Obama Promised To Personally Use Obamacare, But Don’t Hold Your Breath

/0 Comments/in , , /by

Photo Credit: AP

If President Barack Obama wants to make good on a promise to become one of Obamacare’s first customers, he’ll have to take a route most Americans are unlikely to choose.

He’ll have to enroll in a health plan that lacks a taxpayer subsidy, even though he has access to generous coverage through his day job.

In the days following the passage of the health law in March 2010, the White House confirmed that Obama planned to walk the walk by enrolling in one of the health insurance exchanges his law created, assuming his reelection

“The president will participate in the exchange,” an administration spokesman told USA Today at the time, rejecting Republican efforts to compel the president to do so by law.

It would be a purely symbolic gesture — much like his decision to cast the first early ballot by a sitting president last year — in part because he’ll still have access to the White House Medical Unit and the official physician to the president, an office that has served every executive since the Revolution. According to a White House description of the medical unit, the office “provides worldwide emergency action response and comprehensive medical care to the president, the vice president and their families.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Benjamin Carson on 2016: If Called, He’d Run

/0 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: JSmith Photo

In one speech at the National Prayer Breakfast last month, pediatric neurosurgeon Benjamin Carson went from political unknown to conservative darling, and now he’s talking about a possible presidential bid in 2016. At least he’s not ruling it out, according to an interview he gave to The New York Times.

“Certainly if a year-and-a-half went by and there was no one on the scene and people are still clamoring, I would have to take that into consideration,” the 61-year-old, world-renowned physician told the newspaper, adding: “I would never turn my back on my fellow citizens.”

Report: Obamacare Pushes Premiums Up 200%
Carson’s speech at the Feb. 7 prayer breakfast, in which he denounced President Barack Obama’s healthcare reforms along with moves to increase taxes on the rich, went viral on YouTube and led to TV appearances on Fox News. His instant celebrity status has helped sales of his latest book, “America the Beautiful: Rediscovering What Made This Nation Great,” to skyrocket.

Carson, director of the Division of Pediatric Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, revealed to the Times that he has long been told he could have a career in politics based on his personal story.

He was born into poverty in Detroit and raised by a single mother, who encouraged him to excel academically. Carson went on to graduate from Yale University and the University of Michigan Medical School before finding fame through his pioneering work separating conjoined twins.

Read more from this story HERE.

Chicago To Close 54 Schools To Address $1B Deficit

/0 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: gingerbydesign

Tens of thousands of Chicago students, parents and teachers learned Thursday their schools were on a long-feared list of 54 the city plans to close in an effort to stabilize an educational system facing a huge budget shortfall.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel says the closures are necessary because too many Chicago Public School buildings are half-empty, with 403,000 students in a system that has seats for more than 500,000. But opponents say the closures will further erode troubled neighborhoods and endanger students who may have to cross gang boundaries to attend school. The schools slated for closure are all elementary schools and are overwhelmingly black and in low-income neighborhoods.

CPS officials say money being spent to keep underutilized schools open could be better used to educate students elsewhere as the district deals with a $1 billion budget deficit. About 30,000 students will be affected by the plan, with about half that number moving into new schools.

“Every child in every neighborhood in Chicago deserves access to a high quality education that prepares them to succeed in life, but for too long children in certain parts of Chicago have been cheated out of the resources they need to succeed because they are in underutilized, under-resourced schools,” said district CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett. “As a former teacher and a principal, I’ve lived through school closings and I know that this will not be easy, but I also know that in the end this will benefit our children.”

As word of the closures trickled out, parents and teachers reacted with anger and shock, some even crying. Sandra Leon said she got a tearful call from her grandchildren’s kindergarten teacher saying the school was on the list to be closed. Her two grown children also attended the school, and Leon wiped her eyes as she waited outside for her grandchildren.

Read more from this story HERE.

Senate Gun Bill Would Expand Background Checks

/0 Comments/in , , /by

Gun control legislation the Senate debates next month will include an expansion of federal background checks for firearms buyers, Majority Leader Harry Reid said Thursday in a victory for advocates of gun restrictions.

The announcement underscores that Democrats intend to take an aggressive approach in the effort to broaden the checks, currently required for transactions involving federally licensed firearms dealers but not private sales at gun shows or online.

