Saturday, September 28, 2013

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR): NSA is likely tracking the location of all Americans using their cellphones

A massive, centralized, authoritarian federal government that: (a) controls all of your most private health records; (b) controls all of your most personal financial records; and (c) tracks your location 24 by 7? What could possibly go wrong?

...Wyden suggests that the NSA is either tracking or has been studying tracking millions of Americans. Presumably Wyden isn't allowed to explicitly say what the NSA is doing, so his suggestions should probably be given more weight than suggestions by others...

...[he] suggested on Thursday that the National Security Agency tracked or considered tracking the cellphone location data of millions of people in the United States.

"What I don't want to do, senator, is to put out in an unclassified forum on anything that's classified here," [NSA Director Gen. Keith] Alexander said...

"General, if you're responding to my question by not answering it because you think that's a classified matter, that is certainly your right," Wyden said. "We will continue to explore that because I believe this is something the American people have a right to know."

...In a hearing in March, Wyden asked James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, whether the NSA collects any data on millions of Americans. Clapper insisted that the NSA does not — or at least does "not wittingly" — collect data in bulk.
After leaks by Edward Snowden revealed the agency collects data on all U.S. phone calls, Clapper apologized for the misleading comment.

At Thursday's hearing, Wyden accused the leaders of the intelligence agencies of building a system "that repeatedly deceived the American people."

"Time and time again, the American people were told one thing about domestic surveillance in public forums while government agencies did something else in private," Wyden said.

In related news, the feckless Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) inadvertently revealed that the "NSA can collect email and other communications directly from the backbone (rather than from the internet companies themselves)."

In other words, the NSA is -- like the rest of the bureaucracy -- completely out of control. It is operating without lawful authority to collect information on U.S. citizens who have been accused of no wrongdoing whatsoever.

This is how countries descend into tyranny, step-by-step, like a frog in water that is slowly brought to a boil.


Hat tip: BadBlue Gun News.

SARAH PALIN CONTROVERSY: Rips Opponents as Terrorists and Hostage-Taking Anarchists Using Homophobic Rhetoric

Did I say Sarah Palin?

My mistake.

I meant Democrat politicians and power-brokers who resort to the most disgusting rhetoric imaginable.

White House Senior Adviser Dan Pfeiffer likened Republicans to suicide-bombers, saying the White House would not be "negotiating with people with a bomb strapped to their chest."

Pfeiffer also said that the House, in exercising its Constitutional duty known as "the power of the purse", was acting like a pack of arsonists threatening to "burn it [the nation] down."

President Barack Obama accused the GOP of political "blackmail", implying that they are kidnappers holding the nation hostage.

White House spokesman Jay Carney went a step further, call the tactics "extortion, tanking the economy and crushing the middle class."

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) called Republicans "anarchists" who want to bring down government.

• Finally, Barbara "Jabba the" Mikulski (D-MD) employed vile, homophobic rhetoric to tar Americans opposed to Obamacare as "Tea Baggers in [Cruz's] Tea Party."

"...at a time when our discourse has become so sharply polarized -– at a time when we are far too eager to lay the blame for all that ails the world at the feet of those who happen to think differently than we do -– it’s important for us to pause for a moment and make sure that we’re talking with each other in a way that heals, not in a way that wounds..."

--President Barack Obama, January 12, 2011, speaking in Tucson after the shooting that critically injured Rep. Gabbi Giffords

Gabbi Giffords, of course, immediately spoke out against this sort of extreme, divisive rhetoric.

Oh, wait: no, she didn't.


Hat tip: BadBlue News Service.

30 OR UNDER? Prepare for Epic Price Increases on Health Insurance (In the Unlikely Event You're Employed Full-Time)

Boom. Crackpot propagandist Taegan Goddard hardest hit


Thanks to @DBongino (Dan Bongino) for the image.


Mark Levin responds to Charles Krauthammer: How is it that he missed three separate Reagan Revolutions?

Very good question:

MARK LEVIN: Part of what I was responding to was Tucker Carlson and Charles Krauthammer, you know, having giggles over Cruz being Canadian. Which is what the liberals bring up. Oh, the Canadian Ted Cruz. So, I thought that was pretty low.

KRAUTHAMMER: I stand exposed as the longest mole of liberals and Democrats in the conservative movement in the history of the republic. Alger Hiss is a piker beside me.

LEVIN: That’s all very funny, but my point is this -- Ronald Reagan ran for president of the United States three times and Krauthammer didn’t support him once. Excuse me, ran for president twice, but ran in the Republican primary three times. Ran in the Republican primary three times. I guess technically the last time is four times, but competitively three times. He was elected twice. He was a great conservative, a statesman. And somehow, Krauthammer, who wasn’t a child, was writing speeches or something for Walter Mondale.

Again, I don't have a problem with the fact that people change. That isn't even my point, but to take a shot at Cruz because -- Oh, the Canadian Ted Cruz, as they were giggling the other day. And not only that, they're not the font of all wisdom about the conservative movement. They missed the most important aspect of the conservative movement in modern history -- it was right in front of them and they missed it, which is exactly why they are missing Ted Cruz. They miss it.

Nothing personal, although they made it personal with Cruz. It's nothing personal with me. I'm not attacking them; I'm not attacking him.

