House buys Senate some time on budget bill; approves second stopgap measure

WASHINGTON –  The U.S. House passed a second stopgap measure Friday afternoon, buying the Senate additional time to discuss and vote on a $1.1 trillion government-wide spending bill. 
The House vote provides a pad to make certain the government doesn’t shut down at midnight Saturday when current funding authority runs out.
It’s still unknown whether the House measure, passed by a voice vote while the chamber was virtually empty, will be needed. Senate leaders say they hope to wrap up action on the omnibus budget bill by Friday night but say that goal is looking less attainable.
Washington woke up to “Fallout Friday,” with liberal Democrats openly outraged at President Obama and conservative Republicans disgusted with House Speaker John Boehner after both did enough wheeling, dealing and arm twisting to push through a spending bill three hours shy of the midnight deadline.
The surprise beneficiary in this latest political conundrum could be Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., a relative newcomer to the Senate but looking more and more like the liberal Democratic answer to who might challenge Hillary Clinton for the party's 2016 presidential nomination.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Friday morning that he hopes to take up and finish the omnibus bill as soon as possible but said getting it done would require cooperation from both sides of the aisle. Reid, speaking from the Senate floor, acknowledged there were some provisions he was not happy with but pitched it as a compromise nonetheless.
“We’re going to consider this legislation to keep our government open and funded and we’re going to do it today – I hope,” he said. He later warned, “There isn’t much time… government funding runs out on Saturday at midnight.”
The House narrowly approved a sweeping spending bill Thursday night despite deep misgivings among liberals and conservatives alike, sending the measure to the Senate as lawmakers averted a partial government shutdown.
The bill passed on a 219-206 vote, following an intense lobbying effort by House Republican leaders and the White House.
Current government funding technically runs out at midnight Thursday, but lawmakers late Thursday approved a stopgap measure to keep the government running through midnight Saturday as the Senate considers the main $1.1 trillion spending package. That debate could last through the weekend and potentially into Monday.
"We will not have a government shutdown," Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., pledged.
Passage in the House followed hours of urgent appeals from an unlikely alliance: President Obama and House GOP leadership.
Obama and Vice President Biden worked the phones to sway Democratic lawmakers. White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough also met on the Hill with the Democratic caucus. Despite sources inside the meeting initially saying he did little to persuade lawmakers, a rift emerged in the Democratic leadership late Thursday. As House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi continued to oppose the bill, her deputy, Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., urged passage.
Meanwhile, House GOP leaders did what they could to sway conservative members who, for different reasons, were opposed to the package.
In the end, 67 Republicans defected, but 57 Democrats voted for it.
Many conservatives opposed the bill because it does not address Obama's executive actions on illegal immigration, while liberal Democrats were angry over provisions dealing with campaign spending and financial regulation.
The debate saw Pelosi flexing her clout, recognizing that House Speaker John Boehner needed Democrats to pass the bill.
She pushed back not only against GOP leaders but Obama's lobbying effort.
In a rare public rebuke of the president, Pelosi said she was "enormously disappointed" he had decided to embrace the bill, which she described as an attempt at legislative blackmail by House Republicans.
Pelosi, D-Calif., sent an email note to colleagues in the afternoon saying they had "leverage" to make demands -- namely, to remove two provisions her party doesn't like. They are: a provision rolling back one of the regulations imposed on the financial industry in the wake of the economic collapse of 2008, and one that permits wealthy contributors to increase the size of their donations to political parties for national conventions, election recounts or the construction of a headquarters building.
Right before the vote, according to a source in the room, Pelosi told lawmakers: “We have enough votes to show them never to do this again.”
But perhaps an overriding desire on both sides not to risk another government shutdown prevailed.
The current plan would fund the government through September 2015, but immigration services only through late February, teeing up a battle over immigration for early 2015.
Earlier in the day, the bill narrowly cleared an important procedural hurdle, on a 214-212 test vote. But the tight vote, which almost failed, exposed serious problems. GOP leaders then delayed a final vote and spent hours trying to round up support, as the White House did the same with Democrats.
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said earlier that Obama supports the bill and would sign it -- despite having reservations about certain provisions.
Hoyer ultimately took a similar position.
The bill’s fate in the Senate remains unclear.
Warren, now a member of leadership, has fought the bill in an effort to preserve the financial regulatory policy known as Dodd-Frank. Debate in the Senate on the main spending bill could easily last several more days.

