CURRENT EVENTS and POLITICS Discussions - TBD
2024-03-29T13:54:50Z
http://teebeedee.ning.com/groups/group/forum?groupUrl=political-events-and-politics&feed=yes&xn_auth=no
It's Going A Fun Election This.
tag:teebeedee.ning.com,2016-07-06:1991841:Topic:1783261
2016-07-06T19:03:00.927Z
DragaoDHJ
http://teebeedee.ning.com/profile/DwightHJeffery
<p><span style="color: #800000;" class="font-size-4"><strong>Just for fun: these guys crack me up. ;-)</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #800000;" class="font-size-4"><strong><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mYwcgQ7yvNI?wmode=opaque" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
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<p><span style="color: #800000;" class="font-size-4"><strong>Just for fun: these guys crack me up. ;-)</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #800000;" class="font-size-4"><strong><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mYwcgQ7yvNI?wmode=opaque" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
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In The Future . . . . .
tag:teebeedee.ning.com,2016-07-03:1991841:Topic:1783100
2016-07-03T22:31:46.001Z
DragaoDHJ
http://teebeedee.ning.com/profile/DwightHJeffery
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #800000;"><strong> . . . . . Twelve Noon, Friday January 20, 2017.</strong></span></p>
<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2059613080?profile=original"><img class="align-full" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2059613080?profile=original" width="600"/></a><span style="color: #0000ff;" class="font-size-4"><strong>What are the haters going to do then?</strong></span></p>
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<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #800000;"><strong> . . . . . Twelve Noon, Friday January 20, 2017.</strong></span></p>
<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2059613080?profile=original"><img class="align-full" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2059613080?profile=original" width="600"/></a><span style="color: #0000ff;" class="font-size-4"><strong>What are the haters going to do then?</strong></span></p>
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TRUMP for PRESIDENT
tag:teebeedee.ning.com,2015-09-04:1991841:Topic:1758826
2015-09-04T17:33:16.350Z
LoveLife&Laughter
http://teebeedee.ning.com/profile/FredStieg
<p>Some say he's not a conservative - or, not conservative enough.</p>
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<p>Of course he is...</p>
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<p>The conservative personality is mostly personal attacks, character assassination, and not much else.</p>
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<p>Is it any wonder Mr. Trump is doing so well this primary season?…</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2059610718?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-full" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2059610718?profile=original" width="600"></img></a></p>
<p>Some say he's not a conservative - or, not conservative enough.</p>
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<p>Of course he is...</p>
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<p>The conservative personality is mostly personal attacks, character assassination, and not much else.</p>
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<p>Is it any wonder Mr. Trump is doing so well this primary season?</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2059610718?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2059610718?profile=original" width="600" class="align-full"/></a></p>
Embarrassed In Texas. . . . Again :-(
tag:teebeedee.ning.com,2015-05-03:1991841:Topic:1744621
2015-05-03T21:21:40.304Z
DragaoDHJ
http://teebeedee.ning.com/profile/DwightHJeffery
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2059610649?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-full" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2059610649?profile=original" width="600"></img></a></p>
<p><em>From: The Houston Chronicle, Nick Anderson (April 30, 2015)</em></p>
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<p><strong>Basis for cartoon:</strong></p>
<p>"A former state representative from Texas lashed out at Gov. Greg Abbott for his decision to have Texas troops monitor the U.S. Military as it runs drills across the Lone Star State this summer."…</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2059610649?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2059610649?profile=original" width="600" class="align-full"/></a></p>
<p><em>From: The Houston Chronicle, Nick Anderson (April 30, 2015)</em></p>
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<p><strong>Basis for cartoon:</strong></p>
<p>"A former state representative from Texas lashed out at Gov. Greg Abbott for his decision to have Texas troops monitor the U.S. Military as it runs drills across the Lone Star State this summer."</p>
<p><a href="http://www.chron.com/news/article/Covert-warfare-comming-to-Texas-6157685.php" target="_blank"> </a></p>
<p>"Abbott's order came after Texans, online and in person, voiced stringent distrust and fear of the military, which they feared would turn against them to serve the interests of the federal government. Todd Smith, a 16-year member of the Texas House from near Fort Worth, wrote a scathing open letter to the governor."</p>
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<p>For complete article see Houston Chronicle link: <a href="http://www.chron.com/news/politics/texas/article/Governors-Jade-Helm-letter-embarrassed-and-disappo-6236688.php#photo-7890839" target="_blank">Operation Jade Helm</a><a href="http://www.chron.com/news/politics/texas/article/Governors-Jade-Helm-letter-embarrassed-and-disappo-6236688.php#photo-7890839" target="_blank"></a></p>
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<p>* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * </p>
<p>If I didn't live in on the <strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">blue island of Houston</span></strong>, I would be looking for another state to move to.</p>
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This is a travesty
tag:teebeedee.ning.com,2015-03-30:1991841:Topic:1739137
2015-03-30T23:59:13.112Z
ProblemAgain
http://teebeedee.ning.com/profile/ProblemAgain
<p>first of all, the fiscal times is essentially blaming the pensions recipients for the plight of the states. they fail to address the fact that actuaries have been telling the fuckwits for 40 years that most pension plans were being underfunded and even when warned, the people in charge of both corporate funding and state funding refused to increase the funding. in fact the court case involving new jersey and chris christie is exemplary of the problem. rather than fund the pensions he…</p>
<p>first of all, the fiscal times is essentially blaming the pensions recipients for the plight of the states. they fail to address the fact that actuaries have been telling the fuckwits for 40 years that most pension plans were being underfunded and even when warned, the people in charge of both corporate funding and state funding refused to increase the funding. in fact the court case involving new jersey and chris christie is exemplary of the problem. rather than fund the pensions he preferred to continue to rob the contributions for the pension fund to apply those to his operating budget. that way he could still brag about not raising taxes. this is very similar to running your household off credit cards and just paying the minimum. eventually the payments required to just be current stop you from spending any monies on anything except that debt that you have driven up to swallow the income</p>
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<h1>Outrageous public pensions could bankrupt these states</h1>