I like Charles Krauthammer. I respect Charles Krauthammer.

The problem, however, is that he and so many like him -- George Will, for instance -- live inside a cloistered Beltway cocoon where it would seem they can no longer distinguish right from wrong nor politics from principle.


Hat tip: BadBlue News.

Larwyn's Linx: Fascist Democrats declare war on their political opposition, call GOP “terrorists”

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

Nation

Fascist Democrats declare war on opposition, call GOP “terrorists”: Toldjah
Harkin: Politics Have Reached ‘Civil War’ Levels: Bryan Preston
Jabba Mikulski calls the Americans ‘tea baggers’ after cloture vote: Scoop

Moderate Republicans Finally Found Someone They Will Fight: Publius
Westgate terrorists used pre-cached weapons: Ace
School teaches kids to serve Obama with ‘I pledge’ video: BPR

Democrats Created the Hostage Crisis: David Harsanyi
Cruz to House Conservatives: Oppose Boehner: Robert Costa
Mark Levin on CNN’s The Lead with Jake Tapper: Scoop

Economy

Who are the real suicide bombers?: Power Line
Government Shutdown is a Fantastic Idea: Mish
Some Nebraskans’ premiums to triple under Obamacare: Watchdog

Cavuto: Mr. President, Your Health Care Law Is The Problem: RCP
Overpasses for Obama’s Impeachment to rally for truckers headed to DC: BPR
How Crazy Are the Democrats? This Crazy: Power Line

Scandal Central

Meet the slush funds Obama used to bail out Detroit: Conn Carroll
Obama delays ANOTHER ObamaCare provision!: AIM
NSA admits employees spied on loved ones: John Ribeiro

Climate & Energy

Timely: NYT Says It Was A Mistake to Take the Mann Hockey Stick "Seriously": Ace
New Report Undercuts Global Warming Alarmists: Michael Barone
Despite the guff, no proof on man-made climate change: Commentator

Media

2013 Media Dishonors Awards: MRC
ABC Mocks Ted Cruz and Fight Against ObamaCare: 'Absurdities Were on Display': MRC
Sally Kohn Beclowns Herself With 100% Unvarnished Idiocy: Twitchy

Media-Obama Messaging Synchronization: Ace
Conservative radio host Mark Levin: Scare tactics on a government shutdown 'mean nothing': CNN
NPR Admits: More Guns, Less Crime: CFIF

World

Even Bono (but not Obama) understands the need for capitalism: Daniel J. Mitchell
“If What I had to Give up was Criticizing the Government, To Me That’s a Fair Trade”: DTG
‘Total chaos’: Iranian hard-liners hurl eggs at Rouhani as he arrives in Tehran: Twitchy

Sci-Tech

MLB to use iOS 7's iBeacons for customized stadium experiences: Michael Grothaus
Gmail scanning may violate federal wiretapping laws, judge finds: PC World
How the FBI found Miss Teen USA’s webcam spy: Nate Anderson

Cornucopia

Something Wonderful: "Tonight You Belong to Me - Me and my 4 y.o. ": American Digest
Topless Feminist Protestor Storms/Disrupts Fashion Catwalk, Fight Results: Ace
Take a bite out of this apple!: MOTUS

Image: FULL INTERVIEW: Mark Levin on CNN’s The Lead with Jake Tapper
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: HARD-BOILED: The New Crime Novel by Doug Ross

QOTD: "...it's worth noting ... that there is something fundamentally unpatriotic in the yearning to fundamentally transform your country. I love my wife. Inherent to loving her is loving her for who she is. Gentlemen, turn to your wife and say, "Honey, I love you completely. It's just that I want to fundamentally transform you into someone else." See how that plays out. If you want to fundamentally transform the object of your affection so that it conforms to your fantasies, that is not love..." --Jonah Goldberg

Friday, September 27, 2013

HERE IS THE COMPLETE LIST: All of the Republicans (and Democrats) Who Just Voted to Fund Obamacare

Here is the complete list of drones, progressives, sellouts, hacks, and other miscreants (the first list) followed by the patriots (second list). Remember well these names next year.

YEAs (FUNDING OBAMACARE) ---79
Alexander (R-TN)
Ayotte (R-NH)
Baldwin (D-WI)
Barrasso (R-WY)
Baucus (D-MT)
Begich (D-AK)
Bennet (D-CO)
Blumenthal (D-CT)
Blunt (R-MO)
Boozman (R-AR)
Boxer (D-CA)
Brown (D-OH)
Burr (R-NC)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Cardin (D-MD)
Carper (D-DE)
Casey (D-PA)
Chambliss (R-GA)
Chiesa (R-NJ)
Coats (R-IN)
Coburn (R-OK)
Cochran (R-MS)
Collins (R-ME)
Coons (D-DE)
Corker (R-TN)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Donnelly (D-IN)
Durbin (D-IL)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Franken (D-MN)
Gillibrand (D-NY)
Graham (R-SC)
Hagan (D-NC)
Harkin (D-IA)
Heinrich (D-NM)
Heitkamp (D-ND)
Hirono (D-HI)
Hoeven (R-ND)
Isakson (R-GA)
Johanns (R-NE)
Johnson (D-SD)
Johnson (R-WI)
Kaine (D-VA)
King (I-ME)
Kirk (R-IL)
Klobuchar (D-MN)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Leahy (D-VT)
Levin (D-MI)
Manchin (D-WV)
Markey (D-MA)
McCain (R-AZ)
McCaskill (D-MO)
McConnell (R-KY)
Menendez (D-NJ)
Merkley (D-OR)
Mikulski (D-MD)
Murkowski (R-AK)
Murphy (D-CT)
Murray (D-WA)
Nelson (D-FL)
Pryor (D-AR)
Reed (D-RI)
Reid (D-NV)
Rockefeller (D-WV)
Sanders (I-VT)
Schatz (D-HI)
Schumer (D-NY)
Shaheen (D-NH)
Stabenow (D-MI)
Tester (D-MT)
Thune (R-SD)
Udall (D-CO)
Udall (D-NM)
Warner (D-VA)
Warren (D-MA)
Whitehouse (D-RI)
Wicker (R-MS)
Wyden (D-OR)

