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Politics

FOUND – Secret Taped Meeting Proves Their Goal – Bring Down Obama

A secret audio tape of a May 8th meeting of the conservative group “Groundswell” (a total nightmare amalgamation of creatures mostly bearing Southern drawls, birther conspiracy beliefs and a reliable paranoia of being persecuted) shows the group using their collective power (media, sleeping with SCOTUS, money, evangelical base/money, GOP Congressional aides) to pressure elected Republicans into making something out of the now debunked Benhazi scandal.

They want a special committee or else.

If they don’t get it, they warned Speaker Boehner (R-OH) and Obama fake scandal manufacturer Darrell Issa (R-CA), the two could face a loss of support and financial backing.

Birther Frank Gaffney made it clear on the tape that he told the puppets to play ball or else! He told the group that he had reminded Boehner and Issa that their donors are getting restless (aka, deliver us an Obama scandal or your PAC gets it), “I’m somewhat encouraged that they’re taking this thing very much to heart and we really impressed upon them that there’s a lot of restiveness on the part of folks like us, and some of their donors as a matter of fact, about what — what’s happening here.”

Jerry Boykin of the Family Research Council told the group of conspirators that in their secret meeting the night before, Speaker Boehner warned them that the media would see this as an attempt to bring down the Obama administration (gee, ya think?). But, have no fear, patriots, “We got an ugly baby here and it’s going to get ugly today. We are not backing away from our call for a special committee with subpoena power… We’re not backing away from a special committee, but we kinda have a pledge from Issa and the Speaker.”

The tape of the meeting was published on Crooks and Liars by Karoli, who writes that the source wished to remain anonymous. The meeting was led by Catherine Engelbrecht, a founder of True the Vote. True the Vote is the organization found guilty of illegally aiding Republicans by operating like a PAC instead of a non-profit, and the very same organization trotted out by Darrell Issa and the media as just one example of Obama’s IRS picking on conservatives. Naturally, that wasn’t true, but it didn’t stop the media or the Republicans from running wild with their fictional accusations.

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News Politics West Virginia

So GOP… Are We Still Against the EPA? West Virginia Water Crisis

Contaminated waters of the Elk River

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — As hundreds of thousands of residents faced a third day without water because of a chemical spill in a local river, a water company executive said on Saturday that it could be days before it was safe for them to drink tap water again.

Jeff McIntyre, president of West Virginia American Water, said that officials had set up four labs to test the amount of chemical in the water, but that it might take days to provide enough samples to determine whether the water was safe.

A state official also said that thousands of gallons more of the chemical had leaked into the river than was initially believed.

A team from the Chemical Safety Board, an independent federal agency that investigates industrial chemical accidents, will arrive on Monday to begin looking into the spill, the board said on Saturday.

“Our goal is to find out what happened to allow a leak of such magnitude to occur and to ensure that the proper safeguards are in place to prevent a similar incident from occurring,” said Rafael Moure-Eraso, the chairman of the safety board.

At a news conference here on Saturday evening, officials said tests had begun to show concentrations of the chemical dropping below the one part per million threshold considered safe by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The concentration must remain that low for 24 hours before the water system can be flushed out and the do-not-use ban can be lifted. Officials said they planned to conduct at least 100 additional tests of samples overnight and on Sunday.

The contamination level was dropping because the leak had been shut off, said Mike Dorsey, the chief of homeland security and emergency response at the State Department of Environmental Protection. Some tests showed concentrations above one part per million, which officials attributed to sludge in the river and rain breaking up contaminated ice along it.

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Politics

Israel’s Former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon Dead at 85

JERUSALEM (AP) — It was vintage Ariel Sharon: His hefty body bobbing behind a wall of security men, the ex-general led a march onto a Jerusalem holy site, staking a bold claim to a shrine that has been in contention from the dawn of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

What followed was a Palestinian uprising that put Mideast peace efforts into deep-freeze.

Five years later, Sharon, who died Saturday at 85, was again barreling headlong into controversy, bulldozing ahead with his plan to pull Israel out of the Gaza Strip and uproot all 8,500 Jewish settlers living there without regard to threats to his life from Jewish extremists.

His allies said the move was a revolutionary step in peacemaking; his detractors said it was a tactical sacrifice to strengthen Israel’s hold on much of the West Bank.

