CNN rating off again.

Pardon the smirk 

http://deadline.com/2014/12/cable-news-ratings-fox-news-channel-wins-13th-consecutive-year-1201338131/

But CNN will close out 2014 with some all-time ratings lows. In primetime, the network has delivered its worst-rated year in total viewers and its second-lowest in the news demo. In total day, CNN clocked its worst-rated year in the news demo. On the bright side, it will wrap 2014 ahead of MSNBC in the news demo; through December 22, MSNBC lost 17% of its primetime news demo viewers, clocking a worst-since-2005 169,000 of them. To put this in perspective, this is roughly the size crowd as that of the Porcupine Caribou Herd in Alaska, Yukon and Northwest Territories, according to a recent photo census (which, unlike MSNBC, represents an increase in number — the largest population for the Porcupine Caribou Herd since the early 1990s).

CNN’s primetime news demo crowd — while bigger than that caribou herd, at 181,000 viewers — represents a 1% slide. Fox News Channel, meanwhile, is way out front with 302,000 primetime news demo viewers and, like the Porcupine Caribou Herd population, FNC’s population grew — by 3%.

In China, like all leftist governments, whatever the rulers decide is constitutional whether it is or not.

China jails maker of documentary on constitutional rule amidpledges to respect charter
By The Associated Press | The Canadian Press – 7 hours ago
BEIJING, China - A Chinese court gave a one-year jail sentence Tuesday to a filmmaker who produced a documentary on the country's 100-year quest for constitutional rule, his lawyer said.
Chaoyang District Court in Beijing found Shen Yongping guilty of running an illegal business because he had not obtained permission to film the documentary, lawyer Zhang Xuezhong said. He said Shen had argued he was innocent because he had released the film online for free and did not profit from it.
Calls to the court were not answered Tuesday.
The ruling Communist Party has pledged to respect the constitution and legal system, though critics say it continues to re- main above the law and is hostile to true constitutional rule.
Last year, a few months after President Xi Jinping took power, several party publications warned sternly against Western- style constitutional democracy, dashing hopes by some liberal intellectuals that Xi might take steps to introduce real constitu- tional rule.
Shen, who is in his early 30s, was detained in April shortly after he finished filming the eight-part series on efforts in China to achieve constitutional rule since the last days of the imperial Qing Dynasty, Zhang said.
The documentary is available on the video-sharing site YouTube, though access to YouTube is blocked in mainland China.
Zhang said Shen was warned repeatedly by authorities and threatened with arrest during the filming. "But he carried on with the filming because he did not believe it was a criminal act," Zhang said. "And he had borrowed a lot of money to do it."
"It's an act of personal expression, no different than someone filming a wedding and putting it online, and it does not consti- tute running an illegal business," Zhang said. 

I thought freedom of religion is a UN declared natural right?

Chinese authorities tear down cross on Christian nursinghome
By By Sui-Lee Wee | Reuters – 13 hours ago
By Sui-Lee Wee
BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese authorities have dismantled a cross in a Christian nursing home a week before Christmas, an employee said on Tuesday, the latest example of a growing crackdown on Christianity.
Men dressed in plainclothes removed the cross that was on top of the nursing home in the eastern city of Hangzhou on Dec. 19, said Gao Huifang, a worker at the home.
Activists say the incident is part of a campaign targeting churches throughout Zhejiang province, which is known for its grow- ing Christian population. Hangzhou is the provincial capital.
The dismantling of the cross had stunned residents, and three elderly people fainted on the spot, Gao said.
"Although everyone has recovered, the wound to our hearts will never heal," Gao told Reuters by telephone.
The men did not give a reason for tearing the cross down except to say the "orders came from high up", she said.
An official from a district ethnic and religious affairs bureau which supervises the nursing home said the cross was "not re- moved, but rectified" to create a "scenic spot".
"According to standards, this Christian nursing home is not a place for religious activities," said the official, who declined to give his name.
As of Dec. 12, at least 426 churches had received orders for demolition or removal of crosses in Zhejiang, which has launched a campaign "to target all illegal structures", according to ChinaAid, a Texas-based Christian advocacy group.
"The true intention behind demolishing church buildings and rectifying crosses is to curb the development of Christianity," the group said in a statement on its website this month.
Gao said the nursing home was registered with the Hangzhou civil affairs bureau but operated independently.
China says it guarantees freedoms of religion, as long as people worship in institutions that are registered with the ruling Communist Party's religious affairs authorities. Protestant churches have to be registered with the official Three Self-Patriotic Movement Committee.
Experts say there are up to 60 million Protestants in China, divided between the official and unregistered churches. The pressures that Christian churches in Zhejiang face are part of a broader crackdown on dissent and religion.
The official Xinjiang Daily said on Tuesday the regional government would implement new rules from Jan. 1 aimed at com- bating extremism in the western region, where ethnic Uighur Muslims live.
"People will be banned from 'exaggerating religious fervor using their appearance, clothing or logos'," the newspaper said. 