NAYs (DE-FUNDING OBAMACARE)---19
Crapo (R-ID)
Cruz (R-TX)
Enzi (R-WY)
Fischer (R-NE)
Grassley (R-IA)
Heller (R-NV)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Lee (R-UT)
Moran (R-KS)
Paul (R-KY)
Portman (R-OH)
Risch (R-ID)
Roberts (R-KS)
Rubio (R-FL)
Scott (R-SC)
Sessions (R-AL)
Shelby (R-AL)
Toomey (R-PA)
Vitter (R-LA)
Hat tip: Anita

Law of the Land

Via Liberal Logic 101:


As Mark Levin has observed, slavery, segregation and the internment of U.S. citizens during World War II were all ruled constitutional and lawful at the time by the Supreme Court (and all were instigated by Democrats, but I digress).

Laws are altered and repealed all the time. The fact that this president, Democrat leaders, and feckless RINO establishment losers insist it can't be done is reason enough to throw them all out of office.


Hat tip: BadBlue News.

Larwyn's Linx: ‘Let Obamacare Collapse?’ We Can’t Wait That Long

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

Nation

‘Let Obamacare Collapse?’ We Can’t Wait That Long: Ed Driscoll
The Disconnect: Erick Erickson
Obamacare: Americans Are Baby Research Mice: GWP

New Tone: White House Senior Adviser Says GOP are Terrorists: David Freddoso
Efforts to recall John McCain and Jeff Flake have begun!: John Hawkins
Rubio: ‘You lose the American Dream, you lose the country.’: Bryan Preston

Coburn vs. Cruz: John Hayward
Senator Cornyn is a Texas Sized Disgrace: Ramparts 360
Ted Cruz Extends the Buckley Rule: Jeffrey Lord

Economy

Obama won’t negotiate; Reid wheels out fed shutdown doomsday clock: Malkin
Big Bird Just Lost His Health Insurance: NakedDC
Full-time to Food Stamps: Obamacare Slams College Students: CollegeFix

Pelosi: Obama can raise debt limit on his own (an impeachable offense): GWP
Majority Reject Obama’s Demand for a ‘Clean’ Debt Ceiling Vote: Tatler
Businesses must FAX their Obamacare exchange applications in.: Moe Lane

Scandal Central

Tyranny: Feinstein Comes For Your Right To Speak Freely Online: Mac Slavo
Doctors Fleeing New Jersey, Obamacare Could Make it Worse: Brad Jackson
Official sidesteps questions on NSA and cellphones: USA Today

Climate & Energy

Scientists Say Science Not Necessary For New IPCC “Climate Change” Report: RWN
Unwarranted Temperature Adjustments and Al Gore’s Unwarranted Call for Intellectual Tyranny: WUWT

Media

Interview: Mark Levin on “The Liberty Amendments”: RWN
Stacey Dash calls Eric Holder’s war on school vouchers immoral: Twitchy
Would You Join a Third Party Founded by Ted Cruz?: Ricochet

SEIU Local 1 janitors in Chicago goes on strike over ObamaCARE: FAM
Of Course: Obama Blames Health Care Law’s Lack of Popularity on Fox News: Doug Powers
#ObamaCare: The Train Wreck You Know: R. S. McCain

Cavuto Crushes Obama's Latest Fascist Attack on Fox News: TPNN
Levin responds to Krauthammer: He missed Reagan all three times and now he’s missing Cruz: Scoop
‘This Never Happened. It Will Shock You How Much It Never Happened’: Ed Driscoll

World

Ha! Iranians Correct CNN’s Whitewash of Iranian President Interview: GWP
DHS Muslim Adviser: Egyptian Christians Attacked By Muslim Brotherhood Had It Coming To Them: WZ
Canada's Growing Role in Global Jihad: Blazing Cat Fur

Sci-Tech

Apple: The Splendid Failure: John Kirk
Second big breach for Florida hospital after employee snooping: Erin McCann
Jeff Bezos has no plan for saving journalism...tells editors 'Focus on customer': Tom Foremski

Cornucopia

Allen West explains how fighting to defund Obamacare is like the battle of Thermopylae: Scoop
Cruz: Not Since Sarah Palin Have the Proglodytes Had Such a Villain: MOTUS
Horrific images of drug-users eaten alive by flesh-eating illness caused by homemade heroin substitute: Daily Mail

Image: President Obama’s Brother Attacks Muslim Brotherhood Accusations
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Sign the Petition: Don't Fund Obamacare

QOTD: "Ronald Reagan ran for president of the United States three times and Krauthammer didn’t support him once... Ran in the Republican primary three times. I guess technically the last time is four times, but competitively three times. He was elected twice. He was a great conservative, a statesman. And somehow, Krauthammer, who wasn’t a child, was writing speeches or something for Walter Mondale.

