Saturday, June 08, 2013

The Mars Rover That Just Won't Die

Interesting article by William Herkewitz at Popular Mechanics, via BadBlue Car News:

The rover rolls its way across a barren red sea. It has just finished a geologic survey of Mars's massive Endeavor crater–finding more proof of the planet's watery past–and already has its eyes set on the next landmark.

No, this isn't Curiosity, the $2.5 billion dollar extra-planetary playboy that landed last August. This is Opportunity, its older, meeker, and pared-down cousin. By most measurements, Opportunity is less impressive. Well, with one exception: It will not die.

Opportunity is just a month shy of its 10-year launch anniversary, and the rover is still active. The mobile geologist has now survived its original stated mission length of 90 Martian days by three dozen times over (though that initial timeframe was charitably conservative). It has also far outlived the intended lifespan of its parts, its identical twin Spirit, and the expectations of everyone involved in the project.

"We've been on borrowed time for a while," John Callas, the project manager of the NASA Opportunity mission, said at a press conference today. "I don't think there's anyone on this planet that would have imagined this rover lasting this long when we started ten years ago." What makes Opportunity's lifespan so bizarre is that robot has always been just a step away from crisis. Many NASA projects, including the new Curiosity rover, have been engineered to be chock-full with redundant back-up mechanisms. When there's no hope of traveling to Mars to fix vital parts that break, engineers often double down on engines, processors, and other important machinery with backup system. This is usually a good move: When you have a million parts, each with a one-in-a-million chance of breaking, failure is almost assured.

Opportunity, however, lacks this redundancy. The reason is that it landed ballistically Mars, like a bullet surrounded by giant airbags (unlike Curiosity's the Mission Impossible-style "seven minutes of terror" descent.) To help it survive its landing, Opportunity was built light—stripped down to its essential equipment. "We have a single processor." Callas says. "A single power supply," When those die, Mars will lose an explorer and gain a monument. "If we have a solder joint that breaks, its game over," Callas says. "It's just instant death. … That said, the batteries are in shape, there's been no indication of anything [wrong]."

Considering all that could go wrong on a mission to Mars, the fact that Opportunity is still going strong after a decade is nothing short of amazing.

Top 10 Political Jokes of the Month

Culled from a list of 25 at I.J. Review.

10. "It is not looking good for President Obama. Today, his teleprompter took the fifth." --Jay Leno

9. "People always say this to me: 'Hey, Letterman,' they say. 'Why don't you make jokes about Obama?' All right, I'll tell you why. I don't make jokes about him because I don't want the FBI tapping my phone, that's why." --David Letterman

8. “Holder is shakier than a jackhammer operator playing Jenga on his lunch break. And what about Jay Carney over there? He’s got a worse bluff than Marty Feldman holding pocket aces. That cat blows more smoke than a Rastafarian’s death rattle. Couple more weeks like this and Obama’s gonna be claimin’ he’s Kenyan" --Dennis Miller

7. "During a Senate hearing yesterday, Senator John McCain said it was too hard to always have to update apps on his iPhone. No one has the heart to tell him the device he was holding was a garage door opener." --Conan O'Brien

6. "President Obama is in a lot of hot water lately. Despite the scandals, 53 percent of Americans say they approve of the job he's doing. The other 47 percent are being audited." --Conan O'Brien

5. "President Obama gave the commencement address at Morehouse College over the weekend. Great speech, very inspiring. He told the young graduates their future is bright – unless, of course, they want jobs." --Jay Leno

4. "I wouldn’t be surprised if President Obama learned Osama bin Laden had been killed when he saw himself announce it on television.” --Jon Stewart

3. “As for how much tax [the lottery winner's] gonna have to pay on that $590 million, the IRS said it’s too soon to tell, ‘cause they don’t know if she’s a Republican or a Democrat. So, it’s going to take a while to figure that out.” --Jay Leno

2. "This week marks the 40th anniversary of the Watergate hearings. For those of you too young to remember, back then the administration had an enemies list. They were spying on reporters, and they used the IRS to harass groups they didn't like. Thank God those days are gone forever." --Jay Leno

1. "I feel bad for Barack Obama. He's got the Benghazi scandal, the IRS scandal, and the FBI wiretapping phones. The president is in so much trouble politically, he's thinking about killing bin Laden again." --David Letterman


Hat tip: BadBlue Gun News.

U.S. Tech Industry "Could Pay Stiff Price for PRISM"

Reports that U.S. tech giants are siphoning the private data of their users off to the federal government have vast implications not only for the nation's citizens, but ultimately for the global reach of the businesses themselves.

The NSA's PRISM program is drawing outrage for invading the privacy of U.S. citizens, but that's not the only cause for concern now that it's come to light. "Access to information by the U.S. government on any communications platform can kill sales outside of the U.S.," noted tech analyst Rob Enderle. "That's one of the reasons we can't sell a telecom switch in most countries, for instance."


Technology firms in the United States might be impacted adversely by the National Security Agency's controversial PRISM program.

Classified documents about the program leaked to The Washington Post and The Guardian indicate that major U.S. high-tech companies -- including Microsoft, Google, Apple, Yahoo and Skype (now owned by Microsoft) -- provide it data. This data is the major source of raw intelligence for the NSA's analytical reports, according to the agency.

The leaked documents indicate that 98 percent of the data collected by PRISM comes from Google, Yahoo and Microsoft... All three, along with other technology companies, have denied involvement.


"We do not provide any government organization with direct access to Facebook servers," Joe Sullivan, chief security officer at Facebook, told TechNewsWorld... When the company receives requests for information about specific individuals, it scrutinizes them carefully and provides information "only to the extent required by law," he said.

That's pretty much the party line for all the companies named.

