Complaint of ‘Cronyism’ in Attorney General Eric Holder’s Justice Department Goes Unanswered by Congress, DOJ

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photo credit: Jay TamboliA coalition of business executives and attorneys have been pressing unsuccessfully to get a Congressional review into whether Attorney General Eric Holder’s Justice Department improperly quashed a criminal investigation related to a federal bankruptcy case.

Correspondence in March and May with the House Judiciary Committee, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section suggest that top Justice Department officials may have allowed cronyism to get in the way of an investigation related to the bankruptcy filing for the Yellowstone Club, a private resort in Montana.

So far, no action appears to have been taken to investigate the allegations. The Department of Justice, the House Judiciary Committee and the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform did not respond to requests from TheBlaze Thursday regarding the status of the complaints.

The letters to the House Judiciary and Oversight committees, chaired by Reps. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) and Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) respectively, state that a more than two-year investigation by FBI, IRS and Secret Service agents led to recommendations that criminal charges be filed.

“Days later, however, the Department of Justice abruptly terminated the investigation without explanation,” the letter to the Judiciary Committee states. “The mysterious and sudden change of heart raises serious questions about the impartiality of senior Justice Department officials.”

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Study: Two-Thirds of New Jobs Created Under Obama Presidency Go To Immigrants

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Photo credit: Russ EvansTwo-thirds of those who have found employment under President Obama are immigrants, both legal and illegal, according to an analysis that suggests immigration has soaked up a large portion of what little job growth there has been over the past three years.

The Center for Immigration Studies is releasing the study Thursday morning, a day ahead of the final Labor Department unemployment report of the campaign season, which is expected to show a sluggish job market more than three years into the economic recovery.

That slow market, combined with the immigration numbers, could explain why Mr. Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney have struggled to find a winning jobs message in some of the country’s hardest-hit postindustrial regions.

“It’s extraordinary that most of the employment growth in the last four years has gone to the foreign-born, but what’s even more extraordinary is the issue has not even come up during a presidential election that is so focused on jobs,” said Steven A. Camarota, the center’s research director, who wrote the report along with demographer Karen Zeigler.

His numbers are stark: Since the first quarter of 2009, the number of immigrants of working age (16 to 65) who are employed has risen 2 million, from 21.2 million to 23.2 million. During the same time, native-born employment has risen just 1 million, to reach 119.9 million.

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New Obamacare Tax Form Mandates Americans Report Personal Health ID Info to IRS

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photo credit: majunznkWhen Obamacare’s individual mandate takes effect in 2014, all Americans who file income tax returns must complete an additional IRS tax form. The new form will require disclosure of a taxpayer’s personal identifying health information in order to determine compliance with the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate.

As confirmed by IRS testimony to the tax-writing House Committee on Ways and Means, “taxpayers will file their tax returns reporting their health insurance coverage, and/or making a payment”.

So why will the Obama IRS require your personal identifying health information?

Simply put, there is no way for the IRS to enforce Obamacare’s individual mandate without such an invasive reporting scheme. Every January, health insurance companies across America will send out tax documents to each insured individual. This tax document—a copy of which will be furnished to the IRS—must contain sufficient information for taxpayers to prove that they purchased qualifying health insurance under Obamacare.

This new tax information document must, at a minimum, contain: the name and health insurance identification number of the taxpayer; the name and tax identification number of the health insurance company; the number of months the taxpayer was covered by this insurance plan; and whether or not the plan was purchased in one of Obamacare’s “exchanges.”

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Shock Video: Surveillance Camera Reveals Violent Assault During Hurricane Sandy

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Disturbing video posted online shows a man being beaten by a group of men as Hurricane Sandy struck New York City.

The incident happened Monday in the Crown Heights section of New York.

NyDailyNews.com identified the victim as 21-year-old Jeremy Furchtgott.

Furchtgott can be seen in surveillance video posted by CrownHeights.info being assaulted by at least five men.

According to the article, Furchtgott was forced to turn over his iPhone and money to the assailants. Read more from this story HERE.

See full video HERE.

Republican National Committee Alleges Romney Early Votes Being Counted for Obama

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The Republican National Committee sent letters to election officials in Nevada and three other swing states on Thursday alleging “a significant number of cases” where voting machines cast ballots for President Barack Obama when the vote was intended for his Republican challenger, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

The RNC did not provide documented proof of its allegation.

The letter was sent to the Nevada Secretary of State’s Office as well as election officials in swing states Ohio, North Carolina, Colorado. The RNC said the alleged voting machine problems were the result of “miscalibration and hyper-sensitivity of the machines” and asked officials to recalibrate voting machines on Election Day and instruct poll workers to remind voters to double-check their votes.

