Sunday, April 13, 2014

GOOD NEWS: New Head of HHS Was Responsible for Making Outrageous Government Shutdown Decisions

Guest post by Marguerite Bowling

President Obama’s pick to head the Department of Health and Human Services led the federal government’s response during last year’s “shutdown”—which included officials erecting barricades around open-air monuments.

Sylvia Mathews Burwell—who was deputy chief of staff to President Bill Clinton, among other roles—currently serves as Obama’s director of the Office of Management and Budget.

Obama formally announced today that he will nominate Burwell to replace outgoing HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, whose resignation went public yesterday.

“When the government was forced to shut down last October…Sylvia was a rock, a steady hand,” Obama said in a Rose Garden ceremony this morning. He repeatedly praised Sebelius for her leadership and noted that Burwell’s “prudent manager” skills would be needed for the “tough challenges” of running the nation’s health agency.

The government largely closed down after Congress failed to enact a continuing budget resolution providing funds for fiscal year 2014. During the 16-day shutdown, 800,000 federal workers were furloughed, the National Zoo’s “panda cam” went dark, and the National Park Service set up barriers to open-air monuments, citing security concerns.

Sebelius, widely blamed for the botched rollout of the Affordable Care Act’s online health exchanges and other mishaps, said HHS was making “tremendous progress” to implement the health law known as Obamacare.

"The most beautiful animal you’ve never seen"

RR Helm writing at Deep Sea News:

When I first saw a sea sapphire I thought I was hallucinating. The day had been anything but normal, but this part will always stand out. I’d spent the afternoon on a small dingy off the coast of Durban, South Africa. It was muggy, and I’d been working for hours–-throwing a small net out, and pulling in tiny hauls of plankton that I’d then collect in jars. As I looked through one jar, the boat rocking up and down, I saw for an instant a bright blue flash. Gone. Then again in a different place. An incredible shade of blue. Maybe I’d been in the sun too long? Maybe I was seeing things? It wasn’t until I got back to the lab that I discovered the true beauty and mystery of these radiant flashes...


The small creature I’d found was a Sapphirina copepod, or as I like to call it, a sea sapphire. Copepods are the rice of the sea, tiny shrimp-like animals at the base of the ocean food chain. And like rice, they are generally not known for their charisma. Sea sapphires are an exception. Though they are often small, a few millimeters, they are stunningly beautiful...

...The secret to the sea sapphire’s shine is in microscopic layers of crystal plates inside their cells. In the case of blue sea sapphires, these crystal layers are separated by only about four ten thousandths of a millimeter; about the same distance as a wavelength of blue light. When blue light bounces off these crystal layers, it is perfectly preserved and reflected. But for other colors of light, these small differences in distance interfere, causing the colors to cancel out. So while white light is composed of all colors, only blue light is reflected back. This type of coloration is known as structural coloration, and though resembling a gem in hue, a sea sapphire’s color has more in common with an oil sheen than a pigmented jewel. Combine this nifty trick with the sea sapphire’s impressively transparent body, and you have an animal as radiant as a star in one moment, and invisible in the next...

I think I saw something like this once in Lake Erie, but it could have been some trash wrapped in aluminum foil.


Hat tip: BadBlue Tech News

REIGN OF ERROR: Kathleen Sebelius a Poster-Child for the Disaster That is Obamacare

Guest post by Investor's Business Daily

Health Overhaul: The midwife of ObamaCare exits stage left, leaving behind wreckage that once was the finest health care system in the world, less affordable health insurance and patients unable to find doctors and hospitals.

Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of Health and Human Services — referred to in the increasingly un-Affordable Care Act's iconic use of the phrase "the Secretary shall determine," which appears in ObamaCare's guiding document no fewer than 1,005 times — has determined that it's time to go.

Or rather it's been determined for her by a White House in whose parallel universe ObamaCare's current alleged enrollment numbers represent an imagined triumph of a law illegally and unconstitutionally altered on the fly to meet number-goals she once denied having set and deadlines that became movable goal posts.

In fact, she had become the poster child for the ObamaCare disaster and, politically, had to go.

She was a clueless administrator who, in a famous interview with Jon Stewart on "The Daily Show," couldn't explain why businesses were getting a delay in their ObamaCare mandate to provide insurance to their employees while individuals were not getting a delay in their ObamaCare mandate to purchase health care or face a penalty.

The correct answer was politics. It was bad enough that some 6 million people were already losing their insurance, including stage 4 cancer patients. To proceed with the business mandate would have produced a tidal wave of cancellations in advance of a critical election.

It was just one of some 37 politically motivated changes to the law that the president was not constitutionally authorized to make.

