Wednesday, May 14, 2014

ANOTHER JUDICAL WATCH BOMBSHELL: Emails Reveal IRS Targeting Directed by Washington

Remember these "blasts from the past"?

Washington Post, 5/10/13: Lois Lerner blames front-line employees in Cincinnati for IRS targeting

Fox News, 6/7/13: Cincinnati IRS official: Lerner claim that targeting done by two rogue agents is "absurd"

Washington Post, 11/20/13: IRS e-mails show Cincinnati official fuming over Lois Lerner comments

Once again, an independent watchdog group has uncovered evidence of criminal activity on the part of the Obama administration. Not John Boehner's bumbling, overlapping committees that are supposed to provide Executive Branch oversight. An independent group.

Judicial Watch today released a new batch of Internal Revenue Service (IRS) documents revealing that its handling of Tea Party applications was directed out of the agency’s headquarters in Washington, DC. The documents also show extensive pressure on the IRS by Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) to shut down conservative-leaning tax-exempt organizations. The IRS’ emails by Lois Lerner detail her misleading explanations to investigators about the targeting of Tea Party organizations.

...One key email string from July 2012 confirms that IRS Tea Party scrutiny was directed from Washington, DC....

...Another email string from February – March 2010 includes a message from a California EO Determinations manager discussing a Tea Party application “currently being held in the Screening group.” The manager urges, “Please let ‘Washington’ know about this potentially embarrassing political case involving a ‘Tea Party’ organization. Recent media attention to this type of organization indicates to me that this is a ‘high profile’ case..."

...[In addition,] correspondence to internal IRS investigators from [Lois] Lerner, dated April 2, 2013, ... tries to explain the “Be on the Lookout” (BOLO) criteria used to select organizations for screening and scrutiny...

...The IRS documents also include a presentation entitled “Heightened Awareness Issues” with a red and orange “Alert” symbol identifying the “emerging issues” that trigger scrutiny for organizations seeking tax-exempt status. Page six of the presentation focuses on the Tea Party organizations [at right]...


Now consider the kind of groups that Lerner specifically called out for scrutiny:

1. "Tea Party"
2. "Patriots"
3. "9/12 Project"
4. "Issues including government spending, government debt and taxes"
5. "Educating the public through advocacy/legislative activities to make America a better place to live"
6. "Critical of the how the country is being run"

Do me a big favor and read numbers 4, 5 and 6 again.

This administration is completely out of control. Worse, we have a Republican leadership group that is as useless as the G in Lasagna.

Consider that the prior bombshell, the White House talking points email on Benghazi, Judicial Watch was able to uncover more information on the IRS than was provided to any of Boehner's Congressional committees.

John Boehner needs to name a Select Committee on the IRS Scandal.

The fact that Judical Watch was once again to secure documents that Boehner's handpicked committees were not speaks volumes about the Speaker's failed leadership.


Hat tip: BadBlue News.

Larwyn's Linx: Ben Sasse Wins Decisively in Nebraska GOP Senate Primary

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Nation

Ben Sasse Wins Decisively in Nebraska GOP Senate Primary: WS
Replacing Cantor with a Freshman Congressman is Good for VA-7: VARight
Watch: Eric Cantor Booed By Tea Party Activists: Breitbart

Panetta, Morrell endorse Select Committee on Benghazi: Power Line
State to House: find a “more appropriate witness” than Kerry on Benghazi: Hot Air
Beck: Why Jeb Bush and Chris Christie back Common Core: Scoop

More Than Talk Needed to Rescue Trapped Vets: Betsy McCaughey
Holder DOJ to Monitor Tuesday's Nebraska Republican Primary: VictoryGirls
Black Republican Group Calls for the Impeachment of Barack Obama: ConTrib

SC GOP Votes To Censure Lindsey Graham For Being a RINO: WZ
Insanity: what's wrong with this picture?: AWD
NJ Senate passes magazine ban; Bill limits capacity to 10 rounds: Guns

Economy

Dude, where's my tax cut? Chris Christie's budget includes 23 fee hikes: WyBlog
Student Loans Soar To Record $1.111 Trillion, Up 12% In Past Year: ZH
Cash for Obamacare Shirkers: Michelle Malkin

Scandal Central

Jay Carney: Joe Biden's son accepted position with Ukrainian gas company as 'private citizen': Exam
Price for Nevada dad to see state's school files on his kids: $10G: Fox
U.S. Frees 36,007 Illegal Aliens With Serious Criminal Convictions: JW

IRS paid at least $13B in improper tax credits: Fox
Holder: No Plans at DOJ to Investigate Secret Waiting Lists and Veteran Deaths at VA Hospitals: WS
Rep. Elijah Cummings Could Go To Prison for Five Years: RightPlanet

Climate & Energy

Keystone XL Failure On The Senate Floor Leaves Mary "Landfill" Landrieu Sputtering: HayRide
Coal rules will devastate, say biz groups: Hill
Brrr… Antarctic Sea Ice at Record Levels By ‘Significant Margin’: GWP

Media

How you know Hillary’s brain damage is worse than we thought: Aces
If Obama had a son, he’d be just like Mike Sam. But he wouldn’t play football.: MOTUS
No NFL Sensitivity Training for HAMAS Support or Jew-Hatred, Just for Dissing Gay Draft Kiss: Debbie Schlussel

Trey Gowdy Silences the Press: PJM
WaPo Calls for Shariah Blasphemy Laws in America: BarbWire
Jacqueline Kennedy’s newly discovered personal letters reveal 14 years of secrets: WaPo

CBS News reveals another VA center with a secret waiting list: Scoop
Gross! Dem Rep. Joe Garcia Picks His Ear… Then Eats It: WZ
NYPD blotter: Alec Baldwin arrested for ‘biking while a douchebag’: Doug Powers

