This is good news. In order for the FCC to succeed they need both Democrats to approve the regulations.  They need to regulate the internets, to, well, find out what’s in the internets….. Ultimately “net neutrality” is a solution looking for a problem.

WASHINGTON DC – A Democrat on the Federal Communications Commission wants to narrow the scope of new net neutrality rules that are set for a vote on Thursday, The Hill has learned.

Mignon Clyburn, one of three Democrats on the FCC, has asked Chairman Tom Wheeler to roll back some of the restrictions before the full commission votes on them, FCC officials said.

The request — which Wheeler has yet to respond to — puts the chairman in the awkward position of having to either roll back his proposals, or defend the tough rules and convince Clyburn to back down. (more…)

Recent Polls reflected more than 70% of Americans support the construction of the U.S. Keystone Pipeline and only 26% oppose it.

However, just like ObamaCare, President Stompy Feet stays ideologically committed to the minority position and has just vetoed the Keystone bill.

President Obama on Tuesday vetoed legislation authorizing construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, rebuffing the new Republican Congress amid a furious battle over Homeland Security funding.

The veto — just the third of Obama’s presidency — was made in private and without fanfare, reflecting the tensions in the Democratic Party over whether the pipeline should be approved. (link)

The President issued the following statement on his veto: (more…)

While I’m sure this provides little ease for George Zimmerman at least it removes one of the various swords of Damocles hovering over his every move.

UPDATE 2:00pm – Official Federal Department of Justice Announcement:

Federal Officials Close Investigation Into Death of Trayvon Martin

The Justice Department announced today that the independent federal investigation found insufficient evidence to pursue federal criminal civil rights charges against George Zimmerman for the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin on Feb. 26, 2012, in Sanford, Florida.

Prosecutors from the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, officials from the FBI, and the Justice Department’s Community Relations Service met today with Martin’s family and their representatives to inform them of the findings of the investigation and the decision.

“The death of Trayvon Martin was a devastating tragedy. It shook an entire community, drew the attention of millions across the nation, and sparked a painful but necessary dialogue throughout the country,” said Attorney General Eric Holder.

“Though a comprehensive investigation found that the high standard for a federal hate crime prosecution cannot be met under the circumstances here, this young man’s premature death necessitates that we continue the dialogue and be unafraid of confronting the issues and tensions his passing brought to the surface. We, as a nation, must take concrete steps to ensure that such incidents do not occur in the future.” (more…)

This argument was made by all reasonable people back when the White House decided it was more politically opportune to trade GITMO detainees for Bowe Bergdahl. The newsworthy aspect is the confirmation from the other hostage’s family.

WASHINGTON DC – The brother of an American woman who was killed after spending months as a hostage of Islamic State militants says Kayla Mueller’s situation worsened after the government [Obama] traded five Taliban commanders for a captive U.S. soldier.

The militants increased their demands after the May swap for Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, Eric Mueller told NBC’s “Today” in an interview that aired Monday.

“That made the whole situation worse because that’s when the demands got greater,” he said. “They got larger. They realized that they had something.”

Mueller’s death was confirmed Feb. 10 by her family and U.S. officials. The Islamic State group claimed she died in a Jordanian airstrike, but U.S. officials have not confirmed that. The Pentagon said it didn’t know how she was killed. (more…)

The Associated Press is outlining the construct of the final negotiations between the U.S. and Iran. In essence, the short version is that Iran is going to be able to produce nuclear weapons, period.

GENEVA (AP) – The United States and Iran are shaping the contours of a deal that would initially freeze Tehran’s nuclear program but would allow it to slowly ramp up activities that could be used to make nuclear arms over the last years of the agreement’s duration. (read more)

Despite the incredible ramifications, and the very predictable arms race now virtually certain in the region, this should not come as a surprise.

Iran had to work swiftly, while President Obama was still in office and the U.S. is in a weakened state, due to the specifically intentional policies of the Obama administration. There have been many indicators of this outcome over the past several months and years.

Last August the reality of Iran gaining a nuclear weapon became assured when President Obama told the New York Times oh well, “we tried“. (more…)

Given the entire foundation surrounding Jonathan Gruber’s expertise is based on lies, deceptions and false presentations, does it really come as a surprise that he billed various state governments for products and services he neither produced nor serviced?

