Tuesday, September 09, 2014

10 Cool Facts About the New Apple Watch


10. Apple designed a custom typeface for the Apple Watch, just like Google did for Android

9. The Apple Watch integrates a pressure sensor that can determine when someone changes elevation, runs up a hill, or climbs a flight of stairs

8. Apple uses a "taptic" actuator to actually touch the user, rather than simply vibrate

7. The watch also includes a microphone based upon a microelectromechanical system (MEMS)

6. For exercise buffs, it will track steps, heart rate, mileage, calories and sleep

5. And its GPS system will sync up with an iPhone

4. Users can choose from six swappable bands including a moisture-wicking sports band

3. Apple's "activity" app keeps track of any movement you do throughout the day while the "workout" app tracks the more intense movement of workouts and sports

2. There will be 34 combinations of models and wristbands from which to choose


1. Prices start at $349, but Apple hasn't specified what each model will cost

As for battery life, no one's saying, but it may be a once-a-day-charge kinda beast.

Apple's new watch also includes "Apple Pay" a new mobile payment system, which has some interesting ramifications:

"...Apple Pay is a full mobile payments solution that works with American Express, Visa and MasterCard. Apple has signed up a number of major retailers including Walgreens, Macy’s, Bloomingdales, Subway, Staples, McDonald’s, Whole Foods and Apple retail locations. We also note that Apple Pay will be available to conduct secure transactions on mobile websites/apps, which we believe should make mobile commerce significantly more compelling for consumers..." --Gene Munster, Piper Jaffray

"...Apple Pay is backed by the iTunes account card, so Apple is working on top of the traditional credit card infrastructure as we expected. Although financial terms were not disclosed, we don’t expect a substantial new revenue stream as much as differentiation of the ecosystem..." --Steve Milunovich, USB

"...By partnering with the leading merchants across retail, grocery, drugstore, and dining, consumers can use Apple Pay with merchants they shop every day — which will accelerate the growth of mobile payments in the US..." --Denée Carrington, Senior Analyst


Hat tip: BadBlue Tech News

REPORTS CONFIRMED: Golfer-in-Chief Ignored Warnings of Growing ISIS Threat For an Entire Year

By Investor's Business Daily

War On Terror: Reports that Barack Obama received detailed information on the virulent Islamic State terror group in his daily briefings for over a year and did nothing makes him officially our "being there" president.

Leading from behind once again, as he flew to Estonia to draw a red line that Russia shouldn't cross after it finishes gobbling up Ukraine, President Obama told reporters, "We will not be intimidated" by the second beheading of an American journalist and warned that we would "degrade and destroy" the Islamic State.

Degrade? Degrading has been the foreign policy of a president who recently said that he didn't have a strategy yet for dealing with the Islamic State's butchery after watching it train and prepare for a year in its Syrian base before its "sudden" expansion into Iraq.

A former Pentagon official told Fox News that Obama received specific intelligence in daily briefings about the Islamic State's rise. The information was said to be "granular" in detail, laying out IS' intentions and capabilities for at least a year before it seized big chunks of Iraqi territory and started beheading Americans.

Obama's indifference to the briefings was an issue during the 2012 campaign, when former George W. Bush speechwriter Marc Thiessen observed that Obama personally attended only 44% of them. Obama's perceived lack of interest in a terror war, which he claimed was won prior to the Benghazi attack, mirrors his reported lack of interest in the rise of the Islamic State.

At the time, National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor told Thiessen that Obama's attendance at the briefings was "not particularly interesting or useful." Later, when questioned about the lead-up to the Benghazi fiasco, Vietor said: "Dude, this was two years ago. We're still talking about the most mundane thing."

BORDER BREAKDOWN: Tuberculosis Outbreak Feared in Massachusetts After Obama Ships Hundreds of Illegals There

What, you think even Kreskin could have predicted this?

SHOT: Lynn officials: Illegal immigrant children are stressing city services
12 July 2014: Lynn is a municipality on the brink. Key department officials say a recent influx of illegal immigrant children and families in the city is stressing almost every service from trash collection to healthcare.

"We have been aware of the unaccompanied children issue for quite a while, and we were able to absorb a lot of these children early on," said Lynn Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy. "But now it's gotten to the point where the school system is overwhelmed, our health department is overwhelmed, the city's budget is being sustainably altered in order of accommodate all of these admissions in the school department."

...The amount of new foreign born student admissions has nearly doubled in the last two years. This school year alone saw more than 600 new admissions. Among those students, 248 were from Guatemala. Flanagan Kennedy says of those 248 children, 126 were illegal, undocumented minors.

"They are not literate in any language, so they do need some skills. And I assume they are enrolling in school to receive those skills," said Catherine Latham, Lynn's superintendent of schools...

CHASER: Hundreds in Lynn Tested for Tuberculosis
9 September 2014: More than 30 Lynn Community Health Center employees and 800 patients are being tested to determine if they were exposed to tuberculosis after center doctors confirmed a case.

Center Director Lori Berry says after confirming the single positive test for tuberculosis in a male health care worker around Labor Day, center medical workers contacted and tested employees as well as patients ‘‘having sufficient exposure to warrant testing.’’

