As the nation prepares to ring in the New Year, President Barack Obama is preparing a colossal new executive action that could print-up work permits for a huge number of foreign white-collar graduates every year, above and beyond the levels set by Congress.
This executive action, which directly bypasses Congressional lawmakers, is likely to reverberate across the presidential race, as GOP voters look to choose a nominee they believe will most effectively roll back the President’s still-expanding agenda. And it will certainly raise new security concerns as it covers categories of immigration utilized by migrants from the Middle East and nearby regions.
President Barack Obama’s Department of Homeland Security plans to publish the proposed rule tomorrow, the last day of 2015.
The 181-page rule focuses primarily on giving work-permits to foreign college-grads who will compete against Americans for white collar jobs, despite the large number of American graduates now stuck in lower-wage positions and struggling to pay off college debts. The rule will also make each foreign graduate much cheaper for U.S. employers to hire than many U.S.-born college grads.
WASHINGTON MERRY-GO-ROUND - Government Crimes and Corruption
December 31, 2015
December 30, 2015
Marco Rubio Endorsement Brings Trey Gowdy’s Radical History on Immigration Into Spotlight
Rep. Trey Gowdy's (R-SC) endorsement of Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) may shine an unwanted spotlight on the South Carolinian’s record of past radical statements on immigration and his aggressive support for donor class policies embraced by Sen. Rubio.
Gowdy’s extreme immigration declarations come in addition to his long-standing support for donor-class Republican lawmakers. For instance, in a closed-door GOP leadership election in November of 2014, Gowdy seconded Rep. John Boehner's (R-OH) nomination as House Speaker. Similarly, Gowdy was the Congressman who nominated Paul Ryan for Speaker. According to Politico, Boehner “secretly urged Gowdy to run” for House Majority Leader.
At the height of the Rubio-Ryan amnesty push in 2013 — in the aftermath of President Obama’s profoundly controversial 2012 executive amnesty for DREAMers and at a time when illegal minors were continuing to pour across the border — Gowdy delivered a blanket pardon to the world’s alien youth to enter the country illegally. Gowdy declared: “When children wander into neighborhood yards, we don’t call that trespassing.” Gowdy elaborated on his position, stating:
What I prefer to do is look at the 11 million in natural subgroups. You have what are called the DREAM children. I would think most people would advocate for an accelerated path to citizenship for children who, through no fault of their own, were brought here at an early age. I would have a shortened path to citizenship for those who serve in our armed services. And then you can have a sliding scale [to determine which illegals get citizenship] based on your years in the country and contributions you made to society.
Read the entire article
Gowdy’s extreme immigration declarations come in addition to his long-standing support for donor-class Republican lawmakers. For instance, in a closed-door GOP leadership election in November of 2014, Gowdy seconded Rep. John Boehner's (R-OH) nomination as House Speaker. Similarly, Gowdy was the Congressman who nominated Paul Ryan for Speaker. According to Politico, Boehner “secretly urged Gowdy to run” for House Majority Leader.
At the height of the Rubio-Ryan amnesty push in 2013 — in the aftermath of President Obama’s profoundly controversial 2012 executive amnesty for DREAMers and at a time when illegal minors were continuing to pour across the border — Gowdy delivered a blanket pardon to the world’s alien youth to enter the country illegally. Gowdy declared: “When children wander into neighborhood yards, we don’t call that trespassing.” Gowdy elaborated on his position, stating:
What I prefer to do is look at the 11 million in natural subgroups. You have what are called the DREAM children. I would think most people would advocate for an accelerated path to citizenship for children who, through no fault of their own, were brought here at an early age. I would have a shortened path to citizenship for those who serve in our armed services. And then you can have a sliding scale [to determine which illegals get citizenship] based on your years in the country and contributions you made to society.
Read the entire article
December 29, 2015
EPA Gets Americans 129 Years Of Jail Time As Agency Workers Go Unpunished After Spilling Toxic Mine Waste
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) enforcers helped convict 185 Americans of environmental crimes this year, with each of these eco-convicts getting sentenced to eight months in prison on average for crimes ranging from biofuel fraud to illegally removing asbestos.
EPA enforcement data for 2015 shows the agency opened 213 environmental cases which resulted in 185 people convicted and sentenced to 129 years in prison. EPA has been opening fewer cases in recent years to focus more on “high impact” cases.
“The focus on high impact more complex cases results in fewer investigations overall,” EPA notes in its presentation showing agency enforcement activities for the year. EPA says its criminal enforcement focuses “on complex cases that involve a serious threat to human health and the environment or that undermine program integrity.”
Every year, EPA agents help put dozens of Americans in prison for breaking U.S. environmental laws. Environmental crimes range from spilling coal ash into public waterways, to pretending to produce biofuels, to illegally cleaning up asbestos in buildings.
Read the entire article
EPA enforcement data for 2015 shows the agency opened 213 environmental cases which resulted in 185 people convicted and sentenced to 129 years in prison. EPA has been opening fewer cases in recent years to focus more on “high impact” cases.
“The focus on high impact more complex cases results in fewer investigations overall,” EPA notes in its presentation showing agency enforcement activities for the year. EPA says its criminal enforcement focuses “on complex cases that involve a serious threat to human health and the environment or that undermine program integrity.”
Every year, EPA agents help put dozens of Americans in prison for breaking U.S. environmental laws. Environmental crimes range from spilling coal ash into public waterways, to pretending to produce biofuels, to illegally cleaning up asbestos in buildings.
Read the entire article
December 28, 2015
Obama’s Former Intelligence Director: President’s Strategy Not Working
President Barack Obama’s highest-ranking military intelligence official — forced out for excessive candor in 2014 — continued his no-holds-barred critiques in this 20-minute video interview with The Daily Caller News Foundation.
Retired in 2014, Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn, President Obama’s former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency at the Pentagon, served in the U.S. Army for 30 years but believes the nation is being lead by an ideological allegiance that crowds out strategies and decisions based on facts on the ground.
According to the candid Flynn, President Obama — who called ISIS a “JV team” — is downplaying the Islamic threat and overstating our readiness because of an allegiance to his ideology. The energetic general dismisses the tone-deaf Democrat or media elite’s focus on gun control or Islamaphobia after the Paris and San Bernardino terrorist attacks. Flynn says, “It is about religion, and not about gun control.”
“It’s a cancerous form of radical Islamism and we cannot allow it to exist on this planet anymore,” he continues.
Read the entire article
Retired in 2014, Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn, President Obama’s former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency at the Pentagon, served in the U.S. Army for 30 years but believes the nation is being lead by an ideological allegiance that crowds out strategies and decisions based on facts on the ground.
According to the candid Flynn, President Obama — who called ISIS a “JV team” — is downplaying the Islamic threat and overstating our readiness because of an allegiance to his ideology. The energetic general dismisses the tone-deaf Democrat or media elite’s focus on gun control or Islamaphobia after the Paris and San Bernardino terrorist attacks. Flynn says, “It is about religion, and not about gun control.”
“It’s a cancerous form of radical Islamism and we cannot allow it to exist on this planet anymore,” he continues.
Read the entire article
December 26, 2015
New Twitter Feed on US Election Races
Check out and follow the 2016 Election Race on the newly created Twitter account https://twitter.com/USElectionRaces
December 25, 2015
The Great Truth-Teller of 2015: Donald J. Trump
Nothing raises the bitter ire of our corrupt, rotted DC Media like The Truth. These leftwing liars, these protectors of central government, these Babylonian Whores of bubbled-privilege will use any vile means at their disposal to exterminate a Truth Teller, which is why Republican frontrunner Donald Trump has faced the kind of demagoguery andvenomous hate no politician not-named Sarah Palin can begin to understand.