Either way, the withdrawal and the barrier he was building between Israel and the West Bank permanently changed the face of the conflict and marked the final legacy of a man who shaped Israel as much as any other leader. He was a farmer-turned-soldier, a soldier-turned-politician, a politician-turned-statesman — a hard-charging Israeli who built Jewish settlements on war-won land, but didn’t shy away from destroying them when he deemed them no longer useful.

Sharon died eight years after a debilitating stroke put him into a coma. His body was to lie in state at the parliament on Sunday before he is laid to rest at his ranch in southern Israel on Monday, Israeli media reported. Vice President Joe Biden will lead the U.S. delegation.

His death was greeted with the same strong feelings he evoked in life. Israelis called him a war hero. His enemies called him a war criminal.

President Barack Obama remembered Sharon as “a leader who dedicated his life to the state of Israel.”

Former President George W. Bush, who was in the White House during Sharon’s tenure, called him a “warrior for the ages and a partner in seeking security for the Holy Land and a better, peaceful Middle East.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a rival and harsh critic of Sharon, said: “His memory will be enshrined forever in the heart of the nation.”

President Shimon Peres, a longtime friend and rival, said “he was an outstanding man and an exceptional commander who moved his people and loved them and the people loved him.”

The Palestinians, who loathed Sharon as their most bitter enemy, distributed candy, prayed for divine punishment and said they regretted he was never held accountable for his actions, including a massacre in the Lebanese refugee camps of Sabra and Chatilla by Christian militiamen allied with Israel during the 1982 invasion that was largely his brainchild.

“He wanted to erase the Palestinian people from the map … He wanted to kill us, but at the end of the day, Sharon is dead and the Palestinian people are alive,” said Tawfik Tirawi, who served as Palestinian intelligence chief when Sharon was prime minister.

The man Israel knew simply by his nickname “Arik” fought in most of Israel’s wars, gained a reputation as an adroit soldier and was the godfather of Israel’s massive settlement campaign in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. He detested Yasser Arafat, his lifelong adversary, as an “obstacle to peace” and was in turn detested in the Arab world.

His career spanned the Middle East conflict from its early skirmishes through five wars, one of which left him hailed as his nation’s savior, and another reviled as its disgrace.

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Politics

Chris Christie’s Mentor on Christie – “Do You Really Want That in Your President?”

Tom Kean

It is safe to say that former New Jersey Governor Tom Kean Sr. is responsible for Chris Christie’s political career. When Christie was 14 years old, it was Tom Kean Sr. who held his hand and brought the young teenager into politics.

In an interview with the Washington Post published Saturday, former New Jersey Gov. Tom Kean Sr. (R) had some rather interesting things to say about the possible brain behind the Bridgegate scandal, Chris Christie.

“On the one hand, I think he’s got a lot to offer,” Kean Sr. said. “I think he’s the most able politician since Bill Clinton. On the other hand, you look at these other qualities and ask, ‘do you really want that in your president?’”

Earlier in the week, Kean Sr. expressed similar sentiments to the Associated Press, saying that barring new details, he thought Christie would “survive” the bridge scandal. Yet the events set precedent for a thin margin of error in the future.

“If there’s a pattern of these things, if other incidents emerge with similar characteristics, that’s going to be a real problem,” Kean Sr. told the AP.

Kean Sr.’s relationship with Christie reached rocky ground in November, when the governor maneuvered to ouster his son, Tom Kean Jr., as GOP leader of the New Jersey state Senate. The move left Kean Sr. “as surprised as I’ve ever been in my life in politics,” the AP noted.

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Politics Republican Party

Glenn Beck Throws Chris Christie and the GOP Under the Bus – Video

Glenn Beck, one of the main voices of the Republican party has now officially thrown the party and Chris Christie under the bus, never to be seen or heard from again.

Beck, responding to a previous call to his show where the caller accused him of “poisoning the well” due to his constant knocks on Chris Christie, a possible Republican presidential candidate in 2016. In answering this accusation from the caller, explained that he never was, nor will he ever be a “shill” for the Republican party. He went on to name other Republicans and conservative media figureheads like Hannity and Limbaugh, saying that they too have had it with the Republican party.

