Friday, February 06, 2015

THEFT OF VALOR: Just Like Brian Williams, Hillary Clinton Lied About Taking Enemy Fire

By Investor's Business Daily

Lies: Investigative reporter Sharyl Attkisson reminds us the secretary of state who blamed Benghazi on a video once made up a story about courage under fire in Bosnia. Maybe Brian Williams can be her 2016 running mate.

'Nothing in life," Winston Churchill once famously said, "is so exhilarating as to be shot at without result," except perhaps in the minds of network anchors like NBC's Brian Williams and political candidates such as Hillary Clinton, who also claimed a brush with death in a war zone on her resume. Perhaps they can swap war stories.

Former CBS reporter Sharyl Attkisson reminded the world of Hillary's tale of heroism in an interview with CBS Philadelphia affiliate WPHT morning host Chris Stigall last November, a tale told by the former first lady in her 2008 run against one Barack Obama.

"I had come home from an overseas trip vacation, and my husband says, 'When you went to Bosnia 12 years ago with the first lady, were you shot at?,' and I'm like, 'No, I think I would know if I were shot at,'" Attkisson told Stigall of the 1996 trip to Bosnia with Hillary, first daughter Chelsea and celebrities Sinbad and Sheryl Crow.

Candidate Clinton claimed in a 2008 speech in Washington and several subsequent interviews that she and Chelsea were forced to run for cover under hostile fire shortly after landing in Tuzla, Bosnia.

"I remember landing under sniper fire," Clinton said. "There was supposed to be some kind of greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base."

Her harrowing tale never happened, and Mrs. Clinton's faulty memory also forgot that there was a reporter on the trip who was taking notes and had a video of the event.

Larwyn's Linx: The Glamor of Evil

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Nation

The Glamor of Evil: Mark Steyn
Senate Dems: #DontShutDownOurSecurity: Daniel Horowitz
Iran: The ‘Americans Are Begging Us for a Deal’: Adam Kredo

White House Concealing Names of Muslims Who Met with Obama: Keith Koffler
Top Congressional Black Caucus Members Will Skip Netanyahu Speech: WZ
Pelosi: Members Won't 'Boycott' Netanyahu, But Might Be too Busy to Go: NatlJrnl

Obama’s comparison of Christianity, radical Islam defies logic: Jonah Goldberg
Hillary Clinton’s “Dodging Sniper Fire in Bosnia” Tale: Sharyl Attkisson
Is Jeb Bush a Republican Obama?: David Frum

A Non-Warm and Fuzzy Guide to Understanding Terrorism: Marcia Drezon-Tepler
Stolen Valor Senator Introduces Law Restricting Magazine Capacity: Dana Loesch
Constitutional Carry Introduced in WV Senate: AmmoLand

Economy

A Federal Budget on Auto-Pilot: Scott Rasmussen
When Leftwing Economists Gruber and Krugman Practiced Economics: Larry Elder
Sowing Inflation, Reaping Deflation: Mish

Scandal Central

AZ Sheriff: ICE is releasing 30 to 50 convicted criminals into my county per day: WAW
Eric Holder’s Justice Department rocked by nepotism charges: Times
Most investigative journalists say the U.S. government has spied on them: Sharyl Attkisson

Climate & Energy

EPA plan would give feds ‘free reign’ to regulate almost all waterways: Fox
Capito quizzes EPA chief about stream rule: MetroNews
Quote of the week – shooting blanks in The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars: WUWT

Media

Midnight Brian Williams Update: Ace
Brian Williams Thought He Was Going To Die During Helicopter Attack That Never Happened: DC
Fire Doesn’t Melt Steel, But Rosie O’Donnell DESTROYS Brian Williams: Ed Driscoll

Brian Williams’ Tall Tales Extend To Katrina, Too: HayRide
Let’s Pretend Brian Williams Worked for FOX News: Glob
Campaign to release Saudi blogger heats up: Montreal Gazette

World

How Islam--and the ever-present threat it poses to humanity--could be brought to an end: VFTR (2012)
At Prayer Breakfast, Obama Acts Like Muslim Brotherhood Spokesman: Breitbart
Obama: “We are summoned to push back against those who would distort our religion”: Jihadwatch

Barack H. Chamberlain and Iran: Israpundit
Iran's Militias Are Taking Over Iraq's Army: Eli Lake
After anti-Islamization protest, Dallas County commissioners open meeting with Muslim prayer: Creeping

Chinese swarm for new 10-year US visas: China Daily
Norway Islamic Leader: ‘Every Muslim’ Wants ‘Death Penalty for Homosexuals': CNS
Jordan releases their OWN VIDEO showing ISIS what’s comin’ for them!: Scoop

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)

Southern California Edison IT workers 'beyond furious' over H-1B replacements: ComputerWorld
The Candidate as Human Capitalist: Linda Brenner
Severed-thumb USB thumbdrive is disgustingly literal: CNet

Cornucopia

Everybody Lies About War Stories: MOTUS
Tell Her How You Feel: Springer
An Examination of Obama’s Asinine Statements: iOTW Report

Image: Campaign to release Saudi blogger heats up
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: BadBlue Prep - 24/7 SHTF News

QOTD: "Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The danger is quite severe. The problem with what the president is doing is that he's not simply posing a danger to the constitutional system. He's becoming the very danger the Constitution was designed to avoid. That is the concentration of power in every single branch.