It's possible that tech companies may lose revenue as a consequence of their participation with PRISM.

"Access to information by the U.S. government on any communications platform can kill sales for that platform outside of the U.S.," Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group, told TechNewsWorld. "That's one of the reasons we can't sell a telecom switch in most countries, for instance."

...Claims by Microsoft, Google, Yahoo and other companies that they are not working with PRISM could be correct, because the program "can go right around tech companies and pull data from network providers like Verizon, and it's supported by U.S. domestic laws," Enderle said.

In fact, Google's Larry Page and Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg have both adamantly denied any knowledge of the program.

The problem, according to Zero Hedge's Tyler Durden, is "they are all lying".

The companies that negotiated with the government include Google, which owns YouTube; Microsoft, which owns Hotmail and Skype; Yahoo; Facebook; AOL; Apple; and Paltalk, according to one of the people briefed on the discussions. The companies were legally required to share the data under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. People briefed on the discussions spoke on the condition of anonymity because they are prohibited by law from discussing the content of FISA requests or even acknowledging their existence...

...Tech companies might have also denied knowledge of the full scope of cooperation with national security officials because employees whose job it is to comply with FISA requests are not allowed to discuss the details even with others at the company, and in some cases have national security clearance, according to both a former senior government official and a lawyer representing a technology company...

...The slide, below, details different methods of data collection under the FISA Amendment Act of 2008 (which was renewed in December 2012). It clearly distinguishes Prism, which involves data collection from servers, as distinct from four different programs involving data collection from "fiber cables and infrastructure as data flows past".


Essentially, the slide suggests that the NSA also collects some information under FAA702 from cable intercepts, but that process is distinct from Prism... Analysts are encouraged to use both techniques of data gathering...


"You Should Use Both." You know: just in case only one is insufficient to make a mockery of all personal rights and civil liberties.

Reporter Glenn Greenwald told CNN's Piers Morgan on Thursday that the Obama administration has bullied and intimidated journalists that had intended to go public with information about PRISM.

Greenwald jump-started Thursday’s discussion over civil liberties and government surveillance with a report late Wednesday night that detailed the NSA’s collection of data from millions of Americans’ phone records.

“It’s well past time that we have a debate about whether that’s the kind of country and world in which we want to live,” Greenwald said on CNN. “We haven’t had that debate because it’s all done in secrecy and the Obama administration has been very aggressive about bullying and threatening anybody who thinks about exposing it or writing about it or even doing journalism about it. It’s well past time that that come to an end.”

Durden probably summed it up best yesterday:

In retrospect, it is sad what a farce this country has become: artificial market, centrally-planned economy, pervasive spying on the people, a tax collector that target political enemies, an administration that openly lies under oath...

If we didn't know better we would say this was 1955 Stalingrad, although Stalingrad at the height of totalitarianism was for amateurs. This is next level sh**: "Firsthand experience with these systems, and horror at their capabilities, is what drove a career intelligence officer to provide PowerPoint slides about PRISM and supporting materials to The Washington Post in order to expose what he believes to be a gross intrusion on privacy. 'They quite literally can watch your ideas form as you type,' the officer said.

Compared to Obama, Nixon was an Eagle Scout.


Hat tip: BadBlue Tech News.


BUSTED: The Complete IRS Scandal Timeline in Spreadsheet Format
[Updated]

Reading this timeline, I have come to three conclusions:


  1. IRS official Steve Miller lied to Congress
  2. IRS official Lois Lerner lied to Congress
  3. President Barack Obama lied to the American people

This scandal has the fingerprints of Barack Obama, David Axelrod, and Valerie Jarrett all over it.

This is fascism on the part of the IRS and the White House. It is fascism, straight up.

Or, as I call the IRS: Organizing for Revenue.


Related: DAMNING: The Complete Benghazi Timeline Spreadsheet - Updated With the Latest Testimony and Leaks.

Larwyn's Linx: America in the Midst of a Coup d'Etat

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

Nation

America in the Midst of a Coup d'Etat: Rush Limbaugh
Holder Refuses To Answer If DOJ Is Spying On Congress: WFB
NSA Collecting Records on Americans; Holder To Investigate... Leak: Nice Deb

Solving the mystery of PRISM: Marc Ambinder
Flashback: Nixon’s Taxes Were Leaked By The IRS: S&L
Dem. Senator disputes Obama’s claim that Congress was briefed: Hill

NY Times: Congress Can Stop The Privacy Abuse: Cove
A Nation in Need of a Redeclaration of Independence: Bob Owens
Obama Ignores D-Day Anniversary: WZ

Obama in Palo Alto: Fundraising with the rich radicals: Zombie
The folly of Common Core proponents’ China envy: Mitchell Blatt
Are all phone calls recorded by the US government?: Glenn Greenwald

Economy

Pension Reform In Illinois, On the BackBurner: P&F
Retiree benefits and ObamaCare collide: David Walker, USA Today
Know Your Billionaire Bullies: Ken Lerer: Shotgun News

Scandal Central

Friday Night Document Dump: 97 Pages On Benghazi, Susan Rice: WZ
Smoking Gun? 2010 email alerted IRS in DC of targeting: Riehl
Not superhuman Barack Obama, just a very naughty boy: Matthew Norman

Obama Administration Was Aggressively “Bullying & Threatening” Journalists About Exposing PRISM : GWP
The NSA Is Funneling Your Internet Life from Silicon Valley to Obama's Desk: Atlantic Wire
Assange on PRISM: US justice system in ‘calamitous’ collapse: RT

Climate & Energy

Mark Levin’s Landmark Foundation Sues EPA: 'Pattern of Obfuscation And Apparent Deception': NoTricksZone

