Put Denis McDonough, Valerie Jarrett and John “Skippy” Podesta together inside a White House which doesn’t care how radical the office of the President becomes and you have a recipe for serious usurpation.
WASHINGTON DC – Today, Politico confirmed that governing-by-executive-fiat is exactly what Podesta has in mind. The only shocking part of the story is Podesta’s justification for shredding the Constitution:

In effect, I was told, it represents the clearest sign to date of the administration’s interest in shifting the paradigm of Obama’s presidency through the forceful, unapologetic and occasionally provocative application of White House power.
Podesta, whose official mandate includes enforcement of numerous executive orders on emissions and the environment, suggested as much when he spoke with me earlier this fall about Obama’s team. “They need to focus on executive action given that they are facing a second term against a cult worthy of Jonestown in charge of one of the houses of Congress,” he told me. (more…)

A few days ago someone shared a link to an Orlando Sentinel article which outlined a Florida BAR investigation into Mark O’Mara. Then ABC News came out with a similar article.  Both media reports generally vague in their descriptives.

The Orlando Sentinel pulled one of their now infamous switcheroo’s and took down the content of their original article (Jeff Weiner – 12/16) replacing it with this one (Rene Stutzman – 12/17) and intentionally not noting the change, or informing readers. They have done this numerous times in the past:

[…] The bar confirmed Monday that O’Mara was the subject of an ethics complaint but provided no details, including who filed it and what allegations it included. (O.S. Link)

You can identify the O.S. manipulative switcheroo because the link was posted to The TreeHouse at 8:40pm December 16th –  and the date is visible in the actual full link:  https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/trayvon-martin/os-george-zimmerman-omara-complaint-20131216,0,3523757.story (where 20131216 is 2013, 12-16 year/date)
Yet if you follow the link you end up at an article dated 3:55pm  Dec 17th.  So what they did was delete the content of the article (written by Jeff Weiner) and replace it the next day with content written by Rene Stutzman.    Putting the 12/16 Weiner article content in the proverbial disappearing hole.  As if it never existed.   Ask yourself why? (more…)

Sunlight answers a question – Last week the New York Times and the New York Post ran articles based on a classified congressional hearing.
In essence Massachusetts Democrat Congressman Stephen Lynch, who was present for the hearing, was used to push a story centered around his proposal to Congress to pass a resolution asking President Obama to declassify an entire 2002 report, “Joint Inquiry Into Intelligence Community Activities Before and After the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001.”
The context of Lynch’s request centers around this newly identified intelligence community report which, according to non-specific leaks, outlines Saudi Arabia’s involvement in supporting the 911 hijackers.
The question we had at the time was “why now”?    Obviously someone is seeking to gain some form of benefit from this discussion – it would be intellectually dishonest to think such a conversation would happen in a political vacuum.
The answer to the “why” question can be found in an article published a few days ago in the Wall Street Journal.   Within the Journal article you discover how much current anxiety and tension exists between the current Obama administration and the Saudi government against the backdrop of Obama’s failed Syria “Red Line”, and the Iranian Nuclear goals. (more…)

A video of HHS Kathleen Sebelius is making the rounds on social media and blogs.   In the video she admits that “some will pay more” for health insurance under the ObamaCare program.

Cut to chase.  Get down to brass tacks.   Stop the BS.   Say what is.  She says “some”.
Here’s what is taking place – If you had insurance prior to ObamaCare you will pay more, period. (more…)

 (Via Allahpundit)  Here’s Matheson’s announcement. He’s only 53 years old. Either there’s some as-yet-unknown bad news that’s forced him out or, as a Democrat from Utah, he’s tired of fighting for his political life every two years.
In 2002 he won his race by fewer than 1,700 votes. Last year, against tea-party favorite Mia Love (pictured) and with Mitt Romney at the top of the ballot, he won by fewer than 800 — despite having trailed in one poll by 12 points heading into election day.
Love already declared in May that she’d challenge him again next year; maybe he looked at the political landscape, especially with what’s in store for ObamaCare, and figured he might as well retire before the voters eventually retire him.  (link)

Looks like there’s another congressional seat who doesn’t want to Run on the new Pelosi/Wasserman-Schultz campaign message pictured here in this logo.   

