Saturday, April 27, 2013

Slideshow: Best and Worst of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner

Arianna Huffington



Elle Macpherson



Click here - NY Mag

Politico home page becomes living self-parody of self-absorbed media - Le-gal In-sur-rec-tion
All the Dumb Questions Politico Writers Are Asking Celebrities (at the #WHCD) - Gawker
OBAMA CALLS MICHELLE BACHMANN A BOOK-BURNER - Breitbart

Sen Mitch McConnell Responds to Obama joke - Viral Read

When asked about President Obama’s joke Sen. Mitch McConnell said, “I’m shocked. He’s obviously not seeing my soft side”

A little while later on Twitter, Team Mitch posted this pic:


Obama’s National-Security Fraud - Boston paid a terrible price for his refusal to combat terror

The administration’s Boston explanations don’t add up. - Andrew C. McCarthy/National Review

Strange, isn’t it? We are governed by leftists given to finger-wagging about their commitment to due process and the rule of law — they’re not like those bad old warmongering Bushies. Still, here we are in the post-arrest phase of the civilian prosecution the administration was hell-bent on commencing — the phase when due process obliges government officials to remain mum about non-public investigative information that could taint the jury pool and undermine the defendant’s right to a fair trial — and we’re being inundated with stunning confession evidence.

Remember, this is the same crowd that labels the Fort Hood massacre “workplace violence” and won’t honor its victims with Purple Heart medals. To do so, they sniff, might prejudice the objectivity of the trial of a jihadist mass murderer who has publicly announced he’d like to plead guilty. Now, though, in Tsarnaev’s case, government agencies are leaking like sieves.

Why?

Because you are being softened up. Steered by its Gitmo Bar veterans and Lawyer Left compass, the Obama administration is executing a massive national-security fraud: the farce that the jihad against America can be judicialized, that civilian-court processes are a better answer to enemy warfare than are combat protocols.

That is why Eric Holder’s Justice Department, together with the FBI, darted into federal court in Boston last Sunday evening to file the complaint against Tsarnaev. Obama was determined to end the public debate over whether the jihadist is a wartime enemy combatant or a mere criminal defendant. As in the case of Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, Osama bin Laden’s son-in-law and al-Qaeda’s alleged “consigliere,” who was whisked into the country and into civilian court before anyone even realized he’d been captured, the administration calculated that a fait accompli is the best way to impose the president’s deeply unpopular preferences....

Obama administration is executing a massive national-security fraud. - Discussion at Lucianne

TSARNAEV WARNING CAME AS BRENNAN PURGED MATERIAL 'OFFENSIVE' TO MUSLIMS - Kerry Picket. Breitbart

Although law enforcement was lauded for quickly identifying and neutralizing both suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing last weekend, the FBI has much explaining to do over why now-deceased Tamerlan Tsarnaev, one of the suspects, managed to slip through the FBI’s fingers after two warnings from Russian intelligence two years ago that Tsarnaev was tied to “radical Islam.”

Of particular concern is that around the same time the FBI was informed about Tsarnaev, the Obama administration’s policies handling terrorism relating in any way to Islamic extremists changed.

PJ Media’s Patrick Poole noted in May, 2012 that the FBI training manual's counter-terrorism lexicon made no mention of terrorism in regards to al Qaeda, Hamas, jihad, Islam, or the Muslim Brotherhood.

“The fact is religion has been expunged from counterterrorism training,” said counterterrorism specialist with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies Sebastian Gorka to the Washington Times. He added, “The FBI can’t talk about Islam and they can’t talk about jihad.”

Obama’s 9/11: Boston paid a terrible price for his refusal to combat terror - Jeffrey T. Kuhner/The Washington Times

President Obama must be held accountable for the Boston bombings. Instead, Mr. Obama and his media allies are desperately trying to deflect blame for the horrendous atrocity. Yet the fact remains that the bombings were the most devastating terrorist attack on U.S. soil since Sept. 11, 2001. Mr. Obama’s job — his No. 1 priority as commander in chief — is to keep Americans safe. He failed — dismally. No amount of spin or dissembling can change this.

The liberal elite is portraying the bombing suspects, Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, as “lone-wolf” terrorists, whose motives were allegedly unknown. The very same people, such as MSNBC, CNN and David Axelrod, the president’s 2012 campaign adviser, who hinted at a possible tea party connection after the marathon massacre, now claim that the Tsarnaev brothers’ motivations are irrelevant.

The reason is obvious: To admit the truth would damage Mr. Obama’s presidency. Militant Islamism drove the brothers. Their plot was part of the global jihad against America and the West. As the brothers collected government benefits — welfare, food stamps, college aid, unemployment insurance and public housing subsidies — they plotted to kill Americans. They also attended a local Cambridge mosque, which has attracted numerous terrorists over the years. They used America’s generosity to help perpetrate Islamist terror.

U.S. intelligence agencies failed to prevent it. The Russian government tipped off the FBI that Tamerlan was a likely jihadist with ties to terrorist groups in Chechnya....

Under Mr. Obama’s watch, Islamic terrorists have targeted the United States repeatedly — the underwear bomber, the Fort Hood shooting, the killing of an Army recruiter in Arkansas, the consulate in Benghazi and now Boston. The president has been unable — even unwilling — to keep us safe. The reason is simple: He refuses to acknowledge that we are in a war with radical Islam. The Boston bombings were not the acts of criminals. They were an act of war against Americans. The commander in chief has the duty to not only defend America, but to identity and denounce the enemy. In short, he must fight back.

The Boston massacre was a defining moment. It exposed Mr. Obama’s narcissistic and reckless approach to combating terror. There can be no illusions any longer — we are in a clash of civilizations between radical Islam and the West.

California Bill allows immigrants illegals to serve on juries

On party-line vote, measure passes Assembly and goes to Senate - Santa Rosa Press Democrat

The California Assembly passed a bill on Thursday that would make the state the first in the nation to allow non-citizens who are in the country legally to serve on jury duty.

Assemblyman Bob Wieckowski, D-Fremont, said his bill, AB1401, would help California widen the pool of prospective jurors and help integrate immigrants into the community.

It does not change other criteria for being eligible to serve on a jury, such as being at least 18, living in the county that is making the summons, and being proficient in English.

The bill passed 45-25 largely on a partyline vote in the Democratic-controlled Assembly and will move on to the Senate. One Democrat — Assemblyman Adam Gray, of Merced — voted no, while some other Democrats did not vote.

Democratic lawmakers who voted for the bill said there is no correlation between being a citizen and a juror...

The judicial branch has not taken a position on AB 1401.

The Media After Gosnell

Now it's time for journalists report on the “meat-market style” abortions at a Delaware clinic. - John Fund/National Review

If there were an award for Most Constructive Shaming of the News Media, the clear winner would be Kirsten Powers, the brave Fox News pundit and Daily Beast columnist. ...(S)he called out the mainstream media for failing to adequately report on the ongoing trial of Dr. Kermit Gosnell, the Philadelphia abortionist who is charged with murdering seven newborn infants and a patient seeking an abortion. Powers’s USA Today piece provoked an instant response from many sheepish journalists.

Megan McArdle of the Daily Beast acknowledged she “should have” written about the “horror Doc’s” clinic. The Washington Post made the stunning admission that “we should have sent a reporter sooner.” Dylan Beers, Politico’s media reporter, flatly stated that “Gosnell should be front-page, top-of-the-hour news by primetime tonight.” Jeffrey Goldberg concluded, “It’s remarkable that it took this long.”

Indeed, the silence had been stunning since the Gosnell trial began back on March 18. No mention of the story at all on ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, NPR, or MSNBC, and no front-page stories in any major paper. National Review, the Weekly Standard, Breitbart.com, and Michelle Malkin, on the other hand, provided early and consistent coverage. J. D. Mullane, the columnist for the Bucks County Courier Times who has been a tiger on the story, reported last week what he found in the courtroom: In the entire 40-seat section reserved for the media, he was the only one present. A couple of local journos were scattered elsewhere around the courtroom.

The lack of interest is striking in an era when “if it bleeds it leads” thinking pervades the media.

...Read the rest, at the link. And, watch for details about Humboldt GOP's upcoming 'Sizzling Summer Dinner & Auction' in June, where John Fund will be our keynote speaker.

