Arkansas Senate Race Taking Shape

Bill Smith, Editor, ARRA News Service : A Rasmussen Reports statewide survey details that Tom Cotton has taken a strong lead in the U.S. Senate race.Republican challenger Tom Cotton has pulled to his largest lead yet over Democratic incumbent Mark Pryor in Arkansas' race for U.S. Senate.

Cotton now picks up 47% of the vote to Pryor's 40% in the latest Rasmussen Reports statewide telephone survey of Likely Arkansas Voters. Five percent (5%) like some other candidate in the race, while eight percent (8%) are undecided.

Among the 85% of voters who say they are certain to vote in this year's election, Cotton leads Pryor 49% to 40%.

The candidates were tied in late August. Cotton, a U.S. congressman, held a slight 47% to 43% lead in late May and was ahead by five points - 45% to 40% - in our first look at the race in early February.

Arkansas moves from a Toss-Up to Leans Republican in the Rasmussen Reports' 2014 Senate Balance of Power. Republicans need a net gain of six Senate seats to take control of the Senate.An earlier Marist Poll also reported: Tom Cotton also was leading in the U.S Senate race. Among likely voters in Arkansas including those who are undecided yet leaning toward a candidate, Republican Tom Cotton, 45%, is ahead of Democratic incumbent Mark Pryor, 40%, in the race for U.S. Senate in the state. While allegiances fall along party lines, Cotton leads Pryor among independents, 43% to 34%.

Among registered voters statewide including those who are undecided yet leaning toward a candidate, the double-digit lead Pryor had over Cotton in an NBC News/Marist Poll conducted in May is gone. Cotton, 41%, and Pryor, 41%, are neck and neck among registered voters. This compares with 51% of registered voters for Pryor and 40% for Cotton in that earlier survey.Based on the increased negative Pryor Campaign ads like Linda and Courtney, the Pryor campaign's internal polling must have revealed this shift earlier. The Pryor campaign ads show extreme desperation by shifting from facts to using false innuendos and false questions in an attempt to cast doubt on voting for on Tom Cotton. And these negative ads are clearly endorsed by Mark Pryor.  Sen Pryor and the democrat power brokers have turned to falsehood in attempt to save a needed vote in the Senate to protect the Democrat control of Sen. Harry Reid over the U.S. Senate. The same Harry Read who has refused to advance critical jobs bills passed by the U.S. House and who has implemented the so called "nuclear option" in the Senate to pack the U.S. Courts with liberal extremists using only democrat votes.

Back in March of this year, Pryor opted to criticize Cotton's military record and claimed that there was nothing about military service that qualifies a person for elected office.  Interesting our first President George Washington was elected almost solely for this reason and not for his farming ability.  And our present President and Senator Pryor, both with no military leadership experience, have led America into the present vulnerability from our enemies, terrorists, illegals' invasion,  and pandemic threats.  Pryor apparently doesn't think a politician should have the qualities of integrity, discipline and sacrifice that one learns in the military.As a 22 year veteran, I, and &most other veterans in Arkansas, take umbrage at Sen. Pryor's direct attacks on Rep. Tom Cotton's military service to our country.  With his Law Degree from Harvard, Cotton could have served as a JAG officer in a non-combat role, but instead he chose to serve 5 years in the Infantry on the front lines. Cotton's deployed to both Iraq and Afghanistan with the 101st Airborne Division. With an intervening service between combat assignments, he also served as officer in charge at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

In Iraq. Cotton conducted daily combat patrols, one of the most dangerous jobs. In Afghanistan he was in charge of Provincial Reconstruction Teams, another perilous job,  working with locals and always with the danger of IEDs or a Taliban ambush.

Sen. Mark Pryor critical problems are two fold.  First is Pryor's  absolute disregard for Arkansas voters who clearly identified that they were opposed to the Obama  agenda.  Arkansans in the past, traditionally voted democrat, aka Southern Democrat.  However, Arkansas voters made it clear in the two previous presidential elections that did not support the espoused agenda of the Obama agenda.  In 2012, only 36.88% of the voters cast their votes for President Obama.  In 2008, only 38.86% voted for then Sen. Obama.

Senator Mark Pryor received a bye in the 2008 election because voters perceived him as a "blue dog" democrat willing to stand with the interests of the voters of Arkansas. After Obama was elected president, the Arkansas voters faced the nightmare of both their U.S Senators and their democrat congressional U.S. Representatives jumping aboard the progressive Obama train.
In response, TEA Parties and Patriot groups and new non-partisan conservative organizations became a reality in Arkansas and were destined to impact on elections.  In addition, independent online voices and news sources, like the ARRA News Service, reached into the homes of Arkansans via their computers, phones, tablets and other Internet devices.

By the 2010 election, Arkansas voters had had enough and revolted at the polls tossing out then democrat U.S Senator Blanche Lincoln.  They voted overwhelmingly for then Rep. John Boozman who, at that time, was the only Republican in the Arkansas delegation to Washington. Lincoln only garnered 37% of the vote after she became an advocate for the Affordable care Act, aka, Obamacare.  Both her and Pryor had cast deciding votes for Obamacare. If either Pryor or Lincoln had voted no, the bill would not have passed. After losing the election, former Sen. Blanche Lincoln did not return to Arkansas but remained in Virginia.

Now Sen. Mark Pryor is facing the same awakened electorate that Lincoln faced.  The voters former trust in Pryor has been deflated by his votes against the values of the majority of Arkansans and his deciding vote passing Obamacare.    Some have pondered why Pryor is not down as far down in the polls as Senator Lincoln was in 2008.  There are several reasons including  Barack Obama having been on the ballot with Lincoln, the recent passage of Obamacare at that time, and the long experience that Arkansans had with then Rep. John Boozman, aka "the gentle giant" who was very popular.

It is now Mark Pryor time to face the voters and as the polls are showing, to be retired.  His failures to support the majority interests of Arkansans.  He did not stand for Arkansans but has stood in lockstep with Senate majority leader Harry Reid.  He supported all actions that have hurt or delayed jobs and non-government growth in Arkansas.  He has not stood strong against the EPA and other agencies attacks on Arkansas property and business owners.

Pryor is fully associated with the former "plantation politics" faction that lorded itself over the people of Arkansas. While Arkansas voters are not all clamoring to be Republican, in the majority, they remain heartland southern conservatives. And, the Arkansas Democrat party has left the people and is either becoming or pandering with the progressive radical democrat party lead by President Obama, Sen. Harry Reid, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, and Democratic National Party Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz. None of these people represent the interests of Arkansans.

Thus, Senator Pryor is in trouble and we can expect more negative ads by his campaign.  He can no longer rely on the name of his father who previously served and represented Arkansans.  Mark Pryor must now face his own demons whom a majority of Arkansans appear ready to purge.

