Tuesday, December 09, 2014

THE ENERGY BUST: What it heralds for the economy

By Michael Snyder

Are much lower oil prices good news for the U.S. economy? Only if you like collapsing capital expenditures, rising unemployment and a potential financial implosion on Wall Street. Yes, lower gasoline prices are good news for the middle class. I certainly would rather pay two dollars for a gallon of gas than four dollars. But in order to have money to fill up your vehicle you have got to have an income first. And since the last recession, the energy sector has been the number one creator of good jobs in the U.S. economy by far. Barack Obama loves to stand up and take credit for the fact that the employment picture in this country has been improving slightly, but without the energy industry boom, unemployment would be through the roof. And now that the “energy boom” is rapidly becoming an “energy bust”, what will happen to the struggling U.S. economy as we head into 2015?

At the start of this article I mentioned that much lower oil prices would result in “collapsing capital expenditures”.

CONFIRMED: the President Lied to You About the IRS Scandal

The Las Vegas Review-Journal offers an incisive summary of the most egregious abuse of political power in modern American history.

It seems rather startling to me that the press would ignore the use of the IRS as a political bludgeon, but -- then again -- anything goes when a Democrat occupies the Oval Office.

Back in February, President Barack Obama said the apparent targeting of conservative organizations by the IRS was not illegal or politically motivated, but rather the result of “some bone-headed decisions,” and that “not even a smidgen of corruption” was at play. A few months — and developments — later, however, the president’s words are even less believable than they were then.

First, nonprofit watchdog group Cause of Action filed a Freedom of Information Act request for documents from the IRS indicating that the agency had been sharing individuals’ private tax data with the White House. (The group was trying to obtain information proving the existence of an independent investigation into alleged unauthorized access to the Koch brothers’ tax returns by former White House senior economics adviser Austan Goolsbee.) When the agency dragged its feet and ultimately denied the request, Cause of Action sued. A judge ruled in Cause of Action’s favor, ordering the IRS to turn over all of the documents by December 1.

Despite the court order, however, the IRS has continued to stonewall, refusing to share the requested records. While the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) claimed initially that the IRS would comply and turn over more than 2,000 pages of documents, it abruptly reneged, saying in a letter to Cause of Action on December 1 that, yes, they did indeed have 2,043 pages of documents relating to the FOIA request, but that Cause of Action couldn’t see them due to federal privacy laws.

Yes, that's right: through its refusal to release the documents, the Inspector General has essentially confirmed that the IRS shared private taxpayer with the White House.

And, yes, that's a federal crime.

JOHNNY, GET YOUR PRINTER: The Bernanke Era

The greatest money-printing exercise in world history continues apace, spurred in part by the federal government's uncanny ability to spend everything it takes in and then some.


This may be a good time to reacquaint oneself with the Pyramid of Doom.


Hat tip: BadBlue Money News.

Larwyn's Linx: Boehner to Conservatives: you have to pass the omnibus to find out what’s in it

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Nation

Boehner to Conservatives: you have to pass the omnibus to find out what’s in it: RS
Now Or Later: Why Not Wait to Fight Over Amnesty?: Erick Erickson
McConnell Plots a Functional, Bipartisan Senate: Roll Call

Obama Didn't Even Bother to Issue an Actual Executive Amnesty Order: Power Line
A Lay Person’s Guide To The States’ Amnesty Lawsuit Against DHS: Federalist
Conservatives Need To Re-Establish Control Of Party And Nation: David Limbaugh

They Don't Want to Stop Crime: Don Surber
Obama wants public schools to create memorials to Michael Brown: RWN
If Profiling Doesn't Work Why Does TSA and Secret Service Do It?: RCP

Mass Rapes at UC Berkeley?: Zombie
Police in WI: Citizens Should Volunteer to Have Homes Searched for Guns: GayPatriot
"Careening Toward A New & Different Kind Of Civil War": ZH

Economy

Obama's Cloward Piven Strategy Explained: ConWife
College prof makes students recite anti-American 'pledge of allegiance': Fox
Cromnibus Stalling Behind Closed Doors: Roll Call

Scandal Central

The Pentagon Finally Details its Weapons-for-Cops Giveaway: MuckRock
Obamacare Architect Jonathan Gruber to Testify on Capitol Hill This Week: Katie Pavlich
North Carolina: More Than 4,000 Charges of Child Sex Assault Filed Against Illegal Aliens in Past Year: UFP

Climate & Energy

The Emperor's New Carbon Credits: Mark Steyn
Fuel prices fall, time for gas tax hike: Pennsylvania's Rendell: CNBC
Kuwait Sees Oil Stuck at $65 for Six Months Until OPEC Moves: Bloomberg

Media

Ann Compton on Obama: He Launches 'Profanity-Laced' Tirades Against Press: MRC
Chuck Todd Defends Hillary From Claims She Can't Connect With Public: MRC
Predictable CNN Suggests Tea Party Could Destroy GOP: CNS

The Optimistic Democrat: Joe Cunningham
Rolling Stone Editor, 2006: "I Want to Do Stuff That's Biased;" "We'll Write What We Believe": Ace
Sabrina Rubin Erdely’s Old Stories Sure Read Like Bad Lifetime Movies: Mollie Hemingway

World

Iran: Obama Begging To Meet Ayatollah Khamenei, “Knocking On Every Door Just To Meet For A Few Minutes”: WZ
NAACP Aligns With Terrorists: Sara Noble
Obama and Putin are both Frozen in the Past: James Lewis

