Conservative Happenings

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Kenya to try teaching Obama lessons in Anatomy

Hello, Kenya! The five thousand naked men and women, waiting to greet President Barack Obama when he visits his alleged “home” country, won’t change his “open and aggressive support for homosexuality” an iota.

With the nude welcoming committee, Kenya’s Republican Liberty Party seeks to show Obama the difference between men and women—in their birthday suits.

The party said it has already notified the authorities of the protest scheduled to hold on July 22 and 23, coinciding with the U.S. president’s visit to Kenya. (Premium Times, July 14, 2015)

“Vincent Kidala, the party’s leader, wrote to the Police on Monday to notify the authorities of the planned protest march from Nairobi’s Freedom Corner to the streets of the capital.

“He said the protest would involve “totally naked men and women” to “demonstrate the difference between men and women.” 

Dude: If Obama didn’t learn that simple fact of life in more than 20 years at Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, he’s not likely to learn anything from the 5,000 planning to disrobe for his arrival in Kenya.

As far as Obama is concerned, homosexuals, still celebrating the legalizing of same sex marriage in all 50 U.S. states, are in, and anyone who would dare to object an out-and-out “homophobe”, dressed or undressed.

To Obama, who is tepid on most things Christian, Adam and Eve could have been transgendered at any time, including now. It’s as simple as sex change operations for 15-year-old teens in Oregon. Calling him “courageous” Obama’s all but laid a laurel wreath on the head of Bruce Jenner, America’s most famous transgender, who after 65 years of life on earth as a dude, the media world now calls “Caitlyn”.

Irony can be found in the fact that as many as 5,000 Kenyans are willing to protest naked when Caitlyn’s only dressing in the part of the transgendered as Jenner continues to appear in a parade of fashion togs, and never in the nude.

Be aware, Mr. Kidala, that Obama is walking proof of the age old proverb. “There are none so blind as those who will not see”.

According to the ‘Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings’ this proverb has been traced back to 1546 (John Heywood), and resembles the Biblical verse Jeremiah 5:21 (‘Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not’). In 1738 it was used by Jonathan Swift in his ‘Polite Conversation’ and is first attested in the United States in the 1713 ‘Works of Thomas Chalkley’. The full saying is: ‘There are none so blind as those who will not see. The most deluded people are those who choose to ignore what they already know’. (Actual Freedom)

Meanwhile Obama’s “open and aggressive support for homosexuality” is one of the few open things about him.

Wishing Kenya clement weather on July 22 and 23.

Via: Canada Free Press

The Big Gay Lie

While gays are our siblings in Christ, the gay lifestyle is nothing like the straight lifestyle. That’s why we have to condemn the gay lifestyle because we love gays as people, just as we condemn smoking out of love for smokers.

One of the key reasons that gay “marriage” has won as much public support as it has is that few people understand how harmful the massively promiscuous gay lifestyle is.

The Big Gay Lie (BGL) is that the gay lifestyle is the same as the straight lifestyle. The BGL has a number of facets including:

Lots of people are gay
Gay relationships are just like straight ones; they want long-term commitment
Being gay isn’t bad for your health
Gays are born that way

The BGL has made the debate over gay marriage like a debate about smoking where no one realizes that smoking causes lung cancer.

Before looking at what scientific studies tell us here’s some anecdotal evidence that people may already be familiar with:

When AIDS first struck gays fought tooth and nail to keep the bathhouses -- where gays go for anonymous sex with strangers -- open. Gays are so addicted to sex that even in the face of a fatal disease they didn’t want to curb their promiscuous lifestyle.
AIDS. While we’re constantly told that it’s not a gay disease the reality is that in the U.S. almost no one but gays get AIDS from sex. Yet even though condoms don’t stop the spread of AIDS gays continue to risk their lives to have sex with strangers
While everyone condemns crimes by priests and ministers against children, the fact is that 81% of the victims of priests have been young boys; the problem is a gay one.
NAMBLA -- which advocates sex with 3 year olds -- is an accepted part of the gay community. The organization marched in the SF Gay Pride parade for years before pressure from straights got the organization booted out due to bad optics.

