Senate Approves Obama's Anti-Gun Surgeon General Nominee

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Credit - Newsy

Credit – Newsy

The Senate on Monday approved President Obama’s nomination of Dr. Vivek Murthy to serve as U.S. surgeon general, despite opposition from Republicans and some Democrats over his support for gun control and past statements that gun violence is a public health issue.

Murthy, 37, a physician at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital and instructor at Harvard Medical School, won confirmation on a vote of 51-43. He’s a co-founder of Doctors for America, a group that has pushed for affordable health care and supports Obama’s health care law.

Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said most of Murthy’s career has been spent as an activist focused on gun control and other political issues, rather than on treating patients. “Americans don’t want a surgeon general who might use this position of trust to promote his own personal campaign against the Second Amendment of the Constitution,” Barrasso said.

Supporters said Murthy is well-qualified and noted his promise not to use the position as a bully pulpit for gun control.

The nation has been without a Senate-confirmed surgeon general since July 2013. The surgeon general does not set policy but is an advocate for the people’s health.

Here is the Roll Call.

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Rand Paul Introduces Bill to Undo Executive Amnesty

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has filed a bill seeking to repeal President Obama’s executive order that delays deportation of five million immigrants, the Courier Journal reported Saturday.

Paul’s bill, “Preventing Executive Overreach on Immigration Act,” is companion legislation to a House bill passed last week from Rep. Ted Yoho (R-Fla.)

The Kentucky Republican’s proposal, posted on his website Friday, prohibits the president from using discretion when determining who to deport.

Read more from this story HERE.

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Senator Paul Introduces Legislation to Prevent President Obama’s Executive Amnesty

Senator Rand Paul today introduced the Preventing Executive Overreach on Immigration Act. This is companion legislation to Congressman Ted Yoho’s bill (H.R. 5759) that passed the House of Representatives on December 4, 2014 on a 219-197 vote.

This legislation would end President Obama’s executive action on immigration and restore the Congress’ constitutional role as the body to craft legislation. Article I of the Constitution places the legislative powers in Congress. The President does not have the power under the Constitution to rewrite immigration laws to exempt classes of people from a law that was passed by Congress and signed into law.

“I believe that the Constitution is clear that the legislative power resides in Congress. The President is not a king and he does not have the power to enact laws then execute his own laws. Our Constitution is being violated by this executive order and other actions by the Obama Administration to govern by executive fiat,” Sen. Paul stated.

A copy of the legislation can be found HERE.

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Russian Bear Back on the Prowl: Is NATO Ready?

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Photo Credit: CNN

Photo Credit: CNN

BRUSSELS AND STOCKHOLM — A famous 1984 Ronald Reagan presidential campaign commercial warned voters that “there is a bear in the woods.”

It was a reminder that the Soviet Union was a dangerous adversary and that America needed a strong military to oppose the Russian “bear.”

In 2014, there is a bear in the woods again. But this time, NATO and Western Europe seem unprepared.

After the fall of the Soviet Union, Western Europe began to disarm. Now, it’s scrambling to rearm.

When a suspected Russian sub was found lurking in Swedish waters in October, Sweden, a NATO “partner,” was unable to find it, perhaps because it scrapped its anti-submarine helicopters.

Read more from this story HERE.

Falling World Oil Prices Wreak Havoc With Alaska State Budget

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Getty Images

Getty Images

As Allen Newton, 58, filled his ice-caked Ford Expedition for $3.15 a gallon, he happily tried to remember the last time gasoline was so cheap here in Alaska’s biggest city.

“It’s been a long time coming,” Newton said Sunday afternoon, breath steaming outside a downtown gas station.

At the same time a few blocks away, freshly elected Gov. Bill Walker met with his new bipartisan Cabinet. He was talking about oil prices too.

A crash in Alaska North Slope crude prices that echoes a worldwide drop in the price of oil has raised the possibility of multibillion-dollar deficits in a state where 88 cents of every dollar spent by state government comes from oil production.

Alaska crude hit a four-year low of $60.80 a barrel Thursday, a collapse that threatens jobs, public services and some of the ambitious infrastructure projects needed to harness and navigate the state’s vast natural landscape. State officials are now projecting a $3.5-billion shortfall in funding the state’s original spending plans. (Read more from this story HERE)

DeMint: Gruber Should Be Given a Medal for Honesty

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Credit: KEVIN DIETSCH/UPI/Newscom

Credit: KEVIN DIETSCH/UPI/Newscom

Key Obamacare architect Jonathan Gruber has been under a hot spotlight recently for disparaging comments he made about his fellow citizens.

In a series of videos taken at various conferences and lectures between 2010 and 2013, Gruber claimed that the effects of Obamacare had to be hidden from Americans because of “the stupidity of the American voter.” The Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor said that “lack of transparency is a huge political advantage” in writing such legislation and likened its critics to “my adolescent children.”

Adding, well, injury to the insult, it’s been discovered that Gruber received almost $6 million in taxpayer dollars for his various services in designing and consulting on Obamacare.

This rolling disgrace culminated Tuesday in a particularly stern hearing by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which gave the penitent Gruber a thorough dressing-down.

Ouch.

While I hate to disagree with the formidable Rep. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., I think Gruber should be given a medal for honesty!

Don’t get me wrong: Gruber’s erstwhile opinions about his fellow Americans are despicable. But he was only echoing a common sentiment among the American Left: You are too stupid to run your own life. It’s just rare that they tell us directly.

Read more from this story HERE.

Divorce Rates Declining?

