Jon Stewart: 2014 Post Election Report

A great post election report by Jon Stewart.  Stewart humorously highlights the election night wins and demographic breakdowns....

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Senator Rob Portman MIA while Cruz & Senate Conservatives Oppose Amnesty by Executive Order

Senator Ted Cruz has sent a letter to lame duck Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid opposing President Obama's threat of using an Executive Order granting amnesty to illegal immigrants to again undermine the power of Congress.

Joining in with Senator Cruz in standing strong against President Obama continued abuse of his Executive Powers are Sens. Mike Crapo, R-ID; Mike Lee, R-UT; Pat Roberts, R-KS; Jeff Sessions, R-AL; and David Vitter, R-LA. 

And in contrast, reminding us what spineless looks like, Senator John McCain has taken to pleading with President Obama not to use an Executive Order for granting amnesty to illegals.  

Being from Ohio, when speaking of spineless on illegal immigration - having been a keynote speaker at a pro-amnesty event last year, Senator Rob Portman leads the jelly fish jubilee. 

Though his voting record shows he would be a better nominee for the Democrats than the GOP, it is being widely reported that Senator Portman, instead of running to keep his U.S. Senate seat, has not ruled out running to be the GOP nominee for the White House in 2016.

When you stop laughing about Portman looking to run as the GOP nominee for POTUS, please contact his office and tell him - if he is looking to be reelected to anything -- now would be the time to at least act like a conservative and sign onto the letter from Senator Cruz.

Senator Rob Portman (R-OH)

DC Office: (202)224-3353
Contact: Click Here
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/senrobportman
Twitter: https://twitter.com/portmanpress

From Senator Ted Cruz --

Don’t Enable Obama’s Executive Amnesty in Lame Duck


GOP SENATORS SEND WARNING TO HARRY REID AFTER RESOUNDING REFERENDUM

November 5, 2014

202-228-7561

WASHINGTON, DC - Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, today sent a letter to Sen. Harry Reid, D-NV, the outgoing Senate Majority Leader, signed by Sens. Mike Crapo, R-ID; Mike Lee, R-UT; Pat Roberts, R-KS; Jeff Sessions, R-AL; and David Vitter, R-LA expressing opposition to President Obama's announced intention to take unilateral executive action by the end of this year to lawlessly grant amnesty to immigrants who have entered the country illegally.

"The Supreme Court has recognized that ‘over no conceivable subject is the power of Congress more complete' than its power over immigration," the letter said. "Therefore, President Obama will be exercising powers properly belonging to Congress if he makes good on his threat. This will create a constitutional crisis that demands action by Congress to restore the separation of powers."

The letter continued: "As majority leader of the Senate, you have the responsibility of not only representing the citizens of your State, but also of protecting the Constitution through vigilant exercise of the checks and balances provided under the Constitution. Therefore, we write to offer our full assistance in ensuring expeditious Senate debate and passage for a measure that preserves the power of Congress by blocking any action the President may take to violate the Constitution and unilaterally grant amnesty; however, should you decline to defend the Senate and the Constitution from executive overreach, the undersigned Senators will use all procedural means necessary to return the Senate's focus during the lame duck session to resolving the constitutional crisis created by President Obama's lawless amnesty."

The text of the letter is below:

November 5, 2014


Senator Harry Reid
Majority Leader
S-221, The Capitol
Washington, D.C. 20510


Dear Leader Reid:

We write to express our alarm with President Obama's announced intention to take unilateral executive action by the end of this year to lawlessly grant amnesty to immigrants who have entered the country illegally. The Supreme Court has recognized that "over no conceivable subject is the power of Congress more complete" than its power over immigration. Therefore, President Obama will be exercising powers properly belonging to Congress if he makes good on his threat. This will create a constitutional crisis that demands action by Congress to restore the separation of powers.

