House Leaders Sell Immigration Blueprint

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

The House Republican leadership is trying to sell their colleagues on a series of broad immigration principles, including a path to legal status for those here illegally.

Speaker John Boehner’s leadership team introduced the principles at their annual policy retreat here. Top Republicans circulated a tightly held one-page memo titled “standards for immigration reform” toward the tail-end of a day that include strategy conversations about Obamacare, the economy and the national debt.

In the private meeting where the language was introduced, Boehner (R-Ohio) told Republicans that the standards are “as far as we are willing to go.”

“Nancy Pelosi said yesterday that for her caucus, it is a special path to citizenship or nothing,” Boehner said, according to a source in the room. “If Democrats insist on that, then we are not going to get anywhere this year.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Obama’s Unserious Foreign Policy And America’s Permanent War Footing

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Photo Credit: The federalist

Photo Credit: The federalist

Obama’s address on the State Of The Union showed the lack of seriousness about international affairs by which his Administration has been making the world ever more dangerous for Americans. The passages on war and peace, like the rest of the speech, consisted of patent untruths loosely related to Administration programs – the former meant to justify the latter.

Whatever one might think of Obama’s domestic agenda, these couplets reflected a serious intent to advance it. Thus, because ”climate change” is the cause of Western drought and Eastern floods, Obama will impose new restrictions on the use of fossil fuels; and because “reform” of unemployment insurance will get people back to work, Congress must extend the term of current insurance for 1.6 million people. People with an interest in such things know to disregard the nonsense and to take the agenda as seriously as it is meant.

But Obama’s discussion of war and peace verged on abstraction from reality, was not heartfelt, and is certain to call forth disdain. For Obama, the world’s major events might as well be happening on the planet Pluto. Russia is re establishing itself in its “near abroad,” and working with Iran to project a neo-Soviet agenda from Southwest Asia to the Mediterranean. China is inexorably asserting sovereignty over the Western Pacific. As Islam’s Sunni and Shia factions tear at each other’s vitals, they seem to agree only on contempt for America. Obama mentioned none of this.

Rather, as with regard to domestic matters he claimed credit in advance for events that he hopes will take place, and asked for the people’s support on the basis of that claim. He ended the war in Iraq, and is ending the war in Afghanistan. In Syria, he is supporting the good guys. He has put al Qaeda “on the path to defeat, and is doing the same to all similar folk. He is ridding Syria of Chemical weapons, while American diplomacy is at work settling the Arab-Israeli war – the key to a larger peace. He asked Americans to believe that Obama is moving the country “off a permanent war footing.” How, he gave no hint. It is difficult to imagine foreign nations, friend and foe alike, taking any of this seriously. Or Americans for that matter.

Read more from this story HERE.

Experts Warn Of ‘Caffeine Use Disorder’

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Photo Credit: FRANCOIS GUILLOT/AFP/Getty Images

Photo Credit: FRANCOIS GUILLOT/AFP/Getty Images

A new study has found that more people are dependent on caffeine to the point experts are issuing a “caffeine use disorder” warning.

The study, coauthored by American University psychology professor Laura Juliano, shows that more people are suffering withdrawl symptoms and are unable to reduce caffeine consumption which is causes the “caffeine use disorder.”

“There is misconception among professionals and lay people alike that caffeine is not difficult to give up. However, in population-based studies, more than 50 percent of regular caffeine consumers report that they have had difficulty quitting or reducing caffeine use,” Juliano said in a press release. ”Through our research, we have observed that people who have been unable to quit or cut back on caffeine on their own would be interested in receiving formal treatment—similar to the outside assistance people can turn to if they want to quit smoking or tobacco use.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Push for New National Cemeteries, As Veteran Deaths Bring Sites Near Capacity

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Photo Credit: Fox News

Photo Credit: Fox News

National cemeteries across the country are starting to reach capacity amid an increase in the number of veterans dying — fueling a push for the government to approve new sites, particularly in states that don’t have any.

“One of the benefits is to be buried with dignity. All veterans are entitled to that,” Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., said.

Titus represents one of the 11 states, many of them in the West, that don’t have a national cemetery. She’s introduced a bill that would force the Department of Veterans Affairs to put them in those states.

“I think they should have that opportunity and not be a victim of where they live,” she said of veterans.

Just what does a national cemetery mean to a veteran?

Read more from this story HERE.

Sandy Hook Killer’s PC Files: Pedophile Rights, Man/Boy Love Movie, ‘School Shooting’ Game

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

The state’s attorney report on the horrific murders at the Sandy Hook Elementary School by shooter Adam Lanza found no “conclusive motive” for his actions but did document unsettling facts about the 20-year-old killer, including computer files he kept on the rights of pedophiles, a movie about man/boy love, instant messages concerning “homosexual fantasies,” numerous mass murder documents, and a computer game entitled “School Shooting.”

In “School Shooting,” an amateur computer game, “the player controls a character who enters a school and shoots at students,” reads an Investigation Report (DPS-302-E) that is among the 1,000-plus pages comprising the state’s attorney report on the shootings.

Lanza, after shooting his mother Nancy Lanza at home on the morning of Dec. 14, 2012, drove to the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., and shot and killed 20 children and six adults, and then shot himself. (Full report, text and images here. Summary report here.)

In his summary report, State’s Attorney for the Judicial District of Danbury Stephen Sedensky says the “shooter had significant mental health issues” but “the shooter’s mental status is no defense to his conduct as the evidence shows he knew his conduct to be against the law. He had the ability to control his behavior to obtain the results he wanted, including his own death.”

