Friday, February 14, 2014

WHEN A GOVERNMENT RUNS OUT OF MONEY: Obama Lays Groundwork To Confiscate 401k and IRA Plans

Guest post by Mac Slavo

This morning Reuters obtained a leaked proposal disclosing that European Union officials are looking for new and innovative ways to fund their immense debt levels. As noted by Zero Hedge, they’re no longer turning exclusively to central bankers to simply print more money as needed.

Because last year’s bank bail-in forcing the confiscation of funds from average depositors in Cyprus worked so well, EU regulators and bankers have determined that they’ll use a similar method to fund their future endeavors.

In a nutshell, and in Reuters’ own words, “the savings of the European Union’s 500 million citizens could be used to fund long-term investments to boost the economy and help plug the gap left by banks since the financial crisis, an EU document says.”

… The solution? “The Commission will ask the bloc’s insurance watchdog in the second half of this year for advice on a possible draft law “to mobilize more personal pension savings for long-term financing”, the document said.”

Mobilize, once again, is a more palatable word than, say, confiscate.

This is what happens when governments run out of money.

But if you think this is limited to just Europe, then consider the words of President Barack Obama in his recent State of the Union address.

For all intents and purposes, a similar groundwork is being laid right here in America.

They’ve already taken over the health care industry… why not nationalize our retirement savings while they’re at it?

Cult of Personality Comix

Thanks to The Right Scoop:


Related: Stuff Bush Didn't Do, Illustrated.

Larwyn's Linx: Obama's New Unilateral Law: Making America's Small Businesses Sign a Loyalty Oath

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Nation

Obama's New Unilateral Law: Making Businesses Sign a Loyalty Oath: Ace
Should the President Be Impeached?: Jeffrey Lord
Hot Off The Presses: Devastating New ‘Executive Power’ Video: Scoop

Ted Cruz on debt ceiling hike: in November, Americans will remember: TPNN
Obama's Fate: J.R. Dunn
9th Circuit Smashes San Diego's Concealed Carry Restrictions: Damon Root

Dirty Dozen: Senate Republicans Who Voted to Silence Cruz: Dean Garrison
Keywords: Barack Obama, Cult of Personality, 2010-2020, Democrats: Moe Lane
SCF levels harshest attack yet on Mitch McConnell: Exam

Quinnipiac Study: Concealed Carry Results in Fewer Murders: TruthRevolt
Thousands of CT Gun Owners Refuse Unconstitutional Gun Control Law: Publius
Cuomo aide caught breaking gun law, quickly receives waiver: Will Rahn

Economy

Five Years Later: How’s that Wreckovery Working Out?: Michelle Malkin
Why even have a debt limit?: AWD
Paul Krugman's Greatest Hits: American Digest

Scandal Central

Vulnerable Dems Want To Sic IRS On Opponents: S&L
Homeland Security to Activate ‘National License Plate Recognition Database’: DC Clothesline
Flashback: Valerie Jarrett’s Father-in-Law Head of Communist Youth: MagNote (2011)

Mexico: A Different Kind of Gun Story: DiploMad
No names announced during debt-ceiling vote so GOP sellouts could secretly switch: Hot Air
8 Police Officers Fire 103 Times At 2 Unarmed Women Delivering Newspapers: Jonathan Turley

Climate & Energy

Time to end the Secret Science at the EPA: Exam
EPA bans wood-burning stoves; fireplaces could be next: RWN
Illinois Electricity Customers Forced to Get 'Smart Meters' or Pay Fine: WS

Media

Surprise! GOP Fights FCC on Behalf of MSM Freedoms: Anchoress
Tweet of the Day, @BarackObama And Imperial Presidencies edition: Moe Lane
Americans Don’t Like Obama’s End Runs: Keith Koffler

The Golden Egg: The Hillary Papers and the Death of the Mainstream Media: WFB
Mann vs. Steyn: The Trial of the Century: RCP
Why Do Liberals Have To Ruin Everything?: Glob

