Tuesday, February 11, 2014

THE HILLARY PAPERS: Why Now?

Guest post by Lee Cary

 

Why are Diane Blair’s private papers archived at the University of Arkansas Special Collections Library just now becoming news?

The Washington Free Beacon article dated February 9, 2014, entitled “The Hillary Papers, Archive of 'closest friend' paints portrait of ruthless First Lady,” was featured in the Drudge Report this week.

While the title is sensationalized by attaching the word “ruthless” to Hillary, the timing of the piece is more puzzling than sizzling.

Consider the key paragraph that summarizes the content of papers that have been available to the public since 2010:

“The records paint a complex portrait of Hillary Clinton, revealing her to be a loyal friend, devoted mother, and a cutthroat strategist who relished revenge against her adversaries and complained in private that nobody in the White House was ‘tough and mean enough.’”

So she’s loyal, devoted, cutthroat, and critical of wimps.  Does that sound “ruthless – for a Presidential candidate?”

Then there’s her alleged reaction to Bill’s philandering.  She’s portrayed as understanding and realistic by “putting his actions into context.” Blair writes, “She thinks she was not smart enough, not sensitive enough, not free enough of her own concerns and struggles to realize the price he was paying.” 

In short, Hillary was a victim, but was/is willing to claim some degree of culpability.

“‘It was a lapse, but she says to his [Bill’s] credit he tried to break it off, tried to pull away, tried to manage someone who was clearly a ‘narcissistic loony toon’; but it was beyond control,’ wrote Blair.”

So it was really all Monica Lewinsky’s fault. Both Hillary and Bill were victims. 

National Weather Service: High Accumulations of Global Warming in Southeast to "Make Travel Impossible"

Did Al Gore move to Atlanta recently?

National Weather Service meteorologist Michael Musher said ice accumulation forecasts "remain mind-boggling if not historical" in cities such as Atlanta, Athens and Augusta in Georgia, Columbia, S.C., and Raleigh, N.C.


"High ice accumulations will make travel impossible," the National Weather Service reported in an advisory Tuesday. "This has the potential to be a catastrophic event. Widespread power outages are possible as ice accumulates on trees and power lines and brings them down."

...The storm is forecast to move up the East Coast later Wednesday and into Thursday, potentially dropping as much as a foot of snow all the way from Virginia to New England, meteorologist Musher said.

More than 1,150 flights had been canceled nationwide Tuesday as of 12:05 p.m. ET, according to flight-tracking service FlightAware.com. Almost 1,000 more had already been canceled for Wednesday.

As Climatologist and former NASA scientist Roy W. Spencer observes, "the climate models that governments base policy decisions on have failed miserably."

In other words, those global warming fables you read and see in legacy media are bunk, plain and simple.


A Warning from 1968

By Eric Hoffer


The Jews are a peculiar people; things permitted to other nations are forbidden to the Jews. Other nations drive out thousands, even millions of people and there is no refugee problem. Russia did it, Poland and Czechoslovakia did it. Turkey threw out a million Greeks, and Algeria a million Frenchman.

Indonesia threw out heaven knows how many Chinese and no one says a word about refugees. But in the case of Israel , the displaced Arabs have become eternal refugees. Everyone insists that Israel must take back every single one.

Arnold Toynbee calls the displacement of the Arabs an atrocity greater than any committed by the Nazis. Other nations when victorious on the battlefield dictate peace terms. But when Israel is victorious, it must sue for peace.

Everyone expects the Jews to be the only real Christians in this world. Other nations, when they are defeated, survive and recover but should Israel be defeated it would be destroyed. Had Nasser triumphed last June [1967], he would have wiped Israel off the map, and no one would have lifted a finger to save the Jews.

No commitment to the Jews by any government, including our own, is worth the paper it is written on. There is a cry of outrage all over the world when people die in Vietnam or when two Blacks are executed in Rhodesia . But, when Hitler slaughtered Jews no one remonstrated with him.

The Swedes, who are ready to break off diplomatic relations with America because of what we do in Vietnam, did not let out a peep when Hitler was slaughtering Jews. They sent Hitler choice iron ore, and ball bearings, and serviced his troop trains to Norway.

The Jews are alone in the world. If Israel survives, it will be solely because of Jewish efforts. And Jewish resources. Yet at this moment, Israel is our only reliable and unconditional ally. We can rely more on Israel than Israel can rely on us. And one has only to imagine what would have happened last summer [1967] had the Arabs and their Russian backers won the war, to realize how vital the survival of Israel is to America and the West in general.

