Monday, February 10, 2014

Larwyn's Linx: Restless Heart of Darkness

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

Nation

Restless Heart of Darkness: John C. Wright
HHS urged to close down Obamacare site until security issues resolved: BPR
The Hillary Papers: WFB

The Democrats’ New Rallying Cry: Work Is a Trap!: John Hawkins
Republicans Go On an Immigration Reform Bender: FPM
Going Democrat-Lite will make GOP a permanent minority: Rob Miller

Completely Out of Control: How Hard it is to Buy a Gun in MA?: MinorityReport
Progressive Mayor Steals Public Money: iOTW
Budget model uncertain for state health exchanges: Patrick Condon

Economy

6 states putting prisoners on Obamacare to shift costs to feds: NakedDC
Today’s Japanese Lesson – BABURU KEIZAI: Blasted Fools
Trey Gowdy DEMOLISHES Obamacare in 5-minutes: YoungCons

MyRAs – Washington’s Latest Scam: RWN
Gallup vs. BLS Unemployment Differs by Nearly 3 Million Workers: Mish
Swiss Voters Fail To Heed Swiss Bankers, Vote To Curb Immigration: VDARE

Here's What It Looks Like When Your Country's Economy Collapses: Adam Taggart
A Common Core math problem that is positively facepalm-inducing: Howard Portnoy
Who Art Thou That Led To This Destruction?: Karl Denninger

Scandal Central

Dems Trying to Blame IRS IG for Targeting Scandal: Rick Moran
The obligatory “Anti Voter ID marchers require Photo ID to march” post.: Moe Lane
IRS Scandal Continues With More Lies: LD Jackson

Rep. Gowdy Wants Subpoenas for Hillary Clinton: ConTrib
Obama's IRS 'Confusion': WSJ
Colin Powell is a Moron. Period.: Kevin Jackson

Media

NBC Praises Communism as One of History’s ‘Pivotal Experiments’: Ed Driscoll
Dr. Zo Sees Janean Garofalo: Woodsterman
‘A Special Circle of Clinton Hell’: JWF

A Tale of Two Presidents: Ed Driscoll
The Democratic Party's Two-Facedness of Race Relations: Relentless Conservative (2011)
Every Moment Was True: Philip Seymour Hoffman, R.I.P.: Matthew Hennessey

Laura Ingraham destroys RINO George Will over amnesty: FAM
WaPo Praises The Joy Of Being "Untethered" And "Unleashed" From A Job: ZH
How @JAMyerson Blamed @SarahPalinUSA for Tucson: R.S. McCain

The new cultural meme in America. Are we ready for this?: Allen West
Flight 93 Factor: Christian Mercenary
‘Priceless’: Obama’s policies shredded in a single bumper sticker: Twitchy

World

How the West Is Committing Financial Suicide: Cherson and Molschky
China’s Push Into ‘America’s Backyard’: Shannon Tiezzi
Ex-CIA Officer: Government’s ‘Fusion Centers’ Enable Obama ‘Turnkey Tyranny’: NoisyRm

Obama Administration Vows to Defend Japan If Conflict Erupts in East China Sea …(Trust Us): GWP
“Smart diplomacy”: Ambassador to Argentina may not even speak Spanish: Fausta
Vicious Muslim Supremacist Professor demands students tweet on “Islamophobia” for credit: DC Clothesline

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)

The NSA’s Secret Role in the U.S. Assassination Program: Intercept
The Apollo of Gaza: Hamas's Ancient Bronze Statue: Vernon Silver
Snowden used web crawler tool to access and download 1.7 million Secret NSA Files: The Hacker News

Cornucopia

Watch as This Man Realizes He's Sitting Beside the People He Rescued From Nazi Death Camps: LiftBump
Adam West: Still the Best Batman: IMAO
Leno’s Priceless Politician Montage: Scoop

Image: Border collie wins Westminster show agility trial
Sponsored by: The Senate Conservatives Fund: Chart a Course to Restore the Constitution

QOTD: "Now that the full court press to refute the findings of the CBO report which, as we reported, confirmed what was largely known - that as a result of Obamacare, the strapped US economy will have even fewer workers as millions will fall back on welfare state entitlements which make hard work obsolete - has failed, it is time for the propaganda to take a different track: one where not having a job, and in fact losing it due to Obamacare, is hailed as an act of nobility. Sure enough, here comes one of the administration's favorites, the Bezos Times, with "They quit their jobs, thanks to health-care law" which does largely as its name suggests: highlights just how "enabling" and "liberating" Obamacare is for one's life, once a person is no longer burdened by something as trivial as a job...

