Harvey Weinstein: I’m Working on Movie With Meryl Streep to Destroy the NRA

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Photo Credit: Fox News

Photo Credit: Fox News

Famed Hollywood producer and top Obama donor Harvey Weinstein has revealed that his next project is specifically designed to take down the National Rifle Association.

“I shouldn’t say this, but I’ll tell it to you, Howard,” he said on the Howard Stern Show.

“I’m going to make a movie with Meryl Streep, and we’re going to take this head-on. And they’re going to wish they weren’t alive after I’m done with them.”

He went on to say that he doesn’t believe “we need guns in this country,” and hopes that after people see the planned feature film they will never again want to invest in gun stocks.

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Who Read 1,582-Page $1.1T Spending Bill? Congressman: ‘Nobody Did’

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

When asked whether he read the 1,528-page, $1.1 trillion government spending bill before he voted for it yesterday, Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) said, “Nobody did!”

On Capitol Hill on Thursday, CNSNews.com asked Blumenauer: “The omnibus bill yesterday, it was 1,582 pages, did you have a chance to read all the pages before voting on it?”

Blumenauer laughed and said: “Nobody did!”

“Nobody did?” said the CNSNews.com reporter.

“Nope,” said Blumenauer.

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Fed Owns 64% More U.S. Government Debt Than China (+video)

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

The Federal Reserve owned 64 percent more U.S. government debt than entities in the People’s Republic of China did as of the end of November, which is the latest period for which the Treasury has reported on the foreign ownership of U.S. government debt.

The $1,316,700,000,000 in U.S. Treasury securities that entities in mainland China owned as of the end of November set a record for China, but it was still $846,966,000,000 less than the $2,163,666,000,000 in U.S. Treasury securities the Federal Reserve owned as of Nov. 27, according the Fed’s weekly balance sheets.

As of January 9, the latest day on the Fed’s last weekly accounting sheet, the Fed had increased its holdings of U.S. Treasury securities to $2,212,924,000,000.

The Fed also owns $1,490,167,000,000 in mortgage-backed securities guaranteed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Ginnie Mae.

At the end of January 2009, the month President Barack Obama was first inaugurated, mainland China owned $744.2 billion in U.S. government debt and the Fed owned $475.129 billion.

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Doubts Over Common Core

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Photo Credit: abdulrahman.stock

Photo Credit: abdulrahman.stock

Viewed from Washington, which often is the last to learn about important developments, opposition to the Common Core State Standards Initiative still seems as small as the biblical cloud that ariseth out of the sea, no larger than a man’s hand. Soon, however, this education policy will fill a significant portion of the political sky.

The Common Core represents the ideas of several national organizations (of governors and school officials) about what and how children should learn. It is the thin end of an enormous wedge. It is designed to advance in primary and secondary education the general progressive agenda of centralization and uniformity.

Understandably, proponents of the Common Core want its nature and purpose to remain as cloudy as possible for as long as possible. Hence they say it is a “state-led,” “voluntary” initiative to merely guide education with “standards” that are neither written nor approved nor mandated by Washington, which would never, ever “prescribe” a national curriculum. Proponents talk warily when describing it because a candid characterization would reveal yet another Obama administration indifference to legality.

The 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), the original federal intrusion into this state and local responsibility, said “nothing in this act” shall authorize any federal official to “mandate, direct, or control” schools’ curriculums. The 1970 General Education Provisions Act stipulates that “no provision of any applicable program shall be construed to authorize any” federal agency or official “to exercise any direction, supervision, or control over the curriculum, program of instruction” or selection of “instructional materials by any” school system. The 1979 law creating the Education Department forbids it from exercising “any direction, supervision, or control over the curriculum” or “program of instruction” of any school system. The ESEA as amended says no Education Department funds “may be used . . . to endorse, approve, or sanction any curriculum designed to be used in” grades K-12.

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China Now Owns a Record $1.317T of U.S. Government Debt

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chinese-flag-nationalChina stepped up its purchases of U.S. government debt late last year, increasing its holdings of Treasurys to an all-time record of $1.317 trillion in November, government data released this week revealed.

The statistics underscore how reliant the U.S. and Chinese economies are on one another even as political tensions occasionally emerge.

According to figures inadvertently released Wednesday evening on the U.S. Treasury Department website, China’s holdings of Treasurys increased by 0.9% in November to $1.317 trillion, up from $1.305 trillion in October. Year-over-year, China’s holdings rose 11.3% from $1.183 trillion.

The $1.317 trillion figure exceeds China’s previous record high in July 2011 of $1.315 trillion, according to the government data.

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Top Republican Praises Alaska’s Senator Mark Begich

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Photo credit: aflcio

Photo credit: aflcio

Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska) is drawing praise from across the aisle from one of Alaska’s top Republicans.

Rep. Don Young (R), the state’s lone congressman, praised the work Begich has done as senator.

“Mark’s done a great job of, very frankly, representing people. He’s not always on my page, that’s for sure, but he’s done a good job,” Young told The Hill on Wednesday.

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Mom’s Tribute to Stranger Who Entertained Daughter with Autism on Plane Goes Viral (+video)

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kate-600Eric Kunkel might not really be 3-year-old Kate’s real Daddy, but for 2½ glorious hours on an airplane he generously assumed the child’s name for him.

