Monday, June 16, 2014

THE JOYS OF SINGLE-PAYER: At least 175 Veterans Administration whistleblowers targeted for retribution

Those who lobby for a single-payer health care system must either be: (a) exceedingly rich, having never been to a DMV; or (b) exceedingly dimwitted, having visited a DMV and been ecstatic with the service.

The VA, after all, is the ultimate example of a single-payer health care system. And the VA turns out to be at once both less efficient and more corrupt than any DMV anywhere.

Here’s the latest appalling development in the VA hospitals scandal: Emails, audits, and personal statements reveal a systematic silencing of whistleblowers working inside the agency. The NYT reports that the Office of Special Counsel, the federal agency dedicated to probing whistle-blowing cases, is investigating 37 cases in 19 states in which VA employees were punished for speaking out about the fraud in the system. The Project on Government Oversight, a private organization, reports even more cases: 175 former or current employees have come to them confidentially to detail the abuse at the VA.

The NYT interviewed six of these whistleblowers, and here’s just one example:

Dr. Jacqueline Brecht, a former urologist at the Alaska V.A. Healthcare System in Anchorage, said in an interview that she had a heated argument with administrators at a staff meeting in 2008 when she objected to using phantom appointments to make wait times appear shorter, as they had instructed her. She said that the practice amounted to medical fraud, and complained about other patient care problems as well.

Days later, a top administrator came to Dr. Brecht’s clinic, put her on administrative leave, and had security officers walk her out of the building ... Her complaints were corroborated by other Alaska personnel... Dr. Brecht wrote that administrators “schedule fake patient appointments (i.e. commit FRAUD).” They do so, she wrote, “just so our numbers look good to DC (and the administrators get their bonuses for these numbers).”

This is what the culture of large, closed bureaucratic organizations looks like... [It is certain that] more government control over health care isn’t a shortcut to efficiency and competence, despite what American supporters of European-style single payer systems often suggest.


No, single-payer has absolutely nothing to do with the successful delivery of health care. It has to do with power.

Like gun control, smart meters, the IRS, the IPAB, the CFPB, the NLRB, the EPA... the Democrats crave control over you -- and they will use any means at their disposal to get it.


Hat tip: BadBlue News

IPAB: Obamacare's Unconstitutional 15-Person Death Panel Faces Major Legal Challenge

By Eric Boehm

It might sound like the latest new product from Apple, but IPAB is actually the newest major legal challenge to Obamacare.

Last week, a three-judge panel in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco heard arguments about the Independent Payment Advisory Board, or IPAB, a 15-member panel created by the Affordable Care Act and empowered to make all kinds of decisions regarding health coverage for Americans. The board’s powers are significant, and some say completely unconstitutional, because language in the ACA frees the board from any kind of congressional or judicial oversight.

The board, which many in the right-wing have labeled the ACA’s “death panel” after Sarah Palin coined the term in 2009, would be able to set Medicare policy and health care payment rates for virtually all Americans starting in 2017. Language in the ACA even prevents Congress from being able to repeal the IPAB’s existence after that same year.

“It’s really and truly an unprecedented concentration of power,” said Christina Sandefur, an lawyer at the Goldwater Institute in Phoenix, Ariz., who argued the case June 10 before the 9th Circuit Court.

Those challenging the legitimacy of the IPAB in the Coons v. Law lawsuit argue that it is unconstitutional for a variety of reasons — in particular, they say it violates the Fourth, Fifth and Ninth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, while also running afoul of the separation of powers that are enshrined throughout the Constitution.

“It consolidates the powers of every single branch of government into one body, and yet it is unaccountable to any of those branches,” Sandefur told Watchdog.org on Friday.

NOT A SMIDGEN OF A SCANDAL: Benghazi Pilot Says Stevens, Smith, Doherty and Woods Could Have Been Saved

By Investor's Business Daily

Scandal: The pilot who flew the survivors of the Benghazi tragedy to Germany says we could have rescued those who died and that the State Department knew who was attacking as it listened to the terrorists on captured cellphones.

In her book "Hard Choices," Hillary Clinton doubles down on the administration's Benghazi lies, writing that President Obama "gave the order to do whatever was necessary to support our people in Libya. It was imperative that all possible resources be mobilized immediately."

Of the terrorist attackers, Clinton, the originator of the Benghazi video lie, says:

"It is inaccurate to state that every single one of them was influenced by this hateful video. It is equally inaccurate to state that none of them were."

We'd like to introduce the former secretary of state to Eric Stahl, a recently retired major from the U.S. Air Force. Stahl was the commander and pilot who flew the corpses of the four killed at the Benghazi mission — U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens, information officer Sean Smith and former Navy SEALs Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods. Also on board were the survivors of the raid. All were taken to the U.S. military base in Ramstein, Germany.

Stahl, who — like Clinton — was for some strange reason never interviewed by the State Department's Accountability Review Board, says, no, we didn't do whatever was necessary and that none of the survivors knew anything about a spontaneous protest or a video that was put forth by her and by Obama repeatedly as the cause.

In fact, says Stahl, the State Department knew that night it was a terrorist attack.

Stahl told Fox News' Bret Baier that members of a CIA-trained Global Response Staff who raced to the scene of the attacks were "confused" by the administration's repeated implication of the video as a trigger for the raid, because it "knew during the attack ... who was doing the attacking."

