Where’s That 5% Unemployment Rate Obama Promised by Now?

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On the surface, the July jobs report — the unemployment rate dipped to 7.4% last month thanks to a shrinking workforce as the economy added a disappointing 162,000 net new payrolls — is just another dismal data point in America’s “new normal” recovery. But it’s also an important milestone and metric for judging the Keynesian fiscal experiment known as Obamanomics.

In January 2009, Team Obama economists put together a report – half quantitative analysis, half sales pitch — outlining the potential economic impact of the proposed $800 billion stimulus. (See above chart from that report.) If Congress passed the plan, the report forecasted, the economy would generate enough additional demand, output, and employment that two big things would happen:

First, the unemployment rate would never reach 8%. Unfortunately, we hit 10% unemployment in October 2009. Failure number one.

Second, the unemployment rate would return to its long-term “natural rate” of 5% by July 2013 (a jobless rate, it should be noted, above the low points of the Bush and Clinton presidencies). Labor markets would be back to peak health. The Great Recession would truly and finally be over.

Mission accomplished by this jobless report.

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Veterans Sue City in New York that Ordered ‘Don’t Tread on Me’ Flag Banned

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Photo Credit: APA veterans group alleges in a federal lawsuit that officials violated its free-speech rights when they banned a “Don’t Tread on Me” flag from a city-owned armory.

The lawsuit filed last week in federal court says New Rochelle’s action, in addition to being unconstitutional, was “unreasonable, arbitrary and capricious” and betrayed a lack of appreciation of history.

The City Council had ordered the flag down in March, citing complaints that the yellow banner with a coiled rattlesnake was making a political statement. The flag has been used as an unofficial symbol of the tea party since at least 2008 and is often seen at party rallies, tax protests and gun rights rallies.

But the lawsuit, filed by the United Veterans Memorial and Patriotic Association, offers a long history of the flag, which has been used by the U.S. military since 1776. And it says none of the veterans who raised the flag in March are tea party members.

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Planned Parenthood Abortion Business Has Engaged in $12.5 Million in Medicaid Fraud

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Photo Credit: LifeNewsThe good people at Alliance Defending Freedom have forwarded me the settlement agreement between Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast and the United States of America, the Texas Attorney General, and whistleblower Karen Reynolds, for charges that PPGC committed Medicaid fraud between 2003-2009. The settlement was signed by all parties on July 24 and 25.

As I wrote yesterday, PPGC has agreed to pay $4.3 million. According to the settlement, the money will be divied three ways:

$2,552,169 – United States
$1,247,000 – Karen Reynolds (bounty)
$500,831 – State of Texas

In addition, PPGC must pay Reynolds’ attorney fees. Reynolds was represented by the American Center for Law and Justice.

ADF attorney Casey Mattox was kind enough to walk me through the settlement agreement. Following are the high points, including a few bombshells.

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Intel Community Worried Obama Administration Disclosed Too Much About Latest al Qaeda Threat (+video)

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Photo Credit: APIn warning about possible al Qaeda attacks against Americans overseas, U.S. officials may have provided too much detail about intercepted chatter and the source of the information, and that may make it more difficult to get such tips next time, former and current intelligence officials say.

On Friday, the U.S. State Department issued a worldwide travel alert for Americans, citing an unspecified al Qaeda threat. The bulletin said that the highest threat levels are the Middle East and North Africa, “and possibly occurring in or emanating from the Arab Peninsula.”

As a result of the threat, the United States will close 21 embassies in 17 countries in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia on Sunday, the traditional start of the work week in those countries.

On Saturday, unnamed U.S. officials told media outlets Yemeni intelligence agencies alerted Washington to the threat during the visit by the Yemeni president to Washington.

U.S. officials speaking on the condition of anonymity further told press representatives that “chatter” among “operatives” from al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula had been taking place over the last several weeks, and increased over the last few days, lending further credence to the Yemeni warning.

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Wealthy British Families with Two Working Parents To Be Offered Government Help with Childcare

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Photo Credit: LNPMinisters will disclose that they are pressing ahead with a [$1.5+ billion] online voucher system that, they say, will benefit about 2.5 million households, but that has been described as an “insult” to single-earner families.

Even families with two parents earning as much as [$230,000] each will get the payments, intended to make it easier for mothers in particular to return to work.

