Sunday, October 27, 2013

ONCE AGAIN, DEMOCRATS LOSE TO MATH: Detroit pensioners to receive only 16 percent of their promised retirements

Hundreds of cities have underfunded pension plans, but Detroit really takes the cake. Its pensioners will take haircuts of 84 cents of every dollar they're owed.

That's a stiff price to pay for electing Democrats.

On Friday, city financial consultant Kenneth Buckfire said he did not have to recommend to Orr that pensions for the city's retirees be cut as a way to help Detroit navigate through debts and liabilities that total $18.5 billion.

Buckfire said it was clear that the city did not have the funds to pay the unsecured pension payouts without cutting them.

"It was a function of the mathematics," said Buckfire, who said he did not think it was necessary for him or anyone else to recommend pension cuts to Orr.

"Are you saying it was so self-evident that no one had to say it?" asked Claude Montgomery, attorney for a committee of retirees that was created by Rhodes.

"Yes," Buckfire answered.

Buckfire, a Detroit native and investment banker with restructuring experience, later told the court the city plans to pay unsecured creditors, including the city's pensioners, 16 cents on the dollar. There are about 23,500 city retirees.

And this, my friends, is why I call them Detroitocrats. Everything they touch will turn into Detroit, and that includes America itself.


Hat tip: Zero Hedge.

TIMELY: Senator Joe "Steaming Sack of Fail" Manchin Complaining About Obamacare

I would call Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) duplicitous, but that would understate how two-faced he is. In West Virginia, he postures and crows like a conservative, but back in DC he votes with the radical leftists who control the Democrat Party.

Now, just a few weeks after ignoring the masterful efforts by Sen Ted Cruz (R-TX) to defund Obamacare, Manchin is whining about the catastrophic effects of the law.

"Senator Manchin, you get the last word," said the ABC host this morning. "Are you seeing any indication from anyone in the administration that they are willing to go along with some sort of a delay?"

"I'm not sure," said Manchin. "I haven't spoken in detail with them. But I can tell you: if we have a bipartisan group, which we've had before ... George, nobody should be forced to buy a policy that costs more than what they had and is inferior to what they had. Those things have to be worked out."

Gee, Joe, "nobody should be forced to buy a policy that costs more than what they had and is inferior to what they had"?

Perhaps you could've thought about that before you supported this fustercluck.

One would hope that West Virginians are already working on a recall of this fraud.


Hat tip: BadBlue News Service.

JUST ONE CALAMITY AMONG MILLIONS: Obamacare Throws Pregnant Woman Off Her Policy, Leaves Her Uninsured

Step back for a moment and consider the hubris required to believe that a single law -- tens of thousands of pages of regulations -- could replace all of the decisions made regarding one-sixth of the economy... and could do so without harming millions of individuals.

With that as a backdrop, please consider just one of those millions of horror stories.

Fullerton resident Jennifer Harris thought she had a great deal, paying $98 a month for an individual plan through Health Net Inc. She got a rude surprise this month when the company said it would cancel her policy at the end of this year. Her current plan does not conform with the new federal rules, which require more generous levels of coverage.

Now Harris, a self-employed lawyer, must shop for replacement insurance. The cheapest plan she has found will cost her $238 a month. She and her husband don’t qualify for federal premium subsidies because they earn too much money, about $80,000 a year combined.

It doesn’t seem right to make the middle class pay so much more in order to give health insurance to everybody else,” said Harris, who is three months pregnant. “This increase is simply not affordable.”

The Harris family is but one household among millions who have lost coverage, lost hours at work, or have lost their jobs altogether. A quick search on Twitter confirms the inconvenient truth.

In short, Obamacare's website is the very least of its problems.



Hat tip: BadBlue News.

The 25 Best Quotes Explaining the Obamacare "Glitch"

Guest post by Tyler Durden

While some have proclaimed the 36,000 enrollment in The Affordable Care Act "a good start," the online marketplaces that Obamacare has become more infamous for have been plagued with problems in the brief two weeks since launch. Politico provides 25 of the most telling and colorful comments made about the "glitches" the online exchanges have faced...

1. “I hope they are working day and night to get this done. When they get it fixed, I hope they fire some people that were in charge of making sure that this thing was supposed to work.” — former White House press secretary Robert Gibbs on MSNBC’s “Now with Alex Wagner,” Oct. 14

2. “A thousand Social Security numbers being sent to the wrong people is not a glitch!” — CNBC contributor Carol Roth on HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher,” Oct. 12

3. “How can we tax people for not buying a product from a website that doesn’t work?” — House Speaker John Boehner, Oct. 10

4. “Despite the widespread belief that the administration was not ready for the health law’s Oct. 1 launch, top officials and lead IT contractors looked us in the eye and assured us all systems were a go. Instead, here we are 10 days later, and delays and technical failures have reached epidemic proportions.” — Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) in a statement, Oct. 10

5. “We’re going to do a challenge. I’m going to try and download every movie ever made and you are going to try to sign up for Obamacare — and we’ll see which happens first.” — Jon Stewart to Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on "The Daily Show," Oct. 7

6. “It’s a new rule: If something doesn’t work, you get rid of it! If the post office is late today, let’s get rid of the post office! If the plane is late an hour, get rid of airplanes! It’s ridiculous!— MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, Oct. 12

7. “There’s so much wrong, you just don’t know what’s broken until you get a lot more of it fixed.” — Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini, Oct. 14

8. “They had three years to get this ready. If they weren’t fully ready, they should accept the advice Republicans are giving them: Delay it for a year, get it ready and make sure it works.” — CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, Oct. 9

