Monday, December 8, 2014
Iran cheats and state dept ignores
http://www.theblaze.com/blog/2014/12/08/state-dept-rejects-reports-that-iran-is-cheating-on-its-nuclear-commitments/?utm_source=TheBlaze.com&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=post&utm_content=state-dept-rejects-reports-that-iran-is-cheating-on-its-nuclear-commitments
Monday, December 1, 2014
A correct view of Ferguson
http://hotair.com/archives/2014/12/01/charles-barkley-lets-face-it-the-ferguson-grand-jury-got-it-right/
Sunday, November 23, 2014
Gruber called to testify
http://hotair.com/archives/2014/11/21/gruber-called-to-testify-in-oversight-probe-on-obamacare-transparency/
Irs scandal emails uncovered in data
http://www.redstate.com/2014/11/22/irs-scandal-investigators-uncover-lois-lerners-e-mails-data/
Friday, November 21, 2014
Thursday, November 20, 2014
Obama wastes more of our tax dollars
Obama flies home just to sleep in his own bed, then flies back next day. What a waste of money.
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
Obama non transparency
http://www.theblaze.com/blog/2014/11/18/most-transparent-administration-ever-threatens-to-veto-epa-transparency-bills/?utm_source=TheBlaze.com&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=post&utm_content=most-transparent-administration-ever-threatens-to-veto-epa-transparency-bills
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Wednesday, November 5, 2014
Great election results
With republicans gaining control of the Senate I hope to see a flood of legislation sent to the presidents desk forcing him to sign it or veto it.
And hopefully an end to radical left appointeesv to positions which require Senate approval.
Thursday, October 30, 2014
Wasting our money
Hold the Phone
https://www.nationalreview.com/article/391442/hold-phone-jillian-kay-melchior
Taxpayers covered the cost when a White House electrician ran up a $1,550 bill making personal calls to the Dominican Republic from his government phone, according to public records from the General Services Administration.And that’s just one example of “a ‘chronic problem’ of#...# employees using government cell phones for personal use, although most of the calls are local,” an operations coordinator at the White House Service Center told a GSA agent, according to a June 4, 2014, report by the GSA’s Office of Inspector General.#ad#The coordinator, whose name was redacted, “stated that [he or she] was given the impression that Read More ...
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https://www.nationalreview.com/article/391442/hold-phone-jillian-kay-melchior
Taxpayers covered the cost when a White House electrician ran up a $1,550 bill making personal calls to the Dominican Republic from his government phone, according to public records from the General Services Administration.And that’s just one example of “a ‘chronic problem’ of#...# employees using government cell phones for personal use, although most of the calls are local,” an operations coordinator at the White House Service Center told a GSA agent, according to a June 4, 2014, report by the GSA’s Office of Inspector General.#ad#The coordinator, whose name was redacted, “stated that [he or she] was given the impression that Read More ...
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Wednesday, October 29, 2014
Voting machine error video... Or is it hacked or fraudulent programming.
Video: Touch-screen voting machines in Illinois lean Dem?
http://hotair.com/archives/2014/10/29/video-touch-screen-voting-machines-in-illinois-lean-dem/
Let the finger-pointing begin! Color me a bit skeptical, but there’s a bigger story in here anyway. The effort to modernize the American electoral system after the dispute in Florida in 2000 included an emphasis on new technology, especially touch-screen voting, which supposedly would make voter confusion obsolete. After all, what could be easier than simply pointing to your […] View the video »
-- gReader Pro
http://hotair.com/archives/2014/10/29/video-touch-screen-voting-machines-in-illinois-lean-dem/
Let the finger-pointing begin! Color me a bit skeptical, but there’s a bigger story in here anyway. The effort to modernize the American electoral system after the dispute in Florida in 2000 included an emphasis on new technology, especially touch-screen voting, which supposedly would make voter confusion obsolete. After all, what could be easier than simply pointing to your […] View the video »
-- gReader Pro
It's t time to implement quarantines
CBS poll: 80% back quarantines for Ebola; Update: Hagel approves quarantines for returning troops
http://hotair.com/archives/2014/10/29/cbs-poll-80-back-quarantines-for-ebola/
"Not consensus, but confusion." Yesterday, Barack Obama scolded governors who imposed quarantines on people who recently traveled from western Africa. He may want to reconsider his lecture. According to a new CBS poll, eight in ten Americans think quarantine during a potential incubation period sounds like a pretty smart idea — and more than a quarter want a travel […] Read this post »
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http://hotair.com/archives/2014/10/29/cbs-poll-80-back-quarantines-for-ebola/
"Not consensus, but confusion." Yesterday, Barack Obama scolded governors who imposed quarantines on people who recently traveled from western Africa. He may want to reconsider his lecture. According to a new CBS poll, eight in ten Americans think quarantine during a potential incubation period sounds like a pretty smart idea — and more than a quarter want a travel […] Read this post »
-- gReader Pro
EPA set with nonsensical ban of Argon. And inert gas in the atmosphere.
EPA to ban Argon, one of the largest components of the atmosphere
http://www.redstate.com/2014/10/29/epa-ban-argon-one-largest-components-atmosphere/
Did you know that Argon, an inert “noble gas” element, one of the basic building blocks of nature, is the fourth most plentiful substance in our atmosphere? It’s true. There’s more Argon in our atmosphere than anything other than molecular Nitrogen and Oxygen, and then Water. So now the science deniers in the Obama EPA are banning Argon. In chemistry, a “noble gas” is one of the elements on the periodic table that is usually listed on the far right side*, which represents an element whose electron configurations are ‘full.’ What this means is that these elements don’t really react much. They don’t even usually form molecules**, rather just preferring to float around as lone atoms. They don’t react, they don’t corrode, they don’t do anything really. Think about the difference between Hydrogen and Helium. Hydrogen is a strongly reactive gas, explosive in the right conditions, as we saw in the Hindenburg disaster. Helium however is a noble gas, and is perfectly safe, unlike Hydrogen. Argon is another noble gas, about as reactive as Helium. I guess the Obama folks never took Chemistry in school, spending all their time in racist studies courses, and so don’t know what ‘inert’ means. However they have their work cut out for them trying to ban 1% of the global atmosphere. * I guess someone told the EPA that Argon is a far right Koch element. ** When noble gases do form molecules, they are created artificially, with the heaviest noble gases like Xenon, and are highly reactive. For example XeF₄ must be kept in special containers of Nickel, and will spontaneously react with any water, including in the air, so can only be used it completely dry environments. This illustrates just how difficult it is to get a noble gas into a molecule. Even if you cram it in there, it’ll try to get out. The post EPA to ban Argon, one of the largest components of the atmosphere appeared first on RedState.
-- gReader Pro
http://www.redstate.com/2014/10/29/epa-ban-argon-one-largest-components-atmosphere/
Did you know that Argon, an inert “noble gas” element, one of the basic building blocks of nature, is the fourth most plentiful substance in our atmosphere? It’s true. There’s more Argon in our atmosphere than anything other than molecular Nitrogen and Oxygen, and then Water. So now the science deniers in the Obama EPA are banning Argon. In chemistry, a “noble gas” is one of the elements on the periodic table that is usually listed on the far right side*, which represents an element whose electron configurations are ‘full.’ What this means is that these elements don’t really react much. They don’t even usually form molecules**, rather just preferring to float around as lone atoms. They don’t react, they don’t corrode, they don’t do anything really. Think about the difference between Hydrogen and Helium. Hydrogen is a strongly reactive gas, explosive in the right conditions, as we saw in the Hindenburg disaster. Helium however is a noble gas, and is perfectly safe, unlike Hydrogen. Argon is another noble gas, about as reactive as Helium. I guess the Obama folks never took Chemistry in school, spending all their time in racist studies courses, and so don’t know what ‘inert’ means. However they have their work cut out for them trying to ban 1% of the global atmosphere. * I guess someone told the EPA that Argon is a far right Koch element. ** When noble gases do form molecules, they are created artificially, with the heaviest noble gases like Xenon, and are highly reactive. For example XeF₄ must be kept in special containers of Nickel, and will spontaneously react with any water, including in the air, so can only be used it completely dry environments. This illustrates just how difficult it is to get a noble gas into a molecule. Even if you cram it in there, it’ll try to get out. The post EPA to ban Argon, one of the largest components of the atmosphere appeared first on RedState.
-- gReader Pro
More attempted Democratic criminal activity to steel election.
Democrats Accused Of Posing As Republican Election Judges In Colorado
http://dailycaller.com/2014/10/29/democrats-accused-of-posing-as-republican-election-judges-in-colorado/
'I get emotional because this is how they win'
-- gReader Pro
http://dailycaller.com/2014/10/29/democrats-accused-of-posing-as-republican-election-judges-in-colorado/
'I get emotional because this is how they win'
-- gReader Pro
Great news
Majority of young likely voters prefer a Republican-run Congress
http://www.redstate.com/2014/10/29/majority-young-likely-voters-prefer-republican-run-congress/
Image credit: Marcio Jose Bastos Silva/Shutterstock.com A new Harvard Institute of Politics (IOP) poll of 18- to 29- year-olds finds a majority, 51%, who say they will “definitely be voting” in the November midterm elections prefer a Republican-run Congress. Only 47% favor a Democrat-controlled Congress. That’s a significant shift from the 2010 midterm elections, when IOP found 55% preferred Democrat control and 43% prefer Republican control. Among those most likely to vote, President Obama’s job approval rating is only 42, just above his lowest mark of 41%. Fifty-six percent disapprove. And like the IOP’s April results, Obama’s approval is underwater on every issue polled: The Economy 36% – 60% ObamaCare 37% – 59% The Budget Deficit 31% – 65% Foreign 35% -60% Immigration 35% – 61% Race Relations 47% – 49% Obama is losing support among young Hispanics. Only 49% of young Hispanics now approve of Obama’s performance and 46% disapprove. That’s the lowest rating among young Hispanics since the IOP began tracking the administration in 2009. It’s also a significant drop from the 60% found in April 2014 and a huge decline from the 81% found in November 2009. And like the 27% in 2010, 26% of those under the age of 30 say that they will “definitely be voting” in the fall. Worse for Democrats, traditional Republican constituencies seem to be showing more enthusiasm than Democrat ones for participating in the upcoming midterm elections and are statistically more likely to say they will “definitely be voting.” The post Majority of young likely voters prefer a Republican-run Congress appeared first on RedState.
-- gReader Pro
http://www.redstate.com/2014/10/29/majority-young-likely-voters-prefer-republican-run-congress/
Image credit: Marcio Jose Bastos Silva/Shutterstock.com A new Harvard Institute of Politics (IOP) poll of 18- to 29- year-olds finds a majority, 51%, who say they will “definitely be voting” in the November midterm elections prefer a Republican-run Congress. Only 47% favor a Democrat-controlled Congress. That’s a significant shift from the 2010 midterm elections, when IOP found 55% preferred Democrat control and 43% prefer Republican control. Among those most likely to vote, President Obama’s job approval rating is only 42, just above his lowest mark of 41%. Fifty-six percent disapprove. And like the IOP’s April results, Obama’s approval is underwater on every issue polled: The Economy 36% – 60% ObamaCare 37% – 59% The Budget Deficit 31% – 65% Foreign 35% -60% Immigration 35% – 61% Race Relations 47% – 49% Obama is losing support among young Hispanics. Only 49% of young Hispanics now approve of Obama’s performance and 46% disapprove. That’s the lowest rating among young Hispanics since the IOP began tracking the administration in 2009. It’s also a significant drop from the 60% found in April 2014 and a huge decline from the 81% found in November 2009. And like the 27% in 2010, 26% of those under the age of 30 say that they will “definitely be voting” in the fall. Worse for Democrats, traditional Republican constituencies seem to be showing more enthusiasm than Democrat ones for participating in the upcoming midterm elections and are statistically more likely to say they will “definitely be voting.” The post Majority of young likely voters prefer a Republican-run Congress appeared first on RedState.
-- gReader Pro
Thursday, October 23, 2014
Wednesday, October 22, 2014
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Monday, October 20, 2014
Sunday, October 19, 2014
Typical Obama admin official misses meeting.... Again
Ebola Czar Misses His Second White House Meeting Since Being Appointed
http://dailycaller.com/2014/10/19/ebola-czar-misses-his-second-white-house-meeting-since-being-appointed/
Was at the White House doing paperwork
-- gReader Pro
http://dailycaller.com/2014/10/19/ebola-czar-misses-his-second-white-house-meeting-since-being-appointed/
Was at the White House doing paperwork
-- gReader Pro
Friday, October 17, 2014
Wednesday, October 15, 2014
Houston' radical gay mayor breaking all sorts of laws
Houston’s Mayor Throws Out Citizens’ Petition, Goes after Local Pastors
https://www.nationalreview.com/article/390408/houstons-mayor-throws-out-citizens-petition-goes-after-local-pastors-ian-tuttle
‘Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” Unless you’re in Houston, Texas, in which case you had best render everything to Mayor Annise Parker or else.Earlier this year Parker, a Democrat, spearheaded the passage of an “Equal Rights Ordinance” (ERO) that added “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to the city’s non-discrimination provision, which includes, among other things, “public accommodations” -- for example, restrooms. Citizens, among them church leaders, balked. They launched a referendum petition that, with the requisite 17,269 signatures, would require the city council to repeal the ERO, or Read More ...
gReader Pro
https://www.nationalreview.com/article/390408/houstons-mayor-throws-out-citizens-petition-goes-after-local-pastors-ian-tuttle
‘Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” Unless you’re in Houston, Texas, in which case you had best render everything to Mayor Annise Parker
Nobody beleiver Obama anymore
Obama on Ebola: Trust Us, We’ve Got This Under Control
http://dailycaller.com/2014/10/15/obama-on-ebola-trust-us-weve-got-this-under-control/
No, he and his scientists don't have this under control
-- gReader Pro
http://dailycaller.com/2014/10/15/obama-on-ebola-trust-us-weve-got-this-under-control/
No, he and his scientists don't have this under control
-- gReader Pro
A o the Democratic candidate won't admit to voting for Obama.
Michelle Nunn Won't Say If She Voted for Obama
https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/390418/michelle-nunn-wont-say-if-she-voted-obama-andrew-johnson
Another Democratic Senate candidate has refused to say whether she voted for President Obama: This time it was Michelle Nunn in Georgia.The same question has tripped up other red-state Democrats on the campaign trail. On two occasions over the past week, Kentucky's Alison Lundergan Grimes has been panned for her refusal to answer the question, twice citing the "sanctity of the ballot box" as her reason for keeping mum.Nunn was approached by a tracker who asked her if she voted for the president in 2008 or 2012. Nunn did not respond and kept walking towards the venue she was headed Read More ...
-- gReader Pro
https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/390418/michelle-nunn-wont-say-if-she-voted-obama-andrew-johnson
Another Democratic Senate candidate has refused to say whether she voted for President Obama: This time it was Michelle Nunn in Georgia.The same question has tripped up other red-state Democrats on the campaign trail. On two occasions over the past week, Kentucky's Alison Lundergan Grimes has been panned for her refusal to answer the question, twice citing the "sanctity of the ballot box" as her reason for keeping mum.Nunn was approached by a tracker who asked her if she voted for the president in 2008 or 2012. Nunn did not respond and kept walking towards the venue she was headed Read More ...
