Crunch Time: Congress running up against partial shutdown deadline, again

'Tis the season of important dates -- Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, New Year's, government shutdown ... 

Yes, it's that time of year -- again. Just two months after the last partial government shutdown ended, lawmakers are once again struggling to meet the deadline for funding the government. 

As part of the short-term agreement struck in mid-October, Congress gave itself until Jan. 15 to pass a budget, and until Dec. 13 to reach a tentative deal at the committee level. It's Dec. 4, and despite weeks of talks the budget negotiations have only crept forward. And Congress really only has five more days this month to do anything. While the House is in session, the Senate doesn't return until next week -- and Speaker John Boehner plans to adjourn the House for holiday recess next Friday. 

"The speaker is very serious about us being out of here on the 13th," House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., said. 

There may be little stomach on Capitol Hill for another shutdown showdown. The last 16-day standoff helped drive public approval of Congress to historic lows. And while President Obama took heat for refusing to negotiate, Republican leaders emerged from the battle bruised -- and with little to show for it, having failed to win any major delay in ObamaCare. 

Via: Fox News

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Saving Bad Apples

Most people agree that bad apples—whether misbehaving police officers, state workers, or school teachers—should be removed from public service or at least disciplined. Yet a California legislature that couldn’t be bothered to consider serious pension reform or address a spate of coming municipal bankruptcies passed three union-backed bills that protect the state’s worst “public servants.” Talk about priorities.

Governor Jerry Brown signed the most offensive of the three bills, SB 313, which passed both legislative houses by a combined vote of 108-5. Republicans were just as likely as Democrats to back a bill that would forbid police agencies from relying on so-called Brady lists to reassign, demote, or otherwise punish police officers and deputy sheriffs. In a 1963 case, Brady v. Maryland, the U.S. Supreme Court required prosecutors to disclose any evidence that could be favorable to the person accused of a crime. As a Senate analysis of SB 313 explains, “If the prosecutor is aware of misconduct, past or present, on the part of a police officer who may be called as a witness in a case, and that misconduct could discredit or ‘impeach’ the officer’s testimony, the prosecutor has an obligation to turn that evidence over to the defendant.”

As a result, district attorneys compile lists of officers who have been found to have lied under oath or falsified police reports, used excessive force, or who have been convicted of certain crimes. There’s good reason to keep these individuals off the witness stand, given that their lack of integrity can cost a prosecutor a conviction. And police agencies will sometimes discipline or reassign officers found to have behaved so poorly.

Progressive-minded police officials, such as Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones, have publicly supported the use of Brady lists to help assure that the public can have “a high degree of trust” in their officers, as he explained to the Sacramento Bee. But police unions and their allies, such as the Peace Officers Research Association of California—a group that pays the legal-defense fees of officers accused of horrific behavior—despise the Brady lists. SB 313 expands the Peace Officers Bill Of Rights, which already makes it nearly impossible to discipline or fire law-enforcement officials for anything other than criminal convictions.

Via: California Political Review

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Walmart — 1 Billion Page Views On Cyber Monday, Healthcare.gov Dies Under 50k

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. ( WMT ) said it posted record online sales on Cyber Monday, while its Internet sales from Thanksgiving Day through Monday marked the retail giant's strongest five-day stretch of sales to date.

Wal-Mart's website processed more than a billion page views during the period, the company said in a statement.

"We had an all-time record sales day yesterday as the momentum we saw on Thanksgiving carried through to Cyber Monday," said Joel Anderson, president and CEO of Walmart.com U.S., although specific sales figures weren't provided.

Last week Wal-Mart, which launched its Thanksgiving Day deals two hours earlier than last year, said it had recorded more than 10 million register transactions between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. Thursday in its stores and nearly 400 million page views that day on its website. The company said electronics, such as big screen TVs, iPad minis, laptops and new game systems Xbox One and PS4 were among the top sellers.

In addition to televisions and tablets, Wal-Mart said Tuesday that top sellers included Fisher Price Power Wheels Red Ford F150 Raptor Ride-Ons and Mega Bloks First Builders Build 'n Learn Table play sets.

Wal-Mart plans to offer 200 specials a day on its website through Friday.

The retail industry's main trade group earlier reported retail spending over Thanksgiving weekend dropped for the first time in at least seven years, as retailers kicked off sales earlier on Thanksgiving Day and touted discounts all week. Estimated total spending over Thanksgiving weekend fell to $57.4 billion, down 2.7% from a year ago, according to the National Retail Federation.