Larwyn's Linx: Top Ten Questions To Ask A Liberal

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

Nation

Top Ten Questions To Ask A Liberal: Brian Anderson
Truce Reached in Bundy Ranch Battle with BLM: WatchdogWire
We the People Converging on Nevada force BLM into Retreat: CFP

It's Not the Time to Go Wobbly: Abort Obamacare: R.S. McCain
Washington Post Op-Ed: You Didn’t Pay For That (And She’s Right): Foundry
A single Battle, nothing more...: III Percent

House Rep: If Eric Holder Were a “Regular Citizen,” He’d Be In Jail : RWN
President Barack Obama and the 'noble lie': Christian Schneider
Colorado Sheriff: You Can’t Make Me Enforce Gun Control: ConTrib

Economy

Vermont. Or, ‘Why Obamacare will not lead to single-payer.’: Moe Lane
Paycheck Fairness fraud: USA Today
Puerto Rico bond crisis leaves boxing champ Trinidad ruined: Reuters

Scandal Central

Obama Deliberately Collapsing Our Law Enforcement System: Sara Noble
Former Judge: Congress Should Impeach Eric Holder: ConTrib
Bundy Standoff May Have Ended, But the War is Far From Over: Billboard

Climate & Energy

EPA’s War On Coal Puts US At Risk Of Brownouts And Blackouts: RWN
BLM Also a Problem for Texans: 'Nox & Friends
Creepy Sculptures Show As What Happens “If We Ignore Climate Change”: Cove

Media

Dana Milbank Is Incoherent On Marriage: Federalist
In Nevada, and Everywhere Else in America, Guns Speak Louder Than Words…: DC Clothesline
Six reasons why I’m glad John Paul Stevens is no longer an active judge: DTG

Three Pictures in Washingtonian that Make Jay Carney Look Ridiculous: Noah Rothman
Epic: Kids everywhere are using social media to fight Michelle Obama’s school lunches: YC
Krauthammer On Sebelius: She's Clearly a Liability to the Obama Administration: Scoop

Marathon bombing survivor leaves NBC set in tears; calls Meet the Press ‘cowardice, dishonorable’: BPR
New York Court Struggles To Find Jurors Who Don’t Hate The Occupy Movement: Glob
IRS going after decades-old debts from children of debtors ‘unbelievable,’ says Megyn Kelly: BPR

World

Islamic Radicals Mount Influence Operation On Louisiana Leges: Christopher Holton
Ukraine’s Debt And Putin’s Upper Hand: James S. Henry
Forgetting freedom on Passover: Caroline Glick

Exclusive: Key General Splits With Obama Over Ukraine: Eli Lake
Ukraine Crisis: Deadly Clashes Break Out in Slovyansk: WSJ
Tennessee: School enforces sharia, bans town hall on…sharia law: Creeping

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)

How Google is transforming power and politics: WaPo
IRS tastes its own medicine, will pay Microsoft millions for Windows XP support: Engadget
Say Goodbye To Microsoft: John Kirk

Cornucopia

If we thought of life as a gift: American Digest
This Proves Racing Flat-Out In Single-Seaters Makes You An Athlete: Car Throttle
Pacquiao beats Bradley by decision in rematch: KABC

Image: Former GOP Rep. Joe Walsh arrives in Nevada with questions as Bundy Ranch standoff ends
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Conservative J.D. Winteregg for Congress: Fire John Boehner

QOTD: "I compared Fort Hood and Pearl Harbor as enemy attacks on US military bases. They're different in one key respect, of course: These days a sclerotic republic can't even convict a confessed killer in less time than it took to win the Second World War. Pearl Harbor to the Japanese surrender: three years, eight months, eight days. Fort Hood to the opening of Hasan's trial: three years, nine months, one day.

...It is striking to me that a country responsible for over 40 per cent of the planet's military spending apparently has no money to treat its returning warriors with a modicum of dignity. That it should do the same to men and women gunned down by a traitor who set off every alarm bell and was still allowed to proceed to that table at Fort Hood is an absolute disgrace." --Mark Steyn

Saturday, April 12, 2014

HATRED & DIVISION: The Democrat Platform, Illustrated

Another @BiffSpackle science-dropper:


Feel free to copy and spread around.

Word needs to get out to the drones.


Hat tip: Mark Levin.

HARRY REID SURRENDERS: Military wing of Bureau of Land Management Says It Will Leave Bundy Alone

Caleb Howe reports that the Harry Reid-controlled Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has raised the white flag and will cease its paramilitary operation against the Bundy family.

Fox News is reporting that the Nevada standoff between the Bureau of Land Management and the Bundy Ranch has come to an end. The feds are pulling out because it has become too dangerous for their employees and the public. In other words, the Bundys win...


