This Standard Is One Reason the Price of Gas Will Increase

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Photo Credit: Daily SIgnal Not thinking things through is a chronic problem with policy-makers in Washington. Superficial and easily sound-bite-able policies dominate the thoughtful-but-complex ones. For instance mandates for biofuel use would seem to be driven by basic supply and demand—more domestic fuel would lead to lower fuel prices for consumers. But the reality is more complex.

On June 26, the Congressional Budget Office released a study on the impacts of the Renewable Fuels Standard and found that, if unchanged, the RFS will increase gasoline prices by 13 to 26 cents per gallon and increase the price of diesel fuel by 30 to 51 cents per gallon by 2017. Part of the popular, bi-partisan and totally misguided Energy Independence and Security Act, the RFS promoted increased production of various forms of ethanol and biodiesel with a host of mandates and subsidies.

The failure of advanced biofuels—especially cellulosic ethanol—to meet targets,along with the constraints of blend walls and consumer rejection of E85 gasohol, would force the oil industry to pay fines for producing fuels consumers do want and take huge losses on forced production of fuels consumers don’t want.

The chart below, from the CBO report, illustrates how miserably the mandate-it-and-they-will-make-it energy policy is failing. Proponents assured Congress and the president that commercially viable production of cellulosic ethanol made from non-edible plant material was just around the corner. Not only were they wrong, but as we see from the chart, there is no end of the tunnel in sight.

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Protesters Force Buses Carrying Immigrants to Leave Murrieta: Buses Diverted to San Ysidro

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Photo Credit: Twitter A group of 140 Central American migrants who entered the United States illegally were flown from Texas to Lindbergh Field on Tuesday and then bused to a U.S. Border Patrol facility in Murrieta, where crowds of angry protesters prompted authorities to take them instead to San Ysidro.

The drivers of the three Department of Homeland Security coaches backed away from the Riverside County USBP facility and got onto southbound Interstate 15 in the late afternoon, re-entering San Diego County about 3:30 p.m.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Lauren Mack declined to disclose where the migrants were being taken, but by late afternoon, the buses were seen pulling into a Customs and Border Protection facility in San Ysidro.

According to Ron Zermeno, who is with the National Border Patrol Council, less than a dozen EMTs were conducting health screenings on the immigrants Tuesday evening. Paramedics are on scene supervising the screenings.

He told 10News two to three children were taken to the hospital for “unknown illnesses.” Their conditions were unknown. Zermeno says they are anticipating more could be taken to the hospital because many are unhealthy.

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DEACE: GOP’s Other Mississippi Senator Finds Race-Baiting Other Republicans Funny

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Photo Credit: Washington Times While many conservatives across the country are still fuming about the Obama/Alinsky race-baiting tactics the Republican Party establishment used to help K-Street corporatist puppet Thad Cochran win the Mississippi U.S. Senate runoff last week, the Magnolia State’s other GOP senator has a different reaction.

It turns out Sen. Roger Wicker finds this whole potential voter-fraud thing funny…

A post-runoff survey of Mississippi Republicans found 9 out of 10 McDaniel voters want potential voter fraud investigated, 79 percent of McDaniel voters would support him in the general if he ran as an independent, and 74 percent of McDaniel voters said they would support him as a write-in candidate. There is some precedent for write-in spoilers. Just ask the GOP establishment.

After my buddy Joe Miller won the Alaska Republican Senate primary fair and square in 2010, those sanctimoniously now crying “unity” did not hesitate to run establishment proxy Lisa Murkowski back then as a write-in candidate in the general.

By the way, last year Murkowski scored 36 percent on the FreedomWorks scorecard — the second-worst among Republicans in the U.S. Senate. For what it’s worth, Cochran wasn’t that far behind her, with a paltry 41 percent. Murkowski and Cochran each score poorly on the Heritage Foundation’s scorecard as well. Now you know why the corporatist wing of the GOP went scorched earth to keep each of them in power.

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New Allegations Point to Cochran Campaign in Mississippi Senate Vote Buying Scandal

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Photo Credit: Red StateAn audio interview has surfaced in which the interviewee claims that he was to be paid by the Cochran camp to grease voters in the Mississippi GOP Senate runoff election. The audio interview, which coincides with a separate audio recording and batch of evidence produced by the newly launched GotNews.com, a project by Charles C. Johnson, alleges that the Cochran campaign conspired with a Mississippi Reverend to buy the votes of African American voters, who happen to be democrats.

Before I get into the weeds of what is in the audio interview and transcript, which are both below, let me set up the stage a bit. What is alleged to have occurred is illegal and very serious business. Under Mississippi law the alleged crimes could lead to Thad Cochran being removed from the Senate. Everything that follows comes from sources either on the ground in Mississippi, or those working closely with them.

Reverend Fielder has claimed to have evidence that would prove illegal activity took place in the Mississippi GOP Senate run off election. Furthermore, the evidence he claims he has would implicate the Barbour machine and a staffer to Cochran’s Senate campaign. The motivations of the Reverend are not those of a saint. As is made clear throughout the interview and in the transcript, this Reverend is looking to get paid to provide information, just as he sought to get paid to deliver votes by illegal means. Reverend Fielder claims that Cochran’s people were supposed to pay him approximately $15,000 for his efforts, but failed to do so after the incumbent Senator had achieved victory in the run off.

With all of that said, if the evidence is produced and validated, I don’t know how much longer Thad Cochran will be a Senator.

Read more from this story HERE.

