Poll: More Americans Hearing Good News About Jobs

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Photo Credit: Tax Credits/flickr

Photo Credit: Tax Credits/flickr

For the first time since the financial crisis began, as many Americans are hearing good news about the job market as bad news, according to a poll released Tuesday.

Twenty-six percent of people surveyed by the Pew Research Center said that they were hearing mostly good news and 25 percent said they were hearing mostly bad news about the nation’s job situation. Forty-five percent said they were hearing a mix of both good and bad news.

It marks the first time that roughly the same number of Americans have said they are hearing good news as bad about jobs since the poll question was introduced in 2009.

The poll comes as the unemployment rate sits at 5.8 percent and gas prices continue to fall. President Obama is touting the economic rebound as a key part of his legacy. Republicans, though, say that millions of Americans have given up looking for jobs and are no longer in the workforce.

See poll results HERE.

Read more HERE.

Wash Post: And the Biggest 'Pinocchios' of the Year Go To…

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Screen Shot 2014-12-16 at 2.30.35 AMIt’s time for our annual round-up of the biggest Pinocchios of the year.

The midterm elections, of course, dominated our coverage of false claims, as an avalanche of negative ads tumbled across televisions screens. Some of those ads, which made it onto our list of the worst campaign ads, have the dubious honor of also appearing on this list.

This year, we are also highlighting the bipartisan failure of politicians in both parties for failing to accurately describe the impact of the Affordable Care Act. Democrats such as President Obama and Republicans such as House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) either inflated or deflated the numbers to a ridiculous extent. (Before anyone asks, Obama’s “if you want to keep your plan” was on last year’s list)…

Obama: “Republicans have filibustered 500 pieces of legislation”

President Obama, a former senator, got quite a few things wrong here. He spoke of legislation that would help the middle class, but he was counting cloture votes that mostly involved judicial and executive branch nominations. Moreover, he counted all the way back to 2007, meaning he even included votes in which he, as senator, voted against ending debate — the very thing he decried in his remarks. At best, he could claim the Republicans had blocked about 50 bills, meaning he was off by a factor of ten.

Read more from this story HERE.

Texas to Become an Open Carry State?

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Credit - AP

Credit – AP

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Long depicted as the rootin’-tootin’ capital of American gun culture, Texas is one of the few states with an outright ban on the open carry of handguns.

That could change in 2015, with the Republican-dominated Legislature and Gov.-elect Greg Abbott expected to push for expanded gun rights.

“If open carry is good enough for Massachusetts, it’s good enough for the state of Texas,” Abbott said the day after his election last month.

And if Texas, which allows concealed handguns, embraces open carry — rolling back a 140-year ban — it would be the largest state to have done so.

Open carry drew wide support in the 2014 statewide election, and at least six bills have already been filed for the upcoming session, which starts in January. Abbott has already pledged to sign one into law if sent to his desk.

Read more from this story HERE.

Senate Approves Obama's Anti-Gun Surgeon General Nominee

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Credit - Newsy

Credit – Newsy

The Senate on Monday approved President Obama’s nomination of Dr. Vivek Murthy to serve as U.S. surgeon general, despite opposition from Republicans and some Democrats over his support for gun control and past statements that gun violence is a public health issue.

Murthy, 37, a physician at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital and instructor at Harvard Medical School, won confirmation on a vote of 51-43. He’s a co-founder of Doctors for America, a group that has pushed for affordable health care and supports Obama’s health care law.

Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said most of Murthy’s career has been spent as an activist focused on gun control and other political issues, rather than on treating patients. “Americans don’t want a surgeon general who might use this position of trust to promote his own personal campaign against the Second Amendment of the Constitution,” Barrasso said.

Supporters said Murthy is well-qualified and noted his promise not to use the position as a bully pulpit for gun control.

The nation has been without a Senate-confirmed surgeon general since July 2013. The surgeon general does not set policy but is an advocate for the people’s health.