Shocker: No One Wants to Buy Student Loan-backed Securities

Worried by reports of rising defaults, investors turned up their noses at a new $225 million bond issue by Sallie Mae, the federal agency that packages individual student loans into large securities. The loan company canceled the offering after two weeks on the market. - The American Interest

Investors Say No to Sallie Mae Bond Deal - Wall St. Journal

Securities backed by student loans have become popular for the extra yield they provide over safer debt, despite a significant rise in defaults on such loans. Overall, the portion of student borrowers who are late on their debt payments by 90 days or more climbed to 31% in 2012, from 24% in 2008, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said in a recent report.

In the case of the canceled Sallie Mae offering, rising defaults could have crimped the cash flow of the federally backed loans supporting the new securities, because more defaults would mean less excess, or residual, income after holders of the original loans were paid.

Two Democratic political operatives have been convicted for a scheme that involved forging petitions to get Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton on the 2008 primary ballot in Indiana.

Convicted Thursday on felony conspiracy charges related to the scheme, Butch Morgan Jr. directed Democratic officials to forge the petitions, which are required for candidates on the ballot. The second man, Dustin Blythe, was also convicted on felony forgery charges - Washington Free Beacon Staff

Officials found guilty in Obama, Clinton ballot petition fraud - FOX

A jury in South Bend, Indiana has found that fraud put President Obama and Hillary Clinton on the presidential primary ballot in Indiana in the 2008 election. Two Democratic political operatives were convicted Thursday night in the illegal scheme after only three hours of deliberations. They were found guilty on all counts.

According to testimony from two former Board of Election officials who pled guilty, Morgan ordered Democratic officials and workers to fake the names and signatures that Obama and Clinton needed to qualify for the presidential race. Blythe, then a Board of Elections employee and Democratic Party volunteer, was accused of forging multiple pages of the Obama petitions.

"I think this helped uphold the integrity of the electoral system," the prosecutor, Stan Levco told reporters.
“Their verdict of guilt is not a verdict against Democrats, but for honest and fair elections,” he said....

Prosecutors say that in President Obama's case, nine of the petition pages were apparently forged. Each petition contains up to 10 names, making a possible total of 90 names, which, if faked, could have brought the Obama total below the legal limit required to qualify. Prosecutors say 13 Clinton petitions were apparently forged, meaning up to 130 possibly fake signatures. Even if 130 signatures had been challenged, it would have still left Mrs. Clinton with enough signatures to meet the 500 person threshold.

The letter accuses the federal agency of encouraging all union employees take the same furlough days in a coordinated effort to disrupt air travel:

Coburn on FAA Furloughs: It’s Not Real, It’s Cynical and It’s Shameful - Washington Free Beacon Staff
'When management tells the union people, we want you all to take your furlough the same day so we shut down the airlines in America, I would tell you, there's where your problem is'

Sen. Tom Coburn (R., Okla.) revealed he has gained access to a letter from an anonymous whistle blower inside the FAA Thursday on CNBC.

The letter accuses the federal agency of encouraging all union employees take the same furlough days in a coordinated effort to disrupt air travel...

If true, the letter would provide further evidence the Obama Administration is politically engineering sequester cuts to cause pain among the general population.

The attempted political manipulation of air traffic controller furlough days is the latest in a series of sequester cuts that have raised ire among critics as being politically motivated and unnecessary.

The Obama Administration fell under criticism in March for suspending White House tours. The Secret Service has remained steadfast in maintaining the suspension, despite the policy change netting a paltry savings of $74,000 per week.
FAA Furlough Causes Flight Delays Across U.S. - FOX

The Democrats proposed sequestration as part of a package to secure an increase in the debt ceiling, but they never expected it to go into effect. - John Hinderaker/Powerline
When it did, they felt double-crossed, apparently because they thought Republicans owed it to them to fold like a cheap suit, as usual. When the Republicans figured out that sticking with the sequester was a pretty good outcome–it represented a modest, but real, restraint on federal spending, which is what Republicans always say they want–the Democrats went to Plan B.

It’s a strategy they have often used before: cut back on services that voters care about, and blame the resulting pain on those who “cut” the budget, i.e., prevented it from increasing as fast as the Democrats would like....

The sequester, of course, is not a problem that needs a “solution,” as The Hill put it. Rather, it is the most meaningful effort in a long time to restrain the growth of federal spending.
Airlines Seek Clarity On Staffing Shortage - Wall St. Journal
U.S. budget-cut-induced furloughs led to staff shortages Wednesday at facilities in Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami and Tampa, said the Federal Aviation Administration, with more than half of the delays endured by travelers on Tuesday attributed to a lack of controllers forcing planes to fly farther apart. The agency, which has been criticized by airlines and lawmakers for how it implemented the staff cuts, said labor shortages contributed to delays Wednesday being concentrated at Chicago O'Hare, Las Vegas and Tampa.
No furloughs for ObamaCare officials - The Hill
The fact that ObamaCare officials haven't been furloughed shows that the cuts are political, Rep. Greg Harper (R-Miss.) said Wednesday.

"We're talking about at least a 15 percent furlough of current air-traffic controllers, resulting in delays and perhaps safety concerns, but yet this has been a selective political item by the administration," Harper said.
FAA says furloughs over, flights back to normal by Sunday - Stephen Dinan/Washington Times

Friday, April 26, 2013

Adrianne Haslet is a professional ballroom dancer who was injured by one of the bombs that exploded near the Boston Marathon finish line. She vows to dance again.


Boston Marathon Victims Vow To Dance, To Run Again - Huffington Post ◼ via 94.7 WMAS - Springfield, MA on Facebook

MORE: ◼ Boston Marathon victim reunites with rescuer who lied to her about being a wounded Afghanistan veteran - NY Daily News

Child victim revisits scene of Boston Marathon bombing - WCVB

His father Alan Hern, a teacher from Martinez, Calif., says his son needed surgery to repair a large laceration to his left thigh and had other injuries that included ruptured eardrums.

The sixth-grader was there to watch the race with his father and his 10-year-old sister as his mother, Katherine Hern, competed as a runner.

An 11-year-old California boy who was injured in the Boston Marathon bombing has visited the scene of the devastation following his hospital discharge.

Boston Marathon bombing victims face huge medical bills; tens of millions in donations pour in - Washington Post

Cost of amputating a leg? At least $20,000. Cost of an artificial leg? More than $50,000 for the most high-tech models. Cost of an amputee’s rehab? Often tens of thousands of dollars more.

These are just a fraction of the medical expenses victims of the Boston Marathon bombing will face.

The mammoth price tag is probably not what patients are focusing on as they begin the long healing process. But friends and strangers are already setting up fundraisers and online crowd-funding sites, and a huge Boston city fund has already collected more than $23 million in individual and corporate donations.

No one knows yet if those donations — plus health insurance, hospital charity funds and other sources — will be enough to cover the bills. Few will even hazard a guess as to what the total medical bill will be for a tragedy that killed three people and wounded more than 260. At least 15 people lost limbs, and other wounds include head injuries and tissue torn apart by shrapnel.

NYTIMES CONFIRMS: MASSIVE FRAUD AT USDA IN PIGFORD; BREITBART VINDICATED

The New York Times reported Friday that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has likely enabled massive fraud in the Pigford series of legal settlements, in which black, Hispanic, female and Native American farmers have claimed to be victims of past discrimination. = Joel Pollak/Breitbart

The cost of the settlements, which could exceed $4.4 billion, is the result of a process that "became a runaway train, driven by racial politics, pressure from influential members of Congress and law firms that stand to gain more than $130 million in fees," the Times notes.

Among those influential members of Congress was then-Senator Barack Obama, who made Pigford payouts a priority in exchange for political support for his 2008 presidential campaign among a coveted group of black voters in the rural South, the Times reports.

As president, Obama continued to support payouts for new groups of claimants while abandoning a review process that had been used to fight fraud. The aim was "buying the support" of minorities, according to the Times, while middlemen created a "cottage industry" in defrauding the government.

The Times investigation, led by reporter Sharon LaFraniere, vindicates the late Andrew Breitbart, for whom Pigford became a crucial issue in demonstrating the cynical use of racial politics by the institutional left to hurt the very people they claimed to be helping. Breitbart directed investigations of the Pigford fraud and championed the cause of the original black farmers in the lawsuit, arguing that many of them had been left behind while opportunistic lawyers and fraudulent claimants looted the federal treasury in exchange for votes and support.

