Monday, June 09, 2014

RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH BECLOWNS ITSELF AGAIN: Claims Eric Cantor is the New "Ronald Reagan"

By Kenric Ward

RICHMOND, Va. — Just in time for Tuesday’s Republican primary, the Richmond Times-Dispatch proclaims Rep. Eric Cantor the new Ronald Reagan.

Equally absurd, the newspaper’s editorial board uses Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid as benchmarks to prove the congressman’s “conservative” bona fides.

The editorialists positively swoon over Cantor’s climb up the House ladder. The seven-term congressman’s ascension to majority leader proves his “enduring” leadership, they opine.

Fact is, Cantor increasingly rankles his constituents in the 7th Congressional District, arguably the most conservative in Virginia. A Daily Caller poll shows Cantor struggling unexpectedly against challenger Dave Brat.

Voters are restless about Cantor’s zig-zag politics on immigration. They are uneasy about his coziness with Wall Street, and his role in the multibillion-dollar taxpayer bailouts of banks deemed “too big to fail.”

In his latest pivot, Cantor says he’s ready to work with President Barack Obama to grant amnesty to illegal immigrants. It’s for “the kids,” he says.

STOCKMAN: Reagan Recovery Generated 150 Times More Jobs Than the Obama Malaise... So Far

David Stockman, President Reagan's Office of Management and Budget from 1981 to 1985, has a great blog called Contra Corner. His latest column is a stunning riposte to the media's claim that the total number of jobs in the U.S. have finally returned to the pre-crash high.

Yes, the nonfarm payroll clocked in at 138.5 million jobs and thereby retraced for the first time the point at which it stood 77 months ago in December 2007. This predictably elicited another “milestone of progress” squeal from the mainstream media.

So you have to wonder. Did these people skip history class? Do they understand the vital idea of “context”? Are they so mesmerized by paint-by-the-numbers agit prop from Wall Street and Washington that they have come to mindlessly embrace the notion that any number that is better than the last “print” is all that it takes—regardless of composition, quality or longer-term trend?


Thus, consider the ancient days of the Reagan era. Back then there were actually 15.0 million new jobs by the time that 77 months had elapsed after the June 1982 bottom. And these were honest-to-goodness new jobs that had never before existed, not born again jobs of the type that CNBC has made a “jobs Friday” fetish out of ever since the Great Recession was officially declared over in June 2009.

So if you want to try a little “context” absurdity recall this. So far we have created a trifling 100k “new” jobs since the last cyclical peak. During the equivalent 77 months in the Reagan era the US economy actually generated 150 times more jobs!

Stockman reinforces the age-old truism of TANSTAAFL ("There ain't no such thing as a free lunch") that anyone over the intellectual age of six inherently knows. Which excludes all Democrats.

6-years of ZIRP have left the world’s financial system booby-trapped with tottering pyramids of debt and rampant carry trades and financial speculations. Why would this be assumed to comprise the kind of stable and productive financial environment that would enable the current business cycle expansion to go on for years into the future, thereby eclipsing every record from far more stable times of decades past?

So a 77 month jobs drought is a big deal, yet search the financial press and you will find no mention. And not just because of the benchmark set in the Reagan era. During the 77 months after the 1990 peak nearly 10 million net jobs were created; the working age population expanded by 12.2 million; and the conversion rate was not zero, as during the recent go round, but actually more than 80%.

In a nutshell, Reagan's recovery was 150 times more powerful than Obama's. Which we kinda knew in our heart of hearts, but now we have actual confirmation.


Hat tip: Lee Cary.

Larwyn's Linx: Obama: Freeing Top Terrorists a Unanimous Decision of "My Government"

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

Nation

Obama: Freeing Top Terrorists a Unanimous Decision of "My Government": MB
Why Are Establishment Republicans Supporting Thad Cochran?: Star Parker
Dianne Feinstein Introduces Federal Bill to Confiscate Guns: Nick Leghorn

Ted Cruz: Blacklisted and Loving It — Right Into The White House: NoisyRm
Perfect is the Enemy of the Good: NoisyRm
Ted Cruz country: Katie Glueck, Politico

Robert Bergdahl: In His Circles: Liberty Speaks
Bergdahl's father now under scrutiny himself: Idaho Statesman
The Taliban Swap and ‘High Crimes and Misdemeanors’: Andrew C. McCarthy

California Counties Releasing Convicted Convict Illegals onto the Streets: RWN
Armed CC Civilian Stops Mass Killing in Vegas : BuzzPo
Grade School Students Brainwashed to Celebrate Gay Sex in Oakland: MB

Economy

The Bluest State: Aaron M. Renn
The Madness Of Crowds And The Great Insanity: ZH
GM Is Alive. Drivers Are Dead. Any Questions?: PJM

Scandal Central

Gitmo Detainees Awaiting Move to Prison in Thomson, Illinois: GWP
Obama to Release Osama’s Bodyguard From Gitmo to Start a "Farm": GWP
Obama’s DOJ Accuses Glock Executives Of Corruption And Fraud: GWP

Media

Reel 'Em In: Ace
Bill Whittle Goes There – Is Obama Evil or Stupid?: LI
Must Watch Video: Morgan Freeman Shuts Down Race-Hustlers in Less Than 30 Seconds: RWN

Dianne Feinstein: Umm, Obama May Have Misled Us About Taliban "Cone of Silence" : Ace
Liberal Activist Is Brutally Raped in Haiti by a Black Man – Blames White Men: GWP
Candy Crowley actually asks John McCain if Bergdahl less worth saving than he was as a POW: Scoop