Again, I don't have a problem with the fact that people change. That isn't even my point, but to take a shot at Cruz because -- Oh, the Canadian Ted Cruz, as they were giggling the other day. And not only that, they're not the font of all wisdom about the conservative movement. They missed the most important aspect of the conservative movement in modern history -- it was right in front of them and they missed it, which is exactly why they are missing Ted Cruz. They miss it." --Mark Levin

Thursday, September 26, 2013

MUST-READ NEIL CAVUTO: The President's Fascistic Assault on Fox News for Reporting the Truth Must Stop

Guest post by Neil Cavuto


This just in. This has just got to stop.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: If you've talked to someone who said, I don't know, I was watching Fox News and they said it was horrible.

Mr. President, Fox News isn't what's making Americans sick about your healthcare law.

Your healthcare law is.

Welcome, everybody, I'm Neil Cavuto.

And excuse this departure from form. But I think this is just poor form.

So, it's time we set some things straight. Mr. President, we at Fox News are not the problem.

I hate to break it to you, sir. You are. Your words are. Your promises are.

We didn't sell this healthcare law.

Sir, you did. Remember this?

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor. Period.

Mr. President, tell that to tens of thousands of retirees at IBM and Time Warner and dozens of others, who've been dumped from their coverage and told to find their own coverage.

Fox News didn't break that news to them, Mr. President.

Their companies did.

Fox News didn't push more of those firms to hire part-time workers.

Your healthcare law did.

Fox News didn't incentivize fast food restaurants to scale back their benefits.

Your healthcare law did.

Fox News didn't make doctors want to opt out.

Your healthcare law did.

Fox News didn't make insurance premiums sky rocket.

Your healthcare law did.

Just like Fox News didn't grant hundreds of exemptions to companies that needed them.

You did.

And Fox News didn't delay one key provision after another, including online enrollment for those small business exchanges.

You did.

Just like it wasn't Fox News that said we had to pass this to see what was in this.

You did.

Or was that Nancy Pelosi? Sometimes I'm confused.

But of this I am not.

Fox News didn't re-do basic math.

Sir, you did.

Fox News didn't say you can cover 30 million more Americans and not see a hit in premiums.

You did.

Fox News didn't say you could throw in those with pre-existing conditions and not have to pay for it.

You did.

Fox News didn't all but say you could get something for nothing.

You did.

Fox News didn't come back years later and say, oh yea, we did raise some taxes.

You did.

Here's where you are right about Fox News, however, Mr. President.

We can do math. And did.

You cannot. And did not.

We said it, and proved it.

You didn't. And we're all suffering for it.

Take it from the numbers guy at Fox.

Numbers don't lie.

The number of Americans working part-time and nervous.

The number of retirees days away from being dumped on exchanges and anxious.

The number of company bosses with any news to pass along on those exchanges, but still clueless.

The number of doctors who want out.

The number of congressmen now opting out.

No, Mr. President, none of those numbers lie.

But with all due respect sir, I can only conclude you do know; I know, I know you hate us at Fox.

But please take a look in a mirror, and fast.

You think we're the skunk at your picnic.

But that doesn't mean we're the ones that stink.

Because that smell isn't coming from the folks reporting on your law.

Mr. President, that smell is your law.


Hat tip: TPNN.

Obama Labor Department Refutes Jay Carney: Average Entry-Level Work Week Hits All-Time Low

On the one hand, the Obama administration has formally dismissed all of the copious evidence that Obamacare is destroying jobs.

On the other hand, the Obama administration's own Labor Department has released statistics that illustrate the unfolding economic catastrophe. Jed Graham explains:

Workers in low-wage industries clocked the shortest average workweek on record in July, new Labor Department data show.

The 29 million non-managerial workers in private-sector industries which pay up to about $14.50 per hour, on average, put in a 27.4-hour week, a level previously matched only at the depths of the recession in 2009.

As the recovery began that summer, average weekly hours staged a recovery that erased most of the recession's decline. But the workweek recovery began to reverse in early 2012, and the drop-off has accelerated in 2013 — just as the onset of ObamaCare's employer mandate created new incentives for employers to restrict workers to fewer than 30 hours per week.

...in industries for which ObamaCare's coverage mandates could mean substantial new costs — those in which wages are low and the ranks of the uninsured tend to be high - something is seriously depressing the workweek.

...the average workweek for such firms has fallen to a record low of 27.3 hours from 28.6 hours in March 2010, when ObamaCare became law.

But according to White House spokesman Jay Carney, all of these statistics are just "anecdotes".

Gee, I wonder why the big three networks haven't picked up on this major human interest story? The poorest, most put-upon workers in America are being crushed by Obamacare. Not. News. Repeat: Not. News.


