The New York Times publishes Darren Wilson’s address information
If this report is true it is very troubling to say the least, regardless of where you stand on the Ferguson Grand Jury decision you have to agree that posting enough personal information on Darrell Wilson to allow those who would do him harm is irresponsible, and it could be deadly.
Here is more:
Breitbart News will not link the story or give out the specific information, but the New York Times had no qualms whatsoever about publishing almost all the information needed for Officer Darren Wilson’s enemies to track him and his wife down at home:
Officer Wilson and [his wife] own a home together on XXXXXXX Lane in XXXXXXXXXX, Mo., a St. Louis suburb about a half-hour drive from Ferguson.
And here is even more:
Well, this story comes out of left field–pun fully intended: During a speech earlier today Chuck Schumer admitted that the Democrats were wrong to focus on healthcare reform after the mandate they received in the 2008 election.
Here is some of what he had to say on this:
he argued that the Democrats acted wrongly in using their new mandate after the 2008 election to focus on the issue rather than the economy at the height of a terrible recession.
“After passing the stimulus, Democrats should have continued to propose middle-class-oriented programs and built on the partial success of the stimulus, but unfortunately Democrats blew the opportunity the American people gave them,” Schumer said. “We took their mandate and put all of our focus on the wrong problem—health care reform.”
The third-ranking Senate Democrat noted that just about 5 percent of registered voters in the United States lacked health insurance before the implementation of the law, arguing that to focus on a problem affecting such “a small percentage of the electoral made no political sense.”
The larger problem, affecting most Americans, he said, was a poor economy resulting from the recession. “When Democrats focused on health care, the average middle-class person thought, ‘The Democrats aren’t paying enough attention to me,’ ” Schumer said.
The health care law should have come later, Schumer argued, after Democrats had passed legislation to help the middle class weather the recession. Had Democrats pushed economic legislation, he said, “the middle class would have been more receptive to the idea that President Obama wanted to help them” and, in turn, they would have been more receptive to the health care law.
Schumer said he told fellow Democrats in the lead-up to the passage of the Affordable Care Act that it was the wrong time to pass the law.
“People thought—and I understand this—lots of people thought this was the only time to do this, it’s very important to do. And we should have done it. We just shouldn’t have done it first,” he said. “We were in the middle of a recession. People were hurting and saying, ‘What about me? I’m losing my job. It’s not health care that bothers me. What about me?’ … About 85 percent of all Americans were fine with their health care in 2009, mainly because it was paid for by either the government or their employer, private sector. So they weren’t clamoring. The average middle-class voter, they weren’t opposed to doing health care when it started out, but it wasn’t at the top of the agenda.”
Obamacare: Jonathan Gruber was warning of premium hikes while Barack Obama was promising savings
It has recently been reported that the most popular Obamacare plans are going to see a rise in their premiums an average of 10%. We all remember Barack Obama running across the nation promising anybody who would listen that his healthcare plan would save the average American family about $2,500. So what happened?
Apparently nothing that was not expected, at least if you are Obamacare architect Jonathan Gruber, because according to this story he released a report for the state of Wisconsin in 2010 which predicted massive healthcare premium increases.
Here is more:
Barack Obama claims a future Republican President cannot use Executive action to lower taxes
In the wake of Barack Obama’s Executive action on immigration reform/amnesty George Stephanopolous asked the President if this set a precedent which would allow future Presidents to use this action to lower taxes.
Because there is only one party talking about lowering taxes it is evident that Mr. Stephanopolous is asking the President if a future Republican President can follow in the footsteps of Barack Obama and use Executive action on the issue of taxes.
Here is a video of the rambling, nearly incoherent response Barack Obama gave to the question:
The Washington Post fact checks Saturday Night Live’s “I’m Just a Bill” parody of Barack Obama’s Executive immigration action
Last weekend Saturday Night Live opened up the show with a parody of the old School House Rock’s “I’m Just a Bill” cartoon and it was absolutely hilarious. If you have not seen it I highly recommend that you check it out here.
Apparently not everybody was as enamored by the parody as I was: For example, the Washington Post was so taken aback at the idea the President could be mocked for his actions that they actually ran a fact check on the parody.
Here is what the Washington Post was able to come up with:
Obamacare: The cost of the most popular plans to rise 10% in 2015
We all know that there is nothing in Obamacare which addressed the issue about cost despite Barack Obama’s promise that the average family of four would save about $2,500 once his plan was passed.
Now it is being reported in this story that the cost of the most popular Obamacare plans is going to rise about 10% in 2015.
Here is more:
The rate hike may come as a surprise to many Obamacare customers whose plans will automatically be renewed if they fail to make changes.
“Many plans that priced attractively last year are playing catch up for 2015,” said Avalere Health CEO Dan Mendelson. “Consumers who care about costs need to shop.”
