GOP Aide Resigns After Online Digs at Obama Daughters

120114_gop_aide_640By Fox News.

Republican congressional aide Elizabeth Lauten resigned Monday morning after making controversial comments about President Obama’s teenage daughters, Fox News confirms.

Lauten, the communications director for Rep. Stephen Fincher of Tennessee, had posted on Facebook about their casual demeanor during last week’s annual White House turkey pardon. She wrote that Sasha, 13, and Malia, 16, should “try showing a little class.”

“Rise to the occasion. Dress like you deserve respect, not a spot at the bar,” Lauten wrote. “And certainly don’t make faces during televised, public events.”

Though she wasn’t the first person to comment on the behavior and appearance of the president’s children during the event, Lauten was accused of crossing the line.

Read more from this story HERE.

_____________________________________________________________________

Photo Credit: AP / Todd Williamson

Photo Credit: AP / Todd Williamson

CNN claims politicians’ kids are off limits. What about Bristol Palin?

By T. Becket Adams.

CNN has reported at length on the rise and fall of Elizabeth Lauten, the Republican congressional aide who resigned Monday after criticizing the first daughters in a weekend Facebook post.

But CNN has yet to address one of its own anchor’s gleeful handling of Bristol Palin’s alleged assault earlier this year by a male attacker.

Lauten resigned as communications director for Rep. Steven Fincher, R-Tenn., after she came under fire for criticizing Sasha and Malia Obama for their appearance at the White House’s annual turkey pardon.

“Rise to the occasion,” Lauten wrote in the now-deleted post. “Act like being in the White House matters to you. Dress like you deserve respect, not a spot at a bar.”

The now-former GOP staffer apologized a few hours later, saying in a subsequent post that she understood “more clearly just how hurtful my words were.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Oil Price Plunge: Wide-Ranging Effects for Consumers and the Global Economy

Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

Tumbling oil prices are draining hundreds of billions of dollars from the coffers of oil-rich exporters and oil companies and injecting a much-needed boost for ailing economies in Europe and Japan — and for American consumers at the start of the peak shopping season.

The result could be one of the biggest transfers of wealth in history, potentially reshaping everything from talks over Iran’s nuclear program to the Federal Reserve’s policies to further rejuvenate the U.S. economy.

The price of oil has declined about 40 percent since its peak in mid-June and plunged last week after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries voted to continue to pump at the same rate. That continued a trend driven by a weak global economy and expanding U.S. domestic energy supplies.

The question facing investors, companies and policymakers is how low oil prices will go — and for how long. Every day, American motorists are saving $630 million on gasoline compared with what they paid at June prices, and they would get a $230 billion windfall if prices were to stay this low for a year. The vast majority of that will flow into the economy, with lower-income households living on tight budgets likely to use money not otherwise spent on gas to buy groceries, clothing and other staples.

Read more from this story HERE.

Oprah Targeted in Foiled Terror Bomb Plot

Photo Credit: Judicial Watch

Photo Credit: Judicial Watch

The Chicago studios of talk-show superstar Oprah Winfrey and the iconic “Sears Tower” (renamed Willis Tower) were the targets of a terrorist truck-bomb plot in 2009. But initially unbeknownst to federal authorities, two of the conspirators recently were arrested for unrelated state crimes in different parts of the country. The alleged bombers targeted Ms. Winfrey’s Harpo Studios because they resented her popularity and power, while the tower was selected because of its obvious landmark status. The bomb plot itself, planned in 2009, was inspired by militant Islamist hatred of American military involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq, according to law enforcement and other sources interviewed by Judicial Watch.

Sources requested anonymity for fear of reprisal by terrorist bomb-plotter associates, as well as retaliation from embarrassed federal law enforcement agents who apparently mismanaged the subsequent counterterrorism case.

The alleged bomb plotters were based in El Paso, Texas and included two longtime friends and associates currently jailed for recent state crimes. They are:

• Emad Karakrah, currently held in Cook County, Illinois Jail on charges of making a false car bomb threat after leading police on a high-speed chase through Chicago with an ISIS flag waving from his car on August 28, 2014. Karakrah sought a plea bargain conference with Judge Evelyn Clay during his last court appearance on November 17, 2014. Karakrah’s public defender stated that she was waiting on additional discovery documents and an assistant state’s attorney disclosed that she was “looking for an FBI report.” Karakrah’s case was continued until December 3, 2014. It is not clear why Karakrah is not in federal custody pending terrorism charges.