Overall, all  Arkansans would be better served by voting against Mark Pryor by voting for Tom Cotton in the 2014 election.  Cotton is a candidate who has already shown his commitment to America by his willingness to lay his life on the line in defense of America in combat and who has as U.S. Representative voted for the values of  Arkansas even when voting against bills advanced by his own party members.
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Dr. Bill Smith is editor, ARRA News Service. He is a national conservative activist and award winning blogger. He is a small business owner, retired Air Force officer, and graduate professor. He previously was a national political director serving 23 candidates for Congress and has advised numerous other candidates. He resides in Arkansas and can be followed on Facebook and Twitter.

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Tags: Arkansas, Senate Race, 2014 Election, U.S Senate, Mark Pryor, Tom Cotton, polling, Rasmussen Reports, Marist Poll, commentary, Dr. Bill Smith, ARRA News Service To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!

Ebola in America Day 3 | Ebola Tourism | Panetta Pans Obama

by Gary Bauer, Contributing Author: Ebola In America: Day 3 - There are disturbing reports today out of Dallas, once again demonstrating how easily our "emergency protocols" can breakdown.

News reports are using the word "chaos" to describe the situation at the apartment complex where Thomas Duncan's relatives are staying. The family is now under armed guard because they reportedly violated their quarantine orders.

Moreover, Dallas officials are having an extremely difficult time finding a company willing to decontaminate their apartment. Understandably, few companies want to put their employees at risk. Unfortunately, that means those family members are still being exposed to blankets, towels and other items used by Duncan.

Now we have learned that a freelance cameraman with NBC News has become infected. That individual is currently in Liberia with an entire NBC News crew, but they will be flown back to the U.S. in coming days. The crew will be quarantined for 21 days, while the cameraman undergoes treatment.

We're also learning that in 2010 the Obama Administration gutted quarantine regulations written by the Bush Administration to deal with pandemics.

Talk about chutzpah! Five years prior, then-Senator Obama blasted the Bush Administration for not having an emergency plan to deal with the avian flu. So, the Bush Administration drafts a plan and five years later, Obama kills it! What exactly is Obama's plan to deal with Ebola, which is far more deadly than the bird flu?

Ebola Tourism? - There is more news today about Thomas Duncan, the Liberian man now insolation at a Dallas hospital with Ebola. Duncan was a former driver for a delivery company that contracted with FedEx in Liberia.

According to his former boss and others who knew him, Duncan had recently received a visa to travel to America to visit relatives.

But after coming into contact with an Ebola victim who later died, Duncan believed that going to America was his best chance of surviving the disease. He reportedly quit his job, leading former co-workers to suspect he had no intention of returning to Liberia.

Make no mistake about that, my friends: Duncan knew he had been exposed to Ebola and he lied on an airport questionnaire about his exposure. As result, Liberia plans to prosecute him -- if he survives.

Some people are now suggesting that Mr. Duncan may be the first of a wave of "Ebola tourism," thousands of people fleeing their homelands to take advantage of the U.S. healthcare system. That would absolutely overwhelm us.

Calls are increasing for the Obama Administration to halt flights between affected countries and the U.S. Senator Ted Cruz and Governor Bobby Jindal have issued public statements insisting on those halts. But the Obama Administration is so far refusing to impose travel restrictions that would prevent individuals in nations with Ebola outbreaks from entering the country.

Meanwhile, it is making all kinds of excuses for granting refugee status to the tens of thousands of recent illegal immigrants from Central America. Using the left's flawed logic, why not add poor healthcare to the list and just throw the doors wide open to all the problems that afflict the Third World?

For all the emphasis on "compassion" in debates over immigration reform and border security, this is just another reminder of how easily a country unwilling to control its borders could be swamped by the rest of the world that is desperate to avoid its own problems.

Panetta Pans Obama - Leon Panetta, Obama's former Secretary of Defense and Director of the CIA, Bill Clinton's White House Chief of Staff and seven-term Democrat member of the House of Representatives, has written his memoir. As you might expect with a resume like that, Panetta has some interesting revelations about his time in Washington, D.C.

Time has released excerpts of Panetta's book recounting the negotiations with Iraq on a status of forces agreement that would have permitted U.S. troops to remain in Iraq. You may recall that the negotiations failed, and now ISIS controls large swaths of the country.

Who was to blame for that failure: Obama or the Iraqis? To this day, Mr. Obama insists the Iraqi leadership was at fault.

But at the same time, his reelection campaign was bragging about "promises kept" to bring the troops home. Throughout 2012 Obama often said, "I said I'd end the war in Iraq. I ended it." As we see now, he really didn't end it, but Mr. Obama got his applause line for his far-left, Code Pink base.

In his book, Panetta pans Obama's foreign policy as driven by domestic political concerns rather than legitimate national security needs. Consider these excerpts on the status of forces agreement:
"I privately and publicly advocated for a residual force that could provide training and security for Iraq's military. Under Secretary of Defense Michele Flournoy did her best to press that position, which reflected not just my views but also those of the military commanders in the region and the Joint Chiefs.

"But the President's team at the White House pushed back, and the differences occasionally became heated. . . . those on our side viewed the White House as so eager to rid itself of Iraq that it was willing to withdraw rather than lock in arrangements that would preserve our influence and interests. . . .

"To my frustration, the White House coordinated the negotiations but never really led them. . . . The deal never materialized. To this day, I believe that a small U.S. troop presence in Iraq could have effectively advised the Iraqi military on how to deal with al-Qaeda's resurgence and the sectarian violence that has engulfed the country."When former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates released his memoir, it too had some heavy criticism of Obama's leadership on matters of national security. Referring to the war in Afghanistan, Gates wrote that Obama didn't "believe in his own strategy, and doesn't consider the war to be his. For him, it's all about getting out."

Many pundits dismissed Gates' criticism because he was a Republican and a "Bush holdover." That cannot be said of Leon Panetta.

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Tags: Day 3, Ebola in America, Ebola Tourism, Leon Panetta, Pans Obama, President Obama To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!

Eleven Republican Principles for America

Republican Party Chairman Reince Priebus gave a speech focused on 11 principles for American renewal. They are eleven
positive statements about what Republicans believe we must do about the challenges confronting America.

His list of Republican principles are below. How many do you agree with?

1. Our Constitution should be preserved, valued and honored.

2. We need to start growing America’s economy instead of Washington’s economy so that working Americans see better wages and more opportunity.

3. We need to pass a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution, make government more efficient, and leave the next generation with opportunity, not debt.

4. We need to start over with real healthcare reform that puts patients and their doctors in charge, not unelected bureaucrats in Washington.

5. Our veterans have earned our respect and gratitude, and no veteran should have to wait in line for months or years just to see a doctor.

6. Keeping America safe and strong requires a strong military, growing the economy, energy independence, and secure borders.

7. Every child should have an equal opportunity to get a great education; no parent should be forced to send their child to a failing school.