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<div class="authorinfo"><span class="partnerlogo-img"><a href="http://thefiscaltimes.com/" target="_blank"><span class="partnermainlogo"><img alt="Fiscal Times" class="image loaded" src="http://img.s-msn.com/tenant/amp/entityid/AAoJfs.img?h=70&w=70&m=6&q=60&u=t&o=t&l=f&f=png" width="50"/></span></a></span><div class="sourcename-txt truncate"><a href="http://thefiscaltimes.com/" target="_blank" title="fiscal times">Fiscal Times</a></div>
<div class="authorinfo-txt"><span class="authorname-txt"><span class="truncate">Steven Malanga</span></span> 5 hrs ago</div>
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<p><span class="storyimage fullwidth inlineimage"><span class="image"><img style="width: 73rem; height: 49rem;" alt="Yuma Main Canal & Riverside Park, Arizona." class="image loaded" src="http://img.s-msn.com/tenant/amp/entityid/AAae2G0.img?h=680&w=1019&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f&x=881&y=1079" width="728"/> <span class="pinit-button"><a target="_blank" class="stb-btn stb-pinterest" href="http://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=http%3a%2f%2fwww.msn.com%2f00%2fen-us%2fAAadKvB&media=http%3a%2f%2fimg.s-msn.com%2ftenant%2famp%2fentityid%2fAAae2G0.img&description=Yuma+Main+Canal+%26+Riverside+Park%2c+Arizona.+-+Richard+Cummins%2fGetty+Images" title="pin it"></a></span></span> <span class="caption truncate"><span class="attribution">© Richard Cummins/Getty Images</span> Yuma Main Canal & Riverside Park, Arizona.</span></span></p>
<p>Some of the worst public-sector pension problems in America are playing out in states and cities where legislation or local court rulings have granted extraordinary protections to workers’ retirement benefits—far beyond those enjoyed by private-sector employees.</p>
<p>Illinois officials, for instance, are awaiting a ruling from the state’s Supreme Court on a suit by workers seeking to overturn the legislature’s 2013 pension reforms. If the court, which has previously refused to allow any changes to retirement plans for retirees or current workers, throws out the reforms, Illinois will face $145 billion in higher taxes over the next three decades just to pay off the debt, according to a report by the Civic Committee of Chicago.</p>
<p>One can see a glimpse of Illinois’s possible future in Arizona. Last year, the state’s Supreme Court overturned 2011 pension reforms that, among other things, sought to curb expensive annual cost-of-living increases for judges, legislators, and municipal public-safety workers. Though courts in other places have ruled that retirees have no right to annual cost-of-living increases, the Arizona high court ordered the state to reinstate the 4 percent increases and pay retirees back for payments that the pension system had missed. In restoring the payments, the court ignored the distress of the pension system, which is only 67 percent funded.</p>
<p>Indeed, the system is so hard-pressed that the head of one of the state’s largest public unions has asked the legislature to push for a constitutional amendment allowing the kind of money-saving changes that the court nixed. Without such changes, according to the <em>Arizona Republic</em>, some retirees will wind up earning more within a few years of retirement than they earned while working full-time for government.</p>
<p>The bill for the court’s ruling is now coming due in Arizona, and municipalities whose workers participate in the state system are straining under the pressure. The city of Phoenix, for instance, has a $2 billion unfunded liability for police and fire pensions. Now the city must grapple with a $37 million increase in pension costs over the next three years.</p>
<p>This year alone, Phoenix must contribute $143 million to public-safety pensions, up from just $16 million a decade ago. The city also must pay a $133 million tab for civilian worker pensions. Rising costs have helped create persistent deficits in Phoenix, whose general fund budget is only $1.15 billion this year.</p>
<p>Phoenix is far from alone. Cities around the Grand Canyon state are experiencing pension “sticker shock,” in the words of the <em>Arizona Republic</em>. Six other cities—including Mesa, Scottsdale, and Glendale—face $23 million in extra pension payments next year. Thanks to poor stock market performance and an inability to reduce its pension benefits, the city of Tempe has seen its public-safety pension costs rise nearly ten-fold in a decade, from $1.9 million annually to $18.3 million, while Mesa’s will reach $41 million this year, up from $6 million a decade ago.</p>
<p>The predicament faced by Illinois and Arizona should be a warning, especially to other states where government pensions enjoy extraordinary legal protections. Raising benefits or shortchanging annual pension-system payments is especially dangerous in states lacking the ability to tame costs once debt grows too large. Yet, New York State, where government workers enjoy some of the strongest protections against changes to their retirement benefits, is doing exactly that—continuing a program that allows the state and its hard-pressed municipalities to shortchange the pension system by billions of dollars.</p>
<p>New York has one of the better-funded government pension systems. This is largely due to a 1993 Court of Appeals ruling that stopped the state from toying with accounting standards. The ruling also required the state and local governments to make their annual required pension payments. Even so, the stock market’s uneven performance since 2008 has pushed government pension costs skyward.</p>
<p>Expenditures have more than doubled since 2010, crimping budgets, especially in upstate communities where tax revenues have rebounded only slowly from the sharp decline in 2009 and 2010. In response, the state initiated a program that let itself and municipalities defer pension contributions, if they promise to repay them with interest in the future. Last year alone, 139 municipalities deferred $472 million in pension payments, while the state put off nearly $1 billion. Since 2010, the state and municipalities have skipped $3.3 billion in pension payments.</p>
<p>Worse still, though it had previously said it was ending such “borrowings,” New York is now set to defer another $1 billion in state payments over the next three years. The state is going ahead with the plan even though it has a budget surplus this year, thanks to a $5.4 billion settlement with major financial institutions over their role in writing defective mortgages in the state.</p>
<p>New York officials defend the borrowing program by arguing that sharply rising pension costs are too disruptive to government budgets. Allowing governments to “amortize,” or pay off, the costs over a decade makes more sense. But that assumes the pension system will keep recovering, even as it’s been deprived of money crucial to its revitalization.</p>
<p>The state’s Court of Appeals warned against this very kind of thinking when it said that by denying the pension system money “available for immediate investment, the return on investment of moneys in the existing fund will be significantly decreased.” The judges understood the threat better than New York’s elected leaders, who must be hoping that they simply won’t be around when things go terribly wrong, as they have in Arizona and are about to in Illinois.</p>
Why We Need Medical and Insurance Reforms
tag:teebeedee.ning.com,2015-03-11:1991841:Topic:1737213
2015-03-11T06:40:52.127Z
ProblemAgain
http://teebeedee.ning.com/profile/ProblemAgain
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<h1 class="headline" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1426052935501_852">A $10,169 blood test is everything wrong with American health care</h1>
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<div class="credit-bar clearfix large-sharebtns"><div class="credit-bar-inner"><div class="credit"><a href="http://www.vox.com/"><img alt="Vox.com" class="provider-img" src="http://l.yimg.com/os/publish-images/news/2014-08-14/740528f0-23dc-11e4-969f-bb870d674049_vox-logo-white-61x30.png"></img></a><div class="credit-text"><cite class="byline vcard top-line"><span>By</span> <span class="fn">Sarah Kliff</span> <abbr>15 hours ago…</abbr></cite></div>