Her fellow passenger’s act of kindness greatly touched Shanell Mouland, Kate’s mom, who was dreading the Jan. 5 flight home to Canada (by way of Philadelphia) after a weeklong family trip to Orlando.

Kate, who has autism and trouble sitting for long periods, can protest loudly when feeling uncomfortable, yet it appears both Mouland and Kate hit the jackpot when Kunkel sat down next to the little girl.

For some reason, Kate felt an immediate connection to the New Jersey businessman, reaching out to him and calling him “Daddy.” Kunkel happily played along, putting aside his work and entertaining little Kate for the duration of the flight.

His gracious attention to Mouland’s younger daughter prompted a three-hanky tribute to him on her blog, Go Team Kate, that has since gone viral.

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Birmingham, Alabama Abortion-Free for Now as Planned Parenthood Closes

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Photo Credit: LifeNews

Photo Credit: LifeNews

Birmingham, Alabama is abortion free for now, as the sole abortion clinic there, run by Planned Parenthood, has temporarily closed. If it stays closed this is the second closure of an abortion clinic in 2014.

Local pro-life activist Fr. Terry Gensemer of CEC For Life tells LifeNews that sidewalk counselors report that the facility does not appear to have performed abortions since before Christmas. One counselor confirms that she has only seen a handful of patients show up in the past four weeks, none of which stayed long enough to have an abortion.

“But that’s just the start. On December 30th, after the facility was closed for several days, pro-lifers on the sidewalk witnessed the facility’s director being escorted from the building, followed by a repairman changing all of the locks. Three days later, a sign from Planned Parenthood Southeast (PPS) appeared stating that the facility would be closed until January 6th, 2014. After the 6th, sidewalk counselors say the facility did reopen, but only briefly,” Gensemer explained.

As of Tuesday, PPS posted yet another sign, now reading: “We apologize for the inconvenience, but this facility is temporarily closed.” The PPS website also removed the facility’s hours of operation schedule, as well as adding a note that reads: “Services at our Birmingham health center are temporarily slowed.”Gensemer hopes the closure will be permanent.

He told LifeNews, “This Planned Parenthood should have been closed long before today. It already has a lawsuit pending from a woman left infertile after the abortionist ignored her ectopic pregnancy and performed an abortion on her empty womb. Before that, the facility was caught in a round of scandal for allegedly covering up cases of statutory rape. For the sake of everyone this facility continues to harm, we are praying it remains closed.”

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Obama Acting Like Weak Power in Iran Negotiations

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Photo Credit: Wikipedia Commons

Photo Credit: Wikipedia Commons

Here’s a thought: If we’re starting negotiations to eliminate Iran’s nuclear program cowering in fear that Iran will walk away from the table, we’re probably not negotiating from a position of strength.

America’s interim deal with Iran went into effect over the weekend, giving the U.S. and other so-called world powers six months to negotiate a deal to end Iran’s nuclear weapons program. There is good reason to be skeptical that Iran would ever negotiate away its nuclear weapons program — which it denies even having — but given the Obama administration’s claim that sanctions brought Iran to the table, wouldn’t the prospect of more sanctions if a deal does not materialize provide even greater incentive for Iran to capitulate?

You would think so, but President Barack Obama is adamantly opposed to a Senate bill co-sponsored by Republican Sen. Mark Kirk and Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez that would impose further sanctions on Iran if the Islamic Republic doesn’t come to an acceptable agreement with the U.S. on its nuclear program. The bill, so far backed by 59 Senate Republicans and Democrats, has sent the Obama administration into a tizzy. The president has pledged to veto it. Administration officials say those who support it are essentially warmongers — in contrast, of course, to the president, who says he only wants to “give peace a chance.”

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Video: Rand Paul on Diplomacy

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Photo Credit: National Interest

Photo Credit: National Interest

When I was about ten years old, I used to play chess with an old Ukrainian named Pete Karpenko. Captain Pete, as we called him, told us stories of fighting the Bolsheviks when he was fourteen years old. He and his family were little more than peasants but they resisted the idea of collective farming. He fought with the White Army against the Bolsheviks, and fled when the communists won. Fifty-five years later, he was still afraid to return to the Soviet Union. So, it’s easy to understand that around my house, we had little use for communists or their sympathizers.

Like many conservative middle-class families, our inclination was to resist anything to do with Red China. In that black and white world, you were either for us or against us. Trade with China was thought to be trade with the enemy. A funny thing happened, though, along the way. Many conservatives came to understand a larger truth. As trade began to blossom with China, many conservatives, myself included, came to admit that trade improves our economic well-being AND makes us less likely to fight. The success of trade with China made many conservatives rethink their view of the world.

People sometimes ask me what my worldview is. My response is that even if you’ve crisscrossed the globe, I’m not sure that the world doesn’t change by the time you return to the same spot twice. I really am a believer that foreign policy must be viewed by events as they present themselves, not as we wish them to be.

A few years ago, I read a review of John Gaddis’ biography of George Kennan. I laughed when I read that Dr. Gaddis promised Kennan not to publish it until after his death. And that twenty years later Gaddis’ students were jokingly wondering who might die first. I loved the book. To me, containment is not a dead letter. I look at the worldwide menace of radical jihad and I think we need a long-term vigilance like containment.

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