As majority leader of the Senate, you have the responsibility of not only representing the citizens of your State, but also of protecting the Constitution through vigilant exercise of the checks and balances provided under the Constitution. Therefore, we write to offer our full assistance in ensuring expeditious Senate debate and passage for a measure that preserves the power of Congress by blocking any action the President may take to violate the Constitution and unilaterally grant amnesty; however, should you decline to defend the Senate and the Constitution from executive overreach, the undersigned Senators will use all procedural means necessary to return the Senate's focus during the lame duck session to resolving the constitutional crisis created by President Obama's lawless amnesty.

Sincerely,

###

Action Alert: The Time for True Health Care Freedom in Ohio is NOW!

 Action Alert  

Now that the elections are over, it is time to get back to work on fighting for our healthcare freedom. With the election night victories by the GOP in the U.S. Senate, now that they have control, there should be no excuses on why they cannot get rid of Obamacare.

After using the often repeated refrain of "Repeal of Obamacare" & "Health Care Freedom" as a fundraising banner since the passage of Obamacare, the GOP must now make good on their promises. 

The health care system in our country was broken prior to Obamacare and Obamacare just made it worse. But even a full repeal of Obamacare will not fix the health care problem we face as a nation.

Freeing us from the chains of Obamacare is not enough - we need true health care freedom and that can only come through the Health Care Compact (HCC).

The Health Care Compact is the only Constitutional option that not only allows states to remove themselves from the chains of federal control, it empowers the member states to address the health care concerns, needs and costs at the state level regardless if Obamacare is repealed or not.

Currently at the federal level Congressman James Lankford (R-OK) has introduced the Health Care Compact (H.J. Res. 110).

Click to Enlarge

To date, nine states have joined the Health Care Compact (Kansas, Oklahoma, Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Missouri, South Carolina, Texas, and Utah), and legislation has either passed the state legislature or is being considered in 12 additional states.

Ohio is hoping to be the tenth state to pass the Health Care Compact with HB 227 having passed out of the OH House State & Local Government Committee and pending a full vote on the Floor of the OH House.

Having the support of 4 out of 6 in the OH House Majority Leadership, the HCC should be one of the first things on the House agenda when they return to session next week on 11/12/14.  

Passion to Action

We are asking everyone to contact your Ohio House Representative and ask that they support the Health Care Compact (HB 227) and true healthcare freedom in Ohio. 

For a county by county list of OH Rep's contact information, please click here.

Please sign the petition in support of the Health Care Compact to show Ohio legislators you support true health care freedom in Ohio. After you sign it please forward it your friends, family and social network.  To forward this post, click here.

Click to Sign the Petition

Vote Today

Art credit: chuckleberriesonline.com

 TODAY

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Ebola Quarantines

Art credit: littlebigplanet.wikia.com

Ohioans had a scare recently when a nurse with the Ebola virus flew in and out of Hopkins Airport. Were Ohioans' fears justified or unwarranted? Betsy McCaughey is an excellent resource on healthcare, including Obamacare and the Ebola virus. Here’s her column from National Review online:

OCTOBER 31, 2014 6:18 PM

The Evidence Demands Ebola Quarantines

We can applaud health workers and take the prudent steps at the same time.

By Betsy McCaughey

President Barack Obama and Kaci Hickox, a nurse who returned from treating Ebola patients in Sierra Leone on October 24, are attacking states’ efforts to keep returning health-care workers away from the public for 21 days. Governors in New Jersey, Illinois, Maine, Connecticut, and other states say it’s a wise precaution to prevent the virus from possibly spreading. But Obama claims that these regulations are based on fear, not science. And Hickox has successfully defied Maine’s effort to restrict her to her home, bashing the quarantine as “unnecessary” and “not evidence-based.” Judge Charles C. LaVerdiere ruled on Friday that Hickox is free to travel without restrictions.

But, in fact, science is against Obama, Hickox, and the judge. Evidence shows that to protect the public, travelers from Ebola-plagued West Africa, especially doctors and nurses who battled the virus, should be quarantined for 21 days.