Ben Shapiro's Obama Solution: 'Prosecution Not Impeachment': Breitbart
NSA Whistleblower: Snowden Never Had Access to the JUICIEST Documents: ZH
Jaden Smith Cast As Trayvon Martin in Will Smith Produced Film: NewsNerd

World

Member of Taliban's elite Supreme Shura among 5 transferred to Qatar: LWJ
Was Bowe Bergdahl's father in contact with Al Qaeda?: Thomas Lifson
The Charter of Hamas, Obama's "Partner in Peace": CAMERA

The Taliban/Bergdahl Swap, Gitmo, and the Revenge of the Lawyer Left: Andrew C. McCarthy
A D-Day Veteran Politely Declines Obama Invitation: John Fund
Two B-2 Spirit stealth bombers have just arrived in UK for a quite unusual overseas deployment: Aviationist

Obama Won’t Allow Bergdahl To Speak To Anyone Until He Agrees To Carry Obama's Water: Pat Dollard
The 30-Year Democratic Campaign to Be the Pro-Troop Party Implodes: Noah Rothman
38 Points From 1963 – It Is Happening – The Communist Takeover of America: GOP The Daily Dose

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)

“You could be liable for $150k in penalties—settle instead for $20 per song”: Ars Technica
Check out iOS 8′s Time-lapse camera mode in action: 9TO5Mac
A Computer Has Passed the Turing Test For the First Time: Gizmodo

Cornucopia

EPIC: If this isn’t the most American Craigslist ad I have ever seen I don’t know what is: YC
The Coming Crash in Ammunition Prices: TTAG
Welcome to Your Death Panels: 90 Miles From Tyranny

Image: Meet the New Miss U.S.A., Nia Sanchez
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: RUNOFF ON 6/24: Chris McDaniel for Senate

QOTD: "Reagan was unelectable … or was until he was elected. Lincoln was unelectable. Bush 41 was a shoo-in … until he wasn’t. The history of elections in the United States is strewn with egregious predictions and declarations. Dewey Defeats Truman! Except, well, he didn’t.

...It’s a favorite insiders’ game in Washington DC to pronounce someone as unelectable, especially if he is a DC troublemaker, rabble-rouser, or boat rocker. It’s the DC equivalent of Damning With Faint Praise, where you can pretend to like someone while cursing him as ‘unelectable.’

...Electability as peddled by press and politicos is a myth. It is arrogance of pretended knowledge. To the voter I say this: vote your conscience. To the candidate I say this: speak your mind and speak your heart; speak to the voters only, do not play the pundits. You are as electable as the voters — individually — decide you are on election day.

We are the electorate. Speak to us. Listen to us. We will vote for you. And the gods of Olympus and DC be damned.”" --Citizen Scribe

Sunday, June 08, 2014

ANOTHER SHOE DROPS IN THE BENGHAZI SCANDAL: Taliban Now Targeting U.S. Troops With Stinger Missiles

Kenneth Timmerman, writing in The New York Post, breaks open another shocking chapter in the Benghazi scandal.

The Obama administration isn’t only giving the Taliban back its commanders — it’s giving them weapons... Miliary records and sources reveal that on July 25, 2012, Taliban fighters in Kunar province successfully targeted a US Army CH-47 helicopter with a new generation Stinger missile.

The helicopter and all aboard survived the attack as it was able to crash land. But what had hit the Chinook?

The next day, an explosive ordnance disposal team arrived to pick through the wreckage and found unexploded pieces of a missile casing that could only belong to a Stinger missile.

Lodged in the right nacelle, they found one fragment that contained an entire serial number.

The investigation took time ... But when the results came back, they were stunning: The Stinger tracked back to a lot that had been signed out by the CIA recently, not during the anti-Soviet ­jihad.

Can you guess where the Taliban got Stinger missiles with which to target U.S. troops?

If you guessed the smartest President ever and the smartest Secretary of State in history, you're in luck!

...the US Special Operations community believe the Stinger fired against the Chinook was part of the same lot the CIA turned over to the ­Qataris in early 2011, weapons Hillary Rodham Clinton’s State Department intended for anti-Khadafy forces in Libya.

They believe the Qataris delivered between 50 and 60 of those same Stingers to the Taliban in early 2012, and an additional 200 SA-24 Igla-S surface-to-air missiles.

That's right: Hillary's State Department tried to turn over advanced anti-aircraft weapons to anti-Khadafy forces -- this is what appears to have been happening in Benghazi -- and they ended up with the Taliban.

Care to guess where the five bloodthirsty barbarians loosed in Qatar will turn up?

That's a rhetorical question, which means only drones, sycophants, progressives, liberals, and other miscreants will try to answer it (e.g., by yelling "Bush!" at the top of their lungs).

And when a passenger jet is downed thanks to this deranged, evil plot, what will they say then?


Hat tip: BadBlue News and Weasel Zippers

IBD: President Committed a Felony in Freeing Five Terrorist Leaders

By Investor's Business Daily

National Security: Federal law prohibits any person — repeat, any person — from providing material assistance to terrorists, including human assets. But that's what the president did in releasing five Taliban commanders.

When iconic interviewer David Frost asked former President Nixon about the legality of his actions in the Watergate affair, Nixon said "when the president does it, that means that it is not illegal."

That's an attitude seemingly shared by the current occupant of the Oval Office.