Antarctic sea ice on the rise...

Global Sea Ice Breaks Record High For The Day – Antarctic Sea Ice Also Breaks Record High For the Day

Now think of the outrage if this were the other way round...

‘HOW TO STAB A JEW’ VIDEO BECOMES A BIG HIT ON PALESTINIAN SOCIAL MEDIA

A video being widely circulated in Palestinian social media networks teaches jihadists how to stab a Jewish person in a manner that ensures their speedy death.

The video is reportedly being circulated by a group calling themselves the “resisters of occupation in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem,” according to a Jewish Press report.

The video shows two men, a “teacher” and a “victim”, dressed in a Keffiyeh headscarf–garb which was popularized by the first Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat. The teacher then demonstrates how to casually walk up to someone and stab them in an efficient and deadly manner.

The demonstration emphasizes that in order to inflict maximum damage, the knife should be twisted after stabbing the Jewish person.

The video comes as 2014 has seen an exponential increase in Arab stabbing attacks against Israeli Jews.

In November, two Palestinian terrorists stabbed to death four Rabbis who were praying peacefully in their Jerusalem synagogue. The Palestinians, who were armed with axes, left an additional eight wounded in the jihadi onslaught. Hamas, the terror group which controls the Gaza Strip, supported the jihadist’s actions. A Hamas spokesman threatened at the time, “There will be more revolution in Jerusalem, and more uprising.”

Palestinian media entities have created other platforms to call for aggression against Jews.

In October, a video game was released called “The Liberation of Palestine,” which encouraged gamers to “liberate Palestine” through any means necessary. The game preferred users to choose armed resistance over diplomacy. A developer of the game said regarding the controversial tactic: “The language of weapons is the most effective with the Israelis.”

Time to winnow the chaff from the wheat

MICHIGAN HAS MORE FOOD STAMP RECIPIENTS THAN STUDENTS

Michigan now has more food stamp recipients than it does public school students, an analysis of federal and state statistics by Breitbart News reveals.

Michigan, which announced on Friday plans to begin drug testing some welfare recipients, currently has 1,679,421 individuals on food stamps (known officially as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP), according to the U.S. Agriculture Department. According to the Michigan Department of Education, the state’s total pupil count for K-12 is 1,564,114.

Michigan’s food stamp program has struggled to combat fraud and abuse. As recently as last week, for example, three brothers pleaded guilty for their roles in a food stamp fraud scheme at the Middle Eastern Market in Grand Rapids, Michigan, that cost taxpayers $1,278,700.

This year, Michigan’s food stamp program cost taxpayers $2,576,165,148.

Obama Adviser Jonathan Gruber In 2009: Obamacare Will NOT Be Affordable

 

          

DailyCaller

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POLITICS

  

Obama Adviser Jonathan Gruber In 2009: Obamacare Will NOT Be Affordable

Posted By Patrick Howley On 9:25 AM 12/30/2014 

President Obama’s health care adviser Jonathan Gruber said that the Affordable Care Act would definitely not be affordable while he was writing the bill with the White House.