I have a premonition that will not leave me; as it goes with Israel so will it go with all of us. Should Israel perish, the Holocaust will be upon us all.


By Eric Hoffer, 1968

Larwyn's Linx: Is It Over, and We Just Don’t Know It?

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Nation

Is It Over, and We Just Don’t Know It?: Tom Blumer
Here’s Why Barack Obama is Delaying Obamacare Again: Erick Erickson
Obama Puts Illegal Aliens Over Legal Citizens: RWN

An Immigration Morality Tale: Victor Davis Hanson
Can we pass Comprehensive Immigration Reform and keep our republic?: AT
Undocumented Americans Enrich Multiculturalism With Exotic Diseases: MB

Hidden in Obama Mandate: Employers Not Allowed To Fire Anyone: NiceDeb
Dependency, Not Poverty: Walter Williams
California’s Gun Confiscation Program Hits Firearm Owners Hard: AmmoLand

Six fascinating discoveries in the Free Beacon's 'Hillary Papers' story: Exam
Milton Wolf’s PatientCare: A Sensible Alternative to ObamaCare: ObjStd
Awesome: Mark Levin to keynote 5-year anniversary for Tea Party movement: Breitbart

Economy

Boehner: No Debt Ceiling Increase Without Obamacare Delay...: Erick Erickson
Conservative Debt Ceiling Plan? #FireBoehner: Daniel Horowitz
Groundhog Day at the NLRB: Fred Wszolek, The Hill

Scandal Central

Poof: A Scandal Disappears: Mona Charen
Medicare improperly paid out millions for drugs provided to people in jail: Caroline May
Isn't a law supposed to be applied fairly to all?...: Adrienne

Climate & Energy

95% of Climate Models Agree: The Observations Must be Wrong: Watts
New Yorker: Hey, If Only We Could Change The Way The Media Talks About Cold Weather: Cove
Deep Freeze Déjà Vu: Chicago Nearing Record For Days Below Zero: CBS Chicago

Media

CBS News: sick children losing access to doctors because of Obamacare: Scoop
If Obamacare is so great, why does Obama keep delaying it?: David Freddoso
Is The LEGO Movie The Most Subversive Pro-Liberty Film Ever?: Federalist

Krauthammer on Obamacare employer mandate delay: “This is stuff you do in a banana republic”: Scoop
Don’t be silly. Obama’s words don’t make him a tyrant!: Allen West
Forget Jobs And The Debt, Lawmakers Are Totally On This Washington Redskins Thing: Stephen Kruiser

World

China Shows New Mobile ICBM on Internet: Bill Gertz
Is Obama Seeking An Opening To Iran The Way Richard Nixon Did With China?: Michael Barone
Farage Blasts "Bullying Brussels", Cheers Swiss Immigration Curbs Bill: ZH

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)

Innovation vs. Execution: Nadella's Brilliant Stroke: Rob Enderle
Facebook Fraud - How Much of Facebook's Ad Revenue is Legitimate?: Mish
Power BI for Office 365 empowers everyone to analyze, visualize and share data in the cloud: TechNet

Cornucopia

Reporting From Sochi - Days 2-3: WNB
Unjust Crimes and Unjust Executions: Theodore Dalrymple
Le Affaires d'Etat: MOTUS

Image: 90 Miles from Tyranny
Sponsored by: Help Fire Mitch McConnell: Support Matt Bevin for U.S. Senate

QOTD: "If there are executive orders overriding federal immigration law to extend amnesty to foreign nationals, without legal residence, and to continue their educations, there are also de facto all sorts of un-Dream Acts that simply allow anyone wishing to enter the United States without much audit. In other words, one of the strangest things about illegal immigration is that a nation that is monitored, taped, videoed, and bugged, that is struggling now with the AP, IRS, and NSA scandals whose common theme is excessive government intrusions in our private lives, knows absolutely nothing about those who arrive illegally into the U.S.

The following story is a tragedy, involving the most heartrending of all crimes, the alleged killing of an infant, born into the world entirely dependent on the good will and caring of adults." --Victor Davis Hanson

Monday, February 10, 2014

White House Unveils New Definition for the Phrase "Full Employment"

Guest post by Lee Cary


Words matter.

Presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama said that in a 2008 campaign speech. It was not news then.

And it's not news now, for as long as there have been words they have mattered.

What matters most about words today is that, in politics, they are losing their core meanings as doublespeak spreads.

