News of the Week (September 13th, 2015)

 

News of the Week for September 7th, 2015


 

Obama Scandals

 

The United States House of Representatives now will be heard on an issue that drives to the very heart of our constitutional system: the control of the legislative branch over the “power of the purse.”
The House filed this lawsuit after the Administration openly violated the Constitution by paying – and by continuing to pay – billions in public funds to insurance companies under an Affordable Care Act program without any appropriation from Congress.

 

Gun Rights

 

Private Gun Sales, Public Dishonesty
Senator Tim Kaine is lying—and he is lying in so obvious and transparent a manner that it is a wonder he has not become an overnight national disgrace. Kaine has proposed “intelligent regulation” in order to “stem gun violence” in the Commonwealth of Virginia and the rest of the country, and at first blush his law seems wholly anodyne, almost pointless in its superfluity

 

Hide the Decline

Environment &
“Green Energy”

 

The perfect storm for environmentalists: GMO engineered rice reduces greenhouse gas emissions to near zero
From the DOE/PACIFIC NORTHWEST NATIONAL LABORATORY and the “you can hear green heads exploding” department comes this bit of news sure to short circuit some people that are anti GMO but think the planet is doomed unless we do something about the threat of greenhouse gas emissions.

Revealed: How George W. Bush Saved Georgia From Russia
Earlier this month, coinciding with the seventh anniversary of Russia’s war on Georgia, Dmitri Shashkin, former Georgian defense minister, revealed the role of the Bush administration in stopping the Russian invaders from conquering the whole of the former Soviet Captive Nation.

The price of Europe’s fecklessness
In Luis Bunuel’s eponymous 1961 film, the young postulant Viridiana leaves her convent to claim her uncle’s rural estate, and creates a refuge for local beggars. They ransack her house in a bachannalia staged to lampoon the Last Supper, and a couple of them rape her. The classic film should be mandatory viewing for European officials caught up in refugee euphoria. This is going to end very, very badly.

Bidding My College-Bound Son Good Riddance
I have raised a sweet, thoughtful, environmentally conscious monster—and soon I will be free.

 

Obamacare

Government in Healthcare

 

Judge clears way for House lawsuit challenging health law
A federal judge cleared the way Wednesday for a legal challenge by congressional Republicans to President Obama’s health care law to proceed.

 

War & Terror

 

A side agreement could void the Iran deal
The Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015, which requires the president to submit to Congress the nuclear agreement reached with Iran, represents an exceptional bipartisan congressional accommodation. Instead of submitting an agreement through the constitutionally proper mechanism — as a treaty requiring approval by a two-thirds majority in the Senate — the act enables President Obama to go forward with the deal unless Congress disapproves it by a veto-proof margin. Unfortunately, the president has not complied with the act, jeopardizing his ability to implement the agreement.

Moscow Moves In
Between wind-surfing sessions and waiting for his Nobel Peace Prize, Secretary of State John Kerry took time over the weekend to chat with his Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergy Lavrov. The topic of conversation was Moscow’s heightened military presence in Syria.

Khamenei: Israel won’t survive next 25 years
Taking to Twitter, Iranian leader says Zionists won’t find serenity until destruction, calls US “Great Satan” and rejects any talks with Washington beyond nuke deal

Russian troops join combat in Syria
Russian forces have begun participating in military operations in Syria in support of government troops, three Lebanese sources familiar with the political and military situation there said on Wednesday.

Obama’s Iran Deal Is Still Far from Settled
The review process under the Corker law never began – by the law’s own terms.

Convert or die: ISIS chief’s former slave says he beat her, raped U.S. hostage
When ISIS came for Zeinat and her family, they ran, terrified, for the safety of the mountains. They had heard the horror stories and knew only too well what might happen to them if they stayed in their home.

50 Spies Say ISIS Intelligence Was Cooked
It’s being called a “revolt” by intelligence pros who are paid to give their honest assessment of the ISIS war—but are instead seeing their reports turned into happy talk.

Marine study finds all-male infantry units outperformed teams with women
A Marine Corps study that found all-male ground combat units more effective than teams that included women has raised new concerns about the Pentagon’s push to open all jobs to women next year.

Marines: Male units perform better. Sec Navy: What’s a few dead Marines
Under the regime of Barack Obama, there has been a conscious attack on traditional Western values. From its support of homosexuality as a privileged life-style choice to the brutal assault on college age men carried out by its Department of Education, the government has sought to penalize traditional values in private life and eradicate them in the public square. No single area has suffered more that the combat units of the armed forces.

Russia developing underwater drone submarine to deliver megaton nuclear weapon
Russia is building a drone submarine to deliver large-scale nuclear weapons against U.S. harbors and coastal cities, according to Pentagon officials.