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<h1 id="yui_3_16_0_1_1426052935501_852" class="headline">A $10,169 blood test is everything wrong with American health care</h1>
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<div class="credit-bar clearfix large-sharebtns"><div class="credit-bar-inner"><div class="credit"><a href="http://www.vox.com/"><img src="http://l.yimg.com/os/publish-images/news/2014-08-14/740528f0-23dc-11e4-969f-bb870d674049_vox-logo-white-61x30.png" alt="Vox.com" class="provider-img"/></a><div class="credit-text"><cite class="byline vcard top-line"><span>By</span> <span class="fn">Sarah Kliff</span> <abbr>15 hours ago</abbr></cite></div>
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<p><span>A lipid panel is one of the most basic blood tests in modern medicine. Doctors use it to measure cholesterol levels in their patients, probably millions of times each year.</span></p>
<p>This is not a procedure where some hospitals are really great at lipid panels and some are terrible. There's just not space for quality variation: you are running blood through a machine and pressing buttons. That's it.</p>
<p>And that all makes it a bit baffling why, in California, a lipid panel can cost anywhere between $10 and $10,000. In either case, it is the exact same test.</p>
<p><q class="center">"We're not talking twofold or threefold variation. It's a different level of magnitude."</q></p>
<p>"What we were trying to see is, when we get down the simplest, most basic form of medicine, how much variation is there in price?" says Renee Hsia, an associate professor at University of California, San Francisco who published the price data in <a href="http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/4/8/e005482.short?g=w_open_current_tab">a recent study</a>.</p>
<p>"It shows how big the variation really is. We're not talking twofold or threefold differences, it's a completely different level of magnitude."</p>
<h3>More than 100 hospitals — with more than 100 different prices</h3>
<p>For this research, published in August in the <i>British Medical Journal</i>, Hsia and her colleagues compiled reams of data about how much more than 100 hospitals charged for basic blood work. The prices these facilities charged consumers were all over the map.</p>
<p>The charge for a lipid panel ranged from $10 to $10,169. Hospital prices for a basic metabolic panel (which doctors use to measure the body's metabolism) were $35 at one facility — and $7,303 at another.</p>
<p>For every blood test that the researchers looked at, they found pretty giant variation:</p>
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<p>This huge variation in the price of a really simple, incredibly basic blood test tells us a few things about the American health care system.</p>
<h3>Blood tests aren't the only place with this variation</h3>
<p>Hsia's previous research looked at the cost of an appendectomy in California and found similarly gigantic variation. For an appendectomy with no complications, she <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/post/how-much-does-an-appendectomy-cost-somewhere-between-1529-and-186955/2012/04/24/gIQAMeKMeT_blog.html">found</a> that hospitals in the state would charge anywhere between $1,529 and $186,955.</p>
<p>One the issues with that study, she says, is that different hospitals might treat patients differently. "Some hospital might use more IV bags than others or one doctor could be ordering a lot of blood tests," she says.</p>
<p><q class="center">appendectomies can cost anywhere from $1,529 to $186,955</q></p>
<p>The point of comparing an incredibly basic blood test, and its prices, was to distill down to a very basic test that offers no space for variation — but still has a huge range in how much hospitals will charge.</p>
<p>Not every patient pays the full charge rate: insurance companies, for example, typically negotiate a lower rate with the hospital. Medicare, which covers seniors, has a set fee schedule it uses. But these are the prices that an uninsured patient — who doesn't have a health plan bargaining on her behalf — could face.</p>
<p>"If I'm hospitalized, don't have insurance and my doctor orders three days worth of blood tests, this is what I'm getting billed for," Hsia says.</p>
<h3><span>What this tells us about American health care</span></h3>
<p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1426052935501_829"><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1426052935501_828">For one, there's not much price transparency: it's really hard to know whether one hospital is charging $10 or $10,169 because prices are rarely listed. For this particular study, Hsia literally had to hire a software engineer to collect the data and line up all the different hospitals against each other.</span></p>
<p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1426052935501_832">The $10,169 blood test tells us we're suckers: we've developed a health care system where its hospitals have pretty full authority to name their price with little protest from consumers.</p>
<p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1426052935501_833"><q class="left">Americans are getting suckered on health prices</q></p>
<p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1426052935501_834">For people with health insurance, really big price variation often isn't a concern. If their plan covers the bill, it doesn't matter to them, personally, whether they get the $10 test or the $10,000 one.</p>
<p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1426052935501_835">For those without coverage (or those whose coverage only covers a certain percent of the bill), price variation matters a lot. Getting a $10,000 blood test can put a patient into bankruptcy. But right now, our health care system doesn't have the mechanisms to limit those high charges — nor would the patient likely have the tools to know the cost of his or her blood test to begin with.</p>
<p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1426052935501_836">"There's no other industry where you see this kind of extreme variation," Hsia says. "And nobody has ever really challenged it. It shows an extreme inefficiency, and something we really need to change."</p>
Congress and Women
tag:teebeedee.ning.com,2015-01-22:1991841:Topic:1732351
2015-01-22T04:54:10.195Z
ProblemAgain
http://teebeedee.ning.com/profile/ProblemAgain
<p></p>
<p><img alt="" height="290" src="http://www.damemagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/feature_wide/public/field/image/New-Congress-10.jpg?itok=EfflkEXU" width="840"></img></p>
<div class="column-tag"><span class="field-item even" style="display: inline;"><a href="http://www.damemagazine.com/reproductive-rights">Reproductive Rights</a></span></div>
<h1 class="title">Five Awful Things Congress Will Likely Do to Women This Year</h1>
<div class="field field-name-field-article-sub-title field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">They’ve only been back in session less than a week, but the GOP-run…</div>
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<p><img src="http://www.damemagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/feature_wide/public/field/image/New-Congress-10.jpg?itok=EfflkEXU" alt="" height="290" width="840"/></p>
<div class="column-tag"><span style="display: inline;" class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.damemagazine.com/reproductive-rights">Reproductive Rights</a></span></div>
<h1 class="title">Five Awful Things Congress Will Likely Do to Women This Year</h1>
<div class="field field-name-field-article-sub-title field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">They’ve only been back in session less than a week, but the GOP-run House and Senate have come out, guns-a-blazing, ready to destroy what’s left of our reproductive rights.</div>