World

Iran's Final Solution: PJM
Obama’s Alliance with Boko Haram: Daniel Greenfield
CAIR Wants ‘Islamist Extremism,’ ‘Jihadism’ Removed From 9/11 Museum Video: CNS

U.S. Ambassador: Sanctions Against Russia Are '21st Century Use Of Force': WS
U.S. Conducts Nuclear Response Exercises: DefenseOne
Ayaan Hirsi Ali: Liberals Take Heed, Boko Haram the 'New Wave of Jihadism': Breitbart

Partner in Peace Newspaper: Israel's Creation is 'Greatest Crime Known to Humanity': TR
Ted Cruz’s 10 Questions on Benghazi: Blaze
CNN promotes Jihadist campaigning for sharia law and teaching of Islam in public schools: BNI

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)

Can Google Influence Elections?: Slashdot
How Amiga hackers saved Andy Warhol's digital images: Engadget
16-year-old Canadian boy arrested for over 30 swattings, bomb threats: Sophos

Cornucopia

What it's like to own a Tesla Model S (as long as you don't live where it's cold outside): The Oatmeal
More Than Half of Google’s Revenue is From the U.S. Military and Government: Political Blindspot
#DoNotRidiculeHashTagDiplomacy: Cube

Image: Stunning Images Of Chinese Riot Police Training For A "Working Class Insurrection"
Sponsored by:
Fight Mitch McConnell's Lies: Support Matt Bevin for U.S. Senate

QOTD: "Senate Democrats on Monday blocked a request from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) to approve a resolution supporting the creation of a select committee to investigate Benghazi....

“Here we are eight months later,” [Cruz] said. “The perpetrators still have not been caught and the confusion about what occurred on September 11, 2012, in Benghazi has only gotten worse.”

...[Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob] Menendez... argued that some of Cruz’s unanswered questions are political in nature, such as whether President Barack Obama slept the night of the attack that left four Americans dead. Menendez said a better question might be whether Obama was even told about the attack that night... ...Cruz pounced on that statement as an example of why a select committee is needed.

“The Democratic senator from New Jersey, the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, just told this body that he has no idea if President Obama was even told four Americans were under terrorist attack,” Cruz said. “He doesn’t know what if anything the President could have done to save them... I would suggest that’s exactly the reason we need this committee.” " --Pete Kasperowicz

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

GOOD NEWS: Obama has only released 40,000 illegal aliens with serious criminal records inside the U.S.!

It's another historic first!

Besides implementing a flagrant amnesty plan that defies Congress and the rule of law, the Obama administration freed tens of thousands of illegal immigrants convicted of violent and serious crimes last year, according to the government’s own records.

The crimes committed by illegal aliens released from federal custody include homicide, sexual assault, theft, kidnapping and alcohol-related driving convictions. In all, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) freed 36,007 aliens convicted of 88,000 crimes from detention centers throughout the United States, according the breathtaking agency records, which were obtained this month by a nonpartisan research center dedicated to studying immigration issues.

...In some instances the releases were actually contrary to law and local illegal immigrant sanctuary policies did not play a role in the vast majority. This indicates that it’s part of the Obama administration’s broader amnesty policy, which has favored letting illegal aliens live outside detention centers while their cases get resolved.

Let’s take a look at the breakdown of crimes committed by this latest batch of freed illegal aliens. The records show that more than 16,000 were convicted of driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Over 9,000 had dangerous drug convictions, 1,075 were convicted of aggravated assault, 426 of sexual assault and 193 of homicide. Additionally, the records show that 1,160 of the freed illegal immigrants had stolen vehicle convictions, 303 kidnapping convictions and 303 flight escape convictions.

...This is hardly the first time that the government rewards illegal immigrants with serious criminal records. Last summer Judicial Watch reported that legislation crafted by the bipartisan Gang of Eight in the U.S. Senate would grant amnesty to illegal aliens with drunk-driving, domestic violence, aggravated assault and child abuse convictions. In its report JW noted that groups that would normally be vocal on these sorts of issues remained silent. As an example we offered the nation’s largest organization working to stop drunk driving and support victims of the violent crime—Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD)—which refused to criticize the proposed law even though it will essentially reward those convicted of driving dunk. Through a spokeswoman, MADD said it “doesn’t get involved in immigration matters.”


I'll say it again: if any of these scandals had occurred under a Republican president, the usual cadre of brain-dead liberals would be calling for impeachment.

But, as it stands, you'll read the following tragic numbers here and precious few other places.

The document reveals that the 36,007 convicted criminal aliens freed from ICE custody in many instances had multiple convictions. Among them, the 36,007 had nearly 88,000 convictions, including:

  • 193 homicide convictions (including one willful killing of a public official with gun)

  • 426 sexual assault convictions

  • 303 kidnapping convictions

  • 1,075 aggravated assault convictions

  • 1,160 stolen vehicle convictions

  • 9,187 dangerous drug convictions

  • 16,070 drunk or drugged driving convictions

  • 303 flight escape convictions

Remember that old progressive saw that Obama and the other charlatans on the Left rolled out after Sandy Hook?

"If we can only save one child"?

Thousands of men, women, and children are killed and maimed by illegal aliens each year, whether on the roads or during the commission of crimes.

Not by guns. By illegal aliens.

In 2012 alone, it was estimated that 7.5 million illegal aliens are imprisoned in the United States, having been convicted of major crimes.

7.5 million illegal aliens in prison.

But if we can only save one child, right?

But, transgender rights, y'all!

These liberals are the lowest of the low.