Report: Islamic State Claims ‘Radioactive Device’ Now in Europe: Adam Kredo
ISIS Reportedly Beheads Four Christian Children in Iraq for Refusing to Convert to Islam: Matthew Clark
Israeli stabbed in New York Chabad headquarters: Times of Israel

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)

Operation AURORAGOLD: How the NSA Hacks Cellphone Networks Worldwide
The Intercept: http://ohmyg.viralnova.com/frozen-fog/
This Dangerous Fog In Hungary Froze Nearly Everything In Its Path
ViralNova
The Latest Sony Leak Includes Extra Scripts, Phone Numbers and More: Gizmodo

Cornucopia

Cellophane on Ice: MOTUS
Owning A Ferrari For A Year Was A Disappointment: Jalopnik
Is The Obama Regime Implementing His Civilian Army Via Holder’s Civil-Rights-Fabricated-Crisis?: GWP

Image: Detroit by Air
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: BadBlue Car News - All Automotive, All the Time

QOTD: "I think most presidents realize – had a personal connection. I don't think they ever -- we were ever in a confrontation-type moment where they felt the need to apologize. I have seen in the last year Barack Obama really angry twice. Both were off the record times. One, profanity-laced where he thought the press was making too much of scandals that he did not think were scandals. Another where he took us to task for not understanding the limits he has with foreign policy and the way he's dealing with the Middle East and Iraq, and Afghanistan. And I don't find him apologetic. But I find him willing to stand up to the press and look them in the eye, even though it was off the record and just give us hell.

...From his point of view, he may [have a point]. But we cover what we are allowed to cover. And when policy decisions and presidents are inaccessible and don't take questions from the press on a regular basis, I think they get -- they reap what they sow." --Retired ABC News journalist Ann Compton

Monday, December 08, 2014

Analysis of Obama's Executive Amnesty Scheme: It Will Put an End to Secure Communities

By Dan Cadman

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Jeh Johnson testified before the House of Representatives on December 2 that he thinks it's a "bad idea" for Congress to consider a short-term funding bill in lieu of full funding for his department, so that it can implement the stunningly broad sweep of "executive actions" on immigration announced by the president during a nationally televised speech on November 20. He may think so, but it's not at all clear why the House should adopt that view given the executive branch usurpation of authorities granted to the legislature under Article I of the Constitution, and the undermining of an entire system of federal immigration laws.

Concurrent with the president's speech, Johnson issued a series of 10 policy memos outlining the various programs covering 10 key areas that would constitute this "executive action".

One of the 10 memos announced an end to Secure Communities, a program that uses electronic matching of fingerprints to identify alien criminals in near-real-time among the people arrested by police nationwide. It's to be replaced with a new "Priority Enforcement Program (PEP)" ... that uses electronic matching of fingerprints to identify alien criminals in near-real-time among the people arrested by police nationwide.

Don't think, though, that this is just a re-branding of Secure Communities under a puerile new name such as "PEP" in order to escape the controversy that has been its hallmark. Most assuredly it's not — the changes are substantive and damaging.

NO, REALLY, I'M SERIOUS: RNC Braintrust Actually Believes Jeb Bush is a Viable Presidential Candidate

What, Jon Huntsman wasn't available?

I know for a fact that the RNC is prepping the Jebster for a run because I happened to be at a corporate event a while back and The Smart Bush® made an appearance. Trailing him into the room at a discrete distance was ReiNCe Priebus, ostensible chair of the RNC.

I say "ostensible" because we all know that the RNC is actually run by Tom Donahue, president of the Chamber of Commerce. And Donahue, more than anything else, seeks cheap immigrant labor--the American economy, the American citizenry, and the Constitutional system be damned.

Which explains Jeb Bush's borderline-insane pleas for open borders, Amnesty, and the inevitable voting rights and citizenship for tens of millions of illegal aliens.

In contrast, Kurt Schlichter highlights the weakness of the Democrat's 2016 candidates, headlined by the ludicrously unqualified Hillary Clinton, who -- at best -- represents a third term for Valerie Jarrett Barack Obama.

RESET: China Conducts Third Test of Game-Changing "Carrier Killer" Missile System

By Investor's Business Daily

Defense Threat: China conducts its third test in a year of a hypersonic glide vehicle designed to evade our missile and other defense systems, including the Aegis defense system guarding our carrier battle groups.

As we downsize our military, scale back weapons procurement and development, China proceeds at top speed towards weapons designed to counter our once-huge technical advantage and qualitative superiority. Case in point is the third flight test of a hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV), dubbed the WU-14 by the Pentagon, following earlier tests on Jan. 9 and Aug. 7 of this year.

The U.S. Navy is particularly concerned, as an HGV would be a potent weapon against U.S. carrier battle groups in the western Pacific.

A Chinese anti-ship ballistic missile — the road-mobile DF-21D, called a "carrier killer" by some — already poses a potent threat, but it is countered by our extraordinarily capable sea-based Aegis missile defense.

In February 2008, the Aegis missile cruiser Lake Erie shot down a National Reconnaissance Office 2.5-ton spy satellite before it could strike the Earth with its deadly hydrazine fuel tank nearly full.

"The beauty of the HGV (hypersonic glide vehicle) is that it can perform hypersonic precision strikes while maintaining a relatively low altitude and flat trajectory, making it far less vulnerable to missile defenses," says Rick Fisher, a China military affairs expert with the International Assessment and Strategy Center.