The left, led by the George Soros-funded Media Matters for America, attempted for years to dismiss claims of fraud in Pigford, calling it Breitbart's "stupidest conspiracy theory." When Fox News picked up the story, Media Matters called it an attempt to attack "anti-discrimination efforts."

In fact, the 5,529-word report by LaFraniere shows that Pigford and subsequent settlements had little to do with redressing discrimination and everything to do with politics and greed, while the true victims of discrimination continued to suffer in obscurity.

U.S. Opens Spigot After Farmers Claim Discrimination - New York Times

Will Pigford vindicate Andrew Breitbart? - Caroline May/Daily Caller 12/9/2010

“They were trying to show that my intention was to get Pigford defunded,” Breitbart told The Daily Caller. “And, I had never heard of Pigford, so for the last four and half months, all I’ve been doing is eating, breathing, sleeping Pigford, researching Pigford, finding whistleblowers who are hiding in plain sight who have been wanting to tell the story of how this was rigged.”

Unfortunately, this president’s acts of high handedness and self-absorption have been accumulating in the past several months at a blistering pace

Obama's hubris problem - Keith Koffler/Politico

Tuesday morning, a peculiar announcement trickled out of the White House press office: President Barack Obama would be holding a moment of silence for the victims of the Boston bombings. At the White House. By himself. No press or other intruders allowed.

Except the White House photographer.

That Obama assumed Americans would want an iconic photo of him privately mourning the victims of the bombings was emblematic of a kind of hubris that has enveloped the president and his White House as the president commences his second term.

Hubris in a leader is an obnoxious thing, leading to imperiousness in governing. And it’s also a dangerous thing for a second-term president, often spelling trouble....

Obama is already giving off that “L’etat, c’est moi” vibe, effectively legislating from the Oval Office.
He is picking and choosing which laws to enforce - like deciding not to deport certain groups of immigrants who would have been protected by the failed Dream Act and opting not to defend the Defense of Marriage Act.

This could be just the beginning. He vowed last week, as he has in the past, to advance his gun control agenda on his own. “Even without Congress, my administration will keep doing everything it can to protect more of our communities,” Obama said.

The vast new Obamacare law gives him an endless array of regulations to implement, offering a cornucopia of opportunities to interpret the statute in ways that give him powers he shouldn’t have. The 900-page immigration bill may do the same, should it pass.

But hubris may not only lead a president to stretch power, it can result in abuse of power....

If Obama starts to get too grand a sense of himself and sheds the last vestiges of concern for how others perceive him, it could lead him, as it has so many in positions of power, to believe he is beyond accountability. And that could end up as a tragedy for him, and for the nation.

The Presidential Wheel Turns: Disaffection for Bush gave us Obama. That explains the new affection for Bush. Peggy Noonan/Wall St. Journal

This week something changed. George W. Bush is back, for the unveiling of his presidential library. His numbers are dramatically up. You know why?

Obama fatigue has opened the way to Bush affection...

Thursday, April 25, 2013

New York Officials: Boston Suspects
Planned to Blow Up Times Square

“Last night, we were informed by the FBI that the surviving attacker revealed that New York City was next on their list of targets,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said at an afternoon news conference. - Newsmax

The new information came from a second interview with authorities conducted with Tsarnaev late on Sunday into early Monday, Kelly said.

“He was much more lucid — and he talked more freely,” the police commissioner said.

The first interrogation, in which Tsarnaev talked of the brothers coming to New York to “party” occurred on Saturday night, Kelly said.

NY State Middle School Forces Girls to Ask Each Other for a Kiss as Part of Anti-Gay-Bullying "Workshop"

It's unconscionable. - Ace Of Spades
Anti-bullying? No. Leftist indoctrination? Yes. - Weasel Zippers
Superintendent Paul Finch told The Poughkeepsie Journal the presentation was “focused on improving culture, relationships, communication and self-perceptions.”
Girls Told to Ask for Lesbian Kiss at School - CBN
Parents say their daughters were told to ask one another for a kiss and they say two girls were told to stand in front of the class and pretend they were lesbians on a date.

“She told me, ‘Mom we all get teased and picked on enough. Now I’m going to be called a lesbian because I had to ask another girl if I could kiss her,’” parent, Mandy Coon, told reporters.

Coon says parents were given no warning about the presentation and there was no opportunity to opt-out. Both the school principal and the district superintendent are defending the workshops and advising they will schedule more.

“The school is overstepping its bounds in not notifying parents first and giving us the choice,” another parent said. “I thought it was very inappropriate. That kind of instruction is best left up to the parents.”

“I was absolutely furious — really furious,” a parent who asked to remain anonymous told reporter Todd Starnes, “These are just kids. I’m dumbfounded that they found this class was appropriate.”


Pedagogy this! Ace slams school indoctrination; ‘Do I forfeit my kid’s right to be straight?’ - Twitchy



It was an anti-bullying presentation, natch. And parents were not given the option to opt their children out. In fact, they weren’t even warned that this “workshop” was being given, according to parents. The superintendent claimed it was ”focused on improving culture, relationships, communication and self-perception.” Further, the workshop was reportedly organized with the help of Bard College students. Case closed.

Mom wore a burka to go undercover in Egypt and take back her son, 12, who was kidnapped by his father and forced to live as a Muslim


Kalli Atteya, from Pennsylvania, put on the traditional Muslim clothing as a disguise so she could wait until 12-year-old Niko got off the school bus in the city of Alexandria. She then grabbed his arm and moved him towards a waiting motorized cart with the words: ‘Get in.’

The boy recognized his mother by her blue eyes which peered out of a slit in the burka and without saying a word did as he was told.

The pair were taken to a safe house where they waited three weeks before returning to the U.S. as they were so paranoid the boys’ father Mohamed Atteya, who is wanted by the American authorities, would find them.

The daring rescue brought an end to Niko’s 20-month ordeal during which time his father ‘forced me to live as a Muslim, which I did not want to do,' he said.

It also cost his mother some $100,000 and countless hours, false leads and false hopes.

MEGYN KELLY’S SURPRISE REVELATION: FBI WAS ‘SHOCKED’ TO SEE JUDGE ‘WALTZ’ IN AND GIVE SUSPECT MIRANDA RIGHTS



Two officials with knowledge of the FBI briefing on Capitol Hill said the FBI was against stopping the investigators’ questioning and was stunned that the judge, Justice Department prosecutors and public defenders showed up, feeling valuable intelligence may have been sacrificed as a result. - Jonathon M. Seidl/The Blaze

Regular viewers of Fox News are used to seeing popular host Megyn Kelly on their televisions every afternoon, but on Thursday morning Kelly made a special appearance during the morning to break some surprising information: according to her sources, the FBI was “shocked” to see a magistrate “waltz into” the hospital room of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and read him his Miranda rights.

So why were they shocked? According to Kelly, the FBI was under the understanding that they would get much more time with Tsarnaev under the “public safety exemption” before he was read his rights. Adding to the shock: the sources told Kelly agents were getting crucial information after only 16 hours of questioning and were making valuable progress.

Ready for a New $100 Million Flu Tax?

Congress Prepares $100 Million Bipartisan Flu Tax - Jeryl Bier/Weekly Standard

Congress is preparing to take action on a bipartisan proposal to raise taxes on flu vaccines. This is not a tax on the wealthy, but rather on a broad swath of Americans, or at least those who choose to be immunized against the flu.

In February, identical bills were introduced in the House and Senate to add seasonal flu vaccines to the IRS code as taxable. The legislation would exact a 75¢ per dose tax on any "vaccine against seasonal influenza." Given that the Centers for Disease Control projects that 135 million doses of flu vaccine will be used this year, the government's take on flu vaccines alone is over $100,000,000 per year....

Along with taxes on other vaccines, this tax would fund the Vaccine Injury Compensation Trust Fund. The fund is a "no-fault alternative to the traditional tort system for resolving vaccine injury claims that provides compensation to people found to be injured by certain vaccines." However, the fund is by no means in the same kind of trouble that other government "trust funds" are.