As Gruber continues to withhold documents while he awaits a call-back for more testimony before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee in the new year, more shocking information is coming to light detailing the deceptions that went into the writing of the health-care law. (RELATED: Daily Caller Publishes First Video Of Gruber Calling The American People ‘Stupid’).

Gruber said that Obamacare had no cost controls in it and would not be affordable in an October 2009 policy brief, presented here exclusively by TheDC. At the time, Gruber had already personally counseled Obama in the Oval Office and served on Obama’s presidential transition team. Obama, meanwhile, told the American people that their premiums would go down dramatically.

“The problem is it starts to go hand in hand with the mandate; you can’t mandate insurance that’s not affordable. This is going to be a major issue,” Gruber admitted in an October 2, 2009 lecture, the transcript of which comprised the policy brief.

“So what’s different this time? Why are we closer than we’ve ever been before? Because there are no cost controls in these proposals. Because this bill’s about coverage. Which is good! Why should we hold 48 million uninsured people hostage to the fact that we don’t yet know how to control costs in a politically acceptable way? Let’s get the people covered and then let’s do cost control.”

Gruber also said that the only way to control costs is to effectively deny treatment.

“The real substance of cost control is all about a single thing: telling patients they can’t have something they want. It’s about telling patients, ‘That surgery doesn’t do any good, so if you want it you have to pay the full cost.’”

“There’s no reason the American health care system can’t be, ‘You can have whatever you want, you just have to pay for it.’ That’s what we do in other walks of life. We don’t say everyone has to have a large screen TV. If you want a large screen TV, you have to pay for it. Basically the notion would be to move to a level where everyone has a solid basic insurance level of coverage. Above that people pay on their own, without tax-subsidized dollars, to buy a higher level of coverage.”

And despite the president’s pitches to the contrary, Obama also knew that his health care bill was unlikely to control costs, Gruber said.

“I wish that President Obama could have stood up and said, ‘You know, I don’t know if this bill is going to control costs. It might, it might not. We’re doing our best. But let me tell you what it’s going to do…” Gruber said on a San Francisco podcast in 2012.

“If he could make that speech? Instead, he says ‘I’m going to pass a bill that will lower your health care costs.’ That sells. Now, I wish the world was different. I wish people cared about the 50 million uninsured in America…But, you know, they don’t. And I think, once again, I’m amazed politically that we got this bill through.”

Bernie Sanders (socialist, VT) has a 12 point plan.

December 29, 2014
Bernie Sanders's 12-Point Socialist Plan for America
By Pedro Gonzales


Bernie Sanders's 12-Point Socialist Plan for America
Every committed revolutionary needs a plan. Karl Marx had one, and so did Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong. Add to that group socialist senator Bernie Sanders from Vermont, who is considering running for president (as a Democrat) and has already announced a 12-point plan at the Huffington Post. He writes:
As Vermont's senator, here are 12 initiatives that I will be fighting for which can restore America's middle class.
1. We need a major investment to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure: roads, bridges, water systems, waste water plants, airports, railroads and schools..... A $1 trillion investment in infrastructure could create 13 million decent paying jobs and make this country more efficient and productive
Why does this sound so familiar? Because it is! Remember the Obama stimulus plan? That too was a trillion-dollar investment in our "crumbling infrastructure" (the favorite amorphous buzzword for government spending). How many millions of permanent jobs were created from that? I think the exact number was... zero.
2. The United States must lead the world in reversing climate change and make certain that this planet is habitable for our children and grandchildren. We must transform our energy system away from fossil fuels and into energy efficiency and sustainable energies.... and we need to greatly accelerate the progress we are already seeing in wind, solar, geothermal, biomass and other forms of sustainable energy.
Good news! Our planet is currently habitable for our children and grandchildren. Nothing further needs be done! However, if we move away from fossil fuels to cutting-edge Don Quixote technologies from the 1900s, like windmills, our children and grandchildren will be paying enormous costs for energy and will have no energy at all when the wind isn't blowing (for windmills) and when the sun isn't shining (for solar).
3. We need to develop new economic models to increase job creation and productivity. Instead of giving huge tax breaks to corporations which ship our jobs to China and other low-wage countries, we need to provide assistance to workers who want to purchase their own businesses by establishing worker-owned cooperatives.
This has been tried in many countries. Israel used to have cooperatives called "Kibbutzes." I say "used to" because most of them went bankrupt. When people were not rewarded more for working harder, and people were rewarded for not working at all, the system went broke.
4. Union workers who are able to collectively bargain for higher wages and benefits earn substantially more than non- union workers. Today, corporate opposition to union organizing makes it extremely difficult for workers to join a union. We need legislation which makes it clear that when a majority of workers sign cards in support of a union, they can form a union.
Union workers in places like Detroit have good jobs at good wages with good benefits...the ones who still have jobs, that is. Many lost their jobs because the wages unions demanded for unskilled labor caused the auto companies to collapse – not once,
but several times.
5. The current federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour is a starvation wage. We need to raise the minimum wage to a living wage.
Every time you raise the minimum wage, the poor suffer, because more jobs disappear, and the products produced by minimum-

