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  • Pinboard Links,  The Morning Flap

    The Morning Flap: March 12, 2013

    March 12, 2013 /

    Papal Conclave

    These are my links for March 7th through March 12th:

    • Patty Murray budget: $1 trillion in new revenue – Sen. Patty Murray’s new budget plan will raise tax revenues by nearly $1 trillion while cutting spending by the same amount over the next decade, according to people familiar with the proposal.The Budget Committee chairwoman plans to brief fellow Democratic senators over the new proposal in a closed-door lunch Tuesday that President Barack Obama is also scheduled to attend. Committee deliberations will begin Wednesday, and the panel expects to vote on the plan Thursday before floor debate next week.
    • Rome conclave: Cardinals set to elect new Pope – Cardinals gathered in Rome to elect the new Pope will begin voting later, with no clear frontrunner to take over as head of the Roman Catholic Church.The 115 cardinal-electors have attended a special Mass in St Peter’s Basilica.This afternoon they will process into the Sistine Chapel to begin their secret deliberations. They will vote four times daily until two-thirds can agree on a candidate.

      The election was prompted by the surprise abdication of Benedict XVI.

      The 85-year-old stepped down last month saying he was no longer strong enough to lead the church, which is beset by problems ranging from a worldwide scandal over sexual abuse to allegations of corruption at the Vatican bank.

      Benedict’s resignation and the recent damage to the Church’s reputation make the choice of the cardinal-electors especially hard to predict, the BBC’s James Robbins in Rome says.

    • Schedule of voting during the papal conclave – The conclave to elect a new pope begins Tuesday at the Vatican. The voting process follows a set ritual every day until the Catholic Church has a new leader. Here is an approximate schedule.
    • Detroit: An American Autopsy – “Go ahead and laugh at Detroit,” Charlie LeDuff sneers defiantly as the once-great metropolis teeters on the brink of collapse. “Because you are laughing at yourself.”So begins LeDuff’s haunting, angry and deeply personal account of what is left of his hometown. The city was once heralded as “Paris of the Midwest” for its cosmopolitan luxuries, broad boulevards and sweeping views of the Detroit River. Yet it was quintessentially American because of its unstinting work ethic and tireless inventiveness.
    • Ashley Judd for Senate in Kentucky: Does She Stand a Chance? – Ashley Judd for Senate in Kentucky: Does She Stand a Chance? #tcot
    • Rand Paul’s 2016 presidential chances are better than most people realize – Rand Paul’s 2016 presidential chances are better than most people realize #tcot
    • Ryan to rally GOP on 10-year plan – Rep. Paul Ryan on Tuesday will seek to unify the Republican Conference with a rallying cry to balance the budget in 10 years.
      The target set by Ryan (R-Wis.), the chairman of the House Budget Committee, is more aggressive than the one Democrats rejected last year that took until nearly 2040 to balance.
    • Paul Ryan: The GOP Plan to Balance the Budget by 2023 – America’s national debt is over $16 trillion. Yet Washington can’t figure out how to cut $85 billion—or just 2% of the federal budget—without resorting to arbitrary, across-the-board cuts. Clearly, the budget process is broken. In four of the past five years, the president has missed his budget deadline. Senate Democrats haven’t passed a budget in over 1,400 days. By refusing to tackle the drivers of the nation’s debt—or simply to write a budget—Washington lurches from crisis to crisis.House Republicans have a plan to change course. On Tuesday, we’re introducing a budget that balances in 10 years—without raising taxes. How do we do it? We stop spending money the government doesn’t have. Historically, Americans have paid a little less than one-fifth of their income in taxes to the federal government each year. But the government has spent more.
    • Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Digest for 2013-03-11 – Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Digest for 2013-03-11
    • Flap’s Blog @ Flap Twitter Daily Digest for 2013-03-11 – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Flap’s Blog @ Flap Twitter Daily Digest for 2013-03-11 #tcot
    • RNC to launch major digital overhaul following election inquiry – First Read – FINALLY! RT @katieharbath: RNC to launch major digital overhaul following election inquiry – First Read via @NBCnews
    • Twitter / ScottWilkCA: Just wrapped up dinner with … – Trust but verify RT @ScottWilkCA: Just wrapped up dinner with the Governor. He pledged to try to reach common ground.
    • Melanoma Skin Cancer Risk in Women Could Be Reduced by Aspirin Use | Video – ABC News – RT @ABCWorldNews: Melanoma Skin Cancer Risk in Women Could Be Reduced by Aspirin Use. @DrRichardBesser reports.
    • 5.2 earthquake shakes Southern California – latimes.com – RT @latimes: Southern California shaken by 5.2 quake in Riverside County desert. No reports of damage.
    • M2.3 – 21km SW of La Quinta, California 2013-03-11 16:55:50 UTC – RT @CAquake: Moderate 5.2 earthquake: 09:55:42 on 03/11. Loc (SCAL): 19 mi ESE of Anza, CA. Depth: 0.1 mi
    • Day By Day March 10, 2013 – Taking the V – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Day By Day March 10, 2013 – Taking the V #tcot
    • Why do the Koch Brothers get all the sunshine? | Mobile Washington Examiner – Why do the Koch Brothers get all the sunshine? | Mobile Washington Examiner #tcot
    • Why do the Koch Brothers get all the sunshine? | Mobile Washington Examiner – Why do the Koch Brothers get all the sunshine? #tcot
    • Why do the Koch Brothers get all the sunshine? –
    • Amnesty’s cynosure problem | The Daily Caller – RT @kausmickey: Amnesty’s worst enemy? (Hint: it’s not @MarkSKrikorian)
    • Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Digest for 2013-03-10 – Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Digest for 2013-03-10
    • Flap’s Blog @ Flap Twitter Daily Digest for 2013-03-10 – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Flap’s Blog @ Flap Twitter Daily Digest for 2013-03-10 #tcot
    • Gregory Flap @ Loma Linda University School of Dentistry – I am in Loma Linda this morning taking a dental continuing education course : The Non-Odontogenic Toothache.
    • Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Digest for 2013-03-09 – Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Digest for 2013-03-09
    • Flap’s Blog @ Flap Twitter Daily Digest for 2013-03-09 – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Flap’s Blog @ Flap Twitter Daily Digest for 2013-03-09 #tcot
    • Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Digest for 2013-03-08 – Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Digest for 2013-03-08
    • Twitter / Flap: At USC today for a dental class. … – At USC today for a dental class. Fight On!
    • Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Digest for 2013-03-07 – Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Digest for 2013-03-07
    • Flap’s Blog @ Flap Twitter Daily Digest for 2013-03-07 – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Flap’s Blog @ Flap Twitter Daily Digest for 2013-03-07 #tcot
    • Here Are All the GOP Senators That Participated in Rand Paul’s 12+ Hour Filibuster… and the Ones Who Didn’t | TheBlaze.com – RT @DLoesch: Those who stood with Rand, those who did not, and those who dined with Obama instead:
    • McCain Slams Rand Paul Filibuster – Business Insider – The GOP thinks John McCain is really going to lead the way on immigration reform after this: ? McCain needs to go away
    • Graham, McCain blast Paul filibuster – Washington Times – Hope So ! RT @EWErickson: Wonder if stuff like this will incentivize a credible candidate to take on Lindsey Graham.
    • John McCain and Lindsey Graham Declare War on Rand Paul – Hit & Run : Reason.com – Conservatives tell McCain to GET LOST! RT @DRUDGE_REPORT: John McCain tells Rand Paul to ‘calm down’… #tcot
    • The Morning Flap: March 7, 2013 – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – The Morning Flap: March 7, 2013 #tcot
    • Blue Civil War: The Battle for California | Via Meadia – Blue Civil War: The Battle for California
    Flap
  • Pinboard Links,  The Morning Flap

