Breaking: Report Finds #RachelDolezal Misconduct On Spokane Police Ombudsman Commission

Whistleblower Report Finds Commissioner Misconduct

Report Says Three Ombudsman Commissioners Acted Inappropriately

Contact: Brian Coddington, Communications Director, 509.625.6740

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Wednesday, June 17, 2015 at Noon

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An independent investigation into a whistleblower complaint filed against three members of the volunteer citizen Police Ombudsman Commission has found behavioral misconduct during interactions with City employees.

The eight findings in the report admonish the conduct of chair Rachel Dolezal and commissioners Kevin Berkompas and Adrian Dominguez. It has been forwarded to the City Council for review and determination of any action.

“We are deeply disturbed by the facts contained in the report of findings from the independent investigator,” Spokane Mayor David Condon and Council President Ben Stuckart said in a joint statement. “The conduct is unacceptable and falls far short of the community's expectations of volunteers who sit on City boards and commissions.”

The investigation began on May 4. The full report is available below.

Separately, a selection committee has been interviewing applicants for the vacant ombudsman position. The committee is prepared to recommend three finalists after a nationwide search.

“We remain firmly committed to a Police Ombudsman Commission that delivers independent citizen oversight of the police department, and will keep the process of hiring a new ombudsman moving forward,” Condon and Stuckart said.

Attachments:

• Report to the City of Spokane Whistleblower Committee (PDF 1.8 MB)
• Report to the City of Spokane Whistleblower Committee - Exhibit A (PDF 12 MB)
• Report to the City of Spokane Whistleblower Committee - Exhibit B (PDF 194 KB)
• Report to the City of Spokane Whistleblower Committee - Exhibit C (PDF 104 KB)
• Report to the City of Spokane Whistleblower Committee - Exhibit D (PDF 303 KB)
• Report to the City of Spokane Whistleblower Committee - Exhibit E (PDF 165 KB)
• Report to the City of Spokane Whistleblower Committee - Exhibit F (PDF 1.8 MB)

Via: Skokane City

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‘DOLEZAL IS NOT A VICTIM, SHE LIED’ – MONTEL WILLIAMS SPEAKS OUT ON THE HOT MESS

Montel Williams posted on a Facebook his thoughts on Rachel Donezal, and he doesn’t seem to be terribly supportive of the fake “trans-racial” white woman who deceived everyone into believing she was a black woman.

Here’s the post in its entirety:

So some lengthy thoughts on the ‪#‎RachelDolezal‬ saga. First, let me be the one to say – there is not a rational black American who wouldn’t welcome with open arms a white person (or a Hispanic, Asian, polka dotted person) who cares about the issues the black community as a whole faces and wants to devote themselves to the work of making positive change.

I fundamentally reject the comparison of Rachel Dolezal to Caitlyn Jenner. Jenner has NEVER denied she was born a man. Jenner has undergone a difficult if not impossible to reverse physical transformation to live her true gender – Dolezal, with some makeup remover and hair relaxer could, in short order, be Caucasian.

Again, I think this is about honesty, it’s about taking responsibility. When it suited her, she sued as a white woman – when it suited her otherwise she assumed the identity of a black woman. When she was called on it, she tried to use as many big words as possible to obfuscate it. With due respect, whom your biological parents are and whether they are white is not a “complex and multi layered discussion.” That is obfuscating the truth with big words.

I won’t speak for the Black community – which, much to the apparent surprise of some is incredibly diverse in thought. Personally, I think her problem is she hasn’t had a reckoning with the truth. The truth is she lied – she is not a victim on the basis that she finds the questions asked inconvenient. Jenner in contrast answered difficult questions from the heart and didn’t obfuscate one bit. She also took responsibility for her failures as a parent and the lies she told during her marriages to women.

I also wonder about her parents, who, have seemingly appeared in every media outlet known to human kind. I respect their need to be honest. I wonder at what point this became about running up the score.

Where I saw heartfelt honesty and insight into the mistakes of the past from Jenner I see self righteousness from Dolezal. I see a woman who is trying very hard to be the victim and one who seemingly finds victimization in whatever identity she assumes.

