Young Libertarians Aim to Be Players in 2014 Elections

◼ Group looks to harness Ron Paul momentum to back midterm candidates. - USNews&WorldReport

Get ready to meet the next generation of conservative political action committees.

Super PACs like Club for Growth Action and Senate Conservatives Action might be the grown-ups dominating the headlines today, giving the GOP establishment a headache and driving Republican Party squabbles. But now, a libertarian youth group is hoping to get in the midterm election game, attract a new generation of donors and contribute to the cause.

Young Americans for Liberty’s political action committee – Liberty Action Fund – bills itself as a youth-driven, grass-roots machine ready to harness enthusiasm for former Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, and leverage it into support for constitutionally focused and libertarian-minded congressional candidates. The PAC is an offshoot of Young Americans for Liberty, a libertarian youth organization with 500 chapters and more than 125,000 participants, according to the YAL website.

Invitations to the 2014 Republican Of The Year Dinner are in the mail

We look forward to seeing you at the Republican Of The Year Dinner, March 29th at the Ingomar. No Host Cocktails at 5:00, Dinner is served at 6:00.

This year we are honoring Republican Of The Year Peter Hannaford, and Volunteer Of The Year Annette De Modena.

Reservations are required for this Invitation Only Event. For more information, please call Jane at (707) 442-5602, or call the Humboldt GOP Headquarters at (707) 442-2259.

◼ You can pay for tickets using our secure online Piryx link, HERE.

Parents are not aware that this book is in 4th grade classrooms

◼ SEXING UP YOUR KIDS: Here’s What A School Has for Your 4th Grader - Clash Daily

◼ New York liberals aren't too fond of Common Core. - PJTV YouTube

◼ Why Parents Are “Paranoid” About Common Core - Michelle Malkin/Right Wing News

Assessing Common Core is inextricably tied to the big business of data collection and data mining. States that took the Race to the Top bribes in exchange for adopting Common Core must now comply with the edutech requirements of two private testing conglomerates, the Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers or the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium. Common Core states also agreed to expand existing statewide longitudinal database systems that contain sensitive student data from pre-kindergarten through postsecondary education.

Will Estrada and Katie Tipton of the Homeschool Legal Defense Association conclude that “it will become increasingly difficult to protect the personal information of homeschool and private school students as these databases grow.” In addition to stimulus and Race to the Top enticements, both the Education and Labor Departments have funded several other initiatives to build and make various interoperable student and teacher databases.

“Before our eyes,” Estrada and Tipton warn, “a ‘national database’ is being created in which every public school student’s personal information and academic history will be stored.” It’s no laughing matter.

c◼ Opponents rally against Common Core in Utah - EAG News

Not all lawmakers are sitting silent. Rally supporters cheered at the introduction of bills by Representative Green and Layton that will return control of schools back into the hands of local communities. Senator Margaret Dayton reminded audience that “even if the standards were perfect they come from the wrong source.”

◼ New Wisconsin legislation could put Common Core in the grave - EAG News

Feds Withhold Water To Farmers For First Time In 54 Years...

◼ Without a lot more rain and snow, many California farmers caught in the state's drought can expect to receive no irrigation water this year from a vast system of rivers, canals and reservoirs interlacing the state, federal officials announced Friday. - AP

Gov. Jerry Brown last month declared California's drought emergency, and both state and federal officials have pledged millions of dollars to help with water conservation and food banks for those put out of work by the drought.

A buoy lies on the bottom of Hirz Bay in Shasta Lake, which is 100 feet (30 meters) below its normal …
California officials who manage the State Water Project, the state's other major water system, have already said they won't be releasing any water for farmers, marking a first in its 54-year history.

GE WILL NO LONGER DESIGN PROJECTS TO PLEASE CLIMATE CHANGE ADVOCATES

◼ In a watershed moment and a huge victory over environmentalists, General Electric has agreed to stop projects that are designed solely for the purpose of carbon dioxide reductions to please those who lobby for climate change concessions. - William Bigelow/Breitbart

...The new concession by GE may have been in the works for some time; in 2011, Immelt told an MIT Enterprise Forum audience that he had "lost interest in calling on the United States to develop a more comprehensive energy policy." National Center President David Ridenour responded, “talk is cheap."
Danhof concluded:

All too often, shareholders find themselves facing almost insurmountable odds when they believe the company they have invested in has strayed from free-market principles. In this case, the company has done the right thing. Not only is this a victory for General Electric's shareholders and employees, it is a victory for all Americans.

Amy Ridenhour added:

For the past quarter-century, government and corporate efforts have plowed billions into the promotion and exploitation of the human-caused catastrophic global warming theory. The result has been higher taxes, greater deficits, higher prices, job loss and greater government control over our daily lives – all in service of a theory based on computer models that are not coming true. More and more people around the world are waking up to the fact that the global warming theory is about hot air, all right, but that a startlingly high percentage of that hot air is coming from people pushing the theory, not hardworking people going about their daily business. Slowly but surely, the expensive, job-killing and liberty-encroaching global warming leviathan is being defeated. We commend General Electric for taking this step and encourage other corporations to follow its lead.

"If you like your plan you can keep it” debate now expands beyond private insurance & into Medicare.

◼ Democrats Are About To Awake A Political Giant - NRSC

Today the Obama administration is expected to announce massive cuts to the payment rates for Medicare Advantage plans next year. American Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) reports that these seniors could face premium increases and benefit reductions of $35-$75 per month, or $420-$900 next year.

Of the more than 50 million older Americans who receive coverage through Medicare, about 30% - or 15 million - are enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans.

If President Obama were actually listening to seniors, they'd share with him one of Joe Biden's famous lines... this is a big deal.

Seniors will see the impact of any cuts in late October 2014, when they begin enrolling in their Medicare Advantage coverage for the following year. That comes at a politically disastrous time for Democrats -- their policies will have awakened a political giant.

Democrats, including former top operative for Harry Reid are sounding the alarm bells saying:

"Democrats they had better watch out" Already worried about the political fallout of seniors that are being hit with a reduction in benefits and higher costs, Democrats like Kay Hagan, Mary Landrieu and Mark Pryor are panicked. This week, they were forced to admit in a letter to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services that they indeed cut Medicare for seniors after repeatedly promising they would protect these programs from cuts.

Democrats should be worried. Americans want Obamacare and it's Medicare cuts dismantled.

‘Smart kid’! Young person responds to FLOTUS’ suggestion that he’s a ‘knucklehead’

◼ As Twitchy reported, last night, Michelle Obama offered up an Obamacare sales pitch on “The Tonight Show,” telling host Jimmy Fallon that “young people are knuckleheads.” Needless to say, it didn’t go over with actual young people — people like this guy:

My son's response to being called a knucklehead by #FLOTUS #letsmove #tcot #teaparty pic.twitter.com/tsPOgDROMt

— Tanya Bachand (@tanyabachand) February 21, 2014

◼ DELAYING ADULTHOOD IN AMERICA: TURNING ADULTS INTO CHILDREN - David L. Goetsch/Patriot Update

At what age is a young person considered an adult? For all of my life the age of maturity has been 18. An eighteen year-old individual is considered old enough to vote, join the military, buy a car, get married, get a job without the permission of a parent, enter into a lease, take out a loan, and do all of the other things associated with adulthood. Think about it....