The administration knew, according to Stahl, because immediately after leaving the consulate in Benghazi and moving to the (CIA) safe house, there were reports "that cell phones, consulate cell phones, were being used to make calls to the attackers' higher-ups."

Larwyn's Linx: Pirro: I’m Worried – And You should Be Too

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Nation

Pirro: I’m Worried – And You should Be Too: Nice Deb
Can Conservatives Give Labrador a Chance as Majority Leader?: Rod Kackley
‘Good Thing President Nobody Is Running Things’: Camp o' the Saints

How Barack Obama Let the Iranians Bully Him Out of Iraq: Erick Erickson
Daughter Learns Terrorist Behind her Dad’s Death Freed for Bergdahl: RWN
False flag PAC attacks Tea Party challenger to prevent Cantor-style upset: LI

On immigrant surge, White House story falls apart: Byron York
Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper is Lying.: RS
VA Lawmakers Block Medicaid Expansion, but Governor Vows Fight: Signal

Lawyer Hillary Vs The Allegedly Raped Child: S&L
For love of country, impeach Obama: Diana West
SC Requires Teaching the Constitution in Schools… Liberals Go Crazy: ConTrib

Economy

Our Decimated Labor Force: Irwin M. Stelzer
Time Lapse Image of Growing US Political Polarization: Mish
FOMC Preview: More Tapering: Bill McBride

Scandal Central

Federal Appeals Court Strikes Down Warrantless Cellphone Tracking: NewAm
Obama Used Commencement Speech To Attack Americans Who Disagree With Him: LoneCon
Meet The “Minerva Research Initiative”, Pentagon’s Preparation For “Mass Civil Breakdown”: NC Renegade

Media

‘Are you kidding?’ – Mitt Romney calls Hillary ‘clueless’ on Bergdahl traded terrorists: Scoop
Thank God David Gregory is there to grill Mitt Romney and hold him to account for Iraq: Treehouse
Romney blasts Hillary Clinton as 'clueless': Dylan Stableford

In 2007, Romney Predicted Events In Iraq So Accurately He Must Have Had A Time Machine: IJR
Obama’s Favorability Rating in the Basement: Hideout
Cross-Eyed Hillary Appears on Conan O'Brien: TR

Laura Ingraham, Luis Gutierrez Face Off on Immigration, Cantor's Loss: Breitbart
In Today’s America, “Mainstream” Means Left: Star Parker
Hillary told secret service agent who refused to carry her bag to ‘get the f*** away from me’: DailyMail

World

ISIS reportedly engaged in mass murder, other war crimes in Iraq: Moe Lane
The Southern Poverty Law Center Stands Up for Hamas: Daniel Greenfield
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair Calls for Western Intervention in #Iraq: AmPower

Shia Muslims Distribute Khomeini Photos in Baghdad – 2,000 al-Quds Forces Sent to Baghdad: GWP
Obama Releases another 12 Jihad Terrorists from US Military Prison: FreePost
Rebels’ Fast Strike in Iraq Was Years in the Making: NYT

Obama’s “3,000 lives wasted” in Iraq revisited: DTG
Air Force in 'Stand Down' Position as 100 American Contractors Attacked by ISIS Jihadists: FreePost
How did 800 ISIS fighters rout 2 Iraqi divisions?: MilitaryTimes

ISIS continues march; Marines, Army arrive at embassy; Obama golfed a full round: Scoop
Flashback 2012: When Obama Grilled Mitt Romney For Wanting to Keep Troops in Iraq: RightPundit
ISIS-linked group takes responsibility for kidnapping three teens, including one American, in Israel: JihadWatch

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)

Amazon's MYSTERY mobe: Can 3D touch tech hype live up to reality?: Register
Why Isn't There A Standard Share Icon?: Fastcodesign
Microsoft’s secret Android patents revealed by Chinese government: Verge

Cornucopia

Arturo Prat Don't Give a S***: The hand of god
Veterans Pose As Illegal Aliens To Get help: BlurBrain
ISIS: Brought to you by NASA Muslim Outreach Program: Cube

Image: The Diary of Chick Bruns. June 12, 1944. 7th Army, 3rd Infantry Division, 10th Combat Engineers
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: DONATE TO DAVE BRAT NOW

QOTD: "The New York Times would like us to believe that there is a “mainstream” in America today because what “mainstream” means is status quo – don’t rock the boat. Because of the massive growth of government over recent years, today’s status quo means acceptance of a great lurch leftward, which has already occurred.

It sounds so measured and sober to call a candidate “mainstream.”

But “mainstream” is not measured and sober.

It means shrugging your shoulders at $17 trillion in federal debt, $4 trillion in federal spending, and a tax code of over 73,000 pages." --Star Parker

Sunday, June 15, 2014

Some Classy Father's Day Cards

Hmmm, I guess I should've gotten one of these.


As U.S. Evacuates Personnel From Iraqi Embassy; President Leads Robust Response From the Golf Course

Total collapse.

It's something this president seems to excel at. Now Iraq has officially joined the roster of Middle Eastern countries that have exploded into violence under Obama's watch, following Egypt, Syria, Tunisia, Libya, Yemen, Bahrain, and Algeria, to name but a few.

Unfortunately, in this case of Iraq, we may have to prepare for a replay of the evacuation of the embassy in Saigon.

