O'Malley is running, and the Democrats are running scared . . . . . for good reason. We explain.

Past Mayor of Baltimore and exGovernor of Maryland,  Martin O'Malley,  announced his intention of running for the presidency.  His record as Mayor and Governor are less than stellar,  but,  as far as some in the Progressive/Socialist party (aka Democratic Party) are concerned,  he is to the Left of wherever Hillary will be,  and that makes him an acceptable choice for the Democrats.  

I once was a Democrat and voted for Jimmy Carter, enthusiastically  . . . . . . .   the first time.  To this old, exJFK Democrat,  it is almost humorous to realize that Hillary is the more conservative offering,  in that party,  today.  You have Hillary,  O'Malley to her Left,  Elizabeth Warren to the Left of O'Malley,  and, then,  the admitted socialist,  Bernie Sanders.  All are socialists,  of course.  All favor restrictions on gun ownership and free speech. All favor sky high taxation. All favor the death of coal.    None favor states rights.  All approve of Obama's agenda and willingness to rule as an authoritarian.  O'Malley is the only one with real world experience,  if you count the politics of "mayor" and "governor" as such,  and I do.  The other three,  are political theorists with no real world experience,  at all.  Heck,  Hillary has been chauffeured around the planet for more than 19 years and has never owned a car.

Maybe one more butt-whipping will convince some,  within the Marixist dominated party we call "Democrat,"  that "Left of Left" is not a good place to be.  

What is fascinating, is the fact that Hillary and O'Malley are actually running against the failed policies of Obama  . . . . . .  without either of the two being "called out" on the fact.  Hillary wants to the "representative of the Middle Class,"  arguing that the Middle Class has no representation in today's politics,  and O'Malley's campaign motto is, "Rebuilding America."  Of course,  Obama ran on "fundamentally transforming" this country,  and often brags about his fantasy of being "for the Middle Class," so,  how is it,  that Hillary and O'Malley are not running away from Obama?   

We are months away from the time when "the rubber hits the road,"  but,  the question remains:  How will the Dems frame their escape from the Obama years?  We are looking at a massive hourly reduction in pay over the past 6 years,  moving from a 40 hour work week to a 30 hour week because of ObamaCare directives,  an economy that is so bad that the food stamp population has grown from 27 million to more than 45 million and a workforce that is the smallest since 1978   . . . .   because 9 million folks have given up looking for work and are no longer counted in employment/unemployment statistics.  You have a black population that is chronically out of work, under-educated,  and mad at the world  (yet they keep voting for their plantation bosses in the Democrat Party).  And, the last three election cycles have given us fewer moderates within the Democrat Party.  How do the Democrats run on such a record?  

And it gets worse.

Obama has driven "moderates" out of the party,  leaving nothing but the radical Left,  in charge of the party's future.  

Look, anytime you have Occupy, the forces of CHAOS,  ACRON, the SEIU, Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam,  Al Sharpton and his eternal threat "No Justice, no Peace," the Congressional Black Caucus and its love affair with the Communist world  (the Castro's in Cuba and the Communist leadership in Venezuela), people like Bill Ayers and Jeremiah Wright and Eric Holder, and the current Mayor of Baltimore,  all working to move the nation into a borderless,  One World community,  you have a political party as radicalized as never before.  

The Democrats are at their weakest,  in terms of political power and influence,  since 1928   . . . .   nearly 100 years.  They have just 17 governorships (to 31 for the GOP), have lost more than 4,000 state and local positions over the Obama years,  and, have lost the last two mid-terms (2010 and 2014) by the most one-sided margins in American history.  Heck,  even in winning the 2012 presidential elections,  Obama took in 3.5 million fewer votes than in 2008 (Bush took in 12 million more votes in his re-election campaign, btw).  

The question is critical:  How will the Democrats campaign themselves out of the mess they are in?  Personally,   I have no clue.  The fact of the matter is this,  the Marxist Progressives  (Woodrow Wilson and FDR were "progressives" but not "Marxist Progressives"),  have done all that they can do.  Their time is nearly up,  and they know, full well,  just how critical, is this coming political election cycle    . . . . . .   and,  they are facing the strongest set of GOP opponents in my life-time.  

The next 18 months should be very interesting.  

Vice President Joe Biden's son, died today, after battle brain cancer. Regards.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Joe Biden announced Saturday that his son, Beau, has died of brain cancer. Beau Biden was 46.
"It is with broken hearts that Hallie, Hunter, Ashley, Jill and I announce the passing of our husband, brother and son, Beau, after he battled brain cancer with the same integrity, courage and strength he demonstrated every day of his life," the vice president said in a statement late Saturday.
"The entire Biden family is saddened beyond words. We know that Beau's spirit will live on in all of us, especially through his brave wife, Hallie, and two remarkable children."

If you are a moderate Democrat (as I once was), you may find this more than interesting.




Jim Hoft, founder and proprietor of The Gateway Pundit, brings you the new online project “Progressives Today.”
Many Americans who consider themselves left of center have an antiquated sense of today’s Democrat party. This is not their father’s Democratic party. Democrats today are controlled by, and answer to, the most radical elements of their party. Yet, with cover generously provided by the mainstream media, progressives are able to push their influence in the shadows. And they have no shame.
Progressives Today follows and publicly exposes the radical elements of the institutional left. It will be the go to resource for all elements of the progressive movement through old school investigative journalism. We will cover their conferences with undercover reporters, we will interview their leaders, we will follow their writings, teachings, social media presence. Our goal is to finally hold the left accountable for their radical opinions, their destructive policies and their dangerous anti-American agenda.
One of the goals of PT, in addition to simply exposing progressives, is to expose their views to moderates and Democrats so that a choice must be made. It is our strong belief that, Progressives Today will cause many on the left to re-evaluate their political alliances.