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Credit: LOREY SEBASTIAN/KRT/Newscom

Credit: LOREY SEBASTIAN/KRT/Newscom

”Divorce is on the rise.” At least, that’s the story Americans often hear, as New York Times reporter Claire Cain Miller explained earlier this month. But what does the data say?

Divorce rate data is far from perfect, but the general consensus among researchers is that divorce actually has declined since the 1980s, as this chart from Heritage’s 2014 Index of Culture and Opportunity shows. Divorce rates peaked in the early 1980s, after which they began trending downward. And researchers suggest that the lifetime probability of divorce is somewhere between 40 percent and 50 percent.

It’s also important to remember that many factors decrease the likelihood of divorce significantly. For example, couples who attended religious services frequently were about 2.5 times less likely to divorce compared to couples who never attended church. Having a college education decreases the likelihood of divorce by 25 percent, and waiting to have children until after marriage drops the likelihood of divorce by about the same amount.

Read more from this story HERE.

Heritage: 17 Political Books and Movies That Would Make Great Christmas Gifts

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Credit - Newscom

Credit – Newscom

Christmas is just around the corner. If you’re still searching for the perfect gift, take a look at what’s on our Christmas list:

1. “America: Imagine the World Without Her”

Dinesh D’Souza’s latest film, based on his New York Times bestselling book, refutes several attempts to portray America as the great purveyor of injustice—a perfect gift for high-schoolers studying U.S. history.

2. “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington”

In this classic 1939 film, Jimmy Stewart portrays Jefferson Smith, a patriotic leader of the Boy Rangers who is suddenly appointed a senator. The naïve Smith must confront the corruption he finds in Washington and in his childhood hero. “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” is a great gift for patriots and movie buffs alike.

3. “Witness” by Whittaker Chambers

William F. Buckley once described Chambers as “the most important American defector from communism.” This compelling autobiography by the former Soviet spy makes a great gift for Cold War junkies.

Photo: Amazon Product Image, ‘Saving Private Ryan’

4. “Saving Private Ryan”

Based on the devastating invasion of Normandy during World War II, this film was named the “best war film of all time” in a 2009 poll of movie fans.

5. “America’s Way Back” by Donald Devine

This book reveals the insight of President Reagan’s former director of the Office of Personnel Management who the New York Times once referred to as “the Grinch.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Breaking News – Islamic Terrorist Takes Hostages in Sydney

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Credit - Townhall.com

Credit – Townhall.com

The rise of ISIS-inspired terrorist threats in Australia has been a growing problem. Last September, for example, hundreds of officers conducted a series of raids throughout Sydney and Brisbane that authorities claimed stopped a major terrorist plot in its tracks. More than a dozen suspected terrorists were apprehended and detained.

Now, however, a café in the same city has reportedly been overrun by a lone gunman, and civilians are being detained against their will. A black, Arabic flag has also been put on display:

Hostages were being held inside a central Sydney cafe where a black flag with white Arabic writing could be seen in the window, local television showed on Monday, raising fears of an attack linked to Islamic militants.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott said he was convening a meeting of the cabinet’s national security committee for a briefing on what he called a hostage situation in Australia’s commercial capital.

Australia, which is backing the United States and its escalating action against Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, is on high alert for attacks by radicalised Muslims or by home-grown fighters returning from the conflict in the Middle East.

Read more from this story HERE.

Cromnibus Passes Senate – Here's the Roll Call

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Credit - Daily Signal

Credit – Daily Signal

The Senate tonight passed a $1.1 trillion bill to fund most of the federal government through the current fiscal year, averting another partial shutdown amid sharp disagreements on regulating immigration, financial institutions and election campaigns.

The Senate’s bipartisan 56-40 vote, coming after an unusual Saturday session, cleared the way for President Obama to sign the spending bill, which he has said he will do.

Senate conservatives, led by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, had tried to slow passage of the bill — forcing senators to work the weekend rather than return Monday. They objected that it did not “defund” Obama’s executive actions to grant legal status to millions of illegal immigrants.

The upper chamber’s action follows a 219-206 vote by the House of Representatives less than three hours before a midnight deadline Thursday night. As in the House, both liberals and conservatives were unhappy with aspects of the spending bill.

When the final vote came just before 10, more Senate Democrats (21) voted against the bill than did Republicans (18), signaling the odd alliances created by the funding measure. One independent, Bernie Sanders of Vermont, also rejected the measure. (Here is the roll call.)

Read more from this story HERE.

Controversial New Obama Admin College Rating System Taking Heat

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Credit - Fox News

Credit – Fox News

WASHINGTON – A controversial Obama administration rating system for colleges and universities already is being scrutinized ahead of its late-December rollout by educators who claim the government’s goal of more transparency could come at the expense of schools that don’t happen to fit the ivory tower model.

The federal government, with its long-awaited rating system, is trying to hold the country’s 7,000 colleges and universities accountable not only to taxpayers, but also to prospective students trying to weigh the pros and cons of different institutions.

But it has many in the education community on edge. Several colleges and education associations have launched a preemptive PR strike against the plan, though the details haven’t yet been released.

“I don’t know how they can complain about something that isn’t even out,” a source at the Department of Education told FoxNews.com on condition of anonymity.

The ratings system, rumored to be released on Dec. 19, is likely to re-ignite the debate on the federal government’s role in higher education. The Obama administration has had to balance its position as a cheerleader for innovation with its demands for colleges and universities to rein in tuition costs, while also pressing the institutions to produce more employable graduates.

Read more from this story HERE.