Sunday, February 9, 2014
Winter Olympics 2014 medal count: Norway leading after Saturday events
The Norwegians cleaned up in cross-country skiing and have an early lead in the medal count.
While Canada, Germany and the United States dominated the medal table during the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Norway has stormed out of the gates in the Sochi games to take an early lead in the medal count.
On Saturday, five different medal events took place with a total of 15 medals awarded. Norway walked away with four of those medals, including two golds in skiing. First, Ole Einar Bjoerndalen won gold in the men's biathlon 10km sprint. Later on, Marit Bjoergen won gold in the women's skiathlon.
The latest medal count
Be sure to keep SB Nation's beautiful, constantly-updated medal tracker by your side all Olympics long.
The United States also won gold on Saturday when Sage Kotsenburg emerged as the victor in the men's slopestyle snowboarding competition. Still, the Netherlands sits above the United States on the medal table because of a clean sweep in the men's 5000 m speed skating.
Canada had a strong showing in the women's freestyle moguls, securing two more medals thanks to sisters Justine and Chloe Dufour-Lapointe. American Hannah Kearney finished third, failing to defend her Vancouver gold medal.
1. Norway (4) - Two gold, one silver, one bronze
T2. Canada (3) - One gold, one silver, one bronze
T2. Netherlands (3) - One gold, one silver, one bronze
4. United States (2) - One gold, one bronze
T5. Sweden (1) - One silver
T5. Austria (1) - One silver
T5. Czech Republic (1) - One bronze
House GOP Objects To Obama Easing Immigration Rules For Terror Supporters
President Obama’s use of an executive directive to ease the rules for people trying to enter the United States or stay in the country even though they have given “limited” support to terrorists or terror groups is causing problems for Republicans working on immigration reform.
"President Obama should be protecting U.S. citizens rather than taking a chance on those who are aiding and abetting terrorist activity and putting Americans at greater risk," says Virginia GOP Rep. Robert Goodlatte, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and part of the GOP House leadership team working on immigration reform.
He and other Republican lawmakers argued that the administration is relaxing rules designed by Congress to protect the country from terrorists.
And Missouri GOP Sen. Roy Blunt on "Fox News Sunday" repeated the concerns of fellow Republicans and others about Obama repeatedly saying that "he can use his pen and his telephone" to work around Congress.
The change is one of Obama's first actions on immigration since he pledged during his State of the Union address last month to use more executive directives.
The Department of Homeland Security and the State Department now say that people considered to have provided "limited material support" to terrorists or terrorist groups are no longer automatically barred from the United States.
A post-Sept. 11 provision in immigrant law, known as terrorism-related inadmissibility grounds, had affected anyone considered to have given support to terror groups. With little exception, the provision has been applied rigidly to those trying to enter the U.S. and those already here but wanting to change their immigration status.
ELIZABETH WARREN: ALLOW POST OFFICE TO OFFER SMALL LOANS
THEY CAN'T MAKE MONEY AT DELIVERING MAIL. WHAT MAKES THEM THINK THAT THIS WILL SUCCEED. IT'S THINKING LIKE THIS THAT THE USPS IS ON THE BRINK OF DISINTEGRATING BEFORE OUR EYES.
In November, the U.S. Postal Service reported it had a $5 billion loss for Fiscal Year 2013, its seventh consecutive year with loss. At the time, Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe blamed Congress for the loss, citing an “inflexible business model.”
In November, the U.S. Postal Service reported it had a $5 billion loss for Fiscal Year 2013, its seventh consecutive year with loss. At the time, Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe blamed Congress for the loss, citing an “inflexible business model.”
“We’ve achieved some excellent results for the year in terms of innovations, revenue gains, and cost reductions, but without major legislative changes we cannot overcome the limitations of our inflexible business model,” Donahoe said. “Congress is moving forward with legislation that has the potential to give us greater flexibility and put us back on a firm financial footing, and we strongly encourage that they continue moving forward.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), however, supports an idea that would expand the role of the U.S. Postal Service from just mail delivery to financial services as well. In an op-ed for the Huffington Post published Saturday, Warren cited an Office of the Inspector General report pointing out that 68 million Americans have no checking or savings account and rely on non-bank financial services like payday loans and check cashing to the tune of $89 billion in 2012.