Rand Paul, once a favorite of this blog, has sealed his doom when it comes to presidential politics.

Manu Raju / Politico:
Exclusive: Rand Paul: ‘I will force the expiration’ of the PATRIOT Act  —  In a statement to POLITICO, Paul warns that he would not consent to any efforts to pass either an extension of current law or the USA Freedom Act.  —  Rand Paul plans to force the expiration of the PATRIOT Act Sunday … 
 
Editor's notes:  What has not settled in on the senator,  is the fact that the GOP is not "going Libertarian," in terms of its foreign policy. 
 
Most certainly,  "the hawks" in the GOP are not responsible for ISIS.  But,  moving away from the argument,  the fact remains that Paul has no clue how to endear himself to the GOP populace.  Right or wrong,  I believe that he has taken himself out of GOP contention.  This weekend's promised action will only drive that point home.  If I am right,  expect Paul to see a downturn in his party's polling numbers.  

Want to know why blacks stay with the Democrats? Hint: The Marxist oriented black leadership will not allow anyone to escape the Democrat plantation. Ben Carson is a perfect exaqmple.

Pulitzer Prize-winning black columnist Cynthia Tucker is one of the first black liberals to attempt to politically lynch Dr. Ben Carson because his political views are out of tune with the black liberal Democratic chorus.

<<<<    And she has had lots of practice as a "lynchpin" for the thuggish side of the democrat party.  Tucker is the antagonist who went after fellow
Democrat,  Paula Dean and got her banned from the cooking channels on cable.  She is among the first to blame the cops for black, inner city crime and has occasional meetings with the activist,  Barack Obama. 

In a recent column, angered that a prominent black man would leave the plantation,  she wrote these words:

“  . . . . .    the good doctor's foray into Republican presidential politics threatens to become his epitaph, to overshadow — perhaps even to overwhelm — his academic and surgical accomplishments. He will likely be remembered as the GOP's latest black mascot, a court jester, a minstrel show.”

She is not above the use of 3rd grade name calling:  "Black mascot,” in the GOP,   “court jester,” “minstrel show” are some of her Pulitzer prize winning vocabulary.  words she has actually used on Dr. Carson   . . . . .   a man who is infinitely more successful that this woman will ever be (the reader is encouraged to find a description of the woman's undergraduate degree from Auburn).

Understand that the quote, above, is not a Tucker prediction,  but,  rather,  a declaration of intent as she works to ensure that Dr. Carson cannot escape her negative and baseless description(s) of the man.  She is nothing less than an overseer for the Progressive Plantation, 

As Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., has said, “one of the most threatening places to be in politics is a black conservative.”

Overseers like Tucker don't dare denigrate Jewish or Hispanic conservative politicians with such language — that's reserved for blacks like Carson — so he had better get ready for more.

Understand that other ethnicities publicly  respect their own.   One seldom sees Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., or Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas,demonized simply because they are Hispanics with a conservative point of view. 

____________________
Text written in collaboration with http://sarasotapatriots.org/Ben.    

If the House does not have "standing," no one does, and Obama is free to amendment established law, at will. The Court is reviewing this issue.

Judge skeptical about dismissing Obamacare suit . . . A federal judge on Thursday appeared skeptical of the Obama administration's call to dismiss a lawsuit from House Republicans challenging Obama's use of executive power. The lawsuit argues that Obama is spending certain funds under the healthcare law even though Congress has not appropriated them, and that the administration unconstitutionally delayed the mandate for employers to provide health insurance. The Hill

Editor's notes:  This is a lawsuit dealing with whether or not,  the House has "standing" to continue its legal case against Obama's use of executive order in amending ObamaCare at [his] will.  The case establishing "standing"  (standing = personal injury that allows a party to legally challenge an offending party) was made on Thursday (5/28/2015).  A decision by the court will be made in short order.  

Judicial Watch Update: Filing on behalf of corporations having spent money preparing for the 2014 employer mandate, a mandate Obama arbitrarily canceled at a huge cost to corporations prepared to comply.



Obamacare Lawlessness to the Supreme Court?
This is where we are in Obama's America. Even when you play by the rules as they are set by the current regime, you still lose out financially and legally. Just ask Kawa Orthodontics, which invested time and resources to comply with the employer mandate as it was written into President Obama's Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). That's the federal law commonly known as Obamacare. The key provision here declares that businesses with 50 or more employees are considered "large employers,"  and once an employer reaches or surpasses the 50-employee mark they must provide "affordable, minimum essential" health insurance coverage to their employees and their employees' dependents. In addition, "large employers" have annual reporting obligations under the ACA. So, in 2013, in anticipation of the employer mandate going into effect, Kawa Orthodontics put up its own money to comply with the mandate, causing it, and who know how many other businesses, to lose some, if not all, of the value of its time money that could have been used for other, productive purposes. That was before the administration decided to ignore the law and delay implementation of the mandate.

Your JW is having none of it. That's why on May 14, 2015, we filed a petition for a writ of certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of Kawa Orthodontics, a Florida business that alleges that the Obama administration's 2013 unilateral delay of the ACA's employer mandate, without approval from Congress, caused Kawa to lose "the value of the time and money it spent in 2013 preparing for the mandate to take effect in 2014," and thereby suffer significant economic harm (Kawa Orthodontics, LLP v. Secretary, U.S. Department of the Treasury, et al. (No. 14-10296). Kawa Orthodontics is owned by Dr. Larry Kawa.