The balance in the fund (as of November 2012) was more than $3.5 billion. Since the program's inception in 1988, the fund has paid out only $2.5 billion in 25 years for cases involving all vaccines, not just the flu vaccine. This means the balance in the fund could conceivably last another 25 years with no further tax revenue.

As is the case with all government "trust funds," there is no cash set aside to pay out claims. According to the November 2012 report on the vaccine trust, the $3.5 billion balance is invested in "US Treasury Securities." In other words, financing a portion of the $16.5 trillion national debt.

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

A federal judge gave a skeptical reception Wednesday to the Obama administration’s arguments that the courts should stay out of the dispute over the Justice Department’s refusal to turn over some Operation Fast and Furious-related documents to a House committee.

Judge skeptical of Obama in executive privilege fight - Josh Gerstein/POLITICO

Last June, the fight led President Barack Obama to assert executive privilege over the records of the controversial gun trafficking investigation, and to House votes finding Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena from the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson spent most of an hour-and-a-half hearing Wednesday sharply questioning Deputy Assistant Attorney General Ian Gershengorn about the administration’s assertion that a lawsuit the House panel filed last year should be dismissed and the legislative and executive branches of government left to work out their differences by themselves.

“That lack of a judicial role is a deliberate part of the constitutional structure,” Gershengorn insisted, as he urged the judge to stick with the historic practice of the Congress and executive agencies sorting out such fights on their own.

“It has been messy. It has been contentious. It has been political … but it has worked,” he said.

Jackson, an Obama appointee, repeatedly suggested that Gershengorn was giving the judiciary short shrift.

“You keep talking about the two [branches] as if the third one isn’t there,” she said.

CFRW Action Item: Say NO to the Internet sales tax

Washington is always busy. Now we have the “Marketplace Fairness Act.”

Harry Reid stated that he intends for the U.S. Senate to vote on a bill on Sunday, April 28th that would allow states to force online retailers to collect sales taxes for the states, regardless of the retailer’s actual physical location. U.S. lawmakers want to create an internet sales tax and allow states the power to tax outside their border-based jurisdictions. This goes against the 1992 Supreme Court ruling in Quill Corp. v. North Dakota.

The “Marketplace Fairness Act” has been sponsored in the House (HR 682) by Rep. Steve Womack and in the Senate (S. 336) by Senator Mike Enzi.

More money would go to inefficient state governments. Online retailers would be forced to abide by as many as 9,600 tax jurisdictions!

This act would be an incredible bureaucratic nightmare. Online retailers would be forced to navigate just under 10,000 local, municipal and state tax jurisdictions. These businesses would also be subject to auditors from every state where they have customers. A business could face up to 50 state auditors at once.

Former Senator Jim DeMint stated: Politicians want this bill passed to raise new tax revenue for broken state governments facing budget shortfalls. But legislators in state capitals don’t want to make the hard decisions to cut spending or raise taxes on their constituents – they fear the voter backlash. So they’d like their allies in Washington to make it legal for them to tax people who can’t vote against them.

This is a nationally mandated Internet sales tax on business.

Here are possible contacts to make in Washington.

Phone Fax
Representative Steve Womack...Arkansas...(202) 225-4301...(202) 225-5713
Representative Harold Rogers...Kentucky...(202) 225-4601...(202) 225-0940
Senator Mike Enzi...Wyoming...(202) 224-3424...(202) 228-0359
Senator Mitch McConnell...Kentucky...(202) 224-2541...(202) 224-2499
Senator Barbara Boxer...California...(202) 224-3553...(202) 224-0454
Senator Diane Feinstein...California...(202) 224-3841...(202) 228-3954

Thank you for your work.

Edelweiss Geary
Legislative Issues Chair
Northern Division - CFRW
www.cfrwnd.org

Eric Holder: ‘Banning homeschooling does not violate rights’

German Homeschooling Family Applies for Asylum in US - Life Site News
Uwe and Hannelore Romeike formerly of Bissingen, Germany, along with their five children made it to the United States in August of this year. The family has settled in Eastern Tennessee where they have been warmly welcomed by local homeschool supporters and are being assisted by the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA).

"The persecution of homeschoolers in Germany has dramatically intensified," said HSLDA staff attorney Michael P. Donnelly. "They are regularly fined thousands of dollars, sent to prison, or have the custody of their children taken away simply because they choose to home educate."
The Saga Continues: Previously Tolerant German State Declares War on Home-schooling - Life Site News

Germany Uses Nazi Era Law to Imprison Mom for Homeschooling; Family Flees to Austria - Life Site News

Judge Grants Asylum to German Home Schoolers - NYT Feb 28, 2010

Christian homeschoolers losing deportation fight - World
A family homeschooling safely in rural Tennessee may be forced to return to their native Germany, where the parents likely face huge fines and criminal penalties, and could lose custody of their five school-age children.

Uwe and Hannelore Romeike are looking to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to give them permanent refugee status. But Attorney General Eric Holder is disputing their case, arguing Germany's ban on homeschooling fails to violate the family's fundamental rights.
Here is another insight into the minds of liberals. They think they know better on how to raise your kids. - Conservative Byte

Banning homeschooling does not violate rights: U.S. Attorney General’s office - MICHAEL FARRIS, J.D., LL.M./Life Site News
Having immersed myself for about eight days in writing a brief for the Romeike family (a German homeschooling family who fled to the United States for political asylum), I wanted to share some insights I gained into the view of our own government toward the rights of homeschooling parents in general.

You will benefit from some context. (at the link)

Cold and snow wave grips the USA, nearly 10,000 cold and snow records set in the last six weeks

40 Years of Doomsaying Earth Day Predictions

So in the spirit of Earth week — let’s look back to the beginnings of Earth Day and some of the predictions made by the scientific geniuses some 40 or so years ago. Political Outcast

Failed Mirth Earth Day predictions - Watts Up With That?

13 Worst Predictions Made on Earth Day, 1970 - Freedom Works

In 1970, the first Earth Day was celebrated — okay, “celebrated” doesn’t capture the funereal tone of the event. The events (organized in part by then hippie and now convicted murderer Ira Einhorn) predicted death, destruction and disease unless we did exactly as progressives commanded.

Behold the coming apocalypse as predicted on and around Earth Day, 1970:

"Civilization will end within 15 or 30 years unless immediate action is taken against problems facing mankind." — Harvard biologist George Wald

"We are in an environmental crisis which threatens the survival of this nation, and of the world as a suitable place of human habitation." — Washington University biologist Barry Commoner

"Man must stop pollution and conserve his resources, not merely to enhance existence but to save the race from intolerable deterioration and possible extinction." — New York Times editorial

"Population will inevitably and completely outstrip whatever small increases in food supplies we make. The death rate will increase until at least 100-200 million people per year will be starving to death during the next ten years." — Stanford University biologist Paul Ehrlich

"Most of the people who are going to die in the greatest cataclysm in the history of man have already been born… [By 1975] some experts feel that food shortages will have escalated the present level of world hunger and starvation into famines of unbelievable proportions. Other experts, more optimistic, think the ultimate food-population collision will not occur until the decade of the 1980s." — Paul Ehrlich

"It is already too late to avoid mass starvation," — Denis Hayes, Chief organizer for Earth Day

"Demographers agree almost unanimously on the following grim timetable: by 1975 widespread famines will begin in India; these will spread by 1990 to include all of India, Pakistan, China and the Near East, Africa. By the year 2000, or conceivably sooner, South and Central America will exist under famine conditions…. By the year 2000, thirty years from now, the entire world, with the exception of Western Europe, North America, and Australia, will be in famine." — North Texas State University professor Peter Gunter

"In a decade, urban dwellers will have to wear gas masks to survive air pollution… by 1985 air pollution will have reduced the amount of sunlight reaching earth by one half." — Life magazine

"At the present rate of nitrogen buildup, it's only a matter of time before light will be filtered out of the atmosphere and none of our land will be usable." — Ecologist Kenneth Watt

"Air pollution...is certainly going to take hundreds of thousands of lives in the next few years alone." — Paul Ehrlich

"By the year 2000, if present trends continue, we will be using up crude oil at such a rate… that there won't be any more crude oil. You'll drive up to the pump and say, ‘Fill 'er up, buddy,' and he'll say, ‘I am very sorry, there isn't any.'" — Ecologist Kenneth Watt

"[One] theory assumes that the earth's cloud cover will continue to thicken as more dust, fumes, and water vapor are belched into the atmosphere by industrial smokestacks and jet planes. Screened from the sun's heat, the planet will cool, the water vapor will fall and freeze, and a new Ice Age will be born." — Newsweek magazine

"The world has been chilling sharply for about twenty years. If present trends continue, the world will be about four degrees colder for the global mean temperature in 1990, but eleven degrees colder in the year 2000. This is about twice what it would take to put us into an ice age." — Kenneth Watt

On Global Warming Advocates and Scientific Consensus - Net Right Daily

Hawaiians ‘won’t know what rainfall is’ - Watts Up With That?