This Newtonian orbit that the three branches exist in is a delicate one but it is designed to prevent this type of concentration. There is two trends going on which should be of equal concern to all members of Congress. One is that we have had the radical expansion of presidential powers under both President Bush and President Obama. We have what many once called an imperial presidency model of largely unchecked authority. And with that trend we also have the continued rise of this fourth branch. We have agencies that are quite large that issue regulations. The Supreme Court said recently that agencies could actually define their own or interpret their own jurisdiction" --Jonathan Turley

Thursday, February 05, 2015

NBC "NEWS" ANCHOR BRIAN WILLIAMS: Shot and Chaser

Fair warning: put down your beer and prepare for a belly laugh:

Shot: Brian Williams Told Alec Baldwin He Thought He Was Going To Die During Helicopter Attack That Never Happened
NBC News anchor Brian Williams told actor Alec Baldwin in March 2013 that he was afraid he was going to die when a Chinook helicopter he was riding in during the Iraq War was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade.

But as Williams admitted on Wednesday, he was never in a Chinook that came under fire on March, 23, 2003. Instead, he was in a helicopter miles behind the one that was hit... In his retraction and apology, Williams claimed that he inadvertently made up the story because he became confused after viewing so many different pictures from that day, causing him to suffer from a “fog of memory.”

Chaser: FLASHBACK: Brian Williams Mocks Bloggers for Lack of Credibility
In a 2007 lecture at New York University’s journalism school, NBC News host Brian Williams touted his “BS meter” when it came to credible news and mocked the credibility of bloggers, pitting himself—a man “developing credentials to cover my field of work”—against lowly bloggers who can’t always be trusted... ...Saying he had developed a "strong BS meter" himself, Williams went on to complain about the problem of unqualified bloggers, who, unlike himself, have not spent their lives "developing credentials" [sic]...

“You’re going to be up against people who have an opinion, a modem, and a bathrobe,” Williams told the audience. “All of my life, developing credentials to cover my field of work, and now I’m up against a guy named Vinny in an efficiency apartment in the Bronx who hasn’t left the efficiency apartment in two years… On the Internet, no one knows if you’ve been to Ramadi or you’ve just been to Brooklyn and have an opinion about Ramadi.”

What a putz.


Hat tip: BadBlue News.

10 Differences Between Kids Who Grew Up In The 70s Versus Now

Interesting article by Marco Torres contrasting how kids today are raised with those just 40 years ago. Ahhh, the peat.

1. Our Entertainment Was Each Other
We had no internet, cell phones, computers or video games. Not only were our lives free of close proximity electronic devices and their constant electromagnetic radiation, but this allowed us to entertain ourselves through peer interaction and physical activity. You're talking about a dramatic decrease in the level of physical activity from just 40-50 years ago and it's manifesting itself in obesity, insulin resistance, and precursors to diabetes in children as young as ten years old...

2. Playing Outside Was Normal, Not Prohibited
Most people who pass by a park today and see 10-year old children playing alone, think "why" as fear strikes a chord. Why are they without their parents? Why are they playing alone without supervision? This was normal and just a way of life in the 70s. We stayed outside until the lights turned off in the summer or heard our parents screaming to come inside...

3. Children Were Not Labeled As ADHD, ADD, or Hyperactive. They Were Just Kids Being Kids
Children today are being medicated at alarming rates for what appears to be normal childhood behavior. Yes, there are some children with legitimate behavioral issues but they are an extreme minority and none of these issues are solved by medication. The big problem is that we're diagnosing and labeling common temper outbursts and other disruptive behavior in millions of children as attention deficit disorder (ADD) or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). If you took a subset of 3-year old children from 1970 and transported them to our current timeline, you would see that not much has changed, however the way we deal with them has. We are putting kids on long-term stimulants as if it was candy. A nationwide CDC survey found that 11 percent of children ages 4 to 17 have received a diagnosis of ADHD, and about one in five boys...

Senate Democrats: Amnesty for Illegal Aliens is more Important than Homeland Security. #DontShutDownOurSecurity

By Daniel Horowitz

In his farewell address, President George Washington warned about the danger of political parties.  Today we are witnessing Washington’s premonition play out in spectacular fashion. 

So strong is the desire of rank-and-file Democrats to rally behind their party leader, they will even support the president’s patently unlawful acts– simply because he is their man.

Just how unconstitutional is Obama’s unilateral action to create an entire immigration program for 5 million illegal aliens? 

Even Obama himself, a president who has a zealous penchant for ruling by administrative fiat, said explicitly on 22 occasions that it is unlawful.  He even compared his unilateral action to the acts of a king or emperor.  Yet, he insidiously waited until after the last election of his presidency to issue an executive amnesty.

Obama’s amnesty action is nothing short of nullification of our most bedrock laws – those governing our borders and sovereignty.  Article I Section 8 of the Constitution grants Congress the plenary power over immigration.  Even the Supreme Court has held that the formation of any immigration policy “is entrusted exclusive to Congress,”[1] and “[t]he plenary authority of Congress over aliens . . . is not open to question.”[2]

No president has the authority to blackmail Congress into passing his immigration priorities.

This president is engaging in a one-man nullification process of foundational laws passed by multiple Congresses – all out in the open.

Rev. Jeremiah Obama Compares Christians of 1291 to Today's ISIS

By Sara Noble

Barack Obama, speaking at a prayer breakfast Thursday morning, equated ISIS with Christians of 1000 years ago.

Sounding like an impassioned Black Liberationist preacher, Barack Obama made it clear today that he feels the same way about Christians as he does about Jews and America itself.

No one needs to be told normal Muslims cannot be blamed for the maniacs destroying the Middle East, Far East, Asia and Africa. What he doesn’t understand is these maniacs are not radical Christians or radical Jews or radical Hindus. They are radical Islamists and it’s the year 2015 not 1291.