A spokeswoman for the Nevada Secretary of State’s Office said a statement on the RNC claim will be issued later today.

Eric Herzik, the chairman of the political science department at the University of Nevada, Reno, said the RNC needs to “put up or shut up.”

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Second Federal Judge Halts Enforcement of Obamacare Mandate

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photo credit: Spirit JuiceA federal judge in Michigan has become the second in the nation to say he would halt the federal government’s enforcement of the Obamacare mandate that employers pay for abortifacients regardless of their religious views.

Writing that “a preliminary injunction would serve the public interest,” Judge Robert H. Cleland said in a decision issued late Wednesday that he would issue the order.

“The potential for harm to plaintiffs exists, and with the showing plaintiffs have made thus far of being able to convincingly prove their case at trial, it is properly characterized as irreparable.”

The case was brought against the federal government by the Thomas More Law Center on behalf of Legatus, a coalition of Catholic business owners, Daniel Weingartz and his company, Weingartz Supply.

The judge’s decision means the federal government will not be allowed to enforce its abortion mandate against the company until the lawsuit is resolved. The decision does not affect Legatus, the judge ruled, because, as a nonprofit, the rules for that application remain in development.

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Former Penn State President Charged in Child Sex Abuse Cover-Up

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photo credit: pennstateliveHARRISBURG, Pa.– The “conspiracy of silence” that protected Jerry Sandusky extended all the way to the top at Penn State, prosecutors said Thursday as they charged former university President Graham Spanier with hushing up child sexual abuse allegations against the former assistant football coach.

Prosecutors also added counts against two of Spanier’s former underlings, Tim Curley and Gary Schultz, who were already charged with lying to a grand jury.

“This was not a mistake by these men. This was not an oversight. It was not misjudgment on their part,” said state Attorney General Linda Kelly. “This was a conspiracy of silence by top officials to actively conceal the truth.”

Spanier’s lawyers issued a statement that asserted his innocence and described the new charges as an attempt by Gov. Tom Corbett to divert attention from the three-year investigation that began under his watch as attorney general.

“These charges are the work of a vindictive and politically motivated governor working through an unelected attorney general … whom he appointed to do his bidding,” the four defense lawyers wrote.

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Martha Stewart Sacks Dozens of Employees By Email, Right After Hurricane

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Martha Stewart has got rid of 70 staff from her lifestyle company as she downsizes, it was revealed today.

Workers only began to return to their offices in lower Manhattan on Thursday after flooding from Hurricane Sandy, where they learned of the news. Many reportedly found out they lost their jobs via email.

Living Omnimedia Inc has cut publishing jobs as it increasingly focuses on online video and other digital content.

The lifestyle, media and merchandising company said on Thursday that the move could save it $33 to $35 million per year.

Although the official statement did not reveal how many employees were being eliminated, the New York Times claimed that 70 workers would be let go – 12 per cent of the 600-person company.

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Mother Screamed for 12 Hours About Babies Swept out of Her Arms by Hurricane but No One Helped

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Police searching for two young brothers who were ripped from their mother’s arms during Superstorm Sandy have found their bodies.

The remains of Brandon, two, and Connor Moore, four, were discovered only yards from where they went missing in Staten Island, New York.

The boys’ mother Glenda Moore, 39, is said to have spent 12 hours screaming in the street after they were swept away, but residents would not help her look for them.

The boys were sucked away by floodwater after Mrs Moore’s car stalled and became stuck just before 6pm on Monday near the 400-block of Fr. Capodanno Boulevard in South Beach.

Mrs Moore, a nurse, tried to hold on to them but was overpowered by the force of the storm.

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Obama Administration Mandates Oil Firms Hire Sea Turtle Observers

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Photo credit: spakattacksThe Department of Interior (DOI) is requiring private oil companies to hire marine mammal and sea turtle monitors if the companies are granted a lease to drill offshore. A marine mammal observer’s job is to watch for whales, dolphins, and similar sea creatures and to advise on minimizing the underwater noise created by offshore drilling, which can affect the sea mammals.

The DOI announced in a press release last week that it will open up 20 million acres in the Western Gulf of Mexico for an oil and gas lease sale to be held Nov. 28, which is part of the administration’s “Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program for 2012–2017 (Five Year Program).”

The terms of the sale, which were finalized by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), include several environmental safeguards.

“These terms include measures to protect the environment, such as stipulations requiring that operators protect biologically sensitive features and provide trained observers to monitor marine mammals and sea turtles to ensure compliance and restrict operations when conditions warrant,” the release said.

“Every time we do a sale we do an environmental analysis and in that we list the terms to protect the environment,” said John Filostrat, of the BOEM Public Affairs Office. “One of those terms is requiring operators to observe marine mammals when they’re conducting operations.

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