22.27 The Pentagon has issued a statement about the security boost and evacuation at the US Embassy in Baghdad. Staff will be evacuated using commercial, charter and State Department aircraft. The US military also has "airlift assets at the ready" should they be needed, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said:

The evacuations come as Baghdad itself has come under attack from ISIS forces.

he United States said Sunday it was evacuating some staff from its embassy and beefing up security as deadly explosions rocked the Iraqi capital and advancing militant Islamic insurgents released graphic images appearing to show its fighters massacring captured Iraqi soldiers.

The U.S. State Department said in a statement that an undisclosed number of staffers will be moved to Amman, Jordan, or U.S. consulates elsewhere in Iraq not immediately threatened by the insurgent group, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL.

Yes, it's another historic Obama "first"!

It is the first time since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 that the embassy has drawn down its staffing levels in response to a threat posed by violence, and the redeployment was an indication of the level of concern that the unrest could reach even into the fortress-like Green Zone, where members of the Iraqi government also reside.

Meanwhile, the president is reportedly busy taking care of more urgent priorities:

The restless president, who has compared himself to a caged animal on recent wanderings by declaring the "bear is loose," took a long Father's Day weekend away with his wife and older daughter.

The visit to the desert resort area of Palm Springs is one of the ways Obama has been trying to escape during his sixth year cloistered in the White House.

Obama interspersed his four-day weekend with official duties, including Democratic Party fundraising, a speech on climate change and calls to his national security adviser... As his administration announced that some staff were being evacuated from the Baghdad embassy, Obama was on the golf course.

Well, we wouldn't want a major war breaking out in the Middle East -- with thousands of American personnel at risk -- to interfere with the President's golf game.

Can you believe this guy?


Hat tip: BadBlue News

GOOD NEWS: U.S. "Allies" Are Funding the ISIS Barbarians That Are Leaving Iraq Awash in Blood

Apparently, our beloved President is "fundamentally transforming" others areas of the world, too. Josh Rogin at The Daily Beast reports:

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), now threatening Baghdad, was funded for years by wealthy donors in Kuwait, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, three U.S. allies that have dual agendas in the war on terror.


...As ISIS takes over town after town in Iraq, they are acquiring money and supplies including American made vehicles, arms, and ammunition. The group reportedly scored $430 million this week when they looted the main bank in Mosul. They reportedly now have a stream of steady income sources, including from selling oil in the Northern Syrian regions they control, sometimes directly to the Assad regime.

But in the years they were getting started, a key component of ISIS’s support came from wealthy individuals in the Arab Gulf States of Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Sometimes the support came with the tacit nod of approval from those regimes; often, it took advantage of poor money laundering protections in those states, according to officials, experts, and leaders of the Syrian opposition, which is fighting ISIS as well as the regime...

...Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has been publicly accusing Saudi Arabia and Qatar of funding ISIS for months. Several reports have detailed how private Gulf funding to various Syrian rebel groups has splintered the Syrian opposition and paved the way for the rise of groups like ISIS and others...

...Under significant U.S. pressure, the Arab Gulf governments have belatedly been cracking down on funding to Sunni extremist groups, but Gulf regimes are also under domestic pressure to fight in what many Sunnis see as an unavoidable Shiite-Sunni regional war that is only getting worse by the day...

I'm not exactly sure who this ISIS group is, but I suspect the Militant Quakers are behind it.

Ever since Obama came to power, these radical MQ groups seem to be increasingly terrorizing the normally peaceful countries of the Middle East: Egypt, Syria, Gaza, the Sinai, and Iraq, to name but a few. I'm sure that's just a coincidence, however.

Maybe someone should ask CAQR, the Council on American-Quaker Relations.


Hat tip: BadBlue News

Larwyn's Linx: Obama Opens Borders to Mexican Gang Members

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Nation

Obama Opens Borders to Mexican Gang Members: Kellan Howell
3 Obama Contradictions Revealed by the Debacle in Iraq: Robert Spencer
The absurdity of McCarthy replacing Cantor as Majority Leader: Exam

Obama Even Worse Than We Thought: Peter Wehner
6 Reasons Obama Lost Iraq: Ben Shapiro
Obama’s Foreign Policy in one Tweet – by a member of his own staff!: Hideout

Influx of Illegal Alien Minors a Disaster; Overcrowded Shelters and Diseases: JW
Caged, diseased, desperate: Shocking pics of illegal immigrants flooding in: Mail
Is it possible Obama is hoping to goad the GOP into impeaching him?: Lifson

Poor, Poor Hillary: Rick Jensen
Kathleen Willey blasts Hillary’s ‘dead broke’ claim: Bob Unruh
Federal deficit for May 2014: $130 billion: Bankrupting

Economy

Democrats Bank on Heavy Student Loan Debt as Election-year Issue: PJM
How to Live With Your Parents: Thomas Purcell
California Can’t Convince Drivers to Trade in Clunkers for Cash: Signal

Scandal Central

White House Claim that Lerner’s Emails Are “Lost” Is Ludicrous: Power Line
IRS Rules: Lerner Required to Keep Printed Copies of 'Lost' Emails: Blaze
BOOM! IRS Head testified in March that they had Lois Lerner emails: Scoop

