It is always fascinating to research the ways liberals find legislative maneuvers to skirt around the realities of running out of money to pay for their various “social justice” causes.  A review of Baltimore Maryland education spending highlights their approach when they run out of other people’s money.

We say “other peoples money”, because we all know that liberals don’t spend their own money on these programs – instead they develop ways to “reach out” beyond their own economic roadblocks.
In Maryland there is a program called the Geographic Cost of Education Index or GCEI. A liberal legislative maneuver described thusly:

… a discretionary fund for school systems where educational costs are above the state average.

Removing the parseltongue you find the GCEI actually means a state budgetary funding trick to help pay for education within a community that has already exhausted its own ability to fund itself.
Expanding on the reality the GCEI also means: a state budgetary funding trick to pay for unsustainable union wages and benefits for educators within the school system that has exhausted its own ability to fund itself. (more…)

It is a sentiment that runs rampant within the current administration. The State Department says radical Islam will stop beheading if they can just implement a Jobs for Jihadist program; now the Education Secretary says Chicago gangs will stop shooting if they have a Jobs for Thugs program. Then again, we thought the unemployment “problem” was fixed now….
(CNSNews.com) – Education Secretary Arne Duncan said on Tuesday that he has met with gang leaders in his hometown of Chicago and they’ve told him that it’s a lack of jobs that keeps them on the streets.

“We have to have jobs for young people,” Duncan said at the National Summit on Youth Violence Prevention in Crystal City, Va. “I probably shouldn’t say this in a room like this, but occasionally when I go home I’ll sit down with some of the gang leaders – back home in Chicago.” (more…)

♦ In 2009 nobody cared when ABC’s George Stephanopoulos participated in daily phone strategy sessions with White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.
♦ In 2011 nobody cared when ABC’s George Stephanopoulos oddly questioned Mitt Romney, during a presidential debate, about contraceptive coverage under insurance plans.  An entire audience curiously looked at Stephanopolous trying to figure out where that came from.  Then, like magic, a mysterious Democrat Party Platform evolved itself around a college student named Sandra Fluke and her demands for contraceptive coverage.  Which famously evolved further into the 2012 WAR ON WOMEN narrative.
So why exactly is everyone now jaw agape at the revelations that ABC’s George Stephanopoulos gave $75,000 to Hillary Clinton’s foundation?

Let’s be reasonable, with 15 cents of every donated dollar actually going to “charitable endeavors”, the reality is: Stephanopolous gave $11,250 to the Clinton foundation, and bought $63,750 worth of planes, booze and hookers for Bill. (more…)

“Budget Cuttin’ Violence“…

Hank “Tippy Guam” Johnson – During an interview last week on WABE radio’s “A Closer Look” program Johnson said he voted against the GOP budget measure because of its domestic spending cuts and added that its passage could result in violence.

“If we’re not careful the have-nots of this country will rise up like the people in Baltimore,” Johnson said.

“What happened in Baltimore stems from deeper economic issues and if you would take a ride down the streets of some of the greatly impoverished areas of Baltimore where change has not come, where things are the same as they were 50 years ago and have been allowed to grow worse then you will understand the lack of hope of which those riots were born from.” (more…)

Democrats, led by Senator Elizabeth Warren, handed Obama a stinging defeat Tuesday afternoon when a procedural motion to proceed with the President’s trade bill, “Fast Track”, failed to get the 60 votes necessary to pass.  Only one Democrat, Sen. Tom Carper (Del.), voted for it.

WASHINGTON DC – […]  Fast-track is a top legislative priority for the White House, but it has run into significant Senate opposition that has been led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).
It faces even more opposition from Democrats in the House, and the surprise Senate failure will raise doubts about whether the legislation will make its way through Congress.
Labor unions and other left-leaning groups have declared war on the fast-track bill, which they argue would ship jobs overseas. The Senate is generally a more pro-trade body than the House, and it has been easier to move trade agreements through the upper chamber.
(more…)

Four of the six Gulf Cooperation Council leaders refuse to attend the Obama “Arab Summit”.  Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain and Oman know full well the summit is a propaganda event meant to deflect attention away from President Obama’s failed mid-East policies. 
Only GCC members Qatar and Kuwait will attend.  Kuwait, because there is still generational loyalty for President Bush’s success in rescuing them from the Iraqi invasion – and Qatar because they carry conflicted loyalties to both the Muslim Brotherhood and their moderate Arab neighbors. 
(Via New York Post) Ever since he decided to chase the mirage of a “Grand Bargain” with Iran, President Obama has pretended that the only opposition comes from Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu and “hardline” Republicans in the Congress.
He was to highlight that claim by hosting a summit for “key Arab allies” at Camp David this week.
Yet the exercise has instead shown the failure of Obama to sell his narrative to “key Arab allies” even before the first round of orange juice is served at Camp David.
Of the six heads of the members of the Gulf Cooperation Council, only two, the emirs of Kuwait and Qatar, will attend. (more…)

If, like many of us, you are deep in the weeds in your understanding of the issues around Benghazi, the 2010 Arab Spring (Tunis, Egypt, Libya, Syria, Bahrain, Yemen), or the CIA operation “Zero Footprint” in Libya and the follow-up operation in Syria, you will enjoy this interview with former Panetta/Petraeus replacement Mike Morell.
Or, if you have a cursory understanding of events, this interview might spur you toward further research.  “The Benghazi Brief” – Regardless of your current level of understanding behind events of the past 7+ years, this interview is well constructed.
Bret Baier has done his homework, and in a refreshing and surprising manner you can see how Baier is able to cut through the distracting ‘talking points’ (no pun intended), and draw out the reality of what lies behind Morell and his foundational motives.

(more…)

Some things just scream out to be highlighted.  After giving the Baltimore thugs and rioters the space they needed to destroy….

“We also gave those who wished to destroy, space to do that as well”

https://vine.co/v/eWXqp3UHnOj
… today Baltimore Mayor Rawlings-Blake thanks the U.S. Small Business Association for approving her “destroy space” as a Small Business Disaster Area:

Thanks to U.S. SBA for moving quickly to approve our disaster declaration request. Will provide critical help to businesses & homeowners

— Stephanie (SRB) (@MayorSRB) May 11, 2015

MARYLAND – Ten people were reported shot in Baltimore on Sunday, including three fatal shootings that occurred within a span of about two blocks in Northwest Baltimore..

The shootings continued a recent wave of violence. The 10 shootings were the second such occurrence in four days, after 10 people were also shot Thursday.
At least 86 people have been killed in Baltimore this year, 21 more than this time last year, while non-fatal shootings are up nearly 50 percent across the city. (more…)

The DOJ filed their admission motion at midnight (Friday) in an attempt to hide the substance from media scrutiny

In November of 2014 when President Obama made his announcement of a sweeping “Immigration Executive Order”, his proposals included more than just deferred amnesty for illegal aliens, his proposal included “work authorization”.
Because the Presidential decree went beyond mere prosecutorial discretion regarding deportation of illegal aliens, the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) quickly modified the verbiage of the decree from “executive order” to “executive action”.

The executive action went beyond deportation discretion and included granting work authorization. That specific aspect is what immediately became the poison pill within the Obama action.
If all Obama was doing is “not deporting” people, ergo he’s using his executive authority of prosecutorial discretion, and that’s the claim of those who say this is constitutional; well, how or what part of ‘non-deportation’ includes granting “work/employment authorization”?
That specific aspect is where President Obama overreached and initiated an unconstitutional change in labor/employment law. That action clearly violated the separation of powers. That aspect is what also initiated a Federal Judge in Texas to issue an injunction to block implementation. (more…)