City Health Director MaryAnn O'Connor tells The Daily Item the identified case at the center is ‘‘not a reason to panic’’ and said people should not stay away from clinic...

Crime, disease, racial strife, terrorism, violence, and war.

Yep, we've got a Democrat President, alright.


Hat tip: Drudge Report.

Larwyn's Linx: Texas rancher confirms that Islamic terrorists were caught crossing into U.S.

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

Nation

Texas rancher: Islamic terrorists were caught crossing into U.S.: GWP
Obama Fails to Warn Americans of Possible 9-11 Attack This Week: RWN
It's the Border Security, Stupid: Roger L. Simon

Hispanics get the shaft from Obama on immigration: Allen West
Long Island’s 2,300 Illegal Alien Children Pose a Challenge: Sara Noble
President Obama's Thoroughly Tawdry Executive Action Delay on Immigration: CIS

Success or Failure: Thomas Sowell
Self- Defense Shooting Outside a Kroger Guts Argument To Ban Guns: Bob Owens
Obamacare’s Tax Troubles Just Got Worse: GotNews

Nate Silver: Almost 2-to-1 Chance Republicans Win Senate Majority: R.S. McCain
Bruce Braley (D-Candidate #IASen): loves fundraisers, ignores veterans: Moe Lane
Aaron Woolf’s (D-Candidate, NY-21) cruel exploitation of his backers: Moe Lane

Economy

Black Americans Continue to Face Double Digit Unemployment: FW
One in Ten California Workers are Illegal Immigrants: Publius
HHS Announces Another $60 Million for Obamacare Navigators: WS

Scandal Central

IRS Investigation Getting Dangerous For Senate Dem Carl Levin: CHQ
Fox News’ Special Re-ignites the Benghazi Scandal: AIM
House Benghazi panel to hold first hearing next week: Sean Lengell

Why Ferguson Could Lead To Federal Takeovers Of Local Police: D.C. McAllister
Generals: Constitutional Crisis Could Force Military To Remove Obama: NoisyRm
The McDonnell Verdict: Cal Thomas

Climate & Energy

Are greenhouse gas emissions a reason to keep Africa starving?: WUWT
Fracking, New Energy Production, Spurs Rust Belt Economic and Industrial Rebound: AmPower
UN says CO2 "pollution" at annual record high: CNS

Media

The GOP’s Missing Electoral Link: Daniel Horowitz
It’s Hard to be Saints in the City: Steven Malanga
Fox’s Wallace on Obama: You’ve Got a Problem ‘When Elizabeth Warren’s to Your Right’: Mediaite

Neighborliness in Obama's Post-Racial America: MB
NY Times "Outs" Anti-Israel Negotiator: Stormin' Norman
ABC Ignores Start of Ray Nagin's Prison Term; NBC Gives Story Only 15 Seconds: MRC

You're Out, Barack: Stephen Green
Wendy Davis: “The Most Loving Thing” I Could Do Was Aborting My Daughter: Jerome Hudson
Ward Churchill Still Crazy After All These Years: Nice Deb

World

Some Lessons From The War With Hamas: Steven Plaut
Federal Grand Jury Probing Suspected Terrorist Pipeline in MN: FNI
Mexico Is the New Detroit; Forbes Credits NAFTA: NewAm

A Shock to the Heart and a Sad Message for the Brain: Brussels Journal
1,400 English Girls Raped by Multiculturalism: Dennis Prager
ISIS fighter 'John' was reportedly known to British intelligence for over a year: Fox

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)

The Plankton Pundit: Miriam Goldstein, Deep Sea News
Twitter Begins 'Buy Button' Test: DM News
Highest-profile Democrat in Congress comes out in full force for net neutrality: VenBeat

Cornucopia

Media Bias: This May Be the Best Joke I've Heard All Year...: Breitbart
Everyone stop what you're doing and say a quick prayer for @Liberty_Chick, Mandy Nagy: LI
On the Matter of Bob Costas’ Hair: Jon Gabriel

Image: @KeithEllison on Twitter...
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: STOP the Obamacare Six

QOTD: "Mr. Obama’s misjudgment on ISIS was extraordinarily costly. It was a complete misreading of the situation, long after others were warning about the nature of the ISIS threat. This mistake ranks among the worst errors of the Obama presidency, which is saying quite a lot. President Obama knows this, which is why he’s frantically trying to pretend he didn’t say what he so clearly said.

The problem is in this whole process the president of the United States is distorting the truth. He’s doing so willfully. But this deception will not only fail; it will further undermine his credibility, which is already at a low ebb. As Mr. Obama said in 2008, “I mean, words mean something. You can’t just make stuff up.”

Mr. Obama is at war with reality, and reality is winning." --Peter Wehner

Monday, September 08, 2014

SMART POWER: "Americans no longer command the ability to shape trends in the Middle East"

By Alan Caruba


The U.S. and Iran have been adversaries since 1979 when it seized our diplomats and held them for 444 days. In the wake of the Cold War, Russia has assisted Iran develop its nuclear program and has joined its war on the Islamic State. The U.S. has joined the conflict, making Iran, Syria and Russia our allies in a world where such relationships are changing so fast it is hard to keep up with them.