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<div id="node-byline-float"><span class="by">Written by</span> <span><a href="http://www.damemagazine.com/user/1189">Gina Loukareas</a></span></div>
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<p class="p1"> When Republicans took control of both houses of Congress last November, women across the country felt a slight twinge in their uteruses—and with good reason. Over the past four years, states have enacted <a href="http://www.guttmacher.org/media/inthenews/2015/01/05/" target="_blank">231 pieces of anti-choice legislation</a>. Last year alone, 15 states signed 26 new abortion restrictions into law, and <a href="http://www.salon.com/2015/01/05/states_enacted_over_200_abortion_restrictions_in_the_last_4_years_alone/" target="_blank">57 percent of women</a> live in states that the <a href="http://www.guttmacher.org/index.html" target="_blank">Guttmacher Institute</a>, a reproductive health non-profit, has deemed hostile towards abortion rights. With Republicans now firmly in control of the House and Senate, the abortion restrictions we’ve seen at the state level are about the get their moment in the national spotlight. Welcome to the 114<span class="s2">th</span> United States Congress—where no uterus will be left behind. <br/><br/>1. The Handmaid’s Tale 500 <br/><br/>The echoes of the gavel were still ringing through the House chamber on Monday when Reps. Trent Franks (R-AZ) and Marsha Blackburn <span class="s3">(R-TN) sprinted toward the podium to introduce a <a href="http://www.damemagazine.com/2015/01/07/congress-returns-and-introduces-abortion-ban" target="_blank"><span class="s4">ban on abortions after 20 weeks</span></a>. In a “post-race interview,” Rep. Blackburn said, “I think we have a good bill out there. Our crew was top-notch and we had a smooth ride coming out of the chamber pit. A few more races like this and we’ll be bringing home the trophy.” Rep. Blackburn then turned and doused Rep. Franks with Gatorade. <br/><br/>2. Life (and Hookers!) For Me, But Not For Thee</span></p>
<p class="p2">On Wednesday, Senator David Vitter (R-LA) introduced not one, not two, but <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/08/republicans-abortion_n_6438522.html" target="_blank">FOUR pieces of anti-choice legislation</a>, including a bill that would allow medical professionals to refuse to perform abortions, even in cases of emergencies. If you’re thinking this doesn’t seem very “pro-life,” please remember that Sen. Vitter has <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2013/12/12/3055681/republican-senators-introduce-license-discriminate-married-sex-couples/" target="_blank">waged war</a> against marriage equality while violating the sanctity of his own marriage with an <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/senator-caught-in-dc-madam-scandal/" target="_blank">assortment of prostitutes</a>. Consistency is not Senator Vitter’s strong suit. <br/><br/>3. The Phyllis Schlafly Campus Sexual Assault Prevention Act<br/><br/>With five pieces of anti-choice legislation introduced in the first 48 hours of the new congressional year, 2015 is looking like another harsh year for women. Thank goodness everyone’s favorite <a href="http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20065183,00.html" target="_blank">miserable relic</a> has our backs. When asked how to reduce the number of sexual assaults pervading college campuses, 218-year old Phyllis Schlafly suggested eliminating student loans and <a href="http://www.progresswomen.com/2015/01/08/st-louis-own-phyllis-schlafly-women-get-raped-because-there-are-too-many-women-in-college/" target="_blank">restricting the number of women admitted to college</a>. This would appeal greatly to the <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/04/09/3424853/senate-republicans-paycheck-fairness-act/" target="_blank">legislative haters of the Paycheck Fairness Act</a>; the fewer women allowed into college, the less those women will bitch and complain about the disparity in pay since they won’t be able to find living wage jobs. Win-win!<br/><br/>4. Defund All the Things<br/><br/>There are three things guaranteed in this life: death, taxes, and a GOP-controlled Congress attempting to defund Planned Parenthood. Included in Senator Vitter’s fruit basket of anti-choice proposals is a bill that would do exactly that. And on Thursday, more than 80 House Republicans <a href="http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/228925-gop-renews-abortion-funding-fight-against-planned-parenthood" target="_blank">introduced their version of the bill</a>. What would defunding Planned Parenthood do? It would <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/03/what-happens-when-you-defund-planned-parenthood" target="_blank">drastically reduce access to contraception</a>, screening for and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases, cancer screenings, and basic health care. What it won’t do is reduce the number of abortions performed by Planned Parenthood. Why? Because Planned Parenthood is prohibited from using federal funds for abortion care <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyde_Amendment" target="_blank">BY LAW</a>. A law that’s been in place since 1976. So this Congress will spend an untold number of hours decrying the evils of Planned Parenthood in an attempt to strip their federal funding which would inhibit access to contraception which would increase the number of unintended pregnancies, thereby increasing the number of non-tax payer funded abortions at Planned Parenthood. Anti-Choice Logic 101.<br/><br/>5. What Could Possibly Go Wrong? <br/><br/>Women’s reproductive rights have been turned into a twisted game of Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better. At the state level we’ve seen proposals of abortions <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/health/2014/12/10/3601528/ohio-sneak-six-week-ban/" target="_blank">banned after six weeks</a>, <a href="http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/12/gop-lawmaker-defends-missouri-abortion-permission-bill-womans-life-not-altered/" target="_blank">abortion permission slips</a>, <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2014/10/tennessee_anti_abortion_amendment_1_voters_will_decide_whether_legislature.html" target="_blank">flat-out denials of the right to an abortion</a>, and a whole host of other anti-choice madness. While it’s easy (and even necessary) <span class="s6">for me </span>to take a satiric tone here, what this all boils down to is the right of women to live their lives as they see fit, and not at the mercy nor the whim of an elected official hoping to score points with the big donors back home. Our physical autonomy is at stake—control over our actual bodies. And when you don’t vote and you don’t fight, you surrender your agency to the powers that be: these guys.</p>
<p class="p2"><img src="http://damemagazine.com/sites/default/files/naral-image.png" alt=""/></p>
<p class="p2">What could possibly go wrong? <br/><br/>Everything.</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p><em>Gina Loukareas is a Boston-based writer, social media strategist, and activist. She's one of the co-founders of <a href="http://http://www.aisfor.org/" target="_blank">A is For...,</a> a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting reproductive rights</em>.</p>
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Gas up the Clown Car...The Silly Season Begins
tag:teebeedee.ning.com,2015-01-20:1991841:Topic:1732136
2015-01-20T09:06:24.223Z
ProblemAgain
http://teebeedee.ning.com/profile/ProblemAgain
<p>if you get your facts from a 'complete idiot', the odds might be you fit the description too. rubber nose and big shoes are optional</p>
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<h1 class="headline" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1421744420316_561">Jindal: Muslim establish 'no-go zones' outside civic control…</h1>