Very few people are gay:

The debate about gay marriage has been skewed by a gross misrepresentation of the number of gays in America. While the average American thought 23% of Americans were gay the real number is 1.6% with only 3.8% of the population being LGBT.

Via: American Thinker

The Insiders: The Democrats’ doctrine of ‘government is the solution’ is in tatters

The Obama administration is a case study in mismanagement. Republican presidential candidates should remind voters that management matters. And it isn’t just about government process. People have lost faith in our politics and government. The next president needs to work tirelessly to restore voters’ faith in our government’s ability to function. What part of the federal government is working better than it did six years ago? The Democratic Party’s fundamental doctrine that “government is the solution” is in tatters.

The failure to produce “shovel-ready” projects, the IRS targeting malfeasance, the calamity of the Obamacare roll-out, the bungling of the Fast and Furious operation, the mass confusion surrounding the enforcement of America’s southern border, the Veterans Affairs neglect, the lack of transparency in the White House, the bewildering events surrounding the Secret Service, the oblivious Office of Personnel Management, the tolerance of “sanctuary cities” that may have directly led to the death of an innocent American citizen and, now, a revelation that accused Charleston, S.C., shooter Dylann Roof was able to purchase a gun that he otherwise should not have been able to buy because there was a “lapse” in the FBI background check system. All of these are examples that reflect a flat-out case of gross mismanagement of government under President Obama.

I think Obama believes that governance is about theatrics, symbolism and gestures — not about executive management. Every administration and the government as a whole eventually reflects many of the characteristics of the incumbent president. People take their lead from the person at the top and a work culture emerges. Suffice it to say, I don’t think there will be any business schools named for Obama.

Anyway, as I’ve said before, in this administration, too many people who work for Obama are all about having their position, not doing the work required of that position. They relish holding their office without assuming the responsibility of management. Or they don’t really understand what management means. But why would they? The president himself never managed anything and so there’s no particular reason he should have a good eye for or any relevant experience in picking or guiding effective managers.

What does the management failure of the Obama presidency say about what we should look for in our next president? Well, a proven manager would be an excellent place to start. In 2008 and again in 2012, voters took a chance with Barack Obama, and we ended up with wall-to-wall incompetence.

Via: Washington Post

Wal-Mart sued for denying health insurance to gay worker's wife

A Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N) employee sued the retailer on Tuesday, saying its prior policy of denying health insurance to the spouses of gay employees violated gender discrimination laws.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Boston, seeks nationwide class-action status.

Wal-Mart, the largest private U.S. employer, began offering health insurance benefits to same-sex spouses last year, after the U.S. Supreme Court in 2013 struck down part of the Defense of Marriage Act that denied federal benefits to married gay couples. Even after that change, the lawsuit says, Wal-Mart workers still live with the uncertainty of losing spousal coverage.

"Benefits provided by Wal-Mart as a matter of grace ... are not secure and could potentially be withdrawn just when large health care costs are incurred," the lawsuit says.

Jackie Cote, who has worked at Walmart stores in Maine and Massachusetts since 1999, said in the lawsuit that her wife, Diana Smithson, developed cancer in 2012 and the denial of insurance led to more than $150,000 in medical debt.

Cote and Smithson were married in Massachusetts in 2004, days after a court ruling made the state the first to allow gay nuptials.

Smithson worked for Wal-Mart until 2008, when she left to care for Cote's elderly mother, according to the lawsuit. The company then repeatedly denied requests by Cote to add her wife to her insurance policy. Smithson is now in hospice care, Cote said.

Last year, Cote filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, a prerequisite to filing an employment discrimination lawsuit. The commission said in January that Wal-Mart violated gender discrimination laws by denying benefits to Smithson.

The commission in recent years has pioneered the argument that employment discrimination against gay people is a form of gender discrimination, since it would not happen if an employee were of the opposite sex, but it has not been vetted by courts.

