Kickin’ off the New Year: Forecast for Parts of U.S. – 40 Below Zero (+video)

Photo Credit: thisreidwrites/flickr

Photo Credit: thisreidwrites/flickr

While Los Angeles will kick off 2014 with highs in the 70s, the National Weather Service forecasts many other areas of the United States will have a chilly start to the New Year with lows below zero — well below zero.

“The two really cold spots will be New England and Wisconsin,” said Bruce Terry, a forecaster with the weather service. Minnesota and North Dakota will also be frigid, he said.

Lows in Wisconsin, Minnesota and North Dakota could reach 40 degrees below zero on Tuesday night, he said. In New England, temperatures will be relatively warmer, with lows near or below zero.

Snow is expected to hit parts of Iowa and head eastward, into areas of Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Read more from this story HERE.

Benghazi: Betrayal that Whitewash Won’t Cover

Photo Credit: Jacquelyn Martin

Photo Credit: Jacquelyn Martin

By Wesley Pruden.

Transparency, the current vogue word for truth-telling, is usually a good thing, unless you’re trying to fool all the people some of the time, like spending 7,000 words to resurrect a fairy tale in Benghazi, all to give a helping hand to a lady in distress.

The New York Times understands that Hillary Clinton is likely to be the only credible hope the Democrats have for 2016 and that she already needs lots of remedial help. The Times huffed and puffed to deliver an excuse for betrayal in Benghazi, meant to second Mrs. Clinton’s famous alibi for her tortured misfeasance as secretary of state — “What difference, at this point, does it make?”

The right response might have made a lot of difference to an American ambassador who lay dead, slain at the hands of Islamic terrorists, and three other Americans who had to give up their lives because nobody at the White House could be bothered to ride to the rescue. President Obama and his frightened and timid acolytes, including Mrs. Clinton, insisted that this was not Islamic terror or the perfidy of al Qaeda, but merely the reaction of innocent Muslims offended by a video posted on YouTube mocking the religion of the Prophet Muhammad.

Even after the White House dispatched Susan Rice, who was then the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, to push the confection about the video as revealed truth, almost nobody believed it. The White House couldn’t even find anybody else who would say he believed it.

Read more about the Benghazi betrayal HERE.

_________________________________________________________________________________

NYT editor defiant on Benghazi report amid lawmaker criticism

By Fox News.

A New York Times editor on Monday staunchly defended a controversial report on the Benghazi attack which largely backed the State Department’s narrative, amid withering criticism from congressional Republicans and others.

The State Department, as might be expected, also spoke in defense of the New York Times article.

“Much of what’s in this in-depth investigation … tracks with what the [internal review board] found and with our understanding of the facts,” spokeswoman Marie Harf said Monday.

The lengthy Times report and the subsequent fallout represent the latest battle over the public narrative of what happened the night of Sept. 11, 2012. Even the State Department’s internal review did not offer a definitive explanation of what caused the attack and who was behind it.

The Times investigation, though, aggravated some of the department’s toughest critics by concluding there was no involvement from Al Qaeda or any other international terror group and that an anti-Islam film played a role in inciting the initial wave of attacks.

Read more from this story HERE.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

Senate Intel panel to release Benghazi report in early 2014

By Susan Crabtree.

The Senate Intelligence Committee has concluded its Benghazi investigation and is set to release its report in early 2014, a move that will only intensify the debate over the administration’s handling of the deadly terror attack.

On Sunday, the New York Times published a six-part article on the attack that concluded that al Qaeda played virtually no role in the September 11, 2012 attacks on the U.S. consulate and nearby CIA annex in Benghazi that left Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans dead.

The piece also bolstered the argument that at least part of the attack was prompted by anger over an anti-Islamic video, as the Obama administration originally claimed.

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., has yet to weigh in on the New York Times’ Benghazi report. A spokesman said she was traveling on Monday and didn’t plan to comment but also noted that the committee plans to release its Benghazi review “very early in 2014.”