wage labor become more expensive. The minimum wage is supposed to be a training wage, where people go to get their first step on the ladder leading upward. Those who learn are promoted and get higher wages. Those who don't...well...
6. Women [sic] workers today earn 78 percent of what their male counterparts make. We need pay equity in our country - - equal pay for equal work.
Will we start this policy in the White House? In the offices of Democratic Senate and House staffers? Will we hire committees of thousands of bureaucrats to go into every company and judge the work of every employee to decide what is "equal work"?
Because that is the only way such a policy could be put into effect.
7. Since 2001 we have lost more than 60,000 factories in this country, and more than 4.9 million decent-paying manufacturing jobs. We must end our disastrous trade policies (NAFTA, CAFTA, PNTR with China, etc.)
I think what Senator Sanders is saying here is that he supports tariffs. It's funny, though, that he doesn't say tariffs. Tariffs acquired a bad reputation after they helped lead to the Great Depression.
8. In today's highly competitive global economy, millions of Americans are unable to afford the higher education they need in order to get good-paying jobs. Quality education in America, from child care to higher education, must be affordable for all.
Is Senator Sanders going to require colleges and universities to make sure that all their professors are working 40-hour work weeks in the classroom? Is he going to audit the costs of universities, find out how much the teaching component costs, and then require universities to lower tuition accordingly? If so, I congratulate Senator Sanders for taking on the liberal college money- making establishment!
9. The function of banking is to facilitate the flow of capital into productive and job-creating activities. Financial institutions cannot be an island unto themselves, standing as huge profit centers outside of the real economy. Today, six huge Wall Street financial institutions have assets equivalent to 61 percent of our gross domestic product - over $9.8 trillion.... They are too powerful to be reformed. They must be broken up.
If banks are profit centers, how do they make profits? The only way I can think of is by investing in the economy, real estate, industries, and businesses. These activities create jobs.
10. The United States must join the rest of the industrialized world and recognize that health care is a right of all, and not a privilege. Despite the fact that more than 40 million Americans have no health insurance, we spend almost twice as much per capita on health care as any other nation. We need to establish a Medicare-for-all, single-payer system.
Health care is a right in many countries, such as Cuba and North Korea. However, having a right to health care is not the same as receiving health care. In a single-payer system, the incentive to innovate and create medicines is lost, and the demand for medical care will far outstrip supply.
11. Millions of seniors live in poverty and we have the highest rate of childhood poverty of any major country. We must strengthen the social safety net, not weaken it. Instead of cutting Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and nutrition programs, we should be expanding these programs.
The more we spend, the better off these people will be – so he says. But where will this money come from? We currently have over 18 trillion dollars in debt, and that doesn't even count unfunded obligations to Social Security and other programs. If we incur more debt, and our economy collapses, as is happening in countries like Greece and Portugal, the poor will suffer even more. The best anti-poverty program is a free-market economy, which creates jobs. A job is the best "safety net."
12. At a time of massive wealth and income inequality, we need a progressive tax system in this country which is based on ability to pay.
Now Senator Sanders is quoting Karl Marx! "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need." But we already have a progressive tax system in America. If you combine federal and state taxes, in some states, like California and New York, "the rich" pay over 50% in taxes. Does Senator Sanders think an even higher rate will inspire job-creators to work even harder?
Senator Sanders will be 75 years old in 2016. His campaign ideas are only slightly older.
Pedro Gonzales is a writer for Newsmachete.com, the conservative news site. 