A September 5th Debka File report regarding recent air strikes by Syria on two meetings of Islamic State officers noted that “The twin Syrian air offensive coincided with the opening of the two-day NATO Summit... "The information about the two Al Qaeda meetings at Raqqa and Abu Kamal could have come from only two sources: U.S. surveillance satellites and aircraft, or Iranian agents embedded at strategic points across Syria.”

The Israeli news agency concluded that the success of the air strikes reflected “the widening military and intelligence cooperation between the United States and Iran in Iraq and Syria.” So maybe there has been a bonus of sorts from the U.S. negotiations with Iran regarding its nuclear program? The other component is the fact that Iran does not want a hostile Sunni Islamic State emerging in Iraq on its borders. It is more likely this is a short-term alliance.

Meanwhile, at the NATO meeting in Wales, Secretary of State John Kerry identified what he called a “core coalition” of ten nations that could help the U.S. go after the Islamic State (ISIL) terrorists. The seven he named were Great Britain, France, Germany, Canada, Australia, Turkey, Italy, and Poland. Of these, only Turkey is Islamic. There was no mention of Iran or Syria, both of whom are playing a significant role in the fight against ISIS.

“There is no containment policy for ISIS,” said Kerry. I suppose that’s better than wanting the ISIS threat to be “manageable” as the President recently said at the same time he said he had “no strategy” at present to deal with ISIS. Meanwhile, on Labor Day Vice President Biden, was saying the U.S. was going to follow ISIS “to the gates of hell” to destroy them.

If there is some confusion in the minds of Americans about what the White House is actually doing or not doing, its mixed messages suggest they have as little idea as the rest of us.

JUST IN TIME FOR 9/11: ISIS calls for assassinations of Twitter employees in San Francisco and Europe

Watch your six, folks.

An ISIS-related Twitter account has issued the group’s first direct call for attacks on specific American targets, but it’s not going after political or national icons. It wants Twitter employees assassinated. The call for retribution against the online platform was first announced Sunday night in a series of tweets asking “lone wolves” in the U.S. and Europe to make Twitter employees the focus of their attacks.

Twitter has been engaged in a prolonged game of whack-a-mole with ISIS, closing its accounts and those of similar organizations as they come to prominence, in an attempt to stifle their extremist propaganda and exhortations to violence. ISIS and other groups have consistently thwarted these efforts, now they’re going one step further, urging “lone wolf” actors to target Twitter employees.

The series of ISIS tweets are below, translated one by one.


You can read the entire piece here.

And, by all means, if you Twitter employees are legally able to carry concealed, do so. Though this being the People's Republik of California we're talking about, I suspect said licenses are harder to find than Michael Moore at a Gold's Gym.


MOST TRANSPARENT ADMINISTRATION EVER: Why, President Obama Never Referred to ISIS as the "JV" Team

The new Obama meme on ISIS: the President never referred to it as the "JV" team.

Todd, Sept. 7: Long way, long way from when you described them as a JV team.

Obama: Well, I –

Todd: Was that bad intelligence or your misjudgment?

Obama: Keep — keep — keep in mind I wasn’t specifically referring to ISIL. I’ve said that, regionally, there were a whole series of organizations that were focused primarily locally.

In fact, that's another entry in Obama's impressive database of fabrications, though not nearly as significant as "If you like your plan, you can keep your plan" or "The average family will see their health care premiums drop by $2,500 a year".

In reality, Obama clearly made such a claim during an interview with David Remnick of The New Yorker that occurred immediately after ISIS had captured Fallujah.

Larwyn's Linx: Democrats: Executive action on immigration will kill us in the 2014 elections

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

Nation

Democrats: Immigration reform will kill us in the 2014 elections: RS
Obama to Voters: You Are So Stupid: Power Line
Mexican Military, Drug Cartels Routinely Fire on Border Patrol: Sara Noble

Illegal Alien Families Caught Entering US Has Skyrocketed 412%: GWP
Obama finally unveils a border security plan... for Nigeria: Publius
Obama blames press for criticisms of his post-beheading golf outing: Hot Air

Howard Fuller Has the Answer for Ferguson: Star Parker
Dem Rep: Latinos 'Pissed Off' at 'Disgusting' Republican Party: Breitbart
Liberal Fascism laid bare in one @DonnaBrazile tweet: Public Secrets

About those lightweight Team Obama spokespersons: Power Line
Which is the bigger threat to the United States?: ZH
Proof That the Left Is Ready for a Clinton Presidential Run: Ben Geman

Economy

The Competitive Disadvantage of Principle: Erick Erickson
Failing at Life: Erick Erickson
JPM: "The Current Episode Of Excess Liquidity Is The Most Extreme Ever": ZH

Scandal Central

Holder DOJ ‘Handcuffed’ the FBI From Investigating Islamic Extremism In US: Nice Deb
Five More IRS Employees’ Emails “Lost” – It Is Time For An IRS Special Prosecutor: Aaron Gardner
70% Of Border Agents Forced to Aid, Abet, Facilitate Cartel Smugglers: Sara Noble

Climate & Energy

GOPs Charge Environmental Lobby Getting ‘Unprecedented Access’ to EPA Officials: Bill Straub
EPA puts climate target on airlines: Timothy Cama, The Hill
EPA sets emissions cut order: Six Arizona industrial facilities told to reduce their pollution output: Mohave