As former congressman and Afghanistan veteran Allen West points out, President Obama signed into law only months ago the National Defense Authorization Act, which makes it a crime to offer or provide any material support to terrorist groups. It makes no exception as to who and under which circumstances.

The Taliban is considered a non-state terrorist group to which Obama has returned five of the worst terrorists held at Guantanamo. They are not foot soldiers and this exchange was not at the end of a war, when prisoner swaps often happen. They are four-star general equivalents who will return to the battlefield to target and kill Americans again. If that's not material assistance, what is?

"Is there the possibility of some of them trying to return to activities that are detrimental to us? Absolutely," Obama said during a news conference in Poland.

But fear not, he said, because "we will be keeping eyes on them." Oh, good, we can always risk more American lives on top of those already lost capturing them the first time.

"This is aiding and abetting the enemy, which goes along with the collusion of this administration with Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated organizations and supplying weapons and arms to Islamists," West wrote in the Washington Post.

Larwyn's Linx: The Obama ‘Recovery’: As Bad as (or Worse than) the Great Depression?

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

Nation

Obama ‘Recovery’: As Bad as (or Worse than) Great Depression?: Tom Blumer
The President's Very Real Military Problem: Diane Dimond
Bobby Jindal: Obama’s ‘Catch and Release’ Policy Towards Terrorists: Rotten

Obama Dumping Contagious, Disease-Exposed Illegal Aliens Across US: GWP
Dumping of Illegal Aliens in AZ Will Continue Feds Say, Congress Silent: IS
DREAM Act Supporters to Blame for Humanitarian Catastrophe: BarbWire

Another Lie: Bergdahl’s Health Was Fine: Political Insider
CBO Quietly Drops Forecast That Obamacare Will Cut the Deficit: Fiscal Times
Prof explains how guns made Civil Rights movement possible: Chris Eger

Social Science Abstract of the Week: Power Line
Race Pimps Fine with Openly Racist Convenience Store: Onan Coca
Young Republicans Reject Current Texas GOP Platform: Sarah Rumpf

Economy

Obama Renews Work Permits For 520,000 Illegals: Neil Munro
President Obama to order help for student loan debtors: Nirvi Shah
USDA to Spend $1.9 Mil Researching Outlawing Combo Platters: FPM

Scandal Central

Senior Military Leaders Advised Obama NOT to Make Swap With Taliban: GWP
Gun Shop’s Insurance Policy Canceled Because They Sell, Wait For It… Guns: GSL
POW, Deserter or Traitor? Military Back Pay, Compensation May Lead to Big Payday: IJR

Cops In Texas Seize Millions By 'Policing for Profit': Forbes
Indiana woman stripped by jailers and left naked for 7 hours: NC Renegade
Turning Search Warrants into Death Warrants, and SWAT Teams into Death Squads: Rutherford

Climate & Energy

Jason Stverak: It’s A War On People, Not Coal: SAB
EPA proposal all wrong: US must strike balance between energy needs, green dreams: Joe Manchin
EPA puts smiley face on jobs losses: Hope Star

Media

Chomsky: Obama ‘Determined To Demolish The Foundations Of Our Civil Liberties’: DC
MARCUS LUTTRELL: Obama should've had families of men who died looking for Bergdahl in Rose Garden: Scoop
Judge Jeanine Criticizes Obama Over Prisoner Swap, Demands Impeachment: Breitbart

World

Compare and Contrast: June 6, 1944 and June 6, 2014: DiploMad
Marking the 70th Anniversary of D-Day with . . . "interpretive dance"?: SSI
D-Day vet, 89, snuck away from care home to go to 70th anniversary commemorations in Normandy: Daily Mail

SHOCK: For First Time Ever Pope to Allow Reading of Quran and Islamic Prayers at Vatican: RWN
Dearborn has “free speech” zone, everywhere else not free (like sharia): Creeping
US Armed Forces color guard to march in gay pride parade: Stripes

Music is Haraam: GoV
NY Times: Bergdahl Desertion Really Fault Of Unit Discipline, Afghanistan War: RWN
Obama’s Amateurish Trade Could Harm Americans: RWN

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)

US military reveals 'gecko gloves' that let soldiers scale vertical walls: Daily Mail
The Best Museum Perks You've Probably Been Missing Out On: LifeHacker
How to Lose Weight Fast: A Proven 3-Step Plan That Works: AuthorityNutrition

Cornucopia

Ever Wished That Calvin and Hobbes Creator Bill Watterson Would Return to Comics?: Pearls Before Swine
D-Day battle images merged with photos of tourists on the same spots: Gizmodo
I’ll trade you 5 Gitmo terrorists for one Costco Key Lime Pie: MOTUS

Image: If you are wondering why Michelle Obama is running for the Senate, you're racist
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: BOOM: Chris McDaniel for Senate

QOTD: "I asked a former member of the Navy SEALs' elite Jedi Unit (the same unit that killed Osama bin Laden) to tell me how he feels about the whole episode. "Betrayed and angry ... both those words apply," he said.

Let's call this man Tommy, for his civilian life must necessarily remain as clandestine as his military service. He said he stays in touch with some 700 special operations forces team members, who all took umbrage with the president's national security adviser, Susan Rice, when she declared that Bergdahl had served "with honor and distinction."

"The White House is whitewashing the ill deeds of this deserter and is lying to the country on mainstream media," Tommy told me. And like all the other military men, he insists that Bergdahl must now account for his actions and face a military tribunal or court-martial.

