Thursday, October 31, 2013

THEY LIED TO CONGRESS, AGAIN: After Three Days, HHS Knew Less Than 250 People Nationwide Had Signed Up for Obamacare

Of course the Obama administration lied to Congress. Of course they had the true number of folks who had signed up for Obamacare through the disastrously flawed Healthcare.gov website.

Marilyn Tavenner, head of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, testified Tuesday before the House Ways and Means Committee... raising more questions about the administration's transparency on the project, she declined to cite enrollment numbers. She did not claim, as Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius recently did, that officials simply do not have those numbers -- rather, she said a "decision" was made to release them in mid-November.

They lied to Congress to hide their catastrophic failures.

One of the few real reporters left in legacy media is Sharyl Attkisson of CBS News. And her report is absolutely devastating, describing an administration whose first, second and third instincts are to lie.

For 31 days now, the Obama administration has been telling us that Americans by the millions are visiting the new health insurance website, despite all its problems... But no one in the administration has been willing to tell us how many policies have been purchased, and this may be the reason...

The website launched on a Tuesday... at a meeting Wednesday morning, the war room notes say "six enrollments have occurred so far."

By Wednesday afternoon, enrollments were up to "approximately 100." By the end of Wednesday, the notes reflect "248 enrollments" nationwide.

The lies and cover-ups keep coming.

Where are the Select Investigative Committees, Speaker Boehner?

Where are the Select Investigative Committees, Chairman Issa?

Benghazi, the IRS and Obamacare all deserve their own.

We, the American people, demand them!


Hat tip: BadBlue News and David Freddoso

HALLOWEEN SPECIAL: They prey on the living...

Or at least, those who used to earn a living.

It's a holiday bonus from Hopenchange Cartoons!


As one of the commenters observes, "Harry Reid looks pretty much the same."


Hat tip: RF.

BANANA REPUBLIC: White House Intimidates Health Insurers to Prevent Them From Publicly Criticizing Obamacare

Does it really count as a violation of Godwin's Law when the subject really is acting like a fascist?

CNN reports that the White House is intimidating insurance companies not to publicly criticize Obamacare:

"What is going on is, behind the scenes attempt by the White House to at least keep insurerers from publicly criticizing what is happening on this Affordable Care Act rollout. Basically, if you speak out, if you are quoted, you're going to get a call from the White House, pressure to be quiet," reports CNN.

"Several sources tell me and my colleague Chris Frates that insurance executives are being told to keep quiet. [The head of] a consulting firm for big insurance and an out spoken critic of Obamacare says he is getting calls from these executives who want him to speak out, Anderson, for them about the problems because they feel defenseless against the White House PR team. ... the White House is exerting massive pressure on the industry, including the trade associations, to keep quiet. Sources telling us they fear White House retribution."

The accompanying illustration was not truly part of CNN's report, just me being a wise-guy.

That said, the insurance companies that employ hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of folks like you and me are effectively in witness protection.

Perhaps CNN could interview some insurance executives with their faces obscured and their voices disguised.

Because their own government is targeting them.

Seriously: did you ever think we would see this in America?


Hat tip: Mark Levin.

Larwyn's Linx: Obama’s Boston Speech on Health Care, Deconstructed

Send us tips! Bloggers: install a Larwyn's Linx widget. Get real-time news, 24/7, at BadBlue.

Nation

Obama’s Boston Speech of Health Care, Deconstructed: HayRide
7 Most Ridiculous Things Kathleen Sebelius Said At Today’s Hearing: NRCC
The Wages of Presidential Deception: Victor Davis Hanson

McCain: We'll Slam in Amnesty Once GOP Gets Past Primaries: MB
13 Democrats Who Destroyed Healthcare Up for Reelection in '14: Hideout
Awesome: Rep. Renee Ellmers SCHOOLS Sebelius on maternity care for men: Scoop

Terry McAuliffe – Do You Believe How Bad This Guy Is?: Sentinel
Cuccinelli Closing In on McAuliffe : RS
Ted Cruz uses Obama to explain ‘stand your ground’ to Trayvon’s mother: Sara Noble

Economy

All union health insurance plans grandfathered in: S&L
Obama re-demonizes insurance industry: LI
Bumbling Mary Landrieu wants to bring back your old health care plan: HayRide

Obama Lied, Healthcare Coverage Died: Matthew Vadum
…And People Still Believe This Guy!: Liberal Logic 101
Obamacare’s Brownshirts Starting To Get Burned Out: BuzzFeed

Scandal Central

Obama tells insurers to shut up if they know what's good for 'em: John Hayward
Election Integrity Activists: Obamacare 'Biggest Voter Registration Fraud Scheme in History': Breitbart
Obamacare website design FOIA: JW

Pelosi on Healthcare.gov Failure: “This Is What Happens When You Do Something Big”: IsThatBaloney
New FBI Agents Ordered to Pay Homage at MLK Memorial: MB
The Thuggery of Obamacare Czarina Kathleen Sebelius: Michell Malkin

Climate & Energy

‘We can’t just drill our way to lower gas prices.’ Says who?!: Steve Maley

Media

Another Democrat, Another Race Card: VodkaPundit
It's All In the Face: iOTW
Jon Stewart grills Wasserman Schultz about “troubling” effects of Obamacare: RedAlert

The New Yorker Publishes Racist Character Assassination of Cruz: Jeremy Boreing, TruthRevolt
7 Awesome Things That Took Less Time Than HealthCare.gov: Jon Gabriel
Obama Heckled During Health-Care Speech in Boston: Breitbart

Sebelius does impression of people getting Obamacare-induced insurance cancellations: Michelle Malkin
Western Rifles: Yup
Obama's Biggest Lie: iOTW

World

Ted Cruz criticizes DOJ for arguing international treaty can trump the Constitution: Joel Gehrke
Soros and Hillary Take on America: Matthew Vadum
The Amnesty Trigger: AWD

Sci-Tech

NSA secretly tapping Google’s, Yahoo’s data pipelines to harvest metadata — and content: Hot Air
Google Glass accessory store quietly comes online: NextWeb
Huge magma reservoir beneath Yellowstone 2.5 times larger than expected: Rich McCormick, The Verge

Cornucopia

Obamaboat: Denny
SPEECHLESS -A GODESS SINGS: IsraPundit
Incoming!! All Available Boots on the Ground!: MOTUS

Image: Humanity’s 50 best breakthroughs since the wheel
Sponsor: VIRGINIANS: McAuliffe and Bloomberg Are Coming For Your Guns! SUPPORT KEN CUCCINELLI.

