Malkin: Standing Up Against Wealth-Shaming

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Photo Credit: MichelleMalkin.com

Photo Credit: MichelleMalkin.com

America, we have a bullying epidemic. No, not the school bullying issues that get constant attention from Hollywood, the White House and the media. No, not the “fat-shaming” and “body-shaming” outbreaks on Facebook. The problem is wealth-shaming. Class-shaming. Success-shaming.

The State of the Job Creator is under siege.

Last week, a prominent self-made tech mogul dared to diagnose the problem publicly. His passionate letter to The Wall Street Journal decried the “progressive war on the American 1 percent.” He called on the left to stop demonizing “the rich,” and he condemned the Occupy movement’s “rising tide of hatred.”

The mini-manifesto was newsworthy because this truth-teller is not a GOP politician or conservative activist or Fox News personality. As he points out, he lives in the “epicenter of progressive thought, San Francisco.” No matter. The mob is shooting the messenger anyway. But maybe, just maybe, his critical message in defense of our nation’s achievers will transcend, inspire, embolden and prevail.

The letter-writer is Tom Perkins, a Silicon Valley pioneer with an MIT degree in electrical engineering and computer science and a Harvard MBA. He started out at the bottom at Hewlett-Packard, founded his own separate laser company on the side and then teamed up with fellow entrepreneur Eugene Kleiner to establish one of the nation’s oldest and most important venture capital firms, Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers.

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Planned Parenthood Suing Over Alaska Abortion Reg

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Photo Credit: Wonderlane/flickr

Photo Credit: Wonderlane/flickr

Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest sued the state health commissioner Wednesday over regulations that would further define what constitutes a “medically necessary” abortion for purposes of receiving Medicaid funding.

The lawsuit, filed in Anchorage Superior Court, seeks to have the regulations struck down as unconstitutional and to block the state from enforcing them. The lawsuit alleges the regulations violate the rights to equal protection, privacy and health and are also a violation of the administrative procedure act. The lawsuit says the department violated the act by not holding a public hearing on the proposal.

A spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest, Kristen Glundberg-Prossor, said the regulations circumvent a 2001 Alaska Supreme Court decision, which held that the state must fund medically necessary abortions if it funds medically necessary services for others with financial needs. The lawsuit lists as defendants Bill Streur, the commissioner of the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services who proposed the regulations, and the department.

A health department spokeswoman said Streur had not seen the lawsuit and would not comment until he has reviewed it with the Department of Law.

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Former Bush Speechwriter Accuses Obama of Plagiarism (+video)

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Photo Credit: Twitter

Photo Credit: Twitter

Former George W. Bush speechwriter Marc Thiessen has accused President Obama of plagiarizing parts of his State of the Union address on Tuesday night.

“Barack Obama has gone from blaming George W. Bush to plagiarizing George W. Bush,” he said, adding that Tuesday night’s speech and Mr. Bush’s 2007 address were “eerily familiar.”

“There were lines like ‘Our job is to help Americans build a future of hope and opportunity, a future of hope and opportunity begins with a growing economy, a future of hope and opportunity requires that all citizens have affordable and available healthcare, extending opportunity and hope depends on a stable supply of energy,’ all of that came from the 2007 State of the Union from George W. Bush,” Mr. Thiessen said.

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Bachmann Says House Preparing to Sue Obama for Overreach: ‘He’s Not a King’

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Photo Credit: REUTERS/Larry Downing

Photo Credit: REUTERS/Larry Downing

Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann says House conservatives are preparing to sue President Barack Obama for executive overreach in response to his threats of unilateral action on a host of issues.

“He’s the president of the United States — he’s not a king,” the Republican lawmaker told reporters after Obama’s State of the Union address. “He may think he’s a king, he may declare himself king, but that’s not what he is under our Constitution.”

Bachmann said an effort is underway in Congress to take back their “authority under the Constitution as the House of Representatives.” She said the plan is to introduce legislation allowing lawmakers to hire an attorney, so “we can force the president to act under the Constitution.”

“We’ll sue the president of the United States and force him to no longer act unilaterally,” she said.

In his address at the Capitol Tuesday night, Obama said he plans to take unilateral action on the minimum wage for federal workers. He suggested he might go solo on guns, for example.

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Chick-fil-A Gives Free Food to Motorists Stranded in Southern Snowstorm

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Photo Credit: COURTESY LAUREN DANGO

Photo Credit: COURTESY LAUREN DANGO

A snowstorm in the South is about as rare as a glass of unsweetened tea at a church supper. Folks around Birmingham, Ala. weren’t all that worried though. The storm was only supposed to dust the city – not even enough powder for a Southern snowman.

So when the first snowflakes began to fall, no one paid all that much attention. But then, the flakes kept falling. Before too long folks in places like Hoover and Inverness realized it was much more than a dusting. By that point, it was too late for anyone to do anything.

Icy interstates and highways soon became clogged with cars and trucks. Thousands of motorists soon found themselves stranded with nowhere to go – including many stuck on Highway 280.

But a good number of those stranded motorists were able to find shelter in the storm thanks to the kindness and generosity of Chick-fil-A restaurant employees and the restaurant’s owner, Mark Meadows.

Once the snow started accumulating, Meadows closed the restaurant and sent his staff home. But a few hours later, many of them returned – unable to get to their homes.

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Christian Stars Kirk Cameron, Natalie Grant Blast Grammy Awards

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Photo Credit: Matt Sayles/Invision/AP

Photo Credit: Matt Sayles/Invision/AP

Christian actor Kirk Cameron criticized Sunday night’s Grammy Awards for what he called an “all out assault on the traditional family.”