Larwyn's Linx: All the Republican Party Has To Do To Have A Wildly Successful 2014 Is…

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Nation

All the GOP Has To Do To Have A Wildly Successful 2014 Is…: John Hawkins
We Shall Be Respected (Only If We Fight): Walid Shoebat
Knox College Student: Republicans Need to Unite: CI

Obamacare: Biggest Domestic Policy Lie Ever Told By a President: Ed Driscoll
Confirmed: Kathleen Sebelius is a Lying Hack: BPR
Obamacare gnawing on Democrats' electoral entrails.: Moe Lane

Admiral Ackbar Alert! The Obamacare Website Trap: DTG
Ted Cruz at the Iowa Reagan Dinner: Right Pundit
Tea Party Rep. Massie: Fundraise for NRCC or be Punished: TPNN

Oops! Californians Sour on #ObamaCare — LOL!: AmPower
What happened to all of Obama's technology czars?: Michelle Malkin
How Kirsten Gillibrand changed her political stripes: Hot Air

Economy

Washington Healthcare Exchange Overestimated Subsidies For 8,000: WZ
All The Wrong People Are Getting ObamaCare: Instapundit
Like it or Not, Gold Is Still a Safe Haven: Jeff Macke

Scandal Central

Armed agents seize records of reporter, Washington Times responds: Times
More details on Terry McAuliffe’s profit off of a dying man’s signature.: Moe Lane
Democrat Congressman Demands Obamacare Exemptions for His Rich Constituents: John Hawkins

Climate & Energy

Al Gore Strikes Out Again: Tom Harris, PJM
Al Gore Holds 24 Hour Global Warming Event On YouTube: Garners 707 Views: WZ
America's oil surge leaving Alaska in the dust: Dan Springer

Media

The Media and Obama: Hitting The Disgust Quota: W. Lewis Amselem
Palin Turns Down Piers Morgan Invite With This Pic on Facebook: iOTW
Surprise: Turns out that Obamacare architect Ezekiel Emanuel is a know-it-all turd: Scoop

Pizza and Fairy Tales: Ed Driscoll
Actress Bette Midler drags Ted Cruz’s wife into argument; gets schooled: Matt Labo
Charles Johnson Of Little Green Footballs Melts Down Over #StopWatchingUs Rally: WZ

World

Religion of Peace Recap: DiploMad
8 Jews wounded in 'Palestinian' rock attack: Matzav
Shoeless in Detroit: Gates of Vienna

Obamacare Catastrophe Reveals Barack’s Entire Paper-Mache Fantasy World: CFP
The REAL Reason U.S. Targets Whistleblowers: ZH
Amid turmoil, crossing to Gaza closed indefinitely by Egypt: Times of Israel

Sci-Tech

Is there a problem with HealthCare.gov? Is HealthCare.gov secure?: Is There A Problem Here?
Police firing GPS tracking 'bullets' at cars during chases: Chris Matyszczyk, CNet
Watch All 13 Saturn V Rocket Launches in One Jaw-Dropping Video: Gizmodo

Cornucopia

Math is Hard: Remind Me Again, How Many Zeroes in a Trillion?: MOTUS
Knock-Knock: C&S
Got Insurance?: Sondrakistan

Image: MOTUS
Sponsor: STOP BLOOMBERG'S GUN GRAB IN VIRGINIA: SUPPORT KEN CUCCINELLI FOR GOVERNOR

QOTD: "Never mind Teapot Dome, Checkers, Chappaquiddick, Watergate, or Iran-Contra: "Fast and Furious" is arguably the greatest scandal in American political history. It most certainly is the greatest scandal never reported by the main media outlets. Obama's misadministration sought to launch an attack on the second amendment by "proving" that lax US gun laws led to Mexico's drug-fueled violence. It decided to "prove" that by providing the guns. It was the ultimate in cop weapon throw-down or evidence planting.

Imagine if the situation were the reverse. Imagine that the Attorney General of Mexico, in order to argue for stronger anti-drug laws in Mexico, decided as a matter of policy to provide drugs to the most powerful US criminal gangs. How would we react? Drone strikes on Chapultepec Castle, anybody? I must say that the Mexican reaction has been surprisingly muted to Obama's declaration of war against Mexico.The media, with the notable and worthy exceptions of FOX and now UNIVISION, ignored the story as much as possible, concentrating instead on how Republicans wanted to embarrass Attorney General Holder, and forgetting about the bodies piling up on and near the border." --W. Lewis Amselem

Saturday, October 26, 2013

HELLO! Meet the 72 Types Of Americans That Are Considered “Potential Terrorists” by the Obama Administration

Guest post by Michael Snyder


Are you a conservative, a libertarian, a Christian or a gun owner?  Are you opposed to abortion, globalism, Communism, illegal immigration, the United Nations or the New World Order?  Do you believe in conspiracy theories, do you believe that we are living in the “end times” or do you ever visit alternative news websites (such as this one)?

If you answered yes to any of those questions, you are a “potential terrorist” according to official U.S. government documents.

At one time, the term “terrorist” was used very narrowly.  The government applied that label to people like Osama bin Laden and other Islamic jihadists.  But now the Obama administration is removing all references to Islam from terror training materials, and instead the term “terrorist” is being applied to large groups of American citizens.

And if you are a “terrorist”, that means that you have no rights and the government can treat you just like it treats the terrorists that are being held at Guantanamo Bay.  So if you belong to a group of people that is now being referred to as “potential terrorists”, please don’t take it as a joke.  The first step to persecuting any group of people is to demonize them.  And right now large groups of peaceful, law-abiding citizens are being ruthlessly demonized.