Hat tip: College Fix.

Secretary of State John Kerry Just Signed United Nations Arms Treaty That Could Dismantle the Second Amendment

Guest post by Investors Business Daily


Second Amendment: The Senate is unlikely to ratify a United Nations arms treaty signed by John Kerry, but gun control zealots will use it as justification for "common sense" infringements on our constitutional right.

The secretary of state signed the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty on Wednesday despite repeated indications that it would be dead on arrival in the U.S. Senate. One warning was a letter from Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., that said the treaty would be rejected just like "other U.N.-sponsored treaties which threaten our country's sovereignty."

Inhofe reminded Kerry that the pact would "collect dust alongside the Law of the Sea Treaty, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and the Kyoto Protocol, to name a few, which have all been rejected by the U.S. Senate and the American people."

Earlier this year, Inhofe introduced an amendment to a budget proposal that would prevent the U.S. from entering into the U.N. arms treaty in order to uphold the Second Amendment. His amendment passed 53-46.

So why sign a treaty that the Senate won't ratify into law and which some argue won't affect domestic gun rights anyway?

Because it will give the president cover to do on gun control what he does so well on other issues — ignore Congress, the Constitution and we the people so he can govern by regulation and executive order.

JUST "ANECDOTES": As thousands of firms slash workers and hours, White House continues lying to American people

In a press conference earlier today, White House spokesman Jay Carney denied that Obamacare was having a negative impact on employment and the economy.

“The aggregate truth … does not bear out claims that the Affordable Care Act is causing employers to drop employees from insurance,” he told skeptical reporters at the daily White House briefing Thursday.

When one reporter asked him to comment on the news that the Securitas security firm has told 55,000 of its employees to find their own insurance on the taxpayer-subsidized markets, Carney replied, “That’s an anecdote.”

...Throughout the briefing, he fended off questions about the economic impact of Obama’s primary legislative accomplishment.

He dismissed a stream of bad-news announcements as unrepresentative of reality.

“You have anecdotes. … There is no systematic evidence. … That has not been happening across the country in any systematic way,” he insisted.

Carney is a bald-faced liar. Survey after survey after survey by human resources consulting firms prove -- beyond a shadow of a doubt -- that Obamacare is crushing employment.

According to an April survey conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management, 41% of 603 small business owners said they have delayed hiring because of the federal healthcare law. One in five already cut hours, while 20% have reduced payroll.

Mercer, a human resources consulting company, said its own survey found that 12% of all U.S. employers reported plans to reduce workers' hours as a direct result of the Affordable Care Act. The impact was more pronounced in the retail and hospitality industries, with 20% of employers saying they will cut part-time hours.

Coming from the same administration that used the slogan "If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan" for a solid year, Jay Carney's lies are not unexpected. Though how such an egregious enemy of the American people can live with himself is a question for historians to contemplate.

These are people's lives that the master planners in Washington are playing with and ruining. They are playing dice with people's lives. And no matter how much damage they do, their ideology prevents them from ever admitting they're wrong.


Hat tip: BadBlue News.

Larwyn's Linx: Cruz Control Should Be Standard on All GOP Models

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

Nation

Cruz Control Should Be Standard on All GOP Models: Ann Coulter
The Right Site at the Right Time: DTG
The Democrat Party Adores Ill-Informed Voters: Larry Elder

The Democrats' Useful Idiot: John McCain: Scoop
Why John McCain Must Be Voted Out, Reason #3,405: Doug Powers
Is McRINO really a DNC insider?: AWD

Ken Cuccinelli Wins Virginia Debate: R.S. McCain
Cruz Rolls Right by a Clueless Beltway Establishment: Leather Penguin
Ten Republicans Working to Fund Obamacare: FW

Economy

Common Core: How to Raise Compliant, Non-Thinking Citizens: Rutherford
The Late, Great Middle Class: Victor Davis Hanson
Obama on Obamacare: “We did raise taxes on some things.”: ATR

$67 Million Missing from Obamacare Slush Fund: ATR
The Fed's 'hidden agenda' behind money-printing: Peter J. Tanous
Watch out, Millenials: here comes Obamacare: Foundry

Scandal Central

Matthews: Cruz a Demagogue, Terrorist, Anarchist, Elitist Chickenhawk: Ace
The Idiot King’s ‘Favorite General’ Loses His Security Clearance: Stephen Kruiser
CAIR Demands Schools Close For Islamic Holidays: GWP

Climate & Energy

The EPA’s death blow to the coal industry: Brian McNicoll

Media

Sarah Palin Blasts ex-Running Mate McCain for His Attacks on Ted Cruz: TPNN
Politico: Conservatives Have a Point on MSM Cruz Coverage: Keith Koffler
CBS's O'Donnell: Cruz's Speech 'Could Hurt' GOP's 'Chances of Taking Back' Senate: MRC

The Real Fake Filibuster: Protein Wisdom
Mark Levin's Liberty Amendments Spotted Among Cruz's Reading Material: Kerry Picket
Charles Krauthammer Responds to Mark Levin: I’ve Been ‘Exposed’: Matt Wilstein