Americans: Where Have You Gone?: David Limbaugh
RUSH: This Is Way Beyond A Banana Republic Now. This Is Stalinism.: NoisyRm
‘That’s a joke, right?’ Joe Scarborough floated as possible 2016 GOP presidential candidate: Twitchy

World

Who’s afraid of Barack Obama?: Post
Olympic coverage sweeps Soviet horrors under the rug: Jonah Goldberg
French Reporters Scolded For Oval Office Selfies: My Philthy-delphia

UN Small Arms Treaty: 80 Million Determined Gun Owners Should be Quite an Obstacle: David Risselada
UN to Vatican: Your Theology Violates Child Rights: Parental Rights
John Podesta, Obama regulation czar, also helped UN develop radical new global agenda: George Russell

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)

Proposed federal law would require smartphone 'kill switches': AppleInsider
Ancient Reptile Live Birth Discovered in 248-Million-Year Old Fossil: Benita Matilda
Deadly Monster Winter Storm Batters US Eastern Seaboard: UniverseToday

Cornucopia

Emperor: 90 Miles
NY Fashion Week: It’s not just an exhibition, it’s a competition: MOTUS
This Bride Is About to Do Something So Unique While Walking Down the Aisle...: Blaze

Image: Ancient Reptile Live Birth Discovered in 248-Million-Year Old Fossil
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Send Senate Conservatives Fund As Much As You Can NOW

QOTD: "David Axelrod, President Obama's top strategist when he defeated Hillary Clinton in 2008, wants Democratic donors to focus on the 2014 elections, rather than Clinton's likely campaign.

"With the Senate seriously at risk, and the Koch Brothers spending prodigiously, shouldn't Dem funders be focused on '14 and not '16 races?" Axelrod tweeted Thursday afternoon, in what appears to be a very thinly veiled allusion to the Clinton machine that is already coming together." --Joel Gehrke

Thursday, February 13, 2014

CHART: Top 10 sites consuming the most Internet bandwidth

Since I'm not a gamer, I had no idea what "Twitch" is. Not Twitchy. Twitch. And it's apparently consuming tremendous amounts of bandwidth on the intratubes.

Twitch, the startup which lets players broadcast and watch live streams of video gaming action, is not yet a huge public company. Yet it ranks among these web titans as one of the largest sources of broadband traffic during prime-time hours, according to a new study from the cloud and network infrastructure firm DeepField.

Twitch announced today that is now has more than 1 million different users broadcasting on its platform each month. That helped it push more traffic across the web than big names in the streaming video and music business like Hulu, Amazon, and Pandora. "We don't keep track of our share of global internet traffic, so that chart was news to us," says Matt DiPietro, Twitch's vice president of marketing. "But I think it was gratifying for our infrastructure team to see, because they have been working like crazy to help us keep up."


The rapid rise in broadcasters is due in part to a new platform for Twitch's streaming service, a home-console system. Before the release of the newest Playstation and Xbox units, Twitch was for PC gaming only. "About 20 percent of our broadcasters are now coming from the Playstation 4," says DiPietro. "That shows us there is a whole new audience with a hunger for the ability to stream their games." Twitch also integrates with the Xbox One, though that feature has not officially rolled out yet.

In order to deal with its rapidly rising bandwidth, Twitch is upgrading its "points of presence" — locations where it owns or rents servers — so that it has enough horsepower near big audience clusters to deliver smooth video. "We just finished a 400 percent expansion to our Chicago site and the same in Stockholm. We are looking to do the same for our audience in Russia, Korea, and Brazil," notes DiPietro. The company is using the $20 million it raised back in September of 2013 to fund this expansion.

But don't worry, the forthcoming merger between Comcast and Time Warner Cable is bound to improve Internet performance and customer service!


