Several combat roles have restricted women in the U.S. Military for numerous years.  The 1994 Combat Exclusion Policy has kept female soldiers from being infantry, artillery, combat engineers, etc., but that’s about to change.   President Obama supports and advocates for the position as it was announced today.

However, Secretary Carter never stated or clarified equality also means women would be forced to register for selective service (draft); and/or if women would be forced into combat infantry roles as their male counterparts have been.  Thirty percent of infantry positions are filled by command determination and not volunteers…

WASHINGTON DC – […]  Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced today that all combat positions will now be open to women, saying, “When I became secretary of defense, I made a commitment to building America’s force of the future. In the 21st century that requires drawing strength from the broadest possible pool of talent. This includes women.” (more…)

Wow.  Earlier this morning House Speaker Paul Ryan announced his confidence that a $1.1 TRILLION Omnibus spending bill will pass prior to December 11th – See Here.

Now word comes of a ‘Five-Year’ Highway Spending deal just North of $300 billion – Here’s the bill pdf ( <– warning 1,300+ pages):

WASHINGTON DC – Lawmakers are on track to clear a massive transportation infrastructure bill as soon as this week, a legislative coup a decade in the making that will give new House Speaker Paul Ryan something to crow about.

Negotiators from both chambers of Congress tasked with hashing out a final deal are set to announce an agreement Tuesday afternoon after a majority of conferees signed off on the package, setting the stage for the mammoth deal to move through the House and Senate this week, ahead of this Friday’s deadline. As expected, the bill also includes a provision to revive the Export-Import Bank, an export-promoting agency that expired last summer amid attacks from conservatives who said it provides corporate welfare and promotes crony capitalism. (more…)

The 2010 SCOTUS ‘Citizens United’ decision injected unlimited financial funding into politics via Super-PACs.  Conservatives were screwed, but it took most a long time to come to the awakening.  As a direct result the broader electorate was non longer needed for financial support – evidenced in the 2012 and 2014 campaign spending cycles.

More specifically this unlimited Wall Street spending influence is the root cause of several current presidential candidates remaining in the race. 

Without Super-PACs funded by Hedge Funds, Billionaire Globalists, and self-interested corporations: Carly Fiorina, Marco Rubio, Chris Christie, John Kasich, Lindsey Graham, Mike Huckabee, Jim Gilmore and George Pataki would not currently be in the race.

Similarly, Jeb Bush would be soon to exit, and either Ben Carson or Ted Cruz, but not both, would be candidates.

Now Mitch McConnell is moving to put the GOPe Party back into direct control via a new proposal to remove campaign limits and allow Wall Street to fund Republicans directly without going through SuperPacs.

The basic problem is the removal of financial dependency by the electorate they are supposed to represent.  The voter influence has already been replaced (Citizens United), the consideration now is who gets to be the arbiter/broker of the financial power.   (more…)

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan is planning to hold a vote on a meaningless bill that holds no substantive policy “The American Safe Act” (All two pages of it) . Meanwhile he has tabled the Resettlement Accountability National Security Act also known as the “Babin Bill” as it was introduced by Rep. Brian Babin. Quoting a GOP House Staffer:

“Putting Ryan in charge of a fight to block refugees would be like putting (Nancy) Pelosi in charge of fight to repeal Obamacare.”

Here’s a good outline of the insufferable smoke-and-mirrors as provided by WND:

WASHINGTON DC – House Speaker Paul Ryan is lining up a showdown vote for Thursday on President Obama’s plan to resettle 10,000 Syrian refugees in the United States.

But conservatives on Capitol Hill who want to see the refugee program halted are warning that Ryan’s plan is nothing but a smokescreen designed to give lip-service while refusing to defund the program.

Ryan likely has no intention of cutting off the flow of Muslim refugees into the U.S., nor does he plan to ensure Syria’s persecuted Christian minority gets rescued from the clutches of ISIS, sources told WND. (more…)

The only video needed to fully understand what’s going on in Europe:

“The Rivkin Project”

BREAKING: The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Rules 2-1 to uphold Judge Hanen Injunction (full ruling pdf below)

In a 2-1 ruling of the Fifth CCA (Judge King has lengthy Dissent) the injunction against President Obama’s Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents program (“DAPA”) has been upheld.