Fever Monitoring Is Unreliable

At least 100 people, including about five health-care workers, enter the U.S. each day from Ebola-infected countries in West Africa. At departure from there and arrival here, their temperatures are checked by airport workers. But data from over 4,000 Ebola cases (the most complete analysis ever) published October 16 in the New England Journal of Medicine show that 13 percent of patients don’t develop a fever early on.

Thomas Duncan, who brought Ebola to Texas and infected two nurses, was able to get through fever screening. It also failed to identify Craig Spencer, the physician with Doctors without Borders, who returned home to New York infected with Ebola and then went bowling, dined out, and took the subway. Now he is fighting for his life in Bellevue Hospital, and public-health officials are scrambling to identify the people who may have been exposed to him.

Spiking temperatures eventually alerted Duncan and Spencer. But the research shows that in 13 percent of Ebola cases, the patient is already quite ill and diagnosed with the virus but still does not have a fever.

Are Americans At Risk Of Catching Ebola?

For most Americans, the known risk of catching Ebola is currently small. Ebola is most contagious in the later stages of illness, when victims here presumably would be in a hospital, putting hospital workers at severe risk but not the rest of us. Better sanitation facilities here than in Africa make it less likely that Americans will be exposed to infectious bodily fluids.

Less likely, that is, but not impossible. An infected person’s saliva can contain numerous virus particles. When scientists say Ebola is not “airborne,” they mean the virus doesn’t remain suspended in the air after the infected person leaves the area. But Ebola might be contagious if the infected person coughs or sneezes, sending droplets several feet. If droplets land in one’s eye, nose, or mouth or on a cut or opening in your skin, it’s possible to get Ebola. On October 23, the CDC edited its website to include this kind of transmission. Sharing finger food from a common plate with someone infected with Ebola also could put you at risk, according to research in the Journal of Infectious Diseases.

What about touching a subway pole, door knob, or bowling ball? Unlike staph and other bacteria that can last weeks on dry surfaces, viruses last only a few hours, and there is no research confirming transmission that way. A 2007 study in The Journal of Infectious Diseases shows that the virus can survive on objects much longer if it is embedded in blood, for example, a bloody bandage, tampon, or tissue. The CDC also included this information in its October 23 update, only seven years after the research became available. Better late than not at all.

Then there’s the risk of using a toilet right after an Ebola-infected patient has used it and flushed. A bacterial infection common in hospitals, Clostridium difficile, is known to spread that way. Investigators from the University of Illinois School of Public Health make the connection: “Regarding diarrhea, even when contained by toilets, toilet flushing emits a pathogen laden aerosol that disperses in the air.”

These unknowns would humble any scientist confronting a virus that has no cure for the infected and no vaccine to protect the public. But not the Obama administration.

Why Not Just Test For It?

Kaci Hickox tested negative for Ebola shortly after arriving in the U.S. and finding herself detained under Governor Christie’s new 21-day quarantine policy. But Ebola lab tests (both types available) don’t show the virus until the patient develops symptoms, and even then they can give false negatives for a few more days, explains Dr. Sandro Cinti, an infectious-disease specialist at the University of Michigan Hospital System.

Don’t Hazmat Suits Keep Workers Safe?

The CDC insists that doctors and nurses working in Africa are not at a high risk of carrying Ebola home because they wear protective gear. Not so fast. The World Health Organization reports that 521 health-care workers have contracted Ebola so far this year and 272 have died. Some had inadequate equipment or training, but the fatalities include many with experience and full protective gear. According to infectious-disease experts at Johns Hopkins, the gear, though helpful, “is simply not enough.” That’s because there is no room for error in removing it once it’s contaminated with vomit, diarrhea, or blood. “The smallest mistake can be fatal,” Peter Piot, a renowned virologist who co-discovered Ebola, has said.

It’s no wonder that Samaritan’s Purse, a relief organization in North Carolina, imposes a 21-day isolation period on workers returning from Ebola-affected countries. Similarly, hospitals require Ebola volunteers to stay out of work for 21 days after their return to the U.S.