Media

Obama Keeps Lying; Reporters Don’t Care: RSM
Progressives, Democrats must back New York Times against Obama on NSA records collection: Julie Roginsky
Matt Drudge Was Right: Chris Cillizza

Not to be mean to Kevin Drum…: Moe Lane
‘Welcome to 1984′: Beck’s Monologue on NSA Scandal; What He’s Telling His Audience to Do: Blaze
Even Alan Colmes Jumps Ship: TPNN

Best Reason Yet To Keep Voting To Repeal Obamacare: Stephen Kruiser
20 Basic Truths You Can’t Talk About in America Anymore: John Hawkins
Google Hires Obama’s Campaign E-Team: Wizbang

Nancy Pelosi on Obamacare: Hey now, I never said premiums wouldn’t go up: Doug Powers
Open Letter to Republican National Committee: Howard Nemerov
Inspirational Speaker Dyana Valentine Sends Love to Mass Murderer in Shooting Rampage: AmPower

World

TOMMY ROBINSON: SLEEPWALKING INTO OBLIVION!: AWD
Allen West Honored with the 2013 Freedom Flame Award: Urban Infidel
Miss World cancels bikini competition to avoid offending Muslims: Daily Mail

Sci-Tech

World’s Oldest Cancer Found in Bone of 120,000 Year-Old Neanderthal: Ewan Palmer
After burglaries, mystery car unlocking device has police stumped: Megan Geuss
Amazon Continues Arming Its Legion Of Self-Publishers With Storyteller Launch: TechCrunch

Cornucopia

DHS insider: It’s about to get very ugly: CFP
"The Greatest Handgun Caliber Ever Made": Romeo Tango Bravo
Watch Dana Loesch Take the Obama Administration to Task Over IRS Scandal: Jason Howerton

Image: Urban Infidel
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Moonbattery

QOTD: "A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to fear. The traitor is the plague." --Cicero

Friday, June 07, 2013

Obama DOJ Fights Release Of Secret Court Opinion Finding Domestic Surveillance Is Unconstitutional

Hey, is there a full moon tonight? Because the radical Left periodical Mother Jones is speaking for me:

In the midst of revelations that the government has conducted extensive top-secret surveillance operations to collect domestic phone records and internet communications, the Justice Department was due to file a court motion Friday in its effort to keep secret an 86-page court opinion that determined that the government had violated the spirit of federal surveillance laws and engaged in unconstitutional spying.

This important case—all the more relevant in the wake of this week’s disclosures—was triggered after Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), a member of the Senate intelligence committee, started crying foul in 2011 about US government snooping. As a member of the intelligence committee, he had learned about domestic surveillance activity affecting American citizens that he believed was improper. He and Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.), another intelligence committee member, raised only vague warnings about this data collection, because they could not reveal the details of the classified program that concerned them. But in July 2012, Wyden was able to get the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to declassify two statements that he wanted to issue publicly. They were:

* On at least one occasion the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court held that some collection carried out pursuant to the Section 702 minimization procedures used by the government was unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment.

* I believe that the government’s implementation of Section 702 of FISA [the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act] has sometimes circumvented the spirit of the law, and on at least one occasion the FISA Court has reached this same conclusion.

For those who follow the secret and often complex world of high-tech government spying, this was an aha moment. The FISA court Wyden referred to oversees the surveillance programs run by the government, authorizing requests for various surveillance activities related to national security, and it does this behind a thick cloak of secrecy. Wyden’s statements led to an obvious conclusion: He had seen a secret FISA court opinion that ruled that one surveillance program was unconstitutional and violated the spirit of the law. But, yet again, Wyden could not publicly identify this program...

As Zip observes, "They knew it was illegal and they did it anyhow."

Lawless. Absolutely lawless.

Hey, could one of you guys find John Boehner, drag him out of whatever bar he fell asleep in, feed him some Monster energy drinks, and get him to draft some Articles of Impeachment?

And hand him this list of particulars to begin with.


AWESOME: Eric Holder Refuses to Say Whether the White House is Spying on Congress

Separation of powers? What separation of powers?

Kirk: "Mr. Attorney General, I want to take you to the Verizon scandal and -- which I understand takes us to possibly monitoring up to 120 million calls. You know, when government bureaucrats are sloppy, they're usually really sloppy. Want to just ask, could you assure to us that no phone inside the Capitol were monitored of members of Congress that would give a future executive branch, if they started pulling this kind of thing off, would give them unique leverage over the legislature?"

Holder: "With all due respect, Senator, I don't think this is an appropriate setting for me to discuss that issue. I'd be more than glad to come back in a -- in an appropriate setting to discuss the issues that you have raised. But in this open forum I don't . . ."


Kirk: "I would interrupt you and say the correct answer would be say no, we stayed within our lane, and I'm assuring you we did not spy on members of Congress.". . .

Mikulski: "We are going to stop here because this fully briefed is something that drives us up the wall."

Yesterday, Mark Levin stated that Holder was either unaware of the Executive Branch spying on Congress or he is aware of the program and knows it targeted Congress.

I'll go a step further: I suspect that Eric Holder is knowledgeable and complicit in an effort to monitor the activities of Congress under the aegis of national security.

On the one hand, I'm terrified to watch this country descend into tyranny more rapidly than I could have ever imagined. On the other hand, we are witnessing history. We have a unique ability to make a difference. As such, we cannot stand silent or quiver in fear in the face of a lawless administration that is actively attempting to extinguish our Constitution and this Republic.

Contact your member of Congress now. Now. And tell them in no uncertain terms to name a special prosecutor immediately so we can begin to unravel these scandals, step by step and piece by piece.


Hat tip: BadBlue Gun News.