In December 2014, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit ruled that it would not address the central question of Kawa Ortho's legal challenge - whether the executive branch could "ignore the clear, congressionally-imposed deadline" of the ACA because it concluded that Kawa Orthodontics did  not demonstrate injury sufficient to establish legal standing. The Eleventh Circuit is wrong because it's clear that Kawa Orthodontics incurred an injury traceable to the defendants. That's what we argue in our petition:

Delay diminishes the time value of money...Kawa Ortho plainly alleged that because of the delay, it lost some, if not all, of the value of the substantial time and resources it expended at least two years early. It lost the time value of the money it spent on anticipatory compliance costs...Contrary to the panel's ruling, Kawa Ortho has standing. It was injured by Defendants' delay of the enforcement of the 'employer mandate' provisions of the ACA. Had Defendants not delayed enforcement, Kawa Ortho's spending would not have been premature.

Also, the Eleventh Circuit's ruling conflicts with previous Supreme Court precedent:

In National Federation of Independent Businesses v. Sebelius, the Court resolved whether the individual mandate was constitutional. Although it did not address standing, by reaching a decision, it implicitly affirmed the court of appeals' analysis. In that case, the court of appeals held that private parties challenging the constitutionality of the ACA's "individual mandate" had standing to pursue their claims based on their need to incur anticipatory compliance costs.

Additionally, the Eleventh Circuit's ruling conflicts with the jurisprudence of other circuit courts:

Like this Court, other courts of appeals have concluded that incurring anticipatory compliance costs is a sufficient injury to confer Article III standing. In Liberty University v. Sebelius, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit held that the plaintiff-employer in that case, Liberty University, had standing to challenge the "employer mandate" because of the anticipatory compliance costs it had to incur in order to comply with the mandate...In Association of Private Sector Colleges & Universities. v. Duncan, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit concluded that the plaintiffs were sufficiently injured to confer standing because they faced increased compliance costs...Similarly, the Second and Sixth Circuits have held that plaintiffs incurring compliance costs have standing.

Those who think Obama's lawlessness and his refusal to follow his own Obamacare law have no consequences are oblivious to costs of this lawlessness for American businesses, such as our client Kawa Orthodontics. This case is yet another instance in which a responsible and rational business has been injured by a politically motivated, unilateral power grab by the executive branch. In attempting to comply with the law, our client instead suffered significant economic harm, so that President Obama and influential special interests could avoid accountability for the law passed despite the clear objections of the American people. The idea that the courts would ignore precedent and, for non-legal reasons, shut down challenges to this lawlessness is fundamentally unjust. 

Dr. Kawa is pleased for our help and wants justice:
 
"I'm humbled by the opportunity to stand up for the Constitution. Our founders created a system of checks and balances designed so that no one branch of government would become too powerful. When the executive branch decided to rewrite the laws as they saw fit without the consent of Congress, they overstepped their authority, causing injury and harm to myself as a business owner. With the great help of Judicial Watch, I look forward to the opportunity to have our day in court and have justice served.
 
It is no surprise that the Obama administration doesn't want Kawa Orthodontics to have its day in court, but the Supreme Court should uphold the rule of law.