Fox reports that 400 of 900 cattle have already been rounded up, but the operation is now ended before it was completed. This means that the intervention of the activists and supporters who have camped out near the disputed area was successful. The crowd, claiming that victory, cheered loudly as the sheriff announced the end of the operation.

The BLM is controlled by one of Harry Reid's cronies.

Given Reid's long history of troubling, sleazy deals, all of the attention on the Senate Majority Leader (thank you, Dana Loesch) seems to have paid off.

It's all but certain that Reid was behind this land grab and I would bet that a close investigation would reveal more crony deals of the sort for which he's infamous. Maybe someday we'll have a real media -- actual journalists and not partisan hacks -- who will investigate this sort of government-run-amok madness.


Hat tip: BadBlue News

Larwyn's Linx: Ted Cruz: Attorney General Holder must be impeached if Lois Lerner isn’t indicted

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

Nation

Ted Cruz: Holder must be impeached if Lerner isn’t indicted: BPR
Obama, Holder both whine about treatment to Al Sharpton: Ace
Chilling: Cliven Bundy, Surrounded by a Military-Style Army: Sara Noble

Democratic Budget Exposes New Obamacare Lie: Phil Kerpen
Dems need to hate the Koch brothers: LI
The Unforgivable Sin: Sebelius Caused `Lasting Damage to Obama Legacy': TR

The Real Story Behind The Bundy Ranch Harassment: Dana Loesch
Cruz: ‘Scared Senate Democrats Demanded Sebelius’ Head’: FNI
House Conservatives Plot to Oust Boehner, Put Scare Into Cantor: Tim Alberta

BREAKING: 90% of NY Gun Owners Refuse to Register Guns: ConTrib
Sebelius’s farewell speech derails because … it’s missing a page: Hot Air
Nancy Pelosi: Matt Helm with osteoporosis: Ace

My Foolproof Plan to Stop Common Core and Amnesty: ConHQ
Sebelius’s Dangerous Legacy of Incompetence and Deception: Jonathan Tobin
The Democrats’ Fake Problems : Jim Geraghty

Scandal Central

The Definition Of, “Not A Smidgen,” Revealed, When Democrats Shriek Witch Hunt: Blogmocracy
The IRS Scandal Comes Into Focus: Kimberley Strassel
Obama Refuses To Meet With Survivor From 2009 Ft. Hood Terror Attack: WZ

White House Denies ’09 Fort Hood Victim's Request for Meeting With Obama: ABC
Federal judge slams Holder for ‘unprecedented instruction’ he had ‘no authority to establish’: Caroline May
Senator Harry Reid: cattle rustler for Communist China: James Simpson

Climate & Energy

White House Goes Squishy On Keystone XL Deadline: RWN
Desperate to Sell Volts, Government Motors Cuts Cost by Putting in Even Weaker Batteries: MB
Are Baked Beans Bad For “Climate Change”?: RWN

Media

NY Times issues a huge correction, ruins an entire afternoon of MSNBC programming: ConIntel
Stephen Halbrook's Masterful History of Nazi Gun Control Measures: PJM
Video: Democrat’s “War on Fox News” turns into hilarious rout: Hot Air

Dana Loesch: If Bundy Cows Were Illegal Aliens They’d Get EBT Cards and Obama Phones: GWP
Multiple Reports Of Cell Towers Near Bundy Ranch Being Shut Down: WZ
59% of GOP Voters Say Republicans in Congress Out of Touch with Party’s Base: Rasmussen

Obama's press secretary decorates home with Soviet propaganda: The Week
Obama Tells Us What The Real Voter Fraud Is: Cove
Don’t Go There, Buddy!: MOTUS

World

Putin Declares All-Out Cold War on America: Kim Zigfeld
The Wretched Jelly-Spined Nothing Eunuchs of Brandeis: Mark Steyn
Breaking: White House denies visa to Iranian hostage-taker: Hot Air

CAIR Attacked Ayaan Hirsi Ali Because They are Islamic Supremacists with Links to Terrorists: PJM
Want proof they won't stop with your guns?: LI
Degrees of Separation: Mark Steyn

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)

Public Sites Affected by Heartbleed: Mashable
NSA Said to Exploit Heartbleed Bug for Intelligence for Years: Bloomberg
Why Gamification Matters: Samuel Greengard

Cornucopia

New Michelle Rolling Stone Cover: iOTW
Alleged Bus Bully Learns the Hard Way : Blaze
#BundyRanch: Western Rifle Shooters

Image: White House Denies ’09 Fort Hood Victim's Request for Meeting With Obama
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Conservative J.D. Winteregg for Congress: Fire John Boehner

QOTD: "Vladimir V. Putin’s Russia has declared all-out cold war on the United States, and is threatening a hot conflagration in Ukraine as well. In response, Barack H. Obama is dithering, poking his head ever deeper into the sands of cowardice, and leading America down the same dead-end street followed by James E. Carter.

