This is a tax increase that President Barack Obama chose not to mention in his State of the Union address while he was demanding to increase taxes on the “rich” in order to give that money to his “middle” class. Perhaps he chose to omit mention because this is a tax increase on that same “middle” class. And perhaps because it contradicts the story he’s spinning on wanting to make junior college “free.”
Speaker of the House John Boehner (R, OH) has invited Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address the full Congress in early March. The purpose of the visit and address is to advise the Congress on matters of diplomacy and threat in the Middle East, in keeping with Congress’ duty to be sufficiently informed that it can maintain its oversight of the Executive Branch.
Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew had a thought.
I don’t think that there’s any advantage in pretending that there aren’t big disagreements on the individual tax side. We had a national debate just two years ago about the top rate. We’re not looking at the kind of negotiation to go back to lower the top rate.
Never mind that after that debate and just a few months ago, Americans voted overwhelmingly to reject President Barack Obama’s tax policy—which he’d placed on the ballot along with every single one of his other policies (every single one of which were similarly rejected in that same election).
They fact-checked President Barack Obama’s State of the Union speech, and they found these things.
OBAMA: At this moment—with a growing economy, shrinking deficits, bustling industry and booming energy production—we have risen from recession freer to write our own future than any other nation on Earth.
THE FACTS: Job growth has been…fueled in part by lower-paying jobs…which have replaced many higher-paying positions…. Part-time jobs also remain elevated: there are still 1.7 million fewer workers with full-time jobs than when the recession began in December 2007.
Andrea Peterson of The Washington Post has a warning.
Recall that ‘way last November, Verizon was exposed as using a supercookie that they’d developed for the purpose: it sits on your cell phone and tracks, ostensibly for their own use, your cell usage (supposedly limited to your use on the Internet). And you can’t delete it.
It turns out that Turn, an online advertising company that works with Google and Facebook,
uses [the Verizon supercookie] to collect data that makes it easier for advertisers to place targeted online ads, according to the researchers.
…not to do business through ObamaMart and to get rid of Obamacare and with it ObamaMart. Even the AP has the tale.
When you apply for coverage on HealthCare.gov, dozens of data companies may be able to tell that you are on the site. Some can even glean details such as your age, income, ZIP code, whether you smoke or if you are pregnant.
The data firms have embedded connections on the government site. Ever-evolving technology allows for individual Internet users to be tracked, building profiles that are a vital tool for advertisers.
The new Congress is pushing toward legislation that would increase sanctions on Iran should the current “negotiations” over Iran’s nuclear weapons program fail. President Barack Obama has promised to veto the legislation, insisting he’s got everything under control.
Then, on Friday last, British Prime Minister David Cameron said in a press conference held jointly with Obama that he’d been lobbying US Senators against that same legislation and that he intended to continue to do so. In the next sentence he lied about it being lobbying, insisting in wide-eyed innocence
That wouldn’t be right[.]
Here’s some, via The Daily Caller.
A Tulsa convenience store clerk took on four masked men during an attempted robbery earlier this week, shooting and killing two and helping bring an end to a serial robbery ring.
I wonder how that would have worked out had the clerk not been armed.
Republicans—leadership, rank and file—and Conservatives want to repeal Obamacare, and they’re right to do so. Obamacare has been an unvarnished disaster for our nation.
To this end, Republicans need to pass repeal legislation and put it on President Barack Obama’s desk, where he surely will veto it. That veto will work to Republicans’ benefit as it helps shape the 2016 elections, but things must not stop there.
The leadership also is playing small ball, working a piecemeal approach. This includes
First we have the NSA collecting personal telephone call data. Now we find out about this shadowy program, which was uncovered only because DEA had to give up its existence pursuant to a criminal case involving a man accused of planning the export of technology to Iran:
The Drug Enforcement Administration has formally acknowledged that it maintained a sweeping database of phone calls made from the United States to multiple foreign countries.
And
…the program relied on administrative subpoenas to collect records of calls….