Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Presidential Gong Show!

For some reason, I just remembered the end of the O'Reilly interview of President Obama during, of all things, the Superbowl.


Now, please revisit the 2008 video clip and tell me that isn't ominous.


Via: our must-follow, year-around summer intern, @BiffSpackle.

EARTH DAY 1970: The 7 Dumbest Predictions Made by the Radical Left Environmental Nutjobs

With all due respect, of course.

Over at Ricochet, Jon Gabriel offers a Baker's Dozen, but my top handful are as follows:

  • “Civilization will end within 15 or 30 years unless immediate action is taken against problems facing mankind.” — Harvard biologist George Wald
  • “Man must stop pollution and conserve his resources, not merely to enhance existence but to save the race from intolerable deterioration and possible extinction.”New York Times editorial
  • “Population will inevitably and completely outstrip whatever small increases in food supplies we make. The death rate will increase until at least 100-200 million people per year will be starving to death during the next ten years.” — Stanford University biologist Paul Ehrlich
  • “In a decade, urban dwellers will have to wear gas masks to survive air pollution… by 1985 air pollution will have reduced the amount of sunlight reaching earth by one half.”Life magazine
  • “By the year 2000, if present trends continue, we will be using up crude oil at such a rate… that there won’t be any more crude oil. You’ll drive up to the pump and say, ‘Fill ‘er up, buddy,’ and he’ll say, ‘I am very sorry, there isn’t any.’” — Ecologist Kenneth Watt
  • “[One] theory assumes that the earth’s cloud cover will continue to thicken as more dust, fumes, and water vapor are belched into the atmosphere by industrial smokestacks and jet planes. Screened from the sun’s heat, the planet will cool, the water vapor will fall and freeze, and a new Ice Age will be born.”Newsweek magazine
  • “The world has been chilling sharply for about twenty years. If present trends continue, the world will be about four degrees colder for the global mean temperature in 1990, but eleven degrees colder in the year 2000. This is about twice what it would take to put us into an ice age.” — Kenneth Watt
Read the whole thing and try not to chortle at their idiocy.  And hypocrisy.  With all due respect, of course.


Hat tip: BadBlue News

Larwyn's Linx: Everything You Hate About D.C. Is in the Podesta Divorce

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

Nation

Everything You Hate About D.C. Is in the Podesta Divorce: Myra Adams
Georgia Numbers Show Obama’s ’8 Million Enrollee’ Claim Is A Fraud: HayRide
Rep. Gowdy Wants Subpoenas for Hillary Clinton: Capitalism

But Seriously, Just How Slow-Witted is John Boehner?: AT
Memo to: Republican Candidates, Answer War on Women: Mona Charen
The Bundy Paradigm: Rutherford Institute

The Emotions of Socialism: Gates of Vienna
Obamacare could destroy us: Eagle Rising
Saying Obamacare Debate is Over Won’t Save Democrats: David Limbaugh

Hate Speech Bill Could Give Stasi-Like Power to the FCC: Sara Noble
Bloomberg’s New Gun-Grabber Group Markets Home Invasions: Bryan Preston
Your “moderate,” “mainstreet” Republicans: Protein Wisdom

Economy

The High Cost of Liberalism: Thomas Sowell
Whoops! Half of Georgia’s Insurance Enrollees Haven’t Paid Yet.: NRO
BLM eyes 90,000 acres of Texas land: Breitbart

Scandal Central

The Black Book of Tom Steyer: WFB
The Oligarchs: Nancy Pelosi’s brother-in-law gets $737M of taxpayers’ money to build solar plant: Knight
BREAKING: Top Dem Wendy Davis Being Investigated by the FBI: ConTrib

Climate & Energy

Shocker! Corn Based Biofuels Worse For Environment Than Gasoline: LoneCon
Happy Earth Day!: Mark Steyn
Global Cooling Denier Fiona Stanley Says Warming Skepticism Is Like “Child Abuse”: Cove

Media

Attkisson: Gee, CBS always liked stories 'perceived to be negative to the Bush administration': AmPower
From the Dept of deadpan: Who’d have thunk it?: Protein Wisdom
How One Brave Woman and Her Group of Patriots Took a Corrupt Border Sheriff Down: Tatler

For any 9/11 troofers out there: Not a Sheep
Knives vs. Guns: Deadly Distance: Mike McDaniel
More Media Matters mistakes on gun-free zones: John Lott

Some questions don’t make sense in a free society: Joe Huffman
EveryFAIL: When Parody Perfectly Mimics Reality: Bob Owens
Oh Look, an Obama Staff Democrat Who Thinks a Bloodthirsty Communist Dictatorship is Cute!: IMAO

World

A good day to talk about professional Armies in 4th Gen warfare...: Random
China seizes Japanese ship in dispute dating to 1930s: Stripes
As Army shrinks, young officers are being pushed out: Stripes

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)

Google boffins beat own Captchas: Register
LG’s G Watch: water and dust resistant, and sport an ‘always-on’ display: NextWeb
Heartbleed and Heartache in FOSS Town: Linux Insider

Cornucopia

'WE didn't need to fill in paperwork last time I landed in Normandy': D-Day veteran: Daily Mail
Obama as a Literary Conceit: MOTUS
Seventy-two killed resisting gun confiscation in Boston: Buckeye Firearms

Image: 'WE didn't need to fill in paperwork last time I landed in Normandy': D-Day veteran
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Video: Does John Boehner Suffer from "Electile Dysfunction"?

