Ga'day, mates!
(And a brutal day so far...)
Up at the crack of 8:00 a.m. BodyPump at the gym from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Replenishment shake, shower, and then off to ShopRite. (Half-hour nap in the car in the parking lot!) Shopped there; then off to Walmart for certain specific items (including my beloved light cream).
Home now. Resisting the urge to take another nap. (Must be post-vacation blues; that and the crappy weather.)
So... let me get a few newsbites under my belt and then off to watched last night's DVR'ed episode of Sons of Anarchy!
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* TWO-PARTER... (Part 1 of 2)
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/oct/20/editorial-green-cards-on-the-table/
The White House intended to remain silent about its plans for immigration. Revealing a scheme to open the floodgates of amnesty would be disastrous on the eve of the critical midterm elections. But this is the gang that can’t shoot straight.
* I'M NOT SURE. (MEANING... I'M NOT SURE OBAMA WASN'T - HASN'T BEEN - HOPING TO DRAW THE GOP OUT AND GET THEM TO START TALKING IMPEACHMENT... TALKING IMPEACHMENT IN A CLUMSY MANNER AS OPPOSED TO TALKING "THE CONSTITUTION" IN A WAY MOST PEOPLE COULD RELATE TO.)
* IN OTHER WORDS, FOLKS... IS THIS ALL SO HUGE BLUFF? (I'M NOT SAYING IT IS... I'M SIMPLY COUNSELING CAUTION.)
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on Friday threw open the door to as many as 100,000 Haitians, who will now move into the United States without a visa.
* THAT'S REAL. (BUT YET NOTE... YOU'RE READING ABOUT IT HEAR... YOU'RE NOT READING ABOUT A BOEHNER-MCCONNELL JOINT PRESS CONFERENCE DENOUNCING THE MOVE.)
Sen. Chuck Grassley, Iowa Republican, rightly and accurately denounced enabling Haitians awaiting a U.S. visa to enter the country and legally apply for work permits as “an irresponsible overreach of the executive branch’s authority.”
* NO DISRESPECT TO GRASSLEY... BUT BIG FRIGGIN' DEAL. (WHERE'S BOEHNER AND MCCONNELL?)
That was just the beginning. The immigration agency earlier this month had solicited a printer able to handle a “surge” of 9 million green cards “to support possible future immigration-reform initiative requirements.”
* THE HAITIAN MOVE IS A SLAP IN THE FACE... BUT THIS "SOLICITATION" IS WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT IN TERMS OF OBAMA PERHAPS BAITING REPUBLICANS TO GO OFF HALF-COCKED.
* TO BE CONTINUED...
* CONCLUDING... (Part 2 of 2)
In an ordinary year, about 1 million green cards are issued, and over the life of this contract the company is expected to produce up to 34 million cards, a figure representing an increase of the population of the United States by 10%.
The cards do not come with automatic voter registration, but that’s obviously what the scheme portends.
(*NOD*)
President Obama’s promised “executive actions” to bring about this enormous wave of amnesty constitute a transparent and cynical ploy to expand the Democratic voter base, creating a permanent majority.
* YEP... NO DOUBT.
Republicans running for the House and Senate should demand that Mr. Obama lay his green cards on the table now, before — and not after — the Nov. 4 elections. No other campaign issue carries as much of an impact on the future of the nation.
* THE PROBLEM BEING... THE BOEHNER-MCCONNELL GOP REPRESENT NOT THE CONSTITUTION, BUT THEIR OWN PARTISAN PURSUIT OF POWER AND PERSONAL SELF-INTEREST. THESE PEOPLE ARE NOT FIGHTING FOR AMERICA... AND THEY NEVER WILL. (AND OBVIOUSLY THE DEMS ARE ACTIVELY WORKING TO TEAR AMERICA DOWN...)
In economic terms, importing millions of unskilled workers creates competition for the diminishing number of available jobs. Combine a flooded job market with the Democratic proposals for a doubling of the minimum wage to $15 an hour, and millions more American citizens will be without a job.
