Democrats’ United Front Cracks

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Photo Credit: APThe great Democratic unity of 2013 held for five-and-a-half days.

For weeks leading up to the shutdown — and over the 16 days it dragged on — President Barack Obama did the unthinkable: he held every Democrat in the House and Senate together. There weren’t any defectors. There wasn’t even anyone running to reporters to question his strategy. The man who’d disappointed them so many times was suddenly exciting them, with his newly apparent backbone and successful resistance to Republicans. They were rushing to do whatever they could to stand by him, next to him, with him.

Like any fad, that’s gone the way of trucker hats and the macarena.

The problems with the Obamacare website have transformed the president from a man who seemed to have gotten a sudden infusion of political capital to a man who’s been pushed back on his heels. He was firm, and he was setting the agenda. Now he’s back to trying to beating back the latest frame Republicans have forced on him, inadvertently providing evidence to support the doubts they’ve been trying to sow from the beginning. He spent last week against the backdrop of a shutdown that made people appreciate all the things government can do for them. Now he has a website which shows how little it can.

And Democrats have scattered, raising the question of whether the president will be able to preserve any of the new cohesion he inspired earlier in the month, or whether the rift is going to widen again.

Read more from this story HERE.

Paul Ryan Co-Writing Bill Legalizing America’s Illegal Immigrants

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Photo Credit: AFPHouse Budget Committee chairman Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) is writing a bill that would grant legal status to America’s at least 11 million illegal immigrants, The New York Times reports.

“Republican Representatives Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin and Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida have been working on legislation that includes a process by which immigrants here illegally could ‘get right with the law’ and eventually become citizens,” the Times’ Eric Lipton and Ashley Parker wrote on Friday in a piece about immigration reform.

While the Times reported here, and Politico reported on Friday morning, that the Speaker and other House GOP leadership figures are privately saying they do not expect a vote on immigration measures this year, publicly they say they want to hold a vote on something on the floor of the House.

Technically, there are only 19 legislative days left in 2013’s calendar for the House, so doing so would be difficult. But it appears, according to liberal blogger Greg Sargent, that the public appearance of immigration reform being “dead” may be a coordinated leak system from the House GOP leadership in order to distract conservatives.

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Obama: ‘It Doesn’t Make Sense to Have 11 Million People Who Are in This Country Illegally…’ (+video)

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Photo Credit: AP Photo/Susan WalshPresident Barack Obama–who oversees both the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security–said in a speech at the White House on Thursday that it does not make sense to have 11 million people in the United States “illegally.”

The president said that the people “illegally” in the United States need to be given an “incentive” to stay here and become what he called “legalized citizens.”

“It doesn’t make sense to have 11 million people who are in this country illegally without any incentive or any way for them to come out of the shadows, get right with the law, meet their responsibilities and permit their families then to move ahead,” he said. “It’s not smart. It’s not fair. It doesn’t make sense.”

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Prof who Called for Kids’ Deaths Back to Work

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The Kansas University professor who called for the deaths of the children of National Rifle Association members has been taken off administrative leave and assigned to paperwork.

Associate journalism professor Peter Guth blasted the NRA after a crazed man shot and killed people at the Washington Navy Yard, declaring on his Twitter account: “#NavyYardShooting The blood is on the hands of the #NRA. Next time, let it be YOUR sons and daughters. Shame on you. May God d— you.”

The university initially defended Guth’s statement but then removed him from his classroom assignments and handed him administrative leave.

Now, according to a report by Campus Reform, Guth will be returned to work, not in the classroom but on a paperwork assignment.

“We do have a lot of work to do on assessment as we prepare for various levels of accreditation, and that’s some of the work he will be doing,” said School of Journalism Dean Ann Brill.

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Timeline: Decision to Shoot Boy Made in 10 Seconds

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Photo Credit: Conner Jay/APThat’s how much time passed after a California sheriff’s deputy reported a suspicious person to dispatch then called back to say shots had been fired.

The shots killed 13-year-old Andy Lopez on Tuesday afternoon in a blue-collar neighborhood in Santa Rosa. Police say Lopez was carrying a pellet gun that looked like an AK-47 assault rifle.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation announced late Friday that it is conducting its own investigation of the shooting, which has outraged many local residents who are demanding to know whether the shooting was justified.

More than 100 angry middle and high school students walked to City Hall on Friday, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat reported. Hundreds of people protested earlier in the week.

City police and the Sonoma County district attorney’s office are also investigating.

Read more from this story HERE.

Sean Hannity Shows His Generosity For Fired Obamacare Phone Worker

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Photo Credit: Irish Central Radio talk show host and conservative Fox News super star Sean Hannity, showed the world a side of him that the far left would pretend doesn’t exist.

During his radio show Monday afternoon, Hannity called the phone number President Obama told the public to use for help with Obamacare questions, since the website doesn’t work.

Phone worker Erling Davis answered Sean’s call and proceeded to field the questions about the Obamacare roll out that Sean prodded her with.

The friendly and good-natured Davis truthfully answered Sean’s questions about the fiasco surrounding Obamacare….and it seems that was her downfall. None of her answers cast the Obamacare roll out in a good light, especially when asked by Sean if any of her callers like the plan and she said not really. Hear dialogue.

