Showing posts with label World. Show all posts
Showing posts with label World. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A CURRENCY DIES: Argentina's farmers hoarding food rather than pesos

Let's pray this isn't a preview of coming attractions here.

Sales of Argentine soybeans are lagging this season due to expectations for higher world prices later and to domestic financial uncertainty that has prompted farmers to save in beans rather than pesos.

With world food demand on the rise, growers in the Pampas grain belt are filling their silos with soy rather than converting their crops into pesos, a currency that hit a new all-time low in informal trade this week.

Considering Argentina’s high inflation, clocked at about 25 percent by private economists, “money in the bank” is not as secure as storing soybeans next to their fields... “We are going to hang onto our soy. One can see higher prices ahead,” said Jose Plazibat, a partner with the firm of Bandurria and Plazibat Brothers, which farms more than 3,000 hectares near the town of Chacabuco in Buenos Aires province.

...Cut off from global bond markets since its 2002 default, Argentina needs farm revenue to help finance public spending increases ahead of October legislative elections.

...Growers say they would plant more corn if the government would stop placing curbs on exports. The farm sector has long feuded with President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who won re-election in 2011 on promises of increasing the government’s role in Argentina’s economy.

Confidence has since softened. The peso has slumped in the informal market, opening a breach of 71 percent versus the formal exchange rate and increasing market chatter about a possible devaluation to shore up exports... The government is likely to put off a devaluation of the official peso at least until the October elections have passed.

Say, perhaps the economic geniuses Paul "Enron" Krugman and Henry "POS" Blodget could explain why massive deficits, financial repression, and currency devaluation didn't work for the Argentinian government, which has only tried their Keynesian policy prescriptions for, oh, about the last century or so.


Related: Don't Cry for Me, America.

Monday, April 29, 2013

BRILLIANT: Now That Eric Holder's Mirandized Boston Bomber, a Mystery Female's DNA Found on Device

Question: it can't be called incompetence if Eric Holder's sabotaging the case against the alleged Boston Marathon bomber on purpose, right? I only ask because Holder has a serious conflict of interest: his old law firm is one of the biggest defenders of terrorists at Gitmo, but as A.G. he's supposed to be prosecuting those very same Jihadists.

What could possibly go wrong?

Investigators have found female DNA on at least one of the bombs used in the Boston Marathon attacks, though they haven't determined whose DNA it is or whether its presence means a woman helped the two brothers suspected in the bombings, according to U.S. officials briefed on the probe.

In another development, Russian officials revealed details about contacts between the older brother and suspected Islamist radicals in the Caucasus, including Internet exchanges that led to concerns by investigators that he was trying to join up with jihadist fighters...


...Two Russian government officials said Tamerlan Tsarnaev exchanged notes over the Internet with William Plotnikov, a boxer who moved with his parents from Russia to Canada before joining militants in the North Caucasus. And they said Mr. Tsarnaev met several times in early 2012 with Mansur Makhmud Nidal, an alleged militant from the Russian province of Dagestan and suspected jihadist recruiter. The meetings happened in a mosque in Dagestan's capital of Makhachkala known for its adherence to a puritanical strain of Islam, they said...

...Mr. Nidal died in a firefight in Makhachkala last May after a five-hour standoff that ended with him throwing a grenade at police officials, according to Russian authorities. Mr. Plotnikov died two months later, in mid-July, during a raid in the hinterland of Utamysh, a village southwest of Makhachkala.

Mr. Tsarnaev was in the region at the time of both raids but left Russia for the U.S. three days after the second one. He left before picking up a Russian passport that had been prepared for him at the local migration office in Dagestan's capital.

"He intended to join the fighters, but he lost his contacts," one of the Russian officials said. "In the end he picked an easier enemy in Boston."

Well, it's a good thing Holder Mirandized the (*cough*) "alleged" bomber before his connections could be fully explored. After all, he was talking to investigators until then.


Hat tip: BadBlue News.

BENGHAZI WHISTLEBLOWERS: Obama, Hillary Lied About Assets That Could Have Saved SEALs, Then Threatened Witnesses

My, my, my. Antique media now faces an interesting dilemma: let Fox News capture all of the Nielsen ratings as Benghazi-gate explodes or attempt to cover it and spin. Either way, they lose:

U.S. Had Assets That Could Have Saved U.S. SEALs


BAIER: The administration has insisted there was no help for the Americans under assault in Libya, none that could arrive in time to change the outcome in Benghazi. Tonight is the first of three exclusive reports charging that claim is just not true.