Below is a list of 72 types of Americans that are considered to be “extremists” and “potential terrorists” in official U.S. government documents.  To see the original source document for each point, just click on the link.  As you can see, this list covers most of the country…

1. Those that talk about “individual liberties”

2. Those that advocate for states’ rights

3. Those that want “to make the world a better place”

Hysterical ManBearPig Claims Forest Fires Causing Global Warming!

Guest post by Investor's Business Daily

Junk Science: Al Gore, patron saint of climate fraud, argues with Australia's prime minister that its brushfires are not caused by warming and that the record shows the koala bear, like the polar bear, is quite safe.

They were the largest Australian bushfires in a populous region in recorded history, consuming half the state of Victoria, claiming 12 lives and destroying an estimated 1 million sheep and thousands of cattle. And they occurred in February 1851 during one of the coldest years on record.

Bushfires have been part of Australian life for centuries, long before the Industrial Revolution and the sale of the first SUV.

Since the 1851 fires, there've been the 1898 fires in Victoria, which consumed 2,000 buildings, fires in Victoria in 1938 that killed 71 and destroyed 3,700 buildings, and the Ash Wednesday fires in the early 1980s that left 71 dead in the state of South Australia.

Australia has been battling another round of massive bushfires west of Sydney for more than a week now, fires not unlike those that have occurred throughout its history. The difference is that this time we have Al Gore and his climate co-conspirators at the U.N., the corrupt and fraudulent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, to blame the fires on climate change.

Gore is upset with Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott's insistence that the recent New South Wales wildfires are not linked to climate change and his statement on Australian radio that "these fires are certainly not a function of climate change, they are just a function of life in Australia."

Abbott has also dismissed U.N. climate chief Christiana Figueres' assertion that there was "absolutely" a connection between wildfires and rising global temperatures.

In an interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour on Monday, Figueres, the head of the U.N.'s climate change negotiations, said there was a clear link between climate change and bushfires such as those raging in New South Wales.

That global temperatures have flat-lined for the past 15 years or so doesn't seem to bother Gore or Figueres. Ignoring the historical record and current satellite observations and measurements, Gore equated Abbott's comments to the insistence by tobacco companies for decades that there was no link between cigarette smoking and lung cancer.

"It reminds me of politicians here who got a lot of support from the tobacco companies and who argued to the public that there was absolutely no connection between smoking cigarettes and lung cancer," Gore said on ABC's Los Angeles affiliate Wednesday night.

This echoes the mantra of the climate scammers that climate change "deniers" have long had their science-based skepticism subsidized by energy companies.

Yet it is Al Gore and others like him who have gotten rich peddling their climate fiction, while leading governments to stunt economic growth and divert scarce billions to chase a mirage.

The inconvenient truth for Gore et al is that wildfires have been decreasing as have been instances of drought that cause them.

A Friend, a Colleague, and a Mentor

When you were headed off for a day of treatment, you used to joke, "I'm getting in late tomorrow, but I'll be making up for it by leaving early."

Indeed, you left us too early. Far too early.

No man was ever a more resolute ally, no man a more caring soul, no man a more valuable mentor.

I speak not just personally, but for the voices of thousands who doubtless feel as I do, those whose lives you touched in ways great and small.

No man was ever more loyal, no man more honest, no man more committed to helping others.

In early October I saw you for the last time. You were in a hospital bed, immobilized by a diabolical illness and fighting pain that no one should ever have to endure.

You were smiling. You were joking. You were, of course, asking how others were doing, if others were okay.

Strength like this is something you might see in a superhero film, not in real life. But I saw it. We all saw it.

Because of all the traits that humanity possesses, of all those traits, I know no man who had more of the positive -- like that indomitable strength and courage and wisdom -- and so few of the others.

And so I can only offer this brief psalm to strengthen my own resolve and in the meager hopes it will strengthen others whose lives you were bound to as only He can.

All mankind will pass before You like a flock of sheep. Like a shepherd pasturing his flock, making sheep pass under his staff, so shall You cause to pass, count, calculate, and consider the soul of all the living; and You shall apportion the destinies of all Your creatures and inscribe their verdict...

For Your Name signifies Your praise: hard to anger and easy to appease... Until the day of his death You await him; if he repents You will accept him immediately. It is true that You are their Creator and You know their inclination, for they are flesh and blood.

Our origin is dust and our end is dust.
At the hazard of our life we earn our bread.
We are like a fragile vessel,
like the grass that withers
the flower that fades,
the shadow that passes,
the cloud that vanishes,
the wind that blows,
the dust that floats,
the dreams that fly away
Verily.
The dreams that fly away.
Your kingship is an eternal kingship.
Your dominion is for all generations.


All of this we will remember.


