Labor Force Participation Rate Craters: 92,898,000 Americans Not Employed

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Photo Credit: Breitbart
A record 92,898,000 Americans 16 years and older did not participate in the labor force last month, according to data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The BLS defines people not in the work force as people 16 years and up who are not employed and haven’t “made specific efforts to find employment sometime during the 4-week period ending with the reference week.” The labor force participation rate — or the “The labor force as a percent of the civilian noninstitutional population” — also dipped back down to 62.7 percent, from 62.9 percent in November.

September also saw a labor force participation rate of 62.7 percent, however prior to then, the last time the rate hit 62.7 percent was in February of 1978.

While the level of labor force participation declined — due not only to potentially discouraged workers but also baby boomers hitting retirement age — the BLS reported Friday that in December the unemployment rate declined to 5.6 percent and payroll jobs increased by 252,000.

“Today’s solid employment report caps off a strong year for the U.S. labor market, which achieved a number of important milestones in 2014,” Jason Furman, Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, said in a statement. “Total job growth last year was the strongest since 1999, while the unemployment rate fell at the fastest pace in three decades.” (Read more about all the Americans unemployed HERE)

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Obama Proposes More Free Stuff from the Feds; this time, Community College

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Photo Credit: Daily CallerThe White House on Thursday announced a proposal that President Barack Obama said would make community college “free for everybody who is willing to work for it.” But administration officials provided no details about the program’s costs or where the money would come to pay for it.

Obama planned to formally announce the plan Friday at Pellissippi State Community College in Knoxville, Tennessee. He gave a preview in a videotaped message shot aboard Air Force One and posted on Facebook.

“It’s not just for kids,” Obama said. “We also have to make sure that everybody has the opportunity to constantly train themselves for better jobs, better wages, better benefits.”

Obama provided few specifics, and White House and Education Department officials on a conference call with reporters Thursday evening said the funding details would come out later with the president’s budget.

The White House did say that if all states participated, that nine million students could benefit — saving on average $3,800 in tuition per year for a full-time student. That means the program could cost in the billions of dollars. In a Republican-led Congress, the proposal likely faces a tough legislative fight to be passed. (Read more about the free community college program HERE)

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Why Parents with Disabled Children are Defending Sarah Palin

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My sister stood around the corner and deliberately out of sight, curious to see what her then-14-month-old son, Chaim, was up to. He sat on the kitchen floor, legs spread around the dog’s dish. With a devilish smile, Chaim looked around a couple of times before plunging his bare hands into the bowl and extending it as an offering to his closest friend, Sammy, the family’s poodle mix.

My sister, Sheryl, couldn’t have been more delighted. No, she wasn’t fond of Chaim boy-handling the Alpo. But the idea that Chaim knew he was doing something wrong and took precautions to avoid being caught showed logic and reasoning skills that she hadn’t before seen or anticipated. After all, before a baby with Down syndrome is born, doctors warn the expectant parents that a dire, sad, dependent life may lie ahead. . .

This is the side of those controversial images—the ones that former GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin posted of her son, Trig, standing on his dog—that my sister and other parents of children like Trig and Chaim say is overlooked. . .

I admit I didn’t get that right away, either. . . But then I saw a Facebook post from a close friend–an unimpeachable animal lover and inveterate political liberal—who is also raising a boy with Down syndrome. . .

“I’m finding myself in the very odd and somewhat disorienting position of defending Sarah Palin. My 35-pound son sits on our 82-pound Golden Retriever all the time (and, yes, he has stood on her to reach something). They have a beautiful bond, and I have great confidence that Ginny will simply get up and move if she objects. It feels weird to say it, but in the Palin/PETA smackdown, I’m going to have to side with Palin this time.”

(Read more about what the parents of children who have down syndrome think HERE)

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Houston’s Anti-Christian Lesbian Mayor Back to Old Tricks

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The city of Houston, which created a firestorm of controversy by issuing subpoenas for copies of pastors’ sermons in a case over a transgender “rights” ordinance, now contends the pastors have no right to a jury trial and wants a hand-picked “special master” to review the evidence.

The dispute centers on tens of thousands of signatures collected on petitions to overturn the city’s “equal rights” ordinance adopted under the direction of lesbian mayor Annise Parker. Church members and pastors were outraged, and they collected the signatures to reverse the decision.

