Monday, August 04, 2014
Larwyn's Linx: Is Barack Obama plotting a coup?
Nation
Is Barack Obama plotting a coup?: Power LineDemocrat Senators Call for Resignation of Obama’s CIA Director: Outpost
Steve LaTourette and the Circle of Jerks: Erick Erickson
How to fight Democrats' ugly rhetoric on illegal immigration: Realities
Watch Drug Smugglers Trot Into the United States: Sentinel
The Obama Endgame Emerges: Douglas Herz
1984 Redux: Orwellian Illegal Immigration: Victor Davis Hanson
Obama throws tantrum over GOP border bill: RS
Gov. Perry Warns Increased Illegal Aliens From Islamist Terror States: Scoop
Communist-Hamas Protest Demands Israel's Extermination in LA: AmPower
Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D) deletes retweet: Israel’s Iron Dome an ‘atrocity’: Scoop
GOP sees signs of Jewish voters drifting away from Democrats: Niall Stanage
Economy
Assigned no work, federal employees revel in Internet porn: Kevin D. WillamsonObama’s Own Stimulus Predictions: We’d Be Better Off Without It: Ben Howe
11,472,000 Americans Have Left Workforce Since Obama Took Office: Ali Meyer
Scandal Central
The Age of Obama: Guy Somerset22 Jihad Training Camps in the US – FBI Refuses to Take Action: Santo Lippo
Gov. Snyder Welcoming Unaccompanied Minors, Calls for Immigration Reform: Courtney Bledsoe
Climate & Energy
After brutal winter and cool summer, UK paper blames Toledo water crisis on global warming: MarathonMythical Carbon Pollution Is “An Affront To God” Or Something: Cove
Climate Change Not so Global: WUWT
Media
Meet The Press Wonders Will Israel ‘Achieve Victory, But Lose Battle Of Wider Public Opinion’: NBSupporters of Israel mock jihadists with #HamasBumperStickers, libs outraged: Twitchy
New Yorker Editor David Remnick Whines That Obama ‘Has Been Stifled At Every Angle’: CNS
The Left’s Obsession with Fox News: Jon Gabriel
Liberal Jehmu Greene tries and fails to shout down Tammy Bruce in immigration debate on Fox: Scoop
Does Nancy Pelosi Understand When Someone Is Falsely Accused of Rape?: Newsalert
Political Cartoonist Implies Obama Consumes Illegal Narcotics, GOP Wishes POTUS Death: Ed Driscoll
Darkness Falls: Mark Steyn
‘Spoken like a truly ignorant bigot': Juan Williams’ latest suggestion is ‘desperate’: Twitchy
Real Life in Texas 70 Miles North of the Border: MB
A Week of Nancys: MOTUS
Follow-up on Liberal Fascist Violence in Tinley Park: MB
World
Kerry: Netanyahu is such “a stubborn head” that he “refuses to understand anything”: Pamela GellerGaza's Civilian Casualties: The Truth Is Very Different: Richard Kemp
Hamas censors British journalists. Why don’t we care?: Spectator
Valerie Jarrett: White House Can't Condone Israel's 'Killing of All of These Innocent Children': Breitbart
Do Democrats Regret Stripping Anti-Hamas Language From Their 2012 Platform?: Lid
Calgary Herald's Erika Stark - Good Girl: SDA
Welcome to the 1930s: Roger L. Simon
“Palestinians” present Egypt with draft of Gaza truce demands: JihadWatch
Islamic State grabs Iraqi dam and oilfield in victory over Kurds: JihadWatch
Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)
Ebola Fears in UK After Passenger Becomes Ill on Gangway and Dies: GWPEbola: Sunday Evening More: WRSA
Is your Dropcam live feed being watched by someone else?: PC World
Cornucopia
The Best Quotes From “Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy”: John HawkinsSouth Korea threatens North Korea with gigantic inflated condoms: Cube
Batman creator's personal comics to be auctioned: Fox
Image: Political Cartoonist Implies Obama Consumes Illegal Narcotics, GOP Wishes POTUS Death
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Kansas Senate Race Down to Single Digits!
QOTD: "Try a brief experiment. Google rates of health problems, education, and hunger in terms of illegal immigration (using the appropriate euphemisms), and then all sorts of studies pop up from social scientists and bureaucrats, the themes being that racism has led to inequality and lack of parity. Then look up rates of criminality, incarceration, graduation rates, and public assistance predicated on illegal status, and you will either hit a brick wall, or quickly learn such data is “problematic.” It is quite Orwellian how research is predetermined to find the host culpable, but never to suggest the guest is at fault.
If immigrants came in manageable numbers, if they arrived in legal fashion on the basis of ethnically blind and meritocratic criteria, if the host believed in the melting pot and promoted integration, assimilation, and the mastery of the English language, if the arrivals were reminded why they were leaving their homelands and why they were entering the United States, then we could manage. But, alas, the very opposite of these criteria is true.