Larwyn's Linx: GOP Leadership Lies to its own Caucus to Support Obama's Executive Amnesty

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Nation

GOP Leaders Lie to Caucus to Support Obama's Executive Amnesty: Matthew Boyle
Another Democrat Falls. Republicans Still Won’t Listen.: Erick Erickson
Gruber: Abortion of 'Marginal Children' a 'Social Good': Austin Ruse

Divider In Chief: Obama Calls America a “Deeply Rooted” Racist Nation: Treehouse
Obama, If Racism So Deeply Rooted, How Were You Elected?: Wayne Dupree
Why Hillary Hasn’t Declared Yet: WZ

Alwyne Cashe’s Medal of Honor moves slowly forward: This Ain't Hell
Protesters Block Bridge In Oakland, Throw Explosives At Police Officers: WZ
The looting begins in Berkeley and Oakland: FAM

Why the Democrats stupidly wrote off Louisiana too quickly: Moe Lane
GOP House Majority Largest In 67 Years: Doug Mataconis
Trent Lott to Mitch McConnell: Vidkun Quisling was an effective leader: RS

Mark Levin urges states: 'take back your power' from 'runaway' Obama: Paul Bedard
State Sen. Standridge To Represent GOP At Assembly Of State Legislators: KGOU
12-year-old girl kills stalker: Jonn Lilyea

Landrieu and the myth of the southern realignment: Jazz Shaw
I Don’t Have All That Much Tonight; I Just Have This…: HayRide
Democrats still confused as to why the South has given up on them: Moe Lane

Economy

Sessions: Under Obama Amnesty Feds to Write Checks to Illegals: Breitbart
Mathematician Takes Issue With Common Core: CI
EEOC Has Become the Problem, Not the Solution: Star Parker

Scandal Central

Obama Deputies Free 30,862 Foreign Criminals: Neil Munro
Eric Holder's Crusade to Federalize Police Departments: Andrew C. McCarthy
‘It’s the Constitution ITSELF that is under attack by Obama...’ – Greg Abbott: Scoop

Media

Politically Intimidated Police Afraid to Shoot Maniac Who Chased Them With Butcher Knife: MB
Virginia cop is kidnapped and murdered by several black gang members. Sharpton, where are you?!: RWN
Commie Van Jones threatens to sexually assault National Review’s Rich Lowry: Scoop

WaPo trips over the truth about the Deep South: Don Surber
Rush Limbaugh Interview on Fox News Sunday: Treehouse
Bobby Jindal celebrates Landrieu defeat; Epic butthurt ensues: Twitchy

Reflections on Rolling Stone’s Messy, Mossy UVA Rape Story: Sharyl Attkisson
Here’s Jackie Coakley “Rape Obsessed” Pinterest Account #UVAHoax: GotNews
Progressivism Claims Another Life: Derek Hunter

World

Venezuela: The oil teat runs dry: Fausta
Repression unleashed in apartheid Cuba: Political arrests have quadrupled in 2014: Babalu
The Reality of Canada’s Generous Immigration and Refugee Position: CFP

Reports: Israel bombs Syrian missile transfers to Hezbollah: LI
Iran Instructs U.S.: Stop the ‘Racist’ Crackdown on Blacks: WFB
Will Early Elections in Israel End Netanyahu’s Career?: LI`

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)

Timeline: Operation Choke Point: American Banker
Portland officials launch sting operation against Uber, issue hefty fines to drivers: GeekWire
Sony's First Comment on Hacks: An 'Unprecedented, Unparalleled Crime': Gizmodo

Cornucopia

Larry Perry: IOTWreport
21 Photos of Pearl Harbor and a Day That Will Live in Infamy: Signal
Veterans Who Survived Pearl Harbor Mark 73rd Anniversary: Hideout

Image: Your Saturday caption contest. What is Vice President Biden thinking?
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: BadBlue Uncensored News, 24 x 7

QOTD: "[Eric] Garner was selling “illegal cigarettes” that day, or “loosies” – individual cigarettes from a pack. Why would anyone buy individual cigarettes? Because government, in this case New York, both city and state, have, through exorbitant taxation, made buying a whole pack too expensive for many.

Government’s heavy hand incentivized the creation of a black market for cigarettes. But government’s heavy hand also made selling cigarettes outside of its approved, and taxed, avenues a crime. Government, like the mafia, doesn’t like competition. The mafia will execute you; the government will arrest you.

...Had reselling cigarettes, individually or in packs, not been criminalized by a government wanting its “taste of the action,” Eric Garner still would be alive.

Police have better things to do with their time, more important crimes to investigate, than selling cigarettes individually. But, unlike the newly discovered powers of the president to pick and choose which laws to enforce, when cops get a call, they have to respond—no matter how stupid they may think the “crime” is.

The race-baiting progressives saw an opening in the Garner case and took it. The media, either unwilling or incapable of seeing their philosophy caused this and many other deaths and arrests, followed their lead and made this story about race. Garner is still dead, and repealing the laws that led to his death isn’t even being discussed." --Derek Hunter, "Progressivism Claims Another Life"

Sunday, December 07, 2014

TRANSCRIPT: Mark Levin to State Legislators, "You are the last line of defense of liberty!"

Paul Bedard relays the highlights of a simply awe-inspiring speech by Constitutional Attorney Mark Levin


Wide-ranging decisions affecting virtually every aspect of life are being made by fewer and fewer masterminds in Washington, D.C., in an increasingly centralized federal government using a growing army of bureaucrats, a fourth branch of government if you will, to institute and enforce them.

More and more what the federal government does is insulate it from elections. If elections are one that advance the left’s agenda, then they’ll celebrate. If they lose the elections, elections are denounced as temporary inconveniences, and then they turn to the unelected federal institutions to advance their agenda."