BREAKING: Neanderthals Operated Coal-Fired Plants 120,000 Years Ago

I can only surmise that Neanderthals operated coal-fired power plants 120,000 years ago because the eco-Marxists keep telling us that cancer is caused by burning fossil fuels like coal. I wonder how the climatards -- which is the term they prefer to be called, I hear -- explain this report.

World’s Oldest Cancer Found in Bone of 120,000 Year-Old Neanderthal

The world's oldest known human tumour has been found in the rib bone of a Neanderthal who lived more than 120,000 years ago.

The bone was evacuated from a site in Krapina, Croatia more than 100 years ago and has been found to have contracted the fibrous dysplasia tumour, a cancer which is common among modern-day humans...

...Researchers said it is rare to discover evidence of cancer in the prehistoric population as they were not exposed to toxins, pollution, radiation and unhealthy diets over a long period of time which has been seen to cause cancer in today's humans.

Fibrous dysplasia in modern-day humans is the most frequent of the bone-tumours, but Frayer adds: "This case shows that Neanderthals, living in an unpolluted environment, were susceptible to the same kind of cancer as living humans."

Well, let's not let evidence, facts, history, logic and reason stop the de-industrialization of America. The overstuffed crook who uses the alias Richard Windsor needs to keep plenty of food on her table.


Hat tip: BadBlue Tech News.

Miss World Pageant forced to cancel the bikini competition to avoid offending Militant Quakers

Multiculturalism. It's what's for dinner.

• Pageant will be held on tourist island of Bali in September
• Contestants will not wear bikinis in case they offend Indonesia's Muslims


Miss World is synonymous with scantily clad women strutting their stuff on stage. But this year the pageant will be significantly more subdued, after organisers announced that they are scrapping the traditional bikini round in a bid to avoid offending the Muslim hosts.


The contest, which will crown a global beauty queen chosen from 137 participants, will take place in September on the island of Bali in Indonesia. The area plays host to millions of foreign tourists every year, and is known for its idyllic beaches where Western visitors are frequently to be seen sporting skimpy swimwear.

However, Indonesia is a predominantly Islamic country, with more than 200million Muslims living in the South-East Asian nation... The country's top Islamic body, the Indonesian Ulema Council, has called for the Miss World pageant to be cancelled. And in a nod to conservative public opinion, organisers have decided that the contestants will not wear bikinis during the 'beach fashion' round of the event...

...Instead, they will cover up with garments such as sarongs which avoid revealing the body shape...

As an aside, I'm stunned that I got to this before the intrepid Robert Stacy McCain, who has a knack for knocking out the finest Rule 5 posts on the planet, having coined the damn term.


Hat tip: BadBlue News.

Larwyn's Linx: The IRS Scandal's Smoking Gun

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

Nation

A Smoking Gun: Paul A. Rahe
ACLU on Obama NSA Snooping: ‘It Is Beyond Orwellian’: JWF
NSA Secretly Mining Data from 9 US Internet Companies: Pundit Press

It’s About More Than Cell Phone Records, It’s About Liberty: Doug Mataconis
Differences between Bush, Obama NSA surveillance programs: Malkin
Not Just VZ: Records on 3 Billion Calls Collected Per Day: Jason Howerton

Schumer Backing Illegal Aliens Who Steal Americans’ Identities: LoneCon
Valerie Jarrett: Holder will be in his position for quite a while: Scoop
Dearborn’s Arab Festival Settles Lawsuit Cancels 2013 Festivities: MagNote

Economy

Real Unemployment Nears 25 Percent: ShadowStats
Obama Isn’t Creating Jobs; He’s Creating Welfare: Dossier
Top 50 Highest Paid Athletes for 2013 - After Taxes: ATR

ObamaCare stalls even in Democrat-controlled Illinois: Marathon
Harry Reid’s Ploy to Plow Through the Farm Bill: Foundry
Master Sergeant Punished for Serving Chick-fil-A at Party: RWN

Scandal Central

IRS Tax Exempt Head Sarah Hall Ingram at WH 165 Times: Kyle Becker
3 Months Ago, DNI Clapper Told Congress NSA Does Not Collect Data on Millions of Americans: Ace
FBI Lied to Congress about Fla. Saudi Family’s Ties to 9/11 Hijackers: JW

Climate & Energy

EPA confesses to handing out farmers’ personal information to activist-lawyers: Moe Lane
Bummer: Globull Warming Theory Has Failed: William Teach
Poll Finds that Everybody Loves Keystone: J.R. Reed

Media

Mark Levin: ‘We have the elements of a police state’: Jeff Poor
Obama in 2008: No warrantless wiretaps if you elect me: JWF
The religious bigotry of the Virginian Pilot: MoneyRunner

Poor Baghdad Jim McDermott Wails “Stop It!” At Megyn Kelly’s Tough Questioning: Nice Deb
Video: The Human Cost of the IRS Scandal + the 10 Questions The Regime Must Answer: Nice Deb
The IRS Doesn’t Know Where Its Receipts Are: John Hawkins

World

Susan Rice: A Hopeless Choice for a Hopeless Second Term: John Yoo
Obama nominee for UN Ambassador promoted US force against Israel: Protein Wisdom
We're in for a helluva' ride, America: Sarah Palin

Fort Hood Was a Large-Scale Attack on the United States: Elephant
The Encirclement Gathers Pace: China Enters Into a “Strategic Partnership” With Mexico: Trevor Loudon
After Nasralla Statements On Syria, Calls Emerge For Sunnis To Wage Jihad Against Hizbullah, Shi'ites: MEMRI

Sci-Tech

INFOGRAPHIC: How Do The World's Race Cars Compare With Each Other?: Jalopnik
3-D Printing a Jet Engine Component: David Foster, Chicago Boyz
NSA spying scandal fallout: Expect big impact in Europe and elsewhere: David Meyer, GigaOm

Cornucopia

‘A Conspiracy So Immense’ — Was FDR Aide Harry Hopkins a Soviet Agent?: Robert Stacy McCain
China Blues: MOTUS
Weld County commissioners propose formation of new state, North Colorado: Greeley Tribune

Image: Dan Youra Cartoons
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: MEMRI - The Middle East Media Research Institute

QOTD: "This Administration also puts forward a false choice between the liberties we cherish and the security we demand. I will provide our intelligence and law enforcement agencies with the tools they need to track and take out the terrorists without undermining our Constitution and our freedom.