Guess Who Has the Fakest Twitter Following in US Politics?: Bryan Preston
GOP "Presidential Candidate" Peter King has Complete Break with Reality: Jason Howerton
Leno Breaking Bad Spoiler: Walter Dies in Hospital Filling Out ObamaCare Paperwork: JWF

World

CAIR Demands That Maryland Schools Close For Islamic Holidays: John Hawkins
Vatican declares Nancy Pelosi may no longer receive Communion: RWN
President Obama's best friend in HS 'brutally beat and raped woman in her apartment': Daily Mail

America's First Political Prisoner Who Obama Blamed for Benghazi is Out of Jail and Talking: Atlas
MSNBC's Hayes Frames Israel As Possible 'Obstacle' to Detente with Iran: Brad Wilmouth
Where's the Coverage? Rouhani's Own Words Prove He is No Moderate: CAMERA

Sci-Tech

Data Broker Giants Hacked by ID Theft Service: Krebs on Security
New US bill aims to curb NSA collection of phone and other records: John Ribeiro, PCWorld
BlackBerry cancels call to discuss its latest (disastrous) financial results: TNW

Cornucopia

Obamacare 2.0: How To Tell The Sham From The Wow!: MOTUS
Les Collaborateurs: Come out of the closet with your hands up!: MOTUS
Testicle-Eating Fish Found In Passaic County Lake: Tom Troncone, Patch of Newark

Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: THE RIGHT SITE AT THE RIGHT TIME

QOTD: "If I could briefly interrupt the Republican firing squad aiming at Ted Cruz, let's talk about something we all agree on. And by "we all," I mean a majority of the American people, the Teamsters, many Democrats and every single last Republican.

Obamacare is an unmitigated disaster.

It was passed illegally without the House ever voting on the Senate bill and became law absent a single Republican vote -- even "the girls from Maine" and "the girl from Arizona" -- the only major legislation ever enacted on a strict party-line vote. The Supreme Court had to violate the Constitution's separation of powers to uphold Obamacare as a "tax" -- despite the fact that no elected body could ever have enacted such a massive tax hike even with the sleazy parliamentary tricks used to pass this bill." --Ann Coulter

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

CNBC offers a reality check for drones, progressives and other miscreants: "prepare for a new American revolution"

I don't know who this Peter J. Tanous is, but I commend him:

...I believe that one of the most important reasons the Fed is determined to keep interest rates low is one that is rarely talked about, and which comprises a dark economic foreboding that should frighten us all.

Let me start with a question: How would you feel if you knew that almost all of the money you pay in personal income tax went to pay just one bill, the interest on the debt? Chances are, you and millions of Americans would find that completely unacceptable and indeed they should.

But that is where we may be heading.

Thanks to the Fed, the interest rate paid on our national debt is at an historic low of 2.4 percent, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Given the U.S.'s huge accumulated deficit, this low interest rate is important to keep debt servicing costs down.

But isn't it fair to ask what the interest cost of our debt would be if interest rates returned to a more normal level? What's a normal level? How about the average interest rate the Treasury paid on U.S. debt over the last 20 years?

That rate is 5.7 percent, not extravagantly high at all by historic standards... [But if] we were to pay an average interest rate on our debt of 5.7 percent, rather than the 2.4 percent we pay today, in 2020 our debt service cost will be about $930 billion.

Now compare that to the amount the Internal Revenue Service collects from us in personal income taxes... In 2012, that amount was $1.1 trillion, meaning that if interest rates went back to a more normal level of, say, 5.7 percent, 85 percent of all personal income taxes collected would go to servicing the debt. No wonder the Fed is worried.

Some economists will also suggest that interest rates may go much higher than 5.7 percent largely as a result of the massive QE exercise of printing money at an unprecedented rate. We just don't know what the effect of all this will be but many economists warn that it can only result in inflation down the road.

As of today, interest rates are rising, and if this is a turning point, it is a major one... Rates in the U.S. peaked in 1980 (remember the 14 percent Treasury bonds?) so if we are at the point of reversing a 33-year downward trend, who wants to predict how this will affect the economy?

One thing is clear: Based on CBO projections, if interest rates just rise to their 20-year average, we will have an untenable, unacceptable interest rate bill whose beneficiaries are China, Japan, and others who own our bonds.

And if Americans find out that the lion's share of their income tax payments are going to service the debt, prepare for a new American revolution.

CNBC.

I'll be damned.


Hat tip: BadBlue Financial News.

The President's Open Letter to the NRA

Redistribution:



Hat tip: BadBlue Gun News.

SHOCK REPORT: Obamacare punishes both marriage and work with thousands of dollars in a year in penalties

PJMedia's Tom Blumer has been doing yeoman's work investigating the true economic and tax implications of Obamacare. In his latest op-ed, he illustrates several "bugs" in Obamacare: (a) it is now extremely profitable for married couples to divorce; and (b) families making as little as $46,000 a year can face instant tax penalties of $10,000 if they earn a single dollar too much.

...let’s start with the 60-year-old married couple with no children...


...If they have identical earnings totaling $65,000, which will usually net down to $50,000 or below after all income and payroll taxes, their Obamacare exchange Silver Plan premium next year with the same earnings will be $16,382, or about one-third of what used to be their take-home pay. (And they call it the “Affordable Care Act”?)