Iran says finds unexpectedly high uranium reserve
Iran has discovered an unexpectedly high reserve of uranium and will soon begin extracting the radioactive element at a new mine, the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation said on Saturday.

Ayatollah Khameni: If War Comes, America Will Be Humiliated
This was put out today on the youtube channel of the “Supreme Leader” today. Happy Iran Deal!

 

National

 

Boehner’s future as speaker in doubt
The Republican leader faces a grueling next few months, and even allies believe this will be his last term atop the GOP conference.

A white guy named Michael couldn’t get his poem published. Then he became Yi-Fen Chou.
Sherman Alexie read hundreds, maybe thousands, of poems last year while editing the 2015 edition of Best American Poetry, an annual anthology that comes out Tuesday. Just over six dozen of them made the final cut, including “The Bees, the Flowers, Jesus, Ancient Tigers, Poseidon, Adam and Eve” by Yi-Fen Chou, 20 brief, cynical lines on the absurdity of desire.

Puerto Ricans to Spain: Take Us Back
As Puerto Rico struggles to deal with its crippling debt crisis, some of its residents have come up with a novel solution: rejoin Spain.

New York City to require salt warnings on restaurant menus
Salty fare from sandwiches to salads will soon come with a first-of-its-kind warning label at chain restaurants in New York City.

Yale Professor Tells Congress Babies “Born-Alive” After Botched Abortion Don’t Deserve Legal Protection…
Revolting.

Star Wars Actor Warwick Davis Slams PC Change to Snow White And the Seven… Friends?
Warwick Davis has slammed a theatre’s decision to replace Snow White’s traditional dwarves in its Christmas panto out of misplaced and patronising political correctness. Leicester’s De Montfort Hall has changed the production’s title to ‘Snow White and her Seven Friends’ saying “dwarf” is “generally not a word that people feel comfortable with.”

Hippie backlash in Haight-Ashbury
Meant to link this hysterically funny piece earlier in the week: It’s the story of aging hippies in San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district who are now upset with the homeless loser punks who’ve taken their place–via LATimes reporter John Glionna.

Office For Civil Rights Goes After Michigan State
However harmful the effects of the “Dear Colleague” letter to colleges and universities from the Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights, the document is a floor, not a ceiling, to OCR’s efforts to weaken campus due process.

Oregon is tired of all these immigrants from… California
There’s definitely an immigration crisis going on, but it’s not just the one in Syria. We’re also not talking about America’s southern border, nor even the Canadians. (But don’t get too comfortable… you can never trust the Canadians.) No, this crisis is taking place on Oregon’s southern border where they are being invaded by unwelcome immigrants from California. And now some of the residents are taking action.

Hillary Worship Inspires Moonbats to Song
They would have gotten little children to sing, but Shrillary is so transparently evil that the mention of her name makes their voices tremble with fear.

Teachers in Kindergarten, Grades 1-2 believe teachers should “generate conversation surrounding the need for gender fluidity”
The data from interviews found that the teachers “prioritized classroom discussions and activities that forefront gender equity to create safe space for self-expression in their instructional approach to challenging traditional gender norms and stereotypes.”

Milton Friedman on immigration today versus one hundred years ago
Europe might want to watch this video. The immigration discussion starts at about nine and a half minutes into the lecture

The “I Can’t Breathe” case you never heard of
Shelly Dadon was murdered because she was Jewish. Her murderer was just sentenced to life in prison.

Survivors of Botched Abortions Testify as Planned Parenthood Hearings Begin
Two women who survived botched abortions during the 1970s testified Wednesday before the House Judiciary Committee as part of its investigation into Planned Parenthood’s practices following the release of a series of videos that exposed the group’s sale of body parts of aborted babies on the open market.

Legal Immigrant Households Account for 75 Percent of Immigrant Welfare Use
Households headed by legal immigrants are more likely to tap into America’s welfare system than their native-born counterparts, according to a new report from the Center for Immigration Studies.

OMG! Broad, Flexible, Plaintiff-Friendly Law Used In Unanticipated Manner!
California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act, a 1959 law named after a powerful California politician, was a precursor to the federal 1964 Civil Rights Act. Recently the Unruh Act provoked outrage. Why? Because this broad, flexible, and unilateral law was invoked creatively by the wrong people.

Why Is Senator Murkowski Supporting the Voting Rights Advancement Act?
The civil-rights Left is very excited today that Senator Lisa Murkowski has become the first Republican to support the Voting Rights Advancement Act, the second bill that has been introduced to resurrect Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which was effectively struck down by the Supreme Court two years ago.

