Monday, March 18, 2013

Nobel Peace Prize Winner Sends Nuclear-Capable B-52s Over Korea as Warning to Non-Nobel Peace Prize Winner

As the first Nobel Peace Prize winner to direct the killings of over 4,700 individuals using drone-based warfare (including children, if the Puffington Roast is to be believed) and to reverse himself on a missile defense shield, President Obama added another feather to his hawk cap this week:

AP: Pentagon highlighting bomber missions in Korea


The United States is flying nuclear-capable B-52 bombers on training missions over South Korea to highlight Washington's commitment to defend an ally amid rising tensions with North Korea, Pentagon officials said Monday.

Pentagon press secretary George Little said one B-52 flew over South Korea on March 8, and the deputy defense secretary, Ashton Carter, said during a visit to Seoul that another bomber mission is scheduled for Tuesday.

B-52 bombers are capable of launching nuclear-armed cruise missiles, but Little said those participating in the Korean exercise are not armed with nuclear weapons... the Pentagon used the occasion to draw attention to the role B-52 bombers play as part of an American nuclear "umbrella" over South Korea and Japan - both of which feel threatened by North Korea's development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.

"We're deeply concerned about North Koreans behavior and rhetoric," Little told reporters.

In a more dramatic demonstration of that concern, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Friday announced that the U.S. is beefing up its defenses against a potential North Korean missile attack on the U.S. He said that over the coming four years the Pentagon will add 14 missile interceptors to the 26 it already has in place at Fort Greely, Alaska, at an estimated cost of $1 billion.

Obama's reversal on a missile-defense shield is particularly troubling. As The Wall Street Journal puts it, his about-face represents a "A tacit admission that the U.S. will soon be vulnerable to attack."


HELPFUL CHART: Projected Obamacare Premium Increases by State

It's the gift that keeps on taking.

Remember that repetitive presidential promise to “cut the cost of a typical family’s premium by up to $2,500 a year”? As 2014 and full implementation of Obamacare get closer, it is crystal clear that won’t be the case.

Obamacare’s most onerous insurance regulations will directly cause insurance premiums to skyrocket, particularly in the individual and small group markets... There have been many different studies done over the past few years to model what premium increases are likely to be under Obamacare’s new rules. [Staff members of House and Senate committees compiled] over 30 of them to make a list of projected premium increases by state:


With the bulk of the health care law kicking in 2014, this is likely just the beginning of Obamacare’s broken promises.

As News from Doswell predicted in 2010, "Only Chumps and Hypocrites Will Pay For Health Insurance Under Obamacare Because Insurers Must Cover All Preexisting Conditions."


Hat tip: BadBlue News Service.

Helpful Message for Cypriot Bankers

Tyler Durden:

If you see this man coming to make a withdrawal, it may be a good idea to run.



And the Oscar for best casting goes to... [Dan from New York]

Dan from New York:

Obama Look-Alike Plays Satan In The History Channel’s “The Bible” Series


Good comments at the thread:

Beretta: "Haha. Obama as the devil. Where's the teleprompter? Devil to Jesus: 'Let me be clear blah, blah, blah...the Etruscans' fault. I inherited this mess.'"

Big Al: "No resemblance, there is no golf club."

DOJ investigation in 3... 2...


Cyprus: The Canary in the Coal Mine?

Henry Blodget, for once in his life, may be on to something here:

...Some of Cyprus's banks, like many banks in Europe, are bankrupt... Cyprus went to the eurozone to get a bailout, the same way Ireland, Greece, and other European countries have.

The eurozone powers-that-be (mainly Germany) gave Cyprus a bailout and insisted that the depositors in Cyprus's banks pay part of the tab — a startling condition that has never before been imposed on any major banking system since the start of the global financial crisis in 2008.

The deal did not touch the bondholders. Why the depositors? These are folks who had their money in the banks for safe-keeping.

When Cyprus's banks reopen on Tuesday morning, every depositor will have some of his or her money seized. The current plan is that accounts under 100,000 euros will have 6.75% of the funds seized. Accounts over 100,000 euros will have 9.9% seized. And then the eurozone's emergency lending facility and the International Monetary Fund will inject 10 billion euros into the banks to allow them to keep operating.

