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

Thursday, January 15, 2015

"This vote represents one of the most important constitutional votes that has ever come before this body"

By Sen. Jeff Sessions

Today the House of Representatives acted to defend the American people, the Constitution, and the authority of Congress. They have voted to fully fund the Department of Homeland Security while denying the use of any funds to carry out the President’s illegal amnesty.

President Obama’s executive-ordered amnesty eliminates the immigration laws that exist today in order to force onto the nation immigration measures that Congress has repeatedly refused to pass. His action is unlawful, unconstitutional, and in violation of our legal heritage. At the time of our founding, even British kings had long been bound by acts of Parliament. This idea of the legislature—the people’s representatives—as the lawmaking body represents centuries of human progress and legal history that forms the foundational base of our Republic.

President Obama himself has emphatically declared many times that he lacked authority to execute this nullification scheme, correctly asserting that only an Emperor could issue such edicts.

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

"I putt with Charlie"

Best. One. Yet.


I can't find the original artist on the web (i.e., "A 57th State Production"), but alert me in the comments if you know who created this particular keeper. Credit where due and all that.


Hat tip: Lee.

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

ICEBERG, DEAD AHEAD!

By Jim Quinn

Based on the average of four separate valuation models that have been accurate in assessing whether the stock market is overvalued or undervalued over the last century, the stock market is currently over valued by 89%. The stock market was overvalued by 88% before the 1929 Crash. It was “only” overvalued by 74% in 2007 before the last Crash. It has only been more overvalued once in market history – 2000. I wonder what happened after that?

If you were paying attention in Statistics class in college, you know that when something reaches 2 standard deviations from the mean, you’ve reached EXTREME levels. The market valuation is now past 2 standard deviations. Anyone staying in the market or buying today is betting on the market to reach 2000 internet bubble proportions. I’ll pass. You will be lucky to “achieve” a negative 2% nominal return over the next ten years. After taking inflation into account you will likely end up with a -5% to -10% annual return, with a crash thrown in for good measure.

The question is...

...at this point, should we send it back?



Hat tip: Papa B.

Monday, January 12, 2015

Guess who will grace the next cover of #CharlieHebdo?

CNN has the story, but not the cover itself.

Editors of the Paris-based satirical magazine released the cover of their next issue on Monday night, and it shows a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed, holding up a sign with the now-famous slogan "Je Suis Charlie."


That slogan has become a rallying cry in the wake of the horrific shootings that left 12 dead at the magazine's offices last week.

...The new cover was shared by Liberation, a French newspaper that lent office space to the surviving staff members of Charlie Hebdo... Liberation's news story about the new cover said it was specifically meant to depict Mohammed.

...Many major news organizations, including CNN, have refrained from showing any of the Charlie Hebdo cartoons that purport to show the prophet. Executives at CNN have cited concerns about the safety of staff members and sensitivity about Muslim audiences.

Frauds. Punks. Cowards. Either you believe in freedom of speech or you don't.

So we know where CNN stands. Or rather squats. On its knees, in a pose of submission.


Hat tip: BadBlue News.

RESET: Russia Names NATO its Number One Military Threat

By Investor's Business Daily

New Cold War: A revised Russian military doctrine identifies NATO as Moscow's No. 1 threat, as the Obama administration announced it was returning control of 15 bases in Europe back to the host governments.

Russian President Vladimir Putin gave President Obama a lump of coal in his Christmas stocking in the form of a revised strategic doctrine.

It re-emphasizes that NATO, notwithstanding President Obama's "flexibility" and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's "reset" button, is the No. 1 strategic threat facing Russia.

We are reminded of Obama's rebuke of Mitt Romney in the third presidential debate, when the GOP nominee was ridiculed for listing, in response to a question, Russia as our No. 1 strategic geopolitical threat.

"The 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back because ... the Cold War's been over for 20 years," said the president who promised the Russians more flexibility as he disarmed the United States.

Apparently Putin does not share the view that the frigid era of confrontation is over.

The latest Russian strategic doctrine, the fourth since the end of a Soviet Union whose demise Putin has mourned and whose territories he seeks to reclaim, comes after the 2008 war against the former Soviet republic of Georgia, its annexation of Crimea and its creeping invasion of Ukraine.

Russian strategic doctrine was revised by Boris Yeltsin after the USSR's demise. It was revised again in 2000 under Putin, and again in 2010 by Dmitry Medvedev.

Some would argue the newest incarnation merely gives shape for the first time to Russian neighbors' fears and has a few disturbing new wrinkles that bear watching in light of a staggering Russian military renaissance.

The doctrine announces Russia intends the "lawful use of the armed forces . . . to ensure the protection of its citizens outside the Russian federation."