• Hector Pedroza Huerta is an illegal alien currently held in the El Paso County Jail. On August 13, Huerta was arrested in El Paso for driving intoxicated, a crime he has been twice convicted of (in 2009 and 2011). The feds quickly took over, charging him for the third time in five years with “reentry of a deported alien,” court records show. A federal magistrate judge granted the government’s order to hold Huerta without bond on August 19 and a few weeks later Huerta pleaded not guilty to the immigration charges, according to court records obtained by JW. But on October 7 Huerta was granted a “rearraignment” that ended up getting reset to October 9. At that “rearraignment” the illegal alien changed his plea to guilty, court records show. He is scheduled for sentencing on December 16 at 9 a.m. in Courtroom 422 at the U.S. District Courthouse in El Paso. Like his friend, Karakrah, it is unclear why Huerta is not facing federal conspiracy charges associated with the Chicago bomb plot. U.S. District Court Judge Frank Montalvo, handling Huerta’s sentencing, had previously presided over one of Huerta’s prior immigration cases (in 2009)…

Read more from this story HERE.

St. Louis Police Group Demands Punishment for Rams Players in Ferguson Protest

Photo Credit: AP / L.G. Patterson

Photo Credit: AP / L.G. Patterson

By Fox News.

A St. Louis police officers’ group called on the NFL to punish five Rams players who stood with their hands raised before trotting onto the field for pregame introductions Sunday.

The St. Louis Police Officers’ Association said it was “profoundly disappointed” with what it called a “display that police officers around the nation found tasteless, offensive and inflammatory.” It called for the players involved to be disciplined and for both the league and team to issue a “very public apology.”

The so-called “hands up, don’t shoot” gesture has been commonly used by demonstrators protesting the decision of a St. Louis County grand jury to not indict Officer Darren Wilson in the August 9 shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown in suburban Ferguson. Some witnesses said Brown, who was black, had his hands up before being fatally shot by Wilson, who is white.

Prior to kickoff of their game against the Oakland Raiders, Rams wide receivers Tavon Austin and Kenny Britt came out together and raised their hands, but the move was obscured by a smoke machine in the upper reaches of the Edward Jones Dome. Jared Cook, Stedman Bailey and Chris Givens then came out and stood together with hands raised in the fog.

“I just think there has to be a change,” Cook said after the Rams’ 52-0 win. “There has to be a change that starts with the people that are most influential around the world.

Read more from this story HERE.

____________________________________________________________________

Portland-protest-e1417365946542‘Everyone Is Under Arrest!’: Portland Goes Berserk During Ferguson Protest

By Scott Greer.

Portland, Oregon might be two thousand miles away from Ferguson, Missouri, but that didn’t stop protesters from causing chaos in the city Saturday night in response to the non-indictment of Officer Darren Wilson.

Hundreds gathered in the Pacific Northwestern town to shout, march, jump on police SUVs, argue with fellow protesters about whether to fight cops, stage a “die in” and listen to Jesse Jackson give a speech urging non-violence.

“We must turn the pain of Ferguson into the… reconciling hope of love and care for one another. Red and yellow, brown, black and white, we’re all precious in God’s sight. Everybody is somebody,” Jackson said earlier that night, The Oregonian reports.

Several protesters apparently didn’t take heed to the activist’s words and immediately began provoking police.

Read more from this story HERE.

California To Expand Immigrant Health Care

Photo Credit: TownHall

Photo Credit: TownHall

President Barack Obama’s executive order to spare some immigrants from deportation has galvanized Democrats, immigration groups and health care advocates in California to push for expanding health coverage to a segment of the population that remains uninsured.

The president’s action excludes immigrants who came to the country illegally from qualifying for federal health benefits. But California has its own policy of providing health coverage with state money to low-income immigrants with so-called “deferred action” that allow them to avoid deportation. Immigrant and health care advocates say that means Obama’s executive order will enable hundreds of thousands of low-income immigrants in California to apply for Medi-Cal, California’s version of Medicaid.

Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access California, said allowing this expanded group of immigrants to participate in the Medicaid program will enable people to get primary and preventive care, “rather than just at the emergency room.”

The California Department of Health Care Services, however, has yet to receive formal guidance. A state official said it’s too early to tell how the immigration program will impact the overall Medi-Cal program, which is consuming an increasing share of state funds.

