As Dems Are Fond Of Saying, “A Fish Rots From The Head Down”
[WesternJouralism.com]
Perhaps nothing I’ve written about since starting with CIR quite has moved me, upset me, or disturbed me as much as the pitiful plight of 89 year old Warren Bodeker, the World War II veteran thrown out of his home. As I write this follow-up story, his legal defense fund has reached $20,500 (as of June 26), a fund being offered by Oath Keepers who stress every dime collected goes straight to him.
When I called Democrat Senator Max Baucus’ office, his spokeswoman told me that while they’ve gotten many calls about this case, she wasn’t sure they could do anything, because “It’s not in our jurisdiction.” Democrat Senator Jon Tester’s office wanted to read my post but never answered me after I sent it. I called the Ninth Circuit Clerk in Missoula, Montana trying to find out if Honorable Judge Ralph Kirscher will be attending the opulent Ninth Circuit convention in Maui in August. The tone in his voice was similar to those how dare you ask responses a reporter gets used to hearing.
Napolitano: Terrorists Enter U.S. from Mexico ‘From Time to Time’
[CNSNews.com]
By Edwin Mora
July 30, 2012
Subscribe to Edwin Mora’s posts
(CNSNews.com)– Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told Congress last week that terrorists intending to harm the American people enter the U.S. from Mexico “from time to time.”
At a July 25 hearing of the House Homeland Security Committee, Rep. Ron Barber (D-Ariz.) asked Napolitano: “As you know, Madam Secretary, there have been anecdotal reports about material evidence of the presence of terrorists along our southern border. My question is, is there any credible evidence that these reports are accurate and that terrorists are, in fact, crossing our southern border with the intent to do harm to the American people?”
Napolitano answered: “With respect, there have been–and the Ababziar matter would be one I would refer to that’s currently being adjudicated in the criminal courts–from time to time, and we are constantly working against different and evolving threats involving various terrorist groups and various ways they may seek to enter the country.”
“What I can tell you, however, is that that southern border–the U.S.-Mexico border–is heavily, heavily staffed at record amounts of manpower, materiel, infrastructure and the like, and we are constantly making sure we’re doing all we can to make that border as safe as possible,” she said.
An August 2009 audit by the Government Accountability Office that focused on Customs and Border Protection (CBP) checkpoints said that in fiscal 2008 CBP reported “there were three individuals encountered by the Border Patrol at southwest border checkpoints who were identified as persons linked to terrorism.”
In April 2010, CNSNews.com reported that FBI Director Robert Mueller told the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, “In Detroit, Mahmoud Youssef Kourani was indicted in the Eastern District of Michigan on one count of conspiracy to provide material support to Hezbollah. … Kourani was already in custody for entering the country illegally through Mexico and was involved in fundraising activities on behalf of Hezbollah.”
Five years ago, in an August 2007 interview with the El Paso Times, then-Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell echoed what Napolitano told Congress last week about terrorist coming into the U.S. across the Mexican border.
“So, are terrorists coming across the Southwest border?” McConnell said in that interview. “Not in great numbers.”
“There are some cases?” asked the El Paso Times.
“There are some. And would they use it as a path, given it was available to them? In time they will,” said McConnell.
“If they’re successful at it, then they’ll probably repeat it,” asked the reporter.
“Sure,” said McConnell. “There were a significant number of Iraqis who came across last year. Smuggled across illegally.”
“Where was that?” asked the reporter.
“Across the Southwest border,” said McConnell.
This week in Congress: Tax battles, Iran sanctions, GSA scandal
[HumanEvents.com]
By: Hope Hodge
7/29/2012 10:25 AM
In August, Congress will still be locked in a partisan showdown on whether to renew Bush-era tax rates for all Americans, or just some of them.
The Senate last week passed Democratic tax legislation that conformed to President Barack Obama’s plan to extend the rates to only Americans making $250,000 or less per year; now the Republican-controlled House will have a chance to vote the bill down. Meanwhile, a House vote also is expected on its version of the extension, which continues the tax cuts for all income brackets.