Those who do have jobs will pay to provide federal freebies - from ObamaPhones to ObamaCare - to the formerly illegal aliens now with a green card.
As the recent influx of minor children over the southern border demonstrates, word of amnesty on the way travels fast. Handing green cards to those who cheated the system and entered the country illegally creates an incentive to millions more to follow in their path, collecting as many benefits as possible along the way.
It’s a disaster in the making — indeed already here — for public health and national security, straining the welfare state to its limit.
Most Americans want no part of this.
A Gallup survey finds that 74% of Americans want the level of immigration to stay where it is, or reduce it. Mr. Obama has no support for his amnesty scheme except from those who want to transform America into a nation that no one would recognize. Voters can get to work on stopping the transformation on Nov. 4.
* BUT WILL THEY? AND EVEN IF THEY DO... EVEN IF REPUBLICANS WIN BACK THE SENATE AND RETAIN THE HOUSE... IF BOEHNER AND MCCONNELL GAIN POWER AND LEVERAGE HOW WILL THEY USE IT?
http://www.ijreview.com/2014/10/190277-thought-impossible-happen-election-caught-camera/?fb_action_ids=10205082809060540&fb_action_types=og.shares
* HAT TIP VIN LEONE
The Maricopa County Republican Party Chairman doesn’t need any more proof that something is wrong with election laws in Arizona – he witnessed it firsthand.
A. J. LaFaro told the Arizona Daily Independent that he was watching poll-workers process early primary ballots in late August when an interaction with an activist left him dumbfounded.
Poll workers took a long lunch when they discovered they were “way ahead” of other early ballot processors. So as they went out to pick up some lunch, LaFaro stayed behind, ADI reports.
LaFaro recounts that between 12:54 p.m. and 1:54 p.m., he heard a loud thud and turned to see what was going on. “A person wearing a Citizens for a Better Arizona (CBA) tee-shirt dropped a large box of hundreds of ballots on the table and started stuffing the ballot box as I watched in amazement.”
LaFaro later obtained surveillance video of the encounter, and while there was no audio available, LaFaro provided this description of their interaction to ADI.
Guy: “What’s your problem?”
LaFaro: “I don’t have a problem.”
Guy: “Stop watching me. You’re annoying me.”
LaFaro: “One of your ballots isn’t sealed.”
Guy: “It’s none of your business. What’s your name?”
LaFaro: “I’m the chairman of the Maricopa County Republican Party. What’s yours?”
Guy: “Go f*** yourself. I don’t have to tell you who I am.”
He continued stuffing the ballot box with hundreds of ballots before taking a few pictures of the ballots “that he staged in the slot…of the ballot box.”
LaFaro says the man took one of the ballots with them before he left – he believes it was the unsealed ballot he mentioned – and then returned with it only a minute later. As the man finally left, LaFaro says, he said “go f*** yourself, gringo.”
LaFaro says this problem is ongoing and that election laws should prevent this sort of mass ballot collection.
“I believe it’s inconceivable, unacceptable, and should be illegal for groups to collect hundreds, if not thousands, of voters’ ballots and return them to the election offices or polling locations. And let’s not forget the ‘ballot parties’ that occur where people gather en masse and give their unvoted ballots to operatives or organizations like Citizens for a Better Arizona so that can not only collect them but vote them illegally. America used to be a nation of laws where one person had one vote.” LaFaro concluded. “I’m sad to say not anymore.”
The CBA website states the group started as an “outgrowth of the grassroots movement that led to the historic recall of former President of the Senate Russell Pearce,” a Republican, but that the organization includes Democrats, Republicans and Independents.
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/ali-meyer/410-pound-ground-beef-price-climbs-another-record-high
The average price for a pound of ground beef climbed to another record high - $4.096 per pound - in the United States in September, according to data released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
* THIS... IS... INSANITY...!!!
In August, according to BLS, the average price for a pound of all types of ground beef topped $4 for the first time - hitting $4.013.
In September, the average price jumped .083 cents, an increase of 2.1% in one month.