Warren sees this as an area for the Postal Service to get a foothold in order to see some have access “to affordable and fair financial services.”
“[T]he OIG explored the possibility of the USPS offering basic banking services—bill paying, check cashing, small loans—to its customers,” Warren wrote. “With post offices and postal workers already on the ground, USPS could partner with banks to make a critical difference for millions of Americans who don't have basic banking services because there are almost no banks or bank branches in their neighborhoods.”
The senior Massachusetts senator argued for “nothing fancy, just basic bill paying, check cashing, and small dollar loans.” She says that countries that have instituted a similar system with the postal services have “seen their earnings increase dramatically.”
[VIDEO] Ayotte: We Can’t Trust Obama But Let’s Do Amnesty Anyway
No, you don’t…Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) says she agrees that Republicans can’t trust President Obama to enforce the law, but they should immediately move forward on comprehensive immigration reform, anyway.
“Here’s the deal: The status quo is totally unacceptable,” Ayotte said on CBS News’ Face The Nation with Bob Schieffer on Sunday.Ayotte, who rode the Tea Party wave in 2010 to her election to the Senate but has emerged as one of the upper chamber’s more liberal Republicans, conceded there is a “trust deficit” with Obama.“There’s a trust deficit that the Speaker is facing right now and it’s related to ObamaCare and the disastrous rollout,” she said. “Because, let’s think about it, immigration means doing a lot of complex things well. And in addition to that, the administration keeps issuing executive orders to change the law, very frequently.”
Via: Brietbart
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Saturday, February 8, 2014
David Axelrod wants Democratic donors to stop donating to Hillary Clinton's team
David Axelrod, President Obama's top strategist when he defeated Hillary Clinton in 2008, wants Democratic donors to focus on the 2014 elections, rather than Clinton's likely campaign.
"With the Senate seriously at risk, and the Koch Brothers spending prodigiously, shouldn't Dem funders be focused on '14 and not '16 races?" Axelrod tweeted Thursday afternoon, in what appears to be a very thinly veiled allusion to the Clinton machine that is already coming together.
The tweet comes just days after a Wall Street Journal report on Democratic concerns that the early support for Clinton could hurt the Democratic Party's midterm efforts.
"The formidable campaign apparatus that has sprung up to support a possible 2016 presidential bid by Hillary Clinton is rattling some Democrats, sparking concerns that it could suppress competition for the party nomination and siphon money from candidates running in the midterm elections this fall," the Journal said.
Ben Domenech Clears Up Entire CBO Report Debate In Four Minutes
“What kind of economy do you want? Do you want one where people are working more hours for themselves and their families? Or do you want one where some people are going to be working more hours to pay for the subsidies, and some people are going to be working fewer hours but they’ll have health care?”
Ben Domenech of the Heartland Institute appears on MSNBC’s All In With Chris Hayes this week to discuss Obamacare costs and the implications of the CBO report.
This is an excellent breakdown of exactly what the implications are of the CBO report and what Obamacare means for the work force in the future. The above quote is a key take-away. Hayes is arguing that it’s good that people don’t have to work more hours simply to ensure they have health insurance. Domenech argues that it’s not a good thing when some people have to work more hours to pay for the subsidies so other people can work fewer hours and still get healthcare. Taking more labor from some to pay for less labor from others. Gee, where have we heard this sort of philosophy before?
DOMENECH: The problem here is about labor force participation. It’s not about some new aspect of Obamacare that’s been discovered that’s killing jobs. This is CBO basically going back and looking at the prediction they gave us a few years ago, when they said that about 800,000 equivalent full time would drop out of the labor force because of Obamacare. This is them looking at it again after new research that’s been done by Harvard, by M.I.T. scholars, by the University of Chicago in particular that essentially found that the effect was going to be far more dramatic, in part this because of the effect of subsidies on the marketplace but it’s really driven by the fact that Obamacare is behaving differently than Romneycare in a couple of key ways, which was the basis for the earlier CBO assumption.
