BLUE STATE BLUES: CALIFORNIA DEMS SKIMP ON INFRASTRUCTURE TO PAY UNIONS, ILLEGALS

Fourth-term Governor Jerry Brown and his party are claiming credit for a massive budget surplus, and plotting ways to spend the loot. Yet Brown’s revised budget claims that there is not enough money to maintain the state’s highways.

Get that?

There is money for a high-speed rail system that no one will ride. There is money for tuition for illegal aliens at state universities. There is money for the public sector unions that control state politics.

But “current resources do not provide enough funding to support annual maintenance and repair needs” for the roads, even though “the repair, maintenance, and efficient operation of the state’s highway system is vital to California’s continued economic growth.”

To put it in Democrats’ favorite terms: how many people will die needlessly because Democrats in California refused to spend the money to make our roads safe?

That is how the left frames Republican opposition to Obamacare–a failing program that cut millions off from their health insurance, and whose insurance exchanges are alreadybeginning to implode. That is how the left frames the Amtrak disaster earlier this week, blaming Republicans for holding back funds.

Via: Breitbart

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California: Take Our Jobs, Please

There’s a joke about public sector union bosses making the rounds in Sacramento lately:  What happens when the California Legislature hands over a blank check to the California Teachers Association?  It’s returned the next day marked “insufficient.”

No matter that spending on schools is up 36 percent over the last four years, the state budget has increased 25 percent over the last three and the state is running a surplus of nearly $7 billion, it is never enough. The government employee unions are continuing to press for higher taxes and more spending from which they benefit both in terms of money and political power.

Since California already imposes the highest taxes in all 50 states in almost every category except taxes on property – we rank 19th highest – the obvious target is Proposition 13 which limits annual increases in property taxes.  To take on Proposition 13, public unions, including the two major teachers unions and the Service Employees International Union, have joined with some rag-tag groups of Bay Area radicals to create a front group, calling itself “Make It Fair.” The stated goal is to strip Proposition 13 protections away from businesses, including small mom-and-pop stores and residential rentals, thereby creating a “split roll” in order to seize another $9 billion in tax revenue annually.

To undermine support for Proposition 13 — which remains overwhelmingly popular in public opinion polls – Make It Fair attempts to make homeowners feel unjustly burdened. Backers of higher property taxes on business say that Proposition 13 provides commercial property special advantages, but it does not.   California has always taxed all real property at the same rate whether residential or business.

Via: California Political Review

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Carly Fiorina breaks with many in GOP on Obama's trade pitch

Washington (CNN)Carly Fiorina says she supports free trade -- yet she doesn't want President Barack Obama to have the congressional green light to finalize a massive Pacific Rim deal.

The former Hewlett Packard executive who's seeking the Republican presidential nomination said Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press" that Obama "does not have a track record of the details matching his selling point."

Therefore, she said, she opposes trade promotion authority -- legislation that would allow Obama to submit the 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership to Congress for an up-or-down vote with limited debate and no amendments. That authority, trade negotiators say, is key to getting other countries to sign off on a final deal.

Republican congressional leaders have strongly backed Obama's request for the authority. But a bill that would grant it is imperiled as liberal Democrats who oppose expanded trade and tea party Republicans who distrust Obama have linked together to oppose it.

"The truth is, we don't know what's in this deal," Fiorina said.

Via: CNN

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[VIDEO] 2 Mississippi Police Officers Killed in Shooting; Officers, Suspects Identified (UPDATED)

Late Saturday evening, police officers Officers Benjamin J. Deen and Liquori Tate died after being shot while on-duty in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Three suspects have been charged in connection with the shooting, two with several counts of capital murder.

The shooting occurred after a traffic stop. Per NBC News and the Associated Press:

A Hattiesburg officer had stopped a 2000 Gold Cadillac Escalade in an industrial corridor about 8:30 p.m. CDT.

Strain said a second officer arrived to help and shots were fired. He said the shooting occurred near an area of apartment houses and that officers had told people immediately afterward to “take shelter” while they searched for two suspects.

The suspects fled in one of the officer’s vehicles, which was later found abandoned near rail road tracks, officials told WDAM.

According to The Clarion-Ledger, the two currently-unnamed officers were taken to Forrest General Hospital, where they were confirmed dead. One of the officers was reportedly still alive upon arrival. According to local news services, the officers are the first in the area to die in the line of duty since 1984.