Texas Gun Store’s Latest Sign Looks A Lot Like A Challenge To The Gun Control Crowd

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This week’s sign, which manages to pack in a Biblical scripture as well as a clever quip under it, is no exception. From our friends at Young Conservatives:

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11 Things You Didn’t Know You Could Buy With Food Stamps

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Photo Credit: Joe Raedle / Getty ImagesFood stamps have become a major facet of the American system. And as the number of welfare recipients increases, so does the number of items that can be purchased with a food stamp Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) card.

Government assistant programs have been on a steady recipient incline for the last 50 years. For the FY 2013, a record number of Americans were receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. In 2008, 28.2 million Americans were on food stamps, and an additional 19.4 million have been added in the last five years. Today, 47 million Americans are on food stamps.

Over the past few years, EBT has been used for some “questionable” items. Here are 11 questionable items that you can (or will soon be able to) purchase with an EBT card.

Quesarito: Taco Bell is one of many fast food restaurants that accept EBT cards. Guacamole is extra? Who cares? It’s on the taxpayer.

Bail: Convicted felons – like drug dealer Kimball Clark – have reportedly used their EBT as bail money. Clark reportedly instructed someone to go to an ATM to withdraw money from his EBT for bail. Because it’s difficult to trace ATM abuse, many speculate this problem is more widespread and not just found in isolated incidents.

Read more from this story HERE.

Miller Applauds Supreme Court Ruling in Favor of Hobby Lobby

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Photo Credit: Getty Images

Joe Miller applauded the Supreme Court ruling today affirming the right of closely-held family businesses, like Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood, to opt out of the Obamcare employer mandate requiring them to provide abortion-inducing drugs in their health insurance plans. These business owners objected to this mandate under their First Amendment, free-exercise rights.

“I am very pleased with the Supreme Court’s decision,” said Miller. “While it is narrow in scope, the fact that business owners’ free exercise rights have been recognized is a step in the right direction. The Obama Administration’s chilling assault on the free exercise guaranteed in the First Amendment is outrageous, and all people of good faith, regardless of ideology, should see this as a triumph for Constitutional liberty.”

Miller maintains that this ruling demonstrates once again just how flawed Mark Begich’s 60th and deciding vote on Obamacare was. The right to free exercise of faith and conscience is foundational to the American experience, and is grounded in our God-given natural rights. Government has neither the right, nor can it have a moral mandate to coerce conscience.

“Mark Begich either doesn’t understand, or doesn’t care,” said Miller. “If it’s the latter, his callousness toward people’s deeply held religious convictions is stunning, especially when one considers his Catholic upbringing. If it’s the former, maybe some education is in order. That Mark Begich stands by his flawed vote for ObamaCare, including the federal government’s ‘authority’ to trample over Alaskans’ First Amendment rights is shocking.’”

Mexico Sorry for Border Crossing, But US Marine's Apology Not Enough

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Photo Credit: Fox News Mexican military officials are apologizing for firing from a chopper at two U.S. Border Patrol agents early Thursday, but one lawmaker says the incident draws a disturbing contrast with the case of Andrew Tahmooressi, the U.S. Marine sergeant whose apology for accidentally crossing the border hasn’t spared him a legal nightmare.

Mexican authorities were conducting a drug interdiction operation on the Tohono O’odham Indian Nation, which straddles the border, when they strayed into U.S. air space and fired at the agents, who were not injured. The reservation is a hotbed for drug smuggling, and authorities from both governments have conducted operations on it.

“Early [Thursday] morning, a Mexican law enforcement helicopter crossed approximately 100 yards north into Arizona nearly eight miles southwest of the Village of San Miguel on the Tohono O’odham Indian Nation while on a drug interdiction operation near the border,” U.S. Customs and Border Patrol spokesman Michael Friel said. “Two shots were fired from the helicopter but no injuries or damage to U.S. property were reported. The incident is currently under investigation.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Settlement Reached in 'Misleading' NY Veterans Charity Case

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Photo Credit: ReutersA direct-mail fundraising company that sent solicitations on behalf of a disabled veterans’ charity but took in most of the money raised will pay $9.7 million in damages and the charity will re-organize its board and reform its practices as part of a $24.6 million settlement, the state attorney general’s office said.

Attorney General Eric Schneiderman was expected to discuss the agreement among his office, the Disabled Veterans National Foundation charity, the Quadriga Art direct-mail company and another company, Convergence Direct Marketing, on Tuesday.

Besides the damages, the settlement calls for Quadriga to forgive $13.8 million still owed to it by the charity and pay $800,000 to the state for costs and fees. Convergence, which Schneiderman’s office said also played a role in the fundraising, will pay $300,000 in damages. The $10 million in damages from the two direct-mail vendors is slated to go to efforts to help disabled veterans including spinal cord research.

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Teen Sparks Outrage with Photos of Dead African Animals

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Photo Credit: Facebook A teenage hunter from Texas has sparked outrage on Facebook by posting pictures of herself posing with animals she has hunted and killed in Africa.

Nearly 40,000 people have signed a petition asking the social media website to remove numerous photos posted by 19-year-old Kendall Jones, according to The Huffington Post.

The photos show Jones with dead or tranquilized African animals she had hunted, including a lion, rhino, antelope, leopard, elephant, zebra and hippopotamus.

The petition reads: “For the sake of all animals, especially the animals in the African region … where hunters are going for gun just to kill an animal! Some people have been reporting the pages lately but it seems Facebook is not concerned about what Kendall Jones is promoting in her page.”

The photos show Jones with a big smile as she strikes poses next to the downed animals. In addition to the pictures, Jones typically writes a short description to inform users about the context of the photo.

Read more from this story HERE.