QOTD: "Whenever the legislators endeavor to take away and destroy the property of the people, or to reduce them to slavery under arbitrary power, they put themselves into a state of war with the people, who are thereupon absolved from any further obedience and are left to the common refuge, which God hath provided for all men, against force and violence." --John Locke

Monday, April 21, 2014

Friends Don't Let Friends Drive Smart Cars

A needless tragedy in North Carolina as a woman involved in a single-car crash perished when her "Smart" Car repeatedly rolled over.

A Charlotte woman died Thursday when her 2013 Smart Car ran off N.C. 130 in Robeson County and flipped over, the Highway Patrol said.

The wreck happened at 11:41 a.m. about 6 miles west of Fairmont near Stuarts Mill Road, according to a report filed by Trooper M.J. Connor.

[The female driver] was traveling east on N.C. 130 when the car entered a curve and ran off the right side of the road, the report said.

The car, a convertible, hit a highway sign, rolled over and landed on its top... [the driver], who was wearing a seat belt, was pronounced dead at the scene, the report said.

These tiny demi-cars are dangerous simply because they do not possess the size or weight to survive serious impacts with conventional vehicles.

They are the product of government intervention, beginning in 1975, when Congress first authorized CAFE standards ostensibly to "save fuel."

As Deroy Murdock observes, "In a crash, most drivers would trade lower MPG for protective layers of thick steel."

Team Obama is fueling [$3,000] anticipated price hikes [per car] by boosting CAFE standards from 35.5 miles per gallon in 2016 to 54.5 MPG by 2025.

The laws of physics are stubbornly impervious to Obama’s green slogans, no matter how abrasively he shouts them. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety concluded in 2007 that “None of the 15 vehicles with the lowest driver death rates is a small model. In contrast, 11 of the 16 vehicles with the highest death rates are mini or small models.”

J.R. Dunn lays out the casualties of the green death merchants.

According to the Brookings Institution, a 500-lb weight reduction of the average car increased annual highway fatalities by 2,200-3,900 and serious injuries by 11,000 to 19,500 per year. USA Today found that 7,700 deaths occurred for every mile per gallon gained in fuel economy standards. Smaller cars accounted for up to 12,144 deaths in 1997, 37% of all vehicle fatalities for that year.

How many deaths have resulted? Depending on which study you choose, the total ranges from 41,600 to 124,800. To that figure we can add between 352,000 and 624,000 people suffering serious injuries, including being crippled for life. In the past thirty years, fuel standards have become one of the major causes of death and misery in the United States — and one almost completely attributable to human stupidity and shortsightedness.

When it comes to exploiting a tragedy to push gun control, the progressives screech, "It's worth it, if we can only save one child!"

How about saving the thousands of men, women and children each year, sentenced to death or horrific injury by insane, useless standards mandated by the government?


Hat tip: BadBlue News

As Prez Urges Lemmings in Congress to Defend Obamacare, Dem Rep. Warns Worst is "About to Hit the Fan"

Gee, I didn't see this on the front page of The New York Times (although, to be fair, I never read the Times, but there you go).
With everyone from Democratic officeholders to a cohort of political bloggers urging, imploring, virtually begging Democratic candidates and incumbents to embrace the Affordable Care Act ahead of the 2014 midterm elections, it seems that only the pollsters are warning that they do so at their own political peril. 