Word Origin and History for omnibus

n.

1829, "four-wheeled public vehicle with seats for passengers," from French (voiture) omnibus "(carriage) for all, common (conveyance)," from Latin omnibus "for all," dative plural of omnis "all" (see omni -). Introduced by Jacques Lafitte in Paris in 1819 or '20, in London from 1829. In reference to legislation, the word is recorded from 1842. Meaning "man or boy who assists a waiter at a restaurant" is attested from 1888 (cf. busboy ). As an adjective in English from 1842.

Sony execs Obama emails: White liberal hypocrisy revealed in all its glory

White liberal hypocrisy on race is so delightful for conservatives.
White conservatives are always on defense against charges of hating President Obama because he is black; suppressing minority voters and indifference to the difficulty minorities have living everyday with the legacy of slavery and a culture filled with stereotypes of black inferiority.
This week white conservatives can take a break, step out of the dock and make way for white liberals.

I know from personal experience at National Public Radio that white liberals can be very intolerant if they suspect they are dealing with a black person who is not afraid from depart from liberal orthodoxy.

Hacked emails from Hollywood’s white, liberal elite show them belittling the president by assuming his taste in movies is confined to racial stereotypes fitting just another black guy.
“Should I ask him if he likes’ DJANGO?’” asked Amy Pascal, a Sony Pictures’ co-chair. Scott Rudin, a movie producer, responds: “Or ‘The Butler’… or ‘Ride-Along. ‘ I bet he likes Kevin Hart.”
Where to begin unpacking that powder keg of race and class bigotry?
Pascal is one of Hollywood’s most powerful people and certainly at the top of the movie industry’s list of most influential women. She must have a penetrating intellect and tremendous business savvy.
So how is it possible for her to think that a 53-year-old, Harvard trained constitutional lawyer who is now president of the United States, is to be solely defined by his race?
She assumes that he is sure to share the working-class, juvenile delight of Hart’s racial slapstick. And it does not make much sense in her racial construct but she also thinks the president must also be interested in movies about the weighty topics of slavery and the civil rights movement.
Pascal and Rudin, on their way to meet the president at a Democratic fundraiser, have no hesitation about painting Obama into this limited, one-dimensional personality. What they have revealed is how demeaning and patronizing their liberal minds can be even when the man is the leader of the nation.
Chris Rock, the comedian and actor, recently said Hollywood is a “white industry… it just is.” He added they don’t hire black men.
I imagine they do hire some black people. But those black people have to color inside the lines of what white liberals think is the right kind of black person. Black conservatives have no chance in that world.
Black intellectuals and even black left wingers have no chance either. But that is a different story. In the restrictive confines of the white liberal world they would be seen as threatening black people.
Pascal and Rudin have both apologized for the content of their private emails.  “The content of my e-mails to Scott were insensitive and inappropriate but are not an accurate reflection of who I am. Although this was a private communication that was stolen, I accept full responsibility for what I wrote and apologize to everyone who was offended.”
Rudin gave a statement to Deadline.com, explaining that his emails were "written in haste and without much thought or sensitivity," he understood the notes were out of line. "I made a series of remarks that were meant only to be funny, but in the cold light of day, they are in fact thoughtless and insensitive," he said.
I know from personal experience at National Public Radio that white liberals can be very intolerant if they suspect they are dealing with a black person who is not afraid from depart from liberal orthodoxy. In my case I was fired and afterwards described as a bigot in need of a psychiatric care.
In Pascal’s moment of crisis she is, even today, sticking to the game of racial boxes by taking calls from Al Sharpton as if he is the president of black America. Sharpton will no doubt end up with a contract in exchange for not staging phony demonstrations or challenging Sony on their lack of honesty about race.
Malcolm X, during his Nation of Islam radicalism, once said white conservatives are not friends to black people but “at least don’t try to hide it.” The separatist minded Malcolm X had even harsher words for white liberals. He judged them to be “more hypocritical than the conservative.” He accused white liberals of “perfecting the art of posing as the Negro’s friend and benefactor” while using black people as a “pawn or tool” in their political fight with white conservatives.
One word of caution is due as conservatives enjoy this moment of white liberal hypocrisy.
These emails were obtained as the result of a malicious act of cyber-criminality. The conversation was a private exchange and protected under all laws governing private communications.
The paltry benefit of skewering Sony executives should not obscure the danger of criminals gaining access to every e-mail you and I have sent or received and then posting it in the public domain for the entire nation to read. Confidential health information on Sony employees was also disclosed. Would you want all of your private, unfiltered communications with friends, family and co-workers plastered all over the web for people to make judgments about you?
So while the contents of the emails are a dazzling display of white liberal hypocrisy it should not distract anyone from the need for the nation to condemn this intrusion as criminal, unacceptable behavior and punished to the fullest extent of the law. Congress needs to move cyber-security to the top of their agenda next year.
But for the moment, let’s take a long look at white liberals revealing themselves so nakedly,  condescending to even the president of the United States because he’s black.