When I was a teenager my peers could not wait to reach the age of 18 and either get a job, join the military, or go to college. What we did not want to do is continue living with mom and dad and acting like perpetual teenagers. The attitudes of today’s young adults are different. At a time in their lives when their parents were raising kids, too many of today’s 30-something adults are still living with mom and dad, have no job, are not going to college, and would not even consider joining the military. In short, too many young people who have reached the age of responsibility are doing everything they can to avoid responsibility. According to a Pew Research Report, almost 22 million adults ranging in age from 18 to 31 still live with their parents....

Viral Video of Ukrainian Girl Asking the World for Help Not as “Grass Roots” as You May Think

◼ People have been calling this a ‘grass roots video’ - Wayne Dupree/NewsNinja

I guess no one else noticed the professional lighting, make up, sound mixing and camera pans. It’s about as organic as Monsanto’s terminator corn. But, all that aside, after doing some more digging (aka: following the money), Paul Joseph Watson found out that the video was produced by the team behind A Whisper to a Roar, a documentary funded by Prince Moulay Hicham of Morocco. According to Watson:

The “inspiration” behind the documentary was none other than Larry Diamond, a Council on Foreign Relations member. The Council on Foreign Relations is considered to be America’s “most influential foreign-policy think tank” and has deep connections with the U.S. State Department.

Diamond has also worked closely with the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The National Endowment for Democracy is considered to be the CIA’s “civilian arm” and has been deeply embroiled in innumerable instigated uprisings, attempted coups and acts of neo-colonial regime change since its creation in 1983, including the contrived 2004 “Orange Revolution” that brought US puppet Viktor Yushchenko to power in Ukraine.

Larry Diamond also played an instrumental role in the Arab Spring under the auspices of the NED, a series of supposedly grass roots revolts that were in fact organized and managed by some of the most powerful western institutions on the planet.

It is clear that there is much more to the uprising in Kiev than we in America realize.

FCC Commissioner Blows The Whistle on His Own Agency

◼ Via Conservative Videos
◼ America Downgraded to #46 in the World Press Freedom Index - Wayne Dupree/NewsNinja
◼ OBAMA CRACKDOWN ON PRESS FREEDOM ESCALATES - Ben Shapiro/Breitbart

◼ Universities in FCC Newsroom Probe Have Close Ties to Soros, Got $1.8M in Funding - Mike Ciandella/CNS News

Connections include partnerships with Soros foundation on events, projects....The FCC may have suspended its invasion into American newsrooms, but the controversial "Critical Information Needs" study also has George Soros' fingerprints all over it.

While disturbing, this should come as no surprise since Soros' gave more than $52 million to media organizations from 2000-2010.

Two schools were working with FCC on the project, according to Byron York of The Washington Examiner. The University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism and the University of Wisconsin-Madison Center for Communication and Democracy, were tasked by the FCC with coming up with criteria for what information is "critical" for Americans to have. The FCC study would have covered newspapers, websites, radio and television, according to The Washington Post.

On top of the 1st Amendment problems with this proposal, the schools involved have strong ties to liberal billionaire George Soros' Open Society Foundations and have gotten more than $1.8 million from since 2000.

The journalism programs at these schools have even more ties to Soros besides their funding, including faculty members writing for university-based publications allied with Soros-funded outlets....

◼ Echoes of the IRS in the FCC Snooping Scandal - David French/National Review

Jon Coupal says California needs to change the way we do business if we want the economy to recover.

◼ California High Taxes & So-Called Balanced Budget! - KMPH

Have you stopped to consider how high your taxes are?

If you live in California, you are taxed at a higher rate than nearly any other state.

Some say California taxes you for everything.

It has some of the steepest sales tax, personal income tax and corporate tax rates in the nation.

...Coupal (President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association) says California will never grow out of this recovery, unless we have a vibrant economic recovery. He says that will not happen unless we change the way we do business. Many are reaching the tipping point with the tax and regulations. We love California but it's just becoming too burdensome."

If you feel like wasting 6 minutes of your life, you can’t do it more efficiently than to watch the weird appearance of Michelle Obama on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, which she used to pitch her health campaign.

◼ Jimmy Fallon & Will Ferrell Exceed the Limits of Weirdness Pushing Michelle Obama's Health Kick - SooperMexican/IJ Review

◼ Jimmy Fallon, Democrat Political Asset - Brent Bozell and Tim Graham/Newsbusters

The Obamas have had few more obsequious media allies than NBC's Jimmy Fallon. Now that he's taking over the hallowed ground of "The Tonight Show," Fallon's proven ability to spread his reach into viral videos on YouTube promises to become even more politically potent.

◼ The changed politics of late-night TV - Hadas Gold/Politico

The curtain rose this week on a new era of late-night TV — altering the terrain for politicians who frequent the shows and complicating life for Republicans, who have lost their most comfortable seat in front of the camera.

“The whole landscape’s about to change,” Arsenio Hall, the recently reincarnated late-night host, said in an interview. “Jay [Leno] going home is going to change it for a lot of people.”

EDITORIAL: Connecticut gun owners revolt

◼ Widely flouted registration law puts legislators in a bind - By THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Reality is of little interest to Connecticut politicians when they’re intent on making a statement. They thought that they could compel everyone to think as they do about gun control by threatening those who disagree with a felony. It didn’t work.

Faced with 300,000 potential offenders, officials must decide whether to ignore the new law, or enforce it by sending SWAT teams to raid the homes of anyone suspected of owning the most popular rifle in America, the AR-15.

As author Radley Balko documented in “The Rise of the Warrior Cop,” sending squads crashing through doors unannounced in the middle of the night frequently results in death and injury for innocent bystanders.

Even family pets aren’t spared.

◼ CONNECTICUT GUN OWNERS DELIVER A MESSAGE--'NO WE WON'T' - Mark Meckler/Brietbart

The national ramifications are immense. Already, big-government gun control activists have faced a citizens’ revolt in Colorado, as key legislators were recalled after expanding gun regulation. Now Connecticut gun owners have torpedoed gun registries in one of the more liberal states in the nation.
If the Second Amendment can survive big-government attacks even in states like Colorado and Connecticut--where insane young people went on tragic shooting rampages--it can survive in states across the nation.

Critically, Connecticut gun owners have provided a model for citizen activists in other states. One doesn’t necessarily have to take to the streets to protest big government or even join local citizens’ groups or donate to political causes. When presented with an unjust law, you can send a simple, clear, and peaceful message.

No.

What we have this morning is no longer the Venezuela story you thought you understood.

◼ Why Venezuela's Chaos Matters to Us - Israel Ortega/HeritageL The Foundry

Venezuela has many crises, but when inflation has doubled in the past year and basic necessities like toilet paper and electricity are lacking, the people revolt. Led by the young, charismatic, and American-educated opposition party leader Leopoldo Lopez, thousands of Venezuelans are taking to the street to voice their discontent.

Their frustrations are directed squarely at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro—a Hugo Chavez protégé who is happily embracing totalitarianism and telling supporters, “I’m not going to step down…..No one will remove me from the path of building the Bolivarian revolution.”

The White House’s response has been a predictable, cookie-cutter statement devoid of any urgency or meaningful substance. But then again, this is precisely what we have come to expect from one of the least engaged and capable Administrations when it comes to advancing our country’s interests on the global stage.

From Egypt to Syria to Libya, to name a few, the White House’s lack of preparedness and vision has cost our country dearly, including the loss of four American lives in the Benghazi attack on our diplomatic missions. As John Fund wrote, this shouldn’t surprise us. As an Illinois state senator, President Obama voted “present” 129 times, previewing a reflection of his foreign policy approach.

