Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore
Iran announced last week that Hamid Aboutalebi, a member of a Muslim student group that held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days in the 1979 seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, was its choice to become its next UN ambassador.
Cruz vowed not to allow Aboutalebi to set foot on American soil. In a rare display of bipartisanship, the entire Senate agreed.
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The problem is that it doesn’t actually help women at all. In many cases, it actually hurts women by placing costly regulations on businesses that may lower the number of workers they can afford to employ:
#1 – It attempts to outlaw something that is already illegal.“Gender-based wage discrimination has been illegal since the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. If a woman is truly the victim of wage discrimination, she already has the ability to sue.”
#2 – It ignores the complex reasons that women earn less than men. “It would certainly be wrong to suggest that workplace discrimination is entirely extinct, but the PFA presumes the opposite – that men’s earnings outperform women’s solely because of discrimination and that more lawsuits are the fix. Reality is more complex. The attitude behind the Paycheck Fairness Act completely ignores that women and men may have different preferences and priorities when it comes to pay and jobs.”
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At the same time, a solid majority of Americans express great concern about a number of other environmental issues. It’s just global warming that doesn’t bother them much.
On the question of global warming, 34 percent say they worry about it a great deal. That is in contrast to the 60 percent who say they worry a great deal about pollution of America’s drinking water; 53 percent who say they worry a great deal about contamination of soil and water by toxic waste; and 53 percent who say they worry a great deal about pollution of rivers, lakes and reservoirs. Slightly smaller numbers of Americans are deeply concerned about other issues: 46 percent say they worry a great deal about air pollution; 41 percent say they worry a great deal about the extinction of plant and animal species; and 41 percent say they worry a great deal about the loss of tropical rain forests. Only after all those other concerns comes global warming, at 34 percent. (When Gallup asked about concern over “climate change,” the number was 35 percent, suggesting the name doesn’t make much difference.)
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Several Democrats — including some lawmakers whose re-election bids are seen as vulnerable in this year’s midterm races — are joining Republicans in calling for the Obama administration to stop proposed cuts to the Medicare Advantage program.
Administration officials plan to announce the 2015 rates for the program on Monday, reports The Hill, and could prove a sensitive issue as both parties are courting the senior citizens who tend to turn out in high numbers to vote in midterms.
Republicans say the program is a valid private alternative to Medicare, as it allows seniors to enroll in plans offered by private insurers, who are then directly paid by the federal government.
Until now, Democrats have complained that the plan receives a disportionate amount of money compared to the Medicare program, and Obamacare was partially funded through $200 billion in cuts over 10 years.
Opponents include Sens. Mark Pryor of Arkansas and Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, considered two of the Democratic Party’s most vulnerable senators seeking re-election. But some powerful Democrats are also speaking out, including Sens. Charles Schumer and Michael Bennett.
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“Every bit of evidence points to stronger GOP turnout in a low turnout elections this fall. Major hurdle for Ds,” Axelrod tweeted after the poll was released Saturday.
Thirty-seven percent in the poll last month chose Republicans, compared to 36 percent who said they would rather see Democrats in charge, with the November general elections seven months away.
Asked the same question in January, 39 percent favored the Democrats and 32 percent favored Republicans.
In the new poll, registered voters, who are most strongly interested in politics, favored the Republicans by 14 percentage points — 51 percent to 37 percent. In January, they were about evenly split, with 42 percent preferring Democrats and 45 percent the Republicans.
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Comcast, which employs more than 100 lobbyists, spent almost $19 million last year on lobbying activities. Its president and CEO, Brian L. Roberts, is a golf buddy of President Obama’s, and a Democratic donor who has contributed thousands of dollars not only to the president’s campaigns, but also to the Democratic Party of Pennsylvania, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the DNC Services Corporation, and to Steny Hoyer, Kirsten Gillibrand, and Bob Casey. Roberts’ executive vice president, David Cohen, is a former aide to Democratic bigwig Ed Rendell. Cohen skirts lobbying regulations through loopholes, has raised more than $2 million for Obama since 2007, and in 2011 hosted a DNC fundraiser at which the president called him “friend.” Cohen has visited the White House 14 times since 2010, including two visits to the Oval Office. He attended the recent dinner for President Hollande of France.
Cohen plays a major role in the Comcast Foundation, which has disbursed more than $3 billion since 2001, primarily to “groups that serve African-Americans, Latinos, and Asians” and other segments of the Democratic coalition. You will be surprised to learn that many of the groups to whom the Comcast Foundation has donated now support the proposed merger. Of the $33 million Comcast has spent on political campaigns since 1989, more than half, or some $18 million, has gone to Democrats. Barack Obama is number one on the list of the top ten recipients of Comcast’s largesse. There are four Republicans on the list.
Comcast’s in-kind contributions to the Democratic Party are more difficult to calculate. In a media environment that already tilts leftward, the NBC networks, which Comcast owns, distinguish themselves as especially pro-Obama. Comcast has one channel, MSNBC, which is almost entirely devoted to furthering the president’s agenda and the broader priorities of the American progressive movement. How do you put a price on the contributions of the invaluable Ed, Al, Chris, Chris, Rachel, and Lawrence? Where would the Democratic Party be today without The Reid Report? They give so much.