On April 10th, the Putin regime shut down the Voice of America radio broadcasts in Russia, calling them “mere spam in our frequencies,” and it evicted the American Councils, which is responsible for organizing student exchanges between the USA and Russia. The same day, it was revealed that the Kremlin had willfully withheld critical information about the Boston Marathon bombers from U.S. security forces, in other words playing an important role in helping the bombings to go forward. We learned that Russia had been ritualistically violating its nuclear arms treaty obligations, and Russia announced as well that it intended to flout U.S. sanctions against the terrorist rogue regime in Iran...

...Yet Obama continues to bite his fingernails and watch as Putin gorges himself on Eastern Europe. A big part of the reason, of course, is that he’s afraid Americans will start remembering his “reset” policy, where he lectured Republicans about having misunderstood Russia and assured us that if treated with proper respect Russia would be a valuable partner in international affairs." --Kim Zigfeld

Friday, April 11, 2014

The 5 Most Beautiful Cars on Sale Today

Car and Driver listed its top 10, but I thought only five made the cut. They're not cheap, to be sure, but a man can dream, can't he? Unless Obama created a Bureau of Dream Management and is now regulating that too.

Audi R8


The aging, soon-to-be-replaced R8 among today’s most beautiful cars? Probably controversial. But the R8 remains every bit the design icon it was when it debuted nearly a decade ago. It’s telling that the car still looks like nothing else out there, with a semi-rounded surface theme that would probably look ridiculous on anything else. Paired with Audi’s delicate headlights and taillights, simple grillework, and that roofline, though, it makes for a gorgeous retiree.

WELL, WELL, WELL: Dingy Harry Reid Behind Feds' Land Grab Attacks on Rancher in Sleazy Payback Deal

Guest post by James Simpson

This week, the Bureau of Land Management has been attempting to confiscate the cattle of Cliven Bundy, the last rancher in Nevada's Clark County. On Wednesday, BLM agents confronted the Bundy family and supporters, using attack dogs, tasers and stun guns. Bundy's son was tased and his daughter thrown to the ground. Three others were injured. Bundy supporters eventually drove the BLM off, but not before they had taken some cattle.

The BLM claims the cattle are "tresspassing" on land designated for the endangered desert tortoise. This designation is a red flag that something else is going on. Desert tortoises have co-existed with cattle for over 100 years and the cattle offer no threat.

Sure enough, as Dana Loesch reports today in a great piece of investigative journalism, Senator Harry Reid, known as "Cleanface" by the Nevada mob, and named by Judicial Watch as one of Washington's "Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians," has been using the BLM to seize rangeland on behalf of campaign contributors. One of Reid's former senior advisors, Neil Kornze, was recently appointed to lead the BLM, but he has worked there since 2011, and been de facto leader for at least a year. According to Loesch, Reid even ordered BLM to alter boundaries of tortoise habitat to allow top contributor, Harvey Whittemore, to develop the land. Yet another compassionate Democrat concerned for the environment. Good old Cleanface.

All other ranchers have been driven out of the county, but Bundy refuses to bend. The BLM claims Bundy owes them grazing fees dating back to 1993, however, he says his grazing rights predate the BLM, his family has used the land since the 1800s and those rights should have been grandfathered in. Contrary to BLM's accusations, Bundy has been paying grazing fees, but to the governmental entity he believes has true title to the land: Clark County, Nevada. Loesch relates:

The Gut-Wrenching Charts Obama Doesn't Want You to See

Guest post by Amy Payne

Talking about Obamacare’s effects is one thing; seeing hard data is another.

Heritage’s newly updated Obamacare in Pictures has 15 charts that show the law’s effects on Americans—from canceled insurance policies to new taxes, Medicare cuts, reduced choice for plans, and more.

Here’s a quick look at just three of these charts and how Obamacare is hitting three groups.

YOUNG PEOPLE

Obamacare says you can stay on your parents’ health insurance until you turn 26. This chart looks at what happens after that—if you don’t have employer-sponsored insurance and you have to get insured through Obamacare. If you’re trying to save for a car or house—or just paying rent to have your own place—seeing your premiums double is quite a blow.