“Guilty Until Proven Innocent” Receives Support at Congressional Sex Assault Hearing
Earlier today, FIRE’s Joe Cohn testified before the House Education and Workforce Committee’s Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Training during its hearing on “Preventing and Responding to Sexual Assault on College Campuses.” During the hearing, Joe elaborated on why the adjudication of sexual assault allegations should not be left solely to educational institutions, which are not properly equipped to perform this function.

Pew gets its science wrong in attempting to bash Americans
Pew Research put up a website purporting to quiz you on your scientific knowledge, while flogging their poll of American adults (n=3278), claiming those adults are scientifically illiterate.

Harvard students spend Labor Day tweaking “offensive” Wikipedia posts
The “edit-a-thon” was designed to purge phrasing considered offensive from Wikipedia entries on topics such as LGBTQ, feminism, and human rights issues.

University of California considering recognizing a “right” to be “free from … expressions of intolerance”
Here is a proposed policy that the Regents of the University of California.s Committee on Education Policy will be discussing next Thursday.

Los Angeles Korean businesses actively seeking to flee from CA for TX
One type of business has a special affinity for California — Asian businesses. They have substantial ethnic communities built up, and are comfortable being on a Pacific Rim state.

GOP candidate Ben Carson says he probably wouldn’t have shot Michael Brown
Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson says he probably wouldn’t have used deadly force against Michael Brown, the teenager whose fatal shooting by police Officer Darren Wilson sparked a national debate on race and the role of police.

Nevada Election Officials Investigating Hillary Campaign
Top election officials in the state of Nevada are investigating the Hillary Clinton campaign official who was snared in the latest James O’Keefe video, Breitbart News has exclusively learned.

California Will Give Free High School Diplomas To Kids Who Flunked Out
The state of California is poised to award thousands of high school degrees to dropouts by passing a new law retroactively removing the requirement to pass a high school exit exam.

Black Lives Matter leader lands Yale teaching gig
One of the newest teachers at the vaunted Yale University burnished his Ivy League resume in the Black Lives Matter movement.

DEA blasted for no-warrant searches of patient records, court battle heats up
Drug Enforcement Administration agents have been accessing personal medical files without a warrant, generating a backlash from doctors and privacy advocates who say the practice is intrusive and unconstitutional — and have taken the agency to court.

Ben Carson’s Immigration Plan
Appearing on CBS’s Face the Nation, Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson criticized Donald Trump’s proposal to deport America’s illegal immigrant population, then proposed an alternative of his own.

Almost A Third Of Americans Could Imagine Supporting A Military Coup In The US
For many Americans, a coup in which the military seizes control of the federal government is starting to seem like a refreshing alternative to the existing administration, according to a new poll.

ES-335 Government Series
Well played, Gibson. Well played.

ACLU lawsuit is an attack on parental choice for educating their children
Many of the news stories about the ACLU suing to block implementation of Nevada’s education savings accounts (ESAs), approved by this past Legislature as Senate Bill 302, mention that such accounts were declared unconstitutional in Colorado recently. Like Nevada, Colorado’s state constitution includes a Blaine Amendment prohibiting the use of tax money for sectarian purposes.

 

Economy & Taxes

 

Three $150k robots replaced 60 welders
Ride-on lawn mower manufacturer Cox Industries might only employ 60 people today from 160 a decade ago, and has suffered three break-even years because it hasn’t rained enough, but co-owner Ken McColl says the Australian economy still can’t afford businesses like his to disappear.

Jerry Brown Vows “Life-and-Death Struggle” to “Change…Our Industrial Economy”
California Governor Jerry Brown vowed Wednesday to wage a “life-and-death struggle” to “change the very basis of our industrial economy.”

From Madisonian Constitutionalism to Wilsonian Statism?
That is how Dan Mitchell describes America’s fiscal evolution, as chronicled in a new report by the Joint Economic Committee.

 

International

 

GRADE SCHOOL GIRLS in Germany Ordered to Cover Up – So As Not to Provoke Muslim Refugees
Parents of children at a Bavarian grade school were told to cover up their grade school girls so they won’t tempt the Muslim refugees in the gymnasium next door.

Turkey Explodes in Political Violence as Obama Ally Erdogan Unleashes Shock Troops
Political violence exploded in Turkey today as supporters of Islamist President Recep Erdogan’s AKP Party attacked newspapers and offices of opposition political parties.

Equality: Women Raping Women
Gayle Newland of Cheshire, England, is on trial for five counts of sexual assault. Prosecutors say that Newland, 25, invented a false persona, “Kye Fortune . . . a half-Filipino, half-Latino young man,” in order to trick a woman into sex. “Kye” claimed to have been disfigured by surgery for cancer and convinced the victim to wear a blindfold during their trysts.