MSNBC shares staff and resources with NBC News, whose chief foreign affairs correspondent is a personal friend and tireless advocate of Hillary Clinton’s. NBC Sports, which during its recent Olympics coverage bent over backwards to apologize for Russia, has on its payroll the liberal pink eye victim Bob Costas, famous for advocating gun control during a sporting event. President Obama and Michelle Obama are regulars on the Jimmy Fallon show, and Joe Biden was the first guest on Seth Myers’s Late Night. Biden is always good for laughs.
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Obviously, an excuse has to be created, and it hasn’t taken the corruptocrats in Sacramento very long. It was the lack of public campaign financing that did forced an idealistic crusader into something he would otherwise never have done. Jim Miller of the Sacramento Bee reports on the Democrats’ rationalization:
The 137-page FBI affidavit against Yee and more than 20 other defendants says the San Francisco Democrat’s focus on retiring a $70,000 campaign debt from his unsuccessful 2011 mayor’s race and raising money for his 2014 candidacy for secretary of state led him to accept bribes in return for official favors and arrange overseas weapons deals. (snip)
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The couple, who wished to remain anonymous, said they have lived in La Mesa for years and have always been registered Republicans.
Now, ABC 10 said, they are wondering why they received the pre-marked registration card.
“I’m an old guy and I never would have noticed it, except I have an accountant that notices every dot and dash on a piece of paper as a wife,” the man said.
ABC explained that Covered California began mailing the cards to some four million people last week after it was threatened with a lawsuit from a voting rights group.
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I’m going to make it easy on Pelosi and put all of the latest cases in one handy rogue’s gallery reference list. But let’s not be naive. It’s clear to me that the Barack Obama/Eric Holder DOJ is clearing the decks before the midterms. Prediction: The FBI’s GOP corruption shoe will drop right before the elections for maximum distraction and damage. For now, let’s take stock of the jackassery:
–The Dirty Democratic Mayors’ Club: Charlotte, N.C., Mayor Patrick Cannon, who bragged about partying with the Obamas to help grease the wheels for city projects, was arrested this week on federal corruption and influence-peddling charges. He’s accused of accepting gobs of cash payoffs and Las Vegas trips.
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By Kathy Shaidle.
More than a dozen recent cases of criminal charges or investigations against elected officials, including a rash of arrests in just the past couple of days, have one major thing in common.
They’re all Democrats, and, in many instances, establishment media seems loath to report that fact.
On his nationally syndicated radio show today, Rush Limbaugh recounted a number of the cases, including the gun-trafficking charges brought today against California state Sen. Leland Yee.
Limbaugh pointed out that Yee “was among the most vocal anti-Second Amendment Democrats in the country.”
“This guy wanted to eliminate it. He didn’t want you to have any guns, and here he is indicted for trafficking in military grade weapons,” Limbaugh said.
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By Michael Lundin.
A longtime California politician who was praised for his efforts to make government more transparent and authored gun control legislation was arrested Wednesday, accused of conspiracy to deal firearms and wire fraud.
The allegations against State Sen. Leland Yee were outlined in an FBI affidavit in support of a criminal complaint against him and 25 other people. The affidavit was unsealed on Wednesday, as Yee was scheduled to appear in court.
Yee performed “official acts” in exchange for donations from undercover FBI agents, as he sought to dig himself out of a $70,000 debt incurred during a failed San Francisco mayoral bid, according to court documents.
Yee is also accused of accepting $10,000 in January 2013 from an undercover agent in exchange for his making a call to the California Department of Public Health in support of a contract under consideration with the agency.
Also named in the affidavit is Raymond Chow. Chow, who is also known as “Shrimp Boy,” was the former leader of a Chinese criminal organization with ties to Hong Kong.
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All 17 Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee are demanding that Chairman Darrell Issa end his year-and-a-half-long probe into the Benghazi attacks, which left four Americans dead and have become a catchphrase signifying conservative suspicion of the Obama administration.
Led by ranking Democrat Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the move to end what Democrats dismiss as a “partisan investigation” is part of a broader effort by party leaders on Capitol Hill to finally move past the political furor surrounding the incident.
Democrats and Obama administration officials complain that the probe has cost millions of dollars while forcing the Pentagon and other federal agencies to respond to seemingly endless congressional demands for more information, all without yielding any coverup or conspiracy. They argue that the investigation has not produced any information related to allegations that then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to “stand down” military units that could have been sent to Benghazi in a bid to save U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and the other besieged Americans.
Democrats privately believe that Issa is using Benghazi to try to hurt Clinton’s possible presidential ambitions in 2016. “This is all about putting up points against Hillary,” complained a Democrat close to the issue. “It’s clear what they’re trying to do.”
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By Donald Lambro.
The end of Barack Obama’s presidency effectively began after the 2010 congressional elections when Republicans took control of the House.
Obama and the Democrats have been tumbling into a political abyss ever since, hurtling toward major Senate losses this fall, if not a decisive Republican takeover of the Democratic-run chamber.
He has been robotically going through the motions of being the president, but he no longer steers the nation’s agenda or is seen as a catalyst for change or as a leader who gets things done — as his job approval polls sink into the low 40s and the lethargic U.S. economy shows no sign of serious improvement.
His grand plan to further push our country in a sharply leftward direction has turned into a disaster for his party. Democrats have been thrown on the defensive as a result of his unpopular healthcare law that is coming apart at the seams, driving up medical insurance costs, and most likely facing some dismantlement in the courts.
Vulnerable, frightened Democrats running for re-election talk now of “fixing” Obamacare rather than preserving it as it is presently shaped — while Obama orders one year long delay after another in its full implementation in the face of devastating losses in November.
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