A new study by the respected National Bureau of Economic Research found that Progressive policies in general, and Democrats specifically were to blame for the subprime mortgage crisis and subsequent economic collapse.

Investor’s Business Daily reported:

Democrats and the media insist the Community Reinvestment Act, the anti-redlining law beefed up by President Clinton, had nothing to do with the subprime mortgage crisis and recession.

But a new study by the respected National Bureau of Economic Research finds, “Yes, it did. We find that adherence to that act led to riskier lending by banks.”

Added NBER: “There is a clear pattern of increased defaults for loans made by these banks in quarters around the (CRA) exam. Moreover, the effects are larger for loans made within CRA tracts,” or predominantly low-income and minority areas. (more…)

Imagine for just one minute that George Bush, or any Republican was in the White House, and this exact same report was released……   “Leadership failures” at the State Department, but Hillary’s all good…. unreal. 

WASHINGTON (AP) — An independent panel charged with investigating the deadly Sept. 11 attack in Libya that killed a U.S. ambassador and three other Americans has concluded that systematic management and leadership failures at the State Department led to “grossly” inadequate security at the mission in Benghazi.  (full report here)

“Systematic failures and leadership and management deficiencies at senior levels within two bureaus of the State Department resulted in a Special Mission security posture that was inadequate for Benghazi and grossly inadequate to deal with the attack that took place,” the panel said.

The report singled out the Bureau of Diplomatic Security and the Bureau of Near East Affairs for criticism, saying there appeared to be a lack of cooperation and confusion over protection at the mission in Benghazi, a city in Eastern Libya that was relatively lawless after the revolution that toppled Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi. (more…)

WASHINGTON — A high-level State Department investigative panel turned over a secret report Monday assessing blame for the deadly terrorist attacks against the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, setting the stage for a clash on the issue this week between the Obama administration and Republican critics.

The five-member Accountability Review Board delivered the report to the State Department two days before congressional panels are to hear testimony from its leading members, former Ambassador Thomas Pickering and former Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Michael G. Mullen, in closed session. (more…)

Yes, the agenda transparency of this administration is obvious.  But I doubt Obama literally knew in 2008 – by December of 2012 Hillary Clinton would be sh!tting all over herself so much she would pass out and knock herself unconscious – when he said: he’d have the most transparent administration in history.

What’s “transparent” are the lies.

Considering the opportunistic Thanksgiving holiday fire at the State Dept office of Hillary Clinton; and considering the decision of Susan Rice to avoid the sunlight of Senate confirmation hearings on Benghazi;  this latest manipulation/avoidance scheme by Hillary Clinton is, well, yes – “transparent“.

But before you consider what her handlers are saying today, vis-a-vi a concussion, brought on by fainting, caused by massive dehydration (ie the sh!ts – irony alert), you might want to know what the State Dept position was leading up to the “fainting”:

Earlier in the week:  The House Foreign Affairs Committee has also already announced its Dec. 20 hearing featuring Clinton’s testimony. The title of the HFAC hearing is “Benghazi Attack, Part II: The Report of the Accountability Review Board”

But State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said today that the ARB is not complete, might not be complete by Dec. 20, and Clinton has not agreed to testify on Dec. 20. (more…)

In a free society, composed of individuals who are unequal by nature, the highest government good is neutrality in the treatment of its citizens before the law. One standard and one justice for all. This is the only equality that not at odds with individual freedom. It is the only equality that can make a diverse community one. A nation that respects individual rights and protects individual freedom cannot be sustained if there is one standard for black and another for white; one for rich and another for poor. It can only be sustained by a single standard — one law and one justice for all. – David Horowitz & John Perazzo

(FrontPage) When a Neighborhood Watch guard shot Trayvon Martin in February 2012, a chorus of civil rights activists concluded that he had been killed because of his race. Michael Skolnick, the political director for hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons, spoke for the consensus in an article he titled, “White People You Will Never Look Suspicious.”