...One really can't make this up - it appears that in America's creeping transition to a socialist paradise, the new American dream is living on "Federal subsidies" (paid for by taxpayers) and government welfare...

...However, what is becoming clear is that slowly but surely, the entire process of labor and being employed is increasingly cast in a negative light: something which is not exactly surprising. At least not to our readers, because, sadly, we were once again just over a year ahead of the prevailing sentiment when, in November of 2012, we wrote "When Work Is Punished: The Tragedy Of America's Welfare State" when we said that "for increasingly more it is now more lucrative - in the form of actual disposable income - to sit, do nothing, and collect various welfare entitlements, than to work... That was then. Now we can add Obamacare... which will further help America's now almost extinct middle class get even more untethered and unleashed..." --Tyler Durden

Sunday, February 09, 2014

GOOD NEWS: Obama "Executive Action" Eases Immigration Restrictions on Terrorists

It wasn't enough to have an Attorney General whose law firm gleefully defended terrorists involved in 9/11. And it wasn't enough to have Muslim immigration to the United States skyrocket.

No, now Islamists who support terror are welcome, too. Which is pretty much the Wall Street Journal position on immigration.

The Obama administration has eased the rules for would-be asylum-seekers, refugees and others who hope to come to the United States or stay here and who gave "limited" support to terrorists or terrorist groups... The change is one of President Barack Obama's first actions on immigration since he pledged during his State of the Union address last month to use more executive directives...

The Department of Homeland Security and the State Department now say that people considered to have provided "limited material support" to terrorists or terrorist groups are no longer automatically barred from the United States.

...Rep. Bob Goodlatte, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, called the change naive given today's global terrorist threats... "President Obama should be protecting U.S. citizens rather than taking a chance on those who are aiding and abetting terrorist activity and putting Americans at greater risk," said Goodlatte, R-Va.

As an up-and-coming politician, Mr. Obama feted terrorists and marinated in anti-semitism.

Which makes this unlawful "executive action" on the part of the president all the less surprising.

And when innocent Americans die -- and they will -- remember who Obama is and what his administration did.


Hat tips: Dan from New York and BadBlue News.

Just when you think the Washington Post has hit rock bottom, they sink deeper into the tar-pit

To paraphrase Jim Geraghty, in a nation of 320 million people, I'm sure you can find someone who's happy with Obamacare.

And guess what? The execrable Washington Post and someone named "Sandhya Somashekhar" -- which I'm pretty sure is pronounced "Gesundheit!" -- found someone delighted that they can quit their job. You know, to "escape job lock", which is the new term for Obamacare-induced unemployment.

Count Polly Lower among those who quit their jobs because of the health-care law... It happened in September, when her boss abruptly changed her job description. She went from doing payroll, which she liked, to working on her boss’s schedule, which she loathed...

Hold up: Polly had to work on her boss's schedule? Oh, the humanity!

At another time, she might have had to grit her teeth and accept the new position because she needed the health benefits... But with the health-care law soon to take effect, she simply resigned — and hasn’t looked back.

“It was wonderful. It was very freeing,” said Lower, 56, of Bourbon, Ind...

Yes, isn't being jobless an aspirational goal for everyone? You know, so they can pursue their goals, like writing cowboy poetry or weaving risque macrame.

...[Lower] is now babysitting her 5-year-old granddaughter full time. With the help of federal subsidies that kicked in Jan. 1, she is paying less than $500 a month for health coverage for herself and her husband.

So let's state this more clearly: thanks to Obamacare, Lower has now joined the roughly 100 million Americans collecting an average of $9,000 each from more than 80 means-tested welfare programs.

The Washington Post found ... Lower through Families USA, a health advocacy group that supports the health-care law and maintains a database of people who have benefited from it.

And just who is Families USA? They're an SEIU front group that has been pushing for socialized medicine for years.

In short, the Washington Post is doing its level best to protect Democrats as we head into the 2014 midterm elections even as millions lose their jobs and their health care; and as many as 100 million more may be similarly impacted in 2015, unless the Imperial President rewrites the Obamacare law again through executive edict.

And where does "Sandhya Somashekhar" and the Washington Post find their loathsome propaganda? Why a hardcore, militant labor union aligned with the Marxist-Leninist movement, of course!

Our goal as socialists is to abolish private ownership of the means of production. Our immediate task is to limit the capitalist class’s prerogatives in the workplace…In the short run we must at least minimize the degree of exploitation of workers by capitalists. We can accomplish this by promoting full employment policies, passing local living wage laws, but most of all by increasing the union movement’s power…

I'll let Jonah Goldberg dispense with Gesundheit and her Marxist propaganda in his usual, incisive fashion.