This was the pretext Moscow used to seize the Crimea and Nazi Germany's excuse to annex Austria and the Sudetenland prior to World War II. This is not good news for the Baltic states NATO is obligated to defend.

Bold Career Move by @BenAffleck

I guess good ol' Ben stands with Charlie, too.



Hat tip: BadBlue Fame

CARTOON O' THE DAY: John Kerry Stands With Charlie

From the brilliant Stilton Jarlsberg:


So true.

Also, John Kerry is whining about all of the progressives who are criticizing the administration for playing hooky during this weekend's solidarity march.

To be fair, the NFL playoffs were on.


Hat tip: BadBlue News.

Legendary Cartoonist R. Crumb Weighs in on Charlie Hedbo

Robert Crumb was the iconic cartoonist of the sixties counterculture.


It would seem he's not impressed with the "bravery" of the media as it pertains to Islamofascism.

The hat tip goes to Jake Tapper, who notes the President's absence from the weekend's solidarity rally as follows: the President of France was the first to visit the U.S. after 9/11.


3 of the Best Global Warming Images Ever

Spotted at Stormfax:


Related:
  • 'This was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow...'
  • Al Gore and his UN global warming profiteers
  • Let Them Eat Dirt

Sunday, January 11, 2015

The 4 Biggest Hypocrites Praising Free Speech in Paris Today

Kabir Chibber of Quartz helps bust the tyrannical hypocrites who today claim to stand with Charlie Hedbo. Here are the four of the worst offenders.

Foreign minister Sameh Shoukry, Egypt
Three al-Jazeera journalists—Peter Greste, Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed—were jailed for seven years for spreading false news and supporting the now-banned group, the Muslim Brotherhood. The trio had denied the charges. On New Year’s Day, the country’s top court ordered a retrial... Reporters Without Borders ranks Egypt as second in the world for the number of journalists arrested, including this photojournalist who describes his 16 months behind bars as an “endless nightmare.”
Prime minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, Turkey
Turkey held almost 50 journalists in jail two years ago. There are seven journalists in jail at the moment, mainly for producing propaganda for outlawed political parties.
King Abdullah, Jordan
Mudar Zahran, a Palestinian writer for The Jerusalem Post, was sentenced to as much as 15 years in jail with hard labor for writing about the king’s dependence on Israel for power. He told the the paper he was charged with “inciting hatred and attacking Jordan’s image and the image of its one nation.” He spoke from the UK, where he has been granted asylum.
Prime minister Enda Kenny, Ireland
Perhaps most surprising of all in these circumstances, Ireland has had “blasphemy” as a criminal offense on its books since 2009. Already one Muslim has threatened legal action against any Irish publication that reprints Charlie Hebdo’s front-page depiction of the Prophet Muhammad. Blasphemy is punishable with a fine of up to €25,000 ($29,500), but there are plans to hold a referendum to abolish it... Blasphemy is defined by the Irish as “publishing or uttering matter that is grossly abusive or insulting in relation to matters sacred by any religion.” It doesn’t sound like the drafters of this law would have much time for the people at Charlie Hebdo.

Hat tip: BadBlue Tech News

QOTD: Right of Return

By Dan from New York

Sent via a friend:

“This attack only underscores the need for France to immediately engage in negotiations with French Muslims that will result in the creation of two states for two peoples, living side by side in peace and security, with Paris as a shared capital..."

Similar notion expressed here:


Related: The 751 No-Go Zones of France.


Saturday, January 10, 2015

SHARYL ATTKISSON: The U.S. Government vs. David Petraeus

By Sharyl Attkisson

The New York Times reports federal prosecutors are recommending felony charges against former CIA Director Gen. David Petraeus for allegedly providing classified information to a civilian author and journalist with whom he allegedly had an affair.

In light of the news, it’s worth looking at the following excerpt from my book: Stonewalled.

Meanwhile, another controversy is waiting to boil over within the Obama administration: a sex scandal involving the CIA’s Petraeus. The timing is—intriguing. Only after the Benghazi attacks, as Petraeus’s loyalty to the administration falls into question, does everything turn sour for the spy chief.

In the immediate aftermath of the Benghazi attacks, Petraeus first draws ire from some administration colleagues for not reading from the Carney-Obama-Clinton-Rice book of fiction. While they’re pushing the spontaneous protest narrative, he’s disclosing full information on the suspected al-Qaeda links, to House Intelligence Committee members at a classified briefing, according to those present. Then the talking points his agency approves for public dissemination on September 14 say that the CIA provided warnings on September 10 that the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, Egypt, could come under attack and that Benghazi was in a precarious state. Clinton’s state department sees the inclusion of that damning information in the CIA’s original proposed talking points as a “knee-jerk cover-your-ass moment” on Petraeus’s part. One official later tells me, “We thought, Why are you guys [Petraeus’s CIA] throwing us under the bus? . . . They made it seem like the State Department was given a warning they ignored. [But] no specific warning was given.”