Larwyn's Linx: The Worst Is Yet to Come

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Nation

The Worst Is Yet to Come: Susan Brown
Train Wreck: Thousands of Seniors Lose Access to Doctors: Sister Toldjah
A Stunning New Court Defeat for ObamaCare: CFIF

#Election2014: Democrat unity on #Obamacare implodes: Sister Toldjah
Dropped: A Cancer Survivor’s Story in the Age of Obamacare: Bryan Preston
Racial Profiling in the Heartland: Colin Flaherty

The Masks Are Off: Liberty's Torch
Meet the 13 ObamaCare Senators up for reelection: Herman Cain
Breaking: Squirrel Eats Oreo, Blows Dog Whistle!: MOTUS

Economy

Food Stamp Fish Took the Bait; Time to Start Reeling Them In: Moonbattery
Welcome to Obamaville: HyScience
Obama in 95: Collectivism Guarantees Equality Of Result: WZ

How Badly Will ObamaCare Screw You? Answers Here!: Ticker
Megyn Kelly's Killer Report on Obamacare's Lies: Scoop
Government Benefit Recipients Outnumber Full-Time Year-Round Workers: CNS

Toward Single-Payer: We're Almost There: AT
Cali: 50% higher premium for plan with a 300% higher deductible: David Freddoso
We find out what’s in it: Obamacare’s taxpayer bailout for health insurers: David Freddoso

Scandal Central

Federal Authorities Raid the Home of Investigative Reporter Audrey Hudson: Tim Groseclose
Fasten your seatbelts; we could be in for some applied Alinskyism on November 1: MB
Bloomberg is after Virginia's Guns: NRA-ILA

NSA Website Hacked Ahead Of "Stop Watching Us" Rally: ZH
NSA Director Pines for Dictatorship: ZH
Green Energy Co. Folds after Obama gives it $99.8 Mil: JW

Media

CBS News Destroys Obama's Lies About Keeping Health Plans: MRC
More Media Liberals Expose Chicago Ways of Obama Administration: Don Irvine
Martin Bashir tears down Rep. Alan Grayson for comparison between Tea Party and KKK: RedAlert

How To Opt Out of ObamaCare Without Paying the Fine: John Nolte
Progressives On The Right Declare War On The Tea Party: NoisyRm
CBS NEWS: HIGH Medicaid enrollment threatens Obamacare…: Scoop

Godwin's Law and the American Liberal: Clash Daily
AWESOME: Alan Grayson accuses MSNBC host of being a Tea Party Collaborator: Scoop
Guess what Obama is doing today?: Adrienne

World

SEAL Team 6 Was Set Up: Kris Zane, Western
Sound Familiar? How Lenin Destroyed Marriage And Family: LoneCon
4 Teens Charged in Death of WWII Veteran, Hot Tamale King: CNS

Israel Stands Alone – US Capitulating To Iran: RWN
Obama starts to cave on Iran sanctions as yet another dictatorship plays him like a violin: Commentator
And It Starts...: TFB

Sci-Tech

Phishing email fools Missouri university staff, compromises thousands: Adam Greenberg, SCMag
Soviet* SEALs Stay Strapped while Submerged: Weapons Man
Historical Software Archive lets you use vintage software in your browser: Hayden Dingman, PC World

Cornucopia

Web Sight: Hopenchange
Book review: Red Army Tank Commander: Weapons Man
Early ObamaCare Signups to Receive Daily Specials: Diogenes

Image: RedAlert
Sponsor: STOP BLOOMBERG'S GUN GRAB IN VIRGINIA: SUPPORT KEN CUCCINELLI FOR GOVERNOR

QOTD: "Some spirit of secession has spread across the land, with various areas in Maryland, Colorado, Texas, California and elsewhere discussing seceding from their states, because of political alienation arising from significant differences in values and preferences. I don’t take the political prospects of American secession movements too seriously, and assume their principal purpose is to gain leverage for their preferred policies within their state governments.

These secessionists have an advantage over those seeking outright separation from the Union – and a big disadvantage. On one hand, they don’t have to deal with the Confederacy/slavery baggage that tends to confound discussions of secession in the U.S. On the other hand, the Constitution, Art. IV, sec. 3 clearly forbids the creating a new state in the territory of an existing one without the latter’s consent, and the consent of Congress. That is a high bar, practically insurmountable.

But there may be an easier way for those who seek to secede from their state – instead of creating a new “51st” state, secede to join an existing state. The Constitution’s requirement of home-state and congressional consent only clearly applies to the creation of a “new state”..." --Eugene Kontorovich

Friday, October 25, 2013

YES, VIRGINIA: There Really is a Conspiracy to Take Your Guns, Courtesy of Bloomberg and McAuliffe

Guest post by NRA-ILA.


Apparently, having billions of dollars in disposable income and being the mayor of America's most populous city (and let's face it, a place with problems of its own) isn't enough to keep billionaire Michael Bloomberg busy. We've often reported on his antics here in the Commonwealth of Virginia (see here, here, and here, for example), and we can thank him for at least one pro-gun law being on Virginia's books.


To no one's surprise, the billionaire buttinksi is back and throwing his considerable fortune behind an attempt to defeat NRA "A"-rated Republican Ken Cuccinelli and to elect NRA "F"-rated Democrat Terry McAuliffe in Virginia's upcoming gubernatorial election. Unfortunately for Bloomberg, while his money can buy a huge amount of negative advertising attacking Cuccinelli, it cannot alter basic facts. Even the Washington Post, normally a far friendlier outlet for McAuliffe and Bloomberg than the NRA, had to call foul at an ad Bloomberg is running that tries to fault Cuccinelli over the so-called gun show loophole. In its fact-check of the ad, the Post awarded Bloomberg's super PAC, "Independence USA," three well-deserved Pinocchios for bending the truth.

The ad claims that the "gun show loophole" means "anyone can buy a guy without a background check," including "the dangerously mentally ill" and "criminals." To underscore this point, it flashes pictures of several high-profile murderers who committed their crimes with guns.

The Washington Post takes issue with the ad on the basis that gun shows are rarely the source of crime guns and that none of the criminals pictured actually obtained their firearms at a gun show without a background check. Indeed, as the Post notes, three of the four pictured killers obtained their firearms through licensed dealers, passing background checks in the process. The fourth killed his own mother and then stole the guns he used from her.