...the real CBO story should be: “That awkward moment when everyone realizes Obamacare was a huge mistake.” The same CBO report projects that by 2024 the number of non-elderly uninsured will be — drum roll, please — 31 million Americans.

And that’s why all of this talk of Democrats as the Job-Lock Liberators is pathetic and hilarious at the same time. Virtually every promise has been broken, every prediction falsified. And now, at a time when millions want work that doesn’t exist, Democrats are claiming victory by trimming the amount of work actually being done.

Hopefully voters will look for ways to liberate these Democrats from the curse of job-lock come November.

The title of the WaPo secretion is "They quit their jobs, thanks to health-care law."

I don't think that headline means what they think it means.


Hat tip: BadBlue News

A riddle from antiquity that mankind ponders even today

Thanks to BB for the photo:


The 4 Pillars of Poverty

Guest post by Marc Faber

I think it is remarkable that, despite the growth the US has enjoyed since the 1960s, the poverty rate has barely changed. Writing for the Wall Street Journal last month under the title “How the War on Poverty Was Lost”, Robert Rector notes that: “Fifty years and $20 trillion later, LBJ’s goal to help the poor become self-supporting has failed.” He writes further:

On Jan. 8, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson used his State of the Union address to announce an ambitious government undertaking. “This administration today, here and now,” he thundered, “declares unconditional war on poverty in America.”

Fifty years later, we’re losing that war. Fifteen percent of Americans still live in poverty, according to the official census poverty report for 2012, unchanged since the mid-1960s. Liberals argue that we aren’t spending enough money on poverty-fighting programs, but that’s not the problem. In reality, we’re losing the war on poverty because we have forgotten the original goal, as LBJ stated it half a century ago: “to give our fellow citizens a fair chance to develop their own capacities.”

…LBJ promised that the war on poverty would be an “investment” that would “return its cost manifold to the entire economy.” But the country has invested $20.7 trillion in 2011 dollars over the past 50 years. What does America have to show for its investment? Apparently, almost nothing: The official poverty rate persists with little improvement.

My impression is that there are far more “poor” people today as a percentage of the population than there were in the 1960s, because lower middle-class and middle-class people have moved into the ranks of the poor. (Since 2007, the bottom 50% by wealth percentile lost more than 40% of their net worth and their debts are up 16%.) This may be a factor that explains the still muted consumer confidence at a time when stock investors’ sentiment is at its highest level since 1987.

In my opinion, the increase in poverty rests on four pillars: cultural and social factors, educational issues, excessive debt, and government handouts, which encourage people not to work. Other factors include: international competition, which keeps wages down; and monetary policies, which create bubbles and impoverish the majority.

As an example, social factors and government handouts led to a sharp increase in out-of-wedlock births. In the 1960s in the US, out-of-wedlock births comprised only 5.3% of total births; in 1980, 18.4%; and today, over 40%. Babies born out of wedlock are likely to have fewer educational opportunities than those raised in two-parent families.

This is one reason; educational standards have also slipped – certainly relative to the rest of the world – due to poor policies. Of course, by far the worst cause of rising poverty rates is monetary policies that have encouraged credit growth, enslaving poor people with debts and financing an increase in entitlement programs by the government.

According to Rector, “The federal government currently runs more than 80 means-tested welfare programs that provide cash, food, housing, medical care and targeted social services to poor and low-income Americans. Government spent $916 billion on these programs in 2012 alone, and roughly 100 million Americans received aid from at least one of them, at an average cost of $9,000 per recipient. (That figure doesn’t include Social Security or Medicare benefits.) Federal and state welfare spending, adjusted for inflation, is 16 times greater than it was in 1964. If converted to cash, current means tested spending is five times the amount needed to eliminate all official poverty in the U.S.”

"The Affordable Care Act is leaving my children uninsured – so how can this law have the word Care in it?"

Guest post by Kari Kinder

The Affordable Care Act is leaving my children uninsured as of January – so how can this law have the word Care in it?

An Open Letter to the Obama Administration and American Citizens:

My family’s journey with securing our new insurance under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) started on October 1, 2013. I have decided to write this letter to let the American people know what it has been like for us. We are a family of four, with two little boys’ ages seven years old and three years old. My husband and I have had full time jobs for 6 years and 13 years respectively. We have been with the same two companies for those years. We are a middle class family; we own our three bedroom two bath house, we own two cars, and previously provided our own insurance for the four of us. We have coverage through Individual Blue from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama until 12/31/13. Our premiums have been $380.00 a month, which also included dental coverage for all four of us.