She’s also filed a multitude of apparently false police reports – even taking her story is true on its face, her “self identification” as black does not justify that sort of behavior which is dishonesty rising to the level of criminality.

Via: Red State

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WH Science Adviser: ‘Cars, Trucks and Planes Are Going to Have to Run on Electricity, Biofuels or Hydrogen'

(CNSNews.com) – John Holdren, President Barack Obama’s top science and technology advisor, said at a White House summit on clean energy on Tuesday that a “global low-carbon economy” by the year 2050 means that “cars, trucks and planes” will be powered by “electricity, biofuels or hydrogen.”

“As we all know, a global low-carbon economy in 2050 is going to have to meet the energy needs of 9 or 10 billion people using technologies that will have to be more advanced than the technologies that are in place today,” he said. “Buildings, agriculture, machines must be dramatically more energy-efficient.”

“Cars, trucks and planes are going to have to run on electricity, biofuels or hydrogen,” Holdren said. "Electricity generation is going to need to come primarily from renewables and nuclear energy.

Via: CNS News

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MICHELLE OBAMA VOWS TO During her European tour promoting her anti-obesity program ‘Let’s Move!’,

During her European tour promoting her anti-obesity program ‘Let’s Move!’, First Lady Michelle Obama indicated that she would continue fighting obesity for the rest of her life.

“While I am in my final stretch as First Lady, I have no intention of slowing down on this issue,” she explained to an Italian news organization. “I plan to continue this work long after I leave the White House.”

Obama pointed out that in spite of everything she has done on the issue, “not a single country has reversed these obesity trends in a lasting way.”

In America, she explained, childhood obesity rates have “stopped rising” but that number is still too high.

“Right now, one in three kids in the U.S. is overweight or obese – for African American and Hispanic kids, the rate is nearly 40 percent,” she said. “And obesity is now one of the leading causes for preventable death and disease in the United States.”

The First Lady proudly highlighted some of the accomplishments, including the fact that children were going to more daycare centers “where fruits and vegetables have replaced cookies and juice.”

She boasted that chain restaurants made healthier kids’ menus while food companies beverage cut “trillions” of calories from their products.

Via: Breitbart

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Some of Clinton's Libya emails said to be withheld from Benghazi Committee

House GOP Benghazi investigators have discovered 60 new Libya communications between Sidney Blumenthal and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, a congressional source told POLITICO on Monday — suggesting that either the State Department or the 2016 Democratic presidential contender withheld correspondence the panel had requested.

The House Select Committee on Benghazi had quietly subpoenaed Blumenthal’s Libya emails. And on Friday, the longtime Clinton family friend — who is set to testify before investigators behind closed doors Tuesday morning — handed over 120 pages worth of new Libya- and Benghazi-related emails.

“These emails were not previously produced to the Committee or released to the public, and they will help inform tomorrow’s deposition,” panel Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) said in a statement late Monday evening. “We are prepared to release these emails.”

Panel Republicans are pushing to release the emails as early as Tuesday but need Democrats to agree to do so under committee rules that require the minority to be given a five-day warning before release.

In the meantime, they’re wondering why they didn’t have them in the first place.

Clinton has said she and her team gave all her work-related correspondence over to State, which was then tasked with going through the emails and giving the panel relevant messages. Department officials turned up about 300 emails related to the attack on the Benghazi diplomatic compound that left four Americans dead.

Via: Politico

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[VIDEO] Gowdy sounds off on Clinton receiving unvetted Benghazi info

Via: Fox Video

[VIDEO] Gutfeld: Thank You, Rachel Dolezal

By exposing the limits of identity politics, you've revealed the absurdity of those who cling to it

GUTFELD: On MSNBC, whatever that is, Michael Eric Dyson said Rachel Dolezal is blacker than Clarence Thomas. Roll it, Francine.

