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President Obama and Nixon threaten journalist Bob Woodward

These are my news headlines and comments for February 27th through February 28th:

• Exclusive: The Woodward, Sperling emails revealed

• Noonan: A Message for Wall Street – One of the major reasons why the GOP performed so poorly with Mitt Romney.
• Republicans need to go negative – If Republicans want a chance at resurgence, they must take a page or two out of President Obama’s worn playbook and veer sharply negative.But only a page or two. Republicans should not lower themselves to the level of a president who routinely lobs ad hominem political epithets their way, castigating them as intolerant, heartless and petty ogres who live only to serve their masters in the top income tax bracket.
• ‘3 Amigos’ make life difficult for Mitch McConnell – John McCain and Lindsey Graham just need to shut their mouths. They have deeply ruined the GOP brand.
• Video: Woodward: White House Warned Me “You Will Regret Doing This” – Woodward needs to disclose who in the Obama White House threatened him.
• Republican leaders’ ‘meeting’ with Obama: Seven minutes – Never let it be said that President Obama has failed to spend time with Republican leaders in seeking an alternative to automatic budget cuts that are due to hit most federal departments Friday. On Wednesday, for example, the president gave GOP lawmakers as much as seven minutes, a rare face-to-face encounter that the White House described as a “meeting.”The White House’s characterization of this momentary huddle at the Capitol as a meeting illuminates Mr. Obama’s strategy in dealing with Republicans on the budget cuts and other fiscal deadlines.
• Republican group readies immigration blitz – The GOP big corporate business pander to Hispanic voters and for immigration amnesty begins.
• Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Digest for 2013-02-27 – Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Digest for 2013-02-27
• Flap’s Blog @ Flap Twitter Daily Digest for 2013-02-27 – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Flap’s Blog @ Flap Twitter Daily Digest for 2013-02-27 #tcot
• Print bloodbath: Human Events kills newspaper, dumps staff | WashingtonExaminer.com – RT @SecretsBedard: Print bloodbath: Human Events kills newspaper, dumps staff via @DCExaminer
• DHS official resigns after immigrants are freed – The Associated Press has learned that the Homeland Security Department official in charge of the agency’s immigration enforcement and removal operations has resigned after hundreds of illegal immigrants were released from jails because of government spending cuts.In an email obtained Wednesday by the AP, Gary Mead told coworkers that he was leaving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the end of April. Mead is the head of enforcement and removal operations at ICE.Mead had told co-workers of his resignation in the email sent Tuesday, hours after U.S. officials had confirmed that a few hundred illegal immigrants facing deportation had been released from immigration jails due to budget cuts.President Barack Obama’s spokesman said Wednesday the White House was never consulted but described the immigrants as “low-risk, non-criminal detainees.”
• Teacher pink slips claim by Duncan not backed by evidence – The Washington Post – RT @conncarroll oops. @arneduncan caught lying about sequester caused teacher layoffs
• White House: ICE to blame for release of illegals – Washington Times – Don’t think the release of illegal immigrants by Obama Admin will do too much for comprehensive immigration reform
• White House was not involved in ICE’s decision to release detainees – The White House and the Department of Homeland Security were unaware of Immigration Customs and Enforcement’s decision to release detainees until the agency announced it, administration officials said Wednesday.”This was a decision made by a career officials at ICE without any input from the White House, as a result of fiscal uncertainty over the continuing resolution, as well as possible sequestration,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said Wednesday.Personnel at Department of Homeland Security headquarters in Washington were also unaware of the decision until the announcement was made, a department official told POLITICO.
• California In Crisis: California’s expensive education failure | WashingtonExaminer.com – California In Crisis: California’s expensive education failure | #tcot
• ‘Everyone is moving out of California’ | CalWatchDog – ‘Everyone is moving out of California’
• California Girds for Electricity Woes – WSJ.com – California Girds for Electricity Woes – Reliance on Wind and Solar Power
• California In Crisis: California’s expensive education failure | WashingtonExaminer.com – California Education in Crisis
• Pro-Immigration Congressional Republicans Do Not Perform Better Among Latino Voters – The Democratic Party enjoys a sizable advantage among Latino voters. It is largely taken for granted that Republicans can earn a greater share of the Latino vote if they support less restrictive immigration policies and legalization for illegal immigrants. This study examines public opinion data from 2006 to consider whether this is the case. The 2006 election is a particularly good year to examine congressional behavior on immigration and the Latino vote because House Republicans passed a strong enforcement bill that year that prompted national protests. They also turned aside efforts to legalize illegal immigrants. This study found that Latinos living in House districts represented by pro-immigration Republican incumbents were no more likely to support that incumbent than Latinos living in House districts represented by Republican incumbents with pro-enforcement records. Supporting more generous immigration policies does not appear to be a way for Republicans to increase their share of the Latino vote.
• Political Cartoons / Gary Varvel on Obama’s balanced approach to avoid sequestration The Translator – Gary Varvel on Obama’s balanced approach to avoid sequestration The Translator via @pinterest
• HuffPo Hit Job: Selective Edit Makes Pro-Fox News Guest Look Bigoted – HuffPo Hit Job: Selective Edit Makes Pro-Fox News Guest Look Bigoted #tcot
• Politicians declare sky falling; meanwhile, D.C. real estate market booms | Mobile Washington Examiner – Politicians declare sky falling; meanwhile, D.C. real estate market booms #tcot
• HuffPo Hit Job: Selective Edit Makes Pro-Fox News Guest Look Bigoted – Author and media observer Michael Wolff appeared on HuffPo Live on the Huffington Post to discuss Roger Ailes and Fox News. The moderator of the discussion was Alicia Menendez, daughter of embattled Senator Bob Menendez who has had quite a bit of air time on Fox News lately. Other panelists included Mao-loving Anita Dunn who as Communications Director for the Obama White House waged a war against Fox News that drew criticism even from the likes of Howie Kurtz, and Eliza Grey from left-wing The New Republic.
• NBC/WSJ poll: Public wary about sequester cuts, but Obama in stronger political position than GOP – First Read – The spin is heavy from the Dems and MSM on NBC/WSJ poll this am. Read the poll here:
• The Morning Flap: February 27, 2013 – Flap’s Blog – The Morning Flap: February 27, 2013 #tcot

