A History of Germany’s Fall from Weimar to Hitler

from realclearhistory:

Germany: From Weimar to Hitler
Paul Bookbinder, Facing History

The failure of Germany’s first true democracy was the result of choices made by Weimar Germans during its brief life. In every historical period major developments such as wars, peace treaties and economic crisis limit the freedom of individual action. Certainly for Weimar Germans defeat in World War I, the Versailles Treaty, inflation and depression made the development and survival of democracy difficult. Yet while these factors were important they did not doom the Republic to inevitable failure. Within the limits imposed by these major factors numerous courses of action and results were possible and were determined by decisions and choices that individuals made. The fate of the Weimar Republic was in the hands of its leaders and its citizens. The following are some…
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TAGGED: Germany
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Medicare under Obama, Loses $300,000,000,000 Each Year

$1.4 Trillion Medicare Cash Deficit Under Obama

From the National Center for Policy Analysis:

On July 28, the Medicare Trustees issued their annual report on entitlement programs. Douglas Holtz-Eakin, Gordon Gray and Conor Ryan of the American Action Forum delve into the details, explaining why Medicare is in serious trouble.

According to the Trustees, Medicare will go bankrupt in 2030 and Social Security will follow just three years later, in 2033. Many were pleased that Medicare’s bankruptcy date had been pushed to 2030, as previous projections had expected the program to run out by 2026. But as the American Action Forum (AAF) report shows, there is no reason to be anything other than concerned about Medicare’s solvency:

Medicare took in only $283 billion in 2013 but spent $583 billion. That shortfall was 40 percent of the federal deficit in 2013.
Since 1965, the Medicare program has had a cash shortfall every year, with the exception of two years (1966 and 1974), totaling $3.4 trillion. The program borrows tax revenue from other programs in order to cover the shortfalls.
More than one-fourth (29.3 percent) of the national debt is due to the Medicare shortfall.
The program is not sustainable:

In order to balance Medicare Part A, the payroll tax would need to increase by 21 percent.
To balance Medicare Part B, premiums would need to rise by 392 percent; the average senior would see his annual premiums rise to $4,935 from $1,259.
Finally, to balance Medicare Part D, premiums for prescription drugs would need to rise 704 percent, meaning that seniors’ annual drug premiums would increase from $360 to $2,534.
According to the AAF, from 2009 to 2013, President Obama has overseen a Medicare cash deficit of more than $1.4 trillion.

Source: Douglas Holtz-Eakin, Gordon Gray and Conor Ryan, “The Future of America’s Entitlements: What You Need to Know About the Medicare Trustees Report,” American Action Forum, July 28, 2014.Med

Wisconsin Supreme Court Rules Collective Bargaining is NOT a Fundamental Right

WISCONSIN SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS STATE’S UNION, VOTER ID LAWS

The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that a controversial 2011 law stripping public employee unions of their bargaining power did not violate the constitution, a major win for Republicans and Gov. Scott Walker (R), who signed the bill into law.

Union organizers who brought the suit said the law, known as Act 10, violated their rights of free assembly and equal protection. In a 5-to-2 decision [pdf], the court held that collective bargaining is not a fundamental right, and that lawmakers can place limits on union powers.

The law, which prohibits unions from taking automatic dues from public employee paychecks, sparked weeks of protest at the state capitol in Madison, where union organizers rallied to preserve their power. It later sparked an effort to recall Walker, who survived a second election in 2012.

The unions took the law to court almost immediately after it was signed. But they haven’t been successful: The state Supreme Court upheld the law in June 2011, and the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals has twice rejected challenges brought in federal court.

The state Supreme Court also ruled in favor of a 2011 law requiring voters to show identification when they go to the polls. In a 4-to-3 decision, justices overturned a Dane County court’s ruling striking down the law on constitutional grounds.

That decision could still be overturned in federal court, however. A federal district court judge in Wisconsin struck down the voter identification law in April. This week, the U.S. Justice Department weighed in with a brief supporting voters challenging the identification laws in Wisconsin and Ohio, which are being appealed in the 7th Circuit.

Wisconsin was one of a handful of states that passed rules requiring voters to show identification after Republicans swept to power in the 2010 elections. Many of those cases have been challenged in state and federal courts, and the Justice Department has gone so far as to sue states like Texas and North Carolina over changes to voting laws that benefit Republicans.

In a statement, Walker praised the court’s decisions.

“Act 10 has saved Wisconsin taxpayers more than $3 billion. Today’s ruling is a victory for those hard-working taxpayers,” Walker said. “Voter ID is a common sense reform that protects the integrity of our elections. People need to have confidence in our electoral process and to know their vote has been properly counted.”

Both laws will play a role in Walker’s bid for a second term. Polls show Walker running neck and neck with Madison School Board member Mary Burke (D), who is critical of Act 10′s restrictions on collective bargaining. And while a federal court still has to rule on the voter identification law before it takes effect, Democrats worry if it does apply it will disproportionately impact low income and minority voters who are most likely to favor their candidates.

Can Parents Trust the Neighborhoods Where Their Children Play?