8. The best anti-poverty program is a strong family and a good job, so our focus should be on getting people out of poverty by lifting up all people and helping them find work.

9. Our country should value the traditions of family, life, religious liberty, and hard work.

10. We should make America energy independent by encouraging investment in domestic energy, lowering prices, and creating jobs at home.

11. We need an immigration system that secures our borders, upholds the law, and boosts our economy.

You may vote on which of these principles are the three most important at GOP.com.

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Tags: Republican Party Chairman, Reince Priebus, Eleven Republican Principles, vote on your favorites To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!

John Kerry Crusades For "Climate Change" ...

. . . While Ignoring expanding "Islamic Terrorism" (e.g ISIS). "How Soon Some Forget."

Editorial Cartoon by AF "Tony" Branco

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Tags: AF Branco, editorial cartoon, John Kerry, Secretary of State, UN, Climate Change, greatest threat, ignores, ISIS, terrorists To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!

Underlying Truth About The BLS September Jobs Report for September

Bill Smith, ARRA News - This morning the Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released its jobs report for September. According to the report the U.S. economy added 248,000 jobs in September and the unemployment rate was at a 6 year low at 5.9 percent.

Americans for Limited Government Vice President of Public Policy and Communications Rick Manning after reviewing the report, noted, "The almost predictable Obama Administration pre-election unemployment report did not fail to deliver as the top-line unemployment rate sunk below 6 percent. Unfortunately, this drop in the rate is, once again, largely due to another 315,000 people, or the equivalent of half of the total population of the District of Columbia, dropping out of the workforce. From a limited government point of view, it might seem like a good idea if half of Washington, D.C., no longer was employed or even in the employment market, but unfortunately, these employment market drop outs are not former federal government employees, but instead are folks located across the nation. The very people who D.C. depends upon to pay taxes and produce goods and services to make our economy run.

"The current labor participation rate has gotten so bad, that our nation has not had a smaller percentage of people in the labor force since February, 1978, when Jimmy Carter was President, the Bee Gees song Stayin Alive topped the charts, and the Roger Staubach-led Cowboys defeated the Broncos in Super Bowl X11.

"As Paul Harvey used to say, 'And now you know the rest of the story.'"

In response to the BLS Report, Generation Opportunity releases monthly Millennial (18-29 year olds) Jobs Report and identified that Youth Unemployment at 14.9% in September. The declining labor force participation rate has created an additional 1.955 million young adults that are not counted as “unemployed” by the U.S. Department of Labor because they are not in the labor force, meaning that those young people have given up looking for work due to the lack of jobs. Also, the effective unemployment rate for 18-29 year old African-Americans is 22.3 percent.

Patrice Lee, Director of Outreach at Generation Opportunity, noted that: “14.9 percent of young people aged 18-29 are still unemployed and it's no secret why. Washington is too busy intervening in the market, stifling innovation and entrepreneurship – our best opportunities to succeed. As a country, we must push for policies that put more young people on the pathway to success, not the fast track to joblessness. Let’s turn the tables and fight for government that works for us, not against us.”

Phil Kerpen, American Commitment also responded to the BLS report in the ARRA News Service article: Lower Unemployment, No Thanks to Democrats. Kerpen notes that "According to empirical research by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York: 'most of the persistent increase in unemployment during the Great Recession can be accounted for by the unprecedented extensions of unemployment benefit eligibility.'" .... " The New York Fed report includes an extensive literature review of the studies showing unemployment benefits reduce labor supply by an imposing an implicit tax on work and an incentive for people to choose to collect benefits rather than working. Notably, it finds that this effect, while real, is relatively small.

The much bigger effect comes from the impact of extended unemployment benefits on labor demand, the number of job vacancies created by employers.

“The logic of the model is simple,” the authors explain. “Everything else equal, extending unemployment benefits exerts an upward pressure on the equilibrium wage. This lowers the profits employers receive from filled jobs, leading to a decline in vacancy creation.”

"The extraordinary extended unemployment benefits in recent years created a great natural experiment to test this theory, because states changed their benefits at different times and for different durations of unemployment.

"The researchers compared border counties in states with differing policies to measure the impact of these policy changes on employment. They found: “changes in unemployment benefits have large and statistically significant short-run effect on unemployment.

"Specifically, they found that the average extended unemployment benefits duration of 82.5 weeks for four years had the impact of raising the unemployment rate from 5 percent to 8.6 percent." . . .

"Good intentions are not enough in public policy. It might seem kind and compassionate to spend billions of taxpayer dollars on “emergency” unemployment benefits forever, but the effect is to keep millions of people unemployed. Results matter." . . . [Recommend reading complete article]

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Tags: BLS Report, Unemployment, September report, reponses, Americans for Limited Government, Generation Opportunity, ARRA News Service, Phil Kerpen, American Commitment To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!

Lower Unemployment, No Thanks to Democrats

by Phil Kerpen, Contributing Author: President Obama and his Democratic allies are claiming credit for the latest in a string of positive jobs reports, but if they had their way it wouldn’t have happened. Why? According to empirical research by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York: “most of the persistent increase in unemployment during the Great Recession can be accounted for by the unprecedented extensions of unemployment benefit eligibility.”

Those benefits finally ended at the end of 2013, triggering a sharp rise in hiring – but Democrats have pushed to reinstate them all year and made it a centerpiece of their election campaigns.

The New York Fed report includes an extensive literature review of the studies showing unemployment benefits reduce labor supply by an imposing an implicit tax on work and an incentive for people to choose to collect benefits rather than working. Notably, it finds that this effect, while real, is relatively small.

The much bigger effect comes from the impact of extended unemployment benefits on labor demand, the number of job vacancies created by employers.

“The logic of the model is simple,” the authors explain. “Everything else equal, extending unemployment benefits exerts an upward pressure on the equilibrium wage. This lowers the profits employers receive from filled jobs, leading to a decline in vacancy creation.”

The extraordinary extended unemployment benefits in recent years created a great natural experiment to test this theory, because states changed their benefits at different times and for different durations of unemployment.

The researchers compared border counties in states with differing policies to measure the impact of these policy changes on employment. They found: “changes in unemployment benefits have large and statistically significant short-run effect on unemployment.”

Specifically, they found that the average extended unemployment benefits duration of 82.5 weeks for four years had the impact of raising the unemployment rate from 5 percent to 8.6 percent.

Even considering the supposed stimulative effect of unemployment benefit dollars being spent, the empirical research is clear: “border counties with longer benefit durations have much higher unemployment, despite the potential beneficial effects of spending.”

The New York Fed report is consistent with the experience of the state that was first to end extended benefits: North Carolina.