MARK LEVIN: My one-time hero Hank Aaron has proven himself a disgraceful, Democrat race-baiter

Mark Levin, 4/9/14

Lots going on today, most of it sucks. Most of it involves the government, most of it involves malcontents and miscreants. But one thing you've probably heard about today, and I was stunned by this, frankly, was Hank Aaron. I have a valuable Hank Aaron card. I collect valuable baseball cards. I've got some Babe Ruth cards, some Ty Cobb cards, I've got, oh I can't remember them all. But some really good stuff. And I've got a great Hank Aaron card, and I'll be getting rid of that at the next sports card event. Because I want nothing to do with this man going forward. He's disgraced himself. And here in the Washington Times, citing the USA Today piece, "Baseball legend Hank Aaron, 80, acknowledged race relations have changed since his threat-filled days chasing Babe Ruth’s home run record — but said modern tormentors still exist wearing suits and ties instead of KKK hoods."

“We can talk about baseball. Talk about politics. Sure this country has a black president, but when you look at a black president, President Obama is left with his foot stuck in the mud from all of the Republicans with the way he’s treated,” he told USA Today.
So, you see: All Republicans treat Obama this way, all Republicans who oppose Obama, oppose him because they're racists. That's the only logical conclusion you could draw from an ignorant statement like this. So half the country, or half or some large percentage of the country, who doesn't agree with Obama on the issues, that wants to see Obamacare repealed, that is extremely troubled with how this guy's running up the debt on their children and grandchildren, that wants the border secured so their communities can be safe and economically viable, that wants a rational foreign policy, you're all racists, according to Hank Aaron...

I guess those of us who disagree with you and disagree with Obama, or disagree with leftists anywhere, well, we're the new Klansmen you see. Just because we wear ties and starched shirts -- neither which I wear often, by the way. We're just like the Klan. This is a disgrace, this man has disgraced himself. As I said, I don't care how many homeruns he hit, I don't care what his name is, and I'm going to get rid of that card as fast as I can because I don't want it anywhere in my house. Awful.


For more Mark Levin, visit MarkLevinShow.com

Larwyn's Linx: Sen. Manchin (D-WV) Says Obama's Hateful Rhetoric Helped Kill Equal Pay Bill

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

Nation

Sen. Manchin (D-WV): Obama's Hateful Rhetoric Helped Kill Equal Pay Bill: TR
Oversight committee votes to hold Lois Lerner in contempt of Congress: DC
Meet the 2016 Republican Nominee: Daren Jonescu

Catherine Engelbrecht hammers Elijah Cummings over new emails: Scoop
Obama’s Politicized, Lawless Executive Branch: David Limbaugh
Pat Roberts: did he ever live in Kansas?: Milton Wolf

35 "Acts of Love": Breitbart
Holder has Rare Moment of Honesty: Hannity
Open Letter from Rep. Matt Shea: SSI

Economy

Common Core Lesson Teaches that America is a Racist Nation: TPNN
The US Consumer Is So Strong, Family Dollar Is Closing 370 Stores: ZH
LA Commission Studies Pension Crisis, Recommends New Commission: Mish

Scandal Central

1,576,263 veterans and their claims are “…NOT RELEVANT…”!!!: VetWarriors
Revolution Now In Nevada – What You Can Do To Fight Back: Susan Duclos
Holder’s Gun Tracking Proposal is De Facto Gun Registration: FreePost

Sessions: Immigration Laws Have Collapsed and it's Deliberate: Nice Deb
Dem. Elijah Cummings tries to defend coordination with IRS effort to target True the Vote: BPR
Coalition of Western Legislators, Sheriffs, Veterans Stand Vigil in Support of Embattled Rancher: SSI

Media

Obamacare: Still Very Unpopular, and No Prog "Unskewing" of the Polls Can Change That: Ace
Klein, Krugman offer biased views of confirmation bias: Jonah Goldberg
Thought police on patrol: Krauthammer

“‘Dan Snyder is trying to buy the right to be racist.’ – Jesse Ventura”: Protein Wisdom
My Back Pages: Ed Driscoll
Casinos shudder over possible federal requirement to divulge source of high rollers’ gambling funds: RJ

Sharyl Attkisson: CBS Moved On From 'Fast and Furious'--'Barely Begun to Scratch the Surface': NB
Leftist Academia Publishes “Guide” For Journalists: How to Whitewash Islam In Reporting: WZ
Colbert’s Act Won’t Work On The Late Show: Glob

World

The Legacy of Obama’s Illegal Alien Aunt: Michelle Malkin
Army goes to war with National Guard, seizes Apache attack helicopters: Times
Putin Sends Letter to 18 Countries Threatening to Cut Supply of Gas: Mish

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)

CNNx Empowering Digital, Second Screen Viewers to Customize Experience: LostRemote
From quark soup to ordinary matter: Karen McNulty, Symmetry
Good News: Windows XP Alive & Well in ICS/SCADA Networks: Dark Reading

Cornucopia

Up to 5,000 Armed Militia Members Will Be Arriving in Bunkerville, Nevada Today: SHTFplan
Michelle’s Exciting New Exercise Program: Ladies, Get Your Guns!: MOTUS
Great Depression II: David Zuniga

Image: At least 9 dead as bus, truck crash in California
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Matt Bevin for Senate -- Help Fire Mitch McConnell

QOTD: "As defenders of Brendan Eich’s defenestration from Mozilla are right to note, the government didn’t force him out. The company merely exercised its rights in a free society. The same goes for Brandeis University, which rescinded Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s invitation for an honorary degree because she’s considered politically incorrect for her criticism of Islam.

