Hoekstra: Mideast 'Ablaze' While US Has 'Little Credibility' in Region

Former House Intelligence Committee Chairman Pete Hoekstra told Newsmax on Thursday that "we have a Middle East that is ablaze" and that the situation reflects "a diminished U.S. influence" in the region.

"It's chaos, and the U.S. and this administration have very, very little — if any — leverage to help resolve the crisis in Egypt," the Michigan Republican told Newsmax amid news reports that as many as 638 people were killed in the country’s deadliest day since the Arab Spring began in 2011.

"We now have chaos throughout Libya, radical jihadists on the doorstep of getting into Western Europe," Hoekstra said. "That was not possible under [Moammar] Gadhafi.

Latest: Is Benghazi a Cover Up? Is Obama at the Heart of It? Vote Here 

"You've got a dead American ambassador and three other Americans in Benghazi, and you've got Egypt ablaze," he added. "You've got total chaos in Syria, and I don't think that's it yet. Who knows what's going to happen in Jordan? Who knows what may happen in Turkey? And you've got chaos in Iraq.

"It's like: 'Wow! What a huge mess we have!' It's been a long time since we've had such little credibility in the Middle East as what we have today," Hoekstra said.

A crackdown by the Egyptian military that began on Wednesday against the mostly Islamic supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi has caused 638 deaths and more than 4,500 injuries throughout Egypt.

President Barack Obama was among the world leaders condemning the bloody crackdown. On Thursday, he canceled joint U.S.-Egyptian military maneuvers.

Via: Newsmax

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Taxpayers Are Funding 'Safe Housing for America's Farm Laborers'

(CNSNews.com) - The U.S. Agriculture Department says it has $40 million to spend on "safe housing" for itinerant farmworkers and their families.

"Despite budget uncertainties," USDAsays it remains focused on strengthening the rural economy.

"The intended purpose of these loans and grants is to increase the number of available housing units for domestic farm laborers," said the notice in the Federal Register.

A domestic farm laborer is defined in federal law as either a citizen of the United States or someone who has been "legally admitted for permanent residence." Farm workers who are admitted under the Temporary Agricultural Workers (H-2A Visa) program are not eligible for the housing.

But in his funding announcement, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack urged Congress to pass an immigration bill that would put millions of illegal aliens, including many itinerant farm-workers, on a pathway to citizenship.

"USDA's Farm Labor Housing Program is the only national source of construction funds to buy, build or improve housing for farmworkers, who are critical to the tremendous productivity of American agriculture," Vilsack said

Via: CNS News

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Abortion coverage for Congress under health law?

WASHINGTON (AP) — It's an issue lawmakers may not want to have to explain at town hall meetings back home:

An attempt to fix a problem with the new health care law has created a situation in which members of Congress and their staffers could gain access to abortion coverage, something that currently is denied to federal employees who get health insurance through the government's plan.

Abortion opponents say the Obama administration needs to fix it; abortion rights supporters say the concern is overblown.

The abortion complication is a new headache for the administration as it tries to shoehorn members of Congress and certain staffers into insurance markets coming later this year under President Barack Obama's health care overhaul. An amendment by Iowa Republican Sen. Charles Grassley — who opposes the health care overhaul and abortion — requires lawmakers and their personal staff to get private coverage through the same markets that uninsured Americans will use.

Last week, the White House Office of Personnel Management said the government would keep paying its share of premiums for lawmakers and affected staffers who must leave the federal employee health care system by Jan. 1. That eased a major anxiety for several thousand staffers accustomed to getting the same benefits as other federal employees.

Via: Yahoo News

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GOP WHIP MCCARTHY: SECURE BORDER BEFORE WE TALK ABOUT AMNESTY

House Majority Whip Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA)states on his congressional website that no amnesty should be granted to any illegal immigrants.

“As a nation founded by immigrants, we should to continue embrace the individuals who wait in line and come to the United States legally to work hard and contribute to our society,” McCarthy writes on the page titled “Immigration” on his official House of Representatives website. 