The city, however, simply determined that thousands of pages of signatures were invalid. In response, the lawsuit was filed to force the city to follow its charter regarding petition signatures and challenged ordinances.

Parker subpoenaed five pastors, demanding copies of any sermons related to her and “gay” issues, a move that was ridiculed by commentators such as Rush Limbaugh, America’s top-rated radio host, who described the mayor’s actions as “vile.”

“I think what that mayor in Houston has done may be one of the most vile, filthy, blatant violations of the Constitution that I have seen,” Limbaugh said on his national broadcast. “And I, for the life of me, cannot figure out why law authorities are not pursuing this. I cannot understand it.” (Read more about the lesbian mayor HERE)

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Public School is Forcing Girls to Cover Ankles and Wear Head Wraps on Field Trip

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By Kyle Olson. A world religions class is taking a field trip to a Denver mosque and the school is requiring girls to dress in what is described as a Sharia-complaint manner.

KNUS radio host Peter Boyles reports the Douglas County school system issued these rules to students in a notification to parents.

The world religions field trip is next Tuesday, January 13. We will be visiting the Denver Mosque, the Assumption Greek Orthodox Cathedral, and the Rodef-Shalom Synagogue. We will then eat lunch at Park Meadows Food Court. Students must either bring a sack lunch or money to purchase lunch at the food court.

THERE IS A DRESS CODE FOR THIS TRIP: All students must wear appropriate long pants. Ankles must be covered. Girls must bring wide scarves or hooded sweatshirts for the mosque.

“Public schools are forbidden from holding girls to different standards than boys,” Boyles notes. “They’re holding these girls to a different standard – it’s a religious reason. (Read more about the Colorado school forcing girls to cover during mosque visit HERE)

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Liberal Arab Complains Because Congress is too ‘White’

By Brian Anderson. Two universal truths in the liberal universe are: #1 lefties hate democracy when it works against their wacko agenda and #2 white men are to blame for everything. Proving these truths brilliantly, Arab American comic Dean Obeidallah wrote an extended bitch-fest for The Daily Beast complaining how the democratic process has cursed us with too many white people (and men) in Congress.

The Unbearable Whiteness Of Congress starts with the fact that the newly sworn in Congress is the most diverse in history, but that’s not good enough for Obeidallah because in liberal land the will of the people doesn’t matter: all representation has to equally match racial, religious, and gender demographics.

The breakdown of the 114th Congress is 80 percent white, 80 percent male, and 92 percent Christian.

And because being white means being racist, we get this clever comparison:

That’s really diverse if, say, you are comparing our new Congress to the white supremacist group House Majority Whip Steve Scalise once addressed.

(Read more from this story HERE)

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Anti-Cop Pastor Trained with Sheriff Joe’s Office, Total Reversal

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A progressive pastor who has lead protests against law enforcement said “his attitude has changed” Wednesday after a local law enforcement agency invited him to a training scenario simulating life threatening situations.

Rev. Jarrett Maupin is a former Democratic congressional candidate who describes himself as a “Progressive Baptist Preacher,” a “Civil Rights Campaigner,” and a “Radical Political Activist” on his Twitter profile. He led a demonstration last month against the Phoenix Police Department after one of their officers shot an unarmed man.

But earlier this week, the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office extended an invitation to Maupin to participate in an exercise where he would find himself in three simulated life threatening scenarios police officers could experience while on the job, KSAZ reported.

The first scenario featured a suspect by a vehicle in a parking lot. Maupin permitted the suspect to go behind the vehicle before he reemerged. The suspect discharged his firearm at Maupin, resulting in the civil right’s leader’s ‘death.’ He responded to a verbal disturbance between two males for his next scenario. “What’s going on today gentlemen? What are you doing?,” he asked both men. One of the suspects rushed Maupin, causing him to discharge his firearm at the suspect’s center mass. When KSAZ asked why he did that, he replied, “Hey, he rushed me.” (Read more about the anti-cop pastor HERE)

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“He Doesn’t Care”: Obama Fails to Visit Phoenix Veterans Affair

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President Obama’s motorcade drove by a troubled Phoenix Veterans Affairs hospital but did not stop during his swing through the city touting the nation’s housing recovery.

The drive-by had reporters traveling with the president wondering whether he might stop by the hospital during his visit to Phoenix, but the motorcade continued straight to the high school where Obama delivered remarks about his latest executive action to cut mortgage insurance costs for borrowers using Federal Housing Administration loans.