Via: Reuters

Last trace of Boston snow pile finally melts away

These photos, taken Feb. 18, left, and July 13, show the melting of a pile of snow in Boston. Mayor Martin Walsh announced Tuesday that the pile has officially dwindled to nothing. (Jim Walker/Conventures, Inc. via AP)

A filthy pile of snow in Boston's Seaport District, a lingering reminder of the city's record-breaking winter, is no more.

Mayor Martin Walsh said Tuesday that the tower of the white stuff had finally melted to nothing from an initial height of 75 feet.

Boston set a new snowfall record this past winter, with 60.8 inches recorded over a 30-day stretch. That narrowly bested the notorious winter of 1978, which saw 58.8 inches of snow fall over a similar time period. In total, the city received more than 110 inches of snow.

The pile was constructed by workers who removed the snow from Boston's streets and brought to so-called "snow farms", where it was stacked up and left to melt. But in this case, there was so much snow to melt that it took longer than anyone had anticipated.

Winter passed into an unseasonably warm spring, with some days reaching the high-80s, but the snow pile held on. Making matters worse, the pile was also laden with more than 80 tons of garbage, transforming it into a repulsive trash heap as the snow melted. Officials say two snowstorms struck after residents put their trash out, and it got swept up by plows.

In a sign of the times, Mayor Walsh turned the agonizing wait for the final melt into a social media contest, inviting users to guess the exact date that the snow would be gone for good. The mayor is scheduled to congratulate the challenge winners Wednesday morning at Boston's City Hall.

With summer in full swing and temperatures flirting with the 90s, the epic winter has seemed like a distant bad dream to many Bostonians. Others had speculated — and not happily — that the messy mound might last until Labor Day.

Via: Fox News

10th Circuit to Little Sisters of the Poor: Comply with contraception mandate

Guess which ObamaCare case will be headed to the Supreme Court next? At least, that’s the option open for the Little Sisters of the Poor and their defense team at The Becket Fund for the restoration of a temporary injunction against compliance with the HHS mandate. The 10th Circuit handed the nuns a defeat this morning, vacating the earlier temporary injunction ordered by a lower court:

Moments ago, in a departure from the U.S. Supreme Court’s protection of the Little Sisters of the Poorlast year, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit ruled that the Little Sisters must comply with the government’s HHS mandate. This mandate forces religious ministries to violate their faith or pay massive IRS penalties …

The Tenth Circuit heard oral argument in this case December of last year, when for the first time since the case began, Sr. Loraine Marie Maguire, Mother Provincial of the Little Sisters of the Poor, delivered a public statement on the case (see statement here).

Today the Tenth Circuit ruled that government can force the Little Sisters to either violate their faith or pay massive IRS penalties. The court held that participating in the government’s contraception delivery scheme is “as easy as obtaining a parade permit, filing a simple tax for, or registering to vote” and that although the Sisters sincerely believe that participating in the scheme “make[s] them complicit in the overall delivery scheme,” the court “ultimately rejects the merits of this claim,” because the court believes the scheme relieves [the Little Sisters] from complicity.”

The Little Sisters and their attorneys are closely reviewing the court’s decision and will decide soon whether they must seek relief from the Supreme Court.

“We will keep on fighting for the Little Sisters, even if that means having to go all the way to the Supreme Court,” said Daniel Blomberg, Counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.

The Court’s order similarly harms Christian Brothers Services and Christian Brothers Employee Benefit Trust, the Catholic ministries through which the Little Sisters obtain their health coverage.

This means that the Little Sisters of the Poor will be forced to comply with the mandate or face ruinous penalties, even while appealing their denial of religious exemption by HHS. The idea that Catholic nuns are somehow required to provide contraception through their insurer to their employees — who had to know that Catholic nuns would be the last group one would ask for contraception — demonstrates just how ridiculous this mandate is.

