The New Yorker’s Voting Myths Evidence shows that voter-ID laws are effective and fair.

The Left is committed to the false narrative that there is no voter fraud in the U.S. The latest article in the genre is Jane Mayer’s New Yorker piece “Voter-Fraud Myth.”

Like others before her, Mayer is convinced that efforts to assure the integrity of the electoral process are actually a right-wing conspiracy to suppress voter turnout. So when John Fund and I came out with Who’s Counting? How Fraudsters and Bureaucrats Put Your Vote at Risk, a book that details numerous cases of election fraud, it was an invitation to a journalistic hit piece.

To maintain her belief that voter fraud is rare, Meyer apparently turned a blind eye to the news stories breaking all around her, none of which she mentions in her story. In just the past month, we’ve seen:

the Democratic nominee for Maryland’s first congressional district removed from the ballot after it was discovered that she had registered and voted in both Maryland and Florida in the 2006 and 2008 elections;

an Arkansas legislator resigning after pleading guilty (with three other defendants) to committing voter fraud;

a Canadian couple and a Mexican citizen arrested for illegally registering and voting in Iowa;

a New Jersey resident convicted on multiple counts of voter fraud;

three Indiana residents (including a former Democratic mayoral candidate) indicted for voter fraud;

three Ohioans indicted for double voting;

a Mexican drug dealer’s guilty plea for voting illegally in the 2008 presidential election;

Florida’s discovery of nearly 200 non-citizens illegally registered to vote, and

a city-council race in Vernon, Calif., overturned owing to voter fraud.

While ignoring the slew of voter-fraud cases erupting across the country, Mayer focuses on just a few incidents that Fund and I cite in the book. Then she misreports them.

Via: National Review

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Latest On Hurricane Sandy

East Coast braces for monster 'Frankenstorm'

WASHINGTON (AP) — When Hurricane Sandy becomes a hybrid weather monster some call "Frankenstorm" it will smack the East Coast harder and wider than last year's damaging Irene, forecasters said Friday.

The brunt of the weather mayhem will be concentrated where the hurricane comes ashore early Tuesday, but there will be hundreds of miles of steady, strong and damaging winds and rain for the entire Eastern region for several days, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The hurricane has killed at least 20 people in the Caribbean, and just left the Bahamas. It is expected to move north, just off the Eastern Seaboard.

As of Friday morning, federal forecasters were looking closer at the Delaware shore as the spot it will turn inland and merge with a wintry storm front. But there is a lot of room for error in the forecast and the storm could turn into shore closer to New York and New Jersey and bring the worst weather there.

Wherever Sandy comes ashore will get 10 inches of rain and extreme storm surges, Louis Uccellini, NOAA's environmental prediction director, said in a Friday news conference. Other areas not directly on Sandy's entry path will still get 4 to 8 inches of rain, maybe more, he said. Up to 2 feet of snow should fall on West Virginia, with lighter snow in parts of Ohio and Pennsylvania, regardless of where Sandy first hits.

A wide swath of the East, measuring several hundreds of miles, will get persistent gale-force winds in the 50 mph area, with some areas closer to storm landfall getting closer to 70 mph, said James Franklin, forecast chief for the National Hurricane Center.

"It's going to be a long-lasting event, two to three days of impact for a lot of people," Franklin said. "Wind damage, widespread power outages, heavy rainfall, inland flooding and somebody is going to get a significant surge event."

That storm surge will only be magnified by the full moon this weekend to make it a "dangerous period," Uccellini said.

Last year's Hurricane Irene was a minimal hurricane that caused widespread damage as it moved north along the coast after making landfall in North Carolina. With catastrophic inland flooding in New Jersey, Massachusetts and Vermont, federal officials say Irene caused $15.8 billion in damage.

Sandy is "looking like a very serious storm that could be historic," said Jeff Masters, meteorology director of the forecasting service Weather Underground. "Mother Nature is not saying, 'Trick or treat.' It's just going to give tricks."

Via: Yahoo News

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New $100 bills stolen en route to Fed facility

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Unknown thieves stole a "large amount" of newly-designed $100 bills bound for a Federal Reserve facility in New Jersey on Thursday, the FBI said.

Frank Burton, Jr., spokesman for the FBI's Philadelphia division, said the theft occurred at some point between when the shipment of bills landed at the Philadelphia airport on a commercial flight from Dallas at 10:20 Thursday morning, and when the shipment reached its New Jersey destination around 2:00 p.m., when the courier service transporting the bills reported some missing.

Via:CNN Money

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Report: NY, NJ, CA Worst Business Tax Climates

CNSNews.com) -- Wyoming, South Dakota, and Nevada, in that order, have the "business-friendliest" tax climates, according the Tax Foundation in its report, the 2013 State Business Tax Climate Index, which was released today.