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.

These are my news headlines for February 25th through February 26th:

• Kerry defends liberties, says Americans have right to be stupid – Secretary of State John Kerry offered a defense of freedom of speech, religion and thought in the United States on Tuesday telling German students that in America “you have a right to be stupid if you want to be.”
• Rothenberg: Can Obama Put the House In Play in 2014? – It’s far too early to know whether Democrats will have some, or even any, chance to win back the House next year; candidate recruitment has just begun, the number of retirements (and open seats) is uncertain and the president’s popularity more than 20 months from now is an open question. But we do know that history, as The New York Times’ Nate Silver pointed out in a column last November, suggests that Democrats will have a very tough road to 218 seats.Going back to the election of 1862, the only time the president’s party gained as many as 10 seats was, well, never. Even in 1934, the best showing by the president’s party in House elections since the Civil War, the president’s party gained only nine seats.
• Infantile Conservatism – Pat Buchanan goes after Jennifer Rubin’s = The Washington Post’s Conservative – We outlasted the evil empire of Lenin and Stalin that held captive a billion people for 45 years of Cold War, and we are frightened by a rickety theocracy ruled by an old ayatollah?Rubin’s blog may be the Post’s idea of conservatism. Ronald Reagan wouldn’t recognize it.
• America’s Red State Growth Corridors
• Ron Johnson: John Boehner could lose post
• Poll: Hispanics heavily Democratic – Hispanics in America are more than twice as likely to lean Democratic than Republican, a new poll says.Fifty-one percent of Hispanics identified as Democrat or leaned Democrat, compared with 24 percent who said they were Republican or leaned GOP, according to a Gallup poll out Monday. Twenty percent identified themselves as independent. The rest are undecided or did not respond.
• Napolitano warns that sequester would affect border security – I thought the Obama Administration said the Mexican border was already secure and that illegal crossings had decreased?
• Dems, GOP tee up rival sequester bills in Senate as deadline nears -
• Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Digest for 2013-02-25 – Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Digest for 2013-02-25
• Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Digest for 2013-02-23 – Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Digest for 2013-02-23
• Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Digest for 2013-02-24 – Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Digest for 2013-02-24
• tOscars 2013 Live Commentary — Nikki Finke’s Live Snark – Oscars 2013 Live Commentary — Nikki Finke’s Live Snark #tcot
• Oscars 2013 Live Commentary — Nikki Finke’s Live Snark – Four Hours Of Unfunny Seth MacFarlane; Unnecessary Michelle Obama; ‘Argo’ Wins Best Picture #tcot