GUILFOYLE: And you can make that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL ERIC DYSON, MSNBC POLITICAL ANALYST: You know those of us who talk about race as a social construct, that it is more complicated. Bill Clinton is the first black president, though, he didn't try to he was black. It means that, she may be not African-American, but she certainly could be black in a cultural sense. She's taken on the ideas, the identities, the struggles, she's identified with them. I bet a lot more black people would support Rachel Dolezal than with supports to Clarence Thomas.

Via: Fox News

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The Cover Oregon Cover-Up

The key measure for an effective ad campaign is an affirmative response to a simple question: “Do viewers remember the ad?” In the case of Oregon and their effort to drive people to the state’s Obamacare exchange, officials are doing everything in their power to make people forget the awful campaign, including, allegedly, deleting emails and documents pertaining to what has become an every-growing story of corruption and criminality.

Former Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber made his name in politics as an advocate of health care reform. He was a champion of Obamacare and other government-spending schemes. When the federal spending spigot opened for states to establish their own health care exchanges, Kitzhaber and his crew were eager to be among the first in line. The Obama administration in turn was happy to rain $200 million of federal funds into Oregon to establish a model program that other states would emulate.

Trouble in paradise started when Cover Oregon began running ads touting the exchange. The ads looked like they were designed by a hippie at Woodstock who was still suffering the after-effects of a decades long acid-trip. They were emblazed in people’s minds, but not in the way state officials wanted, and instead became fodder for incessant mockery from comedians and late night talk show hosts.

There was a greater problem, however. No one signed up. No one. The web experienced problems similar to those of the federal government, but according to insiders who are now speaking to federal criminal investigators the problems were fixable with some more time. The problem wasn’t the technology; it was the people who were in charge of the operation — Kitzhaber’s political operators.

When trouble started, Kitzhaber apparently violated state law prohibiting governmental decisions from being made for political purposes. He tasked his chief political advisor, his Karl Rove in a dress and state’s self-proclaimed “Princess of Darkness,” Patricia McCaig to oversee Cover Oregon.

Via: Human Events

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Obama Prepares More ‘Executive Actions’ On Global Warming

President Barack Obama is preparing to unleash a series of “executive actions” aimed at boosting the green energy industry as part of the president’s global warming agenda.

Obama is launching a “Clean Energy Impact Investment Center” at the Energy Department to “make information about energy and climate programs … accessible and more understandable to the public, including to mission-driven investors.”

The White House is also ordering the IRS to come out with guidance and rules to get nonprofits to invest in green energy technologies, along with creating more government financing options for small businesses looking to go green.

“Today’s announcements will help ensure that even more American-made clean energy technologies can make the leap from an idea, to the laboratory, to the global marketplace,” the White House said in a statement. “We look forward to continuing to unleash the power and potential of innovations that serve both our economy and our environment, and to the as-yet-unimagined breakthroughs still to come.”

The White House also took time to announce it had doubled the amount of green energy investment promises from the private sector, including $3.5 billion in commitments from environmental nonprofits and institutional investors.

President Obama has made tackling global warming a top priority during his second term in office, and it’s clear he wants to make signing a global climate treaty part of his presidential legacy. Administration officials have been working tirelessly to get other countries to sign onto a major carbon dioxide emissions reductions agreement later this year.

But the administration has seen mixed success on the diplomatic front, so it’s continuing to announce new regulations and executive orders aimed at reducing U.S. emissions. White House officials have continually argued that if other countries see the U.S. lead on emissions reductions they will follow suit.

“If I can encourage and gain commitments from the Chinese to put forward a serious plan to start curbing their greenhouse gases, and that then allows us to leverage the entire world for the conference that will be taking place later this year in Paris,” Obama told VICE News in an interview.

Via: Daily Caller

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MRS. OBAMA IN BRITAIN: VISITS BANGLADESHI-DOMINATED SCHOOL WHICH HOSTS HARD-LEFT CONFERENCES IN ISLAMIST-FRIENDLY BOROUGH

U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama travelled to the United Kingdom today, choosing to give a speech on female empowerment while surrounded by hijab-clad girls in the ethnically “diverse” London borough of Tower Hamlets.

