Obama meets with illegal aliens in Oval Office

And where the hell are the D.C. cops? Oh, right...we're no longer enforcing THE LAW.

CNSNews: President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden met in the Oval Office on Tuesday with three people who are in the country in violation of U.S. immigration laws but who have received “deferred action” allowing them to stay in the country under the terms of a "memorandum" issued unilaterally last year by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.

While conceding that she had no legal authority to change the "immigration status" of illegal aliens or provide them with a "pathway to citizenship," Napolitano instructed the top officials at Customs and Border Protection, Citizenship and Immigration Services, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement to use what she called "prosecutorial discretion" in not enforcing the immigration laws against certain classes of immigration lawbreakers.

In all, Obama and Biden met on Tuesday with eight people who are advocating immigration reform, according to White House readout of the meeting. The White House readout listed three of those as having received “deferred action.” Most others were legally in the United States with relatives who were illegal aliens.

“At the meeting, the president reiterated his commitment to passing a bipartisan, commonsense immigration reform bill this year,” said the White House readout of the meeting. “He made clear that while the current bill is not perfect, it does represent an important step towards the broad principles that need to be part of any immigration reform package.”

On Tuesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee sent an immigration bill to the full Senate. It includes what its supporters call a “pathway to citizenship,” and what its opponents call “amnesty.”

Bipartisan? You know what Sowell says: "As a rule of thumb, Congressional legislation that is bipartisan is usually twice as bad as legislation that is partisan." Commonsense? Hardly, and laughably so. The Constitution be damned, the Rule of Law be damned, and this man's own Oath of Office, everything, be damned for whatever this lawless ideologue desires.

Issa confirms he will haul Lerner back in to testify before committee

Confirmation that Gowdy was absolutely correct!

Reuters: Republican Representative Darrell Issa said on Thursday he will call Internal Revenue Service official Lois Lerner back to testify before his committee on the IRS-Tea Party scandal after she asserted her constitutional right not to answer questions.

“We are obligated to bring Lerner back because she did not properly take the Fifth (Amendment),” Issa said.

“She clearly chose to make her statements and then not open herself up to even any questioning as to the statement she made,” said Issa, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

Damn straight! Time to haul her arse back in!

GretaWire: Issa points out that he RECESSED the hearing…he did not ADJOURN the hearing.

There is a BIG parliamentary difference. If you recess the hearing…the hearing is still ongoing. If you adjourn the hearing, it’s done. Issa would have to issue another subpoena for Lerner…and chances are, she might comport herself a lot differently than she did yesterday.

Make her attempt to plead the Fifth for hours if need be. Let the cameras see that. Then hold her in contempt of Congress if she insists on not answering questions.

Two terrorists murder British soldier on London street

The religion of 'piece' strikes again, as two Muslim converts murder a British soldier, while disarmed witnesses looked on in horror...

Telegraph: In the first terrorist murder on the British mainland since the 7/7 suicide bombings of 2005, the men attempted to behead the soldier, hacking at him like a “piece of meat” in front of dozens of witnesses, before both were shot by police who took around 20 minutes to arrive.

After the killing, one of the men, believed to be a British-born Muslim convert, spoke calmly into a witness’s video phone.

Speaking with a London accent, holding a knife and a meat cleaver and with his hands dripping with blood, he said:

“We swear by almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you until you leave us alone. Your people will never be safe. The only reason we have done this is because Muslims are dying by British soldiers every day. We must fight them as they fight us. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. I apologize that women had to witness this today but in our lands our women have to see the same. You people will never be safe. Remove your government, they don’t care about you. Do you think David Cameron is going to get caught in the street when we start busting our guns? Do you think your politicians are going to die? No, it’s going to be the average guy like you, and your children. So get rid of them. Tell them to bring our troops back so we, so you can all live in peace.”

Witnesses said that the men used a car to run over the soldier just yards from the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich, south-east London, before setting about him with knives and a meat cleaver as if they were “trying to remove organs”. One unconfirmed report suggested that he had been beheaded.