-- gReader Pro
White house keeps head in the sand. still no travel ban
White House: Nope, an Ebola travel ban still isn’t on the table
http://hotair.com/archives/2014/10/15/white-house-nope-an-ebola-travel-ban-still-isnt-on-the-table/
Protection. Via the Corner, once again the White House’s explanation is that a ban would restrict much-needed supplies and health-care workers from countries that desperately need them. And once again, the reply will be: Why not use chartered flights for those supplies and workers? Why not use military flights, now that Obama’s already decided to send […] Read this post »
-- gReader Pro
http://hotair.com/archives/2014/10/15/white-house-nope-an-ebola-travel-ban-still-isnt-on-the-table/
Protection. Via the Corner, once again the White House’s explanation is that a ban would restrict much-needed supplies and health-care workers from countries that desperately need them. And once again, the reply will be: Why not use chartered flights for those supplies and workers? Why not use military flights, now that Obama’s already decided to send […] Read this post »
-- gReader Pro
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
Sunday, October 12, 2014
Real probability of our soldiers contracting ebola
Expert: ‘Very real’ chance U.S. soldiers deployed to African hot zone will get Ebola
http://hotair.com/archives/2014/10/12/expert-very-real-chance-u-s-soldiers-deployed-to-african-hot-zone-will-get-ebola/
"...clearly there was a breach in protocol." Jazz Shaw reported on Sunday that a Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital care provider who treated Thomas Eric Duncan, the American Ebola victim whom the Centers for Disease Control have taken to calling the “index patient,” has tested positive for the deadly hemorrhagic fever. Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Anthony […] Read this post »
-- gReader Pro
http://hotair.com/archives/2014/10/12/expert-very-real-chance-u-s-soldiers-deployed-to-african-hot-zone-will-get-ebola/
"...clearly there was a breach in protocol." Jazz Shaw reported on Sunday that a Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital care provider who treated Thomas Eric Duncan, the American Ebola victim whom the Centers for Disease Control have taken to calling the “index patient,” has tested positive for the deadly hemorrhagic fever. Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Anthony […] Read this post »
-- gReader Pro
Saturday, October 11, 2014
Ebola plan won't work
Failed measures to stop Ebola spreading.
http://hotair.com/archives/2014/10/11/quotes-of-the-day-1879/
They know it can incubate for 21 days wIth no fever. So taking your temp uhh s useless.
http://hotair.com/archives/2014/10/11/quotes-of-the-day-1879/
They know it can incubate for 21 days wIth no fever. So taking your temp uhh s useless.
Friday, October 10, 2014
More Obama knows best ignoring experts in pursuit of his socialist ideal
Obama contradicts CDC in reassuring west Africans: You can’t get Ebola sitting next to someone on a bus
http://hotair.com/archives/2014/10/10/obama-contradicts-cdc-in-reassuring-west-africans-you-cant-get-ebola-sitting-next-to-someone-on-a-bus/
Hmmmm. A nice catch by CNS, which notes that O’s advice seems to conflict with the CDC’s advice. The CDC says you should “avoid public transportation” in the U.S. if you’re running a fever above 101.5 after having recently returned from west Africa, suggesting that casual transmission in close quarters in public spaces is possible. (Shouldn’t […] Read this post »
-- gReader Pro
http://hotair.com/archives/2014/10/10/obama-contradicts-cdc-in-reassuring-west-africans-you-cant-get-ebola-sitting-next-to-someone-on-a-bus/
Hmmmm. A nice catch by CNS, which notes that O’s advice seems to conflict with the CDC’s advice. The CDC says you should “avoid public transportation” in the U.S. if you’re running a fever above 101.5 after having recently returned from west Africa, suggesting that casual transmission in close quarters in public spaces is possible. (Shouldn’t […] Read this post »
-- gReader Pro
Monday, October 6, 2014
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
So WhiteHouse front door finally gets a lock. Too funny.
Secret Service Installs Locks On White House Front Door In Upgrade To Security
http://dailycaller.com/2014/09/30/secret-service-installs-locks-on-white-house-front-door-in-upgrade-to-security/
'How much would it cost to lock the front door of the White House?'
-- gReader Pro
http://dailycaller.com/2014/09/30/secret-service-installs-locks-on-white-house-front-door-in-upgrade-to-security/
'How much would it cost to lock the front door of the White House?'
-- gReader Pro
Wednesday, September 10, 2014
About time
Trey Gowdy’s Benghazi committee sets first public hearing
Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) has scheduled a public hearing next week to explore the 2012 terrorist attack against the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya — the first public meeting his new committee has held since he was picked to lead it back in May.
The fiery Republican is known for his aggressive questioning style during House hearings, and was initially expected to use that style in a barrage of public hearings on the Benghazi attack.
But Gowdy surprised many by going months without holding any public hearings at all. In an August interview with ABC News, Gowdy stressed that he was using his chairmanship to run a professional investigation that focuses on fact-gathering instead of creating gotcha moments for TV cameras.
“If you want to get on the news, then go rob a bank,” he deadpanned to ABC.
But some public meetings were expected, and Gowdy’s committee finally announced one for September 17.
That meeting, which the committee’s website labels as “Hearing 1,” will hear from one Obama administration official — Greg Starr, assistant secretary of State for Diplomatic Security. It will also hear from two members of the Independent Panel on Best Practices, the group of outside experts that the State Department has consulted on the issue of embassy security.
Read more stories from TheBlazeMan Was Recording ‘Militarized’ SWAT Raid When Things Took a Sudden Turn: ‘At First I Was Scared to Post This Video…’The ‘Shocking’ Action a Small Business Owner Said a Florida City Is Demanding He Take: ‘This Is a Shock. Honestly, I Feel Like This Is Russia’Rep. Darrell Issa Says He Caught the Justice Department Red-Handed Conspiring with House Dems on IRS DocumentsKids From Ferguson, Missouri, Recruited to ‘Educate White America’ on Racism in ‘Hey White People’ Video‘I Didn’t Want to Do This…’: Filmmaker Sparks Outrage With Upcoming Movie About a Very Contentious Subject
http://www.theblaze.com/blog/2014/09/10/trey-gowdys-benghazi-committee-sets-first-public-hearing/
Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) has scheduled a public hearing next week to explore the 2012 terrorist attack against the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya — the first public meeting his new committee has held since he was picked to lead it back in May.
The fiery Republican is known for his aggressive questioning style during House hearings, and was initially expected to use that style in a barrage of public hearings on the Benghazi attack.
But Gowdy surprised many by going months without holding any public hearings at all. In an August interview with ABC News, Gowdy stressed that he was using his chairmanship to run a professional investigation that focuses on fact-gathering instead of creating gotcha moments for TV cameras.
“If you want to get on the news, then go rob a bank,” he deadpanned to ABC.
But some public meetings were expected, and Gowdy’s committee finally announced one for September 17.
That meeting, which the committee’s website labels as “Hearing 1,” will hear from one Obama administration official — Greg Starr, assistant secretary of State for Diplomatic Security. It will also hear from two members of the Independent Panel on Best Practices, the group of outside experts that the State Department has consulted on the issue of embassy security.
Read more stories from TheBlazeMan Was Recording ‘Militarized’ SWAT Raid When Things Took a Sudden Turn: ‘At First I Was Scared to Post This Video…’The ‘Shocking’ Action a Small Business Owner Said a Florida City Is Demanding He Take: ‘This Is a Shock. Honestly, I Feel Like This Is Russia’Rep. Darrell Issa Says He Caught the Justice Department Red-Handed Conspiring with House Dems on IRS DocumentsKids From Ferguson, Missouri, Recruited to ‘Educate White America’ on Racism in ‘Hey White People’ Video‘I Didn’t Want to Do This…’: Filmmaker Sparks Outrage With Upcoming Movie About a Very Contentious Subject
http://www.theblaze.com/blog/2014/09/10/trey-gowdys-benghazi-committee-sets-first-public-hearing/
Thursday, September 4, 2014
Rich Lowry: Obama’s Foreign Policy Has Collapsed
(Newsmax) – President Barack Obama’s foreign policy has collapsed amid conflicting messages about how to manage the threat of the Islamic State (ISIS) and a track record of mistakes in the Middle East, said Rich Lowry, editor of the National Review.
In an opinion piece for Politico Magazine, Lowry says that Republican hawks who have long warned of the disastrous consequences of a weak foreign policy have been proven right.
“What we have been witnessing the past few weeks, in real time, is the intellectual collapse of Obama’s foreign policy, accompanied by its rapid political unraveling,” Lowry wrote.
FAX BLAST SPECIAL: Impeach Obama NOW!
Lowry said that Obama’s policies toward al-Qaida, the crisis in the Middle East, and Iraq and Syria have all been misguided.
“We elected a president with the middle name of Hussein who did all he could to liquidate George W. Bush’s foreign policy and made outreach to the Muslim world one of his top priorities — yet the terror threat has grown.”
By contrast, Lowry contends, predictions by Arizona GOP Sen. John McCain, for example, of the dangers of pulling out of Iraq have come to fruition.
“It is not that the latest events in Iraq and Syria necessarily vindicate a rigorously McCainite foreign policy,” Lowry wrote. “Events have vindicated the surge that devastated the forerunner of ISIL and demonstrated the folly of Obama’s total pullout from Iraq, the point at which the country began its downward slide.”
He added that the folly of Obama’s foreign policy doctrine, summarized by the president as “don’t do stupid stuff,” is most evident in Syria.
“We didn’t invade, we didn’t bomb, we didn’t even really try to create an allied rebel force on the ground,” Lowry said. “ISIL has established a base from which to launch operations in Iraq. This is not only a humanitarian catastrophe but a disaster for our interests, and more and more people are recognizing it as such.”
Lowry said the president’s remarks on Wednesday that he intended to reduce the threat of ISIS to a “manageable problem” are not only vague but entirely misguided.
“President Obama has said of President Bush’s alleged approach to the world, every problem looks like a nail. By the same token, when the only tool you have is retreat, every problem looks ‘manageable.’”
http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/Obama-and-ISIS-Rich-Lowry-and-Obama-Obama-Middle-East-policy-Obama-and-terrorism/2014/09/04/id/592559/
The post Rich Lowry: Obama’s Foreign Policy Has Collapsed appeared first on Tea Party.
http://www.teaparty.org/rich-lowry-obamas-foreign-policy-collapsed-54017/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rich-lowry-obamas-foreign-policy-collapsed
In an opinion piece for Politico Magazine, Lowry says that Republican hawks who have long warned of the disastrous consequences of a weak foreign policy have been proven right.
“What we have been witnessing the past few weeks, in real time, is the intellectual collapse of Obama’s foreign policy, accompanied by its rapid political unraveling,” Lowry wrote.
FAX BLAST SPECIAL: Impeach Obama NOW!
Lowry said that Obama’s policies toward al-Qaida, the crisis in the Middle East, and Iraq and Syria have all been misguided.
“We elected a president with the middle name of Hussein who did all he could to liquidate George W. Bush’s foreign policy and made outreach to the Muslim world one of his top priorities — yet the terror threat has grown.”
By contrast, Lowry contends, predictions by Arizona GOP Sen. John McCain, for example, of the dangers of pulling out of Iraq have come to fruition.
“It is not that the latest events in Iraq and Syria necessarily vindicate a rigorously McCainite foreign policy,” Lowry wrote. “Events have vindicated the surge that devastated the forerunner of ISIL and demonstrated the folly of Obama’s total pullout from Iraq, the point at which the country began its downward slide.”
He added that the folly of Obama’s foreign policy doctrine, summarized by the president as “don’t do stupid stuff,” is most evident in Syria.
“We didn’t invade, we didn’t bomb, we didn’t even really try to create an allied rebel force on the ground,” Lowry said. “ISIL has established a base from which to launch operations in Iraq. This is not only a humanitarian catastrophe but a disaster for our interests, and more and more people are recognizing it as such.”
Lowry said the president’s remarks on Wednesday that he intended to reduce the threat of ISIS to a “manageable problem” are not only vague but entirely misguided.
“President Obama has said of President Bush’s alleged approach to the world, every problem looks like a nail. By the same token, when the only tool you have is retreat, every problem looks ‘manageable.’”
http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/Obama-and-ISIS-Rich-Lowry-and-Obama-Obama-Middle-East-policy-Obama-and-terrorism/2014/09/04/id/592559/
The post Rich Lowry: Obama’s Foreign Policy Has Collapsed appeared first on Tea Party.
http://www.teaparty.org/rich-lowry-obamas-foreign-policy-collapsed-54017/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rich-lowry-obamas-foreign-policy-collapsed
Gore gets it wrong again.
Another Prediction by Global Warming High Priest Al Gore Just Flopped
(TPNN) – Is it more shameful or embarrassing?
In 2007, former Democrat Vice President and full-time global warming climate change huckster Al Gore, who has made hundreds of millions of dollars giving speeches to the gullible, predicted that the North Polar ice cap “is falling off a cliff” and “could be completely gone” in just seven years.
It’s 2014, Al, so let’s check your prediction just to measure whether your credibility has completely melted.
SPECIAL: Join the Tea Party REVOLUTION! The Obama Regime must be dismantled!
Gore made his 2007 prediction as he accepted the bogus Nobel Peace Prize for his overly profitable campaign of promoting the myth of manmade climate change, or as Donald Trump called it last week, “weather.”
We now learn via the UK Daily Mail that the same North Polar ice cap that Gore, who sold his former TV Network to fossil fuel (i.e., dirty oil) funded Al Jazeera for $500 million, has expanded by an amazing 41% the past two years alone.
Per the UK Daily Mail via NewsBusters: (emphasis added)
Myth of arctic meltdown: Stunning satellite images show summer ice cap is thicker and covers 1.7million square kilometres MORE than 2 years ago…despite Al Gore’s prediction it would be ICE-FREE by now
- Seven years after former US Vice-President Al Gore’s warning, Arctic ice cap has expanded for second year in row
- An area twice the size of Alaska – America’s biggest state – was open water two years ago and is now covered in ice
- These satellite images taken from University of Illinois’s Cryosphere project show ice has become more concentrated
The speech by former US Vice-President Al Gore was apocalyptic. ‘The North Polar ice cap is falling off a cliff,’ he said. ‘It could be completely gone in summer in as little as seven years. Seven years from now.’
Those comments came in 2007 as Mr Gore accepted the Nobel Peace Prize for his campaigning on climate change.
But seven years after his warning, The Mail on Sunday can reveal that, far from vanishing, the Arctic ice cap has expanded for the second year in succession – with a surge, depending on how you measure it, of between 43 and 63 per cent since 2012.
Will the leftstream media call Gore out on his knowingly false 2007 fear mongering prediction, only spewed to line his already fat pockets? Will the useful idiots and dupes who earnestly listened to this hot air gas-bag ask for their money back?
http://www.tpnn.com/2014/09/04/another-prediction-by-global-warming-high-priest-al-gore-just-flopped/
The post Another Prediction by Global Warming High Priest Al Gore Just Flopped appeared first on Tea Party.
http://www.teaparty.org/another-prediction-global-warming-high-priest-al-gore-just-flopped-53984/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=another-prediction-global-warming-high-priest-al-gore-just-flopped
(TPNN) – Is it more shameful or embarrassing?
In 2007, former Democrat Vice President and full-time global warming climate change huckster Al Gore, who has made hundreds of millions of dollars giving speeches to the gullible, predicted that the North Polar ice cap “is falling off a cliff” and “could be completely gone” in just seven years.
It’s 2014, Al, so let’s check your prediction just to measure whether your credibility has completely melted.
SPECIAL: Join the Tea Party REVOLUTION! The Obama Regime must be dismantled!
Gore made his 2007 prediction as he accepted the bogus Nobel Peace Prize for his overly profitable campaign of promoting the myth of manmade climate change, or as Donald Trump called it last week, “weather.”
We now learn via the UK Daily Mail that the same North Polar ice cap that Gore, who sold his former TV Network to fossil fuel (i.e., dirty oil) funded Al Jazeera for $500 million, has expanded by an amazing 41% the past two years alone.
Per the UK Daily Mail via NewsBusters: (emphasis added)
Myth of arctic meltdown: Stunning satellite images show summer ice cap is thicker and covers 1.7million square kilometres MORE than 2 years ago…despite Al Gore’s prediction it would be ICE-FREE by now
- Seven years after former US Vice-President Al Gore’s warning, Arctic ice cap has expanded for second year in row
- An area twice the size of Alaska – America’s biggest state – was open water two years ago and is now covered in ice
- These satellite images taken from University of Illinois’s Cryosphere project show ice has become more concentrated
The speech by former US Vice-President Al Gore was apocalyptic. ‘The North Polar ice cap is falling off a cliff,’ he said. ‘It could be completely gone in summer in as little as seven years. Seven years from now.’
Those comments came in 2007 as Mr Gore accepted the Nobel Peace Prize for his campaigning on climate change.