Palestinian throws acid at Jewish family, then shot and arrested by police

A Palestinian posing as a hitchhiker threw acid at an Israeli family in the West Bank Friday, before he was shot by a passer-by and arrested, the Israeli military said.
The Israeli family -- a Jewish man, his wife and three young girls -- were sitting inside a car when the Palestinian hurled acid at the woman and the girls at a checkpoint south of Jerusalem, the military said.
The army said the Palestinian also tried to attack the father of the family with a screwdriver and then started to run away, but a civilian passer-by shot him in the leg. Israeli police arrested him and evacuated him to hospital for treatment.
The Israeli man had stopped to pick up the Palestinian as a hitchhiker when the attack occurred, authorities said. An Israeli civilian hit the attacker with his car and then shot him, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported Friday. The suspect is in moderate condition, according to emergency services.
The Israeli family members sustained light injuries, the police said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. The incident occurred as tens of thousands marched in the Gaza Strip in celebration of the 27th anniversary of the founding of the Islamist Hamas group.
About 600 Palestinians clashed with Israeli forces in Hebron Friday. Israel Defense Forces soldiers were using crowd-dispersal methods to break up the demonstrations.
Friday’s attacker was identified as Jamal Abd al-Majid Ghayatha, 45, Haaretz reported, citing Ma'an News Agency. Ghayatha was imprisoned in Israel from 2004-2007 for activities related to Islamic Jihad, army sources said.  Israeli army forces raided his home in Nahalin.
Tension has been mounting between Israelis and Palestinians, especially in the West Bank and East Jerusalem in recent months since a five-week war between Israel and Hamas ended in August. More than 2,100 Palestinians-- most of them civilians-- died in the conflict, Palestinian officials said. More than 70 Israelis died in the fighting, most of them soldiers. 
In the past month, 11 people have been killed in Palestinian attacks, mostly in Jerusalem, but also in Tel Aviv and the West Bank. Ten Israelis and a foreign visitor were killed by Palestinians in knife or car-based attacks in the last four months, Reuters reported.  At least a dozen Palestinians have also been killed in the violence.
Magen David Adom paramedics treated the Israeli victims of Friday's acid attack, who included a 27-year-old man, another man in his 50s, a 52-year-old woman and three girls, aged 11, 12 and 18. The victims in the car reported feeling a burning sensation on their skin and in their eyes as well as shortness of breath.
Acid attacks are rare in Israel and the Palestinian territories. In 2001, a Palestinian girl seriously injured a young Israeli woman when she entered a Jerusalem shoe shop and threw acid at a saleswoman.
Earlier Friday, a Palestinian rammed his car into a bus stop where Israeli soldiers were waiting in the West Bank. The troops were not hurt, the military said. The driver was lightly hurt and taken in for questioning to determine whether it was an accident or an intentional assault.
Palestinians have used vehicles as weapons to carry out attacks in several instances in recent months, resulting in deaths and injuries.

