The Friday Filibuster: The one-stop-shop for everything you need to know about this week in politics.
Closing Numbers:
30,000—the number of graves at Arlington National Cemetery that will be wreathless over lack of funding.
8—the number of people killed in Chicago over what was a bloody Thanksgiving weekend.
99%--the amount of Facebook shares CEO Mark Zuckerberg is giving away to charity.
$64,000—the amount it costs, per person, to resettle Middle Eastern refugees.
1,000—roughly the number of emails with classified information found on Hillary Clinton’s private server.
52-47—the Senate passed the Reconciliation Bill.
27, 17, 16, 16—the percentages Trump, Rubio, Carson, and Cruz came in respectively in a national Quinnipiac poll.
ISIS
A former DIA director says the probe into the manipulations of ISIS intelligence ought to start at the White House. Meanwhile, a new report says there’s unprecedented mobilization in the U.S. All this despite the fact that Obama says the terror group is ‘contained’, which is clearly not true, and the chairman of the joint chiefs is even calling him out on it. Donald Trump thinks we ought to start going after their families.
Internationally, the UK began strikes on ISIS and more U.S. boots are headed for the ground in Iraq and Syria for combat roles. Russia is accusing Turkey’s president of benefiting from ISIS’ illegal oil trade. The terror group, meanwhile, is preparing a backup capital in Libya, just in case Raqqa falls. Oh, and they’re out with a new propaganda video reportedly showing the beheading of a Russian spy.
Terror Hits California
Following a shooting in Colorado over the weekend at a Planned Parenthood location, which the left was quick to blame on conservatives, another tragedy hit California. Fourteen were killed and 21 injured when suspects Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik opened fire on a holiday party at a social services facility. Both were killed by police in a shootout afterwards. The names of the victims were released. Sadly, one of the victims fled Christian persecution in Iran. The left--and Obama--was quick to pounce on gun control before any facts of the attack were even available (they also engaged in prayer shaming, too). Once they were, however, it was clear the attackers were motivated by radical Islamic extremism, as one of the shooters had pledged allegiance to ISIS on Facebook. Law enforcement also found 12 pipe bombs in their house. Former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani was blunt when he said that if you can’t tell it’s terrorism, you’re a moron. Another sad angle to this story is that a neighbor didn’t report suspicious activity of the killers for fear of being called a racist.
Recommended
Climate Change Conference
President Obama jetted off to the Climate Change Summit in Paris this week in a fossil fuel-powered plane. While there, he touted stimulus funding for totally failed, bankrupt solar power projects. He also held a press conference in Paris during which he was asked about the shooting in Colorado over the weekend. He actually said that mass shootings only happen in America. Mr. Sensitivity, right?
Campaigns & Elections
A number of GOP candidates spoke out against the Left blaming pro-lifers for the Planned Parenthood shooting this week. And presidential candidate Rand Paul announced he will be running for re-election in the Senate. Aside from the polls up in the Closing Numbers section, the rest of the campaign news this week focused on Hillary, whose ‘no classified material’ lie has now been disproven more than 1,000 times. She also had plenty of time to meet with big corporate donors during her time at State. She also used 9/11 to justify her Wall Street ties again and thinks we should all learn from Latin America’s ‘success’ and elect a female president. There was also one more exchange on the campaign trail worth watching this week: a woman asking Hillary that if all alleged rape victims should be believed, what about Bill’s accusers?
Health Care
All you need to know is it’s a disaster now thanks to Obamacare. America’s largest health insurance company admitted as much. US health care spending has also accelerated at the fastest rate in years.
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