“In terms of Obamacare, don’t defend it,” the respected Democratic pollster Celinda Lake urged in March following the release of her own extensive polling on the issue for George Washington University’s respected Battleground Poll. “Say it was flawed from the beginning, and we’re going to fix it.”
Of course, one powerful figure not running for office is urging the Democrat lemmings in Congress to run right off the cliff.  After all, it's all about him and his legacy, don'tcha know?
There’s just one problem with that strategy: it serves as an implicit rebuke of the 111th Congress, the Democratic Party’s leadership in the legislature, and President Barack Obama.
Perhaps this is why Democrats are busy convincing their colleagues to ignore Lake’s warnings. “I think Democrats should forcefully defend and be proud of [the ACA],” Obama… strongly advised the members of his party seeking office at a Thursday press conference...
...But those Democrats who are not defending controversial votes they may have taken regarding the ACA, or who are not beholden to the president who is desperate to avoid one last rebuke from the electorate, are warning of a far bleaker future for Democrats with the Obamacare millstone around their necks.
Millstone. I like that.
Speaking to Boston Herald Radio last week, the only member of Massachusetts’ all-Democrat congressional delegation to vote against the 2010 health care reform law, Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA), warned that the Obamacare — well, you know — is about to “hit the fan.”
“There are parts of Obamacare, or the Affordable Care Act, that were postponed because they are unpalatable,” Lynch observed. “As these provisions come into effect, the administration thus far is saying, ‘Gee, we really can’t handle this right now so we’re going to delay it.’”
“These obligations keep piling up,” he continued. “Any individual with an individual healthcare plan that exceeds $10,200 is in a Cadillac plan situation. They’re going to have to pay — that employer, if they provide that, and many do today let alone in 2018 — will have to pay a 40 percent tax on the amount over the ... the maximum established under the Affordable Care Act.”
That is a huge tax. It’s the first time in this country’s history that we have actually taxed health care,” Lynch said. “We used to treat it like food, that people would die without it. Well, we’re in a new day now.”
...“We will lose seats in the House,” the Bay State congressman confessed when pressed on the likely political impact of the ACA. “I am fairly certain of that based on the poll numbers that are coming out from the more experienced pollsters down there. And I think we may lose the Senate.”
Lynch warns that the really diabolical and damaging aspects of Obamacare have yet to kick in.  And, when they do, he says, the fit is going to hit the shan.
...Many analysts believe that the flood of cancelled individual insurance plans that characterized the law’s early implementation period was merely a prelude to when (or, as former White House Press Sec. Robert Gibbs said, if) the ACA’s employer mandate is enacted.
...The stakes surrounding the Affordable Care Act are high. So high, in fact, that it serves some of the president’s allies more to insist that the debate over the success of the ACA is “over.” It would seem that no matter how many supportive blog posts are published, candid statements like those made by Lynch and others indicate that Obamacare will persist as a political problem for Democratic political aspirants and incumbents.
I also have the distinct feeling that the closer to the midterms we get, the more pain will be felt by the American people.  Millions will have lost their plans, their doctors, and even their jobs, thanks to this disastrous and unconstitutional SCOAMF.

And does Obama care?  Of course not.  He wants the lemmings to run right off the cliff.  Because it's all about him and his "legacy". Not the American people. Not about his Congressional allies. No. Him and him alone.


Hat tip: BadBlue News

Larwyn's Linx: "They know we're coming" -- The Feds Invade Las Vegas

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

Nation

"They know we're coming" -- The Feds Invade Las Vegas: SSI
‘Domestic Terrorists’ Rally at Nevada Ranch: GWP
For what does our Republic stand?: Allen West

Forget ‘You Can Keep Your Doctor’: Try Finding One First: Rick Moran
Demographics Isn't Destiny: Kevin D. Williamson
As Goes North Carolina: Fred Barnes

Cliven Bundy and The Rural Way: Victor Davis Hanson
Martin Armstrong: "Do The Feds Really Own The Land In Nevada?": ZH
The Misguided Resurgence of Marxist Collectivism: AmPower

Barack Obama and the politics of lies: WashExam
Gabriel Razzano: ‘Ineligible’ in NY, and Fighting Back: David Codrea
Obama praises Muslims in Easter message: Pamela Geller

Economy

The Mirage of Integration: R.S. McCain
When Chicago spent its pension money on the mayor's pet projects : Ben Joravsky
Everything We Are Told About Deflation Is A Lie: Tim Price

Scandal Central

Top Socialist Economist Says He’s Been Working With Democrats, Obama “For A Long Time”: GWP
Under The Radar: Democratic Effort To Rig The Electoral College: WZ
Rep. Terry: GM Will ‘Use Bankruptcy to Escape Liability’ in Recall Probe: FNI

Climate & Energy

Interview: James Delingpole on The Little Green Book of Eco-Fascism: Ed Driscoll
100 Million Reasons to Delay the Keystone XL Pipeline: WyBlog
Elements of the Mann-Steyn case: Climate Science, Free Speech and Legal Liability: WUWT

Media

The BBC and the extremist mainstream: Commentator
MSNBC's Harris-Perry Mocks Those Losing Insurance: Dems Should Say 'Just Deal With That': NB
Inane War-on-Women headlines of the day: Ann Althouse

‘My new hero’: Sharyl Attkisson opens up about why she left CBS: Twitchy
The Grievance Industry’s Spawn: RWN
Denver Post Goes to Pot, Skips Easter: Daniel Halper

World

Crying “Fascist” on Ukraine: Andrew Wood
Anti-Zionists want the Israeli people to die: Commentator
Ukraine Synagogue Bombed: Pemela Geller

Obama’s Platform Is Eerily Similar to the Communist Party USA’s: Sara Noble
Pilot's career stalls after criticizing oxygen system: Stripes
Report: Ebola Suspected In Europe? “Broken Through All Containment Efforts”: Mac Slavo

Oregon jihad training camp showed “how to properly slice someone’s throat”: JihadWatch
Revealed: The female tech CEO who brought down Al Qaeda 'hate cleric' Abu Hamza: BCF
Not With a Bang: Sultan Knish

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)

Israeli scientists make genetic code breakthrough: Hayom
True facts about Ocean Radiation and the Fukushima Disaster: Deep Sea News
OpenSSL Cleanup: Hundreds of Commits In a Week: Slashdot

Cornucopia

Video: Priest Sings Hallelujah For Wedding Couple: Nice Deb
This Incredible Animation Was Made By Code That Could Fit on a Floppy: Gizmodo
Drought Reveals Body in Lake Since 1979: Breitbart

Image: Missed him by that much – better luck next time.
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Video: Does John Boehner Suffer from "Electile Dysfunction"?