...Not surprisingly, news that deposits in Cyprus's banks would be seized triggered an immediate run on the banks... Depositors rushed to ATMs and tried to withdraw their money before it could be seized. But the ATMs weren't working. And the government has now made it impossible to transfer money out of the country.

...ever since the Great Depression wiped out a big percentage of the world's banks, vaporizing the bank depositors' savings in the process, banking system regulators have tried to do everything they can to protect bank depositors... Because the moment depositors think that there is risk to their savings, they rush to banks to yank their money out.

That's called a run on the bank. And since no bank anywhere has enough cash on hand to pay off all its depositors at once, runs on the bank cause banks to go bust.

...now, thanks to the eurozone's bizarre decision in Cyprus, the illusion that depositors don't need to yank their money out of threatened banks because they'll be protected has been shattered... Depositors in Cyprus banks will lose some of their money. They will be furious about this. And they will, rightly, feel that it is grossly unfair — because depositors in the bailed-out banks in Ireland, Greece, etc. didn't lose their money. And they will feel like fools for not having taken their money out.

...Other depositors at weak banks all over Europe, in places like Spain, Italy, and Greece, will rightly wonder whether this is the beginning of a new era of bank bailouts, an era in which bank depositors are going lose some of their money. What do you think those other depositors in Spain, Italy, Greece, etc., are going to feel like doing when they realize that, if their banks ever need a bailout, they might have their deposits seized?

...Well, then, a good portion of Europe might suddenly experience a good old-fashioned bank run. That, to put it mildly, could be a disaster. It could bring the European financial crisis, which has lurched from one flare-up to another for most of the past five years, to a rather sudden head.

Econoblogger Karl Denninger says that Cyprus is a preview of coming attractions for those of us in the United States.

And he asserts that our Cyprus event will occur within two years. Because the laws of mathematics always trump those of politics.


Image hat tips: Zero Hedge (top) and NBC News.

Larwyn's Linx: DHS deploying in Homeland with ‘weapons of war’

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

Nation

DHS deploying in Homeland with ‘weapons of war’: GRE
NJ Rep: DHS must explain its immense ammo and armor purchases: GWP
Colorado Sheriff Say He Won’t Enforce New State Gun Laws: WZ

Beating thy Enemy: The Education System: Dewey
Boehner Says He 'Absolutely' Trusts Obama: CNS
State laws to prevent local officials from enforcing federal gun laws: Lott

Economy

SNAP, Crackle, and Bust: Steyn
IMF Marxists Tax and Seize Personal Funds in Cyprus – Crickets Ensue: NoisyRm
Former U.S. Treasury Official Warns of the Worst Ahead: KWN

Detroit protesters vow ‘civil disobedience’ in opposition to emergency manager: DC
Here's the admission: you have been warned: Ticker
Cyprus Bailout Math; Can Depositors Be Left Whole?: Mish

NYT: The Real Spending Problem is Tax Breaks: RWN
The Economy Is Really Improving: Instapundit
St. Patrick's Day Cartoon: RWN

Scandal Central

AZ Sheriff: Gun Control is Illegal, Obama Administration Acting Like "Gestapo": RedAlert
Mitch McConnell Declares Surrender on Obamacare: RS
Report: One of Bloomberg's Anti-Gun Mayors Held Hostage with a Gun: Pagun

Media

George Will Trashes New York Times Coverage of CPAC: NB
'More Voices': House Packed for Breitbart's Controversial 'The Uninvited' Panel: Breitbart
Gun rights billboard in Dayton raising eyebrows: WRCB-TV

The President Has Never Missed March Madness Bracket But Can’t Write a Budget on Time: SAB
Dick Durbin asked why $9T in debt was irresponsible and unpatriotic while $16T is ‘sustainable’: Malkin
Leftists Drop the “N-Word” on Dr. Carson for Criticizing Obama: Clash

Two bad weeks for Obama, in words: LI
NRA President: Democrats Shocked By Second Amendment Support: Output
American University Professor Labels Dr. Ben Carson A “Right-Wing Token”: WZ

World

If I Believed In Reincarnation...: Preemptive Offenses
The Rape of Cyprus: ZH
Hamas: We are Not Terrorists; We Just Want to Destroy Israel: Gatestone

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue.com/Tech)

Meet the Gatekeepers to Twitter and Facebook Data: AdAge
Lockheed Martin Throws More Dirt on Malthus’ Grave: Mead
We need a new generation of antibiotics: Instapundit

Cornucopia

International Women’s Day: Lead Like A Girl: MOTUS
I Am Not Making This Up: Spew
Bradley vs Provodnikov results: Timothy Bradley survives grueling, vicious fight to retain title: BadLeftHook

Image: Where 'Channel-Stuffed' German Cars Go To Die
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: BadBlue Uncensored News

QOTD: "According to Mr. Schindler’s wife Maria, when Schindler decided to liberate his Jewish workers, he handed them all semiautomatic weapons so they could fight the Nazis.