In other words, the trajectory towards utopian statism, concentrated power, centralized government is never really checked or actually reversed, and the reason is, and the sad truth is, that we live largely under the post-constitutional government. This is no longer a federal republic, or a constitutional republic, or a representative republic. The federal constitutional representative character of the national government has been and are being expanded. We are mutating into something else.

In Washington today, we have an ongoing constitutional convention,” he said, “where one branch or another or the federal bureaucracy act far outside the limits imposed on them by the Constitution. And rather than the branches checking and balancing each other, they usually reinforce each other. And as lawless precedent is built upon lawless precedent, what remains of the Constitution’s firewalls are breached, and my question to you is, where does this end?

Well I’ll tell you where it ends – with you.

We are not without recourse, but the recourse is not in Washington, D.C. It’s not in federal elections. Why the hell would the very people who’ve done this to us reverse course? They like what they’re doing, and they’re going to keep doing it unless somebody speaks out and acts against them, and that’s you. There’s nobody else.

Obama-Jarrett-Kerry Deal With Iran All But Certain to Deliver Nukes into the Hands of Terrorists

By Ted Bromund

It’s no secret that the Obama administration badly wants a nuclear deal with Iran. And it’s no secret that the Iranians are playing hard to get. The talks, which were supposed to yield a final agreement this week, have been extended to July. That’s a relief, because right now, the best deal is no deal.

Many of the finest minds in strategy and physics have spent years arguing over the parameters of a deal with Iran. But it’s easy to overthink this problem. We know what nations that give up on nuclear weapons programs look like. They look nothing like Iran.

The United States has done a lot of good work to limit the spread of nuclear weapons. We discouraged Taiwan and South Korea from going nuclear. After the Soviet Union fell, we encouraged, and paid, the former Soviet states of Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Belarus to get rid of the Soviet nukes they had inherited.

We supported confidence-building efforts between Brazil and Argentina that ended their nuclear rivalry. In the 1990s, our pursuit of Iraq’s nuclear program persuaded South Africa to come clean about its nuclear stash. In 2004, during the Iraq War, we frightened Moammar Gadhafi into giving up Libya’s program.

But all of these places either went through a democratic transition, or — in Libya’s case — were scared into doing the right thing. Fundamentally, they came clean about their nuclear programs of their own accord. While we offered incentives, our incentives were never decisive.

We’ve offered loads of incentives to North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons, with no success. We’ve never been able to bribe or talk nations into giving up nuclear weapons: They usually give up nukes because they have newly free political systems and no longer want to have the bomb.

None of this is true of Iran. The anti-Western regime of 1979 is still in power. If you doubt that, watch the videos of the charming “Death to America” rallies held across Iran earlier this month. Rallies like that are organized by the regime.

This isn’t complicated. If Iran wanted only civilian nuclear power, it would make that clear. Instead, it has repeatedly been caught cheating, it is developing long-range missiles, and it demands the right to unlimited nuclear research, with no accountability for its past lies.

THE WAGES OF STUPIDITY: Chicago continues assault on business with steep hike in minimum wage

By Investor's Business Daily

Fiscal Policy: A city teetering on the brink of insolvency passes a minimum wage that would reach $13 by 2019, higher than the minimum elsewhere in a state that just elected a Republican governor. What could go wrong?

Ignoring the first rule of holes (when you're in one, stop digging), the Chicago City Council, in a Tuesday emergency session called by Mayor and former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, voted 44-5 to raise the city's minimum wage from the current statewide level of $8.25 an hour to $10 on July 1, with future increases bringing it to $13 by 2019. After that, it will be pegged to inflation.

What's the emergency? Emanuel wanted to jump the gun on any minimum-wage bill that might come out of the state legislature in Springfield, particularly after the election of Republican Bruce Rauner as governor. Such legislation is said to bar cities from raising their minimums above the state's. Rauner has said that any minimum-wage increases should be part of a package that promotes growth without reducing competitiveness.

"Raising the minimum wage doesn't help somebody (who is) unemployed, and it doesn't help somebody who's employed and who could get unemployed because of the lack of competitiveness that raising the minimum wage could engender," Rauner said.

The Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, Illinois Hotel and Lodging Association and Illinois Restaurant Association all lobbied against the Chicago-only increase, arguing that it would give suburban business a 57% labor-cost advantage.

"Competitiveness" isn't found in the leftist lexicon, but the concept of a living wage is. This notion says that employees should be paid based not on the value of their work but on the demands of their lifestyles. Street protests and the lobbying of pandering policymakers have replaced a good education and an improved skill set.

Larwyn's Linx: Tom Cotton: Break the Capitol Phone Switchboard to Fight Obama’s Amnesty

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Nation

Tom Cotton: Break the Capitol Phone Switchboard to Fight Obama’s Amnesty: NRO
House GOP on course to pass funding bill with majority of caucus: David M. Drucker
Obama Tells Ferguson Extremists, “Think Big, Go Gradual”: Sara Noble

‘You are the last line of the defense of liberty!’: Scoop
Obama’s Lobbyist Problem: RWN
Louisiana Runoff Results: Mary Landrieu Loses: Roll Call

WH to Issa: Don’t Sit Gruber Beside HHS Official At Hearing: TP
MO: Robbery of 'Police Bar' goes badly: GunWatch
OH: GOP historic majority to roll back gun control: Breitbart

2014 Shellacking Complete: Landrieu Loses Louisiana Runoff : Glob
Jeb Bush's 'Education Reform' Empire: Breitbart
Giuliani Rips De Blasio for Fomenting Possible Violence: Breitbart