Media

Perfect: Liberals FREAK OUT over Immigration Stall, Obama Goes GOLFING!: Sooper
Psaki Makes Me Psick: Power Line
ABC Hits Obama From Left on Immigration, Hypes ‘Anger This Morning’ Among Hispanics: MRC

Shapiro Rips Obama: “Who, Exactly, Has Veto Power Over American National Security Interests?”: TR
This, Shannon Watts, Is Why We Need Guns To Go Grocery Shopping: Bob Owens
Bruce Levenson will sell Atlanta Hawks after releasing racist e-mail: USA Today

Saturday Tab Clearing: Ushanka
Was A Girl On #MichaelBrown’s Mind The Day He Was Killed?: GotNews
The Problems With Meet The Press Are Not Unique To Meet The Press: Derek Hunter

World

DEVASTATING REPORT: Islamic Society Of Boston Linked To ISIS AND Muslim Brotherhood: GWP
Al Qaeda Wasn’t ‘on the Run’: Stephen F. Hayes
Obama assembles Coalition of the Useless to fight ISIS: RS

Putin takes a slap at Obama in Estonia: RS
Russian Strategic Bombers Near Canada Practice Cruise Missile Strikes on US: WFB
China: Very Dangerous Thinking.: StrategyPage

Cuba Trolls America’s Left For Spies: NoisyRm
Flashback: In 2007 President Bush Warned What Would Happen if We Left Iraq too Soon: RWN
Marxism Strikes Again: Venezuela Set To Import Oil: Walter Russell Mead

Last Ditch Attempt To Rescue Hostages From ISIS Was Crippled By ‘Dithering’ Obama: Clash
ISIS/ISIL’s Male On Male Gang Rape “Marriage” Jihad Blackmail: Ironic
White House reportedly planning years-long campaign to destroy ISIS: Fox

Religion Of Peace: Children Play With Severed Heads In The Islamic State’s Caliphate: WZ
Brussels shooter’s Syrian past raises alarms in Europe: Times of Israel
Israeli politicians praise Sisi plan to give Palestinians land for a state in Sinai: JPost

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)

Stephen Hawking: God particle could wipe out the universe: Chris Matyszczyk, CNet
Diseased illegals spreading lung virus in Midwest: FAM
Home Depot Hit By Same Malware as Target: Brian Krebs

Cornucopia

US ‘Deeply Concerned’ After Chinese Jets Sink Navy Aircraft Carrier: DuffelBlog
Promises Made; Promises Unkept.: MOTUS
Colorado town becomes Bud Light commercial set: AP

Image: Empty Tan Suit
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: STOP the Obamacare Six

QOTD: "Steven Hawking worried that the Higgs Boson might become unstable... [writing]: "The Higgs potential has the worrisome feature that it might become metastable at energies above 100bn gigaelectronvolts (GeV)."

What might this lead to? Hawkins explained: "This could mean that the universe could undergo catastrophic vacuum decay, with a bubble of the true vacuum expanding at the speed of light. This could happen at any time and we wouldn't see it coming."

Before you prepare your loved ones for an evacuation to some distant star, Hawking did offer some hope with, it seems, a wry smile: "A particle accelerator that reaches 100bn GeV would be larger than Earth, and is unlikely to be funded in the present economic climate."

In essence, then, his fears might be theoretically valid, but their likelihood of actually coming to pass is somewhat smaller than that of the New York Jets winning the next Super Bowl." --Chris Matyszczyk

Sunday, September 07, 2014

BUBBLE: It Doesn't Take a Genius to See What's Coming

By Michael Snyder

People have such short memories. Even though we are repeating so many of the same patterns that we witnessed in 2000-2001 and 2007-2008, most people do not think that another financial crash is coming. In fact, with the stock market setting record high after record high lately, I have been taking quite a bit of criticism for my relentless warnings about the coming financial storm. Many of the comments go something like this: "Snyder you are a moron! Nothing you say ever comes true. The stock market is going to keep on rocking and Obama is going to lead this country back to greatness. I hope that you choke on all of your doom and gloom." Of course these critics never offer any hard evidence that I have been wrong about anything. They just assume that since the stock market has soared to unprecedented heights that all of us "bears" must have been wrong.

But the truth is that what we are observing right now is classic bubble behavior. The stock market crashes of 1929, 1987 and 2008 were all preceded by irrational market rallies in the spring or summer. The financial markets have become completely divorced from economic reality, and such a state of affairs never lasts forever. It is just a matter of time before a correction comes.

But every time there is a bubble, most people end up getting caught up in all of the euphoria. And it is happening again. In fact, CNBC has just reported that bearishness among market newsletter writers is the lowest that it has been since 1987. But of course we all remember what happened back in 1987...

IT'S YOUR FAULT: Federal Reserve Blames Americans Who “Hoard Money” For Obama's Economic Trainwreck

By Mac Slavo

Despite arguments to the contrary from the Obama administration, mounting evidence suggests that the U.S. economy is rapidly falling back into negative growth territory. More Americans are out of the workforce than ever before, median household incomes are at levels not seen since 1967, and consumer spending is coming to a veritable standstill. The crisis is apparently so significant that a Federal Reserve governor recently said U.S. policymakers are crafting regulations that will force bank depositors to cover any losses should their financial institutions fail.