It also spurred new criticism from Republicans, who along with vets groups, had called on Obama to visit the hospital located a mile from the school where he spoke.

“It is a testament to this president’s misplaced priorities that he would choose a photo op for his next executive action over visiting the VA hospital where veterans died on secret government waiting lists instead of getting care,” Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said in a statement Thursday afternoon.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., early this week had urged Obama to make a stop at the VA hospital, and vet groups have been equally vocal in urging the president to visit. (Read more about Obama failing to visit Phoenix Veterans Affair HERE)

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Gospel Music Pioneer Andraé Crouch Dies at 72

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Photo Credit: USA Today
Andraé Crouch, a gospel musician who bridged the worlds of church and mainstream music for more than 50 years, died Thursday afternoon. The 72-year-old singer, songwriter and choir director had been hospitalized since Saturday at Northridge Hospital Medical Center in the Los Angeles area after suffering a heart attack.

Crouch, sometimes called “the father of modern gospel music,” led the choirs that sang on such hits as Michael Jackson’s Man in the Mirror and Madonna’s Like a Prayer. As a songwriter, he wrote several gospel favorites, most notably The Blood Will Never Lose Its Power, My Tribute (To God Be the Glory) and Soon and Very Soon, a song sung at Jackson’s public memorial service.

A San Francisco native who grew up in the Church of God in Christ, Crouch wrote his first gospel tune at age 14. By 1960, he had formed the Church of God in Christ Singers, a group that featured Billy Preston on keyboards.

He started another group, Andraé Crouch & the Disciples, in 1965, eventually signing to a contemporary Christian label, Light Records. Crouch brought a contemporary pop and R&B melodic sensibility to gospel, making him uniquely suited to appeal to both black and white audiences during the early days of the countercultural “Jesus movement” and also bringing him attention beyond the church. (Read more from story “Andraé Crouch Dies at 72” HERE)

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It Only Took Bill Cosby Nine Words to Get Appalled Gasps From Audience

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It only took nine words from Bill Cosby Thursday night to draw “loud gasps” from an audience.

Cosby, performing in Canada, made a joke as one woman left the crowd to get a drink.

“You have to be careful about drinking around me,” he said, according to multiple reports.

The apparent joke, which comes on the heels of Cosby being accused by multiple women of sexual assault, resulted in “loud gasps from the audience,” according to Richard Warnica, a reporter for the National Post . . .

Following the joke, a heckler apparently accused the comedian of being a “rapist.” That man was escorted out by security. (Read more about what Bill Cosby said HERE)

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Obama Refuses to Call Paris Attack ‘Islamic’ and Rush Limbaugh Brings Up President’s Birth Certificate

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By Jerome R. Corsi. In response to the attack on the Paris magazine that published editorial cartoons mocking Islam, President Obama reluctantly classified it as an act of terrorism while refusing to associate it with Islam.

“I strongly condemn the horrific shooting at the offices of Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris that has reportedly killed 12 people,” Obama said in a carefully worded statement released by the White House press office.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims of this terrorist attack and the people of France at this difficult time. France is America’s oldest ally and has stood shoulder to shoulder with the United States in the fight against terrorists who threaten our shared security and the world.”

Speaking in both French and English, Secretary of State John Kerry expressed U.S. solidarity with France against the “extremism” reflected in the terrorist attack on Charlie Hebdo. He also took care to characterize the attack as terrorism without specifically characterizing it as “Islamic terrorism.” (Read more from “Obama Refuses to Call Paris Attack ‘Islamic'” HERE)

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Rush Limbaugh Brings Up Obama’s Birth Certificate

By Joe Kovacs. Historians are still buzzing about the 1795 Boston time capsule that was buried by American patriots Paul Revere and Samuel Adams.

Among them is radio host and U.S. history author Rush Limbaugh, who said on Wednesday’s broadcast:

Because of our children’s book series, ‘Rush Revere and the Brave Pilgrims,’ the fact that a time capsule that was planted, if you will, by Paul Revere and Samuel Adams was opened yesterday in Boston … is uncanny news to us!

Paul Revere and Samuel Adams left a time capsule. It was found, and it was opened yesterday. It did not contain Obama’s birth certificate. Many people were thinking that it might. But it didn’t.

(Read more from this story HERE)

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