Notre Dame to begin accepting illegal immigrants

The University of Notre Dame will begin admitting illegal immigrants to the school and will provide them with financial aid, saying the move will “strengthen” the student body.

The university had never had an official ban on illegal immigrants, but Inside Higher Ed reported the school treated them as international students and required them to have student visas — which effectively served as a bar.

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SPECIAL COVERAGE: Immigration Reform

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“We will strengthen our incoming class and give deserving young people the chance for a Notre Dame education,” Don Bishop, associate vice president for undergraduate enrollment, said in a statement announcing the policy Thursday.

The university also said it “is committed to meeting the full demonstrated financial need for all admitted students.” 

Illegal immigrants are not eligible for federal student aid, but the university’s announcement signals that Notre Dame would make up the difference between the cost and what the student and his or her family can afford.

Notre Dame is a Catholic school, run by the Congregation of Holy Cross. It is located in Indiana.

A school spokesman didn’t return a call seeking comment.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has backed integrating illegal immigrants into American society, including supporting legalization for the estimated 11 million immigrants believed to be in this country illegally.

Via: Washington Times

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Reporter Covering Obama Bus Tour Layed Off... During Bus Tour

President Obama’s Thursday visit to Rochester got big play in this morning’s Democrat and Chronicle.

What’s missing, though, is a story from the Gannett newspaper’s political reporter, Jessica Alaimo.

That’s because Alaimo was laid off on Thursday — effective immediately — while working on the presidential visit story.

“I had been pulled off going to see Obama speak,” she tells Romenesko readers, “and was making calls to find out if he’d be stopping in Rochester when it [the layoff] happened.”

Alaimo tweeted after being laid off: “Thinking about making the switch into #publicrelations. Love journalism but its not sustainable. Would love to do research for a think tank.”

Alaimo joined the Democrat and Chronicle in July of 2012, but has been a Gannett employee since 2009.

Editor Karen Magnuson writes in an email:

We eliminated three positions yesterday as part of an overall restructure of the news and sales departments at the D&C. Several reporters and photographers were assigned to coverage of the president’s visit to our region. They did an outstanding job.

Via: ROCHESTER DEMOCRAT & CHRONICLE

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Al Gore: Pounding the Pulpit ... Again

Gore: Climate change ‘deniers’ like 'an alcoholic father’

Former Vice President Al Gore is optimistic that climate change deniers are falling by the wayside, but the environmental crusader’s recent comments have sparked controversy.

In a wide-ranging interview, Gore told the Washington Post that Republicans are growing weary of those who reject the notion of climate change, likening them to “an alcoholic father who flies into a rage every time a subject is mentioned so everyone avoids the elephant in the room to keep the peace.”

What impact is Gore’s heated rhetoric having on the climate change debate?

Carly Fiorina, former chairman and chief executive of HP, said Gore’s name calling is hurting the environmental cause.

“I think he is becoming such a polarizing figure. I think there are many people who suspect this is more about Al Gore than it is about global warming,” she said.

“I think anyone who is serious about global warming needs to be complete and factual in their assessment.”

“There are many things that Al Gore does that makes me want to sigh,” said Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank.

Via: The Lead with Jake Tapper CNN

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Conservatives accuse Obama of packing key court to 'rubber stamp' agenda

Forget the debt drama. The real showdown in Washington is over President Obama's alleged push to stack the bench on a key D.C. court -- which Republicans say could be used to "rubber stamp" his agenda long after he leaves office. 

At issue is the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, just down the street from its better-known Supreme Court cousin. The court is considered the second-most powerful in the land -- right behind the Supreme Court -- because it has final say on most federal regulations. Since regulations are drafted and issued in D.C., they end up before the court once they're challenged. 

“The D.C. circuit is the only thing standing between America and the regulatory behemoth the president is trying to set in motion,” Carrie Severino, chief counsel and policy director at the Judicial Crisis Network, told FoxNews.com. She pointed to looming rules pertaining to everything from ObamaCare to environmental regulation. If they're challenged years down the road, the president will want his allies on the D.C. bench. 

Of the 11 seats on the D.C. Court of Appeals, three are now open. 

In June, Obama set the stage for a fierce partisan fight when he announced the nominations of attorney Patricia Ann Millett, law professor Cornelia “Nina” Pillard and D.C. District Court Judge Robert Wilkins to the bench.