When a Senator says that the federal debt is "unsustainable," that doesn't mean the peak of debt has been reached. It means the debt will grow higher, until Arithmetic, the ultimate Black Swan, says it can't be sustained.

When a State Department official says that another country's behavior is "unacceptable," that doesn't mean it won't be accepted. It means it will be accepted, because there is no perceived option.

When the word "period" is spoken at the end of a declarative sentence it doesn't mean "no ifs, ands, or buts about it." It's just an emphatic, verbal punctuation mark used to sell a lie.

When the President says that "all economists agree," that doesn't mean they all agree. All economics can't agree on much of anything, for where two or more economists are gathered together opinions will outnumber headcount. Those words aim to discount economists who disagree with the Regime.

When an official of the Environmental Protection Agency calls manmade global warming "settled science," it means not all climatologists agree, just the ones who get government grants.

HANSON: Illegal immigration "the reason California is destroyed" and the "path to Armageddon" for the U.S.

Would you be surprised to find out that California is ranked 47th in 8th grade science scores?

Or that 40 percent of California's children aren't fluent in English?

Or that 44 percent of incoming freshmen into the California state university system need help with remedial English and math?

Furthermore, "it is forbidden to notice that there is a cause-and-effect relationship between illegal immigration and these woes."

On January 30, 2014, historian Victor Davis Hanson visited the Mark Levin Show (click here to open a new tab and listen to the podcast) and offered the most succinct, powerful and ominous summary of illegal immigration that I've ever heard.

The American Thinker's John Bennett captured the salient points and they are shocking.

America could be on "a path to Armageddon," given the blend of relativism, racial preferences, and nullified immigration laws...

Hanson pointed out that many of today's immigrants are not repeating the pattern of the Italians or Greeks, as just two examples. While Latino studies programs can be found at almost all universities, one does not find such "studies" for Italians or Greeks. That is just one dramatic distinction between immigrants today and past immigrants.

...Instead of amnesty, the Republicans should be pushing for limits on immigration. Hanson suggests that we can take 100,000 legal immigrants per year, but we can't take one million per year, especially when they lack high school diplomas or English proficiency.

...A Californian, Hanson has seen firsthand the fiscal, social, and educational problems stemming from illegal immigration. Illegal immigration is "the reason the state is destroyed," Hanson bluntly stated...

California, as a state, serves as the shining example of what happens under lax enforcement of immigration laws. The state is going bankrupt. The Republican Party is going extinct. At their lowest level of registration since 1922, Republicans are 29% of registered voters in California, while Democrats are 44%. In the face of population changes of the type that have occurred, the Republicans can't modify, they can't adjust, they can only die out.

...conservative voters understand that "blanket amnesties" are "going to unravel the American experiment and its also going to empower the Democratic Party for 40 years."

Besides, any Republican effort to pander can be easily outdone by the Democrats. "Trying to outrace and outclass and outgender the Democratic Party is a losing proposition."

While they pander, the Republicans would be losing a core group of voters who do actually support them in large numbers. "Why is this leadership deliberately trying to estrange and alienate 70% of the people who will go out and vote?" Hanson asked.

...Hanson concluded by describing the "postmodern relativism" inherent in local efforts to nullify immigration law, efforts driven by racial pandering.

There are "sanctuary cities" that forbid local law enforcement from asking about immigration status or engaging with federal authorities. Hanson urged that Republicans should be seizing on this "nullification" of federal law, to illustrate the left's hypocrisy and recklessness. Even convicted violent felons have been harbored by cities like San Francisco, where one violent felon who should have been deported went on to murder a father and two of his sons.

Illegal immigration not only promotes anarchy, it endorses Balkanization and conflict.

Legal immigration encourages assimilation, the advancement of the civil society, and a harmonious respect for the written law.

The Republicans who push amnesty are encouraging suicide of their party -- and America as a Consitutional republic.


Hat tip: BadBlue News.

EPAM says it has no ties between Healthcare.gov and references to HHS refer to a different system

See late-breaking updates, below:

A week ago, Bill Gertz of the Washington Free Beacon reported that U.S. intelligence officials had uncovered evidence that the troubled Healthcare.gov site was developed, in part, by a firm based in Belarus.

U.S. intelligence agencies last week urged the Obama administration to check its new healthcare network for malicious software after learning that developers linked to the Belarus government helped produce the website, raising fresh concerns that private data posted by millions of Americans will be compromised.

The firm, called EPAM, has offices around the world, but is headquartered in Belarus.