Legislators also are hoping to finalize a new round of Iran sanctions that meets the approval of both houses. The sanctions legislation passed months ago in the House and Senate, but some are concerned that trade loopholes authorized by the Obama administration could keep the final package from winning House support.
Chick-fil-A spokesman dies amid furor over same-sex marriage
[USAToday.com]
July 27, 2012
The chief spokesman for Chick-fil A died early today amid the furor sparked by his boss’ biblical opposition to same-sex marriage.
The Georgia-based fast-food giant did not cite a cause of death for 60-year-old Don Perry, vice president of public relations, but local news reports said he died of a heart attack, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution says. He had worked for the fast-food giant for 29 years.
“Don was a member of our Chick-fil-A family for nearly 29 years,” the company said in a statement. “For many of you in the media, he was the spokesperson for Chick-fil-A. He was a well-respected and well-liked media executive in the Atlanta and University of Georgia communities, and we will all miss him. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family.”
When a Leftist Calls You a Racist There Is Only One Way to Respond – “Thank You” [Reader Post]
For too many years the left has used the charge of racism to put opponents on the defensive and deflect from serious debate on the issues. This practice also gets used across the spectrum of demagoguery. Are you against laws that lead to grammar school children being taught about gay marriage or religious adoption agencies being forced to close because they won’t place children with gay couples? You’re homophobic. Are you against laws that support federally funded abortions for 13 year old girls without parental notification? Sexist. Suggest that a presidential candidate who happens to be black with no meaningful life experience or any demonstration of leadership ability might be right for the job because he’s inexperienced and unqualified? Racist. You get the idea.
What? ABC Indignantly Chides Romney’s U.K. Trip: Advisers Question President’s ‘Heritage’
[Newsbuster.org]
By Scott Whitlock | July 26, 2012
ABC kicked off Mitt Romney’s visit to London, Thursday, by hyping “controversial” comments from the candidate’s advisers. A Good Morning America graphic adopted the worst possible interpretation for remarks by anonymous Romney aides that the President doesn’t respect the “Anglo-Saxon heritage.” The network graphic blasted, “Romney Takes London: Advisor Quote Questions Obama Heritage.”
Saying that Romney aides “questioned Obama’s heritage” hints at birtherism or other charges that the operatives clearly did not make. Reporter David Muir included the quote from one adviser who suggested that the White House “doesn’t fully appreciate the shared history” Britain and America have. Other remarks, not mentioned by Muir, include attacking Obama as a “left-winger” and promising to return the bust of Winston Churchill. How, exactly, do these comments question Obama’s heritage?
Parroting the Democratic line, Muir quoted a tweet by David Axelrod: “Mitt’s trip off to flying start, even before he lands, with stunningly offensive quotes from his team in British press.”
Perhaps trying to lower Romney in comparison to Obama, Muir reminded viewers of the Democrat’s 2008 tour of Europe: “A trip that will inevitably be compared to then-candidate Barack Obama’s overseas trip four years ago. A thick crowd of two hundred thousand in Berlin.”
Muir has a pattern with this. On July 1, he hyped Obama’s Bain attacks, insisting that the Republican “can’t escape” attack ads.
Supporters vow to keep cross in California veterans tribute despite court ruling
[FoxNews.com]
By Shannon Bream
Published July 25, 2012
Because it sits on public property, critics have long argued that the cross at the Mount Soledad Veterans Memoria in La Jolla, Calif., is an unconstitutional entanglement of government and religion. (AP File)
For decades, there has been a First Amendment battle raging over the Mount Soledad Veterans Memorial in La Jolla, Calif., where a large cross anchors a tribute to Korean War veterans.
Because it sits on public property, the American Civil Liberties Union has long argued that the cross amounts to an unconstitutional entanglement of government and religion.
Aurora, CO: Movie massacre suspect sent chilling notebook to psychiatrist before attack
[FoxNews.com]
By Jana Winter
Published July 25, 2012
.Police and FBI agents were called to the University of Colorado Anschutz medical campus in Aurora on Monday morning after the psychiatrist, who is also a professor at the school, reported receiving a package believed to be from the suspect. Although that package turned out to be from someone else and harmless, a search of the Campus Services’ mailroom turned up another package sent to the psychiatrist with Holmes’ name in the return address, the source told FoxNews.com.