It has become a cachet of elites to mouth platitudes about “comprehensive immigration reform” as they carefully construct their own apartheid existences in Nancy Pelosi style. They are not so much immune from the ramifications of their own ideology as found guilty of racial bias and prejudice by their very efforts to talk in the abstract in a way that offers them psychological recompense for never living that way in the concrete." --Victor Davis Hanson
Sunday, August 03, 2014
OPERATION CHOKE POINT: Shutting Down Perfectly Legal Businesses for Political Reasons
Can the government shut down legal but politically disfavored businesses? If an ongoing federal regulatory campaign continues, that may be precisely what happens. In recent months, a federal government regulatory initiative called Operation Choke Point has gained increased public and media attention. Operation Choke Point is ostensibly a joint effort by various regulatory entities—the Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) most prominent among them—to reduce the chances of Americans falling victim to fraud in a variety of “high-risk” industries, predominantly payday lending. It uses existing regulatory powers to provide heightened supervision of banks that do business with the third party payment processors that provide payment services to these industries.
However, this seemingly laudable aim conceals a worrying reality. There is nothing illegal about most of these industries (at least not yet). But because they have been designated high-risk, banks are cutting off dealings with many processors and companies preemptively. As a result, many companies and individuals that have done nothing wrong have been frozen out of banking services.Without the links to banks, their financial lifeblood is choked off indeed.Operation Choke Point echoes—and may in fact be modeled on—the federal government’s takedown of the otherwise legal American online poker industry in 2011. In that instance, regulators targeted payment processors that dealt with gambling businesses. As a result, banks became wary of doing business with those targeted payment processors. Finding their lifeblood cut off, some companies had no choice but to turn to less scrupulous processors or disguise transactions with them, leading to criminal liability—which in turn allows DOJ to close down the industry. Operation Choke Point appears to be heading down this road.
Obama's Rogue IRS Strikes Deal With Atheists To Monitor Churches -- But Not Mosques
First Amendment: Government's assault on religious liberty has hit a new low as the IRS settles with atheists by promising to monitor sermons for mentions of the right to life and traditional marriage.
A lawsuit filed by the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) asserted that the Internal Revenue Service ignored complaints about churches' violating their tax-exempt status by routinely promoting political issues, legislation and candidates from the pulpit.The FFRF has temporarily withdrawn its suit in return for the IRS's agreement to monitor sermons and homilies for proscribed speech that the foundation believes includes things like condemnation of gay marriage and criticism of ObamaCare for its contraceptive mandate.
The irony of this agreement is that it's being enforced by the same Tax Exempt and Government Entities Division of the IRS that was once headed by Lois "Fifth Amendment" Lerner and that openly targeted Tea Party and other conservative groups.
Among the questions that the IRS asked of those targeted groups was the content of their prayers.
Those who objected to the monitoring of what is said and done in mosques for signs of terrorist activity have no problem with this one, though monitoring what's said in houses of worship is a clear violation of the First Amendment. Can you say "chilling effect"?
Congress can make no laws prohibiting the free exercise of religion. So it's not clear where the IRS gets off doing just that by spying on religious leaders lest they comment on issues and activities by government that are contrary to or impose on their religious consciences. Our country was founded by people fleeing this kind of government-monitored and mandated theology last practiced in the Soviet Union.
Larwyn's Linx: House Passes "Mean-Spirited" Immigration Bill, Takes Off For 5 Weeks
Nation
House Passes "Mean-Spirited" Immigration Bill, Takes Off For 5 Weeks: ZHObama's Inexplicable Love for the Dark Side: James Lewis
Symbols of Islamofascism: what are they, what do they mean?: Vlad Tepes
Our Children Will Ask: Why Didn’t Congress Impeach Obama?: NoisyRm
As much as you’d like to, don’t fall into the impeachment trap: Allen West
The Wicked Witch Of The House In Meltdown: NoisyRm
Law Enforcement Really Concerned About “Sovereign Citizens”: RWN
Chicago Muslim Calls for Jihad Against Jews in Gaza: Wizbang
Chicago, Concealed Carry and “Polite Society”: BearingArms
American Ebola Patient Arrives In US, Walks into Emory Hospital: GWP
The Coming Democratic Midterm Collapse: Jeff Greenfield
Ohio's 4th largest city has no drinking water: AP
Economy
Annual Obama Birthday Bacchanal Begins: Keith KofflerFinally, an illegal alien Obama's DHS will seize and deport: WyBlog
Joe Biden spent more than $1 million flying to his home in Wilmington: DailyMail
Scandal Central
Virginia Vote Fraud Cases Stonewalled by Holder After 4 Years: DCJust hours before 9/11, Bill Clinton explains he could have, but didn’t, kill bin Laden: WaPo
Why would Obama's DoD award contract to company tied to North Korea?: Allen West