In today’s politically correct Hollywood, Steven Spielberg probably would have ruined his chances for an Oscar by telling the whole story about Oskar Schindler’s devotion to freedom." --William R Tonso and David B. Kopel, August 24, 1994

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Advanced Levity Commences as Global Warming Con Game Implodes

Every. Single. Prediction. Every single one by the Climatards (which is the term they prefer, I hear) has turned out wrong, but none as spectacularly as this:

No, the world isn't getting warmer (as you may have noticed)... [and] official predictions of global climate warming have been catastrophically flawed ... the ‘scientific basis’ for [reshaping the] economy and spending billions in taxes and subsidies in order to cut emissions of greenhouse gases...


Steadily climbing orange and red bands on the graph show the computer predictions of world temperatures used by the official United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

The estimates – given with 75 per cent and 95 per cent certainty – suggest only a five per cent chance of the real temperature falling outside both bands.

But when the latest official global temperature figures from the Met Office are placed over the predictions, they show how wrong the estimates have been, to the point of falling out of the ‘95 per cent’ band completely...

The graph shows in incontrovertible detail how the speed of global warming has been massively overestimated. Yet those forecasts have had a ruinous impact on the bills we pay, from heating to car fuel to huge sums paid by councils to reduce carbon emissions.

...Academics are revising their views after acknowledging the miscalculation. Last night Myles Allen, Oxford University’s Professor of Geosystem Science, said that until recently he believed the world might be on course for a catastrophic temperature rise of more than five degrees this century... But he now says: ‘The odds have come down,’ – adding that warming is likely to be significantly lower... Prof Allen says higher estimates are now ‘looking iffy’.

...The graph confirms there has been no statistically significant increase in the world’s average temperature... Its source is impeccable. The line showing world temperatures comes from the Met Office ‘HadCRUT4’ database, which contains readings from more than 30,000 measuring posts. This was added to the 75 and 95 per cent certainty bands to produce the graph by a group that amalgamates the work of 20 climate model centres working for the IPCC.

...In the Seventies, scientists and policymakers were just as concerned about a looming ‘ice age’ as they have been lately about global warming – as the Time magazine cover pictured here illustrates... Temperatures had been falling since the beginning of the Forties. Professors warned that the trend would continue and food crises were going to get worse because of shorter growing seasons.

Newsweek magazine reported that evidence of cooling was so strong ‘meteorologists are hard-pressed to keep up with it’. But, it lamented, ‘scientists see few signs that government leaders anywhere are even prepared to take the simple measures of introducing the variables of climatic uncertainty into economic projections’. It said the planet was already ‘a sixth of the way towards the next ice age’.

While recently every kind of extreme weather event has been blamed on warming, in the Seventies the culprit was cooling. One article predicted ‘the most devastating outbreak of tornadoes ever recorded’, along with ‘droughts, floods, extended dry spells and long freezes’...

The recent leak of the Climategate 3.0 emails offers additional evidence that global warming is about as genuine as a mother-in-law's hug.

Not that any evidence would dissuade the lawless extremists at the EPA.


Preview of Coming Attractions: Full-On Bank Run in Cyprus as Depositors' Assets Seized by Government-Banker Complex

This is government-sponsored theft, plain and simple. And it is a sign that the civil society is unraveling in Europe.

ATMs drained as bailout tax triggers run on bank deposits


In a move that could set off new fears of contagion across the eurozone, anxious depositors drained cash from ATMs in Cyprus on Saturday, hours after European officials in Brussels required that part of a new €10 billion ($12.6 billion) bailout must be paid for directly from the bank accounts of savers.

The move - a first in the three-year-old European financial crisis - raised questions over whether bank runs could be set off elsewhere.