Venezuelan Regime Sentences Democratic Opposition Leader to Nearly 14 Years in Prison
The Obama administration is being called on to be swift with the sanctions after Venezuela sentenced former Chacao mayor and opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez to nearly 14 years behind bars for protesting Nicholas Maduro’s regime.

Female cartoonist could have 12 year prison term extended for shaking her lawyer’s hand
An Iranian artist currently serving more than 12 years in prison for criticising the government now faces further charges of “indecency” for allegedly shaking her male lawyer’s hand.

Loony Leftist Elected Leader of UK’s Labor Party
After suffering a humiliating and devastating defeat in the parliamentary elections last May, the British Labor Party took stock and did some soul searching. Ed Miliband resigned his position as party leader and several prominent Labor MP’s lined up to succeed him.

Geert Wilders Annihilates Opponents In Parliamentary Debate On Syrian Immigration Crisis
His challengers are unable to dispute any of Wilders statements. If only we had more politicians like Wilders.

U.K.’s left wing takes hard anti-U.S. turn
For the first time in a lifetime of political analysis, I find myself lost for words. Nothing I write can do justice to the calamity that Britain’s Labour Party has just inflicted on itself. The best I can do, to give you a sense of the man newly elected as Leader of Her Majesty’s Opposition, is to summarize some of his opinions.

Topless Chicks Storm Stage At Muslim Conference
Two topless feminists have stormed the stage at a Muslim conference in France. The activists, from hard-line feminist outfit Femen jumped on stage, with “Nobody makes me submit” scrawled across their bare chests. The most prominent protester shouted, “Nobody makes me submit, me nobody owns me, I’m my own prophet!” before being dragged and kicked off the stage by angered Muslims.

Bangladesh cricketer suspended for “beating child maid”
Bangladesh national cricketer Shahadat Hossain was suspended on Sunday from all forms of the game as police probe allegations that he and his wife beat their 11-year-old maid.

Jordan: We Do Not Want Palestinians
A recent decision by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) to cut back its services has left Jordan and other Arab countries extremely worried about the possibility that they may be forced to grant citizenship rights to millions of Palestinians.

 

Opinion

 

Another Impossible Thing May Happen: Change in Partisan Alignments
This has happened before. History teaches two lessons pointing in opposite directions: Partisan divisions can stay the same for a long time. And they can change suddenly and without much warning.

Do Not Date Bedlamites
Melissa Fabello shares her interracial dating advice with the chronically fretful readers of Everyday Feminism

These evil British colonizers of Africa and the institution of slavery
So, why don’t our history books teach us much about this aspect of the history of slavery in Africa? Mine certainly didn’t touch on it at all, and in all the years since then, when I’ve about the evils of the institution of slavery I never heard a word about the role of Christian missionaries in ending slavery within Africa itself.

A Down Syndrome Prediction Shouldn’t Be A Death Sentence
Doctors said my baby would have Down Syndrome, and pushed me to abort the child. I had never realized how much discrimination these unborn children face.

Microaggression Mania: Where the Victimhood Culture Comes From
A remarkable blog post by Professor of Ethical Leadership at New York University’s Stern School of Business, Jonathan Haidt, highlighting an article by sociologists Bradley Campbell and Jason Manning delving deeply into the question of why microaggressions, safe spaces, trigger warnings, and other recent phenomenon have emerged on college campuses.

Keep an eye on the Castro brothers
A force to be reckoned with

Lesbian “Comedian” Wants You Guys to Know Women Are “Not Incubators”
“Feminist humor” is one of those terms describing a hypothetical category, like “honest Democrat.”

Feminism as Sadistic Revenge Fantasy
What is seldom noted in discussions of feminism is the extent to which the movement’s ideology represents a calculated appeal to the resentments of psychological misfits. Feminism attracts maladjusted personalities who, to employ Freudian terms, displace the rage of their hypercritical superego onto a male scapegoat.

The Great Divorce
No, this is not a post on my marital status, which is fine thankyouverymuch. It’s rather a definition/sense of something going on in the culture, where the current situation comes from, what it means, and an exploration of where it might take us in the future.

How Grown-Ups Deal With “Microaggressions”
Whenever I first heard the word “microaggression,” sometime in the last five years, I’m sure I was unaware how big “micro” could get. The accusation of a microaggression was about to become a pervasive feature of the Internet, and particularly social media. An offense most of us didn’t even know existed, suddenly we were all afraid of being accused of.

Transitioning to stupidity
The West has had a full frontal lobotomy and the remains of civilised society should probably move to a nuclear silo in Nevada and start prepping for the end. If that can’t be done, the next best thing for it would be to hijack the spaceship to Mars and simply start over again.

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