NBC Desperately Scrambles to Claim Romney Told Olympians ‘You Didn’t Build That’
[Newsbusters.org]
By Kyle Drennen| July 24, 2012 | 13:34
In an article for NBCNews.com’s First Read on Monday, Domenico Montanaro eagerly proclaimed to readers: “Mitt Romney has criticized President Obama for his ‘you didn’t build that’ line, when it came to businesses….But in 2002, during his speech at the Opening Ceremonies at the Winter Olympics….Romney made a similar argument about Olympians.”
Romney simply told the Olympic athletes – many in their teens and twenties – that they achieved their individual success with help of parents, coaches, and their local communities. However, by Monday night, The Washington Post’s Ezra Klein, filling in for MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, wildly misconstrued the comment to slam Romney: “Got that, Olympians? You didn’t build it….It’s like David Axelrod went back in time and put the precise words he needed into Mitt Romney’s mouth.”
An update to the First Read article added: “A Republican strategist sends over this response: ‘The Obama Campaign is comparing the government to a loving parent? What happened to Julia?’” Montanaro felt compelled to clarify: “For the record, the post did not originate with the Obama campaign but an NBC archive search.” Based on Klein’s reaction to the Romney hit piece, is there any difference between NBC News and the Obama campaign?
Norquist: A Vote for Obama is a Vote for $500 B Tax Increase
[Newsmax.com]
Monday, 23 Jul 2012 07:37 PM
Americans for Tax Reform head Grover Norquist fired back against criticism that his anti-tax pledge is getting in the way of a tax compromise by Congress, arguing in an exclusive interview with Newsmax.TV that his pledge makes possible real tax reform and that contained in any compromise is a hidden tax increase.
Norquist’s group organizes the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, which asks all candidates for federal and state office to commit themselves in writing to oppose all tax increases. The pledge, which Norquist says he dreamed up when he was 12 years old, was endorsed by Ronald Reagan upon its inception in 1986, and has been signed by more than 1,100 state office holders as well as 238 current House members and 41 current Senators.
Norquist has come under fire from the first President George Bush and others about the rigidity of the pledge and Senate Democrats believe they have come up with a plan to get around the anti-tax pledge by letting all tax cuts lapse Jan. 1 and then reinstating most of them days later, an idea which Norquist has said “doesn’t pass the laugh test.”
The plan shows efforts by lawmakers to include new federal revenues in an attempt to avoid the “fiscal cliff” in January. All Bush-era tax cuts expire at that time and automatic spending cuts to the military kick in.
Norquist told Newsmax.TV in an exclusive interview that the pledge “stops a tax increase, so if somebody tells you the pledge is getting in the way of getting something done what they mean is it’s getting in the way of a tax increase.”
House GOP questions legal grounds for changes to welfare work requirements
[FoxNews.com]
Published July 23, 2012
House Republicans said Monday they were “disappointed” with the Obama administration’s plan to waive mandatory work requirements for welfare and questioned the legal grounds being used to make such changes.
“We are disappointed to see that the administration through this action and others seems intent not on helping to get Americans back to work,” said the letter signed by 76 House Republicans.
The one-page letter to Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius also states the administration is instead intent upon increasing Americans’ reliance on welfare and other government programs.
The work requirements in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families legislation were signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1996.
The letter points out the addition of the work requirement had bipartisan support in Congress and that President Clinton upon signing them said the act “honors my basic principles or real welfare reform.”
Police describe Colorado shooting as ‘calculated and deliberate,’ say it may have been planned for months
[FoxNews.com]
By Jana Winter
Published July 22, 2012
AURORA, Colo. – Police say they believe the suspect in a deadly shooting at a Colorado movie theater planned the attack with “calculation and deliberation,” as they removed all explosives from his booby trapped apartment.
The suspect, James Holmes, is accused of going on a shooting rampage at the movie theater during Friday’s midnight showing of “The Dark Knight Rises,” killing 12 people dead and injuring 58. He was packing as many as 6,000 rounds of ammunition with the ability to shoot up to 50 a minute, police said.
