Union Bosses Threaten Hurricane Sandy Cleanup Contractors, Their Families

Photo Credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Photo Credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Unionized local employees repeatedly harassed and intimidated non-union workers of a private disaster cleanup firm that won a government contract to restore Long Island, New York, in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.

The vice president of the union even made threats against the wife and kids of one of the workers. That worker felt it necessary to call the police and pursue other security measures to protect his family, a source told The Daily Caller News Foundation.

After Hurricane Sandy devastated the New York and New Jersey shoreline in late October, Looks Great Services (LGS) won a bid to haul away debris, clear roads and remove damaged trees. New York’s Nassau County hired the company to complete $70 million worth of repairs.

Soon thereafter, representatives of Local 138, a union representing heavy equipment operators, began visiting construction sites, demanding that the company hire unionized employees to help with the job.

Read more from this story HERE.

Obamacare Will Share Personal Health Info with Federal, State Agencies

Photo Credit: Thinkstock

Photo Credit: Thinkstock

A new 253-page Obamacare rule issued late Friday requires state, federal and local agencies as well as health insurers to swap the protected personal health information of anybody seeking to join the new health care program that will be enforced by the Internal Revenue Service.

Protected health information, or PHI, is highly protected under federal law, but the latest ruling from the Department of Health and Human Services allows agencies to trade the information to verify that Obamacare applicants are getting the minimum amount of health insurance coverage they need from the health “exchanges.”

The ruling, explained on pages 72-73 of the book-thick guidance, does not mention any requirement that applicants first OK the release of their PHI. HHS already allows some exchange of PHI without an individual’s pre-approval, especially when for a “government program providing public benefits.” Officials said the swapping of information is simply meant to help figure the best insurance coverge of Obamacare users.

The new ruling surprised some congressional critics. “This sounds as if HHS will have access to protected health info to me,” said one top Hill aide worried about how well the administration will protect that information.

Read more from this story HERE.

Arizona’s Voter ID Law Voided by 7-2 Supreme Court Decision

Photo Credit: Yana Paskova

Photo Credit: Yana Paskova

The U.S. Supreme Court threw out an Arizona law requiring evidence of citizenship when people register to vote, in a victory for minority-rights advocates and the Obama administration.

The justices said Arizona’s proof-of-citizenship law runs afoul of a federal statute that sets registration requirements. The 7-2 ruling limits the role played by the states in national elections and raises questions about similar laws in three other states — Alabama, Georgia and Kansas.

A U.S. appeals court had invalidated the Arizona law, pointing to a 1993 federal statute that says states must “accept and use” a standard registration document known as the federal form. That form instructs prospective voters to swear that they are citizens, under penalty of perjury…

The high court case didn’t directly involve allegations of racial or ethnic discrimination, though civil-rights groups pressed those contentions earlier in the litigation. The dispute presented legal issues different from those in the voter-identification battles that garnered headlines before last year’s election.

Under Arizona’s law, those seeking to register could prove citizenship by presenting copies of a driver’s license or state-issued identification. The state also would accept a birth certificate, a passport or naturalization papers. Arizona voters approved the measure in 2004.

Read more from this story HERE.

Source: Boehner Will Not Bring Amnesty Bill to Floor Unless Majority of House GOP Support it

Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

House Speaker John Boehner appears to have put to rest rumors that he may break what is informally called the “Hastert Rule,” an unwritten guideline that a majority of the majority party should be needed to bring a bill to the House floor, in order to pass a version of amnesty like the “Gang of Eight” bill currently moving through the Senate.

A source with direct knowledge of these matters told Breitbart News that Boehner has decided to abide by the Hastert Rule in regards to immigration reform. “No immigration bill will be brought to the floor for a vote without a majority of the Republican conference in support,” the source told Breitbart News on Monday.

Around Washington, conservatives have worried that Boehner may back down from conservative principles on immigration and support the Gang of Eight bill. They fear he may rush the bill to the floor if the Senate passes it and try to move it through the House with a majority of Democratic votes.

Read more from this story HERE.

Is Scott Walker the GOP’s Sleeper Presidential Candidate?

Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker polls near the bottom of would-be presidential contenders. Unlike potential rivals, you won’t find him on the cover of Time magazine or slow-jamming the news with comedian Jimmy Fallon.

But he’s a conservative Republican who won election in a blue state, survived a brutal recall campaign, and now posts approval ratings over 50 percent. A budget-slashing chief executive and son of a Baptist minister who straddles the fiscal and social conservative camps. A proven fundraiser who has put his thumb in the eye of President Obama and Big Labor.

He’s poised to be the sleeper Republican presidential candidate of 2016.

“The recall was a gift to him in that it put him in touch with the big funders in the Republican Party, and I’m sure he keeps that Rolodex pretty close,” said Brian Sikma, a spokesman for a conservative government watchdog group in Wisconsin. “I don’t see any reason why he wouldn’t run, and if you look at the tea leaves, he’s taking all the traditional steps.”

“I’m sure in next few months you’ll find him somewhere in New Hampshire,” said Milwaukee-based Republican consultant Todd Robert Murphy.

Read more from this story HERE.

CDC Says 50% of Americans Will be Mentally Ill; No Wonder Gun Control Advocates Want Mental Illness Ban

Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

CDC: ‘Nearly 50% of U.S. Adults Will Develop at Least One Mental Illness’

By Taylor Knopf. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention says that at any given moment about a quarter of American adults are mentally ill and that over the course of their lifetimes about half of all Americans will develop at least one mental illness.