These are my news headlines for February 22nd through February 25th:

• Four Hours Of Unfunny Seth MacFarlane; Unnecessary Michelle Obama; ‘Argo’ Wins Best Picture -
• Michelle Obama surprises Oscars by presenting Best Picture award – U.S. first lady Michelle Obama made a surprise and unprecedented appearance on Sunday’s Oscars telecast when she presented the award for Best Picture, the first time a president or first lady has ever presented an Academy Award.Appearing live on screen from the White House in Washington, almost 3,000 miles from the Oscars ceremony in Hollywood, Obama praised the work of the movie industry before announcing the Iran hostage drama “Argo” the Best Picture winner.
• Virginia’s Governor Bob McDonnell Thinks You’re an Idiot
• Charles Krauthammer vs. Mark Levin: Is embracing Obamacare honorable or dishonorable?
• Democrats and Republicans Miscalculate on Automatic Cuts – With Congress unlikely to stop deep automatic spending cuts that will strike hard at the military, the fiscal stalemate is highlighting a significant shift in the Republican Party: lawmakers most keenly dedicated to shrinking the size of government are now more dominant than the bloc committed foremost to a robust national defense, particularly in the House.
• Bloomberg’s ban prohibits 2-liter soda with your pizza and some nightclub mixers -
• GOP 2016: Governors vs. D.C. insiders – Forget the establishment versus the tea party, or social conservatives versus fiscal conservatives. Of all the tensions within the Republican Party, the dynamic that may loom largest for 2016 is this: Washington versus the rest of America.Here in the nation’s capital, GOP speculation about the next presidential race focuses on a handful of federal officials: Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul.
• Crack in Obama sequester wall?
• Sen. Leahy: If Border Security Is A Must Before We Move Forward, That’s Not Going To Happen -
• Rules of the Game: Sequester Spells Bitter K Street Failure
• Gregory Flap @ Ronnie’s Diner – 20 miles of LA Marathon training run are finished. Now, the cheese burger at Ronnie’s! (@ Ronnie’s Diner) [pic]:
• Democrats lose Senate supermajority with resignation: Total Buzz Blog: Orange County Register – Democrats lose Senate supermajority with resignation
• Woodward: Obama and Lew Are Deal Breaking Liars – Flap’s Blog – Woodward: Obama and Lew Are Deal Breaking Liars #tcot
• Flap’s Blog @ Flap Twitter Daily Digest for 2013-02-22 – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Flap’s Blog @ Flap Twitter Daily Digest for 2013-02-22 #tcot
• State Sen. Michael Rubio resigns to work for Chevron – latimes.com – Dems lose SUPER Majority RT @LATpoliticsCA: State Sen. Michael Rubio resigns to work for Chevron
• Excellent mtg w/ President Enrique Pena Nieto @EPN in #Mexico City – discussed all aspects of our imp’t relationship Photo – John McCain | Lockerz – John McCain all happy in Mexico after getting roughed up by Arizona taxpayers #tcot #Isthisguyforreal?
• Hijacking Immigration? – Since 1985, when Tanton, using his position at FAIR and U.S. Inc., created CIS, it has attempted to become the scholarly face of the immigration restrictionist establishment.162 CIS is supposed to “[b]uild the intellectual basis for immigration law reform”163 by supplying information to FAIR and other anti-immigration activists. The same environmentalist, abortion, and population-control ideology permeates CIS, its funders, and founders.Mark Krikorian, the current executive director of CIS, used to work for FAIR. When asked about the ties among CIS, population-control groups, and John Tanton, he stated:The center [CIS] has no views on population control, no views on China’s one child policy, or anything else. The guy you mentioned, John Tanton, he’s an eye doctor or retired doctor, he helped arrange our first grant, he’s a population guy, Malthusian in a lot of ways, has never been on our board, doesn’t know where our offices are, never told or had any hand in the opinions, development, or views of the research of the center in any way. I met him a couple times and he seems like an affable enough guy, but what do I know, and what do I care.164