However, about 1.2 million parents — mostly mothers — who choose to stay at home to look after their children will not be eligible for the help. The benefit will eventually apply to each child under the age of 12.

When it was first floated the proposal came under heavy fire from stay-at-home mothers, many of whom had already lost child benefit under separate welfare reforms.

One mother challenged Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, over the scheme on his LBC radio phone-in.

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The End of Republican Party

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They call it the Grand Old Party. It may be old, but it’s anything but grand right now.

And the Republicans who replaced the Whigs may soon be as relevant as Andrew Jackson’s party if they are not very careful.

What do I mean?

America is at a politically critical turning point – a point of no return.

If Republicans don’t use the power they have in the House of Representatives to defeat amnesty and defund Obamacare, they risk political obsolescence – as well as a future America with no chance to return to constitutionally limited government.

The way things look right now, Republicans do not have the will or intestinal fortitude even to fight back, let alone play the cards voters overwhelmingly gave them in 2010.

Maybe Republicans need a reminder: They control one-half of a bicameral legislature – the half needed to approve all funding for all programs, agencies, departments and initiatives of the federal government.

Republicans have the power to kill Obamacare by defunding it. They don’t need a single Democratic vote.

Read more from this story HERE.

Congressman: Obama’s Lawless Administration Changing Benghazi Survivors’ Names, Dispersing them Throughout US in Massive Cover-up (+video)

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The Obama administration is “changing names” of the Benghazi survivors and “creating aliases” to keep them hidden from congressional investigators and the American people, Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) told Greta Van Susteren on Thursday night. He also said the administration is “dispersing them around the country” to keep them out of sight.

Gowdy’s stunning claims were overshadowed by CNN’s bombshell report that revealed there were “dozens” of CIA operatives on the ground in Benghazi on Sept. 11, 2012, the night of the deadly attack that killed four Americans. Meanwhile, the CIA is taking “unprecedented” to keep whatever it was doing in Benghazi a secret, according to the report.

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Climate Change ‘Experts’: You Should be Dead by Now

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Photo Credit: MDGovpicsAny thinking person (that leaves out Al Gore) knows that science is never “settled.” Further, as Galileo taught us, there is no such thing as science by “consensus.” Famed physicist Richard Feynman said, “Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts.” This is a great truism to keep in mind when encountering climate alarmists who promote themselves as “experts.”

According to a theory proposed by climate scientists known as the “hydrate hypothesis,” global warming will melt the permafrost in the polar regions, suddenly releasing massive amounts of methane hydrate into the atmosphere. Since methane is a much more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, climate Armageddon will ensue.

An article compiled by John Stokes in the “socially progressive” newspaper and blog The Canadian, contends that the resulting climate devastation will kill an estimated 4.5 billion people in five years. The only problem with this prediction is that the article was written in 2007. What was our fate to be?…

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Your TV Might be Watching You (+video)

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Photo Credit: espensorvikToday’s high-end televisions are almost all equipped with “smart” PC-like features, including Internet connectivity, apps, microphones and cameras. But a recently discovered security hole in some Samsung Smart TVs shows that many of those bells and whistles aren’t ready for prime time.

The flaws in Samsung Smart TVs, which have now been patched, enabled hackers to remotely turn on the TVs’ built-in cameras without leaving any trace of it on the screen. While you’re watching TV, a hacker anywhere around the world could have been watching you. Hackers also could have easily rerouted an unsuspecting user to a malicious website to steal bank account information.

Samsung quickly fixed the problem after security researchers at iSEC Partners informed the company about the bugs. Samsung sent a software update to all affected TVs.

But the glitches speak to a larger problem of gadgets that connect to the Internet but have virtually no security to speak of.

Security cameras, lights, heating control systems and even door locks and windows are now increasingly coming with features that allow users to control them remotely. Without proper security controls, there’s little to stop hackers from invading users’ privacy, stealing personal information or spying on people.

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A True Act of Heroism in Iowa (+video)

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Photo Credit: Des Moines RegisterIt sounds like a scene out of an action movie: A helpless elderly couple sits in a stalled car with a freight train bearing down on them, tragedy seems certain.

But at the last second, just like in nearly every movie, a hero emerges to save the day.

That’s the story out of Iowa where a man is being hailed as a hero for pushing an elderly couple’s stalled car from a railroad crossing with a freight train barreling towards them.

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