Under the leadership of Governor Pat McCrory, they ended extended unemployment benefits six months earlier than the rest of the country and – despite dire predictions from liberal activists – the results were positive with the unemployment rate dropping from 8.3 percent in June, the last month of extended benefits, to 6.7 percent in January when the rest of the country followed North Carolina’s lead. The new research from the New York Fed confirms this improvement was likely caused in large part by the return to standard unemployment benefits.

Good intentions are not enough in public policy. It might seem kind and compassionate to spend billions of taxpayer dollars on “emergency” unemployment benefits forever, but the effect is to keep millions of people unemployed. Results matter.

President Obama – in a Thursday speech claiming undeserved credit for the improvement in employment – said: “when push came to shove this year, and Republicans in Congress actually had to take a stand on… extending insurance for the unemployed -- the answer was ‘no.’”

He was actually attacking Republicans for the very policy change that caused the improvement in the jobs picture.

The president also said: “Now, I am not on the ballot this fall. Michelle is pretty happy about that. But make no mistake: These policies are on the ballot -- every single one of them.”

That part he got right. And a vote for Democrats is a vote for steeply higher unemployment rates – at taxpayer expense.
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Phil Kerpen is president of American Commitment and a contributing author for the ARRA News Service. He is on Twitter and on Facebook.

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Tags: lower unemployment, no thanks, Democrats, Federal Reserve,report, lower unemployment, unemployment benefits,  vote for democrats, higher unemployment rates, taxpayer expense, Phil Kerpen, American Commitment To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!

Government Agrees to Settlement for Raiding Reporter’s Home, Seizing Confidential Files

How one reporter turned a government raid on her home into a win for press freedom.

by Rob Bluey, Heritage Foundation / (@RobertBluey): An investigative reporter whose private files were illegally seized during a raid on her home will receive $50,000 as part of a settlement with the Department of Homeland Security.

Audrey Hudson, an award-winning journalist most recently at the Washington Times, told The Daily Signal she was awoken by her barking dog around 4:30 a.m. on Aug. 6, 2013, to discover armed government agents had descended on her property under the cover of darkness. The agents had a search warrant for her husband’s firearms. As they scoured the home, Hudson was read her Miranda rights.

While inside Hudson’s house, a U.S. Coast Guard agent confiscated documents that contained “confidential notes, draft articles, and other newsgathering materials” that Hudson never intended for anyone else to see. The documents included the identities of whistleblowers at the Department of Homeland Security. The Coast Guard is part of Homeland Security.

At the time, Hudson was investigating and reporting on Homeland Security, specifically its Federal Air Marshal Service and the Transportation Security Administration.

Audrey Hudson is an award-winning journalist
most recently at the Washington Times.
(Photo courtesy of Audrey Hudson)

It wasn’t until weeks later that Hudson discovered the documents were missing—and even then only because a federal law-enforcement official told her she could pick up the files. Hudson notified the Washington Times, which took the government to court for violating the Privacy Protection Act.

This led to the settlement, which was first revealed by the Washington Times this week.

“The important thing about this settlement is that we did not let the government’s invasion of my privacy stand,” Hudson said. “We defended the rights of journalists to protect their sources from discovery by government security agencies, and that’s a victory for all journalists.”

The settlement required Homeland Security to pay $50,000 to Hudson, return the seized documents, promise that no copies had been made and any notes about them would be destroyed. In addition, it provides $25,000 to the Washington Times for attorney’s fees and requires the Coast Guard Investigative Service to initiate a review of and provide training on the federal Privacy Protection Act.

Hudson’s attorney, Mark Grannis of Harris, Wiltshire & Grannis LLP, hailed the settlement as a victory for press freedom.

“The government has bent over backwards to assure us that the seizure of Ms. Hudson’s notes was just an error of judgment, not part of any organized effort to identify her sources,” Grannis said. “We hope that by bringing this claim we have helped to raise awareness within the government that reporters’ notes are legally protected from seizure in all but the most exceptional cases.”
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Rob Bluey is editor in chief of The Daily Signal, the multimedia news organization of The Heritage Foundation.

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Tags: Audrey Hudson, Reporter,Washington Times, DHS, raid, Homeland Security, settlement, Privacy Protection Act, Rob Blyey, Heritage Foundation To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!

Unhappy Anniversary: The ObamaCare Collapse

Democrats have been lying about ObamaCare since 2009. In honor of the incredibly unhappy anniversary of the disastrous ObamaCare rollout, the NRSC is highlighting Obama's loyal rubber stamps with the release of a new web video entitled, "The Anniversary Of The ObamaCare Collapse.".

The video recalls the repeated lies of Democrats like Mark Begich (D-AK), Mark Pryor (D-AR), Mark Udall (D-CO), Bruce Braley (D-IA), Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Gary Peters (D-MI), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Kay Hagan (D-NC), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), and Mark Warner (D-VA), who once promised hardworking families and individuals that they could keep their health care plans that they liked and doctors that they trusted

A side note: ObamaCare remains as unpopular (if not more so) today than it was in 2010 and a majority of Americans continue to strongly oppose the signature "achievement" of Democratic Senators and Congressmen and women across the country.

"Democrats like Mark Begich, Mary Landrieu, and Gary Peters lied about ObamaCare then and continue to lie about it now," said NRSC Press Secretary Brook Hougesen. "Over the past six years Barack Obama and Washington Democrats have proven that they not only don't have the right solutions to get America growing again, but they lack the credibility to be trusted to keep their promises."

Watch The video: The Anniversary Of The ObamaCare Collapse"

Script: "The Anniversary Of The ObamaCare Collapse" President Obama: “If you like your healthcare plan you can keep your healthcare plan.”

Jeff Merkley: “And I tell them, that they’re going to be able to keep the doctor they have because the goal isn’t to change that. If they have a plan they like, we want them to be able to keep that.”

Mark Begich: “The reality is that if you got an insurance plan now, you like it, you keep it.”

Kay Hagan: “If you like your doctors you can definitely keep it, keep your health insurance.”

President Obama: “What we said was you can keep it, if it hasn’t changed since the laws passed.”

Mark Pryor: “Are we gonna be able to stick with our plan? The answer is yes.”

CBS Denver Reporter: “Senator Mark Udall knew, it didn’t look good. After all, he, like the president, had promised people that if they liked their insurance, they could keep it.”

President Obama: “I’ve said this once or twice but it bares repeating."

President Obama: “So if you like your plan you can keep your plan.”

Mary Landrieu: “He told people, if you have what you -- if you like the insurance that you have, you'll be able to keep it.”

Gary Peters: “And we are going to be able to hold that back and when the fall election comes back and the Republicans want to repeal healthcare we’re gonna tell them hell no, healthcare is here for all Americans.”

CBS This Morning Reporter: “CBS News is learning that another promise by the government isn’t holding up.”

Mark Warner: “There is no plan being proposed that I will support that will force people out of their existing plan if they have it and they like their existing doctor.”

