House Appropriations Plan Delivers Sequestration Cuts and Protects Defense

The Foundry - In a refreshing break from tradition, the House Appropriations Committee approved a $967 billion discretionary spending plan that would stay within the fiscal year 2014 sequestration spending levels.

The measure would protect defense from further cuts and instead deliver the total savings through reductions to domestic discretionary programs. It was in keeping with the instructions provided in the House budget, which was passed earlier this year.

Now it is up to chairman Harold Rogers (R–KY) to deliver the 12 spending bills that must be passed into law by September 30, the end of the federal fiscal year. These bills authorize annual spending for everything from national defense to foreign aid.

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House IRS watchdog asks targeted groups to help blow the whistle

Paul Bedard - The House Ways and Means Committee, which has been probing the IRS-Tea Party scandal that's reached well into the White House, is calling on targeted groups to help blow the whistle on the tax agency's political witch hunt during President Obama's reelection campaign.

Chairman Dave Camp has just created a special web page for IRS targets to reveal their experiences and help his committee build a vault of information and stories detailing how massive and sweeping the scandal is.

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Inhuman: Undercover in America’s Late Term Abortion Industry

Family Research Council - The gruesome practice of late-term abortion in the United States was brought to the forefront recently in the murder trial of abortionist Kermit Gosnell. While Gosnell’s facility has become well-known, it is important to point out that there are many other late-term abortion facilities operating throughout the United States. The horrific practices of these facilities were recently highlighted in a series of undercover videos by Lila Rose of Live Action.

Late-term abortion facilities are aborting children well into the second and third trimesters – subjecting unborn children to violent and painful death. Studies show that unborn children can feel pain as early as 20 weeks gestation. Currently, many states allow late-term abortion procedures despite the evidence of the pain capability of unborn children. The violent nature by which Gosnell killed his infant victims outside the womb would have been legal in many states if it had been carried out before birth.     More

Senators Demand Transparency in U.S. Taxpayer Funding of United Nations

 

(CNSNews.com) – Some American taxpayers know that they contribute more than one-fifth of the United Nations operating budget, but the full extent of U.S. contributions to the world body – a much larger figure – has been less well known since a congressional reporting requirement lapsed in 2011.

A group of Republican senators wants to change that.

Sens. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), Mike Lee, (R-Utah) and others are submitting legislation that would require the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to report contributions to the U.N. each year from every federal agency, including non-monetary gifts.

“It’s disturbing that no one, including our ambassador to the United Nations, knows exactly how much money we send the U.N. every year,” Enzi said in a statement.

“With a national debt exceeding $17 trillion, we need to be able to account for every dime we spend, including what we send to the U.N.”

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Michelle Malkin - The Obama crony in charge of your medical records

Who is Judy Faulkner? Chances are, you don’t know her — but her politically connected, taxpayer-subsidized electronic medical records company may very well know you. Top Obama donor and billionaire Faulkner is founder and CEO of Epic Systems, which will soon store almost half of all Americans’ health information.

If the crony odor and the potential for abuse that this “epic” arrangement poses don’t chill your bones, you ain’t paying attention.

As I first noted last year before the IRS witch hunts and DOJ journalist snooping scandals broke out, Obama’s federal electronic medical records (EMR) mandate is government malpractice at work. The stimulus law provided a whopping $19 billion in “incentives” (read: subsidies) to force hospitals and medical professionals into converting from paper to electronic record-keeping systems. Penalties kick in next year for any provider who fails to comply with the one-size-fits-all edict.

Obamacare bureaucrats claimed the government’s EMR mandate would save money and modernize health care. As of December 2012, $4 billion had already gone out to 82,535 professionals and 1,474 hospitals; a total of $6 billion will be doled out by 2016. What have taxpayers and health care consumers received in return from this boondoggle? After hyping the alleged benefits for nearly a decade, the RAND Corporation finally admitted in January that its cost-savings predictions of $81 billion a year — used repeatedly to support the Obama EMR mandate — were, um, grossly overstated.

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Nine photos of Tea Party protests at IRS offices around the country

The Examiner - Tea Party groups from around the country gathered at IRS office buildings to protest the government for targeting their organizations.



"Over 500 here now more coming," noted 
Ann Becker in Cincinnati.



"#IRSProtest Houston getting tons of support from passing cars!" 
-Amber Winborn



"Tea Party preps for #IRS protest in front of the Federal 
building in downtown Nash" - Carley Gordon.

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Time to update the Hatch Act to prohibit IRS agents from playing politics?

Matt K. Lewis - The Hatch Act of 1939 (officially called An Act to Prevent Pernicious Political Activities) was last amended in 2012. It might be time to amend it again.