Climate & Energy

Baghdad's Fall Would Make Current Gas Prices ‘Look Like A Bargain’: RightPundit
Man Burns Massive Amounts of Fossil Fuel To Complain About “Climate Change”: RWN
Fate of Ukraine-Russia gas talks unclear as deadline looms: Reuters

Media

AP on IRS: No ‘evidence’ of outside pressure to target conservatives: Renee Nal
NEW YORKER’s Ryan Lizza Sorta Gets It About Dave Brat: VDARE
Hillary's already running: Carl Cannon

‘Exhausted’ Obama to drive golf balls as ISIS drives on Baghdad, Twitter erupts: BPR
Adam Carolla Rips "Ambush" Interview With NPR Host: "Speech Is Free Unless You Disagree With Them": RCP
ACTOR JAMES WOODS RIPS ON OBAMA: “Who Could Support This Loser Anymore?”: Clash

Harsh Words Provoke Harsh Reactions: Villainous Company
Correct Number Of Mass School Shootings Since Sandy Hook: ZERO: Bob Owens
NAACP Threatens LifeNews for Reporting Its Abortion Advocacy: LifeNews

World

ISIS terror leader's last words in US detention: "See you in New York": Poor Richard
Iraq War Vet Explains How JACKED UP Iraq Is With Blistering Tweet: Clash
Latest turn in Iraq spreads dismay among US veterans: Edward Colimore, Stripes

Stranded Americans in Iraq: Contractors Evacuating, Embassy Diplomats and Staff to Stay Put: IJR
ISIS Carries Out Gruesome Mass Execution of Shiite Soldiers: WZ
#ISIS Posts Sunni Police Chief Beheading in #WorldCup Tweet — WARNING GRAPHIC: AmPower

Erdogan’s Son Caught with Al-Qaeda Financier: Mead
GRAPHIC: ISIS releases PHOTOS of Mass Executions: Pamela Geller
As south heats up, Iron Dome deployed near Ashdod: Times of Israel

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)

Hookup App Tinder Gets Coveted Anthony Weiner Endorsement On Twitter: BuzzFeed
CSAIL wireless technology measures heart rate and breathing through walls: MIT
LG G Watch International Giveaway: Darcy LaCouvee

Cornucopia

America’s Families Need Strong Fathers: Marco Rubio
Iraq Islamists Suspend Attack While Obama Rests: Keith Koffler
Holy Cow! How Will You Celebrate Father’s Day?: MOTUS

Image: It Looks Like Chelsea Clinton Made $26,724 For Each Minute She Appeared On NBC
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: DONATE TO DAVE BRAT NOW

QOTD: "President Obama spoke on Iraq earlier today, pledging to do nothing and essentially saying nothing, even as that nation is breaking apart, with Islamic militants overrunning Iraq and vowing to capture Baghdad.

In light of the unfolding disaster in Iraq, which is linked to the unfolding disaster in Syria, which is part of a broader failure in the Middle East, which is only one part of an across-the-board failure in foreign policy, which is separate from the failures at home–including healthcare.gov and ObamaCare more broadly, chronically high unemployment, the stimulus and “shovel ready jobs,” a historically weak economic recovery, the lowest workforce participation rate since the 1970s, increasing income inequality, and record poverty–the following needs to be said. Even those of us who were highly critical of Mr. Obama early on, who twice voted against him and worked in campaigns to defeat him, could not envision how epically incompetent he would be.

The harm this man has done is immeasurable. And he still has more than two years left to go.

Mr. Obama belongs in a category all his own." --Peter Wehner

Saturday, June 14, 2014

KIM JONG OBAMA: I Forbid Congress From Photographing Any Illegal Alien Refugee Centers

I don't think the word "transparency" means what President Obama thinks it does.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is welcoming members of Congress and their senior staff to tour a temporary shelter being used to house illegal immigrant children — but the invite comes with a list of rules, including a suggestion that members leave their cellphones in their vehicles.

...The tours are meant to give members and staffers an inside look at how temporary facilities are being used to house illegal immigrant children who came to the U.S. without their parents. The minors, who hail mostly from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala, are being called “Unaccompanied Children,” or UACs.

Sent to members of Congress and staff by Rose Hacking, of the office of the assistant secretary of legislation at HHS, the invitation comes with the following commands:

No recording devices will be allowed (We may ask you to leave your cellphone in our vehicle)
No questions will be allowed during the tour, but questions will be addressed later
• No interacting with staff and children at the shelter
• We will provide photos of the facility after the tour

...one congressional staffer invited to tour the facility called the planned tours “a dog and pony show... Don’t talk to anyone, don’t record anything you might happen to see, but come visit us and we’ll give you a sanitized story with only the photos and accounts we want you to have,” said the staffer, who requested anonymity.

This isn’t some totalitarian closed society trying this tactic, this is our own government! They clearly wouldn’t be offering up this kind of dog and pony show if they weren’t hiding a very ugly truth somewhere.”

The UACs are part of an unprecedented surge of young immigrants that has overwhelmed immigration agencies at the southern Texas border.

This humanitarian refugee crisis -- something you would normally see in Third World countries -- is the product of Barack Obama's purposeful evisceration of America's immigration laws. Bound by his oath of office to enforce them, Obama has instead chosen to open up America's borders to any and all. Cartel members, the infirm, the disease-ridden, pedophiles, MS-13 members, burglars, the poverty-stricken... no passports, no background checks, no customs inspection, no waiting line, nothing.

