The Front Page Cover
"I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened"
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Featuring:
The Entitlement Squeeze
There’s just no money for all the stuff government wants to do
MILTON EZRATI
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"Rise up together as one voice"
"Be careful where you stand"
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Party pooh bah plumping for Hilly - Politico reports that the guy who is supposed to be raising money for the whole Democratic Party is also raising funds for one Democrat in particular: Hilly. The former nObama fundraiser-turned-DNC finance chair, Henry R. Muñoz III, made calls on behalf of Clinton’s fundraiser in the Lone Star State today, according to local county chairman Manuel Medina. -Fox News
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Nevada hits establishment, keeps caucus - The Hill: “The Nevada state legislature on Tuesday failed to pass a measure changing its presidential caucuses to a primary election, dealing a blow to former Gov. Jeb Bush’s (R-Fla.) hopes in the early-voting state, while boosting Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.)…top-tier Republican presidential contenders like Bush, Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker…could have been in good shape if the state had moved to a primary, which tend be higher turnout affairs that favor well-funded candidates who spend a lot of time and money on the ground.” -Fox News
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backstabber BOEHNER MAKES TRADE PITCH
Speaker backstabber John Boehner continues to push hard for the Trade Promotion Authority bill. In a new video, backstabber Boehner’s voiceover explains why this bill is good for America as drawings depict examples of what he’s saying. For those who don’t care to watch the one minute flick, backstabber Boehner offers a simple summary: “TPA stands for jobs.” (gives more power to nObama) -Fox News
Speaker backstabber John Boehner continues to push hard for the Trade Promotion Authority bill. In a new video, backstabber Boehner’s voiceover explains why this bill is good for America as drawings depict examples of what he’s saying. For those who don’t care to watch the one minute flick, backstabber Boehner offers a simple summary: “TPA stands for jobs.” (gives more power to nObama) -Fox News
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CAN YOU TAKE THAT IT IN A LUMP SUM?
WANE: “The Hoosier Lottery is selling a $2 bacon scented scratch-off ticket with instant prizes up to $10,000 and five chances to win a 20-year supply of bacon paid in $250 annual installments. The Bringin’ Home the Bacon tickets went on saleTuesday. As part of the “summer of bacon”, the Hoosier Lottery has partnered with Indiana Pork to sponsor the Sizzling Day of Bacon on June 28 in Schererville, featuring the Bacon Brothers with Kevin Bacon.” -Fox News
WANE: “The Hoosier Lottery is selling a $2 bacon scented scratch-off ticket with instant prizes up to $10,000 and five chances to win a 20-year supply of bacon paid in $250 annual installments. The Bringin’ Home the Bacon tickets went on saleTuesday. As part of the “summer of bacon”, the Hoosier Lottery has partnered with Indiana Pork to sponsor the Sizzling Day of Bacon on June 28 in Schererville, featuring the Bacon Brothers with Kevin Bacon.” -Fox News
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Gen. Petraeus: If We’re Not Winning Against ISIS We’re Losing
(rickwells.us) ~ Petraeus diplomatically describes it as worrisome, acknowledging that the fall of Ramadi is “both an operational and a strategic setback, a significant one.”... He recommends a reevaluation of the American strategy, what there is of it, saying, “This is a moment at which I think you sit back and say what do we need to do in the military arena, what also do we need to do in the political arena?” He’s asked if ISIS is a threat to the United States, to which Petraeus responds that it is clearly a threat to the United States and to our partners around the world. Petraeus believes more American participation is needed but perhaps not a completely new strategy. He recommends a review and augmentation as needed, included tactical air controllers on the ground. He acknowledges that carries with it some risk of loss of life but adds that there is also a risk of us not winning this fight. http://rickwells.us/general-petraeus-if-were-not-winning-against-isis-were-losing-still-can-turn-it-around/
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Treason Of The Highest Order, Trade Deal Details Classified For 5 Year
(rickwells.us) ~ As the walls of secrecy surrounding the TPP, The TTIP, and the TiSA trade and subversion pacts start to crumble, the insidious nature of their content and construction leaks out as well... Common sense and experience tells us that politicians who were doing something to benefit the people would be planted in front television cameras, touting their actions at every opportunity. The silence on the deal itself and most of the members of Congress’ refusal to admit to having read the document indicate that they know it’s a bad deal, are in on the scam and want plausible deniability in the future. Poor performance as an elected official carries with it some consequences, but much less than blatant betrayal. In a Thursday article, Brietbart News reported that the information surrounding the TiSA is leaking out, thanks in large part to the efforts of Julian Assange and WikiLeaks. One overall disturbing element of their story was the revelation that “The cover sheet of the leaked TiSA documents records that the text of the deal should not be de-classified until five years after negotiations are closed and the regulations implemented to extend the extraordinary secrecy of what the deal entails. The secrecy of the deal is designed to be a buffer between legislatures and citizens alike to suppress government accountability and explicitly goes against the foundation of a democratic society.” http://rickwells.us/treason-of-the-highest-order-trade-deal-details-classified-for-5-years-after-implemented/