Those three states held the same top three  “business-friendliest” rankings as last year, according to the Tax Foundation.

The 2013 State Business Tax Climate Index measures the components of an individual state's tax system, such as the corporate tax index, individual tax index, Sales Tax Rank, unemployment insurance tax rank, and property tax rank.

Six states are tied for first in the individual tax index rank. However, three states –Wyoming, South Dakota, and Nevada – ranked first, second, and third respectively in the “overall” business tax climate index category. The top ten rankings in that “overall” category are as follows:

1. Wyoming
2. South Dakota
3. Nevada
4. Alaska
5. Florida
6. Washington
7. New Hampshire
8. Montana
9. Texas
10. Utah

At the bottom of the list were New York (50th), New Jersey (49th), and California (48th).

Via: CNS News

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Disturbing Stories of the Day: Terrorists’ Easy Pass to NYC; Amtrak Employees Putting Passengers in Danger?

Could the keys to New York City fall into the hands of potential terrorists? That’s the question being asked after a New Jersey locksmith reportedly sold a fireman’s key ring to an undercover reporter from the New York Post. They keys supposedly can control elevators, knock out power to skyscrapers, open subway gates and even give access to One World Trade Center. The 69-year-old man, Daniel Ferraris, sold the keys for $150 dollars and claims he has more keys that he is trying to sell.

In another disconcerting story, Amtrak employees are failing drug tests at an alarming rate. An internal audit found drug and alcohol use among workers is 51 percent higher than the industry average. The majority of employees who tested positive had cocaine and marijuana in their systems. Mechanic and signal operators were the worst offenders. The rail company is promising to increase drug screening this year.

Via: Fox News Insider

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Nearly 40% Of Chicago Public School Teachers Send Their Kids To Private Schools

The Chicago teachers’ strike is an awkward dinner conversation between President Barack Obama and his former chief of staff Rahm Emanuel.   Many of the policy prescriptions in the new Chicago teachers’ contract designed to create more accountability are supported by the Obama administration.

As the Chicago teachers’ strike continues, we’ve learned that they make $71-76,000 a year and they turned down a 16% pay increase, which amounts to $11,360.  They work nine months out of the year, but say that this strike is benefits oriented.  However, given that ABC World News didn’t even air this story last Sunday and most of the media, with the exception of CBS, failing to mention the compensation statistics in their broadcast – suffice to say that the  media will probably ignore the fact that almost 40% of Chicago’s public school teachers send their kids to private schools.

I’m not against public education, but the fact that these teachers make enough to send their kids to private schools shows that Chicago’s public teachers are aware of the serial failure within the system.  Second, it shows that these teachers have zero confidence in their own respective school district.  Why are the teachers going on strike?  Aren’t the contentious measures they’re squabbling about aimed at enhancing accountability that will make their institutions of learning better for the students?  It appears this strike, like most union strikes, are defined by these three words: give. me. more.

However, given the state of public education and that of Chicago, it’s not alien for public school teachers to ship their kids to private institutions.  According to The Washington Times in September of 2004, they quoted the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, which found that:

 More than 1 in 5 public school teachers said their children attend private schools.

In Washington (28 percent), Baltimore (35 percent) and 16 other major cities, the figure is more than 1 in 4. In some cities, nearly half of the children of public school teachers have abandoned public schools.

In Philadelphia, 44 percent of the teachers put their children in private schools; in Cincinnati, 41 percent; Chicago, 39 percent; Rochester, N.Y., 38 percent. The same trends showed up in the San Francisco-Oakland area, where 34 percent of public school teachers chose private schools for their children; 33 percent in New York City and New Jersey suburbs; and 29 percent in Milwaukee and New Orleans.

Via: Hot Air

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States That Spent Most Per-Pupil Get Labor Dept. Grants; States That Spent Least Get None

(CNSNews.com) - The U.S. Labor Department announced last week that it will distribute $75.7 million in taxpayer-funded YouthBuild grants to provide instruction and occupational training for high school dropouts, ages 16 to 24.

With some 5,000 individuals expected to benefit, the grants average $15,140 for each “out of school” individual. Meanwhile, the nation's elementary-secondary public school systems spent an average $10,615 per pupil in fiscal year 2010, according to the latest figures from the U.S. Census Bureau.

According to a  June 2012 Census Bureau’s report, the District of Columbia spent the most on education in 2010 – $18,667 per student. The Labor Department just awarded a $1,099,932 YouthBuild grant to the city’s Sasha Bruce Youthwork Inc., which helps young people “transform their lives.”

