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Politics, Video

Rep. Peter King (R-NY) told Newsmax TV’s Steve Malzberg that the hot mic moment with Secretary of State John Kerry on “FOX News Sunday” exposed his “true feelings” of the Obama administration.

Sunday, Sec. John Kerry was challenged only by Chris Wallace to explain his comments.

“It’s a hell of a pinpoint operation. It’s a hell of a pinpoint operation,” he said in a sarcastic tone, in a clip aired on Fox News Sunday. But he also expressed clear frustration with the decision-making leadership in the White House, stating that he should have already been headed to the Middle East before he was okayed to go by Obama. Kerry said that sitting around Washington was getting nothing done.

Kerry also said Israel had the right to target the terror tunnels and the U.S. supported those efforts.

“You have a right to go in and take out those tunnels,” he said. “We completely support that and we support Israel’s right to defend itself against rockets that are continuing to come in.”

The “terror tunnels” used by Hamas, the Israeli military said in a statement on Friday, are “complex and advanced.” Hamas uses the tunnels “to carry out attacks such as abductions of Israeli civilians and soldiers alike; infiltrations into Israeli communities, mass murders and hostage-taking scenarios.”

Kerry said it is up to Hamas to agree to a truce, but with the reality of the situation on the ground being what it is, Kerry’s

“It is important for Hamas to now step up and be reasonable and understand that you accept the cease-fire, you save lives,” he said “And that’s the way we can proceed to have a discussion about all of the underlying issues.”

Rep. Peter King (R-NY) told Newsmax TV's

US

obamacare website

A powerful U.S. appeals court has invalidated ObamaCare subsidies for health insurance obtained through the federally-run HealthCare.gov. The ruling is a major blow to the president’s signature health care law, all but ensuring the constitutionality of the law will once again be decided in the U.S. Supreme Court.

A three federal judges ruled 2-1 on Tuesday that the IRS overreached when they reinterpreted the language of the law in ObamaCare, extending subsidies to those who buy insurance through the federally run exchanges. The case, Halbig v Sebelius, is one of the first major legal challenges that cuts to the heart of the Affordable Care Act by going after the constitutionality of redistribution in the form of expensive federal subsidies and those who benefit from them.

In the case, the plaintiff claimed the Obama administration — in particular, the Internal Revenue Service — broke the law by offering tax subsidies in all 50 states to offset the cost of health insurance. The administration was attempting to limit the damage of the fundamental flaws within the law, such as higher-than-expected risk pools and various other enrollment misses. The administration is currently being sued by House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) for  presidential overreach, which focuses on the president’s unilateral changes to the law via regulations such as this.

The suit maintains that the language in ObamaCare actually restricts subsidies to the 14 state-run exchanges and never authorized subsidies to be given in the 36 states that use the federally run system, or the unsecured HealthCare.gov.

The ruling will likely to be appealed, but could present a real threat to the entire government mandated health care system. The vast majority of the federal exchange’s insurance enrollees either received subsidies or flat-out free coverage under Medicaid CHIP programs.

“We reach this conclusion, frankly, with reluctance. At least until states that wish to can set up Exchanges, our ruling will likely have significant consequences both for the millions of individuals receiving tax credits through federal Exchanges and for health insurance markets more broadly,” the ruling stated.

The ruling brings the count to one and one, as a lower U.S. District Court previously sided with the Obama administration on Jan. 15.

A powerful U.S. appeals court has invalidated

Economy

gas prices

Consumer prices increased by 2.1% from the prior year, fueled in large part by gas price increases.

The U.S. Labor Department said consumer prices increased 0.3 percent in June, fueled in large part by the gasoline index, which increased 3.3 percent. The increase in gasoline represented two-thirds of the total increase.

The core gauge, which excludes food and energy, increased by 0.1 percent, down from a 0.3 percent increase in May.

While economists are already debating whether inflation is still rising too quickly, with many falling back on the Federal Reserve’s strategy as justification for not becoming too concerned with price increases, the American people are giving another account.

A recent survey conducted by Gallup found that American consumer spending over the summer will be consumed by healthcare, energy and foods costs, leaving little left for leisure. In total, 45 percent of Americans reported spending more than they did a year ago, while 18 percent reported spending less.