    The Morning Flap: March 7, 2013

    March 7, 2013 /

    Rand PaulSenator Rand Paul

    These are my links for March 6th through March 7th:

    • Mr. Paul Goes To Washington To Protect Your Constitutional Rights – Rule Of Law: At press time Wednesday, Sen. Rand Paul was holding forth on his filibuster against the nomination of John Brennan as head of the CIA. It’s good to know someone in Washington still cares about the Constitution.It started out as a simple question from Paul to Attorney General Eric Holder as to whether President Obama “has the power to authorize lethal force, such as a drone strike, against a U.S. citizen on U.S. soil, and without trial.”The plain, simple answer is no, since it clearly violates the U.S. Constitution’s Fifth Amendment due-process protection. But that wasn’t the answer that came back from Holder, compelling Paul to filibuster Brennan.

      “It is possible, I suppose,” wrote Holder, “to imagine an extraordinary circumstance in which it would be necessary and appropriate under the Constitution and applicable laws of the United States for the President to authorize the military to use lethal force within the territory of the United States.”

      It’s unbelievable that the nation’s top law officer would answer in that way. And, with the explosion in the number of drones filling the nation’s skies, it’s more than an idle question or philosophical musing.

      That’s why Paul is filibustering Brennan’s controversial nomination as CIA head. Paul knows he likely won’t succeed. But he’s making an important point.

    • Obamacare requirements will drive up premiums – In 2007, candidate Barack Obama declared, “I will sign a universal health care bill into law by the end of my first term as president that will cover every American and cut the cost of a typical family’s premium by up to $2,500 a year.” As president, he signed national health care legislation that is formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare. But according to a new report from Congressional Republicans, the law will actually cause premiums to more than double for some Americans.The report, which is based on a compilation of independent studies on the effect of the law’s new regulations, finds that Obamacare could increase premiums by 40 percent on average and by as much as 202 percent for young adults living in Chicago.
    • 2016 Democratic Field May Not Wait for Clinton – She is not an incumbent president — or even currently employed — but the deference fellow Democrats have afforded Hillary Clinton regarding a potential 2016 White House run has been something to behold.With the official start of the next presidential campaign still three years away, friends and potential Democratic foes alike have bent over backwards to praise Clinton and talk up her chances of finishing what she started in her 2008 campaign — and for good reason.
    • Obama’s Rx: Maximize America’s pain – In an e-mail to an official of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (part of the Department of Agriculture), a North Carolina official was told he had no latitude in managing cuts: “You need to make sure you are not contradicting what we said the impact would be,” came the word from Washington.The real reason behind the vise-tightening has nothing to do with money, though. It’s all political, the kickoff to the 2014 congressional elections.The GOP managed to hang on to its House majority last fall — and under the Constitution all spending bills must originate in the House. But the president told House Democrats last month that he means to make Nancy Pelosi the speaker yet again.

      And he pointedly said of GOP spending-cut ideas versus his own tax-hike proposals, “If that’s an argument they want to have before the court of public opinion, that’s an argument I’m more than willing to engage in.”

    • Holder does not rule out drone strike scenario in U.S. –
    • Republicans emerge from Obama dinner optimistic about deficit deal – Senate Republicans are more optimistic about the prospect of a grand bargain on the deficit after an intimate dinner with President Obama Wednesday evening in downtown Washington.
    • Republicans, Led by Rand Paul, Finally End Filibuster – A small group of Republicans, led by Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, stalled the Senate on Wednesday by waging a nearly 13-hour old-school, speak-until-you-can-speak-no-more filibuster over the government’s use of lethal drone strikes — forcing the Senate to delay the expected confirmation of John O. Brennan to lead the Central Intelligence Agency.Mr. Paul, who opposes Mr. Brennan’s nomination, followed through on his plan to filibuster the confirmation of President Obama’s nominee after receiving a letter this month from Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. that refused to rule out the use of drone strikes within the United States in “extraordinary circumstances” like the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
    • North Korea says it will launch nuclear attack on America – Missile Defense!
    • Flap’s Blog @ Flap Twitter Daily Digest for 2013-03-06 – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Flap’s Blog @ Flap Twitter Daily Digest for 2013-03-06 #tcot
    • The Morning Flap: March 6, 2013 – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – The Morning Flap: March 6, 2013 #tcot
    • Flap’s Blog @ Flap Twitter Daily Digest for 2013-03-05 – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Flap’s Blog @ Flap Twitter Daily Digest for 2013-03-05 #tcot
    • Garcetti finishes first, then Greuel and James – runoffs ahead* – LA Observed – Garcetti finishes first, then Greuel and James – runoffs ahead* – LA Observed #tcot
    • Destinations / Spacecraft Dragon at the International Space Station – Spacecraft Dragon at the International Space Station via @pinterest
    • Decades later, 1972 Supreme Court decision overturning the death penalty has lasting impact | abc7news.com – Decades later, 1972 Supreme Court decision overturning the California death penalty has lasting impact
    • Garcetti finishes first, then Greuel and James – runoffs ahead* – LA Observed – RT @LAObserved: Here are the lineups for LA city runoff elections, including three for city council.
    • Flap’s Dentistry Blog: The Morning Drill: March 4, 2013 – The Morning Drill: March 4, 2013
    • Flap’s Dentistry Blog: Dentistry Wednesday Watch: March 6, 2013 – Dentistry Wednesday Watch: March 6, 2013
    Flap
  • Pinboard Links,  The Morning Flap