QOTD: "What does it take to warn Americans about unchecked pension growth, socialized medicine, vast increases in entitlements, higher taxes, and steady expansion of government? In other words, what is it about Detroit, Italy, or Greece that we do not understand?

In the last five years, the Obama administration has raised taxes on the top income rates, implemented Obamacare, added millions to the disability and food stamp roles, grown the size of the federal work force, run up the national debt, and vastly expanded the money supply, along with insuring near zero interest rates. Are there any historical examples where these redistributive efforts have brought long-term tranquility and prosperity?" --Victor Davis Hanson

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

SHOCKA: EPA Flaunts Rules, Seeks Feedback On Its Radical Policies Exclusively in Left-Leaning Areas

Guest post by Sean Hackbarth

In a letter to the EPA, the Institute for 21st Century Energy and 13 state and local business organizations call out the agency for not living up to its own policies on the location of listening sessions on greenhouse gas emissions rules for existing power plants:

EPA has chosen to locate most of these hearings in states and regions that use very little coal, while neglecting states most dependent on coal for affordable and reliable electricity generation. For example, EPA is not planning listening sessions in any of the 10 states most reliant on coal for electricity generation, instead choosing states such as California (1% of electricity from coal), New York (4%), and Washington (4%).

There are no scheduled hearings in any of the ten states that generate the highest percentage of electricity from coal—states such as West Virginia (95% of electricity from coal), for Indiana (84%), North Dakota (78%), or Ohio (71%).

This ignores EPA's policy on public hearings:

When the subject of a public hearing, meeting or other information exchange process relates to conditions or facilities in a specific geographic area, EPA should hold the public hearing or meeting in that general geographic area.

So far, EPA isn’t living up to this standard.

The business organizations ask EPA to reach out to--not ignore--states that are most dependent on coal.

Greenhouse gas emission rules, expected to be released by EPA next year, will greatly affect coal producers and electricity users. It’s critical that all affected parties be able to give their input to the agency.


Read more at FreeEnterprise.com.

The Power Outage [Papa B]

Guest post by Papa B

We had a power outage last week and my PC, TV, iPad were shut down, and it was raining, so I couldn't golf or watch baseball.

      Therefore, I talked to my wife for a few hours.

            She seems like a nice person.



Awesome News: North Carolina Public School Teachers Sending Pro-Union Propaganda Home With Kids

As Scott Walker's experience in Wisconsin taught us, public sector union bosses are the lowest of the low.

In North Carolina, the radical Marxist agitators have stooped to using schoolchildren to disseminate pro-union propaganda.

A line was crossed tonight in Holly Springs, NC by the North Carolina Association of Educators (NCAE). A flyer for a planned Teacher “Walk In” was distributed to kids at Holly Ridge Elementary school in their ‘take-home folders’ today. This “Walk In” has been talked about in the media a bit but nothing hit as close to home as this did. This flyer had no business being ferried home by our children...


...The flyer has a website on it: www.Organize2020.com... This is a site affiliated with the NCAE. It is almost purely politics, shows shots of teachers protesting at Moral Monday...

Now go read the mission statement, which ends with this paragraph detailing the point of Organize 2020 — to bring unions into our schools...

The mission statement page concludes with the following timeless plea for more taxpayer cash:

We need hope. We need a union.

Never mind that public sector unions have effectively bankrupted the teachers' retirement systems in Illinois and California.

Never mind that Detroit more resembles Mogadishu than an American city, thanks in large part to forced unionization.

Never mind all that.

North Carolina's teachers want a union and if the taxpayers don't like it, well, **** you.

If you don't like your kids being used as pawns to promote more failing public schools, well, **** you.

In short: just when you think the Left has hit rock bottom, they break out a jackhammer and start digging a new septic tank.


Hat tip: BadBlue News Service.

Apparently Terry McAuliffe thinks Virginians are too stupid to trust with guns, 32-oz. sodas or salt shakers

Ken Cuccinelli has significantly closed the gap with the radical left-wing extremist and Clinton hatchet-man Terry McAuliffe.

I’ve been struggling to find good news in the Virginia Governor’s race and there is finally a bit. Cuccinelli has closed the gap with McAuliffe and is only 4 points behind now, even with the third party candidate at 9%.

Hallelujah.

Ken is a good friend and I’ve been both dearly worried about him and deeply disappointed in a bunch of Republicans who’ve decided to throw him under the bus... But it appears as the reality of a possible Terry McAuliffe victory sets in, they are all returning home.

Ken Cuccinelli is a fine man and will make an outstanding Governor of Virginia. Republicans need to rally to Ken. Many people in the [Establishment] GOP want Cuccinelli to lose so they can blame his loss on social conservatism or populism or anti-corporatism or a host of other things.


Now that the loathsome wannabe dictator Michael Bloomberg has entered the race, sending over a million dollars to McAuliffe, the realities of what would effectively be a Bloomberg governorship in Virginia are hitting home.

Presumably Virginians want to control their own salt intake, buy guns if they want them, and even (*gasp*) drink 32-oz. sodas.

Let’s do what we can to help [Ken Cuccinelli] win. He is within striking distance, there is still time, and he could use any spare cash you might have on hand to close out this last week of the race.


Folks, if you have the wherewithal, please consider helping Cuccinelli turn back the hard left crackpot and Hillary crony McAuliffe. Email your friends in Virginia. Let's send another Ted Cruz or Mike Lee to the U.S. Senate.


Obamacare in Three, Eh, Make That FOUR Pictures

During today's testimony regarding her botched Obamacare rollout, CNN did itself proper with coverage of HHS Chief Kathleen Sebelius's outrageous lies. You might call this "real-time repudiation." Or "split-screen smackdown":

Secretary Sebelius: Yes, sir, because we were anxious to get the website up and running and functional, which we clearly have failed to do to date, although I would suggest the website has never crashed. It is functional, but at a very slow speed and very low reliability and has continued to function. Having said that, they pared down some of the features, feeling that it would be better to load them in later. One was the shop and browse feature. Another was the Spanish version of the website and the Medicaid transfers. All three of those issues were pared down in September to not load the system.

While Sebelius was insisting -- under oath, mind you -- that the website had "never crashed", CNN used a split-screen to show the Healthcare.gov website in real-time.

And... surprise! It had just crashed again, for the umpteenth time, displaying an error message "The System Is Down At the Moment ... Please try again later."

Which prompted Twitchy commenter Red Pill to post the following trifecta explaining the true impact of Obamacare.