One of the interesting aspects of the Treehouse is the international readership and how they contribute to our understanding of events. A recent link from a South African reader was sent to us outlining accuracy within a particular regional article was. So here it is:

[…] In South Africa, the signing man told the world, you don’t actually have to know what you are doing in order to get a job. You don’t have to have any ability whatsoever, as long as it looks, to most, as though you can go through the motions — whether you are a teacher, a police officer, a bureaucrat, a government official or (as some have suggested) a state president.
There are those who see through you and complain, but they are ignored. Ours is not a culture of accountability. So one gig leads to the next. You’ve done it before so you get to do it again, because everyone in a position of power agrees that the emperor’s new threads are stylish.
You stand there and tell us that the appearance of something becomes more important than the substance of it. Your obvious inability to do your job does not prevent you from getting ahead, until you reach the most prominent stage in the world, and then pretending suddenly isn’t enough. Too many people noticed — too many people who couldn’t just be dismissed because of their politics or race, which is how criticism is normally dealt with. (more…)

The Adam Leitman Bailey law firm has offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of those responsible.  […]  Meanwhile, police were asking for the public’s help in identifying the carjackers, who vanished after dumping the SUV with license plate U26-BVD.   Tipsters are being urged to call the DA’s office at (877)847-7432.   (link)

But guess what ?   The media are unwilling to publish descriptions of the thugs who killed Dustin Friedland.   Ask yourself why?

NEW JERSEY – The Hoboken lawyer killed by carjackers at an upscale New Jersey mall gave up his life — to protect his wife.
Dustin Friedland had just let his beloved Jamie into their luxury SUV and was walking around to the driver’s side when he was ambushed by two crooks who demanded the keys, a source close to the investigation told The Daily News.
“He knew his wife was in there and he refused,” the source said Monday. (more…)

FYI – I’m looking for the actual written ruling to share.

Federal judge rules that NSA's program of gathering data on all telephone calls made in the US is unconstitutional – @PeteWilliamsNBC

— NBC News (@NBCNews) December 16, 2013

WASHINGTON — A federal judge ruled Monday that the National Security Agency’s controversial surveillance program that collects millions of Americans’ telephone records may be unconstitutional.
U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon ruled in a lawsuit brought by conservative activist Larry Klayman that the legal challenge to the massive surveillance program — disclosed in full earlier this year by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden — would likely succeed.
Leon, appointed to the bench by President George W. Bush, issued a preliminary injunction against the program but suspended the order to allow an appeal by the Justice Department, which said it was reviewing the decision. (more…)

If Dick Cheney was Darth Vader what exactly is President Barack Obama?  
Fourteen people in a wedding party were accidentally killed last week by a U.S. drone strike in Yemen.    The U.S.-based Human Rights Watch reported in October that at least 57 civilians have been accidentally killed by missiles fired from the unmanned aircraft.  In May of 2012 the New York Times reported that President Obama personally approves of every single strike that takes place in Yemen.  

“Every week or so, more than 100 members of the government’s sprawling national security apparatus gather, by secure video teleconference, to pore over terrorist suspects’ biographies and recommend to the president who should be the next to die. This secret “nominations” process is an invention of the Obama administration, a grim debating society that vets the PowerPoint slides bearing the names, aliases and life stories of suspected members of Al Qaeda’s branch in Yemen.”  (link)
(more…)

(Via Forbes)  Of all of the last-minute delays, website bungles, and Presidential whims that have marred the roll-out of Obamacare’s subsidized insurance exchanges, what happened on Thursday, December 12 will stand as one of the most lawless acts yet committed by this administration.

The White House—having canceled Americans’ old health plans, and having botched the system for enrolling people in new ones—knows that millions of Americans will enter the new year without health coverage. So instead of actually fixing the problem, the administration is retroactively attempting to force insurers to hand out free health care—at a loss—to those whom the White House has rendered uninsured. If Obamacare wasn’t a government takeover of the health insurance industry, then what is it now?
On Wednesday afternoon, health policy reporters found in their inboxes a friendly e-mail from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, announcing “steps to ensure Americans signing up through the Marketplace have coverage and access to the care they need on January 1.” Basically, the “steps” involve muscling insurers to provide free or discounted care to those who have become uninsured because of the problems with healthcare.gov. (more…)