What can this couple do? Well, they could decide to earn a few thousand dollars less, which will negate the five-figure premium hit. Encouraging ordinarily willing workers to put in less effort isn’t good in any economy, but especially not this one. But if either spouse’s earnings are unpredictable or hard to precisely track, they could still “mess up” and get socked with a premium they can’t afford.

...Let’s look at the situation of a 40-year-old couple with two children. The spouses’ annual earnings are $70,000 and $23,000, respectively:


The couple’s annual unsubsidized premium while married is $11,547 (OFA’s vaunted “tax credits” disappear at $92,401 for married couples with two children). But if they divorce and shack up while giving custody of both children to the lower-earning spouse, their combined annual premiums, at $4,317, will be over $7,200 lower. That’s over $600 a month. As was the case in the previous example, the savings from divorce will gradually increase every year. Parents will be torn between doing what Western civilization has considered morally right for millennia and their children’s financial well-being as never before.

There may be contrary examples, but in all of my research..., I was unable to find a single instance where staying married led to a lower net healthcare premium compared to divorcing and living together. Clearly, many couples who are considering marriage, especially after several years of seeing formerly married couples regress to cohabiting, will look at Obamacare’s “wedding tax” and say, “Never mind.” The effect on society will be incalculable, and certainly not for the good.

I would assume that Roll Call's ludicrous hack Taegan Goddard approves.

I would assume that Roll Call's ludicrous hack Taegan Goddard thinks central planners make better decisions than individuals working in their own self-interest.

I would assume that Roll Call's ludicrous hack Taegan Goddard enjoys the pitiful cries of unions, insurers, hospitals, health systems, doctors, and small businesses who are shedding jobs, kicking people into part-time jobs, and dumping employees into ill-defined state exchanges.

I would assume that Roll Call's ludicrous hack Taegan Goddard wants the IRS enforcing the 20,000 pages of law and regulation that make up Obamacare with thousands of new pages added each month.

I would assume that Roll Call's ludicrous hack Taegan Goddard wants the federal government controlling a massive, super-secure database of every American's most confidential health data.

All of those assumptions must be true, because Roll Call's ludicrous hack Taegan Goddard is President Obama's Leni Riefenstahl.

And just what the hell is a Taegan?

The more we find out what is in this law (now that we passed it, Nancy), the more we can conclude that Obamacare is the work of the devil. It is antithetical not only to America's history and traditions, but also to Western civilization itself.


Hat tip: BadBlue News.

Larwyn's Linx: Is Ted Cruz's filibuster the equivalent of Leonidas’s stand at Thermopylae?

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

Nation

Ted Cruz: the equivalent of Leonidas’s stand at Thermopylae?: Bookworm
Obama lied, my health plan died: Michelle Malkin
Dick Durbin Chose... Poorly: FAM

Obama Needs Bill to Explain . . . Again: Dossier
Finger-lickin' frauds: Mitch McConnell and John Cornyn: RS
Landrieu Says Obamacare Will Save The Gov’t A Trillion Dollars: HayRide

‘Nightmare’: Cruz reads Teamsters letter protesting Obamacare: Twitchy
Steve Lonegan is closing the gap on Cory "T-Bone" Booker: WyBlog
19 Documents from Radical Communist Bill De Blasio's Past: BuzzFeed

Economy

Surprise! Obamacare raises the cost of getting braces.: Poor Richard
'Family glitch' in health law could be painful: Kelly Kenned
Unemployment high for young adults in Los Angeles County: KABC-7

Scandal Central

Feinstein Husband Implicated in Yet Another Massive Scandal: Peter Byrne
JW Sues DOJ for Records of Holder Contempt Settlement Talks: JW
ACORN's Tried To Elect Communist Bill De Blasio As NYC Mayor Since 2001: WZ

Ex-Chicago alderman pulls off unprecedented criminal hat trick: Marathon
Somali-American tried to stop terror recruitment here; CAIR called him an "Islamophobe": JihadWatch
Report: CAIR Engaged in Money-Laundering to Hide Foreign Donors: Ryan Mauro

Climate & Energy

Green Energy Co. Folds after Obama gives it $99.8 Mil: JW

Media

Ted Cruz: The GOP's Obama?: Ed Driscoll
Networks Censor Disgraced IRS Hack Lerner's "Retirement": MRC
On I-5 (88 miles south of Seattle): Libertarian Woman

If Loving Ted Cruz is Wrong, AWD Don't Want to Be Right: AWD
Liberal Representative Mark Takano Tweets Pro-Infanticide Joke Photoshop: Sooper
Righteous incompetence: John Hayward

Six Principles Of Propaganda Lenin Used To Consolidate Power: Monica Showalter
Craig James—terminated Fox Sports TV analyst—hires Liberty Institute: LibertyInstitute
A White House Leak: Western Rifle Shooters

World

A Good Man With a Gun Saves Lives in Kenya: John Hayward
CAIR: Who Cares If Americans Were Involved in Kenya Terror Attack?: JWF
The Only Commonality is Mass Killing: Blazing Cat Fur

Obama: ‘World Is More Stable than It Was Five Years Ago’: Andrew Johnson
Obama administration defies Senate on UN arms trade treaty.: Moe Lane
The U.S.-European Relationship, Then and Now: George Friedman

