In a second undercover video released on Tuesday by the Center for Medical Progress, a top Planned Parenthood official appears to entertain the idea of “violating the protocol” which prohibits abortion doctors from altering their methods in order to obtain fetal tissue and organs donated by patients.
In the video, which is part of a three-year investigation called “Human Capital,” undercover actors posing as officials with a biotech company filmed negotiate payment for intact tissue and organs from aborted fetuses with Mary Gatter, the president of Planned Parenthood’s Medical Directors’ Council.
In the video, which was filmed in February, Gatter says that she is willing to talk to the surgeon who performs abortions to see if he’s willing to use different methods in order to keep tissue and organs intact.
Doing so would appear to violate both federal law and a consent form signed by patients.
The video follows one that the anti-abortion Center for Medical Progress released last week. That one shows another Planned Parenthood official, Deborah Nucatola, discussing selling fetal parts for research purposes. While Planned Parenthood officials have apologized for the “tone” Nucatola used in that video, the organization has claimed that the Center for Medical Progress filmed her illegally.
In the video released Tuesday, the undercover actors ask Gatter “what sort of compensation” she would seek for intact tissue.
Gatter, who previously the medical director of Planned Parenthood’s Los Angeles chapter, responds, “well why don’t you start by telling what you are used to paying?”
“What would make you happy? What would work for you?” the actor asks.
“Well, you know in negotiations the person who throws out a figure first is at a loss, right?” Gatter responds.
“I just don’t want to lowball, because I’m used to low things from …” Gatter begins, before the actor coaxes her to give a specific dollar amount.
BOZEMAN (AP) – The Bozeman School Board has voted to discontinue the National School Lunch Program at the high school after deeming the nutrition rules too strict.
The 5-3 vote this past week came after the school’s food program lost $35,000 last year and officials predicted that losses would deepen as federal food rules tighten in the next few years.
While the high school will drop out of the program, the school Board trustees adopted Superintendent Rob Watson’s recommendation that Bozeman’s elementary and middle schools stay in the program.
The Bozeman Chronicle reports that the decision to drop out will mean losing a $117,000 federal subsidy. But officials say it will give the school more flexibility in local food offerings while still maintaining healthy menus.
Leah wrote about some great news over the weekend regarding concealed carry permits. The Crime Prevention Center reported that the number of permits has increased since 2007–and the murder rate has dropped. The main reason is that President Obama has possibly become the greatest gun salesmen of all time (I may be exaggerating).
“The researchers found that the change in trends with regard to permits and gun sales is directly related to Barack Obama’s presidency. Simply put, the greater the push for gun control in the wake of several mass shootings, the more Americans head to the gun shop,” wrote Leah.
Before Noah Rothman went to Hot Air–he’s now with Commentary–he was atMediaite where he reported on a 2014 Applied Economics Letters’ study that showed between 1980-2009, “the results of the present study suggest that states with restrictions on the carrying of concealed weapons had higher gun-related murder rates than other states. It was also found that assault weapons bans did not significantly affect murder rates at the state level.”
Of course, liberals disagree, but regarding women and firearms the Crime Prevention Center noted another interesting find: women obtaining concealed carry permits rose 270 percent since 2007. Additionally, some findings found that minorities lining up for their concealed carry permit is increasing twice the rate of whites.
The number of concealed handgun permits is increasing at an ever- increasing rate. Over the past year, 1.7 million additional new permits have been issued – a 15.4% increase in just one single year. This is the largest ever single-year increase in the number of concealed handgun permits.
5.2% of the total adult population has a permit.
Five states now have more than 10% of their adult population withconcealed handgun permits.
In ten states, a permit is no longer required to carry in all or virtually all of the state. This is a major reason why legal carrying handguns is growing somuch faster than the number of permits.
Since 2007, permits for women has increased by 270% and for men by 156%.
Some evidence suggests that permit holding by minorities is increasing more than twice as fast as for whites.