On October, 1, 2013 we received our letters like other Alabamians about our new premiums and plans for 2014 from Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) of Alabama. When I opened our letter to say I had sticker shock was an understatement. Our premiums for the Blue Saver Silver would now be $753.26. This included the ACA tax but did not include the additional $75.00 we would need to pay in order to keep dental for me and my husband. So we would need to pay total $828.26 to keep health and dental insurance for the four of us. This payment is roughly $64.00 less than what we pay for our mortgage each month. I was outraged that anyone thought we could afford this. Sure we have some savings, but with that price tag we would whittle it down to almost nothing very quickly. I consider savings as a rainy day fund, a start to saving for the kid’s college, our retirement, etc. I never dreamed in a million years we would need to use it to pay our insurance premiums each month – how in the world could this help the economy too?

Larwyn's Linx: So, Leftists, Enjoying the Consequences of Your Votes?

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

Nation

So, Leftists, How Are You Liking the Consequences of Your Votes?: Rottweiler
Manuel Martinez Fled Cuba: Destroys Lawmaker’s Gun Control Scheme: NoisyRm
A Sailor's Dying Wish: Jennie Haskamp

The Big Lie: Gates of Vienna
Sniper attack on a 2nd power station in April 2013 – in Tennessee: Unyielding
NC Moral Monday Protest Organizers Tell Agitators To Bring Photo Id: RWN

The Final Constitutional Option: Robert Berry
Missouri governor has pen and phone too, now faces impeachment: Unyielding
Second Amendment applies to carrying guns in cars.: Instapundit

House GOP: Obama Has a Year to Prove He’d Be Trustworthy on Immigration: PJM
The Most Corrupt Village in America: Daniel Greenfield
Americans Learn to Succeed by Learning From Failure: Michael Barone

Economy

Affordable Care Act — Paying More to Work Less: Debra Saunders
LGBT Executive Order In The Works: BlurBrain
Worker ‘not a female or a male’ sues for $518,682 over PRONOUNS: DC

Scandal Central

IRS targeting victim doubly victimized during House hearing: Renee Nal
Shocking IRS Abuse, the Case You Haven’t Heard About: Sara Noble
IRS Employee Stole $326,000 through Identity Theft : Daniel Greenfield

Climate & Energy

Polar Vortex: Great Lakes Freezing Over in 20-Year Record: Breitbart
Global Warming: Don't Confuse Us with the Facts: Timothy Birdnow
Black Swans? Dispatches from the front line of climate change.: Tony Brown

Media

Michelle Malkin Girds for 2014 #GOP Civil War: AmPower
My letter to the Russian Embassy regarding Mike Lawlor.: SSI
What Rosie O’Donnell’s son did to annoy his ‘left-wing, liberal, pacifist mother’: BPR

World

Obama's partners in peace air simulated attack on U.S., Israel: Joel Pollak
McCain Explodes at Syrian Christians Who Described Atrocities of Rebels He Wants to Arm: RWN
The Muslim Conquest of India: Janet Levy

Tommy Robinson Attacked in Woodhill Prison: Gates of Vienna
Swiss to Vote on Sunday on Whether to Restrict (Legal) Immigration: ¡No Pasarán!
Soros’ ex-GF goes berserk during deposition; smacks him in the head: NYDN

Russia snubs Obama with torch-lighting: FreeNC
Rogin Destroys Psaki Over ‘Track Record’ Of Obama Political Appointees Failing As Ambassadors: WFB
Presidential Palace In Bosnia Set On Fire As Riots Break Out Protesting 40% Unemployment: ZH

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)

Investigators reportedly believe NSA should have detected Snowden: Fox
Barclays launches investigation after customer data leak: Sara Young
This Week in Numbers: PopSci

Cornucopia

New SooperVideo! Obama’s Facebook ‘Look Back’ Video!!: Sooper Mexican
“Bliss” in the time of Obama: off grid and down the rabbit hole.: MOTUS
Baked Hussein Obama: Crockett Lives

Image: First Winter Olympics gold medal goes to American
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Help Fire Mitch McConnell: Support Matt Bevin for U.S. Senate

QOTD: "The federal government currently runs more than 80 means-tested welfare programs that provide cash, food, housing, medical care and targeted social services to poor and low-income Americans. Government spent $916 billion on these programs in 2012 alone, and roughly 100 million Americans received aid from at least one of them, at an average cost of $9,000 per recipient. (That figure doesn’t include Social Security or Medicare benefits.) Federal and state welfare spending, adjusted for inflation, is 16 times greater than it was in 1964. If converted to cash, current means tested spending is five times the amount needed to eliminate all official poverty in the U.S." --Robert Rector, via Marc Faber

Saturday, February 08, 2014

If Biographies Were Titled Truthfully

Via our summer intern, @BiffSpackle:


You can see the rest of Spackle's exclusive comics here.