President Barack Obama and many supporters of curbing guns consider an expansion of the system to private gun sales to be the most effective response lawmakers could take in the wake of December’s elementary school massacre in Newtown, Conn. The system is designed to keep guns from criminals, people with serious mental problems and others considered potentially dangerous.

The overall gun measure will also include legislation boosting penalties for illegal gun trafficking and modestly expanding a grant program for school security, said Reid, D-Nev. Its fate remains uncertain, and it will all but certainly need Republican support to survive.

Reid said that during Congress’ upcoming two-week break, he hopes senators will strike a bipartisan compromise on broadening background checks. Without a deal, he indicated the gun bill would include a stricter version approved this month by the Senate Judiciary Committee and authored by Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., expanding the system to virtually all private gun transactions with few exceptions.

Read more from this story HERE.

Americans ‘Will Rise Up’ Against Amnesty

/0 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Elvert Barnes

In the wake of President Obama’s re-election and other Democratic successes in 2012, more and more Republicans in elected office and party leadership are concluding that embracing comprehensive immigration reform is vital to winning elections and attracting a higher percentage of the nation’s fastest-growing demographic.

Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., joined the so-called Gang of Eight pushing the latest Senate version of reform. Rising GOP star Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., has embraced ways to make illegal residents legal, while stopping short of endorsing a pathway to citizenship. Just days ago, an official Republican National Committee report on the party’s 2012 failures specifically urged support for comprehensive reform.

So with support from Democrats, the media and a growing number of Republicans, is it inevitable that this legislation will pass in the near term? “No it’s not, because they left out one major group of people that has to part of the equation. It’s called the American people,” Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., told WND. “The American people fully understand when you’re talking about comprehensive immigration reform, all you’re really talking about is legalizing the status of probably 15-20 million illegals that are in this country.”

Rohrabacher is one of the leading opponents of placing illegal immigrants on a path to citizenship or any legal status because he says it will only encourage more illegal behavior.

“The American people know that will do nothing but bring in millions more and all the problems of crime, of consuming very scarce education and health care dollars, etc., that this will be a disaster for them. So although there are a few Republican ‘leaders’ who are giving into this onslaught of propaganda trying to convince them that this is going to help the Republican Party, the average people out there are against it. Republicans will understand that when it starts coming to a vote because the people will rise up against it,” he said.

Read more from this story HERE.

US Still Making Payments To Relatives Of Civil War Veterans, Analysis Finds

/0 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: AP

If history is any judge, the U.S. government will be paying for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars for the next century as service members and their families grapple with the sacrifices of combat.

An Associated Press analysis of federal payment records found that the government is still making monthly payments to relatives of Civil War veterans — 148 years after the conflict ended.

At the 10 year anniversary of the start of the Iraq war, more than $40 billion a year are going to compensate veterans and survivors from the Spanish-American War from 1898, World War I and II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the two Iraq campaigns and the Afghanistan conflict. And those costs are rising rapidly.

U.S. Sen. Patty Murray said such expenses should remind the nation about war’s long-lasting financial toll. “When we decide to go to war, we have to consciously be also thinking about the cost,” said Murray, D-Wash., adding that her WWII-veteran father’s disability benefits helped feed their family.

Alan Simpson, a former Republican senator and veteran who co-chaired President Barack Obama’s deficit committee in 2010, said government leaders working to limit the national debt should make sure that survivors of veterans need the money they are receiving.

Read more from this story HERE.

Federal Employees Who Don’t Pay Taxes Would Be Fired Under Bill That Passed Committee

/0 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Daily Caller

Citing figures indicating that more than 100,000 federal employees owe more than $1 billion in federal taxes, a House committee on Wednesday approved legislation that would require the firing of government workers who are “seriously tax delinquent.”

The legislation, introduced by Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz, advanced through the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. It now has to pass the full House to be implemented into law.

“Most taxpayers file accurate tax returns and pay the taxes they owe on time, regardless of their income,” Chaffetz, a Republican, said during the hearing Wednesday. “Federal employees and individuals applying for federal employment should do the same.”

The Federal Employee Tax Accountability Act of 2013 requires the termination of employment for tax delinquent federal employees, while also prohibiting the hiring of new federal employees with a substantial amount of delinquent tax debt.