None of those I interviewed is a lawyer, but each offered the opinion that the commander in chief committed an impeachable offense by ignoring the law that requires a president to give Congress 30 days' notice about any prisoner exchange." --Diane Dimond

Saturday, June 07, 2014

KLAVAN: Fake global warming is one of the most serious fake problems not actually facing our nation today

Great rant by Andrew Klavan at Truth Revolt:

It’s time to take an hysterical and panicky look at fake global warming. Fake global warming is one of the most serious fake problems not actually facing our nation today. According to smarmy billionaire Al Gore, we must take useless and expensive actions immediately or the polar ice caps will be completely melted by two thousand and thirteen... which will be catastrophic when last year arrives.

And the polar bears — oh, the polar bears! Studies reveal that over the last twenty years, as computer models of the climate have progressively damaged computer models of their habitat, the polar bear population has steadily increased. But that’s only in real life! In the computer models, the poor creatures are dropping like flies.

Let’s examine the distorted facts. Between the years 1950 and 2000, the earth’s temperature increased approximately nine tenths of a degree Centigrade. Over the exact same period, the price of butter in Morris County New Jersey rose from 77 cents a pound to nearly four dollars. According to climate change logic, this means that if we give government the power to lower the price of butter in Morris County, the temperature should once again sink back to the levels of the 1950’s. And weren’t the 50‘s a fine old time! Who wouldn’t want those temperatures back again?

I realize there are some superstitious troglodytes who don’t believe in science. They insist we have to go on powering our country with oil and gas instead of using sustainable energy from the holy Vitraya Ramunong tree from that great, great movie Avatar. We’ve explained to them that 97 percent of scientists believe in global warming, but it means nothing to them, even though the number 97 percent has been scientifically selected as the most panic-inducing random number available.

You can watch the entire rant here and subscribe to Klavan's updates. Highly recommended.


WELL, THIS IS INTERESTING: Looks Like Bowe Bergdahl's Father Was in Contact With Al Qaeda

Liberty Speaks co-blogger "Lady Liberty" contacted me earlier today with some interesting information.

It would appear that the father of Bowe Bergdahl, the AWOL/deserter swapped for five bloodthirsty terrorist leaders, has been in communication with member(s) of Al Qaeda.

On Google Plus, Robert Bergdahl's contacts include one "Anissa bint Yusuf Zaid Ibn Youssef."


And just who is Anissa? From this link (translated), she would seem to be a 10-year member of an Al Qaeda technology support team.

I thank Allah (Subhana Wa'a Ta'laah) for guiding me on the path of truth, righteousness and justice, which is the Path of Jihad. Agradezdo my beloved brothers and sisters of the Scientific and Technological Committee of Al 'Qaida and TTP, as also to the various centers Translations of the Jihad, Al Al'Qaida General Command and the Taliban who have allowed me to develop and exhibit my work over 10 years.

There's a lot more going on with Robert Bergdahl than what's been marketed in the media. Remember the reason for his beard?

As for the beard, Robert Bergdahl grew it as a way to mark the time since his son was captured in 2009, and also as an attempt to curry favor with his son’s captors, according to the Post account. He studied Pashto, a national language of Afghanistan, in an effort to familiarize himself with the culture of the place where his son was a prisoner.

Based on Bergdahl's YouTube channel, however, there's more than meets the eye.


The age and history of these social networking accounts point to the fact that they are genuine.

From all appearances, the elder Bergdahl: (a) was in contact with a longstanding member of Al Qaeda; and (b) very well could have been a convert to Islam.

It's a pity the NSA -- with its massive surveillance program, unlawfully monitoring the conversations of every American citizen -- didn't let us know these salient details ahead of time.

As for Robert Bergdahl shaving his beard now that his son's been released, well, I wouldn't hold my breath.


Credit for discovering these connections goes to "Lady Liberty".

SOWELL: Obama is not a socialist

Thomas Sowell confirms the fact that we have our very own Eva Perón:

One of the reasons why both pro-Obama and anti-Obama observers may be reluctant to see him as fascist is that both tend to accept the prevailing notion that fascism is on the political right, while it is obvious that Obama is on the political left.

Back in the 1920s, however, when fascism was a new political development, it was widely — and correctly — regarded as being on the political left. Jonah Goldberg’s great book “Liberal Fascism” cites overwhelming evidence of the fascists’ consistent pursuit of the goals of the left, and of the left’s embrace of the fascists as one of their own during the 1920s.

Mussolini, the originator of fascism, was lionized by the left, both in Europe and in America, during the 1920s. Even Hitler, who adopted fascist ideas in the 1920s, was seen by some, including W.E.B. Du Bois, as a man of the left.

It was in the 1930s, when ugly internal and international actions by Hitler and Mussolini repelled the world, that the left distanced themselves from fascism and its Nazi offshoot — and verbally transferred these totalitarian dictatorships to the right, saddling their opponents with these pariahs.

What socialism, fascism and other ideologies of the left have in common is an assumption that some very wise people — like themselves — need to take decisions out of the hands of lesser people, like the rest of us, and impose those decisions by government fiat.

For some eerie parallels of our current situation with that of Argentina's collapse, please see the illustrated tale entitled "Don't Cry for Me, America."