The true destructive impact of Obamacare -- even though 80 percent of Americans are covered by their employers and are not yet subject to the individual mandate (won't that be fun next year?) -- has become apparent to most Americans.

That's not me saying it. That's NBC saying it.


Hat tip: BadBlue News.

Larwyn's Linx: How the Obama Administration Made Sure You Couldn’t Keep Your Plan

Send us tips! Bloggers: install a Larwyn's Linx widget. Get real-time news, 24/7, at BadBlue.

Nation

How the Obama Administration Made Sure You Couldn’t Keep Your Plan: Ace
Big Government once again turns on its Little Partners: John Hayward
CBS: Insurers backing out of the ObamaCare exchange markets: Hot Air

CNN: WH Intimidating Insurers From Discussing O'Care Problems: AmPower
The Thuggery of Obamacare Czarina Kathleen Sebelius: Michelle Malkin
Read The Chilling Note Sent to Scott Walker's Wife: Blaze

The three interlocking gears of the Obamacare Fail: Moe Lane
I Lost My Health Insurance Because Of Obamacare: John Hawkins
Obama Lied, Your Insurance Died: HayRide

Economy

Senate confirms another union lawyer as NLRB prosecutor: LUR
Illinois Teachers Pension Fund is 40% Funded, Drops Deeper Into Hole: Mish
The Ten US Cities With Less Than Ten Days Of Cash On Hand: ZH

Nearly Half of New York Doctors Bailing on Obamacare: JWF
Feds Told GM To Drop Pontiac Or No Bailout, Ex-GM Exec Says: C&S
Food stamps will be cut by $5 billion this week--with more to come: WaPo

Scandal Central

Backdoor Gun Control Advances: Trevor Loudon
Harry Reid Supports Giving Illegal Aliens Tax Credits for Kids Not Even Living in US: Mish
Top 40 Troubling Listings from the Obamacare Navigator/Assister Security Nightmare: PJM

Media

CNN Anchor: Obama Administration Threatens Journalists Who Make Obama Look Bad: LibertyNews
Three Admin Officials Swing Back Furiously at NBC Over Obamacare Debacle: Tom Blumer
If You Like Your Plan…Well, You Know.: MOTUS

Just shut the hell up, Ramesh and Rich: DPU
Interview: Heather Mac Donald on California in Decline: Ed Driscoll
Mitch McConnell in his Own Words: Daniel Horowitz

World

What is it about Detroit, Italy, or Greece that we do not understand?: Victor Davis Hanson
Nadir Of Deceit: Freedom's Torch
Illegal Immigration is a Crime: American Patrol

Sci-Tech

Tiny AI Startup Says It's Solved Captcha: Cameron Scott, SingularityHub
CNN reports Obama admin failed to ensure contractors could test Healthcare.gov: Neil Stevens
My so-called robo-life: Robopresence makes debut at tech conference: John Brandon

Cornucopia

Need A Halloween Costume? Here’s a Simple Pelosi Chupacabra Cut-Out!: Sooper
Which Is Scarier?: DPU
Poll: Who are the Four Horsewomen of the Barackalypse?: TAB

Image: The cellphone that stopped a bullet
Sponsor: YO, VIRGINIA: McAuliffe and Bloomberg Are Coming For Your Guns! SUPPORT KEN CUCCINELLI.

QOTD: "Even the most reliably hacky Obamacare supporters have at least conceded that people are losing their old plans because of Obamacare. They spin it with the notion that these new plans are way better, so why would you have liked that dumb old plan anyway (which fit within your family’s budget and served you well)? But the act of spinning requires at least some reckoning with the truth.

What level of denial and/or mendacity is necessary [for Valerie Jarrett to deny] this? What confidence that the media will be there to cover your lies? This is the mindset of the people surrounding President Obama, and because no one’s ever held accountable for screwing up, this is the mindset of those who are “fixing” Obamacare’s problems.

In this case, I think Jarrett’s confidence in media to toe her line is misplaced. The dam seems to be breaking, at long last, on this falsehood. But who could blame her for thinking it’d hold up? This is the level of compliance she’s used to. --Mary Katherine Ham

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

OUCH: NBC Buries Own Reporter To Hide Obamacare Lies

Guest post by Media Research Center


RESTON, VA – In a bombshell report for NBC News.com, NBC News senior investigative correspondent Lisa Myers found buried in the 2010 Obamacare regulations language predicting, “A reasonable range for the percentage of individual policies that would terminate is forty percent to sixty-seven percent.” Myers’ reporting shows that Barack Obama knowingly lied to the American people for more than three years when he regularly insisted that those who like their current health insurance would be able to keep it under Obamacare.

Yet, according to an analysis from the Media Research Center, this massive, deliberate breach of trust was worthy of only 21 seconds of coverage on NBC Nightly News, buried at the end of the show’s fourth story, with no follow up on Today. ABC and CBS completely censored Lisa Myers’ discovery with not one single second of coverage on either their morning or evening programs.

Media Research Center President Brent Bozell reacts:

“Barack Obama lied to the American people – repeatedly and with a straight face – every time he insisted that those who like their current healthcare could keep it under Obamacare. And he’ll keep lying to the American people because the liberal media refuse to hold him accountable.

“NBC News, whose own reporter found the language in Obamacare proving Obama knowingly lied to the people for over three years, gave this bombshell revelation a pathetic 21 seconds of coverage on Nightly News. There was no follow-up on Today. In other words, NBC News buried their own reporter to protect Obama.

 “This sends a clear message to the American people. As far as the liberal broadcast networks are concerned, when Barack Obama lies, it’s not news. What would Richard Nixon have given for a press corps this corrupt?”


Read more at the Media Research Center.

CONGRATULATIONS, DEMOCRATS! Nearly Half of New York Doctors Bailing on Obamacare

Ain't central planning awesome?

New York doctors are treating ObamaCare like the plague, a new survey reveals.

A poll conducted by the New York State Medical Society finds that 44 percent of MDs said they are not participating in the nation’s new health-care plan.

...Only 23 percent of the 409 physicians queried said they’re taking patients who signed up through health exchanges.

“This is so poorly designed that a lot of doctors are afraid to participate,” said Dr. Sam Unterricht, president of the 29,000-member organization. “There’s a lot of resistance. Doctors don’t know what they’re going to get paid.”

...“Obama Care wants to start right away, but who see all these new patients???? Not me,” e-mailed one doc.

Another said, “I plan to retire if this disaster is implemented. This is a train wreck.”

“I refuse to participate in the exchange plans! I am completely opposed to this new law,” said a third respondent.

One doctor recycled the mantra used to attack addictions: “The solution is simple: Just say no.”

