California Husband and Wife Die 4 Hours Apart after 62 Years of Marriage

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Photo Credit: AP / Melissa Sloan

Photo Credit: AP / Melissa Sloan

Don and Maxine Simpson were married for 62 years, and not even death could keep them apart for long.

According to the couple’s granddaughter, Melissa Sloan, the Simpsons, of Bakersfield, Calif., passed away approximately four hours apart on the morning of July 21. Maxine, 87, had suffered from bladder cancer, while 90-year-old Don had struggled with Alzheimer’s disease and suffered a broken hip and pneumonia in the week before his death.

The couple had lived in Bakersfield since the early 1950s, though neither were California natives They were introduced by mutual friends at a local bowling alley. Don proposed six months later, and they were married in 1952.

Read more from this story HERE.

Stop the Coming Obamnesty!

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Photo Credit: TownHall

Photo Credit: TownHall

By Pat Buchanan.

According to Rep. Luis Gutierrez, Obama intends “to act broadly and generously” on behalf of the “millions and millions” of illegal immigrants in the United States today.

Gutierrez, who meets often with the president, is implying that Obama, before Labor Day and by executive order, will grant de facto amnesty to five million illegal immigrants.

They will be granted work permits and permission to stay. With his pen and his phone, Obama will do what Congress has refused to do.

There is a precedent. Obama has already issued one executive order deferring the deportation of “dreamers,” children brought into the United States illegally by their parents before 2007.

Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions is on to what is afoot. “We must prevent the president’s massive amnesty from going forward,” he says, and urges legislation to block an executive amnesty. But this divided Congress is not going to pass any such law. Nor would Obama sign it.

Read more from this story HERE.

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Rep. King Reignites Impeachment Debate, White House Unconvinced House has Dropped the Issue

Photo Credit: Examiner

Photo Credit: Examiner

By Fox News.

Iowa GOP Rep. Steve King reignited the debate Sunday about the Republican-led House considering impeachment proceedings for President Obama, just days after party leaders furiously tried to extinguish such talk.

King suggested on “Fox News Sunday” that the impeachment issue could be reconsidered if Obama again uses his executive powers to delay or defer deportation for illegal immigrants beyond those brought illegally to the United States in past years by their parents.

“I think then we have to start, sit down and take a look at that,” King said.

Political observers have suggested Obama will expand his 2012 executive memo on deportation to include the surge of illegal Central American youths because Congress on Friday went on a five-week summer recess without passing legislation to help fix the crisis.

The GOP-led House passed legislation, but the Democrat-led Senate did not.

Read more from this story HERE.

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Did Rubio’s immigration flip-flop rehabilitate his image among Republicans?

By Noah Rothman.

Once a strong 2016 contender, Sen. Marco Rubio’s (R-FL) stock among conservatives dropped significantly after he helped to craft the Senate’s immigration reform bill.

Preliminary 2016 polling, which had shown Rubio at the top of the prospective GOP pack in late 2012 and early 2013, revealed his standing among conservatives had collapsed by the beginning of this year. Some analysts indicated that Rubio would ultimately recover from his immigration reform-induced collapse in the polls – his likely 2016 GOP opponents are not well positioned to attack the Florida senator from the right on immigration issues – but it would be months before Rubio would have the chance to rehabilitate his image with conservatives.

But the crisis on the southern border has provided Rubio with an opportunity to create some distance from his own immigration reform bill and to adopt a more hawkish stance on border security. Rubio has made the most of that opportunity, and it seems to be bearing fruit.

A recent Quinnipiac survey of the 2016 landscape in Florida found Rubio rebounding significantly among conservative voters in that critical Super Tuesday state. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who had been consistently trouncing his potential GOP opponents in his home state, has slid significantly among Republican primary voters. An April Quinnipiac poll found Rubio trailing both Bush and Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY). By July, however, Rubio had regained standing among Florida Republicans and is now statistically tied with Bush, at 18 and 21 percent support respectively, in the race for the GOP nomination in Florida.

Rubio’s penance on immigration reform is, however, coming at a price. While Rubio’s stock among conservatives is on the rise, standing in the media is falling proportionally.

Read more from this story HERE.

Democrat Finds Something Sweet To Tax While Reminding Us What Freedom Doesn’t Look Like

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Photo Credit: IJ Review

Photo Credit: IJ Review

By Kevin Boyd.

Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-Connecticut) has found another revenue stream for the federal government: sugar-sweetened soft drinks. Whether you call it pop, soda or coke, DeLauro wants to impose a 1 cent excise tax per teaspoon of caloric sweetener (either sugar or corn syrup) used in sodas, sports drinks, energy drinks, and sweet teas.

Elizabeth Harrington of the Washington Free Beacon writes that DeLauro has gained the support of activists who banned smoking indoors and other health advocates who called sodas “toxic.” The goal is to reduce soda consumption in the country.