◼ Here’s What You Need to Know About a Crisis the Media Are Accused of Ignoring - The Blaze

Venezuela is on fire.

Civil unrest brought on by the dictator Nicolás Maduro’s treatment of his people has rocked the country.

Hundreds of protesters have been injured and at least 3 have even been killed by government forces, the Associated Press reports. However, information coming out of the nation is scarce.

Images that have leaked out of the country are eerily similar to what we are seeing unfold right now in Kiev, Ukraine.

However, as noted by Venezuelan journalist Francisco Toro, there’s one major difference between Venezuela and Ukraine: The media seemingly aren’t interested in covering the former.

For some, the silence surrounding Maduro’s brutal suppression of his own people is a little startling.

◼ The Game Changed in Venezuela Last Night – and the International Media Is Asleep At the Switch - Francisco Toro/Caracas Chronicles

What we have this morning is no longer the Venezuela story you thought you understood.

Throughout last night, panicked people told their stories of state-sponsored paramilitaries on motorcycles roaming middle class neighborhoods, shooting at people and storming into apartment buildings, shooting at anyone who seemed like he might be protesting. People continue to be arrested merely for protesting, and a long established local Human Rights NGO makes an urgent plea for an investigation into widespread reports of torture of detainees. There are now dozens of serious human right abuses: National Guardsmen shooting tear gas canisters directly into residential buildings. We have videos of soldiers shooting civilians on the street. And that’s just what came out in real time, over Twitter and YouTube, before any real investigation is carried out. Online media is next, a city of 645,000 inhabitants has been taken off the internet amid mounting repression, and this blog itself has been the object of a Facebook “block” campaign.

What we saw were not “street clashes”, what we saw is a state-hatched offensive to suppress and terrorize its opponents....

As of 11 a.m. this morning, the New York Times World Section has…nothing.

◼ Is any one surprised? - Daniel In Venezuela

There is no telling the funk I am this morning. Never in my life I thought that I would have to live in a declared dictatorship. But after last night, this is what it is, a bona fide fascist dictatorship.

Now, the only thing that surprises me is that there are people that are surprised, people that try to minimize, people that have no clue yet. Truly, de Nile springs eternal....


The country is about to suffer economic collapse.

This is the way I followed the highlights of Capriles speech, since he is not on TV and my Internet is too feeble for watching it on line.

Now you all stop crying, all stop complaining, all stop telling the student what they should or should not do: it is time that we all assume our responsibilities and act according to them to the best of our limitations. The time of surprise is gone, the time of reality is in. We are past de Nile.

‘Goosebumps’: This ‘stunning pic’ of Ukrainian priests will leave you breathless

This image, taken February 12th, is surreal. Nearly 70 people have died today in the violence

STUNNING PIC: #Priest prays between police & protesters in #Ukraine. Nearly 70 people have died today in the violence pic.twitter.com/z6d3xXFLAg

— ShepNewsTeam (@ShepNewsTeam) February 20, 2014

◼ Please pray for Ukraine. - Twitchy

Join us for Lunch! TODAY!

Humboldt Republican Women Welcome Eureka Mayor Frank Jäger

The murder of Father Eric Freed has only added to the problems facing Eureka today. Meth issues and rising crime rates call out for stronger reinforcement. So, what's being done? What's ahead for the city of Eureka?

Eureka Mayor Frank Jäger has seen it all. He's served as Eureka's dogcatcher, was a police officer for seventeen years, became a crime scene evidence technician, and DA investigator. In 1992, he ran for City Council and won, serving two terms, then became County Coroner, serving for eleven years. He retired in 2008, and ran - successfully - for City Council again. In 2010, he was elected Mayor of Eureka.

Google Frank's name, and you get the full spectrum, from the Prayer Breakfast controversy to Boy Scouts to this tidbit: A North Coast Journal interview reveals: "What really consumed Jäger's young adulthood, however, was mountaineering. For years, he and a buddy traveled all over the place, climbing peaks.

We climbed everything: Mt. Rainier, Mt. Hood, Mt. Adams, Smith Rock State Park, Yosemite. I lived in Yosemite for five or six months. Sierras. Trinity Alps, man, we would go into the Trinity Alps every chance we got. It was just exhilarating, really fun. We did some first ascents -- a couple in Yosemite, and a couple in Smith Rocks, and one of the climbs we did in the Trinity Alps was written up in the American Alpine Club Journal -- "Stonehouse Pinnacle" -- in 1969. And we wrote a climbing guide to Patrick's Point."

Join us - and Eureka Mayor Frank Jäger - for what promises to be an interesting lunch!

Your choice: Full Lunch: $15 Beverage only: $4 (Tax & tip included)
Make checks payable to HRWF.
11:30 a.m. Lunch/Socializing: Meeting 12:00 -1:00 p.m.
The meeting is at ◼ 445 Herrick Avenue, Eureka near the golf course. CALL JANE (707) 845-6599 if you need directions.

Behold the Obama administration's creepy plan to put FCC monitors in America's newsrooms

◼ Hey, you know what's a pain in the rump for the ruling class? That pesky "freedom of the press," that's what. - Robert Laurie/CainTV

If only there was a way for Obama's FCC to get the First Amendment under control.

◼ From Mediaite:

An FCC commissioner is warning people about an agency study that would bring government monitors into newsrooms and inspect issues like the amount of time spent on the “critical information needs” [CIN's] of Americans in news content.

FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal bringing people’s attention to this study, saying “the government has no place pressuring media organizations into covering certain stories.” And while participation is technically voluntary, ignoring them would not be a wise decision for any news outlet that wants an FCC license.

The FCC has evidently cooked up eight "CIN's" that it feels outlets should be covering. Their study would demand that news departments answer a series of questions designed to “ascertain the process by which stories are selected, station priorities (for content production quality, and populations served), perceived station bias, perceived percent of news dedicated to each of the eight CIN's and perceived responsiveness to underserved populations."

They also want to "understand the critical information needs of the American public. One of the issues addressed in the study is how these CINs are framed, and whether said framing does enough do give viewers the full context of the story."
__________________
◼ FCC retreats a little more from editorial-bias study - Ed Morrissey/HotAir

After a few days of public outrage over its study on editorial choice in newsrooms, the FCC will “amend” the research project — but still plans to conduct it. FCC chair Tom Wheeler will remove the questions in the study relating to news philosophy and editorial judgment, the commission announced, which leaves the question of what exactly the FCC will end up studying...

◼ Universities in FCC Newsroom Probe Have Close Ties to Soros, Got $1.8M in Funding - Mike Ciandella/CNS News

Another Fortune 500 Company Leaves California

◼ Last week, the San Francisco Business Journal reported that Charles Schwab SCHW +1.72% is planning on moving “a significant number of San Francisco-based jobs” out of the state over the next three to five years. - Assemblyman Travis Allen/Forbes

Charles Schwab’s San Francisco roots date back to its founding four decades ago, with the firm ranking as the 47th-largest employer in the Bay Area. The company employs almost 2,700 people in the region, and has a company-wide workforce of 13,600. Observers close to the situation blame the city’s extreme payroll tax and high cost of doing business in California as the reasons for the company’s exodus.

