Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Barker's Newsbites: Wednesday, February 25, 2015


I'm gonna post some newsbites. For ME.

While I appreciate the few "fans" I have, in the end I'm either "preaching to the choir" or to "a brick wall."

Ultimately... this blog is nothing more and nothing less than I've always claimed it to be - a record of the decline and fall of America... bit by bit... day by day... year by year.

Anyway... off to "work" I go!

(*WINK*)


3 comments:

William R. Barker said...

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/414380/fcc-chair-refuses-testify-congress-ahead-net-neutrality-vote-andrew-johnson

Two prominent House committee chairs are “deeply disappointed” in Federal Communications Commission chairman Tom Wheeler for refusing to testify before Congress as “the future of the Internet is at stake.”

* IF THEY'RE SO "DEEPLY DISAPPOINTED" WHY NOT JUST ISSUE A SUBPOENA AND IF NECESSARY ORDER HIS ARREST?

Wheeler’s refusal to go before the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday comes on the eve of the FCC’s vote on new Internet regulations pertaining to net neutrality. The committee’s chairman, Representative Jason Chaffetz (R., Utah), and Energy and Commerce Committee chairman Fred Upton (R., Mich.) criticized Wheeler and the administration for lacking transparency on the issue. “So long as the chairman continues to insist on secrecy, we will continue calling for more transparency and accountability at the commission,” Chaffetz and Upton said in a statement.

* FOLKS... THIS SOUNDS LIKE A CAREFULLY WRITTEN SCRIPT FOR A WORK OF FICTION. AGAIN... CONGRESS CAN COMPEL WHEELER TO APPEAR!

“Chairman Wheeler and the FCC are not above Congress.”

* EXACTLY! SO...???

(*TAPPING MY FOOT*)

The vote on the new Internet regulations is scheduled for Thursday. The FCC’s two Republican commissioners have asked Wheeler to delay the vote to allow more time for review. The changes would allow the commission to regulate the Internet like a public utility, setting new standards that require the provision of equal access to all online content.

* FOLKS... ALL I CAN THINK IS THAT BOEHNER AND MCCONNELL ARE IN LEAGUE WITH OBAMA AND WHEELER.

William R. Barker said...

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/02/25/amnesty-beneficiaries-could-claim-more-than-35k-in-tax-benefits-in-first-year/

Illegal immigrants who are able to obtain Social Security Numbers and work permits as a result of President Obama’s executive amnesty could claim tens of thousands of dollars in back tax benefits, a new Congressional Research Service memo obtained first by Breitbart News reveals.

The report comes following the Internal Revenue Service’s confirmation that once illegal immigrants are granted Social Security Numbers — as a result of Obama’s executive actions — they will be able to file back tax returns and obtain up to four years of tax benefits, including the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the Child Tax Credit (CTC).

The new CRS report — dated Wednesday and requested to gauge the tax benefits an amnesty beneficiary could potentially accrue — looks at the amount of EITC and CTC for a hypothetical family from from 2011-2014.

“Specifically, you were interested in the value of these credits for a married couple with three and four children,” the memo details. “In addition, you requested that for every year, the family’s income be equal to the maximum amount of earnings a taxpayer could have and still receive the maximum amount of the EITC. This income level is often referred to as the ‘phase-out threshold amount’ and is adjusted annually for inflation.”

CRS calculated the maximum level of tax credits available to hypothetical families with three and four children. It found that for a family with three children in the four years from 2011-2014 “phase-out threshold amount” would be able to obtain $35,521 in the EITC and CTC.

A family of four in that same four year time frame and circumstance could obtain $35,560.

(*PURSED LIPS*)

* GET PAID TO BE AN ILLEGAL ALIEN... "FUNDAMENTAL CHANGE" INDEED.

In those years considered, the “phase-out threshold amount” for both hypothetical families was $21,770 in 2011, $22,300 in 2012, $22,870 in 2013, and $23,260 in 2014.

Both hypothetical families were also able to amass around $9,000 worth of the EITC and CTC annually in the years CRS considered.

The report comes as lawmakers have expressed distress that amnestied illegal immigrants could be potentially rewarded for illegal work and as Congress debates a Department of Homeland Security funding bill that would block Obama’s executive amnesty.

Earlier this month Sens. Ron Johnson (R-WI) and Ben Sasse (R-NE) pressed the administration on the tax benefits amnestied illegal immigrants could accrue, calling the expected refunds “amnesty bonuses.”

“This is basic economics: if you want more of something, you subsidize it. By subsidizing illegal entry with four years’ worth of new tax credits, the IRS would promote lawlessness,” Sasse said in a statement at the time. “This program severely undermines the White House’s lip-service to enforcing the law and would increase the burden on law-abiding taxpayers.”

Read the whole thing: http://media.breitbart.com/media/2015/02/CRS-memo-EITC-and-ACTC-max-amounts.pdf

William R. Barker said...

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/25/us-usa-china-submarines-idUSKBN0LT2NE20150225?

China is building some "fairly amazing submarines" and now has more diesel- and nuclear-powered vessels than the United States, a top U.S. Navy admiral told U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday, although he said their quality was inferior.

* YET ALL THE HALF-AWARE SHEEPLE (BETTER THAN TOTALLY UNAWARE I SUPPOSE) ARE FOCUSED ON... er... THE UKRAINE.

(*SNORT*)

* OR IRAN... OR ISIS... OR... OR... OR...

(*ROLLING MY EYES*)

* THE FOOLS REACT TO WHATEVER THE MEDIA OR THEIR POLITICAL "TEAM" LEADERS TELL THEM TO FOCUS ON - OTHER THAN THAT... TOTAL BLINDERS.

(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD IN DISGUST*)

Vice Admiral Joseph Mulloy, deputy chief of naval operations for capabilities and resources, told the House Armed Services Committee's seapower subcommittee that China was also expanding the geographic areas of operation for its submarines, and their length of deployment.

For instance, China had carried out three deployments in the Indian Ocean, and had kept vessels out at sea for 95 days, Mulloy said.

"We know they are out experimenting and looking at operating and clearly want to be in this world of advanced submarines," Mulloy told the committee.

U.S. military officials in recent months have grown increasingly vocal about China's military buildup and launched a major push to ensure that U.S. military technology stays ahead of rapid advances by China and Russia.

Mulloy said the quality of China's submarines was lower than those built by the United States, but the size of its undersea fleet had now surpassed that of the U.S. fleet. A spokeswoman said the U.S. Navy had 71 commissioned U.S. submarines.

U.S. submarines are built by Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc. and General Dynamics Corp.

In its last annual report to Congress about China's military and security developments, the Pentagon said China had 77 principal surface combatant ships, more than 60 submarines, 55 large and medium amphibious ships, and about 85 missile-equipped small combatants.

Mulloy did not provide details about the number of surface ships now operated by China.

He said the U.S. military did not believe China carried nuclear missiles on its submarines, but that it had been producing missiles and testing them.