Snowfalls are now just a thing of the past - Independent.co.uk 4/20/2000

Obamacare's Medicaid expansion is bad for Louisiana

"President Obama's Medicaid expansion could cost taxpayers in Louisiana $1.7 billion over the first 10 years of implementation, and the cost will continue to rise." - Governor Bobby Jindal/Daily Report

This week, the Louisiana Legislature will begin debating legislation that would force Louisiana to expand Medicaid as part of President Obama's health care law. It's a bad move for Louisiana taxpayers. Here are seven reasons why we shouldn't expand Medicaid.

1. The expansion of Medicaid will move up to 171,000 Louisianians off of private insurance and stop another 77,000 people from going into private insurance. Combined, that would force about 248,000 people out of private coverage and put them into the Medicaid program. The actual uninsured population that should be focused on is about 214,000 people. Instead, President Obama's healthcare law would actually add double that number—over 450,000 people—to the Medicaid rolls.

2. President Obama's Medicaid expansion could cost taxpayers in Louisiana $1.7 billion over the first 10 years of implementation, and the cost will continue to rise. Additionally, the percentage of state funds spent on Medicaid has nearly doubled over the past 16 years and expanding the program could further threaten funding for higher education, transportation, and other critical services.

3. By expanding President Obama's healthcare law, 41 percent of Louisiana's population would be dumped into Medicaid. Soon there will be more people riding in the cart than people pulling the cart. The President is gradually turning the world's greatest health care system into the world's largest welfare system. The left has been very clear—their end goal here is to make all healthcare in America government health care.

4. Without expanding Medicaid, and once eligible people are enrolled into healthcare exchanges set up by the federal government, there will be less than six percent of Louisianians without health insurance. That's why the state is focused on implementing public-private partnerships with charity hospitals across the state to expand access.

5. There's too much uncertainty in President Obama's healthcare law. The President promised that if his law passed, health insurance premiums would go down. Instead, people are seeing health care premium increases. A study from the Society of Actuaries indicates that health insurance premiums will likely increase by 32 percent for individual and small group policies as a result of the President's healthcare law. A study by Louisiana Association of Health Plans and America's Health Insurance Plans estimates that the premium tax in the law will force policyholders in Louisiana to pay over $2,000 more for single coverage and over $4,500 more for family coverage for individuals over the next ten years.

6. Funding for the President's healthcare law is unstable, which could encourage cost shifting to states. For example, the U.S. Senate voted to get rid of an excise tax on medical devices that is supposed to generate $30 billion to pay for Obamacare. Another sign of uncertainty is President Obama's recent proposal to use a blended Medicaid rate, which could shift significant cost to the states.

7. The billions of dollars obligated for Medicaid expansion will make a likely target for future deficit reduction talks in Congress. Louisianians know better than most that federal funding is never guaranteed. Indeed, the federal government has already cut $1.8 billion in Medicaid funding for Louisiana and dropped the Medicaid match rate to its lowest point in 25 years.

We know there is a better way. That's why we've expanded access to care at hospitals across the state through innovative public-private partnerships so that more people can access the quality care they need.

WE ARE SPENDING MORE MONEY THAN LAST YEAR, even with the sequester, but the American people, must continue to be punished for DARING to allow the 2.3% automatic cuts IN THE RATE OF GROWTH to occur.

OBAMA's WAR ON AMERICA CONTINUES. - Bill Whittle on Facebook

CAN’T TELL TRUTH FROM FICTION: Megan McArdle reminds disappointed Democrats that The West Wing is only a TV show.

Memo: The Aaron Sorkin Model of Political Discourse Doesn't Actually Work - Megan McArdle /The Daily Beast ◼ via Instapundit

...Jed Bartlett doesn't win policy debates because of his amazing tactical skills, his overpowering arguments, or the sheer persuasiveness of his granite-faced brand of urbane folksomeness. He wins them because Aaron Sorkin is a liberal and he wants Republicans to lose on the major issues. Unfortunately for liberals, Tom Coburn and John Boehner don't have their lines faxed over from Hollywood every morning....

This weekend, Maureen Dowd proved that the armchair activists are not the only ones who have begun confusing entertaining fictions with real life....

Gentry Liberals and Brass Knuckles: The Case of Maureen Dowd - The American Interest

If Maureen Dowd’s evisceration manqué of President Obama’s gun control strategy in the New York Times is any indication, Ms. Dowd is in the wrong line of work. She doesn’t understand American politics. She doesn’t know how votes are gained and lost, she doesn’t know what presidents do or understand what powers they have, and above all she doesn’t understand how politicians think.

Column writing is dangerous work and long success in the game can lead to the stifling of that Editor Within who keeps you from looking too stupid in print. A rich self esteem, fortifed by decades of op-ed tenure and dinner party table talk dominance, has apparently given Ms. Dowd the confidence to believe that she is a maestro of political infighting, a Clausewitz of strategic insight and a Machiavelli of political cunning rolled up into one stylish and elegant piece of work. From the heights of insight on which she dwells, it is easy to see what that poor schmuck Barry Obama can’t: those 60 votes on gun control were his for the taking, if he was only as shrewd a politician as Maureen Dowd....

Her efforts to describe a strategy satirize themselves; her attempts to translate a “never-let-go” attitude into practical steps amuse. But none of that causes her to doubt the shining truth: gun control would be ours if the President weren’t so pathetic. If Maureen Dowd’s political fantasies cannot be realized, it is obviously because President Obama just isn’t very good at his job.

The President should watch his back; there are a lot of Dowdians out there in Liberal La La Land, and as an inevitably disappointing second term unfolds they are increasingly ready to blame everything they don’t like about the state of the country on what they are sure is his incompetence, his political cowardice and his sloth.

American Way: So, Mr President, how big is yours? A meaningful legacy is still out there for President Barack Obama - but, as recent events in Boston and over gun control have shown, it's hard to tell if he will have the 'cojones' to secure the place he wants in the minds of future generations - Peter Foster, Washington/Telegraph

The theme of the dinner, to be held in Washington, is a “Time for Care,” organizers announced

Obama to keynote Planned Parenthood fundraiser - Washington Times

Amid new concerns about the brutality of illegal forms of abortions, President Obama plans to deliver the keynote address at Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s annual fundraising dinner Thursday.

The theme of the dinner, to be held in Washington, is a “Time for Care,” organizers announced. Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards said Mr. Obama has done more than any president in history for women’s health and rights so she is delighted to have him help promote the gala dinner with his presence.

Abortion opponents quickly seized on the news, arguing that Mr. Obama should rescind his agreement to speak or even attend the dinner, considering the gruesome revelations emanating from the trial of Philadelphia abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell.

“These accounts by former clinic staff have shell-shocked the nation, and it is incumbent upon the president to reconsider his support for the abortion industry and Planned Parenthood, which last year profited from abortion $87 million committing over 300,000 abortions,” said Lila Rose, who heads Live Action, an anti-abortion group....

A judge has thrown out some of the murder charges against a Philadelphia abortion provider involving babies allegedly born alive. - AP via Breitbart

Gosnell's Attorney: 'Ludicrous' 'To Say a Baby is Born Alive Because It Moves One Time' - CNS

...According to the grand jury report, Baby C was “moving and breathing for 20 minutes before an assistant came in and cut the spinal cord, just the way she had seen Gosnell do it so many times.”

Kareema Cross, who worked at the clinic, testified to the grand jury that the baby was moving and breathing for 20 minutes before Lynda Williams cut the back of its neck....

All other charges, however, remain, including one for the first-degree murder of a baby that was born alive in a toilet, and according to testimony, was “swimming,” “trying to get out.”

