White House Giving Up Fight Over Obamacare’s Contraception Mandate?

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Photo Credit: WND

Photo Credit: WND

The Supreme Court’s ruling in the Hobby Lobby case was met with incandescent outrage from progressives. The overturning of a mandate never passed by Congress which had not existed prior to 2010 signaled, those who consider themselves members of a class of deliberative and reasoned thinkers said, evidence of a theocratic judiciary in the United States. Recognizing the indignation on their side of the aisle, the White House responded by reassuring their base supporters that this offense would not go unanswered.

“Today’s decision jeopardizes the health of women who are employed by these companies,” White House Press Sec. Josh Earnest said…

After that ol’ college try, it seems the White House may be giving up on the fight over the contraception mandate entirely. In a move sure to dispirit their supporters, the administration is reportedly developing a compromise proposal which The Hill reports would let “nonprofits opt out of ObamaCare’s contraception mandate without filing a form they say violates their religious belief.”

On Tuesday, a senior administration official said they are working on an alternative option for religious nonprofits that do not want to fill out the document and will issue a federal regulation in the next month.

Read more from this story HERE.

Ted Cruz Questions Whether Obama 'Launched An Economic Boycott Of Israel'

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Photo Credit: Business Insider

Photo Credit: Business Insider

Freshman firebrand Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) questioned on Wednesday whether President Barack Obama has effectively “launched an economic boycott of Israel,” after the Federal Aviation Agency’s decision to bar all flights into and out of Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport for the past two days.

The Obama administration forcefully shot back at the charge, with State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf calling it “ridiculous and offensive.” She rejected any assertion the FAA’s move was at all politically motivated, saying it was only done to protect American citizens and carriers.

For its part, Cruz’s office released a lengthy statement on his behalf, blasting it out to reporters with the subject line, “Did President Obama Just Launch an Economic Boycott of Israel?” He claimed, as some in the Israeli government have over the past two days, that it effectively hands the Palestinian Islamist militant group Hamas a victory.

“Aiding Hamas while simultaneously isolating Israel does two things. One, it helps our enemy. Two, it hurts our ally,” Cruz said in the statement.

Read more from this story HERE.

FEC Chair Warns of Chilling Regulations, Book Ban On Conservative Publishers

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

The chairman of the Federal Election Commission today blasted Democratic colleagues opposed to his effort to protect conservative media after they imposed rules on the publisher of Rep. Paul Ryan’s new book, opening the door to future book regulations — or even a ban.

“By failing to affirm this publisher’s constitutional right, statutory right, to disseminate a political book free from FEC conditions and regulations, we have effectively asserted regulatory jurisdiction over a book publisher,” warned Chairman Lee E. Goodman, one of three Republicans on the six-person FEC.

“That failure reveals a festering legal uncertainty and chill for the free press rights of books and book publishers to publish and disseminate political books free from government regulation,” he added.

His comments after the FEC OK’d Republican Ryan’s request to promote his new book, The Way Forward, were immediately and sharply rebuked by Democratic Commissioner Ellen L. Weintraub. “No one is banning books,” she said.

Weintraub also hit Goodman for suggesting “that we are motivated by partisan bias, which is really not appreciated and untrue. I want to categorically deny that.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Brandeis Professors Manifest Rampant Anti-Americanism and Anti-Semitism

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Photo Credit: btrandolph / Flickr

Photo Credit: btrandolph / Flickr

Paul Miller, writing for Algemeiner.com, reveals that Brandeis University has professors on its staff who are overtly anti-American and anti-Semitic. Examining writings gleaned from a faculty listserv and reported by Daniel Mael, a student at the university, Miller notes that not only were there offensive posts on the listserv, but the university itself has stifled free speech.

The listserv, called “Concerned,” was created in 2002 “out of concern about possible war with Iraq.” The political stance it took was intransigent; co-creator Gordon Fellman wrote in a 2009 email, “It is rude to post a recipe for pork roast on a vegetarian listserv or an orthodox Jewish one, or right wing harangues on the concerned list.”

