Bill de Blasio Wins in New York, Ushering in New Era of Liberal Governance

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Photo Credit: Washington PostBill de Blasio overwhelmingly was elected mayor here Tuesday, becoming the first Democrat to lead New York in 20 years and ushering in an era of activist liberal governance in the nation’s largest city.

In early returns Tuesday night, de Blasio was soundly defeating Republican Joe Lhota, a protégé of former mayor Rudy Giuliani.

De Blasio campaigned on a mantle of progressive change following Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s 12 years in office, highlighting what he saw as “a tale of two cities.” The moneyed Manhattan elite have had their mayor, he argued, and now the 46 percent of New Yorkers living at or near the poverty level need one of their own.

De Blasio’s administration will be a laboratory of sorts for modern progressivism — testing whether an anti-establishment activist can effectively manage a sprawling municipal government and lessen growing inequality between the rich and poor.

“Tackling inequality isn’t easy. It never has been, and it never will be,” de Blasio said in a victory speech at the YMCA gymnasium in his Brooklyn neighborhood of Park Slope. “The challenges we face have been decades in the making, and the problems we set out to address will not be solved overnight. But make no mistake: The people of this city have chosen a progressive path. And tonight we set forth on it — together, as one city.”

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Illinois Passes Same-Sex Marriage Law; Obama ‘So Proud’

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Photo Credit: APPresident Obama is “so proud” that lawmakers in his home state of Illinois have voted to legalize same-sex marriage, he said Tuesday night.

“I applaud the men and women of the Illinois General Assembly, a body in which I was proud to serve, for voting to legalize marriage equality in my home state,” Obama said in a statement released after the state House and Senate voted earlier in the day. The White House had previously said that Obama would have supported the measure if he were still in the legislature.

Gov. Pat Quinn, a Democrat, has said that he will sign the bill, making Illinois the 15th state to legalize same-sex marriage.

“As president, I have always believed that gay and lesbian Americans should be treated fairly and equally under the law. Over time, I also came to believe that same-sex couples should be able to get married like anyone else,” Obama added. “So tonight, Michelle and I are overjoyed for all the committed couples in Illinois whose love will now be as legal as ours — and for their friends and family who have long wanted nothing more than to see their loved ones treated fairly and equally under the law.”

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Toronto Mayor Admits Smoking Crack in a “Drunken Stupor” but Refuses to Resign

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Photo Credit: Nathan Denette/APHours after dropping a bombshell admission that he had smoked crack cocaine in a “drunken stupor” during his time in office, the mayor of Toronto, Rob Ford, made his second startling announcement of the day on Tuesday: that he would not be stepping down.

At a press conference shortly after he told reporters he had smoked crack as recently as a year ago, Ford apologised to the people of Toronto for embarrassing them.

“With today’s announcement, I know I have embarrassed everyone in this city, and I will be forever sorry,” Ford said at a press conference. “There’s only one person to blame for this and that is myself.”

Allegations over his drug use have swirled around Ford for months amid reports of a video that allegedly showed him smoking crack. He had previously denied such a video existed, but last week, Toronto police said they had recovered a recording which appeared to show him puffing on a crack pipe.

Appearing in front of reporters who had been waiting outside his office for two hours following his earlier admission over his cocaine use, Ford gave a short speech in which he apologised several times. He said admitting what he described as “my mistake” was the most difficult and embarrassing thing he has ever done, but that doing it gave him a huge sense of relief.

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Football Game Crowd Boos at Mention of Barack Obama

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Photo Credit: UPI/Bill GreenblattIt happened again. Three months after a rodeo clown mocked the president at the Missouri State Fair, fans at a Missouri-Tennessee football game Sunday booed when Barack Obama’s name was mentioned during a halftime ceremony.

New members of the Missouri National Guard were being sworn in, said Chad Moller, spokesman for University of Missouri-Columbia athletics.

But during part of the oath that reads “I will obey the order of the president of the United States” members of the crowd could be heard booing, according to the Missourian.

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Feds Spent $29 Million on Prescription Drugs for 4,139 Individuals “Unlawfully Present” In U.S.

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Photo Credit: APThe Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) spent almost $29 million to cover Medicare Part D prescription drugs for 4,139 individuals “unlawfully present” in the U.S. and thus ineligible to receive federal health care benefits, according to an audit by Daniel Levinson, inspector general of the Department of Health & Human Services. (See Medicare prescription drugs.pdf)

CMS “inappropriately accepted 279,056 PDE [prescription drug event] records with unallowable gross drug costs totaling $28,990,718” between 2009 and 2011, Levinson reported. Total federal expenditures under Medicare Part D during that same two-year time period came to $227 billion.

Medicare Parts A and B cover hospitalization, skilled nursing care, doctor visits, and other medical services and supplies. The IG previously reported in January that CMS had also paid $91.6 million to health care providers to cover 2,600 ineligible illegal aliens.

The unallowable payments were made by CMS despite the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, which prohibits illegal aliens from receiving federal health care benefits, and CMS’ own 2003 memo warning: “Make no payments for Medicare services furnished to an alien beneficiary who is not lawfully present in the United States.”

Medicare Part D is a voluntary program that requires individuals who are entitled to benefits under Part A or enrolled in Part B to opt in by filling out a form to enroll in a federally approved prescription drug plan that has a contract with CMS. Enrollee premiums cover about a quarter of the overall cost, with Medicare picking up the rest.

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Alaska’s Catholic Senators have Backed Bill Aimed to Enshrine LGBTQ Rights; Believed to Violate Religious Freedoms

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Photo Credit: catholicanchor.orgA bill that would make it a federal crime to “discriminate” against homosexuals, bisexuals, and transgender people — including forbidding men to use the women’s restroom or locker room – passed a key vote in the Senate Nov. 4.