For telling inconvenient truths, naturally the DC Media attacks Trump as a liar, and not just as a liar, but the biggest liar of the year, of ever in the history of lying.
Did Trump lie to the American people before stripping millions of their health insurance and doctors? No, that was Barack Obama and the media.
Did Trump lie about a video causing a terrorist attack? No, that was Obama and Hillary Clinton, and the DC Media.
Did Trump lie to grieving families about that same video? No, that was Hillary.
Did Trump lie about a secret email account or about millions of favor-seeking dollars from foreign governments or the taxes he filed regarding those millions of dollars from favor-seeking foreign governments? No, that was Hillary-Hillary-Hillary.
December 24, 2015
Paul Ryan’s Christmas Warning: American Companies Will Shut Down Without More Foreign Workers
In a Tuesday morning interview with radio host Bill Bennett, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) defended his omnibus bill’s controversial expansion in the H-2B visa program, which would allow foreign workers to fill blue-collar American jobs, by arguing that if the provision were not included, American companies would be forced to shut their doors.
Bennett pressed Ryan on the details of the H-2B visa expansion, slipped 700-pages into Ryan’s 2,009-page omnibus spending bill—asking Ryan directly, “Do you believe there are not enough Americans to fill these jobs?”
In response, Ryan described the H-2B visa expansion as “a very small, discrete provision.”
Despite the nation’s high levels of unemployment and stagnating wages, Ryan continued on to assert, without offering evidence in support of his claim, that corporations are facing a shortage of labor, which rendered the provision necessary. Ryan said:
The reason that this was passed is because there was some seasonal surge jobs that they can’t find local workers to fill, like the seafood packaging industry in Chesapeake Bay. You have seafood season, you need people to package those things, to can them. In the North, we have the summer tourism industry. What it is is there’s seasonal industries where they can’t find local people to do the jobs: kids are already in college or things like that where you have a surge in workers.
Read the entire article
Bennett pressed Ryan on the details of the H-2B visa expansion, slipped 700-pages into Ryan’s 2,009-page omnibus spending bill—asking Ryan directly, “Do you believe there are not enough Americans to fill these jobs?”
In response, Ryan described the H-2B visa expansion as “a very small, discrete provision.”
Despite the nation’s high levels of unemployment and stagnating wages, Ryan continued on to assert, without offering evidence in support of his claim, that corporations are facing a shortage of labor, which rendered the provision necessary. Ryan said:
The reason that this was passed is because there was some seasonal surge jobs that they can’t find local workers to fill, like the seafood packaging industry in Chesapeake Bay. You have seafood season, you need people to package those things, to can them. In the North, we have the summer tourism industry. What it is is there’s seasonal industries where they can’t find local people to do the jobs: kids are already in college or things like that where you have a surge in workers.
Read the entire article
December 23, 2015
'We're done': CNN cuts off conservative guest's microphone
CNN's Don Lemon abruptly ended an interview Tuesday afternoon after one of his conservative guests refused to stop talking about former President Bill Clinton's many sex scandals.
The moment occurred after the CNN host failed repeatedly to get conservative columnist Kurt Schlichter to comment on GOP front-runner Donald Trump cracking bathroom jokes about Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
"Why did he have to go there?" Lemon asked Schlichter and Trump supporter Tara Grant.
"Don, it's going to take a lot more for me to get upset at a woman who enabled a guy who turned the Oval Office into a frat house and his intern into a humidor," Schlichter responded, "I just don't care. I so don't care."
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The moment occurred after the CNN host failed repeatedly to get conservative columnist Kurt Schlichter to comment on GOP front-runner Donald Trump cracking bathroom jokes about Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
"Why did he have to go there?" Lemon asked Schlichter and Trump supporter Tara Grant.
"Don, it's going to take a lot more for me to get upset at a woman who enabled a guy who turned the Oval Office into a frat house and his intern into a humidor," Schlichter responded, "I just don't care. I so don't care."
Read the entire article
December 22, 2015
Why did Chuck Hagel “quit”?
On November 24, 2014, it was announced that Chuck Hagel would resign from the position of Secretary of Defense following conflicts within the administration, particularly relating to issues concerning ISIS/ISIL
Chuck Hagel quit his post in the Obama white house. We think we know why. But do we?
In a recent article in FP Foreign Policy Hagel is quoted as saying,”The White House tried to destroy me.”
Did he get sick of the lies?
“He was pushed out by President Barack Obama, sources told CNN, because of internal administration disagreements over ISIS strategy.”
Perhaps Hagel could not come to grips with the fact that ISIS is a creation of the CIA/Mossad.
December 21, 2015
Obama Vetoes Bill To Dismantle EPA Global Warming Rules
President Barack Obama has vetoed legislation to repeal Environmental Protection Agency regulations on power plants that are a key part of the administration’s global warming agenda.
Obama announced Sunday morning he would not be considering bills to repeal the EPA’s power plant rules, meaning the bills are subject to a “pocket veto.”
“The Clean Power Plan is a tremendously important step in the fight against global climate change,” Obama said in a statement. “[T]he resolution would overturn the Clean Power Plan, which is critical to protecting against climate change and ensuring the health and well-being of our nation, I cannot support it.”
Obama’s veto stops the last chance a Republican-controlled Congress has this year of derailing EPA rules to limit carbon dioxide emissions from power plants. Congress passed bills in November that would have repealed these regulations under the Congressional Review Act.
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December 18, 2015
Paul Ryan Builds Border Fence Around His Mansion, Doesn’t Fund Border Fence in Omnibus
A recent Breitbart News investigation reveals that Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), who has a two-decade-long history of promoting open borders immigration policies, seems to support border fences for himself, even as he denies the American people those same protections.
While Paul Ryan’s omnibus spending bill does not provide funding for the mandatory completion of a 700-mile double-layer border fence that Congress promised the American people nearly a decade ago when it passed the 2006 Secure Fence Act, Paul Ryan has constructed a fence around his property.
As Breitbart News’s photographic documentation reveals, Ryan’s home is surrounded by a tall border fence reinforced by equally high bushes— ensuring both privacy and security. Moreover, the fence is manned by an on-duty agent who guards his property’s perimeter. Upon even the slightest appearance of any unusual activity— such as a 5’2″ female taking a photograph of the fence— Ryan’s border agent will deploy into action to ensure the perimeter’s sovereignty.
Over the course of the past six months, there has been heightened national focus on Americans’ desire for a border fence following the GOP presidential frontrunners’ call for a border wall. A Rasmussen Reports survey released in August of this year found that likely Republican voters, by greater than a 4-1 margin, support Donald Trump’s plan to build a border wall (70 percent vs. 17 percent). Amongst all likely voters, a majority (51 percent) support building the border wall.
Read the entire article
While Paul Ryan’s omnibus spending bill does not provide funding for the mandatory completion of a 700-mile double-layer border fence that Congress promised the American people nearly a decade ago when it passed the 2006 Secure Fence Act, Paul Ryan has constructed a fence around his property.
As Breitbart News’s photographic documentation reveals, Ryan’s home is surrounded by a tall border fence reinforced by equally high bushes— ensuring both privacy and security. Moreover, the fence is manned by an on-duty agent who guards his property’s perimeter. Upon even the slightest appearance of any unusual activity— such as a 5’2″ female taking a photograph of the fence— Ryan’s border agent will deploy into action to ensure the perimeter’s sovereignty.
Over the course of the past six months, there has been heightened national focus on Americans’ desire for a border fence following the GOP presidential frontrunners’ call for a border wall. A Rasmussen Reports survey released in August of this year found that likely Republican voters, by greater than a 4-1 margin, support Donald Trump’s plan to build a border wall (70 percent vs. 17 percent). Amongst all likely voters, a majority (51 percent) support building the border wall.