    The Morning Flap: March 5, 2013

    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.
    • A Market Solution to Immigration Reform – Since the recession formally ended in June 2009, the American economy has been growing at a rate of 2%, about one percentage point below its long-term average. To improve this performance, the U.S. needs more people with skills, vision and a drive to improve themselves—qualities that lead to innovation, business creation, increased employment and higher wages. One quick way to get such people is through immigration. A market approach would do this.We propose that, instead of the current maze of rules and formulas, the U.S. should sell the right to become a citizen. Setting a price of perhaps $50,000 would attract those who place the highest value on citizenship.
    • Jeb Bush’s Poorly Timed Flip -Flop on Immigration – Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush’s new book was aimed at nudging a reluctant Republican Party toward reforms that would allow illegal immigrants to live and work without fear of deportation.But by recommending only legal residency and backing off his past support for citizenship, Bush is throwing cold water over a fledgling deal in the Senate, denting his own reputation as a bold policymaker and stoking speculation that he will run for president in 2016.None of those things were supposed to happen.The stunning reversal by one of the Republican Party’s leading champions of immigration reform and Hispanic outreach, at least in part, comes down to a colossal political miscalculation.When Bush and coauthor Clint Bolick were writing the book during the 2012 presidential campaign, the GOP was veering far to the right. Republican nominee Mitt Romney had staked out a hard-line position against illegal immigration, blasting his primary rivals as pro-amnesty and promoting “self-deportation” for undocumented workers. Bush sent the book to the printer before Christmas – weeks before a handful of Senate Republicans embraced a sweeping overhaul that, like the proposals backed by Bush’s brother, former President George W. Bush, would allow illegal immigrants to earn citizenship.

      In other words, Bush’s party unexpectedly moved a lot faster than the book-publishing world.

    • Video: Jeb Bush Promotes Comprehensive Immigration Reform
    • Obama job approval tumbles After Sequester Debate – President Obama’s job approval rating took a hit over the weekend, falling to its lowest level in the Gallup three-day average since his reelection.His approval rating was 46 percent between Feb 29 and March 2, down from 53 percent a week earlier.The drop comes after Obama and Congress failed to reach a last-minute deal and automatic sequester cuts kicked in across the government on Friday.His disapproval rating also jumped to its highest level since November, hitting 46 percent over the weekend, up from 40 percent a week earlier.
    • Ashley Judd’s War With Kentucky’s Coal Industry Could Doom Candidacy – Comments Ashley Judd made in 2010 comparing the mining practices of Kentucky’s coal industry to rape could sink her much buzzed-about Senate candidacy before it even begins.In a 2010 speech to the National Press Club in Washington, Judd called mountain top removal — the controversial but principal type of surface mining in Appalachia that involves the removal of mountaintops to extract coal — “the state-sanctioned, federal government-supported, coal industry-operated rape of Appalachia.”Coal mines employe more than 19,000 people through
      the year in Kentucky according to a report from the state, and the mining directly contributed approximately $4 billion to the state’s economy while accounting for 1 percent of the state’s employment. Kentucky’s economic reliance on coal ranks in the top three in the United States, behind only West Virginia and Wyoming.Judd’s use of rape to define the mining practice wasn’t a slip of the tongue. Later in her speech she doubled down on her remarks.
    • Tag-teaming Obama – John Boehner and Mitch McConnell are currently mopping the floor with Barack Obama – Don’t tell the Tea Party, but the tag team of John Boehner and Mitch McConnell are currently mopping the floor with Barack Obama.The president convincingly won a second term in November, but since that time, the congressional Republican leadership has outfoxed, outmaneuvered and plain out-strategized him on just about every issue.
    • What’s Jeb Bush up to?
    • Wait: Jeb Bush now opposes a path to citizenship for illegals? – So his plan is DOA in Congress, but he knows that already. The point here isn’t to float a viable compromise that might make comprehensive reform more salable to the base, it’s to give Bush a way to hit Rubio from the right in the primaries two years from now — which is ironic, because in another segment this morning, Bush told Lauer that Romney got in trouble with Latino voters by tacking a bit too far right on immigration in the debates in 2011. I assume he thinks he’s built up enough cred with Latinos over the years that backing away from a path to citizenship now won’t cost him many votes. We’ll see.
    • Jeb Bush pushes back against pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants – Former Florida governor – and potential GOP presidential candidate – Jeb Bush said this week that a pathway to citizenship should not be a component of an overhaul of the nation’s immigration system.Bush, a Spanish-speaker who’s wife is Mexican-born, has long-been viewed as one of the more liberal-minded GOP leaders when in comes to immigration policy, warning Republicans for years that they oppose significant reform at their own political peril.
    • Official Website for IMMIGRATION WARS by Jeb Bush & Clint Bolick – RT @JebBush Honored to work w/my friend Clint Bolick. #ImmigrationWars hits shelves tomorrow.
    • Ow.ly – image uploaded by @JebBush – RT @JebBush Honored to work w/my friend Clint Bolick. #ImmigrationWars hits shelves tomorrow.
    • Doctors report first cure of HIV in a child – Doctors report first cure of HIV in a child #tcot
    • Exercise, less sitting time, linked to better sleep
      | Reuters       – Exercise, less sitting time, linked to better sleep #tcot
    • Journaling helps woman lose half her body weight – CNN.com – Journaling helps woman lose half her body weight #tcot
    • Republican Consultants Plot New Tech-Savvy Infrastructure – After last year’s blowout election, the Republican digital strategist Patrick Ruffini went on a not-so-secret mission to find out how to fix what was wrong with his party. “In less than 12 hours, the #infiltration begins,” he tweeted, the day before the start of RootsCamp, an annual conference for Democratic digital, data and grassroots strategists that is held by a liberal non-profit group called the New Organizing Institute.What he found at the event came as a sort of revelation: A vast liberal brain trust bursting with young talent who had advanced far beyond Republicans in the art and science of using data, analytics and voter outreach. He live-tweeted his observations, and then began meeting with other young strategists in his party, like Katie Harbath, who handles Republican campaign outreach for Facebook, Kristen Soltis Anderson, a pollster at the Winston Group, and Reihan Salam, a political columnist for the National Review.
    • Chris Christie will have an uphill battle for the 2016 nomination – Also of note?Wall Street Journal columnist and deputy editor, Daniel Henninger , claimed Christie has an “uphill battle” for the 2016 nomination, thanks to his conservative competition.”This is going to be a different group of people that Chris Christie will be competing against, and he’ll be competing as a governor from the liberal Northeast.I think it’s an uphill battle.”Finally, one more thing of note?