The suspects have been identified as Marvin and Curtis Banks:

VIA: MEDIAITE

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[VIDEO] Judge Jeanine: Free Speech Is Non-Negotiable

Via: You Tube

[VIDEO] Report: Obama Administration Admits Breaking Executive Amnesty Injunction

The Obama administration violated U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen’s injunction halting President Obama’s executive amnesty programs, Justice Department lawyers have admitted to the court, according to the Washington Times.

The Times reports that in a late night filing Thursday, Justice Department lawyers revealed that the Department of Homeland Security had issued some 2,000 three-year work permits (as opposed to the currently permissible two-year permits) to illegal immigrants granted Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).

The issuance of the three-year work permits — an aspect of Obama’s November 20 executive actions which expanded DACA — was violation of Hanen’s February 16 injunction preventing the executive amnesty programs from going forward.

This occurred despite repeated statements from administration officials that they were abiding by the injunction.

“The government sincerely regrets these circumstances and is taking immediate steps to remedy these erroneous three-year terms,” the Times quoted the lawyers, who added they would get more information to Hanen about what went awry by May 15.

According to the Times, DHS Sec. Jeh Johnson has requested the DHS inspector general look into the snafu and officials are looking into replacing the three-year permits DHS improperly issued with the proper two-year ones.

The admission comes on the heels of an earlier administration misstep, again dealing with the issuance of three-year DACA work permits.

As previously reported, DHS jumped the gun on those issuances shortly after Obama’s November 20 announcement issuing more than 100,000 of three-year permits before the injunction. The matter appeared to raise Hanen’s ire as he accused the administration lawyers of misleading him and trafficking in “half truths.”

Via: Breitbart

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[VIDEO] 'Terrorism has gone viral': US officials, lawmakers warn of growing jihad-inspired attacks

Top U.S. officials and lawmakers on Sunday intensified concerns about the growing threat of jihad-inspired terror attacks against the United States, after last week’s attempt in Texas and the dire FBI warning that followed.

“I think there’s been an uptick in the stream of threats out there,” Texas GOP Rep. Mike McCaul, chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, told “Fox News Sunday.” “We’re seeing these directives on almost a daily basis. It’s very concerning. Terrorism has gone viral.”

McCaul’s comments follow the May 3 attack by two gunmen outside a “Draw Muhammad” event in Garland, Texas.

Tweets by one of the two gunmen, killed by police in the attack, appear to link him to radical Islamic terror groups. And Internet chatter purportedly tipped off officials about a possible attack on the event.

On Thursday, FBI Director James Comey said the attack, in which a security officer was shot in the leg, highlights the difficulties the FBI faces -- as social media facilitates communication between terror groups and potential homegrown extremists.

Via: Fox News

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About TWO DOZEN Murders Have Happened In Baltimore Since Freddie Gray Fell Into Coma

 

The city of Baltimore, Md. has been home to roughly two dozen murders since police arrested Freddie Gray on April 12 for possession of an illegal switchblade.

At some point while police were transporting Gray in a police van, he fell into a coma. Police then took the 25-year-old man to a trauma center, where he died 10 days later.

Meanwhile, searchable data from The Baltimore Sun shows that 26 homicides have occurred in the city limits of Baltimore during the last 30 days — or since April 9.

The cause of death in one murder case was blunt force, police say. The victim in that case was two-year-old Tyleah Fenwick, according to local NBC station WBAL-TV.

Via: Daily Caller

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Armed Citizen Saves Officer Under Attack In Oklahoma City

A rookie Oklahoma City police officer became separated from his partner during a foot pursuit and managed to close in on the robbery suspect they were chasing. The suspect managed to get control of the officer’s baton and started striking him in the head repeatedly, and the incident might have become another murder of an officer in the line of duty if it wasn’t for an armed citizen stepping in to save the day:

It happened just after 2 p.m. Tuesday in the 2800 block of W. Park Pl. Rookie Officer Adam Eller and field training officer Sgt. Michael Lambert were responding to the burglary call.

The two suspects in the burglary, Tremaine and Jermaine Williams, are twin brothers. Police say Tremaine was already gone when they arrived, but Jermaine was there and when he saw the officers he took off on foot.

During the chase the two officers became separated. Eller found himself alone when he caught up to Jermaine in a driveway of a nearby home and as he tried to place him under arrest, a fight ensued. During the struggle, Jermaine was able to take Eller’s police baton and then proceeded to strike him over the head somewhere between six and 12 times.

According to a report, that’s when a witness nearby charged up with his weapon drawn and told Jermaine he would shoot him if he did not stop hitting Eller. That heroic witness has not been identified.