There is no use delving into the obvious. Listen to his obnoxious rant for yourself. It’s very revealing of who he is and what he believes:

Larwyn's Linx: Obama Government Threatens “Consequences” If WTP Don’t Fund Amnesty

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Nation

Obama Government Threatens “Consequences” If WTP Don’t Fund Amnesty: CHQ
Obama Does Have a Strategy: Victor Davis Hanson
Appeasement as narcissism: Victor Davis Hanson

Gallup calls official US unemployment number “Big Lie”: Sharyl Attkisson
Government Statistics Paint a False Picture of Recovery: FW
Comedian Eric Holder: Justice Dept Not Politicized: LI

The vanilla power of Republican Scott Walker: Jonah Goldberg
House finally adopts rule to count Article V Convention applications: Bryon DeLear
Not Your Father’s (or Grandfather’s) GOP Field: Stuart Rothenberg

Yet Another Feature of Obama’s Open Border Policy: Heroin: MB
Three Generations of Imbeciles are Enough: Ann Coulter
Naturalization Hall of Shame Keeps Growing: CIS

Economy

Billions in IRS Welfare Dollars to Be Paid Out to Illegal Immigrants: Sara Noble
Crony, Obama era, Fed driven economy a boon to billionaires: ACC
Aetna CEO sees piles of taxpayer financed profits thanks to Obamacare: ACC

Scandal Central

Horrendous Truths Unfold: NoisyRm
Vitter Requests Obamacare Documents From D.C., House and Senate: Roll Call
Goldman Sachs CEO Key Investor in Hillary's Son-In-Law's Hedge Fund: Daniel Halper

Media

Roger Ailes Confronts the Evil While the Also Rans Cower in Fear: Erick Erickson
Obama To Host American Muslims At The White House - Closed To The Press: Breitbart
Mark Levin: It’s time for us to slaughter the Islamo-Nazi cockroaches »: Scoop

Brian Williams Admits: I Lied About Being Aboard Helicopter Shot Down By RPG in Iraq: WS
‘War Stories, with Brian Williams’: Doug Powers
‘Insufferable': Watch Lyin’ Brian pontificate on credibility: Twitchy

World

Report: U.S. Prepared To Rely Upon Iran For Regional Stability In Afghanistan, Iraq & Syria: Breitbart
Biden, other Democrats may skip Netanyahu’s speech: Times of Israel
Thousands of Gaza Youth Train at Hamas Military Wing Camp: MEMRI

A battle won by handshakes: Blue Force Tracker
The World Needs to See the Depravity of the Islamic State : Glenn Beck
Obama Nearing Deal To Allow Iran To Remain On Precipice Of Nuclear Weapons: Lid

Concerns Deepen that U.S. Allowing Iranian Takeover of Iraq: The Tower
U.S. Seen in Middle East as Ally of Terrorists: Gatestone
Mayor Sparks Abortion Debate in Norway by Posting Picture of Unborn Baby in His Hand: LifeNews

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)

US health insurer Anthem hacked, 80 million records stolen: TNW
Google’s Mortgage Calculator Quick Answer Now Live: Search Engine Land
Facebook will soon be able to ID you in any photo: Science Mag

Cornucopia

I Am Proud To Announce a New Section of iOTWreport: iOTWreport
‘What a hero…': The storied career of Brian Williams [Photoshops]: Twitchy
ISIS Issues Religious Edict Justifying Burning Of Jordanian Pilot, Ben Affleck (cc: Bill Maher): MEMRI

Image: After Metro-North Train Crash, Investigators Piece Through ‘Utter Chaos’
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: BadBlue Money - 24/7 Econ News

QOTD: "The legacy of Barack Obama will be found mostly in foreign policy and especially in his forging of new ties with formerly ostracized regimes. Obamacare, the doubling of U.S. debt, the anemic recovery over the last six years, the near destruction of the Democratic Party at the state level and in Congress, the alphabet soup of scandals — GSA, IRS, NSA, VA — are not the stuff of a successful presidency, whatever the efforts of the solicitous media. Accordingly, Nobel Laureate Obama logically sees that history’s positive verdict on his tenure must come from abroad. He will normalize relations with Castro’s Cuba and let others worry whether there is any reciprocity on issues of longstanding disagreement. History will record the fact of normalization, not transient details concerning human rights. Obama will bring Iran into the fold of nations — its nuclear-weapons program soon accorded the status of Pakistan’s. He will work with Islamic radical groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas, acknowledging their legitimate grievances...

...The details of his grand vision will be left to younger, fresher functionaries who can sort out the confusions of implementation — why terrorism and Islamism are taboo words, or why trading terrorists for the deserter Bowe Bergdahl was a wise idea, or why nothing really happened at Benghazi, or why pulling all our troops out of Iraq had no effect on the creation of ISIS, or why setting timetables for withdrawal from Afghanistan does not encourage the Taliban, which is not a terrorist organization, and so on. Sometimes these inexperienced idealists will fumble and will be embarrassed publicly, but Obama himself will not intervene to correct the minutiae of inconsistencies in the implementation of his vision. Once-in-a-lifetime emissaries of change do not stoop to that. Who would have asked Mandela what was his position on NATO? Who wonders about Gandhi’s attitude toward Israel?" --Victor Davis Hanson

Wednesday, February 04, 2015

CONGRATULATIONS, TEXAS: Valerie Jarrett Working Behind the Scenes to Cede Your State to Mexico

President Jarrett is reportedly the driving force behind a campaign designed to turn Texas blue through illegal immigration, thereby ensuring that all presidential elections end up with a Democrat victor.

According to Capitol Hill sources, de facto president Valerie Jarrett wants Texas and its 38 electoral votes... badly. More troubling is she has apparently been working very hard to make the state turn blue in the very near future, a result that would finalize far left control of the United States in every national election to follow. Jarrett is doing so with a combination of hundreds of thousands of recent immigrants flooding the state, combined with billions of dollars in federal giveaways like Obamacare that will unofficially pledge those new votes to the increasingly far left/progressive/globalist Democratic Party...