But the liberal tribe seems to champion such freedoms only when they line up with its own worldview. You can have all the freedom and autonomy you want, so long as it yields progressive ends. But if you don’t want to bake a wedding cake for a gay wedding, or if you’re a nun who doesn’t want to pay for something you don’t need and are morally opposed to, that’s too bad. The right to be wrong, in liberals’ eyes, is a right only liberals should have, even if, like Paul Krugman, you never need to exercise it. And, all too often, when you are wrong, that’s when liberals bring out their hammers." --Jonah Goldberg

Thursday, April 10, 2014

Obama Budget Lays Groundwork for Universal Gun Registration... and Eventual Confiscation

Guest post by GOA

Last Friday, Attorney General Eric Holder testified before a House appropriations subcommittee on behalf of his department's proposed budget for FY2015.

Apparently, Holder didn't think anyone would read his written submission, because he all-but-admitted that Obama intends to implement a Universal Gun Registry by executive fiat.

He also asked Congress to help fund so-called “smart gun” technology, which would prevent a gun from firing unless the shooter is wearing an accompanying bracelet or ring.

“Smart guns” are a dumb idea

Given that “smart gun” technology only works about 80 percent of the time -- according to the New Jersey Institute of Technology -- gun owners almost universally consider this a “dumb” idea.

Even police have rejected the “dumb gun” approach for themselves.

Currently, there are no such guns on the market in the United States. One gun store did briefly offer an Armatix .22 caliber earlier this year, but public outrage forced them to pull the handgun from the shelves.

Holder pushes a Universal Gun Registry

This year’s Obama budget shows how the administration is trying to quietly create the infrastructure for a universal gun registry.

In proposed “Program Increases” for the FBI, Holder has this to say:

ELIJAH CUMMINGS CAUGHT IN A CIRCLE OF CORRUPTION: Who Will Oversee the Overseers?

Guest post by Investor's Business Daily

Corruption: New IRS emails released by a congressional panel show staff working for the Democratic ranking member communicated with the IRS multiple times in 2012 and 2013 about a voter-fraud prevention group.

Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., said on CNN's "State of the Union" last year, "Based upon everything I've seen, the case is solved. And if it were me, I would wrap this case up and move on, to be frank with you."

Of course he wanted to move on, for he had been working hand in glove with the IRS to target conservative groups and wanted the fact to remain a secret.

On Feb. 6, in a subcommittee hearing that heard the testimony of Catherine Engelbrecht — founder of True the Vote, who was targeted by the IRS, FBI and other federal agencies — Cummings vehemently denied having any contact or coordination in targeting True the Vote.

Responding, attorney Cleta Mitchell, who is representing True the Vote, indicated that staff on the committee had been involved in communication with the IRS. In short, Cummings was not telling the truth.

The Democrats' War on Women: By the Numbers

No, not Bill "Blue Dress" Clinton, Ted "Splash" Kennedy, John "That Ain't Mah Babeee" Edwards or Anthony "Tweet My" Weiner.

Just the real numbers facing women (and all Americans) under the disastrous Obama-Pelosi-Reid economy:


$17.6 Trillion:

Total Debt Under Obama As Of April 8, 2014. (U.S. Treasury Department, Accessed 4/8/14)

$10.6 Trillion:

Total Debt When Obama Became President On January 1, 2014. (U.S. Treasury Department, Accessed 4/8/14)

$6.9 Trillion:

Amount Of Debt Obama Has Added To The Federal Debt Since Becoming President. (U.S. Treasury Department, Accessed 4/8/14)

$2 Trillion:

Cost Of ObamaCare’s Coverage Provisions From 2014 To 2024. (The Congressional Budget Office, 2/4/14)

$1.1 Trillion:

The Amount Of Student Loan Debt Currently Amassed . (“Household Debt & Credit,” Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Accessed 4/8/14)

$819.3 Billion:

Total Taxes In ObamaCare. (CBO, 3/12;JCT, 6/15/12;CBO, 5/14/13; CBO, 7/30/13)

Kathleen Sebelius Resigns, Will Seek Employment in Lucrative Building Implosion Industry

But that's just a guess about her next career move.