Larwyn's Linx: HISTORIC: 63% of Americans now believe their kids will be worse off than they are

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

Nation

HISTORIC: 63% of Americans now believe our kids will be worse off: WyBlog
Bergdahl was dying, the Taliban Five will behave, and other myths: Hayward
Members Of Bergdahl's Platoon Fight Back Against Smears: Caleb Howe

Documents Reveal Clintons Completely Reject Second Amendment: Red Alert
Among The Many And Growing Concerns…: Camp o' the Saints
The one about BRAVERY AND COWARDICE: Ann Barnhardt

Sgt. Tahmooressi and 100 Years of Progressivism…: Regular Right Guy
Because He Is Black, Americans Suffer and Die: Lloyd Marcus
The President’s Very Real Military Problem: RWN

Obama Funding Attorneys to Help Illegals Avoid Deportation: TopRight
VA Scandal Further Discredits Democrats' Big Govt. Policies: RWN
Is Michelle running for the Senate?: Keith Koffler

Economy

Five years into our 20-year lost decade: LI
37.2%: Percentage Not in Labor Force Remains at 36-Year High: CNS
Obama Has Typical Solution For Student Loans: RWN

Scandal Central

TSA ‘Abusively and Arbitrarily’ Hiding Information: Bill Straub
Office of Special Counsel: 37 Cases of Whistleblowers Being Punished For Whistleblowing: Ace
Did a Gun Control Cultist Intentionally Leave a Loaded Firearm for a Child to Find?: Bob Owens

Media

White (Liberal) Male Privilege: R.S. McCain
Quote of the day—alyce7: Joe Huffman
Moral Narcissism in a Week of Anniversaries: MOTUS

New York Times: Republican Psychopaths are Smearing Bowe Bergdahl: Ace
NYT editorial board sinks to new low over Bergdahl mess: Twitchy
A Blogger's Irony: Mad Jewess

This person is planning to kill me in order to teach me that I shouldn’t be mean and hateful: Matt Walsh
Hillary on Bergdahl's Desertion: What Difference Does It Make? Part 2: TR
No matter what you think you're doing, you're not doing anything.: SIAFLW

World

June 6: A walk across a beach in Normandy: American Digest
Obama Chomps On Gum During D-Day Anniversary Event…Update: France Not Happy: WZ
White House Narrative Breaker: New Study Finds That Al-Qaeda Is Not ‘On The Run’: IJR

So, Why Not Get Four Deserving Civilian Hostages Out of Taliban Hands, Too?: Ace
Obama Broke US Policy by Making Concessions, Paying Ransom for Prisoner Release: GWP
Marine Jailed in Mexico as US Welcomes Illegal Immigrants: RWN

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)

Cable companies are reportedly funding fake consumer groups to attack net neutrality: Engadget
BMW Beats Audi to Production Laser Headlamps, World Keeps Turning: Car and Driver
Another Day, Another Obamacare Data Breach: NRO

Cornucopia

Capital One forms unilateral partnership with People's Cube: Cube
PEOPLE Magazine Denies Clinton Walker Use, Raising Further Questions: Andrew Stiles
It’s Just a Flesh Wound! The bravery of a former Navy Seal: Hideout

Image: Obama Chomps On Gum During D-Day Anniversary Event…Update: France Not Happy
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: BOOM: Chris McDaniel for Senate

QOTD: "Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.

This is known as "bad luck."" --Robert A. Heinlein

Friday, June 06, 2014

HAHHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAAA

*Cough* HHAHAHAHHHAHAHHAHAHAHAH *Wheeze* AHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHHAHAW *Gasp* HA - HA - *Cough* -- HEHHH -- *Owww*

I think I just wrenched my nimbus muscle.

Top Dem Donor Calls DNC Chair “irritant,” “irrelevant”

The gloves are coming off in Florida. Major Democrat donor John Morgan (he employs this guy) is blasting DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, calling her an “irritant” who is becoming “irrelevant.” Wasserman Schultz opposes a Florida proposal Morgan supports that would legalize medical marijuana in Florida.

Marc Caputo at the Miami Herald reports:

“I know personally the most-powerful players in Washington DC. And I can tell you that Debbie Wasserman Schultz isn’t just disliked. She’s despised. She’s an irritant,” Morgan, an outspoken Orlando trial attorney, told the Miami Herald.

“Why she’s trying to undermine this amendment I don’t know,” he said. “But I’ll tell you I will never give a penny or raise a penny for the national party while she’s in leadership. And I have given and helped raise millions.”

...After he saw her statement, Morgan said he grew so angry that he erased her contacts from his telephone. He said he heard that she plans to run for U.S. Senate some day, perhaps in 2016, and he’ll make sure to oppose her if she does.

Morgan, a top donor to President Obama and Sen. Bill Nelson, has put $4 million of his own money into the fight to get this proposal on the ballot in November.


Debbie Wasserman-Schultz is about as compelling a salesperson for the Democrat Party as that old homeless Asian woman -- who's pushing a shopping cart filled with garbage bags -- is for drinking rubbing alcohol.

Only the old homeless Asian woman is more attractive. With all due respect, of course.


Hat tip: BadBlue News

REFUGEE CRISIS: Latin American Media Tell Poor Indigents to Rush to U.S. While Obama's in Office

There's a major refugee crisis unfolding on our southern border.

Let me repeat: a refugee crisis. A countless number of poor indigents from Central America are now flooding into America. They hope to gain amnesty and a path to citizenship under President Obama's unlawful edicts; he has enacted a de facto DREAM Act even though Congress refused to pass such a law.

KGRV in Texas reports:

Central Americans say news reports in their countries are encouraging them to make the journey north to the United States.