Judicial Watch with its update on the Benghazi Cover-up




Judicial Watch Unravels Benghazi Scandal with New Documents
Judicial Watch has blown open the Benghazi scandal yet again. We forced the release of new smoking-gun documents that show that the Obama administration knew almost from the outset that the attack on the U.S. Special Mission Compound in Benghazi, Libya, on September 11, 2012, was coordinated and pre-planned.  The news about these documents was broken by Catherine Herridge of Fox News.
Your JW obtained more than 100 pages of previously classified "Secret" documents from the Department of Defense (DOD) and the Department of State revealing that DOD almost immediately reported that the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi was committed by the al Qaeda and Muslim Brotherhood-linked "Brigades of the Captive Omar Abdul Rahman" (BCOAR), and had been planned at least 10 days in advance. Rahman is known as the Blind Sheikh, and is serving life in prison for his involvement in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and other terrorist acts. 
These just-released documents were not given voluntarily, but forced out of the secretive Obama administration thanks to a court order that followed a May 15, 2014, Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed against both DOD and State asking for communications between the two agencies and congressional leaders "on matters related to the activities of any agency or department of the U.S. government at the Special Mission Compound and/or classified annex in Benghazi." The documents provide us with the first official confirmation that the U.S. government was aware of arms shipments from Benghazi to Syria. The documents also include an August 2012 analysis warning of the rise of ISIS and the predicted failure of the Obama policy of regime change in Syria. (Interestingly, it is not clear if the information was ever shared with Congress, even though the documents were responsive to a request about communications with Congress.)
U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and U.S. Foreign Service Information Management Officer Sean Smith were both killed in the Benghazi terrorist attack on September 11, 2012. Several hours after the initial assault, a second terrorist attack took place targeting a different compound located just one mile away. Two CIA contractors, Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty, were killed in this second attack and 10 others were injured.
Let's see how Obama and Clinton operatives (such as George Stephanopoulos) explain away a Defense Department document from the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), dated September 12, 2012, the day after the Benghazi attack, which details that the attack on the compound had been carefully planned by the BOCAR terrorist group "to kill as many Americans as possible."  This document was sent to Clinton, then-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Obama White House National Security Council. The heavily redacted DOD "information report" says that the attack on the Benghazi facility "was planned and executed by The Brigades of the Captive Omar Abdul Rahman (BCOAR)." The group subscribes to "AQ [al Qaeda] ideologies:"
The attack was planned ten or more days prior on approximately 01 September 2012. The intention was to attack the consulate and to kill as many Americans as possible to seek revenge for U.S. killing of Aboyahiye((ALALIBY)) in Pakistan and in memorial of the 11 September 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center buildings.
"A violent radical," the DIA report says, and "the leader of BCOAR is Abdul Baset ((AZUZ)), AZUZ was sent by ((ZAWARI)) to set up Al Qaeda (AQ) bases in Libya."  The group's headquarters was set up with the approval of a "member of the Muslim brother hood movement...where they have large caches of weapons.  Some of these caches are disguised by feeding troughs for livestock.  They have SA-7 and SA-23/4 MANPADS...they train almost every day focusing on religious lessons and scriptures including three lessons a day of jihadist ideology."
The Defense Department reported that the group maintained written documents in "a small rectangular room, approximately 12 meters by 6 meters...that contain information on all of the AQ activity in Libya."
It should be noted that Azuz is again blamed for the Benghazi attack in an October 2012 DIA document.
The DOD documents provide confirmation that the Obama administration knew weapons were being shipped from the Port of Benghazi to rebel troops in Syria. This had been the source of much speculation, as many have asked, including Judicial Watch, just exactly what we were up to in Benghazi that would require a rushed facility that was unsecured (the Benghazi Special Mission Compound). Some darn big clues are in the October 2012 DIA report:
Weapons from the former Libya military stockpiles were shipped from the port of Benghazi, Libya to the Port of Banias and the Port of Borj Islam, Syria. The weapons shipped during late-August 2012 were Sniper rifles, RPG's, and 125 mm and 155mm howitzers missiles.
During the immediate aftermath of, and following the uncertainty caused by, the downfall of the ((Qaddafi)) regime in October 2011 and up until early September of 2012, weapons from the former Libya military stockpiles located in Benghazi, Libya were shipped from the port of Benghazi, Libya to the ports of Banias and the Port of Borj Islam, Syria. The Syrian ports were chosen due to the small amount of cargo traffic transiting these two ports. The ships used to transport the weapons were medium-sized and able to hold 10 or less shipping containers of cargo.
The DIA document further details:
The weapons shipped from Syria during late-August 2012 were Sniper rifles, RPG's and 125mm and 155mm howitzers missiles.  The numbers for each weapon were estimated to be: 500 Sniper rifles, 100 RPG launchers with 300 total rounds, and approximately 400 howitzers missiles [200 ea - 125mm and 200ea - 155 mm.]
The heavily redacted document does not disclose who was shipping the weapons. The level of detail presented suggests that the Obama administration, in the least, was in a position to stop any transfers.
Why is the weapons transfer issue important?  Because the Libya fiasco was allowing weapons to move into a jihadist madhouse in the Syria-Iraq region.
Another DIA report, written in August 2012 (the same time period the U.S. was monitoring weapons flows from Libya to Syria), said that the opposition in Syria was driven by al Qaeda and other extremist Muslim groups: "the Salafist, the Muslim Brotherhood, and AQI are the major forces driving the insurgency in Syria." The growing sectarian direction of the war was predicted to have dire consequences for Iraq, which included the "grave danger" of the rise of ISIS:
The deterioration of the situation has dire consequences on the Iraqi situation and are as follows:
This creates the ideal atmosphere for AQI [al Qaeda Iraq] to return to its old pockets in Mosul and Ramadi, and will provide a renewed momentum under the presumption of unifying the jihad among Sunni Iraq and Syria, and the rest of the Sunnis in the Arab world against what it considers one enemy, the dissenters. ISIS could also declare an Islamic state through its union with other terrorist organizations in Iraq and Syria, which will create grave danger in regards to unifying Iraq and the protection of its territory.
Some of the "dire consequences" are blacked-out, but the DIA presciently warned one such consequence would be the "renewing facilitation of terrorist elements from all over the Arab world entering into Iraqi Arena." 
It turns out the DIA warnings were right on the nose. In a recent crushing victory, ISIS terrorists took over Ramadi. The Iraqi military cut and ran. And now the murderous Islamic radicals, with volunteers courtesy of Obama's Libya creation, have embarrassed America and taken many American military assets that we gave to the Iraqi military!
From a separate lawsuit, the State Department produced a document created by Hillary Clinton's offices and the Operations Center in the Office of the Executive Secretariat the morning after the Benghazi attack, which was sent widely through the agency, including to Joseph McManus (then-Hillary Clinton's executive assistant). At 6:00 am, a few hours after the attack, the top office of the State Department sent a "spot report" on the "Attack on U.S. Diplomatic Mission in Benghazi" that makes no mention of videos or demonstrations:
Four COM personnel were killed and three were wounded in an attack by dozens of fighters on the U.S. Diplomatic Mission in Benghazi beginning approximately 1550 Eastern Time....
The State Department has yet to turn over any documents to Judicial Watch from the secret email accounts of Hillary Clinton and other top State Department officials.  However, the State Department released some of these secret emails recently - again thanks in no small measure to our oversight pressure. For corrupt politicians, the long Memorial Day weekend is the best time to release damaging information in the hopes most miss it during the holiday.
These documents show that the Benghazi cover-up has been in motion for years and is only unraveling through our independent lawsuits. The Benghazi scandal just got a whole lot worse for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
These documents are jaw-dropping. No wonder we had to file more FOIA lawsuits and wait over two years for them. If the American people had known the truth - that Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and other top administration officials knew that the Benghazi attack was an al-Qaeda terrorist attack from the get-go - and yet lied and covered this fact up - Mitt Romney might very well be president. And why would the Obama administration continue to support the Muslim Brotherhood even after it knew it was tied to the Benghazi terrorist attack and to al Qaeda? These documents also show connections between the collapse in Libya and the ISIS war - and confirm that the U.S. knew remarkable details about the transfer of arms from Benghazi to Syrian jihadists.
Your JW will keep fighting. Earlier this month, our legal team filed seven new FOIA lawsuits against State to obtain the release of documents about the Clinton email scandal, including the emails of her top aide Huma Abedin, and records about the Benghazi and Clinton Foundation scandals.
We will keep you updated as new information flows in. In the coming weeks and months, you can be sure to expect additional fallout.