That means no more illegal wire-tapping of American citizens. No more national security letters to spy on citizens who are not suspected of a crime. No more tracking citizens who do nothing more than protest a misguided war. No more ignoring the law when it is inconvenient. That is not who we are. And it is not what is necessary to defeat the terrorists. The FISA court works. The separation of powers works. Our Constitution works. We will again set an example for the world that the law is not subject to the whims of stubborn rulers, and that justice is not arbitrary.

This Administration acts like violating civil liberties is the way to enhance our security. It is not." --Senator Barack Obama (2007)

Thursday, June 06, 2013

WHITE HOUSE VISITOR LOGS: When did Stephanie Cutter (Obama Campaign) and Doug Shulman (IRS) Meet?

In what must have been some sort of mistake on her part, Obama 2012 campaign adviser Stephanie Cutter recently revealed she attended meetings at the White House with the IRS commissioner, Doug Shulman.

A clue as to whether the targeting by the IRS of Tea Party and other conservative groups was discussed at the 157 meetings that former IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman had at the White House may be found in remarks by Stephanie Cutter, deputy manager for President Obama's 2012 reelection campaign, in a recent appearance on Jake Tapper's show "The Lead" on CNN.

As reported by Gateway Pundit, Cutter attempted to dismiss charges they were political meetings but admitted she had attended meetings with Shulman at the White House. "I was in them with him," Cutter said. "So there was nothing nefarious going on."

Well, if they were not political meetings, why was she there at all? Was she there to offer her health care or tax code expertise? ... Cutter became Obama's deputy campaign manager in September 2011. Shulman, a Democratic donor, was IRS commissioner from March 24, 2008, to November 9, 2012. Cutter was an Obama attack dog during the 2012 campaign.

So I took a look at the White House Visitor Access Records (most transparent administration evah!) to get a sense for when Shulman and Cutter might have been in meetings together.

Here are the 2011 records:


And here are the 2012 records:


I can find only one date -- June 5, 2012 -- where their paths appeared to cross at the White House. Notice that many of the expected details during this period (who they were visiting, number in the party, etc.) are missing.

Given the track record of this administration, one must wonder whether even the vaunted White House Visitor Access logs are accurate and complete.


When you've lost the Stuffington Roast...

...you may be on the way to the dustbin of history.


Not to worry: clicking either the link or the picture will not transport you to the Puffington Toast. Clicking will take you to an American site.


The Government's Official Database on YOU

The latest scandal involving the Obama administration is a simple one to describe: it was caught monitoring every single U.S. citizen's complete record of phone calls over a three month period. Every single one.

Remember the breathless, hysterical criticism by the Left over international terror wiretaps during the Bush administration's war on man-caused disasters? Those blithering idiots were shrieking over something targeted and precise: people calling into terror hotspots from the U.S. or vice versa.

But the Obama administration is building a massive database of every American's telephonic activities.

Consider the massive database that the federal government is amassing on you, the law-abiding citizen:

Your physical and mental condition, complete with medical procedures, drugs, and therapies, thanks to Obamacare.

All of your finances, from a single share of stock down to your checking account, thanks to the IRS and Dodd-Frank "financial reform".

Your energy consumption, thanks to mandated "smart-meters" that can monitor and control every aspect of power consumption in your residence.

Your car's location, courtesy of new and mandated "black boxes" for cars.

Your location and activities, thanks to an estimated 30,000 drones that will be flying over American skies by 2016.

Along with telephone records and -- in all likelihood -- GPS data from your smartphone, the federal government can create the most comprehensive database ever seen on Earth.

And consider the most important database the Statists want to create: those tracking your firearms.

Of this fact I can promise you: this mammoth database will not used to advance liberty. On the contrary, if the IRS scandal teaches us anything, it is that the federal government under the Obama administration can not be trusted with data of any kind.

Obama and his sycophants are Statists: they are guaranteed to abuse their power to advance their political ends, no matter how unlawful, how tyrannical, or how despotic.

Ladies and gentlemen, this country is teetering on the brink of totalitarianism. It has crept upon us stealthily, bit by bit, just as Alexis de Tocqueville predicted.

Society will develop a new kind of servitude which covers the surface of society with a network of complicated rules, through which the most original minds and the most energetic characters cannot penetrate. It does not tyrannise but it compresses, enervates, extinguishes, and stupefies a people, till each nation is reduced to nothing better than a flock of timid and industrious animals, of which the government is the shepherd.

And if real Democrats can't see it now -- not the loons and Communists, they're lost causes; I mean the real Democrats -- if they can't see it now, then this country is destined for some very, very dark years.


Related: Police Departments Scrape for Ammo After DHS Buys 1.6 Billion Rounds.