I will never look suspicious to you. Even if I have a black hoodie, a pair of jeans and white sneakers on … I will never watch a taxicab pass me by to pick someone else up. I will never witness someone clutch their purse tightly against their body as they walk by me. I won’t have to worry about a police car following me for two miles, so they can ‘“run my plates.”’ I will never have to pay before I eat. And I certainly will never get “‘stopped and frisked.”’ I will never look suspicious to you, because of one thing and one thing only. The color of my skin. I am white…. (more…)

WASHINGTON DC –  Embattled U.N. envoy Susan Rice is dropping out of the running to be the next secretary of state after months of criticism over her Benghazi comments, she told NBC News on Thursday.

“If nominated, I am now convinced that the confirmation process would be lengthy, disruptive and costly – to you and to our most pressing national and international priorities,” Rice wrote in a letter to President Obama, saying she’s saddened by the partisan politics surrounding her prospects. (more…)

Let’s pause for a moment and evaluate recent events and recent claims by this President Obama [aka Dear Leader] of a Safe/Secure America under his watch:

Last night North Korea successfully launched their first ever 3-stage Intercontinental Ballistic Missile placing “something” in near earth orbit. North Korea has nuclear weapons ya’ know.

Yesterday from the border region of Afghanistan/Pakistan al-Qaeda’s #1 Ayman Al Zawahiri sent a video message to the salafists in Egypt to rise up off their prayer mats and support the sharia constitution by Muslim Brotherhood leader President Morsi.  “You must meet the request of the Egyptian people for Sharia rule in order to attain dignity and pride,” Zawahiri said in his video

That’s the same Egypt we just approved to get twenty brand spanking new F-16 fighter jets.

Also yesterday in West Africa, specifically in Mali, the freedom reform Prime Minister was forced to resign after al-Qaeda forces took control of the military and performed a coup de ta. al-Qaeda now controls the country.  Soldiers carried out a late-night arrest of Mali’s prime minister at his home here, forcing his resignation early Tuesday and casting new doubt on plans to chase out radical Islamists who control much of this troubled West African nation. (more…)

On Thursday President Obama called Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood President, Morsi.   He didn’t call to scold Morsi for his insufferable power grab.  He didn’t call to correct Morsi for taking over the judicary, and ignoring the minority voice by implementing Sharia Law despite the opposition coalition.

Obama didn’t call Morsi to reprimand him for brutalizing freedom principles.  No, instead he called to tell Morsi the street protests don’t look good, and are fodder for ridicule toward the Obama administration and Hillary Clinton.

So what does Morsi do TODAY  do in response to Obama’s concerns?

Struggling to subdue continuing street protests, the government of President Mohamed Morsi has approved legislation reimposing martial law by calling on the armed forces to keep order and authorizing soldiers to arrest civilians, Egypt’s state media reported on Saturday.  (link)

Remember Obama’s “Red Line” in Syria and look at the propaganda arm being used to validate its approach.  Heads up…   (Something is looming about that POTUS needs attention directed away from).

SYRIA –  Western intelligence officials have noticed new worrying signs of activity at chemical weapons sites in Syria, The New York Times reported on Saturday.

The Syrian regime is “doing some things that suggest they intend to use the weapons,” one American intelligence official told the Times, adding, “It’s not just moving stuff around. These are different kind of activities.”

The officials were unsure of Syria’s intentions regarding the work at the chemical sites, but said it is possible Damascus is preparing to use chemical weapons as a last-ditched effort to defeat rebels, according to the report. (more…)

“So, look,I’m not making excuses for the missed opportunities of the Israelis, or the lack of generosity, the lack of empathy that I think goes hand-in-hand with the suspicion. So, yes, there is more that the Israelis need to do to really demonstrate that they do understand the pain of an oppressed people in their minds, and they want to figure out, within the bounds of security and a Jewish democratic state, what can be accomplished.”  – Hillary Clinton