Climate & Energy
The Drought Goes From Bad To Catastrophic: ZHSocialists Really Pumped Over September Climate Change Summit: Cove
Global Temperature Update – Still no global warming for 17 years 10 months: WUWT
Media
New Book Claims Hillary Treated Secret Service Like S*** and They Despised Her: RWNMedia Silent as USC Grad Student Beaten to Death by Illegal Alien: RWN
Navy SEAL Warns Jesse Ventura: You Crossed a Sacred Line, You’ll Be Faced With The Consequences: Sooper
Press Conferences, Turnip Trucks: NukingPolitics
Here Are All of ‘Feminist’ Activist Kathy Groob’s RACIST Deleted Tweets Against Asians: Sooper
Barack Ebola: Death to America: Donald Joy
It’s That Time Of Year Again: President Selfie Is Celebrating Another Big Birthday: Nice Deb
Krauthammer: World’s Anti-Semitic Reaction to Gaza 'Orwellian': Breitbart
Ex-'60 Minutes' Producer Is No Hollywood Hero: Megan McArdle
World
Fear and trembling: Western media and Hamas: CommentatorChinese Hackers Target Israel’s Iron Dome: Diplomat
Qatar, and other American "allies", are among the villains in Gaza: Gatestone
72-Hour ceasefire in Gaza lasted just 90 minutes: Hot Air
ISIS Opens The World's Biggest Bazaar of Violence: Global Guerillas
Benghazi falls to Islamists. Thank you Barry, for supporting them.: Allen West
Mexico: Cartels Build A Robotic Air Force:
Jon Voight Letter to Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz on Israel: 'Hang Your Heads in Shame' : HollywoodReporter
2013: Female Member of Israeli Parliament Obliterates John Kerry: "whole region to spin out of control": 90 Miles
Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)
Ebola advisory issued by NJ health officials: App2015 Porsche 918 Spyder Tested: 2.2 Seconds to 60!: Car & Driver
NASA Confirms The Plausibility of Reactionless Drives??!!: Ace
Cornucopia
Lady M’s Summer 2014 Frocky Horror Picture Show: Part 1: MOTUSMarvel's Mega-McGuffin Metaplot: Ace
Message to the world. I just want you to know... the truth!: Norman Hooben
Image: Devout Muslim Women Call on Islamic State for More Slaughter: ISIS Answers the Call
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Kansas Senate Race Down to Single Digits!
QOTD: "The Border Patrol is increasingly posting signs written in Chinese near the U.S./Mexico border, which underscores the booming human smuggling trade as illegal aliens from China flood into America.
Case in point, the emergency beacons placed in desolate border regions which allow stranded illegals to request help from the Border Patrol have instructions in English, Spanish and Chinese, but back in 2001 when they were first deployed, the instructions were written only in English and Spanish.
Since then, human smuggling has exploded into a billion dollar institution, with people of various nationalities paying smugglers, known as coyotes, thousands of dollars to be transported illegally into the United States.
“The Chinese are paying $50,000, the Indians are paying $10,000 to $20,000, [for] all the Central Americans the average is about $7,000 and the Mexicans are, especially [from] southern Mexico, are paying $3,000, so it’s a huge, huge money event for the cartels, probably even more lucrative than the drug business..." --Kit Daniels
Saturday, August 02, 2014
Just hours before 9/11, Bill Clinton admitted he had Bin Laden in the cross-hairs, but refused to act
Remember how the leftists always used to blame 9/11 on Bush, despite 8 years of Islamist attacks on U.S. interests that were treated as crimes -- not acts of war -- by B.J. Clinton?If memory serves, the Democrat fairy tale involved Bush getting a Presidential Daily Briefing in August of 2001. Here's the complete sentence from the PDB, one of 800 warnings that month.
An Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ) operative told an [redacted] service at the same time that Bin Ladin was planning to exploit the operative's access to the US to mount a terrorist strike.
Gee, that seems specific. Damn that Bush, always missing obvious leads like that.
Well, it turns out that B.J. had multiple chances to kill Bin Laden and shrank away from his responsibilities due to political concerns. And just hours before 9/11, he actually admitted it, in one of his hundreds of $150,000 speeches, many to foreign entities.
Nothing to see here, just move along, kids.
A recording has turned up in Australia in which former President Bill Clinton explains why he didn’t kill Osama bin Laden, just hours before the attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. He made the comment reportedly during a Sept. 10 meeting with business leaders in Australia, ABC news reports:
“And I’m just saying, you know, if I were Osama bin Laden … He’s a very smart guy. I spent a lot of time thinking about him. And I nearly got him once,” Clinton said in the audio.
“I nearly got him. And I could have killed him, but I would have had to destroy a little town called Kandahar in Afghanistan and kill 300 innocent women and children, and then I would have been no better than him.
“And so I didn’t do it.”
Clinton had multiple chances, it turns out, to kill or capture Bin Laden (and that's according to 60 Minutes).
But for Democrats, political expediency -- not the interests of the American people -- always come first.
Hat tip: BadBlue News.
THE SCIENCE IS SETTLED: No Global Warming For Nearly 18 Years
Remarkably, the El Niño warming of this year has not yet shortened the Great Pause, which, like last month, stands at 17 years 10 months with no global warming at all.
