(Via The Hill) Legislation approving construction of the Keystone XL pipeline failed in the Senate on Tuesday, delivering what could be a fatal blow to Sen. Mary Landrieu’s reelection campaign.

The vote was still going on at 6:18 p.m., but 41 senators had voted against passage, enough to defeat the bill. Landrieu and other Keystone proponents needed a supermajority of 60 votes for final passage — and didn’t get there despite Landrieu’s week-long battle to win over members of her conference.
The vote itself was a gift to Landrieu, who has long sought approval of the pipeline as a project that would bring jobs to her state.
Even if the legislation had cleared the Senate, it faced a near certain veto from President Obama.  (read more)
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With a Saint Louis Grand Jury decision “imminent” it’s valuable today to go back and reference how the entire controversy started:

Understanding The Origin Of The Mike Brown Narrative

When we first began digging in to the Mike Brown story something odd was immediately identifiable. The individual witness statements, when compared over time, were case studies in the evolution of self-contradiction.
But why ?
It’s generally a true statement that eye witnesses testimonials can often be unreliable; but the statements of the Canfield Greens apartment complex who immediately hit the New York media circuit were beyond unreliable – they were actually contradicting themselves from show to show, often within hours.
A little research into the shooting aftermath and things began to fall into place.

The primary witnesses used to create what we’ll call ‘the media narrative’ were and are: Dorian Johnson, Piaget Crenshaw, and Tiffany Mitchell.
A few days later another witness, Michael Brady, surfaced.  However, Brady didn’t exactly follow the same script – and we soon discovered why. (more…)

Bret Baier utilized research tonight on his show “Special Report” that was done by Jane Hamsher -back in 2010 and 2011- surrounding Jonathan Gruber and the construct of ObamaCare legislation.  Hamsher did an exceptional job, yet, at the time, few were listening….

FLASHBACK MAY 2010 – HUFFINGTON POST Up until this point, most of the attention regarding the failure to disclose the connection between Jonathan Gruber and the White House has fallen on Gruber himself. Far more troubling, however, is the lack of disclosure on the part of the White House, the Senate, the DNC and other Democratic leaders who distributed Gruber’s work and cited it as independent validation of their proposals, orchestrating the appearance of broad consensus when in fact it was all part of the same effort.
The White House is placing a giant collective bet on Gruber’s “assumptions” to justify key portions of the Senate bill such as the “Cadillac tax,” which they allowed people to believe was independent verification. Now that we know that Gruber’s work was not that of an independent analyst but rather work performed as a contractor to the White House and paid for by taxpayers, and economists like Larry Mishel are raising serious questions about its validity, it should be made publicly available so others can judge its merits. (more…)

An enthusiastic crowd filled the auditorium earlier today.  Thousands of cheering fans sat eagerly on  their seat, anticipating,…. and then the moment came.  President Ted Cruz stepped onto the stage to resounding applause and announced:

“Capital Gains Taxes are impacting the capacity of our economy to expand; therefore effective tomorrow I’m instructing the IRS to cease and desist any collection or enforcement efforts in that regard.

Effective immediately businesses and individuals can, if they choose, discontinue filing capital gains incomes on their quarterly income tax returns. My administration will make no efforts to punish for non-payment.

However, congress can avoid such an executive order if they will simply send me a repeal bill for any and all corporate and individual capital gains revenue”.

Does it Sound ridiculous? Does it sound like something that might send Democrats and the media into 24/7 news cycles as they debate a constitutional crisis?
Consider: (more…)

LITMUS TEST !!!   Enough is Enough

WESTMINSTER — An unruly public hearing on a proposal to prohibit the sale of tobacco products came to a sudden and rowdy halt Wednesday evening after shouting and clapping opponents of the ban repeatedly refused the chairwoman’s request to come to order.

