Thursday, May 08, 2014

CBS: State Run Media

Guest post by Andrea Lafferty

Recently revealed White House emails show that the Obama Administration knew the September 11, 2012 attack on the consulate in Benghazi was a planned terror attack – and they lied to the American public anyway, blaming the loss of American lives on a video that no one had ever seen.

On September 12, 2012, the day after the attack, CBS News president David Rhodes spoke to the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce and spoke about how he thought the attack would be covered by the news:

David Rhodes
“Now we don’t think that [story’s] going to last, as far as it being about the people we lost and the unfolding situation which is pretty remarkable in our life time. Our government thinks that, you know, there’s a really good chance this was not just a spontaneous mob reaction to what some thought was an offensive film but actually a coordinated effort timed to the 9/11 anniversary.”

On September 14th, a full three days after the incident and in the face of CIA intelligence showing a terror link to the attack, David Rhodes’s brother and then White House Deputy Strategic Communications Adviser Ben Rhodes instructed Ambassador Susan Rice“to underscore that these protests are rooted in an Internet video, and not a broader failure or policy.” All in an effort to make Obama look like a statesman with mere months to go before the November election.

This direction is one that White House Press Secretary Jay Carney would repeat time and time again on September 14th, telling reporters “we do not at this moment have information… that would indicate that any of this unrest was preplanned… The cause of the unrest was a video… ”

From this point on, CBS News repeated these talking points, going so far as to remove a portion of a 60 Minutes interview with President Obama recorded on September 12th where the president acknowledged that the attack was not tied to an offensive video, instead “that there are folks involved in this who were looking to target Americans from the start. ”

SWEET: Fly like a bird with the Oculus Rift immersive flight simulator

As a quick introduction, the Oculus Rift device is a virtual reality display designed to provide an immersive experience. The company behind it was recently acquired by Facebook -- for reasons yet undetermined -- but this application is way cool.

The quest for a device that will allow humans to soar like birds has led to some strange contraptions over the years... But this one could outdo even the most bizarre designs – and you don’t even have to take off from the ground to use it.

The Birdly machine lets you flap your way through the air in a similar way to the red kite that it’s modelled after.


...Developed by the Zurich University of the Arts, a motor translates hand movements from a simulator into the flapping of virtual avian wings...


Meanwhile, an Oculus Rift VR headset provides a stomach-churning bird-eye-view of the flight.

If that wasn’t enough, the system also replicates the headwinds that a red kite would face using a fan... Users will even smell whatever landscape they’re flying over...

‘Soundwise you perceive only the roaring of the wind and the flaps of the wings,’ the designers write on their website... ‘The olfactoric feedback is based on the location which the bird flies over in the scenery and ranges from the scent of a forest, soil, to several other odours of the wilderness.’

This is so cool.


Hat tip: BadBlue Tech News

Please tell me this is not a real news story

Dude.

Some bald men are finding a permanent cure for their embarrassment... [and] are turning to a procedure called “micropigmentation,” which is similar to getting a tattoo.

The process uses a small three-point needle to create the look of a closely shaved head. It is becoming popular among Hollywood celebrities such as Bruce Willis, Vin Diesel, Jason Statham and Pitbull.

It’s an ink we apply to the head to make it look like men have hair,” said Julissa Rosado of His Hair Clinic... Tattoo artists apply small dots to the scalp in a pattern that re-creates the look of lost hair.

...It usually takes two to three treatments to fill in the scalp for a natural, close-cropped look. The cost for micropigmentation ranges from $1,600 to $5,000.

...Before Barzily was a practitioner, he had the procedure, too... “I’ve gone through four hair transplants,” he said. “Over $30,000 down the drain on procedures that didn’t take. This is the only thing that worked. Before that, I lived under a hat. Now my hats decorate my walls.”

Couple of possible problems. So what happens if you hair color turns to gray? And what happens if you lose more hair?


Hat tip: @EdMorrissey

HILLARY BLASTED FOR "GROSS HYPOCRISY": Despite Pleas, Refused to Name Boko Haram as Terrorist Group

Guest post by Investor's Business Daily

Dereliction: For two years on Hillary Clinton's watch, the State Department refused to designate a Nigerian Islamist group as a terrorist organization. This group has murdered thousands as it wages a real war on women.

Sometimes Hollywood celebrities get it right, as Jay Leno, Ellen DeGeneres and others did in a protest outside the Beverly Hills Hotel. That property is one of the Dorchester Collection of hotels owned by the Sultan of Brunei, Hassanal Bolkiah, who has announced his country's embrace of Shariah law.

