Why Legal Marijuana is Popular, but Lawmakers Still Pass On Grass

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A CNN/Opinion Research poll earlier this week was the latest to show a spike in support for legal weed. CNN, Gallup and the Pew Research Center all now show a clear-to-sizeable majority of Americans support Americans’ right to toke as they please — as high as 58 percent in Gallup’s polling.

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Despite the surge in popularity, though, we have yet to see basically any major politicians jumping on board. Indeed, it’s tough to name any big-name elected officials who support it — let alone someone who might run for president in 2016.

Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) and House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) this week became the latest lawmakers to just say no, as their state weighs legalizing marijuana.

They have been joined in recent weeks by New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez (R), California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D).

Read more from this story HERE.

Target Sharply Raises Initial Estimate: Data Breach Up To 110 Million Customers

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Photo Credit: AFP/Scott Olson

Photo Credit: AFP/Scott Olson

Giant US retailer Target said Friday that up to 110 million customers have had their personal data stolen in a data breach, sharply raising its initial estimate.

The number of people affected represented one in three Americans, and the scope of the information stolen was much broader than originally thought, Target admitted.

Target initially reported on December 19 that payment card data of some 40 million customers had been obtained by hackers during the year-end holiday shopping season.

The stolen information included credit and debit card data, customer names and PIN (personal identification data) numbers.

On Friday, Target said that its investigation had revealed that hackers also stole a second batch of data that included names, mailing addresses, phone numbers or email addresses for up to 70 million people.

Read more from this story HERE.

Bosses More Likely to Be Republican and Conservative

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Photo Credit: AP Photo/Mark Lennihan

Photo Credit: AP Photo/Mark Lennihan

Bosses are more likely than workers to identify as Republican and conservative, according to analysis released by Pew Research Thursday.

Pew Research surveyed 2,002 adults from Oct. 7-27 and found that bosses are more likely to identify as members of the Republican Party, with 53 percent of bosses saying “they are Republican or lean to the GOP.” Just over a third (34 percent) of bosses identify as members of the Democratic Party, while most workers (44 percent) identify as Democrats.

Roughly four out of 10 or 43 percent of bosses (and 37 percent of workers) identify as conservatives, while 34 percent of the bosses identified as moderates (and 33 percent of workers). The smallest group was those who call themselves liberal: 17 percent of bosses and 21 percent of workers.

Just over half the bosses (54 percent) had household incomes of $75,000, whereas only 32 percent of workers had salaries at or above $75,000. In part, each of these differences is attributable to age.

On average, bosses are about eight years older than workers (47 vs. 39), so as a group they are further along in their careers.

Read more from this story HERE.

‘Chaos’ as West Virginia Customers Pack Stores to Buy Water After Chemical Spill, Federal Gov’t Opens Investigation (+video)

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Photo Credit: Fox News

Photo Credit: Fox News

By Fox News.

The federal government said Friday it will open an investigation into a West Virginia chemical spill that shut down much of the state’s capital and put 300,000 residents at risk.

Schools and restaurants closed, grocery stores sold out of bottled water, and state legislators who had just started their session canceled the day’s business after a chemical spill in the Elk River in Charleston, even as the extent of the danger remained unclear.

The federal government joined the state early Friday in declaring a disaster and announced an investigation into the spill, while the West Virginia National Guard planned to distribute bottled drinking water to emergency services agencies in the nine affected counties.

Shortly after the Thursday spill from Freedom Industries hit the river and a nearby treatment plant, a licorice-like smell enveloped parts of the city, and Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin issued an order to customers of West Virginia American Water: Do not drink, bathe, cook or wash clothes with tap water.

Freedom Industries says it doesn’t know how much of a chemical spilled from its plant in Charleston into the Elk Rive, but that it’s working to contain the leak and prevent further contamination.

Read more from this story HERE.

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Chemical levels in West Virginia water drop, but still no end in sight to ban

By Greg Botelho and Tom Watkins.

The level of odorous chemical in West Virginians’ water dropped Friday, but not enough for authorities to lift a warning to avoid drinking, cooking or bathing with it or to give a clear idea as to when things will change.
Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin described the situation in nine counties Friday night as “pretty bad,” both for residents being told the only thing they should do with their running water is flush their toilets and schools, restaurants, hotels and other businesses forced to close.

One bit of good news is tests on the affected water supply, which are being conducted on an hourly basis, show “the chemical level is declining.”

“But we’re just not sure exactly how long it’s going to take before it’s acceptable to lift the do-not-drink ban,” the governor told CNN.

Much of the anger centers around the coal-industry company from which the chemical leak occurred. And there’s also frustration among some — including Danny Jones, the mayor of West Virginia’s most populated city and capital, Charleston — that the water company trying to deal with the resulting mess still doesn’t have a timeline for when things will return to normal.

Read more from this story HERE.