DEMOCRAT LOGIC COMIX: Assault Weapons

Via @BiffSpackle:


You can see the rest of Spackle's exclusive comics here.


Terror Attack on Power Grid in California Demonstrates the Suicidal Insanity of America's Porous Borders

Guest post by Investor's Business Daily

War On Terror: New information about a sniper assault on Silicon Valley's phone lines and power grid has raised fears that the nation's power grid is vulnerable to terrorism.

The prospect that the unsolved attack on an electrical substation near San Jose just hours after the Boston Marathon bombing in April could have been a terrorist act was raised anew last week by Jon Wellinghoff, former chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

"This is the most sophisticated and extensive attack that's ever occurred on the grid to my knowledge," he told the Associated Press, contradicting FBI denials that terrorism was involved. "I don't know what the definition of terrorism is other than when an extremely well-trained group attacks a major piece of infrastructure in an expertly planned attack."

Wellinghoff also mused recently that the attack might have been a dress rehearsal for a more widespread attack on a national grid vulnerable to disruption. "There are ways that a very few number of actors with very rudimentary equipment could take down large portions of our grid," he told Foreign Policy. "I don't think we have the level of physical security we need."

Payback

Jilted lover?


MUST SEE: Powerful and frightening testimony on Obama intimidation

Guest post by James Simpson

I am proud to call Catherine Engelbrecht, President of True the Vote, (www.truethevote.org), a friend. I have written about their amazing organization and its singular achievements in exposing vote fraud a number of times. For example, here, during the Wisconsin recall of Governor Scott Walker, and here, in a widely-read research report on vote fraud for Accuracy in Media. The following testimony, which she delivered this past week before Congress, was at once incredibly inspiring for her singular bravery, and frightening, because it poignantly reveals the depth of the Obama administration’s utter contempt for the American people and the laws governed by it.

Catherine, her husband, their company and her nonprofit, have been repeatedly targeted, first in frivolous lawsuits by the Texas Democratic Party (which the Democrats lost, every single one, but they didn’t care, because it cost about $1 million for Catherine to defend – money fortunately provided by others as they are not rich), then outrageous, unprecedented demands from the FBI, the IRS and the ATF. Watch her testimony and share it.

This administration is literally revealing itself to be a tyranny. We all need to wake up before it is too late if it is indeed not too late already. The IRS has now proposed a new regulation that can only be described as a despotic attempt to throttle free speech. If codified, this rule will make legal, the criminal suppression of conservative groups that they have been engaging in since 2010, and continue to engage in. Add your comments to the chorus of outrage rising across the land against this IRS proposed rule that will literally destroy free speech. Submissions may be sent electronically via the Federal eRulemaking Portal at http://www.regulations.gov, please include this citation: IRS REG-134417-13.

Larwyn's Linx: The Renegade Jesse Myerson

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

Nation

The Renegade Jesse Myerson: R.S. McCain
I've Been Trying Since November—But I Still Can't Sign Up for Obamacare: WS
A Nation Governed by Traitors: Hideout

Is your pre-existing condition really covered under Obamacare?: Hideout
Who’s Up for Yet Another Obamacare Delay?: Bryan Preston
What can a mere rifle do?: WeaponsMan

White House Tells Ocare Insurers To Let Consumers Change Plans: RWN
Obama May Decree... What Would Surprise You At This Point?: Ace
Black conservatives afforded no safe quarter: Allen West

Another completely insane proposal from Elizabeth Warren: FPM
BREAKING: "No, Liberals Don't Control the Democratic Party": Ace
Donna Freaking Edwards: C&S

Economy

January Jobs Report: Another Disaster: Hot Air
A primer of sorts on the Saturday activist left #MoralMarch in NC: Toldjah
Unemployment- Lousy Numbers And The Pretzel Brigade: MinorityReport

Scandal Central

ACLJ Head: Newly Discovered IRS Emails a “Smoking Gun” – Warrant Special Prosecutor: Nice Deb
Rep. Gerry Connolly Doesn’t Want to Touch IRS, FBI, ATF Abuses But Defends Lois Lerner: MagNote
IRS abuse target files formal ethics complaint against Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD): Bryan Preston