The ban, proposed by the Board of Health in this Central Massachusetts town, would be the first of its kind in the state. It has led to angry reactions from residents who worry that it will hurt the local economy and allow government too much discretion in controlling private conduct.
“This is about freedom; it’s my body and it’s my choice to smoke,” said Nate Johnson, 32, a Westminster farmer and auto body worker. He was puffing on a cigarette at a rally before the hearing where opponents held signs saying “It’s not about tobacco — it’s about control” and “Smoke ’em if you got them.” (more…)

~ Hoax and Chains ~

We pointed out in Gruber video #4 how, according to his own admissions, Jonathan Gruber met with Senator Obama in 2006 -and then again with President Obama in 2009- in the Oval Office, to construct the tax scheme within the ObamaCare insurance fraud.
However, what’s missing amid the new discussion created by the recent Gruber revelations is a contrast, or context, to the historical ‘candidate Obama’ Campaign commercials.
So again, just to insure the hammer head meets the nail watch these short (30 second) 2008 campaign commercials which specifically focused on taxation of healthcare premiums:

• The election is over • Obama has conferred with the BGI • Holder is coordinating diversity training • DOJ/CRS boots on the ground • Emergency plans in place – The “no bill” announcement could come at any day now, maybe today…

• ♦ INFO – Feds Release Investigative Details To New York Times (LINK)
• ♦ INFO – Officer Darren Wilson version of events given to media. (LINK)
• ♦ INFO – Official Mike Brown autopsy supports Wilson’s Version of events. (LINK)
• ♦ INFO – Eight Black Witnesses Confirm Darren Wilson Version (Link)
• ♦ INFO – Feds Reveal No Charges Expected Against Darren Wilson (LINK)

• Officer Darren Wilson pushed into vehicle by Mike Brown. • A Struggle ensued. • Two shots fired inside vehicle. • One bullet striking the hand of Mike Brown. • Blood from right arm wound on interior door, uniform and officers weapon. • Gun powder residue also on hands of Mike Brown. • Attorney for Dorian Johnson admits DJ lied to media.

• One bullet lodges in door panel of SUV • One bullet strikes near window of adjacent apartment building. • Hat and one shoe located on South side of police SUV. • Second shoe located approximately 10-15′ East. • Officer Wilson chases Mike Brown. • Both travel approximately 100′ from SUV. • Brown stops, turns, makes aggressive statement. • Brown charges Wilson. • Ten additional shots fired at approaching Mike Brown. • Five bullets strike Brown. • Total of 12 shots fired.
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Stage Five – The “taxpayers” realize their previous healthcare premium was considered a pre-tax deduction. (Progressives call these “tax expenditures”).

Listen to the embedded video at 27:00 to understand how the progressive Obamacare architects view “tax deductible” healthcare premiums as “tax expenditures” and how they have structured the system to reflect what comes next. This is how employer provided healthcare premium payments are now going to be considered income.
[Forward video to @27:00]:

The employer paid premium, and the subsidy provided to assist in Obamacare premium coverage, are both considered a part of taxable earnings, “wage income”.

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(Via Associated Press) Republican Dan Sullivan won Alaska’s U.S. Senate race, defeating incumbent Democrat Mark Begich. Sullivan led Begich by about 8,100 votes on Election Night last week, and when state officials counted absentee and questioned ballots Tuesday, the results indicated that Begich could not overcome Sullivan’s lead.
The Alaska seat was initially considered key to the Republicans’ hopes of taking control of the U.S. Senate, but that was accomplished election night with the GOP sweep.
Sullivan, a first-time candidate, ran a confident campaign, ignoring the debate schedule Begich released during the primary and setting his own agenda. He also attracted some star power to the state, with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, a tea party favorite, and 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney rallying support for Sullivan in the waning days of the hotly contested race. (more…)

(Via Fox News)  The Daily Caller’s Patrick Howley reported Sunday that Obamacare architect Jonathan Gruber had said at the University of Pennsylvania’s 24th Annual Health Economics Conference that it was a good thing that Americans never realized what was in the Affordable Care Act, because “the stupidity of the American voter” would have otherwise killed the law.
But for unexplained reasons, the University of Pennsylvania has pulled its video of the event, which took place in October of 2013. ”This video has been removed by the user,” a message now reads. “Sorry about that.” The video is still embedded on the conference page, but playing the video gives a similar error message.
One person who was angry to hear of the apparent cover-up was Bloomberg columnist Megan McArdle. “This is pretty shocking behavior by my alma mater,” she tweeted, “Why would @Penn pull down a public video that has political implications?” (link)
UPDATE #2 :  Mark Levin picked up on the removal, and discussed on his radio broadcast.  Like Magic, presto, links mysteriously show up and start to work again – Here’s the FULL AHEC Panel just not on the U of PA website.  Go figure…. looks like someone got caught playing “hide the evidence“.
If you had any doubts about the motives behind the people who constructed Obamacare you can put those doubts away, forever. In this video MIT professor, and ObamaCare architect Johnathan Gruber, specifically states that ObamaCare was constructed to fool the American electorate. (more…)