Economy

Feds paid $182,129,786 to house illegals for 4 months: Allen West
Government Owns Over 623 Million Acres. Why Does It Need More?: RWN
"Near Perfect" Indicator Is Flashing A Warning: Michael Snyder

Scandal Central

Obama Lawless Amnesty Costs Exposed: JW
GOP Chairman: We Should Legislate That Not One Person Is Thrown Out or Deported: CNS
Looks like Chicago PD had a stingray out at the Eric Garner protest last night: PrivacySOS

Why I’m Suing the Justice Dept.: Its Unlawful Freedom of Info. Response: Attkisson
Watch Rolling Stone Fraud Journalist Discuss Media Ethics: GotNews
Al Sharpton Declares March on DC to Demand Federal Control Over Local Police: Sooper

Climate & Energy

How the Science Got Settled: Mark Steyn
EPA to farmers: ‘Trust us’: CapitalPress
Since 2008, America’s Oil Supply Has Grown by 50 Percent: Signal

Media

Rolling Stone Walks Back Key Allegations Of Campus Rape Expose: Doug Mataconis
Today’s Neo-Victorian Feminists: Riot
Laura Ingraham: House GOP Leadership Putting Out 'Welcome Mat' for Illegals: Breitbart

“Unauthorized” Aliens With Jobs Outnumber Non-College-Grad Adults Seeking One: WZ
LibRag Warns of “Christian Terrorist Movement,” Real Terrorists Howl In Laughter: Robert Gehl
After 27 Years at CNN, News Host Who Meddled in the 2012 Elections to Protect Obama is Out of a Job: IJR

World

The Best Deal with Iran Is No Deal with Iran: Ted Bromund
Kerry 'dismayed and disturbed' by Iran charges against Washington Post reporter: Fox
Venezuela Cuts Back on Subsidized Oil Exports: AmInt

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)

AT&T wants to know why a town is building a 1Gbps network when it already offers 6Mbps DSL: BGR
The autonomous Google car may never actually happen.: Slate
Uber Just Landed Another Billion Dollars. It’s Not Going Anywhere: Wired

Cornucopia

An Art Historian Was Watching ‘Stuart Little' and Discovered Something Incredibly Valuable: IJR
Man Sees Fellow Fan’s Pregnant Wife Texting Another Man, and Does Something About It: RWN
Is President Bill Clinton a Rapist?: Larry Elder (1999)

Image: U.S. Saw Little to Lose in Yemen Rescue Attempt as Execution Neared
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: BadBlue Uncensored News, 24 x 7

QOTD: "In 2007, there were reports that the Capitol switch board actually stopped working because so many people called, and asked their senators and congressmen to stop an amnesty bill going through at the time, and it stopped... And it helped in 2013 when the House was on the verge of considering something like the Gang of Eight bill in the Senate, so I would encourage you to call your senator, call your congressman next week and in the new year.

...Congress needs to take action using the strongest power that we have which is the spending power under the Constitution to stop President Obama’s unlawful amnesty decree. Pass a short-term funding measure, try to defund these measures now, put the Senate Democrats on record, and then simply fund the government in the new year . . . then we can take action to defund the specific executive overreaches.”" --Senator-Elect Tom Cotton

Saturday, December 06, 2014

Totalitarians vs. Toadies

By Lawrence Sellin

To paraphrase the sage of Oklahoma, Will Rogers, liberals used to be people who did good with their own money.

To paraphrase former British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, liberals learned that, by doing so, they would quickly run out of their own money. Whereas, through government, they could satisfy either their altruism or their guilt and do good on a much larger scale using other people's money.

Unfortunately for them, implementing "social justice" by legal mandate, that is, transforming a liberal philosophy into liberal politics, forced them to swim in the same dogmatic waters as communists, where liberals had difficulty drawing a distinction between their policies and those endorsed by the communists.

That dilemma was temporarily resolved by the Great Depression, an economic calamity arguably caused by government through the inappropriate action of the Federal Reserve, which resulted in the "throw out the bums" election of liberal Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt, who ironically promoted government as the solution. Knowing they could not be elected to high office by truthfully articulating their aims, American communists joined the Roosevelt Administration in droves.

As the Depression dragged on, the size and scope of government increased in a manner not unlike the humorous anecdote about business consultants "if you're not part of the solution, there is good money to be made in prolonging the problem."

Although liberal policies invariably failed and its theoretical basis collapsed, the rhetoric managed to survive, but becoming steadily more extreme in order to nourish a constituency of evolving grievances, from "Income Inequality" to the "War on Women" to the newly-minted "White Privilege."

One subsidiary of the liberal grievance industry is the Congressional Black Caucus, a group seemingly driven by resentment and the desire for revenge, who exploit black "victimhood" to promote policies that, in the end, maintain the victim population and themselves in Congress. Often fervent to the point of hysteria, they are habitually wrong at the top of their lungs.

MELT THEIR SWITCHBOARDS DOWN: Tell Republicans That Obamnesty Must Be Defunded Next Week!

By Chris Chmielenski

The situation surrounding House Speaker John Boehner's plan to fully fund Pres. Obama's executive amnesty is getting dicey!

Reports on Wednesday indicated that Boehner would turn to House Democrats to pass two spending bills -- one that funds most of the government through September of 2015 and one that funds the Department of Homeland Security through the early part of 2015 -- should he lose more Republican votes than he can afford.

But House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi met with her caucus on Thursday and strongly urged them not to commit to Boehner. She told them that by offering support before seeing the final bills, Democrats give up what little leverage they have over the bills' details.