During the ceremony, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis performed “Same Love” alongside Mary Lambert and Madonna while Queen Latifah officiated the marriages of 33 gay and straight couples, the Huffington Post reported.

“How did you like the Grammy’s all out assault on the traditional family?” the “Growing Pains” star asked on Facebook.

Read more from this story HERE.

Boehner Working with Obama to Ambush House Republicans on Bloomberg-Backed Immigration Changes

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Photo Credit: Gun Owners

Photo Credit: Gun Owners

The good thing about anti-gun liberals in Washington is that they are pathologically incapable of keeping their mouths shut.

And, this morning, shortly before 9:00, MSNBC commentator Dick Gregory announced that House Speaker John Boehner, the day before, had told a private meeting of reporters that he had been talking with Barack Obama “a lot” about pushing immigration reform.

It’s pretty clear why Barack Obama wants a bill which would either legalize or grant citizenship to as many as 11.5 million people who, according to Latinos expressing their opinions in a Pew poll, would cast 88% of their votes for liberals like Barack Obama.

It’s also clear what Speaker Boehner has in mind: If he sabotages his own party, the liberal media will throw him a “doggie treat.”

But, for other House Republicans, the advantage of having an Obama/Boehner knife in their back is a little less clear.

A note on why gun owners have “skin” in the immigration game: By turning a net 8,000,000 people into an “Obama army,” even “legalization” without immediate citizenship would fundamentally change electoral politics for the 2014 elections.

This is why, along with gun control, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has made immigration “reform” his central priority.

The anti-gun Bloomberg knows that “legalization” of persons unlawfully in the U.S. will create an “Obama army” which will transform the 2014 elections and achieve the almost impossible task of delivering the House and the Senate to the party of gun control.

With Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid in power in 2015, the “Obama army” will then get their “citizenship” reward — and gun control will advance.

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Jack Lew: Congress Accepts White House Debt-Limit Deadline

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Photo Credit: AP/Manuel Balce Ceneta

Photo Credit: AP/Manuel Balce Ceneta

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said lawmakers had accepted the administration’s deadline for raising the nation’s debt ceiling and that he expected Congress to act before Feb. 7.

“They need to act in that window,” Lew said of Congress, warning that “extraordinary measures” he was employing to avoid a default would run out next month.

He added that while there had been some confusion among lawmakers about when the Treasury would hit its borrowing limit, that had now been resolved.

“I think they’ve accepted the deadline,” the secretary told reporters aboard Air Force One, as he accompanies President Obama to an event in Pittsburgh, where they will tout new “MyRA” retirement accounts announced in Tuesday’s State of the Union speech.

In a letter to Congress last week, Lew said he would no longer be able to take steps to avoid a default by the end of February and told lawmakers they needed to act earlier in the month to provide a cushion. The revised date pushed up the deadline, which Lew had initially projected to fall in early March.

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Is Obama Sacrificing the Senate for Executive Power?

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Photo Credit: Larry Downing-Pool/Getty Images

Photo Credit: Larry Downing-Pool/Getty Images

Almost two decades ago, Bill Clinton stood before the nation and declared that “the era of big government is over.” Tuesday night, President Obama proclaimed himself the Big Man on Campus.

The contrast was stark: Obama’s Democratic predecessor used the language of restraint. This president, on the other hand, spoke of doing more in a campaign-themed “Year of Action”—and doing it on his own.

The White House is gambling with this new message, betting that a public disheartened by years of gridlock and distrustful of government will welcome a president vowing to act unilaterally, particularly to help the economy. Obama’s team is hoping, guessing, that the public won’t fear him.

It’s a risk—one the White House may not fully appreciate. As one frustrated Democratic strategist put it: “People are suspicious of executive power, so you have to tread carefully.”

But worse yet for Obama, whether he realizes it or not, is the effect this approach could have on Democrats trying to hold onto the Senate. Indeed, while the White House aims to demonstrate that this president remains large and in charge (and aims to boost his flagging stock as a result), the tactic poses a not insignificant chance of denigrating the role of Congress, and by extension the Senate Democrats fighting to preserve his party’s majority rule. Obama may end up hurting that cause more than helping it.

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Endorsement of Wendy Davis Triggers National Boycott of Girl Scout Cookies

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Photo Credit: Breitbart

Photo Credit: Breitbart

A part of every Thin Mint and Do-Si-Do, every Samoa and Savannah Smile goes to support abortion advocacy. So say John Pisciotta, who runs a tiny pro-life organization in Waco, Texas, and a dozen national pro-life organizations he has convinced to join him in a national boycott of Girl Scout cookies that will be announced in Texas tomorrow.

A few weeks ago, the Girl Scouts designated Wendy Davis as an “incredible woman” who deserved to be on the list of 2013 “Women of the Year.” Only a month earlier, the organization promoted Kathleen Sebelius as a woman of “courage” on its Facebook page.

Davis is not known for much more than exaggerating her life story and for her filibuster of a pro-life bill in the Texas legislature. Her critics point out that the bill she filibustered was one that limited abortions after viability.

Kathleen Sebelius has been the bête noir of the pro-life movement for her role in Obamacare and mandating abortion coverage even for religious entities, what some Catholic bishops have called the largest expansion of abortion in the country since Roe v. Wade.

All this was too much for Pisciotta, who will ask families across America not to participate in the Girl Scouts’ fundraising through cookie sales.

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