“However, we should not provide any amnesty that would benefit those who defy our laws and enter the United States illegally," it continues. "In order to reduce the number of illegal immigrants in our country, we must enforce the laws that already exist. In order to do this, we must secure our border by using both physical as well as electronic barriers. We should also ensure that illegal immigrants are not receiving any of the benefits that are reserved for American Citizens.”

In a statement provided to Breitbart News, McCarthy’s spokesman Mike Long reiterated that statement on his website and said that only after the border is secure would McCarthy consider legal status for any illegal immigrants.

"Only after the border is secure, Whip McCarthy would consider earned legal status for individuals that were brought to the United States, such as proposals being discussed legislatively regarding kids or those who have served honorably in our armed services,” Long said, a promise that extends to House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s forthcoming KIDS Act, a version of the DREAM Act.

He would only consider the KIDS Act "only after real border security legislation is passed,” Long said.

Via: Breitbart

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Axelrod: More Obamacare Changes Are Coming

Exactly when was the president given the authority to re-write laws as they see fit?

Via: Weasel Zippers

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4 questions with Ted Cruz on defunding Obamacare

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz has been among the most vocal Republican senators in pushing the latest strategy to defund Obamacare.

“Now is the best time,” Cruz said in an email interview with The Daily Caller.

Using this strategy, which is also favored by Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee and Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, lawmakers would refuse to vote for a continuing resolution to keep funding the federal government unless President Obama’s healthcare law i

Under current law, the government is funded until Sept. 30, meaning a continuing resolution needs to be passed to keep the government from shutting down.

But inside the Republican Party, many lawmakers object to the strategy, saying it gives false hope because it simply won’t work. Without having control of the Senate or the presidency, such legislation would be impossible to pass.

The Daily Caller attempted to have a high-profile Republican on both sides of the debate answer four of the same questions about the strategy. While Cruz agreed to answer questions, no Republican that TheDC contacted on the other side of the issue would agree to do the same.

Through spokespeople, Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan and former White House aide Karl Rove all declined to participate. All have spoken out against the strategy.

Via: The Daily Caller

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"MUST READ" Report: NSA broke privacy laws ‘thousands of times’ since 2008

An internal National Security Agency audit found that the agency violated the privacy of Americans thousands of times since 2008 when its powers were expanded by Congress, the Washington Post reports.

“The NSA audit obtained by The Post, dated May 2012, counted 2,776 incidents in the preceding 12 months of unauthorized collection, storage, access to or distribution of legally protected communications,” reported the Washington Post.”Most were unintended. Many involved failures of due diligence or violations of standard operating procedure. The most serious incidents included a violation of a court order and unauthorized use of data about more than 3,000 Americans and green-card holders.”

The number of records collected per incident, however, would potentially be high

For example, a single incident in February 2012, reports the publication, “involved the unlawful retention of 3,032 files that the surveillance court had ordered the NSA to destroy, according to the May 2012 audit. Each file contained an undisclosed number of telephone call records.”

In 2008, in another incident, a “large number of calls” in Washington, D.C. were accidentally intercepted when “a programming error confused U.S. area code 202 for 20, the international dialing code for Egypt, according to a ‘quality assurance’ review that was not distributed to the NSA’s oversight staff.”

The Guardian reported in late June that the NSA program, codenamed “SHELLTRUMPET,” collected its one trillionth metadata record on December 31, 2012. The program, which had been active for five years by that time and is only one of several in operation, processed half-a-trillion Internet metadata records in 2012 alone.

A senior NSA official spoke to the Washington Post on a condition of anonymity for the story, which was published nearly a week after President Obama called for further transparency from the U.S. intelligence community.

The White House and the NSA, the Washington Post also reports in a follow up piece, attempted to have the publication substitute quotations from an on the record interview in favor of a prepared statement.