The purpose of the Hatch Act, of course, is to prohibit public employees from engaging in politics. But it turns out that when it comes to political participation, there are two categories of federal employees. Some (like rank and file IRS agents) are “less restricted,” while others, are “further restricted.” (A list of things “further restricted” employees are prohibited from doing.)

This makes sense. You wouldn’t want a CIA agent to also be canvassing your neighborhood for a candidate, after all, so they are “further restricted.”

Further restricted employees include, employees of the Federal Election Commission, FBI, NSA, Secret Service — and yes — the Office of Criminal Investigation of the Internal Revenue Service (full list is here.)

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2013/05/21/time-to-update-the-hatch-act-to-prohibit-irs-agents-from-playing-politics/#ixzz2TxHDPhKG

Jihad in America - Steve Emerson’s newly released documentary exposes the Islamist network in the United States

FrontPageMag.Com - Editor’s note: Frontpage is proud to announce that our Shillman Journalism Fellow, Mark Tapson, co-wrote this documentary.
 
On the bright, beautiful, and crisp fall day that was early morning, September 11, 2001, few Americans were familiar with stealth jihad, or considered Islamic terrorism a threat to America.  Yet, there was a voice crying in the wilderness, warning of a danger that already existed here.  That voice belonged to Steven Emerson, whose documentary film titled Jihad in America was aired by PBS on November 21, 1994.  Islamic militant groups in America, including CAIR (the Council on American-Islamic Relations) began their protestations and intimidation even before the broadcast date.  Since the airing, the use of intimidation has been ramped up and gone global, having a stifling impact on terrorism/jihad-related broadcasts in the mainstream media throughout the Western world. This oppressive atmosphere has affected the conduct of Western governments, including the Obama administration.

Emerson’s newly released Jihad in America: The Grand Deception is a must-watch documentary — an educational tool for Americans to learn about the network of stealth Islamist jihadists in the U.S. that has grown in the aftermath of 9/11.  The fact that evil lurks just under the surface in America (brought to life last month at the Boston Marathon) seems to be difficult to acknowledge, yet ignoring it is at our peril.  Unfortunately, Americans have a short memory span, and most prefer to turn away from unpleasant realities, especially in the Obama Age.  Hence, all the more reason to circulate information about this essential documentary.    More

Watch the Trailer

Feds compelled Google to provide access to James Rosen’s emails

Daily Caller - A search warrant shows that the FBI made Google release user data pertaining to Fox News reporter James Rosen.

Rosen was targeted by the FBI in connection to a government leak regarding North Korea’s response to United Nations nuclear sanctions.

As Mashable reported, the FBI first requested Rosen’s emails on May 28, 2010, under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA). The requested emails included those timestamped between June 10 and June 11 of 2009, and emails sent between Rosen and former State Department employee Stephen Jin-Woo Kim, the man who supposedly leaked information to Rosen.

The FBI also asked Google not to notify Rosen of its invasion into his Gmail account.

According to the agency, searching Rosen’s emails allowed it to fill in gaps in communication between the two men.

This was not, however, the first time the FBI contacted Google regarding Rosen’s account. According to Mashable, on Oct. 2 of 2009, the FBI requested that Google preserve Rosen’s emails, even those the journalist chose to delete. The FBI later filed two more preservation orders.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2013/05/21/feds-compelled-google-to-provide-access-to-james-rosens-emails/#ixzz2TwcwvHf8

EPA publishes huge clean gasoline rule - Controversial because it would raise gas prices

Daily Caller - The Environmental Protection Agency published a 377-page proposed rule in the Federal Register on Tuesday aimed at cutting tailpipe emissions from automobiles, The Hill reports, nearly two months after the controversial regulation was first proposed.

The new tailpipe standards — called Tier 3 — would require refiners to reduce the sulfur content of gasoline by more than 60 percent and the amount of nitrogen oxides by 80 percent.

The EPA says that Tier 3 will raise gasoline prices by less than a penny per gallon and yield more than $10 billion annually in health cost savings by 2030.

“Few other national strategies exist that would deliver the same magnitude of multi-pollutant reductions projected to result from the proposed Tier 3 standards,” according to the EPA.

However, the new standards have been heavily criticized because they will raise gas prices. The size of the increase varies depending on the estimate.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2013/05/21/epa-publishes-huge-clean-gasoline-rule/#ixzz2TwXAhi6m

Six inspiring photos of flags rising above the rubble in Oklahoma

The Examiner - Several photos of this flag, raised above the tornado wreckage in Moore, Oklahoma wreckage were shared on Twitter early this morning.



“US Marines just found this US Flag buried in the rubble. 
They raised the flag just now,” reported the Weather Network’s
Jaclyn Whittal.