Oh, and all you residents of New York City?

Congratulations. You appear poised to elect the radical Communist Bill de Blasio as mayor.

What could possibly go wrong?


Hat tip: BadBlue News.

OUTRAGE: Nearly 200 Officers Purged From U.S. Military to Ensure Ideological Purity

Guest post by Investor's Business daily

Defense: What the president calls "my military" is being cleansed of any officer suspected of disloyalty to or disagreement with the administration on matters of policy or force structure, leaving the compliant and fearful.

We recognize President Obama is the commander-in-chief and that throughout history presidents from Lincoln to Truman have seen fit to remove military commanders they view as inadequate or insubordinate. Turnover in the military ranks is normal, and in these times of sequestration and budget cuts the numbers are expected to tick up as force levels shrink and missions change.

Yet what has happened to our officer corps since President Obama took office is viewed in many quarters as unprecedented, baffling and even harmful to our national security posture. We have commented on some of the higher profile cases, such as Gen. Carter Ham. He was relieved as head of U.S. Africa Command after only a year and a half because he disagreed with orders not to mount a rescue mission in response to the Sept. 11, 2012, attack in Benghazi.

Rear Adm. Chuck Gaouette, commander of the John C. Stennis Carrier Strike Group, was relieved in October 2012 for disobeying orders when he sent his group on Sept. 11 to "assist and provide intelligence for" military forces ordered into action by Gen. Ham.

Other removals include the sacking of two nuclear commanders in a single week — Maj. Gen. Michael Carey, head of the 20th Air Force, responsible for the three wings that maintain control of the 450 intercontinental ballistic missiles, and Vice Adm. Tim Giardina, the No. 2 officer at U.S. Strategic Command.

From Breitbart.com's Facebook page comes a list of at least 197 officers that have been relieved of duty by President Obama for a laundry list of reasons and sometimes with no reason given. Stated grounds range from "leaving blast doors on nukes open" to "loss of confidence in command ability" to "mishandling of funds" to "inappropriate relationships" to "gambling with counterfeit chips" to "inappropriate behavior" to "low morale in troops commanded."

Nine senior commanding generals have been fired by the Obama administration this year, leading to speculation by active and retired members of the military that a purge of its commanders is under way.

Retired U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Paul Vallely, an outspoken critic of the Obama administration, notes how the White House fails to take action or investigate its own officials but finds it easy to fire military commanders "who have given their lives for their country." Vallely thinks he knows why this purge is happening.

REVEALED: President Obama intentionally, wantonly and systematically destroyed millions of health care plans.

Ace dissects yesterday's NBC News' Investigative Report that confirmed what every regular American already knew. That is, the Obama administration knew from the outset that millions of Americans would lose their health care plans while they were publicly telling them the exact opposite.

The more interesting part of the analysis relates to the regulations that actually triggered the catastrophic destruction of 10 to 12 million individual health policies. As NBC reported (emphasis added):

The law states that policies in effect as of March 23, 2010 will be “grandfathered,” meaning consumers can keep those policies even though they don’t meet requirements of the new health care law. But the Department of Health and Human Services then wrote regulations that narrowed that provision, by saying that if any part of a policy was significantly changed since that date -- the deductible, co-pay, or benefits, for example -- the policy would not be grandfathered.

As Ace notes, HHS operates at the behest of Obama.

They didn't have to tighten the regulations to make it impossible for Americans to keep their health care plans.

They, in fact, could have loosened the guidelines to ensure that the president's oft-repeated mantra ("If you like your health care plan you can keep your plan... period!") remained true.

The President refused to do so.

Why?

Because f*** you.

The real scandal isn't just that the president lied repeatedly to the American people. The real scandal is that the President, in fact, gave direct orders to HHS to destroy the health care policies of millions of Americans.

These regulations, being a creature of the Executive branch, can be rewritten by the executive branch at any time. We don't need a law for this (though one would be useful, to force Obama to do the right thing).

Obama has it within his power to call up the HHS reg-writers and instruct them to honor the promise he made time and again for two years. And he doesn't want people to know this, because he is determined to break that promise.

That promise was always a lie, and not a meaningless lie at the periphery, but a central lie propping up the political campaign for ObamaCare...

Had he told Americans that they would be losing their current health care in order to be dumped into what is effectively a high-risk pool, so that they could subsidize high-risk clients, the public would have rejected the law even more strongly than he did.

So he lied. And lied. And lied. And lied some more.

And even at this late date, he could still choose to honor his promise.

But he won't, because he can't -- he always intended to take people's insurance away from them. Always.

Ace concludes with the notion that the president "should be forced to explain why" he intentionally sabotaged millions of health care policies.

Hell, we can't even find out what President Obama did for eight hours as American diplomats were fighting for their lives in Benghazi.

Yeah, I know, he went to sleep after refusing to authorize a rescue.

But the odds that a reporter will ask him about this? Just a skosh less than Vern Troyer winning the Heisman.


Hat tip: BadBlue News.

Larwyn's Linx: The central Obamacare lie is as historic as this presidency

Send us tips! Bloggers: install a Larwyn's Linx widget. Get real-time news, 24/7, at BadBlue.

Nation

The central Obamacare lie is as historic as this presidency: LI
#ObamaDidntKnow: Bryan Preston
Obamacare is a River of Lies: Smitty

Levin: Wrap Obamacare around necks of Democrat Party, pull it tight!: Scoop
GOP Must Not Get Into Bed With Democrats on Obamacare: David Limbaugh
"Dem Party is F****d.": Ron Fournier

Mitch McConnell Ready to Fight GOP Base: Daniel Horowitz
Obama Doesn't Know Jack: EIB
“This increase is simply not affordable.”: DTG

Economy

What Happens When Obamacare Starts Affecting Employer Coverage?: Ace
Obamacare Horror Stories: Daniel Horowitz
It's Crisis Time for Obamacare: Ben White, CNBC

CBS: Obamacare’s Financial Model is In Danger of Collapsing: John Hawkins
Ed Henry asks Jay Carney: will you admit Obama lied?: Nice Deb
Dems: It's Good That Obamacare Doubles Health Premiums: Avik Roy

Scandal Central

NBC Sources: Obama Knew That Millions Would Lose Coverage: Ace
Did Jarrett And Michelle Pick Incompetent Website Firm?: IBD
Benghazi Attorney:people RELIEVED OF DUTY for insisting on military response: Scoop

Climate & Energy

Oh, Noes, Jersey Shore Is Doomed From “Climate Change”: Cove
The IPCC Southern Hemisphere Reconstructions: Steve McIntyre
Bummer: Brits Mostly Against “Green” Taxes: Cove