The question that many are asking is, how did this happen? How, after six years of recovery efforts and trillions of dollars printed, is it possible that the economy is not booming again?

This week the Federal Reserve published a report that claims to have figured it out and it turns out that the renewed economic downturn has nothing to do with foreign outsourcing, high taxation, increased health care costs for business or rising consumer prices for food and energy.

No, according to the Fed it is your fault. Apparently, you are not spending enough money. In order for the economy to recover you need to stop hoarding cash now and get out there and start buying more homes, cars, vacations, and electronics. Otherwise, you’ll only have yourself to blame when the system comes unhinged.

From the St. Louis Federal Reserve:

HAPPY YET, DRONES? Early Preview of Obamacare Premiums Show a 40% Spike in 2015

It is my sincere hope that one day conservatives will kick teachers' unions to the curb and retake the nation's educational system. One of the first orders of business then would be to teach not only the genius of the American founding but also the utter, repeated and unbroken failures of collectivism.

Which brings me to Obamacare, a socialistic plan sold on a panoply of lies and doomed from the outset to failure. Failure that even the Obama administration acknowledges, with its serial and unlawful rewrites of the statute, along with delays and modifications to shield a complicit Democrat Party from enraged electorates.

As for what collectivism applied to health care will do to insurance premiums? It's just as we predicted.

On Thursday, the Alaska Division of Insurance announced hefty insurance rate increases in 2015 for Alaskans who purchased individual plans under the Affordable Care Act.

...In 2015, Premera Blue Cross insurance rates will increase between 35 and 40 percent, Wing-Heier said. Those plans cover roughly 7,000 Alaskans. Alaskans who chose a silver plan (the most popular) through Premera will see an increase of 37 percent.

Moda Health plans will increase between 22 and 28.8 percent, according to Wing-Heier. These plans cover roughly 8,000 Alaskans, Moda regional operations director Jason Gootee said.

Why the shocking and unprecedented increases?

Wing-Heier said 2015's greater increase is due to the small number of Alaskans on the individual market: “For insurance to work the way it’s intended ... you pool your risk and spread it across the pool.”

Insurers were facing “some very horrific claims” with “just not enough people” to balance it out, she said... ...“There are not enough healthy members in Alaska’s individual market to offset the cost of members with very high medical costs...”

...Premera expects to lose $3.7 million in 2014 on these plans, the company writes... “We need a 71.5 percent average rate increase to break even in 2015,” the release states. In 2015, Premera is forecasting losses of $5 million, even with the rate increase.

Alaska is but a microcosm of the insanity laced throughout the ill-named "Affordable Care Act."

Thousands of years of human history have proven, if nothing else, that central planning can never replace the efficiency of free markets.

And still the hard left, Marxist-controlled Democrat Party insists on its suicidal vision for America. We, the American people, will pay the price for their insane plans. And they, the oligarchs, won't feel a thing.


Hat tip: BadBlue News.

Larwyn's Linx: Obama Will Legalize Millions After the Election Because You’re Stupid

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

Nation

Obama Will Legalize Millions After the Election Because You’re Stupid: Sara Noble
Obama: Illegal Immigrants Should Not Have to 'Look Over Their Shoulder': Breitbart
Obama to delay immigration action until voters can’t punish Democrats for it: Hot Air

Fox News, Enemy of State: Kevin D. Williamson
Don’t Blame Obama – History Will: Rick Wilson
Why You Need a Gun: Bob Owens

This Crime Chronicles Our Broken Border Perfectly…: WJ
Eric Holder: A More Dangerous Race-Card Hustler Than Al Sharpton: Larry Elder
Worker Witnesses To Mike Brown Shooting?: Treehouse

The Taste of Government Control: Thomas Purcell
An Open Letter To My Friends In Law Enforcement: Pastor Chuck Baldwin
Pentagon Giving Grenade Launchers to Campus Police: Vice

Economy

24,639,000: Record Number of Foreign-Born Hold Jobs in U.S.: Ali Meyer
The Slow Decline of American Entrepreneurship: Tim Kane, DailySignal
The EU is on life-support, and the doctors are clueless: Commentator

Scandal Central

A campaign to silence conservative speech: Times
Unbelievable! Fox News reveals the White House attempted to squelch reporting on Benghazi!: Scoop
Could the EPA Chief Really be ‘Worse than Lois Lerner’?: Blaze

Gov. Jerry Brown: Nearly 30% of CA Kids Illegal or 'Don't Speak English': Breitbart
Take a Guess Where The Heroin That's Flooding The Streets of America Comes From?: RightPundit
NY State Police Confiscate Gun Shop Records, Spurring Fears of NY SAFE Act Raids: Bob Owens

Climate & Energy

EPA Fakes Regulatory Cost-Benefit Calculations: Signal
House looking to stop EPA’s overreach on water regulation: Blaze
Hillary: “Climate Change Is The Most Urgent, Consequential Challenge We Face”: DailySurge