The protesters recognize that Shariah law is a brutal criminal code employed by Islamists that prescribes amputations and floggings, plus the stoning to death of those who violate its rules or simply for the crime of being too Western.

Case in point: the Nigerian terrorist group Boko Haram, which means "Western education is a sin."

When the Global Terrorism Database of the University of Maryland's National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism compiled its list of terrorist organizations and ranked them by the number of their terror acts in 2012, Afghanistan's Taliban came in first. Boko Haram was not far behind.

The world's attention is now focused on the kidnapping of some 300 girls from the Chibok Government Girls Secondary School in Lagos, Nigeria.

"I abducted your girls," a man claiming to be Abubakar Shekau, the group's leader, said in a video seen by the Guardian newspaper. "I will sell them in the market, by Allah. I will sell them off and marry them off. There is a market for selling humans."

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has joined the campaign to free the girls, expressing her concern in a May 4 tweet with the hashtag "BringBackOurGirls." On Wednesday, she called the abduction "abominable" and "criminal."

"It's an act of terrorism," she said, "and it really merits the fullest response possible, first and foremost from the government of Nigeria."

Yet for two years, the State Department refused to acknowledge the growing threat and barbarism of Boko Haram. As Josh Rogin at The Daily Beast reports, the Clinton State Department "refused to place Boko Haram on the list of foreign terrorist organizations in 2011" after the group bombed the United Nations headquarters in Abuja, Nigeria.

Veteran Rep. Tom Cotton Destroys Democrats and Their Fake Outrage Over the Politics of Benghazi

As The Right Scoop observes, Cotton should have dropped the mic when he finished decimating the disgusting tactics of the Left.

Mr. Speaker, couple lessons I learned in the Army were you moved to the sound of gunfire and the most important step in the troop leading procedures is to supervise the execution of you orders.

When Americans were fighting for their lives in Benghazi, Barack Obama did neither. He sent no quick reaction force and didn’t even stay in the situation room to supervise the execution of his orders. We expect more from the lieutenants in the army than our president gave us that night.

For two years he’s covered up this failure of leadership by stonewalling. Not anymore. We will now get to the truth.

But what do our colleagues on the other side of the aisle say to this? They express great outrage at politicizing this matter.

When I was leading troops in Iraq in 2006, men and women who were being shot at and blown up by al Qaeda, where was the outrage as they fundraised endlessly off the Iraq war?

Where was the outrage as they viciously attacked our commanders?

Where was the outrage when they said soldiers were war criminals?

Where was the outrage when they said the war was lost?

Where was the outrage when they said only high school dropouts join the Army?

Forgive me if I don’t join my democratic colleagues in their fake outrage. Four Americans lost their lives that night in Benghazi. They deserve justice and the American people deserve the truth.

One other lesson I learned in the Army is that we leave no man behind. And we will not leave these four men behind.

That's what these disgusting losers on the Left don't seem to understand.

Men were fighting for their lives, fighting for hours against hundreds of Al Qaeda-linked terrorists, screaming into comm systems for help because they knew -- they knew -- a Commander-In-Chief would never leave anyone behind.

But they were wrong.

The President and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were AWOL. It was 3AM in Benghazi... and no one answered their calls for help.

Where the hell were they?


Hat tip: BadBlue News

FED CHAIR YELLEN: Yes, Under Democrat Policies, the Country Is Indeed Headed for Economic Collapse

Obama appointee and Federal Reserve Chairman Chairwoman Chairperson Janet Yellen had some truly ominous -- but not unexpected -- tidings for Congress.

Federal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen, referencing the Congressional Budget Office's long-term budget projections, told the Joint Economic Committee of Congress today that under current policies the federal government’s deficits “will rise to unsustainable levels.”


...Yellen made her statement about unsustainable deficits when she was questioned by Sen. Dan Coats (R.-Ind.). Coats remarked that businessmen in Indiana told him that their businesses were underperforming at this time because of the uncertainty they felt as result of federal taxation and regulatory policies.

"...I agree with you,” said Yellen. “My own discussions with businesses, I hear exactly the same things that you are citing: concerns with regulations, about taxation, about uncertainty about fiscal policy... [the] combination of demographics, the structure of entitlement programs, and historic trends in health-care costs, we can see that over the long-term deficits will rise to unsustainable levels relative to the economy.