Pakistan Islamist mastermind of Mumbai attack in 2008 freed on bail. In Pakistan civilization takes a step backwards.

Mumbai attack 'leader' wins Pakistan appeal

The alleged leader of the 2008 militant attacks on Mumbai has won an appeal against his detention in Pakistan.

Lawyers for Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi said a government detention order issued last week infringed his rights, as he had been granted bail by another court.

Analysts say he could be freed as soon as the paperwork is completed.

India says a Pakistani militant group carried out the attacks, which killed 165. Pakistan has not convicted anyone suspected of planning the attacks.

Mr Lakhvi is among seven suspects who have been in jail awaiting trial for six years. Nine others have been charged in absentia.

Analysts say the decision to grant him bail came at an embarrassing time for the Pakistani government.

Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif recently promised to crack down on militancy after the Taliban killed 141 people at a school in Peshawar. 

Analysis: Haroon Rashid, BBC Urdu

The accused won the appeal after the government failed to submit a detailed reply to the court's queries. A government lawyer sought more time, arguing officials were busy with other pressing engagements so they couldn't prepare a reply. The accused, lodged in Rawalpindi's Adiala Jail, is technically a free man until the government develops a new strategy. 

The timing of the court judgment couldn't have been more awkward for the Pakistan government, which is desperately trying to send a message that it has "zero tolerance" to militancy after the Peshawar school massacre. Many fear that the suspension of the detention order limits the government's options. One last hope could be seeking help of the higher court.

Mr Lakhvi was granted bail by an anti-terror court on 18 December, but hours later the government imposed a three-month detention order and said it would appeal against the bail decision.

Mr Lakhvi's lawyers argued in Islamabad's High Court that the detention infringed his rights.

The judge accepted the arguments and quashed the detention order.

The suspect is now technically free to leave jail, but has been ordered to appear in court for every hearing concerning his case.

Mumbai attacks: 26-29 November 2008

• Gunmen storm hotels, cafes and public buildings, shooting civilians and setting off explosions
• Indian soldiers fight gun battles with militants for three days
• Nine gunmen killed; one captured, tried and executed in India

Mr Lakhvi was accused of heading the militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, which was blamed for the Mumbai attacks.

Correspondents say the charges brought against Mr Lakhvi and other suspects held in Pakistan were mainly based on a confession given by the only gunman captured alive after the attacks.

Mohammad Ajmal Amir Qasab was executed in 2012.

The attacks severely strained relations between India and Pakistan.

India has repeatedly criticised Pakistan for failing to prosecuted any of the suspects, and has summoned the Pakistani high commissioner to discuss Mr Lakhvi's case.

Obama: US 'less racially divided' than in 2009. Really?

Obama: US 'less racially divided' than in 2009

Protesters march toward a New York police station after a man was killed by police in Brooklyn

Continue reading the main story

President Barack Obama has said race relations in the US are better now than when he took office, despite nationwide protests over police actions.

Mr Obama told broadcaster NPR in a wide-ranging interview that he thinks "the issue has surfaced in a way that probably is healthy".

Demonstrations have followed the killing by police of several unarmed black men and boys in 2014.

On Sunday, New York City's police chief said officers feel under attack.

Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said rank-and-file officers and much of America's police leadership are feeling pressure "from the federal government at the highest levels".

"See us. See the police. See why they have the anxieties and the perceptions they have," he told broadcaster NBC.