HAYES: That is a really good point. I think actually this is where we get to a genuine point of contention. Let’s separate out two kinds of ways in which peoplel might choose to work less because of Obamacare. One which a lot of people talking about is this early retirement, which you’ve seen a lot. I’ve heard a lot of people saying, i’m working until i’m on Medicare, that is a very common thing you hear. There’s a certain amount of people that the presence of Obamacare means I have guaranteed issue, i’m 60, 61, I can leave my job and I can have health care, I don’t have to stay locked in this job for healthcare. that to me seems like a net benefit, do you agree with that?
Via: The Right Scoop
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The Most Embarrassing Efforts to Spin CBO’s Obamacare Report as ‘Good’ News
A bombshell Congressional Budget report released this week indicated that the Affordable Care Act will result in the equivalent of 2.5 million workers voluntarily leaving the workforce by 2024, all taking their productivity with them. The report is politically devastating for ACA supporters, and they know it. Their flailing reaction to that report speaks to the adverse impact it could have on Democrats’ political position ahead of the 2014 midterms.
The last 48 hours have produced some of the finest, most rarified examples of spin the political universe has been privy to in some time. It’s been a veritable windfall for consumers of political discourse who enjoy observing painful rhetorical contortions.
The majority of those recklessly twisting this impending economic disaster into a welcome development have generally tried to focus on the expanded “opportunity” that will result from creating publicly-funded incentives for people not to work.
“Many workers, however, will see not having to ‘work for the man’ to get health coverage as liberation,”wrote liberal columnist Froma Harrop, channeling David Crosby.
She went on to label as “anecdotal” the prediction that “some employers may reduce worker’s hours to avoid paying the employer mandate,” a function of the ACA that has not even taken effect yet. In the following paragraph, however, she said the opportunity provided by not working will allow others to “start the business they’ve always dreamed of,” or allow parents to “spend more time with their children.” Some anecdotes appear are more equal than others.
The more thoughtful E.J. Dionne took a stab at spinning the news himself. On Thursday, Dionne offered up his own anecdote, one about a 64-year-old looking to work less to spend more time with the kids. “Many on the right love family values until they are taken seriously enough to involve giving parents/workers more control over their lives,” he wrote. I take back what I said about being thoughtful.
“And it’s sometimes an economic benefit when some share of the labor force reduces hours or stops working altogether,” Dionne added. “At a time of elevated unemployment, others will take their place. The CBO was careful to underscore — the CBO is always careful — that ‘if some people seek to work less, other applicants will be readily available to fill those positions and the overall effect on employment will be muted.’”
At least that’s an argument, one that can be summed up as essentially: Unemployment will remain virtually as high as it is today when the equivalent of 2.5 million productive workers perform a simple cost/benefit analysis and determine it is in their best interest to cut back on their working hours. Even Dionne might concede that it’s an argument of dubious political utility for Democrats.
He’s not alone in making the claim that a vast exodus of able workers from the labor market might be a good thing. In U.S. News & World Reports, Danielle Kurtzleben, bravely wrote what she claims we’re all afraid to say:
What the truth might be, and what few politicians would dare say, is there might simply be some value in lower economic growth.
Via: Mediaite
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Zogby Report Card: Only 29% say Obama has nation headed in right direction
Pollster John Zogby reports in our weekly White House report card that President Obama's numbers are mixed, both in approval rating and right-direction, wrong-direction.
"I am a numbers guy and the numbers are mixed. Troubling for Obama is that so few Americans feel the U.S. is headed in the right direction (29 percent average) and that the stock market is falling. This could be the inevitable correction and the obvious impact of the Fed's tapering.
“He is also still upside down in public opinion toward Obamacare, though the gap between supporters and opponents is not really widening.
“On the flip side, his approval numbers are averaging at 43 percent, more like 44 percent in the most recent polls, and the numbers of applications for jobless benefits are considerably down. Unemployment is down to 6.6 percent, and only 113,000 new jobs were created, but November and December job numbers have been revised up.
“CBO comes out with a report that appears to be two-handed — Obamacare discourages people from staying on the job one day, but the next day, it encourages people to stay working. Thanks for the clarity, guys.