How many of you out there remember the ‘Schoolhouse Rock’ cartoons from days gone by? I do, and I also remember this one which was entitled ‘I’m Just a Bill.’ Just in case you have forgotten this cartoon here it is:
Now that I have refreshed your memory: Saturday Night Live has spoofed this cartoon in the wake of Barack Obama’s Executive Amnesty and it is hilarious, albeit all too true.
Enjoy:
Open thread for Sunday, November 23rd: Speak my Language
Here is the open thread for Sunday, November 23rd. Please feel free to post links to interesting articles and to discuss whatever issues arise during the course of the day. Nothing is off-topic here.
This was a busy week at America’s Watchtower as we discussed another 17 topics, and it was a little more diverse with a little less Jonathan Gruber. Did you miss any of them? If so there is an easy way to make sure you do not miss another post. I understand that all of you are busy and cannot always find the time to check the blog for updates so why not subscribe to America’s Watchtower and receive email updates whenever I write a new post? That is the easiest way to follow the blog to ensure you never miss another post.
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With Barack Obama making his immigration/amnesty Proclamation on Thursday I thought of the song ‘Speak my Language’ by The Cure so that is what I am going to go with for the musical selection this week even though it has nothing to do with immigration.
When Robert Smith felt the band was getting pigeon-holed into the whole goth-gloom genre he decided to change things up a bit and The Cure released several upbeat singles which included piano/synth and no guitars and this is the result. It was quite a departure for the band at the time.
I like to post live videos but to the best of my knowledge this song has only been recorded live one time and there is no video and the audio is bad so I give you this instead.
Enjoy:
We all remember Barack Obama’s promise that under his healthcare proposal if you liked your healthcare plan you would be able to keep your healthcare plan, right? And we also remember his promise that the average family would save about $2,500 in healthcare premiums, right?
Of course we do but things did not pan out that way did they? In the case of the former many people lost their healthcare coverage and in the case of the latter healthcare premiums continue to rise.
The Department of Health and Human Services has come up with an ingenious way to hide the premium increases for those who signed up for healthcare insurance using the exchanges.
Here is more about the proposed changes in Obamacare’s auto-renewal policy:
House Intelligence Committee releases its Benghazi report
The House Intelligence Committee has released its final report on the investigation into the Benghazi scandal.
Here are the major findings from the investigation:
- There is no evidence of an intelligence failure. Prior to the Benghazi attacks, the CIA provided sufficient strategic warning of the deteriorating threat environment to U.S. decision-makers, including those at the State Department.
- CIA provided sufficient security personnel, resources, and equipment to defend against the known terrorist threat and to enable CIA operations in Benghazi.
- State Department security personnel, resources, and equipment were unable to counter the terrorist threat that day, and they required CIA assistance.
- The CIA was not collecting and shipping arms from Libya to Syria.
- A mixed group including members of al-Qa’ida in the lands of the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), al-Qa’ida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), al-Qa’ida in Iraq (AQI), the Muhammad Jamal Network (MJN), Ansar Al-Sharia (AAS), and Abu Abaydah Ibn Jarah Battalion (UJB) participated in the attacks, along with Qadafi loyalists.
- Appropriate personnel on the ground in Benghazi made the decision to send CIA officers to rescue the State Department officers at the TMF.
- Although some security officers voiced a greater urgency to depart for the TMF, no officer at CIA was ever told to stand down.
- The decision to send CIA officers from Tripoli to Benghazi to rescue the Ambassador and bolster security of the U.S. personnel in Benghazi was a tactical decision appropriately made by the senior officers on the ground.
- The Tripoli team’s decision not to move to the hospital to retrieve Ambassador Stevens was based on the best intelligence at the time.
- The CIA received all military support that was available. Neither the CIA nor DOD denied requests for air support. One CIA security officer requested a Spectre gunship that he believed was available, but his commanding officer did not relay the request because he correctly knew the gunship was not available.
- Ambassador Rice’s September 16 public statements about the existence of a protest, as well as some of the underlying intelligence reports, turned out to be inaccurate.
- Deputy CIA Director Michael Morell made significant changes to the talking points.
- CIA’s Office of Public Affairs also made substantive changes to the talking points by removing the reference to “ties to al-Qa’ida” in the second bullet of the original draft.
- Overall, the CIA could have placed more weight on eyewitness sources on the ground and should have challenged its initial assessments about the existence of a protest earlier.
- CIA did not intimidate or prevent any officer from speaking to Congress or otherwise telling his story.
- There is no evidence that the CIA conducted any unusual polygraph exams related to Benghazi.
- While at times the agencies were slow to respond, ultimately the CIA, NCTC, FBI and other Executive Branch agencies fully cooperated with the Committee’s investigation.
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