The summary report states that in the electronic evidence gathered at Lanza’s house from his computer, “investigators found many things that are on a typical hard drive or memory card” but, “That being said, the following selected topics or items were found within the digital evidence seized.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Christian Film Stripped of ‘Best Song’ Oscar Nomination

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Photo Credit: Matt Sayles

Photo Credit: Matt Sayles

This year’s most-obscure Oscar nominee is no more.

At a meeting this week, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences board of governors decided to strip the surprise nomination for Best Song from “Alone Yet Not Alone,” which appears in the independent Christian-produced film of the same name.

Writer Bruce Broughton, a former member of the board of governors and currently on the music branch’s executive committee, violated the Academy’s rules against lobbying by personally e-mailing “members of the branch to make them aware of his submission during the nominations voting period,” according to a statement released by the governors Wednesday.

The nomination of “Alone Yet Not Alone” raised the eyebrows (and hackles) of many veteran Oscar-watchers when the nominations were announced Jan. 16. The film had a public profile more associated with obscure foreign films and nobody had tipped it as a possible nominee in any category.

“Alone Yet Not Alone” played on 11 screens nationwide for one week in October and grossed less than $135,000, BoxOfficeMojo.com said. As of Wednesday evening, fewer than 100 people had rated it on the Internet Movie Database. By comparison, the Sandra Bullock October release “Gravity,” which was nominated for 10 Oscars, has grossed more than $260 million and been rated by more than 250,000 IMDb users.

Read more from this story HERE.

US Prosecutors Seek Execution of Boston Marathon Bomber

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Photo Credit: AP Photo/Uncredited

Photo Credit: AP Photo/Uncredited

Federal prosecutors Thursday announced they will seek the death penalty against 20-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in the Boston Marathon bombing, accusing him of betraying his adopted country by ruthlessly carrying out a terrorist attack calculated to cause maximum carnage.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder’s decision to press for Tsarnaev’s execution was widely expected. The twin blasts last April killed three people and wounded more than 260, and over half the 30 federal charges against Tsarnaev – including using a weapon of mass destruction to kill – carry a possible death sentence.

“The nature of the conduct at issue and the resultant harm compel this decision,” Holder said in a statement of just two terse and dispassionate sentences that instantly raised the stakes in one of the most wrenching criminal cases Boston has ever seen.

Tsarnaev has pleaded not guilty. No trial date has been set.

Read more from this story HERE.

RNC Chair Calls for MSNBC Guest Appearance Boycott Over Race Tweet

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Photo Credit: Breitbart

Photo Credit: Breitbart

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus is launching a boycott of MSNBC over an incendiary tweet from the network that suggested “the rightwing” would “hate” a television ad featuring a biracial family, Breitbart News has learned.

“Until you personally and publicly apologize for this behavior, I have banned all RNC staff from appearing on, associating with, or booking any RNC surrogates on MSNBC. I have asked Republican surrogates and officials to follow our lead,” Priebus told MSNBC President Phil Griffin in a letter sent today.

Priebus also sent a memo to Republican officials and surrogates urging them not to appear on the network until Griffin apologizes.

MSNBC’s tweet, sent from the network’s official account last night at 8:06pm, said, “Maybe the rightwing will hate it, but everyone else will go aww” and linked to a Cherios ad “w/ biracial family.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Mark Begich Not Interested in Campaigning In Alaska with his 93 Percent Friend

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Screen Shot 2014-01-30 at 2.44.55 AMJoe Miller is not surprised that Mark Begich does not want to campaign with Barack Obama and questions the senator’s commitment to opening ANWR and other federal lands to resource development, given his voting record. 

Asked by CNN following the State of the Union Address earlier this week whether he wanted Barack Obama to campaign with him in Alaska, Begich said, “I’m not really interested in campaigning. What I’d like him to do is see why his policies are wrong on ANWR for example. He opposes oil and gas development.”  

Recent polling indicates a good reason the senator does not want to campaign with the President. A Gallup Poll released this week found Barack Obama has a 33.5 percent job approval rating in Alaska, while a recent poll found a 39 percent approval rating for the state’s junior senator.

 
Miller stated, “I’m not surprised Mark Begich does not want to campaign before the people of Alaska with the man he has voted with 93 percent of the time back in Washington, D.C. The President and his policies are even less popular in our state than the senator’s. Whether it is ObamaCare, blocking the development of ANWR, or the profligate tax and spend policies that are stymieing job creation and stealing our future, Alaskans know our nation is currently on the wrong track.” 

Begich insists he is a strong proponent of opening ANWR, but his vote last summer to confirm Sally Jewell as Interior Secretary, who is an outspoken opponent of such a move, makes the senator’s pronouncements highly suspect. He also voted to confirm Regina McCarthy to head the EPA, who opposes opening ANWR. 

“It is a mystery to me how Mr. Begich can imagine that he has any credibility on this issue when he is, at least in part, personally responsible for elevating the very people to power who are blocking access to Alaska’s resources,” said Miller.

State of the Union 2014 Fact Check

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Photo Credit: John Shinkle/POLITICO

Photo Credit: John Shinkle/POLITICO

President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address prodded Congress to act on issues like immigration and economic inequality, with a warning that he won’t hesitate to act unilaterally if lawmakers drag their feet.

But the real audience wasn’t the lawmakers in the chamber. The president was trying to sell his policies and his leadership to tens of millions of people watching at home.

With that rare, outsized audience comes the temptation for the president to put some spin on his arguments that might not otherwise fly or gain traction in Washington.

Here’s POLITICO’s analysis of some of the key parts of Obama’s speech, and where the truth may have been shaped or even stretched in the process:

Obamacare numbers game

Obama: “More than 9 million Americans have signed up for private health insurance or Medicaid coverage.”

Read more from this story HERE.