Media

2012 "Politifact": Obama's If You Like Your Insurance, You Get to Keep Your Insurance: True: Ace
Former Dem Staffer: I Was Very Wrong to Defend ObamaCare for Past Four Years: Ace
Huffington Post Demonstrates How Not to Correct: CAMERA

Matthews: Why Weren’t Reinforcements Sent in Benghazi?: WFB
The Hungry and the Well Fed: Erick Erickson
Obama’s Tea Party ‘Cousin’ Wants to Stop Him From ‘Destroying America’: Mediaite

Bullets: Chris Muir
Bobby Jindal goes full-blown smart-ass on Fox: Libertarian Republican
The Sociopath: 90 Miles

World

Lindsey Graham ‘Blocking Every Senate Appointment’ Until Benghazi Survivors Can Testify: Mediaite
Somali refugees in Minnesota: first hand account: Blazing Cat Fur
Bracken Sends: Western Rifles

Sci-Tech


ATM malware may spread from Mexico to English-speaking world: Jeremy Kirk, IDG
Why Are JavaScript Attacks So Dangerous?: Jamie Condliffe
Cyberspace Just Got Hijacked by Socialists: Western Journalism

Cornucopia

Face Off: Healthcare.gov Girl Replacement Contest (pics!): Caleb Howe
Valerie Jarrett tries to come up with hot new Democrat talking point…and fails miserably: Poor Richard
Last book in Matt Bracken's ‘Enemies’ trilogy now offered for free download: David Codrea, Mike Vanderboegh

Image: Glenn McCoy
Sponsored by: HELP STOP BLOOMBERG'S GUN GRAB IN VIRGINIA: SUPPORT KEN CUCCINELLI

QOTD: "I've got a montage of all these media people saying Obama didn't know about NSA spying. Obama didn't know. He didn't know about the IRS. He didn't know about Fast and Furious. He didn't know that Obamacare's website was gonna be a bust. He didn't know anything. And that's the excuse? I just saw Gloria Borger on CNN, "Obama didn't know." As though that's something to be proud of? That is a legitimate excuse? The president didn't know that the NSA was spying on foreign leaders, and you want us to give him a pass because he's that out of touch and detached that he didn't know, when the fact of the matter is they're lying to us again. BS, he didn't know. How stupid do they think we are?

Obama doesn't know anything about Benghazi. He doesn't know anything about Fast and Furious. He didn't know anything about Syria. He didn't know anything about Obamacare. Didn't know anything about the NSA. He didn't know anything about Solyndra. He didn't know anything about how the stimulus was gonna go wrong. He didn't know diddly-squat. Congress had no idea that it would be this bad. They didn't know. The conservative talking heads in Washington, they didn't know for five weeks how bad it was gonna be. The political consultants, Republicans and Democrats, they didn't know. Nobody had any idea.

Nobody in Washington has any idea about anything. The news today is, who didn't know? And they're doing it in a way that makes 'em look like they're proud of it, as though it's a legitimate excuse. "Well, don't get mad at Obama. He didn't know about the NSA spying." Oh, he didn't? "No. No. And that's why you shouldn't be mad. He didn't know." You mean these powerful forces that he can't control are out doing all this and he doesn't know anything about it? "That's right he's out campaigning. He's upset about it as anybody else." Am I doing it again? Well, I tell you, the only people that knew, Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, Rand Paul, Michele Bachmann, Sarah Palin, me, talk radio, we knew. " --Rush Limbaugh

YEAH: I went there

I tried my hand at a short novel. It has nothing whatsoever to do with politics. It's crime fiction. A friend of mine read it and said, "Really, really good: like reading an action movie." Someone else likened it to a written comic book.

Both of those comments made me happy. I wrote the kind of book I would want to read.


At Amazon you can read the first part of the book for free. It's a 99¢ download on Kindle. And while I'm not real good at math, I think the average movie ticket costs about 75 times that much.

*In all seriousness, if you do choose to read it (it's a quick read, approximately 100 pages or so), please fire me an email and let me know what you think.


Monday, October 28, 2013

California Democrat Cheers for One-Party Rule (Because Hitler Made the Trains Run on Time, Right @FromaHarrop?)

Some crackpot named "Froma Harrop" claims one-party rule is good for California, even as the state collapses into bankruptcy. Ralph sends along a link to Creators featuring someone with that name -- which, memory serves, is Latin for a certain highly contagious STD. And she simply adores one-party rule.

California has found a formula for ending the partisan warfare that once paralyzed its government: Get rid of one of the parties, in this case, the Republican. The state's famously dysfunctional government now hums with calm efficiency.

Yes, "calm efficiency". The trains run on time, one would assume. Oh, and Pol Pot had one-party rule, too. That didn't work out too well for, oh, a couple million of his subjects. Who we won't be interviewing for... the rest of their lives.

Democrats there hold a supermajority in the state Legislature, making it well-nigh impossible for Republicans to gum up their plans. The governor, Jerry Brown, is a Democrat, as well.

Plans like massive deficit spending, rampant illegal immigration, a collapsing welfare state, and a looming pension disaster? Congratulations! Let freedom ring!

...As districts become more politically diverse, Republican right-wingers — with their inflamed imaginings and inexplicable amount of free time — see their power to produce sure losers curbed...

Yes, those damnable Republicans with their inflamed imaginings. Like the Constitution matters. Like individual liberties matter. Like trying to control an IRS, an NSA, a DOJ, and a Beltway Elite who are completely out of control. Imagine the nerve!

...Sacramento is now a model of quiet efficiency. The state's new health insurance exchange is off and running with minimal drama. And there's even a move to ease some environmental regulations at the behest of business.

"The new California health insurance exchange is running with minimal drama"? Perhaps Froma (Gesundheit!) should ask those affected by Blue Cross canceling roughly 60 percent of its individual insurance policies. Or the thousands of other horror stories so egregious even the Los Angeles Times has been forced to take note. Or the more than 10 million people nationwide who have thus far lost their policies.

Now if we didn't have Detroit, and Chicago, and Sacramento, and dozens of other bankrupt, one-party, Democrat-run cities collapsing into miserable microcosms of third-world cesspools, she might have a point to consider.

Yo Froma, if that is your real name, I have two suggestions: first, lay off the acid; and second, head over to PensionTsunami, where the true economic toll of the Detroitocrat Party is laid bare. Don't worry, they use words at the sixth-grade reading level, so you should be okay.