Hat tip: BadBlue News

My Favorite Handful of the 10 Safest New Cars in the World

AutoGuide has an entire Top 10 list, but a few of my favorite new vehicles are the following:

8. 2014 Honda Accord


Both the Honda Accord coupe and sedan have received a NHTSA five-star overall safety rating and IIHS Top Safety Pick Plus. The sedan is priced from $22,745 while the coupe starts at $24,415. For power, the base model Accord comes with a 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine with 185 hp and 181 lb-ft of torque while the more powerful V6 offers 278 hp and 252 lb-ft of torque... Fuel economy when equipped with the four-cylinder engine and a CVT tops out at 27 mpg in the city and 36 mpg on the highway while the V6 nets 21 mpg in the city and 34 mpg on the highway.

BILLIONS WASTED: Obamacare Contractor Pays Employees To Do... Absolutely Nothing

Under a Republican administration, this would be a huge scandal. Above-the-fold coverage in The New York Times for weeks on end. The lead story on the network news. You know the drill.

Given this administration, however, suffice it to say that you'll only see this immense waste of taxpayer dough on a few select outlets willing to speak truth to power.

Please note that this investigation was the product of an intrepid, local news team at St. Louis KMOV.

And anyone with a modicum of sense knows that this is but the tip of the iceberg.

An employee of Serco, a company with a $1.2 billion government contract to handle paper healthcare applications has some rather interesting, and believable claims.

"There are some weeks that a data entry person would not process an application. The main thing is the data entry side does not have hardly any work to do. They're told to sit at their computers and hit the refresh button no more than every 10 minutes. They're monitored, to hopefully look for an application. Their goals are to process 2 applications a month, and some people are not even able to do that. There are centers in Missouri, Kentucky, and Oklahoma. 1,800 people trying to get 1 of 30 application that pop up. Serco, gets paid for the number of people they employ. So they want us there even if we are not doing anything."

Others complain as well. The video shows online comments from an alleged former employee "This place is a JOKE! There is nothing to do - NO WORK."

Serco refused to answer questions about the news investigation.

The center for Medicare and Medicaid issued this preposterous statement: "Serco is committed to making sure federal funds are spent appropriately."

Daniel Halper notes:

The reporter adds, "Our employee says every person who works here is happy to have a job, and wants to work hard. But frustration is mounting. Serco's contract is worth upwards of $1.2 billion."

The anonymous employee says the contract gets paid by the federal government per employee hired. Which is why it's in their interest to have a bunch of employees sitting around all day doing nothing.

That's right: the Obama administration is paying Serco per employee hired, not by work performed, applications processed, or any other reasonable measure.

Of course, it's not their money they're wasting, is it?.

But I'm sure single-payer would be awesome, dontchaknow.


Hat tip: BadBlue News

The Simple Attack That Could Leave 300 Million Americans Dead

By Investor's Business Daily

Vulnerability: Expert testimony before Congress on Thursday warned that an electromagnetic pulse attack on our power grid and electronic infrastructure could leave most Americans dead and the U.S. in another century.

That dire warning came from Peter Vincent Pry, a member of the Congressional EMP Commission and executive director of the Task Force on National and Homeland Security.

He testified in front of the House Homeland Security Committee's Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection and Security Technologies that an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) event could wipe out 90% of America's population.

Most people's eyes might glaze over upon mention of the committee name, the title of the hearing — "Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP): Threat to Critical Infrastructure" — and the general subject of EMP. But it is a real threat and not the stuff of science fiction.

Some attention has been paid to the potential cataclysmic effects of a natural phenomenon such as a massive solar storm, an event that has occurred in America's horse-and-buggy era when it did not matter.

Today an electromagnetic pulse event would be devastating. It wouldn't need a solar storm, just a solitary nuke detonated in the atmosphere above the American heartland. We would envy the horse-and-buggy era.

"Natural EMP from a geomagnetic superstorm, like the 1859 Carrington Event or 1921 Railroad Storm, and nuclear EMP attack from terrorists or rogue states, as practiced by North Korea during the nuclear crisis of 2013, are both existential threats that could kill 9-of-10 Americans through starvation, disease and societal collapse," the Washington Free Beacon quoted Pry as saying.

Larwyn's Linx: Whittle on the Loyal opposition and why McConnell and Boehner must go

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

Nation

Whittle: Loyal opposition and why McConnell and Boehner must go: Scoop
John Boehner can’t promise another 2 years as speaker: Politico
Cruz Calls for Benghazi Joint Select Committee: Andrew C. McCarthy

Geithner: White House Wanted Me to Lie on Sunday Shows: Daniel Halper
Majorities, Minorities, and Mismatches: Heather Mac Donald
Pelosi: Benghazi Families Don't Want Special Committee Investigation: PJM

Three-fourths of ObamaCare enrollees were previously insured: Bruce McCquain
MA Obamacare exchange fails; State seeks more from taxpayers: Unyielding
All of a sudden, Hillary's not feeling the love from Democrats: Thomas Lifson

Tim Scott attacked for not voting his color: Allen West
Clay Aiken's Dem Primary Opponent in NC Dies Suddenly: RightPundit
Annnnnnd so much for Michelle Nunn (D-GA Sen. Primary): Moe Lane

Economy

As Capital Flees, England Is Texas, and the U.S. Is California: Tom Giovanetti
Shocking Food Stamp Fraud: If One Tiny Store Does This...: LiberyNews
Democrat Governors Raise Taxes by Nearly $60 Billion: BarbWire

Scandal Central

Where was Obama during Benghazi? Ask the White House diarist: Marc A. Thiessen
Reminder: Benghazi Survivors Given Aliases, Moved Around, Monthly Polygraphs: MagNote
Boehner on Benghazi Committee: `I Don't Want Theater, I Don't Want a Sideshow' : PJM

Climate & Energy

5 Things To Know | EPA Unit Blocks Independent Investigations: Bankrupting
“Climate change is about justifying bigger government”: Cove
Climate Change: We Have No Solution: Robert Samuelson

Media

Fmr Ambassador Michael Oren: Newsweek is Lying: TR
Remember When Leftists Used to Make Fun of Christians for Being Narrow-Minded and Intolerant?: GayPatriot
Bye-Bye Barbara! The Top 20 Worst of Walters Countdown: NB