Between 2007 and 2014, murder rates have fallen from 5.6 to 4.2 (preliminary estimates) per 100,000. This represents a 25% drop in the murder rate at the same time that the percentage of the adult population with permits soared by 178%. Overall violent crime also fell by 25 percent over that period of time.
While focusing their resources and political energy on the NSA’s mass collection of metadata, privacy advocates have neglected the most dangerous institutionalized violations of the Fourth Amendment: administrative subpoenas.
Now a United States District Court judge in Texas has ruled for the Drug Enforcement Agency that an administrative subpoena may be used to search medical records.
It was inevitable, given the march towards illegally nullifying the Fourth Amendment through use of these judge-less bureaucrat warrants authorized by Congress.
Administrative subpoenas are issued unilaterally by government agencies -- meaning without approval by neutral judges -- and without probable cause stated under oath and affirmation as required by the Fourth Amendment. There are now 336 federal statutes authorizing administrative subpoenas, according to the Department of Justice.
In U.S. v Zadeh, the DEA obtained the records of 35 patient files without showing probable cause or obtaining a warrant issued by a judge. Citing New Deal-era case law, Judge Reed O’Connor noted that “[t]he Supreme Court has refused to require that [a federal] agency have probable cause to justify issuance of an administrative subpoena,” and that they may be issued “merely on suspicion that the law is being violated, or even just because it wants assurance that it is not." (Emphasis added).
In other words, the government may now use “fishing expeditions” for medical records.
Those constitutionally grotesque New Deal-era decisions violated the Fourth Amendment on its face, and were ideological, progressive foolishness when issued against the likes of the Morton Salt Company in 1950. Now this corrupt precedent creating institutionalized violations of the Fourth Amendment has been applied to medical records.
Dr. Zadeh has filed an appeal. Conservative activist Andy Schlafly, the lawyer for the Association of American Physicians & Surgeons, has filed an amicus brief stating, “[w]ithout a warrant and without initially identifying themselves, federal agents searched patient medical records . . . based merely on a state administrative subpoena. A month later the [DEA] sought enforcement . . . [and n]one of the checks and balances against overreaching by one branch of government existed for this warrantless demand for medical records.”
The targeting of private medical records shows that it is now far past the time to eliminate administrative subpoenas for good. Congress may do that legislatively. History also shows it can be done even by the courts, which have the authority -- actually, the constitutional duty -- to declare void acts of Congress in violation of the Constitution.
Several state capitols are flying the US flag at half-mast today in honor of the four Marines and sailor who were shot dead last week by a Muslim in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Five servicemen were killed in the Chattanooga attacks last week.
Flags to fly at half mast to honor Chattanooga victims
(WBIR – NASHVILLE) Flags over the State Capitol and all state office buildings will fly at half-staff in honor of those who were lost in last week's fatal shootings in Chattanooga.
Flags should remain at half-staff until sunset on Friday.
This will include five consecutive business days to honor the life of each serviceman lost.
One of the four Marines killed during Friday’s attack in Chattanooga may have been armed and could have exchanged fire with shooter Mohammad Youssef Abdulazeez, the Washington Post reported on Monday.
Marines are not authorized to carry personally owned firearms at the Navy Operational Support Center, the second location Abdulazeez attacked during his violent spree, and where all five military fatalities occurred. But the FBI recovered a pistol from the scene which may have been “privately owned and used by one of the Marines,” according to the Post. Investigators are reviewing forensics to determine if the pistol was used to fire at or wound Abdulazeez, who died during the violence.
New York City's mayor has had enough Trump, thank you.
During a press conference on Monday, Mayor Bill de Blasio said that while he's uncertain whether the city can break several existing contracts with the Republican presidential hopeful, one thing is clear: There will be no future deals between the Big Apple and Trump.
Obama’s actions have been designed to turn America into a one-party state, much like the People’s Republic of China or Cuba or even Iran
For those who drank the hope and change Kool-Aid, here’s some bad news: the ‘fundamental transformation of America’ is in full swing and as they used to say in show biz, “you ain’t seen nothin’ yet!”