This is not the first time that California has seen prominent companies moving jobs to other states. Chevron CVX +1.4%, founded in California more than 130 years ago, has recently announced that they will be moving up to 800 jobs from the Bay Area to Texas. The Campbell Soup CPB +0.25% Company announced that they would be closing their Sacramento plant and moving over 700 jobs out of California’s Capital. Boeing BA +0.61% announced last September their plans to shutter a massive Southern California jet assembly plant and lay off nearly 3,000 workers starting this year.

Last year, Chief Executive Magazine’s annual rankings, based on a survey of 650 chief executives on taxation, regulation, workforce quality and living environment, ranked California 50 out of 50 for the eighth year in a row. California also received an “F” grade in January from the Kauffman Foundation in a survey of 6,000 small businesses across the country. The Tax Foundation ranked California 48th worst on business taxes.

One would think the politicians and regulatory agencies in Sacramento would learn their lesson

Premiums are set by your age, not your health. It doesn’t matter if you never go to the doctor. Obamacare punishes you for having a healthy lifestyle. The Obamacare tax is a massively regressive poll tax on the middle-aged and the middle class.

◼ NEW OBAMA PROMISE: IF YOU LIKE YOUR LIFE, YOU CAN KEEP IT - Ann Coulter/Human Events

Even when pretending to be critical of Obamacare, liberals lie about the real problems. They tell us they’re worried about the percentage of young people signing up for Obamacare. The mix of young and old people in Obamacare is completely irrelevant. It won’t help if a lot of young people sign up because their premiums are negligible.


To keep the system afloat, what Obamacare really needs is lots of healthy people, preferably healthy older people. Their premiums are astronomical — and they won’t need much medical treatment.

...When Margaret Thatcher tried to impose the same tax per person, as a “community charge,” there were riots in the street.

Our extremely progressive tax system, where nearly half the country pays no income tax at all, and the other half pays about 40 percent of their income, may not be fair. But most people also don’t think it’s fair to tax a guy making $80,000 a year the identical amount as one making $80 million a year. That’s exactly what Obamacare does.

With Obamacare, the Democratic Party has foisted the most regressive tax possible on America. This ruthless assault on the middle class is all so we can have a health care system more like every other country has....

Obama Administration’s Plan to Study Newsrooms Is Drawing Plenty of Public Opposition

◼ Will journalists tell the FCC it's none of its business how they cover the news? - Mark Tapscott/Washington Examiner

Lots of bad things happen when a constitutionally-limited national government is transformed into a Nanny State Leviathan.

But one of the worst is when federal bureaucrats — apparently convinced that the rest of us are too stupid to figure it out for ourselves — decide to conduct a "Multi-Market Study of Critical Information Needs."

What that means is, as FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai wrote recently in The Wall Street Journal, the bureaucrats will:

"Ferret out information from television and radio broadcasters about 'the process by which stories are selected' and how often stations cover 'critical information needs,' along with 'perceived station bias' and 'perceived responsiveness to underserved populations.'"

◼ A plan by the Federal Communications Commission to study how news organizations select stories has prompted about 10,000 people to sign a petition saying “no government monitors in newsrooms.” - The Blaze

That’s according to the American Center for Law and Justice, which announced the petition Wednesday and said it reached that number within the first two hours.

The agency announced a Multi-Market Study of Critical Information Needs last year, explaining that it wanted to understand the process of which stories are selected, station priorities, content production, populations served, perceived station bias, and perceived percent of news dedicated to each of the “critical information needs” (CINs) in a community, Fox News reported.

But Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the ACLJ, a conservative legal group, worries it could be used to intimidate certain news organizations into covering issues that government officials feel are important.

“This is an extremely troubling and dangerous development that represents the latest in an ongoing assault on the Constitution by the Obama Administration,” Sekulow said in a statement. “We have seen a corrupt IRS unleashed on conservatives. We have seen an imperial president bypass Congress and change the law with executive orders.”

The FCC only has jurisdiction over the broadcast industry, and not over cable news or print publications. So networks, local stations as well as most radio stations would be subject to the evaluation.

“Now we see the heavy hand of the Obama administration poised to interfere with the First Amendment rights of journalists,” Sekulow continued. “It’s clear that the Obama administration is only interested in utilizing intimidation tactics – at the expense of Americans and the Constitution. The federal government has no place attempting to control the media, using the unconstitutional actions of repressive regimes to squelch free speech.”

California Cattle Leave for Texas

◼ How bad is the California drought? So bad that California ranchers are selling their cattle to Texas ranchers--even though Texas, too, is going through a major dry spell. It is the latest migration from California to Texas--and another sign that California's southwestern rivals are managing the drought conditions more successfully. - Breitbart

◼ Gov. Brown to unveil $687-million drought legislation... - LA Times

The new legislation would speed up the spending of millions of dollars aimed at improving water conservation and cleaning up drinking water supplies, while increasing penalties for illegal diversion of water supplies....

Brown is expected to unveil the proposal at 2 p.m. Stay tuned to PolitiCal for more details.

Henninger: The Rube Goldberg Democrats

◼ ObamaCare is the party's unworkable contraption of nonperformance. - Wall St. Journal

As American voters watch ObamaCare continue its Godzilla-like rampage across the national health-care landscape, it's worth considering the collateral damage this political monster may be doing to the Democratic brand itself. What if ObamaCare's problems become a metaphor for the modern Democratic Party? Two portents emerged the past week.

The United Auto Workers suffered a humiliating defeat at Volkswagen VOW3.XE -0.49% in Tennessee. And days before that loss, voters in San Diego elected Republican Kevin Faulconer mayor after he teed up his opponent as a captive of the city's public unions. Two big constituencies sacked in a week....

The GOP could still blow their historic opportunity this year. Brands collapse because consumers have good choices. It may be true that ObamaCare has exposed the Democrats as a party of bells, whistles and rotating pinwheels. But absent a better product, it will lumber forward....

◼ Obamacare’s Criminal Enterprise: The indictment of the Colorado exchange’s director is just one scandal among many. - Michelle Malkin/National Review

Question: If Obamacare officials cannot prevent accused embezzlers from infiltrating their offices, how can they protect enrollees from grifters, con artists, and thieves in the federal health-insurance-exchange system?

The notion that if the NSA had informed us they were monitoring every American would somehow make it OK, does not make it OK. Explaining why you are violating the Fourth Amendment does not invalidate the Fourth Amendment.

◼ The NSA is still violating Americans' rights, despite what James Clapper says - Rand Paul/The Guardian

...Americans are as upset at the act itself, not the mere knowledge of it. A cheating spouse can be upfront about his affairs from the beginning, but nobody thinks such behavior is right. The purpose of being forthright about wrongdoing is usually repentance. I do not get the sense from Clapper that he thinks his agency did anything wrong.

Americans have a right to know when their rights are being violated, but that's where my agreement with Director Clapper, or at least agreement with his (Director of Intelligence James Clapper's) latest statement, ends.

The Fourth Amendment states that warrants issued must be specific to a person, place or task and this provision of the Bill of Rights exists explicitly to guard against the notion of a general warrant, where government can plunder through anyone's privacy at will.

The NSA's metadata collection program is a general warrant for the modern age, reflecting the same kind of tyranny our nation's founders fought a revolution to make sure would never happen again....

It's time to trash the NSA's mass surveillance of Americans, for good.

◼ Dianne Feinstein defends NSA - LA Times

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) offered a full-throated defense of the government's collection of data on billions of American phone calls, saying Wednesday that the National Security Agency’s practices have safeguarded the nation without trampling on civil liberties.

