Obama Pledges $3B to Aid . . . Climate Change (P.S. It will be spent by the United Nations)

Photo Credit: TownHall

Photo Credit: TownHall

The United States will give $3 billion to a U.N.-established fund to help poorer vulnerable countries prepare for a changing climate and develop cleaner energy, President Barack Obama announced Saturday.

The United Nations is trying to raise at least $10 billion for its Green Climate Fund to help developing nations adjust to rising seas, warmer temperatures and more extreme weather. It also would help the nations come up with energy sources that limit or reduce heat-trapping carbon dioxide emissions from coal, oil and gas.

Obama said the money would help farmers plant more resilient crops, governments to cut carbon dioxide emissions and communities to develop better defenses against storm surges and other climate-related changes.

But Obama said combatting climate change cannot be the work of government alone. “Citizens— especially young people like you — have to keep raising your voices, because you deserve to live your lives in a world that is cleaner and healthier,” he said while announcing the pledge during a speech at a university in Brisbane, Australia.

The American pledge would be the biggest to date and would double contributions to $6 billion, according to international environmental groups.

Read more from this story HERE.

School Replaces 'Hall of Heroes' Murals Honoring Mother Teresa, Others with Oprah, J.K. Rowling

Photo Credit: Craig Bergman

Photo Credit: Craig Bergman

For years, boys and girls at South Arbor Charter Academy have been inspired by Heroes Hall – a corridor featuring murals that honored the Space Shuttle Columbia astronauts, Mother Teresa, Betsy Ross and Albert Einstein.

But many parents are furious after the principal had the murals replaced with paintings honoring President Obama, J.K. Rowling and Oprah.

“This is no longer a hall of heroes,” parent Craig Bergman told me. “Now we have a hall of celebrities.”

The original mural had been a part of the Michigan charter school for years. It included a diverse group of national and global “heroes” – from Gandhi to the astronauts who were killed when the Space Shuttle Columbia exploded over Texas.

Those images were replaced with President Obama, Oprah, Maya Angelou, “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling and Walt Disney.

Read more from this story HERE.

Immigrants Make Up 42 Percent of ObamaCare Medicaid Expansion

Photo Credit: Breitbart

Photo Credit: Breitbart

By Matthew Boyle.

People who weren’t even born in America are taking significant advantage of one of Obamacare’s single-most expensive benefits, the expansion of Medicaid, a new report from the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) shows. In fact, immigrants have accounted for 42 percent of the growth in Medicaid enrollment since Obamacare began being implemented in 2011, the report finds.

“The high rate and significant growth in Medicaid associated with immigrants is mainly the result of a legal immigration system that admits large numbers of immigrants with relatively low-levels of education, many of whom end up poor and uninsured,” report co-author Steven Camarota of CIS says. “This fact, coupled with the extensive supports we provide to low-income residents unavoidably creates very significant costs for taxpayers.”

The report, which Camarota authored with Karen Zeigler, finds that from 2011 to 2013 a whopping 42 percent of Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion went to immigrants and their children rather than to native-born U.S. citizens and their families.

Camarota and Zeigler wrote that it “seems almost certain” that such immigrants and their children “will continue to benefit disproportionately from Obamacare, as they remain much more likely than natives to be uninsured or poor.”
The report finds that the immigrants who are taking advantage of these government benefits are generally those who immigrated to the U.S. legally. That means illegal aliens, who could be granted executive amnesty by President Obama if he moves forward with his plans for such an order, would also likely have access to the Obamacare benefits.

Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

Working for ICE ‘is hell right now,’ as Obama plans amnesty for illegals

By Paul Bedard.

Morale among officers at Immigration and Customs Enforcement, already low, has reached a new bottom as illegal immigrants expecting amnesty from President Obama taunt and ridicule the overworked officers, according to a new report.

“Yes,” said one, “working for this agency is hell right now.”

That was the latest message to immigration policy critic Jessica M. Vaughan, director of policy studies for the Center for Immigration Studies. She has charted the woes of the officers who carry out the president’s orders.

