WAPO: RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS COULD SUFFER ‘IN A BIG WAY’ THANKS TO SAME-SEX MARRIAGE RULING

The start of the erosion of religious liberty emanating from the Supreme Court’s decision that approved same-sex marriage throughout the nation is officially underway. The Washington Post observes that because “real money” is involved in legal marriage, the ruling could cause religious schools that ban homosexual relationships and cohabitation to suffer “in a big way” with the loss of tax-exempt status and accreditation.

“Marriage is a potent symbol, first and foremost, but it also means real money,” wrote Max Ehrenfreund at WaPo Friday. “Same-sex couples pay all kinds of unexpected costs if they can’t marry, and housing and benefits at religious institutions is another example.”

Similarly, in anticipation of the Court’s decision in Obergefell, Laurie Goodstein and Adam Liptak of the New York Times wrote Wednesday:

Conservative religious schools all over the country forbid same-sex relationships, from dating to couples’ living in married-student housing, and they fear they will soon be forced to make a wrenching choice. If the Supreme Court this month finds a constitutional right to same-sex marriage, the schools say they will have to abandon their policies that prohibit gay relationships or eventually risk losing their tax-exempt status.

According to the Times, the Internal Revenue Service may feel compelled to remove the tax-exempt status of religious schools if they continue to ban gay relationships and cohabitation “as a violation of a ‘fundamental national public policy’ under the reasoning of a 1983 Supreme Court decision that allowed the agency to revoke the tax-exempt status of schools that banned interracial relationships.”

Via: Breitbart

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The Media's Vile Attacks on Conservative Assimilationists by Michelle Malkin

I have had enough of smug liberal elites wrapped in their "Celebrate Diversity" banners tearing down minority conservatives.

Look in the mirror, media and academia bigots. Your own reflexive racism and divisive rhetoric are poisoning public discourse. There's nothing "progressive" about attacking the children and grandchildren of immigrants who proudly embrace an American identity.

We are not "self-hating." You just hate what we believe.

The most recent grenade tossed by the jack-booted Enforcers of Ethnic Authenticity came from The Washington Post this week. The Beltway fish-wrapper hyped a 2,100-word investigation of GOP Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal with a condescending quote from Professor G. Pearson Cross, who sneered: "There's not much Indian left in Bobby Jindal."

Has pallid Professor Cross invented an ambient diagnostic test to measure sufficiently acceptable levels of ethnicity?

The Post quoted a grand total of one disgruntled Democratic donor who railed against Jindal for "forgetting" his "heritage" and his "roots." But that was more than enough for the apartheid-lite adherents to heed the dog whistle immediately. The Post's splashy attack on Jindal's assimilationist ethic spawned a vile Twitter hashtag game: #BobbyJindalIsSoWhite.

Left-wing racists mocked his skin color, his kids and his decision to change his name from "Piyush" to "Bobby." A New York Times digital editor, Shreeya Sinha, gleefully linked to a BBC compilation of "The best of #BobbyJindalisSoWhite." NBC News gloated over tweets from liberal Indian-Americans who mocked the accomplished governor, Rhodes scholar and father of three as a "Jindian."

It's the same old, same old from radical academics and reporters who spurned assimilation as a common goal long ago. As I've long observed, the media-ivory tower complex's fidelity lies with bilingualism (a euphemism for native language maintenance over English-first instruction), ethnic militancy, extreme multiculturalism and a borderless continent.

If we conservatives "of color" refuse to promote the welfare state, unfettered abortion, affirmative action and massive immigration, we are guilty of "selling out."

Conversely, if I point out that my skin is far darker than that of the TV progressives of pallor who presume to know more than me about what it's like to experience prejudice, I'm accused of exploiting my ethnicity.

We're coconuts, bananas and Oreos (brown, yellow or black on the outside and "white" on the inside).

We're accused of "thinking" and "acting" white if we quote the Constitution, shoot, hunt, oppose high taxes, homeschool, take personal responsibility or demand that government leave us alone.