Shares were down seven cents at $81.04 in recent trading.

Via: Nasdaq
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Expert Testifies to Congress that Obama’s ‘Ignoring Laws’ Could Lead to Overthrow of Government

During a congressional committee hearing about the constitutional limits imposed on the presidency and the implications of President Barack Obama’s disregard for implementing the Affordable Care Act as written, one expert testified that the consequences of the president’s behavior were potentially grave. He said that the precedent set by Obama could eventually lead to an armed revolt against the federal government. 

On Tuesday, Michael Cannon, Cato Institute’s Director of Health Policy Studies, testified before a congressional committee about the dangers of the president’s legal behavior.

“There is one last thing to which the people can resort if the government does not respect the restrains that the constitution places on the government,” Cannon said. “Abraham Lincoln talked about our right to alter our government or our revolutionary right to overthrow it.”

RELATED: Jonathan Alter Links Egyptian Military’s Overthrow Of Muslim Brotherhood To Promise Of Obama

“That is certainly something that no one wants to contemplate,” he continued. “If the people come to believe that the government is no longer constrained by the laws then they will conclude that neither are they.”

“That is a very dangerous sort of thing for the president to do, to wantonly ignore the laws,” Cannon concluded, “to try to impose obligation upon people that the legislature did not approve.”

Watch the clip below via C-SPAN 2:

Via: Mediaite.com

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ANALYSIS FINDS COST OF OBAMACARE WEBSITE IS WAY MORE THAN ANYONE PREDICTED

The to-date cost of the glitchy Obamacare website has topped $1 billion, easily surpassing the $394 million originally estimated by the Government Accountability Office, according to aBloomberg Government analysis.

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius (Getty Images)

It’s important to note that the Bloomberg analysis runs through Sept. 30, just before the 16-day partial government shutdown. So the final cost may be more than $1 billion.

Perhaps more shocking than the site’s likely price tag is the fact that roughly one-third of that amount was spent on contracts awarded in the six months leading up to the site’s disastrous Oct. 1 launch – when those at the top were reportedly aware of the site’s many problems.

“The torrent of late spending — almost $352 million of $1 billion in awards to the top 10 contractors — indicates the magnitude of the work still to be done as opening day approached,” Bloomberg’s Peter Gosselin reported, “and helps explain the information technology problems that have dogged the exchange system since its launch.”

The Bloomberg figure may come as a shock to many Americans. Indeed, despite the GAO stating clearly that its data was incomplete, the $394 million estimate has been widely reported as the official cost of the launch of the Affordable Care Act.

Via: The Blaze

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OBAMACARE SIGN UPS FALL 85% SHORT OF GOAL

Bloomberg puts the best spin possible on the number of November ObamaCare sign ups (these are not yet official enrollees who have paid their first month's premium) through the federal exchange that covers 36 states. But 100,000 is still dismal. Added together with the 27,000 October federal signs ups, and what you have is ObamaCare at only 15% of its two-month goal.

Thanks to RomneyCare, when the Administration set its two-month enrollment goal at 800,000 for the federal exchange, they did so knowing signs ups are slow in the early months. Still, after two months, the federal exchange is 85% short.

NBC's Chuck Todd reports that with the state exchanges, November ObamaCare sign ups totaled somewhere between 200,000 to 250,000.

If you are generous and assume the number is 250,000, and add that to October's 100,000 sign ups; with almost 40% of the enrollment period gone, ObamaCare is only at 5% of its ultimate goal of 7 million.

That 7 million number is not arbitrary. That is the number needed to make the program financially viable.

The distinction between "sign ups' and "enrolled" is important. Putting ObamaCare in your shopping cart is only the first step. Deciding to follow through from there with an actual payment is the only step that matters. The official enrollment number could fall far short of the sign up number.

Via: Breitbart

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Obama’s Approval Rating Hits All-Time Low In RCP’s Poll Average, 40%…

Feel good story of the day.

Via RCP:

Via: Weasel Zippers

Obama spends $600 million on rail projects that benefit private companies BY CURTIS TATE

WASHINGTON — The railroad industry brags in its national publicity campaign that it spends billions of dollars improving its infrastructure “so taxpayers don’t have to.”

But the ads don’t tell everything. The nation’s freight rail network has been the quiet recipient of more than $600 million in federal investment during the Obama administration.