That’s because the last 18 months of this corrupt narcissist’s rule will make the first six-and-a-half years look like a high school civics lesson in good governance. I have always found it ironic that the son of a Kenyan Muslim Marxist and disaffected white liberal woman should grow up to become President of the United States. What’s more, the way in which he arrived at the presidency is shall we say, unusual.
Here’s a guy who was elected on the basis of being a good-looking black man who could speak well. We’ve never read anything that he wrote during his law school years, don’t know what his grades were, in fact, that entire chapter of his life is securely under seal. Why would that be?
And for those of us who believed that Constitutional Government entailed a series of checks and balances between the three branches of government, the Obama years have permanently disabused us of that notion.
Considering the shenanigans that brought about some of Obama’s ‘signature’ legislative achievements, there are Third World dictatorships with more transparent government than what’s the norm in America today. Think about the misnamed Affordable Care and Patient Protection Act, better known as ‘ObamaCare’ and how it was passed in the dead of night with no one having read its contents and with some of the crucial votes for passage having to be purchased through shady deals. Years later came the biting revelations by Jonathan Gruber, one of the Act’s authors that basically called voters ‘stupid’ for having accepted passage.
Then there is the use of the IRS to punish the enemies of the President. I recall a slight whiff of this from the Nixon White House when the impeachment knives began to be sharpened. Yet Obama uses this sinister and powerful agency to steal elections with impunity.
KT McFarland offered a blunt appraisal Monday of Secretary of State John Kerry’s claim that the United States had never sought “anytime, anywhere” inspections of Iran’s suspected nuclear sites.
“It’s a lie,” McFarland, a former State Department official for Ronald Reagan, said. “The reason anytime, anyplace inspections are crucial is because Iran in the past has cheated, so you really need ironclad inspections.”
“You think he was lying?” Fox News host Bill Hemmer asked.
“I think he wants this deal so badly he’s willing to stretch the truth around this,” McFarland responded.
Several of Kerry’s close confidants during the Iran negotiations, including Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz and Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes, are on record earlier in the year assuring reporters that the United States would insist on “anytime, anywhere” inspections as part of any deal.
McFarland said the inspections process that the United States ultimately agreed to gives Iran the ability to stall inspectors for almost a month before they can visit a suspicious site.
“When the president said that we have 24-hour access to key nuclear installations, no you don’t—you have a 24-day period to request to look inside, and Iran has 24 days to say yes you can or no you can’t,” McFarland said.
Observers have expressed grave concern about the complicated bureaucratic mechanism that the United States will have to fight through at the United Nations to gain approval for an IAEA inspection.
By the time inspectors reach a suspected site, they may find only “elaborate cleanup efforts” like those that have been found at Iran’s Parchin military complex during past inspections.
Governor Scott Walker issued a blistering statement today in response to President Obama’s restoration of full diplomatic ties with the Castro regime and the opening of a Cuban embassy in the United States:
Today, the Castro regime is opening its embassy in the United States. Much like with Iran, desperation for a deal has led President Obama to give up much in exchange for almost nothing. The president has handed Cuba a financial lifeline through increased U.S. tourism and investment that will sustain the Castro regime and its oppression for decades to come. Meanwhile, the so-called normalization of relations between the U.S. and Cuba will do nothing to advance American interests or the interests of the Cuban people. A president who believes in American leadership and negotiates from a position of strength would use our leverage to advance U.S. interests and gain greater freedoms for the Cuban people. Unfortunately, President Obama refuses to do that.
Walker is now second in the polls, trailing Trump. He received a bump earlier in the year after pledging to curtail the issuance of new foreign worker visas when American workers had trouble finding jobs.
WASHINGTON – While safety concerns at military recruitment centers have been a long-standing issue, last week’s fatal shootings at two Tennessee installations underscore the deep risk recruiters face daily and the scramble at state and national levels to prevent a similar tragedy from taking place again.