Via: Fox News Politics

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Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew to GOP: Raise debt ceiling immediately after recess

Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew tried to take the looming fight over the debt ceiling to Republicans on Thursday, challenging them to raise the limit without conditions as soon as they return from thwie August recess.

“I am calling on Congress today to raise the debt ceiling as soon as members get back to Washington after their summer recess,” Lew said in a speech to the Commonwealth Club of California in Mountain View.

Lew warned that the economy might not be able to weather another confrontation over the debt ceiling like the one in 2011, saying “we cannot afford another unnecessary self-inflicted wound.”

The Treasury bumped up against the debt ceiling in May, leaving publicly held debt at just under $16.7 trillion. By law, the Treasury cannot issue debt above that amount without congressional authorization.

Since May, the Treasury under Lew has taken measures to ensure that the federal government meets its obligations without accruing new debt. The Bipartisan Policy Center has estimated that the Treasury will exhaust those options and become unable to make payments on interest on the debt and other bills sometime between mid-October and mid-November. At that point, the government would risk defaulting on its debt, which would destabilize U.S. and world financial markets.

Via: Washington Examiner

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Team involved in tracking Benghazi suspects pulling out, sources say

Two weeks after the Obama administration announced charges against suspects in the Benghazi attack, a large portion of the U.S. team that hunted the suspects and trained Libyans to help capture or kill them is leaving Libya permanently. 

Special operators in the region tell Fox News that while Benghazi targets have been identified for months, officials in Washington could "never pull the trigger." In fact, one source insists that much of the information on Benghazi suspects had been passed along to the White House after being vetted by the Department of Defense and the State Department -- and at least one recommendation for direct action on a Benghazi suspect was given to President Obama as recently as Aug. 7. 

Meanwhile, months after video, photo and voice documentation on the Benghazi suspects was first presented to high-level military leaders, the State Department and ultimately the White House, prison breaks in the country have eroded security. U.S. special forces have now been relegated to a "villa," a stopover for the operators before they're shipped out of the country entirely. 

"We put American special operations in harm's way to develop a picture of these suspects and to seek justice and instead of acting, we stalled. We just let it slip and pass us by and now it's going to be much more difficult," one source said, citing 1,200 prisoners escaping two weeks ago. "It's already blowing up. Daily assassinations, bi-weekly prison escapes, we waited way too long.

Via: Fox News

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Defense Department guide calls Founding Fathers ‘extremist’

A Department of Defense teaching guide meant to fight extremism advises students that rather than “dressing in sheets” modern-day radicals “will talk of individual liberties, states’ rights, and how to make the world a better place,” and describes 18th-century American patriots seeking freedom from the British as belonging to “extremist ideologies.”

The guide comes from documents obtained by Judicial Watch and is authored by the Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute, a DoD-funded diversity training center.

Under a section titled “extremist ideologies,” the document states, “In U.S. history, there are many examples of extremist ideologies and movements. The colonists who sought to free themselves from British rule and the Confederate states who sought to secede from the Northern states are just two examples.”

Besides a brief reference to 9/11 and another to the Sudanese civil war, the guide makes no mention of Islamic extremism.

The guide also repeatedly tells readers to use the Southern Poverty Law Center as a resource in identifying “hate groups.” The SPLC has previously come under fire for its leftist bias and tendency to identify conservative organizations such as the American Family Association as “hate groups.”

In August 2012, an attempted terrorist attack occurred at the Family Research Council, another conservative organization the SPLC has branded a “hate group.” FRC president Tony Perkins said the SPLC’s designation prompted the attack, stating the gunman “was given a license to shoot … by organizations like the Southern Poverty Law Center.”

In a statement, Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton slammed the Department of Defense documents for what he described as their bias against conservatives.

“The Obama administration has a nasty habit of equating basic conservative values with terrorism. And now, in a document full of claptrap, its Defense Department suggests that the Founding Fathers, and many conservative Americans, would not be welcome in today’s military,” said Fitton. ”And it is striking that some the language in this new document echoes the IRS targeting language of conservative and Tea Party investigations. After reviewing this document, one can’t help but worry for the future and morale of our nation’s armed forces.”

Via: Daily Caller

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Republicans want their party to change, by becoming more conservative

A new Pew Research Center study shows 65 percent say their party needs to address “major problems” to compete in future presidential elections, while 59 percent say it needs to reconsider some of its core positions.