When -- not if, when -- the economy does collapse, who do you Democrats think will be hardest hit?

Will it be the oligarchs like Clinton, Obama, Reid and Pelosi? Will it be the elites in the ruling class?

No, of course not, drones. It will be the elderly, the poor, and the infirm.

Most importantly, it will be our daughters and sons, our grandchildren, and generations yet unborn, who will face the results of this bizarre form of national suicide.

The alarm klaxons have sounded, over and over again, warning us, blinking red, flashing every possible signal that the insane policies of endless borrowing and printing and spending must end.

And still Democrats and the media ignore those indicators, gleefully following Duck Dynasty, NFL team names, Amanda Knox, and some racist kook billionaire, instead of what is truly important.

The fuse has been lit and time grows short.


Hat tip: BadBlue News

Larwyn's Linx: Congress to Investigate Potential Obama Crackdown on Drudge, Hannity

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

Nation

Congress to Investigate Potential Obama Crackdown on Drudge, Hannity: TR
What could go wrong? Feds begin rollout of 'Internet driver's license': TechDirt
Some Keys To Success For The Gowdy Committee: David Bossie

House Finally Holds Lois Lerner In Contempt Of Congress: John Hawkins
Benghazi Committee to Include Five Dems, Call Amb. Stevens’ No. 2: PJM
Don't be fooled: The #TeaParty IS Winning: ConHQ

Did Hillary Send Talking Points to Rhodes?: Dick Morris
Gun Grabber Chris Christie Dodges Political Bullet: Betsy McCaughey
Another Obamacare Lie: 8 Million Are Not Enrolled in Obamacare: Sara Noble

Common Core Assignment o' the Day: Daniel Greenfield
America’s Red Guard: Daniel Greenfield
The President’s Non-enforcement Power: LibertyLaw

Economy

Labor Force Participation Rate Drops to 62.8%: Bankrupting
Sequester Resulted in One Layoff: WFB
Fantasy Healthcare Scenario, Reader Anecdotes, Wildcards: Mish

Scandal Central

Darrell Issa threatens EPA official with contempt: Exam
Barack Obama refutes Carney on #Benghazi talking points: AEI
Net Neutrality's Death Could Spark Populist Revolt: Ron Fournier

Climate & Energy

Dems soiling their armor over coming Obama climate regs: David Freddoso
The Warm Must Go On: Mark Steyn
EPA official spent 2-6 hours a day watching porn while on the clock: Daily Mail

EPA’s "Dept Of Homeland Security" Blocking Investigations: Cove
The Climate Change Debate Is Over, And Environmentalists Lost: Federalist
In One 2-Minute Monologue, George Will Destroys WH's Dire Warnings on 'Climate Disruption': TR

Media

Trey Gowdy discusses Benghazi and Select Committee on Morning Joe: Scoop
NBC's Chuck Todd Spins on Benghazi Special Committee: 'Nothing More Than a Partisan Stunt': MRC
Paper Savages Rahm: 'An Elitist Whose Swagger Doesn't Match His Triumphs': WS

Mark Levin hits back HARD against attacks on the Tea Party by the Republican Establishment: Scoop
Epic: In 2 minutes George Will DESTROYS White House dire warnings on “Climate Disruption”: YC
Are You the Biggest Victim?: Daniel Greenfield

Women Columnists Practically Plagiarize Each Other to Attack Monica Lewinsky: Rush
Saving Barack Obama: Power Line
Lawyering Up: Day by Day

World

Did Russian Planes Take Down LAX Air Traffic Control Systems?: SHTFplan
What do the Putins of the world want?: Victor Davis Hanson
Washington’s strategic mistake in Iraq: Abandoning Iran’s opposition: AIM

Ecuador: Patton Boggs to pay Chevron $15 million: Fausta
White House Memo Blaming Video was Sent to Muslim Brotherhood Operative: Daniel Greenfield
Shoplifting while Muslim not a crime in New York City: Creeping

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)

Level3 is without peer, now what to do?: I, Cringely
Virtru Encrypts Your Email, Lets You Recall or See If It's Forwarded: LifeHacker
This Was the Best Watched Solar Flare Ever: UniverseToday

Cornucopia

Not In The News Weak: MOTUS
Hilarious: Al Sharpton Versus the TelePrompter: JWF
Bald Men Turn To Ink Procedure Known As Micropigmentation: CBS New York

Image: Not In The News Weak
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: I Gave $100 to Thom Tillis’s Campaign