Medi-Cal is a health program for the poor paid for by the federal government and the state. It has grown by about 3 million people in California under federal health care reform and now covers more than 11 million Californians, about 30 percent of the state’s population. The federal government is paying for the expansion, but the state will eventually pay 10 percent of additional costs to cover low-income adults, many of whom are childless.

Read more from this story HERE.

'Big Wave of Confusion' Surrounding Bomb Threat Against American Airlines Jet

Photo Credit: @bahenderson / Twitter

Photo Credit: @bahenderson / Twitter

A passenger aboard the American Airlines flight from Barcelona that landed safely at John F. Kennedy International Airport today after a bomb threat described the scene as “a big wave of confusion.”

“Nobody knew what was going on,” Beth Henderson, 24, of Brooklyn, New York, told ABC News. “There was a gnawing worry in the pit of my stomach.”

The jet, with 200 passengers and nine crew members on board, was taken to a secure area at JFK after landing and a bomb squad, K-9 units and emergency services were dispatched, according to the Fire Department of New York.

Read more from this story HERE.

Obama: Americans Have No Right To Favor Americans

Photo Credit: Daily Caller

Photo Credit: Daily Caller

The only Americans who can legitimately object to immigration are native Indian-Americans, President Barack Obama told his Chicago audience Nov. 24, as he made an impassioned ideological plea for endless immigration, cultural diversity and a big government to manage the resulting multicultural society.

“There have been periods where the folks who were already here suddenly say, ‘Well, I don’t want those folks,’ even though the only people who have the right to say that are some Native Americans,” Obama said, rhetorically dismissing the right of 300 million actual Americans to decide who can live in their homeland.

Americans should not favor other Americans over foreigners, Obama demanded. “Sometimes we get attached to our particular tribe, our particular race, our particular religion, and then we start treating other folks differently… that, sometimes, has been a bottleneck to how we think about immigration,” he said in the face of many polls showing rising opposition to his immigration agenda.

Obama denied any moral or practical distinction between native-born Americans and future migrants. “Whether we cross the Atlantic, or the Pacific, or the Rio Grande, we all shared one thing, and that’s the hope that America would be the place where we could believe as we choose… and that the law would be enforced equally for everybody, regardless of what you look like or what your last name was,” said the president.

Read more from this story HERE.

Surprise! Obamacare Offers Employers $3K Incentive to Hire Illegals Over US Citizens

Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

By Stephen Dinan.

Under the president’s new amnesty, businesses will have a $3,000-per-employee incentive to hire illegal immigrants over native-born workers because of a quirk of Obamacare.

President Obama’s temporary amnesty, which lasts three years, declares up to 5 million illegal immigrants to be lawfully in the country and eligible for work permits, but it still deems them ineligible for public benefits such as buying insurance on Obamacare’s health exchanges.

Under the Affordable Care Act, that means businesses who hire them won’t have to pay a penalty for not providing them health coverage — making them $3,000 more attractive than a similar native-born worker, whom the business by law would have to cover.

The loophole was confirmed by congressional aides and drew condemnation from those who said it put illegal immigrants ahead of Americans in the job market.

“If it is true that the president’s actions give employers a $3,000 incentive to hire those who came here illegally, he has added insult to injury,” said Rep. Lamar Smith, Texas Republican. “The president’s actions would have just moved those who came here illegally to the front of the line, ahead of unemployed and underemployed Americans.”

Read more from this story HERE.

_________________________________________________________________

Obamacare 2015 Includes Federal Subsidies for Abortion

By Jonathan Abbamonte.

It’s been open enrollment for ObamaCare for a week now, and it’s open season for taxpayer funding of health insurance plans that provide coverage for abortion on demand. In spite of President Obama’s promise that no federal tax dollars be used for abortion under his signature health care law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), over a thousand health insurance plans that provide coverage for abortion on-demand are expected to receive federal subsidies in the 2015 enrollment season.

Last Thursday, Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), co-chair of the Bipartisan Congressional Pro-life Caucus, reintroduced the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act and the Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act (H.R.7).

In a press conference on Capitol Hill announcing the launch of a obamacareabortion.com (a joint project of the Family Research Council and the Charlotte Lozier Institute that lists the plans in each state’s exchange that provides elective abortion coverage), Rep. Smith excoriated the president for violating his promise: “The President issued an executive order… that said… ‘the Act maintains current Hyde Amendment restrictions governing abortion policy and extends those restrictions to the newly created health insurance exchanges.’”