Just for fun, let's examine how the DNC public relations flacks at The New York Times put it:

Kathleen Sebelius, the health and human services secretary, is resigning, ending a stormy five-year tenure marred by the disastrous rollout of President Obama’s signature legislative achievement, the Affordable Care Act.

Mr. Obama accepted Ms. Sebelius’s resignation this week, and on Friday morning he will nominate Sylvia Mathews Burwell, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, to replace her, officials said.

The departure comes as the Obama administration tries to move beyond its early stumbles in carrying out the law, persuade a still-skeptical public of its lasting benefits, and help Democratic incumbents, who face blistering attack ads after supporting the legislation, survive the midterm elections this fall.

Officials said Ms. Sebelius, 65, made the decision to resign and was not forced out. But the frustration at the White House over her performance had become increasingly clear, as administration aides worried that the crippling problems at HealthCare.gov, the website set up to enroll Americans in insurance exchanges, would result in lasting damage to the president’s legacy.

Ouch. That's the Times, mind you.

Sebelius is just the latest political victim of the Obamacare debacle. She won't be the last.


Hat tip: BadBlue News

Larwyn's Linx: Emails: Lois Lerner Fed Tax Information to Democrat Elijah Cummings

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

Nation

Emails: Lois Lerner Fed Tax Information to Democrat Elijah Cummings: Pavlich
Lois Lerner Hoped To Get A Job With Organizing For Action: LoneCon
Rep. Elijah Cummings could go to prison for 5 years: AmJrnl

"The First Amendment is Not an Area": Mark Steyn
Democratic Senators Refuse Equal Pay?: Moe Lane
Ways and Means refers Lois Lerner for criminal prosecution: WFP

Reid and Schumer took Koch money: Power Line
Holder explodes over Contempt of Congress citations: John Hayward
Eric Holder Suggests that Racism is Behind Tough Questioning: PJM

Liberalism Is Eating Itself: Jon Gabriel
Competition for Thee, Not for Me: Ann Coulter
Elijah Cummings owed IRS $30,000 in back taxes: Quinton Report

Economy

The Death of Money: James Rickards
Is BLM different from Bundy?: Todd Macfarlane
16 Signs Americans Aren't Prepared For What May be Coming: Michael Snyder

Scandal Central

Crony Congress: Rep. Mike Rogers Has Ties to Benghazi--Yet is in Charge of the Investigation: Liberty Blitzkrieg
Key Lawyer in DOJ Office Charging Dinesh D’Souza is Obama Campaign Donor: J. Christian Adams
IRS Agents Blast GOP, Urged Callers to Re-elect Obama - PolitiSite: Politisite

Republican Congressman opts out of questioning Holder - implies he should be behind bars: CFP
Byte the Bullet: Hopenchange
SC DOT pumps millions into Washington, DC nonprofit: Watchdog

Media

My Questions to Juliet Eilperin, and a Message to Jeff Bezos: Power Line
Phony Wage Gap Statistics From White House Spur A Backlash: Instapundit
Megyn Kelly destroys CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper : FAM

The new Inquisition: Victor Davis Hanson
Mark Levin On Obama: “This Man Is A Disgrace”: RWN
Krauthammer: Forget about a Benghazi Select Committee — it’s too late, Obama has won: Scoop

The Myth of Obama – Busted: End of Innocence
Somebody at the FBI seems to want Sharpton dead: Cold Fury
Lefty Letterman: A Top Ten List of the Outgoing CBS Host's Most Liberal Outbursts: MRC

Smoking Gun To Sharpton: You're a Liar Also: Lid
Is Tom Friedman an Anti-Semite?: Rich Baehr
New Jersey Print Shop Owner Boots Publisher of Anti-Semitic Hate Magazine: Algemeiner

World

Kerry's Folly: Cal Thomas
Islam Critic Speaks Out on Brandeis: There’s Fear of Violent Repercussion for Criticizing Islam: Mediaite
Islam critic and feminist Ayaan Hirsi Ali hits back at Brandeis after they do moonbat walk: Daily Mail

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)

Coming soon: a whole new you, in your Twitter profile: Twitter
The Secret Shame of an Unacquired Tech Worker: Kevin Roose
Is It a Good Idea to Vaporize and Inhale Alcohol?: Gizmodo

Cornucopia

Same Pig, Different Lipstick: Christian Mercenary
Comcast says it’s ‘bothered’ that its customer service is terrible: BGR
The Stunning Metamorphosis Of An "Obama Girl": ZH

Image: Keep Calm and Set Them Afire
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Matt Bevin for Senate -- Help Fire Mitch McConnell

QOTD: "One of the disturbing lessons to be taken from the Obama years is that almost all limits on executive power are now enforced solely by the media. The legal restrictions have been revealed as elaborate bluffs, which can be knocked down by an Administration determined to call them. The Constitutional separation of powers has atrophied into a gentleman’s agreement, which Obama freely disregards, while hurling an endless stream of vile slander at the astonished Republican caucus in Congress. He dares them to do something about it, and since the only thing they can really do is impeach him, he wins. The only balancing force left in the rotted husk of what was once a great Constitutional republic are those media referees, and they seem pretty cool with this President abusing executive power to rewrite laws on the fly, refusing to perform his lawful duties, and concealing reams of damaging documentation. They even keep stone faces when he boasts about how “transparent” his Administration is.