“The intent of the bill is simple,” Chaffetz said. “If you are a federal employee or applicant, you should be making a good faith effort to pay your taxes or to dispute them, as all taxpayers have the right to do.”

Read more from this story HERE.

New York State Offering $500 To People Who Snitch On Gun Owners

/0 Comments/in , /by

Liberty News

WRGB in Albany has a breaking news story posted to their Facebook page, claiming that the state of New York is offering up bribes for people to rat out those possessing illegal firearms – an interesting development considering the adoption of the new anti-Second Amendment SAFE Act legislation. In other words, a firearm that may have been obtained legally could become illegal under the SAFE Act, and anybody who knows you possess said firearm can report you and earn themselves a cool $500.

In addition to the Facebook page, Pat Bailey, a reporter from at CBS 6 in Albany, tweeted that he has a letter from the NYS Division of Criminal Justice Services explaining the reward program.

According to Bailey, the Governor’s Office is claiming that the program is well over a year old. But the head of the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association says that if that is accurate, “it was a well kept secret”.

The Troy Record Facebook page also has this announcement:

NY State has established a toll-free tip line – 1-855-GUNSNYS (1-855- 486-7697) to encourage residents to report illegal firearm possession. The tip line also allows for information to be submitted via text – individuals can text GUNTIP and their message to CRIMES (274637). The New York State Police staff the tip line 24 hours a day. Upon receiving a call, troopers will solicit as much information as possible regarding a firearm tip then contact the appropriate police agency with the lead to initiate an investigation. If the information leads to an arrest for the illegal possession of a firearm, the “tipster” will be awarded $500.

Read more from this story HERE.

Ted Turner’s Son: CNN Is So Far Left I Mostly Watch Fox

/0 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Newsbusters

Republican Teddy Turner, the son of media mogul Ted Turner, made news last month when he blamed his father’s liberalism on actress Jane Fonda.

He made more news Wednesday on NewsMax TV’s Steve Malzberg Show saying that CNN is “pretty much to the left” and that he has such a “hard time watching them” he mostly watches Fox:

STEVE MALZBERG, NEWSMAX TV HOST: What do you think when you watch CNN? Do you think they’re down the middle? Do you think they’re to the left? What do you think?

TEDDY TURNER: I think they’re pretty much to the left. I don’t think there’s any question about that. It’s not MSNBC, but they’re not Fox. So I think they’re, I have a hard time watching them a lot of times.

MALZBERG: And what do you think of the revamping. They got a new guy at the helm now, and they’re adding Chris Cuomo, and they’re keeping apparently Piers Morgan, and it doesn’t seem like this guy is going to do anything to make them let’s say a fairer more balanced presentation.

Read more from this story HERE.

Man’s Home Raided After Son’s Facebook Picture Shows Gun

/0 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: The New American

After seeing a photo of an 11-year-old boy holding a rifle on Facebook, New Jersey police and Department of Children and Families officials raided the home of the boy’s father, Shawn Moore, a firearms instructor. Moore was not arrested or charged, but immediately sought the counsel of his lawyer.

Moore is a certified firearms instructor for the National Rifle Association, an NRA range safety officer, and a New Jersey hunter education instructor. He posted a photograph of his son wearing camouflage and holding his .22 rifle. The photograph caused quite a stir, even though the boy has a New Jersey hunting license and has passed the state’s hunter safety course.

“Someone called family services about the photo,” said Evan Nappen, an attorney representing Shawn Moore. “It led to an incredible, heavy-handed raid on his house. They wanted to see his gun safe, his guns and search his house. They even threatened to take his kids.”

On March 16, Moore’s wife texted her husband to tell him that the Carneys Point Police Department and the New Jersey Department of Children and Families had raided their home. Moore quickly called Nappen and rushed back to his home to find police demanding to check his guns.

In response, Moore handed his phone to the officers so that they could speak to Nappen. “If you have a warrant, you’re coming in,” Nappen told the officers. “If you don’t, then you’re not. That’s what privacy is all about.” Moore, having heard what Nappen told the officers on his speakerphone, asked the officers to leave his home. He later wrote a post about his encounter on the Delaware Open Carry website.

Read more from this story HERE.