All are welcome in Obama's America, no matter the consequences.


Hat tip: Weasel Zippers

PREPARE TO LOSE YOUR MIND: 5 Baddest Cars for Father's Day 2015

Daddy like.

SUPRA...



10 Things the Incompetent Buffoon Dave Camp Should Do Right Now to Handle the IRS's "Missing Emails"

Lois Lerner, the malevolent hack who used her position at the IRS to target conservative and pro-Israel groups, was recently held in Contempt of Congress. But the IRS cover-up of her activities continues unabated.

As you may know, the IRS claimed late yesterday that all of Lois Lerner's emails with parties outside the agency were destroyed in an unfortunate and untimely hard-drive crash.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) on Friday said it was “unacceptable” that he was just learning of this problem now, after a lengthy investigation into Lerner’s involvement in the IRS targeting scandal... “The fact that I am just learning about this, over a year into the investigation, is completely unacceptable and now calls into question the credibility of the IRS’s response to congressional inquiries,” he said. “There needs to be an immediate investigation and forensic audit by Department of Justice as well as the Inspector General.”

Gee, since the DOJ was implicated in the IRS scandal, I'm sure we can count on Eric Holder to spearhead a bold, independent "forensic audit" of the disks in question. What a bunch of nincompoops.

Oh, and the brilliant investigator Darrell "Inspector" Issa was equally peeved.

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) indicated that he doesn’t believe the IRS is telling the truth... “Do they really expect the American people to believe that, after having withheld these emails for a year, they’re just now realizing the most critical time period is missing?”

This kind of rank incompetence is precisely why Johnny Boehner should have named a Select Committee on the IRS.

In lieu of that rational step, may I offer these clownish fools some instructions for dealing with this criminal behavior.

1. Terry V. Milholland served as the IRS Chief Technology Officer during the years in question and was responsible for all IT activities. Subpoena Milholland now.

2. David Stender served as Associate CIO for Cybersecurity and Chief Information Security Officer at the IRS during the years in question. Subpoena Stender now.

3. Robert N. Crawford served as the Associate Chief Information Officer for Enterprise Services at the IRS during the years in question. Subpoena Crawford now.

4. Lauren Buschor served as the Associate Chief Information Officer for Enterprise Operations at the IRS during the years in question. Subpoena Buschor now.

5. The IRS uses Microsoft Exchange as its email platform. Subpoena the administrator of that system now.

6. Immediately subpoena all backup tapes of the email system, probably held at an Iron Mountain facility, for the years 2010 through 2013

7. Prepare a list of questions for each of the IT executives to include, at a minimum, the following:
      a) Given the redundant infrastructure, disaster recovery and business continuity facilities, and other preparations designed to maintain the IRS's technical operations, describe how the agency could state that a small fraction of the email related to Lois Lerner could be reported as "destroyed".
      b) Describe the logical architecture of backups for the Exchange system including DR sites, offline storage of backup tapes, etc.
      c) Describe the interval of full and incremental backups for the Exchange system.
      d) Describe a scenario in which all backups from Lerner for the years in question could be destroyed.

8. Immediately subpoena all disk drives said to have "crashed".

9. Put each of these officials under oath immediately.

10. Begin forensic investigations of the drives and backup tapes.

How hard was that?

Apparently too hard for the establishment Republican buffoons, who probably want to see a weaponized IRS target conservatives.


Larwyn's Linx: Is America on the brink of economic and social collapse?

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

Nation

Is America on the brink of economic and social collapse?: David Solway
Vet J.R. Salzman: ‘Why did you throw our sacrifices away?’: Twitchy
AZ to Congress: End 'Unconscionable...Manufactured' Border Crisis: Breitbart

While America Sleeps, A New Era of Terror in America Unfolds: Sara Noble
My Father and Hospitalists: Janine Turner
Fail: Twitchy

Cochran's “Indecent Acts With Animals” Earns $825k from McConnell: Riehl
Thad Cochran: Forget That I Forgot What I Forgot, I Did!: Dan Riehl
Rep. Kevin McCarthy's Immigration-Reduction Report Card: NUSA

5 Disastrous Obama Decisions That Blew Up In His Face: John Hawkins
Debt is No Salvation: Peter Schiff
Liberals Mourn Cantor : John Fund

Scandal Central

A Terrorist Released For Bowe Bergdahl Has A Role In 9/11: Hot Air
IRS claims to have lost key Lois Lerner emails: Moe Lane
DOD linked Benghazi attack to Al Qaeda 2 Days after attack: Dan Riehl

Did The IRS Really Lose Lois Lerner's Emails? Let a Special Prosecutor Find Them: Ron Fournier
Dang! IRS says Lois Lerner's emails done got wiped out in one of them there computer crashes: John Hayward
Rep. Jason Chaffetz: IRS testified that Lois Lerner’s emails were archived: Twitchy

Climate & Energy

EPA Wants To Control Puddles, Little Streams, Backyard Ponds: LoneCon

Media

15 Myths Millennials Accept as Fact: Taki's Mag
Columbine Survivor Pens Open Letter To Obama About Gun Control: Yehuda Remer
Online Journalism Is Suffering Print's Fate: Megan McArdle

Mark Levin: What Kind Of Mind In The White House Would Release Five Mass Murders: Breitbart
Incomie Inequality: Chelsea Clinton’s Salary For Doing Nothing Will Shock You: Sooper
Obama’s image hits record lows in trio of polls: Sean Sullivan, WaPo

