Guess who pays for this program? Legitimate cell phone customers. In other words, you and I.
The federal ‘free’ cell phone scheme for low-income individuals cost $2.2 billion last year, all of which came from fees added to the phone bills of paying customers.
And while there are some people who legitimately make good use of this program – emergency contacts for children and parents, or to receive job interview responses – there is a whole hell of a lot of this going on…
Via the Daily Mail:
Undercover video shot in May by a conservative activist shows two corporate distributors of free cell phones handing out the mobile devices to people who have promised to sell them for drug money, to buy shoes and handbags, to pay off their bills, or just for extra spending cash.
The ‘Obama phone,’ which made its ignominious YouTube debut outside a Cleveland, Ohio presidential campaign event last September, is a project of the Federal Communications Commission’s ‘Lifeline’ program, which makes land line and mobile phones available to Americans who meet low-income requirements.
Lifeline was a $2.19 billion program in 2012.
One exchange saw a man specifically tell an employee he was going to sell his taxpayer funded phone to buy heroin. To which the employee states, ‘Hey, I don’t judge’.
Every one of the individuals who claimed they would sell the phone as opposed to actually using it for legitimate purposes, was given a phone.
Nobody was turned down.
In fact, some were instructed to visit pawn shops to determine the phone’s value, or they are instructed to go home and deactivate the phone, sell it, and return to get another.
Watch below and read the rest of the report…
Upstate Republican Assemblyman, Steve McLaughlin, has announced that he is considering a run against Governor Cuomo in 2014. McLaughlin has been perhaps the most vocal critic of the governor, a staunch supporter of the constitutional right to bear arms, and has spearheaded efforts to, as he says, “drain the swamp” in New York, fighting to weed out corruption in Albany politics.
Via Fred Dicker:
An AGGRESSIVE upstate lawmaker who backs gun rights and Texas-style low taxes and calls Gov. Cuomo a “bully” has emerged as a likely — some say certain — Republican candidate against Cuomo next year, The Post has learned.
Rensselaer County Assemblyman Steve McLaughlin, 49, a former commercial pilot who in February compared Cuomo to Hitler over the way the governor rammed through the anti-gun SAFE Act, has privately told legislative colleagues he’s planning to run.
McLaughlin, who works part-time as a salesman for a solar-energy firm, was introduced last week at an anti-SAFE Act rally in Albany “as the next governor of the state of New York.” State GOP Chairman Ed Cox recently described him to an associate as being on his “short list” of gubernatorial candidates.
“I am considering running for governor,” McLaughlin told The Post.
“It took 12 years for people to get sick of Mario Cuomo, but upstate and, I think, on Long Island, people are already sick of Andrew Cuomo.”
McLaughlin added that the disdain for Cuomo is bipartisan, stating that Assembly Democrats have even told him “he’s a pain in the ass and is always trying to follow a path of dictating and bullying people”.
And that is why Dicker used the word ‘aggressive’ in all CAPs.
While being an aggressive supporter of conservative ideals, McLaughlin should not be confused with Cuomo’s last conservative opponent, Carl Paladino. There is a distinct difference in styles, and a distinct difference between being aggressive and being over the top.
While McLaughlin would be a big underdog in a matchup with Cuomo (the governor already has $22 million in his war chest), the current political climate may give the challenger an opening.
There is strong upstate distrust for Cuomo after his embarrassing unconstitutional gun grab via the SAFE Act, and with politicians being arrested for corruption on a seemingly weekly basis, the governor’s approval rating has been in a consistent downward trend recently.
A new poll released today shows his approval, while still in relatively good shape, has hit a personal low at 58%. It should be noted that the polls sample was skewed 47% Democrat, 23% Republican.
Will McLaughlin simply be a Republican sacrificial lamb, or does he have a real shot at unseating Governor Cuomo?