The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) passed a test vote by 61-30, a critical margin that will allow the controversial bill to overcome any potential filibuster. Senate rules require 60 votes to cut off debate. The vote means the bill will almost certainly pass the full Senate without delay.

Photo Credit: catholicanchor.orgAlaska Sen. Mark Begich voted for the measure, while fellow Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski was absent for the test vote. However, Murkowski, who supports same-sex marriage, helped Democrats vote the bill out of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee earlier this year.

Opponents, however, say the bill (S. 815) would deny traditional religious business owners the right to practice their religion. Its religious exemption is excessively narrow, according to a letter from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

In an Oct. 31 letter to Congress, three leading U.S. bishop explained that they do not support the Employment Non-Discrimination Act because it “does not justly advance the dignity of all workers and authentic non-discrimination.”

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Student Loan Debt Owed to Federal Government Up 463% Under Obama

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Photo Credit: Ali Meyer/CNSNews.comSince President Barack Obama took office in 2009, the amount of outstanding federal student loan debt owed to the government has skyrocketed, increasing by 463 percent. The balance owed currently stands at $674,580,000,000.00 compared to $119,803,000,000.00, where it stood in January 2009, according to the Financial Management Service’s latest monthly treasury statement.

Direct federal student loan spending began to rise rapidly in fiscal year 2010, when the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act – one of the two laws that make up Obamacare — gave the federal government complete control over federal loans for education, the Direct Student Loan (DL) program. This aspect of HCERA became effective July 1, 2010, when the amount of outstanding loans stood at $178,806,000,000. Since then, the balance has increased by 277 percent.

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Gunman Found Dead After Trapping Hundreds In NJ Mall Overnight

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Photo Credit: MPD01605A 20-year-old man wearing a motorcycle helmet and dressed in all black walked into a busy New Jersey mall minutes before it closed Monday night and began shooting, sending terrified customers running and trapping hundreds more in the building overnight as police searched for him.

Hours later, he was found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound in a remote area of the building, officials said Tuesday morning. His brother spoke outside the family’s home later and said it was all “an act of self-indulgence.”

No one was injured in the gunfire at Westfield Garden State Plaza Mall in Paramus, and authorities said there was evidence to suggest the gunman, identified as Richard Shoop, never had any intention of shooting anyone.

Shoop fired six rounds, striking an elevator, escalator and several store facades along a 300-yard path at about 9:30 p.m. Monday. He was using a Sig Sauer rifle modified to look like an AK-47 that he stole from his brother earlier in the day, officials said.

Paramus Mayor Richard LaBarbiera said he was told that Shoop said to people in the mall “don’t worry, just get out of the way.”

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The Military ‘Purge Surge’ Continues – Another General Fired, Nine So Far This Year

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Photo Credit: WND After multiple top generals described to WND what they regard as a full-scale “purge” of the U.S. military by the Obama administration, the commander of U.S. Army Garrison Japan was summarily relieved of duty and his civilian deputy reassigned, pending a “misconduct” investigation.

Nine generals and flag officers have been relieved of duty under Obama just this year – widely viewed as an extraordinary number – and several sources put the total number of senior officers purged during the five years of the Obama administration as close to 200.

In response, prominent retired generals – ranging from Army Maj. Gen. Paul E. Vallely, a Fox News senior military analyst, to Lt. Gen. William G. Boykin, a founder of the Army’s elite Delta Force, to Medal of Honor recipient Maj. Gen. Patrick Henry Brady – have all gone on the record with WND, characterizing Obama’s actions as nothing less than an all-out attack on America’s armed forces.

According to U.S. Army Japan, Col. Eric Tilley was suspended from his job by Maj. Gen. James C. Boozer Sr., commander of U.S. Army Japan and I Corps (Forward) for a “lack of confidence” based on the results of an inquiry.

A spokesman for U.S. Army Japan, Maj. Kevin Toner, would not elaborate on what prompted a “lack of confidence,” saying it would be “inappropriate to make public the allegations because the investigation did not lead to findings of criminal misconduct.”

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GOP Can Win by Waiting: Make Democrats Clean Up their Own Mess

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Photo Credit: National Review Democrats are pleading for help, in the face of the implosion of Obamacare. House Republicans confronted with these pleas should listen to those who say: “Don’t do something; just stand there.”

It was Obama and the Democratic Senate who caused the disaster now unfolding. Specifically, Democratic red- or swing-state senators such as Mary Landrieu (La.), Kay Hagan (N.C.), Mark Begich (Alaska), Mark Pryor (Ark.), and even Al Franken (Minn.) provided key votes to adopt the monstrosity without a single ballot to spare. Let them face the music; let them reap the consequences. And let them try to fix what’s utterly unfixable.

If they want to delay the individual mandate, fine: They can go first. If they want to fix the grandfathering rules so that people who want to keep their plans really can do so, fine: They can go first on that, too. Let them figure out the details. Let them try to make it work. The House can always vote to add its assent once the Senate has acted — all while noting, accurately, that even the delay or the grandfathering fix won’t make the whole of Obamacare successful or popular.

But with each fruitless effort to correct the uncorrectable, the vulnerable Senate Democrats effectively will be acknowledging that they were wrong to begin with.

The likelihood is that the Senate won’t act. It’s likely that the White House won’t let it happen. It’s likely that the vulnerable senators won’t even be able to get the more liberal members of the Senate Democratic caucus to go along with them. It’s likely that the Hagans and Pryors will be left to look both wrongheaded for having passed Obamacare and ineffectual for being unable to convince their leaders to try to improve it.

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