The decision, which is very lengthy, was unanimous on the issues for the LSP nuns. The sole dissent in part addresses the way this decision broadly addresses the impact on self-insuring non-profits:

Today the Court holds, among other things, that the ACA contraceptive Mandate’s accommodation scheme does not substantially burden religious non-profits that object to facilitating contraceptive or abortifacient coverage because opting out does not cause, authorize, or otherwise facilitate such coverage.1 The Court’s opinion provides perhaps the most thorough explanation of the accommodation scheme’s nuanced mechanics that I have yet read. And for argument’s sake, I follow its holding as to the insured plaintiffs’ and Little Sisters plaintiffs’ RFRA claims.2 But I cannot join the Court’s holding as to the other self-insured plaintiffs’ RFRA claims, as that holding contradicts the Court’s own reasoning and thorough explanation of the accommodation scheme.

In reality, the accommodation scheme forces the self-insured plaintiffs to perform an act that causes their beneficiaries to receive religiously objected-to coverage. The fines the government uses to compel this act thus impose a substantial burden on the selfinsured plaintiffs’ religious exercise. Moreover, less restrictive means exist to achieve the government’s contraceptive coverage goals here. I must therefore dissent in part.

The difference demonstrates a well-known weakness in the LSP case, which is how their insurance was structured. The LSP organization has less direct control over its insurance thanks to its use of a kind of co-op, and that was apparently enough for the 10th Circuit to rule that compliance with the HHS accommodation does not actually facilitate the use of contraceptives. Politically, this case is embarrassing for the Obama administration, but HHS has a somewhat stronger case here than with other religious organizations.

The Becket Fund had success in getting the Supreme Court to order a temporary injunction for LSP under the previous accommodation. It appears that they’ll have to try that path again to keep the nuns on the job providing hospice care as part of their exercise of religious liberty.

Via: Hot Air

Obamacare’s Enrollment Increase: Mainly Due to Medicaid Expansion

Abstract

Health insurance enrollment data show that the number of Americans with private health insurance coverage increased by a bit less than 2.5 million in the first half of 2014. While enrollment in individual market coverage grew by almost 6.3 million, 61 percent of that gain was offset by a reduction of nearly 3.8 million individuals with employer-sponsored coverage. During the same period, Medicaid enrollment increased by almost 6.1 million—principally as a result of Obamacare expanding eligibility to able-bodied, working-age adults. Consequently, 71 percent of the combined increase in health insurance coverage during the first half of 2014 was attributable to 25 states and the District of Columbia adopting the Obamacare Medicaid expansion.

W‌ith enrollment data now available for the second quarter ‌of 2014, it is possible to construct a complete picture of the changes in health insurance coverage that occurred during the initial implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), commonly known as Obamacare. The data show that in the first half of 2014, private health insurance enrollment increased by a net of 2,465,586 individuals. That net figure reflects the fact that 61 percent of the gain in individual coverage was offset by a drop in employer group coverage. During the same period, Medicaid enrollment grew by 6,072,651 individuals. Thus, while a total of 8.5 million individuals gained coverage, 71 percent of that net coverage gain was attributable to the Obamacare expansion of Medicaid to able-bodied, working-age adults.

Changes in Private Coverage Enrollment

Health insurers file quarterly reports with state regulators, and data from those reports for the second quarter of 2014 are now available.[1] The three relevant market subsets for this analysis are (1) the individual market, (2) the fully insured employer-group market, and the (3) self-insured employer-group market.[2] Table 1 shows the changes in private health insurance enrollment during the first and second quarters of 2014, along with the net changes for the combined six-month period.

Obamacare’s initial open enrollment period began on October 1, 2013, and officially ended on March 31, 2014—though in a number of states it was extended into April to give those who had experienced problems enrolling additional time to complete the process. Because enrollment was for the 2014 plan year, the coverage for those who enrolled during the fourth quarter of 2013 took effect in the new year; thus, those individuals are included in the data for the first quarter (Q1) of 2014. The data for Q2 2014 captures enrollments that occurred during the last two months of the open enrollment period, or which were otherwise delayed due to the numerous problems experienced by the exchanges, and so did not take effect until after the end of the first quarter.