"Flag just raised above an early morning search for victims in 
Moore, OK,” tweeted Jason Allen of the Dallas – Fort Worth 
CBS affiliate.

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Obama Met With Head of IRS Union Day Before Conservatives Targeted

via The Jawa Report:

I know nothing 

According to the White House Visitors Log, provided here in searchable form by U.S. News and World Report, the president of the anti-Tea Party National Treasury Employees Union, Colleen Kelley, visited the White House at 12:30pm that Wednesday noon time of March 31st.

The White House lists the IRS union leader’s visit this way:
Kelley, Colleen Potus 03/31/2010 12:30

via American Spectator

Obama and the IRS: The Smoking Gun?

President met with anti-Tea Party IRS union chief the day before agency targeted Tea Party.

“For me, it’s about collaboration.” — National Treasury Employees Union President Colleen Kelley on the relationship between the anti-Tea Party IRS union and the Obama White House


Is President Obama directly implicated in the IRS scandal?

Is the White House Visitors Log the trail to the smoking gun?
 
March 31, 2010.

According to the White House Visitors Log, provided here in searchable form by U.S. News and World Report, the president of the anti-Tea Party National Treasury Employees Union, Colleen Kelley, visited the White House at 12:30pm that Wednesday noon time of March 31st.    More

Susan Rice, likely NSC head, had string of failures in Africa before Benghazi

Charles C. Johnson - U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, reportedly the leading contender to be President Barack Obama’s next national security adviser, failed during the 1990s to prevent unnecessary deaths in Rwanda, provide adequate security prior to the bombings of the embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, or deal effectively with the Robert Mugabe’s dictatorship in Zimbabwe.

A former State Department military adviser to Africa thought Rice’s “inexperience” caused President Bill Clinton’s feckless response to the Rwandan genocide when she served as National Security Council director for International Organizations and Peacekeeping. And documents sent to The Daily Caller from the National Legal and Policy Center show Rice failed to take seriously repeated Islamist threats against the U.S. embassies in the prelude to deadly bomb attacks.

More recently, Rice has come under fire for her role in promoting the now-discredited talking points on the deadly September 2012 terrorist attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

Rice’s promotion to head the NSC is “definitely happening” according to an unnamed source quoted by John Hudson of Foreign Policy’s The Cable. The Washington Post’s Colum Lynch, quoting an unnamed administration official, says Rice is “far and away the front-runner to succeed Thomas E. Donilon as President Obama’s national security adviser.”

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2013/05/18/susan-rice-likely-nsc-head-had-string-of-failures-in-africa-before-benghazi/#ixzz2Tq4hGYwE

Suppress the press: The Obama administration’s history of targeting the media

Jeff Poor and Vince Coglianese - The usually-cocksure Jay Carney has rarely appeared so uncomfortable.

“What I can tell you is that this president believes strongly in the First Amendment and is a strong defender of the First Amendment,” Carney insisted to a packed house of angry reporters last Tuesday afternoon.

The White House had just been freshly stung by news that the Department of Justice had secretly raided the phone records of up to 100 Associated Press reporters, looking to identify the news organization’s private sources.

“He believes strongly in the need for the press to be unfettered in its pursuit of investigative journalism,” Carney continued, contorting his face between looks of concern and annoyance as question after question highlighted the press corps’ newly discovered skepticism.

“How can it be unfettered if you’re worried about having your phones –,” started one reporter.
Carney quickly dodged.

“I am very understanding of the questions on this issue and appreciate the nature of the questions,” he offered.

While this full-frontal assault on the media — and more importantly, news consumers — may suddenly have the press rubbing the sleep out of their eyes, it’s far from the first time Obama and his allies have used the power of the office to try to silence their critics.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2013/05/20/suppress-the-press-the-obama-administrations-history-of-targeting-the-media/#ixzz2Tps4rNbx

Jihad experts decry White House terror training guidelines which pressure cops to ignore Islamic beliefs when investigating terror crimes

Neil Munro - Experts on Islam and terrorism are decrying the Department of Homeland Security’s recently revealed anti-terrorism training guidelines, which pressure cops to ignore Islamic beliefs when investigating terror crimes.

The Boston bombings demonstrated the impact of such training, Andrew McCarthy, a former New York prosecutor, told The Daily Caller.

“The Boston Marathon was bombed by a jihadist who had been investigated by the FBI … [and was confirmed in 2011 to be] an Islamist, which would have been hard not to do since he does not appear to have made any secret of it,” said McCarthy, who persuaded a New York jury in 1995 to convict “Blind Sheikh” Omar Abdel-Rahman for his use of Islamic teaching to spur jihad attacks, including the 1993 attack against the Twin Towers.