Taking the least-squares linear-regression trend on Remote Sensing Systems’ satellite-based monthly global mean lower-troposphere temperature dataset, there has been no global warming – none at all – for 214 months. This is the longest continuous period without any warming in the global instrumental temperature record since the satellites first watched in 1979. It has endured for about half the satellite temperature record. Yet the Great Pause coincides with a continuing, rapid increase in atmospheric CO2 concentration.
..Yet the length of the Great Pause in global warming, significant though it now is, is of less importance than the ever-growing discrepancy between the temperature trends predicted by models and the far less exciting real-world temperature change that has been observed...
...The Great Pause is a growing embarrassment to those who had told us with “substantial confidence” that the science was settled and the debate over. Nature had other ideas. Though more than two dozen more or less implausible excuses for the Pause are appearing in nervous reviewed journals, the possibility that the Pause is occurring because the computer models are simply wrong about the sensitivity of temperature to manmade greenhouse gases can no longer be dismissed...
...[Any r]ecent extreme weather cannot be blamed on global warming, because there has not been any global warming. It is as simple as that.
Mic drop. Walk off stage.
Hat tip: BadBlue News.
ONE PHOTO SAYS IT ALL: The Satanic Evil That is Hamas
As Joshua Riddle observes, "These atrocities should be front page news, but of course, they aren’t. Israeli ambassador put CNN on blast with their biased coverage. Definitely worth a watch."
Gee, I wonder what CAIR has to say about this?
Oh, and just a reminder: 61 percent of Democrats side with Hamas or are ambivalent to the Nazi-aligned group.
RAT: Did Marxist-Racialist Luis Gutierrez Turn Federal Informant After Getting Caught Lying About his Rezko Dealings?
Convicted political fixer Tony Rezko gave U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez free upgrades on a riverfront town house after the congressman asked for them, Gutierrez told the FBI, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned.
Gutierrez's comments to federal agents in a previously undisclosed 2008 interview contradict what the congressman told the Sun-Times in 2006 about the purchase.
"I walked in with my wife — as any other consumer could have — and purchased the unit at the listed price, with no considerations," the Northwest Side congressman said then, asserting that he never discussed the deal with Rezko, buying the home through a salesperson at Rezko's company, Rezmar Corp.
He told a different story when questioned by federal agents two years later about the town home he bought in River Walk, a Rezko development along the Chicago River north of Diversey, the Sun-Times has learned.
Gutierrez told them he and his wife had had dinner with Rezko and his wife, sources said, and that he told him that the price of the town home had gone up $35,000 in two weeks — from $399,000 when they first visited a model home to $434,900.
Considering that the price had risen, Gutierrez told Rezko he thought he should get some upgrades, sources said.
The upgrades eventually included an additional bathroom and higher-quality carpeting, the Sun-Times has learned...
Don't bother looking for the original story on the Sun-Times website. It's been tossed down the memory-hole, entirely by accident, I'm sure. It doesn't even appear in the archives.
As Newsalert wonders, "Did Luis become a federal informant to stay out of jail so he could inform on crime he's involved in?"
Did Gutierrez become a rat -- you know, a snitch, a snake, a punk, a narc, a fink, a stool pigeon -- to avoid federal charges?
We know he's an anti-American, Marxist, racialist rabble-rouser, so my wager would be on "yes".
Hat tip: Lee Cary
Larwyn's Linx: Shocking images show corpses of illegal immigrants left to die in border crossings
Nation
Shocking images show corpses of illegal immigrants left to die: Daily MailFeds Fly Unaccompanied Minors to Alaska: Breitbart
IRS, Atheist Group Work Together To Silence Speech from Church Pulpit: GWP
Obama military downsizing leaves U.S. too weak to counter global threats: Times
Nancy Pelosi Goes Nuts on House Floor: Scoop
Clinton Corruption Bombshells: JW
The Next Front in the Battle over Obamacare: RWN
John Boehner: Scammer of the House: CFP
U.S. aid workers with Ebola headed to Ga. hospital: USA Today
Chris Christie Refuses To Talk About Cuomo’s Moreland Problem: MenRec
Obama Executive Order: Detain Americans With "Respiratory Illnesses": DCC
CDC designates El Paso as quarantine site, including for Ebola: KVIA
Economy
Don’t Buy This Dip: The Fed Is Not Your Friend: David StockmanRussia, India Negotiate to Bypass Dollar: ZH
UK: HSBC Shuts Down Islamist Bank Accounts: Gatestone
Scandal Central
Lois Lerner’s Vendetta: FPMMexican Drug Trafficker Assaults Border Patrol, Charges Dismissed: Breitbart
U.S. attorney general to Gov. Rick Scott: We're watching you: Tampa Bay
Climate & Energy
Real, Live Endarkenment – Redux: WRSAHow the Obama Administration Has Actually Broken the Law Hundreds of Times: Blaze
“Climate Change” Means Hot And Cold Snaps!: Cove
Media
Obama's 15 Worst Excuses For His Failed Presidency: John HawkinsJackie Mason Goes Off on Anti-Israel Celebrities: Hollywood Reporter
Bill Whittle describes his journey from mental illness to the truth: Scoop
Double standards, moral cowardice: Hayom
NY Times Notes Rising Anti-Semitism In Europe: RWN
Why Democrats Are Ditching the 'War on Women': NatlJrnl
World
Hamas Issues All Of Its Followers Terrorism 101 Training Manual: WZLevin: Why aren’t there calls for ‘cease-fires’ in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, or Ukraine?: Scoop