In other words, the so-called "gun show loophole" had nothing to do with the murderers pictured. If anything, they represent the failure of the background check system Bloomberg and his puppets seek to expand.

OF COURSE NOT: Feds won't investigate Tesla even though electric sedan caught fire after running over road debris

Political opponents: yes. Exploding cars: no.

U.S. auto safety regulators decided against opening a formal investigation into a Tesla car fire that started after the vehicle ran over debris on a Washington state highway.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in an e-mailed statement, said it found no evidence the fire resulted from a vehicle defect or violations of U.S. safety standards.

NHTSA didn't send investigators to the scene of the Oct. 1 fire involving one of the plug-in electric carmaker's Model S sedans because it was the first day of a 16-day U.S. government shutdown. After consulting with the company, regulators decided not to begin their investigation process, which can lead to recalls.

NHTSA Administrator David Strickland on Oct. 22 said the agency was "gathering data" on the fire, which destroyed the Model S.

A Tesla spokeswoman said the carmaker had no immediate response to NHTSA's decision.

Regulators formally investigated fires in two other battery-powered vehicles, the Chevrolet Volt and the Fisker Karma. Both of those investigations led to recalls.

The lithium ion battery in the Model S caught fire after the vehicle collided with a large metallic object on a road in Kent, Wash., Tesla has said. CEO Elon Musk defended the car's safety in an Oct. 5 blog post, saying it was an unusual crash that would have resulted in a fire in a gasoline car as well.

Is it just me, or is it getting hot in here?


Hat tip: BadBlue Car News.

PEACE, LOVE AND UNDERSTANDING: New York Times commenters urge Obama administration to kill Republican lawmakers

I make light of their fascist instincts, but this is what passes for "informed commentary" over at The New York Times. Curiously enough, the Times seems to be okay with this sort of invective since these comments have been up for more than a day.


And it's not just the rabid kooks who read the Times. Unfortunately, this kind of fascistic behavior is becoming all too commonplace for the increasingly radicalized Democrat Party.

For the first time in American history, mainstream Democrats are openly calling for the arrests of their political opponents.

Democrats called for the arrest of Sen. Ted Cruz "for sedition" in offering specific, focused appropriations bills to fund the government. Never mind the Constitution explicitly grants the power of the purse to Congress, not the President. Never mind that James Madison himself described that the House could, in fact, shut down any program it wanted to. Never mind all that: the Constitution doesn't matter to these hard left sixties retreads. They don't want any political opposition. They want you gone. They want you silent, or in prison, or dead (what do you think Obamacare is really about?).

MSNBC plainly calls lawful dissent "sedition", presumably punishable by death.

Democrat Congressman Steve Cohen (TN) labels conservatives "domestic enemies", alluding to presidential actions to secure the country from the Tea Party, veterans, and Constitutional conservatives.

A public MoveOn.org petition calls for the arrests of Republicans in Congress by the Holder DOJ.

These are some dangerous times, my friends. I urge you to pray for the best but prepare for the worst.


Hat tip: Mountaintop

*GASP* Michelle Obama's Classmate is Top Executive at Company That Built the Worst Website Ever

Cue the Solyndra executives slapping themselves on the foreheads as they wonder why they went into solar panels when building a non-functional, $400 million website would be much, much easier. Patrick Howley has all of the details.

First Lady Michelle Obama’s Princeton classmate is a top executive at the company that earned the contract to build the failed Obamacare website.

Toni Townes-Whitley, Princeton class of ’85, is senior vice president at CGI Federal, which earned the no-bid contract to build the $678 million Obamacare enrollment website at Healthcare.gov. CGI Federal is the U.S. arm of a Canadian company.

Townes-Whitley and her Princeton classmate Michelle Obama are both members of the Association of Black Princeton Alumni.

...As reported by the Washington Examiner in early October, the Department of Health and Human Services reviewed only CGI’s bid for the Obamacare account. CGI was one of 16 companies qualified under the Bush administration to provide certain tech services to the federal government. A senior vice president for the company testified this week before The House Committee on Energy and Commerce that four companies submitted bids, but did not name those companies or explain why only CGI’s bid was considered...

These Chicago politicians are truly something to behold. In a sane society, the entire crew would be the subject of a RICO indictment.


Hat tip: BadBlue News Service.

Larwyn's Linx: Legislative Arsonists’ Numbers Growing in the Democratic Party

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Nation

Legislative Arsonists’ Numbers Growing in the Democrat Party: Bryan Preston
Jesse Lee Peterson, tea'd off in South L.A.: Patt Morrison
House Oversight Grilling More HealthCare.gov Contractors: Bridget Johnson

Conventional Wisdom Completely Reverses Within 48 Hours: Jim Geraghty
Follow the Law: Erick Erickson
Reid, Obama fingered as sources for Durbin lie about GOP.: Moe Lane

Conservatives to Obama: We Don’t Trust You on Immigration: Foundry
Levin: What the Founders Would Say About Obamacare: Scoop
Sebelius’ Job Hangs With Vulnerable Democrats: David Hawkings

Obamacare’s square-wheeled rollout has Democrats on the hot seat: RWN
No, Hillary Isn't The Inevitable 2016 Dem Nominee, Let Alone Winner: Ace
Do You Know What the White House Knows Nothing About?: Sara Noble

Economy

Obscene! $3.7 Trillion Spent On Welfare Since Obama Took Office: GWP
76,000 to lose health insurance in VA, MD and DC due to Obamacare: FAM
Call 'Em Communists: Trevor Loudon