Via: TownHall

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Report: Wait lists for vets even longer today than last year

The number of veterans seeking health care but ending up on waiting lists of one month or more is 50 percent higher now than it was a year ago when a scandal over false records and long wait times wracked the Department of Veterans Affairs, The New York Times reported.

The VA also faces a budget shortfall of nearly $3 billion, the Times reported in a story posted online ahead of its Sunday editions. The agency is considering furloughs, hiring freezes and other significant moves to reduce the gap, the newspaper reported.

In the last year, the VA has increased capacity by more than 7 million patient visits per year, double what officials originally thought they needed to fix shortcomings, the Times reported. However, the newspaper added, department officials did not anticipate just how much physician workloads and demand from veterans would continue to soar. At some major veterans hospitals, demand was up by one-fifth, the paper reported.

Citing interviews with department officials and internal department budget documents it had obtained, the Times reported that doctors and nurses have handled 2.7 million more appointments than in any previous year, while authorizing 900,000 additional patients to see outside physicians.

The Times also reported intense internal debate at the VA over a proposal to address a shortage of funds for a new, more effective but more costly hepatitis C treatment by possibly rationing new treatments among veterans. Certain patients who have advanced terminal diseases or suffer from a "persistent vegetative state or advanced dementia" would be excluded under that plan, the paper reported.

Via: Fox News

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Student Loan Debt: To Forgive and Forget

You’d have to be made of stone not to feel for these students,” Education Secretary Arne Duncan said as he announced an Obama administration decision to forgive as many as 350,000 loans taken out by students of the now-defunct Corinthian Colleges. “Some of these schools have brought the ethics of payday lending into higher education.”

I do feel for any adults who took out loans to pay for college courses that they expected to help land them jobs — but didn’t. If the government forgives their debts, then they still never will get back their time or restore their hopes.

But also, I feel for taxpayers, for whom the Corinthian forgiveness tab could reach as high as $3.5 billion. David A. Bergeron of the Center for American Progress told the New York Times he expects the tab to be less than $1 billion, but I wonder whether it could grow, given the administration’s decision to expand the new debt forgiveness terms to debtors from other schools. Question: If Washington can forgive loans for bad schools, why leave out students who went to good schools?

Supporters note that the federal student loan program does turn a profit — enough to absorb the cost of forgiving Corinthian debt. Federal law affords students a shot at debt relief if their school shutters. Last week, the Obama administration expanded forgiveness eligibility to former Corinthian students who took certain programs from 2010 to 2014 and can show that their former schools defrauded them under state law. There is a fast track for those who attended a Heald College in California.

Via: American Spectator

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Media bias or media stupidity?

In recent years a lot of attention has been placed on media bias. Those on the right of the political spectrum are always pointing out the left wing bias of the mainstream media such as the New York Times, CNN and no one’s favourite, MSNBC.

Those on the left deny such bias because they are incapable of seeing it. To them, left wing views are not biased but merely the truth. Divergent views are wrong and those who accuse the media of a progressive bias are morons who simply do not understand what the truth is.

If last week is any indication, there is a more serious problem with the media than just the run-of-the-mill bias; it is the absolute stupidity of some of those who appear on major networks.

Diane Rehm

NPR’s Diane Rehm was interviewing Sen. Bernie Sanders who is seeking the Democrat nomination for president. Rehm didn’t ask but stated as a fact that Sanders, who is Jewish, is both a citizen of the United States and Israel.

Sanders responded he is not an Israeli citizen and has never lived in that country although he has visited there. According to Rehm, she has a “list” that clearly shows Sanders as well as other Jews are citizens of Israel.

The “list” Rehm spoke of was provided by an anti-Semitic group. It is nothing more than a Jew-hating conspiracy that every Jewish person is automatically a citizen of Israel and therefore should not hold elective office, especially the presidency, because they have divided loyalties.