But seven years after his warning, The Mail on Sunday can reveal that, far from vanishing, the Arctic ice cap has expanded for the second year in succession – with a surge, depending on how you measure it, of between 43 and 63 per cent since 2012.
Will the leftstream media call Gore out on his knowingly false 2007 fear mongering prediction, only spewed to line his already fat pockets? Will the useful idiots and dupes who earnestly listened to this hot air gas-bag ask for their money back?
http://www.tpnn.com/2014/09/04/another-prediction-by-global-warming-high-priest-al-gore-just-flopped/
The post Another Prediction by Global Warming High Priest Al Gore Just Flopped appeared first on Tea Party.
http://www.teaparty.org/another-prediction-global-warming-high-priest-al-gore-just-flopped-53984/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=another-prediction-global-warming-high-priest-al-gore-just-flopped
Wednesday, September 3, 2014
Rear win for traditional marriage
Federal judge: Louisiana’s law banning gay marriage is constitutional
http://hotair.com/archives/2014/09/03/federal-judge-louisianas-law-banning-gay-marriage-is-constitutional/
"These are earnest and thoughtful disputes, but they have become society's latest short fuse."
A rare win for the state in the gay-marriage wars — the first in federal court since Anthony Kennedy’s game-changing Windsor opinion last year, if I’m not mistaken. The judge, Martin Feldman, is a Reagan appointee. (Then again, so is Kennedy.) Ed e-mails to note that he’s the same judge who held the Obama administration […]
Read this post »
http://hotair.com/archives/2014/09/03/federal-judge-louisianas-law-banning-gay-marriage-is-constitutional/
"These are earnest and thoughtful disputes, but they have become society's latest short fuse."
A rare win for the state in the gay-marriage wars — the first in federal court since Anthony Kennedy’s game-changing Windsor opinion last year, if I’m not mistaken. The judge, Martin Feldman, is a Reagan appointee. (Then again, so is Kennedy.) Ed e-mails to note that he’s the same judge who held the Obama administration […]
Read this post »
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
IRS Lawyers Admit Lois Lerner Obstructed Justice
Via FoxNews, IRS lawyers have dropped a bombshell admission that Lois Lerner’s Blackberry was intentionally wiped and destroyed after the start of the Congressional probe into the activities of her division:
Lois Lerner’s Blackberry was intentionally destroyed after Congress had begun its probe into IRS targeting of conservative groups, a senior IRS lawyer acknowledged in a sworn declaration.
Thomas Kane, Deputy Assistant Chief Counsel for the IRS, wrote in the declaration, part of a lawsuit filed by Judicial Watch against the IRS, that the Blackberry was “removed or wiped clean of any sensitive or proprietary information and removed as scrap for disposal in June 2012.”
That date – June 2012 – is significant because by that time, ex-IRS official Lerner had already been summoned before congressional staffers who interviewed her about reports of the IRS’ targeting of conservative groups.
This is a fairly astonishing admission and it’s difficult to see how this does not constitute textbook Obstruction of Justice under 18 USC 1505 (and possibly other statutes):
Whoever, with intent to avoid, evade, prevent, or obstruct compliance, in whole or in part, with any civil investigative demand duly and properly made under the Antitrust Civil Process Act, willfully withholds, misrepresents, removes from any place, conceals, covers up, destroys, mutilates, alters, or by other means falsifies any documentary material, answers to written interrogatories, or oral testimony, which is the subject of such demand; or attempts to do so or solicits another to do so; or
Whoever corruptly, or by threats or force, or by any threatening letter or communication influences, obstructs, or impedes or endeavors to influence, obstruct, or impede the due and proper administration of the law under which any pending proceeding is being had before any department or agency of the United States, or the due and proper exercise of the power of inquiry under which any inquiry or investigation is being had by either House, or any committee of either House or any joint committee of the Congress—
Shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 5 years or, if the offense involves international or domestic terrorism (as defined in section 2331), imprisoned not more than 8 years, or both.
Caselaw on obstruction of justice indicates that it does not matter whether the emails in question were in fact held on a central server, you can be dinged for obstruction for the attempt to destroy the information if you delete mails in, say, your Outlook inbox even though your company keeps all emails on a central server. It is intended to protect against the eventuality where (as here) the emails in question mysteriously go missing from the central server or the person responsible for retrieving them claims that it would be impossible or impractical to do so. Not to mention the fact that you don’t get a free pass for obstruction of justice just because you’re not smart enough to do it properly.
Every new revelation in this case points to an aggressive effort on the part of the IRS to improperly and possibly illegally hide evidence from the public as to its activities. It is past time for someone at DOJ to show as much interest in the proper administration of justice with respect to the IRS as they did to Arthur Andersen.
The post IRS Lawyers Admit Lois Lerner Obstructed Justice appeared first on RedState.
http://www.redstate.com/2014/08/27/irs-lawyers-admit-lois-lerner-obstructed-justice/
Lois Lerner’s Blackberry was intentionally destroyed after Congress had begun its probe into IRS targeting of conservative groups, a senior IRS lawyer acknowledged in a sworn declaration.
Thomas Kane, Deputy Assistant Chief Counsel for the IRS, wrote in the declaration, part of a lawsuit filed by Judicial Watch against the IRS, that the Blackberry was “removed or wiped clean of any sensitive or proprietary information and removed as scrap for disposal in June 2012.”
That date – June 2012 – is significant because by that time, ex-IRS official Lerner had already been summoned before congressional staffers who interviewed her about reports of the IRS’ targeting of conservative groups.
This is a fairly astonishing admission and it’s difficult to see how this does not constitute textbook Obstruction of Justice under 18 USC 1505 (and possibly other statutes):
Whoever, with intent to avoid, evade, prevent, or obstruct compliance, in whole or in part, with any civil investigative demand duly and properly made under the Antitrust Civil Process Act, willfully withholds, misrepresents, removes from any place, conceals, covers up, destroys, mutilates, alters, or by other means falsifies any documentary material, answers to written interrogatories, or oral testimony, which is the subject of such demand; or attempts to do so or solicits another to do so; or
Whoever corruptly, or by threats or force, or by any threatening letter or communication influences, obstructs, or impedes or endeavors to influence, obstruct, or impede the due and proper administration of the law under which any pending proceeding is being had before any department or agency of the United States, or the due and proper exercise of the power of inquiry under which any inquiry or investigation is being had by either House, or any committee of either House or any joint committee of the Congress—
Shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 5 years or, if the offense involves international or domestic terrorism (as defined in section 2331), imprisoned not more than 8 years, or both.
Caselaw on obstruction of justice indicates that it does not matter whether the emails in question were in fact held on a central server, you can be dinged for obstruction for the attempt to destroy the information if you delete mails in, say, your Outlook inbox even though your company keeps all emails on a central server. It is intended to protect against the eventuality where (as here) the emails in question mysteriously go missing from the central server or the person responsible for retrieving them claims that it would be impossible or impractical to do so. Not to mention the fact that you don’t get a free pass for obstruction of justice just because you’re not smart enough to do it properly.
Every new revelation in this case points to an aggressive effort on the part of the IRS to improperly and possibly illegally hide evidence from the public as to its activities. It is past time for someone at DOJ to show as much interest in the proper administration of justice with respect to the IRS as they did to Arthur Andersen.
The post IRS Lawyers Admit Lois Lerner Obstructed Justice appeared first on RedState.
http://www.redstate.com/2014/08/27/irs-lawyers-admit-lois-lerner-obstructed-justice/
IRS ethics lawyer fighting disbarment
You Will Never Guess Which Agency’s Ethics Lawyer Lied in Court
An IRS ethics lawyer is fighting against disbarment after the D.C. Court of Appeals recommended that she should lose her law license for lying in court during a personal injury case, the Washington Times reports.
The disciplinary arm of the D.C. Court of Appeals has recommended that Takisha McGee, a section manager in the IRS Office of Professional Responsibility, lose her law license over the charge, which stems from a personal injury case she worked about a year before she joined the tax agency. [...]
In its 43-page report, the board detailed the personal injury case, which resulted in an $8,900 insurance settlement. But after receiving the settlement check, she failed to pay about $3,000 combined to two medical providers whom she was supposed to reimburse for treatment given to her client, according to records.
The board found Ms. McGee took $7,850 from an account set aside for her client’s settlement through a series of “counter withdrawals.” But other than $5,000 paid to her client, “it is not clear where these funds went,” the board report stated.
McGee has been dispatched by the IRS to give lectures on the “importance of maintaining high ethical standards.”
Although documents relating to McGee’s case are already public, the IRS is citing privacy rules as the reason that it will not comment.
http://freebeacon.com/issues/you-will-never-guess-which-agencys-ethics-lawyer-lied-in-court/
An IRS ethics lawyer is fighting against disbarment after the D.C. Court of Appeals recommended that she should lose her law license for lying in court during a personal injury case, the Washington Times reports.
The disciplinary arm of the D.C. Court of Appeals has recommended that Takisha McGee, a section manager in the IRS Office of Professional Responsibility, lose her law license over the charge, which stems from a personal injury case she worked about a year before she joined the tax agency. [...]
In its 43-page report, the board detailed the personal injury case, which resulted in an $8,900 insurance settlement. But after receiving the settlement check, she failed to pay about $3,000 combined to two medical providers whom she was supposed to reimburse for treatment given to her client, according to records.
The board found Ms. McGee took $7,850 from an account set aside for her client’s settlement through a series of “counter withdrawals.” But other than $5,000 paid to her client, “it is not clear where these funds went,” the board report stated.
McGee has been dispatched by the IRS to give lectures on the “importance of maintaining high ethical standards.”
Although documents relating to McGee’s case are already public, the IRS is citing privacy rules as the reason that it will not comment.
http://freebeacon.com/issues/you-will-never-guess-which-agencys-ethics-lawyer-lied-in-court/
Monday, August 25, 2014
Nice that someone is doing our job.
VIDEO: Kurds make gains against Islamic State
Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq say they are regaining ground against the forces of Islamic State in the area.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-28931637#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq say they are regaining ground against the forces of Islamic State in the area.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-28931637#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
Friday, August 22, 2014
Allen West: Obama, Holder ‘Tilting Scales of Justice’ in Ferguson
Former Congressman Lt. Col. Allen West criticized President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder for injecting themselves and politics into the investigation of the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., this week.
Appearing on WMAL radio in Washington this morning, West said the president and attorney general were “tilting the scales of justice” by stepping into the investigation. “You remember the Trayvon Martin case? Where Barack Obama said if he had a son he’d look like Trayvon? And now you have Eric Holder doing the same thing,” West said.
“Just a couple weeks ago you had Eric Holder said he was proud to be an activist,” West continued. “I don’t think this is a good attorney general who is allowing the justice to play out for both sides.”
“Why didn’t he visit the police officer as well?” he asked. “Why didn’t Eric Holder and everyone go to Chicago with the countless amounts of murders of young black man there?”
I also asked Rep. West about Holder’s remarks that he spoke with Michael Brown’s parents “not just as Attorney General, but as the father of a teenage son.” The implication being that what happened to Michael Brown could have happened to any young man of color in America. I asked West if he agreed with this sentiment and if what happened to Michael Brown could have happened to a young Allen West.
“No, because even though I was raised in the inner city of Atlanta,” West answered, “my parents inculcated in me respect and honor and I don’t think it would have happened to me because I carry myself in a different manner.”
http://freebeacon.com/politics/allen-west-obama-holder-tilting-scales-of-justice-in-ferguson/
Appearing on WMAL radio in Washington this morning, West said the president and attorney general were “tilting the scales of justice” by stepping into the investigation. “You remember the Trayvon Martin case? Where Barack Obama said if he had a son he’d look like Trayvon? And now you have Eric Holder doing the same thing,” West said.
“Just a couple weeks ago you had Eric Holder said he was proud to be an activist,” West continued. “I don’t think this is a good attorney general who is allowing the justice to play out for both sides.”
“Why didn’t he visit the police officer as well?” he asked. “Why didn’t Eric Holder and everyone go to Chicago with the countless amounts of murders of young black man there?”
I also asked Rep. West about Holder’s remarks that he spoke with Michael Brown’s parents “not just as Attorney General, but as the father of a teenage son.” The implication being that what happened to Michael Brown could have happened to any young man of color in America. I asked West if he agreed with this sentiment and if what happened to Michael Brown could have happened to a young Allen West.
“No, because even though I was raised in the inner city of Atlanta,” West answered, “my parents inculcated in me respect and honor and I don’t think it would have happened to me because I carry myself in a different manner.”
http://freebeacon.com/politics/allen-west-obama-holder-tilting-scales-of-justice-in-ferguson/
Wednesday, August 20, 2014
Now from the dumb and dumber file
Man Drives Stolen Walmart Shopping Cart to Meet Probation Officer
Electric shopping carts are usually reserved for the elderly or disabled persons, but one criminal felt that he was entitled to take one of those carts to meet his parole officer.
Eighteen year old Michael Rene Johnson stole an electric shopping cart and rode it to the Metropolitan Court in Albuquerque where he was due to meet his parole officer. His probation officer asked him where he had obtained his unusual ride, and Johnson admitted that he had stolen it from Walmart.
Police officers then called Walmart. The retail giant estimated the cart to be worth more than $1800 and said they will file charges against Johnson.
Johnson now faces charges including larceny and receiving stolen property. He previously faced charges of domestic violence and criminal trespass in 2013. He is currently being held on a no-bond hold at the Metropolitan Detention Center.
He has failed to garner any sympathy for his theft. Shopper Raul Ramos weighed in on the situation, telling KOAT “Sometimes you need a ride to see your P.O (parole officer), but that was stupid of him taking the cart.”
http://freebeacon.com/culture/man-drives-stolen-walmart-shopping-cart-to-meet-probation-officer/
Electric shopping carts are usually reserved for the elderly or disabled persons, but one criminal felt that he was entitled to take one of those carts to meet his parole officer.
Eighteen year old Michael Rene Johnson stole an electric shopping cart and rode it to the Metropolitan Court in Albuquerque where he was due to meet his parole officer. His probation officer asked him where he had obtained his unusual ride, and Johnson admitted that he had stolen it from Walmart.
Police officers then called Walmart. The retail giant estimated the cart to be worth more than $1800 and said they will file charges against Johnson.
Johnson now faces charges including larceny and receiving stolen property. He previously faced charges of domestic violence and criminal trespass in 2013. He is currently being held on a no-bond hold at the Metropolitan Detention Center.
He has failed to garner any sympathy for his theft. Shopper Raul Ramos weighed in on the situation, telling KOAT “Sometimes you need a ride to see your P.O (parole officer), but that was stupid of him taking the cart.”
http://freebeacon.com/culture/man-drives-stolen-walmart-shopping-cart-to-meet-probation-officer/
Fox News source: Wilson was “beaten very severely” before shooting Michael Brown
Plus: Meanwhile, in Ferguson, "I will f***ing kill you."
The NYT reported this morning that law-enforcement sources say Wilson suffered an unspecified injury during his altercation with Brown. Fox News’s source is more specific: It was indeed an eye socket fracture, as Jim Hoft claimed yesterday. Why’d it take 11 days for this to leak? No idea, but the conspicuous delay won’t do the […]
Read this post »
http://hotair.com/archives/2014/08/20/fox-news-source-wilson-was-beaten-very-severely-before-shooting-michael-brown/
The NYT reported this morning that law-enforcement sources say Wilson suffered an unspecified injury during his altercation with Brown. Fox News’s source is more specific: It was indeed an eye socket fracture, as Jim Hoft claimed yesterday. Why’d it take 11 days for this to leak? No idea, but the conspicuous delay won’t do the […]
Read this post »
http://hotair.com/archives/2014/08/20/fox-news-source-wilson-was-beaten-very-severely-before-shooting-michael-brown/
Obama speak, nobody listens.
Addressing James Foley’s murder, Obama speaks loudly and leaves the stick at home
Insufficient.
On Wednesday, President Barack Obama addressed the nation regarding the brutal slaying of an American journalist by Islamic State militants. After conducting that gruesome deed, James Wright Foley’s assassin warned the president that his organization planned to kill yet another American unless the West surrenders Iraq and Syria to the Islamic State’s inhuman designs. Many […]
Read this post »
http://hotair.com/archives/2014/08/20/addressing-james-foleys-murder-obama-speaks-loudly-but-leaves-the-stick-in-marthas-vineyard/
Insufficient.