* FOLKS... YOU'RE MONEY IS SLOWLY BUT STEADILY BEING DEVALUED, MEANING YOUR PURCHASING POWER IS BEING LESSONED, TRANSLATING TO YOUR STANDARD OF LIVING BEING ASSAULTED... TO THINK NOTHING OF WHAT THIS MEANS WITH REGARD TO YOUR RETIREMENT PLANNING AND THE SACRIFICES YOU'VE ALREADY MADE PERHAPS BEING FOR NAUGHT.
A year ago, in September 2013, the average price for a pound of ground beef was $3.502 per pound. Since then, it has climbed 59.4 cents--or about 17% in one year.
Five years ago, in September 2009, the average price for a pound of ground beef was $2.138, according to the BLS. The price has since climbed by $1.958 per pound — or 91.6%.
* NEARLY DOUBLED... JUST DURING THE FIRST FEW YEARS OF OBAMA'S PRESIDENCY...
“The index for meats, poultry, fish and eggs continued to rise, increasing 0.7% after a 1.5 increase in August,” said BLS. “The index for beef and veal rose 2.0% in September and has now risen 16.7% since January.”
* FOLKS... WHATEVER IT IS THEY'RE DOING IN WASHINGTON D.C. - IT'S HURTING US!
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/10/22/calibration-error-changes-gop-votes-to-dem-in-illinois-county/
CHICAGO — Early voting in Illinois got off to a rocky start Monday, as votes being cast for Republican candidates were transformed into votes for Democrats.
* EVERY FUCKING YEAR...
Republican state representative candidate Jim Moynihan went to vote Monday at the Schaumburg Public Library. “I tried to cast a vote for myself and instead it cast the vote for my opponent,” Moynihan said. “You could imagine my surprise as the same thing happened with a number of races when I tried to vote for a Republican and the machine registered a vote for a Democrat.”
Illinois Review reported that “While using a touch screen voting machine in Schaumburg, Moynihan voted for several races on the ballot, only to find that whenever he voted for a Republican candidate, the machine registered the vote for a Democrat in the same race. He notified the election judge at his polling place and demonstrated that it continued to cast a vote for the opposing candidate’s party. Moynihan was eventually allowed to vote for Republican candidates, including his own race.
Moynihan offered this gracious lesson to his followers on Twitter: “Be careful when you vote in Illinois. Make sure you take the time to check your votes before submitting.”
Cook County Board of Elections Deputy Communications Director Jim Scalzitti, told Illinois Watchdog, the machine was taken out of service and tested.
“This was a calibration error of the touch-screen on the machine,” Scalzitti said. “When Mr. Moynihan used the touch-screen, it improperly assigned his votes due to improper calibration.”
* YEAH... SIMPLE "RANDOM" IMPROPER CALIBRATION. SURE...
(*ROLLING MY EYES*)
http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2014/10/22/new-information-released-on-michael-brown-case/
A report by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch this morning shows the official autopsy supports Ferguson officer Darren Wilson’s claim that Michael Brown struggled with him in his patrol vehicle, and that Brown did not have his hands up when he was shot Aug. 9.
A source tells the Post-Dispatch that Wilson testified to the Grand Jury that when he tried to get out of his SUV to talk to Brown and his friend Dorian Johnson about the theft of cigarillos, Brown slammed the door shut and punched him in the face.
Wilson pulled his weapon, and Brown grabbed it. At one point, the barrel was pointed at Wilson’s hip, then a shot was fired hitting Brown’s hand.
Wilson says he then chased Brown, who turned and ran toward him. Wilson said “stop,” then fired. Brown kept coming, so Wilson fired several more shots.
The Post-Dispatch also had three experts examine the official autopsy.
St. Louis medical examiner Dr. Michael Graham says the report supports claims that there was a “significant struggle” in Wilson’s patrol car, and Brown suffered a hand wound at “relatively short range.”
A forensic pathologist from San Francisco, Dr. Judy Melinek, says based on a bullet wound to Brown’s arm, Brown’s palms could not have been facing Wilson in the standard surrender position – with hands up and palms out – when he was shot, and Brown was falling forward or lunging when he was hit by the fatal shot to the top of his head.