A mother and child told CHANNEL 5 NEWS that the message being disseminated in their country is, "go to America with your child, you won't be turned away."

The woman, Nora Griselda Bercian Diaz, from Guatemala, said she endured threats from the Zetas and extortion from corrupt Mexican police. She eventually crossed the Rio Grande with her 6-year-old Delmi Griselda Paul Bercian by her side...

...Agents eventually arrived and ushered the mother and daughter into a van. The agents didn't have time to turn around before another group came walking up the same road.

As if to encourage the flow of illegals into the U.S. -- without background checks, without health examinations, without any vetting whatsoever -- the Obama administration yesterday announced it will continue violating immigration law.

INSIGHTFUL GRAPHIC: The Weeks of Our Lives

Wait But Why features a fascinating illustration of all our weeks. The premise is simple: consider a rectangle made up of tiny squares, with each square representing a week of your life.

90 years might look like this:


Each row of weeks makes up one year. That’s how many weeks it takes to turn a newborn into a 90-year-old.

It kind of feels like our lives are made up of a countless number of weeks. But there they are—fully countable—staring you in the face.

Before we discuss things further, let’s look at how a typical American spends their weeks:


The Most Startling Chart of the Obama Era

I happened to look at the official government statistics for the Labor Force Participation Rate. This is the percentage of adults 16 and over that are in the workforce.

I noticed something that I haven't heard others point out.

Take a look at the rate and walk down each column (each month) since January of 2009 when SCOAMF was first inaugurated.


Did you notice it?

Adjusted for seasonality, the labor force participation rate (LFR) has never increased -- not once -- under Obama! Normalized by month, the LFR has been on a non-stop ride to progressive Utopia (i.e., full unemployment).

This is a stunning repudiation of the Obama economic agenda. Stunning.

Mind you, this is the Obama administration's own set of statistics. Having confirmed that the White House routinely publishes fake economic statistics (e.g., "Census ‘faked’ 2012 election jobs report"), the true data may be even worse.

And what is this, the fourth or fifth annual Summer of Recovery©®™?


Hat tip: BadBlue News

Larwyn's Linx: Bergdahl's Squad Stepped Forward Because Obama Left Them No Choice

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

Nation

Bergdahl's Squad Stepped Forward as Obama Left Them No Choice: Tatler
Bergdahl’s Platoon responds to demonization by White House: Scoop
Bergdahl declared jihad in captivity, secret documents show: James Rosen

Obama’s Casual Contempt for the Military: Jon Gabriel
Harry Reid on Bergdahl Deal: ‘What Difference Does It Make?’: WFB
Report: Obama ignored chances to rescue Bergdahl; wanted a trade: Daily Mail

Bergdahl’s free, but at what cost?: Jonah Goldberg
What world am I on?: Flopping Aces
The party's over: Bergdahl hometown cancels welcome celebrations: Allen West

Groping For a Reset: Walter Russell Mead
Obama: Bergdahl Controversy a “Scandal Whipped Up In Washington”: Patterico
Dutch Courage: Mark Steyn

Economy

Virginia DMV wages war on free market in attempt to shutter Uber: Watchdog
One photo reveals big issue with Seattle’s $15 minimum wage: Dustin Hurst
ECB Pulls Out Pea Shooter, Fires, Misses Target: Mish

Scandal Central

Obama Advisers Repeatedly Told President Not to Deal: NewsMax
Taliban Leader: Bergdahl Deal Encourages Capture of US Soldiers: Max
Bergdahl Situation Going So Poorly For Obama That Lindsey Graham Is Acting Like A Republican: Stephen Kruiser

Feds Warn Georgia: Don't Make Passing A Drug Test A Condition For Receiving Food Stamps: PL
Holder Revives Task Force On “Homegrown Extremists”: Herschel Smith
Washington Blood Sports, Then and Now: Ed Driscoll

Climate & Energy

It's official. There's been no Global Warming for 17 years, 9 months: Poor Richard
Is Germany finally ready to keep the green dream alive by fracking?: Erika Johnsen
Obama’s “Carbon” Plan: Killing Jobs, Costing Americans Money: Cove

Media

Why I’m considering quitting.: Barnhardt
“Instead of just bringing Bergdahl back, they had to do the full kissy-huggy announcement": JWF
Pelosi daughter awaiting Army investigation of Bergdahl’s ‘dysfunctional’ platoon: Twitchy

Do You Even Lift, Bro?! This Video of Obama Pumping Iron Won’t Fill You With Confidence: Sooper
Chris Matthews Breaks Ranks, Criticizes Network’s Claim That Bergdahl Is Being ‘Swiftboated’: NB
Allen West: Susan Rice Is A ‘Delusional Liar’: NoisyRm

World

Mullah Omar hails release of 5 top Taliban commanders as 'great victory': LWJ
Taliban: Yeah, We’re Gonna Kidnap More Americans; All Thanks to Obama: Tatler
Former CIA Officer Says It’s Time for Heroes and Whistleblowers to Step Up: AIM

Obama’s Real Goal: Close Gitmo: RWN
What Happened to Marine Deserter Wassef Ali Hassoun?: Michelle Malkin
Rolling Stones to perform in Israel despite pressure from Pink Floyd members to cancel: WaPo

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)

A 90-Year Human Life in Weeks (And How You'll Spend Them): Gizmodo
Malicious Advertisements on Major Websites Lead to Ransomware: CIO
Gameover Zeus and Cryptolocker: Crowdstrike