Officer Eller was transported to a nearby hospital with serious injuries, but was released the next day.

It is unknown at this time why Eller didn’t draw his service weapon and fire on Jermaine Williams. He may be been incapacitated, but the story does not say.

Via: Bearing Arms

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[VIDEO] "It was more than probable than not" NE Patriots deflategate.

Via: CBS News

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[VIDEO] Fox’s Wallace Asks Ben Carson if Really Believes All the Things He Says

During a lightning round Sunday morning, Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace asked neurosurgeon headline generator Ben Carson if he really believed all the things he said. The presidential hopeful said yup, he did.

Wallace pressed Carson on his comparison of the U.S. to Nazi Germany and his characterization of the Affordable Care Act as the worst thing in America since slavery. Carson defended the former by saying most of Germany did not agree with Hitler’s programs but said little. (Ahem.)

“But people oppose Barack Obama all the time!” Wallace objected.

RELATED: Ben Carson on Baltimore: You Wouldn’t Riot Against a Bad Plumber, Would You?

“There are a lot of people in our society who are afraid to say what they really mean because they may get an IRS audit, people will call them names, their jobs may be interfered with,” Carson said.

Most interestingly, Wallace asked Carson about a statement this week in which he intimated that a president could ignore a Supreme Court ruling. “Dred Scott is a perfect example,” Carson said. “The Supreme Court came up with this and Abraham Lincoln (R-The North) did not agree with it. Now, admittedly it caused a lot of conflict and eventually led to a Civil War, but we’re in a better place because of it.”

Wallace asked whether Carson was disagreeing with Marbury v Madison, which established the principle of judicial review. “This is an area that we need to discuss,” Carson said.

Via: Mediaite

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[VIDEO] Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry delivers powerful and soulful speech at Freedom Summit

Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry delivered a powerful and soulful speech on Saturday at the South Carolina Freedom Summit, where he emphasized the critical need for experienced Republican leadership to turn America around from the slump it has fallen into over the past few years, specifically with regard to foreign policy.

“A recovery of epic proportion needs to be on the table for us,” Perry said, emulating a commander-in-chief. “And when we elect a Republican president in 2016, America will do better.”

Perry, 65, has yet to announce whether he will run for president in 2016. Growing up in Paint Creek, Texas, Perry said his family didn’t have a lot of money. In fact, he described how his mom would sew clothing for him up until he enrolled in college and mentioned that they didn’t even have indoor plumbing for many years.

Via: Breitbart

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Scholar: Under New AP Standards, ‘American History Will Not Be About America’

 
Stanley Kurtz, a senior fellow with the Ethics and Public Policy Center, sees America being fundamentally transformed by a host of pernicious Obama policies, including education initiatives which are nationalizing school curriculum without a single vote.

This month, America’s best and brightest high school students will take a controversial new advanced placement U.S. history (APUSH) test crafted by many of the same ideologues — including David Coleman — who birthed the unpopular Common Core standards for math and English. Scholarly critics of the APUSH framework, like Kurtz, are waking up to the dangers of the 70 or more pages of framework for teaching U.S. history issued by the College Board in 2012 to replace the five pages of general topics previously under-girding the flexible teaching of American history.

Warning of more subjects prescribed by the College Board, Kurtz says in this video interview that few are seeing the scope by which these progressives hope to nationalize America’s curriculum. Dissent and traditional notions will be less tolerated if the left continues unimpeded.

Asked about the stakes of Americans forgetting their unique founding, Kurtz says, “If we don’t know our history; if we don’t understand the principles of American government; if we don’t understand what the Constitution is; then we won’t be able to understand that the Constitution is potentially violated by a president who is overreaching.”

Via: Daily Caller

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[VIDEO] Scott Walker returns to South Carolina for Freedom Summit

This is how a presidential Candidate Should sound like

Via: You Tube

[VIDEO] Michelle Obama Fanning the Flames Again

She feels deprived even when she is waited on hand and foot at the WH

Via: You Tube

[VIDEO] Hillary Clinton: I’m ‘Adamantly Against Illegal Immigrants’ 2007

Changing her stance for political expediency.

Via: You Tube

Obamacare Penalty May Not Be High Enough For Middle Incomes

Even though penalties under the Affordable Care Act for not having health insurance jumped significantly this year, they still might be too low to attract Americans to signup for subsidized coverage, a new analysis shows.

Avalere Health, a Washington health policy and consulting firm, said some middle income healthy individuals would rather pay the fine when they weigh it against spending a few hundred dollars more on insurance.