A CDC mental-health fact sheet–Mental Illness Surveillance Among U.S. Adults–says that “published studies report that about 25% of all U.S. adults have a mental illness and that nearly 50% of U.S. adults will develop at least one mental illness during their lifetime.”

The fact sheet also notes that the authors of a 2011 CDC mental health surveillance report pointed out that “currently, no surveillance efforts at the national or state level are directed toward documenting anxiety disorders.” The authors thus call for “initiating national-level anxiety disorder surveillance activities.”

Mental illness, says the CDC, “refers collectively to all diagnosable mental disorders” and that “the most common mental illnesses in adults are anxiety and mood disorders.” Mental illnesses effects “include sustained abnormal alterations in thinking, mood, or behavior associated with distress and impaired functioning.”

In addition, says the agency, “mental illness is associated with increased occurrence of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, asthma, epilepsy, and cancer.” Read more from this story HERE.

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The Brilliant Gun Confiscation Trap

By Eddie Zingone. It is so simple and will be so effective it is simply nuts! I am referring to the trap that is being carefully laid by liberals to confiscate the guns of a significant number of law abiding Americans. It would be crazy to try and push their full agenda at once, so they do what liberals are much better at doing than conservatives: they will take it one step at a time and slowly tighten the noose.

Here’s how it will work: it seems to be common sense that no one wants the mentally ill to have access to firearms. After all, the shooters from Columbine to Aurora to Sandy Hook were mentally ill (at least judging by the fruit of their actions). Most of us would probably agree that no one wants individuals like that to be armed. Thus lies the rationale to clamp down on background checks and create a national ‘database’ to filter these individuals out. Read more from this story HERE.

Court Watchers: Justice Roberts, Others, Likely to Decide Homosexual Marriage Case Based Upon Public Opinion

Photo credit:  Guillaume Paumier

Photo credit: Guillaume Paumier

The dramatic shift in public opinion on same-sex marriage is likely to affect the Supreme Court’s historic rulings on the issue later this month, say legal scholars.

The justices often say they do not worry at all about politics or public opinion, and simply do what they believe the law compels them to.

But it will be hard if not impossible for them ignore the enormous transformation in opinion on same sex marriage, court watchers say, especially with two cases that offer them flexibility in how to rule.

“I have to think the justices — and especially the chief — are very cognizant of the shifting public opinion,” said Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond.

..

The marriage cases present a challenge for the conservative chief justice. Roberts likely doesn’t want the court to be on the wrong side of history. He might also be able to help limit the reach of an ostensibly liberal decision, as he did last year with President Obama’s healthcare law.



Read more from this story HERE.

Expert Warns Terrorists May be Setting Wildfires Across American West

Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

Colorado’s Black Forest fire is barely contained at latest reports and has killed at least two people while consuming hundreds of homes and other structures and forcing the evacuation of more than 38,000 people, but a dozen other significant fires are also burning across the country, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

Colorado has two other active fires besides the Black Forest blaze, while New Mexico has five, California and Oregon each have two, and Idaho has one. The NIFC has counted 19,472 fires through June 14, compared with 24,198 for the same Jan. 1-June 14 period in 2012.

The NIFC’s historical data shows suggests no consistent pattern of increase or decrease of during the past decade, but wildfires can be categorized in a variety of ways and some national security experts warn that terrorists associated with al Qaeda and other radical Muslim outfits view such conflagrations as tools in their war against the U.S., Israel and Europe.

Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld of the New York-based American Center for Democracy’s Economic Warfare Institute warns that last July “al-Qaeda’s English-language online magazine, Inspire, published an article called ‘It Is of Your Freedom to Ignite a Firebomb,’ which featured instructions on how to build an incendiary bomb to light forests on fire.

Read more from this story HERE.

House Votes to Exempt Military From D.C. Gun Laws

Photo Credit: Washington Times

Photo Credit: Washington Times

The House of Representatives unanimously passed a resolution Friday that expresses the sense of Congress that active duty military living or stationed in the District of Columbia should have the right to carry a gun.

The measure sponsored by Rep. Phil Gingrey, Georgia Republican, was passed by voice vote as part of the National Defense Authorization Act, which authorizes the Pentagon’s budget for 2014. Mr. Gingrey has followed my series on active-duty veterans who have been thrown in jail for mere possession of unregistered guns or ammunition.

First Lieutenant Augustine Kim, Sgt. Matthew Corrigan and Spc. Adam Meckler were all arrested in D.C. in the last couple years for inadvertently violating the city’s unique laws, set in place after Heller in order to dissuade legal gun ownership.

“Our servicemen and women are highly-trained, highly-skilled, and the most professional fighting force in the world,” Gingrey said after the vote about those cases. “That this could happen to our veterans is a travesty. I will continue fighting to protect our Second Amendment rights.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Chris Christie the Most-Favored Republican – Among Democrats!

Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

According to a newly released Gallup poll, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is the most-favored Republican recent newsmaker and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is the least-favored–among Democratic respondents.

The poll sought to measure the favorable/unfavorable sentiments toward five Republicans Gallup believes may run for president in 2016.

Conducted June 1-4. the survey asked: [P]lease say if you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of these people–or if you have never heard of them.” It then listed New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, and Kentucky Senator Rand Paul.

Among Democrats, Christie had the most favorable responses. Fifty-four percent of Democrats said they had a favorable view of Christie, compared to 21 percent who had a favorable view of Rubio, 17 percent who had a favorable view of Ryan, 16 percent who had a favorable view of Paul, and 11 percent who had a favorable view of Cruz.

Read more from this story HERE.