Obama backs out of Planned Parenthood keynote address - Washington Times

President Obama has canceled plans to deliver a keynote address at Planned Parenthood’s annual fundraising dinner Thursday night, citing a desire to spend more time with family of the victims of the fertilizer plant explosion in Texas.
White House spokesman Jay Carney announced the decision to cancel the keynote speech at the gala during his daily press briefing with reporters Wednesday. He said Mr. Obama will still address Planned Parenthood and its supporters Friday morning.

NEW MEDIA SHAMES PRESIDENT OBAMA INTO VISITING MEMORIAL FOR WEST, TX VICTIMS - KEVIN L. MARTIN/Breitbart

While many can speculate on the White House’s sudden reversal of course, one thing that can be said is that the blogosphere was responsible for applying pressure in that decision. This stands as further proof that more and more Americans are turning to new media to hold elected officials accountable over the propaganda presented by the old media.

It is a shame that it has fallen to the new media to now do the job the old media use to do: to hold our elected officials accountable to the very people who put them in office.

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Mother, Sisters, A Wife: The Women in The Boston Bombing Story



Did 'controlling' mother of 'bombers' lead them to radicalization? Family claims she allowed hardline Islamic cleric - who believed he could talk to demons - to preach to boys at their kitchen table - Daily Mail

The two men who allegedly carried out the Boston Marathon bombing were ‘failed’ by their parents, especially their ‘controlling’ mother who encouraged their move towards Islamic radicalization, relatives told MailOnline today.

Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaeva looked up to mother Zubeidat as an ‘angel’ but, according to one of their uncles, she was the one who allowed them to be introduced to hardline Islamic views.

Ruslan Tsarni claimed that Zubeidat allowed a firebrand cleric into their house to give one-on-one sermons to Tamerlan over the kitchen table during which he claimed he could talk to demons and perform exorcisms.

Family friends also told MailOnline that the boys’ father Anzor never stood up to his wife and revealed that she was the ‘boss’ of their house.

Until now Tamerlan has been blamed for leading his ‘sweet, innocent’ younger brother down the path to radicalism that allegedly ended with them killing three people and injuring 170 at the Boston Marathon last Monday.

MailOnline’s extensive interviews with Ruslan and the boys’ other uncle Alvi paint the clearest picture so far of life in the family home in Cambridge, Massachusetts that should have been the cradle for two intelligent, handsome young men.

Instead Tamerlan is dead at the age of 26 after being shot dead by police as he tried to avoid capture.

Dzhokhar, 19, is fighting for his life in hospital due to injuries sustained during their attempt to flee.

'She cries when she sees video of her son dying': Agony of bombers' mother as FBI agents fly to Dagestan to quiz her - AP and Daily Mail

The mother of the Boston bombing suspects watches the video of her dead son's mutilated body and cries, her lawyer revealed on Tuesday, after it emerged that she is to be questioned by U.S. investigators.
Zubeidat Tsarnaeva appeared publicly outside her home for the first time since her sons Tamerlan and Dzhokhar were named as suspects. She was ushered past journalists and into a taxi, which sped away....

Also on Tuesday, the bombers' sister, Ailena and Bella Tsarnaev, released a statement to the media, saying that they 'don't have the answers' about their brothers' alleged crimes.

The statement read: 'Our heart goes out the victims of last week's bombing. It saddens us to see so many innocent people hurt after such a callous act. As a family, we are absolutely devastated by the sense of loss and sorrow this has caused.

'We don't have any answers but we look forward to a thorough investigation and hope to learn more. We ask the media to respect our privacy during this difficult time.'

I Knew the Boston Bombers’ Mother: What She Told Me About 9/11, Islam, and Her Sons; I got facials from Dzhokhar and Tamerlan’s mother for years—in the living room of the family’s home. And I became uncomfortable as I watched her religious zeal and offensive political views grow over time. - Alyssa Lindley Kilzer/Daily Beast

Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, Bombing Suspect's Mom, Also On Terror List - Huffington Post

U.S. intelligence agencies added the mother of the Boston bombing suspects to a government terrorism database 18 months before the bombings, two officials told The Associated Press. She called it "lies and hypocrisy" and said she has never been linked to crimes or terrorism.

The CIA asked for the Boston terror suspect and his mother to be added to a terrorist database in the fall of 2011, after the Russian government contacted the agency with concerns that both had become religious militants, according to officials briefed on the investigation. About six months earlier, the FBI investigated Tamerlan Tsarnaev and his mother, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, also at Russia's request, one of the officials said. The FBI found no ties to terrorism.

The revelation that the FBI had also investigated Tsarnaeva and the CIA arranged for her to be added to the terrorism database deepened the mystery around the family....

'It wasn't blood... it was PAINT': Boston bombers' defiant mother launches bizarre defense of her 'framed' sons - Daily Mail





How doctor's daughter became the Muslim convert widow of Boston bomber: Terrorist husband 'brainwashed' her and she gave up her dreams of college to have his baby at 21 - LAURA COLLINS IN NORTH KINGSTOWN, RHODE ISLAND/Daily Mail


Boston bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev's wife Katherine Russell 'had no idea of plot' - Herald Sun

Katherine Russell last saw her husband on Thursday night, just hours before he was killed in a police shoot-out, her lawyer told CNN. She was handing over their two-year-old daughter to him before heading to work.

Boston bombing suspect's widow is assisting investigation, lawyer says - Alan Duke/CNN

The widow of suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev is "doing everything she can to assist with the investigation," of the Boston Marathon bombing, attorney Amato DeLuca said in a statement Tuesday....

Russell, 24, learned through news reports that the father of her daughter was suspected in the attack, DeLuca said. "That's my understanding."

Hearing that news devastated her, he added, saying Monday that she's "very distraught" and "cries a lot."

"The reports of involvement by her husband and brother-in-law came as an absolute shock to them all," DeLuca's Tuesday statement said. "As a mother, a sister, a daughter, a wife, Katie deeply mourns the pain and loss to innocent victims -- students, law enforcement, families and our community. In the aftermath of this tragedy, she, her daughter and her family are trying to come to terms with these events."

"The whole family is a mess, to put it bluntly," he said Monday. "They're very distraught. They're upset. Their lives have been unalterably changed. They're upset because of what happened, the people that were injured, that were killed. It's an awful, terrible thing."

Feds Further Investigating Role of Bomber's Wife: Katherine Russell Tsarnaeva notified husband that the FBI had released his picture. - Stephen F. Hayes/Weekly Standard

According to those officials, Dzokhar Tsarnaev told interrogators that the information that set in motion the series of events leading to Tamerlan’s death and Dzokhar’s apprehension came in a phone call from Katherine Russell Tsarnaeva to her husband. “She notified him and there certainly didn’t seem to be any notion of surprise – just a report that ‘you’re being watched,’” said one official with knowledge of the investigation. Tsarnaev had seen the photographs and videos distributed by the FBI on television and called her husband to give him a heads up.

After receiving that phone call, authorities believe, Tamerlan decided he could not continue to hide from law enforcement and triggered the brothers’ bizarre flight from authorities – a wild chase that included the murder of an MIT police officer, a convenience-store robbery, a carjacking, shootouts with police officers, the death of Tamerlan and the capture of Dzokhar.

BOSTON JIHAD MURDERER'S WIFE WARNED HIM THAT FBI HAD RELEASED HIS PICTURE - Atlas Shrugs

Note also that when his picture and his brother's was released, no one from the Islamic Society of Boston contacted authorities and told them the bombers' identities.

BillO slams CAIR Rep: You have no credibility!



Bill O' Reilly Gets an Islamic Supremacist Reality Check from Hamas CAIR - Atlas Shrugs
BILL O’REILLY EXPLODES ON CAIR EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR IN FIERY SEGMENT ON RADICAL ISLAM: ‘I DON’T WANT TO HEAR ABOUT WHAT ISLAM MEANS TO YOU’ - Jason Howerton.The Blaze
BillO slams CAIR Rep: You have no credibility! - The Right Scoop
link

Boston Marathon bombing lesson – political correctness kills - Jay Sekulow/FOX

Older Boston Suspect Made Two Trips to Dagestan, Visited Radical Mosque, Officials Say - TIME

According to a source close to the Russian security services who specializes in religious radicalism, Tsarnaev attended services at the mosque on Kotrova Street during both of the extended visits he made to Dagestan over the past two years. That is why Russia’s Federal Security Service, the agency better known as the FSB, sent a warning to the FBI in 2011 to be aware of Tsarnaev’s possible links to extremism.