What that report says about al Qaeda’s role, the security lapses surrounding the attack and the motivation behind it will reshape the debate yet again, likely keeping Benghazi in the headlines for weeks to come.

Read more from this story HERE.

Conservatives Should Adopt Reagan’s No Compromise Position in Dealing with Republican Establishment, Ruling Class

Ronald-Reagan-APLooking ahead to 2014, Breitbart News Senior Editor-at-Large and Government Accountability Institute (GAI) President Peter Schweizer said that the best way for conservatives to defeat the permanent political class and the Republican establishment is to not compromise with or be co-opted by them.

On Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot channel 125 with Breitbart News Executive Chairman and host Stephen K. Bannon, Schweizer, regarded as the top expert on crony capitalism in the nation, said Republicans and Democrats in Washington, D.C. are like “two vultures fighting over a carcass.” He said both parties are fighting over “who’s going to pick at the carcass more.”

He said the natural tendency of the Republican establishment is to “compromise and give away.” Schweizer mentioned that this was also the case during President Ronald Reagan’s tenure in office, when much of the Republican establishment that had loathed him, at least since 1976, wanted to “cut a deal with the Soviets.”

Reagan did not, and Americans eventually saw the collapse of the “Evil Empire,” as Schweizer noted….

Ultimately, Schweizer said, despite establishment groups like the Chamber of Commerce and Karl Rove’s American Crossroads can spend hundreds of millions of dollars waging war against conservatives, “what elects people is votes not dollars.” He said that the Republican establishment can spend “as much money as they want, but those candidates will have to appeal to Americans for votes.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Moving Toward Victory: Record Numbers of Surgical Abortion Clinics Close in 2013

Photo Credit: Fibonacci Blue

Photo Credit: Fibonacci Blue

A record 87 surgical abortion clinics closed in 2013, a new study finds.

The total number of surgical abortion clinics in U.S. fell 12% to 582 in 2013 – a 73% decline from a high of 2,176 in 1991.

Texas led all states with 11 closures in 2013, most of which shut down after Texas passed an abortion law earlier this year that required abortionists to maintain local hospital privileges. New clinic safety rules in Pennsylvania and Maryland also prompted closures in those states.

“The numbers don’t lie. A 73% drop in surgical abortion clinics is a significant loss. We are witnessing the death throes of the abortion cartel,” said Troy Newman, president of Operation Rescue, which conducted the study.

Read more from this story HERE.

Thousands Scramble to Get Medical Procedures Before Obamacare Limits Begin

Photo Credit: Reuters

Photo Credit: Reuters

With Obamacare coverage beginning in earnest on Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal reports that thousands of people for which Obamacare plans will block some health care access are rushing to get medical tests and procedures done before their pre-ACA coverage is eliminated.

Those who were receiving medical care before being forced to sign up to a new plan on HealthCare.gov will, in many cases, be locked out of hospitals and prevented from seeing doctors who they had typically used. The WSJ contends that about 70% of new plans are more restrictive in the range of doctors and hospitals available to patients than their predecessors.

Fearing that the will be unable to use the doctors and hospitals they want with their new plans, doctors are reporting a massive uptick in the number of patients calling for preventative procedures or moving up their planned surgeries to prevent a disaster once Obamacare measures strike.

The paper explains that while supporters of the Affordable Care Act may argue that procedures will continue to be available, the plans severely curb access to certain doctors and hospitals, preventing patients from getting the level of care they are used to at their usual price. In particular, insurers now using the Obamacare system have begun to exclude major academic institutions from their coverage, as these compete with cheaper community hospitals ostensibly providing the same service.

Read more from this story about impending Obamacare limits HERE.

Obama’s DOJ Plays Politics in Prosecuting Knockout Game Perp

Photo Credit: WND

Photo Credit: WND

[W]hen the U.S. Justice Department finally decided to act upon on the trend of typically black violence, the Obama administration filed its first hate-crime charges against a white man, Conrad Alvin Barrett of Katy, Texas.