Sci-Tech

Battery-free flashlight among Google Science Fair winners: Tim Hornyak, CNet
The Myth of Steve Jobs’ Constant Breakthroughs: Harry McCracken
Amazon's Jeff Bezos Talks New Kindles and What He's Doing Next: Brad Stone

Cornucopia

Cold Dead Hands-Original Song by Jennifer Lawson & Bo Dottley: Jen Lawson
As Promised, Food is Hitting the Shelves With Obama's Picture On It: iOTW
Obamas #120 – Closets: iOTW

Sponsored by: CALL ORRIN HATCH NOW AT (202) 224-5251 - DEMAND HE STAND WITH TED CRUZ

QOTD: "On behalf of the millions of working men and women we represent and the families they support, we can no longer stand silent in the face of elements of the Affordable Care Act that will destroy the very health and wellbeing of our members along with millions of other hardworking Americans." --James P. Hoffa, et. al., AFL-CIO

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Israel hammers Iran's crazed leader with fake LinkedIn profile

After Nazis, don't you think crazed Mullahs are next best action movie villains?

Israel countered the charm offensive of Iran’s new president by posting a fake Linkedin page for Hassan Rouhani on their official Washington embassy web site.


“I’m a career politician, expert public relations professional, leading international salesman and longtime advocate of nuclear proliferation,” the Rouhani page reads, under his smiling head shot... “Since my election as President of Iran in 2013, I developed and have executed an unprecedented PR campaign for the government of Iran,” it added.

“Through a series of statements, tweets, op-eds and smiles I have rebranded the human-rights suppressing, Ayatollah-led regime as moderate and a source of hope among the international community.”

...The page appeared Tuesday, hours before Rouhani was scheduled to make his first major international appearance in his inaugural address to the United Nations General Assembly.

Israel's Prime Minister will offer a rebuttal next week.


Hat tip: BadBlue News.

SURPRISE! Another Obamacare "glitch" to leave "500,000 children without coverage... cost[ing] some families thousands of dollars"

Oh, and that's not me saying it. That's what the anarchist, hostage-taking, Visigoth, extremist, Hobbit, arsonist-supporting USA Today is reporting:

A "family glitch" in the 2010 health care law threatens to cost some families thousands of dollars in health insurance costs and leave up to 500,000 children without coverage, insurance and health care analysts say.

That's unless Congress fixes the problem, which seems unlikely given the House's latest move Friday to strip funding from the Affordable Care Act.

Congress defined "affordable" as 9.5% or less of an employee's household income, mostly to make sure people did not leave their workplace plans for subsidized coverage through the exchanges. But the "error" was that it only applies to the employee — and not his or her family. So, if an employer offers a woman affordable insurance, but doesn't provide it for her family, they cannot get subsidized help through the state health exchanges.

That can make a huge difference; the Kaiser Family Foundation said an average plan for an individual is about $5,600, but it goes up to $15,700 for families. Most employers help out with those costs, but not all.

..."The family glitch is definitely a drafting error that Congress made that needs to be fixed," said Joan Alker, executive director of the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families. "But that seems unlikely."

Gee, I wonder how Roll Call's Taegan Goddard is going to cover this latest disaster?


Networks Censor Disgraced IRS Hack Lerner's "Retirement" With Full, $50,000-a-Year Pension for Life

Guest post by Media Research Center

RESTON, VA – According to an analysis from the Media Research Center, Lois Lerner – the disgraced official at the center of the IRS’s devastating Tea Party targeting scandal – retired yesterday without a whimper from ABC, CBS, or NBC on either their morning or evening news programs. Neither her announcement, nor her reported $50,000+ taxpayer-funded pension, received one single second of coverage. Lerner had been on paid leave since May.

Instead:

  • CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley highlighted the popularity of the new iPhone.
  • NBC News with Brian Williams hyped the big winners on Sunday night’s Emmy Awards.
  • ABC’s World News with Diane Sawyer notified its viewers that Mick Jagger was about to become a great grandfather.

According to the MRC’s ongoing analysis of the media’s IRS scandal censorship, it’s been a whopping 90 days since ABC last mentioned the story on either their morning or evening news programs, 89 days since NBC mentioned it, and 61 days at CBS.

Media Research Center President Brent Bozell reacts:

“Disgraced IRS hack Lois Lerner is getting a taxpayer-funded golden parachute, and the Tea Party-hating liberal media are making sure their hero has a nice soft landing. The news of her retirement and her pension reportedly worth more than $50,000 was censored by ABC, CBS, and NBC.

“In spite of constantly mounting evidence to the contrary – including some of Lerner’s own emails – the media are still dismissing this major scandal as a case of bureaucratic buffoonery. This is a coordinated, politically-motivated attack by a powerful government agency on American citizens, plain and simple.

“Lerner is at the dead center of the worst scandal since Watergate, and the very people she targeted for IRS harassment are now on the hook for her pension. Few people in America today deserve more scrutiny from the press than she does. Her alleged actions, motives, and lies have rocked the American people’s faith in government, and she must be held accountable.”


Hat tip: BadBlue News. Related: How much do you need for retirement?