A politically correct Christmas song by Scary Pete

Gretchen Wilson & Merle Haggard - Politically Uncorrect

I Want My Country Back ( Country artist Jason Green )

Security or Values Cartoon

'I would kill you': ISIS captive held by Kurds admits taking 70 lives

Kurds in northern Iraq are holding hundreds of ISIS fighters prisoner, including one who told FoxNews.com in an exclusive interview that he killed as many as 70 people in the service of the radical jihadist army.
“Omar, “ a 25-year-old former Islamic State fighter from the Iraqi village of Dor sal-hadeen, said he killed scores of his countrymen and foreign contractors after joining “Daesh,” as ISIS is known in the region, in June. He said he fled the terrorist army in October, but was quickly captured by Kurdish security forces.
“They came to our area and forced me to protect their lands,” Omar said of his Islamic State commanders. “After a while they told me, ‘When are you going to start protecting your own land?’
“They told me to do it or die, and then they killed people in front of me,” said Omar, who is missing four fingers on his left hand from what he said was a 2009 industrial accident. The disability nearly got him killed by his ISIS handlers, he said, until he proved he could shoot right-handed.
Omar is currently being held in an undisclosed prison in Sulymaniyah, after being convicted of terrorism. He was initially sentenced to death, but a judge commuted the sentence to life in prison.

Face to face with ISIS

FoxNews.com's Hollie McKay last month traveled to Kurdish-administered territory in Iraq's Sulymaniyah province, where she met face-to-face with two imprisoned ex-Islamic State soldiers. The interviews were conducted over the course of several hours, and took place in an office at Sulymaniyah’s “Asaih,” or security facility, in the presence of a Kurdish colonel and an independent Kurdish translator. No questions were off-limits for the prisoners, who appeared in civilian clothes, and were not handcuffed or shackled. Asaish officials provided mug shots of the men, but as a condition of the interview insisted FoxNews.com not use their full names.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sipping the tea provided by his Kurdish captors during the FoxNews.com interview, Omar insisted he was an ISIS victim – and even pledged to join the fight against them.
But victim or not, Omar said he became a prolific killer for ISIS, by his count racking up 70 executions in a matter of months. He claimed he killed his victims with rifle shots, and was chillingly candid about why he did it.
“Because they were saying bad words about A'isha [one of Mohammad’s wives, known as the “mother of believers”] and burning a mosque,” he said, adding that he did not receive any type of reward from ISIS leaders for the large number he killed.
Asked if he felt remorse, Omar replied said he “did not act on my own will.” That claim drew a sharp rebuke from the commander of the facility's department of investigation, prompting Omar to say he deflected blame because he was uncomfortable around women.
Omar and other hundreds of other former ISIS soldiers and deserters are being interrogated for intelligence that may help the Kurdish Peshmerga army in its fight against the jihadist group. Kurdish officials say the men are being held under conditions in adherence to international law and monitored by the Red Cross.
Evidence against individual former combatants is gathered and presented to a Kurdish judge, who decides whether prisoners are held or released, according to the Kurdish commander who sat in the interview, and did not allow his name to be used. Omar and many other ex-ISIS fighters convicted of mass murder or terrorism charges may well spend the rest of their lives in prison. Other ex-ISIS fighters judged to be non-terrorists will serve lesser sentences, or will be released among the general population. 
At another point in the interview, Omar said he joined ISIS to get away from his new bride. Saying she had “something in her head – she looked normal on the outside, but she wasn’t,” Omar added that his wife “couldn’t have babies.” He then acknowledged, with a shrug, that by fleeing to join the murderous jihadi army he left his family responsible for paying his wife’s family a fortune.

