Scam: Gang of Eight's Immigration Bill

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Photo Credit: Politico

[T]he part of the [Gang of Eight Immigration Bill] that dictates who owes taxes and how much they will have to pay raises several questions, the answers to which could mean millions of dollars in tax revenue and whether the government has a realistic shot at collecting taxes owed by undocumented workers.

“I think no one can go back and guess or surmise how much the unpaid taxes would be for the entire group,” said David Marzahl, the president and CEO of the Center for Economic Progress, a group that works on tax issues with low-income and immigrant groups.

Negotiators had to choose between a hard-line approach favored by Republicans, like Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), that would have required immigrants and employers to painstakingly piece together a tax history so the government could collect what is owed and a less burdensome option of focusing on people who already have a past-due bill with the Internal Revenue Service.

They chose the milder approach and punted the details to the Treasury Department and IRS to hash out down the road.

“Getting back taxes is incredibly difficult, particularly when someone has paid into a fraudulent Social Security number,” Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), a member of the gang, told POLITICO. “You might have a case where the government owes more back than it gets in. So I don’t know. We’ll leave that up to the IRS to figure how we do it.”

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Drone Battles over America a Possibility in the Future, Sen. Dianne Feinstein Says

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Photo Credit: AP

As the global drone boom unfolds in the next few years, one key lawmaker warns we could eventually see science-fiction style warfare in American skies.

“I can envision drone fights in the air, drones cracking into each other,” said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, California Democrat, during a Senate subcommittee hearing on the Federal Aviation Administration’s fiscal 2014 budget.

Although Mrs. Feinstein isn’t the only one with such concerns, FAA officials have on several occasions reassured the public that it would be illegal to operate an armed drone in U.S. airspace. It is illegal for civilians to arm the helicopter or fixed-wing aircraft they own or operate, though every military in the world already does this.

But with technology racing ahead, Mrs. Feinstein fears drone pilots could disregard the law and use the crafts to deliver weapons — and that the federal government will be ill-equipped to stop them.

“It doesn’t take much to put munitions on [a drone], once you’ve got the know-how,” she said.

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Scarborough says GOP ‘Moving Toward Extinction’ after Blocking Gun Legislation

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Photo Credit: Daily Caller

“Morning Joe” host Joe Scarborough says the senators who voted against expanded background checks for gun buyers on Wednesday are providing “the opportunity for terrorists, for gang members, for criminals, for violent rapists” to purchase firearms.

The former Republican congressman also predicted that new gun control measures would eventually be passed.

“Most of the time, I know, when you lose, you lose,” Scarborough said Thursday. “I agree with Howard Dean on this one — we have only begun to fight. This is just the beginning. With every violent act that occurs in the future, and with guns being shipped from one gang to another. With terrorists going on the Internet advertising how easy it is to kill Americans because of our weak background check system, Mike [Barnicle], this has just begun. This will not end until we have a background check system that keeps our families and Americans’ families safer.”

Scarborough also criticized Senate Democrats for not pursuing filibuster reform at the beginning of the Congress and warned New Hampshire Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte that her vote against background checks would come back to haunt her.

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Why GOP Must Have a Senate Majority in 2014: Harry Reid Promises to Bring Back Gun Control Bill

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Photo Credit: Getty Images

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Thursday announced that the Democrat-controlled U.S. Senate would shelve its gun control legislation — for now.

“Yesterday, President Obama said it was a shameful day for the Senate, and it probably was, I agree,” Sen. Reid said. “But we should make no mistake: This debate is not over, in fact this fight is just beginning.”

The Nevada Senator said that the legislative body would “take a pause and freeze the background check bill where it is” and “return to it at an undetermined date,” according to the Washington Post.

“We’re going to come back to this bill,” Reid said…

“The underlying bill hasn’t been defeated and is still technically on the legislative calendar. As majority leader, Reid can bring up the bill again at a moment’s notice,” the report explains.

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Kansas Enacts Nullification: Governor Sam Brownback Signs Radical 2nd Amendment Protection Act into Law

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Today, Kansas Governor Sam Brownback signed into law Senate Bill 102 (SB102), formerly HB2199 – the 2nd Amendment Protection Act. In the wake of increased federal interest in restricting the right to keep and bear arms, the new Kansas law is the most comprehensive nullification of such acts thus far.

The new law nullifies a wide range of federal attacks on the right to keep and bear arms in the State of Kansas. It states, in part:

Any act, law, treaty, order, rule or regulation of the government of the United States which violates the second amendment to the constitution of the United States is null, void and unenforceable in the state of Kansas

In conjunction with Section 6a (quoted above), the bill defines what is meant by “the second amendment to the constitution of the United States,” and that it isn’t based off a decision of the supreme court.

The second amendment to the constitution of the United States reserves to the people, individually, the right to keep and bear arms as that right was understood at the time that Kansas was admitted to statehood in 1861, and the guaranty of that right is a matter of contract between the state and people of Kansas and the United States as of the time that the compact with the United States was agreed upon and adopted by Kansas in 1859 and the United States in 1861.

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Security Video May Show Boston Marathon Bombing Suspect; Report of Arrest Premature (+video)

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Photo Credit: Washington Post

The daunting task of sifting through thousands of images of the Boston Marathon bombing site in search of a culprit suddenly telescoped to a single video from a Lord & Taylor security camera Wednesday.

The discovery of video of a man who wore a large backpack to the finish line area and then dropped the package there raised hopes for an imminent breakthrough in the case, setting off a media frenzy and insistent statements from authorities that no arrest has been made. A Boston city official said the video is of “special interest” to investigators.