However, Americans’ increased spending was fueled by an increase in the cost of must-haves, including gasoline and other energy costs, rather than on discretionary purchases. While more than half of Americans say they are spending about the same for rent or mortgage, household goods, telephone, automobile expenses other than fuel, personal care products and the Internet, the cost of the previously mentioned goods has been skyrocketing.

The Labor Department reported consumer prices increased

Video, World

Since the latest round of violence began, Israel has contended  Hamas is pursuing a strategy that intentionally puts Palestinian civilians at risk. Israeli officials say they want civilian body counts to be high to win the public relations war, because they know they cannot win the actual battle.

People’s Pundit Daily did confirm July 12 that the Gaza Interior Minister told residents to ignore Israel’s warnings and to stay in their homes after the Israeli air force dropped leaflets in Gaza warning residents to evacuate their homes. He said the announcement was just Israeli “psychological warfare” and that Israel was simply hoping to create confusion.

In this recently released video, Gaza youth confirms Hamas is in fact preventing people from evacuating their homes to a safer place, which would more than suggest Israeli officials are on the receiving end of unjustified condemnation from the international community and misguided western media outlets. Unfortunately for Israel, some of that criticism has come from the U.S. administration in recent days.

President Obama is under fire for statements made just yesterday, which critics say was another example of the president talking out of both sides of his mouth when it comes to Israel, again.

“As I’ve said many times, Israel has a right to defend itself against rocket and tunnel attacks from Hamas,” the president said in one breathe. “I’ve also said, however, that we have serious concerns about the rising number of Palestinian civilian deaths and the loss of Israeli lives,” he said in another.

Even though the president did mention Israeli deaths, he ended his comments with another reference to the civilian death toll.

“We don’t want to see anymore civilians getting killed.”

Meanwhile, Secretary of State John Kerry was caught on an open mic moment Sunday while doing the talk show rounds, which was only challenged by Chris Wallace during his interview on Fox News Sunday.

“It’s a hell of a pinpoint operation. It’s a hell of a pinpoint operation,” he said in a sarcastic tone. Kerry also went on to say Israel had the right to target the under-reported “terror tunnels,” and further declared the U.S. supported those efforts.

“You have a right to go in and take out those tunnels,” he said. “We completely support that and we support Israel’s right to defend itself against rockets that are continuing to come in.”

The UN Security Council and the media have largely ignored the discovery of this network of “complex and advanced” underground “terror tunnels,” as characterized by Israeli military officials. It has been grossly under-reported that Hamas was in dire financial straits prior to the outbreak of fighting, because a tight crack-down of the blockade by Egypt and Israel had stopped cash and weapons from coming into the strip through hundreds of these smuggling tunnels.

If international aid and assistance to replenish their finances was the goal of Hamas all along, then a rising civilian death toll is a proven strategy for the terror group to achieve their goals.

In this video, Gaza youth confirms Hamas

Politics, Video

President Obama is taking criticism for statements he made today when speaking on the current situation in Ukraine, and the latest conflict in the Gaza Strip. Critics say the president is talking out of both sides of his mouth, again.

“As I’ve said many times, Israel has a right to defend itself against rocket and tunnel attacks from Hamas,” Obama said. “I’ve also said, however, that we have serious concerns about the rising number of Palestinian civilian deaths and the loss of Israeli lives.”

The president and Sec. John Kerry, who has been dispatched to the Middle East to broker a cease-fire, have both expressed support for the Israeli offensive while undermining the U.S. ally in the same breath.

“And that is why it now has to be our focus and the focus of the international community to bring about a cease-fire that ends the fighting and that can stop the deaths of innocent civilians, both in Gaza and in Israel,” Obama said.

Meanwhile, Kerry was caught on an open mic moment Sunday while doing the talking show rounds, which was only challenged by Chris Wallace during his interview on Fox News Sunday.

“It’s a hell of a pinpoint operation. It’s a hell of a pinpoint operation,” he said in a sarcastic tone. Kerry also went on to say Israel had the right to target the under-reported terror tunnels, and further declared the U.S. supported those efforts.

“You have a right to go in and take out those tunnels,” he said. “We completely support that and we support Israel’s right to defend itself against rockets that are continuing to come in.”

The “terror tunnels” used by Hamas, the Israeli military said in a statement on Friday, are “complex and advanced.” Hamas uses the tunnels, according to officials, “to carry out attacks such as abductions of Israeli civilians and soldiers alike; infiltrations into Israeli communities, mass murders and hostage-taking scenarios.”