On Wednesday, President Barack Obama addressed the nation regarding the brutal slaying of an American journalist by Islamic State militants. After conducting that gruesome deed, James Wright Foley’s assassin warned the president that his organization planned to kill yet another American unless the West surrenders Iraq and Syria to the Islamic State’s inhuman designs. Many […]
Read this post »
http://hotair.com/archives/2014/08/20/addressing-james-foleys-murder-obama-speaks-loudly-but-leaves-the-stick-in-marthas-vineyard/
Police sources to NYT: Witnesses, forensics prove Wilson sustained an injury during his confrontation with Michael Brown
Evidence.
Kind of an important detail, yet buried 21 paragraphs deep. They’re not as specific as Jim Hoft was yesterday in alleging that Wilson’s eye was busted — the type of injury is unspecified here — but this is the first evidence I know of reported in a major paper that Brown might have been physically […]
Read this post »
http://hotair.com/archives/2014/08/20/police-sources-to-nyt-witnesses-forensics-show-that-wilson-sustained-an-injury-during-his-confrontation-with-michael-brown/
Kind of an important detail, yet buried 21 paragraphs deep. They’re not as specific as Jim Hoft was yesterday in alleging that Wilson’s eye was busted — the type of injury is unspecified here — but this is the first evidence I know of reported in a major paper that Brown might have been physically […]
Read this post »
http://hotair.com/archives/2014/08/20/police-sources-to-nyt-witnesses-forensics-show-that-wilson-sustained-an-injury-during-his-confrontation-with-michael-brown/
Time to take the gloves off
Everything has changed after the execution of James Foley by ISIS
War drums.
The execution of the American journalist James Wright Foley by Islamic State militants and their threat to do the same to anther U.S. citizen has changed the West’s approach to the threat posed by this fundamentalist group occupying portions of Iraq and Syria. The tempo of officials in the West has quickened as preparations to […]
Read this post »
http://hotair.com/archives/2014/08/20/everything-has-changed-after-isis-killed-an-american-journalist/
War drums.
The execution of the American journalist James Wright Foley by Islamic State militants and their threat to do the same to anther U.S. citizen has changed the West’s approach to the threat posed by this fundamentalist group occupying portions of Iraq and Syria. The tempo of officials in the West has quickened as preparations to […]
Read this post »
http://hotair.com/archives/2014/08/20/everything-has-changed-after-isis-killed-an-american-journalist/
Monday, August 18, 2014
Joe Biden Stonewalled FOIA Request to Hide Travel Costs
Vice President Joe Biden’s office stonewalled a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for his travel expenses, according to Ronald Kessler’s new tell-all book on the Secret Service, The First Family Detail.
Kessler, a former Wall Street Journal and Washington Post investigative reporter, filed a FOIA request in April 2013 with the Air Force for the details and costs of Biden’s personal trips.
“But in what amounts to a cover-up on behalf of the vice president, on June 6, Biden’s office blocked transmitting the results to me and told Air Force officers they were not to comment to anyone about the case,” Kessler writes.
According to Kessler, Biden’s then-deputy counsel Jessica Hertz took over the FOIA case from the Air Force and ordered it not to release the 95 pages of documents it had compiled in response to Kessler’s request.
“They are covering up,” an Air Force officer told Kessler. “We spent a lot of time compiling the records, but Biden’s office said logs for each flight would have to be consulted. This is a smokescreen designed to delay providing any records as long as possible.”
The records were eventually released to Kessler by an Air Force officer who “was outraged that Biden’s office would taint the Air Force by politicizing its FOIA process.”
The records show Biden’s trips—which include multiple daily flights between Washington, D.C., and Wilmington, Delaware—cost taxpayers nearly $1 million between January 2009 and March 2013. This does not include crew costs or the cost of ferrying Biden between the vice president’s residence at the Naval Observatory and Andrews Air Force Base.
“Every three or four weeks when it’s warm, Biden gets up there on Saturday and then will fly back on Air Force Two,” a Secret Service agent told Kessler. “While Air Force Two is sitting on the tarmac at Andrews, he goes up and plays golf with the president at Andrews Air Force Base, gets back on the plane, and flies back to Delaware. Let me tell you something, that is egregious.”
An Air Force source also told Kessler that Biden regularly schedules single events in Arizona so he can fly there on the public dime to play golf.
http://freebeacon.com/politics/joe-biden-stonewalled-foia-request-to-hide-travel-costs/
Kessler, a former Wall Street Journal and Washington Post investigative reporter, filed a FOIA request in April 2013 with the Air Force for the details and costs of Biden’s personal trips.
“But in what amounts to a cover-up on behalf of the vice president, on June 6, Biden’s office blocked transmitting the results to me and told Air Force officers they were not to comment to anyone about the case,” Kessler writes.
According to Kessler, Biden’s then-deputy counsel Jessica Hertz took over the FOIA case from the Air Force and ordered it not to release the 95 pages of documents it had compiled in response to Kessler’s request.
“They are covering up,” an Air Force officer told Kessler. “We spent a lot of time compiling the records, but Biden’s office said logs for each flight would have to be consulted. This is a smokescreen designed to delay providing any records as long as possible.”
The records were eventually released to Kessler by an Air Force officer who “was outraged that Biden’s office would taint the Air Force by politicizing its FOIA process.”
The records show Biden’s trips—which include multiple daily flights between Washington, D.C., and Wilmington, Delaware—cost taxpayers nearly $1 million between January 2009 and March 2013. This does not include crew costs or the cost of ferrying Biden between the vice president’s residence at the Naval Observatory and Andrews Air Force Base.
“Every three or four weeks when it’s warm, Biden gets up there on Saturday and then will fly back on Air Force Two,” a Secret Service agent told Kessler. “While Air Force Two is sitting on the tarmac at Andrews, he goes up and plays golf with the president at Andrews Air Force Base, gets back on the plane, and flies back to Delaware. Let me tell you something, that is egregious.”
An Air Force source also told Kessler that Biden regularly schedules single events in Arizona so he can fly there on the public dime to play golf.
http://freebeacon.com/politics/joe-biden-stonewalled-foia-request-to-hide-travel-costs/
Obama trumpets retiring reporter and ignored fallen general who died in the line of juty.
Obama pays tribute to Ann Compton
The president congratulates the veteran ABC News White House correspondent, who is retiring.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2014/08/obama-pays-tribute-to-ann-compton-194125.html
The president congratulates the veteran ABC News White House correspondent, who is retiring.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2014/08/obama-pays-tribute-to-ann-compton-194125.html
Another eyewitness: Woman comes forward with footage taken immediately after the Michael Brown shooting
Testimony.
Via Mediaite, maybe there’s more out there but this is just the second clip I’ve seen of the crime scene and the first that (allegedly) includes footage of Darren Wilson, the cop who fired the shots that killed Brown. That’s him on the right in the clip below according to the eyewitness, Piaget Crenshaw. Crenshaw’s […]
Read this post »
http://hotair.com/archives/2014/08/18/another-eyewitness-woman-comes-forward-with-footage-taken-immediately-after-the-michael-brown-shooting/
Via Mediaite, maybe there’s more out there but this is just the second clip I’ve seen of the crime scene and the first that (allegedly) includes footage of Darren Wilson, the cop who fired the shots that killed Brown. That’s him on the right in the clip below according to the eyewitness, Piaget Crenshaw. Crenshaw’s […]
Read this post »
http://hotair.com/archives/2014/08/18/another-eyewitness-woman-comes-forward-with-footage-taken-immediately-after-the-michael-brown-shooting/
So much for no lobbyist pledge.
65 Former Lobbyists Currently in Obama Administration
There are 65 current members of the Obama administration that were formerly registered to lobby the federal government, according to a Washington Post analysis.
The number of lobbyists working for the administration does not seem to fit with an administration that pledged to “close the revolving door” in its ethics statement.
But this is the Obama administration, which trumpeted its anti-lobbyist position in an ethics statement on its transition Web site. “Free the Executive Branch from Special Interest Influence,” one header reads, right above “Close the Revolving Door on Former and Future Employers.” It’s an administration that quickly announced no lobbyists would be allowed to serve on advisory panels — a policy that survived until this week, after a legal challenge.
In an organization the size of the administration, 65 people isn’t a terribly large number. And the lofty rhetoric of the titles on the new administration’s ethics page lie above more subtle proposed reforms. Regardless, it’s worth taking candidate Barack Obama at his word when he said, in a February 2008 speech, that lobbyists “won’t drown out your voices anymore when I am President of the United States of America.” Or in June 2007, when he said that Americans “want real reform, and they’re tired of the lobbyists standing in the way.” Precisely how many lobbyists you can have in place without such obstruction wasn’t made clear.
This is not a new development, as a majority of those lobbyists were with the administration from the beginning.
Most of the people with lobbying experience who are currently serving with the administration have been there from the beginning. Thirty-six of the 65 joined the administration in 2009; only 6 of those currently with the administration joined in Obama’s second term. [...]
It’s just that this is not quite the picture that Obama offered voters in 2008.
http://freebeacon.com/politics/65-former-lobbyists-currently-in-obama-administration/
There are 65 current members of the Obama administration that were formerly registered to lobby the federal government, according to a Washington Post analysis.
The number of lobbyists working for the administration does not seem to fit with an administration that pledged to “close the revolving door” in its ethics statement.
But this is the Obama administration, which trumpeted its anti-lobbyist position in an ethics statement on its transition Web site. “Free the Executive Branch from Special Interest Influence,” one header reads, right above “Close the Revolving Door on Former and Future Employers.” It’s an administration that quickly announced no lobbyists would be allowed to serve on advisory panels — a policy that survived until this week, after a legal challenge.
In an organization the size of the administration, 65 people isn’t a terribly large number. And the lofty rhetoric of the titles on the new administration’s ethics page lie above more subtle proposed reforms. Regardless, it’s worth taking candidate Barack Obama at his word when he said, in a February 2008 speech, that lobbyists “won’t drown out your voices anymore when I am President of the United States of America.” Or in June 2007, when he said that Americans “want real reform, and they’re tired of the lobbyists standing in the way.” Precisely how many lobbyists you can have in place without such obstruction wasn’t made clear.
This is not a new development, as a majority of those lobbyists were with the administration from the beginning.
Most of the people with lobbying experience who are currently serving with the administration have been there from the beginning. Thirty-six of the 65 joined the administration in 2009; only 6 of those currently with the administration joined in Obama’s second term. [...]
It’s just that this is not quite the picture that Obama offered voters in 2008.
http://freebeacon.com/politics/65-former-lobbyists-currently-in-obama-administration/
Sunday, August 17, 2014
Unwitting Witness Pokes Holes In Michael Brown Shooting Story
http://dailycaller.com/2014/08/17/unwitting-witness-pokes-holes-in-michael-brown-shooting-story/
'Next thing I know he's coming back towards the police'
'Next thing I know he's coming back towards the police'
Obama golf's while general killed in combat is buried. Shame on him.
Obama has a great round of golf; General Green not so much
http://www.redstate.com/2014/08/17/obama-great-round-golf-general-green-much/
On Thursday, Major General Harold Green was laid to rest in Arlington Cemetery. MG Green is the highest ranking US officer to die in combat since MG George Casey was killed in Vietnam on July 7, 1970, he was killed August 5 by an Afghan soldier who was being trained by NATO troops.
On Martha’s Vineyard, his Commander in Chief was playing golf with celebrities on Martha’s Vineyard. That tells you all you need to know about the contempt Obama has for the men and women in uniform.
The post Obama has a great round of golf; General Green not so much appeared first on RedState.
http://www.redstate.com/2014/08/17/obama-great-round-golf-general-green-much/
On Thursday, Major General Harold Green was laid to rest in Arlington Cemetery. MG Green is the highest ranking US officer to die in combat since MG George Casey was killed in Vietnam on July 7, 1970, he was killed August 5 by an Afghan soldier who was being trained by NATO troops.
On Martha’s Vineyard, his Commander in Chief was playing golf with celebrities on Martha’s Vineyard. That tells you all you need to know about the contempt Obama has for the men and women in uniform.
The post Obama has a great round of golf; General Green not so much appeared first on RedState.
Racist holder out of control.
Holder Orders A Federal Autopsy Of Michael Brown
http://dailycaller.com/2014/08/17/holder-orders-a-federal-autopsy-of-michael-brown/
Cites 'extraordinary circumstances'
http://dailycaller.com/2014/08/17/holder-orders-a-federal-autopsy-of-michael-brown/
Cites 'extraordinary circumstances'
Friday, August 15, 2014
Crapcare.gov
The Latest From Healthcare.gov: Nonsense Text
Healthcare.gov has had its share of problems over the ten months since its launch, but those looking for information about appealing a Marketplace decision are facing a brand new one: nonsense. The inquiry How to Appeal a Marketplace Decision is answered with, "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Donec egestas rhoncus orci, at lobortis justo tempor a." The full page appears as follows:
The page can be seen by selecting the "Get Answers" menu from the home page of Healthcare.gov and choosing "How to appeal a Marketplace decision." Selection of the submenu items on the left return the same result.
Appeal information is not the only page with the nonsense text. Why Health Coverage is Important brings up an identical result, as does the page on Immigrants.
Other problems exist on the site as well. A search for "appeal" reveals the following:
According to the website lipsum.com, the nonsense text is "simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry." In other words, the text is just a placeholder until the permanent information is entered.
An email to CMS requesting comment was not immediately returned. Open enrollment for 2015 is set to begin on November 15.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/latest-healthcaregov-nonsense-text_802990.html
Healthcare.gov has had its share of problems over the ten months since its launch, but those looking for information about appealing a Marketplace decision are facing a brand new one: nonsense. The inquiry How to Appeal a Marketplace Decision is answered with, "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Donec egestas rhoncus orci, at lobortis justo tempor a." The full page appears as follows:
The page can be seen by selecting the "Get Answers" menu from the home page of Healthcare.gov and choosing "How to appeal a Marketplace decision." Selection of the submenu items on the left return the same result.
Appeal information is not the only page with the nonsense text. Why Health Coverage is Important brings up an identical result, as does the page on Immigrants.
Other problems exist on the site as well. A search for "appeal" reveals the following:
According to the website lipsum.com, the nonsense text is "simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry." In other words, the text is just a placeholder until the permanent information is entered.
An email to CMS requesting comment was not immediately returned. Open enrollment for 2015 is set to begin on November 15.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/latest-healthcaregov-nonsense-text_802990.html
Intel official: ISIS sees conflict with US as “inevitable”
"No siege has been broken."
Looks like the jayvee team got moved up to varsity after all. CNN grilled State Department deputy Brett McGurk on ISIS after an intelligence official told them that ISIS had become “a credible alternative to al-Qaeda” and planned on an “inevitable” conflict with the United States. Furthermore, ISIS has a lot more potential for metastasis […]
Read this post »
http://hotair.com/archives/2014/08/15/intel-official-isis-sees-conflict-with-us-as-inevitable/
Looks like the jayvee team got moved up to varsity after all. CNN grilled State Department deputy Brett McGurk on ISIS after an intelligence official told them that ISIS had become “a credible alternative to al-Qaeda” and planned on an “inevitable” conflict with the United States. Furthermore, ISIS has a lot more potential for metastasis […]
Read this post »
http://hotair.com/archives/2014/08/15/intel-official-isis-sees-conflict-with-us-as-inevitable/
SLAVE-DRIVEN? Prof's backers say slavery led to pro-life confrontation
FLASHBACK: California professor pleads no contest to assault on pro-life students
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/08/15/slavery-pregnancy-drove-california-professor-to-accost-teen-pro-lifer-say/
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/08/15/slavery-pregnancy-drove-california-professor-to-accost-teen-pro-lifer-say/
Thursday, August 14, 2014
Federal Judge Orders IRS to Provide More Details of Lerner Computer Crash
(Fox News) – A federal judge is demanding the IRS provide a more detailed explanation of what happened to the potentially thousands of missing emails of former agency official Lois Lerner.