Climate & Energy

If A Tree-Ring Temperature Falls in the Forest: Mark Steyn
Former Interior Secretary Ken Salazar: Oh, Hey, the Keystone Pipeline Is Cool Now.: Jim Geraghty
Global warming: 80 percent of Great Lakes covered in ice: Marathon

Media

Lott hammers ABC News for the network’s deceptive anti-gun propaganda: Bob Owens
NBC calls Genocidal Communism “one of modern history’s pivotal experiments": Scoop
SNUBBED! Breitbart editor orders reporters to skip any mention of RedState Ben Howe’s film: DC

What Do Liberals Say to a Black Conservative?: MRC
Doubling Down on Obamacare: Lynnley Browning, Newsweek
‘Those dancers are spinning like Iranian centrifuges’: Jim Geraghty live-tweets Sochi opening ceremony: Twitchy

Scratching My Head Over Hot Air’s Take On Mitch McConnell’s Polling Data: IM41
CNN touts Obama's 'very moving' religious liberty speech; omits Obamacare attacks on faith: NB
The Most Corrupt Village in America: Daniel Greenfield

World

By the Waters of Babble-on – and on and on and on.: Blasted Fools
Top language spoken by refugees admitted to US during Obama reign: Arabic: Creeping
US Mocks Russia’s Surveillance State While We Live in a Super Spy State: Sara Noble

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)

Hackers aren't the problem at Sochi, surveillance is: Russell Brandom
In 3.5 Years, Most Africans Will Have Smartphones: Jon Evans
800000-Year-old Human Footprints Found in UK: Benita Matilda

Cornucopia

Military Records and “the Records Fire”: This Ain't Hell
I survived 4 near-fatal errors on a single shift: Keith Bettinger, PoliceOne
Irony Piers Morgan’s Security Detail Has AR-15s He Doesn’t Want You To Have: WZ

Image: What Do Liberals Say to a Black Conservative?
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Help Fire Mitch McConnell: Support Matt Bevin for U.S. Senate

QOTD: "Enough people have had enough genuine headaches, stress, frustration, and misery from the Obamacare rollout — either through canceled plans, higher premiums, higher deductibles, higher co-pays, not liking the selection on the exchange, long waits when they call the help line, the website crashing, the website not sending the right information to the insurance company, their company reducing 401(k) benefits to cover the new costs of plans under Obamacare, their insurer talking about either doubling their rates or departing the exchanges, or they're witnessing the end of the era of small group medical practices, they're one of the 22,000 folks who have errors in their records that cannot be changed, they're being denied specialty treatment at the hospital by insurance providers on the state exchange, etc, etc.

None of those people want to hear the success stories and happy talk. I'm sure in a nation of 317 million people, you can find somebody who's happy with their deal under Obamacare. But it's a raw deal for millions of Americans, and they're not going to be receptive to an ad that tries to tell them otherwise. If you're a Democrat, better to try to change the subject." --Jim Geraghty

Friday, February 07, 2014

Uhm, any of y'all seen Reggie Love's bong?

Hey, it's not me.

It's the Internets:

President Barack Obama left many viewers with the impression that he was stoned on drugs during his interview broadcast Friday night on NBC as part of the network’s coverage of the Sochi Olympics opening ceremony. The session with Bob Costas was taped Thursday by remote with Obama at the White House and Costas in Sochi, Russia.

This screen capture posted to Twitter by M. Joseph Parry shows Obama with droopy eyelids, bloodshot eyes and a droopy mouth.
Parry commented: “Uh, I am pretty sure President Obama is high in this NBC sports interview.”

...Parry was not alone in his observation. Twitter lit up with user’s astonishment at Obama’s stoned appearance in the interview.

Obama was a stoner in high school and college to the point he reportedly sucked the last wisp of pot smoke from the interior roof of cars when he and the choom gang, as he and his druggie friends called themselves, got high...

To be fair, I'm pretty sure Reagan was a stoner, too.


Related: Obama's Complete List of Historic Firsts

SMACKDOWN: RINO-cum-Democrat Charlie Crist Faces Startling Accusations of Corruption

You may remember a politician called "Charlie Crist", if that is his real name. In 2010, Crist served as a moderate Republican Governor of Florida who felt he rightfully deserved a U.S. Senate seat. And he was the establishment favorite until a rising tide of Tea Party and Constitutional conservatism rejected his inane brand of mush and instead promoted a man named Marco Rubio to the position.