The U.S. military on Monday confirmed to Fox News it directed recruiting centers across the country to step up security measures in the wake of the deadly rampage that claimed the lives of four U.S. Marines and a Navy sailor.
At the same time, a handful of governors have taken steps to beef up security measures at National Guard recruitment centers.
Governors in six states – Florida, Indiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Texas – ordered their Guardsmen to be armed.
Adm. Bill Gortney, head of the U.S. Northern Command, which oversees security for military facilities in the United States, issued a directive Sunday night calling on centers to implement modest measures while the Department of Defense hammers out more substantial steps to reduce the risk to recruiters.
Recruiters typically set up shop in highly-visible areas, like strip malls or storefronts to attract the most amount of people. Most are unarmed – and it’s this combination that some security analysts say creates the perfect conditions for an attack.
Not only are recruiters under pressure to deliver candidates who can clear basic mental and physical tests, they are doing so with ongoing budget cuts. The Air Force, Army, Navy and Marine Corps are being asked in fiscal year 2016 to recruit 2,000 to 9,500 more active-duty members.
After the governors' decision to arm Guardsmen, Florida Gov. Rick Scott took it a step further when he signed an executive order to relocate six recruiting centers to armories.
As governor, Scott oversees the Florida National Guard and can act without federal involvement. He also ordered officers to make sure all full-time members of the guard are armed “in the interest of immediately securing Florida National Guardsmen who are being targeted by ISIS.”
Authorities say Mohammod Abdulazeez, 24, opened fire at a military recruiting office in Chattanooga on Thursday. Thirty minutes and a police chase later, five military members and the gunman were dead.
While the shootings are being investigated as domestic terrorism, there has been no hard link between the attack and ISIS, authorities said.
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson authorized the Arkansas National Guard Adjutant Gen. Mark Berry to arm full-time military personnel.
“I want to join in those who are calling for greater security at our recruiting centers and military installations,” Hutchinson said. “We’ve had numerous instances of attacks. Clearly, they are a target, and for us to have unarmed military personnel makes no sense.”
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced Saturday he will authorize Adjutant Gen.John Nicholas of the Texas National Guard to arm National Guard personnel at military facilities across Texas.
“After the recent shooting in Chattanooga, it has become clear that our military personnel must have the ability to defend themselves against these types of attacks on our own soil,” he said. “Arming the National Guard at these bases will not only serve as a deterrent to anyone wishing to do harm to our service men and women, but will enable them to protect those living and working on the base.”
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin and Indiana’s Gov. Mike Pence issued similar orders.
Governors in Georgia, Tennessee and North Carolina have not issued specific orders to arm but have started the process to step up security.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam’s press secretary David Smith told the local paper the “governor has reached out to (Tennessee Adjutant) Genb. Haston, and we’re looking at appropriate next steps.”
Brian Robinson, spokesman for Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal, said the governor would not order National Guardsmen to arm themselves, “because current state law allows members of the Guard to arm themselves if they choose to.”
North Carolina’s Gov. Pat McCrory instructed the Department of Public Safety and the North Carolina National Guard to step up security measures at recruiting centers, armories and readiness centers statewide but did not issue an order forcing them to arm.
“We will be vigilant in protecting those who protect us,” McCrory said in a statement. “These men and women are putting their lives on the line to serve our country and it’s our responsibility to ensure everything that is within our power to do for their safety is done.”
Fox News' Lucas Tomlinson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
On July 17, 1980, 35 years ago, when he accepted the Republican presidential nomination, Ronald Reagan—the great communicator—outlined what he intended to do as president with five little words—family, work, neighborhood, peace, and freedom.
Family.
Reagan was always outspoken about pro-life issues such as the need to protect the unborn child. In 1984, for example, he published “Abortion and the Conscience of the Nation,” becoming the first president to write a book while in office. In his acceptance address, he emphasized that “work and family are at the center of our lives, the foundation of our dignity as a free people.”
Work.