Hickox insists she’s healthy. Let’s hope so. But the same New England Journal of Medicine analysis of 4,000 Ebola cases shows that health-care workers are no quicker to identify their own illness and get to a hospital than others.

Stigmatizing Or Honoring?

Hickox objects that Ebola volunteers are being “stigmatized.” President Obama, sounding like the nation’s schoolmarm-in-chief, lectured us on Wednesday that when these volunteers come home “they deserve to be treated properly. They deserve to be treated like the heroes they are.”

They are heroes, including Kaci Hickox. But that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be quarantined. On Monday, the Joint Chiefs of Staff recommended that all U.S. troops returning from West Africa undergo a 21-day quarantine. They’re heroes too.

There is no stigma to being quarantined: Our heroic astronauts who landed on the moon were quarantined on their return, to be sure they were not carrying unknown pathogens.

Obama is creating a false choice by saying we have to applaud health-care workers instead of quarantining them.

We should do both.

— Betsy McCaughey is chairman of the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths and a senior fellow at the London Center for Policy Research.

# # #

Close races in next week's elections

Art credit: eastbayri.com

From Jenny Beth Martin at Tea Party Patriots:

The situation:

In North Carolina, Republican Thom Tillis is tied with Barack Obama's ally, Kay Hagan, 44-44.

In New Hampshire, Scott Brown is leading liberal Jeanne Shaheen by just 1 point, 48-47.

In Arkansas, Republican Tom Cotton is leading by just a few points, but still hasn't hit 50 percent.

In Iowa, Joni Ernst is leading by a razor-thin 2-point margin, 47-45, but victory is far from guaranteed.

The verdict:

Grassroots action will make or break every single one of these races.

If we can't move conservative voters to the polls on Election Day, Barack Obama will keep the Senate.We can't let that happen.

We must continue supplying our grassroots volunteers with the palm cards, door hangers, voter canvassing software, training, signs, and transportation they need to get the job done. And we need your help to make it happen.

Patriots can go to the Tea Party Patriots website here for more information.

# # #   

Ohio School Board Member on Common Core Standards: "Follow the Money"

We recently posted an op-ed by Marianne Gasiecki of the Mansfield Tea Party on how Common Core is more about the money than it is about educating our children.  

In the below post with Breitbart, Marianne expands on the money trail and on the resistance she has faced as a Ontario, Ohio school board member....

From Breitbart --

An Ontario, Ohio school board member urges all American parents to “follow the money” on Common Core. 

Richland County's Marianne Gasiecki warns that state departments of education are intent on undermining “local control” laws when it comes to opting out of the new standards.

“It’s all about the money,” Gasiecki told Breitbart News during an interview.

As a Republican who founded the Mansfield Tea Party and serves as state coordinator for the Tea Party Patriots, Gasiecki helped organize the student opt-out from the Common Core-aligned tests a year ago. This January, she was elected to the Ontario school board. 

“And I have been a thorn in their side,” she said. “But what I’m experiencing is being experienced across the country.”

According to Ohioans Against Common Core (OACC), the Ontario public school district recently received a letter “in response to inquiring what repercussions may result if the district acted upon their ‘local control’ and opted out of the ‘voluntary’ Common Core standards.”

“As you’ll read, the reform game is rigged with punitive penalties – for every player at every level – thus preventing any real or practical defection from the State and Federal regime,” writes OACC.

According to the letter, signed by Brian Roget, associate director of the Office of Curriculum and Assessment of the Ohio Department of Education (ODE):

Because of the alignment of the academic content standards to assessments and to the end of course examinations, the most obvious concern is that a district decision to not adopt a curriculum based upon the new learning standards will affect student scores on assessments. Poor performance on these assessments will impact building and district rankings on the report card, the ability of students to master the end of course examinations and graduate, and teacher performance under the teacher evaluation system.