QOTD: "The Obama administration’s wider policy failures in the Middle East are significant, and they are partly the product of wishful thinking, partly the product of its narrow ideology, and partly the product of the fact that the American public to which he ultimately answers is itself incoherent on the question of what we should be doing there and how we should be doing it. But, even disinclined as I am toward being overly generous to President Obama, he is not the first president to underestimate the dangers and difficulties of the Middle East. The idea that the deaths in Benghazi, horrible though they were, would have been his undoing in the election if not for his administration’s disinformation campaign is probably wishful thinking. But for politicians of President Obama’s genus, truth is simply another multiple-choice proposition, and he and his people chose the version that best suited their immediate needs. One of the many problems with having a government dominated by law-school graduates is that lawyers suffer from a collective delusion that clever argument has a truth of its own, a unique moral weight independent of the facts. Recall that in the 1990s Bill Clinton was openly admired by Democrats for his deft touch with a lie: If you are winning, this line of thinking goes, then at some level you are also right.

In other words, the Obama administration did not mislead the American public about Benghazi out of political necessity; it misled the American public out of habit. And why wouldn’t it? From the economic effects of the stimulus bill to the GM bailout to blaming last quarter’s poor economic numbers on the fact that it is cold during the winter, the Obama administration has an excellent record for wholesaling fiction to the American electorate, which keeps enduring it. There is apparently enough collective intelligence in the Obama administration to hold in general contempt the wit and attention span of an American public that has elected it twice." --Kevin D. Williamson

Wednesday, May 07, 2014

PIC: Michigan Militia?

Hmmmmmmmmm.........?



Related: Obama's "Civilian National Security Force" resurfaces (3/12/2009).

THUNDER: Experts Shred Obama Administration's Laughably Fraudulent Climate Scam

Guest post by David M. Taylor

The Obama administration today released its third National Climate Assessment (NCA) predicting a series of calamities and urging action on the president’s climate agenda.

It stands in contrast to the conclusions of the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change, which released its latest scientific reports in September and March.

A third report in the Climate Change Reconsidered series is due this summer to coincide with the Ninth International Conference on Climate Change from July 7–9 in Las Vegas.

This laughably misleading report is the predictable result when hard-core environmental activists are chosen to write up a climate assessment for, and subject to the approval and revisions of, the Obama administration. It is like the punch line to a bad joke: "How many environmental activists does it take to put together an alarmist global warming report?"

PIC: Reaction of insurers when asked whether premiums would go down by $2,500 as Obama promised

I think the word is dumbfounded.


In August of 2013, Obama had accumulated more than 250 documented lies -- almost as many as rounds of golf -- so what's another hundred or so among friends?


SUH-PRIZE, SUH-PRIZE: Hillary Clinton Wants the Benghazi Scandal to Just Disappear

Of course, one would expect this kind of response from miscreants who left American heroes to die on the battlefield awaiting help that would never come.

...Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday there’s “no reason” to continue making inquiries into the 2012 terrorist attack.

“Of course there are a lot of reasons why, despite all of the hearings, all of the information that’s been provided, some choose not to be satisfied and choose to continue to move forward,” Clinton said. “That’s their choice. And I do not believe there is any reason for it to continue in this way, but they get to call the shots in the Congress.”

A select committee has been formed in Congress with seven Republicans and five Democrats, led by Rep. Trey Gowdy (R., S.C.) to try to get to the bottom of the assault and any White House cover-up to shield President Obama and Clinton herself, who was Secretary of State when the attack happened.

Hillary Clinton is trying to position herself as a moderate, but she is anything but.

She is the Grandmother of Obamacare and her past involves in so much skulduggery that her closet contains a whole damn mausoleum.

She is a radical Leftist whose policies would be every bit as corrupt and destructive as those of Barack Hussein Milhaus Obama.


Hat tip: Weasel Zippers

IT'S ANOTHER HISTORIC FIRST: Obama Creates Secret Police Unit Inside EPA to Block Investigations

Guest post by Bankrupting America

This week, the inspector general’s office from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) accused a small unit within the agency of operating illegally as a “rogue law enforcement agency” that has been blocking independent investigations of the EPA for years. Here are the top five things you should know about the unit and the investigation.