Because the Special Operator in this piece is fearful of reprisal, we have agreed to conceal his identity. Correspondent Adam Housley has the story.

HOUSLEY: Many Americans are asking indeed, I asked myself. How could this happen? In the seven months since the Benghazi attacks on 9/11, information from the administration has been incomplete at best.

Details and time lines provided by the State Department, the U.S. military and intelligence agencies had been contradictory and failed to answer many questions.

In December, a State Department review concluded: There simply was not enough time for U.S. military forces to have made a difference: Having said that, it is not reasonable nor feasible to forces at the ready to respond to protect every high risk post in the world.

But members of the military who are monitoring events in Benghazi disagree.

Only a few dozen people in the world know what happened that night and Fox News spoke exclusively with a Special Operator who watched the events unfold and has debriefed those who are part of the response.

SO: I know for a fact that C-110, the UCOM SIF was doing a training exercise not in the region of northern Africa but in Europe. They had the ability to react and respond.

HOUSLEY: The C-110 is a command in extremis force... a 40-man SPECOPS force capable of rapid response and deployment, specifically trained for incidents like the attack in Benghazi. That night, they were training in croatia just three and a half hours away.

SO: We had the ability to load out, get on birds, and fly there at a minimum stage. C-110 had the ability to be there, in my opinion, in four to six hours from their European theater to react.

HOUSLEY: They would have been there before the second attack.

SO: They would have been there before the second attack. They would have been there at a minimum to provide a quick reaction force that could facilitate their exfill out of the problem situation. Nobody knew how it was going to develop.

And you hear a whole bunch of people and a whole bunch of advisors say hey, we wouldn't have sent them there because the security was unknown situation.

HOUSLEY: No one knew that?

SO: If it's an unknown situation, at a minimum you send forces there to facilitate the exfill or medical injuries.

We could have sent a C-130 to Benghazi to provide medical evacuation for the injured.

HOUSLEY: Our source says many connected to Benghazi feel threatened and are afraid to talk. So far confidential sources have fed some information but nobody has come forward publicly on camera until now.

SO: The problem is, you have got guys, in my position you have got guys in Special Pperations community who are -- still active and still involved.

And they would be decapitated if they came forward with information that could effect high level commanders.

HOUSLEY: Despite the concern, our confidential source says the community feels there was a betrayal. All the way to the top. And that people on the ground in Benghazi were left to fend for themselves.

SO: I don't blame them for not coming forward, you know. It's something that is a risky, especially in a profession to say anything about anything in the realm of politics or that deals with policy.

HOUSLEY: Our source provides insight into how the U.S. government and military reacted from the moment the attack began through the immediate hours after ambassador Chris Stevens went missing. What they were told to do and what not to do as Stephens, Diplomatic Officer Sean Smith and former Special Operations members Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty were killed.

SO: There is a lot of responsibility and onus that needs to be taken up and accounted for.

HOUSLEY: The attack began on September 11th, 2012 at a diplomatic compound in Benghazi and culminated roughly seven hours later at a second location, a CIA annex about one mile away.

While the official responses from Washington have been that the assets could not have made it from benghazi in time that killed Woods and Doherty, there were at least two military units that could have made it in time including the one training in Croatia.

SO: Besides those guys who went in on their own, we had two more assets that could have been there. Two more assets that could have been on the ground. It's frustrating, upsetting especially being in the community. The hardest thing to deal with in any kind of, you know, dangerous scenario or gun fight, is, you know, we always look to each other to help each other and that's how we get through situations. It's not about the assets overhead. It's about the guys on the ground.

HOUSLEY: He also says as the attack began there were at least 15 Special Forces and highly skilled State Department security staff available in the capital Tripoli who were not dispatched even though they were trained as a quick response force.

Meantime, a group of American reinforcements also in Tripoli, which included the CIA's global response agent Glen Doherty and seven others took matters into their own hands. This is a little known fact which contradicts the State Department'se report. The team commandeered a small jet and flew to Benghazi while still under fire. Doherty would eventually be killed on the roof along with his friend Tyrone Woods.

SO: These men deserve the highest medal of honor for their action. If it wasn't for that decision we would be looking at different situation. 20-plus hostages... captured by AQ or you would be looking at a lot of dead Americans dead in Benghazi.

HOUSLEY: We have heard some of these same details from a number of our other sources who have not yet come on camera.
Some of our British sources on the ground that night confirmed. Tomorrow, more of our exclusive interview including the hunt for those responsible or the lack of a hunt.

Further, at least four career intelligence officials say they have been directly threatened by the Obama administration to keep this scandal under wraps.