Fox News has learned a possible second person of interest in the case is also being investigated, though sources caution authorities are not yet sure if the individual is necessarily tied to the crime.
In a statement to Fox News early Sunday, the Aurora Police Department confirmed an “associate” of Holmes had been interviewed in relation to the case, but at this time they do not believe he was involved.
The person who owns the home where the reported person of interest lives tells FoxNews.com investigators are looking for his tenant because they have interviewed all students from Holmes’s program and his tenant is the only one who they haven’t been able to reach. However, the landlord said he believes the tenant has been in Korea for “weeks.”
Why is Barack Obama Afraid to Release His College Records? posted on July 21, 2012 by da Tagliare
[GodfatherPolitics.com]
July 21, 2012
In the world of political hypocrisy, Barack Obama and other Democrats have been attacking Mitt Romney for not releasing more of his federal income tax returns than he has. Ironically, both Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, who have been quite vocal on the topic, refuse to release any of their tax returns.
Coming to Romney’s defense, Donald Trump is advocating that Romney and the rest of the GOP should demand to see Obama’s records before Romney should release any more of his. Trump is not referring to Obama’s tax returns but to his birth and college records.
Trump’s comments were made earlier this week after the revealing press conference with Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Mike Zullo, the lead investigator for the Cold Case Posse investigation into Obama’s birth certificate. On Tuesday, Arpaio and Zullo released additional information that seems to clearly prove that the birth certificate presented by the White House for Barack Obama was a forgery and that the act of presenting it constitutes fraud.
In response to the press conference, Trump told Sean Hannity that:
“The fact is Sheriff Arpaio is, in my opinion, correct. Nobody was ever in the hospital by the name of his mother … and a lot of crazy things.”
“If that were a conservative, let’s say a George Bush or somebody, he would have been out of office already.”
“Nobody has more sealed records than this president. So many of his applications … are sealed. He spent $3 million to keep everything sealed. You can’t find out anything about his college. I’m not talking about his marks. I’m talking about his application. It would be so interesting to see.”
Obama, Romney Unite to Comfort Massacre Victims’ Loved Ones
[Newsmax.com]
Friday, 20 Jul 2012 04:17 PM
President Barack Obama and his presidential rival Mitt Romney both suspended their campaigns on Friday in the wake of the shooting at a Colorado theater that left 12 dead and up to 70 injured. They both spoke about the tragedy. 
This is what they said:
President Obama speaking in Fort Myers, Fla.:
“Let me, first of all, say how grateful I am for all of you being here and how much we appreciate everything that you’ve done. I know that they’re a lot of people here who have been so engaged in the campaign, have sacrificed so much, people who have been involved back since 2007. And so I want all of you to know how appreciative I am.
“And I know many of you came here today for a campaign event. I was looking forward to having a fun conversation with you about some really important matters that we face as a country and the difference between myself and my opponent in this election.
“But, this morning, we woke up to news of a tragedy that reminds us of all the ways that we are united as one American family. By now, many of you know, many of you have heard that few miles outside of Denver, in a town called Aurora, at least 12 people were killed when a gunman opened fire in a movie theater. And dozens more are being treated for injuries at a local hospital. Some of the victims are being treated at a children’s hospital.
TSA Let 25 Illegal Aliens Attend Flight School Owned by Illegal Alien
[CNSNews.com]
ARE WE IN FOR ANOTHER 9/11 STYLE ATTACK?
(AP Photo)
(CNSNews.com) – The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) approved flight training for 25 illegal aliens at a Boston-area flight school that was owned by yet another illegal alien, according to the Government Accountability Office.
The illegal-alien flight-school attendees included eight who had entered the country illegally and 17 who had overstayed their allowed period of admission into the United States, according to an audit by the GAO.
Six of the illegal aliens were actually able to get pilot’s licenses.
Discovery of the trouble at the flight school began when local police–not federal authorities–pulled over the owner of the school on a traffic violation and were able to determine that he was an illegal alien.
