‘I’ve Had Enough’: When Democrats Quit on Obama

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Photo Credit: GettyThe email hit my in-box at 9:41 p.m. last Wednesday. From one of the most powerful Democrats in Washington, a close adviser to the White House, the missive amounted to an electronic eye roll. “Even I have had enough.”

Another Democrat had quit on President Obama.

The tipping point for this person was the Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl case—not the soldier-for-Taliban swap itself as much as how the White House mishandled its obligation to communicate effectively and honestly to Congress and the public. More than that, Obama’s team had failed once again to acknowledge its mistakes, preferring to cast blame and seek cover behind talking points.

“DC is hard, and depressing,” the Democrat wrote. “I still believe good comes from government (e.g. 8 million in ACA). But that Politico story is a cautionary one: good reminder that you can’t go so in the bunker [and] no longer identify legitimate criticism.” That day, Politico had posted a story channeling the White House communications team’s response to the Bergdahl backlash.

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Washington Assisted Suicide Law Leads to Over 100 Deaths in 2013

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Photo Credit: Shutterstock.comA government report shows that 173 people asked for, and received, medication doses high enough to induce death in 2013. It estimated that 119 people died as a result of those medications, though 159 total patients died.

In 2008, voters in Washington supported the patient-assisted suicide law, which went into effect in 2009. The law allows terminally ill patients who are expected to die six months or sooner after the diagnosis to be prescribed medication to end their lives. Two witnesses, including a non-relative, must be present when the medication is used.

According to Margaret Dore of Choice is an Illusion, a group opposed to “death with dignity” laws, “the new report is important for what it doesn’t say.”

“When Washington’s law was passed, it was sold as a completely voluntary act in which ‘only’ the patient would be allowed to take the lethal dose,” Dore told LifeSiteNews. “The act doesn’t actually say that, but that’s how it was sold.”

The government’s report reveals that in only two percent of cases was the prescribing physician present as the patient took the deadly drugs. Dore says because of this there’s a grave risk of abuse by family members.

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Transgendered Priest to Give Sermon at Washington National Cathedral (+video)

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Photo Credit: APThe most visible Episcopal church in the U.S. is hosting its first openly transgender priest this month.

The Rev. Cameron Partridge is set to give the June 22 sermon at the Washington National Cathedral in Northwest.

Dean of the cathedral, the Rev. Gary Hall, said in a statement that he hopes Mr. Partridge’s presence sends a message of support for the transgender community.

“We at Washington National Cathedral are striving to send a message of love and affirmation, especially to LGBT youth who suffer daily because of their gender identity or sexual orientation,” he said. “We want to proclaim to them as proudly and unequivocally as we can: Your gender identity is good and your sexual orientation is good because that’s the way that God made you.”

The General Convention of the Episcopal Church in 2012 approved the ordination of transgender persons. The convention also approved a rite of blessing for same-sex unions, a decision that’s been a major contributor to the fracturing of Episcopal congregations. The cathedral performs same-sex marriages.

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FBI Agents Join Search for Missing Alaska Family

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Photo Credit: Chip Porter / Getty ImagesFBI agents have joined the search for an Alaska family of four, including two small children, whose disappearance almost two weeks ago is being described as “mysterious,” authorities said on Monday.

Investigators have not ruled out foul play in the case of Brandon Jividen, 37, his girlfriend, Rebecca Adams, 22, and her two daughters, aged 5 and 3, who went missing May 27 in Kenai, a coastal community 65 miles southwest of Anchorage.

The Kenai Police Department reached out to the FBI over the weekend and a team of agents is now helping look for the family.

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Florida Man Paints American Flag on House to Protest City Citation

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Photo Credit: Steve Nesius / Reuters A Florida man who feels he is being unfairly treated by local code enforcement officials has mounted an unusual protest – he painted his house like the American flag.

“It’s just total government abuse. This is still America,” said Brent Greer, who lives in Bradenton, Florida.

Greer is upset that city code enforcement officers inspected his home in February after an anonymous complaint that a 15-foot(4.5-metre)-tall Christmas tree on his front porch had fallen over, he said.

A code enforcement officer came to inspect, and Greer said, “My wife gladly took it down.”

The officer went on to cite Greer for a list of violations including lack of screens on some windows, peeling house paint, yard debris, and some rotted and loose wood, according to a copy of the complaint provided by Greer.

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Iran: 5,000km-Range Missile Can Hit US Indian Ocean Base

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Photo Credit: algemeinerTehran has ballistic missiles able to pound targets over twice as distant as previously thought, and can reach the American mid-ocean strategic base at Diego Garcia, a senior Iranian official has explicitly warned.

“In the event of a mistake on the part of the United States, their bases in Bahrain and (Diego) Garcia will not be safe from Iranian missiles,” said an Iranian Revolutionary Guard adviser to Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Majatba Dhualnuri.

Dhualnuri made the statements in the context of talks with the United States and western powers to curb its believed goal of creating nuclear weapons, Israel’s Channel Two reported Monday.

Iranian political and military leaders have, until now, only publicly admitted to possessing ballistic weapons with about a 2,000 km range. Diego Garcia, situated on a lone lagoon in the Indian Ocean, houses major Air Force, naval and submarine, space and communications, and logistics facilities.