World

Terrorist leading the ISIS rampage in Iraq was released from custody by Obama admin in 2009: Poor Richard
From Iraq to Ukraine: The disaster of Obama's world: Commentator
A Guide to ISIS, the Group That’s Tearing Up Iraq: DefenseOne

Amid Iraq Crisis, Kerry Flies to London to Recite Poetry: DC
Palin on Border Crisis: Congress Lacks Guts to Impeach 'Tyrant' Obama over Lawlessness: Breitbart
Shocking Videos: This is What Obama Has Wrought In Iraq [EXTREMELY GRAPHIC]: SHTFplan

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)

New Ruling Shows the NSA Can’t Legally Justify Its Phone Spying Anymore: Wired
Coming Soon To Twitter, Ads Targeted To Weather Conditions: Martin Beck, MarketingLand
Even better than an app?: Seth Godin

Cornucopia

The Regals Have Landed: MOTUS
SCUM ALERT: Man Who Left Gun In Target Toy Department Identified By Police: Bob Owens
Tech Time Warp: 20 Years Ago, We Thought the Internet Would Bring Out Our Nice Sides: Wired

Image: Iraq conflict: Iran's Rouhani 'ready to help'
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: DONATE TO DAVE BRAT NOW

QOTD: "It is not impossible to think that a tyrant, to the likes of Mao, Castro, Che, Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, and others, could possibly rise to power in America. It could be five, ten, twenty, or one hundred years from now — but future generations have the natural right to protect themselves from tyrannical government just as much as we currently do. It is safe to assume that this liberty that our forefathers secured has been a thorn in the side of would-be tyrants ever since the Second Amendment was adopted." --Evan Todd, a wounded survivor of the Columbine shootings

Friday, June 13, 2014

PILOT WHO RESCUED DOZENS AT BENGHAZI: A Competent Administration Would Have Saved Those Who Died

By Helle Dale


The pilot who flew the plane carrying U.S. diplomatic and CIA personnel from Benghazi, Libya, to U.S. military base Ramstein in Germany on September 12, 2012, broke his silence this week.

His eyewitness account further undermines the Obama administration’s false narrative of the Benghazi terrorist attack.

In an interview with Fox News’s Bret Baier, Eric Stahl, who recently retired as a major in the U.S. Air Force and whoserved as commander and pilot of the C-17 aircraft, made three revelations critically important to the investigation of the Benghazi Select Committee:

1. The CIA staff revealed that they overheard in real time the Benghazi attackers communicating with each other on U.S. State Department cell phones, presumably picked up as they rampaged through the compound. Their communications suggested nothing but a well-coordinated attack. For that reason, the people who were actually on the ground were mystified by the suggestions coming from Washington that there had been an anti-video demonstration in progress.

2. Upon arriving at Ramstein, the survivors were not questioned by the FBI initially, but instead were led away by U.S. ambassador to Germany Philip D. Murphy to be debriefed that same evening. The Select Committee will want to know what, if any, instructions they were given.

3. Finally, Stahl believes that a rescue attempt could have been made out of Ramstein. Rescuers could potentially have arrived in time to fight back the attack on the CIA Benghazi annex that erupted in the early morning and led to the deaths of Navy SEALs Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty. He also logically questions the U.S. military posture in Europe and the Middle East on the anniversary of September 11.

THE NEW THAD COCHRAN POSTERS ARE HERE! The New Thad Cochran Posters are Here!

Dan Riehl gives us a stunning insight into the doddering old fool towering intellect that is RINO incumbent Thad Cochran:

What would Mitch McConnell and his establishment buddies do with a so-called Tea party candidate who bragged about doing “indecent acts with animals”? Because Thad Cochran did it and they not only support him, Mitch McConnell just raised $825,000 dollars for him at a DC fundraiser... “It was an adventure to be out there in the country and to see what goes on,” Cochran said. “Doing all kinds of indecent things to animals.”

And Karl Rove and the rest of the RINO establishment losers dare to complain about stupid comments by Todd Akin? Will they renounce Cochran and support Chris McDaniel, a real Constitutional Conservative? No, of course not. Because they're losers and hypocrites -- the very same halfwits who told us Mitt Romney was the only one who could win in 2012. And that John McCain was the only one who could win four years earlier.

Our summer intern Biff Spackle has created an exclusive series of posters honoring the incumbent's formidable campaign.


BILL WHITTLE: Why Benghazi Matters

Here's a portion of Bill Whittle's latest epic Firewall:

Before we get into what Benghazi is, let’s address what it isn’t. It isn’t irrelevant, it isn’t trivial, and it isn’t a “witch hunt” as many prominent Democrats and their supporters desperately want you to believe.

For example, this graphic has been going viral: It shows the date and location of ten embassy or consular attacks during the Bush presidency, with a total of 60 people dead and the number of outraged Republicans set at zero; therefore these attacks happen frequently, therefore Benghazi is a hypocritical, witch hunt staged simply to get Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton.

Unfortunately for the millions of people who have seen this graphic and passed it on, one of them – at least one – knows how to read, think and research.