      Gigot pointed out that New Jersey’s 9.6% unemployment rate was “one of the worst records in the country.”

    • Tim Carney: Health industry pushes GOP states toward Obamacare | Mobile Washington Examiner – Health industry pushes GOP states toward Obamacare #tcot
    • Health industry pushes GOP states toward Obamacare – Republicans around the country railed against President Obama’s health-care law for four years, but in recent weeks, GOP governors and state legislators have embraced some of the bill’s provisions.
      How did Republicans learn to stop worrying and love Obamacare?
      In a word: industry.Hospitals, insurers and drug companies have lobbied in state capital after state capital, leaning on Republicans until they agreed to create insurance exchanges or expand Medicaid as Obamacare prescribed.
    • Moderate Ex-Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado “seriously” considers run against Jerry Brown | Politics Blog | an SFGate.com blog – Moderate Ex-Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado “seriously” considers run against Jerry Brown
    • Allysia Finley: The Reverse-Joads of California – WSJ.com – The Reverse-Joads of California
    • Gallup Poll: Asian voters lean Democratic, but are not strongly committed – A new poll found that Asian-Americans lean Democratic, but that they are not strongly committed to either the GOP or the Democratic Party.Fifty-seven percent of Asian-Americans lean Democratic, compared with 28 percent who lean Republican and 13 percent who are independent, according to a Gallup poll released Monday. The remaining are undecided or did not respond.
    • Untitled (http://www.sacbee.com/2013/03/03/5229747/cancer-stole-her-voice-but-tv.html#mi_rss=Opinion?utm&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed&u – Untitled (… #tcot
    • (500) http://flapsblog.com/2013/03/04/flaps-blog-flap-twitter-daily-digest-for-2013-03-03/ – Flap’s Blog @ Flap Twitter Daily Digest for 2013-03-03 #tcot
    • Untitled (http://www.sacbee.com/2013/03/03/5229747/cancer-stole-her-voice-but-tv.html#mi_rss=Opinion?utm&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter) – Untitled (… #tcot
    • Untitled (http://www.sacbee.com/2013/03/03/5229747/cancer-stole-her-voice-but-tv.html#mi_rss=Opinion?utm&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter) – Untitled (… #tcot
    • At state convention, Republicans try to chart a new way forward – latimes.com – At state convention, Republicans try to chart a new way forward
    • Calif. GOP seeks answers for turning party around – San Jose Mercury News – California GOP seeks answers for turning party around
    • Flap’s Blog @ Flap Twitter Daily Digest for 2013-03-02 – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Flap’s Blog @ Flap Twitter Daily Digest for 2013-03-02 #tcot
    • CA GOP Convention delegates urge retired congressmen to help party’s finances | CalWatchDog – CA GOP Convention delegates urge retired congressmen to help party’s finances
    • Gregory Flap @ Glendale-Hyperion Bridge – Finished the almost 10 miles of hills at Dodger Stadium. Now, some good food at Walt’s studio. [pic]:
    • Gregory Flap @ Dodger Stadium – Getting ready for hill training with LA Roadrunners (@ Dodger Stadium w/ 3 others) [pic]:
    • Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Digest for 2013-03-01 – Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Digest for 2013-03-01
    • Flap’s Blog @ Flap Twitter Daily Digest for 2013-03-01 – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Flap’s Blog @ Flap Twitter Daily Digest for 2013-03-01 #tcot
    • Joshua Treviño Admits to Shilling for Malaysia – Conservative commentator Joshua Treviño admitted today that he’s spent years doing down-low PR work for the government of Malaysia, and received $389,724.70 for the trouble. Some of that, but not most, was paid to writers who wrote negative pieces about the country’s opposition leader for the likes of the Huffington Post, National Review, and RedState. BuzzFeed’s Rosie Gray, in a report on the scam this afternoon, picks up where her boss Ben Smith left off. In 2011, Treviño told Smith, “I was never on any ‘Malaysian entity’s payroll,’ and I resent your assumption that I was,” which he now admits was a lie. But he’s not particularly sorry.
    • Covert Malaysian Campaign Touched A Wide Range Of American Media – A range of mainstream American publications printed paid propaganda for the government of Malaysia, much of it focused on the campaign against a pro-democracy figure there.The payments to conservative American opinion writers — whose work appeared in outlets from the Huffington Post and San Francisco Examiner to the Washington Times to National Review and RedState — emerged in a filing this week to the Department of Justice. The filing under the Foreign Agent Registration Act outlines a campaign spanning May 2008 to April 2011 and led by Joshua Trevino, a conservative pundit, who received $389,724.70 under the contract and paid smaller sums to a series of conservative writers.
    • Political Cartoons / So, you think Obama is over-hyping this sequestration thing? – So, you think Obama is over-hyping this sequestration thing? via @pinterest
    • Twitter / SpaceX: LIFTOFF of Falcon 9 and #Dragon … – Beautiful! RT @SpaceX LIFTOFF of Falcon 9 and #Dragon to the International Space Station
    • Twitter / NASA: Liftoff of the @SpaceX Falcon … – RT @NASA: Liftoff of the @SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and #Dragon spacecraft to the #ISS!
    • Watch Live: SpaceX’s Dragon Blasts Off to Space Station | Wired Science | Wired.com – RT @wired: Watch Live now: SpaceX’s Dragon Blasts Off to Space Station
    • Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Digest for 2013-02-28 – Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Digest for 2013-02-28
    • Flap’s Blog @ Flap Twitter Daily Digest for 2013-02-28 – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Flap’s Blog @ Flap Twitter Daily Digest for 2013-02-28 #tcot
    • ASICS Support Your Marathoner – I’m running the 2013 Los Angeles Marathon sponsored by ASICS. Cheer me on at via @ASICSamerica
    • Club for Growth President Chocola: ‘Sooner or Later, They Won’t Want You to be their Speaker’ – I will be surprised if Boehner survives as Speaker more than through the summer.
    Flap
  • Pinboard Links,  The Morning Flap