According to Federal Railroad Administration numbers, at least half that amount has gone to projects that benefit the nation’s four largest railroads, the same companies at the heart of the industry’s ubiquitous “Freight Rail Works” campaign.

That doesn’t even include tens of millions more that states have contributed for additional investment in ports and high-speed passenger trains that’s boosted the nation’s freight railroads.

The public dollars have built new overpasses to separate trains from one another, as well as cars and trucks. They’ve replaced aging bridges, laid new track and upgraded signal systems. They’ve paid to enlarge tunnels and raise bridges so that shipping containers may be double-stacked. They’ve built new facilities where cargo containers can be transferred from trucks to trains, or vice versa.

Via: McClatchyDC

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Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/12/02/210101/obama-spends-600-million-on-rail.html#storylink=cpy

Will the (lack of) state exchanges bring Obamacare down?

Obamacare’s penalties for not buying insurance, as well as the subsidies that make its plans affordable in the first place, may not be legal in a majority of states, according to Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt.

Pruitt is suing the federal government on those grounds.

According to the letter of the law, the government can only reward subsidies and levy penalties in states that have created Obamacare state exchanges, but conservative resistance has stopped state exchanges from being set up in a number of states, including Oklahoma.

“While the president’s health law is vast and extraordinarily complex, it is in one respect very simple,” Pruitt wrote in a Sunday Wall Street Journal op-ed. “Subsidies are only to be made available, and tax penalties for not signing up for health insurance are only to be assessed, in states that create their own health-care exchange.”

The IRS, though, is still trying to levy penalties on citizens of those states. On Oct. 22, a U.S. district judge in Washington, D.C. declined to grant a preliminary injunction against the law, but agreed to hear the merits of the case in February. The Obama administration had attempted to derail the suit by arguing that it was too speculative.

“Only 16 states and the District of Columbia chose to set up the online marketplaces where people without private health insurance can shop for it, forcing the federal government to create them in the remaining states,” Reuters reported in October.

“What that means is that’s almost a trillion dollars of funding for Obamacare that cannot come to be,” D.C. attorney Joe diGenova told WMAL radio Monday morning. “Now, the administration has taken the position that, ‘Oh, I know that’s what the law says — that it has to be a state, but what it really means is the federal exchange too.’ Unfortunately, the law doesn’t say that. One judge has thrown out the lawsuit in Oklahoma; a D.C. judge has allowed the lawsuit to go forward; and motions for summary judgment are pending here in D.C.”

“This could be the single most important piece of litigation in all of this criticism of Obamacare, and it’s gone on almost completely unnoticed,” diGenova continued. “This is amazing.”

Via: Daily Caller
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[VIDEO] Gibbs: ‘Inexplicable’ If Someone Involved in Creation of Obamacare Website Isn’t Fired

BY: Washington Free Beacon Staff
December 2, 2013 12:46 pm

Former White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Monday on Now With Alex Wagner it would be “inexplicable” if somebody or a whole team of people were not fired for their role in the disastrous rollout of the Obamacare website.

Now an MSNBC contributor, Gibbs said if such action wasn’t taken by the spring, he would be surprised:

ALEX WAGNER: Robert, I think the big picture question here is does the White House learn anything or do anything tangible in response? Ron Fournier calling in his own way — the sensational title of his piece is, ‘Fire your team, Mr. President.’ Or I think it was, ‘President Obama needs to fires himself.’ Not literally, of course, but practically he needs to shake up his team. You have said that you think once these problems have been fixed that there will be some staffing changes. Do you still think that’s true and do you think it needs to be as dramatic as what Ron Fournier suggests?

ROBERT GIBBS: I don’t think it should be as dramatic as the president firing himself.

WAGNER: Yes, nor do I think that’s constitutionally possible.

Via: WFB

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Male or Female? Uh uh. Bellevue College Now Gives You Seven Gender Choices

Recently, Ron's wife was filling out an application for Bellevue College when she noticed something interesting. Instead of the standard "Male" and "Female" boxes that one checks on applications, there was the question: What is your 'gender identity'? And seven different options: Feminine, Masculine, Androgynous, Gender Neutral, Transgender, Other and Prefer Not To Answer.

Under that is the question: "What is your sexual orientation?" Where you can then check Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, Queer Straight/Heterosexual, Other or Prefer not to answer.

After Ron showed us the application, we wondered why they were collecting this data. So I went down to Bellevue College and got some answers from the LGBTQ Center adviser, Colin Donovan.