Via: Canada Free Press

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IS CLIMATE CHANGE HYSTERIA THE NEW ‘POPULATION BOMB’?

A recent article in the New York Times revisits the generalized pandemonium in the 1970s over fears of a global population explosion, due in large part to Paul R. Ehrlich’s 1968 doomsday bestseller: The Population Bomb. The article inadvertently ties Ehrlich’s apocalyptic thesis—and the widespread willingness to believe it—to the current climate change hysteria that has swept a large part of the planet.

Ehrlich sold the world the idea that mankind stood on the brink of Armageddon because there was simply no way to feed the exponentially increasing world population. The opening line set the tone for the whole book: “The battle to feed all of humanity is over.”

Being a well-credentialed scientist—as a biologist lecturing at Stanford University—Ehrlich’s trumpet call of the end times struck many as the plausible theory of an “expert.”

In the book, Ehrlich laid out the devastating future of the planet. He predicted that hundreds of millions would starve to death in the 1970s (and that 65 million of them would be Americans), that already-overpopulated India was doomed, and that odds were fair that “England will not exist in the year 2000.”

Ehrlich concludes that “sometime in the next 15 years, the end will come,” meaning “an utter breakdown of the capacity of the planet to support humanity.”

It is fascinating to compare Ehrlich’s hyperbolic forecasts with those of the recent climate workshop sponsored by the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy of Science.

Via: Breitbart

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NYPD Commish: Hard to Hire Black Cops Because ‘So Many Have Spent Time in Jail’

According to New York City Police Commissioner Bill Bratton, the reason black males are underrepresented by the city’s police force is because so many would-be recruits have served jail time.

In an interview with The Guardian, Bratton addressed the gap by saying: “We have a significant population gap among African American males because so many of them have spent time in jail and, as such, we can’t hire them.”

Indeed, data updated by the New York Times earlier this year shows that the New York Police Department is 21 percentage points more white than its residents. Only 16% of the NYPD is black, while the city’s population is 23% black, suggesting a slight racial gap in the force. That being said, the NYPD is actually quite diverse compared to many other police departments, partially due to court-ordered mandates.

More from the Guardian write-up:

A complicating factor is what Bratton calls the “unfortunate consequences” of an explosion in “stop, question and frisk” stops in the last decade that caught many young men of color in a summons net.

Those summonses are not automatic disqualifications. However, after passing the exam, a candidate moves to the more subjective background investigation, which includes criminal records. A pot arrest without indications of gang activity might not disqualify a candidate, but a series of summonses could. As a result, Bratton is concerned that the “population pool is much smaller than it might ordinarily have been”.

One of the most common arguments against the drug war — especially in urban areas — is that by disproportionately arresting and punishing young men (mosty black males) for nonviolent drug-related crimes, local governments create a cycle of poverty, sealing off potential opportunities. It appears as though Bratton acknowledges that some of those opportunities could be… joining law enforcement.

Via: Mediaite.com

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[FLASHBACK] Highlights From the New York Times’ 2008 Hillary Clinton Endorsement

AP

In June 2007, just as the Democratic presidential primary was heating up, Bill and Hillary Clinton wrote a $100,000 check to a New York Times charity group. In January 2008, the Times editorial board endorsed Hillary over her much trendier rival, Barack Obama. The endorsement makes for an intriguing read in retrospect. Here are some highlights:

Fawning praise

The Times editor clearly had a difficult time choosing between the “brilliant” Hillary Clinton and the “incandescent” Barack Obama. Ultimately, it seems, it was Hillary’s “abiding, powerful intellect” that won the day. “We are hugely impressed by the depth of her knowledge, by the force of her intellect and by the breadth of, yes, her experience,” the editors wrote.