Here is the Roll Call.

Read more from this story HERE.

Rand Paul Introduces Bill to Undo Executive Amnesty

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has filed a bill seeking to repeal President Obama’s executive order that delays deportation of five million immigrants, the Courier Journal reported Saturday.

Paul’s bill, “Preventing Executive Overreach on Immigration Act,” is companion legislation to a House bill passed last week from Rep. Ted Yoho (R-Fla.)

The Kentucky Republican’s proposal, posted on his website Friday, prohibits the president from using discretion when determining who to deport.

Read more from this story HERE.

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Senator Paul Introduces Legislation to Prevent President Obama’s Executive Amnesty

Senator Rand Paul today introduced the Preventing Executive Overreach on Immigration Act. This is companion legislation to Congressman Ted Yoho’s bill (H.R. 5759) that passed the House of Representatives on December 4, 2014 on a 219-197 vote.

This legislation would end President Obama’s executive action on immigration and restore the Congress’ constitutional role as the body to craft legislation. Article I of the Constitution places the legislative powers in Congress. The President does not have the power under the Constitution to rewrite immigration laws to exempt classes of people from a law that was passed by Congress and signed into law.

“I believe that the Constitution is clear that the legislative power resides in Congress. The President is not a king and he does not have the power to enact laws then execute his own laws. Our Constitution is being violated by this executive order and other actions by the Obama Administration to govern by executive fiat,” Sen. Paul stated.

A copy of the legislation can be found HERE.

Read more from this story HERE.

Cromnibus Passes Senate – Here's the Roll Call

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Credit - Daily Signal

Credit – Daily Signal

The Senate tonight passed a $1.1 trillion bill to fund most of the federal government through the current fiscal year, averting another partial shutdown amid sharp disagreements on regulating immigration, financial institutions and election campaigns.

The Senate’s bipartisan 56-40 vote, coming after an unusual Saturday session, cleared the way for President Obama to sign the spending bill, which he has said he will do.

Senate conservatives, led by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, had tried to slow passage of the bill — forcing senators to work the weekend rather than return Monday. They objected that it did not “defund” Obama’s executive actions to grant legal status to millions of illegal immigrants.

The upper chamber’s action follows a 219-206 vote by the House of Representatives less than three hours before a midnight deadline Thursday night. As in the House, both liberals and conservatives were unhappy with aspects of the spending bill.

When the final vote came just before 10, more Senate Democrats (21) voted against the bill than did Republicans (18), signaling the odd alliances created by the funding measure. One independent, Bernie Sanders of Vermont, also rejected the measure. (Here is the roll call.)

Read more from this story HERE.

Controversial New Obama Admin College Rating System Taking Heat

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Credit - Fox News

Credit – Fox News

WASHINGTON – A controversial Obama administration rating system for colleges and universities already is being scrutinized ahead of its late-December rollout by educators who claim the government’s goal of more transparency could come at the expense of schools that don’t happen to fit the ivory tower model.

The federal government, with its long-awaited rating system, is trying to hold the country’s 7,000 colleges and universities accountable not only to taxpayers, but also to prospective students trying to weigh the pros and cons of different institutions.

But it has many in the education community on edge. Several colleges and education associations have launched a preemptive PR strike against the plan, though the details haven’t yet been released.

“I don’t know how they can complain about something that isn’t even out,” a source at the Department of Education told FoxNews.com on condition of anonymity.

The ratings system, rumored to be released on Dec. 19, is likely to re-ignite the debate on the federal government’s role in higher education. The Obama administration has had to balance its position as a cheerleader for innovation with its demands for colleges and universities to rein in tuition costs, while also pressing the institutions to produce more employable graduates.

Read more from this story HERE.

