• Pinboard Links,  The Morning Flap

    The Morning Flap: March 5, 2013

    Jeb BushFormer Florida Governor Jeb Bush is interviewed on Fox News and discusses his new immigration book

    These are my links for February 28th through March 5th:

    • Jeb Bush’s False-Flag Operation – Jeb Bush generated quite a bit of publicity for his new book yesterday by suggesting that amnestied illegal immigrants should not be eligible for citizenship. Instead, he’s suggesting they be given some kind of permanent status that would provide them work cards, Social Security numbers, driver’s licenses, and the right to travel abroad and return, but not allow for eventual naturalization — in effect, a kind of permanent guestworker program or a green-card-lite, rather than an actual green card. This is consistent with suggestions from other pro-amnesty Republicans, including Senator Rubio and a group of House members working up an amnesty deal.Unfortunately, it’s a trick.
  • Pinboard Links,  The Morning Flap

    The Morning Flap: February 27, 2013

    Sequestration liberation

    These are my news headlines for February 26th through February 27th:

    • Detained immigrants released; officials cite sequester cuts – Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have released “several hundred” immigrants from deportation centers across the country, saying the move is an effort to cut costs ahead of budget cuts due to hit later this week.Announcing the news Tuesday, ICE officials said that the immigrants were released under supervision and continue to face deportation. After reviewing hundreds of cases, those released were considered low-risk and “noncriminal,” officials said.The releases took place over the last week and were an effort “to ensure detention levels stay within ICE’s current budget,” said ICE spokeswoman Gillian Christiansen, citing uncertainty caused by a budget standoff in Washington.

      “All of these individuals remain in removal proceedings. Priority for detention remains on serious criminal offenders and other individuals who pose a significant threat to public safety,” she said.

    • Politicians declare sky falling; meanwhile, D.C. real estate market booms
    • Phil Gramm: Obama and the Sequester Scare – WSJ.com – Phil Gramm: Obama and the Sequester Scare #tcot
    • 3 steps: How Dems plan to make Texas a battleground by 2016 | The Daily Caller – 3 steps: How Dems plan to make Texas a battleground by 2016 #tcot
    • Phil Gramm: Obama and the Sequester Scare – President Obama’s message could not be clearer: Life as we know it in America will change dramatically on March 1, when automatic cuts are imposed to achieve $85 billion in government-spending reductions. Furloughed government employees, flight delays and criminals set free are among the dire consequences the president has predicted. If the Washington Monument weren’t already closed for repairs, no doubt it too would be shut down.Scare tactics such as these are similar to the ones that were made when I co-authored the first sequester legislation in 1985, the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act. The 1986 sequester was triggered anyway, but the predicted disaster never came. The nation survived then. It will now.
    • Bob Woodward blasts President Obama ‘madness’ – Obama overplaying his sequestration hand.
    • 3 steps: How Dems plan to make Texas a battleground by 2016 – Today, Hispanics make up 41 percent of Texas’ citizenry, while whites made up 43 percent. The white electorate’s plurality, however, will not last — because the Hispanic population’s birth rates are higher, the Hispanic population is still growing through immigration, and the Hispanic population is younger (with a large population not yet at voting age). If legal Hispanic immigration stays consistent with 2000-2010 levels, Texas could be a plurality Hispanic state by 2017, and a majority Hispanic state by 2036.Both parties know that Hispanics are not a monolithic group, and they are not all Democrats. Though nationally they lean toward the Democrats (67 percent in 2008, 71 percent in 2012), in Texas, Democrats hold less sway (63 in 2008, and unknown in 2012 because there weren’t any exit polls).
    • Wary of crises, Americans tune out budget cut talk – President Barack Obama is pulling out all the stops to warn just what could happen if automatic budget cuts kick in. Americans are reacting with a collective yawn.They know the shtick: Obama raises the alarm, Democrats and Republicans accuse each other of holding a deal hostage, there’s a lot of yelling on cable news, and then finally, when everyone has made their points, a deal is struck and the day is saved.Maybe not this time. Two days before $85 billion in cuts are set to hit federal programs with all the precision of a wrecking ball, there are no signs that the White House and Republicans in Congress are even negotiating. Both sides appear quietly resigned to the prospect that this is one bullet we just may not dodge.
    • Club for Growth targets Republicans – The Club for Growth, the anti-tax group that has spent heavily in Republican primaries in the past few cycles, is launching a new website that names nine GOP Congress members in safe seats and urges people to help find challengers to them.Tethered to the group’s congressional scorecard that was released this week, the site, www.PrimaryMyCongressman.com, goes live later Wednesday. It names people in districts where Mitt Romney notched more than 60 percent in the 2012 presidential race, but got a lifetime rating of below 70 percent from the Club.
    • Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Digest for 2013-02-26 – Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Digest for 2013-02-26
    • Flap’s Blog @ Flap Twitter Daily Digest for 2013-02-26 – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Flap’s Blog @ Flap Twitter Daily Digest for 2013-02-26 #tcot
    • Perry’s Texas Cancer Fund Mired in Pay-to-Play Claims – Bloomberg – Perry’s Texas Cancer Fund Mired in Pay-to-Play Claims #tcot
    • Perry’s Texas Cancer Fund Mired in Pay-to-Play Claims – Six years ago, Texas Governor Rick Perry persuaded voters to approve $3 billion in taxpayer-backed bonds to research cures for cancer.Now, after the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas spent $836 million with no major advances to show, its research has been halted by allegations of favoritism toward people that contributed to Perry and other leaders. A district attorney, lawmakers and the attorney general are investigating.
    • No CPAC Invite for Christie Because of ‘Limited Future’ in Republican Party – New Jersey governor Chris Christie was not invited to address the Conservative Political Action Conference because of his position on gun control, according to a source familiar with CPAC’s internal deliberations who requested anonymity to speak freely.Christie has a “limited future” in the national Republican party given his position on gun control, the source tells National Review Online. As a result, the CPAC insider says, the focus of this year’s conference, “the future of conservatism,” made Christie a bad fit.Christie, the source adds, is simply not a conservative in the eyes of organizers.
    • U.S. frees illegal immigrants from custody – The federal government released groups of illegal immigrants from custody across the country Monday at the same time the White House was making its case that impending budget cuts would harm efforts to protect the border and enforce federal immigration laws.Advocates reported “waves” of illegal immigrants being released from at least three detention centers in Texas, Florida and Louisiana.U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement confirmed the release of some illegal immigrants Monday night but would not say how many or from which detention centers.
      “In order to make the best use of our limited detention resources in the current fiscal climate and to manage our detention population under current congressionally mandated levels, ICE has directed field offices to review the detained population to ensure it is in line with available funding,” said ICE spokeswoman Gillian Christensen. “As a result of this review, a number of detained aliens have been released around the country and placed on an appropriate, more cost-effective form of supervised release.”
    • ObamaCare: Squeezing Medicare Advantage – The Obama administration is sparing no effort to scare people about the automatic spending cuts that are scheduled to hit this Friday.But the Obama administration doesn’t want to talk about its own devastating cuts in Medicare. On Friday, February 15, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced $716 billion in cuts over the next ten years. Instead of being put toward the debt, most of the money will go toward a new entitlement: Obamacare’s vast expansion of coverage for the uninsured.
    • Republicans & Immigration – Victor Davis Hanson
    • Immigration and Customs Enforcement Frees Detainees As Sequester Looms – mmigration and Customs Enforcement released some people from immigrant detention facilities across the country on Monday in response to looming federal budget cuts.”In order to make the best use of our limited detention resources in the current fiscal climate and to manage our detention population under current congressionally mandated levels, ICE has directed field offices to review the detained population to ensure it is in line with available funding,” agency spokeswoman Gillian Christensen said in a statement.ICE and the Department of Homeland Security are analyzing spending as congressional inaction increases the likelihood of so-called budget sequestration — across-the-board spending cuts that begin on March 1. Detaining immigrants is an expensive business, with an average daily cost of $122 to $164 per person, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. Alternatives, including ankle bracelets and parole, are far cheaper.
  • Club For Growth,  Tommy Thompson,  Wisconsin

