BUYING GUNS ON BLACK FRIDAY BECOMES TRADITION UNDER OBAMA

Although much of the gun control push under President Obama has failed to result in new laws, it has succeeded in creating a new tradition where shoppers scoop up guns on Black Friday so they can place them under the tree on Christmas Day.

Consider the numbers: in 2008, ABC News reported 97,848 background checks on Black Friday. In 2009, the numbers remained somewhat static but then began to grow exponentially as the Obama administration and Congressional Democrats began to flex their muscles.  By 2011, there were 129,166 background checks on Black Friday alone. 

As the National Shooting Sports Foundation reported, the jump in 2011 marked "a 32.01 percent increase over" the sales on 2008 Black Friday--the year Obama was first elected.

In 2012, the number of Black Friday background checks rose to 154,873. Remember that because numerous guns can be purchased with each background check, these figures don't even begin to indicate how many firearms may actually have been sold. 

This information is not lost on retailers like Cabela's, Bass Pro Shops, and Wal-Mart. Cabela's literally gave away shotguns to early bird customers in some cities on Black Friday--those receiving the guns went through a background check--and Huffington Post reported that Bass Pro Shops was running hot deals on Bushmaster AR-15 rifles. 

Wal-Mart ran a "Manager's Special Sale" that translated into "20 percent off select rifles and shotguns."

Buying a firearm on Black Friday has fast become an American tradition under President Obama. 

Via: Breitbart

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SALOON OWNER TOLD TO REMOVE SIGN HONORING VETS

A sign hovering above a Huntington Beach saloon for the last six years, thanking veterans for protecting our freedom, has been ordered to be removed. When he arrived at work on Monday, Johnny Kresimir, the owner of Johnny’s Booze and Pool, discovered a citation had been placed on his door. A city spokeswoman for Huntington Beach said the establishment lacked the proper permits to display the sign that reads, “Thank a Veteran for your Freedom.”

Kresimir posted on Facebook that the City was threatening him with a $1000 fine if he didn’t produce the necessary permits to hang the sign. "If the sign goes down, it's not going to hurt our business. It's just going to hurt the community," Kresimir lamented. Veterans reacted to the incident by posting reasons for why the sign should remain perched above the bar.  A campaign to keep the sign has been spearheaded by Mayor Pro Tem Matthew Harper. He pledges that he will fight to preserve the sign if it comes up before the City Council.

The metal structure that supports the sign was placed there before Kresimir purchased the saloon. Removing the sign is a big job because of the electrical wiring, and his commercial lease prohibits anyone to stand on the roof. Kresimir is dismayed that he has to take it down because he erected the sign to honor veterans and those currently serving in our military. However, the patriotic proprietor isn’t giving up and plans to lobby the city to see if he can keep the sign in place. If he loses the battle, Kresimir vows to invite veterans from the area to come and say goodbye to the symbol that honors them.

 Via: Breitbart

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At least 4 dead as Metro-North passenger train derails in New York City

 NEW YORK –  At least four people are dead after a Metro-North passenger train derailed on its way to New York City, sources tell FoxNews.com.

There are "dozens of injuries” in the accident that occurred at 7:20 a.m., about 100 feet north of the Spuyten Duyvil station in the Bronx, according to Metro-North.

A Metro-North spokesman tells FoxNews.com the derailment involved the commuter train departing Poughkeepsie in Dutchess County at 5:54 a.m. -- the second train to leave that station on Sunday.

The derailed train was due to arrive at Manhattan’s Grand Central Station at 7:43 a.m.

The whole train comprised seven cars, plus a diesel locomotive, and five of the cars went off the tracks, said Metro-North spokesman Aaron Donovan.

The derailment occurred near the Harlem River, and authorities say two cars were left lying on their sides, although none of the cars went into the nearby waterway.
“One approached the water and came close, but did not go in,” Donovan tells FoxNews.com.

Via: Fox News

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Triage for HealthCare.gov: Administration Punts on Small Business Exchange

Sometimes to save the patient, you have to chop off a limb. The Obama administration is doing just that with the underperfoming HealthCare.gov website, announcing Wednesday that it will give up on opening the exchange for small businesses for another year and will rely on direct enrollment through insurance companies and brokers instead.

“This allows small employers to sign up for coverage through offline enrollment while [the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services] works on creating a smoothly functioning online experience in the SHOP Marketplace,” an official at the Department of Health and Human Services said.

The move allows the administration to focus all of its efforts on the individual exchange, which is expected to face a crush of users as the clock clicks closer to a Dec. 23 deadline for enrollment to be insured on Jan. 1. Administration officials Wednesday afternoon were already warning that the website would be able to handle 50,000 people at a time — or about 800,000 per day — but could continue to have problems handling spikes in volume.

There are some positives for small businesses in the decision, according to details provided by an HHS official. Small businesses will no longer have to be certified as eligible for tax credits before signing up for their plans. They will merely have to have their applicaiton done before filing their taxes.

But the latest announcement is another stunning setback for the administration’s signature initiative and comes just a day before Thanksgiving and days before a self-imposed Dec. 1 deadline for the main website to be ready for the vast majority of users — one that the administration has been worried enough about of late to not engage in a full-court promotional press to get Americans to apply.

Republicans quickly pounced.

