Perpetuating Fraud on the Public: DC Cooks Numbers on Student-Loan Program, Obamacare

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Photo Credit: Getty Images

Photo Credit: Getty Images

If you think the federal student-loan program looks like a bad deal for taxpayers, imagine how it would look with honest accounting. And now you don’t need to imagine thanks to a new report that’s receiving far too little attention. Turns out that the official “savings” for taxpayers of $184 billion over the next decade really add up to $95 billion in losses.

Here’s the scam: Lawmakers peddle what is a massive subsidy for universities while claiming that student loans generate a windfall for the taxpayer. This phony windfall is conjured by creative accounting that politicians mandated via the Federal Credit Reform Act of 1990. Specifically, the law requires a deliberate under-counting of the cost of defaults.

This is partly how a Democratic Congress and President Obama managed to enact ObamaCare in 2010 while claiming that their big entitlement expansion would reduce costs. The health plan was paired with legislation that made the U.S. Department of Education the originator of roughly 90% of all student loans, which in turn generated billions in imaginary budget “savings.”

To its credit, the Congressional Budget Office has noted on various occasions that while the law forces it to use this Beltway math, CBO knows it’s not accurate under fair-value accounting. And in a new report on the costs of student loans made in the decade ending in 2023, CBO quantifies the size of this discrepancy at $279 billion. CBO adds with its typically wry understatement that Washington’s mandated accounting method “does not consider some costs borne by the government.”

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Suits Alleging Molestations by Sesame Street’s “Voice of Elmo” Dismissed on Technicalities

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Photo Credit: NY Post

Photo Credit: NY Post

It’s a sunny day for ex-“Sesame Street” puppeteer Kevin Clash after a judge tossed three suits filed by young men who claim they suffered psychological damage from having sex him when they were underage.

In a ruling filed this morning, Manhattan federal Judge John Koeltl said that the men, all in their 20s, waited too long to sue the longtime voice of “Elmo” under a statute of limitations that requires legal action within “six years after the cause of action accrues, or three years after the plaintiff turns 21, which ever is longer.”

All three suits — which Koeltl noted contain “nearly identical” language — were filed between eight and 16 years after the men say they had sex with Clash while in their teens.

Clash resigned in disgrace after the first suit was filed last year, but the scandal didn’t stop him from winning three Daytime Emmy Awards last month, including outstanding performer in a children’s series.

Plaintiffs’ lawyer Jeff Herman vowed to appeal, calling the statute of limitations “an arbitrary timeline that silences victims.”

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House Judiciary Chair Brings Sanity to Immigration Debate: No Citizenship, Just Greencards

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GoodlatteHouse Republicans insisted Sunday that they plan to change key elements of the Senate-passed immigration bill, signaling a protracted and rocky battle ahead despite one Democrat’s pronouncement that in the end the House will cave and pass the Senate bill anyway.

Republican Rep. Bob Goodlatte, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee who is playing a major role in the chamber’s consideration of immigration policy, on Sunday addressed what is perhaps at the heart of the impasse.

He said the House, which is drafting its own plan, cannot agree to a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants. Rather, he wants a “pathway to legalization” — in other words, allow some illegal immigrants a shot at a green card, but not full-fledged citizenship.

The pathway to citizenship, though, is a cornerstone of the Senate-passed bill, and any Democrat-backed plan. Increased border security, better enforcement of businesses and an expansion of the legal immigration system make up the rest of the bill.

Putting the issue in stark terms, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told “Fox News Sunday” that if Republicans strip the pathway to citizenship, “no Democrat” would support it.

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Teenager in Custody Since March After Making Inappropriate Online Joke; Faces 8 Years in Jail

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Photo Credit: maizers

Photo Credit: maizers

An Austin, Texas, teenager faces eight years in prison for making a “terroristic threat” after he made a sarcastic comment online about shooting up a school.

Justin Carter was 18 back in February when a dispute over the online video game “League of Legends took an ugly turn on Facebook, KHOU.com reported.

“Someone had said something to the effect of ‘Oh you’re insane, you’re crazy, you’re messed up in the head,’ to which he replied, ‘Oh yeah, I’m real messed up in the head, I’m going to go shoot up a school full of kids and eat their still, beating hearts,’ and the next two lines were lol and jk,” said Jack Carter, Justin’s father.

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Facebook Admits ‘Mistake’ in Blocking Conservative Fox News Radio Commentator

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

Anyone familiar with the work of Fox News Radio’s Todd Starnes would recognize the inspiration behind the thoughts that he recently posted on Facebook. They’re steeped in the events of recent weeks and express contempt for certain currents of opinion:

“I’m about as politically incorrect as you can get. I’m wearing an NRA ball cap, eating a Chick-fil-A sandwich, reading a Paula Deen cookbook and sipping a 20-ounce sweet tea while sitting in my Cracker Barrel rocking chair with the Gather Vocal Band singing ‘Jesus Saves’ on the stereo and a Gideon’s Bible in my pocket. Yes sir, I’m politically incorrect and happy as a June bug.”

According to Fox News Insider, that message got Starnes banned from Facebook. The site sent him this message: “We removed this from Facebook because it violates our Community Standards. So you’re temporarily blocked from using this feature.” A Facebook spokeswoman confirmed the blocking.

Those “Community Standards” are found right here. They outline 10 no-no areas for Facebook users: violence and threats, self-harm, bullying and harassment, hate speech, graphic content, nudity and pornography, identity and privacy, intellectual property, phishing and spam and security.

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Justice Kennedy Denies Request to Halt Gay Marriages in California

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy has denied an emergency request by opponents of same-sex marriage to halt gay weddings in California.