... “She is invading Texas with the clear intent to take it over. Look at the public campaign w/La Casa Blanca. That’s her campaign. That is the more immediate primary purpose of his executive amnesty. They’ll have Texas and that means they’ll never lose another national election. Ever.”

...The above tweet originated from the La Casa Blanca office, and was then re-tweeted from Jarrett’s own account as well. Within hours of the La Casa Blanca tweet, Jarrett was sharing her views on how wonderful Obamacare is for all Americans – including immigrants.


Here's the other version of the postcard Jarrett didn't show Americans. Texico, here we come!

Jarrett is hinting at 743,000 “more people” immediately coming into Texas via the president’s executive amnesty. Logic dictates that within just a few more years this number would easily surpass the one million mark (and likely already has) – a coordinated invasion via the federal government into the only state that gives voters a choice between Republican and Democrat in national elections. The only state that makes such a choice have any semblance of being competitive.

One million votes represents the difference between Texas giving a Republican its 38 electoral votes in a national election or those votes going Democrat. It is the difference between Texas being a blue state, or remaining a red state. Valerie Jarrett has been working very hard to permanently alter the Texas electoral landscape to ensure it forever after favors far left Democrats in future elections.

Barack Obama will fade into political obscurity after 2016, but Valerie Jarrett’s manipulations will continue to impact the country for many more years to follow, and taking Texas is a top priority in that long range plan...

You've been warned, Texas. Are you going to sit there and take this from the radical left? Or are you going to do something about it?


Hat tip: BadBlue News.

PREDICTABLE INANITY: Obama threatens veto of Keystone pipeline, forcing oil shipments over "antiquated infrastructure"

By Investor's Business Daily

Stimulus: Obama says jobs from the Keystone project aren't permanent and it's just one pipeline that will move foreign oil to foreign markets. But fixing the bridge he once used as a prop didn't create permanent jobs either.

'Let's set our sights above a single pipeline," the leader of the party of infrastructure told Congress in the State of the Union. But this Congress has 80 more Republicans than when he took office, and on Thursday the Senate rejected his admonition by a 62-36 vote.

Eight Democrats crossed the aisle after a series of amendment votes, a process that had vanished under former Majority Leader Harry Reid. While not approved with a veto-proof majority, the Keystone bill, after House approval, will head to Obama's desk, where stopping the pipeline will finally put the onus on him and him alone.

The president wants a bill that fixes the nation's bridges and roads — legislation he touted when he spoke last July with the Interstate 495 bridge over the Christina River near Wilmington, Del., as a backdrop. The bridge had been closed for emergency repairs after the discovery of four tilting support columns. Yet Obama didn't make the argument it was just one bridge or that the jobs fixing it wouldn't be permanent.

Yes, Keystone is just one pipeline. But its 1,700 miles would join the more than 50,000 miles of existing pipelines crisscrossing the U.S., including one already carrying crude from Canada. When those building the pipeline finish it, they'll just move on to other pipelines and projects, like people who finish a bridge or road move on to other bridges and roads.

Keystone XL would bring up to 830,000 barrels of oil per day and directly create 20,000 truly shovel-ready jobs. And it would carry not only Canadian oil, but also oil from the Bakken shale formation of North Dakota.

Even if it carried only Canadian oil to foreign markets, it and the Gulf Coast refineries that would process the oil would be operated not by robots but by American workers. Would President Obama rather live in a world dependent on oil from North America or on oil from the Middle East and OPEC?

Most of the Bakken crude is now carried to market via far more dangerous shipments by BNSF Railway Co., which has more than 1,000 miles of tracks in the region. BNSF was bought by Obama's favorite one-percenter, Warren Buffett, in 2010.

The Keystone XL bill should arrive on the president's desk just as the State Department receives final comments on the proposed Canada-to-Texas project. Agencies are required to send their recommendations to the State Department by Feb. 2, another step in the seemingly endless six-year review of the project. We have fought and won wars in less time.

Will Democrats Formally Announce an Alliance With Hamas and Boycott the Israeli Prime Minister's Speech to Congress?

Just how far off the reservation has the Democrat Party wandered in 2015?

Are they poised to join arms with President Obama and announce formal alliances with Hamas, Hezbollah, the Muslim Brotherhood and Iran? We will soon see, America:

Democrats might skip Benjamin Netanyahu speech

Joe Biden is among those not committed to attending the Israeli prime minister’s address to Congress.

Vice President Joe Biden won’t commit to attending Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to a joint meeting of Congress next month.

He’s not the only one.

Dozens of House Democrats are privately threatening to skip the March 3 address, according to lawmakers and aides, in what’s become the lowest point of a relationship between the Israeli prime minister and President Barack Obama that’s never been good.

Democrats have had to balance publicly supporting Israel with backing Obama, who’s trying to close a deal with Iran to curb its nuclear programs over vehement opposition from Netanyahu, who has expressed concerns that the U.S. president is being naive. Negotiations are facing a deadline at the end of March for a political framework...

...Netanyahu’s already been denied an Oval Office meeting with Obama. Secretary of State John Kerry has no plans to meet with him while he’s in town, a State Department official told POLITICO on Tuesday.

This sort of thing must pose quite the head-scratching conundrum for many in the American Jewish community. If they support their far left ideology, they also must support the Nazi-backed, Islamofascist movement and all it entails.

1. Obama is entertaining Muslim Brotherhood leaders in the White House and at the State Department
2. Obama is doing his level best to ensure Iran continues its work on nuclear weapons
3. Obama is doing his level best to ostracize Israel and ridicule its self-preservation instinct
4. Obama continues to legitimize the tactics of Hamas
5. Obama refuses to call the Islamic state "Islamic"

And Democrats, instead of speaking out, are in lockstep with him.

The chasm between civilization and barbarism is widening and many are now caught straddling the fissure.