Jeroen Dijsselbloem, president of the group of euro-area ministers, on Saturday declined to rule out taxes on depositors in countries beyond Cyprus... Although banks placed withdrawal limits of €400 on ATMs, most of them had run out of cash by early evening. People around the country reacted with disbelief and anger... ''This is a clear-cut robbery,'' said Andreas Moyseos, a former electrician who is a pensioner in Nicosia, the capital...

...[The seizure] came with almost no warning at the beginning of a three-day religious holiday... Under an emergency deal reached early on Saturday in Brussels, a one-time tax of 9.9 per cent is to be levied on Cypriot bank deposits of more than €100,000 effective on Tuesday, hitting wealthy depositors - mostly Russians who have put vast sums into Cyprus's banks in recent years. But even deposits under that amount would be taxed at 6.75 per cent, meaning that Cyprus's creditors will be confiscating money directly from pensioners, workers and regular depositors to pay off the bailout tab...

This is an idiotic step and one that could trigger bank runs throughout Europe.

Oh. And think it can't happen here? There are steps that our own federal government is taking that say otherwise.


The Declaration of Dependence

IN WASHINGTON DC, MARCH 17, 2013
The unanimous Declaration of the President of the United States

hen in the course of political expediency it becomes necessary for one political party to ignore its country's Constitution and the legal system which hath guided it for 236 years, Gaia and MF Global require that it declare the causes which impel them to sedition.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all workers can be divided into races, income levels, religions, genders, and other artificial partitions, so as to advance Statism; that they possess certain unalienable rights, that among these are health care, food stamps, phones, cable television, and a condo within walking distance of a Starbucks --

That to redistribute these rights, Governments are usurped by politicians, deriving their powers by the theft of private property and the restriction of liberty --

The Top 30 Boxing Nicknames of All Times [Updated]

The definitive list:

30. Hector "Macho" Camacho
29. Mike "The Bounty" Hunter
28. Aaron "The Hawk" Pryor
27. Carl "The Truth" Williams
26. Muhammad "The Greatest" Ali

OBAMA CLASSMATE AT OCCIDENTAL COLLEGE: Barack sought "revolution, where the working class would overthrow the ruling class"

Well, this certainly helps explain things. Dr. John Drew was a classmate of President Obama at Occidental College. Several years ago, he was interviewed by Paul Kengor on The Glen Meakem Show. The little-publicized interview was previously available only in audio form and it did not receive significant attention. The following transcript offers some fascinating insights into Barack Obama's worldview.

Q: I interviewed you for my book Dupes a year ago and you had contact me a couple of years ago because you read a piece that I wrote for American Thinker and it was called "Dreams from Frank Marshall Davis" and it was on Obama's background and youth.

Frank Marshall Davis was an actual Party member and that's something, John, I spent two or three years on investigating, but there's no question about it... the documentation is there, a 1957 Senate report called him "and identified member of the Communist Party", there's an FBI file that's 600 pages, and I took ten or twelve pages from that report and put it in the appendix of my book. It even lists Davis' Communist Party card number, which was 47544, so very clear. Why is all of this relevant? Well, I think it explains, at least to some degree, that -- if he's not a Communist, he's at least very far to the left -- and has some very left-oriented views. But you met Obama when he left Frank Marshall Davis in 1980 coming from Hawaii and went to Occidental College. So tell us about when Obama got there and when you met.

A: I see myself as Barack Obama's missing link from his exposure to Communism through Frank Marshall Davis and his later exposure to Bill Ayers and Alice Palmer in Chicago. So, as far as I can tell, I'm the only one of Obama's extended circle of friends who's spoken out and verified that he was a Marxist-Leninist in his sophomore year of college, from 1980 to 1981.

I met him because I graduated from Occidental College in 1979 and I was back at Occidental visiting a girlfriend. I met him because of the relationship which I'd started my senior year at Occidental --

Q: By the way, tell us where Occidental is. We're way out here in Western Pennsylvania.

A: Sure, Occidental College is in the Eastern Los Angeles area. It's a very prestigious, very beautiful, sort of very garden, rose-garden sort of college, with three- or four-thousand students --

Q: And pretty competitive, I mean Obama would have had to have good grades and been a good student to get accepted there.