But the Commercial Road in Tower Hamlets, from where Mrs. Obama chose to lecture, isn’t ethnically diverse, and nor is the Mulberry School for Girls that she visited.

Tower Hamlets, which only days ago managed to shake off its Islamist-linked Mayor, boasts a Bangladeshi, Indian, and Pakistani, and otherwise Asian population. At the last census, in 2011, 39 percent of the population self-identified as Christian, while 36 percent identified as Muslim. The Muslim population of the borough is believed to have overtaken the Christian population by some way in the years since, with the next census not due until 2021.

And in Tower Hamlets, nearly 1 in 5 residents did not speak English as their first language, according to the 2011 statistics, opting instead for Bengali.

The Mulberry School for Girls, where Mrs Obama delivered her patronising ‘Let Girls Learn’ speech, is described in multiple Ofsted school inspection reports as having “nearly all students… of Bangladeshi heritage, with a very small minority from other backgrounds, including White British, Pakistani and African.”

Via: Breitbart

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Sexism and Racism Are Leftism

In our time, sexism and racism have become the province of the rich.

 Discrimination by sex and by race are ancient innate pathologies and transcend particular cultures. But the American idea of sexism and racism in the 21st century — unfailing, endemic, and institutional discrimination by a majority-white-male-privileged culture against both women and so-called non-white minorities — has largely become a leftist construct. We can see how these two relativist -isms work in a variety of ways.

One, the frequent charge of racism and sexism is predicated not so much on one’s gender and race as on one’s gender, race, and politics. Certainly, few on the left worried much about the slurs against Sarah Palin during and after her vice-presidential run. America’s overclass in the media and leftist politics constructed a sexist portrait of a clueless white-trash mom in Wasilla, Alaska, mindlessly having lots of kids after barely graduating from the University of Idaho. Even Bill Maher’s and David Letterman’s liberal armor would not have withstood leftist thrusts had, mutatis mutandis, the former called Hillary Clinton a c–t or the latter disparaged Ms. Clinton as “slutty flight attendant” and joked that, when a teen, Chelsea Clinton had had sexual relations with a Yankee baseball player in the dugout. Ironically it was the by-her-own-bootstraps lower-middle-class Palin who braved the frontier, no-prisoners, male world to become governor of Alaska; in real terms, she is the true feminist. In contrast, according to doctrinaire feminism, Hillary Clinton does not measure up. She has largely clung, in mousy fashion, to her two-timing husband, excused his serial and manipulative philandering with young women of less clout and power, traded on his political nomenclature, and piggy-backed on his career.

Via: National Review

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Katie Pavlich: Obama’s anti-police ideology

As President Obama starts to wind down his tenure in the White House, with just a year and a half to go, he’s focusing on federalization of local police forces in the name of “justice.” Attorney General Loretta Lynch will be his go-to on this project, just as Eric Holder was before her. 

The goal, according to the White House and Department of Justice, is to take a close look at police practices across the country to ensure minorities, in particular African-Americans, aren’t unfairly singled out for police scrutiny. 

But Obama’s long record shows he isn’t necessarily interested in police brutality; instead, he holds an anti-police ideology. 

It all started way back in 2009 when Obama, before he knew all of the facts, accused the police of “acting stupidly” after his friend, Harvard Professor Henry Gates, was briefly arrested for breaking into his home. 

“I don’t know, not having been there and not seeing all the facts, what role race played,” the president said at the time. “But I think it’s fair to say, No. 1, any of us would be pretty angry; No. 2, that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home; and, No. 3 ... that there’s a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately.”

This was a look at Obama’s perspective on the police — take a glance at the White House visitor log, the president’s consultants and the people he nominates, and you’ll get a clear picture of how anti-police he really is. 

So-called civil rights activist and race-baiter the Rev. Al Sharpton has been to the White House nearly 100 times since 2009 and regularly provides consultation on race issues to the president. Obama and Holder went out of their way to participate in events for Sharpton’s National Action Network and proudly displayed his logo behind them during speeches. 