‘Firstness’ fatigue

The Times was definitely excited to have a choice between two historic candidates, but was getting tired of hearing about it all the time:

By choosing Mrs. Clinton, we are not denying Mr. Obama’s appeal or his gifts. The idea of the first African-American nominee of a major party also is exhilarating, and so is the prospect of the first woman nominee. “Firstness” is not a reason to choose. The times that false choice has been raised, more often by Mrs. Clinton, have tarnished the campaign.

No doubt the Times will maintain its intellectual consistency on the issue of “firstness” throughout the 2016 campaign.

If you like your plan, you can keep it

On the issue of healthcare, the Times favored Hillary because “She understands that all Americans must be covered—but must be allowed to choose their coverage, including keeping their current plans.”

Oops.

Obama’s naivety re: Iraq

Despite Hillary Clinton’s more hawkish voting record, the Times argued she was better equipped to handle the situation in Iraq. Obama, the Times presciently observed, most likely had not thought through his plans for Iraq beyond “end the war,” which could lead to disastrous consequences:

Mrs. Clinton seems not only more aware than Mr. Obama of the consequences of withdrawal, but is already thinking through the diplomatic and military steps that will be required to contain Iraq’s chaos after American troops leave.

Via: WFB

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Obama’s Slap in Britain’s Face

London — Two weeks ago, we went to Washington to argue for the immediate release of Shaker Aamer, a detainee at Guantánamo Bay. Mr. Aamer’s wife and four children live in London but he has yet to meet his youngest child, Faris, who is now 13.

We are unlikely political bedfellows from the left and right of British politics. The four of us agree on almost nothing, with this exception: Mr. Aamer, a British permanent resident, must be freed and transferred to British soil immediately.

Mr. Aamer was picked up by the Northern Alliance in November 2001 in Afghanistan, where he was doing charity work, and sold for a bounty. He was taken to the notorious Bagram Prison, where he was brutally tortured, before being sent to Guantánamo in February 2002. In 2007, under President George W. Bush’s administration, he was cleared for release. In 2010, under President Obama, he was cleared for release again — after an arduous process requiring unanimous agreement by six agencies, including the Central Intelligence Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Departments of State and Defense.

We should never have had to make the trip to Washington. Earlier this year, during his visit to the United States, Prime Minister David Cameronasked Mr. Obama to release Mr. Aamer. The president promised to pursue the matter. On March 17, the House of Commons passed an unusual unanimous motion calling for Mr. Aamer’s immediate release and transfer to Britain. Since that time little, if anything, has been done by the United States.

We heard during our visit that “Congress has prevented transfers”; yet, under current legislation, Mr. Obama could give notice to Congress and then transfer Mr. Aamer 30 days later, as the British government has requested. We heard that there may be “security considerations.” Any suggestion that Britain does not have the legal structures, the security and intelligence skills, or the care capacity to address any issues with Mr. Aamer is deeply insulting.

Via: New York Times

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NYT: Hillary The Tormentor

AP

By Frank Bruni, NY Times

LATELY I’ve been running into people even more put off by the Clintons than the nefarious operatives in the “vast right wing conspiracy” ever were.

Read the full story here

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Fred Barnes: Democrats Panicked That Clinton Campaign Could Collapse 

By Todd Beamon, Newsmax

Democrats are panicking because Hillary Clinton's candidacy for the White House in 2016 "is in trouble" — and the "troubles tend to be self-inflicted," says Fred Barnes, executive editor of The Weekly Standard.

Read the full story here

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The Coming Democratic Panic

Watch what happens if Hillary Clinton falls behind in the polls.

By Fred Barnes, Weekly Standard

There’s one more problem of Clinton’s doing: her mad dash to embrace the left wing of the Democratic party. After being paid hundreds of millions for speeches to Wall Street firms, she now says the very wealthy in America must be “toppled.”

Read the full story here

Via: Fox News

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Fox’s Greta Slams NY Times for Article on Rubio’s Traffic Citations

Fox New’s Greta Van Susteren has taken issue with a Friday article from the New York Times, describing the piece as “snarky” and a bit of “bad journalism.”