But before the bombing, “the FBI closed its file [on Tamerlan Tsarnaev] because it found this did not constitute ‘derogatory information,’” McCarthy said.

McCarthy and other security experts, and even members of the American Islamic community, indicate that a culture of excessive concern for the sensibilities of Muslims supremacists is preventing law enforcement agencies from pursuing jihadists.

The 2011 guidelines unveiled Thursday by The Daily Caller are part of this pattern of deferring to Islamist chauvinism. 

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2013/05/20/jihad-experts-decry-white-house-terror-training-guidelines/#ixzz2TpnTZXxt

Has the IRS Already Seized Your Medical Records?

If you think your intimate health information is private in the era of Obamacare, think again.

American Spectator - As gratifying as it was to see the “news” media actually do its job last week when the IRS scandal broke, it was also odd that the coverage focused exclusively on abuses of power relating to various Tea Party and anti-abortion groups. A much scarier IRS story has been virtually ignored by the establishment press. On Wednesday, it was reported that a class-action lawsuit had been filed against a group of IRS agents who, according to the complaint filed by “John Doe Company” in the Southern District of California, “stole more than 60,000,000 medical records of more than 10,000,000 Americans, including at least 1,000,000 Californians.”

Before I get to the feature of this case that will really scare the pants off you, a little more background: This tawdry tale began in 2011 with an IRS investigation concerning one former employee of “John Doe Company” pursuant to which a search warrant was obtained. This warrant didn’t authorize the seizure of anyone’s medical records, but the IRS agents “threatened to ‘rip’ the servers containing the medical data out of the building if IT personnel would not voluntarily hand them over.” They proceeded to seize the records “without making any attempt to segregate the files from those that could possibly be related to the search warrant.”

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Grassley: Lack of US Foreign Policy Could Lead to Hitler-Like Invasion - Like Poland in 1939

AFSI: Sen. Grassley's "Hitler" Reference is Spot On

NJDC attacked Sen. Grassley for saying lack of policy could lead to a Hitler. AFSI says he's right.


Arutz Sheva - Sen. Chuck Grassley's tweet reference to Hitler's 1939 invasion of Poland, as part of statement that the US currently lacks a foreign policy, is "spot on," says Mark Langfan, Chairman of Americans for a Safe Israel (AFSI).

On Saturday, Senator Grassley from Iowa tweeted:

US has no foreign policy. We should remember what happened the last time we had no foreign policy. It was Sept 1939 Hitler started WWII [in]Poland
- ChuckGrassley (@ChuckGrassley) May 18, 2013

The National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC) promptly attacked Sen. Grassley, claiming his "Hitler" reference was "absolutely inappropriate."  

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Sen. Baucus (D-MT): A Lot More Coming Out In IRS Scandal Soon

h/t - Susan Duclos

Magpul Gun Manufacturer Joins 54 Colorado Sheriffs Suing State Over Gun Control Bills

Susan Duclos - Gun manufacturer Magpul Industries, has joined with 54 Colorado sheriffs in a lawsuit filed against the state’s recently signed gun-control bills.

Win or lose, Magul is still continuing with their relocation out of the state, bringing their 200 direct jobs, 400 supply-chain jobs and the $85 million  annually, to another state's economy.

Via Washington Times:

“Just to clarify, we are still moving, regardless of the outcome of this legal action,” said a Friday post on the company’s Facebook page. “That train has left the station, and we are well into the selection and negotiation process as well as arranging many elements to be prepared to launch and already moving some production out of state.”

The lawsuit challenges two bills signed in March by Gov. John Hickenlooper: House Bill 1224, which restricts ammunition-magazine capacity to 15 rounds or fewer, and House Bill 1229, which requires background checks on all gun sales and transfers, including temporary transfers.

“This isn’t good public policy. These are really awful bills,” said Weld County Sheriff John Cooke at a Friday press conference. “They are unenforceable and encourage disrespect for the law, which puts both law enforcement and the public in greater danger.”

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Prominent American Muslim, Umar Lee, Leaves Islam for Christianity

via Creeping Sharia

"This is about love not hate and I invite you to a faith in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ who died for your sins so you may have everlasting life."

via Jihad Watch

Umar Lee, a convert to Islam from St. Louis, was once enough of an Islamic supremacist to write to a rival: "i could cut your neck with the sword of islam and watch you squeal like a bitch like daniel pearl." In an email exchange with me, he endorsed the death penalty for apostasy.

But now he has left Islam and returned to Christianity. Watch the video; in it he makes many, many important points about how converts to Islam are lied to, and how Islam establishes an empire of fear.

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