Comments from both Kerry and Obama could easily be seen as those made by two officials unaware of the fact Hamas refused to accept the terms of two cease-fire deals brokered by Egypt. Further, two temporary cease-fire deals have been broken by Hamas despite the humanitarian concerns.

“It is important for Hamas to now step up and be reasonable and understand that you accept the cease-fire, you save lives,” he said “And that’s the way we can proceed to have a discussion about all of the underlying issues,” Kerry said.

The president was also criticized for his comments on the conflict in Ukraine and Russia’s evident entanglement with separatists who shot Malaysian Airlines MH17 out of sky, killing the nearly 300 passengers on board.

The President restated today that “our immediate focus is on recovering those who were lost, investigating exactly what happened, and putting forward the facts. We have to make sure that the truth is out and that accountability exists.”

Obama also conceded that he would pursue a diplomatic solution to the situation in Ukraine.

He also noted that international investigators are already on the ground, prepared and organized to conduct “the kinds of protocols and scouring and collecting of evidence that should follow any international incident like this.” President Obama then called on Russia — and President Vladimir Putin in particular — to “insist that the separatists stop tampering with the evidence, [and] grant investigators who are already on the ground immediate, full, and unimpeded access to the crash site.”

President Obama is taking criticism for statements

Politics

Iowa Republican Joni Ernst, the nominee for U.S. Senate and potentially the first-ever woman senator from the Hawkeye State, has a new ad out highlighting her record of service to Iowa and the nation. The ad represents a new direction for the self-described “mother, soldier, conservative,” who will soon return from a two-week deployment with the Iowa National Guard.

Ernst took a crowded GOP nomination field by storm, first making headlines with a brazen and remarkably fresh ad back in March entitled “Squeal,” in which she humorously spoke about her experience “castrating hogs.” Then, a May ad called “Shot,” depicted the candidate readying a firearm and preparing “to take aim at wasteful spending” before promising to “set her sights on ObamaCare.”

The latest ad dubbed “Service,” aims to kill two birds with one stone so to speak. While underscoring her military service and sense of duty, the ad also draws a stark contrast with her Democratic opponent, Rep. Bruce Braley, who The Gazette is reporting missed 78 percent of the full Veterans’ Affairs hearings scheduled in 2011 and 2012.

“If the Republican Party of Iowa had said Braley missed 74 percent of full committee hearings, the claim would be true. In fact, we found Braley missed 78 percent of the full hearings in 2011 and 2012,” The Gazette reported.

Braley attended four of 19 hearings of the full Veterans’ Affairs Committee, or 78 percent, according to minutes from the U.S. Government Printing Office. The Braley campaign responded by claiming he missed a number of committee hearings because of other commitments, even mentioning other hearings and one particular personal visit to a veteran. But when The Gazette looked into their claim, they found that “on at least one occasion, those obligations were at different times of the day.”

PPD’s 2014 Senate Map Predictions model currently rates the Iowa Senate race a “Toss-Up” for a number of reasons, including demons of Braley’s own design. Braley, a trial lawyer and establishment-picked nominee, suffers from a bad case of foot-in-mouth disease.

A video shared with the Des Moines Register showed Braley claiming to be a farmer during a Fourth of July parade at Iowa Falls. Of course, Braley is not a farmer, and was clearly making a terrible attempt to rectify another, more politically damaging mistake.

Braley was caught on camera back in March trashing Iowa’s most popular senator, Republican Chuck Grassley, and he did so in full elitist fashion, belittling Iowa farmers. Braley was clearly insinuating that Iowans shouldn’t send a less intelligent farmer over a trial lawyer to the U.S. Senate, which is not a good look.

Now, with the VA scandals resulting in severe backlogs and patient waiting lists that have been falsified under a Democratic administration, Republicans aren’t missing a single chance to pounce on Rep. Braley for his lack of diligence.

“Washington liberal Bruce Braley had the chance to pro-actively address the backlog of disability claims within the VA but decided to skip the hearing,” said Iowa Republican Party spokesman Jahan Wilcox. “With an absentee rate of 78 percent on the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, it’s clear Braley thinks his time is better spent pushing Barack Obama’s job-killing agenda than ensuring that our veterans receive proper care from the VA.”

Ouch.