Meanwhile, President Obama has time to meet with a woman who eats cereal out of a bathtub, but not the leader of one of America's closest allies, which faces an ever-increasing existential threat in a nuclear Iran.


Hat tip: Dan from New York.

Larwyn's Linx: AZ Sheriff: 30% of Illegals Caught at Border Have Criminal History in U.S.

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

Nation

AZ Sheriff: 30% of Illegals Caught at Border Have Criminal History in U.S.: CNS
Senate Dems Block DHS Bill That Defunds Obama’s Immigration Plan: Blaze
Ted Cruz, Susan Collins Outline Counter to Dem Filibuster of DHS Bill: NRO

White House Unaware of Obamacare: RS
Obama rewrites Obamacare law again: WyBlog
Obama Sure Takes a Lot of Selfies, Don’t He?: Sooper

Professor Jonathan Turley: Obama Guilty of ‘Violations of His Oath of Office’: CI
Tweet of the Week Comes From Nigeria: Instapundit
Intelligence agencies must be able to fight terrorism in secret: Rachel Marsden

In 2008 Hillary Linked Autism To Vaccines #Grandmother'sGoingSenile?: Lid
The Witch-hunt Against Bob McDonnell: Rachel Alexander
NH Seeks To Empower Citizens By Equal Firepower Measures: Tony Oliva

Economy

Minimum Wage Hike Hits Home in SF: RedAlert
The Big Lie: 5.6% Unemployment: Gallup
The Bravado of Borrowers: Peter Schiff

Scandal Central

These Are The Ex-Lawmakers Who Could Barely Wait To Sell Out: Vocativ
Obama's Budget-Busting Spending Bill to Balloon Federal Debt to More Than $25 Trillion by 2025: AmPower
In Christie’s Career, a Fondness for Luxe Benefits When Others Pay the Bills: NYT

Media

Washington Monthly pretends Scott Walker may not have gotten death threats: Moe Lane
Generation W: Raising a Nation of Wusses: Aaron C. Smith
Mark Levin Responds to Bircher Nonsense in Virginia Effort for Convention of States: Jen Kuznicki

NBC Skips Obama’s Beer Gaffe on Washington; Contrast With Palin's Revere Tale: Curtis Houck
John Judis: About That Inevitable, Permanent Majority for the Democrats: RS
Teacher Beaten Bloody By Black Student; Media, Parents Say Teacher Deserved It: Treehouse

World

Obama DEFENDS Islam in statement about ISIS video burning Jordan pilot to death: Scoop
France: Muslim slashes soldiers on anti-terror patrol in front of Jewish community center: JihadWatch
Islamic State shows burning of hostage, Jordan vows 'earth-shaking' response: Reuters

Jordan: Hey, You Know How ISIS Demanded We Release a Female Terrorist Prisoner?: Ace
"Whatever Ideology They're Operating off of is Bankrupt": DiploMad
In Palestinian Authority, Outrage Follows PA Daily's Publication Of Muhammad Cartoon: MEMRI

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)

Mysterious Apple Car Spotted Roaming Bay Area Streets: MacRumors
Satya Nadella's One-Year Report Card as Redmond's CEO: Redmond
Incredible 50-foot 'dragon' dinosaur unearthed by Chinese farmers: Naomi Ng

Cornucopia

Obama's New Ride: Springer's Blog
A Message To The Left ~ (I know, you just don't give a damn...go ahead and admit it!): Norman Hooben
Settlement Map: iOTWreport

Image: ISIS releases images of Jordanian pilot burned alive in a cage [GRAPHIC]
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: BadBlue Sports - 24/7 Sports News

QOTD: "While Washington’s contentious revolving door spins in perpetuum—allowing a stream of money, influence and access to flow seamlessly between the private and public sectors—the speed with which these public servants have offered themselves up to big business may raise a few eyebrows.

“It’s not like they were calling up their new employers on the morning of Jan. 5 and asking for a job,” says Russ Choma, a CRP spokesman. “It would seem very likely that as these lawmakers were still voting on bills and debating policies, they were simultaneously negotiating with lobbying firms whose clients may have a direct interest in these issues.”" --Shane Dixon Kavanaugh

Tuesday, February 03, 2015

The Other Source of Terrorism

By Alan Caruba

I never fail to be astonished by the amount of corruption there is in the world. It is a very human trait whether it was royalty asserting that they ruled by God’s choice until their subjects rose up against them or modern day despots encountering the same fate.

Sarah Chayes has authored “Thieves of State: Why Corruption Threatens Global Security” ($26.95, W.W. Norton) and it is quite timely when you consider that corruption ignited the “Arab Spring”, first in Tunisia when a peddler grew so tired of the police asking for bribes that he set himself afire in protest. Its dictator’s wife openly displayed the nation’s stolen wealth for which they were driven from power. In Egypt there was a similar response when the public tired of the looting of the state treasury by Mubarak’s son. Revolts from Libya to Syria have been generated by the same cause.

Corruption in the Middle East has a long history, but it is worldwide and, depending on the nation, is either tolerated as part of the way the culture does business or resisted by governments who understand that it undermines their legitimacy. Throw a dart at the map of the world and you are likely to hit a nation where corruption is influencing current events. As Chayes notes, “Time and again U.S. officials are blindsided by major developments in countries where they work. Too often they are insensible to the perspectives and aspirations of population.”

A classic example is Afghanistan where both the Soviet Union and the U.S. ran into such ingrained corruption that it undermined their objectives, the former to turn it into a satellite and the latter to turn it into a modern, democratic government. Chayes cites Afghanistan as a classic example of why the Taliban emerged as a jihadist movement. Corruption in the form of bribes, kick-backs, cronyism, is so deeply engrained in Afghanistan that it generated a movement to replace it with sharia law by Islamists.