  1. What Is The Office Of Homeland Security Within The EPA? As explained by the Associated Press, the Office of Homeland Security (OHS) is a small unit, only about ten employees, that is run by the administration’s political staff.
  1. Why Is OHS Being Accused Of Acting As A “Rogue Law Enforcement Agency”? Patrick Sullivan, the assistant inspector general at the EPA, wrote in prepared testimony for a congressional hearing that “the Office of Homeland Security has repeatedly rebuffed and refused to cooperate with the OIG’s ongoing requests for information or cooperation.” By being uncooperative the OHS has impeded Office of Inspector General (OIG) investigations. The inspector general’s office is a nonpartisan, watchdog group within a government agency to conduct audits and make sure that the agency is not being fraudulent or wasteful. However, according to the Washington Post, the OHS “has been the primary contact [with the FBI] on all investigations with a connection to national security.”

Larwyn's Linx: Obama Administration Still Withholding Documents about Benghazi Attack

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

Nation

Obama Administration Still Withholding Documents about Benghazi Attack: JW
Gun Control: Mark Steyn
We now know where Obama was during Benghazi attack : Anthony Martin

Gallup: More Americans Were Insured Back In 2008: S&L
Kerry Now Says He Will Comply With Benghazi Subpoena: Blaze
Obama Advisor Taunts Congress: 'Nothing You Can Do To Stop Us.': GayPatriot

Time for Truth & Consequences on the Benghazi Cover Up: FPM
The Left’s Phantom Wars: Ben Shapiro
Lindsey Graham: Obama 'Virtually AWOL as a Commander-in-Chief': Breitbart

The Lying and Dying at the VA: Betsy McCaughey
Hillary Clinton Pushes Obamacare, Gun Control, Social Equality: NewsMax
Chicago Sports Record Shootings In Last 72 Hours: BuzzPo

Economy

Moral Bankruptcy: Thomas Sowell
No Fear: Mish
Own a small business? Brace for Obamacare pain: LVRJ

Scandal Central

Total Chaos: PA Democrats Walk Out of Hearing on Members Taking Bribes: PJM
Obama Has Political Operatives Working Inside The EPA Blocking Investigations: LoneCon
Koch Who?… Soros & Far Left Billionaires Form New Alliance to Hijack 2014 Election: GWP

Benghazi Email on' Video Protest' Talking Points Released; Most Redacted: PunditPress
Radical Democrat State Rep. Stacey Newman Thinks “Benghazi” is a Punch Line: MoTorch
Cantor: ‘IRS Should Not Be Used as a Tool to Affect Political Gain’: WFB

Climate & Energy

White House: No one can stop our War on Energy: John Hayward
Obama's EPA Has "Secret Police" Blocking Independent investigations: Lid
Climate Change Is Real. Too Bad Accurate Climate Models Aren't. : Federalist

Media

New Survey of 1,000 Journalists: Four Times More Identify as Democrats Than Republicans: NB
The Burying of a Scandal: TV News Hides the Facts on the IRS’s Targeting of Conservatives: MRC
Liberals Want To “Assassinate” Trey Gowdy After He’s Tapped To Lead Benghazi Select Committee: WZ

Meet the White, Male Leftists Who Kept a Black Woman from Speaking at Rutgers: PJM
Rutgers disinvites a second African-American commencement speaker: WyBlog
Lewinsky writes about affair with Bill Clinton: CNN

Gowdy rebuffs Pelosi: Select committee won't be evenly divided as ‘elections have consequences’: Scoop
Rep. @DarrellIssa Is A Phony: Camp o' the Saints
Vanity Fair revisits Bill Clinton’s ‘war on that woman’: David Freddoso

Employer-based Healthcare: By 2020, 90% of Large Company Workforce dumped into Obamacare: Mish
CBS' David Rhodes on 9/12/12: Government Believes Benghazi a Terror Attack: John Sexton
#bundyranch: Decency: WRSA

World

Russian Strategic Bombers Flying Along California Coast: Breitbart
Benghazi: Op Zero Footprint – US, Allies Freak Over Gaddafi Demand for Gold for Oil – End Is Near: MagNote
Massive Explosion in Qazvin, Iran: May Have Nuclear Origins... Roads Blocked Off for 2km: GWP

It’s Come to This: Obama Disappointed with the World: JWF
Boko Haram and the shame of the Left: Commentator
Boko Haram commits another mass abduction of girls in Nigeria.: Instapundit

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)

Warrantless Cellphone Searches: Are They Legal?: PJM
Previewing a new Classroom: Google
Game of Thrones Makes History With 200,000 Strong Torrent Swarm: TorrentFreak

Cornucopia

Breaing! Angry White Dude to buy Los Angeles Clippers!: AWD
Outrage Brigades Attack MSNBC, SNL: Jon Gabriel
Obamacare ‘Doomed’ Under Constitution’s Origination Clause: Hideout

Image: Kerry Now Says He Will Comply With Benghazi Subpoena
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Matt Bevin for U.S. Senate

QOTD: "By suppressing bond yields The Fed has taken a means of faking growth and embedded the cost of that into every portfolio that includes long-dated loans such as mortgages and Treasuries. This cost will remain until those debt instruments mature or are prepaid, and there won't be as many prepayments (in the private sector) as usual since the instruments were issued during a time of intentionally-suppressed rates.