Kyle Becker, at the Independent Journal Review, took a look at each of these ten attacks. In eight of them, the total number of Americans killed was – zero. It is not the responsibility of the US State Department and the President of the United States to protect the lives of foreign nationals, no matter how tragic or common these attacks may be. Their job is to protect American citizens and especially Consular personnel living abroad.

In 2003, a truck bomb killed 36 people, including nine American defense contractors. President Bush immediately called it a terrorist attack, the Saudis investigated and killed two of the attackers in the raids that followed.

On March 2, 2006, in Karachi, Pakistan, a suicide bomber killed 4, including an American diplomat named David Foy. It was instantly denounced as a terror attack; there were no advance calls for additional security; Mr. Foy was killed instantly with no possibility of rescue; and there was no cover-up or attempt to spin it other than what it was.

Every day in America there are over 6,000 burglaries. But one break-in may be more important than the others, because one of those burglaries – Watergate -- may go directly to the lawfulness, integrity and candor of the President of the United States of America.

Benghazi matters, because it goes directly to the two most important qualities in our elected officials: Competence, and Character.

Let’s go to competence first:

SMART POWER: Obama's Feckless Foreign Policy Threatens to Set the Entire Middle East on Fire

By Investor's Business Daily

Geopolitics: From Syria to Iraq to Afghanistan to Pakistan, the jihadist dream of a caliphate stretching from the Atlantic to the Himalayas is taking shape. It's aided by a feckless foreign policy not seen since Neville Chamberlain.

As President Obama learns about it in the newspapers, the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) is dismembering Iraq, adding Saddam Hussein's birthplace of Tikrit to the list of cities once liberated by the U.S. that are now flying jihadist flags. The war on terrorism is over all right, and Obama lost it.

An American official has told The Blaze that the U.S. Embassy, United Nations and other foreign organizations with a presence in Iraq are "preparing contingency plans to evacuate employees." We might soon see helicopters on the roof of our embassy in Baghdad in a scene reminiscent of the last days of Saigon as Iraq becomes Obama's Vietnam.

Unlike Vietnam, ISIS is not interested in liberating the homeland from colonial oppressors. ISIS and other radical Islamists have long proclaimed a goal of restoring a pan-Islamic state, a caliphate that extends from the Mediterranean coast to the Iranian border. One such Islamic empire, in the seventh century, spanned the Middle East, spread to Southwest Asia, North Africa and Spain, ending with the Mongol sack of Baghdad in 1258.

The largest and most powerful rebel force in Syria is Jabhat al-Nusra, with 7,000 fighters. It's a branch of al-Qaida in Iraq, from which it has received regular payments.

"It's now time to declare in front of the people of the Levant and (the) world that the al-Nusra Front is but an extension of the Islamic State in Iraq and part of it," Iraqi al-Qaida leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is quoted as saying recently in a piece on AlArabiya.net.

"This (ISIS' rise in Iraq) is of great significance," according to an assessment released Wednesday by the Soufan Group, a private security company. A restored caliphate will attract "many more disaffected young people ... from all over the Muslim world, especially the Middle East, lured by nostalgia for al-Khulafa al-Islamiya (the Islamic caliphate), which remains a potent motivator for Sunni extremists."

Larwyn's Linx: As Iraq Falls To Al Queda, Obama Jets to Palm Springs To Fundraise and Golf

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

Nation

As Iraq Falls, Obama Jets to Palm Springs To Fundraise, Golf: Marooned
Ted Cruz: Obama responsible for sexual slavery, deaths of alien children: BPR
Cantor Fell Because He Wouldn't Fight the Good Fight: Rabbi Aryeh Spero

The Stupid Party: Erick Erickson
Amnesty Lite Is Still Amnesty: Thomas Sowell
McCarthy Path to Majority Leader Cleared: PJM

Obama Ramps Up America’s Destruction: David Limbaugh
Bergdahl Was Released from Coast Guard Due to Psychological Unfitness: Ace
Mississippi’s voter ID law could be example for nation: Steve Wilson

Senate Hearing Shows Partisan Divide on Illegal Influx into South Texas: CIS
Hey, You Know Who Else Is A Big Fan Of Gun Control?: Bob Owens
Where At Least I Know I’m Free…: WRSA

Economy

Popular Florida eatery tells vet ‘his kind’ not welcome; backlash follows: BPR
Krugman's Misleading Post on Coal: David Henderson
Ride Sharing Companies Warned To Stay Out Of Airports: CBS SF

Scandal Central

Obama's terrorist catch-and-release program is a success: RS
Open Borders: Entrenching the Fundamental Transformation of a Dying Nation: Sara Noble
Bill Whittle: Why Benghazi Matters: TR

Climate & Energy

Will EPA’s Carbon Plan Swing a Senate State or Two?: PJM
Professor’s fellowship terminated for speaking out on global warming in Wall Street Journal: WUWT
Canada Tells Obama: Stop Screwing Around With Keystone: Lid

Media

Stunning – Cincinnati Media Actually Broadcast The Reality Behind Racial Violence: Treehouse
This Journalist Died After Exposing Bowe Bergdahl’s Anti-Americanism: WJ
NPR Host Terry Gross Presses Hillary on Gay Marriage; Hillary Snaps: Ace

World

The Arab Spring Is Over Welcome To The Jihadi Spring: Jonah Goldberg
GREAT news: Arab Spring comes to Iraq at last!: Cold Fury
McCain Calls for Obama’s National Security Team to Resign Over Iraq: Kevin Baron