QOTD: "Since it became painfully clear in 2013 that Obama had lied about Obamacare since 2009, it has been increasingly difficult for many Americans to continue accepting at face value his statements on other major public issues. In both the Benghazi and IRS scandals, for example, Obama claimed to have known nothing about them until they were reported in the national media.

But if that were true, why has the president's attorney general and so many other of his most prominent appointees withheld thousands of documents subpoenaed by Congress and requested by journalists under the Freedom of Information Act? Are there passages in those withheld documents that make it clear Obama knew much more than he has admitted?

Such questions go to the heart of the issue of the president's probity. If he lied about keeping health insurance plans and doctors, why should fellow citizens believe his claim that nothing else could have been done to save four Americans in Benghazi, or that there isn't "a smidgen of corruption" at the IRS? That is Obama's legacy and his burden." --Washington Examiner

Sunday, April 20, 2014

GUN CONTROL STILL WORKING OUT SWIMMINGLY IN CHICAGO: 9 Dead, 26 Others Wounded Over Easter Weekend

What was the old saw about guns and outlaws? It would appear that the corrupt, dimwitted Democrats running Chicago never heard it and can't learn it.

At least nine people have been killed and 26 others wounded in shootings across Chicago since Friday... Of the 35 people shot, 10 of them were shot on Easter Sunday.

The weekend's latest shooting took place around 1 p.m. Sunday in the 2800 block of South Sawyer Avenue, killed two people.

A 33-year-old man was fatally shot in the head and a 19-year-old man was shot in the chest.

The 19-year-old man was taken in critical condition to an area hospital, but police said he later died of his injuries... Police said the two were traveling in a vehicle when an orange hummer [sic] drove alongside and fired shots.

...Just after 5 a.m. Sunday two people were found shot to death in a Garfield Ridge home, police said.

The two were found unresponsive just after 5 a.m. Sunday inside a home in the the 5300 block of South Austin Avenue, said Chicago Police News Affairs Officer Jose Estrada.

I wonder how many of the 9 dead will be recategorized as "noncriminal death investigations" as part of Rahm Emanual and Gerry McCarthy's ongoing scam?


DEMOCRAT LOGIC COMIX: Definitions

From @BiffSpackle:


Hat tip: BadBlue News and Sipsey Street Irregulars

RAHM EMANUEL AT IT AGAIN: Chicago's crime rate reportedly doctored to hide Democrat policy failures

Fascinating investigative report in Chicago Magazine describes the malevolent behavior of the Emanuel administration and the corrupt Democrat leadership in Cook County. Those declining crime rates in Chicagoland?

Chicago conducted a 12-month examination of the Chicago Police Department’s crime statistics going back several years, poring through public and internal police records and interviewing crime victims, criminologists, and police sources of various ranks. We identified 10 people, including Groves, who were beaten, burned, suffocated, or shot to death in 2013 and whose cases were reclassified as death investigations, downgraded to more minor crimes, or even closed as noncriminal incidents—all for illogical or, at best, unclear reasons.

This troubling practice goes far beyond murders, documents and interviews reveal. Chicago found dozens of other crimes, including serious felonies such as robberies, burglaries, and assaults, that were misclassified, downgraded to wrist-slap offenses, or made to vanish altogether.

To be clear, this skulduggery can not be laid on the feet of rank-and-file police force. It is a policy that can only come from the top.

Larwyn's Linx: Harry Reid: Yes, Protestors at Bundy Ranch Were ‘Domestic Terrorists’

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

Nation

Reid: Yes, Protestors at Bundy Ranch Were 'Domestic Terrorists': Rick Moran
Confirmation Of Obama Regime Administrative Amnesty For Criminals: VDARE
A Trojan Horse on amnesty in the defense bill?: Hot Air

Bring Back the House Un-American Activities Committee: Paul R. Hollrah
Fund: Reid's "Domestic Terrorist" Remarks Designed to Rally Base: NRO
Longing for Tax Freedom: RWN

Another Hillary Clinton Donor Pleads Guilty To Illegal Campaign Activity: Glob
Papers: Hillary Decried "Unregulated" Conservative Speech on Internet: Breitbart
The Western States: A Return To Sovereignty: Terresa Monroe-Hamilton

Treason Lobby Money Buoys Arrogant Ellmers (Cheap Labor - NC2): VDARE
Scalia on high taxes: At some point, ‘perhaps you should revolt’: Times
1,200 HS seniors fight Michelle Obama speaking at graduation: RWN

