The Obama administration announced Thursday that it will renew the non-deportation for young adult illegal immigrants, meaning the more than 560,000 so-called “Dreamers” who are part of the program will be allowed to continue living and working in the U.S. with no fear of deportations.
“Despite the acrimony and partisanship that now exists in Washington, almost all of us agree that a child who crossed our border illegally with a parent, or in search of a parent or a better life, was not making an adult choice to break our laws, and should be treated differently than adult law-breakers,” Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said in announcing the program’s renewal for another two years.
Lauded by immigrant-rights groups as a humanitarian gesture, the program, which the government termed Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, has been wildly popular with Hispanic voters, and polls show it receives generally good remarks with the public at large.
Critics, however, call it President Obama’s “mini-amnesty” and say it is contributing to a new surge in illegal immigration — including driving up the number of young children crossing the border alone. Homeland Security officials have termed that a crisis.
Those on both sides view DACA as a trial run for a broader legalization program — whether done by executive action or by law, if Congress can agree on something.
To qualify, immigrants had to have been in the U.S. before age 16, had to have been 30 or younger as of June 15, 2012, and had to prove some degree of educational attainment. Applicants were also put through a background check to try to weed out those with serious criminal charges on their record.
More than 96 percent of those who have gone through the DACA process have been approved, which some analysts say shows how little screening is done. The program’s backers, though, say that shows just how prepared and deserving this population is.
Under the program, when Dreamers encounter authorities they can show papers proving they are not going to be deported.
The program faces a legal challenge. A group of immigration agents has sued to halt the program and other non-deportation directives, arguing they are required by law to arrest illegal immigrants they encounter.

A federal judge in Texas ruled that the agents were likely correct — but also ruled that the case was beyond his jurisdiction. The agents have appealed.
Mr. Obama announced the program in June 2012, in the middle of his re-election campaign, as he was struggling to maintain support among Hispanic voters.
Mr. Obama envisioned the program lasting for two years, but left open the possibility that it could be renewed.
The first applications were filed in August 2012, were approved a month later, and will begin to expire later this year.
In addition to the more than 560,000 applications that have been approved, nearly 70,000 more remain in the pipeline, according to the latest statistics from the end of March.
Heading into this year’s congressional elections, many Democrats have pleaded with Mr. Obama to expand the program to include illegal immigrant parents of Dreamers.
“The Obama Administration should build on this program’s successes and expand DACA to include our parents and others who remain targets for deportation,” said Cristina Jimenez, managing director of United We Dream. “As we celebrate the futures that Dreamers now enjoy through DACA, we will keep fighting until our entire families can share in the opportunities that come through a just and humane immigration policy.”
Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/jun/5/dhs-renews-non-deportation-policy-dreamers/#ixzz33mtuBOMK
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DHS Renews Non-deportation Policy For Dreamers
Adan
Thu, 05 Jun 2014 16:04:24 GMT

Dinesh D’Souza’s ‘America’ warns Hillary Clinton will ‘finish off’ the country

BY PAUL BEDARD | MAY 30, 2014 | 1:51 PM
TOPICS: WASHINGTON SECRETS BARACK OBAMA HILLARY CLINTON BILL CLINTON 2016 ELECTIONS DINESH DSOUZA SAUL ALINSKY

In his highly anticipated new book and movie “America,” conservative author Dinesh D’Souza is warning that Hillary Clinton won’t be a clone of her moderate husband, but will instead take the baton fromPresident Obama to continue radicalizing the country and “undo the nation’s founding ideals.”
“America — Imagine a World Without Her,” published by Regnery and set for release Monday, charges that as students of radical organizer Saul Alinsky, Obama and Clinton could have enough time to “unmake and then remake America” into a nation the founding fathers wouldn’t recognize.

