Boehner: ‘Jobs and Energy Bills’ Come First; No Mention of Obamacare

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), declaring himself “humbled” by Tuesday night’s many Republican wins, says it’s not time to celebrate, it’s time to pass jobs, energy, tax and regulatory reform bills: “It’s time for government to start getting results and implementing solutions to the challenges facing our country, starting with our still-struggling economy,” Boehner said in a statement. “Americans can expect the new Congress to debate and vote soon on the many common-sense jobs and energy bills that passed the Republican-led House in recent years with bipartisan support but were never even brought to a vote by the outgoing Senate majority, as well as solutions offered by Senate Republicans that were denied consideration.

Russia Test Fires Intercontinental Missile From Submerged Nuclear Submarine

A Russian Northern Fleet nuclear submarine on Wednesday fired a test intercontinental missile from the Barents Sea to the country’s far eastern Kura Range on the Kamchatka Peninsula, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement Wednesday. “Within the frameworks of testing the reliability of marine strategic nuclear forces, the Tula [nuclear submarine] launched a Sineva intercontinental ballistic missile from the Barents Sea to the Kura Range [in Kamchatka],” the statement says. The RSM-54 intercontinental ballistic missile Sineva (NATO code name SS-N-23 Skiff) is part of the D-9RM launch system.

Scorecard: How The Candidates Who Hillary Clinton Campaigned For Did At The Polls

Likely Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton actively supported more than 25 candidates in the midterms, but half of those candidates found themselves on the losing side of their races by the end of Tuesday night. In some cases, Clinton made public appearances with the candidate; in others, she attended fundraisers. The most stinging losses for Clinton were in Kentucky and Arkansas, where both Democratic Senate candidates relied on Clinton to get southern Democrats to the polls.

IRS Commissioner Predicts Miserable 2015 Tax Filing Season

Internal Revenue Service Commissioner John Koskinen warned that close to half the people trying to reach the IRS by phone might not get through during the upcoming 2015 tax filing season. “Phone service could plummet to 53%,” he told an audience of tax practitioners at the AICPA National Tax Conference in Washington, D.C.

NASA Warns California Drought Could Threaten U.S. Food Supply: ‘There will be some definite changes’

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory has sounded a stark warning over California’s sustained drought, publishing its latest findings where satellite surveys show a rapidly depleting groundwater supply. And with California as the United States’ most valuable agricultural state, and thus key to America’s food supply (and much of the world’s as well) that could mean drastic consequences for food commodity prices and potential shortages. The Nature Climate Change journal carried the report, which Think Progress summarized:

Police Deny Responsibility After Stingray Cell Phone Tracker Discovered in Idaho

State and federal law enforcement groups throughout Idaho are remaining tight-lipped after a local mobile security advocate uncovered what appears to be an IMSI catcher, commonly referred to as a Stingray cell phone interceptor, operating in one of the state’s largest cities. The local advocate, who discovered signs of the interceptor in Idaho Falls, was able to detect its specific indicators while using a CryptoPhone, a mobile device which warns users of possible cell interception. Attempting to investigate, Idaho’s KTVB 7 News reached out to several law enforcement agencies in the Treasure Valley area in an effort to determine the device’s owner.

Asteroid will pass so close to Earth in 2029 it will trigger asteroid avalanche

The more pessimistic among our readership might already be digging bunkers in their backyards in anticipation of April 13th, 2029. On that day (a Friday nonetheless), an asteroid called 99942 Apophis will come perilously close to Earth. The most recent data suggests that it will miss us by a mere 35,000 kilometers, a hairs breadth in astronomical terms.

Ebola in Sierra Leone is ‘spreading nine times faster than two months ago’, campaigners warn

Cases of Ebola in Sierra Leone are still rising quickly, campaigners have warned. In rural parts of the country, the virus is spreading nine times faster than two months ago, a report from the Africa Governance Initiative (AGI) found. AGI – an organisation set up by former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair – said rates are also increasing in the capital Freetown, with six times more new cases recorded per day than two months ago.

Touch Screen Flips Votes in Key Senate Race

The trustworthiness of electronic voting machines has once again come under scrutiny after a touch screen in North Carolina flipped a man’s vote from Democrat to Republican in a key Senate race. “Percy Bostick, 69, of Greensboro said he tried casting a vote for Democrat Kay Hagan at the Old Guilford County Courthouse, only to have the machine register Republican Thom Tillis as his choice,” reports the News-Record. Bostick was forced to vote four times before the machine accurately recorded his choice.

Cybersecurity Experts: ‘Donald Duck Could Be Elected’ Because Of Shoddy Electronic Voting System

Cybersecurity experts have warned that a highly flawed and vulnerable electronic voting system in Alaska could, by itself, swing the entire outcome of the mid-term elections and decide whether Democrats remain in control of the Senate. A report from The Intercept highlights how easy hackers could intercept and change electronic ballots before they are counted by county elections departments in the Last Frontier State. The report notes that thousands of voters will register electronically to receive a PDF ballot on their computer.

Former CBS News Reporter Sharyl Attkisson Says That Obama Has An Enemies List

Sharyl Attkisson is an investigative journalist who became the story when she quit CBS News after two decades amid allegations that the network refused to run some of her stories that were critical of President Barack Obama. Ahead of the Tuesday release of her book Stonewalled: My Fight for Truth Against the Forces of Obstruction, Intimidation, and Harassment in Obama’s Washington, she spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about her struggles with CBS executives and her assertion that her computers were hacked, possibly by Obama operatives.

The Case Against Gun Control – Part I

(The following is a guest commentary contributed by J.Vanne) “Quemadmoeum gladuis neminem occidit, occidentis telum est.”(A sword is never a killer, it is a tool in the killer’s hands.

It’s Currency War! – And Japan Has Fired The First Shot

This is the big problem with fiat currency – eventually the temptation to print more of it when you are in a jam becomes too powerful to resist. In a surprise move on Friday, the Bank of Japan dramatically increased the size of the quantitative easing program that it has been conducting. This sent Japanese stocks soaring and the Japanese yen plunging.