‘Get lost! The whole world goes to HELL because of you!’ Arab states turning away from Hamas : Scoop
Obama And The US Army Open The Door To The UN: NoisyRm
Canada: Muslims scream “Heil Hitler” at Jews while police stand idly by: JihadWatch
UK: Families barred from cinema for not being Muslim: JihadWatch
Quarantine: Here’s Where They’ll Send Those Suspected of Ebola or “Respiratory Illnesses”: SHTFplan
"International Health Regulations Emergency Committee on Ebola Viral Disease, 7 August 2014": WRSA
You Don't Say: WRSA
Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)
10 Dramatic Moments In Black Hat History: Dark ReadingThe early design history of NASA's spacesuits: Engadget
Motoped motorized survival bike will get you there and back: Fox
Cornucopia
Know Your Rights! For Undocumented Aliens And Unidentified Aliens: James SimpsonCoping: Prepping for the Great Shut-In?: Urban Survival
Devout Muslims Perform Comedy Routine With Severed Head: BCF (Graphic)
Image: Shocking images show corpses of illegal immigrants left to die
Sponsored by: Tell Congress the conditions for approving Pres. Obama's emergency funding request!
QOTD: "Two federal judges have made it clear IRS stonewalling on the issue is no longer acceptable. On July 10, U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan gave the agency 30 days to submit a written explanation—under oath—explaining how it lost the emails. The ruling was a response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought by Judicial Watch. A day later, U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton demanded to know what became of Lerner’s hard drive. If it was destroyed, he wants a sworn affidavit to that effect. He also wants information about the IG’s investigation. Walton’s ruling was in response to a lawsuit filed by True the Vote, who is also asking the judge to appoint an independent expert to investigate the lost emails. True the Vote’s lawyer, Cleta Mitchell, explained why. “We don’t trust the IRS,” she told Walton.
Judicial Watch’s Jay Sekulow is calling for the appointment of a Special Prosecutor based on emails between Lerner and the DOJ regarding the targeting of conservative groups, as well as the reality that the DOJ investigation (such as it is) is being conducted by Barbara Bosserman. Bosserman is an attorney from the DOJ’s Civil Right division, not the Public Integrity Section of the Criminal Division that handles public corruption. She has also been a campaign contributor to President Obama and the Democratic Party, presenting what Sekulow, as well as members of the Committee, consider a blatant “conflict of interest.” “There could be no more clear example of the need to appoint a truly objective and independent prosecutor than in this case,” Sekulow contends." --Arnold Ahlert
Friday, August 01, 2014
Invasion by Design
Border Crisis: A new report shows the vast majority of unaccompanied minors aren't unaccompanied at all, have family members inside the U.S., are not victims of human trafficking and thus can be deported immediately.
Rep. Luis Gutierrez of Illinois and other Democrats have repeatedly made the argument that Republicans shouldn't complain about the current border invasion since it was a 2008 law that automatically entitles minors from noncontiguous countries to asylum hearings before they face deportation.Gutierrez and his liberal colleagues in Congress and the media should read the law to find out what's in it.
As the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) points out in a recent report, under the definition of what constitutes an unaccompanied child (UAC) in the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008, most children from countries other than Canada or Mexico do not qualify to stay here while they await a hearing.
According to CIS, the law says that to receive the UAC designation the illegal alien must be under 18 and without "a parent or legal guardian in the United States." Yet, CIS notes, about 90% of the non-Mexican and non-Canadian children pouring across the border are placed with family members or guardians in America.
"An illegal immigrant who arrives at the U.S. border who is not a victim of trafficking and has family inside the United States should not be benefiting from protections in the 2008 trafficking law," said Jon Feere, legal policy analyst at CIS.
Indeed, there's no need to amend this law to deal with the current crisis. The problem could end by strictly enforcing the letter of the 2008 law.
Human trafficking involves the transport of children against their will for illicit purposes and without the consent of their parents. The law was designed to prevent the sexual exploitation of children.
CIS notes that smuggling is not trafficking. It is not human trafficking when the families pay fees to smugglers who bring the children into the U.S.
"The Obama administration appears to be hiding behind the 2008 law and acting like it requires them to allow the current wave of illegal immigration to continue," according to the CIS report.
21 Ways To End The Phrase ‘Americans Are So Broke…’
Did you know that 77 million Americans have unpaid debts that are "in collections" and that Congress is actually thinking about letting post offices offer payday loans? We live in a country where almost everyone is drowning in debt and where most people are either flat broke or very close to flat broke. Years ago, "your Mama is so broke" jokes were all the rage, and at the rate we are going they could make a big comeback. Some of my favorites were "your Mama is so broke she went to McDonald's and put a milkshake on layaway" and "your Mama is so broke your family ate cereal with a fork to save milk".