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<div class="credit-bar clearfix large-sharebtns" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1421744420316_1117"><div class="credit-bar-inner" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1421744420316_1121"><div class="credit"><a href="http://www.ap.org/"><img alt="Associated Press" class="provider-img" src="http://l.yimg.com/os/152/2012/04/21/image001-png_162613.png"></img></a></div>
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<p>if you get your facts from a 'complete idiot', the odds might be you fit the description too. rubber nose and big shoes are optional</p>
<p></p>
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<h1 id="yui_3_16_0_1_1421744420316_561" class="headline">Jindal: Muslim establish 'no-go zones' outside civic control</h1>
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<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1421744420316_1117" class="credit-bar clearfix large-sharebtns"><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1421744420316_1121" class="credit-bar-inner"><div class="credit"><a href="http://www.ap.org/"><img src="http://l.yimg.com/os/152/2012/04/21/image001-png_162613.png" alt="Associated Press" class="provider-img"/></a><div class="credit-text"><cite class="byline vcard top-line"><span>By</span> <span class="fn">PHILIP ELLIOTT</span> <abbr>7 hours ago</abbr></cite></div>
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<h3 id="yui_3_16_0_1_1421744420316_1101" class="Fz-xl Mt-4 Px-10">Jindal: Muslim 'No-Go Zones' in West Should Not Stand</h3>
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<i class="Icon Pos-a Fz-25 Pstart-20 Pend-16 Py-10 RoundedCorners Cur-p" style="background-color: #324fe1; color: #fff; top: 50%; left: 50%; margin-top: -18px; margin-left: -28px; border-width: 0;"></i> <img src="https://s1.yimg.com/uu/api/res/1.2/0uQgX2Qoz2T_PG1j2Jjw7g--/dz02NDA7Zmk9ZmlsbDtweW9mZj0wO2g9MzYwO2FwcGlkPXl0YWNoeW9u/<a href="http://media.zenfs.com/en-US/video/video.wochit.com/0a63555abf122e134053af2ee6bee54b">http://media.zenfs.com/en-US/video/video.wochit.com/0a63555abf122e134053af2ee6bee54b</a>" alt="Jindal: Muslim 'No-Go Zones' in West Should Not Stand" class="W-100 D-b"/></div>
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<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — Some countries have allowed Muslims to establish autonomous neighborhoods in cities where they govern by a harsh version of Islamic law, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said Monday during a speech in London.</p>
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<p>The Republican, who is considering a presidential campaign in 2016, later defended — and repeated — the statement after facing reporters' questions about his claims.</p>
<p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1421744420316_1082">In a speech prepared for delivery at a British think tank, Jindal said some immigrants are seeking "to colonize Western countries, because setting up your own enclave and demanding recognition of a no-go zone are exactly that." He also said Muslim leaders must condemn the people who commit terrorism in the name of faith as "murderers who are going to hell."</p>
<p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1421744420316_1067">Jindal aides said he did not make significant changes to the prepared text.</p>
<p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1421744420316_1066">The claims on "no-go zones" are similar to those a Fox News guest made last week about places where non-Muslims were not welcome in parts of the United Kingdom such as Birmingham, and "Muslim religious police" enforce faith-based laws.</p>
<p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1421744420316_1065">Steven Emerson, an American author who often is asked about terror networks, told Fox News that in Britain "there are actual cities like Birmingham that are totally Muslim, where non-Muslims just simply don't go in."</p>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1421744420316_1058" class="body-related"><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1421744420316_1056" class="img-wrap"><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1421744420316_1055" class="cta-overlay"><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1421744420316_1059" class="cta-text xsmall">View gallery</span> <span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1421744420316_1060" class="icon-slideshow icon-white-slideshow-xsmall"></span></div>
<img alt="In this Nov. 3, 2014, file photo, Louisiana Gov. Bobby&nbsp;&hellip;" class="body-related-thumb" src="http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/pxbYoOvFIsim5GcfLjw8Og--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTIzNDtxPTc1O3c9MzAw/<a href="http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/93afb08c37fcb8036b0f6a7067009d20.jpg">http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/93afb08c37fcb8036b0f6a7067009d20.jpg</a>" height="234" width="300"/></div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1421744420316_1061" class="body-related-title photo-caption" style="width: 300px;">In this Nov. 3, 2014, file photo, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal delivers a speech for Florida Gov. Ric …</div>
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<p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1421744420316_1064">Prime Minister David Cameron responded by calling Emerson a "complete idiot."</p>
<p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1421744420316_1063">Emerson later apologized and said his comments "were totally in error." Fox News also issued apologies for broadcasting the comments.</p>
<p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1421744420316_1050">Jindal, however, used similar rhetoric during a speech, warning of "no-go zones" in London and other Western cities. Jindal's remarks come in the wake of the massacre by Islamic extremists at a Paris magazine's offices and subsequent attack on a kosher supermarket in the city. Three gunmen killed 17 people in the attacks.</p>
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<p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1421744420316_1049">"I knew that by speaking the truth we were going to make people upset," Jindal told CNN during an interview from London.</p>
<p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1421744420316_1037">"The huge issue, the big issue in non-assimilation is the fact that you have people that want to come to our country but not adopt our values, not adopt our language and in some cases want to set apart their own enclaves and hold onto their own values," said Jindal. "I think that's dangerous."</p>
<p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1421744420316_1036">Jindal's parents immigrated to the United States from India. As a young man, Jindal converted from Hinduism to Catholicism.</p>
<p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1421744420316_1035">Asked for evidence of "no-go zones," Jindal pointed to a weekend article in The Daily Mail, a London tabloid, that said killings, sexual abuse of minors and female genital mutilation are believed to go unreported to local police in some areas. The article did not give specific religious groups or towns.</p>
<p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1421744420316_1030">"The bigger point is that radical Islam is a threat to our way of life," Jindal said. Asked if he regretted talking about "no-go zones," Jindal replied: "Not at all."</p>
<p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1421744420316_1032">Jindal spoke to the Henry Jackson Society, a British think tank named for a former U.S. Democratic senator from Washington state who was a presidential candidate in the 1970s.</p>
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Nothing like a good balance of 'legal' power, greed and shady business.