The Times piece, titled “Marco Rubio and his Wife Cited 17 times for Traffic Infractions,” describes Rubio’s history of citations for “speeding, driving through red lights and careless driving.” The article also describes multiple instances where the Rubios sought a lawyer’s help in order to challenge citations and avoid having their licenses suspended.

Van Susteren conceded that it was fair to examine a presidential candidate’s driving record, but took issue with the article’s presentation. She noted that the article, written by three people, was covered in a way that “jacked [its] number up” order to increase it’s own newsworthiness. She pointed to the headline, saying that it pinned all 17 citations on Mr. Rubio, when he only had 4 to his wife’s 13.

“Why are Mrs. Rubio’s driving infractions pinned on him? He wasn’t driving those 13 times, she was! The headline is written to pin her driving record on him. Headlines matter — that is what most people read and then stop. Collapsing the two driving records in that one headline smears the candidate. She is the one with the driving problem”

In one paragraph, the article described a 1997 citation Rubio received for careless driving, which was followed 12 years later by a ticket for speeding. Van Susteren questioned the use of Times resources here, saying that there was a difference between 12 years and 12 weeks, as well as how these infractions were far less serious than charges like drunk driving.

“Is the NYT going to scramble to every DMV and get stories on all the candidates’ stale driving records and the driving records of their spouses,” asked Van Susteren.

Van Susteren concluded her piece by saying that it was written neither for nor against the senator’s campaign. She also admitted to regrets in her own career in reporting, but urged the media to take use good judgment. “The media has limited resources (every news organization has cut back) and we should attempt to use them wisely – and fairly.

Via: Mediaite

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Gawker’s Editorial Staff Votes Overwhelmingly to Unionize

The hard-snarking editors at Gawker Media voted 80-27 to unionize yesterday. With the vote, the editorial staff of Gawker, Deadspin, Jezebel and several other sites join the Writers Guild of America, making them the first major online journalism venture to vote themselves the ability to collectively bargain.

“The next steps: determining what we want to bargain for; forming a bargaining committee; and negotiating a contract,” the staff wrote in a post announcing the tally Thursday morning.

Depending on your POV, this is a major territorial advance for the waning American union, which represents a decreasing slice of the American workforce in increasingly outsourced industries. Former New York Times labor reporter Steven Greenhouse had a great rundown of the frontier yesterday:

The Gawker effort is unusual in numerous ways, starting with the fact that its supporters say Gawker is currently a good place to work. Many say they want a union as a sort of insurance policy in case the next generation of managers is not so nice. “We’re in a very good place right now,” wrote Anne Merlan, a Jezebel writer, in an online debate about unionizing. “But we also exist in a bubble. When it bursts, I’d like us to have fair labor practices in place to protect everyone and provide for them in the event of ‘downsizing.'”

In another twist, the company has not opposed the unionization drive; indeed, Gawker’s founder, Nick Denton, said he was “intensely relaxed” about it. The company and the Writers Guild East even issued a joint statement: “We believe the cumbersome and often fractious process of unionization is premised on an assumption of complete antagonism between management and labor. Nothing of the kind exists at Gawker Media.”

Whether that’s a fluke or a harbinger of a new style of worker organizing remains to be seen. Gawker has been merciless in exposing the labor practices of rival publications such as Vice and Huffington Post, while the online writing industry in general remains mired in unpaid internships, low salaries, and borderline non-existent grievance processes for employees.

“Every workplace could use a union,” longtime Gawkerist Hamilton Nolan wrote in April. “A union is the only real mechanism that exists to represent the interests of employees in a company. A union is also the only real mechanism that enables employees to join together to bargain collectively, rather than as a bunch of separate, powerless entities. This is useful in good times (which our company enjoys now), and even more in bad times (which will inevitably come).”