“And House Speaker John Boehner says there will be no immigration reform law this year, playing to his base and helping the president play to his."
Grade -- C
IRAN SENDING WARSHIPS CLOSE TO US BORDERS
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- A senior Iranian naval commander says his country has sent several warships to the Atlantic Ocean, close to U.S. maritime borders for the first time.
The commander of Iran's Northern Navy Fleet, Admiral Afshin Rezayee Haddad, is quoted by the official IRNA news agency as saying Saturday that the vessels have already begun the journey to the Atlantic Ocean via waters near South Africa.
Iranian officials said last month that the fleet consisted of a destroyer and a logistic helicopter carrier, which will be on a three-month mission.
Haddad says the fleet is approaching U.S. maritime borders for the first time. The Islamic Republic considers the move as a response to U.S. naval deployments near its own coastlines. The U.S. Navy's 5th fleet is based in nearby Bahrain.
Via: AP
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POSTAL SERVICE HAD $354 MILLION FIRST-QUARTER LOSS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Postal Service lost $354 million over the last three months, and officials warned that mounting losses could lead to cash flow problems for the rest of the year, the agency said Friday.
The loss was far less than the $1.3 billion in the comparable quarter the previous fiscal year, but Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe continued to press Congress to give the agency more flexibility to manage its finances.
The report for the financial quarter ending December 31 comes as Congress works toward fixing the agency's troubled finances. On Thursday, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee approved a bill that would end Saturday mail delivery and make permanent a temporary hike in the cost of a first-class stamp, which went from 46 to 49 cents on Jan. 26.
The Senate measure also would restructure a congressional requirement that forces the agency to make a $5.6 billion annual payment for future retiree health benefits. The Postal Service has been urging Congress to reform the service's finances as it continues to cope with steep financial losses. The Postal Service lost $5 billion in the last fiscal year, down from $15.9 billion in 2012.
"We cannot return the organization to long-term financial stability without passage of comprehensive postal reform legislation," Donahoe said.
On the positive side, the Postal Service said revenue grew by $334 million, driven by a 14.6 percent growth in shipping and package services that saw a boost from the holiday season. But first-class mail declined 4.6 percent, as more customers shift to the Internet to pay bills and send emails.
Postal unions have complained that the Senate bill goes too far in calling for an end to Saturday mail delivery once mail volume drops below 140 billion pieces over four consecutive quarters. They claim the move would hurt consumers and lead to thousands of job cuts.
"Today's Postal Service figures for the first quarter of 2014 are highly encouraging and show why the postal network must be maintained and strengthened, not degraded," said Fredric Rolando, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers.
The bulk of the agency's financial problems stem from the federally mandated annual payments to cover expected health care costs for future retirees. It has defaulted on three of those payments and warned Friday that it is likely to default again when the next payment is due on Sept. 30.
The federal budget bill that Congress approved last month requires six-day delivery to continue, meaning the U.S. Postal Service won't be able to cut Saturday mail anytime soon.
Via: Breitbart
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Obama Weekly Address Highlights Executive Action He Has Started Taking: ‘I’ve Got a Pen and a Phone’
President Barack Obama highlighted in his weekly address Saturday some of the executive actions he has taken this year, warning Congress once again that he will not stand by and wait for them to act on a host of issues.
“I want to work with Congress on this agenda where I can,” Obama said. “But in this year of action, whenever I can take steps without legislation to expand opportunity for more American families, I will.”
“I’ve got a pen and a phone – a pen to take executive action, and a phone to rally citizens and business leaders who are eager to create new jobs and new opportunities,” he continued. “And we’ve already begun.”
Among a series of moves, Obama noted that he has ordered “across-the-board reform of our training programs” and directed the U.S. Department of Treasury to create “my-RA.”
“So when you hear me talk about using my pen and my phone to make a difference for middle class Americans and those working to get into the middle class, that’s what I mean,” he said. “And I’m going to keep asking students and parents and business leaders to help – because there are millions of Americans outside Washington who are tired of stale political arguments, ready to move this country forward, and determined to restore the founding vision of opportunity for all.”
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