From the Free Beacon:

DeLauro introduced the Sugar-Sweetened Beverages Tax Act, also known as the “SWEET Act,” on Wednesday, which would impose a 1 cent excise tax per teaspoon of caloric sweetener in soda, energy drinks, sports drinks, and sweet teas.

Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

Rep. DeLauro: Tax Every Teaspoon of Sugar

By Eric Scheiner.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) introduced this week the Sugar-Sweetened Beverages Tax (SWEET Act), which aims to institute a tax of one cent per teaspoon – 4.2 grams – of sugar, high fructose corn syrup or caloric sweetener.

The measure (HB 5279), introduced Wednesday says, “A 20-ounce bottle of soda contains about 16 teaspoons of sugars. Yet, the American Heart Association recommends that Americans consume no more than six to nine teaspoons of sugar per day.”

Even though the manufacturers’ of the sweet drinks are targeted to pay the tax, the text of the bill itself notes that the goal is to reduce public consumption through a price increase.

Read more from this story HERE.

The Ben Rhodes Story: How A Hack Writer Crafted the Benghazi Talking Points of a Lifetime

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Photo Credit: Daily Caller

Photo Credit: Daily Caller

Republican South Carolina Rep. Trey Gowdy, chairman of the Benghazi Select Committee, said this week that no witnesses are off limits in his committee’s investigation into the Benghazi cover-up. So who will he subpoena? Here’s a suggestion: How about Ben Rhodes.

Ben Rhodes, the 37-year old little brother of CBS News president David Rhodes, is a national security adviser to President Obama. He also happens to be an Upper East Side literary type who took a Master’s in Fiction from NYU. Real serious artist. Rhodes was the one who edited the White House’s Benghazi talking points to focus the blame on spontaneous reaction to a YouTube video, rather than an al-Qaeda attack.

Ben even published a short story in the spring 2002 edition of Beloit Fiction Journal called “The Goldfish Smiles, You Smile Back,” about an extremely good note-taker who edits talking points. “Goldfish” appears to be Rhodes’ only credit.

So what went wrong, Ben? No takers on that screenplay you had rattling around in the glove compartment? Seed money running out and still couldn’t pop a weekend piece in Reader’s Digest? Find yourself on Gower Avenue staring in your empty coffee cup, listening to the air conditioner hum? Had to take a little day job in politics to tide you over? No shame in that.

One minute you’re sipping kambucha with your peer-workshop buddies, the next you’re in a suit working on “The YouTube Video Project.” Happens to the best of us. So tell us the story, Ben. Tell us of the YouTube video talking points. Spin us this tale of power, romance, and intrigue. This is your Washington thriller. Finally. Make it count.

Read more from this story HERE.

Minnesota Now Requires A Criminal Conviction Before People Can Lose Their Property To Forfeiture

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Photo Credit: Wikipedia

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

In a big win for property rights and due process, Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton signed a bill yesterday to curb an abusive—and little known—police practice called civil forfeiture. Unlike criminal forfeiture, under civil forfeiture someone does not have to be convicted of a crime, or even charged with one, to permanently lose his or her cash, car or home.

The newly signed legislation, SF 874, corrects that injustice. Now the government can only take property if it obtains a criminal conviction or its equivalent, like if a property owner pleads guilty to a crime or becomes an informant. The bill also shifts the burden of proof onto the government, where it rightfully belongs. Previously, if owners wanted to get their property back, they had to prove their property was not the instrument or proceeds of the charged drug crime. In other words, owners had to prove a negative in civil court. Being acquitted of the drug charge in criminal court did not matter to the forfeiture case in civil court.

As Lee McGrath, the executive director of the Institute for Justice’s Minnesota chapter, put it, “No one acquitted in criminal court should lose his property in civil court. This change makes Minnesota’s law consistent with the great American presumption that a person and his property are innocent until proven guilty.”

The bill faced stiff opposition from law enforcement and a bottleneck in the legislature. In March, the Star Tribune called it an “outrage” that lawmakers were “dragging their feet on one of the big, common-sense changes” to the state’s forfeiture laws. Ultimately, SF 874 found wide, bipartisan support, passing the state senate 55 to 5 and the state house unanimously. The reforms will go into effect starting August 1, 2014.

Read more from this story HERE.

Navy Seal Punished for Criticizing Politicization of Military Seeks Accountability

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Photo Credit: Fox and Friends

Photo Credit: Fox and Friends

Special Operations Petty Officer 1st Class Carl Higbie is seeking accountability for the politicization of the military he witnessed while in the Navy SEALS.

Higbie saw this politicization affect the lives of others through death of a fellow SEAL, killed while following an “obsolete”–but required–“Standard Operating Procedure” in Iraq, and in the manner in which three SEALS were treated after being “falsely accused of physically abusing Ahmed Hashim Abed, following his capture in 2009.”

According to The Daily Beast, these two events spurred Higbie to write Battle on the Homefront: A Navy SEAL’s Mission to Save the American Dream.