“They may not be responsible for the suicide of America, but they certainly will have helped to finish off a certain way of life in America, and they will leave us with a country unrecognizable not only to Washington and Jefferson but also to those of us who grew up in the 20th century,” wrote D’Souza.
“If they succeed, there may be no going back. Then it will be their America, not ours, and we will be a people bereft of a country, with no place to go,” he adds on page 87.
“America” is D’Souza’s latest book and movie on how he sees progressive politics hurting the nation. He also created the movie “2016: Obama’s America,” which was the second highest-grossing political documentary.
An advance copy of the book provided to Secrets suggests that progressives aim to remake the nation into one that is less powerful, less wealthy and less influential. If that happens, he warns, “We have committed national suicide.”
He focuses on Obama’s and Clinton’s links to Alinsky in a chapter titled “The Plan.” He claims the two followed the radical’s master plan that they hide their views and ideas until they get into power.
“If you see early pictures and video of Hillary, she looks and sounds like a former hippie. Overtime, however, Hillary started dressing like a respectable middle-class mother and speaking in a clipped, moderate sounding voice. Young Barack Obama, too, looked like a bit of a street thug — in his own words, he could have been Trayvon Martin. Over time, however, Obama started dressing impeccably and even practiced modulating his voice,” the popular author writes.
“Hillary and Obama have both learned the Alinsky lesson that your should aggressively pursue power while pretending to be motivated by altruism,” he added.
“More importantly, Hillary and Obama both adopted Alinsky’s strategic counsel to sound mainstream, even when you aren’t,” wrote D’Souza. “These are the ways in which our two Alinskyites make themselves palatable to the American middle class, which to this day has no idea how hostile Hillary and Obama are to middle-class values.
“If Hillary Clinton is elected in 2016, the baton will have passed from one Alinskyite to another. In this case, Alinsky’s influence will have taken on a massive, almost unimaginable, importance. Obama will have had eight years to remake America, and Hillary will have another four or perhaps eight to complete the job,” he wrote.
http://washingtonexaminer.com/dinesh-dsouzas-america-warns-hillary-clinton-will-finish-off-the-country/article/2549114

Obamacare is looking more and more like the utter failure that it is all the time.
People have discovered, contrary to the repeated promises of President Obama, that they can’t necessarily keep their preferred doctor or hospital.  Many people are also at risk of losing their employer-sponsored health coverage later this year, and will be scrambling to find an adequate plan with participating doctors and hospitals.
A big part of the problem with Obamacare is the insurance exchanges, which offer limited choices, were hastily constructed, and are full of glitches, leaving taxpayers on the hook for the wasted money while people searching for health coverage are unable to find it.
Follow Conservative Tribune
A report out of Illinois by a nonpartisan, free market based policy think tank, took a look at how the state-run exchanges were doing since the roll-out of Obamacare.  It doesn’t look good for the states that choose to run their own exchanges instead of using the federal Healthcare.gov site.

Fourteen states plus the District of Columbia opted to establish a state-funded health insurance exchange. Of those 15 ObamaCare exchanges, eight are either being scrapped or are on the verge of collapse, with some states reverting back to the federal ObamaCare portal.
But the most interesting story is found in Rhode Island, which isn’t facing an inoperable website or insurmountable glitches. Rhode Island is now considering defaulting to the federal exchange on the basis of the administrative costs required to maintaining its exchange.
At an estimated cost of $23 million per year in administrative costs required to operate their site, some lawmakers in the state are finding that this may be too-large a burden – especially since using the federal portal, healthcare.gov imposes no additional costs on the state.

It should be noted that any money a state spends on running their exchange doesn’t go to actually helping anybody get coverage or care, but merely towards the administrative costs of running the exchange.  When compared with the federal exchange that states can use for free, it becomes obvious that any money states spend on their exchange is money that could have been spent elsewhere.

In Illinois, previous estimates show that the state could spend over $100 million to operate its own site. The state is already facing a series of budgetary unknowns concerning implementation of the Affordable Care Act.
There is no upside for the state in adopting a state-funded ObamaCare exchange. Any supposed control or flexibility in operating its own exchange is lost through the numerous and onerous federal requirements. The downsides, as evidenced from experiences across the country, are clear.