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“CockRoach” Gutierrez Demeans Texas, Exalts Illegal Invaders
(rickwells.us) ~ In a performance that would have warmed the cold heart of Fidel Castro or Hugo Chavez, the Congressional cockroach Luis Gutierrez delivered a speech in Spanish on the floor of the House of Representatives... taking a page out of the nObama playbook to mock white Christians in doing so. He repeated the worn-out arguments that revenue trumps the law, citing a supposed justification for rewarding lawbreaking as the payment of taxes, more specifically, the “fair share” of the illegal aliens’ taxes. Their true fair share of the U.S. tax payments should be and is zero. They should be contributing to the treasury of Mexico, Costa Rica, Honduras or whatever other toilet they first crawled out of, but not here in America. http://rickwells.us/cockroach-gutierrez-demeans-texas-exalts-illegal-invaders-impersonates-fidel-castro/
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EPA finds fracking poses no direct threat to drinking water
(Ben Wolfgang) ~ Fracking does not pose a direct threat to drinking water supplies, the nObama administration said Thursday in a major study that represents a serious blow to environmentalists and other vocal opponents of U.S. oil and gas production... The landmark Environmental Protection Agency report, nearly five years in the making, found that the drilling technique had no “widespread, systemic impacts on drinking water.” The conclusion casts doubt on the wisdom of President nObama’s latest regulations for governing fracking on public lands and undermines the claims of environmentalists, many Democrats, some liberal media outlets and others who have led the charge against fracking. The EPA study did identify several “potential vulnerabilities” in the fracking process and found several instances in which spills at drilling sites found their way into water supplies. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/jun/4/epa-fracking-doesnt-harm-drinking-water/
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nObama secretly backing Muslim Brotherhood
(Bill Gertz) ~ President nObama and his administration continue to support the global Islamist militant group known the Muslim Brotherhood... A White House strategy document regards the group as a moderate alternative to more violent Islamist groups like al Qaeda and the Islamic State. The policy of backing the Muslim Brotherhood is outlined in a secret directive called Presidential Study Directive-11, or PSD-11. The directive was produced in 2011 and outlines administration support for political reform in the Middle East and North Africa, according to officials familiar with the classified study. Efforts to force the administration to release the directive or portions of it under the Freedom of Information Act have been unsuccessful. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/jun/3/inside-the-ring-muslim-brotherhood-has-obamas-secr/
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nObama’s “Reevaluation” Of Climate Data Exposed As More Trickery
(rickwells.us) ~ The last thing the nObama regime needs in the lead up to their UN Paris power grab by climate in November is for the supposed problem to have disappeared... Since it is a manufactured emergency to begin with, the logical remedy is to just manufacture some new supportive “science,” or to simply reevaluate the existing mumbo-jumbo into a more agenda-friendly form. The propagandists of choice are the good bark and bug eaters at NOAA, the people we grew up with and knew as our hurricane watchdogs have now devolved to professional liars and tools of regime politics. One look at their URL, the banners and content of theirwebsite at climate.gov removes any doubt of their mission. They apply a false label of scientific credibility to the global plot in much the same manner as that of the IPCC with the UN. For nearly two decades the previous warming trend that has been used as the foundation for the hysterics has experienced what has been termed as a hiatus by those who study such things. They could have simply described it as having ended, but calling it a hiatus is more helpful in advancing the alarmist position, as it implies that a return to the previous trend will eventually present itself. http://rickwells.us/obamas-reevaluation-of-climate-data-exposed-as-more-trickery-to-enable-un-rule/
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Secret Surveillance Agency More Powerful Than the NSA
(Joe Wolverton, II , J.D.) ~ The National Security Agency (NSA) may have been forced to take a stutter step in its surveillance program (or resort to methods not made public) earlier this week regarding the collecton of metadata under the PATRIOT Act... but there is another agency that is more secretive, more invasive, and has more information on you than could be gathered from your metadata. Gawker’s Phase Zero reports on the scope of this shadow agency’s surveillance: If you have a telephone number that has ever been called by an inmate in a federal prison, registered a change of address with the Postal Service, rented a car from Avis, used a corporate or Sears credit card, applied for nonprofit status with the IRS, or obtained non-driver’s legal identification from a private company, they have you on file. The agency is the National Security Analysis Center (NSAC), a shadow branch of the U.S. Justice Department that employees over 400 people (including nearly 300 analysts) and boasts an annual budget of over $150 million.