Ex-CIA Official: Pelosi, Dems 'Fully Aware' of CIA's Interrogation Methods

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Fox News

Fox News

Screen Shot 2014-12-15 at 1.20.45 AMOn “Fox News Sunday,” Chris Wallace spoke to Jose Rodriguez, the former director of the National Clandestine Service of the CIA, who oversaw the agency’s interrogation program.

Bolling Blasts CIA Torture Report: ‘I Have Zero Sympathy for the Terrorists’

Rodriguez said that the CIA’s controversial enhanced interrogation techniques that appear the Senate Intelligence Committee’s “torture report” were both legal and approved by the Justice Department.

He added that thorough investigations of the CIA’s program were conducted and no prosecutable offenses were found.

“No one tortured anybody else,” Rodriguez said.

Judge Jeanine: ‘Your Ivory Tower, Liberal, Kumbaya Naiveté Is Dangerous’

As for the report’s conclusion that the CIA misled Congress, Rodriguez said that he very clearly remembers briefing Nancy Pelosi in September 2002.

Read more from this story HERE.

A Viable Alternative to ObamaCare

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Credit - Jim Ruymen/Newscom

Credit – Jim Ruymen/Newscom

In the wake of Republican mid-term electoral victories, and with support for the president’s health care law registering new lows in the Gallup survey, it is time to consider what a “repeal and replace” strategy for Obamacare might actually look like.

While it is true that the politics and timing remain fluid, it is still possible to outline substantive changes.

At the top of the list would be replacing the Obamacare premium tax credits for exchange coverage with a new health care tax credit design that is broader, fairer and simpler.

Obamacare provides substantial subsidies for buying health insurance but only to individuals who have incomes between 100 percent and 400 percent of the federal poverty level, and only if they purchase coverage through a government-run exchange. Individuals with access to employer-sponsored coverage are ineligible for the new subsidies, and the law fines employers with 50 or more full-time workers if they do not offer coverage. Furthermore, even when someone qualifies for a premium tax credit, calculating the correct amount is absurdly complicated. The amount varies based not only on the recipient’s income but also according to the size of his family and the cost of the “reference plan” in the county of residence. There are more than 3,000 counties in the U.S.

The fairly obvious move would be to replace that complicated design with a uniform tax credit for health insurance available to all Americans. That way those with access to employer coverage could apply the credit to their employer’s plan, and all the employer would have to do is adjust the worker’s tax withholding to reflect the credit. Those who buy coverage on their own simply could authorize their insurer to collect the credit on their behalf and then bill them for the portion of the premium not covered by the credit.

Read more from this story HERE.

Why Abortion Rate Is Lowest It's Been Since 1973

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Credit - Getty Images

Credit – Getty Images

The abortion rate keeps dropping. The latest numbers from the CDC, released last week, show that the abortion rate is the lowest it’s been since 1973, the year the Supreme Court manufactured a constitutional right to abortion in Roe v. Wade.

This raises two important questions: What is the cause of the decline in abortion? And how can we build on this success to protect the right to life for the hundreds of thousands of unborn lives that still fall victim to abortion each year?

There’s No Irony Here

Writing at The Atlantic, David Frum suggests that the acceptance of unwed childbearing is the key to the drop in abortion: “Ironically, the socially conservative pro-life movement has made its peace with unwed parenthood as an alternative to abortion.” He renders the movement’s history to arrive at this conclusion in the following way:

This is the fascinating irony of the pro-life movement. The cause originated as a profoundly socially conservative movement. Yet as it grew, it became less sectarian. Women came to the fore as leaders. It found a new language of concern and compassion, rather than condemnation and control. Most radically and decisively, the movement made its peace with unwed parenthood as the inescapable real-world alternative to abortion.

There’s nothing ironic here. From the beginning, the pro-life movement has been about assisting women in crisis pregnancies. The movement that launched crisis-pregnancy centers, the Sisters of Life, and so many other organizations to help house, feed, clothe, and care for expecting mothers has always viewed unwed motherhood as vastly superior to abortion.

Read more from this story HERE.