Judge Emmet G. Sullivan on Thursday ordered the IRS to provide a new sworn declaration giving more details about Lerner’s computer troubles, just days after the IRS submitted several to the court as part of a case brought against the agency by a conservative watchdog group.
Sullivan said the IRS must provide the declaration from an official with the “authority to speak under oath for the agency” by August 22. IRS officials previously said under oath that Lerner’s emails were lost when her computer crashed, and technicians were unable to recover the drive’s data.
SPECIAL: Join the Tea Party REVOLUTION! The Obama Regime must be dismantled!
Sullivan said the explanation must include how the IRS attempted to retrieve the emails of Lerner, a central figure in the agency’s targeting of conservative groups, from alternative sources such as mobile devices. Sullivan also asked the IRS to explain in detail how the agency tracks hard drives when they are being serviced and provide information from an outside source to verify the agency’s policy regarding the destruction of hard drives.
Judicial Watch, which filed the Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the IRS over the missing emails, said Thursday that it is clear that Sullivan agreed with their view that the declarations previously submitted by the IRS were inadequate.
“Today’s order confirms Judicial Watch’s read of this week’s IRS’ filings that treated as a joke Judge Sullivan’s order,” Tom Fitton, the president of Judicial Watch, said in a statement.
The declarations the IRS submitted Tuesday were from five IRS officials, including two who said they personally worked on the hard drive.
In the declarations, agency technology officials insisted they did everything they could to fix and recover data from the hard drive of Lerner. However, they said their efforts were fruitless, and some of Lerner’s emails were lost.
Lerner, who has since retired, headed the IRS unit that reviews applications for tax-exempt status, when applications from Tea Party groups and other conservative organizations were held up for extra scrutiny.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/08/14/
The post Federal Judge Orders IRS to Provide More Details of Lerner Computer Crash appeared first on Tea Party.
http://www.teaparty.org/federal-judge-orders-irs-provide-details-lerner-computer-crash-51591/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=federal-judge-orders-irs-provide-details-lerner-computer-crash
Judge Emmet G. Sullivan on Thursday ordered the IRS to provide a new sworn declaration giving more details about Lerner’s computer troubles, just days after the IRS submitted several to the court as part of a case brought against the agency by a conservative watchdog group.
Sullivan said the IRS must provide the declaration from an official with the “authority to speak under oath for the agency” by August 22. IRS officials previously said under oath that Lerner’s emails were lost when her computer crashed, and technicians were unable to recover the drive’s data.
SPECIAL: Join the Tea Party REVOLUTION! The Obama Regime must be dismantled!
Sullivan said the explanation must include how the IRS attempted to retrieve the emails of Lerner, a central figure in the agency’s targeting of conservative groups, from alternative sources such as mobile devices. Sullivan also asked the IRS to explain in detail how the agency tracks hard drives when they are being serviced and provide information from an outside source to verify the agency’s policy regarding the destruction of hard drives.
Judicial Watch, which filed the Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the IRS over the missing emails, said Thursday that it is clear that Sullivan agreed with their view that the declarations previously submitted by the IRS were inadequate.
“Today’s order confirms Judicial Watch’s read of this week’s IRS’ filings that treated as a joke Judge Sullivan’s order,” Tom Fitton, the president of Judicial Watch, said in a statement.
The declarations the IRS submitted Tuesday were from five IRS officials, including two who said they personally worked on the hard drive.
In the declarations, agency technology officials insisted they did everything they could to fix and recover data from the hard drive of Lerner. However, they said their efforts were fruitless, and some of Lerner’s emails were lost.
Lerner, who has since retired, headed the IRS unit that reviews applications for tax-exempt status, when applications from Tea Party groups and other conservative organizations were held up for extra scrutiny.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/08/14/
The post Federal Judge Orders IRS to Provide More Details of Lerner Computer Crash appeared first on Tea Party.
http://www.teaparty.org/federal-judge-orders-irs-provide-details-lerner-computer-crash-51591/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=federal-judge-orders-irs-provide-details-lerner-computer-crash
Wednesday, August 13, 2014
Jimmy Fallon’s Joke About Obama Would be Funny If It Wasn’t True
(TPNN) – When Jimmy Fallon took over as host of The Tonight Show, many wondered if the show would become an Obama worshiper show since Fallon seems to have a soft spot for the Obama family. After all, he could forget his ‘Slow Jam the News’ segment with Obama in his previous show in which Fallon referred to him as the “Preezy of the United Steezy.”
But, sometimes, Fallon ventures off and actually does what many late night hosts have done in the past. Make fun of the president, regardless of his political party.
The First Family is on their umpteenth vacation of the year, let alone of Obama’s presidency. It seems as though Obama takes vacations from vacations and needs time off from his difficult golf and fundraising schedule. After all, Obama has played 186 rounds of golf since taking office. Those facts makes Jimmy Fallon’s joke hit close to him and shed light on an uncomfortable truth for the left. Fallon took to Twitter on Monday and made a joke that would be funny if it wasn’t true.
SPECIAL: Do you want Obama impeached? Then get your name on the IMPEACH OBAMA PETITION! Sign it here.
After spending yesterday at the beach, Obama said, “This has been fun, but I should really get back…to the golf course.” #fallonmono
— jimmy fallon (@jimmyfallon) August 12, 2014
This caused one Tweeter to call for a ban on free speech.
@WTjadenIII @jimmyfallon true. The media is always making fun of leftist democrats. Such bias. Someone should enact a law.
— jgray (@RkmmerMer) August 13, 2014
He was quickly put in his place.
@RkmmerMer There you go. Jail people for speaking. The Politicians from the Right are never attacked it is so unfair.
— Mike Heaney (@MikeMheaney3) August 13, 2014
With another week left on his vacation, during which Michelle is undoubtedly planning their next vacation, we’ll be watching to see what Fallon may have up his comedic sleeve next time.
http://www.tpnn.com/2014/08/13/jimmy-fallons-joke-about-obama-would-be-funny-if-it-wasnt-true/
The post Jimmy Fallon’s Joke About Obama Would be Funny If It Wasn’t True appeared first on Tea Party.
http://www.teaparty.org/jimmy-fallons-joke-obama-funny-wasnt-true-51475/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=jimmy-fallons-joke-obama-funny-wasnt-true
But, sometimes, Fallon ventures off and actually does what many late night hosts have done in the past. Make fun of the president, regardless of his political party.
The First Family is on their umpteenth vacation of the year, let alone of Obama’s presidency. It seems as though Obama takes vacations from vacations and needs time off from his difficult golf and fundraising schedule. After all, Obama has played 186 rounds of golf since taking office. Those facts makes Jimmy Fallon’s joke hit close to him and shed light on an uncomfortable truth for the left. Fallon took to Twitter on Monday and made a joke that would be funny if it wasn’t true.
SPECIAL: Do you want Obama impeached? Then get your name on the IMPEACH OBAMA PETITION! Sign it here.
After spending yesterday at the beach, Obama said, “This has been fun, but I should really get back…to the golf course.” #fallonmono
— jimmy fallon (@jimmyfallon) August 12, 2014
This caused one Tweeter to call for a ban on free speech.
@WTjadenIII @jimmyfallon true. The media is always making fun of leftist democrats. Such bias. Someone should enact a law.
— jgray (@RkmmerMer) August 13, 2014
He was quickly put in his place.
@RkmmerMer There you go. Jail people for speaking. The Politicians from the Right are never attacked it is so unfair.
— Mike Heaney (@MikeMheaney3) August 13, 2014
With another week left on his vacation, during which Michelle is undoubtedly planning their next vacation, we’ll be watching to see what Fallon may have up his comedic sleeve next time.
http://www.tpnn.com/2014/08/13/jimmy-fallons-joke-about-obama-would-be-funny-if-it-wasnt-true/
The post Jimmy Fallon’s Joke About Obama Would be Funny If It Wasn’t True appeared first on Tea Party.
http://www.teaparty.org/jimmy-fallons-joke-obama-funny-wasnt-true-51475/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=jimmy-fallons-joke-obama-funny-wasnt-true
New Gaza Tunnels Being Dug Every Hour
A Hezbollah official said on Hezbollah-run television station Al-Manar that Israel’s attempt to destroy tunnels in Gaza was ineffective, Israel Hayom reports.
“The Israeli prime minister was proud of destroying more than 30 tunnels, but in Gaza, there are more than 3,000 tunnels and a new tunnel is dug every hour,” Hezbollah Deputy Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem said.
He also addressed Palestinian criticism of Hezbollah for not getting involved in the conflict by firing rockets at northern Israel.
“Such an undertaking would work against the Palestinians, drawing international criticism and justifying Israel’s continued aggression,” he said.
http://freebeacon.com/national-security/new-gaza-tunnels-being-dug-every-hour/
“The Israeli prime minister was proud of destroying more than 30 tunnels, but in Gaza, there are more than 3,000 tunnels and a new tunnel is dug every hour,” Hezbollah Deputy Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem said.
He also addressed Palestinian criticism of Hezbollah for not getting involved in the conflict by firing rockets at northern Israel.
“Such an undertaking would work against the Palestinians, drawing international criticism and justifying Israel’s continued aggression,” he said.
http://freebeacon.com/national-security/new-gaza-tunnels-being-dug-every-hour/
65 Promises President Obama Broke
President Obama has made a lot of very specific, ambitious promises to the American people over the years. Here’s a roundup of 65 of those promises–none of which he kept.
Among some of his commitments: Obama promised that lobbyists would “not work in my White House”; that he would “eliminate waste and inefficiency” ; that he would close Guantanamo within one year ; that he would not try to run car companies ; and that he would make the government “open and transparent.”
And of course, if you like your health care plan, you’ll be able to keep your health care plan. Period.
(h/t IJ Review)
http://freebeacon.com/politics/65-promises-president-obama-broke/
Among some of his commitments: Obama promised that lobbyists would “not work in my White House”; that he would “eliminate waste and inefficiency” ; that he would close Guantanamo within one year ; that he would not try to run car companies ; and that he would make the government “open and transparent.”
And of course, if you like your health care plan, you’ll be able to keep your health care plan. Period.
(h/t IJ Review)
http://freebeacon.com/politics/65-promises-president-obama-broke/
It’s Absurd to Say Government Can’t Afford to Detain Criminal Illegal Immigrants
“The fact is if the government needs money to detain illegal immigrants, especially those with felon backgrounds, I think we can find that money when you know how much money we spend in this country.”
>> Obama Administration Released Over 600 Illegal Immigrants With Criminal Convictions
The post It’s Absurd to Say Government Can’t Afford to Detain Criminal Illegal Immigrants appeared first on Daily Signal.
http://dailysignal.com/2014/08/13/absurd-say-government-cant-afford-detain-criminal-illegal-immigrants/
>> Obama Administration Released Over 600 Illegal Immigrants With Criminal Convictions
The post It’s Absurd to Say Government Can’t Afford to Detain Criminal Illegal Immigrants appeared first on Daily Signal.
http://dailysignal.com/2014/08/13/absurd-say-government-cant-afford-detain-criminal-illegal-immigrants/
Obama legacy of decline
Obama presides over unraveling of his predecessors’ foreign policy accomplishments
Tragedy.
President Barack Obama entered office in 2009 with an undeniable mandate to bring about a swift but favorable conclusion to the Iraq War. But by the time the president entered office, combat operations in Iraq were already winding down. By the middle of 2008, the “surge” strategy and a political offensive resulting in the “Anbar […]
Read this post »
http://hotair.com/archives/2014/08/12/obama-presides-over-unraveling-of-his-predecessors-foreign-policy-accomplishments/
Tragedy.
President Barack Obama entered office in 2009 with an undeniable mandate to bring about a swift but favorable conclusion to the Iraq War. But by the time the president entered office, combat operations in Iraq were already winding down. By the middle of 2008, the “surge” strategy and a political offensive resulting in the “Anbar […]
Read this post »
http://hotair.com/archives/2014/08/12/obama-presides-over-unraveling-of-his-predecessors-foreign-policy-accomplishments/
Monday, August 11, 2014
Fraud is the Democratic election plan
The only reason to fight voter ID checks is to allow illegal immigrants to vote Democratic.
Rock the Vote bands target ID fight
http://www.politico.com/story/2014/08/rock-the-vote-voter-id-109909.html
Musicians throw their voices behind the coalition, speaking out against voter ID laws.
Rock the Vote bands target ID fight
http://www.politico.com/story/2014/08/rock-the-vote-voter-id-109909.html
Musicians throw their voices behind the coalition, speaking out against voter ID laws.
Sunday, August 10, 2014
Obama: Pulling All U.S. Troops Out of Iraq Was Not ‘My Decision’
(CNS News) – When he was running for re-election in 2012, President Barack Obama repeatedly took credit for ending the war in Iraq and bringing all U.S. troops home from that country. At the White House on Saturday, however, when talking about his decision to use military force against the al-Qaida-related ISIS terrorist group in Iraq, Obama said removing all U.S. troops from Iraq was not “my decision.”
“You know I say what I mean and I mean what I say,” Obama said in Hollywood, Florida on Nov. 4, 2012. “I said I’d end the war in Iraq. I ended it.”
That statement was similar–or identical–to many others Obama made on the campaign trail in the 2012 campaign.
FAX BLAST SPECIAL: Impeach Obama NOW!
On the South Lawn of the White House today, after Obama explained why he had ordered the U.S. military to renew airstrikes in Iraq, a reporter asked Obama about his decision to remove all U.S. troops from Iraq.
“Mr. President, do you have any second thoughts about pulling all ground troops out of Iraq?” the reporter asked. “And does it give you pause as the U.S.–is it doing the same thing in Afghanistan?”
“What I just find interesting is the degree to which this issue keeps on coming up, as if this was my decision,” Obama said, indicating he does not believe it was his decision as commander in chief of U.S. troops in a congressionally authorized action in Iraq to decide whether the troops should stay or leave.
“Under the previous administration, we had turned over the country to a sovereign, democratically elected Iraqi government,” Obama said. “In order for us to maintain troops in Iraq, we needed the invitation of the Iraqi government and we needed assurances that our personnel would be immune from prosecution if, for example, they were protecting themselves and ended up getting in a firefight with Iraqis, that they wouldn’t be hauled before an Iraqi judicial system.
“And the Iraqi government, based on its political considerations, in part because Iraqis were tired of a U.S. occupation, declined to provide us those assurances,” Obama said. “And on that basis, we left. We had offered to leave additional troops. So when you hear people say, do you regret, Mr. President, not leaving more troops, that presupposes that I would have overridden this sovereign government that we had turned the keys back over to and said, you know what, you’re democratic, you’re sovereign, except if I decide that it’s good for you to keep 10,000 or 15,000 or 25,000 Marines in your country, you don’t have a choice, which would have kind of run contrary to the entire argument we were making about turning over the country back to Iraqis, an argument not just made by me, but made by the previous administration.
“So let’s just be clear: The reason that we did not have a follow-on force in Iraq was because the Iraqis were–a majority of Iraqis did not want U.S. troops there, and politically they could not pass the kind of laws that would be required to protect our troops in Iraq,” said Obama.
Obama went on to say that he does not believe it would not have made any difference if he had decided to keep troops in Iraq.
“The only difference would be we’d have a bunch of troops on the ground that would be vulnerable,” said Obama. “And however many troops we had, we would have to now be reinforcing, I’d have to be protecting them, and we’d have a much bigger job. And probably, we would end up having to go up again in terms of the number of grounds troops to make sure that those forces were not vulnerable.
“So that entire analysis is bogus and is wrong,” said Obama. “But it gets frequently peddled around here by folks who oftentimes are trying to defend previous policies that they themselves made.”
On Dec. 14, 2011, President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama delivered speeches at Fort Bragg, North Carolina that the White House posted under the headline: “Remarks by the President and First Lady on the End of the War in Iraq.”
“Now, Iraq is not a perfect place, Obama said. “It has many challenges ahead. But we’re leaving behind a sovereign, stable and self-reliant Iraq, with a representative government that was elected by its people. We’re building a new partnership between our nations. And we are ending a war not with a final battle, but with a final march toward home.