...Feinstein’s firm support for the NSA’s tracking program has divided some of her most ardent backers, and in recent months her popularity in California has plunged to a historic low.

MaineCare application asks personal questions, such as where a child was conceived

◼ DHHS says questions on the form have a purpose and are not meant to intrude, but others object. - Joe Lawlor/Portland Press-Herald

Single parents applying online for MaineCare coverage are being asked personal questions – such as whether their child was conceived in Maine and why the absent parent no longer lives in the home – as part of the application.

From a scroll-down menu of possible reasons that the other parent left home, the Maine- Care applicant can choose “unwed parenthood, divorce, abandonment, death, separation, incarceration” and others.

...“We’re just trying to do a job and collect the information that needs to be collected...”

Ambassador John Bolton Holds Nothing Back: Obama is 'Weak, Feckless, Inattentive'

◼ On Greta Van Susteren’s On The Record, Ambassador John Bolton directly confronts the administration’s lack of care over national security issues and contrasts Obama with Russian President Vladimir Putin. - IJ Review

Video at the link.

Nation’s biggest teachers union slams ‘botched’ Common Core implementation

◼ The nation’s largest teachers union is pulling back on its once-enthusiastic support of the Common Core academic standards, labeling their rollout “completely botched.” - Politico

Forty-five states and the District of Columbia have adopted the standards. Most of those decisions were not controversial. But as new lessons have rolled into classrooms nationwide this year — and as new exams based on the Common Core have been introduced — public outrage has flared, often driven by distrust of the federal role in promoting the standards.

No state has yet pulled out of the standards, but Indiana is close to doing so, and intense debate is expected this spring in several other states, including Michigan, Wisconsin and Georgia.

◼ Common Core's Surprise Critic: Nation's Largest Teachers Union Calls Implementation 'Completely Botched' - Heritage

Just last month, New York State United Teachers, part of AFT, voted to pull its support for Common Core. The union consists of 600,000 members in New York.

“Teachers unions shouldn’t be surprised the implementation was botched,” said Lindsey Burke, the Will Skillman Fellow in Education at The Heritage Foundation. “This is what happens with one-size-fits-all bureaucratic initiatives.”

Jimmy Kimmel Can’t Find Any Obamacare Takers

◼ This would be hilarious if Obamacare wasn't such a disaster. - Heritage

One rant to rule them all!

◼ CNBC’s Rick Santelli is a man who isn’t afraid to speak his mind. His Feb. 19, 2009, rant was credited with inspiring the start of the Tea Party. It’s not alone. Santelli raises his voice on the floor of the Chicago Board of Trade whenever he feels that an important point of information isn’t getting enough attention. - Newsbusters

Santelli’s frustration with the system was a theme that resonated with the American people. His enthusiastic ranting gave the motivation to start an entire movement and revitalize voters worn out by the daily strain of politics. While critics mock his fiery persona, they can’t deny the impact that he has had.

Santelli helped galvanize the anger and frustration felt by those who soon became the Tea Party. Five years later, his words still serve as a benchmark in modern American politics.

◼ Santelli Recalls February 2009: Bailout ‘Dissension was Born,’ ‘I Blew a Gasket’ - Newsbusters

CNBC’s Rick Santelli recalled the five-year anniversary of the stimulus, housing bailout and blowing “a gasket” during “Squawk on the Street” today.

“On Feb. 19 I blew a gasket. But basically, what was born at that point was the voice of dissension. How do we know that? Many of course still remember the IRS issues. President said maybe there wasn’t a smidgen of, of, of negativity there or news there or anything inappropriate there,” Santelli explained. “But it seems like, if you look back, it was February of 2009 where all of that started if you look at some of the IRS records. But dissension was born!” (Video Below)

Santelli recalled the stimulus calling it “Maybe the most unpopular program of all, really split the country.”

Mike Rowe: I believe in rewarding work

◼ In an interview with CNN, former Dirty Jobs host Mike Rowe challenges Washington’s views on income inequality, education and success. Anyone considering running for president needs to listen to this guy… - IJ Review

Fourth Georgia hospital closes due to Obamacare payment cuts

◼ The fourth Georgia hospital in two years is closing its doors due to severe financial difficulties caused by Obamacare’s payment cuts for emergency services. - Daily Caller

The federal government has historically made payments to hospitals to cover the cost of uninsured patients seeking free medical care in emergency rooms, as federal law mandates that hospitals must care for all patients regardless of their ability to pay.

Because the Affordable Care Act’s authors believed they’d forced all states to implement the Medicaid expansion, Obamacare vastly cut hospital payments, the Associated Press reports.

The Supreme Court ruled that states could reject the Medicaid expansion in 2012, as part of the decision that upheld Obamacare generally. Since that decision, the Obama administration has so far instituted 28 unilateral delays and changes to the health care law’s implementation without congressional approval, Fox Business reports.

From verifying eligibility for subsidies to enforcing employer requirements, the Obama administration has already taken a hacksaw to the health care reform law, but it has made no changes to the provision raising problems for half the nation’s hospitals.

◼ Health Law's Impact Has Only Begun... - Wall St. Journal

The law's true impact will play out over years. It will depend in part on whether backers overcome serious early setbacks, including crippling glitches in the new online insurance marketplaces and many states' rejection of the Medicaid expansion. But another obstacle the law faces is pushback from some consumers and industry over the higher costs, complex rules and mandatory requirements it imposes.

NEW VIDEO: Battleground Texas Illegally Copying Voter Data

◼ Battleground Texas Field Organizer Jennifer Longoria was caught on camera multiple times making statements such as, “So every time we register someone to vote we keep their name and number.” Doing so however, is illegal. According to the Secretary of State, it is unlawful to transcribe, copy, or otherwise record a telephone number furnished on a voter registration application. - Project Veritas

◼ EXCLUSIVE: O’KEEFE BUSTS ILLEGAL VOTER SCHEME TO ‘TURN TEXAS BLUE’ - Brandon Darby/Breitbart

...The new revelations are likely to add to concerns about an apparent culture of data sharing among Democrat-aligned political and nonprofit organizations. For example, a previous O'Keefe expose raised questions about whether campaigns to get people to sign up for Obamacare had secondary political motives.

◼ Wendy Davis needs to denounce and disassociate from Battleground Texas - Le-gal In-sur-rec-tion

The last noted conversation between President Barack Obama and Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych happened on March 27, 2012.

Mere hundreds of miles north and west of Sochi, where the rest of the world has gathered for the Winter Olympic Games, the Ukraine in is chaos with anti-governmental forces barricaded behind bonfires in Kiev and the state military and police working to determine what will happen next.

The government is supported by Russia's Vladimir Putin while the protestors are looking to the United States for moral and diplomatic support. Stalin tried to starve the Ukrainians to death in mass... what will Putin do? What will Obama do?

◼ Ukraine crisis: President Viktor Yanukovych blames opposition for deadly clashes - BBC via Kitchen Cabinet

◼ White House Leaving Ukraine Crisis Up to Biden - Bridget Johnson/PJMedia

Ukraine took a steep step toward total chaos Tuesday as the government attempted to forcefully clear Kiev’s main square of a three-month-long protest, resulting in at least 19 reported deaths.