BREAKING: New Fed Chief Just as Delusional as the Last One

Guest post by Michael Snyder

On Tuesday, new Federal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen went before Congress and confidently declared that "the economic recovery gained greater traction in the second half of last year" and that "substantial progress has been made in restoring the economy to health". This resulted in glowing headlines throughout the mainstream media such as this one from USA Today: "Yellen: Economy is improving at moderate pace". Sadly, tens of millions of Americans are going to believe what the mainstream media is telling them. But it isn't the truth. As you will see below, there are all sorts of signs that the economy is taking a turn for the worse. And when the next great economic crisis does strike, most Americans will be completely and totally unprepared because they trusted our "leaders" when they told us that everything would be just fine.

It is amazing how deceived people can be. Just consider the case of 56-year-old Brian Perry. He is a former law clerk that has applied for nearly 1,500 jobs since 2008 without any success. But he says that he is "optimistic" that he will get another job soon because he believes that the economy is recovering...

By his own count, Brian Perry has applied for nearly 1,500 jobs since being let go as a law clerk in 2008. The 56-year old Perry lives in Rhode Island, where the 9.1 percent unemployment rate is 2.5 percentage points above the national average.

Perry remains optimistic that a job is forthcoming. He thinks a more robust economy would create better opportunities for the long-term unemployed like him.

Let us certainly hope that Perry does find a new job soon. But if he does, it won't be because we are experiencing an "economic recovery". Just consider the following facts...

Valentine's Day cards from your favorite Democrats

From our pals at The Looking Spoon (what, they missed the layup with Bill Clinton's "Stimulus Package"?):

Larwyn's Linx: 100 Percent of 501(c)(4) Groups Audited by Obama IRS Were Conservative

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Nation

100 Percent of 501(c)(4) Groups Audited by Obama IRS Were Conservative: TPNN
Nobody Trusts the Government: Daniel Greenfield
Ron Fournier on Obamacare: White House thinks Americans are stupid: Scoop

Primary Them All: Erick Erickson
12 GOP Senators Join Democrats to Increase the Debt Ceiling: TPNN
Why bumbling, buffoonish, incoherent Speaker Boehner capitulated: Russell Berman

An Orwellian nation of Obamathink: Victor Davis Hanson
Did I Move?: Ann Coulter
Does Obamacare cover Nancy Pelosi's much-needed psychiactric care?: Nice Deb

No Wonder Obama Was so Desperate to Pack the D.C. Circuit: Commentary
CMS announces Obamacare site will be down two critical days this month: Toldjah
Wendy Davis totally supports that 20-week abortion ban now: NakedDC

Economy

Michelle O.’s Dinner Dress Cost More Than Annual US Poverty Level: GWP
Obamacare, the Jobs Killer: James Hall
Stakes Just Raised In UAW Bid To Unionize VW…: LUR

Scandal Central

DOJ Argues Against Rules to Prevent Foreigners From Voting: J. Christian Adams
New Benghazi Bombshell – House Report Blames White House For Security Lapse: NoisyRm
JW Gets Map of Military Fleet Positions During Benghazi Attack: Judicial Watch

Apparently they won't be exactly running on Obamacare after all: Ace
Ohio National Guard Training Envisions Right-Wing Terrorism: Jesse Hathaway
Alabama State Representative: I Object to a Biracial Marriage: Ace

Climate & Energy

The One-Party State of Climatestan: Mark Steyn
Good News: EPA unilaterally redraws borders of Wyoming: Judson Berger
Justin Gillis, New York Times’ Environmental "journalist", still trying to salvage global warming scam: WUWT

Media

My Fourth Open Letter to Mike Lawlor: Of anti-Catholic jihads and spitting on your heritage.: SSI
Tweet o' the day: WZ
#BOWDOWNWednesday: Frugal fashionistas show Michelle Obama how it’s done: Twitchy

CNN Report On Ray Nagin Corruption Lacks Single Mention of the Word Democrat: Glob
Mayhem At FL State Fair: Hundreds Of Black/Hispanics Riot and Fight With Police: Treehouse
White House transcript hides Obama’s chattering-class gaffe : DC

Liberal Constitutional Lawyer: left SILENT on Obama lawlessness because of ‘CULT OF PERSONALITY’: Scoop
Wake Me When Someone ‘Comes Out’ — As a Black Republican: Larry Elder
BuzzFeed Ignores Wendy Davis Flip Flop On Late Term Abortions: Glob