THE CRIMINALIZATION OF PARENTHOOD

By Radley Balko at the Washington Post:

A couple of weeks ago, the Debra Harrell story made national headlines. Harrell was arrested and charged with a felony for letting her 9-year-old daughter play at a park while Harrell worked a shift at a local McDonald’s. Now, it has happened again, this time with a 7-year old.

A mom faces a charge of child neglect after she allowed her son to go to a park alone. She says he’s old enough but Port St. Lucie Police disagree. Now she’s fighting back.

“I’m totally dumbfounded by this whole situation,” says Nicole Gainey.

It began last Saturday afternoon when Gainey gave her son Dominic permission to walk from their house to Sportsman’s Park .

Please continue reading:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2014/07/30/the-criminalization-of-parenthood-continued/

Obama’s Lawless EPA Overreach

Notes from Craig Rucker of CFACT:

EPA held hearings today on proposed rules that would place tremendous burdens on existing power plants that would force many to shut down.

President Obama’s EPA seeks to mandate a 30% reduction in U.S. CO2 emissions (over 1995 levels) by 2030.

This is radical. This is damaging. This is a mistake.

Congress considered regulating CO2 emissions through a cap and trade plan, but deliberately elected not to.

EPA, rather than faithfully administering the law, is stretching 1970’s Clean Air Act far beyond the recognition of the legislators who voted on it.

We have extensive coverage on EPA overreach at CFACT.org.

CFACT senior policy analyst Bonner Cohen testified at the EPA hearing session in Washington, D.C.

Marita Noon, who in the spring completed a college speaking tour sponsored by CFACT Collegians, presented CFACT’s testimony to the EPA hearing in Atlanta, Georgia (Pictured testifying right). You can read it at CFACT.org.

EPA’s hearing follows close on the heels of the revelation that the average price of American electricity prices just hit an all time high of 14.3 cents per kilowatt hour.

EPA’s proposed rule would push electricity rates drastically higher and take a terrible toll on jobs, manufacturing and family’s cost of living.

CFACT intends to continue our efforts to educate government officials and citizens about the serious damage this and other EPA rules will do to the U.S. economy.

Pelosi with Old Face Recently Polished yet again, Claims: Hamas Terrorist Group is a “Humanitarian Organization”

Over seventy five per cent of American Jews have voted for Obama and his crowd now in Washington, led by the obnoxious, often repulsive, Allan Dershowitz. Ponder that!

Nancy Pelosi for years was leader of all Obamalings in the United States House of Representatives. Remember? She’s the feminist Pelosi of passing ObamaCare mouth fame when she ran the House: “We have to pass the bill so that you (the public) can find out what’s in it”. Ponder that!

During those Pelosi years ‘leading’ lefty minds in the House, the Obama brain ‘leading’ lefty minds in the Senate was, and still is, Harry Reid.

Yesterday, with another new face pasted on the old, Nancy Pelosi spoke lefty wisdom again in an interview at CNN.

Nancy Pelosi Says Hamas Terrorist Group is a “Humanitarian Organization”…Qatar says so.

Democrat House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi told Candy Crowley on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday that the United States should consider seeing the Hamas terrorist organization the way the government of Qatar does, as a “humanitarian organization.”

Please struggle further:

http://www.tpnn.com/2014/07/28/video-nancy-pelosi-says-hamas-terrorist-group-is-a-humanitarian-organization/

Obama has shifted, (relegislated) ObamaCare ‘LAW” 42 Times already

42 Total Changes Made to Obamacare

July 30, 2014 from the National Center for Policy Analysis:

Tyler Hartsfield and Grace-Marie Turner of the Galen Institute detail the number of significant changes that have been made to the Affordable Care Act. Since its passage, the law has been changed 42 times: twice by the Supreme Court, 16 times by Congress, and 24 times by President Obama himself, unilaterally.

The president’s 24 revisions to the law via administrative action include:

Providing subsidies to enrollees on federally-run exchanges.
Delaying enforcement of the employer mandate.
Allowing insurance companies to reoffer plans that Obamacare originally required them to cancel.
Exempting unions from the law’s reinsurance fee.
Expanding the hardship waiver from the individual mandate to people whose plans were cancelled because of the ACA.
Pushing back the sign-up deadline from March 31 to mid-April.
Cancelling Medicare Advantage cuts.
These are just a few of the changes that the executive branch has made to the law. Congress has also passed a number of laws to clarify and modify the Affordable Care Act, including repealing certain IRS reporting requirements and eliminating caps on deductibles for small group plans.

Source: Tyler Hartsfield and Grace-Marie Turner, “42 Changes to ObamaCare…So Far,” Galen Institute, July 18, 2014.

Obama Takes a Read from Lois Lerner’s Emails: Advises GOP, “Stop Hating All The Time”

Barack Hussein Obama, trained by his father figure, black racist and condemner of America, Jeremiah Wright, certainly knows something about hating all of the time.

President Obama is a master practitioner of projection, the disease of blaming others with the evils he himself is a star performer possessing, so much so, he infects his followers with the same infections disease. He advises his Republican rivals to “stop hating all the time”.

Mr. Obama performs the following without teleprompter, and it shows rather dramatically. Please take a look:

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2014/07/30/obama_to_republicans_stop_hating_all_the_time.html