CBS News' Sheryl Attkisson: “We’ve learned that the government estimated all along that millions of workers would be dropped from their employee insurance under the Affordable Care Act.”

Jeanne Shaheen: “Also called ObamaCare. Oh sorry, but the President says he likes it so. Yes, no I think it’s great.”

President Obama: “We will keep this promise, you will be able to keep your doctor.”

CNN Reporter: “Now a staggering number of older American’s are discovering that their long time Doctor’s are being dumped from their insurance plans.

VIDEO: “The policy I want to keep is gone next year.”
Bruce Braley: “Yes.”

President Obama: “If you like your current insurance, you will keep your current insurance.”

Jeff Merkley: “We want them to be able to keep that.”

Mark Begich: “If you like it, you keep it.”

Kay Hagan: “You can definitely keep it.”

Mark Pryor: “Are we gonna be able to stick with our plan? The answer is yes.”

Mary Landrieu: “You’ll be able to keep it.”

Mark Warner: “I’m not supporting any plan that gets rid of those kind of choices.”

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Tags: unhappy anniversary, Obamacare, collapse, President Obama, democrat, U.S., Senators, Jeff Merkley, Mark Begich, Kay Hagin, Mark Pryor, Mary Landrieu, Mark Warner,  video, NRSC video To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!

The Internet Already Has A Magna Carta, It’s Called The First Amendment

by Rombert Romano: “There have been lots of times that it has been abused, so now the Magna Carta is about saying… I want a web where I’m not spied on, where there’s no censorship.”

That was Internet innovator Tim Berners-Lee — the British inventor responsible for the hypertext markup language (HTML) used to create web pages, the hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) and universal resource locators (URLs) that undergird the modern World Wide Web — speaking in favor of the free and open Internet.

Berners-Lee was equally critical of censorship that might arise in both the public and private spheres, by governments or by companies.

“If a company can control your access to the internet, if they can control which websites they go to, then they have tremendous control over your life. If a government can block you going to, for example, the opposition’s political pages, then they can give you a blinkered view of reality to keep themselves in power,” Berners-Lee said.

He added, “Suddenly the power to abuse the open internet has become so tempting both for government and big companies.”
It is curious, then that Berners-Lee is also a supporter of the transfer of Internet governance — administration of the Internet Assigned Names and Numbers (IANA) functions and the domain name system (DNS) — out from under Department of Commerce oversight to under the sole discretion of the Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).

At the April 2014 Netmundial in Brazil, he said, “I was also pleased to hear that ICANN is beginning a dialogue to create a multi-stakeholder review process to replace that of the U.S. government. That is appropriate because ICANN services the global public interest.”

Yet, if Berners-Lee supports net neutrality because he fears corporate Internet control, what greater danger of global censorship than concentrating the assignment of domain names and Internet Protocol (IP) address into a single, unaccountable, private foundation?

Those who say these powers cannot be wielded for ill are naïve. Then why transfer them at all if there is no danger of censorship?

Why use the specter of U.S. government surveillance via the National Security Agency (NSA) — a program that has almost nothing to do with Internet governance — to call for an end to the U.S. oversight? The Commerce Department government contract with ICANN could expire tomorrow, and that would not stop the NSA from working with Internet service providers like Verizon to get whatever it is they’re looking for.

If the powers over Internet governance could be abused under U.S. Commerce Department oversight — which is actually limited in the exercise of powers by the First Amendment protections of freedom and speech, and offers recourse in federal courts — surely then it could be abused by a private, transnational foundation that is bound by neither.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) was at the forefront criticizing the risks posed by the transfer to ICANN. “Internet administration has always guaranteed free speech and due process, since it has been done by U.S. Government contractors who are required to follow the U.S. Constitution. If the New IANA moves Internet administration out from under the U.S. Government, as there is general agreement to do, the public will lose these guarantees,” Shari Steele, Staff Counsel at EFF warned at the time.

Berners-Lee is right to speak out against censorship in all of its forms on the Internet, and against warrantless surveillance of country’s own citizens.

But when it comes to Internet governance, it is hard to contrive how a global monopoly held by a single foundation with no legal recourse in the event it is wielded to censor political opponents would be better than the current system.
The Internet already has a Magna Carta, it’s called the First Amendment. Anything else is a recipe for breaking the current free and open Internet.
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Robert Romano is the Senior Editor of Americans for Limited Government. His article was first shared on the ALG's NetRight Daily blog.

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Intelligence Claptrap

. . . James Clapper ISIS Intelligence under fire, but did Obama even read the briefing?

Editorial Cartoon by William Warren

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Thousands Learning Their Health Plans Will Be Cancelled | Obamacare Forcing Rate Hikes ‘Up to 110% For Seniors In PA

Editorial Cartoon via BeforeItWasNews: "Losing Your
Healthcare While Congress Keeps Theirs - 8/13/14

This week has featured news reports of the ongoing negative consequences of Obamacare for Americans on a daily basis:

• networks of doctors narrowing even further in California,
• "Hundreds of Thousands Face ... At Risk of Losing or Having to Pay Back Health Insurance Subsidies"
• "[m]ore plan cancellations [are] coming before the elections,”
• "another serious delay hitting the federal Obamacare website"

Of course, today is not different.

Kaiser Health News reports, “Thousands of consumers who were granted a reprieve to keep insurance plans that do not meet the federal health law’s standards are learning that those plans will be discontinued at year’s end and they’ll have to choose a new, possibly more costly policy. . . .

“Insurers sending the notices to some customers include Anthem, one of the largest insurers in the country based in Waukesha, Wis.; CareFirst in Baltimore; Health Care Services Corp. in Chicago; Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, Calif.; Humana in Louisville, Ky.; and Golden Rule, an Indianapolis subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group.

“One reason behind the switch is that insurers found they can make more money selling plans that comply with the Affordable Care Act, often at higher premiums that might be subsidized by the government. ‘They’re getting a lot more revenue, often for the same person,’ said consultant Robert Laszewski, a former insurance executive.

“Last year, similar cancellation letters sent to more than 2 million customers created a political firestorm for President Barack Obama, who had promised that ‘if you like the plan you have, you can keep it.’”

Similarly, Democrats have long claimed that Obamacare’s extensive cuts to Medicare strengthen the program. But seniors in Western Pennsylvania don’t sound too enthusiastic about it, according to a report in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review today.

“Seniors are getting a shock by how much more they will have to pay Highmark Inc. for insurance coverage next year, learning in some cases that their monthly premium for Medicare coverage will more than double. The biggest health insurer in the state blames cuts in government funding to the Medicare program for rate hikes of 25 percent to 110 percent in its Freedom Blue and Security Blue Medicare Advantage plans, which cover hundreds of thousands of seniors.