(more…)
‘We Don’t Have Capitalism’: Glenn Beck, Richard Duncan and Art Laffer Break Down The Economic Crisis
[TheBlaze.com]
- Posted on July 17, 2012 at 9:28pm by
Mytheos Holt
Glenn Beck hosted an unusual show on Tuesday night, devoting large segments of the program not to personal sermonizing, but instead to hearing from two different experts with very different takes on the economy. Those two experts were economists Art Laffer and Richard Duncan, who managed to both take a very pessimistic view of where the economy currently is, while also offering diametrically opposed suggestions for how to improve it.
Broadly speaking, Duncan approached the issue from the Left, while Laffer approached it from the Right. However, those two descriptions don’t actually do the full clash of ideologies justice. Duncan argued that the choice of options for the United States government was threefold, and that policymakers could either 1) Revert to a balanced budget, which would contract the economy all the way into a depression, 2) Keep spending at the current rates and go bankrupt and hit a recession in 5-10 years, or 3) Keep spending at current rates, but use the money to invest in up-and-coming technology, rather than to pay off cronies or create shovel-ready jobs. Duncan favored the third approach, as you’ll see in the following video:
{http://web.gbtv.com/media/video.jsp?content_id=23101059&source=GBTV}
TSA hasn’t yet complied with order to start public discussion on body scanners
[DailyCaller.com]
July 17, 2012
It’s been one year since a federal court ordered the Transportation Security Administration to open up its new body scanner system to a process that includes taking comments from the public and justifying the policy, yet the TSA has not yet followed through with the order yet.
Because the agency hasn’t complied, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) organization plans to file a motion with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on Tuesday to ask the court to enforce it.
Ginger McCall, a director at EPIC, confirmed to The Daily Caller on Monday that the group is planning to file the motion Tuesday about the failure of TSA to comply with the court’s notice-and-comment rulemaking order.
(more…)
Feds Expand Access to Immigration Database for States’ Voter Purges
[FoxNews.com]
Associated Press
Published: July 16, 2012
OLYMPIA, Wash. – The federal government is expanding access to an immigration database so that several states can use it to cleanse voter rolls, officials said Monday.
Homeland Security Department representatives first notified Florida officials last week that they could check to see if registered voters are actually noncitizens who should not be eligible to cast a ballot. State officials said Monday that the department is now offering similar access to other states who had been requesting the information.
“I’m pleased that DHS has agreed to work with states to verify the citizenship of people on the voter rolls and help reduce our vulnerability,” said Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler, who had renewed his request for the data last week, writing a letter with the support of several other states.
Elections leaders in Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, New Mexico, Ohio and Utah had signed onto Gessler’s request. Five of the states — Colorado, Iowa, Michigan, New Mexico and Ohio — are expected to be competitive in the 2012 presidential race. Each of the election chiefs in those states are Republican.
HSBC Aided Money-Laundering by Iran, Drug Cartels, Probe Shows
[Newsmax.com]
Monday, 16 Jul 2012 05:56 PM
HSBC Holdings Plc did business with firms linked to terrorism, let money-laundering safeguards in its Mexico operations erode, and circumvented U.S. sanctions against Iran, according to U.S. Senate investigators.
The Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations released a 335-page report today detailing a decade of lax controls that allowed HSBC, Europe’s largest bank, and its affiliates around the world to give terrorists, drug cartels, and other criminals a portal into the U.S. financial system. Lawmakers plan to question senior executives from Europe’s largest bank at a hearing in Washington tomorrow.
“HSBC used its U.S. bank as a gateway into the U.S. financial system for some HSBC affiliates around the world to provide U.S. dollar services to clients while playing fast and loose with U.S. banking rules,” said Sen. Carl Levin, the Michigan Democrat who heads the subcommittee. “The failure of accountability here is dramatic.”
Our Disgraceful President
[Townhall.com]
Jul 15, 2012
Warren G. Harding was corrupt, as was Richard M. Nixon. Bill Clinton and John F. Kennedy were like blind golfers, looking for a hole, any hole, every hole. Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt were power-mad narcissists convinced they knew best how everyone else should live. Jimmy Carter was clueless. But as we approach the 100-year anniversary of the first of these men to serve as president, all have been lapped in debasing their office by its current occupant: Barack Obama.