But just exactly what kind of changes they want has been a little harder to pin down. As we’ve noted before, displeasure with party leadership is pretty universal, from the most conservative Republicans to the most moderate ones.

If anything, Republicans want their party to be more conservative, the Pew poll finds.

Given the choice between a more moderate course and a more conservative one, 54 percent choose a more conservative one, while 41 percent choose moderation.

And asked about whether their party has compromised too much, too little or just the right amount, Republicans split into three pretty equal camps. Just 29 percent say it hasn’t compromised enough.

Much of the debate in Washington in recent years has centered on Democrats’ argument that Republicans are obstructionists who stand in the way of anything Democrats try to do. And the GOP in a lot of ways has gotten more conservative.

This poll makes clear that that’s just fine with the party’s base, which is in no rush to come to the middle on issues like immigration — even as it recognizes that it needs to change in some way.

Via: Washington Post

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LGBT “rights” over religious freedom: NM Supreme Court Court rules against photographer in gay bias case

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A commercial photography business owned by opponents of same-sex marriage violated New Mexico’s anti-discrimination law by refusing to take pictures of a gay couple’s commitment ceremony, the state’s highest court ruled Thursday.

In an unanimous decision, the state Supreme Court said the business’s refusal in 2006 to photograph the ceremony involving two women violated New Mexico’s Human Rights Act “in the same way as if it had refused to photograph a wedding between people of different races.”

The court’s ruling came after the Dona Ana County clerk on Wednesday began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, although state law doesn’t explicitly prohibit or authorize gay marriage.

Elaine Huguenin, who owns Elane Photography with her husband and is the business’s principal photographer, refused to photography the ceremony because it violated her religious beliefs.

The court rejected arguments that the anti-discrimination law violated the photographer’s right to free speech and the free exercise of religious beliefs.

A lawyer for the business, Jordan Lorence of the Alliance Defending Freedom, sharply criticized the ruling and said an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court is under consideration.

“Government-coerced expression is a feature of dictatorships that has no place in a free country,” Lorence said in a statement. “This decision is a blow to our client and every American’s right to live free.”

Justice Richard Bosson wrote that the business owners “have to channel their conduct, not their beliefs, so as to leave space for other Americans who believe something different.”

“That compromise is part of the glue that holds us together as a nation, the tolerance that lubricates the varied moving parts of us a people,” Bosson wrote in an opinion concurring with the court’s ruling. “That sense of respect we owe others, whether or not we believe as they do, illuminates this country, setting it apart from the discord that afflicts much of the rest of the world. In short, I would say to the Huguenins, with the utmost respect: it is the price of citizenship.”

The court said a business could declare in its advertising that it opposes same-sex marriage but it has to comply with the anti-discrimination law

Vanessa Wilcock and another woman found another photographer to shoot the ceremony but an anti-discrimination claim was filed with the state Human Rights Commission, which determined that Huguenin’s studio violated the law.

Via: ABQ Journal.com

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[CARTOON] Obama’s Focus on the Economy

Via: California Political Review

AS OBAMACARE DEADLINE LOOMS, DOCTORS ARE OPTING FOR “CASH ONLY” CLINICS

Physicians across the country are attending seminars that teach doctors how to start their own direct primary care practices. Direct primary care practices take no health insurance, only cash. In a recent survey conducted by the DPMA Foundation, 2 out of 3 doctors say they are “just squeaking by or in the red,” and 83% say they are “thinking about quitting the business.” With the looming threat of Obamacare, many doctors are planning to ditch the traditional business model for a more simple and straightforward one.

Dr. Jerome Aya-Ay from Palmetto Proactive healthcare in South Carolina uses the “Direct primary care,” model which is successful because it eliminates the bureaucratic hassle of insurance and lowers prices for the consumer.

Dr. Jerome Aya-Ay charges his patients via a price list similar to a restaurant menu. He also charges a monthly fee of $60 for routine services which most doctors cannot do. Listen to the interview below.

Chiropractors have been using the cash only business model for many years and are experiencing great success. Dr. Scott Baker, owner of Upper Cervical of Spartanburg, S.C. said, “We started to go 100% cash in May 2012 and are experiencing great success, now we are moving into a state of the art facility 3 times bigger than our current venue, and we will be hiring a new doctor.” Dr. Scott said he is creating a patient-driven practice. His new clinic will have a “health-spa feel” with digital touch screens for patient check-ins, flat screens TVs, and a paperless office so he can have more time to focus on his patients.