Media

Breitbart News to Sponsor 'Federalism Forum' to Empower States Against Federal Overreach: Breitbart
Allen West Just Got A Sweet New Tat: DC
MSNBC Poll: 82% Believe Carrying A Gun Is A Constitutional Right: WZ

NY Times: Say, This Pipeline Of American Jihadi Recruits Is Not Good: RWN
Under Pressure From Democrats, Obama Delays Immigration Action Until After Midterm Elections: Mish
The Sun God Cometh: MOTUS

World

Intelligence Gaps Crippled Mission in Syria to Rescue Hostages James Foley, Steven Sotloff: WSJ
Brother Rashid Gives President Obama a Lesson in the REAL Islam: GoV
This Is What Islamophobes Look Like: 90 Miles

Refugees in Minnesota drawn to welfare, jihad: BCF
How a Syrian nuclear facility was destroyed by the Israeli Air Force 7 years ago today: Aviationist
'Sharia controlled zone' in Germany: Group of young Muslims patrolling city streets: RT

Man Crosses Border Carrying ISIS Flag and Fake Severed Head: M.D. Creekmore
Surviving an ISIS Massacre: RWN
Two Satellites Placed in Orbit by Chinese Rocket: Space

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)

Photographer's 1st Milky Way View an Unforgettable Sight (Photo): Space
Meet One Of The Men Who's Helping Google Employees De-Stress And Get In Shape: Insider
'4chan may be just a sysadmin who knows his way around', claims so-called expert: Register

Cornucopia

Jack the Ripper unmasked: DNA breakthrough identifies Britain's most notorious criminal: Daily Mail
Obama Golf Sauna: Keith Koffler
Interview with an Auschwitz Guard: 'I Do Not Feel Like a Criminal': Spiegel

Image: The Slow Decline of American Entrepreneurship
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: STOP the Obamacare Six

QOTD: "The Left is fixated on Fox News for the same reason that it is fixated on the philanthropic activities of Charles and David Koch: It requires enemies. In the late 20th century, the Left’s theoretical basis — Marxism — collapsed utterly as historical events revealed central-planning-in-arms as the road to misery and massacre that the Right always has insisted it is. Developing a new philosophy takes time, and it is problematic in that the Left’s fundamental antagonism is toward capitalism, but many of its heroes and leaders have discovered that they like money. Class warrior Elizabeth Warren cannot endure living in a home that costs less than a million dollars, while Bill Clinton is a centimillionaire and Al Gore is one twice over. The sight of Occupy Wall Street spastically trying to give birth to a new version of anti-capitalism while cheered on by Manhattan prep-school trust-funders like Katrina vanden Heuvel was comical — and fruitless.

Instead of a philosophy, the Left has an enemies list: investment bankers, except the ones who work in the Obama administration; financiers, except the ones who advise the Obama administration; Christians who want to use government to impose their moral vision on the country, except the ones who work in the Obama administration; the 1 percent, except . . .

...And Bill O’Reilly, a relatively popular domestic talk-show host, commands the attention of the State Department, while Fox News is denounced by the White House. You’d think that these men and women of immense power would be sort of embarrassed by that, but you’d be wrong." --Kevin D. Williamson

Saturday, September 06, 2014

National Labor Relations Board Ruling to Destroy Franchised Businesses... For the Children

Forbes contributor Mark Hendrickson sounds the alarm on another devastating blow to the economy, one inflicted by the most anti-business administration since that of FDR.

The NLRB has issued a ruling that McDonald's Corporation may be considered a joint employer of McDonald’s franchisees’ workers. If allowed to stand, this ruling will redefine the relationship between franchisors and franchisees by declaring both to be joint employers. This is bad law, bad for business, and bad for employment.

It’s bad law because it would unilaterally abrogate long-accepted contractual arrangements between thousands of franchisors and franchisees. It’s also bad law because it is an insult–no, a repudiation–of representative government. A major change in law that affects so many individuals and businesses is properly the province of Congress. By usurping the legislative prerogative, three unelected political appointees (a majority of the five-person NLRB) are presuming to make a decision that rightly should be made by [Congress].

The NLRB ruling will be immensely disruptive to all the franchisors and franchisees in the country. Indeed, it would destroy the harmony between a franchisor and its franchisees.

Currently, franchisors exert no control over hiring, firing, assigning workers to different shifts, determining the length of those shifts, deciding which worker performs which functions, etc. and if franchisors are now to be deemed joint employers of those who work in each local franchise, they would need to hire additional workers to be on site. You can’t manage a workforce in Peoria or Mesa or Tupelo from Chicago (or, in the case of McDonald’s, Oak Park). How would a franchisor cover these additional costs? They would have to receive a larger percentage of the franchisees’ income. They also might find it expedient to enter into a nationwide bargaining agreement with a union that would represent the workers in all the franchises, figuring that it would be more manageable for them to deal with one collective bargaining agent than having to micromanage labor issues in a large number of franchises.

...Clearly, the new NLRB ruling threatens to destroy jobs at a time when the overall job market remains less than robust. As is so often the case, government intervention in the name of helping America’s workers will end up imposing a severe toll on many of those workers.

Why would the NLRB promote a ruling certain to negatively impact small businesses and workers? Because it "is designed to help labor unions, a key element of President Obama’s powerbase."