Read the entire article
December 17, 2015
Paul Ryan Betrays America: $1.1 Trillion, 2,000-Plus Page Omnibus Bill Funds ‘Fundamental Transformation of America’
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) first major legislative achievement is a total and complete sell-out of the American people masquerading as an appropriations bill.
Too harsh, you say? Let the programs, the spending, and the implications speak for themselves.
(1) Ryan’s Omnibus Fully Funds DACA
Though much of the public attention has surrounded the President’s 2014 executive amnesty, the President’s 2012 amnesty quietly continues to churn out work permits and federal benefits for hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens. Paul Ryan’s bill funds entirely this 2012 executive amnesty for “DREAMers”—or illegal immigrants who came to the country as minors.
Specifically, Division F of Ryan’s omnibus bill contains no language that would prohibit the use of funds to continue the President’s unconstitutional program. Obama’s executive action, known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), has granted around 700,000 illegal aliens with work permits, as well as the ability to receive tax credits and federal entitlement programs. A recent GAO report documented how this illegal amnesty program for alien youth is, in large part, responsible for the illegal alien minor surge on our southern border.
Read the entire article
Too harsh, you say? Let the programs, the spending, and the implications speak for themselves.
(1) Ryan’s Omnibus Fully Funds DACA
Though much of the public attention has surrounded the President’s 2014 executive amnesty, the President’s 2012 amnesty quietly continues to churn out work permits and federal benefits for hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens. Paul Ryan’s bill funds entirely this 2012 executive amnesty for “DREAMers”—or illegal immigrants who came to the country as minors.
Specifically, Division F of Ryan’s omnibus bill contains no language that would prohibit the use of funds to continue the President’s unconstitutional program. Obama’s executive action, known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), has granted around 700,000 illegal aliens with work permits, as well as the ability to receive tax credits and federal entitlement programs. A recent GAO report documented how this illegal amnesty program for alien youth is, in large part, responsible for the illegal alien minor surge on our southern border.
Read the entire article
December 16, 2015
Rand Paul: Debate Moderators Must Press Marco Rubio on Gang of Eight Amnesty Bill
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) is calling on CNN’s Wolf Blitzer and the other debate moderators here this evening to actually ask Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) about the “Gang of Eight” amnesty bill he pushed with Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY).
Rubio, in multiple debates so far this election cycle, has not been asked even once about the bill—his only legislative accomplishment other than providing the 60th vote for Obamatrade’s Trade Promotion Authority (TPA)—during any debate. It remains to be seen if Blitzer will asks Rubio about his amnesty plan with Schumer.
“Yeah, and I think particularly with regards to national defense and border security because we gave him opportunities to make amendments that would have allowed for more border security,” Paul replied in an exclusive interview with Breitbart News when asked if the moderators should ask Rubio about the “Gang of Eight” amnesty bill. “I introduced one that would have had more scrutiny for refugees and students and I’ve been talking about this—my staff actually dug up a video of me talking about this when I ran for office in 2010.”
Paul continued in the exclusive Breitbart News interview by noting that Rubio had a “secret agreement” with Schumer—the likely next Democratic leader after Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) retires at the end of this term—to kill all amendments, including ones that would have strengthened national security provisions and border security provisions. Paul said:
Read the entire article
Rubio, in multiple debates so far this election cycle, has not been asked even once about the bill—his only legislative accomplishment other than providing the 60th vote for Obamatrade’s Trade Promotion Authority (TPA)—during any debate. It remains to be seen if Blitzer will asks Rubio about his amnesty plan with Schumer.
“Yeah, and I think particularly with regards to national defense and border security because we gave him opportunities to make amendments that would have allowed for more border security,” Paul replied in an exclusive interview with Breitbart News when asked if the moderators should ask Rubio about the “Gang of Eight” amnesty bill. “I introduced one that would have had more scrutiny for refugees and students and I’ve been talking about this—my staff actually dug up a video of me talking about this when I ran for office in 2010.”
Paul continued in the exclusive Breitbart News interview by noting that Rubio had a “secret agreement” with Schumer—the likely next Democratic leader after Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) retires at the end of this term—to kill all amendments, including ones that would have strengthened national security provisions and border security provisions. Paul said:
Read the entire article
December 15, 2015
GAO: EPA broke law promoting water rule on social media
The Environmental Protection Agency broke the law by using social media to promote the Waters of the United States regulation, according to a government watchdog.
The Government Accountability Office made the accusation in a letter sent to Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., Monday afternoon. The investigators ruled that the use of Thunderclap, a "crowd speaking platform" that helps a single message be shared across multiple social media platforms at once, was "covert propaganda."
"We conclude that EPA's use of Thunderclap constituted covert propaganda, in violation of the publicity or propaganda prohibition," the letter said.
The EPA created a Thunderclap page titled "I Choose Clean Water," the letter said. When the page gained 500 supporters, it posted a message to all of those supporters' social media accounts. It is estimated the post reached 1.8 million people on social media.
Read the entire article
The Government Accountability Office made the accusation in a letter sent to Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., Monday afternoon. The investigators ruled that the use of Thunderclap, a "crowd speaking platform" that helps a single message be shared across multiple social media platforms at once, was "covert propaganda."
"We conclude that EPA's use of Thunderclap constituted covert propaganda, in violation of the publicity or propaganda prohibition," the letter said.
The EPA created a Thunderclap page titled "I Choose Clean Water," the letter said. When the page gained 500 supporters, it posted a message to all of those supporters' social media accounts. It is estimated the post reached 1.8 million people on social media.
Read the entire article
December 14, 2015
Senate GOP steels itself for fight over Paris agreement
While President Obama and his team of negotiators celebrate the Paris Agreement, top Republican senators are steeling themselves for a fight over the deal.
Senior White House officials said Saturday the deal doesn't need to go to the Senate to be voted on, but it doesn't appear that Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., will allow the deal to get through his Republican-led Senate.
McConnell, in a statement issued Saturday, said Obama took a step too far with the Paris deal.
"The President is making promises he can't keep, writing checks he can't cash, and stepping over the middle class to take credit for an 'agreement' that is subject to being shredded in 13 months," McConnell said. "His commitments to help leaders abroad are based on proposals at home that would hurt jobs and raise utility rates for American families."
Read the entire article
Senior White House officials said Saturday the deal doesn't need to go to the Senate to be voted on, but it doesn't appear that Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., will allow the deal to get through his Republican-led Senate.
McConnell, in a statement issued Saturday, said Obama took a step too far with the Paris deal.
"The President is making promises he can't keep, writing checks he can't cash, and stepping over the middle class to take credit for an 'agreement' that is subject to being shredded in 13 months," McConnell said. "His commitments to help leaders abroad are based on proposals at home that would hurt jobs and raise utility rates for American families."
Read the entire article
December 11, 2015
GOP Leaders Prepare for Possible Deadlocked Convention
More than 20 Republican Party leaders met privately on Monday night with Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus to prepare for a brokered convention, according to the Washington Post.
“The prospect of [Donald] Trump nearing next year’s nominating convention in Cleveland with a significant number of delegates dominated the discussion, according to five people familiar with the meeting,” the Post reported.
“Several longtime power brokers argued that if the controversial billionaire storms through the primaries, the party’s mainstream wing could coalesce around an alternative,” according to sources who spoke anonymously to the Posts’s Robert Costa, who also reported that advisors and allies of two Trump rivals were at the dinner.