    The Morning Flap: February 28, 2013

    February 28, 2013 /

    Nixon and Obama

    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
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    The Morning Flap: February 27, 2013

    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.
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    The Morning Flap: February 25, 2013

    February 25, 2013 /

    Obama Crashes the Oscars

    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
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    The Morning Flap: February 22, 2013

    February 22, 2013 /

    Sequestration

    Sequestration from Wall Street Journal

    These are my news headlines for February 21st through February 22nd:

    • With Axelrod At NBC News, The Marriage Of Media And Politics Becomes Complete – What’s more, Team Obama has declared it has no intention of dismantling its campaign apparatus post re-election. Put Axelrod in the catbird seat at a news outlet and the “narrative” continues. Combine that with Team Obama’s masterful manipulation of journalists, its command of social media, and an ugly picture emerges of a press indistinguishable from the political establishment.This has happened in banana republics, but never in a Western democracy. Already it’s making old-school journalists who value news gathering over politics, such as the New York Times’ Roger Cohen, ABC’s Ann Compton and the Washington Post’s David Ignatius, uncomfortable. The one thing that will stop it is a press that won’t cooperate. So where is that press?
    • Budget hawks question Pentagon’s doomsday scenarios – But perhaps the biggest example of the Washington Monument maneuver is coming from the Defense Department, where it goes by another name. Over many decades of defense budget battles, the Pentagon has often used a tactic known as a “gold watch.” It means to answer a budget cut proposal by selecting for elimination a program so important and valued — a gold watch — that Pentagon chiefs know political leaders will restore funding rather than go through with the cut.So now, with sequestration approaching, the Pentagon has announced that the possibility of budget cuts has forced the Navy to delay deployment of the carrier USS Harry S. Truman to the Persian Gulf. With tensions with Iran as high as they’ve ever been, that would leave the U.S. with just one carrier, instead of the preferred two, in that deeply troubled region.
    • What Unites Obama’s Coalition — and What Could Divide It – Overall, the survey put Obama’s approval rating at 51 percent — almost exactly replicating his share of the vote last November. For all of his key groups, his approval ratings today remain close to his vote shares against Republican Mitt Romney. The survey put his approval among African-Americans at 91 percent (compared to his vote of 93 percent in November), among Hispanics at 68 percent (compared to 71 percent in November), college-educated white women at 48 percent (compared to 46 percent), and adults ages 18 to 29 at 57 percent (compared to 60 percent). Considering that several percent of those in each group described themselves as undecided on Obama’s performance, those numbers suggest almost no change from his support in the election.
    • Can Democrats Mess With Texas in 2016? – Can Democrats Mess With Texas in 2016? #tcot
    • Noonan: Government by Freakout – The president’s sequester strategy is like Howard Beale in “Network”: “Woe is us. . . . And woe is us! We’re in a lot of trouble!”It is always cliffs, ceilings and looming catastrophes with Barack Obama. It is always government by freakout.
      That’s what’s happening now with the daily sequester warnings. Seven hundred thousand children will be dropped from Head Start. Six hundred thousand women and children will be dropped from aid programs. Meat won’t be inspected. Seven thousand TSA workers will be laid off, customs workers too, and air traffic controllers. Lines at airports will be impossible. The Navy will slow down the building of an aircraft carrier. Troop readiness will be disrupted, weapons programs slowed or stalled, civilian contractors stiffed, uniformed first responders cut back. Our nuclear deterrent will be indefinitely suspended. Ha, made that one up, but give them time.Mr. Obama has finally hit on his own version of national unity: Everyone get scared together.
    • Is President Obama overplaying sequestration hand? – President Barack Obama’s greatest adversary in the latest budget battle isn’t the Republican leadership in Congress — it’s his confidence in his own ability to force a win.He has been so certain of his campaign skills that he didn’t open a line of communication with House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell until Thursday, a week before the spending ax hits. And when they did finally hear from Obama, the calls were perfunctory, with no request to step up negotiations or invitations to the White House.
    • Why Obama and Rove Should Sit Down and Keep Quiet
    • Fewer Americans Getting Health Insurance From Employer – Fewer Americans reported having employer-based health insurance in 2012 than did in 2008, 2009, and 2010, but at 44.5% it is unchanged from 2011. At the same time, more Americans continue to report having a government-based health plan — Medicare, Medicaid, or military or veterans’ benefits — with the 25.6% who did so in 2012 up from 23.4% in 2008.
    • H.R. 6684: Spending Reduction Act of 2012 – Legislative Digest – GOP.gov – RT @robertcostaNRO Text: the GOP’s sequester replacement, which was passed in Dec. 2012
    • Flap’s Blog @ Flap Twitter Daily Digest for 2013-02-21 – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Flap’s Blog @ Flap Twitter Daily Digest for 2013-02-21 #tcot
    • Mark Levin schools Charles Krauthammer on why it’s not “honorable” for governors to expand Medicaid » The Right Scoop – – RT @trscoop: Mark Levin schools Charles Krauthammer on why it’s not “honorable” for governors to expand Medicaid
    • A Tax By Another Name – Writing in the New York Times yesterday, Yuval Levin made the case for means-testing Social Security and Medicare. As you’d expect from Yuval the case is well made and elegantly thought-through. It’s also, if I may respectfully say so, misguided. Partly as a consequence of the refusal to make consumption take its fair share of the tax load, the US already taxes income on a pretty progressive basis (even more so, I suspect, if, just for the sake of argument, you excluded the very richest from the equation—highly taxed wage income generally makes up a lower percentage of their total take). Means-testing these two programs would only tighten the screws still further.
    • Capitol Alert: Kristin Olsen to move to smaller office after failed GOP move – Kristin Olsen to move to smaller office after failed GOP move
    • Charles Krauthammer: Immigration — the lesser of two evils – The president suggested he would hold off introducing his own immigration bill as long as bipartisan Senate negotiations were proceeding apace — until his own immigration bill mysteriously leaked precisely as bipartisan Senate negotiations were proceeding apace.A naked political maneuver and a blunt warning to Republicans: Finish that immigration deal in Congress, or I’ll propose something I know you can’t accept — and flog the issue mercilessly next year to win back the House.
    • The 60th vote: Republican Richard Shelby to vote for cloture on Hagel; Update: Deb Fischer too? « Hot Air – Looks like Chuck Hagel is the next Sec Defense. Let the sequestration begin:
    • 6 Questions for the Immigration Reformers – From border security to H1-B visas, much needs to be answered in the looming immigration debate.
    • Obama reaches out to Boehner, McConnell as sequester cuts loom – The Hill – Obama symbolism over substance: #tcot
    • DIGITAL 50: The Hottest People In Online Politics – Business Insider – DIGITAL 50: The Hottest People In Online Politics – Business Insider #tcot
    • Flap’s Dentistry Blog: Dentist Acquitted and Wins $7.7 Million Judgment in New York Medicaid Fraud Case – Dentist Acquitted and Wins $7.7 Million Judgment in New York Medicaid Fraud Case
    • Flap’s Dentistry Blog: Chicago’s Dental Health Safety Net on Verge of Collapse? – Chicago’s Dental Health Safety Net on Verge of Collapse?
    • Ed Markey: Dred Scott = Citizen’s United – Flap’s Blog – Ed Markey: Dred Scott = Citizen’s United #tcot
    • ‘The Great Sequester Panic’ – ‘The Great Sequester Panic’ #tcot
    • The Benefits of Exercising Outdoors – NYTimes.com – The Benefits of Exercising Outdoors #tcot
    • Smoking cessation in old age: Less heart attacks and strokes within five years – Smoking cessation in old age: Less heart attacks and strokes within five years #tcot
    • Study disputes long-term medical savings from bariatric surgery – latimes.com – Study disputes long-term medical savings from bariatric surgery #tcot
    • Harry Reid says he’ll run for re-election in 2016; won’t comment on Sandoval as opponent – Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told the capital press corps at the Nevada Legislature Wednesday night that he will seek re-election in 2016.The news conference came after he gave a speech to state lawmakers, like Reid does every legislative session.When asked if he would run for re-election, Reid said, “Sure, why not?”