The revelation suggests the validity of statements by Israeli leaders in recent years cautioning that the goal of Iran’s missile program and “ballistic umbrella” was to threaten a far wider circle of countries than Israel alone.

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Witty Signs Keep Drivers Focused on Tricky Alaskan Road

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Photo Credit: CNN Although residents often like to joke that it is, the mosquito isn’t actually Alaska’s official state bird. (That’d be the willow ptarmigan.)

You also won’t see many coconut trees growing in the far north.

Judging by signage along Grande Drive in Denali, Alaska, however, you might not necessarily know those things.

Appearing along the steep, winding ascent to the top of Sugarloaf Mountain, road signs depicting giant mosquitoes carrying off human prey and warning of falling coconuts are clearly meant to get a laugh out of drivers.

Just less than a mile long and costing about $1 million to build, the mostly dirt road (some sharp corners are paved) leads to the Grande Denali Lodge.

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Not the First Time Obama Risked American Lives after Bypassing Congress

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Photo Credit: EPA; AP; ReutersBy Monte Kuligowski.

The chair of the Select Committee on Intelligence, Senator Diane Feinstein, was visibly upset with Barack Obama upon learning of the president’s secretive Bergdahl deal. It is reasonable that she and all members of Congress should be outraged. But should they be surprised that the president traded five of the most dangerous terrorists in Gitmo for the deserter, Bowe Bergdahl, without consulting Congress per the law passed to prevent exactly what Obama did?

Congress should, of course, be livid. But shocked, I don’t think so.

At this point, it should be hard for anyone could be surprised. The man with a pen and a phone had more than threatened to illegally bypass Congress; he had done so before.

And he had done so in big ways.

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Photo Credit: Facebook Wife of soldier wounded searching for Bergdahl speaks out

By Jazz Shaw / HotAir.

The Bergdahl story continues to go from bad to very bad to really bad to worse. I first saw this story being written about by Rick Moran at PJ Media today. The wife of one of the soldiers who was grievously injured while searching for Bergdahl in Afghanistan has taken to social media to protest the handling of this story.

The wife of a disabled Afghanistan veteran who was injured while searching for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl has posted a scathing message against him this week, adding a personal account to the rising protests against the negotiations with the Taliban that lead to Bergdahl’s freedom.

In a message she posted via Facebook, Shannon Allen, wife of Sgt. 1st Class Mark Allen, wrote ‘Meet my husband, injuries directly brought to you by the actions of this traitor. He can’t give an account of what went down, because he can no longer speak. Now, which guy is a “hero” again?!? Sick.’

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Photo Credit: AFPKerry defends Bergdahl-for-Taliban exchange

By Elise Labott.

The five Taliban figures who got out of Guantanamo in exchange for U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl’s release would be taking an “enormous risk” if they return to the battlefield, Secretary of State John Kerry told CNN in an interview that aired Sunday.

“I’m not telling you that they don’t have some ability at some point to go back and get involved (in fighting). But they also have an ability to get killed doing that. ” Kerry said in his first public comments on the controversial prisoner exchange.

Kerry defended the swap and told CNN the former detainees will be monitored closely — and not just by officials in Qatar, where they were flown after being released. He wouldn’t say who else will be watching, but he said the United States is confident the conditions of their release will be honored.

“And if they’re violated, then we have the ability to be able to do things,” he said, warning that the United States would do whatever is necessary to protect Americans “if these guys pick a fight with us in the future, or now, or at any time.”

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Widespread US Police Surveillance Is Happening In Total Secrecy

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Photo Credit: REUTERS / Jim YoungData obtained by The Wall Street Journal suggests that “electronic-surveillance orders have increased over the past decade and that the vast majority remain sealed.”

Thousands of government requests for electronic surveillance in connection with criminal investigations remain under seal long after the investiga tions have ended, Jennifer Valentino-Devries of The Wall Street Journal reports.

The practice is unlike nearly all other aspects of American judicial proceedings, where courts have held that search warrants eventually should be made public.

The thing is that getting permission for electronic surveillance techniques — including tracking metadata and gathering all cellphones connected to a cell tower — is easier than getting a search or wiretap warrant.

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Ben Shapiro’s Obama Solution: ‘Prosecution Not Impeachment’

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Photo Credit: BreitbartOn Thursday, Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) stated that he was “not, at this point, calling for impeachment.” He continued, “The president has two years left in his term. We hope they pass quickly.”

That hope is empty. They will pass slowly. And even should Republicans win back the Senate in 2014, President Obama promises heavy executive action–action that will surely violate the Constitutional delegation of powers.

Which is why, says Breitbart senior editor-at-large Ben Shapiro, impeachment isn’t the answer: prosecution is. And in his new book, The People vs. Barack Obama: The Criminal Case Against The Obama Administration, Shapiro lays out the charges.

“A criminal administration can do virtually anything, without any sort of real consequences,” Shapiro writes. “Impeachment is rarely used – in the entire history of the United States, there have been just 19 House impeachments, and just eight of those ended with full removal after a Senate trial. No doubt the founders intended impeachment to be utilized far more often than it has been…But in practice, impeachment has been a failure.”

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