What else Obama said:

Iran: Nuclear deal possible if Iran recognises it's in its own interests - prove to the world it's not interested in developing a nuclear weapon and sanctions will be removed, economy will grow

Healthcare reform: Came at a "significant political cost" but now paying off with millions more covered and slower rise in healthcare costs

Economy: Lower deficit, strong growth in output and jobs, wages "ticking up" for first time, low inflation, high energy production high 

Mid-term thrashing: Partly because Democratic party didn't proclaim its record of achievement loudly enough

Cuba policy: A year of negotiations with Cuba and Vatican persuaded him "this would be good for the Cuban people and more likely to lead to a loosening up of the restrictions or oppression that exists there"

Congress: Agreement possible in some areas now Republicans have to show they can govern, but he's ready to veto if needed

Burma elections: The "experiment may go haywire" if different ethnic groups can't unite and military clings to power

Both Eric Garner and Michael Brown were killed by on-duty police officers who were later not charged over the deaths, sparking nationwide protests over perceived police injustices.

In the NPR interview, Mr Obama said such cases "attract attention" but the issue of "police and communities of colour being mistrustful of each other is hardly new".

"I assure you, from the perspective of African Americans or Latinos in poor communities who have been dealing with this all their lives, they wouldn't suggest somehow that it's worse now than it was 10, 15 or 20 years ago."

Mr Obama said he thought day-to-day interactions in the US were "less racially divided" and protests over police treatment of minorities was an encouraging sign.

"I think that the fact that there's a conversation about it and that there are tools out there that we know can make a difference in bridging those gaps of understanding and mistrust should make us optimistic."

Supporters visit two memorials created at the site of Michael Brown's death 

Police turn their backs on New York Mayor Bill de Blasio at a funeral

The apparent schism between people supporting the police and those supporting the protesters has been most sharply felt in New York.

Some police officers turned their backs on Mayor Bill de Blasio during the funeral for Rafael Ramos, a police officer killed sitting in his vehicle.

They are unhappy with the way they think the mayor has sided with protesters in some of his remarks after the death of Mr Garner, but their behaviour was criticised by their boss.

"That funeral was held to honour Officer Ramos," Mr Bratton said. "And to bring politics, to bring issues into that event, I think, was very inappropriate."

Ramos and Wenjian Liu were shot and killed by Ismaaiyl Brinsley, who had a lengthy police record and mentioned the killings of Eric Garner and Michael Brown in social media posts before he shot the officers.

Meanwhile in Ferguson, Missouri, where teenager Michael Brown was killed, a police officer has been suspended after calling a memorial for Brown at the spot he was killed "a pile of trash".

City officials said negative remarks about the memorial "do not reflect the feelings of the Ferguson Police Department"

China's Xi calls for tighter ideological control in universities...more Marx and Mao.

China's Xi calls for tighter ideological control in universities 

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for greater "ideological guidance" in China's universities and urged the study of Marxism, state media reported on Monday, as the country tightens control on Western ideology.

Xi's comments are the latest sign of his politically conservative agenda and come amid a ratcheting up of controls over the media, dissidents and the internet.

China's Communist Party has signaled that it will not embark on political reform, despite hopes that Xi, the son of a former liberal-minded vice premier, may loosen up.

Xi said universities had to "shoulder the burden of learning and researching the dissemination of Marxism", Xinhua state news agency said.

Xi called on the authorities to step up the party's "leadership and guidance" in universities as well as to "strengthen and improve the ideological and political work".

The campuses should "cultivate and practice the core values of socialism in their teaching", Xi said.

Curricula and speech at Chinese universities are tightly controlled by the government, though students have at times pushed the limits, including during the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests that were brutally suppressed by the army.

An influential party journal said in September that one of China's top universities, Peking University, had urged students and teachers to "fight" criticism of the party.

Last year, a liberal Chinese economist who had been an outspoken critic of the party was expelled from Peking University after he called for democratic reforms. 

Xi has espoused old school Maoism as he seeks to court powerful conservative elements in the party. Like many officials before him, Xi is steeped in the party's long-held belief that loosening control too quickly, or even at all, could lead to chaos and the break up of the country. 