Via: Roll Call

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Gallup: Obamacare’s Hurt/Had No Effect: 10; Helped:1

(CNSNews.com) - The percentage of Americans who say that Obamacare has either hurt them and their family or has had no effect yet outnumbers those who say it has helped by a margin of approximately 10 to 1, according to a new poll released by Gallup.

On Nov. 23-24, Gallup asked 1,034 adults this question: “As you may know, a few of the provisions of the healthcare law have already gone into effect. So far, has the new law helped you and your family, not had an effect, or has it hurt you and your family?

Only 9 percent said that Obamacare had helped them and their family. Meanwhile, 19 percent said it had hurt them and their family and 69 percent said that it had had no effect on them and their family.

The combined 88 percent who said it either hurt them and their family or had no effect on them and their family represented 9.7 times as many people as the 9 percent who said it had helped them and their family.

Via: CNS News

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U.S. airlines advised to give China flight plans over new defense zone

WASHINGTON/TOKYO (Reuters) - The United States advised its commercial airlines to notify Chinese authorities of flight plans when travelling through an air defense zone that Beijing established a week ago over the East China Sea, ratcheting up regional tensions.

The United States said it expected U.S. carriers to operate in line with so-called notices to airmen issued by foreign countries, adding, however, that the decision did "not indicate U.S. government acceptance of China's requirements.

The advice is in contrast with America's close ally Japan, where the two major airlines have agreed with the Japanese government to fly through the zone without notifying China.

Beijing wants foreign aircraft passing through the zone - including passenger planes - to identify themselves to Chinese authorities.

A U.S. administration official said China's action appeared to be a unilateral attempt to change the status quo in the East China Sea, which could "increase the risk of miscalculation, confrontation and accidents".

"We urge the Chinese to exercise caution and restraint, and we are consulting with Japan and other affected parties throughout the region," the official said.

The zone includes skies over islands at the heart of a tense territorial dispute between Japan and China and represents a historic challenge by the emerging new world power to the United States, which has dominated the region for decades.

Via: Yahoo News

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RUMOR CHECK: A ‘MESSIANIC’ OBAMA DEPICTED IN BOOK FOR GRADE SCHOOLERS?

The scuttlebutt is that the poetry-based mini-biography “Barack Obama: Son of Promise, Child of Hope” paints the president with a “messianic” brush and is reportedly a Common Core fave.

Gateway Pundit noted “Common Core kid’s book teaches 3rd graders that Barack Obama is honest, kind, fair and godlike.” It went on to quote EAG News:

… a new lesson that casts America’s 44th president in a messianic light. Literally.

And – surprise – it’s Common Core-aligned.

EAG called attention to a teacher’s guide for “Son of Promise” which is titled “Barack Obama Lesson Plan and Prezi,” authored by Sherece Bennett, and is for sale atTeachersPayTeachers.com.

TheBlaze picked up a copy of “Son of Promise.” Here’s what we found out:

Via: The Blaze

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@BarackObama’s (and the Democrats’) war on the scourge of piano teacher nonprofit associations.

Background: the Federal Trade Commission got a bug up ah, decided that some boilerplate, non-binding, non-enforceable language in the Music Teachers National Association (a small nonprofit out of Ohio) represented an attempt to jack up prices in the high-stakes, ruthlessly competitive world of piano lessons (average lesson, according to the WSJ: $30). Not having any friends in court – and no, I don’t think that I’ll strike that out, given that it’s brutally truthful – the MTNA simply surrendered to the tender mercies of the FTC. The result?

This October, MTNA signed a consent decree—its contents as ludicrous as the investigation. The association did not have to admit or deny guilt. It must, however, read a statement out loud at every future national MTNA event warning members against talking about prices or recruitment. It must send this statement to all 22,000 members and post it on its website. It must contact all of its 500-plus affiliates and get them to sign a compliance statement.

The association must also develop a sweeping antitrust compliance program that will require annual training of its state presidents on the potential crimes of robber-baron piano teachers. It must submit regular reports to the FTC and appoint an antitrust compliance officer. (The FTC wanted the officer to be an attorney, but Mr. Ingle explained that this would “break the bank,” so the agency—how gracious—is allowing him to fill the post.) And it must comply with most of this for the next 20 years.

The MTNA is not yet free of fear; the FTC has still to approve the consent decree. An FTC spokesman told me the agency does not confirm or deny the existence of investigations. The organization to this day has no idea how it became a target, nor will it ever because the FTC doesn’t have to provide it.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you: our federal bureaucracy. If you were to ask one hundred Democrats, picked at random, whether or not they intended their support for big government to result in a world where a bunch of unelected bureaucrats could go wilding on a Cincinnati music teachers’ nonprofit, probably about ninety or so would say “No.” The problem is, if you asked them if they ever did anything to make sure that said bureaucrats would not have an opportunity to go wilding on said nonprofit, even more of them would say “No.” Despite the fact that we’ve known for decades that bureaucracies creep, and government expands, and government officials like to exercise their power. Apparently, once the government bureau is set up, Heroic Civic Space Newts are supposed to pop out of the aether and make sure that only the BAD people get drowned in paperwork*. That this does not happen is never adequately addressed by liberals; or, indeed, ever addressed at all. Which is a shame; we might trust big government more if its most devoted adherents showed any sign of wanting to ensure that big government functioned properly.

Assuming that either they, or it, even could.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

*This is a remarkably obscure literary reference, even for me.

Via: Red State

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