Scandal Central

Obamafail: What Did Obama Not Know And When Did He Not Know It?: JOM
DC Police Raid Home, Arrest Man for Possession of Single Shotgun Shell and Spent Cartridge: TAG
Snowden disputes Feinstein claim that NSA spying isn't 'surveillance': Brendan Sasso

Media

Obamacare Operator May Have Liked Her Job, But After Talking to Hannity, She Can’t Keep It: Tatler
Media Can’t Spin ObamaCare ‘Debacle’: R.S. McCain
As IRS Scandal Heats Up, Media Look the Other Way: Bethany Stotts

It's Time For The White House To Come Clean About the Obamacare Website: Josh Barro
Kirsten Powers whines about her health insurance premiums nearly doubling: FAM
Walsh, Klein spar over Obamacare critiques: RCP

New Hotness On The Left: Obamacare Was Sabotaged!!11!: Ace
WaPo’s Milbank Upset That GOP Keeps Noticing How Awful Obamacare Is: Stephen Kruiser
RINO Consultant Class Threatens To "Beat The Snot" Out of Tea Party in Primaries: Lid

World

Merkel's ObamaPhone Scandal Escalates: US Ambassador Summoned: ZH
Countdown to the Iranian Bomb?: John Podhoretz
George Soros backs pro-Hillary Clinton super PAC: USA Today

“We’re here to kill Americans”: Witness on Benghazi attack: Tammy Bruce
Ohio Religious School: Chained to a Wall and Beaten With Sticks: Atlas Shrugs
Fear is a bad adviser: Gates of Vienna

Sci-Tech

The Decline of Wikipedia: Tom Simonite, MIT Technology Review
Aussie govt passwords stolen by Chinese hacker group: SCMag
Google Modifies Autocomplete After it is Found to Offer Wildly Anti-Semitic Suggestions: Algemeiner

Cornucopia

Westboro Baptist Church Losers Say They Love Obama And Hate The Tea Party: John Hawkins
Please Hold: Rob Allen
‘I Serve A Higher Power’ Says Sebelius: Camp o' the Saints

Image: Len Scorches Obamacare - Let the NSA Run It, They Already Have Our Information
Sponsor: STOP BLOOMBERG'S GUN GRAB IN VIRGINIA: SUPPORT KEN CUCCINELLI FOR GOVERNOR

QOTD: "Lately, the left has taken to calling conservatives “Leninists” for our refusal to fix Obamacare.

The implicit acknowledgement here is that Obamacare is going to make things worse, despite their claims to the contrary.

No conservative wants things to get worse. We just know things will get worse. Obamacare will be deeply destructive. People are already seeing it. The only way Obamacare would ever work is if people behaved irrationally. It is a system that requires the young to go out and buy their own insurance, but allows them to stay on their parents’ insurance until they are well into their twenties. The law operates only if people do not behave like people.

Republicans should be opposed to any and all fixes of Obamacare. The GOP should not lift even half a finger to accommodate Democrat demands for changes. The Democrats planned and implemented Obamacare without a single Republican vote. They made clear they did not need the votes. They used a budgetary procedure in the Senate to get around a filibuster after the people of Massachusetts sent a Republican in Ted Kennedy’s stead to try to stop it.

So the Democrats can own it. They can own every deleted application, every delayed entry into the website, every denial of insurance, every decline in full time work, and every denial of care that comes from this horrible law." --Erick Erickson

Thursday, October 24, 2013

DON'T GET FOOLED AGAIN, VIRGINIA: Terry McAuliffe and Michael Bloomberg Are Coming For Your Guns

Will Virginians get fooled again?

Gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe is one of the top Democrat fundraisers in the country. Like most Democrats, he has virtually no experience running a company, much less an entire state.

As a Clinton apparatchik, insiders have confirmed that he is running for governor to ensure Virginia flips blue in 2016 for Hillary.

In other words, he's not there to serve Virginians. He's there to serve Hillary.

In order to fool the people of the Commonwealth, he decided to copy Barack Obama's 2012 playbook. This involves making up bizarre claims about Ken Cuccinelli's extremist views. Watching a few of the ads inundating the airwaves in the state, MacAuliffe appears to claim that:

• Ken Cuccinelli will ban divorce

• Ken Cuccinelli will ban contraceptives

In other words, Terry MacAuliffe thinks women are stupid.

Of course these claims are outlandish lies. It's the "War on Women" all over again, but the brutal facts on the ground remain: Democrats have launched their own War on Women through Hillary Clinton's outrageous cover-ups and Barack Obama's destruction of jobs for women.

In addition, here's something all residents of Virginia should be aware of: MacAuliffe has received more than $1,000,000 from former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

The Virginia gubernatorial race has gotten so nasty that New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has gone so far as to use photos of mass murderers to attack Republican candidate Ken Cuccinelli.

Bloomberg — a big proponent of gun control laws — is running ads against Cuccinelli ahead of the Nov. 5 election through his Independence USA PAC... The new ad — a $1.2 million buy airing on television in Northern Virginia — criticizes Cuccinelli’s views on gun control, while showing photos of “the dangerously mentally ill” and “criminals” from some of the country’s most gruesome shootings in recent history.

...“The gun show loophole,” the ad begins. “It means anyone can buy a gun without a background check. The dangerously mentally ill. Criminals. Endangering our families.”

Terry MacAuliffe will be coming for your guns, Virginia.

That's why the crackpot Michael Bloomberg has filled his campaign coffers.