All states should opt-out of the exchange system and let the federal government handle it, although that does create a problem of dumping even more people on an already broken and strained federal system.  But, it is their creation and they should have to deal with it, problems and all.
States need to also opt-out of the other aspects of Obamacare, like Medicaid expansion.  Sure, the feds will pay for the extra costs, at first, but in a few years those added expenses will be reverted back to the states, and state budgets likely won’t be able to handle the additional costs, especially when Medicaid already makes up a quarter of a state’s budget, on average.
We need a full repeal of Obamacare, and have it replaced by free market oriented, patient-centered reforms, with things like Health Savings accounts, portability of coverage from job to job, and the ability to shop for coverage across state lines, among other things.
Please share this on Facebook and Twitter if you aren’t surprised that state-run Obamacare exchanges are collapsing, just like the rest of the law.
Read This Next:

1. Meltdown: Obamacare’s State-Run Exchanges Reach Only 3% of Their Goal
2. Report: Obama Paid $634,320,919 for the Failed Obamacare Website
3. State of California REJECTS Obama’s Illegal Obamacare “Fix”
4. Bombshell: LESS Than 50,000 Have Enrolled in Obamacare
5. Report: Obamacare Already Making Insurance Prices Double
6. Bombshell: 20% of Obamacare Enrollees Have Already Cancelled
7. Report: Nearly 100,000,000 Will Lose Insurance by Midterm Elections
8. Fighting Back: Tennessee Bill Will Ban Obamacare at State Line
9. Picture: The Huffington Post Admits Obamacare is a “Trainwreck”
10. WATCH: South Carolina to Outlaw Obamacare in Their State
11. IRS Workers Union Says They Don’t Want Obamacare Themselves
12. Report: Obamacare Fines Hospitals That Give Free Services to Poor
13. Expert: 129 MILLION Will Lose Insurance Under Obamacare
14. Insurance Firms: Obamacare is Already Making Prices Double
15. Unreal: Obama Increases Funding for the “Obamacare Bailout”

http://www.capitalisminstitute.org/obamacare-exchanges-collapsing/

Russian president says he will honor outcome of weekend elections, but that dialogue must replace military operations and violence

– Jon Queally, staff writer

Russian president Vladimir Putin at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum. (Photograph: Mikhail Klimentyev/Ria Novosti)
Ahead of contentious nationwide elections in Ukraine this weekend designed to pave the way for a new government in the politically fractured country, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday had strong words for western nations, including the United States, who he says backed the coup d’etat that has put the nation on the edge of all out civil war.
In his remarks Friday, Putin said that Russia would back the results of the vote, but cautioned the Obama administration on its continued mishandling of the crisis, including its failure to honor diplomatic efforts and an overtly-biased relationship with the individuals and parties in Kiev who overthrew the elected government of President Viktor Yanukovich earlier this year.
In an interview with CNBC, in front of an audience at the International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg, Putin offered his overview of what happened in Ukraine and the current conditions by stating (based on CNBC’s transcript):

What happened in Ukraine now is chaos, the country is sliding into chaos. Yanukovych agreed to do anything, whatever, had it all been done legally, we’d continue subsidising them, we’d keep gas prices low, we’d allocate the 15 billion we’d promised. Let us be frank, we’re all grownups in the room, we’re all smart and educated people. The West supported anti-constitutional coup d’état, not just by giving away cookies, but by giving political support, support in the media, using all sorts of tools. And are you blaming us? What we suggested was dialogue. We were denied. When I last came to Brussels we agreed that dialogue would continue but that was before the coup d’état.

Asked repeatedly by the interviewer to discuss how Russian president intends to work with the new government in Kiev, even if the outcome is unfavorable to many in the east and the south, Putin indicated that though he would like to see reforms that address the concerns of all Ukrainians, he is committed to a renewed and healthy relationship with Russia’s neighbor. Putin stated:

Like I said, and I’m not kidding and I’m not being ironic, what we want for Ukraine is peace and calm. We want this country to recover from crisis and conditions are to be created for that. … Again not being ironic,  [Ukraine] is a sister nation and we want it to enjoy peace, order and we already cooperate with people that are in power and after the election of course we will cooperate with the newly-elected head of state. But just to make it clear I hope that after the election all military action will stop and national dialogue will begin.