UPDATE 9:27 a.m.: Writer’s Guild of America East responds:

“As Gawker’s writers have demonstrated, organizing in digital media is a real option, not an abstraction. People who do this work really can come together for their own common good,” said Lowell Peterson, Executive Director of the Writers Guild of America, East. “The WGAE, Gawker’s writers, and the company’s management share a commitment to journalistic integrity and creative freedom. We are eager for Gawker’s editorial staff to join our creative community, and we are eager to negotiate a fair contract.”

Via: Mediaite.com

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Just when you thought Family Clinton, consisting of ex president Bill Clinton, first woman president wannabe Hillary Rodham Clinton and maybe future president wannabe Chelsea Clinton, couldn't sink any lower, lie any more, be more morally deviant along comes a blockbuster report in the New York Times proving the Clintons will do anything, and we mean anything, for money including ripping off children's education.  And more. 

The NYTimes' report is long, detailed and well worthwhile reading in its entirety but in essence Clinton took his large standard speaking fee from a charity dedicated to building schools in tsunami ripped Thailand and earthquake wracked Haiti to prevent them from never being "dead broke" again.  And more. 

A high fashion model who was vacationing in Thailand when the tsunami struck and survived after a harrowing ordeal  started the Happy Hearts Fund to build schools in the country.  Every year she organizes a fancy gala to raise money for her Fund.  To commemorate the 10th anniversary of the disaster she wanted an extra fancy affair reasoning she could to pull in even more money from her wealthy donors by bringing in the biggest attraction as a speaker.  

And so she did what many charities do soliciting sports figures, entertainers, politicians and other Big Names as headliners for publicity for the charity and the event.  The Big Names who accept usually agree to a modest honorarium if they are appearing for a charity. 

Via: American Thinker

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EXCLUSIVE — TED CRUZ: NYT ‘HIT PIECES’ AGAINST ME SUGGEST THEY’RE ‘DISMAYED’ I’M GAINING TRACTION

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), a 2016 GOP presidential candidate, tells Breitbart News exclusively why he thinks the New York Times is coming after him.

“The New York Times has done a series of three hit pieces in a little over a week, all directed at me, which may suggest that the Times is dismayed to see a strong conservative such as me getting real momentum with grassroots across the country,” Cruz said.

The first thing the Times attacked him with was an editorial from editorial page editor Andrew Rosenthal, in which he called Cruz’s support for the Second Amendment “strange” in a headline. Cruz fired back in an op-ed for National Review, laying out how the liberals at the newspaper don’t “get” the Second Amendment.

From there, the Times unleashed Jason Horowitz—a reporter who wrote a series of pieces digging into Cruz’s college days and questioning whether he is in fact a great debater. The pieces quoted people who didn’t like Cruz in college.

And the most recent hit piece was about Cruz attending a dinner with openly gay people who support Cruz’s positions on the economy and foreign policy. The piece, as Breitbart News already detailed, found it odd that Cruz would unconditionally love his daughters. It also argues that the conservative firebrand was ambivalent about his opposition to gay marriage. Cruz told Breitbart News that the Times is just flat wrong.

“The latest hit piece they wrote focused on a pro-Israel fundraiser we had in New York—that some of the attendees were gay,” Cruz explained when asked about it by Breitbart News.

Via: Breitbart

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ObamaCare Devastating Local Govt. And Public School Workers

Posted February 21, 2014

State And Local Officials Have Conceded That ObamaCare Has Forced Municipal Governments And Public Schools To Cut Hours Of Part-Time Employees. “Cities, counties, public schools and community colleges around the country have limited or reduced the work hours of part-time employees to avoid having to provide them with health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, state and local officials say.” (Robert Pear, “Public Sector Cuts Part-Time Shifts To Bypass Insurance Law,” The New York Times, 2/20/14)