In a new paper, she wrote:

“The president’s gradual, calculated dismantling of our immigration system has caused morale to plummet in the agencies of the Department of Homeland Security. Career immigration officials have courageously objected in public, and sometimes resorted to lawsuits to draw attention to the administration’s subversion of the law. In denial about their principled objections to his scheme, now the president is hoping to stifle their voices by offering them a pay increase as part of this outrageous plan. His assumption that they are motivated by money shows just how little respect he has for the men and women who have devoted their careers to public service in immigration.”

Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: Breitbart

Photo Credit: Breitbart

BIDEN PROMISES REFUGEE STATUS TO CENTRAL AMERICANS UNDER 21

By SARAH RUMPF.

On Friday, Vice President Joe Biden promised that the White House would allow an expansion of the United States’ refugee program to offer refugee status to children and young adults from Central America. He made the announcement in a speech at the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington, D.C. This announcement comes on the heels of President Obama’s vow to pass additional sweeping immigration reforms by executive order before the end of the year, a move strongly opposed by Republicans in Congress.

Previous U.S. immigration policy included a program that allowed up to 4,000 people a year from Cuba and Columbia to apply for refugee status. The new policy, as described by Biden, would expand that program to people under age 21 from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras who already have a parent in the U.S. legally, to allow them to come and join their parents.

“It provides those seeking asylum a ‘right way’ to come to our country, as opposed to crossing the border illegally,” said Biden about the new policy. “The program will provide a safe, legal, and orderly alternative to the dangerous journey that some children make — and some children don’t ever arrive, don’t ever make.”

The program would begin in December, and according to a statement by the State Department, applications would be initiated in the U.S. by the parent who was legally here. If a second parent still remained with the child in the home country and was legally married to the parent in the U.S., the second parent could also be added to the application.

Read more from this story HERE.

Cashier Tells Mom of Toddler With Down Syndrome: “Bet You Wish You Knew Before He Came Out”

Photo Credit: LifeNews

Photo Credit: LifeNews

Most unborn children diagnosed in the womb with Down syndrome are aborted and never given a chance to live their lives.

Part of the problem is a culture that wrongly believes people with Down syndrome are less valuable than others. An incident at a store where a mother of a two-year-old with the genetic condition had to deal with a cashier prejudiced against children with Down syndrome reinforced that problematic pro-abortion stereotype.

A blogger named Sherry wrote on her blog about an incident with her two-year-old son Gabe [above], who has Down syndrome. Sherry wrote on her blog “Hand Me Downs”that she was tempted to punch the employee but she delivered a more appropriate response:

Sometimes I forget that our son has Down syndrome. It’s easy to be distracted by his two year old tantrums, his mischievous smile and go getter attitude. Gabe is kind hearted but stubborn.

Sometimes I forget, and that makes it even harder when someone reminds me in a not so kind way….

Read more from this story HERE.

One Nation Under Godlessness

Photo Credit: AllianceDefendingFreedom.org

Photo Credit: AllianceDefendingFreedom.org

Cheating. Bullying. Cybersexting. Hazing. Molestation. Suicide. Drug abuse. Murder. From scanning the headlines of the latest scandals in America’s schools, it’s quite clear that the problem is not that there’s too much God in students’ lives.

The problem is that there isn’t nearly enough of Him.

With the malfunction of moral seatbelts and the erosion of moral guardrails, too many kids have turned to a pantheon of false gods, crutches, and palliatives. They’re obsessed with Slender Man and Vampire Diaries. Alex from Target’s hair and Rihanna’s tattoos. Overpriced basketball sneakers and underdressed reality stars. Choking games and YouTube games. Gossip and hookups. Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat.

It’s all about selfies over self-control, blurred lines over bright lines.

In a metastatic youth culture of soullessness and rootlessness, the idea of high-school teens voluntarily using their free time to pray and sing hymns is not just a breath of fresh air. It’s salvation.

Read more from this story HERE.

IG: $2 Billion in Benefits for 25,000 People Wrongly Awarded

Photo Credit: iStock Photo

Photo Credit: iStock Photo

Lax Social Security judges improperly awarded nearly 25,000 people $2 billion over a seven-year period, the Social Security inspector general reported Friday.

In a report that was requested by the Republican-led House Oversight and Government Reform Committee in January, Inspector General Patrick O’Carroll Jr., found 44 Social Security administrative law judges who approved the vast majority of their claimants, over 85 percent of cases.