Based on toxicology tests, Ohio State University College of Pharmacy consultant Alfred Staubus concludes Brown had used marijuana within a few hours of his death, but it is not clear if he was impaired at the time.
* THREE-PARTER... (Part 1 of 3)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/whistleblowers-say-usaids-ig-removed-critical-details-from-public-reports/2014/10/22/68fbc1a0-4031-11e4-b03f-de718edeb92f_story.html
After the fall of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in 2011, the U.S. Agency for International Development hired several nongovernmental organizations to set up pro-democracy programs in Egypt — even though they were not registered to work in the country.
* OBAMA'S U.S. AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT...
Less than a year later, the Egyptian government charged 43 NGO workers with operating illegally.
Sixteen of them were Americans, including the son of then-U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.
The Americans were freed in March 2012 after USAID secretly paid the Egyptian government $4.6 million in “bail” money.
* OBAMA'S U.S.A.I.D.
That May, USAID’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) completed a confidential draft audit of the program that questioned the wisdom of the program and the legality of using the money to post bail. But when the inspector general’s office publicly issued its final audit report five months later, those findings and other critical conclusions had been removed, according to internal audit documents obtained by The Washington Post. What was once a 21-page report had been reduced to nine.
* ON OBAMA'S WATCH.
* SOUND FAMILIAR, FOLKS? DOES THIS OR DOES THIS NOT SOUND LIKE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION S.O.P.?
In recent interviews, eight current auditors and employees who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they feared retribution complained about negative findings being stricken from audits between 2011 and 2013. In some cases, the findings were put into confidential “management letters” and financial documents, which are sent to high-ranking USAID officials but are generally kept from public view.
* FOLKS... WE ONCE THOUGHT ARKANSAS GOVERNANCE WAS CORRUPT. BUT SINCE ILLINOIS... CHICAGO SPECIFICALLY... HAS TAKEN OVER THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH... WELL... THE OBAMAITES MAKE THE CLINTONS LOOK LIKE ELEMENTARY KIDS SHOPLIFTING IN COMPARISON!
* TO BE CONTINUED...
* CONTINUING... (Part 2 of 3)
The auditors said the office has increasingly become a defender of the agency under acting inspector general Michael G. Carroll.
Some auditors said Carroll did not want to create controversy as he awaited Senate confirmation to become the permanent inspector general.
* IN ENGLISH: DIDN'T WANT TO DO HIS DUTY. REFUSED TO DO HIS DUTY!
On Wednesday, Carroll withdrew his nomination, which had been pending for 16 months. Carroll declined to discuss his decision. A career government employee, he has been with the office since 2000 and took over as acting inspector general in 2011.
* CARROLL SHOULD BE HUNG FROM THE NECK UNTIL DEAD.
* YES! SERIOUSLY! WE SHOULDN'T TOLERATE THIS 3rd WORLD LEVEL OF CORRUPTION COMING OUT OF WASHINGTON!
“As much as I have enjoyed the latter experience, it has not been without its challenges and I will be withdrawing my name from consideration for the Inspector General position,” he said in an e-mail to his staff. “In reflecting back on the past several years, there are clearly some things I would have done differently, but I, nevertheless, believe that we have made a great deal of progress as an organization.”
* MY GOD... THIS IS SICKENING...
Carroll...told his staff that he plans to remain in the office as a deputy inspector general.
* HE... SHOULD... BE... IN... JAIL...!!! (INSTEAD HE REMAINS A HIGH-RANKING OBAMA ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL!)
Carroll’s withdrawal comes at a time of growing criticism from whistleblowers who have been in contact with Senate investigators and Post reporters.
“The office is a watchdog not doing its job,” said Darren Roman, an audit supervisor at the inspector general’s office who retired in 2012 after a 23-year career. “It’s just easier for upper management to go along to get along. The message is: ‘Don’t make waves, don’t report any problems.’ ”
Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) said he was concerned after his office looked into complaints by a half-dozen whistleblowers who say their audits were altered. “You don’t hardly ever see this with other IGs,” Coburn recently told The Post. “You certainly don’t see it to this extent. This is the worst we’ve seen.”