The data show that enrollment in individual market coverage increased by over 2.7 million individuals in Q1 2014 and by a further 3.5 million individuals in Q2. Thus, for the first half of 2014, enrollment in individual market coverage grew by almost 6.3 million individuals.

The second-biggest coverage change that occurred during the first half of 2014 was the decline in the number of individuals with coverage through fully insured employer group plans. Enrollment in such plans dropped by 3.8 million individuals in Q1 2014, and by nearly a million more individuals in Q2 2014. Thus, for the first half of 2014, the number of individuals with coverage through a fully insured employer group plan decreased by nearly 4.8 million.

Enrollment in self-insured employer plans modestly increased in both quarters—by 347,000 in Q1 2014, and by about 652,000 in Q2—for a net enrollment gain of a little less than one million during the first half of 2014. Consequently, the combined enrollment changes in the two segments of the employer group market during the first half of 2014 produced a net decrease of almost 3.8 million in the number of Americans covered by employer-sponsored plans.

That net reduction in employer-sponsored group coverage is explained by employers discontinuing coverage for some or all of their workers or, in some cases, individuals losing access to such coverage due to employment changes. While it is not possible to determine from the data the subsequent coverage status of individuals who lost group coverage, there are only four possibilities: (1) some obtained replacement individual-market coverage (either on or off the exchanges); (2) some enrolled in Medicaid; (3) some enrolled in other coverage for which they are eligible (such as a plan offered by their new employer, a spouse’s plan, a parent’s policy, or Medicare); and (4) some became uninsured.

If individuals lost group coverage, but obtained new coverage under either another employer group plan or one in the individual market, they would then be counted in the enrollment figures for those submarkets. Similarly, if individuals transitioned to Medicaid, they would be counted in the Medicaid enrollment figures reported by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

Via: Heritage

Boy Scouts Executive Committee Changes Policy to Allow Gay Leaders

(CNSNews.com) – The Boy Scouts of America announced Monday that it is changing its “adult leadership standards policy” to no longer deny membership to homosexuals.

“As a result of the rapid changes in society and increasing legal challenges at the federal, state, and local levels, on Friday, July 10, the Boy Scouts of America Executive Committee adopted a resolution amending the adult leadership standards policy. The resolution was unanimously adopted by those present and voting,” BSA announced on its website.

“This resolution will allow chartered organizations to select adult leaders without regard to sexual orientation, continuing Scouting’s longstanding policy of chartered organizations selecting their leaders. The National Executive Board will meet to ratify this resolution on Monday, July 27,” it added.

The new policy will allow Scout members and parents “to select local units, chartered to organizations with similar beliefs, that best meet the needs of their families.”

“This change would also respect the right of religious chartered organizations to continue to choose adult leaders whose beliefs are consistent with their own. The 2013 youth membership policy will not be affected and remains unchanged,” BSA said.

BSA was challenged on its policy of banning gays from leadership 15 years ago, and the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in its favor at the time. However, BSA fears that if the policy were challenged again, the same court might not rule the same way, given its recent ruling on same-sex marriage, among other things.

In Boy Scouts of America v. Dale - which was decided on June 28, 2000 – James Dale, an assistant scout master in New Jersey, had his membership revoked when it was revealed that he was homosexual and a gay rights advocate. He sued in New Jersey Superior Court, alleging that he had been discriminated against on the basis of sexual orientation in places of public accommodation.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that “the Boy Scouts have a constitutional right to exclude gay members, because opposition to homosexuality is part of the organization’s ‘expressive message,’” the New York Times reported in an article on June 29, 2000.

Then Chief Justice William Rehnquist said at the time that the court did not intend to approve or disapprove of the group’s view on homosexuality, but “the First Amendment’s protection for freedom of association meant the state could not compel” BSA “‘to accept members where such acceptance would derogate from the organization’s expressive message,’” the Times reported.