Cornucopia

Interview: Rand Simberg Explains Why Safe Is Not An Option: Ed Driscoll
Pentagon Ridiculed for Debunked “Climate” Report: NewAm
Services set for Chester Nez, last original Navajo Code Talker: MarineTimes

Image: Adorably Awkward Recreations of Old Family Photos
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: BOOM: Chris McDaniel for Senate

QOTD: "We in America have learned bitter lessons from two World Wars: It is better to be here ready to protect the peace, than to take blind shelter across the sea, rushing to respond only after freedom is lost. We've learned that isolationism never was and never will be an acceptable response to tyrannical governments with an expansionist intent." --President Ronald Reagan

Thursday, June 05, 2014

NUMBER OF AMERICANS NOW LOOKING FOR WORK: Roughly the Population of Georgia

By Bankrupting America

Tomorrow, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) will release the employment numbers for May 2014. In April, there were 9.8 million Americans looking for a job who could not find one. Below, we put the number of unemployed in context. The amount of people looking for work in April 2014 were:

  • Roughly The Population Of The State Of Georgia. The latest available Census data estimates that in 2009, 9.83 million people lived in Georgia.
  • More Than The Population Of 10 States. If you took the population from the 10 least populated states in the U.S., it would be about 8.8 million, 1 million less than the number of unemployed individuals.
  • More Than The Number Of People Who Visit The Eiffel Tower. According to Business Insider, 7 million people visit the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France every year.
  • Less Than Half Of The Latest Estimate Of Job Openings In The U.S. Each month, the DOL releases a survey on job openings and labor turnover in the U.S. labor market. In March 2004 (the latest data available), there were 4.0 million job openings available, compared to the 9.8 million unemployed.


Hat tip: BadBlue News

JUST A COINCIDENCE: Red States to Bear Brunt of Dramatically Higher Electricity Prices Thanks to Obama EPA

Courtesy of the Institute for 21st Century Energy, the accompanying map offers an estimate of the costs the Obama EPA will extract from consumers.

Remember: the one campaign promise Mr. Obama kept was that "energy prices would necessarily skyrocket" under his Ozmandian efforts to control the climate de-industrialize America promote renewable energy.


As Dave Blount astutely observes:

Of course, increasing energy costs drives up the price of literally all goods and services, in addition to destroying jobs, so this only scratches the surface. What we are witnessing is the deliberate lowering of the American standard of living out of ideologically motivated malice by executive fiat.

The highest price of all won’t come in terms of dollars, but will be paid in something more precious still: liberty. Obama and other extremists in the government tried to impose this regulation through legislative means but failed. So Congress was shoved aside; the rules are to be imposed by unelected and unaccountable EPA bureaucrats. The division of powers established by the Constitution is collapsing because Congress evidently does not have the character to defend its domain from usurpation by the executive branch.

Please note the price hikes for Red States -- the heart of America -- versus the Blues. Just a coincidence, I'm sure.

Meanwhile, China brings 200 dirty coal plants online every year.

And the EPA is curiously silent about that.


Hat tip: BadBlue News.

GOOD GRIEF: Hillary Clinton Uses Picture with Benghazi Caskets to Promote Her Ridiculous Book

Methinks someone in public relations at Simon & Schuster may soon be updating their resume.

The marketing material for Hillary Clinton's new book, "Hard Choices" (coincidentally the name of the book published by Jimmy Carter's failed Secretary of State Cyrus Vance), includes pictures of Hillary with the coffins of the Benghazi heroes she and Barack Obama left to die.

After all, Clinton has done her level best to whitewash any involvement with the Benghazi debacle.

Oh, and don't bother checking her new book for any details: it doesn't tell us what she and the president were doing for 10 hours after they found out that a U.S. Ambassador and dozens of other American personnel were under attack by Al Qaeda-linked terrorists. I mean, besides inventing a cover story and issuing press releases even as American heroes were fighting and dying.

And then, after all of that, to have the hubris to use pictures of the coffins of the Benghazi dead to promote her pathetic book?

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has a book coming out next week. Today, her publisher released images from the back cover of the book. The pictures mostly show Hillary meeting global leaders and attending important meetings.

But one of the images is Clinton with President Barack Obama, standing in front of the Benghazi caskets at Andrews Air Force Base, dated September 14, 2012, just days after the September 11 attack.


Stephen F. Hayes has reported that Secretary Clinton tries to spin Benghazi in her new book. Politico reports that at least a chapter of the book is devoted to Benghazi.

It takes a special brand of miscreant to use the photos of an event at which she knowingly lied to the faces of the victim's families regarding the nature of the killings.


Hat tip: Mark Levin

AS GOOD AS IT GETS: Reagan at Normandy

Ronald Reagan died ten years ago today. Thirty years ago tomorrow, he spoke in Normandy, France at the anniversary of the 1944 D-Day invasion to liberate Europe from the Nazis. Many remember his Normandy remarks but forget that he gave not one, but two brilliant speeches that day. He delivered the first at the site of the U.S. Ranger Monument at Pointe du Hoc:


We're here to mark that day in history when the Allied armies joined in battle to reclaim this continent to liberty. For four long years, much of Europe had been under a terrible shadow. Free nations had fallen, Jews cried out in the camps, millions cried out for liberation. Europe was enslaved, and the world prayed for its rescue. Here in Normandy the rescue began. Here the Allies stood and fought against tyranny in a giant undertaking unparalleled in human history.

