Five-Year Anniversary of Obama’s Stimulus Renews Partisan Fight Over Jobs, Economy

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Photo Credit: REUTERSThe five-year anniversary Monday of President Obama’s stimulus package has prompted Democrats and Republicans to spar again over the economy and whether the roughly $800 billion in spending created the number of jobs promised.

The White House hailed the measure, known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, in a 70-page report released Monday stating it and other fiscal measures saved or created 1.6 million jobs through 2012 and eventually ended the country’s 18-month-long recession in June 2009.

“The recovery act … helped to avert a second Great Depression and made targeted investments that will pay dividends long after the act has fully phased out,” said Jason Furman, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, which produced the report. “The U.S. economy is undoubtedly in a stronger position than when President Obama took office.”

However, Republicans were quick to criticize the spending — arguing that it was rammed through Congress by Democrats and created far fewer than the 3.3 million jobs touted.

“The ‘stimulus’ has turned out to be a classic case of big promises and big spending with little results,” said House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. “Millions of families are still asking ‘where are the jobs?’

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Remington Arms Moving 2,000+ Jobs From NY to Alabama

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Photo Credit: Yellow Hammer NewsHigh level sources have informed Yellowhammer News that Remington, one of the world’s largest gun manufacturers, will on Monday join Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley in announcing that they are bringing over 2,000 jobs to Alabama.

The company is viewing the move into Alabama as an expansion, but it will likely impact their Ilion, NY plant as well. The New York facility currently employees around 1,200 people. It is expected to stay open, but with a reduced workforce.

“The company is making the move as an expansion of capacity, production and research,” a source told Yellowhammer on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. “The demand for Remington products has skyrocketed recently, for obvious reasons, so they need to increase their production capacity. They will be expanding their research capabilities with the Alabama plant, too.”

The initial estimated impact on Alabama’s economy will be roughly $87 million.

According to Remington’s website, the company designs, produces and sells sporting goods products for the hunting and shooting sports markets, as well as military, government and law enforcement markets. Founded in 1816 in upstate New York, the Company is one of the nation’s oldest continuously operating manufacturers. Remington is the only U.S. manufacturer of both firearms and ammunition products and one of the largest domestic producers of shotguns and rifles. The Company distributes its products throughout the U.S. and in over 55 foreign countries.

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Republicans: Obama Violating Constitution, But Little Can Be Done About It

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Photo Credit: Fox NewsWashington Republicans on Sunday restated their argument that President Obama has violated the Constitution by using executive orders to alter the Affordable Care Act but acknowledged they likely have no recourse or ability to stop another incident.

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, told “Fox News Sunday” that congressional Republicans think the president abused the government’s separation of powers by using the executive orders to sidestep Congress and delay the law’s employer mandate.

“The president knows this is wrong.” – Sen. Mike Lee

However, he said critics would be challenged to win in court because Congress lacks the so-called “legal standing” to present the case and they would have a “tough time” finding somebody hurt enough by the delays to be a good plaintiff.

“The president knows this is wrong,” said Lee, among the most outspoken ObamaCare critics. “What gives him the ability to rewrite the law?”

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IRS ‘Trusted Partner’ On Hunt for Sex Workers

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Photo Credit: WNDCan you identify a “gay” hooker in New York City and try to understand his way of life?

If so, the federal government may have a half-million-dollar grant for you – if the federal payouts to a left-leaning government contractor are any indication.

The Urban Institute, the IRS’ “trusted partner” for small nonprofit organizations to publicly disclose their financial information, has been paid millions of taxpayer dollars to research various topics for the federal government – with subjects ranging from exploring the networking habits of Latino gangs and studying food distribution on Indian reservations to finding the best ways to stop girls in D.C. public housing from getting pregnant.

In fiscal year 2011, the left-leaning think tank was given a $499,925 Department of Justice grant for a project described as “Identifying and Understanding LGBTQ and YMSM [Young Men Who Have Sex with Men] Youth Engaged in the Commercial Sex Market in New York City.”

The organization was also awarded nearly $3 million in taxpayer funds to study “housing discrimination” against homosexuals.

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Congressman Stockman Closing in on RINO Cornyn

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Photo Credit: JP Updates In the latest poll out of Texas by Human Events-Gravis Marketing, there’s some trouble for current Senator John Cornyn who is running for re-election.

When asked “if the election were held today, would you vote for Republican Steve Stockman or Republican John Cornyn?” Cornyn holds a 15-point lead, 43% to 28% Stockman, while 29% of the voters are still undecided.