In short, the infernal alliance of public sector unions and their Democrat toadies have set California on a course of fiscal destruction. Businesses and taxpayers are fleeing, illegal immigrants who suckle on the public teat are welcomed, and Shmenga Hadoop thinks that model's sustainable.

So I'll take a flyer and trust Milton Friedman over Yenta Maloop: he said that combining open borders and a massive welfare state would bankrupt a country. And that is where California is headed as surely as as Freda Maloof is destined to be a footnote to a footnote to a footnote when the history of America's great op-ed writers is written.

Yo, Maroof: stop destroying my country!


Benghazi Whistleblowers: Obama Went to Sleep Refusing to Authorize Rescue; Commanders Relieved of Duty for Trying

The Right Scoop has the full interview of Benghazi whistleblower attorney Joe DiGenova. DiGenova appeared to confirm our worst suspicions regarding the unconscionable behavior of Barack Obama on the night of 9/11/2012.

…There is more to learn about Benghazi. Panetta has never told the full story.

Here’s an interesting question. Remember General Ham and what happened the night of the assault on the American embassy? We have reason to believe that things happened that night in the chain of command where people were relieved of their duties because they insisted that there be a military response. We’re working on trying to establish that with some news organizations but there’s very, very good evidence that people were actually relieved of command because they refused not to try and dispatch troops and some response.

And by the way, this notion that the administration has put out – it’s this little straw-man that [the] military couldn’t have landed in Libya, Greg Hicks has testified and so have some other military people that if there had only been a flyover, that would have dispersed these crowds because they remembered what the American military did its flyovers and its assaults.

There were planes in Croatia that could have been there by the time of the attack on the annex and no planes were ever sent. That was because the president of the United States refused to issue an order allowing for the dispersal of military into Libya because that was considered an act of war. The president, himself, who went to sleep, refused to issue some order.

You know, Panetta is not a bad man. He knows what went wrong that night. He’s never been properly questioned about this and pressed. And if he were he would admit all of this stuff.

In addition to Panetta, perhaps someone should subpoena Frau Jarrett?


Hat tips: BadBlue News and BB.

SWEET FANCY MOSES: NBC (!1!11!) annihilates administration's Obamacare lies; Obama knew 10 million would lose coverage

If NBC News is revealing this much, the true tale must be far, far worse. NBC Investigations reports that the Obama administration knew in advance that their catastrophic takeover of the health care industry would throw millions off their plans.

President Obama knowingly lied to the American people over and over and over again. And -- I repeat -- this is NBC News reporting on the scandal.

President Obama repeatedly assured Americans that after the Affordable Care Act became law, people who liked their health insurance would be able to keep it. But millions of Americans are getting or are about to get cancellation letters for their health insurance under Obamacare, say experts, and the Obama administration has known that for at least three years.

Four sources deeply involved in the Affordable Care Act tell NBC NEWS that 50 to 75 percent of the 14 million consumers who buy their insurance individually can expect to receive a “cancellation” letter or the equivalent over the next year because their existing policies don’t meet the standards mandated by the new health care law. One expert predicts that number could reach as high as 80 percent. And all say that many of those forced to buy pricier new policies will experience “sticker shock.”

...the administration knew that more than 40 to 67 percent of those in the individual market would not be able to keep their plans, even if they liked them.

Yet President Obama, who had promised in 2009, “if you like your health plan, you will be able to keep your health plan,” was still saying in 2012, “If [you] already have health insurance, you will keep your health insurance.”

...Those getting the cancellation letters are often shocked and unhappy.

George Schwab, 62, of North Carolina, said he was "perfectly happy" with his plan from Blue Cross Blue Shield, which also insured his wife for a $228 monthly premium. But this past September, he was surprised to receive a letter saying his policy was no longer available. The "comparable" plan the insurance company offered him carried a $1,208 monthly premium and a $5,500 deductible... And the best option he’s found on the exchange so far offered a 415 percent jump in premium, to $948 a month...

...Richard Helgren, a Lansing, Mich., retiree, said he was “irate” when he received a letter informing him that his wife Amy's $559 a month health plan was being changed because of the law. The plan the insurer offered raised his deductible from $0 to $2,500, and the company gave him 17 days to decide...

..."I heard him only about a thousand times," he said. "I didn't believe him when he said it though because there was just no way that was going to happen. They wrote the regulations so strictly that none of the old polices can grandfather."

Kudos to NBC's Lisa Myers and Hannah Rappleye for publicizing what most of us already knew.

Obamacare isn't about health care. It's about control. It's about changing the relationship between the government and the individual. It is designed explicitly to give the government control over every American family's mental and physical well-being, which it can use to reward its political allies and punish its enemies.

Anyone with an ounce of intellectual honesty would admit as much, which excludes Juan Williams and the rest of the drones who relentlessly cheerlead for their own destruction.


Hat tip: BadBlue 24x7 News

Larwyn's Linx: A Letter From a Young Med Student: ‘Mr. President, I’m hanging up the white coat’

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Nation

Young Med Student: ‘Mr. President, I’m hanging up the white coat’: BPR
Obamacare and the "Governing" Trap: Erick Erickson
Citizens ‘can’t afford’ new premiums; Will ‘keep’ penalty, lose insurance: Twitchy

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid should check his House in-box: Moe Lane
Report: Boehner Plans Amnesty Vote in Next Month: Matthew Boyle
Rubio Bails on Amnesty: Mickey Kaus

Battered Public Syndrome: Reality Bats Last
Obama's Valerie Jarrett: Whispered about, But Never Challenged: John Fund
Cruz Cruises Ahead In Iowa: WZ

Economy

Two Other GIGANTIC "Screw You" Parts Of Obamacare: Karl Denninger
Tales From the Trainwreck: Doug Powers
The Dirty Secret Behind ObamaCare No One's Talking About: JoshuaPundit

How Obamacare is destroying one woman's life: Thomas Purcell
Enter Obamacare website might have to be rebuilt: Post
Avoiding Obamacare's 'Death Spiral': Sam Baker, NatlJrnl

Scandal Central

60 Minutes confirms Benghazi is a real scandal, and you’ve been lied to: LI
U.S. Diplomat: Obama Admin Told Us We Would Get No Help During Attack: WZ
60 Minutes on Benghazi: the Full Report: CBS News

Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer: Obama watched Benghazi attack from Situation Room: Walid Shoebat
The Left’s Continued Assault on the Truth About Benghazi: Roger Aronoff, AIM
Officials Claim Obama Unaware of Foreign Spying Program Until Revealed in the Press: Noah Rothman, Mediaite

