The PJMorning Report
Each morning PJMedia will give you vital news and opinions you will not see compiled anywhere else. Picked by PJ’s Washington bureau chief Richard Pollock.
Good morning! It’s Monday, October 17, 2011
Here are some of the key news developments this morning:
Occupy Wall Street protesters have amassed $230,000 and a warehouse full of supplies in New York. The United Federation of Teachers is storing their supplies, including “jail support kits.” Who says the anti-capitalist protesters hate wealth? Over the weekend protests inspired by the New York occupation has spread world-wide, but with few signs of a unified set of demands. 175 arrested in Chicago in open defiance of Rahm Emanuel’s City Hall.
Obama’s 351 “bundlers have raised at least $20 million for the Presidential campaign, although less Wall Street money is going to the Democrats. It has enabled the campaign to staff its Chicago campaign headquarters with 300 people and offices in at least 38 states. Mitt Romney has out raised Obama among top Wall Street firms, raising $5 million from 2,000 executives.
Israel will release 477 convicted Palestinian terrorists on Tuesday. They include Ahlam Tamimi, who was involved in a suicide plot in 2001 that killed 15 in a Jerusalem restaurant. Asked by Israel’s Channel 2 TV network if she felt any remorse for the killings, she replied, “No, why should I?”
Democrats now “concede privately that a super committee failure would be preferable to a bad deal.” Will the Dems take the irresponsible route for political expediency?
Was the president’s MLK address on Sunday merely a political speech for 2012? Controversies surrounded what should have been an uplifting, non-partisan, commemorative moment. The issues included the Chinese designed and built monument and its similarities to the Stalinist “New Soviet Man” look. Many noted on Sunday the president’s tone mirrored his standard political addresses rallying African-Americans to support his re-election.
FRIDAY BAD NEWS I: Did anyone notice that the administration ended its expensive Obamacare long-term health insurance program on Friday? The federal CLASS Act was quietly terminated as administration officials conceded it could not economically work. The CLASS Act was supposed to provide 40% of Obamacare’s “savings” for the health care plan. It is the biggest piece of Obamacare to be eliminated since the president signed it into law. Liberal Jonathan Cole, writing in The New Republic says the failure actually strengthens Obamacare because CLASS didn’t have a universal mandate and the rest of the plan does.
FRIDAY BAD NEWS II: Did anyone notice that on Friday the President also invoked the War Powers Act to dispatch 100 special operations forces to central Africa to take down guerrilla leader Joseph Kony, the head of the Lord’s Resistance Army? People are still scratching their heads about it.
The president will begin a second “non-partisan” bus tour to Virginia and North Carolina, but will not visit the East coast earthquake epicenter in Mineral, Virginia which the administration on Friday denied federal disaster assistance. Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor represents the area. Virginia’s Governor Bob McDonnell invited the president to view the damage. Does the denial of aid by the Federal Emergency Management Agency smack of the politicization of disaster assistance?
Rep. Darrell Issa on Face the Nation ratcheted up pressure on Attorney General Eric Holder arguing he is hiding the facts on the “Fast and Furious” scandal. He also charged that Justice’s heavily redacted documents could be considered government “tampering” of evidence. Issa’s Oversight & Government Reform Committee has requested thousands of pages from the Justice attorneys in which federal agents were ordered by the administration to knowingly sell thousands of weapons to Mexican drug cartels.
The Ground Zero Mosque developers owe $1.7 million to co-owner New York utility Con Ed. Con Ed says pay up or they will be evicted. Maybe they could join the Occupy Wall Street crowd, which avoided eviction on Friday.
Presidential candidate Jon Huntsman is nearly $900K in debt in the third quarter. Huntsman is reported to have splurged $4.1 million on the best luxury hotels and private jets. His free wheeling spending habits do not bode well for someone claiming to be a fiscal conservative. Huntsman will skip the Nevada GOP debate this week.
Obama appeals a federal judge’s ruling that the White House visitor’s logs are subject to Freedom of Information Act. What happened to the most open administration in history?
The latest mainstream media meme: Romney is challenging Tea Party’s clout within the Republican Party. Tea Party activists say no dice. They will support Romney if he’s the nominee.
The race world today mourns the death of British racecar driver Dan Wheldon. One of the most popular drivers in open wheel racing and two-time Indianapolis 500 winner, Wheldon died Saturday at the IndyCar Vegas Motor Speedway in a fiery 15-car pile up. “It looked like a scene from the Terminator,” said Ryan Briscoe. He was 33.
It’s official: The World Series will be between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Texas Rangers. It will be a Mid-West battle on the mound in the heartland. The wealthy coasts are left out this time. Game One begins this Wednesday at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. Congratulations to both!
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