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UN “Death Targets” Will Mean Reduced Healthcare for Elderly
(Alex Newman) ~ Elderly people in the United Kingdom and potentially worldwide are likely to be treated as “second-class citizens” and even denied life-saving medical treatment under proposed “highly unethical” United Nations “death targets,” healthcare and aging experts declared in an open letter last week... The radical UN “Sustainable Development Goals,” which would put virtually every realm of human activity in the crosshairs, include, among other controversial provisions, proposed global “targets” for reducing premature deaths from various causes. To meet those targets, the experts said, government-run healthcare systems such as the U.K. “National Health Service” (NHS) are likely to focus more resources on easier-to-save younger people — at the expense of the elderly whose deaths would not be counted as “premature.” Some critics are even saying the plan heralds the advent of “death panels.” http://www.thenewamerican.com/world-news/europe/item/21005-un-death-targets-will-mean-reduced-healthcare-for-elderly?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_campaign=bf78124e63-The_Editors_Top_Picks_3_12_143_12_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_8ca494f2d2-bf78124e63-289778381
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House Passes Bill Denying Funds for nObama Immigration Case
(Warren Mass) ~ On June 3, The House of Representatives passed by a 222-204 vote an appropriations bill (H.R. 2578) that denies funding for the nObama administration to file appeals in the case wherein a federal judge enjoined the administration from implementing its executive actions granting amnesty to four million illegal aliens... U.S. District Judge Andrew S. Hanen of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas in Brownsville issued the injunction against the administration on February 16. The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans rejected the administration’s request for an emergency stay of that order on May 25, but will hear further arguments in the case next month. The defunding was the result of an amendment offered by Representative Steve King (R-Iowa). “My amendment prohibits any of the funds from being used to further defend this unconstitutional amnesty position,” explained King. http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/immigration/item/21003-house-passes-bill-denying-funds-for-obama-immigration-case-appeals?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_campaign=bf78124e63-The_Editors_Top_Picks_3_12_143_12_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_8ca494f2d2-bf78124e63-289778381
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State's Attorney Seeks Protective Order for Freddie Gray Autopsy
(Raven Clabough) ~ Baltimore City State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby (shown, center) is raising eyebrows by seeking a protective order that would prevent the release of Freddie Gray’s autopsy report, as well as a gag order on those involved in the case... Mosby claims that she wants to “ensure a fair and impartial process” while she prosecutes the six police officers involved in Gray’s arrest. Defense attorneys have claimed that Mosby has done her best to leave them in the dark, denying an outline of evidence against the officers. They also state they have not been permitted to inspect a knife taken from Gray during his arrest. Last month, Mosby submitted a request in Baltimore City Circuit Court for a gag order to prevent participants from discussing the case publicly, the Associated Press reports. The Associated Press is one of 19 news organizations contesting the gag order request. http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/crime/item/21002-baltimore-state-s-attorney-seeks-protective-order-for-freddie-gray-autopsy?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_campaign=bf78124e63-The_Editors_Top_Picks_3_12_143_12_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_8ca494f2d2-bf78124e63-289778381
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The Entitlement Squeeze
There’s just no money for all the stuff government wants to do
MILTON EZRATI
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The underlying budget realities are stark. Some 70 percent of all federal spending goes to entitlements—Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, unemployment insurance, and the still relatively small (for now) costs of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). These spending flows continue to grow automatically; Congress doesn’t even debate them. Legislative discretion does come into play regarding the next-largest budget item—defense, at about 17 percent of the total—but even here, little room for maneuver exists, given past cuts and today’s deteriorating geopolitical situation. Interest obligations on outstanding federal debt eat up another 6.5 percent of the total. That leaves barely 6.5 percent of the budget for everything else Washington does— including education, infrastructure spending, and all the other things that the political class discusses and about which it makes its most lavish promises.