tag:teebeedee.ning.com,2014-12-02:1991841:Topic:1726533
2014-12-02T17:39:59.443Z
ProblemAgain
http://teebeedee.ning.com/profile/ProblemAgain
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<div class="trb_article_articleHeader_head"><div class="trb_article_title"><h1 class="trb_article_title_text">Orange County D.A.'s office is doing debt collectors' dirty work</h1>
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<div class="trb_article_articleHeader_head"><div class="trb_article_title"><h1 class="trb_article_title_text">Orange County D.A.'s office is doing debt collectors' dirty work</h1>
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<img src="http://www.trbimg.com/img-53fc00c2/turbine/lanews-david-lazarus-20130507/150/100x150" alt="Orange County D.A.'s office is doing debt collectors' dirty work" title="Orange County D.A.'s office is doing debt collectors' dirty work" height="150" width="100"/><br />
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<h4><a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/lanews-david-lazarus-20130507-staff.html">David Lazarus</a></h4>
<address class="trb_columnistInfo_contactInfo"><span class="trb_columnistInfo_cityNewspaper">Los Angeles Times</span><span class="trb_columnistInfo_columnistEmail"><a rel="author email" href="mailto:david.lazarus@latimes.com?subject=Regarding%20Orange%20County%20D.A.%27s%20office%20is%20doing%20debt%20collectors%27%20dirty%20work">david.lazarus@latimes.com</a></span></address>
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<h4 class="trb_columnistInfo_byColumnist_content"><a class="trb_columnistInfo_columnistHandle" href="http://www.twitter.com/@Davidlaz"></a></h4>
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<div class="trb_embed_media"><img src="http://www.trbimg.com/img-547d0b06/turbine/la-1475202-me-0711-saudi-princess-006-ik-jpg-20141201/550/550x309" alt="Tony Rackauckas" class="trb_embed_imageContainer_img" title="Tony Rackauckas"/>
<div class="trb_embed_related"><div class="trb_embed_related_credit_and_caption">Orange County Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas says on his website that the Bad Check Restitution Program is intended “to assist local merchants with bad check losses.” (Irfan Khan, Los Angeles Times)</div>
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<div class="trb_sharelines"><div class="trb_sharelines_list"><a class="trb_shareline"></a> <span class="trb_sharelines_text">Letter with Orange County district attorney's letterhead was sent by a company called CorrectiveSolutions</span></div>
<div class="trb_sharelines_list"><a class="trb_shareline"></a> <span class="trb_sharelines_text">Restitution program raises questions about why Orange County is involved in collecting private firm' debts</span></div>
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<p>Karen Solberg wrote a check for $75 last year to buy car insurance for herself and her daughter. She subsequently reconsidered and stopped payment on the check.</p>
<p>Solberg, 65, never imagined this could be a crime.</p>
<p>In October 2013, she received a letter from Orange County Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas saying that she had been accused of bouncing a check and that she faced the possibility of a year in prison.</p>
<p>On the other hand, the letter said, Solberg could avoid prosecution by signing up for the county's Bad Check Restitution Program and pay the outstanding $75 plus $210 in fees.</p>
<p>In fact, Rackauckas never saw that letter, nor did any prosecutor in his office. It was sent on the district attorney's letterhead by a San Clemente company called CorrectiveSolutions.</p>
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<div class="trb_embed_media"><span class="trb_pullquote_text">The problem is that consumers are being misled into believing that they face prosecution when the reality is that they haven't been charged with a crime.</span> <span class="trb_pullquote_credit">- -</span><div class="trb_embed_related"></div>
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<p>Solberg is one of several California plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the company filed Monday in U.S. District Court in San Francisco. It alleges that CorrectiveSolutions “uses false and misleading threats of criminal prosecution” to scare people into paying high fees to settle debt problems.</p>
<p>Use of official letterhead is one issue with so-called restitution programs, which are offered by prosecutors nationwide.</p>
<p>Another, at least in the case of Orange County, is that the program is a money loser for taxpayers. This raises questions about why the county is involved in collecting private companies' debts.</p>
<p>"I'm angriest with the D.A.'s office," Solberg told me. "I don't think they should be prostituting themselves in this way."</p>
<p>These programs aren't new. I <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/print/2008/feb/20/business/fi-lazarus20">first wrote about</a> the potentially misleading letters in 2008 and pointed out that the fees involved, which are shared by the debt collector and the prosecutor's office, could be seen as a publicly sponsored shakedown racket.</p>
<p>Last month, the ethics committee of the American Bar Assn. reached a similar conclusion. It said that any prosecutor who provides letterhead to a debt-collection company without first having a lawyer review the case violates the organization's rules of professional conduct.</p>
<p>Solberg purchased her insurance from the Sacramento office of a Huntington Beach company called Freeway Insurance.</p>
<p>Not long after she stopped payment on her check, Solberg received a notice from a debt collector called FEDChex Recovery seeking the original $75 plus a $25 fee. She ignored it.</p>
<p>Several months later, Solberg received what looked like an official letter from Rackauckas' office, followed every few weeks by a second, third and final warning, each reiterating that she may have violated the California Penal Code.</p>
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<p>Solberg said she called the number on the letter to explain the situation but got nowhere. She was instructed to pay the $285 demanded to make the problem go away. She refused.</p>
<p>Rackauckas says <a href="http://www.checkprogram.com/staticwebsites/orangecounty/index.htm">on his website</a> that the Bad Check Restitution Program is intended "to assist local merchants with bad check losses." If merchants are unsuccessful in recovering disputed cash, they're instructed to fill out a "crime report form" and send it to a San Clemente address.</p>