Obama administration officials threatened whistle-blowers on Benghazi-Lawyer


At least four career officials at the State Department and the Central Intelligence Agency have retained lawyers or are in the process of doing so, as they prepare to provide sensitive information about the Benghazi attacks to Congress, Fox News has learned.

Victoria Toensing, a former Justice Department official and Republican counsel to the Senate Intelligence Committee, is now representing one of the State Department employees. She told Fox News her client and some of the others, who consider themselves whistle-blowers, have been threatened by unnamed Obama administration officials.

“I'm not talking generally, I'm talking specifically about Benghazi – that people have been threatened,” Toensing said in an interview Monday. “And not just the State Department. People have been threatened at the CIA.”

Toensing declined to name her client... However, Toensing disclosed that her client has pertinent information on all three time periods investigators considered relevant to the attacks: the months that led up to the attack, when pleas by the ambassador and his staff for enhanced security in Benghazi were mostly rejected by senior officers at the State Department; the eight-hour time frame in which the attacks unfolded, and the eight-day period that followed the attacks, when Obama administration officials incorrectly described them as the result of a spontaneous protest over a video.

It's frightening, and they're doing some very despicable threats to people,” she said... Federal law provides explicit protections for federal government employees who are identified as “whistle-blowers.” The laws aim to ensure these individuals will not face repercussions from their superiors, or from other quarters, in retaliation for their provision of information about corruption or other forms of wrongdoing to Congress, or to an agency’s inspector-general.

Spread this story far and wide. It's time to break vintage media's embargo.

It's time to drag John Boehner out of the bar, wake him up, and name a Special Prosecutor.

This is impeachment material. Impeachment material.


Hat tips: The Right Scoop and BadBlue Real-Time News.

WATCH THE LEFTIST NARRATIVE UNFOLD: Boston Marathon Bombers are the Victims, the Victims are the Perpetrators [Marcus]

Guest Post by Lloyd Marcus

Talk about Yogi Berra's famous line, “It's deja vu all over again”: have you noticed the similarity in the mainstream media's portrayal of suspected Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and that of Trayvon Martin? In both cases, the media blasted a much younger angelic photo of each young man, in essence, misrepresenting who they were at the times of their suspected crimes.

Dzhokhar received his Miranda warning and lawyered up with appointed federal public defenders. Liberals are all over the airways and the internet working to soften Dzhokhar's image, calling him a kid and a confused victim of his older brother and an unfriendly America. At the earliest, Dzhokhar's trial will be a year from now.

My concern is that by the time Dzhokhar goes on trial, the mainstream media and the left will have made his trial all about America's Islamophobia, racism and policies which have caused the world to hate us – forgetting about justice for those who lost life and limb because of the bombing.

Remember what happened in the O.J. Simpson trial? O.J.'s attorneys, praised by the left, masterfully changed the subject of his trial from being about a man almost beheading his wife and the mother of his children to being about America's history of racism against blacks. Remarkably, sympathy and justice for Nicole Brown Simpson somehow got lost in the shuffle of left-wing political narrative.

I foresee a strong possibility of a similar outrageous and tragic scenario unfolding for the victims of suspected terrorist Dzhokhar; murdered were eight-year old Martin Richards, Krystle Marie Campbell – 29, Lu Lingzi – 23, and 27 year old Officer Sean Collier who was shot in the head execution-style while sitting in his patrol car. Fourteen people lost all or part of a limb. Two hundred and fifty people were injured.

It would appear that the mainstream media are well on their way instilling the narrative that we must understand and sympathize with the 19-year-old suspected terrorist. We must not allow the victims of the Boston bombing to be relegated to background players, cast as mere collateral damage of the Left's golden opportunity to sell their narrative that America is always the “bad guy” at fault – the greatest source of evil in the world.

Sunday, April 28, 2013

NO ONE TELL PAUL KRUGMAN OR HENRY BLODGET: "Spain Is Beyond Doomed"

The Keystone Keynesian Klowns are going to have a delightful time explaining the meltdown of Europe, which has only just begun.

Five years after its housing boom turned to bust, Spanish unemployment hit a record high of 27.2 percent in the first quarter of 2013. It's almost too horrible to comprehend, but 19.5 percent of the total workforce has not had a job in the past six months; 15.3 percent have not in the past year; and 9.2 percent have not in the past two years. You can see this 1930s-style catastrophe in the chart below from the National Statistics Institute.


