Diplomats punished for Benghazi back on job
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Buzz Cut:
• Diplomats punished for Benghazi back on job
• Egypt crackdown continues
• ObamaCare, the virus
• Cruz: I’m an American, eh!
• Bravest of the brave
CLEARED BY KERRY? - “Secretary of State John Kerry has determined that the four State Department officials placed on administrative leave by Hillary Clinton after the terrorist attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi do not deserve any formal disciplinary action,” reports Daily Beast. The news site says Kerry, “has asked them to come back to work at the State Department starting [today.]”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Boehner, House Republicans pressed on Benghazi- The Hill: “A group of special forces veterans has spent $5,800 for three giant billboards scheduled to go up in Boehner's district this week. And another conservative group plans to hold a day-long commemoration at the steps of the Capitol on Sept. 11. ‘If 4 Members of Congress were KILLED in Benghazi would we have a Watergate-style Select Committee today?’ the billboard asks.”
EGYPT CRACKDOWN CONTINUES - Fox News: Egyptian security officials detained the supreme leader of the Muslim Brotherhood early Tuesday, state media reported. Officials said Mohammed Badie, 70, was captured in an apartment in the eastern Cairo district of Nasr City.
Ed Henry wants to know: “Which will we have more clarity on first: The president's Egypt policy or the truth about NSA abuses?”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}White House cagey on Egypt aid -While the White House maintains in a statement that no decision has been made concerning any aid cuts to Egypt, a spokesperson for Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., told the Daily Beast that military aid has been “temporarily cut off.” Two administration officials told the web site that “…administration lawyers decided it was best to observe the law … as if there had been a coup … while at the same time deciding that the law did not require a public announcement on whether a coup took place.” Fox News reports on the widening influence of Saudi oil money on the support of Egypt’s military by Gulf States.
Roger Cohen in the NYT: “The real lesson in Egypt is of America’s dwindling power under a wavering president whose hesitancy reflects that of most Americans after a decade of interventions.”
[Watch FOX: Bret Stephens, WSJ Foreign affairs columnist, discusses his piece today on whether the US should support the Egyptian military in the 10 a.m. ET hour.]
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}OBAMACARE WANTS TO GO VIRAL - The Daily Mail reports that Deepak Bhargava, a former top- lobbyist for ACORN, will oversee a youth video contest that promotes ObamaCare sponsored by the federal government. Bhargava ought to be well acquainted with the concept. It was viral videos of the community organizing group where he previously worked counseling conservative activists posing as a pimp and a prostitute that led to the dismantling of ACORN.
Rick Perry rips Sebelius over ObamaCare Promotion - Fox News: “If ObamaCare were sound health care policy, Secretary Sebelius wouldn't have to resort to video contests and prizes to tempt people to sign up,” Gov. Rick Perry, R-Texas, in a statement.
IRS launches ObamaCare site - The IRS has debuted its online home for ObamaCare enforcement. The site also seeks to explain why the employer mandate was delayed by one year.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“I think, unfortunately, the decision [the Obama administration] made to push back the employer mandate was political and not policy-driven. And I don't see them that making that same change here.” – Gov. Scott Walker, R-Wisc., “On the Record with Greta Van Susteren” discussing a proposed delay on the ObamaCare mandate on individuals.
[Watch FOX: Brad Blakeman, former deputy assistant to President George W. Bush discusses the new ObamaCare video contest in the 9 a.m. ET hour.]
LONG TERM UNEMPLOYMENT: “STAGGERINGLY LARGE” - Chief National Correspondent Jim Angle is looking ahead at a bombshell report on long-term on employment from The Urban Institute: “‘… the extent of the increase and its persistently high level since the start of the recovery are both troubling and unprecedented.’ Its research refers to the ‘staggeringly large’ number of people out of work that long, which is now about 40 percent of the total number of unemployed.” The report goes public at noon ET here.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Why work? - Breitbart: A CATO institute study “finds that a New York mother of two is eligible for $38,004 in welfare benefits -- a sum more than the annual salary of a New York entry-level school teacher.”
SIGNIFICANT JUMPS FOR STUDENT AID - The WSJ is reporting that more students are using federal student aid than ever before. Nearly 57 percent of undergraduate students are now using federal aid to help pay for school.
VAN HOLLEN SETS PRICE ON SEQUESTER - In an interview with Washington Post columnist Greg Sargent, Rep. Chris Van Hollen, the ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee, says that Democrats are ready to make Republicans pay if GOPers want to continue to insulate national defense from automatic reductions to federal spending. Calling it the “ace in the hole” for Democrats, Sargent explains that because Defense programs got a smaller trim this year, the scheduled cuts for next year could be particularly damaging to national security, thereby forcing Republicans to accept increased funding for domestic programs. “If Republicans want to relieve the $20 billion cut to defense, we must increase non-defense spending by $20 billion,” Van Hollen said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}BLACK DEMOCRAT BLASTS PARTY - A video offering a stinging indictment of the Democratic Party on race from Louisiana State Rep. Elbert Guillory is gaining traction online. Guillory announces his plans to switch parties in the clip, launching his Free At Last PAC. Guillory says, “Liberalism has nearly destroyed black America. And now it’s time for black America to return the favor.”