<p>Although the address is <a href="http://www.checkprogram.com/staticwebsites/orangecounty/filing.htm">presented online</a> as belonging to the Orange County District Attorney Bad Check Restitution Program, it's a private mailbox belonging to CorrectiveSolutions at a shipping-services company called <a href="http://coastalpostalsc.com/">Coastal Postal</a>.</p>
<p>No one at CorrectiveSolutions returned my calls for comment.</p>
<p>Susan Kang Schroeder, Rackauckas' chief of staff, said bad check restitution programs are intended to streamline the justice system.</p>
<p>"The idea is to keep these cases out of a very crowded court system," she told me.</p>
<p>That's all well and good. The problem is that consumers are being misled into believing that they face prosecution when the reality is that they haven't been charged with a crime.</p>
<p>Joe D'Agostino, the senior assistant district attorney who oversees Orange County's restitution program, acknowledged that no prosecutor vets the alleged bad checks submitted by merchants. But he said a paralegal takes a look at the documentation.</p>
<p>D'Agostino declined to say what percentage of fees collected by CorrectiveSolutions go to the district attorney's office. But he said the roughly 7,200 people who enrolled in Orange County's restitution program last year produced about $38,000 in revenue for the office.</p>
<p>Here's the thing: That doesn't come close to covering the public's cost of the program. The average salary for a California paralegal was $59,030 as of 2011, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.</p>
<p>D'Agostino and Schroeder, however, insisted that taxpayers come out ahead because the cost of prosecuting bad-check cases would be even greater.</p>
<p>"We're not like a for-profit business," Schroeder said. "We have to take care of these cases. We're just trying to do it in the most cost-effective way possible."</p>
<p>That assumes every person who signs up for the restitution program would have faced a criminal prosecution. It's likely some enrollees are participating out of the mistaken belief that they would be charged with breaking the law if they didn't.</p>
<p>Many others, such as Solberg, almost certainly wouldn't face charges once a prosecutor reviewed their situations.</p>
<p>Schroeder hadn't seen the Nov. 12 American Bar Assn. <a href="http://www.americanbar.org/groups/professional_responsibility/publications/ethics_opinions.html">opinion</a> until I shared it with her. She said her office is now seeking guidance from state bar officials.</p>
<p>In the meantime, Schroeder said, Orange County will have a lawyer be more involved with the restitution program "out of an abundance of caution."</p>
<p>These programs are hinky from the get-go. Prosecutors are allowing private debt collectors to misrepresent themselves as official entities, and consumers are unfairly being threatened with bogus charges.</p>
<p>If these programs focused solely on making the legal system more efficient, fine. But they seem to exist primarily to do the dirty work for merchants who believe they're owed some cash.</p>
<p>These companies should do their own debt collecting. Prosecutors should concentrate on enforcing the law.</p>
<p>And if prosecutors can't tell the difference, they should, as the American Bar Assn. suggested, sign up for some remedial ethics training.</p>
so why aren't the Republicans talking about this?
tag:teebeedee.ning.com,2014-11-22:1991841:Topic:1724734
2014-11-22T04:19:20.193Z
ProblemAgain
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<div class="head">funny how once the republican led committee finds the conclusions, since they don't fit their agenda they shut the fuck up</div>
<div id="precontent"><h1>House intel panel debunks many Benghazi theories</h1>
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<div class="authorinfo"><span class="partnerlogo-img"><span class="partnermainlogo"><img class="image loaded" src="http://img.s-msn.com/tenant/amp/entityid/AA1Q3dV.img?h=50&w=50&m=6&q=60&u=t&o=t&l=f&f=png" width="50"></img></span></span><div class="sourcename-txt truncate">Associated Press</div>
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<div class="head">funny how once the republican led committee finds the conclusions, since they don't fit their agenda they shut the fuck up</div>
<div id="precontent"><h1>House intel panel debunks many Benghazi theories</h1>
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<div class="authorinfo"><span class="partnerlogo-img"><span class="partnermainlogo"><img class="image loaded" src="http://img.s-msn.com/tenant/amp/entityid/AA1Q3dV.img?h=50&w=50&m=6&q=60&u=t&o=t&l=f&f=png" width="50"/></span></span><div class="sourcename-txt truncate">Associated Press</div>
<div class="authorinfo-txt"><span class="authorname-txt"><span class="truncate">KEN DILANIAN, AP Intelligence Writer</span></span> 2 hrs ago</div>
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<p><span class="storyimage fullwidth inlineimage"><span class="image"><img style="width: 73rem; height: 49rem;" alt="FILE - In this Sept. 13, 2012 file photo, a Libyan man walks in the rubble of the damaged U.S. consulate, after an attack that killed four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens on the night of Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2012, in Benghazi, Libya. A two-year investigation by the Republican-controlled House Intelligence Committee has found that the CIA and the military acted properly in responding to the 2012 attack on a U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, and asserted no wrongdoing by Obama administration appointees." class="image loaded" src="http://img.s-msn.com/tenant/amp/entityid/BBf6SvB.img?h=486&w=728&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f" width="728"/> <span class="pinit-button"><a target="_blank" class="stb-btn stb-pinterest" href="http://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=http%3a%2f%2fwww.msn.com%2f01%2fen-us%2fBBf6BYB&media=http%3a%2f%2fimg.s-msn.com%2ftenant%2famp%2fentityid%2fBBf6SvB.img&description=FILE+-+In+this+Sept.+13%2c+2012+file+photo%2c+a+Libyan+man+walks+in+the+rubble+of+the+damaged+U.S.+consu...+-+AP+photo%2fMohammad+Hannon%2c+File" title="pin it"></a></span></span> <span title="© AP photo/Mohammad Hannon, File FILE - In this Sept. 13, 2012 file photo, a Libyan man walks in the rubble of the damaged U.S. consulate, after an attack that killed four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens on the night of Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2012, in Benghazi, Libya. A two-year investigation by the Republican-controlled House Intelligence Committee has found that the CIA and the military acted properly in responding to the 2012 attack on a U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, and asserted no wrongdoing by Obama administration appointees." class="caption truncate"><span class="attribution">© AP photo/Mohammad Hannon, File</span> FILE - In this Sept. 13, 2012 file photo, a Libyan man walks in the rubble of the damaged U.S. consulate, after an attack that killed four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens on the night of…</span></span></p>