Democrats have quietly become very concerned about this race, which was once thought to be a favored seat for the Democratic Party. But that’s all in the past, if the other pundit’s prognostications were ever valid to begin with. As we previously examined, Iowa voters have aligned with the GOP on the majority of issues up for debate this cycle, and have consistently showed a preference for a Republican-controlled Senate.

Democrats’ fears of losing this seat are likely to turn into realistic nightmares if this continues and, while we are keeping our rating a “Toss-Up” for now, the Iowa Senate race is slowly but surely shifting from purple to light red.

Poll Date Sample MoE Ernst (R) Braley (D) Spread
PPD Average 6/4 – 7/13 — — 44.0 43.3 Ernst +0.7
NBC News/Marist 7/7 – 7/13 1599 RV 2.5 43 43 Tie
Quinnipiac 6/12 – 6/16 1277 RV 2.7 40 44 Braley +4
Loras College 6/4 – 6/5 600 LV 4.0 48 42 Ernst +6
Rasmussen Reports 6/4 – 6/5 750 LV 4.0 45 44 Ernst +1

Iowa Republican Joni Ernst, potentially the first-ever

World

Israeli Amb Ron Prosor UN United Nations

July 20, 2014: Israeli U.N. Ambassador Ron Prosor speaks during an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council on the worsening situation in Gaza at United Nations headquarters. (Photo: AP Photo/John Minchillo)

Even as Israeli Defense Forces are combing a network of “complex and advanced” underground “terror tunnels,” the United Nations Security Council called for an immediate halt to fighting in the Gaza Strip. At an emergency session Sunday evening, the council opted for the statement instead of a draft resolution that would have called for Israeli forces to withdraw from the territory.

The draft resolution had been proposed by Jordan, which had requested the meeting of the Security Council as the Arab League’s representative on the panel.The draft resolution expressed “grave concern” at the number of Palestinian civilians reportedly killed in Gaza. A press statement issued by the UN Security Council expressed “serious concern at the escalation of violence,” called for the protection of civilians and said it was troubled by the growing number of casualties.

Despite ignoring the two cease-fires Hamas has broken since the violence began, as well as the attacks launched from terror tunnels over the weekend, Palestinian United Nations Ambassador Riyad Mansour was disappointed.

“We were hoping for the Security Council to adopt a resolution to condemn the aggression against our people,” he told reporters. He he also said Sunday’s council statement was “a test” for Israel to see if it would comply.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon called Israel’s ground offensive in Gaza “an atrocious action” prior to the closed-door meeting. However, Israeli Ambassador to the UN, Ron Prosnor, defended the military campaign he said was the result of Israel being forced to defend itself against rocket attacks launched by the Islamic terrorist group Hamas. He also argued that the Israeli military was using restraint and taking measures to reduce civilian casualties. In fact, the IDF released a video last week showing just how many attacks are called off to avoid civilian casualties, despite Hamas hiding among innocents.

Meanwhile, Hamas terrorists wearing Israeli army uniforms infiltrated central Gaza through a terror tunnel Saturday, attacking an Israeli army patrol and killing two Israeli soldiers. Later Saturday, another attempt to enter Israel through terror tunnels was thwarted when the Israeli military discovered Hamas operatives carrying handcuffs and tranquilizers, in what was an apparent attempt to kidnap soldiers.

The militants were all killed. And, again on Saturday, a Hamas militant climbed out of an unknown, concealed tunnel in southern Gaza and began to fire at Israeli soldiers. Earlier Sunday, UN Ambassador Prosor denied reports that Hamas had succeeded in capturing an Israel Defense Forces soldier.

Then, early Monday, a spokesman for the Israeli military said two “terrorists squads” had infiltrated Israel through another terror tunnel located in northern Gaza. An Israeli aircraft successfully targeted one group, while the second fired an anti-tank missile at an Israeli army vehicle. Ten of them were killed by return fire, according to the spokesman.

The UN Security Council meeting took place after news of two American-born IDF soldiers, California-born Max Steinberg,24, and Texas native Sean Carmeli, 21, were killed in the fighting over the weekend. Twenty Israelis have died since the offensive began last week, while Gaza Health Ministry officials said Monday that 501 Palestinians had been killed, though it is not clear how many of those were Hamas militants.