Crist behaved as one might expect of a mushy centrist. Rather than backing the winner of the primary, he -- like Arlen Specter and Dick Lugar -- quickly rejected the GOP and sought affirmation as a Democrat. He is now running for Governor under the banner of the ass donkey, but a stunning accusation has catapulted his campaign into unwelcome limelight.

Charlie Crist, the former Republican governor of Florida now seeking his old seat as a Democrat, has received the worst type of attention at the start of his campaign: a jilted former fundraiser testifying under oath that judicial nominations were up for sale on Mr. Crist’s watch.

The testimony this week by Scott Rothstein, a onetime Crist fundraiser and prominent lawyer convicted of running a $1.4 billion Ponzi scheme, stunned court observers across Florida and rocked Mr. Crist’s nascent candidacy to oust Republican incumbent Gov. Rick Scott.

...Rothstein testified that as a fundraiser he had a “quid pro quo” relationship in which he was able to encourage Mr. Crist, then the Florida governor, to name judges to the bench in Broward County who would rule favorably for his law firm.

“For certain contributions, people were appointed to the bench ,” Rothstein said in testimony reported by local news media. “I was able to convince him to do a lot of things. He knew how that game was played. I expected him to do certain things in exchange for large contributions.”

Rothstein, who was sentenced to 50 years in prison, also testified that he used his position on a commission that nominated judges for the 4th District Court of Appeals to suggest judicial appointees Mr. Crist wanted...

Color me tan. And shocked. Shocked, I say.


Hat tip: Winterspirit.

In an alternate universe where President Obama is a conservative, Tea Party Republican...

Welcome to BizarrObama:


You can follow our summer intern @BiffSpackle if you like this kinda thing, which says something about you and more about us.


7 reasons why believing this teachers’ union is a very bad idea

Guest post by Mary C. Tillotson and Dustin Hurst, Watchdog.org

In this cute little post, the American Federation of Teachers, a union for government educators, takes some nasty shots at vouchers, private schools and school choice. Neat. It’s too bad for the AFT’s few hundred readers that nearly everything the union wrote is wrong.

Thankfully, Watchdog.org can set things straight.

1. Voucher schools are as safe as public schools, if not safer

Despite what the teachers union wants to scare you into believing, private schools are just as safe as public schools, if not safer. Need some evidence? Take a look atthis shocking series about the violence in Philadelphia’s public school system, which saw 4,000 teacher assaults in a single year!

Maybe the union should be asking if public schools are safe.

2. If students don’t like teachings, they can leave

7 Reasons Believing This Teachers Union Is A Very Bad Idea

Sure, some might find teaching creationism unacceptable. The data show, however, that only a small fraction of private schools teach that concept.

Keep in mind that the beauty of school choice is on display here: If a student or parent doesn’t like the curriculum, they can say adios to that school.

We wonder how well that would work in the public school system.

Larwyn's Linx: Unnecessary Evils

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

Nation

Unnecessary Evils: Christian Mercenary
Attorney Cleta Mitchell tells Congress: IRS Investigation is a SHAM: Scoop
Cop-Killer Advocate Nominated for DOJ Post by Obama: Chris Gacek

Harry Reid and the Goose-Stepping Senate Democrats: Dan McLaughlin
Mitch McConnell: Yikes: Erick Erickson
Boehner: Amnesty stalled because GOP has doubts about Obama: WaPo

The Left’s Valentine to Defiant Jihad-Enabler Lynne Stewart: Michelle Malkin
Bloomberg Group Sought to Confiscate Guns From the Law-Abiding: MenRec
Murdered Border Patrol agent’s brother shames Holder: RWN

Economy

“Going Dictator” - a Brief How-To Course: MOTUS
Duke: 44% of U.S. firms consider cutting employee health care: Paul Bedard
Abraham Lincoln vs. Barack Obama: Ace

Free the job-locked poets!: Jonah Goldberg
The Party of Less Work: Rich Lowry
The New Workers’ Party: Mona Charen

Scandal Central

Witness at IRS Hearing: ‘I Will Not Retreat; I Will Not Surrender’: CNS
Report: Emperor Obama Considering 3 Year Extension of His Obamacare Decree: WZ
Two Americas: Biden Niece Avoids Jail Time for Assaulting Cop: JWF

Trey Gowdy Blasts Obama for Prejudging IRS Tea Party Scandal: GWP
NSA Defender Explains How Even Though NSA Spies On Americans, It's OK To Say They Don't: TechDirt
Troubling new details about the violent police raid in Iowa: Radley Balko