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Food Stamp Use Among Troops Skyrockets During Obama Admin

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Photo Credit: Daily Caller Food stamp redemption at military grocery stores, or commissaries, has nearly doubled since the beginning of the “Great Recession,” topping out at $103.6 million in fiscal 2013, from $31.1 million in 2008.

While the amount of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, or food stamps, have soared over the past five years, the rate of increase has slowed, according to data from the Defense Commissary Agency and published by CNN Money Monday.

From FY 2009 to FY 2010 the level of spending jumped from $52.9 million to $72.8 million; from FY 2010 to FY 2011 the amount of SNAP benefits redeemed increased from $72.8 million to $87.8 million; from FY 2011 to FY 2012 it increased from $87.8 million to $98.8 million; and from FY 2012 to FY 2013 from $98.8 million to $103.6 million.

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UAW May Challenge Volkswagen Vote Results

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Photo Credit: Detroit Free PressUAW leaders on Friday said they will review all of their legal options and consider challenging the results of a devastating defeat in an election for union representation at Volkswagen’s plant in Chattanooga, Tenn.

Workers at the German automakers plant voted against the UAW in a three-day election that ended Friday in a margin of 712-626.

UAW President Bob King sharply criticized Tennessee politicians who he said scared workers away from voting in favor of union representation. Going into the election, the UAW thought it had support from a majority of the more than 1,500 workers who had an opportunity to vote.

That support began to decline in recent days, mostly because of news conferences held by the state’s political leaders who warned that a vote in favor of the UAW would make the state less attractive to other manufacturers and could jeopardize Volkswagen’s plans to expand its factory there.

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House Dems Plan To Use Rare Tactic to Try to Force Vote on Immigration, Minimum Wage

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House Democrats are vowing to try a rarely used tactic to force votes in the GOP-led chamber on the minimum wage and immigration reform, a strategy that will likely fail but might hurt Republicans with voters in this year’s elections.

The tactic is known as a “discharge petition.” It would require the minority party, in this case Democrats, to persuade roughly two dozen Republicans to defy their leadership and join Democrats in forcing a vote on setting the federal minimum wage at $10.10 an hour.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said fellow chamber Democrats will push the issue when Congress returns from its break Feb. 24.

The attempt to force a vote on a comprehensive overhaul of immigration laws could occur in a few months.

Democrats think that a majority of Americans support both issues and that attempting to use the discharge petition will at least portray House Republicans as the obstacle to their success.

Freedom of the Press? FCC Plan to Place ‘Researchers’ in Newsrooms

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Photo Credit: victoriapeckhamFirst Amendment: The FCC has cooked up a plan to place “researchers” in U.S. newsrooms, supposedly to learn all about how editorial decisions are made. Any questions as to why the U.S. is falling in the free press rankings?

As if illegal seizures of Associated Press phone records and the shadowy tailing of the mother of a Fox News reporter weren’t menacing enough, the Obama administration is going out of its way to institute a new intrusive surveillance of the press, as if the press wasn’t supine enough.

Ajit Pai, a commissioner with the Federal Communications Commission, warned this week in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that a plan to dispatch researchers into radio, television and even newspaper newsrooms called the “Multi-Market Study of Critical Information Needs” is still going forward, despite the grave danger it presented to the First Amendment.

Pai warned that under the rationale of increasing minority representation in newsrooms, the FCC, which has the power to issue or not issue broadcasting licenses, would dispatch its “researchers” to newsrooms across America to seek their “voluntary” compliance about how news stories are decided, as well as “wade into office politics” looking for angry reporters whose story ideas were rejected as evidence of a shutout of minority views.

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Who is the American Al Qaeda Facing A U.S. Drone?

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Photo Credit: LT. COL.. LESLIE PRATT / US AIR FORCE VIA AP The American al Qaeda member who the Obama administration is considering killing through a drone strike is likely a bombmaker with little public profile who has been linked to the deaths of fellow citizens in Afghanistan, experts say.

A former U.S. security official told NBC News that the suspect is based in lawless western Pakistan, where missiles fired by American drones have slain dozens of suspected al Qaeda members since 2004.

According to one current and another former U.S. intelligence official, the potential target is considered a member of “al Qaeda Central,” the core organization led by Osama bin Laden’s successor Ayman al Zawahiri.

Officials told The Associated Press earlier this week that the White House was weighing a drone strike aimed at a U.S. citizen plotting attacks on Americans abroad using improvised explosives devices.

“I can’t comment on who this individual is, but as an American, who would [know] a lot more about his country, which would make him very dangerous,” said Talata Masood, a retired lieutenant general in the Pakistan army.

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