In his acceptance, Reagan argued that across-the-board tax cuts would jump-start the American economy—mired in stagflation as a result of Jimmy Carter’s failed policies. He stressed the dignity of work and said that the ability to support yourself was essential to a free people and a free nation.
“Reaganomics” proved to be the right medicine for our ailing economy—unemployment dropped dramatically, inflation subsided, and 17 million new jobs were added.
Neighborhood.
Reagan quoted Thomas Jefferson more than any other founder citing his firm commitment to liberty and limited government. In the face of an ever expanding federal government, candidate Reagan called for a renewal of “our compact of freedom.”
Echoing Alexis de Tocqueville and his praise of America’s voluntary associations, Reagan urged the people to restore “the American spirit of voluntary service, of cooperation, of private and community initiative.”
He promised that as president “everything that can be run more effectively by state and local government we shall turn over to state and local government, along with the funding sources to pay for it.” He would later call it “a New Federalism.”
Peace.
Reagan believed deeply in the concept of peace through strength—a phrase first used by President Dwight D. Eisenhower—and as president he championed a sophisticated, multi-faceted foreign policy that led, shortly after he left office, to the collapse of communism in Eastern and Central Europe and the dissolution of what he once called “an evil empire,” the Soviet Union.
In his 1980 address, he declared that “it is the responsibility of the President of the United States, in working for peace, to insure that the safety of our people cannot successfully be threatened by a hostile foreign power.”
As president, he strengthened the military, supported anti-communist forces around the world, and most critical of all introduced the Strategic Defense Initiative that convinced the Soviets they could not win the arms race.
Freedom.
In his acceptance remarks, Reagan promised to limit the overreach of the federal government into the lives of Americans. “We must have the clarity of vision,” he said, “to see the difference between what is essential and what is merely desirable; and then the courage to bring our government back under control.”
Through his historic tax cuts and pruning of non-essential services, President Reagan was able to free up the economy and enable Americans at all economic levels to spend their money as they and not the government wished.
At the same time, he initiated a Reagan Doctrine in foreign policy predicated on a simple solution to ending the Cold War: “We win and they lose.” By the end of the decade, and after Reagan had gone to Berlin and challenged the Soviet leadership, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” the wall was no more and all of Europe knew true peace for the first time in over 40 years.
As a candidate and as a president, Ronald Reagan cautioned against depending on one political leader or one political party. “My view of government,” he said, “places trust … in those values that transcend persons and parties. The trust is where it belongs—in the people. The responsibility to live up to that trust is where it belongs, in [our] elected leaders.”
Reagan saw himself as part of that relationship, committed to the first principles that had formed America and that keep her and all of us free. From beginning to end, he was a great communicator who understood the importance of great ideas and communicated them as no other president has in modern times.
The Obama administration wants to keep people collecting Social Security benefits from owning guns if it is determined they are unable to manage their own affairs, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The push, which could potentially affect millions whose monthly disability payments are handled by others, is intended to bring the Social Security Administration in line with laws that prevent gun sales to felons, drug addicts, immigrants in the United States illegally, and others, according to the paper.
The language of federal gun laws restricts ownership to people who are unable to manage their own affairs due to "marked subnormal intelligence, or mental illness, incompetency, condition, or disease” – which could potentially affect a large group within Social Security, the LA Times reported.
If Social Security, which has never taken part in the background check system, uses the same standard as the Department of Veterans Affairs – which is the idea floated – then millions of beneficiaries could be affected, with about 4.2 million adults receiving monthly benefits that are managed by “representative payees.”
The latest move is part of the efforts by President Obama to strengthen gun control following the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in 2012.
Critics are blasting the plan, saying that expanding the list of people who cannot own guns based on financial competence is wrongheaded.
The ban, they argue, would keep guns out of the hands of some dangerous people, but would also include people who simply have a bad memory or have a hard time balancing a checkbook.
The background check for gun ownership started in 1993 by the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, named after White House Press Secretary James Brady, who was partially paralyzed after being shot in the 1981 assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan.
Gun stores are required to run the names of potential buyers through a computerized system before every sale.