Armed bikers challenge Islam in a free speech event: hey, the Left thrived on "in your face" challenges back in the 60s . . . . . . and they are still preaching chaos as they burn our cities, today.



The ugly truth about FAA and TSA federal jobs: They are going to the most unqualified and our lives weigh in the balance.

FAA is dumbing down the tests to qualify for flight control jobs.  The FAA recently refused to to consider 3,000 qualified military folks with experience,  preferring to hire "off the street."  

And why is this happening?  Because the Marxist Progressives in government,  view FAA and TSA jobs as opportunities for minorities,  more than for best qualified personnel.  Understand,  for the most part,  these are folks who could not score high enough to get into college, but are in charge of the health and safety of one of the most vulnerable terrorist opportunities on earth. 

Anyone tired of being "fair" to the ignorant and unqualified?   There are jobs for these people,  but not when our life and safety are at stake.  We need the best qualified, in these positions   . . . .   not a population of unqualified folks from "off the streets." 
_________________________________

Related articles: 

The TSA has hired 110,000 people in last six years;  67,000 of them have quit been fired.  It takes $20,000 to train each of these folks.  Anyone see a problem? 

FAA changes hiring practices for air traffic controllers ignoring qualified students and vets

Economic News Update: GDP, 1QT of 2015, in minus territory. One foot is in the "recession grave." Slowest "Recovery" in 65 years and counting. (no article - but there is talk of more bad news to come).

Beginning with 2013, those who identify as "pro-choice" are on the rebound, but . . . . .

Keep in mind,  it was just last year that pro-Lifers out-numbered pro-abortion.  More than this,  the situation,  today,  represents a major "loss" for the pro-death crowd,  compared to pre-1995.  Finally,  this bit of news, should not over shadow populace opinion favoring health regulations on abortion mills,  the defeat of late term abortions,  and the setting a time limit (20 weeks) to making an abortion decision.  The realization that tearing an unborn apart,  during an abortion,  is painful to the unborn, is also,  gaining traction in this debate.   


The best in conservative citizen journalism. The Left trains its pundits to lie and call names; the Right teaches the advantage of being well informed.

Council News:


This week, The Pirate's Cove, Wolf Howling, Simply Jews and Seraphic Secret earned honorable mention status with some great articles.

You can, too! Want to see your work appear on the Watcher’s Council homepage in our weekly contest listing? Didn’t get nominated by a Council member? No worries.

To bring something to my attention, simply head over to Joshuapundit and post the title and a link to the piece you want considered along with an e-mail address (mandatory, but of course it won't be published) in the comments section no later than Monday 6PM PST in order to be considered for our honorable mention category. Then return the favor by creating a post on your site linking to the Watcher’s Council contest for the week when it comes out on Wednesday morning

Simple, no?

It's a great way of exposing your best work to Watcher’s Council readers and Council members while grabbing the increased traffic and notoriety. And how good is that, eh?

So, let's see what we have for you this week....

Council Submissions

Honorable Mentions

Non-Council Submissions


Enjoy! And don't forget to like us on Facebook and follow us Twitter..'cause we're cool like that!And don't forget to tune in Friday for the results!
Share

L.A. unions push for the minimum wage . . . . . . . . . . except when union workers are being hired.

LA Times:
Labor leaders, who were among the strongest supporters of the citywide minimum wage increase approved last week by the Los Angeles City Council, are advocating last-minute changes to the law that could create an exemption for companies with unionized workforces.
The push to include an exception to the mandated wage increase for companies that let their employees collectively bargain was the latest unexpected detour as the city nears approval of its landmark legislation to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2020.
But Rusty Hicks, who heads the county Federation of Labor and helps lead the Raise the Wage coalition, said Tuesday night that companies with workers represented by unions should have leeway to negotiate a wage below that mandated by the law.
Editor's notes:  So there you have it,  unions collaborating with politicians to punish non-union shops.  Incredibly,  the self-serving policies of our nation socialist centers for political reform,  aka "the unions,"  are given a pass when it comes to the minimum wage.  

Understand that only 3.5 million folks out of a total and active workforce of 148 million,  work for a minimum wage.  