Unfortunately, the facts that I am about to share with you are not funny at all. In fact, they are quite sobering. Yes, things are going fairly well for the elitists that live in the good areas of New York City, Washington D.C. and San Francisco right now, but most of the country is deeply struggling as our economic fundamentals continue to crumble. Please share these numbers with as many people as you can, because we need people to understand that there has not been an "economic recovery" for most of America. In fact, in many ways things just continue to get even worse. The following are 21 ways to end the phrase "Americans are so broke"...
1. Americans are so broke that about a third of them have debt collectors on their heels. One recent study discovered that more than one out of every three adults in the United States has an unpaid debt that is "in collections". That is a total of 77 million people. In other words, the debt collection business in America is absolutely booming.
2. Americans are so broke that Congress is now actually considering allowing post offices to provide payday loans and check cashing services.
3. Americans are so broke that they are keeping their vehicles longer than ever. The average age of vehicles on America’s roads recently set a new all-time high of 11.4 years.
Larwyn's Linx: Boehner Has Time to Salvage a Ridiculous Farce Descended to Stupidity
Nation
Boehner Can Salvage a Farce Descended to Stupidity: Erick EricksonHouse GOP Pull Their Immigration Bill: Erick Erickson
Obama's latest immigration plan: Yes to illegals, No to Israeli Jews: WyBlog
Senate's Border Bill Fails: Nice Deb
Note to the House GOP: Kill the Bill: Bill Kristol
Pelosi: We Must Exploit Border Crisis To “Quickly” Pass Amnesty: WZ
Shocker: Illegal Alien Invasion Now Obama’s Worst Issue in New Poll: JWF
Proposed amendments reek of hypocrisy: Jonah Goldberg
Surprise outcome. Incompetent ATF accepts incompetence as the norm: RS
Obama Mocks Republicans, Then Asks for Their Help: CNS
U.S. military told to not to eat, drink in front of Muslims…in Maryland: Creeping
1000 Children Fleeing Violent Honduras Heading to Violent Chicago: CNS
Economy
Obama's Illegals: Free Meals, Free Cable TV, Lawyers, Medical, Dental: GWP21 Ways To End The Phrase ‘Americans Are So Broke…’: Michael Snyder
New Jersey Will Default on Government Pensions: Newsalert
Scandal Central
Federal Court Orders Obama Administration to Release Fast and Furious Information: JWNew York's Governor Andrew Cuomo Is Having a Very Bad Morning: NRO
Team Cuomo Lawyers Up In Wake of Moreland Scandal: MenRec
How The Hillionaire And Her Bill Made Their Bucks: Rat Nation
Democratic Rep Who Co-Sponsored Bush Impeachment Bill: We Didn’t Try To Impeach Bush: IJR
BofA ordered to pay damages of $1.27 billion for Countrywide fraud: WaPo
Climate & Energy
The Environmental Corruption Agency: Michelle MalkinObama Invited to Meet Coal Miners Losing Their Jobs Because of EPA Regulations: CNS
Obama Promise Kept: Record Price for Electricity: MB
Media
Mediaite Catches CNN’s Weir Calling Fox Nation ‘Ignorant F***sticks’: MRCLeftwing "Wonks" Shocked Again to Learn Basic Things: Ace
Trey Gowdy GRILLS law professor on need for special counsel in IRS Investigation: Scoop
World
Why is the West so afraid of Islam?: Michael Brendan DoughertyUNRWA’s pernicious role and Hamas’s abuse of civilian institutions: Anne's Opinions
Hamas Issues Rules for Social Media Activists: MEMRI
Kerry Trying To Save Hamas, Restore Muslim Brotherhood: Gatestone
Spain is suffering a mass exodus of youths: Leah McLaren
Saudi Arabia is Using Social Media to Entrap LGBTs: Care2
The Russians Are Openly Mocking Obama on Twitter Now: Bryan Preston
Driving Off a Cliff: Mona Charen
Rumours of Israel’s isolation in the Middle East are dead wrong: Anne's Opinions
Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)
The mystery behind China's aggressive push into space: War is BoringGoogle exec: Cloud price wars have only just begun: Todd Bishop, GeekWire
Going Glock: 8 PDs That Switched to Glocks: Mark DeLucas, Tactical Life
Cornucopia
Com’on! It’s summer. Stop hatin’ all the time!: MOTUSHow Islam Built The Very Fabric of America: Cube
The 10 most entertainingly terrible movies: Post
Image: Is this the face of someone who should be regulating college students' sex lives?
Sponsored by: Tell Congress the conditions for approving Pres. Obama's emergency funding request!
QOTD: "Did the Clintons use Hillary’s position atop the United States Department of State to line their own pockets, while accepting whopping amounts of cash from countries over which Hillary had serious policy power?
By a plain reading of the facts, that’s exactly what they did...
...Hillary Clinton’s State Department got Bill Clinton greenlit every single time a foreign government wanted to pay him hundreds of thousands of dollars for an hour of his precious time.