Xi's administration has overseen a crackdown on dissidents and on freedom of expression that many rights activists say is the most sustained and severe in years.

Last week, Chinese media reported that a university in northwestern China had banned Christmas, calling it a "kitsch" foreign celebration unbefitting of the country's own traditions and made students watch propaganda films instead. 

(Reporting by Sui-Lee Wee; Editing by Nick Macfie)

The epitome of moral ambivalence. As Iran moves Revolutionary Guards into Lebanon.

Olive branch to the mullahs: Obama won't rule out embassy in TEHRAN but says the Iranian capital is a country – not a city

• Interview was conducted in the Oval Office the day after Obama said he would normalize relations with Cuba – but held back for 11 days
• 
  
• Embassy in Tehran would be the first since 1979 hostage crisis, which Iranians still celebrate as the 'Conquest of the American Spy Den'
• 
  
• Obama said if Iran proves it's not seeking nuclear weapons, it would become a 'very successful regional power'
• 
  
• Claimed credit for isolating Tehran through economic sanctions 

Welcome to the Palestinianisation of America

LAPD ambush: Police call off massive search for second gunman

Police arrest one of the suspects at the scene and recover a rifle on Sunday on Hoover Street near 62nd Street in Los Angeles. A second suspect remains at large early Monday.
By JOSEPH SERNA AND RICHARD WINTON DECEMBER 29, 2014, 7:49 AM
T he search for a gunman believed to be involved in an attack on two police officers in South Los Angeles on Sunday night was called off just before 6 a.m. today, officials said.
A citywide tactical alert was called after the incident in which two men opened fire on a police patrol car driving southbound on Hoover Street near 62nd Street. Officers said they saw a man step off a curb, aim and shoot at them.

"It was an ambush," said Deputy Chief Bob Green. "They were fired upon without any prior contact with the suspects."
The alert remained in effect as police conducted the search, which came less than two weeks after two New York police officers were fatally shot in an ambush. A short stretch of Hoover Street near 62nd could remain closed to traffic until noon, according to police.
The two officers were responding to an unrelated call when they were fired upon by a rifleman about 9:30 p.m., officials said. Police recovered a rifle at the scene of the shooting.
One man was taken into custody as a person of interest shortly after the shooting and was being questioned, Det. Meghan Aguilar said Monday morning. But a second gunman was still on the loose, she said.
“We do not have a face or a name; there are leads that investigators are following up on,” Aguilar said. “This is obviously a dangerous individual who does not belong on the streets of Los Angeles.”
Despite the surprise attack, neither officer was hurt and they were able to return fire, officials said.
A three-block area around the shooting scene was immediately cordoned off after the attack as police scoured the area with search dogs.
Just before 11 p.m. LAPD advised residents to stay indoors. “Armed suspect in the area,” the police station said on Facebook. “Please keep our officers in your thoughts and prayers!" 

A Massachusetts' illegal alien has been arrested on a complaint charging conspiracy to fraudulently issue identification documents. America land of opportunity.

Dominican Charged in Scheme to Sell Massachusetts' Driver Licenses to Illegal Aliens

BOSTON – A Massachusetts' illegal alien has been arrested on a complaint charging conspiracy to fraudulently issue identification documents.

Edwin Amaurys Parra Suarez (Parra), 37, was arrested in connection with a scheme to produce false identification documents. The complaint affidavit alleges that from December 2012 through January 2013, Parra bribed an employee of the Revere office of the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV) in connection with a scheme to issue Massachusetts driver’s licenses to individuals who were not eligible to obtain such documentation.

According to the affidavit, Parra conspired with a RMV clerk to produce at least 29 Massachusetts drivers’ licenses for individuals who are not entitled to them. Parra allegedly paid the clerk between $100 and $1,000 in cash for each of the fraudulent licenses.

This arrest is the most recent development in investigations involving identity theft and public corruption relating to the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles.