Passers-by said they thought at first that the attackers were trying to help the man, who was wearing a Help for Heroes T-shirt, and only realised they were killing him when they got closer.

As they attacked the soldier, one of the men shouted “Allahu akbar”, or God is Great, according to the BBC, while another witness said they appeared to pray next to the body as if the solder was a “sacrifice”.

When police did arrive, both gunmen tried to rush at the police and were shot, reportedly by a female officer.

If ever there was a case to rearm the citizenry...and don't tell me this is a 'betrayal' of Islam, Mr. Cameron, when Al-Qaeada-linked Somali terror group Al-Shabaab disagrees and says this is absolutely a 'portrayal' of Islam!

In more upside-down news, British troops have been advised by their commanders not to wear their uniforms outside the base. Can we say cave? Besides shear fear, isn't this kind of political correctness what the terrorists want? As WeaselZippers puts it, "If British troops can’t wear their own uniforms while on their own streets, who’s winning?"

ADDENDUM: Identity of soldier revealed...

GOV.UK: It is with great sadness that the Ministry of Defence must announce that the soldier killed in yesterday's incident in Woolwich, South East London, is believed to be Drummer Lee Rigby of 2nd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers (attached to the Regimental Recruiting Team in London).

Condolences and prayers to the family of this fallen soldier.

Heritage: Demand the truth on Benghazi

The Heritage Foundation has released an engaging new internet ad, which both reviews the timeline of administrative deception and reminds Americans to demand the truth about Benghazi...

President Obama has dismissed questions about the Benghazi debacle as a political "side show." Demand the truth. The American people deserve answers.

As much as I despise RINOs like Goober Grahamnesty, Heritage used the one soundbite from that schmuck that's absolutely right on target: "The President ran out the clock and he won the election." He did the same with the IRS scandal...with a little help from his friends.

Hidden from Congress: IRS's own internal investigation ended 6 months before election

Deeper and deeper...

Breitbart: In a startling exchange Wednesday during the IRS hearings before the House Oversight and Reform Committee, America learned that the IRS knew in May of 2012 that its employees were targeting conservative organization with paralyzing harassment and Kafka-esque audits. Although the IRS knew this, they did not report this information to Congress.

Issa produced a number of emails where members of Congress reached out to Treasury and the IRS demanding updates. The responses from both organizations come off as nothing more than stonewalling.

It is not hard to see where this is headed. We apparently have the IRS covering up their findings from Congress six-months before the election, and the Obama Administration -- in the form of the Treasury Department -- stonewalling Congress on their findings (possibly in violation of the law) before the election.

Note this revelation was made before Lerner plead the Fifth. She didn't want to answer to it. However, doesn't this also imply that congressional leaders knew about this discrimination as well, prior to the election? Why no inquiries then?

Related link: RUSH: The IRS scandal was suppressed last year because it would have had a HUGE effect on the election

ADDENDUM: Here's Rush's comments on the delayed reporting...once again, it's Rush's fault...

IRS hearings: Gowdy calls out Lerner over Fifth plea, Issa's mistake, Lynch's fix (UPDATE)

Another arrogant Obamaite testifies before Congress...sorta. Yeah, there was a hitch...

GatewayPundit: The audience erupted today after Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) went off on IRS official Lois Lerner today. Lerner, the director of the IRS division that singled out hundreds of conservative groups, delivered an opening statement to the House Oversight Committee committee today and then pleaded the Fifth Amendment and clammed up. Gowdy didn’t like this much.

“Mr. Issa, Mr. Cummings just said we should run this like a courtroom, and I agree with him. She just testified. She just waved her Fifth Amendment rights. You don’t get to tell your side of the story and then not be subjected to cross examination. That’s not the way it works. She waved her right to Fifth Amendment privilege by issuing an opening statement. She ought to stand here and answer our questions. (Applause)”

Gowdy's got it right. Issa was off his game on this one, which he seemed to realize afterwards by dismissing Lerner pending recall. Ross Kaminsky notes Issa's mistake in the American Spectator...