"We started collecting the data this fall quarter. It's about being able to track how well GLBTQ, and gender variant students, are doing in school and how we can design better services, better classes, better programs to make sure these students succeed. Up until this point there has been no way to track how that's done."

The data is 100 percent private and not shared with anyone, and for now will only be used internally. This new data collecting system was accepted by all community and technical colleges in Washington state.

Petri Muhlhauser is involved in the school's LGBTQ Center leadership program. She says sometimes LGBTQ students have different needs.

Via: MyNorthwest

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HILLARY CLINTON’S RATINGS UNDERWATER

The former Secretary of State’s favorability ratings have eroded among Independents and Republicans since she left Foggy Bottom.

Nearly nine months after leaving office, more Americans have an unfavorable than a favorable opinion of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, according to a recent YouGov/Economist poll. However, Clinton remains the indisputable favorite among Democrats to be their 2016 presidential nomination.

During much of her tenure as Secretary of State, Clinton enjoyed generally positive ratings, ratings that continued through much of the spring following her departure from Foggy Bottom: from January through April her net favorability numbers fell below +15 only three times.

But starting around mid-May of this year, the positive feelings began to recede and the secretary’s image has not recovered since, with nearly half of Americans (48%) now holding an unfavourable opinion of her, compared to 46% with a favourable one, for a net rating of -2.

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The shift in May suggests that negative press surrounding the tragic September 11, 2012 attack on the consulate in Benghazi, Libya, which led to the death of U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three others, may have impacted views about Clinton and her tenure at the State Department.

Via: YouGov

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[VIDEO] Homeowners Ordered to Remove Christmas Lights

Homeowners in an Orange County, Calif. neighborhood have been ordered to remove their outdoor Christmas lights because the decorations are an obstruction and violate county code ordinances.
“It’s horrible what they are doing to us and these poor kids,” one homeowner told television station KTLA.
As many as 20 homeowners in the Wagon Wheel subdivision received a letter from Orange County Public Works stating the lights must be removed by Wednesday.

Via: Fox News
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Two Years Old and Not Part of the Family? (Updated)

The Obamacare elves have been busy doling out holiday tips on how to talk about signing onto the Affordable Care Act website while huddled around the yuletide fire singing secular songs with uninsured family members.

One tip the tip-givers forgot to include in the "Healthcare for the Holidays" Guide to Getting Insured was how to explain to those with children under the age of two that family insurance plans in the New York health exchange do not cover the littlest members of the family.

Wait! Maybe Peter Singer, colleague of Barack Obama's Science and Technology Czar John Holdren, had some input in the 'under two' individual policy idea and New York is a pilot state. Singer, a bioethics professor at Michelle Obama's alma mater, Princeton University, is of the opinion that disposing of children up to age two is fine because newborns and toddlers lack the "essential characteristics of personhood," which Singer says are rationality, autonomy, and self-consciousness.

So until Americans decide whether they're going to keep the little rug rats, maybe Obamacare advisors thought it would be best to prevent the little ones from mucking up the family plan.

Does requiring a two-year-old to have their own health insurance policy sound like a joke?  Well it's no joke, because that's exactly what happened to self-employed title insurance business owner Cornelius Kelly and his pediatrician wife Jennifer. 

Via: American Thinker

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Beware of Happy Talk on Immigration

Is immigration reform coming back from the dead?

Over Thanksgiving, both President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) have indicated that the issue —which has meant amnesty, by any other name—is alive on Capitol Hill.

Obama said last week that proponents of amnesty should be “thankful” for Boehner’s stated support for immigration reform and prompted laughter by comparing the complicated issue to a turkey that could be sliced up.

“It’s Thanksgiving. We can carve this bird into multiple pieces,” Obama quipped.

But the metaphor doesn’t really work.

It must have been the spirit of the season that prompted Boehner to praise Obama earlier in November for his sudden willingness—amid the wreckage of another “comprehensive” solution, Obamacare—to entertain a “piece-by-piece” process for immigration reform.

“The American people are skeptical of big, comprehensive bills, and frankly, they should be,” Boehner told reporters. “The only way to make sure immigration reform works this time is to address the complicated issues one step at a time.”

While all this talk sounds nice, the bird really wouldn’t be carved in the end. The House and Senate eventually would have to come together, and that’s where liberals are likely to reassemble the pieces, throw in some more, and try to stuff the whole monstrous turkey—including amnesty for millions of illegal immigrants—down Americans’ throats.

Via: The Foundry

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