Media

‘He just got owned!’ Brit Hume smacks Juan Williams’ absurd Obamacare spin: Twitchy
Liberal Columnist Who Backed Obamacare Sees Her Insurance Rates Skyrocket: John Hawkins
NYT: Inflate the Currency!: TruthRevolt

Critic in Chief: Charles Krauthammer diagnoses Obama's policies and psyche: Timothy P. Carney
New Online Course Featuring Ted Cruz & Mark Levin Aims to Teach Students About Conservatism: Blaze
Race War in Obama's America: Allen West

Juan Williams Defends Obamacare-Forced Insurance Cancellations: TruthRevolt
LA Times: Middle-class Californians feeling surprised, dismayed by higher ObamaCare costs: Hot Air
Awful: Time Warner Cable Agree To Carry Al Jazeera America…: WZ

World

Bob Woodward Warns of Out-of-Control 'Secret Government': TruthRevolt
Sheldon Adelson Admirably Calls for America to Drop a Nuclear Bomb on Iran: Craig Biddle
America Joins the Jihad: Clare M. Lopez

Preparing for America's Surrender: Norman E. Hooben
"Black Wind To America": A Deadly Terrorist Bioweapon Program Agenda?: Larry Bell
Japan Nuke Agency Urges Drastic Steps at Fukushima: Mari Yamaguchi, AP

Sci-Tech

Day after HHS touted Obamacare data hub as example of ‘what’s working,’ guess what’s down: Twitchy
A black box in your car? Some see a source of tax revenue: Evan Halper, LAT
Why developers choose Android: Adam Smith

Cornucopia

The Single Braincell Theory: Ed Driscoll
He Will Not Rest Until He Gets In His 150th Round of Golf: FAM
Ten Years of JihadWatch: Robert Spencer

Image: Subpoena over disastrous ObamaCare rollout in the works?
Sponsor: HELP STOP BLOOMBERG'S GUN GRAB IN VIRGINIA: SUPPORT KEN CUCCINELLI

QOTD: "If you’re looking for an epitaph for the republic (and these days, who isn’t?) try this – from August 2010 and TechCrunch’s delirious preview of healthcare.gov:

We were working in a very very nimble hyper-consumer-focused way,” explained Todd Park, the Chief Technology Officer of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, “all fused in this kind of maelstrom of pizza, Mountain Dew and all-nighters … and, you know, idealism. That kind of led to the magic that was produced.

Wow. Think of the magic that Madison, Hamilton, and the rest of those schlubs could have produced if they’d only had pizza and Mountain Dew and been willing to pull a few all-nighters at Philadelphia in 1787. Somewhere between the idealism and the curling slice of last night’s pepperoni, Macon Phillips, the administration’s Director of New Media, happened to come across a Tweet by Edward Mullen of Jersey City in which he Twitpicced his design for what a health-insurance exchange could look like. So Phillips printed it out to show his fellow administration officials: “Look, this is the sort of creativity that is out there,” he said. “One thing led to another, and he left Jersey City to come to D.C. and helped push us through an information architectural process.”" --Mark Steyn

Sunday, October 27, 2013

ONCE AGAIN, DEMOCRATS LOSE TO MATH: Detroit pensioners to receive only 16 percent of their promised retirements

Hundreds of cities have underfunded pension plans, but Detroit really takes the cake. Its pensioners will take haircuts of 84 cents of every dollar they're owed.

That's a stiff price to pay for electing Democrats.

On Friday, city financial consultant Kenneth Buckfire said he did not have to recommend to Orr that pensions for the city's retirees be cut as a way to help Detroit navigate through debts and liabilities that total $18.5 billion.

Buckfire said it was clear that the city did not have the funds to pay the unsecured pension payouts without cutting them.

"It was a function of the mathematics," said Buckfire, who said he did not think it was necessary for him or anyone else to recommend pension cuts to Orr.

"Are you saying it was so self-evident that no one had to say it?" asked Claude Montgomery, attorney for a committee of retirees that was created by Rhodes.

"Yes," Buckfire answered.

Buckfire, a Detroit native and investment banker with restructuring experience, later told the court the city plans to pay unsecured creditors, including the city's pensioners, 16 cents on the dollar. There are about 23,500 city retirees.

And this, my friends, is why I call them Detroitocrats. Everything they touch will turn into Detroit, and that includes America itself.


Hat tip: Zero Hedge.

TIMELY: Senator Joe "Steaming Sack of Fail" Manchin Complaining About Obamacare

I would call Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) duplicitous, but that would understate how two-faced he is. In West Virginia, he postures and crows like a conservative, but back in DC he votes with the radical leftists who control the Democrat Party.

Now, just a few weeks after ignoring the masterful efforts by Sen Ted Cruz (R-TX) to defund Obamacare, Manchin is whining about the catastrophic effects of the law.

"Senator Manchin, you get the last word," said the ABC host this morning. "Are you seeing any indication from anyone in the administration that they are willing to go along with some sort of a delay?"

"I'm not sure," said Manchin. "I haven't spoken in detail with them. But I can tell you: if we have a bipartisan group, which we've had before ... George, nobody should be forced to buy a policy that costs more than what they had and is inferior to what they had. Those things have to be worked out."

Gee, Joe, "nobody should be forced to buy a policy that costs more than what they had and is inferior to what they had"?

Perhaps you could've thought about that before you supported this fustercluck.

One would hope that West Virginians are already working on a recall of this fraud.


Hat tip: BadBlue News Service.

JUST ONE CALAMITY AMONG MILLIONS: Obamacare Throws Pregnant Woman Off Her Policy, Leaves Her Uninsured

Step back for a moment and consider the hubris required to believe that a single law -- tens of thousands of pages of regulations -- could replace all of the decisions made regarding one-sixth of the economy... and could do so without harming millions of individuals.

With that as a backdrop, please consider just one of those millions of horror stories.

Fullerton resident Jennifer Harris thought she had a great deal, paying $98 a month for an individual plan through Health Net Inc. She got a rude surprise this month when the company said it would cancel her policy at the end of this year. Her current plan does not conform with the new federal rules, which require more generous levels of coverage.

Now Harris, a self-employed lawyer, must shop for replacement insurance. The cheapest plan she has found will cost her $238 a month. She and her husband don’t qualify for federal premium subsidies because they earn too much money, about $80,000 a year combined.

It doesn’t seem right to make the middle class pay so much more in order to give health insurance to everybody else,” said Harris, who is three months pregnant. “This increase is simply not affordable.”

The Harris family is but one household among millions who have lost coverage, lost hours at work, or have lost their jobs altogether. A quick search on Twitter confirms the inconvenient truth.