Costa reports:
Read the entire article“Attendees included Ward Baker, executive director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee; Rob Simms, his counterpart at the National Republican Congressional Committee; Ron Kaufman, an RNC committeeman and Mitt Romney confidant; and pollster Linda DiVall.”
December 10, 2015
Your Government Spends Billions Convincing You to Let It Spend More of Your Money
For example, a new report from watchdog group OpenTheBooks.com details how the federal government spends $4.34 billion on public relations.
“Taxpayers might be surprised to know that the federal government is the second-largest public relations firm in the world,” OpenTheBooks.com founder and report author Adam Andrzejewski observes. “Our nation’s 3,092 federal public affairs officers have perfected the art of advancing an agency’s interests – often for more dollars and higher salaries – ahead of the public interest.”
The report, entitled The Department of Self-Promotion: How Federal Agency P.R. Spending Advances Their Interests Rather Than the Public Interest, offers plenty of examples, gleaned from government financial reports covering the years 2007 through 2014. If civics classes ever get around to teaching the vitally important lesson thatgovernment itself is the biggest, baddest “special interest” in America, Andrzejewski’s work can serve as one of their textbooks.
The federal government has spent over $190 million on surveys and polls since 2007, for example, creating what the report describes as a “vast data mining operation that collects all sorts of minutia information on citizens, society, personal behaviors, group behaviors, and business behaviors.” Much of this work is contracted out at exorbitant rates, with one company billing the IRS $69.88 per hour for an “injured spouse satisfaction survey.” That means taxpayers effectively paid each of the company’s “junior survey statisticians” over $145,000 per year.
December 9, 2015
White House Says ‘Grotesque’ Donald Trump ‘Disqualified’ over Muslim Immigration Comments, Mocks His Hair
President Barack Obama’s spokesman angrily lashed out at Donald Trump for proposing a ban on Muslim immigration to the United States, and accused him of “offensive bluster” and “grotesque and offensive” language.
“The fact is, that what Donald Trump said yesterday disqualifies him from serving as president,” spokesman Josh Earnest said, suggesting to reporters that his words were fundamentally anti-American.
Earnest denounced Trump’s “carnival barker routine” which included “outright lies” and mocked the Republican frontrunner for having “fake hair.” He said:
The Trump campaign, for months now, has had a dustbin of history-like quality to it, from the vacuous sloganeering to the outright lies to even the fake hair, the whole carnival barker routine that we’ve seen for some time now.
Read the entire article
“The fact is, that what Donald Trump said yesterday disqualifies him from serving as president,” spokesman Josh Earnest said, suggesting to reporters that his words were fundamentally anti-American.
Earnest denounced Trump’s “carnival barker routine” which included “outright lies” and mocked the Republican frontrunner for having “fake hair.” He said:
The Trump campaign, for months now, has had a dustbin of history-like quality to it, from the vacuous sloganeering to the outright lies to even the fake hair, the whole carnival barker routine that we’ve seen for some time now.
Read the entire article
December 8, 2015
Supreme Court Denies Gun Case on Chicago-Area ‘Assault Weapon’ Ban
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to review a city ordinance in Illinois restricting so-called “assault weapons.” Two justices dissented from the Court’s denying review and noted a disturbing trend against the Second Amendment.
The city of Highland Park is part of the greater Chicago area and has a long track record of opposing citizens exercising the Second Amendment’s right to keep and bear arms. Part of this is banning “assault weapons,” which is a term invented by politicians.
Assault weapons are not an actual class of firearms. The term is often confused with “assault rifles,” which are a class of firearms. But for most such bans, “assault weapons” excludes some types of assault rifles and includes guns that are not assault rifles.
Specifically, Highland Park’s ordinance banned assault weapons, as well as ammunition magazines that can hold more than ten rounds. The Supreme Court held in its 2008 Heller case and its 2010 McDonald case that the Second Amendment is an individual right to bear arms that applies to all federal, state, and local laws and is a right on the same level as First Amendment rights.
Read the entire article
The city of Highland Park is part of the greater Chicago area and has a long track record of opposing citizens exercising the Second Amendment’s right to keep and bear arms. Part of this is banning “assault weapons,” which is a term invented by politicians.
Assault weapons are not an actual class of firearms. The term is often confused with “assault rifles,” which are a class of firearms. But for most such bans, “assault weapons” excludes some types of assault rifles and includes guns that are not assault rifles.
Specifically, Highland Park’s ordinance banned assault weapons, as well as ammunition magazines that can hold more than ten rounds. The Supreme Court held in its 2008 Heller case and its 2010 McDonald case that the Second Amendment is an individual right to bear arms that applies to all federal, state, and local laws and is a right on the same level as First Amendment rights.
Read the entire article
December 7, 2015
Clinton Calls On Tech Companies To ‘Deny Online Space’ To Terrorist Recruiters
Hillary Clinton on Sunday called for tech companies like Google, Facebook and Twitter to “deny online space” to ISIS and other terrorist groups who use social media and the internet to recruit followers and communicate with sympathizers.
In an interview with ABC “This Week” host George Stephanopoulos, the Democratic presidential candidate said that big tech companies would “have to help us take down these announcements and these appeals.”
Terrorist groups have increasingly relied on social media to communicate with sympathizers. And Tashfeen Malik, one of the San Bernardino terrorists, reportedly posted her allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi on Facebook just before she and her husband, Syed Farook, killed 14 people at a holiday party on Wednesday.
“We’re going to need help from Facebook and from YouTube and from Twitter,” Clinton said Sunday. “They cannot permit the recruitment and the actual direction of attacks or the celebration of violence by the sophisticated internet user.”
Read the entire article
December 4, 2015
Congress To Protect Worst Bureaucratic Outrage You’ve Never Heard About
A measure protecting Internet Service Providers against judge-less subpoenas issued by federal bureaucrats has 305 congressional co-sponsors and seems headed toward passage, but critics say it protects one of the worst government abuses of the Constitution.
The Email Privacy Act has 192 House Republican co-sponsors and 113 Democrat co-sponsors, and seems set to pass this year or in 2016. A companion measure is making comparable progress in the Senate.
The bill updates the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 to require agencies seeking information from an ISP about an individual’s Internet activities to secure prior approval for a subpoena from a federal judge, as the Fourth Amendment requires.
The measure gained important backing earlier this week when a coalition of prominent conservative political activists and groups signed a letter of support to leaders of the House and Senate judiciary committees.
December 3, 2015
Feds Bar Obamacare Co-ops From Going For-Profit
Federal health officials are barring Arizona’s nonprofit Obamacare health insurance co-op from transforming itself into a for-profit company, The Daily Caller News Foundation has learned.
Earlier this year, Arizona’s Meritus Health Partners, a non-profit set up under Obamacare, had only $19 million left of its $93 million in federal funding. Its officers sought to change its status to a for-profit company in order to attract private capital, according to Healthcare Dive, an online health newsletter.
But Obamacare officials in Washington, D.C. tell TheDCNF it is illegal to convert an Obamacare non-profit co-op into a for-profit enterprise.
Aaron Albright, a spokesman for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid that manages Obamacare, tells TheDCNF a rule in the original language of the Affordable Care Act bans any non-profit co-op conversion into a for-profit.
Albright directed TheDCNF to the final Obamacare rule on co-ops which states that “under the final rule, a co-op conversion into a for-profit entity is prohibited in all circumstances.”
As a result, the co-op will be closing its doors Dec. 31 and 59,000 of its customers are scrambling to find new insurance coverage by the end of the year.
Read the entire article
Earlier this year, Arizona’s Meritus Health Partners, a non-profit set up under Obamacare, had only $19 million left of its $93 million in federal funding. Its officers sought to change its status to a for-profit company in order to attract private capital, according to Healthcare Dive, an online health newsletter.