Economy

Labor Fascism in Chattanooga: Matthew Vadum
The Truth About Chicago’s Crime Rates: ChicagoMag
Chicago's Vanishing Middle Class: City Journal

Scandal Central

Is the IRS politicization the worst scandal in American history?: Bookworm
California’s #RapeCulture: Monster Gets Early Prison Release, Kidnaps Girl, 16: R.S. McCain
Nothing Like A Website That Cost $90 Million And Was Still Abandoned: TPE

The left-wing media’s war on America’s first Latina governor: Annaliese Wiederspahn
LA Weekly Advises Drugs to Pair With Bands; Woman Dies: TR
Inside Hollywood’s ‘Twink’ Pool Parties: Daily Beast

Climate & Energy

A San Francisco Billionaire Just Bought Obama and Delayed the Keystone XL Pipeline: IJR
Democrats furious over Obama’s pipeline delay: BPR
People and Data Cherry-Picked For the IPCC Political Agenda: WUWT

Media

This Clip Of Chris Hayes Vs. Bundy Supporter Assemblywoman Michele Fiore Is Awesome: Scoop
Inequality is a Riot Week at College Insurrection: LI
The 25 best blogs right now?: Daley Gator

Cherokee Princess Fauxcohantas: R.S. McCain
Cherokee women want to meet Elizabeth Warren on book tour: LI
Charlie Daniels: Harry Reid Should Be In Jail For ‘Impersonating An American’: WZ

World

US Tax Dollars Going to Promote Islam in the U.S. and Throughout the World: Sara Noble
CAIR Claims Mosques “Vulnerable To Terrorist Attacks,” Urges DHS Grant Money: WZ
Who, Really, Won the Cold War?: MOTUS

Pentagon Begs Obama to Stop Russian Spy Plane From Flying Into American Airspace: RWN
FBI: Drone-like toy planes in bomb plot: Michael P. Mayko
Five Reported Killed In East Ukraine Following Ultra-nationalist Attack: ZH

Governor Mike Pence In Berlin: Diplomacy with Russia Has Failed: WFB
Iran's 'exercise in deceit': Hayom
American-Israeli relations: US still Israel's best friend but no longer country's only friend: Zev Chafets

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)

Surveillance State: Silicon Valley Creates Robocop that will Start Patrolling Streets this Year: Offgrid
RIP Flash: Why HTML5 will finally take over video and the Web this year: NextWeb
How has an increase in system complexity affected new programmers?: Ars Technica

Cornucopia

He is risen! Hallelujah!: Archbishop Cramer
Dem Sen. Richard Blumenthal nearly hit by train at commuter-safety press conference: Red Alert
For sale: Decommissioned missile silo, 40 feet underground: Today

Image: Epic Win Compilation 2014
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: YES OR NO: Do You Want to Fire Mitch McConnell?

QOTD: "With an eye toward the 2016 election, the radical Muslim Brotherhood has built the framework for a political party in America that seeks to turn Muslims into an Islamist voting bloc.

...This development bears careful monitoring in light of the U.S. Brotherhood's recently exposed goal to wage a "civilization jihad" against America that explicitly calls for infiltrating the U.S. political system and "destroying (it) from within."

The subversive plan was spelled out in hundreds of pages of founding archives that the FBI confiscated from a Brotherhood leader's home in the Washington suburbs after 9/11... Translated from Arabic, the secret documents listed a number of Brotherhood front organizations — some of which just happen to make up the newly formed USCMO.

Front and center is the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, the catalyst behind this Trojan horse jihadist political party." --Investor's Business Daily

Saturday, April 19, 2014

FOURTH BRANCH OF GOVERNMENT: Federal Bureaucracy Says Attorney-Client Privilege is Dead

Guest post by Simon Black

In the Land of the Free, people grow up hearing a lot of things about their freedom.

You're told that you live in the freest country on the planet. You're told that other nations 'hate you' for your freedom.

And you're told that you have the most open and fair justice system in the world.

This justice system is supposedly founded on bedrock principles-- things like a defendant being presumed innocent until proven guilty. The right to due process and an impartial hearing. The right to counsel and attorney-client privilege.

Yet each of these core pillars has been systematically dismantled over the years:

1. So that it can operate with impunity outside of the law, the federal government has set up its own secret FISA courts to rubber stamp NSA surveillance.

According to data obtained by the Electronic Privacy Information Center, of the nearly 34,000 surveillance requests made to FISA courts in the last 35-years, only ELEVEN have been rejected.

Unsurprising given that FISA courts only hear the case from the government's perspective. It is literally a one-sided argument in FISA courts. Hardly an impartial hearing, no?

All Enemies, Foreign and Domestic

Another @BiffSpackle instant classic.


Related: March 2009: Obama's "Civilian National Security Force" resurfaces.

Reagan and Levin drop science on Rand Paul, Mike Shedlock, and the rest of the isolationist war-mongers

I respect and often link to Mike Shedlock's Global Economic Analysis site for his take on macroeconomics. His opinions are usually sound and his reasoning and research solid.