In a statement on April 19, the FBI said it had received information from an unidentified “foreign government” that Tsarnaev was “a follower of radical Islam and a strong believer, and that he had changed drastically since 2010 as he prepared … to join unspecified underground groups.” In response, the FBI said it interviewed Tsarnaev and checked its records for relevant information, but “did not find any terrorism activity, domestic or foreign.”

UNCLE: SEEDS OF BOSTON BOMBERS’ RADICALIZATION 'PLANTED RIGHT THERE IN CAMBRIDGE' - Ben Shapiro/Breitbart

On Tuesday, the Associated Press reported that in the years leading up to the devastating bombing attack on the Boston Marathon, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the older of the two bombing suspects, “fell under the influence of a new friend, a Muslim convert.” The mentor was known to Tamerlan’s family as “Misha,” and pushed Tamerlan to embrace the most extreme version of Islam. Tamerlan quickly dropped music, read information about 9/11 conspiracy theories, and bought into the notion that the Jews controlled world events, seeking out the anti-Semitic canard The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

Why Muslims Kill - Sultan Knish

In the case of the Tsernaevs, the surface coverage, the endless rounds of interviews with friends and relatives, with anyone who ever met them or retweed them, is mandatory because it avoids the more difficult question of why they killed.

The better news outlets answer with convenient terms like "radicalization" or "self-radicalization" and much of the public, primed to react to meaningless political jargon as if it had meaning, will think that they understand. A radical, they know, is a bad person, except for a brief period when surfers and ninja turtles could use it and still be good people. They don't quite know why that is, but they also don't know why high debt is good for the economy or why Islam is a religion of peace....

Prisons are full of 300 pound men who beat their 90 pound wives to death in self-defense and spree killers who felt bullied and misunderstood and defended themselves with killing sprees. The kind of evil we see in movies, the serial killer who gleefully whisper about demonic pacts and the joy of killing, are a rarity. Even human monsters are human. They explain things in terms of their egos. They are always defending themselves against some form of oppression and looking for someone to sympathize with their outrage.

Muslim terrorists are no different. The Taliban just poisoned a girls school as part of their campaign to defend Afghanistan from women who can read and write. Hamas fired an anti-tank missile at an Israeli school bus in defense of Palestine. Tamerlan Tsarnaev put down a bomb next to an 8-year-old boy in defense of Islam....

Islam, as one of the great world religions, has a long history of needing to be defended against small boys, blind female poets and elderly cartoonists. Sometimes Muslims have to defend Islam against each other, the way they are now doing in Syria. Other times defending Islam requires demolishing its archeological sites, the way that the Saudis are doing. Either way defending Islam is difficult work.

They’ll explore every angle except the obvious one.

Think Progress: You Know, We Really Ought to Check the Dead Boston Bomber for Brain Damage - Bryan Preston/PJM

Leftists blamed Tucson on Sarah Palin’s map, Aurora on Batman movies and briefly, the Tea Party, and blamed Newtown on the guns that the killer stole. Michael Moore blamed Columbine on defense contractors. Mass murder leads to wishcasting.

But when a true and obviously ideologically-based terrorist attack happens, as at Ft. Hood in 2009 or in Boston on April 15, no one on the left blames the gun or the bomb or the pressure cooker used to build it. They don’t even blame the ideology, at least not until forced to. They leap for any excuse to get away from the fact that Islamic jihadists who want to kill us because of who we are have once again launched a successful attack.

Chris Matthews suddenly doesn't care about Boston bombers' motives. "What Difference Does It Make Why They Did It?" - Real Clear Politics

Liberal Pundits Still Looking for the Real Killer - /Washington Free Beacon

O’Reilly And Krauthammer Blast Obama For Not Denouncing Radical Islam In Wake Of Boston Bombings - Mediaite

Bill O’Reilly opened his show tonight with a big question: why does President Obama refuse to call out radical Islam for being a major threat to the United States. He highlighted Obama asking people not to draw conclusions based on the motivations of the Boston bombing suspects, and, along with Charles Krauthammer, slammed the president for actively avoiding any mention of radical Islam in public. Krauthammer remarked that Obama’s language avoidance is “weird” and even “embarrassing.”

Krauthammer found it remarkable that Obama is going to such “comical” and “embarrassing” lengths to avoid telling people the truth, noting that Obama avoids using words like “jihad” and “Islamist.” He brought up how Obama once warned against the rise of “non-secular parties” in Egypt. Krauthammer found this to be a “weird word to use” and a clear sign that Obama is actively avoiding more honest language.

Excusing Jihad In Boston - Robert Spencer/Front Page

...But of course, the bombers weren’t Christians; they were Muslims, acting explicitly in the name of Islam. Media analysts, when they have deigned to take notice of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s statement at all, have scratched their heads in puzzlement over how he and his brother could have gotten the idea that murdering innocent people at a sporting event could possibly constitute any kind of defense of Islam. However, they wouldn’t be so puzzled if they knew that the Qur’an exhorts Muslims to use the “steeds of war” to “strike terror into the hearts of the enemies of Allah” (8:60) – and that al-Qaeda has recently recommended bombing sporting events as a nicely effective way to strike terror into the hearts of the enemies of Allah.

The mainstream media has no interest in how the Qur’an may incite those who believe it is the word of Allah to commit acts of violence against those who do not so believe. And so it was that the Atlantic Wire’s story was actually about why it scarcely mattered that the bombers were Muslim, and Chris Matthews was declaring that the bombers’ inspirations and motivations made no difference, and Martin Bashir was praising the virtues of the Qur’an, and it was Sean O’Malley, the Cardinal Archbishop of Boston, who cautioned against taking revenge and decried the “perversion” of Islam that led to the bombings.

WHY DO LIBERALS REFUSE TO BE CRITICAL OF ISLAM? - Benjamin Wiker/Human Events

A Breakthrough in Ukraine?

Only if President Yanukovych frees Yulia Tymoshenko. - Peter Hannaford/American Spectator on 4.17.13

Something happened in Ukraine a week ago that didn’t make the news here, but which Americans should care about.

In Kiev, President Viktor Yanukovych pardoned former Interior Minister Yuri Lutsenko, who had been convicted of “abuse of power” in 2010. This is a step toward completion of a stalled European Union-Ukraine Association Agreement which would open up EU markets to Ukrainian exports — a great potential boon to the country’s economy. Close Ukrainian ties to the EU can also be seen as a proxy for stronger, broader ties between the United States and this strategic country that lies between the West and Russia.

Ever since its independence in 1991, Ukraine has sought to balance relations with the two. The country’s Ukrainian-speaking western half has long related to its western neighbors, while its Eastern half has related to Russia and many of its residents are Russian speakers. (Yanukovych is from the east.)

The EU and Ukraine initialed their Association Agreement in March last year. Four months later they initialed the important free-trade agreement. The EU is holding off final signing because of what it considers anti-democratic tendencies of the Yanukovich government. It wants progress by Ukraine in preventing “selective” justice. The pardon of Lutsenko, along with former Ecology Minister Heorhiy Filipchuk, represents an important first step. One more that might well lead to a signing of the documents would be the release of Yanukovych rival, former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. She was convicted in August 2011 of “abuse of office.” So far, Yanukovich has declined to release her, perhaps because he thinks she would be a most formidable rival in his 2015 reelection campaign. He and his government have not yet concluded that the considerable benefits of the EU agreement outweigh the possible political cost at the polls.

Recently, amid reports of her declining health, Tymoshenko was moved to a prison hospital. This might give Yanukovych the opportunity to release her on humanitarian grounds (perhaps with a private quid pro quo that she would agree to stay out of elective politics).

The EU wants to see progress on other reforms defined in the joint Agreement agenda, such as Ukraine’s adoption of international election standards. Nevertheless, getting rid of these two examples of what it considers selective justice might be enough to activate the Agreement. On his release from prison, Lutsenko told Euronews, “I think now we are closer to the EU (prospects) and for me (that) is even more important than my freedom.”