...What are these benefactors getting for their sizable investments?
One wonders, do the Clintons ever donate any of their earnings from “speaking fees” to any political candidates?
In the wrong light, that could look like laundering money from foreign sources." --Bryan Preston
Thursday, July 31, 2014
I see an IRS proctological exam in Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini's future
Many Americans can't afford Obamacare: Aetna CEO
The Affordable Care Act—also known as Obamacare—is "not an affordable product" for many people and it does not fix the underlying problems causing high health-care costs, Aetna Chairman and CEO Mark Bertolini told CNBC on Wednesday.
"If we're going to fix health care, we've got to get at the delivery of care and the cost of care," Bertolini said in a "Squawk Box" interview. "The ACA does none of that. The only person who's really going to drive that is the consumer and the decisions they make."
"Getting everybody insured should probably be our goal, but you have to have a more affordable system," he added. "We have a 1950[-style] health care system in the Unites States."
..."We have 600,000 ... customers as a result of the Affordable Care Act," Bertolini said. "We do know they are sicker. We know 87 percent are subsidized. We know they are older. So we expect they are going to use more health care."
"We priced this [Obamacare] business at lower margins in the 3 percent to 5 percent range … but we didn't plan or expect earnings as a result of those populations," he explained.
Hopefully Lois Lerner didn't catch this segment, otherwise Bertolini could be in for some very rough times ahead.
Hat tip: BadBlue Money.
IT'S COME TO THIS: 61 percent of Democrats side with Hamas or are ambivalent to the Nazi-aligned group
So who would have thought that the majority of Democrats either side with Nazis or don't know whether Nazis are good or bad?
It's official: The Democratic Party has abandoned Israel to its fate...
The results of a recent Pew Research Center poll revealed the largest partisan gap in 40 years on the issue of supporting Israel.
Conducted July 8-14, the week Israel began its air operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip but before its ground invasion, the poll asked 1,805 respondents: "In the dispute between Israel and the Palestinians, which side to you sympathize with more -- Israel or the Palestinians?"
The poll found that respondents considering themselves conservative Republicans supported Israel by 77 percent, compared to 68 percent of moderate Republicans. Among Democrats, 48 percent of moderate Democrats supported Israel, compared to 39 percent of liberal Democrats.
In other words, 61 percent of liberal Democrats either sympathize with Hamas, a group of war criminals designated as a terrorist organization by, among many other countries, the United States, or are utterly apathetic to the plight of a small, faraway democracy whose millions of citizens are being forced to flee for their lives under daily, sometimes hourly, rocket fire.
...Now, at the risk of throwing cold water on the misguided passions of Hamas supporters and the otherwise uninformed, let us compare founding documents.
The Hamas Charter states, "Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it."
Doesn't leave much room for a Turkish and Qatari-backed cease-fire, does it?
I blame the Department of Education and the media for their insane conspiracy to decouple Hamas from both its charter and its Nazi heritage.
Hat tip: BadBlue News.
The Secret History of the Tax Code, in Pictures
You can see all of Biff's comics by clicking here.
WHISTLE-BLOWER ITALIAN JOURNALIST: Hamas Covering Up Its Own Rockets Killing Scores of Gaza Children
An Italian journalist operating in Gaza corroborated Israel's account of an errant Hamas rocket strike on a Gaza school playground on Monday, according to an Israel National News report. At least 10 people were killed, mostly children, in the Shati refugee camp school. Israel was immediately accused; however, it insisted that Hamas rockets caused the death and destruction.
Returning from Gaza and presumably safe from potential "Hamas retaliation," journalist Gabriele Barbati tweeted confirmation that Hamas terrorists quickly tried to cover up evidence of its errant rocket strike.
A Wall Street Journal reporter, Tamer El-Ghobashi, tweeted evidence confirming a Hamas rocket struck Gaza's main hospital. El-Ghobashi deleted the tweet shortly after.
Hamas had as many as 10,000 rockets when Operation Protective Edge began three weeks ago. It has fired nearly 3,000 at Israeli civilians since then, and Israeli military officials say they have destroyed thousands more. Though as many as 5,000 remain, increasing reports indicate that a greater volume of rockets are falling short and landing in Gaza.