On Thursday, April 17th, Mark Levin tore the isolationist-Code Pink-McGovern libertarians a new orifice using a Ronald Reagan speech as an exclamation point. You can listen to it here (MP3 - courtesy of The Mark Levin Show Podcast Downloader Widget).
But when he veers into national defense and international diplomacy, he makes a complete fool of himself. He advocates the Ron Paul/George McGovern strategy of appeasment and weakness, which history tells us is far more dangerous than the alternative.

I like Rand Paul, who appears to be an attractive candidate, except for his isolationist rhetoric that echoes his father's bizarre statements. Isolationism is not conservatism. Appeasement is not conservatism. Weakness is not conservatism.

Today we are witnessing a slow-motion replay of the 1930s with Russia's annexation activities. Putin's actions are bringing instability, fear and trepidation to all of Europe.

And why are we seeing Putin act so aggressively? Because he knows Obama is all bluster and no stick. He sees Obama unilaterally disarming the U.S. military -- eviscerating advanced fighter systems, dismantling nuclear weapons, killing the Tomahawk missile program, to name but a few -- and knows that the president's core belief is that America must be weak.

After all, America is an imperialist war-monger in the view of Obama, Shedlock, Paul, and the other nuts.

I repeat: nuts. Can they not comprehend history? Those bases in other countries? They're there for us. They're there to project power when it's needed. They're there to reassure allies, to demonstrate resolve, and -- ultimately -- to prevent conflict.

A strong national defense? It's for us. It's to ensure that no one dare pick a fight with the United States or its allies. It there to prevent conflict.

That's how Reagan won the Cold War without firing a shot.

And today we are witnessing all of those gains vanish as the most destructive president in American history orchestrates the rise of a nuclear Iran, a Middle East afire, Red China laying claim to ever-increasing swaths of the Pacific, and Russia creeping ever westward into Europe.

It is the isolationist, Code Pink libertarians that are the war-mongers.

Obama, Shedlock, Paul, and the other isolationists seek war. They seek death and destruction. They ignore the lessons of history that teach us -- over and over again, century after century after century -- that weakness and appeasement beget conflict.

Obama, Shedlock, Paul and their ilk are the war-mongers. They must ignore all of human history to arrive at their bizarre ideology; it is certain that their ignorance will get a lot of people killed.


Hat tip: BadBlue News

Larwyn's Linx: Dem Rep: Obamacare will bury us

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

Nation

Dem Rep: Obamacare will bury us: LI
Book-Cooking Reaches a New Zenith: Ace
Obama strips our military while building own militia: Blossom Stiefel

The United States of SWAT: John Fund
Obama Trolls the GOP: John Dickerson
We're Coming for You, John Boehner: Richard A. Viguerie

Call It Patriotism: Christian Mercenary
How Patriots Win Liberty: III Percent
Kansas Highway Shooter Caught: GWP

Economy

HHS Set To Destroy Inexpensive Health Insurance Plans: RS
By at least one measure, Obama surpasses all of his predecessors: WSJ
Obama in talks to bail out Detroit's pensions: Free Press

The U.S. Formula for Economic Collapse: Sara Noble
SC pulls out of Common Core: RWN
Illinois Democrats Want to Spend $100M on Temple to Obama: GayPatriot

Scandal Central

IRS “wants to throw us in jail,” says Tea Party leader: Istook
Conservative Legal Group Unearths New IRS Lois Lerner Emails: GovExec
IRS Among Agencies Using License Plate-Tracking Vendor: Bloomberg

LA Sheriff On New Surveillance Program: We Knew Public Wouldn't Like It, So We Kept It Secret: TechDirt
"Hillary For President" Fundraiser Busted For Illegal Campaign Contributions: ZH
Michigan politce take on disgruntled veteran in hostage drill: StoryLeak

Climate & Energy

Obama Punts Keystone XL Yet Again: Cove
Al Gore dupes 9000 people in Hawaii, insults the rest: WUWT
‘Paunchy’ Al Gore: Global warming deniers ‘immoral, unethical and despicable’: BPR

Media

Bloomberg "Reporter" and ex-DWS Hack Beclowns Him- or Herself: Ace
Greta slams Carney, Obama over transparency farce, attack on Fox News: BPR
Former MSNBC Producer Rips Network—Says it is “Official Network of the Obama White House”: AIM

The Real Common Core Story: Sol Stern
Top 10 Reasons to Vote Democrat in 2014: Allen West
Wikipedia Claims IRS Targeted Progressive Groups, Cites Salon.com as Evidence: Glob

World

Report: US ground troops to be sent to Poland, Estonia: Stripes
Obama: We need to train Americans — and import their replacements: DC
Pentagon Moves to Block Russian Spy Plane in American Skies: Eli Lake

Sderot, Last Enclave of Civilisation: Gates of Vienna
The Obama Administration Is De-Militarizing the National Guard: Sara Noble
Bulldozing the birthplace of Mohamed: Daily Mail

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)

The Rufus Cuff’s Size And Features Lord Over Puny Smartwatches: TC
Heartbleed: A Password Manager Reality Check: Dark Reading
Magic material is both a reflecting mirror and a see through window: Gizmodo

Cornucopia

Bow-chika-bow-wow! It’s back to college week for the Obamas.: MOTUS
Let It Begin Here: Bob Owens
Apple maps satellite image spots 'creature swimming' below surface of Loch Ness: Mirror

Image: Another body pulled from snow in Mount Everest avalanche
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: YES OR NO: Do You Want to Fire Mitch McConnell?