World

Venezuela: Huge demonstrations UPDATED: Fausta
Egypt: U.S. Embassy official in contact with Muslim Brotherhood arrested: Robert Spencer
Obama's partner in peace, Iran: We're ready for 'decisive battle' with Israel, US: Times of Israel

Europe Considers Wholesale Savings Confiscation, Enforced Redistribution: ZH
All You-Know-What Is Breaking Loose In Venezuela: Stephen Kruiser
Ten reasons why the BDS movement is immoral and hinders peace: Alan M. Dershowitz

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)

Admiral: ‘Iron Man’ Prototypes Coming in June: DefTech
Amid political pressure, FCC to propose Net neutrality fix: Marguerite Reardon
Genome of America’s Only Clovis Skeleton Reveals Origins of Native Americans: Western Digs

Cornucopia

Michael Behenna wins parole!: Allen West
The Gigapixel ArtZoom of Seattle: American Digest
Towering Over Our Little French Friend in Tall Cotton…Candy: MOTUS

Image: Michelle O.’s Dinner Dress Cost More Than Annual US Poverty Level
Sponsored by: HAD ENOUGH? Help Fire Mitch McConnell -- Support Matt Bevin for U.S. Senate

QOTD: "I’m afraid this is beginning to border on a cult of personality for people on the left. I happen to agree with many of President Obama’s policies. But in our system it is often as important how you how you do something as what you do. I think that many people will look back at this period in history and see nothing but confusion as to why people remained so silent when the president asserted these types of unilateral actions. You have a president who is claiming the right to basically rewrite or ignore or negate federal laws. That is a very dangerous thing. It has nothing to do with the policies, it has to do with the power...

...A system in which a single individual is allowed to rewrite legislation or ignore legislation is a system that borders on authoritarianism. I don’t believe that we are that system yet. But we cannot ignore that we’re beginning to become a system that is a pretense of democracy if a president is allowed to take a law and just simply say I’m going to ignore this, or I’m going to shift funds that weren’t appropriated by Congress to this area.

The president’s state of the union indicated this type of unilateralism that he has adopted as a policy. Now, many people view that as somehow it is empowering. In my view it is dangerous, that what he is suggesting is to essentially put our system off line. This is not the first time that convenience has become the enemy of principle. But we’ve never seen it to this extent." --Constitutional Lawyer Jonathan Turley, a liberal

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

JUST ANOTHER REMINDER, MR. PRESIDENT: You swore to faithfully execute the law, not rewrite it!

Guest post by Investor's Business Daily

Presidential Power: After making yet another unconstitutional and illegal change to ObamaCare, the president tells his French counterpart that it's good to be king of the United States, even if this emperor has no clothes.

In times past, tyrants would rule with scepter and sword. President Obama, as he recently stated, says he needs only his pen and his phone, something the Founding Fathers did not envision when they threw off the yoke of King George III and proclaimed a republic united under a Constitution that bowed to the consent of the governed.

A republic, Ben Franklin is said to have remarked, if we can keep it, a struggle that gets harder with each passing day of this administration.

"I am not a dictator," Obama once said at a press conference, "I'm the president."

In his case, that's a distinction without a difference as he has proceeded to evade both the laws passed by Congress and the restraints placed on his office by the Constitution.

"That's the good thing as a president, I can do whatever I want," Obama quipped while visiting Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home in Charlottesville, Va., with French President Francois Hollande.

DEMOCRAT LOGIC COMIX: Someone Call Eric Holder

So states can't enforce federal immigration law, but cities can enact their own?


Enjoy, New York City!


Hat tip: Mark Levin.

AWESOME: Union Front Group Got Taxpayer Funds From Department of Labor to Push Minimum Wage Hikes

Guest post by Eric Boehm

The U.S. Department of Labor handed over $275,000 in taxpayer-funded grants in 2009 to an organization that claimed to be a charitable nonprofit with tax-exempt status from the Internal Revenue Service.