The fee increased to $325 per adult or 2% of income for 2015,according to healthcare.gov. That compares to a fee of $95 per adult or 1 percent of income for those who went without coverage last year.

“Individuals earning more than double the poverty level may continue to forego coverage since paying the fine is still much more affordable than purchasing insurance,” Caroline Pearson, senior vice president at Avalere, told journalists during a panel discussion Friday on exchanges at the Association of Health Care Journalists annual meeting in Santa Clara.

Via: Forbes

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Answers demanded after vets’ disability claims found in cabinet

One number will hang over a congressional hearing Wednesday looking into mismanagement at a U.S. Veterans Affairs regional office in Oakland: 13,184.

That’s the number of compensation and disability claims that were found in 2012, wrongfully stashed in a filing cabinet — some dating to the mid-1990s and many unprocessed. But what the number represents remains the source of fierce debate.

Employees who came forward about the claims say it’s the number of veterans whose much-needed benefits may have been delayed, or not paid altogether, because of what they described as organized negligence that continued even after the cabinet was emptied. …

Via: SF Chronicle

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Weekly Republican Address - House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Paul Ryan

He talked about the Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities and Accountability Act would pave the way for increased U.S. trade, and the new jobs and stronger economic growth that would come with it. 

Via: C-Span

Obama Weekly Address: Fighting for Trade Deals that Put American Workers First

In this week’s address, the President laid out why new, high-standards trade agreements are important for our economy, our businesses, our workers, and our values. These new trade deals are vital to middle-class economics -- the idea that this country does best when everybody gets their fair shot, everybody does their fair share, and everybody plays by the same set of rules. The President has been clear -- any deal he signs will be the most progressive trade agreement in our history with strong provisions for both workers and the environment. It would also level the playing field -- and when the playing field is level, American workers always win.

Via: WhiteHouse.gov

‘Covered California,’ Obamacare Boondoggle, About To Go Belly Up!!!!!!

After two previous extensions, the open enrollment period for Covered California ends April 30. That deadline just might prove to be the tipping point for the state’s two-year-old health insurance exchange. That’s because this is the year Covered California is supposed to become completely self-sustaining

Indeed, there’s no more money coming from Washington after the state exhausts the $1.1 billion it received from the federal government to get the Obamacare exchange up and running. And state law prohibits Sacramento from spending any money to keep the exchange afloat.

That presents an existential crisis for Covered California, which is facing a nearly $80 budget deficit for its 2015-16 fiscal year. Although the exchange is setting aside $200 million to cover its near-term deficit, Covered California Executive Director Peter Lee acknowledged in December that there are questions about the “long-term sustainability of the organization.”

Covered California’s enrollment growth for 2015 was a mere 1 percent, according to a study this month by Avalere Health. That was worst than all but two other state exchanges. Meanwhile, California’s Obamacare exchange managed to retain only 65 percent of previous enrollees, the nation’s fourth-lowest re-enrollment rate.

No kidding! But in the Leftist mindset, an “entitlement” is still an entitlement, even if there’s no money to pay for it. Because entitlements are forever, even if California is not.

Via: PJ Media

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Hillary and the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution

Article 1, Section 9, Clause 8 of the U.S. Constitution is known as the Emoluments Clause, and it bans payola to U.S. government officials from foreign governments.  It reads:

No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.

Sean Davis of The Federalist has explored how payments from foreign governments to the Bill, Hillary, and Chelsea Clinton Foundation probably violate that clause.  His argument hinges on the evidence that the foundation has operated less as a charity than as a slush fund for the use of the Clintons:

Between 2009 and 2012, the Clinton Foundation raised over $500 million dollars according to a review of IRS documents by The Federalist (2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008). A measly 15 percent of that, or $75 million, went towards programmatic grants. More than $25 million went to fund travel expenses. Nearly $110 million went toward employee salaries and benefits. And a whopping $290 million during that period — nearly 60 percent of all money raised — was classified merely as “other expenses.” Official IRS forms do not list cigar or dry-cleaning expenses as a specific line item. The Clinton Foundation may well be saving lives, but it seems odd that the costs of so many life-saving activities would be classified by the organization itself as just random, miscellaneous expenses.

Keep in mind that the foundation has just announced that it will be re-filing these reports, now that Reuters has investigated them and found discrepancies.  A number of staffers of the Hillary campaign have been reported to have held jobs at the foundation prior to the campaign formally commencing, although I have seen no hard data on that.  And it has been reported that much of Bill and Hillary Clinton’s travel has been covered by the foundation.