Pulitzer Prizes will be left lying on the table, because no one in the mainstream press wants to write the story that brings this corrupt government down, or at least turns a critical mass of Americans decisively against our intrusive, abusive tax system. Just about everyone from the IRS who has talked to Congress made it clear that conservative groups were indeed targeted for partisan political reasons, but the goalposts for coverage were slowly moved to “Lois Lerner or bust,” and it looks like bust. The press yawns, checks its calendar, and thinks about maybe dashing off a quick epitaph for page A23 on the next anniversary of the scandal. It takes very little imagination to suppose this would all have gone differently if the IRS had harassed civil-rights groups and pro-choice organizations during President John McCain’s 2012 re-election bid. There would have been outrage boiling through city streets. There would have been no other media story until heads rolled. And a panicked Republican administration would probably have started working the guillotines immediately, producing a stream of angry scapegoats who promptly received front-page press treatment as heroic whistleblowers." --John Hayward

Wednesday, April 09, 2014

THE PEOPLE'S CUBE: Mozilla Announces New Add-Ons

Guest post by The People's Cube

This just in: Mozilla has launched a new browser called BackFireFox. But seriously, folks, what's the firing of some Mozilla CEO with old-fashioned views on marriage compared to the potential advancements in technology the progressive Mozilla team can unleash once it's been liberated from this guy's heteronormative oppression?

All Brendan Eich has ever done was invent JavaScript. But we all know that the world-wide proletarian revolution is being organized according to a different script, which does not involve Java.

Here is just a small sampling of new Mozilla plug-ins, extensions, and themes proposed by us on Twitter hashtag #NewMozillaAdOns.


DANGER ZONE: As Russia Violates Arms Treaty, Obama Continues Slashing U.S. Nuclear Deterrent

Guest post by Investor's Business Daily

Disarming America: The U.S. has announced plans to place 50 nuclear missiles in storage as part of its commitment to the New START Treaty signed with Russia, ignoring Moscow's violation of another arms treaty.

The Pentagon announced Tuesday the United States' Strategic Force Structure designed "to comply with the New START Treaty," as a Defense Department press release notes. It means that 50 Minuteman III missiles — out of a current force of 450 — will be removed from their silos and stored away.

The silos will be kept "warm," that is, available for future use and for re-insertion of the missiles.

But it is doubtful that an administration that has as its goal a world without nuclear weapons and that promised the Russians "flexibility" in the gutting of U.S. missile defense would ever even contemplate such a move. The missiles are gone.

The Air Force now deploys three ICBM wings on its bases in Wyoming (Francis E. Warren), North Dakota (Minot), and Montana (Malmstrom). Each operates 150 ICBMs, with a squadron consisting of 50. The Obama administration proposes getting rid of one of those squadrons.

The remaining 400 deployed ICBMs would be the lowest number since 1962, according to a history of the ICBM force written by Hans Kristensen of the Federation of American Scientists.

REPORT: New York's Unconstitutional "SAFE Act" Allows for Warrentless Searches and Seizures

Guest post by Rusty Weiss

A newly filed lawsuit claims that the registration process under New York’s SAFE Act allows police to search a gun owner’s home without a warrant, seize their weapons, and not be subject to review.

Lawyers representing Gabriel Razzano claim the process is a violation of the Fourth Amendment which prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures and requires any warrant to be judicially sanctioned and supported by probable cause.

The registration process, according to the summons, is secretive and “results in a mandatory, warrantless Penal Law 400 gun removal visit from police.”

The lawyers claim that these warrantless police searches are “the real purpose of the SAFE Act.”

Via the Free Beacon (h/t Weasel Zippers):

Under the SAFE Act, the New York Department of Criminal Justice (NYDCJ), the overseer of the database, may declare a person ineligible to own or possess a weapon without any type of judicial process.

Furthermore, the suit argues that if the NYDCJ declares a person ineligible, “such a determination makes the person vulnerable to imminent seizure of all weapons, without a hearing or even an arrest warrant.”

The attorneys indicate the state is creating a separate database from the federal NICS database but does not have the NICS protections, such as an appeals process.

Supporters of the lawsuit claim that the SAFE Act also violates the Second, Fifth, and Fourteenth amendments.