ACORN Resurrected: Obama Admin Gave $200K Housing Grant To Rebranded ACORN Affiliate Despite Federal Ban…

Judicial Watch: Feds give housing grant to ACORN affiliate despite federal ban

A spinoff of the scandal-ridden community organizer group ACORN received more than $200,000 in federal housing grants despite a ban on money going to ACORN affiliates, watchdog organization Judicial Watch announced Thursday.

ACORN, which officially folded in 2009 after a string of scandals, rebranded into more than 100 spinoff groups, including Affordable Housing Centers of America -- also now defunct -- and Mission of Peace, an affordable housing nonprofit.

In February, the Department of Housing and Urban Development transferred $201,222.07 from AHCOA to Mission of Peace "specifically to pay for the activities of former AHCOA affiliates," according to a memo obtained by Judicial Watch through a Freedom of Information Act request.

HUD approved the transfer despite a federal ban on tax dollars being used to fund any ACORN affiliate.

"None of the funds made available under this Act or any prior Act may be provided to the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, or allied organizations," according to the 2010 budget appropriations act.

HUD also made the grant despite a September 2012 report by the HUD Inspector General that concluded ACORN Housing, operating as Affordable Housing Centers of America, misspent funds from a $3,252,399 federal grant.

Because of the ban, the award to Mission of Peace appears to be a violation of federal law, according to Judicial Watch. MOP is one of numerous ACORN affiliates operating under new names, Judicial Watch spokeswoman Jill Farrell told the Washington Examiner.

"Barack Obama is truly the president from ACORN - as this illegal funding by his administration of these ACORN fronts shows," said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton in a statement.

"And at the same time we learn that the Obama administration is unleashing a vast new federal program to force 'low-income' housing into every single community in America, we find out that HUD is continuing illegally to fund ACORN spin-offs committed to carrying out Obama's dictums. This is not a coincidence."

More than 174 groups affiliated with ACORN were still active as of August 2012, and at least two besides Mission of Peace have received federal funds, according to a report by the Washington Free Beacon.

Via:Washington Examiner

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Barack Obama's lost youth

The president's approval rating is falling faster among young people than any other group. Will Republicans capitalize on it??

We all know Republicans have done well among seniors, whileDemocrats have done better with the young. Part of this is that the youth segment of the electorate is more diverse – although younger white people have also been more Democratic than their older counterparts. Given that people tend to hang on to the voting habits they start with, you can see how this might be a problem for Republicans in later elections.

Older folks are more likely to die sooner than younger people, of course. So, Republicans have to hope for one of two things to happen in order to stay competitive in elections.

The first possibility is that those currently younger than 18 will turn out to be more conservative than the 18- to 29-year-olds are now. I've made this point before, and there is some polling of high school students that suggests this may be true.

The second possibility is that younger voters will become more Republican over time. I've been somewhat skeptical of this view. Party affiliation tends to be relatively stable over the period of one's life.

Sean Trende has noted, however, that younger voters did become somewhat more Republican, compared to the electorate at large, from 2008 to 2012. Young white voters were 10pt less in favor of Obama per the exit polls, while young black voters were 4pt less in favor, compared to only a 2pt drop in Obama's vote percentage among all voters. Trende also pointed out strong evidence that 18- to 24-year-olds in 1972 have become exponentially more Republican over the past 40 years.

So, Trende may be on to something. As any polling aggregate illustrates, President Obama has seen his approval rating fall considerably over the past few months. The Real Clear Politics average, as of this writing, has it at 44%. Many of us have been trying to figure out why this approval has dropped. If we look at the racial breakdown, it's mainly among whites without a college degree and, to a lesser extent, minority groups.

Via: the guardian

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Edward Snowden Leaks Again—And It's a Bombshell

In 2008, the National Security Agency illicitly—if accidentally—intercepted a “large number” of phone calls from Washington, D.C. because an error confused Egypt’s country code—“20”—with, yes, “202.”