In short, Obamacare's website is the very least of its problems.



Hat tip: BadBlue News.

The 25 Best Quotes Explaining the Obamacare "Glitch"

Guest post by Tyler Durden

While some have proclaimed the 36,000 enrollment in The Affordable Care Act "a good start," the online marketplaces that Obamacare has become more infamous for have been plagued with problems in the brief two weeks since launch. Politico provides 25 of the most telling and colorful comments made about the "glitches" the online exchanges have faced...

1. “I hope they are working day and night to get this done. When they get it fixed, I hope they fire some people that were in charge of making sure that this thing was supposed to work.” — former White House press secretary Robert Gibbs on MSNBC’s “Now with Alex Wagner,” Oct. 14

2. “A thousand Social Security numbers being sent to the wrong people is not a glitch!” — CNBC contributor Carol Roth on HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher,” Oct. 12

3. “How can we tax people for not buying a product from a website that doesn’t work?” — House Speaker John Boehner, Oct. 10

4. “Despite the widespread belief that the administration was not ready for the health law’s Oct. 1 launch, top officials and lead IT contractors looked us in the eye and assured us all systems were a go. Instead, here we are 10 days later, and delays and technical failures have reached epidemic proportions.” — Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) in a statement, Oct. 10

5. “We’re going to do a challenge. I’m going to try and download every movie ever made and you are going to try to sign up for Obamacare — and we’ll see which happens first.” — Jon Stewart to Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on "The Daily Show," Oct. 7

6. “It’s a new rule: If something doesn’t work, you get rid of it! If the post office is late today, let’s get rid of the post office! If the plane is late an hour, get rid of airplanes! It’s ridiculous!— MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, Oct. 12

7. “There’s so much wrong, you just don’t know what’s broken until you get a lot more of it fixed.” — Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini, Oct. 14

8. “They had three years to get this ready. If they weren’t fully ready, they should accept the advice Republicans are giving them: Delay it for a year, get it ready and make sure it works.” — CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, Oct. 9

Larwyn's Linx: All the Republican Party Has To Do To Have A Wildly Successful 2014 Is…

Send us tips! Bloggers: install a Larwyn's Linx widget. Get real-time news, 24/7, at BadBlue.

Nation

All the GOP Has To Do To Have A Wildly Successful 2014 Is…: John Hawkins
We Shall Be Respected (Only If We Fight): Walid Shoebat
Knox College Student: Republicans Need to Unite: CI

Obamacare: Biggest Domestic Policy Lie Ever Told By a President: Ed Driscoll
Confirmed: Kathleen Sebelius is a Lying Hack: BPR
Obamacare gnawing on Democrats' electoral entrails.: Moe Lane

Admiral Ackbar Alert! The Obamacare Website Trap: DTG
Ted Cruz at the Iowa Reagan Dinner: Right Pundit
Tea Party Rep. Massie: Fundraise for NRCC or be Punished: TPNN

Oops! Californians Sour on #ObamaCare — LOL!: AmPower
What happened to all of Obama's technology czars?: Michelle Malkin
How Kirsten Gillibrand changed her political stripes: Hot Air

Economy

Washington Healthcare Exchange Overestimated Subsidies For 8,000: WZ
All The Wrong People Are Getting ObamaCare: Instapundit
Like it or Not, Gold Is Still a Safe Haven: Jeff Macke

Scandal Central

Armed agents seize records of reporter, Washington Times responds: Times
More details on Terry McAuliffe’s profit off of a dying man’s signature.: Moe Lane
Democrat Congressman Demands Obamacare Exemptions for His Rich Constituents: John Hawkins

Climate & Energy

Al Gore Strikes Out Again: Tom Harris, PJM
Al Gore Holds 24 Hour Global Warming Event On YouTube: Garners 707 Views: WZ
America's oil surge leaving Alaska in the dust: Dan Springer

Media

The Media and Obama: Hitting The Disgust Quota: W. Lewis Amselem
Palin Turns Down Piers Morgan Invite With This Pic on Facebook: iOTW
Surprise: Turns out that Obamacare architect Ezekiel Emanuel is a know-it-all turd: Scoop

Pizza and Fairy Tales: Ed Driscoll
Actress Bette Midler drags Ted Cruz’s wife into argument; gets schooled: Matt Labo
Charles Johnson Of Little Green Footballs Melts Down Over #StopWatchingUs Rally: WZ

World

Religion of Peace Recap: DiploMad
8 Jews wounded in 'Palestinian' rock attack: Matzav
Shoeless in Detroit: Gates of Vienna

Obamacare Catastrophe Reveals Barack’s Entire Paper-Mache Fantasy World: CFP
The REAL Reason U.S. Targets Whistleblowers: ZH
Amid turmoil, crossing to Gaza closed indefinitely by Egypt: Times of Israel

Sci-Tech

Is there a problem with HealthCare.gov? Is HealthCare.gov secure?: Is There A Problem Here?
Police firing GPS tracking 'bullets' at cars during chases: Chris Matyszczyk, CNet
Watch All 13 Saturn V Rocket Launches in One Jaw-Dropping Video: Gizmodo

Cornucopia

Math is Hard: Remind Me Again, How Many Zeroes in a Trillion?: MOTUS
Knock-Knock: C&S
Got Insurance?: Sondrakistan

Image: MOTUS
Sponsor: STOP BLOOMBERG'S GUN GRAB IN VIRGINIA: SUPPORT KEN CUCCINELLI FOR GOVERNOR

QOTD: "Never mind Teapot Dome, Checkers, Chappaquiddick, Watergate, or Iran-Contra: "Fast and Furious" is arguably the greatest scandal in American political history. It most certainly is the greatest scandal never reported by the main media outlets. Obama's misadministration sought to launch an attack on the second amendment by "proving" that lax US gun laws led to Mexico's drug-fueled violence. It decided to "prove" that by providing the guns. It was the ultimate in cop weapon throw-down or evidence planting.

Imagine if the situation were the reverse. Imagine that the Attorney General of Mexico, in order to argue for stronger anti-drug laws in Mexico, decided as a matter of policy to provide drugs to the most powerful US criminal gangs. How would we react? Drone strikes on Chapultepec Castle, anybody? I must say that the Mexican reaction has been surprisingly muted to Obama's declaration of war against Mexico.The media, with the notable and worthy exceptions of FOX and now UNIVISION, ignored the story as much as possible, concentrating instead on how Republicans wanted to embarrass Attorney General Holder, and forgetting about the bodies piling up on and near the border." --W. Lewis Amselem