“You know, actions speak louder than words. You put Al Sharpton next to you, you just told everyone, ‘I’m against the police,’ ” former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani said recently. He’s right. 

The president’s stoking of racial flames in Ferguson, Mo., and Baltimore, actions also taken by Sharpton, further proves this point. 

Via: The Hill

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[VIDEO] Ed Henry: Secret Service Not ‘Supposed To Be Protecting’ Hillary ‘From Reporters’

Fox News’ Ed Henry responded on “America’s Newsroom” Tuesday to Hillary Clinton’s campaign’s controlling press operation after he was shut down trying to ask Clinton a question.

Henry complained about the Secret Service’s attempt to protect Clinton, adding that the Clinton press team is not being fair with the traveling media.

“We have this news conference. There’s long buildup to it. I’m standing three feet from Secretary Clinton and, one of her aides had sort of pulled me to the front, suggesting I was likely to get a question,” Henry explained to Martha MacCallum. “So I was waiting my turn. I wasn’t going to start shouting in her face. I’m three feet from her. She goes through her list and they have a careful list of who they’re going to call on, and then she just turns and walks away.”

“I was moving closer trying to get to her. A Secret Service person sort of told me to move back, so I was pretty annoyed by that because I didn’t think the Secret Service was supposed to be protecting candidates from reporters. Fine to protect them for security reasons. This was not a security thing,” Henry continued.

The Fox News chief White House correspondent went on to explain that Clinton’s press team wouldn’t allow him to ask a question after he interrupted the former secretary of state a few weeks prior at an event in Iowa.

“I was trying to get her press secretary Nick Merrill’s attention. Bottom line is, I say, ‘What gives here?’ And he said ‘You already got a question in a few weeks ago when you shouted at her in Iowa,'” Henry said. “I didn’t get a question. I said ‘Secretary Clinton will you come back here or not?’ And she eventually did come back to take questions. That was not exactly a question. That was a request, to come back and actually talk to the media.”

“Then he said, ‘Well, we wanted to give other reporters a chance today who haven’t gotten questions,’ except they also called yesterday on Andrea Mitchell from NBC who had recently gotten called on,” Henry said. “That’s great, she’s a great reporter. And then, finally I noted to them that they not only called on NBC but they called on an MSNBC reporter.”

“So, two NBC questions and not a single Fox question. I’m sure there’s going to be people out there who will think I was just angry and I was whining. No,” Henry said. “We’re covering this campaign as fairly as anybody, and we’re going to be there every step of the way. And if the Clinton campaign doesn’t want to call on us, I’m just going to keep on pressing until they do.”

Via: The Daily Caller

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GOP lawmaker distracted by Facebook accidentally OKs Calif. budget

A Republican lawmaker accidentally cast his party's first vote for the California budget in years because he was distracted by Facebook. 

Assemblyman Scott Wilk was the sole Republican to vote for California's record $117.5 billion spending plan Monday. 

The Santa Clarita lawmaker later clarified he accidentally supported the bill in the Capitol while opposing it on Facebook. He posted on Twitter "My wife is right -- I can't multitask!" 

California's budget is being negotiated between Gov. Jerry Brown and Democratic legislative leaders. They have yet to reach a final deal. 

Wilk's blunder won't show up on the official legislative record because the Assembly allows lawmakers to change their official votes. 

He did so after session ended, receiving applause from fellow Republicans and boos from Democrats.

Via: Fox News

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Feds Can’t Verify $2.8 Billion in Obamacare Subsidies

CMS does not know if subsidies went to ‘confirmed enrollees, in the correct amounts’

The federal government cannot verify nearly $3 billion in subsidies distributed through Obamacare, putting significant taxpayer funding “at risk,” according to a new audit report.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) released an audit Tuesday finding that the agency did not have an internal system to ensure that subsidies went to the right enrollees, or in the correct amounts.