That fact, one of many startling ones from Barton Gellman’s new blockbusterWashington Post story based on documents given to him by Edward Snowden, is so catchy and memorable that I almost worry about it. That is, I worry people will just think of that and fail to grasp that this was actually one of the more anodyne NSA abuses revealed by these newly disclosed top-secret documents, including an internal audit. In fact, in the year preceding the May 2012 audit, there were 2,776 violations (another eye-grabber, suggestively alike the totemic 1,776).

I think more troubling is that the NSA deliberately fed international communications (which it is permitted to monitor in certain ways) through U.S. fiber-optic cables, commingling those kosher foreign emails with domestic ones—which the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (or FISC, and it is generally a rubber stamp) ruled unconstitutional.

I also think more troubling is that last year, the NSA retained more than 3,000 files of telephone call records in defiance of an FISC order (!). How many calls involving how many people were on each file is unknown, by the way.

I think it is pretty messed up that all of this information solely concerns violations that occurred at the NSA’s headquarters in Maryland. “Three government officials, speak­ing on the condition of anonymity to discuss classified matters, said the number [of violations] would be substantially higher if it included other NSA operating units and regional collection centers,” Gellman reports.

Via: New Republic

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‘IS EVERYBODY BLIND?’: CITY COUNCIL MEETING ERUPTS IN APPLAUSE AFTER RETIRED MARINE ISSUES DIRE WARNING ABOUT U.S. ‘BUILDING A DOMESTIC ARMY’ [UPDATED]

A former member of the United States Marine Corps on Monday night voiced his serious concerns about the U.S. “building a domestic Army” during a local city council meeting in Concord, N.H. In his impassioned testimony, the retired Marine said he believes that the recent push for local police forces to bulk up on military-grade equipment is disturbing and represents a very real threat to Americans.

His fears bring to mind something President Barack Obama actually suggested while running for president in July 2008:

“We cannot continue to rely only on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives we’ve set. We’ve got to have a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded.” 

That statement from then-Sen. Obama may have been on the mind of one participant at the recent Concord City Council meeting.

This past Monday night, Concord, N.H. held its monthly city council meeting. At the end of the fairly typical gathering, during the public session, citizens were allowed to give testimony (stand and speak to the council and the citizens gathered). One speaker’s comments have started to go viral on the web.

These comments reportedly came from a former colonel in the United States Marines Corps. The still unidentified former military man said he was concerned about the way America’s domestic police forces have started looking more and more like the U.S. military. His statements were in response to the local police chief’s request for the military grade vehicle – a Ballistic Engineered Armed Response Counter Attack Truck. These vehicles are also known as BearCats.

Via: The Blaze

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Hannity fires Cumulus

In the months-long public negotiations between Cumulus and conservative radio talkers Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, it was Hannity who finally signaled, “Take this job and shove it.”

On Friday, sources close to the No. 2 radio talk show and Fox News Channel host made it public that he would not renew his contract with Cumulus to have his show aired throughout the country on their 40 stations.

Hannity’s announcement beats Cumulus to the punch. Reports have surfaced in the last few days that Michael Savage would be taking the coveted 3 p.m. ET slot, which follows Rush Limbaugh’s top-rated radio program, on those Cumulus stations.

Savage, who currently holds down a 9 p.m.-midnight time slot on Cumulus, had been making statements indicating he would likely be the guy to replace Hannity.

A story published Friday by Jerry del Colliano’s Inside Music Media reveals Hannity had a very low regard for Cumulus CEO Lew Dickey and COO John Dickey. Hannity was quoted by an anonymous source berating the two.

“The Dickeys are the single worst operators in the history of radio,” Hannity said, according to del Colliano’s report. “They have destroyed legendary stations like KGO and KSFO. They are currently in the process of destroying WLS, WABC, WJR, WBAP and WMAL.”

Via: The Daily Caller

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