In a Breitbart News exclusive, Mael wrote, “It contains 92 subscribers, including professors from outside of the university. Participants express their fear and disdain on issues ranging from United States foreign and domestic policy, the ‘American system’ and ‘the Israelists,’ to ‘President Obomber,’ and ‘Hillary Obliterate Iran! Clinton.’ ”

East Asian Studies Professor Donald Hindley is the most obvious case of rampant anti-Semitism; in 2007 he compared Israel to Nazi Germany in a 2007 listserv email with the subject line, “Plant a Tree, Bury a Palestinian,” commenting in the email, “Zionist olive trees grow wondrously on Palestinian corpses. In that way, we combine great trees with our own holocaustic ethnic cleansing.”

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Kaufman County: No Illegal Immigrant Children Here

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Photo Credit: Ross D. Franklin-Pool / Getty

Photo Credit: Ross D. Franklin-Pool / Getty

Kaufman County Commissioners approved a resolution on Monday telling the federal government that they don’t want to house any illegal immigrants in their communities.

It came about after Kaufman County Tea Party Chairman Ray Myers and others appealed to the commissioners court.

“It basically says that we are opposed to the dropping of the illegals in Kaufman county, regardless of if they’re kids or whatever they are,” said Myers. “We’re just opposed to those people coming in because of the possibility of disease, the possibility of drug cartels or things of that nature. There’s already indications of disease; there’s already indications that they’re covering up disease at Lackland Air Force Base… and we know that the government is covering up those things at Lackland and other places.”

Myers goes onto say that they’re opposed to how the federal government is handling the crisis on the border. “We’re not interested in having illegal immigration in Kaufman County; we don’t believe that it’s constitutional.”

Read more from this story HERE.

See How Changing Your Gender In Alaska Is As Easy As Counting To Three

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Photo Credit: U.S. Army Alaska (USARAK / Flickr)

Photo Credit: U.S. Army Alaska (USARAK / Flickr)

Alaska Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell, a Republican candidate in the state’s upcoming U.S. Senate race, recently received praise from a group not often solicited by members of his party. The Alaska chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union issued a press release celebrating his decision to allow citizens to pick whichever gender they wish when applying for a driver’s license.

ACLU of Alaska Executive Director Jeffrey Mittman offered a glowing endorsement of the recent regulation.

“We appreciate the work of the Department of Motor Vehicles and the Lt. Governor’s office in crafting a regulation that recognizes the importance and legitimate needs of transgender Alaskans,” he said.

According to the new rule, any Alaskan – without surgery – may choose whichever gender he or she wishes. Mittman and Treadwell apparently agree that extending this courtesy to the transgender community is worth any potential abuse and confusion that may result.

“All Alaskans must be able to obtain a driver’s license that accurately reflects their gender and avoids disclosure of sensitive personal information unrelated to their ability to safely drive a motor vehicle,” Mittman asserted. “The government should never needlessly intrude into mandating specific medical procedures.”

Read more from this story HERE.

White House To Ignore Court Ruling, Keep Handing Out Obamacare Subsidies

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Photo Credit: REUTERS / Kevin Lamarque

Photo Credit: REUTERS / Kevin Lamarque

The Obama administration will continue handing out Obamacare subsidies to federal exchange customers despite a federal court’s ruling Tuesday that the subsidies are illegal.

A D.C. Court of Appeals panel ruled Tuesday morning that customers in the 36 states that didn’t establish their own exchange and use HealthCare.gov instead cannot be given premium tax credits, according to the text of the Affordable Care Act itself.

But the White House said in response that it will continue handing out the billions of taxpayer dollars in subsidies…

Read more from this story HERE.

Policing America

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Photo Credit: TownHall

Photo Credit: TownHall

I want the police to be better armed than the bad guys, but what exactly does that mean today?

Apparently it means the Pentagon and Department of Homeland Security equip even the tiniest rural police departments with massive military vehicles, body armor and grenade launchers. The equipment is surplus from the long wars we fought in Iraq and Afghanistan.

To a hammer, everything resembles a nail. SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) teams were once used only in emergencies such as riots or robberies where hostages were taken. But today there are more than 50,000 “no-knock raids” a year.