Via: The Daily Caller

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MUST WATCH: O'Reilly Blasts Al Sharpton For Dishonest Reporting

Bill O’Reilly seems to have reached his breaking point with Al Sharpton. Tonight on The Factor, O’Reilly decided to share a personal story in order to “prove” what type of a personal Sharpton is.

Previously, O’Reilly criticized a surfer who receives thousands of dollars in food stamps and the failure of the federal government to regulate who gets entitlements from the taxpayer. He said this on his show: “This guy’s a parasite and my contention is that the Obama Administration is encouraging parasites to come out and, you know, take as much as they can with no remorse. […] This is how a country declines.”

Al Sharpton took those comments and interpreted it as O’Reilly is “attacking the poor.”

Tonight, the Factor host said Sharpton is “not telling the truth once again.”

Here’s what O’Reilly called “the crusher” on Sharpton: “He’s been portraying me as a racist and a brutalizer of the poor. A few years ago Sharpton told me that his charity in Harlem, New York was out of money and that it could not provide Christmas presents and Christmas dinners to hundreds of poor people in Harlem. So I gave Sharpton a $25,000 dollar donation to provide the gifts and the food.”

He went on to say that it’s necessary to tell that story now in order to prove what kind of person Al Sharpton is.

Via: Fox News

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On climate change, Obama, EPA plan action without Congress

BOULDER, Colo. | EPA chief Gina McCarthy said Wednesday that the Obama administration is finished waiting for Congress to act on climate change and plans to bypass the legislative branch in developing a federal response.

Ms. McCarthy, who was confirmed last month as Environmental Protection Agency administrator, cited President Obama’s June 25 speech at Georgetown University, in which he unveiled his Climate Action Plan and vowed to make combatting climate change a priority of his second term.

Mr. Obama gave “what I really think is a most remarkable speech by a president of the United States,” said Ms. McCarthy in remarks at the University of Colorado Boulder.

“Essentially, he said that it is time to act,” she said. “And he said he wasn’t going to wait for Congress, but that he had administrative authorities and that it was time to start utilizing those more effectively and in a more concerted way.”

She insisted that reducing greenhouse-gas emissions could be accomplished without harming economic growth, calling the tension between the two priorities a “false choice.”

“We’re going to do this this year, next year, the following year, until people understand these are not scary things to do, these are actions we can all do, they’re actions that benefit everybody, that will grow the economy, and they’re actions that will protect the health and safety of individuals,” Ms. McCarthy said.

Via: Washington TImes

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Uncle Sam's Yard Sale: Gov't looks to unload Afghanistan war hardware

It could be Uncle Sam’s biggest yard sale.

After 12 years of war in Afghanistan, officials are now pondering what to do with $50 billion in equipment half a world away — including combat vehicles, dining rooms, gyms, clothing and more.

“A lot of this stuff, you're not really concerned about bringing it back,” said Jim Hasik, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council. “I mean if a Coke machine falls into the hands of the Taliban, this is just not a big disaster.” 

But eventually, much of the gear will trickle down to the public. With the click of a mouse the spoils of war can be yours on govliquidation.com. Each day, new items appear on the site – as bases around the country release unneeded items – from rafts and trucks, to fire engines and pretzel stands.

But first, the massive effort to bring some of the equipment home. By December 2014, the U.S. military will have transported home some 35,000 vehicles and 95,000 containers at an estimated cost of $6 billion. It is the largest retrograde or pullout in history. 

“There are huge problems getting materiel out of Afghanistan,” said Don Olson, top civilian leader of the Sierra Army Depot, America’s largest repository of military equipment. 

The biggest problem, since Afghanistan is landlocked, is that the U.S. must fly the equipment out or pay exorbitant customs fees to Afghanistan and Pakistan. The cost of moving the containers alone could reach $237 million, officials estimate. 

Via: Fox News

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Los Angeles DWP workers earned $77.3 million in extra pay in first half of 2013

In the first six months of this year, Department of Water & Power employees earned $77.3 million in extra pay for such things as overtime, laying cement or working in bad weather, according to an analysis released Thursday by Los Angeles City Controller Ron Galperin.