I like the bulldoggedness of Congressman Darrell Issa (R-CA). He should have been more of his usual self this morning when IRS official Lois “planted question” Lerner was called to testify before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

...Issa should have kept Lerner there, asked her more questions, and made her repeatedly refuse to answer.

The Republicans almost never get a chance at a story where the media might actually be sympathetic to them or their supporters such as Tea Party groups, and they should make the most of it. Few things could annoy the Obama administration more than having a senior IRS official repeatedly taking the fifth in questions about targeting American citizens for their political views.

Darrell Issa is one of the most aggressive, persistent members of Congress in going after Obama administration malfeasance. He should have stuck with those traits today.

Call her back, and if she insists on pleading the Fifth, make her repeat it over and over and over...

As Lerner departed the room, Jim Jordan (R-OH) noted the irony that Lerner could exercise her constitutional rights while Americans were being denied answers as to why their rights had been violated.

Guy Benson of TownHall made mention of another notable moment that Republicans should keep in their pocket:

The only other notable moment in the early session was Massachusetts Democrat Stephen Lynch's powerful opening statement. He warned the witnesses that continued "stone-walling" and obfuscation would force Congress to appoint a special prosecutor to the case. Coming from a Democrat, that's a big deal, especially because the president has publicly stated his opposition to a special counsel to investigate the IRS. Here's Lynch laying down the law:



Bear in mind, this statement came before Lerner refused to answer questions and left the room.

This Democrat, among many Democrats who are feigning outrage over the IRS scandal, has provided the appropriate fix for Issa's mistake. Screw the committee hearings, this was obstruction! It's time for the 'hell to pay' with a special prosecutor and special council. Done.

ADDENDUM: WaPo's Ed Rogers says a special prosecutor is inevitable...

This administration’s management of the Obama Internal Revenue Service scandal so far consists of a slow-walking, rolling disclosure of facts; equal parts equivocation, amnesia and indignation from IRS witnesses; deer-in-the-headlights non-responses by the White House press secretary; parsed, lawyerly statements from the president himself; and now one of the central key players is taking the Fifth. And all this comes from what the president claimed would be the “most transparent administration ever…”

UPDATE: Issa now says he's bringing Lerner back, that she waived her Fifth Amendment right. Gowdy was correct!

Politico: House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa said embattled IRS official Lois Lerner waived her Fifth Amendment rights and will be hauled back to appear before his panel again.

The California Republican said Lerner’s Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination was voided when she gave an opening statement this morning denying any wrongdoing and professing pride in her government service.

Obamacare: employers eye bare bones plans, labor unions awaken to reality

Shocker...not! Recent analysis suggests that employers will overwhelmingly seek lower cost, bare bones medical plans to avoid the increased costs of Obamacare. The train wreck is unending...

WSJ: Employers are increasingly recognizing they may be able to avoid certain penalties under the federal health law by offering very limited plans that can lack key benefits such as hospital coverage.

Benefits advisers and insurance brokers—bucking a commonly held expectation that the law would broadly enrich benefits—are pitching these low-benefit plans around the country. They cover minimal requirements such as preventive services, but often little more. Some of the plans wouldn't cover surgery, X-rays or prenatal care at all. Others will be paired with limited packages to cover additional services, for instance, $100 a day for a hospital

Federal officials say this type of plan, in concept, would appear to qualify as acceptable minimum coverage under the law, and let most employers avoid an across-the-workforce $2,000-per-worker penalty for firms that offer nothing. Employers could still face other penalties they anticipate would be far less costly.

It's not rocket science...employers will pursue plans that will abide by the new mandate without busting their budgets. These bare bones, low premium plans accommodate those qualifications.

Now listen to the shock from a key planner of Obamacare when informed of these plans...

"We wouldn't have anticipated that there'd be demand for these types of band-aid plans in 2014," said Robert Kocher, a former White House health adviser who helped shepherd the law. "Our expectation was that employers would offer high quality insurance." Part of the problem: lawmakers left vague the definition of employer-sponsored coverage, opening the door to unexpected interpretations, say people involved in drafting the law.