Tensions in the nation are again ascendent as new violence was reported in the east of the country on both Thursay and Friday.
As the Guardian reports:

Ukraine’s defense ministry [said on Friday that] up to 500 insurgents attacked government troops in one clash in eastern Ukraine that left 20 insurgents dead. The ministry said in a statement the clash took place on Thursday as a convoy of Ukrainian troops was attacked outside the eastern village of Rubizhne. Up to 16 Ukrainian soldiers also died on Thursday in an assault on a checkpoint by separatists.
On Friday, the Donbass paramilitary group, which operates with the tacit backing of Kiev, said it had been ambushed by separatist forces, with at least one dead, and many injured or taken hostage.
Voting in the east will be severely limited on Sunday, with pro-Kiev forces not fully in control of the region and a fear that violence could spike as the separatists attempt to disrupt the vote. Kiev has said it will halt its “anti-terrorism operation” against separatist forces on voting day.

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Published on Saturday, May 24, 2014 by ProPublica

IRS Delays New Rules for Dark Money Groups

The agency has pushed back indefinitely a hearing on new regulations for social welfare nonprofits that spend money on politics.

by Theodoric Meyer

(Photo: Light Brigading/ Creative Commons)After intense criticism from both ends of the political spectrum, the Internal Revenue Service has delayed indefinitely proposed rules that would have imposed new limits on social welfare nonprofits, which have pumped hundreds of millions of dollars from anonymous donors into recent elections.

The agency said yesterday it would postpone a hearing on the proposal it released in November defining more clearly what constitutes political activity for such groups, and would revise the plan to reflect some of the more than 150,000 comments it triggered.

Officials put no timeline on the process, disappointing those who had hoped the new regulations might kick in before this year’s mid-term elections.

“I think it’s unfortunate that new rules will be delayed even further and that we’re going through another election cycle” without them, said Paul S. Ryan, senior counsel with the Campaign Legal Center.

Others called the delay a prudent step that would give the IRS an opportunity to get a crucial change right.

“They’re not going to put out some slapdash rule just to check it off their list,” said John Pomeranz, a Washington lawyer who works with nonprofits that spend money on politics. He doesn’t expect the agency to finish the rules any time soon. “I think we’ll be lucky if they’re in place for the 2016 election.”

Social welfare nonprofits have poured money into politics since the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision in 2010, which allowed corporations, unions and nonprofits to spend unlimited money on elections.

Social welfare nonprofits spent more than $256 million in the 2012 cycle alone, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Campaign finance watchdogs have viewed their rise with concern, fearing the influence of so-called “dark” money from secret donors, and had called for more oversight from the IRS.

Under IRS regulations, the groups can spend some of their resources on politics, but must devote themselves mostly to social welfare to keep their nonprofit status. But the rules defining what is and isn’t politics are murky.

Late last year, the IRS moved to clarify the issue, but its proposal came under fire from both the left and the right.

Conservatives complained that the rules would stifle political speech. The American Civil Liberties Union chafed at a provision in the proposed rules that would prevent nonprofits from backing ads that even mentioned politicians in the two months before a general election.

“We have no doubt that the Service is acting with the best of intentions, but the proposed rule threatens to discourage or sterilize an enormous amount of political discourse in America,” the ACLU said in its written response to the proposal.

The plan was also criticized for impeding nonpartisan election work such as voter registration drives and get-out-the-vote efforts.

The IRS, still facing fallout from accusations that it singled out the applications of conservative nonprofits for special scrutiny in the run-up to the 2012 election, decided it would make revisions.

“Given the diversity of views expressed and the volume of substantive input, we have concluded that it would be more efficient and useful to hold a public hearing after we publish the revised proposed regulation,” the agency said in statement.

May 16, 2014 | Author Bill Bonner
The Dow fell 101 points on Wednesday. Gold managed to climb back over $1,300 an ounce. But the important news was barely noticed. Of those who bothered to read it, few realized its significance. For the first time, oligarchs from North America and the steppes of Eurasia have teamed up to lie, cheat and steal together. The Wall Street Journal reports:

“Vice President Joe Biden‘s son and a close friend of Secretary of State John Kerry‘s stepson have joined the board of a Ukrainian gas producer controlled by a former top security and energy official for deposed President Viktor Yanukovych. […] Hunter Biden, a lawyer by training and the younger of the vice president’s two sons, joined the board of directors of Ukrainian gas firm Burisma Holdings Ltd. this month and took on responsibility for the company’s legal unit, according to a statement issued by the closely held gas producer.”