Emails indicate that on September 15, 2012, a CIA representative sent Petraeus the final version of the talking points that had been revised “through the Deputies Committee” after “State voiced strong concerns with the original text.” The CIA’s references to terrorism and early warnings had been removed.

Petraeus expresses disapproval of the final version, writing that he would just assume that they not be used. But his deputy, Morell, and the White House give them the green light.

Is all of this the beginning of the end of Petraeus’s career as CIA director?

Let’s look at a timeline constructed primarily using government accounts:

In November 2011, Petraeus, who’s married, allegedly begins an affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell.

The Official Apologist for Murder and Terror of The New York Times: Nicholas Kristof #CharlieHebdo

By Abigail R. Esman

On the day when journalists were massacred in Paris, while blood still ran wet where they had fallen, and as eye witnesses described the killers' shouts of "Allahu Akbar" – "Allah is great" – the New York Times' Nicholas Kristof asked the world not to judge the killers too quickly: most urgently, he said, don't jump to the conclusion they are Muslims.

Really? Even when they sounded the Muslim prayer? Even when they called their deeds, loud and clear in the streets of Paris, "vengeance for the Prophet"?

Here's what Kristof did not do: condemn the killings. Praise those who had been slaughtered. Express horror at their execution. And admit that men who praise Allah after committing mass murder are, religious profiling or not, probably going to turn out to be Muslim.

It just kind of is that way.

(Interestingly, in listing a number of Islamic terrorist attacks on Western targets, he also failed to mention that Muslims were involved in the attacks of 9/11. Ask yourself why.)

Instead, he begged his readers not to judge. He repeated the clichéd platitudes about the "majority of Muslims" having nothing to do with Islamic extremism, and praised, not the editors and cartoonists of Charlie Hebdo, but non-Muslims who rose to the aid of Muslims who feared reprisals after the recent (Muslim-led) hostage crisis in Sydney, Australia.

What he might have done, but didn't, was take a lesson or two from the New Yorker's George Packer, a man who actually knows a thing or two about Islamic extremism, and about the courage of journalists confronting it: he was one of them. At around the same time Kristof seems to have been penning his column, Packer wrote:

Friday, January 09, 2015

"It's not racial profiling. It's logical deduction"

By Investor's Business Daily

Security: In the wake of the Islamist terrorist attack in Paris, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani argues to reinstate a policy cancelled by Mayor Bill de Blasio, who has arguably left the city as exposed as it was on Sept. 10, 2001.

Although the Paris terrorist attack by Islamists has not been linked to any mosque, the historical record is dotted with similar attacks that have such links, including the Nov. 5, 2009, rampage at the Army base in Killeen, Texas, by Maj. Nidal Hasan that killed 13 and wounded 31 as the self-proclaimed "Soldier of Allah" shouted "Allahu Akhbar" (God is great) in a manner similar to the Paris attackers.

Hasan's nearly two dozen messages to al-Qaida terrorist leader Anwar al-Awlaki, once a spiritual leader at a mosque in suburban Virginia where Hasan worshipped, put Hasan on the radar of authorities who, tragically, did not heed the warning signs.

Thinking of mosques as potential hotbeds of the Islamist fanaticism that can fuel terrorist attacks isn't politically correct, yet it's happened.

As we have noted, the Saudi Embassy-funded and Muslim Brotherhood-owned Dar al-Hijrah Islamic Center in Northern Virginia, where Hasan worshipped and al-Awlaki preached, was also where the 9/11 hijackers who led the Pentagon attack got help with housing and IDs.

It was in part that link between the 9/11 terrorists and a mosque that prompted the creation of the NYPD anti-terrorism unit known as the Demographics Unit or Zone Assessment Unit.

Thursday, January 08, 2015

The Charlie Hebdo massacre demonstrates how incredibly vulnerable our society is to Islamic terror

By Michael Snyder

If just three crazed jihadists can cause this much worldwide terror, what could thousands or even millions of them do? We live at a time when our world is becoming increasingly unstable, and thanks to the Internet hundreds of millions of people can know about a major act of terrorism within minutes of it happening. And that is what Islamic terrorists want. They want to cause fear, panic and terror, but more than anything else they want attention. They want the world to know what they did and why they did it. Even as much of the world recoils in horror in response to the massacre at the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, there are millions of radical Muslims in the Middle East that are greatly celebrating and are hailing these jihadists as heroes. This is the biggest global news story of 2015 so far, and it is going to encourage other jihadists to commit similar attacks. And without a doubt, these kinds of attacks have already been increasing. It is being reported that worldwide suicide attacks by Muslims nearly doubled from 2013 to 2014. Sadly, what we have seen up to this point is probably just the tip of the iceberg.