    WI-Sen GOP Poll Watch: Former Governor Tommy Thompson Leading

    According to the latest Club for Growth Poll.

    The poll surveyed 500 respondents with a history of voting in GOP primary elections in the state and has a margin of error of 4.4 percentage points.

    In a hypothetical head-to-head matchup against former U.S. Rep. Mark Neumann, who is also considering a run, Thompson received 40% of the vote and Neumann received 34%, with 27% undecided.

  • Chris Chocola,  Club For Growth,  Pat Toomey

    Former Republican Congressman Chris Chocola Elected President of Club for Growth Replacing Pat Toomey

    chris chocola

    Former Indiana GOP Congressman Chris Chocola

    The current President of the Club for Growth, Pat Toomey, has stepped down to run against U.S. Senator Arlen Specter for a Pennsylvania Senate seat.

    Today, former Indiana Congressman Chris Chocola became the new president of the free-market group, the Club for Growth. The current president, Pat Toomey, stepped down today after recruiting Chocola to take his place so he could pursue other opportunities.

    Chris Chocola represented Indiana’s Second Congressional District from 2003 to 2007. During his time in Congress, he was a staunch defender of the American taxpayer, fighting for the limited-government, free-market principles that are the foundation for economic growth in this country. In 2007, Chocola joined the Club for Growth’s Leadership Council.

    Pat Toomey should have a good shot at unseating the incumbentSpecter. The early polls are favorable and Specter is scrambling for cover, especially after his swing vote on Obama’s economic stimuls PORKULUS bill.


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  • Arlen Specter,  Olympia Snowe,  Susan Collins

    GOP Senators Collins, Specter and Snowe: COMRADES of the Month

    gop defectors

    Republican Senators Susan Collins (R-Maine), Arlen Specter (R-Pennsylvania), Olympia Snowe (R-Maine)

    The conservative Club for Growth has named GOP Senators Collins, Specter and Snowe fellow “travellers” or Comrades of the Month because of their vote for increased government spending in President Obama’s Economic Stimulus Bill.

    One day after Club for Growth President Pat Toomey said he may challenge Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) in a 2010 primary, the group’s members have voted Specter as the group’s “Comrade of the Month” along with Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Olympia Snow (R-ME) for their votes in favor of President Obama’s stimulus package.

    “While Senators Specter, Collins, and Snowe tout the stimulus bill as a compromise, it was more of a capitulation to the Democrats than anything else.  Had these three senators voted with the rest of their party, President Obama would have been forced to engage the Republicans in a genuine compromise.  Instead, American taxpayers are saddled with an $800 billion bill that will do little to stimulate the economy,” Club for Growth Executive Director David Keating said in the group’s press release.

    The latest polls from Pennsylvania indicate Senator Specter who is up in 2010 is in trouble. Obviously, the Club for Growth will ONLY exacerbate his problems.


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