Larwyn's Linx: The non-militia answer to Obama’s illegal amnesty
Nation
The non-militia answer to Obama’s illegal amnesty: Real RevoGutierrez: We Need Amnesty To 'Punish' Anyone Against Illegal Immigration: WZ
'Brazen' Attacks by Illegals Against Border Patrol Increase: Fox
On Impeachment: Protein Wisdom
Vulnerable Dems balk at Obama actions: Hill
Bachmann: ‘We Saw Border Processing, Not Border Security’: CNS
Say, the Clinton's `Speaking Fees' Sure Look Like Hefty Foreign Bribes: PJM
Obama and the road not taken: Victor Davis Hanson
Father of Obamacare Makes a “Speak-O”: Larry Elder
This is Inexcusable: Erick Erickson
Cruz whipping tonight against Boehner border bill: Robert Costa
Crazy Nancy Pelosi: No 'Deportation without Representation': Breitbart
Economy
You Too Can Exploit Open Border for Easy Money: MBEmployers Already Dumping Coverage Thanks To Obamacare: LoneCon
Obama, Emanuel need to put Chicago’s kids first: John Kass
Scandal Central
New Emails Reveal Lois Lerner’s Deep-Seated Hatred of Conservative Americans: GWPHow Clintons Turned State Department into Racket to Line Their Own Pockets: Daley Gator
JW Forces Release of Clinton State Department Conflict of Interest Docs: JW
Bachmann: Central Americans Laugh At U.S. For Not Securing Border: CNS
Prominent Democrats and Republicans Say Cuomo Broke Laws With Moreland Interference: MenRec
The Home Front: Mark Steyn
Climate & Energy
Senate Report: Left-Wing 'Billionaire's Club' Controlling US Economy and Subverting Democracy: BreitbartGlobal warming orthodoxy is irrational and wicked: Nigel Lawson
Dear ________________: (A Letter From the EPA): Hideout
Media
Secretive Leftwing Network Discovered through Wisconsin Records Law.: InstapunditMSNBC Guest: Jews Control the Media and Hide Coverage of Gaza Conflict: Sooper
Why 'Stupid' Liberals Succeed: Evan Sayet
The Right Still Refuses To 'Fight Fire With Fire': Horowitz
Top House Dem: Of Course We’re Running on Impeachment, We Have Nothing Else: JWF
Greg Sargent’s Own Goal Worse than Previously Believed: Leon Wolf
Obama's Broken Teleprompter: WFB
Obama: My Muslim Family’s Polygamy was Empowering: Daniel Greenfield
Media Matters pwnt by commie girl: Twitchy
World
Rep. Keith Ellison Takes Side Of Hamas, Wants Blockade Ended: RWNThree Reasons that Israel Should Destroy Hamas Now : PJM
ISIS Threatens to Step Into Gaza Conflict, Fight the ‘Barbaric Jews’: PJM
ISIS Butchers Slaughter 1,500 Young Iraqi Men; Scene “Reminiscent... of Nazi Germany": FreeLight
AND SO IT BEGINS: ISIS Makes Inroads in Terror Plagued Kashmir, India: GWP
UN Official admits Hamas firing rockets “from the vicinity of UN facilities”: LI
As Jews flee Europe, the sneering media admonished again: Hot Air
Israeli Knesset Member: Obama Talked To Netanyahu Like He Was The “Leader Of The Taliban”: WZ
BROOKLYN: Anti-Muslim flyers distributed throughout Bensonhurst apartment complex: BNI
Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)
How deadly Ebola has spread across the globe: DailyMailThese Microshutters Will Power NASA's Telescopes of the Future: Gizmodo
Android grabs record 85 percent smartphone share: CIO
Cornucopia
You're welcome irony: SondrakistanFans of Harry Potter More Likely to Overcome Bigotry: Rational Beacon
Caption: C&S
Image: Desperate Democrats Can't Escape Obama, by Ramesh Ponnuru
Sponsored by: Tell Congress the conditions for approving Pres. Obama's emergency funding request!
QOTD: "Operation Protective Edge marks the third round against Hamas in the last five years. In reality, we are in one long never-ending war of attrition, whose intensity is only growing. This war is eroding Israeli deterrence against its near and distant enemies, and it must end decisively.
The security situation demands an unequivocal victory. Israel must not repeat the mistake of the "Pillar of Defense understandings." Understandings of this kind should be rejected outright. They don't hold water and Hamas is doing everything in its power to undermine them. In every sense of the word.
To return security to Israelis and to residents of the south in particular, we must reach a situation where Gaza has been disarmed of missiles, rockets and attack tunnels. We must secure an end to this war of attrition, and we have the full legitimacy to do so. There isn't a country out there that wouldn't agree that if a terrorist organization was camped on its border, it would disrupt the everyday lives of its citizens, endangering their lives over the years.
Demilitarization is a must. If it isn't done through a political arrangement, it must be executed through force." --MK Shaul Mofaz
Wednesday, July 30, 2014
YES, THIS IS A RHETORICAL QUESTION: Is the EPA Really Interested in Your Criticism?
Americans will get to have their say on the Environmental Protection Agency and its proposed regulation to fight climate change this week.
The agency will hold public hearings in four cities to fulfill its promise to get stakeholder input and let everyday Americans comment on the proposed rule.
But whether the agency takes the input seriously is another matter. Given what EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy wrote on the EPA’s website, it’s not promising.
“We expect great feedback at these sessions. And unfortunately, we also expect a healthy dose of the same tired, false and worn out criticism that commonsense EPA action is bad for the economy.”
For an agency that is stressing the “importance” of an “open and inclusive process,” the EPA does not seem to actually want any feedback. This despite the fact the EPA’s climate regulations for both new and existing power plants will:


















