH
Excerpt: A 44-year-old man on crutches shot and killed one of two intruders in his Chicago home last week, according to the Chicago Tribune. Police have since charged him with a misdemeanor for possession of a firearm with an expired Firearm Owner Identification card. According to the police report, his 18-year-old daughter woke him and said she thought someone might be trying to break in next-door, so the man opened the door connecting the residences to investigate. When he returned to the open door he saw two men charging him and fired.

Excerpt: Police are being scrutinized for a raid they conducted in AnkenyIowa, during which they destroyed the exterior cameras on the house they were entering, broke down several doors, and left the occupants in mortal terror — all over alleged credit-card fraud. One of the inhabitants, Justin Ross, had his gun with him when police conducted the raid. … The Washington Post’s Radley Balko noted that police cited Ross’s permit to carry a weapon as one of their reasons for conducting such a raid. 

Email: IRS’s Lerner, Treasury Department secretly drafted new rules to restrict nonprofits
http://dailycaller.com/2014/02/05/email-irss-lerner-treasury-department-secretly-drafted-new-rules-to-restrict-nonprofits/#ixzz2sZ2zUme2
Excerpt: The Obama administration’s Treasury Department and former IRS official Lois Lerner conspired to draft new 501(c)(4) regulations to restrict the activity of conservative groups in a way that would not be disclosed publicly, according to the House Committee on Ways and Means. The Treasury Department and Lerner started devising the new rules “off-plan,” meaning that their plans would not be published on the public schedule. They planned the new rules in 2012, while the IRS targeting of conservative groups was in full swing, and not after the scandal broke in order to clarify regulations as the administration has suggested.

An Exercise in Indoctrination
Excerpt: A University of California, Berkeley professor is requiring 100 students to create Twitter accounts and post comments about "Islamophobia," anti-Islamist Muslim activist Tarek Fatah reports.

New York Times Profit Falls 12%; Print, Digital Revenues Still Falling. By Joel Pollak
Excerpt: The New York Times announced Thursday that operating profits had fallen 12% in the fourth quarter of 2013 compared to the same period a year before. (So serving up Progressive Pabulum isn't profitable? Who knew? Since the NYT is the propaganda arm of the permanent Obama campaign, I suppose he will declare them "too big to fail" and bail them out with our money. ~Bob)

Key Democratic Group Will Sit Out Midterm Elections
Excerpt: Priorities USA Action, the super PAC now backing Hillary Clinton, won’t spend to help Democrats in the House and Senate this year, a spokesperson confirms. (Bugler, sound retreat! Every Man for himself! ~Bob)

It should be game over for the Olympics. By Charles Lane
Excerpt: But any benefits have to be weighed against the Olympics’ costs, which are political, financial, moral and — for athletes ravaged by steroid abuse — human. Supporters speak of the Olympics as a “movement,” as if the Games were some sort of insurgent force for good, not the leviathan they are. What we really need is a movement to get rid of them. (Yup. ~Bob)

Excerpt: This is remarkable, the latest in a string of rightward moves that must have the more honest among Davis’s backers wondering why they’re bothering. Thus far, their candidate has: dropped from her website all mention of abortion, the very thing that made her famous; started to describe herself as “pro-life” in the vain hope that voters might not notice; and, worried at how she might be portrayed, taken to walking around campaign events carrying a shotgun and talking like Yosemite Sam. The policy shifts, too, have been remarkable.