The second full day of the investigation into the attack that killed three people and injured at least 176 brought jitters, rumors and at least the hope that investigators had made important progress, though Massachusetts Gov. Deval L. Patrick (D) said that while the probe is “making some progress . . . it’s going to be slow, it’s going to be methodical.”

Boston’s federal courthouse, where hundreds had gathered in response to false reports of an arrest, was briefly evacuated because of a bomb threat. Officials also evacuated a Boston hospital, Brigham and Women’s, and Oklahoma City’s City Hall because of suspicious vehicles outside. No explosives were found in those cases.

In Boston, many of the injured were released from hospitals. At Brigham and Women’s, which initially treated 35 people, only 11 were still hospitalized Wednesday evening, four of them in critical condition.

Watch video here:

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Move Over ObamaPhone: 844-Page Immigration Bill Funds New 'MarcoPhone'

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Photo Credit: Shark Tank

With the new ‘Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act’ finally being filed in the U.S. Senate, concerns over how much money the immigration reform bill will cost an already debt-ridden United States continues to swirl among Americans who are already strapped for cash.

According to the newly filed bill, immigrants who are allowed to enter the United States under a work visa, will be ‘granted’ a taxpayer funded cellular phone. Move over “Obama phone,” we present the new ‘Hola, Como Estas?!’ MarcoPhone.

Here is the actual mention of the free phones in the bill-

SEC. 1107. ACCESS TO EMERGENCY PERSONNEL. (a) SOUTHWEST BORDER REGION EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS GRANTS.—

The Secretary, in consultation with the governors of the States in the Southwest Border region, shall establish a 2-year grant program, to be administered by the Secretary, to improve emergency communications in the Southwest

ELIGIBILITY FOR GRANTS.—An individual is eligible to receive a grant under this subsection if the individual demonstrates that he or she— (A) regularly resides or works in the Southwest Border region; is at greater risk of border violence due to the lack of cellular service at his or her residence or business and his or her proximity to the Southern border. (3) USE OF GRANTS.—Grants awarded under this subsection may be used to purchase satellite telephone communications systems and service that— (A) can provide access to 9–1–1 service; and (B) are equipped with global positioning

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Democrat Senator Mark Warner: US Debt Crisis More Threatening than Terror

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Photo Credit: AP

A day after bombings at the Boston Marathon, Sen. Mark Warner said that fiscal issues are more important than terrorism for the future of the country.

“In my mind, with the tragedy of yesterday, the issue of this national debt is a greater threat to our nation and our future than any terrorist action,” Warner said Tuesday evening at an awards dinner in Washington. “We will not be destroyed from the outside.”

The Virginia Democrat comments were part of larger remarks he gave on the importance of putting the country on better fiscal footing Tuesday evening at the Capital Hilton during the Bryce Harlow Foundation’s annual dinner. Warner received the Bryce Harlow Award for his career and contributions to the advancement of government relations

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In Welfare We Trust: One-Sixth of Federal Budget is Now Welfare

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Photo Credit: Wikipedia

Yes, it looks like a wedding announcement out of The Onion, but when it comes to making a killing off the never-ending “War on Poverty,” the marriage of convenience between the financial services industry and federal bureaucrats is no laughing matter.

The idea that government welfare programs could eliminate poverty, rather than temporarily alleviate its worst impacts during hard times, took root during Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society initiative. From modest beginnings, a panoply of federal welfare programs expanded and multiplied to the point where they now consume one-sixth of the federal budget—some $588 billion last year, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

This is a lot of spending—even by contemporary standards—and this figure doesn’t even include the current explosion in unemployment benefits, as these are considered social “insurance” payouts rather than welfare. Nor does it include Social Security or Medicare, our largest and most rapidly growing federal expenditures. To make matters worse, these programs, which were designed to keep the elderly out of poverty, are entitlements not yet subject to means testing, so payments go to rich, middle class, and poor alike.

With anti-poverty programs enjoying meteoric growth thanks to the economic policies of the current and previous administrations, we may someday look back fondly on the days when we “only” had to fork over half a trillion a year to support the longest and least successful “war” in American history, with no sign of stopping.

How many civil servants with good pay and benefits does it take to do all this poverty fighting? Try as I might to discover the answer I finally gave up, surprised that I couldn’t locate a definitive study enumerating the number of federal, state, and government-funded private employees whose livelihood depends on administering the ever expanding stream of tax dollars flowing to the poor. Is it any wonder that these entrenched bureaucrats have managed to slowly expand the definition of poverty to include a standard of living that would have been considered middle class back when the war on poverty started?

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'Threatened' Student Files Complaint Against Allen West

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Photo Credit: WND

After sternly warning college students to stop harassing his wife or they would face consequences, former Rep. Allen West, R-Fla., now finds himself the target of a complaint.

West, a retired Army colonel who narrowly lost his congressional seat after serving a notable freshman term, had responded on Twitter and Facebook to students at Florida Atlantic University, where his wife, Angela, serves on the Board of Trustees. He explained in a Facebook post Wednesday that students had gone to his wife’s office, “stalked her at the FAU Board of Trustee meetings, and sent letters to her company headquarters.”

“How dare you animals attack my wife and her professional reputation. This is your one and only advisory notice,” West said.

He clarified: “This is not a threat, it is a promise that if Angela calls and tells me of one more incident, you will face me, the side of me that you do not want to see.”

He sent a similar message on Twitter: “To FAU students stalking my wife at Bd of Trustee mtgs, end it now. If u believe you can intimidate her, u are mistaken. Nxt time u face me.”

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