“Charles Stull, a 74-year-old retired teacher from Mt. Lebanon, received a notice Tuesday informing him that the premium for the Freedom Blue PPO plan he and his wife buy will rise 25 percent next year to $733 a month, from $587 a month. ‘I was shocked,’ Stull said. ‘I'm thinking that I'm going to have to switch.’ Stull has several options to choose from, he said. But he will have to pick carefully to ensure an infusion treatment he receives at St. Clair Hospital for Crohn's disease is covered by another health plan.

“Premiums for Security Blue ValueRx, an HMO plan that's one of the Medicare Advantage offerings are more than doubling, from $20 a month to $52 a month, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Medicare Advantage is government-funded coverage for seniors that's offered through private insurers.

“Art Walker, a 78-year-old from Baldwin, also is planning to drop his Freedom Blue coverage because of Highmark's rate hike. But he's worried about whether a different plan will provide coverage in Florida, where he and his wife live for several months during the winter. ‘I don't want my options limited at my age,’ Walker said. ‘I don't want to be limited where I can go for my doctors.’

“Highmark spokesman Aaron Billger said the insurer is raising premiums on all its Freedom Blue and Security Blue plans, which have 339,000 members in Pennsylvania. About two-thirds of those members are in Freedom Blue. ‘The biggest driver is reduced government funding as a result of the Affordable Care Act,’ Billger said.”

And of course, Senate Democrats voted repeatedly for cuts to Medicare Advantage during the debate on Obamacare.

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Obama's ISIS Strategy Resembles Benghazi

by Kevin Price< Contributing Author: Recently President Barack Obama was on CBS' 60 Minutes discussing the problems the U.S. has had in dealing with the Islamic extremist organization, ISIS. During the interview there was a candid moment in which the interviewer, Steve Kroft, questioned the U.S.' slow and, until recently, limited response.

Steve Kroft: "What? How did they end up where they are in control of so much territory? Was that a complete surprise to you?"

President Obama: "Well I think, our head of the intelligence community, Jim Clapper, has acknowledged that I think they underestimated what had been taking place in Syria."

Kroft was noticeably surprised by the President's candor and seemed to want to provide him a way out, saying, "I mean, he didn't say that, just say that, we underestimated ISIL. He said, we overestimated the ability and the will of our allies, the Iraqi army, to fight." Obama goes on to criticize the former President for the mess (not George W. Bush, but Maliki of Iraq in this case), saying:Well, here's what happened in Iraq. When we left, we had left them a democracy that was intact, a military that was well-equipped, and the ability then to chart their own course. And that opportunity was squandered over the course of five years or so because the prime minister, Maliki, was much more interested in consolidating his Shiite base and very suspicious of the Sunnis and the Kurds, who make up the other two-thirds of the country. So what you did not see was a government that had built a sense of national unity.The conversation goes on to discuss the future of Syria and does not offer much hope for peace and stability in the region, but the important statement was about the intelligence situation. It was said, almost in passing, but has become the takeaway for the interview and has been widely discussed in media and public policy circles. The statement appears to be without any basis in reality.

Eli Lake, writing for The Daily Beast, noted:Nearly eight months ago, some of President Obama's senior intelligence officials were already warning that ISIS was on the move. In the beginning of 2014, ISIS fighters had defeated Iraqi forces in Fallujah, leading much of the U.S. intelligence community to assess they would try to take more of Iraq.Lake states that he interviewed one Pentagon official who said, "Either the president doesn't read the intelligence he's getting or he's bullshitting." He went on to say that the official was "flabbergasted". This seems to be a costly and embarrassing pattern for the Obama administration.

According to the Washington Post, quoting a U.S. Senate report on Benghazi, "The attacks were preventable, based on extensive intelligence reporting on the terrorist activity in Libya -- to include prior threats and attacks against Western targets -- and given the known security shortfalls at the U.S. Mission."

Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), the ranking minority member of the Senate Intelligence Committee went even further, saying "In spite of the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi and ample strategic warnings, the United States government simply did not do enough to prevent these attacks and ensure the safety of those serving in Benghazi." Senator Chambliss gave that warning back in January, but it provided little lesson to the Obama administration in terms of rethinking its strategy in dealing with ISIS.

General Douglas MacArthur summed up the this type of situation best when he said that wars are lost when we do "too little too late." That could very well be the epithet of Barack Obama's national security strategy.
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Kevin Price is Publisher and Editor in Chief, US Daily Review and Host of the Price of Business on 1110 AM KTEK in Houston, Texas. He also shared this article on the Huffington Post/ The Blog.  He is on Twitter and Facebook.

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Tags: Kevin Price, Benghazi Islamic State. ISIS, ISIL Intelligence Central Intelligence Agency Barack Obama US Senate Saxby Chambliss Iraq Syria 60 Minutes CBS Steve Kroft James Clapper To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!

Accomplishments of the Obama Administration | Stopping The Enablers

Lucinda Friggins, Contributing Author: How can anyone say that the Obama administration hasn’t accomplished anything in 6 years? Here is the evidence:

• Pushed through Obamacare, no one can understand or afford, and he unconstitutionally keeps changing it!
• Traded five Al Qaeda murderers for one American deserter yet an American soldier, Sgt, Tamooresi, has been rotting in a Mexican prison and nothing has been done to bring him home!
• FCC has managed to force a national football team to change their name but has done nothing to eliminate the threat of ISIS recruiting our young people through social media!
• They have stimulated racial division across the country!
• Has managed to remove “In God We Trust” from our currency, oaths of office and the school system!
• Supplied guns and ammunition to Mexican drug cartels without accountability or prosecution!
• Allowed 4 Americans to be murdered in Benghazi without accountability or prosecution!
• Permitted IRS targeting of conservatives without accountability or prosecution!
• Permitted NSA spying on all Americans without accountability or prosecution!
• EPA has issued crippling regulations imposing significant restrictions on power plants across the nation (all in the name of climate change)!
• Refused to permit the Keystone Pipeline project, crucial for U.S. energy independence and strengthening of our economy!
• Announced and encouraged a mass exodus of illegals across our unsecured borders without accountability!
• Promotes voter fraud by denying voter ID laws across the board!
• Sues states over such things as voter ID laws and doing the governments job of securing the border!
• Issued federal mandate to initiate healthy school lunches that impacted school budgets significantly and the students refuse to eat!
• Won’t send military forces to Iraq to stop ISIS but sent thousands of soldiers to Africa to do what with Ebola?
• Spending billions of dollars bombing ISIS in Syria but still refuses to secure our borders against ISIS!
• Spending $ billions to bomb, train and equip unidentified foreign rebels while cutting America’s military budget!
• Identifies the killing of 12 and wounding of 31 Americans by a radical Muslim terrorist at Fort Hood, as workplace violence instead of what it is, terrorism!
• Identifies the murder and beheading of a woman in Moore, Oklahoma by a radical Muslim terrorist as workplace violence instead of what it is, terrorism!
• Obama offers a less-than-formal salute to a Marine standing guard as he exits Marine One. This president shows no respect for the military. Is he going to blame George Bush for that too? Former President George Bush has always shown the highest regard for military personnel and celebrates with wounded warriors at an annual Bike 100K and Warrior Open golf tournament.