<p>WASHINGTON — A two-year investigation by the Republican-controlled House Intelligence Committee has found that the CIA and the military acted properly in responding to the 2012 attack on a U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, and asserted no wrongdoing by Obama administration appointees.</p>
<p>Debunking a series of persistent allegations hinting at dark conspiracies, the investigation of the politically charged incident determined that there was no intelligence failure, no delay in sending a CIA rescue team, no missed opportunity for a military rescue, and no evidence the CIA was covertly shipping arms from Libya to Syria.</p>
<p>In the immediate aftermath of the attack, intelligence about who carried it out and why was contradictory, the report found. That led Susan Rice, then U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, to inaccurately assert that the attack had evolved from a protest, when in fact there had been no protest. But it was intelligence analysts, not political appointees, who made the wrong call, the committee found. The report did not conclude that Rice or any other government official acted in bad faith or intentionally misled the American people.</p>
<p>The House Intelligence Committee report was released with little fanfare on the Friday before Thanksgiving week. Many of its findings echo those of six previous investigations by various congressional committees and a State Department panel. The eighth Benghazi investigation is being carried out by a House Select Committee appointed in May.</p>
<p>The attacks in Benghazi killed U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens, foreign service officer Sean Smith, and two CIA contractors, Tyrone S. Woods and Glen Doherty. A Libyan extremist, Ahmed Abu Khatalla, is facing trial on murder charges after he was captured in Libya and taken to the U.S.</p>
<p>In the aftermath of the attacks, Republicans criticized the Obama administration and its then-secretary of state, Hillary Rodham Clinton, who is expected to run for president in 2016. People in and out of government have alleged that a CIA response team was ordered to "stand down" after the State Department compound came under attack, that a military rescue was nixed, that officials intentionally downplayed the role of al-Qaida figures in the attack, and that Stevens and the CIA were involved in a secret operation to spirit weapons out of Libya and into the hands of Syrian rebels. None of that is true, according to the House Intelligence Committee report.</p>
<p>The report did find, however, that the State Department facility where Stevens and Smith were killed was not well-protected, and that State Department security agents knew they could not defend it from a well-armed attack. Previous reports have found that requests for security improvements were not acted upon in Washington.</p>
<p><span class="storyimage fullwidth inlineimage"><span class="image"><img style="width: 73rem; height: 49rem;" alt="An armed man waves his rifle as buildings and cars are engulfed in flames after being set on fire inside the US consulate compound in Benghazi late on September 11, 2012." class="image loaded" src="http://img.s-msn.com/tenant/amp/entityid/BBf8c7l.img?h=486&w=728&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f&x=970&y=638" width="728"/> <span class="pinit-button"><a target="_blank" class="stb-btn stb-pinterest" href="http://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=http%3a%2f%2fwww.msn.com%2f01%2fen-us%2fBBf6BYB&media=http%3a%2f%2fimg.s-msn.com%2ftenant%2famp%2fentityid%2fBBf8c7l.img&description=Benghazi+attack+-+AFP%2fGettyImages" title="pin it"></a></span></span> <span class="caption truncate"><span class="attribution">© AFP/GettyImages</span> An armed man waves his rifle as buildings and cars are engulfed in flames after being set on fire inside the US consulate compound in Benghazi late on September 11, 2012.</span></span></p>
<p>"We spent thousands of hours asking questions, poring over documents, reviewing intelligence assessments, reading cables and emails, and held a total of 20 committee events and hearings," said Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., the committee's chairman, and Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger of Maryland, the ranking Democrat, in a joint statement.</p>
<p>"We conducted detailed interviews with senior intelligence officials from Benghazi and Tripoli as well as eight security personnel on the ground in Benghazi that night. Based on the testimony and the documents we reviewed, we concluded that all the CIA officers in Benghazi were heroes. Their actions saved lives," they said.</p>
<p>Rep. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat who serves on the intelligence panel and the Benghazi select committee, said, "It's my hope that this report will put to rest many of the questions that have been asked and answered yet again, and that the Benghazi Select Committee will accept these findings and instead focus its attention on the State Department's progress in securing our facilities around the world and standing up our fast response capabilities."</p>
<p>Some of the harshest charges have been leveled at Rice, now Obama's national security adviser, who represented the Obama administration on Sunday talk shows the weekend after the attack. Rice repeated talking points that wrongly described a protest over a video deemed offensive to Muslims.</p>
<p>But Rice's comments were based on faulty intelligence from multiple agencies, according to the report. Analysts received 21 reports that a protest occurred in Benghazi, the report said —14 from the Open Source Center, which reviews news reports; one from the CIA; two from the Defense Department; and four from the National Security Agency.</p>
<p>In the years since, some participants in the attack have said they were motivated by the video. The attackers were a mix of extremists and hangers on, the investigation found.</p>
<p>"To this day," the report said, "significant intelligence gaps regarding the identities, affiliations and motivations of the attackers remain."</p>