The underlying budget realities are stark. Some 70 percent of all federal spending goes to entitlements—Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, unemployment insurance, and the still relatively small (for now) costs of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). These spending flows continue to grow automatically; Congress doesn’t even debate them. Legislative discretion does come into play regarding the next-largest budget item—defense, at about 17 percent of the total—but even here, little room for maneuver exists, given past cuts and today’s deteriorating geopolitical situation. Interest obligations on outstanding federal debt eat up another 6.5 percent of the total. That leaves barely 6.5 percent of the budget for everything else Washington does— including education, infrastructure spending, and all the other things that the political class discusses and about which it makes its most lavish promises.
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And entitlement spending promises to narrow the choices still further. For decades, through both Republican and Democratic Congresses and presidential administrations, entitlement-spending growth has outstripped the growth of the rest of the budget, steadily enlarging its share of the total. The rate of gain has slowed from time to time, but it has never paused for long, let alone declined. In five years, entitlement spending could command three-quarters of the federal budget. The swelling ranks of retiring baby boomers and the new spending obligations imposed by the ACA could push that percentage even higher.
And entitlement spending promises to narrow the choices still further. For decades, through both Republican and Democratic Congresses and presidential administrations, entitlement-spending growth has outstripped the growth of the rest of the budget, steadily enlarging its share of the total. The rate of gain has slowed from time to time, but it has never paused for long, let alone declined. In five years, entitlement spending could command three-quarters of the federal budget. The swelling ranks of retiring baby boomers and the new spending obligations imposed by the ACA could push that percentage even higher.
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Other realities will bring even more pressure to bear. Outlays for interest payments on the national debt will take a larger share of the budget—perhaps doubling to 13 percent within a few years—not only because the size of outstanding debt is increasing but also because the cost of financing the debt will rise. Until now, a relative drop in Pentagon spending has offset the impact of increased entitlement spending on the rest of the budget. Today’s 17 percent Defense Department share is a far cry from the 1960s, when national defense commanded as much as 50 percent of the federal budget. Even additional outlays for the War on Terror pushed the Pentagon’s spending share only as high as 20 percent—and only for a short time.
Other realities will bring even more pressure to bear. Outlays for interest payments on the national debt will take a larger share of the budget—perhaps doubling to 13 percent within a few years—not only because the size of outstanding debt is increasing but also because the cost of financing the debt will rise. Until now, a relative drop in Pentagon spending has offset the impact of increased entitlement spending on the rest of the budget. Today’s 17 percent Defense Department share is a far cry from the 1960s, when national defense commanded as much as 50 percent of the federal budget. Even additional outlays for the War on Terror pushed the Pentagon’s spending share only as high as 20 percent—and only for a short time.
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Washington has only two ways out of the entitlements squeeze. The first is for government to take more out of the economy, either through higher taxes or greater levels of borrowing. Neither Congress nor the public is likely to endorse such moves. The second alternative—enacting reforms that would slow or reverse the growth of entitlement spending—would be unpopular as well. But action can be postponed for only so long. Keep that in mind this year, and especially next, when political candidates unleash their usual array of promises and plans.
Washington has only two ways out of the entitlements squeeze. The first is for government to take more out of the economy, either through higher taxes or greater levels of borrowing. Neither Congress nor the public is likely to endorse such moves. The second alternative—enacting reforms that would slow or reverse the growth of entitlement spending—would be unpopular as well. But action can be postponed for only so long. Keep that in mind this year, and especially next, when political candidates unleash their usual array of promises and plans.
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