“This is an extraordinary achievement, nearly nine years in the making,” said Obama.
At the end of his speech, Obama said: “You helped forge a just and lasting peace with Iraq.”
On the campaign trail eleven months later, just before the 2012 election, Obama repeated in Cincinnati on Nov. 4 what he had said earlier that day in Hollywood, Fla.
“But you know I say what I mean and I mean what I say,” said Obama. “I said I’d end the war in Iraq. I ended the war in Iraq.”
He repeated the same words the next day in Madison, Wisconsin, and Columbus, Ohio.
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/terence-p-jeffrey/obama-pulling-all-us-troops-out-iraq-was-not-my-decision
The post Obama: Pulling All U.S. Troops Out of Iraq Was Not ‘My Decision’ appeared first on Tea Party.
http://www.teaparty.org/obama-pulling-all-u-s-troops-out-of-iraq-was-not-my-decision-51038/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=obama-pulling-all-u-s-troops-out-of-iraq-was-not-my-decision
“You know I say what I mean and I mean what I say,” Obama said in Hollywood, Florida on Nov. 4, 2012. “I said I’d end the war in Iraq. I ended it.”
That statement was similar–or identical–to many others Obama made on the campaign trail in the 2012 campaign.
FAX BLAST SPECIAL: Impeach Obama NOW!
On the South Lawn of the White House today, after Obama explained why he had ordered the U.S. military to renew airstrikes in Iraq, a reporter asked Obama about his decision to remove all U.S. troops from Iraq.
“Mr. President, do you have any second thoughts about pulling all ground troops out of Iraq?” the reporter asked. “And does it give you pause as the U.S.–is it doing the same thing in Afghanistan?”
“What I just find interesting is the degree to which this issue keeps on coming up, as if this was my decision,” Obama said, indicating he does not believe it was his decision as commander in chief of U.S. troops in a congressionally authorized action in Iraq to decide whether the troops should stay or leave.
“Under the previous administration, we had turned over the country to a sovereign, democratically elected Iraqi government,” Obama said. “In order for us to maintain troops in Iraq, we needed the invitation of the Iraqi government and we needed assurances that our personnel would be immune from prosecution if, for example, they were protecting themselves and ended up getting in a firefight with Iraqis, that they wouldn’t be hauled before an Iraqi judicial system.
“And the Iraqi government, based on its political considerations, in part because Iraqis were tired of a U.S. occupation, declined to provide us those assurances,” Obama said. “And on that basis, we left. We had offered to leave additional troops. So when you hear people say, do you regret, Mr. President, not leaving more troops, that presupposes that I would have overridden this sovereign government that we had turned the keys back over to and said, you know what, you’re democratic, you’re sovereign, except if I decide that it’s good for you to keep 10,000 or 15,000 or 25,000 Marines in your country, you don’t have a choice, which would have kind of run contrary to the entire argument we were making about turning over the country back to Iraqis, an argument not just made by me, but made by the previous administration.
“So let’s just be clear: The reason that we did not have a follow-on force in Iraq was because the Iraqis were–a majority of Iraqis did not want U.S. troops there, and politically they could not pass the kind of laws that would be required to protect our troops in Iraq,” said Obama.
Obama went on to say that he does not believe it would not have made any difference if he had decided to keep troops in Iraq.
“The only difference would be we’d have a bunch of troops on the ground that would be vulnerable,” said Obama. “And however many troops we had, we would have to now be reinforcing, I’d have to be protecting them, and we’d have a much bigger job. And probably, we would end up having to go up again in terms of the number of grounds troops to make sure that those forces were not vulnerable.
“So that entire analysis is bogus and is wrong,” said Obama. “But it gets frequently peddled around here by folks who oftentimes are trying to defend previous policies that they themselves made.”
On Dec. 14, 2011, President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama delivered speeches at Fort Bragg, North Carolina that the White House posted under the headline: “Remarks by the President and First Lady on the End of the War in Iraq.”
“Now, Iraq is not a perfect place, Obama said. “It has many challenges ahead. But we’re leaving behind a sovereign, stable and self-reliant Iraq, with a representative government that was elected by its people. We’re building a new partnership between our nations. And we are ending a war not with a final battle, but with a final march toward home.
“This is an extraordinary achievement, nearly nine years in the making,” said Obama.
At the end of his speech, Obama said: “You helped forge a just and lasting peace with Iraq.”
On the campaign trail eleven months later, just before the 2012 election, Obama repeated in Cincinnati on Nov. 4 what he had said earlier that day in Hollywood, Fla.
“But you know I say what I mean and I mean what I say,” said Obama. “I said I’d end the war in Iraq. I ended the war in Iraq.”
He repeated the same words the next day in Madison, Wisconsin, and Columbus, Ohio.
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/terence-p-jeffrey/obama-pulling-all-us-troops-out-iraq-was-not-my-decision
The post Obama: Pulling All U.S. Troops Out of Iraq Was Not ‘My Decision’ appeared first on Tea Party.
http://www.teaparty.org/obama-pulling-all-u-s-troops-out-of-iraq-was-not-my-decision-51038/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=obama-pulling-all-u-s-troops-out-of-iraq-was-not-my-decision
Thursday, August 7, 2014
Do nothing white house procrastination
W.H.: U.S. working 'intensively' on crisis in Iraq
"It is a situation we are deeply concerned about and closely monitoring," Earnest says.
http://www.politico.com/story/2014/08/white-house-iraq-crisis-109817.html
"It is a situation we are deeply concerned about and closely monitoring," Earnest says.
http://www.politico.com/story/2014/08/white-house-iraq-crisis-109817.html
Soft on hamas
Video: Hamas “acts extraordinarily irresponsibly”?
“Frat boys are extraordinarily irresponsible. Hamas is a terrorist organization that’s killing people."
When Barack Obama finally showed up to his press conference yesterday after keeping everyone waiting for seventy-four minutes, the President took the time to express his frustration with the war in Gaza. “It is important to remember,” Obama explained helpfully, “that Hamas acts extraordinarily irresponsibly when it is deliberately siting rocket launchers in population centers.” […]
View the video »
http://hotair.com/archives/2014/08/07/video-hamas-acts-extraordinarily-irresponsibly/
“Frat boys are extraordinarily irresponsible. Hamas is a terrorist organization that’s killing people."
When Barack Obama finally showed up to his press conference yesterday after keeping everyone waiting for seventy-four minutes, the President took the time to express his frustration with the war in Gaza. “It is important to remember,” Obama explained helpfully, “that Hamas acts extraordinarily irresponsibly when it is deliberately siting rocket launchers in population centers.” […]
View the video »
http://hotair.com/archives/2014/08/07/video-hamas-acts-extraordinarily-irresponsibly/
Tuesday, August 5, 2014
Obama Administration Lied About Insurance Company Bailouts
It can be difficult to keep track of all the untruths the Obama Administration has told in the process of selling Obamacare to a disbelieving public, and it is tempting to write these all off as history, more than four years later. But the untruths have never stopped coming. A House oversight report released last week reveals that the Administration has been misleading the public about the likelihood that it will have to bail out insurance companies that sold policies under Obamacare. I highly recommend you read both the report and Jeffrey Anderson’s excellent story in the Weekly Standard summarizing it, as well as Phil Kerpen’s blow-by-blow of the emails over at The Federalist. The upshot is that, even after the Administration’s hard sell and coercive mandates forced millions of Americans to buy policies from the big health insurance companies, we should expect a billion-dollar bailout of those companies because the mix of people buying them is older and sicker than projected (unexpectedly!), and we should expect going forward to face a choice between premium increases and even bigger bailouts.
The Oversight Report covers a variety of close contacts between the Administration and the insurance companies, which in and of themselves are an eye-opening up-close look at corporatism in action and the sheer hypocrisy of an Administration that loves to bash insurers publicly while working hand in glove with them and catering to their needs behind the scenes – an Administration where, by President Obama’s own account, he commonly asks CEOs why they aren’t spending more of their shareholders’ money lobbying for his policies on immigration, the environment and education. The quid pro quo in that arrangement is that Administration carrot-and-stick control over the big insurers has kept many of them publicly on the reservation, parroting pro-Obamacare talking points and shying away from public criticism, all so that the Administration can tout their silence as proof the program’s critics are all wet. There’s only so much you can blame the insurers, who after all are for-profit companies that by now have no real choice but to do business with Leviathan. But we’ve come a long way from the idealistic “new politics” rhetoric of 2008 to the grubby details of bailing out big corporations from a mess entirely of this President’s own making.
The bailouts are at the heart of this web of deceit. Pre-Obamacare, insurers had to price their policies mainly by reference to market forces (albeit in an already heavily-regulated market): charge enough to cover the actuarial cost expected for each enrollee, but not too much to lose business. Guess wrong and you lost money. But under Obamacare, consumers no longer have the choice whether or not to buy policies, and insurance companies no longer face any risk of losing money, because they’ve been promised a bailout. Money will still be lost, but it will be taxpayer money, and you never run out of that, do you?
Obamacare Enrollees Older and Sicker Than Projected
Obamacare has three separate programs (the “3Rs”) that make up this bailout: Reinsurance, which pays companies to subsidize particular policies; the Risk Corridor program, which taxes companies that end up with less-expensive mixes of policyholders and subsidizes those that have more-expensive mixes; and the Risk Adjustment program, which does the same at the insurance plan level. The mechanics of these are all more complex than that (but trust them, they have top men working on all these details), but the general idea is that, if Obamacare works as projected, the Reinsurance program will provide a subsidy of up to $20 billion over the next three years, but the other two programs will be budget-neutral. In other words, there will be an equal balance of winners and losers subsidizing their fellow comrades in glorious workers’ paradise without pestering the taxpayers.
But the data provided by the insurers – insurance companies and co-ops covering about 80% of the market, from which the overall numbers are extrapolated* – makes clear that the Administration’s public stance of no-net-bailouts is at odds with what those insurers expect and have been telling the White House:
As of May 2014, twelve of the 15 traditional health insurers expect to receive payments from the Risk Corridor program, one of the insurers expects to make payments into the Risk Corridor program, and two insurers expect no net payments. These 15 insurers project they will receive approximately $640 million in net payments through the Risk Corridor program for the 2014 plan year.
As of May 2014, of the 23 co-ops, seven expect to receive payments from the Risk Corridor program, two expect to make payments into the Risk Corridor program, and 14 expect no net payments. These 23 co-ops expect to receive approximately $86 million in net payments through the Risk Corridor program for the 2014 plan year.
…Although the Risk Adjustment program is required to be budget neutral, many more insurers expect to receive payments than make payments. As of May 2014, the companies surveyed by the Committee expect net payments through the Risk Adjustment program of about $346 million. Moreover, insurers expect to receive nearly twice as much in net Risk Adjustment payments than they did on October 1, 2013. This provides additional evidence that insurers expect enrollees in ObamaCare-compliant plans to be less healthy than originally anticipated. In fact, enrollment information provided by insurers show that insurers enrolled a much older risk pool, on average, in their ObamaCare-compliant plans than they anticipated.
While the exchange plans were always susceptible to adverse selection because of how expensive the law made insurance for younger and healthier individuals, several delays and modifications to the law by the Obama Administration worsened the adverse selection problem….Insurers directly lobbied the White House for the Administration to make the 3R programs more generous to insurers, and the Administration obliged. Insurers and co-ops now expect a third more from the Risk Corridor taxpayer bailout than they did on October 1, 2013. It is impossible to know how much of the increase in the industries’ expectation for the size of the bailouts is the result of a less healthy exchange population than originally anticipated and how much of the increase is from the Administration’s rule changes to make the bailouts more generous…
This is, as the Oversight Report notes, dramatically different from the February 2014 CBO analysis that Democrats uniformly trumpeted as evidence that there would be no net bailout; the House went straight to the insurers because “the CBO estimates were inconsistent with widespread sentiment among actuaries and health policy experts”. The actual insurance company data paints a picture quite different from the CBO’s report, in part because (as set forth in the graph at the top of this post), the mix of enrollees has turned out to be older and likely sicker than projected, mainly due to a drastic shortfall in the enrollment of families with children (always a demographic overlooked by this Administration). In other words, as usual, reality has failed to conform to the assumptions provided to the CBO. As the report notes:
The large increase in insurers’ expectations for Risk Corridor payments and Risk Adjustment payments between October 1, 2013, and the present are consistent with recent media reports about a high degree of adverse selection in exchange plans. An April report from Express Scripts, a pharmacy benefits manager, showed that early exchange plan enrollees were spending much more money on drugs than individuals in group plans. On June 24, 2014, the Wall Street Journal reported that exchange enrollees are about 70 percent more likely to have significant health issues than people enrolled in the individual market in 2013. According to an analysis of the early claims data, healthy individuals largely chose to keep their existing non-ObamaCare-compliant plans while those with greater health concerns have opted for exchange coverage. Patrick Getzen, chief actuary for Blue Cross Blue Shield North Carolina, told the Wall Street Journal, “[i]t’s even worse than what we thought. … We’re seeing more chronic conditions than we would have expected.”
The Committee has obtained two pieces of information that further demonstrate that people enrolled in exchange plans are significantly older and less healthy than initially expected by insurers. The first is that insurers anticipate much larger payments through ObamaCare’s Risk Adjustment program than they did on October 1, 2013. The second is that insurers have reported to the Committee that they have enrolled a substantially older population in their exchange plans than they projected prior to October 1, 2013.
Obama White House Is Warned But Downplays The Risk
The Oversight Report details the communications between insurance company executives concerned about potential mounting losses and Valerie Jarrett and other White House officials who were eager to keep them singing from their script, and who eventually agreed to a more generous bailout package in order to tamp down pressure to raise rates even further than planned. Anderson summarizes a key exchange:
[T]he administration declared that the risk-corridor program would be budget-neutral. In reply, according to the Oversight report, CareFirst Blue Cross Blue Shield CEO Chet Burrell emailed Jarrett and then talked on the phone with her later that same day. The next day, he emailed her again, attaching a memo that said, “Until very recently, the position of the Administration had been that the law requires the Federal government to fully fund the Risk Corridor payments if amounts paid in by the ‘winners’ turn out to be inadequate — as they likely will.’” Otherwise, he added, “carriers will have to increase rates substantially (i.e., as much as 20% or more beyond what they would otherwise file) to make sure that premiums adequately reflect expected costs.” In other words, the administration had a choice: provide a bailout, or face the unpleasant prospect of having insurers price their products honestly.
…Soon thereafter, the Obama administration abandoned the claim of budget-neutrality, writing in a release from Health and Human Services (HHS), “In the unlikely event of a shortfall for the 2015 program year, HHS recognizes that the [Patient Protection and] Affordable Care Act requires the Secretary to make full payments to issuers. In that event, HHS will use other sources of funding for the risk corridors payments, subject to the availability of appropriations.”
So, the Administration was continuing to call a bailout “unlikely” as insurance company CEOs were warning the White House that the industry believed it was in fact “likely,” and were pressuring the White House to guarantee a bailout precisely for that reason. As the Oversight Report details, the expected bailout has increased significantly since the October 2013 launch of Obamacare, and now tops $1 billion. And as Anderson details, there is no way Congress will appropriate money for such a bailout, and the Administration’s basis for claiming it can be funded without an appropriation is exceptionally shaky. But then, this White House won’t be stopped by such minutuae as Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution.
Rate Hikes A-Comin’
All of this matters because rate hikes are on their way, and the bailout appears to be the only thing holding them back from getting even worse. We just saw the Florida insurance regulators project a 13% increase in premiums for 2015, some of which will hit policyholders and the rest of which will – like the bailout – be absorbed by taxpayers. The Administration’s fear of unpopular rate hikes seems to have motivated the bailout, as the insurers were pointedly warning Jarrett that she needed to move to reassure them on bailouts before the next set of deadlines for publicly filing their next year’s rates. There’s an election coming, after all.