Had enough yet because the list goes on?

Obama and thereby his administration have accomplished more racism, intrusion, division and destruction of our great nation and its people in less time than anyone in history!

This President is incompetent and should be removed from office immediately. If he were the CEO of any corporation he would have been gone long before this. He is supposed to be working for us but he is obviously working against us and “We the People” need to stand up against his tyranny, and we’d better do it soon!

For starters, we must begin with the November 2014 elections. We must vote against every democrat running for office at all levels of government because the democrats are presently the footstool upon which President Obama rests. This statement does not make me a Republican, but it does make me an anti-Obama-enabler. Democrats at all levels of government are at this point of our history Obama-enablers.
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Lucinda Friggins is the pen name of a widowed great-grandmother who is concerned about out of control big government and the effect it will have on her children and her grandchildren. “Remember, all men would be tyrants if they could.” ~ Abigail Adams

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Tags: President Obama, Obama administration, accomplishments, racism, intrusion, division, destruction, democrat, Obama-enablers, enablers. vote, We the People, Lucinda Friggins To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!

White House Resident Fence Jumper . . .

. . . Incompetence.

Editorial Cartoon by AF "Tony" Branco

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How To Explain Terrorism To A 12-year-old

... Because liberal educators will do it if you don't.

by Herman Cain: While I was taking a few days off from my radio show earlier this week, a friend shared with me that his 12-year-old had been asked by one of his teachers to write a paper on ISIS. He wanted to know what I thought about that assignment.

I was shocked and said a 12-year-old should not be doing research on ISIS! How about a paper on the pope, or the attack on Christianity in America?

I then suggested that he needs to have a talk with the teacher and the principal. Contrary to what some liberals believe, parents do have a say-so in what their children are taught.

If young people are going to hear about the nature of terrorists, they should hear about it from their parents. But how should parents approach the subject? To paraphrase Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, "Terrorists are bad people and they want to kill all of us!"

That's how you start the conversation with kids.

Why, the 12-year-old would ask. It is because they are jealous of how we live in this country and the freedoms we enjoy.

Where do they come from? They come mostly from other countries, but there are some lurking and planning to hurt some of us here in the USA.

So what can we do to keep them from killing us? First, we must trust our law enforcement officials and intelligence agencies to do their jobs, and they are, and remember the things you have learned about how to be safe growing up:

• Don't talk to or accept rides from strangers.
• Don't go to places alone. Always ask your parents.
• Don't correspond with strangers on the Internet.

This is common sense, but media hype and the administration's attempt to make a distinction where there is no difference is causing some people to feel unsafe and confused.

Unlike the answer to Hillary Clinton's famous question about Benghazi, it does not make a difference when we are talking about terrorists and terrorism. There is no difference in the threat to our way of life by jihadists, radical Islamists, Al Qaeda operatives, descendants of Osama bin Laden, lone wolf terrorists, Khorasan, or mishun-shoeshun! It doesn't make a difference!

The administration is trying to protect a statement made by President Obama that “Al Qaeda has been decimated and on the run” with all of the distinctions without a difference. The administration is also in denial that the rise of these terrorist incidents and threats are the result of pulling out of Iraq too quickly and telling the enemy when we would stop fighting. They refuse to recognize that they empower terrorists by refusing to leave a sufficient fighting force behind to assist with security and stabilization of the country.

Kids are not stupid. Tell them the truth in a way that will not confuse them, as so many adults are confused and feeling unsafe. Maybe the teacher should start by helping students understand the major religions of the world and how one radical sect of Islam wants to kill us. Or teach them that some people claim that Islam is a peaceful religion, but that we don't see much of that in the news.

A paper on ISIS out of context might scare kids even more than they need to be at 12 years old. Let them have sweet dreams like most of us did.

I don’t necessarily remember all my childhood dreams, but I do know that my dreams were not about the most evil people on the planet. If they were, I'd still be having nightmares.

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Tags: explaining, terrorism 12-year-old, ISIS, terrorists, Herman Cain  To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!

Celebrating Yom Kippur and Survival

Sunset, Oct. 3 – nightfall, Oct. 4, 2014

by Alan Caruba, Contributing Author: If you want to know the depth of Islamic intolerance and, indeed, hatred of other religions then all you need do is think back to October 6, 1973 when Egypt and Syria joined together in a massive coordinated attack on Israel. It was Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, the holiest day of the Jewish year.

Yom Kippur, this year, occurs on Friday, Oct 3, and one can only hope it does not become an occasion to attack Jews and their synagogues in the Middle East and throughout the rest of the world. Anti-Semitism is a global phenomenon, existing even in nations where Jews are hard to find. Those who track it say that it is increasing.

There are an estimated six million-plus Jews in the United States and a comparable number in Israel. There are approximately 14.8 million worldwide. By any comparison they represent a very small group, but in the minds of millions they are stereotyped as running the affairs of mankind. That’s insane, but rationality is rarely a factor when it comes to hating Jews.

In brief, the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, begins ten days in which the faithful are instructed to put their affairs in order, pay bills, and mend fences with those whom they have had disagreements or conflict. On Yom Kippur Jews seek God’s forgiveness and ask to be inscribed in the book of life for another year.

If Yom Kippur is about one’s personal redemption and survival perhaps the most astonishing aspect of Judaism is the survival of this monotheistic faith, the bedrock of Christianity and, to a much smaller extent, Islam. Historically, it is some 3,000 years old. Theologically, it has survived based on its Torah, otherwise known as the Old Testament, but the survival is one of generations of Jews who held onto their ancient faith, their covenant with God, in the face of oppression and death.

It apparently only takes a generation or two to forget the lessons of the past. In Germany, the anti-Semitism that fed the Holocaust that occurred during World War II has returned. As Benjamin Weinthal, a Research Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, put it, “With anti-Semitism on the march, Germany’s politicians and opinion makers are grappling with what went wrong with the country’s seven-decade-long struggle to come to terms with its past.” Germany’s Chancellor, Angela Merkel, has said “It is our national and civic duty to fight anti-Semitism” but Dieter Graumann, the president of Germany’s Central Council of Jews, calls it “the worst of times since the Nazi era. On the streets, you hear things like ‘The Jews should be gassed.’ ‘The Jews should be burned.’”

A significant contributing factor to the rise of anti-Semitism in Europe has been the influx of Muslims from Middle Eastern and African nations that now compose a large part of the population. A Jewish scholar and friend noted that “Norway’s last 819 Jews are now leaving the country. In a few weeks Norway will be ‘Judenrein’”, free of all Jews. Elsewhere the incidents of hatred and violence against Jews have occurred in France, the Netherlands, and Italy.