Hillary Clinton ‘certainly aware’ of security problems before Benghazi: report. By Stephen Dinan
Excerpt: House Republicans on Friday issued a new report that says former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton “was certainly aware” of security problems in Libya ahead of the 2012 terrorist attack on the U.S. diplomatic outpost in Benghazi. The new report also questions the validity of the State Department’s own internal review, known as the Accountability Review Board, saying it had serious deficiencies. (The flow of information and repeated questions just rolls on. On January 15th the Senate issued an 85 page report on the situation, which is pretty interesting, but large sections of it are redacted. It's attached for those who are really interested in the details of what happened. --Del. Vary hard for the public to get at the truth of these thing. Republicans are eager to spin to put Obama and Clinton in the worst light. Democrats and their media water carriers strive to white wash every scandal--IRS, Fast and Furious, NSA and this--to cover for them. ~Bob)

Good Column: The Angry Left. By Daniel Greenfield 
Excerpt: So why is the left so angry? Watch MSNBC or browse any left-wing site and you see a level of anger that would make you think that Al Gore had just conceded or Nixon had just won reelection. There’s more anger in the privileged circles of the left than in the political rearguard of the Tea Party.

A tale of two droughts. By Victor Davis Hanson
Excerpt: Despite recent sporadic rain, California is still in the worst extended drought in its brief recorded history. If more storms do not arrive, the old canard thatCalifornia could withstand two droughts -- but never three -- will be tested for the first time in memory. There is little snow in the state's towering Sierra Nevada mountains, the source of much of the surface water that supplies the state's populated center and south. 

Audit finds asylum system rife with fraud; approval laws broken with surge of immigrants
Who would have guessed? ~Bob. Excerpt: At least 70 percent of asylum applications showed signs of fraud, according to a secret 2009 internal government audit that found many of those cases had been approved anyway.

Excerpt: It happened last April, but we are only hearing about it now. Why is that? There have been no arrests and there are apparently no suspects, but it does appear to have been a carefully planned and coordinated attack. Said Mark Johnson, a former PG&E executive: “This wasn’t an incident where Billy-Bob and Joe decided, after a few brewskis, to come in and shoot up a substation. This was an event that was well thought out, well planned and they targeted certain components.”

Muslim who says she was fired for refusing flu shot sues Children's Hospital Boston
Excerpt: A former Children's Hospital Boston employee who said she was fired because her Islamic beliefs prohibited her from getting a mandatory flu shot sued the hospital today. Leontine Robinson says in her complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Boston that her civil rights were violated because the hospital "intentionally discriminated against (her) due to her religious beliefs." 

Obama Has Nullified the Legislative Branch
Excerpt: The president does behave outside the Constitution. I mean, Sheila Jackson Lee, in the House of Representatives, is saying that their job now is to write executive orders for Obama to sign. Not laws, but write executive orders! During his State of the Coup speech, when Obama announced that if they didn’t do what he wanted, he’s gonna go do it anyway, the Democrats stood up and cheered.

Sheila Jackson Lee: Writing executive orders for Obama to sign ‘our number one agenda’
http://dailycaller.com/2014/02/04/sheila-jackson-lee-writing-executive-orders-for-obama-to-sign-our-number-one-agenda/#ixzz2sWfamgDS
Excerpt: Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee said that the new Congressional Full Employment Caucus will “give President Obama a number of executive orders that he can sign.” Jackson Lee added that writing up executive orders “should be our number one agenda.” (Note the red/black uniform of “the community/regime.” --Barb)

Muslim Brotherhood Leader Meets Obama in White House. Controversial British MB leader participates in Iraq discussion
Excerpt: A senior member of the Muslim Brotherhood was recently hosted at the White House for a meeting with President Barack Obama, prompting an outcry from critics of the global Islamist organization. Anas Altikriti, a top British lobbyist for the Muslim Brotherhood whose father heads Iraq’s Muslim Brotherhood party, recently met with the president and Vice President Joe Biden as part of a delegation discussing problems in Iraq.

U.S. Postal Service Announces Giant Ammo Purchase: Post Office joins other federal agencies stockpiling over two billion rounds of ammo

Excerpt:…“The United States Postal Service intends to solicit proposals for assorted small arms ammunition,” the notice reads, which also mentioned a deadline of Feb. 10. The Post Office published the notice just two days after Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) announced his proposal to remove a federal gun ban that prevents lawful concealed carry holders from carrying handguns inside post offices across the country. 

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