Census Data on Obama Presidency: Record Number in Poverty

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

During the four years that marked President Barack Obama’s first term in office, the real median income of American households dropped by $2,627 and the number of people in poverty increased by approximately 6,667,000, according to data released today by the Census Bureau.

The record total of approximately 46,496,000 people in the United States who are now in poverty, according to the Census Bureau, is more than twice the population of Syria, which, according to the CIA, has 22,457,336 people.

In 2008, the year Obama was elected, real median household income in the United States was $53,644 according to the Census Bureau. In 2012, the last full year of Obama’s first term, median household income was $51,017. Thus, real median household income dropped $2,627—or 4.89 percent—from 2008 to 2012.

In fact, real median household income dropped in every year of Obama’s first term. In 2008, when he was elected, it was $53,644. In 2009, the year he was inaugurated, it dropped to 53,285. In 2010, his second year in office, it dropped to $51,892. In 2011, his third year in office, it dropped to $51,100. And, in 2012, his fourth year in office, it dropped to $51,017.

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Sebelius Goes from ‘Will Get Covered’ to ‘Can’ to ‘May’

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Kathleen SebeliusTuesday morning, Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Kathleen Sebelius announced on Twitter:

Big news! Nearly 6 in 10 uninsured Americans will #GetCovered for less than $100/month starting Jan 1 #Obamacare #ACA pic.twitter.com/RimQkFIuPJ

— Kathleen Sebelius (@Sebelius) September 17, 2013

However, while Sebelius’s claim sounds like a sure thing (“will” get covered,) the accompanying graphic is somewhat less unequivocal, employing the phrase “can”get covered. But the truth is even one additional step removed…

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Franchise Owners Come to Washington to Plead for ObamaCare Relief (+video)

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obamacare_freedomFranchise restaurant owners have come to Washington seeking a change to ObamaCare that they say could prevent them from having to cut their employees’ hours.

The healthcare law requires large employers to provide insurance to employees who work at least 30 hours per week.

Franchise owners say the employer mandate threatens to erase their narrow profit margins and are telling lawmakers they need to overhaul the law before it’s too late.

“Employees won’t have the hours they need, and they won’t get employer-sponsored healthcare, either,” said Steve Caldeira, president and CEO of the International Franchise Association (IFA).

“[Franchisees] are dealing with high commodity costs, high energy prices, higher taxes from the ‘fiscal-cliff’ deal, and now they are trying to work through ObamaCare,” he said.

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Report: CIA Employee who Refused to Sign Non-Disclosure Agreement on Benghazi Suspended

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Photo Credit: Getty Images

Photo Credit: Getty Images

A CIA employee who refused to sign a non-disclosure agreement prohibiting him from speaking out about last year’s deadly terror attack in Benghazi, Libya has been suspended and forced to hire an attorney, the Washington Free Beacon reported.

Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) said Monday that his office received an anonymous call about the employee’s suspension, the Free Beacon reported. Wolf previously revealed that Benghazi survivors had been forced to sign non-disclosures in a speech on the House floor in July.

“The reports on the NDA are accurate. We’re getting people who call,” Wolf said at an event launching the new Citizens’ Commission on Benghazi…

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Undocumented LA County Parents On Pace To Receive $650M In Welfare Benefits

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Photo Credit: Spencer Platt/Getty

Photo Credit: Spencer Platt/Getty

A projected $650 million in welfare benefits will be distributed to illegal alien parents in 2013, county officials said Monday.

Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich announced the latest figures from the Department of Public Social Services, which showed more than $376 million in CalWORKs benefits and food stamps combined have been distributed through July to illegal alien parents for their native-born children.

Approximately $54 million in welfare payments are issued each month…

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VIDEO: Firefighters Bring Adorable Dog Back to Life, a Boxer Named Stella

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Photo Credit: KTLA

Photo Credit: KTLA

Heart-warming footage shows the moment a dog found trapped inside a burning building was brought back to life.