Climate & Energy

Satellites show no global warming for 17 years 5 months: Watts
Obama’s Plan to Bankrupt Coal Continues Without Congress: Ben Howe
Vilsack: Obama ‘Expects His Cabinet to Be Forceful and to Act’ on Climate Change Without Congress: CNS

Media

Krauthammer: Carney’s Words to be ‘Emblazoned on the Tombstone of Liberalism’: Ed Driscoll
Enough already: Cold Fury
Leno’s Last Monologue: Worst Thing About Losing This Job? I Have To Sign Up For Obamacare: Scoop

World

Terrorists Attacked Major Power Grid in San Jose Dress Rehearsal; FBI: “Nothing to See Here”: Debbie Schlussel
Throwing Terrorist Caution To The Whirlwind: NoisyRm
Saamer Akhshabi GA Tech PhD Student Burned by Molotov Cocktail in Atlanta?: MagNote

Iran’s bomb in the basement: Caroline Glick
In Sharp About Turn, AIPAC Joins Obama in Call to Delay Iran Sanctions Vote: Algemeiner
Leaked Audio Features State Department Big Trash-Talking the EU Over Ukraine: Ace

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)

Report: The NYPD Is Testing Google Glass: Jamie Condliffe
Take a trip down memory lane to Google's first data center: Seth Rosenblatt, CNet
Twitter Says DOJ's Settlement On National Security Requests Not Good Enough: TechDirt

Cornucopia

Rejoice! You have been liberated by the Red Army!: Cube
Abnormal Psych 101: Sondrakistan
If Obama Had Really Spoken His Mind…*This* Would Have Been His SOTU Address: Tammy Bruce

Image: Rejoice! You have been liberated by the Red Army!
Sponsored by: Help Fire Mitch McConnell: Support Matt Bevin for U.S. Senate

QOTD: "The Democrats once styled themselves the party of workers. Now, they are the party of people who would have been workers, if it hadn’t been for Obamacare." --Rich Lowry

Thursday, February 06, 2014

AND THEN THERE WERE THREE: Meet John Boehner's Challengers in the OH-8 Republican Primary

I'm going to perform some due diligence on the trio opposing John Boehner and then try to rally your support for the heir apparent:

The Speaker of the House, Rep. John Boehner has drawn three GOP primary challengers – Matthew Ashworth of Hamilton, Eric Gurr of Middletown, and J.D. Winteregg of Troy. On the Democratic side, four candidates filed: Matthew Guyette of Greenville, Tom Poetter of Oxford, Morton Meier of Hamilton, and Robert Edward Crow of Youngstown (congressional candidates are not required to live in the districts where they run.)

The way Al Jazeera puts it (no link, for obvious reasons):

...a man by the name of J.D. Winteregg announced he would challenge Boehner on May 6 to represent Ohio's Eighth Congressional District. He joined two others: Eric Gurr, a businessman, and Matthew Ashworth, founder of the United Tea Party Alliance, a group affiliated with FreedomWorks, a conservative nonprofit organization with millions at its disposal to target Republicans who are perceived as insufficiently doctrinaire [sic].

Of the three declared opponents, Winteregg appears to be the most serious threat. He avoids the inflammatory statements of some of his tea party [sic] associates, and he has impeccable conservative credentials. He cut his teeth working for the Senate Conservatives Fund, a PAC founded by former South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint, who is now the head of the Heritage Foundation, a leading conservative think tank. The Senate Conservatives Fund was founded expressly to purge the GOP of perceived apostasy [sic]. October's government shutdown was the purest expression of its politics [sic].

Visit J.D. Winteregg's website for starters and read his 2013 interview with the Examiner.


As Obama Disarms, China Moves to Solidify Its Control Over the Pacific

Guest post by Investor's Business Daily

Balance Of Power: Beijing may soon declare another air defense identification zone over the disputed Paracel and Spratly Islands and possibly the entire South China Sea as its military power matches its territorial ambitions.

China's plans to define a second new air-defense identification zone, this one in the South China Sea, were reported in the Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun. Such a move would follow Beijing's announcement in November of an ADIZ in the East China Sea encompassing the Japanese Senkaku Islands that Beijing claims as its own.

China denies it has any such plans, claiming the news is merely a Japanese provocation. But Beijing has long declared the South China Sea to be its territorial waters and has laid claim to the Spratlys in the southeastern part and Paracels about 200 miles off Vietnam.

After the implementation of the East China Sea ADIZ, Chinese defense spokesman Yang Yujun said in November that "China will establish other Air Defense Identification Zones at the right moment after necessary preparations are completed."