R. Hunter Biden miraculously becomes a gas specialist who’s urgently needed in Ukraine.  From Burisma’s press release: “R. Hunter Biden will be in charge of the Holdings’ legal unit and will provide support for the Company among international organizations.”  The other new American board member of Burisma is Devon Archer, who works with Hunter Biden at Rosemont Seneca partners, which is half owned by Rosemont Capital, a private equity firm founded by Archer and Christopher Heinz…who is John Kerry’s step-son!
(Photo via opposingviews.com)
Standing on Hind Legs
Most people have no idea what government is about. They think it is a benign institution, designed to make life better for everyone.
“The government is all of us,” said Hillary Clinton, talking her book.
This myth helps keep the voters and the taxpayers in line. Some governments, desperate to get more “buy in” from the public, even insist eligible voters go to the polls – or face penalties. In Argentina, for example, you can collect welfare benefits – but only if you can prove you voted. In other words, you have to stand on your hind legs before they throw you a bone.
Other countries, such as the US, merely excite the voters with dreams of avarice and threats of sanctions. One group votes because it hopes to score more of another group’s money. The other group votes to protect itself.
Among “get out the vote” campaigns, Denmark’s recent cartoon for the European parliamentary elections (by all accounts a snooze-fest) must set a new milestone in the history of democratic fraud and absurdity. The Financial Times reports:
“The 90-second video features “Voteman,“ a muscleman first seen in bed with five naked women who then proceeds to beat up young people to force them to vote. He then decapitates one man, interrupts a couple having sex to throw them out of a window, and uses a dolphin to help chuck people into voting booths.”
The Danish parliament withdrew the video on Tuesday.
Politicians want you to vote so they can claim to represent you. Then they do what they want. Like any other organization, government promotes the goals of those who control it. In that sense, it is no different from the Kiwanis International club or the electric power company. Every business, club or charitable institution is meant to do something – and always and everywhere it does what the people running it want done.
The bizarre Danish ‘Voteman’ video

(Cartoon by Borsotti)
As Naked as a Christmas Goose
This is not a bad thing. In a civilized society, as Adam Smith explained, it is self-interest that fills the marketplace with products and services. A baker counts on the hunger of his clients to fill his own stomach. A cobbler depends on others’ sore feet to enable him to shoe his own family.
But an oligarch? This bird sings a different song altogether. He provides no real service… produces no real products… and exchanges no tit for tat. Instead, he feathers his own nest with forlorn hopes plucked from an ignorant and impotent public.
The voters believe they are in charge. They believe the government – as imperfect as it is – nevertheless reflects the desires of the public, as filtered through elections, lobbyists and back-room deals. It is not a perfect system, the voter bravely tells himself, trying to recall Churchill’s word, but it is better than the alternatives. But by voting the poor democrat sets himself up for disappointment and despoliation.
Ouch! He loses a feather to the financial industry. Ouch! Another to the health-care oligarchs. Ow! There go a few to the farm lobby. Before you know it, he is as naked as a Christmas goose… cooked in his own stupid juices.
“The government that governs least, governs best,” said Jefferson. He understood it better. All governments work for their masters – the elite, the oligarchs. All are essentially parasitic, larcenous… and often, murderous. The more government you have, the worse off you are.