We stand on a lonely, windswept point on the northern shore of France. The air is soft, but 40 years ago at this moment, the air was dense with smoke and the cries of men, and the air was filled with the crack of rifle fire and the roar of cannon. At dawn, on the morning of the 6th of June, 1944, 225 Rangers jumped off the British landing craft and ran to the bottom of these cliffs. Their mission was one of the most difficult and daring of the invasion: to climb these sheer and desolate cliffs and take out the enemy guns. The Allies had been told that some of the mightiest of these guns were here and they would be trained on the beaches to stop the Allied advance.

The Rangers looked up and saw the enemy soldiers -- the edge of the cliffs -- shooting down at them with machineguns and throwing grenades. And the American Rangers began to climb. They shot rope ladders over the face of these cliffs and began to pull themselves up. When one Ranger fell, another would take his place. When one rope was cut, a Ranger would grab another and begin his climb again. They climbed, shot back, and held their footing. Soon, one by one, the Rangers pulled themselves over the top, and in seizing the firm land at the top of these cliffs, they began to seize back the continent of Europe. Two hundred and twenty-five came here. After two days of fighting, only 90 could still bear arms.

Behind me is a memorial that symbolizes the Ranger daggers that were thrust into the top of these cliffs. And before me are the men who put them there.

These are the boys of Pointe du Hoc. These are the men who took the cliffs. These are the champions who helped free a continent. These are the heroes who helped end a war.

Gentlemen, I look at you and I think of the words of Stephen Spender's poem. You are men who in your ``lives fought for life . . . and left the vivid air signed with your honor.''

Larwyn's Linx: Homeland Bound: Obama’s Ego Creates Another Scandal

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Nation

Homeland Bound: Obama’s Ego Creates Another Scandal: The Wilderness
Obama Official: Bergdahl platoon may have been ‘long on psychopaths’: Renee Nal
Ted Cruz: We’re hearing Obama wants to release another Gitmo terrorist: Scoop

Why Obama had to have the Bergdahl deal: Paul Mirengoff
White House accuses Bergdahl's old squad of "swift-boating" him: WS
"5 4-Star Generals traded for 1 Private Deserter": Twitchy

Obama to Donors: I'm in a “Very Strong Position” To Amend Constitution…: RWN
Impeachment: Food For Thought: Camp o' the Saints
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has no idea who Thomas Jefferson is: Moe Lane

Economy

Obama is Not a Socialist: Thomas Sowell
Progressives shocked they have to pay for programs they voted for: Poor Richard
“We Are Seeing a Very Material Slow-down Across the Economy”: Mac Slavo

Scandal Central

ACLU Rejects Amendment to Corral Campaign Spending: Daily Signal
Holder vows to fight ” domestic terrorists” (i.e, Americans): Creeping
House Votes to Defund Eric Holder’s Anti-Gun Program: ConTrib

Police and prosecution roundup: Overlawyered
Attkisson: How the Government Violated Its Own Ethics Rules, Then Covered It Up: Daily Signal
ACORN Spin-Off Received HUD Grant Despite Federal Funding Ban: JW

Climate & Energy

Curbing Carbon Vs. Rationalizing Recklessness: RWN
Report: EPA Regulations Could Reduce Average Family Income By $1,200 A Year: DC
Isn’t It Cool How California Is Flooded By Inland Seas?: Cove

Media

NBC Reporter: Google Search Would Have Told White House Bergdahl Was Controversial: MRC
CNN Notices that Obama Likes Breaking Laws: Eagle Rising
Noam Chomsky: Obama ‘Determined To Demolish The Foundations Of Our Civil Liberties’: DC

“Footage of Obama’s Warsaw workout prompts security questions”: PW
Dangerous ‘Butterfield Effect’ Now Striking Non-Journalists: Ed Driscoll
Media Silent as Guns Used to Save at Least Seven Lives Since May 25: Breitbart

World

Czech President Delivers Bold Speech in Support of Israel: Jon Gabriel
Taliban Releases Propaganda Video Of Bergdahl Release Celebratingr Commanders' Return: WZ
Hagel Announces Bergdahl’s Release, Troops Respond With Silence: MenRec

Omidyar and the Oligarch’s Code: Enabling Extremism, Monetizing Dissent: Chris Floyd
Obama’s Syria Policy Rebuked From the Inside: Max Boot
The Photos China Doesn’t Want You to See: Daily Signal

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)

The Decline and Fall of IBM: I, Cringely
Contact With 36-Year Old Spacecraft Results in Dancing, Hugs: UniverseToday
Google Glass-equipped rifles offer ‘mind-blowing’ fire superiority: Times

Cornucopia

A Warrior’s Homecoming: What Not to Wear: MOTUS
Last original Navajo code talker dies: Fox
Cop impersonator pulls over Fla. officer: PoliceOne

Image: This photo of the ISS looks like a scene from a space horror movie
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: BOOM: Chris McDaniel for Senate

QOTD: "It is necessary to name the enemy of human civilization and this enemy is international terrorism associated with religious fundamentalism and religious intolerance. This fanatical creed does not only attack a single nation, as we saw after September 11. Muslim fanatics in Nigeria recently captured 200 young Christian girls. And in the flower at the heart of Europe, an abominable killing took place at the Jewish Museum in Brussels.

I am not reassured by the claims that this is the work of only a small fringe group. Quite the contrary. I believe that xenophobia, racism and anti-Semitism stems from the essential ideology that these fanatical groups are based on." --Czech President Miloš Zeman