Larwyn's Linx: Benjamin Carson: How “Someone” in the White House would try to Destroy the Nation

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

Nation

Carson: How 'someone' in White House could destroy the nation: FreeLight
Benjamin Carson to retire from medicine, considering WH run: ViralRead
Conservative Rockstar Carson Excites CPAC With 2016 Talk: Mediaite

Son of Sequester!: RWN
CPAC: Ted Cruz urges conservatives to stand up for the Constitution: Times
The United States of Jail: John Galt FLA

Rand Paul wins The Washington Times-CPAC 2013 Straw Poll: Times
"Or Readily Converted": OG&M
Michael Bloomberg's gun control group greatly expands staff: Lott

Economy

Motor City Mobius Loop: Driscoll
Obama: Our Out-of-Control Debt Is ‘Sustainable’ for the Next Decade: Blumer
Singular Cal: City Journal

Cyprus: IMF Goes Directly After Bank Depositor Money: EPJ
Top 10 Things to Say to an Obama Voter Who Just Got Laid-Off: Reaganite
New York City's Soda Ban Is Dead: Reason

Scandal Central

Surprise! Colorado Big Gun Magazine Bill Could Ban Almost All Mags: STACLU
The Chevy Volt: Not Only a Bad Investment but Now a Tool for Fraud!: NakedDC
Liberals only protect the constitutional rights they agree with: Times

Climate & Energy

Global Warming is BS: P&F
The Great Green Con no. 1: The hard proof global warming is a documented, formal scam: Daily Mail
EPA may delay proposed greenhouse gas limits for power plants: WaPo

Media

Being White in Philly: PhillyMag
The City of Chicago Declared War on Cop Bloggers!: CrimeFileNews
Sacred mystery: Blockbuster ratings for ‘The Bible’ confound Hollywood: Times

Sarah Palin’s Speech at CPAC 2013 – ‘President Obama, Step Away From the Teleprompter and Do Your Job’: FNI
Olbermanning Yourself Out of the Business: Driscoll
Why is this heroic armed citizen coming to the aid of a police officer not in the national news?: Winter Soldier

Fed Report Shows That Economy Is Not Better Than a Year Ago, AP Naturally Ignores Evidence: Blumer
Tweet of the Day: Driscoll
Even Democrats Starting to Wake Up to the Fact that Obama Is As Bad As Bush... Or Worse: ZH

World

Hussein of Jerusalem: Sultan Knish
This is the Face of a Terror Victim: Matzav
Judge strikes down secrecy provision of controversial counterterrorism orders: NBC

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue.com/Tech)

Non-Microsoft security flaws the ones to watch, Secunia analysis finds: TechWorld
The Marcott-Shakun Dating Service: ClimateAudit
Oregon Company to Sell Drone Defense Technology to Public: USNews

Cornucopia

Obama Drone: SHN
Organize This, America!: MOTUS
St. Patrick's Day Party: Glob

Image: An elderly man walks away from a shuttered co-operative bank in Cyprus
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: BadBlue Tech News

QOTD: "Buckle up.

I've been around for little over 60 yrs - the changes I have seen disgusting and so sad. The freedoms that have slipped away / taken the decay of our society, truly disheartening. And still they keep coming. Wanting more and more on every level. and yet so many sleep. Or take from our contributions.

My mother is still kicking at 94. She went thru WW2, helped build B-17s. That generation is aware. She said the first time she saw him, "I've seen this before - in 1939. The same arrogance, Finger pointing, Elevated stage looking down at you, so you have to look up at the one. So self absorbed, disdainful."

It's palpable - that there is something wrong and yet our learless feaders keep going along." --Email from B.B.

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Overlooked snippet from Dianne Feinstein's evasive response to Ted Cruz reveals her true agenda

An observation related to Senator Ted Cruz's interrogation of Dianne Feinstein regarding her gun-ban bill

When Feinstein was asked whether the First Amendment or the Fourth Amendment could similarly be limited, for instance by prohibiting certain books, the (very) senior senator from California responded not with law but with hysterics and violins.

Let me just make a couple points in response. One: I'm not a sixth-grader. Senator, I've been on this committee for 20 years. I was a mayor for nine years. I walked in and I saw people shot. I've looked at bodies that have been shot with these weapons. I've seen the bullets that implode. In Sandy Hook, youngsters were dismembered. Look, there were other weapons.