QOTD: "A free people ought not only to be armed and disciplined but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government." --George Washington

Friday, April 18, 2014

What would Reagan do with a punk like Putin?

Guest post by Investor's Business Daily

Russian Aggression: Instead of a foreign policy that's a blend of Neville Chamberlain and Monty Python, the U.S. should trade flexibility for some backbone, scrap the reset button and start digging some missile silos.

It takes a lot to make Jimmy Carter look like Winston Churchill. But President Obama, who bats not an eye as a Russian warplane buzzes a U.S. warship in the Black Sea, has accomplished that with his pusillanimous policy regarding Moscow's creeping anschluss in Ukraine.

Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's comparison of current events to the days before World War II is on the mark. On Saturday, March 7, 1936, Hitler ordered three battalions of the German army to cross the Rhine bridges into an area of Germany demilitarized by the Treaty of Versailles that ended World War I.

The British and French, fearing war, did nothing. The rest, as they say, is history.

Crimea was Putin's Rhineland, and the sanctions involving travel restrictions on low-level oligarchs was laughable. Tyrants do not move swiftly. They test the waters. They nibble. They watch. Weakness and inaction only delay the inevitable.

When Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev met Ronald Reagan in Reykjavik, Iceland, in October 1986, he hoped the U.S. president would be willing to trade his Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) away in exchange for arms-control agreements and vague promises of making nice with America.

ANTI-AMERICAN ELITISTS: Ex-Justice John Paul Stevens and Michael Bloomberg Defile the Constitution

Guest post by Gun Owners of America

“The founders did not establish a right to bear arms... They assumed it already existed [and] said that it ‘shall not be infringed.’ But gun-control advocates frequently want to skip over those words.”

Gun Owners of America joined a chorus of pro-gun organizations in slamming idiotic comments made recently by former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens.

In a newly released book, Justice Stevens said the Second Amendment should be altered to say that people only have the right to bear arms “when serving in the militia.”

GOA blasted the comments, adding that gun owners would welcome the opportunity to demolish Stevens’ arguments in the court of public opinion.

“Bring on the debate,” said GOA Communications Director Erich Pratt in an interview with Newsmax over the weekend. Gun control advocates are always “pushing for draconian gun restrictions” while hiding behind words like “gun safety.”

But to a gun banner, those words are code for, “We just want the military and the police to have guns,” Pratt said. “So let’s get them out of the closet.”

Gun owners need not worry about Stevens’ idea gaining traction. Even an anti-gun liberal, like Professor Alan Dershowitz, opposes Stevens’ proposal.

“You don't amend the Magna Carta,” Dershowitz said. “You don't amend the Bill of Rights. There are certain things that you just leave pristine.”