Politico: You Know, You Silly Benghazi Believers…: Cove
Bernard Goldberg: ‘Ridiculous’ 50% of Journalists Are Independents, Likely 85% Voted for Obama: MRC
The media ignore IRS scandal: Paul L. Caron

Michael Sam: The NFL Goes All-Gay: Whiskey's Place
Kangaroo Courts on Campus?: Thomas Sowell
Angry White Men — aka Journalists: Debra Saunders

World

First redistribute Vatican wealth: Cal Thomas
Insurance Costs Cause Cancellation of Violent, Anti-Christian Arab Festival: NewAm
France Submits to Islam: Guy Millière

UCLA testing ground for next generation of anti-Israel campus tactics: LI
Republicans Vote to Give Vets of Ft. Hood Terrorist Attack the Honor They Deserve: IJR
Grant Clemency to the Benghazi Scapegoat: Power Line

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)

Airliner-Drone Near Miss Spurring FAA to Clamp Down on UAVs: Gizmodo
Oldest organism with skeleton discovered in Australia: Phys.org
Recent Word Zero-Day Used In Attacks Against Taiwan Government: Dark Reading

Cornucopia

My Mother at 97 98 99 ... and now halfway to 100: American Digest
Off the Clift: iOTW
This Anti-Obama, Pro-Gun Sign is Going Viral: ConTrib

Image: What you need to know: Middle East Respiratory Syndrome
Sponsored by: Fight Mitch McConnell's Lies: Support Matt Bevin for U.S. Senate

QOTD: "...there exists a minute-by-minute record of where the president was and what he was doing for all eight hours of the Benghazi attack.

So how is it that the White House has failed to give a full account of the president’s whereabouts during that eight-hour period? The White House knows precisely where he was and what he was doing, yet it is refusing to share that information with Congress and the American people. This is unacceptable. Imagine if 20 months after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the George W. Bush White House had still refused to account for where the president was or what he was doing that day. There would be outrage and constant demands from the press, Congress and other investigators demanding to know the answer to a simple factual question: Where was the president?

...During Watergate, Richard Nixon had his infamous 18 1 / 2-minute gap. When it comes to Benghazi, Obama has an eight-hour gap. That gap needs to be closed." --Marc Thiessen

Monday, May 12, 2014

DEMOCRAT LOGIC COMIX: Harrison J. Bounel Edition

Another @BiffSpackle gem.



Hat tip: Papa B.

DEPRAVED: Washington Post Glowingly Reprints Gun Control Screed Published by Modern-Day Nazi Regime

By NRA-ILA

Well, it's nothing especially new in the realm of anti-gun propaganda, but the Washington Post “Morning Mix” section on Thursday reprinted yet another screed by a big city newspaper against U.S. gun culture. The reprinted article followed a template familiar to anyone who is engaged in the gun debate in America.

It reminded readers of past highly-publicized gun crimes.

It depicted President Obama shouting himself "hoarse" over the need for action on gun control.

It made the expected public health analogies, calling gun-related crimes an intractable "malignant tumor."

It indicated that no place in the U.S. is free of firearms, be it "campuses of universities and high schools, department stores and even churches."

Picking up a thread heavily promoted by Bloomberg's Moms Demand Action franchise, it warned parents that "even children brandish guns," and cited two incidents in which a young child accidentally shot a sibling.

And, with typical disregard of declining rates of violent crime and firearm accidents, it claimed that "social uneasiness is growing day by day among Americans" because of gun-related crime. Indeed, the paper warned, no American can escape the "uneasiness and horror" caused by guns.

Yes, we've seen it all before, and it didn’t paint a pretty picture of America or the American people. You'd almost think the author believes Americans are too savage and unruly for self-government and certainly for any sort of liberty that demands discretion and good judgment. As with all these sorts of articles, it implicitly pointed the way to a brighter future: civilian disarmament and a tighter reign over the American people by their betters in government.

The Post, of course, was inclined to agree. Its introduction to the reprint cited, with apparent admiration, the low firearm ownership rate amongst civilians in the jurisdiction where the editorial was written: .06 guns per 100 people. Meanwhile, the nationwide U.S. rate, the Post reported, is closer to 100 firearms per 100 people. The Post also noted recent attempts by the locale where the editorial was written to tighten its own firearm laws, including laws governing their registration, storage, use, and prohibition.

Like we said, we've seen it all before, and so has anyone who's read gun-bashing editorials in any big-city American newspaper.

Only this time, the editorial wasn't originally published in a U.S. city.

THE BENGHAZI COVER-UP UNRAVELS: Analysis Points to Hillary Clinton as Source of the Video Lie

By Investor's Business Daily

Benghazi: The language in an email from Obama aide Ben Rhodes used to prep Susan Rice is virtually identical to one issued by the former secretary of state 36 hours before — the first public official to mention the video.

One of the first questions we hope the Select Committee on Benghazi asks is who gave Ben Rhodes the authority and the content for the Sept. 14, 2012, email from him, an assistant to the president and deputy national security adviser, on how to prep Susan Rice for her talk show tour on Sept. 16 blaming a video for the terrorist attack.

Either Rhodes is the most powerful communications assistant in American history or he was instructed by superiors in the administration to launch the video lie.

A clue may be found in a State Department press release that night and in a comparison of emails sent 36 hours apart by Clinton and Rhodes.

At 10 p.m. Washington, D.C., time on Sept. 11, 2012, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton received a call from the man she wants to replace, President Obama, while terrorists were in the midst of massacring Americans in Benghazi, Libya.