Family-Run Business Files With Supreme Court: Stop ‘Unjust’ ObamaCare HHS Mandate

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Photo Credit: LifeNews

Photo Credit: LifeNews

A family-run business filed papers with the Supreme Court today telling the high court that it must stop the “unjust” Obamcare mandate that requires companies to pay for birth control and abortion-causing drugs for their employees.

This is the companion case to the legal challenge the Supreme Court accepted from Hobby Lobby.

Alliance Defending Freedom and allied attorneys representing a Pennsylvania Mennonite family and its woodworking business filed their opening brief with the U.S. Supreme Court Friday in one of two major legal challenges to the Obama administration’s abortion pill mandate that the high court agreed in November to hear.

“Unjust laws are not valid laws. The government shouldn’t be allowed to punish Americans for exercising their constitutionally protected freedoms,” said Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel David Cortman. “The administration has no business whatsoever forcing citizens to choose between making a living and living free.”

“Job creators don’t give up their fundamental freedoms when they get a business license,” added Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Legal Counsel Matt Bowman. “Every American has a right to fully and freely participate in every area of public life.”

Read more from this story HERE.

The Islamization of America in 2013

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Photo Credit: breitbart

Photo Credit: breitbart

Since I wrote my book Stop the Islamization of America and established the Stop Islamization of America initiative of my organization, the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI), we have seen increasing accommodation and submission to Islam in the United States. This past year was a particularly good year for Islamic supremacists, who are working furiously in this country to impose Sharia (Islamic law) — and in particular, the blasphemy laws under the Sharia.

The Islamic supremacist approach is stealthier here in the States than it is in Europe, where we see no-go zones, mass car burnings, etc., because Europe currently has a much bigger Muslim population than the U.S. does. More on Muslim immigration here.

That kind of aggression is in our future, for nothing is being done to prevent its coming here. The few of us who dare to speak against Sharia and jihad are blacklisted from the mainstream media’s major newspaper and broadcast outlets. Trimmers (those who soften the message about Islam or speak of “Islamism,” an artificial word making a distinction without a difference) and Islamic apologists are dusted off and trotted out to make some inane comment whenever the mainstream media cannot avoid covering a jihad news story (such as the Boston Marathon jihad bombing). But the effective true voices against Islamization, such as myself, Robert Spencer, Wafa Sultan, and Ibn Warraq are rarely seen these days.

It’s never been as bad as it is now, and we have never been proven so right as we were in 2013. In the U.S., in a survey released at the end of 2012, almost half of the Muslims in America said that they thought parodies of Muhammad should be subject to criminal prosecution. One in eight thought that insulting Islam should be a death penalty offense. Forty percent said that they shouldn’t have to obey U.S. laws, but should be subject only to Islamic law.

Read more from this story HERE.

Americans, 8-1, Oppose Immunity For Foreign Diplomats

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Photo Credit: AP Photo/Mohammed Jaffer

Photo Credit: AP Photo/Mohammed Jaffer

Americans have had it with foreign diplomats breaking U.S. laws and then receiving a “get out of jail free” pass, according to a new poll that shows overwhelming opposition to the practice of giving lawbreakers stationed at the United Nations and Washington embassies diplomatic immunity.

The new YouGov poll bolsters the State Department’s Dec. 12 arrest and strip search of a top Indian diplomat charged with falsifying visa information for her Indian maid and paying her pauper’s wages of $600 a month despite promises of $4,500 a month.

The prosecution of Devyani Khobragade, India’s deputy consul general in New York City, has roiled U.S.-India relations. Images of President Obama have been burned in New Delhi. Khobragade has denied the charges, even claiming that her maid had tried to blackmail her.

India claims she has diplomatic immunity, but federal officials said that the rights to foreign officials only extends to their governmental duties.

On Friday, Khobragade flew back to New Delhi after she was indicted then granted diplomatic immunity from visa fraud charges.

Read more from this story HERE.

Exclusive: The Swirling Global Warming Hoax Spawns a Polar Vortex

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Over the past week we have heard many mainstream media reports about the dreaded ‘Polar Vortex’ that has been impacting the lower 48 and making it downright cold in early January. Watching the coverage one might think that is something new and different, the likes of which we have never seen before (except in B-grade science fiction movies such as “The Day After Tomorrow”). Rush Limbaugh said earlier this week the ‘Polar Vortex’ was a media ‘lie’ and ‘hoax’. What is the truth? In this case, the media hype got so bad that the National Weather Service was forced to put out a graphic and statement to help clear up the disinformation. It can be seen here:

Photo Credit: NOAA

Photo Credit: NOAA

In short, this is nothing new. Sure, this is a stronger cold outbreak that most (called it the Siberian Express a decade or two ago). However a cold air mass in January is not, in fact, anything unusual. What is does show is that the ridiculous prognostications from five to fifteen years ago that proclaimed that global warming would make snowfall rare, and cold outbreaks a thing for the history books, were wildly wrong.