That cost accrues because the discounted price of the instrument is higher than it would otherwise be, and the yield lower. Whether that cost shows up in the form of capital depreciation or lower coupon doesn't matter; it cannot be evaded.

In effect what The Fed has done is provide a temporary "goose" to economic activity totaling several trillion dollars over the last four years but the price of that "goosing" has been distributed to, and embedded in, the portfolios of those who hold these instruments including the bonds held by Social Security and Medicare along with private pension concerns.

You didn't hear "QE" described this way, probably because there would have been an immediate call to indict, prosecute and imprison the entire FOMC for fraudulently manipulating economic reports and statistics were it to have been accurately described but mathematically it is this way.

I've been pointing this out since the beginning of "QE" -- but the fact is that nobody wants to talk about it in detail because as soon as you do you're forced by nothing more-complicated than basic Algebra to admit that all of these machinations are nothing other than a scam intended to mislead both business people and the general public, willfully and intentionally engaged in by Congress, The President and The Fed all acting together." --Karl Denninger

Tuesday, May 06, 2014

TED CRUZ: Dude, The Truth Isn't Partisan

Guest post by Rob Bluey

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is frustrated by the Obama administration’s “stonewalling” on the Benghazi investigation – and he wants answers about the 2012 terrorist attack.

Speaking to Fox News’ Neil Cavuto yesterday, Cruz said: “We have four dead Americans. We have the first dead U.S. Ambassador killed in service since 1979. In the 19 months that have followed, we don’t have a single dead terrorist or a single terrorist apprehended, and what we have seen from the president and Senate Democrats has been stonewalling.”

Here are the four questions Cruz wants the Obama administration to answer:

  1. Why did the State Department repeatedly refuse to provide additional security as was requested by personnel on the ground?
  2. Why did the United States not have military assets in place to protect American men and women on Sept. 11, 2012, when there was increased terrorist activity in the region?
  3. During the Benghazi attack, why didn’t the United States send in forces to protect the four men who lost their lives?
  4. In the 19 months that have followed, why has no one been apprehended, and no one been brought to justice?

Last year, Cruz introduced a Senate resolution calling for a joint select committee to investigate the Benghazi attacks. The House of Representatives is moving forward with its own select committee, which will be led by Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C.

“The truth shouldn’t be partisan,” Cruz said. “Finding out what happened, finding out how we could have prevented it, and acting to actually apprehend these guys, should not be partisan.”


Related: Q&A: Does a Benghazi Select Committee Matter?

Attkisson: Former Obama Officials and the Media--But I Repeat Myself--Trying to ‘Controversialize’ Benghazi

Guest post by Havilah Steinman

Former CBS News investigative reporter Sharyl Attkisson suggested today that those in the White House orbit were involved in a “well-orchestrated strategy to controversialize” the recent coverage about the Obama administration’s e-mails regarding the Benghazi talking points in the immediate aftermath.

Two former Obama administration officials, Tommy Vietor and David Plouffe, have appeared on Fox News and ABC News in recent days to downplay the attention surrounding the Benghazi-related e-mails.

After watching a clip that included Plouffe, Attkisson told Fox News today, “The key words they use, such as ‘conspiracy’ and ‘delusional,’ are in my opinion clearly designed to try to controversialize a story — a legitimate news story and a legitimate area of journalistic inquiry.”

“I see that as a well-orchestrated strategy,” she added, “to controversialize a story they really don’t want to hear about.”



Hat tip: BadBlue News

POST-STERLING, WHAT IS THE NBA GOING TO DO WITH THE OTHER RACISTS? Nazi-Fan Tony Parker, For Instance

Well, Mark Levin called this one last week.

It is going to be hard for the NBA to discipline Mr Sterling without establishing principles of draconian justice that will ramify inconveniently for other personalities in the league. This includes many athletes and owners now calling for Mr Sterling’s head...