Via: American Thinker

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This is not your hood': Judge rips gang member in blistering attack that leaves the 'carefree' suspect dumbstruck

'This is not your hood': Judge's verbal smack-down to gang member

Tennessee Judge Lila Statom has become a viral sensation thanks to her incredible take down of one gang member who dared try to claim an area as 'his hood' while in her courtroom

'Sir, East Lake Courts is not your hood, it's the citizens of the United States who own that because they work and pay taxes' Statom told O'Shae Smith, who told the judge he shot a rival gang member for being there.

'It's the citizens of the United States who own that because they work and pay taxes, you don't own that.'

Statom said she wanted to show Smith he wasn't 'in control everywhere'. 

'It makes me upset because there are people that live in East Lake Court who get up and go to work every day. They take their children to daycare,' she told WRCB-TV.  

Statom had a personal connection to the area that has been ravaged with gang violence, and told Smith 'it used to be a very nice place to live'.

'My grandmother lived there and I spent many a night,' she told the courtroom. 'It was a nice place where you could walk around. People like you have made it a violent, unsafe place to live.' 

'Hopefully we can make it the place that it used to be back when it was originally built for people who didn't have anywhere else to live - to make it a safe place to live,' she said.  

According to police, Smith, 20, shot Kendre Allen, 18, in the hip in late March. Allen also appeared in Statom's court last week to testify against Smith. 

Via: Daily Mail

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280 High School Students Just Told Obama To Shove It In An Epic Way…

280 high schoolers – the entire junior class of Nathan Hale High School in Seattle, Washington – have effectively told President Obama and his band of progressive buffoons that they can take their Common Core and shove it.

When state testing began on Tuesday, not a single junior showed up on campus to participate, as the entire student body had collectively decided to exercise their legal right to opt out of the ‘Smarter Balanced’ exams.

“They didn’t skip school all day,” commented district spokeswoman Stacy Howard, according to the Seattle Times. “They just didn’t show up during the testing period.”

The Nathan Hale students weren’t the only ones to deal this massive blow to the liberal establishment, either. According to early district estimates, about half of the juniors at three other Seattle high schools have also opted out of the Smarter Balanced testing.

“Students voted with their own feet,” remarked Doug Edelstein, a history teacher at Nathan Hale and opponent of the Common Core testing. “They felt like they knew the facts, and made their own decisions.”

Give the junior class at Seattle’s Nathan Hale High two thumbs up for taking a stand against Common Core by sharing this report!

Via: Buzzpo

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Gay Marriage: A Trojan Horse Movement

The Left doesn’t care about gay rights, any more than they care about civil rights, welfare rights, minority rights, animal rights or any other “rights.” According to the Left, “the issue is never the issue; the issue is always the revolution.” The various “rights” the Left has aggressively promoted over the years are merely vehicles to advance the Left’s power.

Consider: the welfare “rights” movement, founded by the notorious socialists Richard Cloward and Frances Fox Piven, was not established to guarantee welfare to the poor. As they said, their purpose was to pack the welfare rolls with so many beneficiaries that the government would collapse of its own weight. In the ensuing riots, they hoped policy makers would be driven to accept their socialist solution. In short, they sought anarchy, using a militant poor as their foot soldiers. They couldn’t care less what happened to the poor in prosecuting this agenda, and they said so. Doubt me? Just look at the status of the poor today. There are more people on welfare than at any time in history. And the crime and degeneracy that accompany it are epidemic.

Look at our country today. With manufactured crisis Strategist-in-Chief Obama, we are almost there, and Cloward and Piven’s intellectual descendants were out in force in Ferguson. The communist agitators seeking “social justice” for Michael Brown burned down much of the neighborhood. Do black lives matter to them? Apparently not. And they have even said so. The issue isnot the issue.

Occupy Wall Street’s black anarchist organizer Nelini Stamp’s new group, Dream Defenders, popularized the slogan “Hands Up Don’t Shoot!” But prior to Ferguson there was Trayvon Martin. Working with Eric Holder’s DOJ, Stamp’s group was responsible for getting Sanford, Florida police chief Bill Lee fired. This despite the fact the FBI agreed with Lee’s assessment that there was no case against Martin’s killer, George Zimmerman. Did Stamp care about “Justice for Trayvon?” Not according to Stamp. “We are actually trying to change the capitalist system we have today, because it’s not working for any of us,” she said.

Via: American Thinker

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