Tell everyone you know. And help support Ken Cuccinelli for Governor.


Guess who appeared disengaged during momentous national security meetings, playing with his BlackBerry and chewing gum?

You only get one guess.

...A close examination of how the Obama administration finds itself at this point — based on interviews with dozens of current and former members of the administration, foreign diplomats and Congressional officials — starts with a deeply ambivalent president who has presided over a far more contentious debate among his advisers than previously known...

...[some insiders] are far more critical [of Obama], saying that the administration’s paralysis left it unprepared for foreseeable events like the Aug. 21 gas attack...

...As one former senior White House official put it, “We spent so much damn time navel gazing, and that’s the tragedy of it..."

...on Aug. 20 he made a comment that would come to haunt him. Though he was determined to keep the American military out of Syria, “a red line for us is we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized,” he said at a news conference...

... at the State Department, some officials were fuming about what they felt was a broken process and a lack of strategy... The administration took more than a year to nominate a replacement for Jeffrey D. Feltman, a veteran Arabic-speaking diplomat who had coordinated the State Department’s Middle East policy...

...Even as the debate about arming the rebels took on a new urgency, Mr. Obama rarely voiced strong opinions during senior staff meetings. But current and former officials said his body language was telling: he often appeared impatient or disengaged while listening to the debate, sometimes scrolling through messages on his BlackBerry or slouching and chewing gum...

...The president signed the finding in April, but months went by without any movement on the C.I.A. program. The White House waited to ask Congress for money for the secret mission, further evidence of Mr. Obama’s continued misgivings...

I'm truly shocked -- shocked! -- that a community agitator with no executive experience would treat the job of president as an inconvenience when it didn't involve speechifying and fundraising.


Hat tip: BadBlue News.

Obama's Legacy: Failure

Guest post by Alan Caruba

No need to wait around three years and beyond to know what Barack Obama’s “legacy” will be. It will be failure. Few, if any, presidents have demonstrated his level of incompetence and ineptitude.

Obamacare, the Affordable Care Act, is called President Obama’s legacy legislation, the one for which he will be remembered, much as Franklin D. Roosevelt is remembered for Social Security or Harry Truman is remembered for Medicare. Obama is likely to regret his legacy, though you can be sure that while he lives he will blame its failure on everyone but himself.

Obamacare, enacted in his first term, will be emblematic of the eight years in which every policy Obama initiated swiftly became a failure. Does anyone recall his “stimulus” with “shovel ready jobs” that did not materialize? Or “Cash for Clunkers”? How many millions were loaned to “green energy” companies that rapidly went bankrupt?

Not everything failed. His “war on coal” has been a success if you measure success in the number of plants generating electricity shut down and workers laid off. And, of course, there is the doubling of the national debt. It’s a long list.

The legislative history of Obamacare begins when it was passed by the House on November 7, 2009 and by the Senate just before midnight on Christmas Eve, 2009. Both houses of Congress had Democratic Party majorities, but it required a lot of arm-twisting and political bribery to enact the bill. President Obama signed it into law on March 21, 2010. It is doubtful that most members of Congress actually read the bill before voting to pass it.

Larwyn's Linx: Cruz Won

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

Nation

Cruz Won: J. Christian Adams
HealthCare.Gov now lies to you about what you’ll pay: David Freddoso
Cruz: American People Are Seeing Obamacare Is Not Working: Foundry

Schweizer Reveals How Congress Uses Legislation To Intimidate Donors: Breitbart
Politicians’ Extortion Racket: Peter Schweizer
I Absolutely Support Chris McDaniel Over Thad Cochran: Erick Erickson

Obama will try to pivot to Amnesty for Illegals: Stephen Kruiser
IRS Gives Illegals 4 Billion Dollars Of Your Money: John Hawkins
Concealed-carry permit holder prevents mass shooting in Arizona: Knight

WH Demands Insurer Not Reveal Embarrassing Signup Numbers : TPNN
Manchin Doubts Obama Would Veto Delay of Individual Mandate: Roll Call
Jarrett: the most powerful person in the Obama Administration: MoneyRunner

Economy

Congress Cedes Control over Borrowing: a Dictator’s Dream: RWN
Obamacare chat line personnel starting to seriously lose it.: Moe Lane
Ted Cruz Causes Americans for Tax Reform’s Policy Director to Lose It: RS

White House doing emergency meeting with insurance industry: Moe Lane
Gibbs: HHS Knew Obamacare Site Wouldn’t Work: Keith Koffler
Kathleen Sebelius: An Obama "saved job": Marathon

Scandal Central

REPORT: WH PURGING military commanders: Scoop
What actually gets you fired by Obama admin: Scoop
HOLY CRAP! Actual chat help session on Obamacare website: Scoop

Media

CBS Uncovers 'Incredibly Misleading' ObamaCare Website Price Quotes: NB
Megyn Kelly revisits how Obamacare was shoved down our throats: Scoop
“I’ve felt it first hand” — CNN Host: Obama’s people can be nasty if you run bad stories on Obama: Scoop

Obamacare: The Game: Jon Gabriel
MSNBC Cranks Up Chris Christie Campaign: TruthRevolt
The “Nobody Knows Nuttin’” Defense: MOTUS

World

Obama Chewing Gum as Syria Burns: Walter Russell Mead
Obama May Or May Not Have Tapped Angela Merkel's Cell Phone: ZH
D.C. businessman faces two years in jail for unregistered ammunition, brass casing: Times