Only time will tell…
Jerrold Nadler, a Democrat Congressman from New York, has claimed that in a closed-door meeting with the NSA, he learned that analysts could listen to specific phone calls and retrieve the contents of said call based solely on an analysts decision.
Warrantless wiretaps. Remember that phrase during the Bush years, liberals?
Via CNET (h/t Weasel Zippers):
The National Security Agency has acknowledged in a new classified briefing that it does not need court authorization to listen to domestic phone calls.
Rep. Jerrold Nadler, a New York Democrat, disclosed this week that during a secret briefing to members of Congress, he was told that the contents of a phone call could be accessed “simply based on an analyst deciding that.”
If the NSA wants “to listen to the phone,” an analyst’s decision is sufficient, without any other legal authorization required, Nadler said he learned. “I was rather startled,” said Nadler, an attorney and congressman who serves on the House Judiciary committee.
Not only does this disclosure shed more light on how the NSA’s formidable eavesdropping apparatus works domestically, it also suggests the Justice Department has secretly interpreted federal surveillance law to permit thousands of low-ranking analysts to eavesdrop on phone calls.
Because the same legal standards that apply to phone calls also apply to e-mail messages, text messages, and instant messages, Nadler’s disclosure indicates the NSA analysts could also access the contents of Internet communications without going before a court and seeking approval.
Of course, Democrats have made it clear that all of this is okay … as long as it’s Obama infringing on our freedoms, what could possibly go wrong?
The President, whether his last name is Bush or Obama, is slowly becoming that one girlfriend we’ve all had that you just can’t get rid of. If he’s not stalking you through NSA surveillance programs or harassing you through the IRS, he’s now sending you text messages in the middle of the night … and you can’t do anything to block him.
Via Engadget (h/t Gateway Pundit):
AT&T has begun rolling out Wireless Emergency Alerts updates for iPhone 4S and 5, so you won’t be the last folks to know if the entire northern hemisphere is about to be covered in ice à la Day After Tomorrow.
You’ll receive a notification from the carrier when your update is ready, but only if you’re using iOS 6.1 or higher.
Once installed, AMBER and Emergency alerts are automatically sent to your phone unless you switch them off via Settings. However, should you be tired of Obama, just know that there’s no way to switch off Presidential alerts.
Presidential alerts as defined by AT&T are simply “alerts issued by the President”. And it is that vague description that makes one wonder exactly what they’ll be receiving. Messages to sign up for food stamps? A simple “Hope and Change” text? Or just a friendly reminder that he’s still watching you?
As with the other big brother programs, this is not a new concept and was begun during the Bush presidency. The use of Presidential alerts began with the Warning, Alert and Response Network Act, passed in Congress in 2006.
Don’t be bitter with Apple, though. This is simply a software update for the iPhones in particular, and is pretty much SOP for any WEA-enabled mobile devices.
Whose buck? Our buck…
Via the Washington Times:
The White House Friday defended the first family’s upcoming weeklong trip to Africa, which could cost taxpayers up to $100 million, as “great bang for our buck.”
“There will be a great bang for our buck for being in Africa because when you travel to regions like Africa that don’t get a lot of presidential attention, you tend to have very longstanding and long-running impact from the visit,” said Ben Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser to President Obama.
The Obamas’ trip, at a time of “sequestration” budget cuts, will take them to Senegal, Tanzania and South Africa from June 26 to July 3. Citing a confidential planning document, the Washington Post reported that the trip will cost between $60 million to $100 million.
The Obama’s actually canceled the safari leg of the trip because of the cost. Reportedly, snipers would be needed “to neutralize cheetahs, lions and other animals if they became a threat”. Who knows how many millions more that would have required.
The trip will involve 445 Secret Service agents and military cargo planes that will airlift 56 vehicles including 14 limousines, ambulances equipped for chemical and biological attacks and radio-jamming trucks to Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania.
But remember as the President has lectured before, everybody has to have some skin in the game. Everybody must sacrifice. Everyone must do their part.
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