The choice
(Cartoon by Jonik)

Progressives united outside the Capitol building on Wednesday in a rally against the TPP. (Photo: Rachel LaBruyere/ Twitter)Braving thunder and rain, hundreds of protesters rallied outside of the Capitol building in Washington DC on Wednesdayto declare to the government that “the entire progressive movement is united” in the call to reject unjust trade deals and embrace an economy for all.
Braving thunder and rain, hundreds of protesters rallied outside of the Capitol building in Washington DC on Wednesdayto declare to the government that “the entire progressive movement is united” in the call to reject unjust trade deals and embrace an economy for all.
“They say ‘Fast Track!’ We Say ‘Fight Back!'” the group chanted, referring to recent efforts by President Obama to push through legislation to cement the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, or TPP, without congressional deliberation. Thus far, the details of the deal have been negotiated behind closed doors, with the only information made available to the public via leaks.
Under the banner “Fair Trade is Not Free,” a diverse coalition of environmental organizations, good government groups, farm groups, and over a dozen unions took part in the protest, carrying umbrellas and placards, which read: “Stop Secret Trade Deals.”
“Let’s show Congress that the entire progressive movement is united in the fight for a 21st century global economy that works for everyone,” declared the Communications Workers of America (CWA), which organized the rally.
The TPP has been blasted by critics for undermining labor and environmental standards, as well as the open Internet. “The TPP is a horrific thing,” said Kian Frederick, national field director for Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch. “There’s something for everyone to hate.”
Frederick, who attended the action, told Common Dreams that she believed the aspect of the deal with the most potential harm is the Investor State Dispute Resolution, which grants global corporations state status, much like NAFTA, allowing them to sue a country for supposed loss or damages if they amend their laws. However, according to Frederick, the TPP goes a step further by allowing a corporation to sue for the loss of future expected profits.
“It’s an absolute race to the bottom,” Frederick declared, citing the myriad ways a government will be handcuffed to old legislation: food safety standards, environmental standards, labor laws. “If we go through with it, taxpayer money will all be recouped by the corporations.”
Public Citizen is hoping the rally draws attention to an upcoming congressional vote on whether to eschew legislative authority and “Fast Track” the trade deal without deliberation or input. The vote will likely occur after the midterm elections.
Speaking before the crowd, Tefere Gebre, Executive Vice President of AFL-CIO America,declared: “This is what solidarity looks like!” Gebre was joined by other speakers including Reps. Rosa deLauro (D-Conn.), Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), Mike Michaud (D-Me.), Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), and Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.).
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Progressives Unite in Call Against ‘Horrific’ TPP
lauren
Wed, 07 May 2014 17:31:50 GMT

(ROLL CALL) Sen. Ted Cruz gathered a group of House conservatives in his office Tuesday night, talking about immigration and House GOP leadership elections slated for after the midterm elections.
As CQ Roll Call first reported last October, Cruz held a secret meeting with members at Tortilla Coast during the height of the government shutdown drama. Many of these same Republicans are the agitators who aren’t happy with Speaker John A. Boehner.
The Texas Republican gathered roughly 10 members of the GOP Conference at 8 p.m. Tuesday for a 90-minute session that included candy bars, crackers and soda. Cruz’s office would not give further details, calling the pow-wow a “private meeting.”

Cruz secretly plotting Boehner’s ouster?
-NO AUTHOR-
Thu, 01 May 2014 13:36:35 GMT

A new poll shows Senator Rand Paul beating Hillary Clinton in the potential 2016 matchup in the critical swing state of Colorado, actually increasing his lead from a previous poll. Colorado, which has trended blue in recent elections, may turn red as Colorado voters are upset with Democrats over the economy, Obamacare and gun control.
Related posts:

1. POLL: Rand Paul Leads Hillary Clinton in Swing-State Colorado
2. POLL: Would You Vote for Rand Paul Over Hillary Clinton?
3. BREAKING: Rand Paul Wins CPAC Presidential Poll

POLL: Rand Paul Beats Hillary Clinton in Major Swing State
Ben Marquis
Thu, 01 May 2014 19:02:32 GMT

(LONDON INDEPENDENT) A candidate in the European elections has been arrested after making a speech quoting from a book by Winston Churchill about Islam.

Paul Weston, chairman of the party Liberty GB, was making the speech on the steps of Winchester Guildhall, Hampshire, on Saturday, when a member of the public complained to police and he was arrested.

He had been reading from Churchill‘s book The River War, written in 1899 while he was a British army officer inSudan.

Politician arrested for quoting Churchill on Islam
-NO AUTHOR-
Tue, 29 Apr 2014 19:47:06 GMT