“[The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services] CMS’s internal controls did not effectively ensure the accuracy of nearly $2.8 billion in aggregate financial assistance payments made to insurance companies under the Affordable Care Act during the first four months that these payments were made,” the OIG said.

“CMS’s system of internal controls could not ensure that CMS made correct financial assistance payments,” they said.

The OIG reviewed subsidies paid to insurance companies between January and April 2014. The audit found that CMS did not have a process to “prevent or detect any possible substantial errors” in subsidy payments.

The OIG said the agency did not have a system to “ensure that financial assistance payments were made on behalf of confirmed enrollees and in the correct amounts.”

In addition, CMS relied too heavily on data from health insurance companies and had no system for state-based exchanges to “submit enrollee eligibility data for financial assistance payments.”

The government does “not plan to perform a timely reconciliation” of the $2.8 billion in subsidies.

The audit was released as the country awaits a Supreme Court ruling that could make all federal subsidies invalid, since the majority of states did not set up their own health insurance exchange.

Via: WFB

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Student Loan Debt: To Forgive and Forget

You’d have to be made of stone not to feel for these students,” Education Secretary Arne Duncan said as he announced an Obama administration decision to forgive as many as 350,000 loans taken out by students of the now-defunct Corinthian Colleges. “Some of these schools have brought the ethics of payday lending into higher education.”

I do feel for any adults who took out loans to pay for college courses that they expected to help land them jobs — but didn’t. If the government forgives their debts, then they still never will get back their time or restore their hopes.

But also, I feel for taxpayers, for whom the Corinthian forgiveness tab could reach as high as $3.5 billion. David A. Bergeron of the Center for American Progress told the New York Times he expects the tab to be less than $1 billion, but I wonder whether it could grow, given the administration’s decision to expand the new debt forgiveness terms to debtors from other schools. Question: If Washington can forgive loans for bad schools, why leave out students who went to good schools?

Supporters note that the federal student loan program does turn a profit — enough to absorb the cost of forgiving Corinthian debt. Federal law affords students a shot at debt relief if their school shutters. Last week, the Obama administration expanded forgiveness eligibility to former Corinthian students who took certain programs from 2010 to 2014 and can show that their former schools defrauded them under state law. There is a fast track for those who attended a Heald College in California.

Via: American Spectator

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Entering 2016 Race, Jeb Bush Pledges 19 Million New Jobs, 4% Economic Growth

Jeb Bush didn’t keep his audience in suspense, announcing within four minutes of taking the stage in his adopted home of Miami that he is indeed a candidate for the Republican nomination for president.

Bush made a direct appeal to conservatives in his speech at Miami Dade Community College, echoing Ronald Reagan’s emphasis on getting Washington out of the way of free markets and personal liberty while implicitly slamming President Obama and congressional Democrats.

“We will get back on the side of free enterprise and freedom for all Americans,” @JebBush says.

“We will take Washington—the static capital of this dynamic country—out of the business of causing problems,” he said. “We will get back on the side of free enterprise and freedom for all Americans.”

The former Florida governor said it’s time to “get serious about limited government” and to “build our future on solvency instead of borrowed money.” As he has for months, he said his aim is 4 percent economic growth a year “and the 19 million jobs that come with it.”

He went off-script briefly near the end of his speech, responding to hecklers by taking a poke at both Obama and some of his own conservative critics and promising that “the next president” will achieve “meaningful immigration reforms” through Congress, “not by executive order.”

Bush, 62, wearing an open-collared blue shirt and no jacket, sought to appeal to Americans who don’t see government as fostering the sort of economic and social conditions in which they and their families can thrive—or “rise,” as Bush and his political action committee put it.

He said:

We will take command of our future once again in this country. We will lift our sights again, make opportunity common again, get events in the world moving our way again.

Bush, the son and brother of past presidents, has spent the past six months in early primary states and elsewhere making the case that he is his “own man” while asserting he loves and honors both the former, George H.W. Bush, and the latter, George W. Bush.