The DAPA is commonly referred to as Obama’s Executive Amnesty – Obama Loses.

Twenty Six states filed suit to block the November ’14 Executive Order. A Texas Judge, Andrew Hanen, issued an injunction blocking implementation.  Obama appealed the injunction and lost; then appealed again based on standing – and just lost again.  Here’s the ruling:

[scribd id=289170310 key=key-T0voaCtTiCIoDh7v3Q5W mode=scroll]

However, the release of the 5th Circuit decision today may allow the Supreme Court time to take up the dispute in Obama’s term, if a third appeal is attempted.  A favorable Supreme Court ruling could then override the injunction and permit Obama to implement the executive actions next summer.

The problem for the White House is the substantive legal issues within the original Hanen ruling have not been argued in Hanen’s court or the/any appellate court.  They have only argued the ability of Hanen to block them (ie “standing), not the merits of the underlying case.

Therefore the route to SCOTUS would only be on the legal issues of Hanen’s injunction – and not on the legal issues of the Executive Order itself. It’s doubtful SCOTUS would take up such a case.

Full Back Story Below from earlier in the year: (more…)

… then quizzically poses the question, ‘gee, I wonder why’; to wit Don Mattingly in drag, aka Rachel Maddow, opines about structural advantages created by those pesky and brilliantly strategic republicans.

Yes, this is what they tell themselves – it’s never palatable to conceive the electorate are just sick and tired of Moonbat policies that always fail yet continue to return like the Phoenix from the ashes of retread socialism only to be tried yet again…

The Bloom is off the ruse !  Ben Carson supports Puerto Rican Statehood.

65% unemployment, a mountain of entitlement debt they cannot afford to pay back; 50%+ of Puerto Ricans on some form of government financial welfare; teetering on the verge of financial collapse; desperate for a bailout – and candidate Ben Carson wants to absorb Puerto Rico into the U.S.A as a state.  Yeah, he’s a progressive.

This follows candidate Ben Carson saying only two days earlier that he supports the Trans-Pacific Trade Partnership and further globalization.

Mitt Romney Donors have given Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and Ben Carson $15 million so far in 2015 (link)

WASHINGTON DC – Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson officially backed Puerto Rican statehood in a speech on the island on Sunday.

“In a Carson administration, I will leave no stone unturned in my efforts to secure this important step in Puerto Rico’s history – establishing Estado 51,” Carson said, according to CNN. (more…)

Mark Levin isn’t talking about it.  Sean Hannity isn’t talking about it.  Rush Limbaugh and Laura Ingraham are not talking about it, yet it remains one of the biggest structural benefits to Team Jeb Bush in the 2016 primary presidential race:

Frustrated Conservatives Leaving The Republican Party

Independent political registration is the fastest growing base of electoral voters, and that plays nicely into the hands of the GOPe who are working diligently to avoid accountability for their progressive agenda.

Multiple states have what’s called “closed primary” races.  Meaning only those voters registered with a party, who has a candidate on the ballot, are allowed to vote in the Presidential Primary Election, or PPE.   Those state voters only get to vote for the candidate registered with the same party of their affiliation.

Even more states have “Modified primary” races.  Meaning voters registered independent are allowed to vote on either party ballot they select at the polling station (along with those who are registered within the party on primary ballot). (more…)

Think about this carefully – So far this year with control of the House and Senate:

We are almost $20,000,000,000,000 (Trillion) in debt.

♦ The republican party has removed the debt ceiling, entirely.

♦ The republican party has just extending unlimited federal spending through a continuing resolution through March 2017.

♦ The republican party, with full control of both the House and Senate, did not put a budget on the presidents desk for fiscal year 2016 (it began October 1st).

♦ The republican party has just voted to install the Chairman of the (non)Budget Committee, Paul Ryan, as Speaker of the House of Representatives. (more…)