Larwyn's Linx: The Day Obama’s Presidency Died

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

Nation

The Day Obama’s Presidency Died: Richard Fernendez
Liberals: Exempt from Scrutiny: Victor Davis Hanson
Maybe Harry Reid Needs to Rest in a Quiet Place: LI

DHS Emails Reveal U.S. May Have Terrorist “Hands Off” List: JW
The Democrats have become Benghazi deniers: Rich Lowry
Wis. prosecutors abuse the law for partisan ends: George Will

The Folly of Comprehensive Immigration Reform: William Chip
HHS mandate hostile to the three pillars of civil society: Paul Rondeau
Awesome: 24 things you must have an ID to purchase: YC

Tea Party Alive And Well – And Influencing Blacks: Star Parker
To serve and protect–themselves: Cold Fury
Dozens of protesters ride in off-limits canyon: Idaho Statesman

Economy

The Last Communist City: Michael J. Totten
Cameron, Confiscation, And "What's Yours Ain't Yours!": ZH
Six Conundrums: C&S

Scandal Central

Ex-CIA contractor: “It was weapons running in Benghazi”: RadioPatriot
Ten IRS Scandal Excuses That Are Now Completely Discredited: Patrick Howley
Boehner Rules Out Using Congressional Powers To Arrest Lois Lerner For Contempt: DC

Climate & Energy

Life in the Expedited Lane: Mark Steyn
Montana: Another fish threatens farmers: DTG
Global warming news: Mother's Day snowstorm clobbers Colorado: Marathon

Media

Bloomberg Writer: Black Republicans Are a 'Lower' Group: Breitbart
Who is not a journalist?: Althouse
The 5 Worst Places online to get firearms advice: GunNuts

Watch: Clift's Unreal Comments About Amb.Stevens and Benghazi: Caleb Howe
Tammy Schools Liberal On Democrat Panic & Cowardice Over Benghazi Comm: Bruce
The 5 gun websites I read every day: Gun Nuts

I Was an Israeli Spy: Roger L. Simon
FSU Linebacker on Media Hypocrisy: GWP
LAT Buries the Lede: CA Rail Authority Tried to Intimidate Consultants to Hide $1B Cost Overrun: NB

World

#BringBackOurBalls: Mark Steyn
No Fear of Hashtags: Boko Haram Maniacs Kidnap More Children, Kill Villagers: JWF
Head teachers raise 'serious concerns' over Islamic school take-over: Telegraph

90% of abducted Nigerian schoolgirls are Christians; jihadists released Muslim girls: JihadWatch
Michelle gives Weekly Address on kidnapped girls: no mention of Boko Haram or Islam: GWP
“Extremely serious” threat shuts US embassy in Yemen indefinitely: Hot Air

Stop making excuses for Islamist extremist monsters: Ralph Peters
Egyptian Pop Star to Sing ‘I Hate Israel’ at Music Festival with Alicia Keys, Justin Timberlake: Algemeiner
Registration leads to confiscation: Walls of the City (2010)

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)

California lawmakers greenlight mobile killswitch bill: Register
More Websites Call Out Google On Their Adsense Decision Against Weasel Zippers: WZ
Report: FCC to Remove "Fast Lanes" From Net Neutrality Proposal: Gizmodo

Cornucopia

11 Most Badass Things Trey Gowdy Has Ever Said: Becca Lower
Transforming to a Transvestite: A Eurovision Winner Only a Mother Could Love: MOTUS
Hancock Tower’s Tilting Window Escalates Chicago’s Freaky Skyscraper Window Arms Race: Consumerist

Image: Tornadoes Threaten 5 States, Snowplows Deployed in Denver
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Matt Bevin for U.S. Senate

QOTD: "Cuba was one of the world’s richest countries before Castro destroyed it—and the wealth wasn’t just in the hands of a tiny elite. “Contrary to the myth spread by the revolution,” wrote Alfred Cuzan, a professor of political science at the University of West Florida, “Cuba’s wealth before 1959 was not the purview of a privileged few. . . . Cuban society was as much of a middle-class society as Argentina and Chile.” In 1958, Cuba had a higher per-capita income than much of Europe. “More Americans lived in Cuba prior to Castro than Cubans lived in the United States,” Cuban exile Humberto Fontova, author of a series of books about Castro and Guevara, tells me. “This was at a time when Cubans were perfectly free to leave the country with all their property. In the 1940s and 1950s, my parents could get a visa for the United States just by asking. They visited the United States and voluntarily returned to Cuba. More Cubans vacationed in the U.S. in 1955 than Americans vacationed in Cuba. Americans considered Cuba a tourist playground, but even more Cubans considered the U.S. a tourist playground.” Havana was home to a lot of that prosperity, as is evident in the extraordinary classical European architecture that still fills the city. Poor nations do not—cannot—build such grand or elegant cities.

But rather than raise the poor up, Castro and Guevara shoved the rich and the middle class down. The result was collapse. “Between 1960 and 1976,” Cuzan says, “Cuba’s per capita GNP in constant dollars declined at an average annual rate of almost half a percent. The country thus has the tragic distinction of being the only one in Latin America to have experienced a drop in living standards over the period.”" --Michael J. Totten

Sunday, May 11, 2014

WTF: Rand Paul Rips Focus on Voter ID Laws

Every time Paul opens his mouth these days, odds seem around fifty-fifty that he's gonna enunciate some kind of crackpot position.

The latest case in point: Paul believes discussing the need for voter ID is "offending" Americans, especially minorities.

“Everybody’s gone completely crazy on this voter ID thing,” Paul told The New York Times in an interview on Friday. “I think it’s wrong for Republicans to go too crazy on this issue because it’s offending people.”

...He has even softened his stance on immigration, saying he favors legislation in which all the country's illegal immigrants can get work visas.

But just as Hispanics slammed Paul for being "offensive," even after he took a more liberal approach to immigration in favor of amnesty, black leaders gave him no credit for his softer stance on voter ID laws.