* IT'S THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION...!!!
The allegations of improperly altered audit reports were independently examined last year by the National Labor Relations Board’s inspector general under the auspices of the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency, a group within the executive branch.
* A... GROUP... WITHIN... THE... EXECUTIVE... BRANCH.
(*SMIRK*)
Carroll’s chief of staff, Justin H. Brown, said the confidential examination, which concluded in May 2013, “did not substantiate the allegations” and recommended that “no disciplinary or administrative action be taken.”
* WELL IF CARROLL'S CHIEF OF STAFF SAYS IT...
(*GUFFAW*) (*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)
NLRB Inspector General David P. Berry said through a spokeswoman: “We cannot confirm nor deny the existence of an investigation.”
* AGAIN, FOLKS... NLRB = OBAMA'S PEOPLE.
* TO BE CONTINUED...
* CONCLUDING... (Part 3 of 3)
Coburn questioned the thoroughness of the NLRB report.
* IMAGINE THAT...
(*SOFTLY CHUCKLING*)
“I don’t think they’re cleared at all,” said Coburn, the ranking Republican on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which oversees all federal inspectors general. “The people who actually knew what was going on were never actually interviewed. This is the first time in my career that I have some doubts about the integrity of one of these investigations.”
* THIS... IS... THE... OBAMA... ADMINISTRATION...!!!
Brown said the inspector general’s office has recently changed the way audits are conducted. He said that in the past the office placed too much “emphasis on the timeliness of audits,” and that staff shortages at different levels exacerbated the situation. He said auditors now have more time to conduct their work.
“The narrative that this is a headquarters concealment enterprise is simply not true,” Brown said.
Negative references cut
The USAID inspector general is responsible for ensuring that the billions of dollars the agency devotes to foreign assistance programs each year are spent wisely.
* YEAH. GOOD LUCK!
The Post obtained draft versions of 12 audits by the inspector general’s office, covering projects from the Caribbean to Pakistan to the Republic of Georgia between 2011 and 2013. The drafts are confidential and rarely become public. The Post compared the drafts with the final reports published by the inspector general’s office and interviewed former and current employees. E-mails and other internal records also were reviewed. The Post tracked changes in the language that auditors used to describe USAID and its mission offices. The analysis found that more than 400 negative references were removed from the audits between the draft and final versions.
* GEEZUS...
In one audit, the number of negative references fell from 113 to 61; in another, from 170 to 13.
(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)
Complaints that information has been concealed to shield government officials from embarrassment are not uncommon.
* CERTAINLY NOT UNCOMMON DURING THE AGE OF OBAMA!
Earlier this year, the Department of Homeland Security’s acting inspector general stepped down following allegations that he altered and delayed negative reports about the Secret Service.
* NEED I SAY MORE...???
Last year, the Pentagon’s inspector general was accused of altering a report about a leak of classified information to the makers of the film “Zero Dark Thirty,” which depicted the intelligence operations leading to the May 2011 raid in which Osama bin Laden was killed.
Auditors stationed in different offices around the world have come forward with similar complaints. For example, in October 2010, USAID launched a program to reduce waste and fraud in the nearly $1 billion in U.S. assistance to Pakistan. USAID hired three contractors to help monitor the spending and train Pakistanis to manage the money. In a draft audit of the program written in 2012, auditors found that $32 million of the program’s $44 million budget went to “fringe benefits, consultants and travel.”
* FOLKS... THE INMATES ARE RUNNING THE ASYLUM. THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION IS LITTLE MORE THAN THE WORLD'S LARGEST AND MOST POWERFUL CRIMINAL ORGANIZATION ACTING UNDER FLAG OF AUTHORITY.
Auditors also found that one contractor hired to provide training billed the agency $954,000 for “expenses such as salaries, fringe benefits, and travel” but did not train anyone for the 16 months of the contract.
(*PURSED LIPS*)
* I WEEP FOR OUR COUNTRY, MY FRIENDS.
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