It’s not because crime got worse. There is less crime today. Crime peaked around 1990 and is now at a 40-year low. But as politicians keep passing new criminal laws, police find new reasons to deploy their heavy equipment.

Washington Post reporter Radley Balko points out that they’ve used SWAT teams to raid such threatening haunts as truck stops with video poker machines, unlicensed barber shops and a frat house where underage drinking was reported.

Read more from this story HERE.

Report: Terror Group Behind Benghazi Attacks Moved In Nearby U.S. Consulate and ‘Nothing Was Done’ (+video)

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Photo Credit: Washington Examiner

Photo Credit: Washington Examiner

By Justen Charters.

New information has come to light surrounding the September 11th terror attacks on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi.

From Fox News:

Fox News’ Adam Housley reported that within three weeks of the U.S. renting the compound, a group aligned with Ansar al-Sharia – the terror organization believed to be behind the attack – moved in nearby.

Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: Government

Photo Credit: Government

‘Is This How The Benghazi Talking Points Were Developed?’ Govt Watchdogs Blast Kerry Aide’s Use Of Gmail Account

By Brendan Bordelon.

Two top government watchdogs in Washington D.C. slammed a key aide to Secretary of State John Kerry for using a private Gmail account to conduct official government business, calling it “the worst possible practice in trying to maintain transparency” and speculating whether this was “how the Benghazi talking points were developed.”

The Daily Caller reported on Monday that Glen Johnson, a strategic communications advisor to Kerry, fabricated a claim about the number of times Kerry appeared on “Fox News Sunday” while attempting to force TheDC to change a report which said that the secretary had “shut out” Fox News reporter Chris Wallace from interviews.

Johnson used his personal Gmail account to contact TheDC, though he did also forward the initial email to his government address. As deputy assistant secretary of public affairs, corresponding with journalists counts as Johnson’s official government business. Johnson also signed the first email with his official title.

The State Department official did not appear to carbon copy his government address in a subsequent email to TheDC apologizing for the claims in his original message.

Tom Fitton, president of the conservative government watchdog Judicial Watch, insists that it’s important for federal employees to use official communication channels — especially if they’re high-ranking or in positions of public interest.

Read more from this story HERE.

House Investigators: IRS Tech Experts Say Lerner’s Hard Drive Only 'Scratched,' Not Destroyed

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

By Fox News.

House investigators said Tuesday that the computer hard drive of ex-agency official Lois Lerner — a key figure in the IRS targeting scandal — was only “scratched,” not irreparably damaged, as Americans have been led to believe.

GOP-led Ways and Means Committee investigators, in their quest to recover missing Lerner emails, learned her hard drive was damaged but recoverable by talking to IRS information-technology experts, after the government originally refused to make them available, according to the committee.

“It is unbelievable that we cannot get a simple, straight answer from the IRS about this hard drive,” said committee Chairman Dave Camp.

The Michigan Republican said the new information also raises more questions about potential criminal wrongdoing at the IRS because the committee was told no data was recoverable and the physical hard drive was recycled and potentially shredded.

In addition, learning that the hard drive was only scratched also raises questions about why the IRS refused to use outside experts to recover the data.

Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: REUTERS / Jonathan Ernst

Photo Credit: REUTERS / Jonathan Ernst

Lois Lerner’s Hard Drive Was ‘Scratched’ Then ‘Shredded’

By Patrick Howley.

Ex-IRS official Lois Lerner’s computer hard drive was “scratched” and the data on it was still recoverable. But the IRS did not try to recover the data from Lerner’s hard drive, despite recommendations from in-house IRS IT experts to outsource the recovery project.

The hard drive was then “shredded,” according to a court filing the IRS made to House Ways and Means Committee investigators.

The IRS claims that it lost Lerner’s emails from 2009 to 2011 including emails to and from the White House, when her computer crashed in the midst of the agency’s conservative targeting program. The IRS also claimed in a transcribed interview that many other IRS employees who worked under Lerner in her Washington, D.C. department and its Cincinnati-based affiliate also experienced computer crashes that deleted their emails, bringing the total number of crash victims to “less than 20.”

Read more from this story HERE.