Little wonder, as Hendrickson notes, that American companies are fleeing overseas.


Hat tip: BadBlue Money.

UNREAL: Muslims in U.S. Openly Wearing ISIS Logo

A Facebook user known only as "Mike" posted several troubling photos recently that depict Muslims in the U.S. wearing the logo of Islamic State (ISIS, ISIL, whatever). Apparently these goons are members of, or sympathizers with, the 7th-century throwbacks known for beheading children, crucifying Christians, and other misunderstandings of Islamic teachings.


The photo was taken Wednesday in Houston, Texas at a delicatessen, of all places.

This image was posted openly on Facebook Wednesday by a man whose Facebook profile says is from Chicago:

Father of Young Man Killed by Illegal Alien Has a Message for Obama

By Investor's Business Daily

Human Cost: The point above, made to President Obama by a grieving father whose 25-year-old son was run over by an illegal alien who won't be deported, underscores the high price of open borders for U.S. citizens.

That grieving father, Donald Rosenberg, has put another human face on the growing problem of importing crime through the Obama administration's tolerance of illegal immigration.

His plea also highlights the White House's refusal to deport those who shouldn't be here after they do grievous harm to Americans, sometimes even killing them.

In a letter sent to Obama last month, Rosenberg, a self-described "lifelong, very liberal Democrat," said his son Drew, run over and killed by an illegal alien in 2010, would still be alive if Washington consistently deported illegals who have conflicts with law enforcement.

Open-border advocates would argue that his son could have just as easily been killed by a U.S. citizen. True enough, except that he wasn't, and the fact is the odds of American citizens being victims of any crime would be reduced if our borders were secure and alien criminals were being deported.

Rosenberg's son was killed when Robert Galo, an illegal alien who had been here since 1998, made a left turn and crashed into Drew, who was riding his motorcycle home from law school.

It was a slow-speed crash and nothing serious might have happened had not Galo, who was driving without a license, "drove over (Drew's) body a third time," Rosenberg said in his letter, "in an attempt to flee."

One Question Quiz on the Ever-Growing Federal Behemoth

Courtesy of 90 Miles From Tyranny:


John Fund calls the result of these troubling developments "The United States of SWAT."


Hat tip: III Percent Patriots.

TEXAS SHERIFF CONFIRMS: ISIS Cells Operating in Juarez, Mexico

Thank heavens leaders in both political parties have pressed the administration to secure the border. Oh wait. They haven't?

My mistake.

A Local Sheriff Leaves a Strong Message for ISIS


The terrorist group, ISIS, continues to terrorize the Middle East and threatens Americans -- as ISIS members have now murdered two American journalists. These terrible acts of violence have local law enforcement on standby.

"These people have said they're going to takeover, they're going to strike, they're going to hit, and we're going to be ready," said Midland County Sheriff Gary Painter... "We do have plans in place, we have an operational plan that'll work," said Painter.

Sheriff Painter says he's armed with specific ISIS information from an online intelligence briefing.

"There are ISIS cells that are operating in Juarez, Mexico," said Sheriff Painter.

While Sheriff Painter doesn't believe West Texans are in immediate danger, his staff preps for the worst.

"We practice things, we have tag teams that are ready to go," said Painter... "If it happens, we're going to handle it, I can promise you that," said Painter.

ISIS claims it's sending a message to the United States with the ruthless murders of two American journalists, but Sheriff Painter has a message of his own.

"I have no doubt, that if any of these fools show up we'll be glad to take care of them," said Sheriff Painter.

On Thursday, Judicial Watch reported that a "key Army base" near the Mexican border city of Juarez -- a hotbed of gang activity -- has beefed up its security dramatically because of the ISIS threat.


Hat tip: BadBlue News.

Larwyn's Linx: Virginia Taxpayers to Pay $20,000 for Each One of Obama's Undocumented Students

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

Nation

Virginia Taxpayers to Pay $20,000 Per Undocumented Student: Signal
White House Doesn’t Care about American Workers: RWN
Obama Invents “Immigration Rights” in Milwaukee Labor Speech: NewAm

The Conservative Moment: Neal Freeman
What the Generic Ballot Tells Us About a GOP Wave: Sean Trende
Levin: You Got What You Wanted, GOPe, Your Base is ‘Furious’: Jen Kuznicki

The 25 Most Influential People On The Right For 2014: John Hawkins
Mark Begich: one of the 97%. Also, poised to lose in Alaska.: Moe Lane
Former Republican presidential hopeful plans pro-Israel rally in DC: Hayom

Economy

US Inks Deal with Mexico to Protect Mexican Workers--Including Illegals: CNS
Obamacare Claims Its Latest Victim: The August Jobs Report: IJR
NYT: Say, Good Paying Jobs Are Missing In The Obameconomy: RWN

Scandal Central

Shocking Emails Reveal Lois Lerner's 'Secret Research Project': JW
Odd: Five More Scandal Related IRS Employees With Lost Emails: Lid
US: Sonia Sotomayor Speaks to Immigrant Justice Corps: BCF

U.S. jet carrying 100 military contractors forced to land inside Iran: Hot Air
Here’s the ENTIRE ’13 Hours’ Fox News special with eyewitness accounts of Benghazi: Scoop
A Man Made A Shocking Discovery About ISIS In America, But What Happened Next Is Unbelievable: WJ