Vermont got “Grubered” !

According to Vermont Media: Vermont officials ignored “obvious signs” of problematic billing by health care economist Jonathan Gruber, the state auditor said in a memo released Monday.

Gruber’s invoices lacked important details and claimed dubious numbers of work hours as he prepared economic models for a single-payer health care system — but state officials failed to scrutinize the invoices, Auditor Doug Hoffer wrote.

(more…)

Annoying does not seem to adequately identify the frustration projected toward the U.S. media anymore. “Willfully Blind” seemingly seems entirely more appropriate.

Back in 2011 when Hillary Clinton, Susan Rice, Samantha Power and eventually President Obama, engaged in a decision to strike militarily against Gaddaffi in support of Libyan opposition forces (later determined to be al-Qaeda), Jeh Johnson was part of President Obama’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) as Johnson represented the chief legal counsel to the Pentagon.

A little known fact about that controversial time is that Jeh Johnson, the legal counsel, told President Obama his military action was illegal. Yes, Jeh Johnson as part of the OLC told Obama the executive office lacked legal authority to strike militarily against Libya because the Libyan uprising posed no direct threat to the United States, and President Obama had not requested congressional authority.

This was in June of 2011, this was even reported in the NEW YORK TIMES:

WASHINGTON — President Obama rejected the views of top lawyers at the Pentagon and the Justice Department when he decided that he had the legal authority to continue American military participation in the air war in Libya without Congressional authorization, according to officials familiar with internal administration deliberations.  

(more…)

Details of the “emergency order” filing are not actually provided in the announcement. Most likely this is because the substantive portion of the blocked presidential action is not anticipated to be a winning argument which would allow a restart.
Any aspect of President Obama’s former “executive action” which would change the legally identified status of illegal aliens by dictatorial fiat would easily lose, even on an appeal action seeking a restart. Meaning his goal to create an entirely distinct status of “eligible alien” for employment or benefit would not pass muster.
However, if Obama merely seeks to reestablish his authority to use prosecutorial discretion -allowing DHS to selectively enforce deportation- he will probably have a greater likelihood of winning the appeal/restart order.
(Via The Hill) Officials at the Department of Justice (DOJ) plan to seek what is known as an emergency stay that would essentially undo a Texas-based federal judge’s injunction from earlier this week. If the stay is granted, the government could restart a pair of executive programs that will shield millions of undocumented immigrants from deportation. (more…)

They have finally identified the enemy, and the enemy is us !

CNN is broadcasting a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) report which outlines what the Obama administration considers a threat to the United States.  CNN outlines the report and claims the threats are:

[…]”from sovereign citizen groups as equal to — and in some cases greater than — the threat from foreign Islamic terror groups, such as ISIS”.  (link)

Yes, “greater than” the threat posed by ISIS.

Obviously, beyond the insufferable substance of the report, the timing of the report highlights a divisionary tactic by the Obama administration to deflect attention away from their own unwillingness to identify, let alone confront, the threat of Islamic Terror spreading globally.
Apparently it is far more in line with the current administration to consider disgruntled U.S. citizens as a more significant threat to the advancement of the current White House agenda. (more…)

#BREAKING Turkey, US sign deal to train Syria rebels, officials say

— AFP News Agency (@AFP) February 19, 2015

Two days ago reports began to hit the media about the U.S. providing “Moderate Syrian Rebels” with equipment and technology to enable them to call in air strikes. The Wall Street Journal reported:

WASHINGTON—The U.S. has decided to provide pickup trucks equipped with machine guns and radios for calling in U.S. airstrikes to some moderate Syrian rebels, defense officials said. But the scope of any bombing hasn’t been worked out—a reflection of the complexities of the battlefield in Syria.

Military officials point to U.S. airstrikes, called in by Kurdish fighters, that helped drive Islamic State fighters from the city of Kobani as the model for the new campaign. (link)

The term “moderate” has been a source of contention amid those who have followed the ideology of the Syrian uprising since the fighting began around August/Sept of 2011.
When Syria first erupted there was a general sense of opposition to the leadership of Bashir Assad. However, as time progressed more and more severe jihadists flocked to Syria from battlefields in surrounding nations.
Eventually this power struggle led to the rise of the most powerful among them forming what is now known as ISIS. (more…)