Larwyn's Linx: NSA collecting daily phone logs of millions of Verizon customers

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

Nation

NSA collecting daily phone logs of millions of Verizon customers: Hot Air
DHS: Laptops, Phones Can Be Searched Based on Hunches: CBS DC
Method to Their Madness: Cold Fury

White House Counsel Robert Bauer: Architect of IRS Abuse?: Adams
Tips For Right-Wingers On The IRS Scandal: Ann Coulter
Secret Man Caves Found in EPA Warehouse: GovExec

Quote of the Day: Driscoll
Sebelius Dooms 10-Year Old To Death, Refuses To Waive HHS Reg: RWN
CNN: judge grants order for young girl to get lung transplant: Scoop

Economy

The Coming Obamacare Disaster: Cal Thomas
Mike Lee: Rubio’s Approach to Immigration Reform Is ‘Nonsensical’: Grudnicki
Obama Admin To Sell 50 Million Shares Of GM, Taxpayers Lose $10 Billion: WZ

Scandal Central

EPA confesses to handing out farmers’ personal information to activist-lawyers: Moe Lane
CNN: IRS wasted MILLIONS while claiming not enough staff to deal with Tea Party applications: Scoop
Top IRS Official For Obamacare Implementation Placed On Administrative Leave: BuzzFeed

Climate & Energy

Richard Windsor Lives: Eliana Johnson

Media

Wait, I Thought Guns, Golf and Chicago Were the New N-Word on MSNBC: Driscoll
White House Whitewashes First Lady’s Angry Temper Tantrum: JWF
Lindsey Graham Asks: Does the First Amendment Apply to Bloggers: Pavlich

Yep: It Still Looks Like Eric Holder Lied to Congress: Paul Mirengoff
Tell Us What You Really Think: Stephen Green
NBC/WSJ Poll: Obama’s Approval Rating Among Independents Implodes To Only 29%: WZ

World

Get in Their Faces: Obama to Name Paid Liar Susan Rice National Security Advisor: JWF
“Obama is about Obama”: Mark Levin explains why Obama REALLY appointed Susan Rice to NSA: Scoop
Susan Rice to replace Donilon as Obama's national security adviser: Hill

Samantha Power, Hater of Israel: Paul Mirengoff
Pushing Islamic Blasphemy Laws in the West: Gates of Vienna
Major National Jewish Organization Opposes Obama Nominee Samantha Power For U.N. Ambassador: RWN

Sci-Tech

Former Zynga employee takes to Reddit: TheNextWeb
Kenya is at the cutting edge of innovation in mobile money: InnovExc
This Is the World’s Quietest Place: Techland

Cornucopia

Are We Going to War?: Mollie Hemingway
Bi-the way, did you hear what Lady M didn’t say yesterday?: MOTUS
Hundreds gathered for armed march: KXXV

Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Senate Conservatives Fund

QOTD: "I spent seven years working for the most successful NSC Adviser in history, Henry Kissinger.

I watched him conceive new policies, negotiate with foreign leaders, ride herd over the bureaucracy, massage the press and foreign policy intelligentsia, work behind the scenes with congressional leaders.

Susan Rice can’t do any of those things.[Emphasis in the original, because dayum.]" --K.T. McFarland via Stephen Green

Wednesday, June 05, 2013

With the combination of minimum wage hikes and Obamacare, destroying jobs is this president's job one

At some point in the not very distant future the complete failure of Barack Obama's economic policies will become evident to even the most obtuse liberal. But I repeat myself.

Case in point: the destructive combination of Obamacare and hikes in the minimum wage.

Here's the saddest thing about President Obama's proposal to raise the minimum wage to $9 an hour — because "no one who works full time should have to live in poverty."

A fine sentiment, but many full-time, low-wage workers he aims to help are sure to become part-time as employers dodge ObamaCare's hefty fines. Undoubtedly, even after a minimum wage hike, many who now earn less than $9 an hour would have paychecks that are no bigger — or even smaller than today.

In his State of the Union, Obama didn't mention ObamaCare could add $2.40 an hour to an employer's cost for a full-time, very-low wage worker. Add it up and Obama is really proposing a full-time minimum wage of as much as $11.40.
The economic cost of raising the minimum wage is fiercely debated and likely overstated. But there's little doubt about how employers will react if they can simply sidestep ObamaCare's equivalent of a steep minimum wage hike for full-time workers: By making them part-time.

ObamaCare's potential $2.40/hour cost to employers would result from a $3,000 fine for offering coverage deemed either too pricey or too skimpy. Tack on an additional $1.75/hour wage hike and the pressure would be extreme on employers to cut hours to avoid ObamaCare fines.

...For profit-making firms facing a combined 40% state and federal tax rate, ObamaCare's nondeductible $3,000-per-worker penalty is the equivalent of $5,000 in deductible wages. Divided by 52 weeks and 40 hours a week, that fine would equal $2.40 an hour.

But because employers would owe no fine for a 29-hour-per-week worker, the $5,000 cost could amount to $96 an hour for the 30th hour of work. That's why the 30-hour workweek may disappear.

Let me repeat: thanks to a tsunami of unintended consequences unleashed by Obamacare -- a massive bill that not a single Democrat lawmaker bothered to read -- paying a worker for a 30th hour of labor in a week might cost a company around $100.

To paraphrase Ronald Reagan, for six decades we've sought to solve the problems of unemployment and affordable health care through government planning, and the more the plans fail, the more the planners plan.

But there's a simple recipe for success. It's called the Constitution and a federal government limited to the enumerated powers specified therein.

Our blueprint embraces all races, all religions, all creeds and all colors. Our formula is the biggest tent of all, because it is not achieved by pandering to smaller and smaller slices of the population, but by embracing and celebrating individual liberty, private property rights, free markets and -- most of all -- limited government.

These aren't complicated concepts. They aren't difficult to embrace. But the powers that be -- the corrupt, the immoral and those tempted by the trappings of Washington -- must be dislodged post haste if we are to save this Republic, this shining city on a hill.


Mayor Bloomberg Celebrates Another Gun Control Success Story: Only 25 Shot, 6 Fatally in 48 Hours in NYC

We've covered ad nauseum the failures of gun control in virtually every large, Democrat-controlled city in America. In Chicago, for instance, there are so many unsolved murders, the city's posting photos of unclaimed bodies on its website.