“If the very Afghan officials by whose sides they planned to combat extremists were generating those extremists themselves—by having men shake down travelers and taking a cut, or leaving bills unpaid, or by providing judiciously selected ‘intelligence’ to engineer a night-raid against a rival trafficking network—it was too big a paradox to take in. NATO officers,” said Chayes, “did not want to know.”

“The corruption networks” in Afghanistan, writes Chayes, “were just too vertically integrated: any move against any official, no matter how lowly, would reverberate all the way up the chain to Karzai.”

DEMOCRAT ASSEMBLYWOMAN SLAMS ANDREW CUOMO: "I Don't Think People Elected an Emperor"

By Rusty Weiss

Apparently none too happy with the way Governor Cuomo is trying to force major policy proposals into this year’s budget plan, a long-time Assembly Democrat tore into him decrying his “heavy-handed” approach.

Assemblywoman Deborah Glick referred to Cuomo’s tactics as unhealthy for democracy, inappropriate, and reminded Cuomo that the people didn’t elect an “emperor,” they elected a governor.

Via State of Politics:

Glick noted that Cuomo keeps stuffing more and more significant policy proposals into his spending plan, giving the Legislature what amounts to a “may way to the highway” ultimatum to accept his ideas or risk a government shutdown.

“I don’t think in a democracy that’s a healthy thing,” Glick said. “The governor is very forceful and has added many more policy pieces to the budget, which I think is inappropriate.”

“I believe there’s a role for the Legislature, and a role for dialogue.”

“I don’t think that people elected an emperor; we elected a governor,” the assemblywoman continued. “I think they’re putting too much into the budget from a policy point of a view is a negative thing for democracy.”

Cuomo has threatened he would not sign any budget unless it includes his ‘ethics’ plan, a too-little too-late response to his close ally, Sheldon Silver being arrested on corruption charges.

Cuomo’s effort is no more than a dog and pony show. But Glick’s response is genuine – as in she genuinely does not want to see any form of ethics reform in Albany.

In the summer of 2013, Glick was overheard making threats toward a colleague who kept calling for the resignation of Sheldon Silver.

ONE CHART IS ALL IT TAKES: The Ludicrous Claims of Obama as a "Deficit-Cutter"

Oh, and did I mention the chart itself comes from the Obama Federal Reserve?


Put simply, any claims linking President Obama to fiscal responsibility are somewhat akin to using Michael Moore as a spokesperson for Jenny Craig.

By the time this walking economic catastrophe has left office, the total federal debt will have doubled. All of the debts rung up in all of American history will have doubled in eight short years.

Every governmental oversight office -- from the CBO to the GAO -- is warning that the debt is "unsustainable". Interest payments on the debt will double in just the next five years, from $266.7 billion currently to $578.3 billion in 2020. And the Obama administration’s forecast shows interest payments rising to $785 billion per year by 2025.

And let's not forget Obama's failure to even talk about the looming entitlement crisis.

The system is headed for collapse. And Obama has only added fuel to the fire.


Hat tip: BadBlue News.

Larwyn's Linx: Obama Is Openly Colluding with the Enemy

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

Nation

Obama Is Openly Colluding with the Enemy: James Lewis
What Makes Barack Obama Such a Bad President?: Roger Kimball
2016: What We Are Learning from the Drudge Presidential Poll: Roger L. Simon

The Insurers and Obamacare: Jay Cost
Ted Cruz Unveils Obamacare Repeal Act: Joel Gehrke
What’s Different About Today’s Obamacare Repeal Vote: Kelsey Harkness

Pro-Hamas UC Davis Students Chant ‘Allahu Akbar’ During Anti-Israel Vote: NRO
Krauthammer: Obama’s Budget is Entirely Political and Partisan: Glob
Navy Abandons 'Global Force for Good' to Broaden Appeal: Military.com

How Much Will Chris Christie’s White House Bid Cost NJ Taxpayers?: Mark Lagerkvist
More than 100 measles cases in 14 states : WWMT
Will DMV add staff to accommodate immigrant influx? : Gary Richards

Economy

Obama Quietly Adds 5.46 Million Foreigners To Economy: Neil Munro
Obama’s Budget Indicates that He Loves Shutdowns: Leon H. Wolf
Obama Budget Creates Second Death Tax: ATR

Scandal Central

House Benghazi committee to review secret Hillary tapes on Libya: Times
Anti-Netanyahu Obama Advisors Involved In Political Fundraising Scheme?: GotNews
Fantastic News! Your Tax Dollars Paying for ‘Hormone Therapy’ for Transgender Illegals: RWN

Climate & Energy

A long, cold winter brings energy sticker shock to New England: Rob Nikolewski
No, 2014 wasn’t the ‘warmest year in history’: Jeff Jacoby
Most of the major cities in China fail on air quality: The Week

Media

Report: Every Business Started by Al Sharpton Closed for Non-Payment of Taxes: Warner Todd Huston
Fear and Loathing at the Nanny Bowl: Ed Driscoll
Vermont firearms dealer threatens to sue Bloomberg's Everytown for Gun Safety: VT Digger

Karl Rove Doing His Best to Protect... Hillary Clinton: Shoebat
Marvel Comics Muslima superhero on a jihad against free speech: Robert Spencer
Voters Prefer Federal Budget With Spending Cuts, No New Taxes: Rasmussen

World

Obama’s Israel End Game: Steve Berman
America’s Anti-Israeli President: Peter Wehner
Bibi Rising After Fight With Obama: Daniel Halper

US senator presses Obama to declare war on radical Islam: Hayom
Muslims Gloat at Paris Kosher Market Days After Jihad Massacre at Deli: WAW
Gloomy France : Pascal Bruckner, City Journal

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)