Hannity had Ms Davis on his show today to ask if there were repercussions from speaking to him on his national radio show. She explained the next morning, she was taken to a Human Resources meeting and told she was fired. The reason given for her firing was “contact with the media.”

According to Ms Davis, she was never told during her training that she was forbidden from taking calls from the media. “I was just out here trying to help everybody,” she told Hannity.

If you think about it, Ms. Davis was doing a better job of informing the public about Obamacare than the administrations has been doing. She answered questions about the healthcare system and its website heard by millions of Americans listening to Hannity’s radio show.

Upon hearing that Ms Davis had lost her job as a result of talking to him on national radio, Sean Hannity pledged to send her the year’s salary (26,000) that she would have made if she remained at her job and also promised to find her a new job.

Ms. Davis was grateful for the help from Sean. Being a single mother of two suddenly losing her job was a fearful event for her, but Hannity took her under his wing and protected her.

Hannity said: “I’m very sorry that you had to go through that. I don’t want you to have to pay a price just for taking our call. So I want to help you out here.”

This isn’t the first time Sean Hannity has helped out people that he feels need a break and has shown his generosity many times this way. But he is also known as a generous philanthropist behind the scenes as well and many can attest to that.

But it also magnifies a stark fact that if you speak out against President Obama or his policies, you will pay a price for speaking the truth.

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Ed Farnan is the conservative columnist at IrishCentral, where he has been writing on the need for energy independence, strong self defense, secure borders, 2nd amendment, smaller government and many other issues. His articles appear in many publications throughout the USA and world. He has been a guest on Fox News and a regular guest on radio stations in the US and Europe.

Air Force Academy Considering Dropping ‘So Help Me God’ from Honor Oath

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Photo Credit: Air ForceThe Air Force Academy is considering dropping the phrase “so help me God” from its honor oath after a complaint from a civil liberties group that advocates for the separation of church and state in the military.

The Academy’s Honor Review Committee met Wednesday at the Colorado-based campus to review the oath after a complaint filed by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. Academy Public Affairs Director Major Brus Vidal told Fox News the Honor Review Academy considered a range of options with the ultimate decision to be made by the Academy Superintendent.

Air Force officials could opt to leave the oath as it is, make the mention of God optional or remove it altogether.

The Academy’s current honor oath reads: “We will not lie, steal or cheat nor tolerate among us anyone who does. Furthermore, I resolve to do my duty and live honorably, so help me God.”

The complaint originated with a poster at the Academy which included the oath. MRFF President Mikey Weinstein said once the poster was brought to his group’s attention, he contacted Academy Superintendent Lt. Gen. Michelle Johnson.

Read more from this story HERE.

NSA Monitored Calls of 35 World Leaders after US Official Handed Over Contacts

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Photo Credit: Guardian The National Security Agency monitored the phone conversations of 35 world leaders after being given the numbers by an official in another US government department, according to a classified document provided by whistleblower Edward Snowden.

The confidential memo reveals that the NSA encourages senior officials in its “customer” departments, such the White House, State and the Pentagon, to share their “Rolodexes” so the agency can add the phone numbers of leading foreign politicians to their surveillance systems.

The document notes that one unnamed US official handed over 200 numbers, including those of the 35 world leaders, none of whom is named. These were immediately “tasked” for monitoring by the NSA.

The revelation is set to add to mounting diplomatic tensions between the US and its allies, after the German chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday accused the US of tapping her mobile phone.

After Merkel’s allegations became public, White House press secretary Jay Carney issued a statement that said the US “is not monitoring and will not monitor” the German chancellor’s communications. But that failed to quell the row, as officials in Berlin quickly pointed out that the US did not deny monitoring the phone in the past.

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Soros Donates Big Bucks, Joins Ready for Hillary National Finance Council

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Photo Credit: Fox NewsBillionaire investor and hedge fund titan George Soros is backing an effort to lure Hillary Clinton into a 2016 White House bid.

Soros signed on to be a co-chair for Ready for Hillary, a super PAC trying to trump up support for a presidential run by Clinton.

“We are proud to welcome George Soros as one of the co-chairs of @ReadyForHillary’s national finance council,” the organization tweeted Thursday afternoon.

Soros’ political director, Michael Vachon, said in a statement that the 83-year-old is “delighted to join more than 1 million Americans in supporting Ready for Hillary.”

“His support for Ready for Hillary is an extension of his long-held belief in the power of grassroots organizing,” the statement said.

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Obamacare Website Disqualifies Enrollees: You’re in Jail

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Photo Credit: WND Are you in jail and didn’t know it?

Don’t worry. Obamacare will tell you.

That’s the “circumstance” for a commenter to a government website taking responses to the problems with the failing Healthcare.gov website, which has been unable to provide reasonable access for Americans.

“Website said my wife and I were ineligible due to current incarceration,” wrote Fred in an acknowledgement by the left-leaning ProPublica of the website problems. “We have never been arrested in our lives, both 63!!!!!!!!!!!”

Charles Ornstein, in the ProPublica report, documented some of the responses on the federal site collecting comments. “The Obama administration has not always been transparent about Healthcare.gov: A case in point is how HHS has withheld the number of people who have been able to successfully enroll. But in this instance, the administration allowed comments to the blog post to be seen by all.”

Read more from this story HERE.