...the real story of the Spanish depression has been the story of the indignados: the mostly young, long-term unemployed. It's a bit hard to see just how dramatic it's been in the chart above, so I converted it to a line chart below. Almost all of the increase in unemployment since 2010 has been due to the increase in long-term unemployment of two years or more...


In other words, unemployment is a trap people fall into, but can't fall out of... That is what a permanent underclass looks like.

This debt-fueled madness will, of course, end in war and misery -- as it has throughout human history.

And Paul Krugman was, you may recall, an early champion of the Euro experiment. Combined with his stint at Enron, championing the housing bubble, and endorsing Fannie Mae's subprime extravaganza, the midget propaganconomist has a track record only Jamie Gorelick could love.


Hat tip: BadBlue Financial News.

Saturday, April 27, 2013

Someone Break the News to Marco Rubio: Amnesty Costs 70 Times More Than Enforcement

I respect Marco Rubio. I supported him in his Senate run. Most importantly, I believe he means well.

But the allure of power has proven too strong for him. Ensconced in the Beltway Bubble, Rubio's fallen for what I call "the legislation delusion". Roughly translated, it is the belief that complex, multi-faceted legislation can solve humanity's problems.

Obamacare is the quintessential example of law run amok: it represents tens of thousands of pages of regulations, arbitrary thresholds, segmentation of families into static classes, and other symptoms of a master planner's delusions.

What the Statist terms "Comprehensive Immigration Reform" is similarly -- and fatally -- flawed. It represents dizzyingly complex regulations, dependent upon arbitrary conditions, restrictions, and dictates all requiring millions of pages of flowcharts. It is the product of the proverbial "Mastermind": one who believes he or she can better orchestrate mankind than the entirety of the civil society.

And, as history has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt, Masterminds must always turn a blind eye to the financial ramifications of their plans. One need only review the cost of Amnesty.

The cost of amnesty: $999 billion. The cost of attrition by enforcement: as little as $14 billion. Amnesty would cost up to 70 times as much as enforcing existing law.

$999 billion cost of Amnesty (Mass Legalization)

Source: The Heritage Foundation
Summary: The Heritage Foundation issued two studies in 2007 pointing out that the big problem with mass legalization is that (a) most illegal aliens are low-skilled and therefore do not earn enough money to pay enough taxes to cover the government benefits they receive; and (b), amnesty would eventually make them eligible for the full array of welfare and medical benefits offered by local, state and federal governments. They found the cost of allowing illegal aliens to remain in the United States, and eventually to become citizens, would be $3.7 trillion through the year 2056. That works out to a present cost of $1 trillion, at a 5 percent discount rate. In other words, immediately upon passage of an amnesty bill, the United States government would need to put $1 trillion into an investment earning 5 percent per year if it were honest about paying for the costs of amnesty.

$14 billion cost of attrition through enforcement option #1.

Source: Congressional Budget office Estimate for H.R. 4437.
Summary: This option is the bill H.R. 4437 sponsored by Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner that passed the House of Representatives in 2005. This bill would have been so effective in combating illegal immigration that some 1 million illegal aliens marched in cities around the United States on May 1, 2006 to protest it. The Congressional Budget Office estimated the bill would cost $1.9 billion over the 5 years 2006-2010, which we extrapolate out to the year 2056 using a linear model to account for cost increases. Then we use a discount rate of 5 percent to bring the future costs back to a single present cost figure. The resulting cost was actually $13.5 billion, which we round up to $14 billion to facilitate comparison to the other cost figures.

$177 billion cost of attrition through enforcement option #2.

Source: Congressional Budget Office Estimate for H.R. 4088.
Summary: This option is the SAVE Act (Secure America Through Verification and Enforcement Act) that was introduced in the House of Representatives in 2007. This is a strong attrition through enforcement bill. The Congressional Budget Office estimated the bill would cost $40.7 billion over the 10 years 2009-2018, which we extrapolate out to the year 2056 using a linear model to account for cost increases. Then we use a discount rate of 5 percent to bring the future costs back to a single present cost figure.

We conservatives are immigrants. We are first-generation immigrants or the descendants thereof. But we, as opposed to those whom the "Gang of Eight" would legalize, have followed a lawful process. We and our forebears have come to America's shores through Ellis Island and other ports of entry, applied for citizenship, and have become the law-abiding citizens that have shaped the country.

That is not what "Comprehensive Immigration Reform" represents: it instead grants legal status to those who have broken the law, stolen their way into the country without background checks, without any vetting of their connection to drug cartels or terrorism, and without even a modicum of examination.