Faxpapers: A Lost 1930s Technology That Delivered Newspapers via Radio : Matt Novak
This Chilling Ad Reveals The Lines Of A Top Secret Stealth Bomber : Foxtrot Alpha
Remember Hillary Clinton’s Vaccine Fiasco?: S&L (2007)

Cornucopia

Yakov Smirnoff solves the People's Cube on second try: Cube
The Paper Lion: MOTUS
Worst Ever? Current And Former NFL Players React To The Seahawks’ Goal Line Call: DC

Image: Yakov Smirnoff solves the People's Cube on second try
Sponsored by: The Monday Update to the I Wish To Replace This Computer fundraising drive

QOTD: "Records show that [Al] Sharpton’s beleaguered for-profit entities often overlap and intertwine, some sharing ties with the reverend’s nonprofit organization, National Action Network. Their financial records are copious, confusing, and sometimes outright bizarre, and together, they depict persistent financial woes for Sharpton, who also personally owes New York State nearly $596,000, according to active tax warrants.

“He clearly appears — based on the information that’s available to us — to have a history of noncompliance with tax obligations,” says Bernadette Schopfer, the director of taxation at New York’s Maier Markey & Justic, a certified public-accounting firm that has had no dealings with Sharpton or National Action Network. “It appears that [Sharpton] does not file [taxes for his businesses], and then opens up something else. At all the entities we see he has opened up, he has not been compliant with the obligations of the owner of a business. . . . He’s either willful in his behavior, or he’s just sloppy.”" --Jillian Kay Melchior

Monday, February 02, 2015

Perhaps the geniuses at the RNC can take a look at the Republican Presidential Poll over at the Drudge Report

And by the RNC, I mean the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Crony Capitalism.

As I mentioned yesterday, Jeb Bush has about as much chance of being President as Justin Bieber has of serving on the Supreme Court.

1. 47% (166,593) Scott Walker
2. 14% (48,652) Ted Cruz
3. 12% (44,323) Rand Paul
4. 8% (27,589) Ben Carson
5. 5% (16,749) Jeb Bush
6. 4% (14,105) Sarah Palin
7. 4% (13,201) Marco Rubio
8. 2% (5,434) Donald Trump
9. 2% (5,368) Mike Huckabee
10 1% (5,159) Chris Christie

Real impressive showings for the Beltway Establishment's favorites, Bush and Christie.

It's early, but I'm starting to get a warm, fuzzy feeling about 2016.


Hat tip: BadBlue News.

IT'S ALL ABOUT BOWE BERGDAHL: The Real Reason the White House Won't Call the Taliban "Terrorists"

By Investor's Business Daily

Semantics: If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck ... well, you get the idea. But not this White House, which called the Fort Hood massacre by a self-proclaimed jihadi yelling "Allahu Akhbar" "workplace violence."

Despite Army denials, desertion charges appear likely and imminent in the case of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who walked away from his combat post in Afghanistan.

The White House line that we traded five Taliban generals for him because "we leave no man behind" is wearing thin. We do and should leave deserters behind, and if we ever get our hands on them, their fate is usually not a happy one. Neither should Bergdahl's be.

The administration believes that its trade for the five Taliban leaders — who are eligible to return to the battlefield in three months, and one of whom has already phoned his old terrorist pals — could still possibly be explained away as a well-intentioned mistake.

At the time, Bergdahl was said to be in bad health, and he hadn't been officially charged with anything. And besides, the Taliban is not a terrorist group.

That's now the official line by an administration that let Marine Andrew Tahmooressi rot in a Mexican jail because he took the wrong exit but that sees nothing wrong in rescuing a deserter in time of war while strengthening an enemy that has cost America much in lives and treasure.

We can't be trading terrorists for a turncoat if the Taliban is not a terrorist organization. They're an "armed insurgency," as White House deputy press secretary Eric Schultz explained.

IS is a terrorist group but the Taliban is not, making it lawful to deal with them.

Never mind that this administration does not consider the Islamic State either Islamic or a state.

BREAKING, EXCLUSIVE: Nationwide issues first public statement regarding "dead child" ad

Nationwide Insurance has come under withering criticism for airing a Superbowl commercial that culminated in the death of a child.

The ad features a boy complaining that he won’t ever be able to ride a bike, fly, or get married, because, "I couldn’t grow up, because I died from an accident."

Media critic Don Kaplan called the ad "horrifying" and the "most depressing Super Bowl commercial of all time."

To its credit, the insurance company did not shy away from the publicity, issuing a statement that our summer intern -- Biff Spackle -- was able to secure before its public release.

Injuries around the home are the leading cause of childhood deaths in America. Many of these accidents are avoidable, such as preventing children under the age of six from using chainsaws, teaching the safe use of lawn darts, and allowing kids to play with Roman Candles only under the supervision of an older child.

Parents would be wise to prevent children from playing with hydrochloric acid, bathing while using an Xbox, or ingesting Chicken McNuggets.

Nationwide ran an ad during the Super Bowl that started a fierce conversation. The sole purpose of this message was to start a conversation, not sell insurance --- as far as you know.

We knew the ad would spur fear, revulsion, anxiety, panic and hatred of our brand. That was our intent. In fact, thousands of people visited NoMoreDangerousToys.com, a new website that teaches parents which toys to avoid.

It's clear from our research that parents do not know that children should avoid ingesting lead, asbestos, coal, weasel juice, and methamphetamine.

Chalk it up to the poor state of public education.

Oh, and not that this was the point of the ad, but if you happened to request a quote for disability or life insurance, we wouldn't be offended.

Thank you, Nationwide. Nothing spices up a Superbowl party like a dead child.

And, as our own form of public service announcement, please visit "The 10 Most Dangerous Toys of All Time".