Oblivious. Should have listened to the millions of Americans that were telling you guys you were on the wrong track!

In a separate-but-related story, labor unions are breaking with Obama on Obamacare after realizing Obama’s promise that “nothing in this plan will require you to change your coverage or your doctor,” was a big fat LIE.

TheHill: Labor unions are breaking with President Obama on ObamaCare. Months after the president’s reelection, a variety of unions are publicly balking at how the administration plans to implement the landmark law. They warn that unless there are changes, the results could be catastrophic.

In a new op-ed published in The Hill, UFCW President Joe Hansen homed in on the president’s speech at the 2009 AFL-CIO convention. Obama at the time said union members could keep their insurance under the law, but Hansen writes “that the president’s statement to labor in 2009 is simply not true for millions of workers.”

Republicans have long attacked Obama’s promise that “nothing in this plan will require you to change your coverage or your doctor.” But the fact that unions are now noting it as well is a clear sign that supporters of the law are growing anxious about the law’s implementation.

“You can’t have the same quality healthcare that you had before, despite what the president said,” Hansen said. “Now what’s going to happen is everybody is going to have to go to private for-profit insurance companies. We just don’t think that’s right. ... We just want to keep what we already have and what we bought at tremendous cost.”

Union angst over the healthcare law is being matched by some Democrats on Capitol Hill. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) has said the law’s implementation could be a “train wreck,” while other senior Democrats, including House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), have expressed reservations.

Welcome to reality! Here's a perfect opportunity to insert Rush's comment about this from yesterday's program: "One of the little pleasures in life, folks, is when liberals realize that their fellow liberals are screwing them, too, in addition to us."

And Jazz Shaw of HotAir used an appropriate anology to wrap up everything about the debacle that is Obamacare...

That’s the funny thing about a giant ball of string like the United States economy. When you decide to yank really hard on a loose end in a system which was essentially stabilized under its own momentum, you just never know what’s going to happen. Unless, of course, you happened to have listened to the millions of people warning you before you yanked on it.

New whistleblowers with more damaging info for Clinton/Obama

As new Benghazi whistleblowers come forward, the revelations of what really happened in Benghazi appear to be even more damaging for both Clinton and Obama...

PJMedia: More whistleblowers will emerge shortly in the escalating Benghazi scandal, according to two former U.S. diplomats who spoke with PJ Media Monday afternoon.

These whistleblowers, colleagues of the former diplomats, are currently securing legal counsel because they work in areas not fully protected by the Whistleblower law.

According to the diplomats, what these whistleblowers will say will be at least as explosive as what we have already learned about the scandal, including details about what really transpired in Benghazi that are potentially devastating to both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

The former diplomats inform PJM the new revelations concentrate in two areas — what Ambassador Chris Stevens was actually doing in Benghazi and the pressure put on General Carter Ham, then in command of U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) and therefore responsible for Libya, not to act to protect jeopardized U.S. personnel.

First, Hillary...

Stevens’ mission in Benghazi, they will say, was to buy back Stinger missiles from al-Qaeda groups issued to them by the State Department, not by the CIA. Such a mission would usually be a CIA effort, but the intelligence agency had opposed the idea because of the high risk involved in arming “insurgents” with powerful weapons that endanger civilian aircraft.

Hillary Clinton still wanted to proceed because, in part, as one of the diplomats said, she wanted “to overthrow Gaddafi on the cheap.”

This left Stevens in the position of having to clean up the scandalous enterprise when it became clear that the “insurgents” actually were al-Qaeda – indeed, in the view of one of the diplomats, the same group that attacked the consulate and ended up killing Stevens.

This is the arms deal that's been whispered about by many, but up until now, hasn't made headway in congressional hearings. Perhaps this gunrunning, which stinks of Fast & Furious, might finally come to light.

Now, onto Obama's role...

Regarding General Ham, military contacts of the diplomats tell them that AFRICOM had Special Ops “assets in place that could have come to the aid of the Benghazi consulate immediately (not in six hours).”