As the Oversight Report notes, even with all of this governmental support, a number of the co-ops and at least a few insurance companies seem to be underpricing policies in a way that will be unsustainable and lead to ever-growing demands for bigger bailouts down the road, creating a fiscal death spiral for the program:
[T]axpayers appear to be on the hook for bailing out co-ops that significantly underpriced their plans in 2014. Moreover, policyholders with coverage through these co-ops should expect large premium increases in future years when the co-ops can no longer rely on taxpayers to heavily subsidize their revenues.
In addition to the co-ops, many other insurers also appear to have underpriced exchange plans for the 2014 plan year, likely due to their expectation of receiving a taxpayer bailout. The Committee has learned that, as of October 1, 2013, many large insurers expected to receive payments through the Risk Corridor program. Of the 15 insurers, six expected payments through the Risk Corridor program prior to the start of open enrollment while none expected to make payments into the Risk Corridor program.
Obamacare is the gift that keeps on giving – from you to a big industry that President Obama only pretends to hate.
* – The Oversight Report’s estimates are based on the White House’s frequently touted figure of seven million Obamacare enrollees, although it expresses skepticism about that as well, see page 15 of the Report.
The post Obama Administration Lied About Insurance Company Bailouts appeared first on RedState.
http://www.redstate.com/2014/08/05/obama-administration-lied-insurance-company-bailouts/
The Oversight Report covers a variety of close contacts between the Administration and the insurance companies, which in and of themselves are an eye-opening up-close look at corporatism in action and the sheer hypocrisy of an Administration that loves to bash insurers publicly while working hand in glove with them and catering to their needs behind the scenes – an Administration where, by President Obama’s own account, he commonly asks CEOs why they aren’t spending more of their shareholders’ money lobbying for his policies on immigration, the environment and education. The quid pro quo in that arrangement is that Administration carrot-and-stick control over the big insurers has kept many of them publicly on the reservation, parroting pro-Obamacare talking points and shying away from public criticism, all so that the Administration can tout their silence as proof the program’s critics are all wet. There’s only so much you can blame the insurers, who after all are for-profit companies that by now have no real choice but to do business with Leviathan. But we’ve come a long way from the idealistic “new politics” rhetoric of 2008 to the grubby details of bailing out big corporations from a mess entirely of this President’s own making.
The bailouts are at the heart of this web of deceit. Pre-Obamacare, insurers had to price their policies mainly by reference to market forces (albeit in an already heavily-regulated market): charge enough to cover the actuarial cost expected for each enrollee, but not too much to lose business. Guess wrong and you lost money. But under Obamacare, consumers no longer have the choice whether or not to buy policies, and insurance companies no longer face any risk of losing money, because they’ve been promised a bailout. Money will still be lost, but it will be taxpayer money, and you never run out of that, do you?
Obamacare Enrollees Older and Sicker Than Projected
Obamacare has three separate programs (the “3Rs”) that make up this bailout: Reinsurance, which pays companies to subsidize particular policies; the Risk Corridor program, which taxes companies that end up with less-expensive mixes of policyholders and subsidizes those that have more-expensive mixes; and the Risk Adjustment program, which does the same at the insurance plan level. The mechanics of these are all more complex than that (but trust them, they have top men working on all these details), but the general idea is that, if Obamacare works as projected, the Reinsurance program will provide a subsidy of up to $20 billion over the next three years, but the other two programs will be budget-neutral. In other words, there will be an equal balance of winners and losers subsidizing their fellow comrades in glorious workers’ paradise without pestering the taxpayers.
But the data provided by the insurers – insurance companies and co-ops covering about 80% of the market, from which the overall numbers are extrapolated* – makes clear that the Administration’s public stance of no-net-bailouts is at odds with what those insurers expect and have been telling the White House:
As of May 2014, twelve of the 15 traditional health insurers expect to receive payments from the Risk Corridor program, one of the insurers expects to make payments into the Risk Corridor program, and two insurers expect no net payments. These 15 insurers project they will receive approximately $640 million in net payments through the Risk Corridor program for the 2014 plan year.
As of May 2014, of the 23 co-ops, seven expect to receive payments from the Risk Corridor program, two expect to make payments into the Risk Corridor program, and 14 expect no net payments. These 23 co-ops expect to receive approximately $86 million in net payments through the Risk Corridor program for the 2014 plan year.
…Although the Risk Adjustment program is required to be budget neutral, many more insurers expect to receive payments than make payments. As of May 2014, the companies surveyed by the Committee expect net payments through the Risk Adjustment program of about $346 million. Moreover, insurers expect to receive nearly twice as much in net Risk Adjustment payments than they did on October 1, 2013. This provides additional evidence that insurers expect enrollees in ObamaCare-compliant plans to be less healthy than originally anticipated. In fact, enrollment information provided by insurers show that insurers enrolled a much older risk pool, on average, in their ObamaCare-compliant plans than they anticipated.
While the exchange plans were always susceptible to adverse selection because of how expensive the law made insurance for younger and healthier individuals, several delays and modifications to the law by the Obama Administration worsened the adverse selection problem….Insurers directly lobbied the White House for the Administration to make the 3R programs more generous to insurers, and the Administration obliged. Insurers and co-ops now expect a third more from the Risk Corridor taxpayer bailout than they did on October 1, 2013. It is impossible to know how much of the increase in the industries’ expectation for the size of the bailouts is the result of a less healthy exchange population than originally anticipated and how much of the increase is from the Administration’s rule changes to make the bailouts more generous…
This is, as the Oversight Report notes, dramatically different from the February 2014 CBO analysis that Democrats uniformly trumpeted as evidence that there would be no net bailout; the House went straight to the insurers because “the CBO estimates were inconsistent with widespread sentiment among actuaries and health policy experts”. The actual insurance company data paints a picture quite different from the CBO’s report, in part because (as set forth in the graph at the top of this post), the mix of enrollees has turned out to be older and likely sicker than projected, mainly due to a drastic shortfall in the enrollment of families with children (always a demographic overlooked by this Administration). In other words, as usual, reality has failed to conform to the assumptions provided to the CBO. As the report notes:
The large increase in insurers’ expectations for Risk Corridor payments and Risk Adjustment payments between October 1, 2013, and the present are consistent with recent media reports about a high degree of adverse selection in exchange plans. An April report from Express Scripts, a pharmacy benefits manager, showed that early exchange plan enrollees were spending much more money on drugs than individuals in group plans. On June 24, 2014, the Wall Street Journal reported that exchange enrollees are about 70 percent more likely to have significant health issues than people enrolled in the individual market in 2013. According to an analysis of the early claims data, healthy individuals largely chose to keep their existing non-ObamaCare-compliant plans while those with greater health concerns have opted for exchange coverage. Patrick Getzen, chief actuary for Blue Cross Blue Shield North Carolina, told the Wall Street Journal, “[i]t’s even worse than what we thought. … We’re seeing more chronic conditions than we would have expected.”
The Committee has obtained two pieces of information that further demonstrate that people enrolled in exchange plans are significantly older and less healthy than initially expected by insurers. The first is that insurers anticipate much larger payments through ObamaCare’s Risk Adjustment program than they did on October 1, 2013. The second is that insurers have reported to the Committee that they have enrolled a substantially older population in their exchange plans than they projected prior to October 1, 2013.
Obama White House Is Warned But Downplays The Risk
The Oversight Report details the communications between insurance company executives concerned about potential mounting losses and Valerie Jarrett and other White House officials who were eager to keep them singing from their script, and who eventually agreed to a more generous bailout package in order to tamp down pressure to raise rates even further than planned. Anderson summarizes a key exchange:
[T]he administration declared that the risk-corridor program would be budget-neutral. In reply, according to the Oversight report, CareFirst Blue Cross Blue Shield CEO Chet Burrell emailed Jarrett and then talked on the phone with her later that same day. The next day, he emailed her again, attaching a memo that said, “Until very recently, the position of the Administration had been that the law requires the Federal government to fully fund the Risk Corridor payments if amounts paid in by the ‘winners’ turn out to be inadequate — as they likely will.’” Otherwise, he added, “carriers will have to increase rates substantially (i.e., as much as 20% or more beyond what they would otherwise file) to make sure that premiums adequately reflect expected costs.” In other words, the administration had a choice: provide a bailout, or face the unpleasant prospect of having insurers price their products honestly.
…Soon thereafter, the Obama administration abandoned the claim of budget-neutrality, writing in a release from Health and Human Services (HHS), “In the unlikely event of a shortfall for the 2015 program year, HHS recognizes that the [Patient Protection and] Affordable Care Act requires the Secretary to make full payments to issuers. In that event, HHS will use other sources of funding for the risk corridors payments, subject to the availability of appropriations.”
So, the Administration was continuing to call a bailout “unlikely” as insurance company CEOs were warning the White House that the industry believed it was in fact “likely,” and were pressuring the White House to guarantee a bailout precisely for that reason. As the Oversight Report details, the expected bailout has increased significantly since the October 2013 launch of Obamacare, and now tops $1 billion. And as Anderson details, there is no way Congress will appropriate money for such a bailout, and the Administration’s basis for claiming it can be funded without an appropriation is exceptionally shaky. But then, this White House won’t be stopped by such minutuae as Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution.
Rate Hikes A-Comin’
All of this matters because rate hikes are on their way, and the bailout appears to be the only thing holding them back from getting even worse. We just saw the Florida insurance regulators project a 13% increase in premiums for 2015, some of which will hit policyholders and the rest of which will – like the bailout – be absorbed by taxpayers. The Administration’s fear of unpopular rate hikes seems to have motivated the bailout, as the insurers were pointedly warning Jarrett that she needed to move to reassure them on bailouts before the next set of deadlines for publicly filing their next year’s rates. There’s an election coming, after all.
As the Oversight Report notes, even with all of this governmental support, a number of the co-ops and at least a few insurance companies seem to be underpricing policies in a way that will be unsustainable and lead to ever-growing demands for bigger bailouts down the road, creating a fiscal death spiral for the program:
[T]axpayers appear to be on the hook for bailing out co-ops that significantly underpriced their plans in 2014. Moreover, policyholders with coverage through these co-ops should expect large premium increases in future years when the co-ops can no longer rely on taxpayers to heavily subsidize their revenues.
In addition to the co-ops, many other insurers also appear to have underpriced exchange plans for the 2014 plan year, likely due to their expectation of receiving a taxpayer bailout. The Committee has learned that, as of October 1, 2013, many large insurers expected to receive payments through the Risk Corridor program. Of the 15 insurers, six expected payments through the Risk Corridor program prior to the start of open enrollment while none expected to make payments into the Risk Corridor program.
Obamacare is the gift that keeps on giving – from you to a big industry that President Obama only pretends to hate.
* – The Oversight Report’s estimates are based on the White House’s frequently touted figure of seven million Obamacare enrollees, although it expresses skepticism about that as well, see page 15 of the Report.
The post Obama Administration Lied About Insurance Company Bailouts appeared first on RedState.
http://www.redstate.com/2014/08/05/obama-administration-lied-insurance-company-bailouts/
Israel Concerned Hezbollah Building Terror Tunnels
JERUSALEM—Even before it finished defusing the tunnel threat from the Gaza Strip Monday with the detonation of the last of 31 Hamas attack tunnels, the Israeli army began shifting its attention to the possibility of a similar threat from Hezbollah along the border with Lebanon.
Residents of communities on the northern border have periodically reported hearing the sound of underground digging over the years but despite probes by army engineers, no signs of tunneling into Israeli territory have ever been found.
However, the extent and sophistication of the Hamas tunnels from Gaza, 10 of which extended under the border fence to within a few hundred yards of Israeli kibbuzim and villages, has renewed concern about the Lebanese border. Last week, the mayor of Kiryat Shmona, the largest town on the border, sent an urgent appeal to Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon to investigate the matter thoroughly.
In its 2006 war with Hezbollah, the Israeli army discovered that the Shiite militia had built an extensive underground network from which its fighters emerged to meet the Israeli forces and into which they escaped when necessary.
Dr. Eado Hecht, an Israeli defense analyst, termed the existence of Hezbollah cross-border tunnels “not impossible,” telling the Times of Israel that there were strong indications of ties between Hezbollah and the North Korean army.
“The Americans and South Koreans have already found four such tunnels on the border between North and South Korea and they estimate that 20 more exist,” Hecht said.
A video on You Tube shows one such tunnel, a well-built facility said to extend more than a mile into South Korea.
Hezbollah’s website, al-Manar, cited “security sources” in June stating that Hezbollah had prepared hundreds of tunnels in southern Lebanon to enable its fighters to move safely.
“The most dangerous of these tunnels,” said the article, “are those designated for infiltration.” It said that Israel used huge engineering vehicles to induce tremors that collapse some of these tunnels. “However, there remain a number of tunnels which the Israeli army has not yet succeeded in disabling.”
The fact that none have been found inside Israel, say observers, could mean that the tunnels have been dug up to, but not yet across, the border.
The Defense Ministry has recently asked Tel Aviv University geologists to help track possible tunnel activity along the border, reported Israel’s Channel 2.
http://freebeacon.com/national-security/israel-concerned-hezbollah-building-terror-tunnels/
Residents of communities on the northern border have periodically reported hearing the sound of underground digging over the years but despite probes by army engineers, no signs of tunneling into Israeli territory have ever been found.
However, the extent and sophistication of the Hamas tunnels from Gaza, 10 of which extended under the border fence to within a few hundred yards of Israeli kibbuzim and villages, has renewed concern about the Lebanese border. Last week, the mayor of Kiryat Shmona, the largest town on the border, sent an urgent appeal to Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon to investigate the matter thoroughly.
In its 2006 war with Hezbollah, the Israeli army discovered that the Shiite militia had built an extensive underground network from which its fighters emerged to meet the Israeli forces and into which they escaped when necessary.
Dr. Eado Hecht, an Israeli defense analyst, termed the existence of Hezbollah cross-border tunnels “not impossible,” telling the Times of Israel that there were strong indications of ties between Hezbollah and the North Korean army.
“The Americans and South Koreans have already found four such tunnels on the border between North and South Korea and they estimate that 20 more exist,” Hecht said.
A video on You Tube shows one such tunnel, a well-built facility said to extend more than a mile into South Korea.
Hezbollah’s website, al-Manar, cited “security sources” in June stating that Hezbollah had prepared hundreds of tunnels in southern Lebanon to enable its fighters to move safely.
“The most dangerous of these tunnels,” said the article, “are those designated for infiltration.” It said that Israel used huge engineering vehicles to induce tremors that collapse some of these tunnels. “However, there remain a number of tunnels which the Israeli army has not yet succeeded in disabling.”
The fact that none have been found inside Israel, say observers, could mean that the tunnels have been dug up to, but not yet across, the border.
The Defense Ministry has recently asked Tel Aviv University geologists to help track possible tunnel activity along the border, reported Israel’s Channel 2.
http://freebeacon.com/national-security/israel-concerned-hezbollah-building-terror-tunnels/
Sunday, August 3, 2014
Logic shows fighting terror is right
Dermer on Including Hamas in Govt: Is Solution for Iraq to Include ISIS in Govt?
Israeli ambassador to the United States Ron Dermer told David Gregory on Meet the Press, “You have to fight terror. You can’t embrace terrorists. That’s unfortunately what President Abbas has done.”
When Gregory asked Dermer if there really is a military solution to the conflict with Hamas, Dermer replied, “Take the case of Iraq. Do you think the solution of Iraq is to have the Iraqi government just simply include ISIS as a member of the government? Because that’s what the Palestinian government just did.”
“We were very much opposed to it and very upset when the international community basically said, ‘hey, this is a good thing for peace,’” Dermer continued. “It’s a terrible thing for peace. The road to peace goes over Hamas, it doesn’t include Hamas.”
http://freebeacon.com/national-security/dermer-on-including-hamas-in-govt-is-solution-for-iraq-to-include-isis-in-govt/
Israeli ambassador to the United States Ron Dermer told David Gregory on Meet the Press, “You have to fight terror. You can’t embrace terrorists. That’s unfortunately what President Abbas has done.”
When Gregory asked Dermer if there really is a military solution to the conflict with Hamas, Dermer replied, “Take the case of Iraq. Do you think the solution of Iraq is to have the Iraqi government just simply include ISIS as a member of the government? Because that’s what the Palestinian government just did.”