But Obamacare officials in Washington, D.C. tell TheDCNF it is illegal to convert an Obamacare non-profit co-op into a for-profit enterprise.
Aaron Albright, a spokesman for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid that manages Obamacare, tells TheDCNF a rule in the original language of the Affordable Care Act bans any non-profit co-op conversion into a for-profit.
Albright directed TheDCNF to the final Obamacare rule on co-ops which states that “under the final rule, a co-op conversion into a for-profit entity is prohibited in all circumstances.”
As a result, the co-op will be closing its doors Dec. 31 and 59,000 of its customers are scrambling to find new insurance coverage by the end of the year.
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December 2, 2015
Obama’s Former DIA Director: Admin Dismissed ISIS Warnings Because It Didn’t Fit The ‘Narrative’
President Barack Obama’s former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency Retired Gen. Michael Flynn said the White House dismissed the threat ISIS posed because it “did not meet a particular narrative that the White House needed” regarding reelection.
Appearing on CNN’s “The Lead” with Jake Tapper on Tuesday, Flynn insisted, “I have said, and I believe, that people that were around the president, his sort of inner circle advising him, I think advised him incorrectly.”
Tapper prefaced the question and explained, “In 2012, your agency put out a new declassified report that seems to have predicted the rise of ISIS.”
The report said the “deteriorating security situation in Iraq and Syria could lead to the declaration of a quote ‘Islamic state through union with our organizations in Iraq and Syria which will create grave danger in regards to unifying Iraq and protection of its territory.'”
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December 1, 2015
Obama: Talking About Climate Change ‘Act of Defiance’ Against Islamic State
President Obama is like a beautiful sunrise: each morning, he astonishes anew. Except that the sunrise is beautiful, and President Obama is simply stupid.
That’s the kind gloss on Obama’s latest trip to Paris, where he has repeatedly stated that he is fighting ISIS by sitting in mahogany-paneled rooms eating delicacies with fellow world leaders and chatting about how to hamper global economic growth on behalf of environmentalist redistributionism. Speaking in Paris, Obama said that talking climate change is “an act of defiance that proves nothing will deter us.”
Deter us from what? Obama said that we would build a better future, and that ISIS couldn’t stop us, as though Muslim terrorists are sitting around in Syria making nefarious plans to expend carbon, cursing the new Global Alliance Against Cow Farts. Naturally, Obama trotted out his favorite language to describe those who disagree with his agenda: they’re cynics. “One of the enemies we will be fighting at this conference is cynicism,” Obama said – and fighting cynicism will presumably be a more important task than fighting radical Muslims who wish to murder Westerners.
Leave aside Obama’s arrogance here – he was supposed to speak for three minutes and spoke for fourteen. Leave aside his pathetic apologetics for the American economy, the planetary driver for economic growth since the turn of the 20th century — Obama said he had come “personally as the leader of the world’s largest economy and the second largest emitter to say the USA not only recognizes our role in creating this problem, we embrace our responsibility to do something about it.” Focus instead on Obama’s prioritization: he believes that what he’s doing in Paris right now is of far more global importance than what he does to stop Russian aggression in the Middle East, or to stop ISIS’s terror campaign, or to stop the devolution of American global power. That’s not an aberration. That’s a fundamental part of the leftist philosophy from which he springs. As Paul Krugman of The New York Times wrote just days after the Paris massacre, “Sorry, conservatives: when President Obama describes climate change as the greatest threat we face, he’s exactly right. Terrorism can’t and won’t destroy our civilization, but global warming could and might.”
Read the entire article
That’s the kind gloss on Obama’s latest trip to Paris, where he has repeatedly stated that he is fighting ISIS by sitting in mahogany-paneled rooms eating delicacies with fellow world leaders and chatting about how to hamper global economic growth on behalf of environmentalist redistributionism. Speaking in Paris, Obama said that talking climate change is “an act of defiance that proves nothing will deter us.”
Deter us from what? Obama said that we would build a better future, and that ISIS couldn’t stop us, as though Muslim terrorists are sitting around in Syria making nefarious plans to expend carbon, cursing the new Global Alliance Against Cow Farts. Naturally, Obama trotted out his favorite language to describe those who disagree with his agenda: they’re cynics. “One of the enemies we will be fighting at this conference is cynicism,” Obama said – and fighting cynicism will presumably be a more important task than fighting radical Muslims who wish to murder Westerners.
Leave aside Obama’s arrogance here – he was supposed to speak for three minutes and spoke for fourteen. Leave aside his pathetic apologetics for the American economy, the planetary driver for economic growth since the turn of the 20th century — Obama said he had come “personally as the leader of the world’s largest economy and the second largest emitter to say the USA not only recognizes our role in creating this problem, we embrace our responsibility to do something about it.” Focus instead on Obama’s prioritization: he believes that what he’s doing in Paris right now is of far more global importance than what he does to stop Russian aggression in the Middle East, or to stop ISIS’s terror campaign, or to stop the devolution of American global power. That’s not an aberration. That’s a fundamental part of the leftist philosophy from which he springs. As Paul Krugman of The New York Times wrote just days after the Paris massacre, “Sorry, conservatives: when President Obama describes climate change as the greatest threat we face, he’s exactly right. Terrorism can’t and won’t destroy our civilization, but global warming could and might.”
Read the entire article
November 30, 2015
Senator Wonders If Hillary Is Covering Legal Expenses For Tech Firm That Managed Her Email Server
Republican Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley , the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is questioning whether Hillary Clinton paid legal and public relations expenses for a former State Department aide and a tech company that worked on her private email system.
“As you are aware, such arrangements can pose conflict-of-interest issues,” Grassley wrote in a letter he sent on Tuesday to attorneys representing Clinton and several of her State Department aides, including Bryan Pagliano, the IT staffer who managed Clinton’s email system while she was secretary of state.
Grassley appears concerned that Clinton’s former aides and the tech companies she has hired to manage her mysterious email system would continue to work on her behalf rather than provide information on the email arrangement to investigators.
“It is important for the Committee to know whether Secretary Clinton and her attorneys are providing financial support, legal support, or other coordination to those associates of hers who are involved in congressional committee and federal law enforcement inquiries relating to her email server,” Grassley wrote.
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“As you are aware, such arrangements can pose conflict-of-interest issues,” Grassley wrote in a letter he sent on Tuesday to attorneys representing Clinton and several of her State Department aides, including Bryan Pagliano, the IT staffer who managed Clinton’s email system while she was secretary of state.
Grassley appears concerned that Clinton’s former aides and the tech companies she has hired to manage her mysterious email system would continue to work on her behalf rather than provide information on the email arrangement to investigators.
“It is important for the Committee to know whether Secretary Clinton and her attorneys are providing financial support, legal support, or other coordination to those associates of hers who are involved in congressional committee and federal law enforcement inquiries relating to her email server,” Grassley wrote.
Read the entire article
November 27, 2015
Obama’s EPA Spending MILLIONS Overseas
President Barack Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency has doled out nearly $25 million to foreign nations and entities — including many countries with terrible environmental track records through 135 separate grants.
Officials at the EPA defend the awards to international organizations and foreign governments since 2009.
“Our limited international investments are focused where we can have the biggest environmental protection return,” EPA spokeswoman Melissa Harrison tells The Daily Caller News Foundation. “International grants allow the U.S. to engage internationally and address serious trans-boundary and global environmental problems affecting the public health and environmental quality of the US and its citizens.”
International grants represent less than one percent of the agency’s annual grant-making total, she says.
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Officials at the EPA defend the awards to international organizations and foreign governments since 2009.