Merkel Less Than Pleased That U.S. Likely Tapped Her Phone: TechCrunch
ICE agents’ leader turns up heat on Obama immigration ‘scandal’: BPR
Kerry Seeks to Reassure Israel on Iran: Irascible Musings

Too Bad: Saudis angry with U.S. (can we talk 9/11 now): Shoebat
"Benghazi! You Let Them Die!" Hillary Heckled: Marooned in Marin
Abbas, Hamas, Flirting With Syria's Assad: Gatestone

Sci-Tech

Handwriting support hits Gmail, Google Docs: Seth Rosenblatt, CNet
Google to Soldiers: Malware is the Enemy: DefTech
Jerky treats leave nearly 600 dogs dead in 'mysterious outbreak', FDA says: Fox

Cornucopia

“Glitch” is the new “Total Disaster”: Liberal Logic 101
It's All Your Fault: Return of Kings
Almost Halloween, Time to Scare the Crap Out of Your Neighbors: Feral Irishman

Pictures of the Day: Obamacare and Transparency: AWD
Lawmakers: Sebelius failed at major government website projects prior to HHS: DC
My Fear: Erick Erickson

Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: SAVE VIRGINIA FROM GUN CONTROL

QOTD: "[If] I were setting up a system that absolutely, positively depended upon getting young people to buy insurance . . . I would not have included a provision that requires plans to cover children until they’re 26." --Jim Geraghty

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

6 MIND-BLOWING REVELATIONS: How Eric Holder and Barack Obama Perverted the 2012 Election Using the DOJ

Yet again, we have ironclad proof that the Obama administration has committed high crimes and misdemeanors that would, in a lawful society, have already resulted in impeachment. Author Peter Schweizer describes some of the more outrageous revelations in his new book Extortion:

6. THERE ARE COMPANIES BEING TOLD THEY'RE SUBJECT TO DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE INVESTIGATION, CRIMINAL AND CIVIL AND LITERALLY THOSE COMPANIES ARE SOLICITED TO DONATIONS TO THE OBAMA CAMPAIGN AND NOW TO OBAMA POLITICAL COMMITTEES AND THERE IS STATISTICAL EVIDENCE IN THE BOOK THAT LITERALLY YOU CUT YOUR CHANCES OF GOING TO JAIL IN HALF IF YOU MAKE A CONTRIBUTION.

5. AFTER THE 2010 MID-TERM ELECTIONS WHERE THEY HAD THAT STUNNING DEFEAT IN CONGRESS, [the Obama Department of Justice] TARGETED THE INDUSTRIES THAT FINANCED THE TEA PARTY CANDIDATES THAT GOT ELECTED...

4. LITERALLY DAYS AFTER PRESIDENT OBAMA MADE THAT FAMOUS STATEMENT "WE'RE GOING TO PUNISH OUR POLITICAL OPPONENTS," [the Holder DOJ] SENT OUT AN INDUSTRY SWEEP LETTER [to companies in the oil and gas sector] WHICH SAID YOU ARE SUBJECT TO CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION AND YOU BETTER SHARE AND COOPERATE... IT WAS A CLEAR INTIMIDATION TACTIC USED.

3. THE TOP [Republican] FINANCIERS IN 2012 WERE ALL SUBJECT TO DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE CRIMINAL CHARGES.

2. THE TOP FIVE POSITIONS AT DOJ BEGINNING WITH ERIC HOLDER WERE ALL CAMPAIGN BUNDLERS FOR THE OBAMA CAMPAIGN.

1. [Obama] FUND-RAISERS [were] RAISING MONEY TO PUT [Obama] INTO POWER WHO [are] NOW MAKING DECISIONS ABOUT WHO THEY'RE GOING TO PROSECUTE AND WHO THEY'RE NOT GOING TO PROSECUTE... THIS [is a] MELDING OF THE DOJ AND THE OBAMA CAMPAIGN.

You know, it's getting harder and harder to keep President Barack Obama's Complete List of Historic Firsts current. These guys seem to invent a new Executive Branch crime each and every day.

Tell you what's scarier: this is only the stuff we know about.


Click here to read Extortion.

4 Interesting Snippets o' Wisdom Heard on Last Night's Mark Levin Show

Four minutes of Mark Levin is akin to an hour of anyone else. Some random items from last night's show, paraphrased:

1. Even the Karl Rove consultant class could have led Republicans to victory in 2012 had Obamacare's individual mandate kicked in October 1st of last year. The rollout has been such an unmitigated disaster that even Humpty Dumpty could have beaten the incumbent.

2. Yet another member of the media -- a Washington Post reporter named Laura Blumenfeld -- has joined the Obama administration. That makes "16 journalists who have officially become absorbed into the Obama administration. Countless others, such as CNN’s Candy Crowley and everyone at MSNBC, have been unofficial members."

In short, journalists now use their ostensibly unbiased, independent news reporting as auditions for a gig in Democrat politics. So much for the Fourth Estate.

3. The infernal cross-pollination of "journalists" and administration officials may explain why no one in vintage media has bothered to total up the number of Americans who have lost coverage thanks to Obamacare. In Florida alone, a single insurer is terminating 300,000 policies -- or 80 percent of its individual block of business. That's just one insurer in a single state. The total of those who have lost their health care plans must number in the tens of millions, but you wouldn't know it by reading The New York Birdcage Liner.

4. Speaking of unreported, the total number of Americans not in the labor force "has increased by 10,102,000 during Obama's presidency." While CNS News is reporting that figure, where is the rest of the media?


Want to read Mark Levin's latest bestseller? Click here for The Liberty Amendments.