...Last year Tony Parker, the French guard for the San Antonio Spurs, made a quenelle salute, created and popularised by the French comedian Dieudonné. The quenelle has become beloved of Holocaust deniers and anti-Semites, some of whom have been filmed making the gesture outside concentration camps, Holocaust memorials and synagogues. Is there a place for Parker in the NBA? Feminist groups have in recent years eyed the league’s sexual harassment policies.


It will probably not be hard to make the case that Mr Sterling is a lout. What will be hard is making the case that he is the only lout in the NBA.

So, Commissioner Adam Silver. Lifetime ban for the Hitler fan?


STRATFOR: Europe's Buffer States Must Arm and Ally

Guest post by George Friedman

I will be leaving this week to visit a string of countries that are now on the front line between Russia and the European Peninsula: Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Serbia and Azerbaijan. A tour like that allows you to look at the details of history. But it is impossible to understand those details out of context. The more I think about recent events, the more I realize that what has happened in Ukraine can only be understood by considering European geopolitics since 1914 -- a hundred years ago and the beginning of World War I.

In The Guns of August, Barbara Tuchman wrote a superb and accurate story about how World War I began. For her it was a confluence of perception, misperception, personality and decisions. It was about the leaders, and implicit in her story was the idea that World War I was the result of miscalculation and misunderstanding. I suppose that if you focus on the details, then the war might seem unfortunate and avoidable. I take a different view: It was inevitable from the moment Germany united in 1871. When it happened and exactly how it happened was perhaps up to decision-makers. That it would happen was a geopolitical necessity. And understanding that geopolitical necessity gives us a framework for understanding what is happening in Ukraine, and what is likely to happen next.

The German Problem

The unification of Germany created a nation-state that was extraordinarily dynamic. By the turn of the 20th century, Germany had matched the British economy. However, the British economy pivoted on an empire that was enclosed and built around British interests. Germany had no such empire. It had achieved parity through internal growth and exports on a competitive basis. This was just one of the problems Germany had. The international economic system was based on a system of imperial holdings coupled with European industrialism. Germany lacked those holdings and had no politico-military control over its markets. While its economy was equal to Britain's, its risks were much higher.

Economic risk was compounded by strategic risk. Germany was on the North European Plain, relatively flat, with only a few north-south rivers as barriers. The Germans had the Russians to the east and the French to the west. Moscow and Paris had become allies. If they were to simultaneously attack Germany at a time of their choosing, Germany would be hard-pressed to resist. The Germans did not know Russo-French intentions, but they did know their capabilities. If there was to be war, the Germans had to strike first in one direction, achieve victory there and then mass their forces on the other side.

When that war would be fought, which strategy the Germans chose and ultimately whether it would succeed were uncertainties. But unlike Tuchman's view of the war, a war that began with a German strike was inevitable. The war was not the result of a misunderstanding. Rather, it was the result of economic and strategic realities.

Vintage Media Juxtaposition o' the Day

BadBlue alerts us to a snippet at its technological granddaddy, Memeorandum:


Which leads us to the fairly unsurprising article entitled "Just 7 percent of journalists are Republicans. That’s far fewer than even a decade ago.":

Larwyn's Linx: Pew: Huge Majority Have Had Enough of Barack Obama’s Failed Policies

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

Nation

Pew: Huge Majority Have Had Enough of Obama's Policies: WZ
USA Today: GOP leads generic ballot, more than in 2010, 1994: ConIntel
Establishment Would Rather Lose Nebraska Than Support Conservatives: RS

Infiltration Of The U.S. Government: Cliff Kincaid
Hillary Clinton should be worried as Benghazi coverup unravels: Timmerman
Obama Sets Up Devilish Trap For The GOP On Immigration Reform: TPM

Consider This, Mr. Federal Agent: Christian Mercenary
We Are Legion: WRSA
Obama’s Phony Ambivalence on Keystone: David Limbaugh

May Southern Primaries Set Up GOP for Fall Battles: PJM
Students, It’s Illegal To Wear An American Flag Shirt On Cinco De Mayo: DC
US Supreme Court Strongly Affirms that Americans are Free to Pray: BarbWire

Economy

It’s Official: The IRS Will Raid Your Tax Data Through Obamacare: Blaze
Oligarchy and Democracy: Jeffrey A. Winters
Government waste: Where has all the money gone?: Cal Thomas