“Get real, Senator,” a black member of the Tennessee General Assembly told the Times. “To come here, to Memphis of all places, and espouse the principles and ‘goodness’ of today’s Republican Party, excuse me if I’m not buying it.”

What idiocy.

Last year, Mark Levin described what the opposition to voter ID really is.

Why does the government issue photo IDs? It’s not the private sector issuing them, it’s not the [Ku Klux] Klan issuing them. The government is issuing voter ID so the government can know who you are. Now why does the government want to know who you are? Because they want to know who they are giving driver's licenses to; if a police officer stops you they want to know who you are. They want to know if you have insurance. They want to know your age if you want to buy booze. And I can go on and on. There wouldn’t be government-issued photos IDs but for the government.

So my question is [this]: Is the government – are all state governments racist because they are requiring you to have a photo ID, that is a photo with your pigmentation on it? I mean, this is so asinine what the Left is up to in this administration.

You know what it is? Let’s just be honest, they want to defend fraud. They want to defend fraud. You can’t get on an airplane without a government issued ID. You can’t buy booze without a government issued ID. You can’t lease an apartment without a government issued ID. You can’t do damn near anything without a government issued ID.

Except vote! Anyone can vote without a photo ID at the polls!

Have you ever tried to check into a hotel without a government ID? Have you ever tried to rent a car without a government ID? Don’t we hold voting, like, at the top? Haven’t we fought the civil rights movement for people to have the right to vote? Why is it ipso facto discriminatory against minorities for people to show an ID? If you have a specific case in which a state, a town, a county or somebody has discriminated against you because of your race, you can bring a federal lawsuit under the Voting Rights Act, still today and a state lawsuit under state voting rights acts, still today!

But voter integrity is something the Democrat party rejects. Because they want multiple voting. Because they want dead people voting.

Who uses it? The big cities use it, among others. When LBJ was running for president or first, for the Senate, it was rural areas that were using it.

So this isn’t some civil rights issue. This is to promote fraud.

Some of Paul's prior gaffes:

Does Rand Paul Support Amnesty? Yes

Rand Paul mentions non-human marriage while discussing gay marriage, says it was joke

Rand Paul: We "Probably Can't Get Rid of Obamacare"

Video: Rand Paul walks back his comments on Civil Rights Act

I don't know how Republicans can safely nominate a man who has a tendency to pull a Biden on a fairly frequent basis.


Hat tip: iOwnTheWorld

TREY GOWDY: Hillary Clinton's got a lot of explainin' to do

Megyn Kelly's recent interview with Trey Gowdy gives me great hope that this investigation will be thorough and competent.

KELLY: ...Let's talk about Hillary Clinton. She comes out tonight and suggests that people like you, I assume, are not choosing to be satisfied, that that's your choice, and the rest of us have to live with that. Your thoughts on that?

GOWDY: Well, you can add to that the family members of the four murdered Americans, because they still have unanswered questions. And I would just ask Secretary Clinton, with all due respect, can you explain why we were still in Benghazi after everyone else had pulled out and after the British ambassador was almost assassinated and our compound was attacked twice?

There are three separate categories of questions, each with subunits within them that have not been answered. I realize it's been 20 months, but time is no barometer of thoroughness. My daughter took Latin for three years; she still can't speak it.

So, time doesn't mean something is thorough. When we get through with this select committee, those questions will be answered for the family members and Ms. Clinton will have another chance to come and talk to us.

KELLY: I know that you have said you intend to subpoena her, that you want her to appear before your committee. However, and I say this respectfully, the last time she appeared before Congress, what we had was a series of speeches from the lawmakers without that many probing questions. And I hear that from my viewers often when we look back on the hearings. What would be different this time?

RUBES: Crain's Chicago Business Dumbfounded as to Why the Illinois Economy is in the Crapper

Nothing's more entertaining than a so-called business magazine trying to avoid the obvious. Exhibit 90 jabillion: Chicago Business's stupefied and querulous news reporting entitled "Why is Illinois unemployment so high?."

1,200 words later, author Paul Merrion still hasn't stated the obvious answer: because of decades of failed Democrat policies, corruption, and union control.

Nearly five years after the recession ended nationwide, the Illinois unemployment rate is 8.4 percent, third worst in the nation. When Gov. Pat Quinn took office in January 2009, the recession had been underway for a year and unemployment stood at 8.0 percent, just slightly above the national average.

Since then, the Illinois economy has sputtered, with unemployment peaking at 11.4 percent before slowly dropping. The rate is now almost 2 percentage points above the national average.


The nagging question—and one that might determine the outcome of this year's governor's race—is why?

But maybe said employment troubles are limited to only an industry or two, thanks to the Democrat Party's keen grasp of economics.

Larwyn's Linx: The Wisconsin Gestapo

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

Nation

The Wisconsin Gestapo: Instapundit
Health Care For Me, But None for Thee: American Interest
GOP’s Angst Correlates To Progressivism: R.S. McCain

SLPC: Opposing Common Core Now Right-Wing Extremism and Racist: Ace
Joe Biden is running for President, bless his heart.: Moe Lane
CBS: Fifth VA office conducted wait-list fraud: Hot Air

“Mitt Romney: A Severe Conservative Who Just Won’t Go Away”: PW
John Conyers fails to make the Ballot in his Michigan District: RS
Ben Carson: Too Nice, Naive for Politics?: Scott Ott

Economy

Mark Levin makes a full-throated ASSAULT on the minimum wage: Scoop
Karen Lewis - Economic Genius: SCC
The Progressive Avenger Strikes Again: City Journal

Small business to take the HIT from Obamacare: Hot Air
The Taxpayer Cost To Maintain Obama's Golf Handicap: Over $3 Million: ZH
Why is Illinois unemployment so high?: ChiBiz