If the case were litigated today, “it would almost certainly lose,” the Boy Scouts of America said on its website on Monday. “Dale was a narrow 5-4 decision that balanced the government’s interest in protecting against discrimination based on sexual orientation and the BSA’s right protected by the First Amendment to select its own leaders.”

Via: CNS News

Al Sharpton: ‘Money Is Not Justice’

Rev. Al Sharpton Tuesday said that the $5.9 million settlement to the family of Eric Garner is not justice.

“Money is not justice,” Sharpton said at a rally according to the local affiliate of CBS. “Money is a recognition of the loss of the family. But it does not deal with the criminal and other wrongs done to this family and other families.”

Sharpton has been a vocal proponent for paying reparations for past slavery in America. And he has been criticized more recently by Garner’s family for caring too much about money, with Garner’s eldest daughter Erica Snipes caught on camera saying, “He [Sharpton] is about this,” while making a hand motion to signal money.

The record-high settlement was charged against Daniel Pantaleo, the police officer who put Garner, a black man, in a chokehold in 2014 that resulted in his death. Garner was heard shouting that he couldn’t breathe as he was wrestled to the ground. The incident made national headlines and sparked a debate on police using excessive force and institutional racism. Clarifying his earlier comment, Sharpton noted that it is up to the family to decide whether the settlement is enough.

“Settlements are based on what the parties think the loss is,” Sharpton told The Daily Caller News Foundation. “They said they want a federal investigation.”

Sharpton has built a career on advocating for civil rights and racial injustice. But while being secretly filmed by Project Veritas, Garner’s daughter seemed to accuse Sharpton of exploiting her father’s death. When the video was released, however, she denied accusing Sharpton of greed, according to the New York Post.

“Al Sharpton paid for the funeral. She’s trying to make me feel like I owe them,” she had said on camera.

“No, I didn’t say that I think Al Sharpton is all about the money,” she backtracked to the Post.

According to Mediaite, Sharpton and his organizations have been accused of accepting a significant payment to look the other way in a racial discrimination case involving companies including Comcast and Time Warner Cable. Sharpton called the accusation “ludicrous” and untruthful.

Via: Daily Caller

[VIDEO] Sanctuary Cities Beyond Federal Control, Homeland Security Chief Jeh Johnson Says

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson admitted Tuesday that the administration goofed in releasing an illegal immigrant to sanctuary city San Francisco ahead of a shocking murder earlier this month, but said there’s little the government can do to pressure sanctuary communities to change their minds.

Facing lawmakers for the first time since the slaying of Kathryn Steinle, a 32-year-old killed while out walking with her father, Mr. Johnson said he’s made personal appeals to San Francisco to rethink its refusal to let police cooperate with federal immigration agents, and will try again in the wake of the killing.

But he declined to criticize sanctuary cities themselves, and told Congress not to try to pass laws forcing cooperation, saying it could conflict with the Constitution, and it won’t win over the hearts of reluctant communities.

SEE ALSO: Jeh Johnson: No contact with family of S.F. victim, not sure about Obama

“My hope is that jurisdictions like San Francisco — San Francisco County — will cooperate with our new program,” he told the House Judiciary Committee. “I’m making the rounds with a lot of jurisdictions. My deputy secretary and I and other leaders in DHS have been very, very active for the purpose of promoting public safety to get jurisdictions to cooperate with us on this.”

He said several dozen jurisdictions who had previously refused to cooperate have already signed up or signaled interest in working with the new Priority Enforcement Program.

Republicans doubted that asking nicely would work with the five cities and counties that have turned Mr. Johnson down already, and they wondered why he and President Obama didn’t want to get tougher on the recalcitrant ones.

“How in the hell can a city tell you ‘No’?” demanded Rep. Trey Gowdy, South Carolina Republican. “And when a young woman is shot walking with her father, with somebody with this resume, either you got to do something, we got to do something, or maybe we can do it together.”

Steinle’s death has refocused the immigration debate, which, for the last few years, had been won by immigrant rights advocates arguing for more lenient treatment for illegal immigrants, symbolized by the most sympathetic category of the Dreamers, young adult illegal immigrants brought to the U.S. as children.