“We were very much opposed to it and very upset when the international community basically said, ‘hey, this is a good thing for peace,’” Dermer continued. “It’s a terrible thing for peace. The road to peace goes over Hamas, it doesn’t include Hamas.”
http://freebeacon.com/national-security/dermer-on-including-hamas-in-govt-is-solution-for-iraq-to-include-isis-in-govt/
Friday, August 1, 2014
Why bring Ebola to the US ?
What crazy idiot would allow an infected Ebola patient to be brought to the US?
Homeland Security News. Why are they importing Ebola into the US?
via NBC News.
Regardless of precautions, this is patently the most idiotic move and whoever gave their approval should be hung, drawn and quartered.
Caregivers in Africa who are using all the precautions are still getting infected so obviously precautions aren't enough.
Emory University Hospital in Atlanta said Thursday it was preparing a special isolation unit to receive a patient with Ebola disease “within the next several days”.
“We do not know at this time when the patient will arrive,” Emory said in a statement. The university also did not say whether the patient was one of two Americans battling Ebola infection in Liberia – charity workers Nancy Writebol and Dr. Kent Brantly.
Regardless of precautions, this is patently the most idiotic move and whoever gave their approval should be hung, drawn and quartered.
Caregivers in Africa who are using all the precautions are still getting infected so obviously precautions aren't enough.
People Who Can Read Are “Obamacare Truthers” Now
The left has been in power so long they have completely lost both the ability to persuade people and any interest in doing so. Instead the only tools remaining in their kit are mocking and derision. So it is that we find that the left has coined a new and not very creative insult for people who believe that the Halbig plaintiffs were correct and that Obamacare, as written, confines the subsidies for the purchase of health insurance to states that have set up their own exchange. The term, of course, is “Obamacare Truther.”
I am not entirely sure what connection can be drawn between people who can read and the festering mass of people on the left who believe that 9/11 was a government conspiracy, but logical connections are not the point in this discussion. The point is to intimidate and shut down legitimate debate over what is fairly obviously a reasonable question.
The latest instance of a lefty using this derisive phrase is especially egregious since it happens to be Jonathan Cohn, who was most recently caught on tape contradicting virtually all his reporting for this entire year by saying, back in 2010, that the Halbig plaintiffs have the legislative history exactly correct. Cohn’s response to “pulling a Gruber” was essentially to “pull another Gruber” and claim that he has no idea what he was thinking at the time, he cannot possibly explain it, he must have had a speak-o, because no one actually believed the words that came out of his mouth. His concluding graf basically asks us to believe that people who have a nakedly partisan post hoc interest in lying should be believed without question:
To me, the most plausible account of what actually happened in Congress is the one that Greg Sargent pieced together the other day, complete with quotes from people who were writing what became the final bill. Those people say they always believed subsidies should go to all states, even those where the federal government runs the exchanges. White House officials and Congressional leaders have all said the same thing. I still think they are telling the truth. I still think it’s not a close call.
Pardon me for saying so, but I think they are not telling the truth, and I think it isn’t a close call. And thankfully, you don’t have to choose between partisan liberal Jonathan Cohn saying that he thinks the Democrats are telling the truth and partisan conservative Leon Wolf saying the Republicans are telling the truth.
It turns out that we have quite a bit of evidence about the behavior of Congress over the past century that we can draw from. And it turns out that attempting to force states to participate in programs they might otherwise not want to participate in by dangling money in front of them is pretty much definitively Congress’ all time favorite move. In fact, I would defy the current Halbig critics to find a single bill in the last 20 years involving the appropriation of federal money that did not contain some clause somewhere (or more likely, several clauses) giving money to the state or local governments, contingent upon their acceptance of some condition or participation in some program. As the Halbig majority noted, we don’t have too look far at all for an example of the contrary behavior, as Obamacare itself is littered with similar provisions in other parts of the bill where it is undisputed by anyone that the federal government conditioned the acceptance of funds on state participation in various programs (i.e., Medicaid expansion).
The argument that the Halbig critics are asking us to accept on faith, and contrary to their own express contemporary statements (in the case of Gruber and Cohn in particular), is that it’s unreasonable and far fetched to assume that Congress did with Obamacare what Congress always does with almost every spending bill it passes. This argument is obviously not persuasive on the merits to anyone who does not already have their partisan blinders on; accordingly those making it have no choice but to resort to insult, mockery, and begging the question.
Republicans to some degree reached this point in 2006 – we see how that worked out in the voting booth.
The post People Who Can Read Are “Obamacare Truthers” Now appeared first on RedState.
http://www.redstate.com/2014/08/01/people-can-read-obamacare-truthers-now/
I am not entirely sure what connection can be drawn between people who can read and the festering mass of people on the left who believe that 9/11 was a government conspiracy, but logical connections are not the point in this discussion. The point is to intimidate and shut down legitimate debate over what is fairly obviously a reasonable question.
The latest instance of a lefty using this derisive phrase is especially egregious since it happens to be Jonathan Cohn, who was most recently caught on tape contradicting virtually all his reporting for this entire year by saying, back in 2010, that the Halbig plaintiffs have the legislative history exactly correct. Cohn’s response to “pulling a Gruber” was essentially to “pull another Gruber” and claim that he has no idea what he was thinking at the time, he cannot possibly explain it, he must have had a speak-o, because no one actually believed the words that came out of his mouth. His concluding graf basically asks us to believe that people who have a nakedly partisan post hoc interest in lying should be believed without question:
To me, the most plausible account of what actually happened in Congress is the one that Greg Sargent pieced together the other day, complete with quotes from people who were writing what became the final bill. Those people say they always believed subsidies should go to all states, even those where the federal government runs the exchanges. White House officials and Congressional leaders have all said the same thing. I still think they are telling the truth. I still think it’s not a close call.
Pardon me for saying so, but I think they are not telling the truth, and I think it isn’t a close call. And thankfully, you don’t have to choose between partisan liberal Jonathan Cohn saying that he thinks the Democrats are telling the truth and partisan conservative Leon Wolf saying the Republicans are telling the truth.
It turns out that we have quite a bit of evidence about the behavior of Congress over the past century that we can draw from. And it turns out that attempting to force states to participate in programs they might otherwise not want to participate in by dangling money in front of them is pretty much definitively Congress’ all time favorite move. In fact, I would defy the current Halbig critics to find a single bill in the last 20 years involving the appropriation of federal money that did not contain some clause somewhere (or more likely, several clauses) giving money to the state or local governments, contingent upon their acceptance of some condition or participation in some program. As the Halbig majority noted, we don’t have too look far at all for an example of the contrary behavior, as Obamacare itself is littered with similar provisions in other parts of the bill where it is undisputed by anyone that the federal government conditioned the acceptance of funds on state participation in various programs (i.e., Medicaid expansion).
The argument that the Halbig critics are asking us to accept on faith, and contrary to their own express contemporary statements (in the case of Gruber and Cohn in particular), is that it’s unreasonable and far fetched to assume that Congress did with Obamacare what Congress always does with almost every spending bill it passes. This argument is obviously not persuasive on the merits to anyone who does not already have their partisan blinders on; accordingly those making it have no choice but to resort to insult, mockery, and begging the question.
Republicans to some degree reached this point in 2006 – we see how that worked out in the voting booth.
The post People Who Can Read Are “Obamacare Truthers” Now appeared first on RedState.
http://www.redstate.com/2014/08/01/people-can-read-obamacare-truthers-now/
Thursday, July 31, 2014
Lerner bias blatantly obvious
Media reacts to Lois Lerner’s new email: ‘Hard to argue’ no political bias there
Changing tunes.
In emails released by House investigators on Wednesday, former IRS official Lois Lerner was revealed in emails to have had a pretty negative opinion of activist conservatives – precisely the type of person who might have applied to her division for tax-exempt status for their newly formed political action committee only to encounter discrimination. How […]
Read this post »
http://hotair.com/archives/2014/07/31/media-reacts-to-lois-lerners-new-email-hard-to-argue-no-political-bias-there/
Changing tunes.
In emails released by House investigators on Wednesday, former IRS official Lois Lerner was revealed in emails to have had a pretty negative opinion of activist conservatives – precisely the type of person who might have applied to her division for tax-exempt status for their newly formed political action committee only to encounter discrimination. How […]
Read this post »
http://hotair.com/archives/2014/07/31/media-reacts-to-lois-lerners-new-email-hard-to-argue-no-political-bias-there/
Former Clinton Press Secretary Ensures Blackout of Book
Former Clinton administration press secretary Mike McCurry is quietly waging a campaign to quash coverage on a new tell-all book that exposes Bill and Hillary Clinton’s massive political empire.
McCurry has successfully blocked Politico media reporter Dylan Byers from writing about the bestselling Clinton, Inc., written by Weekly Standard editor Daniel Halper, according to emails obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.
McCurry, who spoke to Halper, now claims that he “only vaguely remembers” the interview. In the emails, McCurry tells Byers to abandon an article about the book.
McCurry is just one of several Clinton loyalists who have urged the mainstream media to boycott Clinton, Inc. and not conduct further reporting on many of the revelations contained in the book.
Byers reached out to Halper on July 25 to say that he “got a call from Mike McCurry,” who expressed anger over the book and denied being a source for it.
“I got a call from Mike McCurry who says he only vaguely remembers talking to you briefly for the book, and pretty much slams it …,” Byers wrote to Halper.
“I’m not into buying [Hillary Clinton spokesman] Nick Merrill-type quotes shitting on your book but I do think when someone you list as a source comes forward and says this, its relevant,” Byers wrote. “Would you like to comment?”
When asked by Halper if McCurry had actually read the book, Byers responded: “I’m not certain. I know he’s read the parts where his name is mentioned.”
Halper then asked Byers what specific charges by McCurry he should be responding to.
Byers explained:
A) That he hardly remembers talking to you, suggesting that reports that he cooperated with you for the book (see Lloyd Grove) are overstated
B) That you did not write the book he advised you to write, but instead wrote an attack on Clinton
C) That it’s not a book that deserves to be re-reported by other news orgs
D)
Halper addressed the charge by hinting that McCurry may now be facing backlash within the Clinton organization for opening up in the book.
“Mike is proving one of the main points of my book: If you cross Clinton, Inc., and if you’re seen as betraying the company, then you pay a price,” Halper wrote. “I’m sorry if Mike’s paying a price for talking to me. I wish him well.”
“Got it,” Byers responded.
However, Byers has yet to run a piece on McCurry’s role in Clinton, Inc.
Asked on Monday by Halper if an article had yet to be published, Byers responded: “No … not sure it will.”
McCurry is traveling and could not be reached for comment. Byers did not respond to a request for comment.
Team Clinton has long used its relationships with top reporters to suppress all negative coverage, according to Halper’s book.
“The Clintons have worked hard to build relationships with key media outlets, especially since their defeat in 2008, and have often been hugely successful,” Halper writes in Clinton, Inc.
“George Stephanopoulos, who has been known to hold daily calls with Clinton aides, is stationed at ABC, where Donna Brazile is now a regular. (While Stephanopoulos has been ostracized, and his relationship with the Clintons is complicated, recent appearances by President Clinton on the show indicate a kind of cooling.)
“Virginia Moseley, whose husband (Tom Nides) was a top State Department official under Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, is at CNN, where Paul Begala seems to be back,” Halper continues. “At Fox, there’s Doug Schoen and James Carville, who just signed on as a contributor. And of course Chelsea’s still under contract at NBC.”
Halper concludes: “Practically all big network and cable television stations have Clinton cronies waiting in the wings. That doesn’t mean the channels will never air a negative Clinton story—but it does suggest that there will be a higher bar to air hurtful segments about Hillary Clinton than for probably any other potential candidate in the next race.”
Clinton spokesman Merrill has publicly issued a decree for reporters to not mention Halper’s book, as well as others that reflect poorly on the Clintons, particularly Hillary.
Writers should not be “allowed” to pen books that portray the Clintons in a less than favorable light, Merrill told the Washington Examiner last week.
A peculiar early leak of Halper’s book also points to efforts by Clinton loyalists to derail any negative coverage.
An entire PDF of Halper’s 317-page book was leaked to reporters well before the official release, prompting speculation that the “strange leak,” as the Daily Beast put it, was an attempt to muddle publisher HarperCollins’ press strategy.
http://freebeacon.com/politics/former-clinton-press-secretary-ensures-blackout-of-book/
McCurry has successfully blocked Politico media reporter Dylan Byers from writing about the bestselling Clinton, Inc., written by Weekly Standard editor Daniel Halper, according to emails obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.
McCurry, who spoke to Halper, now claims that he “only vaguely remembers” the interview. In the emails, McCurry tells Byers to abandon an article about the book.
McCurry is just one of several Clinton loyalists who have urged the mainstream media to boycott Clinton, Inc. and not conduct further reporting on many of the revelations contained in the book.
Byers reached out to Halper on July 25 to say that he “got a call from Mike McCurry,” who expressed anger over the book and denied being a source for it.
“I got a call from Mike McCurry who says he only vaguely remembers talking to you briefly for the book, and pretty much slams it …,” Byers wrote to Halper.
“I’m not into buying [Hillary Clinton spokesman] Nick Merrill-type quotes shitting on your book but I do think when someone you list as a source comes forward and says this, its relevant,” Byers wrote. “Would you like to comment?”
When asked by Halper if McCurry had actually read the book, Byers responded: “I’m not certain. I know he’s read the parts where his name is mentioned.”
Halper then asked Byers what specific charges by McCurry he should be responding to.
Byers explained:
A) That he hardly remembers talking to you, suggesting that reports that he cooperated with you for the book (see Lloyd Grove) are overstated
B) That you did not write the book he advised you to write, but instead wrote an attack on Clinton
C) That it’s not a book that deserves to be re-reported by other news orgs
D)
Halper addressed the charge by hinting that McCurry may now be facing backlash within the Clinton organization for opening up in the book.
“Mike is proving one of the main points of my book: If you cross Clinton, Inc., and if you’re seen as betraying the company, then you pay a price,” Halper wrote. “I’m sorry if Mike’s paying a price for talking to me. I wish him well.”
“Got it,” Byers responded.
However, Byers has yet to run a piece on McCurry’s role in Clinton, Inc.
Asked on Monday by Halper if an article had yet to be published, Byers responded: “No … not sure it will.”
McCurry is traveling and could not be reached for comment. Byers did not respond to a request for comment.
Team Clinton has long used its relationships with top reporters to suppress all negative coverage, according to Halper’s book.
“The Clintons have worked hard to build relationships with key media outlets, especially since their defeat in 2008, and have often been hugely successful,” Halper writes in Clinton, Inc.
“George Stephanopoulos, who has been known to hold daily calls with Clinton aides, is stationed at ABC, where Donna Brazile is now a regular. (While Stephanopoulos has been ostracized, and his relationship with the Clintons is complicated, recent appearances by President Clinton on the show indicate a kind of cooling.)
“Virginia Moseley, whose husband (Tom Nides) was a top State Department official under Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, is at CNN, where Paul Begala seems to be back,” Halper continues. “At Fox, there’s Doug Schoen and James Carville, who just signed on as a contributor. And of course Chelsea’s still under contract at NBC.”
Halper concludes: “Practically all big network and cable television stations have Clinton cronies waiting in the wings. That doesn’t mean the channels will never air a negative Clinton story—but it does suggest that there will be a higher bar to air hurtful segments about Hillary Clinton than for probably any other potential candidate in the next race.”
Clinton spokesman Merrill has publicly issued a decree for reporters to not mention Halper’s book, as well as others that reflect poorly on the Clintons, particularly Hillary.
Writers should not be “allowed” to pen books that portray the Clintons in a less than favorable light, Merrill told the Washington Examiner last week.
A peculiar early leak of Halper’s book also points to efforts by Clinton loyalists to derail any negative coverage.
An entire PDF of Halper’s 317-page book was leaked to reporters well before the official release, prompting speculation that the “strange leak,” as the Daily Beast put it, was an attempt to muddle publisher HarperCollins’ press strategy.
http://freebeacon.com/politics/former-clinton-press-secretary-ensures-blackout-of-book/
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