Muslim immigration to Great Britain has seen a comparable pattern and Jews have been emigrating from England as a result. In 1990 there were 340,000 Jews. Today there are 240,000. Islamic attacks on English citizens have become a factor and the recent beheading of a British citizen has finally awakened its government to the need for greater vigilance and action against attacks. The ISIS spokesman in a beheading video had a distinct British accent.

Even though there had been anti-Semitism in America, following the revelations of the Nazi Holocaust in the 1940s it dramatically receded. Wikipedia says: “According to surveys by the Anti-Defamation League, anti-Semitism is rejected by clear majorities of Americans, with 64% of them lauding Jews' cultural contributions to the nation in 2011, but a minority holding hateful views of Jews remain, with 19% of Americans supporting the anti-Semitic canard that Jews co-control Wall Street in 2011. As well, Holocaust denial in recent years has been only a fringe phenomenon with less than ten percent of Americans expressing either opposition or ignorance to the historical record.”

In an August 18, 1790 letter responding to the good wishes sent him by the Hebrew congregation at Newport, George Washington said, “It is now no more that toleration is spoken of as if it were the indulgence of one class of people that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights, for, happily, the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.”

American Jews will likely say a prayer of thanks for an America that has given them its protection. It is also likely that synagogues in our major and even smaller cities will have some measure of police protection on Friday. Like all Americans in the era of the Islamic State, they will need it.
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Alan Caruba is a writer by profession; has authored several books, and writes a daily column, Warning Signs". He is a contributor to the ARRA News Service.

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Ebola Arrival In America: Day 2

by Gary Bauer, Contributing Author:  Ebola In America.
Day 1 : Yesterday, news broke that the first case of Ebola in America had been discovered in Dallas, Texas. The infected individual had recently returned from Liberia -- "ground zero" in the latest outbreak of this deadly disease. More than 1,800 people have died from Ebola in Liberia.

The infected individual arrived in the U.S. on September 20th to visit family members. He went to the hospital on September 26th, was treated for flu-like symptoms and was sent home. Two days later, he went back to the hospital in far more serious condition. Three Dallas paramedics who treated him are being quarantined for 21 days to see if they develop any symptoms.

Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control, assured the country yesterday that there was nothing to worry about. "We're stopping it in its tracks in this country," Dr. Frieden said.

Dr. Jesse L. Goodman, a former top scientist at the Food and Drug Administration, isn't so sure. "It is quite appropriate to be concerned on many fronts," Dr. Goodman said. ". . .it appears several people were exposed before the individual was placed in isolation, and it is quite possible that one or more of his contacts will be infected." Press reports today suggest that has in fact happened.

We all hope and pray for the best. I hope the CDC is a lot more effective, efficient and knowledgeable than other federal agencies, such as the Veterans Administration, where incompetence and greed resulted in the abuse of our heroes. But in the past nine months there have been repeated incidents uncovered at the CDC in which officials failed to appropriately handle deadly toxins, including smallpox.

Another thought came to mind overnight as I was pondering this latest news. There has been a long string of presidential pronouncements that were later disproved by events. For example:

"Al Qaeda has been decimated and is on the run." Benghazi proved otherwise. This Obama quote has gotten a lot of press lately: ". . .if a JV team puts on Lakers uniforms, that doesn't make them Kobe Bryant." That was Obama back in January dismissing ISIS as a junior varsity team.

Obama said at the U.N. a few days ago that the threat of world war that hung over the U.N. at its founding no longer existed. Yes it does. Even the pope recognizes that.

Here's one we hear almost daily: "Islam is a religion of peace." But large numbers of Islamists tell us theirs is a religion of war.

How about this one: "If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan." That was the "Lie of the Year."

And just two weeks ago, Obama said: ". . .the chances of an Ebola outbreak here in the United States are extremely low. . . . In the unlikely event that someone with Ebola does reach our shores. . ." Well, Ebola is here now, Mr. Obama.

There's been a theory for a long time that whenever something is asserted on the cover of major news magazines, it is the time to do the exact opposite. So if Time declares this is a "Roaring Bull Market," sell your stocks. I'm beginning to think that the "magazine indicator" is going to be replaced by the "Obama indicator." Whatever Obama asserts, assume the exact opposite is true.

Day 2: Forty-eight hours after reports of the first confirmed case of Ebola in America made headlines, the news isn't getting any better. The more we learn the more questions we have.

We now know that the Ebola victim, Thomas Duncan, DID inform the hospital staff during his first visit that he had recently been in Liberia. That very same hospital had also just performed "a run-through of procedures to follow if an Ebola case presented there." In spite of this, confusion prevailed and Mr. Duncan was sent home with antibiotics.

Yesterday, we were told that officials were monitoring approximately 12 to 18 people for possible contact. Today the New York Times reports that officials have "reached out to as many as 100 people who may have had contact" with Duncan. Those being closely monitored include five children who attend four Dallas schools.

Understandably, many parents are worried. Some are keeping their kids home today. And, of course, they are being criticized for doing so. But when a hospital fails to follow its own procedures and when the number the people being monitored quintuples in 24 hours, it's hard to blame parents for having second thoughts about the information they are getting from health officials.

By the way, left-wing demagogues are now using Ebola to advance their racial and ideological agenda. Louis Farrakhan is calling Ebola "a race targeting weapon" created to kill black people. The Obama Administration has not yet condemned this disgusting claim. As you may recall, the church Barack Obama sat in for nearly 20 years gave this black Muslim demagogue an award!

President Obama's Priorities: Many of you are asking about Ebola-related travel restrictions. That's a fair question given that there are more than 13,000 visa holders from countries currently battling this horrific disease. ExxonMobil announced today that it was prohibiting employees from traveling to West Africa.

These questions reminded me that just a few weeks ago, Obama did not hesitate to shut down air traffic to Israel after ONE rocket landed nearly a mile away from Ben Gurion Airport. I don't think that decision had anything to do with the safety of Americans. It was all about political pressure. Even the Washington Post described the flight ban as "the most direct pressure yet" on Israel "to cut short its military campaign against Hamas in Gaza."

Now that one Ebola victim has landed in Dallas -- something Obama assured us was an "unlikely event" -- surely he is going to shut down air traffic from the countries most ravaged by this disease, right? Wrong.

Obama's Press Secretary Josh Earnest yesterday downplayed the risks as "incredibly low," and expressed his confidence that "the sophisticated medical infrastructure" here "can prevent the wide spread of Ebola." But that same system failed when it sent Duncan home.

These incidents speak volumes about Obama's priorities. He's quick to punish Israel but hesitates to do the obvious when it comes to protecting Americans from a dangerous disease.
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Gary Bauer is a conservative family values advocate and serves as president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working Families

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Tags: Ebola, America, United States, Day 1, Day 2, President Obama, priorities, To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!