      When asked if he thought Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval would run against him, Reid said, “Oh, I don’t know.”

      When asked if he could beat Sandoval, Reid said, “Hey, I don’t get involved in fights I don’t have to.”

      When reminded that he was a boxer in his youth, Reid replied, “But I’m not stupid.”

    • 15 GOP senators call for Hagel to withdraw – POLITICO.com – RT @politico: 15 GOP senators call for Hagel to withdraw:
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    The Morning Flap: February 21, 2013

    February 21, 2013 /

    brill.pill9.indd

    These are my news headlines for February 21st:

    • Bitter Pill: Why Medical Bills Are Killing Us | TIME.com – 1. Routine Care, Unforgettable Bills
      When Sean Recchi, a 42-year-old from Lancaster, Ohio, was told last March that he had non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, his wife Stephanie knew she had to get him to MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Stephanie’s father had been treated there 10 years earlier, and she and her family credited the doctors and nurses at MD Anderson with extending his life by at least eight years.Because Stephanie and her husband had recently started their own small technology business, they were unable to buy comprehensive health insurance. For $469 a month, or about 20% of their income, they had been able to get only a policy that covered just $2,000 per day of any hospital costs. “We don’t take that kind of discount insurance,” said the woman at MD Anderson when Stephanie called to make an appointment for Sean.
    • GOP Has Trouble Settling on Candidates Who Can Win – One of the interesting things about recent elections is that Republicans have tended to do better the farther you go down the ballot.They’ve lost the presidency twice in a row, and in four of the last six contests. They’ve failed to win a majority in the U.S. Senate, something they accomplished in five election cycles between 1994 and 2006.But they have won control of the House of Representatives in the last two elections, and in eight of the last 10 cycles.And they’ve been doing better in elections to state legislatures than at any time since the 1920s.

      One reason for this is that, as I have written, Democratic voters are clustered in large metropolitan areas, which helps them in the Electoral College but hurts in legislatures with equal-population districts.

      But there’s another reason, which has been particularly glaring in races for the U.S. Senate: candidate quality.