“Our limited international investments are focused where we can have the biggest environmental protection return,” EPA spokeswoman Melissa Harrison tells The Daily Caller News Foundation. “International grants allow the U.S. to engage internationally and address serious trans-boundary and global environmental problems affecting the public health and environmental quality of the US and its citizens.”
International grants represent less than one percent of the agency’s annual grant-making total, she says.
Read the entire article
November 26, 2015
The New Stop-Trump Campaign: He’s a Nazi!
In their desperate quest to end the candidacy of Donald Trump, the media, Democrats, and even fellow Republican candidates have gone Full Godwin on the richly-coiffed real estate mogul: they’re saying he’s a Nazi.
Republican presidential longshot Ohio Governor John Kasich – did you know his father was a mailman? – has now released an ad starring retired Air Force Colonel Tom Moe. The ad for Screamy McShoutypants features Moe paraphrasing a quote from pastor Martin Niemoller after World War II:
You might not care if Donald Trump says Muslims should register with their government, because you’re not one. And you might not care if Donald Trump says he’s going to round up all the Hispanic immigrants, because you’re not one. And you might not care if Donald Trump says it’s okay to rough up black protesters, because you’re not one. And you might not care if Donald Trump wants to suppress journalists, because you’re not one. But think about this: If he keeps going, and he actually becomes president, he might just get around to you. And you better hope there’s someone left to help you.
This is absurd on every level. Trump did not say that all Muslims must register with the government, contrary to the media’s manufactured narrative; he said that foreign Muslims entering the United States ought to be kept in a database, as indeed they already are. Trump didn’t say it was okay to rough up black protesters, he said it was okay to rough up protesters at his events regardless of race – an idiotic viewpoint, surely, but not a racist one. The suggestion that Trump uniquely suppresses journalists is a laugh: Barack Obama has actually attempted to wiretap journalists, and Hillary Clinton ropes them off at events.
November 25, 2015
Sen. Sessions Reveals 12 Refugee-Jihadis Charged this Year, Hopes to Shrink Obama’s 2016 Refugee Budget
Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) is out with a list of 12 vetted refugees who quickly joined jihad plots to attack the United States.
He’s spotlighting the refugees-turned-jihadis because he’s trying to prod GOP leaders into halting Congress’ normal practice of giving the president huge leeway to import foreign migrants and refugees into the United States.
This year, Obama is promising to bring in an extra 10,000 low-skill, potentially difficult-to-integrate Syrian migrants into the United States. Sessions and other critics fear he’ll use his many powers — and Congress’ autopilot funding for refugee programs — to bring in far more than 10,000 migrants.
In fact, from 2010 to 2015, Obama has allowed more than 200,000 low-skill migrants from Central American to enter the United States, and then disappear into the nation’s growing population of at least 11 million illegal immigrants.
Obama says the new refugees will be vetted. But top security officials say the Syrians can’t be vetted because the U.S doesn’t know what they were doing in Syria before they applied for refugee status.
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He’s spotlighting the refugees-turned-jihadis because he’s trying to prod GOP leaders into halting Congress’ normal practice of giving the president huge leeway to import foreign migrants and refugees into the United States.
This year, Obama is promising to bring in an extra 10,000 low-skill, potentially difficult-to-integrate Syrian migrants into the United States. Sessions and other critics fear he’ll use his many powers — and Congress’ autopilot funding for refugee programs — to bring in far more than 10,000 migrants.
In fact, from 2010 to 2015, Obama has allowed more than 200,000 low-skill migrants from Central American to enter the United States, and then disappear into the nation’s growing population of at least 11 million illegal immigrants.
Obama says the new refugees will be vetted. But top security officials say the Syrians can’t be vetted because the U.S doesn’t know what they were doing in Syria before they applied for refugee status.
Read the entire article
November 24, 2015
Obama Quietly Releases Plans For 2,224 Regulations Ahead Of Turkey Day
While millions of Americans prepare to stuff themselves with Turkey and pie, the Obama administration quietly released its plans for 2,224 federal rules Friday — a preview of just how many more regulations the president is attempting to issue before he leaves office.
President Barack Obama’s Unified Agenda for Fall 2015 is his administration’s regulatory road map and lays out thousands of regulations being finalized in the coming months. Obama has developed a habit of releasing the agenda late on Friday before a major holiday.
Indeed, Obama’s Spring 2015 agenda detailing the status of more than 2,300 regulations was released the eve of Memorial Day weekend. Obama’s Fall 2014 agenda featuring more than 3,400 regulations was also released the Friday before Thanksgiving.
While Obama’s latest release features fewer regulations than the last two, it shows the administration is determined to churn out as many rules as it can before the end of 2016. This includes major energy and environmental regulations coming down the pipe, like new rules for coal mines and rules banning common pesticides.
November 23, 2015
Glenn Greenwald: Press is hungry for war
Glenn Greenwald, the advocate-journalist who broke the story of the Edward Snowden leaks in 2013, argues the press is steering the American public toward supporting another Middle Eastern war in the wake of the Nov. 13 Paris terrorist attacks that killed 130.
"The lesson that the American media supposedly learned after the 9/11 attacks was allowing political, military, and intelligence officials to make all kinds of claims without scrutinizing and questioning and pushing them is a really destructive thing to do," Greenwald said Sunday on CNN's "Reliable Sources."
"It propagandizes the population. It leads to things like torture, Guantanamo, the attack on Iraq. I think you've seen that exact behavior but even worse from the overwhelming majority of the media since the Paris attack," Greenwald said.
Greenwald specifically targeted the station he was appearing on.
"I think that CNN has unfortunately led the way in this," Greenwald said. "You've had one intelligence official with the CIA or formerly with the CIA after the next, gone on air and made all kinds of extremely dubious claims that print journalists have repeatedly documented ... are totally false."
November 20, 2015
IRS: You Can’t Sue Us Unless We Say You Can
Department of Justice lawyers claimed Wednesday the IRS cannot be sued for damages by the estimated 330,000 taxpayers victimized by hackers who earlier this year breached the federal tax agency’s computer files.
Plaintiffs Becky Welborn and Wendy Windrich’s claim of damage under the Privacy Act and the Administrative Procedures Act cannot be pursued because the doctrine of Sovereign Immunity, which holds the federal government immune to damage claims unless it agrees to such litigation.
Without such an agreement from the IRS, the federal courts have no jurisdiction over the damage claim filed by Welborn and Windrich, according to Justice Department lawyers.
The government’s lawyers also argued in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia that the tax agency can only be sued on claims involving alleged violations of the IRS tax code’s privacy provisions to protect the confidentiality of documents submitted by taxpayers.
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Plaintiffs Becky Welborn and Wendy Windrich’s claim of damage under the Privacy Act and the Administrative Procedures Act cannot be pursued because the doctrine of Sovereign Immunity, which holds the federal government immune to damage claims unless it agrees to such litigation.
Without such an agreement from the IRS, the federal courts have no jurisdiction over the damage claim filed by Welborn and Windrich, according to Justice Department lawyers.
The government’s lawyers also argued in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia that the tax agency can only be sued on claims involving alleged violations of the IRS tax code’s privacy provisions to protect the confidentiality of documents submitted by taxpayers.
Read the entire article
November 19, 2015
PAUL RYAN, HOUSE GOP LEADERS SET THE STAGE FOR COMING CAVE TO OBAMA’S SYRIAN REFUGEE RESETTLEMENT PROGRAM
Newly elected House Speaker Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) is setting the stage this week to cave to President Barack Obama’s efforts to resettle thousands of Syrian refugees across America, even in the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks.