It is understandable President Obama would not want to run on his record. Who would? “Give me four more years so I can make up for the first four” is not the stuff of campaign slogan greatness.
But even that wouldn’t work because, as he told CBS News this week, “The mistake of my first term – couple of years – was thinking this job was just about getting the policy right. And that’s important. But the nature of this office is also to tell a story to the American people that gives them a sense of unity and purpose and optimism, especially during tough times.” In other words, his only flaw is he’s too damn close to perfect.
It’s like someone bragging about being the most humble person on the planet.
Oh my: Ted Cruz now leads Dewhurst by five points in Texas senate primary
[HotAir.com]
posted at 6:21 pm on July 12, 2012 by Allahpundit
The campaigns’ internal polls are, unsurprisingly, contradictory. Dewhurst’s has him up eight points, Cruz’s has him up nine. We need an impartial pollster (impartial as regards this race, at least) to settle this.
This race is one of the most stark examples of the Tea Party movement propelling a candidate that we’ve seen to date. 40% of voters identify themselves as members of that movement and Cruz has a 71-26 advantage with them. Dewhurst leads 57-34 with non-Tea Partiers, and they are 50% of the electorate, but it’s not nearly enough to drown out Cruz’s advantage with that group.
Texas is also an exceptionally rare state where Hispanic voters might be the difference maker in a Republican primary. Cruz has a 78-19 advantage with them…
The large name recognition advantage Dewhurst has enjoyed throughout the campaign has pretty much disappeared. 85% of runoff voters have an opinion about him, and Cruz is not far behind at 81%. We frequently found in our earlier polling that Cruz was winning with voters who knew him, but that he was losing overall because of the name recognition gap. That’s not a problem anymore. Cruz’s net favorability of +31 (56/25) is better than Dewhurst’s +19 (52/33). Since our final pre primary poll Cruz’s net fav has improved by 25 points, while Dewhurst’s has declined by 17.
‘Blowing Smoke’: Team Obama‘s ’Felon’ Charge Gets Debunked by the Washington Post
[FloppingAces.net]
By: Curt | July 13, 2012
It’s confirmed: the Obama campaign enjoys being publicly ridiculed by the Washington Post’s (WaPo) Fact Checker for its over-the-top dishonesty.
Seriously, this is the only explanation we can come up with for why Team Obamakeeps makingthese patently false and easily refuted claims. And they’re not little fibs either! They’re great big honkin’ lies like “Hey, you know, Romney could be a felon.”
Anyway, it might be safe to assume at this point that the relationship between the Obama campaign and the Fact Checker is, um, strained (to say the least).
This time around, the WaPo’s Glenn Kessler evaluates Team Obama’s aforementioned “Romney is a felon” charge (which we discussed at great length yesterday on The Blaze) and, as it turns out, the Obama campaign has really blown it on this one.
Here’s the claim from Obama campaign counsel member Robert Bauer:
Romney and Bain claim that he was not involved with Bain, but Bain and its portfolio companies in their required filings under the Securities Exchange Act continuously certified to the Securities and Exchange Commission say precisely the opposite — asserting without qualification that he was a controlling person, fully in charge of Bain, under the Federal securities law.
Under normal circumstances, the question of the truth of this representation would result in an investigation by the SEC into possible criminal, as well as civil, violations of the law.
House GOP poised to hold vote on repeal of ObamaCare after Supreme Court ruling [30th Time!]
[FoxNews.com]
Published July 10, 2012
House Republican leaders are forging ahead with plans to hold a vote Wednesday on a full repeal of President Obama’s health care law, after launching debate on the repeal measure Tuesday nearly two weeks after the Supreme Court upheld most of the law as constitutional.
Wednesday will mark the chamber’s second vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act in full, though this attempt is being given no greater chance of passing the Democratic-controlled Senate. Obama has vowed to veto any such measure, were it to reach his desk.
House Republicans have held 29 other votes aiming to gut specific parts of the law since 2011.
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