Via: Daily Signal

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Texas Spending $800M to Create Its Own Virtual Border Patrol

When former Gov. Rick Perry ordered a big reinforcement of security at the Mexico border in 2011, Texas bought six new gunboats that can fire 900 rounds a minute and clock highway speeds. But the boats, which cost $580,000 each, spent more time docked than patrolling the Rio Grande.

That was a small price tag compared with what Texas is about to spend. The new Republican governor, Greg Abbott, this month approved $800 million for border security over the next two years — more than double any similar period during Perry's 14 years in office.

On Texas' shopping list is a second $7.5 million high-altitude plane to scan the border, a new border crime data center, a 5,000-acre training facility for border law-enforcement agencies and grants for year-round helicopter flights. The state also wants to hire two dozen Texas Rangers to investigate public corruption along the border and 250 new state troopers as a down payment on a permanent force along the border.

Special: Why is the Country's Largest Bank Stockpiling Silver?

Other states along the nearly 2,000-mile Southwest border — New Mexico, Arizona and California — do not come remotely close to the resources Texas has committed. And Texas is doing so long after last year's surge in undocumented immigrants crossing the border has subsided.

So why is Texas setting up what appears to be a parallel border patrol alongside the federal force?

"Google 'cartel crime in Mexico' and just put a time period of the last week, and you'll see some dramatic instances of what the cartels are doing in Mexico right now," Abbott told reporters this month following the legislative session. "The first obligation of government is to keep people safe and that means ensuring that this ongoing cartel activity, which is not abating whatsoever, gains no root at all in the state of Texas."

The 320-mile Rio Grande Valley sector of the border was ground zero last year for a wave of Central American migrants, mostly unaccompanied minors and women with children. The Valley sector accounted for 53 percent of all migrants captured in the Southwest during the fiscal year ending September.

Via: Newsmax

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Austin’s Plastic Bag Ban Worse for Environment Than Bags It Outlaws

(

CNSNews.com)-- In an effort to protect the environment, Austin,Texas passed an ordinance banning single-use plastic bags in 2013.

However, a recent review concludes that Austin’s bag ban has backfired, creating more negative effects on the environment than the plastic bags it outlawed.

“Beginning March 1, 2013, no person may provide single-use carryout bags at any City facility, City-sponsored event, or any event held on City property,” the ordinance reads. “Beginning March 1, 2013, a business establishment within the City limits may not provide single-use carryout bags to its customers or to any person.”

Two years after the bag ban was implemented, the city asked the Austin Resource Recovery group to investigate its effectiveness. Their June 10 report, written by Aaron Waters, states that while the ban was successful in lowering the amount of single-use plastic bags made from high-density polyethylene in city landfills, it was actually worse for the environment overall.

“The amount of single use plastic bags has been reduced, both in count and by weight,” Waters states. “However, in their place, the larger 4 mil [4/1,000ths of an inch] bags have replaced them as the go to standard when the reusable bag is left at home. This reusable plastic bag, along with the paper bag, has a very high carbon footprint compared to the single use bag.”

The 4 mil reusable bags are often made from non-recycled low-density polyethylene and require more resources to manufacture than the single-use bags, Waters explained. Many of the heavier gauge 4 mil bags are also shipped from overseas, which increases their carbon footprint compared to the single-use bags.

Via: CNS News

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Hillary Charged Kids’ Charity $200,000 For Speech

Hillary Clinton charged a kids’ charity $200,000 to speak — and she pocketed every dime.

Clinton reportedly charged the Boys and Girls Club of Long Beach $200,000 for a speech earlier this year, according to new speaking disclosures made available on the Clinton Foundation website.

Clinton spoke at a Boys and Girls Club of Long Beach fundraiser in California on March 3, reportedly speaking to 300 Long Beach “movers and shakers” at an event that was closed to the press. The event was marked by Secret Service security and bomb-sniffing dogs outside before Clinton got there.

The Boys and Girls Club of Long Beach’s programs promote character, education, health, and sports and art involvement for children.

When former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice spoke to the same group in 2009, she reportedly donated the nearly $60,000 they paid her back to the charity.

Via: The Daily Caller

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