Officials disclosed the software compromise last week after the discovery in early January of statements by Belarusian official Valery Tsepkalo, director of the government-backed High-Technology Park (HTP) in Minsk.

Tsepkalo told a Russian radio station in an interview broadcast last summer that HHS is “one of our clients,” and that “we are helping Obama complete his insurance reform.”

“Our programmers wrote the program that appears on the monitors in all hospitals and all insurance companies—they will see the full profile of the given patient,” Tsepkalo said June 25 on Voice of Russia Radio.

A week later, the intelligence report had been "recalled" and the Obama administration issued denials that a Belarusian firm had been involved in development of the website.

...The recall of the intelligence report, which was produced by the CIA-based Open Source Center, has raised questions about the politicization of intelligence—the suppression or skewing of intelligence to conform to policy prescriptions.

DNI spokesman Shawn Turner, in a statement, denied that the withdrawal of the report was based on political motives... Turner said the Open Source Center circulated its report on Obamacare software Jan. 29 under the title “United States’ Affordable Care Act Software – Cyber Attack Target.” ... According to Turner, the report was not reviewed by intelligence experts and did not meet “tradecraft standards,” including certain pre-publication reviews.

HHS, its Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) that helped set up the system, and CGI Federal so far have declined to provide details on [all of the] contractors involved in Healthcare.gov.

...The fears of cyber attack are compounded by the anti-U.S. stance of the Minsk government and an incident in February 2013 when large amounts of U.S. Internet data were hijacked and rerouted to Belarus where it was sifted for intelligence.

For those who speak Russian, you can find the complete 40-minute interview with Mr. Tsepkalo here. During the interview, Mr. Tsepkalo proudly names the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as a key customer, adding he's helping Obama to reform American healthcare.

Answering the interviewer's question, he further adds, the money is very, very good (while smirking). At around 16:00, Mr. Tsepkalo also names some of his other U.S. customers. Among them are CitiBank and a new customer for him, NYSE.

So, let's summarize what we have learned. CGI Federal had allegedly subcontracted part of the software development to a Belorussian company called EPAM, which is a part of Belorussian High Technology Park, which is run by Lukashenko's advisor and former Belorussian Ambassador to the United States, Tsepkalo.

Is there any independent confirmation of ties between EPAM and HHS?

Possibly. Around the time that Healthcare.gov was being unveiled a software developer, who attempted to keep his name hidden, asked a series of technical questions on a popular software site called StackOverflow. Using the alias "gstackoverflow2", the developer visited a variety of such sites and posted questions regarding testing procedures for a Java framework.


Coincidence 1. The software deployment mentioned in the questions specifies both EPAM and HHS:


Coincidence 2. Though the user asks questions in -- and much of the code is written in -- English, the user's real name may have been inadvertently exposed in the files he uploaded to ask questions.


Nikolay Tkachev appears to be the name of someone of Ukrainian or Belorussian descent.

Coincidence 3. The timing of the questions corresponds to a great deal of rushed work before, during and after the horrific launch of Healthcare.gov.

To be fair to EPAM, it has officially denied any involvement with HHS, despite the claims in Belarus.

EPAM Systems, Inc., releases an official statement, that contrary to recent online blog posts issued by various outlets, EPAM has never been involved in software development for the Healthcare.gov website or any Affordable Care Act related engagements. Any claims to the contrary are completely false.

However, that statement came before these particular leads were uncovered.

Therefore, I will formally submit the following questions to EPAM and HHS:

1. Did someone named "Nikolay Tkachev" and/or someone employing the alias gstackoverflow2 on the aforementioned websites ever work for EPAM?

2. If so, did the individual(s) work on any software for the Department of Health and Human Services, state exchanges, or other systems or platforms related to Obamacare?

3. If not, what do the modules marked epam.hhs represent? Who is the customer?

I'll be sending these to EPAM for their review and will let you know what I hear.

Update I: Received the following from EPAM:

..EPAM is a highly regarded U.S. publicly traded company, headquartered in Pennsylvania with highly skilled technical resources in the United States and around the globe. EPAM has a long history of quality software engineering and IT services capabilities. EPAM stands by its previous statement-- that the company is not now and has never been involved in software development for the Healthcare.gov website. Any claim to the contrary is completely false. The report appearing at your post incorrectly associates a simple folder name and references to “hhsystems.” To be clear, these references on the postings relate to an internal training project called “Head Hunter Systems”, and are unrelated to any customer engagements or the healthcare industry.

Regards,

Ginger Mosier
V.P, General Counsel & Secretary

Consider the record corrected.


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