Pelosi's hardline, combined with a growing number of Republicans coming out against Boehner's plan to fund Obama's amnesty, may force him to choose sides -- either Republicans who want to defund Obama's amnesty or Democrats who want more of their own policy goals included in the spending bills.

As radio talk show host, Mark Levin, put it: "Will Republicans fund Obama's fundamental transformation of America?" Or will they uphold their campaign promises and do everything they can to stop Obama?

The constant barrage of phone calls from our activists over the last several weeks has truly made an impact. We still have more work to do, but the fact that Boehner is thinking about turning to Democrats means that a lot of Republicans are threatening 'no' votes on the bills. Those lawmakers wouldn't be bucking leadership if it weren't for the pressure from their constituents.

Larwyn's Linx: Why Obama is OK with GOP funding plan

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Nation

Why Obama is OK with GOP funding plan: Exam
Jindal To GOP: Grow A Pair And Defund Obama’s Amnesty: Surge
What Schumer wants to embrace: Jonah Goldberg

Black Lives Don't Matter: Sultan Knish
3 Black Youth Drag White Woman From Vehicle For Beating: Treehouse
St. Louis Bosnian community sees hammer murder as hate crime: Christina Corbin

Tom Cotton's Plan: Ace
Yes, Stupid Laws Kill People: David Harsanyi
Israel, Ferguson and the global Left: Rich Baehr

Cassidy Headed for Big Victory in Louisiana Senate Runoff: Rich Baehr
How New York Confiscates Guns: GunWatch
Profiling: Sin or Survival Instinct: Lloyd Marcus

Economy

Want to Limit the Use of Police Force? Limit the State: Charles C. W. Cooke
Reversal: WI Republicans to push right-to-work after all: Hot Air
After Trillion Dollar ‘Stimulus’ Obama Whines U.S. Infrastructure ‘Embarrassing’: JWF

Scandal Central

Obama Sues Companies for Complying with Obamacare: Michael Schaus
Landrieu Operative Slanders James O’Keefe, Then Runs When She Sees Him: RebelPundit
Bernie Sanders: Evidence that the Senator from Vermont is a Big “C” Communist : NoisyRm

Climate & Energy

Senator Blunt: New EPA Regs Will Raise Utility Bills 50% Over Next 6 Years: ProgsToday
How the Oceans Stop Global Warming: Power Line
Harvard Law Prof Calls EPA Carbon Rules ‘Executive Overreach’: CI

Media

Feminists Are In Full Mouth-Foaming Meltdown Over Rolling Stone Gang-Rape Retraction: Sooper
Networks Fail to Expose Doubts in Rolling Stone Story; Devoted 11 Minutes to Initial Report: MRC
Journalist Exposed #RollingStone Rape Fraud But No One Would Publish It: GotNews

New Black Panther Party Leader Quanell X: This Country Is on the Verge of a Civil War: Breitbart
Four Times in One Show, Chris Matthews Compares Ted Cruz to Joe McCarthy: NB
Nausea Alert: Barack and Michelle Obama's Love Story Coming to Theaters: MRC

World

ISIS Claims They Have Dirty Bomb, Made from 40 kg of Uranium Looted from Mosul University: Ace
Islamic State group support grows in Jordan town: CNS
Medal of Honor recipient Dakota Meyer to ISIS: Bring it: Kelly Cohen

Interpol Alert Seeks Arrest of MB's Qaradawi: IPT
American, South African hostages killed in Yemen: MyWay
At Israel's MIT, Arab Women (and Men) Are Suddenly Thriving: Peter Coy

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)

Research says alien life could exist but chances of contact are slim: Engadget
Cogent Now Admits They Slowed Down Netflix’s Traffic, Creating A Fast Lane & Slow Lane: Dan Rayburn
Check Out Google's Interactive Periodic Table of Elements: PopMech

Cornucopia

I’m too sexy for my thumbs; too sexy for my gum, too sexy for my bum…: MOTUS
How Physical Activity Can Benefit the Aging Brain: WSJ
NSFW – PSA – You’ve all seen it – worth repeating!: IOTWReport

Image: Medal of Honor recipient Dakota Meyer to ISIS: Bring it
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: BadBlue Car News - All Automotive, All the Time

QOTD: "This is what we call smart power... Using every possible tool and partner to advance peace and security. Leaving no one on the sidelines. Showing respect even for one's enemies. Trying to understand, in so far as psychologically possible, empathize with their perspective and point of view. Helping to define the problems, determine the solutions. That is what we believe in the 21st century will change -- change the prospects for peace." --Hillary Clinton

Friday, December 05, 2014

AN OPEN LETTER TO REP. MICHELE BACHMANN: I Beg You to Reveal the Truth About Hillary Clinton

Why is this letter addressed to Rep. Michele Bachmann? Because she is one of the few members of Congress with the courage and stamina to stand up to the Beltway elites in both parties. She isn't running for reelection, so she presumably doesn't care whose feathers she ruffles.

Dear Rep. Bachmann:

I have a favor to ask. The favor is not for me personally: it is for every American concerned about the future of this Republic.

I know you are a patriot. I know you are courageous. I know you care deeply about the future of this nation. Therefore I have addressed this request to you and you alone.

Hillary Clinton, like Barack Obama, is a radical leftist who despises the Constitution and the free market. Her troubling history is well-documented, as even The Washington Post observed in 2008 when the editors of that dying journal were trying to get then-Senator Obama nominated.

Hillary Clinton and her husband have some secrets you can help expose.

The Cox Report

The Cox Report was issued in 1999, a time when some House Democrats still put country before party, after an investigation of some shocking transfers of military technology to the Communist Chinese military.