Now, Steinle’s slaying — and the suspect, Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, deported five times before and out on the streets after San Francisco refused to hold him for pickup by immigration agents — has put attention on victims of illegal immigration.

Via: Washington Times

[VIDEO] Yellen urges Congress to be wary of Fed reforms

Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen urged lawmakers to tread lightly when it comes to overhauling the central bank, warning that proposed changes could undermine its ability to support the economy.

In prepared testimony, Yellen will tout the Fed’s own efforts to boost its transparency as a way to discourage lawmakers from pushing their own proposals to bring the Fed under stricter oversight.

“Efforts to further increase transparency, no matter how well intentioned, must avoid unintended consequences that could undermine the Federal Reserve's ability to make policy in the long-run best interest of American families and businesses,” she said.

Yellen’s testimony Wednesday before the House Financial Services Committee will come one day after that panel held a hearing in which Republicans blasted the Fed as being unaccountable.

While Yellen will argue in her testimony that Fed tweaks could subject the central bank to political pressure and make it less effective, GOP lawmakers have argued the Fed holds up its political independence as a way to avoid scrutiny.

“The Fed’s clamor for independence is its underpinning for circumventing any sort of congressional accountability,” said Rep. Sean Duffy (R-Wis.) on Tuesday.

The relationship between the Fed and Republicans has been touchy ever since the Fed embarked on an unprecedented run of monetary stimulus following the recession. But the dynamic took a turn for the worse recently, as the Fed has refused to comply with demands for documents lawmakers seek in conjunction with a probe into a 2012 leak of sensitive Fed information.

The Financial Services panel went so far as to issue subpoenas for some documents, at which point the Fed refused to provide them, citing an ongoing criminal probe into the matter by the Department of Justice.

Via: The Hill

[VIDEO] CRUZ: ‘THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY SUPPORTS ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION’

Texas Senator and Republican presidential candidate

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)

96%

argued “the Democratic Party supports illegal immigration” on Tuesday’s “On the Record” on the Fox News Channel.

Cruz said that sanctuary cities were a “persistent problem” where “you’ve got, often Democratic, mayors who are elected from the far left and who decline enforce the law. Now, it varies in terms of how brazen it is. It’s not always as brazen as San Francisco is, but it’s a problem when you have cities that are in the control of the Democrats and don’t want to follow the law.” And “they disagree with the law, and so they’re ignoring it.” Before touting legislation to cut off federal funding with sanctuary cities.

Cruz was then asked why the federal government has not passed legislation to force compliance with the law, he responded, “Well, it’s because the Democratic Party supports illegal immigration. … They don’t even call it illegal immigration. They’ve come up with this ‘undocumented’ term because they don’t acknowledge — I’m reminded of a famous exchange where Sonny Bono, years ago — remember the former congressman? Was asked, ‘What’s your view on illegal immigration?’ He said [paraphrasing] ‘Well, It’s illegal, isn’t it?’ In 2013, the Obama administration released 36,000 criminals, people with criminal convictions who were illegal aliens. They released them publicly, 116 of them were murderers, they had homicide convictions. Over 15,000 of the criminal aliens the Obama administration released had convictions for drunk driving. These are Democrats that are endangering the security of this country by refusing to follow our laws, and it’s wrong.”

He also commented on the Iran deal, stating, “It is catastrophic. If it goes through, it will result in funding terrorism. It will endanger the lives of Americans. It will endanger Israel.” And vowed to “repudiate it on day one” if elected president.

Via: Breitbart

Court upholds Massachusetts earned sick time law

A Massachusetts District Court judge has upheld the earned sick time law, which allows workers at all employers to earn up to 40 hours paid or unpaid sick time for every hour worked.

The law, passed by 60 percent of voters by ballot last fall and enacted by the state's attorney general, received pushback from two construction contractors and six construction employer associations.

Via: Boston Business Journal

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Changes in Private Coverage Enrollment

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