    • The future of free-market healthcare – Over nearly a century, progressives have pressed for a national, single-payer healthcare system. When it comes to health reform, what have conservatives stood for?For far too long, conservatives have failed to coalesce around a long-term vision of what a free-market healthcare system should look like. Republican attention to healthcare, in turn, has only arisen sporadically, in response to Democratic initiatives.Obamacare is the logical byproduct of this conservative policy neglect. President Barack Obama’s re-election was a strategic victory for his signature healthcare law. Once the bulk of the program begins to be implemented in 2014 — especially its trillions of dollars in new health-insurance subsidies — it will become politically impossible to repeal. And as the baby boomers retire and Obamacare is fully operational, government health spending will reach unsustainable levels.The great irony of Obama’s triumph, however, is that it can pave the way for Republicans to adopt a comprehensive, market-oriented healthcare agenda.  The market-oriented prescription drug program in Medicare has controlled the growth of government health spending. Similarly, conservatives can use Obamacare’s important concession to the private sector — its establishment of subsidized insurance marketplaces — as a vehicle for broader entitlement reforms.
    • The Pro-Growth Sequester – The Obama administration is whipping up hysteria over the sequester budget cuts and their impact on the economy, the military, first providers, and so forth and so on. Armageddon. But if you climb into the Congressional Budget Office numbers for 2013, you see a much lighter and easier picture than all the worst-case scenarios being conjured up by the administration.For example, the $85 billion so-called spending cut is actually budget authority, not budget outlays. According to the CBO, budget outlays will come down by $44 billion, or one quarter of 1 percent of gross domestic product (GDP is $15.8 trillion). What’s more, that $44 billion outlay reduction is only 1.25 percent of the $3.6 trillion government budget.
    • Ted Cruz knocks Obama on immigration – Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) says President Barack Obama wants to “scuttle” immigration reform by injecting a path to citizenship into the debate so Democrats can keep the issue alive for political gain.“The president has been focusing on amnesty — a path to citizenship that skips ahead of the line,” the freshman tea party senator said Wednesday at a speech in Dallas, according to The Dallas Morning News. “That, he knows, is a position not supported by a great many Americans and not a position that will achieve bipartisan cooperation. It’s designed to scuttle the bill.”
    • Foreign Buyers Hop on Rental Trend – US Masters, a real-estate investment trust that has raised $276 million, primarily from Australian retirees, is one of a handful of foreign firms that are betting on the U.S. housing recovery by buying houses at discount prices.The business of buying-and-renting houses, long dominated by local mom-and-pop investors, has morphed over the past two years into one of the hottest investments on Wall Street. Dozens of pension investors and private-equity firms, such as Blackstone Group LP BX -2.19% and Colony Capital LLC, are clamoring to buy homes in beaten-up markets, sometimes using money from foreign co-investors.
    • Majority of U.S. citizens say illegal immigrants should be deported – More than half of U.S. citizens believe that most or all of the country’s 11 million illegal immigrants should be deported, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Wednesday that highlights the difficulties facing lawmakers trying to reform the U.S. immigration system.The online survey shows resistance to easing immigration laws despite the biggest push for reform in Congress since 2007.
    • Missile Defense Tests Successful, but Future of Program in Doubt – The unanswered question is whether the Missile Defense Agency will be permitted to advance this space-based missile defense capability—whether through the STSS program or the PTSS program—to a deployed constellation at all. There should be little doubt that arms control advocates, both inside the Administration and out, are livid that this test took place at all, let alone that it was successful. This is because a space-based missile defense capability is incompatible with the Administration’s arms control agenda.
    • Gov. Scott agrees to expand Florida Medicaid program – Gov. Rick Scott announced plans Wednesday to expand Medicaid coverage to roughly 900,000 more people under the federal health overhaul, a surprise decision from the vocal critic of President Barack Obama’s plan.Scott said he will ask the Legislature to expand the program under a bill that would expire in three years, after which it would require renewed legislative support. He’s the seventh Republican governor so far to propose expanding the taxpayer-funded health insurance program.
    • Tea Party and Republican groups launch Hispanic outreach – Tea Party and Republican groups launch Hispanic outreach #tcot
    • How former Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. Spent His Campaign Funds – Former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D) pleaded guilty today “to a conspiracy to siphon about $750,000 in federal campaign funds for their personal use,” the Chicago Tribune reports.”About 3,100 personal purchases were made on campaign credit cards, totaling $582,772.58… Prosecutors said $60,000 was spent on restaurants, nightclubs and lounges; $31,700 on personal airfare; $16,000 on sports clubs and lounges; $17,000 on tobacco shops; $5,800 on alcohol; $14,500 on dry cleaning; $8,000 on grocery stores and $6,000 at drug stores.””In one of the more exotic purchases, Jackson used campaign funds in the spring of 2011 to pay a taxidermist in Montana $7,058 for two mounted elk heads to be shipped to his office in Washington. This was the beginning of an FBI sting, according to court documents.”
    • California Dept. of Transportation: ‘Be Sure to Black Out the ‘United States’ and [the] Motto’ | The Weekly Standard – California Dept. of Transportation: ‘Be Sure to Black Out the ‘United States’ and [the] Motto’
    • Pentagon informs Congress of plans to furlough 800K civilians – Pentagon informs Congress of plans to furlough 800K civilians #tcot
    • The sequester blame game – Much depends on the timing of any economic turndown. If it occurs this year, but is followed by improvement in 2014, the political consequences are not likely to be significant. If the economy is in trouble in mid-2014, then all bets are off. For this reason, among others, Republicans should reject out of hand the president’s efforts to postpone the sequester for a year. In any event, the sequester would make the Republicans a full partner with Obama when it comes to the state of the economy.In the end, though, Republicans are committed, as they should be, to cutting government spending. This is never a politically risk-free proposition. But it’s better to get a head start now, when blame might well be shared, than to save all the work for when (if) Republicans gain control of the government and will absorb all of the blame.JOHN adds: My own view is that Republicans should happily take credit for the spending cuts represented by the sequester. They aren’t anywhere near enough, but they are the most substantial spending cuts, I believe, in my lifetime. I think 75% of the population will be pleasantly surprised to learn that Congress is actually capable of cutting spending.
    • The GOP’s astonishingly bad message on sequester cuts – None of which addresses the Republican problem on the sequester. If the problem is one of substance — that is, if GOP leaders truly believe the cuts threaten national security but are nevertheless supporting them — then Republicans have put themselves into an untenable situation. If, as is more likely, the problem is one of message — that is, if Republicans believe the cuts are not only manageable without threatening national security but are also desirable as a first step toward controlling spending — then the Boehner article is sending all the wrong signals.
    • Video: John McCain Gets Testy With Arizona Voter Questioning Immigration Amnesty – Flap’s Blog – Video: John McCain Gets Testy With Arizona Voter Questioning Immigration Amnesty #tcot
    • Mistake in First California Carbon Auction Raises Questions About Secrecy | KQED News Fix – Mistake in First California Carbon Auction Raises Questions About Secrecy
    • Second cap and trade auction needs big bucks | news10.net – Second cap and trade California auction needs big bucks
    • We predicted there was no tax ‘windfall’ | CalWatchDog – We predicted there was no California tax ‘windfall’
    • The Morning Flap: February 20, 2013 – Flap’s Blog – The Morning Flap: February 20, 2013 #tcot
    • A Mighty Wind by Ben Boychuk – City Journal – A Mighty Wind – California Flatulence Jokes
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  • Pinboard Links,  The Morning Flap

    The Morning Flap: February 19, 2013

    February 19, 2013 /

    Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles

    Simpson and Bowles

    These are my links for February 19th:

    • New Bowles-Simpson deficit plan would cut $2.4 trillion – Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson proposed a new framework Tuesday to cut the country’s debt by $2.4 trillion over the next decade.Bowles and Simpson were the co-chairmen of President Obama’s bipartisan fiscal commission in 2010, and their recommendations came to serve as a yardstick for other debt-reduction proposals.
    • Obama, the puppet master
    • Obama blackmails tax payers while blaming Republicans –
    • Tea Party challenger to McConnell emerging – Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) could see a primary challenge from local businessman Matt Bevin, who sources say is reaching out to Tea Party groups in the state to gauge support for a 2014 Senate run.Sarah Duran, president of the Louisville Tea Party, told The Hill that Bevin had been in touch with her over the phone to discuss his run multiple times over the past few weeks, and that he met with the group two weeks ago to discuss his interest in the race.
    • GOP senators waiting for Obama outreach
    • Colorado Democrat: Women Don’t Need Guns If They ‘Feel Like They’re Going To Be Raped’ –
    • Obama leak lets ‘Gang of Eight’ look tough on immigration | WashingtonExaminer.com – RT @ByronYork: New: Obama leak lets ‘Gang of Eight’ look tough on immigration.
    • Twitter / Flap: Way to go @LizMair! We need … – Way to go @LizMair! We need to see you on the Tee Vee much more!
    • Sessions: “The leaked plan is little different in its substance from the Gang of 8 plan” | WashingtonExaminer.com – Sessions: “The leaked plan is little different in its substance from the Gang of 8 plan” | #tcot
    • Sessions: “The leaked plan is little different in its substance from the Gang of 8 plan” | WashingtonExaminer.com – Sessions: “The leaked plan is little different in its substance from the Gang of 8 plan” #tcot
    • Why is Obama threatening to release his own immigration plan? – The brutal truth, as some Republicans aren’t shy about noting, is that Obama’s bill isn’t all that different from Rubio’s. And to the extent that it is different, Democrats and their immigration-lobby allies will go on agitating to make the final product more like O’s bill if/when it passes. He can live, happily, with Rubio’s bill as law. On the other hand, If Obama talks up his own bill and ends up polarizing the issue until the compromise falls apart, great! He’ll happily use that as leverage for the “GOP hates Latinos” talking point in 2014. Realistically, the only way he’ll have a truly consequential second term is if Democrats can take back the House; that’s what his gun-control campaign right now is all about, and that’s what the fate of things like cap-and-trade rests on. If Republicans hang onto the House next year, O’s last two years will be spent mired in lame-duck misery. If they don’t, he’ll be the rare president who ends eight years in office with a flurry of significant “achievements.” I think Obama would be willing to trade that legacy for the legacy of having passed comprehensive immigration reform with GOP help, especially given what it means for Democratic electoral gains long-term, but if he does get the House back in 2014 then he can pass immigration reform — and an assault-weapons ban, and cap-and-trade — later. The only true disaster scenario for him is if immigration talks collapse now and the GOP holds the House in 2014 anyway. That’s quite possible, and maybe even probable, and that’s why he’s not being more aggressive right now in trying to sabotage the negotiations.
    • Sessions: “The leaked plan is little different in its substance from the Gang of 8 plan” – Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., may have quickly denounced the immigration plan President Obama leaked this weekend, but most conservatives see little difference between Rubio’s efforts and Obama’s framework. Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee released the following statement on the leaked Obama plan today:The release of the President’s immigration plan is more than a misstep or clever political maneuver. It is a dramatic disclosure of his real immigration ideology and goals. The plan grants amnesty on day one while making hollow promises of future enforcement that will never occur. The plan is a giveaway for the special interests and the open borders lobby. This president will never dedicate himself to enforcing the law, and this plan offers only further proof of that.It is plain what is happening. The special interests are again in the White House, demanding and getting their favors granted, while American workers and the public interest are again locked out.
    • Immigration reform groups use low-key strategy against Rubio amnesty – Immigration reform groups are responding cautiously to the Feb. 14 revelation that Sen. Marco Rubio’s aides apparently tried to portray them as left-wing, anti-Christian misanthropes.Their low-key response has helped tamp down the potential conflict with Rubio, who is working with seven other senators on a controversial rewrite of the nation’s immigration laws.The senator’s spokesman, Alex Conant, also downplayed the revelations sketched in the Washington Post’s article.
    • Immigration Double Kabuki – Maybe there is some Beltway logic to this story that I don’t understand. Here’s the situation: Obama wants an immigration bill. He knows that if he comes down heavily on one side Republicans might get their backs up and oppose whatever he proposes. So he is giving the Senate “negotiators” space. I understand that much. Never mind that the Senate “Gang of 8? negotiators are seven amnesty-first supporters plus Marco Rubio, who is also an amnesty-first supporter (if he wasn’t he wouldn’t have Cesar Conda as his chief of staff). Let’s assume for now that if these eight Friends of Amnesty can come up with a deal the rest of the Senate can pretend it’s a “bipartisan compromise,” at least until the public finds out what is in it.
    • Obama’s Amnesty Bill = Rubio’s Amnesty Bill – Over the weekend, the White House leaked parts of a proposed amnesty bill to USA Today’s Alan Gomez. Obama’s chief of staff, Denis McDonough, described the proposed bill as a backup plan in case the Senate doesn’t act. Unlike the Schumer/Rubio amnesty plan, the administration bill contains no enforcement “triggers” that would have to be met before the amnestied illegals could move from green card lite to full green-card status. Rubio said the bill would be “dead on arrival” if it were to be introduced, while Paul Ryan said it would take things “in the wrong direction.”The “backup plan” stuff is nonsense — the point of leaking the bill is to enable Rubio to say that his amnesty plan is waaay different from the dastardly Obama plan, even though they’re identical in the only respect that matters: amnesty immediately for all illegal aliens, with work cards, Social Security numbers, driver’s licenses, the right to travel abroad and return, etc. The president has repeatedly said he wants to stand back and let Congress come up with a bill because if he were to send one to Congress it would be toxic for Republicans — i.e., those Republicans who desperately want to sell out their constituents by backing amnesty but are afraid of the voter backlash. The Rubio and Ryan criticisms of the proposed bill sound almost as though they were scripted by Schumer and White House to make the Senate Gang of Eight scheme seem more palatable to such Republicans.
    Flap
  • Bobby Jindal

    Video: Really Bobby Jindal?

    February 4, 2013 /

    [youtube]http://youtu.be/PC283KdU5QM[/youtube]

    There is something about Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, I just don’t like.

    He grates on me.

    Perhaps, it is because he thinks he is smarter than everyone else?

    In any case, calling the GOP “STUPID” and saying that 2016 Presidential aspirants need their heads examined is a non-starter for me.

    Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) said Monday that Republicans already thinking about the 2016 presidential race need “to get their head examined” because the party is just beginning to recalibrate its messaging in the aftermath of President Obama’s reelection.

    “Anybody on the Republican side even thinking or talking about running for president in 2016, I’ve said, needs to get their head examined,” Jindal told “Fox and Friends.” “And the reason I say that is, we’ve lost two presidential elections in a row, we need to be winning the debate of ideas, then we’ll win elections.”

    Jindal, considered an early front-runner for the Republican nomination, said that the party’s struggles despite polling showing a desire for smaller government was evidence that a reboot was necessary.

    I don’t think Jindal will need to have his head examined, since he is going nowhere, but representing the state of Louisiana.

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