The Heritage Foundation’s Ed Haislmaier said, “I think we are going to see primary care doctors increasingly moving to a cash-only arrangement, where they opt out of insurance rules.” The simple truth is that doctors want to get off the insurance grid not only because of the risky regulations and economic factors, but because they want better relationships with their patients.

Via: Ben Swann

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U.S. Marine Colonel Warns: “Homeland Security is Pre-Staging Gear and Equipment”

We live in a seemingly free country, so we’re told.

But that may be because the majority of us have never spent time in a war zone or highly secured police state-like environment.

Few of us understand what it looks like when military and state intelligence assets take over.

Those who do understand, and have themselves implemented such plans in other countries, see exactly what’s going on and they are sounding the alarm (often falling on deaf ears).

In Concord, New Hampshire the local police chief has filed a requisition with the Department of Homeland Security to beef up his police force with a Ballistic Engineered Armored Response Counter Attack Truck to quell any disturbances initiated by activists or other potential domestic terrorists.

In response, the residents held a city council meeting, prompting a retired Marine Colonel to weigh in.

He was formerly a coordinator tasked with manning, training and equipping the Iraqi Army throughout the northern provinces, and he candidly shares his insights and compares the nationwide lock-down in Iraq to what’s happening right here at home.

This is coming from someone who knows – someone who has seen exactly how a population is put under control by means of surveillance and force – and he suggests that what they did in Iraq is child’s play compared to what’s happening in the Land of the Free today..

Via: Survival Life

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OBAMA: ‘WE DON’T HAVE AN URGENT DEFICIT CRISIS’

ITS HARD TO BELIEVE THAT THIS MAN IS TO ALLEGED TO HAVE GRADUATED FROM COLLEGE 

President Barack Obama said the country isn’t facing a spending or deficit problem, only an ideological problem from Republicans who want to cut government programs for health care and children.

President Barack Obama answers a question during a town hall meeting at Binghamton University in New York, Aug. 23, 2013. Obama is on a two-day bus tour through New York and Pennsylvania to discuss his plan to make college more affordable, tackle rising costs and improve value for students and their families. (Getty Images)

“We don’t have an urgent deficit crisis,” Obama said Friday at a town hall meeting on the campus of Binghamton University in Binghamton, N.Y. “The only crisis we have is the one that is manufactured in Washington and it’s ideological and the basic notion is that we shouldn’t be helping people get health care and we shouldn’t be helping kids who can’t help themselves and whose parents are under resourced, we shouldn’t be helping them get a leg up.”

The assertion is similar to a Wall Street Journal report earlier this year about a conversation between Obama and House Speaker John Boehner, in which Boehner said Obama told him, “We don’t have a spending problem.”

In Binghamton Friday, Obama was responding to a question from the audience about federal funding for the Head Start program.

“So some of the proposals we’ve seen now are talking about even deeper cuts in programs like head start, even deeper cuts in education support, even deeper cuts it basic science and research and that’s like eating your corn seed,” Obama said. “It’s like being penny wise and pound foolish.

Via: The Blaze

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“This beats Obamacare I hope”

I’m late to getting to this today. Many already have noted the great story out of Kentucky about the guy who was happy to hear about the new Kynect health insurance exchange, figuring that it must be better than Obamacare (even though, of course, it is Obamacare). Good commentary from Sarah Kliff, Kevin Drum, Greg Sargent, Steve Benen andPaul Krugman.

And, yeah, this is exactly what I’ve been saying would happen for some time now. But never mind that! It’s time for the next question:

When will Republicans begin complaining about Democratic “Obamascare” ads that “falsely” accuse Republicans of wanting to take away people’s health insurance?

Just as Democrats have been “falsely” accusing Republicans for years of trying to eliminate, privatize, cut or otherwise destroy Medicare.

I don’t think we’re going to see it in the 2014 election cycle. What about the 2016 election cycle? Surely by 2020, no?

Oh, and will those work-the-refs complaints be packaged with calls from the very same politicians to repeal Obamacare? I sort of think so, just as we’ve had Republicans bashing Barack Obama and the Democrats for Affordable Care Act Medicare cuts at the very same time that they complain that Democrats refuse to reform entitlements.

And they’ll probably do that because — and perhaps this is the kicker — it’s still very likely that “Obamacare” will stay just as unpopular as ever, especially among Republicans, even as it becomes political suicide to take away Affordable Care Act benefits.

Via: Washington Post

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