Will this cost jobs? Well,  today,  the number of folks on minimum wage is around 3.5 million folks out of a workforce of 148 million.  In 1979 per our chart in this post,  something close to 13 million wage earners were on minimum wage.  While increased technical requirements exist for wage earners,  still,  it is obvious that increases in the minimum wage have cost the American worker, some entry level positions.  But it is not as simple as subtracting 3.5 million from 13 million.  Why?  Because upward movement,  in terms of wages, is almost impossible to tract.  The fact that fewer people are on minimum may be attributed, in part, to the notion that business does a better job of training at the "entry level,"  and moving workers off the lower wage. 
_________________________________
Related articles:

History of the minimum wage,  here.


Drudge goes after Loretta Lynch. Midknight Review does not believe Lynch will be an Eric Holder clone.

In her first major investigation since becoming the new Attorney General,  Loretta Lynch has moved against the monument to corruption,  that is the World Soccer Association.  It is the opinion of this blog's editor that such an investigation is about 20 years over-due,  that the Department is wholly justified in committing to expose FIFA and the long term corruption it has foster for several decades.  As far as this blog is concerned,  her decision beats anything Holder was doing,  and,  hopefully,  indicates a "back to normal" agenda for the DOJ,  rather than pursuing the radicalized agenda of the Holder/Obamas (Mr. and Mrs.) cabal. 

In a statement, Lynch said the Justice Department plans to work with other nations to "end corrupt practices" within FIFA and "root out misconduct.

In a press conference Wednesday morning, Lynch framed FIFA's actions as a betrayal of soccer's fans.
"Many of the individuals and organizations we will describe today were entrusted with keeping soccer open and accessible to all," she said. "They were expected to uphold the rules that keep soccer honest and to protect the integrity of the game. Instead they corrupted the business of worldwide soccer to serve their interests and to enrich themselves."

"The indictment alleges corruption that is rampant, systemic, and deep-rooted both abroad and here in the United States," Lynch said in a statement. "It spans at least two generations of soccer officials who, as alleged, have abused their positions of trust to acquire millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks. And it has profoundly harmed a multitude of victims, from the youth leagues and developing countries that should benefit from the revenue generated by the commercial rights these organizations hold, to the fans at home and throughout the world whose support for the game makes those rights valuable."

Of course,  I could be wrong about my assessment of Mss Lynch,  but she comes to the DOJ without the corrupt baggage of Holder,  served as a state attorney general in New York for five years and is very well thought of,  in the legal profession.   I am only saying,  "Let's give the woman a chance, before we rush to judgement."  Capisce?  
________________________
Text from this blog's editor and The National Review, here.

The reader should know that this headline,  from Matt Drudge,  is an implied criticism of Lynch,  by Drudge, as if her priorities are out of focus:  LYNCH PRIORITIES: WORLD SOCCER?

See how a Republican House member handles folks who claim he voted for Obama's amnesty, when, in fact, he didn't.

Steve Knight is a Republican House member,  from California.  Before shutting down his critics,  he lets one of them know that the next the man touches him,  he would "drop" the man.  That was the first thing he did right   . . . . .   the rest was equally great. 


Hillary's legacy? Graft and corruption almost beyond measure and she still needs help on how to groom for public appearances.

Clinton Foundation took at least $1,250,000 from Qatar and World Cup committee embroiled in soccer bribery scandal - and up to $100,000 from FIFA itself

The Clinton Foundation's website discloses donations from the 'Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee' of $250,001-$500,000, including a donation in 2014. Qatar's government added $1-$5 million   . . . . . . .  "donations" paid while Hillary was acting as Secretary of State.  

Elizabeth Warren, the Left's next big star? Maybe not. She will be 71 after the first term of the next presiodent.

 
<<< The caption within the picture setting, is not consistent with the fact that she was chairman of the TARP oversight committee,  and supervised more than 12 trillion dollars passing through the TARP program to Big Banking,  all without any auditing process.  
 
Elizabeth Warren,  a Massachusetts senator who has built a political career on denouncing banking titans and financial sophisticates who make a buck off the little guy.  Turns out,  she is,  or was,  one of "them,"  during the days she was building her own personal wealth empire. 

Warren bought and sold at least five properties for profit at a different time in her life, before the cratering economy and a political career made her a star. 
 
Her life story has been the subject of much interest, and her 2014 memoir, A Fighting Chance, chronicled her rise from humble beginnings in small-town Oklahoma and her struggle to make ends meet. It didn’t much mention, though, the early 1990s, years when her children were teenagers and she was once again happily married. These are years when she wasn’t yet the multimillionaire she is today, and, she has said, she was voting Republican. As a professor of law at the University of Pennsylvania, and later as a visiting professor at Harvard Law School, she was doing well for herself, building both her professional profile and her wealth. 
 
She owes at least part of her considerable financial success, it seems, to snapping up properties in her native Oklahoma and turning them for a profit — though today that’s not a practice she endorses for the many people looking to emulate her success. The Boston Herald reported on these purchases during Warren’s Senate run in 2012, noting that she invested in “the often topsy-turvy real-estate market of the 1990s” and that her actions “don’t seem to square with her public statements about the latest real estate boom and bust.”
 
In the end,  this newest of Marxist/Progressive heroes,  is no better than the folks in Big Banking,  she is fond of criticizing. 

_____________________________

Article text from the National Review and the editor of Midknight Review.

Why fight for those who can't? If you don't know the answer to that question, you are a coward's best friend.

<<<   Anyone think this little guy isn't scared?  And what does the Left want to do other than wage a "hash-tag" war?  Time to reject "compassionate Liberalism."  Its going to get us all killed. 


We answer the question: Is Obama actually trying to destroy ISIS?