But that organization was not officially certified as a 501(c)3 charitable nonprofit until 2010, documents show.

The Restaurant Opportunity Center, or ROC-United, a national organization working to raise the minimum wage and improve working conditions for restaurant workers by combing the labor organizing muscle of powerful unions with Occupy Wall Street protest tactics, got the grant anyway.

The group is organizing several high profile events this week to highlight the $2.17 national minimum wage for tipped workers.

In the 2009 grant application, ROC United submitted a letter to the Department of Labor that showed the IRS had granted tax exempt status to ROC New York — an affiliated but legally separate organization — even though the $275,000 grant would flow to ROC United.

The department was either fooled by the application or didn’t check it closely enough.

Larwyn's Linx: Sen. Cruz vows to force 60-vote threshold to raise debt ceiling in Senate

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

Nation

Sen. Cruz vows to force 60-vote threshold to raise debt ceiling in Senate: Scoop
GOP votes to restore COLA, but kicks debt can down the road: Allen West
Levin Shreds Boehner; Says He Must Be Replaced: Breitbart

Cruz, Paul top huge Tea Party poll; Christie, Bush dead last: Paul Bedard
Eric Holder exposes himself in Sweden: Neil Munro
I believe that it is time for the Beck Song in the #sdmayor election.: Moe Lane

An End to Fair Elections: Betsy McCaughey
Money in Politics and the Hypocrisy of the Left: Power Line
Congressman Nadler: Republicans “Just Want People to Starve”: MenRec

SCF Targets Boehner Over GOP’s debt ceiling surrender: Dan Riehl
King Obama: OlBroad
Uhm, Illinois partners with The Onion to sell Obamacare: NakedDC

Economy

Why Democrats Hate Work: Ben Shapiro
First Lady Tweets Pic of Her Dogs Living Better than You Do: Bryan Preston
The Privileged People: John Stossel

Scandal Central

It's a scandal much worse than New Jersey: JWF
Obama’s New Delay of Employer Mandate Violates Plain Language of Law: CNS
Eric Holder: Return voting rights to felons after release: Times

Culture of Corruption Postscript: The Hilda Solis Files: Michelle Malkin
One down: Eric Holder stepping down: DC Clothesline
Announcement of AG Eric Holder's Departure may be Premature: NewAm

Climate & Energy

CNBC Host: Al Gore a ‘Charlatan,’ and a ‘Villain.’: Sean Long
Berkeley Climate Scientist: IPCC Predictions ‘Getting Worse’: Sean Long
About that "settled science": Daley Gator

Media

Halperin: Wow, this ObamaCare change just “screams of politics,” huh?: Ed Morrissey
NBC White House Producer: #BOWDOWN to Michelle O!: TruthRevolt
Hilarious article from The Onion: “Conservative Acquaintance Annoyingly Not Racist”: YoungCons

‘Impeach the President’: Erick Erickson
Tim Scott tells Hannity what really gets under his skin about attacks on Black conservatives: Scoop
Palin tells Hannity GOP needs to reload, not retreat – on her 50th birthday: Scoop

World

Obama's Hollow Promises Abroad: Daniel Pipes
The Winter Olympics week Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean: Fausta
Awesome! – French Reporter Nails Socialism And Anti-Capitalism In Front Of Obama: IM41

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)

11 Graphs That Show Everything That is Wrong With The Modern Diet: Kris Gunnars
Intricate 3D Printed Materials Lighter Than Water And As Strong as Steel: SingularityHub
Minnesota Now Offering Enhanced Drivers Licenses: Keloland

Cornucopia

“Because Work is a Beautiful Thing” No, wait; that’s not right.: MOTUS
Homeland Security Drops all Pretense with “Zombie Max” Purchase: Joe for America
Sad News: Shirley Temple Black, Beloved Child Star & Diplomat, Passes at Age 85: Frugal Cafe

