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VA to reinstate official who stole $130,000 from agency

“The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works — whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified.”  – President Obama, Inauguration (2009)

So when you steal and defraud, is that the way our Federal Government is supposed to work?  Certainly Lois Lerner (of IRS targeting of Conservative groups, but also did so while at the FEC) is emblematic of it and Hillary Clinton is starting to become the even bigger poster child of it as her use of a private email server having classified, top secret, and “I have to kill you” level documents on it.  But PLEASE, how bad can this get, especially in the VA that has been accused of allowing those they are supposed to serve die because they simply wanted money (emphasis mine, reformatted)?

A Department of Veterans Affairs official who was demoted after allegedly stealing thousands of taxpayer dollars from the agency was quietly reinstated to her position earlier this week.

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Mickey D’s has been a hurtin’ puppy in the fast food industry for quite some time – its competitors have been eating its lunch (and supper, pun intended).  Sales down, franchisees mad (and broker given the $$ spent on store redoes for a more contemporary look), and the “more healthy” food didn’t make it for them.  So a change was made and imagine that – they actually listened to what customers wanted and SURPRISE!

Customers bought what they said they wanted to eat!

Sure, polls are one thing, sales are another and they don’t always align; this time, they did:

On Monday, McDonald’s said that same-store sales (those open for at least 13 months) increased by 5.7 percent in the last three months of 2015, more than twice what analysts had expected. The hefty jump is the largest the company has reported in almost four years.  For years, adoring fans pleaded with McDonald’s to extend its breakfast menu beyond the current 10:30 a.m. cutoff. For nearly as long, the fast-food behemoth shrugged off the ask,

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The Washington Monument Syndrome is the typical response when a bureaucracy is denied its funding – it ALWAYS goes after the most newest and brightest Shiny Object – and then either deny access to it by taxpayers (e.g., close the W.M. to tourists) or declare DISASTER if their funding is denied.  And in this case, monies not under the control of anyone but by them.  Only a part from the Nashua Telegraph (paywall), but enough:

Nashua, Manchester narcotic units threatened by cut in funds

Oh NO!  Those dreaded city councilors / Mayors / Budget Committees – how DARE they not fund their departments to fit their needs to defend their citizens!  Why those cheap…..oh wait:

NASHUA – The federal government’s decision to freeze payments to local and state law enforcement agencies from its Asset Forfeiture Program could cripple the Nashua and Manchester narcotics units and others statewide at a time when the heroin and opioid epidemic is rampant, their police chiefs said Wednesday.

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I’ve noticed it, too, over the last couple of years.  It seemed to turn Left (ok, to be sure, more centrist) as the TEA Party kept taking a pounding a couple of years ago.  I’ve mentioned it to TMEW a number of times – Fox’s hard line has gone limp.  More oft than I’d care to say, I’d say that the commentariat are retreating from the stances that made me want to watch it.  And I’m not the only one that’s caught it, either (reformatted, emphasis mine):

On his daily radio program, Limbaugh said “he has found when talking to people, including media people, in the east coast” and places like Washington, Boston, and South Florida that “virtually everybody thinks of Fox News as a conservative network.” Limbaugh said he travels to Missouri for Christmas and the holidays and goes on golf trips all over the country and, “I’m here to tell you Fox News is not considered the conservative network that is used to be.”

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60 percent of Republican voters feel “betrayed” by the party’s political leadership

They campaigned for getting majorities in the US House (where appropriations and tax bills start) and the US Senate.  They campaigned on smaller Government.  They promised to stop Obama’s expansion of Government.  They railed against piling up more deficit spending.  They promised to turn off the spigot.  So ask me again – WHY do we support Republicans?

The federal budget deficit will rise again this year for the first time in six years, according to a report released Monday by the Congressional Budget Office. Not only is this year’s deficit up by $100 billion, it marks the first time the deficit has grown, relative to the economy, since the Democrats had complete control of Washington. This year’s projected deficit is $544 billion, an increase of $105 billion over last year. As a share of the overall economy, the most meaningful measurement, the deficit has also increased, now equaling 2.9 percent of GDP.

And WHO is in charge right now, huh?

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From the Union Leader, my brow first furrowed and then LMOA:

Increasing state’s minimum wage debated

“Paying decent wages is a good investment for our economy,” said Senate Bill 412’s prime sponsor, Sen. Donna Soucy, D-Manchester. “Well-paid workers are better employees and better customers; their spending helps sustain our businesses and our economy.”

The state’s unemployment rate is the fourth-lowest in the country, and all other New England states have higher minimum wages, she said, which puts New Hampshire businesses at a disadvantage. Even companies like Wal-Mart have recognized the benefits of raising wages in order to retain workers at their stores, she said, noting a recent company announcement that it would raise what it pays both full- and part-time workers.

Seriously, is State Senator Donna Soucy absolutely incompetent in things economically?  First, while one might think that “well-paid” workers may be better paid employees but artificially enhanced (via government meddling) isn’t going to make low skilled (and thus lower paid) employees “better”.  In fact, as we are seeing in places where the “spread the wealth of other peoples’ money around” Democrats and Progressives have already done this (e.g., Seattle, Berkley), some employees have become “no-paid”.  And the simple truth is that raising the minimum wage doesn’t make them “well-paid” – they are still at the bottom of the barrel due to their low economic worth to their employer.

And she doesn’t say much about wage compression either.

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[emphasis mine -Skip]

This year, the state legislature will decide the future of expanding the state’s Medicaid program to able-bodied adults under ObamaCare. Medicaid expansion – passed in 2014 by a legislature more sympathetic to ObamaCare and growing government – expires later this year, and some of our elected officials are seeking to make it permanent.

In early 2013, when ObamaCare proponents pursued adding able-bodied adults to the Medicaid program, they offered three reasons for adding thousands of individuals to a program that is already the largest in state government. All three premises have proven to be false.

First, expansion supporters argued that adding people to Medicaid would improve their health. Then, a Harvard/MIT study showed no discernable improvement in physical health for those on Medicaid versus the uninsured, and the expansion proponents quickly dropped that argument.

Next,

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Oh, btw, my whole take on this “The Academy Awards are racist”?

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