Twitter was bursting with live reports of the mayhem and pictures of protesters’ bloodied faces. Heavyweight boxing champ and parliamentary opposition leader Vitali Klitschko urged foes of the Viktor Yanukovych regime to stay in the square, and the numbers not only stayed consistent but swelled. Though Klitschko urged women and children to leave the square when it became apparent that Yanukovych was orchestrating an offensive against the demonstrators, reports from the scene included elderly women calling police “killers” and challenging them to shoot. Protesters erected a fire barricade to help keep the police at bay as anthems filled the smoky air in a scene reminiscent of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. Government snipers aiming at protesters from the rooftops were supplied by Russia, said the opposition, while Yanukovych forces claimed they were sent by NATO.

Eyes turned toward Washington for statements on the events, forceful words for Yanukovych or perhaps even a threat of sanctions. But throughout the months-long ordeal, those communications have not been coming from the commander in chief....

The crisis promises to rip further at the administration’s already tattered “reset” with Russia, as Moscow claimed this month that Washington is “crudely interfering” with the former Soviet state.



◼ At least nine people were killed Tuesday in the deadliest day of the 3-month-old Ukrainian political crisis - LA Times

An Orthodox priest tries to stop a clash between protesters and the police in the center of Kiev, Ukraine. 2014 pic.twitter.com/rlbQ2mlfpx

— Powerful Pictures (@Powerful_Pics) February 11, 2014

If you haven't seen it on the news, there's been a massive student uprising against the communist dictatorship in Venezuela.

◼ Viral Video Explains Student Uprising Against Communist Venezuelan Regime - IJ Review via Conservative Daily

◼ 22-YEAR OLD BEAUTY QUEEN FIFTH DEATH IN VENEZUELAN ANTI-GOVERNMENT PROTESTS - Breitbart

Genesis Carmona, a 22-year old beauty queen elected Miss Turismo Carabobo 2013, passed away today after being shot in the head during an anti-government protest in Venezuela. Carmona is the fifth young Venezuelan to die during peaceful anti-government protests in support of imprisoned opposition leader Leopoldo López.

According to Spanish newspaper El Mundo, Carmona was marching peacefully along with anti-socialist young Venezuelans in the third largest city of the country, Valencia, when she was shot in the head. She was taken to the hospital but could not be saved. Valencia's protests have been especially violent as supporters of President Nicolás Maduro have attempted to disrupt the marches-- yesterday, eight were injured by gunshot wounds in a similar protest.

◼ The long night starts, but the end is near - Daniel In Venezuela

I cannot sleep, events unfold.

The regime has started the militarization of Tachira and Caracas. First it sent the Nazional Guard to support the "colectivos" in a shooting spree after night fall, during the Maduro cadena where he praised the "colectivos". Basically giving them carte blanche.

Tweeter has been flooded with pictures, videos of aggression, even murders. The goons went as far as chasing protesters inside private buildings and do all sorts of things, from arrests, to break ins. When you think that even a formal complaint of rape by gun cylinder has been deposed you can imagine what awaits a few.

I am not posting anything, I cannot verify anything besides the stuff I posted a few hours ago. I only follow 160 folks in tweeter and already this is too much too handle. Just follow the guys I retweet and you will have nightmares.

@BarackObama condena violencia en #Venezuela y pide liberación de detenidos. http://t.co/DF4U2RFwrf pic.twitter.com/FFfDfm6MNq

— Diario El Heraldo (@diarioelheraldo) February 20, 2014

◼ Sliding to Venezuelan hell, with a video from hellish Nazional Guard, and one from a reader - Daniel In Venezuela

The mind reels.

The day started with CNN crew just arrived in Caracas being mugged by motor bikers carrying large weaponry. They lost their equipment. Me thinks that they were tracked by security since arrival and that their cameras were stolen so they could not transmit.

How to calculate your waiter’s tip using Common Core math [pic]

Special thanks to Common Core for teaching me how to calculate an appropriate tip! pic.twitter.com/pBp8KAaUYT

— Lindsey (@BooyahSuckaFoo) February 17, 2014

◼ But why stop at restaurant tips? Common Core math makes paying the bills a dream. Right? Right? - Twitchy

I'll keep this method in mind, the next time i pay my bills. #CommonCore pic.twitter.com/QL3Hc4A728

— Lindsey (@BooyahSuckaFoo) February 18, 2014

Today's form of suppression under this gov't

via The Wayne Dupree Show

Former Assembly Speaker and San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown (D) says public employee unions may now be toxic to the candidates they support.

◼ The real news in the San Diego mayoral race isn't that a Republican won, but that the candidate backed by public-employee unions lost. - Willie Brown/San Francisco Chronicle

That is a real shift in California politics. And it's the second time it's happened in a big-city mayoral race in less than a year.

In San Diego on Tuesday, City Councilman Kevin Faulconer, a middle-of-the-road Republican, knocked the stuffing out of the union-backed Democrat, Councilman David Alvarez.

And he did it in part by hammering on the big union money behind Alvarez, much of which came from out of town.

In some ways it was a replay of the Los Angeles mayoral race last year, when labor's heavy backing of Wendy Greuel ultimately proved to be a liability for her in her race against Eric Garcetti....

Astounding Numbers of Obama Voters and Democrats Regret Voting for Re-Election of America's Messiah

◼ The One for whom all of America had been waiting for, the fundamental transformer of the world’s most piteous economy, had finally ascended to the Oval Office, the precipice of power from which the dictates of progressive conventional wisdom would rain down upon us like so much manna from on high. - Kyle Becker/IJReview

Never mind all that. An overwhelming majority wish the president had never been re-elected. From an Economist/YouGov poll via the Examiner:

Over seven in 10 Obama voters, and 55 percent of Democrats, regret voting for President Obama’s reelection in 2012, according to a new Economist/YouGov.com poll. [...]

The poll asked those who voted for Obama’s reelection a simple question: “Do you regret voting for Barack Obama?”

— Overall, 71 percent said yes, 26 percent no.

— 55 percent of Democrats said yes, as did 71 percent of independents.

◼ Obama, the shrinking imperialist president - Jonah Goldberg/LA Times

So a headline like “1 in 4 Americans doesn’t know Earth circles sun” is a kind of headline designed to attract a certain crowd. You know the ones I’m talking about: the ones who think they’re just better than you, but at the same time are so insecure about it they’re itching for a debate, after which victory will be claimed regardless of events.

◼ NSF Science Poll: Americans compartmentalize Science, Newser and USA Today badly misreport the poll - RedState

A survey experiment showed that 48% of respondents said they thought it was true that “human beings, as we know them today, developed from earlier species of animals,” but 72% gave this response when the same statement was prefaced by “according to the theory of evolution.” Similarly, 39% of respondents said that “the universe began with a huge explosion,” but 60% gave this response when the statement was prefaced by “according to astronomers.”

Naturally, a careful study of the poll doesn’t come up with the results the Smug Set is assuming. But to see that requires a curious mind, and not the kind of rigid ideological reflexes that the Smug Set is full of....

It turns out that the polling isn’t at all revealing what kind of raw book knowledge that Americans possess. It was finding out what subset of Americans both knew the answers and believed them to be the true explanation of the world around them. The poll measured worldview, not just knowledge.

So we actually find that sold majorities know the answers to these questions, but many who know the answers reject a purely science-based explanation of the world. Sure, many Christians see no conflict between science and their beliefs. Others do, at least in some aspects. But this poll shows that they do know what they’re talking about. They just reject it anyway.