I'm not a lawyer, but in 20 years I've been up close and personal to the Constitution. I have great respect for it. This doesn't mean that weapons of war—and the Heller decision clearly points out three exceptions, two of which are pertinent here—and so I, you know, it's fine you want to lecture me on the Constitution. I appreciate it.

Just know that I've been here for a long time. I've passed on a number of bills. I've studied the Constitution myself. I am reasonably well educated... Incidentally, this does not prohibit—you use the word "prohibit"—it exempts two thousand two hundred and seventy one weapons. Isn't that enough for the people of the United States? Do they need a bazooka?

Let me repeat: the Feinstein bill "exempts two thousand two hundred and seventy one weapons. Isn't that enough for the people of the United States?"

In other words, Feinstein is banning all firearms, but then allowing us to have some, at least for now.

Which just confirms her earlier statement, around the time of the first assault weapons ban: "If I could have gotten 51 votes in the Senate of the United States, for an outright ban, picking up [every gun]… Mr. and Mrs. America, turn ‘em all in."

It's like the Constitution doesn't even exist for these would-be tyrants. The oath they took to uphold the nation's highest law was a joke, a prank -- the victims of which are we, the people.


MARK LEVIN TRANSCIPT: What happens when the system collapses?

A caller to Thursday's Mark Levin Show [MP3] had an interesting question regarding the inevitable result of Barack Obama's record-setting deficits.
Curtis: We talk about all of this out-of-control spending, we have the CBO reports, the GAO, the Medicare Trustees, I mean how much time do we really have before...

Levin: Well, the Social Security Trustees report that we have only 11 years, that's all.

Curtis: But the government... the government bubble... the government collapse?

Levin: It's hard to know. Hard to know, but at some point... you can see, Curtis, how they're struggling now. They're having to do these little Continuing Resolutions, they have to lie about how much we're in debt and the yearly deficit.

You can see that they're in full cover-up mode like Ponzi or Madoff. But it's hard to know exactly when [it all comes crumbling down]...

Curtis: What will this collapse look like [when it occurs]? What will we experience?

Levin: I can give some indicators. I don't know exactly what it will look llike. But some indicators will be:

- the seizing of assets... oh, they'll say it's done legally, to get "the rich", to close some "unfair loophole". Including, I believe, and I've talked about this extensively, 401(k) plans and private pensions. There's trillions of dollars sitting there and, in the view of the government, you have that money sitting there because they gave you certain tax advantages that they choose to take away.

- also in terms of programs the government offers, those programs will dry up. You'll start to see that.

- you'll start to see hyper-inflation, where the Fed -- through monetary policy -- will try to keep apace with [Obama's] disastrous fiscal policies.

- you'll see promises that the government made, such as Social Security and Medicare, start to disappear.

What you'll see in a more theoretical sense is a breakdown in the social contract. You'll see that all of these welfare programs were not social service and insurance programs, those were just facades. So all of the false premises and pretexts that were used to develop these massive entitlements, all of the borrowing and printing, will have an enormously devastating effect on our financial system.

And what is our financial system? What is the currency? The currency is not just a means of exchange. It represents the fruits of your labor. It's your paycheck. It's your savings. It's your pension. It's your investment. It's what you use to purchase food and clothing and the basics, energy. The government's in charge of the currency. The government's in charge of valuing it devaluing it.

And so my point is, you will see signs... of more and more aggressive central government... this is one of the reasons you hear me, on and on and on, attack class warfare. Because it's not about class warfare. If they can break down the most successful and productive elements of our society, they're going to break you down.

And when they break you down, you're going to ask for help. From whom? The government. Not all of you, but you get the point. When the thing begins to unravel, it collapses.

I'm not Nostradamus here, but the Constitution was set up the way it was set up to prevent this sort of thing. The people in public office today, the president, almost all of the members of his party in DC, reject limited constitutional government.

The lessons of Argentina are especially relevant.


Thanks to Biff Spackle for the transcript.

A tweet from our genteel, enlightened and erudite president

All class, as usual.


Which reminds me of this diagnosis:

Narcissistic Personality Disorder involves arrogant behavior, a lack of empathy for other people, and a need for admiration-all of which must be consistently evident at work and in relationships. People who are narcissistic are frequently described as cocky, self-centered, manipulative, and demanding. Narcissists may concentrate on unlikely personal outcomes (e.g., fame) and may be convinced that they deserve special treatment...