A democratic and economically strong Ukraine is important to the U.S. as well as to the EU. In a recent opinion article in the New York Times, former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, John Herbst, suggested that if Ukraine fails to meet the EU conditions the latter should invoke sanctions on Ukrainian political leaders (presumably Yanukovich and others). That would have the opposite of the desired effect. It would strengthen the clamor by a Ukrainian minority that is pushing for a new trade agreement with Moscow. The EU should sign the final Agreement even if not every reform called for has been put into effect, provided a way is found to follow the Lutsenko action with one involving Tymoshenko. Once Ukraine is “in the tent” with the entire EU, it will be easier to continue pursuing the other reforms to a successful conclusion. Carrots are almost always better than sticks.
_______________
Mr. Hannaford is a member of the Committee on the Present Danger.

Sharyl Attkisson tweets House report; Reveals Hillary Clinton lied under oath about Benghazi; Update: WH altered talking points

Hillary, you have some answering to do. And, you know, truthfully this time. - Twitchy



VIDEO: Krauthammer on Benghazi: Obama Administration in denial, trying to pretend all attacks are 'one-shot deal' - /Washington Free Beacon

Columnist Charles Krauthammer called out the Obama administration Tuesday for its consistent refusal to acknowledge the threat of al-Qaeda in light of the 46-page report released about the terrorist attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi.

Among the accusations were government officials purposely altered talking points about the attack to remove references to participation of “Islamic extremists,” and that, Krauthammer said during a panel discussion on “Special Report,” was part of a larger pattern of denial by the administration.

“The other damning evidence here, again … that they did edit the talking points to remove references to al-Qaeda, which fits in the pattern that we discussed even earlier,” Krauthammer said. “The attempt always to try to pretend that these aren’t part of a global jihad, whether it’s here, it’s Boston, the Underwear Attacker or the Fort Hood shooter. It’s a constant in this administration, a way to say ‘No, it’s not. It’s a one-shot deal and let’s go on.’ And I think that really is the problem that underlies all of this.”

The judge in #Gosnell trial throws out 3 murder charges b/c apparently breathing isn't scientific proof of life



Judge tosses 3 murder charges against Pa. abortion doc involving babies allegedly born alive - AP

...The defense questioned testimony from staffers who said they had seen babies move, cry or breathe. McMahon argued that each testified to seeing only a single movement or breath.

“These are not the movements of a live child,” McMahon said. “There is not one piece — not one — of objective, scientific evidence that anyone was born alive.”...

And the prosecutor questioned why else Gosnell and his staff would “snip” babies if they were not born alive. The brains were intact, so it was not done to make the delivery easier, he said.

“Why would you cut a baby in the back of the neck unless you were killing it?” Cameron argued.

U.N. Official Says Boston Got What It Deserved

UN Human Rights Council “expert” Richard Falk has published a statement saying Bostonians got what they deserved in last week’s terror attack. He quotes W.H. Auden to make his point: “to whom evil is done/do evil in return.” - Jan Morgan

And then he attacks Bostonians head-on. The police action in Boston was a “hysterical dragnet.” Boston’s dead were “canaries” that “have to die” because of America’s “fantasy of global domination.”

Falk explains the attacks as justifiable “resistance.” In his words: “The American global domination project is bound to generate all kinds of resistance in the post-colonial world.”

He minimizes the crime and predicts worse if America doesn’t change its ways to better accommodate the demands of “the Islamic world.” As he puts it: “In some respects, the United States has been fortunate not to experience worse blowbacks, and these may yet happen…”.

For years, Falk has been espousing the worst forms of antisemitism from his UN perch, and for his efforts has been rewarded with repeated opportunities by the Council to lecture others on his world view.

Internet 'security' bill CISPA moves to Senate

Pro-business legislation aimed at helping companies fend off sophisticated foreign hackers sailed through the House on Thursday despite a White House veto threat and an outcry from privacy advocates and civil liberties groups that say it leaves Americans vulnerable to spying by the military. - ABC

The House vote, 288-127, puts the spotlight on the Senate, which hasn't taken up the issue and is consumed with other high-profile issues such as gun control and immigration. The lack of enthusiasm in the Senate and objections by the White House mean that the legislation is in limbo despite an aggressive push by lobbyists representing nearly every corner of industry.

But supporters said they were gaining momentum: Despite the White House veto threat 92 Democrats voted for the measure, compared to only 42 for a similar bill last year.

U.S. employees set to be forced to give bosses their Facebook PASSWORDS


A last minute alteration to CISPA was defeated in a Congress vote, It would have protected user's social media passwords from employers - Daily Mail

An attempt to ban US bosses from asking employees to hand over their Facebook login details has been blocked by Congress.

A last minute alteration to the controversial Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) that would have prevented employers demanding that prospective employees disclose social media passwords as a condition of employment was voted down in the house of representatives.

The proposal, put forward by Democrat Ed Perlmutter was defeated by a 224-189 majority, according to the Huffington Post....

Perlmutter said of his amendment before it was defeated: 'It helps the individual protect his right to privacy and it doesn't allow the employer to impersonate that particular employee when other people are interacting with that person across social media platforms.

He warned of an invasion of privacy and the potential of employers to 'impersonate' employees online.
The Democrat initially proposed the password privacy measure as part of the Federal Communications Commission Process Reform Act of 2012 and warned that social media users have a reasonable expectation of privacy...

Tom Cookman: Community Comment on Minimum Wage Proposal

Listen at KINS online.

The proposed $12 per hour minimum wage ordinance that is going before the voters may sound good on paper, but those behind this idea have failed to analyze what this will do to Eureka. The illusion that the business owners are wealthy enough to handle this increase is shortsighted, if not completely absurd.

Let's look at a small business that has 25 employees who work 40 hours per week. Increasing the amount each employee is paid by $4 per hour is not the only cost the employer incurs. With the multitude of taxes and fees added on to the hourly rate, it costs the employer a minimum of 25 cents for every dollar paid, so this $4 increase costs the business $5 per hour or $200 per week per employee. Twenty five employees will cost $5,000 more per week or $260,000 per year.

There isn't a single business that can handle this increase in expenses without passing it along to their customers, and the customers will QUIT buying from that business.

If 200 hamburgers a day were being sold, the cost per burger would have to be raised by $3.56 to cover the higher minimum wage.

If the business owners were so rich they could handle this, why do we have so many empty buildings and store fronts in Eureka? I walked the length of the Bayshore Mall and was sickened at how many empty shops there were. Drive up and down Fourth and Fifth Street and count the empty buildings.

Believe me, if these businesses that are closed were making as much money as Linda Atkins thinks they can afford, they WOULD NOT HAVE CLOSED THEIR DOORS. In most cases, the business owner has a mortgage on their home, car payments, and has put all their assets up as collateral to get the business loans and lines of credit they need to operate their business.

Eureka is a very expensive place to have a business because of the over regulations our elected officials have burdened them with.

The highest minimum wage in the United States is $10.24 per hour in San Francisco.

What could possibly warrant Eureka having the highest minimum wage in the United States? Is it our bustling manufacturing jobs? Our thriving timber and fishing industry? Did I miss the industrial development of Humboldt Bay?

Eureka is a city that is overrun with homeless drug addicts and over 50% of the people who actually have a job work for government.

If this ridiculous minimum wage law is passed you will be hard pressed to ever attract any business to locate here. the reputation we have is not a good one, transportation costs are amongst the highest in the nation. It costs a lot of money to get products in and out of our area. This deters business investment. Having a minimum wage that is 17% higher than the next highest city in the nation does one thing, and one thing only, it tells the rest of the world we are closed for business.

Business owners cannot pass along several hundred thousand dollars of expenses to their customers, so the reality is that they will either close their doors and move to a community that embraces new business or they will cut their workforce to fewer than 25 employees. They will hire out clerical and maintenance work that is currently being done in house. They will cut benefits and donations.

In South Dakota oil filed communities a fast food worker is making $18 per hour. WHY? Because businesses are thriving and the government understands that a business is an asset to a community, not a liability.

Linda Atkins needs to visit South Dakota and duplicate their practices in Eureka. The business owner is not the villain of low wages, a horrible business climate is the culprit.

Tom Cookman for Community Comment. KINS-FM 106.3

'Living wage' kills jobs - Thomas Sowell/Townhall