“I would call you to Islam and if you did not come I would kill you.”- "Omar," ISIS fighter held by Kurds

Omar said he deserted ISIS and fled to Kurdistan in an attempt to blend in and find work, but was arrested by police on Oct. 8, after being identified by Kurdish intelligence agents.
Although he said at times that he wished to take up arms with the Iraqi military or the Kurds, there were several instances in which Omar used the pronoun for “we” when discussing Daesh, a possible giveaway of his true sentiments toward non-believers in general, and Americans in particular.
“We count Americans like Jews,” he said at one point in the interview. He had similarly hostile views of Western women.
Asked what he would do if he saw his female interviewer on the street, he replied, “I would call you to Islam and if you didn’t, I would leave you alone.” Pressed, he corrected himself. “I would call you to Islam and if you did not come, I would kill you.”
Omar was one of two former Islamic State fighters who spoke to FoxNews.com at the Asaish facility, where terrorists are held with local criminals. The other, a 19-year-old Kurd identified as "Dawen," said he was lured to join by the group’s Facebook pages, which urged Muslims to come fight in Syria.
Dawen said he spent just 20 days in the world’s most infamous terrorist army before being arrested two months ago. He said he did not witness any killings, but had no illusions about Islamic State’s barbarity.
“I realized that this is not about God, especially after I was captured,” he said. “I realize this isn’t about God; it is about harming people. Also, the Kurdish people were nice even with my situation.”
Dawen said he felt regret about joining the group almost immediately. “I called my family and they were not happy, it was shameful… I felt weak because they made me act and think a certain way,” he said, when asked whether joining a terrorist organization made him feel powerful. “I was asking for forgiveness, even while there.”
Dawen, who faces terrorism charges, also insisted he is learning more from fellow inmates about other barbarities committed by ISIS, and suggested Kurdish officials “make anti-terror shows and programs” to teach others that this is “not the way to be.”
The facility's director of security said most ISIS fighters are uneducated, and easily led down the bloody path of violent jihad.
“Some regret their actions, some do not,” he said. “Understand that most are young and have no information. They are impressionable. They listen to the second-life paradise story, 72 virgins, rivers of wine, and [staying] young forever. That is all they know.”
Unlike prisoners of ISIS, many of whom have been marched into the desert and executed, or garbed in orange jumpsuits and forced to kneel before being beheaded, deserters and captives from the terrorist army say they are treated well by Kurdish authorities. The two men interviewed by FoxNews.com were dressed comfortably, clean-shaven, appeared well-nourished and showed no signs of physical injury or abuse.

Related Image

Hundreds of ISIS fighters captured in battle or after deserting are held in prisons in the Kurdish stronghold of Sulaymaniyah. (Wikipedia)

Both men confirmed they are allowed phone contact with family members, and seemed aware of recent news events involving ISIS. Both said they feared being captured by ISIS if released.
Security officers, however, cautioned against believing the prisoners’ expressions of remorse. Both men told FoxNews.com they wanted to join the Peshmerga, the Kurdish army that has won back much of the Iraqi and Syrian land seized by ISIS. But Kurdish officials said neither man could be trusted, noting ISIS has been known to send spies into Kurdistan.
Kurdish officials privately predicted there was little doubt the two men, and others like them, would be back fighting for ISIS within days if they were ever freed.
Referring to former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s repeated and destructive campaigns against the Kurds, the official noted they have extensive experience handling such threats.
“We have been dealing with terrorist groups since the beginning, so this is not new for us. We specialize in terrorists.”