◼ Study: Democrats more likely to think astrology is scientific, less likely to know Earth revolves around the sun - Allahpundit/HotAir

As if we Americans haven't lost enough privacy, California and Illinois are imposing new fines and penalties for folks who don't want one more snoopy intrusion into our lives.

◼ Electronic PEEPHOLES? Yes... - Washington Times

Pity the blind pursuers of intelligence. Smart devices like smartphones, smart cars and smart meters come with sensors that gather useful information. The latest phones have built-in fitness apps that track calories consumed and steps taken to do something about it.

Some cars can put themselves into the tightest of parking spaces, no driver participation required. High-tech thermostats adjust temperature to suit daily activities.

Like the neighborhood blabbermouth, however, such devices don’t know the meaning of discretion. When the government seizes the data that smart gizmos collect, the consumer loses control of choice. There’s nothing smart about that....

‘House of Cards’ is the most tea party show ever

Warning: This article contains numerous spoilers.

◼ While it’s by no means family friendly programming, the second season of “House of Cards,” the Kevin Spacey-starring Netflix original, is a stunningly right wing piece of entertainment. - Will Rahn/Daily Caller

Part of this may be accidental. Shows with a cynical bent, like Tina Fey’s “30 Rock,” have sounded conservative at times. Still, House of Cards’ jaundiced take on Washington is unique in the special scorn it displays for Beltway Democrats.

As Spacey noted during a recent interview with George Stephanopoulos, House of Cards is like the “antithesis of what ‘The West Wing’ was,” referring to Aaron Sorkin’s liberal fantasy of political life. His show served as a kind of bizarro history of the Bush years, one where a noble left-wing president and his merry band of geniuses build a thriving, peaceful country here at home.

House of Cards is like the glum, Obama-era antidote to The West Wing’s sanctimony, a tea party fantasy dressed up with all the weird sex and violence expected of premium cable....

Obama might as well have blamed elves and trolls for the drought, and announced a billion-dollar initiative to hunt them down.

◼ OBAMA’S ANTI-SCIENCE CALIFORNIA DROUGHT CRUSADE - John Hayward/Human Events @Doc_o

Fresh from his diplomatic triumph in handing the Middle East over to Russia, America’s buffoonish Secretary of State, John Kerry, took his sad-clown act to Indonesia, where he somehow contrived to link a volcanic eruption to man-made global warming. But that’s not even the dumbest gesture an Obama Administration official has made toward the official government religion of the United States recently.

No, the winning act of devotion to the Church of Global Warming is President Obama blaming drought in California on the Angry Sky Gods. It might just be the dumbest thing any American president has ever said. It’s so far opposed to actual science that Obama might as well have blamed elves and trolls for the drought, and announced a billion-dollar initiative to hunt them down. Not even the more respectable pseudo-scientists of the Church think the California drought has anything to do with global warming.

◼ Water Wars: President Obama visited California's drought-hit Central Valley Friday, offering handouts and blaming global warming. But the state's water shortage is due to the left's refusal to deal with the state's water needs. - IBD Editorial

Obama Plays Global Warming Politics and Water-Guzzling Desert Golf Courses Amid California Drought

◼ After preaching shared sacrifice to assuage the California water shortage, Obama has played some of the country's thirstiest golf courses - TIME

President Barack Obama traveled to California on Friday to highlight the state’s drought emergency at two events near Fresno, calling for shared sacrifice to help manage the state’s worst water shortage in decades. He then spent the rest of the weekend enjoying the hospitality of some of the state’s top water hogs: desert golf courses.

Vacationing with DVDs of his favorite television shows and multiple golf outings with his buddies, the duffer in chief played at two of the most exclusive courses in the Palm Springs area. On Saturday, Obama played at the Sunnylands estate, built by the late billionaire Walter Annenberg, which features a nine-hole course that is played like 18 holes. The following day he golfed at billionaire Oracle founder Larry Ellison’s 19-hole Porcupine Creek. On Presidents’ Day, Obama hit the links at Sunnylands once again.

The 124 golf courses in the Coachella Valley consume roughly 17% of all water there, and one-quarter of the water pumped out of the region’s at-risk groundwater aquifer, according to the Coachella Valley Water District. Statewide, roughly 1% of water goes to keep golf courses green. Each of the 124 Coachella Valley courses, on average, uses nearly 1 million gallons (3.8 million L) a day because of the hot and dry climate, three to four times more water per day than the average American golf course...

Republicans were quick to pounce on Obama’s water-intensive golf weekend. “We have seen this brand of hypocrisy from President Obama before — this time it seems his soapbox doubles as a tee box,” said RNC spokeswoman Kirsten Kukowski. A White House official declined to comment on the record for this story.

◼ California Drought Threatens 50% Farm Town Unemployment - Bloomberg

Mendota, in Fresno County near the middle of the state, calls itself the Cantaloupe Center of the World. In the last big drought five years ago, unemployment in the town soared to almost 50 percent and the line of farmworkers at the local food bank stretched for blocks. Del Bosque had to cut his payroll 30 percent, and it will probably be worse this year, he said.

“Those are wages lost,” said the 64-year-old farmer. “It’s wages lost to real people. It’s a loss of revenue into the community. That money supports families, it supports businesses. It’s a terrible effect. And I’m just one farmer, a medium-sized farmer. So if all farmers suffer the same thing, you can imagine the ripple effect throughout the community.”

◼ Tim Donnelly: Obama comes to California to help "fix" our drought crisis by...meeting with local farmers? Recommending that Brown's decision to shut off water to the Central Valley be reversed?

Nope! His priority was to play politics and talk with a climate change task force...

"A climate change task force appointed by President Obama was in Los Angeles Thursday to meet with Governor Jerry Brown...to tackle issues related to a statewide drought."

◼ Governor, Mayor Meet With Climate Change Task Force On Drought - CBS LA

“How do you translate dialogue into action, particularly when there are a lot of competing interests,” CBS2/KCAL9 reporter Randy Paige asked Gov. Brown.

“Not very easily. Talk is cheap, action is difficult, and that’s why so little gets done. But there’s no place getting more done in renewable energy, reducing pollution and confronting climate change than the state of California,” Brown said....

The task force – which is comprised of Garcetti and 24 other state, local and tribal officials appointed by the president, including Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson – is expected to deliver its final recommendations to the President by November 2014.

◼ OBAMA’S ANTI-SCIENCE CALIFORNIA DROUGHT CRUSADE - John Hayward/Human Events @Doc_o

UPDATE: National license plate database sparks privacy fears...

◼ The Department of Homeland Security is now seeking a vendor to build and operate a smartphone-based national database of vehicle license plate information that would be shared with law enforcement. - WTOP

Under the DHS plan, an agent could snap a photo with a smartphone, upload it to the database, and immediately be notified whether the plate is on a "hot list" of "target vehicles."

◼ Employers tracking staff in greater detail... - FT

High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/d56004b0-9581-11e3-9fd6-00144feab7de.html#ixzz2td90Sfe6

In a back street in San Francisco’s start-up dominated SoMa district, a rapidly growing business is busy studying how millions of employees behave each day. Its computers know in real time why a worker was hired, how productive they are and can even follow them as they move to a new job.

◼ Outgoing NSA director: 'It's not our mission' to spy on everyone in world... - BGR Yahooo

◼ UPDATE: Department of Homeland Security cancels national license-plate tracking plan - Washington Post

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson on Wednesday ordered the cancellation of a plan by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency to develop a national license-plate tracking system after privacy advocates raised concern about the initiative....