There is only one acceptable response to the Gang of Eight's master plans. Seal the border, prove it is sealed over a substantial period of time, and then -- and only then -- will the American people countenance "amnesty" or whatever term the Statist uses to describe legalized lawbreaking.


Friday, April 26, 2013

WHO NEEDS AMNESTY? Obama Administration Conspiring with Mexican Government to Rip Off American Taxpayers

If there's an award for real investigative journalism, this year Judicial Watch should win it hands down. Its investigations into rampant criminality by the Obama administration culminated this week with a truly appalling revelation: the White House and the Mexican government are working together to rip off the American taxpayer.

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch today released documents detailing how the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is working with the Mexican government to promote participation by illegal aliens in the U.S. food stamp program.

The promotion of the food stamp program, now known as “SNAP” (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), includes a Spanish-language flyer provided to the Mexican Embassy by the USDA with a statement advising Mexicans in the U.S. that they do not need to declare their immigration status in order to receive financial assistance. Emphasized in bold and underlined, the statement reads, “You need not divulge information regarding your immigration status in seeking this benefit for your children.”

...The documents obtained by Judicial Watch show that USDA officials are working closely with their counterparts at the Mexican Embassy to widely broaden the SNAP program in the Mexican immigrant community, with no effort to restrict aid to, identify, or apprehend illegal immigrants who may be on the food stamp rolls...

...“The revelation that the USDA is actively working with the Mexican government to promote food stamps for illegal aliens should have a direct impact on the fate of the immigration bill now being debated in Congress,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “These disclosures further confirm the fact that the Obama administration cannot be trusted to protect our borders or enforce our immigration laws. And the coordination with a foreign government to attack the policies of an American state is contemptible.”

Who needs Amnesty? The Obama administration and the Mexican government are collaborating in bankrupting this nation. Each year, hundreds of billions of dollars are stolen through rampant waste, fraud and abuse of America's wealth redistribution programs. And the White House is actively encouraging it.

Our nation is going broke and the Democrat Party is actively trying to send it over the cliff.


Hat tip: BadBlue News Service.

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

TOLERANCE: Shiite Woman in Saudi Arabia Sentenced to 8 Lashes for Sending a Text Message

I only report. I don't decide.

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - A Saudi Shiite woman has been sentenced to eight lashes by a court in Qatif for mistakenly sending a text message allegedly promoting the Shiite branch of Islam.

The 30-year-old woman, identified only as YH, has been pronounced guilty for sending an SMS to another Saudi woman, containing a list of internet addresses under the name 'Shiite Islamic religious services'.

One of the addresses apparently belong to Fatwas of Ayatollah Sistani, Iraq's most senior Shiite cleric who is renowned throughout the Gulf for his learned counsel on Islamic law.

The Saudi Arabian state is a staunch adherent to the Wahhabi, and publicly disparages the Shia sect. Shia Muslims are not allowed to practice their faith, or even profess their sectarian beliefs in private.

The act of calling people for Shiism, or openly advocating the Shia faith, has been pronounced as haram (forbidden and despicable in Arabic) by the Attorney General, who publicly demanded that YH be severely punished.

The sentence was eventually conferred by judge Davoud Mohammad al-Davoud, who, according to local sources, is an extremist sectarian with a history of harsh judgements.

The defendant, from the district of Awamiyya, vigorously contested the judgement.

"According to claims by the Attorney General, I have sent the SMS wrongly to an unknown number, and this might happen for anyone else, so, I do not accept the accusations," YH told the court, according to a report in Mehr News.

However, despite her vehement protestation YH has been unable to win a reprieve against her sentence.

Take this report from Iran with a grain of salt. The failed Persian state is in an undeclared state of war with the Sunni sect of Islam, represented primarily by Saudi Arabia.

So as for these genteel blokes acquiring nukes -- well, I for one don't foresee a problem.


Sunday, April 21, 2013

TERRORISM AND THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION: Willful Ignorance or ... ?

A rough timeline for your consideration:

03/30/2011 Russa tells FBI: Tamerlan Tsarnaev is a radicalised Islamicist

06/09/2011 Napolitano: No "Logic" In Profiling Muslim Men Under The Age Of 35

02/15/2012 FBI Purges Training Material of “Anti-Islam” Documents

10/01/2012 Tsarnaev enters U.S. after six-month trip to area bordering terror hotbed Chechnya

10/31/2012 Russia asks FBI to investigate Tsarnaev -- the FBI never responded

03/20/2013 Special Travel Benefit for Saudis a "Slap in the Face"

03/21/2013 Imam From Radical Mosque Invited to Speak at Obama’s Boston Service

04/15/2013 Tsarnaev brothers detonate IEDs at Boston Marathon, killing 3 and wounding 200

04/21/2013 'Police may never question marathon bombing suspect', says the Mayor of Boston

The President asserts that officials don't know the bombers' motives and that he'll get to the bottom of it.