The Hyde Amendment stipulates that no federal taxpayer funds be appropriated for abortion or for “health benefits coverage that includes coverage of abortion.”

“Obamacare therefore violates Hyde by funding insurance plans that pay for abortion on-demand,” Rep. Smith said.

Read more from this story HERE.

NFL Player's Ferguson Message on Facebook Goes Viral

Photo Credit; Facebook

Photo Credit; Facebook

By Nichole Mischke.

Benjamin Watson who plays for the New Orleans Saints posted the following on his Facebook page and it has since gone viral:

“At some point while I was playing or preparing to play Monday Night Football, the news broke about the Ferguson Decision. After trying to figure out how I felt, I decided to write it down. Here are my thoughts:

I’M ANGRY because the stories of injustice that have been passed down for generations seem to be continuing before our very eyes.

I’M FRUSTRATED, because pop culture, music and movies glorify these types of police citizen altercations and promote an invincible attitude that continues to get young men killed in real life, away from safety movie sets and music studios.

I’M FEARFUL because in the back of my mind I know that although I’m a law abiding citizen I could still be looked upon as a “threat” to those who don’t know me. So I will continue to have to go the extra mile to earn the benefit of the doubt…

I’M ENCOURAGED, because ultimately the problem is not a SKIN problem, it is a SIN problem. SIN is the reason we rebel against authority. SIN is the reason we abuse our authority. SIN is the reason we are racist, prejudiced and lie to cover for our own. SIN is the reason we riot, loot and burn. BUT I’M ENCOURAGED because God has provided a solution for sin through the his son Jesus and with it, a transformed heart and mind. One that’s capable of looking past the outward and seeing what’s truly important in every human being. The cure for the Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice and Eric Garner tragedies is not education or exposure. It’s the Gospel. So, finally, I’M ENCOURAGED because the Gospel gives mankind hope.”

Here is the link to his Facebook page: https://tinyurl.com/oo9szxv

Read more from this story HERE.

_____________________________________________________

MUST WATCH: Will the Real Black Americans Please Stand Up

_____________________________________________________

Photo Credit: LifeNews

Photo Credit: LifeNews

Since Michael Brown Died, 981 Black Babies Have Died in Abortion in Missouri, But There are No Riots

By Steven Ertelt.

Riots are taking place across the country in response to a grand jury’s decision not to indict a Ferguson, Missouri police officer for shooting a black teenager. The decision not to bring charges has renewed difficult racial tensions nationwide.

Yesterday, LifeNews reported how the Planned Parenthood abortion business fanned the flames of racial divide by aggressively opposing the decision in Ferguson.

Though the events in Ferguson have nothing to do with abortion, Planned Parenthood and its pro-abortion CEO Cecile Richards have been very active on Twitter condemning the decision and stoking the racial divide. Ironically, as the abortion giant jumps in the debate, it makes no mention of the fact that it preys on black Americans and aborts black babies at alarming rates.

Today, a pro-life advocate from Missouri put Planned Parenthood’s targeting of black babies in abortion into perspective. She says that while there are riots over the controversial death of a black teen in Missouri, there are no riots over the death of 981 black babies who have died in Missouri since Michael Brown died. She wonders why no one is speaking up for those black victims of violence via abortion.

Read more from this story HERE.

White House Quietly Releases Plans for 3,415 Regulations Ahead of Thanksgiving Holiday

Obama-signs-Exec-orderWhile Americans are focused on what delicious foods they’re going to eat for Thanksgiving, the White House is focused on releasing its massive regulatory agenda — marking the fifth time the Obama administration has released its regulatory road map on the eve of a major holiday.

The federal Unified Agenda is the Obama administration’s regulatory road map, and it lays out thousands of regulations being finalized in the coming months. Under President Barack Obama, there has been a tradition of releasing the agenda late on Friday — and right before a major holiday.

“It’s become an unfortunate tradition of this administration and others to drop these regulatory agendas late on a Friday and right before a holiday,” Matt Shudtz, executive director of the Center for Progressive Reform, told The Hill newspaper.

The White House’s regulatory agenda for spring 2014 was released on the eve of the Memorial Day weekend, when millions of people set out on weekend getaways or family vacations.

Read more from this story HERE.