Scandal Central

Darrell Issa: More Criminal Charges Coming for Obama Admin: ConTrib
Of COURSE Ed Snowden’s heist was an espionage operation.: Moe Lane
Californians with Obamacare are driving to Mexico for cheaper, better healthcare: CainTV

Climate & Energy

Five Reasons Voters Call BS On Obama’s “Climate Change” Push: RWN
Obama’s Climate Change Facts: The Pathetic vs. The Prophetic: BarbWire
Germany’s version of Daily Show lampoons their failed green-energy transition: Hot Air

Media

Oh Look, Here Are Six Times That Democrats Shamelessly Raised Funds From Tragedies: Sooper
Progressive Bloggers Are More Pro-Obama Than Obama: Ace
Daily Beast Columnist Says Benghazi Ambassador ‘Was Not Murdered’ … Died of ‘Smoke’: ViralRead

Ex-Mossad chief calls Newsweek spy story ‘delusional’: Times of Israel
Former Fed Prosecutor: America Should Impeach Barack Obama: ConTrib
Judge Jeanine Smacks Down Jay Carney, “Has This Guy Ever NOT Told A Lie At A Presser?”: Nice Deb

World

Daily Beast’s Josh Rogin Blasts Hillary In Devastating Take Down Over Boko Haram: Scoop
Intelligence employees, current and past, barred from citing news leaks: Ars Technica
Australia: Muslim pedophile not charged because of “cultural differences” still stalking children: JihadWatch

Slobodan Putin: Andrew Wood
'Someone is trying to sabotage US-Israel intelligence cooperation': Hayom
Hitler’s Jewish neighbor looks back in horror in new book: Times of Israel

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)

Why Starting A Competitor To Comcast Is Basically Impossible: Consumerist
The FCC can’t handle all the net neutrality calls it’s getting, urges people to write emails instead: BGR
Silicon Valley's Love-Hate Relationship With President Obama: Slashdot

Cornucopia

Food Thread: Special Addition -- The Mai Tai: Ace
SNL’s Michelle Obama vs. Hillary Clinton: Mother’s Day smackdown!: BPR
Oddly decorated Al Qaeda "Coffee House for girls" in Syria: BCF

Image: The 2014 Smithsonian Photo Contest Finalists
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Help the Wilkes Family Recover

QOTD: "Edgar Feuchtwanger, the son of a prominent German Jewish family with roots in Bavaria going back centuries, vividly remembers nearly bumping into his neighbor Adolf Hitler as a boy...

He now lives in Britain, where his parents were able in 1938 to buy a visa that would save the family’s lives just as the noose was tightening around Germany’s Jews.

Feuchtwanger said his family at first had only an abstract sense of the danger posed to them by the National Socialists and their personable neighbor...

Feuchtwanger believes he as a child had a keener sense of what his thoroughly German Jewish parents and their friends could not believe: that the country they loved would turn on them with such speed, hatred and, finally, blood-lust.

“We were aware of the threat probably even in 1932,” he said, his English still lightly accented by his native German.

But of course we didn’t realize how radical that threat was, how lethal it would get. My father had got that quite wrong.”" --Deborah Cole

Saturday, May 10, 2014

Hillary: Americans don't need guns!

By NRA-ILA

The NRA has always supported laws prohibiting violent felons and certain other categories of potentially dangerous persons from possessing guns, and it’s a position we’re confident is shared by the vast majority of gun owners nationwide.

Nevertheless, on Tuesday, Hillary Clinton, a potential 2016 presidential candidate, said, "I think that we've got to rein in what has become an almost article of faith that anybody can have a gun anywhere, anytime."

Clinton also said that when it comes to guns, “I think again we’re way out of balance, and I don’t believe that is in the best interest of the vast majority of people.” As if quoting from the playbook of 2008 presidential candidate Barack Obama, she added, “I think you can say that and still support the right of people to own guns.”

For the record, gun ownership “supporter” Clinton has previously supported banning “assault weapons,” supported gun owner licensing and gun registration, opposed legislation prohibiting the confiscation of firearms during emergencies, and opposed legislation prohibiting lawsuits seeking to hold the firearm industry financially liable for harm caused by criminals who use guns.

Black Conservative Confronts Democrat Crackpot Dressed as Confederate: You're Gonna Give Me a Hood?

It would seem that the modern Democrat Party has a major problem with its own history.

Gateway Pundit relays one such story originally reported by the MacIver Institute.

State Representative and Democrat candidate for Governor Brett Hulsey told reporters last week that he was going to hand out KKK hoods at the Republican State Convention, which took place last weekend.


After major backlash, he instead decided to wear a homemade confederate uniform and talk to GOP members about what he called their racist agenda. This new video shows Hulsey's interaction with one convention attendee.

This nut Bretty Hulsey needs a little history lesson. And, as always, I'm happy to oblige.

During the first two-thirds of the 20th century, The Ku Klux Klan served as "the terrorist wing of the Democrat Party."

The Ku Klux Klan was established by the Democrat Party.

The Ku Klux Klan murdered thousands of Republicans -— African-Americans, Catholics and Jews -- in the years following the Civil War.

The Republican Party and a Republican President, Ulysses S. Grant, crushed the KKK with The Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871.

A LOGICAL SUCCESSOR TO THE HONDA S2000? Honda S660 Making Waves in Japan

It's been half a decade since the Honda S2000 last made landfall in the U.S. as a production vehicle. The two-seat, rear-wheel drive roadster had a 10-year run featuring a high-revving four-banger and designed as a true sports car. It was the logical next evolutionary step in the genre that included the 1990 Mazda Miata.

According to Australia's Car Advice, however, its successor may soon be on the way.

Honda will begin producing a small two-seat roadster based on the S660 concept car sometime during 2015.

The report on Japanese website Response doesn’t confirm the production car’s specifications, but it’s widely expected to carry over many of styling elements first seen in the S660 concept car (pictured) that debuted at the 2013 Tokyo motor show...