Here's a tip that should save him some time: Jihad.

As Andrew McCarthy adroitly notes, no matter how many times the Obama administration tries, "Jihad will not be wished away."

And, as an aside, we still have no earthly idea what Barack Obama did before, during and after the attacks in Benghazi that killed four Americans including an Ambassador.

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Democrat Hack: Hey, Stop Blabbing About the Boston Bombings So We Can Pass Gun Control

These Democrats are the lowest of the low.

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said that the families of Sandy Hook are grieving from a tragedy just as Bostonians are, as he called for Congress to focus on passing a gun bill.


“We’ve go to get back to work to make sure we can listen to the American people who still want us . . . to pass a background check,” Murphy said on MSNBC...

These tools are always in a hurry when it comes to relieving Americans of their wallets ... or their liberty.

Hey, Murphy: No one needs a pressure cooker that can hold three or more chickens! We need common-sense pressure cooker control, now!

Get to work, Murph: register all pressure cookers. License all dealers of pressure cookers. Eliminate the garage sale loophole for pressure cooker sales.

And we need to impose universal background checks on all pressure cooker purchases.

It's for the children, so hurry!


Hat tip: Malik.

Monday, April 15, 2013

BOSTON TERROR AFTERMATH: CBS News joins New York Post in reporting that a "Saudi National" is in Custody

Via Dan Riehl, CBS Boston relays word that:

CBS News senior correspondent John Miller said there is “an individual in custody,” a Saudi national who was near the scene of the blast.

Miller said a civilian claims the person was acting suspiciously and chased him down and tackled him after the explosions.

The man is said to be cooperating with investigators and denies any involvement.

While unconfirmed by authorities, this jibes with an earlier report by The New York Post:

Investigators have a suspect — a Saudi Arabian national — in the horrific Boston Marathon bombings, The Post has learned.

Law enforcement sources said the 20-year-old suspect was under guard at an undisclosed Boston hospital.

Fox News reported that the suspect suffered severe burns.

It was not immediately clear why the man was hospitalized and whether he was injured in the attack or in his apprehension.

The man was caught less than two hours after the 2:50 p.m. bombing on the finish line of the race, in the heart of Boston...

In addition, Boston police have surveillance video of someone bringing multiple backpacks to the blast site, according to CBS News.

To be clear, this is preliminary information. Our heartfelt thoughts and prayers go out to those impacted by this terrorist attack.


Saturday, April 13, 2013

Illegal Immigration Propaganda [Simpson]

Guest post by James Simpson, Accuracy in Media

As we once again face the specter of illegal alien amnesty, and the permanent Democratic majority it will guarantee, it is critical to understand how the Left plays. They are unethical to the core, but we are so frequently deluded by their tactical use of language and emotion, that we are unequipped to deal with them effectively. The result: they win. This cannot happen again, unless we are all willing to start calling Obama “President for Life,” and Democrats, the “Commissars.”

Introduction

Changes in public perception happen gradually. This is a natural human survival strategy that mistrusts the unfamiliar. A campaign of public education has become necessary to help convince a wary public to accept new ideas or policies that might otherwise take too much time. But there is a difference between education and propaganda.

Our society relies for its security, stability and prosperity, indeed, its survival, on the rule of law. So the idea of giving special privileges to individuals whose very presence is prima facie evidence of lawbreaking, is instinctively rejected. It cannot be otherwise. To grant special privileges to criminals upends and subverts the rule of law on which we depend.

Our nation’s laws constitute a contract that every citizen implicitly agrees to respect. Those who violate it face sanctions of corresponding severity. If certain individuals can avoid sanction and gain special privilege through political power—despite their blatant violations—then the rule of law becomes meaningless, and is replaced by a society based on political power alone. That is called dictatorship. Yet this is what the illegal immigration lobby wants us to accept.

When individuals or organizations attempt to introduce ideas that are self-evidently destructive, like Nazism or communism, for example, a campaign based on propaganda is necessary. Unlike factual information, propaganda manipulates, using fear and instinct in combination with known psychological reactions. It is evident that the illegal alien lobby uses these methods.