On Wednesday afternoon at 4 p.m. ET, the House Rules Committee will meet to prepare a bill from House Homeland Security Committee chairman Rep. Mike McCaul (R-TX) that doesn’t end up stopping Syrian refugee resettlement in America. Sources Congress-wide confirm to Breitbart News that McCaul’s bill leaves the entire refugee program unchanged and doesn’t affect funding for the program.
The bill number is H.R. 4038 and its title is the American SAFE Act of 2015. “SAFE” stands for “Security Against Foreign Enemies,” and McCaul has billed the legislation in the headline of a House Homeland Security Committee press release as an act that would “Protect Americans from ISIS.”
“America has a proud tradition of welcoming refugees into our country, and we lead the world in humanitarian assistance. However, we also must put proper measures in place to ensure our country’s safety,” McCaul said.
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On Wednesday afternoon at 4 p.m. ET, the House Rules Committee will meet to prepare a bill from House Homeland Security Committee chairman Rep. Mike McCaul (R-TX) that doesn’t end up stopping Syrian refugee resettlement in America. Sources Congress-wide confirm to Breitbart News that McCaul’s bill leaves the entire refugee program unchanged and doesn’t affect funding for the program.
The bill number is H.R. 4038 and its title is the American SAFE Act of 2015. “SAFE” stands for “Security Against Foreign Enemies,” and McCaul has billed the legislation in the headline of a House Homeland Security Committee press release as an act that would “Protect Americans from ISIS.”
“America has a proud tradition of welcoming refugees into our country, and we lead the world in humanitarian assistance. However, we also must put proper measures in place to ensure our country’s safety,” McCaul said.
Read the entire article
November 18, 2015
No Answer For Senators On Immigration History Of US Terror Suspects
The Obama administration has not responded to a demand from senators for details on the immigration history of dozens of U.S. residents arrested on terror-related charges.
Republican Sens. Ted Cruz and Jeff Sessions identified 72 U.S. residents charged with terror-related crimes in the past year and sent the Obama administration a letter in August requesting details on their immigration histories. They provided an incomplete chart with the letter, and asked the Obama administration to fill it in by Sept. 4, but have received no response.
“It is quite telling that this Administration — which seems to have unlimited resources to circumvent our immigration laws and further its executive amnesties — cannot find the time or resources to provide timely answers to these simple questions,” Sessions and Cruz wrote in a joint statement Tuesday.
“Moreover, after this past weekend’s barbaric attacks in Paris, the Administration’s continued insistence on pursuing the massive resettlement of countless individuals from unstable areas of the world reveals a flagrant disregard for the safety and security of the American people,” they continued.
November 17, 2015
Blowback—–The Washington War Party’s Folly Comes Home To Roost
Exactly 26 years ago last week, peace was breaking out in a manner that the world had not experienced since June 1914. The Berlin Wall—-the symbol of a century of state tyranny, grotesque mass warfare and the nuclear sword of Damocles hanging over the planet—-had come tumbling down on November 9, 1989.
It was only a matter of time before the economically decrepit Soviet regime would be no more, and that the world’s vast arsenal of weapons and nuclear bombs could be dismantled.
Indeed, shortly thereafter according to Gorbachev, President George H.W. Bush and Secretary Baker promised that NATO would not be expanded by “as much as a thumb’s width further to the East” in return for acquiescing to the reunification of Germany.
So with its “mission accomplished” there was no logical reason why NATO should not have been disbanded in parallel with the Warsaw Pact’s demise, and for an obvious and overpowering reason: On November 9, 1989 there were no material military threats to US security anywhere on the planet outside of the suddenly vanishing front line of the Cold War.
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It was only a matter of time before the economically decrepit Soviet regime would be no more, and that the world’s vast arsenal of weapons and nuclear bombs could be dismantled.
Indeed, shortly thereafter according to Gorbachev, President George H.W. Bush and Secretary Baker promised that NATO would not be expanded by “as much as a thumb’s width further to the East” in return for acquiescing to the reunification of Germany.
So with its “mission accomplished” there was no logical reason why NATO should not have been disbanded in parallel with the Warsaw Pact’s demise, and for an obvious and overpowering reason: On November 9, 1989 there were no material military threats to US security anywhere on the planet outside of the suddenly vanishing front line of the Cold War.
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November 16, 2015
Ryan: I support a 'pathway to legal status'
House Speaker Paul Ryan iterated his support for a "pathway to legal status" for illegal immigrants Sunday, but opposed a pathway to citizenship, and also rejected the much more harsh immigration plan of GOP presidential primary front-runner Donald Trump.
"I think you could have a pathway to legal status… it's a way to make amends with the law, effectively go on probation, and earn your way to legal status, but not to citizenship," Ryan said on "60 Minutes."
When asked whether the U.S. would be deporting millions of illegal immigrants under Paul's watch, Ryan said, "I don't see how it could happen."
"I take it you don't advocate 11 million illegal immigrants and deporting them?" reporter Scott Pelley asked.
"I think you could have a pathway to legal status… it's a way to make amends with the law, effectively go on probation, and earn your way to legal status, but not to citizenship," Ryan said on "60 Minutes."
When asked whether the U.S. would be deporting millions of illegal immigrants under Paul's watch, Ryan said, "I don't see how it could happen."
"I take it you don't advocate 11 million illegal immigrants and deporting them?" reporter Scott Pelley asked.
November 13, 2015
Government adds record $339 billion to debt in first day after budget deal
The federal government has piled up debt since the latest budget deal was signed into law, tacking $462 billion onto the national credit card since Nov. 2 as the Treasury Department replenished its funds and began another round of borrowing to take it all the way into 2017.
A staggering $339 billion in total debt was added on just the first day after President Obama signed the budget agreement — the single largest hike in history.
The debt has continued to rise, albeit more slowly, in the days since, putting the president on track to come close to the $20 trillion mark by the time he leaves office in January 2017.
Meanwhile, the early deficit numbers for fiscal year 2016, which began Oct. 1, are already looking more grim.
The government ran a deficit of $136 billion last month, up 12 percent compared with the previous October, as spending ballooned and taxes remained nearly flat. It was the worst October since 2010, when the government was still spending on the stimulus and was on pace for a deficit of more than $1 trillion that year.
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A staggering $339 billion in total debt was added on just the first day after President Obama signed the budget agreement — the single largest hike in history.
The debt has continued to rise, albeit more slowly, in the days since, putting the president on track to come close to the $20 trillion mark by the time he leaves office in January 2017.
Meanwhile, the early deficit numbers for fiscal year 2016, which began Oct. 1, are already looking more grim.
The government ran a deficit of $136 billion last month, up 12 percent compared with the previous October, as spending ballooned and taxes remained nearly flat. It was the worst October since 2010, when the government was still spending on the stimulus and was on pace for a deficit of more than $1 trillion that year.
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November 12, 2015
Feds rule in favor of snooping by tech giants
Google, Facebook and other tech giants should remain free to spy on you, regulators ruled on Friday.
A petition filed with the Federal Communications Commission by the privacy group Consumer Watchdog asked that such websites be forced to respect consumer requests not to have their online activity tracked. The FCC dismissed the petition, stating that it has been "unequivocal in declaring that it has no intent to regulate edge providers."
The FCC voted to reclassify Internet service providers as Title II utilities this year, placing them under laws codified by the Communications Act of 1934 and Telecommunications Act of 1996. Petitioners cited privacy provisions applicable under those laws in making their case, but the FCC suggested it was not ready to apply those provisions to websites until it held a separate rulemaking process.
In a statement, Consumer Watchdog said the privacy provisions "apply to companies like Comcast, Time Warner, AT&T and other ISPs." However, the group said, "much of the personal data gathered by those companies, which will be regulated, is the same information gathered by companies like Google, and Facebook, whose privacy invasive practices won't be covered."