This special committee, created by a 409-10 vote of the U.S. House of Representatives on June 18, 1998, was tasked with the responsibility of investigating whether technology or information was transferred to the People's Republic of China that may have contributed to the enhancement of the nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missiles or to the manufacture of weapons of mass destruction... ...The committee's final report was approved unanimously by all 9 [bipartisan] members. The redacted version of the report was released to the public May 25, 1999.

The full report has never been released.

Why might that be?

Because the Clintons appear to have traded military secrets to the Red Chinese in exchange for millions in campaign contributions.

For instance, on 9/13/1995, President Clinton met with John Huang and James Riady (pictured below). During the meeting, Huang expressed an interest in becoming a fund-raiser for the Democratic National Committee.

In this position at the DNC, Huang raised $3.4 million. The DNC was later forced to return nearly $2 million when a Congressional investigation revealed "problems" with the source of the funds. Huang was later convicted of crimes related to illegally reimbursing campaign contributions with Asian funds. Riady was also convicted of related campaign finance crimes. A U.S. Senate campaign finance report stated that Riady had a, "long-term relationship with... Chinese intelligence."

On 3/14/1996, President Clinton signed an order transferring license-granting authority for military/industrial technology from the State Department to the Commerce Department. This order made it easier for the Chinese military (the PLA) to launch American satellites, over objections from the Pentagon and the State Department. During the Clinton administration, focused Chinese espionage efforts made significant headway in the theft of U.S. military/industrial secrets including those concerning nuclear weaponry.

On 5/25/1999, the U.S. House of Representatives released the Cox Report ("Report of the Select Committee on U.S. National Security and Military/Commercial Concerns with the People's Republic of China"), which detailed publicly for the first time China's espionage campaign against the United States. The report was a redacted version of a still-classified report. Approximately 30% of the original report, the unanimous product of a bi-partisan committee, remains classified.

Rep. Bachmann, you can release the full Cox Report.

The Barrett Report

Another little-remembered scandal involving the Clintons, The Barrett Report:

...is a 400 page [document] created by special prosecutor David Barrett. Initially tasked with investigating allegations of lying to the FBI against Henry Cisneros, Secretary of the U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development under U.S. President Bill Clinton, the investigation eventually delved into allegations that President Clinton had used the U.S. Department of Justice and the Internal Revenue Service as political tools against American citizens.

Before the release of the report, three Democrat U.S. Senators, John Kerry, Dick Durbin and Byron Dorgan, forced the redaction of certain pages by attaching a rider to an unrelated appropriations bill.

Cisneros, a former San Antonio mayor, eventually pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of lying to the FBI. He paid a US$10,000 fine and was pardoned by President Clinton on Clinton's final day in office.

So three powerful Democrat Senators did their level best to cover up reports that Clinton used the IRS and the DOJ to attack political opponents!

Rep. Bachmann, you can release the full Barrett Report.

So my request is as follows

Rep. Bachmann: please read the redacted portions of The Barrett Report and The Cox Report into the Congressional Record. The classification of this information is not an issue for members of Congress.

Professor Bruce Ackerman and others have stated that members of Congress "cannot be prosecuted for reading classified material into the public record."

Let's find out what Hillary Clinton and her husband were really up to when they occupied the White House for eight years.

The citizens of this country need to know in order to properly vet this woman for elected office. The citizens of this country deserve to know the truth. Please help us discover the truth.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

Doug Ross

As an aside, wouldn't you agree that these Democrats are the lowest of the low?


Larwyn's Linx: Don't be Grubered by Boehner's Amnesty Plan

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

Nation

Don't be Grubered by Boehner's Amnesty Plan: Daniel Horowitz
Boehner scrambling to find Democrat votes for Cromnibus: RS
GOP Passes Meaningless Bill Designed to Trick Stupid Americans: Ace

Burn This Bitch Down? No, Thanks: Breath of the Beast
Big Government Killed Eric Garner; Where’s The Indictment Against It?: HayRide
Death Is A Fearful Thing, But Not Always Lonely: RabbleWriter

DHS already hiring 1,000 employees to carry out Obama amnesty: Times
The Republicans in Congress Hate Us. Just Like the Democrats.: Erick Erickson
GOP Leadership: 'Are You More Important Than The Country?': Mark Levin

Wilson Poll Indicates A Massive Blowout Is Coming On Saturday: HayRide
Eric Garner's Arrest Overseen by Female Black Sergeant: Ace
Congress Must Fight Back Against Obama’s Lawlessness: David Limbaugh

Economy

GOP funding Obama's "fundamental transformation": Daily Rushbo
Lyft, Uber Et Al Impact US Medallion Market: TTAC
Corporate Bond Bubble Comes Unglued at the Bottom, Investors Begin to Bleed: ZH

Scandal Central

A White House Connection in the IRS Scandal?: Matthew Clark
SPEC OPS SCREAMS: Mike Rogers Covering for his Wife in Benghazi Report!: Patriots
Obama’s Scandal-Tainted BCGB (Best Chicago Golfing Buddy): Michelle Malkin

Climate & Energy

Inhofe Correct on Whackjob Streisand - She admitted key climate role: Climate Depot

Media

Boehner Wants In On The Race Baiting, Says He’s Open To Hearings On Michael Brown And Eric Garner: WZ
MO: People Block Street, Jump on Vehicle, Man pulls Gun: GunWatch
Media Blackout: Black Male Ruthlessly Executes 12-Year-Old Boy Keith Passmore: DownTrend