Thursday, April 11, 2013

But don't worry, folks: Melissa Harris-Perry will succeed where Stalin, Hitler and Pol Pot failed

Not only is the nutty professor -- Melissa Harris-Perry of MSNBC -- agitating for collectivization of child-rearing, now she's articulated her own "Bill of Rights":

Americans will always want some level of inequality, because it’s a representation of meritocracy. People who work hard and sacrifice and save their money and make major contributions — we think that they should earn a little more. They should have more resources, and that’s fine. But we also, however, have to have a floor under which nobody falls.


And if you’re below that — especially if you’re a child and you’re below that — we are not going to accept that. You do have the the right to health care, and to education, and to decent housing and to quality food at all times.

Alleged Professor Harris-Perry is either a Communist or unspeakably ignorant, because her bill of particulars bears an uncanny resemblance to the Soviet Union's Constitution of 1936, which guarantees the rights of the people including:

...Citizens of the U.S.S.R. have the right to work, that is, are guaranteed the right to employment and payment for their work in accordance With its quantity and quality...

ARTICLE 119. Citizens of the U.S.S.R. have the right to rest and leisure...

ARTICLE 120. Citizens of the U.S.S.R. have the right to maintenance in old age and also in case of sickness or loss of capacity to work...

ARTICLE 121. Citizens of the U.S.S.R. have the right to education...

ARTICLE 122. Women in the U.S.S.R. are accorded equal rights with men in all spheres [including] prematernity and maternity leave with full pay, and the provision of a wide network of maternity homes, nurseries and kindergartens...

Not to worry, folks: Ol' Missy's certain she can get the whole central planning thing down this time. And if it costs 10 or 20 or 50 or 60 million lives to do so, as it did in the 20th century, that's okay. She's doing it for the children.


Hat tip: Mark Levin.

I don't think you're going to be outrunning this particular cop car...

In this case, the $550,000 Lamborghini Aventador Squad Car:

In a city of boundless bling, Dubai police also are in hot pursuit after adding a nearly $550,000 Lamborghini to its fleet.

The sports car, painted in green-and-white colors of the Dubai force, will not likely be roaring after law breakers. Instead, it will be mostly dispatched to tourist areas to show - in the words of deputy police director, Gen. Khamis Matter al-Muzaina - "how classy Dubai is."


Local media reports Thursday say the Italian-made Lamborghini Aventador is the crown jewel of a wider upgrade in Dubai police wheels. The force also is adding some American muscle car Camaros.

...the Lamborghini Aventador has a maximum speed of 217 mph and accelerates from zero to 60 mph in 2.9 seconds...

Dubai seeks to show it has rebounded from its debt crisis with brash plans that include the world's largest Ferris wheel and a satellite city named after the city-state's ruler.

My only question: what do you do with the perp?


Related: Luxury Cars Abandoned in Dubai


Hat tip: BB.

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Tuesday, April 09, 2013

Yo, Jacques Tous-tight, how's that "Taxing the Rich" strategy working out for you in France?

IceCap Asset Management, via Zero Hedge, relays the economic results of taxing the hell out of the rich (in this case, levying a 75 percent top rate on "the wealthy"):

...in France, the rock-star status enjoyed by the newly elected president Francois Hollande has completely vanished. In fact, over 67% of people disapprove of his handling of the economy, and this just 10 months into office. Considering the French economy is firmly entrenched in recession (see Chart 2...), exactly how Mr.Hollande plans to ignite a turn around remains unknown.

Tell me, Leftists: can you point to a single instance in all of history where raising taxes grew the economy for a substantial period of time (say, even a decade)?

And, no: Bill Clinton's record doesn't cut it. His "surplus" -- it ignored entitlements and other off-the-books spending -- was the product of a Republican House that was willing to shut down the government to stop Clinton's profligate spending. Furthermore, the gap was short-lived.

Clinton left office just as the tech bubble was imploding.

The real story behind the nineties economic boom has as much to do with Bill Clinton's leadership as Al Gore had to do with the invention of the world-wide web. Which is to say: none.


Monday, April 08, 2013

Fed Training Material: Evangelical Christians, Catholics and Jews are Among the Most Dangerous Extremist Groups

And the hits just keep on coming:

The Obama administration ... was caught training U.S. troops that Catholics, orthodox Jews, and evangelical Christians are to be considered “religious extremists,” [PDF] even equating the major religions representing more than half of Americans with truly violent groups such as al-Qaeda, the Ku Klux Klan, and Hamas... Now, critics are calling for an immediate public apology to the soldiers exposed to the hateful propaganda, as well as to the Christian and Jewish communities targeted in the presentation...