New York spent the second highest amount on each pupil – $18,618. Six recipients in that state will receive a combined total of $5,209,046 from taxpayers through the YouthBuild grants.

New Jersey ranks third, spending $16,841 per pupil in fiscal year 2010. The Labor Department is awarding five grants to that state for a combined total of $4,323,900.

Census figures show that states spending the least per pupil were Utah ($6,064), Idaho ($7,106), Arizona ($7,848) and Oklahoma ($7,896). And none of those states received grant funding from the Labor Department.

Via: CNSNews

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Chris Christie disses Jerry Brown as 'an old retread'

ST. PETE BEACH, Fla. — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christieripped California Gov. Jerry Brown on Monday, saying that the state’s voters should have elected Meg Whitman but instead went with a “retread” who is failing to lead.

“California made the bad choice by going with an old retread," Christie told California’s delegation to theRepublican National Convention, a crowd that lapped up his message. “Let me tell you this – I cannot believe you people elected Jerry Brown over Meg Whitman. … Jerry Brown. Jerry Brown? I mean, he won the New Jersey presidential primary over Jimmy Carter when I was 14 years old.”

Christie said the 74-year-old, three-term governor told him that he’s not trying to raise taxes, that he is allowing voters to decide by putting a tax proposal on the ballot.

“Man, that's leadership, isn’t it?” Christie said.

PHOTOS: The protests of the GOP convention

A spokesman for Brown said Christie was trying to deflect attention from rising unemployment in New Jersey. “It’s no wonder Gov. Christie wants to distract from his massive failure with a windstorm of rhetoric,” said Gil Duran.

California hating is a popular pastime with Republicans these days, from presidential nominee Mitt Romney on down.Christie mentioned Brown in his State of the State address in January.

Christie, who will be the keynote speaker at the convention on Tuesday, held up his state as evidence for dispirited California Republicans that conservatives can win in a Democratic state.

“The message I want to deliver to California this morning is there is hope. There is hope,” Christie said, speaking in the lobby of the Tradewinds resort at a delegate breakfast that had to be moved indoors because of the weather caused byTropical Storm Isaac. “Don’t give up on the fact California can be governed. You’ve seen it governed before. You’ve seen it governed effectively. California once did have great governors like Gov. Pete Wilson. ” Wilson was in the audience.

Christie said Romney’s leadership skills are why he was the first governor to endorse Romney last year, and he slammed Obama as “nothing more than a Chicago ward politician.”

Whitman introduced Christie at the event, and both reminisced fondly about a 2010 campaign appearance in Los Angeles where he defended her from a heckler. After a protester accused Whitman of ducking questions and “looking like Arnold in a dress,” Christie stood up, moved between the two of them and shot back, “You want to yell? Yell at me."

“I was just thrilled to death to be defended by Chris Christie,” Whitman said on Monday.

Christie said he enjoyed the town hall.

“You’ve got two choices with a bully. You can either sidle up to him or punch him in the face first. We decided to punch first,” he said.

Via: LA Times

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Gov. Chris Christie: No Chance I’ll Tone It Down During Keynote Address

'It's A Great Opportunity For Me Personally, It's Great Opportunity For Our State'

ASBURY PARK, N.J. (CBSNewYork) –Governor Chris Christie is on his seventh draft of his keynote address for next week’s Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla.

“I’m not nervous, no. I’m excited. It’s a great opportunity for me personally, it’s a great opportunity for our state,” Christie said on Monday.

WCBS 880′s Peter Haskell reports

Christie told WCBS 880′s Peter Haskell that likely Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney reached out the day before he announced his running mate.

“I called him and he told me that he had decided to go in a different direction for vice president. [He] asked me if I’d be willing to do the keynote address. I told him that I would be,” Christie told Haskell.

Romney chose Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan as his running mate, but Christie said there are no hard feelings.

“I think it’s about the record we’ve established here and I think Gov. Romney is an admirer of that record and I think that’s why he asked me,” Christie told Haskell.

The famously brash governor said he has no plans to tone it down for the national audience.

“I don’t think they have any expectation nor have they requested that I have a personality-ectomy between now and next Tuesday,” Christie told Haskell. “They know what they’re buying,” Christie added.

The governor said he worked on his speech while he was on vacation last week.

The keynote speech is the highest-profile spot for someone not accepting the party’s presidential or vice presidential nomination. The slot has launched many political figures including President Barack Obama, who was the keynote speaker at the Democratic National Convention in 2004. Four years later, he won the White House.

The Republican National Convention will kick off from Tampa next Monday and wraps up Thursday, Aug. 30.

How do you think Gov. Christie will do at the Republican National Convention? Do you think he’s a rising national star in the party? Please share your thoughts below…

Via: CBS New York

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