Ham was told by the White House not to send the aid to the trapped men, but Ham decided to disobey and did so anyway, whereupon the White House “called his deputy and had the deputy threaten to relieve Ham of his command.”

The White House motivation in all this is as yet unclear, but it is known that Ham retired quietly in April 2013 as head of AFRICOM.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out this power hungry President's motivation: REELECTION. Yes, it's worth American lives for them to secure the cause of statism.

Schumer asks, 'do our Republicans have a pass' on immigration amendment

Our Republicans? Here's how we get to that...

In the Judiciary Committee mark-up of the Gang of Eight immigration bill yesterday, Sen. Sessions offered an amendment that would limit eligibility for the Earned Income Tax Credit to citizens and lawful permanent residents. In other words, immigrants who receive registered provisional immigrant status (i.e., legalization) would be barred from getting the generous taxpayer-funded benefit (approx. $2000). Although Gang of Eight members have vociferously promised that illegal aliens who receive legal status would not be eligible for public benefits under this bill, Senators Chuck Schumer and Dick Durbin joined their Democrat colleagues in voting down the amendment, which was defeated on a party-line vote.

Tells you a lot about where they're going with this; however, Daniel Horowitz of RedState perhaps made a more profound catch...

RedState: A common ploy in parliamentarian scheming is for leaders to hand out hall passes for vulnerable members to vote against leadership’s proposal, knowing that it has the votes to pass anyway. The rationale is that those members should be able to hoodwink their constituents without compromising passage of the bill. This dynamic usually plays out with the leadership and rank-and-file of the same party, but during [yesterday]’s Senate Judiciary Committee markup, it was Chuck Schumer who was handing out hall passes to Republicans.

Somehow I don’t think that voters in South Carolina and Arizona elected Graham and Flake to serve as a puppy dog for Chuck Schumer.

If this doesn’t illustrate for you what is wrong with the whole framework of this amnesty bill, I don’t know what will.

Not just what's wrong with this bill, but what's wrong with D.C.! Time for those two to take McRINO with'em and go home, courtesy of a more knowledgeable electorate (one would hope).

Libs never let a crisis go to waste

"It only took five minutes before the Democrat Party politicized the tornado in Oklahoma." ~ El Rushbo

In the wake of a fatal Oklahoma tornado, liberals never let a crisis go to waste...

TheDC: While many Americans were tuned into news coverage of the massive damage from tornadoes ravaging the state of Oklahoma, Rhode Island Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse took to the Senate floor to rail against his Republican colleagues for denying the theory of anthropogenic global warming.

Whitehouse spent 15 minutes chastising GOP senators and justified his remarks by alluding to states that seek federal assistance in the wake of natural disasters.

Unfortunately, he was preceded by a bigger imbecile...

Twitchy: The mile-wide tornado that destroyed Moore, Okla., and leveled at least two elementary schools was still weaving a path of devastation when Daily Show co-creator Lizz Winstead thought up a funny. Too soon?

"This tornado is in Oklahoma so clearly it has been ordered to only target conservatives."

There’ll be time to worry about the victims later, but this tornado was a perfect “teachable moment” to point out the hypocrisy driving the GOP’s ongoing Obama witch hunt.

Winstead later half-heartedly apologized, explaining that she would have refrained had she understood the devastation sooner...as if an EF-4 tornado, bordering on an EF-5, plowing through a growing suburb wouldn't have wreaked havoc, likely resulting in fatalities?

So compassionate.

Related links: Senator Sheldon Whitehouse And Lizz Winstead Refuse To Let A Crisis Go To Waste
Tornado activity hits 60-year low
RUSH: Daily Show’s Lizz Winstead Intended To Be Mean With ‘Tornado Targets Conservatives’ Joke
‘Reprehensible’: Limbaugh Slams Sheldon Whitehouse For Blaming Polluters Causing Okla. Tornado

ADDENDUM: The same Salon moron who hoped the Boston bomber was 'white' is now attempting to link the Oklahoma tornado disaster to the sequester cuts. These cretans know no bounds...