<<< Never mind the 70,000 who have been slaughtered by ISIS since Obama declared Iraq to be "strong, stable and sovereign,"  or,  the 150,000 murdered in Syria since Obama's "red line."  Never mind China threatening war with the U.S., Russia's expansion into Eastern Europe, or the thousands of Christians murdered by Boko Haram.  "Cut and run" is the only thing a coward's country has as a path to peace.  Embarassing,  to say the least. 

Understand that over the Memorial weekend,  Obama bragged about this past weekend being the first in 15 years in which we were not at war,  anywhere in this world.  

Amazing to the point of manifesting mental illness.  He pulled out troops out of Iraq in Dec of 2011,  because Iraq was "strong,  stable and sovereign,"  or words to that effect.  In doing so,  in claiming credit for winning this war,  he set himself up to own the current mess.  Since he made that statement,  150,000 have been slaughtered in Syria and 70,000 have been murdered by ISIS,  in Obama's Iraq.  

And we all know how "Obama's War"  (in Afghanistan) turned out   . . . . . . . . .    a demonstrable failure.  He laughed at the mention of ISIS, and pretended that it posed no threat at all,  calling them THE "JV team,"  as you all know.  He bragged about Yemen being the model of success for his Middle East policy.  He invited the Muslim Brotherhood to Cairo,  in the spring of 2009,  to sit in on his speech at the University in Cairo.  Only last week,  Morsi,  the Muslim Brotherhood leader elected as President of Egypt, four years ago,  during that rebellion,  was sentenced to death by the Egyptian courts.  

Obama brags about his "60 member coalition" fighting ISIS,  but has yet to give the list of those nations and what they are doing in the war against ISIS    . . . . . . . . .    of course,  we all know,  there is no such coalition,  no such list.  

His nuclear ambitions for Iran are well documented,  his never ending negotiations with that terrorist nation a clear declaration of his actual intent for Iran and the region.  

Having said all of the above,  the answer to the question in our headline,  is rather obvious.  He is not trying to destroy ISIS.  How can we know this?  

Well,  compare the past three wars in that part of the world:  During Desert Storm,  we flew 1125 bombing missions per day;  during the Iraqi invasion and subsequent 5 year war,  we flew 800 daily missions during the heat of the battle;  going back to Clinton's war in Kosovo,  we flew 135 missions per day.  Obama's war versus ISIS?  We fly 14 missions per day,  and 10.5 of those 14 sorties,  on average,  see our fighter jets return,  not having fired a single shot or dropped a single bomb    . . . . . . .   so goes Obama's personal management of the war effort. 

When you are flying four actual bombing missions per day into Iraq and Syria,  combined,  the claim that "we are winning the war" is nothing short of mental. 

Obama's legacy: His executive ordered amnesty for six million (and more) illegals . . . . on hold since February.

Blog Update:  An appeals court, this week,  has upheld a Federal District Court's decision (in February) to put this program on hold.  The Obama Administration has the option to take this case to the Supreme Court,  as it seeks to continue the amnesty program while final litigation is being worked out.  Most experts do not believe the High Court will hear the case.  If that is the immediate future for this amnesty program,  it is not likely that Obama's run-around Congress will be decided before the end of his time in office. 

Understand that the District Court's decision,  in February,  came with a 127 page legal statement,  and was confirmed in a second hearing,  following the revelation that the Administration lied to the District Court in its promise to not continue implementation while the courts heard the final arguments for this executive order.  Turns out that Obama did not respect the courts enough to keep his word,  and his executive order is under fire for that reason. 

Obama's legacy: The Iranian nuclear "deal" and Obama's rush to empower that terrorist nation . . . . . another deadline missed.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An Iran nuclear deal is not likely by June 30 because technical details will remain to defined and Iran will not get sanctions relief before the end of the year in the best of cases, western ambassadors said on Tuesday.

Here is how the GOP hopefuls line up against each other as of Monday, May 26.



Best picture of this Memorial weekend.


Click on image to enlarge

Obama hides behind the fear of "collateral damge," and, in doing so, allows ISIS to grow and prosper.

 <<<  Collateral damage ????  Anyone see that possibility, here?  This is ISIS,  parading after taking Ramadi.  Why didn't we destroy this parade?  Clearly "collateral damage" is only an excuse for allowing these savages to continue to kill,  torture and destroy.  The only collateral damage being done in this so-called war against ISIS,  is what ISIS is being allowed to do by the Obama Administration. 


From the NY Times:  


American and allied warplanes are equipped with the most precise aerial arsenal ever fielded. But American officials say they are not
striking significant — and obvious — Islamic State targets out of fear that the attacks will accidentally kill civilians. Killing such innocents could hand the militants a major propaganda coup and alienate both the local Sunni tribesmen, whose support is critical to ousting the militants, and Sunni Arab countries that are part of the American-led coalition.


But many Iraqi commanders, and even some American officers, argue that exercising such prudence is harming the coalition’s larger effort to destroy the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or Daesh, and that it illustrates the limitations of American air power in the Obama administration’s strategy. A persistent complaint of Iraqi officials and security officers is that the United States has been too cautious in its air campaign, frequently allowing columns of Islamic State fighters essentially free movement on the battlefield.

 Continue reading the main story

Rioters paid, deaths by homicide rising, and chaos rules the day: Such are the results of the Sharton inspired national riots of today.

There were 27 shootings and eight deaths in Baltimore, over Memorial Day weekend.  Turns out that May could be the most violent May in Baltimore's history.  