Lena Dunham 'Raped by a Republican' Story in Biography Collapses Under Scrutiny: Breitbart
Chris Hughes Insulted the President’s Daughters: Erick Erickson
Levin: Eric Holder Is Al Sharpton With A Law Degree: Daily Rushbo

World

Hillary: We Must Empathize With America's Enemies: WS
Iran: We've Developed 2,000-km Range Missiles; Given Hizbullah 300-km Range Missiles: MEMRI
Iranian jets join allies in the fight against Islamic State in Iraq: Telegraph

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)

County sheriff finally gets the drone he wanted, ignores privacy concerns: Ars Technica
IDC’s Top 10 technology predictions for 2015: SD Times
Apple mass transit system for Maps detailed in new patent: Apple Insider

Cornucopia

Next Bond Film: SPECTRE, With Christopher Waltz as Blofeld?: Ace
Ferguson, NYC and now the Ongoing Zwarte Piet Controversy in Holland: MOTUS
A Government Plot Against 2nd Amendment Supporters?: Alan Colmes

Image: St. Louis Man Pulls Gun on Protesters After They Attack His Car
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by:
BadBlue Tech News

QOTD: "I've been thinkin' about one great lady like the women in my life

She's a mother, a daughter, and through it all, she's a lovin' wife

Oh, there is something about her, this great lady, caring, hard-working, once a First Lady

She fights for country and my family, now it's time for us to stand up

*BOOM BOOM CLAP*

*BOOM BOOM CLAP*

With Hillary

Hillary!

Stand up

With Hillary
" --Ace, "Hillary Country Song So Ludicrous You'll Plotz"

Thursday, December 04, 2014

MUST READ: An Open Letter to Republicans in Washington

By Daniel Horowitz

Dear Republicans in Washington,

Houston, we’ve got a problem. 

We have a president who has made it clear he will unilaterally change laws in a way that will harm America’s economy for years to come – whether they pertain to labor, energy, health care, and of course, immigration.  He openly brags about his newfound ability to “change the law,” and he is only emboldened to continue building on the lawlessness for the next two years.

This begs the deeply uncomfortable and inconvenient question of our time: is there anything this president cannot get away with over the next two years?

Yet, at the same time that Obama has assumed the powers Alexander Hamilton referred to as the prerogative of perpetual and hereditary prince, you have publicly and preemptively ceded all powers Congress has to stop this regime.  You have made it clear to the president that no matter how egregious and unpopular his edicts are with the people, you will not wield the power of the purse in any consequential way.  You have telegraphed to him your fervent belief that Republicans would be blamed for any brinkmanship – no matter the issue, no matter how much you fund critical aspects of government, no matter the results of the election.

This begs the deeply uncomfortable and inconvenient question of our time: is there anything this president cannot get away with over the next two years?  He can violate any and every law on the books, yet what are you going to do about it?  Won’t it lead to a government shutdown?    

And this two-year constitutional crisis is based on the assumption that he doesn’t unilaterally nullify the 22nd Amendment and run for a third term.  Ironically, the only thing stopping him from doing so is Hillary Clinton, not you and your fellow Republicans.  After all, we can’t have a government shutdown.    

Make no mistake about it, immigration is just the beginning.

How Today's Falling Oil Prices Could Lead to a Financial Catastrophe

By Nick Price

The oil and gas boom in the United States was made possible by the extensive credit afforded to drillers. Not only has financing come from company shareholders and traditional banks, but hundreds of billions of dollars have also come from junk-bond investors looking for high returns.

Junk-bond debt in energy has reached $210 billion, which is about 16 percent of the $1.3 trillion junk-bond market. That is a dramatic rise from just 4 percent that energy debt represented 10 years ago.

As is the nature of the junk-bond market, lots of money flowed to companies with much riskier drilling prospects than, say, the oil majors. Maybe drillers were venturing into an uncertain shale play; maybe they didn’t have a lot of cash on hand or were a small startup. Whatever the case may be, there is a reason that they couldn’t offer “investment grade” bonds. In order to tap the bond market, these companies had to pay a hefty interest rate.

For investors, this offers the opportunity for high yield, which is why hundreds of billions of dollars helped finance companies in disparate parts of the country looking to drill in shale. When oil prices were high and production was relentlessly climbing, energy related junk bonds looked highly profitable.

But junk bonds pay high yields because they are high risk, and with oil prices dipping below $70 per barrel, companies that offered junk bonds may not have the revenue to pay back bond holders, potentially leading to steep losses in the coming weeks and months.

FERGUSON: I know exactly who should go to prison

By Don Boys

If there is any justice in this nation then some high profile individuals will to go to jail as a result of their ineptitude, incompetence, and irresponsibility as exhibited at Ferguson. But don’t hold your breath unless blue is your favorite color!

Highly placed officials such as President Obama, Attorney General Holder and Governor Nixon were the epitome of irresponsibility. Frankly, they are responsible for much of the looting, burning, and other illegal activities and should be held accountable. Obama met with the protestors and told them to “stay the course”! He also called for better police training rather than greater personal responsibility, stronger family values, and more church involvement.

Eric Holder went to Ferguson and told college students that he understood “their mistrust” and while he was the Attorney General, he was also “a black man”! Who cares? Moreover, he began a civil rights investigation! Holder is divisive, derisive, and may be a deranged Attorney General.

Soon after the shooting, Governor Nixon made a video promising “A vigorous prosecution must now be pursued.” What incredible malfeasance. He had assumed that Wilson should be tried before the facts were known!

Obama, Holder, and Nixon are the Larry, Curly, and Moe of Ferguson!