Scandal Central

White House Suggests it Won’t Cooperate with Benghazi Panel: Dossier
CRUZ: Democrats treating the death of four Americans as nothing but a political inconvenience : Scoop
Return of the Vast Rightwing Conspiracy: Ace

Speaker Boehner has chosen Rep. Trey Gowdy to Chair Benghazi Select Committee: Scoop
Flashback: The Day After Benghazi Massacre, CBSNews President David Rhodes Said...: Ace
McCain: Dems, Obama Administration Scared to Death of Benghazi Committee: Breitbart

Climate & Energy

Podesta: Congress Can’t Stop Obama On Global Warming: Matt Walsh
MARK LEVIN: Tomorrow’s Climate Change push isn’t about the weather, it’s a REVOLUTION: Scoop
People Are Starting To Recognize How Useless Mary Landrieu Is: HayRide

Media

Fox News: Email prove Obama top officials went nuts over Fox News Benghazi report: Scoop
Gary Becker (1930-2014): Thomas Sowell
Benghazi Victim’s Uncle: Obama is a “Paid Serial Liar”: ConTrib

Sooner or later, they're going to come for people you do like: Instapundit
Correlation Between NRA Convention and Lower Violence?: TR
Gov. Kasich Lies About Obamacare, Common Core on WTAM 1100: MediaTrackers

Rutgers Paid $32K to Welcome Snooki, But Condoleezza Rice Gets a Protest: FoxNation
Washington Post Reporter: Benghazi Scandal May Actually Help Hillary in 2016: MRC
PBS Journalist: 'There's So Many Important Issues' Other Than Benghazi: TR

World

Hamas tells kids to shoot all the Jews: Commentator
Kerry’s Top Officials: We Need Another Intifada Against Israel for Progress: Daniel Greenfield
Islam: Girls For Sale: Yahoo!

US F-15 Intercepts Russian Strategic Bomber Near Guam: ZH
Why Is the State Department Supporting a Jewish Conspiracy Book Fair?: Commentary
Chinese contingency plan if North Korean regime collapses leaked: Fox

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)

UK retailer Tesco will launch its own Android-based smartphone this year: TNW
WordPress.com Parent Automattic Raises $160 Million, Valued at $1.16 Billion: Recode
Can Internet Security Ever Work?: Cryptome (2011)

Cornucopia

Why We Fight: Scoop
The Pinball Wizards of Washington: MOTUS
10 photos from L.A.'s long-gone Pacific Ocean Park: Boing Boing

Image: 'I will sell them,' Islamic Boko Haram leader says of kidnapped Nigerian girls
Sponsored by: Today's the Day: Fire John "Amnesty" Boehner; Support J.D. Winteregg!

QOTD: "We have four dead Americans. A U.S. ambassador’s body was dragged through the streets, okay? It was beyond heartbreaking and infuriating. No one in custody. Have an arrest warrant out. No one in custody. And in the immediate aftermath, the response was to go political.

If this were George Bush, [if he] would have done anything like this, you would be going nuts on it. You would be going ballistic." --Laura Ingraham

Monday, May 05, 2014

BOOM: Support for Johnny "Amnesty" Boehner Drops Under 50 Percent Ahead of Tuesday's Primary

Writing at The Daily Caller, Patrick Howley gives us the good news:

Republican House Speaker John Boehner would win only 49 percent of the Republican vote if his re-election race were held today, according to an internal survey conducted by Gravis Marketing, results of which were obtained exclusively by The Daily Caller.

Boehner picked up 49 percent support in his re-election bid and registered a 30 percent “unfavorable” rating in the poll, which surveyed Republican voters in Ohio’s eighth congressional district that have voted in all four of the last Republican primaries in the state. The internal phone survey was based on a sample size of 2,275 high-propensity voters in the district.

Boehner faces tea party challenger J.D. Winteregg in Tuesday’s Republican primary, in which approximately 85,000 voters are expected to head to the polls. Winteregg, who has been endorsed by the Tea Party Leadership Fund, was recently fired from his job as an adjunct professor at Ohio’s Cedarville University for running a viral commercial parody accusing Boehner of “Electile Dysfunction.”

Winteregg joined Boehner’s 2010 Democratic opponent Justin Coussoule in an exclusive club: Boehner’s last two serious district challengers were both fired from their Ohio jobs during their campaigns.

Know anyone in Ohio? Please call them. Please email them.

It's time to fire Johnny "Amnesty" Boehner and tomorrow's the big day.