The charge marks the first time the administration has taken action on a ‘Knockout’ case after the game became an Internet and media phenomenon,” the Washington Times reported. “It chose a case in which the person accused is white, even though most other cases reported in the news have involved black assailants.”

The disparity between the trend and the DOJ’s charges has led several voices to conclude there may be more than irony behind the administration’s actions.

Colin Flaherty, who researched and documented hundreds of cases of racial violence for his 2013 book, “White Girl Bleed A Lot: The Return of Racial Violence to America and How the Media Ignore It,” told WND the administration may be using the case to manipulate public opinion on the Knockout Game.

“I have uncovered hundreds of recent examples of black mobs and black teens taking violent actions toward specifically white targets. There can be little doubt there is a racial motivation behind these crimes,” Flaherty told WND. “Where have Obama and his DOJ been until now?

Read more from this story HERE.

2014 Rings in the Weird: New Laws Cover Placentas, ‘Transgender’ Kids, Drones and More

Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

You may have heard that Colorado residents will be able to legally buy pot next year.

But did you know that in Oregon, mothers will be able to take their placentas home after giving birth? And in Illinois, it will be illegal for police to use a surveillance drone in most cases without a warrant.

These are just a few of the thousands of new laws and regulations going into effect next year — mostly on Wednesday.

They cover everything from the minimum wage to tanning beds to drones, some a bit more unusual than others. But residents might want to brush up on the changes — state lawmakers approved nearly 40,000 bills and resolutions this year, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

The placenta measure in Oregon was approved this past May.

Read more from this story HERE.

Official in Charge of Failed Healthcare.gov Rollout is Retiring

Photo Credit: REUTERS/Mike Segar

Photo Credit: REUTERS/Mike Segar

The official responsible for overseeing the problem-plagued healthcare.gov website is retiring on Tuesday.

In an email to colleagues, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services chief Marilyn Tavenner said that Michelle Snyder — the chief operating officer and second-highest ranking official at the agency — was retiring “after 41 years of outstanding public service.”

“While we celebrate her distinguished career, we are also sadly saying farewell to a good friend and a key member of the agency’s leadership team,” Tavenner said in the email. “Michelle’s intelligence, experience and formidable work ethic have been indispensable to me and to many of you during her tenure.”

President Obama has been criticized for not firing any of the officials tasked with implementing the online marketplaces, which launched with numerous technical problems.

Administration officials did not attribute Snyder’s exit to the dismal healthcare.gov performance, saying that she had been expected to leave at the end of 2012.

Read more from this story about the failed Healthcare.gov rollout HERE.

High Prices for Getting High Expected as Colorado Opens Legal Pot Shops

Photo Credit: US News

Photo Credit: US News

On Jan. 1, the first legal recreational marijuana outlets will open in Colorado. And with the rise of the new legal marijuana industry comes the question of what newly legal recreational weed should cost.

As it turns out, new users might be best advised to wait a few months before buying their weed. Some experts and store-owners say that getting high in the mile high state will likely be expensive at first, with prices easing off as the supply of weed catches up to the demand from Americans hoping for their first chance to buy recreational marijuana legally.

“I do expect the price to go up at least for the first few months,” says Rachel Gilette, an attorney at Colorado’s chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. “That’s only because the supply is going to be very limited and the demand has just jumped massively.”

Medical marijuana is already legal in Colorado, and many of the new shops will be medical dispensaries that have also obtained retail licenses. In some of those stores, retailers will set aside marijuana for medical patients, separate from that for casual users.

“I did talk to a retailer yesterday who had just set his price points, and they were about double of what you have been able to get medical on the market for the last year,” says Gilette. “So it is going to be more expensive at least for the foreseeable future.”

Read more about Colorado’s legal pot shops HERE.