“It is disheartening that we are seeing such an increase in violence, especially when we think about the progress that we’ve made,” Baltimore mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake told WJZ. “We’ve come too far to have this type of setback.”  Unfortunately,  this race baiting reformer, apparently,  has no clue that it was her actions,  during the riots that immediately followed the funeral of Freddie Gray  (same afternoon and evening) that left her police force without any official support and gave opportunity for these terrible statistics.  

This policing slowdown,  is all on her and that angry black woman who is prosecuting the officers associated with Gray's death.  Most prosecutors watching the development of the case against the six Baltimore police officers (three of whom are black, btw),  tell anyone who will listen,  that "second degree murder" is a ridiculous charge.  Most believe the more severe charges against the six,  will be reduced,  and a "change of venue" is critical.  Time will tell, of course.
 
The reader should know that paid rioters,  out of the Al Sharpton cabal,  have attended all of the most recent riots  (Cleveland,  Baltimore,  Ferguson).  When I write of rioters being paid,  I am talking about pay-checks of as much as $2,500 dollars for a weeks "works."  The payments came to light when a number of rioters did not receive their checks,  as promised.  Involved in this payment arrangement are members of the SCIU,  ACORN,  and an ACORN affiliate known as MORE.  

All things are cyclical.  Sad that we have to said for the terrible cycle to pass.  

2015 budget: This is an honest effort at cutting through the political garbage told to us by members of all political factions.

Is "military spending" 55% of our budget or 16% ?  Answer:  Both. 

Sadly and surprisingly,  military spending is not mandated,  but only exists as "discretionary."  Why "discretionary?"  Because the Flower Children,  currently in charge of our nation,  actually believe that a time when war will be no more,  is "just around the corner."  Understand that cowardly retreat is not an indication of "peace."  Surrender should never be an option,  but the Left does not agree and we are all the more endangered. 


All of the following comes from National Priorities,  a non-partisan group  (truly "non-partisan" ~ editor) as it reviews the CBO's budget summary :

President's 2015 Budget in Pictures

March 19, 2014 - Download PDF Version
By Jasmine Tucker 
Chart assistance by Daniel Gautreau
Easily share any of the charts below by clicking on the social media buttons directly below them.
President Obama recently released his 2015 budget proposal. And budgets are about priorities: What we’re going to spend money on, and how we’re going to raise the money that we’re spending. These pictures tell the story of the priorities in the president’s budget.

Discretionary Spending

This is how President Obama proposes allocating $1.16 trillion in discretionary spending in fiscal year 2015. Discretionary spending is the part of the federal budget that Congress determines annually during the federal budget process, and it accounts for 29 percent of total spending in the president's proposed 2015 budget. It does not include earned-benefit programs like Social Security and Medicare.

Mandatory and Discretionary Spending and Interest on Federal Debt

This is how discretionary spending, above, fits into the overall federal budget. As you can see, discretionary spending is less than a third of all federal spending. Sixty-five percent of spending, or $2.6 trillion, falls under the mandatory spending category. Mandatory spending refers to spending for earned-benefit programs like Medicare and Social Security. The remaining 6 percent of the federal budget, or $252 billion, will go towards interest on the federal debt.

Mandatory Spending

This chart shows how President Obama plans to spend $2.6 trillion in mandatory spending in fiscal year 2015. Mandatory spending includes programs like Social Security and Medicare, which are often called earned-benefit programs. Lawmakers do not choose the exact amount of money spent on these programs, because it depends on how many people qualify for benefits.
Note: While there is some mandatory spending that occurs in categories beyond the five that are shown in this chart, they are so small that together they account for less than 1 percent of the total and have been omitted.

Total Spending

This chart shows how President Obama proposes allocating all $3.97 trillion in federal spending in fiscal year 2015. This includes every kind of federal spending, from funding for discretionary programs like job training and environmental protection to mandatory programs like Social Security and Medicare as well as interest payments on the federal debt.

MIlitary and Non-Military Discretionary Spending

This chart shows how funding for military and non-military discretionary spending has changed over time. Military spending accounts for 55 percent of the president’s 2015 discretionary budget proposal, while non-military spending accounts for 45 percent.

Federal Spending and Revenue as a Share of GDP

This chart shows federal spending and tax revenue as a share of the overall U.S. economy all the way back to 1930. In 2015, President Obama proposes federal spending levels totaling 21 percent of the U.S. economy and tax revenue equal to 18 percent.

Individual and Corporate Income Taxes as Percent of Total Federal Revenue

This chart shows how tax revenue from individuals and corporations has changed over time. Individual income taxes will account for 46 percent of total tax revenue in 2015, while corporations will contribute 13.5 percent. Other federal revenue will come from payroll taxes, as well as customs and excise taxes.

Total Tax Revenue

President Obama proposes collecting $3.34 trillion in total tax revenue in fiscal year 2015, with individual income taxes and payroll taxes – which fund Social Security and Medicare – as the largest revenue sources. Tax revenue will cover 84 percent of total spending. The rest – 16 percent – will come from borrowing.

Annual Budget Deficit or Surplus as a Share of the Economy

This chart shows the size of the federal budget deficit (or surplus) as a share of the overall U.S. economy since 1930. In President Obama’s 2015 budget, the deficit amounts to 3.1 percent of the economy. As you can see, that’s roughly on par with annual deficits since World War II.

All Revenue and Spending: Where the Money Comes From and Where the Money Goes

This graphic shows how the government brings in revenue - from different types of taxes as well as borrowing - and how it spends money on programs ranging from Medicare to education to the military to interest on the federal debt.