Media

Networks Skip Bombshell Benghazi Claim: Rescue Was Delayed By CIA Official: MRC
In Defense of Bare Naked Islam: Zilla
EXCLUSIVE: Here Are #MichaelBrown Anti-Women, Violent Tweets: GotNews

Ben Rhodes: Obama hasn’t watched the beheading videos…: Scoop
Twice as Many Americans Conservative as Liberal: James Joyner
NATO Photo Of Leaders…And The Narcissist And Chief Strikes Again! Look At Me!: Daily Smug

World

U.S. State Department Actively Promoting Islam in Europe: Soeren Kern
The dilemma of the Jewish leftist : Caroline Glick
A History Lesson for Barack Obama: What Really Happened in Estonia During World War II?: BCF

The rapes in Rotherham were possible because of The Left: ProWis
‘Typing through tears': Bret Baier’s ’13 Hours at Benghazi’ special moves, angers: Twitchy
'At least 10 Israeli Arabs have joined ISIS in Syria': Hayom

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)

The new Moto X could be the best Android phone ever made: TheVerge
Sony shows off latest SmartEyeglasses prototype: PC World
Now That We Know Coffee's Genome, Your Morning Buzz Will Be Genetically Modified: Motherboard

Cornucopia

Peace Elusive in Strife-Torn Midwest: IowaHawk
Hash Tag Game: Q&O
World War II vet selling his amazing house of cars: Fox

Image: Where the f*** is Eric Holder now?
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Defeat the Obamacare Six

QOTD: "Obama and ilk cannot let the word “Islam” pass their lips while making noises about “managing the problem” of ISIS. The next step can be found in a startling and bizarre column from the National Post in which the author seriously offers that way to “save your life” is to know how to recite the shahadah.

Sure, and we can wear burqas, close churches and temples and pay jizyah.

Why not just submit and be done with it?

In the struggle between the West and barbarism, the Left chooses barbarism. For them, The Other is only reactive to the evil of Western Civilization’s imperialism, colonialism, sexism and heteronormitivity. The Other is the perpetual victim and we are the perpetual oppressors.

We cannot and should not fight only against the barbarism of Islamism, but also the anti-Western dogma of the Left that enables it." --Jeff Goldstein

Friday, September 05, 2014

TELEGRAPH: The spread of Ebola has accelerated

A startling graph relayed by The Telegraph:

The spread of the world's worst-ever Ebola epidemic has accelerated rapidly with close to 1,000 deaths in the last month alone, World Health Organisation (WHO) figures show... With the overall West Africa death toll since March reaching 1,850, the new statistics show deaths from Ebola have more than doubled in just four weeks...



...Scientists from Johnson & Johnson this week said they would fast-track tests on an Ebola vaccine into human testing by early 2015... "Because of the emergency we decided to focus on the Ebola Zaire strain, which is the one in the West Africa outbreak, and that's why we can accelerate the programme significantly," chief scientific officer Paul Stoffels told Reuters...

...Guinea warned on Thursday that the spread of Ebola had penetrated a new part of the country.

An official statement by the World Health Organization should send a few shivers down your spine. It reads, "Staff at the outbreak sites see evidence that the numbers of reported cases and deaths vastly underestimate the magnitude of the outbreak."


Hat tip: BadBlue News.

THE GOP MADE THEIR BED: Now They're Going to Have to Lie In It

Writing at National Review, Neal Freeman offers what may be the most incisive summary of the GOP's recent, suicidal antics yet written.

Imagine if you would a prayer breakfast in Washington attended by the leadership of the GOP — Messrs. Boehner, McConnell, Priebus, and their associates. They drop to their knees, bow their heads, and invoke divine intercession in the country’s troubled affairs, and in the party’s parlous condition. Would it be too much to ask Him to deliver unto them a mass political movement, self-financed and benignly led, God-fearing and well-mannered, almost all of whose members believed in the literal version of the Republican platform and almost none of whose members wanted anything from the federal government but constitutional restraint?

Yes, it would have been too much to ask, but, yes, it has been given unto them, anyway. The Tea Party arrived in vast, friendly numbers and said to the GOP, “We’re not from the federal government and we’re here to help.”

What happened next was not pretty. Or smart. The GOP brass responded with insults, attack ads, collaborative media trashing, and, finally, over the past six months, the charge of McConnell’s geezer brigade seeking to “crush” the Tea Party. And here we thought congressional Republicans were too prone to compromise, too quick to split the difference.

Our colleague M. Stanton Evans once said of the two-party system: “One is the evil party and the other is the stupid party. I’m proud to be a member of the stupid party.” I am as well, but sometimes party stupidity asks too much. Here we have before us an epochal opportunity to revive the national enterprise, and we are woefully (and smugly) ill prepared to realize it. As we look forward to 2016, where do we find ourselves? We find ourselves, in my estimate, with no candidate, no message, no coalitional unity, and a thoroughly rusted party machine. Only this question remains: Can we rally in time to save the country from a terminal identity politics that could over the next few cycles bring us not principled and experienced leaders, but (regardless of their qualifications) the first woman president, the first Hispanic president, the first gay president?