...narcissism is not the same thing as self-esteem; people who have high self-esteem are often humble, whereas narcissists rarely are. It was once thought that narcissists have high self-esteem on the surface, but deep down they are insecure. However, the latest evidence indicates that narcissists are actually secure or grandiose at both levels. Onlookers may infer that insecurity is there because narcissists tend to be defensive when their self-esteem is threatened (e.g., being ridiculed); narcissists can be aggressive. --Psychology Today

Also see: "Forever Six."


Hat tip: MOTUS.

Stuxnet, the first known cyber-weapon, found to have been introduced into Iran years earlier than originally thought

Symantec recently released a fascinating report on an early version of Stuxnet that it dubs version 0.5. It too appears to have been specifically developed to sabotage Iranian nuclear facilities by targeting the centrifuges hat perform uranium enrichment.

• Stuxnet 0.5 is the oldest known Stuxnet version to be analyzed, in the wild as early as November 2007 and in development as early as November 2005.
• Stuxnet 0.5 was less aggressive than Stuxnet versions 1.x and only spread through infected [Siemens Programmable Logic Controller (PLC)] Step 7 projects [which control centrifuges].
• Stuxnet 0.5 contains an alternative attack strategy, closing valves within the uranium enrichment facility at Natanz, Iran, which would have caused serious damage to the centrifuges and uranium enrichment system as a whole.


The success of Stuxnet 0.5 remains unknown. However, the chart in figure 4 references uranium enrichment production at Natanz to key milestones of Stuxnet development. Interesting events are dips in feed or production amounts and lower levels of production given the same or greater feed amounts (shown as gaps between the two lines).

Larwyn's Linx: DHS Approves Two $450MM No-Bid Contracts For More Weapons and Ammunition

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

Nation

DHS Okays Two $450M No-Bid Contracts For More Weapons, Ammo: GWP
Job Openings -- at DHS: iOTW
ICE: Yes, We Freed More Than 2,000 Dangerous Illegal Aliens: CNS

Schumer's Gun Bill Prohibits Gun Loans, Registers Firearms: Reason
Gang of Eight in Retreat; Afraid to Introduce Its Amnesty Legislation: RWN
Obama’s insults expose his ignorance and mental laziness: Bookworm Room

CPAC: Renegade Republican Predicts Obamacare-Debt Ceiling Standoff: PJM
IG Report Shows Viper’s Den at Justice Department: CFIF
VA wait times mean some die before getting care: ArmyTimes

Economy

What's the Problem with the Whale?: P&F
Obama Scheduled to Take $359,500 Flight Today: Geraghty
Faster Would be Better: Instapundit

World-Class Coward John Boehner: House Will Fund Obamacare in CR: CNS
Another Obamacare Surprise: Job-Killing Fees: Mead
Dear Paul Geiger: SCC

Scandal Central

What happens when you pass laws based on stupidity: Cold Fury
Law and Disorder: Hapless Obama Announces Arrest of Dangerous Illegal Aliens He Let Go Last Week: JWF
Sen. Lindsey Graham: I’ve talked to the survivors from Benghazi and they’ve been told not to talk: Scoop

Climate & Energy

An Order From Obama Puts Another Boot On The Economy: IBD
Krugman Wants Climate Realists Punished In The Afterlife: Cove
Solyndra, Fisker, Tesla Not Enough: Obama seeks $2 billion in research on cleaner vehicles, fuels: AutoNews

Media

Is the Washington Post looking at Rathergate II?: Patterico
Beware of the New Elites: Rasmussen
Ted Cruz talks to Cavuto about his questions to Dianne Feinstein: Scoop

Text Of The 'Blog Of The Year' Acceptance Speech: Ace
The Miraculous Recovery Of Gabrielle Giffords: Western Rifle Shooters
Steve Harvey: 'Hollywood Is More Racist Than America': Hollywood Reporter

Morning Schmoe Scarborough: Why is Ted Cruz ignoring the Heller Case That He Won?: Hot Air
CPAC: Debate and Dissension are Desirable: Elephant
CPAC Confrontation--- How Many Black People Are Here?: Lid

WH Press Secretary Speaks Dismissively To Female Reporters: WZ
Cruz Control and Powerless DiFi: Babalu
Secret Service Slams Obama: Clash