CHRISTIE SIGNS GAY CONVERSION THERAPY BAN - Washington Examiner: “New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie signed a bill … banning gay conversion therapy on minors in the state. … The bill he signed bars licensed therapists from trying to convert gay youths to a heterosexual lifestyle.”
MILBANK ROASTS OBAMA - WaPo’s Dana Milbank offers his thoughts on President Obama’s sinking summer approval numbers: “Since the earliest days of the republic, Washington has been a sleepy town in August ... it no longer works to push the snooze button throughout the month.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}WITH YOUR SECOND CUP OF COFFEE... Christina Hoff Sommers, author of “The War Against Boys” writes in Time Magazine: School Has Become Too Hostile to Boys - “Efforts to re-engineer the young-male imagination are doomed to fail, but they will succeed spectacularly in at least one way. They will send a clear and unmistakable message to millions of schoolboys: You are not welcome in school.”
CARBON PERVERTS - The WSJ’s Editorial Page takes on the unintended consequences of green subsidies in Perverse Effects: “Take ethanol and other biofuel subsidies, which [the National Research Council] calls a ‘most striking’ example. The 45-cents-a-gallon ethanol tax credit expired in 2012, but before it died it was increasing carbon emissions by five million tons every year, at a cost of $5.26 billion. As they say, it's not easy being green.”
Electric cars concentrated in blue America - According to Wired, over 52 percent of the nation’s electric vehicles are based in predominantly liberal cities: Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Seattle and Atlanta.
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POLL CHECK
Real Clear Politics Averages
Obama Job Approval: Approve – 44.8 percent//Disapprove – 50.0 percent
Direction of Country: Right Direction – 29.6 percent Right Track//Wrong Track – 62.2 percent
NO CANADA - Fox News - Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, says he will renounce Canadian citizenship after The Dallas Morning News suggested that Cruz holds dual citizenship because he was born in Calgary, Alberta to an American mother. In a statement, Cruz says he assumed since he neverrennial nominating contest.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Perry raising profile- The San Francisco Chronicle reports that Gov. Rick Perry, R-Texas, will be the keynote speaker at the California GOP’s convention this fall in Anaheim.
Just poking around - Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, took to Twitter to signal he would be considering a presidential bid. King tweeted that he was “poking around the back roads” of New Hampshire and that he has future events scheduled in early primary state, South Carolina. The other Republican Congressman King, Peter of New York, has already been exploring a run. Tweet from @davecatanese: King-King 2016!
[Watch FOX: Karl Rove discusses CNN’s plans to bring a producer of Al Gore’s “Inconvenient Truth” aboard the network’s Hillary Clinton biopic in the 10 a.m. ET hour]
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}SCIENTIST BLAMES BUNNY SLAUGHTER ON SEQUESTER - National Journal : “The sequester has now killed bunnies. Yes, furry, innocent, blind, lab-test bunnies have been put to sleep because of a $1.7 billion cut in the budget for the National Institutes of Health. A research ophthalmologist writing to the Huffington Post in response to a story about science cuts says Congress is the reason why he killed the bunnies he petted, played with, and experimented on.”
SCALIA SOUNDS OFF ON THE SEPARATION OF POWERS - Breitbart: “The U.S. Supreme Court is making decisions that should be left to Congress or the people, from wiretapping to ‘inventing’ new classes of minorities, Justice Antonin Scalia said Monday. … ‘It's not up to the courts to invent new minorities that get special protections,’ Scalia told a packed hotel ballroom in southwestern Montana.”
FINISHING NIXON’S JOB - President Obama will welcome the undefeated 1972 Super Bowl Champion Miami Dolphins to the White House for the first White House ceremony honoring their historic season Tuesday.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}AL JAZEERA AMERICA DEBUTS - Al Jazeera, a network that many Americans still associate with Usama bin Laden videos, launches its American channel in about 50 million homes today. The new outfit is spending heavily on bold-face names like Soledad O'Brien. Today Howard Kurtz asks: Can it shake its reputation for bias and fulfill its promise of more serious news and less fluff?
DARK DAYS FOR WASHINGTON JOURNOS - The 2009 announcement of the first family’s acquisition of their Portuguese water dog, Bo, was a media sensation, filled with breathless speculation and lots of Internet click bait. Now, the Obamas just go straight to Twitter for livestock announcements, with the first lady heralding the arrival of another water dog, Sunny, on Tuesday.
HOME OF THE BRAVE - President Obama will award Staff Sgt. Ty M. Carter with the Medal of Honor. The Purple Heart recipient served as a cavalry scout in Afghanistan. According to the Army account of his heroism in one of the war’s deadliest firefights – a six-hour battle – Carter resupplied ammunition to fighting positions, provided first aid, killed enemy troops, and risked his life to save a fellow soldier who was injured and pinned down by overwhelming enemy fire.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Chris Stirewalt is digital politics editor for Fox News. Want FOX News First in your inbox every day? Sign up here. To catch Chris live online daily at 11:30amET, click here.