Does a cold outbreak in January prove or disprove anything scientifically? Of course not, but what it does prove is the picture painted by climate alarmists was, and continues to be, devoid of reality.

The media is once again doing their best Marx Brothers imitation: “Who are you going to believe, me or your own eyes?”

CIA Whistleblower: Hollywood Megastar Asked Government For $50K Of Cocaine To Act As Secret Agent

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Photo Credit: Amazon

Photo Credit: Amazon

Hollywood double agents might want to watch their backs.

In an utterly unprecedented move, 34-year CIA employee John Rizzo is breaking the organization’s code of silence to expose the government organization’s darkest secrets for the very first time.

Chief among his bombshell revelations is the suggestion that Hollywood and Washington are much closer than anyone has previously thought: exchanging money, information — and in one staggering case — a request for $50,000 of cocaine!

In his new book, Company Man: Thirty Years of Controversy and Crisis in the CIA, whistleblower Rizzo, who served as the acting general counsel for the entire CIA, admits, “the CIA has long had a special relationship with the entertainment industry, devoting considerable attention to fostering relationships with Hollywood movers and shakers: studio executives, producers, directors and big-name actors.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Senator From Colorado Asked State to Mislead the Public About Insurance Cancellations

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

By Rick Moran.

Desperate people do desperate things. In this case, Senator Mark Udall asked the state’s insurance commission to downplay the number of policy cancellations by changing the definition of “cancelled.”

Breitbart:

CompleteColorado.com reports that emails show U.S. Senator Mark Udall’s (D-CO) office pressured the Colorado Division of Insurance to downplay the number of insurance cancellations caused by the rollout of ObamaCare. A full 249,199 Colorado citizens were victimized by ObamaCare’s cancellations. According to the emails, Udall’s office hoped to change the definition of a “cancellation” as a way to lower the number. All of this occurred late last year as the storm around cancellations was engulfing Democrats and the president.

From an email inside the Colorado Division of Insurance (DOI), Director of External Affairs Jo Donlin bluntly stated to her colleagues:

Sen. Udall says our numbers were wrong. They are not wrong. Cancellation notices affected 249,199 people. They want to trash our numbers. I’m holding strong while we get more details. Many have already done early renewals. Regardless, they received cancellation notices.

Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: breitbart

Photo Credit: breitbart

13,000 Obamacare applicants have no records with health insurers

By Tom Murphy and Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, AP.

Record-keeping snags could complicate the start of insurance coverage this month as people begin using policies they purchased under President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul.

Insurance companies are still trying to sort out cases of so-called health insurance orphans, customers for whom the government has a record that they enrolled, but the insurer does not.

Government officials say the problem is real but under control, with orphan records being among the roughly 13,000 problem cases they are trying to resolve with insurers. But insurance companies are worried the process will grow more cumbersome as they deal with the flood of new customers who signed up in December as enrollment deadlines neared.

More than 1 million people have signed up through the federal insurance market that serves 36 states. Officials contend the error rate for new signups is close to zero.

Read more from this story HERE.

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ObamaCare Is a Losing Bet

By Anthony J.Ciani.

“Aim for the heart, Ramon,” the Man With No Name taunted. In the movie For a Few Dollars More, Clint Eastwood’s character covered his heart with an iron plate hidden beneath his poncho, knowing that Ramon would stubbornly aim for his heart and run out of ammunition. Making your opponent waste energy and resources is a classic tactic. At the monthly meeting of the Palatine Township Republican Organization, Congressman Roskam made one thing abundantly clear: the Republican strategy for 2014 is ObamaCare, just as the strategy in 2012 was the economy, and just as Ramon’s strategy was aiming for the heart. If Republicans aim only at ObamaCare, they will find an iron plate.

In September of 2012, Mitt Romney looked fairly well poised to beat President Obama. The lead was not astronomical, but most voters saw the economy as the major issue, and increasingly saw Republicans as better suited to fixing it. Then came the smoke and mirrors. The power of the President was abused to alter economic figures, creating a false and drastic dip in September unemployment. This was not a last ditch effort, but a careful manipulation of census data over two years. Back in 2010, Democratic strategists realized that the highly partisan, Democratic “Porkulus” would fail and the economy would be an albatross about their necks, and so planned the massive deception for 2012; a hidden iron plate to cover their hearts.

The second phase of ObamaCare had a disastrous rollout, and the sticker shock is still stinging, but the general election is 10 months away, and the iron plate is plainly visible. Most of the phase-ins and deadlines of the Affordable Care Act begin just after or well before the Federal elections. For those parts that were planned poorly, Obama has issued imperial decrees to move them post-election. In 2013, the Democrats branded a few million Americans with the mark of ObamaCare. So many people complained, that Obama put the brand back into the fire and promised not to take it out again until after the 2014 elections, when it will be red hot and ready to brand all Americans. All praise the benevolence of our Glorious Leader.

Read more from this story HERE.