“Sean Hannity has had it with the GOP,” Beck said. “Mark Levin has had it with the GOP. The biggest, quote, ‘shill of the GOP,’ as they have always liked to say, Rush Limbaugh, has had it with the GOP … So if you’re looking for shills for a political party, you’re probably going to have to shake talk radio.”

He goes on to explain that MSNBC, CNN and other cable shows are “shills” for the Republicans and Democrats. Unbelievably, he failed to include Fox News in his lineup.

Video

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Politics weekly address

President’s Weekly Address – Ensuring Economic Progress in 2014

The President declared 2014 the year for action, and called the potential reinstatement of the unemployment benefits for 1.3 million Americans the starting point.

This will be a year of action.  I’ll keep doing everything I can to create new jobs and new opportunities for American families – with Congress, on my own, and with everyone willing to play their part.  And that action should begin by extending unemployment insurance for Americans who were laid off in the recession through no fault of their own.  This vital economic lifeline helps people support their families while they look for a new job.  And it demands responsibility in return by requiring that they prove they’re actively looking for work.  But Republicans in Congress just let that lifeline expire for 1.3 million Americans.  And if this doesn’t get fixed, it will actually hurt about 14 million Americans over the course of this year.  Earlier this week, Democrats and Republicans in the Senate took the first steps toward making this right.  But Congress needs to finish the job right away.  More than one million Americans across the country will feel a little hope right away.

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Politics

For Chris Christie, This is a Delicious Combination – PIC

Like music to the… taste buds…

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Education News

This Ninth-Grader Introduced Obama Before A Speech This Week And Absolutely Killed It

We think it’s fair to say ninth-grade student Kiara Molina had a great day Thursday.

Not only did the teen introduce President Barack Obama before one of his major speeches, but the president called it “one of the best introductions I’ve ever had.”

Molina, who currently attends Harlem Children’s Zone Promise Academy Charter School in New York spoke about her positive experiences at the school, which also provides services to families in the Harlem community. After her introduction, Obama went on to speak about his administration’s plan to invest in five economically disadvantaged “promise zones” throughout the country.

Obama said he was “proud of Kiara for that introduction and for sharing her story. Just so poised.”

“I know your mom is proud. I know she is. She should be,” the president said to the teen.

Watch Molina’s introduction below, and let us know what you think in the comments section.

h/t “>Huffington Post

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News

Parents Found Letter Their Deceased 12 Year Old Wrote to her Future Self

Taylor Smith, a 12-year-old girl from Tennessee, died last week of complications from pneumonia.

Family photos courtesy of Tim Smith

She had flu-like symptoms in the days leading up to her death, like achy legs and a sore throat, but according to Taylor’s father Tim, she tested negative.

Family photos courtesy of Tim Smith

“We did the usual flu/cold thing and got her prescription, loaded up on popsicles and soup and brought her back to rest,” Tim said.

After Taylor died, her parents began sorting through her things. And that’s when they found a letter she had written to her future self.

Family photos courtesy of Tim Smith

Tim shared Taylor’s letter with BuzzFeed on Thursday.

The letter, which Tim said is addressed to future Taylor, perfectly captures what kind of girl Taylor was. As he put it, she was awesome.

Family photos courtesy of Tim Smith

“She was random, she was smart,” Tim said. “She was super funny and super fun.”

Family photos courtesy of Tim Smith

Not to mention nerdy. Past Taylor wanted to make sure Doctor Who was still on the air. And if not at least wanted to know what number regeneration they ended on.

Family photos courtesy of Tim Smith

And if it wasn’t on TV anymore, she wanted her future self to go watch it right away. After she finished reading the letter, of course.

Family photos courtesy of Tim Smith

“She liked doing quirky things and she liked doing meaningful things, she always created stuff,” Tim said. “The fact that she wrote this letter wasn’t a surprise, but what she wrote was.”

Family photos courtesy of Tim Smith

Also, attached was a photo her future self could use to explain what a first-generation iPad looked like.

Family photos courtesy of Tim Smith

Earlier this week, Taylor’s classmates were asked to wear blue in her memory. Her family is also setting up a memorial fund in her name.

Family photos courtesy of Tim Smith
h/t – buzzfeed
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Politics

Republican Hypocrisy – Said No Free Lunch for Poor Kids – Got $4182 From State For His Free Lunch

Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA) warned that there’s “no such thing as free lunch” for school children in Georgia, but he seems to have enjoyed a few.