At the student level, poor performance on certain assessments can result in a child being retained in the third grade or being unable to meet graduation requirements. At the teacher level, poor performance by students will affect a teacher’s evaluation and could result in consequences for the teacher.

At the district level, a poor performing school building (depending upon whether the performance falls below standards set by the specific statutes) could end up being an EdChoice eligible building, or could be required to conduct school improvement activities. To the extent that students cannot meet the Third Grade Reading Guarantee, a district will have to bear the cost of providing the required remediation. If a district’s overall performance is low enough, the district may end up subject to the supervision of an Academic Distress Commission.

Before making a decision about whether or not to adopt curricula based on Ohio’s new learning standards, your district should carefully compare the new learning standards to the existing academic standards and to review the model curricula. The department can provide you with comparison documents if that would be helpful. The greater the extent to which your district reflects the new learning standards, the more aligned your district will be to the assessments administered to your students, which will lessen the potential for any negative impact.

In a recent editorial at Richland Source, Gasiecki dismissed latest threat: Schools will lose funding if students opt out of the Common Core-aligned testing.

“False,” she said. “There is nothing in the Ohio Revised Code tying a child’s test to funding... All this coercion makes sense when you learn that the ODE received $4.5 million, and the National Assoc. of State School Boards received $3.3 million from the Gates Foundation, for implementation of CC.”

Gasiecki traced how taxpayer funding is being spent on Microsoft products, and questioned the motives of textbook publishers such as McGraw Hill and Pearson, who reportedly profit from taxpayer funding of new textbooks aligned with the Common Core standards.

“Pearson has purchased a bio-behavioral testing company so they can do more behavioral testing in the schools,” wrote Gasiecki. “Why is a textbook company getting into the bio-behavioral testing business? Think about it.”

A mother of two – one is a senior in the local public school and the other is homeschooled – Gasiecki has a four-year accounting degree and a background in finance.

“I had always gone to school board meetings. I was never rude, but I started pressing them on the Common Core,” she explained. “I asked, ‘What did you do to vet this Common Core?’ All I got was a ‘deer in the headlights’ look.”

Gasiecki said she continued to become more vocal, “hammering” the board of education, and urging more people to attend meetings and get involved.

“The board was clueless,” she stated. “The superintendent and the state board of education were running the show.”

Gasiecki said, however, that, gradually, more people began to listen to what she had to say.

“I come from a conservative-leaning community,” she continued. “I knew a lot of teachers and had volunteered in the schools for years. When teachers started to hear how vocal I was against the Common Core, they began to get behind me.”

On October 14, the Ontario local school board meeting had a packed house, said Gasiecki, who added she could hear grumbling going on throughout the meeting.

“We went from an A-rated school district to a C-rated district over a couple of years,” she elaborated. “When I asked the superintendent nine months ago why this was happening, he replied, ‘It’s not.’ Yet, the day before the October 14 meeting, he issued a report showing the decline to a C-rated district.”

Gasiecki said at school board meetings she found that other board members couldn’t answer questions about the Common Core standards.

“They hadn’t done their homework,” she said. “They didn’t really know what it was about.”

Gasiecki has also found that she has been targeted for her outspokenness on the controversial education initiative.

On October 9 – Constitution Day – she reported that she went into the elementary school in her district to bring activity books about the Constitution for the kids.

“The superintendent went ballistic over this, and listed eight grievances she had with me,” Gasiecki explained. “She called a special board meeting to address the grievances against me, that I’m too involved from day to day.”

Gasiecki stated she suggested the board address the specific issues about the fact that she went into the schools, so that the people attending the meeting could hear about them.

“The people in the chairs were furious, and I ended up getting more support,” she said.

Gasiecki views the current struggle with the Common Core as the latest stage of a “snowball effect” of progressive education policy that began a century ago.

“When you follow the money, you see that state departments of education have received millions of dollars, and now they have to push Common Core in any way they can,” she said.