World

Obama: I Was Against the 14 Additional Missile Interceptors In Alaska Before I Was For Them: Ace
Spring Break, Sexual Predators, Cartels and Your Kids: Norris
The Real Housewives of Cairo: Reuters

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue.com/Tech)

Stuxnet is much older than we thought: Symantec
Why the United States Is So Afraid of Huawei: MIT Tech Review
The Israeli hacker who saved Facebook — twice: Times of Israel

Cornucopia

New Sequester Diet Cuts Royal Food Tasters: MOTUS
Builders unearth Medieval plague victims in City of London square: Guardian
Titanic Musician’s Salt-Stained Violin Found, May Be Auctioned: Bruce

Image: The Miraculous Recovery Of Gabrielle Giffords
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: BadBlue.com: 24-hour Real-Time News

QOTD: "I’m speaking from experience when I tell you that there is nothing on this green earth that a liberal progressive fears more than a black American who wants a better life and a smaller government." --Allen West

p.s., Private note to whoever runs Townhall.com: We can no longer link to your content, given the copious number of popups, interstitials, intrusive ads, and window hijacking that occurs. Please consider alternative ways to monetize your content without destroying the user experience.


Friday, March 15, 2013

GOOD NEWS: Democrats Vote to Promote Free Food Stamps in Foreign Embassies Around the World

When a country is forced to borrow 42 cents of every dollar it spends, behavior like this borders on the criminal:

SENATOR SESSIONS: We're a nation of immigrants, we are built that way... our law would expect and calls for immigrants who can sustain themselves and not be a public charge as a historic rule. We have instances of the promotion of the SNAP [food stamp] program in foreign consulates...


...[We should] prohibit the expenditure of funds for the promotion of the SNAP program in foreign embassies.

In short, Democrats voted unanimously to market free food stamps to the poor and indigent. As freebies. As giveaways.

If you want to make big bucks, consider moving to Washington, D.C. The sky is the limit when it comes to suckling on the public teat.


Silver Creek Man Becomes First Victim of Andrew Cuomo's Unconstitutional New York Gun Ban

Dear New York Governor Andrew Cuomo:

The Supreme Court has spoken. The recent Heller decision (thank you, Ted Cruz) made clear that "the sorts of weapons protected [by the Second Amendment are] those in common use."

In light of the fact that only 4 million AR-15 variants are in circulation, please consider "Silver Creek man becomes first arrest under new gun laws":

A Chautauqua County man appears to be the first person arrested under New York’s new gun-control law, charged with selling newly banned assault-style weapons to an undercover police officer... Benjamin M. Wassell, 32, of Silver Creek, was accused of twice selling weapons now prohibited under the New York Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement Act, according to State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.

If Wassell is convicted of the felonies, he faces a possible prison sentence of seven years.


“By selling these illegal firearms, Mr. Wassell’s actions had potentially dangerous consequences for New Yorkers,” said Schneiderman, whose office conducted the joint investigation with the State Police. “We have seen far too much gun violence in our state in recent months, and the sale of illegal semiautomatic weapons will not go unpunished."

Schneiderman’s office believes the arrest is the first in the state since the gun-control legislation was passed two months ago... The gun is considered a banned weapon now in New York, and selling it is a Class D felony, because it had several military features, including a pistol grip, telescoping butt stock and bayonet mount.

I glean from recent emails that many Americans' patience with those who violate the Constitution on a daily basis is wearing thin.


Hat tip: BB.

Possibly the Most Diabolically Cool Station Wagon Ever

Executive Summary: Daddy like.

Everyone knows that the Chevrolet Corvette is offered in both a coupe and convertible version - quite usual body versions for a sports car. In the past few months, however, another body version has become famous: the shooting brake. While we are pretty sure Chevy will never offer a shooting brake Corvette, the guys over Callaway have developed such a model.


Even crazier is that, if the company will have enough orders for it, the new AeroWagon - as it is being called - will be put into production. Callaway is currently taking orders for the model and announced the modifications will cost about $15,000.

The car’s rear hatch will be made of carbon-fiber structural components, which were developed using Callaway’s proprietary Resin Transfer Molding process. This way it will be both lightweight and strong. Callaway also announced that its new model will exceed 200 mph, making us believe it will use something different than the standard 450-horsepower, 6.2-liter V-8 engine seen in the new Stingray.

Because every American family needs a station wagon capable of 200 mph.


Hat tip: BadBlue Car News.