We live in a society that is absolutely teeming with soft targets. The United States is literally a “target-rich environment” with thousands of schools, shopping malls, movie theaters, sports stadiums and government buildings to choose from. The possibilities for Islamic terrorists are endless.

Meet the 12 Victims of the Charlie Hebdo Massacre

There are some sick, sick individuals out there. No, I'm not just talking about the animals behind the massacre of artists and writers in Paris. I'm talking about their apologists. People like CNN's Wolf Blitzer. Like Bill Donohue of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights. Like CNN's Jim Clancy. And many, many others.


Courtesy of Black Five, our response to these Islamonazi SOBs is as follows:

Pour les porcs d'amour lâches qui n'ont pas la virilité pour plaire à une souris: apporter. Comme vous l'avez semé le vent, vous pouvez récolter la tempête et il peut détruire ce qui vous soutenez. Que le monde et des milliers d'intensifier dessiner et écrire de vous et ce que vous soutenez moquer. Vous avez tué, et peut tuer plus, mais vous ne pouvez pas tuer une idée, et le rire vous moquer encore et de l'écho à travers les âges. Nous ne sommes pas peur, et nous sommes fiers de dire Je Suis Charlie!

Oh, you know what "media" outlet did publish Charlie Hebdo's cartoons? Al Jazeera.


Hat tip: BadBlue News.

Wednesday, January 07, 2015

OBAMA'S GREATEST HITS: "The future must not belong to those who slander the Prophet of Islam"

It would appear that some misanthropic misunderstanderers of Islam took those words to heart. The brilliant Mark Steyn explains:

[In my] book After America, I speculate on how future generations will look back on our time from a decade or two hence:

In the Middle East, Islam had always been beyond criticism. It was only natural that, as their numbers grew in Europe, North America and Australia, observant Muslims would seek the same protections in their new lands. But they could not have foreseen how eager Western leaders would be to serve as their enablers. ... As the more cynical Islamic imperialists occasionally reflected, how quickly the supposed defenders of liberal, pluralist, Western values came to sound as if they were competing to be Islam's lead prison bitch.

Among them is the so-called leader of the free world, who stood up before the world at the United Nations and, in service of his Administration's lies over Benghazi, shamefully told the assembled leaders:

The future must not belong to those who slander the Prophet of Islam.

Mission accomplished - at least in Paris. As I wrote two years ago:

Country with abusive, draconian immigration laws offers President Obama help with his "Executive Amnesty"

By Investor's Business Daily

Hypocrisy: Mexico's president tells ours that his country will supply any documents needed for illegal aliens to qualify under Barack Obama's executive amnesty. At the same time, Mexico deports more illegals than we do.

In an Oval Office meeting with President Obama on Tuesday, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto said that his administration "is ready to give (support) to the Mexican population living in the United States so that they can show the documentation that is necessary to prove that they have been in the United States prior to 2010" to meet the five-year requirement of Obama's amnesty plan and "all the other requirements" to qualify for executive amnesty.

This may be the first time that an American president has sought and received the assistance of a foreign leader to break the laws and violate the Constitution of the United States that he was sworn to uphold and defend.

Obama told reporters how much he appreciated "Mexico's commitment to work with us" on implementing his amnesty plan.

How gracious of President Nieto, whom Obama praised for stemming the flow of illegal aliens from Central America into the U.S. after their transit through Mexico. "In part because of a strong effort by Mexico, including at its southern border, we've seen those numbers reduced to more manageable levels," he said.

We suspect that a manageable level the American people would accept is probably closer to zero. It's interesting that Obama praises Mexico's border security at its southern border while he was woefully and deliberately neglecting border enforcement at our southern border with Mexico.

10 Stunning Facts About the Charlie Hebdo Attacks

1 The Charlie Hebdo attack was carefully planned and likely involved inside information.

Wednesday’s attack must have been carefully planned and based on some inside information. For it came precisely as Charlie’s weekly editorial meeting was under way with a maximum turnout of writers, cartoonists and editors.

2 The attack came just hours after publication of an Islam-focused issue.

The attack also came only hours after the weekly’s new issue went on sale with a cover inspired by a new novel by Michel Houelbeque, which envisions the election of a Muslim as France’s president in 2022.

3 French law enforcement had provided security details to protect the paper's top editors.

The government had provided police protection for four of the weekly’s key editors. The assassination of three of them on Wednesday suggests the protection may have been more formal than real.

4 One of the killers was a known terrorist who had been captured just a few years ago and then freed.