After the book’s release, Higbie felt the politicization of the military in his own life, as his July 2012 Honorable Discharge was changed to a General Discharge in September 2012. It was the first of many ramifications he would face for trying to do what he thought necessary to return accountability to military leadership.

Read more from this story HERE.

Juan Williams Suggests ‘All-White’ Tea Partiers Driven By Racism

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

By Brendan Bordelon.

Liberal commentator Juan Williams touched off a firestorm on “Fox News Sunday” by suggesting racism drives the “white, older group of people” that support President Obama’s impeachment, with Heritage Action head Michael Needham accusing him of “demonizing good people.”

The Fox News contributor made the remarks after he claimed the Republicans had “demonized” President Obama by calling him “lawless” on issues like immigration and the implementation of Obamacare.

“Do you think that the Republican opposition to this president is racial?” Wallace asked him. “Or do you think it’s based on principles and policies?”

“Well, all I can do is look at the numbers,” he replied. “If you look at the core constituency — the people who are in, let’s say, tea party opposition, support of impeachment — there’s no diversity. It’s a white, older group of people.”

Read more from this story HERE.

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You Really Need to See Chris Matthews Try ‘Not to Get ETHNIC’ On Ted Cruz, and FAIL

By Soopermexican.

I’m still not sure what “getting ethnic” means, but whatever that is, Chris Matthews definitely did it when he implied that Ted Cruz was somehow betraying his Hispanic heritage by advocating that immigration law be followed.

Read more from this story HERE.

Poll: Registered Voters Want A Republican House AND Senate

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Photo Credit: REUTERS / Kevin Lamarque

Photo Credit: REUTERS / Kevin Lamarque

By Katie Frates.

Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid may be in trouble.

NBC/WSJ/Marist has published a new poll, conducted July 28-31, that shows a plurality of registered voters want a Republican majority in both the House and Senate.

Respondents were first asked if they thought Congress had been very productive, somewhat productive, somewhat unproductive or very unproductive. 50 percent of registered voters said they thought Congress had been very unproductive, with only 3 percent saying Congress had been very productive.

Even though the 50 percent who think Congress was very unproductive are in part talking about the Republican House, they don’t want the majority to change.

They were asked if they would like to see the majority in the House stay Republican, or become Democrat. 43 percent of registered voters wanted Republicans in the majority and 41 percent wanted Democrats in the majority, with 16 percent unsure.

Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: AP / J. Scott Applewhite

Photo Credit: AP / J. Scott Applewhite

Border crisis shows why Senate needs new GOP management

By Washington Examiner.

House Republican leaders on Thursday last week had to pull from the floor their bill to deal with the current crisis of child migration at the border. The Beltway media pounced instantly with a stale narrative about how this was embarrassment to the new House leadership team.

Then late Friday, the House actually passed a border bill. It won’t become law as written, but it’s still one bill more than the Democrat-controlled Senate – by then already out of town for the August recess – had approved in response to the deteriorating situation on the border.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., had already declared that the border was secure and no legislation was needed. He followed through on his stated indifference by blocking all amendments to a Senate border bill. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a strong advocate of comprehensive immigration reform, took to the floor and berated Reid for this, repeatedly shouting, “Shame on you!”

Read more from this story HERE.

Odd Trends: More Americans Remain on Food Stamps, Post-Recession

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Photo Credit: TownHall

Photo Credit: TownHall

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, commonly referred to as food stamps) has seen a meteoric rise in enrollment in the last fifteen years, and especially in the wake of the 2008 recession. The spike in SNAP recipients post-2008 is to be expected – but the maintenance of those high enrollment numbers is an anomaly.

American Enterprise Institute scholar Robert Doar testified before the House Committee on Agriculture recently to examine this exact question. Doar notes that changes in the SNAP program that took place during this time period may disincentivize work requirements – and keep SNAP participation among working-age population artificially high.

Read more from this story HERE.

This NAVY Seal Warns Jesse Ventura: You Crossed a Sacred Line, You’ll Be Faced With The Consequences

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Photo Credit: IJ Review

Photo Credit: IJ Review

One NAVY Seal with special access to the “Naval Special Warfare” community spoke out to let Jesse Ventura know exactly what he’s done.

From Brandon Webb of SOFREP:

…Because of NSW’s celebrity, it’s even more important for SEALs to look at how they conduct themselves in the public eye and on social media. “Will what I’m about to do reflect positively on the SEAL community?” It’s a question I’ve been asking myself a lot these days, and the crux of my problem with Jesse Ventura.

…The smartest thing I’ve heard come out of Jesse’s mouth was when he was quoted after the recent verdict saying, “There are no winners in this.” In fact, Jesse is the biggest loser in the end (next to the NSW community itself). This is a career ender for him, and an irrecoverable PR nightmare. His career as he used to know it is over.

Read more from this story HERE.