An investigation by Georgia’s WSAV channel 3 found that Kingston, who is currently running for Senate and recently suggested students work cleaning cafeterias in exchange for lunch, had expensed as much as $4,182 worth of lunches for his office over the past three years.

“Kingston and his staff expensed nearly $4200 in meals for business purposes to his congressional office, paid for by the American taxpayer,” WSAV 3’s Dan Kartunen reported. The amount could have purchased nearly 2,000 Georgia school lunches.

WSAV also found that Kingston also racked up $4,289 of free meals paid for by third-party groups like the Georgia Bankers Association and the Congressional Institute. Kingston has also travelled to a handful of continents on congressional business racking up $24,313 in costs. Those expenses include more than just meals. What’s more, Kingston also expensed $145,391 worth of meals for campaign events.

In December Kingston, who is against a federal lunch program, also argued that poor students should sweep floors in exchange for lunch.

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Church Featured South Africa

Pastor Makes Congregation Eat Grass “to be closer to God” – Pics

No, his name is not Jim Jones the second, his name is Pastor Lesego Daniel of Rabboni Centre Ministries, and with a simple command, his congregation runs outside, drops to their knees, lay on the ground and eat grass. His ministries is in South Africa and his ministry is reminiscent of Jim Jones.

His controversial methods have drawn criticism from thousands of people although members of his congregation swear by his methods – he is said to have claimed that humans can eat anything to feed their bodies and survive on whatever they choose to eat.

‘Yes, we eat grass and we’re proud of it because it demonstrates that, with God’s power, we can do anything,’ Rosemary Phetha told South Africa’s Times Live.
The 21-year-old law student says she had been battling a sore throat for more than a year, but it was healed after she ate the grass.

Doreen Kgatle, 27, of Ga-rankuwa, suffered a stroke two years ago.

‘I could not walk but soon after eating the grass, as the pastor had ordered, I started gaining strength and an hour later I could walk again,’ said Kgatle.

Photos on the Rabboni Centre Ministries Facebook page show the followers eating the grass as well as Mr Daniel walking across them as they spread out on the floor.

Photos that follow show dozens of people getting sick in the toilets – an image of the bathrooms show women clutching their stomach, while the men are vomiting in the sink.

The pastor’s actions during the service prompted a series of online complaints.

One outraged commentator said ‘Is this a scene in a movie…this can’t be real. God created animals to chew grass and made human beings to dominate over animals. Any person who reduces human beings to animals is definitely not of God.’

While another person wrote: ‘Why is he stepping on people? This is inhumane. Shocking.’
The Times Live reported that during a service of at least 1,000 people in a marquee Daniel screamed ‘sleep’ and six people went to sleep.

He ordered other congregants to slap and trample on them, tut the sleepers remain rigid and unresponsive until he ordered them to wake up.

‘You can leave them like this for six months. I love this, I don’t want to be bored. You can even make police go to sleep when they come to arrest you,’ he said.

Although Daniel has not responded to the backlash yesterday he posted on Facebook: ‘God is at work and His people are testifying right now st the farm. TO GOD BE THE GLORY.’

Pastor Lesego Daniel of Rabboni
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Politics

Shaquille O’Neal on Chris Christie – “I believe him.”

Shaquille O’Neal scored headlines last year when he threw his considerable weight behind Republican Chris Christie in the race for New Jersey governor.

So perhaps it should come as no surprise that the NBA legend is still supporting the embattled would-be presidential contender as he struggles with arguably the greatest crisis of this tenure: ‘Traffic-gate’.

Several members of Christie’s inner-circle allegedly conspired to create bad traffic in Fort Lee, New Jersey, ostensibly as retribution against that city’s mayor, a Democrat who opposed Christie’s re-election.

Christie has vehemently denied any role in or knowledge of the scheme.

Shaq takes Christie as it his word, reportedly telling TMZ, “I believe him.”

“When you have a lot of employees, it’s kind of very difficult to police everybody. Some leaders let people police themselves and some of them micromanage and try to police everybody. One thing I know about Christie: He’s not a micromanager,” O’Neal, also a New Jersey native, said.

“The unfortunate thing about being a leader is that when you’re on a team and a teammate makes a wrong decision, it’s all going to come back on you,” he added.

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