Despite The Obama Administration’s Second Delay Of The ObamaCare Employer Mandate, The Hours Of Teachers, Prison Guards, And 911 Dispatchers Have Been Cut. “Even after the administration said this month that it would ease coverage requirements for larger employers, public employers generally said they were keeping the restrictions on work hours because their obligation to provide health insurance, starting in 2015, would be based on hours worked by employees this year. Among those whose hours have been restricted in recent months are police dispatchers, prison guards, substitute teachers, bus drivers, athletic coaches, school custodians, cafeteria workers and part-time professors.” (Robert Pear, “Public Sector Cuts Part-Time Shifts To Bypass Insurance Law,” The New York Times, 2/20/14)

• The City Of Medina, Ohio, Reduced The Hours Of Part-Time Employees From 35 Hours A Week To 29. “In Medina, Ohio, about 30 miles south of Cleveland, Mayor Dennis Hanwell said the city had lowered the limit for part-time employees to 29 hours a week, from 35. Workers’ wages were reduced accordingly, he said. ‘Our choice was to cut the hours or give them health care, and we could not afford the latter,’ Mr. Hanwell, a Republican, said. The city’s 120 part-time employees include office clerks, sanitation workers, park inspectors and police dispatchers.” (Robert Pear, “Public Sector Cuts Part-Time Shifts To Bypass Insurance Law,” The New York Times, 2/20/14)
   
• In Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, Hours Were Reduced For Part-Time Employees Such As 911 Dispatchers, Prison Guards, And Emergency Responders. “Lawrence County, in western Pennsylvania, reduced the limit for part-time employees to 28 hours a week, from 32. Dan Vogler, the Republican chairman of the county Board of Commissioners, said the cuts affected prison guards and emergency service personnel at the county’s 911 call center.” (Robert Pear, “Public Sector Cuts Part-Time Shifts To Bypass Insurance Law,” The New York Times, 2/20/14)

School Districts Across The Country Are Reducing Hours Of Part-Time Employees Because Of ObamaCare

ObamaCare Is Having “Unintended Consequences For School Systems Across The Nation,” According To A Connecticut Schools Superintendent.  “Mark D. Benigni, the superintendent of schools in Meriden, Conn., and a board member of the American Association of School Administrators, said in an interview that the new health care law was having ‘unintended consequences for school systems across the nation.’” (Robert Pear, “Public Sector Cuts Part-Time Shifts To Bypass Insurance Law,” The New York Times, 2/20/14)

Via: GOP.com

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ONE-PARTY RULE LEADS TO CORRUPTION IN CALIFORNIA

Paul Krugman, the liberal Nobel Prize-winning columnist for the New York Times, thinks California is making an economic comeback. 

He attributes this mostly to the Republican party’s steady decline in the state, which left Governor Jerry Brown “free to push an agenda of tax hikes and infrastructure spending that sounds remarkably like the kind of thing California used to do before the rise of the radical right.”  

But the results of Brown’s most recent tax increases are hardly relieving economic pressures on the nearly two million Californians that remain unemployed in the Democrat-dominated state, whose numbers are growing, not declining.

The truth is that the Democrats, who totally control policies in the state by virtue of "supermajorities" in both houses of the State Legislature, are making California increasingly poorer; the Census Bureau announced last week that California has the highest poverty rate in the nation for the second year in a row. Yet despite California's dreary economic conditions, some of California's Democratic lawmakers are making themselves or their campaign committees richer in a personal sort of "economic comeback," and, in some cases, they are doing so by breaking the law.

One recent investigation into payoffs in the State Capitol has been breathtaking. Powerful liberal Democratic State Senator Ron Calderon recently had his office in the state capitol building raided by the FBI’s Public Corruption Squad. According to the FBI’s search warrant, which was obtained and released by the Al Jazeera American Network, probable cause for the raid included allegations that the Senator had received hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in exchange for legislative favors, including: $60,000 in bribes from an undercover FBI agent; another $28,000 in bribes from a hospital executive; and tens of thousands of dollars more in bribes paid to the State Senator’s brother through a nonprofit organization.   

Via: Breitbart

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