A probable cause hearing will be held on Jan. 7, 2015 at 2:15. The charging statutes provide for a sentence of no more than five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the statutory maximum penalties. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based on the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz; Bruce M. Foucart, Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations in Boston; Colonel Timothy P. Alben, Superintendent of the Massachusetts States Police; David W. Hall, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Diplomatic Security, Boston Field Office; and Cheryl Garcia, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, New York Regional Office, made the announcement today. The case is being prosecuted by Eugenia M. Carris of Ortiz’s Public Corruption Unit.

Eleanor Roosevelt Had a Carry Permit, So Why Can't You?

Eleanor Roosevelt Had a Carry Permit, So Why Can't You?

Eleanor Roosevelt had a permit to carry a handgun in New York state (though not in New York City, it should be noted). If you find yourself in a jurisdiction that forbids law-abiding citizens from packing heat, you might ask why she could carry but you cannot.

The good news is that guns laws have been racdically liberalized over the past three decades or so. As Grover Norquist noted a few months ago at OZY:

Thirty years ago, 80 percent of Americans supported stricter gun control laws. Certain guns were banned. Organizations formed and expected they would soon “ban handguns” in private hands. In 1987 Florida passed a “shall issue” concealed carry law that required local government to give any honest and sane adult a permit to carry a gun concealed on his/her person or in a purse or car. Today, 41 states have enacted such laws. In 2007 there were 4.5 million such permits. Today there are more than 11.1 million. Arizona, Vermont, Wyoming and Alaska do not even require permits to carry for their citizens. Five percent of the adult population has a concealed carry permit. One in 20. This drive has been fueled and validated by the fact that violent crime falls faster in states with concealed carry laws and even faster as more citizens avail themselves of that “new” right.

The crime rate per 100,00 people has declined as carry permits have increased. In 1987, for instance, the total crime rate was 5,550 and the violent crime rate was 610. In 2013, those numbers stood at 3,099 and 368.

In arming herself, Eleanor Roosevelt was ahead of the curve.

Socialized medicine

3,000 ops cancelled as demand rises

More than 3,000 operations have been cancelled by the NHS in the first two weeks of this month as an "unprecedented demand" takes its toll.

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  Last updated: 28 December 2014, 18:07 GMT
  More than 3,000 operations have been cancelled by the NHS in the first two weeks of this month as an "unprecedented demand" takes its toll.

  Figures show 3,113 elective operations were cancelled in that period, up by almost half since 2012.

  In terms of operations classed as urgent 161 were cancelled in the two-week period, with some having been cancelled twice or more.

  The figures, highlighted by Labour, show the repercussions of A&E departments under severe stress and a lack of beds for patients in need, a consultant and member of the Royal College of Surgeons said.

  Shafi Ahmed said: "There is currently unprecedented demand on the NHS resulting in more cancellations of planned surgical operations.

  "As a practising surgeon, looking after cancer patients, it is very difficult to have to tell a patient who has prepared themselves for a major procedure that their operation has been cancelled for non-clinical reasons.

  "To reduce pressures on hospitals and to keep a flow of patients coming in and leaving hospital, we need to manage the number of available beds more efficiently. To achieve this, we need to reduce unnecessary admissions and visits to A&E and improve community care.

  Mr Ahmed said improvements are also required regarding discharge arrangements, to avoid patients staying in hospital longer than necessary, and called for ring-fencing of beds for high dependency care to be considered.

  Labour's shadow health secretary Andy Burnham said: "This is yet another sign that, under David Cameron, the NHS is simply not working.

  "Standards of patient care are slipping by the week and now more and more people get ready for an operation only to face a last minute postponement.

  "The chaos in A&E is spreading through the NHS. Hospitals are in danger of becoming overwhelmed as the Government takes social care away from older people and makes it harder to see a GP. These cancellations help to explain why operation waiting lists are at a six-year high."

  He pledged Labour would invest an extra £2.5 billion in the NHS each year, resulting in 20,000 more nurses and 8,000 GPs.

  The Department of Health told the Sunday Times the figures show "the proportion of cancelled operations remains remarkably stable over many years", adding that more operations are being carried out amid an ageing population.