Larwyn's Linx: Ending Groundhog Republicanism

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

Nation

Ending Groundhog Republicanism: Erick Erickson
GOP Silent As Obama’s Illegals Cause Crime Wave: Neil Munro
Freedom is the Best Way to Help Low-Income Students: Star Parker

What Are the Metaphysics of Islamic Denial?: Victor Davis Hanson
Muslim Brotherhood calls for ‘uncompromising jihad’ following visit to State Dept.: RS
Stunner: Obama Downplays Terror Threat: WFB

Scott Walker Wows 'Em in Iowa: EIB
So what is Scott Walker’s immigration position?: LI
Walker surging in Iowa poll as Bush struggles: Instapundit

Economy

Obama Sending $4 Trillion Spending Plan to Congress: NewsMax
Washington State Democratic Party opposes Common Core: EAG
Another Step Down The Long, Slow Road To IRA Nationalization: Simon Black

Scandal Central

The Senate is Preparing to Investigate Ties between White House and IRS: RS
Netanyahu should be shown respect by the White House: Michael Curtis
The White House's false claims of deficit busting, in one handy picture.: Moe Lane

Media

Elsewhere: David Thompson
Charles Blows Again: Power Line
The Hollywood Jihad Against American Sniper: Sultan Knish

The best reason to be glad the Seahawks just lost the Super Bowl: Joshua Riddle
Super Bowl: Was that the worst play call ever?: MacLean's
Adam Tucker of Ogilvy & Mather Tries to Justify a Crappy Nationwide Ad: Erick Erickson

World

Egypt: U.S. State Dept. Meeting With Muslim Brotherhood Terrorists “Not Understandable”: Treehouse
Islamophobia In Germany: Power Line
Netanyahu fires back at ‘Obama army’ plotting his defeat: Aaron Klein

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)

Invisibility Cloaks Now Shield People from Sight: EE Times
Buying a New Air Force One Is Complicated: Marcus Weisgerber
Madden predicted the Super Bowl exactly: VenBeat

Cornucopia

Chris Kyle the Man, American Sniper: Holly Deyo
Auburn’s Keurig Girl gaining national attention for coffee charisma: War Eagle Reader
Higher Education, 2025: Springer

Image: ‘INSANE and MASSIVE’ seven-alarm fire at Brooklyn warehouse captured in unbelievable photos
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: BadBlue Sports - 24/7 Sports News

QOTD: "...the [Democrat] party is bereft of fresh blood. Think about it. The minority leader in the Senate is 75; the minority leader in the House is 74. Her immediate underling (Steny Hoyer) is also 74. It is true that Mitch McConnell is 72, but he is the exception to the rule among Republicans. John Boehner is 65, and he has plenty of associates well-known in the country who are considerably younger. Think about it. Can you name a bright, young, up-and-coming Democratic Congressman or Senator?

And consider this: the likely Presidential nominee of the Democratic Party will be 69 in January 2017 (older than Ronald Reagan was when he became President). Her likeliest rival, Joe Biden, will be 74; Jim Webb will be 70; and Elizabeth Warren, who graduated from Northwest Classen High School in Oklahoma City one year before I did, will be 67. As Jay Cost points out, if Hillary Clinton now anticipates no challenger, as seems to be the case, it is because the bench is empty: there is no one capable of mounting a serious challenge.

...Hillary Clinton is the Democratic Party’s answer to Bob Dole and John McCain. The only thing really impressive about her is that she still has a pulse." --Paul A. Rahe

Sunday, February 01, 2015

THE ONLY WAY OUT: A Pocket Guide to the Liberty Amendments

While electing a President who is a Constitutional Conservative would be a great start, it is unlikely to reverse a century-long march of progressive radicals bent on centralization of power in Washington.

An Article V Convention process is, in my opinion, the only way out short of civil unrest. I will not explain it here, though you can find an excellent overview here.

In his bestselling book The Liberty Amendments, Mark Levin describes 11 Constitutional Amendments that devolve power from the increasingly authoritarian, central government back to the states that gave it birth. Hans A. von Spakovsky summarized Levin's amendments in a concise form, which are handy to use for reference purposes.

  • Establish twelve-year term limits for members of Congress and the Supreme Court;
  • Repeal the 17th Amendment;
  • Allow either Congress or the states to overturn a Supreme Court decision within 24 months with a three fifths vote of the members of both houses or the states;
  • Require a federal budget to be enacted by May or impose an automatic across-the-board 5 percent cut, and the budget may not exceed total tax receipts or 17.5 percent of GDP;
  • Place a 15 percent limit on the amount of income taxes collected from natural and legal persons, change the tax-return filing date to the day before federal elections, and ban federal estate, value-added, or sales taxes;
  • Require every federal agency to be reauthorized every three years in a stand-alone bill or else expire, and require a seven-member House committee to approve all regulations with an economic burden greater than $100 million within six months or cancel implementation of the regulation;
  • Limit the Commerce Clause to preventing states from impeding commerce and trade between the states, and specify that it does not extend to activity within states (whether or not it affects interstate commerce) or to compelling an individual to participate in commerce;
  • Extend the protection against seizure of private property to require compensation for regulations that reduce market value or interfere with the use of property in an amount exceeding $10,000;
  • Change Article V so that any constitutional amendment, proposed by anyone, will be adopted if it is ratified by two thirds of the states;
  • Require a 30-day waiting period between agreement upon the final version of any congressional bill (engrossment) and the final vote to approve it, and allow three fifths of the states to override any federal statute or any federal regulation with a cost exceeding $100 million within 24 months of passage or approval; and
  • Require valid photo ID and proof of citizenship to register and vote in all federal elections, in person or by mail, and limit early voting to 30 days before the election (except for active-duty military personnel).

As of this writing, at least 30 states have initiated an Article V process. Your involvement with state politics can strengthen this initiative.

You can track national activities on the Convention of States front at ConventionOfStates.com. It's the only way out.