Bloomberg -- the idiot mayor, not the news site -- is one of the nation's foremost and hypocritical gun control advocates. Hypocritical because, while he endlessly lobbies to take away your right to self-defense, he surrounds himself at all times with a half-dozen armed guards. Because he's more valuable than you or I, presumably.

Now Bloomberg's gun-control nirvana is quickly transforming itself into the south side of Chicago as evidenced by last weekend's spate of violence:

Mayhem in the city: 25 people shot in 48 hours


Three killed Sunday after three were killed Saturday. One of the wounded includes an 11-year-old girl who will never walk again.

Violence surged like the mercury Sunday, with three more fatalities from gun violence — and eight others wounded in shootings — bringing the total number of bullet-riddled in the city to 25 in less than 48 hours...

...Sunday’s first fatality was Ivan Martinez, 21, who was approached around 3:25 a.m. by a 20-year-old gunman and a woman at E. 139th St. near Brook Ave. in the Bronx, police said... The gunman shot Martinez once in the head and ran off with the woman.

...In the second fatal attack, a man in his 40s was gunned down during an argument in East Harlem around 1:20 p.m. The victim, who has not been identified by police, was blasted multiple times in the torso on E. 105th St. near First Ave. Less than four hours later, Damien Powell, 25, was killed after he was shot in the chest outside the Albany Houses in Crown Heights, sources and witnesses said. The victim’s mother collapsed at the scene, where shell casings littered the street, witnesses said.

Three men were wounded in the wild Brooklyn shooting that left terrified bystanders ducking for cover... “I heard maybe 20 shots,” said Guy Pierre Louis, 50, who lives on Lenox Road. “I thought it was like the Fourth of July.”

Cops are now hunting for the alleged gunman, Kevon Brown, 30, who also shot at a pair of officers during the melee, police said. He’s described as 5-foot-10, 185 pounds.

And I love the liberal scranks who blame neighboring cities for their city's homicide rate. "The guns are all coming in from neighboring cities where they're easy to obtain," they'll whine, "that's why the murder rate is so high!"

You mean those same cities that are infinitely safer than Chicago?

Yeah, those.

Man, these people are stupid.


Hat tip: BadBlue Gun News.

CONFIRMED: IRS Scandal Tied Directly to Obama Campaign

Guest post by Investors Business Daily


Scandal: The president's deputy campaign manager attended the "nonpolitical" ObamaCare implementation meetings with the former IRS commissioner at the White House. She wasn't there to discuss the Easter Egg Roll.

A clue as to whether the targeting by the IRS of Tea Party and other conservative groups was discussed at the 157 meetings that former IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman had at the White House may be found in remarks by Stephanie Cutter, deputy manager for President Obama's 2012 reelection campaign, in a recent appearance on Jake Tapper's show "The Lead" on CNN.

As reported by Gateway Pundit, Cutter attempted to dismiss charges they were political meetings but admitted she had attended meetings with Shulman at the White House. "I was in them with him," Cutter said. "So there was nothing nefarious going on."

Well, if they were not political meetings, why was she there at all? Was she there to offer her health care or tax code expertise?

Cutter became Obama's deputy campaign manager in September 2011. Shulman, a Democratic donor, was IRS commissioner from March 24, 2008, to November 9, 2012. Cutter was an Obama attack dog during the 2012 campaign.

When she appeared on CBS' "Face the Nation" to defend the president's new campaign slogan "Romnesia," she went on to say that Republican nominee Mitt Romney was "severely conservative" and had run as the "ideal" Tea Party candidate. She said this as she was sitting in meetings with the head of an IRS that was charged with implementation of ObamaCare as it was targeting groups that were created to oppose ObamaCare.

Though she denies it, Cutter was also deeply involved in the ads run by the pro-Obama super-PAC Priorities USA in which steelworker Joe Soptic recounted how his wife died of cancer after he lost his health insurance when his plant was shuttered after a takeover by Bain Capital and other companies working with Romney's private equity firm.
Cutter appeared on CNN in August 2012 to say, among other things, that "I don't know the facts" about the Soptic case, something she had to say since coordination between political campaigns and such issue-oriented groups is illegal. She lied.

In May 2012, Cutter herself hosted a conference call in which Soptic detailed his case to reporters.

During the call, as he did in the ad, Soptic explained how his wife fell ill after he lost his job, and how he lost his health insurance. The call took place as Soptic began appearing in Obama campaign ads and was profiled on the Obama campaign website.

Cutter was not only on the call, she also introduced Soptic and wrapped up his testimony. And as to any campaign coordination, Rush Limbaugh and others have noted that Soptic is apparently wearing the same shirt for campaign ads of both the Priorities USA and Obama For America, Obama's 2012 campaign organization, that were allegedly taped months apart.

Priorities USA is self-described as a social welfare 501(c)4 and is not required to disclose individuals, corporations or union organizations that have donated in an effort to affect the 2012 election.

It's no different from Crossroads GPS, the Karl Rove-affiliated group that Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin asked Shulman in a letter to investigate. Yet it escaped the "special scrutiny" the IRS reserved for targeted Tea Party groups.

Cutter should be called to testify under oath before the House Oversight Committee to explain why a key Obama campaign operative was in on meetings to discuss ObamaCare implementation with an IRS official whose agency was targeting groups opposed to it.


Provided by: Investors Business Daily.