The decision means same-sex marriages can resume in the state. Gay marriage foes had filed the motion Saturday asking the high court to step in, less than 24 hours after the state started issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples in the wake of a Supreme Court ruling earlier in the week.

That ruling, on California’s Proposition 8 gay marriage ban, was expected to clear the way for the state to resume issuing gay marriage licenses.

But in their filing, attorneys with the Arizona-based group Alliance Defending Freedom argued that the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals acted prematurely and unfairly on Friday when it allowed gay marriage to resume by lifting a hold it had placed on same-sex unions amid the lawsuit.

“The Ninth Circuit’s June 28, 2013 Order purporting to dissolve the stay … is the latest in a long line of judicial irregularities that have unfairly thwarted Petitioners’ defense of California’s marriage amendment,” the application states. “Failing to correct the appellate court’s actions threatens to undermine the public’s confidence in its legal system.”

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California Responders Suing Teen Hikers for Recovery Costs, Medical Bills

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Photo Credit: Horia Varlan

Photo Credit: Horia Varlan

Some of the participants in the rescue of two hikers lost during a trek into the southern California wilderness earlier this year are now suing the duo after authorities found methamphetamine in one of their cars.

The newspaper, OC Weekly, reports the Orange County Fire Authority, as well as Nick Papageorge, a 20-year-old volunteer, are trying to recover costs sustained in relation to the effort that made headlines this spring.

The OCFA, for its part, wants the $55,000 it spent to find Nicholas Cendoya, 19, and Kyndall Jack, 18, after the pair disappeared Easter Sunday in Tabuco Canyon.

And Papageorge, who fell off a 110-foot-high cliff during the rescue effort and later required the insertion of several screws into his back, is suing for $350,000 in incurred medical bills, OC Weekly reports.

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Nation’s Oldest Leftist Weekly Demands President’s Impeachment Over Mass Surveillance

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Photo Credit: Daily Caller

Photo Credit: Daily Caller

In the pages of The Nation, the oldest continuously published weekly in the country and the self-described “flagship of the left,” a former member of the House of Representatives has called for the impeachment of the president over revelations of massive government surveillance of ordinary citizens.

Democrat Elizabeth Holtzman of New York, who sat on the House Judiciary Committee during the Watergate era, powerfully yet dispassionately lays out the case for the immediate impeachment of the president.

“Nothing less is necessary to protect our constitutional system and preserve our democracy,” she declares.

The last straw for the retired Congresswoman was the revelation that the president “directed the wiretapping of hundreds, possibly thousands, of Americans” (a number that is likely conservative).

“As a matter of constitutional law, these and other misdeeds constitute grounds for the impeachment,” writes Holtzman in her bombshell treatise. “A President, any President, who maintains that he is above the law — and repeatedly violates the law — thereby commits high crimes and misdemeanors, the constitutional standard for impeachment and removal from office.”

[Editor’s Note: This piece is somewhat satirical. The Nation link above is directed to a 2006 article calling for Bush’s impeachment. Restoring Liberty contacted the author who stated the following: “go to the piece in The Nation. Each time you see Bush, insert Obama — particularly in the parts about mass surveillance. Does the case for impeachment still apply? If so, what does that say about the character and credibility of The Nation?”]

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After Being Deceived by Rubio on Amnesty, Conservatives Say it Won’t Happen Again

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

Many conservatives gave Sen. Marco Rubio the benefit of the doubt when he said securing the border first was a top priority for the Gang of Eight comprehensive immigration reform effort. Later, when those conservatives realized that Rubio’s plan would first legalize the country’s estimated 11 million illegal immigrants, and only then put new border security measures in place, they expressed deep disappointment and disillusionment.

Now the Gang bill has passed the Senate and immigration is the work of the House, where former vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan is a leading reform advocate. Ryan favors the same legalization-first sequence for immigration reform that Rubio and the Gang did. The difference is that now, more conservatives are aware of the basics of reform proposals. And that means Ryan might be in for a rougher ride with the conservative base than Rubio experienced.

That, at least, is one conclusion to take from Ryan’s appearance last Wednesday on Sean Hannity’s Fox News program. Hannity interviewed Rubio several times during the Gang of Eight deliberations. In later interviews, Hannity became more skeptical and questioning, and in the last such interview expressed surprise that Rubio had declared legalization would come before border security. With Ryan in the interview chair, the first thing Hannity wanted to know was when securing the border would come in the sequence of immigration reform.

“I’m sure you are aware, a lot of conservatives including myself are angry,” Hannity told Ryan. “No border security first. How do you feel about it?”

Ryan stressed that the House would not take up the Senate Gang of Eight bill. “We want to have real triggers on the border, real triggers on what we call the E-Verify,” Ryan said. But Hannity wanted to know if that meant border security would come first: “Is securing the border first a top priority for you?” he asked.

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Chair of the RNC Pushes Amnesty Bill as “Human Rights Issue”

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Photo Credit: Chris Usher

Photo Credit: Chris Usher

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus on Saturday pitched a gathering of Hispanic public officials on the GOP’s support for immigration reform, characterizing the call for tougher border control as a human rights issue.

“We need a solution that strengthens families. We need a solution that expands economic opportunity. And one of the reasons we need improved border security — that is not mentioned enough — is to further prevent violence and drug trafficking… and the brutal human trafficking and exploitation of women and girls,” he said at the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials conference.

Priebus added that it’s “important that Republicans are taking a lead in this policy discussion.”

The Senate on Wednesday passed an immigration reform bill, 68-32, with every Democrat and 14 Republicans voting in favor.

In its current form, however, the bill has little chance of passing the House, as Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has said he won’t bring a package to the floor that doesn’t have the support of a majority of Republicans in the lower chamber.

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