Image: Warmal Colding Threatens Travel in U.S. South
Sponsored by: IT'S TIME -- Help Fire Mitch McConnell -- Support Matt Bevin for U.S. Senate

QOTD: "The trouble with Obamacare is its enormous complexity, which very few people fully understand. Legislators and citizens alike have to stumble in the dark as Obama decides where and how and when the legislation is applied. Someone complains? He can save the day with his pen and his phone. But he only picks up for powerful interests, not the millions of individual Americans negatively affected by Obamacare. The president simply puts them on hold or hangs up altogether." --Natalie deMacedo

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

A country built on a Himalayan mountain of fallacies

Guest post by Jim Quinn

“Economics is haunted by more fallacies than any other study known to man. This is no accident. While certain public policies would in the long run benefit everybody, other policies would benefit one group only at the expense of all other groups. The group that would benefit by such policies, having such a direct interest in them, will argue for them plausibly and persistently. It will hire the best buyable minds to devote their whole time to presenting its case. And it will finally either convince the general public that its case is sound, or so befuddle it that clear thinking on the subject becomes next to impossible.

In addition to these endless pleadings of self-interest, there is a second main factor that spawns new economic fallacies every day. This is the persistent tendency of man to see only the immediate effects of a given policy, or its effects only on a special group, and to neglect to inquire what the long-run effects of that policy will be not only on that special group but on all groups. It is the fallacy of overlooking secondary consequences.” Henry Hazlitt – Economics in One Lesson

Saturday was the first day since a double shot of snow and ice storms hit the Philadelphia metro area on Monday and Wednesday I had a chance to drive around Montgomery County and witness the devastation firsthand. Over 750,000 homes lost power at the height of the ice storm on Wednesday and over 100,000 remained without power this past weekend. The mainstream media has become such a farce and propaganda machine for vested interests, it is essential to verify with your own eyes everything they report as fact. Their purpose is to entertain the consciously ignorant, exaggerate threats to keep the low IQ multitudes fearful, and function as mouthpieces for the ruling class. Deceitful corporate executives, mendacious government apparatchiks, and oblivious teleprompter reading media talking heads have been utilizing cold weather as an excuse for every poor earnings announcement, horrific employment report, and dreadful decline in retail sales. It certainly has nothing to do with decades of stagnant household income, awful monetary and fiscal policies, or the consequences of Obamacare.

We have become a delusional state dependent upon fallacies to convince ourselves our foolhardy beliefs, ludicrous economic policies, corrupt captured political system, and preposterously fraudulent financial system are actually based on sound logic and reason. Some fallacies have been perpetrated intentionally by the ruling class to manipulate, sway and deceive the populace, while others have been willfully employed by millions of techno-narcissistic iGadget addicted zombies as a substitute for thinking, reasoning and taking responsibility for the course of our nation.

You have men who constitute the unseen true ruling power of the country making a conscious and intentional effort to peddle fallacies to the masses in order to manipulate, mold, and corral them in a manner beneficial to the ruling power, financially, politically, and socially. The ruling class has been hugely successful in their capture of the public mind, creating a vast majority of the willfully ignorant who desperately grasp at fallacious concepts, beliefs, and storylines in order to avoid dealing with reality and being accountable for their actions and the actions of their leaders.

The fallacy being flogged by government drones and the legacy media about companies not hiring new employees because it has been cold and snowy during the winter is beyond absurd, except to someone who lives in the cocoon of Washington D.C. or regurgitates words processed on a teleprompter by paid minions of the ruling class. If you live in the real world, run a business, or manage employees, you understand weather has absolutely nothing to do with your decision to hire an employee. An organization takes weeks or months to hire employees. They don’t stop hiring because it snowed on Wednesday or the temperature was below normal. The contention that hiring has been weak for the last two months due to weather is outlandish and based upon flawed logic and warped reasoning. It is so illogical, only an Ivy League economist could believe it.

DEMOCRAT LOGIC COMIX: Hollyweird

There can only be one reason Janeane Garofalo hates Allen West.


It's racism, straight up.


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?

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

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.