...It’s not yet clear whether the S660 will be sold outside of Japan, but if it does make it beyond the mother country the car is expected to be fitted with larger and more powerful 1.0-litre turbo engine. Regardless, 2015 looks set to be a big year for Honda as it injects a bit more verve into its portfolio. Other sports cars it has lined up for next year include the turbocharged Civic Type R, which we’ve driven in prototype form, and the long awaited follow up to the NSX that will feature a hybrid drivetrain and be produced in the USA.

I don't know why I love two-seat convertibles, but I always have and I always will.


Hat tip: BadBlue Car news

Obama's Top 7 Lawless Actions

By Amy Payne

Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has released a list of “lawless” actions by the Obama administration. Heritage legal experts Elizabeth Slattery and Andrew Kloster have also been following this closely and issued a report earlier this year. Here are seven of the most egregious examples of the administration’s overreach.

1. Delaying Obamacare’s employer mandate

The administration announced that Obamacare won’t be implemented as it was passed, so employers with 50 or more employees don’t have to provide the mandated health coverage for at least another year (and longer if they play their cards right). Slattery and Kloster observe that “The law does not authorize the president to push back the employer mandate’s effective date.”

2. Giving Congress and their staffs special taxpayer-funded subsidies for Obamacare

It was uncomfortable for members of Congress when they realized that, through Obamacare, they had kicked themselves and their staffs out of the taxpayer-funded subsidies they were enjoying for health coverage. But the administration said no problem and gave them new subsidies. In this case, “the administration opted to stretch the law to save Obamacare—at the taxpayers’ expense.”

3. Trying to fulfill the “If you like your plan, you can keep it” promise—after it was broken

Larwyn's Linx: Benghazi: Dems Frantic Over Special Committee

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

Nation

Benghazi: Dems Frantic Over Special Committee: VictoryGirls
The AWOL Commander-in-Chief: Andrew C. McCarthy
Nancy Pelosi aborts Democrats from Select Committee: Exam

Illegal Alien Gangs Commit Majority of Crime in U.S.: MagNote
GOP Primary Voters: Determined to Nominate Electable Candidates: RWN
Obama flexing his executive muscle on immigration reform: The Hill

#NCSEN: Key Hagan goes for broke, ‘fully embraces’ Obamacare: Toldjah
VA workers were taught to manipulate records: Fox
Why did NY GOP lawmakers fund the SAFE Act?: LI

Economy

Study: Obamacare employer mandate to hit low-wage workers hardest: BarbWire
The New Normal: how much does it cost if it’s free?: Cold Fury
California vs. Texas - Proof that Conservativism Beats Liberalism: EagleRising

Scandal Central

Cleta Mitchell: New Front In IRS Scandal: Nearly 1 in 10 Conservative Donors Audited By IRS: Nice Deb
SWAT: Manufacturing The Justification To Kill?: McDaniel
Tom Cotton talks to Cavuto about why Benghazi is important and why Democrats are politicizing it: Scoop

Climate & Energy

Environmentalists Have Lost the Climate Change Debate: David Harsanyi
Experts Warn Congress: Attack On Power Grid Could Lead to “Catastrophic Civilian Casualties”: SHTFplan
LEED-ing taxpayers to waste money?: Pete Sepp, US News

Media

Democrats Fundraise Off Book Advocating Impeachment of Obama: WS
Four Pinocchios to Obama for “500 Republican filibusters” claim: Hot Air
MLK III Says Blacks Should Engage With The Tea Party . . . Touré Left Speechless…: WZ

DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz sinks to new lows w/ #Benghazi tweet: Sister Toldjah
EMAILS: Democrats Admit They’re Worried About Obama’s Impeachment: ConTrib
Flashback: 2000 SC Presidential Primary and Palmetto Journal: Jeff Quinton

DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz sinks to new lows w/ #Benghazi tweet: Toldjah
“Moms Demand Action” Caught Red-Handed Lying About “Open Carry” Demonstration: BuzzPo
Bill Maher Battles Huffington over Islam: Liberals Too PC to Ever Condemn It: Mediaite

World

The West Needs to Wake Up: Paul Weston
Al Qaeda calling for jihad car bomb attacks on American soil: JihadWatch
NYC Imam Calls Jews a “Cancer”; Leads Push to Scrub Islam From 9/11: Cassy Fiano

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)

Selfie helpie: Israeli innovation transforms phone camera imaging: Times of Israel
Moto E surfaces in press shots on retailer website: Slashgear
The US is opening up the Smithsonian's digitized art collection: Engadget

Cornucopia

Wonderful: Video of Homeless Man Given a New Home Goes Viral: GWP
Just in time for Mother’s Day: the Little Bag of MOO Essentials: MOTUS
Triple Amputee Veteran’s “Screw You” Letter To Obama Goes Viral!: RWN

Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Right Wing News Endorses Ben Sasse For Senate In Nebraska

QOTD: "A commander-in-chief does not get to vote “present.” Over 19 months have elapsed since terrorists savagely attacked the United States in Benghazi. Yet we are still waiting, ever waiting, for an account of where the president was, what he was doing, and what if any directives he gave during the hours and hours during which Americans were being tormented and killed.

If the president’s name were Bush or Reagan, we would long ago have had a minute-by-minute accounting of his every move. And if the incident involved some faraway American warrior’s slaying of a jihadist emir, we would long ago have had a Situation Room photo depicting Obama as maestro . . . with an accompanying soundtrack of classified leaks portraying his courage while others were under fire.

Benghazi, however, is a catastrophe wrought by Obama’s pro-Islamist policies, one that puts the lie to his oft-repeated claim to have “decimated” al-Qaeda. So with Benghazi we get the stonewall, a barricade his praetorian media have been only too happy to fortify." --Andrew C. McCarthy