The Top 150 Conservative Websites, April 2014

Here are the latest standings of conservative news and opinion sites, which are ordered using their Alexa traffic rankings. Yes, some of these are center-right, libertarian, or more middle-of-the-road sites, but they are included because they do publish center-right opinion pieces on a regular basis.
RankWebsiteTraffic Rank
1foxnews.com161
2wsj.com213
3telegraph.co.uk223
4drudgereport.com435
5theblaze.com568
6nypost.com891
7thedailybeast.com1079
8breitbart.com1339
9zerohedge.com1420
10newsmax.com1742
11wnd.com2070
12ijreview.com2157
13dailycaller.com2265
14washingtontimes.com2501
15nationalreview.com3659
16realclearpolitics.com4340
17townhall.com5097
18thehill.com5177
19freerepublic.com5372
20cnsnews.com5468
21pajamasmedia.com5613
22pjmedia.com5613
23investors.com5726
24hotair.com5810
25twitchy.com5868
26washingtonexaminer.com6086
27weeklystandard.com6231
28foxnewsinsider.com6969
29newsbusters.org7200
30timesofisrael.com7335
31heritage.org8003
32reason.com8618
33wattsupwiththat.com9425
34freebeacon.com9592
35americanthinker.com11166
36rushlimbaugh.com11492
37westernjournalism.com11767
38debka.com11942
39bizpacreview.com16398
40freedomoutpost.com16466
41lifenews.com16708
42tpnn.com17582
43lucianne.com20946
44thegatewaypundit.com21053
45redstate.com21066
46powerlineblog.com21843
47spectator.co.uk21879
48weaselzippers.us22800
49therightscoop.com23026
50canadafreepress.com23836
51rightwingnews.com23948
52thenewamerican.com25342
53mises.org29735
54fas.org31832
55badblue.com32894
56macleans.ca33738
57ace.mu.nu,mypetjawa.mu.nu,rhymeswithright.mu.nu34765
58humanevents.com35822
59rare.us37840
60takimag.com39876
61spectator.org41000
62creators.com42290
63theminorityreportblog.com44528
64rasmussenreports.com45888
65watchdog.org46264
66memeorandum.com46990
67anncoulter.com47131
68globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com48592
69market-ticker.org48915
70legalinsurrection.com49093
71michellemalkin.com50111
72jihadwatch.org51856
73steynonline.com52027
74freedomworks.org54686
75commentarymagazine.com55181
76shoebat.com58442
77patriotupdate.com59624
78algemeiner.com61514
79atr.org65886
80defensetech.org67142
81firstthings.com70777
82the-american-interest.com71812
83daybydaycartoon.com72890
84borderlandbeat.com74446
85theothermccain.com74706
86strategypage.com75443
87mrc.org76296
88climateaudit.org77543
89althouse.blogspot.com82225
90realclearmarkets.com82749
91iowntheworld.com84403
92danielpipes.org85285
93linkiest.com87889
94hannity.com88943
95city-journal.org95402
96liberallogic101.com96774
97ricochet.com96929
98marklevinshow.com97523
99whitehousedossier.com100946
100blurbrain.com109917
101lonelyconservative.com110165
102directorblue.blogspot.com110887
103aei.org112397
104tenthamendmentcenter.com115931
105datechguyblog.com119954
106politicker.com126005
107redalertpolitics.com126262
108gatesofvienna.net127066
109israelhayom.com129345
110gatestoneinstitute.org130470
111judicialwatch.org131568
112politicaloutcast.com136835
113numbersusa.com137692
114thepeoplescube.com140953
115volokh.com142848
116libertynews.com147955
117moonbattery.com152044
118angrywhitedude.com160736
119hughhewitt.com161076
120westernrifleshooters.wordpress.com161848
121american.com164045
122maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com164932
123aim.org170038
124thisainthell.us175844
125americandigest.org176366
126independentsentinel.com183433
127sayanythingblog.com186722
128thecommentator.com193012
129smalldeadanimals.com201212
130sultanknish.blogspot.com205679
131lignet.com211447
132watchdogwire.com213486
133pjtv.com218574
134wizbangblog.com219587
135cis.org221742
136varight.com224598
137creepingsharia.wordpress.com226367
138eagnews.org227669
139jammiewf.com231750
140floppingaces.net235462
141cowboybyte.com236558
142hopenchangecartoons.blogspot.com243734
143victorygirlsblog.com246241
144americanpowerblog.blogspot.com246554
145tammybruce.com247310
146memri.org254476
147fireandreamitchell.com256253
148conservativeintel.com256785
149conservativehideout.com261966
150israelmatzav.blogspot.com262910
151camera.org264164
152blackfive.net269635
153conservatives4palin.com271530
154maggiesnotebook.com272826
155israpundit.com283085
156the-american-journal.com285589
157patterico.com286539
158reaganiterepublicanresistance.blogspot.com291745
159gaypatriot.net306126
160collegeinsurrection.com313149
161winteryknight.wordpress.com315823
162dougpowers.com319606
163netrightdaily.com321728
164trevorloudon.com325798
165reagancoalition.com331715
166cafehayek.com350294
167thepiratescove.us355895
168justoneminute.typepad.com357883
169dailypundit.com359235
170ihatethemedia.com359586
171yidwithlid.blogspot.com397710
172allamericanblogger.com409709
173babalublog.com414900
174dennisprager.com424076
175capitalismmagazine.com424088
176michellesmirror.com433014
177riehlworldview.com451127
178hillbuzz.org451441
179fairus.org455574
180scaredmonkeys.com455950
181bookwormroom.com461739
182theobjectivestandard.com466311
183carolineglick.com477211
184investigativeproject.org478679
185freeenterprise.com485805
186newcriterion.com487772
187noisyroom.net496805
188economicnoise.com505285
189poorrichardsnews.com527790
190jenkuznicki.com534263
191conservativehq.com545330
192moelane.com547638
193formerspook.blogspot.com555037
194claremont.org556327
195blazingcatfur.blogspot.com565154
196publiusforum.com568495
197menrec.com578297
198newsrealblog.com587308
199curmudgeonlyskeptical.blogspot.com591029
200rightpundits.com605215

Why does the "Top 150" list have 200 entries? The same reason the Big Ten has, like, 48 teams.

Update: As usual, I forgot a few sites:

Pamela Geller should be #68 (Alexa 48,512)
The Looking Spoon should be #116 (Alexa 146,191)

 
Related:

The Top 150 Conservative Websites, November 2013.

The Top 150 Conservative Websites, June 2013.

The Top 150 Conservative Websites, Feburary 2013.

The Top 150 Conservative Websites, October 2012.

The Top 150 Conservative Websites, July 2012.