Hero firefighters refused to give up on female boxer Stella after discovering her lifeless body behind a mattress in the charred remains of a Santa Monica, Calif., apartment.

They strapped an oxygen mask around her face and gently massaged her body until — almost miraculously — she opened her eyes about 15 minutes later.

With color returning to her face, she was taken to a local animal hospital to recover.

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Astonishing Success of West Point Grad who Grew Up in 12 Foster Homes and Went to Four Different High Schools

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

Josh Kelchner, a long-term foster child, has defied the odds to graduate from New York’s prestigious West Point Military Academy as a lieutenant.

After a rough childhood that included four different high schools and 12 foster homes, the 22-year-old has finally come to a point in his journey where he can relax – briefly.

Currently on holiday in Puerto Rico, the graduate has a short break before he heads to Fort Sill, in Lawton, Oklahoma, for field artillery training and to begin his five years compulsory service.

Kelchner’s childhood still haunts him. A local newspaper article about the then 17-year-old in 2008 describes the trials of the younger Kelchner.

When Kelchner was just a toddler his father abandoned the family, leaving his mother to raise Kelchner, who would be joined by three younger siblings.

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‘Strip Church’ Ministry Helps Tennessee Exotic Dancers Shed their Pasts

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Photo Credit: Erin Stevens

Photo Credit: Erin Stevens

One woman at a time, Erin Stevens is determined to lead every stripper in Nashville to salvation.

The 42-year-old pastor’s wife launched Strip Church in October following a 21-day fast during which Stevens claims God spoke to her directly, telling her to reach out to those farthest from a divine lifestyle.

“I just thought that I’ve got to do something,” Stevens told FoxNews.com. “So I felt the Lord say to me, ‘Go feed the strippers.’”

Stevens, whose husband is the lead pastor at Friendship Community Church in Mount Juliet, then began taking home-cooked meals to a local strip club in Nashville, Tenn., twice a month. In addition to moral support and general counseling, Stevens provided a nondenominational, judgment-free approach, she said.

“I told these girls they may not need God right now in their lives, but they will at one point,” Stevens said. “We never go in with a Bible and we never go in with a prayer sermon. We don’t try to change them, we just love them.”

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U.S. Attorney Wants to Take Away Corrupt Politicians’ Pensions

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Photo Credit: SETH WENIG/AP

Photo Credit: SETH WENIG/AP

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara has had enough of corrupt politicians breaking the law — then collecting their taxpayer-funded pensions from jail, parole or scandal-induced retirements.

The prosecutor Tuesday took the unprecedented step of notifying three indicted New York pols that he plans to go after their pensions if they’re convicted.

While New York state law allows public officials to collect their pensions even after they’ve been convicted of felonies, the federal prosecutor says he has a way to get some of that money back.

He filed notices of forfeiture Tuesday targeting State Sen. Malcolm Smith (D-Queens), City Councilman Dan Halloran (R-Queens) and Assemblyman Eric Stevenson (D-Bronx), who all stand to collect pensions paid by the same taxpayers they’re accused of robbing.

Smith faces charges for allegedly paying off Republican operatives to help him get on the ballot in an ultimately abandoned run for mayor. Halloran and Stevenson are charged with pocketing thousands of dollars in bribes.

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Inspector General: Dept. of Justice Is Misreporting Terror Statistics

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

A follow-up to a 2007 audit released Monday by the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) found that DOJ did not accurately report terrorism-related statistics in 24 of the 26 categories auditors reviewed.

“For purposes of this audit, we considered the misreporting of a statistic as significant if the statistic was either overstated or understated by 10 percent or more,” the report stated.

The follow-up audit casts new doubt on the “number of terrorism-related cases filed, the number of defendants convicted at trial or by guilty plea, and the number of defendants sentenced to prison” previously reported by DOJ.

“These inaccuracies are important because Department management and Congress need accurate terrorism-related statistics to make informed budgetary and operational decisions,” the audit states.

Major inaccuracies in “terrorism-related statistics” were reported by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys (EOUSA), and the DOJ’s Criminal Division.

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