It has been grossly under-reported that Hamas was in dire financial straits prior to the outbreak of fighting, because a tight crack-down of the blockade by Egypt and Israel had stopped cash and weapons from coming into the strip through hundreds of these smuggling tunnels. These conditions led many in the U.S. intel community to investigate whether the three kidnapped teenagers were to be ransomed by Hamas, but later killed when it became clear Israeli military raids would be the strategic response by the Israeli government.

While both Israeli and U.S. officials have said there was a substantial amount of evidence to show Hamas was responsible, PPD has yet to see evidence of a ransom, though the financial incentive was real and strong.

Secretary of State John Kerry will arrive in Cairo Monday to try to hatch out the terms of a new cease-fire. President Barack Obama told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Kerry would seek a cease-fire based on the truce agreed to by Israel and Hamas in November 2012. In that agreement, Israel agreed to stop incursions into Gaza as long as Hamas and other Palestinian factions agreed to stop attacking Israel.

In a conversation with an aide picked up by a hot microphone while Kerry was waiting to conduct television interviews Sunday morning, he commented on the continuing fighting in Gaza.

“It’s a hell of a pinpoint operation. It’s a hell of a pinpoint operation,” he said in a sarcastic tone, in a clip aired on Fox News Sunday.

Kerry also said Israel had the right to target the terror tunnels and the U.S. supported those efforts.

“You have a right to go in and take out those tunnels,” he said. “We completely support that and we support Israel’s right to defend itself against rockets that are continuing to come in.”

The “terror tunnels” used by Hamas, the Israeli military said in a statement on Friday, are “complex and advanced.” Hamas uses the tunnels “to carry out attacks such as abductions of Israeli civilians and soldiers alike; infiltrations into Israeli communities, mass murders and hostage-taking scenarios.”

Kerry said it is up to Hamas to agree to a truce, but with the reality of the situation on the ground being what it is, Kerry’s

“It is important for Hamas to now step up and be reasonable and understand that you accept the cease-fire, you save lives,” he said “And that’s the way we can proceed to have a discussion about all of the underlying issues.”

Following the UN Security Council meeting, Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin actually stepped out of the meeting briefly to complain to reporters. He said the council had been summoned to meet without a specific proposal to discuss, or any hope for a deal.

“Why have this meeting?” Churkin asked. “The Security Council is put in a very awkward position. Obviously, nothing is going to come out of it.”

Even as Israeli Defense Forces are combing

Politics, Video

Texas Senator Ted Cruz appeared on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace to discuss his proposal to solve the border crisis. The interview took place shortly after we learned the U.S. Border Patrol was under heavy fire from 50.-caliber weapons fired by Mexican cartels.

“What I want to do is solve the crisis,” Cruz told Wallace. “I agree with the president in one respect. We are seeing a humanitarian crisis. We’re seeing tens of thousands of young children coming in illegally, being brutalized, being mistreated by global transnational drug cartels.”

But Cruz criticized the president for causing the crisis in the first place, a charge we now know from an internal government report to be valid.

“And the cause of this crisis is the promise of amnesty.”

A new intelligence report obtained by Catherine Herridge at Fox News concluded that the border crisis is being caused by illegals seeking amnesty and a misunderstanding of U.S. immigration policy, not violence in Central America.

“If you look at the history of this issue, in 2011 there were roughly 6,000 children apprehended coming in illegally,” Cruz added. “Then in 2012 President Obama unilaterally granted amnesty to some 800,000 people who were here illegally, who entered as children.”

The 10-page report conducted on July 7 was by the El Paso Intelligence Center (EPIC), which is headed up by the DEA and includes the Department of Homeland Security. PPD spoke to Guatemalan officials when the border crisis story first broke in early June, who told us that the Catholic Church and state-run media outlets had been advertising Obama’s policies as a “free pass” for them.

“Of the 230 migrants interviewed, 219 cited the primary reason for migrating to the United States was the perception of U.S. immigration laws granting free passes or permisos to UAC (unaccompanied children) and adult females OTMs (other than Mexicans) traveling with minors,” the report said.

Guatemalan officials did say they had contacted the Obama administration last year to warn them of the imminent influx of illegal immigration, but the White House didn’t respond.

“The direct foreseeable consequence of that was the number of unaccompanied children skyrocketed so that this year the Obama administration is estimating 90,000 kids will come,” Cruz said. “Next year, 145,000. That’s up from just 6,000 three years ago.”

Sen. Ted Cruz appeared on Fox News

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