Those extra earnings, if paid at the same rate through the year’s end, would total $155 million, or an average of roughly $15,800 in extra wages for each DWP worker, Galperin said.

DWP workers earned an average of 17% above their base salaries in extra pay, compared with 9% for police and fire workers and 1% for civilian workers in the city, he said. Galperin, in his first news conference since taking office July 1, said the analysis shows that base pay for DWP workers rises significantly when more than 600 extra-pay categories embedded in union contracts are factored in.

DATABASE: Track DWP salaries 

"Angelenos deserve the most cost effective services that DWP and that the city as a whole can and should provide,’’ he said at the City Hall press gathering. “Higher expenses translate into higher rates, less money for much-needed infrastructure improvements.”

Galperin’s presentation came one day before a key public hearing to discuss a DWP contract before the City Council. The proposed four-year contract would provide three consecutive years of no raises, with a pay increase of 4% arriving in October 2016.

It would also hike the retirement age and decrease the size of pension benefits provided to future DWP employees. City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana has said it would save city ratepayers nearly $500 million in first four years and billions over the next 30 years.

Via: Los Angeles Times

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Hilarious New OFA Ad: Obamacare “Is Helping Everyday Families Every Day”…

I’m assuming there isn’t a person in America who actually believes that (with the exception of the Obamabot drone army).

A new ad promoting Obamacare was released Thursday, promoting insurance rebates families receive under the new health care law, according to reports.
The ad by Organizing for Action will run on national cable channels, specifically Bravo and Lifetime, and is the third spot in support of the health care law running this summer, an OFA official told CNN.
On screen, the ad touts in overlay text “ObamaCare is helping everyday families every day.”
“It’s nice to see somebody’s looking out for the little guy,” the father says in the ad.

Via: Weasel Zippers

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SEIU OFFICIAL: 'SEVERAL' ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS ARE MEMBERS OF UNION

Eliseo Medina, the International Treasurer/Secretary for the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) freely admitted that the union has members who are illegal immigrants. Medina made the comments in an exclusive interview with Lee Stranahan of Breitbart News at a rally for immigration reform attended by hundreds of people in Bakersfield, California. Medina gave no indication that he thought there was anything wrong with violating U.S. immigration law and said the country needed comprehensive immigration reform because workers who are in the country illegally fear legal consequences of being arrested or deported when they go to work.Via: BreitbartContinue Reading....

The really bad news behind the jobless claims drop

 

The U.S. economy showed more strength—of a sort—Thursday when the government reported that the number of Americans filing initial claims for unemployment fell to 320,000, putting the four-week moving average at 332,000.

(Read more: Jobless claimsplunge to near 6-year low; consumer prices tame)

That's getting closer to the threshold that would indicate a job market not merely treading water but actually showing real growth that would take down theunemployment rate, which stands at 7.4 percent.

For most of the recovery, the jobless rate has fallen from its cycle high of 10 percent thanks largely to a shrinking labor force. The government only counts those working or actively looking for jobs in the headline rate.

Trouble is, the improvement has come on the backs of worker paychecks.

Less-publicized data Thursday showed that real weekly earnings tumbled 0.5 percent from June to July, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The figure is derived from a 0.2 percent drop in real average hourly earnings, plus a 0.3 percent decrease in the average work week.

What's more, wages dropped an an annualized basis as well.

(Read more: Fed's Bullard: Inflation could return)

The BLS said average hourly earnings fell 0.1 percent from July 2012 to July 2013.

The data runs counter to some of the recent BLS monthly reports. In the July unemployment summary, which indicated the economy created 162,000 new jobs, the BLS said the annual wage gain was 1.9 percent.

Federal Reserve policy makers are watching the data closely both to see which way the jobs market is heading—and for inflationary pressures. It will be part of the central bank's decision on whether to begin pulling back on its $85 billion a month bond-purchasing program known as quantitative easing.

Via: CNBC

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