...Between evangelical Christians and orthodox Jews was the Muslim Brotherhood, a radical Islamo-socialist group ruling over [the same] Egypt that Obama is supplying with advanced military weaponry including fighter jets and tanks — not to mention billions more in aid. Along with the Brotherhood, al-Qaeda, the Nation of Islam, a Filipino Islamist group, and Hamas were listed, along with Sunni Muslims in general. The U.S. government claims to be at war with some of the Islamist groups, while others are openly receiving American taxpayer dollars, weapons, and training from the administration...

Well, that's not confusing.

Considering this administration now demands "obedience" of its trainees, portraying the most peaceful people on Earth as homicidal nut-jobs is par for the course.

7 Timeless Margaret Thatcher Quotes for Conservatives

Spotted at RedAlert, seven of the Iron Lady's finest:

Today is truly a sad day for conservatives everywhere as news traveled fast that Margaret Thatcher, the first female Prime Minister of Britain, has died at the age of 87. But as we mourn her death, we also celebrate the life of one of the most inspirational conservatives of all time by highlighting seven of her most memorable quotes.

Thatcher once said, “I fight on. I fight to win.” Her legacy lives on through these powerful words:

1. “The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money.”


2. “Pennies don’t fall from heaven, they have to be earned here on earth.”


3. “No one would remember the Good Samaritan if he’d only had good intentions; he had money as well.”


4. “Economics are the method; the object is to change the heart and soul.”


5. “My policies are based not on some economics theory, but on things I and millions like me were brought up with: an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay; live within your means; put by a nest egg for a rainy day; pay your bills on time; support the police.”


6. “The choice facing the nation is between two totally different ways of life. And what a prize we have to fight for: no less than the chance to banish from our land the dark, divisive clouds of Marxist socialism and bring together men and women from all walks of life who share a belief in freedom.”


And finally (paraphrasing St. Francis of Assisi):

7. “Where there is discord, may we bring harmony. Where there is error, may we bring truth. Where there is doubt, may we bring faith. And where there is despair, may we bring hope.”


And Ann Althouse reminds us of another classic retort to liberalism:

"He would rather have the poor poorer, provided that the rich were less rich. That is the Liberal policy."


Godspeed, Milady. Godspeed.


Hat tip: BadBlue News.

Sunday, April 07, 2013

Anonymous leaks sensitive data from Israeli defense firm Decell

BadBlue Tech, the automated tech news portal, points us to a file of sensitive data leaked a few hours ago by Anonymous (PDF):

1. #Anonymous #OpIsrael
2.
3. Greetings Citizens of the world,
4.
5. This is Anonymous.
6.
7. Decell Inc. is (apparently) a privately held company founded in
2000, fully owned by Israel ministry of defense.
8. Decell Technologies Ltd.,” Decell “ leverages its unique
technology to provide accurate, real-time traffic information to
public services, private traffic management companies and not
surprisingly Israeli intelligence services (MOSSAD & Shin Bet).
9. Using sophisticated analysis of different raw data sources such as
CFCD (Celluar Floating Car Data) and GPS (Global Positioning
System) Decell provides GIS (Geographic Information System)
services to both MOSSAD and Shin Bet.
10. Colonel Abraham (Avi) Peri acts as current CEO of Decell, He
served as CEO for number of high-tech companies, and earlier, as a
Colonel in the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces). He was in charge of
all computer centers and software development activities in the
IDF! (He is just too sexy!)
11.
12. Source:
(http://www.decell.com/About_Us/Board_of_Directors/board.html)
13.
14. Now after all of this impressive introduction it is our
pleasure to announce that we have managed to hack Decell servers,
acquiring some highly sensitive information, including exact GPS
coordinates of every City, Highway, Streets and of course every
sensitive buildings located within Israel boarders!
15.
16. We are asking every Zionist around the world to pay careful
attention to the following statement:
17.
18. You have a CHOICE to make, either
19.
20. STOP MURDERING CIVILIANS, WOMEN AND CHILDREN,
21. STOP MASS-KILLING PALESTINIANS,
22. STOP STEALING PALESTINIANS LAND,
23.
24. Or ELSE
25.
26. WE WILL PUBLISH MORE OF WHAT WE HAVE GOT, INCLUDING
COORDINATES OF SPECIAL BUILDINGS!
27. THEN HAMAS MISSILES WOULDN'T LAND IN DESERT OR OCEAN THIS
TIME..........
28.
29. Here are some sample of what we have access to:
30.
31. Decell customers usernames and passwords...

Of course, a quick review of the full, illustrated history of Israel would clear up any misconceptions about the Middle East. Namely, which side advances civilization and which promotes barbarism.