GOP USA MIDDAY REPORT 09/18/2013

'Doing the right thing' gets Fox Chapel Area student in trouble A Fox Chapel Area student is spending up to 10 days suspended from school for what his lawyer calls "doing the right thing." The 16-year-old boy was suspended this week for reporting to a security guard at the Foxes' Friday night football game that he had a pocket knife with him.

CBO says government finances will be in dire straits by 2038 Federal taxes will go up, but spending will rise even faster over the next 25 years, leaving the national government in dire fiscal straits, according to projections the Congressional Budget Office released Tuesday.

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Knee-jerk gun control reaction delays necessary changes to mental health laws We know it's an easy, feel-good knee-jerk reaction. Fact is, the blood hadn't stopped running in D.C. by the time actor Henry Winkler sent out a sarcastic tweet about the need for gun control. But what amount of gun control would have prevented an episode by an inarguably deranged man with approved access to a secure military installation where guns are -- guess what -- already banned?

IRS officials aware Obama wanted crackdown on tea party groups IRS employees were "acutely" aware in 2010 that President Obama wanted to crack down on conservative organizations and were egged into targeting tea party groups by press reports mocking the emerging movement, according to an interim report being circulated Tuesday by House investigators.

Minimum Wage Madness - Part II A survey of American economists found that 90 percent of them regarded minimum wage laws as increasing the rate of unemployment among low-skilled workers. Inexperience is often the problem. Only about 2 percent of Americans over the age of 24 earned the minimum wage.

On foreign policy, Obama consistently inconsistent? In the wake of his dizzying reverses over chemical weapons in Syria, President Obama has been blasted as inconsistent, impulsive and amateurish in his conduct of foreign policy. But when you look at his actions rather than his words, there's more consistency than meets the eye. Consider the evidence.

FISA court defends NSA surveillance decisions The secretive federal court that oversees government surveillance released a recent opinion Tuesday that explains and defends its decisions giving the National Security Agency broad power to collect the phone records of all Americans.

What makes liberals do what they do? I just don't get it. Liberals have been firmly entrenched in government and bureaucracy for decades. As standards and American values continue to go downward, doesn't it seem reasonable that these people would stop for just a second and say, "Hmmm... maybe, just maybe, our policies are actually hurting the country." Nope. It's not going to happen, and a sampling of recent news stories shows that liberals are as messed up as ever.