Larwyn's Linx: House Democrats Lied to the Public: the IRS Targeted Only Conservative Groups

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

Nation

House Democrats Lied: IRS Targeted Only Conservative Groups: GWP
Obama Appointees Using Secret Email Accounts, Demand $1M for Info: JWF
Capitol Police to Tea Party: Show Us Your Websites or Forget Your Rally: GWP

Appeals Court Win for Wisconsin Voter ID Law: JW
Press Shakedown? Labor Dept. Wanted $1M from AP : Keith Koffler
Budget battle: Fmr. IRS commish vs. acting IRS commish: Malkin

The IRS scandal as an example of runaway organizational culture: Ace
Tea Party favorite Jason Smith wins House seat in MO-08 election: Twitchy
Republicans Fuming Over Chris Christie's Senate Decision: Josh Kraushaar

Economy

Social Security’s Unfunded Obligation Rises by $1 Trillion: Foundry
Democrat hypocrisy alert: why is Obama OFA seeking tax exemption?: Hot Air
Oregon Governor Demands Tax Hikes, Emergency Powers: Mish

CBO: As Many as 55MM Will Remain Uninsured Under Obamacare: Jeryl Bier
Mitch McConnell Secretly Working to PASS Schumer Amnesty Bill: Scoop
IRS Employees Held 4 Conferences at Vegas Casinos; Cost: $671,990: CNS

Scandal Central

Top Obama Officials Flout Transparency Laws Using Secret Email: JW
Obama Officials Used Private Emails and Meetings to Evade Disclosure Laws During Obamacare Debate: Sooper
Stephanie Cutter Attended WH Meetings With IRS Chief: IBD

Sebelius secret email questions use of secret emails by Obama political appointees: Scoop
Outrageous: how an ObamaCare slush fund pays for nanny-state lobbying: Walter Olson, Overlawyered
Emails of top Obama appointees remain a mystery: MyWay

Climate & Energy

The Myth of Global Warming: Steve Tobak
Administration Doubles Down on Expensive Offshore Wind: CFP
Food Trucks: Nate Beeler

Media

The real culprit behind the IRS “scandal”: Rove!: Jim Treacher
NOM: We Have Smoking Gun Proof the IRS Leaked Our Confidential Donor List to Our Chief Political Rival: Ace
Michelle Obama heckled at DNC event, threatens to leave: Caroline May

Chris Christie Schedules $24M Special Election Just Two Weeks Before Regular Election: Ace
BEATDOWN: Paul Ryan Clobbers Jim McDermott : Hayride
If only 33,000 people knew the truth: Commentator

RINO All-Star Chris Christie Screws The GOP… Again: WZ
Darrell Issa Now Officially Living Rent Free In Eric Boehlert’s Empty Head: Stephen Kruiser
Jonathan Alter blasts White House leadership: Donovan Slack

World

Make Room for Islamistgate: The Obama Administration’s Newest, (Biggest?) Scandal: BRubin
Obama Administration publishes details of missile base Israel wanted kept secret: Atlas
Hasan: I Shot Comrades to Defend Taliban: IPT

Protesters pack Muslim-sponsored meeting on social media ‘hate speech’ crackdown: Twitchy
China: From Cyberwar to Supply Chain Sabotage?: Daniel McGroarty
Locks cut to Boston water supply aqueduct: Atlas

Sci-Tech

This Clever Camera Array Will Bullet-Time Everything: Gizmodo
Web developer devises new phishing trick: NetSec
Daily Use of Sunscreen Slows Down Skin Aging by 24 Percent: Benita Matilda, Science World Report

Cornucopia

Power Couple: iOTW
Caption This Photo: Sondrakistan
Reagan and Republican Evolution: Jonah Goldberg

Image: NYC Mayoral Debate: Caption This Photo
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Curmudgeonly & Skeptical

QOTD: "Fox News Alert: The Five loves Christie's "brilliance" in announcing a special election - Christie knows a Democrat, likely Booker, will get elected. He could have appointed a Republican to finish Lautenberg's term. But that would not have gone down well with the liberals and Democrats Christie is pandering to. Furthermore, Christie keeps Booker off the ballot in November by setting the election in October in order not to draw attention and votes from his own election. And the cost, which Christie says he doesn't care about, is $25 million. Christie insists this has nothing to do with politics. In fact, the people of New Jersey deserve it. And you should see and hear all the RINOs applauding this nonsense." --Mark Levin

Tuesday, June 04, 2013

Odd Man. Out.

Dan from New York

In today's headlines:

France: No doubt sarin nerve gas used in Syria

UN believes chemical weapons used in Syria

Syrian attack victims test positive for nerve agent sarin, say UK and France

White House says not ready to say Syria used chemical weapons



FINALLY: Democrats Endorse Profiling

No, not to stop more terror attacks like the Boston Marathon bombings, silly. Not that. No, to stop you -- and other freedom-loving Americans!

Dana Loesch explains:

Just over a year ago Democrats railed against Arizona constituents for passing what Dems viewed to be an immigration law based on profiling. Democrats railed against the airport security profiling. Yet now, they whole-heartedly support it, just so long as it’s the IRS doing it as a punitive measure against their opponents. McDermott blames tea party groups’s treatment on their suggestive clothing, so to speak:

BOLO, or, Be On the Look Out was the method the IRS used to profile groups. Progressives likely didn’t use the terms “tea party” or “patriot” in their filings, so obviously, the persecution didn’t include them.

Democrats are officially on record as supporting federally-funded and backed profiling. The entire time they asked “where is the tea party?” they used the IRS to keep a boot on the neck of the movement.

Remember this the next time they speak out against profiling.

These Democrats are the lowest of the low. I'd call them pond scum, but that would unfairly tarnish the reputation of hardworking algae. Consider: despite their very best efforts, Democrats were unable to produce a single liberal targeted by the IRS for today's Congressional hearing.

Finding an intellectually honest Democrat is akin to discovering an unopened tub of Haagen Dasz at Michael Moore's estate.


Hat tip: BadBlue News Service.