Taking a sample of the cases approved by those judges and referring questionable awards to Social Security’s own quality monitor, the inspector general extrapolated that those judges accounted for nearly 25,000 beneficiaries whose awards may have been granted improperly.

Over the past seven years, the inspector general estimated, Social Security has spent $2 billion on those disability recipients and will “continue paying approximately $273 million to these same beneficiaries over the next 12 months.”

Darrell Issa, the Republican chairman of the House Oversight Committee, criticized the Social Security Administration in a statement accompanying the release, saying that its “failure to conduct timely medical eligibility reviews has resulted in rubber-stamped decisions that have and will continue to cost taxpayers billions in improper awards. In failing to take meaningful disciplinary action at the Social Security Administration, even after the most egregious cases of mismanagement, taxpayers are left to wonder — who is looking after their tax dollars.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Trey Gowdy Says No to Impeachment: ‘Have You Met Joe Biden?’

Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

Republican bulldog Rep. Trey Gowdy put the kibosh on the idea of impeaching President Obama during a nationally television Fox News interview, telling his broadcast audience that booting the commander-in-chief from his office would open the doors to something even worse —the ascension of Vice President Joseph R. Biden.

First, host Bill O’Reilly asked Mr. Gowdy what he thought of the argument made by Judge Andrew Napolitano — that Mr. Obama’s proposed executive orders to grant amnesty to millions of illegals would rise to the level of an impeachable offense, The Daily Caller reported.

“What about [that?] … That this is an impeachable situation because it does go against Congress making the laws, because the president is making a new law ,” Mr. O’Reilly said…

Read more from this story HERE.

West Virginia to Remove Words ‘Husband’ and ‘Wife’ From All State Tax Forms

Photo Credit: Shutterstock.com

Photo Credit: Shutterstock.com

In the wake of two federal court rulings striking down West Virginia’s marriage protection amendment, which had previously defined marriage as a union between one man and one woman, the state tax department has announced starting next year, it will remove the words “husband” and “wife” from all tax forms and informational materials, replacing them with the more gender-neutral “spouse.”

Until then, the agency says same-sex couples can use the current tax forms with the understanding that a married household may have two “husbands” or two “wives” under the new definition of marriage in the state.

According to a notice issued October 14, the tax department has revised its definitions of “spouse,” “husband,” and “wife” to include individuals who are “married” to a person of the same sex.

“The term ‘marriage’ includes marriage between individuals of the same sex, lawfully married under the law of any domestic or foreign jurisdiction having legal authority to sanction marriages,” the notice read. “Beginning with Tax Year 2014, West Virginia Personal Income Tax returns reflecting a married status that are filed by lawfully married individuals will be processed without regard to the gender or sexual orientation of the married partners.”

Read more from this story HERE.

House Approves Keystone XL Pipeline

Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

The House passed legislation Friday that would green-light the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline, as attention now shifts to an upcoming Senate vote next week.

The bill from Rep. Bill Cassidy, R-La., passed 252-161, with all Republicans supporting — except one who voted present — and 31 Democrats joining them. Sens. Mary Landrieu, D-La., and John Hoeven, R-N.D., have floated the same bill in the upper chamber, which is scheduled for a Tuesday vote.

President Obama, however, hinted Friday that he would veto the bill if it reached his desk. He reiterated that he would not let legislation circumvent the review process at the State Department, which has had the application for a cross-border permit needed to build the pipeline’s northern leg for more than six years.

“My position hasn’t changed, that this is a process that is supposed to be followed,” Obama said during a press conference in Burma, dashing some speculation that he could OK the legislation as an olive branch to the incoming Republican-led Senate.

Read more from this story HERE.

Two More Businesses Win Against HHS Mandate

Photo Credit: American Life League

Photo Credit: American Life League

Two Missouri businesses are claiming victory over the Obama administration’s contraception and abortion drug mandate.

In a decision that has been expected since the Supreme Court ruled against the administration in Burwell vs. Hobby Lobby, U.S. District Judge Ortrie Smith said that Reed Automotive Inc. and Sioux Chief Manufacturing Co. did not have to follow the mandate’s requirements.

In the Hobby Lobby case, the Supreme Court ruled that closely-held for-profit corporations may refuse to follow the mandate under the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act…

Read more from this story HERE.