New Evidence Reveals Obama And Hillary Conspiring To End Criticism Of Islam In U.S.: Shoebat
Here comes the, er, cavalry? Iranian Revolutionary Guard heads to Iraq to take on ISIS: Hot Air
The Caliphate Forms Right Before Our Eyes: GoV

NYT Says ‘Tanks, of unknown origin’ Have Started Showing Up in Ukraine: Bryan Preston
"Harmless as an Enemy, Treacherous as a Friend": Mark Steyn
Veterans watch as Iraq teeters on the brink: Exam

Mark Levin: We cannot let Iraq fall; We need to unleash our bombers and kill the cockroaches: Scoop
Iraq has been begging for US air strikes since November: Matzav
Biden Once Called Iraq One of Obama's 'Great Achievements': WS

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)

Forrester: Mobile strategy 'requires overhaul of entire business operations’: ComputerWorld
Google Introduces Richer Flight Search Experience: SearchEngineLand
Setting HoneyTraps with ModSecurity: Adding Fake Hidden Form Fields: SpiderLabs

Cornucopia

Hillary At Homes (Trigger Warning: Contains Image Of Hillary): Earl of Taint
What An Obama Military Hashtag Attack on Boko Haram Might Look Like: Sooper
CSGV: THAT PRETTY MUCH SUMS IT UP.: Gun-Free Zone

Image: Ted Cruz: Obama responsible for sexual slavery, death of immigrant kids
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: DONATE TO DAVE BRAT NOW

QOTD: “It’s important to understand what those numbers represent. These numbers represent children. Little boys and little girls, their parents are handing them over not to some noble social worker trying to help them. They are handing them over to international, global criminal cartels that smuggle human beings in. They put kids, among other places, on top of fast-moving freight trains. They are criminals who assault, sexually assault, and sometimes murder these children. These are little girls that are sometimes being sold into prostitution and sex slavery. The humanitarian crisis that comes from failing to secure our border is staggering.

...In 2011, there were roughly 7,000 unaccompanied minors who were apprehended...In 2012, that number rose to 14,000. In 2013, it rose to 24,000. And, in 2014, your agency is estimating it is going to be as high as 90,000. In 2015, the administration is estimating that it will rise all the way to 145,000. Mr. Secretary, you testified to this committee the increase is a result of violence in Central America and there is surely violence in Central America, but if you look at the statistics…midway through 2012, was when Administration unilaterally granted amnesty to some 800,000 people who had been minors, with the so-called DACA [Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals] proceeding. And, you can see sometime after that the numbers spike dramatically. Is it really your testimony that granting amnesty to some 800,000 people who came here illegally as children had no effect in causing a dramatic increase of children being handed over to international drug cartels to be smuggled in here illegally?" --Sen. Ted Cruz

Thursday, June 12, 2014

Rick Perry Jumps the Shark

All quotes are real, unfortunately.


Thanks, but I'll take a pass. Sure, Perry is far superior to Crispy Creme Christy, Jeb "Doin' It For Love" Bush, and Mike Hucksterbee.

But anyone who praises the likes of a Hillary Clinton -- she of the cattle future fortune, Whitewater land deals, the missing Rose Law Firm files, Johnny Chung, Hillarycare, the FALN terrorists, Marc Rich, Eric Holder, Fannie Mae, the New Square pardon scam, the Loral-China missile deal, Benghazi -- well, you get the picture. Oh, and those were all off the top of my head.

Very capable indeed, if we're talking about deconstructing the Republic, Cloward-Piven-style.


Hat tip: BadBlue News.

IN CASE YOU'RE THINKING OF GOING TO A HILLARY BOOK-SIGNING: Here are the Rules

The prolific Caleb Howe relays this delightful set of instructions for those drones readers interested in the fascinating novel autobiographical tome entitled Profiles in Courage Bad Choices Hard Choices.

On Tuesday morning, Hillary Clinton kicked off her book tour promoting new release "Hard Choices", Hillary's "I'm running for President" tome that is all the buzz this week. One of the first folks in line for a signed copy was Maggie Haberman of Politico, who tweeted the list of guidelines handed out by handlers for those waiting. Haberman tweeted a picture of those rules.


...Use the bathroom before getting in line because you will lose your place. If this were a polling place Ed Schultz would call it racist disenfranchisement.

Howe was also able to obtain a secret second page of rules, regulations, requirements and advisories.

I have not yet confirmed whether attending the book-signing required a photo ID. If so, I fully intend to notify Eric Holder that Hillary's book-signing events are raaaaaaaaacist.


Hat tip: BadBlue News.

Imagining NASA's IXS Enterprise conceptual 'warp ship'

James Trew at Endgadget proffers one possible look at the future of space travel.

The image above is Dutch designer Mark Rademaker's CGI design concept; created to illustrate how NASA engineer Harold White's IXS Enterprise "Warp ship" might look. White has been researching into possible methods of propelling space craft beyond the speed of light. The strongest theory involves the disruption of space-time in front and behind the craft. White claims he has calculated a plausible method that improves upon an earlier theory by physicist Miguel Alcubierre, and is working towards a proof of concept for the idea. Rademaker's design shows large rings that would be used to create a "warp bubble" and was originally submitted for the Star Trek "Ships of the Line" 2014 calendar.

Faster, please.


Via: Mark Rademaker.