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A petition filed with the Federal Communications Commission by the privacy group Consumer Watchdog asked that such websites be forced to respect consumer requests not to have their online activity tracked. The FCC dismissed the petition, stating that it has been "unequivocal in declaring that it has no intent to regulate edge providers."
The FCC voted to reclassify Internet service providers as Title II utilities this year, placing them under laws codified by the Communications Act of 1934 and Telecommunications Act of 1996. Petitioners cited privacy provisions applicable under those laws in making their case, but the FCC suggested it was not ready to apply those provisions to websites until it held a separate rulemaking process.
In a statement, Consumer Watchdog said the privacy provisions "apply to companies like Comcast, Time Warner, AT&T and other ISPs." However, the group said, "much of the personal data gathered by those companies, which will be regulated, is the same information gathered by companies like Google, and Facebook, whose privacy invasive practices won't be covered."
Read the entire article
November 11, 2015
Rand After Debate: I ‘Separated Myself From The Field’
Rand Paul thinks his debate performance set him completely apart from the rest of the Republican field Tuesday night.
Speaking to reporters in the “Spin Room” after the Fox Business debate, the Kentucky senator said his call to scale back the American military makes him the only fiscal conservative in the race.
“I thought it was a good debate. I thought I got more time,” Paul said. “I got to express my opinion, and I have a few opinions that I want to express.”
“And I think also separated myself from the field, in that, I’m the only fiscal conservative on the stage. I’m the only one who says, you know what, you can’t be for a trillion dollars in new military spending and call yourself a conservative.”
November 10, 2015
Government blows $3 billion to digitize one immigration form
The federal government's project to digitize paper immigration forms was scheduled to conclude two years ago, but is now expected to finish in 2019, $2.5 billion over budget, according to a report by the Washington Post.
The Office of Transformation Coordination was given nearly half a billion dollars in 2005 to convert 95 immigration application documents into electronic, downloadable forms.
A decade later, officials charged with overseeing the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services' Electronic Immigration System have just one digitized form to show for the $3.1 billion endeavor.
"Aside from the incompetence associated with the expensive failure to bring the management of the immigration process into the 21st century, this waste of taxpayers' money demonstrates that the federal bureaucracy cannot manage to effectively carry out our existing immigration policies in the public interest," Ira Mehlman, media director for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, told the Washington Examiner.
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The Office of Transformation Coordination was given nearly half a billion dollars in 2005 to convert 95 immigration application documents into electronic, downloadable forms.
A decade later, officials charged with overseeing the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services' Electronic Immigration System have just one digitized form to show for the $3.1 billion endeavor.
"Aside from the incompetence associated with the expensive failure to bring the management of the immigration process into the 21st century, this waste of taxpayers' money demonstrates that the federal bureaucracy cannot manage to effectively carry out our existing immigration policies in the public interest," Ira Mehlman, media director for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, told the Washington Examiner.
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November 9, 2015
World bank wants 'social safety net' in global climate fight
The World Bank wants nations to adopt something akin to a global "social safety net" to address the effects of climate change on the world's poor, providing universal healthcare and other subsidies as a way to protect millions from becoming impoverished from increasing floods, droughts and disease.
The World Bank made its recommendations Sunday in a report titled, "Shock Waves: Managing the Impacts of Climate Change on Poverty."
The study is being issued ahead of a major climate change conference in Paris at the end of the month, where all nations will attempt to hash out a global agreement on emissions reductions.
Critics of President Obama's plan to endorse the deal say it will raise prices for the U.S. by codifying regulations that will increase energy costs. Critics also say the deal aims to shift the wealth of developed nations, like the U.S., to poorer developing countries through the creation of a "green" climate fund.
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The World Bank made its recommendations Sunday in a report titled, "Shock Waves: Managing the Impacts of Climate Change on Poverty."
The study is being issued ahead of a major climate change conference in Paris at the end of the month, where all nations will attempt to hash out a global agreement on emissions reductions.
Critics of President Obama's plan to endorse the deal say it will raise prices for the U.S. by codifying regulations that will increase energy costs. Critics also say the deal aims to shift the wealth of developed nations, like the U.S., to poorer developing countries through the creation of a "green" climate fund.
Read the entire article
November 6, 2015
JEFF SESSIONS: KILL THE ‘ANTI-DEMOCRATIC’ TRANS-PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP IN THE CRIB, REPEAL FAST-TRACK AUTHORITY NOW
Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Immigration and the National Interest, is calling for the immediate destruction of the 5,554-page Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trans-global trade deal introduced on Thursday.
“The text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership runs 5,554 pages,” Sessions said in a statement provided to Breitbart News.
This is, by definition, anti-democratic. No individual American has the resources to ensure his or her economic and political interests are safeguarded within this vast global regulatory structure. The predictable and surely desired result of the TPP is to put greater distance between the governed and those who govern. It puts those who make the rules out of reach of those who live under them, empowering unelected regulators who cannot be recalled or voted out of office. In turn, it diminishes the power of the people’s bulwark: their constitutionally-formed Congress.
In the next part of the detailed statement calling for the TPP’s annihilation, Sessions walks through several troubling rules and regulations contained throughout its thousands of pages.
Among the TPP’s endless pages are rules for labor, environment, immigration and every aspect of global commerce – and a new international regulatory structure to promulgate, implement, and enforce these rules,” Sessions said. “This new structure is known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership Commission – a Pacific Union – which meets, appoints unelected bureaucrats, adopts rules, and changes the agreement after adoption.
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“The text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership runs 5,554 pages,” Sessions said in a statement provided to Breitbart News.
This is, by definition, anti-democratic. No individual American has the resources to ensure his or her economic and political interests are safeguarded within this vast global regulatory structure. The predictable and surely desired result of the TPP is to put greater distance between the governed and those who govern. It puts those who make the rules out of reach of those who live under them, empowering unelected regulators who cannot be recalled or voted out of office. In turn, it diminishes the power of the people’s bulwark: their constitutionally-formed Congress.
In the next part of the detailed statement calling for the TPP’s annihilation, Sessions walks through several troubling rules and regulations contained throughout its thousands of pages.
Among the TPP’s endless pages are rules for labor, environment, immigration and every aspect of global commerce – and a new international regulatory structure to promulgate, implement, and enforce these rules,” Sessions said. “This new structure is known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership Commission – a Pacific Union – which meets, appoints unelected bureaucrats, adopts rules, and changes the agreement after adoption.
Read the entire article
November 5, 2015
Contractors Who Allegedly Let Russians Write PENTAGON CODE Pay Up
The U.S. Department of Justice hit two contractors with multi-million dollar fines this week, after an investigation concluded Russian computer scientists were writing software code for U.S. military systems.
Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) and its subcontractor NetCracker agreed to pay more than $12 million in a settlement with DoJ, which alleged the contractors’ negligence allowed Russian programmers to infect the Department of Defense with several viruses, reported the Center for Public Integrity.
“From 2008 through 2013, NetCracker allegedly used employees without security clearances to perform work when it knew the [Defense Information Systems Agency] contract required those individuals to have security clearances, resulting in CSC recklessly submitting false claims for payment to DISA,” DoJ said in a statement Monday.
The settlement came as a result of a civil suit brought by former NetCracker employee and whistleblower John Kingsley on behalf of the United States, in which he confirmed Russian involvement in U.S. military software production. He’ll receive a $2.4 million payout, and the DoJ reserves the right to press criminal charges.
“On at least one occasion, numerous viruses were loaded onto the DISA network as a result of code written by the Russian programmers and installed on servers in the DISA secure system,” Kingsley’s complaint read.
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