“The solicitation, which was posted without the awareness of ICE leadership, has been cancelled,” ICE spokeswoman Gillian Christensen said in a statement. “While we continue to support a range of technologies to help meet our law enforcement mission, this solicitation will be reviewed to ensure the path forward appropriately meets our operational needs.”

Lawmakers and privacy advocates reacted with approval.

Happy President's Day!

...The earliest known observance of Lincoln's birthday occurred in Buffalo, New York, in 1874. Julius Francis (d. 1881), a Buffalo druggist, made it his life's mission to honor the slain president. He repeatedly petitioned Congress to establish Lincoln's birthday as a legal holiday

...George Washington was born on February 11, 1731, based on the Julian calendar then in use in the British Colonies. When the Gregorian calendar was adopted in the English Colonies (1752), he opted to begin observing his birthday anniversary on the equivalent date of February 22, 1732. via Wikipedia

...Colloquially, the holiday is widely known as "Presidents Day" and is often an occasion to celebrate, or at least remember, all presidents and not just George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.[1] Both Lincoln's and Washington's birthdays are in February.[2] In historical rankings of Presidents of the United States both Lincoln and Washington are frequently, but not always, the top two presidents.

"You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today."

--Abraham Lincoln
via Herman Cain

After seeing this, how can he convince anyone he thought it was a good idea?

◼ Obama Has Unilaterally Changed or Delayed Obamacare 24 Times - Heritage

President Obama has unilaterally changed or delayed Obamacare 24 times without going back to Congress, according to Fox News’ Chris Wallace. Members of Congress sparred Sunday over Obama’s decision last week to delay Obamacare’s employer mandate.

“We have a government of one,” said Senator Mike Lee (R-UT). “We have a super executive and super legislator vested in the president of the United States. … The president knows this is wrong and it’s not defensible. He is violating the Constitution. He is exercising power that doesn’t belong to him. It belongs to the American people.”



Krauthammer s Take The Law Exists in Obama s Head

True journalism may be defined as journalists who refuse to engage in partisan talking points, refuse to serve corporate or government interests, and refuse to act as stenographers to government officials

◼ The need for a 'true journalistic' revolution - Kevin Kelly/Washington Times

...TV offers programming that is more often aimed at advancing the platform of one Party or the other and discussing celebrity trivialities. Such a model ultimately prevents issues of consequence from being raised and evaluated.

“The degrading effect has been enormous. A lot of it has been about the profit motive, and the way that it is driven by ratings, and advertising, all the rest of it … In the judgment of the hierarchy, it’s better to be wrong but be conformist than be correct and be self marginalizing or vulnerable to be pushed to the margins.” The television model has created a careerist mindset for journalists and commentators. This “survival instinct” over true reporting prevents the dissemination of the complete, unbiased information necessary for the public to render informed opinions and decisions.

Restricted Access: Clinton Foundation keeps tight leash on papers from Bill Clinton’s tenure as governor

◼ An extensive collection of papers related to Bill and Hillary Clinton’s years in the Arkansas governor’s mansion remains under tight control at a public library in Little Rock, with access restricted by the Clinton Foundation. - Washington Free Beacon

...Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, said that while it is unclear what is in the gubernatorial archive, the tight restrictions “suggests that the Clinton forces believe problems would result from their publication.”

The Diane Blair archive, which has been combed through by national media outlets after the Free Beacon reported on its contents earlier this month, has a restricted section, which library officials say is not unusual....

White House panics as millennials wise up, bail on President Obama

◼ President Obama is making a sudden push to win back millennial voters, who have grown disillusioned over his failed “Hope and Change” campaign that left them without jobs, living in their parents’ basement. - Joseph Curl/Washington Times

...But the situation is far worse than just flagging enrollment of Obamacare, and the president knows it. Young people, who turned out in droves in 2008 and put the first-term Illinois senator in the White House, have grown increasingly disillusioned, seeing him now as just another politician who makes promises he has no intention of keeping.

...Much, much worse: 54 percent of 18-24-year-olds say they would vote to “recall and replace” the president — in Washington, that’s called “impeachment.”...

There are a few reasons for the sudden exodus: First, millennials detest the NSA phone snooping program. And they were put off Obamacare by the technically inept rollout, when the federal webpage wouldn’t work for weeks. Plus, few can find jobs as the economy continues to flounder....

◼ Obama: Signing Up for Obamacare Is 'Just Part of Growing Up' - Daniel Halper/Weekly Standard

‘Wow, that’s disturbing!’

◼ Did you see Donna Brazile’s ‘chilling’ tweet to @BarackObama? - Twitchy

.@BarackObama. Enjoy #PresidentsDay. With Congress on recess, this is action day! Let's move America forward.

— Donna Brazile (@donnabrazile) February 17, 2014

@donnabrazile @BarackObama Alas, El Presidente is back on the Golf Course again.

— CoolCzech (@CoolCzech1) February 17, 2014

◼ ‘Happy Czar Day!’ Donna Brazile’s chilling Presidents Day tweet sparks fume, mockery - Twitchy

That GENIUS @donnabrazile is encouraging the President to completely ignore the Constitution and do whatever he wants. #Anarchist

— Kelly (@flyoverangel) February 17, 2014

. @donnabrazile When did you cross that line where you felt it was acceptable to openly root for dictatorship? https://t.co/SkmDTmKQ1i

— L (@OrwellForks) February 17, 2014

Kathleen Willey: 'Hillary is the war on women'

◼ Kathleen Willey, the former volunteer aide to Bill Clinton who says she was sexually harassed by the president in the 1990s, is now sounding the alarm about the potential danger of Hillary Clinton becoming president. - Joe Kovacs/WND

“Hillary Clinton is the war on women, and that’s what needs to be exposed here,” Willey said Sunday night on Aaron Klein’s WABC Radio show.

“The point is what this woman is capable of doing to other women while she’s running a campaign basically on women’s issues. It just doesn’t make any sense. She singlehandedly orchestrated every one of the investigations of all these women [who accused her husband of sexual crimes]. They’re the people reminding us of how sordid this all is.”

...And Willey also lashed into feminist organizations who never seem interested in the harassment against her by the Clintons.

“All of these women’s groups, they’re all pro-Hillary, they need to … talk to someone like me and listen here, what Hillary Clinton has done to me and many, many, many other women. They are so hypocritical, it’s unbelievable. And this is the woman that wants to be president.”

So much for 'income inequality'

◼ Obama's Celebrity Pal Has A Half-Brother On Food Stamps, Even Though She's Worth $350 Million - SooperMiexican/IJReview

Now, it’s probably unfair to put any blame on Beyonce for her father’s behavior, or that she should be on the hook for his illegitimate children. She shouldn’t be. But how is that any different from Obama, who she campaigned for, saying every taxpayer should be on the hook for the illegitimate children of people they’re wholly unrelated to?

Is it any more fair for a family struggling to raise a family in Obama’s terrible economy to be saddled with taxes that go to pay for Beyonce’s half-brother’s sustenance?

Oh, and by the way, Beyonce and her rap star husband Jay-Z, who also campaigned for Obama, are reportedly worth a cool $850 million, nearly a billion dollars. And yet YOU’RE paying for her half-brother to eat! Or at least, those of you who pay taxes are.

◼ Obama Tees Off on Billionaire’s Private Golf Course - CBS DC