  Tanton’s own writings to donors and others contradict Krikorian’s statement. As noted earlier, Tanton told Cordelia Scaife in a letter that “For credibility this will need to be independent of FAIR, though the Center for Immigration Studies, as we’re calling it, is starting off as a project of FAIR.”165 CIS’s supposed independence from FAIR was a façade. Tanton was intimately involved with its founding and guided its positions from the start. As late as 1994, Tanton’s front group U.S. Inc continued to funnel money to CIS.166 Tanton arranged a lot more than a first grant for CIS—he created it, funded it, and provided its ideology.

• Carl Washington, a former assemblyman, to plead guilty to fraud – latimes.com – Carl Washington, a former assemblyman, to plead guilty to fraud
• LAO has ‘serious concerns’ with governor’s Prop. 98 calculation | EdSource Today – LAO has ‘serious concerns’ with governor’s Prop. 98 calculation
• The Sequester IS Obama’s Mess – Let Him Clean It Up – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – The Sequester IS Obama’s Mess – Let Him Clean It Up #tcot
• California faces rising bill for retiree healthcare – latimes.com – California faces rising bill for retiree healthcare
• Brown may forge alliance with GOP governors on health plan – latimes.com – Brown may forge alliance with GOP governors on health plan
• Byron York: Budget hawks question Pentagon’s doomsday scenarios | Mobile Washington Examiner – Byron York: Budget hawks question Pentagon’s doomsday scenarios | Mobile Washington Examiner #tcot
• Untitled (http://www.sacbee.com/2013/02/22/5208616/california-voters-want-drivers.html#mi_rss=Top%20Stories?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter) – Field Poll: California voters want driver’s licenses, other privileges for illegal immigrants
• Freer home sales market draws Californians to Texas | CalWatchDog – Freer home sales market draws Californians to Texas
• Garcetti and Greuel have spent $6.6 million and it’s pretty even – LA Observed – Garcetti and Greuel have spent $6.6 million and it’s pretty even
• McCain responds to ‘jerk’ comment at town hall meeting – One day after a confrontation at a town hall meeting in Sun Lakes, Senator John McCain held another town hall in Phoenix.
  On Tuesday, an audience member of the town hall meeting fired off a string of heated questions about border security.
  After attempting to answer some of the questions, Sen. McCain eventually quipped, “Occasionally I get a jerk like that guy.”
  3TV asked McCain whether he regretted calling the man a jerk.
  “Of course not. I call people jerks all the time, and they call me jerks. It’s supposed to be fun, loosen up,” Sen. McCain responded. “I’ve done town halls for years. They are vigorous and a little combative. That’s what it is supposed to be about. Loosen up.”
  Before the floor was opened up to audience members for questions Wednesday, McCain outlined his plan for immigration reform, including a border fence and drones.
• The Morning Flap: February 22, 2013 – Flap’s Blog – The Morning Flap: February 22, 2013 #tcot

Sequestration from Wall Street Journal

Well, you get the point.

Misunderstanding, misstatements and all the classic contortions of partisan message management surround the sequester, the term for the $85?billion in ugly and largely irrational federal spending cuts set by law to begin Friday.

What is the non-budget wonk to make of this? Who is responsible? What really happened?

What happened is that President Obama broke his deal with Congressional Republicans and now is playing the sequester blame game.

Trust in politics, is sometimes all that you have.

Now, America will have the sequester because the TRUST is gone.

Read all of Bob Woodward’s account of events and you will see why.